Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 September 28

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September 28

What's going to happen to Bahrain?

Economy of Bahrain Our article says oil could run out in 2018. Since the economy is still predominately oil. Will the economy just drop dead one day in the next decade? Lotsofissues (talk) 01:38, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That article discusses that very issue: Economy of Bahrain#Diversification. --Tango (talk) 01:49, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That is the advantage of a Monarchy. You don't have to convince lots of silly people to do what is best for them - you just do it! Long-term plans never really work in a democracy. Plasticup ^T/C 05:03, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

But if the person in charge is also "silly"... --86.158.29.112 (talk) 15:51, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Also, since the atmosphere doesn't like oil, sea level rise could also be a problem within the next few hundred years (this is Bahrain at 10 metres sea level rise). ~AH1^(TCU) 17:11, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Plasticup's idea of how a modern monarchy works may have been derived from reading The Wizard of Id. Bahrain is now a constitutional monarchy, with an elected legislature accountable to the people. It's also a democracy, although every democracy is unique in the way it does its business. The Prime Minister is a member of the Bahraini Royal Family rather than an elected representative, which I'm sure makes for interesting times. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:25, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

medieval art

Im searching for a picture , mosaic or i think painting of AVARICE HANGING SELF DESRUCTION with the words AVARICE KILLS SELF DESTRUCTION MAY YOUR HOME BE YOUR GALLOWS .I would very much appreciate any help .thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.100.0.85 (talk) 02:51, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You seem to be confusing a lecture delivered by Hannibal Lecter in the novel Hannibal—which contains the phrase "avarice, hanging, self-destruction" and the translation of a line from the Divine Comedy, "I made my own house be my gallows" (see the antepenultimate paragraph in the top post here)—with a work of visual art. I seriously doubt that there exists a medieval picture, mosaic, or painting such as you describe. Deor (talk) 14:21, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Inguinal ligament stretch

Does anyone out there know any good Inguinal ligament stretches? I tried googling it, but I didn't come up with much of anything besides how to identify inguinal hernias. Any and all help will be much appreciated. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 03:26, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Effects of Cigars

Since most, if not all, cigar smokers do not inhale the smoke into their lungs, does smoking cigars really have a psychoactive effect on the body? If the smokers do not inhale, how does their bodies absorb the psychoactive compounds in the tobacco? Acceptable (talk) 05:56, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Nicotine is quite readily absorbed through the mucous membranes of the mouth. The same is true for chewing tobacco. Though as with all addictions there will be a mental element. Fribbler (talk) 13:00, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

If you are not addicted to nicotine and you either smoke a cigar (properly, without inhaling into the lungs) or chew tobacco, the kick from the drug can be quite intense. Darkspots (talk) 13:21, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You only have to look at the efficacy of Nicotine patches to see that these substances can be absorbed even through the skin. SteveBaker (talk) 01:16, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Political Surrogates

What exactly is the role/background of the term "surrogate" that I've heard used fairly often this election. Have I just missed it in previous elections or is it a new term? Is it worthy of a wikipedia article? 68.50.130.233 (talk) 06:39, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Should we assume that you mean the Presidential election in the U.S.? Dismas|^(talk) 09:29, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Political surrogates are people you have speaking on your behalf: Person A is seeking election and wants to "big himself up" but doesn't want to look arrogant, so Person B says what a great person Person A is. Alternatively Person B attacks Person C (the opponent), allowing Person A not to appear "negative", yet the attack stands. It seems to be a recently coined term, but I don't know how recent. Does it deserve an article? Maybe, unless we have something similar already. Fribbler (talk) 12:56, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

horse question

Which horse is the best horse? And why? Roggie123 (talk) 10:24, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

It's like asking which colour is best. Define more accurately what you mean by 'best' and are you including all members of the equine race? In which case the zebra is the best if you are looking for stripiness. 86.4.187.55 (talk) 10:49, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

But Champion the Wonder Horse was the best horse in black-and-white.--Mrs Wibble-Wobble (talk) 13:42, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I suppose it depends on the use to which you want to put the horse. Smoked, steak or sausages? BrainyBabe (talk) 15:55, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I can think of more uses for a horse than that, but I wouldn't mention most of them here. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:14, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

If you want a talking horse, then Mr Ed would be a candidate for best, although Narnia offers a few, too. Gwinva (talk) 00:44, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

If the question is about horse-racing, the answer is tough. Horses are not routinely transported from country to country - so in general, there is no clear way to compare (say) Northern Dancer (who raced in the US and Canada) with (say) Arkle who was famous in Ireland. Also, the jockey has a lot to do with the result - and there is absolutely no way to race two horses with the same jockey riding both to find out. SteveBaker (talk) 01:14, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Horse_breeding#How_breeds_develop has some information on the advantages of different breeds and the ways in which they are suited to different purposes. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:55, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

C'mon people, the answer is obvious! It's the horse that brings the beer! Franamax (talk) 23:30, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Factors in influencing our behaviour.

