Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 03:57, 29 November 2013

Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

Shortcut

WP:RD/M

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.

November 24

Would anyone like to help reach a consensus on this: Talk:Sasanian_Empire#Recommendations_to_Map_workshop_team

I am not sure where else to go on regards to this topic. I do not know whether to use WP:RfC or go here on regards to this topic. I have been working with the Wikipedia Map Cartographers on regards to a new map of the Sasanian Empire and I have brought up the topic on the Sasanian Empire talk page itself. See Here: Talk:Sasanian_Empire#Recommendations_to_Map_workshop_team.

So far only two people have responded to the topic. One of the editors agrees completely with my proposal whereas the other editor wishes to use a map made by German professor of pre-Islamic history of Iran Erich Kettenhofen published in the Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Personally, I do not like that idea because of two things:

1. We would have to have permission from that professor to use that image on Wikipedia.

2. A map made by the Wikipedia Cartographers would be much better anyway, especially since it would be considered work entirely made by Wikipedia users and we would be able to freely use it. :D

That being said, would anyone like to reach a consensus on this topic?

Talk:Sasanian_Empire#Recommendations_to_Map_workshop_team. Keeby101 (talk) 02:42, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

An RfC would be correct. We have enough drama here, that we stay out of content disputes. μηδείς (talk) 03:00, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

μηδείς is right that this is the wrong place. That said if you had asked in a more suitable place like the help desk, you may also get some more general advice which I will offer here. First, remember you would need the copyright holder to release the image under a suitable licence. Permission to use it on wikipedia does not cut it. Note I said copyright holder here for a reason. If the map was published in a book, unless the book includes a clear copyright statement for the map, it could be the copyright actually belongs to whoever made the map which may not be the professor or even the publisher of the book. And whether or not the map is used in the article, I expect the map will be a useful addition to the Wikimedia Commons. Therefore there's no harm in requesting the map be appropriately licenced. Remember also WP:NFCC makes it clear we're unlikely to accept a map of this sort as NFC, therefore preferences are moot if the map isn't suitably licenced. Nil Einne (talk) 22:12, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Royal Mail (UK) Abbreviations

Does Royal Mail have a list of approved abbreviations for street types, similar to what the US Postal Service provides on the second tab of http://www.usps.com/send/official-abbreviations.htm ? I searched http://www.royalmail.com without luck. Cheers! —Nelson Ricardo (talk) 03:54, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Stravenue?! About 99% of those terms would not be used in UK thoroughfare addresses. St., Rd., Ave., Lane, Gdns., Bvld., Circ., would account for 99% of British addresses and the need for an 'approved list' is very low. The Royal Mail always used to (and maybe still does) pride itself on deciphering and delivering badly written addresses. In 65+ years I've never heard of an approved address abbreviation list. Does the US Mail Service not deliver mail that does not use the approved abbreviation? Richard Avery (talk) 08:29, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Stravenue. (yeah, I looked it up too.) WHAAOE Rmhermen (talk) 13:47, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) It seems unlikely to me, as sorting is done almost entirely by postcode (since 1971 according to our article). You can write '75 ZX3 5QV' on an envelope and it will get to the right place. I dimly remember being taught in school that "St." stood for "street" and "Cres." for "crescent", but if there was a standard Post Office system, they would have needed to tell people about it so that they could use it. Alansplodge (talk) 08:35, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is an official list of abbreviations here (item 10). However it hardly seems necessary to use abbreviations these days, and I never do so.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:33, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect that the list of 'approved' or 'official' abbreviations has little to do with what a given postal service will actually deliver for you, and much more with providing people who want to use an abbreviation (or who need to decipher one!) with a useful resource. (For example, having a standard to use means that my customer database doesn't have to worry about duplicate records for Foo Ave and Foo Av—and that my database can talk to my contractor's database.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:45, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The official abbreviations, along with the two-letter state abbreviations, help automated sorting equipment work better. Mail that cannot be sorted by the machines is kicked out to be hand-sorted. It will still be delivered, but there may be a small delay. → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 18:03, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Machine sorting in the UK is done entirely on the postcode. If it doesn't have one on, it's then down to a human reading the address with the Mark One Eyeball, so whether you write "Ave" "Av" or "Avenue" doesn't matter a jot. The list Shantavira found seems to be so that you can search their software to find a particular postcode. Alansplodge (talk) 20:32, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, everyone, especially Shantavira! —Nelson Ricardo (talk) 02:43, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

