Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 August 17

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August 17

Classy Liquors

Dear Wikipedian contributors,

I am hosting a relatively high-end party in my home in a few weeks and would like some advice on drinks selection. I live in New York City, USA and have invited a few of my corporate associates for a formal dinner and party. We are all in our mid-40's and 50's and enjoy a good drink. Having never hosted an event so formal, I do not want to embarrass myself by serving inappropriate types of drinks. I have, of course, the usual wine and champagne ordered, but I am unsure as to what types of liquors should be served. By "types", I am simply referring to a general class of distilled beverages, such as whiskey, cognac, rum, etc... At the moment, I'm thinking some high-end Cognac, such as some Remy-Martin XO, would be appropriate and perhaps some whiskey. Could someone help me out?

Thanks, Edwar. ITGSEETest (talk) 00:15, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Rather than invite Wikipedians to endorse their favourite brands, perhaps you would be better to find a nice-looking liquor store and ask the people there. They may be trying to push something in particular, but if you take your time, they will likely be able to give you a very good cross-section of local tastes. You could also discuss their returns policy, in case no-one is interested in parts of your selection. Franamax (talk) 00:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

It depends on what you want to do with the drinks - if you're looking for something to offer round after dinner, or something, then a nice Cognac would be good. If you intend to offer people a choice of drinks away from the dinner table (as they arrive, say), I would have at least one example of each of the major spirits (whisk(e)y, rum, brandy, vodka, gin, maybe some others I've forgotten) along with standard mixers, as well as red and white (dry and medium) wine and some beer (a choice of lager, bitter or stout would be good). The aim is to have whatever someone is likely to request, then you can just ask what they would like and serve them, without having to worry about what you do and don't have. --Tango (talk) 01:32, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Back in the day, my father was involved in New York corporate drinking. (I am not.) Tastes may have changed, but back then (70s), a fine Scotch whisky would have been the most popular liquor. Connoisseurs of Scotch whisky I think tend to prefer single-malt whiskies such as Glenfiddich over blended whiskies. Another essential would have been a fine English gin such as Boodles British Gin. While tastes may have changed in the past 30 years or so, I would think that Scotch and gin would still be popular. Maybe you would want to have a vodka as well. Marco polo (talk) 01:34, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Tango is right to add beer to the list, but I think that for this crowd, it has to be artisanal microbrewery beer, such as Anchor Steam Beer or Sam Adams, or pale ale (the American term for bitter), especially India pale ale (IPA). Someone just might want stout, too. Marco polo (talk) 01:46, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

May I just enlarge on the above differing spellings of whisky/whiskey? In Scotland, the product also known as Scotch (ie Whisky distilled and bottled in Scotland UK)is spelled whisky, without an 'e', whereas elsewhere, such as Ireland, the USA, Canada, their grain spirits of a similar type to Scotch, are called Whiskey, with an 'e'. I mention this only so that your corporate guests, who may know the difference, will not be laughing up their sleeve at your serving them the wrong drink. 92.16.118.114 (talk) 16:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Whiskey: Glenlivet, Rum: No clue (I stick with Sailor Jerry's or Captain Morgan Private Stock, neither of which are very high class), Vodka: Grey Goose, Gin: No clue, Bourbon: Maker's Mark, Cognac: Remy-Martin XO seems fine, Tequila: no clue (again, I've only had mid-end stuff). Quality beers are also important, you may want to ask them their beer preferences beforehand so you don't have to buy so many varieties. Also you'd need the ingredients to make the typical mixes: tonic water, quality vermouth, simple syrup, freshly squeezed lime and lemon juice (this is important since fresh juice is so much better than the concentrated stuff). I'm probably missing a few other ingredients since I am not very experienced in such matters. Feel free to add ingredients that would be required. You may also want to have Jack Daniels around as well.--droptone (talk) 12:29, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Whisky - Scotch Whisky, hence the name: Single Malt is much classier. If you can get an unusual one (ie: not Glenfiddich, Glenmorangie, etc... it'll probably go down better). Gin, go for Plymouth or Hendricks. Rum - I think people generally go for an old Havana rum - they increase in price by age.

