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September 26

Astronauts and cosmonauts

what is the difference between astronaut and cosmonaut? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.20.239.158 (talk) 01:48, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Cosmonauts are Russians, astronauts are everyone else. See Astronaut#Terminology. They are basically synonymous, it is just that the Russians called theirs one thing (from one Greek root, "space sailor") while the US called theirs another thing (from a different Greek root, "star sailor") and because it was the Cold War Space Race people had to make a big deal about it and keep them as separate terms. From a strictly functionalist perspective, cosmonauts have CCCP written on their helmets, astronauts do not. I'm sure there's a "what's the difference" joke in here somewhere, as well. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:15, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I added a section heading to this thread. --Theurgist (talk) 03:02, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Add the recent addition to the terminology: taikonaut. TomorrowTime (talk) 08:27, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

RFID

How cheap and easy to use has this technology gotten?

How much does it cost for a device to locate something that is rfid tagged? Can an RFID tag be put on a sticker and just stuck on an object?

Newcastlebrownisgood (talk) 04:00, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Are we talking about Radio-frequency identification? Everard Proudfoot (talk) 05:10, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Do you know of any other definition of RFID that fits in with the rest of the OP's question? Dismas|^(talk) 06:20, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't know any definition of RFID at all. Everard Proudfoot (talk) 07:31, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Now you do! :-) RFID redirects to Radio-frequency identification. Dismas|^(talk) 07:34, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Library books around here have RFID stickers on them, so they must be pretty cheap. Range to the reader is quite small though, only a range of a few centimeters. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Googling for rfid tag price finds several kinds of tags that you can order online in various quantities. Some indeed appear to be stickers. 88.112.56.9 (talk) 13:37, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

The thing that doesn't seem to work well enough yet (where "well" means "both accurate and affordable at the same time") is mass RFID scanning. This is something of a holy grail for retail applications, and for stock-keeping in general. They really want to be able to wand a shelf, or push a little cart down the aisle of a warehouse, and have the equipment there interrogate every RFID on the items on the shelf (and for the cart locate which shelf each is on). Retailers are virtually salivating over the possibility of en-masse RFID self-checkout. That way you walk around the store with your own bags in your cart, filling them as you go. Once you're done you just walk through an arch (or maybe put the bags, still packed, on a belt that puts them past a detector and weighs them to verify that the the scans match the expected weight). The big retailers love this, because they can get rid of about 80% of their checkout staff; the potential for a much faster and simpler checkout will be a big sell to customers too. But right now it seems that equipment manufacturers haven't managed to get such mass-scan equipment working reliably enough (they need to handle 100 or so RFIDs all replying essentially at once, and still not accidentally detect the neighbouring customer's or neighbouring shelf's tags). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:09, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

In a somewhat related way, some grocery stores in the US have started a scheme where you pick up a hand-held scanner when you enter the store, load your own bags in your cart, and as you do so, you scan each item. When you leave, the scanner is plugged back in to the charger unit and you are given a receipt for your purchases. You never deal with a cashier. This whole thing requires that you register your credit/debit card with the store before hand. Once your card is in the system though, it's good until the expiration date of the card is reached. Dismas|^(talk) 09:29, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

And it's not just retailers - anyone involved in stock-keeping is either dreading this (as it will make some jobs redundant) or waiting impatiently for it to come to fruition (as it will reduce/remove a lot of the grunt work from stock-keeping). While the sales brochures say it's right around the corner, there are several roadblocks that have to be cleared. First, you need everyone to do it - or almost everyone. That's tricky because many manufacturers still haven't even gotten around to working with UPCs/SCCs. Second, you need the reading range to get a lot larger, like an order of magnitude larger, from a few tens of centimeters to at least meters. Third, there are various security aspects that need to be worked out. So much more information can be encoded directly on one of these babies than on a traditional barcode that corporate espionage becomes a serious problem. As it sits now, RFIDs are mostly used as theft deterrents in books and DVDs and various other retail and library items. In those case, little or no information is actually encoded on the tags, all that's needed is for the scanner to see that something is leaving the building. Matt Deres (talk) 13:26, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Not to disagree with your general points, Matt, but on the library front, my (UK) County's libraries uses RDIF stickers on the inside of the back cover combined with a counter-top scanning pad (and touch-screen menu) to identify the individual book and add it to (or when returning remove it from) the (County-wide) database of one's current loans - I suspect Graeme Bartlett above was alluding to this. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:48, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not as current on RFID as I used to be, so you may well be right. Most libraries around here still use a barcode scanning system to manage all that - the RFID scanning is only to prevent overt theft. Seems silly to do it that way, but the barcoding was much more reliable. Matt Deres (talk) 13:28, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

prank smses

had u ever received SMSs saying ur mobile will switch off, and when u try to exit or delete or even just want to leave the screen mobile just switch off. Can u tell me how those SMSs are made. Also how could they be deleted. I will be glad to read more about it..thanx--Myownid420 (talk) 09:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to. However, my mobile can be set with a lock string. If it receives a SMS that contains ONLY that string, then the phone will lock, and can not be used until a PIN number is entered. This is also needed if the SIM is changed. Combined with a PIN on my SIM, then if my phone is stolen, then I can get a friend to send the lock message to my phone. Unless the PIN numbers are known, the phone is useless if it is turned off, the SIM is changed when its on (the SIM isn't under the battery, so this is possible), or it receives the lock message. The lock message, unlock PIN and SIM pin have all been chosen by myself (and only known by myself), so it can't be locked maliciously by pranksters. CS Miller (talk) 13:30, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

in that way u r locking the phone, n making it useless until one knows the pin. but those messages do not lock neither need a PIN.--Myownid420 (talk) 16:42, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Thinking about it a bit more, I seem to remember reading about SMSs that would crash mobile phones, via a bug in the way the SMS was handled. Most mobile phones have a watchdog timer that will reboot them if the phone locks up. Otherwise removing and the reinserting that battery will perform a cold boot, which should work. It is conceivable that the phone's operating system could be damaged enough that it wouldn't reboot, but I doubt how likely this is. I can't remember the details off-hand, and a quick web-search didn't reveal anything. CS Miller (talk) 17:35, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Dates on magazines

Why do magazines date issues and stories so far in advance? I received the latest issue of Time on September 25 (and it had been in stores even before that), yet it was dated October 4. I'll receive the next issue before that date. And then how do you reference it? This article has been cited on Wikipedia using its date of October 4 despite being released well over a week before, so it seems like we can tell the future. Shouldn't it technically be cited to the date used? What is the reason behind this absurdity? Thanks, Reywas92^Talk 16:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's simply so that they can keep selling copies for several weeks; once the date has passed, it will appear to be out of date. It's not unusual to see monthly periodicals on sale two months before the date on the cover. One references them by the date on the cover, whether or not one agrees with the policy.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:22, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

For the reason above and: Magazine like Time have international distribution. Printers have to print well in advance in order to mitigate for things like late deliveries, strikes and things generally beyond their control. Then the copies have to be distributed from different printers in different locations to the local warehouse distribution centres. Whilst this is going on, publicity for the new issue is being placed with newspapers, TV, radio and other media organization. This takes time to negotiate good rates and send in the necessary artwork etc. The whole system needs to have ample amount of reserve built into it for the unexpected, because the buying public get very upset if their magazine does not arrive when they expect to be there. The publisher will do anything to avoid disturbing the regular habit that their have of buying their publications. --Aspro (talk) 17:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

None of which alters the fact that the public will expect the next issue (of a weekly publication) to be available one week after whenever the last one was issued, totally regardless of whatever date is printed on the cover. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:35, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

You expect the next issue of your monthly (and every 2 months, fortnightly etc) magazines to be out one week after the last one was issued? Is that an Australian thing? Nil Einne (talk) 19:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Odd question. We're talking about Time (magazine), which happens to be a weekly publication, so I would expect its issues to be issued a week apart from each other. I expect my daily newspaper to be delivered one day after the last one, and I expect my monthly arts magazine to be available one month after the last one. And so on. Do my trans-Tasman cousins have difficulty understanding these basic concepts? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:59, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It wasn't clear you were referring to Time, since Time was given as an example, but it's clear the OP was asking the question generally. Similarly the person you responded to said "Magazine like Time" but was also clearly referring to the general case. Shantavira also referred to monthly publications. Notably, no one else has referred to Time specifically, without making it clear they were referring specifically to Time. It is true in New Zealand we have no difficulty understanding basic concepts like what an example is, and the need to specify what we're talking about when it's not clear from the discussion, unlike I guess in other countries. Nil Einne (talk) 20:11, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

OK, I've made it clear now. (But did you really have to make this point? Did you really think we expect a monthly publication to be issued 4 times a month? Really? I know we have a monthly magazine called Australian Women's Weekly, but that doesn't mean we're generally confused about such things. :) ) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:12, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Okay I admit the Australian thing was an unnecessary but typical dig at Australian. Apologies if I caused offense. However I did find your comment odd since even if it was obvious you must be referring to weekly publications, it wasn't really clear to me why and it was also obvious no one would expect a monthly publication to come out a month later. So well it just sounded off. I admit after reading your clarification that you were referring to Time and reading the earlier comments more carefully it was far easier to understand why you said what you said. Nil Einne (talk) 14:39, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Often times those are the dates that the magazine should be removed from store shelves, not the release date or the publication date.

See The Straight Dope's article on this subject. APL (talk) 17:55, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I would hope that the stores would just know to remove issues one week after a printed dates. It's one thing to be a few days in advance, but ridiculous when the next issue is still before that previous one's date. Reywas92^Talk 19:42, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

We actually have Cover date Nil Einne (talk) 19:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

For citation purposes, you cite the date labeled on the magazine. In most cases it does not matter whether it came out a week earlier or later. In the rare instances that the actual date of release is important, you can note that in the text or a footnote. In any case it would be extremely hard to establish when different localities received issues in question. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:05, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Old publications are still useful.—Wavelength (talk) 22:12, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's the same reason why the model year of cars is always a few months early, why Madden NFL's dates are always a few months early, etc. It's mostly marketing. --Jayron32 05:13, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

ObPersonal, but as a decades-long collector of (mostly fiction) magazines I have noticed that the default dating protocols differ between the UK and US. In the UK, monthly magazines usually appear on shop shelves around (or only a few days before) the beginning of the month with which they're dated (though subscription issues may be posted to the subscriber a little earlier), while in the US it's usual, as others have already mentioned, for the cover date to indicate when they are to be taken off sale to make way for the next issue. I suspect also that having the cover date well ahead of the appearance date discourages a casual shopworker with limited shelf space from thinking "Hmmm, that's getting old" and taking the issue off the shelf earlier than the publisher would like.

