Miscellaneous desk
< September 2	<< Aug \| September \| Oct >>	September 4 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an 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 3[edit]

Who do we call to fix our tv?[edit]

My roommates and I bought a projection screen tv for our apartment, and when trying to adjust the conversion settings, we screwed it up pretty good, and dont know how to fix it. Well, we know how, but we're not any good at it and dont have the time to put into it. Are there any professionals we can call to do the adjustments for us? If so, how much would it cost? thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.131.182.228 (talk) 02:28, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

First off I would try finding some sort of reset command in the menu system. That would at least get it back to factory settings and every projector I've ever used had one. Then I think you can try again - make small changes - read the manual. Failing that, I'm sure the store you bought it from has some kind of installation service you could probably try. (Of course if you bought it online...ah...not so good.) SteveBaker (talk) 04:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Search for "TV Calibration", perhaps with your city added as an additional search term. Such services aren't inexpensive - on the order of US$300 or more. --LarryMac | Talk 12:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm - might want to avoid Circuit City: [1]. SteveBaker (talk) 05:56, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yahoo TV[edit]

How do you create a new television show page on Yahoo TV? 66.53.208.46 (talk) 02:38, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

yes, i can, but im not going to. TV rots the brain, crap collected by the eyes to pollute the mind. do it yourself, its easy enough —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 09:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Seriously, 193...what kind of a response is this? The OP didn't ask "you" to create a page or your opinion of TV. Hopefully someone can help? cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 12:47, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

193's views on television made me laugh. Not sure you can make or edit pages there like on Wikipedia. They have a suggestion page where you could ask them. Personally I'd go to IMDB though. JessicaThunderbolt 17:40, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think 193 was taking literally the term "how do you create" - I would think that, by the age of having the typing and verbal skills to write that, 193 would have heard that term used so often that, even with very severe Asperger's Syndrome, he or she would know at least from reasoning it out that it wasn't asking 193 to make one. However, maybe that's not the case; I'm only familiar with the very mild cases.Somebody or his brother (talk) 23:21, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Putting on my most severe Aspie hat: I read "How do you create..." - and the only super-literal responses to that are "I do it like this <useful response>" or "I have tried but failed - so I have no answer." or "I have never tried - so I have no answer." - (and of course if you have no answer - why answer?) there is no interpretation of the question, no matter how literal, for which "Yes, I can, but I'm not going to" is meaningful. So I don't think we need to "play the Aspie card" here. But that's OK - we're already ignoring this annoying person. SteveBaker (talk) 01:56, 5 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Name of game[edit]

I can't remember a name of a computer game I used to play as a kid. You were this bug or frog thing and had to jump from lily pad to lily pad as they got smaller and smaller. I believe the game was is another language (like Russian or something). And I’m pretty sure it was shareware. Any ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.202.144.223 (talk) 04:16, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Frogger? Corvus cornix_talk 04:17, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the fast response... but no. not frogger. it had an odd name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.202.144.223 (talk) 04:25, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Arrgh! I remember the game, but not the name - maybe it'll come to me later if I stop thinking about it for a while... AndrewWTaylor (talk) 07:39, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Would it be Perestroika (video game)? Deor (talk) 11:45, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's certainly the one I was thinking of (as Toppler). AndrewWTaylor (talk)

Yes that's the one!! Thanks heaps it was really bugging me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.202.144.223 (talk) 22:25, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Environmentalism is a SCAM?[edit]

[ Soap-Boxing trolling deleted. ]

I'm positive that almost this exact question is asked on a regular basis, but I can't seem to find it in the archives. Odd. APL (talk) 13:08, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It usually gets deleted. Adam Bishop (talk) 14:38, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How about deleting again? Doesn't seem like a serious question. · AndonicO ^Engage. 14:42, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know, because the question was deleted. Never mind... 90.212.195.123 (talk) 00:50, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

organ[edit]

Hello and good morning im from united kingdom and very obliged if u can give me some information if u could or put me in touch with some one who can. I purchased an organ a few days ago and been trying to get some information about its age (I think 1987)I now this perticolour model is an old one.on one end of the organ it says howard and the other side says skyliner so maybe skyliner is the make ? I have looked on internet and found that howard does or was involved in this make skyliner I also want to now how much something of this age and make is worth today If u can help in any way I will be very happy to hear your comments Thank you mick —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.238.165.43 (talk) 11:33, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"Howard" seems to be a brand-name used by the Baldwin Piano Company for some of their organs. DuncanHill (talk) 11:40, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt that a 1980's era electric organ will be worth very much. If you search for "Baldwin Organ" on eBay, you see them show up with a $50 asking price. I just searched and found one at $30. I used to have a 1980's era organ - I don't remember the maker - but it was a fairly typical dual manual with bunches of stops and a couple of octaves of foot-pedals - and a "Lesley" rotating speaker so you can play "I do like to be beside the seaside" in the cheesiest possible way! Mine was given to me for $0.00 by someone who didn't have room for it anymore. When I needed to get rid of it because I needed the space, I was unable to sell it at any price - and I ended up giving it away - AND agreeing to deliver the damned thing for $0.00. Baldwin isn't a super-special name in musical instruments - so unless this one has some special history or is in some other way special - I doubt it's worth much...I hope you didn't pay a lot for it! SteveBaker (talk) 18:36, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Photos[edit]

