I remember reading somewhere that the upper (near Kuwait) shoreline of the Persian Gulf was historically different, like there was a different water level. I can't remember if it used to be higher or lower though. Assistance? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/98.24.43.97|98.24.43.97]] ([[User talk:98.24.43.97|talk]]) 20:50, 13 March 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
I remember reading somewhere that the upper (near Kuwait) shoreline of the Persian Gulf was historically different, like there was a different water level. I can't remember if it used to be higher or lower though. Assistance? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/98.24.43.97|98.24.43.97]] ([[User talk:98.24.43.97|talk]]) 20:50, 13 March 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Substantially higher: it went much farther northwest than it does now. I don't have any sources at hand for you. [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 21:28, 13 March 2012 (UTC)
:Substantially higher: it went much farther northwest than it does now. I don't have any sources at hand for you. [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 21:28, 13 March 2012 (UTC)
== Animation3d PDN ==
2 questions
1.How do you get the plug that makes animations in Paint.NET to work?
2.How do you get the plug that makes 3d in Paint.NET to work?
Rply soon.[[Special:Contributions/74.178.186.35|74.178.186.35]] ([[User talk:74.178.186.35|talk]]) 21:30, 13 March 2012 (UTC)
Revision as of 21:30, 13 March 2012
Welcome to the miscellaneous section of the Wikipedia reference desk.
The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
I remember hearing something about keeping vodka in the freezer because that's the temperature at which it's meant to be drunk. What's up with that? DRosenbach(Talk | Contribs)02:26, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Why does anything have to be "up" with it? White wine is served chilled; red wine is not. Gagh is always best served live. These are how people like these things. What kind of deeper explanation are you looking for? --Trovatore (talk) 02:36, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Chilling red wine is not a Japanese invention; even the stoic, solid, tradition-bound French do it: [1], [2]. (It may be that Mercian is one of the few wineries to explicitly claim chilled reds as a novel market niche, however.) It is said that the 'serve red at room temperature' rule of thumb is best observed if you live in a drafty Scottish castle or deep subterranean limestone wine cellar. Twenty-first century climate-controlled room temperature is a bit too toasty for virtually all reds, and their flavor will improve appreciably if taken just a few degrees cooler. More aggressive chilling can work quite well with lighter, less tannic reds (simpler, fruitier, unoaked styles particularly) as an antidote to hot weather; the astringency can give the wine a nice bite. On the flip side, white wines are often served too cold: straight from the refrigerator, just a few degrees above zero. Allowing them to warm just a bit means you don't numb your taste buds, and also means that you get more volatiles released. (Generally, the better the white, the warmer it can – or should – be served.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:12, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Vodka is meant to be more or less tasteless. Keeping it extremely cold helps this — it makes it just a cold sensation, ideally. For specific drinks, like the martini, the use of extremely cold spirits (vodka or gin) means you don't have to use ice, which means it isn't diluted. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:06, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's a cultural thing. Russians generally do not keep their bottle of Stoli in the freezer, nor do they mix it with anything else. European and American "smooth" vodkas such as Svedka are more used in mixed drinks and are often chilled, which does reduce further the taste of the strong alcohol content, making it possible to get very drunk without meaning to because the drinks all taste like kool-aid and not booze. Beeblebrox (talk) 17:02, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Official Secrets' Act in the UK
Hi, I've looked on the Wikipedia pages for the Official Secrets Acts in the UK (there are multiple pages as there are acts from different years) but they're long, and I haven't found what I'm looking for. I know that people that sign the act can't disclose particular information, for example, those working for GCHQ can't admit to it if they do a secret job. But what if the police asks them what they do? Or a court? I guess courts enact laws, so the GCHQ employee can confidentially release information in court, but because the police only enforce the law, I don't know about them. The GCHQ guide thing [3] doesn't say about talking to the police.
I don't work for GCHQ, the SIS, or the Security Service, and I haven't spoken to the police, but I'm just interested. If anyone knows anything, your help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. 134.83.1.243 (talk) 03:11, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Quibble: Courts only interpret laws, they don't enact them, legislatures do. In the case of the UK, that would be Parliament. StuRat (talk) 04:16, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, thanks; I thought enact meant act out the law, whereas, according to Wiktionary, enact, for law, means to make the law. Learnt something new. :) 134.83.1.243 (talk) 05:54, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
As Tango states in the post below, we don't give legal advice but if your asking from the point of view as to what you can tell your grandchildren then I can give some context. Most service people were bound by the 30 years rule. For those people working on very sensitive work they were bound by the 60 year rule (I.e. those working at Bletchley Park). Where caution needs to be exercised is that the clock doesn’t start from the date of signing but from the date of that which comes under the OSA – even if you have left the services. The OSA is a catch-all in that respect, 'anything' can be an OS. Even things that are public knowledge but when collected together could be considered useful to an enemy, is covered by the Act. However, common sense should be able to guide you if you just want to pass on to the kids your memoirs (or your recollections to your chums down the local pub). So in answer to your question – you might still be. However, people who posses 'sensitive' information tend to know the context of that information and so can withhold or speak of it accordingly without ending up in the Bloody tower. --Aspro (talk) 22:43, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
We don't give legal advice, consider asking the army or some other suitable party if you're not satisfied with the advice they provide. Nil Einne (talk) 11:55, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The OSA is an Act of Parliament, so it binds everyone within UK jurisdiction (which includes UK citizens outside the UK). It isn't a contract, so signing it doesn't really do anything. It is just a way to make sure you are aware of your obligations and to prove that you were aware of them. This is explained in our article at Official Secrets Act#United Kingdom 2. --Tango (talk) 17:14, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(@134.83.1.243): People in SIS, GCHQ, etc., aren't above the law, so naturally the police can question them like anyone else. When the discussion doesn't about stuff material to their job (like a driving issue) the most they'll be asked is their occupation ("civil servant") or maybe where they work ("in the foreign office in whitehall"). People with secret jobs have a non-lie, non-specific thing they say (in many circumstances) when asked about their job (at cocktail parties, on mortgage applications, and when chatting with Plod) - it's rarely interesting or very secret-sounding ("I'm a civil servant at the home office"). Police enquiries that have nothing to do with the person's job or workplace or their official duties will rarely go beyond that (as they rarely go beyond that for anyone, as it's usually not material what someone does day to day). For enquiries starting in the official domain ("who stole MI-5's paperclips") that gets handled either by the department's internal people, or by the Special Branch (often the Met's special branch). That only leaves a few cases where a non-official enquiry has to probe into an official area (e.g "I have reason to believe there may be child pornography on your government-issue laptop; under the terms of section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, I require you to tell me the secret password"). At that point the secret-agent-man has to say "that covers official materials which may be subject to the terms of the Official Secrets Act"). From there, ordinary Plod knows he has to defer to special-Plod (which is again usually the Special Branch, although not all forces have an SB per se). Chief Officers and other senior usually have the necessary PV to know some secret stuff (at least that the suspect works at SIS and not "universal exports") so if say an SIS officer was suspected of child-porno crime, his case would probably be handled by the relevant Inspector or Chief Inspector (someone who doesn't normally do day-to-day police work any more). Simply saying that something is covered under the OSA isn't that much of a revelation - OSA used to cover all kinds of trivia, and even now it covers a wide range of stuff that's far from the glamourous world of spying. There are probably cases where the great additional bother of conducting an investigation of a relatively minor crime outweighs the public interest in pursuing it, in which case the DPP gets a phonecall from the relevant agency and the prosecution gets dropped under the public interest clause (which they do already in other circumstances, e.g. for stuff that's too expensive to prosecute in comparison to the likely convictions they'd get). I'd imagine that if two SIS officers come to blows in the office over some personal thing, that might only be handled as a discipinary thing rather the assault charges that might arise if it'd happened in a normal office. But serious crime (e.g. if one SIS guy had stabbed another in the office) they'd investigate as above and prosecute as normal. When things get to court, judges can usually be prevailed upon to keep secret stuff out of the record. 87.114.9.76 (talk) 21:57, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In regard to stuff that secret-agent-man might do as part of the course of his duty, that would be illegal if you or I did them (bugging phones, intercepting internet traffic, breaking into houses and rummaging through your wife's unmentionables): these days that's handled under a legal framework (the security service act 1989, the prevention of terrorism act and its many children, and RIPA) which specifies the circumstances under which stuff is legal, and what happens to officers who go beyond that. Before then the legality was a bit shadier - MI5, SB, and GCHQ acted in part under the terms of Home Office Warrants (which are essentially documents the Home Secretary signs saying it's okay for them to do otherwise illegal stuff, because it's in the national interest). It was decidedly questionable if the HS had the statutory authority to write these magical "get out of jail free" cards (it's parliament that makes statute, and I don't know of any act that explicitly devolved such sweeping power to the HS, except wartime stuff like DORA). Had the rip-roaring MI-5 of the 1960s and '70s (as described in Wright's perhaps rather fanciful Spycatcher) come before a properly backboned court, its officers might well have been done up for all kinds of stuff, regardless of nice letters from Rab Butler and Roy Jenkins. But they didn't, and were't blinking likely to. 87.114.9.76 (talk) 22:22, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No objections were lodged on the talk page to this question, so here goes:
In 2004, there was a liberal (or "progressive") guy who shot himself at Ground Zero in New York because he was despondent at George W. Bush's re-election. It turned out he also had some personal relationship stuff going on that contributed to the suicide, but there have been others who have killed themselves, or tried to, either because of despondency at a political situation or as a political protest. See Szmul Zygielbojm, Jan Palach, Lee Kyung Hae, etc.