Where there are several magazines competing in the same niche, there must be (I surmise) a temptation to creep the newsstand appearance ever earlier so as to secure a sale ahead of the competitors (though 'title loyalty' is often strong), and I too have seen some 'zines appear in, say, early May dated July. Also, early appearance is slightly exacerbated by the strategy of some 'zines (introduced in the 1980s?) of publishing 13 issues annually with the 13th 'special' issue appearing late in the year, which has the effect of shuffling the preceding ones a little earlier. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:33, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

The editors at Wikipedia:WikiProject Magazines might be able to provide additional information.

—Wavelength (talk) 21:02, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Colour of Motherboards

Typically Motherboards seem to be green...is there a reason for this? (I was going to ask 'why are motherboards green' but a quick search for motherboards shows up quite a few that are blue and some purple and so on). Anyhoo is there a reason? ny156uk (talk) 21:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's not just motherboards - most printed circuit boards are green (in consumer, automotive, telecoms, and all kinds of other equipment). Strictly what's green is the solder mask layer near the surface. This article (which claims to be a reprint from Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture has some theories why green was (until quite recently) the overwhelmingly popular choice for solder masks - see the "color your world" section near the bottom. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

PCBs themselves vary a bit in colour, depending on what they're made of. Some are made of epoxy resin, which seems to be of a vaguely greenish tint (although can often be essentially white), and some are made from other plastic-y substances like bakelite, which tend to the brown. You can see the colour of the board itself by looking at the edge. There's no reason why the solder mask has to be the same colour as the board - it could even be clear, although that would make visually verifying it's been applied okay rather tricky. Flex circuits are usually natively clear, but (for whatever reason) the masking on them almost always seems to be brown. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:28, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

The third post on this bulletin board seems to have some possible answers in relation to halogen content: - 220.101 talk^\Contribs 08:18, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

September 27

Number of civil servants

I'm looking for a source on the number of civil servants in various countries, particularly smaller ones and especially Singapore. Any ideas? Thanks. DOR (HK) (talk) 04:07, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

That's a good question. I don't have a good answer, but I do have a cautionary note. Be very careful, when looking at any numbers you do find, that you're comparing apples to apples. The definition of 'civil servant' may vary quite a bit from place to place. Everyone agrees that elected officials and tax collectors, are civil servants. But do teachers at publicly-funded schools count? University professors and staff? How about doctors and nurses, in countries with public health care? (Do all doctors count, or just the ones working for 'public health' programs?) Police? Firefighters? Construction workers employed by private companies that have been contracted by the government? TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:35, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Just a cautionary note. Whilst agreeing with the above response, here in the UK elected officials are NOT Civil Servants; they are elected officials whose terms of office are limited to a specific period - and nothing more. Civil Servants are exactly as per that definition - employees directly in the pay of the national Government - on a permanent and established basis, barring dismissal, resignation, and redundancy procedures. Others, such as teachers, soldiers, lighthouse keepers, or doctors and dentists in the National Health Service, or local government employees are more correctly described as Public Servants, whose pay and pension arrangements may emulate those of the Civil Service, but they are, nevertheless, Public Servants and NOT Civil Servants. Hope that helps. 92.30.89.62 (talk) 18:04, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

While in Australia, what the UK calls civil servants, we call public servants, and what the UK calls public servants, we call teachers, soldiers etc. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:42, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

We rarely use the term "public servant" here in the UK, but we do have a Civil Service. with better pension arrangements than teachers, soldiers, nurses etc. Dbfirs 23:19, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

The old NALGO public sector trade union newsletter was called Public Service, but many of its readers (or binners) regarded that as a bit of a joke even by the 1970s. Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:25, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

I refuse to be drawn into an argument here but the last comment is demonstrably wrong. As one who worked on teachers' and nurses' pensions for over 35 years I can assure him/her that their pension arrangements matched those of my civil service pension in every respect. 92.30.52.58 (talk) 09:04, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Not in every respect (though I'm slightly confused by the four different Civil Service Pension Schemes). Don't you get a pension based on sixtieths in the Civil Service? Teachers' and nurses' pension is based on eightieths, with a compulsory "lump sum", giving a significantly worse deal in the current economic climate. The subject of pensions is off-topic, so I apologise for introducing it. Dbfirs 18:32, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

No. My 36 years in the Civil Service qualified me for 36/80ths (taxable) of my best annual salary out of my last 3 years of service - slightly less than half pay - subject to inflation proofing at the previous year's September rate of RPI - plus 3 times that amount as a one-off tax-free lump sum. I accept that towards the end of my career HMG introduced an option to convert to a 1/60ths system for all members of the PCSPS (with reduced lump sum arrangements) but I, like many others, including doctors, dentists, teachers, nurses, firemen etc., etc., and my wife, who was a midwife and latterly a local goverment social worker (Public Servant) who enjoys exactly the same pension scheme and options as I do/did, chose to stick with our 80ths scheme, and who now find that our newly (non) elected coalition government are attempting to (illegally) change the T's and C's of that contractual arrangement so as to shift the goalposts from RPI to CPI (a traditionally lower calculation of annual inflation). If you have any further challenges, please let me know. 92.30.150.226 (talk) 23:37, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

In that case, I apologise and withdraw the (unnecessary) comment I made above. There are differences in early retirement rules (including the "85-rule" in some funded Local Government pensions schemes until recently), and Civil Servants have traditionally contributed a much lower percentage from their own pay (1.5% compared with 6%, though both have recently increased), with the employer contributing correspondingly more. I am fully in agreement with your objection to the present and previous governments' attempts to manipulate figures, and the coalition's illegal change in contractual arrangements. Whilst searching for comparisons, I came across this document which has some figures on public-sector employment in various countries (pages 8 & 9), and might be of interest to the OP. Dbfirs 20:16, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Interesting off-topic discussion, but I'm still looking for numbers. IMHO, civil servants are those who are employed on civil service terms: pensions, tenure, pay scales, etc. Privatizing a hospital takes the staff out of the civil service, but hiring contract workers during a civil service hiring freeze is just cheating. DOR (HK) (talk) 05:10, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Maybe it's cheating, but it happens a lot, all over the world, and will completely distort the figures you're after. I would be interested to know the purpose of your enquiry. HiLo48 (talk) 05:14, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Working for a local government in the US, like a county, should count as "civil service", but these days it is unlikely you will get a pension. Just saying. Pfly (talk) 06:52, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Well for a start, from a simple search for 'Singapore civil service size' [1] (see the discussion for Singapore figures). From that article, I guess UNPAN has such figures but I was unable to find any from a search and looking thorough their website. You could try asking. In general, I'm pretty sure I've size comparisons aren't uncommon, usually in terms of percentage of population, e.g. nearly 1/3 of people in Sweden work for the public sector. I admit I couldn't find any with much info from searching though. I did find [2] Nil Einne (talk) 13:13, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

This site [3] has a spreadsheet (section 9) showing employment in the public sector as a percentage of the total workforce for OECD countries, but you will need to adapt it to obtain raw figures. Dbfirs 18:29, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Using my DVD player in another country

I can connect my DVD player to my TV using either analogue RF cables, a SCART cable, or a HDMI cable. I know that if using the RF cables the signal is encoded in the UK's flavour of PAL which may not be completely compatible with other flavours of PAL used in other EU countries (I might lose sound and/or colour). Will I encounter similar incompatibilities if I use the SCART or HDMI cables to connect the player to a foreign TV? Astronaut (talk) 07:14, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

PAL, SECAM and NTSC are analogue coding systems and are not, in general, mutually compatible. As far as I know, you will have no problems world-wide with the digital standards of HDMI connections, or with SCART (Euroconnector) in the areas where this is common. I need to add the caveat that I don't have worldwide experience of these, so perhaps our experts from around the world can confirm compatibility without any glitches? Differing DVD region codes is a separate issue about which I know little, but our article DVD region code might help. You should have no problem with the DVDs that you already own, but ones purchased abroad might not be playable on your own DVD player. Dbfirs 08:35, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

AFAIK, most PAL TVs have no problem accepting a NTSC signal from component, composite or s-video (which is a kind of component). However I've heard that NTSC TVs often don't work with PAL signals. When it comes to HDMI, I think most TVs sold in PAL regions similar have no problem with 1080i60 (and other p60 or i60 signals) but again I'm not so sure if all US TVs can handle 1080i50 (or other i50 or p50 signals) Nil Einne (talk) 14:32, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

One thing that might not be compatible are any new DVDs you buy in the other country, unless you have a Multi Region player. -- Q Chris (talk) 14:37, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Dbfirs already mentioned that Nil Einne (talk) 03:59, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

... but the link was a useful addition. Dbfirs 18:12, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

... but it's also the same link you already linked to (note it's not a redirect but a link with a different name), so only really useful if the OP didn't read the link enough to realise it discusses multi-region players (somewhat irrelevant given the below). Nil Einne (talk) 12:25, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

... oops! I'd forgotten what I linked to! Sorry. Dbfirs 19:36, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

You might have noticed I implied I was talking about taking my UK DVD player to another country in the EU. The region coding and the possibilities of NTSC coding are irrelevant in this case. Are there technical signal incompatibilities getting my UK DVD player to output to a non-UK (but still EU) TV, things like distortion in the aspect ratio, loss of colour or sound, when playing via SCART or HDMI connections? Astronaut (talk) 03:13, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure HDMI will be fine. I think SCART will be fine too, but less sure 12:31, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree that SCART will be fine, too, since it is a European standard. Aspect ratio can be a problem within any country, but most modern TVs and DVD players give plenty of choices to achieve an "acceptable" match. TVs without SCART are rare in Europe (though I still have one). Dbfirs 19:36, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Japanese speakers or translators?

Thing is in Japanese wikipedia there are lots of these -> Wikipedia:Database reports/Living people on EN wiki who are dead on other wikis that show people dead, however they aren't referenced as such and the people that are fixing these things currently on the English Wiki can't find web references either. A lot of news sites that would be reliable sources in Japanese, apparently don't publicly archive their articles, particularly their obituaries. Could someone who can read and type Japanese please forward it to the Japanese wiki so we can get some refs to fix this hole? I know I am really reluctant to do anything unless there is a good source (not blogs and such). Also they seem to have several foreign people listed as dead who aren't. Williamb (talk) 09:49, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Japan would be a better place to request this, since you aren't asking a question, but requesting something. Smartse (talk) 15:07, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

A lot of people on that list are long dead people who simply do not have a date of birth or death listed. (Mauger, Count of Troina, I'm pretty sure, is not alive...) Adam Bishop (talk) 18:42, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Listing rules

on what basis can a company be rejected from listing in the stock market?

Can a individual having revenues from the net list his company taking into consideration that he has no employees in his copmpany?