To answer Richard Avery's side question, the US Postal Service (USPS) will deliver mail with non-official abbreviations, but less reliably so and with a greater chance of delay. I think that the USPS's address-label reading software is programmed to recognize only official abbreviations. The official abbreviation list is mainly meant for bulk mailers (especially advertisers, invoicers, to a lesser extent publications) who have an interest in quick and efficient delivery. Marco polo (talk) 20:12, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have to correct myself. No doubt the USPS official abbreviations are for automated character recognition and parsing, but they are not intended for bulk mailers, who would instead use POSTNET. Marco polo (talk) 02:59, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Is this a known letters puzzle?

I've created a letters puzzle for my kids, and was wondering if this type is known. I haven't found the exact type in Wikipedia articles nor in a Google search, so maybe you could help and refer me. It goes like this:

You are given a phrase and an empty N by M cell table, and your goal is to fill the cells with letters so that the phrase could be read starting from a letter and moving one cell at a time. The rules are:

- One letter per cell.

- Phrase should be read using adjacent cells (vertically, horizontally and diagonally).

- A letter may be used more than once.

Simple example: "This is eight", 3*2, and a possible solution is:

T H E

G I S

Another example (I have the solution): "Obladi oblada life goes on", 4*3, and there are more.

Gil_mo (talk) 18:04, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This game is (a variant of) "Inverse Boggle" - see, for example, here and here. Tevildo (talk) 19:31, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Coffee drinkers!!

I'm trying to find out what coffee bean grinder Michael Caine uses in the opening sequence of The Ipcress File movie, and if I could possibly get hold of one. Surely there's some coffee nerds forums out there that discuss stuff like this? Only I'm having trouble finding anything.87.114.37.17 (talk) 19:42, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I had a good rummage through Google and the best that I can do is The Guardian, Wednesday 19 March 2003 which says; "He (Michael Caine) grinds the beans in what looks like a prototype for my Moulinex 205". Moulinex was a well known brand in the UK in the ~~1970s~~ 1960s, although it was mostly for food mixers and blenders - selling coffee grinders in England is a bit like trying to sell bicycle clips in Bermuda. Alansplodge (talk) 20:26, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My mum had one exactly like that. It would be the 60s. It lasted for years and years. She didn't use it for grinding coffee though but for things like making icing sugar from granulated. She called it her Mouli-mixer. Definitely a Moulinex of some sort. Thincat (talk) 22:43, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This is a bit similar but clearly a later version by the look of the styling. Thincat (talk) 23:00, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I had one of those. It lasted for decades. Good for spices. Unfortunately, you can't get similar ones any more, last least not at Argos. Itsmejudith (talk) 23:36, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The ~~gun maker~~ Krups makes wonderful grinders. μηδείς (talk) 23:43, 24 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean ~~the gun maker~~ Krups makes wonderful grinders for this sort of purpose? [1]. They can give a bigger kick than caffeine alone.--Aspro (talk) 02:07, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I had a friend of a friend in college who was like Rob Reiner's Marxist atheist Jewish character in Bullets Over Broadway. I used to pick on him for owning a coffee grinder made by a German gun merchant every time he used it, which was every time I saw him. I almost feel guilty now. μηδείς (talk) 03:08, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A final point: In [Funeral_in_Berlin_(film)], Ross (his boss) refused to give this MI 5 agent (aka Michael Caine) a loan for a car. So why would a down-on-the-heels MI 5 agent be wasting his money on a Moulinex grinder? Obviously, he diverted it to his flat (apartment) after some IRA hoist..... and found it could also grind coffee. This was shot in 1960's England. Other than little Jewish owned delicatessens were could you buy freshly roasted coffee beans in those days? (OK,before any one else tells me you could get coffee beans from Harrods, Selfridges etc. but look at him. On his salary and dressed that way, he would have been turned away before he could get through their doors). --Aspro (talk) 02:49, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