When someone is suicidal, or survives a suicide attempt, he or she is taken to a psyche ward. But assuming that such a person does not have something like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, for which there are standard treatment programs of medication and therapy, what would they do with a guy like one of the above-mentioned people if he survived? I can't imagine that a daily Zoloft and a weekly hour with a therapist would solve a problem the guy sees as completely external. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 04:07, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I still think anyone who wants to commit suicide as a protest is rather unbalanced, so they should probably be locked up in the loony bin. StuRat (talk) 04:14, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sadly, since political protest in many contexts can be suicidal, this implies that the locking up of political dissenters as mentally ill is justified. StuRat, I think you need to look into the subject a little further before making such sweeping statements. You could do worse than start by reading Michel Foucault's Madness and Civilization. AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:38, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There's a major difference between taking part in a protest at the risk of being killed and outright killing yourself. StuRat (talk) 04:42, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The difference is intent. If it's your goal to die, then it's suicide. If that's not your goal, then it's not suicide. StuRat (talk) 04:51, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And if you goal is to live, then taking part in a political protest may be irrational - which 'justifies' the confinement of protesters as mentally ill. This is a complex issue, and trite responses will get us nowhere. AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:56, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Again, you are oversimplifying things. Just because your goal isn't to die doesn't mean your only goal is to live. Martin Luther King is an example. He realized he might be killed, but that certainly wasn't his goal. Neither was his sole goal to live. Rather he was willing to risk death, without seeking to die. The same was true of Gandhi. StuRat (talk) 05:15, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
"Just because your goal isn't to die doesn't mean your only goal is to live". Very true. But once one starts portraying apparently-suicidal acts (like political dissent) as 'a goal to die', one can lock up dissenters. The mechanisms of state control implicit in the confinement of the 'mentally ill' are rarely that concerned with intent, in any case. I'd seriously recommend you read Foucault: it is one of his more accessible works, and actually entertaining (in a visiting-the-asylum sort of way) as well as thought-provoking. AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:27, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
How does on distinguish a society that can 'kill anyone for any reason' from one that chooses to do so (or chooses to pretend to do so) for particular reasons? And why does it matter? Martin Luther King chose to pursue a course that substantially increased his chance of an early death, precisely because his only goal wasn't to live, but to make the world a better place to live in. He was apparently wiling to make the sacrifice for a cause, should it be necessary. Political suicides may believe they are making the same choice. They may well be wrong (and I'd suggest that they almost certainly always are), but there is nothing inherently more 'irrational' in their choice than in MLK's. AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:49, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Using the "ends justifies the means" argument only makes sense if the "means" (possible or certain death) has a reasonable chance of accomplishing the desired "ends" (changing society). Committing suicide is extremely unlike to cause society to change. This makes doing so irrational, while MLK's actions, which were likely to bring about a change in society, were rational. StuRat (talk) 05:57, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
And who gets to decide whether actions have "a reasonable chance"? Do you think that at the time that MLK carried out his actions, those in a position to decide who was 'rational' (or at least, those in the position to confine those they saw as 'irrational') would have seen his actions as likely to bring about change? And would this have made them more, or less, likely to confine him? AndyTheGrump (talk) 06:08, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That his actions were bringing about change was irrefutable (that's why his enemies hated him so much). At each step in the process some goal was accomplished. StuRat (talk) 06:12, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you're trying to judge someone's sanity, you'd better look at what happened in their past. And, unless you're talking about MLK's first protests, he would have already had a record of success. StuRat (talk) 08:43, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
While this isn't an area I know much about, I don't believe treatment of suicide attempts is as simple as you question seems to suggest. Even in more for lack of a better word, 'ordinary' cases, people who have tried to take their own lives may not suffer from something like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder although may have a range of conditions which may be subject to psyhiatric care (particularly I believe depression). Take a look at these cases of self-immolation, [4][5], while in nearly every case the people had pre-existing contact with mental health care institutions, their individual cases are quite variable and quite a few didn't have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, so the treatement is often fairly individualised. (Most of these appear to be the more 'ordinary' cases rather then attempts at a political statement or whatever.) Self-immolation is probably a rare form of suicide in the developed Western world, [6][7][8][9] but may be more common elsewhere. [10][11] while concentrating on intervention before any attempts are likely also relevant. Similarly [12] while discussing suicides in the Aboriginal Australian context may be useful as it discusses various types of suicide. I think [13] may also be relevant since it emphasises you have to take care not to read too much into a suicide, while it may be seen like a political statement or have had that effect, that may not always be the primary intention or cause. There may very well be features common with more 'ordinary' suicides like depression, with or without 'good reason'. Nil Einne (talk) 11:45, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. I don't want to get too much in to the debate above, I believe there's now general acceptance in medical ethics that people on a hunger-strike shouldn't be force fed if they are capable of forming a rational and unimpaired judgement (see Declaration of Tokyo) although this doesn't seem to be followed a lot of the time. While there's sometime similar sentiment people who attempt suicide shouldn't be treated if they make a rational decision to refuse treatment [14]/[15], I think it's rare that this is followed. (And of course arises much more in cases when the person has a terminal illness or similar although [16] mentionmed in the earlier sources was not such a case.) The discussion above appeared to be more trying to stop future attempts but similar issues arise there. Suicide intervention claims (without sources) that in the US anyone who expresses the intent to harm themselves is 'automatically determined to lack the present mental capacity to refuse treatment'. I think the number of 'political' cases in the developed world is probably small enough that it's not something commonly considered in ethics cases anyway. Further, I think it's generally accepted one of the reasons why many suicide attempts fail is because the person didn't really want to die (perhaps realising so after the attempt but when there was still hope). If a person really wants to commit suicide for political reasons, this issue won't arise so the proportion of failed suicides may be lower. (And unlike in terminal illness cases, the person may not suffer physical limitations making it more difficult.) Nil Einne (talk) 12:40, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Although on a superficial level the cause of the suicide may look to be external, there's almost always an internal component. It's really not "my wife left me, so I'm going to kill myself", or "the creditors are hounding me, so I'm going to kill myself" or "George Bush got reelected, so I'm going to kill myself", but rather it's more "my wife left me, which makes me think my life is worthless, so I'm going to kill myself", or "the creditors are hounding me, and I don't see any way out, so I'm going to kill myself" or "George Bush got reelected, which causes me to think that the world is irrevocably broken, so I'm going to kill myself". Therapy or medication can potentially help someone get over whatever internal mental process is equating some (completely survivable) external event with justification for killing themselves. Of course therapy won't cause Bush not to get reelected, but it may cause you understand there are ways of dealing with it other than ending your life. -- 71.35.120.88 (talk) 17:24, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
So could Jan Palach have been talked into accepting a life under Communism at a time when there was no inkling that the system would ever be dismantled in his lifetime? -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:05, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Is it possible to rent music stands in the San Diego area?