I am looking for a site containing old sepia style photos, preferably of old people in a rural setting. Altrernatively I am looking for a website with award winning photographs, as many as possible. Sepia orange brown old ones are preferred though. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 14:48, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The website Flickr has billions of photos and you can search by 'tags' - a search for "sepia portrait rural" brings only 98 results (http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=sepia%20portrait%20rural&w=all) but I suspect you could find some nice photos using a variety of searches. ny156uk (talk) 15:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

google images has a few, also try Wikimedia Commons. JessicaThunderbolt 17:28, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Library of Congress has a website called American Memory [2] with many thousands of images, including photos of people in rural settings. Try the search terms photograph rural and you will get 1300 such images. I believe they include high detail scans of the originals,which should include the sepia toning for original prints, but not for scanned negatives, but my present computer is unable to open them. They include lots of depression-era photos by noted photographer Dorothea Lange. You can "tone" the images with Photoshop. Edison2 (talk) 18:32, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

SAMURI SWORD- THE 19th year of SHOWA with the name of KANEMUNE[edit]

I have a SWORD with the name KANEMUNE on it and it is of the 19th year of SHOWA. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.242.193.64 (talk) 19:02, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Shōwa period in Japan began in 1926 (it is the name given to the reign of Hirohito). DuncanHill (talk) 19:09, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

And this page [3] has some more information about a sword by Kanemune. DuncanHill (talk) 19:11, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Pig iron[edit]

The page about Pig iron says that it is made by pigs. This seems unlikely but is it true? Or has someone playing a joke there? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cat choir (talk • contribs) 19:17, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It was vandalism and has been reverted. DuncanHill (talk) 19:19, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Lol, the wording was exactly the same as that from episode 7 of Look Around You. JessicaThunderbolt 19:59, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is pig iron, and there are Iron Pigs. — Michael J 07:43, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

World History Honors[edit]

What was the slogan for the Thermopylae? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.4.242.33 (talk) 22:51, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You'll have to be more specific than that. What do you mean? Dienekes' statement that the Spartans would "fight in the shade" when Persian arrows blocked out the sun? The epitaph erected later, "Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie"? Something else? Adam Bishop (talk) 07:42, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

gluten allergies[edit]

My son was recently diagnosed with a gluten allergy, the doctor said it was the protein in the wheat that he is allergic to. Could he have gluten free breads instead of avoiding wheat products all together? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ks614 (talk • contribs) 23:16, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

We do not give medical advice. But gluten free products exist in the marketplace exactly for people who have gluten allergies. In my experience, fwiw, everyone I know with a gluten intolerance also has a yeast intolerance (sample size: 2). --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:20, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(Not medical advice--personal experience only.) I did a gluten free diet a few years ago, didn't eat any wheat at all. After nine-months, my allergies were pretty much gone... · AndonicO ^Engage. 23:22, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I was under the impression that "gluten free bread" was not actually a wheat product. Unless this is something new I'm not aware of, I think that if you examine the ingredients label you'll find that it's made from rice flour and not wheat flour. APL (talk) 23:53, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Gluten-free diet may be of interest. --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:00, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is a wide range of sensitivities that can be avoided by removing all wheat products from the diet. Sometimes this is more than is necessary, but it's generally sufficient. I've got a familial sensitivity to bread wheat and durum wheat, for example, but I'm unaffected by spelt, so I get to have the occasional sandwich, and I've learned about the pleasures (mixed) of rice-based pasta. Do what the doctor says, of course. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 15:52, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Weird "Countries" listed in enewsletter subscription drop down menu[edit]

While subscribing to an enewsletter, I was asked to select my country of residence from a drop down menu. While I'm used to seeing odd "countries" like Bouvet Island (uninhabited) listed in these menus, this particular menu listed, amongst others Al Hucemas Island (population approx 50), Canary Island (sic), French West Indies, St Croix, Malagasy, Luanda, Orkney Island (sic), Coco Island, Chaferinas Island (sic), Carcos Island, Channel Island (sic), Crete, Zaire (name changed to Democratic Republic of the Congo a good decade or so back), Borneo, British West Indies, Pacific Islands, Aden, Pheonix Island and Gilbert Island. Some of these aren't political units, were the former names for current countries or are basically unihabited. Why on earth would a company list them as a possible nation a subscriber would hail from? Is it an injoke by the site developers or are they somewhat confused about geography? --Roisterer (talk) 23:24, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on your definition, there could be anywhere from 192 to 245 or more "countries" (according to List of countries). Vetting each of them and adding them by hand is something that a manager of an eNewsletter is unlikely to do. The list of countries was probably obtained from a third party, who probably got it from another party, who got it from etc., etc., with people altering it along the way to adjust to modern changes, local norms, and the purpose that the list was meant to serve. (e.g. No one noticed that the list was out of date since Zaire changed names. The Channel Islands may have been added by someone who thought the UK/Channel island distinction was important, but the Guernsey/Jersey distinction (and proper pluralization) wasn't. A resident of Saint Croix may have been indignant at being lumped together with the rest of the USA, and insisted that the list manager put Saint Croix in as a separate entity.) Or it may be that when compiling the list, a set of separate lists were combined uncritically. (e.g. Someone may have come across the list of Dependent territories, and added all of them, even though some, like Bouvet Island, are uninhabited.) I doubt it's an in-joke; it's more likely laziness/sloppiness on the part of the list compiler, made "acceptable" by the fact that as long as the country they're from is on the list, most people don't care that some non-country is on there too. -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 23:55, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Amazingly, almost all of these websites (I have only seen one exception) list 'Antarctica' as an option (Neopets has 'Antarctic Lands'), despite only about 30 people living there. I always choose this unless it's important. :P Avnas Ishtaroth _{drop me a line} 01:05, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Antarctica has rather more than 30 people, although it varies by season; see Demographics of Antarctica. You might be thinking of the rather small number of people who winter over at the South Pole, but there's more people in the milder coastal regions of the continent. -- Coneslayer (talk) 11:13, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hanlon's razor - Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. --Tagishsimon (talk) 11:15, 4 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]