When I was a kid in the 60s there was a shop in Grimsby that sold nothing but coffee, roasted offee beans and teas. I remember it because of the unique smell. I thought it was one of the best smells going. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 07:55, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know. I dislike brewed coffee, and prefer a tablespoon of instant coffee stirred into a tall glass of milk. μηδείς (talk) 02:21, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Instant coffee! – Milk !!-- sacrilege!!! Next, you be telling me you like sugar in it to. Wash your mouth out with soap and water.--Aspro (talk) 02:49, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it's like chocolate milk with a bang. Bustelo brand instant espresso in cold milk and maybe a quarter teaspoon of sugar or sweetener. μηδείς (talk) 03:03, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For those that drink only instant, there is only one way to a proper cup. Buy arabica not the Brazilian stuff. Place on (what in Europe we call a cast iron skittle) and roast. Grind and put grounds in a briki ( a kind of pot with a handle). Heat upon a charcoal fire (aromatic pine would be fine - if you can get hold of Myrrh please invite me round to do a quality check, I don't charge for this service) until it froths. Pour in to cup and drink. In America you get billed an enormous amount for what you can do at home for very little. Mind you, do this in the morning, if you do it after 6 pm you will be wide awake all night. You have been warned.--Aspro (talk) 03:09, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh, what a palaver! BTW, I think you mean skillet not skittle. Alansplodge (talk) 17:42, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Blame that on my spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
           
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
           
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.--Aspro (talk) 18:18, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What's weird is that everyone knows that spellcheckers have minds of their own and frequently put unintended words into the mouths and pens and fingers of writers, yet many writers still accept whatever they come up with, without feeling the need to check. Someone should write a doctoral thesis about this phenomenon. :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:10, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Grate idea. If you were to right this thesis yourself and so gain a PhD, you could change your handle from jack of Oz to Professor Marvel: [2]. Of course, it would mean you will knot be in Kansas any moor.--Aspro (talk) 00:49, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Y'know, I've got this strange feeling I've never actually been in Kansas at any time in my entire life. Not this time around, anyway. Maybe that explains why I have long had this sense that something's wrong, terribly wrong, but I could never put my finger on exactly what. Maybe I should relocate. Wait ... that would bring me into close proximity to Baseball Bugs. Hmm, better think this through a bit more. I'll talk it over with the Friends of Dorothy. Watch this space. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:28, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Uhmm. See your point but if Bugs has long ears... you could finnish off what Elmer Fudd failed to do. Elmer only ever used a shot gun. A thermonuclear weapon might be more effective and you can pick one up quite cheaply these days on eBay (failing that try Craigslist). I think, all that Dorothy's friends will tell you, is to follow the Yellow Brick Road. After all.. She only had the Wicked Witch of the West to contend with.--Aspro (talk) 01:47, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

November 25

What type of charging connector on a camera?

I have a FujiFilm Finepix Z110 digital camera. I am bit puzzled about the charging connector. It is not a mini nor micro-usb, as far as I can tell. It looks very similar in shape and size to a Mini-HDMI, but is slightly narrower.