Is it possible to rent multiple music stands and have them delivered to a location for a one time event in the San Diego area? Who can we contact?--128.54.193.69 (talk) 08:36, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There is a working link for the download at the bottom of the first posting in the thread: it is labelled 'AnimationEffect v0.85.zip'. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:54, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Paint.NET does not have native support for animated images. However, I have used this plugin and it works quite well. (The download link can be found at the top of the page) To create an animated GIF or PNG, create one animation segment in each layer. Every layer is considered a separate animation frame. When you press "Save", select the ".agif" file format. The plugin saves the .gif file with a .agif file extension so in order for a browser to recognize the file, you need to change the file extension to .gif. (If you use windows, right click on the file and select "rename"). If you have any questions, I would be happy to help. Best, Alpha_Quadrant(talk)22:30, 8 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When I'm animating through microsoft paint, which I gather is broadly similar, I just open up windows live movie maker, go to add image and select all the scenes I want to add and the time I want between each of them, works perfectly and pretty simple too. 148.197.81.179 (talk) 11:17, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In Hawaii, over the last several years, I've noticed more and more cashiers in convenience stores suffering from some kind of work-related disability, usually a form of repetitive strain injury. In some cases, they also seem to be suffering from foot and back problems. I know this because I'm somewhat of a social person and enjoy talking to people I see every day and getting to know them. One thing that I noticed after many years, is that very few of these cashiers have stools or chairs available to them. Those that do are usually in a smaller space, like a gas station food mart. I'm curious, wouldn't management benefit more from having healthy workers using a stool or chair that would give them more of an ergonomic workspace? I realize this might difficult to do, but I'm wondering if someone out there has thought about this problem. Viriditas (talk) 11:50, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sitting seems to cause more health problems than standing.[18][19][20][21][22] And it's not necessarily going to stop you getting RSI from operating a POS terminal/cash register, etc. Of course there are many other reasons why stools/seats may not be provided - they might require more space for them, they may impede speedy evacuation in a fire, staff may have to move around a lot to do their jobs (picking things off shelves etc), staff turnover is high enough that businesses don't care, etc. --Colapeninsula (talk) 14:46, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
One thing that seems problematic to me is how they always lean the same way (the side the conveyor belt is on). I've seen an occasional setup, usually in cafeterias, where they can serve customers on both sides. This seems better, to me, as they will then get to balance out their movements more. StuRat (talk) 21:55, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Typically (I don't know if it's required by law), cashiers stand on anti-fatigue mats (I'm surprised there's no Wikipedia article on them!), which are just soft mats that make standing up for a long time somewhat less tiring, so there's at least some attention paid to this. But alternating between sitting and standing is probably the best option. Paul (Stansifer)22:41, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Two points about the responses thus far. 1) Is POS in this case supposed to stand for "point of sale" or "piece of shit" or is this left up the reader to decide? :) 2) Stu, many places that have remodeled in the last ~5 years have conveyors on both sides with two cashiers. The cashiers are still working only one side but at least there's a chance that on their next shift, they'll be working the opposite side. Dismas|(talk)23:50, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The way I see it, one cashier with one conveyor on each side doesn't help anything but the cashier. And I don't know how much it helps them other than the health issue of leaning. It doesn't make anything faster for the customer; now instead of being after the person in front of you, you're after the person across from you. And with that set up, the cashier would have to think more about what side their working on, switch hands that mainly deals with the register (thinking that the register is centrally located and therefore on either the dominant side or non-dominant depending on which way the cashier is facing), the little divider wall between the register and the row of customers in the next aisle is normally used for reminders and store coupons which would have to go... somewhere, etc. Also, how much leaning does the cashier have to do? Many modern set ups have the keyboard above the conveyor (right above the bar code scanner) and therefore the cashier isn't leaning sideways over the belt anyway. Dismas|(talk)00:37, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, the point was about it helping the cashier, not the customers, but I can see some ways it could help the customers, too:
1) You can unload your groceries onto the belt while the cashier checks out the other side. This avoids the problem of the belt moving while you are trying to place groceries on it, thus allowing you to use the belt more efficiently. It also avoids the problem of a quick cashier being limited by the speed at which the customers can place their groceries on the belt. Then, when the cashier does get to you, hopefully you will be ready to watch the prices ring up and complain when they overcharge you.
2) If one conveyor belt goes down due to mechanical failure or needs cleaning, say due to blood and milk spilled on it, they can close off that aisle and use the remaining belt, without having to "cash out" and move to a new register.
I'm looking for a list of monsters that might eat humans; mythological monsters, pop-culture monsters, whatever. I already have werewolves and ogres on my list, and I'm looking at the List of legendary creatures but there's a lot to go through there and my mind has gone blank so I'm hoping for a few nudges.... Ideally, I want monsters that would want to eat all of a human, but others like vampires who just want their blood and zombies who just want their brains could fit too. MorganaFiolett (talk) 15:38, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
What percent of Wikipedia's traffic comes from search engine links. I read that 99% of Wikipedia pages are in the top results for Google inquiries but am not sure how to backtrack through that to get a % (needed for a school project). Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.81.143.236 (talk) 19:42, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
From my Google search for What percent of Wikipedia's traffic comes from search engine links, the fourth result is Google Sending Wikipedia A Ton Of Traffic, dated February 19, 2007.
If I call a number starting 0190 489, are they going to charge me a rediculously excessive price for it as part of some scam? Isn't there some way of telling the cost of phoning certain numbers from how they start?
Is it one of these numbers? As you can see, the code is 01904 which is the STD code for York. Just googled "01904 telephone code". Google is your friend! --TammyMoet (talk) 21:45, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's not on that list, but if it's a standard york number...
