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July 29

It it worth anything?

I have found an entire case in my attic of unopened fax machine rolls for the old fax machines where the paper is rolled off a spindle. There are 40 rolls and they're in shrink wrapped plastic, unopened. These must have been obsolete by about 20 years ago. you think they're worth anything because of the age, probable scarcity and because they're unopened?--108.27.102.61 (talk) 19:24, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Type the identifying information into eBay and see if the product is sold there. Bus stop (talk) 19:26, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Not that scarce, I don't think - http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=fax+paper+rolls. Also, I'd question the utility of thermal paper that has been stored in an attic.m --LarryMac | Talk 19:28, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Oh wow. I see they're still selling this stuff. I can't believe anyone still uses it. I guess it's right next to the Apple II Cs, Intellivision game consoles, and 8 inch floppy disk display;-)--108.27.102.61 (talk) 20:12, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

this source says that thermal paper needs to be stored below 80F and is still only good for ten years. If the paper is older than ten years or if your attic gets hotter than 80F, I'd just get rid of it, if I were you. APL (talk) 04:27, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

It is easy to test whether the thermal paper can still be written on using a small Magnifying glass as a Burning glass. Playing this way may give you a happy fax life. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:02, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Or hit it with a hair dryer. Saw some neat effects done with thermal paper and a hair dryer in one of my photoshop books. Heiro 19:05, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

July 30

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup on television

→ Moved to Reference desk: Entertainment branch.

Dreams

Is there any particular meaning to hearing a song in your dream that you haven't heard in a while? 173.2.165.251 (talk) 02:29, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Nope. Ryan Vesey Review me! 02:43, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Probably not, but maybe. It means that which you wish. Schyler (exquirere bonum ipsum) 02:50, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

{http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/classicdisney/adreamisawishyourheartmakes.htm A dream is a wish your heart makes.} Edison (talk) 03:07, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure modern scholarship is that dreams have no deep meaning. They are basically the residual effects of your brain running its defrag procedure as you sleep. They mean nothing. --Jayron32 03:49, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

There is a straightforward counterexample. I think just about everybody has had dreams where you are urinating very copiously, and then you wake up to find that you have a strong need to pee. This is obviously not a matter of deep philosophical significance, but it's a pretty clear case of a dream that definitely does mean something. Looie496 (talk) 04:14, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Well yes, real life intrudes on dreams constantly. We've all also had dreams where sounds in the real world intrude on them as well. It means someone is talking to you while you are asleep. But it doesn't mean that the dream has any deep meaning beyond that. The point is that dreams are not a window into your psyche, not a means to unlock repressed memories, and aren't a key to a past life. It's just random nonsense, though sometimes you dream you piss on yourself, and you wake up to find that you have. --Jayron32 04:19, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

(After edit conflict :)

Oh sure, and a dream about a repetitive electronic tone can mean that your alarm clock isn't quite loud enough.

I don't think either of these are in the spirit of the thing though. They're just real-world stimulus effecting the dream world. APL (talk) 04:20, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Just to make it clear, there wasn't any actual music playing while I was asleep, I'm sure of it. But I heard it in my dream as if it were really playing, it was so clear. I could even make out the words and the riffs. 173.2.165.251 (talk) 06:07, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

It doesn't mean anything. There are a lot of theories (explanations, that is) as to the biological purpose of dreaming, but it mostly comes down to the residual effects of the brains internal maintenance; i.e. as your brain works to sort through its connections, form new ones, etc. the result ends up being a dream. They don't have any deeper meaning; if you dreamed a song it may be just that it was time for your brain to clean out that closet, as it were. Don't attach anything further to it. --Jayron32 06:16, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

You say that with such comfortable patrician assuredness, such "think-what-I-think-and-all-will-be-well"-ness, Jayron. Far greater minds than you or I (Freud and Jung, to name two of the best known) have ventured that dreams do indeed, or can indeed, have meaning in terms of symbolic messages from the unconscious to the subconscious, in amongst all the random cleaning out. It's like a faint radio signal just detectable in among a heap of static. Hearing a song, any song, is not the thing here; it's the precise, specific song that the OP heard that's relevant. Why that particular song? He/she hasn't shared the name of the song with us, and does not need to. But there will be something about that particular song - the words most likely - that have meaning to the OP in the context of their life. Only the OP can know what that meaning is, but there's some sort of message there. It's important enough for them to come here and ask about it, so it's not nothing. We outsiders have zero right to tell the OP to disregard it. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 12:26, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Hallucination of sound is noted as very common during Sleep deprivation, see article. The OP's second post indicates they want a diagnosis of their particlar dream which we cannot give. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:53, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Dreams are not literally "meaningless". If you pay attention to the dream's contents and think about what's going on in your world, you can often discern the dream's "meaning", i.e. what it symbolically represents. I think what Jayron is trying to say is that dreams don't have anywhere near the kind of significance that is often attributed to them. They are merely your mind's way of handling certain things that are "on your mind" at a given time. Lots of animals dream. It's a normal function. P.S. There seem to be related questions on 2 or 3 ref desk pages now. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:18, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

As you can see from our article on dreams, Jayron32's view is by no means unanimously held. However, I don't think that any advocate of psychoanalytic dream interpretation would argue for a deep meaning in remembering an old song. It's more likely that you encountered something recently that reminded you of the song, or that you are remembering a song that you liked a lot or that had meaning for you. John M Baker (talk) 02:02, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Abbreviation for "friend with benefits"

I was told that for a friend with benefits there is an abbreviation, pronounced like Phoebe. Is this true, and if so, how do you spell it? --KnightMove (talk) 11:32, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Um.....FWB? Kinda obvious, no? Heiro 11:35, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Um.....Heiro? Kinda blunt, no? An editor since 10.28.2010. 05:32, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

So then you can get a freebie from your FWB ? :-) StuRat (talk) 04:09, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Ok, thanks, but is this pronounced like Phoebe? --KnightMove (talk) 09:18, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

If I saw it written FWB, I'd pronounce it F.W.B., not Phoebe. But someone else may tell me I'm just not socialising with the right people, and tell us they have heard it "Phoebe" in certain circles. It is a very odd pronounciation of a TLA, though.--Lgriot (talk) 15:10, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Consentration Camp names of detaines

'Bold text'Bold textWhere can I search the names of detaines in consentration camps in Minto NB and Petawa ON Canada. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.7.171.202 (talk) 15:11, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Uhh, Concentration Camps in Canada? If you mean normal prisons you could use the search function here: [1]. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:24, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

I think I figured out what you mean, the internment camps during the World Wars? [2] It's doubtful there is a searchable online database of exactly who was in those camps. This site [3] has some statistics, but that's it. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:37, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

@Beeblebrox: See List of concentration and internment camps, section "Canada". Bielle (talk) 18:33, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

How much does a bottle of vintage 1540 Steinwein cost?

