Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

March 27

Hemmeroids

How many hemmeroids is it possible to have. My friend says you can only have 4 max, I dont know, can you tell me>

We cannot give medical advice, but you could read the article on Hemeroids -- Diletante 01:29, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Two things:

1. This user didn't want advice, he wanted facts. I think that slapping a disclaimer on every question about law and medicine is a bad practice.
2. The hemeroid article doesn't mention number.

In the future, try to actually find an answer to the question, instead of directing a user to an article filled with medical terms he/she may not understand. - AMP'd 02:05, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't see why there would be a limit of 4, but 4 probably means you should practice better hygiene? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:00, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Read the article, Wirbelwind...the article lists several causes, the most likely of which are not hygenic, but either genetic or medical/injury/stress related. Hygene is listed as a weak possibility, which may be associated with bowel movement and straining, but not ... conclusively proved to cause hemorrhoids. Jfarber 03:13, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, I could have sworn I read before elsewhere that it does contribute, as in increases the chances but not the only reason. But Then again, there really aren't any definate proof either way, I guess. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 05:49, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

It's unlikely that a particular number would be known or published in sources available to those who reply to queries here. AMP'd, rather than suggesting that Wikipedia Reference Desk respondents "try to find the answer," would do well to:

• Read the indicated article, that includes External links to extensive and informative sources on the Internet;
• Consult a dictionary or other resource (including on the Web) that explains unfamiliar medical terms;
• Consult a physician about an actual medical problem, should one exist.

For best results in seeking information, I suggest it's reasonable to "use" the Reference Desk this way. -- Deborahjay 04:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

That's right, we may never find any numeric limit to the number of 'roids a person can have, no matter how much data we browse, even if we look at many piles. StuRat 04:58, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I've just had a very painful piles op and the specialist surgeon explained it to me. He said that everyone has 4 - he even drew a clock and identified the position of each one on the clock (which signifies the rectal opening). Some people's piles get inflamed and hence they think they have more than 4, but that is due to complications that can arise, which have levels from 1 to 4 according to the doc. If your condition is level 4 then you have a lot of inflammation and it would probably seem to you that have a 'bowlful' of roids. I wince as I say that. Very very painful. Sandman30s 13:59, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

This seems like an answer, but it remains in the form of anecdote. For the sake of Wikipedia, would your doctor (or anyone's doctor) have a reference/citation we could use to add that note to the relevant articles? Jfarber 20:55, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I don't think Sandman30s gave us a half-assed answer. He did have a reference, of sorts, to a doctor. I imagine he wants to keep the name of his proctologist private, and that's OK with me. So, I would put the onus on you to find info which conflicts with his. StuRat 04:08, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

A hemorrhoid is a varicose vein condition, i.e. a pathology that may but generally doesn't develop. The quoted "statement" of Sandman30s's "specialist surgeon" (i.e. proctologist or ??) — "everyone has 4" – seems unlikely to refer to hemorrhoids. So, four what? Veins in the rectal/anal area that may or may not become varicose? This is a reply, but hardly an answer, and the original query seeking a particular number may simply be unrealistic. -- Deborahjay 10:33, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm, Googling suggests there are four degrees of severity/types of hemorrhoid, and 'four minute miles' is rhyming slang for 'piles', but no other references. Skittle 21:55, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I thought the asshole (anus) had four pads (filled with blood vessels) that clamped together to form a seal an the aforementioned hole. My interpretation of piles is that one or more of these four pads gets inflamed and the blood vessels can get distended. But even with a gross case of piles, you only have four main lumps protruding (even though each one may have grossly distended veins/blood vessels). Is that right or wrong?

Birchmount Park controversy

Where can I read the Facebook posts by Bradley Parsons that led to his suspension? Have they been taken down or put behind a password, and if so have mirrors been set up? I can't make an informed decision about whether the protesters were right about Brad being within his rights, if I can't read what he said. NeonMerlin 02:41, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

For anyone who doesn't have a foggy what this post is about, HERE is a list of news stories. Anchoress 06:30, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I was wondering myself. StuRat 10:40, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

The second article in Anchoress's link seems to suggest he made the group private so as not to be found out. But obviously it didn't work. More details are given on the case of the students who commited the terrible crime of suggesting white people had a culture!

Prune juice

How is juice extracted from a dried plum? Is a prune not completely dry? V-Man - ^T/_C 05:43, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

No, it's not completely dry. If it were, it would be a powder. StuRat 05:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Prunes aren't completely dry. And I think prune juice is really just plum juice, as I don't see why there'd be any difference between the two, or maybe prune juice is just slightly fermented? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 05:47, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Dried fruit isn't just dehydrated, some chemical change takes place, causing the change in color, taste, and other properties. Perhaps someone else can give some details on the nature of this chemical change. I only know that it's not reversible: no matter how long you soak raisins in water you never get grapes back. StuRat 06:30, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to pose the question about what happens to fruit when you dehydrate it on the Science Ref Desk. StuRat 17:13, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

If it comes from plums and not prunes, then the following quote from the Prune (fruit) article seems out of place: "Prune juice is richer in fiber than plum juice and is often marketed as a treatment for constipation, and it helps with kidney stones." Dismas|^(talk) 06:23, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, this page tells you how to make prune juice from prunes. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 06:53, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Red vs blue

Why are some IP address signatures blue and others red, i.e. why do some get userpages and others don't? Clarityfiend 06:15, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

They all get userspace, just the red ones haven't made them yet. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 06:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Note that IP editors can't create new pages; this includes – I believe – creating userpages. IP userpages are usually created by admins or registered users to note something important about an IP, from the standpoint of managing Wikipedia—identifying addresses that are used by schools or particular companies, or marking open proxies. Some may be left over from when IPs could create new pages; that was only a few months ago. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:09, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

IPs can create new pages, just not in the main namespace (and perhaps some others). They can certainly create talk pages. Shimgray | talk | 13:14, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Notability

Do you think that it would be notable content to include in an soft drink brand article's trivia section about how the soft drink brand's bottles are used to make a type of bong? Because the article SoBe is getting stuff like that added to the trivia section, see the discussion on the talk page. --Spebi 11:16, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Although notability standards for "trivia" sections would seem to be an exercise is futility, we've got plenty. These pages seem to generally agree that trivia should only be supported if it can ultimtately be included within the larger article, and I would suggest that an association of a non-traditional use of the container FOR the article's subject by only a very small subculture (waterfall bong users) is hardly notable enough to include in the article on SoBe itself. As such, I agree that this information does not belong there; see relevant talk page for my thoughts. Jfarber 12:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Aside from that, my understanding is that it's possible to make a bong out of just about anything. That some people have done it with a bottle (even a specific brand of bottle) strikes me as "huh. So what?" TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:04, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Reservations

Lately, here in the U.S., it seems as though fewer and fewer restaurants take reservations. Why is this? I hate going to a restaurant and being told "It'll be an hour wait, here's a beeper so we can let you know when your table is ready". Why would I want to wait an hour when I can call ahead and make reservations? Dismas|^(talk) 12:21, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I can think of a few possible reasons:

• It solves the problem of people reserving tables and not showing up;
• Not operating a reservations system saves them administrative effort;
• The restaurant is so popular that they can fill the place on walk-up trade alone;
• (probably the most important) They stupidly believe that their own convenience (see points 1 to 3 above) outweighs their obligation to provide a decent level of service to their customers. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 12:31, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Restaurants are in the business of making money, though surely customer service and other factors affect that one way or another; one of the biggest factors which determine how much money they can make in a given evening is how many meals they can sell in that evening. Underlying Richardrj's points above is a more general truth which speaks directly to this: restaurants which do not take reservations do not have to hold tables empty to make sure they are available to those who called ahead, but can fill tables immediately after they empty out (assuming higher demand than table availability, which both models do assume).

As such, even IF the problem of "people reserving tables and not showing up" went away, and even IF the reservations system took more effort (which I doubt, actually), the truth is, if we assume that demand for tables is higher than table availability, in a beeper system, tables fill up more quickly throughout an evening, and can turn over more rapidly/immediately as well. Thus, the non-reservations model holds significantly more profitability.

Of course, if enough people see this as a lack of "decent service", or if too many restaurants swamp the area, then demand for tables will no longer be higher than table availability, and the models may change back. Until then, however, you can complain all you want, but unless you and everyone else stops going to the restaurants, there is no incentive for restaurants to change this model. Jfarber 13:28, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

JIT: Also, to reinforce the rationale of the "beeper profitability model" already well-covered by Jfarber above, compare Just_In_Time_(business). Restaurant patrons can be viewed as just another factor of the production process necessary to get inventory out the door. Hooray efficiency! dr.ef.tymac 22:07, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I have wondered if anyone ever finds the beepers buzzing away in trash cans when patrons got disgusted waiting and left. A "beeper" restaurant seems very downscale compared to a "reservation" restaurant. Beepers are an improvement over giving them your name and waiting for someone who speaks highly accented English to call it in the usual noisy environment. That said, it was always fun to hear people give fake names and then hear the host calling for, say, the "Donner party."Restaurants with bars can increase their profits by having you wait in the bar for your table, buying expensive drinks all the while. At Olive Garden, the bar has (small) tables and offers the same menu as the restaurant with no waiting (usually) for a table. In restaurants in shopping malls, the beeper lets you browse while waiting for the table, increasing profits for the mall but perhaps letting you get something you need instead of just sitting and waiting. Edison 14:29, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Good call to Edison for pointing to the bar scene and the mallculture; I had forgotten those equally economic factors. In addition, Edison's answer-set points to yet another reason why an increasing number of restaurants in the US use a beeper system instead of a resevration system: eating out in the US has become increasingly normative. As it does, what was once special, and thus demanded special treatment -- respectful service, having a special table, the reservation system itself -- begins to wane in the face of the need to provide service quickly on the side of the restaurant, and the lessened sense on the behalf of eat-outers (eaters out?) that "special" is a part of the restaurant experience. Though there are still upscale restaurants around which DO take reservations, in other words, there is an increasingly large middle-to-upper-spectrum set of restaurants that caters to folks who eat out so regularly they neither need nor want to bother with the reservation system, and are willing to wait instead, because there is an increasingly large social demand for such an experience. Jfarber 15:47, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I find both reservations and waiting to be unacceptable. Reservations are unacceptable because I have to watch the clock and make sure everyone meets in time to make the reservation, and waiting just plain sucks. I go to restaurants that can seat me immediately without reservations. There are plenty, at least in my area, except perhaps for at certain "peak times", which I avoid. StuRat 21:18, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I turned up at a restaurant recently, and was asked "Do you have reservations?", to which I replied "Well, yes, but when you're as hungry as I am, you'll eat anything". (Apologies to The Wizard of Id) JackofOz 03:57, 28 March 2007 (UTC) (what a pleasing juxtaposition)

When I became old enough to get it, I always enjoyed my dad giving the people the name "Jackson" since there were five people in our family. "Jackson, party of five." People's heads would turn, for real. Also, Edison, I don't think that speaking in highly accented English is particularly a problem... V-Man - ^T/_C 02:41, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Most high-quality restaurants (read: high-priced restaurants) still take reservations. If they don't, you can generally call ahead, assuming you can find their phone number, usually up to 45 minutes in advance, and they'll put your name down on their list (these are places like The Outback, Red Robin, TGI Friday's, etc.). Any place where they won't reserve a table for you, IMO, isn't really worth going to (service quality being a major factor). Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:39, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Soy milk + Vitamin D?

• http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/health/27brody.html

... soy milk cannot be legally fortified with vitamin D and provides only 75 percent of the calcium the body obtains from cow’s milk.

What's going on in the United States that you don't have the freedom to make your soy milk more nutritious? Every time you add vitamins to a food, God kills a kitten? -- Toytoy 13:50, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Answer: The NYT article is in error, as is the source it uses. See below for how/why we arrived at this conclusion. Jfarber 13:17, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

This is a good exercise in following information back to its source, actually. The article in question is about a study which includes a "Beverage Guidance System", so I looked it up on Google and found the full text of a study called new proposed guidance system for beverage consumption in the United States with little difficulty. I then used the "find in page" function to search the document for the word soy; the THIRD incidence of that word in the original study is, as expected from the context of the NYT article, in a sentence which is almost word for word what is reported in the NYT. The original study, in turn, cites this particular piece of information as from an article published in J Clin Endocrinol Metab in 1971.

Unfortunately, without an actual medical library at my disposal, the trail gets cold here; the 1971 article is not available online. We are left with two possibilities:

1. The law as cited in 1971 has not changed.
2. The law as cited in 1971 has changed, but the folks doing the "Beverage Guidance System" study did not realize that.

It is easy to conjecture, since even a cursory Google search of the terms "Vitamin D" soy FDA fortified demonstrates that many FDA-cited releases from the last decade mention vitamin D-fortified soy products, that our second assumption is correct, and that this law no longer exists -- thus saving some kittens, a whole mess of lactose-intolerant and vegan-parented infants, and a bunch of other interested parties a bit of stress. But we are not here to assume. Ways to find out which of our two conjectures are accurate, then, would include tracking down the original 1971 article to see which FDA resource IT referenced, so we could then figure out if that resource had been replaced by a newer standard, or to contact the FDA directly, since they surely have some sort of reference desk themselves. Or, one could contact a soy-milk company which sells milk in the US, and ask if they had such a product, and if so, why not. I leave that part as an exercise for the querent, with a reminder that the onus for journalists is truth, but the mandate of a reference desk staff is to point in the right direction, and provide roadmaps like this one, so that querents can learn and locate their own information.  :-) Jfarber 14:31, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

This sure looks like it's based on obsolete information. Both brands of soy milk I currently have in my pantry (Soy Dream enriched and Edensoy extra), I bought at my local supermarket in the U.S., and both are fortified with vitamin D. And according to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference,[1] lowfat cow's milk (1%) has about 290 mg/cup of calcium, which is less than the 368 mg/cup listed for calcium fortified soy milk. (The two brands of soy milk I have differ; one has less calcium than cow's milk, one has more.) MrRedact 21:13, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I found this in the Federal Register (71 FR 44801) (2006):

• http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/retrieve.html

IOM recommended allowing as milk alternatives only soy-based beverages that are fortified to contain nutrients in amounts similar to cow¡¦s milk. The IOM also recommended minimum levels per cup of 300 mg calcium and 120 International Units (IU) vitamin D. FDA, at 21 CFR Part 131, specifies that if added, milk should provide not less than 2000 IU vitamin A per quart (500 IU per cup) and 400 IU vitamin D per quart (100 mg per cup.) ... Since soy beverage may be allowed as a substitute for milk over a variety of fat content levels, a single, broadly applicable standard is needed. Further, FNS believes that the statutory requirement of Public Law 108¡V265 for nutritional equivalency takes precedence over the IOM recommendations for WIC. Therefore, whole milk was used as a benchmark for all nutrients except vitamins A and D, which already have Federally established standards for fortification of fluid milk. The chosen levels of vitamins A and D derive from the milk fortification levels required by the FDA. Based on the above, this rule proposes that authorized soy-based beverages provide, at a minimum, the following nutrients:

Per cup

Calcium ..................... 276 milligrams (mg).

Protein ....................... 8 grams.

Vitamin A ................... 500 International Units (IU).

Vitamin D .................. 100 IU. ...

I think adding Vitamin D to soy milk is legal. -- Toytoy 04:28, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Follow-up This morning I sent the following email to Jane Brody, c/o the New York Times, via their website:

Ms. Brody:

The last sentence of your 3/27 article "You Are Also What You Drink", which cites the subject of the article as reporting that "soy milk cannot be legally fortified with vitamin D", was recently referred to the Wikipedia Reference Desks for fact-checking.

