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February 27

Mark Wahlberg

On Mark Wahlbergs page it says that he had a run in with peta for feeding his dogs an all grape diet? What is that? Doubt that is true.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jonathonteel (talk • contribs)

That was a bit of vandalism, which I've reverted. Ian.thomson (talk) 08:12, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See: Grape and raisin toxicity in dogs...it's unlikely his dogs would have survived for long if that story were true. SteveBaker (talk) 23:41, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Sihanoukville

What was the official name of the city of Sihanoukville during the following periods: 1) French rule before the Japanese occupation; 2) Japanese Rule; 3) French rule after the Japanese occupation; 4) Khmer Rouge rule? Thanks! --151.41.155.159 (talk) 08:50, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

According to the French wikipedia article Sihanoukville (which for some reason is not on the interwiki link for Sihanoukville (city)), it was called Kampong Saom until 1958 when King Norodom Sihanouk named it after himself at the request of the legislative council. During their brief period in power, the Khmer Rouge wanted to create a rural utopia and depopulated the major cities, through massacres and forced deportations (see Cambodian genocide). It's not clear that they would have bothered to rename a city that they were bent on wiping off the map. I haven't been able to find anything indicating a formal change of name during that period (1975-1979). --Xuxl (talk) 12:11, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Factual question about Bosnia-Herzegovina

Why the Bosnia-Herzegovina entry in Wikipedia precises that it's a monarchy, although it's a republic? Also, the following statement about B-H being the "last colony" is weird. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kbojanowski (talk • contribs) 15:28, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Which language's Wikipedia are you seeing that in? Because the current version of the English-language article Bosnia and Herzegovina contains neither of those claims. AlexTiefling (talk) 15:53, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Now, I can't find it either, but when you google the keywords, you get this list of entries: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=bosnia+and+herzegovina+colony+monarchy+usurpation+vatican

The second entry is Wikipedia's info. However, when you click on the Wikipedia link, that info is not there anymore. Any explanation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kbojanowski (talk • contribs) 16:06, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

We have no way of knowing about nor do we have any effect on what other websites do. If Google says something that you disagree with, you need to contact Google and ask them. At Wikipedia, no one here can answer for Google. --Jayron 32 16:21, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The first google link is to a site called Wikipedia Rojalista, which is set up to look just like Wikipedia but which is actually a site advocating royal control of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's not really Wikipedia. Loraof (talk) 16:30, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The text that Google is reporting was inserted into our article by an IP user earlier today ([1]) and reverted by Kaihsu later. --ColinFine (talk) 18:09, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What should I do with my files after I'm dead?

I've been thinking about this for several years now. I have over a quarter of a million digital photographs now, and there's plenty more to come. What should I do with them after I'm dead? On the one hand, I'd very much rather enjoy them myself up until my deathbed, and leave an heritage to my siblings' children (I don't have any children of my own). On the other hand, some of the photographs are rather sensitive. Nothing illegal, but for example quite many are BDSM-related, such as from BoundCon. None of my family knows I'm into BDSM and in fact, even my girlfriend doesn't know. It would be rather embarrassing for my siblings' children to learn their uncle was kinky only after he has died.

Has any of this sort of thing happened in the past? How have people sorted it out? JIP | Talk 21:58, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A famous example is J M W Turner, whose executor, John Ruskin, is reputed to have burned his collection of erotic drawings after his death. (Our article on Ruskin states that this is disputed by "recent scholarship"). Although we can't give legal advice here, this is one of the functions that an executor may be instructed to perform by the testator. Tevildo (talk) 22:56, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

One possibility would be to sequester the "sensitive" photos into a separate directory tree, and encrypt it. TrueCrypt is a fairly usable platform for this (it's no longer officially supported by the author, but you can still get it). Probably there are other options depending on your OS.