However, let's say I've found something that could be a scam of some sort, but looks like a decent advertising proposal once you read the small print, is there anywhere I could go to find reports by people on the company/product in question, some sort of scam reporting website that isn't censored or run by the people trying to take my money? 148.197.81.179 (talk) 23:09, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'd just Google their name, and maybe address or phone number, in case it is a scam and they frequently change their company's name. While you might find some websites they set up, you would likely also find sites identifying them as a scam, if they are. StuRat (talk) 00:26, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you find nothing on a Google of their name, or their phone number, or their address, that's a very bad sign. Sounds like a fly-by-night operation that just changed their name and moved to a new location, probably to escape the angry mob. StuRat (talk) 02:35, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Nothing like that, I'm sure, they've been advertising under that name for a while. Just, they emailed me the phone number as soon as I expressed interest, that's what seemed a bit odd to me, so I can understand it not being freely given anywhere google could look. I can see this deserves a lot more investigation, though. 148.197.81.179 (talk) 09:00, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Whether there is some dodgy element to the number I think might depend how the number is expressed. Most UK companies would put "01904" either in parentheses or followed by a space then the 6-digit number - ie. "(01904) 89xxxx" or "01904 89xxxx". Some other placing of spaces, dashes or parentheses, or something other than 11 digits, might indicate a foreign operation. However, the UK telephone system works only on the numbers - dialing 0190489... gets you a number in York starting with 89. You will only be charged what your service provider charges for a call to York. Of course, they might capture your number using caller ID and use that to send you reverse billed SMS messages, but there is probably some regulation stopping that from happening. You can contact OFCOM and ask about how to make a complaint if that happens. Astronaut (talk) 11:41, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
For what it's worth in the UK it's not possible to be charged for a call by simply answering it. If they ask you to press some keys or something though it's possible then. Don't get paranoid about picking up your phone192.84.79.2 (talk) 15:31, 14 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Parking deck economics
While, in the US, surface parking is often free, deck parking rarely is, and often costs around $10 per day. However, there is a shopping mall near me with free deck parking. I'm curious how much it actually costs to maintain a surface parking space (including plowing snow, clearing leaves, and more frequent painting of lines) versus a deck parking space (includes the higher initial cost divided by the number of spaces). Obviously, the property price is a wildcard, with high property prices making surface parking disproportionately more expensive. So, let's just leave those out of the calculations, for now. Also, are taxes ever based on number of parking spaces, or purely based on land area ? StuRat (talk) 22:06, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
OK, I've no idea what's being discussed here - what are 'surface parking' and 'deck parking' (they mean nothing to me in the UK)? Mikenorton (talk) 23:13, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The normal British English terms are "car park" and "multi storey car park" for anyone still confused by the US terms - ah the old chestnut - The UK and the USA, two countries separated by a common language! Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 00:29, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think you can leave property prices out of the equation. Rent on the land is probably one of the largest costs for either type of car park. (The other large cost would be selling and checking tickets, but obviously you don't have that cost if it is free. Shopping centres with free parking often require proof that you bought something in one of the shops, though, so that involves some cost.) --Tango (talk) 00:39, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming the garage is of the open-air variety and not fully enclosed or underground, much of the cost is in the initial construction. After that, most such structures have only one or two employees staffing them, or none if it is really free and no validation is required. They are also often rather poorly lit, presumably to save on electricity and because cars have lights anyway. As you mentioned they also do not need to plow unless there is roof parking. As to the question of taxes, how property taxes are determined is highly varied depending on jurisdiction, so a small lot in Manhattan is probably paying more than a big garage in Oklahoma City. Parking spaces are so prized in Manhattan that they even have lots with hydraulic lifts in each space so they can lift up your car and park another one underneath it. Now that's a pricey parking operation! Beeblebrox (talk) 02:02, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I just stopped by this thread to object to StuRat's premise, "in the US, surface parking is often free, deck parking rarely is, and often costs around $10 per day". Surely you know that, to use Beeblebrox's locales, in Manhattan all of the above prices are a fantasy from 150 years ago, and that in Oklahoma City you don't pay to park. That aside, my OR observation is that it's supply and demand based, and a parking lot is sometimes an investment, built by investors, who make a return on their investment; highly congested areas have more expensive parking garages, and parking becomes less expensive the farther away you look. Comet Tuttle (talk) 02:20, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There may be a few exceptions, like Manhattan, but, in 99% of the US by land area (and maybe 90% by population), you can find free surface parking and deck parking for around $10 a day. StuRat (talk) 02:26, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
My guess is it's simple economics. In most of the United States, land is relatively cheap and it's structures which are expensive. By far, the most cost effective way to build parking is to buy extra land and make a surface lot. In my hometown, you can tell when a shopping center was originally built by its location. They get younger further from downtown, as they were built on cheap, undeveloped land at the edge of town, and followed the edge outward with expansion. You'd only opt for a multi-level garage over a surface lot if there's no extra room. Which means there's probably no available parking in the area, so it's a seller's market for parking. Note that doesn't mean that all parking garages charge for parking. Once you have the structure built, it's a sunk cost, so the cost of the structure doesn't really figure in to whether you charge or not. While you get money for charging, you also have additional expenses - the traffic control equipment to keep freeloaders out, extra security to dissuade cheaters, payment processing costs (credit card processing fees are killers on small dollar transactions). You also have opportunity costs. People will try to avoid paying by looking for free on-street parking, or by driving an extra 5 minutes to a shopping center without parking fees. Even if you have "free parking with purchase", you potentially lose people who don't want the hassle of parking validation, or who might impulse buy while window shopping. Charging for parking typically happens where there's no other parking options, and typically in those situations any nearby surface or street parking is also charged (though there may be a few privately owned or "for customers while in store only" spots). So I don't think it's a lot/garage distinction, but a parking availability distinction, and you tend to get garages only in low-availability areas. -- 71.35.120.88 (talk) 03:36, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's a good summary. It's a supply-and-demand situation, and I've often heard parking decks in cities described as "cash cows". Once you've paid for the structure itself, there's not much maintenance cost, and the money just rolls in. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 09:24, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This document [23] seems informative. It provides information on the land, construction, and operating costs of various types of parking facilities. For example, on page 10, it says the typical cost of building and running a parking facility runs from $56 / month / spot for surface spots to $330 / month / spot for underground structures in a city center. Also, it appears that most of the operating cost of a parking facility is associated with the cashiers, security, management and related things. The actual maintenance may be $100-150 / space / year. Construction costs for new parking facilities tend to be $12000 - $20000 / per space, which of course has to be compensated for over the useful life to the structure. Some of these numbers might seem large, but if you are a retail center that owns the parking lot, the amount of added revenue you require from each visitor to offset the cost of parking often won't be very high since you get many visitors per month, and most of the visitors are there to spend money anyway. Dragons flight (talk) 17:18, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, that's just what I was looking for. That also confirms my thoughts on why surface parking lots are often free. That $56 per spot per month works out to under $0.50 a day, and most retail establishments could afford to chalk that up to overhead. The $330 per spot per day is more like $11 a day, and it's hard to see how they can swallow that as overhead, especially if the spaces aren't at 100% occupancy. You need a lot of paying customers to be able to cover that. StuRat (talk) 22:01, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I am planning my garden and would like to include poppies for the seeds. I have heard that in some states growing certain types of poppies or any poppies at all is illegal. Can you direct me to a site where I can find this information for Oklahoma?Pattilavonne (talk) 22:27, 9 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Googling [poppies oklahoma] came up with this gardening forum,[24] which gives no hint that there's any issue about growing poppies in Oklahoma. Apparently the obstacle in OK isn't the law, it's merely getting the seeds to germinate. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 09:21, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure that simply having opium poppy Papaver somniferum plants in your garden anywhere in the United States is a federal crime of the same caliber as having a bag of marijuana in your glove box. But I am not a lawyer (besides, Wikipedia does not give legal advice).--Itinerant1 (talk) 00:01, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I would think the legal authorities would differentiate between a very occasional stray or "volunteer" opium poppy within a large field of "normal" poppies, as contrasted with having a crop of them. They might want to have a chat with the source of your seeds, though. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 09:57, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Opium poppies *are* "normal" poppies (the kind that you grow to make seeds for cooking). Yes, knowing that you have them is an element of the crime, and the scale of production matters too (just like the sentence for having an acre of marijuana is different from the sentence for having ten plants.) Incidentally, I read that, under the U.S. law, growing is "manufacturing", and penalties for manufacturing illegal drugs are steeper than penalties for simple possession.
The kind that you can find most easily in stores here seems to be the California poppy. I have no idea how California poppy seeds compare to real poppy seeds in taste. It's a completely different genus. But it is possible to find opium poppy seeds in stores as well, even at Walmart, but usually under different names, e.g. as "Peony poppy". Opium poppy seeds are exempt from prosecution. Otherwise every Jewish bagel store owner would be in prison by now. --Itinerant1 (talk) 22:13, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
March 10
Are there any OTC antihistimines that don't cause drowsiness?
