Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 April 25

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April 25

Too much?

How many kids is too much in a family? Currently my girlfriend an I have four but before we tie the knot, we are trying to decide whether or not we should have another mini ball and chain. Any suggestions? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Snatchwagon69 (talk • contribs) 01:46, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

The Reference desks are generally ill-equipped to offer meaningful advice on family planning. But perhaps others will be able to offer more meaningful input than I am able to offer at this moment. Bus stop (talk) 01:49, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

"...another mini ball and chain"??? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:01, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Exactly Bugs, I think that answers the question!!. Richard Avery (talk) 07:18, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

The Wikipedia article Family states that "The “right” number of children seems to be fair to say lies between China’s laws of one or two children to Nadya Suleman, who has 14 children. Overall, there are too many reasons that are not beneficial to society if couples have too many children. The main priority that parents have is to provide the best possible opportunities for their children, and it is more likely that children from big families do not receive the type of attention that is needed." Ref: Belkin, Lisa. (2012). How Many Children is Too Many? Adventures in Parenting. http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/how-many-children-is-too-many/ 84.209.89.214 (talk) 03:08, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Not any more it doesn't. I just removed that whole quote, for the reasons I stated in my edit summary. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]}

This is seriously only a decision you and your partner can make. The only good advice is to talk it through, and make it clear what you both want. If you both want a fifth child, by all means, have fun! There is no right number of children for everyone, there is only a right number of children for your family and that can only be determined in the context of what the two of you want for your life. There is no better advice anyone can offer than that. My wife and I have two children, and we decided that's a right-sized family for us. We have friends that have seven children, and that works for them. We have other friends that have decided not to have any children as a couple. There is no "one-size-fits-all" advice for this. You're going to have to work it out for yourselves. --Jayron32 03:09, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Some people say one is too many. Others say you should stop at two. Mitch Ames (talk) 05:45, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

If they were serious about ZPG, they'd say to stop at 2.1. --Carnildo (talk) 00:29, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

These responses are pretty funny. A person who actually had four children (out of wedlock) would have a more educated opinion about how many are too many than anybody who is answering here, very likely. But of course it is just trolling. Looie496 (talk) 06:11, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

In general, families are more likely to be smaller in developed countries than in developing countries (China is an exception for well-known reasons). This may sound like synthesis, but, it suggests that that the optimum number of children in a family is around 3-5 kids. Personally I thought more than four would be too much, but being an only child, I have no experience when it comes to siblings. But basically, you can have as many children as you want as long as you can raise them all properly. It's sort of like Islam where you can have up to four wives as long as they are well-cared for. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 07:38, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

In America, you can have as many as you want, whether you raise them properly or not. That is no small social problem. As regards Islam, I'm reminded of a line from an "Arab" (played by Eddie Albert, yet) in Oklahoma: "My other brother has only one wife. He is bachelor!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:55, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

determining what model a star 45 cal semi auto stainless bachevera sa pistol is

i guess i asked the question in the headline i saw on a link you were talkint about star arms and i was hoping you can help me find out what model it is it has a series of numbers stamped on it but no model number thank you i thought since you had done a page on star you might be able to help me determine how to tell which model it is i hope you can help me — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.94.32.98 (talk) 02:47, 25 April 2012 (UTC) sgned larry weinhold the artical was in the wiki firearms section — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.94.32.98 (talk) 03:31, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Can you provide some context. I'm having trouble understanding your post, let alone any identifying information about the gun. Shadowjams (talk) 06:02, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Hi Larry. Like Shadowjams has said, it would be better if we can have some more information in order to help you. You mention a particular pistol that you want to find out about - can you provide a picture of it? (If you need help getting the picture online so we can see it, just ask.) You also spoke about some numbers stamped into the weapon - maybe you could tell us what those are too. Any other information you have about your gun could be useful as well; things like how old you believe it to be, where it was purchased and by whom, et cetera et cetera. You seem to have already done some reading around on Wikipedia, but for anyone else playing along at home the relevant articles seem to be Star Bonifacio Echeverria and Star Model PD. The first of those articles contains a list of manufacturing codes, which may help in decoding the numbers on your piece. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:12, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Composers

