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I hate spiders and so would like to know which ones are which. What I am looking for is a book on spiders that is much like a bird book. One can look up what one has seen by either where it was spotted or by what it looks like and therby can find the name and some useful information. Can some one sugest such a book for me, if it exists. The format that I would hope to find would be similar to that of [[Dr. Liversidge]]'s books on ornathology. Thanks <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/82.3.145.145|82.3.145.145]] ([[User talk:82.3.145.145|talk]]) 20:12, 21 July 2010 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
I hate spiders and so would like to know which ones are which. What I am looking for is a book on spiders that is much like a bird book. One can look up what one has seen by either where it was spotted or by what it looks like and therby can find the name and some useful information. Can some one sugest such a book for me, if it exists. The format that I would hope to find would be similar to that of [[Dr. Liversidge]]'s books on ornathology. Thanks <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/82.3.145.145|82.3.145.145]] ([[User talk:82.3.145.145|talk]]) 20:12, 21 July 2010 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Paris ==

My band and I would like to play a gig or two in Paris, after having met a Parisian band in England, I have promised my band that I will get this organised. Can some one please sugest some small venues where a five piece band might play in Paris. What I would ultimatly require is an email address for the pub landlord or the person that would organise gigs for small unsigned bands. Or any such venue that has a website where I can get this information. We play original music. also, how accurate is google translate? Any help in this would be greatly appreciated, and I will buy you a beer if you come and see us play. Thanks for everything Wikipedians.

Revision as of 20:17, 21 July 2010

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July 16

Pokémon Special

Where can I read Pokémon Special online? It used to be on Mangafox, but they removed it a while ago. Mangatoshokan still had it then, but they just removed it today. A quick Google search found sites which had also removed it or which only had the first 7-8 volumes. --138.110.206.102 (talk) 00:32, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If Wikipedia encouraged the unpaid reading of licensed material online, I could help, but since it doesn't, I can't tell you that onemanga most likely has it. ZigSaw 14:16, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mawashi vs Thong

Is one a development of the other, or do they have seperate origins? Just asking. Chaos N. Mayhem (talk) 02:08, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

According to our thong article, garments for men and women that cover mostly only the pubis have been around. The mawashi is much newer; sumo dates only from about the 16th century CE.
Seeing that the garments have different purposes (one provides modesty, the other a grab handle) and are of different design one weighs 6 to 11 pounds, the other maybe as many grams), it seems likely that the sumo garment is sort of an independent development. PhGustaf (talk) 02:32, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I'm not a sumo fan by any means, but I just wonder - if one of them manages to lose that loincloth, what then? I'm guessing that bowing to the audience is out, for example. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:12, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It says in our article that he's disqualified. PhGustaf (talk) 20:04, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That stands to reason. I just wondered if he puts it back on, dons a robe, or what. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots02:31, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

universities in stock market

should universities register in stock market? what are advantages and disadvantages? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.118.23.116 (talk) 11:57, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could you be more specific on what you mean by "register in stock market"? Do you mean should universities own shares in publicly traded companies as an investment, or that the university itself be listed on the stock market such that an investor can go buy 100 shares of Yale, or Harvard? Googlemeister (talk) 13:22, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I assume we're talking about the latter - the ability for universities to sell shares in their institution. The trouble with that from the universities perspective is that publicly traded companies have a legal obligation to work in order to maximize the expected return for their investors. That is clearly not an acceptable thing for an educational institution. Aside from that, there would be the issue of academic independence - which is much prized amongst universities and wouldn't be given up without a fight. It's not impossible that this might happen - but it's gotta be a last-ditch measure of a failing business model - and that's not the kind of thing that investors are usually interested in funding. SteveBaker (talk) 13:47, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There are education sector stocks. E.g. Apollo Group (Nasdaq: APOL) owns several universities and other schools; Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA) is the corporate face of Strayer University; Career Education Corporation (Nasdaq: CECO) consists of several colleges and universities. 88.112.56.9 (talk) 14:16, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I assume you're asking for advantages and disadvantages to the institution. An advantage would be a wider source of funding for the university: it could use its listing to raise capital from the financial market instead of just government. A disadvantage is that it would have to change its objectives (from, say, producing high-quailty academics/professionals/research) to maximising shareholder wealth. If it doesn't do this well, the cost of capital would increase (ie shareholders would require a higher return on their investment). If it decides to provide a nice return for shareholders at the expense of its research/graduate quality then fewer people would go study (or do research) there. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 14:44, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Turtles

How come turtles don't eat insects and berries we give them? we see them in our yard and stick them in a bucket, but they never eat? they are box turtles.Diver62 (talk) 17:28, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The article Box turtle indicates those things might be part of their diet. I would speculate that they have certain ways of finding food, and that looking in buckets is not one of them. Or, maybe they can't get into the bucket. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots17:43, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I guess i had incorrect grammar. we put the turtle in the bucket and try to feed it from our hands.Diver62 (talk) 18:12, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also, some reptiles do not eat very often, so it could be that they are not very hungry right now. Googlemeister (talk) 18:23, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It may simply be stressed out about being in a bucket. APL (talk) 18:27, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think being in captivity makes it not accept the food.Diver62 (talk) 18:31, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Being in a bucket might be scary and make it (literally) pull into its shell and worry more about staying alive than about eating. And as noted, reptiles do not constantly eat like warm-blooded animals do, so it may be operating on its own schedule. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:33, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Sure thing. they do pull into their shells, and one movement and they're in there ten more minutes. that's why i like active frogs much more than passive turtles!Diver62 (talk) 18:41, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Great Barrier Reef

When do you start to see the Great Barrier Reef by Australia? About how many feet? What's in the coral? What organisms have you seen?Diver62 (talk) 17:30, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The article Great Barrier Reef looks promising. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots17:42, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, it does not -- I couldn't really find answers to any of the OP's questions. DRosenbach (Talk | Contribs) 17:55, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It does say it's visible from space, but it might actually be easier to see far away. As far as "organisms" are concerned... isn't the Reef a known hangout for the Great White Shark? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:08, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I figure the OP would like to know when one can see the reef coming from Australia, as in how many yards or miles must one travel off the coast before you can see/reach it. DRosenbach (Talk | Contribs) 19:02, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

yes. some sharks love reefs including the great white shark, and are like police patrolling the reef and eating prey that lives in them. Interesting, Huh?????Diver62 (talk) 18:14, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is the OP referring to the depth at which the reef is visible while scuba diving? ~AH1(TCU) 01:29, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Parts of the Reef, such as the Whitsunday Islands, are above water. Other parts are only a meter or so below the water, and so are clearly visible from a boat (or, satellite photo. Check Google Maps). Some of the reef – or the wave action over it – can be seen from high vantage points on shore. Coral is home to hundreds of species of underwater creatures, including whale sharks, coral trout, clown fish, angelfish and over a thousand others.DOR (HK) (talk) 05:56, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Frogs

Cheminterest is my brother and I,Diver62, am his sister. We go frog catching in streams along with our other five members. i've always wondered, can frogs hear you talking to them if you shout in their eardrum? Diver62 (talk) 17:33, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would think the answer is "yes". I googled [frog ears] and this detailed explanation about their hearing was one of the first things that came up: [1]Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots17:40, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't have the internet, only wikipedia, etc. so i didn't find it. I'll stop shouting at frogs. thanks for helpDiver62 (talk) 18:16, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm trying to imagine what I would even say to a frog. Maybe "Nice legs!" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:31, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's cool! maybe delicious legs!Diver62 (talk) 18:36, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A Latin student was invited by his friends to go frog hunting. As the group crept quietly towards the pool where frogs lived, the student shouted "Animadverto anura!". His friends chided him for making such a noise that the frogs were frightened away. He protested "But how was I supposed to know they understood Latin?". Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:36, 16 July 2010 (UTC) that's funny.Diver62 (talk) 19:58, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You say you are ChemicalInterest's sister. Horseluv also said she was ChemicalInterest's little sister. Are you the same person? It's seen as a bit rude to pretend to be two different people, rather than telling people when you're using two names. 86.163.212.254 (talk) 21:21, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Couldn't ChemicalInterest have more than one sibling? But I'm not understanding how Diver62 could have Wikipedia but not the internet. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:10, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I assume it's because responsible parties have limited the child's access to the internet. 61.189.63.171 (talk) 22:49, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, it is no doubt possible. Just seems unlikely that they would both appear at the same time, with such similar writing styles, though (as you say) possible. It is also possible that they are the same, young, 'inexperienced' person, who didn't know the community dislikes multiple accounts for a single person without explanation. And there are other possibilities too. The above post seemed the best way of raising the possibilities, and potentially sorting out any misunderstandings that need to be sorted out. 86.163.212.254 (talk) 23:19, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's possible that she's at a library, as the computers there are often on Wikipedia but not other websites. ~AH1(TCU) 01:26, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Horseluv10 and Chemicalinterest declare an IP on their page which appears to be an ordinary DSL connection, I presume Diver62 has the same IP. As 61 has said, parents limiting a child's internet access is hardly uncommon Nil Einne (talk) 14:11, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Has Diver62 ever considered that it is perfectly possible to frolick about outdoors without seriously annoying the local wildlife by placing specimens in buckets or yelling at them? --Saddhiyama (talk) 22:13, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

But ... catching frogs is fun! And they're interesting to observe up close as well. APL (talk) 00:03, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
In my childhood, I was told that holding a frog in your hands could hurt it just from your hands being warm and (I'm guessing) dry, or drying out. Does this have any basis in fact? I mean, obviously, holding it out of water for so long it gets dry is not going to be good for a frog, but could just a few seconds of contact with dry (or dryish) hands hurt a frog, assuming gentle handling? Or did my parents just want to stop me catching frogs? 86.163.212.254 (talk) 00:27, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A frog is not going to dry out by being in contact with your hands. In fact, since they typically piss as soon as you pick them up, your hands are unlikely to be dry for long. Matt Deres (talk) 01:12, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And after that, go to the drugstore and get some wart remover, just to plan ahead. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:10, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I hope you're not seriously suggesting that you can catch warts from a frog? The "warts" on a frog or toad are organs through which they absorb water. Warts in humans are caused by a virus that can be passed from human to human - but which does not cross-species easily. So no - you absolutely cannot catch warts from a frog. Please check before posting crap. SteveBaker (talk) 05:01, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Apparently you didn't see the smiley. So take your own advice, eh? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots11:25, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The best jet-fighter

What has been considered the best jet fighter aircraft over time? Have they always been American, or have they sometimes been from Russia or other nations? Thanks 92.29.123.251 (talk) 22:50, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will give you a better answer, but during WW2 the only jet fighter was the Messerschmitt Me 262. It terrified allied pilots because in many ways it was a quantum leap more deadly than the propeller planes everyone else was using. (Even though it had a number of problems.) APL (talk) 23:58, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
"Best" is highly subjective. In jet engineering, every advantage comes with a disadvantage. During the late Cold War, the US and the USSR had very similar capabilities, though their planes were rated for different goals (some were faster, some could make tighter turns, some were cheaper and could be mass produced, etc.). I don't think one could say in general whether the USSR or the USA were necessarily always the "better" one, whatever that means, anyway. They were pretty neck-and-neck. For the most up-to-date planes, see Fifth generation jet fighter. For slightly older ones, see Fourth generation jet fighter, which makes it clear that lots of countries manufacture pretty good jet fighters. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:12, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I believe the largest jet vs. jet conflict to date was the Korean War, and that article has an entire section on aerial combat that will be of interest: Korean War#Aerial warfare. Unfortunately it appears that the shootdown claims made by the Americans, Chinese, and Soviet Union all vary wildly. Our article calls the two sides evenly matched while it was the North American F-86 Sabre versus the MiG-15. On the other hand, our Aerial warfare article calls North Vietnam, during the Vietnam War, the most heavily-defended-from-air-attack region up to that time. Comet Tuttle (talk) 07:19, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
As said above, best is subjective. If you mean fastest, the Soviet MiG-25 would probably win. If you mean most maneuverable, I would put forward the American F-22 for consideration. Most damage resistant might be the American A-10. Shortest runway requirements probably go to the British Harrier Jump Jet. Best shootdown ratio I believe is the American F-15, which was around 100-0 or so. Really, it all depends on what you are looking for. Googlemeister (talk) 16:50, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Freelance

Thinking freelancing writing right up my ally. This isn't the 1st time that I thought about this, but still unsure on all of this. Even after looking into it in the past.