Or you could just tell them to stop being so poncy and get a 6 pack of special brew each... Bradley10 (talk) 16:51, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

As far as gin goes, Hendrick's takes the cake. Several international competitions have labeled it the best in the world, and this classy wikipedian agrees. Plasticup ^T/C 18:41, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

And what does a classy guy like you drink it out of, Plasticup? -- Coneslayer (talk) 18:48, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Where I can, gin and tonics from a crystal highball glass or martinis from a martini glass. Plasticup ^T/C 02:37, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Bell Canada's advertisements

What does the "er" highlights in their ads refer or mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.148.176.201 (talk) 00:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

According to this and some others, it's some weird attempt to tie the brand to the word better. To me, it just seems lamer. (On the other hand, it did get you to think about it, didn't it?) Clarityfiend (talk) 15:42, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Napoli, Italy

Does the name of this Italian city have any reference to the French conqueror Napolean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.148.176.201 (talk) 00:44, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I think it's more likely to be the other way around. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:46, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

From History of Naples, "Around the 5th century BC, the area was occupied by inhabitants of the Greek colony of Cuma, who displaced the original inhabitants to the east where they founded Neapolis (meaning "New City" in the Greek language)." Dostioffski (talk) 01:18, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, of course Neapolis/Napoli/Naples is much more ancient than Napoleon and could not have been named after him. According to several sources, "Napoli" and "Napoleon" are unrelated etymologically. "Napoli" is derived from the Greek "Neapolis", whereas "Napoleon" is believed to be derived from the German "Nibelung". Marco polo (talk) 01:20, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Pity he never got a chance to attend a performance of The Ring. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Our article Napoleon (disambiguation) says the name "Napoleon" may derive from "Neapolis" (Latin and Greek for "Naples"), and originally meant "from Naples", or Greek ναπη or ναπος = "(forest) valley" and λεων = "lion", i.e. "lion of the valley" or similar. Nederlandse Voornamen Databank Dostioffski (talk) 01:24, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Results

OK, I know this might sound paranoid but I got my AS results and there is at least 1 unit i was sure i did really well on -- high A or low A at worst -- and i got a B. Normally i don't think about these things much but with this i cant help thinking there might have been a mistake somewhere as far as my results go. Does anyone know how careful exam bodies are with these sorts of things. Do they make mistakes often; even a few? What advice would you give me? --212.120.246.239 (talk) 01:28, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Mistakes do happen and it is possible to appeal. Your school/college is best suited to advise you. There was an article on the BBC news website recently on the subject, I'll find the link. --Tango (talk) 01:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Found it: [1] --Tango (talk) 01:35, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Have a look here, too, for advice on the appeals process. [2] Dostioffski (talk) 01:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks guys this is helping me out quite a bit already. I know you can request photocopies of scripts. Do they charge you for this? This I think is best suited for my situation because if anything has gone wrong i think it may be not that my paper was marked inaccurately but that somehow i may have just been given the wrong grade even though they may have, for example, marked my paper at 95%. Is this a possible/likely occurence? --212.120.246.239 (talk) 02:05, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The BBC article I linked to says: "Your school can request photocopies of exam scripts, or actual scripts. It can ask for a clerical check from around £10 and a re-mark from about £35 for A-level." The clerical check would be what you need if they've marked the paper correctly but just written the mark down wrong somewhere along the line. You school is really the best place to ask for advise on this - you'll need to go through them to appeal anyway, I think. --Tango (talk) 02:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah i just thought that if a copy of the script was free or at least cheaper than a clerical check then i could just get the copy and check myself which would also give me more piece of mind as with a clerical check i may begin to get paranoid again and wonder whether they may have had the wrong paper somehow. But yeah the school should be able to help me from here on. Thanks --212.120.246.239 (talk) 05:01, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Posting a message online

Recently I asked how I might post a message for free on the internet about a certain website, and in response someone told me my best bet is to create a blog. Well, I don't know how to create a blog and also have no money to buy all that is neccessary. So I ask, is there a cheap or free way to just, well post a message, I mean all I need is to convey one message, it doesn't have to be a blog or even a myspace page, but some kind of warning about this site so a number, if not a lot, of people can see. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.254.47.173 (talk) 04:14, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

A blog is free, no cost. Try http://www.blogger.com/. --Nricardo (talk) 04:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

