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August 7

Nursery rhymes

Why are nursery rhymes often filled with disturbing imagery? Was this solely a mnemonic, or was it something else? Viriditas (talk) 21:58, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a BBC article that addresses this issue. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 22:10, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'll add the caveat that some of those purported explanations are considered...dubious. Ring a Ring o' Roses, for example, may or may not be related to the Great Plague. (Explanations featuring the plague do not appear until the middle of the twentieth century.) Rock-a-bye Baby has been tied to anyone from James II of England to the ancient Egyptian god Horus. Wikipedia's articles do touch on the (possible, putative) origins of many such rhymes; do you have any particular ones in mind, Viriditas? TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:21, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, this discussion was initiated by my evident horror in revisiting Three Blind Mice. Viriditas (talk) 01:59, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For disturbing imagery, it's hard to beat the aptly-named Grimm Fairy Tales. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:34, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

And most of what we read in English is _way_ cleaned up. If you know any German, it can be a lot of fun to read Grimm in the original; the stories in are a lot of different German dialects. So they're both gruesome and unpronounceable. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 23:26, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I think the mention of fun goes to the core of the issue. DuncanHill (talk) 23:28, 7 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not to rain blood on anyone's parade, but a fairy tale is not a nursery rhyme. The good stuff is long and winding prose, clearly intended for mature children only. Both are fun and loaded with danger, but Mother Goose type "Hey, Diddle Diddle" bedtime horror is more apt to stick verbatim in a toddler's brain forever. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:24, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The idea that children need to be protected from violent imagery is apparently a recent one. Consider Struwwelpeter, an 1845 international best-seller, which includes a girl who plays with matches and is burned to death and a boy who is cured of thumb-sucking by having his thumbs amputated with scissors. Alansplodge (talk) 11:33, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Scaring kids away from doing risky things, and also drawing a stark line between good and bad behavior in general. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:50, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For a 19th century example in a different genre, see Eric, or, Little by Little. --ColinFine (talk) 19:41, 9 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

So the moral lesson is if others beat up on you, it's your own fault. Nowadays, the kid would probably come back to the school with an assault rifle or two. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:56, 9 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Nowadays, ghastlier rifles exist, but it's still almost as hard to find one near an English boarding school. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:19, 10 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Depends on the school though: if.... Iapetus (talk) 09:14, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

August 8

Help find references about Suhani Shah

This question I originally asked at Entertainment reference desk but got archived unanswered so asking here again
This is about Indian magician Suhani Shah. It is cited to reliable source that she entered in Guiness world records as youngest magician in 1997. Is there a way to verify this using real guiness book entry. Although citation is enough for article but still for curiosity.; Second citation(this from secondary source) I need is one which states that she was youngest dignitary at Youtube India launch. This line was mentioned unsourced in the article 6 years ago when it got deleted, and I think her presence at launch can be truth but help me verify. -- Parnaval (talk) 13:40, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Does the Chinese Digital Yuan have a carbon footprint like Bitcoin?

I have read that it is Blockchain based, although some articles contradict this, but not a cryptocurrency, also contested in other articles.

Does anyone have clear evidence of whether or not it may become as big an energy hog as the bitcoin, and therefore a carbon footprint menace? Star Lord - 星爵 (talk) 15:05, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Probably not, since it isn't created by private computers burning up electricity. The digital renminbi (e-CNY) is still in the development stage, and since many descriptions use terms like “electronic payment system,” it isn't all that clear that it is (or will be) an actual digital currency unit. What is being tested is a unit issued by the government and only available with the permission of the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Zhou Xiaochuan, the former PBOC Governor, says capital controls will still exist, which severely limits the e-CNY's attractions.DOR (HK) (talk) 21:13, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

ADD Yes, it is blockchain based. DOR (HK) (talk) 21:14, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Aeryn Gillern

I recently came across the above missing case, and was wondering whether anything is known about his father (in de-Wiki it only says that he was / is German, and otherwise, there seems to be nothing known about him or his role in the search), since, apparently, only the mother seems to bother what happened to her son, in fact. Can anybody ascertain anything about why this is the case, and who the father was / is?--Hildeoc (talk) 15:34, 8 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This article refers to her as a single mom, so it's quite possible that the father had little or no contact with his son and no hand in his upbringing. Clarityfiend (talk) 19:33, 9 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

August 10

The State of Oregon in comparison.