Can a .com company only earning revenues from the internet list itself in the capital market?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Glendsouza87 (talk • contribs) 12:17, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Different stock exchanges will have different conditions for listing. Large, widely-recognized (like the New York Stock Exchange) will generally have more stringent requirements (for company size and/or cashflow, minimum number of shareholders, track record, corporate governance, etc.) than smaller exchanges. For example, NYSE Euronext (the NYSE's parent company) also operates NYSE Amex, which is an exchange for smaller companies meeting much lower earnings and capitalization thresholds: [4]. Many exchanges require there to be a certain minimum number of public shareholders prior to listing; most exchanges also reserve the right to reject any application for listing on the basis of their own judgement, regardless of any numerical criteria. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:25, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Another criterion is the price of a share. The NYSE, the last I checked, won't list a stock whose price is below $1 per share, and will eventually drop a stock if the share price falls below that level. This rules out so-called penny stocks. Looie496 (talk) 22:52, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

The listing criteria are in the link I provided. The NYSE won't list a new stock below $4 per share, and will delist a stock whose 30-day average price falls below $1 for six months or more. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:31, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

intvu

How do you determine someone’s background /stability and if he is going to stick around for a year or more in a company after he is selected. how eager someone needs to show to grab that job interviewed for and is it necessary to show eagerness to be short listed or does it prove detrimental compared to the ones who are relaxed.? Please help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 14:39, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Are you wanting to hire or wanting to get hired?--Aspro (talk) 17:45, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

If you're the interviewer, there is some hard data that's more important than the candidate's demeanor in the interview. Some things to look for include how long the candidate has spent at his previous jobs — if the candidate has had 6 jobs in the last 5 years, that's probably a good indication that the candidate is only going to stay with you for a short time. Another red flag is gaps in employment history. This does not speak of life stability, and may even point to the inability to hold a job for those periods of time (think periods of addiction or drug rehab). Another yellow or red flag is if the candidate is interviewing for a job that's clearly "below" the candidate's previous job or two. If the candidate formerly earned US$80,000 as a manager and now wants to earn US$40,000 as a worker, the candidate is presumably still out there interviewing like crazy to jump to another US$80,000 per year job as soon as possible. (It's not always terrible to hire an overqualified worker, but you can assume that worker is likely to be bored and frustrated.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:59, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

By the way, my comments above are US based. I see the original poster geolocates to India, where the above observations may be totally off; they are culturally based. My understanding, for example, is that most Indian information workers are much more likely than American workers to switch jobs frequently, so seeing "frequent job changes in the last few years" on a CV may be universal in India, for all I know, and hence useless as a data point for the interviewer. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:01, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

old photo for Automobile article

I remember there was a photo which showed alot mini cars in a square and it was used for the article "Automobile"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.17.206 (talk) 16:52, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Maybe like this?[5] Alansplodge (talk) 17:23, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

No, it was different. It was black and white and when i mean mini cars, I don't mean the british car mini. I mean small size cars. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.149.157 (talk) 02:46, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

If you have a vague impression of when you saw the picture in the Automobile article, you can look through the history. Just click on the "View History" tab at the top of the Automobile page, then scroll down to the appropriate date. Click on the date and time to see the article as it was then. -- Having had a quick browse through myself, you may be talking about File:Automobiles.jpg "A small variety of cars, the most popular kind of automobile", from ca. 2005 [6], which unfortunately has been deleted, with the note that a file of the same name exists on Wikimedia Commons. Unfortunately, the file Automobiles.jpg was deleted from Wikimedia Commons in April of this year because of permission issues. By the way, the Wikipedia:Help desk is usually the better place to go for questions about Wikipedia itself. -- 174.31.192.131 (talk) 04:07, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

9/11 Dust Storm

Please believe me when I explain that in posing this side issue question, I am not being aloof to the enormity or the horror of the human disaster that was perpetrated on the World Trade Centre on September 11th (9/11). I have just received by e-mail a series of previously unseen (by me) aerial photographs of the aftermath of the strikes on the twin towers, and apart from the unimagineable suffering caused that day, whether directly or indirectly, I was and am, amazed at the amount of smoke and dust created by the impacts of the aeroplanes on the buildings and surrounding area. My question? What subsequent damage was done to the air-conditioning systems of the adjacent buildings and perhaps to other air-intake systems such as, vehicle carburation systems and other similar devices, and were such damages claimable against insurance companies, should that consequential information be known? Thanks in anticipation. 92.30.89.62 (talk) 17:53, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

This report (http://www.comptroller.nyc.gov/bureaus/bud/reports/impact-9-11-year-later.pdf) shows the fiscal impacts of 9/11. If I get round to scanning and finding anything about the clean-up air-con unit wise i'll like but probably worth scanning yourself. ny156uk (talk) 19:19, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Was September 11 considered an act of war for insurance? Because a lot of American insurances do not cover acts of war in the standard policies. 69.134.144.157 (talk) 19:24, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm going to say "no" to 69's question. The insurance companies paid for the World Trade Center destruction. Also see page 8 of the end-of-2001 Warren Buffet letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, in which he writes, "In short, all of us in the [insurance] industry made a fundamental underwriting mistake by focusing on experience, rather than exposure, thereby assuming a huge terrorism risk for which we received no premium." They all have made sure since then to specifically address terrorism in their coverage — it's now always either explicitly included or excluded from policies. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:39, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

I predict considerable debate over exactly what terrorism is. HiLo48 (talk) 22:57, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Some insurance companies define "terrorism". Eg RAC WA Insurance defines it in their thus policy thus:
Terrorism means an act including but not limited to the use of force or violence and/or threat, of any person or group of persons done for or in connection with political, religious, ideological or similar purposes including the intention to influence any government and/or to put the public, or any section of the public in fear.
Mitch Ames (talk) 13:28, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

That is a pretty broad definition. They could use that to deny any arson claim at all. Googlemeister (talk) 18:27, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Long-range RFID

After reading the RFID thread above, I must ask: What's considered the best current RFID-like technology that can sense the "sticker" at a range of a meter or so rather than just a few inches? By "best", I think I mean "cheap and of barely acceptable quality". You see, I want to put such a sticker on my TV's remote control. Even if the detector isn't directional it'll improve my life. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:41, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

It depends by what you mean 'cheap', what is 'barely acceptable quality' and what sort of size you're asking. There are plenty of devices made for this purpose (along with wallets, keys, pets etc), e.g. [7] [8]. These are RF but probably are not technically RFID, aren't passive, aren't what I would call cheap but may be a good bet if you're willing to pay the price and the size is acceptable. I haven't looked but I'm guessing there are plenty of similar items, include some cheaper stuff from China in places like eBay, DealExtreme, KaiDomain, Lighttake, Focalprice, DinoDirect, Buyincoins... Nil Einne (talk) 00:45, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Actually from a quick look on eBay I might have been wrong. Also I forgot to include [9] which may be more expensive then some of the others but is an interesting and IMHO smart addition to the common concept. (Even with the expensive price, the FOFA actually sounds like the one most worthwhile to me since otherwise it'll likely be easy to end up with a case of 'lost the device which helps you find the lost device' situation. Not perfect of course, personally I would suggest 8 devices would have been better and they probably have enough space for that many buttons.) Nil Einne (talk) 00:57, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

September 29

Bananas

I bought some green bananas three weeks ago (I swear I did NOT accidentally buy plantains), and they're still green as of now! They never ripened! WTF? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 00:49, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

How well ventalated were they? Because bananas ripen better in a closed area. Ripening is caused by ethylene gas, which is also produced by the ripening bananas, so keeping them in a paper bag usually results in faster ripening. Also, it may depend on how green the bananas were to begin with. Did you check the banana, or just look at it? It could be that the banana ripened fine, but retained its green color. For the record, I find three weeks hard to believe. If a banana sits around in my house for three weeks, it's black. Normally, even for the really green ones, a week is the outside shelf-life. Is it possible someone ate the old bananas, and replaced them recently, and you just didn't notice? --Jayron32 03:19, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Dude, I am positive that no one touched those bananas. They sat in a fruit basket by the window... for three weeks straight. Not a single variation in color. At all. I guess they were picked before their time. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 04:07, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

OK, not plantains perhaps but are they discribed as Guineo--Aspro (talk) 08:52, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Although until recently the large majority of internationally traded bananas were all of one variety, there are many different ones and the range of those widely traded is growing. Not all of these varieties turn yellow when ripe: when (in the 1960s) I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore, we always ate bananas that were green but nonetheless perfectly ripe - by the time they became yellow they would have been overripe! I suggest you try peeling one of your green bananas and check its ripeness directly; flesh texture and flavour are more important than the colour of the non-consumed skin. (87.81 posting from . . .) 87.82.229.195 (talk) 10:43, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

the problem today is that the farmers cannot afford to allow the bananas to ripen on the tree because they loose too much production to birds, monkeys etc, pick early, sent to the distributor who stores them in cold storage till ready to send to the distributor. As a result this intefers with the natural process of ripening, resulting in them being green but ripe inside.this process also allows them to ship them anywhere in the world without loosing any and obtaining maximum profit.I'm from South Africa where they grow wild and am still able to eat naturally ripened bananas.Lawrence Crampton (talk) 14:38, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Travel by horse

In eras when this was a major form of travel, how far did someone on horseback generally travel in a day? 165.91.175.11 (talk) 08:07, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Horses we never a major form of travel. Most people walked, due to the cost of keeping said animal. Even when they did own one, it was usually reserved for productive work. Suppose a ball park figure for the average distance for an average horse would be about a couple of dozen miles. --Aspro (talk) 09:11, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Depends on the terrain, the horse, the rider, and whether or not you had a change of horses available. In our article Horses in the Middle Ages#Transport it suggests: "Large retinues ... could rarely cover more than fifteen to twenty miles a day. Small mounted companies might travel 30 miles a day ... Richard II of England once managed the 70 miles between Daventry and Westminster in a night". In the early 20th century, Louis and Temple Abernathy's 4500-mile ride from New York to San Francisco took 62 days, so 72.58 miles per day. And they were children, travelling alone. Karenjc 09:33, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Mongol armies managed 50-60 miles per day, by using spare horses (and, usually, suitable terrain). As a rule of thumb, in most situations horses are no faster or slower over long distances that humans on foot - indeed, humans are excellent long-distance travelers. The main advantage of horses is that they allow more baggage. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 09:51, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I thought their main advantage was, that with their excellent night vision, they would always be able to get you back from the pub to your home, regardless of how much you had drunk and long before the advent of satnav. --Aspro (talk) 10:23, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I know that's a joke, but do horses actually have excellent night vision? 96.246.58.133 (talk) 22:08, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Joke!? If you had a trusty steed, which always manages to transverse two and a half miles, of wind swept moors, to a nice warm bed, stuffed with sweet smelling meadow grass, you would not have to question old dobbin's peepers. See:Your Horse's Night Vision. You're so green around the ears, I think we ought to have you mucking out the stables until spring comes 'round again. On a star lit night in the stables (with any one of the milk-maids), you will soon find three's a crowd ;—) --Aspro (talk) 23:01, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Did you hear about the time, when my horse went into my local pub looking for me... The barman said to him... “Hey! Why the long face?”--Aspro (talk) 23:03, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Whilst we are on the subject: I like to think that it was my lovely Trigger, which inspired that wonderful Northern and Southern Ireland's favourite Euro vision song of all time. [10] Ah yes, that sax solo! He could never quite get his hooves around that – sham. He should have stuck to playing the piano. --Aspro (talk) 23:18, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

