You know that one commercial for Citibank where the guy's rummaging through the garbage looking for his credit card bill so he doesn't have to pay late fees? Is the guy Tony Hale from the TV show Arrested Development? I think that's a mechanical hand he fishes out of the garbage at one point, which would be a reference to the series, but I'm not sure. I don't know. Maxamegalon200002:44, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
What is the highest elevation a person can live without having breathing problems?
If you mean living in the town for your whole life, the highest cities are: Potosí of Bolivia (4,000 m) and Wenzhuan of Tibet, China (5,100 m) (see List of highest towns by country). At least one Tibetan elementary school with 250 students is 4,700 m high in altitude (tuition, food, clothing and boarding are provided by the government for free; students are from remote areas)! Chinese page + picture.
Many small communities in Tibet are about 5,000 m in altitute. As an educational policy, Chinese government regularly send Tibetan students to other Chinese cities for advanced education. Many "low-lander" Chinese students noticed in disbelief that the Tibetan students, adapted to high altitute, are always sleepy in class because of increased pressure. It can take them about a month to be fully acclimatize. In the mean time, the school just let them have a good time. Chinese page + picture.
The Rongbu TempleRongbuk Monastery (絨布寺), located by the foot of the Rongbuk Glacier at about 5,100 m, is the highest temple in the world. It is only 100 m lower than the north side Base Camp of Mount Everest. You are not allowed to go there by yourself or you can die helplessly. However, about 50 monks live there and you can buy nice foods there thanks to modern transportation and pollution. I don't know how many monks stay there for life. The highest highway in Tibet is said to be 6,700 m high at some points (needs to be verified). I guess they will not let you drive unless you have the oxygen supply and a modified vehicle. No one can stay there for too long unless you want to kill yourself.
The FAA requires civilian airliner's cabin pressure be no less than 0.75 ATM (pressure at about 8,000 ft; 2,400 m). So if you mean ordinary people, the legal ceiling for hours-long exposure without much physical exercise may be 2,400 m. However, many untrained people can easily climb a mountain of 3,000-4,000 m without harm. Some trained experts can climb Mount Everest without oxygen supply. They are supposed to be Martians. -- Toytoy07:40, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A mountaineer can acclimatize and stay at around 7000 metres/22967 feet for weeks. Beyond that height the Death Zone (where the body is wasting away) begins. The HIGHEST CONTINUOUSLY INHABITED SPOT ON PLANET EARTH is BANA POST,the top of a 22000 feet peak in the Siachen Glacier. Soldiers posted there are rotated out after a month or so.They are not on oxygen.
Why didn't Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford use the Resolute Desk?
Because they were quite short, and it's a big desk. I don't know. Why don't you write to whichever ones are still alive, and ask them (politely)? I wouldn't be that surprised if you actually got a response. Prototc14:12, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
"And why did President Clinton wear wool boxers in the Oval Office ?"
More pragmatically, I have a vague recollection Johnson brought in a lot of television equipment, tape recorders, and so on into the Oval Office; Nixon liked this, and hung onto it. After Nixon, when having lots of electronics kicking around began to seem like a less funky idea, it fell out of favour. This could have been the reason that the older desk wasn't used; it would have involved gouging big holes in it for new electronic kit. Shimgray | talk | 00:33, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
From [2] it sounds like it was moved to the Smithsonian as Kennedy memorabilia, and restored to the Oval Office by Carter to re-establish tradition. — mendel☎00:43, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Of course not! I'm just curious. Now, where could I obtain such a device? (Just kidding, you guys are all right).
It would be a major, major nuisance, but probably not the depression-inducing disaster it might once have been. The Millennium Bug contingency planning saw most large firms review their IT security and backup systems, so that data would be preserved and critical operations could resume quickly if the need arose. September 11 demonstrated the effectiveness of these measures.
Furthermore, as I understand it the only EMP weapon powerful enough to do the kind of broad-range damage you are examining is a nuclear weapon; if one of them goes off near Wall Street the US economy's going to have pretty serious isses :/--Robert Merkel03:21, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I believe there are save spots in places all over. My boyfriend played it and I watched. I believe they are these glowing balls or something you have to walk through.
Tigers are native to various parts of Asia, there are not wild tigers in Africa. However, there are tigers in captivity at Johannesburg Zoo[3] and Pretoria Zoo[4]. So depending on what you mean by this question, the answer is either yes or no. -- AJR | Talk13:44, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, Hollywood has a lot to answer for in regard to this. Millions of people, myself included until not all that long ago, went through life believing that tigers were native to Africa, because they were routinely shown in Hollywood African-based movies and serials like Jungle Jim in order to, I don't know, add an extra bit of drama or something. As if Africa wasn't exciting enough already! JackofOz 08:43, 2 November 2005
I would like to know if Guano, specifically seagull droppings, are corrosive in the sense that they could generate holes in the normal kind of roof shingles?
Yes. Bird feces are acidic and can, in time, eat away softer stones—which is why marble buildings and sculptures are often covered with fencing or porcupine wire, which resembles miniature Rommelspargel in both form and function. Many people will be familiar with the damage they can cause to a car's paint job. —Charles P. (Mirv)20:43, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Not necessarily cold. But if you increase the temperature you'd be torn apart by low pressure before the temperature gets comfy. Apart from that, make sure you don't start to hyperventilate. :) DirkvdM05:52, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
on the article on john f kennedy, when was that published?
WikiPedia's John F Kennedy article has ben edited many times over the last few years, with the first edit on December 10, 2001. So, I suppose you could say it has been "published" hundreds of times, with the first edition published then. StuRat23:30, 1 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
who was the world chinese football/ soccer manager after bobby houghton? I have searched for this is so many places and cannot find the answer anywhere! My friend is told he looks like this guy but we dont know his name! ---68.166.84.125
I am constantly walking through spiderwebs. Even in large groups of people, I am always the unfortunate victim. I was wondering if it were possible to get an explanation or analyzation as to what this means, if it means anything at all. Is there any meaning behind being the one who always walks through the spiderweb? Thanks a lot.
-Victoria
Some hypotheses:
You are unusually tall.
You have a preference for taking different travel routes to others.
I can't resist. Here are a few more possibilities:
You haven't been paying your arachnid tribute lately. They don't like it when people disrespect them.
You have a rare gain-of-function mutation in your 20th sense [5], your web sensor, and you are constantly getting false signals that you have just encountered a web.
You have a severe case of what the French call folie arachnee, characterized in its early stages by a constant sense of spider webs, but progressing to an irresistible urge to extrude silk from your nether regions.
Finally, maybe the webs were there just for you, just as the world really is all about you.
I suspect that you are just more sensitive than others to them. That is, others walk into them as often as you, but just don't notice. Another possibility is that you are imagining it. I know after I see a bug I feel like things are crawling on me for a few minutes. StuRat17:42, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, Yesterday Prince Charles & his wife Camilla went to the USA on a state visit, I'm wondering if they'll have needed to be fingerprinted/iris scanned/take their shoes off like all the tourists who go into America. Basically do normal entry requirements/procedures apply for diplomats, politicians, heads of state & other VIPs & their entourages? AllanHainey08:23, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was a brief spat a few weeks ago when Prince Andrew refused to go through a security search at Sydney(?) airport, for what that's worth... Shimgray | talk | 12:09, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
He initially balked, but then submitted (when it was pointed out to him how special treatment would look in the press). - Nunh-huh23:03, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was quite a major spat a few weeks ago when a French government minister of Arab descent experienced some problems with US Immigration at Atlanta airport - the agent apparently didn't like the look of various Arabic stamps in the diplomatic passport. The US State Department had to grovel appropriately in apology and ensure the agent got retrained in how to recognise a diplomatic passport and how to handle them! -- Arwel (talk) 02:28, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think you would have a job getting them to fight in the first place as they are not natural enemies. In any event the question is hypothetical & therefore unanswerable as it would depend on which bear & which lion you got, the species of lion or bear, their relative ages/weights/sex/aggressiveness, etc.
If you really want to know though I suggest you buy a lion & a bear, starve them for a few days & lock them in a room with a steak. You'll want a good view of the fight so be sure to set up your chair right next to the steak. AllanHainey11:48, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Large predators rarely fight each other in nature (too expensive). The only exception that comes to mind immediately is sperm whales and giant squid but we don't know much about how common that is. I have heard that the Romans used to make all kinds of animals fight each other or people for entertainment. alteripse12:31, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would vote for the bear, as bears are typically larger and more built for battle. Lions, on the other hand, are more built for speed, as they bring down their prey that way. StuRat17:45, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The most logical name would be Megannium, in keeping with millennium (from mille and annum) and biennium (and the Dutch word 'decennium'). Alas, logic does not always rule natural languages. DirkvdM11:16, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When are you going to update the customer article?
If you have some ideas on how to improve it, you can always click on the Edit this page button at the top of the offending page. That's what Wikipedia is all about! QuantumEleven | (talk)14:06, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am looking for the number of amateur ice hockey players In North america please.
Well, the IIHF has links to all the national associations. I expect the number of players in Mexico is probably neglible, so the important ones to check are the USA and Canada. USA Hockey has numbers here. I'm sure you can find links from the IIHF to the Canadian site to find the equivalent figures. Even if the figure includes pros, they make up a negligible part of the total players of the big participant sports. --Robert Merkel12:36, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am searching for any information relating to the French manufacturers of Dilecta bicycles. Any assistance that you or any of your contributers can give me will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Del @
[email removed]
I was intrigued by the copyrights that are on a newspaper's features. The photos, cartoons, the crossword puzzles, even the stock prices for a certain day must all have permission from the publisher to reproduce. If I were to write a small free newspaper, would it require me to recognize every single photo? What if I wrote the original photo credits? What if the stock page is outdated terribly? What if the newspaper was commercially sold? I was just wondering.--Screwball23talk19:48, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Pretty much yes. See Copyright, but in essence copying anything under copyright without permission is illegal. If you were thinking of starting a 'free' newspaper made up by copying cartoons, photos, articles etc. then you will be breaking the law. You might get away with it if you stay too small for them to care, but I wouldn't recommend it.
With stock prices you have a little more leeway because the prices themselves are not copyright, only the particular way they are displayed. So you could copy the numbers down and publish them. That's not true of photos, cartoons or articles. DJ Clayworth21:48, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As for the stock prices, you'd better make sure you don't copy any errors, because that would make obvious where you got the info from. It would probably be simpler to just take them for the horses nouths. I once heard that map makers deliberately introduce minor errors into their maps (such as in the exact curvature of a street) to catch copycats. The streetplan is of course not copyrighteable (is that English?) but a specific representation is. DirkvdM11:22, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That's not something new, actually. In older times, mapmakers would track if someone was copying their works by creating minor fictitious islands or streams in their maps. If the phony features appeared on someone else's map, they would know that someone had copied their work. Similarly, to this day, dictionary makers still sometimes put phony words in their dictionaries to track knock-offs who are using their word base. Wikipedia actually has an article on this, but I can't find it at present… Garrett Albright18:13, 3 November 2005 (UTC) Found it! These phony words are called nihilartikels. Garrett Albright[reply]
Instead of building Hadrian's Wall, why didn't the empire just try to conquer the area of scotland?
The answer to that has much to do with Rome's decay. The Picts, who were the Scottish barbarians warring with the Romans near the wall did live on both sides of the wall. In fact, Hadrian's wall originally had most fortifications to the South, meaning that the Picts weren't really the greatest threat. Even more interesting is the multi-national defense that the wall had. Most of the guards [6]were not of Italian ancestry. Mostly, the guards were friendly Scots and tribal barbarians who the Romans were at peace with. These guards probably maintained little interest in attacking their neighbors and it was seen that the Scots rarely did attack and raid the area south of Hadrian's wall after a long time. Another theory on that is that the wall was a frightening display of strength and so the Scottish tirbes avoided them after that wall. In addition, the armies most likely had many more mercenaries at the time, so in order to appease the new soldiers, the empire probably hesitated to move onward. This also involves a more dangerous issue--the tribes to the south. Rome had never subjugated all of southern Britain and still had political alliances and coalitions to be maintained. The Romans weren't the war-mongers we make them out to be. They had a great deal of diplomacy to work out. See [7], [8]--Screwball23talk20:03, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I wouldn't take the signing of treaties as a sign that an empire is peaceful. In many cases they were just overextended and were concerned that they would lose another war. StuRat22:39, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also, there was little economic incentive to do so. The great majority of products which were of high value at the time came from the Mediterranean provinces rather than northern Europe. CalJW14:42, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The Romans called the island we now know as Ireland, Hibernia. Probably because it reminded them of Winter. It may have been too cold for them there and in Scotland. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.46.60.222 (talk • contribs) 16:39, 10 November 2005
The wall was more to do with controlling the territory on either side of it than being a border: it controlled through traffic rather than preventing it. Therefore, it would have been ineffective to build more fortifications north of the wall. This actually did happen: the Antonine Wall was support by numberous forts throughout the Scottish Lowlands. However, that situation became unmaintainable due to the lack of economic productivity in the region north of the Antonine Wall. --Gareth Hughes17:24, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder if you could include an entry for Buffalo pens. I am trying to find out how they are made. Thanks for any information you could provide.
Well, first they make the buffalo drink a huge bottle of ink; then they… Okay, really, in my home town, there was someone who inexplicably had a couple of buffaloes (not native to northern California, as far as I know), and they were kept in a pen with wooden slat fencing not much different than the nearby farmers used (or used to use) to keep in cattle. As with cattle, I never saw the buffalo actually testing the strength of the fence, so I don't think you actually need anything seriously strong. However, IANA buffalo rancher, so your best bet for a good answer would probably be to get in touch with some folks that are, like these guys or these guys or these guys. Garrett Albright18:05, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think the original writer meant writing implements made from buffalo horn. Are the buffaloes harmed? Killed, already dead, or simply "de-horned"? Is it painful to the buffalo?
Buffalo fencing is usually constructed stronger than that for cattle as buffalo retain "wild" habits. I would expect pens made from buffalo to be made from deceased ones. We know they are just so easy to kill. Of course, the question could be about water buffalo or cape buffalo? Rmhermen14:25, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
why does my 11 yr old child's poo often float? the stool appears normal in form and size but is virtually impossible to flush away as it floats. Is this indicative of a dietary deficiency or excess of some sort?
According to the nutritionists that I work with, the less fiber in your diet, the more buoyant your stools will be. Kainaw20:55, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's the fat content that determines buoyancy, just like with people. Occasionally greasy, fatty, floating poo indicates malabsorption due to some gastrointestinal disease. alteripse21:16, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The water they use to flush the toilet. I'm assuming that's how they know the poo floats and not because they took it out and tested its buoyancy. - 131.211.51.3408:33, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I was just making sure there was no confusion between a home's water pressure and the pressure generated when you flush the toilet - which are independent.--Commander Keane09:59, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Depends on the kind of toilet. In some you dump your poo in a pool of water, in which it can then float (and water might spurt up in reaction, right up your arse - I hate that! :) ). DirkvdM10:26, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Solution to implied supplementary question: lay a single sheet of toilet paper on the water before you begin. This prevents the splash. My dad taught me that trick fifty years ago. Shantavira10:52, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
About a married guy who drinks and then is kicked out by his family and keeps drinking and his life falls apart and then he dies from drinking. Stars a guy with a real gravelly voice who was a star in the 40's and 50's. Not the one with martin sheen.
The girlfriend of Tony Kanal (from the band No Doubt)has a girlfriend named Erin (Michelle) Lokitz. The only information I know about her is that she starred in a movie called 'The Graveyard', was a ballerina for several years, and was featured in the British comedy 'Coupling'. Apparently she was raised in California (around Agoura Hills and Calabasas) with Hoobastank and Incubus (both have thanked her in album booklets).
What is some generic biographical about her (age, date of birth, how she and Tony got together, what is she currently working on, etc).
From a bit of googling, it appears that you know just about everything there is in the public domain about Ms. Lokitz. If I may be so bold, if I had to guess her current activities probably involve some or all of:
auditioning for acting jobs
working a day job to pay the bills while she waits for a big break.
going out to see bands, given she seems to be a bit of a music fan...
assisting Mr. Kanal in his musical career; No Doubt will reform late this year or early next year to record a new album, and most musicians keep themselves busy with other gigs if their main project is on hold.
As for an appearance in "Coupling", I was a fan of that show and if she appeared I certainly can't recall her face (which you can see if you search the IMDB for her name). --Robert Merkel06:44, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I agree... but it's hard to find any solid information about her background. The only sites she seems to be featured on are WireImage photographs.
Unless Ms. Lokitz chooses to make such information available, for whatever reason, I guess that's none of our business. If you have a good reason for asking, you might be able to contact the band through their management and ask, but, frankly, the satisfaction of your idle curiosity probably won't count as a good reason as far as they're concerned. --Robert Merkel13:37, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You probably meant the fossa above the jugular notch of the manubrium of the sternum in-between the sternal heads of the sternocleidomastoid muscles. I don't know if it has a name in surface anatomy. It's called the suprasternal fossa on x-rays. - Nunh-huh06:11, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm writing a novel about the Naxalite threat in India. In the beginning, a father with two teenagers abandons his miltary post in the United States and takes up volunteer work as a travelling officer with a group of Kalbeliya (low caste) people so as to protect them from the Naxalites while on the search for a mysterious relic. How realistic is this? Is there anything about this scenario that I should change for accuracy's sake?
~Stephanie Sleuth
HIGHLY UNREALISTIC.What is the nationality of the do-gooder? If he's not an Indian from that area (undefined?) he will land in the local chokey (which is the brit version of the Hindi 'chowki', meaning police outpost).
The hypothetical Kalbeliyas are unlikely to be under Naxal threat because they are, presumably, neither wealthy not police informers. Having your protagonist tag along with them would be a surefire formula for attracting Naxal attention. And I do not understand this idea of one man 'protecting' the Kalbeliyas (do they exist?): Naxal territory is not exactly celluloid Rambo/Arnie terrain.The likeliest outcome for the protector would be to be bumped off with the willing assistance of the protectees ; I think choky and deportation would be preferable for him.
Can I replace parts from a North American Ford Focus with parts from a European Ford Focus?
I like the look of the newer European model Focus and am wondering if it is possible to swap parts out on the North American model for the European parts? Also I hear you can stick a V-8 engine in the Focus, is that true?
Dunno about swapping components, but yes, if you really want to you can put a V8 in a Ford Focus; this company sells a conversion kit. Without trying to start a flamewar, if you just want to go very fast in a small car I might suggest an easier, cheaper and safer (because the car has handling, suspension, and brakes to match already) way of doing so might be one of these, and if it's still not fast enough go check out these recommendations. --Robert Merkel06:59, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
But then again, maybe he wants a "sleeper". That is, a car that doesn't look fast, but is. The look from someone in a Mustang when you beat them in a race with such a car would be priceless. StuRat13:59, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe. I hope whoever builds these things also upgrades the brakes, tyres and suspension - and I'd still be worried about the rigidity of the chassis with the extra weight and performance. Without those mods, the V8 Focus would be a flashback to the muscle car - enormously powerful but dangerously undertyred and underbraked. --Robert Merkel14:25, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Can someone answer the question about parts swapping European Ford Focus parts onto a North American Ford Focus?