Which two main factors are said to be intrumental in influencing our behaviour? any help on this question would be much appriciated. thankyou lynsey —Preceding unsigned comment added by Babylynz (talk • contribs) 11:32, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Nature and nurture? If this is homework, I suggest you poke your nose into the article (and a few more). --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 12:07, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Hunger and Sex. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.20.200.156 (talk) 15:17, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Carrot and stick. BrainyBabe (talk) 15:56, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Greed and sex.86.197.16.51 (talk) 16:06, 28 September 2008 (UTC)DT

Pinky and the Brain. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 21:08, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, Love and Death, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Death and Taxes, Sex and the City...OK, not the last one. Seriously, this is a dumb question - the answer has to be something to do with hormones. SteveBaker (talk) 01:09, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Surely death would rank up there as a major influence on behaviour. Birth must run a close second. Looking at the before-and-afters, they're both pretty influential. Franamax (talk) 10:17, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

World record marathon

You have a small feature that claims that the Ethiopean runner Gabreselassie has set a new world marathon record. I beleieve that this is not correct as no marathon course is exactly the same as any other. This is unlike say a 1500 metres or a 100 metres track. For such events times can be truly compared and thus a particular time can be a world record but for the marathon all that can be claimed is that it is the fastest. Without identical tracks true comparisons between events cannot be made and thus no world record can be claimed. I would not wish these comments of mine to be construed in any way as critical of this superb athlete. He is without doubt a phenominal athlete but his races cannot be meaningfully compared with say, Zatopec in Helsinki because the races, although over the same distance was not over an identical course. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.233.0.41 (talk) 15:26, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

See Marathon#World records and world's best; it looks like the IAAF now recognizes world records for marathons. Deor (talk) 15:55, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You could apply the same argument to most sports. We had a recent discussion about how the design of swimming pools has contributed to the speed of the swimmers, so although they're competing over the same distance as they did 50 years ago, the "courses" are not "identical". Also, running shoes are better these days. And so on. If every minuscule variation in external conditions were taken into account, there'd never be any exact basis of comparison with previous record holders. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:11, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Indeed - wind speed, humidity, temperature, rain, shoe technology...all of these things are variables in almost all outdoor sporting events. The differences on a Marathon course are indeed much bigger than the differences between (say) 100 meter tracks - but almost every athlete has the chance to perform in events all around the world - so picking the "right" track to make your world record attempt on is just a part of the process. Gabreselassie shouldn't be penalised just because Zatopec did his run on a sub-optimal track. SteveBaker (talk) 01:00, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Refueling Stations

I noticed in Los Angeles many of their buses are powered by CNG. But I don't see many CNG/alternative refueling stations around, why is that? Is it because there are many laws and restrictions or is the demand just not there yet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.132.66.30 (talk) 16:02, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

City busses (even diesel busses) don't refuel at regular gas stations - they have pumps at their base facility. Natural gas is stored in large liquified gas cylinders - which are usually above-ground but can be buried out of sight if space is limited. My father used to run a LPG (propane) refuelling station in the UK, he also converted standard gasoline vehicles to run on LPG. The tank at his station was above-ground, about 30' long and about 10' in diameter with a filling unit that looked a lot like a regular gas pump - except for the actual business end of the filler which had a complicated clamping gizmo on the end. This was about 20 years ago - and at that time there were no special laws relating to LPG refuelling in the UK - he had many individual customers as well as fleets of taxi's, ambulances, busses and other delivery vehicles. Most conversion kits leave the gasoline/diesel pathway intact and allow the vehicle to run on regular fuel at the flip of a switch - which has huge advantages when the infrastructure is not yet there. However, custom-built vehicles can get better mileage and performance than conversions - so the LA bus fleet are probably CNG-only. SteveBaker (talk) 00:54, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Contact Lenses

Besides scratching or ripping, (or breaking if they get dried up), can contacts ever diminish their ability to help your vision?

This is assuming that you wear them within the time you're supposed to (and switch pairs when it is time)

What I'm trying to say is that if someone doesn't put complete effort into their upkeep (like maybe they just simply take them out of the case, put them in, wash the case out a little, and then at night take them back out, put them in the case, fill it with solution and then shut it), will the quality of the contacts go down? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.20.213.138 (talk) 16:44, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

On behalf of Wikipedia, I would like to refer you to your local eye doctor. Please see our medical disclaimer. GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 20:01, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

This isn't a request for medical advice, it's a request for information on how the contacts work. Don't be so zealous. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I would never, ever wear contact lenses. The thought of the risk of a foreign object getting caught between my eye and my eyelid is too disgusting. I am happy with a visible external apparatus to correct my ever-worsening vision. JIP | Talk 20:29, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I take it that it is the sort of thing that one gets used to rather quickly. In any case I don't think this particular opinion of yours is anywhere close to an answer to the OP. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