We have a Cat's Fugue. I wonder what a Horse's Quadrille would sound like. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 08:55, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Compare these to the American Pony Express, which flourished briefly before the telegraph. The mail on horseback travelled coast to coast in ten days. BrainyBabe (talk) 11:12, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The Pony Express went from St. Joseph, MO to Sacramento, CA, not from coast to coast. Telegraphy could carry the message half the distance about instantly. The riders could cover about 1900 miles in about ten days, with fresh horses about every 10 miles.Edison (talk) 16:48, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

17th Century highwayman, John Nevison, is supposed to have ridden from Rochester to York (200 miles or more) in one day, arriving at sunset to give himself an alibi. Daniel Defoe wrote an account of it, but the event was later attributed to Dick Turpin[11]. Alansplodge (talk) 11:25, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I agree that horses were never a major form of travel. One person riding a single horse could not expect to travel much more than 20 miles a day. Anything more than that would exhaust the horse. As others have said, it was possible to travel much farther than that in a single day on horseback, but only if one changed horses every few miles, so that each horse could gallop. I believe that this is the way the Pony Express worked. This was only possible if one had a job with the Pony Express, or if one was the ruler or a powerful figure in a state that could provision or commandeer (or a criminal who could steal) a supply of horses for this purpose. Marco polo (talk) 16:19, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Some of the extreme claims of distance from history are unbelievable. Another factor to consider is that a horse can be literally ridden to death, as in cases where a messenger sacrifices his horse to get an urgent message through. One report from the 1860's says a horse was ridden to death covering 25 miles in 1.5 hours, for an average speed of 16.7 miles per hour or 26.9 km/hour. Edison (talk) 16:48, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

When I was in school I learned that a lot of towns in New England were 20 miles apart. This allowed for 10 hours of travel per day at the rate of 2 mph, after which a traveler could find a meal and a room for the night. However, that was for travel on foot. Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 05:32, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

That's probably apocryphal, since most New England towns are roughly 30-40 square miles, more or less (some are smaller, some larger), that would make an average of, say, 6 miles by 6 miles. Having lived there, I can attest that a) most towns have been around since the 1700's or early 1800's, and b) it's about 6-7 miles between town centers, maybe as far as ten in the more sparsely populated areas. So I am not sure that the rule of "20 miles apart" ever held in New England. --Jayron32 05:43, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I seem to remember a documentary that said the US Cavalry rode a mile and walked a mile to maximise efficiency.Froggie34 (talk) 08:10, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

(just to beat this one to death;) If you have an Xbox or Playstation and not a horse: Red Dead Redemption provides some realistic experience with the issues involved. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 08:18, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

• I think several of the commenters here are ridiculous for claiming that horses were never a major form of travel. Sure, most people walked. But after walking, horses were far and away the most common means of land transportation for hundreds of years. Britain is still covered with bridle paths. Dozens of police departments still use horses for transportation. Horses were the first land mass transit in the history of mankind. That's very much "major" as the word is commonly understood. --M@rēino 14:57, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Until the Toll Acts, most roads were almost impassable in wet weather. After the Toll Act most roads were still impassable in wet weather. Most of the England however, was within 15 miles of a navigable river. Larger quantities of good could be taken long distances by water. One could walk to the river and back whatever the weather. That is one of the reason Henry the VIII built up the Royal Navy. A large part of the economy depended on coastal vessels plying up and down the coastal waters with goods. These where vulnerable to attack and capture. Had horses been as used as much as some people imagine, then their owners would have had to suffer the costs of keeping them idle when the non-metalled roads were a quagmire. This factor is what limited the growth of towns and cities. They could not grow larger than the local farming communities ability to supply them with food. After the Toll Acts, towns and cities slowly started to expand. Horse drawn trams and buses for the hoi polloi did not come about until there existed good roads. But just at that very point... the iron horse was invented, enabling towns and cities to expand at at ever accelerating rates thanks to the rail road. Horses had a part to play but look at old photographs and you'll see delivery boys on tricycles with the big square wicker baskets up front and general fetches and carriers who are pushing or pulling barrows for a living. --Aspro (talk) 15:57, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

regarding plug sockets

Supposing I have something that would normally be plugged in to that little round socket inside a car, but for a while will be in a place where I have no access to the car, is there any way I can plug it in to a normal socket instead, anywhere I could, for example, buy an adaptor for it?

148.197.121.205 (talk) 09:35, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The little round socket is a cigarette lighter receptacle. cars once upon a time had ashtrays in them too! Dismas|^(talk) 09:43, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

And I think this will do what you want. It was the first result of a search of "cigarette lighter adaptor to AC". Dismas|^(talk) 09:45, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The IP address locates to the UK, so the OP might find this item a better choice. Having said that, both people who left reviews said theirs didn't work. Astronaut (talk) 10:14, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I suspect that these are all low-power switched-mode power supplies, and will work only for low-power applications. We need to know what power the OP's "something" requires before we can give sound advice. Dbfirs 19:24, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Are there many things that come with a cigarette lighter adaptor that require anything but low-power? Dismas|^(talk) 06:39, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Low power is something of a relative term. The fuses are normally 15 amp, so with anything else that might be on the same circuit switch off, there is at most only 180 watts to be had. As it is a very low voltage circuit the actual voltage drop experienced across the terminals of any given device might be higher as well, reducing the power still further. So yes, I would say not just many but all devices are limited to low power.--Aspro (talk) 08:24, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes, "low power" is a relative term, but I would restrict it to an amp or two in most contexts. I have several devices fitted with cigarette lighter plugs, including a screen heater, a water boiler, a tyre inflater, etc that would not run from a switch-mode adapter, and which I would not regard as "low power" in this context. Many switch-mode adapters are restricted to a fraction of an amp. Dbfirs 09:12, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I see what you mean now. I was dismissing all those devices with current ratings in single figures as any sort of distinct group to be considered, because all the ones I have also came with mains chargers. Therefore, the need of getting another adaptor for any of them, doesn't arise. However, as the OP has not offered up any more info, I suppose it has now become a purely abstract question.--Aspro (talk) 10:42, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

(EC with Dbfirs) I think the relative term part is important. I wouldn't personally consider 180 watts to be 'low power' particularly when we're talking about consumer electronics. Okay even though the 180W is perhaps a high end you can't achieve, I wouldn't consider 100 watts to be low power either.

However I'm not here to argue personal definitions of terminology. If you look at the above link you can just barely make out the adapter is rated at 500mA giving 6W. I can easily imagine devices which draw at least 10W-20W, probably more. Laptops for example. And hobby chargers depending on model can use 200W or more and being able to use them 'in field' is commonly an important point since no one wants to have to drive home every time they need to charge their RC aeroplane or whatever. (Although hopefully anyone using a high wattage one is smart enough not to try to use it's maximum draw with a cigarette lighter plug whether in car or adaptor.) Heck even the XTAR WP6 Charger which supports up to 6 li-ion batteries claims it needs 2A [12] at 12V (since it can do up to 6 batteries and up to 650mA for each at up to 4.2V that is 16.38W without any efficiency losses so the 2A isn't that unresonable).

Most of these devices general come with mains adapters or in the case of a hobby charger, hopefully no one will be dumb enough to try and use a cheap cigarette lighter adapter but still, Dbfirs was quite right to point out you should make sure your device (or worse devices) isn't going to draw too much from the cigarrete lighter adapters since cars can very likely provide more power then some cheap adapters can.

I would note from www.hdforums.com/forum/touring-models/475864-max-current-draw-from-accessory-cig-lighter-3.html (blacklisted site) it's claimed that in theory the wiring etc is supposed to be able to support up to 15A as well although as you noted, that doesn't mean it can supply up to 180W due to voltage drop in the system.

Although lead acid batteries are capable of supplying very large amounts of current, they need it to start the car and welding screwdriver to battery by shorting terminals is a well known phenomena so it wouldn't surprise me if it isn't that far off in the right conditions (which means you do know some headroom although if you care you may find out what your car can supply e.g. when the engine is on but the battery is idling, some devices may be able to internally limit the current as necessary anyway), vehicle power supplies are also known for being very noisy.

Nil Einne (talk) 09:34, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I think the OP was wanting to run a 12v device from a mains supply rather than a mains supply from a 12v car battery, but both are possible. I have found that there is a problem running two switch-mode converters in series - the first set of switching seems to interfere with the second. For example, I tried to run my laptop, requiring 19v using a mains switch-mode transformer, but running this from my car battery using a 12v to mains switch-mode converter. It was not a success, and my laptop certainly didn't like the output, though I don't think it caused permanent damage. I agree that it is wise to keep the engine running when drawing over 100 watts (as in a car hot drink maker) for any length of time. In the case of the OP needing to run a device from 12v and having only a mains supply, I suggest that the best solution might be a sealed lead-acid booster battery with a mains charger. These are readily available from car accessory suppliers, and will run a "low power" device for up to a week between charges, or a "high power" (i.e. several amps) device for an hour or two. In some cases, the mains charger can be left connected, giving an almost perfectly smooth 12v - 14v output at any current up to 10 or 15 amps. Dbfirs 18:08, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Sorry I drifted off topic somewhat. My point about car batteries was more that while I'm not sure what sort of power a car battery is capable of supplying via the cigarette plug, it's probably not that far off from the theoretical 180W in the right conditions and it's not unresonable that some people are actually drawing close to that with certain devices even though hopefully most of those won't try it with a cheap wall plug adapter. The in between e.g. 10-50W is probably the bigger problem since it's easier to imagine someone trying it with a cheap wall plug adapter. Nil Einne (talk) 02:58, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Out of curiosity I looked at Immersion heater – 12V. The manufactures are obviously assuming (as they are entitled to) a terminal voltage of a properly charged lead acid accumulator to be 13.7V, in order to claim a thermal power output of 200 watts. I'm happy to accept that as a guide figure, despite having said 180 watts max, because we're considering real world expectations. With my first cars (circa 1955) with their simple voltage and current regulators, it was very easy to keep the engine running whilst boiling up a cuppa and still (or because of the engine running ) blow a fuse. At the end of the day it was check your charging circuit first -then the terminal voltage of the 'whatever' rather than the other way around. Low budget European cars were terrible. Blown fuses and/or blown dashboard bulbs indicated that the regulator box needed the attention of a screw driver and AVO meter- (failing any of those .. a universal 4 oz hammer or bigger) and sometimes all four at once (oh, I nearly forgot: your fiancées emery board too) Still, my grandfather's first car had carbide lamps, which from time to time, would explode and set alight the grass verge and hedges, so I suppose we are slowly making progress -of a sort.--Aspro (talk) 18:03, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