Going back to the source articles, Wikipedia Reference Desk volunteers found that the "Beverage Guidance System" uses an outdated 1971 journal article as its source to make this claim. Subsequently, and armed with only the Internet at their fingertips, Wikipedia researches found plenty of evidence that the information in question is out of date and factually incorrect.

This evidence included recent documents from the Federal Register (71 FR 44801) (2006), which not only appear to recommend the fortification of soy milk with Vitamin D for the purpose of providing "milk alternatives" for school children, but provide specific recommendations for just how much Vitamin D should be included in these fortified products.

Wikipedia respondents also noted, by way of corroborating anectodal evidence, that soy milk fortified with Vitamin D is available at their local supermarket.

Clearly, if current federal-level discussion about soy-based alternatives to milk is concerned with quantifying Vitamin D as a sufficient additive for the purpose of school lunch and other WIC-supported programs, and if one can walk into any store and buy soy-milk fortified with Vitamin D, it seems safe to assume that it is perfectly legal to fortify soy milk with Vitamin D.

Just as clearly, for all the bad press about Wikipedia, there are some ways in which it works very well indeed.

In the interest of providing accurate legal and nutritional advice to parents everywhere, we appreciate your attention to correcting the misinformation contained in this report, and in your article.

Jfarber 13:51, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

YEAH! HECK YEAH! Soak 'em for Crutchy!!! V-Man - ^T/_C 02:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Did she reply? I don't see a correction posted by the NYT. I thought after Jayson Blair fiasco, the NYT adopted a very high standard for factual accuracy. -- Toytoy 17:48, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

She did NOT reply, and no correction has been noted...but the article was changed sometime yesterday, switching one part of the relevant sentence in the original study for another part of the same sentence, to make it look as if the original study (and the NYT article) had been accurate all along, and leaving readers with the implication that the study still is entirely accurate. Two "problems" arise from this: one, the article now covers up for the error in the study, and two, the article now looks different from how it used to, but no one will notice, and thus the misinformation will still flourish. Make of that what you will; I've submitted my concerns about the journalistic, ethical, and public-information ramifications of this "pretend it never happened by making retroactive changes" strategy for correcting errors to BoingBoing. Jfarber 14:29, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Hey! We made BoingBoing! Jfarber 17:52, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I thought Mark Frauenfelder and Carla Sinclair made it? V-Man - ^T/_C 00:38, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

And this is exactly why the NYT cannot be considered a WP:RS ;-) - O^O 01:28, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

When I checked the supplied link to the New York Times late in the day on 1 April, it showed the correction explicitly, and gave the date of the correction as March 31. (Though no credit to Wikipedia was offered!).

Correction: March 31, 2007...The Personal Health column in Science Times on Tuesday about healthful beverages included incorrect information from the Beverage Guidance Panel about soy milk. It can indeed be legally fortified with vitamin D.

EdJohnston 01:03, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

healthful. So they're illiterate as well as shoddy? --Tagishsimon (talk)

I actually heard from a NYT editor about this yesterday -- yes, the correction has now been added to the article, and it seems that the delay is caused by a desire to accomplish two things simultaneously:

1. to correct articles ASAP, the moment they know about them
2. 2 to not issue formal correction notices until they can check with the article's author.

I also learned that the archived version of the Times in such cases will reflect both the original text and the correction.

I admire these goals. My concern here remains, to some extent, however -- though Mr. Blake (the editor in question) acknowledges the delay between these two, and says that the resultant PERCEPTION of impropriety is something that they "can live with", I believe that this policy works for print version, but suggest that, on the web, emending an online article without acknowledging that change in ANY way is confusing to readers and, in an age where information travels (and is forgotten) quickly, will retain the impression of impropriety...and can cause problems (for example, a student who cited the article on Tuesday will include the falsehood in her paper; a teacher who checks that fact on Thursday will have no way of knowing that what the student saw actually exists).

On the other hand, as I suggested to Blake, were the consequences of that policy-set to be made public (perhaps via the public editor's desk), AND were article DATES to be changed in online versions if the text has been changed, I beloieve the matter would be resolved. The public would have a better awareness of this policy (and would probably support it) due to the former; more importantly, information on the NYT web site would AT ALL TIMES be labeled with the proper date-stamp to represent the actual text in the article, and when it was published AS TEXT. Such is life, when one has no "history" tab to click for articles! Jfarber 12:47, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Consider writing a summary of this for the Signpost. -- Zanimum 13:14, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

I'd love to -- how do you submit to the signpost? Jfarber 13:43, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Further research

Here's what Popkin et al. write in the paper cited by the NYT: "Fortified soymilk is a good alternative for individuals who prefer not to consume cow milk, although consumers should be aware that soymilk cannot be legally fortified with vitamin D and provides 75% of the calcium bioavailable from milk (95)."

(95) refers to the 1971 article by Heaney/Sillman in J Clin Endocrinol Metab mentioned by Jfarber above. I got a scan of that article. As far as I can tell, it mentions neither laws nor soymilk anywhere. A 75% figure occurs once (p. 662), but in a very different context. Anyone interested in confirming that? Rl 15:00, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Thank you all! -- Toytoy 22:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

What is the full citation of the Popkin et al. article? (title, author, journal/website - that is, the nutrition study, not the NY Times article about it.) I would like to look in its use of the the 1971 article; that is, to see if they really did get their information about food laws and nutrients from things published 36 years ago!

Please forgive me if this is not the right place to post this query. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.235.238.156 (talk • contribs)

Here is the full citation, and the URL:

Barry Popkin, Lawrence Armstrong, George Bray, Benjamin Caballero, Balz Frei and Walter Willett (2006). "A new proposed guidance system for beverage consumption in the United States". American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 83 (3): 529–542.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Click on the title to open up a free version of the article.

Comment. User:Rl in a comment just above (under 'Further research') quotes the actual passage from the Popkin et al. article that repeats the information we now realize is incorrect. Popkin's reference 95 is the following paper: Heaney RP, Skillman TG. Calcium metabolism in normal human pregnancy. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1971;33:661–70. That is the very paper that was scanned by User:Rl. I had a chance to look at his copy, and for sure it has nothing to do with soy milk, fortified or otherwise. That paper was trying to study the depletion of calcium from the bones of pregnant women due to the demands of pregnancy. I think that Popkin et al. made a mistake with their reference 95.

Suggestion: Does anyone feel like following up with the first author of this paper, Barry Popkin? Maybe Jfarber would like to pursue this, since he wrote to the NYT. The full copy of the article reveals Popkin's email address. EdJohnston 04:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

I wanted someone else to confirm my tired eyes. Thanks, EdJohnston, I'll contact Popkin. Rl 07:18, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Update: I heard back from Mr. Popkin. He writes: "we published an erratum in th eNYT and are submitting one to our journal now". Rl 18:06, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

question

1.what is mh exit on a strip?i heard sumthin like that but wasnt sure what the guys were talking about. 2. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.49.87.190 (talk) 14:12, 27 March 2007 (UTC).

Would you please clarify? What sort of strip are you talking about? Google has a great many possibilities for "mh exit", but it's impossible for me to distinguish which you're interested in. — Lomn 15:21, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Female Celebrity Quote

which female celeb made this quote on an interview? "they do that so you have to look at all the advertisements" she is close to the royal family

[2] Yields Anne Hathaway. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 16:46, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Board of Selectmen - NH

What can citizens do about their Board of Selectmen not doing their job? Who to contact, what avenues to take?

Thanks! Brenda —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.175.139.11 (talk) 15:17, 27 March 2007 (UTC).

Thanks Brenda, for your question, and although I have not answered,and cannot, I have removed your email address for spam reasons sorry.

Unless they're breaking a law and someone's willing to prosecute them, about your only choice is to unseat them during the next election. Occasionally, this requires that you, yourself, be willing to run for and possibly serve in the (generally thankless) job.

Atlant 16:28, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

You could try contacting them; I wouldn't have high expectations, but if it is some particular issue they are not addressing, they might possibly show an interest in it if you lobby them. Alternatively, the media is a good place to highlight that they are not doing their job; local media is often interested in stories about local politicians messing up or not doing anything. Warofdreams talk 16:49, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I would bring it up during a town meeting, assuming they allow questions from the floor. Phrase it as a question, such as "When will you do X, as you had previously promised on Y date, but so far failed to deliver ?". The press should be there and is likely to report on such a question and the response. If this method gets no results, perhaps a recall election is in order, if those are allowed in your jurisdiction. A petition drive is typically needed to authorize a recall vote. StuRat 17:09, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Rasputin

I am trying to find a book or books writen by Rasputin, the mad monk, apparently he wrote at least two, My life in Christ, and My Thoughts and Meditations. Where can I buy these, I have managed to find a book at Abebooks.co.uk by his daughter maria, called My Father, would this contain anything by him? If he wrote any others that I am not aware of I would be willing to buy those too. Any help would be greatly appreciated. But just to clarify, I am not interested in books about him or second hand accounts, I specifically want to read what the man himself put onto paper. Therefore his daughters book may be interesting but are of little use to me, unless they contains his own works. She also wrote Rasputin the Man Behind the Myth a Personal Memoir By Maria Rasputin. But what of Rasputin himself. Thankyou 81.144.161.223 16:10, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Which languages do you know ? I would expect books by Rasputin to be in Russian, or possibly French (as that was the "in" language with Russian aristocracy at the time). I'm not sure his books would be popular enough to have been translated into English. StuRat 17:01, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

You could possibly ask on the talk page of our article on Rasputin, where an editor named Artmann mentioned both those titles back in August of 2006. Sadly, said editor does not have a user or talk page, and does not seem to have been active since October. I could find no other evidence of a book by Rasputin called My Life In Christ; there was a book with that title by (Saint) John of Kronstadt, published in 1911. Regarding the other title, the following showed up in a Google search "My favorite is 'My Father' by Maria Rasputin, because it contains 'My Thoughts and Meditations,' the only book ever written by Rasputin." Unfortunately, I am unable to access Y! Groups sites from this computer, but here is a link --LarryMac 18:43, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

According to this excerpt from The Rasputin File, a biography by Edvard Radzinsky, Rasputin wrote (or rather dictated) four books, Life of an Experienced Wanderer, Great Festivities in Kiev!, Pious Meditations, and My Thoughts and Reflections. Perhaps this helps. Crypticfirefly 00:59, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

The only copies of books by Rasputin I have found in my university's rather large and extensive catalog are in Russian (they are the "My Thoughts and Meditations" book: Moi mysli i razmyshleniya / Мой мысли и размышления). I admit to being a bit surprised by that — one would think that something published almost 100 years ago by a figure of major historical interest would have eventually been translated into English. If you can read Russian, there are a few recent (post-Soviet) reprints of his books published out of Moscow; if not, you seem to be out of luck. --24.147.86.187 18:50, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

That would be Мои мысли и размышления, not Мой мысли и размышления. Мой is singular, Мои is plural.  :) JackofOz 00:37, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, my bad. I realized that after the fact. --24.147.86.187 15:04, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Hi, I'm back again and I'm glad to announce that I have set up my user page so anyone may contact me on topic of Rasputin and other topics :) Artmann 14:45, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Sandstone wall cladding

Can somebody kindly provide me with advice on affixing sandstone (real stone, not artificial) cladding to an interior cement brick wall. The stones measure 100 x 300 mm and weigh about 1.6Kg each - hence I will be using the strongest cement based tile adhesive available being that intended for porcelain tiles. I have also scrubbed the surfaces clean of all dust and thoroughly dried the stones, and will be applying the adhesive with a 6mm grooved tiling trowel. Any other pointers will be appreciated ! Thank you in advance. --Dr snoobab 17:32, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Just speculating here, but I would think you would use different types of adhesive for a permeable material (like sandstone) than a nonpermeable material (like porcelain). StuRat 19:39, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Another thought is that (if you have more than one row) you may want to install the bottom row first, and allow them to set, before putting on the next row, and so on. This will allow the bottom row to better withstand the weight of the tiles above. I also assume you're using some type of spacers to keep the proper gap between the tiles until they set. StuRat 19:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

We do not provide medical advice. V-Man - ^T/_C 02:53, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Or how about this example of medical masonry: Horta (Star Trek) ? StuRat 02:14, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Gay prosecution

In how many countries are people who have committed homosexual acts not prosecuted? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LadnavEht (talk • contribs) 18:28, 27 March 2007 (UTC).

You'll want to check out our detailed article on Homosexuality laws of the world. Cheers, TenOfAllTrades(talk) 18:51, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Are you asking, "In how many countries is it not illegal to be a practicing homosexual?" or "In how many countries which have laws against homosexuality are the laws not enforced?" or "In how many countries are people not persecuted legally for homosexuality regardless of whether there are laws against it?" or what? Your question is highly ambiguous. --24.147.86.187 18:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Also, we should check -- does the querent mean prosecuted or persecuted? I'd assume the best, but it's such a common error, I thought we'd best be sure. Jfarber 20:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Not wanting to split hairs, but I don't think it's illegal anywhere in the world to "be a practicing homosexual" or that there are any laws against "homosexuality" (which is a state of being, not a behaviour). I might be wrong. The querent asked about homosexual acts - these are the things that are, unfortunately, illegal in some places. JackofOz 00:34, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

The article on gay rights in Nigeria states that "included in the bill [proposed by the government] is a proposal to ban any form of relationship with a gay person". I don't know whether you consider this a law against being homosexual or not. A.Z. 21:35, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Really?? How awful. What about being the parent, sibling or friend of a gay person. Those are relationships too. What is going wrong with this damned world. JackofOz 01:09, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) That's some pretty broad wording. I'm trying to picture what it would mean when my daughter grows up and announces she is a lesbian -- would the law ban my fatherhood? Jfarber 01:11, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

It's really awful, I agree. I think the law would ban your fatherhood. How come no one mentioned the nazist regime so far? Wasn't it illegal to be gay in Germany during Hitler's rule? I know he is asking about the present, but this was not too long ago. A.Z. 04:48, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Not wanting to split hairs with the above respondent but his "practicing homosexuals" are only trying to do it better, whereas I think the OP is aimed at those who "practise" i.e. commit homosexual acts. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.145.240.73 (talk) 18:52, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

Not wanting to call attention to what may be inappropriate linguistic assumptions of the above respondent, but just because the noun/verb distinction between practise and practice exists in HIS country doesn't mean it exists in everyone else's. source. To assume the speaker is from one of those countries where the distinction exists is outside the bounds of good faith. In a wide swath of the world, there is no such thing as a "practising" anything; for those folks, a "practicing homsexual" may be committing an act, or "merely" working his way up to it. Jfarber 20:48, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

College Basketball

In the article that came up when I searched "College Basketball" it stated in a section called Trivia that unlike the NBA, college basketball plays 2 20 minute halves. I am trying to find out if it has always been that way, or did they play quarters at some time in the past. If so, when did they make the change from quarters to halves. Thank you. Mike44022 20:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

From 1951-52 to 1954-55, the NCAA used four 10-minute quarters. Before and after that, they played halves, according to the association's Men's Basketball Records Book. -- Mwalcoff 22:42, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Suing p2p users — what time of the day?

Here's just a silly thought I had: we all know that occasionally the RIAA et al go after college kids and sue their pants off for their p2p activities (or threaten to sue them if they don't pay $5000 or so). They obviously figure out who these kids are by going on p2p sites or programs, looking to see who is sharing (or downloading?) copyrighted works, get the IP address and then demand the ISP turn over the identities, or something like that.

Now here's my question: do the RIAA stooges lackeys employees who do this do this during normal working hours? That is, is there any way to know what time of the day they search for college kids? I imagine the pickings are so easy that they don't bother to mix it up a bit — would it be possible or likely that they only do this before 5pm on weekdays in whatever time zone they are? It seems like this information would not be too hard to get from court papers, but I don't know if anyone has collected it. Just a curious and amusing thought I had — imagine resting a lot easier in terms of copyright infringement because you only shared files on non-standard hours and on the weekend! Again, it would be an easy thing to get around (and since the RIAA is mostly interested in terrorizing people into not using p2p technology, they have an incentive to go after the non-standard here to make a point), but I just wonder if the RIAA has ever bothered. Any thoughts?--24.147.86.187 22:02, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

If I were trying to get IP addresses of file sharers, I'd use an automated program to do the work. The program collects addresses and lists of files all the time, and I'd only need to collect the results every day or so. --Carnildo 23:22, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I think the application that gathers the list of IP addresses is almost certainly designed to run without human interaction. That's how I'd do it (I'm a computer programmer.) The program could be running any time, day or night, 24x7, with no inconvenience to the RIAA's employees. MrRedact 23:29, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I've always suspected that they must get their Russian friends to help them crack the PC's. Or else there are colleges that instantly hand over all the demographics. Normally there is some effort to go from IP number to legal identity. --Zeizmic 11:55, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Seventh Amendement

Only a handful of Americans, like these two in costume, exercise their right to bear arms. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:48, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Suppose some guy owes me 20$. I take him or her to court. Under the 7th Amendment to the US Constitution, does the other person (or me if I wanted) have the right that a jury will decide the case? Or is the interpretation of the amendment mean a value equivalent to what 20$ was worth in the late 18th century - around 2 000 $, I read somewhere. Duomillia 23:19, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I believe the wikipedia article on the US constitution states that 20 dollars back then is now worth 300 dollars now after accounting for inflation Coolotter88 01:24, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

The $20 rule still applies at $20, but the Seventh Amendment only applies to federal courts. It's unlikely a $20 claim would be heard in a federal court. -- Mwalcoff 02:34, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

A fine example of the antiquated character of the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately the country is now too populous and diverse (and partisanly divided!) to make any attempt at drafting up a new constitution. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 06:19, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I think it would mean $20 present value, but the interpretation depends on the philosophy of the judge—purposive theory or textualism? Original intent or original meaning? − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:48, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

The dollar value really doesn't matter because no Judge Wapner-like small-claims case would wind up in federal court. Had the Supreme Court ruled that the Seventh Amendment applied to the states, it would have created a major problem. -- Mwalcoff 23:16, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Definitely; while the law applies to twenty bucks now just like it did back then, it's surely less-recognized, since someone is less likely to sue for a fifty-dollar damage (although you'd be surprised). But yeah, as Mwalcoff stated, those aren't likely to go very far before some exasperated judge tosses it out. V-Man - ^T/_C 02:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

• A court case and the legal counsel you need for it are much more expensive than the money you'd get out of it. $20 is not worth sueing over. Depending on the situation, you could report them to the police. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:54, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

March 28

ann brashares

do you know how to write to ann brashares? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.211.211.115 (talk) 00:29, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

You can contact most authors via their publisher. In Ann's case I guess that would be:

Ann Brashares
c/o Publicity Department, Random House, 
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, 
London SW1V 2SA
ENGLAND

FiggyBee 04:26, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

marlin 9mm camp rifle

i am a marlin gun collector, one of my favorites is the camp 9 millimeter, recently i took it out shooting and the stock cracked and broke, is there anyway i can get marlin to replace it? because it is a factory default in the grain of the wood. <Personal info removed--Captain Wikify ^Argh! 01:21, 28 March 2007 (UTC)> —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.28.253.94 (talk) 00:49, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

You could check out this part of their website [3]--ChesterMarcol 03:02, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

1989

Who was the richest man in the world in 1989?

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:56, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain we are looking for Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei, but i cannot find the Forbes 400 for that year.—eric 06:54, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, i was looking for the wrong list, but cannot find Forbes "The World's Richest People" for 1989 either.—eric 07:02, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Why do gold fish turn white?

I have a number of gold fish in separate tanks. One fish in each tank has turned white while the others are fine. I have tried 'medicine' for white spots disease and it is not that, I am not sure what is happening and if it is harmful to the fish or if there is anything I can do to prevent it.

Thank you,

Melissa —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.202.21.159 (talk) 05:05, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

If you leave your goldfish in the dark , it will turn almost white. Goldfish have pigment production in response to light, which is almost like our tanning in the sun. Fish have cells called chromatophores that produce pigments which reflects light, and gives coloration. -- from Goldfish --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:03, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps one of them is using the others as shade? V-Man - ^T/_C 03:46, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

probably totally wrong but the only thing I can come up with and you never know, maybe they are all male, and the white ones are female, and they can change if there aren't any females around :? HS7 19:14, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Anecdotal evidence, true, but my goldfish change colors sometimes in life. Sometimes it's their diet - one of my goldfish was fed only peas, and it turned a greenish hue!198.232.70.10 20:28, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Scientific name of Hawaiian salad vegetable 'Mala Kin'?

Someone brought a piece of a vegetable to the garden nursery where I once worked. He said it is called "Mala Kin" and is eaten like lettuce in Hawaii; he wanted to know the scientific or English name. We didn't recognize it. I have been growing it--and still need the name. It grows sort of like a stout vine, with more or less ovate, 2-3" long, alternate leaves. This year it flowered, from which I know it is in the Composite (sunflower family); small heads of all disk flowers, yellow-ish orange.

Thanks! 4.246.21.162 06:09, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Martha.

Apparently the "Manoa" Lactuca sativa longifolia is very popular in Hawai'i, it's not that is it? FiggyBee 06:49, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Definitely this is not Lactuca longifolia; I would even doubt that it is a Lactuca. It has a distinct stem, dark green, which roots easily in water or soil. (You can never do this with the Lactuca's I know!) 4.246.18.49 06:19, 30 March 2007 (UTC)Martha

Could you take a photograph of it (and perhaps upload it to Wikimedia Commons)? Jobjörn (Talk ° contribs) 12:44, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Translation of the "Zheng Chi Ge"?

In the Sung Dynasty (c. 1200) a man was unjustly emprisoned then executed. While in prison he wrote a famous essay that starts out, "Tian di you zheng chi", which roughly translates as "Heaven-earth-have- upright-vital energy/chi". This essay is called the "Zheng Chi Ge" (meaning the Song of the Upright Energy"), and the author's name is something like "Man Tin Cheung" (in Cantonese), which may be something like "Wen Tian Jiang" in Putonghua. I'd like to get an English translation of the entire essay, but have so far failed. Does anyboy know where I could find it? Also I'd be interested to know more of the biography of this man.

Thanks! 4.246.21.162 06:21, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Martha

See Wen Tianxiang. The poem itself is quite difficult to translate because Wen, as a top scholar of his time, used countless Chinese historical accounts to prove there really was justice and a righteous man shall sacrifice.

• Zheng Chi Ge full text in Chinese. My short and not very precise translation:

... I am jailed in a small and filthy room. ... It feels so unconfortable in the summer. HERE COMES SEVEN BAD THINGS ... However, I am a righteous man. The seven evils can never conquer my one righteous power. ... Here is my poem:

There is justice in heaven and earth. Justice is in everything. Above us are the stars. Under us there are mountains and rivers. Within a man it is called righteousness. ... When evil rises, we see people's righteousness. ... 12 HISTORICAL EVENTS ... This righteousness lasts forever. It is more than our own lives. ...

Wen was finally killed by the invaders. He lived on as a national hero. Based on Japanese Wikipedia, he was also highly praised in Japan in the 1800s when Japan was in conflict. -- Toytoy 11:58, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

If we're using Pinyin, that would be Zhèng Qì Gē.

Sunny Trouble

I am an Indian guy ,obviously brown and I hate my colour because it doesn't go well with my small eyes and large face.Due to this I started hating the sun.I want to know what S.P.F of sunscreen would be suitable for Indian tropical weather that too in south india.Can apply sunscreen even on my hands and fingers.210.212.215.141 09:14, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Prosemite

I don't think even totally avoiding the sun would make you much lighter color, as tanning seems to be mainly apparent in those with light skin. If you really want lighter colored skin there are bleaching methods to do that (Micheal Jackson is one celeb who used such methods). However, those can be expensive and potentially dangerous, so I recommend against them. Try to learn to be more accepting of your physical appearance and be assured that many people actually prefer your complexion (hence tanning beds). However, sunscreen/sunblock is still a good idea to avoid skin cancer (although you are less susceptible to this than fair skinned people, it's still a concern). You can put it on the back of your hands and fingers, but don't put it on the front, as it will just get on anything you touch, such as food. The front of the hands isn't normally exposed to much sunlight, so doesn't need the protection, anyway. StuRat 14:06, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

May I point out that this user's questions appear "borderline trollish"? See his/her contributions (and the question below as well). · AO ^Talk 00:06, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Does a "borderline troll" live under a bridge which spans a river that divides two nations ? :-) StuRat 02:05, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Why not be pleased with who and what you are? Try not to worry about how you look, be bold and comfortable and you will get respect. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.109.206.48 (talk) 14:39, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Mr.India

What should I do to become a Mr.India?It may sound funny but I must say that it has been my childhood dream to become one.My height is 5feet 10inches and my complexion is that of a tanned leather.Some say I look extremely handsome. But some say I look like an alien and strange.210.212.215.141 10:47, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Prosemite

There seem to be several Mr. India contests you can sign up for. Or you can start your own. Clarityfiend 20:00, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

May I point out that this user's questions appear "borderline trollish"? See his/her contributions (another one right above this). · AO ^Talk 00:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Well then he can try out for Mr. Schizoid Troll India. Clarityfiend 01:09, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Well,YOU ARE AT IT AGAIN!Bloody fool,do you think you are the only handsome guy in this world?I know you are that same guy who asked those questions titled 'beauty cosciosness','LOOKS'and all those girly questions.Sometimes you think you are handsome and sometimes you think you are a toad. What is the problem with you yaar?210.212.215.141 05:13, 30 March 2007 (UTC)Gerbil_fozzilised_in_lapizlazuli

Thanks

first i want to thank the guy who got me the anne hathaway answer for celebrity quote.am i to pay him or make the generous contribution directly to wikipedia.i own a radio station and i have a series of tapes which i ask my listeners but i lost their corresponding answer where i ask a quote and am to ask who said it.this is another one which female celeb saidafter they saw it they were like okay shiz dinah

There is no requirement to pay for answers given on the reference desk, but if you did give a donation to the wikimedia foundation, that would help ensure that someone will be here to answer your question next time! If you go here, you will find several ways you could donate. Skittle 21:47, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Googling "after they saw it they were like" tells us that the actual quote is ""after they saw it, they were like, 'okay, she is Deena'". The speaker is Beyonce. See this MTV News story for more. And, as Skittle suggests, feel free to donate if you're happy, but don't feel obliged. Jfarber 01:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

To me, one of the most powerful things about Wikipedia is how trustworthy something free can become. Depending on money brings biases. V-Man - ^T/_C 03:52, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Which is a nice thought, if only WP didn't cost about $100,000 a month to run... FiggyBee 11:26, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

currency

whats the difference between the 200 Kenyatta and 200 moi currency note.list all the difference viewable.this are Kenyan currencies,go to http://www.kcshop.com/imagegallery/Kenya.htm —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.49.87.156 (talk) 11:15, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

This sounds a lot like homework, and if it is the only answer I am supposed to give is to do it yourself :( HS7 18:55, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

The question is strange, because the unit of currency in Kenya is neither the Kenyatta nor the Moi, but the Kenyan shilling. Whether a 200-shilling bank note features the portrait of Jomo Kenyatta or Daniel arap Moi, it's value is the same: 200 Kenyan shillings. Marco polo 19:30, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

question (hock)

may i ask you if you could name a german white wine which shares its name with a joint of ham.

Hock

yes, you may but I don't know the answer :] HS7 15:20, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Hock (wine) would be the more correct link. · AO ^Talk 00:08, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Although hock also contains a disambiguating link to ham hock... 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 01:28, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I prefer Hock a loogie... What!! No article?? RDAC time... Oh, wait... V-Man - ^T/_C 03:56, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Pager Decoder

Is there a program i can download from the internet that i can use my scanner to decode pager signals? 75.54.61.158 14:21, 28 March 2007 (UTC)Aaron

Let's try to clarify... You'd like to use a computer program to use your image scanner to read pager signals? Are you referring to the radio signals they produce or receive, or the LCD readout they display? V-Man - ^T/_C 03:27, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I think in this case it'd be a police scanner. Luigi30 (Taλk) 13:07, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Not legally, if you're talking about what I think you're talking about. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:38, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Inventions and Patents

Hi.

I recently came up with a very good idea that changes the way an existing product works. It really would revolutinize this existing product. The man who originally came up with the idea is now a multimillionaire and you can see his product every where. The change that I made to his design is fully patentable and no one else has thought of it. I recently contacted him via email with my idea. I mentioned to him that I have a provisional patent for the design. (Which I don't because it is beyond me.) But I took some bad advice because I thought it would protect my idea. Needless to say, I believe he sniffed it out and is now in the process of going over my idea. I can just imagine seeing the commercials on TV a month from now. I guess my question is... If I don't have the money or the expertise to develop a full patent. What can I do? Are there any companies (not the patent scam ones) that I can take my idea to? I know if I can find the right people, they will be highly interested. I can't afford a lawyer, but I need to cover myself and my idea. Any ideas? Any help would be greatly appreciated! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.23.129.248 (talk) 17:20, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

This (http://www.bl.uk/collections/patents/faq.html) may help. Or perhaps (http://www.cipa.org.uk/pages/advice). I really don't understand patent law, but I think that you have to be very 'careful' about who you give your idea/key information to. I understand there is some controversy about the invention of the telephone that is to do with patents but I can't recall the details. Good luck, I hope you reap the rewards of revolutionising the product.ny156uk 17:32, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I also don't think getting a patent is as expensive as you think. If you absolutely have no money or credit, then I guess you need to trust somebody with the idea who you hope will lend you enough money to get the patent, and not steal your idea. StuRat 18:33, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Patent lawyers generally help you write a bulletproof claims section for the patent. If you don't word your claims well enough, someone can probably find a loophole to produce your device or use your method without violating your patent. A wonderful example of this relates to why almost all of those foam pool noodles have a hole in the middle (look it up, it's fascinating). There's no reason you cannot write and submit your own patent, but if you have no experience doing so you may very well leave a lot of loopholes. I would really recommend seeing a patent lawyer; this isn't an easy process to go at alone. What's more, your disclosure of your idea complicates things. You can still patent something after public disclosure (only in the US, though), but you have to apply within a year otherwise the idea is considered public domain. What exactly constitutes public disclosure is a little complex, but it was probably a poor idea to just give up your idea like that. With his means he could apply for his own patent, which you could possibly invalidate if you could demonstrate prior art (dated notebooks, prototypes, etc), but that would drag you into an even more complicated and costly legal process.

I reiterate, if you think this idea is really worth owning, see a patent lawyer as quickly as possible. I'm afraid that the patent system isn't something that you will likely successfully navigate on your own. -- mattb @ 2007-03-28T18:49Z

Thanks for all the good advice... I wish I had the money to patent this. I am only 26, still paying off student loans, just bought a house, and got married in Maui last week. As you can see I am a little short on funds! Are there any patent lawyers or companies who I can share this idea with who will help me out for a cut of the future business. I have not found any online.

FWIW, links to United States patenting would probably be a bit more useful than UK ones, if the person asking the question is from the US... (most other links in a Google search is from one of "the patent scam ones.") V-Man - ^T/_C 04:05, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Texas Lakes

Are there any natural lakes in the state of Texas. (Not man made) Gary —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gmcgregordiamond (talk • contribs) 17:53, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

Lake Caddo is the only natural lake in Texas. Look here for more info from the Texas parks and wildlife department. [4]

Pro-Life Protest

Does anyone know how to find out about pro-life protests and where they are held? Does anyone know of any being held in the state of California?

-Pregnant Woman —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.79.76.151 (talk) 18:04, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

You could always go to one of the anti-choice sites. A few minutes on Google should get you whatever you need.

Atlant 22:27, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Is this a protest in favor of pro-life? "pro-life" California should help. V-Man - ^T/_C 04:14, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

how can i get the name by cell phone number no fee

?

Can you explain a bit? Do you mean the name of a person who owns a particular cell phone number without paying? If so, I'd like to know too :) [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 19:14, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm really tempted to post a link, but I'll probably have people get all pissy on me if I did. Anyway, I don't think it's possible unless you're a law enforcement agency. I don't know of any cell phone providers that make this information public. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T00:25Z

• Ask the cell phone provider, but unless you're law enforcement, it's unlikely they'll tell. It violates the privacy of the phone owner. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Thatcher's Falklands War vs Blair's Iran Saving Grace.

Question moved to Humanities. Clio the Muse 18:52, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

So why wasn't it there when I looked just now Clio???????????? 81.145.240.73 18:57, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, it's there now. Relocation takes a moment or two. Clio the Muse 19:12, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Hahahaha! I can feel the rage of 81.145.240.73 emanating from my monitor! − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 20:40, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Question marks = rage? Jfarber 20:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

For the record: I read 'em (in context) as an indication of aggrieved indignation, possibly verging on the aggravated. Let us hope that no true rage was provoked. -- Deborahjay 00:29, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This question isn't even here anymore, and we're still discussing it

No we're not. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by JackofOz (talk • contribs) 03:50, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

c:) HS7 20:21, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

What percent of Electrical Engineering B.S. grads go on to get a masters or PhD?

What percent of Electrical Engineering B.S. grads go on to get a masters or PhD? Or you can help me find where I would look something like this up. Thanks. Iownatv 20:27, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

SPIDERS!

What is the largest spiders? Thank you —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.42.226.18 (talk) 21:44, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

Tarantula. Up to 9cm body and 25cm legs span! Some species hunt and kill birds and mice.

Specifically, the Goliath Bird Eating Spider-Theraphosa leblondi-to be found in South America. Despite its name, it does not in fact eat birds. Clio the Muse 22:10, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

As large as a dinner plate I heard. · AO ^Talk 00:11, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Here it is [5]. I came across a beauty in Brazil. Sweet dreams, now! Clio the Muse 00:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This is of course, the largest KNOWN spider... Biodiversity and toxic waste dumps are big trump cards for the unknown. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T00:27Z

So were rainforests, once. HA! Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:37, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

How about this one ? [6]. :-) StuRat 01:53, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I found a red-knee'd tarantula lurking in a coiled up garden hose when I was tidying up my garage - they are pretty common here in Texas. I'd guess it was about 10cm from leg-tip to leg-tip. Deeply scarey things. SteveBaker 04:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing it's knees were even redder once you doused it in gasoline and set it on fire. StuRat 19:38, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

MP3 player

Question moved to WP:RD/C. →EdGl 22:19, 28 March 2007 (UTC) ha ha!

Modern silly law?

I heard NYC has or is considering a bylaw banning iPods. Seems absurd to me. Does Apple have anything to say about this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.53.180.84 (talk) 22:11, 28 March 2007 (UTC).

A New York state legislator has proposed legislation that would allow police to fine people listening to iPods (and similar devices) while in crosswalks. It's nowhere near the scope you've implied, and it's incredibly unlikely to pass (or even come to a vote). — Lomn 22:20, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

It is in response to a dramatic rise in fatalities caused by oblivious pedestrians walking into traffic. One of the most dramatic was a person who killed while people were yelling warnings which were obviously not heard because the person was listening to an iPod. It's really not that different from banning mobile phones while driving. Vespine 00:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

One diff is that the distracted driver kills innocent bystanders, while the oblivious pedestrian is only likely to kill himself, thus improving the gene pool, unless the driver swerves to avoid them. StuRat 01:09, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I always wondered if that happened often; now at least I know it happens. :) · AO ^Talk 00:13, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Here is my favourite example of a silly law. JackofOz 01:04, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Haha, yeah actually came across that one doing my taxes too jack:) basically means, they reserve the right to make up whatever the hell they want, wish that one applied to us too:) Vespine 05:34, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

FTW?

They banned pinball until the 70s. And they've been trying to ban photography in the subway recently, which is just unutterably silly.--Pharos 01:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

• As far as I know you're not allowed to listen to a CD player or any device *with headphones* while taking part in traffic in the Netherlands and mobile phones are definitely banned while driving. Anyone who gets caught gets a serious lecture from the police and they may get a ticket for reckless endangerment. Whether it improves the gene pool isn't the issue, it's dangerous and a ban for people to use them while taking part in traffic seems entirely appropriate (at least it does to me). - Mgm|^(talk) 09:48, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Don't knock it until you've tried it. I drive with my earphones in and I'm sure I can hear what's going on around me MUCH better than I could if I had the windows up and the stereo going. FiggyBee 11:15, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Then why not just listen to the news on the radio instead? :-) · AO ^Talk 12:06, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Same thing; if I have it up loud enough that I can actually hear what they're saying (my car is not very engine-soundproof), it's at least as loud and distracting as my earphones are. FiggyBee 12:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

March 29

WikiCD

(Go ahead and move this question if I did something wrong) A long time ago, I was reading something on Wikipedia, and I read that the article was being included on the "Wiki CD". I have searched and searched, but I cant find any information on a Wiki CD. Does anyone know where I could find the Wiki CD? -- Zylstra555 02:02, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

See WP:1.0. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T04:05Z

2006 Wikipedia CD Selection is a CD version of 'the best of' Wikipedia - you can download it for free. It's pretty frustrating to use though - image thumbnails can't be popped open to reveal the full image and there are very, very few cross-links because most of the articles are not on the disk. A 2007 CD is in preparation - there is also the Wikipedia:Version 1.0 effort - which might end up as some kind of removable media - or possibly in print. Sadly though - it'll suffer from the same problems as the 2006 CD. There has been a 'test' release of that in Wikipedia:Version_0.5 - and there are about a dozen similar efforts going on that are listed in a table on the Wikipedia:Version 1.0 page. The problem with all of them is that Wikipedia is now vastly too big to fit on any kind of convenient portable media and once you have enjoyed the huge scope of the real thing, going back to a 'regular' encyclopedia is really frustrating. The Internet is now pretty much the only place that Wikipedia can exist. SteveBaker 04:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Guitars

What is the most expensive guitar? I always thought it was the Fender Stratocaster, but I'm not sure. --69.144.234.146 00:37, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Stock guitar or custom? New or used by a famous person? Think about what B.B. King's Lucille or SRV's Number One are worth! One of Hendrix's custom Strats was recently sold for over US$150k. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T00:51Z

A strat specially created for charity and signed by several prominent guitarists sold at auction for US2.7 MILLION dollars is the most a guitar has ever sold for. Vespine 04:15, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a stock guitar. BUT Eric Claptions "Blackie" sold for $959,000, beating $957,500 for "Tiger" owned by Jerry Garcia.

http://www.themomi.org/museum/articles/more/10expensive.html —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.180.27.49 (talk) 03:19, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

Legends Bar in Nashville has autographed Johnny Cash 12 string. I would imagine that that is worth something.

In Russia...

For a while now, I've seen people online say, In Russia (or Soviet Russia), _____ does _____ to you, with the blanks being two words or actions, usually in reverse of what you would expect somehow. I must be way out of the loop, but what does this mean and where does it come from? zafiroblue05 | Talk 03:05, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This particular comic form, called the Russian reversal, was invented by comedian Yakov Smirnov. One of the earliest uses was the joke "In USA you watch TV, in Russia, TV watches you !" (a reference to the two-way telescreens used to spy on the public in the anti-utopian book, 1984). StuRat 03:15, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

In Soviet Russia, Reference Desk questions YOU!! V-Man - ^T/_C 01:05, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

San Francisco: windscreen cleaning

It says here [7] that San Francisco has "A regulation making it illegal to use someone's pre-worn underwear to clean windscreens in city car washes." For what reason? --AlexSuricata 03:06, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't want some guy rubbing his nasty dirty underwear on my car, thats the best reason I can think of.--ChesterMarcol 03:12, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Bums will sometimes "clean" your windshield while you are stopped in traffic, without your permission, expecting to be paid for this "service". However, they often make the windshield even worse, as when they use something as disgusting as their used underwear as a cleaning rag. I would have made a more general regulation stating that "cleaning any portion of a car without the owner's permission is illegal". StuRat 03:14, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm waiting for the bylaw banning any company named the Acme Corporation from selling to anybody named Wile E. Coyote. Clarityfiend 04:25, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I doubt it has anything to do with squeegee people. It's probably to stop co-ed fundraiser carwashes from getting too graphic (windscreen lap dances, anybody?). Anchoress 05:03, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Looks like we need an article, any volunteers ? StuRat 19:33, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Try squeegee man instead.  :) — Catherine\^talk 22:13, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

"Man" ? The feminists will be in an uproar over this ! StuRat 01:58, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I added a redirect from squeegee people to squeegee man. StuRat 02:00, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Surely it just means that someone did it once, the case came to court (either for that directly or some other sort of malpractice) and the law was set by precedent by judicial ruling? Spiral Wave 08:29, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I would guess it means just the opposite, that the case came before the court, which let the perp (or is it perv ?) go, because "there's no law against washing a car with your used underwear". The legislature then decided to "fix" this "oversight" in the law. Personally, rather than passing such silly laws, I think our resources would be better spent in having some of the legislators "fixed". StuRat 19:23, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone else feel that that article would be hecka awesome with a picture? ^_____^ V-Man - ^T/_C 03:35, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Matisyahu

What is Matisyahu´s opinion on homosexuality? A.Z. 04:27, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, his article states that he is a practicing Chabad-Lubavitch Jew, so he probably holds pretty traditional Jewish views on homosexuality, more can be learned in our Homosexuality and Judaism article. it's possible of course that his view about this topic deviates from the traditional, but without specific reference to it, you can only assume. Vespine 05:11, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

staffing formulas

what formula do illinois police department use to determine their staffing levels?

what are comparative staffing levels amongst illinois police department?

LIFELESS

People say I look lifeless just like Arnie in The Terminator.I want to develop a more pleasant and appealing personality.I also want to improve my body language. How can I do it?210.212.215.141 05:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)Ecclesiasticalparanoid

• can't think of an answer right now;I'll be backhotclaws**== 09:09, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Talk to people over the internet, then if you make a mistake you can cross it out and try again, and you don't need body language as noone can see you :] HS7 19:10, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

SMILE

I'd recommend getting a psychiatric evaluation. If you have a flat affect and difficulties with body language, those could be symptoms of something like Asperger syndrome or some variety of schizophrenia. How you can be helped would depend on the diagnosis (if any). This is really a job for a professional. MrRedact 22:59, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This isn't necessarilly indicitative of a serious problem, but yeah, smiling helps. And before you talk, hold your hands up by your side and then they should in theory work out for themselves what to do from there. If at any point you become too subconscious about them just return them to that default position. Hopes this helps Mix Lord 00:53, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

(implying that you should use them in assisting your expressions.) V-Man - ^T/_C 03:45, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

You don't say "affirmative" or some shit like that. You say, "No problemo." If someone comes off to you with an attitude, you say "Eat me." And if you want to shine 'em on it's, "Hasta la vista, baby." Got it? Vespine 04:03, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

My guess is that other people have already told you things like "smile more", and that advice hasn't been particularly helpful to you. My guess is that if you just put your hands up by your side, they aren't going to automatically by themselves start forming appropriate gestures. My guess is that you need more help than you are likely to get from family, friends, reference desk staffers, encyclopedia articles, or even books. My guess is that what it's going to take is someone who knows what they're doing working with you one-on-one in person, doing things like making facial expressions and gestures, having you imitate those facial expressions and gestures, correcting you if needed, and having you learn by rote which facial expressions and gestures are appropriate in various circumstances, so that you can consciously perform those learned facial expressions and gestures in the circumstances in which you have learned to identify that they are appropriate. My brother (who actually has a background in performance and linguistics, not psychology or psychiatry) has done this kind of body language training for people professionally. I'd recommend him to you, but from your IP address I see that you don't live anywhere near him.

Encyclopedia articles and books are likely to be of limited use to you, because they can't provide you with any feedback on what you are doing. And family, friends and reference desk staffers are likely to just give you well-meaning advice, but not be able to help much because it's hard for them to understand just how difficult it can be to learn body language, since it was easy for them to learn. I think you've got a lot of hard work ahead of you. I think a good first step is to get a psychiatric evaluation. The psychiatrist may be able to refer you to someone who has experience with the kind of one-on-one body language training that I think is going to be needed. MrRedact 18:14, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Meaning

What do you mean by 'BORDERLINE TROLLISH'?

trolls usually posit straw men arguments or seemingly naive questions which would lead others into questionable and heated answers. A borderline troll would posit a borderline straw man or only a semi-serious question. In fact, this question itself is borderline trollish because you probably know what the answer is but you netted me and got me to write a few sentences out for you.

See Internet Troll. 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 10:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Just to clarify, I said this in a section above, which makes this question even more WP:TROLL, no? · AO ^Talk 12:12, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

From The Jargon File:

"To utter a posting on Usenet designed to attract predictable responses or flames; or, the post itself. Derives from the phrase “trolling for newbies” which in turn comes from mainstream “trolling”, a style of fishing in which one trails bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. The well-constructed troll is a post that induces lots of newbies and flamers to make themselves look even more clueless than they already do, while subtly conveying to the more savvy and experienced that it is in fact a deliberate troll. If you don't fall for the joke, you get to be in on it.".

I would say that in recent years, we have lost the idea that trolls are trying to catch newbies whilst being an obvious in-joke to those in the know. Nowadays a posting a troll is more like an act of vandalism - equally annoying to experts as to newbies - and of course you find them in forums, mailing lists and wikipedia talk pages as well as Usenet. Trolls find easy pickings in controversial areas - so an innocent question such as "Which is better Linux or Windows?" or "Can I believe in evolution and still be a Christian?" or even (in the right forum) "Why are Ford trucks better than Chevvies?" - is a trollish question. SteveBaker 12:29, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Toyota trucks FTW. :p -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T12:35Z

Careful, buddy. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:28, 30 March 2007 (UTC) (Pirates versus Ninjas)

New Testament

What book is it that Paul writes about correct eating, and if it bothers a new Christian that someone more well versed is eating food forbidden in the Old Testament (OT), that they should just follow the OT if it's going to mess with the other guy's mind and realization about Christ? Thx. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.199.11.156 (talk) 06:34, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

Romans 14:15. Skarioffszky 10:01, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I hope this is only chemical gunk.

Okay, so, around New Year's I replaced my shower curtain because this brown (it's only brown when you scrape it off) gunk was on it. I thought it was fungus, so I tossed it. A week ago, I noticed the same crap is on it again. This gunk smells like fish poo (I've owned an aquarium before), is transparent only when sticking to the curtain, brown (or varying colors of brown) when scraped off, et cetera. I hope this isn't a septic tank or recycled water I'm showering in. Raptor Jesus 07:08, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Chances are if you're in a city, all water is recycled water; Wastewater treatment should give you an explanation. As for the gunk, it could be soap scum caused by hard water. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

All water is in some sense recycled through the water cycle, but I do not know of any city that uses processed wastewater directly as a source of drinking water. Normally processed wastewater is released into the environment with very little remaining trace of human waste. Drinking water is normally extracted from the environment but then passed through filters that would remove any remaining traces from a city upstream.

What is far more likely is that soap scum accumulates and develops an infestation of mold and bacteria, which account for the brownish color. These microorganisms will inevitably accumulate on shower curtains as they or their spores are present in the air and will multiply on a wet surface with bits of soap or other nutrients such as skin particles. Frequent cleaning will keep this buildup to a minimum but probably not eliminate it at a microscopic level. Marco polo 19:20, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

You know it is possible to wash your plastic shower curtain. The best way I've found is to use a top loading washing machine. The trick is to use warm water for both the wash and rinse cycle-- if you use cold it will stiffen the plastic and it will tear more easily. Go ahead and use regular detergent plus bleach. Once it is done washing, shake it out and just hang it back up in the shower to let the remaining water drip off. Sometimes you wind up tearing the curtain doing this, but if the alternative is throwing it out and buying a new one, it is worth a try. Blinkystar 21:23, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I'd have thought that a product such as this would be your shower curtain's friend. --Tagishsimon (talk)

No way. You'd at least need a pack of freakishly cute bubbles to do the job. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 02:30, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

(Shudder) Freakishly something. V-Man - ^T/_C 04:45, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

From experience, I'd bet it's mildew. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:30, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

teach me

okay can someone teach me how u are able to get who said a certain quote.like for the famous celeb questions? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 62.24.114.170 (talk) 08:35, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

You might like to try our sister project Wikiquote. Cheers, Yuanchosaan^Salutations! 08:37, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Or just type the quote into Google, enclosing it in double quotation marks (" "), and see what comes up. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:28, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The "put it in quotes in google" method has been amazingly reliable for me in the past. I've used it to catch plagiarism, identify poems and songs with a single lyric, and locate transcripts of speeches and other mass media texts. It's the exceptionally rare quote that cannot be found; if it's out there, and you ask effectively, Google will find it. Jfarber 10:15, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

• Unfortunately, for typical quotations this method will also find any number of incorrect versions. Remember, all it takes is that someone remembers something wrongly and puts it on their web site. And if the words that you searched on are themselves wrong, you'll only find copies that have the same error. Look at the article about the headline Sticks nix hick pix and follow the first link in its References section, for example. --Anonymous, March 30, 2007, 04:20 (UTC).

As I said -- if you ask effectively, Google will find it. Effective searching should always include trying variants, and exploring multiple results, until you are sure you have found what you were looking for. INeffective searching is indeed "unfortunate", but it isn't a problem with the method itself -- instead, what Anonymous describes is the inevitable results of naive or poor (albeit typical) information literacy skills. Jfarber 23:29, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

This might be a good time to shine a spotlight on the Google template! famous celeb quotations is a start... V-Man - ^T/_C 01:32, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Cool!!!!!!!! Anchoress 01:41, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

(GASP) Don't tell me you didn't know about that before I did?? V-Man - ^T/_C 03:47, 30 March 2007 (UTC) (Edit conflict - that stupid bot works instantaneously, I swear)

Nope, you introduced me. Thanks a heap!! Anchoress 22:37, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Mag wheels

how mag wheels are manufactured and the defects in the same during manufacturing — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.212.198.132 (talk • contribs)

Can you phrase that in the form of a question? I'd start out reading about casting and CNC milling. The former is more likely to be used in mass production. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T12:33Z

Better wheels are forged; eliminating more of the voids that can later lead to failure through crack propagation.

Atlant 14:03, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Musical torture

--question moved to the entertainment desk. If I'd known we even HAD an entertainment desk, I wouldn't have posted it here. -sheepish grin- Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:50, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Redbull n Coffee

If i can drink several redbull and be fine and if i can drink numerous cups of coffee and still sleep well, why does coffee and redbull, one right after the other, get me totally wasted? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.144.161.223 (talk) 11:21, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

Maybe it's either psychosomatic or an interesting drug combination that affects you. Dismas|^(talk) 11:32, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, depends on your definition of "fine." See caffeine and taurine and drug interaction. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:38, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

If that were the problem, I would expect the same problem from just drinking Redbull, since it contains both those ingredients. I've never come across anything that wasn't aimed at selling energy drinks that made any claim that taurine a)energises b)interacts with caffeine. I'd be interested to see such things though. Could be some minor ingredient interaction, but seems more likely to be psychosomatic. Again, very interested in any sauce concerning taurine interacting with caffeine. If the combination is causing you problems, question asker, you might find a doctor more useful :-) Skittle 23:43, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Taurine interact caffeine V-Man - ^T/_C 00:16, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

The search provided a link to this article, which basically says that energy drinks in general are nice for a temporary boost, but in doing so sacrifice long-term health, especially if many servings are consumed. It also mentions glucuronolactone in context of being a stimulant just like caffeine and taurine, and that some energy drinks also use guarana, yet another similar stimulant. All these stimulants together probably produce some weird kind of interaction, especially if a cup of coffee is added to the "drug cocktail" - according to this website, "Stimulants in coffee include theobromine, theophylline, and although caffeine is the worst stimulant, decaffeinated coffee still contains the other two ingredients." V-Man - ^T/_C 00:27, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Monymk

What does "Alt A mortgage loan & Alt A mortgage loan" mean? mony

What is Convertible CM in Investment Banking?

What does Corporate ABS stands for in Investment Banking?

What is Developed FX in Investment Banking?

What does FIG ABS stands for in Investment Banking?

What is the meaning of "Isssuer Flow Rate Derivatives" in Investment Banking?

What is the meaning of "Middle Market Lending" in Investment Banking?

What is "Mutual Fund Derivative"?

What is "Agency CMBS"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Monymk (talk • contribs).

What is homework? Alex. -- mattb @ 2007-03-29T12:34Z

We have articles on some of these terms. The definitions of others can be found with a Google search. Let us know if there are any that you cannot find using those two methods. Marco polo 19:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

executive management

Question moved to the language reference desk

Goodwill/Salvation Army

One of the qualities I admire about my boyfriend is his thriftiness. However, he is now considering buying a used couch and a used king size mattress set at either Goodwill or The Salvation Army stores. I am very concerned about how clean they are to be used again especially if someone gave it away instead of reselling it. Does anyone know what these stores do before selling items like these? One of my biggest fears is that there is a bedbug epidemic on the East Coast....--Juliet 15:26, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

NEVER a good idea to buy used personal items such as these. The cost savings may be paid for in ways one can best imagine!90.0.132.204 15:32, 29 March 2007 (UTC)petitmichel

I know that it is a bad idea, but does anyone know if these stores do anything at all when they resell furniture like these?

I don't know for sure and wouldn't be able to find out without working at one of those stores. However, clearly those stores work to keep costs very low so that they can minimize markups. On the other hand, it would be expensive, if not impossible, to thoroughly test furniture for the presence of bedbugs or their eggs, which are very small and may be hidden in the seams or even underneath the upholstery of furniture. Therefore, I strongly doubt that those stores or any used furniture stores can guarantee that used furniture is free of bedbugs. Marco polo 19:04, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree, it's a bad idea. I used to buy used clothes (except underwear), when my finances were exhausted while in college, but those could be thoroughly washed with bleach. There's no way to thoroughly wash the insides of a couch or bed with bleach. You may tell you b/f the Ref Desk staff recommends that he not do this. Instead, how about getting them free from friends or relatives (without bedbugs, I hope) who are upgrading ? I get more secondhand furniture from relatives than I know what to do with. (My current desk has an inkwell, so I'm guessing it's been handed down more than few times over the years.) StuRat 19:17, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The most effective way I've found of making sure a couch has no infestation of any kind is to burn it. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Saving money the right way means not paying for things you don't need; it doesn't mean trying to scrimp and save on things you do need by cutting potentially unsafe or expensive corners. It's not thrifty AT ALL to save a couple of hundred bucks on a Goodwill sofa when IKEA sells perfectly good brand-new sofas for a decent price. You're gambling that you won't end up having to pay to have your entire apartment (and even the BUILDING - yes, all twenty stories or so, if your landlord feels like it and can get away with it) treated by exterminators. If it's the building, look easily at $5,000 PLUS, and insurance won't cover it. And that doesn't count medical bills if whatever's infesting the thing carries anything noxious.

That's not thrifty; that's false economy. Some people gamble and win - and never &(*&$ shut up about how "thrifty" they are - but others, the ones you don't hear about because they're too embarrassed to speak, lose a lot of money and health by being "thrifty". $200 or $300 is a small price to pay to make sure you're not going to have to pay a lot more in the long run.

It's like when people say they're "thrifty" because they use a pot to boil water instead of spending $20 on a proper water kettle. Over a year they spend more money in electricity heating up a thick metal pot than they would buying a thin-walled kettle that heats up quickly with less electricity, but oh no, they're "thrifty"... --Charlene 09:44, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Does wikipedia have any more information on El elamein?

I presume you mean El Alamein. MrRedact 16:41, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Any more than what? If you have already read the article and it wasn't good enough (unlikely but sometimes even wikipedia isn't perfect) then I doubt there is anymore info on the website as it all seems to get copied from/to related articles :( HS7 19:04, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The place or the battles? The Second Battle of El Alamein is a good article; the first needs improvement. I could recommend half a dozen good books on the subject, so I would suggest a browse of Amazon. Adrian M. H. 19:58, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

It might even be the El Alamein Fountain in Kings Cross, Sydney. WP is currently bereft of information about this famous Sydney icon. JackofOz 01:09, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

impossible

1.i have tried to google this quote but can find who said it."it gets heavier than weve ever had before".it was said by a cute famous person.the process where u claim that u put inverted commas isnt working.google doesnt understand it.am impressd on how u are able to solve this quotes and i believe theres a trick or two or maybe theres a site u search with.plse assist 2.which drink is named after a cuban city —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Ianmwash (talk • contribs) 16:38, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

The quote is of Adam Sandler, talking about Click (film).[8] MrRedact 16:48, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Did you try this link on your google results when you searched? Did you mean: "it gets heavier than we've ever had before". Czmtzc 17:09, 29 March 2007 (UTC

The drink is most likely the Daiquiri. --LarryMac 17:42, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Vapor Barriers

What year did the use of vapor barriers under concrete slabs begin in the Northern Virginia region? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 70.187.218.94 (talk) 18:07, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

Vapor barriers, according to this site, were in use in the United States at least since 1923. Aside from that information, it will be difficult to yield any results about the beginning of this trend being applied to concrete slabs in Northern Virginia. Hope this helps! V-Man - ^T/_C 04:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Are Jaffa Cakes made with oranges or apricots?

In the Jaffa Cakes article it says "The jelly is merely orange coloured - it is in fact made out of Apricot Jelly and only contains Tangerine Oil". Is this true?! It cites the Telegraph which is usually reliable, but I have Jaffa cakes here from 2 different companies and they both contain concentrated orange juice, with no apricot or tangerine listed in the ingredients. Last time I bought some Mcvities Jaffa Cakes I checked the ingredients and they contained orange too. They used to advertise as being "made with real oranges". Either the biscuit manufacturers are deceiving everyone, or this is an urban legend. Crazysuit 19:34, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Jaffa cakes aren't biscuits

Maybe they make apricot jaffacakes as well as orange now :) HS7 19:42, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I would expect the ingredients list of a major food manufacturer to be beyond reproach (they have to be), so I have to agree with you and McVities. Adrian M. H. 20:01, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

It must be a conspiracy to discredit the Jaffa Cake. And I never said they were biscuits, I was was referring to the biscuit manufacturers (McVitie's, etc) that produce them. Crazysuit 20:12, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Can you ever really trust a company designed to make a profit :@ HS7 20:21, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

The UK legal distinction between biscuits and cakes is of no moment elsewhere. A Jaffa Cake would definitely be called a biscuit in Australia. JackofOz 01:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

It may be that the formulation has changed since that Telegraph article was written, or that Jaffa Cakes differ from region to region (they do that with chocolate bars in Canada, so perhaps), or that the Telegraph erred. Although for some bizarre and unexplained reason the McVities people don't have an ingredient list on their website, so we can't check. --Charlene 09:58, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

2007 Tornado/Servere Weather Outbreak ? - Is there a article ?

I have just seen on the Weather Channel and on the news itself about tornadoes and the like ravaging several states. Is there a article concerning this ? The servere weather is expected to continue as a powerful "L" pressure cell, front moves through the U.S. The news depicted "Big Rigs" thrown about and assorted damage in Texas to Colorado today. One tornado was discribed by survivors as being twice the size of a football field. 65.173.105.71 19:40, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Since it seems to be happening now, I doubt anyone has got around to writing about it :( But now that you have told them, I reckon someone will write one now, since there seem to be a lot of people here without enough of a life to have something better to do :] HS7 19:45, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

And some people with even less, commenting on them... =S 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 23:30, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Found the article in the Tornado article. The Texas/Louisiana/Arkansas/S. Oklahoma area is expecting this kind of weather as well. Watching the news. Appreciate the help. 65.173.105.71 01:25, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I presume this is what is meant? V-Man - ^T/_C 01:49, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

definition

Where does the term "third world country" come from? What criteria is used to determine the usage pegged to a particular country?

Please give me any info on this subject.

Thank you.

Take a look at our article Third world, that should give you most of the information you are looking for. --LarryMac 20:36, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Sims 2 pets

On Sims 2 pets, when you become a werewolf, are you able to breed with another werewolf or dog? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.211.8.100 (talk) 22:01, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

I'll field this one, because I don't really know the answer, but I'll put out a guess: no. The Sims 2 allows you to do a lot of strange things, I'm sure, but beastiality, I doubt, is one of them. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:23, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

4x400m 2004 Athens Olympics

For the Mens 4x400m relay in the 2004 Athens Olympics, why did Darold Williamson anchor Team USA, when Jeremy Wariner, who ran third leg, was clearly faster than him? Jamesino 22:08, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Pure speculation, but it would have to be a coaching decision due to some other factor than raw speed. Perhaps Jeremy was better at making the hand off, or maybe the coach was rewarding Darold. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Czmtzc (talk • contribs) 12:05, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

George Geils White

Could anybody help to confirm that there is a momument in Chennia to a prominant citizen, and educationilist by tne mame of George Geils White - I am interested to know more about him. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 144.138.166.241 (talk) 22:46, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

Do you mean China? Or possibly Chechnya? JackofOz 00:45, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Going by the Google hits, I believe we're talking about Chennai. Unfortunately, Google knows very little. 194.222.88.44 00:55, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

the preceding comment was added by me while logged out Algebraist 00:58, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Aaahhh. JackofOz 01:01, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

A Google search for "George Geils White" seems to imply that Chennai is the place in question, but no indication of any monument. (Also, wrong time period, but there is a historical Fort St George there... V-Man - ^T/_C 01:56, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Online counselling

Is there a free online counselling service, either email or chat based? It can be peer or professional. Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 23:49, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

If we consider a telephone line as "on-line" you can try 1-888-668-6868. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Adam the atom (talk • contribs) 00:57, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Is there any particular type of counselling you are looking for? - Akamad 04:58, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm not interested in receiving counselling personally, but I was wondering if there were any email or chat based services because I can't find any, and it seems to be a great need we have on the Internet ie, suicidal teenagers, depressed house mums etc. I was more thinking teenagers though. Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 07:12, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, there a lot of suicidal teenagers out there. If there were chat based services for that, they might use them instead of asking on the Reference Desk, say, "how do you deal with the fact that you are going to die?" A.Z. 00:41, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Exactly. So... are there any? Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 01:02, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Mostly, suicidal teens and depressed house mums join MySpace. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:04, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Come on, you people! Here's a question that actually matters! Where are the answers!? A.Z. 03:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry... It's just that Googling "free online counselling" is too easy... V-Man - ^T/_C 03:52, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, you actually looked at any of those pages? Because free usually means you can get it free but have to prove you're poor first, and most of it isn't actually based online. I've already searched that or I wouldn't be asking here, so I'd thank you to keep your snark to yourself. Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 11:08, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

March 30

Blue Screen of Death

My computer is display the blue screen of death whenever I try to start it up.

Is it possible to recover any of the data? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.236.133.234 (talk) 00:32, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Well this is the wrong section for a start but as I don't know how to move it, I'll try to answer it. If you were to put a live CD version of Linux in and boot it off that instead of the hard drive, you should still be able to access the hard drive off that. This probably won't fix the problem you're having with Windows but it should help you get your stuff back. Anyway, if you post this on the computing section then someone more experienced than me should be able to answer it. Mix Lord 00:42, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Your best bet is probably to pull out the hard drive and add it as a second hard drive to another working computer. If you're not sure how to do that try the computing reference desk. You probably won't have to take it to a repairman if you know how to follow instructions.

Depends on what version of Windows you're using. If it's Windows 98, try the live Linux disk. If it's Windows 2000/XP, chances are you've got corrupt memory, and you'll have to replace it. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 02:27, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

How did you manage to ask that question?... Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 07:13, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Some people can always find a way... ^_^ V-Man - ^T/_C 09:06, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm using my mom's laptop, which is how I'm doing it. It turns out that the hardrive is salvagable after all, and a technican is coming out tommorow to get the data that I want off it before he wipes it and reloads Windows. Thanks for the help :)

How to rate an article

There are a number of articles that are part of an Iran project, which are supposed to be rated. I found the article on Iran's nuclear program to be extremely POV and would like to give it a negative rating, but I can't figure out how. NPguy 01:19, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

POV in who's favor?

The operating principle behind Wikipedia is not of rating articles per se, but of editing them. If you feel that the article violates WP:NPOV, you have the right to modify it so that it conforms better! V-Man - ^T/_C 01:59, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

That's all well and good, but the article is so pervasively biased that it would be too much effort for me to fix. I posted a comment on the discussion page that outlined my objections.

The article itself (nuclear programme of Iran) says it is part of a group of articles on Iran that are being rated for quality and importance. But I couldn't figure out how the ratings are determined. NPguy 02:27, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Generally there will be a 'Wikipedia"WikiProject_XXXX' page for each group of assessors - and the people who work there do the ratings. In this case, that would be Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Iran. You'll need to go there and argue your case. The list of current assessments is here: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Iran/Assessment. If that doesn't work, you could try appealing to Wikipedia talk:Version 1.0 Editorial Team. SteveBaker 03:55, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

(ec)It seems that someone belonging to Wikipedia:WikiProject Iran (the page there has a list of people involved) has rated the article; usually a WikiProject will be the group to paste a "rate" template on an article's talk page, and then as time goes on someone from that WikiProject will rate it. You don't necessarily have to be a member of that project, although it would probably help. Taking a look at the article, I don't find a ton of POV, but if you are truly concerned, I'd recommend placing a template at the top of the article, probably {{POV}}. I see you've addressed your concerns at the talk page - good job. Once that template is up, people will begin flowing and your burden won't be so heavy. If anyone opposes you, you should take it to Requests for Comment so that more people will be able to give input. A word of advice in such a case - if the consensus flows away from you, be prepared to accept it. Have fun! V-Man - ^T/_C 03:59, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Truck sign

Today on the freeway (in the US) I saw a truck with this writing on the back: HIRING 0/0 AND DRIVERS

What does 0/0 mean? 68.231.151.161 04:35, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Owner/operator. Basically, they own the truck they drive, rather than driving a company-owned vehicle. Tony Fox (arf!) 04:43, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Maybe I should apply. I regularly drive up on the curb when I turn corners in my car, so I'm apparently well-qualified to be a truck driver. :-) StuRat 01:52, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Mythology

In many mythologies we find fascinating creatures and objects such as the calydonian boar,scylla and charybidis etc...in Greek mythology Pushpaka vimana(a flying machine)vanaras,kineras(exotic species of humans) etc...in our Hindu mythology Beelzebub(pictured as an insect) in Persian mythology.The common thing is that every mythology has it's own share of fascinations.Were they really intended for amusement or do they have any allegorical meaning?Many of them look like exxagerations of normal things.What is the reason behind this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 210.212.215.141 (talk) 04:55, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Legendary creature mentions that such animals were, long ago, thought to exist. A mundane explanation would be that ancient people were still discovering new creatures all the time, and may have found it fun to guess what the next one might look like. Over the years, many of them have not been found; some of them have. A more deep explanation would be that ancient people sought to place symbolism in the emerging cultures somewhere, and found plentiful symbolism in mythological beasts; what besides the ever-changing society around us could be better represented by a four-faced animal? V-Man - ^T/_C 05:12, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

If one thinks about how man has been around for 100 000 years and then looks at what we have done in the last 2000 (that leaves 98000 give or take a few unaccounted for) And if one is to then look at how often new creatures are discovered, and how often animals of all sorts go extinct, And lastly if one looks at the correlation between myths of different cultures, they may well have existed. :-) 81.144.161.223 09:09, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

And then, when one looks at the fossil record, a perplexed look comes over our faces... V-Man - ^T/_C 09:30, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Canadian residence

Suppose I wanted to gain residence in Canada by marrying a Canadian. I understand I'd be required to live there non-stop for a certain amount of time, without leaving ever? Suppose I wanted to visit my friend two months after moving up there. Could I do that, and then move back and re-start my citizenship time thingy? V-Man - ^T/_C 06:12, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

What country are you a citizen of now? --Charlene 09:30, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

The YOU'ited Stace a 'Merica! V-Man - ^T/_C 09:38, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I think that the rules are the same regardless of the permanent resident's country of origin. As I understand it, the rules do not require continuous residence in Canada. Instead, they require that the resident remain in Canada more than 40% of the time in any five-year period (or 730 days out of 1825). An analysis of the regulations appears on this website. According to this analysis, you would have no problem making brief or even extended trips outside of Canada so long as you spent at least 40% of your time in Canada. Note, however, that neither I nor anyone else at Wikipedia can be trusted for legal advice, for which you should consult a lawyer. Marco polo 13:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Also, I would suggest that you post your question on this Canadian immigration forum, which attracts dozens or hundreds of people who are navigating the Canadian immigration process and may have firsthand knowledge on your issue. Marco polo 13:44, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

See also Permanent resident (Canada), and Citizenship and Immigration Canada: [9]. As noted, as long as you're in Canada for two years out of every five, you meet the residency requirement for permanent resident status. As noted, you're best to speak to a professional about these issues. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:54, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Searching

Hi. I've written an article on Edgbarrow School, and this works fine. Is it possible for me to engineer it so that when someone sticks 'edgbarrow' instead of 'edgbarrow school' into the search engine they still get redirected to the same page? there's currently nothing on edgbarrow, so how can i redirect it? thanks --EvansUK 09:37, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Redirect should get ya on the right path! V-Man - ^T/_C 09:41, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Coastal Environment Management

Hi, I need to find strategies used to manage coastal environments, but I can't find anything useful on the net. Please help!! Thanks in advance! Cheers, The alias 11:50, 30 March 2007 (UTC) the_alias

the article on Coastal_management has a lot of info and links to other relevant articles. -- Diletante 18:25, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Sir Richard Branson

I know Virgin own nearly 200 companies or there abouts, but I'm led to believe the Richard Branson owns one company that is not under the Virgin label. Can you tell me what it is?

Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.42.10.194 (talk) 12:02, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

The only one I can see on the list of Richard Branson's business ventures that might qualify is his first enterprise, Student magazine (if it still exists and he still owns it). Clarityfiend 01:47, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Online Part Time Jobs

Does anyone know of any online jobs that pay well?

Freelance web designers do pretty decently if they're very good. -- mattb @ 2007-03-30T14:45Z

Well, I kinda mean the kind that you can just sign up for and do some menial work or something...

Menial work seldom pays well. But if that's what you're looking for, you're best off going to the physical office of a company that hires short-term laborers, such as Manpower. Note that you need to choose the country where you are located (from the pull-down menu) to get actual links to jobs. While Manpower's U.S. branch (and perhaps another country's branch) does have an online job locator, the office closest to you may have short-term jobs that they fill on the spot. Marco polo 16:10, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I doubt such a thing as what you're thinking of exists considering if there were something that you didn't need specialized skills for that you could do from home, it would make headlines and all the jobs would be snatched up already. Who wouldn't want to do something easy from home for good money? Dismas|^(talk) 16:13, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

You might try searching around for data-entry jobs. -- Diletante 16:34, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

In seeking "online jobs," also referred to as "offsite": consider focusing on jobs that require the particular skills you have to offer, e.g. telephony, typing, etc. And in light of the earlier comments on the inherent unlikelihood of "well-paying menial jobs," you might put some effort into upgrading your skills. -- Good luck, Deborahjay 23:08, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Check out Craigslist. Especially the freelance and writing sections. They often seem to have listings for jobs such as writing pro-X posts on forums and newsgroups, for a fee per post. But be sure to use a throwaway email address to respond; online job postings are sometimes email phishing expeditions. Anchoress 23:33, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Online Quiz Website

Does anyone know of a website which offers a daily email subscription of quizzes (like the one featured on www.mentalfloss.com)?

Try www.puzzler.com86.211.109.133 16:08, 30 March 2007 (UTC)petitmichel

Film about House of Leaves?

Asked twice, kept once: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Entertainment#House_of_Leaves_film.3F because, hell, I'm just that good. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 11:01, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

business disaster planning

I need a definition (to help educate reluctant others in my company) of either "core business function" or "essential business function." thank you.63.134.171.60 17:29, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

You might try core business. ~ Amalas rawr ^{=^_^=} 17:50, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is unfortunately weak when it comes to articles on business. Presumably those with the background knowledge to write good business articles are too busy making money. However, after some web research (and based on some years of corporate experience), I think that a fairly good definition of "core business function" would be "any process essential to a business for bringing in revenue or maintaining its position in the marketplace". Typically, those functions would include sales, accounts receivable, and marketing. Payroll, information systems, and facilities coverage for staff in those departments could be considered essential. Marco polo 20:04, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Additionally, if the company's revenue stream and market position depend on a production process that cannot be outsourced (due for example to proprietary knowledge or specialized capital equipment), support of production facilities and the skilled workers required to run them could also be considered core business functions. Marco polo 20:10, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Interconnected Teams

What is interconnected teams thoery in organizational development? 24.248.74.254 18:40, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Sounds vague! ^_^ A Google search for "interconnected teams" theory organizational development oughtta get you started... V-Man - ^T/_C 00:56, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

WWII French forces

A large number of Frence troops escaped into England from Dunkirk. Why weren't the French involved in the D-Day invasion?129.112.109.252 20:10, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

See Free_French_Forces#Liberation_of_France they were. meltBanana 20:33, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Clarification: the initial invasion on D-Day itself involved only American, British, and Canadian divisions (listed in alphabetical order; I don't know how the specific divisions were chosen), but once the Allies had control of the landing zone, many more divisions were landed, including Free French. See Battle of Normandy. In addition, Free French ships took part in D-Day itself. See Operation Neptune. --Anonymous, March 30, 2007, 22:17 (UTC).

To be fair to the French, a further note of clarification is required here. The divisions invloved in the 6 June landings were indeed British, Canadian and American, but there were also assault formations made up of French troops. Many served in No. 4 Commando, part of Lord Lovat's 1st Special Services Brigade, which took part in the crossing of the Pegasus Bridge. Clio the Muse 00:00, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

cancellation

Is anyone able to tell me how to cancel my account from wikipedia? Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MikeMcGD (talk • contribs) 21:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Have a Administrator remove it. 65.173.105.71 21:19, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

see: m:right to vanish for instructions.—eric 22:02, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

You have only been an editor for a month; don't let the deletion of one article put you off, because that happens a lot. If you're feeling the wiki-stress, I would advise taking a complete break for a while. You might feel like staying after that. I'm sure you have some positive contributions to make. Adrian M. H. 22:10, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Check WP:U first then read right to vanish that Eric suggested. - X201 22:06, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I've had my wiki-fits off and on, but I leave my user account alone, and usually drift back. The worst stress is in actually writing an innovative article. --Zeizmic 00:19, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Aw, man, you have to write articles to have wiki-stress? That ain't right, man. That just ain't right. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:10, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Will Mexico Attack US in 2008 ?!

I've just got word that Mexico will attack the US in 2008. Reason is to reclaim Aztlan. There are rumored to be 50,000 Chinese troops and "Advisors" in Mexico at this time. The illegal aliens that are in the US are MEXICAN SOLDIERS and they have weapons caches all over the US. When they hit, they'll squash our troops in some kind of pincers maneuver, then loot the US. The invasion is scheduled to take place in 2008. Also seen this matter on the Internet. I HOPE this is a sick rumor. 65.173.105.71 21:11, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

There's probably not much the reference desk can do to answer this. The Internet is full of crazy rumors, I'd advice against taking them seriously. Friday (talk) 21:13, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Retired military personnel said of the illegal aliens that they're soldiers by the way they walk and carry themselves. 65.173.105.71 21:21, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

You can rest easy in your bed at night. This is entirely untrue and not even a "rumour", likely just the ramblings of one crazed individual. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 21:53, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I heard the it might be the British who were going to invade us. —Mitaphane _?|! 02:54, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

If you ask me, people who make up conspiracy theories are part of a conspiracy to make everyone die of heart attacks from being so worried about conspiracies. Relax! V-Man - ^T/_C 00:00, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Wasn't there a conspiracy theory in the 90s that the UN was going to invade the US via some small town in Canada? Of course the people posting it assumed that nobody in Canada had the Internet, or telephones, or cameras, or some such...the only "evidence" for a huge UN presence in the town were two little old ladies wearing blue bonnets. --Charlene 02:17, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Do Not Fear, the Canadians will repel the Chinese/Mexican Army from their border.

Si, si. Nada Yes, there is nothing to fear. Please to go back to sleep. Clarityfiend 05:45, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

No, it's true, all right. It's a plan by the Cabal to control all information by using illegal immigrants as Jimbo Wales' secret army for the sole purpose of eliminating rival internet encyclopedias from the free world, leaving only Wikipedia to be the one, true encyclopedia from which all world knowledge is contained. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:20, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Pink Hill, Texas

I want to know exactly (coordinates if possible) where Pink Hill, Texas was located. I know it was east of Sherman, Texas and west of Bells, Texas. Any other information about it would be appreciated.Fconley 21:19, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

There's a Pink Hill Road: around about 33°37'24"N,96°28'33"W in between Bells, Texas and Sherman, Texas (google maps link). I can't find a town by that name.—eric 22:10, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

The 1895 Rand McNally gives a post office and population: 46[10].—eric 22:19, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

According to this site[11] there is an historical marker at the site where the Pink Hill school was located in 1872. 455 Pink Hill Rd, corner of Pink Hill Rd and Antioch Rd, 33°37′04.25″N 96°27′34.75″W.—eric 23:07, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

It is the birthplace of the architect O'Neil Ford[12]. It had a post office at some time between 1846 and 1930[13]. It's in Grayson County: the main telephone number for the county can be found here. Editing because I forgot to add a sig and the bot already got me. --Charlene 03:30, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Who invented rap?

Who invented rap? BigBlackBen 23:33, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Rap might give some clues about this; while it is quite difficult to lay a finger on a person, the Bronx in the mid-1970s is quite a good start. V-Man - ^T/_C 23:57, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

If you lay a finger on a rap star, you might end up like Tupac. StuRat 01:36, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I think it was Debbie Harry. I know it sounds unlikely but as far as I know, she recorded the first ever rap song. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.64.224.134 (talk) 01:44, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

The article says that during the time rap was emerging in the Bronx, she was debuting a Punk Rock/New Wave album with her band Blondie. Is there a source that mentions her rapping? V-Man - ^T/_C 01:54, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Maybe he thinks the song "Rapture" is the first rap song, but it was recorded in 1981, long after rap had begun. Anyway, I suggest to BigBlackBen to check out history of hip hop music. Like virtually every other genre of music, there is no single "inventor". Instead, a musical genre arises organically from the innovations of many musicians. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 04:31, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

It's hard to find an inventor, because rap isn't even precisely defined. 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 15:34, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I think it was on VH1 that I saw something about "Rapture" being the first rap video. They didn't specify the first rap song though. Dismas|^(talk) 19:25, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Naaah! Youre all wrong. Cab Calloway [14] was the inventor of RAP both on record and on film. the only difference is that it was far more musical that todays (C)RAP.

Consider how Russell Simmons got into the business: in 1977 he heard a guy named Eddie Cheeba at a NYC club calling out rhymes to a beat. Simmons considers it something of an epiphany, began repping local acts shortly thereafter. Wolfgangus 20:31, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

March 31

Physical Processes

Hey guys, I really need to know the 5 main physical processes that shapes the coastal environment... (please do not answer with a link but name them). Also, is wave a process or is it an agent?

Thanks in advance 60.241.227.234 01:23, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

The only way we could accurately answer is if we read the chapters of the book which you were assigned to read, since which processes are the "main 5" is somewhat subjective. StuRat 01:41, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Erosion and coast are great places to start. See the article on Ocean surface wave for help figuring out whether it is a process or agent. V-Man - ^T/_C 01:42, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Geomorphology, too. But beyond these links, you really need to do your homework yourself. MrRedact 01:48, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

MrRedact, yes it is homework but I asked the question only to help me out. I'm not really sure what can be classified as a physical process... wave? weathering? sediment transport? erosion? 60.241.227.234 02:11, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Would that be as opposed to mental or spiritual processes? The physical aspect of coasts is rather covered by the articles that have been linked. As StuRat mentioned, dividing all the physical processes that shape coasts into five groups is a bit arbitrary, and most likely corresponds with whatever textbook your teacher wants you to learn from. V-Man - ^T/_C 02:46, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

One instance - in the article itself, processes that describe how a coast is changed are divided into (give or take) nineteen groups. V-Man - ^T/_C 02:53, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I think what the asker needs is to know what a process is, not so much what the "5 main" ones are. I myself am facing a dilemma of whether waves are considered a process? Or are they simply an AGENT of a process? Eg. agent = wave, process = weathering?

Is there a article about THIS tool ?

The tool is the MXZ Saw. It claims it can cut all manner of things BUT human skin. Contact information is MXZSaw.com. I've seen this thing on TV. 65.173.105.71 01:53, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Is it one those table saw's that have a safety device if it comes in contact with human skin? If so, there's a little info about it here. —Mitaphane _?|! 02:50, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

MXZ Saw? Nope. But, feel free to make one. I suppose I could, but I'm 'much' too lazy. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 10:11, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Please don't, unless there are multiple reliable sources. Corvus cornix 18:55, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't say anything on that page about not cutting human skin — all it says is "It's safe to touch!", whatever that means (a gun is safe to touch, too, depending on how you touch it). It is not a table saw so it is not utilizing the mechanism in the table saw in the table saw link. I don't think it has any special safety features, it looks like yet another "this knife/saw/whatever will work forever, cut anything, and never need sharpening!!!" things you see on infomercials late at night. --24.147.86.187 00:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Guitar

My amp keeps giving me feedback while I play. The sound disapears when I turn the second pickup (furthest from neck) down. I have played on other amps with no feedback. Does anyone have an idea why it does this and how to fix it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.117.135.99 (talk) 03:01, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

feedback and audio feedback give good insight on why feedback occurs and, more specifically, what can cause it. Keep in mind that the fact that only that particular amp displays this could mean that the amp is faulty in some way; on the other hand, it may mean that it is the only amp that interacts with the second guitar pickup in that manner. V-Man - ^T/_C 03:07, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

That last sentence has seven thats in it. V-Man - ^T/_C 03:09, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

If you don't find anything in those articles and if nobody replies here within a reasonable time, I would suggest moving this question to the Entertainment desk. You may find people there with some musical experience. --Charlene 03:16, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Feedback is a note that plays through the amp, and causes the string to vibrate at the same pitch/harmonic. It vibrates your string, when the right pickup is selected. You might consider a type of notch filter, or detuning by a half step. A diffrent bottom( speakers ) might fix it also. Look at the symptom ( feedback at a certain setting ) as a System. Change somethings, and the symptom goes away. What is the minimum thing that you can change? Id detune for practice, and look for another set of speakers. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.180.27.49 (talk) 03:28, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

In a perfect world, all of the components in your system would exhibit a flat response. The world is not perfect. Therefore one or more of the components in your system is much more sensitive to the frequency of your second string than it is to other frequencies. The feedback system consists of the string, the guitar, the pickup, the electronics of the guitar, the amplifier, the speakers, and the acoustics of the room. If you really want to find the root cause of your problem, you can use a spectrum analyzer to determine which part of the overall feedback loop is exhibiting the problem. For the audio spectrum, you can use software on a PC in conjunction with your sound card to create a spectrum analyzer. All of the prior responses to your question are basically recommending simple ways to modify the the response of your feedback system to reduce its sensitivity (gain) at the frequency of your second string. A brute-force approach is to use an equalizer somewhere in the chain. A really simple alternative is to change the acoustic feedback by changing your position (i.e., the position of the guitar) relative to the position of the speakers. this won't work if you are playing a gig in a little club with a small stage and fixed speakers. This is where an active equalizer can save the situation. -Arch dude 00:46, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Missing weird quote

Im looking for the source of a quote: "Life shoots point blank." Someone asked me about it, and I have been able to use the internet to find everyother quote I have looked for but not this one. Its been about five or six months I have been looking. Thanks Artoftransformation 03:33, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Googling "Life shoots" point blank yields this website, which has Steve Aylett saying "Life shoots first." I am unable to find any indication that "life shoots point blank" is a famous quote. V-Man - ^T/_C 03:49, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I've heard "life fires at us at point-blank range", but I don't know where it comes from. --Charlene 03:56, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Video from "this hour has 22 minutes"

I rember I watched a "this hour has 22 minutes" on youtube in which it starred some computer guy that didnt know anything about computers.And he was talking about abriviations(for example:he said that saying "im g a y" stands for "im going after yoga".Anyway I was was wondering what I had to type on youtube to find the video.Thank you for your time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.102.217.142 (talk) 05:11, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

HERE. Go down to February 3, computer guy. Anchoress

Cancellation

I red that only administrators can remove accounts. I wanted mine being cancel, so I asked any administrator who will read this message to please do it for me; Thank you.

You might wanto to sign your post then. And read Right to vanish - Adrian M. H. 13:34, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Quote Source~Yowie

In the ‘Yowie (cryptid)’ article there is a statement made in the Candidates section as followa:

Candidates “Australian cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy has attempted to popularise the scientific term Gigantopithecus australis for the creature (without support from the Australian scientific community), based on his theory that they comprise a relict population of the extinct ape Gigantopithecus. There is, however, no evidence that Gigantopithecus ever existed in Australia.”

I am seeking the source for this above statement. Will you please direct me to it? Any and all help is greatly appreciated. ~roreRorechof 08:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

US Census definition of "non-family"

I just read a couple of things about counties and towns - and was interested in the demographics in each. I was wondering how the Census defines "non-family" status when determining the household makeup to report. For instance, would this include boyfriend-girlfriend couples living together, or something more like non-related people renting together, such as college room-mates?

APlum09:13, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

It should include any households made up of a group of people, none of whom are legally married or legally the parents of any of the others. So it would include both unmarried couples and groups of roommates living together without a romantic relationship. Marco polo 14:16, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Is it that complicated? Is it not just whatever the respondents self-report? Anchoress 22:52, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

No. For statistical purposes, there needs to be reporting on the same basis, otherwise the stats are meaningless. One group of people might call themselves a family, but another group with exactly the same composition and internal relationships might not. The official definition determines which category both groups fall into. JackofOz 05:30, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Sincere Thanks for a difinitive answer. It's appreciated!

looking for a important number, can't locate?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.15.75.15 (talk) 11:35, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

Uh, clarification? Pi, 42, 69 and 666 all seem good choices... 惑乱 分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 15:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

What else but 23? Algebraist 17:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry. e pwns you all. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 07:29, 1 April 2007 (UTC) (On a lighter note, please suitly emphazi your question.)

Perhaps the question needs a phone number. We all know that the more important ones start with 555. Jon513 10:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Except 867-5309/Jenny, that is. 75.15.75.15, don't lose that number. You might perhaps consider sending it off in a letter to yourself. --Shirt58 12:41, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

What does "pwns" mean, Cernan/Xanthine/Katrena/whoever you are today? JackofOz 12:44, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

See pwn. —Steve Summit (talk) 15:13, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

533 (_)® +47Xor |o463 :-) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shirt58 (talk • contribs) 13:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC). Ooops. --Shirt58 13:45, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

1 is an important number, as without that no other numbers would exist :) Except imaginary numbers and 0 :] 172.207.227.196 19:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Cancellation

Is any administrator will help me and cancelled my account, please. Thank you. MDMDMDMD

As per my reply to your previous post (above), please read Right to vanish and Right to vanish on Meta wiki. You cannot have your account cancelled except in certain specific circumstances, for which you probably do not qualify. In your case, there would be little to be gained by it anyway. If you don't want access to your account, you could change the password without noting it and then log out. I notice that you have blanked your talk page and replaced it with a redirect; that's probably not good form, even if you do leave Wikipedia, as there is a history that should be left in place. User history is exactly why accounts are not cancelled. Adrian M. H. 15:31, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Cancellation

Thanks again for your replies but i'm tired reading all those pages about wikipedia policies. I just need an administrator to cancel my account. I found incredible being in the impossibility to cancel an account I created. Do I have to make vandalism in Wiki pages to finally found someone clever enough to answer to my request and cancel my account? MDMDMDMD —The preceding unsigned comment was added by MikeMcGD (talk • contribs) 17:01, 31 March 2007 (UTC).

As I said above, only certain specific circumstances allow deletion of an account. It's all very well to say that you don't like policy, but at the end of the day, policy is what keeps Wikipedia running properly. Without it, we would have anarchy. If you meet the criteria for account deletion, then you can ask an admin to do it for you. If you do not meet that criteria, then you cannot. It's as simple as that. Adrian M. H. 18:23, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Even if you vandalize some pages your account won't be deleted, only blocked from editing. -- mattb @ 2007-04-01T02:07Z

great site

24.92.195.252 17:18, 31 March 2007 (UTC) you have a great site here thank you.

Why, thank you. You too can be a part of it. Just find an article that needs improvement, and improve it. JackofOz 05:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Userbox Help

I am trying to put userboxes on my userpage. Note: I am not looking for Wikipedia:Userboxes or WP:BOX. Thanks. Goodgirldv9898 19:32, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

What are you looking for then? The instructions for putting userboxes on your userpage are at the page you linked. Daniel (‽) 19:37, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) So what are you looking for? Most userboxes are listed in the gallery, while some customised boxes may only be on userpages if that user has not made them available to others. If you are trying to make your own designs, it is actually easier to take some existing designs, copy the elements that you like, and modify those that you do not like, rather than trying to follow the instructions to make one from scratch. By the way; this being a question about the use of Wikipedia, it would have been better placed at the Help Desk. This area is for general knowledge questions. Adrian M. H. 19:39, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Highway driving distance for a harley davidson motorcycle - assume it is stock

What is the driving range for a stock harley davidson motorcycle on the highway?

A quick google suggests a good Harley might get a bit over 50mpg highway. It's going to depend on specific year and model, of course. Another quick google suggests tank sizes from 3.5 - 5 gallons. I'm sure you can do the math. Friday (talk) 22:37, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

April 1

What was wikipedia's 1,500,000th article?

I'd really like to know. Theonlyedge 00:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

That would be Kanab ambersnail according to Angela Beesley's blog. —Mitaphane _?|! 01:58, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Though it depends on how you count (literally and in the context of "which article is the first")... I guess it's just our nature to dote over round decimal milestones. Me? I'm thrilled about milestones in base sixty... -- mattb @ 2007-04-01T02:05Z

P.S. - Happy th article to the Kanab ambersnail. :) -- mattb @ 2007-04-01T02:30Z

free XXX lobster-on-donkey action

No, of course not. Today is the day for the fools of April, at least it is here in the balmy British summer time, and being the unimaginative bastard that I am I'm going to ask you for some quality pranking ideas (I'm asking here as it seems unlikely I'll try to trick you, and obviously I don't want prospective marks to be on the lookout; I'd bet you get this every year). I've already thought that I could probably sign up a bunch of dummy accounts for a game I play and post fake spam links on the forums. AND, the 'after-midday-doesn't-count' rule is for lamers. Vitriol 00:36, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Keep the jokes outside the articles. By the way, check Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents‎#Wikipedia Announcement. -- ReyBrujo 00:39, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Ohsnap, this is costing me money :O Also, yeah, I won't mess up articles. That isn't funny. >:| Vitriol 00:49, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I've already contributed my one joke for the day, and won't do any more. (After all, my Dagmar's Bumpers routine went real well with the CVS. @_X) Cernen Xanthine Katrena 07:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I want to create a portal

I want to create a portal but can't find "Create page" button .Bewareofdog 01:18, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not have a Create Page button. (For obvious reasons). You would enter your portal name as you would when creating a new article, but see Wikipedia:Portal first. See also the Help Desk for how to use Wikipedia. Adrian M. H. 13:53, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Hospital Question

I'm not asking for medical advice, I'm just wondering what the best hospital for brain injuries in the U.S. and what the best one is on the East Coast (assuming the best hospital in the entire U.S. isn't already on the East Coast). Thanks. Deltacom1515 03:44, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

According to this US News and World Report Survey, the top-ranked hospital for neurology and neurosurgery is the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The second-ranked hospital in this category is John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, on the east coast. Marco polo 22:42, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

That stuff from your nose...

