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August 10

Canadian Serviceman in WW1

How can I determine if my Father-in-law, Ernest Leadbeater, served in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps in WW1? John Everingham24.235.239.48 (talk) 02:33, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

My initial suggestion is to contact the Canadian Ministry of Defence, here,[1] and ask your question, perhaps with some evidence of who you are. Looking around the site it seems they supply this sort of info. Richard Avery (talk) 07:08, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Squash

This is a request for generic medical information, not advice. What research has been conducted on the advisability of people older than 40 playing squash? Our article states: "Some studies have implicated squash as a cause of possible fatal cardiac arrhythmia and argued that squash is an inappropriate form of exercise for older men with heart disease", and cites this article as a reference. Fair enough, but the abstract (which is all that is available for free viewing) only talks about "veteran players" and "older men". So firstly, if anyone has access to the full version of that article and can tell me how it defines "veteran" and "older" that would be great (in the meantime I will put in a request for the full article at the resource request page). Secondly, pointers to any other research would also be welcome. Update: someone already provided me with the full text of the article, which studied a group of men aged between 46 and 57. So, nothing there to suggest squash should not be played by those older than 40. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 08:00, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Looking for Kurdish person

I am loking for a kurdish person in Instambul. His name is Bulent,he is 33/35 years old . He was working in hotel konuk in streat lalely Hy was work as a reseptionist but it was in1994/1995 i dont know if it stil exists Because i dont finde the hotel no more. If i find the owner then it wil help because then i can get mutch information because they were verry good friends.

please send a mesage back to this mail: <email removed>—Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.168.119.116 (talk) 10:04, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

(Your question messed up the Squash question above, so I put your question in its own section.) 93.95.251.162 (talk) 11:38, 10 August 2010 (UTC) Martin.

And I've removed the email - we don't reply to emails. If we can answer your question, qw reply here.--Phil Holmes (talk) 11:48, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Glider identification

I know this may be a very challenging task, and quite possibly error prone, but if possible, I would like to identify the manufacturer and model of the glider in the photo accompanying this BBC article [2]. I have reason to believe (independent of the photo) that some possibilities are a Schleicher ASK 13, Grob G-102 Astir, or Discus T19, but it may also be none of these. moink (talk) 11:19, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Not much immediate help but the Air Accident Investigation Unit [3] issue monthly bulletins listing the accidents they have investigated. Each entry contains the make and model of aircraft, time, place etc. So if all else fails it will appear in the August bulletin, probably in the first week of September. Richard Avery (talk) 14:31, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm. Thanks, but I'll likely know through other channels by then. moink (talk) 14:48, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

And your Wiki link is to the Irish authorities. I think you mean the Air Accidents Investigation Branch. moink (talk) 15:30, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

The followup story (BBC News) identifies it as a Foka 4. -- 1.46.50.115 (talk) 13:38, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm not sure how to put the big RESOLVED checkmark on, but that is indeed a complete and sourced answer. moink (talk) 13:51, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Photo ID in the EU/UK?

What forms of photo ID other than a driver's license can someone in the UK get? Are there any EU photo ID schemes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.46.47 (talk) 12:13, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

The two widely accepted ones in the UK (when I was working in such areas) were Driving Licence and Passport. There are a number of other cards, but there is always a chance that they won't be accepted. -- WORMMЯOW  12:15, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

It depends on what you need the photo ID for - for proof of age any card which falls under the PASS scheme should be accepted in most (but not all) places in the UK (the wikipedia page has some examples of cards). The EU appears to have a policy of accepting national ID cards across all member states for travel purposes (See identity document#Europe), but given that the UK no longer has an ID card scheme your only international option is probably a passport. Equisetum (talk | email | contributions) 13:04, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

In theory, any of those cards will be accepted. In practice, many (perhaps even most) places require either a driving license or passport. --Tango (talk) 14:08, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Re: UK ID card scheme - the UK does still have such a scheme, but not for much longer; it will be scrapped as soon as the Identity Documents Bill 2010 received royal assent. I don't believe that it is still possible to obtain an ID card, and it would be pretty pointless, as they will become invalid very soon. Warofdreams talk 14:58, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

You ask what other forms of photo ID. A firearms certificate serves the purpose, but this will probably not be a useful answer because they are considerably more difficult to obtain than a passports and a driver's licences, and are probably not recognised elsewhere in the EU. Dbfirs 05:49, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Many firms have a photo ID card, and some of these act as a pass key for the door or the computer system, or both. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:22, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

So if I don't drive, I'm SOL for getting a photo ID that I can carry in my wallet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.46.47 (talk) 19:43, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Assuming that you don't have a passport, or a Student Union or other college ID card, and the proof-of-age cards under the aforementioned PASS scheme do not meet your purpose. Are you able/willing to tell us why you do need such a card? Speaking as a middle-aged UK resident myself, I've hardly ever needed photo ID outside of security-conscious workplaces that produce their own (except that British Rail used to issue photo ID cards to commuters with long-term season tickets, but I no longer need them and that may no longer be the case), and as my driving licence is pre-photo, on the rare occasions I might I've carried my passport, something I became used to when living for a spell in Germany. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 21:30, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

In my experience (I live here) you will almost never need a photo ID in the UK, except on the rare occasions when you have to produce your passport (and nothing else will do). You will sometimes need to show something to prove ID, but an old fashioned driver's licence (with no photo) will do fine, or sometimes credit cards. When people really want you to prove who you are, you're more likely to be asked for one or two utility bills showing your name and address. Public opinion here is generally anti-ID, as the Labour government found. --Dweller (talk) 21:47, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

You may find this article illuminating: National identity card (United Kingdom) --Dweller (talk) 22:02, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

categorization

If I am uploading a jpeg file that contains the bio of a lawyer from Atlanta Georgia is there a certain category that I should use? —Preceding unsigned comment added by MarketSpice (talk • contribs) 12:18, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Where did you get the image? Is it a picture of the lawyer with the bio on it as well? Enter CBW, waits for audience applause, not a sausage. 12:37, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

If it's somebody else's work (perhaps a scan of a document?), we can only take it if it is in the public domain, or otherwise freely licensed - see Wikipedia:Copyrights. If it is your own work, then it's unlikely that a scanned bio would be very useful - if the lawyer is notable and the work is referenced, then you can contribute it as ordinary text. Warofdreams talk 14:54, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

How can I research the asking and answering of questions?

I would like to investigate the asking and answering of questions, especially between parties who do not know each other.

When someone wants to know something, they have many options.

They can: (a) ask someone else who might happen to know, (b) ask a clever or knowledgeable person, (c) ask an expert in the subject, (d) ask a librarian or knowledge expert, (e) consult books or magazines, perhaps in a reference library, (f) search Wikipedia, (g) ask in an online forum, ....

The asker's choice of action would depend upon: (1) the nature of the question, (2) the knowledge and skills of the asker, (3) facilities and time available, (3) urgency and importance of getting an answer, ....

Where another person offers a reply, especially in an online forum, questions arise such as: (i) who bothers to answer and why, (ii) how does the asker decide how much to trust the answerer, (iii) what leads to good answers (e.g. well-framed questions, understanding of centext), ....

I would like to read about how askers and answerers make these choices - their mental processes, motivations, and so on.

Clearly, there is no simple answer. But what sources or areas of study should I be investigating - some part of psychology perhaps, or something called communication theory, or what? All suggestions welcome!

Wignoramus1954 (talk) 12:47, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Wasn't there some academic study that discussed this issue in the context of this reference desk? I seem to remember it coming up here a few months ago. Maybe someone here will recall it. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 12:52, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

There was a study comparing the quality of service provided by this reference desk to that provided by library reference desks. That's the only one I'm aware of and I don't think it is particularly relevant to the OP's question. --Tango (talk) 13:19, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

That's the one and I would have thought it was very much relevant to the question. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 13:26, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

The question is about how people decide to ask/answer questions in certain ways, not about the quality of the answers people get. --Tango (talk) 14:09, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

The question is also about where to ask. The quality of the answers people get is a factor in deciding where to ask. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 14:16, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

You're taking for granted exactly the question the OP is asking about. "Quality of the answers" might have nothing to do with it — it might be a whole host of other factors that are more predominant. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:24, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

I interpreted the question in the spirit in which it was asked. I think a very open-ended question was asked. It was loosely defined. I think it is a question about thinking about a wide variety of problems. I'm somewhat of a fan of Malcolm Gladwell and I think he addresses things related to this. I think he might say in relation to this that you have to get off your butt (my words, not his) and do something — if you hope to tackle the problem. But I should wait for the OP to provide feedback on whether or not I am addressing his/her question. Bus stop (talk) 22:43, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

A related area of study might be the choice of communication medium when a customer wants to contact a business (i.e. do they call into a shop, make a phone call, send an email, use a chatbot, search the website, ...) The preference of the customer and the preference of the business may vary depending on the nature of the enquiry. --Frumpo (talk) 13:10, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

It depends on how motivated one is in wanting to ascertain something. If their thinking is lazy they will probably merely allow the thought to drift across their mind and not act on it very effectively. Researching something depends on motivation. A motivated person leaves no avenues un-investigated. Bus stop (talk) 22:00, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Here are some links.

• http://nora.lis.uiuc.edu/images/iConferences/shachaf-rosenbaum_iconf091.pdf

Online Social Reference: A Research Agenda Through a STIN Framework

• Pnina Shachaf, SLIS IU
• Wikipedia - How to Use Wikipedia
• Wikipedia Dictionary | Answerbag
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2010-03-01/Reference desk
• Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Archive 68#Quality of answers
  • Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Archive 68#Details

(Post scriptum. To edit this section, I had to click the edit button beside the heading "Squash".)

—Wavelength (talk) 02:08, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all, I can confirm that users Bus stop and Tango have correctly interpreted my question but I will look at all the references offered. You can see why searching for the words question and answer have got me nowhere! I hope to find references to: why askers might fail to make enquiries in obvious places (e.g. a place name in an atlas, a book title in Amazon books category) - how they decide when to trust a given answer - why some answerers bother to reply, while some experts ignore the question - do people think they can find everything just by using search engines - that sort of thing. Yes, it's a vague question, and if anyone can even tell me the name of a relevant field or author, that will certainly help. Wignoramus1954 (talk) 21:18, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't have a very general answer, but I do know that computer scientists have done some basic work on this as part of trying to design automated question-answering systems. You can tap into the literature by doing a Google Scholar search for "question answering". Looie496 (talk) 04:20, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Newspaper Article by Ralph Gleason

Hi, I'm doing research for a book and need a copy of, or comment on, a newspaper article written by Ralph Gleason at an opening that took place in 1967 or 1968 in Ghirardelli Square. The band that played for the event was Neighb'rhood Childr'n and it is about them that the article was written. I'd really appreciate your help with this. Thank you, Bobbie Sorich —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.185.13.170 (talk) 16:54, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Apologies if this seems over-obvious, but have you tried searching the websites of (or directly contacting) whatever newspapers or magazines are (and were then) published covering the San Francisco area, in order to search (or have their archivists search) for the relevant article(s)?

(NB: You gave no clue as to what country in the World you were talking about, but Wikipedia has an article on Ghirardelli Square (hitherto unknown to me as I'm on another continent), which I'm guessing is the location in question as it seems an unusual name unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere, in contrast to, say, Victoria Square.) 87.81.230.195 (talk) 09:56, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't see any hope of finding this other than manually checking the archives of the San Francisco newspapers, which are probably on microfilm. Looie496 (talk) 04:16, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

At the time, Ralph Gleason was the regular jazz columnist of The San Francisco Chronicle, as well as host of "Jazz Casual" on National Educational Television (now PBS). As part of a complicated deal under which the Hearst Corporation's San Francisco Examiner simultaneously merged into and absorbed the Chronicle about ten years ago, both newspapers' archives of issues before the merger were taken over by the publishers of a new Examiner (the Fangs), who later sold the Examiner to yet another owner. More recent archives of the Chronicle can be found at http://www.sfgate.com ; but no longer living in the Bay Area, I'm not sure what's happened to the earlier on-line archives. However, an article that old will probably not have been digitized and thus be found only in paper or microfilm copies of the Chronicle or of the jointly-published San Francisco Sunday Chronicle and Examiner. —— Shakescene (talk) 03:26, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

¶ OK, after a little light research on Google and Wikipedia. The old Examiner archives (presumably corporate ones, but maybe old newspaper clippings, too) were donated to the University of California, Berkeley library in 2006, at the time of the second handover. See The San Francisco Examiner. Also see the English, French and Portuguese language Wikipedia articles on the San Francisco Sound, http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Sound, http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Sound for some useful links and references. —— Shakescene (talk) 03:59, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

¶ Not the column you were seeking, but I'm still surprised I could find a Ralph J. Gleason column from May 1967, here, THE CITY THAT MEANS LOVE TO ALL at the Chronicle's on-line archive, since those don't go farther back than 1995, or 20 years after Gleason's much-regretted death. You can search through a hundred Chronicle articles that mention Ralph J. Gleason here: SF Gate Search Results for Ralph J. Gleason (1995-2010). But a similar search for "Neighb'rhood Childr'n" yields nothing, and one for "Ghirardelli Square" would be pointless. Probably better to look through Ralph Gleason's published books and anthologies. —— Shakescene (talk) 04:32, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Deli Select Ham Nutritional Facts

Today for lunch, I ate a ham and cheese sandwich. The ham container was a plastic tupperware-like container that it was bought in. This container had no nutritional facts on it and no indication as to where I might find the nutritional facts. Even actual deli ham that comes in ziploc bags has a nutritional facts sticker on it.