My understanding is that the cleaning of lenses is not so much because they'll lessen in their prescription or anything but because dirt on them can get into your eye very easily and cause infection, etc. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:47, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You're right 98..... a "protein residue" is deposited on the lenses quite quickly and this is a nasty source of infection. Any degradation in the ability of the lenses to correct a refractive error would take (in contact lens terms) a lifetime compared to the increased risk of conjunctivitis that is the main concern. Fribbler (talk) 23:20, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Also, keep in mind that they can fog up. Often going outside when it is very humid will cause my contacts to fog up. A few blinks can quickly fix this. The Reader who Writes (talk) 01:02, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I wear monthly contact lenses. When I was short of cash and couldn't afford a new set I wore the same set for 5 months, in the end I got a slight infection in one eye. So I finally got some new ones. The infection wasn't that serious and cleared up with some eye drops, but it could have been much worse. I usually change my monthly lenses about every 6-8 weeks now, not an ideal situation but certainly cheaper than every month. 124.177.182.195 (talk) 08:37, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Who will win the next US election?

Hi. Who do you think will win? Thanks. ~AH1^(TCU) 17:15, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I say, unless something out of the ordinary happens, it's a 50-50 chance. You won't get any official answers (as there aren't any), rather only opinions, so I'm not sure this is the right place. CL — 17:26, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 08 Election. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.56.13 (talk) 17:42, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That YouTube video appears to be a load of crap; that blue screen looks like it was probably planted there by some hacker. GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 21:16, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You might want to look up what The Onion is before being ridiculous about it. Hint: it's satire (as paying attention to any of the clip ought to reveal—newscasters talking about shadowy overlords? Come on now, wake up!). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:49, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Lol. One of my favourite Onion clips. And for those interested, it does relate to a real controversy. Fribbler (talk) 23:08, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

If it were held today, the latest polls say Obama would win. But it won't be held today so who knows. It will likely be close in any event, no matter what happens in the next few weeks. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 18:13, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

More hanging chads to come perhaps?--Artjo (talk) 19:28, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Hopefully Mccain will win. GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 19:59, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That's not necessarily true. If he wins, he will win hopefully; but he may not win. That's also the case with Obama. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:03, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

?????? GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 21:09, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Re: ??????: Mild critique on linguistic misuse of a term. "Hopefully" is an adverb. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 21:15, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Surely you're joking, and I don't mean you're joking in a sure manner. "Hopefully" is a sentence adverb. Please read Language Log, Steven Pinker, M. Stanley Whitley, etc. -- BenRG (talk) 23:25, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

I know very well what you mean; and I'm sure Cookatoo's would agree that you shoudl stop calling people Shirley :-)As for the OP, is this some weird way to try to conduct a supposedly unbiased poll? If so, to throw a real bit of confusion into your poll, I think Harold Stassen will win.209.244.187.155 (talk) 01:05, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I hope Mccain wins, and I think he will win, and he will win hopefully. :) GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 21:18, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

The good news is, both candidates are supportive of actually attempting to cut greenhouse gas emmisions, which makes the world in general less doomed then otherwise with Bush. ~AH1^(TCU) 22:49, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Tut tut. You should know better than starting a discussion thread on the reference desk, AH. <Fribbler isn't angry, just dissapointed> Anyhoo, as for links and refs, the Bradley effect suggests extra luck for John "Bomb Iran or Spain" McCain. Fribbler (talk) 23:06, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

My comment was less a comment on language than on GO-PCHS-NJROTC's injection of his/her personal political stance. The question ("who do you think will win") is probably not even appropriate for the ref desk, but what people hope is another question entirely, and this is definitely not the place for the expression of political hopes. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:57, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Ray Fair's model favors Obama. You can see the specifics of his model here, although that page isn't up to date. Is this the first piece of empirical evidence in the whole discussion? Plasticup ^T/C 00:42, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

RealClearPolitics' electoral map has Obama/Biden in the lead. Intrade has Obama/Biden favored. FTPredict has Obama/Biden favored.--droptone (talk) 12:33, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

Echoing some others above, tut tut AH. Insert your various WP:NOT's here, and for those reasons - this is not a RefDesk question. Franamax (talk) 10:09, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Latitude and longitude

What is located at 25.15 degrees latitude and 80.25 degrees longitude? GO-PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 19:55, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

You can find links to maps at 25.15°N 80.25°E / 25.15; 80.25 25.15°N 80.25°W / 25.15; -80.25 25.15°S 80.25°E / -25.15; 80.25 25.15°S 80.25°W / -25.15; -80.25. --Random832 (contribs) 20:18, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, (25.15,80.25) is located in a field somewhere in northern India near "Sarwai". (25.15,-80.25) is just off the coast of Key Largo...the other two are in the middle of the ocean. So I guess the field in India is what we're looking for...it doesn't seem particularly notable though. SteveBaker (talk) 00:42, 29 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't know how exact it has to be, or if you could have made a typo but (25.85,-80.25) would indicate Miami. Could that be what you are looking for? --Lgriot (talk) 02:23, 29 September 2008 (UTC)