Why were so many composers Italian, German/Austrian, or Russian? --108.206.4.199 (talk) 03:16, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I think that's only half a question. There were plenty of French, Spanish, British, Dutch, Swedish ... Turkish, Indian, Nepali, Japanese ... Argentinian, Paraguayan, Brazilian, Canadian, American, Mexican ... Australian, New Zealand ... Egyptian, Israeli, Nigerian, South African ... you name it, composers too. So, maybe you're talking only about the ones we study more when considering Western classical and later music? -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 03:42, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

You might be interested in our list of composers by nationality.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:33, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

A lot of it comes down to cultural importance and patronage. It's expensive to have an opera house and company, or a symphony orchestra and concert hall, so countries with a strong musical culture are more likely to have these facilities which in turn encourage more music-making. Italy has had a lot of opera houses and musical patronage since the 17th century, and music was taken very seriously and was very popular in the German-speaking world at least from the 18th century. Even today "Germany has more classical music institutions than any other country in the world"[1]. Britain tended to import composers, like Handel. But France is also very important from the mid 19th century, with modernists like Debussy and Satie, plus Ravel, Poulenc, Boulez, IRCAM, etc (I think before then they preferred the theater). --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:37, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Agreed that it was mainly due to patronage, but the only major European composers to work in Britain that I can think of were Handel and Felix Mendelssohn. There were a number of British composers in the 18th and 19th century, Thomas Arne, Jeremiah Clarke, William Boyce and Arthur Sullivan off the top of my head, but they weren't really in the same league as their continental contemporaries. Exactly why is an interesting question. In Protestant Britain, opera came to be seen as being rather sinful and the upper classes didn't like to be seen to endorse it. That's one reason why Handel wrote religeous oratorios when he moved to London. Alansplodge (talk) 21:33, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Edward Elgar wants to pompously march over you ;-). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 21:45, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Quite right, but I decided to leave the 20th century out of the equation, because by then, the question of patronage was largely irrelevant. On this list of "100 Greatest Composers", there are no Britons in the top 29 unless you count Handel who took British citizenship. Ralph Vaughan Williams comes in at numer 30, Henry Purcell at 33 and Elgar at 35. There are seven other Britons in the list (total of 10). The USA does a lot worse with only 5 that I could see, the top is Charles Ives at number 47. France does better than both at 18. I could only count 8 Russians, 12 Italians and top dogs, 22 Germans (probably - I may have included some Austrians). Entirely subjective of course. Alansplodge (talk) 23:31, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Johann Christian Bach (Johann Sebastian's youngest son) was known as the "London Bach" due to the years he spent there, as did Muzio Clementi and Ignaz Moscheles. Although Mendelssohn did spend about 20 months in Britain, these were spread over 10 visits, and he was essentially a frequent but temporary visitor. Frédéric Chopin, Antonín Dvořák and countless others also made well-known visits. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 00:03, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Well done Jack, but it hardly supports the contention that "Britain tended to import composers". Not many people today could name pieces by any of them. Alansplodge (talk) 00:13, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

The prairie state of Iowa imported Dvořák for awhile. While living in his modest apartment in those wide-open spaces, he was inspired to write a symphony in A Flat. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:23, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Old joke.

Alan, I've just come across Musical visitors to Britain while researching another topic. I imagine it would have lots of fascinating tidbits. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 05:40, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

According to A. L. Rowse in The Elizabethan Renaissance: The Cultural Achievement, during the Elizabethan period English composers such as William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, John Dowland and John Bull etc were amongst the finest in the Western world. Ericoides (talk) 10:11, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

Question about hearses

Are there any instances where a hearse was built specifically for a certain funeral? This came to mind when I remembered the death of the Polish president last year. The hearse used was a Maserati Quattroporte, which is extremely unusual since the car is almost a sports car - in fact, the car has been used in touring car racing. Does it mean the hearse was specially built for the funeral (which would probably be impractical since I presume it takes quite a while to make a hearse), or was it a one-of-a-kind hearse taken from somewhere in Europe? Anyway, have there been such cases where a hearse was specially built for a specific funeral? Not those horse-driven carriages or those things pulled by APCs during Communist funerals, as in an actual, motorized hearse based on a car or van. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 06:31, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

As you say, it would take quite a while to design and build a custom hearse, but people plan their own funerals so why shouldn't they design their own hearse? Googling "designed his own hearse", however, gets only one hit, which is about a funeral director, and the hearse in question was not for himself.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:44, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

