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April 28

running a car before driving away

I was recently criticized by a coworker because when leaving work at 6am I simply start my car and drive off. He claims that "you have to wait at least one minute" so that "the fluids can circulate". I think this is crap. Obviously if it's cold out, it makes sense to wait a bit - but if it's not cold, is there a point? Am I "damaging my engine" by not doing this?

For some background by "cold" I mean 4 Celcius and below.

flagitious 01:51, 28 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Flagitious (talk • contribs)

In general, even in cold weather, a modern vehicle (anything with electronic fuel injection, basically) needs no more that one minute – and often closer to 15 to 30 seconds – for an initial 'warmup': [1], [2]. The onboard computer will rev the engine a bit higher for a few seconds after you start to 'get the fluids moving', as it were. Once the revs drop back to regular idle, then you're good to go. Sitting any longer wastes fuel, increases wear and tear, and increases emissions. In warm weather, by the time you adjust your seatbelt, check your mirrors, fiddle with the radio, and check for traffic — you're good to go. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 02:25, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

thanks so much, that's what I figured. In cold weather, I'll normally let the engine run a bit so that windows can defrost, the car can warm up etc. Although my co-worker still says that what you're saying, ten, is not "necessarily" true. flagitious 02:39, 28 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Flagitious (talk • contribs)

It's true that modern engines are much better at this than engines of 20 or more years ago. The advice back then was indeed to let the engine idle at low RPM until the water got hot enough to cause the thermostat to open and allow water to circulate - which could take several minutes. Running the engine at high RPM while it was still cold would definitely wear it out prematurely. Modern cars are much better - but they still aren't perfect. It's considered advisable to avoid going above maybe 3000 to 4000 RPM for the first minute or so after starting the engine from cold. For most of us, that's enough to reverse out of the parking space/garage/driveway - to roll down a side street - and get to the nearest main road. By then, you can safely floor the gas pedal to get out into traffic if you need to. So 99% of the time, just behaving normally is enough to protect your engine - and the additional wear from the occasional 1% of the time when you do start the engine and immediately stomp on the pedal isn't going to make much difference. The thing to avoid is habitually starting the engine and immediately flooring the gas pedal...if you do it a lot, that will shorten your engine life, even with modern engine designs. SteveBaker (talk) 05:19, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

This might clarify things still further[3]. It points out that most engine wear occurs during the critical moments following a cold start due to the oil not yet circulating. As Steve says modern cars are better and that's down to better engine oil (see fig one). When cars had proper oil pressure gauges on the dashboard, one could see the initial oil pressure reduces as it circulated and became warm enough to drive off. The owners hand book, should always state how long you need to wait for (for your model) for the oil to liberally coat all surfaces, before driving off. The only other problem from cold start would be in Arctic conditions were one needs to consider thermal shock and uneven expansion. I've heard anecdotal reports that owners that use electrical sump and head heaters suffer fewer mechanical problems in the long term. Cars with hydraulic tappets probably don't have the same problem as those with mechanical ones, were too much of a gap when very cold can cause hammer wear. So in short, read the hand book. --Aspro (talk) 20:49, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I think (without any evidence) that heating up the oil is the more important issue. I've heard that some cars, especially those with turbos, need to rest for a short time before shutting down, so that it can cool better, but I always questioned that and I never have seen anything definitive to back it up. Shadowjams (talk) 05:50, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

" I shouldn't be alive " on DVD ?

one episode i viewed about a man on vacation at some Island to water ski and fish alone. it rained that night as he sleeps in his sleeping bag when he has a visitor with him ( a snake ). when he moves it startels the snake and it bites him in the face and near his neck. finds his cell phone and runs to a light house for help but NO ONE LIVES THERE. when he gets a good phone signal, calls 911. and is saved by helicoptor hours later. IF anybody KNOWS where I can BUY this DVD... I would love to know. signed autotech7 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Autotech7 (talk • contribs) 04:21, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

How about the internet. Googling "i shouldn't be alive dvd" gives this: [4]. You can peruse the availible DVDs at your leisure. --Jayron32 04:33, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Just curious: How did he water ski to the island alone? Astronaut (talk) 12:54, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

He got there using a poetic licence. Caesar's Daddy (talk) 14:24, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Luckily he was in a part of the ocean that has a downhill slope. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:32, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Oil companies investing in molasses?

According to the "World War II" section of Standard Oil, threats of an antitrust lawsuit caused plenty of panic among the companies that were created by the breakup of Standard Oil: "the top directors of many oil companies agreed to resign and oil industry stocks in molasses companies were sold off as part of a compromise worked out" with the US government. Why would oil companies be investing in molasses, and why would the feds care about oil companies owning shares in molasses companies? Most of the text of the section, including the molasses companies, was added in this edit, so it's not driveby vandalism. Nyttend (talk) 04:44, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

It is actually related to the sentance before it: "It also brought new evidence concerning complex price and marketing agreements between DuPont, a major investor in and producer of leaded gasoline, U.S. Industrial Alcohol Co. and their subsidiary, Cuba Distilling Co." Presumably, the Cuba Distilling Company and the U.S. Industrial Alcohol company were making industrial-grade ethanol, likely as a fuel (remember that the Model T originally ran on ethanol as a fuel). Given the connection to Cuba, such ethanol fuel was probably Sugarcane-based ethanol; and the syrup extracted from sugar cane in preparation for making rum and other distilled spirits is molasses. The Standard Oil trust was likely buying up molasses companies to either gain control of the ethanol-based fuel market OR they were buying them up to shut that market down, in favor of their own petroluem-based fuel market. --Jayron32 04:53, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

As an aside, the 1919 Boston Molasses Disaster was caused by a rupture of a molasses tank from an industrial grade ethanol producer, Purity Distilling Company. So it was clearly being used as a industrial grade chemical at the time, and molasses appears to have been a primary feedstock in industrial grade ethanol production. --Jayron32 04:58, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Hmm, okay; I had no idea that molasses was good for anything except human consumption, either as (1) pure molasses, or (2) an ingredient in baked goods. I definitely didn't expect that it could be converted for use as a vehicular fuel. Nyttend (talk) 05:10, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

It seems that this ethanol link also makes molasses a good additive in explosives as well. Nanonic (talk) 06:46, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Chair Repair

I have a plastic chair with 5 wheels. The 5-arm stand connecting the wheels to the seat has broken in two places (about halfway along two of the arms). I would like to repair it instead of getting a new chair and as it's a cheap chair I can't buy the stand separately.

So how can I repair the chair? Superglue failed instantly due to its low shear strength. Same case with plastic glue. Keep in mind this connection will need to support a 200 lb man. TheFutureAwaits (talk) 11:44, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I've gone through many cheap office chairs which unfortunately I found impossible to repair, so I don't hold out much hope. They never cope well with anyone leaning back in them. I don't think any glue will accommodate the tensile stresses; you might have more luck with applying lots of duct tape round and round the length of the arms as a temporary fix.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:37, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Try constructing a splint with some wood and some duct tape. Astronaut (talk) 12:59, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

This will work better if the surfaces to which you attach the splints are flat. Put splints on every side of the broken arms. You might also want to do the same thing on the other arms, as a preventive measure, lest they break, too. StuRat (talk) 13:27, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

...or you might just want to get a better chair, rather than spending a lot of time and effort on a ghetto solution that probably won't last a week anyway. :) FiggyBee (talk) 13:32, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

My mother-in-law wanted a favourite computer chair refurbished last week and had 3 quotes between £200 - £220 and £240. We took her to a local charity shop where she got one in really good condition, in green leather to match her carpet, delivered free-----for £25.92.30.100.139 (talk) 13:43, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. In the US, the Salvation Army runs such stores. My current computer monitor, microwave oven, toaster, and new shirt all came from there, for as little as 10% of the original prices. StuRat (talk) 14:07, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Aha! As it happens, the chair I'm sitting in at this very moment broke in just that way. Each 'arm' is in reality a 'loop' of dense black plastic with some metal bits embedded in it where the bolts go into the back and seat of the chair. Both of the arms broke in the same place one day when I leaned back in the chair. I absolutely hate having to by new things that are likely no better than the ones that just broke - so I decided to repair them.

I took a couple of strips of steel, drilled four holes through both bits of metal and the arm-rest and 'splinted' it together with lots of epoxy glue between the broken edges of the plastic and between plastic and steel splints. That worked for about a week and I was beginning to feel proud of my work when one arm broke in another place - so I splinted it there too and pretty soon it cracked at the weak point I'd created by the drilling holes for the first splint and I couldn't easily repair it again. So I took the remains of one arm, traced roughly around it onto some very thick (3/4") plywood and cut out a pair of arms using a jigsaw. Before cutting it out, I 'thickened up' the arm to make it chunkier than the original - and glued several thicknesses of plywood at the actual point where your arms rest on the armrest. (Drilling holes through the plywood to accept the original bolts into the original seat and back).

I tested them and after they'd survived for about a week of use, I took them off again, painted them matt black and padded them using soft leather from an old coat for comfort. This has resulted in a pair of arms that have (so far) outlasted the original parts by about a year. The result looks a bit 'different' - but it's every bit as comfortable as the original and - so far - seems to be fairly indestructable. The only weird thing is that the bolts that hold the back of the chair onto the arms seem to slowly undo - I've had to re-tighten them several times - so I think I'm going to have to resort to some loctite to prevent that. SteveBaker (talk) 04:34, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Merge the Chair of SteveBaker (redlink) with Ship of Theseus. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 08:07, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Greek economic recovery levers.

Please - this is not a question intended to promote a discussion as such - it is a serious question about what might be the best approach to dealing with the resurrection of the failing Greek economy?

I was in Rhodes last year and was amazed at the laissez-faire attitude of SOME locals (taxi-drivers, bus-drivers, toilet attendants, waiters/esses etc). When I asked why that might be (of a knowing hotel receptionist), she said that as Rhodes had been occupied by the Ottoman Empire for 700 years and were now a part of Greece enjoying its freedom and membership of the European Union, there was a general reluctance by Rhodians and most other Greeks to be answerable to foreign,or even domestic, rulers and their directives. If that truly is so, I was wondering what might their reaction be to having strict controls imposed by the EU bale-out funders and also those of the IMF. I am thinking particularly of tourism, a major economic element for Greece. My gut feeling is that they should take the hit and reduce all their tourist related prices so as to attract ever more tourists (like Cuba, where I was in January). But I also have this empirically based notion that the Greeks will not want to do that because it would mean working longer hours, giving better service, for lower wages and profits. Instead, I suspect they will naively INCREASE their tourism costs and consequently sink even further into the mire when tourists will take their Dollars and Euros etc., elsewhere for their holidays and vacations, paradoxically perhaps, to Turkey. 92.30.100.139 (talk) 13:36, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Do you have a serious question? Post restored. Please do not edit another's post. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

The questions come up: "best for whom ?" and "over what time frame ?":

A) The best thing for Greece, in the short-term, and without concern for others, is if they get a massive injection of funds from other nations, which could be used to create a stimulus package with massive work programs, tax reductions, price subsidies, etc. However, over the long-term, this could result in dependency on foreign aid.

B) The best thing for all parties, over the long run, is probably the austerity program you mentioned.

C) Since we are concerned with both the short-term and long-term, some combo of the above is in order. StuRat (talk) 14:00, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Stu. I always look forward to your objective and rational analysis. Being a European (loosely - UK), I am going to ask my local "bookie" what odds he will give me on Greece INCREASING their tourist prices in their (anticipated) vain hope that those measures will bring in extra "foreign" currency. BTW - It's all Greek to me. 15:23, 28 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.30.6.15 (talk)

I don't think Greek tourism is nationalised, so individual businesses will do whatever makes sense for them. Whether that will be increasing their prices, I don't know. There are bookies (big chains only, I would think) that will let people bet on things that they've come up with, so you might be able to get odds on this - you would need to work out a precise way of assessing it (pick a basket of tourism related goods and compare it to general inflation, probably). --Tango (talk) 16:44, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Greece could introduce or increase taxes on tourism-related services and goods (subject to EU and WTO rules). If the Euro remains low, it might be able to do this without pricing itself out of the market. Given that it is a popular holiday destination, this could be a useful way to get more foreign currency. Warofdreams talk 11:18, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Increasing taxes won't necessarily increase prices. That will only happen if the current profit margin is minimal and the only way to stay profitable is to increase prices. Otherwise, it will usually be better to absorb the taxes, since you are already charging your customers the price that maximises revenue. Exchange rates are only relevant if a significant portion of the tourists are coming from outside the Eurozone - is that the case? Bringing in foreign currency isn't very important, since most of Greece's trade is with the Eurozone. --Tango (talk) 14:17, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Caucasian

Why are white people refered to medically as caucasian? I realize that the Causases are in europe but why not slovakian, as this is central where as the Caucuses are on the bridge between europe and Asia. Thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 14:20, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Our article on Caucasian race summarizes the history of this term and its usage. ---Sluzzelin talk 14:27, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

(e/c)I suggest you read the article on Caucasian race. This states:- "The concept of a Caucasian race or Varietas Caucasia was developed around 1800 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German scientist and early anthropologist. Blumenbach named it after the peoples of the Caucasus (from the Caucasus region), whom he considered to be the archetype for the grouping." The concept is now, of course, largely discounted in scientific terms. Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:28, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

In the UK, this term is not used, and does not have the same sense as is given to it in USA. MacOfJesus (talk) 09:45, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

EU

Macedonia has been trying to join the EU, but has been blocked mostly by Greece who feel that Macedonia should be part of Greece. With the current headache that Greece is giving the EU, would this increase the chances of Macedonia becoming part of the EU, or how has it affected MAcedonia, if at all. Also why is MAcedonia rarely mentioned as a potentail member when it is so completely part of Europe while Turkey, is often bandied about as soon to become part. Turkey is Asia, and Islamic, which are not in line with European culture, nothing against Asians and Islamicism, bust that it is Asian rather than European. Or am I completely wrong in my views of Turkey Thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 14:24, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

My understanding is that the dispute between Greece and Macedonia isn't over territory, but simply over the name "Macedonia". There is a region of Greece called "Macedonia" and Greece objects to the country of Macedonia using that name (which is why it is often called the Former Yugoslav Republic (FYR) of Macedonia). I think it is unlikely that the current economic situation will make any difference. I haven't heard any mention of France or Germany making Greece dropping its objection to Macedonia's EU membership a condition of the bailout and it doesn't seem likely. The only way I can see it making a difference is if Greece leaves the EU (which is probably the only way they could leave the Euro, which would allow them to devalue their currency, which is one way to help their economic problems). If Greece left the EU then it would no longer have a veto on new members and Macedonia may well be able to join. The reason Turkey gets talked about so much is precisely for the reasons you give - having a predominantly Islamic country join the EU would be a big step towards improving relations between the Islamic world and the Western world (by making them overlap). There is also not much to talk about regarding Macedonia's membership - the situation hasn't significantly changed in years and doesn't seem likely to. --Tango (talk) 16:54, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Please do not post the same question on multiple desks. Googlemeister (talk) 16:55, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Isiah 23

Why does it state, Wail oh ships of tarnish for Tyre is destroyed and left without house and harbour. A Tyre is still a fully functioning city today and B what is meant by ships of tarnish? Thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 14:26, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

First of all, it says "ships of Tarshish" (another city), not tarnish (a form of metal decay)! As to the other reference, I'm not entirely sure: it may concern the Siege of Tyre, at a guess, but you'd have to find a Bible commentary for an authoritative view. ╟─TreasuryTag►person of reasonable firmness─╢ 14:30, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Think about it... Tyre may have been built and destroyed many times through the centuries.Froggie34 (talk) 15:06, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

If you're asking how it is that the Bible predicts that Tyre will be permanently destroyed, when in fact it exists today, one possible explanation is that the Bible was written by human beings who did not know the future, and so some of their predictions did not turn out to be correct. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 17:01, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

In the modern critical reading, the Book of Isaiah is not attributed to Isiah, but to several authors. It's quite common for biblical writers to ascribe certain works to an earlier prophet who then, "miraculously", makes correct predictions all the way up to the lifetime of the real author. In fact, the point where prophesies suddenly go awry is one element used in dating these books. In this case, it's quite likely that the author of Isaiah 23 (the "original Isaiah") wrote his books during the siege of Tyre by Shalmaneser V, and simply assumed that Shalmaneser would win (he didn't). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:08, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

@FisherQueen: Unless I'm reading this incorrectly, the passage did not say anything about Tyre being destroyed permanently. Verse 17 says:

"And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth." (KJV)

I'm not a Bible scholar but doesn't that mean the city will rise again after 70 years? --Kvasir (talk) 17:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

See the "History" section of Tyre, Lebanon. -- Wavelength (talk) 17:56, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

____

Isaiah 23 & 2:16

Tarshish is Tartessos in Spain - "the ends of the earth". "Ships of Tarshish" means; great ocean-going vessels.

The literal sense is not meant here.

A prophet is one who speaks God's word, not his own, and usually begins: "Thus says The Lord..."

Hence, the sense is; those who are mighty and great and relying on their own efforts and are smug in their financial greatness are the subject of this oracle, Isaiah 23.

Hence, those who make their pride in their financial greatness and feel protected against any "crash" in the future build, and have no regard for the weak and poor, this oricle is aimed here.

MacOfJesus (talk) 08:28, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

This chapter from Isaiah makes reference to Assyrian dominance of Tyre. When the passage says that Tyre is without house or harbor, I don't think it literally means that the place has been destroyed, but that the former rulers of Tyre no longer control their houses or (the revenues from) their harbor. See our article on Luli, whose dates overlap those of Isaiah. Marco polo (talk) 17:40, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Mass/Weight question

Do pokemone have Mass/Weight when in a Pokeball? —Preceding unsigned comment added by CONDORLORE (talk • contribs) 16:04, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

If they do, it's negligible at best. Pokeballs contain an entire environment for Pokemon to enjoy, all of which they cram into a ball about an inch across in its shrunken form. Characters can still carry around Pokemon such as the 2000-pound Groudon with no noticeable increase in weight. Vimescarrot (talk) 17:10, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

There's an entire environment inside them? I just thought they were stored as energy like a star trek transport buffer 82.43.89.71 (talk) 17:34, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Strange...Slapped wrist for me; I thought I'd read it somewhere but didn't look for references. The Bulbapedia article on Pokeballs doesn't mention the artificial environment at all. Either way...the Pokemon inside are still near-enough weightless. Weight does make a difference to the ball, though, as balls are specifically designed to catch heavy Pokemon. Vimescarrot (talk) 18:59, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

The whole thing seems awfully cruel to me, truth be told. basically, these kids capture wild pokemon, trap them in these tiny balls that make veal crates look comfortable, and only let them loose to force them into combat with other pokemon. Michael Vick looks like a member of PETA by contrast. we really should start PETCaC (People for the Ethical Treatment of Cartoon Creatures) and put a stop to this horrendous practice. --Ludwigs2 21:35, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Apparently, the Pokemon love it. Certain moves are more powerful the more your 'Mon likes you, and they can become extremely potent. And of course, if a Pokemon really doesn't like his or her ball, he might get lucky and never have to use it. Especially if he's a lead character of sorts... Vimescarrot (talk) 21:50, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Why did Steve Wright kill?

I've been watching the BBC Docudrama 'Five Daughters' (which is very good by the way). One thing it doesn't seem to cover, and neither does the Wiki article, is the killer's motive. Did he ever reveal his motive? Or will we never know, seeing as the girls weren't sexually assaulted and had no money worth stealing, removing the obvious motives for murder.

Thanks, Prokhorovka (talk) 16:56, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I guess you mean Steve Wright (serial killer). It seems he's never admitted to the crimes for which he was convicted, which means he's not saying (and which makes psychiatric analysis of his motivations difficult). The article says he gambled and drank heavily and had tried suicide, so you might infer that he wasn't in the best mental health. Beyond that it seems you're left with the tabloids' favourite tautologies, "he's mad", "he's bad", and other speculations. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 18:44, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I do mean that Steve Wright. Thank you. Prokhorovka (talk) 22:56, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

The Sitting Man

I was a one mam theatrical production a number of years ago at the Grahamstown English Festival in Grahamstown South Africa, I would like to know who the actor was that put on this show. Has he done any other acting work? Any information would be greatlyu appreciated. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 19:54, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I think what you meant to say is, "I was at a one man...." The way it reads now is that YOU were the actor and you are asking who YOU were. Which, now that I give this even more thought, could just be a witty way of stating a riddle. Dismas|^(talk) 21:06, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

This and other sites suggest it was James Cairns. There is a little more information on his work here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:40, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Cornered hats

A hat with three corners is a tricorn. A hat with two corners is a bicorn. Does that make a hat with one corner a unicorn? And if so, does such a thing exist? --Carnildo (talk) 22:22, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I can't quite picture a hat with one corner. You mean like tear drop shape? --Kvasir (talk) 22:44, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Number prefix: tri- is a Latin or Greek cardinal prefix, bi- is a Latin multiple prefix, so yes, it seems "unicorn" could be right. Vimescarrot (talk) 23:08, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Some forms of the stereotypical "Robin Hood hat" are teardrop shaped with a single point at the front. I don't know what the correct name for such a hat is. FiggyBee (talk) 23:52, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

List of headgear would be a good place to start! --Jayron32 02:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Which does not list bycoket the general style of the typical "robin hood hat". There is also pointy hat, is a corner a point? meltBanana 02:20, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Maybe a Smurf hat? Buddy431 (talk) 02:52, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure a Bycoket is something entirely different; the description in the article sounds nothing like a Robin Hood hat. FWIW, a quick google search turns up terms like "Woodsman's Hat" (see this link) and "archer's hat" (see this link) Though, neither term seems to refer unambiguously to the Robin Hood hat, i.e. there are other obviously unrelated hats called "Archer's hat" or "Woodsman's hat". The most wide-spread term is literally the term "Robin Hood hat" or alternately a "Peter Pan hat"; both characters used it, but it does not appear to antedate the Erol Flynn portrayal of Robin Hood. Later Robin Hoods simply copied the Erol Flynn character's hat, as did the Disney version of Peter Pan; the original Peter Pan didn't wear a hat. The hat does not appear to have any historical basis. --Jayron32 03:38, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

NM. It looks like Douglas Fairbanks wore one in an earlier Robin Hood movie: [5]. And these earlier filmed Robin Hoods are wearing a similar hat: [6]. OK. Now I am stumped. This hat must have some sort of more formal name. Unfortunately, google is no help... --Jayron32 03:49, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Nevermind everything I said. It is a bycocket: [7]. It seems it was much more associated with Italian nobility than with Midlands outlaws. Not sure how it got to be associated with Robin Hood and Peter Pan tho... --Jayron32 03:55, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Well in Robin Hood's case, if I remember correctly, he was former nobility. · AndonicO ^Contact. 10:51, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

The OED doesn't list the bycocket spelling, although it lists several other versions, and I expect the change in bycoket was influenced by the name of the cocked hat. It is important to point out this spelling irregularity because such mistakes caused the bycoket to be called a abacot for much of its history. As the article says, the name was chosen because the two different hats, the italian and english, both appeared to look like a small castle on a hill, rather that one hat being a direct descendant of the other. One of the early references to robin started "Robyn Hode in Scherewod stod / hodud and hathud, hosut and schod" that is "Robin Hood in Sherwood stood / hooded and hatted, hosed and shod". The point is made that he wore both a hat and hood but, as andonico said, he was thought to be part of the nobility so hooded and hatted was probably used to emphasise his previous rich estate that could afford a nobleman's headgear while also wearing a typically peasant hood. meltBanana 12:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Is there a technical name for a dunce cap? Googlemeister (talk) 19:48, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes. The technical name for the dunce cap is the dunce cap. Vimescarrot (talk) 20:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Manual Coffee Grinder

I'm not a coffee drinker and I only stock coffee paraphernalia so that I can entertain guests at home. Even though I'd only make coffee for entertaining purposes, I enjoy the ritual of preparing a pot of moka and steeping with a French press. Which is why I would only buy a manual coffee grinder and I agree with this article. The trouble is, I can't seem to find any for sale having scoured most box stores and special kitchen stores around the city. Do I have to resort to eBay? Will coffee taste better than electric grinder given I grind the beans correctly? (I frankly wouldn't be able to tell anyway) Thx. --Kvasir (talk) 22:35, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I doubt very much that in a controlled double blind study anyone would be able to tell the difference between manualy ground coffee or electrically ground coffee, as long as you don't totally over or under grind it. In either case, which is actually better would probably be a matter of opinion anyway! Having said that however! Drinking coffee is probably about as far away from a controlled double blind experiment as you can get and I do not doubt for a second that the effort you go to MAKE the coffee could directly influence the enjoyment your guests receive from drinking the coffee. I have experienced this myself with the satisfaction you get when it looks like the barista does their job with care and looks like they're enjoying it rather then just slapping coffees out like a chore. So totally, if you enjoy pleasing your guests get a manual grinder, I'd be impressed, just don't hide in the kitchen when you're doing it:) as to where to source one from, I don't think there's anything wrong with ebay if you have tried all the other options you can think of. Vespine (talk) 23:24, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

May I suggest you give a bit more of a think to who you're trying to "impress" (not really the right word here), you or your coffee-drinking friends; who gets the most satisfaction from your effort, you or your coffee-drinking friends; etc. As a coffee-drinker myself, I'm always appreciative when someone is capable of producing a decent cup after dinner -- and the details don't really matter. More along the lines of, "It's the thought that counts", or "I don't need to be impressed by the process if the results are acceptable".

DaHorsesMouth (talk) 02:04, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

You got me there. I consider it a conversation piece and I usually make it clear to my guests that I know nothing about tasting coffee and they are always happy to help and give pointers. Definitely anything that gets the guests talking is good. --Kvasir (talk) 04:33, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Plus, the quality of the brewing has far more to do with the quality of the final product than the grinding, so unless your friends are really over-the-top coffee snobs, don't sweat it.

DaHorsesMouth (talk) 02:04, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I used to own a manual coffee grinder, and it was very hard to adjust it to produce the fine grind I desired. An electric grinder was far more satisfactory. Edison (talk) 03:54, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Hmm... I would probably not make Turkish coffee with it then. --Kvasir (talk) 04:37, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

One thing I've learned about coffee construction is the crucial importance of keeping everything clean. It's surprisingly difficult - some of the oily stuff is pretty tenacious - but the test is: Does anything you prepare coffee in or around smell of coffee after you've cleaned it. If it does - then you didn't do it right. That being the case, the number one criterion for a coffee grinder is that you can dismantle it easily and attack it with brushes and vicious amounts of detergent! This scupulous attention to cleaning seems to me to have more of an impact on the final flavor than the other tiny details of how the coffee is made - yet it also seems to be one of the most overlooked. SteveBaker (talk) 04:05, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. I read that with a moka pot you don't wash the oil layer off? --Kvasir (talk) 04:30, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

coffee grinder

I have come across these in Charity Shops. In fact, most such shops have a variety of them on offer. (UK).

MacOfJesus (talk)

I find the claim that manually ground coffee is preferable to electric-ground to be a little suspect. I drink the latter, and the flavours are still exquisite. I suspect your endeavour will prove more trouble than it is worth -- but what do I know. Vranak (talk) 14:10, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

From my limited exepience of this: If you ground the coffee beans too much the boiling water seems to be inhibited somewhat. I have a combination machine, and I still marvel at the engeneering that went into it!

MacOfJesus (talk) 16:32, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

There are some great ones in http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coffee_grinders including this one which we have (pictured). It's second hand, bought in a vide grenier in France. I'd let you have it, only we need it to amuse guests. But really, it's not hard to find one. I've just looked on amazon and there are some.--Annielogue (talk) 09:32, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

April 29

permanent

Are stretch marks permanent? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.57.155.34 (talk) 14:24, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Google <Stretch marks removal> and you will have your answer.Froggie34 (talk) 14:27, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

See our Stretch mark article. --Kvasir (talk) 17:57, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Or we could just tell you the answer: They can diminish over time - but not disappear completely. SteveBaker (talk) 03:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Air Force

How long do you have to do service in the US Air force? Homework2 ^{pass a note}sign! 17:01, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

For all US Armed Forces, DD Form 4 specifies an initial enlistment of at least 8 years (combined active and reserve service). Length of service for officers (particularly commissioned officers) may vary, but I'd expect that it doesn't drop below 8 years. — Lomn 17:49, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

This Air Force FAQ mentions the "National Call to Service" program, which is 8 years minimum as usual, but differs in a few ways from ordinary enlistment. The early news articles about this program like this one from 2003, say that at the time about 1% of recruits qualified. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:55, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, it will depend on your job. Pilots need a 10 year minimum. Googlemeister (talk) 19:47, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Yeah....I'm gonna be a pilot...10 years...long time. Thanks!Homework2 ^{pass a note}sign! 01:46, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I had a friend who met all of the qualifications for being an Air Force officer, except that he had a maloccluded (sp?) jaw, and therefore couldn't wear a pilot's mask, so was disqualified from being an officer, period, regardless as to whether he was going to be a pilot or not. Woogee (talk) 21:50, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

uk 2010 election

what time to the polls close? and open? to i need to book the time off work to go and vote? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.59.90 (talk) 17:39, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

7.00 am to 9.00 pm. It should tell you on your poll card, if you don't have a card you may not be able to vote. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.4.186.107 (talk) 17:43, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

7am to 10pm on my poll card, not 9. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 17:46, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Mine reads, "This card is for information only. You can vote without it, but it will save you time if you take it to the polling station and show it to the clerk there." --Homantin (talk) 18:07, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Mine doesn't read at all, it's an inanimate object. I however, shall now fetch my outer level of clothing. Prokhorovka (talk) 18:19, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I believe Homantin intends you to understand the second definition of the verb read here[8]. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:22, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but if you don't have a card, there's a good chance you didn't register to vote. Lots of people aren't very clear on what they need to do, and whether they've done it: whether or not you received a poll card is a good simple check of whether you're going to be able to vote. If you did, you can. If you didn't, you might not be able to. 86.178.225.111 (talk) 20:47, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I thought as part of PSHEC most sixth form schools and colleges organise 18-year-olds to register as voters. Local council sends a up-date-the-voters'-register letter to each and every household yearly. Loads of government ads via different media. It is not clear what else could have been done. --Homantin (talk) 22:07, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

What is it that we might do which we might think was registering to vote but actually wasn't? 86.21.204.137 (talk) 22:32, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't know. I don't know what else could be done, I just know a lot of people I meet are extremely vague on how exactly one comes to be able to vote, and the actual process isn't always that memorable. Some people live in shared households, and so someone else might register them to vote: they don't always know, and don't always realise they need to actively do something when they move elsewhere. I've met people who think filling in the census in 2001 was enough, and people who expect the authorities to 'just know' since they pay taxes and rates. I've met people who think having valid ID is enough, a passport or drivers licence. People don't always remember which forms they've filled in. I've generally been 'the one' who filled in the form in shared households, and most people have said variations of "Go on then, might as well", acting a bit surprised.

I do know that it wasn't covering at all in my school, and a lot of people still do not attend sixth form or other colleges. I also know that most people I meet have shockingly bad recall of what they were told in school :P 86.178.225.111 (talk) 23:09, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you not register to vote at the poll in the UK? I know for a fact that you can in Canada. Thus, if you're a citizen of voting age, you can just show up with your driver's license on voting day at a poll in your area and they'll let you register and vote. flagitious 07:03, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

No. 131.111.248.99 (talk) 07:41, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Wow I thought that sort of thing was relatively universal... my bad. flagitious 07:51, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You can't even do that in Australia, where we have compulsory voting. You have to get your name on the electoral roll first, and then and only then can you satisfy your legal obligation to vote. If you turn up at a polling booth having not registered for the electoral roll by the deadline, you'll be turned away. But you'll never be fined for not voting; that only applies to people who've registered, but failed to vote without good reason. But you may be fined for failing to register, which is a mandatory requirement separate from the requirement to vote. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 13:05, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You can't register at the polling station? I've done that in Canada...I had just moved, so I think I had to bring two pieces of ID, and a bill or credit card statement with my new address on it. It took awhile to fill out all the forms and make it legal, but it can be done. Adam Bishop (talk) 16:31, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Definitely not. The deadline for getting onto the electoral roll closes a few days after the election is called; it's been an issue in the past, when governments have closed the rolls without much warning, effectively disenfranchising many young people who'd turned 18 since the previous election but hadn't got around to registering yet. They would undoubtedly have some information at the polling booths for unregistered people who turn up hoping to vote; but as for filling out forms and getting registered there and then - nope, it doesn't work that way here. People who are already on the roll but change their address and fail to have their details changed by the deadline are still required to vote as living at their old address. Depending on where they're now living, that may require an absentee, pre-poll or postal vote. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:52, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

In NZ, you have to enrol before election day [9] [10] or you can't vote. Enrolment is compulsory but unenforced, voting is not. In terms of the thing above about closing the registration/enrolment early, in Malaysia it tends to close quite early, often the end of the year before the election. As young people are the least likely to be enrolled and also on average less likely to supporting the governing party ([{Barisan Nasional]], this has been fairly controversial particular in the 1999 election. Also while I too find it odd people don't know how to enrol/register, particularly in this internet age, there are probably various reasons, e.g. for some people it just doesn't matter so much so they don't pay attention or whatever. After all people can forget to vote [11] [12] (or at least they say they did). Nil Einne (talk) 04:17, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Everything you need to know about registering to vote in the UK is covered here. Basically, if you think you may not be registered, or if you need to update your details because your address has changed, then you call your local electoral registration office, they send you a form, you fill it in and send it back. You can also download the form. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:56, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

It is worth noting, however, that the deadline to register to vote on May 6th has passed. 131.111.248.99 (talk) 12:52, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

1992/93 Courage League

Who were relegated and promoted?

I think I have Saracens and West Hartlepool, London Scottish being relegated with 1 other teams, but which?

It is not clear who was promoted that year either - could you help?

thx in advx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.128.192.224 (talk) 23:02, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

This site has Rugby as the fourth team relegated. Dalliance (talk) 11:53, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Newcastle-Gosforth won Division Two in 1992/93 and was promoted. They were relegated the following season. Zoonoses (talk) 14:33, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

April 30

NCIC and US States

I would like to know what US states utilize the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and those who do not. Phearson (talk) 01:28, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

According to this website (linked from the article), it would appear to be all states and territories:

"Data in NCIC files is exchanged with and for the official use of authorized officials of the Federal Government, the States, cities, penal and other institutions, and certain foreign governments. The data is exchanged through NCIC lines to Federal criminal justice agencies, criminal justice agencies in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Possessions and U.S. Territories. Additionally, data contained in the various 'want files,' i.e., the stolen vehicle file, stolen license plate file, stolen gun file, stolen article file, wanted person file, securities file, boat file, and missing person data may be accessed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "

Nowhere in the article does it specifically mention states that do not use the database, nor does a Google search bring up any useful information. Xenon54 / talk / 01:41, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Do you have any reason to believe that there is at least one state that does not utilize the NCIC? I can't think of any reason why a state wouldn't want to. Dismas|^(talk) 01:44, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

IV = intravenous

Would it be possible for a healthy, young adult to live most of their entire life getting their water source from an IV? Like by not drinking out of a cup at all. And when you do have an IV what would happen if you put cold water in it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hereforhomework2 (talk • contribs) 01:50, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

What, pray, is an IV? Individual vessel? Irrational vortex? Irreducible variable? -- 202.142.129.66 (talk) 02:31, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I assume from context that the OP means an intravenous drip. FiggyBee (talk) 02:44, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Yeah. 02:58, 30 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hereforhomework2 (talk • contribs)

The young adult would have to spend most of their time hooked up to the IV. There would be a risk of infection at the point where the IV was inserted into the person's skin, particularly if the person was allowed to be disconnected from the IV for other activities. Also, normal digestion requires a fair amount of water (or liquid containing water) to be ingested. Without the ability to drink water and other liquids, the person would probably need to live on a diet of soups and purees. The body is also not set up to absorb water near the skin, and I would think that the area around the IV insertion point would start to be stressed from the flow of water, and especially from cold water, which could cause damage to the cells around the absorption point. Finally, I would think that the rate of water flow would not be able to keep up with the body's needs during vigorous aerobic exercise, such that the person would probably be unable to get enough exercise to maintain health. In any case, such an arrangement would not allow a normal life. Marco polo (talk) 15:03, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Ok. Thanks. I was just wondering. Homework2 ^{pass a note}sign! 16:33, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

[I am revising the heading from "IV" to "IV = intravenous" to facilitate watchlist alerts and archive searches, and to apply search engine optimization. See WP:TPOC, "Section headings". -- Wavelength (talk) 16:38, 30 April 2010 (UTC)]

Snake/spider mix

Something like this? ~AH1^(TCU) 01:32, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

what would happen if you crossed a snake with a spider? would you get an 8-legged snake? I think it could be possible and was thinking about trying it... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hereforhomework2 (talk • contribs) 01:54, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Unless you plan on using Photoshop, I suspect you will run into insurmountable trouble when you attempt to encourage one of each species to mate with the other. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:59, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You'd get a politician. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:00, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I plan on drugging them...Non poison of course. 02:07, 30 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hereforhomework2 (talk • contribs)

Strictly speaking, the genetics wouldn't match, so a conventional cross would fail. But if you could isolate the genes that trigger the formation of legs, you could splice that into a snake embryonic cell and see what happens. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:12, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

P.S. To be able to do that kind of work, you'll need to have many millions of dollars available, to pay for the equipment and such stuff as that. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:13, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I know. Just curious. But an 8-legged snake would be cool. 02:16, 30 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hereforhomework2 (talk • contribs)

This is sounding like we are making a monkey with four asses. Its getting silly. No, you cannot cross a snake with a spider. First of all, you aren't comparing single species with each other, you are comparing huge taxa. You might as well ask what you would get by crossing a mammal with a tree. This is just silliness. --Jayron32 03:03, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Well, we already have a "trunk". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You could end up with a bush that squirts milk. Now that would be useful. 90.195.179.138 (talk) 05:48, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I see what you did there.--WaltCip (talk) 17:06, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Combining genes from totally different species is possible. A bacterial gene was woven into a corn embryo's chromosomes to make the corn produce its own pesticide toxin. It's possible. But it takes gazillions of dollars, and there has to be a stronger justification than "it would be cool". :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

We can splice bits of DNA into cells. That isn't the same thing as a true genetic hybrid. A gene will make the same protein in any environment, so its entirely possible to do some of this stuff. But you're right, there's no impetus to make a snake with arthropod legs, which is why it isn't ever going to happen... --Jayron32 03:27, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it would take huge amounts of research to figure out the genetics that cause an arthropod's legs to sprout, and then to figure out if it's possible to imbed those genetics into a snake somehow. Someone would have to come with a theory on why such an effort would eventually be a cash cow. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

A somwhat more realistic (and still extremely expensive) possibility would be to find a legged reptile that's genetically similar to a snake, and see if they could be crossed or gene-spliced somehow. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:07, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

As silly as crossing a goat with a spider? Well, not quite, but still... Matt Deres (talk) 13:45, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Snakes did (d)evolve from lizards: [13], so may well still have the genes for four legs, just deactivated. Therefore, it might be possible to get a snake with 4 legs, just by reactivating the genes. 8 legs would be more of a challenge, though, as they never had that. Would we count conjoined twin snakes with 4 legs each ? StuRat (talk) 16:22, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Maybe just focus on creating a lizard with 8 legs. Because if you can do that, arguably you've got the equivalent of a snake with 8 legs. Conjoined twin snakes (or lizards) might be the way to go. The real issue, though, is that vertabrates evolved with 4 legs, presumably because that's all they really need. You'd first have to figure out what an 8-legged lizard's skeletal structure should be, and then figure out how to get there. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:42, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Actually vertebrates evolved with no legs, but tetrapods acquired four. To the original poster: your question sort of assumes that the only characteristic a spider has is having eight legs. But a spider has many other characteristics (for example book lungs, spinnerets, an exoskeleton, and conversely no bones or nipples). You can't mate individuals from widely separated taxa, as other people have pointed out; but even if you imagine being able to create a genetic cross in some artificial way, there's no reason (unless you designed it that way) why the result should have any particular characteristic - such as number of legs - from a particular parent rather than any other characteristic. For information about how the number and sequence of appendages (such as limbs) is controlled, see evo devo. --ColinFine (talk) 20:40, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Shallow Depth of Field - optimum focal length

Hi,

I'm wondering if there is an optimum focal length for achieving the shallowest depth of field for any given object. So for example, say I want to photograph a person (height 1.8m) standing 10 metres in front of my background (say some shrubbery), at a given aperture (say f/4) what lens on a full frame DSLR would give me the greatest background separation/shallow depth of field

At an empirical level, I know that the level of background separation is proportional to the "amount of turning" you need to apply to the focus ring on the lens to change between the object and the background being in focus. So for example if I were to shoot the above scene with at 400mm lens I'd be guessing the focal distance of the person would be about 25m and the background would then be 35m. On the focus ring of the lens, there's not much between 25m and 35m (you don't have to turn it much to switch between focus). And the background separation is consequently not very great. If I were then to take the same scene with at 24mm lens (obviously with the same aperture), then the focal length of the person would be around 1.5 m and the background would be 11.5m. In this case you need to twist the ring quite a bit and there is significant background separation.

Is there an accurate way to calculate the best focal length (mm) in order to photograph a person with the shallowest depth of field? --58.175.32.19 (talk) 04:47, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Depth of field has all your answers, in short the longer your focal length, the shallower your DoF will be, there is no "optimum". DoF can be calculated from F stop, focal length and target distance. Decrease the f stop, decrease target distance and increase focal length will all give you shallower depth of field. So to get the shallowest depth of field, select your longest lens, drop the f stop as low as it will go and get as close as you can to your subject. That's assuming your longest lense doesn't have a horribly high minimum f-stop, which cheap lenses tend to have. Here's a calculator I found online which you can use to work it out. Vespine (talk) 05:14, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Hmm I don't think that's true - from practical experience I know that in the example I gave above of the 400mm and the 24mm, the 24mm would give a shallower depth of field (assuming aperture is constant) despite it being a shorter focal length. So the calculator is not really the whole story, because long focal lengths tend to "compress" distance and lead to poorer separation when the objects are relatively close together (near infinity focus) --58.175.32.19 (talk) 07:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Using an online DoF calculator (http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html) I put in 2 scenarios - 40 mm lens at 1 m and 400 mm lens at 10 m. In both cases it gave a DoF of 0.09m. So it might well be that using any lens and getting the same sized image of the subject will lead to the same DoF. I was surprised - I expected the long lens to give the shallower DoF. --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:33, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

If something is outside the depth of field, you know it won't be "acceptably sharp"... but that's all you know. It doesn't tell you anything about the appearance of the out-of-focus region. Let's say you're photographing an object with lenses of two different focal lengths (a wide-angle lens and a long-focal-length telephoto lens). You adjust your position so that the object of interest is the same size in both shots, and you shoot at the same f-number. As Phil Holmes notes, and the calculator will confirm, the depth of field will be the same under these circumstances. But the wide-angle lens takes in a large area of the background, and the telephoto takes in a narrow area of the background. In the real world, this tends to mean that the wide-angle lens sees a "jumbled" background with all sorts of stuff in it, while the telephoto sees a more uniform, smooth background. The result is the the telephoto yields more apparent separation between the sharp subject and the background. Figure 3 of this article illustrates this difference. -- Coneslayer (talk) 16:49, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

• • Thanks for the linked article - very useful --58.175.32.19 (talk) 08:34, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

And don't forget bokeh. --Phil Holmes (talk) 20:31, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I didn't read the rest of the responses, so I apologize is this has been said before. A longer focal length will result in a more shallow DOF. However, in order to keep the framing of your subject constant, you need to step back (therefore increase focal distance) from your subject when using a lens with a longer focal length. Since a greater focal distance correlates to a less shallow DOF, the two factors cancel each other out exactly.

Hence, this is why you will find many photography guides to say that the focal length has no impact on the DOF. In practical terms, using a lens with a longer focal length and stepping back from the subject will decrease the field of view of the background, while using a shorter lens and stepping closer to the subject will allow a greater angle of the background to be viewed. Acceptable (talk) 15:35, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

birth cetificate

I want to know about the Birth Certificate of Maribel L. Lina,for the changes of her middle name "TUCO" change as "LANSANG", shes borned from Sta. Margarita Hilongos Leyte. I want to know if it is already changed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.55.240.120 (talk) 07:55, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia. It has nothing to do with registering births in any country and holds no official records of that kind. If you have applied to have changes made to an official record, you should contact the registrar's office or government department where the application was submitted. Karenjc 14:48, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Sorry Karenjc, this is the Reference Desk, where we try to provide references for people seeking things that they might not be able to find in our encyclopedia. Hilongos, Leyte is in the Phillipines. I don't know if birth certificates there are public records, and if so, how to obtain one. You could always try contacting the provensial government: here's Leyte Province's homepage. Buddy431 (talk) 04:26, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

European Cars and Characteristics / Stereotypes

Hi, can anyone explain the differences between Audi's, BMWs, and Porsches'? I was hoping for some insight into the the characteristics and stereotypes of the cars and their drivers. And any other (random!) information. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bluehark (talk • contribs) 08:09, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Audi and BMW are generally in direct competition in the 'executive' cars segment. They each sell what are generally considered to be (along with Mercedez) the top marque cars for business-users. They also increasingly sell smaller cars such as the 1-series and Audi A2 and A3. Porsche sell almost exclusively performance sports-cars. Their most famous being their Porsche 911. They are very different to BMW/Audi in that way, though both BMW/Audi do sell performance cars to (BMW M5, Audi R8 for example). The stereotypes are that a lot of the owners are 'posers'. All are German and if my memory is any good Audi and Porsche are part of the Volkswagen group(?). Audi has a rich history in Rally driving, Porsche in Le Mans. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 10:11, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Audi is part of the Volkswagen group, and very many Audi models share a technical platform with a corresponding VW (A3 with Golf/Rabbit, A2 with Polo), but are aimed more up-market, with more exclusive design and different finishing. Audi managed to enter the high-end market, but BMW is, at least in Europe, much more prestigious. Porsche and VW have a long common history (the VW Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche). They also have partially shared ownership, which culminated a year or two back, when (much smaller) Porsche tried a semi-hostile takeover of Volkswagen, failed, and miss-speculated so badly that they had to be taken over by VW in turn to avoid collapse. Porsche cars are, well, Porsche cars. They do not really compete with any other maker very much. Other cars are build for going somewhere, Porsches, while quite adept at that, are more of a macho fashion statement. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

If you want stereotypes, BMW drivers are regarded in the UK as having had at least part of their brains removed, usually that part which allows people to be considerate to other road drivers. (warning - not politically correct here) It has also been claimed that BMW stands for "black man's wheels"! (well you did ask)--TammyMoet (talk) 14:52, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

If you want stereotypes, Jeremy Clarkson said up until about 2007/2008 that all BMW drivers were cocks (his words, not mine). However, he later claimed that those same...individuals have moved on to driving Audis. Some BMW's were moved up the Cool Wall on Top Gear for this reason. Oh, and I've never heard the W stand for "wheels" before...90.195.179.138 (talk) 16:46, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Interesting that in the UK the BMW is considered to be a "black" car. In the US, the rich black man's car is more likely to be a Cadillac. BMW is a "Yuppie" car, or at least used to be. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:18, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

BMW and Porsche cars have rear-wheel drive, Audi have front-wheel drive ignoring their all wheel drive cars. BMW's and Audi's have their engine at the front and a Porsche has its engine in the back. In addition to making cars, BMW make motorcycles and bicycles, and has bought the former British-owned MINI and Rolls-Royce; Porsche make tractors, and Audi make nothing. BMW cars get called "Bimmers", Porsche gets pronounced both as a single or double syllable, and Audi can be said only one way. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:05, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

In the US, BMW's have been called "Beemers". Which reminds me of another one, "Jag-you-are" vs. "Jag-wahr". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:55, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

BB it's Bimmer not Beamer. Learn now and avoid embarrassing yourself in front of other car enthusiasts. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 16:03, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Where I come from, BMW cars are called "beemers" (or "beamers" if you like) to rhyme with "streamers". "Bimmer" would rhyme with "shimmer". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:37, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

... and Audi can be said only one way - that's true of very few words, Cuddlyable. I've heard people referring to Audis as if they were talking about Audie Murphy. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 23:32, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

BMW do make 'down-market' cars - but to avoid diluting their 'high end' name-recognition, they create different brand names for them - hence my MINI Cooper is made by the "MINI Car Company" in the MINI factory in the UK - but that's a wholly owned subsidiary of BMW. You have to look very hard to find a BMW logo on any of the parts, symbols or paperwork that comes with the MINI - but the big give-away is that the VIN number starts with a 'W' - which is the country code for Germany. Audi is the opposite - they are 'really' VW - but to preserve Audi's name recognition, they don't talk much about their VW connection. It's all about image and brand-name shaping. SteveBaker (talk) 02:51, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Liquorice allsorts

Can anyone tell me whether Bassett's liquorice allsorts are available in Australia? Note that they must be Bassett's brand; I know you can get other (inferior) brands. My mother makes me take some out to her cousin whenever I visit, because she says you can't get them there. I don't believe her (and it's a hassle taking any kind of food through customs, even packaged candy). Thanks.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm no candy expert but doing a quick AU search it looks like you can get them but you might have to go to a specialty lolly shop such as this or this, so unless you are near one of those it might be hard to get them. And no, you should not have any issues taking packaged sweets into Australia, not sure but you might have to declare it, but that's just a formality. Vespine (talk) 10:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

This is why Bassets are not sold down under. They were not such a recognised brand as Pascall.[14] 1971 Halls joins the Adams family and the launch of Cadbury Creme Egg as we know it today. Pascalls is bought by Cadbury, with Eclairs becoming the second largest brand in the company (at that time). 1989 Sugarfree Dentyne, the first sugarfree breath-freshing gum is launched - the first time a leading gum brand offers a choice between sugar and sugarfree. Cadbury Schweppes purchases both Trebor Group Ltd and Bassett Foods [15] You can always try contacting Cadbury's here in England and have a good moan at them. They might even write to your relative and say that they now use exactly the same recipes and processes today as was used at Bassets. [16] You might even suggest, that them sending her a free years supply would not go amiss either.--Aspro (talk) 10:53, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Quite certain that I have bought Bassetts Liqourice Allsorts here in Oz. But this was around/soon after Christmas when such yummies are likely to be brought in as special seasonal items. If you have any doubts I would bring some with you as they are unlikely to be cheaper here! Can't see any problems bringing them in, just declare anything edible! (Small possibility I am thinking of Beacon brand allsorts). Suggest you try Darrell Leas' version while you're here. --220.101.28.25 (talk) 12:57, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Bassett's are definitely available here, although they can be hard to find except around Christmas. FiggyBee (talk) 13:20, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Typography question: what's an enclosed part of a character called?

I think I've come across a name for an enclosed part of a character (such as the inside of an "o" and the upper part of an "e"), but I can't recall what it is. Does anyone know what it's called? --98.114.146.35 (talk) 12:38, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Counter. ---Sluzzelin talk 12:42, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Also; Aperture (typography). ---MacOfJesus (talk) 16:53, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Also "bowl", at least for some letters. --Anonymous, 17:27 UTC, April 30, 2010.

Aperture (typography), is not included as an article page, but briefly mentioned in Counter (typography), in its name heading. MacOfJesus (talk) 19:57, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

On the Stencil for the character it is an island that must be connected to other parts of the stencil with bridges. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 21:25, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I made a redirect from Aperture (typography) and added it into the Aperture (disambiguation) page. SteveBaker (talk) 02:44, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Mathematics author Martin Gardner once made a little joke that 8 is the holiest number, because it has 2 holes in it. 195.35.160.133 (talk) 11:18, 4 May 2010 (UTC) Martin (not Gardner).

Barrell

I have asked about a year ago, what quantity is express when one mentions barrells of oil. I was told that it depends on the size of your barrell. I dont need snide remarks. There is an oil spill of the coast of the USA, and the BBC states that it is leaking 5000 barrells per day. How much is a barrell? 5 litres? 10? 20? Thank you for your useful answers —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.59.90 (talk) 12:54, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

According to the article Barrel (volume) it varies, but the standard oil barrel seems to be 42 US gallons (34.9723 imp gal; 158.9873 L). This older discussion on oil barrels might also be interesting to you. .tkqj (talk) 13:05, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

No one mentioned the history of "the barrel". Barrel (volume) at the paragraph "oil barrel" a good history of its development and usage. It could be understood better if the history were explained. MacOfJesus (talk) 16:36, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Money laundering

I am of the understanding that if one were to pay a very large sum of cash money into ones bank account, it may be flagged as money laundering. My question is this; unless it can be proved the money came from an illegal source, would the person paying the money into their bank account face any repercussions? Calarti laundurr (talk) 12:55, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Money laundering is all about turning 'dirty' money (that is that has a potentially traceable history to a crime/illegal activity) and making it appear 'clean' (by putting it through a legal transaction). The kind of hurdles you can expect to see for large investments of money are most likely to be proving who you are. The person paying the money in will face no 'reprecussions' of paying in (provably) legal money, though higher-sums will be potentially investigated to try minimize the 'cleaning' of money. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 13:05, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

You may be intersested in reading it from the horse's mouth (the IRS) [17]--Aspro (talk) 13:12, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Your question boils down to the burden of proof - you're asking whether the authorities have to prove the money is illegal or whether you have to prove that it isn't. We're used to the burden of proof favouring the accused (see Presumption of innocence). However, in some jurisdictions this has changed in respect of suspected money laundering, because of the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and similar initiatives. Under some circumstances the accused may be required to prove the origin of funds to prevent confiscation - for example, where they have a relevant criminal record or what the authorities consider a "criminal lifestyle" and they cannnot account satisfactorily for the funds. If a person pays in a very large sum of cash to a bank account in most European countries, the USA and many others, bank staff will almost certainly ask the source and are obliged to file an official report (see suspicious activity report, for example) if the explanation is unsatisfactory. This will be filed without the customer's knowledge. It may trigger an investigation, and one cannot automatically assume that the burden of proof is on the investigators - it depends on the jurisdiction and the circumstances. If this is not a hypothetical question, you should take legal advice in your own jurisdiction. Karenjc 14:40, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

And of course it will be liable to income tax, even if its a win on the lotto but not if its Premium Bonds! (UK). MacOfJesus (talk) 16:24, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Err no, UK Lottery wins are not subject to tax. When I paid £85,000 into my bank account a few years ago I just said it was my share of the value of my mothers' house, and I was just asked if it was a solicitor's cheque, and that was all. Mind you, my brother and I had to jump through a few hoops to prove our identity before we were able to put her house on the market in the first place. -- Arwel Parry (talk) 16:38, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

The UK Lottery win itself is not subject to tax, as is the case with winnings from any other form of gambling. However, the income from investing the capital is taxable. [18] —Preceding unsigned comment added by TammyMoet (talk • contribs) 19:22, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Just wanted to point the original poster to our money laundering article, since nobody else linked to it yet. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:29, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Which sport is more physically demanding: Cricket or Baseball?

Which sport is more intense: Cricket or Baseball? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vikramkr (talk • contribs) 16:46, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

• I'd go with cricket, simply because professional cricket games have the tendency to go on for days, and to my knowledge there are no formal substitute players as seen in baseball, where there are at least three pitcher rotations per game. There are a lot of other physical factors of the game that come into play that I'm sure some of our more well-versed cricket enthusiasts will be able to point out.--WaltCip (talk) 17:02, 30 April 2010 (UTC)
• Oh, and if you'd like to do some research on your own, check out comparison between cricket and baseball. The article is quite detailed.--WaltCip (talk) 17:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

For the substitution rules in cricket (typically only for injuries, and quite restrictive even then) see Substitute (cricket)). Due to these rules it is not unheard of for players to return to bat (or even bowl) in a match after sustaining quite serious injuries - e.g. a broken jaw, torn hamstring or even a broken wrist (the player with the broken wrist, Colin Cowdrey, never had to face a ball - but he did save the match as otherwise England would have been all out). See http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/1984319.stm if you are interested. 131.111.185.69 (talk) 22:43, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Considering how long the traditional match lasts, by the end of the contest his wrist had probably healed. d:) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:54, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Downing Street: Moving house.

When Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his family leave 10 Downing Street, who will pay for the removals firm; himself or the taxpayer? 92.30.49.35 (talk) 18:37, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I'd assume him. He has to pay rent to live in Number 10 He pays council tax on it, as his residence, so I guess he pays for the removal... ╟─TreasuryTag►duumvirate─╢ 18:39, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Ha ha hahahahahahahah! Funny one TT. What's to stop him putting in a claim for Parliamentary expenses ? --Aspro (talk) 19:41, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

? He does pay council tax—Google it. ╟─TreasuryTag►without portfolio─╢ 21:17, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

He was talking to Jeremy Pakman a few minutes ago, (BBC1). Will he charge for time and expertise? MacOfJesus (talk) 20:07, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Can you tell British Wikipedians are politically cynical? Anyway, the house belongs to the office of the Prime Minister, not to any individual. Is this enough justification for house-based expenses to be claimed on expenses? I don't know, but it may be relevant. 90.195.179.138 (talk) 21:04, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Given the loss in public confidence over the expenses claims, and that he really does seem to have entered politics with good intentions, he is almost certainly being very careful about what he claims expenses for. 86.178.225.111 (talk) 21:55, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

We'll know soon enough, won't we? 129.174.184.114 (talk) 02:53, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Money laundering vocabulary

I always understood the term "money laundering" to mean "converting dirty money into clean" by whatever means. The bad guy steals US$10,000, goes to the casino, gives them the money, gets a stack of black chips, gambles for just long enough to avoid suspicion, cashes out his black chips for about US$10,000, and walks out of the casino with clean money. However, I see by our article money laundering that, in the US and apparently in the UK, the term, as used in the law, is much broader, and refers to any attempt to conceal the source of illegally obtained money. My question is whether there is a specific term for spending "dirty" money in a way as to avoid detection, without any attempt to convert it to clean money: the bad guy steals US$10,000 and tries to avoid detection; not by converting it into clean money and spending that, but by, say, spending US$20 here and US$20 there until he has exhausted the dirty money. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:38, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes - it's called FRAUD. A couple of years ago, my wife and I would regularly holiday on a small Mediterranean island adjacent to Spain, where the currency was the Peseta. But then the European Monetary Union proposed introducing the Euro, which meant that all illegally hoarded Francs, Deutchmarks, Pesetas, Lira, Punts, etc., etc., had somehow to be converted into Euros, before the cut-off date - without declaring their existence at the parent national banks. Enter the Italian Mafia and their contemporaries who had zillions of illegal Lira under their beds. They delivered satchels of paper currency to the island's hoteliers, restaurants, cycle-hire shops, grocery stores - you name it - and got the locals to "wash" this "tourist" currency through the Spanish banks, who were delighted to accept it. Then, after the changeover date, the Italians were delighted to accept an agreed, though lesser "payback rate" from their "client" business associates to re-imburse them for their "investments", at a rate that was highly rewarding to said "clients". Result? My wife and I now find that the island in question is virtually exclusive to Italian tourists who in turn, have become the sub-clients of the original Spanish clients of the investing Italian Mafia. Result? The original illegal hoards are now perceived as "Legal" and yes, taxable. And pity the poor Eurozone now. It's awash with fraud, corruption, tax-avoidance, sleaze, and IMF bale-outs. In short, I think the answer is FRAUD - funded by honest and hard-working tax-paying folk who don't understand currency speculation, whether "legal" or illegal. And pity the IMF who have to stand by and bale out these rogue nations at the expense of true democracy and the free-world. 92.30.49.35 (talk) 23:42, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I think the issue here is whether or not spending the dirty money constitutes a separate crime from the acquisition of said dirty money. If you steal $10,000 from the bank and then spend it, I think the crime is in the stealing, not the spending. A brief Googling of instances of "bank robbery charges filed" doesn't turn up anything to the contrary—it seems like people get charged with robbery, conspiracy to robbery, armed robbery, things like that. Not spending.

"Converting dirty into clean" is less about the actual money itself (though that is the case sometimes) as it is about creating a paper trail. If you are mafia and you get $10,000 a month from selling drugs, you can't turn around and spend that on, say, legitimate property, because the IRS will get you on the fact that your income is not the same as your spending (if it seems petty, it's how most gangland prosecutions have gone down... it's hard to prove a mafia don personally committed any crimes—even "criminal conspiracy" is quite hard—but it is comparatively easy to show that they were spending a million dollars a year when they only claimed to earn a thousand, and thus must be misreporting their income). So you "clean" the money by laundering it through some kind of legitimate-appearing front—e.g., your taxi-cab company, which declares all of that $10,000 to be (untraceable) income from fares. Now according to the IRS you have legitimate income, even though in reality you got it from selling drugs. --Mr.98 (talk) 01:07, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

A specific term is "keeping a low profile". Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

• What the original poster is talking about is a form of structuring. --Anonymous, 04:47 UTC, May 2, 2010.

That's the vocabulary word I was looking for! Thank you, anonymous money laundering expert. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:20, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

May 1

Bad breath

I'm not trying to offend anyone with this question; apologies in advance if I do. I've noticed that a large percentage of African-Americans have bad breath. Why is this? 76.199.144.250 (talk) 00:22, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Wrong question. You have to ask why a large percentage of human beings have bad breath, rather than singling out any particular group of people. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 00:31, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Let me rephrase. I notice that a lot of African-Americans have breath that is similar in odor, which I find distasteful. Why is this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.199.144.250 (talk) 00:34, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Can you describe this putative odor? There are various flavors of bad breath: salami-ish, toilet-ish, cabbage-ish, etc. I've never noticed any correlation with race or ethnicity, however. 129.174.184.114 (talk) 02:45, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Different races can often smell differently, and I expect we smell funny to them also. If you have a black friend, ask him if your own breath smells bad. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:37, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

As James Bond tells Kissy Suzuki in You Only Live Twice, "Why do Chinese girls taste different from all other girls?"... --Jayron32 01:02, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

He actually doesn't tell Kissy Suzuki that; he tells the girl who helps him fake his death in the prologue of the movie.--WaltCip (talk) 00:11, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

You may simply be mistaken (see confirmation bias, for example). If you aren't, then I would guess that the most likely explanation is that it is a cultural thing, rather than anything biological, most likely diet (second most likely is dental hygiene). --Tango (talk) 01:25, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I have trouble with Bugs' assertion, too. Our Halitosis article discusses in in some detail, but traces it to diet and oral hygiene. Perhaps Chinese girls taste different because of all that garlic and ginger. PhGustaf (talk) 01:31, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that would be it. You are what you eat. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

People can share their love of garlic at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. -- Wavelength (talk) 02:34, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I think it's pretty well established that people from oriental countries think westerners smell odd. (http://www.chinaherald.net/2008/06/do-dutch-smell-more-than-shanghainese.html - for example). So I suppose this is not impossible...but it is horribly politically incorrect and insensitive to express this kind of idea. There are times when curiosity is perhaps best left unsatisfied. SteveBaker (talk) 02:28, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Among African Americans (and black people generally), it's commonly said that white people smell like wet dogs. In Roots, an African states that white slavers smell like wet chickens. I'm not sure what causes this impression, but it is widespread enough to be the subject of jokes. 129.174.184.114 (talk) 02:40, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Again, it's probably got to do with diet and possibly with something race-connected. If orientals smell funny to us because they eat a lot of fish, just imagine how we who eat a lot of beef probably smell to them. Can't be helped. Except maybe by frequent showering. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:49, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

In the case of the "wet dog" thing, I always assumed it had something to do with hair texture. My intuition is that white-textured hair would tend to be less exposed to the air and therefore more likely to be damp and harbor bacteria. (Obviously, showering would disrupt that, but nineteenth-century slavers probably didn't shower regularly.) 129.174.184.114 (talk) 02:57, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I doubt anyone in the 19th century showered regularly, except (possibly) the idle rich. I could point out that I've often noticed bad breath on Asian colleagues, but I don't say anything, as they might come back with, "You too!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:00, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Must've been a real treat to smell people who maybe showered once a month in the climates of South Carolina or Georgia. Rimush (talk) 09:47, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

On the other hand, there's is a correlation between poverty and poor dental hygiene, and between being African American and poor dental hygiene [19]. Black people aren't innately prone to having bad breath, but social factors will mean that poor African Americans are more likely to have dental problems than the community average. FiggyBee (talk) 03:23, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Might some people report smells differently if they were blindfolded? See Illegal Odors | Psychology Today.

-- Wavelength (talk) 03:55, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia depends on Reliable Sources. Famed anthropologist L. Ron Hubbard wrote[20] of Chinese people "They smell of all the baths they didn't take." Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:42, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Note that anyone who smells similar to you will be less noticeable, as you've become accustomed to the scent. Thus, people of other cultures, who are likely to eat different foods, have different bathing habits, etc., will be likely to smell bad to you. StuRat (talk) 16:02, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I am reminded of a thread from the TV-movie Shackleton, which tells a true story of heroism in the Antarctic. Ernest Shackleton's expedition is stranded when their ship sinks, and the nearest place where another ship can be found is a whaling station 800 miles away. And they have no radio communication available. So Shackleton takes a few of the men in a rowboat and they row the whole 800 miles in the open sea, then march across an island to reach their destination. When they arrive and ask for help, Shackleton also apologizes: "I am afraid that we smell a little." And he gets the answer: "This is a whaling station. We all smell a little." --Anonymous, 04:57 UTC, May 2, 2010.

Are all of the ones you've noticed with bad breath living very close to each other? In my local town there are two pakistani families living next to each other and all of them have bad breath, yet other pakistanis I know don't.--92.251.185.162 (talk) 23:41, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Development methodologies

There are an enormous number of software development methodologies in software engineering. To the best of my knowledge, the same is not true of any other engineering discipline - engineers in other disciplines seem to just get on with the job in hand (they go through the same basic steps as any software development methodology, but without the need to come up with lots of different formalised systems). Am I right about this difference existing and, if so, why does it exist? (I'm asking this on the Misc desk, rather than Computing, since I am keen to get answers from people with experience of various engineering disciplines.) Thanks. --Tango (talk) 00:54, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I think part of the situation with software development is the luxury afforded by the fact that your end product lacks a physical nature; other than the labor to do the design and coding, and the server space to store and test it, a piece of software is essentially free. That means its a field that opens itself up to lots of experimentation in the methodology end. Consider the problem with other engineering fields... If you screw up a piece of software, its a small problem that can be corrected via proper debugging. If you screw up a bridge or a chemical plant or an airplane, well, you can't very well get 75% through it and decide "Maybe we should try something different". Given the nature of those fields, you're best to stick with the "tried and true methods" since the cost of experimenting, and flubbing it, is MUCH greater. --Jayron32 02:35, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I would add to Jayron32's interesting answer that, because of its nature, a piece of software designed to perform process X might be doable in 1MB of hand-optimized assembly code, or in 100MB of C# code with lots of bolted-on assemblies and libraries that are 99% un-called code; and the customer may not care at all; the latter may well be cheaper for the developer to create, debug, and maintain, whereas, in a field like civil engineering, you wouldn't think Hoover Dam could be practical if it were 100 times the current size. But I'm a software person, too, so this observation is obvious. Comet Tuttle (talk) 15:12, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Wouldn't that indicate that a formalized software development method isn't needed, since nobody cares if it's inefficient and any bugs can later be fixed ? My own experience with formal software project management is that it's less than useless, for example, making the developers fill out meaningless charts showing the percentage of each module that's completed. Since each number is a wild-assed guess, the results are useless. Then there's the attempt to analyze a developer's efficiency by "lines of code" they write per day. Gak ! I suspect that these formal requirements arose out of management panic at not being able to see the interim progress in some coding, unlike, say, construction of a bridge. This led them to put systems in place that give them the illusion of tracking progress. StuRat (talk) 15:47, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

My 2c: Software development methodologies is just a set of project management techniques specialized to software development. As such, use of such management approaches is standard operating procedure in all engineering projects, and depending upon the focus variously referred to as operations management, systems engineering, industrial engineering etc. I think the confusion arises by conflating the "technical" aspects of engineering (such as, designing a control system for a chemical plant, or designing an algorithm for efficiently searching through a database), and the "management" aspects which are concerned with planning a suitable workflow. Software engineering (despite its name) is mainly concerned with the latter, though I realize that the demarcation between what I am calling the technical and management aspects is not always clear-cut. Abecedare (talk) 04:00, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The difficulty with verifying software is that of predicting all the responses that can arise when the software is exposed to real-world inputs rather than artificial test scenarios. I think there are comparable challenges in Pharmacology with the added complication that Destructive testing on the human subject is frowned on. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:08, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

In software, after the "artificial test scenarios" are performed by the developer, then they typically run through a user test and/or beta test for the "real world" testing. StuRat (talk) 15:55, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Software is typically a lot more complex than most other designed products, and all the difficulty is in getting the equivalent of a blueprint ready - "assembly" and "production" are trivial. Boeing says that a 747 has 6 million parts, "half of which are fasteners" [21]. Very many of these parts are identical and exchangeable - bolting in one row of seats is very much like bolting in any other. By comparison, the Linux Kernel currently has 12 million lines of code, and essentially every one of them is unique, at least in its context. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:06, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The biggest problem with software development isn't the actual process of writing and debugging - it's the difficulty of accurately predicting the time it takes to get the work done. There are many reasons for this - one is that there is an incredible range of ability amongst programmers. It is literally the case that there can be a difference in productivity of about 50:1 between the best programmer and the worst. So you can't say "this is a three-man-year job". Also, there is considerable uncertainty in the time it can take to find and fix a bug - if your QA people turn up 30 bugs - you don't know whether you can fix them in 30 hours, 30 days or 30 weeks. These aren't problems for the actual programming team - but they cause total chaos for management who are trying to produce a particular product for a particular price and within a particular amount of time. About the only approach that works is to gather large-scale statistics - but that's only viable with vast pieces of work and vast programming teams. For a typical company with a dozen programmers working on a project, the variability between people and between 'hidden' task complexity makes any effort at a statistical approach pretty much worthless.

Almost all of the bewildering array of methodologies that I've been subject to over the years have made almost zero difference to the way the programmers actually work from day to day. They were all efforts to get a more reliable estimate of time & cost - I can't recall any that were an effort to reduce time and cost.

Other engineering disciplines have changed over the years - so many of them are using CAD systems of one kind or another that their processes are becoming more and more like software. You don't design a car, build the car and then test it anymore. You design the car and do preliminary testing in the computer - and only when you think you have the right thing do you go out and actually build one. Similarly with things like electronics. It can cost a million dollars to manufacture a small batch of prototype integrated circuits - so you can't possibly risk a design/build/test cycle - you have to design and simulate the device so that you have a near 100% certainty that the resulting chip will work first time.

SteveBaker (talk) 18:20, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Sounds about right. What managers often don't seemt o be able to appreciate is that people need a bit of quiet and a nice environment to get a bit of work done. I count every interruption as needing a quarter of an hour to get back into things again. About the difference in productivity, one place I was I suggested giving projects a super green priority if they were doing well in that one did not remove resources from them but let them finish what they were doing and then move on as a team to a problem area. But no that's too radical, they remove people from good teams penalizing them and stick them with other people who are making a mess. Dmcq (talk) 21:17, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I believe that the quarter-hour loss for each interruption is a huge under-estimate! If I'm deep "in the groove", I've wiggled my way into the depths of the problem and I'm keeping a complex set of concepts in short-term memory. If you interrupt me, then short-term memory is erased and I have to start all over again. That can waste an enormous amount of time. I explain to interrupters that programming is like juggling chainsaws. If someone interrupts you...yeah...it's like that. We try to do business via email - you can read that on your own schedule so it's not a distraction. I very often use email to talk to the guy who shares the office with me because I don't want to distract him. SteveBaker (talk) 00:09, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

One way around that problem is to make it seem that you're behind schedule and then, miraculously, manage to finish on time, so they all think you must be miracle workers. That's a little method I like to call the Scotty solution: "Ach, ya dunna expeck me ta rrrrite code to say 'Hello worrrrld' in but a single, wee man yearrrr, do ya now ? That's agin all tha laws of physics, it tis." StuRat (talk) 22:03, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Kirk did eventually cotton on to the fact that Scotty was simply multiplying all his repair estimates by four. --Tango (talk) 22:09, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

SteveBaker is correct in saying being kept up to date and predictable is extremely important to a manager. Hiding things and adjusting dates is the way to really get everybody in a mess and annoyed. Dmcq (talk) 22:34, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yeah - I agree. Their jobs are tough enough as it is. Don't make it any worse. I try to treat managers as a resource who are there to do things for ME. It's not uncommon for me to be more senior than my manager (and I certainly earn more than he does!) - if you can strike the right relationship with them and get them on your side - you can make better progress by helping them than by fighting them. SteveBaker (talk) 00:09, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

How are you defining "senior" and "manager"? With the usual definitions, being more senior than your manager is a contradiction in terms... --Tango (talk) 00:38, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily. Seniority is generally about either experience or pay grade. Management is about the process of organizing groups of people for the purpose of completing a task. There's nothing about being a manager, even a good one, that is predicated on being older, more experienced, or a higher pay grade than those you manage. In many settings, access to management positions is about term of service in a company; i.e. you just get promoted based on how long you've been around. This model is still in widespread use, but it has its limitations (see Peter Principle), and it isn't inconceivable to organize your company such that managment is a job given to people who have an aptitude for it, regardless of seniority, while prople who are good at their jobs are compensated for their skills and seniority, and still get to keep doing what they are good at, rather than getting made managers just for being old. --Jayron32 04:15, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Steve mentioned being paid more than his manager as a separate thing, so clearly isn't using pay grade to determine seniority. He could mean time-in-service, but that's usually only used to distinguish between people at the same level, isn't it? --Tango (talk) 15:32, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

@Tango: It's fairly simple - the computer games industry is a hard-nosed, intensely rational place. We realise that the skill-set you need to be a manager is diametrically opposed to those you need to be a game programmer (which is what I do) - engineers typically make terrible managers. So rather than promote engineers into management, we give them job titles like "lead engineer" or "technical lead" and we call our managers "directors" and "producers" (like in the movie business).

Managers don't get to make calls on technical matters (that's a job for the lead engineer) but they do get to drive staffing, deadlines, business matters, hiring and firing, budgets, long term goals, etc. The amount people get paid is more a matter of supply and demand - so if we can recruit good directors and producers for less money than good engineers, we do. Between managers, engineers, designers, artists and quality assurance, we have five separate career tracks - each with their own career progression and seniority. It's possible to change tracks in mid-career - but fairly uncommon (well, people don't spend long in QA because the pay and prestige is terrible - so often QA people switch tracks - but that's about the only kind of change you see). Obviously there are true managers in the conventional sense, but they are higher up the chain - steering "big picture" stuff.

The idea of "promoting" your best and most senior engineers into management is a completely irrational one - you lose your best engineers and gain your worst managers! Why the heck would you want to do that? If you need a manager, go and recruit one with lots of the right experience. Hence we end up with some really senior engineers - often with younger and less well paid producers and directors on their team. Our engineering career progression allows for the best engineers to earn a ton of money and to have a lot of technical responsibility - along with junior engineers to allow them to delegate work - but we don't stop them from doing hands-on engineering, they just do more of high level design and 'architecture' work and less of the detailed programming than the juniors.

We don't encourage a "boss" and "workers" mentality. As an engineer, your producers and directors are resources to help you to find work to do, obtain the funding, staff and time. As an engineer, when your producer/director says "we have to stop working on X and do Y instead - for some business need or other" - you listen to them and do what they tell you because you recognise that even though they might be younger, less well paid and have less years in the business, they have the management skills that (as an engineer) you probably lack. Conversely, if the lead programmer on a team says: "in order to get this task done, we need to take this technical approach which we estimate will consume this much people/time/budget - and I could really use the help of Joe from team-Z who knows this stuff", then the producer or director has to do what he/she can to get the people/budget/time lined up to do it. It's a two-way street - a symmetrical relationship - not "bosses and workers". I regard my managers as resources to get work done that I can't do myself - no different than designers, artists, QA guys, etc.

Time-in-service is not an explicit driver of anything. It tends to be that time-in-service relates to experience which equates to skill - which sets seniority. So older people tend to be at the higher pay grades - but we certainly have young people who rocket up in seniority just because they're good - and I suppose we have older people who never get bumped up...but those tend not to last long in the business. But we definitely don't have a system where "X years of experience means Y pay grade" - we have annual appraisals and people who are performing above their pay grade get promoted. People who are performing below their pay grade get an abrupt wake-up call - and if they don't do better soon, they get the boot.

SteveBaker (talk) 16:27, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I'd just like to note that I'm not sure the initial premise is correct. There are multiple engineering management methodologies. Some classics are Fordism and Taylorism. More modern ones include lean manufacturing. There are no doubt a lot—there are books written about this kind of thing. I think saying that "engineers in other disciplines seem to just get on with the job in hand" is probably incorrect. There are many ways in which engineering workflows are planned out and managed at a very high level. I am not an expert on this stuff but I get the impression that very few engineering operations are just a "get on with the job in hand" affair. (It might look like that to the lowest-level engineer, but that's no surprise.) There is a rich literature on studying engineering and management practices. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:09, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Peace Corps Training their volunteers

I am writing a ten page paper on the United States Peace Corps training program. This is not an easy subject to find inside information on! I have two questions. One is who funds the Peace Corps (taxpayers?) and two is how are the service countries selected? Do these countries ask for our help? What is the process? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.199.91.254 (talk) 07:09, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Did you read the article Peace Corps? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:48, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

name of shooting device

i saw this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRLCh0Re_LA&feature=PlayList&p=2CA7AB94E58204FB&playnext_from=PL&index=0

what is the name of the shooting device he is using? not the gun but the device that the gun is attached to that makes it have no recoil. its not called a bench rest because thats something else. i want to buy one and need to tell the gun store exactly what im talking about —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tom12350 (talk • contribs) 10:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I can see the gun recoil, it is on a sliding mount. You could print a still from the video and show it to the storekeeper. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:11, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Or just describe it. They are professionals who own their own store. They should be able to take your description and realize what you're talking about. Dismas|^(talk) 19:41, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Our article on benchrest shooting notes that most such systems are custom-made. 131.111.248.99 (talk) 23:28, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Indeed - the comments added beneath that YouTube video say that the guy in the video made that bench rest himself. This may be one of those things that money can't buy! SteveBaker (talk) 23:45, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

No article on sleeping positions?

I'm looking for an article with information benefits/warnings etc. for each sleeping position (front, back, side, etc.). Is there no article for this?? I seriously can't find it. 210.254.117.185 (talk) 11:25, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

If you Google "sleeping positions" you'll find plenty of (dubious) articles. I doubt it's a topic considered notable enough for a Wikipedia article. Most people unconsciously adjust their position while they sleep anyway. With the possible exception of very small babies, I doubt it matters what position you adopt for sleeping as long you are comfortable.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:04, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I did google it, and it seems to be universal that sleeping on back/side is better than sleeping on your front. Obviously I don't want to trust random websites, which is why I turn to Wikipedia. Certainly there must be some scientific literature on this, no? Even if it just states that any benefits are inconclusive. 210.254.117.185 (talk) 12:10, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

A Wikipedia article notes that a Neutral spine position is ideally maintained during Sleep. That is presumably the aim of Mattress designers, notably of the Orthopedic mattress (stub article) and mattresses of Memory foam. Lying in the same position for a long time can lead to Bed sores at the points of pressure. The linked article notes treatments such as turning the patient at least every two hours and using antidecubus mattresses and cushions that contain air chambers that are alternately pumped.

For infants, sleeping on the back has been recommended to reduce incidence of Sudden infant death syndrome based on theories that infants may, while face down, inhale their exhaled breath (high in carbon dioxide) or smother themselves on their bedding, or that babies sleep too soundly when placed on their stomachs to recover from breathing difficulties. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:41, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The advice for babies changes with dizzying speed - during the first six months of my son's life when we were paying attention to this stuff, the advice changed twice - and a year later, it went back to the first advice we'd gotten! For healthy adults and 'normal' sleeping patterns - I don't think it matters, we naturally change position as necessary as we sleep. If a person has some kind of health issue, then the advice might be more specific to your condition - and might perhaps be critically important. Our stock advice under those circumstances is: "If in doubt - ask a doctor". SteveBaker (talk) 17:10, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I like the old-timey advice on babies: "wrap them in swaddling clothes and hang them from a hook". That's one way to keep the rugrats from under foot. :-) StuRat (talk) 17:25, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

See Orthopedic pillow#Orthopedic pillows and sleep positions. -- Wavelength (talk) 15:44, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

From a Wikipedia viewpoint, I'm surprised that we don't have an article on it since I would think that quite a bit of research had been done on it, whether it be babies or adults. Dismas|^(talk) 19:38, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

You can rest easy now: Sleeping position. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:56, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The back-sleeping position is covered at supine position. ~AH1^(TCU) 01:26, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. The BBC personality thing seems a bit silly, but it's sourced so what can I say? I wonder if there are any sources that claim any benefits of choosing supine/prone sleeping positions are superficial. 210.254.117.185 (talk) 01:36, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I once read an article in USA Today, I think, about what your sleeping position (prone, semi-fetal, etc.) tells you about your personality. It also gave advice as to the compatibility of people with certain sleeping positions. It might have been based on this scientific (?) article: [22] -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:38, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Cheap fish products, less healthy than pricier?

Dear Wikipedians, I work as a fishmonger in Norway. Among our most popular products are fishcakes; meat from white fish held together by flour. The meat content is approximately 50-60% on our 'fine' cakes, and 75% on more roughly textured, higher quality fishcakes, typically haddock/cod/etc. Now, these first are perhaps 90 NOK/kg. However, the supermarkets can sell prefabricated products (mainly from argentina silus), and these can be around 25 NOK/kg. Their content is approx. 45% meat, and several additives to prolong duration, increase flavour, etc. I've been told that the meat used in these fishcakes come from the meat that is left on the Gr. Argentine's bones, after all meat has been cut away; they put them into big machines, hurl them around and collect the meat that comes off. Now, as unattractive as that sounds to any customer, is this meat less healthy? I am not about to be swayed in my opinion just by colourful talk, and would love it if someone knew if the meat is typically any less decent for human consumption. I would be very much obliged and thankful for any answers, in particular from those educated on the field in a more firsthand manner. Regards, 88.90.16.212 (talk) 13:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I can't answer for fish, but for (mammal) meat, the articles mechanically separated meat and advanced meat recovery discuss similar processes. The issue, at least for the former, is the amount of non-muscle material that ended up in the food product, and specifically the enhanced the from BSE that this might bring. I'm not aware of any specific risk from eating piscine nervous or connective tissue. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:37, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The issue (at least for large animals) is that the mechanical separation process can break the bones and result in things other than meat getting into the mix. The specific problem with BSE was that spinal cord material could get into the meat, and that is what contained the infectious agent ('prions') for mad cow disease - which can (in extremely rare cases) cause Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans. There was a lot of fuss over this - but only 166 people in the UK died from it, more people were struck by lightning over the same period.

The situation is very different for fish. Firstly, the bones are much lighter and less likely to break during this process - secondly, diseases cross species relatively easily within more closely related species - but quite rarely between distant relations. Cows and humans are a lot more closely related than fish and humans - so there is really a vastly lower chance of a disease spreading this way. All in all, without some actual research, I think you're on shaky ground in making any kind of health claim here.

If I'm being honest - I'd have to say that there is a good chance that the meat from argentina silus could actually be more healthy than your haddock/cod-based meat. Fish are known to accumulate toxins like mercury - and fish that are longer lived and higher in the food-chain are much more prone that than small fish from lower in the food chain. Of course, we'd have to wonder at the health risks from these 'additives' that the supermarket uses - and about how fresh they are compared to your version of the product.

On balance, I'd prefer your fishcakes in a heartbeat - but making specific health claims without careful research is probably inappropriate.

SteveBaker (talk) 17:00, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Whoa! Are you saying that more than 166 people died from lightning strikes in the UK during that period? Do you have a source?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:53, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

There's a fair old number of sources on the web, saying how many people are struck by the UK annually. This one [23] says that around 5 people in the UK are killed annually by lightning, and that the chances of being struck (which is what Steve said, not killed) are one in three million (per annum). So about 20 people are struck by lightning in the UK every year. --Phil Holmes (talk) 16:10, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Does a woman cry when they commit adultery with somebody for the first time?

I don't know if people would read sexist tones into this question. I have first hand knowledge of one who cried bitterly, desperately seeking consolation. I have heard many others narrating their experience. Almost every time there are tears at the first rendezvous. Why? Has anybody theorized on that? --117.204.85.60 (talk) 17:38, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Confirmation bias. I didn't. --TammyMoet (talk) 18:51, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Whether people cry or don't cry is always a matter of their emotional state (obviously). if anyone (man or woman) sleeps with someone and feels ashamed, bitter, sad, or etc. they may cry. if they feel good about it, they will have no inclination to cry whatsoever. I had an affair with a woman once that was one of the most joyous relationships either of us ever had (her marriage was on the rocks - no pleasure there at all). no one cried in that relationship until we broke up.

My view: if a woman cries after sex, it's a pretty damned good sign that you've taken advantage of her (caught her in a vulnerable moment and got her to do something she really wasn't ready to do). If it happens once you made a mistake, but if it happens twice you're a jerk, and the more it happens, the bigger the jerk you are. don't be a jerk. --Ludwigs2 19:19, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Worth noting that we can sometimes cry as just a result of having had an orgasm. "The question of the function or origin of emotional tears remains open", as it says at crying, and people cry at weddings and in moments of victory, etc. 86.21.204.137 (talk) 19:47, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

As the OP let me clarify that I was not talking about post-coitum sadness. The stories I heard also mention pre-sex tears. In my case, she started crying at first and I had to exert a lot to console her. I hadn't sex with her either. There were a lot of kisses and she left with a smile. I later asked her why she cried and her reply was that she felt I was being kind rather than love her. --117.204.80.19 (talk) 20:13, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

We're a Reference Desk. We really can't diagnose your specific, personal relationship issues. If you're asking whether all women do this, the answer is, "obviously not." If you're asking why this particular woman did this, there's no way we can really know much at this kind of distance. It's fairly obvious that sex in general, much less in an affair, is an emotionally powerful event for a lot of people. I'm not sure we're going to be able to get any more specific than that on here. Again, this is a Reference Desk. You wouldn't expect your local librarian to have much to say on this, would you? --Mr.98 (talk) 02:50, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Human beings are complex machines. The tears and sex alluded to have too many variables associated with them to allow for definitive explanation. Bus stop (talk) 03:28, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Actually my original question didn't ask for opinion but wanted to know if this matter has been dealt with in writings. --117.204.93.205 (talk) 09:34, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The article Crying is what we have. Your friend's answer is what you have. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 17:54, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I met a gay person once. Obviously everyone is gay.--92.251.185.162 (talk) 23:39, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Things to do in Kraków

What is there to do in Kraków for about two days? I'll be arriving in the centre of Krákow in the middle of July, in early afternoon, and leaving from the centre two days after that, in late evening.

When I was in Prague last year, I had a very nice time. I saw the Prague Castle, the Prague television tower, the Palac Akropolis, the Czech National Museum, the Prague Police Museum, and some island on the Vltava river right in the centre of Prague. I enjoyed every one of these very much, with the possible exception of the Prague Castle, which I felt was interesting as a historical monument, but beyond the fact that it was a historical monument and the architecture, there was little that held my personal interest.

But when I had a look at the Krákow tourist guide I bought, it seems to recommend almost exclusively churches. I couldn't be less interested in churches. In Prague, I only ever went to one, and even that only because it was in the Prague Castle I was already visiting. Other than churches, the only places even remotely interesting in Krákow I have found in the tourist guide are the cloth market (Sukiennice or something - I can't spell Polish words) and the National Museum. Is that all?

I've also thought of visiting Auschwitz, as I'm interested in World War II history, but I fear that the trip there will take an entire day, as it's located in another town entirely. Is there some sort of on-line timetable available about the practical details on how, where, and when to get from the centre of Kraków to Auschwitz and back? JIP | Talk 19:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Take a look at these rather detailed guides from WikiTravel on Krakow and Auschwitz. ~AH1^(TCU) 01:21, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

You just asked this a couple of weeks ago... Adam Bishop (talk) 02:16, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Why not look on a site like Lonely Planet. There should be some recommendations on there, and content from the guidebooks and you can post on the forums too. It's a pretty good site. Chevymontecarlo. 09:51, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm a native of Kraków, so I'd be glad to help, but perhaps you could first tell us what you are most interested in? If it's not churches and historical monuments, then what? Modern architecture? Art galleries? Technology museums? Local food and drinks? Music? Clubs and parties? Nature? Hiking, climbing, etc.?

For WWII history, there's the Kraków Ghetto in Podgórze (not the same as Kazimierz on the opposite side of the Vistula) with Tadeusz Pankiewicz's pharmacy, Oskar Schindler's enamelware factory, and the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. There's also a small Home Army Museum, but it's not the big hit that the Warsaw Uprising Museum is. The Polish Aviation Museum should be interesting for you though. And for the aftermath of WWII in Kraków, you may want to visit Nowa Huta.

You can search for train and bus connections here and here. Just remember that Auschwitz is called Oświęcim in Polish. — Kpalion^(talk) 12:59, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Things I would be interested in: Museums - national museums, and museums about exotic topics, like the Prague Police Museum. Art galleries. Buildings with interesting architecture (like the television tower and the Dancing House in Prague) - I guess this would mostly include modern architecture. Large outdoor parks (the Englischer Garten in Munich is one of my favourites). Restaurants serving local food. Pubs. I won't be staying long enough to have time to go to clubs or parties, and I'll probably be tired enough from the rail trips to be able to go on hiking or climbing trips. Does this help? JIP | Talk 15:47, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

To be honest, it's not easy to answer your question because churches and historical monuments are really Kraków's best. It's like recommending Yellowstone to someone who can't be bothered with all those geysers, grizzlies and petrified trees. While Kraków has a lot of beatiful medieval and renaissance architecture, it doesn't have much modern architecture – certainly nothing comparable to Prague's Dancing House or TV tower. That said, I hope you find something to your taste there.

The most recommendable museum – the Czartoryski Museum – is unfortunately closed for renovation. But you might want to visit some of the art collections at the Wawel Castle – especially the State Rooms, the center of Poland's political power at the height of her might and glory. There's much contemporary art at the National Museum. For more exotic museums, you can try the Aviation Museum I already mentioned, Museum of Municipal Engineering (mostly old buses and trams), Insurance Museum, Stained Glass Museum, Ethnographic Museum, Pharmacy Museum, and Museum of the History of Photography. And then there's of course the Wieliczka Salt Mine, certainly woth visiting, but you'd need to travel a little outside Kraków. The Planty is a nice park that goes around the Old Town; in fact, it was created in place of old city walls and moats, and a small fragment of medieval fortifications that have been preserved – the Florian Gate and the Barbican – are a nice bonus. There's also the Błonia commons west of the National Museum – unique for being a huge stretch of meadow right in the city center.

There's a wide range of places serving local food, from street stands selling obwarzanki (Old Town) and zapiekanki (Kazimierz) to "milk bars" (cheap "fast food" joints dating back to Communist times, but a great way to sample real hearty local food like that which people eat at home) to expensive elegant restaurants like Wierzynek, Hawełka and Pod Aniołami. More restuarants at Cracow Life. Events scheduled for mid-July in Kraków include a street theater festival (8-11 July), commemorations the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald (15 July), a gala of pyrotechnical art (17-18 July), and the Jazz Night (18/19 July). Any more questions, please let me know. — Kpalion^(talk) 19:09, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your replies. Based on them, I have found some interesting places, mostly museums and World War II history sites, very near the centre of Kraków. I will have to mark them up on a map of Kraków so I can plan what I can go visit when. Most of them fit inside an area of about ten square kilometres, which is very well within the limits of where I can walk, so I will only have to make sure to have a good enough street map to prevent me from getting lost. I don't think I will be bothering to travel outside Kraków. I had a look at each three of the webpages of the "elegant restaurants" provided above. Their prices are certainly within my budget. The prices of the main courses are over twice what I'm prepared to pay for a normal working day lunch, but this is going to be a holiday, and good dining is part of it. It's expected it's going to cost more than a normal working day lunch. JIP | Talk 19:34, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Kiyoshi Tanimoto

What was his address and how do you write his name in kanji? --75.33.219.230 (talk) 19:35, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

His name was 谷本清 in Kanji. The Japanese Wikipedia article about him is here. You're asking for his address? All I can tell you is that he was born in Sakaide City in Kagawa Prefecture. The article says he was pastor of Nagarekawa Church in Naka Ward of Hiroshima City until 1982. The Japanese Wikipedia article on this church is here. Do you need the address of the church? This navi page says it's 広島県広島市　中区上幟町 ８−３３ --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 20:05, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

What's the address in regular letters? --75.33.219.230 (talk) 18:13, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

8-33 Kaminobori Cho, Naka Ku, Hiroshima Shi, Hiroshima Ken. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:50, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

May 2

Any idea what is on the bottom of this plaque Bill Clinton is holding?