All the things you have stated are do able. The European parts sometimes will require a little modification but most will bolt on. As far as a V8 it has been done, but it requires a lot of modification to the rear end of the car. There are kits online, but the cost is usually 8-15,000 USD.
The canton (...) is in Icicle Blue (CIT9) as the background to a graphic silhouette of Mount Kinabala which is in Royal Blue (B10) (...) The top band is in Zircon Blue (C5T5) (...) and the third band is in Chilli Red (S6R4).
Which is better a Nintendo DS or a PlayStationPortable? (which are totally contradictory)
This is a very flame-war-starting topic. Basicly, it depends what you like. Good points of a DS: Dual Screen, Microphone, uses cartridges (rather than memory sticks), GBA connectivity, long battery life and has surround sound. Bad points: Poor graphics, no analogue stick/nub. Good points of a PSP: MP3 player, photo viewer, UMD movies, better graphics, analogue nub and widescreen. Bad points: Shorter battery than DS, the 'dead-pixel' problem, less 'innovative' and uses expensive memory sticks.
The touch screen on the DS can work as an analog stick. Anyway, if you're stacking things up just by the strength of the hardware, the PSP mops the floor with the DS, so it could be said that the PSP is "better." However, in this and all cases of choosing which video game system to buy, you should remember that you're not buying the system so much as you're buying the games that you can play on it. That's why I suggest you not worry so much about which system is better, and instead take a look at their respective game libraries and decide whose games you'd like to play more. You can factor other factors in (such as cost; the DS is cheaper, and I think its games are less expensive too), but the games you can play on the system should be your primary concern. Garrett Albright17:56, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
For over a year now, at times my eye (usually my right, but sometimes both), itches immensely. At first I thought it was allergies (although I've never had allergies) cos I had just moved to California. But it has continued no matter what state/country I am in. It is not constant. But maybe once in a few weeks, I'll scratch my eye briefly because I felt an itch (yes, that fueled it even more), but it would sometimes go on for over 24 hrs... after sleep and a shower... still there. Usually after 48hrs, it's gone.
What could be causing this?
You didn't say if you wear contacts. If so, I would replace the one in that eye. In any case, if it's gone this long, you should probably see an eye doctor, this could be a symptom of a problem with that eye. Also, if you have long hair, parted on one side, if could be getting in one eye only. You might subconciously brush it aside when this happens, but the hair may have left some chemicals from hair products in the eye, thus causing itching. StuRat17:45, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
No, I don't wear contacts. It usually occurs if I'm trying to wipe something out of my eye. In the past, when I've had to brush soap or whatever it may be (if I'm showering), away... the itch has never stayed. But now, if I even touch my eye briefly, an itch lingers.
Are there visable grave sites of the Original Pilgrams?
Yes, in the Pilgrim colony in Plymouth. The most visited from what I've been told is the children's graveyard. Many children died on the trip over and during the first winter. Kainaw00:45, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I can remember two old DOS mystery games one set on a zeppelin and one set in a big mansion. In both games you are joined by several characters among who is a murderer who is killing of the characters. The player's goal is to collect clues and question suspects to find the murderer. Can someone tell me what these games were called and if it's possible to get a free download of either and whether there's similar games I might be interested in? I prefer games that can be played by Pentium 166 MHz machines. -Mgm|(talk)21:19, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you very much! The first one is indeed Murder on the Zinderneuf. Any other tips are also welcome. If anyone knows a site with a working download of "Murder Mansions" or "Mansion Murders" I'd really like to know. - Mgm|(talk)21:41, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The largest would be Cairo I believe. As to which is the smallest, from what I gather, there is no worldwide standard for what classifies as a city, so it really depends on definition. Akamad23:14, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi I hope that someone could help me clarify what factors affects computer speed.
Thank You
Lily
The main factor is how many operations the central processing unit (CPU) can carry out in a period of time (modern CPUs do several billion simple calculations per second). Speed is also affected by the amount of memory available, and how quickly the CPU can read and write the memory. There are other factors as well, though their effect on speed is usually not as general. For example, speed in a computer game significantly depends on the graphics card, but the graphics card barely affects the speed of regular applications. Fredrik | talk23:31, 3 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Compter speed has two common connotations: Mhz ( MegaHertz ) or Throughput. Although Mhz used to be a good indicator of the relative performance of comparable systems, many other factors affect it, Bus speed, disk speed, and memory speed are all some of these factors. Altough a CDC 6600 ( Seymore Crays early design ), has a slower clock speed than the box sitting in front of you, it was classified as a super computer, due to its throughput. It could load and empty its entire 16Mb memory, in about 0.25 seconds. While your computer may be able to do that for a few minutes, The CDC 6600 could do it for weeks.
The comparison of compter speed has been the subject of incredible schenaneagans. A company sold compters with slower real time clocks, to improve their benchmark scores. Apple Computer claimed that they created a personal supercomputer. ( It did not posess any of the characterists that the newsgroup comp.sys.parelell agreed upon as a defintion of supercomputer. )
The website [| Top500 ] lists and ranks the fastest comptuers in the world. They use a benchmark called the LinPack. This is a discussion of the algorithm [|HPL algorithm ]
Briefly: these factors affect computer speed:
CPU speed and wordwidth ( Megahertz and bits )(Nothing short of Cronalogical Age has been subject to more controversy than the "Megahertz Myth.")
Amount of Cache Memory, and the orginization thereof( See Cpu Cache )
Bus speed to main memory
Speed of secondary memory interface(See SCSI, HPPI, IDE, EIDE)
Amdahl's law, or the amount of parallellism a problem can be optimized
Ability of the compiler ( A complex program to complile source code (Words) into programs (executables ) to optimize for a pecticualr architecture or configuration
And lastly for graphics intensive applications ( 3d Games)
Do you have a collective noun for a group of porcupines, please.
The question was asked recently, and I have been unable to find
an answer.
Would appreciate your assistance.
Please reply to:
Sue McGrath
[address removed]
email: [email removed]
The datums article has brief description on why elevation at sea level is zero. But note, this is the average sea level probably taken for the entire country so just because you are swimming at the beach doesn't mean you are at 0 ft elevation, you could be in excess of 30 ft above or below mean sea level.--Commander Keane12:10, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am puzzled as to why Wiki has a requirement for an article on 'Kuldeep', which happens to be an extremely common first name in North-Western India. I think there is a SNAFU here.
59.93.247.8114:11, 4 November 2005 (UTC)Oropolitics[reply]
I'm not sure what you mean by "has a requirement" but someone may have requested an article about that word/name. We have many articles on common first names. Some Western names that I can think of that have articles are Mary and John. Also, please don't confuse the terms 'wiki' and 'Wikipedia'. Wikipedia is a wiki but not all wikis are Wikipedia. Dismas|(talk)14:38, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It might mean that the mobile telephone was in their pocket and 777 is typed accidentally -- does your name start with an A that might make you the default recipient? Ojw22:13, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
We've got to act quick. They're on to us. They've already found the Wiccan article. Pretty soon they'll catch on that the site name comes from Wicca. We have to end this now. You know what you have to do</sarcastic>Superm401 | Talk07:23, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The article monorail claims, at the bottom, that company called Monometro is planning systems for New Delhi and London. They have a website, but it contains no mention of New Delhi, and I find it hard to believe that London, with the Tube, buses, DLR, Tramlink, Crossrail and surface rail systems, would need a monorail at all. Is this true, some sort of elaborate hoax, or a not-going-to-happen pipe dream? smurrayinchester(Penny for the Guy?), (The Guy)18:55, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's a real proposal. I remember reading about it on another website a few months ago. London has plenty of need for more transport capacity, but as with any other proposal, the cost of buidling in London may prevent it happening. CalJW14:48, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Being picking, there probably was a battle won by a numerically smaller force, but his is probably the smallest winning force proportional to the losing side (which is what counts). Shimgray | talk | 22:33, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
King Arthur is meant to have killed several thousand enemy troops single-handedly. Then again, he is also meant to have been given a magic sword by a woman in a lake, so I doubt this is true... smurrayinchester(Penny for the Guy?), (The Guy)09:50, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That wouldn't count as a battle by itself, for a battle "is an instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others", whereas the 70,000 people in the city the 12 men on the Enola Gay were attacking did not seek to defeat the latter, only the contrary, the attack being unilateral. Grumpy Troll(talk)14:53, 5 November 2005 (UTC).[reply]
i just got off the phone with my friend who said a little rascal had died she also said that it was not robert blake could you tell me which one p-l-e-a-s-e.
i hear that major historical mistakes were made in the videogame battlefield vietnam could you name some.
From what I read here: [Official sffworld Game Review ], BattleField Vietnam(BFV) does not have a plot line to screw up the historical perspective. No ridiculus Anacronism, and a Artifical Intelligence (AI) that rates "Dumber than dirt." I have house plants that are smarter. Artoftransformation08:37, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Right now, its a toss up between the Christmass cactus, and some unnamed purple plant, that seems to want to rule the bathroom window arborium, but the Christmass cactus seems to be holding its own... but wait.... Artoftransformation06:37, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, the limits are set under the respective rules of the House and Senate. The limit appears to be two committees for representatives and three committees for senators, but there are exceptions and other restrictions to be taken into account. See Rules of the House and Standing Rules of the Senate for details. The political party groupings within the House and Senate have their own rules to determine who gets assigned to which committee. --Metropolitan9008:45, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The Key is to use very specific search terms. I used 'congressional committee membership limits' and it was on the first page. If you look in the cache, you will see your key terms highlighted. If You were a Senator, Which comittee would you build your carrer on? Artoftransformation08:47, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Is it true that if you are born on the 1st second of january the 1st you get free money from the government or something around those lines?
-Ice Jedi5
As in at the time 00:00:01, on 01/01/2005. I can't really see the government of any country giving you money for something so pointless, though. Also, I don't think it is possible to time someone's birth to the second. smurrayinchester(Penny for the Guy?), (The Guy)08:57, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Usually you get money for triplets in my country, but it`s not a law just financial support and municipality which governs teritory that you live in decides if you get money and there where some price for first child born in year 2000 from Pampers although I don`t remember what it was -- Xil - talk16:26, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I was in a VFW and a man brought a small jar of a liquid ( red amber) and gave it to a women who's husband was Lithuanian. He said it was called "Boylo" and was meant to be siped warm on special occasions. He was'nt sure of the spelling. Could you suggest where I might find out more about this drink?
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagina
The first picture on the left looks deformed.
Is it diseased by any chance?
The edges of the inner labia looks more like brain matter than labia.
I don't think many women have such a gross set of labias so why use an extra disgusting one for the picture?
It has got to be diseased.
Also the vagina looks gross and stretched out beyond help.
No, it is not diseased. Whether it is gross or not is your opinion, but that's perfectly normal. Sometimes the labia minora (IIRC) overlaps the majora. -- Natalinasmpf12:38, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Which is a great reason to use that picture, IMO. The variety of human form extends beyond what gets illustrated in Hustler! There used to be a website called The Vulva Project which contained dozens of clinical pictures of female genitalia presented as a lesson in comparative anatomy and as a resource to promote a positive body image, but I can't find it now. The spongy tissue reminds me of unstretched foreskin, for what it's worth. I think that's just a result of skin and fat flopping around like that. — mendel☎#01:09, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Where can I watch the Jonathan Glazer-directed Wrangler advertisement for free?
I want to know where I can watch the Jonathan Glazer-directed Wrangler ad. That's the Wrangler ad from about four years ago. It had the song "Follow the yellow brick road" from the Wizard of Oz. I would appreciate any help as I can't find it myself
It's on The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer, in the Directors Label series. Don't be cheap - pay for the pleasure.
HOW MANY BOOKS (NOT INCLUDING PATENTS0 ARE PUBLISHED EACH YEAR? HOW DOES THAT COMPARE TO THE NUMBER OF PATENTS PUBLISHED (ISSUED) EVERY YEAR? THE LATTER SHOULD BE AN EASY NUMBER TO FIND BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE PUBLISHER IN EACH COUNTRY, E.G., THE U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE IN THE US. THIS IS OF INTEREST TO A CASE CURRENTLY IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE U.S., WHERE IT IS RELEVANT TO SHOW THAT THE U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE IS BY FAR THE LARGEST AND MOST PROLIPHIC PUBLISHER OF "BOOKS" IN THE WORLD, PATENTS BEING USED PRIMARILY TO TRANSMIT INFORMATION AND TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC ON EVERY LEVEL OF EDUCATION AND INCOME.
1) Please don't use capitals. It's hard to read.
2) This study cites a UNESCO figure of around one million books per year (that's obviously "unique books", not total number of volumes). Of those, around one hundred and fifty thousand unique books are published in the US each year, according to the ISBN registry (I've upped the number slightly to take into account self-publishing and other non-ISBN material). (Total numbers of volumes are estimated at four billion worldwide, 1.6bn in the US) However, this only counts "real books"; it doesn't cover newspapers - there's almost as many newspapers as books! - journals, magazines, or any of the innumerable forms of grey literature, of which patents are only one form. You'd do best to investigate that further before assuming you can divide everything into "books" and "patents". Shimgray | talk | 15:31, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Does the U.S. Government keep track of recent meteors making it through our atmosphere and hitting Earth? If so, Is there a website or something with that listing?
I haven't found exactly what you're looking for, but you may find that The Meteoritical Society, an international organization, has information that will be helpful. According to their website: "The Meteoritical Society is the organization that records all known meteorites in its Meteoritical Bulletin." You can search their database here [13] for information about 31210 meteorites. If you check the box labeled "Falls" and type an asterisk in the "Search text" box, you will get a list of meteorites in their database that were observed to fall (not all recently by any means though). Also, there is a "Chronological Listing of Meteorites That Have Struck Humans, Animals and Man-Made Objects" (it doesn't claim to be complete) here [14]. Finally, a chronological list of fireball sighting reports received by the American Meteor Society in 2005 can be seen here [15]. Few, if any, of those will have actually hit the Earth though. --DannyZ04:18, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why is the southern border of Virginia with Tennessee not perfectly straight?
The primary reason is that it has been that way. As to why it is that way, the following quote comes from [16], which is quoting A Brief History of Washington County, Virginia:
"The southern boundary line of Virginia was assigned to parallel 36°30'. In 1749 when Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson, surveyed from about where Patrick County is today, he kept moving farther north away from the assigned parallel till he discontinued his survey east of Damascus. In 1800, the northeast tip of the new state of Tennessee joined Virginia and North Carolina on Pond Mountain. Tennessee continues on that northern parallel in Washington County, until it jogs south but not to 36°30'. Three stories are told about the Notch: (1) the surveyor was inebriated (2) iron deposits in the Iron Mountains interfered with readings of the compass and (3) the strong will of Tennesseans prevailed."
what was the smallest force ever to lose a battle.
First, why would anyone record such a statistic? Second, wouldn't the smallest force be no force at all? So, you are asking if there has ever been a battle in which there was no opposing force. Is it possible to have a battle without opposition? If not, then you are asking if there has ever been a battle against one person - like Rambo: First Blood. Once again, is it a battle if there's only one guy in opposition? Does boxing count? There are too many open questions to give a real answer to your question. Kainaw17:45, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think this question is still going by the above definition of battle — "an instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others". So, there couldn't be a battle with no opposing force, and boxing events are not really battles.
My suspicion is that the actual smallest force is unrecorded, and could possibly be as small as one person. The smallest recorded losing side could probably be found in a recent war, such as the Vietnam War. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ18:39, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Human being seeking total destruction of an ant colony. Human being purchases advanced war equipment (bait, poison, etc.) Human being loses. -- Natalinasmpf19:50, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There is an article on the Pennsylvania Hockey League created by an anonymous user last year. It states that this league is planned to begin in September 2005 and gives an external link to the official site.
The link is dead and when trying to fix it I searched on the web and found no mention of this league at all. Does it actually exist or did the plans come to nothing?
--Spondoolicks17:16, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i have a theroy that atlantis and sodom and gemorrah could be one in the same a war with greece could coinside with sodom and gemorrahs loss of morals what i want to know is does my theroy make any sense or am i just talking nonsense.
The latter, I'm afraid. While the existence of these places is not at all confirmed, the earliest descriptions of Atlantis place it on an island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, while Sodom and Gomorrah are placed in the Levant. Atlantis was supposedly sunk beneath the waves, while Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by good old-fashioned divine smiting with a rain of fire and brimstone. (If it's any comfort, you're not the first to connect the two, though I don't know if anyone has speculated that they were one and the same.) —Charles P. (Mirv)18:49, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Where do you get this theory? Cesium is too reactive to occur in its pure form anywhere in nature and wasn't isolated until the 19th century—though of course that doesn't matter if one is supposing divine intervention. —Charles P. (Mirv)20:32, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In the article about Julie-Su, it is stated that her height is "84 marks tall". Checking the places I could think of, I couldn't figure out how tall a mark is. Wikipedia's article about marks only speaks of weight and currency... I have never before in my life encountered this measurement of height, so I wonder if anyone here perhaps knows how tall a mark is. I mainly need this information to convert it into meters, just like I did with stone into kilograms for her weight. DarkPhoenix20:37, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've never heard of it either. "Sonic Wiki" says she's 42 inches tall and weighs 64.24 lbs. That's 4.5 stone but the article says 7.3, so the numbers don't seem to be talking about the same monotreme, but I find it interesting that her height in inches there is exactly half of her height in "marks" here. Oh, but wait! Scrolling down in that page gets you a reproduction of what must be the original source of the "marks" measurement. Looking around that site I see a strict 2:1 ratio between marks and inches, regardless of their crazy 8.8-lb stones. Sounds like a starting point, at least. — mendel☎#00:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Now that I think about it, it's odd that they'd decide a stone was 4 kg. Perhaps the author of that page didn't know that a stone was a real measurement, and treated it like "marks"? — mendel☎#01:00, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Certain "head hunters" would create shrunken heads. This was a humorous term applied to psychiatrists due to their concern with people's heads. The term "head hunter" is also applied to employee recruiters. StuRat01:27, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Where does gaslone come from, from a geographically perspective? --anon
My googling seems to find that "gaslone" is almost exclusively a misspelling of "gasoline"; gasoline is almost exclusively made from the distillation of petroleum; both extraction and refinement are conducted around the world, but the world's biggest petroleum extraction operations are located in the Middle East and especially Saudi Arabia. --Robert Merkel13:23, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any health risks associated with rapid Weight loss? Is there a lbs/week recommendation? I have lost 75lbs in 3 months and my weight loss caused Acid reflux.
Well, you can lose weight by increasing your activity or decreasing your nutritional intake. Either of these can have various consequences in excess. I can't give you a recommended lbs/week number. You should speak to a physician. Superm401 | Talk04:55, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Heart Attack and Death. Nothing Major. You should speak to a physician immeaditly.
See Terri_Schiavo for the heath risks of rapid Weight Loss. Funny, how the Wikipedia article leaves out the reason for her heart attack:
"Terri was awarded a substantial malpractice settlement for the improperly diagnosed potassium deficiency that led to the heart attack and collapse which damaged her brain."