I was wondering how this Hillshire Farms company could simply leave no nutritional information, or even where to get it. My question isn't necessarily what the nutritional facts are or where to find them; I thought it was required by law to leave some kind of trail as to where to find the facts or put them on the food packaging. Thank you, The Reader who Writes (talk) 21:10, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Where did you buy it? Some items that are "not labeled for individual sale" have all the nutritional labeling required by law on the "big pack" that holds all 12 sandwiches, or whatever. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:46, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

If I were to take a wild guess, the simplest explanation is that the container is supposed to have a nutritional info/ingredients label on the bottom of the tub, but that it was lost/detached/never stuck on properly somewhere between the factory and your lunch. The next time you're in the store, check the bottoms of some of the other tubs. Poking around a bit more, I found this picture; was this the style of packaging you encountered? (And if so, has anyone else bought deli meats in these containers?) To be clear -- is this a sandwich that you made for yourself from scratch, using ham from a larger container, or was the ham part of some prepackaged sandwich 'kit'? I'm assuming the former, but in the latter case Tuttle's comment may apply.

For the full gory details on when labels are required in the United States, try the FDA's Food Labeling Gude. There is an exemption for small packages (just an address or phone number is sufficient if the total available label area is less than 12 square inches), but I don't think it would apply here. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 21:57, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, in these types of containers, the Nutrition Facts label is sometimes printed on the inner plastic around the ham. (For example, in the picture linked above, you can see some small print and the net weight printed on the inner plastic. I think the Nutrition Facts may be on it, too.) Perhaps someone else in your household who already opened the container threw the inner plastic away. We'll have to double-check if I remembered correctly the next time we open a container like this. --Bavi H (talk) 23:56, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Yep, I was wondering that from the picture as well -- but it would seem to be a violation of the labelling rules, which require the nutritional information to be visible on the outside of the package before purchase. It could be that this one 'slipped through the cracks', as the outer plasticware container seems to be a promotional 'gift'. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 00:15, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for your help, but I found the answer. TenOfAllTrades, that is the exact packaging of this deli select ham. I found another tub of ham in the basement. Inside the tub was a plastic bag with the ham inside of that. The nutritional facts were clearly printed, albeit in white ink, on the bottom of the plastic. It was centered so that you could clearly read it through the plastic of the tub if you turned the container upside down. Question resolved, thanks again, The Reader who Writes (talk) 01:21, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

(I was just about to suggest the same thing: This picture shows a thick border on the bottom of the inner plastic that looks like the Nutrition Facts label.) --Bavi H (talk) 01:27, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Roth IRA maximum contribution for Married Couple

In your article for Roth IRA, you explain that the maximum contribution for a 50+ age single man who earned $10,000 in 2008 was $5,000. For a man who earned $2,000 the max was $2,000. You also stated that a married couple, the wife could also contribute the same amount. Does that mean that if the wife did not work, the couple could match her husband's contribution, meaning their combined contribution could be $12,000 for the family's total earnings of $12,000. What about the husband who earned $2,000 and the wife who earned zero; can the family contribute $4,000 into 2 Roth IRAs? Jicgee (talk) 22:05, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

If you rely on advice you receive here, you run the risk that we're wrong, and the IRS penalizes you. But, here goes: US tax law discriminates in favor of married couples, so it is most likely that any benefit that is available to a married couple is available regardless of whether both are earning incomes, or only one. The best advice is to consult a tax professional (mine saved me much more than his actual fee!) DOR (HK) (talk) 09:43, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

August 11

"RTC grant"

What would RTC stand for here? The context is financial aid at a university (United States). 70.162.15.58 (talk) 00:53, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

You might try searching "RTC aid [name of state]" or "RTC aid [name of school]." I found Regional Training Center grants at East Carolina University (in North Carolina) but it seems clear there are many different uses for the "RTC" abbreviation. --- OtherDave (talk) 01:26, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Mis-spelled ROTC? Comet Tuttle (talk) 06:23, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

A Google search for "RTC grant" gave Regional Telecommunications Council[4] or Regional Technology Center[5]. If it is neither of them, there are many alternatives[6]. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:17, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Gay Paris

I realise that I have asked this before, and your help was greatly appreciated, but... My band is giving me a hard time, I promised them a gig in Paris, and God knows I have been trying to find one for us, but i dont speak french. Can any one please, pretty please provide me with a list of names of small pub type venues where a small UK unsigned band can play a gig or two in Paris. All I need is the name and I wiill do the rest. I have never been to Paris, and when I try to google this, with various combinations, all I find is resteraunts, and profesional musicians' venues. I need a list of small pubs in Paris that regularly host unsigned bands. If it helps, www.myspace.com/2010exile I do not wish to self promote here but it may help you to help me if you know what we play. thanks wiki. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.145 (talk) 01:34, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Did you do the two things I suggested, which were to browse Last FM's list of upcoming gigs in Paris and follow the links from there, and to buy a copy of the Time Out Guide to Paris which has a long list of venues? --Viennese Waltz ^talk 08:02, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't have anything specific to say about Paris but I have experience in music promotion so here are some pointers. I heard your band's sound, that's ok. Your band's name "Exile" is hopelessly unoriginal[7] and used by others, so get a new one. Image means everything and you don't have one. How about focussing on Georgia your lead singer and let the other 4 guys be her faceless session musicians? Parisian venues will be more interested in a new girl singer (with her band) than just "a band" because they have enough French bands. Maybe this is treading on some egos but, as they say, that's rock and roll. Good luck. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:07, 11 August 2010 (UTC) Georgia and the X-isle X-perience ? Nah...

Ah - well, that's something I can definitely help with! If you need a new band name, you might like to try http://www.sjbaker.org/cgi-bin/rock_band.cgi (my handy automatic rock band name generator) - "Walrus from Beyond", "The iron dogs from Heck", "The mystic concrete frizbee of Starship nine"? SteveBaker (talk) 11:44, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Cute applet, although some of the names are a bit longwinded. Are you really going to put The Technicolour war nerds that came from beyond the grave on a marquee?

By the way, just so we're clear, Spock and the Space Hippies is mine. I thought of that name more than twenty years ago. As soon as I find a drummer and learn to play guitar, I'm all set. --Trovatore (talk) 18:31, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Wasn't there a Star Trek episode where Spock made friends with a bunch of space hippies who kept calling Kirk and everybody they disagreed with "Irvin" or something like that? TomorrowTime (talk) 06:14, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I see you reach. --Trovatore (talk) 07:22, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Well, no you aren't going to name your band "The Technicolour war nerds that came from beyond the grave" - you're going to smile, maybe giggle a little - then push "Pick Another" until you get one you like! Incidentally, I just hit the button and got "The swamp fires killer" which - given the peat bog fires in Russia killing 350 people a day - might not be the most tactful band name to pick!...but then I hit the button again and got "The blue plastic pirates of Time" which isn't so terrible and might even make for some nice album cover art. The band I played in as a teenager was called "Electroplasm"...with a small dollar sign for the 's'...we really could have benefited from a modern technological solution! SteveBaker (talk) 04:12, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The Bobs have a very nice song about this, called Namin' the Band. When I heard the lyric

We were gonna call ourselves Elvis ... Hitler, but somebody beat us to the punch

I have to admit I thought it was a takeoff on "Marilyn Manson" (pop culture icon + iconic figure of evil); wasn't till years later that I looked it up on WP and found out there was actually an Elvis Hitler, which apparently is not a takeoff on Marilyn Manson. --Trovatore (talk) 05:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I was always partial to "Delusions of Grandeur" myself. Googlemeister (talk) 13:31, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Don't worry - if you call your band "The Technicolour war nerds that came from beyond the grave", everyone will be very clear about the nature of your delusions!  :-) SteveBaker (talk) 04:12, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

If I ever start a band, I'm going to name it "People playing music." -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 18:23, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd go with "Main Page" myself. These days, information on bands with weird names is too easy to find. Also, all the song titles are going end in "(disambiguation)". Paul (Stansifer) 20:24, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Your help is greatly apprciated, and I have looked at lastfm listing which was a great help, thanks, But as stated previously, I dont speak french and its hard to tell which ones are concert halls filled by proffesional, if unfamous, musicians. I have sent countless emails but with no response so far, so any further help would be appreciated. As for the name, I dod not choose it, but was not overly disapointed as it can be used thus, tour to france called Exile to Paris or Exile to Berlin etc. but, People Playing Music, is BRILLIANT!!! I will use that with my next band, if you dont copywrite it. Thank people. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.145 (talk) 20:06, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

France is less than 200km from where you are near Watford so please learn French. Here is an easy lesson. Bonjour vous la personne anglaise musicale. Mon pays est moins que deux cent kilomètres de Watford si pourquoi l'enfer vous ne parlez pas notre langue ? Nous avons des bébés qui gèrent le parler. Ah bien, j'espère que votre musique est mieux que votre compétence linguistique. Avoir un jour agréable à Paris ! Cuddlyable3 (talk) 21:30, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Is that a machine translation, or has it just been a while since you took French :-) ? --Trovatore (talk) 22:57, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't be so sure the OP is from Watford. They could be from almost anywhere in the UK and just their ISP is based in Watford. Astronaut (talk) 12:30, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Natural disasters

How many natural disasters have there been in the last 10 years? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.184.122.138 (talk) 12:44, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

In practical terms, uncountably many. Take a look at our natural disaster article: there are, among other things, avalanches, earthquakes, lahars, volcanic eruptions, floods, limnic eruptions, tsunamis, blizzards, cyclonic storms, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves, tornadoes, fires, epidemics, famines, and more. Tracking down exact numbers of any one category worldwide is difficult; for many, it's virtually impossible. One must also determine at what level something becomes a "disaster", and whether or not multiple events lump into a single "disaster". — Lomn 13:24, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

(EC) Our answer to that will be of limited use unless we know what constitutes a natural disaster. Is it a natural disaster if a volcano errupts in a remote location, but has minimal human impact? Does a forest fire count if we are not sure if it was caused by lightning or human carelessness? If a dam collapses because of a combination of deferred maintenance and a prodigious amount of rainfall, is it natural? If there is a very nasty thunderstorm that does a few hundred thousand dollars worth of damage, and interrupts power to thousands but no one is injured or killed, is it a disaster? Googlemeister (talk) 13:28, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Flooding, to give one example, may not wholly be a "natural" disaster. Firstly, there is the question of how much climate and weather patterns have been affected by human action. Secondly, contributory factors in the excessive surface run-off which causes flooding include the loss of woodland and other vegetation on hillsides, which would otherwise have helped slow down flows, and the increase in impermeable surfaces such as tarmac and concrete. Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:58, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

That could apply to almost any recent "natural disaster". Just this year, look at 2010 floods and Global storm activity of 2010 for instance. ~AH1^(TCU) 23:06, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

How did Steve Jobs get an internship at HP at 12 years old?

Was his family friends with Hewlett? I find it hard to believe a 12-year-old with no special contacts, no matter how smart or good with words, could get access to and consideration from the president of a major corporation. 20.137.18.50 (talk) 13:27, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

This explains. It's pretty hard to believe, but so are a lot of Silicon Valley stories. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 18:16, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Not so unbelievable, as the story you point to is that he got a summer job, aged 15, which is far more prosaic than getting an internship, aged 12. --Dweller (talk) 21:10, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

There seem to be a number of interrelated and confused stories floating about. This bio from the Encyclopedia of World Biography reports that Jobs was visiting the Hewlett-Packard plant for a lecture while a high school student (age unspecified); Jobs reportedly asked William Hewlett for some parts for a project, and was offered a summer internship. The link above repeats the parts story, but suggests that the 15-year-old Jobs actually telephoned Hewlett after "looking him up in the Palo Alto white pages". Meanwhile, this article, which appeared in Businessweek in 2004, also asserts that Jobs called Packard and was offered an internship, but at the age of twelve. One wonders if the age-twelve story is simply an error; there seem to be several discrepancies among the details of the story. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:12, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Moving from film to digital SLR

Wotcha, I'm thinking about buying a film SLR. One day I would like to be able to afford a decent DSLR - but I want to make sure I don't take myself down a blind alley with regard to lenses. Are all lenses (company by company) interchangable? Will any lens fitting a Canon EOS 1998 something I might buy go straight onto my swish new Canon DSLR 2012? Or will I have to begin again?