See here:

"Four bottles of vintage 1540 Steinwein are still in existence," he said, referring to a Riesling from the Stein vineyard in Franconia. "A bottle of Steinwein was opened in London in 1961 when it was 421 years old, and it was unbelievably still alive and drinkable."

Count Iblis (talk) 18:28, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Short answer: A lot. Wines that rare are usually auctioned, not sold at a fixed price. With four bottles of the 1953 fetching £132 at auction [4] one would imagine the price for the 1540 would be in the thousands. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:51, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

The bottle was tasted by Hugh Johnson, author of "The Story of Wine" at the offices of Ehrmann's, the wine merchants, in July 1961[5]. Possibly Mr. H. Joseph Ehrmann is the man to ask about the remaining bottles, and according to this he is to be found in San Francisco. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:52, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Check this out for some idea of the prices rare wines can get [6]. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:54, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Bassoon players' headrest

While watching Prom 21 of the BBC Promenade Concerts on TV tonight (with Midori playing Walton's Violin Concerto) I noticed that the two bassoon players had some sort of headrest attached to their chairs. They were similar to car/auto head rests/restraints but had side pieces that covered the ears. Can someone enlighten me as to their purpose? I have tried googling a few phrases but nothing arrives and the bassoon article does not have anything helpful. (unless I missed it) Richard Avery (talk) 21:19, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

When I was in wind symphony at university playing Bass Trombone our section sat immediately behind the bassoons. Bassoonists have an interesting combination of principles used in order to play their instruments. Not only is there a single combination for every note, but some combinations can play the same note; it gets quite tricky to find the right note in your minds ear. Hearing a sustained pedal b flat behind you while trying to play triplet arpeggios is almost impossible. Schyler (exquirere bonum ipsum) 23:10, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

The CBSO bassoonists usually have the horns right behind them so I assume these are to protect their ears. One of the bassoonists John Schroder has his own website here from where you can send him an email.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:34, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Excellent responses, thank you both. I will mail John Schroder. Richard Avery (talk) 10:20, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

And here is his very informative response "What you saw was a 'Hearwig'. It is an acoustic screen made in Sweden and designed to protect the hearing of the person in front from the noise from behind. Our bassoon section usually sits in front of the trumpets and trombones, and their sound is very directional. At a concert in May the peak noise level where the bassoon section sat was measured at over 127 dB which, of course, is damaging to hearing. The Hearwigs can reduce the sound level at our ears though it was not sufficient for me in the Prokovief and I used ear plugs too in places. It isn't easy to play with earplugs but I'd rather have my hearing at the end of the day! The Hearwigs also act a bit like a tea cosy and kept my head cooking under the TV lights." Richard Avery (talk) 19:02, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

July 31

Rotton Milk smell from fridge

Where I work we have this rotten smell of Milk coming from the Milk fridge. We have cleaned the fridge 3 times but the smell keeps coming back. Last time we moved the fridge, cleaned the floor underneath it, replaced the drainage pipes (we didn't know there were there and so we broke them when moving the fridge), stripped everything from the fridge (removed all the sheffs, tuck apart the ceiling and back walls, removed the fans etc) POWER WASHED every thing with a brand new power washer bought just for this job, and yet a few days latter the smell started coming back. We can't think of anything else to clean in this fridge and the next plan we have is to simply buy a new fridge (it's that bad). I was hoping someone here might have a less drastic suggestion. Oh and we used LOTS of bleach (min. 1 full 2L bottle) all three times.

86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:21, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

It seems to me you need to determine if the smell is actually coming from the fridge or someplace else. The obvious way to do this is to move the fridge some distance away, let it sit for a day, and see if the smell moves with it. On a home fridge there's a drainage pan which gets some nasty stuff growing in it, do commercial fridges have those, too, or does everything drain directly into the sewer ?

If the smell doesn't move with the fridge, I'd look into the drainage lines more. Does it dump into a drain in the floor ? If so, the rotten milk may be down there. Pouring bleach in alone may not do it, because it runs right down. You need a way to retain it in there for a long enough time to get the job done. I wonder if there is something you could pour down, which would clog the drain, but then eventually dissolve and unclog once you fill it with bleach.

One other thought, the companies that come in and clean up black mold may know how to deal with this type of problem. StuRat (talk) 04:06, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Baking soda and water has a great and historic reputation for sweetening the smell of refrigerators, when you wipe down all surfaces. Edison (talk) 00:29, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I wouldn't expect baking soda to do better than bleach. The problem is finding the source of the stench, so it can be wiped out. StuRat (talk) 03:18, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

If you're certain that the problem is the bad smell clinging to the fridge, and not some remaining hidden "yuck" or the drains, I gathered a number of suggestions recently after a family member absent-mindedly turned off the freezer before leaving on a 2-week holiday.

Put one or more of these in the fridge and keep the door closed for several days. Then check to see if the smell is reduced, and repeat with fresh stuff:

• Lemons or onions cut in half
• Baking soda or dry, unused ground coffee in a bowl (large amounts)
• Bag of odour -absorbing cat litter or charcoal
• Crumpled newspaper stuffed in the shelves.

You could also try wiping down the inside with white vinegar.

It can take days or even weeks of doing this repeatedly to shift the smell, and you may not be able to get rid of it completely, but they do seem to at least reduce it to manageable levels.--Kateshortforbob _talk 15:03, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

---

Some responses: "It seems to me you need to determine if the smell is actually coming from the fridge or someplace else."

It is the fridge. 86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:02, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

"The obvious way to do this is to move the fridge some distance away, let it sit for a day, and see if the smell moves with it."

Not an option. 86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:02, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

"On a home fridge there's a drainage pan which gets some nasty stuff growing in it, do commercial fridges have those, too, or does everything drain directly into the sewer ? "

Direct to the sewer. 86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:02, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

"Put one or more of these in the fridge and keep the door closed for several days."

There is no door, and even if there was, this would not be an option. 86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:02, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

"The problem is finding the source of the stench, so it can be wiped out."