"a malpractice case brought against a doctor on her behalf would reveal she had been trying to survive on liquids and was making herself throw up after meals."
Yes! I don't know exact details, but like anything else, too quickly is a bad thing. A doctor or dietician knows what's feasible for any particular person. - Mgm|(talk)20:54, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have tried to find out what the most read genres of books are? I went to Barnes & Noble, to Borders and to the Dallas Library and couldn't get a concise answer. "We really don't know," was the answer.
I have been on the internet browsing on tons of sites. The result:
One Canadian site gave me good information about the situation in Canada (32Million) with differences between the English and French speaking (Quebec) audiences. Unfortunately that does not help me any because it isn't necessarly relevant to the American (297 Million) audiences.
Why I ask? I am in the process of writing a memoir (almost done) about real life business ocurrences in Latin America, pioneering the early cellular systems in the 1980s to telecommunications agencies and other. There are a lot of intricate (but understandable) business situations that vary completely from country to country.
The memoir has a fairly large content of religion (working with God to get guidance - by any religious denomination) and show how I used the powers of the mind to overcome obstacles and attain my goals.
It is a series of narratives in dialog form of many peculiar (interesting) incidents, where I often had to make on-the spot decisions and take action.
I provide a lot of my experience know-how to inspire people in how to go after business and/or anything we want.
So having explained this, my question is, how shall I market my book? What genre? What would be the most popular genre in which to market my book?
The reason for all of this is that the person in charge of the writers critique group i belong to, told me I need to make a market analysis to find out what genre to select.
It is definitely a memoir, but what kind?
Memoir on business development? Religious memoir? Inspirational memoir? Personal self-development? Know-How? Other? Non-fiction novel?
The memoir really covers all of this. But which is the most popular one here in the USA?
(And which one in countries in Latin America? I'm fully fluent in Spanish and plan to translate to that language.)
I realize I'm asking for a lot and can only hope you can give me some guidance.
Thanks and Best regards,
Lennart Wingardh
Lennart,
It sounds like you could market it in all of those genres. The United States is such a market that you might want to adapt the marketing strategy to meet the demographic profiles of particular areas. A religious memoir might do well in areas where belief in traditional religion is strong for example the Bible Belt. However, in areas such as San Francisco and Manhattan it might work better as an inspirational memoir. You might also want to put this question on Google Answers and to ask an expert on literary marketing. Capitalistroadster06:12, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Dear Mr Wingardh: The most popular genre, would have to include the most popular sellers. The Bible outsells, outdirstubules and outreads ever other known book, that its only included as an afterthought in the Guiness Book of World Records. Obivously the most popular genre of the printed word is Religion. How popular was 'The Celestine prophecy?' Artoftransformation23:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually I would like to see figures on that. The Bible as bestseller is well known and most people would consider it a special case. However I would like to suggest that Romance Novels are probably the bestselling genre. Mills and Boon (UK) and Harlequin (US, a publisher for which we unbelievably seem to have no article) turn out enormous numbers of books. Some people buy several of these a month; not many people will buy a Bible a month (though they might be better off if they did). I can't back that guess with figures though. Anyone? DJ Clayworth19:46, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've heard (from people in the know) that the romance genre accounts for over half of the paperback books sold in the US. So if you can turn your memoir into a bodice-ripping, inspirational novel of cell phone company development, you should be golden. --Bob Mellish20:13, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i taped an episode of the new fox show prison-break i heard about some mental abilty which allows people to analyze every part of an object i want to know if it is a real condition or a hollywood invention.
Its the limit of spacial reasoning, combined with editeic imagery. It gives you the ability to see through objects. Try this: Look at a wall in your house. One that you know well aready. See if you can find a few things that you didnt see before. Now, look at the same wall from the outside. Can you visualize the inside of the wall from the outside? That is spacial reasoning. If you have editic imagery (the ability to form exact pictures in your mind), then you have extrondinary spacial reasoning. I guess the hollywood version would combine that with a triple PhD in BioChemistry/Particle Physics/Forensic Science.
It is possible for someone to posess this mental accuity, but there are probibly only a handfull of people worldwide who do, and they all are probibly bored with CSI Artoftransformation23:32, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am having a hard time finding biographical information on Rodney Needham. He is a British Anthropologist who taught at the University of Oxford (chaired the Dept from 1976 to 1990). Beyond that I am stumped. I am writing a review for a book "Structure and Sentiment, A Test Case of Social Anthropology", University of Chicago Press, 1962; Midway Reprint 1983, by Needham and would like to get more on him (birth, death?, career path, etc ...). Thanks!
Well, one easy thing to do is check his publication record; for instance, I'm in Victoria, Australia, so I searched for "Rodney Needham" on Coolcat, the Victorian university library collections metasearch. Pick a university with a good research library near you (or an metasearch of research libraries) and do the same thing. Needham published a considerable number of books over his career, by the looks of things. You should probably also do an articles search, but how to do an author search on anthropology journals is beyond my field of expertise.
As far as tracking down biographical information down, you could also contact the Oxford anthropology department and ask them; one key piece of information to track down is what Oxford college he was a Fellow (I think that's what they call them). If he's no longer with us, the college will no doubt have an orbituary in their newsletter for the man which will regale you with tales of him holding court in the senior common room, waving his snifter of port, and telling fascinating stories of his time in the Zambezi... --Robert Merkel13:15, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm talking about a military scenario in wich the US (Or any other nuclear capable NATO member) makes use of tactical nuclear weapons .
I've found a reference to it on a website and that roused my curiosity . I've googled it but got no usefull info out of it . Is it still classified ? What would happen in a hardball scenario ? There's absolutely nothing else I could find on this subject(Aside from the fact that it involves tac-nukes , NATO and the Warsaw Pact) so any information is greatly appreciated !(Pav)
I'm pretty sure NATO, like the UN, doesn't have much weaponry or personnel of its own. They can only ask/require their members to take military action. Therefore, it's misleading to say NATO would use a nuclear strike, when it would really be a member(likely the US). As for what would happen, I think it's impossible to predict. Superm401 | Talk19:46, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Ok... But what parameters would trigger a Hardball Scenario ? Is it some sort of preemtive strike ? (BTW rephrased the US\NATO bit)(Pav)
On Greenpeace's page on "ending the nuclear threat", they have a couple of PDF's on the US's doctrine for nuclear operations, which the US military subsequently decided they wanted to reclassify. The US remains delibrately ambiguous on precisely when they would use nukes on the basis that by being ambiguous nobody will be silly enough to find out.
In practice, it is impossible to imagine a scenario where the US would use nuclear weapons unless faced with a direct, imminent, and dire threat to its citizens or the citizens of its closest allies that could only be prevented by the use of nukes. The international opprobrium that would descend upon a nation that used nuclear weapons in any other circumstances would not be worth the pain (for instance, any use of nuclear weapons in the Middle East would likely result in Saudi Arabia and Iran turning off the oil taps, sending the US economy to a grinding halt) - not to mention the risk of retaliation from other nuclear weapons states. Despite the occasional fantasies of a few hotheads from Curtis LeMay onwards, there's been enough people in various US (and Soviet/Russian) administrations who have grasped these simple facts and avoided starting Doomsday.
That said, there were plenty of plans for using tactical nukes to stop a Soviet advance into Western Europe during the Cold War because NATO defence planners believed that they would be unable to stop such an advance otherwise; Russian land forces were considerably greater in number than the West could muster. --Robert Merkel13:35, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
So , that would mean using tac nukes to stop russian infantry-tidal-wave-tactics on the plains of central europe . Either that or using tac nukes to stop russian armor-tidal-wave-tactics on the plains of central europe . Ok , I got the picture thanks guys ! (Pav)--82.208.140.5216:47, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not convinced of your claim that it is practically impossible to imagine a first use scenario. The US is currently developing what are commonly called battlefield nukes which have explosive power lower than some conventional weapons, the point of these would be to blur the line between conventional and nuclear weapons[19]. Trollderella22:49, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My name is Laerke and I hope you are able to give me an answer for my question.
I have been wondering if anyone knows what the name of the elektrical eal was, before the elektricity was invented.
The eal got it's name Electrophorus electricus by Linné in 1766, but has probably had another name before that.
This is not a joke, it is serious. I've spoken to Danish (where I am from) marine biologists, who unfortunnetly were not able to give me an answer.
Hope to hear your answers.
Sincerely,
Laerke from Denmark
First of all, electricity wasn't invented; it was discovered. I'm not sure if there ever was another name(at least one using "binomial nomenclature") one, for the electric eel. According to Electricity#Modern, the word electricus was coined in 1600. That's over 100 years before Linnaeus's birth, and he's the one that popularized binomial nomenclature. As for a common name, I don't know how/if it was referred to before electricity was known. Superm401 | Talk19:46, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
They were called torpedoes, from the Latin torpere, to be numb. Other synonyms were cramp-fish, cramp-ray and numb-fish. (Look in OED under torpedo.) --Heron20:23, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
While static electricity was known in ancient Greece, electricity wasn't really discovered and named until 1600-1660. I think the electric eel simply wasn't discovered until around 1766, so there was no real problem with naming it. - Mgm|(talk)21:01, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If you ask for a name here, it will be assumed you mean an English name. Of course locals must have had a name, or rather several names, because it lives in a large area (Amazon and Orinoco basins) and many languages must be spoken there. DirkvdM07:16, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am having a problem using Pegasus Email version 4.12a. Should I be asking the questions here, or back at the village pump? I have two problems. First, every time that I exit, and then go back into Pegasus, it tells me that someone may be using my account, and asks if I want to proceed. Second, most of my existing mail folders have been lost (although the data is still intact). Can someone help me? Robert McClenon22:44, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As a note, you've posted to the right Wikipedia location, though Usenet could be better. Village Pump is exclusively for discussion about Wikipedia itself. Superm401 | Talk23:57, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Biography
Hughes was a nephew of Arthur Hughes and a studio assistant to William Holman Hunt. He helped Hunt with some of his later work, including the St Paul's version of The Light of the World.
Hughes began his career among the Pre-Raphaelites, and like Edward Burne-Jones with whom he was acquainted, he inclined towards Symbolism. However, the majority of Hughes' work, carried out mainly in watercolour/gouache, displays the meticulous observation of nature and minute technique associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Is there a king and queen in Kenya? If so, can you list their names and ages. Also, any children - there names and ages. Thank you. --67.150.88.800:03, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I was hoping to find out if a player, Anthony (Tony) Alaburda played baseball for the Miami Hurricanes in 1976. Also if possible whether he was enrolled in school that year.--63.21.30.16301:56, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There's a list of Hurricanes baseball alumni on their site here. At least one player on that list played in 1976, and might be able to confirm it. If you feel like putting in some serious effort, the college's newspaper would surely have reports on the baseball team and would certainly be available in the University of Miami's library. If you don't have any luck otherwise, why don't you try contacting the university and asking if they can help you?--Robert Merkel12:52, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
my brother-in-law is gravely sticken with parkinson's plus disease and one of his very few wishes is that i be able to furnish him with the lyrics of the song "dreams don't tell lies" (or titles to that effect) by the great nat king cole.
kindly assist me in fulfilling his request as this will surely go a long way in alleviating his present predicament.
thank you so much for your kind assistance and help.
roberto s. macrohon
email: [removed]
Please do not prepend lines with blank spaces, and don't post your email address unless you fancy getting a lot of spam. Anyway, I can find no information on a song with that name or something like that name, by Nat King Cole or anyone else. Are you sure that title is correct? Garrett Albright03:04, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When the sample is excited by the electron beam, it emits X-rays. The wavelength (and thus energy) of the x-rays varies depending upon the composition of the sample at the location of the electron beam. For each chemical element there is a characteristic combination of energies produced. As the electron beam is scanned over the sample, variations in the composition of the sample can be mapped. I don't know enough about glass to say exactly how this is applied to glass samples. -Rholton13:39, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Blood gets pretty thick as it coagulates - it even turns into a solid, although one may wonder if it can still be called blood then. But you ask "when does blood spill the thickest". In line with the previous, when you cut someone who suffers from hypercoagulation? Also, blood is thinner when it is oxygen-rich, so blood should be thicker in the pulmonary artery (the one that goes to the lungs to pic up oxygen). And when at high altitude your body will start to produce extra red blood cells, causing the blood to get thicker. A remedy against this is to drink a lot of water, so drinking no water should also thicken your blood. So take someone with hypercoagulation, starve them of oxygen and water for a while and then cut their pulmonary artery? Don't try this at home though. DirkvdM07:48, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am trying to locate a country where the individual citizens vote on every single law. Thank you.
As far as I know there hasn't been one since the Athenian Republic, in most countries nowadays it would be impractical without using the internet, which throws up issues of security & verifiability. Also I expect it would be frowned upon by those in charge. AllanHainey13:23, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the quick response. My daughter's teacher, (9th grade in the USA) asked them to locate a country where every law is voted on by each and every citizen. Possibly by referendum? I wa sthinking maybe Luxemberg/Monte Carlo. Any modern day possible suggestions?
Nauru is smaller than either of the two you mentioned, and it doesn't vote on every law; neither does Tuvalu (15-member parliament) or the Vatican (ruled by papal decree). Going up the scale we have Palau (parliamentary again) and then San Marino (parliamentary and confusingly so). Monaco parliamentary, then Liechtenstein ditto, then... you get the idea. I'm not aware of any individual country that does this, though it's quite possible there's a non-sovereign territory somewhere that does this. (In the Pitcairn Islands you could fit the entire population into a reasonably sized classroom and ask for a show of hands...) Shimgray | talk | 15:04, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I can't think of any country (or part of a country which passes it's own laws - Pitcairn Island doesn't) which does this. Switzerland is probably the closest as they can have a referendum on any law if 50,000 people or 8 cantons say they want it within 100 days of it being passed (see Referendum), but this isn't quite all laws being voted on by all citizens. You could also check Direct democracy.
If your daughters teacher is a really strong supporter of states rights & hasn't gotten over the Union victory of the civil war she might mean one of the states that has referrendums on state laws, but I doubt it. Let us know the answer once your daughter finds out. AllanHainey15:55, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My guess is her teacher expects no one to come back with an answer. Then he or she is going to say, "That's because there is no country where the public votes on every law." That's a segue into a lesson on representative democracy, I guess. -- Mwalcoff23:58, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Am sorry to disagree that it could be 'Junior' as nobody uses J as middle initial if one is a Junior, isn't? Anyway, thank you very much for your time and effort to search for an answer.
I've received some important committee minutes in WPS format (.wps). I believe that they're Microsoft Works files. I use Open Office Writer on Linux and cannot get anything useful from them. I booted up an obslete Windows 98 computer with MSWord on it, but still no joy. Does anyone have any suggestions? --Gareth Hughes17:04, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
"Some versions of Word will open some versions of these Works files; for others a converter may be needed. One is available as the file WP6RTF.EXE from Microsoft." [20] - there's a link to the converter there. Any help? Shimgray | talk | 17:10, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've managed to pull what I believe to be most of the meaningful content out of the files as plain text, and I've informed the sender to use a more acceptable standard (even MSWord for all its faults would be easier to handle). Keenan's link is very handy: I've just put it in an e-mail template ready to go. --Gareth Hughes12:51, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to know more about costing in general, a list of formulas and the type of situations in which to use them would be helpful. A specific example is idle time, how can you calculate idle time?
Idle time = Billable Hours - Total Hours.
Total time = Gross Avaible time - Holidays - Sick Days - Vacation.
Job costing is the accounting practice you are looking for, and there are good books on it, both on tracking, and estimating. I would recommend that you start with Havard Business Review. As you can see, it affects a lot of businesses, so there is also software, and standdard job times for almost every industy, especially Automobile Repair. Artoftransformation15:24, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
What is the distance by sea from Somolia to to the Seychelles?
Mogadishu to Victoria is about 800-850 miles; from "somewhere along the Somalian coast" could be anything from 800 to 1200 miles, even more if it was the north coast of Somalia (I only checked for the Indian Ocean coastline). Shimgray | talk | 22:17, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Population of the Town of Southampton, NY by decade since earliest census
First off thank you for your assistance. I have searched the census bureau's webpage and cannot find the answer to this question. What I need is the population by decade of the Town of Southampton, NY since the earliest US Census count by decade up to the year 2000. The current 2000 census indicates a population of around 50,000. Thank you. Carleton Ryffel
While that site seems to provide current information in unlimited detail, the historical data seems limited. In most cases, there was no city/town data so I'm providing data for Suffolk County(county containing Southamton); I'm not sure how helpful that is, but it's a start. So far, I was able to find
I think MacDonalds has a stated goal of having a store within 2 minutes of everyone, wherever they are. I can only assume that the propensity of stores in New York is an attempt to achieve this. AllanHainey08:23, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have a bet running at the moment in regards as to who is worth more, earnt more in there caree out of Mariah Carey and DJ Tiesto. The answer is quite an obvious one but if you have any information or can answer this question it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
"Mariah Carey, who received $US30 million ($A50.48 million) last year to end her contract with the EMI group, ranked number eight on the list."
Dj Tiesto to many is a musical god, but he is only known to only certain crowds. On the other hand, Mariah Carey is world-wide known. And technically DJ Tiesto only makes money through club performances and CDs. Mariah Carey does large concerts, CDs, and advertisings. Club performances do not usually generate as much money as concerts.
--69.199.106.24402:18, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Looking at both Television in the United States, and the "television schedule" pages, something is still confusing me. An example from the former is:
prime time begins at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CST and MST)
If a programme is being aired nationally at 8pm ET, wouldn't that be 6pm MT and 5pm PT? Particularly for the pages on the schedules listing the times as Eastern and Pacific but listing only one time. Christalk back03:01, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Programs don't start at the same time nationally. East coast primetime broadcasts start at 8 p.m. Eastern, and West coast primetime broadcasts start at 8 p.m. Pacific. Central primetime broadcasts start at 7 p.m. Central (which is 8 p.m. Eastern). —WaywardTalk03:50, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In the U.S., broadcast networks have affiliates in every major city. Therefore, a CBS program can air at 8 EST (7 CST) on WOIO in Cleveland and WBBM in Chicago, 9 EST (7 MST) on KCNC in Denver and 11 EST (8 PST) on KCBS in Los Angeles. A live program would run at 8 Eastern, 7 Central, 6 Mountain and 5 Pacific.
7C would make sense with 8E, as the program(me) could be broadcast at the same time over these zones. Similarly, 8M/7P would also make sense, as they too are equivalent. Oh well, the quirks of trying to broadcast across a continent ... Christalk back17:29, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
For prime time network programming there are two feeds, an "East Coast" feed and a "West Coast" feed. Monday-Saturday the prime time feed starts at 8PM Eastern for the East Coast feed and 8PM Pacific for the West coast feed. Stations in the Mountain time zone can either take the Eastern Feed and delay it or take the Western Feed. The major choice in the Mountian time zone is to start prime time at 7PM. Hopefully I have dumbed this down enough to make sense to people who know nothing about the industry. NYTVGuy20:38, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If I have a password saved on computer A and someone on computer B changes the password, will I still be able to sign on to the password on computer A?