The car used at Lech Kaczyński's funeral was Coachbuilt by Intercar Modena, a specialist coach builder based in the "capital of engines" near the factories of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati among others. They seem to offer a range of Hearses, from the Maserati to various Mercedes-Benz based vehicles and even a motorbike and sidecar! This doesn't prove that hearses are never custom made but in the case of the Polish president it was a standard model. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:02, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I couln't find anything on Google - I imagine that the length of time between death and burial is a limiting factor, for instance John F Kennedy's Cadillac hearse had been made for display at an undertaker's convetion.[2] No such obstacles for the Duke of Wellington, for whom an immense 18-ton bronze funeral carriage was constructed[3] during the two months that elapsed before they got around to burying him, in 1852. Charles Dickens said of it: "For form of ugliness, horrible combination of colour, hideous motion, and general failure, there was never such a work achieved as the Car." It was so heavy that the road collapsed underneath it during the procession, and 30 soldiers had to drag it free.[4] The carriage is preserved at Stratfield Saye House.[5]. Apologies for the digression. Alansplodge (talk) 21:07, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm guessing those poor soldiers beefed about it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:18, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

Level's of Corporate Entertainment

Good Morning,

I am trying to find some statistics on the level of corporate entertainment that happens in Germany, specifically in it's major cities (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne).

Would you know the best way to find out this information?

Thanks

89.187.78.18 (talk) 08:56, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Start by telling us what you mean by "level". --Tagishsimon (talk) 09:13, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I would guess the OP means "how much". Perhaps there are stats somewhere for the amount of spending on corporate entertainment. I don't know where to look though. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:25, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes looking for info on how much is spent on corporate entertainment in these cities, not sure if there are stats for this kind of thing?

89.187.78.18 (talk) 13:09, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I hate to be thought a rube but what constitutes "corporate entertainment"? Dismas|^(talk) 13:45, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

By corporate entertainment I mean both how much companies are spending on client entertainmanet and on employee entertainment.

To give more background:

I work for a hospitality company in UK which is looking to expand overseas with germany as the initial preferred destination. Our business model is firmly based on spend by corprates bringing groups of people to our venues for Team building exercises / birthdays / Christmas Parties etc. In london their is a large corporate presence which facilitates this. I am wondering whether the major cities in Germany have a similar profile and whether there are any stats to back this up.

e.g. % of hosiptality / leisure industry spend coming from corporates vs individuals in Berlin

Hopefully i haven't confused the issue even further, but thanks for interest so far.

89.187.78.18 (talk) 14:23, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Kolkata Office address of Reliance Infrastructures Limited

Want to know the Kolkata Office address of Reliance Infrastructures Limited (a construction contractor). Their URL www.rinfra.com gives no clue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.17.135 (talk) 09:18, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

206, Business Tower, 6TH Floor, A J C Bose Road, Circus Avenue, Kolkata - 700017. Found in less than 1 minute by googling 'reliance infrastructure, kolkata' to this site. Richard Avery (talk) 13:27, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Travel advice appreciated please.

Hi Folks, I just wonder if any kind soul here could advise on a planned trip next year 2013. My wife has offered me a cruise from Miami Florida taking in the Panama Canal and then on to Los Angeles California before returning to Scotland. It would be nice to experience some weather free from rain/snow/frost/storm etc., which has been the norm here for about 3 years. The dates on offer are: mid-April, mid-October and mid-November. We are both retired so any of those dates would be OK but as I say, the weather would be important to us ie., no hurricanes etc. Any useful advice would be seriously appreciated. Thanks in anticipation. 92.236.250.88 (talk) 11:20, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

The official Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, with most of the severe events tending to happen in late August through September, historically. However, weather phenomena have a pesky habit of not paying attention to any rules. Our Panama article states that the rainy season runs from April through December, so it looks like you won't be avoiding that, however the article also indicates that the rainfall amounts vary widely. I don't see any major red flags for any of your chosen dates. --LarryMac | Talk 12:40, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Keeping in mind, though, that the rainy season isn't exactly like Seattle where you have rain for extended periods of time...in the tropics the rainy season mostly means scattered afternoon/evening showers and thunderstorms rather than all day rain events (except occasionally with tropical waves). I would agree, however, that taking into account the tropical cyclone season mid-April would be your best bet for avoiding foul weather, statistically. Ks0stm ^{(T•C•G•E)} 20:59, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Based on the hurricane season, mid-April looks like the way to go. You will encounter some high temperatures, though, so dress appropriately (no wool !). StuRat (talk) 16:22, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I can't imagine snow (or even frost) anywhere on that journey, unless you venture a little inland from Los Angeles. And then it depends on how you head back to Scotland. HiLo48 (talk) 20:20, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