The list of ingredients on these does not mention any stimulants. I would paste the list of ingredients in full, but I wouldn't want to encourage self-dosing by those in countries where the tablets in question are made officially unavailable for whatever reason. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 05:04, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Well, the packet in front of me says "non-drowsy allergy relief, 30 tablets", it cost me less than US$3 over the counter in my local supermarket, and can be taken to relieve the symptoms of a wide variety of allergies (it says). I normally take one in the morning after arriving at work, if I think I need it. It doesn't cause drowsiness for me. I'm in the United Kingdom, though, and until about two years ago I had to get similar on prescription instead. Maybe the USA is just a few years behind. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 05:14, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Generic OTC allergy medicine marketed in the UK as "non-drowsy" is usually Loratadine, Cetirizine, or Fexofenadine. Really all of them have some association with drowsiness, so if the OP experiences drowsiness with these, he definitely needs to talk to a doctor. All three are available in the US. 91.125.155.37 (talk) 14:27, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
From personal experience, I know it is possible to develop an apparent tolerance for the drowsiness effects of some anti-histamines. As a child, I took a prescription strength antihistamine for many years. Drowsiness was one of the side effects, but I can't recall noticing much. Some time later I learned that the ingredient in the antihistamine was the same ingredient in a brand of sleeping pills (different doses, I presume). I discovered this after taking some of those sleeping pills in an attempt to deal with sleep problems I was having, but I found the sleeping pills had almost no effect, and didn't appreciably help me get to sleep. The doctor later agreed that it was probably because my body had developed a high tolerance for that active ingredient after years of exposure in childhood. Dragons flight (talk) 16:54, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There are several books on the subject of Leicestershire place names and their origins. If the OP is in Leicestershire then maybe he/she could approach their nearest library to see if they have copies. Meanwhile I'll see if I can find an online reference. --TammyMoet (talk) 13:18, 10 March 2012 (UTC) It used to be part of Ashby de la Zouch council district, a town again containing a French/Norman element in its name . I wonder if that has any significance? --TammyMoet (talk) 13:30, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Ashby de la Zouche is a different case: it's one of the many names where a geographical element (Ashby = ash-tree farm) is distinguished by adding the family name of the lords of the manor (de la Zouche). Ref: Room, Adrian (1988). Place-Names in the British Isles. Bloomsbury. ISBN0 7475 0505 5.. --ColinFine (talk) 10:39, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Enter your email address twice
Maybe this is a computing question, but maybe it is more to do with culture in general. Many websites where you can sign up for something, shopping, newsletters or whatever, ask that you enter your email address twice. Except when changing your password, this is the only thing that is asked for twice. Why is this? and do they really expect people to not use cut & paste? Astronaut (talk) 14:29, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Remarkable how that discussion also gives an answer to the question asked earlier (OTC antihistimines), see softbuddy's response: It could be worse. I went to the pharmacist to get Zyrtec and they wanted to see some ID. When I asked why they sprayed it was to make sure that I wasn't cooking crystal meth with it. . And btw: you cannot make meth from Zyrtec... 84.197.178.75 (talk) 13:10, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) Generally, whether email or password, websites will only ask you to enter information twice when you provide it for the first time. This is probably most important with passwords, as the information is obscured, so you cannot check for typos visually. This is done to help the user - if they make a typo with either it will make their account inaccessible, either because their password is not what they think it is, or because the verification email was sent to the wrong address. Sure, they can copy-paste, and I'm sure many do, but if so they only have themselves to blame if they make a typo. AJCham14:45, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
If you don't have a super long email address and type at a resonable speed, the amount of time you save by copying and pasting is so small it's not really worth bothering copys and pasting most of the time. Of course if you use the same email address enough, it may be already in autocompletion. Nil Einne (talk) 16:47, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking of auto-complete, I generally only have to hit 's', down arrow, enter, tab, 's', down arrow, enter. The whole process is shorter than me having to type out my email address once. Dismas|(talk)18:42, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
raising bollard
Hi, if somone stands on a raising bollard in the road, the ones that block traffic except for delivery trucks, would it lift them off the ground? Just need to know this thx :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.80.209 (talk) 15:17, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The owners would be subject to a huge liability risk it it did and someone or their vehicle got damaged. Its your own fault if you dive into one but otherwise the owner is liable for your hurt or damage as per existing laws for any other type of street furniture.--Aspro (talk) 15:43, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The ever wonderful Yuotube shows even this one has a cut-out and return-to-rest [25]. He uses the metal sign to reset the road sensor in order to recycle it.--Aspro (talk) 15:48, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I only have anecdotal evidence, but a friend of a friend had one of those bollards come up while his car was over the top of it and partially lifted his car off the ground with enough force that his head hid the windscreen, cracking it. I don't know what other damage there was to the car - the car park attendant told him he would be charged for any damage caused to the bollard! --Tango (talk) 16:33, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
That's right, smearing jam on a car park attendant and leaving them tied to an ant-hill isn't nearly as satisfying. :-) StuRat (talk) 21:45, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I was on a bus once looking out the window and saw a motorbike approaching the raising bollard (it was down from the bus just going through) and I thought "well obviously they don't stop bikes" and as soon as i'd thought this the bike goes straight over the 'sunken' bollard and it came up with his back wheel still on it. The guy on the bike kept control and carried on going but basically got his back wheel lifted up maybe a foot in the air. I did chuckle. ny156uk (talk) 21:50, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I would expect most injuries would be tripping over the edge of the thing when it's just above the surface. They should have blinding lights and noise to notify you well before they start to raise up. StuRat (talk) 21:54, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Sunday drinking outside a pub, with that bollard going up and down every few minutes. It's just too much temptation after a few beers :-) Astronaut (talk) 10:53, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I used to work at a vehicle auction house where the front gate was protected by a rising bollard. I can verify that when the security guard minding the gate stops concentrating and raises the bollard too soon, the vehicle passing through the gate can be stopped pretty suddenly. Something with the weight of an old Mini could be lifted completely off the ground, whilst even a 7.5 tonne truck will be made to bounce a bit. A pedestrian can also be lifted off the ground, although there is normally a safety cut-off that ensures that, if something is on top of the bollard the extra weight causes it to stop rising after a certain point. In the UK rising bollards are often used to protect areas that are off limits to certain types of vehicles (e.g. buses and taxis only). Numpty car drivers wishing to take a shortcut will sometimes try to follow another vehicle through, attempting to fool the system into only registering the first vehicle. This has predictable consequences: [27][28][29][30] - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:09, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I have an OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheet, and I want to convert it into a table that I can put on Wikipedia. However, I want to preserve as much of the formatting (font family, font size, text color, etc.) as possible. If not, I would like to know the wiki code for the formatting. If you know how to do what I would like, I would appreciate it. Allen (talk) 20:52, 10 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't know about available tools for the job. The technique I have used is to use spreadsheet formulas to create the necessary wikimarkup text elements from the data in the spreadsheet. For example: if column B contains size in mm, you can set up column H to be '=CONCATENATE("{{convert|", B, "|mm|in}}")' - so if B5 contains "10.7" then H5 will contain "{{convert|10.7|mm|in}}". You can then dump column H into a text or CSV file before cutting and pasting it into the wikipedia article (it is a trivial matter to replace the tab or comma separators with the "|" character). One other thing, unless it is absolutely critical to do so, I wouldn't try to preserve the formatting. Astronaut (talk) 10:50, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
You are also going to need "|-" in between lines. I usually put in the leftmost cell of each line then, after replacing the tab separators, I search for |- and replace with \n|-. Also if you have anything that uses unusual characters make sure that whatever you copy the spreadsheet to will handle it. There's nothing worse than finding all your Inuktitut syllabics have turned into question marks. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 03:06, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
adds show up in wikipedia pages
Hi,
Note sure if it is a problem with my browser.
In between the every title of wiki topic subject and the article.