See AC adapter. ~AH1^(TCU) 15:56, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Non lethal trap

My kitchen has a new resident. I've seen it a few times now and it's some type of mouse or vole. Very cute little thing. I am a cuteness bigot and do not kill cute furry mammals (whereas if it was a rat I'd have no qualms). Anyone have a recommendation of a specific non-lethal trap to use? (or one that I can make?).--162.83.168.103 (talk) 13:46, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Because rats aren't cute and furry mammals? [13]. Buddy431 (talk) 16:03, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

A pest-control supplier should be able to sell you a no-kill mousetrap (see mouse trap#Live-catching mousetraps). Note that, as in Ratatouille, there is very rarely such a thing as "one rat". -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 13:56, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

The Big Cheese - Live Catch Mouse Trap. Very cheap.--Aspro (talk) 14:17, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

See the "Havaheart" trap. Catch the critter, release it outside, and it will be back in the house before you are. Take it to the forest preserve, and it will enter someone else's home. Edison (talk) 16:33, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Should you have a change of heart however, here is a wiki article that solves the problem without leaving your kitchen. Souris a la Creme--Aspro (talk) 17:20, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

here are some more durable live rodent traps (more expensive though). It appears that the entire website is to sell all sorts of live traps for all manner of critter. Buddy431 (talk) 17:27, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't know where you are but here in the UK, living as I do on the edge of the Scottish countryside, we experience a lot of mice, rabbits, foxes, bees, spiders, wasps and squirrels etc., in our garden, and we don't mind their presence one little bit - outside the house. But last year, we had an infestation of "little cute furry things" in our basement and loft, and we did use a lot of killing machines successfully, but then thought it wasn't fair to kill a nice wee furry thing, just for adopting our home as theirs, when the country is awash with illegal immigrants claiming social security benefits for themselves and their extended families; so we decided to give them (the furry things) a second chance and started using a neat little and very cheap device available from our local garden centre that invites the mouse to come inside and partake of this "nice little repast I prepared earlier for you". It's a little grey box that has a kind of portcullis gate that drops down behind the mouse when he investigates the food at the back of the box - it's on a kind of rocker platform that shifts its fulchrum as the mouse moves inside it. And it works without killing the mouse - but boy, does that mouse get angry??? I have collected several from inside the box that have gnawed great big holes in the plastic; and I have seen several mice that have eaten their own limbs off trying to make themselves small enough to escape through the resultant hole. Poor things. But if you are intent on catching a mouse in any kind of a trap - forget the cheese - mice aren't attracted to cheese. Try peanut butter or something equally sweet and sticky like condensed milk - and the mice will beat a pathway to your door - as the saying goes. 92.30.7.243 (talk) 17:32, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Get (or borrow) a cat. Astronaut (talk) 19:22, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Though not if you want to live-release your mice. If you want to dead-release them, then no problem! I have always been amused by the conceit of "building a better mouse trap" when Mother Nature has spent millions of years carefully crafting a machine which does little more than sleep in the sun and catch mouse-sized mammals - and does them both very, very, well. Matt Deres (talk) 20:39, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

We had mice in our kitchen cupboards once, Mum took all the saucepans out and put Kitty Fisher (our splendid pure-bred Bristolian mog) inside for twenty minutes or so. Never had any mice again - the smell of cat put them off. DuncanHill (talk) 21:35, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Besides locking the cat in cabinets, did you have other favorite methods of pissing off your cat(s)?  :-) As far as non-lethal methods, you could put some tasty smelling substance in a bucket and then provide them with a way to get into said bucket. The walls of the bucket will be too high for them to get out. Then just release them. Dismas|^(talk) 06:36, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Kitty had a lovely time hunting, didn't upset her at all. The problem with cathc and release is that the cute-and-furry little mammals will be back, pissing and shitting in your house and eating or shredding your food, bedding, books, carpets, curtains, wiring and anything else they can get their vicious little teeth into. DuncanHill (talk) 10:14, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

“There have been reports of "house dogs" contracting leptospirosis apparently from licking the urine of infected mice that entered the house.”--Aspro (talk) 10:47, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

One would hope that anyone smart enough to figure out how to write out that question and post it here would also be smart enough to not release what they caught just outside their back door. Dismas|^(talk) 20:13, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Also see this, and this. ~AH1^(TCU) 15:55, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Fused LED in LED tv

what will happen if one or more LED of Led tv fuses. Is it repairable? will it deteriorate the picture quality? thanX............--Myownid420 (talk) 17:26, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I've never heard of LEDs fusing (though I've melted them by running them at overly high voltages; perhaps that counts). It seems more likely that the TV would have a fuse that could blow. That could be the case regardless of whether LEDs are present, and fuses are generally trivial to replace. — Lomn 18:00, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Think the OP is talking about individual dead or frozen pixels.--Aspro (talk) 08:52, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that's what I assumed. As far as I know, these are not repairable individually, and manufacturers will not guarantee individual pixels, but usually put a limit on the total number of failed pixels for "acceptable" use. Every single failed pixel represents a tiny deterioration in picture quality, but this is seldom noticeable in normal use unless there are several failed pixels together. I think there are several failed pixels on the screen I am using at present, but I cannot spot them when viewing this page. ISO 9241-302, 303, 305 and 307:2008 standards include pixel failure tolerance during the life of the monitor as follows: 1 full bright (“stuck on white”) pixel; 1 full dark (“stuck off”) pixel; 2 single or double bright or dark sub-pixels; 3 to 5 “stuck on” or “stuck off” sub-pixels (depending on the number of each). Our articles on LCD television, ISO_13406-2 and ISO 9241 give more detail. Dbfirs 09:25, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

There are various guides to trying to fix pixels online, particularly I think stuck pixels where rubbing the area with pressure with a soft cloth I think either unsticks it or kills more pixels (the later may enable you to claim warranty if it's still under warranty although some may consider that ethically wrong). Do a search if you're interested. BTW the display is almost definitely LCD. I don't know if true LED displays have pixel problems much but there are only like 2 or so real LED TVs (i.e. OLED) as of late last year. Most TVs sold as 'LED' just have LED backlighting Nil Einne (talk) 10:02, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, yes, I should have clarified that I was writing about LED-backlit LCD television not LED display. Dbfirs 18:18, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I also see no one linked to defective pixels (although it's linked to in one or more of the above links) which discusses types of defective pixels and briefly discusses methods of attempting to fix stuck pixels. The ref [14] which you can also easily find by searching (with many other things as I mentioned earlier) has more detailed discussions. It seems the rubbing method is probably not the best thing to try first. Nil Einne (talk) 22:10, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

mining and forest laws

laws governing mining and forests in india —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ravipranay1988 (talk • contribs) 20:00, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

What about them? Do you have a question? Astronaut (talk) 21:08, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Are you talking about Forest Rights Act (India), illegal mining in India and mining in India? ~AH1^(TCU) 15:52, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Ramen Noodles

Is it alright to eat Maruchan ramen noodles raw? It's certainly better for you than eating them cooked, seeing as how you wouldn't be consuming as much sodium... Battleaxe9872 ^{وکیپیڈیا} 20:05, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh? Is there sodium in your boiled water? In either case, I would say they are safe to eat. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 20:08, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

:), they have flavoring packets, like here, which are like 8/10ths salt, so if you don't mix in the packet, you wouldn't eat as much sodium. Battleaxe9872 ^{وکیپیڈیا} 20:13, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I thought you meant you were going to have crunchy noodles :). Merely not adding the flavouring packet is not what I would consider eating it 'raw', and the flavouring packet is perfectly optional. You can add what you want to the noodles, or if you prefer, not add anything at all. I hope this helps. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 20:54, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I was talking about eating them w/o cooking. Battleaxe9872 ^{وکیپیڈیا} 21:41, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

They are good uncooked. :) And there is nothing on the packages I have on hand to say cooking is required. See Ramen#Health_concerns for various other health concerns. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:50, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

• Yes you can eat them raw, as in uncooked. For one, they are dried which inhibits the growth of most nasties, two, they are intended to keep for very long periods of time and are thus designed to not grow any bacteria. In fact, when he was much younger, my nephew's favourite snack was dry ramen noodles. Further, almost all foods are safe to eat raw as long as one is in good health. Regulations about cooking times and temperatures are geared towards edge cases and the greater good. For most products, assuming that one is not very young, very old, or immunocompromised in some way (e.g. HIV, leukemia, chemotherapy, etc), it is perfectly safe to eat raw. I eat raw fish, egg yolks, beef, etc on a regular basis. Do bear in mind of course that those are my choices and to be completely sure you should check with your physician before consuming raw foods which are generally intended to be cooked. → ROUX ₪ 21:04, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

. Really, now, this is idiotic. Edge cases? Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of people per year who get sick from salmonella, parasites, and other foodborne illness that's preventable by cooking. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:19, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

By 'edge cases' I was referring to erring on the side of caution. For the vast majority of people, med-rare pork, raw egg yolks, and raw fish are perfectly safe. Hundreds of thousands of people per year--even a million people per year--is significantly less than one percent of one percent of the world's population. This is, of course, also exacerbated by the industrial animal rearing processes of the west, which makes food less safe to eat via the contamination by waste products. Look at Sweden (I think it's Sweden), where salmonella has been eliminated in poultry. One can safely eat raw chicken there. → ROUX ₪ 22:54, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

. This is a reference desk. Comet Tuttle (talk) 00:23, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I cannot be bothered digging up my notes from culinary school, sorry. Also I really don't like your attitude. The fact that you don't know what you're talking about doesn't mean the rest of us don't. → ROUX ₪ 00:40, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Roux, this is a reference desk; we're supposed to supply references, especially when asked. Telling us that the cute sous-chef who taught you egg-flipping says its okay is not good enough. Get something from a reliable source, please. Matt Deres (talk) 01:59, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I can certainly see on this page how many references are provided. And I beg your bloody pardon about the 'cute sous chef'? Do explain. No, really... I want you to explain precisely what you meant by that comment. → ROUX ₪ 02:57, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I mean that they're not a reliable reference, despite your attempts to trot out your time at a cooking school as such. As evidenced by the fact that restaurants are required to get inspected by health officials, cooks and doctors have very different ideas about what constitutes "safe to eat". Your casual denial of the links between the consumption of improperly cooked/stored/handled food and disease is a good example of why restaurants need to get inspected in the first place. Now, are you going to cite something for us to look at or will you continue leaving snippy messages on my talk page and dismissing other posters for "not knowing what they're talking about"? Please read WP:NPA before you respond. Frankly, you've already skated over that line. Matt Deres (talk) 13:40, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