Noter For AIM
NO. The password you use, although stored on the computer A, is actually verified by computer C, that maintains AIM Security as a Username, Password Pair, thus if someone on computer B changed the password, the Computer C, will recieve the new password information, and when the signon attempt is made from computer A, it will not match the Username, Passowrd Pair stored on Compter C, the Password Authority, for AIM.
If you are using Active Directory, and the Username, Password Pair is stored on the Server, then, the Active Directory Server is Compter C, and is the Password Autority, and like the AIM password, It changes on computer B, and on the Server, Computer C, so that a local setting of a password on compter A will not work.
You are confusing Local Settings, ( the AIM password stored on Computer A amd B), with the Authoritive Setting: The Username, password Pair stored on the Authoritative computer. I do not know what the Authoratitave compter for AIM is. --Artoftransformation09:47, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why can't more than on person from the same political party run for the same office in an election?
This would depend on where you live, in Australia for example, from what I remember, the last time I voted there was sometimes more than one member from a single party running for the same electorate. However, this was about a year ago so I can't recall exactly. Akamad07:28, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Generally, a country's electoral commission will identify a candidate with a party label only if he or she is officially nominated by that party. A political party will usually want to increase the chance of its candidate being elected by nominating only one candidate for each electoral district. In a "first past the post" system, the candidate who wins the most votes wins. Let's say there are ten voters: four are Conservatives, and six are Liberals. If the Liberal Party nominates two candidates, and each wins votes from three of the six Liberals in the electorate, the Conservative Party candidate would win with four votes. If the Liberal Party nominates only one candidate, he or she would win with six votes.
(Inserted comment) In other words, the scenario of multiple candidates from one party would go against the basic purpose of having political parties, which is to accumulate the voting power of as many like-minded people as possible, rather than "splitting the vote". We do sometimes see elections where candidates with similar positions run against each other, either in elections without political parties or if one party splits into factions. If both candidates have significant support, they very often lose -- see U.S. presidential election, 1912, for a famous example. --Anonymous, 00:25 UTC, November 9, 2005
In some voting systems, more than one member of parliament/congress/legislature may represent an electoral district. In these cases, parties will nominate a candidate for each of the positions available. Ground Zero | t14:41, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Where you have only one seat available, the rules might actuallly prevent a party rfom sponsoring more than one candidate. In cases where a senior member disagrees with the selection and decides to run themselves, they run as independent candidates, though they will have to leave the party if party rules prohibit running against a party-nominated candidate (see Peter Law, who was expelled for running against his party's candidate, and Ken Livingstone, who ran as an independent before his party could deselect him). Christalk back17:35, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As mentioned above, it depends on the election. In most major U.S. elections, there is a primary election before the general election to decide which Democrat or Republic will be on the final ballot. This system allows the party to prevent vote-splitting. However, some races use an "open primary" system in which all candidates run together in the primary, and the top two go on to the final round, regardless of party. Under that system, it's possible to have two Democrats or two Republicans on the final ballot. -- Mwalcoff05:36, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It would help if you could specify what you're looking at. Judging from this, there's nothing above or below the main logo; the corner artwork in the endzone is the logo for Gillette Stadium itself[21].
What he's talking about is a gray and yellow shape a bit like a large building or a hammer, I can't figure out what its supposed to be or why its there either. -Drdisque20:55, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It is the logo of Gillete Staium (which is visible on their homepage [22]). I think it is supposed to be a profile of the stadium with fireworks coming out the top. --Kainaw(talk)17:59, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How are calories removed from food, and what does a calorie look like?
Calories are removed from food either by removing much of a caloric constituent like starch, sugar, or fat. Food can be made with less calories by using substitutes for starch, sugar, or fat ingredients. A calorie is no more visible than a degree of temperature. alteripse04:55, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Calories are removed from Milk by a Cream seperator. It Looks like milk, but a bit more Yellow.
Food becomes reduced calories in diffrent ways, each way involves the removal of part of the food, so it looks similar to the food from which it was removed. Artoftransformation14:46, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
'Calorie' is a unit of energy. It's obsolete now - Joule should be used in stead, becuase it makes more sense (being part of the ISO system). The Joule is in a sense not a unit of itself but derived from the basic ISO units for mass, length and time, thus: 1 J = 1 kg·m2·s−2. But the calorie is probably still in use because many people are used to it when referring to the nutritional value of food (no article on that?). Unless they're forced by law, companies are probably not going to change that and people are going to keep on being confused, like you. I wonder where you get the wording 'removing calories from food'. From some commercial perhaps? That's like saying you 'add Celsius to a room' when you heat it up. One does not remove calories but energy and that is measured in Joules (or Calorie, if you prefer). The one is a quantity (energy, heat or length) that is measured in units (Joule, Celsius, metre).
By the way, what nutritional value means is not how much energy it contains, but how much a human body would extract from it and I now wonder if that does not differ from one person to the next. DirkvdM08:58, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Calorie is, of course, not obsolete, though some would prefer it so. It is the most common unit used in measuring the quantities you are asking about. - Nunh-huh01:07, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am searching to find if Deianeira of mythology wore any type of medallion or symbol. I have named my daughter Deianeira and am looking of a design specific to her name. thanks for the help06:04, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
Can mother tongue also mean the langue your mother speaks?
Because I read many articles about that and saw both:
1. the language your mother speaks
2. the language a baby learns first
Mother tongue is an 19th century misnomer at least to me. All over the world, people learn to speak their family's language (usually the local language unless they are immigrants). In a typical paternal society, a family's language means the father's language because most of the times, a man stays on his land although he may marry a non-local wife. An extreme example is mail-order bride.
Let's say an Egyptian male lives in Germany. Possibly, he has to learn German to get a decent job. He marries a woman from Sri Lanka and has a baby. So which language does the baby learn first? I guess it must be German if the man has been in Germany for several years. See first language. -- Toytoy07:13, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You guys are all kidding, right? This is a specious distinction for nearly alll of us: 98% of the time the two meanings coincide. The first language a child learns is the one his principal caretaker teaches him in the first 2 years of life. For most human beings in most cultures, the principal caretaker is his mother and she talks to him in infancy in the language with which she is most comfortable. alteripse10:46, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting takes. I live in the U.S. My parents speak Portuguese. I learned Portuguese before I learned English. I was educated in English (no biligual education for me, thank goodness). I speak English much better than Portuguese. I would consider English my "mother tongue", though I would not use this terminology. Nelson Ricardo12:01, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Usually when we use the term "mother tongue" we use it to describe someone's most preferred language rather than his/her mother's language. I would not want to know your mother's language preference if I am a beaucrat and you're coming to me for business.
In a typical paternal society, a man usually lives with his own people but his wife may be from elsewhere and speaks another language or dialect. A man usually marries (or buys) a woman from a less powerful culture. Generally, the wife has to speak the local language or his husband's language. And her child usually learns that language too. That first language will usually become the child's most preferred language later.
However, in some cases, a child may learn to speak another language much better later. For example, a German-speaking boy who migrated to Japan at 5 may learn to speak Japanese when he grows up. In this case, even the term first language can be a huge misnomer.
Scanning the comments here, it appears that everyone assumed mother in mother tongue refers to a parent. It is more likely to be an abbreviated way of saying language of your mother country. It is not common to hear people refer to mother country anymore, but it was very popular during colonial times when people were commonly citizens of one country but living in another. --Kainaw(talk)18:02, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Recently there has been a discussion about human pubic hair. Some seemed to believe the remaining hair covering the genitals was caused by sexual selection. I beg to differ.
A man may want a woman with big boobs and fat buttocks (see Venus figurines). But are men also picky about women's labia sizes or pubic hair shapes? As a man, I think the answer is usually no. I mean if this woman comes to me and asks me "Your place or mine?", it would be insane for me to examine the length, size and color of her pubic hair before I make the decision. I just want to f*** her. I don't care if she has a big clit or a small one. Are you going say "Angelina, I can't have sex with you because I hate Brazilian waxing? Come to me with nice looking hair next time."
I think the shapes of human genitals are the least sexually selected anatomical part. A vagina that works is all I need. No, I really don't care if she has puffy lips or not. -- Toytoy07:49, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have no idea if the original proposition was correct, but you're reasoning from a modern perspective. Human evolution has taken place over millions of years. Well, that depends on what aspect you're looking at, in casu when humans lost their hair, except for in some places. Also, modern humans wear clothes, but maybe when the hair-evolution thing happened they didn't and pubic hair was for some reason one of the criteria. Though I can't think how and indeed I find it rather unlikely.
There is a tendency in the last few decennia or so in the West for women to shave off at least part of their pubic hair. I wonder what one might conclude from that. That might give fair-haired people (who have less pubic hair - at least less visible) an edge. We don't have to be still running around naked for that because the other hair is a good indication. Has there been any research into that? Whether people prefer fair-haired mates more than, say, a century ago?
By the way, you want to f*** her? Ah, you mean 'fuck'! If you want to use the word, use it. If you don't, don't. But don't be halfhearted about it because that just looks very silly. Alternatively use 'make love' or 'copulate', although I don't see anything wrong with the word 'fuck', which is perfectly good English. But then that might be my Dutch upbringing, calling things by their name (the Dutch are indeed often considered rude because of their directness). DirkvdM09:16, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I had the impression that the hair, at least (probably not the lips), had more to do with warmth and protection than appeal. Protection of progenation is generally important when it comes to evolution. Then again, the testes are kept a little cooler than body temperature rather than warmer. Not much of an answer, eh? jnothmantalk10:25, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Children don't have pubic hair, so it has to be something sexual (why would they need less protection?). OTOH, both men and women have it, so it is unlikely that it's around because of sexual selection. Like the article says, it probably either serves to store pheromones, or as a way to visually distinguish adults from children (together with the rest of the body hair that appears in puberty). --Chl02:43, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Children don't have wrinkles. That doesn't make wrinkles sexual. If the question is "why do humans have pubic hair" the answer is "we don't know, but have many guesses." - Nunh-huh03:13, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, but wrinkles don't start exactly at puberty, so that still seems a good point. But the counterargument that both men and women have pubic hair isn't. I assume you mean that it's the men who do the selecting, but women do so too, just usually in a more subtle manner (foxes indeed :) ). Another angle I think of now is that maybe all hair is evolving away and pubic hair is just the last remnant. The reason for this might be something totally irrelevant to the process, like it being a different kind of hair (which it is) that happens to be more persistant. DirkvdM09:21, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Right, both men and women do selecting, but how likely is it that they both selected for the same feature? -- If pubic hair is still around because it's more persistant than other hair, then why have children lost it? --Chl02:48, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My theory: John doeesn't want a woman with beards. Jane doesn't want a man with hair on his back. Joe doeesn't want a woman with a hairy torso. Judy doeesn't want a man who looks just like Chewbacca. ...
No one cares if his/her sexual partner has pubic hair. When it comes to the time to have sex, everyone is too crazy to be any critical.
Hello,
I am new to this so here goes. I have a photograph of my granduncle Phillip White as a member of Callender's Minstral-Mngt. Black ????. I am trying to find some of the places that they may have played at. I also have a list of names that goes along with the photo. I'm trying to get an idea of where my ancestor's might be from.
I didn't know how to insert the photograph so that you could see it. I apologize for this.
Thank you for your help.
Cynthia F.
You upload a photo by clicking 'upload file' in the left sidebar. But you'll have to be very sure the photo is free of copyright, which can be difficult. If it's on some webpage you could add the link in square brackets, thus: [put_the_url_here]. And you could of course give us the names, but all we can do with that is Google them and you could do that yourself too (this is meant in a helpful way, not to put yo off :) ). DirkvdM09:22, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I can not find the answers to the following questions on wikipedia:
Where can I find what year of proposed by Commison ( 2004 year of education trouh sport)?
whats the time set for an instittutition to answer to obusman regarding an eqiury?( ,2,3,4,months)
in what proportion commission act?( simply or qualifiyd majority)
how can be- on what base an officails of Commossion can be removed from his job place?
Does the codecision procedure give the European Parliament a right to veto?
what does a bureau of the european parliament consist of?
By whom was the European Charter of Fundamental Rights drafted?
What does "mixed agreement" mean?
what procedures are used by commissions rules of procedure?
I'm afraid there are many questions but I would really appreciate to have answers as soon as possible, since I'm going to attend a test on the EU on 11 November.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Zelnikova
Dearest Ms Zelinkova: I regret to inform you that it would behove you to do a bit of homework in the ensuing days before your test. I would recommend the article European_Union as a start, then read Maastricht_Treaty, and follow the links there.
So to answer question #2, The Answer is No time limit is set by statue for responding to an Ombudsman Inquiry.
and the Answer to #4 I am sure is in the link. Artoftransformation14:30, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am interested in finding out more about the Civilization IV Theme, which plays in the Opening Menu and is, in fact, titled "OpeningMenu" in the sounds folder for the game. Was this song produced specifically for the game? If not, where can I find more? One of the things the series has consistently done well with is the music. I want to find more music like this. Can anyone help me out?
The song is called "Baba Yetu", Swahili for "Lord's Prayer", the lyrics are here. The version heard on the game is performed by a group called Talisman A Cappella and composed by Christopher Tin. PS: I agree, it is fantastic music :-) Akamad12:07, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have an autographed hockey stick that has the autographs of all the team members on it. 1960 Gold medal team Can I get a list of the team members as I can not recognize some of the names? Also..was John Riley from Wisconsin their coach then.? Also what is the value of this item...it is a 24 inch stick...that was signed in tampa. florida. Thanks Marv Elliott Cape Coral florida..(Wisconsin)
This site has a list of the players from the 1960 team that are in the Massachusetts Hockey Hall of Fame. Since I don't play hockey and I live in Australia (ice hockey is not very big over here), I am not aware if this is the whole team or not, but the players that they have listed are:
Maybe they were attempting to ask if there was any legal reason barring them from playing a copyrighted song as part of their podcast? :shrug: Dismas|(talk)14:12, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe they mean "Can I play songs on a podcast", ie, how do you incorporate an MP3 file (a song) into a larger MP3 file - the podcast (with a person talking, introducting the song etc). I imagine some software can do this for you, but don't know which.--Commander Keane00:07, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am trying to contact the above person, Dr. Roberto Coronel .At The University of The Philippines at Los Banos - College if Agricukture ( Institute of Plant Breeding.
I was in touch with him before But have loss contact with Him .
Please give Him the following information so He can contact Me regarding Rare Fruits in the Philippines.
Mr. Bill Wandt - Email address: [removed] , mailing address [removed] Phone: [removed]
Thank You Very Much for any assistance that You can give Me in contacting Dr. Coronel.
Sincerly, Bill Wandt
Formatting fixed, contact info removed. Please do not post your contact information on this board unless you want to get junk mail or random phone calls. Anyway, why don't you try contacting the University and tracing Mr Coronel's trail that way? Wikipedia is not a telephone directory… Garrett Albright15:29, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have been searching for ages and am hoping you can help me with some information. I am looking for an old company- "Havey E. Dodds Limited" - they made ski's in Sudbury. I would like to know the years that this company operated. I thank you in advance for any help you can give me. With regards, Jan 216.209.108.13516:28, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
in your site you state that kariba dam is in zambia but in actual fact it is in zimbabwe.
Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs changing, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit any article by simply following the Edit this page link. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to...) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use out the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. Thryduulf19:00, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When writing, should you put 1 or two spaces between sentences?
According to the Wikipedia Manual of Style, "There are no guidelines on whether to use one or two spaces after the end of a sentence [for Wikipedia articles]". In your own writing you can use whichever you prefer, but if you are producing text for an organisation or publication, check to see whether it is specified in the house style. Thryduulf19:12, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Whichever you please. Typing two spaces after the end of a sentence is a holdover from the days of typewriters with monospace fonts, which were easier to read when sentences were double-spaced. With proportional fonts, which are overwhelmingly common nowadays, it's not so important. In an HTML document, it's entirely irrelevant; most web browsers collapse any number of spaces into one, as you can see by examining the text of this post. —Charles P. (Mirv)19:10, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How does McDonald's prices compare to other fast food resteraunts?
How does McDonald's differentiate its products from other fast food resteraunts?
Please e-mail response to <email address removed>
Thanj you for your time
I have removed your email address, as posting it here is an invitation for spambots to target you.
For the questions, the second one particularly looks like a homework question. If you read the very top of the page, then you will see that we will not do someone's homework for them. Thryduulf18:51, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The answer to both your questions would change from region to region, best thing to do would be do investigate it yourself, for example see how much a burger costs at your McDonalds, and compare it to another fast food joint. Akamad22:17, 8 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was a rumor several years back that McD's put worms in their hamburgers to increase protein content. Their response was classic:
A first consideration is what you compare. The chips in one joint are not the same as those in other joints. If at one place the chips are more expensive that could be because they're made from actual real potatoe chips (not a compressed half-product like at McDonalds), which is becoming more and more a rarity. And that's a simple product. With other products, a comparison could be impossible. Also, if it is littel more than an outlet , like FEBO that will reduce the cost condiderably, but one may wonder if that still counts as a restaurant (and what you had in mind). DirkvdM12:41, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
To answer your question, let's look at the offerings of the various fast-food chains (along with their prices):
McDonalds offers the Big Mac. They also have a dollar menu.
Burger Dictator featurs the GruntaBurger. This is actually a very long extended burger, so long that (as their slogan says) It doesn't just fill your stomach -- it fills your entire alimentary canal!. In effect, you are already excreting the first part of the burger before you have finished eating the last part. Price is $3/foot.
Hamburger Hell is the low-price alternative. Their burgers cost three cents. And that's the high end of the menu. The low-end burgers, they'll actually pay you to haul them away.
Meat On A Stick appeals to customers tired of plain old hamburgers. They put their meat on a stick. Their slogan is So fresh it wiggles!, but the wiggling is actually from maggots. Price is whatever you have in your pockets, plus whatever you can find under the car seats.
Mrs. Tinkle's offers a wider menu. They offer chicken, jellyfish, and dog tongues in addition to burgers. They also achieve atmosphere by using paper menus, and also by pumping in oxygen. A typical entry on a Mrs. Tinkle's menu is: Chicken A La Tinkle: A dead bird, cut up and heated in a stove. Served with fries. Price varies depending on how many dogs they catch that day.
Why do some Polo shirts have a little triangular cut outs on the bottom sides?
As an expedient against them being ripped from the bottom up when stretched, as one plays an enthusiastic game of polo. And hence to give the impression that the said shirt is made for action, and to differentiate said shirt from its sans-cutout cousin. --Tagishsimon(talk)
Also, if you want to see some real volcanoes, please see Io, one of jupiter's moons, the gravitational tides are so strong the entire moon is geologically active--Hello'from'SPACE23:43, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, our initiation isn't any worse than the Crips. Still you have to admire a gang that welcomes the physically handicapped. StuRat02:49, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
--24.92.55.22523:27, 8 November 2005 (UTC)I've searched everywhere on some info for any info on a Superman comic book I have. (SuperMan Meets The Motor Sports Champions). Any info would br great![reply]
You have the wrong information in one of your definitions. The naming rights for Rich stadium in Buffalo, New York, were purchased by Rich Products in Buffalo, New York not the Louise Rich food company. These are two different companies. You will find the misinformation under the information for Ralph Wilson stadium.