There is ads appear (always). Seem some unscruppolous ads software manage to intercept all my wiki broswing and insert the ads.
it does say "ads not by this site"
I haven't seen any ads on Wikipedia, either at home (on Fedora 14 Linux) or at work (on Windows 7). I use Mozilla Firefox at both places, have people also encountered ads using that browser? My best guess is that it's because of malware. JIP | Talk20:53, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
According to the German WP, Leukoplast was first marketed by Beiersdorf, a German medical firm near Hamburg, in 1921. In 2001, Beiersdorf and Smith & Nephew created a joint venture, BSN medical, again located in Hamburg. This company was acquired in 2006 by Montagu Private Equity, who are based in London. --178.191.228.164 (talk) 21:37, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
How are newspapers printed? I'm guessing that they're printed in a way that if the presses were to stop and you were standing in front of them, you could read the page that was being printed. In other words, you wouldn't have to cock your head to the side. The reason I ask is because I'm curious as to what the puncture marks are for along the outer edges of the pages of most newspapers are for or what makes them. I think it's a bit like the holes on the side of dot matrix printer paper. I can't find a suitable image to better describe what puncture marks I'm referring to but imagine you have a paper laid out in front of you and it's closed. On the left you'd have the fold or "spine" (if a newspaper can be said to have a spine since it's not as rigid as a book) and on the right would be the edges of all the pages. Along this edge, which is often jagged, there are a number of puncture marks about the size a thumbtack might make. I'm guessing they're for aligning the pages as they are collated and cut but I'd like to confirm that. Anyone? Thanks, Dismas|(talk)07:37, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure they are the marks left behind by the spikes that are used to keep the pages together during folding once they have been collated, nothing to do with the printing as such. Sorry I don't have time to find a reference for that at the moment.--Shantavira|feed me09:55, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Modern newspapers are made with some kind of offset printing. It looks like this. It isn't like a dot matrix printer at all. The spikes are not part of the printing stage. This video shows the entire process. It's rather large and complicated, these days. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:47, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know how the news papers are printed were you are but let get a better idea of what you're describing. Open the paper out on the centre fold and on one side the are holes which get gradually large on each sheet. If this is so, then that's the 'griper edge'. When the 'sheet' (singular) has been printed on both sides it is spit, folded and collated. See fig 2.1-110. Then cut into individual copies. See: 2.1-111. A pin gripper then pulls the collated and cut newspaper copy through to the next process leaving its holes. [31] page 287 & 288. On magazines etc this area it gets trimed off. --Aspro (talk) 14:44, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Greetings! For a comparative in a WP-article I would like a literature reference of the worth ("buying power") of a sixpence in London in the year 1898 (+/- 3 years). Reference in food could be interesting. Sincerely Grey Geezer 13:56, 11 March 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)
Standard "mousetrap" cheddar is now £7.96 per kg = £3.61 per lb at Tesco[32]. Of course, diary farming and cheese manufacture are much more efficient than in 1896. In 1914 (I couldn't find any earlier), the average price of a pint of beer was 3d.[33] It's now over £3[34] but a large part of this is duty. Alansplodge (talk) 17:20, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The Lancet gave the price of beer as 1½d. or 2d. a half in 1901, which agrees very well with your figure. In 1900 bread and cheese was the archetypal poor man's food, whereas now trapping mice is a luxury beyond the dreams of my sort. I agree, it all goes to show that single commodities aren't a reliable way of measuring the value of money. --Antiquary (talk) 17:57, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the useful comments! It was the price for the official Post Office Guide of the Royal Mail in London. Now I have a better understanding "what it cost." Thanks again! Grey Geezer 22:48, 11 March 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)
(edit conflict) My reprint of the 1900 edition of Whitaker's Almanack gives the daily pay of a private in the infantry and Army Service Corps as one shilling (twelve pence) a day, up to 1/9 d. (one shilling and ninepence) for a gunner, sapper or trooper in the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers and cavalry (page 217). One shilling also the daily pension of a retired troop sergeant-major in Rudyard Kipling's poem Shillin' a Day from Barrack Room Ballads (1892), little enough that the speaker says his wife must go out charring (housecleaning) and he working as a hotel commissionaire. ["But I'm old and I'm nervis,/ I'm cast from the Service,/ And all I deserve is a shillin' a day./(Chorus) Shillin' a day,/ Bloomin' good pay -- /Lucky to touch it, a shillin' a day!"] Navy pay for the lowest rating or boy started at £9 a year, which would equate to 15 shillings (3/4 of a pound) a month or sixpence (half a shilling) a day (page 233). ¶ I looked at the advertisements in the back of Whitaker's for something that cost sixpence, and found the single-issue price of The Windsor Magazine (120 pages, illustrated, monthly) or Literature ("A Weekly Journal devoted to international literature", published by The Times), also the Epistle of St Clement published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. The weekly editions of The Times and The Staffordshire Advertiser cost twopence. Approved School Books from T. Fisher Unwin such as Arithmetic, Grammar, Poetry or Spelling for Beginners cost a shilling. But most books are advertised for considerably more, around five shillings hard-bound. George Rowney advertised patent ring-bound sketch books from sixpence to four shillings with paintboxes starting at five shillings. ¶ Imperial Penny Postage would deliver half an ounce anywhere in the Empire save Australasia, but it cost 2 1/2 d. (twopence halfpenny) to deliver that half-ounce to Australasia or foreign countries. For the same penny, four ounces would be delivered domestically, plus two ounces for every additional halfpenny. Parcel Post cost threepence (3 d.) for the first pound of weight (pp. 435-440). —— Shakescene (talk) 23:05, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Worth of a sixpence in London in the 1950s and 1960s
Not really relevant, but in my 1960s childhood, 6d (= 2.5p) would buy: a portion of chips in proper newspaper - now £1.30 - you used to ask for "six pen'orth o' chips please", a Mars bar (now 50 or 60p but they've got smaller[35]) or 24 blackjacks now about 4.5p each if you could still buy them singly and (quite rightly) they don't have a golly on the wrapper anymore[36]. Apologies for the nostalgia attack. 19:35, 12 March 2012 (UTC)
In my late 1950's to 1960 London childhood (before emigration to the U.S.), I seem to remember that The Eagle cost 6d. and then they raised the price to a stiffer 7d. Domestic postage, as all good schoolboy philatelists knew, was 3d. (purple stamp) for a letter and 2 1/2d. (red) for a postcard. You could get a good but modest stamp album or book for about 5 shillings, which was also the price of a small set of toy soldiers or of one or two mounted officers or knights with horses. Individual toy foot soldiers cost significantly less than shilling each. Most plastic model-building kits cost less than 5/- (five shillings). Despite the official rates of exchange (£1 = $2.80), something that cost a schoolboy $1 in the U.S. would have cost him about 5/- in London (£1 = $4). But my memory is fallible. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:05, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I just saw that my 1958 copy of The Happy Warrior (collected Eagle comics on the life of Winston Churchill), in hard boards, cost 6 s., and Methuen's 1958 hard-covered edition of Tintin in translation (64 pp.) cost 8s. 6d. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:59, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
could wiki please include in their '4th Grade" article whether this age groups has class teaching (i.e. one main teacher teaching all or most subjects), or they have subject teaching (i.e. being taught by different teachers for different subjects) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.151.96.98 (talk) 14:07, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
A fourth grade class might stay together with the same teacher, might have different teachers for different subjects, or might split up into different groupings for each subject. Which situation it is, will depend on the school, the relevant education authority, and the country in which the school is located. Astronaut (talk) 14:20, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In many cases at that level it is a combination of both methods. One main teacher provides instruction in core subjects such as mathematics, social studies, science and English, while other teachers are brought in for what are called "specials," such as music and art. → Michael JⓉⒸⓂ17:15, 11 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In my elementary school days, we were shuffled between different a few teachers for math, science, "language arts," social studies and homeroom, with a single gym teacher for the whole school. There were different "tracks" for students based on their supposed level within each grade, so one teacher might teach math for the top track, language arts for the middle track and social studies for the bottom track, while another teacher might teach math for the middle track, language arts for the bottom track and social studies for the top track. Why they did it this way I don't know -- maybe it was just to keep the same kids and teachers from having to deal with each other all day long. Some other schools did it differently, with the kids staying in the same classroom most of the day. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:31, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In my school we always had a different teacher for French (even as early as grade 1), but in grade 4 we still had just the one teacher for everything else. It wasn't until grade 7 and 8 that we started having different teachers (and in that case it was just math, and it was just one of the other teachers - and our teacher taught math to the other teacher's class, not like there was a special teacher or something). Adam Bishop (talk) 10:20, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, this question has something to do with sex. I'm a long time editor. Please don't delete it and brand me a troll, thankyouverymuch.