Thanks 195.60.13.52 (talk) 15:05, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Not all lenses will be interchangeable -- over time, companies will phase out lens fitting types. However, that's usually a multi-decade period of time. For instance, many of Canon's current DSLRs support the Canon EF-S lens mount, which debuted in 2003 -- no older lenses are EF-S. However, that mount is also back-compatible to the Canon EF lens mount, which debuted in 1987. Those mounts encompass most, if not all, consumer-level Canon lenses you're likely to purchase. I expect similar trends hold other major DSLR manufacturers, and any decent camera shop can verify this. But short answer, EF lenses for a 1990s-era Canon EOS will play just fine with a 2010s-era EOS, digital or not. — Lomn 15:26, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Also note that you can get converters/adapters to make say, a Canon lens, fit a Pentax camera (just do a google shopping search for canon to pentax adapter for example). I've no idea of the impact these have though i'd expect they often mean sacrificing auto-focus. ny156uk (talk) 16:32, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

You don't say why you are thinking about a film SLR, or what you mean by a "decent" digital machine. I held out against getting a digital for years because of their limitations, but these days I don't know whether the digitals are any less expensive or have any less capability than the film models. You might get a good deal on a used model from other people moving to digital. I myself have a couple of Nikkormats I should probably think about selling.

Someone mentioned lens adapters; I don't think much of them. Lenses are not built to be put on different makes of cameras, adapters practically always degrade the image to some degree.

Please consider getting a digital now, entry level if you have to, and look for lens compatibility between it and an upper-level one to buy later. The digitals are so much more flexible in so many ways. The film models no longer necessarily have delays on their shutters, their lenses are just as good or better, the entire industry is moving in this direction. Processing literally costs nothing. Put in a little 2GB card, take 500 pictures at maximum resolution.

With film, you have to pay for film processing and printing. You can't see the pictures until that's done. You have to shepherd your shots, because there's a maximum of 36 in the camera until you have to reload.

I think lens compatibility is slightly overrated. I am glad that my 30+ year old lenses fit my new Nikon camera, but in fact I probably won't use them much. It says something about the compatibility camera manufacturers will work to keep, though.

Anyway. Please reconsider getting into a film camera at this point. Kodak has already quit making Kodachrome. The rest of the types of film in the world probably aren't all that far behind. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ralphcook (talk • contribs) 22:33, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Film isn't going to disappear. It certainly has a higher marginal cost than digital photography, but I take film photographs. If I decide I want to keep on with photography, I'll buy a DSLR, but for now, I don't take photos too often, so it's cheaper to pay about fifty cents per exposure and borrow my roommate's Canon AE-1. Some people exclusively take film still, because they like the way it behaves.

Regarding your actual question, I found an extensive table about Nikon lens compatibility, and a PDF with some general information (including which Canon lenses are digital-only). Paul (Stansifer) 01:21, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I think manufacturers will cease making film for all but specialist uses like X-ray machines rather soon. Our list of Companies that make film shows that they are discontinuing manufacturing, going broke or selling only from stockpiled product. Very few film manufacturers are left. When the general public deserts a format, the demise is swift because a lack of demand causes a lack of film manufacturers - which in turn limits the number of people who are going to stick with using it. Almost all of the technical objections to using film have now been overcome - resolution, light sensitivity and speed are all better for digital than for film cameras. The thing that's most likely to kill the film market is when companies that develop the stuff stop buying and maintaining their complicated and expensive machinery. If you can't pop into a handy nearby store and get your photos developed in a day - you'll soon have to mail them to some distant place for processing and suffer a week-long turn-around time. You could still develop them yourself - but few home developers can do color - and sooner or later your suppliers of print paper and chemicals are going to dry up too. It'll take maybe another 5 years for it to die completely - but die it surely will. SteveBaker (talk) 02:55, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I expect black-and-white film will stick around for a while. It's popular for art, and even the best digital cameras are nowhere near high-quality black-and-white for either resolution or dynamic range. It also has the benefit that you can develop it in your home darkroom. --Carnildo (talk) 00:03, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

If you're looking at getting a film camera with the intent of getting a digital camera later, your best bet is Pentax: they've tried to keep full backwards and forwards compatibility, so all Pentax digital cameras can use all Pentax lenses, and most Pentax lenses can be used with any Pentax camera (the exception is that digital-only lenses don't have a large enough projected image to work properly with a full-frame camera body). --Carnildo (talk) 01:15, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Drinking water quality ?

I had an argument about drinking unboiled tap water with my mom, she explained that she had recently read that our country has best quality of water among (god knows what) countries. I've been trying to find such list on web, but so far no luck, so has anybody heard anything like that and how safe exactly is tap water anyway ? I mean it may be clean at water sanitation plant, but from there it goes through piping which may very well be full of evil bacteria ~~Xil (talk) 18:03, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

You forgot to mention which country you live in. It's hard for us to answer questions about the relative quality of your nation's tap water without that. Even within countries, water quality may vary from region to region. This web site has a variety of information about drinking water, including a pdf chart of access to safe drinking water in various countries, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what you're looking for. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 18:09, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Xil's user page states that he's from redacted. BTW, there are currently 192 member countries of the UN, if that is what you meant by your parenthetical comment. Drinking water quality varies according to the geography of the reservoirs catchment basement; a lot of people find water with excessive chalk or peat water objectionable. The water in the River Ankh at Ankh-Morpork is the purest on the Disc; it has got to be, as its been through so many pairs of kidneys. CS Miller (talk) 18:28, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

I was asking you about comparison of water quality among countries and how bad can water get while traveling through piping, how is my country relevant here ? If you think you must know at least look on my userpage before complaining, but the only diffrence knowing will give you is that you probably can narrow it down to European Union. I found your site before I asked, but I don't see anything saying quality there, am I mising something ? If you don't get the question, here's my line of thought - the local tradition (which I assume is widespread in the rest of the world too) has it that you should boil water before drinking it as it can contain disease agents. However there was an article in a magazine which claims that tap water is so clean that you can drink it unboiled. We could asume that it is true (therefore a list comparing diffrent countries or perhaps cities of the world would be handy) or that it is not true, because the water might have been contaminated on its way to my house. The water supplier routinely tests the water, but I assume water for testing is taken at the purification plant (which BTW is at other side of the city). From there to my home the only place it can get contaminated is in pipes from there to my tap. So, considering all this, is drinking unboiled tap water healthy or not ? ~~Xil (talk) 19:28, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Actually most people drink municipal piped water straight from the taps in New Zealand, particularly in urban areas. Sometimes you may get recommendations when testing finds contaminants e.g. [8] but I don't think they're particularly common even in the wops.

It's fairly common in Malaysia to boil water before drinking but I wasn't aware it was common in any parts of Europe so you learn something new every day. The Singapore tourist guide assured me (in 2001) it was also okay to drink water straight from the taps there, although I don't know how common that is.

I have to say, your question is somewhat confusing to me. First you lament about people wanting to know where you are so they can help answer your question saying that you only want comparisons of water quality between countries and knowledge of how bad the water may get in the pipes. I would agree that we don't really need to know where you live to answer that. But then at the end of it you say "So, considering all this, is drinking unboiled tap water healthy or not" yet as others have pointed out, this will almost definitely depend on where you live so if you want a useful answer, you do need to tell us where you live, or at least not complain when we guess.

BTW, how bad the water can get in the piping will depend on things like the length and quality of the piping, whether it's chlorinated, the temperature of the water in the piping (which will likely depend somewhat on the average temperature in the area), how long the water stays in the pipes, the quality of the water that enters the pipes etc

Nil Einne (talk) 19:45, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Xil, I see we got of to a bad start. The way you asked your question implied that your mother was wondering why her home city has the best quality water. To answer that question we need to know what city you are talking about. If you were wanting to know, in general, why water tastes different in other areas and how the quality varies in different countries, then those are different questions.

Tap water (at least in most first-world countries) is safe to drink from the tap. Our water purification article describes how 'natural' water is turned into potable (drinkable) water. I can't find an article within Wikipedia that gives a list of what countries tap water is considered healthy enough to drink directly. CS Miller (talk) 19:49, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

In Western Europe people drink unboiled tap water all the time. A quick bit of googling found that the US Embassy in Latvia tells US citizens it is safe to drink the water [9] while the Australian government's advice is to boil all tap water before drinking it [10] (those are the two countries that appears on the first page of results). Given conflicting advice, if I were visiting the country I would avoid drinking the water (without boiling it). --Tango (talk) 19:59, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

"The local tradition (which I assume is widespread in the rest of the world too) has it that you should boil water before drinking it as it can contain disease agents". No, only in countries that lack the proper infrastructure to supply clean water. In much of rest of the world that doesn't lack this, tap water is usually drinkable straight from the pipes (although of course the flavour may vary). --Saddhiyama (talk) 21:05, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Acctualy, I think microorganisms can thrive, and be killed by boiling, anywhere in the world. I assumed it was common because I read an article once which suggested that in no country in the world water is so clean that you can drink it stright from the tap. I do have noted though that Americans seem to drink from tap and as other English speaking countries seem to have similar culture to USA, Australia is no surprize. I didn't ask why water in my country is good, I said I had argument with my mom, "an argument" usualy implies that there were oposing opinions (in this case on weather it is safe or not to drink tap water). Honestly I hate labeling my self as being of certain country when I am asking a general question, if I wanted to know just about about my country I wouldn't be asking on an international site. Comparision of water quality by country includes any country and you need to know what the piping is made of not in what country it is in to answer about the quality in the particular water supply system so an educated guess would be fine (acctualy never mind I'll ask about piping on science desk). ~~Xil (talk) 22:07, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Well, I can tell you from personal experience that people regularly drink water straight from the tap in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, and Italy, apparently without any ill effect. In many of these places, you will be served tap water in restaurants. In Germany, where I live, tap water is usually superior in quality to bottled water - it's certainly more strictly controlled. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:05, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

From personal experience I can vouchsafe that. And while you're at it, add Portugal and Scandinavia to that list as well. --Saddhiyama (talk) 23:49, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Well, that article you read was simply wrong. Tap water is perfectly safe to drink in many countries. There will be bacteria in the water, even in those countries, but they are harmless (at least to locals that have been exposed to them so much they are completely immune - sometimes drinking tap water in foreign countries can lead to Traveler's diarrhea even though the water is harmless to the locals because it contains different strains of bacteria). --Tango (talk) 00:36, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Also, microorganisms and bacteria are common phenomena in drinking water as well as the air we breathe. There is no way to get rid of them all, and some may even be beneficial, the trick regarding healthy drinking water is to eliminate the ones that are actually dangerous to humans. Contrary to popular belief, humans can coexist, and in many instances benefit from bacteria and microorganisms to survive. For examples see skin flora and gut flora. --Saddhiyama (talk) 00:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The human stomach and intestines are equipped to deal with most bacteria even in untreated water, though they might be temporarily upset if they encounter an unfamiliar strain. Advice to boil tap water is given as a precaution and is usually unnecessary in most countries, but for anyone with a sensitive stomach visiting a foreign country for the first time, it might be good advice. Those of us who live in areas without a treated supply, and who regularly drink water from streams in mountain areas, are immune to most of the naturally-occurring bacteria, but there is still a small risk, and I have seen tap water fed from an attic tank (in a "civilised" UK city) that I would be reluctant to drink even after boiling, because boiling will not remove dangerous toxins or heavy metals. Fortunately, such installations are rare, and, in the UK at least, nearly all kitchen taps are connected directly to a safe supply of "mains" water that has a risk of infecting you with dangerous organisms probably lower than the risk in breathing the air. Apologies for the rant! Dbfirs 08:44, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I found out that this warning might be related either to practice to add heavy doses of chlorine to water in the past (the article which said it sort of implied that it could cause dhiarrea) to which my mom responded that they didn't boil water back then. So since when it is being boiled ? Apparently there was hepatitis outbreak more than twenty years ago in part of city which has diffrent water source (and piping could have been ancient too). I probably should take a water sample and get it tested, but we agreed that our tap water tastes better than the bottled water we buy, when it is not boiled. So thanks for the information, I'll probaly give in ~~Xil (talk) 10:29, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I realised I forgot to mention above that in Malaysia many people have cold water tanks (so the water from the taps may not be direct from the supply) usually on the roof partly because of the legacy of the unreliability of the cold water supply.