It's good to have some mechanism for your heirs to be able to recover your passwords for most things; this is a complex problem on its own, and maybe someone else can give good pointers for it. But obviously, the key for that volume, you would just leave out. --Trovatore (talk) 23:12, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Recovery in the Lifestyle is a fellowship of BDSM lifestyle people who are in recovery. It's inadvisable to rely on cloud storage providers to safeguard the privacy of your digital photographs. Boxcryptor is a virtual hard disk that encrypts files on the fly using 256-bit AES encryption, however file names remain readable in the free version. AllBestFaith (talk) 23:13, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the advice to encrypt the sensitive stuff. Also, for the non-sensitive images, you might want to make copies and send them to your heirs before your death. StuRat (talk) 23:16, 27 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can do things after you're dead? Clarityfiend (talk) 03:25, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That's actually quite common above the Arctic Circle. μηδείς (talk) 21:12, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Or in Denver. --Trovatore (talk) 21:35, 29 February 2016 (UTC) [reply]

Musicians always seem to be releasing new versions of songs after they've died. StuRat (talk) 03:57, 28 February 2016 (UTC) [reply]

Music note: a composer becomes a decomposer. 84.214.211.124 (talk) 14:47, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have advised my sister (whom I expect to predecease) to go through my effects so as to avoid any embarrassment to my parents (fuzzy handcuffs) if they are still living. The obvious solution for porn is to put it in cardboard boxes or computer files marked "porn". Of course there's also Google, which suggests what to do with your porn before you die. μηδείς (talk) 21:12, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Simple solution: Just tell them of your “kinky” sexual preferences. If they can´t accept you as you are this is just bad luck. Kids should learn and appreciate the vast spectrum of human minds. Parents know anyway.

I refuse to assume that Helsinki (or New Jersey) is the capital of Puritan clones where one - and only one - sexual behaviour has to fit all. Encrypting a part of your personality seems like a good fist step to the loony bin. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:37, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think you need to decide what you want to happen with the pictures first and then work out how to achieve that. We can help you with the practical aspect of how to achieve what you want, but we're not terribly well placed to tell you what you should do. Matt Deres (talk) 02:25, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I agree. We can't help you decide what you want to do with them - that would be a request for an opinion...which we try not to give here. When you know what you want to do, the solution may come down to a mix of legal and technological means. Since we're also not allowed to give legal advice, we're not going to do that either. But we almost certainly can help with the tech stuff. We can track down policies about subscriber death in places like Google, Instagram, FaceBook and WikiCommons (although depositing a half million BDSM pictures in Commons would cause a bit of a stir and would not likely pass unnoticed!) - and we can discuss ways to lock things with passwords and encryption and perhaps clever ways to hide the key so it's discovered at a time and place of your choosing, and by persons who you'd want to find them.

Personally, I'd start out by buying a domain name and web hosting, and paying for the service up-front for enough years to take you well pass your likely last day on earth. Then you can upload your photo library and lock it away with software means that could easily limit password access and set time limits. It would also be easy enough to incorporate a "dead man's switch" which would lock out all access until (say) a year after you last log in to the site. It could even automatically email passwords and other stuff to your descendants on a day of your choosing some time after the dead-mans'-switch is tripped by your failure to log in periodically. Doing it like this would ensure that you had full control over the handling of things. Pre-paying for your own site would allow you to circumvent the various means of password recovery open to your descendents that might be provided by FaceBook or whatever. Writing your own rules gives you full control. SteveBaker (talk) 16:12, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Encrypting part of my hard drive and keeping part of it public sounds like a good idea. The whole point of it is that I myself would enjoy all of my pictures to the rest of my life, and for my progeny (actually, my siblings' progeny) to enjoy the non-sensitive parts (by far the majority) ever after. But I thought that the mere presence of encrypted content that they're never going to access might cause the embarrassment.

But then, all this is weighing two things between each other: altruism and personal pleasure. First of all, I wish pleasure to myself. But after I'm gone, I also wish my progeny (see above) will benefit of my work. I won't be along to know, but somehow I wish the future generations will remember me. All this will take decades. It's only less than decade than my grandparents died, both of my parents will be along for a decade or two, and with any luck, I will be along for even longer. JIP | Talk 20:41, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

TrueCrypt has a way of putting a second level of encryption inside an encrypted volume, in such a way that you can't even tell it's there unless you have the second key. So one possibility is, you could go ahead and encrypt everything (not a bad idea on its own — do you really want strangers looking through everything in your home folder, if you lose your laptop in an airport?) and then use the second key for the sensitive photos. You make sure your heirs and assigns get the first key.

