Humanities desk
< September 22	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 24 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 23

Who was Johann von Hanxleden?

I’m pretty sure he had something to do with the American War for Independence, but I’d like to know for sure, as I can’t seem to find any sources on him. Professor Penguino (talk) 06:29, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

And you are sure because...? Doing some of the work that you should have done I found his name in List_of_military_leaders_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War, where he is mentioned without a source. That leads to Battle of Mobile (1781), which does provide a couple of sources of which the one by Hamilton [1] is the only one that seems moderately usable. According to this private wiki, his full name was Johann Ludwig Wilhelm von Hanxleden, born around 1736. Here's an article (not accessible to me) about the 3rd Waldeck Regiment in which he was serving. --Wrongfilter (talk) 07:01, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

User:Wrongfilter don't you have Wikipedia Library access? Try link. There's only a lil smol bit on Hanxleden, on p 183, about his dates of promotion to colonel and death in battle (spoilers). Folly Mox (talk) 07:53, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In German Allied Troops in the North American War of Independence, 1776-1783, he gets a mention on pp. 47-49 when the 3rd Waldeck participated in the Battle of White Plains and another on pp. 222-223 where he met his end fighting the Spanish in British West Florida on 7 January 1781. More detail of that action is at Anniversary of the “Attack on the Village” — Alabama’s Largest Revolutionary War Battle. Alansplodge (talk) 22:10, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Pan Am destinations

I'm trying to find a list of Pan Am destinations. Why isn't there one here on Wikipedia? Anyone know?2603:7000:8641:810E:DCEE:C84B:50D5:7AA6 (talk) 13:22, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps because that would be considered over-detailed for a very large airline that ceased to exist over 30 years ago?

Or perhaps, given that all Wikipedia's content is researched and created by volunteers, no-one has yet felt up to the task and sufficiently motivated. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 51.198.107.25 (talk) 15:05, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Would this help [2]?2603:7000:8641:810E:4166:BD81:1ACF:C0E0 (talk) 22:52, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Do you see such lists here for any other airlines? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:31, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, including one for TWA.2603:7000:8641:810E:4166:BD81:1ACF:C0E0 (talk) 22:39, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Where are you seeing a comprehensive list in that article? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:32, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's at the title List of TWA destinations. Although it was SNOW kept in 2015, the mixture of blue and red in the table present at the bundled AfD reflects the contentious nature of the encyclopaedic suitability of such articles. Folly Mox (talk) 06:58, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I see. Looks like it would require a lot of research. Maybe the OP could get on that? :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:46, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I did give a reference to the list of Pan Am destinations. You might find it under the first reply.2603:7000:8641:810E:DC21:BDEB:F7C7:B09A (talk) 12:27, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Did you notice the attribution on that unreliable source? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:38, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of Air Nippon destinations. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:40, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment

Hi. Some of the Führer Headquarters were permanently guarded by SS unit, even when Hitler was not present. Specifically, SS-Begleitkommando des Führers for the inner areas, and Reichssicherheitsdienst for the outer areas.

Example locations include the Wolf's Lair and Berghof (residence). Presumably this security setup was to guard against assassination methods where the assassin plant a bomb in Hitler's absence months, or even years, ahead of time and detonates it at the opportune time.

Then today I came across this video[3] by historian Mark Felton, where he claimed that Hitler left personal and sensitive material in Adolf Hitler's Munich apartment. This prompted two questions in my head:

1. When was the last time that Hitler personally visited his Munich apartment?

2. Was this Munich apartment permanently guard, or guard at all? If so, which police or military unit guarded it?

Question 2 came up because if Hitler left personal and sensitive material in his apartment, then there is a small chance that him, or someone very close to him, would visit that apartment again. Which in turn makes a bombing assassination a tantalizing proposition. Liberté2 (talk) 17:33, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Without a specific time, it seems rather inefficient to post an assassin for who knows how long just on the possibility he might return. Bombs don't just blow themselves up. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:06, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If left unguarded, the apartment could have been boobytrapped. --Lambiam 07:28, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Which would most likely have led to the death of some lowly ~~redshirt~~ brownshirt. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:42, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

A lowly brownshirt would never get access to Hitler's personal apartment, where Hitler's personal and sensitive material are kept. As I have mentioned in the OP, it is only possible for Hitler himself, or someone very close to him, to visit the apartment. In this case, it was Hitler's personal aide Julius Schaub.

If such an assassination attempt were made, regardless of whether it was successful or not, regardless whether it killed the intended target or not, an inquiry will be done. Since Hitler has no means of ever confirming whether this is an allied attack or an internal rebellion, Nazi generals will be hanged, just like in the 20 July plot. Liberté2 (talk) 17:34, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

No cleaning lady (or lad)? Clarityfiend (talk) 06:01, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Bayesian criminal justice?

Is there any country in which the criminal justice use the insights of the Bayes Theorem? 2A02:8071:60A0:92E0:E058:B7B8:9F70:1AD9 (talk) 19:31, 23 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see anything about criminology in the Bayes' theorem article. How do you think it would be used? Are you thinking about Recidivism? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:53, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Some courts in the United States have accepted the use of Bayes’s theorem in sexual assault cases in which paternity is relevant to the outcome. Is that what you have in mind? John M Baker (talk) 02:21, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

They tried in the Netherlands, but failed. See nl:Zaak-Lucia de Berk. A hospital noticed that one particular nurse was remarkably often present during unexpected deaths. It was argued that the probability of this nurse being present at all these deaths by pure chance was only 1 in 342 million. She was arrested in 2001 and eventually sentenced to life in prison for 7 murders and 3 attempted murders, based on dodgy evidence and a huge pile of statistical calculations. A group of worried scientists (including Physics Nobel prize winner Gerard 't Hooft) then complained that the statistical methods were improper. It appeared that only 2 of the murders were actually "proven", the others only statistically, on the condition that the suspect had killed already. Furthermore, the toxicological evidence for the "proven" cases wasn't sound. In the end, the case was reopened, the suspect provisionally released in 2008 and formally acquitted in 2010. The unexpected deaths were all by natural causes. PiusImpavidus (talk) 08:29, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Wasn't the statistical reasoning in the case Lucia de B. that contributed to her initial conviction entirely Fisherian, what with its use of p-values (alhough improperly computed by failing to apply the correction of Fisher's combined probability test)? If I understand the Dutch article correctly, the first person to challenge this statistical reasoning used Bayesian arguments to show that it was unsound and apparently based on a preconception of guilt. --Lambiam 17:37, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

We have an article Prosecutor's fallacy if that matters. It's not a great situation. Most criminal defendants are guilty (and most trials end in conviction) for the simple reason that the proseuction won't bother bringing them to trial unless the evidence is pretty solid. So a Bayesian juror should be inclined to convict before even hearing the charges. I think the idea of a trial is you are supposed to ignore your priors and look only at the instance at hand. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:86EA (talk) 21:18, 24 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Does this question relate to Lucy Letby (whose current case is sub judice in the United Kingdom)? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 14:52, 25 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]