The supply isn't that bad although still not brillant. I'm more describing stuff from the late 1990s, I think it's even better now although I think still a lot worse then here NZ where I can't recall ever having no water supply. (Still have some problems though, e.g. one time last year in the area where I lived they shut down the water supply to clean out the water tank they use to supply the area, then couldn't refill it because the pressure was too low so people in that area had an extended period of no water.) It likely depends where you live, where I did the pipes were old and often broke so they'd have to shut off the water supply to fix them usually by cutting out the broken portion and replacing, of course this sort of shutting down the supply and repairing probably didn't help the existing pipes so it's not uncommon to have another broken portion a few days later and I can't help wondering what the pipes actually look like, whether they were a mish-mash of a whole lot of repaired sections.

In my house the kitchen water tap was directly connected to the supply but I think this is relatively rare (it was designed to be like that), generally most taps are connected to the storage tank if one was present AFAIK. I'm not sure whether this is still common in new houses, particularly small terrace houses which don't have much room.

Also I suspect boiling water is as much as anything a tradition that probably isn't really necessary. I think I've read someone (the minister possibly) suggest it wasn't necessary, but I don't think many people paid much attention and I have a feeling the same minister probably didn't generally follow his own advice. Water filters are also fairly common although I have my doubts about whether most actually do anything useful or just make things worse.

BTW, while you don't have to boil it for the purpose, some prefer to drink water stored in the fridge or at least stored in a room since the water direct from the tap can sometimes be fairly lukewarm.

Nil Einne (talk) 13:47, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I've seen the claim (for example, towards the end of this) that boiling all water before drinking is part of a wider pattern of cooking everything before eating in countries such as China. The claim being that drinking 'raw' water would be seen as as odd/taboo as things like eating snails seem to many British people. Is there any truth to that, in your experience? 82.24.248.137 (talk) 17:20, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I myself would much rather have some escargot then drink China's water, boiled or not. Googlemeister (talk) 20:40, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't think we have any tabooo against raw food, except for health concerns, but people would taste raw food anyway, certainly it is not as disgusting as eating snails ~~Xil (talk) 09:59, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Sirius Black

Resolved

Why is it that Mr./Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore, both from the Order of the Phoenix, think Black would want to kill Harry? Perhaps I'm missing something. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 20:50, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

He was framed for betraying Harry's parents to Voldemort, no? Beach drifter (talk) 20:52, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Order_of_the_Phoenix_(organisation)#Sirius_Black Beach drifter (talk) 20:54, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Indeed. Until near the end of Prisoner of Azkaban everyone thinks Sirius Black is a Death Eater that betrayed James and Lily Potter and killed Peter Pettigrew. As a Death Eater, they assume he'll want to kill the boy that destroyed his master. After that book, the Order knows better, but most of the rest of the wizarding world continue to believe that until the end of Order of the Phoenix. --Tango (talk) 22:03, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Wonderful -- while rereading, I suddenly had this question. Thanks, all! DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 23:29, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

Although, frankly, the whole set-up makes Dumbledore look terribly negligent, and doesn't really inspire faith in the Wizarding Justice System. I mean, they have a potion that forces people to tell the truth. They have the ability to check what spells a wand last did. They have the ability to extract memories and view them. It would only have taken a moment of "Hang on, let's just make sure we've got all the information from this guy we can", and the whole thing would unravel. Unless, of course, Dumbledore is evil and they're all his pawns. 82.24.248.137 (talk) 00:13, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

JK Rowling responds to that question on her website: [11]. --Tango (talk) 00:41, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

A story unravelling when you look closely at its major plot points? Fancy that. Vimescarrot (talk) 00:45, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

August 12

Is the Empire State Building ever really empty?

Recently I went to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. While waiting in line, they had a bunch of displays talking about energy use based on number of people in the building throughout the day. At one point the graph of population actually reached zero people. I thought that they'd have a night watchman or two. Am I mistaken? Were they oversimplifying things for demonstration purposes? Dismas|^(talk) 01:39, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Nah. Night watchmen, janitorial staff, and late-night workers will always be around. But it's probably statistically close enough to zero for the purpose of confusing tourists. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 02:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

It might be completely empty following an emergency evacuation (fire, bomb scare, etc.) but that's about it. There will be some kind of security presense there at all times otherwise. --Tango (talk) 02:35, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

When the building is at it's busiest, there are 21,000 people working there - and a considerable number of the general public visiting there. If the graph you were looking at was on a typical sheet of piece of 'letter-sized' graph paper (which is 210mm tall) then if the graph dipped to just one millimeter above the axis (probably the thickness of the line it was drawn in) then that amount would represent 100 people. That's enough to have one security guard for every floor of the building. Compared to 21,000 people, the number of night staff there would be would simply be too small to represent on the graph - so it looks like zero. SteveBaker (talk) 03:48, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

An excellent answer, Steve. --Dweller (talk) 10:07, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers, everyone. The "graph" wasn't a standard graph. They basically had a number of stick figures displayed along with a clock. As the clock ticked away the day (a full day in about a minute), the number of stick figures decreased. From what I recall, it was between the hours of about 0130 and 0230 that there were no stick figures on the screen. I see Steve's point and agree that it's a good one. I don't remember how many figures there were at the middle of the day but I don't recall the number of stick figures being anywhere near 21,000. Dismas|^(talk) 17:42, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

OK - but the same argument applies. If they used a scale of (let's say) one stick figure for every 500 occupants - there would be about 40 to 50 stick figures during the busy parts of the day - but at night, if there were 100 people in the building - what would be an appropriate number of stick figures to display? The answer is 1/5th of a stick figure. But if you are rounding to the nearest whole number you get zero. So all you know is that there were fewer than N/2 people in the building - where 'N' is the number of people represented by one stick-figure. It's always the same way - when you summarize information, you lose the finer details. SteveBaker (talk) 02:39, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

One of the Irish Republican Army's last bombings in London destroyed an office tower (I can't remember whether it was the Baltic Exchange or at Canary Wharf) in the early morning on a weekend. It still killed (as I recall) a night watchman and a newspaper seller. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:06, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Hey ! What the HELL is that ?

Please watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv-3Nwvs_ks&feature=related. Just at the beginning, almost at 0:00, you see a very horrible, black-faced, hairless demon-like thing sitting among the audience. What the hell is that ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 04:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Don't panic. It's just some guy with a shaved head (or skullcap) and wearing grayish-blue makeup. That's a Guinness Book of World Records show or some such, so maybe the guy has the record for wearing face-paint the longest number of days, weeks, months, whatever. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:50, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Its a tattoo. The dude just has his entire skin tattooed. No shit. See this google search which has lots of pics of that same dude. --Jayron32 05:51, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Is he Lucky Diamond Rich? Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:26, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Leviticus 19:28. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:17, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Just as an aside, there are medical conditions that turn you blue-gray like that. See Argyria. But I agree that this guy looks tattooed. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:20, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Actor in an arbitrary universe

Suppose you are a decision-maker in an arbitrary universe. As a decision maker, you obviously have some abilities which you may perform. Suppose you also have some information about the universe in which you reside. How would you be able to determine the potential consequences of each of your potential actions?--220.253.106.99 (talk) 08:43, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd guess. In my arbitrary universe I'm always Right. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:19, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I hope this arbitrary universe obeys the laws of cause and effect consistently. Then I either ask the guy who did it before (tradition) or I have to learn it myself, inductively (science). 198.161.238.19 (talk) 14:51, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

There are two main options: deduction (working it out based on what you already know) and empiricism (doing an experiment to find out). --Tango (talk) 17:59, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

This has the ring of a homework question -- it is one of the basic issues in computational reinforcement learning theory. Looie496 (talk) 21:51, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

If the universe is totally arbitrary with no laws of cause an effect, then this is a trick question. You may make any decisions you wish, but the consequences will be random. Dbfirs 06:45, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Give yourself psychic powers then you can foretell it...hotclaws 16:41, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Where is The Shop?

Is The Shop located in Maine, like many other Stephen King creations? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.46.47 (talk) 13:49, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I searched for "Shop" in Firestarter on Amazon.com. It says they have offices in Manhattan, but their headquarters is in Longmont, VA. --Sean 15:46, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Virginia, according to the one before last page in The Tommyknockers. TomorrowTime (talk) 12:29, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Ronald McDonald Charities and Soda can ring pull tabs.

There is a drive on at the office where I work to collect Soda can ring pull tabs for the Ronald McDonald House Charities group. The claim is that the tabs we collect will be gathered together and sold to aluminium recyclers to raise money for the charity.

I'm rather sceptical about that. Why would they collect just the tabs and not the entire can? I can't think of any legitimate reason why they'd choose to do that.

Our article says that the can tab recycling has earned them $4 million since the start of the program 30 years ago...their web site says that public donations from their one-day-per-year fund drive event have raised $150 million since 2002...so the can tab thing is a teeny-tiny fraction of public donations...which is probably an even tinier fraction of the corporate donations.

Is this just a way to get people to pay attention to the charity and thereby allow McDonalds to reap more good will/publicity for their food outlets?

I can't imagine that the number of can tabs that could be collected from where I work (rough estimate: 200 tabs per week) would be worth the effort of our volunteer to drive them to the collection center! Wouldn't a simple $10 cash donation be worth vastly more and save us all of the grief of messing around with can tabs?

Could someone weigh a soda can tab for me?

SteveBaker (talk) 14:36, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Regarding why "just the tabs and not the entire can?", according to a non-profit fundraising site WP won't allow me to link to:

"the tabs are valued because they are made of pure, high-quality aluminum, unlike the cans they come from, which contain alloys." and

"The aluminum tabs are also smaller and cleaner than collecting cans, easier to handle in large volumes and don’t interfere with other can recycling programs benefiting the charity.". ---Sluzzelin talk 14:44, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I tried weighing five pulls on my two sets of digital kitchen scales. Different runs come up with 0, 1, or 2g for the five (so we're clearly at or below the threshold of sensitivity for them). So "considerably less than 1g" seems to be the best I can say. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 14:59, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm - today's price for billet aluminium is $0.97/lb - so even if recycling is free and nobody makes a profit, 1000 pull tabs are worth at most about $2? SteveBaker (talk) 15:10, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Maybe it's like turning in soup can labels, where the ring tab is just a proof of purchase and the Beverage Can Association of Your Country makes the actual donation? --Sean 15:48, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I've been hearing this pull-tabs story for decades. Originally it was about kidney dialysis and it was during the days when the pull-tabs came totally off when you opened the cans. That caused a littering problem, so they redesigned the cans so the tabs stay on, and now you have to work at it to get them off. I'll do a little "snopeing" around and see what I can find. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:22, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

OK, here's the full story from Snopes:[12] Basically the story was always an urban legend, and there is nothing special about the metal in the pull-tabs. However, Ronald McDonald will accept donations of various kinds, although the pull-tabs are worth very little, as noted earlier. The last part of the article (revised just a year ago) talks about the life-imitating-art aspect of this. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:30, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The Straight Dope : Will saving pull tabs earn free kidney dialysis for needy patients? I've read other articles on this same topic. It's always the same : Yes some people collect them, but it's always a feel-good thing rather than actually contributing anything useful. It's hopeless to tell people this, though. People get super defensive if you try to take away their feel-good measures.

A recent variant I've heard is that someone who knows someone is collecting soda BOTTLE tops for charity. The cynic in me strongly suspects that at some point along that chain someone is entering in the codes from those bottle-caps to Coke Rewards dot com. APL (talk) 20:11, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Actually, it looks like CokeRewards actually has an option to donate your "rewards" to charity. So collecting a bunch of coke bottle tops and typing in the codes could actually benefit charity far more than collecting aluminum pull tabs. APL (talk) 20:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

This I do know from experience: Junk collectors especially like to collect metal, especially from large discarded items like old appliances. They can probably make a lot more from those things than from pull-tabs and bottle caps. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:28, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Quick question on UK city codes

Friends are visiting Scotland, and picked up paygo handyphones for the duration, which have 10-digit phone numbers starting with 758. What was (and is) not clear, is how much of that is city code, and how much is handset number. 758-xxxxxxx is certainly what I'm accustomed to on my side of the pond, but another supposed reference site claimed that most UK city codes are four digits (and start with 14xx). I understand that in most of Europe -- and don't know if this policy includes UK -- that mobile/cell/handyphones are usually assigned to the same citycode so the caller knows he's calling such a phone . . . but that doesn't seem to help me here.