Only rarely did I (male, german, 60+) visit the United States, and if, then for a few days only. Therefore, I hardly can evaluate Governor Kate Brown's decision (to drop the requirement that high school students prove proficiency in reading, writing or math before graduation) for the state of Oregon, she presides. So I ask your opinion: Compared to the other 49 states, is Oregon considered a backward region? --87.147.185.220 (talk) 21:07, 10 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

According to [1], the signed bill suspends the graduation test, it does not remove any of the required class credits to graduate. The article quotes some people as saying the testing was not a good measure and was not fair to some groups of students. Whether this makes the state "backwards" or not is a matter of opinion, not suited for the RefDesks. RudolfRed (talk) 21:45, 10 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I could ask about Baden-Wuertemberg's reputation and it would be fine wouldn't it? OP, the regions considered "backward" are the non-coastal, non-border states in the South. Oregon's reputation tends toward being a liberal enclave, with lots of lesbians and hippies and hipsters. The Interstate 5 corridor from Eugene to Portland is indeed pretty left-thinking, open-minded and trendy. But there's no hegemony; the numerous rural chuds don't hesitate to yell their side of the story. I think there was another protest/fight between them in Portland a couple days ago. Brown does not have a reputation for being anti-education or backward or anything like that. I think she could stand to be more left-wing, but I'm left-wing, and the governorship doesn't really function as a partisan office in Oregon anyway. Temerarius (talk) 22:47, 10 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Portland has a reputation as a left-leaning city. Oregon has a history of pretty virulent ultra-right racist bullshit going back centuries. See [2] and [3]. That kind of politics does not disappear overnight. Among Oregon's five congressional districts, two lean heavily Democratic (the first and third, which cover the Portland metro area), two (the fourth and fifth) are pretty much toss-ups in any given election, and the other (the second) is heavily Republican. Until 1979, Republicans also usually controlled the Governor's office as well. Regarding the article, that the OP cites, it's a bullshit, shock-value article which does not accurately represent the situation. Students still need to demonstrate proficiency, they just don't need to take a specific test (the value of which in determining proficiency is highly suspect, which is why it was dropped). --Jayron 32 10:55, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'd note that despite the OP's unfortunate language, there's nothing in the original question to suggest they were particularly interested in the politics of the region. Nor stuff like racism etc no matter if these may be a common part of being seen as "backwards". It seems more likely they were under the assumption that it was considered acceptable to graduate without a proficiency in reading, writing or math in Oregon and were wondering if this was normal in the US, or just that Oregon was for some reason unusual in this regard. Nil Einne (talk) 22:55, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If one can generalize about the Willamette Valley, how divergent is Portland within it? —Tamfang (talk) 01:16, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The numerous organic farmers and cannabis growers of rural Oregon are probably more like the hippies than the Y'all Qaeda/Vanilla ISIS. A few of the pot growers are probably very right-wing though. A libertarian flavor of right-wing, not a pot is bad flavor. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:56, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No. Its neighbor to the east, on the other hand ... Clarityfiend (talk) 05:53, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

All US states have state-imposed high-school graduation requirements, but the majority do not require a single exit exam. Of those that have an exit exam (a minority), most allow alternative ways of showing the required proficiency, such as scores on other tests, not all administered at the same time. People in more industrialized regions tend to think of rural areas as backward, but that is not based on some reasonable and objective criterion. --Lambiam 07:44, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Daily Mail is an unreliable source for news, there's a tier of British newspapers for different political flavors of the (rich/educated/bright/poseur), one or two middlebrow levels, and the Daily Mail is in the tier for the low IQ. At least one big lowbrow British paper has topless women photos, one page of the paper is just attractive breasts and misogynous text for no reason. I think they can even be 17 or 16 there, doing that in the US might get people imprisoned. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:03, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A bit behind the times Sagittarian, The Sun stopped topless models in 2015, see Page 3, and the much smaller Daily Star in 2019. 16-18 year-old topless models were banned by law in 2003. Alansplodge (talk) 22:39, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Did the physical paper version sometimes run stories on topless events as an excuse to show more nipples? I don't remember if it was on the website of the Sun or the Mail or a British tabloid magazine but I saw a story on a traditional African event with lots of photos of topless women. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:44, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not as far as I know. I don't think the Daily Mail has ever shown topless females, they are quite a bit upmarket from the "red tops" and present prurient news stories with the air of a disapproving aunt. Most criticism of the Mail is over their anti-immigration rants. That said, nudity is generally more acceptable here than in the US, within certain limits, see Naked Attraction for example. In my early youth, National Geographic was the go-to publication for exposed ethnic bodies, it almost made a visit to the dentist's surgery tolerable. Alansplodge (talk) 09:58, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There's lower levels lol. I did find some "end of the world newspaper headline" jokes and the Mail headline was "World Ending due to Immigration", Financial Times was "Equity Markets in Turmoil as Expected Global Catastrophe Looms" and Star was "End of the World Tit Parade, Page 7!". (Guardian was "Women Suffer from World End" or something about racist meteor) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:49, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I might characterize Oregon as provincial. They have often done things the way they felt like doing them, and didn't much care what the rest of the country thought about it. Hence the famous border sign, "Welcome to Oregon. Go home." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:20, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Like being the only state besides NJ to ban pumping your own gas and one of the 4 states that ban sales tax and one of the first to legalize recreational cannabis and prescribing and filling fatal prescriptions to patients dying of painful diseases. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:56, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Like I said. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:24, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Not to be confused with State of Origin. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:04, 11 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]
- State of Orange, State of Ore gone Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:54, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