No, you quite deliberately meant to belittle me via my sexuality. Let's not pretend otherwise. When you stop doing insulting repellent crap like that, I might be interested in doing what you want. You've done this before, remember, and then actually lied about what the references I provided said. So why exactly should I bother? You'll just lie again, or complain that you can't access the reference, and then make some insulting comment about my sexual orientation. In this case, implying that some putative sous chef's (ps, she wasn't; she was my nutrition instructor, BSc in microbiology, masters in nutrition, and was supposed to defend her PhD work last year) (ah, and sous chef is a position one only finds in a working kitchen, not in a school) attractiveness has anything to do with how I received instruction. Grow up. → ROUX ₪ 17:30, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Can we collapse this off-topic argument? --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 18:50, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Regardless of if or how he meant to belittle you, you're still contributing hearsay, not referenced fact. APL (talk) 22:51, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

on that whole section of that article. (The first paragraph comes from here [15], with "In modern times" tacked on the front and a spurious quote mark on the end. Unless of course the WHO copied us.) As a point of interest, I had two raw eggs for breakfast every day between the ages of 7 and 12. Perhaps I was lucky, but those 4000 or so raw eggs didn't make me sick. And then of course there is sushi. Seems likely that general food safety is one thing and specific is another. 81.131.15.168 (talk) 21:48, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I guess you mean sashimi. Sushi is rice, and I am pretty sure it's cooked, as it says in the article. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 22:43, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Most Americans use "sushi" to mean sushi rice with something on top of it, especially raw fish; "sashimi", for the minority who know the term, is used to mean raw fish by itself. Looie496 (talk) 23:00, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I submit that most Americans use the term 'sushi' to cover nigiri, sashimi, maki, etc. → ROUX ₪ 23:02, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

This article from the CDC suggests that 1 in 10,000 eggs may be infected (though the rates seem to be different in different areas - no surprise), so you had about 3,000 more breakfasts to go before you caught the bad one :-) Matt Deres (talk) 02:13, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Regarding salmonella and Sweden, they did claim to have eliminated it from their chicken breeding in 2004, but when it comes to a disease eliminate is never quite eliminate. Let us just say they have managed to bring the risk of contamination down to the lowest possible. It is still advisable that chicken-meat is properly cooked before eating it, that goes for Sweden as well. --Saddhiyama (talk) 08:30, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Calling them "raw" is inaccurate. Most (all?) of the Raman-type instant noodles have been deep-fried before packaging. They're only "raw" to the same extent potato chips/crisps are. That said, even something that has been cooked previously may need to be re-cooked in order to kill bacteria that might have slipped in afterward. That said, there are a number of Raman salad recipes which use the un-boiled noodles as a crunchy topping. -- 174.31.192.131 (talk) 03:00, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Note for clarification - I believe the link in answer above should be to ramen, not raman. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 13:16, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

The official corporate FAQ says they are safe to eat dry. (Note that even without the salt packet, they are pretty unhealthy. They are deep fried and contain some trans fat, though apparently less than they used to. There are much better ways to eat cheaply.) -- BenRG (talk) 06:35, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Facial Features

I'd really like a book that describes different facial features with illustrations, preferably using proper names where they exist. So, for example, it might talk about noses, and point out the main parts that vary (the nostrils, the bridge, etc?) and how they vary, and illustrate this, and perhaps name the parts and the most common variations.

I've had trouble, because I don't know what area to look in. Art? Anatomy? I haven't seen what I need. Ideally, it should be available in a British library, or at least on general sale in the UK. 109.155.33.219 (talk) 21:52, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Are you mostly interested in the "art" aspect of this, yourself? WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:53, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm mostly interested in learning to spot the facial features that are likely to allow me to identify someone in future, and verbalise these features (in my head) so that I can remember them! I have great difficulty spotting unchangable-yet-distinct features, and when I do I have to 'explain' them to myself, as I can't just 'picture' them in a distinctive way. I'm trying to re-educate myself, but I think I'll need a lot of connected words and pictures to do it. 109.155.33.219 (talk) 21:59, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Our article facial composite is the best information I know of on Wikipedia, although it's pretty weak. A Google Scholar search for "facial composite" will get you a lot more. As far as I can see there is a lot of variability in how this is done by different people. Looie496 (talk) 22:21, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Also take a look at Eigenface Craniofacial anthropometry and Human physical appearance. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 09:37, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Facial composite looks like a useful term to use, although it still isn't throwing up what I need. Eigenfaces are sadly why computer facial recognition information proved unhelpful for me, as I cannot use the technique myself. I can hardly think 'Alice's face is eigenface A, plus 50% eigenface B and 10% eigenface C', and then later go 'This person's face is a combination of eigenface A, 50% eigenface B and 10% eigenface C: it must be Alice'! That would be harder than the problem currently is. I had wondered if I'd need to find an old phrenology textbook! But the link Craniofacial anthropometry suggests I might have luck in Forensic Anthropology or even Physiognomy. So thanks, this gives me some leads, although I'm still interested in any recommendations. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 17:02, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

McDonald's cost margin

How much does a large soda cost McDonald's to produce? I'm looking for a detailed breakdown: cup, straw, soda, ice. I've heard anecdotally the cost was lower than $.10 Procrastinatus (talk) 23:54, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

That particular anecdotal cost is all I've ever heard quoted, and I've heard it a few times before from employees of the place. A quick google search doesn't provide much of what I would call reliable sources, either. Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 02:27, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

It may well be that the physical inputs to the product cost peanuts. But you also have to factor in the fixed costs, which relative to a large soda can be taken to include management and staff costs, the cost of buildings, advertising, and the 1,001 other costs associated with running companies.

There are many different ways of calculating how to allocate a quotient of fixed costs to each increment of variable output, but broadly the allocation could either be relative to the number of things sold (we sell x zillion things, and each one is considered to have cost [total fixed costs] divided by [x zillion]) or relative to the costs of the number of things sold (The variable costs of product A sold this year is $A zillion and of product B, $B zillion, which means we allocate (A/(A+B) * [total fixed cost]) / A to each product A sold, and B/(A+B) * [total fixed cost]) / B to each product B sold.)

Within reason, a person doing this sort of analysis can decide to allocate fixed costs to variable goods produced in any way they wish - it's basically a statistical exercise which depends on the conventions they chose to use.

Ultimately, the only numbers that make actual sense are the profit figures of the company. If they're making 20% profit per annum, then you can say that on one level, the cost of the soda was 4/5 of its sale price.

After all that, it may be that what you're asking is, what is the marginal cost of production of a large soda. By & large it will be the cost of a cup, & the syrup, each bought in vast quantities; the cost of the straw, the soda and the ice must surely be one or more orders of magnitude less than the cup or syrup. Can you produce a cup and a small dollop of coloured sugar for around $.10? Surely yes. --Tagishsimon (talk) 02:45, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Don't forget the cost of the labour of the person filling the cup and giving it to you.124.171.93.13 (talk) 03:18, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Depends where you live surely. My local McDonalds since not sure when (they didn't use to), lets walk in customers fill up themselves (with free refills of course). There will probably be usage of soft drink (spills, discarded soft drink because the person decided they want something else and otherwise taking advantage of the free refills) but in that case you only need to person to provide the cup, and of course someone to refill the machine every so often. (Well there would be a bunch more things like unpacking the cups, moving them around in bulk, perhaps even cleaning up spills which I guess you should consider, dunno whether the average cost of those combined per cup will be significant enough to make a difference though.) Drive thorough customers still need a person to fill their cup of course.

In any case, if it takes say 30 person-seconds per cup (probably a little on the high end) and given the minimum wage of NZ is $12.75 (the actual wage will vary and the cost is probably greater then $12.75 anyway given the need for administration etc) that works out to be $0.10625 per cup for the labour.

Nil Einne (talk) 09:45, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I've read (but do not have a citation handy) that in a fast food restaurant the profit margin is much lower for food (a hamburger) than for soft drinks or coffee. You are killing them, profitwise, if you just eat a plain hamburger or cheeseburger and a free cup of water. Edison (talk) 15:35, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

September 30

time intervals

What are some commonly used time intervals smaller than a day? Especially those which are used to analyze other time-related data. Examples include morning and afternoon rush hours, standard working hours, "prime time" for television, "peak time" when phone calls are expensive, daylight hours, morning-afternoon-evening, "lunch hour", etc. Procrastinatus (talk) 00:09, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

The Six-hour clock marks an interesting time-interval. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 02:18, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

And then there's the Ship's bell, too. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 02:20, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Planck time? That's certainly smaller than a day. --Jayron32 04:26, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

What about the interval between the lights turning green and the car behind hooting?--85.211.199.132 (talk) 06:17, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

A work shift (e.g. graveyard shift) which may be as little as an hour or as long as twelve. Dismas|^(talk) 06:30, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Love & marriage?Froggie34 (talk) 08:07, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Eveyone seems to have forgotten the most commonly used time intervals smaller than a day: Hours, minutes and seconds, and the related analysis of other time related data such as speed measured in kilometres per hour, breathing measured in breaths per minute, frequency measured in cycles per second, etc. Astronaut (talk) 11:10, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Looking at your few examples, Procrastinatus, you have answered your own question. They all refer to times that are related to specific events of some kind. Thus they have a use in relating the event to the time of day in which it generally happens e.g. "Rush Hour". A purely technical time interval such an hour or five minutes, could refer to any portion of the daily cycle and does not convey any 'attached' or inherited meaning. Gurumaister (talk) 12:03, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I can't believe nobody has yet thought of 'Happy Hour'. Cheers! :-D 87.82.229.195 (talk) 13:38, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I was going to mention Beer O'Clock, but then realised it was just a time, not an interval. HiLo48 (talk) 22:17, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Less standardised ones: A moment, a sec, a tick (as in "hang on a moment/sec/tick/jiffy"). Also resps (used medically for respirations - an inhalation and exhalation), beats (of a heart), the monastic services (primes, nones, vespers, etc.). Steewi (talk) 01:32, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Is a stint a common word outside Australian English? I would use in the same way as a shift, but a little less formally, i.e. less rigid hours. HiLo48 (talk) 02:08, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Stint is commonly used outside of Australian English but is usually used for long periods describing someone's entire er stint in something, e.g. someone had a stint in the navy. E.g. [16] [17] [18] (okay that's Australian) [19] [20]. It may occasionally be used in a similar way as shift but this far less common IMHO Nil Einne (talk) 00:15, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

A beat? --Ouro (blah blah) 06:34, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

The old operating system VAX/VMS measured one of its times in micro-fortnights.