Thanks in advance to any locals who can clarify this for me. DaHorsesMouth (talk) 16:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

UK phone numbers are typically eleven digits, starting with a 0. So the number to dial from within the UK would be 0758xxxxxxx (the 7 generally indicates a mobile, and the rest is personal; there's no area codes for mobiles). For calls from outside the country, the initial 0 is replaced with the UK's country calling code +44 (where the + indicates whatever the international dialling prefix is in your country). Algebraist 16:32, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

None of the number on a UK mobile is a city code - it's an operator code. UK city codes mostly start 01 (a few are 02) and are generally 5 digits long - the code for Ipswich, for example, is 01473 and Felixstowe is 01394. However, this is confused when there are villages parented off a nearby town - it was quite common to give them and extra couple of digits and this was still regarded as an area code. Other oddities include the bigger cities - the area code for Birmingham is 0121. Mobiles all have numbers starting 07 and the code is issued to the operator - although once issued, you can take a number to another operator which messes that up, too. --Phil Holmes (talk) 16:54, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Actually, not all 07 numbers are mobiles - 070 is the Personal Numbering range (popular with West African fraudsters, as they can be rerouted anywhere in the world); mobiles begin 074, 075, 07624 (the only case where you can tell the geographic origin of a mobile - it's Manx Telecom's mobile range so you know it originates from the Isle of Man; all other 076 numbers are pagers), 077, 078, and 079 (except 079112 and 079118 (WiFi numbers). -- Arwel Parry (talk) 23:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I understand what's been said so far, but another question is raised. Suppose there are four of these paygo mobiles, all starting with 0758 +7digits or 07583 +6. Can one dial mobile-to-mobile with just the last 7 or last 6, or is the full 0758-xxx-xxxx required even when the phones are fifty feet apart?

DaHorsesMouth (talk) 16:59, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The full code is require. Mobile phones always need to phone the full code. 82.24.248.137 (talk) 17:10, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

My Android phone doesn't require me to enter the full code, but presumably it just guesses parts of it based on where I am. --Sean 18:28, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm very surprised by that, and would be reluctant to trust it myself. It would be very easy for it (or me) to be confused as to which area code I'm currently standing in. And you'd still have to enter the full code to call a mobile phone. 82.24.248.137 (talk) 19:35, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm also very surprised by that, because area codes overlap near where I live (and, I'm sure, in lots of other places). Are you sure that there is not just some fixed default built into your Android? Dbfirs 06:36, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I'm sure. When I first got the phone about a year ago it didn't do it, and then through some automated software update it started doing it. Perhaps important is that I live in the USA, in the middle of an area code that covers 2,200 square kilometers, so it's not a bad assumption for the phone to make, and obviously I can disable it on a per-call basis by simply entering some other area code. --Sean 14:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

That's some neat learning software! I wonder whether it is running on the phone or on the phone company's server. Perhaps it just learns your usual dialling patterns. You could test this out if you dialled a series of out-of-area numbers, or took it to a different area, but perhaps someone here knows which way it learns. If it learns usual patterns then it might also work in the UK, and if it relies on local transmitters then it might work in cities or the centre of areas, but area codes can be four, five or six digits long in the UK. Dbfirs 15:38, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I may be mistaken but I wonder if there may be some confusion on how this works. If I'm not mistaken, the US doesn't have mobile specific area codes, instead mobile phones are treated like landlines and your mobile number will have an area code depending on where you register or buy it I guess. See also North American Numbering Plan#Cellular services and the NANP numbering scheme. This means likely no guess work is required. When the OP refers to the same area code, they mean the area code that their handphone number has which is also the area code for where they live. If they move to the other side of the US, they can still dial people from where they lived without the area code but never people in their new location even if they live there for 20 years always dialing people in that area (unless they get a new number). (I believe they may also have to pay more to call people in their new area and other people may pay more to call them so they may want to change number if they plan to stay their long term.) What I gather from [13] [14] is that some mobile phones in the US do do this, and have for a while. (Well whether it's the phone or network or a combination I'm not sure.) I'm not aware this is common outside the North America, in Asia and Europe where you do usually have mobile specific prefixes, I don't think you can usually dial someone with the same mobile prefix without including the prefix, but it's not something I've ever really tried.

As a semi OT aside, in Malaysia handphone numbers do actually have an area and calling someone in a different area from your handphone often means you have to pay more but there's no differing area codes, in fact with MNP I think even the numbers are a bad guide (of course in many countries including Malaysia there's also a similar issue with onnetwork and offnetwork rates). I think this is changing somewhat with reduced emphasis on the areas but there's still often a difference between East and West Malaysia at a minimum AFAIK. I believe China also has a similar thing although I'm not aware if they have an area code.

Nil Einne (talk) 07:51, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom goes into much detail about the UK dialplan. It's rather more complex than the North American plan. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 17:51, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

American citizenship

I've read that some hospitals in AMerica require their doctors to be American citizens. Is this true, and if so, how prevalent is this? Isn't this a form of discrimination? 68.76.157.132 (talk) 16:48, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I have never heard of this, and would ask you to cite a source, to make it easier to shoot down this rumor. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:45, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I remember seeing this on TV, it could have been CHiPs or Trapper John, M.D., where a foreign doctor performs emergency surgery on a victim of a car crash, then flees from the crash site because he'd get into legal trouble for practicing medicine without having a recognized M.D. title and work visa, something like that. Maybe this story element made its way into popular culture? -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 18:13, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

It is certainly true that having foreign credentials is insufficient but that applies to many fields/occupations and to many countries (not just the U.S.) For medical licensing, for instance: "osteopaths who have trained outside the United States are not eligible for medical licensure in the United States. On the other hand, US-trained D.O.s are currently able to practice in 45 countries with full medical rights and in several others with restricted rights." [15]. According to this, 23% of U.S. physicians are international graduates but the must pass the United States Medical Licensing Examinations and get a Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates certificate before getting a residency. Rmhermen (talk) 18:29, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Also, if you don't legally reside/work in the US (i.e. you're no permanent resident or you don't have the right visa), then you're gonna be in trouble regardless of whether you're a doctor or not. Rimush (talk) 19:00, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

If it really were an emergency and the casualty were likely to deteriorate before anyone licenses to do it could get there (or the casualty could be got to hospital) and you weren't being paid for it, you would probably be ok from a legal standpoint (assuming you don't screw up and make it worse). --Tango (talk) 22:06, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

It's not true in Texas - so long as you have the right credentials and you are a permanent resident alien (ie a green-card holder) you can practice medicine. However, not all foreign qualifications are recognized in the US - and that is the likely origin of what you read. SteveBaker (talk) 19:25, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes it's a form of discrimination. But it's not a bad form of discrimination. I mean not considering a wheelchair-bound man for an acrobat job is discrimination, but there is no problem there.--178.167.133.244 (talk) 22:51, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

There seem to be two quite distinct questions being discussed. The main attention seems to have been on whether foreign credentials are recognized. But the original question was actually about citizenship. Is it possible that some hospitals refuse to employ, or grant privileges, to doctors who have credentials recognized in the US, but are not US citizens? I suppose it's possible; US employment law is mostly based on the at-will doctrine with exceptions for protected classes, and I don't believe foreign citizens are a protected class. But it would seem very strange behavior to me. --Trovatore (talk) 23:33, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I agree. There would seem to be little point (none, actually) in going through whatever process is required to have your foreign credentials recognised, if you still couldn't practise because you've not acquired US citizenship. If you have the legal right to reside and work in the US, then surely you'd be able to put whatever credentials have been recognised to good use. I also suppose it's possible an individual hospital might have some special rule, but they would be the exception to the norm. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:45, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I can imagine a given hospital doing something like this, not as a matter of law but as a matter of indemnity. Depending on how the hospital's insurance is set up, it may be financially unwise to hire non-citizens (e.g. if the hospital is not fully covered for malpractice on doctors who aren't naturalized). But that would be an issue of the legal department and insurance provider, not an issue relating to the hospital itself. --Ludwigs2 17:02, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Many government and public sector jobs in the USA require American citizenship. For example jobs at the National Hurricane Center require it. ~AH1^(TCU) 23:02, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

That may be true, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I can see a rational basis for the requirement in jobs directly touching national security; in theory a citizen is thought to "owe allegiance" to the US, whereas a foreign national is not. But for tracking hurricanes? What are they afraid of, that some al Qaeda operative will misstate a wind speed so that coastal residents will be caught with their guard down? I can't see that as a very likely or effective form of attack against the US. --Trovatore (talk) 07:31, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Collins Safety Razors

I have, found in my fathers things, a certificate for COLLINS SAFETY RAZORS stock(1921). I can't find anything on the company and I am trying to see what the shares are worth. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Larry Mcleod (talk • contribs) 17:12, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

A quick google on "Collins Safety Razor" found that it was patented by Bertrand Collins and made by the Collins Rotary Safety Razor Company of Chicago. MilborneOne (talk) 18:03, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Presumably he needs to know what happened to the Collins Safety Razors company, not the razors themselves. APL (talk) 22:24, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

I think I made this point on a similar previous question - does the USA not have something similar to the UK Companies House? Exxolon (talk) 01:15, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Corporate registrations in the U.S. are usually handled, not nationally (although there are nationally-chartered corporations) but by the Secretary of State's office in the state where the company registers. Presumably, a good place to start would be the Illinois Secretary of State. There are specialized business publications that list company histories; a good business or reference librarian would be the person to ask.—— Shakescene (talk) 09:02, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

¶ This Dutch-hosted site suggests the company may later have had a Pennsylvania location, so that commonwealth's Secretary of State might be worth checking.

The razors were manufactured in the Collins factories located at West Lake Street, Chicago (IL, USA). Some sources state that later on the company had another address: Collins Safety Razors at Franklin (PA, USA).

—— Shakescene (talk) 09:13, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Clock work orange

ever since reading the book I have wanted a cut throat razor, is it possible to buy these, and is there anything speacial I need to know about shaving with one. Will it give a closer shave that normal disposables? how does one sharpen it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.89.16.154 (talk) 18:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia has an article about the Straight razor. According to that article, they are sharpened on a leather strop, and require considerable practice and skill to use without hurting yourself. Some people say that they give a more satisfactory shave to a skilled user because the shaver has more control over the blade. I found some instructions on how to shave with a straight razor by googling "how to use a straight razor." I found several for sale on Amazon.com for fairly reasonable prices. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 18:44, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Even barbers mess up with those sometimes. Rimush (talk) 19:02, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

The actual title of the book by Anthony Burgess is A Clockwork Orange. The OP will have read these words of the belligerent idiot named Dim.: Great bolshy yarblockos to you. I'll meet you with chain or nozh or britva anytime, not having you aiming tolchocks at me reasonless. Amongst Dim's neologisms is britva which is Russian for razor, to be used as a weapon in a fight with Alex. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:27, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

A barber who has shaved people with them for decades told me that they are not as sharp as safety razors or cheap disposable razors, and do not shave you any closer. Edison (talk) 19:31, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Yeh, but if the OP's looking to cut somebody's throat, he'll have a tough time doing it with Gillette Trac II or whatever. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:44, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I think he's looking for the tough, macho sensation that comes with shaving with a blade that one could cut somebody's throat with. Plus, you'd get to sing that one song from Sweeney Todd every morning while you shaved. "These are my friends..." That in itself would make it worth learning how to shave with a straight razor. (Secondary question: Why did Sweeney Todd have so many razors? Wouldn't one be enough?) -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 02:50, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

There's also Mr Micawber's observation, "Copperfield, you are a true friend; but when the worst comes to the worst, no man is without a friend who is possessed of shaving materials." http://dickens.thefreelibrary.com/David-Copperfield/1-17 —— Shakescene (talk) 09:27, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Our open razor article, footnote 18, states that an open razor should be rested for 1 to 2 days after cleaning. If you clean the razor after each customer, which you should, then you need a lot of razors. CS Miller (talk) 08:22, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Wow! That makes perfect sense... isn't amazing, the things you learn at the Reference Desk? Things you didn't even realize you needed to know... -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 13:27, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I lack a citation but while waiting to get a shave once at the barber's, I read a coffee table book about the history of barbering that echoed Edison's statement above: Modern disposable razors are sharper and give a closer shave than a straight razor. Come to think of it, that barber should rethink his choice of coffee table books. Comet Tuttle (talk) 15:21, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I want to write a coffee table book about coffee tables and was wondering if anyone had this idea before. Rimush (talk) 18:10, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Kramer has. ---Sluzzelin talk 18:15, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Wow, you have coffee table books at your barber, Comet Tuttle? I get old and well-thumbed women's magazines; they obviously have the same supplier as my doctor, my dentist and my tax accountant.  :) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:27, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Back to the point - my barber uses an open razor with a disposable blade - this gets around issue raised by Csmiller above. However, it's more likely a requirement so that we don't all get HIV. Alansplodge (talk) 23:10, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

pond problems

i have a problem with the water in my pond the water has foam on the top of the water i have tested the water and it is ok the pond is feed bya man made water fall i have three big filters can you help me with the couse and the cure —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.86.9.58 (talk) 22:20, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

