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December 16

SVU - Part 38

I sometimes watch Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. One thing that intrigues me is whenever there's a courtroom scene, such as when an alleged perp appears in court (and there are usually at most 2 such scenes per episode), the caption-thing always refer to "Part 38" or "Part 46" or Part whatever. This one has Part 21, for example. What on earth is this a reference to? -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 18:25, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The New York Supreme Court is divided into "parts" which are the various divisions of the court system. It's basically a name for a specific division of the court system in New York. Each court district in New York is divided into parts where each part is assigned to a specific justice of the courts (judge). Here is the judicial directory for the Manhattan judicial district (First Judicial District, New York County), and you can see each judge is assigned a "part" It's just the particular way that the court system is divided up. So "part 21" would just refer to the specific judge & staff that was presiding over that trial, and the specific courtroom they are working in. It's just the peculiar way New York organizes its court system.--Jayron32 19:04, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
OK, thanks for that. So, it's really super-irrelevant to the story line, but it's in there merely as some sort of corroborative detail intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.  :) -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 02:36, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Speaking of which, I was just looking for you in the next chapter of our derivative and lazy saga. Small world. By my peculiar logic, that counts as either Act III or the complete extended trilogy, so it was an honour to work beneath you at this desk. Really learned a lot, thanks.
With that said, Jayron32 deserves the most credit for the entire Q&A universe since I've been here. Without his tireless dedication to concision and precision in providing honest-to-God reference material, this project would have sunk several times over, and none of us supporting cast could have turned it into the neverending story it gradually became. Not the rabbit with his racing snail, not the nobody, not even the stupid rat. Jack, Jay, Bugs, Medeis, someone I'm forgetting and Stu, this one's for you!
Merry Christmas from the sewers of Gotham, and a heartfelt Hell yeah to everyone, regardless of nationality, religion or ability to afford proper legal counsel! InedibleHulk (talk) 02:34, December 18, 2019 (UTC)
Medeis can't hear you, having died last year. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:06, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I remember. Wasn't attempting a seance, just a tribute. We'll all be dead soon enough, but the archives remain the same. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:58, December 18, 2019 (UTC)

Six Million Dollar Man

What would it cost to "rebuild" Steve Austin today? 69.42.176.50 (talk) 18:38, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The series started in 1974. In current dollars, six million dollars would be about 30,000,000 dollars today. You can check this yourself by using one of the inflation calculator found here or here or here. I checked all three of those; they all give slightly different answers, but they are all around $30,000,000 --Jayron32 18:50, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
But perhaps improvements in technology may have brought the cost down somewhat. The price of this bionic arm starts at "around $3,000". Alansplodge (talk) 20:04, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
That's the rub, isn't it? Without returning to clarify what they meant, it is difficult to know how to meaningfully answer the OP's question. Both of our approaches are valid ways to answer it. --Jayron32 20:32, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Indeed. Bionic eyes are still in their infancy, but if Mr Austin had had the foresight to become a British citizen, he might have got one for nothing from the National Health Service - see this 2017 BBC report. Artificial legs that can run at 60 MPH are still a way off though. Alansplodge (talk) 20:39, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
A better reference is from National Public Radio who considered exactly this question in 2015; "Planet Money" Does The Math On "The Six Billion Dollar Man". NPR note that a movie remake (still in pre-production in 2019) will be called the Six Billion Dollar Man, to which NPR comments: "It is hard to think of anything that gets a thousand times more expensive, even over 40 years, even in science fiction because basically, we live in an age of low inflation". If you regard the Six Million Dollar Man an item of technology, they came up with a figure of $12,000 based on the decreased cost of electronic hardware. Based on escalating US medical fees though, the $6m would have become $33m. Alansplodge (talk) 21:04, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Which only again goes to show the dangers of playing these games with fiction. Elements of fiction, even ones presented precisely like 'Six million dollars', are not really subject to deep analysis in the way we are trying here. Elements of fiction are chosen for their narrative power and not for their accuracy or "real world correctness", and certain turns of phrase are more impactful in a narrative sense. The rhythm, prosody, and psychological "stickiness" of a phrase are as likely for it to be chosen as is its accuracy in a work of fiction, and "The Six Billion Dollar Man" certainly works better as a title in a narrative sense than does "The Thirty-Three Million Dollar Man" or some such. This type of fiction's goal is to entertain, and most people aren't sitting down at their television with calculators and spreadsheets to assure the accuracy of such things before deciding if it is entertaining. --Jayron32 21:14, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Well, this has entertained me for a while... Alansplodge (talk) 21:41, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just gonna keep it simple and stick with the $33 mil and call it a day! lol 76.71.158.109 (talk) 23:03, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