204.152.2.82 (talk) 16:26, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

New York Minute?..Hotclaws (talk) 03:48, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

How can I find out who the writers and researchers who work for Fox News are?

Thanks, Rich Peterson199.33.32.40 (talk) 01:50, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

If you watch the closing credits of the shows, they should be listed. --Jayron32 04:25, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

They also might be listed somewhere on the website. Chevymontecarlo - alt 05:37, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

They have researchers?! Adam Bishop (talk) 17:11, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestions, in particular, I'll watch the end of show. I couldn't find it on their website, although I might have missed it.Rich (talk) 09:44, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Anglican Saints

Good day to you,

I am trying to find information pertaining to Anglican patron Saints that cover the following areas. 1) Abused Children 2) Adopted Children 3) Abandoned children 4) Foster care 5) Children who have lost guardians/parents to illness, war etc.Lawrence Crampton (talk) 14:24, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

William of Perth is adopted children, but he may be catholic only? Exxolon (talk) 15:45, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Our article Calendar of saints (Church of England) may give you some pointers DuncanHill (talk) 15:47, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Also, Saints in Anglicanism, and as I see from another post you are from South Africa, Calendar of saints (Anglican Church of Southern Africa) may also be of help and interest. DuncanHill (talk) 15:52, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

It strikes me that the Holy Innocents might be appropriate. DuncanHill (talk) 15:55, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm surprised not to see Saint Nicholas on Wikipedia's South African calendar of saints, but he is recognized by other Anglican churches and seen as a protector of children. Marco polo (talk) 18:06, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

How many beer bottles are there in the case?

"The “On Premises” cost ranges from $85 to $115 for about 6 cases of 341 ml bottles" So I should assume there is 24 bottles in the case and that would mean I will get 49 liters of beer for $85? Or it could be 12 bottles in the case. Or some other number? From the way they put it, they assume that most/ average customer would know how many bottles in a usual case. We are talking North America. 76.67.10.16 (talk) 19:16, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Just a starting point, but at my local grocer, a 6 pack of Guiness costs $8. I am not familiar with what "On Premises" would mean here unless you are talking about buying beer at a bar maybe? Googlemeister (talk) 19:20, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Ok, probably Canada suxx, or just Ontario, since you could not buy a liter of beer in a local alcohol monopoly store chains, Beer Stores and LCBO for any less then $3.80 a liter. So $2 for a liter sounds like a great deal. But not so great since "On Premises" brewing you would need to wait 2 weeks before your beer is fermented, plus then go through hassle of bottling it etc. Still researching internet, and would probably decide against it. States are the best:) 76.67.10.16 (talk) 19:59, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

US American here and when I hear/read "case of beer/soda", I take it to mean 24 containers whether they're bottles or cans. That's not only from my day to day use of the term as a customer but I also used to work in a convenience store and worked with some of the ordering/inventory. The distributors would refer to 24 containers as a case. 12-packs were either called 12-packs or, more rarely, half-cases. Dismas|^(talk) 20:08, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanx Dismas! You perfectly answered my question. Much appreciated. 76.67.10.16 (talk) 20:13, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Toronto is pretty close to the border, isn't it? Just cross over into the US and buy beer :P Rimush (talk) 13:24, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

It is almost 100 miles each way, so you would probably need to buy a lot of beer at a time for it to be worthwhile. In that case though, there might be import-export regulations that would apply, so just going to Niagara Falls to buy beer might not be that practical. Googlemeister (talk) 13:57, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Booze cruise. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 22:48, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

October 1

Is a HighBeam Research Subscription Worth the money?

I was going to ask "Any ideas how much 'Personal use' subscriptions to this service cost?" finally found after putting in a fake username, fake e-mail, fake password etc, they only have the prices at about step 3 of the signup procedure. Apparently they are just 'phishing' for details (they at least have an e-mail address if enter a real one) and there are only two options:

Yearly subscription for $199.95

Monthly subscription for $29.95

It seems they go out of their way to be 'evasive' about costs. Example [21]
Is this service worth the money? Anyone have experience with HighBeam? ☣ 220.101 talk^\Contribs 03:10, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

I'd try the databases available through your public library first. 67.122.209.115 (talk) 05:30, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Google auto-completed “Highbeam research scam” so I guess plenty of other people have experience of this business. The HighBeam Research article has on its history page, many attempts to included things which get taken out again. Perhaps the article needs a spam template and to then go to AfD. --Aspro (talk) 08:58, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

PAL speedup and music development?

Have there been any research on the effects of PAL speedup on development of tonal recognition or something similar to that? Do people develop relative pitch based on the sped up notes? How noticeable is the effect in the general population? --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:00, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

I don't know of any research, but very few people would notice a pitch change of just over half a semitone. Even the small percentage of the population who have perfect pitch would be able to detect the flaw only in films playing music in a known key. They might, for example, just assume that a piano has been tuned slightly sharp. Modern digital methods now correct the pitch, and this has probably been applied to those films where the flaw would be most noticeable (e.g. classical concerts known to be playing in concert pitch), where someone with perfect pitch would detect a very irritating shift. Of course, concert pitch has varied over the centuries by more than a semitone. By the way, research has shown that the few people who have perfect absolute pitch are usually born with it, they don't learn it, though they do learn to use it. Many more people can learn relative pitch, but this is reset regularly, so watching speeded-up films would not affect them. Dbfirs 23:33, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Antilived, you may be confusing relative pitch and absolute pitch. Relative pitch is the ability to identify intervals and pitches from the context of a starting pitch. It doesn't matter if the starting pitch matches a standard tuning system or not, as long as the intervals are are correct. The intervals between pitches remain the same in the normal and PAL sped-up version of a movie.

> Even the small percentage of the population who have perfect pitch would be able to detect the flaw only in films playing music in a known key. They might, for example, just assume that a piano has been tuned slightly sharp.

Dbfirs, a person with well-trained absolute pitch listening to a movie played with PAL speedup would hear all the pitches shifted out of tune by 7/10 of a semitone, no matter what key the music is in. (That is, no matter what tonic or "home pitch" each musicial piece uses.) For example, if a C pitch was recorded while filming, a person with absolute pitch could tell the PAL sped-up verison plays back as a slightly flat C sharp, no matter if the pitch is part of a musical piece in the key of C major, G major, or any other key. --Bavi H (talk) 04:00, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, thanks, I was aware of that, but I agree that my answer above came over as slightly confused. My argument about assuming a piano tuned slightly sharp is still valid. My point was intended to be "how would the listener know what frequency (pitch) was originally recorded, unless it was a well-known piece by a well-known orchestra?" Dbfirs 08:48, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I don't have perfect pitch, but I sing in a group that often performs music at A-415 ("Baroque pitch", about a semitone below the modern A440 standard), and some of the members do have perfect pitch. I once asked one of them how he coped and he said, "you adjust". I didn't ask about the PAL speedup, but I imagine the answer is the same. -- BenRG (talk) 04:32, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers guys. The fact that most people don't notice it is probably why they chose to use it the first place. --antilived^{T | C | G} 03:04, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

... and, of course, many cheaper "record players" and cassette players ran either too fast or too slow, and few people noticed. (Those who did notice bought high-end equipment with speed adjustment if they could afford it.) Dbfirs 08:17, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Hardy Amies & Wood & sons pottery

Could any one please help? I have a milk jug made by Wood & Sons a pottery firm that is no longer with us, the backstamp reads " Wood & sons, " Ermine " designed by Hardy Amies, I would like to hear from any one who could supply any date to this work. Thank you. Tony.86.13.212.96 (talk) 11:58, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

The Victoria and Albert Museum has some Wood and Sons "Ermine" pieces, dated circa 1979. You can see an example here. From looking through their collection of Wood and Sons pieces, it seems Hardy Amies did a few designs for them. DuncanHill (talk) 12:05, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

There's a picture of the set here, giving the date as 1978. DuncanHill (talk) 12:17, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the image, it saves having to ask why they went belly up.--Aspro (talk) 18:23, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

What would you call a 'tie' like this?

I refer you to an ad by Scott McAdams - academic who it is, anyway, I just want to know what you would call a tie like the final one he's wearing at 0:23? Thanks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4aL-GNjPas&feature=player_embedded

AlmostCrimes (talk) 17:12, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

a Bolo tie? ny156uk (talk)

Confirmed; that's a bolo tie. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:35, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Talenthouse

I'm participating in a contest, in order to have a shot at winning I have to get people to vote on my project, which means garnering support from friends. I have friends and relatives, but nowhere near enough for me to win, and I do not have a profile on any other social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Oh yeah, and I only have four days. What do I do? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 22:57, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Panic--85.211.193.110 (talk) 07:47, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily. If you have a very brillant project then likely even people who don't know you will vote on it when they see how brillant it is. Just tell people you do know and hope for the best. Nil Einne (talk) 10:54, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the vote of encouragement. And to the person that told me to panic, I mean really, if you have nothing helpful to say, then why bother? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 08:33, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Lowest score in bowling without dropping any pins

I (ten pin) bowled today and got a (for me) very respectable score of 146. I also only missed 5 pins in the entire game. It got me thinking...what's the lowest score you can get where you knock down every single pin in a game? I don't really understand the scoring system so this may be a really simplistic answer. Anyhoo, anybody? ny156uk (talk) 23:37, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

If you get a spare each frame, knocking down no pins with your first ball and all ten with your second, you will get ten points for the spare and no bonus points, as after a spare, your bonus is only for the first ball of the next frame. Over ten frames, that's a hundred points. To fulfil your requirement of knocking down every single pin in the game, you would then have to knock over all ten pins with your bonus ball, giving you a bonus of ten points for the final frame - a total of only 110. Warofdreams talk 00:35, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Ten-pin_bowling#Scoring explains the scoring system. (I didn't understand the scoring either until just now. After reading it, you can verify yourself that 110 is the lowest possible score where every pin in the game is knocked down.) --Bavi H (talk) 00:45, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

In Candlepin Bowling it's possible to bowl a 10 that isn't a spare or a strike, so there the minimum score for knocking down all pins is 100. I'll bet it happens from time to time. APL (talk) 01:17, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

October 2

World Location automobile

So far I know that Fiat, Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen are the only articles that map of world locations of plant assemblies. What about Nissan, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Bentley, Lotus, Vauxhall Motors, Audi, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, Porsche, BMW, Saab and Volvo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.89.43.132 (talk) 02:13, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

The use of "oracles" in decision-making processes

I was recently reading an article about the Dalai Lama which talks about HH's practice of using the traditional Tibetan Oracle traditional Tibetan divination ("mo") to help him make important decisions:

"After I consult human beings and these oracles, if there's something clear, something which I can now decide, then I decide," he told me. He said he had made "all major decisions" from the age of sixteen with the help of the oracles, and he had become convinced that they are correct.