As I said on answering your query the first time - simply putting something 'online' is a waste of time if you want to get your message heard. The internet is unfathomably large, your one-comment (in whatever form - blog, twitter, webpage etc.) is extremely unlikely to be read by any meaningful amount of people without some form of effort on your behalf. Be that self-promotion of the page through things like digg.com, or be it search-engine optimization. You cannot expect anybody to read your message about this website without doing a fair bit of work - and even then you'll need some luck and some readers who support your cause enough to pass on your message. In short - setup your blog on blogger.com post what you have to say but really it'll be a minor miracle if it's read by anything more than say 1000 (unique) people. ny156uk (talk) 10:14, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Ny156uk is right. Let's maybe try and narrow it down a bit? Are you trying to post a negative review of an existing website? Because there are sites out there for that sort of thing—I am sure there is something like a Yelp for websites. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 12:06, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

As I understand matters from your last posting, you don't like the content on this site (although it's not porn or politics), you've tried telling them they should change it and they've not been helpful, and you now want somewhere you can post a message - for free - that lots of people will see, warning people not to go there because it's not very nice. Have you considered that doing so will be excellent free publicity for them, and the more successful you are in telling people what a horrible site it it, the more people will go and look at it for themselves? Karenjc 21:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Searching for the name of a certain stock broker or his bank

Ok, this is the first time I am using this here, I hope some knows the answers. Several years or so (I think before the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis), there was an English bank that went bankrupt due to the actions of one of their stock brokers in Asia. But I forgot his name as well as that of his bank. Does anyone still remember or has how to find the WP article on this? Zara1709 (talk) 06:27, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

You're probably thinking of Nick Leeson and Barings Bank. If not, try List of trading losses. Clarityfiend (talk) 06:40, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Guessing peoples' heights

How can you guess the height of other people by going on your own height when the difference is more than a couple of inches? For example, I'm 5'6" so what would roughly be the height of someone whose shoulder is level with my chin? Similarly, what would the height be of someone whose chin is level with my shoulder? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 08:47, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Surely this will depend on each individual and yourself? Some people seem to have small necks, some very long, some people have 'tall' heads some people have 'round' heads. ny156uk (talk) 10:03, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

If this is of continuing interest to you, you might use a mirror and measure reference points (like the height of your own shoulder, nose, top of ear). Then you could more easily guess the height of someone whose head comes to your nose, say. Another option is to hang around places like 7-11, where they have heights posted by the door (to aid in descriptions of robbers); take a guess at someone's height, then use the posted heights to give yourself feedback on how you're doing. Your brain learns well through effort and feedback. In an analogous situation, railroads have used speed guns and reinforcement via one-dollar bets to train classification yard crews in accurately estimating the speed of freight cars coming off a hump. (The purpose is to prevent damage to freight caused by cars moving too fast.) — OtherDave (talk) 14:00, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

It just occurred to me that those heights by the door probably have the side effect of making clerks good at estimating people's height, which is probably more valuable than trying to remember to check the crook's height in a scary situation as he runs out the door. --Sean 17:47, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Um, I'm pretty sure those heights by the door usually have cameras trained on them. Nobody's expecting a minimum-wage clerk to do anything other than hand over the money. I doubt clerks are any good at judging heights, incidentally; I've worked at places with heights by the door but you know, I had other things to do other than say, "Gee, that fellow is roughly around 6 feet tall, like most fellows..." --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:37, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Harassment question

Could a person go to jail for friend requesting another person on facebook after the other person had many times rejected him since that's harassment? Or would they not go to jail since trying to be friends with a person on facebook isn't the same as trying to be friends with him in real life? --75.35.80.226 (talk) 12:05, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Could they go to jail? Probably not. For one thing, the level of "harassment" is pretty minimal. For another, Facebook has built into it easy-to-use tools to make it easy to designate people who are absolutely banned from seeing you are on there at all, much less requesting to be your friend. I think any reasonable law enforcement agency or judge would see an attempt to get someone arrested just for repeated attempts at "friending" them as being entirely frivolous and without merit. I think complaining that somebody was trying to "friend" you on Facebook is sort of like complaining (legally) about someone editing your pages on a Wiki in a way you don't like (where the entire point is to make it easy for people to edit it)—the entire point of Facebook is to make it easy for people to try and "friend" each other, there isn't a gun to your head to participate, and it's easy to adjust the privacy options. (But this is not legal advice, and I am not a lawyer.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 12:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Unless the person sending the friend requests happened to be under a strict restraining order. That might be a different situation. But without special circumstances? I really can't see that happening... Which doesn't mean that it wouldn't be the type of behavior generally associated with assholes, mind you. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:02, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