I have never tried this and I don't know how much of a pain it is in practice. --Trovatore (talk) 20:45, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

"TrueCrypt has a way of putting a second level of encryption inside an encrypted volume"

TrueCrypt calls it a "hidden volume" - see TrueCrypt#Plausible deniability, and the TrueCrypt documentation, for details. 165.225.98.66 (talk) 06:49, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

February 28

Coffee

When was coffee first consumed in Europe (and in France in particular)? 2601:646:8E01:515D:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 02:50, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

According to the article on the French language wiki [2], it was first introduced in Marseille in 1644. The first coffee shop dates to 1665. The drink became faddish when there was a famous visit by an envoy of the Ottoman sultan in 1669, creating a fashion for all things Turkish, including coffee. This was half a century after coffee was first introduced in Europe, by Venician merchants around 1615. It reached England and the Netherlands around the 1650s, so France was a bit late to the new drinking craze. --Xuxl (talk) 07:06, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Le café et les cafés à Paris (1644-1693) by Jean Leclant agrees with the above and has some more detail, if you can read French. The first coffee shop opened in Paris in 1657 by a chap called Jean de Thévenot. Alansplodge (talk) 12:23, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There is a mention of a coffee house in Istanbul in 1555 - geographically in Europe, though not culturally so. The difficulty with this question is that most information is about the public sale of coffee, and there may well have been individuals drinking it in private well before that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.174.93 (talk) 12:35, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) We beat the Frogs by opening the first coffee house in London in 1652 (they serve a very palatable pint of Shepherd Neame in there today). The Ottoman Empire extended over large swathes of eastern Europe and a coffee house opened in Istanbul (which is in Europe) in 1554. Coffee and qahwa: How a drink for Arab mystics went global. Alansplodge (talk) 12:23, 28 February 2016

I have yet to make it to Europe... — Coffee // have a cup // beans // 04:59, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]
So where then HAVE you been consumed? --Jayron 32 20:59, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

So, mid-17th century? Thanks! 2601:646:8E01:515D:986D:7DB1:2770:DAA7 (talk) 06:57, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Pretty much, unless you include the Islamic part of Europe which was about a century ahead (in coffee terms at any rate). Alansplodge (talk) 09:04, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Geography

Question: The wiki article on Scilly--southwestern UK, pop 3,000 lists Scilly as "one of the COUNTRIES of the UK. But wikipedia also UK entry identifies England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland as "the four COUNNTRIES of the UK" A bit new to your georefs, I'm wondering what country the islands might be in, if not the UK. Silly are islands, no doubt; however JW might recognized that being a part of England does not make one independent. 71.248.162.175 (talk) 14:30, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean county? Is so, the Isles of Scilly form part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall, although it has a separate local authority with the status of a county council (to quote our article). Mikenorton (talk) 14:37, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, it's part of England. The Mebyon Kernow and folk of a like mind think that Cornwall ought to be a separate Home Nation, but they're a long way from getting anybody else to take them seriously. Alansplodge (talk) 14:59, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, I'm not sure where the OP is taking his quote from. Our Isles of Scilly article starts:

"The Isles of Scilly (/ˈsɪli/; Cornish: Syllan or Enesek Syllan) are an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. It is the southernmost location in England and the United Kingdom, as well as the most westerly in England." Alansplodge (talk) 15:07, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The section Isles of Scilly#Local government says Politically, the islands are part of England, one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Maybe that's what the OP saw. But it means that England, not Scilly, is one of the countries. Loraof (talk) 15:28, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose we Britons should apologise for having one of the most complicated national nomenclatures in existence. Our article, Terminology of the British Isles, attempts to untangle the knot. Alansplodge (talk) 21:21, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Odd link in Wikipedia