How do I come about getting paid for my work. Because I really need the money then my current way. My dads pays me for volunteering and work around the house/etc.

Plan on taking on my time on this.

Thank you, in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mybodymyself (talkcontribs) 23:09, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You may want to visit your local bookstore for a magazine on writing. It may have some pretty good pointers. Additionally, and I know that you didn't ask for a critique, but your grammar could use some work. If the above is an example of how you would write for a client, I for one wouldn't want to read it. Dismas|(talk) 23:15, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Dimiss,

Thanx and yeah I'm aware of my grammar needs work.--Jessica A Bruno 00:27, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Try and get on a creative writing course, so that you can have your work critiqued by your peers. --TammyMoet (talk) 06:51, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Our article Freelancer is pretty poor but may have some useful links. I agree with the suggestions of Dismas and TammyMoet. A hard part about being a freelance writer, by the way, which you may not have considered, is that my impression is that you have to spend 80% or 90% of your time selling, selling, selling yourself to new clients and present clients and trying to get that next gig. Comet Tuttle (talk) 07:10, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Caution: "creative writing" generally deals with fiction genres (stories, poetry); freelance writing jobs, especially for novices, are more likely to be for nonfiction. For any job you intend to tackle, besides its appeal, you ought to consider: are you good at the task, and good enough that someone will pay you to do it rather than others? A prospective employeer (e.g. an agency) will probably ask you to submit a resume of your education and activities (volunteering, areas of interest) showing your background and fund of knowledge, and a portfolio of samples. Consider picking up writing skills as an editor (e.g. rewriting others' work, possibly translations by non-natives) while developing your freelancing (independent writing) alongside this. Remember that a freelancer's pay doesn't include benefits and perqs, and you might consider an inhouse job while you're accruing experience. And keep your word-processing skills current and in top form; consider too that desktop publishing might give you a competitive edge. -- Deborahjay (talk) 15:48, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanx, again for the answers. Really haven't thought about that aspect. Was never satisfied by taking them in the past. Even though I love to write, read, etc along those lines. Still felt it wasn't for me some reason or other. --Jessica A Bruno 16:04, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

While I'm not sure if this fits your definition of Freelance and I haven't tried any of these myself, there are some online websites that will hire people to write for free (but are paid) that you may consider, such as Allvoices. ~AH1(TCU) 01:18, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Disassemble built-in wardrobe

Hello Wikipedians, this might be a bit of a weird question, but here goes anyway. I just bought a big house, with many extra bedrooms- I thought why not convert one into a musicy-type room. It's 3.6m x 3.6m, but there is a built in wardrobe which is 0.6 deep alongside one of the walls with a mirrored front and sliding doors. Is there any way to disassemble or unbuild this wardrobe?

Thanks in advance, 110.174.151.109 (talk) 23:50, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you want an answer from us, you're going to have to at least supply us with a little more information. Like, what is it made of, how is it put together, that kind of thing. And even then, it's not like we're actually there to examine it. Frankly, a good crow bar should take apart just about anything you care to work it over with. Matt Deres (talk) 01:19, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Was it a factory made unit like Ikea furniture, held together with fancy little screw fasteners, or was it stick built in place from lumber and boards and plywood, nailed and glued together? It can certainly be removed, but if the removal involves a reciprocating saw, crowbar and sledgehammer, it will be kindling when it leaves, rather than a unit which can be reassembled somewhere. I expect I, or the average handyman, could demolish and remove such a unit in a couple of hours. Some repairs or patching to walls/floor/ceiling where it stood might be necessary, but maybe not. Basic questions: Is it attached to the walls and ceiling? Can it just be carried out? If some trim pieces next to the ceiling were removed, could it be separated into two or more smaller units which could be carried out? Possibly it was built as subassemblies in a shop and screwed together on site, with molding added to join it to the ceiling and to hide any gaps at the sides. The worst case, from your perspective, would be if the unit were installed before the walls, ceiling and floor were installed. But I once removed a pantry and had to the install a new floor and ceiling, so it is still possible. Edison (talk) 01:24, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't really know anything about it, and all I can say is it's just a normal bedroom wardrobe with a sliding door. It seems to be connected to the floor using screws, and that's all I can see. Thanks for your replies, though. 110.174.151.109 (talk) 03:31, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If it's a 'built-in' wardrobe - as you say - then you can remove the doors and perhaps the internal shelving - but then you end up with an odd wardrobe-shaped hole in the wall. Anyway, if these are the usual kind of sliding door then you can probably just lift them off the tracks - then remove the tracks by undoing the half dozen screws that hold them to floor/ceiling. If they are hinged then you just unscrew the hinges. This is so easy, it's hard to say anything meaningful beyond "just undo all of the screws". SteveBaker (talk) 04:02, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
One caution is that until it's been removed you don't know the condition of what's behind it. There might be a perfectly good wall that just needs a coat of paint to match the rest of the room, but maybe there's damage or even an incomplete wall. Still, there is only one way to find out. --Anonymous, 07:17 UTC, 2010-07-17.
Don't rule out the possibility of converting the wardrobe into a stereo/TV cabinet. But first maybe watch HGTV for a few days. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:04, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


July 17

Lightsaber?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crowd_controlfestival.jpg - What is the Japanese cop on the left holding? Thanks in advance! Rimush (talk) 12:46, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The picture might have been retouched. It looks like the handle and the "blade" of the "lightsaber" are oriented in slightly different directions. --71.185.179.38 (talk) 13:07, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Fake. Such a brilliant object if real would cast light on the policeman's left trouser leg. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:34, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think it's fake or retouched; if you look at the original source of it, the guy who uploads these photos seems pretty serious on the whole. I suspect it is just some kind of either metal baton or a large plastic traffic baton (for directing traffic), and the light it hitting it funny in the photo. It looks like it is made out of red aluminum to me (Cf. [2]), but it could just be plastic lighted from within (e.g. [3]). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:42, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If you download it and zoom in, you'll see that 71's comment is on the mark - that the angle of the handle is different from the angle of the "light saber" portion. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:45, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Nah, don't agree Bugs. There is no sign of retouching around the baton and the 'angle' that you talk about is barely perceptible and could be due to the angle of viewing or the angle of the light or even designed construction. Given the uploader's history and the plain ordinariness of the photo I think we should take it in good faith and I agree with Mr 98. Oh, and by the way, if you want to buy one have a look here [4] Caesar's Daddy (talk) 16:23, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's more than barely perceptible, as two of us noticed it. Download it and zoom in and you can tell it's about a 5 or 10 degree angle. Seems unlikely they would put a "bend" in a baton, and the examples cited by you and another editor don't show a bend. I'm not necessarily saying it's fake - but we need more information before we can say it's real. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots16:36, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Either way, it's somewhat incidental to the article in which it's being used.--Shantavira|feed me 16:41, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Here's another photo in that series showing a cop holding a red baton of some kind.[5] The photographer took a ton of photos from that parade, so I would think it's unlikely he would throw a "ringer" in there. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots17:04, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think the baton has any bend in it. It just looks like that because you can't see the whole base, his hand is covering it. Again, I see no reason whatsoever to conclude it is fake, and find that a rather improbable conclusion. --Mr.98 (talk) 19:14, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Did you download it and zoom in on it? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:19, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I did and couldn't see what you were talking about, even after holding a straight-edge up to my screen. APL (talk) 19:52, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
At 8 times zoom, I can't see any evidence of faking (though this might not show up in compressed format), nor can I see any unlikely angle. If you are really worried, ask the uploader (politely) if you may have a copy of the original uncompressed picture. That would settle the matter. Dbfirs 20:16, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I was about to comment that if the OP gets real desparate, he could simply ask the one who took the photo. I don't think it's fake either, despite the peculiar bend between the handle and the rest of it. I would just like to see the rest of it. My guess is the photographer took no notice of it at the time. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:03, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The dispute about the angle is because the man's hand is casting shadows on both sides of the handle, which are almost parallel to the red shaft. If you can zoom in closely enough to see past the shadows, you can see that the handle is actually almost vertical, with some sort of rim around the bottom end (similar appearance to the thing you tighten on a garden hose) that is horizontal. Thus there is an angle not just 5–10° but more like 20° between the handle and the shaft.

On the other hand, that still doesn't prove that the photo's a fake -- if the thing is something like a traffic baton, the handle could have deliberately been angled because it was felt to be easier to hold or something, or it could just have gotten bent at some time. As to the absence of light on the trousers, even if the thing is luminous and not just shiny, it's not so bright as to visibly light up the navy blue fabric from a few inches away in daylight.

Now, looking at the image page I see that it was copied from Flickr, and going to that site, I see that it's one of this set of 295 images of the Gion Festival in Kyoto. Looking over the thumbnails, all of the other images look like normal Japanese-festival type things. It's not likely that one faked image would have been slipped in there.

I then did a Google Images search on "Kyoto" and "police". There were many irrelevant hits, but this image, also on Flickr, shows a rear view of a traffic cop holding what seems to be a very similar device, although it is not fully visible. And this page about "Security, Guns and Police in Japan" include two pictures of police holding similar objects, one at the top and one about halfway down.

Conclusion: it is indeed just a traffic baton.

--Anonymous, 06:07 UTC, July 18, 2010.