2008 South Ossetia war

The reasons behind the war is still not clear to me. Who should be actually blamed - Russia or Georgia? Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 14:19, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The article you linked (along with Timeline of the 2008 South Ossetia war) seems to be fairly clear on the broad outline of events: South Ossetia is a de jure region of Georgia which has been de facto independent (but internationally unrecognized), and under Russia's influence and protection, for the past 16 years. This August, after a week of low-level fighting between the Georgian army and South Ossetians (it's not clear what started that), Georgia (claiming provocation) launched a full-scale attack on South Ossetia in an apparent attempt to regain control over the region. It is still unclear to me why Georgia chose to do this, as to no-one's surprise Russia responded forcibly in defence of its protectorate, and quickly achieved total victory. Algebraist 14:35, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

As for blame, it seems fairly clear that Russia did not start the fighting (I suppose it might have provoked Georgia through Ossetian clients, but I've seen nothing suggesting this). The question is then whether Russia was justified in intervening militarily in support of a breakaway region of another sovereign state. It used to be an established principle of international law that a state's rights to do whatever it wished inside its internationally recognized borders are sacrosanct, but this principle has been increasingly torn up in recent years: parallels include the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (in support of Kosovan independence) and India's intervention in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Algebraist 14:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I think Russia and Georgia had some kind of treaty regarding South Ossetia which Georgia apparently violated. How that justifies Russia invading the rest of Georgia, I don't know - I think that's why Russia's actions have been frequently described as "disproportionate". They were arguably justified in acting, but not to such an extent. --Tango (talk) 17:28, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I think it's pretty well established that once you're at war with someone, you're entitled to attack whatever parts of their country you feel like (for example, see the aforementioned Nato bombing of Yugoslavia; Nato could have acted by actually moving into Kosovo, but did not). Of course, actions you're legally entitled to perform can still be disproportionate and unreasonable. Algebraist 18:32, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

No, international law still dictates what and where you can attack - and with how much force. See the Geneva Conventions for the main documents. Now actually enforcing international law is another story. Rmhermen (talk) 20:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I may be wrong (and I certainly haven't read the conventions; please correct me if it's in there), but I don't think they have anything to say denying a belligerent the right to attack its enemy's armed forces because of which part of the enemy's country the said forces are in. Of course there's the separate matter of attacks on civilians and such. Algebraist 20:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

But you can't just declare war on a country because you feel like it. I'm not sure if that's a matter of international law or just diplomatic relations, but you need a good reason for going to war before the international community will let you get away with it. Moving troops into a region of your own country would not usually be considered an act of war. --Tango (talk) 20:59, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that's what I attempted to explain in my second post above. Algebraist 21:04, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The role of the "publisher" at an American newspaper

What does the "publisher" of an American newspaper do? British newspapers don't have anyone with this job title. Is he the CEO (or perhaps chief operating officer would be more accurate?), in charge of running the non-editorial aspects of the operations, or does he have an editorial role. Luwilt (talk) 14:28, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The publisher is in charge of all operations of a newspaper, both the editorial and non-editorial side. He or she is in essence the CEO of the newspaper. He spends a lot of time going to functions as the representative of the newspaper, for instance. He may also allocate budgets to and set goals for each of the departments. If he has a role in the editorial side, it's mainly to determine what the position of the newspaper is in its editorials, e.g., liberal or conservative. The day-to-day operations of the editorial side are left to the editor in chief and managing editor. Which raises a question -- who does this in the UK? -- Mwalcoff (talk) 14:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Rupert Murdoch does at The Sun and News of the World (though he claims he has no editorial input at The Times), via his publishing group, News International. Dostioffski (talk) 17:57, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Traditionally the proprietor would decide which party a British newspaper endorsed. Not many major newspapers are owned outright by an individual nowadays, but at most of the nationals (the only ones that really matter in British politics) the political affiliation is a permanent part of the newspaper's identity, and never changes. In the absence of a hands-on proprietor, the editor is the effective CEO of a British newspaper. Luwilt (talk) 21:02, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

At some U.S. newspapers it seems as if the editorial staff is fairly liberal in their political views, but every four years the publisher comes down to the newsroom and writes an editorial endorsing the Republican candidate for president. The Chicago Tribune has never, to my knowledge, endorsed a Democrat for president, but is often highly critical of republican incumbents and candidates. Edison (talk) 15:04, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