I found an odd link in Wikipedia that surely does not belong there. If you search the article, "Sodomy laws in the United States", then scroll down to the South Carolina links, there are two. The second link will, in fact, take you to the correct place. However, the first link takes one to a link for The Order of Nine Angels. This is a Satanic webpage, which has nothing to do with South Carolina laws. I thought that your organization would appreciate this information. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CDC2:CBE0:413D:5CA6:201C:B23F (talk) 22:03, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the dead link - thanks for picking it up! I don't think this was malicious, just a question of a site registration expiring and the domain name being purchased by another organization. Tevildo (talk) 22:19, 28 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, we have an article entitled Order of Nine Angles, of which the OP's "Angels" would be an easy and understandable misreading. The article contains a link to their official website, which is I presume the same as that removed from 'Sodomy laws . . .' by Tevildo. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 14:45, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The dead link was to www.sodomy.org; this domain is now (presumably) owned by O9A, as it redirects to their site. Not to be confused with www.sodomy.com, which, I'm given to understand, redirects to a generic porn site. Tevildo (talk) 20:27, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

February 29

Mallet

I have a use for a small mallet. Whats the smallest I can get?--31.109.183.147 (talk) 00:04, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See Mallet. The smallest (but definitely not the cheapest) that Amazon sell is a dental mallet - slightly larger and much cheaper ones are also available, and other on-line retailers have similar product ranges. "Jewelers Hammer" is a useful search term. Tevildo (talk) 00:18, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

No matter how small the mallet, there could be another one that's half its size. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:21, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That would depend on the length of the plank you cut it from. StuRat (talk) 04:33, 29 February 2016 (UTC) [reply]

The practical limit, then, would come when it can no longer be cut. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:28, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't "Whats the smallest I can get?" refer to the smallest one that's commercially available? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:17, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There are people who make bespoke tools, so the smallest one you can buy is determined by the size you want it to be. You can have miniature tools made for dolls houses if you want. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.174.93 (talk) 09:31, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Well, this is a bit more nuanced than that. The smallest possible "mallet" would (I'm sure) be some nanotechnological wonder made from a few dozen atoms. But our OP clearly needs this for some purpose - so we need a WORKING mallet...and that imposes some restrictions I think.

Let's think about the consequences of making a tiny mallet. I own a laser cutter, I can machine bits of wood to a precision of 1/30th of a millimeter and a 1/10th millimeter 'kerf'. I could certainly manufacture a mallet with a head that's (say) a 3mm wooden cube with (let's say) a 1x1x10mm cuboid handle pushed through the middle of it. But at this point, the resulting tool would be too small to comfortably hold - and it would be exceedingly lightweight. The objective of a mallet (or hammer of any kind) is to magnify the forces you can exert with your hands by turning a long-duration low-force swing into a short-duration high-force impact.

So the weight of the head and the length of the shaft become important issues for the mechanical advantage that the tool provides. If the mechanical advantage is less than ~1, then it's not really a functional mallet anymore.

Note particularly, that if the mallet is merely a scale model of a 'traditional' sized tool - when you halve the linear dimensions, you reduce the mass of the head by a factor of 8. So going from a 10cm head to my 3mm laser-cut mallet head reduces the mass by a factor of 37,000! So the impulsive force delivered by my micro-mallet is TINY...far, far less than you could get by pushing on something with your finger.

You can kinda fix that by not making a traditional wooden mallet - and going with denser materials. Of course at that point, what you have is a "hammer" and not a "mallet" - but still there comes a point where even the densest available metals don't give you enough heft for the tool to have any mechanical advantage.

So at some point, while I'm quite sure you could make a nano-technology mallet with just a few dozen atoms and claim the record for the "smallest possible" - I'm also rather sure that it would be functionally useless. So the quest really boils down to asking what the smallest functionally useful "hammer" is...and I'd bet that a watchmaker's mallet would be it.

Of course, your objective might be to limit the amount of force you can exert. That would kinda be the opposite of what a mallet traditionally does - but I'm sure there is a better way to do that with some different kind of tool.