Oh jeez. Let's apply some actual science to this image analysis!
The baton in the original photo seems to be glowing - the brightest part runs perfectly along the dead center of the baton. That's odd because the light in the general scene is coming from above and to the left and that symmetrical lighting seems all wrong. But it's obviously not glowing because the cop's leg isn't lit up.
I'm pretty sure the reason for that is that the baton is covered with some kind of retroreflective material that's bouncing light from a flash back into the camera. That would perfectly explain the look of the photo and the precise symmetry of the highlight. Retroreflectors are often used to make things visible in car headlights at night. Since we know from the photos that 'Anonymous' pointed us at, this is a traffic cop - that makes a lot of sense.
Tellingly, putting bright lights next to the camera and retro-reflective tape on the light saber is exactly how the light sabers in the first Star Wars movie were actually filmed, so it should come as no surprise that this looks exactly like a light saber!!
As for the supposed 'bend' between the handle and the 'blade' and claims of a 5 to 10 degree 'bend' - there are precisely 11 pixels of length of the handle visible - and only 6 of those are along a visible edge of the handle. Given the nyquist sampling theorem - that means you cannot possibly measure angles to anything like 5 degree precision - and 10 degrees is at best a value judgement based on guessing the center of a fuzzy highlight and not on the edge itself! The best 'meaningful' measurement you can get is accurate to maybe 20 degrees (and even that would require a lot of heavy-duty number-crunching on the actual luminance of the pixels). So all of the previous stuff about people knowing what the angle is - is just 100% premium bullshit. Nobody measured it - they all 'eyeballed' it and guessed.
I believe that the reason it looks a bit bent to the eye is that the handle wouldn't be covered with retro-reflective material. So the brighter highlight you see is being cast by the above-and-to-the-left light source - which will produce a curved highlight that slopes diagonally across the handle. That's a different angle from the retro-reflection cast by the 'blade'. That makes it look bent - but it's really not.
So - this is indeed "a lightsaber" (per Star Wars Episode 4), the photo isn't doctored, the blade isn't bent and these are not the droids you are looking for. OK?
SteveBaker (talk) 16:26, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The handle is definitely at a different angle from the rest of it, or appears so in the photo, and 5 to 10 degrees was just an estimate. Also, the other examples cited appear to be plastic, not metal, so it could be that this is a different type of object. However, it's reasonable to assume that it's not a faked photo, as it's just one of a whole bunch from that parade which the Flickr user posted. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots16:38, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Did you actually read one single word I wrote? There isn't enough information in the picture to see a 5 to 10 degree bend...and even a 20 degree bend is right on the mathematical limit of what you can actually measure...it's math...it's true...period. There is a perfectly good explanation for the appearance of a bend, it's down to the different lighting on handle and blade. You are utterly, 100% wrong. Now - if you disagree - PROVE IT. SteveBaker (talk) 02:05, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, and I say we're just seeing the same photo differently. I don't own the picture, so I can't upload a blown-up version of it or any version of it. But I agree it's not a fake, I'd just like to know more about that particular object, and so far no one has come up with anything that matches it. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots02:36, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's not a matter of "how we see it"...and you don't have to upload the image to prove it. This is a matter of basic image analysis and high-school math. Just zoom into the image, count the pixels and crunch the numbers. The length of the edge of the handle that's visible on the lefthand side is just about 6 pixels. A variation in slope of 1 pixel in 6 is 9.5 degrees (use the arctan function on your calculator!)...but you can't measure accurate to the nearest pixel - even if the image is in perfect focus because this is a digital sampling of an analog light field and Nyquist's sampling theorem says that you can only measure accurate to TWO pixels in both X and Y directions - which gives you a best-possible-case angle measurement of well over 20 degrees...but you'll only get that if you accurately crunch the numbers with the precise brightness of each pixel - just guesstimating it with a straight-edge won't get you that kind of accuracy. You can see 11 pixels from the end of the handle to the gap between the cops' thumb and index finger - but you can't tell the slope from that because there is no sharp edge to measure. The highlight on the handle is fuzzy...so even though that would theoretically get you a measurement to within 10 degrees - it doesn't give you that in practice because the position of the light source isn't accurately known - and neither is the curvature of the handle or the lambertian coefficient of the material it's made from. So - unless you can clearly measure a MUCH-bigger-than-20-degree bend, you are fooling yourself because there simply isn't enough information content in the image to support a more subtly bent handle. Now, I've done the math on the available pixel luminance data - and the resulting 'bend angle' is much less than the margin of error.
So, there is zero evidence to show a bent handle. None, zip, nada. Given that we know that all of the other 'traffic batons' out there are dead straight, there is no mystery here. There is no mystery-of-the-bent-handle to solve here.
QED SteveBaker (talk) 03:10, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You're free to think what you want, it doesn't really matter. I trust my own eyes. But can you find that apparently-metalic stick on the web anywhere? So far all anyone has found is plastic, and I wouldn't think plastic would reflect like that. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots03:13, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You might not think so - but you-not-thinking-so is not adequate grounds for objecting. It's not metallic - it's a retroreflector - which are commonly made of plastic for exactly these kinds of applications. Think of the trim they add to jackets and armbands for bicyclists. You can also buy retroreflective tape (I have a roll of the stuff in my garage) and retroreflective paint. Please stop guessing (as you so often seem to do) and do some proper research before you answer questions on the reference desk...and when you're conclusively proven to be wrong, learn to give up and admit that you're wrong with good grace. SteveBaker (talk) 23:13, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
On the internet links for these products, I don't see any reflective tape, it just looks like solid plastic. So I'm still curious about it. Meanwhile, you've certainly made this molehill into a mountain. Someone asked if it was fake. It's clearly not fake. That's fine. But it does not preclude someone asking further questions about it. Unless you've decided to forbid asking questions on the ref desk, which would certainly keep it to a manageable size. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots23:26, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The whole point of retroreflective surfaces is that they only strongly reflect light back to it's source. So they only look different when there is a light source close to the camera/eyepoint. If these photos you've seen were illuminated from the side - or anywhere other than where the camera is, they wouldn't look much different from regular plastic. But with flash photography - they look exactly like lightsabers...because that's how lightsabers were originally 'made'. SteveBaker (talk) 05:12, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I retract the claim that there clearly appears to be a 20° angle. It still looks like it to me, but I no longer clearly see the rim I spoke of above. Steve is right about the number of pixels visible and I believe I was fooled by an artifact of the way xv's smoothing interacted with the particular size I happened to enlarge the image to. The handle still might be angled, but it's not possible to tell and the other pictures I found suggest it isn't. --Anonymous, 07:53 UTC, July 19, 2010.
We have neglected an important part of the image. That map in the background makes Japan the center of the world. Is that common? --mboverload@ 03:43, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Quite, which tells me you've never traveled internationally very far from your place of birth. China's maps all place China in the center (horizontally, at least) and why shouldn't they? Every country produces maps for their own citizens. The world is round(ish) - there certainly isn't a "center" - is there? You've just uncovered a strong personal cognitive and social bias. The question now becomes - what will you do about it? 218.25.32.210 (talk) 05:16, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Please don't exaggerate about "strong personal bias". The world is symmetrical, but the distribution of populated land masses is not. It makes practical sense for world maps to keep them together by putting the Prime Meridian near the center and splitting the Pacific Ocean at left and right -- for map users in much of the world. Obviously not in Japan, though. --Anon, 07:58 UTC, July 19, 2010.
Well, whether it makes sense or not, it is certainly not consistently done. World maps from the US will almost always show the US in the center. The one on my wall (a Mercator projection) has the 90W meridian in the center. The cut line goes through a lot of water and a lot of deserted Russian steppe land, though admittedly it does also hit some extremely densely populated places near Bangladesh, but only for a short distance. --Trovatore (talk) 08:09, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I live in the US and have never seen a Mercator projection world map with the US in the center, usually 0deg longitude is in the center. I always was under the impression that this was one of the best ways to split it so that the ends of the map were in the Bering Strait, and very little land throughout that longitude. Googlemeister (talk) 16:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The following links should put this discussion to bed:
AJCham 05:49, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Excellent. Thank you! ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots06:00, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yup; I spoke to AJ asked me about this; I lived in Japan for some years. I can assure you these types of light-wand are reasonably common, for directing traffic and crowds. And BTW the background is 三井住友銀行 which is Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.  Chzz  ►  07:07, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Money for hiring people

Is it legal in the US that a company receives money to test-drive a candidate?--Mr.K. (talk) 13:11, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could you be more precise? Where is the company receiving the money from? What does "test-drive" mean in this context? What is the candidate a candidate for? --Tango (talk) 13:26, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Candidate is a job candidate. For example, getting money from a university to hire one of its graduates for a couple of months.--Mr.K. (talk) 13:27, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't know about the US, but in the UK there have been a number of Youth Training Schemes under which employers gained advantages provided they took on and/or trained youngsters. See the wiki article Youth Training Scheme.Froggie34 (talk) 13:54, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK many employers will have a 'probationary' period when you first start - that is to say they will give you the role but review how you are performing after a set period. I presume similar things happen in the US. Here's a link that explains the idea a bit further (http://www.safeworkers.co.uk/ProbationaryPeriod.html). Is that the sort of thing you mean by 'test drive'? ny156uk (talk) 18:06, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I meant receiving money for hiring, not paying for hiring. A probationary period still implies that the employee is being paid by the company. The money in my question is just flowing in the opposite direction (employee - company). --Mr.K. (talk) 18:43, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't think of any law it would violate. Is there a reason you think it might not be legal? --Tango (talk) 22:56, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Traditionally, this is called an "apprenticeship premium". Itsmejudith (talk) 23:52, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
See apprenticeship. ~AH1(TCU) 01:06, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If these employees are real employees and are working, I suppose they should at least receive minimum wages. In the case of internships, however, it is quite common in the US to work for free, which is also a proces for testing potential employees without spending too much money. Some legal restrictions apply in this latter case, however, they are often not enforced.--Quest09 (talk) 17:19, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My son is an intern (doing 3D art at a computer games company) during his college vacation - and here in Texas, they are legally required to pay interns at least minimum wage...he's getting $10/hr - but with no paid vacation, no sick days, not even the 4th of July holiday was paid...although they do have to pay him for any overtime he works. That may not be true in all US states though. As it happens, he would have worked for free because it looks very good on one's resume to have already had practical experience in a real working situation and a good letter of introduction from a former employer. It's also a great way to 'network' and get contacts in the business - which again, is good when it comes to looking for a 'proper job'. SteveBaker (talk) 05:06, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As the crow flies

Anyone know any websites that'll tell me the distance between two geographical points? Vimescarrot (talk) 18:58, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The article As the crow flies has a couple of links that might be useful. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:09, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Google Earth is pretty good for this sort of thing. --Mr.98 (talk) 19:11, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Wolfram Alpha appears to do it (example: [6]) but I don't trust Wolfram Alpha. (I had to tell it I didn't want it to understand New York as a "financial entity" ... it has some pretty crazy default ideas.) 213.122.61.160 (talk) 19:13, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict)Excellent - http://www.acscdg.com/ from the as the crow flies article seems to be what I'm after. Thanks for that. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:18, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gather energy - true or false?

Does gathering energy from people's bodies by stacking your hands over their head make it easier to lift them up?