We POWER WASHED EVERYTHING we could find. 86.45.217.245 (talk) 01:02, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Old name of China

1)what is the old name of CHINAMathematics2011 (talk) 03:50, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

It depends on how old, and who was doing the naming, and what they were naming. See a whole variety at Names of China, including the section "names in non-Chinese records". ---Sluzzelin talk 03:56, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I changed your question's title to no longer be incredibly useless. StuRat (talk) 03:57, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

In English, the most commonly used "old" name for China was Cathay; the name survives to the modern day in the name of the Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific. --Jayron32 04:36, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

And elsewhere. The Russian name for China is "Kitay" (romanised). -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 06:42, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

The name derives from the Khitan people who lived in and dominated what is now Manchuria and Mongolia from the 4th century, but was gradually applied to China as a whole. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:17, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

See Names of China. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 00:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Right, because when Sluzzelin linked it, that wasn't helpful or anything... ;) --Jayron32 01:07, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Funny, I read the thing three times and was amazed nobody had linked to it. Weird how that can happen. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 05:08, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Sister Bliss

I noticed that the name given in Hebrew is a lot shorter than the one in English, so I tried to translate it using google Translate and it seems her middle name "Deborah" is missing in the Hebrew form. Is that an error, or some sort of naming convention? -- 78.43.93.174 (talk) 08:47, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I've removed both the "Deborah" and the Hebrew from the article, since the (few) sources cited don't mention either. "Bentovim" is certainly in origin a Hebrew name, but in the absence of any evidence that she used Hebrew, it's irrelevant to the article.

In answer to the question, there's no particular naming convention. "Deborah" would appear in Hebrew as Devorah (or D'vorah). --ColinFine (talk) 09:31, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Popularity and Greatness

Specifically in the field of liquor sales, do the popular brands mean quality? I know this can be the exact opposite with beer, yet is an unrecognized liquor necessarily a lower quality liquor? Schyler (exquirere bonum ipsum) 19:42, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Are you asking, "Is the most popular {gin, scotch, bourbon, vodka} superior in quality to less popular labels" or are you asking "are unrecognized liquors necessarily inferior"? These are quite different questions. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 19:52, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Popular brands mostly mean cheapness, which tends to be negatively correlated with quality. Looie496 (talk) 19:55, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I am curious, schyler, whether you have a reason to believe that your proposal is true? In the areas of food, drink, cars, jewelry, and probably almost all consumer goods, there are "boutique" brands which cost a lot more than popular brands, ostensibly because of quality. Google 'taste test vodka' or the like for comparisons. (I will offer that boutique brands would often be avoided for something like an airliner or a bank. Steve Martin would joke about banking at Joe's Bank. "Hi! I'm Joe! I've got a bank! You want to deposit $20? Here, I'll put it ... in my left front pocket. I'll make a note of that." Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:00, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I will rephrase: Is a brand popular because it has a good quality (in at least some portion whereas peer pressure and price will affect popularity as well)? Schyler (exquirere bonum ipsum) 20:56, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Simple logic would suggest that big brands are popular because they the best (average) blend of quality and price. There will undoubtedly be better Gins on the market than Gordons / Bombay Sapphire and there are certainly some worse. I'm sure some people will say product X is garbage but truth be told it can only sell in the volumes it sells if people find the quality good enough. ny156uk (talk) 21:23, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

And "good" is completely subjective. To someone whose drink of choice is Gordon's Dry Gin, it's a good gin. To me, it's "the crap my Dad drank." --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 21:30, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

There is generally no agreed upon measure of "greatness", quality of taste is highly subjective. Popular brands of any foodstuff or drink (indeed of anything consumed, including music, fashion, literature, etc.) are usually popular because they are bland; that is they aren't offensive to anyone's individual taste, and are able to appeal, mildly, to as wide of an audience as possible. Things which have stronger, distinctive flavors tend to be of the "love it or hate it" type, and we often thing of "quality" as having a certain distinctive character to it, that is quality implies skill, skill implies not anyone could do it, and that implies a certain uniqueness which some smaller subset of people will like MORE than the "common" varieties, but which other people will like LESS than the "common" varieties. Popular brands are also popular for reasons like cost; American pilsner beers (of the Bud-Coors-Miller triangle) fit this categorization well: they are very blandly flavored, so don't offend anyone, and use lower cost ingredients (rice is a primary grain rather than the more expensive "all barley" beers) which is why they tend to be more popular than beers which use more expensive and stronger flavored ingredients. These principles apply exactly to any consumer good, so you could find the same trends in liquor: major liquor brands are popular because they aren't as distinctly flavored (so they tend to "chase off" less people, and have a wider base of people who will like them) and they are less expensive, meaning more people will consume them. --Jayron32 21:49, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Sometimes a drink is popular because it is consistently alright, rather than excellent, for the price. And the spirits market is particularly influenced by marketing: so a drink will be popular because people think people like them should drink it, and like it, or that it says something good about them to buy and drink it. Last year's final of the Apprentice in the UK had an alcoholic drink challenge, with presentations and tastings to people from the drinks industry. The drink which the industry people got most excited about ('Urbon', a bourbon marketed at young urban people) was pretty unanimously agreed to taste awful, but the marketing and packaging could easily make it popular. They would probably choose something fairly inoffensive for the taste, during R&D, and then just concentrate on packaging, colouring, and marketing.

So, a popular drink is unlikely to be undrinkable to most people, and might even be tasty enough, but beyond that there is a heavy marketing influence. And then, there is also the 'maximum alcohol for lowest price' equation used by stupid young people and alcoholics, which makes cheap cider wildly popular in the UK. 86.164.73.187 (talk) 21:53, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Giving a more general answer, not specifically for alcoholic drinks, I'd say most people prefer mid-range brands. Low-priced brands often use cheap ingredients and processes, which are apparent in the end product. High-priced brands often seem "weird" or "foreign", in that they use unfamiliar "premium" ingredients. One cooking show, America's Test Kitchen, does blind taste test surveys, and that seems to be the general pattern. My classic example is getting a pizza at a high-end restaurant, and having it come out with Alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce. To me, that's not a pizza. StuRat (talk) 22:20, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

When blind testing is done on many connoisseur products (wine in particular comes to mind), it often shows very little correlation between price and perceived quality. It seems likely to me that popularity is also only loosely correlated, and is probably more related to cultural factors (e.g. class markings — a "Bud man" feels his beer expresses something very different than does someone who only drinks small-batch IPAs; a Grey Goose drinker is likely drinking it as much for the reputation and advertising budget as they are for whatever the vodka tastes like). I think treating these things as classical economics, devoid of advertising, cultural cache, use in popular music (e.g. Tanqueray, Cristal), and so on, probably misses out quite a lot. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:36, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

And let's not forget the insane surge in the popularity of Jagermeister over the past 10-15 years, only made stronger by the horrible advent of the Jager Bomb. Beeblebrox (talk) 01:40, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Funny, I used to get free shots of Jaegermeister at a German bar-restaurant in the late 80's. Imagine my surprise when I found out people in NYC thought it was a delicacy in the 90's. Might as well mix Everclear, Karo and Nyquil. μηδείς (talk) 03:56, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Zip code - Canada?