This got me wondering about similar Western-style practices, specifically the Sortes Virgilianae and other forms of bibliomancy.

1) Has anything approaching "scientific" (ie., non-anecdotal) evidence ever been found to support the useful/discernable existence of such meaningful synchronicity? (whether or not a plausible model to explain it has so far been developed)
2)→ Is there any psychological or cognitive-scientific support or explanation for why applying random chunks of information to a problem-solving task might help in the formation of relatively successful or advantageous decision-making about that task?
WikiDao ☯ (talk) 03:34, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

How is this different from consulting a trusted religious advisor in any other religion? People often will ask for the advice of their priest, minister, rabbi, or imam. While it may not be for all people, faith is an important factor in decision making for many people. --Jayron32 03:43, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

The Nechung Oracle is claimed to be a "medium" for the Tibetan deity Nechung. He goes into a trance and supposedly channels this entity directly, which pronounces its views on the situation at hand through him. A bit different than your more every-day sort of spiritual adviser. The article also mentions HH's use of "mo divination", which is actually closer to the Sortes Virgilianae thing (and was actually more what first got me wondering about this question). WikiDao ☯ (talk) 03:53, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Meh. I don't judge. Sounds like some rather intense prayer, but I am still not sure how this is functionally different, except by a matter of intensity, from other prayer. Generally, clergy tend to pray to the deity they represent. --Jayron32 04:01, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

In this case, the deity is speaking audible words apparently. But by "oracle" is also meant the practice of "mo divination" which seems to be a form of Astragalomancy, which is very similar, again, to the Sortes Virgilianae. If there is no answer to either of my two questions it is not, of course, necessary to say so -- I'm just wondering if anyone out there has anything on this. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 04:14, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Depending on the religion and the advisor, it's often the case that the advisor claims no special source of information from the divine, only that they have studied scripture a great deal and that they will give detached advice in confidence. Paul (Stansifer) 11:39, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I unfortunately gave a misleading link in my original question, it's actually about the practice of Mo (divination). Do you know anything about how that might work...? WikiDao ☯ (talk) 20:23, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

On a slightly off-topic tanget, I'm intrigued by the use of the expression "...human beings and these oracles." Does it imply that the Dalai lama sees the oracle as somehow not human, Or have we simply lost something in translation? HiLo48 (talk) 04:13, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

There may be some sort of disconnect between the oracle and the medium used to commune with the oracle. The article on Nechung Oracle implies that the oracle is seperate from the medium, but I am not sure the precise nature of the relationship between the two concepts. --Jayron32 04:18, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Again: Nechung is a non-human deity who speaks through the court oracle. Mo is a random selection from among inanimate pieces of paper with things written on them. Both are referred to here by HH as "oracles". WikiDao ☯ (talk) 04:22, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

→ I reworded the question after (some of) the above comments were made to try to clarify the nature of the question. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 19:56, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Answer to 1) No. 2) Somewhat. That is what is used in many creativity or brainstorming techniques. More technically, adding randomness may help you search the problem-space for a better solution that what you had previously. It enables you to escape a local minima, and is used in some artificial intelligence techniques such as simulated annealing or genetic algorithms. Original research: it may help you make a decision which may be better than prevaricating and making no decision. You did not specifically ask, but common "oracles" in the west include fortune-telling, tea-leaves, horoscopes, tarot cards, and so on. I have been trying to remember the name of a novelty toy which looks like a snooker-, pool- or billiard-ball, which you shake and shows an answer at random in a window. Edit: it is a Mystic 8 ball. 92.28.254.154 (talk) 20:31, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

See also Stochastic optimization. 92.28.254.154 (talk) 21:35, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Cool, thnx! :) WikiDao ☯ (talk) 20:49, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, the "Magic 8-Ball". WikiDao ☯ (talk) 20:51, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Forgot to mention The Dice Man, a nasty unpleasant violent novel in my opinion. The article surprisingly says it comic, but it seemed completely unfunny to me. 92.28.254.154 (talk) 21:01, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

CNN Website

Who or what determines why you might be blocked from commenting on CNN's website?--ChromeWire (talk) 03:50, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

The Website administrator of their website. --Jayron32 03:51, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Bees/wasps, why do they sting?

What do they gain/lose by stinging?--85.211.193.110 (talk) 07:49, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

This is discussed to some extent in Stinger#Zoology. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 07:57, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

How short is Yao Ming?

What is the shortness of Yao Ming? I can't seem to find it anywhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.7.4.135 (talk) 09:22, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

His article says that he is 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) short. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 09:30, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Whoa! that's tall. I guess the answer to the OP is 'not very'. Richard Avery (talk) 09:59, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Sun Mingming is 2.36 metres tall. Therefore, Yao Ming is -0.07 metres short. ~AH1^(TCU) 15:42, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Wouldn't that be 0.07 metres short or -0.07 metres tall? Nil Einne (talk) 03:17, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

increasing my height

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

---

hey, i know that hanging exercises increase height, but am i supposed to do them in a single stretch? my fingers really pain a lot after a minute, but i'm really aiming for a time limit of 10 minutes, so, is it ok if i hang for a minute, then a little break, and then another minute and a break and so on? and if that's ok, how long should the breaks be? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.197.250.90 (talk) 10:09, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

We cannot provide medical advice. Please speak with a competent medical practitioner. → ROUX ₪ 10:15, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

e-mail id

How to create an e-mail id?115.241.123.210 (talk) 15:46, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

There are several providers of free webmail in our article. Do you just mean an account, or some other meaning of "id"? Dbfirs 15:57, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Theseus

What day,Month & Year did Theseus kill the Minotaur? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.97.87.138 (talk) 17:12, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

As it says in the first line of our article Theseus, "Theseus (Greek: Θησεύς) was the mythical founder-king of Athens". Following the blue link on "mythical" may help you understand why this is not a question we can answer. Karenjc 17:31, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

They did sometimes try to assign dates to events like that though. Someone (was it Aristotle?) came up with dates for the (semi-)mythical Kings of Athens, which for Theseus is 1234-1204 BC on our calendar. So presumably he killed the Minotaur sometime before that, maybe the 1230s or 1240s BC. Adam Bishop (talk) 23:24, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Didn't he become king immediately on returning home to find his father had just killed himself? Is there any suggestion anywhere in the earlier stories of even a time of year, bright midsummer perhaps, or just as autumn was fading and the last leaves falling? 148.197.121.205 (talk) 10:04, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Oh yeah, so I guess it would have been 1234 BC, at least according to Eusebius of Caesarea. I don't know where he got that date from though, since none of the ancient Greeks who wrote about Theseus seem to have mentioned anything like that (not Euripides, Aristotle, or Plutarch, anyway). Adam Bishop (talk) 11:45, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Haircut Name

I've been looking all over for the name of this kind of haircut.

http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/8085/topheric4.jpg

Does anyone know the name of this kind of hair or know a gallery where I can find more models like it? 98.77.210.36 (talk) 19:39, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Scruffy?--Artjo (talk) 06:46, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I would say it's simply "parted on the left". It's a bit messy but that's the basics. Dismas|^(talk) 10:32, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

French railway: announcement jingle

[22] If you listen to this sound-clip, at about thirteen seconds in, you hear the bizarre and unique jingle which preceeds announcements at various stations in France. Does anyone know where I could find a clean recording of it, and/or any information about it? Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►estoppel─╢ 20:42, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

You can also hear it at the start of this video too! ╟─TreasuryTag►inspectorate─╢ 20:56, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

SNCF jingle. And if you parle francais, theres a website from SNCF about their branding (including le jingle): Here. Fribbler (talk) 15:44, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

October 3

Three questions:

1) What are the main wind directions at Palm Springs, California?

2) Where can I find out information about the times of sunrise and sunset and the angle of the sun at different times of the day and year there?

3) What is meant by the architectural term 'raumplan'? I have looked everywhere I can think of and have found no definitions. Is it even a real word?

148.197.121.205 (talk) 20:07, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

(1) According to this site, the prevailing wind in Palm Springs is NW throughout the year.

(2) Google "local sunrise sunset calculator" and you'll find a few. I've used this one before and it gives sun angles too, but it's not the only one out there.

(3) "Raumplan" is a German word meaning "room plan" or "layout diagram of the rooms in a building". See the description of this file on Commons for a use of the term.

- Karenjc 20:19, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Does that mean the wind comes from the northwest or goes to the northwest, I can never remember. The impression I was given before was that raumplan was a style of designing a building, though noone seemed to know exactly how that would work. 148.197.121.205 (talk) 20:29, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

ad 3: In particular, Raumplan is a term used by Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright and others to strees that they were planning in 3 dimensional spaces (space = German Raum) and not in 2 dimensions of classicistic architecture. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 20:32, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Sunset is kind of an ill-defined concept in Palm Springs, though, since the town is at sea level and 11,000 foot San Jacinto Peak lies directly to the west, right at the edge of town. Looie496 (talk) 21:02, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

It's not sunset just because the Sun goes behind a mountain. Sunset is computed with some sort of notional horizon, maybe based on the geoid or something like that. This makes lots of sense, actually, because the brightness of the sky depends mainly on that, not on whether you happen to be in a mountain's shadow. --Trovatore (talk) 21:12, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Blowing up a caravan

Various shows have destroyed caravans in a variety of spectacular fashions (Brainiac: Science Abuse, Top Gear...). I'm wondering what would be needed to do this? Like, if I was to try it, I'd need permission from someone, right? Would I need some kind of licence for handling explosives? What else would need to be done in order to legally blow up a caravan? And as a side note, how much might this cost? Vimescarrot (talk) 21:32, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I have little hope of being able to answer your question under any circumstances, but certainly far less if you don't say just what you mean by caravan. To me a caravan is a group of vehicles traveling together (more or less a synonym of convoy). In that case the cost would depend, among other things, on just how many vehicles we're talking about. --Trovatore (talk) 21:57, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Oh crap, now that song is playing in my head.... --Trovatore (talk) 21:59, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

(Note: In UK-style English ;) a "caravan" seems to be a kind of RV.) WikiDao ☯ (talk) 22:02, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Government hierachy for four different countries

We would like to know the government hierachy for these four countries, from lowest power to the highest, for example:

United States has mayor, then governor, representative, senator, and president. Sorry if we missed anything, I was just trying to make an example.

The countries I need to know are Germany, China, Russia, and Japan. 64.75.158.193 (talk) 22:00, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Pencil smuging

When I draw or write with pencil, pencil smudges are always a big eyesore for me. Why is it that pencil marks always smudge off? Is there any way to prevent this as much as possible? 64.75.158.193 (talk) 22:07, 3 October 2010 (UTC)