I watched the show Explorers of the Human Body (an educational show) and was kept confused by this question, brought up at the end of episode 4. You may watch this part of the show with the illustration here (from 6:00 to 8:00) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCwY6rifOwE

Were they only acting to confuse viewers or is it really true? This show often contains things that sound incredible at first but are proven right scientifically. But this one is too strange, so I wonder. 117.4.128.112 (talk) 19:25, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There's no such thing as "gathering energy" that way. There could be a psychological impact, i.e. they might try harder to lift him the next time. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:39, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
This is similar to a pretty common trick for selling suckers bogus "strength enhancing" bracelets or other such charms. Hand someone something that looks easy to lift, but isn't. (For example, a paper bag ... with a brick in it.) The first time they reach for it they are surprised by the weight of the thing, and have some difficulty. It's important here that you stop them from trying to lift it after a second or so and don't let them make a second attempt. They are left with a sense of how surprisingly heavy the object is. Now you give them the bracelet, have them drink the energy drink, or have them go through some silly exercise and have them try again. This time they have in their mind that the object is really heavy (after all, they couldn't lift it.), so they lift it with all their strength, and low and behold, they lift it easily. Like picking up an empty milk-jug.
This video shows a similar trick. The object they're lifting is not surprisingly heavy, but they're being obliged to lift it in an uncomfortable way. Add to that the fact that the liftee may cooperate (subconsciously even) by sitting more rigidly when they're expected to be able to pick him up. APL (talk) 20:07, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I can't watch the video, but this sounds like "how to levitate" [7] (rightmost panel), which is a proprioception trick. Then I found [8], which gives the impression that you actually will be able to lift the person. Perhaps this works too as APL says, and has evolved from the previous trick. 213.122.61.160 (talk) 20:12, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe this is related to laying on of hands? ~AH1(TCU) 01:00, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The people in the video are absolutely lifting the person. But this shouldn't be surprising on its own. Four average people should have no problem lifting a fifth average person. APL (talk) 04:38, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely. We used to have a variation of this at school where six people each using only one forefinger would lift a prone subject. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 14:17, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is not just four people lifting one person, it is about lifting with "fingers" only. I just found out several videos on youtube that call this "levitation trick", like this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xme5SPvETkE

It seems a very popular trick/game but the explanation for it is never clear.117.4.150.220 (talk) 17:03, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think there's any great mystery. Our article Light as a feather, stiff as a board is rather poor, but the talk page has some anecdotal research and as APL says, four people lifting a fifth person is not exactly amazing. Remember the arms are doing the lifting not the fingers. Actually I seem to remember we may have discussed this before. Nil Einne (talk) 23:20, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Characters

http://www.quazacolt.com/

Can someone tell me the characters on this website's banner please?

http://www.quazacolt.com/dmmlq/tenshisomeone.jpg

Also, who are the two characters here? 64.75.158.200 (talk) 22:46, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In the banner, the guy with the blue eyes and sword is the Lich King- see World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King for another picture. I don't know the others. Staecker (talk) 11:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The two girls on the left in the banner are Lala and Haruna from To Love-Ru, I also don't recognize any of the others -- Ferkelparade π 13:39, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The second link you gave is a couple characters from Angel Beats!. Yuri on the top and Angels on the bottom. ZigSaw 13:29, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Horo from Spice and Wolf as the last one? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]


July 18

Bid, ask and price (stocks)

Can someone explain to me what it means when a stock has a bid price, an ask price and how that relates to the last price? For example, I am looking at a stock right now that has a bid price of $4.01, an ask price of $4.99 and a last price of $4.85. I assume that the 4.85 means that at the moment to market closed in Friday the stock was selling for $4.85. Am I right? If so, how do they determine the "ask" price and what does that mean (whose asking?) and the bid price (who's bidding at the lower price?)--162.83.139.249 (talk) 03:02, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Okay I've answered some of my own questions. Let me restate my question. If I place a one day limit order at $20 And the ask price is $22 and the bid price is $18, is that impossible to fill? Do I have to start at the ask price, or can i hope that during the day the "spread" will change and my lower limit price might be filled?--162.83.139.249 (talk) 03:13, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Your limit order (I assume from context it is a purchase limit order) will be executed if the ask price falls to $20 or below during the day. The spread will not necessarily change - the bid price could move as well, so the stock might fall from 18-22 to 16-20 - lower price, same spread. If the ask price remains above $20 throughout the day, then your limit order will expire at the end of the day (because it is only a day order). In principle, you can place a limit order at any price you like, but in practice there is no point placing it above the current ask price, because it would be executed immediately, so you might as well just place a market order. There might be some point to placing a limit order at the current ask price if the stock's price moves quickly, you want to protect yourself against a price rise between when you place your order and when it is executed, and you would rather not get the stock at all than pay above the current quoted price. Gandalf61 (talk) 09:31, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Types of social housing in the UK

Just wondering what the differences are in practice (in the UK) between being a council house tenant and receiving housing benefit to rent a privately owned home? Why are tenants reluctant to move from the former to the latter? 188.221.54.24 (talk) 08:34, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well the first thing to mention is that council housing is a lot harder to come by than a private situation, since demand way outstrips supply and there is always a long waiting list for suitable council properties. So that's one aspect to bear in mind. --Viennese Waltz talk 09:00, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Council house rents tend to be at the lower end of the range for a given area and standard. Councils also offer better security of tenure, and some are more willing to undertake repairs and modernisations than the average private landlord. There are exceptions, of course, and some private landlords fulfil their obligations to a higher standard than councils, but many others do not. Dbfirs 09:41, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Council houses were built to a very high standard as set out by the Parker Morris Committee. The rooms tend to be bigger for comparable houses built at the same time. --TammyMoet (talk) 10:08, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Rent for council housing and social housing is always paid in full if there is entitlement to full housing benefit. If the rent for privately rented housing is above the local rent median, then housing benefit is only paid up to that amount. In other words, it's quite common for tenants to receive less than the full rent in privately rented accommodation. Also, councils and other registered social landlords are more-or-less guaranteed to be good landlords, which is not always the case with private landlords. Finally, council and social housing tenure is often for the life of the tenant (and can sometimes be inherited) so giving this up may not be wise. --Phil Holmes (talk) 11:14, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The other advantage to the council tenant is that even if you don't pay your rent for years and years, you still do not get thrown out. The disadvantages are that you tend to have belligerant or even downright mentally ill neighbours, and your surroundings are often squalid. 92.24.178.184 (talk) 11:43, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The larger size Tammy mentions also extends to land, giving many council houses a reasonably generous private garden that a privately rented flat or new-build housing association maisonette will not have. There's also the community element. Because of the security of tenure and the fact that council houses were built in estates, or at least clusters, you find some people who remain in one council house for decades with the same neighbours. Grown-up children may also be allocated properties nearby, (although reduced supply and increasing demand makes this less easy than it was) or they may be able to succeed to their parents' tenancy if they remain living in the family home and satisfy certain conditions, giving an "inheritance" of a sort. Karenjc 11:47, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
A factor not so far mentioned is that (to the best of my knowledge) you can remain a Council House tenant regardless of your/your household's income from employment (so you could advance to a comfortable salary, or have have a household with several jobs between them, while still enjoying the benefits of low rent, etc), whereas (to my certain knowledge) you can only receive Housing Benefit if you have a low-to-zero working income (so that if you obtain a job or improve your working income, you'll lose some or all of your Housing Benefit. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 14:07, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You sometimes find that private landlords are poor at responding to repair requests and things like that - where the council have workers employed just to do that kind of thing - it's not always like that - but it's something to consider. My wife and I bought an ex-council house when we were just married. It was really cheap and the room size, standard of construction, quality of materials and standard of upkeep were miles ahead of much higher priced houses that had been privately built. The downside is that large council house 'estates' are filled with poorer families - with higher unemployment - and (sadly) the crime and vandalism rates in those areas are typically higher than in neighborhoods where the majority of housing is 'owner-occupied' and only a small fraction are rented. However, it's important to say that this is a generalization that's not always true. There are a few really nice neighborhoods where all of the houses are council-owned. SteveBaker (talk) 15:59, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The rents for council housing are typically less than privately rented houses. This could have an impact should you land a poorly paid job and lose your housing benefit. Astronaut (talk) 15:03, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Its about time that council estate residents paid the same market rent as private tenants, and had the same terms and conditions. So they would no longer be subsidised by the taxpayer, and could not get away with not paying the rent for years. If you ask where would they go then, then they could be given ten or 20 square meters of floor area in an emergency warehouse. 92.15.4.196 (talk) 18:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Considering that housing benefit is often paid to private landlords, one could equally demand that private landlords be forced to reduce their rents. Private rents should be set to simply cover the cost of buying/building the property and then maintaining it, rather then allowing them to make the large profits that are currently possible (in my area private rents are typically double the equivalent cost of a mortgate to buy the same property). Astronaut (talk) 02:43, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If private landlords are not able to make a reasonable profit - they'll invest their money elsewhere and you'll have a housing shortage on your hands. Property rentals follow the laws of supply and demand - if it were the case that there were plenty of houses out there up for rent - then landlords would be sitting on expensive and unprofitable houses - so they'd be forced to lower their prices to compete. Having an empty house is a MASSIVE liability...it still needs maintenance, the property management company still charge you, you're still paying taxes on it, and the mortgage still comes due at the end of the month.
If rental charges are high - it can only be that demand is at least keeping pace with supply and there is no need to compete on price.
I actually do own and rent out a house in the UK and I can tell you that it's not exactly a big earner! The amount I can charge if I want to keep the place occupied fluctuates up and down as the market changes. The rent money seems a lot - but you have subtract the cost of the mortgage interest, taxes, renter's insurance, management fees (10% of the rent!), re-letting fees, periodic maintenance (some of which can be REALLY big ticket items), fixing up the property after someone trashes the place (Which has on more than one occasion (three airline stewardesses from Virgin Atlantic) come to three times the deposit they put down!), tidying up the garden between tenants (they NEVER keep it in the condition they got it in) - and people who fall behind on their rent and their utility bills - and then just vanish in the middle of the night (which you don't notice until a month later when the property managers go to demand payment!) - then make an allowance for the several months each year when the house is empty...and we certainly don't make a profit - we don't even break even for years at a time if the rental market is poor. The gain we'll eventually get will be when the mortgage is finally paid off. That's really the investment. We have been suffering the net loss for the past 17 years - and when the mortgage is paid off in a few years time, we'll get a modest income from the rent for our retirement. So as a landlord, you put up with all of this grief (and there is a LOT of grief!) and with having your capital tied down for 25 years - and only at the end of that time, do you start to make your money. But that's a very long-term (and incredibly risky) investment because house prices (as everyone recently found out) do fall...a LOT sometimes. SteveBaker (talk) 04:56, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
... but it is a worthwhile investment in the long-term, isn't it Steve? I wish I'd done the same! Banks and stock markets are not a good place for savings at present (and haven't been for the past ten years). Dbfirs 08:03, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Having been a private landlord and a private renter, I can see both sides of the argument. The house I rented out made me no money until I sold it. Luckily I didn't make enough money to be clobbered by over 20% capital gains tax. When I bought another place after a period as a private renter, I pointing out to the mortgage lender that I would be hundreds of pounds better off each month by paying the mortgage, such was the difference. The difference is even worse now, my mortgage is around 30% less each month due to currently low intertest rates, while rents for similar properties have crept up by 20% or more in the last few years. Astronaut (talk) 11:16, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
For a good recent overview, I recommend Estates: An Intimate History by Lyndsey Hanley; Amazon info here. BrainyBabe (talk) 14:41, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

[[Category:]] new brand in fashion

Hi There, I want to setup a new brand in fashion clothing in India mainly by importing the finished product from taiwan, bangladesh, vietnam etc like all the major brands in the UK do.For example Next, TK max, Bench etc does. please kindly give any suggestions by the contacts you have.