Hi. I was recently attempting to register at a website open to American and Canadian residents, and it requested I enter a zip code. It would not accept a Canadian postal code. I'm wondering whether there is a specific default US-style zip code for all Canadians, and whether we have an article? Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:06, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I'd say they have a bug in their software. Canadian postal codes include letters as well as numbers, and they probably coded the web site to use an integer value, which, while appropriate for the 5 digit US ZIP code, can't work work for Canadian postal codes, and also might choke on the enhanced 9-digit US ZIP code, at least if the dash is included.

My suggestion, if they don't really need a ZIP code, is to make one up, like "12345". However, if they ever try to mail you anything, don't expect to get it. StuRat (talk) 23:30, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

When I worked in phone sales, we'd just put in 5 zeros and then make a note somewhere else in the order screen what the Canadian ZIP code should be. We eventually got a system that would recognize the letters and no longer had to resort to that. Dismas|^(talk) 00:38, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I usually just put 90210. If this is a site that may be mailing things to you, I would contact their customer service and explain the situation. Otherwise don't sweat it. 75.155.138.12 (talk) 01:39, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Add the Canadian postal code to the name of the city and use zeroes for the ZIP if nothing else works. Surprised you guys aren't used to this already and taught how to handle it in public school. μηδείς (talk) 03:48, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm surprised that the website designers haven't heard of Canada! Dbfirs 15:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

The above comment doesn't need to be small. That's a good point.. Usually it isn't an issue because the form designers take it into consideration. Mingmingla (talk) 16:58, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

It's not always so nefarious or ill intentioned. It could be that they previously didn't offer service to Canada and now do but the cost of upgrading their software is prohibitive. Or the bean counters at the company said that the company can't upgrade to a system that allows Canadian ZIP codes until the sales department can show that there is a cost benefit. Dismas|^(talk) 20:12, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

August 1

service records

hello im victor apodaca jr., i service in the national guards the late 80s im tring to get my service records so i could aply for my beenfits i service in hanford, california i cant remember the unit can you please let me know how to get them

victor apodaca jr sp/4 2926 heres my email victorapodac

Victor, I've removed your email address because it may attract unwanted attention on this public site. Any useful answers will appear here anyway so your email is not required. Richard Avery (talk) 06:11, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

You can apply for your service record here. StuRat (talk) 15:37, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Hanford, California appears to contain a California National Guard recruiting post, is that where you served ? I don't have a unit number, but their address and phone number are listed here. StuRat (talk) 15:43, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Prefecture ethnic composition in PRC

When I get information about ethnic composition of prefecture in PRC/ Especially prefectures of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Yunnan, Liaoning, Guizhou and Sichuan.--Kaiyr (talk) 12:48, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

You can find all the answers you seek at List of Chinese administrative divisions by ethnic group. --Jayron32 19:21, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I want by prefecture.--Kaiyr (talk) 21:16, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Ah, sorry. Everything you listed was a province; but you want data for each of the individual prefectures of each province? Have you tried Chinese Wikipedia instead of here? They are likely to have more complete data than the English language Wikipedia. I don't read Chinese, so I can't help you research there, but if you do you may find it more useful than here. There are also other online Chinese encyclopedias as well; perhaps one of them could help. --Jayron32 21:31, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

But I dont know chinese.--Kaiyr (talk) 07:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

How to connect continents

How all the continents can be connected on road and through sea? That will be the future development in civil Engineering. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.96.223.107 (talk) 13:24, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

In fact, Earth consists of just 4 contiguous continental landmasses: Afro-Eurasia, the Americas, Australia, and Antarctica. Europe and Africa are both connected to the Asian landmass. There are already roads connecting Europe and Africa to Asia. This large landmass contains a large majority of Earth's population. Likewise, North and South America are connected by the Isthmus of Panama. At present, no road connects the two continents. It would be rather expensive and dangerous to build a road connecting the two continents through the Darién Gap, but there is no real engineering challenge to doing so. However, a Bering Strait crossing, connecting the Afro-Eurasia landmass to the Americas, would pose engineering challenges. Furthermore, thousands of kilometers of roads would have to be built across very thinly populated areas of Alaska and Siberia to connect any such crossing to the road networks of the continents on either side. The expense of such a link would be vast. The expense of connecting Australia via a series of very long bridges and/or tunnels via New Guinea and the Indonesian islands to Asia would be even greater. Probably even more expensive would be a link between uninhabited Antarctica and South America, its closest continental neighbor. It is hard to imagine justifying the expense of building these links when sea and air links are so much more cost effective. Marco polo (talk) 15:25, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) You best shot for an intercontinental bridge between Eurasia and The Americas would be across the Bering Strait. That covers 5 of the seven major continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa share a land connection, as do North and South America). You'd have to string together a whole bunch of bridges across the islands of Indonesia before crossing Timor Sea to get to Australia. For Antarctica, your shortest bridge would be across the Drake Passage. --Jayron32 15:28, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

(ec) You'd want to put them well under the surface, to protect them from hurricanes and such. Anchoring them at the bottom might only work in shallow areas. When the water is several miles deep, you'd need to have free floating tunnels. If the combo of building materials and trapped air can be made to have the same density as the water, then the only forces they would need to resist are those of ocean currents. Hopefully they can be placed at depths where currents are minimal. You'd want to have sections divided by airlocks, so that a catastrophic failure would only kill those in that section. The airlocks would also be a natural place for restaurants, rest stops and motels. Internal combustion engines would not work due to the oxygen requirements and exhaust created; you'd need all electrical vehicles. You could allow individual vehicles, but an automated system of vehicles might make more sense, something like a subway system. StuRat (talk) 15:30, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Do you mean, can all the continents on earth be connected by roads across seas? If so, I don't think it would technically be feasible to build a bridge e.g. from Canada to Iceland or from Brazil to Sierra Leone, due to such factors as the depth of the ocean requiring innumerable massive pillars of several thousand feet each and, to put it mildly, challenging complexities involving waves, water pressure and continental shelf structures. For perspective, China this year completed the construction of the world's longest bridge over water [7], which is just 26 miles long as compared with the 1738 miles required to bridge Brazil and West Africa at the Atlantic Ocean's narrowest point. Furthermore, that bridge was built in relatively shallow water over Jiaozhou Bay but the Atlantic Ocean has depths of up to 13000 feet. Deserter1 15:49, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Just wait awhile... Ghmyrtle (talk) 19:49, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I wonder which will happen first, the Bering Strait crossing or the bridging of the Darién Gap. It it amazing that in this day and age it is not possible to drive from North America to South America. -- 203.82.93.120 (talk) 13:21, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Given the constant instability of the sea, ships and airplanes seem like much more cost-effective and much safer options. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:16, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Anonymous prisoners