They probably chose that figure 6 million because it sounded good. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:20, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Everything sounds good at 4:20 if you've grown used to and fond of it, man. They could have called him Hubert Horace Hennessy, and even "Triple H" could have gone from "lamest name ever" to "that damn good". Seriously, it happened in a parallel universe already! Only there, The Million Dollar Man was interdimengled with Syxx and Steve Austin, before they rebuilt "The Rock" as a faster and more furious version of Don Muraco, Muraco having been the style at one time.
Speaking of old days, I still remember coming in here as a young stoner, wondering how much a decent 1989 Keaton batsuit would cost, and being beaten like a government mule by a certain Outback Jack. G'damn, times have changed, mate! Glad you got the semblance of justice I couldn't, 76er (or is it 69er?). InedibleHulk (talk) 06:43, December 17, 2019 (UTC)
Not 4:20 a.m. in the American Midwest. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:21, 17 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Nor in the Ontarian Northeast, but the passage of time is more or less universal across the species, as are the mass media marketing tricks that depend on it. Kleenex, X-Pac, Brexit...all sounded mighty stupid at first, but less so next time, and so on. Aside from seven and eleven, our internal reptilian metronomes would have accepted any number on the clock just as quickly, we just wouldn't be talking about The 1-2-3 Kid and Rob Van Dam today if the creator hadn't rolled a nice fat six to start. You can take that as a beer, weed or dice allusion, it was the coastal seventies. Everyone was doing anything and some of those things left a mark. You ever hear that old Steve Jones ditty, "Number of the Beast"? Totally irrelevant, but still holds up in the sound department, even played backward. Anyway, just tell Jack he's "off the hook" if you guys still party together, but in a "water under the bridge" sense, not "the roof is on fire". Actually, that's too complicated. Just give him a "hell yeah!" InedibleHulk (talk) 00:51, December 18, 2019 (UTC)
You lost me at the bakery. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:21, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
You're just saying that because it's your catchphrase, brother. And you know what? I'm finally beginning to like it! InedibleHulk (talk) 01:49, December 18, 2019 (UTC)
I knew you were well-bred. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:51, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
D'ough! InedibleHulk (talk) 02:43, December 18, 2019 (UTC)

I would like to make a special mention on behalf of Steve Exhaustion, The $6.95 Man TrogWoolley (talk) 11:50, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I remember being amused by a sign in our local toyshop sometime in the 1970s: "SPECIAL OFFER: Six Million Dollar Man - NOW only £1.99!". Alansplodge (talk) 16:55, 20 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Iconic photo

I'm looking for a black and white photography of a British soccer player sliding after the ball into a puddle and making the water rise like a fountain. It's a great photo, a truly masterful capture, but I can't find it anywhere. You'll know it when you see it. Splićanin (talk) 20:39, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you mean the image of Tom Finney known as "The Splash". Information on it is at the Wikipedia article Tom Finney#The Splash; it has been remade as an actual sculpture and fountain. If you google "Tom Finney Splash" you can find plenty of versions of it. --Jayron32 20:51, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Some more detail about the circumstances of the photograph, which was taken by John Horton on 25 August 1956 at Stamford Bridge [1] are in Tom Finney Autobiography by Tom Finney (p. 104). Alansplodge (talk) 21:21, 16 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
You two are awesome. Drmies (talk) 02:48, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

December 18

Blue alien character from Italian Disney comics

Please see this illustration:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=865084090578804&set=a.191217124632174&type=3&theater&ifg=1

Who is the blue alien (?) character behind Minnie Mouse? Thanks in advance. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 20:19, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That's Atomino Bip Bip, in English apparently "Volta". It's a character created by Romano Scarpa, in fact an atom magnified to human size in the story "Topolino e la dimensione Delta". Scarpa created a number of fantastic stories with Atomino, who is — if you care to know — one of my favourite characters. --Wrongfilter (talk) 20:38, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
According to our article on Mickey Mouse universe, he is called "Atomo Bleep-Bleep" in English (according to the inducks.org site you linked, "Volta" is one of his Danish names). He'll always be Atömchen to me, and I wonder if there is a story where he and Eega Beeva (aka Eta Beta, aka Gamma) meet. ---Sluzzelin talk 20:52, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, yes, indeed, I misread the table ("Volta" seemed a bit bland). There are several stories that list both Atömchen and Gamma, but those seem to be mostly Christmas or anniversary stories. This one looked promising, but I checked and while they both appear they don't actually meet. --Wrongfilter (talk) 21:09, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, Wrongfilter! Last but not least, let's mention Atomo Bleep-Bleep's evil twin brother, Atomo Bloop-Bloop (aka Atomino Bep Bep, aka Betömchen) ... they've met without annihilating each other. ---Sluzzelin talk 21:24, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, and this is an entirely self-serving private poll of mine and doesn't help the question at all: Did you, Wrongfilter, have any preferences regarding the Lustige Taschenbücher set in the Donald Duck world vs those set in the Mickey Mouse world? ---Sluzzelin talk 21:35, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
As a child I preferred the Ducks, but as I got older I found that the Mouse LTBs generally aged better along with me. That statement refers to the second-tier stories from LTB numbers < 100 — there are classic stories from both worlds, in particular those by the early Scarpa, Bottaro and a few other artists. Nowadays, the only books from the various LTB series that I still buy are those from the Mausedition. --Wrongfilter (talk) 21:52, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks again for indulging me, that's the most differentiated answer I've received. I guess I'm still stuck where you were in childhood, and imagine I still prefer the duck world (Mickey is such a goody-two shoes, though so are Tick, Trick und Track I guess). I think the last one I read completely was somewhere around LTB 70 though. ---Sluzzelin talk 22:09, 18 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

December 20

The Wachowskis: brothers or sisters?