With Regards Ravi k

This is a reference desk. We find references for people. We don't have contacts in the fashion business. --Tango (talk) 14:12, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I tried typing "Clothing manufacturers in Taiwan" into Google and got a ton of good search results - I suggest simply doing that for all of the countries you are interested in. The website http://www.alibaba.com seemed to be one common 'portal' site - you can select 'Apparel' and look at individual countries and clothing types and get lists of hundreds of manufacturers. For example, http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/TW/Taiwan/category/3/Apparel.html 250 links to specific clothing types and cloth-related products (zippers, buttons, lace, etc) - each of which links to dozens of clothing manufacturers in Taiwan. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find what you need there. SteveBaker (talk) 15:41, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

retention of rank/stripes in military band setting

I am a former pipe major in a volunteer band, I resigned/retired from this position to move to another community, I have subsequently returned and rejoined this same band, am I still entitled to wear these stripes? in other words once I had earned them are they mine to keep or are they forfeited when I left?JamesRWarriner (talk) 19:44, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would think that those decisions would be up to the leadership of the organization. Maybe your group has some sort of bylaws that they go by which would give you an answer. Dismas|(talk) 23:44, 18 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

July 19

Software to generate images from text

Hi there, what software can I use to generate an image from text, like this? http://www.webdesign.org/img_articles/11310/finalsmall.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.15.182.132 (talk) 06:04, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Microsoft Paint does that. Indeed, any graphics editing software has that capability. --Jayron32 06:14, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
But is there any software that can be used that allows instant creation of an image through text without physically having to type out those words? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.15.182.132 (talk) 07:16, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
On most computers, you can press the Print screen key, and then 'paste' into a graphics program (Microsoft Paint will do). See Wikihow, How to take a screenshot in Microsoft Windows.  Chzz  ►  07:34, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Can you clarify exactly what you want? It is really unclear to me. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:06, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Wikipedia article on ASCII art has a section on image-to-text conversion. The aalib library may be what you're looking for. --173.49.11.154 (talk) 12:08, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That is not helpful because the OP is not asking how to make a crude ASCII-art image. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:48, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Pretty much any image software is capable of adding text to an image. I don't think it is possible to avoid typing out the words unless you cut and paste them from another source or use voice input (available on some operating systems or by buying some external software). To be honest though, unless you are writing huge amounts of text, you will spend much longer fiddling with the appearence of the text (font, stroke width, colour) and how it looks on the background. Astronaut (talk) 14:57, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Being economical with electricity

Electricty costs approximately 25 euro cents/KWh. Heating is done by gas and electricity is used for other purposes. For cooking, 2 electric plates are fixed in the kitchen area. They are not induction plates and they are of 2 different sizes. I almost always use the smaller one, and turn it off several minutes before cooking is actually complete. If possible, i also do not use its maximum heat setting. Electric plates have a rating of 2500 watt and I assume i use 40% of that totalling about 4 hours per month. Does it cost me 1 euro a month or iam caluating it wrong?.

I assume refrigrator does not run all the time and it starts only when its thermostat detects it is not cold. I usually run it at lowest power.I dont worry about other things such as laptop and small speakers as they consume negligible power. If you could suggest ways to reduce electrity consumtion that would be nice.

Iam not sure if I can read a meter correctly and please correct me if am wrong. In this picture, does it read 6.3 kw?http://img.tomshardware.com/us/2007/05/30/the_power_saving_guide/electric-meter.jpg . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.136.3 (talk) 09:53, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Your calculation in the first paragraph is correct (except that I would have estimated 60%). You meter reads the number of KWh used. It shows that a total of 638.6 KWh (@25 cents each) have been used since it was set to zero (not necessarily since it was installed or since you moved in). To estimate the rate at which you are using electricity, you need to count how many rotations the wheel makes in a minute, multiply by 60 to get the number per hour, then divide by the number partially shown but not clear in the bottom right of the meter. That will give you the usage rate in kw during that minute. Dbfirs 11:49, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Don't just set the thermostat of your refrigerator for minimum cooling; make sure that the temperature is low enough to prevent food spoilage. If you want to reduce your refrigerator's energy usage, keep it well maintained (Are the door seals worn? Is it low on refrigerant? If it has an exposed radiator, is it covered with dust?) , do not open the door for too long and unnecessarily, and do not put hot items in it—allow some time for the items to cool off first. If your refrigerator is old and wastes a lot of electricity, consider replacing it with a more efficient model. --173.49.11.154 (talk) 12:24, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Also, don't assume that the power consumption of items like computers, speakers, light, etc are negligible - if they're on for long periods they can seriously mount up non-intuitively - for an analogy put a large container under a slowly dripping tap and see how much it fills up overnight. Remember that appliances on 'stand-by' mode often consume surprisingly large fractions of their working requirements, and that even if an appliance plugged into a adapter/transformer is itself switched off, the adapter/transformer may still be drawing current (and will therefore be a little warm). If you're concerned about minimising your bill (leaving aside other motivations), cultivate the habit of switching off everything that you're not using, and do so at the socket rather than just on the appliance where relevant. This might cause (literally) momentary inconveniences while you wait for things to power back up (as it does for me while I wait for my router to re-connect), but repays itself in the long run. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 01:48, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Postcard from France within EU, to USA, Canada, Australia

I am unable to get to a post office and need to know how much it costs to post a card from France to various international destinations. I have just spent far too much time on the La Poste website, which offers to sell me lots of different beautiful stamps, but I cannot see where it tells me how far 0,57 centimes (etc.) will get me. Can anyone help? BrainyBabe (talk) 12:15, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The tariffs are listed in the top file linked from [9]. As it explains, "Zone 1" is the EU, Switzerland and a few microstates, while "Zone 2" is the rest of the world. Warofdreams talk 13:10, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! I just couldn't see it. It still doesn't actually say "carte postale", but it can't be more than the cheapest letter rate. BrainyBabe (talk) 13:40, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not so sure that is true. The footnotes for the "Lettre Eco" box on the first page say: "(1) Zone Outre-mer 1 : Guyane, Guadeloupe, Martinique, La Réunion, Saint Pierre et Miquelon, Saint Barthélemy, Saint-Martin et Mayotte. (2) Zone Outre-mer 2 : Nouvelle-Calédonie, Polynésie française, Wallis-et-Futuna, Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, Clipperton." ie. French territories only. The USA, Australia etc, are covered on page 2 in the "Lettre Eco Internationale" box. There it says 1.60 € for EU and Switzerland, and 1.75 € fo Rest of the World. Astronaut (talk) 14:45, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
How does that disagree with anything above? The "Zone Outre-mer" divisions are quite separate to the "Zone 1" and "Zone 2" for mail to other countries. Warofdreams talk 15:26, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

IMPORTANT to note that La Poste treat cards as second class whatever the stamp. Put each card in an envelope if you want it to arrive sometime this decade.Froggie34 (talk) 16:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What is the big deal with me marrying a black man?

I am a white, Christian, divorced, mother of three. I have never dated out of my race.... until now. I have always dated white men, not because I limited myself, but because I find their features most attractive. Of course there have been many black men that have caught my eye but I was always in a relationship and/or maybe too worried what people would think to act on anything. I know it's sad but I am in the South and believe it or not, a lot of interracial couples are treated poorly here. Anyway, my fiance (a black man) and I went to high school together and after nearly 10 years of being out of school found each other and fell in love. DEEPLY IN LOVE! He is everything I have ever wanted and everything my parents have ever wanted for me! He is a God fearing Christian who will not sleep with me before marriage, he is a hard worker and will do anything to provide for us, he has a father's heart and treats my children as his own, he is a MAN! PERIOD! I finally found my prince and all I've gotten is grief! My friends who acted like they weren't ignorant and racist have completely done a 180. They try to make me out to be a bad mother because I'm marrying someone of darker pigment! He is the best father figure I could ask for. I couldn't have custom made a better dad! People who I thought loved me, have looked in my face and called me a ni**er lover! SERIOUSLY?! Even people who call themselves Christians have turned their backs on us knowing the Bible says that we're all made in God's image. I have noticed a change in my black and white friends and the black and white general public alike, and the previously mentioned applies to both races (except the racial slurs). Black people have definitely been more slick about not like our relationship, unlike the white people who have been more outspoken and vicious. Does anyone know of a way that I can talk to these people and help open their minds and remove their clouded, ignorant beliefs? The only thing I ever seem to say is that I love him and he is right for me before getting irate with peoples ignorance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bmsglc (talkcontribs) 12:54, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia volunteers cannot solve problems of love or prejudice. If someone calls you NIGGER LOVER to your face, can you smile back and say Yes I love my african american husband? (I assume that you live in South USA, that you will hear people using the word nigger perjoratively, that it doesn't help to hide it as "ni**er", and that african american is a term that your husband is comfortable with). Look around for some new friends. You clearly think about your own children now but you must also consider how they too will encounter prejudice in school etc. as they grow up. Finally if there is any chance of you having children with your new husband, know that you carry a heavy responsibility for consequences that will go on long after today's passion has faded away. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:38, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You say you are both Christians. Would one way forward be to find a church that is happy for you as a couple? Through them you may find new friends. The first resource I found was Christians against racism. you might try asking them for suppport, online or in person. (To head off any further discussion: yes, bad things, including racism, can be done in the name of religions, Christianity and others. But some religious institutions are working against the same bad things.) BrainyBabe (talk) 13:46, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(ec)You may find our article on miscegenation interesting. Or horrifying. Matt Deres (talk) 13:50, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The thing is that while you don't mind, he doesn't mind, I certainly don't mind and a great many unprejudiced people don't mind - you have to accept that there are people who find this kind of thing deeply offensive - for whatever crazy reason. You and I would consider that attitude to be unfortunate, undesirable, distasteful, wrong...but it is undeniably true that some people feel that way - and the world is only changing very slowly in the 'right' direction. The degree to which this matters depends greatly on where in the world you live - and in what stratum of society - and what your friends and relations feel about it. By doing this, you are pretty much certain to run into some kind of difficulties in your future lives - and it's ridiculous to pretend that you won't. Whether those difficulties are sufficient to deter you from doing it (I hope not!) - or whether it turns out to be such a problem that you ultimately have to give it up (I REALLY hope not!) - or whether adversity makes the bond between you stronger (we can hope!) - is impossible for us here at the Ref Desk to say. That's your judgement call. SteveBaker (talk) 15:17, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This would not be an issue in the UK where there are lots of these relationships and lots of children as a result. Nobody thinks it unusual. 92.15.4.196 (talk) 18:32, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It would not be unusual in many parts of the USA. But racial attitudes vary quite a bit across the country. Move to New York City and nobody will bat an eye, ditto San Francisco. --Mr.98 (talk) 19:44, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Also learn the educational knees to nuts manoeuvre. Such racism is unacceptable anywhere anytime, but its completely out of place in a modern Western society. Any reasonable judge or jury will accept a Buzz Aldrin defense. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:03, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Here is a Buzz Aldrin Defense that recently didn't work. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:54, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Racial prejudice, and scorn of interracial marriages, is by no means limited to the south in the USA. But as sosmeone said, the larger the city, the less likely anyone is to care. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots23:19, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Bmsglc, you asked "Does anyone know of a way that I can talk to these people and help open their minds and remove their clouded, ignorant beliefs?" Sadly, the answer to that is probably "There isn't one." People's beliefs and prejudices are often very firmly held, having been learned in childhood and been reinforced throughout their lives by aspects of their local culture, and usually cannot be reasoned with. The only way you as a couple might eventually effect their prejudices is by keeping your equanimity in the face of their provocations, and demonstrating through your good marriage and parenthood that, in your instance, their assumptions are wrong. In the short term, your best "selfish" options are probably to re-evaluate who you should continue to consider "friends" in the light of their various behaviours, and to avoid the local general public's opprobrium by relocating to a more cosmopolitan and tolerant locality. Eventually, the collective examples of millions of couples like you nation- and world-wide will likely improve such benighted attitudes, but they have too much inertia for your individual efforts to have much noticeable effect. It's sad that this is so, and I wish you well. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 01:34, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There have long been problems when people marry those their friends and family hate or distrust. One outcome I have seen is that the Moslem in-laws say "Christians are terrible people, but X is not like most Christians." I have also seen German Minnesotans say "Y, who married our girl is not like most Blacks." They can retain their prejudice but make an exception for the wonderful person who is a demonstrably good husband to their daughter (or other relative) and good father to her children. Another solution is to move to a large city, in the North or in a cosmopolitan southern city, where few give a damn. Edison (talk) 03:34, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The most blunt application of that concept I ever heard was someone I know who conceded, "There's some good n*gg*rs." It works the other way also, as many blacks are (justifiably) very wary of white people. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:42, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I heard one of Robert McCartney's sisters interviewed on the radio not so long ago. She described how the local reaction to her family's fight for justice for her brother - the anger, threats and intimidation from people within her own community, whom she had grown up knowing and regarding as friends - had permanently altered the way she saw her city and the people in it. She had gained a new perspective on her home and her community, which suddenly seemed very small and parochial to her. It was a sad experience, but she still expressed no regret at having refused to acquiesce to the pressure to allow her brother's murder to be covered up quietly for the sake of local convenience. Almost as an afterthought, at the end of the interview, she said that she would probably end up moving away from Northern Ireland. It was sad to hear, but I was filled with admiration for her too. I wish you and your fiance all the best. He sounds a lovely guy. Karenjc 17:30, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that, in your case, a change of location may be the best course. You don't necessarily have to leave the South. There are plenty of biracial couples in Atlanta, for example, and I doubt that you would face major issues there. On the other hand, you will not face a problem in parts of New York City where educated professional people live, but I think you actually might face some trouble in some conservative, mainly white, working-class neighborhoods in New York and other northern cities. So, I wouldn't suggest a move to New York unless you will be able to find jobs that will allow you to pay the $2000 a month in rent needed to live in the more enlightened neighborhoods. In San Francisco, you would need at least that much to rent just about any apartment. On the other hand, some smaller cities in the North, such as Providence, Rhode Island, have a history of tolerance of biracial families without high rents (or house prices). Marco polo (talk) 18:11, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You asked for a way to talk to those people. Let us assume that you and your acquaintances believe what the Bible says.
If you want to help your acquaintances to understand Biblical teachings more accurately (http://www.multilingualbible.com/acts/18-26.htm), you might want to follow the example of Jesus (http://www.multilingualbible.com/1_peter/2-21.htm). In giving counsel to the seven churches of Asia, he gave commendation as well as correction. The record is in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
You can tell them about the Ethiopian eunuch who learned about Jesus Christ and was baptized (http://www.multilingualbible.com/acts/8-27.htm, http://www.multilingualbible.com/acts/8-38.htm). You can show them the Biblical teaching that God is not partial, but accepts as his followers all persons who practice righteousness (http://www.multilingualbible.com/acts/10-34.htm, http://www.multilingualbible.com/acts/10-35.htm).
You can contemplate http://www.multilingualbible.com/john/13-35.htm and http://www.multilingualbible.com/proverbs/17-17.htm.
Wavelength (talk) 21:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Internet archive