What happens when someone is arrested, has no identification on their person, refuses to divulge their identity, and fingerprints and DNA fail to produce a match ? Are they tried and convicted as "John Doe" and imprisoned to serve out their sentence as such ? Pick any jurisdiction you'd like. StuRat (talk) 15:56, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

In contrast to refusing, consider the case of amnesia. Presumably an identity search would be initiated, and there are plenty of possible sources besides fingerprints and DNA. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:24, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Sometimes an asylum seeker arrives in a European country with their identity documents deliberately destroyed. This is an attempt to prevent their return to another country within the Dublin Regulation. There have been a number of "orbiting" asylum seekers, who are shuttled from member state to member state. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 17:14, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

There was an interesting case recently in Utah. The person was kept in jail for some weeks until identified (matched to a missing person report), and then convicted to "time served" (30 days) and released. -- Vmenkov (talk) 00:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Not arrested - but the curious case of Andreas Grassl in the UK was similar. Alansplodge (talk) 21:39, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Finding a gem cutter

Where, in the South-Eastern Michigan area, can I find a place to cut gems ? Specifically, I want one of the easiest cuts, a hemisphere shape, made out of the rod taken from a ruby laser. I tried Google, and found lots of ads for drills and saws impregnated with diamonds. I called the one jewelry store that came up, Tapper's, and they said they don't do that, and they didn't know of any places that cut gems for the public.

Alternatively, perhaps I could cut off the proper length of the rod and mail it to somebody to finish. What kind of tools are needed to cut through a ruby rod, without cracking it ? I could mail the entire rod, of course, but would prefer to limit the value of things I send through the mail. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 19:22, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

It would be surprising if you got much help with this, as people would suspect you were trying to pass off synthetic rubies as genuine. Whatever happened to those "diamonds", by the way? Looie496 (talk) 20:44, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I believe the ruby rods are genuine, or else they wouldn't work in lasers. They are lab-created, or course, so just like natural rubies, but without any inclusions or cracks. I suppose jewelers would probably find them objectionable, though, as large quantities of lab-created gems would undercut their prices. As for the diamonds, I haven't had them appraised yet. I was hoping to combine this chore with that one. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 21:00, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I have no doubt that they're genuine, but synthetic rubies are not worth nearly as much as natural rubies. It may not be logical, but it's true. Looie496 (talk) 22:19, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I've concluded the same thing. That's why I'd like to cut them and give them away to friends, instead of trying to sell them. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 22:38, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

There don't seem to be a lot of custom gem cutters in the United States. If you search "gem cutter" in Google, you will find a number of results, some of them outside the United States. You could look for reviews and ship your ruby to the cutter of your choice and arrange for the cut ruby to be shipped back to you. The only cutter I found in Michigan during a (somewhat brief) search was this one, though he is on the other side of Michigan. Marco polo (talk) 00:00, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

OK, so it's not just my lack of Google-fu, there really aren't any gem cutters in my area? I'm surprised by that. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 01:17, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Hopefully the Michigan cutter is better at cutting than is his English in such a sentence as "A full recut, can loose as much as 50% or more of it's original weight depending on the severity of the damage." Cuddlyable3 (talk) 00:29, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

It looks as if gem cutting is one of those many useful crafts that generally don't pay a living wage any more in expensive places like the United States due to competition from low-wage places like India and Sri Lanka. So, I think most gem cutting is now done in Asia. It looks as if most gem cutters in the United States are hobbyists, though a few commercial custom cutters remain. Marco polo (talk) 14:02, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Huh, I had long assumed that a lot of gem cutting was done in New York City's Diamond District, but perhaps I am mistaken. Our page says "An estimated 90% of diamonds in the United States enter through New York." So, they mostly reach New York already cut? Pfly (talk) 17:59, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

northern dancer, horse racing

I seem to remember that one of Northern Dancer's wins (perhaps even the 1964 Kentucky Derby) had some controversy attached. Though I'm almost certain, I can't seem to find any information anywhere. Am I wrong about my recollection? Thank You — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.93.100.210 (talk) 22:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Did you read Kentucky Derby and Northern Dancer yet ? I didn't find any mention of a controversy in either. StuRat (talk) 22:25, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Could you be thinking of Dancer's Image, the only winner ever disqualified from the Kentucky Derby, in 1968 ? StuRat (talk) 22:34, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

August 2

Could you find better deals for these commercial kitchen items?

A campus organization is trying to build a new kitchen, and they need these items. Many of these items seem overpriced, so I wonder where the best prices are for each of them (after shipping & handling.)

http://kstatewesley.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/MENU-webv.pdf

(Note: They must be brand-new.)

Thanks in advance. --70.179.165.67 (talk) 06:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

By what criteria are they being judged as "overpriced." As someone who has worked in Facilities Management, which includes overseeing and maintaining the equipment of commercial catering operations, while I can't claim to be au fait with current industry pricing in another country, they don't strike me as unreasonable, though as in any competitive market one should indeed seek comparative quotes from multiple suppliers - in some contexts that is actually mandatory.

Commercial catering equipment has to be far more sturdy and durable than its domestic equivalent, and (at least in my country) is I believe usually made of particular (and expensive) grades of stainless steel, and with certain design specifications, in order to be able to meet regulatory standards of hygiene that do not apply in private domestic settings (where also one is not ordinarily prosecuted for lapses).

They may seem expensive as one-off capital purchases, but calculate how many meals they will be used for over their expected lifetimes, in contrast to those in a domestic kitchen. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.109 (talk) 09:11, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

There could be several strategies to reduce cost:

1) Buying used, of course, you said is out. But how about overstocked and discontinued items ? You can often buy such items on sale.

2) Where you shop is critical. Some of those items, like the microwave, could be had at discount stores like Walmart, probably for far less.

3) Brand names are important. Several brand names were specified, but do you really need those specific brands, or will cheaper alternatives do ?