What is that white waxy/fatty/greasy stuff that you can scratch and squeeze out of the pores on your nose? And it is bad to do that? Or is it a good thing? Is it fat? What is that stuff? Gatorphat 04:11, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

See nose grease. Dismas|^(talk) 04:12, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

The pores on the area where my nose meets my face seem to produce the most of this fat/grease. Is it the same as body fat? Gatorphat 04:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

• I dont know why you layabouts can't even answer a #@@^@@!!ing simple question. I need to know this stuff!! Gatorphat 12:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

dude, if you're going to get all rude & annoying about this, then NOBODY is going to answer it.

Probably just kidding around. Wait until April 2 before getting too offended. dr.ef.tymac 17:16, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It's actually called sebum. Vranak

tattoo

how badly does it hurt to get a tatto? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.236.135.10 (talk) 05:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

That depends greatly on your pain threshold as well as the area that is getting tattooed. Dismas|^(talk) 05:29, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Twice as much as a tattone? Clarityfiend 19:37, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

my shoulder. would it be agonising pain, like as bad as torture?

Try reading a few links from this Google search. From what I've been told, bony areas hurt more and thus fatty areas or areas with more muscle hurt less. Have you ever been tortured? If not, it's going to be hard to tell you what that's like in order for you to determine if getting a tattoo is similar. Dismas|^(talk) 08:29, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It isn't that bad, if you want a tattoo then go for it. Don’t let the thought of the pain discourage you, it doesn't last very long. Vespine 00:29, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Catholics -Not Really Christians?

I've heard claims that Catholics are not really Christians.

1. Is that true?

2. How have Catholics, the Catholic Church, and the Pope reacted and responded to such claims?

3. If you are a Catholic, then what do you think about such claims? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by The Anonymous One (talk • contribs) 05:56, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

You asked this question recently and it was thoroughly discussed, here. JackofOz 06:03, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Celebrity behaviour

Why is it that almost all the celebrities manage to mess up their life so well- 3-4 divorces in a short span of 6 years -Pamela Lee Anderson, Bizarre behavior- Britney Spears, Drug use- Anna Nicole Smith and there are many more who all of you are aware, My question is why can't they lead normal disciplined life just like millions of others and treat their profession as just another regular job? sumal 06:51, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Ever though about how many celebrities DO live 'normal disciplined' lives. Celebrities lke Britney and Anna Nicole are the exception, not the rule. We don't hear about all the 'boring' celebrities because headlines like 'Keanu Reeves pays taxes on time' and 'Stepehen Speilberg drives home sober without hitting any cars or pedestrains' make dull cover stories and won't sell many magazines. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.238.25.26 (talk • contribs).

People who mess up their own lives (drugs, murder, divorce, suicide, etc.) aren't exclusive to celebrities. In fact, I'd argue that "normal people" mess up their own live just as much, if not more , than celebrities if we're talking percentages here. The different is we don't hear about a lot of these "normal people" because they are invisible to us unlike celebrities. —Mitaphane _?|! 08:14, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Of course celebrities are usually extremely fortunate individuals that are blessed with wealth, good looks, and more resources than most people, the truth is that in so many cases there is a very dark side to being a celebrity. Imagine being someone like Ellen Degeneris - could she casually breeze in to her local store and pick up some gum, and then head over to a corner cafe to request a sidewalk table and order a meal with her lesbian lover? Well, I don't know, maybe *she* could, but in most cases celebrities can't. They also have to get used to being on top of the world for a while - the toast of the hour - where you honestly believe that everyone really does' love you - and then a few months later you're a nobody and your life seems to be over. That's where the drugs come in - Elvis for example - many people say he ended up on drugs because being on stage does something to you where you start looking for the high in other places. Add to this that so many people in 'the industry' are drug users (usually weed and cocaine - but obviously this is a major generalisation) - and they can easily afford the drugs - it becomes a matter of time before they start toying with drugs, and it's all downhill from there (usually because they have the money to sustain their addictions). Of course all of what I'm saying is heresay, and it's really a generalisation. But many celebrities lead detached, remote, and high-key lives that are high-pressure with dramatic adjustments and changes - so it sometimes follows that this creeps into their lives in a negative way. Rfwoolf 12:47, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

The lack of anything resembling privacy can be debilitating, or worse. I heard a suggestion that Anna Nicole Smith didn't seek medical attention during the last days of her life because she was afraid of her paparazzi taking pictures of her doing so. —Steve Summit (talk) 23:16, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It's not a regular job. (When did you have a reporter or paparazzi lurking around, waiting to pounce on your mistakes?) The pressures are greater, as are the opportunities to screw up (more money, groupies, flunkies to cater to your whims). By comparison, ordinary people who win lotteries seem to mess up at about the same rate, or more accurately it's reported with about the same frequency. By the way, if anybody is conducting a study or wants to be "saved" from this gruesome fate, I'm available. Clarityfiend 17:37, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

How many celebrities would you consider 'normal', 'grounded' and so on? I can think of one over the age of 30: beloved B-movie actor Bruce Campbell. Put a couple insecure people together and a marriage is doomed to fail. Vranak

A recent study by Drew Pinsky found that celebrities have considerably higher (16%) rates of narcissism than average Americans. I expect that this, plus money, attention, and fame, leads to considerably more erratic lifestyles in a highly-visible minority of celebrities. --24.147.86.187 23:19, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Squash

If squash contains 10% from orange conentrate, what goes in the other 90%? 147.197.251.136 11:51, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

If my understanding is correct...water and, potentially (depending on brand/type) additives etc. Look at concentrate and orange juice for a little more detail. If i'm right it seems that 10% concentrate means 10% is from frozen concentrated oranges and the rest is 'other' but likely water to bulk up the volume. ny156uk 12:14, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Any squash containing 10% from orange concentrate is probably not squash at all. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 19:18, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Bridge Identification needed

Pictured here - http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/372/desktopvp7.jpg

Thanks AlmostCrimes 13:15, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Darn good question. I don't think it's any of the ones listed at Cable-stayed bridge or Category:Cable-stayed bridges. —Steve Summit (talk) 15:05, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Looks a little like Skybridge (Vancouver) although its not it.

Note the rail tracks down the middle -- that narrows down the possibilities a lot.

Does anyone know how Wikipedia's alleged new "category intersection" feature works? Theoretically, this bridge should be found at the intersection of Category:Road bridges, Category:Railway bridges, Category:Road-rail bridges and Category:Cable-stayed bridges (if we have an article about it at all). —Steve Summit (talk) 20:48, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Is the Wikipedia:Category intersection feature online? I've been trying Structurae with various google searches: site:en.structurae.de/structures/data road "metro rail" "cable-stayed" with no luck so far.—eric 21:35, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Encirclement / Flanking

On a tactical level, why are encirclement and flanking maneuvers so disastrous to a defending military force?

--Shadarian 14:49, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

the article on Flanking lists several reasons for its efficacy. -- Diletante 16:45, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Flanking is often disastrous, but encirclement not necesarily so. Consider the examples of Tobruk and Bastogne in the Second World War. Clio the Muse 19:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I read the article and still don't get it either, surely it would just mean the people at the sides and back would be fighting too :? 172.207.227.196 19:33, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It destroys an army's order and integrity, and forces it to fight on the defensive in more than one direction. Morale in the flanked army is quick to disintegrate, along with fighting ability. You might understand this better if you read some battle examples. The Battle of Cannae is a good start, as this is arguably the greatest example of flanking and envelopment in all of history. Clio the Muse 19:43, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Searching Wikipedia Help articles (not Wikipedia's encycopedic articles)

Hi,

I would like to search Wikipedia's help articles, etc. Bear in mind, I am not looking for how to search Wikipedia itself for public articles. Also, my question is not about searching Goolge either.

For example, I was looking for how to add color to a text in a Wikipedia article.

Thanks,

-Sdudah 16:09, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

When you do a search, at the bottom of the page you can see checkboxes that restrict the namespace of the search. Select Wikipedia and/or Help and unselect All. Also you should ask wikipedia help questions at WP:Help Desk. -- Diletante 16:44, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Google searches: site:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help search term and site:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_talk search term seem to also work, and would allow use of the other Google search operators.—eric 17:42, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks all. With the keyword "color text" as an exercise, I found Wikipedia's search options ineffective. The Google way comes with better results that led to relevant answers. Wikipedia's search capabilities are way far from being reliable. Forgot to sign Sdudah 18:03, 1 April 2007 (UTC) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Sdudah (talk • contribs) 18:02, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

This is the link I tried my exercise on [15] Sdudah 18:07, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Before doing anything you don't think you're doing correctly, please try using the Sandbox first. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 19:21, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Driving while Retarded

Are people suffering from mental retardation allowed to drive? Is there any blanket prohibition on retarded people getting licenses or is it just that none try to get one? My half brother is retarded and I was thinking about having him apply for a license and take a driving test just to see what will happen. Or is that illegal? I dont see anywhere in the driving manual or in driver's ed that you can't drive just because you are retarded. Gatorphat 19:36, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Take him to driving school. Many driving schools in the U.S. and Canada offer courses on circuits completely isolated from real traffic and you dont need any kind of liscence to take the course. I guess the instructor would be able to tell you if he's unsafe.

I'm pretty sure that George W. Bush has a driver's license. Does that help? Clarityfiend 19:46, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

That is a highly offensive comment towards the mentally retarded, lumping them in with him. Most of them are kind, sweet, and wouldn't hurt a fly. --24.147.86.187 23:14, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

In Washington state, people who are legally blind are allowed to drive. There's legal precedent, too, I just can't find it right now. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 22:01, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

There is almost certainly no explicit regulation prohibiting the mentally retarded from driving. It is probably quite rare, though, as they would have to be able to pass the driver's test and the written test, which can be hard (but not hard enough) for non-developmentally disabled individuals. --24.147.86.187 23:15, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Population question

Why do major Canadian cities generally have higher percentage of the population of their metro areas than U.S. counterparts? The two in Alberta have an especially high city/metro percentage..while Vancouver is more inline with similar sized urban areas in the States. adam the atomTEC 20:00, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It's very common in Canada for provincial governments to unilaterally change the borders of municipalities. This is called "amalgamation." It's been done for different reasons -- in Winnipeg, I believe they did it to equalize rich and poor and prevent urban sprawl; in Ontario, it was supposed to be more efficient; and in Quebec, it was an attempt to break the power of non-French-speaking voting blocs, or so they say. British Columbia has not tried to force amalgamation on the Vancouver area, so that area looks more like an American metro area, broken up into a bunch of municipalities. -- Mwalcoff 01:13, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) There is actually a wide variation among U.S. metropolitan areas. For example, a large majority of the Las Vegas, Indianapolis, or Albuquerque metropolitan areas are within the city limits, while only a small portion of the metropolitan populations of Boston or San Francisco live within those municipalities. In general, U.S. city limits represent roughly the extent of the metropolitan area as of about 1900, when suburban residence (i.e. residence in a muncipality separate from the central city) became fashionable among middle-class Americans eager to separate themselves, their tax payments, and their children from the growing numbers of poor, many of them immigrants, moving into central cities. This process strengthened in subsequent decades with the migration of poor blacks to American urban centers. White flight from central cities and consequent suburban resistance to absorption by those cities brought to a halt the historic process whereby cities had annexed newly built-up areas on their fringes.

The main exceptions were cities that effectively controlled access to water or other resources, as Las Vegas and Albuquerque do to some extent. Las Vegas and Albuquerque, incidentally, have historically had very small black populations. Indianapolis is something of an anomaly. It was merged with most of its suburbs in 1970 as part of a reform apparently led by the state of Indiana. The goals of this reform seem to have been partly to make the suburban tax base available for needed repairs to the metropolitan infrastructure and partly to subordinate the city's Democratic politicians to the Republican majority in the metropolitan area as a whole. (Incidentally, that Republican majority has since eroded to a minority.)

Now, I don't know as much about Canadian cities, but I think that "white flight" has not been a significant phenomenon there. While there has been substantial immigration, apart from racism toward Asian immigrants in Vancouver (which might account for Vancouver's anomalous balkanization), immigrants have generally been seen less as threats by the established Canadian population. Therefore, cities and provinces may have faced little public opposition to efforts to rationalize local government by merging jurisdictions within a given metropolitan area. Mwalcoff's comment about Quebec is interesting. Presumably it applies mainly to Montreal, since Quebec's other metropolitan areas have minimal Anglophone populations. Montreal's fragmentation prior to the recent amalgamation may have reflected Anglophone efforts to maintain some autonomy.

Marco polo 01:41, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Do gay men call each other 'baby'?

Strange question I know, and there obviously won't be a definitive answer, but I'd be interested in whatever you guys have to offer. Vranak

I'm afraid this counts as original research, but in my (rather extensive) experience, American gay men do not generally call each other "baby" unless they are in a romantic relationship. Even then, "sweetie" and other terms of endearment are more common. 151.203.62.106 22:25, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

It's quite common for gay partners in Australia, in my experience. My partner and I call each other "baby", and lots of other things too. JackofOz 22:27, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Marcus Schenkenberg

Two questions: 1, does anyone here know approximately what Marcus earns in a typical year; and 2, despite being the most magnificent male creature alive, and being multi-lingual to the extent of 5 languages (reputedly), why, when he speaks in any one of those languages does he come across as being totally boring and without personality? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.145.241.153 (talk) 22:56, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

Rule number 1 of working is never disclose your salary (of course, professional athletes are exempt from this rule, somehow). As for 2...um...I don't know? According to his website, he seems imposing, but once you get to know him, he's "a total sweetheart" (sic). Cernen Xanthine Katrena 01:57, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Brookings Oregon to San Diego California

Can someone please tell me how many miles it is from Brookings Oregon to San Diego California? I have tried using webquest and i can't seem to find it. Thank you

874 miles (Google Earth) 874 mi (about 14 hours 37 mins)

1. Head east toward Chetco Ave 0.1 mi 

2. Turn right at Chetco Ave 282 ft 

3. Sharp left at US-101 

Entering California 140 mi 2 hours 41 mins

... 
4. Take the Stafford Rd ramp 0.2 mi 

5. Continue toward US-101 S and merge onto US-101 S 224 mi

4 hours 5 mins

... 
6. Take the exit onto I-580 E toward Richmond Bridge/Oakland 80.1 mi

1 hour 16 mins

... 
7. Merge onto I-5 S 415 mi

6 hours 15 mins

... 
8. Slight left at I-805 S (signs for I-805 S) 7.9 mi

8 mins

9. Take the exit onto CA-163 S toward Downtown 6.7 mi

7 mins

10. Take exit 1A to merge onto Ash St 0.2 mi 

11. Turn left at 8th Ave 0.4 mi

2 mins

12. Turn left at E St 276 ft 

13. Turn left at 9th Ave 223 ft 

To: San Diego

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.145.241.153 (talk) 23:11, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

April —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.255.39.50 (talk) 23:04, 1 April 2007 (UTC).

Tower of London Tennis Court

A few years ago I was in London and was suprised to see a old, rather crapy looking, tennis court at the Tower of London. Why is it there? What is it for? I found this picture of it [16]--ChesterMarcol 01:42, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

It may be a sad remnant from an old community development project (see vacant lot for more information). Cernen Xanthine Katrena 01:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)