I went to the page http://www.geocities.com/soulofaitwo/CDdrama.html, but got an error. As you would expect, I went to http://archive.org and tried to retrieve the archive of that page; however, I got a data retrieval error. How else can I access this page? --138.110.206.101 (talk) 15:24, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It worked for me. Archive.org can be a little temperamental at times, so it's worth trying again a while later to see if you can access it. If you still can't, I saved the page for you and uploaded it to mediafire 1230049-0012394-C (talk) 15:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
IT should be pointed out that Geocities is over, which would explain the error. Aaronite (talk) 16:57, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

a website for photographers

Is there a website or web forum where I can post a photo I took so that people will evaluate it critically and suggest improvements and give technical advice?--117.207.145.243 (talk) 18:05, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This group is for all amateur photographers looking to improve their work. Members are encouraged to give truthful and constructive feedback on photos submitted by other members. This is a critique group, so please post 1 photo and then give feedback to 2 images behind yours in the group pool. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:24, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You could also check out PhotoSIG. The site describes itself thusly: "photoSIG is a community of photographers and photography enthusiasts, ranging from amateurs to working professionals. photoSIG members may critique photos that have been submitted by other users and may also submit their own photos for review by the community." --Zerozal (talk) 18:41, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
My wife is a pro photographer and her father is an amateur. He visits DPReview while she visits other specialized forums for her area of photography. Dismas|(talk) 23:46, 19 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If all else fails there's always 4chan's /p/ board which can have some surprisingly good information on it. Be prepared for the trolls that will tell you to break the glass in your camera lens and use it to slit your throat and die. --mboverload@ 06:54, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
deviantArt claims to be the largest online community for this sort of thing - it's not just for photography (although photography is one of the biggest sections of the site) and not just for critique and comment (you can tick a box to indicate whether critique is wanted or not). Despite the name it is not NSFW or sexually focused so you needn't worry on that score. Equisetum (talk | email | contributions) 11:18, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

July 20

Inglourious Basterds

I watched this movie tonight on TV and later did a bit of fact finding about it on Wikipedia and also IMDB, and having noted that it was very successful at the box-office, I was taken aback at how many of its actors were actually German, and that it had been partly filmed in Germany. But what really surprised me was how well it had perfomed financially when released in German cinemas (with some alterations to remove swastika symbols in order to comply with German Law). But I am left curious to know how it was actually received by German audiences, given its over-riding theme of violence, both to and by the Germans in France during WWII, and by the scalping of German soldiers and carving of swastikas on their foreheads and the fictional killing by fire and guns of Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Borman (and hundreds of other Germans in the closing scenes). Does anyone here know how it was received by its German audiences who spent over $4 million on tickets to watch it? 92.30.1.241 (talk) 01:31, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's too bad we don't have a spoiler template any more. I could have benefited from seeing one before reading this question. (I haven't seen the film yet and now know something about the ending) Dismas|(talk) 01:56, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Can't help but agree with Dismas on that. I saw Inglourious Basterds (or "Inglourious B*****ds" as Sky show on their EPG) was on tonight, but it was already halfway through, so thought to myself "I'll make a point of watching that tomorrow". TBH, there is no need to go into that much detail for the purposes of your question. Astronaut (talk) 02:31, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
First person original research: As for the violence, it was typical Tarantino - extremely graphical and somewhat over the top. Either you like that, or you don't. I don't think it matters much who is on the receiving side. Moreover, most of today's "Germans" do not identify with 1940s "Nazis". For one data point, I liked it, but I liked Pulp Fiction more, and I found Kill Bill (part 1) much more intense and disturbing. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 10:50, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Oh come on Guys - you really don't want any detailed discussion here on Wiki on a subject that has been in the public domain for over a year and has been extensively reviewed across the whole spectrum of the media - in case you might want to discover for yourself (in camera) the context of it a year after it first appeared on film???? Get real. Stephen, thanks for your pragmatic response which is much appreciated. 92.30.139.11 (talk) 10:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I agree. Please don't tell me what happens at the end of The Bible as I keep intending to read it and don't want to find out on Wiki. 80.192.57.134 (talk) 11:41, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Spoiler alert! Everyone gets burned at the end. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Stephan Schulz; few German Tarantino fans would take umbrage at seeing Nazis being slaughtered. The swastikas had to be removed from the posters by the way, because of the Swastikaverbot. I don't know whether you read German, but there is something on reception in Germany under de:Inglourious_Basterds#Rezeption. First of all, it is interesting to note that the film was co-financed by German subsidizing institituions (mainly the Deutscher Filmförderfond, the German Federal Film Fund). Together, these German funds gave 7.7 million EUR, over 10% of the production costs. A lot of people I spoke to highlighted Christoph Waltz's performance. Criticism in the media was mixed, but I only saw one review, by a Zeit journalist, expressing offense being taken. The title is "Scalp the Germans!" and the critic sees I.B. as a fantasy of revenge. He concludes that Tarantino misuses Nazis and Jews for a "film aesthetic beyond all moral intention"[10]. Tarantino fans will likely scratch their head and say "Duh?" ---Sluzzelin talk 14:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Sluzzelin for that informed and informative response - I really do appreciate that. I was born after the war and have no personal vendetta against Germany or its people, and I do welcome Germans I have met abroad and here in the UK into my home, and we do discuss such matters as the foregoing. But from their sometimes sensitive exploratory questions about how we Brits perceive the German people and their history of Naziism, I get the impression, as you suggest in your response, that obviously, there must be some who would see I.B. as "A fantasy of Revenge", which strangely, was an emotion I experienced as I watched it, which worried me personally, and that's what prompted my question on Wiki. But I do apologise to those sensitive souls above for whom my question spoiled the surprise. My thanks and my apologies to all. 92.30.175.183 (talk) 15:04, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sports stuff that draws crowds regularly

I went and saw the Stanley Cup yesterday and I started to wonder: What other sports-related object brings such reverence from the fans such that it is pretty much guaranteed to draw huge crowds. The Stanley Cup brought thousands through its tour around Vancouver and environs with this year's winner, and I imagine it would continue to do so if it came more often.

I can think of the Grey Cup and maybe The Ashes because both, like the Stanley Cup, are enduring symbols, the same artifact year after year. Do people care about the trophies of NBA/NFL/MLB, all of which are new each year to my understanding. Anything else in other parts of the world, or any other items? Aaronite (talk) 01:57, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There was a story recently about the World Cup trophy. I don't know if people make pilgrimages to see it, especially since the original was stolen a few decades ago. But it's a unique trophy. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots02:03, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I have (well, there exists somewhere) a picture of me with the MLB trophy, which was on tour and passed through Toronto at some point (I'm pretty sure it was before the Jays won it). It's not a new trophy every year, is it? Are the NBA and NFL ones new each year? They always look exactly the same. Adam Bishop (talk) 02:39, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The World Cup one is the same since the 70s. Not so for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the Commissioner's Trophy (MLB) or the Larry O'Brien Trophy. At any rate, the question stands, even with those trophies. Do they draw the crowds? Aaronite (talk) 04:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
After the Red Sox won a couple years ago, the MLB trophy went "on tour". It made it up here to Vermont somewhere. Not being a big baseball fan, I don't remember where it showed up or for how long. Dismas|(talk) 04:30, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Claret Jug, symbol of The Open Golf Championship, must be one of the most recognisable. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:02, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The FA Cup. Dalliance (talk) 10:31, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Anything Dale Earnhardt drove. Recury (talk) 18:15, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Criminal laws applying to only one person

In the course of wandering through our various articles, I happened on the one on high treason, and decided to click over to the Italian version, it:alto tradimento, and see what it said.

