Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

Select a section:

WP:RD/M

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

How can I get my question answered?

Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
Note:
- We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
- We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
- We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
- We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

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.

May 9

Random questions

Are there any countries that currntly drive on the left but are proposing to switch to drive on the right?
Are there any non-scientific newspapers in the US that use metric units in their articles?
How likely is that the US will have metricated at least some measurements by 2044? I hope that the US will eventually have complete metrication.
Why the UK and its former colonies did nor metricate as early as e.g. Spain and its colonies?

--40bus (talk) 09:37, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1. Why would they? 3. The US already uses some metrics. 4. The UK still uses some pre-metrics. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:07, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's not 'pre-metric', it's Imperial (though, to be fair, post-Empire now). -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 15:02, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Spain adopted the metric system in 1849, [1] by which time she had lost nearly all her colonies except Cuba and the Philippines. The UK retained a huge empire well into the 20th-century and had no need to conform to anybody else's standards. Times have changed however. Alansplodge (talk) 15:55, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Also, metric measurement was invented in France, so traditional British anti-Gallicism provided an additional barrier to its being adopted. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 188.220.175.176 (talk) 18:39, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I have thought that the metric system should have been invented in the UK. Why there was no need to invent that there? Why the French tried to decimalize everything, including time? Why Brits didn't try that? --40bus (talk) 19:55, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

40bus - this is a country that still provides it's lawmakers with a piece of tape to hang their swords on. Bishops sit in the legislature. Men in funny costimes count the monarch's swans. Tradition trounces logic here every time. Alansplodge (talk) 20:04, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Speculation: The system of English units, together with the succeeding Imperial units, were legally established by Governments which were still very much working for and with (sometimes) the monarch. There was a natural tendency to conservatism and tradition. We still have a king, so we still hold by those units.

The Système international d'unités or SI units were developed at a time when the monarch was overthrown, traditions were cast aside, and all things were (theoretically) being made anew. It was an ideal time to create a rational and integrated system of measurements. It also means that Metric units are, in origin, left-wing (if not Communist) and so are still looked on askance by the USA. -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 20:34, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

One might have expected the young revolutionary Americans to have felt disdain for the imperial units of the Empire whose chains they had just broken free of and a willingness to embrace the new revolutionary Continental units, but the Quasi-War stifled any possible enthusiasm. In any case, the Treaty of the Metre was concluded on 20 May 1875, signed by, among others, the USA, which ratified it in 1878. The UK followed in 1884. The adoption of the international yard and pound ensures exact interconvertibility of measures of length and mass between imperial units and SI units. --Lambiam 06:21, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just a reminder that it's confusing and incorrect to refer to United States customary units as "imperial units". In particular the gallon is significantly different; this was an issue for Americans buying gasoline in Canada before Canada started pumping liters. (My dad, an engineer, used to call US customary units "English units", but never "Imperial".) --Trovatore (talk) 06:29, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. When I was in grade school, we called it the "English system". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:39, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

When the Fench worked on a new, international system of measurements to replace all national and regional systems in use at that time, they invited to UK and USA to join them in the effort. Initially, they indeed cooperated, as the UK and USA also saw the advantages of a common system. Later, they backed out. The French continued their effort, now only together with some smaller nations. They didn't unilaterally impose the metric system on Europe. The Dutch, who had just kicked out their stadtholder (who didn't mind, as he very much preferred playing croquet in the UK over ruling a country), voluntarily adopted the metric system at the same time as the French. Parts of Switserland followed soon. Maybe no coincidence that those were two countries without a monarch. PiusImpavidus (talk) 08:44, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Metric system § History of the current metric system claims that the UK ignored invitations to participate. Should that be a bit more nuanced, or did they stop cooperating before anything actually got done?