That may just be because they don't like politicians. Rmhermen (talk) 17:55, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

snails

I'd like some information on keeping snails as pets. I can only find info on breeding them on eat on the internet. What should I feed them and how should they be kept? 79.75.155.198 (talk) 17:28, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Googling for "pet snail" found, as the top result, www.petsnails.co.uk which seems to have lots of useful information. You'll get your answers much quicker if you try looking for them yourself before asking here - using google is really easy, try it! --Tango (talk) 17:52, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I'd also add that there are many different types of snails. What, exactly, you should feed them will vary based on which type of snail it is. (Although there will certainly be some commonalities.) -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 18:41, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

At least some snails will happily subsist on a combination of algae and commercial goldfish food; we've been keeping some for years and years and they grow well and breed prodigiously. It's very funny to see a snail moving along upside-down just under water, gliding along on the surface tension as it chomps on a flake of goldfish food.

Atlant (talk) 18:34, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Forgive me if I'm being facetious, but I found snails very easy to keep - too easy! I had a 10 gallon fish tank which I populated with live plants rather than plastic ones - for authenticity. Apparently a snail came in on a plant without my noticing. In a matter of weeks, the tank went from 1 snail to 115. The cat fish were hanging around near the wall of the tank and looking out as if to say, "Lemme out!" I rather wonder how anyone can "keep" just a few snails.T lX$W7x05h^ (talk) 00:55, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Radio-controlled helicopter

If I held onto the bottom of a Radio-controlled helicopter, would it be powerful enough to lift me off the ground? 78.147.2.84 (talk) 18:39, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

While I suppose you could wire up a regular helicopter (which is certainly powerful enough) to be radio-controlled, I don't think any of the things commonly called radio-controlled helicopters are remotely powerful enough to lift any human beyond a young baby. The article you linked refers to models which can lift 10 pounds. Algebraist 18:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

What weight are you? Ten pounds is a little heavier than an average newborn. Perhaps you could use lots of helicopters :-) 78.150.238.131 (talk) 18:59, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the greatest advantage of using multiple radio controlled helicopters is that the accident that results when the choppers inevitably collide is likely to be all that more horrible and bloody. If you're going to do something incredibly stupid, you may as well ensure that it'll go down in history as one of those globally known "Holy crap, what was that idiot thinking?! What did he think was going to happen?" kind of things. I think that'd definitely qualify. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 05:15, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm .... holding a rapidly rotating blade powered by a nitro-fueled engine above your head ... what could possbly go wrong ? I know Lawnchair Larry said "a man can't just sit around", but this definitely sounds like Darwin award material. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:52, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure if we should be encouraging the OP to do this. You might hurt yourself. Cyanoa Crylate (talk) 13:25, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

What I said. Just to be crystal clear, my response was definitely not intended to be encouraging - it was meant to discourage this dangerous activity ! Gandalf61 (talk) 13:47, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

And make sure you do it at the Olympics to get kicked out. Matt Deres (talk) 13:39, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

The Yamaha RMAX, the largest RC-only (as opposed to, say, a jury-rigged RC Apache) helicopter I'm aware of, carries a payload of about 30 kg. Not enough for an adult, but enough for a midsized child and significantly more than the 5 kg referenced above. — Lomn 14:32, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

If you can find Ernst Stavro Blofeld, he may be able to help you with the RC helicopter thing like he did for another gent here.

Atlant (talk) 18:27, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Name database used by TV shows

In one of the Simpsons DVD commentaries, the participants mention that whenever they name a new fictional character, they are supposed to consult some sort of database that contains the names of every person in the United States. They can only use the name for their character if there are no matches, or if the name is sufficiently common that it can't be linked to one specific person. (One time when they didn't check was when they used the name "Armin Tamzarian" for the episode "The Principal and the Pauper", although they never got in any serious trouble for it.)

Anyway, does anyone know what the name of this database is called? And does anyone know more about this fictional name matching process in general? Zagalejo^^^ 19:19, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The U.S. Census maintains a searchable name database sampled from 7.2 million people. This might be a (simplified) example of what they do. Though it doesn't identify individuals, it does give estimates of prevalence. The compilers note that "The fact that a name doesn't appear... does not mean that it is non existent, only that it is reasonably rare." Presumably The Simpsons producers' legal counsel recommends they carry out name checks, lest they make they fall victim to the same unfortunate (and expensive) co-incidence detailed here. Dostioffski (talk) 20:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Interesting link. Thanks! Zagalejo^^^ 22:40, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Note that I don't think all the examples there can necessarily be said to be co-incidences. Some of them seem to be. Other one's may not be. Nil Einne (talk) 13:47, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I remember reading a British novel where a note at the front not only said that all the characters were fictional but also that they were "placenamed", i.e. every surname in the book was the name of a town, so no one would think it must be related to a real person.