Turns out that in Italy, high treason is a charge that can be lodged only against the President of the Republic! This, not surprisingly, has never happened (well, they've only had 62 years; give them time).

And it occurred to me to wonder whether anyone knew of any other crimes of which only one person in an entire country can even be accused.

In the United States, the only thing I can think of that's sort of similar is the vaguely-worded "high crimes and misdemeanors" that justify impeachment. But that's not a specific crime, and it can be applied to the president, the vice president, and all federal judges. --Trovatore (talk) 09:28, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Impeachment#Other jurisdictions lists some countries where it notes only one person as impeachable: Austria, Croatia, Germany, India, Romania, Russia. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:05, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That's interesting, thanks.
I wonder whether it's really true about Italy. The Italian article doesn't specifically say that no one else can be charged with alto tradimento, but it's the only case they mention. --Trovatore (talk) 23:29, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The OP says "against one person", but technically it's against the office-holder, not a particular person. Nitpicky, yes. But for example, we could have impeached Bush anytime between 1-20-2001 and 1-20-2009, but we didn't, so now it's Obama's turn, if it comes to that. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots04:03, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Old time banishment perhaps, where it would be illegal for the specific person banished to return? Googlemeister (talk) 18:24, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

job dilemma

in the search for job i always come across a situation i..e an MBA degree which i do not have and hence not qualified for the job inspite of meeting all the required criteria for experience and the rest. i do not have the resource/time/inclination to enroll for MBA , so what should be my rebuttal for not having it, is there someting like "aplied for an online mba" will help? please suggest and help me out of this..thanks in anticipation —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 13:28, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately most vacancies these days receive many many applications from well qualified people such as yourself. Something like possession of an MBA is one of the things personnel departments do to cut down the number of applicants into a long list. I would say that you probably won't get very far with vacancies for which an MBA is a requirement and you should lower your sights to jobs where it is not. --Viennese Waltz talk 13:35, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On the other hand you can achieve breakthrough and at least get onto the long list. It takes creativity. You need to create a presentation that will strike through to the key issues of importance to the employer. Remember that the initial screening is probably being done by a relatively minor staff member who basically has to see if an application "ticks the boxes" It is he or she that screens and he or she will see dozens of CVs that all follow the same pattern. Dare to be different ! What have you got to lose ?Froggie34 (talk) 14:04, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just as an example: My wife wanted to work back stage at a London theatre. She was told it was impossible to get a job. Closed shop. She actually was offered six interviews (out of 19 applications). Her breakthrough was to use an A3 sheet of bright yellow paper and create her "CV" using text, pictures, sketches, anecdotes. She was applying to creative people, of course. She was a Principal Dresser within three years.Froggie34 (talk) 14:08, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Your mileage may vary. Most business type jobs would probably just throw out a resume with pictures, sketches and bright colors. Googlemeister (talk) 14:11, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Though I do know someone who got a job at a small software house by applying on "postman pat" paper. The CEO/company owner had a similar silly sense of humour! -- Q Chris (talk) 14:14, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The degree of 'uniqueness' that is likely to be beneficial (or that you can even get away with) is going to vary greatly from company to company, and indeed from person to person — if your CV passes through the hands of one person who lacks a suitable sense of humor, you may be in trouble. Generally speaking, the 'unusual' CV is going to go over better with (very) small firms that lack a full human resources department, and with companies whose line of business involves a creative component (marketing, design, artistic stuff).
I would tend to avoid getting too bizarre. Bear in mind that it is possible to have a 'creative' CV that is elegant, polished, clear, and still highly professional in appearance. It doesn't need to be on colored paper, and it definitely shouldn't employ Comic Sans. Remember that you selling a product; that product just happens to be you. The CV or resume is just a pamphlet you're handing out to get people interested. Are the important specs readily gleaned from the product sheet? Is the prospective buyer able to see how you meet their needs? Have you avoided inundating the reader with a giant wall-o-text? Proper use of whitespace may be the most important aspect of making a document readable. Visual cues like indents, horizontal rules, and a restrained use of different typefaces can all make a huge difference to efficient readability. Make damn sure that your spelling and grammar are impeccable; if necessary, get a friend to look things over for you. Don't write your resume or cover letter the same way that you would write a text message or a casual email to a friend (or the way that you've written your question here).
Having said all that, the fact remains that you don't meet the standards set out by the job ad. Some employers deliberately ask for more qualifications and hope to get lucky; others will consider the MBA a minimum standard that must be met. Unfortunately, for most employers, the first stage of resume screening is to throw out as many applications as possible. The screener will be looking for reasons to get rid of applicants, because calling people in for interviews is costly and time-consuming. Your might address your lack of an MBA in a covering letter ("While I have not completed an MBA, I believe that my extensive/relevant/respected/whatever business experience at Alpha, Beta, and Gamma will be a valuable asset to the FooCorp's widget division"). That's not what you lead with, but don't act like you're hiding something. You might consider declaring an interest in a part-time/online MBA program during your employment. (Don't assert something you've not given serious thought to, however, and definitely don't claim that you've applied for a program if you haven't.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:15, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
(ec) As the OP is discovering, there is competition for jobs and having an MBA is not necessarily the only key to getting a job. But the reality is that there are people who do make the effort to obtain an MBA and it is not obvious why someone who never had the "resource/time/inclination" to do so should displace one of them from the job they have worked to get. It is no excuse to say that you always are in the situation of needing an MBA because that just means you are probably chasing the wrong jobs and overlooking ones that you actually fit. This sounds harsh but you must revise your confidence that you already meet all the required criteria, and a good start will be to improve your English grammar if you plan to APPLY (correct spelling) for jobs in that language. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:27, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
We don't know what your background is, but one common rebuttal of a degree being acquired is "I have equivalent hands-on job experience". To an employer, the MBA is shorthand for having a certain amount of knowledge and tenacity. Having had several years of success in the field is going to be just as valuable, in the eyes of most employers. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:33, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, that is usually a good approach. I'm not sure it applies for an MBA, though. Usually you need to have several years experience before you can even take an MBA (eg. see [11]). MBAs are intended to provide skills you wouldn't get just from experience so I don't think employers will accept experience in lieu of an MBA like they would for other degrees. --Tango (talk) 16:43, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'd second the caution against claiming that you are studying for a qualification (online or otherwise) when you are not. Distance learning is every bit as taxing as in-house study in a college or university, and will usually take longer because the student is fitting study time around his/her other commitments. If you claim to have enrolled on a distance learning MBA and get as far as the interview, your interviewer will undoubtedly ask which MBA you're doing, with which institution, and how far your course has progressed. Facts like this are checkable, and no employer is going to appoint someone who, during the interview, is found to have lied on the application form. Karenjc 16:31, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Alway be a tryer - do not be afraid of failure. Have a go. That motto about regretting the things you didnt do rather than the things you did is very true. 92.28.243.14 (talk) 19:22, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I had three years of experience before I applied for second job which required graduation as minimum qualification and I am undergraduate. I was surprised to get interview call, only to find that the interviewer was visibly upset when he realized that I am undergraduate and he called up those who shortlisted me and was told that it was just a mistake to call undergraduate candidate. He apologized for the mistake but said I am not eligible. I only said that it is serious mistake because in covering letter I had clearly mentioned that "you need not call me for interview if academics takes precedence over excellence and experience". Then he checked the letter and went out of the cabin, returned, interviewed me and I got the job. Later I was told that he showed the covering letter to directors who were impressed by the statement and they ordered to hire me; my interview was only a formality. - manya (talk) 04:40, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Leo Laporte's visit to the Mustang factory

Does anyone know when Leo will be going to the factory? He mentioned it a couple of weeks ago on his Tech Guy show but it seems to have been forgotten. Does anyone who listens to the TWiT network have any ideas? Thanks. Chevymontecarlo - alt 16:08, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I guess no one knows :( never mind. Chevymontecarlo - alt 07:06, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I know, I know! Next weekend, during Maker Faire, although I'm not sure on the exact day. I'm almost certain though that it's Saturday. katherine_a (talk) 16:47, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Urban Legend or History

I remember reading about a Russian or Armenian stage actor, who was also an officer. He was posted to some frontier town during WWI when a regiment of angry infantrymen bent upon rebellion, railed right behind their seniors, whom they held in gross contempt for some reason or other. There was no way anyone could stop them from slaughter except our hero. He did. How ? by acting before them ! He started reciting passionately the lines from Hamlet or something like that. They got so involved with his performance that they forgot their anger and went back in peace. When did this happen, if it did. And who was this great real-life hero ? The guy's name should be something like Vahan Shatouni, no link on Wikipedia of course. Only three on google but unfortunately none works, the last is actually to an Indian book by Pustak Mahal, I am reading. This book is the only source (that's quite unnatural) that carries the story, thus needs further investigation  Jon Ascton  (talk) 19:18, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Déjà vu. 92.28.243.14 (talk) 19:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree, didn't we have this exact question a few days ago with almost exactly the same wording? --Tango (talk) 23:26, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yup. Removed from there, already. Or is it not legitimate ?
How do we approach snopes.com (if that is a good idea) for help  Jon Ascton  (talk) 23:59, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You might try their message board. Dismas|(talk) 00:13, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The Pustak Mahal article you linked suggests that this is probably the name of the publisher, not the author. Can you confirm the actual author's name (if any is given), and give us the title? Are you sure that the book in question is not actually a work of fiction (which sometimes can appear at a casual glance to be factual as part of their mystique)? If the book purports to be factual, be aware that the article - which appears to be promotional material written by the Pustak Mahal company - contains clues suggesting that they might be at least in part a Vanity Press, which means that they may not check the veracity of everything they publish. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 16:21, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

peugeot toy cars

Where can I find toy cars of peugeot, citroen, renault, alfa romeo and fiat, and aston martin, jaguar, roll-royce, bentley, and mercedes-benz and bwm and volkswagen, audi, and opel? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.54.130 (talk) 19:37, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Here are many sources of model cars, if that is what you mean by "toy" cars. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:24, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You might be able to find some of them from Matchbox or Hot Wheels. Having just gone through their web sites though, I didn't see too many of the European brands. Though, with Hot Wheels, I could only see the 2010 and 2009 releases. Matchbox's site was even more useless. Dismas|(talk) 02:04, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Bburago and Maisto both produce cars from these brands. Chevymontecarlo - alt 07:04, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Of course, you can often frequently find them for sale on eBay. --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:27, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Council estates

1). Do council estate tenants pay Council tax? They did not pay rates in the past. If they don't pay, do their rents reflect this, or are they being double-subsidised with low rents and no Council tax, as well as bigger houses? 2) How do the per capita GDP and crime rates on a council estate compare with non-council estates? Thanks 92.28.243.14 (talk) 21:25, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The answer to the first part appears to be yes. Not sure about the second part. Enter CBW, waits for audience applause, not a sausage. 03:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
That link does not mention anything about council estates. and CBW does not apear to be British and hence would be unlikely to have local knowledge. 92.28.255.176 (talk) 08:51, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
How would "crime rates on a council estate" be defined (as distinct from measured)? Would you be counting crimes geographically committed in an estate (whether by its residents or by people who actually live elsewhere)? Crimes committed regardless of location by an estate's tenants? How do you take into account the non-homogeneous make-up of many estates (given that many former council houses have been sold to private occupants)?
With that question settled, are either crime rates or "GDP" contributions actually measured by anyone on such a basis as council house occupancy? Would it be possible (and legal) to do so? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. If it were possible to obtain such data, what use would it be, and would the possibility (likelihood?) of its being misused for malevolent purposes outweigh any benefits of having it? 87.81.230.195 (talk) 06:50, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