This is a problem as it is the only item I have that uses this connector and I tend to mislay the exact 5 volt plug pack and cable I got with it. I have several 5 volt chargers that have detachable micro usb cables, so if I can get the correct cable I can use another charger, which I have done in the past by plugging the camera cable into another plug pack. I have seen other compact digital cameras with the same connector. 220 of ^Borg 01:23, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Might be something called UC-E6 USB. The USB article has a picture. And type the name to google if you want to find folks selling spare cables. Indeed seems like several cameras use it; your local camera shop might have them. 88.112.41.6 (talk) 17:11, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you '88' I think you are correct, I'd seen that diagram but missed that caption. We have over 4.3 million pages on WP and "UC-E6" occurs on only 2 article pages, USB and the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj camera page. (See Search result) The other 2 are user sandboxes, one of which is also related to the Nikon Coolpix S1000pj. Obviously this is something that needs more research and some WP expansion, probably to the USB Page. 220 of ^Borg 18:23, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Now that I know want to search for, it looks like it's a Nikon proprietary connector, though used by other brands. See UC-E6 Pinout 220 of ^Borg 18:35, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Former versions of article "Kali"

November 25, 2013

Greetings.

Would you please provide me with the former versions of the article "Kali?" The webpage for the article "Kali" states, "This page was last modified on 23 November 2013 at 16:16."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

Would you please also provide me with the former versions of the article "Destroyer goddesses?" The webpage for the article "Destroyer goddesses" states, "This page was last modified on 27 March 2013 at 23:20."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Destroyer_goddesses

Thank you very much for your kind assistance.

You can do this yourself. Just go to the history tab for the article and click on the date and time of your choice. You'll be shown the article as it was then. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:30, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think anything can be done about the category page unless you roll back the whole of Wikipedia to 27 March. Category pages are created by putting other articles into categories. They contain little or no content of their own. Astronaut (talk) 13:10, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

November 27, 2013

Greetings. I am requesting a copy of the former article of "Kali" on en.wikipedia.org . The webpage for the article "Kali" states, "This page was last modified on 23 November 2013 at 16:16."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

I initially requested this on November 25, 2013. May I please request your kind response as soon as possible?

Thank you very much for your kind and gracious assistance.

We provided you with an answer to your previous post, which can still be seen a short distance above here. You can use the history tab on the Kali page to see the article at any time in the past. The Category:Destroyer goddesses is a category, or a collection of pages, rather than an article in itself, and it would be difficult to recreate a given past state. Please post again if you have any questions. Rojomoke (talk) 07:54, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

(I have combined the two posts. μηδείς (talk) 03:39, 29 November 2013 (UTC))[reply]

Click anywhere on this post to see a list of the last 500 changes to the "Kali" article. Click on a date to see the page at that date. Richard-of-Earth (talk) 11:46, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Proper conditions for a website going public and IPO (Initial Public Offering)

per our disclaimer, we do not answer requests for financial advice

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Back in the late 90's before the Internet "Bubble" of 2000, internet startups and websites were doing IPOs. However, these days it seems like only the biggest sites are doing IPOs, like Twitter and Facebook. Why is that? And what conditions do I need to take my internet company public? Let's say hypothetically I own and manage a website with about 35,000 regular members, with established connexions to advertisers, and which nets about $350,000 a year in income. Is this "big" enough to consider doing an IPO? What do I need to get in order? What is an IPO anyway? Thanks. Toccata Fugue 1998 (talk) 21:57, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The article IPO explains what it is and some of the steps needed to do one. RudolfRed (talk) 23:18, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Honestly, the company you mention seems nowhere close to being viable for an IPO unless it's a start-up with a lot of hype. This article [3] describes "small" IPOs for companies that have net income in tens of millions. Of course, some companies are being before they even achieve profit (e.g., the internet start-ups you mentioned), but they must have tremendous potential for growth and even then they represent exceptions rather than the rule. You have to remember that an IPO is a very expensive process and introduces large running costs for the company, so it's not really suitable for small stable businesses.129.178.88.84 (talk) 10:20, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Fitness SN

There's a website called Grommr, and it's a social network for gainers and encouragers who are attracted to husky men. What about a website that is into just the opposite—social networking sites for people into running, bodybuilding, sports and the like?Theskinnytypist (talk) 23:46, 25 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See Social Media Websites | Social Media Directory.