Incidentally, Anglo-French Survey (1784–1790) (the effort to link London and Paris observatories by triangulation and measurement, which preceded metrication) expresses all lengths in feet, to two decimal places (about 1⁄8 inch). To my eye the article is rather Anglo-centric; did the French records disappear during the Revolution? and what units did the French use? -- Verbarson ^talk_edits 10:24, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Survey was based on an effort cooperative, yet not entirely concomitant. On the French side Gaspard de Prony visited Greenwich and wrote a report and translations for the French Academie des Sciences. The unit then that had been used by French cartographers before the metric system must have been the toise, unfortunately affected by the pressure of gravity on its standard ( see the illustration for Standards units in en:Fathom) so possibly too randomly reformed, around the 1670's already. --Askedonty (talk) 17:11, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4) Nelson. DuncanHill (talk) 19:57, 9 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Many of the former British colonies metricated pretty soon after independence. PiusImpavidus (talk) 08:46, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

1) Hong Kong, although not a country, seems likely to change over to driving on the right at some point, although I expect that the costs and complexity of such a change are just as much of an issue there. Currently, drivers have to switch sides as they cross over to the mainland, although that seems to be achieved very simply. There is talk of this happening in 2047, so maybe not anytime soon. Mikenorton (talk) 15:36, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May 10

Instagram stars

How old are Kristina Musatova and Jessgotjugs? 176.200.133.219 (talk) 11:16, 10 May 2024 (UTC):[reply]

"Musatova was born on August 6, 1995, in Russia." Wikipedia will not allow a direct link to the source (blacklisting), but you can find it on starktimes.com using the search box. No idea how reliable the source is. 41.23.55.195 (talk) 13:32, 10 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This YouTube clip says that Jessgotjugs was born in 2005. Again, probably not a reliable source. Alansplodge (talk) 13:06, 11 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May 14

California Electoral College Result (2020)

Hi. I'll preface this by saying that I'm not an English speaker and maybe it was some kind of slang, I certainly didn't quite understand: when the Secretary of State announced the result of the vote cast by the Electoral College, at 0.12 in the link below, what exactly did she say? Thank you very much. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ-tXzmMIHk 2.39.110.85 (talk) 11:10, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

She announced that there had been 55 "aye" (note that this word is pronounced exactly like the pronoun "I" or the body part "eye".) votes and 0 "no" votes. "Aye" is a word that is uncommon in general English usage, but is often used in the context of voting. It is an affirmative or assenting response. Basically it means "yes". So, 55 people said "yes, I am voting for Biden". --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 11:43, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It would have been in common use in the 18th-century at the time of Independence. "Aye" is also used in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It survives in everyday use in some English varieties and dialects, notably Scottish English, and also in Anglophone navies, where "Aye, aye sir!" is the required response to an order. Alansplodge (talk) 15:17, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've just seen that Wikipedia has Yes and no#Aye and variants. Alansplodge (talk) 15:20, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't seem to mention the stereotypical New England "ayeh". I don't know whether that still exists, really. My wife and I were in New England recently to see the eclipse and I don't recall hearing it, but maybe we just didn't talk to the right people. --Trovatore (talk) 20:15, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Trovatore now added. The reference that I found says "chiefly heard in Maine" (not mainly in Maine). Alansplodge (talk) 10:38, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

green fringe

If you look at this pic in full size, you'll see a green fringe to the right edge of the Moon. What made that? Delay between a green-filtered scan and others? —Tamfang (talk) 19:09, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. The EPIC instrument is described as using a filter wheel [2]. That means it captures one channel in one exposure, rotates the wheel, captures the second channel in a second exposure, and so on. You can see a similar pink-purple fringe on the left edge of the Moon, and if you look carefully, a very faint version around the dark craters and other features on the lunar surface. —Amble (talk) 19:35, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Kona low

I've been through many different Kona lows, and one thing I've noticed just by way of keeping an eye on modeling and reporting is that they appear more chaotic and difficult to predict. Is this true? If so, why? Viriditas (talk) 22:19, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

More than other types of lows, or more recently than in the past? [I won't be able to answer either way, but the question isn't fully clear to me.] {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.67.173 (talk) 19:18, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I can't say with any certainty. My question is, is there something about the Kona low that makes it more difficult to predict at a microclimate level? I've noticed that whenever we get a Kona low, all the forecasting goes out the window. Is this expected or unique to the phenomenon? In other words, are stochastic climate models of Kona low systems less accurate than other types of weather events? Viriditas (talk) 19:38, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I thought you were asking whether the coffee maker needed refilling with a particular variety of beans. Phew. MinorProphet (talk) 21:13, 15 May 2024 (UTC) [reply]

MinorProphet, I have always appreciated your sense of humor. Not everyone has that, so I thank you for it. Did you know Kona coffee is now more than US$50 a pound? That's nuts to me. Rumor is that it's getting very difficult to grow now with climate change, pathogens, insects, etc. I don't think it's all that different elsewhere, now that I think about. Single origin coffees from Mexico and South America are hovering around US$40 a pound. Viriditas (talk) 19:29, 16 May 2024 (UTC) [reply]