Of course there are also cases where a real person's name is deliberately written into a story as the name of a fictional character. The author might use a friend's name; or the publisher might hold a contest and the winner's name is used, that sort of thing; or the author might just think that the name conveys the right feel, as with the most famous instance of this, James Bond. If the author does this without getting the real person's consent, it can mean trouble; Douglas Adams made this mistake in one of his best-known works, and the name had to be changed after the original broadcast. --Anonymous, 04:15 UTC, August 18, 2008.

I have also read -- and it was many years ago, so cannot cite source -- that one specific industry, perhaps movies, takes the opposite tack: they identify the name they want to use, then check to see if a person of that name is readily located. If so, a small honorarium and signature on a release document allows them to claim official permission to use a name.

I have no idea if this still holds, but thought it amusing at the time. --Danh, 70.59.119.73 (talk) 03:06, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Geographic distribution of WP contributors

Is there a page or website where I can see statistics relating to the geographical distribution of Wikipedia contributors? i.e. how many percent of contributors are from North America, Europe, etc... Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 19:27, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Someone might have compiled such statistics, but since (for logged-in users) the only available data (barring IP addresses, which are available to the Foundation but I don't think they'd use them for this) are Wikipedian's self-descriptions, which are incomplete and unreliable. FWIW, I'm in Europe (and you can believe that or not as you choose). Algebraist 20:12, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Edits by project and country of origin might help. Dostioffski (talk) 21:08, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

So the Foundation does do that. I could have sworn that was against the Privacy policy. I suppose it gets by because it's not personally identifiable. Algebraist 21:16, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

However, that data is from 2006. The current privacy policy may be very different that what we had back then. 79.75.155.198 (talk) 21:45, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Though there's really no possible individual harm from those sorts of impersonal statistics, where the lowest possible of information is around 1000 edits from an entire country. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:50, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

How interesting:

• More edits to the Spanish version come from the Netherlands than from Mexico or most South American countries. In fact Netherlands is right up there in terms of ranking in a number of the languages (French, Polish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Hebrew, Czech, Norwegian, Romanian, Korean, Chinese).

• Australians apparently contribute a lower proportion of edits to English WP (4.4%) than we do to Polish WP (4.5%), and we don’t rate at all in any other languages. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:28, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Can somebody explain to me why the heck the Dutch are the second biggest contributors to the Swedish version? Clarityfiend (talk) 23:05, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I Think I may have worked out why the Dutch appear to contribute so significantly to multiple projects. A lot of bots, particularly the anti-vandal ones, operate from the toolserver, which (at that time) happened to be hosted by Kennisnet in Amsterdam. I bet it is those edits that skew the statistics. Dostioffski (talk) 23:23, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

That's a good theory - and I bet it's right. But Swedish Wikipedia accounts for only 1.9% of all Wikipedia edits - and the Dutch contribution is only 13.8% of that. So this anomalous effect is only a quarter of a percent of all Wikipedia editing. There are about 140,000 edits per day - so about 300 edits per day are by Dutch people editing Swedish articles. It would only take a very small number of enthusiastic Swedish-speaking Wikipedians living in the Netherlands to cause that kind of a 'blip'. SteveBaker (talk) 23:37, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Since the location is determined from the IP address, it is likely that there are uncertainties and even errors in the location data. For example, a multinational ISP might provide public IP addresses from the same pool to more than one country. The Wikipedia page only refers to "a publically available geolocation database" - anyone know more details? 84.239.160.166 (talk) 05:43, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Ditto

In the article on the Pokemon Ditto it says "Ditto is able to rearrange its cellular structure into anything at will". Now, I was under the impression that a Ditto could only transform into another Pokemon of similar size or a mini-version of a large Pokemon. Which is it? Can a Ditto become anything, like water, a dog, fireworks etc or only another Pokemon? Cyanoa Crylate (talk) 20:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Pokemon are fictional. I suggest you read up on you pokemons at a pokemon fan site. 89.242.89.237 (talk) 22:12, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Ditto —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.129.227.106 (talk) 00:04, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