SteveBaker (talk) 15:21, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A selection of mini hammers actually available on-line includes a tiny 2 oz. Toolmaker's Mallet and a 1.5 oz. hammer for model railroading, ship modeling, dollhouse miniatures, etc. AllBestFaith (talk) 15:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think Barbie uses tools. She's too busy getting dressed. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 16:42, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

On the other hand, if the largest Mallet is of interest, that would probably be one of these. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 19:05, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a tiny hammer you can't buy on eBay, but it does exist! --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 19:06, 29 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OP here. Well sorry I havent been back (busy). What I need is a small wooden mallet with a striking surface about 1.5 in * 1.5 in and a couple oz in weight for best effect I think. Where can I get one?--31.109.183.147 (talk) 01:07, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Such mallets are widely available - this is Amazon's offering, this and this are products from other retailers. Tevildo (talk) 09:23, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hey I only want to ripen my partners plums, not pummel them into mush!--31.109.183.147 (talk) 16:58, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, see CBT and Paddle (spanking). I believe a table tennis bat may usefully be employed in such applications. Tevildo (talk) 19:04, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Reflex hammers are fairly small. LongHairedFop (talk) 22:43, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Still not quite right. Something like the paddle but with a bit of weight at the end would be ok. I need it to bounce off the plums a bit to transfer the correct momentum. TT bats are far too large to fit into the available space.--31.109.183.147 (talk) 01:08, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

March 1

Enlistment in the military while pregnant

Suppose someone who is already pregnant tries to enlist in the military before the end of her pregnancy. In such cases, will the pregnancy itself result in an automatic disqualification from enlistment, or are there some military branches in some countries which do not disqualify enlistees solely for this reason? 96.246.144.195 (talk) 04:57, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see why pregnancy would be a disqualification. In the Australian Army pregnancy disqualifies someone from fighting on the front line, but there appear to be no issues with them continuing to work on the home front, so it seems logical that pregnancy at the time of enlistment also should not be a disqualification: see this FAQ but this news story, and this more detailed description of Australian Defence Force policy on pregnancy. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 09:57, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

[3] suggests pregnancy is one of the things they look for during the medical test but not what they would do if it's detected. In both NZ and Australia, after enlisting there will be an Assessment day where your suitability for service including meeting the fitness requirements will be assessed. There's some description of the process in Australia here [4] [5]. While in NZ [6] [7] and I'm guessing Australia [8] they will make adjustments to your fitness testing during pregnancy but I doubt they will do this for assessement day. I'm not really sure how much control you have over the timing of this e.g. [9]. It may they have a special process in place for people who are pregnant they have a process in place to defer assessement day, or it may be they simply ask you to wait, I couldn't find any specific discussion. (I suspect it's something that rarely comes up. More likely is a woman finds out she is pregnant at some stage, after enlisting perhaps during the medical assessment on assessement day.) P.S. Of course if the lead time between joining and assessement day is very short, a woman who's pregnant when joining could potentially still meet the fitness requirements on assessment day presuming she's allowed to and her pregnancy isn't considered to mean she doesn't currently meet the requirements. Nil Einne (talk) 13:21, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK you cannot join the military if you are pregnant, or if you have given birth within the past three months.{http://www.army.mod.uk/join/How-to-join.aspx } — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.150.174.93 (talk) 10:00, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That makes sense, but I would expect they should be able to sign up during that time, for delayed entry, after the 3 months has ended. StuRat (talk) 15:27, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you're referring to the Delayed Entry Program, that's an American thing, not British. DuncanHill (talk) 15:41, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Here's an interesting article from 1994 about when the rules changed so that women were not automatically discharged when they became pregnant. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 13:20, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

[10] about the US says "Air Force .... A woman could even be pregnant while signing up for boot camp" [11] discusses the policy change and says something similar. Nil Einne (talk) 13:11, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Early pregnancy may not be a problem but basic military training is physically strenuous, so would probably be impossible or even dangerous after the first trimester of pregnancy. Per our Recruit training article the "boot camp" phase of training is three to four months long in most modern military forces. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:08, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Why the hell is Later-no-harm criterion considered a bad thing?