4) Configuration matters. For example, you are likely to find two 4-burner stoves far cheaper than a single 8-burner stove, since the 4-burner stove is mass produced for consumers, and the 8-burner is not. Similarly, more, but smaller, coffee makers would be less expensive, and also more flexible, allowing small batches of coffee to be produced for small groups, and also would be less of a problem if one unit fails.

5) Materials effect cost. Does everything really need to have an stainless steel finish, or would painted steel be sufficient for the large items, and plastic for the small items ? StuRat (talk) 11:15, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

They sell commercial microwave ovens in Walmart? Nil Einne (talk) 02:06, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

No, but the link seemed to say they were going for something between a home kitchen and a commercial kitchen, so this seems like a good way to save some money. StuRat (talk) 03:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Those aren't unreasonable prices for commercial kitchen equipment. Assuming that this is, as you say, a campus kitchen that will be serving more than a few individuals, it will have to pass a health department inspection, which normally means that all equipment must be certified by a third-party organization such as the NSF for the health inspector to even countenance its installation. Your kitchen consultant can advise on details. I assume you've taken care of the infrastructure already? The single most expensive item will be the hood, which can easily run $15K for a new hood that can deal with grease-laden vapor from the range and steam from the convection oven, which has a fire-suppression system, a make-up air unit (or appropriate changes to the HVAC to supply the replacement air volume) and whose exhaust is arranged appropriately to reach a big commercial-grade exhaust fan outside. A used hood will still need a lot of labor and planning to install, requiring welded ductwork. Again, if you used a consultant as the flyer mentions, that should already have been planned for. Acroterion (talk) 14:12, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Puke Albania

The Wiki page for Puke which is a town in Albania that just says Puke. If it were changed to Puke Albania I think it would be much easier to find and serve to promote the town. Is it possible to change the title of the page to include Albania without starting a new history with a new page ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hennahenna (talk • contribs) 10:17, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it's called a page move. Let me take a look at Puke. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 10:19, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

It's listed as Pukë District, which makes it clear they aren't talking about vomit, and all the other Districts of Albania are similarly labelled, so I wouldn't change it. 68.79.93.3 (talk) 10:24, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I think the OP is referring to Pukë. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 10:59, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I have added a redirect to Pukë to the Puke page. I don't think that adding the name of the country to the title of Pukë is necessary, since the umlaut makes it clear that the article refers to something other than vomit. Marco polo (talk) 13:58, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes while this is OT here and more suited to the WP:Help desk we generally only disambiguate e.g. by putting the country name in the article title if it's necessary i.e. the title could refer to at least 2 and preferably more different things. Pukë apparently only refers to one notable thing so the country name in the title is not necessary. Nil Einne (talk) 01:51, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

"The Three Graces", Liverpool

The three buildings on the Pier Head, Liverpool - the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building, and the Port of Liverpool Building - are now widely known as "the Three Graces". But when was that term first used for them? Online sources like this book don't seem to use that term any earlier than 2000, but on the article talk page there is a widespread opinion that the term was used locally for the three buildings much earlier, perhaps from the 1960s. Can anyone shed any light on this? Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:31, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I searched a news archive (Nexis UK) for "three graces" + liverpool + cunard and didn't get any results before 2000. I checked the Times Digital Archive ("three graces" + cunard), but only got classifieds. I also had a quick check in UK Parliament archives (nothing pre-2005) and a few others with no success. The term does seem to have, at least, become much more prominent in the last decade, perhaps related to the Fourth Grace as suggested on the talk page or the Capital of Culture bid, which ramped up in 99/00? The Peoples' Archive section of the Liverpool Echo might be useful, but it's not working at the moment. Sorry - this isn't much use! --Kateshortforbob _talk 16:33, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Could Honda do an undo ?

The new Honda Civic is inferior in just about every way to it's predecessor, according to the critics: [8]. So, could they admit they made a mistake, and just go back to producing the previous model ? This isn't the first car to have such an issue. I recall that the Chevrolet Caprice was redesigned to look like a beached whale, and shortly thereafter discontinued. The Ford Probe, originally considered as a replacement for the Ford Mustang, was instead produced alongside that model.

1) So, if all the old designs and dies and such still exist, is there any reason Honda couldn't continue to produce that model ?

2) Another question would be about their pre-production market testing. That is, why don't they know they have a dog on their hands ahead of time, and stop throwing bad money after good ? StuRat (talk) 17:08, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

They should just make the European model the US model - it's a bit funky but generally seems to get a good review (e.g. http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/honda/civic-hatchback-2006.aspx) ny156uk (talk) 17:14, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Consumer Reports is not infallible. The car may sell well, confounding critics. Also, "pre-production market testing" is not infallible. Bus stop (talk) 17:28, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Did you mean that last link to just go to a diff on this question ? StuRat (talk) 17:33, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, just including the link for clarity. I didn't just mean this question, or this product—consumers are said to be "fickle". Market testing is occasionally very wrong in its predictions. Bus stop (talk) 17:34, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I was expecting your link to take me to examples where a product succeeded despite a negative critical reception. How does it clarify things to provide a link to my own question ? StuRat (talk) 17:38, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

You are right, and I am removing my link. This article seems to mention the phenomenon. I had in mind the Aeron chair, which is mentioned. Skip down to the section containing the sentence: "In 'Blink', Gladwell gives another beautiful example of a product that didn't test well." I must admit I haven't thoroughly read it yet. Bus stop (talk) 17:40, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I can see a couple of categories where focus groups fail:

A) Novel products. Some products are just so different that they aren't accepted immediately, but, once a few brave souls try them out, people begin to accept them and sales start to take off.

B) Long-term versus short-term: They often only ask what the first impression is, such as the first bite of a food or sip of a drink. This can miss foods that have a bad after-taste, make you feel bad later, or have so much salt in them you have to stop eating before you are full.