By crime rates I meant the proportion of convicted criminals in the population. I'm wondering what council estates would be like if all the council estates in Britain were magically made into a seperate country - where they would be compared with the various indicies of other countries. And what the non-council estate part of Britain would be like as a country. 92.28.255.176 (talk) 08:45, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Council estates don't have any sort of special status. Council tenants, whether or not they live on a council estate, do pay council tax. See, for instance, [12]. Depending on income, anyone, including a council tenant, may be eligible for Council Tax Benefit.
On crime, figures aren't generally available at a sufficiently detailed level, particularly not for things like "proportion of convicted criminals". Besides, that would be pretty meaningless as a measure of crime. You can obtain some useful statistics from this site, by locating wards or super output areas which primarily contain council housing. Logically, I would expect a higher proportion of council tenants to have a criminal conviction than the population as a whole, because crime and poverty are linked in various ways (e.g. people with criminal convictions are likely to struggle to find work, and poorer people are often more likely to be charged with and convicted of crimes). Warofdreams talk 10:11, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Since the "Right to Buy" came in in 1980, council estates have been mixed owner/occupied, local authority tenants or private tenants (with the rise of buy-to-let during the 1990s). Therefore, any attempt to categorise people according to their area of residence is based on a situation which has not existed for over 20 years. --TammyMoet (talk) 13:03, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, the rates were always payable by landlords rather than tenants. Landlords obviously adjusted the level of rent to cover the rates, or required a separate payment for rates. A payment for rates was imposed on council tenants, but it was payable along with the rent, so in that sense the rates were "included" in the rent. Also, I endorse Tammy's above comment, and would further point out that "social housing" is by no long limited to council housing. Housing associations are major landlords. Itsmejudith (talk) 14:02, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I believe non-council tenants usually paid the rates in addition to the rent. 92.24.185.33 (talk) 18:10, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is it legit; how can I check?

A friend of mine is considering using Alertpay (which is on Wikipedia's blacklist, so I can't post the link). My first recourse would be to check its Wikipedia article, which doesn't exist, unfortunately. Does anyone know if this particular site is trustworthy? And more importantly, for sites which I'm giving sensitive information in general, how can I be confident if a website is safe to trust? Presumably there are ways to check, I just don't know what they are. Vimescarrot (talk) 23:32, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

U R right. A page Alertpay has been deleted. But what the hell is this Alertpay ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 23:40, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's an online payment service provider. Vimescarrot (talk) 23:53, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Why that one and not one of the more established ones, like PayPal? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:24, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Because apparently, Alertpay is the one that http://www.sofurry.com/ uses. Vimescarrot (talk) 01:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Presumably there is a good reason why Wikipedia blacklists their site, and the article has been deleted. That alone would ring alarm bells for me.--Shantavira|feed me 07:23, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Articles have been deleted on several occasions at AlertPay, too, but as copyvios and later as blatant advertising. The suggestion that somebody presumably connected with the company has attempted to promote it using Wikipedia may or may not matter to you, but don't in general assume that a deleted article means that an organisation is untrustworthy. Warofdreams talk 09:51, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's not proof, but combined with the fact that no third party thought it was worth enough to write an article about, it certainly should raise a few eyebrows. -- 174.24.196.51 (talk) 16:50, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

July 21

filibuster

Resolved

I just read that the US Democrats "just" broke through a Republican filibuster -- what does this mean (emphasis on the "just")? Did not enough Democrats/Independents agree to signal that they wished the filibuster to be over and then they suddenly changes their mind? DRosenbach (Talk | Contribs) 02:26, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Today, Carte Goodwin was sworn in, so the Democrats got another Senator, for now, and that was the extra vote they needed. Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:22, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, thanx! DRosenbach (Talk | Contribs) 14:52, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Personal Opinions on Global Warming

What are Bjørn Lomborg, Penn Jillette, and Teller's personal opinions on global warming? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.176.14.2 (talk) 03:39, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Their own. (Couldn't resist). Moriori (talk) 03:55, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
F T W ! DOR (HK) (talk) 06:18, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
You again?! Okay fine. For what it's worth, the Bjørn Lomborg and Penn Jillette articles cover this. As for Teller, his views are pretty much in line with Jillette's. Dismas|(talk) 10:21, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Following the axiom that "silence implies consent"? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:33, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Breathes there a man....

Can a man love another man without becoming homosexual ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 04:41, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are lots of kinds of love. I assume you're talking about the sexual, lustful kind? Also, people aren't always 100% straight or homosexual. There are shades between. --mboverload@ 04:46, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Our Sexual orientation article is all about this subject. Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:25, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
If no one is 0% or 100% gay (i.e. grayshades between exist) then how do governmnets (or alike) come to know them, for instance when they are "persecuted" (whatever that means) etc.  Jon Ascton  (talk) 04:56, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Let me ask you a more general question: Is it possible to love someone without it becoming sexual? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots05:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Usually people define "homosexual" as "self-identifies as homosexual" since that is pretty much the only reasonable objective definition. --Tango (talk) 06:10, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Jon Ascton, "shades of grey" exist between white people and black people, but that never stopped anyone from persecuting anyone else. APL (talk) 06:29, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I love my dad, and I'm not gay. -- Q Chris (talk) 07:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Bingo. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:31, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
See Down-low (sexual slang). Everard Proudfoot (talk) 06:14, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
John, just to be clear, what was said was that "people aren't always 100% straight or homosexual". This is not the same as what you then questioned when you said "If no one is 0% or 100% gay". "Aren't always" is not the same as "never". Dismas|(talk) 09:56, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To address the legal / persecution question, the behavior, not the emotion, is in some places (and for some weird reasons) considered BAD. DOR (HK) (talk) 06:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, sort of. Legally, DOR (HK) is correct; the society makes it a crime to have sexual contact with another person of the same gender. In practice, though, the police working in a certain neighborhood learn who is reputed to be homosexual and what places are gay hangouts, and then the police raid those places when they feel like it, possibly beating the crap out of apparently-gay people, or arresting them for, say, holding hands, for "disturbing the peace" or "sodomy" or whatever other crime can be applied. The "Background" section of our Stonewall riots article has some pretty good material on the USA's history about this. Apart from criminalizing the sex acts, "persecution" might mean a lot of things. About 500 people were fired from their US government jobs in the 1940s for being homosexual; that seems like a form of persecution. Nowadays, some activists use the word "persecution" to describe "ethically wrong discrimination", and currently in Western countries the focal area for this is the ongoing gay marriage controversy. In other countries the controversy remains simply "being homosexual"; our LGBT rights in Saudi Arabia article, for example, notes that homosexual acts are still illegal there, with a lengthy prison term or execution as punishment. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:08, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
How did those folks get fired from their jobs? What was the basis for it? Did the government ask, and did 500 respondents stupidly say, "Yes"? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:31, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Flying from Thailand to Israel

Can a user please tell me when flying by El-Al from Thailand to Israel, over which countries does one fly? Thank you.Simonschaim (talk) 12:47, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Egypt and Israel give each other mutual overflight rights, and Israel has decent relations with Eritrea, Djibouti, and India. Apparently, the usual flight path for El Al planes headed for South or Southeast Asia is to fly south within Israel to Eilat, then over the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea on the Egyptian side to avoid Saudi airspace. The planes continue over the Eritrean and Djiboutian side of the Bab-el-Mandeb, then make an almost 90° turn to proceed east over the Gulf of Aden, avoiding Yemeni and Somali airspace, into the Indian Ocean. El Al has overflight rights for India, so planes could fly over southern India. Israel also has good relations with Myanmar, so flying over southern Myanmar to Bangkok would not be an issue. Marco polo (talk) 14:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Public Speaking by Military Members

I have heard that a new policy prohibits members of the military from public speaking at any faith based functions. Is this true?

Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.53.51.238 (talk) 15:09, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Short Version : No. It is not true.
In USA the right-wing is always trying to spread rumors that the left it trying to oppress religious freedom. This is more of the same. (To be fair, The left also spreads rumors that the right is trying to oppress religious freedom, but they're rumors of a recognizably different flavor.)
If such a rule were really going into effect, It would cause so much wide-spread outrage from both the left and the right that you wouldn't be able to turn on a television without getting an earful of it!
In any case, here's the lowdown right here on Snopes.
APL (talk) 16:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Toyota model in England

Does the 97 Toyota Corolla DX in the United States have a nearly identical model (body design) in England? I tried to look it up, but the models in England are hatchback, estate, and saloon. -- kainaw 17:59, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Railroad lights

I joined a site a few years back which I had hoped would provide answers to these questions, but no one did.

I used to live on a main railroad line (actually, several hundred feet from the railroad at the end of a long driveway connecting to the road running parallel). Going both north and south from my house along the railroad tracks, there were basic sets of lights. Both north and south of my house, the first set of lights had green at the top, yellow in the middle and red at the bottom, green being normal, and one set of lights facing each direction. The next set of lights, in each direction, had two sets of lights facing each way. Yellow was normal on top, and the bottom set could be either red or green but not yellow. I forget which color was normal. Farther down the track going south, there were two full ses of lights facing each way. I don't remember the normal colors. I've forgotten what lights were next going north. The final set of lights I remember before a town had a structure over the railroad, with red, yellow and green possible on two sets of lights at the top, and always red below each of those. One set of lights like that is on a track I walked over yesterday.

What do these various sets of lights mean?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:32, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Far as I know, those are used like traffic lights, in an area where a single track is bidirectional. I'll see what I can find out. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:35, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
And as I suspected, Railway signals were the inspiration for Traffic signals. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:37, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I even asked at the local railroad museum about 20 years ago and they tried to get my to look for guidelines which I would have to buy (today's equivalent would be going to eBay). That was before the Internet.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:39, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
The traffic signals article mentions that the original traffic lights were the semaphore type, like the railroads originally used. That's evident in some cartoons of the 1940s. Obviously, lights are easier to see on cloudy days and the like. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots18:42, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm afraid the article was not helpful. With all the different countries, I should add I'm in the United States.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:44, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

the study of spiders

I hate spiders and so would like to know which ones are which. What I am looking for is a book on spiders that is much like a bird book. One can look up what one has seen by either where it was spotted or by what it looks like and therby can find the name and some useful information. Can some one sugest such a book for me, if it exists. The format that I would hope to find would be similar to that of Dr. Liversidge's books on ornathology. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.145 (talk) 20:12, 21 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Paris

My band and I would like to play a gig or two in Paris, after having met a Parisian band in England, I have promised my band that I will get this organised. Can some one please sugest some small venues where a five piece band might play in Paris. What I would ultimatly require is an email address for the pub landlord or the person that would organise gigs for small unsigned bands. Or any such venue that has a website where I can get this information. We play original music. also, how accurate is google translate? Any help in this would be greatly appreciated, and I will buy you a beer if you come and see us play. Thanks for everything Wikipedians.