August 12

Pear Phone

Is it real Pear Phone? On YouTube there is some video... --62.19.237.177 (talk) 16:30, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It's a joke. See here. Matt Deres (talk) 17:28, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I understand Russia is developing a Watermelon Phone. In tests it has worked very well, but it will require very large pockets. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:22, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In the 1970s a Soviet factory manager was sacked because his zavod made sunglasses through which one could gaze directly at the midday Sun and see zero light. True story. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:00, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That's unfortunate. There's a big market for that kind of thing, among politicians. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:37, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps they were just peril-sensitive sunglasses. (I had a pair of those once.) Mitch Ames (talk) 09:14, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Horton Sphere Compressed Gas Storage Tank (Gas Ball), Stow Massachusetts

A Horton Sphere compressed gas storage tank (known by old town citizens as the "Gas Ball") was installed on Route 62 in Stow, MA a little over a mile from the town center by the Hudson and Marlboro Gas Company sometime in the early 1900s and removed sometime during the mid-1900s. Not much information is still available on this piece of town history and there doesn't appear to be any photographs or other information on the storage facility in the town's records. If you have pictures or any information on this storage tank, or if you have pictures or any information on similar structures, please post.2601:18F:B80:370:B4FD:12A2:7D4D:305B (talk) 21:10, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I can't find anything on the Stow, Mass. one in particular, but here is some general information on Horton Spheres. Wikipedia has a short article about them as well at Horton Sphere. Here is another pretty good article on them. --Jayron 32 22:22, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

An article in the July 2013 edition of the Stow Independent confirms its former existence "at the corner of Gleasondale Avenue and Boon Road" but no dates. Perhaps if you can find the full article? Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request may be able to help. Alansplodge (talk) 10:36, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Do lumberjacks ever work from boats?

I would think that there just aren’t a lot of opportunities to fell trees from boats, and the few trees that grow directly in water (mangroves) might be easy enough to cut anyway, but I don’t know. —(((Romanophile))) ♞ (contributions) 21:30, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yup. They're called "boom boats" and they're used for organizing, pushing, and moving logs in logging ponds. See [4] or here for some information I found. --Jayron 32 22:17, 12 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There was some (much?) overlap between stereotypical French loggers and quaint English steamers all along the Ottawa. They didn't work from the boats, but the boats took them to work and (perhaps less often) back again. It was indeed a different time. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:30, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We don't have an article on the G.B. Greene, rumoured to have hauled some logs, but we have G. B. Greene, Jr. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:56, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

As far as lakes go, did you know if you tow 200,000 logs in three booms, you're pulling a "sack"? The captain of the Lady Minto likely did! If she's any relation to the more notable Mintos, it's news to me. InedibleHulk (talk) 07:31, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Maintenance work along the banks of a river or canal may involve cutting down some trees and it's often most convenient to just load them in a barge. That happens all the time along commercially used European waterways. Long distance transport of logs can be by ship too. Wood floats, but on big waterways it's more convenient (and fuel-efficient) to use a barge. PiusImpavidus (talk) 14:09, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Barges, bah. On the the Great Lakes we used lumber hookers! Also wanigans if ya wanna eat.[5] Rmhermen (talk) 15:11, 14 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

August 13

Ernst Bergmann (philosopher)

In what works does he introduce the term paradigm? --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 07:06, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Courtesy link: Ernst Bergmann (philosopher). By "introduce", do you mean Bergmann gave a new sense of his own to the term, or just that he used the term? Since he wrote in German, he may have used the German term Paradigma, but the German translations provided by Wiktionary for English paradigm include Weltanschauung, a term he used in Die Natürliche Geistlehre and Die 25 Thesen der Deutschreligion and probably also in his other works. --Lambiam 08:11, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Help to identify a song

crossposted to WP:RDE. Please keep posts to one desk only. Thanks! --Jayron 32 15:58, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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.

Is there someone that can kindly help me to identify the song at 2.10 minute on this video?

https: // www. you tube.com/ watch?v= VI7fzwKMfSM

I tried with Shazam but cant find anything...

Many, many and many thanks for all you can do!

--5.170.68.196 (talk) 15:08, 13 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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.

August 15

Hygienic question

I wasn't sure where to put this or where to ask this question but for shower gel it says it has a lower pH value than the traditional soap, which is also known to feel less drying to the skin. Does this mean it is less drying to the skin? And what does this mean "Some people have likened the effect to feeling less squeaky clean, however." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shower_gel 2001:8003:7432:4500:4140:CDE2:8A30:C521 (talk) 13:02, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Potatoes

I made an article question on here awhile back about potatoes not many were sure what I meant or what I was asking but now I have bit more information. I want to know what this reference means when they're saying to "bag the potatoes" and recommend to "Choose other vegetables that are packed with more nutrients and more slowly digested carbs." What do they mean by this when they say to "bag potatoes" what do they mean by this "Choose other vegetables that are packed with more nutrients and more slowly digested carbs."?2001:8003:7432:4500:A4A3:385:A647:CAFA (talk) 15:33, 15 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]