I think that's a pont that climate scientists and activists should make a bigger point of. "Act now/Give now or prepare for the end of coffee." --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 21:09, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

They do! There’s been a lot of coverage on this point within the last two years. But, a lot of this is very late. I first got interested in this subject in the mid to late 1980s, just before Hansen gave his famous testimony to the Senate. It’s really sad to see how much the oil-controlled governments have dragged their feet on this. And now the same people are complaining that people aren’t having enough children? Our leaders don’t get it, and maybe never will. I am reminded of the famous Upton Sinclair quote (which I have deliberately altered for modernity): "It is difficult to get someone to understand something, when their salary depends on not understanding it." This seems to be true across the board in government. A good example is the official poverty measures used by the US government. It is based on archaic, out of date ideas from 1963 that have zero relevance to the actual world in 2024, and most surprisingly, does not account for what we in the modern world take for granted: "costs related to housing, clothing, transportation, and other expenses commonly considered basic human needs are not considered. And the official measure does not account for variations in the cost of living across the country." This is what insanity looks like. This means, essentially, that the US government has absolutely no idea who is actually living in poverty, and if that wasn't enough, does not want to know, as proposed congressional legislation that would improve these metrics has been fought by conservatives at every level. This is occurring now in the US, as "29% of Gen Z and 32% of millennials fear their financial situation could lead to experiencing homelessness". The government is doing nothing. The same thing is occurring with climate change and every other problem. We have a government that is blind and is being led by the blind and cannot do a single thing to help its people. In other news, just yesterday, a Florida Man signed HB 1645, a bill that bans offshore wind power and "removes most references to climate change in state law", in spite of the fact that 90% of Floridians accept climate change and 69% want the state to take action. This is what an oil-run oligarchy looks like. Viriditas (talk) 23:43, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about Kona lows specifically. Our article doesn't say much about size, but raises the impression that they're quite compact. I do know that weather phenomena get more difficult to predict when they're more compact. That's a consequence of the finite resolution of the computer model used for weather forecast and the finite resolution of input data. I suppose there aren't that many weather stations in the Pacific. PiusImpavidus (talk) 18:32, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! We've had a Kona low here for a week or so now and things have been really weird. Hot one moment, cold the next, windy then calm, rain then suddenly dry, etc. Lots of property owners spent a lot of money to put sandbags out to prevent flooding, but there hasn't been any yet on my island. Viriditas (talk) 19:22, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Huh, that doesn't seem that odd to me. We have weeks like that all the time in NC. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 21:10, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Keep in mind, the Kona low event is not considered normal or usual. I am curious how many times it happens in the Hawaii region per year. If I had to guess, 2-4 times per year? I don’t know. Viriditas (talk) 21:20, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You mentioned stochastic forecasting (related to this?), which presumably involves basing forecasts of a weather event on the way previous instances developed. If a type of weather event is infrequent, there will inherently be less data on which to calculate a forecast than for more common events. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.67.173 (talk) 11:07, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe weather in Hawaii is most of the time more predictable than in most places in the world. PiusImpavidus (talk) 07:49, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May 15

Why is there an iron cross painted on top of this building?

https://imgur.com/a/Rg2DpRy

In the image posted above, there is an iron cross painted on the roof of an NYPD training facility. A friend of mine said she's seen one in aerial photographs of a Naval building in Florida as well. What's the purpose of the iron cross? I thought maybe something to do with helipads but it's not standard markings. Thank you! †dismas†|^(talk) 15:22, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just a guess, but maybe a representation of the Police Combat Cross? Alansplodge (talk) 18:30, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

But it certainly is a helipad: NYPD Air Operations Heliport (Floyd Bennett Field) New York, New York, USA says "Runway edge markings: WHITE PAINTED MALTESE CROSS". Alansplodge (talk) 18:32, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It's not a Maltese Cross, it's a cross paty. That said, our article on the Maltese Cross does mention aviation uses. DuncanHill (talk) 18:46, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ah yes, Maltese Cross#Aviation says:

In 1967, laboratory tests, and flight tests at Fort Rucker and Fort Wolters, were conducted to determine the most highly visible and effective way to mark a helipad. Twenty-five emblem designs were tested, but the emblem depicting four blurred rotor blades, referred to as the "Maltese cross", was selected as the standard heliport marking pattern by the Army for military heliports, and by the FAA for civil heliports. However, in the late 1970s, the FAA administrator repealed this standard when it was charged that the Maltese cross was antisemitic. In the United States today, some helipads still remain bearing their original Maltese cross emblems.