I recently read a story about a Swiss vote allowing for so-called "sex boxes". I searched for images because I was having a hard time (no pun intended) imagining just what they were. That search led me to this page which has a photo of a sex box. What I'd like to know is what the little area by the red and white bollard is. There seems to be a bit of an alcove or some such thing but I can't quite figure out what it is or why it's there. So, does anyone have more info on how these things are constructed or have a floor plan? Dismas|(talk)10:59, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
No idea. Dismas; but I don't get why you issued a troll denial merely because the question had something to do with sex. We're not that prudish around here. -- Jack of Oz[your turn]11:28, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The internet certainly isn't prudish, and the lack of coverage of this topic (beyond that article) suggests that it's a joke - enhanced by the notion that the famously stoic Swiss would be promoting it. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 12:25, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Pure guesswork, but I think the bollard is there as a safety measure, these are 'drive in', and the prostitute can stand to the side, behind the bollard, safe from over-eager drivers misjudging the entry. There also appears to be some shelter from the elements provided by the alcove. AndyTheGrump (talk) 22:21, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I know it from Germany, I suppose the purpose is the same. The idea is that the driver (sex client) cannot leave the car; contrary to the sex worker, who doesn't get his door blocked, and so has a escape route on the back. There should also be a panic button somewhere, on the bollard, I guess.XPPaul (talk) 23:35, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The original link here implies it's from Switzerland, but it's actually from Germany. How interesting. And if it's for real, how pathetic. Now, if it had a car wash along with it, then they'd have something. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc?carrots→ 00:36, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Seems like a good idea to me. After the millenia-old war on prostitution, perhaps it's time to give up on banning it and instead just try to keep it out of our faces. StuRat (talk) 05:01, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There is no millenia old war on prostitution. Sometimes it was tougher to be one, sometimes it was more respected. Some forms, obviously not the street prostitution, were even encouraged. And some forms, like the child prostitution became so uncommon in Europe that most people will claim it doesn't exist. Fighting some forms of soliciting, trafficking and extortion seems to bear some fruits to me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.59.196.95 (talk) 19:04, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Jack, yes, I think we are. I've seen a number of questions from IPs get deleted with only a two word edit summary, "rv trolling". The farther from the mainstream of sexual intercourse the question is, the more likely it is to be deleted. Just last week I answered a question about rimming that got deleted soon after.
Viriditas, that's the same image that I posted.
Andy, I hadn't thought of shelter from the elements. Good point.
Bugs, they were just voted in in Switzerland, so it's no surprise that they couldn't find a Swiss one to photograph.
Stu, indeed!
Thanks for the responses everyone. As Bugs points out, it would be easier to find info if maybe we had an official name for them but lacking that, I appreciate the ideas and original research. Dismas|(talk)07:22, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
In Germany their official name seems to be Verrichtungsboxen (don't know how to translate this lovely word, something like "boxes for immediate performance" or "carrying-out-boxes". It does remind me of toilet stalls, as "seine Notdurft verrichten" is one way of saying "to relieve oneself"). And just to be precise, the vote was held in the city of Zurich, not entire Switzerland. Zurich got the idea from Cologne, but the first to introduce them appear to have been authorities in Utrecht (Netherlands). Afwerkplek is the word in Dutch, so googling that may help your research as well. ---Sluzzelintalk07:34, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's pretty obviously a statue. Look at the tail — there's no real hair at the end of it, it's molded and painted. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:01, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's from The Historic Coast and Geodetic Survey Collection which "will take you on a trip through time and throughout our United States with these men who surveyed the land and the marine waterways of America, helped form the present scientific infrastructure of the United States, and whose indomitable spirit and perseverance is captured in these many remarkable images."[39] I think it's a pretty clear indication of anybody's indomitable spirit, and Seattle is undeniably on a coast. --Colapeninsula (talk) 15:44, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's some kind of folk art put on top of infrastructure (a utility pole). Looks like it is made out of plastic to me. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:57, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Didn't anybody notice the moose rack on the front ? Cows (like this one, with a milk sack) don't usually have horns, and, while bulls have horns, they don't look like that. StuRat (talk) 04:48, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Language design
Most people learn to read and write within the course of a few months at an early age. This suggests there could be better (in some senses) ways (those with a steep learning curve) of being literate than what are currently in use anywhere. Have there been any attempts to create something like that? --145.94.77.43 (talk) 22:01, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
There are plenty of constructed languages which are supposedly more precise at the expense of having a quite complex and precise grammar - for instance, loglan and lojban. There are also languages where learning to read takes a lot longer than a few months - English and Chinese are obvious examples - though I don't think there are any in which speaking takes that long. That said, the brain seems to be capable of adapting to any language if it learns it at an early age; while adults variously claim that (depending on their background) English, Japanese, Welsh, German or Mongolian are extremely hard to learn, babies of course pick the language up with no worries. I think you have this the wrong round; it's hard to know if there is a hypothetical language too hard for babies for learn, but easy for adults to learn. If an adult can learn it, a child will almost certainly learn it faster. Smurrayinchester22:50, 12 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's simply untrue that children "learn to read and write within the course of a few months": it takes a highly variable time, but a few years at least, to master all the skills in reading, from realising that lines on a page can be converted into language, to recognising letter forms, understanding simple and complex morphological rules, learning to recognise words by sight rather than letter-by-letter, and increasing reading comprehension (our article Learning to read is vague, but describes processes that can take several years). Similarly it takes years to progress from basic writing of letters to cursive and producing neat handwriting.
I don't understand the rest of the question - maybe I've not fully learned to read even yet. Do you want to improve reading in children or adults, in first or second languages, and why do you think that should be possible? --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:34, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
March 13
Census data can be this detailed?
I was amazed by this article showing just how much data there is from the census. I have been playing around with America Factfinder for a few hours ( http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml ) and I can't figure out a way to replicate the data at the bottom. Does anyone know if its possible by Factfinder and if so how?
"There are roughly 15,500 households in the city with school-age children where the total income is at least $150,000 and both parents were born abroad. Of those, about 10,500, or 68 percent, use only the public schools, the data show.
That is nearly double the rate of American-born parents in the city in the same income bracket.
1) Only a teeny-weeny proportion of the information available from the Census Bureau comes from the 10-year general censuses, and the information that comes from the general censuses is not of the highest quality or significance. There's no practical reason to conduct the general census, in fact, as there are much better ways to collect better quality data. The only reason we still conduct it is that it's legally mandated, and serves as the basis for drawing up congressional districts, assigning electoral votes, and allocating federal funding.
2)The Census Bureau possesses extremely sophisticated tools to search and analyze its vast array of databases, as well as the databases of many other government and non-government agencies and private databases. Factfinder is a blunt hammer (for "playing around with", as you put it). The New York Times subscibes to much more sophisticated services provided by the Census Bureau that can run rings around factfinder in the dark with one leg cut off and the other broken. An experienced researcher using these sophisticated tools can access exremely detailed information and find significant relationships between them, much more sophisticated than the NYT journalist did.
So the answer is that you probably cannot verify the information in the article using only Factfinder. You need more sophisticated tools for that, and you have to pay to use those. Dominus Vobisdu (talk) 05:45, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Dominus for the complete answer. Do you know how sophisticated factfinder is? Like what's the most detailed info you've been able to pull using the program?