That's the great things about a wiki like Wikipedia, anyone (yes, that includes you!) can change any article! All you need to do is click the Edit this page link. Don't worry about making honest mistakes (in fact, be bold!). If you're a bit unsure about how editing works, you can always check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to experiment a bit. Welcome to Wikipedia!. — QuantumEleven | (talk)08:43, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
And if you find out, could you add the ship to the ship replica article and maybe even write an article about it? Or else let us know where to find the information so we can do that ourselves? DirkvdM14:50, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Russia launched it's first warship in 1669. The frigate's name was "Орёл", sometimes spelled "Орел", which means "Eagle". The name is almost always incorrectly transliterated to English as "Orel". Maybe you'll have better luck with these alternative names. Unfortunately, every search I could think of kept bringing up scale models or more recent ships with the same name, rather than full-sized replicas of the sailing frigate. --24.20.130.25323:31, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Would it be possible for someone to "Declare" thier independence from a Municipalty or something?
You can declare it but unless you happen to have your own army (& are prepared to use it), or are recognised by a number of important foreign countries as a sovereign state, your independence won't be recognised & you'll still have to pay taxes, etc. AllanHainey08:25, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi,
I want to know is there any concept in Bengal HOW TO GENERATE ELECTRICITY FROM MEDICAL WASTE?
I have a solution how can I proceed? I want to speak to local Government regarding this plan and machine.
Thanks
Tanmoy Bhattacharya
New Delhi -49
Tanmoy, as far as I know none of the regulars who answer questions on the reference desk live in India, let alone Bengal specifically, so we likely have less insight, and less opportunity to find out, about the waste disposal practices of the hospitals there than you do. I did a search for "electricity medical waste" on Google, and it didn't come up with any specific proposal to do so; but some of the links I found may be of interest to you, for instance, this company's medical waste sanitizing machine.
Might I suggest the easiest way to proceed is to contact some hospitals and ask them about their current waste disposal methods; if you know some doctors they might be able to help direct you to the correct people within the hospital. From there, I guess you'll need to build a prototype plant somewhere to demonstrate your solution (which will probably require venture capital to form a startup company to do so, and possibly the seeking of patents to protect your invention), at which point you can then start selling your process to local governments.
One small problem I can forsee with this scheme is that some of the medical waste will contain bits of human tissue (dressings and so on). Some people may have moral objections to the generation of electricity from waste that contains human tissue, even if that tissue is incidental. Just something to think about when you're trying to to market your product.
Congratulations on your enterprise, and I wish you luck perfecting and selling your idea which will help reduce a real environmental problem. --Robert Merkel13:18, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have two nickle plated SAA with matching stag horn grips in a custom made two gun holster that does not have bullet holder straps (cartridge inserts). I wanted to know where I can look for information based on the serial numbers. The first one is 171371 with a loading gate number of 003. The second one is 125752 with a loading gate number of 168.
thank you for your time.
Anything can be bad for you given the right amount. There's also water in shampoo. Only 1 cm of water is enough for a person to drown in if they are head down and unconcious. Peanuts and thus peanut butter can be bad for you if you've got an allergy. My point is, don't be too scared just because they are "chemicals". It's quite unlikely any shampoo would be allowed on the market if it had any ill effects on its users. - Mgm|(talk)10:18, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, everything is made of chemicals. Chemistry is just a way of describing stuff around us. But it has also incorrectly come to mean synthetic (non-'natural') materials, which doesn't necessarily mean they are bad in any way (although the chances are greater). Having said that, 15 years ago I was losing hair rapidly. When I stopped using shampoo the 'fallout' stopped after about a month and I now still have most of the hair I had then. DirkvdM15:01, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Approximately 8 or 9 years ago, I read a serialized story that someone wrote based on their experiences with a role playing campaign they ran. As I recollect, there were hundreds of episodes, and I believe it had quite a following. Is this ringing a bell for someone? Hipocrite - «Talk»17:57, 9 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How long is a Tin or aluminium can of beef eatable after production ?
What are the storage Limits in Celcius, both Minimum and Maximum temp-C and if so ehat is the danger temp - C for storage that produces fast rotting or decay ? Is canned beef 100 % free from irregulair parts (non animal)
As long as the tine remains unopened, a long time. I have a tin here I bought a few weeks ago with a 'use by' date of February 2009. Tinned food is hermetically sealed. No air = no rotting. I would imagine that the long-term storage lower limit would be 0°C, as a frozen can would split (due to corned beef containing water). Cooked meat should not be re-frozen, so I would advise against eating the corned beaf once it had defrosted. Prototc15:34, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also note that lack of free oxygen prevents oxidation, including that of tin or aluminum. However, once the can is opened, the food should be removed from the can and stored in another container, otherwise it may take on a metallic taste as the oxygen in the air begins to oxidize the metal and this oxide "rubs off" on the food. If a plastic liner is used in the can, this problem won't happen. StuRat18:23, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi. I'm a student at saydel high school and i'm trying to find opinions on whether surrogate mothering should be allowed in the united states or anywhere else in the world?
thank you for helpig me with my poject.
ericka holst
We have articles at surrogate mother and surrogacy. I'm not sure how helpful they'll be: a good deal of space is devoted to politically "correct" terminology. I'm assuming you already know that surrogate mothering is allowed in the United States and other places. - Nunh-huh22:32, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That is indeed a confusing term. I thought a surrogate mother was a 'post with a nipple' that one could use to feed a chimpansee (or whatever) for lack of a mother (or as an experiment - it turns out that when that baby grows up and gets a baby of its own, it lacks all maternal instincts). What would that be called then? For example when an article is going to be written about it.
The Dutch word for what is meant here is, literally translated, 'carrymother'. 'Surrogate womb' would also be a good term, although that doesn't refer to the woman as a whole and can thus come across as rather rude. DirkvdM13:02, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
a specific information about physiotherapist's job
Hello!
Is there anyone available to indicate where one might go to pitch a very timely talk show idea? It is educationally oriented but can be made very exciting and alluring to get the viewership...I could "guarantee" success, given what I know about what people are interested in and what they want and need to know!
Please lead me in a direction to speak, discuss, network, etc., with those who can guide me in the proper way!
Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Dolah --71.243.165.24219:32, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Different people need different amounts of sleep, which can be hard to accept for people with regular sleeping patterns. If a person is getting less sleep and this goes on for a long time, then this could cause minor harm. However, the real danger is if the person engages in hazardous activities like driving while unable to concentrate. This behavior can also seriously harm the person's career, studies and relationships. Although a person could choose to torment themselves by avoiding sleep, it's far more likely that they're having trouble sleeping because they're worried or excited about things going on in their lives. I believe it's more important to focus on the reasons this person might act or feel this way rather than being concerned just about the sleep. --00:31, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
Not sleeping at all can be very harmful. I believe that's mainly to do with lack of dreaming. If you don't sleep at all for a week or so that will likely result in permanent mental damage (you go nuts). Just a little bit of sleep will make a great difference, I believe. Of course it's only self injury if you do it to yourself. Sleep deprivation is a well known torturing method. In Guantanamo Bay, it seems the lights are on continuously and I'm sure that will have a debilitating effect on the prisoners. Whether this results in permanent damage, I don't know. DirkvdM13:18, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Can anarchism exist in today's economic globalisation without a return to precarity?
Why do free market advocates (neo-liberals) believe a truly free market can improve the state of poor countries when liberalism intrisically impoverish some at the benefit of others?
The reason most likely given will be that, although a totally free market (well, totally free would be unhealthy) may cause an increased difference in income, the economy as a whole will profit and, in the end, the poor as well. So one reason might be that, although people now will suffer, their offspring will benefit. The West, for example, largely has the misery of the poor workers of the 19th century to thank for its present wealth. And since the people living today are just a small fraction of the people that will live in the future (centuries, milennia, millions of years...?) and 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few' we should really all be slaving away for the future generations. But then, that same thing applies to those next generations as well, until infinity, which defeats the argument. Try reasoning yourself out of this logic, Spock. :)
Having said that, almost all present day countries are capitalist. And that doesn't seem to help because the vast majority are poor. So that's one down for capitalism. But you're referring to globalisation. And breaking down international trade barriers like protectionism should help poor countries. If they produce more cheaply then they will attract more industry, which should boost their economy. How that wealth gets divided internally is a different matter. As you may have guessed, I'm in favour of global capitalism and local (mild) socialism.
Anarchism? Well, what about the Internet in general and Wikipedia in particular? It's totally global and non-commercial. Of course, the non-commercial bit means that poor countries can't make money out of it. But if everyone would have unlimited instant access to this modern day Alexandria then that would constitute the greatest spread in knowledge in the history of mankind. And knowledge is at the very basis of industrialisation and wealth. So anarchism actually does exist in modern globalisation (though not economic globalisation) (and you're taking part in it right now) and in the long run it may help create more richess where it is most needed. We're living Utopia! :) DirkvdM13:46, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I work with an orthodox Jew. He wears these white tassels on both sides of his pants. What are they called? (My guess is not Jew Tassels.) Why do orthodox Jews all dress the same? --Quasipalm21:33, 10 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Incidentally, you might want to note that the use of the word Jew as an adjective is generally considered offensive. You should say Jewish.
Not all Orthodox Jews dress the same. "Modern Orthodox" Jews dress like everyone else, except that men will generally keep their head covered (with a hat or yarmulke), and women will generally wear long dresses and often wigs. -- Mwalcoff00:12, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Great questions. In very general terms, the reasons for "why" some Jews wear those similar-looking outfits are much the same as those for why a police officer dons a uniform before going out on patrol. The "uniform" announces the wearer's personal allegiance to world, yet also makes them mindful of their idealogical duties and treatment of other people. The outfit is deliberately plain, modest and undifferentiated to emphasize the person's commitment to religious responsibility rather than fleeting worldly concerns such as fashions, passions and social status. Not all Jews wear an outfit as specific as that of the Hasidim, but the themes I described are often translated into modern equivalents. --24.20.130.25301:19, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
"All of the Ivy League institutions share some general characteristics: They are among the most prestigious and selective schools in the U.S. They represent seven of the nine colonial colleges founded before the American revolution (the two remaining being the public universities Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and The College of William and Mary);..."
Shouldn't this state the "three remaining being...", since three are listed?
That's two, not three. Rutgers is The State University of New Jersey. So either [1] "The College of William and Mary, and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey" or [2] Rutgers University, and The College of William and Mary would be clearer. An unexpected complication of universities adding advertising slogans to their names and monarchs ruling jointly. Since we have wikimarkup, we can form the links in such a way as to make the sentence clearer than mere punctuation would. ("All of the Ivy League institutions share some general characteristics: They are among the most prestigious and selective schools in the U.S. They represent seven of the nine colonial colleges founded before the American revolution (the two remaining being the public universities The College of William and Mary and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)." - Nunh-huh02:04, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
On the help desk mailing list, Fritz Gheen asked Who is the referenced "Stuart" in "Stuart's Law of Retroaction"
(easier to ask permission than forgiveness)?
Thank you,
Fritz
I checked and we do not have an article. A Google search was indefinitive but appeared to suggest that it originally came from a Slashdot post see [27]. As I advised Fritz, I am posting it here.
The phrase certainly predates Slashdot. When I first encountered it it was called the 'Jesuit Principle of Management'. It may have been a Slashdot post that first applied the name 'Stuart's Law' to it. DJ Clayworth17:31, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello
I am searching for the name of a videogame which has as a protagonist a Japanese character, using playing cards as weapons. The game was presented in a top-to-bottom scrolling playfield.
Any help with this question will be greatly appreciated.
66.50.62.9603:16, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for your response. The videogame was released on the arcades around 1986-87 and it had completely Japanese characters(demons, oni etc.). I've ruled out Gambit as the main character in this game. Again many thanks for your suggestion 65.23.251.16501:14, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why not try asking at a more specific game-related site? Questions like this often come up on the Home of the Underdogs forum, here; post in "The Gamer's Corner." You'll probably find more people knowledgeable about obscure old games there. --Aquillion02:10, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That sounds an awful lot to me like Pocky & Rocky (as it was called in the US/UK) or Kiki Kaikai (to give it's Japanese name) --Noodhoog02:59, 15 November 2005 (UTC) (edited to remove "IP" login, and replace with my proper one after realising I hadn't logged in. oops!)[reply]
Foreign add-ons on the end of names of cities/countries
Why do so many central Asian countries have the word "stan" on the end of their names? (Pakistan, Kazhakstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and what does it mean? Also, why do many Northern European cities have the phrases "stadt" or "holm" on the end of their names, and what to they mean?
-stan, in country names, is simply Persian for land: Afghan Land, Kazakh Land, etc. Stadt is German for city; holm I'm not sure about, but I think it's Swedish for small island. —Charles P. (Mirv)06:24, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
PAKISTAN. The Cambridge student and Muslim nationalist Choudhary Rahmat Ali coined this name. He devised the word and first published it on 28 January 1933 in the pamphlet "Now or Never". He made the name an acronym of the different states/homelands/regions, which broke down into: P=Punjab, A=Afghania (Ali's preferred name for the North West Frontier Province), K=Kashmir, S=Sindh and the suffix -stan from BalochiSTAN, thus forming "Pakstan". An "i"-sound later intruded to ease pronunciation, producing "Pakistan". Rahmat Ali later expanded upon this in his 1947 book Pakistan: the Fatherland of the Pak Nation. In that book he explains the acronym as follows: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, I=Iran, S=Sindh, T=Turkharistan (roughly the modern central Asian states), A=Afghanistan and N=BalochistaN. Another shade of meaning is added with the Persian word پاک Pāk, which means "pure"; the full name therefore meaning "land of the pure". Use of the name gradually became widespread during the campaign for the setting up of a Muslim state in what was then British India. Note too the Persian suffix -stan meaning "land".
The land-of-the-pure double meaning is rather clever. On the original question, "holm" may mean island, but in the sense of "small hill in marsh or valley" as well as "place at sea", so you get a few "-holm"s scattered in swampy areas. If you can find a dictionary of place-names, these often have a few pages at the back listing the meanings of the most common prefixes and suffixes. Shimgray | talk | 12:21, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This would be an idea for an article; etymology of placenames maybe? That could include suffixes, but also the origin of much used specific names, such as 'Woodstock' (finding the place where the festival was held drove me nuts - the US is full of Woodstocks). I suppose that means a place where chopped down trees were stored. And then there are placenames that have changed, such as New York (New Amsterdam) and St Petersbug (St Petersburg - Petrograd - Leningrad - St Petersburg again). So here we have three more suffixes: -dam, -burg and -grad. Some others are -gorod, -ia, -nesia, -polis, -dal, -sund, -ford, -tricht/trecht. -ton, -mouth, -shire. And that's just from a quick glance through my atlas. Do any such articles already exist? (Before I continue a pointless research) DirkvdM15:20, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Woodstock was named for Woodstock in Oxfordshire, which was originally Old English wudu (wood, forest) + stoc (place, outlying farmstead or hamlet, secondary settlement) - so "settlement in woodland". New York, incidentally, wasn't named for York the city but for York the person - the Duke of York, later James VII/II. (York dates back two millenia as a name - it's pre-Roman, latinised as Eboraceum, and originally meant "yew-tree estate" in Celtic)
Shimgray seems to have found the right article for this content. Unfortunately the article distributes entomology based on modern-day countries and I don't see where supranational suffixes would fit into the current structure. For what it's worth, here are some more suffixes:
Based on native words indicating a settlement or territory. -bad: Islambad. -grad: Novi Grad. -grade: Belgrade. -grod: Grodzisk. -gorod: Novgorod. -pol: Stavropol. -krai-: Kraina. -kray: Krasnodar Kray.
Based on native adjectives. -ski(y(e)): Chernyayevskiy. -skaya: Kargalinskaya. -skoy(e): Nagutskoye. -naya: Gornaya.
Based on native words for hills. -gor: Krasnogor. -gorsk: Magnitogorsk. Gór-: Górna.
Based on common last-name suffixes. -ov: Saratov. -ów: Leśników.
Other commonly used place name suffixes. -o: Stalino. -an: Yerevan. -ka, e.g. Głowacka. -sk: Chelyabinsk, Minsk.
Hmmm, I don't see much on the study of insects in that article. :) But jokes aside, this might become a separate section there. And I suspect it might even grow big enough to become a separate article. But let's start here. I'll move these suggestions to the talk page there, see if any more people pick it up. DirkvdM09:57, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
DirkvdM -- Good call, that Talk page seems to be the right place for further discussion. Thanks for moving the text over. Sorry about the insects. :) --24.20.130.25318:10, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi, i am having difficulty locating information on construction techniques from 1850 to present day. specifically related to floor construction and materials.
could you please help.
thankyou.
jo-ann harrison, architectural student.
I'm trying to find tv listings for August 1989, in particular I believe that "The Godfather" was aired on UK TV that month, and am trying to find out which date and which channel. Anyone have any ideas?
I'm trying to find out if Battersea Park Road was originally named just Park Road. Tracing some family history I have ancestors living in Park Road in the Municipal Borough of Battersea and the Ecclestical Parish of St Mary. St Mary's Church still stands and is in Battersea and near the Park, no other Park Road seems to exist in 1901 or now so I'm wondering if the Road name changed to Battersea Park Road in later years.
If anyone can shed any light on this I would be most grateful.
Looking at area using http://www.old-maps.co.uk , an 1880s map shows what is now called Battersea Park Road was then called "Lower Wandsworth Road" at that time. Of course it's possible its name changed several times. However, there's a road near the north-west corner of the park marked as "Park Road" between Battersea Bridge Road and the (now) Albert Bridge Road. It's called "Parkgate Road" on modern maps. Hope that helps. --Bob Mellish15:43, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
11/11/05
Is there any specific information on veterans KIA or MIA from WWI? and if so where would I began to look? Thanks
It really depends. What specific information are you after, and for what country and service? For basic information about Commonwealth troops, try the CWGCShimgray | talk | 14:15, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi
An important person gave me his yahoo email address when he left for his country & i lost it. I can't reach her with any means except by this yahoo email address. How can i get this address? My friend's name is Fiory negash & his residence is in Eritrea, East Africa.
I did a search on people.yahoo.com for just the last name, and it came up with these results. But when I put either the first name in, or just the initial, there were no results. Are you sure you have the spelling correct? Akamad19:38, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That's a neat utility. I might try to use it to find people named 'Schunck' who might contribute to the Schunck article. But isn't there a similar utility that isn't limited to Yahoo? Also, would this be ethical, sending a bunch of emails to people just because of their last name? DirkvdM10:05, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well I wouldn't call it spam, because it's not commercial. But, come to think of it, couldn't spammers easily use such a facility to find valid email addresses? I thought that people could in principle only get my email address through me (or other people who have (indirectly) obtained my email address through me). This worries me a bit. If only Yahoo does this then there should be a warning outm although on the other hand it is a useful service.