—Wavelength (talk) 00:28, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Try beautifulpeople.com, keep in mind they're picky about who gets to join. Good luck ツ Jenova 20 ^(email) 15:51, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hope you don't mind but I fixed your link. I don't know why but there was some sort of invisible (to me) character at the end that was causing the link not to work. Dismas|^(talk) 13:19, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

November 26

Photo after the JFK assassination

I saw a program on CNN about the conspiracy theories after the Warren Commission report. One clip was from the mid-1960's of Mark Lane on TV promoting his book Rush to Judgement. He showed two versions of a photo I've seen before, that was taken 5 minutes after the JFK assassination in front of the School Book Depository. On the right edge is someone who resembles Jack Ruby. Lane said that the Warren Commission cropped out this person when they published the photo. I checked the main volume of the Warren Commission report and the photo is not in there. Was that photo published in the other volumes of their report? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 18:44, 26 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Have you been able to find that picture anywhere on the internet? Do you have access to the Lane book? One thing the conspiracists do is to pick someone out in a crowd that looks kind of like someone and then claim it is that someone. There's a photo taken at the moment of the shooting that shows a guy standing in the doorway of the Depository, who is a little blurry but looks kind of like Oswald. The guy who that actually was, came forward years ago, but some conspiracy sites continue to insist it's Oswald. Just like they take his statement "I'm just a patsy" out of context and don't look at the complete quote. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:22, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have seen the picture in question before, but I don't know where. I've seen discussion of whether or not it was actually Ruby in the photo, and the conclusion was that it was not Ruby, but I don't remember where I saw that either. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 18:34, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Conspiracy theorists are notoriously bad at preserving the original evidence for their narratives - they frequently tweak and "enhance" photos in an effort to make their pet theory "clearer" - thereby introducing things that were never originally there. Back in 2009, I discovered a secret map of an alien city, hidden by someone inside a question posted to this very reference desk! - this was after I'd seen a photo that in which JPEG compression artifacts from a single white pixel had been "enhanced" by a conspiracy theorist to the point of there being claims of a flying saucer.

This kind of ridiculous over-enhancement is responsible for the "photograph" of Badge Man on the grassy knoll for example. They took an area of a couple of square millimeters out of a really under-exposed and super-grainy polaroid photograph - and with suitable "enhancements" wound up with what is claimed to be a photograph of a uniformed Dallas police officer firing at Kennedy. It turns out that the photographer probably caught a glint from an empty coke bottle.

Unless you have the original photograph to view and work from, it's really dangerous to take anything like this at face value.

SteveBaker (talk) 15:32, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This photo is not a few random pixels blown up - it is a clear photo of the front of the building. It is sharp and looks like it was probably taken by a news photographer rather than a bystander. However, the person that resembles Ruby is not close to the camera. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:11, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Many people think George HW Bush was in front of the School Book Depository. I never heard anyone say Ruby was. Some say E Howard Hunt & Frank Sturgis were marched in front of TSBD and photographed by newsmen see: Three tramps -- Raquel Baranow (talk) 03:26, 4 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a transcript of where I saw it, from this CNN program:

"LANE: Let me show you something just in case we have a chance. That is a picture of Jack Ruby. This was taken five minutes after the assassination in front of the Texas School Book Depository building.

The commission said Ruby was not there. This is a picture showing how the commission published it. He wasn't there when they published the picture because they cropped him out. " Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 06:32, 5 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

November 27

Smallest area between three state capitals

Driving into work this morning I was contemplating which two US state capitals were closest together. Turns out it's Boston and Providence, but there are a few other close contenders, too.

