Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

February 8

Anyone know this quote?

Hello! I was wondering if anyone knew who said, ‘Beware the moment you think yourself wise, for you may have just become a fool.’ I searched Wikiquote and Wikipedia, but nothing turned up.

Thanks, Shadestar474 ^(talk) 00:01, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Seems very similar but not exactly a passage from Corinthians in the Bible: [1] RudolfRed (talk) 01:04, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Yes, that’s it! Thank you, @RudolfRed. Shadestar474 ^(talk) 02:54, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Can A and B be true at the same time, without C being true?

Can A and B be true at the same time, without C being true?
A-There is a list of things X, that if any of the things at this list X is happening, this means there is 100% chance Y is happening. List X have all such things that would mean there is 100% chance Y is happening, excluding Y itself.
B-Y is happening.
C-This means the list X has no items, or something from the list X is happening.
177.207.99.88 (talk) 01:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Y might be happening for a reason unrelated to the list in A, so C would be false. RudolfRed (talk) 01:58, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

A concrete counterexample. List X contains exactly one thing. It is: "there is an elephant in the room". Y is, "there is an elephant in the house". If there is an elephant in the room, there is certainly an elephant in the house. So if anything on list X is happening, this means that Y is happening: condition A is satisfied. Now, actually, there is indeed an elephant in the house, so condition B is satisfied, but it is in the hallway, not in the room. Now A and B are true, but since the elephant is not in the room, nothing on list X is happening, so C is false.  --Lambiam 12:17, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

I see that you wrote, "List X have all such things that would mean there is 100% chance Y is happening." In giving my response above I overlooked the word "all". If X is comprehensive, containing truly everything that entails Y, then Y is itself one of the things on list X. So if B is satisfied and Y is happening, something on list X is happening – to wit, Y. In this interpretation of A, A and B together imply C.  --Lambiam 19:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

@Lambiam: You didn't miss the word "all". It was added after your reply. [2] RudolfRed (talk) 20:23, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

Yes, I edited the text to fix a mistake (I assumed the text was clear enough to show that list X would have "all such things excluding Y",) and edited again to fix another mistake (exclude Y itself from the list X).177.207.99.88 (talk) 21:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

By the principle of explosion, any statement follows from a falsehood (such as "2 + 2 = 5"). Let Y be a true statement (such as "2 + 2 = 4") and let X consist of all (and only) false statements (such as "2 + 2 = 3", "2 + 2 = 5", "7 = 77", and so on). Since Y is true, it is not on list X. Yet every statement on X, being false, implies Y, so A is satisfied. Y is true, so B is satisfied. List X is not empty, and everything on X is false, so C is not satisfied. This contradicts that A and B together imply C.  --Lambiam 01:13, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

February 9

Difference between MARC, WorldCat, and OCLC

I know these are all related to libraries, catalogs, and searching but how do they fit together or differ? 98.207.209.227 (talk) 21:20, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

WorldCat is an online catalogue. The company that runs worldCat is OCLC. MARC standards define a format for the interchange of cataloguing information. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 21:33, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

February 10

Voting operations and counting (abroad) in the presidential election in Romania

Hi. Regarding the presidential elections in Romania, how does the Diaspora voting and ballot counting consist? How are the results transmitted to Bucharest? Many thanks. 2.45.62.222 (talk) 14:54, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Couldn't find much, but it seems to be a simple paper ballot - this article reports that several European polling stations ran out of ballot papers in the November 2019 elections. Presumably they are counted by hand at the embassy. Email seems the obvious way of forwarding the results. Alansplodge (talk) 14:12, 11 February 2024 (UTC)

February 12

trendsi dropship

why is their no article on these guys? can u add trendsi to the cite? tu 2600:6C5E:10F0:B9A0:A07A:C7D4:2EEE:5B55 (talk) 15:07, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

They have a website [3] much like other online wholesale warehouses. However Wikipedia is not an online directory.Philvoids (talk) 16:44, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

The most likely explanation for a company not having an article is generally a lack of notability.  --Lambiam 01:37, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

"Presidential" curiosity

If Hillary Clinton had won in 2016, during the swearing-in the following January 20, how would Justice John Roberts have concluded the oath itself: would he have changed the form to "Congratulations, Madame President?" Thank you. 2.45.62.222 (talk) 21:43, 12 February 2024 (UTC)