Anyway, when I search for 'Schunck' at Yahoo, the Wikipedia article is the first hit. And when I Google 'Schunck' it's the 6th main hit after the commercial ones at the top (a nuisance that has grown in the last few weeks and even days - is Google going down the drain?). So when those people are interrested they'll probably find it anyway. So I won't send the emails. DirkvdM09:02, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would like to know if possible, from you,
what happens when a baby swallows amniotic fluid
at birth...can it cause a child to have difficulties
with normal growth patterns,such as delayed speech,
delayed walking,and learning disabilities ?
Thank you for any info you can give me.
Pat Tillman
Babies swallow amniotic fluid during intrauterine life before birth. The only problem at delivery comes if during the labor the baby has pooped meconium into the amniotic fluid and then inhales ("aspirates") some of it into the lungs with the first breaths after delivery. Swallowing more of it would cause no trouble. alteripse21:17, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How can I contact the Blackfoot tribe/cheif for advocate work?
Hi Iam new here, my name is irisdancinghorse aka iris5441. Iam doing studies on tribes and want to contact a tribunal leader, or a affliate of the Blackfoot tribe? I've tried doing searches and have had no luck. anyone know if theres a way to contact them personally via email, and write them? I would greatly appreciate any input on this:) ty iris
If you are referring to the Blackfeet nation of the northwest plains, see Blackfeet Nation. That page contains contact information for the tribe. Note that there are other tribes referring to themselves as Blackfeet. Do you know which Blackfeet you are referring to? --Kainaw(talk)02:07, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
"Two weeks after that conversation, documents show that the coffin, loaded with sandbags and riddled with holes, was taken from the basement of the National Archives building in downtown Washington and dumped from an Air Force C-130 into the Atlantic Ocean at 10 a.m. on February 18, 1966."
"On June 1, 1999, the National Archives released this fascinating set of documents relating to the "sea burial" of the ceremonial casket used to transport President Kennedy's body from Dallas to Washington on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. The casket was dropped into 9000 feet of water off the coast of Maryland from a military helicopter in early 1966."
what is the diference between chicken and pigeon urogenital anatomy?
Pigeon: Large, paired, irregularly lobed kidneys. Ureter opens into cloaca. Male-- Paired testes in upper abdomen. Ductus deferens empty into cloaca. Female-- Right ovary and oviduct become vestigial. Oviduct secretes hormones over eggs. [32]
Chicken: The kidney in the chicken is multilobulated with no separation into cortex and medulla. The collecting tubules empty into the ureters which empty directly into the cloaca, a common vestibule into which the digestive and reproductive tracts also empty. No bladder is present. The kidney has a renal portal circulation as described previously. Uric acid is the main nitrogenous waste product excreted in birds. Urine of birds is usually cream coloured and viscous but under certain conditions it may be thin and watery. It is voided at the same time as the faeces and diuresis may give so-called wet droppings. [33]
They seem quite similar (it would be nice to know if the right ovary in chickens becomes vestigial like that of the pigeon, though). To find out, and find differences, you may need to consult a textbook. - Nunh-huh23:15, 11 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I was using hping2 and found in it's help a listing for the ymas flag. I know what the xmas flag is (urg+fin+push), but none of my friends (or even google) know what the ymas (apparently "bogus flag 0x80") really is.
I saw a commercial which shows allen iverson sitting on a metal counter(i think). then it highlighted allen's bodyparts in a robot-lookin analyzing way. And when it highlighted all of his parts some commentater said "he's a warrior". Then allen was walking straight to the camera saying(without moving his mouth) "time to go to work"? i'm just wonderin if thats even true about those injuries he had. if thats true, how did he get them?
Iverson has had quite a few injuries according to this page on the NBA web site. A USA Today article cited Iverson as No. 2 among the "10 toughest athletes" for playing through many of his injuries. Iverson is relatively small for an NBA player (6'0", 165 pounds), and the USA Today article says "his hellbent style often leaves him battered and bruised." --Metropolitan9005:36, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
DO NOT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON T.V. Professional sports are filled with few whiners.
How big would that be? I believe there are a few hundred thousand pictures on Wikipedia and if they are 100 kB on average that would mean tens of GB for the pics alone. Or would such a cd/dvd only have the images in the size used in the article? DirkvdM10:15, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
All the information you need is under Wikipedia:Database download - yes, you can download the database, but it won't be in a very "presentable" form. The June 2005 dump (as to give you an idea) was apparently 17GB. There is also a group of users working on Wikipedia 1.0, a version of Wikipedia suitable for release on eg CD or DVD. — QuantumEleven | (talk)10:41, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Or twenty-five CDs, as the case may be. It'd probably be a bit smaller if they compressed it somehow and removed all the fairuse images, though. --Aquillion01:49, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Brian Wightman of London has asked the following question on our Help Desk mailing list:
Hi! I wonder if you can help us answer a quiz question. "who was modelled on the Michelin Man?" It seems unclear whether Bertie basset was or not and then there's the Kandy Man,the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the Pillsbury dough boy. The answer needs to be or represent something well known in British homes,maybe not now but was common in many homes way back in the twentieth century. Hope you can help us, Kind Regards Brian Wightman London N3
Isn't the question the wong way around? In which the answer would be the Michelin Man was modelled after a stack of tyres. But that's too easy an answer so I suppose you got the question the right way around. DirkvdM09:13, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I need a list of elected officials who served in House & Senate during the year 1954. I am using this for a research project. Thanks!
I assume you mean the US House and Senate, if so, the US Senate website has this search feature. Just search for 1954 in the "Year OR Congress" field. It shows the results for both Senate and House. Akamad03:30, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If that was true, there would have to be slaughter on a truely ghastly scale to fill all the kebab takeaways in most cities. To quote Krusty the Clown "The animal we made the Ribwich from is extinct." "What! The cow?!" "Think smaller, and with more legs..." smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)22:48, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Chester, I removed the underlining from your sig 'cause it was affecting the rest of the page. Two in one day! Am I making this up? Sharkford22:47, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Alright, I'll be the one to point this out then (just in case some readers start to wonder). It's döner kebab. And it's from Turkey or thereabouts and predates the Donner party. Sorry about being such a spoilsports. :) DirkvdM09:20, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I had to actually read that question twice. You admit to having read the article Döner kebab (which Donner kebab redirects to), so you must have seen its correct spelling. Yet you ask if the food gets its name from a political party with the same name as an incorrect spelling? Is this supposed to be a joke? — JIP | Talk19:21, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Random question: Where can I get or generate a blank world map, preferably as a single high-resolution image file? I'm wanting something that can be printed at about 16" by 20" and still look reasonably good - for preference, a simple outline or block-colour map, rather than a full colour "atlas" style one. (It's for the background of a smallish wall poster) Shimgray | talk | 15:43, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am currently making a website for my school that lets students upload files. however i want them to be able to edit the files, like on wikipedia. Is there any way someone can tell me the program that wikipedia uses to let anyone edit everypage? can you please email it to [email removed].
Rex
There is a list of wiki software packages at List of wiki software. Wikipedia uses MediaWiki, which has a number of features related to performance and scale you might not need. In particular, it uses an actual database to store the articles rather than a simple file system based approach. Most wikis are open source and can be freely downloaded. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:40, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Now that you've got a good answer to that, may I suggest you (also) let your pupils work on Wikipedia as an assignment, starting, contributing to and possibly even correcting articles? That way they'll get much more satisfaction from their 'homework' because they're doming something useful. And another advantage of course is that they'll indeed be doing something useful for humanity. And since many kids seem to have a tendency to vandalise Wikipedia, this could be a way to divert that energy in a positive direction. Which would make us happier - and thus the world as a whole because that's what we are. It might just mean more work for you, but, hey, it's for a good cause. :) DirkvdM09:35, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If they are not contributing to existing articles, please be sure they don't create duplicate topics that will have to be merged. That seems to be the most serious issue with influxes of organized editing(as an assignment or as a group). Superm401 | Talk09:40, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i just went on amazon.com to order something but i forgot my credit card and i can`t find my credit card can i go to the company website if not can i go to another website to see what it is.
If you've lost your credit card, you should call your credit card company to issue a replacement. In the meantime, you could try phishing. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ21:58, 12 November 2005 (UTC) ( OMG!, Good Answer! )[reply]
It will be on your credit card statements, however you will still need your expiry date and security number. If you have lost your card you should cancel it immediately and get another in case it has been stolen. If you use the Google toolbar you can store your credit card information for the purpose of automatically filling out online forms. You will still need a password to access this information. Shantavira14:33, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Question, at the begining of Halo 2, they show an explosion (with fire) of Halo in outer space. How is there fire in a place with no oxygen?
there could be liquid oxygen stored inside of the ship and there is obviously some oxygen because the people in the ship could breathe. But setting aside those things, there couldn't actually be a fire. BrokenS23:53, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The answer I always use is... You are absolutely correct. There is absolutely no way that there can be a fire in space. All that garbage about stars burning is space must be some sort of space alien propoganda. Thanks for pointing out this obvious error in (fill in the fire in space example here).
That answer suggests that you believe that stars produce energy by combustion - that is, by oxidation of fuel rather than by thermonuclear fusion. Which is probably not something you want to advertise<g>. - Nunh-huh08:17, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
sorry..i don't really know much about this stuff, but are you guys talking about the game Halo 2? if you are, then dude, there's no point in asking the question about explosions in space is impossible because there's no oxygen, tell me...do you see any ugly ass aliens running around with guns, saying "they're here!"...if your not talking about this, then forget what i just said...entirely...and just call me an IDIOT! ♥Hot F.L.I.P.
Of course, even if it may not be probable, or if it isn't really happening, at least it is hypothetically possible for ugly ass aliens to run around with guns saying "they're here!" Yeltensic42.61818:16, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My grandmother was recently placed in a home and while going through her stuff we found a box with dozens of Certificates of Equity from the 1970's. What are they and could they be worth anything?
It's some sort of investment. We would need to know details. Could you post the full text of one of the certificates with your grandmother's name removed? Superm401 | Talk09:41, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
while i was doing my science homework...i know it sounds stupid...but i came up with this question..and i don't know...i guess i'm just curious...♥Hot F.L.I.P.
See Acid rain: "The resulting increased acidity in soil and waterways has proven to be harmful to fish and vegetation." Also check out this photo of an old statue from David's Roman Holiday photos. All the brown, nasty stuff is air pollution that's been deposited onto the white marble and etched away some of it's surface.
well, i guess i'll have to research more about this study...i actually bought some pH soil testers... i tested 3 types of soil...i from a major highway (I 94), one in front of my house, and one from the suburbs...i tested each soil 6 times...3 times with an pH soil tester (do it manually) and 3 times with a pH soil meter (electronic)...and in the end, my results concluded that air pollution doesn't affect the soil's pH...but i guess i was wrong... ♥Hot F.L.I.P.
I have a friend who has a scroll which seems to be written in Amaraic which I believe is a descendant of Phoenician language which disappeared about 1000 BC.. It was used later by Hebrew scribes to document ancient Jewish canons and common laws I think.
I have a picture of the scroll.. and will forward it to anyone who emails me at [email address deleted; see page history] ... subj REQUEST SCROLL JPG its really interesting.. I have never seen anything like it anywhere.. It could be several thousand years old. No one seems to have any idea of what language it was written in, nor what it might say, or where it came from, nor who used it or for what reason ?
regards. Bill Griffin Cumming, GA
According to our article on the Aramaic language, it is spoken by around half a million people today, scattered all over the place. It's certainly not dead - indeed, it only really dates from about 1000 BC! I doubt the scroll is several thousand years old for pragmatic reasons - original documents dating back more than a thousand years are exceptionally rare - and if I was able to hold it I'd be able to give you a first guess as to age... but obviously that's not a useful option here.
As shimgray is implying, there are a number of things which have been called Aramaic. If you take it to some bible scholars (academic or clergy) who are particularly learned in Semitic languages, they should be able to have a go. If it is close to Hebrew script, though, any rabbi should be able to get by on reading it, although some of the vocabulary and syntactic forms may be unfamiliar. jnothmantalk09:31, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually you could compare it to the dead sea scrolls, which have been scanned and displayed in a library in San Diego, CA. and at the library of congress. The number of different compositions represented is almost one thousand, and they are written in three different languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. --Artoftransformation17:48, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but there are also multiple scripts used in the Dead Sea Scrolls, just for Hebrew, so I assume also multiple scripts for other languages. jnothmantalk10:41, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen a small 'Gecko' type lizard with wide webbed feet that let it run across water, and that was refered to a Jesus Christ lizard. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)22:30, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi An important person gave me his yahoo email address when he left for his country & i lost it. I can't reach her with any means except by this yahoo email address. How can i get this address? My friend's name is Fiori( I just corrected the spelling) negash & her residence is in Eritrea, East Africa. I also need the email Address of Senait Zereay or Sesen Zereay also from Eritrea. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.200.102.38 (talk • contribs)
Well, there is the difference that the name was misspelled the first time. But I don't see how that makes a real difference. DirkvdM08:05, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I just spoke with my friend from Erithrea, East Africa. He said for things things:
A majority of internet access there is throuh internet cafes. You might email some of those, and post a reward.
Almost everyone there is in the Capitol, if they are not, it is very unlikely that you will be able to reach them. Do you know anyone else there?
Altough there is a couple of million people, it should not be hard to find someone.
If this person has been conscripted into national service, then you will NOT be able to reach them.
Where is the streatch limo in vice city? I have been looking for it forever. Someone help me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ztocchi (talk • contribs)
There is also a 'Love Fist Limo.' Take it to a garage during one of the Love Fist missions. There arelinks at the end of the GTA:VC article that have game hints in them. --Artoftransformation09:10, 14 November 2005 (UTC) 20:45, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've been having a bit of a hard time finding some info about Vanna White. Specifically about the media reports and possible lawsuit (from what I recall) that surrounded her appearance in Playboy magazine. I had thought that she sued the magazine at the time the pictures came out but I can't find anything with various Google searches. Since it was 1987 I thought that maybe there is a bunch of stuff that's not online as newspapers and such may not have had their articles on the web then so I might have to go to one of those library things. :-) So, any ideas where to look on the net or searches to use that would help me out? Dismas|(talk)21:41, 13 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
what are the ten greatest movies about a war or an empire what country are the directors of those films from and what country does that particular film take place and just in case your wondering iam not doing my homework. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.161.135.80 (talk • contribs)
Ben-Hur and Spartacus immediately come to mind. Probably two of the greatest epics ever made. The latter is by the fabulous Stanley Kubrick, who was an American, but made most of his films in the UK. William Wyler was the director of Ben-Hur (1959).
I think I remember knowing a foums person who's mother was raped and born from that incident. Not sure if thats just my imagination, so has there been anyone famous person born in this manner? --Ice_Jedi5 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ice Jedi5 (talk • contribs)
In most societies this is something that would never be mentioned, including by the mother to the child, but there must have been some. CalJW09:25, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Abstinance educator Pam Stenzel says that she was conceived when her mother was raped. Gospel/jazz singer Ethel Waters. Also Leonard Reed, creator of the Shim Sham Shimmy tap dance routine, who was also credited with breaking the color barrier in the Professional Golfers' Association in 1951. Crypticfirefly05:45, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The past tense word is "born", not "borned". The present and future tense is "bear", just ask "the once and future king". StuRat21:49, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In Oceanside California there's a man named Frank Bravo who says he's, at 90 years old, a former member of the WWII Flying Tigers. Does anyone have any information on him? --209.247.222.8904:11, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Play a song, with one less chair...
Actually, I have no idea what your question means:
See Chair ( Excellent article )
.what are the forces acting on chairs?
Gravity holds them down.
They form a support for weight, similar to that of Arches, Bridges and tables. They spread the force of the weight on their feet, while supporting the weight from lateral (Horizontal movement). --Artoftransformation10:15, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect you are asking about creating a computer model of the forces acting on a chair, say an FEM model. That certainly is possible, but different chair designs will distribte the forces in different ways. A bean bag chair, for example, will be very different from a traditional chair. StuRat21:08, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Can anyone tell me when the quickest own goal was scored by a debutant in a soccer match?
I am following Wycombe Wanderers who are in League Two of the English Football League. On Saturday, Richard Keogh made his debut and scored in his own net after 36 minutes.
I am told this is by no means the quickest and that Steve Bruce of Norwich City achieved the feat much quicker.
Can anyone help?
Steve from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.
Hello,
William Ewart Gladstone was well known for felling oak trees as a hobby. I heard a while ago that Donald Rumsfeld also enjoys this hobby (although using a chainsaw) as does another neo-con politician. I can't remember who the other politician is, does anyone know? or does anyone know of any other politicians or famous people who enjoyed felling trees as a pastime, rather than as an occupation?
Thanks. AllanHainey12:43, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Will you please tell me - when the light switch was moved from the floor of an automobile to the steering column. Thank you.
It would depend on the car. Many cars still do not have the light switch on the column stalk but on a dashboard switch panel. -Drdisque17:49, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In my experience the headlamp on/off switch was always dash mounted; the floor switch was the dimmer switch, used to change the headlights from high beams to low beams. It carried the full headlamp current, and gave way to switches integrated with the signal light stalk when relays came into play, allowing thinner wires and smaller switches. When? Hmmm. My dad's '72 Chev pickup still had a floor-mounted dimmer, but trucks were not in those days the first to get new convenience features. Sharkford22:27, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm trying to get a phone number for the Kirkland Signature company; as I would like to determine the expiration date for some Kirkland Signature "Balsmic Vinger" of Modena.
I don't know if this is the right place to ask; but the internet doesn't see to give their information.
If you can help me, I would appreciate it very much.
In the the movie "The Others" Nicole Kidman finds an album of pictures of people after death that are posed for pictures. This is a book of the dead and my understanding is the photos in the book in the movie are real. I find these photos very interesting. Is there a book or website out there that displays these?
Several books of formal funeral pictures have been published. At different times and places, it was the custom to take a formal photo after death. One of the stranger and more poignant was entitled if I remember correctly, Wisconsin Death Trip or something like that: all the photos were from old 19th century glass plates. In a bookstore I have also seen a book of death photos by a big city police and news photographer: many were crime scene or autopsy. The books are usually categorized as photography books in book stores and you could try searching the usual online used book sources. However, if you are more of a movie person and want a specific book from a specific movie, I can't help you. alteripse18:43, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am trying deperately to locate the origin of a movie quote. I do believe it is from a Jean Claude movie.
The scene goes something like this:
Two guys are in a bar, the villian throws a punch, the punch is 'caught' mid blow, one handed by the hero and says something to the effect of "not today."
Any help would be greatly appreciate as there is a lot riding on a wager.
Please could you help me find footage/photographs/information/write-ups (basically anything really) on Judo championships from around the years 1964-1991? The reason i ask is that i'm trying to trace any of the above which contain information/photographs of my very good friend, Mr Alan Konderla, as a surprise. He was born in South Wales, Great Britain, in February 1951 and he stopped competing in 1991. I know he has taken part in competitions in Denmark, Sweden, North Wales, South Africa, and many other countries although when and where exactly these contests were, i have no idea. I know that SOMETHING exists with him in because both he and his mother have spoken of watching his matches on televisions in their hotels. I've trawled many internet search engines and exhausted searches on loads of television channel websites from these countries but to no avail so maybe i'm going about this the wrong way (or possibly looking in completely the wrong place!!)