What a crappy suggestion. It's a perfectly valid Ref Desk question; it's not as if we don't deal with other questions about fiction all the time. (Not that I personally know a lot or even care about Pokémon, but that's neither here nor there.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 09:28, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I agree, it's a fair question. It's not one the kind of people that hang out here are likely to be much help with, but we can give it a shot. --Tango (talk) 01:50, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

My resident pokemon expert says it can become any pokemon of any size. They also think it may have tried to turn into human members of Team Rocket in the cartoon, but is unsure. 217.42.157.143 (talk) 11:11, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I think I remember ditto turning into humans in the anime but they still had those dot eyes that ditto has. --124.254.77.148 (talk) 11:46, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Hairstyle check

What is the best way to see what hairstyle suits one's face best? Will I have to learn some image editing software in order to do that taking the picture of the face and putting in several hairstyles or is there any other easy technique to visualize it from all directions in an easily accessible way? Also, where can I get several hairstyle samples for men? Thanks. - DSachan (talk) 22:11, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Hairstyle has a long list of male and female styles. Visualising an alternative style on your head is technologically possible - but it's going to be a LOT more work than learning some image editing software! SteveBaker (talk) 23:23, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I think there are tools available online that will show you what you look like with different hairstyles (after you upload a photo). Try googling for one. --Tango (talk) 23:46, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

It's reasonably do-able to take a photo of someone's face - figure out where the features are - from that, figure out how it's rotated - then render hair over the top of the photo at the appropriate orientation. Do-able - but not easy. There may well be sites out there that either completely automate this - or which provide a GUI to let you do it yourself fairly easily. But the OP wants to be able to visualise it from a bunch of different directions - like maybe have a video of your head slowly rotating with that hair style in place of your own. That's a VASTLY harder thing to do ("Trust me - I'm a computer graphics professional!") - I'd be very surprised to find something like that just lying around on the web. I suspect that the only way to do this is to get your head scanned in a big expensive scanner - and to render the hair onto it from carefully captured 3D face position data. Either way - it's not going to happen anytime soon. SteveBaker (talk) 00:19, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Women are more likely to do this than men -- take a photo of a hairstyle that appeals to you (e.g., from a magazine) and bring it to your stylist, or to a new one you're considering. If you have confidence in the stylist, he or she can give you a more professional opinion. OtherDave (talk) 21:28, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Madrid or Barcelona

I intend to travel to Spain. Which city to visit, Madrid or Barcelona. I am interesting about painting-museums. Which is the positive and negative of each of the above cities. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.103.151.18 (talk) 23:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Try a travel agent. The reference desk is intended for factual questions, not opinions. --Tango (talk) 23:44, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

We have often answered such questions before. As for museums Madrid of course has the important Prado (and others listed in Category:Museums in Madrid). Rmhermen (talk) 23:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Try Wikitravel for information, Madrid vs Barcelona. Dostioffski (talk) 23:53, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I can't answer the question, but as an aside, if you choose Barcelona, then beware pickpockets! Mine was picked but had a dummy wallet in place and it was that that was taken!--89.168.138.138 (talk) 07:02, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I visited Barcelona this year and took in many of the museums. Barcelona has the Joan Miro Museum, Picasso Museum, NMAC (National Musuem of Art de Catalunya), Museum of Modern Art and many others. I'm sure most cities do them but I got myself an 'Articket' and for a one off payment I got access to 7 of the main museums for free and you can go as many times as you like within a 6 month period. I had no trouble with pick-pockets but then I was extra-careful as had heard about it being a potential issue. Madrid is supposed to be wonderful too though, i'd say read up on them in the links above and take your pick - i'm sure either would be wonderful to visit. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 07:54, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I love Barcelona. The culture there isn't in museusm, but in the city at large. You'll have to walk around and explore the place—be sure to hit the hotspots (la Sagrada Família, Park Güell, etc) but also just get out into the city. Wonderful place. Plasticup ^T/C 11:49, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

If you are interested in pre-20th century art, then go to Madrid. This is fact not opinion. Madrid is a major centre of pre-20th century European art, and Barcelona just isn't. As for 20th century art, that is a matter of opinion. Luwilt (talk) 21:06, 20 August 2008 (UTC)