Almost certainly. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 01:22, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Here Biden is recorded as using "Madame Vice President". But the Office of the Chief of Protocol of the US Department of State prefers a different spelling: "The salutation for an in-person greeting is: Mr./Madam President."^[4]  --Lambiam 10:26, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

February 13

Lighthouses

Are there any lighthouses in freshwater lakes in Eurasia? Are there still lighthouses in Lake Ladoga, in Russia? --40bus (talk) 14:28, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

One example: Lindau Lighthouse in Lake Constance. --Wrongfilter (talk) 14:40, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

There's a light at the head of the Neva River in Shlisselburg on Lake Lagoda, but that's little more than a mast. --Wrongfilter (talk) 19:10, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Stavoren Lighthouse, Urk Lighthouse, the Paard van Marken and nl:Oud Kraggenburg, all in the Netherlands, were build along the sea in the 19th century, but as the sea was dammed off in 1933, it was turned into a freshwater lake. That wasn't the end for Oud Kraggenburg: another dam and some pumping stations drained the water around it completely in 1942, so it's now an inland lighthouse. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:22, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Danish waters

Why most online interactive sea map softwares (such as Navionics and C-Map) do not show territorial waters of Denmark and its dependencies? Are there any similar services that show them, including Faroe Islands and Greenland? --40bus (talk) 18:50, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Metric units

1. Is there any country that prices jewellery by grams, rather than karates?
2. Is there any country that measures display screen sizes of TVs and computers in centimeters, rather than inches?
3. Why airport elevation is measured in feet in Sweden but in meters in Finland?

--40bus (talk) 20:29, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

1. Yes, all of them. To name two off the top of my head - the UK and USA. Karat is a measurement of gold purity, not weight. Do you instead mean Carat (mass)? If you do, then that is a measurement where 1 carat is equal to 200 milligrams. Nanonic (talk) 22:13, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of that's measured in karates is chops. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:12, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

3. According to this,[5] altitude in feet is the standard, which would make Finland the outlier. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:38, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

(3) Several other Eastern European countries, such as Russia, measure airport elevation in meters. --40bus (talk) 17:29, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Europe, except the UK and Ireland, has been fully metric since before the Wright brothers took off, so naturally European aviation started off in metric units. Only after World War 2, when the European aviation industry (except UK and Soviet Union) was destroyed and the UK and US dumped their surplus military transport planes on the civilian market, they managed to force those alien units on us. And naturally, the Soviet Union managed to resist and stayed on sensible metric units. Finland wanted to remain neutral during the Cold War and I suppose that was a factor for them to remain partially on metric units for aviation. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:52, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

(2) When I look at Amazon.co.uk, the TVs are shown with cm measurements. RudolfRed (talk) 05:54, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

(2) I went to Amazon.co.uk and entered TV into the search bar. All screen sizes are in inches, although some also give cm as an alternative. See this example. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 09:55, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Not to be snarky, but the Finns are outliers in many ways (and I greatly respect them for it, in general!) IrlSmith (talk) 14:15, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

The Finns were obliged to keep one foot in the Soviet camp by the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948; my impression from visiting the country in the 1970s was that the Finns were far from happy about it, but preferred it to the perceived alternative which was another Winter War. Alansplodge (talk) 12:02, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Question 4

Is there any country that has formely been a British colony that was first metricated before 1950? Was there anything that was measured in metric in 1950 in UK or Australia? --40bus (talk) 15:37, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Yes, Mauritius metricated in 1876 (see Mauritian units of measurement). Metrication in the United Kingdom describes the process of adoption in the UK, before 1950, the metric Centimetre–gram–second system of units was widely used in scientific research, and before 1950 there were some other uses, such as the adoption of a metric National Grid. Warofdreams talk 00:22, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Of course decimalisation of the UK currency started in 1849 with the introduction of the florin (2/-, 10p), though it did take until 1971 to complete! 122 years seems a reasonable time frame for government. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 11:26, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

The UK Ordnance Survey National Grid originated in 1935 and is based on a grid of 1 kilometre squares. Alansplodge (talk) 11:53, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

February 14

Operation of small-craft marine toilet

The page for "Marine Toilet" redirects to a page with nothing about the operation of a manual pump toilet as found on small and medium-sized watercraft. The excellent article "Toilet" covers just about all other types, but not that one. Please provide something about how these devices work. I think it would be pretty interesting. IrlSmith (talk) 14:12, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

Hello, IrlSmith. A request like yours translates to "Would one of the busy volunteers work on this idea of mine please?" It is possible that somebody will see it and be moved to do so, but not very likely.

Three possibilities suggest themselves. One is to post on one of the talk pages, either Talk:Toilet or Talk:Head (watercraft) - they will at least probably be seen by people with some interest. Another is to post at WT:WikiProject Ships, for the same reason. A third possibility is to try to write it yourself. Since it would probably be an extension to one of those articles, rather than a stand-alone article, this is not quite so challenging as creating an article from scratch; but you would still need to base whatever you wrote on reliable published sources, rather than on your own knowledge. ColinFine (talk) 15:21, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Coincidence of Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day

Today is both Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day. This coincidence last occurred in 2018 and will next occur in 2029. Those two years (2018 and 2029) along with the current year 2024 are the only three coincidences in the 21st century.

In the following nine centuries of the third millennium, this coincidence will occur in the following years:

• 22nd century: 2170, 2176, 2181
• 23rd century: 2238, 2244, 2249
• 24th century: 2306, 2312, 2317, 2396
• 25th century: 2401, 2480, 2485
• 26th century: 2548, 2553
• 27th century: 2610, 2616, 2621, 2700
• 28th century: 2762, 2768, 2773
• 29th century: 2852, 2857, 2863
• 30th century: 2920, 2925

In general, for this coincidence to occur, Easter must be on April 1 in a common year (possibly a century year, as it will be the case in 2700, for example) or March 31 in a leap year.

As one could see, this coincidence could occur two, three, or four times in a single century. Is it also possible for this coincidence to occur just once or five or more times in a single century (assuming 01 to 00 as usual)?

GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 16:27, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

If the calendar is never modified, seven coincidences are even possible: not true; see below

• 129th century: 12801, 12812, 12863, 12874, 12880, 12885, 12896
• 2109th century: 210801, 210812, 210863, 210874, 210880, 210885, 210896
• 2945th century: 294401, 294412, 294463, 294474, 294480, 294485, 294496
• 4385th century: 438401, 438412, 438463, 438474, 438480, 438485, 438496
• 5221st century: 522001, 522012, 522063, 522074, 522080, 522085, 522096
• 6365th century: 636401, 636412, 636463, 636474, 636480, 636485, 636496
• 7201st century: 720001, 720012, 720063, 720074, 720080, 720085, 720096
• 8641st century: 864001, 864012, 864063, 864074, 864080, 864085, 864096
• 9477th century: 947601, 947612, 947663, 947674, 947680, 947685, 947696

 --Lambiam 18:36, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

The year wrongifies by 13 days every ~43,200 years, if they don't fix by then then G*d damn. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:57, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

9 days every 29,000 years is a better approximation of the deviation of the mean Gregorian year with the current mean tropical year. However, the latter is not constant. 43,200 years into the future the deviation will be closer to 1 day every 1800 years.  --Lambiam 13:57, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Unless man ends leap seconds forever. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:12, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Alternatively, we can develop the technology to speed up the rotation of the Earth by about 0.000085% to match the length of the tropical year to the calendar year. The speeding up can be spread over many centuries. Or we can move the Earth to a slightly higher orbit, increasing the major axis by about 85 km. Or use a combination of the two.  --Lambiam 14:11, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

The percent and kilometers increases over time because days per year declines as friction mostly tidal slows the rotation. I learned the length of the year and Gregorian error from books as the 1900.0 sum 365.242199 and 26 seconds short they copied Newcomb's Tables of the Sun or something long after 1900.0 was replaced by 1950.0 or 2000.0 it's now 365.24218-something. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:02, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

@Lambiam: The years ending in 12 or 96 in your list do not actually work, as they are leap years with Easter on April 1 (like 2040, 2108, 2192, etc.), so Ash Wednesday would be on February 15 (not February 14), and the centuries in your list would actually only have five coincidences of Ash Wednesday with Valentine's Day. But in fact, there are already examples of such centuries in the fifth and sixth millennia. Namely, the first century to have five such coincidences will be the 46th century, with coincidences in 4503, 4514, 4576, 4587, and 4598; while after that, another five coincidences will occur in the 58th century, in 5703, 5714, 5725, 5787, and 5798. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 01:28, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

There was a bug in my program. After fixing it, the maximum number of coincidences in any century reported is 5. The first three are:

• 46th century: 4503, 4514, 4576, 4587, 4598
• 52th century: 5100, 5106, 5168, 5179, 5190
• 58th century: 5703, 5714, 5725, 5787, 5798
• 110th century: 10903, 10914, 10976, 10987, 10998

 --Lambiam 21:29, 18 February 2024 (UTC) [edited 16:59, 19 February 2024 (UTC)]

The above answers the case where there are at least five coincidences within a single century. However, the "just once" case has not been answered yet. Is there also a century that has just one Ash Wednesday/Valentine's Day coincidence, or no such coincidences at all? GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 03:48, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

My program (now hopefully bug-free) does not find any outside the range of 2 to 5.  --Lambiam 10:45, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

I think the pattern repeats every 57000 centuries. Easter in year 5700000 + Y is on the same day as Easter in the year Y, so Easter 5702024 is again on March 31st.  --Lambiam 19:24, 14 February 2024 (UTC)

February 15

What do experts say about Guns, Germs, and Steels' "war speeds tech level rise" idea?

I could cherrypick and say look at maglevs, war is bad for tech. Or look at NASA budget and time to next aircraft carrier class, war is good for tech. Or look at Moore's Law, war has little effect either way. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:52, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

I'm not an expert, but this is kind of a common-sense thing. Turning potentially useful results of basic science into mature technology that can serve a larger market is in many cases a costly complicated process marked by failed attempts and other setbacks. Progress is slow, mainly coming from university labs and small startups not capable of siphoning lots of money to the efforts. Private companies capable of navigating the trajectory successfully, financing it from their own coffers, are rare. More importantly, their shareholders may be less than happy with the company undertaking such ventures. This situation changes dramatically if the cost is largely borne by public funds, which is normally a no-no but becomes normal in war times.  --Lambiam 13:18, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

The effect of war on the average tech level of society is a net sum of various speeding and delaying effects that's a bit less obvious. Sure much was invented sooner i.e. iron warships, microwave ovens and practical jets but WW2 really fucked NY's transportation system for one. I have details if you want. Do we not have fusion yet cause we had one world war too many or one or two too few? I don't know. I bet we'd have more cool space and upper atmosphere tech with a Hot Cold War that stayed non-nuclear through great luck though. Horrible but true. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:17, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

February 16

banned user
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Notes and queries I received a Scottish banknote in change this afternoon. I thought at first it was a new King Charles one as the motif is similar to those on the new coins. When are these (and the new Bank of England notes) going to be put into circulation? 2A02:C7B:121:5300:C504:8E46:1D4D:6584 (talk) 18:55, 16 February 2024 (UTC) According to the Bank of England mid-2024. Mikenorton (talk) 19:05, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

February 18

Calendar forum

Is there any Internet forum that discusses calendar (primarily real-world), timekeeping and dates of events like Easter etc.? --40bus (talk) 19:48, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Do you have any particularly burning questions? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:08, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

I was once on a calendar mailing list, which probably died with Yahoogroups. It discussed calendars on Mars, among other things. Thomas Gangale was active on that list and might be able to answer your question. —Tamfang (talk) 00:32, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

February 21

banned user
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Three bob The Sun on Sunday of 4 February reports that a charity worker found an "1813 silver 15 pence from New South Wales" in a donation. This is expected to sell for around seven thousand pounds as "Few examples have survived as most were melted down in the 1840s." I assume there was a mint in Sydney (there was one in Perth - don't know if it's still functioning) and if they did strike three shilling coins, why did they do it only to melt them down shortly after? 2A00:23D0:CC2:801:417D:F1D9:7A87:BF7D (talk) 10:17, 21 February 2024 (UTC) "After gold was discovered in Australia, the Royal Mint opened branches in Australia. The Sydney Mint opened in 1854 and issued half sovereigns and sovereigns, with the Melbourne Mint beginning production in 1872." See History of Australian currency. So I doubt they we minted in Australia. (EDIT) The Perth Mint opened in 1899. 41.23.55.195 (talk) 10:41, 21 February 2024 (UTC) In fact they were not minted in the normal sense. They were "drops" punched out of Spanish silver dollars. They were demonetized in 1829 and I would guess that their relative purity (.903) lead to their melting. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces17316.html 41.23.55.195 (talk) 10:57, 21 February 2024 (UTC)