Therefore, if anyone can help me, or simply point me towards a more hopeful destination, i would be extremely grateful !!
Many thanks,
86.135.117.14619:54, 14 November 2005 (UTC)karen[reply]
Why are generic brands cheaper than name brands? Why does one can of corn cost forty cents but the other sixty, I mean they're both cans of corn. This can apply to all generics materials including drugs, why does one bottle of pain reliever cost six dollars and the other just three when they both contain the same ingredients and dosage?
Often the named and generic products are made at the same factory, so you're getting exactly the same content. Why would anyone pay more? In very general terms, companies try to convince people that there's something special about their name brand product so they'll buy it even if they have to pay more. Read about branding and marketing to learn more about these tactics. --Avijja23:29, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Pharmaceuticals often have enormous research and certification costs as well. The original (branded) manufacturer needs to recoup these but the generic producers just copy the (already certified and researched) branded formula. Lisiate23:32, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i need to evaluate the follwoing subjects. marxism, functionalism and interactionism and i do not know the strenghts and weaknesses of these can you help
You're in luck! Just enter those terms into the Wikipedia search and you'll soon learn more about those subjects. You can also get some great results by entering these words into Google. Although we're glad to help, we can't do your homework assignments for you. --Avijja23:42, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
International style (architecture) and Bauhaus were popular in the USSR, which is one reason the nazis didn't like it, so the architects (Bauhaus was German) fled to the USSR, which only strengthened the effect. Now that's the USSR, which is not the same as Marxism, but there's obviously a link. I suppose it has in part to do with both socialism/communism and modernism being about a 'brave new world'. Out with the old, in with the new. An example of the architectural international style is the Glaspaleis ('Glass palace' in the Netherlands), which was also nicknamed a 'palace for the people'. Another 'palace for the people' is the Moscow Metro, and a metro is good example of modernist efficiency (and thus functionalism). Then again, the ornamentations are very baroque and thus non-modernist and non-functional.
I applaud DirkvdM's thoughtful analysis of a fairly complex problem from an architectural viewpoint. I would add that proto-Marxist states favored functional, modernist architecture because their simplicity and low cost enabled the government to house many people efficiently; the identical buildings enforced a sense of classless social uniformity; and the very lack of frills was a deliberate break with the Tsarist-era bourgeois decadence styles. However ... "functionalism" is a term with different meanings in architecture and sociology. The reason I said "do your homework" was because these three terms are some of the first things covered in Sociology 101 and offer theories on the reasons why people interact, establish social institutions and why these institutions take a certain form -- see Interactionism and Functionalism (sociology). I find it amusing that the very lack of context in the question made it possible to interpret it a way that simply didn't occur to me, yet made a great deal of sense. Cheers! --Avijja04:32, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The fantastic thing about Wikipedia is that if you find an error on a page, you can fix it yourself because anyone can edit! So best thing to do would be to go to the Tiny Thompson article and click the "edit this page" link at the top of the page and change the date. But according to this site, the correct birthdate is on the article now. But either way, happy editing! Akamad23:26, 14 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello: Sir/Maa'm
On October 18th I signed some documents with the Army National Guards stating that
I will contract with them for 2 years reserve and 6 years active duty. My question is that since I was not told of all the facts before hand and was rushed into this whole process of signing. After becoming aware of some facts I do not agree on doing am I still liable for complying with this contract or am too late to back out?
I've talked to a friend of mine who said that he signed also the same documents with the marines, but before his time for basic training was up; he told them he did not want to do it afterwards and he never showed up to boot-camp. He said he did again one more time and end up not going to basic training and he never had any problems with his criminal record as being "Other than Honorable Discharge". He said they (the military, whatever branch is) is not suppossed to assume that you are part of their branch until you signed a second set of papers just before getting to basic training.
Is this correct?
If not, could you tell me what exactly are the consequences for signing these papers the very first time and end up not going thru the whole process. See my case is the one like I believe very many have taken place before, I was attracted to the Army national guards because the recruiter told me I only was required to show up a weekend every month for drilling and that I was going to get paid about $190.00 every month for doing that and on top of that my tuition and fees were going to be paid in full for 36 months. However, I was not told that after going thru basic training you become immediately activated and can go to war(Irak) any time after. My basic training is scheduled for May the 29th. Am I still on time to back out and let them know I am not interested anymore without taking any chances of comprimising my criminal record?
I talked to the recruiter about this and he said; "if anybody is to backed out after signing those papers things like this could happen 1) that person can get arrested and put in prison 2) he/she can get a felony on his/her criminal record for failing to comply with contract 3) he/she can get a dishonorable discharge.
I did some research on the internet and found out that when someone signs the very first set of papers before basic training
that person is under what they call DEP Delayed Enlistment Program and that yes anybody can back out of their agreement but the writer explains that a "Other than Honorable Discharge" could be placed in that person's record.
Who is right? that writer from the Internet or my friend?
I sure do not feel obligated to comply with something I was not told with all the facts, pro's and con's.
I would appreciate if someone has an answer for this and let me know of all the things that could or could not happen in case I do not want to proceed with this.
For your help and time to in keeping people like me informed, I truly appreciate you guys!
Please review the documents that you signed. It doesn't matter how many times you sign the papers, but what's important are the words in the contracts you signed. Please speak with your recruiters, tell them you don't want to join, and that you didn't understand that you could be called up for active duty. If your recruiters aren't helpful, find out who their bosses are and talk to them. Ask your councilor at school, they may know where you can go for help. If all this fails, you might be able to find a lawyer that will help you for free. Do NOT delay, ignore this or decide not to show up for basic -- it will be too late and you might go to jail. If your recruiters didn't tell you that you might end up on active duty, then they did something very bad, and you should be able to get out of this. Good luck. --Avijja00:01, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This is how my DI introduced himself on my very first day of boot camp: "I am your Drill Instructor. I am your mother and father for the next three months. I don't care what your mother or father says and I especially don't care what your recruiter says. The first person who begins any sentence with 'My recruiter said...' will be spending a whole day in the pit until his mind is so numb that he doesn't remember having a recruiter. Let me make this brutally clear so that even the dumbest pile of rocks can understand. Your recruiter lied to you. It is his job to lie to you. It is my job to be honest and, honestly, I can't see more than half of you lasting more than a week." Ahh, sweet memories of Hotel California. --Kainaw(talk)00:41, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know. If you mean to suggest that that makes that clear, the problem is I'd have to read a substantial bit of the question to figure that out. If I would have known in the first place. It would be a lot handier if people were more specific about what exactly the topic is, preferably at the beginning of the question. See point two above about 'how to ask a question'. DirkvdM12:07, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a proper typographical term for the small images that some books use between sections of text or at the end of a chapter? -- Tarquin08:46, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Has anyone got an idea how to solve this code?
I think it is supposed to be a calculation and that it is some sort of substitution based on a certain keyboard. Any tips?
If it is a substitution cypher, it is not difficult to figure out. You just look for an obvious clue. For example, the last "word" is -8--_. How many words have the same letter three times like that? LOLLY, BOBBY, DODDY... Once you figure that out, you can replace the other letters and pick it apart. Of course, this is all based on the assumption that this is a substitution cypher. --Kainaw(talk)15:22, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, the result may need to be an equation of some sort, so frequency analysis won't help a bloody bit.
Checking "lilly" for the last word, it turns out to be a list of names as follows:
Terry 0'Quinn
Matthew Fox
Dominic Monaghan
Jorge Garcia
Maggie Grace
Ian Somerhaler
Josh Holloway
Daniel Kim
Evangeline Lilly
Apparently that makes it the cast of the tv series "Lost" which makes a lot more sense than the jumbled stuff I had. How did you think of checking for lilly? - Mgm|(talk)18:34, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As I said, the last word was very limited. I already thought of LOLLY, which made a lot of sense, but the O didn't look right. So, I used LILLY. That led to guessing LINE at the end of Evangeline. That pretty much solved the rest of it. --Kainaw(talk)18:42, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When Ken Kennedy hit Eddie in the head with a chair on Friday Night Smackdown! did this cause the death? I know he died of a heart attack but when Kennedy hit him it might have caused something to go wrong. Has Kennedy said anything about Eddie's death? Please write as soon as possible. 216.220.231.22616:16, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A urgent matter of information
It wasn't a heart attack. It was heart failure. His heart was enlarged and worn thin by heart disease brought on by "past drug alcohol and drug abuse." There was no trauma.
When, where & between whom was the more goals scored in one game in a match of world cup?
According to this site the highest scoring match was 7-Austria to 5-Switzerland. Which, as shown on this all-soccer-info.com site, was during the Quarter finals of the '54 World Cup in Switzerland, on June 26, played at La Pontaise. Though I imagine there were higher scoring matches during the qualifying stages, for example, I'm pretty sure Australia regularly scores higher than that during their qualifying games, I'll try to look into that. Akamad23:47, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
That's not true. In 2 world cup qualifiers in 2001, Australia scored 22 goals against Tonga, and beat American Samoa 31-0. [36] Please do your research before posting an answer. Prototc13:21, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[37][reply]
Who is the all time leading goal scorer in fifa's world cup& How many goals scored. Who scored the most goals in one game in world cup match & how many goals? I would like also to know who scored the most goals in one tournment of world cup & how many goals?
Okay this is probably a really stupid question but is hardware part of secondary storage?...See I have a project to do one hardware secondary storage but I can't find it. When I look it up it only gives me storage. Is there a link that explains hardware secondary storage in detail????
I was given two bushels of mums in dirt, not in pots. It is too late to plant them now. I am in Northeast Pa. Can I keep plants in basement until spring. Will they go dormant or do I need to water them once in a while? Thank you.
Florence Chew
I am a 19-year old musician myself; and Alicia is one role models. I am seeking information on the analysis of Alicia Keys song "Unbreakable" in terms of the musical elements (such as texture, tempo, dynamic, instruments, tone color, etc). Please assist me!
How do they enter information on a computer chip.
I have studided how the chip is made but I can't find out how the numbers and letters are put on and how they are returned to me when I press certain keys on the keyboard.
I know the numbers are put somewhere but where and how are they assembled into the information I'm asking for?
Roy Downing
You are looking at it the wrong way. It is a lot more complicated than "press a key and a letter appears". You need to look into ASCII codes commonly used by keyboards, input buffers which hold typed codes, and video display registers, which allow you turn pixels on and off.
Very briefly, you press a key and a code is stored in the input buffer. A program pulls the code from the input buffer and decides what to do with it. If it wants to display it on the screen, it looks up an image map for the code (usually in a font library). It then tells the display controller to draw that image map in a specific spot on the screen. The display controller converts that command to setting the pixel color of each pixel on your screen. --Kainaw(talk)20:20, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
And keep in mind that what is stored in a computer is just binary code (zeros and ones if that's what you want to call it) that can be interpreted in any way one sees fit. It could represent a letter (as with the ascii code) or a number - either as ascii or as a binary number. Thus, you could do arithmetic with letters, which is not as stupid as it sounds. For example, the ascii codes for small and capital letters are 32 'positions' apart; 65 (decimal) is 'A' and 97 is 'a'. So by substracting 32 from a small letter you can capitalise it. DirkvdM13:30, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Traditionally, the unicorn was used as a symbol for Scotland, as a corrolary to the English lion (which still crops up occasionally). This was derived from the Royal Coat of Arms of Scotland - the "supporters", animals on each side of the shield, were unicorns. It's not clear when this came into use - our page suggests the twelfth century. Does anyone have any idea why unicorns, specifically? Brewer's doesn't have anything, and it's normally a good source on this sort of thing, nor do any of our various heraldic/mythology pages. Shimgray | talk | 22:03, 15 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Paris Street Directions Paris to Cimitiere des Chiens
A user on the Wikipedia helpdesk has posted this question.
I am looking for directions on how to get from Paris city center to the Cimitiere des Chiens . Somewhere I read to take Metro line 13, Gabriel Peri-Anieres/Genevilliers, however I can find no further directions .
who was the youngest person ever to be tried for crimes aganist humanity.
Their were some concentration Guards, during WWII who were in their early 20's.
what is prepaying the interest on your existing mortgage when refinancing?
Let's say in 2002 you got a 5-year mortgage for $100,000 from your bank at 8% interest. Now in 2005, your outstanding principal is $95,000, and you want to build an addition on your house and pay for it by borrowing $30,000, i.e., increasing the outstanding principal of your mortage to $125,000. Let's say that the bank's interest rate on a 5-year mortgage has dropped to 6%. Of course, you want to pay 6% on the new money that you are borrowing. If the bank gives you a 6% mortgage on the full $125,000, it loses out 2% interest on $95,000 for the next two years. So you have to compensate the bank for that loss by pre-paying the interest that it will lose. By doing so, you get the bank to let you out of the old 8% mortgage, and give you a new mortgage at the lower 6% rate. (This is somewhat simplified, but I hope that it answers your question.) Ground Zero | [[User talk:Ground Zero|t]] 15:38, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
WTF? If you have to pay the bank a fee on your old loan when you refinance, that is known as a prepayment penalty, and is a feature of the contract you signed when you closed the loan. It doesn't have anything to do with the difference in interest rates offered at the time, again it is just a feature of the contract you signed. Prepayment penalties may be structured something like 2% for 3 years, 1% for 3 years, 3% for one year, etc, but there are regulations on how long they can go and how much they can be, varying by state in the US at least. They are assessed based on the amount of the principal paid early, before the term of the loan is up. Ex. if your balance is $100k and you refi while you have a 2% prepayment penalty, you'll pay a 2k penalty. That's not prepaying interest but may be what the asker was confused with. That is one possible meaning for prepayment in relation to loans. Possibly what the asker was referring to is you can prepay interest on a loan you are going to get by paying a fee to the lender upfront. For example a lender may offer a 6% interest rate with no fee, or a 5.5% interest rate with a fee. The fee is called points, or prepaid interest, and is usually a percentage point of the loan balance you're taking out, thus the name. Because it is counted as prepaid interest you get to deduct it as interest paid on your income taxes. That's all for the US at least, maybe commonwealth or other countries use similar terms differently. In any case, our mortgage and refinancing articles are pretty terrible. - TaxmanTalk16:11, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My answer was based on my recollection of getting out of a 5-year mortgage in the early 1990s in Canada. I paid a penalty based on the difference between the posted rate and my mortgage rate. My mortgage rate was 9.5%, and the short-term rates had dropped significantly. I waited to switch to a short-term mortgage until there was a brief rise in rates in order to minimize the penalty that I had to pay. It was not a fixed amount. And we don't get to deduct mortgage interest either :-(. Ground Zero16:20, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hence my wtf. That's wacky, and exemplifies things can work very differently in diff countries. People on the RD rarely tell us where they are from. I suspect that's because you refinanced with the same bank you held the old loan with. If you financed the new loan with someone else you would have just gotten whatever rate they offered. Your fee was still likely set out in the old loan contract though, so it may have specified an even larger fee if you refinanced with someone else. Anyway, mortgages are large and complicated and it pays to read the fine print or have someone you trust explain it to you. - TaxmanTalk16:35, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If a cup of water has been sitting for a while, Why do little bubbles form on the sides in the water?
I suppose imperfections in the surface of the glass function as seeds (analogous to crystals) for the aggregation of gases in the water. Why the gasses want to group together I don't know. Nor why they need seeds for it. DirkvdM13:40, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Water is viscous. The surface tension traps bubbles if there is something next to the surface to trap the bubbles against (like the side of a glass). Keep in mind that even if there is no gas in water when you put it in a glass (which there always is because you can't be perfect), water still breaks itself down into oxygen and hydrogen. --Kainaw(talk)19:15, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Probably more significant than the breakdown of water is the fact that really pure (deionized) water will disolve atmospheric gases such as CO2 very easily, so if there's no gas to start with, their soon will be. --Bob Mellish19:19, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Was the Ford Motor Company ever involved in the cement business? If so, when and where?