The first of these failures doesn't seem to apply to the new Honda Civic, as it isn't a particularly novel design. The long-term versus short-term consideration might apply, although it's difficult to imagine a car getting much better with time, but only worse. StuRat (talk) 18:37, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

According to reviews, this model shows clear signs of cost cutting. Honda may be counting on coasting on the Civic's good reputation and making up for lower sales with lower costs. After all, lots of people do not check Consumer Reports, or any reviews for that matter. They have always bought a Civic, and they will buy one again assuming that the value is still there. Or, they buy one based on their father's or friend's experience-based but uninformed advice. Also, Honda may judge that sales volumes are going to fall anyway in the face of a weak economy and competition from Hyundai and other cheaper competitors, so they have decided to try to defend profits by cutting costs to boost their margin. Marco polo (talk) 20:21, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I wonder about the effectiveness of redesigning a car to be less expensive. The obvious problem with that is that the redesign and retooling is itself rather expensive, and this cost must be distributed among the vehicles produced. So, wouldn't they do better to just have stuck with the old design, not pay all those costs, and hopefully lower the cost of the old model, since it's design and tooling costs have been paid down already ? (Just hindsight at this point, as it's too late to avoid the redesign and retooling costs now. Also, if Honda wanted to avoid lay-offs in the design staff, they would have needed to find other work for them.) StuRat (talk) 20:42, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Stu—this is excerpted from the link you earlier posted:

"Personally, I almost purchased a 2011 Civic hybrid, but walked because I couldn't stand the starship Enterprise dash, rife with garish electric blue and green LED panels and display metrics. Call me old-fashioned, but when I'm vectoring a multi-ton hunk of metal down the interstate, I want my attention on the road, not fiddling with fuel efficiency readouts or selecting dashboard "wallpapers.""[9]

The above suggests to me that Honda is targeting a younger part of the market. Honda may be trying to sell to those younger people moving upmarket from a less expensive automobile. Bus stop (talk) 22:01, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

That might be the idea, but then they should have styled it differently, perhaps a "cute" look like the VW Beetle. StuRat (talk) 22:42, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

U S Congressman Joe Pool

Was he married? Did he have children and if so what were their names? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chamberjoe (talk • contribs) 19:48, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

If there is nothing about it in Joe R. Pool, maybe you could do some research to supply that bit of missing info? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:53, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I tried doing a bit of research and failed. The best source would probably be his obituary. He certainly would have had an obituary in The Dallas Morning News a day or two after his death, but its obituary archive requires the payment of a fee for access, and I don't personally want to spend $10 on this. Marco polo (talk) 20:14, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Chances are, however, that some Wikipedian has already spent the ten dollars and could look it up for you, or email you a copy of the article. I've had some luck with Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange for this purpose. --Jayron32 21:58, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

"Surviving are his widow, the former Elizabeth Chambless, and four sons, Richard, Wesley, John and Joe Jr." -- From The New York Times obit in Google News Archive. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:02, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Individual US Congress members' votes

Where can I find the names of the members of the US Congress who vote for or against a particular piece of legislation? The Mark of the Beast (talk) 20:20, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

You can check the Congressional Record. For example, here is a page listing recorded votes for specific bills by date during 2011. Marco polo (talk) 20:25, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

But a better source is here. Sam Blacketer (talk) 20:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Awesome, thanks, guys. The Mark of the Beast (talk) 20:59, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Possible careers?

hello, I recently did a quiz and they said my top 6 recommended college majors were:

1. Atmospheric science
2. Physics
3. Environmental studies
4. Astronomy
5. Civil engineering
6. Oceanography

Can anyone think of a career that would use the most of these subject areas in its scope but not necessarily as majors? thanks in advance

99.250.177.102 (talk) 23:22, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Eco-warrior? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:37, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Environmental Scientist, focusing on the implementation of Floating wind turbines is what came to my mind. Schyler (exquirere bonum ipsum) 23:39, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Building bridges over the sea might touch on all areas except astronomy (although I suppose that is involved to some degree in figuring the tides). StuRat (talk) 00:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I have a friend that studies climatology at the University of North Carolina and his specific field of study is of aerosolization over ocean water. Basically, the formation of aerosols (microscopic water droplets) over oceans as an effect on things like the water cycle, as an effect distinct from simple evaporation. It's the sort of thing that PhD climatologists study, and it seems to hit at least 4 of your areas of study. Perhaps climatology would be a way to go for you... --Jayron32 01:26, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

If The Great Architect needs an understudy, I think you'll be in with a chance ;-) No, seriously, something in the environmental science field sounds perfect. It partly depends on your objectives though. Do you want to make lots of money, or live an interesting life? There is no guarantee of either, regardless of what you study, but vulcanologists for example tend not to become millionaires, and town planners tend not to win Nobel prizes (at least, I hope not). AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:46, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Speaking from personal experience, I can assure you that town planners tend not to become millionaires either. But we are very nice people. ;-) Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:21, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

And volcanologists are occasionally burned alive while loitering on active volcanoes. I tend to view that as one of the more negative aspects of the job. StuRat (talk) 04:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Bah, minor details ;-). Maybe some sort of Environmental Technology program? We have that at NC State (I may have gotten the major name wrong), but I don't know much about the program. I don't know, I think that a lot of the things that encompass most of those skills are major projects with specialists in each field. There might be something though. Start a college program that sounds genuinely interesting (and even better, talk to some advisors and see what they recommend), and keep your eyes out for opportunities. I have learned about opportunities for my degrees that I would never have even thought of, partly because of my classes, but mainly because I got to see what people are doing with them, and have been immersed in the culture that surrounds each degree (and yes, each major attracts its own sort of people :-)). Falconus^{p t c} 04:30, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Another good suggestion for you might be meteorology. It doesn't involve all 6 interests, but it matches your top interest with several others. Marco polo (talk) 13:24, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

August 3

nostradamus's best and worst predictions?

what were nostradamus's best and worst (i.e. most right and most wrong) predictions? 78.131.25.223 (talk) 02:02, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

(Moved from Computer Desk.) StuRat (talk) 03:44, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

All of his predictions are tied for "worst". --Jayron32 03:53, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Some of his translators have done quite well in retrospect. HiLo48 (talk) 03:59, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Do you mean that some after-the-fact translations were manipulated to make it look like he made accurate predictions ? StuRat (talk) 04:12, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, although I suspect that sometimes it was a case of looking extremely hard for a possible meaning that may not have really been there. HiLo48 (talk) 04:15, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

More to the point: people don't have to be deliberately fraudulent. Humans are already very good at deluding themselves into making the text have more meaning than it does. Nostradamus works on something akin to the Infinite monkey theorem: The dude wrote a ton of stuff, most of it is incomprehensible gibberish. However, given a longer and longer expanse of history, there will always be some random event which someone, with enough effort, can make "fit" some of Nostradamus's gibberish. Look at it another way: Given the amount of human feces which has been excreted, the likelyhood that someone crapped a log in a decent likeness of Elvis Presley is actually pretty good; most of us don't spend time examining our shit that closely to see who it looks like, however. Nostradamus has written a lot of shit, and unlike the turds in most people's toilets, people have been combing through his shit for hundreds of years. There's bound to be something which looks like a prediction given the combination of enough history to match it to, and enough willpower on the observer to believe that its a match. --Jayron32 04:29, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

This hilarious part is that one of his best "hits" wasn't him at all! In 1997 A Canadian student trying to illustrate how easy it was to imitate Nostradamus's technique, and wrote a nonsense prediction in Nostradamus's style that four years later strongly reminded a lot of people of 9/11. (See this snopes article here. )

More seriously, there are a few examples of real Nostradamus predictions and how they turned out in this Cecil Adams article, The Straight Dope : Was Nostradamus Really Able to Predict the Future?