I recommend the November date. Unless you are very unusual for a Scot, the other dates will have you hiding from the sun most of the time. Looie496 (talk) 20:28, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

November could still get a hurricane, especially with global warming expanding the hurricane season. Besides, while I shun the Sun like a vampire, it sounds to me like these crazy Scots actually enjoy it. :-) StuRat (talk) 04:22, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Oh no, it's only mad dogs and Englishmen who go out in the midday sun, Stu. Don't ever dare to confuse a Scotsman with an Englishman, or you'll have one of those mad dogs on your tail. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 09:03, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps that's their way of saying Scots and Englishmen ? :-) StuRat (talk) 14:03, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

• For all weather-related travel questions, I highly recommend www.thebesttimetovisit.com. --M@rēino 14:51, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Many cruises that offer the Panama Canal simply enter the Gatun Locks travel a couple of miles, and exit again through the same locks, they don't traverse the entire canal. Best take a container ship from the states to the pacific for that experiance.85.211.154.241 (talk) 06:02, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

They said they will be going from Florida to California via the Panama Canal, so it sounds like they will be going through it. StuRat (talk) 06:48, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

Just a note to say thanks to everyone above for your helpful responses. It seems it isn't just the best time of 2013 to go in order to get the best weather; there also seems to be a competition amongst all the cruise operators for a savagely diminishing market such that there are many very attractive discounts on offer, so that adds a further dimension to the decision about when to go. But yes, Stu, you are quite correct in pointing out that we do intend to do the whole journey from Miami to LA. We know about the quick turnabout options (through the locks and back again) but that is strictly not for us. Thanks again. 92.236.250.88 (talk) 23:57, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

standard company

I am trying to find a company known to me only as 'standard' which is supposed to be delivering a parcel for me within the UK. obviously searching on bing, google or any other site for this name is not going to be much help, and I have already checked that they didn't mean some sort of standard delivery within the royal mail system. anyone know where to find these people, I am sure I managed it once before, but that was some months ago.

148.197.81.179 (talk) 14:43, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Can you clarify how you know the name of the company? It's not that I don't believe you - with the deregulation of postal delivery there could be any number of weird and wacky companies handling your mail - but it seems that you've already been in contact with them somehow. If you have a phone number or email address for them, we could start there and work backwards to find the answer. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 16:16, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

It was the name given to me on the order confirmation form I got from the people using them to send me stuff. Anyways, it doesn't matter now, I've just got an email from them with a link to the company website. 148.197.81.179 (talk) 16:57, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Upmarket kids' comic from the UK

My Google skills have completely failed me on this occasion so I am hoping someone can help me out. A few years ago, probably between 2008 and 2010, there was an article in the British Guardian newspaper about an upmarket comic for kids. It was a British publication with high production values, giving kids an alternative to the usual kids' comic fare. It was published maybe bimonthly or quarterly and every issue had a theme. One particular issue highlighted in the article had outer space as the theme. I have searched the Guardian website and the web to no avail. If anyone could help me track down this comic, I'd be very grateful. --Viennese Waltz 14:44, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Could this be it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/03/okido-new-childrens-comic?INTCMP=SRCH ? It seems to fit the description. I'm sorry to cast nasturtiums on your searching skills, but this was found through a search on the Guardian site for 'new childrens comic', limiting the results to 2009 (2010 gave no useful results). - Cucumber Mike (talk) 16:21, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

"Are you casting aspersions?" "Hell no, I'm not Catholic." —Tamfang (talk) 16:53, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

You're maybe thinking of The DFC, although it was weekly rather than bimonthly or quarterly, available only by subscription, and some of its strips were previewed in the Guardian. It folded, but a successor, The Phoenix, has followed from the same publisher, using many of the same writers and artists. --Nicknack009 (talk) 16:59, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

It was indeed Okido; thanks very much Cucumber Mike. I googled something very similar, so don't know how I missed it. --Viennese Waltz 18:09, 25 April 2012 (UTC)