Momofukucakes (talk) 06:15, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Putting an outdoor pool indoors
I wonder if a small, inflatable ring pool could be used in an unfinished basement, like the 3rd smallest one here: [40]. The concrete floor of a basement isn't quite flat, being slanted slightly toward the drain. Is it still good enough ? Then there's the weight to consider. At 8 1/3 pound per gallon, we're talking maybe 6000 pounds for the 3rd smallest pool, but that's over 50 square feet, or about 120 pounds per square foot, or less than 1 PSI. Can the concrete handle that ? It would need to be drained, slowly, into the basement drain, and filled with a hose from a nearby faucet. So, have I overlooked anything, or have I thought of a way to cool off in summer without having to clean out leaves (and the annoying corpses of those neighbor kids who keep sneaking into outdoor pools and drowning there) ? StuRat (talk) 05:13, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't physically work out as far as the weight goes. At 8' across, it may make getting around the outside edge of the pool challenging unless you have a fairly open basement. Another thing to consider is the humidity. The evaporation will likely be minimal since it's your basement but it may be enough to at least take into consideration. And not all the water is going to stay in the pool. Some will get tracked out and such and it has to go somewhere. The other advantage to having it outside is the enjoyment of being outdoors in the fresh air and sunshine. Dismas|(talk)05:55, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Good point about the humidity. I wonder how much evaporation takes place over a 50 square foot area of water at room temp. Perhaps a pool cover would be needed, when not in use, to solve this issue. StuRat (talk) 05:59, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It is a weird idea and quite extreme just to avoid scooping out a few leaves. Get yourself a pool cover and put it in the backyard. If you do put it in the basement, can you put 650 gallons down that small drain when you empty it, and is the ceiling high enough so you can climb over the edge without cracking your head open? And I wonder how big th parts are - can you get them in the house and down to the basement? Astronaut (talk) 07:32, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The one I linked to is only 2.5 feet deep, so that should be easy to climb into and out of. It seems that the parts are quite small, being inflatable. The hard-sided pools have much larger bits. I expect it would take many hours to drain, but what's the hurry ? StuRat (talk) 08:04, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This seems like a bad idea for a number of reasons. First, these rubber pools are rather prone to bursting (especially since you say the floor isn't quite flat). Imagine what several thousand gallons of water released all at once will do to your basement- especially if there are any electric outlets or devices. The high humidity from all of the evaporation will also be great for your floor and the walls and you'll probably have tons of mold. 71.223.2.17 (talk) 07:37, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The humidity could be handled with a cover, as noted previously. But you say they are prone to bursting, not just leaking ? That is bad. I wonder what causes that and if measures could be taken to prevent it, like taping up the sides. StuRat (talk) 08:07, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Another thing to consider is the temperature of your basement. Mine stays fairly cool even on hot days. Which means that the water would stay cooler than if it were outdoors. You might find that you're only using it on the hottest of days since it's too cold on an average day. It's a little like the debate over owning an air conditioner up here in Vermont. Many people, my wife and I included, don't own one because we'd only use it maybe one week out of the year. Dismas|(talk)09:07, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Presidental candidates not determined before convention?
In US presidential elections, in the Democratic and Republican parties, when was the last time that in one of the parties, no candidate had more than 50% of the delegates going into the convention? Bubba73You talkin' to me?05:17, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Could anyone be so kind as to provide me with a list (or at least several examples) of surnames that end in -win, e.g. Baldwin? Thank you in advance. --190.19.96.72 (talk) 05:45, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Places that rent culinary equipment in Charlottesville, Virginia
Can anyone recommend a business in that area that rents dishes, pots, pans, utensils, and anything else related to cooking to individuals as well as companies? Thanks in advance. 70.52.77.66 (talk) 06:14, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'd try places which cater. After all, they normally rent you pots containing food, so I'd expect some to be able to rent them without the contents, too. I'd also expect some rental halls with cooking facilities to provide dishes for use during the rental period. And I know places like Extended Stay America rent out efficiencies, dishware included. StuRat (talk) 07:26, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Blood tests in the UK
In the UK, if a person suspects there is something wrong with them but a doctor is unwilling to offer a blood test, can the person bypass the doctor and arrange a blood test themselves (presumably at their own expense) or are blood tests ONLY available via a doctor and if the doctor thinks you're a hypochondriac then it's tough cookies? Mightcause88 (talk) 11:34, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
This company offers blood tests at centres throughout the UK and "includes a Total Blood Screen which consists of over 40 individual tests that have been selected by our Specialist Consultants to measure and evaluate the body's major organ functions such as the Liver, Kidney, Bone, Muscle and Thyroid. Some of the other areas that are focused on are the blood's red and white cell levels, blood sugars and minerals and a comprehensive examination of your cholesterol levels can assess and evaluate future risk to heart disease.".
Whether you can get a test probably depends on what you want to have your blood tested for. You can also get screening for AIDS, hepatitis, etc, at sexual health/GUM clinics. Some pharmacists will test for diabetes and possibly other conditions. And you can request a second opinion from another doctor. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:41, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Other perhaps than infectious disease, blood tests by themselves are rarely sufficient to diagnose illness - which is why they're ordered by doctors, who have access to the rest of the patient's information (their medical history, age, gender, and symptoms). There are dozens of possible blood tests, which test for specific indicators - which is why they're ordered by doctors, who pick appropriate tests for candidate diagnoses, based on other factors. Some person who picked tests for himself, based on his own uneducated guesswork, and who then attempts to interpret those results based on more uneducated guesswork would be acting very very very very very very very very very very very very foolishly. Such a person should obviously see a doctor; if they're not happy with what that doctor tells them they should see another doctor. 87.113.79.33 (talk) 14:18, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Surreal joke
Many years ago I remember reading a joke in a student rag mag. It went thus: Whats the difference between a duck? One of its legs is the same!
I found it amusing and sort of worked out the joke, but when I tell it to other people, there is a stunned silence. Why dont other people get it??--92.25.105.29 (talk) 17:23, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I'm glad the OP said they "sort of worked it out", because to have completely understood it would say something I'd rather not get into here. The version I've been telling for many decades (and I told it to some new victims only this past weekend) is "What's the difference between a chicken? One of its legs is both the same". I've never claimed to have got it, because it's not meant to be understood - it's a koan, like "the sound of one hand clapping". I like asking it because the answer has a lovely symmetry with the question, in that they're just as absurd as each other, and I love the look of bewilderment on people's faces. Almost everyone I've ever put this question to has come back with "Between a chicken and what?", so I just restate the question. People crave answers to things, their psyches demand a logical pathway to resolution, but this is the sort of thing that will never, ever satisfy that need. People ought to be regularly bewildered, flummoxed, confused, upset, disturbed and distressed. Nothing worse than going through life being permanently in control, always confident; that would be the greatest lie one could ever tell to oneself. -- Jack of Oz[your turn]19:23, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
When I look up chess ratings, I've noticed that under their current rating, there is often a "current floor" rating less than their current one. What is that? Is that used in other rating systems too? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.43.78.36 (talk) 18:23, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Have you read our article on the Elo rating system, which includes a subsection on rating floors? The floor is a point below which a given player's calculated rating will not drop. My understanding, though I'm going from memory here, is that it's an artifact created because of the tendency towards inflation in the Elo scheme. — Lomn18:42, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
I think the reason for rating floors is to keep someone from getting a rating that is much lower than their actual playing strength so they can win prizes in a lower group. In the US (at least) it is common for there to be sections for, say, under 1800 or under 1600, or prizes for the best under 1800 or under 1600 in an open tournament. Bubba73You talkin' to me?19:19, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
WWI gif
Does anyone know on what program this animated gif was made? I tried making one online but all the ones I found would only make 400px ones. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! 64.229.204.143 (talk) 18:44, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Probably a soldering iron and solder, to reconnect any broken connections on circuit boards, and some wire strippers and electrical tape, to fix broken wires (you just intertwine the stripped wires and tape them up). You could also use a wire nut, but that might look even tackier than electrical tape. A soldering iron takes some skill and is inherently dangerous. Fixing broken wires is fairly easy and safe, as long as the device in unplugged and doesn't have a large capacitor (a headset (audio) wouldn't). StuRat (talk) 19:15, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Historical Persian Gulf
I remember reading somewhere that the upper (near Kuwait) shoreline of the Persian Gulf was historically different, like there was a different water level. I can't remember if it used to be higher or lower though. Assistance? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.24.43.97 (talk) 20:50, 13 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved
