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March 11

TV show

I vaguely remember watching a reality TV show, on the History Channel I think, maybe 10 years ago, maybe more, which involved several teams composed from various American special ops people (and SWAT cops) which competed on various semi-combat scenarios, like hostage taking, etc. Does anyone know what I am talking about and can remind me what it was called? --216.239.45.130 (talk) 05:44, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Combat Missions. Livewireo (talk) 06:57, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's it, thanks. --216.239.45.130 (talk) 06:59, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Such a great show. A shame they only did one season. UltraExactZZ ^Said~ Did 18:30, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday morning, coming down

Was the lyric "Wishing, lord, that I was stoned" meant to mean what it would be taken to mean now? Stanstaple (talk) 22:32, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Given that it was written in the late 1960s, almost certainly yes. Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:47, 11 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What do you think it means now? It can also mean "drunk". I would normally think it refers to drugs, but in that song I thought it referred to alcohol. Adam Bishop (talk) 10:34, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It indeed meant "drunk" as well as "under the influence of marijuana". By the late 60s, "stoned" had pretty much taken on the latter meaning completely, as per the mid-60s song in which Dylan sang, "everybody must get stoned." As noted in EO,[1] the term arose in the 30s and meant either drunk or on-drugs. Stoned originally meant pelted with stones (that double meaning is what Dylan alludes to), and someone highly-intoxicated might give the impression of someone who had survived a stoning (note the similar expression, "smashed", which primarily refers to alcohol). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:20, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The term "stoned" as in "stone drunk" i.e. alcohol intoxication, remained a prominent use of the term at least until the 1970's. See "Piano Man", which has the line "The waitresses practicing politics/While the businessmen slowly get stoned" refering to men getting drunk in a bar. "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" most certainly refers to this usage as well, as in the line "The beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad/So I had one more for dessert". I think the confusion arises from the fact that stoned probably meant intoxication in a very general sense, in other words it didn't matter whether the intoxicating substance was ethanol, THC, or LSD, the term was the same. Eventually, and probably not until the 1980's, the term stoned began to refer exclusively to a marijuana high... --Jayron32 16:44, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent point. I had forgotten about the Billy Joel lyric. Of course, he needed something to (almost) rhyme with "alone". But it seems like we're talking about a cultural crossover time, where the one use displaced the other, as marijuana went from being marginal to being relatively widely used. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:13, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The OED cites the following quotes for stoned meaning drunk from 1952 to 1976:

1952 Life 29 Sept. 67/2 Like boiled snails, bop jokes certainly are not everybody's dish, but those who acquire the taste for them feel cool, gone, crazy and stoned.

1952 Life 29 Sept. 67/3 Stoned, drunk, captivated, ecstatic, sent out of this world.

1955 Amer. Speech 30 305 Stoned out of his skull, intoxicated to an intense degree.

1957 J. Kerouac On Road i. xiii. 90, I had finished the wine‥and I was proper stoned.

1968 Listener 28 Nov. 735/2 He would only be taken in charge if he was drunk: were he to spend his ten shillings on getting stoned out of his mind the police would happily accommodate him.

1972 R. Reid Canadian Style (1973) iv. 144 Then they all laugh and get stoned.

1976 P. Cave High Flying Birds ii. 18 We drive off the ferry at Roscoff late in the afternoon, both well and truly stoned on cut-price booze.

However, it also cites these following quotes for stoned meaning high for more or less the same time span:

1953 H. J. Anslinger & W. F. Tompkins Traffic in Narcotics 315 Stoned, under the influence of drugs.

1956 ‘E. McBain’ Cop Hater (1958) ix. 85 You're an H-man‥and we know you copped three decks a little while back. Are you stoned now, or can you read me?

1967 M. M. Glatt et al. Drug Scene viii. 97 Addicts know these dangers, one for example describing graphically how in a ‘stoned’ state he had stepped out in front of a car.

1971 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird x. 129 They're all lying around in there wearing beads and stoned out of their skulls on French Blues.

1981 M. Leitch Silver's City viii. 65 If he'd been pissed, he reflected, instead of stoned, he might still be in khaki, but, as it was, the old man had a down on drugs, and so it was a dishonourable discharge or nothing.

The lyrics to the second verse of the song are "I'd smoked my brain the night before/on cigarettes and songs that I'd been pickin', but I lit my first and watched a small kid/cussin' at a can that he was kickin." "Smoked my brain" kind of sounds like it implicates pot, but he specifically mentions cigarettes and lights one Sunday morning. If it had been a marijuana cigarette, he would be stoned (high) and not have to be wishing for it, so I'd say the intended meaning was drunk. --some jerk on the Internet (talk) 16:43, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 12

User name

How can I change the user name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.217.216.56 (talk) 02:11, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

User name of what? -- kainaw ™ 03:17, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Read Wikipedia:Changing username for this joint. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:15, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Name of girl in 1980s Flake ad

Does anyone who had lived in the UK or Ireland in about 1982 happen to remember the Flake chocolate bar ad which shows a beautiful girl with wavy dark hair seated at the back of a gypsy wagon eating the chocolate? What was this model's name? Thank you.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 08:40, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is this the ad you're referring to? Just figured that showing the ad might be helpful. Dismas|^(talk) 09:04, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the link. I now know the girl's name is Janis Levy. I loved that ad. Everytime I saw it on tv, I made my boyfriend go out to the local shop and buy me a Flake!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 09:12, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Everytime?! If I were him, I'd have just kept a supply of them outside the door. :-) Dismas|^(talk) 09:38, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We were both on the dole (Irish, not UK) back then which would have precipated an economic disaster in our household had he kept a supply of the delicious sticks on hand, tempting as that sounds in retrospect.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:17, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It couldn't have been Janis Levy in the 1982 ad as her interview said she was 16 in 1985 when she did the ad. I read in another article that the Flake girl in the early 80s was Marilyn Crossey who died of cancer at 52.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:19, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Films based on songs

I'm watching Convoy (1978 film), a movie based on the song, Convoy (song). It got me wondering: Are there any other movies that were based on a song? We don't seem to have a List of films based on songs. Are there any other films based off of a song? (For the purposes of this question, music videos like Michael Jackson's Thriller don't count.) A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 17:08, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There are lots of movies named after songs, but probably very few are actually based on them. (e.g. Stand By Me doesn't count.) Even so, there's Yellow Submarine, and maybe Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Staecker (talk) 17:35, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Might as well include A Hard Day's Night and Help! too, though the song didn't really dictate the plot. Staecker (talk) 17:37, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

And Magical Mystery Tour, obviously. Staecker (talk) 17:44, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Naturally there is an article on this: Films based on songs --TrogWoolley (talk) 17:53, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

But our category of films based on songs is as nothing compared to IMDb's, which lists 106 of them. EDIT: Except that looking closer I find about half of them are TV shows. --Antiquary (talk) 19:30, 12 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 13

Nora?

In Twinworld, when you lose your last life and it's Game Over, you are presented with a picture of a wrinkly old hag with a necklace around her neck saying "NORA". Is there any special significance to this? Does the name Nora have any specific significance related to death, defeat, or failure in some culture? Or could this be some sort of in-joke by the game's programmers? In which case, does anyone know why? The game's backstory in the manual makes no reference to anyone called Nora. JIP | Talk 11:03, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Check out Nora Balling. It has this picture, and an explanation.

Does that help? HiLo48 (talk) 11:13, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the answer. It appears, then, that only the hag herself has any real significance in the "Game Over" screen, and the programmers just added the "NORA" necklace as a joke. I had never heard of Nora Balling or the necklace before so this had been puzzling me for two decades. JIP | Talk 11:18, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Identifying Music Chords

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmpUbuhkEU#t=1m44s Could somebody please say what chords the guitarist is playing? I'm thinking a sixth but my ears are terrible. 89.168.109.215 (talk) 13:27, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The way I hear it (but I'm not a guitarist), it's basically a diminished triad chord with a diminished seventh added in ( G#, B, D, F). The diminished seventh is enharmonically equivalent to the major sixth (E#), so you were on to something there. ---Sluzzelin talk 23:45, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for name of a musical instrument

I saw a half hour act tonight of 5 women singing a capella, with occasional use of an instrument I hadn't seen before. It looked like a small briefcase, which opened up slightly, and made a droning sound. One of the performers called it what sounded like "a shrewd box", but I haven't been able to find anything named like that. It opened up on both sides, with some fabric between the doors and inside, but they weren't playing it like an accordion, and it just seemed to be held slightly open to make the droning sound which was rather like a bagpipe drone. There were a number of flat white pieces about 2cm long and 0.5cm wide which could be moved (one of the performers did this at one point, but not while the sound was playing) which were flat upon one of the sides. Does anyone know what it was? Snorgle (talk) 23:15, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds a bit like the Northumbrian pipes, or perhaps you could find it in Category:Bagpipes. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 23:27, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My guess is a shruti box. ---Sluzzelin talk 23:35, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks - that's it exactly! I've never heard of it or seen it before. Snorgle (talk) 01:02, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 14

Harrington

Is actor Desmond Harrington related to Al Harrington (actor); neither article suggests a connection. Astronaut (talk) 01:51, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Checking them both on the IMBD I strongly suspect no. For 2 reasons - 1) Al Harrington's name is a stage name (though Desmond Harrington's could be too?) and 2) Their birth places are significantly different (thoguh obviously people can move between having children and relations don't necessarily live close to each other). ny156uk (talk) 15:59, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wolf 359

Was the name "Wolf 359", used in the Star Trek Battle of Wolf 359, used as an homage to Wolf 359 (The Outer Limits) ? StuRat (talk) 09:13, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It is a reference to the star, Wolf 359 (which you linked), that is named after Max Wolf. -- kainaw ™ 12:24, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Right, but there are billions of stars, and the same one being used by two different US sci-fi TV shows seems like quite a coincidence, unless there is something about that star that makes it "special". Perhaps being the third closest solar system to ours is enough ? StuRat (talk) 13:21, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that star system was chosen because it was close to Earth and suggested immediate peril for Earth (a founding member of The Federation and home of Starfleet HQ) should they lose. The plot of the Outer Limits episode seems unrelated except for the title. Astronaut (talk) 12:47, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It has been used several other times in fiction as well, some of them predating the Star Trek episode. In Star Trek, it's close to Earth, but not too close (like the Centauri system, which already had other things associated with it in the Star Trek universe), and it has a cool name (unlike the second-closest, Barnard's Star). Adam Bishop (talk) 13:36, 14 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 15

LYNNE NIXON OF THE AQUATONES

You mention that the above mentioned died in 2001. What was her age? What did she die from? How old was she when she sang the song "You" in 1958? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.242.92.164 (talk) 01:16, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

According to this, she died at the age of 60. That would make her around 17 when "You" came out. I can't find anything about the cause of death. Matt Deres (talk) 04:20, 15 March 2011 (UTC) Okay, according to this she died after a long battle with cancer. Neither site is exactly the New York Times, though. Matt Deres (talk) 04:26, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

According to this - apparently uploaded by her daughter - she was born on 22 March 1941 and died of cancer on 9 January 2001, so she would have been 59 at the time of her death and 17 in 1958. Ghmyrtle (talk) 13:12, 15 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 16