The Matrix is listed in the 100 best films by female directors, however at the time the film was released, the directors were credited as the Wachowski Brothers. Should the film still be in the list? Gil_mo (talk) 22:40, 20 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Check out The Wachowskis and I think you'll have your answer. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:05, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Baseball Bugs, Gil mo's use of the words "at the time" leads me to believe that they are aware of the Wachowskis' transitions. However The Matrix was released in 1999, before either had started that process. They were still technically male at that time. 07:23, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
If the OP wants to know for sure, he should try to contact the authors of that website and ask about it. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:25, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
This also gets into the disconnect between society in general's understanding of sex and gender and how many trans individuals understand their own experiences. Many trans women will say that they have always been women, even before beginning transition. --Khajidha (talk) 19:30, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
PS - just for clarity: the "they" in my response refers back to "many trans women" in general, not the Wachowskis in particular. --Khajidha (talk) 19:37, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
If you want to know how to list a person's gender at a certain point in the past, you would have to ask that person about their specific experience of gender. There are no rules to incorrect/correct about these things other than the individual, lived, self-expressed identity of a person. Temerarius (talk) 20:19, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  • The only reasonable answer is that only the Wachowskis know the answer to the question the OP asked. Ask them, not us. --Jayron32 03:25, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

December 21

What's the original painting of this book's cover?

Hello. It looks like the cover of this book is based on a famous painting. Does anybody know what's the name of that original painting? Thanks. -- 46.167.137.218 (talk) 16:25, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

House/pop song

It's a pop song that kind of sounds like Ibiza house, kind of like Loca People but without the house bass rhythm, it had a Latin rhythm. The chorus theme was something like a guitar instrumental that went something like D D# F# F D D# F# F(1/2length) D(3/2length) D# F# F D D# F# F, and the chorus lyrics were something like "just can't get you out of my mind" to a tune like D F E D A _ D D D(long). The singer was a woman and she may have had a Spanish or French accent. Anyone have a clue what I'm talking about? Tried searching for "can't get you out of my mind/head" but no dice. 93.136.42.108 (talk) 21:19, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Not Can't Get You Out of My Head (or a remix thereof) by any chance? DuncanHill (talk) 21:51, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Nope. If this is a remix of it, it has a completely different chorus theme and style and I don't remember the following music but I don't think it would fit the "but it's more than I dare to think about" verse. This is a more slow-paced song. 93.136.42.108 (talk) 22:17, 21 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]


December 22

Female character from Buzz Lightyear series

Please see this image: https://66.media.tumblr.com/ea9a5a0dbb676a13ce7728b1840433a1/tumblr_n5cn0sbEny1rmqykso1_500.png

It was found here: https://www.tumbral.com/tag/ozma%20furbanna

Who is the last character in the list? (the one that seems to have blonde hair sticking from a conical hat) Thanks in advance. --Daniel Carrero (talk) 02:15, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Terminator 1984

Why did the terminator kill the gun shop owner?(2601:204:D980:9640:8106:883E:F07B:C6DA (talk) 17:42, 22 December 2019 (UTC)).[reply]

Because that's what the people who wrote the script decided to do.--Jayron32 20:22, 22 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I thought You remembered the Scene clearly.

Terminator was Loading Bulet but Owner said “U canot Do that”

Terminator said “Wrong”

Wat did Terminator do Exactly that caused Owner to say “U canot Do that.”?(107.77.213.216 (talk) 20:53, 22 December 2019 (UTC)).[reply]

What would lead you to believe that a particular user would remember a particular scene in a particular movie, let alone to obsess over it? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:07, 23 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

December 23

Svu season 14 Episode Traumatic Wound

did (Alex, Jake, Britt, Ralph, Louis) know for (100% that Gaby was Going To Get Asaulted, Atacked, Gang Raped at Club)?(76.214.109.69 (talk) 01:25, 23 December 2019 (UTC)).[reply]

See Jayron's answer to the previous question. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:06, 23 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Are you saying, "Because that's what the people who wrote the script decided to do."

I do not care if Jayron32 never saw this Episode but don't the Fans of SVU automaticaly Come here?(76.214.109.69 (talk) 03:20, 23 December 2019 (UTC)).[reply]

What would lead you to believe that fans of SVU come here and that they obsess over such details? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:22, 23 December 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Leav this Topic here for possible fans ok.(76.214.109.69 (talk) 03:23, 23 December 2019 (UTC)).[reply]