What is the source of the water? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:43, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

"I have a problem with the water in my pond. The water has foam on the top of the water. I have tested the water and it is OK. The pond is fed by a man-made waterfall. I have three big filters. Can you help me with the cause and the cure?" 92.24.190.46 (talk) 10:38, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

You may have misunderstood Bugs's question (inserted above your reply by me to make things comprehensible). The question is what is the source of the water - is it naturally accumulated water (rain water, ground water) or is it tap water? It may also help to mention where in the world you are (I'm assuming the UK). Matt Deres (talk) 12:47, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

That's what I'm asking, yes. "A man-made waterfall" is not the "source" of the water, it's merely part of the aperatus (sp?). It could be algae, it could be detergent, who knows? And what kind of "testing" was done on the water? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:08, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I think you've both missed something. 92.24 isn't the OP restating his question - he's a grammar fiend correcting the OP's sentence. Vimescarrot (talk) 20:44, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Calling him a grammar fiend in relation to this particular question is harsh and unusual punishment. It contained six (6) declarative sentences plus a question, making seven (7) sentences in total, yet it remained entirely punctuation-free, so it needed some sort of analysis to work out what was being asked of us. Nitpicking is one thing, but mutual responsibility has to apply as well. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:22, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Negative connotations were not intended. If they had been, I'd have used the phrase "grammar Nazi". I didn't know how else to describe someone who corrects another's grammar without being asked to. Vimescarrot (talk) 23:33, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

"All-round nice guy/gal"? "Good Samaritan"? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:51, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Speaking as an erstwhile professional editor/proofreader, and thus someone generally rather passionate about conformation to writing rules, I had absolutely no problem whatever in understanding perfectly the OP's question in its original form, which contained only a couple of minor typo-type mis-spellings and an omitted space, and was grammatically correct throughout. Lack of Upper/lower case distinctions and punctuation served the Romans perfectly well, and earlier writing systems managed without vowels, word divisions and even sentence divisions. If the question had related to language or writing, and had appeared on the Humanities desk, I could have seen a case for correction, but I for one think it was misplaced here. I don't want to pick a fight with you or anyone else, Jack (and 92.24), but I think we should keep in mind the primary purpose of the Desk, which is to answer Querants' questions. Leaping all over their writing style risks humiliating and alienating them; they, unlike ourselves as self-appointed responders, have no implicit commitment to maintaining the highest standards. </rant> and back to the actual question, hopefully. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 10:36, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

If the OP is not a native speaker of english, then the corrected text helps them learn english. If the OP is a native speaker of english then the help is also needed, unless perhaps they wrote the text on a mobile phone. 92.28.251.219 (talk) 13:37, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Point taken, 87.81.230.195, but I'd prefer it if we didn't use the practices of the Romans as any sort of justification when discussing current, 21st century, non-Roman writing. Haruspicy (divination by animals' entrails) was also a Roman practice, but I'm hoping you wouldn't suggest we do that. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:39, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I'm still waiting for an answer to my question, but since the OP only made the one entry, I doubt we'll hear from him again. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:49, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

As Bugs and Matt have suggested, the foam's immediate cause is a lessening of the water's surface tension (the same mechanism by which detergents cause foam in baths and washing-up water). That reduction will be due to trace amounts of chemicals that could be man-made pollution, or could be due to algae or other water organisms - one can sometimes see similar effects from both causes at weirs on rivers or at the shoreline.

If your pond and waterfall are fed from an external source, such as a stream or your domestic water supply, you might have to consider filtering and treating the the water before it feeds into the pond. This need not be expensive or elaborate, and a shop dealing in indoor aquaria or outdoor pond equipment (such as many garden centres) should be able to advise you. (Allow for the fact that they'll hope to sell you some kit, which may slant their advice.) If your pond is a largely closed system, and your waterfall is merely recycling the contents, you may still need to treat the water, and may possibly benefit from emptying the pond (carefully preserving its living contents in appropriate containers with clean water at the right temperature), identifying and removing any unwanted plants/algae that may be contributing to the problem, cleaning the pond containment survaces with an appropriate non-toxic cleaner, and then restocking with the existing and perhaps some additional new species (the latter may help the pond's overall ecological balance). Our articles Pond, Pond aeration and Water garden, and the further links within them, may contain or lead you to further useful information. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 11:00, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

August 13

Drawing supplies

Can anyone recommend some good, high-quality-but-not-too-pricey drawing pens and inks that are available at most art supply stores in the greater area of NYC? Thanks in advance. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 05:36, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I would start with brands, perhaps, first. Chevymontecarlo 09:44, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes... that's what I'm asking. Can anyone recommend a good brand of drawing pens and inks. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 16:41, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

It's probably going to depend on what kind of illustrating you want to do. For general work, you could probably do worse than a fine point Sharpie. They're widely available, of course. This site deals with the materials you'd need for inking comic books, though I'm guessing they'd work for a wide range of applications. Besides Sharpie, other brand names mentioned include Staedtler and Pentel, among others. I've seen them here in SW Ontario, so I'm guessing they're widely available. This article might also be useful; you might also be able to contact the author for further advice. I don't do much drawing any more, but I found I was quite idiosyncratic regarding the types of pens I used - it wasn't simply a brand name (I used Sharpie), but I only liked using particular models, because they suited what I wanted to do and the shape of my hand, etc. A good art supply store will allow you to do a brief test on a scrap bit of paper; why not bring the kind of paper you plan to work on and have at it? The people who work in those things are frequently artistically inclined; they could also provide some advice. Matt Deres (talk) 23:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm extremely particular about the tools I use as well and am never quite satisfied, so I'm always on the hunt for a superior product. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 01:18, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Indian indendpendence but from what?

what does independence day mean to a common man who is struggling to make his ens meet and the society where he is a citizen of has all the laws which forbids him to get a job caused by reservations, pays tax that too substantial amount of his meagre earning,cannot buy a house(if has the resources),cannot get a public-sector job(especially the residents of the so called tribal protected zone like the north east india and many such parts within the country),has to run from pillar to post to get an identity card(passport/ration card/voter id/etc)that too after bribing the cops and the officers concerned,YES i am talking bout India rather the common indians.so what should freedom signify to them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 09:58, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question seems to call for debate and ask for opinion, neither of which are appropriate here. Your post may be more at home on one of the many internet forums out there (Example). Since India is a democracy, perhaps you should also share your concerns with your elected representative. Matt Deres (talk) 12:40, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

For questions on India's independence try - Independence Day (India) and Indian independence movement. In very basic terms the independence was from being ruled by the British Empire if my history is any good - whether that proved to be ultimately positive or negative will depend on the individual, the region, the aspect of life etc. as from my studies these things invariably have good and bad points. That said Matt Deres is right you are very much bordering on debate here and if that's what you want this isn't the right place for it. ny156uk (talk) 16:32, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Statement on Global Warming

In a section called "The Politicization of Global Warming" in Al Gore's book An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore said this statement:

As for why so many people still resist what the facts clearly show, I think, in part, the reason is that the truth about the climate crisis is an inconvenient one that means we are going to have to change the way we live our lives.

A highlighted statement separated from the main writing in that section was:

The truth about the climate crisis is an inconvenient one that means we are going to have to change the way we live our lives.

Have Bjørn Lomborg, Penn Jillette, and Teller heard about those two statements? If so, then what do they think about them? Do they agree with them? If not, then why not? How did they react and respond to them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.171.48.196 (talk) 10:12, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

You asked this question already. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 10:20, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

And again. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 10:22, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

If you have something to say to Penn Jillette and Bjorn Lomborg, you should know that they aren't likely to see it here. Send them one letter each, in care of their agents, then move on with your life.-FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 13:25, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Also take a look at politics of global warming. ~AH1^(TCU) 22:59, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

fridge problem

I'm having probs with my refrigerator, actually an over/under fridge/freezer. Both the fridge and freezer are much warmer than I'd like, even set on maximum. The fridge is around 10C and the freezer is around -3C and both should be quite a bit colder. It worked fine a week ago so this is not a gradual buildup of dust on the coils or anything like that. I can hear the condenser fan running but only a faint wisp of chilled air comes out of the vents in the freezer. Is it supposed to be a stronger blast of cold air? I wonder if there is some kind of clog in there. The heat exchanger coils on the back of the fridge aren't especially warm. I haven't noticed any weird smells (I don't know if a coolant leak would cause a smell). Fridge is a small-to-medium sized and probably cheap unit with not too many operating hours. No obvious probs with the door gaskets. Any suggestions? I prefer DIY repair if it's something simple, since the alternative is to call my landlord and I'm happier if they don't send people into my apt to fix things. Thanks.67.122.209.167 (talk) 10:59, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Frozen ice out of view is a possible problem. Removing a plastic covering in the freezer, likely at the bottom, could reveal such ice. Bus stop (talk) 12:06, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Try thaw-ing it out and trying from there - sometimes they just get clogged up like BusStop says. All i've ever done is just find a friend that can take your frozen stuff for a day or whatever and then unplug it, pull it somewhere where you can get to it/round it, put towels down and then hair-dryer it (if there's a build up of ice on the back wall of the freezer). Also a good hoover of the coils is probably good regardless (since it's out). ny156uk (talk) 16:29, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

That frozen ice is the best kind to have. Thawed ice isn't as cold.

If you have a "frost-free" refrigerator (one that doesn't require you to do manual defrosting), one possibility is that the drain line from your freezer is clogged (by ice, calcium build-up, or just dirt and debris). This clogging leads to ice building up (e.g., on the air vents in the freezer). So, if you've excess frost and ice in your front-free freezer, that might be why. Use warm water to thaw out the ice, sponge it up, and see if water poured down the drain hole comes out in the drain pan (under the bottom of the fridge). (This is the first part of Bus Stop's suggestion; I'm just drawing attention to the drain line, which might have a clog inside it. I've seen this type of line blown clean with a little compressed-air cartridge.)

Another possibility is that unwanted ice has built up around the fan that's probably hidden behind those freezer air-vents. The fan can't turn because its blades are frozen, so the cold air isn't being forced out as called for in the design. I once owned a fridge in which the pan under the fan had been installed backwards; the plan sloped the wrong way, water built up, water froze. Took the repairman about 15 minutes to diagnose and fix. --- OtherDave (talk) 20:40, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

A common source of the problem you describe is a slow leak of refrigerant. When the Freon is a bit too low, the cooling coils paradoxically get too cold and ice forms, interfering with air flow and cooling. A good thaw would temporarily restore normal cooling, until the coils ice up again, if that is the problem. The solution is to use a Freon leak detector to locate the the leak, repair it, and recharge to unit with refrigerant. If no leak can be found, then the repairman might just recharge the unit. Edison (talk) 00:53, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I also suggest defrosting it fully. With my fridge the thermostat looks like a long loose piece of wire. The temperature you get depends where you put this wire - if it is next to the icebox then the fridge will not be so cold as when it is in the rest of the fridge. I've also found that I have to increase the temperature dial as the fridge is seemingly not so cold as it used to be when I bought it a few years ago, am not sure why. 92.28.251.219 (talk) 13:46, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

problem with audio headphones

There seems to be a loose connection or something inside the jack plug of my headphones. The sound only comes through one channel. If I wiggle the cable around a bit next to the jack plug, the sound returns to both channels but only temporarily. Is it possible to fix this myself? I can't see how to go about this, since the jack plug is hardwired to the cable and the cable is hardwired to the headset. I'm disinclined to buy a whole new set of headphones just because the cable has gone a bit wonky. Any advice gratefully received, many thanks. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 12:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Firstly, try the same device (ipod or whatever) with a different headset, to reject the possibility that the defect lies in the socket on the device (which can become partially detached from the circuit board). If that's okay, buy a new 3.5mm stereo jackplug (Radio Shack, Radio Spares, Maplin, etc.). Chop off the old one (and an inch or so of cable, as that's the most likely place for a break in the cable) and connect the new one (you'll need a wire stripper or a sharp knife, and a soldering iron and some solder). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:16, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Oh Finlay, I was with you all the way until you mentioned a soldering iron. I don't do that stuff, unfortunately. But thanks anyway. --Viennese Waltz ^talk 13:25, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

It requires no skill whatever. Shove little wire through little hole, hold length of solder over little hole, hold hot iron on wire for 5 seconds, done. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:35, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

It may require no skill (though I'm skeptical!) but it certainly does require equipment which the average person doesn't have... ╟─TreasuryTag►secretariat─╢ 13:37, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Making a good soldered connection demands both skill and 3 hands to hold the wire, solder and iron. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:25, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

It's highly likely to be a flaky contact between plug and socket. You might be able to solve it by getting an adapter/extender that the plug can go into, which will itself plug into the socket -- cheap at Radio Shack or a similar place. I don't know an alternative other than doing things that you don't do. Looie496 (talk) 21:03, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

The cheapest and dirtiest method by far is to bend the wire back against the socket in such a way that both headphones work and then just wrap some decent tape around it to keep it in place.. If you are lucky and a little careful they can work like this for a long time. I got so sick of soldering my headphones I now tape where the cable meets the socket as soon as I buy headphones, as a reinforcement because this is where they break 50% of the time, the other being at the headphone end. Vespine (talk) 02:54, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

At the risk of once again dragging the conversation into the eldritch world of rum arcanum, try heatshrink. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 23:10, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

You can go someplace like a 99cent store or WalMart or someplace - and pick up a really cheap/nasty pair of 'ear buds'. Those have the right kind of connector. You could then cut off the connector from your broken (presumably more valuable) headphones - do it a good distance from the plug to be sure you've gotten rid of the broken part. Now do the same with the cheap earbuds. Now you can strip the plastic coating from the wires on both ends and twist them together to make a reasonably good connection - making sure that the various separate wires don't short together. Test that to make sure it works. Now get some electrical tape and carefully wrap the twisted ends of each separate wire to keep them separated - then (when you're sure it all works), wrap the whole mess tightly with more tape. The result will be a somewhat unsightly blob of tape - but it'll work. The tricky part is to make sure that you connect the correct wires on each side of the join. Generally, there are two connections - each with an 'earth' wire on the outside and an inner signal wire for each ear. You can connect all of the earth wires from both sides together (it doesn't matter whether they are mixed up) then join the signal wires together. The most likely mistake to make is to get the signal wires for the left and right earphones swapped over. It's easy enough to fix - but it's sometimes hard to figure out that you got it wrong. SteveBaker (talk) 01:44, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Can CIA officers Arrest people?