Why the hell is Later-no-harm criterion considered a bad thing?
I means if the one I prefer will not win, it would be good that the best one between the remaining people win.200.217.25.234 (talk) 13:07, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Is there some factual information we can give you? Wikipedia's reference desk is not the appropriate venue for debating the value of things like voting systems. The best I can direct you to is to read the article in question, and to read other articles such as the Single transferable vote (of which this seems to be a variant of). The main criticism of any ranked voting system (where voters give their preference to a slate of candidates rather than to selecting their single preferred candidate) is known as Arrow's theorem, which states that ranked order voting systems are universally flawed in the sense that no ranked-order voting system is capable of always producing the most preferred candidate among the community; there will always be the possibility of a paradoxical result (such as a candidate which received less first-place votes still winning the election). --Jayron 32 13:19, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A practical example of Arrow's theorem is the 2008 Heisman Trophy voting. Tim Tebow had the most first-place votes, but because of the rank-order voting system, ended up in third place over all. --Jayron 32 13:24, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is not at all a "paradoxical" result- it's just that Tebow would've won using the plurality system, but didn't win using whatever system the Heisman uses. Arrow's theorem doesn't predict paradoxical results anyways- it just says that no ranked voting system can satisfy certain different criteria simultaneously. Whether or not various systems agree with the plurality system is not at all the point. Staecker (talk) 13:35, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean to ask why it would be good for a system to satisfy the later-no-harm criterion? I'm not familiar with anyone who actually thinks later-no-harm is bad. I'm not sure that your interpretation "if the one I prefer..." is appropriate for the later-no-harm criterion. It simply means that if I vote for candidate A over B and this results in a win for A, but then I change my mind to boost B's ranking, while still keeping them below A, then the winner should still be A. This on the surface seems to be a fairly reasonable criterion. Maybe you could explain your objection a bit more? Staecker (talk) 13:42, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Staecker that you seem to have misunderstood the criterion. The criterion means that the one you prefer (and vote accordingly) should not lose because of your vote towards one that you prefer less. Nil Einne (talk) 14:34, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Check out the condition for Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives, of which later-no-harm is sort of an extension. IIA says that this scenario is bunk, and should be avoided:

Waiter:Would you like some pie? We have Apple, Blueberry, and Cherry.

Customer:Thanks, I'll have a slice of apple

Waiter (to others at the table):Sorry, I forgot we're all out of the Cherry

Customer:Oh wait, in that case, I'll have Blueberry!

Anyway, I think if you can see why it's philosophically good to have IIA criterion met, it might help you see why L-N-H is also good. Another thing to point out is that nobody designs a system to fail IIA or LNH, the challenge (per Arrow) is to design a system to fail as few of these desirable criteria as possible, or to fail in the most graceful way possible. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:39, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note that your pie scenario isn't actually an analogy to a voting system, which aggregates individual preferences into one societal preference. The pie scenario shows that preferences can ~~be nontransitive~~ fail IIA even in an individual when preferences are probabilistic (it occurs, for example, when the customer weights apple as a 3 always, cherry as a 1 51% of the time and 5 49% of the time, and blueberry as 2 56% of the time, 4 22% of the time and 6 22% of the time). IIA is not just desirable in an abstract philosophical way; it failed spectacularly in the 2000 US presidential election, when Gore would have won easily if Nader hadn't been in the race. Mnudelman (talk) 22:57, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Using the pie example what I am talking about is:
Waiter:Would you like some pie? We have Apple, Blueberry, and Cherry.
3 Customers that are together: First prefer in order apple, blueberry and cherry (he HATES cherry, would really prefer to eat a pie with piss over it). Second prefer apple, blueberry and cherry in order, and third one prefer cherry, apple, and blueberry in order. They they say their favorite ones and the most said thing. Apple is selected.
Waiter (to others at the table):Sorry, I forgot we're all out of the Apple
3 Customers that are together: They say their favorites that aren't apple, and the most "voted" one wins. And so blueberry wins.
Anyway, the first guy vote made blueberry win while his preferred choice was apple. The thing is, he totally hates cherry, so it became a positive thing, because his vote avoided a cherry pie.
The idea, is that voting is not ONLY about getting what you like but not getting what you hate. Not getting punched in the face now as some example is preferred to actually receiving 5 cents now (when the 3 options where, receive one now, getting punched in the face now and receiving one dollar at the year2030) cent201.79.77.24 (talk) 14:12, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In the simplest case, suppose we have candidates 'A' and 'B' who are in total opposition to each other and 'C' - a compromise candidate. What should happen if 51% of people prefer candidate 'A' as their first choice and 'C' as their second, 49% want 'B' as their first choice and 'C' as their second? Is there a case to be made for having a system in which 'C' gets the job? It's a matter for debate whether it's better that 51% of people are utterly happy and 49% are miserably unhappy versus 100% of people being fairly happy. You can spin the numbers lots of ways: Suppose 51% want 'A' as their first choice and 'C' as their second, while 49% put 'C' first and 'B' second. Now, you can make 51% completely happy and 49% very unhappy - or you can make 49% completely happy and 51% only slightly less happy.