Anyway, I got to thinking, what's the smallest area between 3 state capitals? I originally stipulated that they must be adjacent states, but frankly, if three capitals are on a perfectly straight line, that should be the winner. Generally, it looks like Boston-Concord-Montpelier is the winner so far, but I haven't been able to get accurate numbers for Springfield-Indianapolis-Columbus or Sacramento-Carson City-Salt Lake City, where being off by just a mile or so could be the difference between winning and losing. I may be leaving some others out too.

I had been using this to scout out potential winners, this to determine distances (not sure how accurate it is, a new source is probably necessary), and this to calculate areas once I got my distances. If anyone is up to the challenge, please post your findings!

Jared (t) 14:31, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A quick look at a US map suggests that the answer is going to have to be in the northeast. It should be easy to find the distances between those cities, and then figure out which 3 points are closest. I see what you're getting at with the triplets of midwestern and western states, but they're far enough apart that the triangles formed by them might not be small enough to meet your criteria. In the western states they would need to be practically all on the same line (or the same Great Circle, technically). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:18, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

If the numbers are so close that a few miles makes the difference, I'd suggest that your real problem is figuring out where to measure from. Most cities are a bit wider than an infinitesimal point, so the question of how close they are is going to vary wildly depending on whether you're measuring from city center to city center (and how defined?), from closest border to closest border, or something else. Matt Deres (talk) 16:02, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's even worse than that -- to do it properly you'd have to use spherical trigonometry. I don't see any reasonable way to do this without writing a computer program to test all the combinations, and even then the answer is likely to depend delicately on the precise location assigned to each capital. (There are 19,600 possible triangles.) Looie496 (talk) 17:14, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The straight line case of MA, NH, VT is boring. A much better question would be, by drawing a circle intersecting their state capitols, which three states define such a circle covering the least area. In this case Boston, Providence & Hartford versus Harrisburg, Dover and Annapolis seem the finalists. See this map. The New England trio form the smallest triangle, but the Midlantic trio are more equally spaced. μηδείς (talk) 17:46, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Of course your statement that the question is boring/bad requires a special point to draw attention to it :-/ If you don't know the answer, or can't suggest references, it's ok to abstain. Happy thanksgiving to those who celebrate it this week! SemanticMantis (talk) 22:24, 27 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No, it's just boring. References aren't necessary, the candidates are obvious by inspection, and I am not bored enough to do junior high math. μηδείς (talk) 03:54, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And your "better" version of the OP's question is what kind of math? High school at best. And neither of these questions has an obvious answer. Staecker (talk) 12:54, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to be looking for a fight, because the math I wasn't interested in doing was that answering my version of the question. μηδείς (talk) 01:30, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Some clarification from the OP, Jared (talk · contribs), would be nice. But given that that's his only edit in the last 6 months, I wouldn't hold my breath. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:39, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This indicates that Boston-Concord-Montpelier is 155 mi, while Boston-Providence-Hartford is only 106 mi. ~Hue Sat Lum 17:42, 28 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

November 29

Stores and shopping malls

Which stores and shopping malls (anywhere on earth) have the most-complex mazes (complex branching passages), causing difficulty for customers who wish to navigate in them and to exit from them? I am providing links to archives of related discussions.

—Wavelength (talk) 01:55, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Body Lice Bites and in my clothes

Does anyone know how I could have picked up a bunch of body lice that are biting me and living in the seams of my clothing? They seem to be multiplying or growing in numbers rapidly as well. Perrier Tyson (talk) 03:57, 29 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 46: / Line 46: @@
 *[[Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2013 March 3#Human-made mazes (complex branching passages)]]
 —[[User:Wavelength|Wavelength]] ([[User talk:Wavelength|talk]]) 01:55, 29 November 2013 (UTC)
+== Body Lice Bites and in my clothes ==
+Does anyone know  how I could have picked up a bunch of body lice that are biting me and living in the seams of my clothing?  They seem to be multiplying or growing in numbers rapidly as well.  [[User:Perrier Tyson|Perrier Tyson]] ([[User talk:Perrier Tyson|talk]]) 03:57, 29 November 2013 (UTC)