Do CIA operatives (Intelligence officers, SAD/SOG Paramilitary operatives, staff intelligence officers) have the power to make arrests a) in the US and/or b) internationally (Iraq, Afghanistan)? Acceptable (talk) 18:54, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

As I understand it, under US law, CIA officers have very broad powers when outside the US and can basically do whatever they like (local law disagrees, of course, but most of what the CIA exists to do violates local law, likewise for the equivalent agencies in other countries). I don't think the CIA have arrest powers, but Google finds lots of people talking in recent years (ie. since 9/11) about giving them arrest powers. --Tango (talk) 19:26, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Some of that might be exaggerations. There was a police action about a month ago here in Slovenia against some hackers or whatnot, and the Interpol and the FBI got involved as well. Arrests were made by the Slovene police force, but the American media reported the arrests were made by the FBI. I know, I know, different agencies, but I think the same general principle of possible exaggeration applies, IMO. TomorrowTime (talk) 20:53, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

As our Central Intelligence Agency article points out, "As the CIA has no legal domestic police authority, it usually sends its analyses to the FBI and other law enforcement organizations, such as the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice"... when it wants to have an arrest made. It is not a police organization, it is an intelligence gathering organization. This is different from, say, the FBI, which is both a police and intelligence gathering organization. Now, this doesn't mean that they can't do shady things that involve them taking custody of people — like extraordinary rendition — but they don't make "arrests" per se. (Their renditions, by themselves, do not set you up within the justice system — they are essentially state-sanctioned kidnappings. Later, hypothetically, a police agency could then arrest you and charge you. One of the reasons these kinds of things are so controversial is that they exist outside of the boundaries of the regular US justice system and thus are really quite nebulous about whether all of the rights guaranteed by said system are implemented.) --Mr.98 (talk) 21:43, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

I would assume that a CIA officer has the same powers of arrest as anyone else (see citizen's arrest, a slight misnomer because generally it has little to do with citizenship). Might be trouble for him if he tried to arrest someone in the name of the CIA, though. But I'm really just speculating there. --Trovatore (talk) 21:52, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Of course, but citizen's arrests are usually only allowed in the US when you actually witness a felony. That probably wouldn't happen very often in the CIA's operations. --Tango (talk) 22:10, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

CIA officers who made a citizen's arrest would be doing so as private citizens, not members of the CIA. The CIA lacks police powers, as an organization. That is the salient and non-pedantic point. --Mr.98 (talk) 01:31, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

As with the little known pilot episode for the prospective TV series, Gomer Pyle, C.I.A. Operative. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:36, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

do I need to point out that arresting people would only get in the CIA's way? The CIA is designed to operate outside the pale, to gather information that cannot easily be gathered through legitimized, official channels. like love and war, espionage prefers to remain unfettered. --Ludwigs2 22:23, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily. The FBI is an example of an intelligence agency with arrest powers. I am pretty sure there are others elsewhere in the world. The KGB is one notable example of an agency with foreign intelligence gathering capabilities and arrest powers. The CIA was deprived of police powers very deliberately by Truman, who didn't want it to resemble a "secret police" in any way. (He already had the FBI for that, the cynic would say.) When the CIA does want to arrest people — which they do often do, they do not just go around assassinating people willy-nilly, political thrillers be damned — they have to go to DEA or FBI and hand them the evidence that they hope will actually be usable in court. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:21, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

need to find a street/house in romania

So I have a fairly obscure question/request... My grandparents are going to Romania next week and they hope to be able to visit my grandfather's father's home. I have some basic information, but my google skills are failing me and I haven't really found any useful information, here's the info that I'm going on:

It's in the town/village of Arbore, Romania which is in Suceava county. It's on Solgauer street and his family lived in the house until around the second world war (early 1940s...ish). The family name is Gebert and I have a few first names too (I figure as much information as possible will make the search easier) we have a John Gebert and a Ferdinand Gebert married to Amalia Koch.

Any help in this would be great because they'd really like to be able to visit the site when they're there.

thanks so much flagitious (talk) 21:12, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia has an article about Arbore. You can enter "Arbore, Romania" into the search field here and get a satellite view that you can zoom down to streets level. Individual buildings are visible but I have not found a map to identify Solgauer street. There is a genealogy database here that lists many people named Gebert but to access it you need Bukovina Society Membership. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:19, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

(ec) I find it hard to believe that a Romanian commune has street names. You are gonna have a very hard time finding it. Even in cities the street names are often unmarked (or there's just one sign at the beginning/end of a long-ass avenue). The street name (as well as the personal names) point to the period of Austro-Hungarian domination: I've lived in Austria for a long time, and every village there has street names - they probably did the same for their "dominions" in what is now Romania. I wouldn't think that the street names exist anymore, and you're probably gonna have to find some old guy or old lady in the village who still remembers which street was which. Rimush (talk) 12:32, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I looked at many sites (including hotels, tourist sites, even real estate adverts) but still couldn't find any street maps of Arbore better than the one main road offered by Google maps. However, the village does have a notable world heritage site and I'm sure there will be a museum or tourist info place either in the village itself or in Suceava (the county seat, 32 km away) - a place that is more likely to have English speaking staff, if that is important to your grandparents. The village also appears to have some other churches as well as the painted church, presumably all with local records and graveyards, though World War II did have a major impact on the former Ţinutul Suceava region (Suceava County is now in the Nord-Est region). In particular, the effects of The Holocaust on the local Jewish population may make family records of Jews particularly hard to find. Astronaut (talk) 12:29, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Communes in Romania don't usually have street names (there are some exceptions - Costineşti is one that I know of). Adresses are usually given as "Commune name, No. 254" or something. Also, knowing that Suceava is in the Nord-Est region will not help you at all. I bet around 90% of Romanians have no idea what development regions are. They are never mentioned here in public or private discourse. Rimush (talk) 12:35, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Looking at the location of Arbore on the Google-linked map, I see that the next place to the south-west is called Solca. It is a reasonable guess that the road to Solca may have been called "Solgauer strasse" at some time in the past. Sussexonian (talk) 19:01, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

According to German Wikipedia, Solca's German name is Solka, not Solgau, though. :-( -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 21:20, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

August 14

Tips for returning to school in a big exam year?

Ok I'll be going back to school in September. I have big, important exams this year. The trouble is I'm a little lazy, and while I have been doing the minimum required up to now, so that last year in maths only one of my small class was a very good result. Some tests in other subjects went badly as well. Obviously I'm going to start working hard, but do you have any other advice?--178.167.185.133 (talk) 00:36, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Foist decide that you are going to do better, and that you will put in a better effort. Set an amount of study and homework that you are going to do. Make yourself accountable so that you report truthfully what you have done to someone. Plan to reward yourself if you actually meet the standard you set. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 02:23, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Study skills self help information | Cook Counseling Center | Virginia Tech. -- Wavelength (talk) 02:30, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Study skills and Study Skills - How to Study. -- Wavelength (talk) 03:12, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Open Directory - Reference: Education: How to Study. -- Wavelength (talk) 03:44, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Here are a few tips from me.

1. Try to develop a love for your subject(s) that is strong enough to overcome any tendency toward laziness.
2. Try to associate with other students who really want to study (if they are good associates in other respects), and avoid the negative influence of students who prefer to party. (Think about how much your progress can be set back by even one accepted invitation to a party, when your time could have been spent in studying, not to mention the problems that can result from drunkenness.)
3. According to your time and other factors, you might want to reinforce what you are learning by teaching it to students who are having difficulty in understanding it.
4. Use some of the remainder of your summer vacation to review what you studied in your previous school year, because it is likely important for understanding what you will learn in the coming school year. Also, try to find out, as soon as you can, what you will be studying in the coming school year, and begin to familiarize yourself with some of the concepts.

—Wavelength (talk) 04:31, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

[I am revising to my second tip by adding two passages, each one in a set of parentheses.—Wavelength (talk) 14:30, 14 August 2010 (UTC)]

[I am adding a fourth tip.—Wavelength (talk) 14:47, 14 August 2010 (UTC)]

Decide just how important this course is to you. If you decide that your interests lie elsewhere, then go elsewhere! Life's too short to waste it doing stuff you don't like. Having a degree isn't the be-all and end-all, you know. --TammyMoet (talk) 10:17, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Course? It sounds to me like the OP is still in secondary school, probably entering the year they're going to do their exams for the Junior Certificate or the Leaving Certificate. While there are alternatives particularly to doing the Leaving Certificate, for better or worse lacking secondary school qualifications in many developed countries, including I'm guess Ireland usually does greatly limit your options later in life so is not IMHO something that should be recommended lightly. In particularly, if the OP doesn't even have any basic secondary school qualification yet (the Junior Certificate in Ireland I think) I would urge great caution before abandoning secondary school and at the very least consider what you'll do instead, such as attending a vocational school Nil Einne (talk) 10:26, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Common Errors in English. -- Wavelength (talk) 14:33, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Glossary of Mathematical Mistakes. -- Wavelength (talk) 14:39, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Ask your parents to do a Web search for how to help children succeed in school.—Wavelength (talk) 15:36, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2010 July 25#Learning to hate (school) learning, and the two book articles mentioned.

—Wavelength (talk) 20:22, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

There are lots of good bits of advice here that I won't repeat, and instead I'll add, maintain good physical health. Your brain is part of your body- it works better when you're healthy. Get plenty of sleep, regular physical exercise, and healthy food- it really does affect your ability to absorb, retain, and use knowledge. I found the book Brain Rules to be a very interesting and non-scientist-readable review of how brains work and how to use them effectively. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 20:53, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

If you have attention deficit disorder, keep on your meds. Comet Tuttle (talk) 15:15, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

See Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder controversies#Concerns about medication. Wavelength (talk) 21:48, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 May 2#Short list of the most important general skills

and Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2010 May 8#Helping poor students. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:01, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Foam on pond

i first ask for help to try and a problem with my pond so i will ask again i have a problem with foam on top of the water i have kept ponds for the last 20 years and never had a problem like this my water is taken by pump to three large filters then back to the pond by means of a man made water fall can you help please my computer skills are poor but i dont need bonzo bugs telling me so if you dont know the answer but out bugs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.86.9.58 (talk) 14:39, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

For what it's worth, Bugs wasn't the one who criticised your typing skills last time. In future it's generally a better idea to keep responses within the same section, rather than starting a new one. Vimescarrot (talk) 15:34, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

There's actually a very good answer to your question under the original post. --TammyMoet (talk) 17:34, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

He still hasn't told us what the water source is. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:49, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

And Tammy's right, the original section has a lengthy and good response. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:51, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I have seen detergent, soap and phosphate contamination cause suds in bodies of water which have aeration/splashing/agitation of the water. How it got in the water is the real question, but I recall vandals thinking it was funny to dump detergent in fountains. Edison (talk) 20:09, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I've seen a waterfall that produced foam when the water hit the lower part of the river. ~AH1^(TCU) 22:55, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I've seen foam appear on the surface of a severely algae-infested swimming pool after the pH was brought back to the right range and the pool heavily dosed with chlorine. The foam in that case was greenish-brown in color and several inches thick! It clearly consisted of dead algae - which in this context is a good sign that we were winning the battle to clean it up. The foam was quite effectively removed by the pools 'sand filter' - but that quickly became clogged by this material. Hence, it's essential to clean/backwash/replace the filters after such events, and it's possible that the problem here relates to that kind of thing. SteveBaker (talk) 03:43, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

pigs

What documentary is this from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYUSKWhb3sk —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.176.16.252 (talk) 15:39, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Your best bet would probably be to contact the uploader of the video and ask them. Tyrol5 [Talk] 17:03, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

I doubt that, given that 90% of the stuff on YouTube has just been re-uploaded from other sites. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:48, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps Dark Circle meltBanana 18:03, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

That's a good candidate. One of the obvious things about the video is that it was made sometime before the end of US nuclear testing in 1992. Just naming off the documentaries I have seen, it is not from Atomic Cafe, Radio Bikini, or Trinity and Beyond. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:45, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Checking some more, I think that's absolutely correct. The narrator voice is the same as the short clip contained in this interview regarding Dark Circle (e.g. starting at 2:36). --Mr.98 (talk) 20:49, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

August 15

Citation using Chicago Referencing

How do you:

1. Cite a powerpoint presentation? It was given during a university lecture and my tutor seems to want me to include it in my assignment, but I have no idea how. 2. Cite a work that has been quoted in a different work? I would just include the entire book but it was written in German and it would be somewhat obvious that I hadn't actually read it.