I'm quite puzzled by what the bottom item on the plaque could possibly be? [24] 61.161.170.254 (talk) 00:53, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

It looks like the outline of a country or state (or some other geographic region). I don't recognise it, though. --Tango (talk) 01:01, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

It doesn't look like any of the US states. Nor does it seem to be Queens, New York where the US Open is held. Nor the Tennis Center where it is held. Dismas|^(talk) 01:39, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

It could be a souvenir from the grounds. I can't think what, since the U.S. Open is played on hardcourt and not clay or grass, either of which would be easier to "take" as a souvenir. But that's my best WAG. --Jayron32 01:55, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Wouldn't matter. He still wouldn't have inhaled. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:58, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Does the text here tell anything that could help? --Магьосник (talk) 03:52, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Not really. The only text related to the image says basically "The president met with the U.S. Open winners. Serena Williams changed her hair for the event." Nothing about the plaque itself. --Jayron32 03:56, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The court was green and [25] says: The singles finals were played on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. [Joe] Favorito said Agassi and Williams will present President Clinton with "a piece of the court," during an exchange of mementos in the Oval Office. I haven't found a source connecting this more directly to the image. PrimeHunter (talk) 04:01, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Clinton hid his disappointment well, after finding out what they meant when they said an "Open piece" was his for the taking in the Oval Office. :-) StuRat (talk) 04:53, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Clinton could cure cancer since he left office, those jokes will still not get old. Prokhorovka (talk) 18:40, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Persians-Mughals

I am confused as to how, almost 2000 years later, the Mughals put a distinctively Persian cultural gloss on their nascent empire. How was this culture ,the Persian, maintained for so long without a base country to nurse it? Further, it is my view that there is absolutely no connection, except for the land, between ancient Persians and the vast majority of today’s Iranians.

Arthur Finn,<email removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.118.52.147 (talk) 02:25, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

That may be your view, but it is unsupported by any reliable historical study. --Jayron32 02:27, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

To your first question, "Persia" is a term used to describe Iran at pretty much any point in history, and the Mughals were getting a Persian influence from the Persia that existed at that time, not the Achaemenid Empire which is sometimes referred to as the "Persian Empire". The term "Persian" has indeed been applied to many different cultures living in what is now called Iran, but if you check out History of Iran you'll see that while the culture of Iran has undergone many changes, there are also aspects that have held over from previous periods. Buddy431 (talk) 04:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

downloading in google chrome

when u download in google chrome, there's this download page which keeps track of all the downloads you do. but, suppose, let's say, you are downloading something, and halfway through, there's a powercut. so your download gets cancelled and you have to start all over again. it happens with me very often. so, can anyone help me find some software which would resume the download when i restart my computer??

plz i seriously need help on this!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.197.236.47 (talk) 07:05, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The Computing Reference Desk is here. Dismas|^(talk) 07:12, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, please ask questions to do with computers and technology at the Computing Reference Desk. Chevymontecarlo. 09:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Oven temperatures

What does an oven use to measure the temperature? If it uses a thermometer, is it a digital one and where would it be located? Is it actually inside the oven cooking area or recessed into the walls? Chevymontecarlo. 09:47, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

On my oven, there is a temperature probe that sticks into the oven from the back wall. It's in the upper left hand corner as you're looking in. I've replaced it before and it was a quick 15 minute job. Dismas|^(talk) 09:51, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

On a fancy digital oven with temperature readout and such, it might be a digital thermometer - but in cheaper ovens with simple dial controls, it's just a thermostat. The design varies a lot from one oven to the next. If you need to find/replace one, I suggest doing a Google search for the make and model number of your oven and the words "oven thermostat" or "oven thermometer". You'll find half a dozen companies selling that part - and it's usually pretty obvious how to replace it if you look carefully inside the oven. SteveBaker (talk) 15:31, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Hang on, Steve, I don't see how that makes sense. An adjustable thermostat, as I understand it, consists of a bimetallic strip, an electrical switch, and a control affecting how the two are positioned in relation to each other (i.e. how far the strip has to bend in order to operate the switch). How's that possible when the control is distant from the oven? I mean, I'm sure there's a thermostat involved, but there can't be just a thermostat. --Anonymous, 20:37 UTC, May 2, 2010.

Why not? Old dial ovens don't give a readout of the temperature, they just cycle on-and-off based on where you set the oven temperature dial. No need for an actual thermometer; a calibrated thermostat is all that is needed. --Jayron32 03:21, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Of course. But I don't see what the physical arrangement is, for it to be "just a thermostat". If the thermostat is inside the oven, how does the dial control affect the way the switch is positioned in relation to the bimetallic strip? And if it isn't inside the oven, how does it respond properly to the temperature inside? See what I mean now? --Anonymous, 05:20 UTC, May 3, 2010.

I don't see why the thermostat (bimetallic strip) couldn't be connected to the dial by means of some sort of pushrod or cable. --Jayron32 05:58, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Anti-vandalism names

Where did the commonly used vandal-reverting tools Twinkle and Huggle get their names? And why are there several more that nobody seems to use? What are the differences? 2D Backfire Master ^{pretzels rule} 13:31, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

AzaToth developed Twinkle and Gurch developed Huggle, so you may wanna ask them. As for why people don't use other anti-vandalism tools as often, there's a myriad of reasons why. Some of them you have to be an admin or obtain a certain level of rights to use them, and some of them are either outdated or not as convenient to use. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 20:23, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I was under the impression gurch named it huggle simply because he "huggles" everyone each time he enters an IRC chat room.--92.251.185.162 (talk) 23:33, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Google was not very helpful. One source suggested these were inside jokes about gays, but I suspect they were being facetious. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

UN veto records

Is there a searchable online record of vetoed Security Council motions? I want to know if there was a Soviet veto on a French motion to send a warship to Mahe, a French occupied territory in India, in 1954 --117.204.83.105 (talk) 15:37, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

This site (http://unbisnet.un.org:8080/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=voting&menu=search&submenu=power#focus) seems to be the voting records archive you want. ny156uk (talk) 17:36, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Submarine

Why does the crews of the submarine stand on the top of it when it comes into habor? --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 20:15, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

"Manning Ship - A ceremonial mark of salutation, originally as shewing your peaceful intentions, in that with all hands on deck you could have no guns manned. The present method of manning ship - along the sides of the upper deck - was introduced (to the Royal Navy) in 1873, replacing the manning of yards and rigging which by then had largely disappeared"[26]. Alansplodge (talk) 20:39, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Presumably at least one man stays below, to drive it? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

A number no doubt do stay below. The idea that it would in effect prove no malicious intent is outdated today, to be sure (especially since so much of this sort of thing is computerized). Even in the 19th century it was probably more a gesture of goodwill than a guarantee. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:01, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

British Rail Class 220

Are these trains British Rail Class 220?

• 
  Picture 1
• 
  Picture 2
• movie 1

If not what Classes are these? --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 20:22, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, they are - ex Virgin Voyager, now Cross Country. You can even see the "220" on the lower bodyside in this one. FiggyBee (talk) 03:46, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Short list of the most important general skills

I'm looking for a short list (say top 10 or top 20) of the most important general skills a young person can learn. The skills should be learnable, be of great general applicability or practical importance, and whose mastery tends to make a significant difference in a person's life, regardless of the person's chosen field of pursuit. I understand that on a question like this, opinions differ, but I'm hoping that there is good agreement on at least the top few items. --98.114.146.58 (talk) 21:39, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

• The three Rs Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:07, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
• This question appears to make certain assumptions about "where he is". Look at the hierarchy of needs and that will tell you what's important. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:16, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

In the last decade or so, British universitites emphasis so called "transferrable skills". Many are embedded into PDP (personal development portfolio). It is a complete waste of students and teachers time. The pipe dream of mastery on some general skills without or little core discipline knowledge. Get a part time would gain more life skills plus pocket money. --Chan Tai Man 22:17, 2 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chantaiman (talk • contribs)

If you're a Sherpa, knowledge of survival in the mountains is probably way much more important than knowing how to read the collected works of Shake-speare. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:32, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

There are plenty of skills that are useful regardless of your chosen career, but they aren't usually as useful as the ones that are specific to your career (beyond the three R's, as Graeme mentions). --Tango (talk) 22:40, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The three R's are not required for survival. Helpful, maybe, but not required. And they would be pretty much useless if you suddenly found yourself in the middle of a foreign land where no one speaks your language. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:45, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Who said anything about the basics for survival? Read the question, it is asking about general knowledge, not "I am living in a Cormac McCarthy novel" knowledge. And I disagree that knowing how to read and write in your language (especially English) is not useful when "in the middle of a foreign land". You might not have someone nearby who can read it, but if you can communicate with people at a distance (even through old-fashioned hand mail), you'll be at an advantage to an illiterate. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:45, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

The question is rather vague, so a wide range of answers is possible. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:02, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Since I'm the OP, I can provide some clarification. I think Mr.98 has the right idea about what the question is about. I have my own candidates for the list, but I'd like to hear other people's views. I was surprised that critical thinking skills didn't get mentioned more times—IMO it's one of the top generally applicable skills and is helpful whether you're a doctor, lawyer, politician, auto mechanic, or just trying to be a responsible citizen. Another skill that I consider important is the skill to learn things effectively and efficiently, on your own, making good use of all the resources available. College education cannot prepare a person to be an expert in every possible specialties within he/her field. A lot of in-depth expertise will need to be acquired on the job or as needs arise. These are the kind of general skills I had in mind when I asked the question. --98.114.146.58 (talk) 03:46, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." - Lazarus Long -- Dismas|^(talk) 23:21, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Here's a few: how to cook, morse code, how to behave in a group, how to drive, how to defend yourself, how to make gunpowder (yes even today). Another would be how to live life without worrying about why you are here, how you got here, death, or the solar system dying in a few billion years time. Those thigns are depressing, and can't affect your life in any way, yet are there any of us who don't sometimes worry about crap like that for no reason?--92.251.185.162 (talk) 23:30, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Morse code? I've yet to find that ever useful in my life and I doubt I will. I'm not even sure exactly how relevant it is to emergency situations these days. And I would disagree that one's own mortality is worth ignoring—it can be a pretty useful tool by which to decide exactly what one really wants to do with one's life. I don't see making gunpowder as particularly useful (better to just save up bullets, in my opinion, if one is worried about surviving some kind of collapse of civilization). --Mr.98 (talk) 23:40, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

A very basic understanding of mathematics and statistics is quite useful for many different walks of life. Literacy is important in most countries in the world. Being able to articulate yourself clearly is useful in almost all occupations that I know of. Being able to manage one's own finances is an under-appreciated skill. Critical thinking skills are generally applicable and quite useful (though hard to define). Touch-typing is a pretty-valuable skill in most industrialized countries at the present time. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Also tae a look at soft skills. ~AH1^(TCU) 23:56, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

I did a Google search for "Short list of the most important general skills" and the first result was the following.

• 10 Skills You Need to Succeed at Almost Anything - Stepcase Lifehack

(public speaking, writing, self-management, networking, critical thinking, decision-making, math, research, relaxation, basic accounting)

You can do the same search to find more results. -- Wavelength (talk) 04:13, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

"You invented the wheel today, Thag? Not bad. But check out these debits and credits!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:44, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Emery board

The two sides of an emery board are very distinct from one another. What is the material used on each side? And, more importantly, for what specific purpose does a person use each side? The Wikipedia article on Emery board was not helpful for my question. I always assumed that one side was to file down the finger nail ... and that the other side was to buff it or to smooth it out, after the filing is complete. But this is only a guess. Any insights? Thanks. (64.252.65.146 (talk) 21:52, 2 May 2010 (UTC))

I think that's exactly right. In the common one, the brown side has rougher grains, so it's for filing down quickly, while the beige side has finer grains, for buffing. As for the material, I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it's emery. :-) StuRat (talk) 22:06, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Oh ... in other words, both sides are actually made of emery? I assumed that one side was made of emery ... but I was unsure of the other ("different") side. Thanks. (64.252.65.146 (talk) 23:02, 2 May 2010 (UTC))

May 3

Mineshaft

Is/was there really an S&M gay club of that name? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 00:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

In what jurisdiction? The world is a big place. What part of the world supposedly had such a club? --Jayron32 00:51, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

NYC. At least that's what I heard. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 01:08, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Have you used Google? This is the first hit. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:28, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Right, I don't know why Google failed to enter my mind. It's just that someone in a video was wearing a shirt with the name and emblem on it, and someone commented about its ties to the club. So I got super-curious and came straight here. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 01:52, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Doing anything "straight" won't get you very far if you're interested in gay clubs.  :) -- 202.142.129.66 (talk) 02:46, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Hey now, I didn't mean I was curious in that sense. ;) 24.189.90.68 (talk) 03:11, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Not that there's anything wrong with that.  :) Dismas|^(talk) 05:28, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Garfield Vault

When I try to read the Garfield comic strips at http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html, the screen where the strip is usually displayed is blank. What do I need to download that will allow me to view the comic strips?--ChromeWire (talk) 00:04, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

It's a problem with the website (on mine it says that this is the strip for "Undefined, NAN NAN", which is computer talk for "Something has gone horribly wrong"). So probably just wait until tomorrow and it'll probably be fixed. --Mr.98 (talk) 00:57, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Ok thanks. --ChromeWire (talk) 01:33, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

TELKOM SA

I would like to know what different function codes there are for telkom telephone users. When you dial *31* before the actual contact number you automatically hide your caller I.D. I would like to know if there is any more functions you can use for private use? I cant find it on any site or on Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.195.192.70 (talk) 07:38, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Ipod

My ipod, when put onto shuffle will play various songs for hours on end, howver, if it plays one slayer song it will thenshuffle between only slayer songs for the next few hours, why is this?