Mathematics and logic can't tell you whether 'A' or 'C' should win in those two scenarios. It's a very human decision as to whether 'the greatest happiness for the greatest number' is a principle that's best handled by giving a small majority everything they want - or forcing the majority to somewhat dial back their demands so that far more people can be almost as happy. If we could measure happiness, we could argue that we need to produce the best "average" happiness - but in mathematics, there are three ways to calculate an 'average'. Should the right choice optimize the mean happiness, the median happiness or the modal happiness? There is no arithmetic/logical reason to prefer one over the other - it's totally a matter of morals and 'soft' measurements of the relative value of universal semi-happiness versus a 50/50 split between utter happiness and misery.

IMHO, the best solution is to optimize to let 'C' win in both of the scenarios I posted. A system where the majority gets to be super-happy and the minority get dumped on is the kind of system that allows slavery, abuse of minorities and racial cleansing.

It's very, VERY hard to come up with a system that is fair, correct and affords the best choice to the most people...which is why we don't have such a thing.

SteveBaker (talk) 17:45, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not just very very hard- mathematically impossible. (probably- depending on exactly what you mean by "fair, correct and ...") Staecker (talk) 21:17, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Your example with the pies doesn't seem to have anything to do with later-no-harm. Do you have a specific question about your example? Staecker (talk) 21:17, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Taiwan's really low taxes

List of countries by tax revenue as percentage of GDP From the list it seems among first world countries, Taiwan has the lowest taxes by far especially when offshore centers like Hong Kong and oil producers that collect revenue from royalties are excluded. The percentage of taxes as a part of GDP is so much lower than the average first world country, it would seem to even upend assumptions about what is the minimum necessary level of revenue for a first world government to function on. What's the on the ground reality like in Taiwan when the government collects so little revenue? Muzzleflash (talk) 16:38, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It wouldn't necessarily mean they don't collect enough tax revenue to provide the required services. You could also generate the same results from having very high per capita GDP. GDP and necessary government expenditures do not necessarily scale with each other. --Jayron 32 16:42, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

But comparing Taiwan to other first world countries, it really stands out in how low this figure is compared to everyone else. That's why I assume that surely some kind of very different level or model of government services must be provided in Taiwan. Muzzleflash (talk) 17:35, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) True, but Taiwan doesn't have a particularly high ranking for GDP per capita (32nd in the first of the tables in that article). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 17:56, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Another possibility: Does the Government have other sources of revenue which are not counted as tax revenue (such as direct revenue from government owned buisnesses?) --Jayron 32 18:07, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Another thought: what about GDP per square meter? My point is that high density usually has a benefit of depressing the per capita cost of government services, for things like roads and pipelines. Taiwan is pretty high on this list of GDP per area [12]. Come to think of it, why don't we ever hear about GDP per capita per area? I think that would highlight why certain countries are able to provide comparable services at different relative tax rates. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:28, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That's been an issue in Detroit, where, due to white flight, 2/3 of the population left for the suburbs, leaving mostly poor people. Thus there's no longer enough revenue to maintain the roads, keep the streetlights lit, provide police and ambulance services. There have been proposals to shrink the city down to an area to match the current resources and population, but that would require moving lots of people, which seems impractical. Getting the suburbs to pay a portion of the upkeep of Detroit is also a political non-starter. StuRat (talk) 22:01, 1 March 2016 (UTC) [reply]

Some factors that may be relevent:

1) Taiwan has a very low fertility rate of just over 1 child per woman ([13]). Thus education expenses are much lower per capita than in other nations.