Academy Award winners

By coincidence, I ran across the photograph at the article on this page: Candleshoe. I noticed, from the photo, that the film stars David Niven, Helen Hayes, and Jodie Foster. My first reaction was, "wow, all three stars of this film are Oscar winners". So, I was wondering ... what film features the greatest number of Oscar winners (that is, either actors who have already won their Oscars ... or, as in the case of Candleshoe here, those who would later go on to win their Oscars)? Does anyone have any idea? Thanks! (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 15:39, 16 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Putting "film with most oscar winners" into Google gave me this site as one of the top results. It looks like Hamlet and Murder on the Orient Express tie at 9 a piece. Dismas|^(talk) 16:00, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's an interesting site. Thanks. I guess I should have clarified my question ... I am referring only to Oscar acting winners ... not Best Directors, Best Cinematographers, etc. Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:21, 16 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]

In terms of acting awards, just off the top of my head, both The Godfather and The Godfather Part II have at least 4 academy award acting winners, including Al Pacino, Dianne Keaton, Robert Duvall, Marlon Brando (Part I only), and Robert DeNiro (Part II only). For your purposes, all of them won at least one academy award either before (in the case of Brando) or after (for the rest) the Godfather films. As an aside, one of the other actors in The Godfather Parts I and II, John Cazale, has the interesting distinction of never having appeared in a film that did NOT get nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Quite an impressive streak. --Jayron32 16:48, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I was guessing that the answer might be The Towering Inferno, but according to IMDb it's The Player, which features 12 Oscar-winning actors: Cher, James Coburn, Louise Fletcher, Whoopi Goldberg, Joel Grey, Anjelica Huston, Jack Lemmon, Marlee Matlin, Tim Robbins, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Rod Steiger. Sydney Pollack also has a walk-on part, but his Oscars were for directing and producing. --Antiquary (talk) 18:44, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, twelve! Pretty amazing! Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:00, 16 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]

That movie came up on the first site mentioned above, as a "special mention", because 10 of the Oscar winners cameo as themselves: Sarandon, Roberts, Huston, Cher, Lemmon, Coburn, Fletcher, Grey, Matlin and Steiger. If you're looking for a movie with substantial and non-cameo appearances by Oscar winners, The Player would not qualify. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 19:08, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good point, Jack. The Player seemed to hire these people simply because they were "famous actors" and used them in the film per se (hence, cameo appearances as themselves). In my book, that's hardly, ummm, "acting". I was indeed thinking of performance roles that required some, ummm, "acting" on the part of the actor. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:48, 16 March 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Obama's brackets

Where can I see President Obama's NCAA bracket for this year? All I can find are stories about the bracket and his filling them out but not what he actually picked. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 21:33, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

~~Nevermind. Finally got it. [2]~~ Dismas|^(talk) 21:35, 16 March 2011 (UTC) Crap! That's 2010 again! Still looking... Dismas|^(talk) 21:41, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/en/entry?entryID=4267886 ? Nanonic (talk) 22:06, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Dismas|^(talk) 22:12, 16 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

March 17

more famous dancer

Please add in your list of the famous Dancers - Vakhtang Chabukiani. He was a star in Russian and Georgian ballet. You have Plisetskaya and do not have him? It is strange. He was the best in the Soviet Union. Thank you If you need my help, I can creat infomation about him. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.255.200.77 (talk) 02:17, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There is no List of famous dancers at Wikipedia, so I have no idea where you saw such a list. There is, however, an extensive article about him at Vakhtang Chabukiani. It could use some improvement in the area of referencing, but it is otherwise extensive and well written. --Jayron32 02:32, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

On the contrary, there are lots of lists of famous dancers on Wikipedia: List of Russian ballet dancers, List of dancers, List of dance personalities, List of Georgians (country)#Ballet dancers... As to why Vakhtang Chabukiani is not included - that's because nobody added him yet. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:02, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I know there are lists of dancers, just that I didn't know which one the OP was complaining about, as List of famous dancers, the title they gave, does not exist. --Jayron32 12:39, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it was as precise as that, Jayron32. They mentioned "your list of the famous Dancers", which could mean many things, including a category. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 12:53, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Does anyone know why Aquarium from The Carnival of the Animals reminds me of Harry Potter?