Thanks.

Sarah —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.53.104.14 (talk) 01:51, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

For 1, if I were citing this for publication, I would cite it as a "personal communication", and possibly add a note clarifying the origin. For 2, I would cite the original and add a "quoted by" note pointing to the source that I actually got it from. In my experience, though, it's pretty common to just cite the original in cases like that. But for a class, I would play it safe and add a note. Looie496 (talk) 02:02, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

On #1: I would just cite it like a lecture. See here. That is what my students have done for me in the past, anyway. I would not cite it as a "personal communication." In any case, whatever you do, just be consistent, and give as much information as is necessary for the reader to understand what it is you are trying to cite, in a general Chicago-like appearance, and it will probably be fine. Make a good-faith effort but don't spend all day worrying about it; your teacher will probably not have any idea how it should be cited either, as it is not a common thing to cite. Citation, in general, should be taken seriously, but not at the detriment of the substance!

On #2: If it was translated I would use "Quoted in <source with the translated quote>." I have read some places where they very much want you to cite the original (e.g. the German) and then say "quoted in," because it would then keep you from having to track down the intermediary source, I suppose. I have always thought that to be a little silly unless you have yourself tracked down the original and confirmed it to be exactly what they said it was. In any case, you really must cite the source that you are getting the translated quote from. At the very least, because as you say, it will look suspicious if you don't. I had a student who plagiarized quite a bit once and the really key giveaway (it was otherwise a pretty good essay) was that he cited lots of sources that I knew he really could not have possibly gotten his hands on (because they were not only in a language which I was fairly sure he didn't know, but were probably available only in obscure archives in countries I was fairly sure he hadn't gone to), which prompted me to start running those quotes through Google, which revealed that he had just paraphrased another book entirely without citing it. Anyway, you are obviously not doing that, but it will stick out to a close reader for the reason you'd mentioned. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:16, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

On #1, if the lecturer was kind enough to put the powerpoint files up in hir personal area of your university's webserver, the you might be able to cite the URL. CS Miller (talk) 12:17, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Script/antiqua typeface

Does anyone know of a typeface that is script (i.e. looks like handwriting) but isn't as curly as Brush Script? I guess I want something a bit like an antiqua typeface but a bit more like handwriting. Yaris678 (talk) 07:33, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

The Lucida group of typefaces contains my favourites: Handwriting and Calligraphy.--TammyMoet (talk) 08:52, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

We also have a collection under samples of script typefaces. Maybe you can spot one there. ---Sluzzelin talk 14:25, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks guys. Lucida Calligraphy seems to be what I am after. Yaris678 (talk) 18:14, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Kiddies' rhyme

Can anybody help with the text (and variations?) of a rhyme that starts something like <One two three, mother caught a flea, put in the teapot and made a cup of tea>?Froggie34 (talk) 07:35, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

One, two, three, Mother caught a flea,

Put it in a teapot to make a pot of tea.

The flea jumped out! Mother gave a shout!

In came Father with his shirt hanging out![16] or

Father came in with his shirt hanging out![17] Clarityfiend (talk) 08:12, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens Border?

Where is the exact border between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens in London? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 188.220.46.47 (talk) 13:19, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

A map showing Kensington Gardens at left and Hyde Park at center in 1833. A modern map shows all the area Northeast of the Serpentine as Hyde Park. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:28, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

The official website[18] isn't much help. It does say that the Gardens were enclosed during the 18th Century and the map posted by Cuddlyable3 seems to show that. There is no boundary fence now. I seem to remember that Queen Caroline of Ansbach (maybe?) once asked how much it would cost to enclose the whole of Hyde Park to keep out the public and was told "a couple of crowns". Alansplodge (talk) 14:51, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

A lot of current maps, including official Royal Parks ones, don't mark the boundary on. But several modern maps (e.g. [19]), using unstated evidence, continue to mark West Carriage Drive as the boundary, not the Serpentine. Warofdreams talk 16:50, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

The placing of the "H" of "HYDE PARK" on this map seems to identify all the land east of the Serpentine. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:06, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Pokémon probability

How come the probability of an attack hitting is inversely proportional to how important it is that the attack hits? --70.134.48.188 (talk) 14:42, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

My guess is that it makes the game more exciting. If the reverse were the case then you'd almost always succeed when it mattered most and only have a serious chance of failing when it didn't matter at all. The game would be very unexciting because all of the 'drama' would have been sucked out of it! Game designers spend a lot of time thinking about things like that - they even plot graphs of player progress of stress versus reward and so forth. There is quite a bit of science to it. Making a game be both 'balanced' and 'fun' is rather tricky. SteveBaker (talk) 16:17, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

It isn't. It's confirmation bias. You don't notice all the times when the important strike hits because it's non-notable, but you pay attention every time that important strike misses and place more importance on them. That said, as the battle wears on it's more likely that you will, at some point, have been hit with an accuracy-reducing move.

If it still really bothers you, have your Pokémon use Faint Attack, Aerial Ace, Shadow Punch, Magnet Bomb, Swift, Magical Leaf, or Shock Wave. They all hit without fail...with a few rare exceptions. Vimescarrot (talk) 16:23, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

The random elements of games frequently appear unfair to users. In Battle for Wesnoth, this problem was apparently so severe that the developers made the game keep detailed statistics (accessible at any time through the menus) so that the user can see the overall behavior and trust that the "dice" weren't loaded. Paul (Stansifer) 21:56, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

How can I make my rice stick togther

I really like sushi and occasionally like to try to make it at home. I have lots of recipie books but usually follow the instructions on the back of the pack of sushi rice I buy from my local supermarket here in the UK. The problem appears to be, the rice has a huge preference for sticking to everything except itself. I end up with rice stuck to the pan, the utensils, my hands and anything else it touches. I really struggle to form the rice into the oblong shapes because each movement of my hand pulls it apart again. If I wet my hand with vinegared water - the usual advice in my recipie books - the rice doesn't stick to my hands but it still won't stick to itself; and if I do get somthing of a vaguely acceptable shape and size, it readily falls apart again when I go to eat it. So, how can I make my rice stick togther? Astronaut (talk) 15:15, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Hard to know for sure what the problem is without observing you in action, but two things that occur to me are (1) it's easier if the rice is cold before you try to shape it, and (2) even with the vinegar water you have to keep your hands rigorously clean -- as soon as they get starchy you need to clean them before continuing to work. Looie496 (talk) 17:06, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

try adding a little more water and/or turning down the heat when you cook the rice. in my experience, the more liquid the rice absorbs, the stickier it is. just don't add so much water that the rice turns into a paste. --Ludwigs2 18:30, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

If you stir the rice a bit during cooking it will make it stickier. Don't do it too much or you'll get something like rice pudding! Yaris678 (talk) 20:24, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

This might sound like a stupid question, but are you cooking the rice correctly? The best way to cook sushi rice is in a (preferably Japanese) rice cooker - considering the sheer number of Japanese people in the UK, these should be available in any major kitchen appliances store. If you don't have one, you can cook it in a regular pot, but it takes a little extra work - the lid must be perfectly closed (possibly weighed down as well) so that no steam escapes - the rice should effectively be steamed, rather than cooked. Lately special little plastic dishes for steaming rice in a microwave oven have become available, too - possibly you can get those in a store as well, but I wouldn't know. TomorrowTime (talk) 21:01, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I thought maybe I wasn't cooking the rice properly. Maybe too much water is escaping as steam - certainly the lid of the pot I use is not very tight. The instructions I use simply say put the lid on the pot, simmer for 10 minutes, then leave the pot to cool for 20 minutes without removing the lid. Today, I left the rice to cool for considerably longer (nearly an hour) before emptying the rice into a shallow dish and adding the sushi seasoning. I still got rice that stuck to everything but itself (it tasted good though). I had previously looked into buying a rice cooker, but I thought the typical 2+ litre capacity was much larger than I would need and they were quite expensive for an occasional use item. However, looking again just now, I can see Amazon has a few mini rice cookers at much more reasonable prices. Any hints on what I should look for (or avoid) in mini rice cookers? Astronaut (talk) 00:23, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Odometers vs Sat Nav Speed Indicators.

I guess the Subject line will alert the intelligentsia here to the basis of my query, but for the benefit of the less informed (including myself) and wider Wiki audience, please permit me to explain. I bought a new Suzuki car in March this year and am always careful to observe statutory UK speed limits. But I also always use a TomTom SatNav device so as not to get lost, but also, to advise me when I exceed chosen speed limits such as 30 mph or 70 mph. But I have begun to notice that whilst the Suzuki Odometer says, say, 70 mph, the Tom Tom SatNav says 67 mph, and other SatNav values are always lower by about 10% in favour of the SatNav reading against the Odometer. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR LEGAL ADVICE. But I am interested to know which device is likely to be the most reliable? And as an afterthought, what reading will the UK Traffic Police believe? 92.30.101.74 (talk) 20:42, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Don't know about the UK police, but here's some general thoughts. Maybe the car maker winds the odometer to show slightly more than your actual speed to keep you in the safety margin. Maybe the odometer is functioning slightly off - my last car would show as much as 10 km/h over the actual speed I was making on regular roads, and even more on highways - but it was an old car so maybe that can be expected. If it troubles you, maybe you could call your local Suzuki dealership and inquire. Lastly, the police is going to measure your speed with their own equipment, so how much your odometer shows is really not that important in that regard, IMO. TomorrowTime (talk) 20:53, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) :I've noticed the same discrepancy (confirmed using mile markers on motorways before I purchased a satnav) on several cars of different make. I assume that manufacturers set their odometers to read about 3 mph "fast" so that they will not be liable if you are fined for exceeding the limit, and so that the dial will not read too high if different tyres are fitted. I would expect the discrepancy to increase as the tyres wear, but I haven't checked this. Dbfirs 21:03, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

I see the same thing, with TomTom vs a Mazda's ODO. I seems that the discrepancy grows with speed, leading me to believe the car's odometer shows about 92% of the speed the gps does. Note that, as a driver is legally responsible for operating a safe vehicle, telling a policeman that your odometer is defective will either fall on deaf ears or result on him issuing you a "fixit" notice (a "vehicle defect rectification notice"), which means you need to get that aspect of the vehicle tested (generally by an MOT tester) and then show a certificate to that effect at a police station. If the vehicle is new, or has passed the MOT, then it almost certainly isn't defective, so telling the policeman it is defective is daft. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:36, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

I think I saw a story on TV before about a popular car manufacturer taking advantage of the allowed tolerances in odometers. If I remember it right, for years, some of the models from the manufacturer would have odometers that ran too fast but within legal limits. A curious thing was that the model(s) that had the problem would changed from one year to the next. Supposedly the manufacturer benefited from the fast odometers because warranties would run out faster too. --173.49.81.80 (talk) 01:08, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

The article Speedometer#United Kingdom has info about tolerances of inaccuracies. ny156uk (talk) 21:37, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

August 16

Enterprise

I thought that I watched every episode of Star trek the next generation before moving on to deep space 9 but now that I am on season they keep mentioning what happened to the enterprise and how it was destroyed. Can any one please enlighten me as to what happened to the enterprise? was Piccard okay? And what about Data? Basically, what happened in the last episode of the next generation? Thanks