I think the biggest thing that people have a hard time understanding about these things, is that you can't count something as a prediction unless you can understand it's meaning before the event it predicts. (Once you know what a duck looks like, it's easy to find a cloud that looks like one. Same thing with finding 'predictions' in gibberish.)APL (talk) 05:57, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

In contrast, Criswell's predictions were straightforward and understandable, even though they were totally looney. I wonder what Nostradamus had to say about the Cubs next World Series championship (if any)? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:55, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Extra Dry Martini, how to drink it?

Got an extra dry Martini 100 cl. bottle. On the bottle I can make out a recommended mix of 1/5 martini dry, 4/5 Bombay Sapphire gin e un'oliva. I don't have any gin good gin with me but I have a Smirnoff vodka. olive is also out of question in my part of the world. Can Martini Dry be taken on its own? --117.253.190.68 (talk) 04:45, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

The Martini Extra Dry is a brand of vermouth. Just to get some things straight:

• Vermouth is a type of fortified wine; basically wine with other ingredients mixed in. Dry vermouths like "Martini Extra Dry" are flavored with additional spices. There are also sweet vermouths which have added sugar.
• The Martini Cocktail is a mixture of vermouth and gin with an olive used as a garnish. While you could mix these in just about any proportion, the 1 part vermouth to 4 parts gin sounds pretty standard to me. Martini Brand vermouth would probably make a decent Martini; I expect it is named as it is specifically to market it for that purpose.
• There are also vodka martinis where the gin is replaced with vodka. In the original James Bond novels, this is what James Bond drank, shaken not stirred. Personally, I don't like the taste of gin (too piney for me) so I prefer a vodka martini (I like mine "dirty", with some olive brine mixed in as well, but that's my taste). So, you can feel free to make vodka martinis to your heart's content, knowing that lots of people drink them that way.

There's also nothing stoping you from drinking vermouth straight, or on the rocks, or mixed with club soda, or anything else really. Taste is purely subjective, and if you want to try it, and you like it that way, go with it! --Jayron32 05:03, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Jayron for the well-informed reply. So, this thing is brand of vermouth. I guess with 18% vol it's a very mild spirits and can be taken without diluting. --117.253.190.68 (talk) 06:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Technically, as Jayron already mentioned (though didn't link), vermouth is not a spirit but fortified wine. Though even if it was a spirit there is no law that says it should be diluted. A lot of spirits are even meant to be drunk straight, like for example single malt whisky (although some prefer adding a drop of water, as it is said to increase the aroma). --Saddhiyama (talk) 12:56, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, vermouth can be consumed as an aperitif, straight up (chilled), over ice, or with a splash of soda. (That said, the cheaper vermouth labels are generally best employed in mixed cocktails or cooking.) Vermouth 101 provides an approachable introduction to this fortified wine. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 17:02, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

If I were to mix it with vodka, what would be the right proportion?--117.253.190.68 (talk) 17:35, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

As I was taught, a proper vodka martini is a measure of vodka and just a dash of vermouth (with, a twist of lemon peel or an olive as garnish)--Jac16888 ^Talk 17:41, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

a list of favorite articles

hello,

i am curious if their is an option to create a custom list of my personal favorite articles (much the same as favoriting/creating playlists in youtube) via my wikipedia account or if i simply have to favorite the urls on my browser?

,thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Burton333 (talk • contribs) 07:34, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Add articles that interest you to your Watch list. Do that by ticking "Watch this page" under the article's editing window, without changing anything else, then "Save page". Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:31, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

You can create a watchlist: see Help:Watching pages. This isn't exactly what you require, but might be useful. --Colapeninsula (talk) 09:29, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Old lift

Why didn't the lift doors open at 0:42 in this video? --84.61.147.210 (talk) 09:17, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

The lift (elevator) was at the E floor waiting for a command to ascend, and ignored a press on the E button. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:41, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

High Speed 1 KML?

Is there a downloadable KML/KMZ file for the route of High Speed 1 from St Pancras to Dover? --CGPGrey (talk) 11:26, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

It's available as an XML file from OpenStreetMap via the link at the bottom of this page. Judging by various forum posts on the topic, it should be fairly easy to convert the OSM XML file to a KML file. Warofdreams talk 16:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Actually, that appears to be missing much of the route. Try instead, which is the entirety of Eurostar; you can then remove the sections you don't want. Warofdreams talk 16:17, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

200 mm like 300 mm lens

What does that mean? Do they want to say that there is a typical 300 mm lens, but this 200 mm is the equivalent of it? In this case, what makes a lens typical, if it can have a shorter equivalent? 88.9.106.140 (talk) 12:48, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

In traditional (i.e. non-digital era) terms that doesn't seem to me to make much sense, and googling finds no instances of the complete phrase. Can you give us some more context, such as more of the surrounding text, and if this is from a professional manufacturer's or retailer's advertisement (where the wording may be deliberately obfusticated) as opposed to a private one (where the seller may simply be clueless)? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.52 (talk) 13:12, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I suspect it only makes sense in the field of digital photography. Here is the text extract: "The "lens to die" for the D80 is the Nikkor 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S DX VR Zoom. 18 mm is the equivalent of 27 mm and is a great angle Decent. 200 mm is equivalent to 300 mm and is a very good zoom nature." 88.9.106.140 (talk) 13:26, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

This is discussed in our article Crop factor. Most digital SLR cameras have a sensor that is smaller than a full-frame 35mm negative. Therefore any given focal length is effectively multiplied by the ratio between the DSLR sensor and the traditional full-frame. This ratio varies a bit between the major manufacturers, but 1.5 is a good approximiation. Thus, using a 200mm lens on a D80 is equivalent to using a 300mm lens on an old-school, film-using Nikon F5. --LarryMac | Talk 14:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Now that we know that the phrase involved comparing differently formatted (35mm) film and digital sensors (which I should have thought of), it does indeed make sense. You might find further information of interest in our article Lenses for SLR and DSLR cameras, which has a table of equivalent focal lengths for different formats (i.e. different sensor sizes) compared to the standard 35mm format most common in film cameras and also used in some (I believe especially earlier) digitals. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230195} 90.197.66.52 (talk) 16:05, 3 August 2011 (UTC)