2) The military is another major expense for most nations, but, in the case of Taiwan, the biggest military threat is mainland China, and there's no way they could hope to defend themselves from a full scale attack from there, so they must rely on allies, like the US, to protect them. In this situation, they have no use for much more than a token military. They have also historically relied on 1 year of required military service from all citizens, meaning they didn't need to rely on high pay to attract recruits. StuRat (talk) 22:10, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Taiwan spends 2% of GDP on defense which is in line with the world average. Muzzleflash (talk) 03:16, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In the unlikely event of anyone deciding to provide a reference rather than indulging in the usual RefDesk speculative chat, one might start by comparing how much the Taiwanese government actually spends (overall and by sector) with other countries. (No, I'm not volunteering). 78.99.59.159 (talk) 05:29, 2 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Many of us provided refs. You did not. So, apparently you would rather complain about a lack of references than actually provide any. StuRat (talk) 22:36, 2 March 2016 (UTC) [reply]

According to this analysis by the other side, the reason for the low personal tax in Taiwan is simply political tension: tax rates reduced during the time of massive economic boom, and then incentives were built in to encourage a higher birth rate, and then for more than a decade Taiwan experienced a long period where political power was split - the party controlling the presidency usually did not control the legislature, and as each side tried to cripple the other politically and/or win popular support, there was only downward political pressure on the tax rate. The article also confirms what you (OP) observed: it reports that by the reckoning of Taiwan's tax office itself, Taiwan's overall tax burden as a percentage of GNP is the lowest amongst the four Asian Tiger economies (12% in 2010). --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 11:00, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

the whitest man in argentina

Why does searching "the whitest man in argentina" in Google Images return images of a very black man? I'm aware it's some kind of internet joke, but could you explain it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by HeinsPatelpoo2 (talk • contribs) 16:51, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Know Your Meme is a pretty comprehensive source for tracking the history of these things. I think this is the meme in question. The man's name is Malik Agar, and in actuality, he has nothing to do with Argentina, near as I can tell. The picture and meme is intended to be a sort of Don't judge a book by its cover thing. Forget, for a moment that the person isn't white (and isn't Argentinian); I think his picture was used as a random "black person" picture along with the ironically worded title. --Jayron 32 17:08, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

KYM's "Argentina is White" article may be more relevant, but it doesn't say much. -- BenRG (talk) 21:51, 1 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

March 3

I have a question about the disability called down syndrome?

How common is it for someone with down syndrome to smoke Cannabis, dyed their hair a funky colour, pierce their nose or tongue, or do things that regular people do? Extreme things? 208.181.190.136 (talk) 03:21, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Down syndrome has a variable presentation. Overall, not very common, but good luck to them if they do Richard Avery (talk) 07:53, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If "regular" people do these things, how "extreme" can they be? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:55, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Do blank journals/diaries ever have ISBN numbers?

131.131.64.210 (talk) 14:48, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Have you checked at your local bookstore? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:52, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Here's one. Here's another. 184.147.122.76 (talk) 15:53, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)Or if you google "blank journal isbn" you'll see that the answer is "Yes". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:54, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

That's interesting, because all the ones I saw at my local Barnes & Noble had none. 131.131.64.210 (talk) 16:03, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

wikipedia popularity, google

If wikipedia is one of the 10 most popular websites, as stated in the article then why, when i type in "w" at google, I get walmart, "walgreens", "weather", but no wikipedia, until i type in "i", as in "wi"? I thought google wasn't giving preference to paid advertised websites except when specifically marking them as advertised? Thanks.144.35.45.43 (talk) 16:12, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]