I suspect that heraldry is not a skill required of helicopter pilots :-) Alansplodge (talk) 11:40, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Iron Cross, which is often confused with the Maltese Cross, has been used by Nazi Germany. It has also been used before by the Weimar Republic and is used today by the Federal Republic of Germany. It is a bit strange to call the symbol antisemitic. The Nazis also used circles and the colour white.

The abolished helipad symbol did, moreover, not really have the shape of either the Maltese Cross or the Iron Cross. If they had faithfully represented the cross as the area swept out by four rotor blades in about one tenth of a full rotation, the four outer edges would not have been straight but like 36° circular arcs, making an association with Germany even less plausible. --Lambiam 19:22, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, since meaning inheres in how a sign is used and understood, and nowhere else, if a significant number of people apprehend a word or symbol as racist, antisemitic, or just plain offensive, then that is (part of its meaning) whatever anybody may intend by it. Telling people that it does not mean that is not only useless, but false. See pejoration ColinFine (talk) 14:51, 17 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Meaning is not absolute. It also depends on context. In English, applying the term git to a person is an insult. In Poland, someone so designated may feel honoured. When a swastika on a Hindu temple is understood by a tourist as being antisemitic, it is a misunderstanding. It is neither false, nor necessarily useless, to point this out. --Lambiam 07:39, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In American English, "git" as an insult is unknown (other than in the Monty Python "argument sketch") but instead is a hickish pronunciation of "get [out of here]" (as in "go on, git!") ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:27, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The only more disturbing news I got from the U.S. after those helipad pictures came after the end of the seventies [3], that was the Glock, not a mention of git. --Askedonty (talk) 14:52, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you all!! I'd done numerous searches for helipad markings but didn't find that the Maltese Cross used to be used for them. Thanks again! †dismas†|^(talk) 20:51, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May 18

low gi cereal foods

in this section what do they mean by "low gi cereal foods"?

Healthy diet#Research 58.161.160.223 (talk) 13:13, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See glycemic index, the effect of a particular food on blood sugar levels two hours after consuming it, oats would be an example of a low gi cereal. Mikenorton (talk) 14:03, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Because consumption of a lot of high gi foods tend to result in reactive hypoglycemia or "sugar crash". Alansplodge (talk) 22:30, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

May 20

usefulness of complex-input FFTs in audio spectral analysis

Since I've implemented a feature to treat stereo audio as complex numbers in one of my own audio spectrum analyzer projects over CodePen, I'm curious about whether or not is there any useful cases of complex-input FFTs as in the case of I/Q signals on any SDR-related stuff, being performed in typical two-channel audio? BTW, I'm not talking about the performance benefits of using one complex-input FFT to visualize two spectrums for each channel, which is the same, plus the "unscrambling" operation to make it look like individual FFTs of each channels. 2001:448A:3070:DF54:98E8:4EDF:605:8379 (talk) 00:59, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Calendar change and historical procrastination

Initially, only a few countries already switched to the Gregorian calendar in 1582. But then, as the centuries go by, more and more countries followed the calendar change, including Great Britain in 1752. This continued all the way until the year 1923 in Greece.

So, could such a long waiting be considered as a kind of procrastination? Procrastination means putting off tasks to a later date, and the task relevant to this question is that of switching to the Gregorian calendar. One of the negative consequences is that the longer you waited, the more days you had to drop from the Julian calendar. Changes in the 1500s, 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s required 10, 10, 11, 12, and 13 days to be dropped, respectively (note that 1600 was a leap year in both calendars, so no additional day needs to be dropped until 1700).

GTrang (talk) 16:21, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It could depend on each country's rationale for resisting. One possibility could be anti-Catholic bias. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:03, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Specifically, the head honchos of the Eastern Orthodox Churches felt that adopting this calendar proclaimed by a papal bull would be seen as admitting the supreme authority of the head honcho of the Roman Church. --Lambiam 19:21, 20 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]