Does anyone know why Aquarium from The Carnival of the Animals reminds me of Harry Potter? i.e. was it on one of the soundtracks? BlueWaves9 (talk) 06:56, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You're not the only one, according to Google! I don't think it was in the movies, but modern film composers are, well, let's say "easily inspired" by older orchestral works. For example, any science fiction soundtrack is pretty much just Holst's Planets. Adam Bishop (talk) 07:42, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, okay. Thanks. BlueWaves9 (talk) 08:21, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm looking for this CNN newscast of New Orleans in Spring 2006 - with Anderson Cooper. Please help me find it?

It was between March 20th-26th, 2006, and Anderson Cooper made a news story about college students volunteering their Spring Break down in New Orleans to help clean up after Katrina. CNN's Gulf Coast Bureau filmed at a volunteer compound that used to be a warehouse. I was there, and in the crowd that CNN filmed. (I wasn't interviewed, but I'm sure I was seen on the cameras.)

I haven't seen it since. Would anyone please be able to find that footage? Thanks a lot! --70.179.169.115 (talk) 08:13, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2006/03/24/cooper.nola.volunteers.cnn BlueWaves9 (talk) 08:15, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, that's probably it, but it doesn't seem to play. I'll keep looking. BlueWaves9 (talk) 08:24, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the transcript: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/23/sbt.01.html Apparently it's impossible to view videos on CNN.com that are that old. Not sure why. Good luck! BlueWaves9 (talk) 08:30, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Song with the line "oh way oh"

Ok, this is going to be difficult, not least because google isn't helping much, but I heard music piping out of a neighbour's flat that sounded so good, I just had to try and hunt it down. The song had a male vocalist, with backing music that sounded a bit like 80s rock, reminiscent of, say, The Sports (Who Listens to the Radio?), but I couldn't catch any of the lyrics except the oft-repeated hookline, "Oh way oh, oh way oh." That's not a lot to go on, and google keeps giving me some Santana duet with Jorge Moreno, which is nothing like the song I'm looking for. It goes "Oh way oh," with the last word on a high note, building expectation, then "Oh way oh" ending on a low note, resolving the tension. Then it repeats that a few times. Way catchy and upbeat, but I couldn't make out any more of it. Any help appreciated, much very, thanks, It's been emotional (talk) 09:28, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe Mrs Vandebilt from Band on the Run? It's more of "Ho, Hey Ho", but otherwise sounds like what you're saying. youtube link Staecker (talk) 14:28, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Rhythm Is Gonna Get You by Miami Sound Machine. The Hero of This Nation (talk) 16:28, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

My money is on Snow (Hey Oh) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Matt Deres (talk) 18:57, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Toughest game show

A question on another desk has me wondering: which game show or quiz show has had the fewest winners? Many seem to promote themselves as being particularly tricky, but ensure one way or another that there are reasonably frequent winners (e.g. by guaranteeing that the best contestant each show wins, or simply by attracting contestants who are very good at the challenges). I don't mean shows on which it is difficult to win a top prize, but easy to win a smaller one, such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire? I recall that the British TV shows The Crystal Maze and the children's show Knightmare both had very few winning teams - are there any shows which were never won, or had an even lower percentage of winners than these? Warofdreams talk 16:47, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

only three people have completed the Ninja Warrior/Sasuke course. Does this count as a game show? --TrogWoolley (talk) 17:36, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Krypton Factor, while it did have a winner each week, was very difficult (and somewhat dangerous in parts, at least one competitor breaking a leg). DuncanHill (talk) 17:46, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe Eggheads, where a team of quiz setters and winners of Mastermind take on teams at general knowledge questions and (almost invariably) win? --TammyMoet (talk) 20:17, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

In the realm of fictional quiz shows, Let's Take A Quiz must be the most difficult. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:36, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Song

What song sounds here from 10:17? Thanx.--89.76.224.253 (talk) 20:53, 18 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Inter-programme talker-overs

1) What is the job title of the people who used to do the segues between television programmes?

2) Can anyone point me to a good economic explanation as to why they were obsoleted?

Thanks