Yes, Ford made cement, almost certainly in Michigan, possibly elsewhere. Henry Ford was involved in production of things in large amounts and small. To make more cars more efficiently required larger open factories which could be constructed from concrete (See Albert Kahn). Detroit also invented concrete roads which promoted the use of autombiles and brought more business. Ford also created the first concrete-paved runways in the world at his company airport for Ford-brand airplanes. Other products included Ford refrigerators, Ford Tomato Juice, Ford fertilizer, Highland Rose Cold Cream, named after the Model T plant, Ford Maple Syrup. Ford charcoal, once made from Ford Model T scraps is now called Kingsford Matchlight. Rmhermen04:53, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why do we tend to refer to killers by their full names? Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wayne Gacy come to mind. If they'd won Nobel Peace Prizes, they'd be plain old Lee Oswald and John Gacy. Why is this? JackofOz06:20, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
One explanation - who knows if it's right or not - is that it's a way of preventing libel suits. If you report two names rather than three, there's a greater likelihood that someone has the same name, and will sue you for implying they are are a murderer. There are lots more Lee Oswalds than there are Lee Harvey Oswalds. - Nunh-huh07:06, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hmmm ... Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't exactly ring my chimes. The media do certainly have a vested interest in ensuring they don't inadvertently get into trouble with the libel laws. However mentioning eg. Michael Brown (and not his full name Michael James Brown) in the specific context of a story about a murderer, where it's clear that you're talking about Michael Brown the murderer and not any of the thousands of other Michael Browns, surely could not be an invitation to sue. I know the libel laws do differ from country to country, but have we really gone that far down the path of litigiousness? Could a private citizen who just happened to be named Saddam Hussein sue a paper for not disambiguating him from the former Iraqi leader? I don't think so. JackofOz10:08, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I'm with Jack on that one. The world knew of Lee Harvey Oswald (all three names) before the States really started getting excessively litigious. I just don't buy it. The movie Conspiracy Theory, with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts, mentions this a bit. In it Gibson's character mentions the fact that killers who actually succeed are known by all three names whereas people like John Hinckley, who failed to kill his target is only known by his first and last names. Dismas|(talk)10:26, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yeahbut: Lynette Squeaky Fromme. "Oh Shit, I shot it!" (3 name failure) Mary Seurrat (2 name "success") William Henry Harrison (not a killer)... Of course the fictional "Ralph Hinkley" (alter-ego of "The Great American Hero") had to become "Ralph Hanley" in the aftermath..... Most likely a way of making people who have done what we consider "important" deeds have "important sounding" names. Nunh-huh10:53, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks folks. The more I think about it, the more I think it has to do with what happens when a well-known person is murdered and they catch the killer. The media naturally want to report the full story as early as possible, so all details of the killer are fair game (full name, race, sex, marital status, unusual things about height or weight, etc). So the first name presented to the world is a triple barrelled one, and first impressions count. Other journos parrot the story, and the name quickly becomes firmly embedded in both the national consciousness and the brains of journalists. Then we have the trial, where the defendant is asked to confirm that he is "Michael James Brown", and so on it goes. But interestingly, murderers who only kill their family members or some other unknown person, rather than some VIP, don't get the same treatment. Melbourne seems to be the murder capital of Australia, and there are always people knocking off their wives and kids (I exaggerate, of course), and they get a lot of media coverage, but we only ever hear their first name and surname. This 3-name phenomenon seems restricted to murderers of VIPS. JackofOz10:50, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
According to this site the highest scoring match was 7-Austria to 5-Switzerland. Which, (as shown on this site, www.all-soccer-info.com) was during the Quarter finals of the '54 World Cup in Switzerland, on June 26, played at La Pontaise. Though I imagine there were higher scoring matches during the qualifying stages, for example, I'm pretty sure Australia regularly scores higher than that during their qualifying games, I'll try to look into that. Speaking of which Australia is going to the World Cup! Huzzah!!! Akamad23:51, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The most vegetarian country is probably India. Most of the country is Hindu, which forbids meat-eating. Not to mention it has over a billion residents... Articuno1
I haven't read the atheism article and it probably states this, but not being religious is not the same as being an atheist, so the conclusion about the Czech republic is too strong. It's merely an indication. The Czech republic article is more accurate by saying that 59% are agnostics or atheists. The Netherlands scores fairly high too, by the way, with 42% non-religious and 70% never going to church, according to the article. DirkvdM09:00, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Isn't that pretty much what I said? I said that the Czech Republic was the most atheistic, not the least religious. After all, there are a number of atheistic religions, such as Buddhism and Confucianism (although it's possible to combine either of them with a theistic religion, and therefore still be a theist)...not to mention the Invisible Pink Unicorn, but that's a different matter. Yeltensic42.61816:47, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If we're making a distinction between irreligiousness and atheism, I would say that most Czechs are not "atheists." I lived in Prague for two years and didn't really see much active hostility toward religion. Most Czechs I met are like many Americans in that they might get married in a church and keep a Bible in the house but don't go to church regularly. -- Mwalcoff01:30, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Careful, I've noticed that some people can react rather aggressively (ironically) when Buddhism is called an atheist religion. And anyway, I'd sooner call it agnostic, because that doesn't make a religious statement. For clarification, as I see it, agnosticism means "I don't know if there's a God", atheism "There is no God", belief "There is a God" and religion "This is the one true God" (as put down in the Holy Book - and let's massacre those who think otherwise). Where 'God' can mean any supernatural being (including oneself? - Another interpretation of Buddhism). One could say that atheism is inherently a belief (and if put down as a dogma a religion) because it makes a statement about the existence of God. About the Czech republic, in the atheism article it says that 59% have no religion and the conclusion is that it could therefore be the most atheist country in the world. Which is nonsense because there are no statistics (mentioned) on how many atheists there are. They could all be agnostics. DirkvdM07:40, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, that is pretty ironic...but I have to wonder why they react that way, it's not like it should be a big deal (by the way, if you haven't seen my userpage, I'm an atheist myself, I didn't say that to attack Buddhism). I will point out that atheism doesn't have to mean "belief that there is no god(s)" in the same sense that theism is "belief there is a god(s)"; it can mean "believe" in the same sense as "I believe that you are telling me the truth", as atheist Douglas Adams has said; in other words, it's still possible to be convinced otherwise (i.e. if God suddenly poked his head out of the sky and announced his existence. I also have noticed that we've hardly addressed the question of vegetarianism. I couldn't find any stats on that. Yeltensic42.61801:54, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Some Buddhists believe in deities, some don't, and some believe that wanting a specific stance on this is silly and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Atheism is generally understood as an absolute belief in the nonexistence of god(s), which is how DirkvdM seems to be using it. Some lesser-known forms of Atheism, which Yeltensic may have referred to, do not proclaim absolute knowledge, but only a belief or opinion. Most people would lump this latter form with Agnosticism. I recommend you read the articles on Atheism and Agnosticism to learn about their various forms. In closing, please state data labels as they were recorded, rather than translating them using your possibly valid but unconventional definitions. :) At least that's how it was explained to me by the Pink Unicorn, Blessed Be Her Holy Hooves. --Avijja06:24, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Back to the original questions.... According to Adherents.com research, East Germany is 88.2% atheist. I imagined the number would be high because of the terrible abuse these poor people suffered through during the last century, but the number seems too high. The Vegetarianism article claims that 20-30% of Indians are vegetarians, which is a very high percentage. --Avijja06:24, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting...but the last I checked, East Germany is no longer a country. It is good, though, that someone finally answered the vegetarianism question after all the discussion of the godless hellbound. ;) But here's something to illustrate how the form of atheism I mentioned (and happen to be a member of) differs from agnosticism: Jeff says,"You guys, I just saw the sasquatch!" Gus says,"I believe your every word." Aloysius says,"I disbelieve your every word." Declan says,"I don't know..." Yeltensic says,"I don't think you saw the sasquatch...well, I suppose it's hypothetically possible. Show me some good, solid evidence. Or maybe you saw a gorilla. We'll examine the possibilities." In case anyone reading this couldn't tell, Jeff is a religious text, the sasquatch is God, Gus is theism, Aloysius is atheism according to the most common definition, Declan is agnosticism, Yeltensic is my brand of atheism. You could also imagine this as a spectrum with theism as 1, agnosticism as 5, and Aloysius atheism as 10; yeltensicism is in the high single digits. Or you could categorize yeltensicism as akin to political affiliation rather than religious belief. By the by, on the subject of Buddhism, all I meant about it being an atheistic religion is that it lacks a diety; that isn't to say you can't combine it with another religion like Shinto, as I gather many people in Japan do (though I think I read somewhere that most Japanese people don't believe in the Shinto gods, even if they are Shintoists). For example, my mother is a Buddhist who believes in the Abrahamic God. Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Yeltensic42.61807:42, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Avijja, that's a rather odd reasoning. You expected a high 'atheism-score' because of the history of suffering? I thought that when people suffer they actually tend to become more religious. And where religion has been suppressed (or disapproved/discouraged) for some time, such as in Cuba and the former east bloc, it resurfaces instantly when allowed again. But the table is from 1991 and the stats probably older, so they're most likely a fabrication. DirkvdM08:04, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I wouldn't expect much of a link either way between suffering and atheism, but I could imagine something like the concept Avijja is talking about, in which people lose faith because their suffering indicates that God has turned his back on them. But DirkvdM is right in that many people become more religious due to suffering. However, about the resurfacing of religion when allowed again, it seems that most of the former communist bloc in eastern Europe is still largely irreligious; maybe it doesn't resurface. Then again, western Europe is quite secular too, maybe in the Czech Republic etc. it has more to do with being in Europe than having been communist. Yeltensic42.61819:43, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The East German stats are of questionable value given their age. I felt there would be many atheists because the governments in that region worked hard to suppress, undermine or destroy religion. The Fascists and Communists killed, imprisoned and frightened many religious people into silence. The regimes installed puppets as religious leaders, which alienated many more. The Communists were hostile towards religion and people might have been afraid to speak out at the time those statistics were collected, which might be what DirkvdM referred to.
Suffering has profound effects on beliefs. When an ideologically-opposed foe defeats or occupies a land, it's people often feel abandoned and cheated by their god(s), and are further encouraged or compelled by their new authorities to abandon their old faith. However, some people become hyper-religious and willing to fight against impossible odds, a good example of which are the ancient Zealots fighting against the Roman Empire.
The "sasquatch is God" example illustrates the problem with the terminology. When someone says "Atheist", most people think of "10" exclusively, and not an inclusive range between, say, "5" and "10". --Avijja05:36, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Any stats mentioning East Germany as a nation are questionable given their age, considering that it hasn't existed since 1990, but they may be useful to keep in mind if anyone wants to know what the most atheistic and/or least religious state in Germany is (by the way, Washington is the least relgious U.S. state, which doesn't surprise me given that the Western states are largely secular). I can see how suffering would affect belief as Avijja says, but it seems to me a flaw in reasoning for people to act that way; lands have been conquered by ideological opponents all the time, it seems to me that should make them think that all of the gods are indifferent to them. But I guess religion has little to do with reasoning. It's good that we have the Invisible Pink Unicorn to turn to in troubled times. By the way, I think this might be the longest reference desk thread I've ever seen. Yeltensic42.61808:26, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You haven't seen many threads in which I participated then, I suppose. :) To add to it. First, I didn't mean that people in the east bloc suffered, I was just referring to Avijja mentioning 'the terrible abuse these poor people suffered'. I don't know if they did and I suppose that would only be true for those who openly opposed the regimes. The vast majority will probably not have suffered a 'vast abuse'. That's most likely western propaganda, largely referring to the lack of freedom of speech, which western people have suffered for centuries, especially when it comes to religion (so, historically, we're the odd ones out, not them). So that would make this all rather academic.
Anyway, the resurfacing of religion once it is allowed again is probably largely among those who grew up with religion. But in the east bloc that generation had already mostly died by the 1990's. It's probably not so much that new generation were indoctrinated by atheism but rather that they weren't (openly) indoctrinated by some religion. DirkvdM11:42, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen some, but not enough I suppose. As for freedom of speech, even today here in the United States we have the USA Patriot Act. That makes sense about the eastern bloc, perhaps I'm unusual in that I have grown up surrounded by religion (I used to go to a Baptist preschool/kindergarten, to others that weren't inherently religious but still forced us to pray at meals, my family regularly attended church until 1996 or so, my great-great grandparents in Alabama are/were creationists, and of course I live on the edge of the Bible Belt) yet have turned out an atheist. Or maybe I turned out an atheist because of all of that, it was a spiritual overload. Yeltensic42.61818:40, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Quite likely. I also know someone who was was educated with such strict religious beliefs that he now abhors them. Being brought up in a surrounding where one specific religion is ubiquitous, but in a non-strict manner is probably the best incentive to become 'religious'. If you can call it that, because the point is that you don't bother to think about it and therefore don't question it. This is often the case with catholicism (as opposed to protestantism). So I suppose I'm a bit of an odd one out. Only in my middle teens did I learn about atheism, which was quite a relief. It turned out I wasn't the only one. Agnosticism was the next step. DirkvdM11:51, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I should say that it wasn't exactly strict; even though my father is Catholic and we used to attend church regularly, he isn't very religious at all (the odd thing is that churchgoing was really my mom's idea, even though she isn't a Christian, and it was a Protestant church even though my dad is a Catholic, like most of his side of the family); also, I hardly see my creationist great-grandfather in Alabama; and the area I live in in Florida isn't all that religious I guess, even though it is geographically on the edge of the Bible Belt (it's sort of a blurry edge I guess, maybe my area is somewhere in the blur). I suppose it mainly had to do with the Baptist preschool, which my parents only sent me to because it was pretty much all there was; it was pretty strict. For most of my life I was a largely secular Christian, because I hadn't bothered to think much about it, and the Baptists were enough to keep me from being any more religious. But then at thirteen I realized that there were other systems, such as agnosticism and later atheism. They failed, in other words (also, later on in the afterschool program at that Baptist place, at about nine or ten, I got in trouble for saying heck. If I had said hell they would have dangled me over lava, and if I had said shit or fuck they would have dropped me in). Yeltensic42.61815:04, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You've had rather an interresting mix in your religious background, which might be one cause for you 'seeing the light of agnosticism'. :) And thirteen is just about the right age for that (early teenhood is when you start to think for yourself). But this thread is not only getting rather long (which is ok) and off-topic (which isn't necesarilly bad). but also turning into a personal chat (for which this is not the place). So I'll sign off now. DirkvdM08:59, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
My signature, which previously worked perfectly, now looks like this: Mark[[User talk:Markalexander100|<sup>1</sup>]] 17:22, 16 November 2005 (UTC) Why? It's been like this for a few days now, working from different computers. Mark[[User talk:Markalexander100|<sup>1</sup>]] 17:22, 16 November 2005 (UTC) (I've just realised we have a help desk, but since we're already here...)[reply]
It's not just you. Mine changed all of a sudden as well. I hadn't changed my preferences in months and then earlier today it was all weird like yours. I played around with my preferences a bit and it fixed it. Don't know why it went wrong in the first place though. Dismas|(talk)20:55, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
what is the meaning of the cross on the forhead, then on the mouth, then on the heart the last is the full cross. Is there any special meanings and what is the prayer that is recited.
Can someone point me to some good information on the fashions of post-Roman Britain? I can only find Roman Britain, and my Google skillz are not what they used to be.
216.43.124.15021:12, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also, 'The Quest for Arthur's Britain' by Geoffrey Ashe has a pretty good description of historical Arthurian-age dress, both male and female. It's in one of the last few chapters. DuctapeDaredevil01:47, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
can you please tell me what the rules of conduct, the special privliages and benefits congressmen are?
i have searched all over the place and cannot find the answer to the above.
If I understand your question correctly, not that I've heard about. On the flip side, there have been a number of rather disturbing questions on the reference desk from troubled souls. Not to put too fine a point on it, nothing that indicates that they are in immediate danger (and certainly everybody who answered did their very best to help), but people who clearly need professional help of one kind or another. There was one question posed by somebody who was very likely suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness; due to his circumstances I fear this person will not get the help they need. Of course, in that situation there was nothing the Wikipedia or individual Wikipedians can do; it's just disturbing to be confronted with such a situation.
I was also contacted (privately, but because of contributions I had made to the Wikipedia), by an individual seeking information about euthanasia drugs. They claimed to have a legitimate purpose for such knowledge (I can't recall what it was, now, but it was plausibly medicine-related). I didn't have the knowledge to answer in detail; even if I did, I wasn't prepared to pass such information on to somebody who may not have been what they claim to have been. I suspect some of our medically-knowledgeable Wikipedians have had similar questions; they may or may not wish to comment on this.
We've had at least one on-line suicide note, which was reported to the appropriate places. This may or may not have made any difference. - Nunh-huh01:51, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Do you 'pedians put in time spent on Wikipedia in your CVs? Does this help to get a job, do job-givers actually care, would being an admin look good on a CV? Personally, I've never told any "real life" people about my being an editor of Wikipedia, and I've been here over a year. Is this normal behaviour or does it have connotations that Wikipedia is like a vice? I'll read any replies soon. Thanks --Wonderfoolt(c)23:41, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I briefly mention it on mine, in the "other interests" bit (where I pretend I'm a well-rounded human being) - but it's only one short line. I certainly don't belabour the point. For techie folks who're impressed, it gives us something to talk about. For others who aren't, the brief mention doesn't make it look like it's an unhealthy obsession. This (assuming you're able to continually keep up a respectable wiki-presence, and don't have anything embarrassing contributions you wouldn't want someone to find if they googled for you) is one reason to use your meatspace name here. -- Finlay Mcwalter | Talk23:55, 16 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I mentioned it in my personal statement when applying for a place at UCL. They asked me about it in the interview and we talked for a bit - about whether one can use it as a reliable source, etc. I got the place. --OldakQuill17:35, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Mmm, but a personal statement isn't quite a job application... I've made passing references in interviews to close familiarity with it - I'm a librarian, so random online reference sources is actually a Relevant Thing for other than Finlay's techies ;-) - but never anything specific. Partly there's the name issue - whilst I don't actively hide anything I do on the internet, my username here helps you find a mostly dormant journal of mine; whilst there's nothing embarrassing there, there are tangential references to past employers, which is something I try to avoid doing now and I'd prefer people didn't get the wrong idea. But also there's the fact that, without knowing what works here, what can someone see by looking? Some articles I wrote, many of which are of highly limited interest (some are wonderful, but if you only click on two...). A few notes I left myself. A sparse handful of one-sided conversations. Not much there; making something of it may cause someone to look, and what they see may be highly unrepresentative. Shimgray | talk | 02:19, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm thinking it'll go in my Other Interests when I rewrite my CV. What's trickier is that one of the Wikibooks I work on is apparently going to get published before I write any journal articles. I'm not really sure if I should list it under my published works.
I wonder if any unpublished people applying for writing-intensive jobs find citing particularly good articles they've written here helpful. — Laura Scudder☎18:15, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I don't list Wiki-editing in any professional sense. I do have a link to it from my homepage. I also use it daily. I'm always having odd questions asked at work. I used to go to Google first, but now I go to Wikipedia first and then Google. I tell everyone that they could just go to Wikipedia, but they prefer to ask me a question and have me do it. --Kainaw(talk)01:52, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Tax cuts are supposed to stimulate the economy. What I don't understand is "what is the difference if the money is spent by the consumers on televisions, home improvements and such or retained by the government and spend on roads, military equipment, FAA traffic control towers?" In either case, the money is spent and according to the commonplace explanations, spending the money will create jobs and the money from those jobs will produce more spending and so on. So why are tax cuts reported by the government and the media considered economic stimulus? Its all the same. I do not understand this.
Aime Casavant
Because they want to make them. Which government are you talking about? If a government wants to increase taxes they're likely to state the opposite. I believe the two sides are best exemplified by Keynesian economics (government spending can be used to boost the economy) and Monetarism. There should really be a discussion of this in Fiscal policy, but alas there isn't yet. And I'm no expert, so I'm not going to do it. Anyone? DirkvdM09:18, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
For starters, standard microeconomic theory is that tax causes direct market inneficiencies through dead weight loss. See that article and the section in tax on that. When average tax rates are over 30% of GDP, the dead weight loss is not insignificant. For another, it is believed that the government does not make efficient use of the money they do take in. Distributing money to the poor does not increase GDP because they simply spend it instead of creating more economic growth through starting a business, etc. Many people believe of course that we should give money to the poor because it is the right thing to do, but that is separate from the efficiency and growth issues. The fiscal conservative belief is that people can make more efficient use of their own money, by spending or investing it for future growth. Here's a paper that explains some of the theories behind how marginal tax rates effect output. It's from a foundation that is clearly fiscally conservative, but they do good research and put out a lot of papers that may help answer what you're looking for. I don't think anyone really argues the opposite, that higher taxes can stimulate economic growth, but simply that the government can make better use of the money that individuals will by providing for the poor, roads, etc. I could be wrong, maybe some people do argue that. - TaxmanTalk15:58, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Taxman's answer, but there is a simpler, alternative answer. Aime assumes that the level of government spending is linked directly to the level of tax revenues. In the short run, it is not. A government can borrow to finance tax cuts while maintaining its level of spending. In the short run, then, tax cuts alone are stimulative because people have more money to spend. There is no offsetting reduction in total spending if the government does not cut its spending to finance the tax cuts. Over the longer term, however, a government's ability to borrow may be impaired if its debt levels rise too high, and it may have to cut its spending to reflect reduced tax revenues. And here's where we get into Taxman's answer. Ground Zero | t16:06, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This could turn into an endless discussion (one that has probably plagued humans as long as private property exists). There is no answer here, just opinions and different aspects that could be pointed out. The matter is way too complicated. Still, som input from me. Of course, the tax by itself takes money out of the economy, but that money is also spent. And when the government spends it on the sort of stuff that companies do (but maybe don't have the funds for by themselves) then the circle is full and there's just the question who is best fit for a certain job. Roads are an obvious thing to leave to a government, because else, how would you distribute the financing (let's not get into the horror of toll roads .... :) ). But if the money is used for redistribution of wealth then that may still even be a better stimulus to the economy. The rich are more likely to spend a large share of their money on (absurdly) luxury goods that have little or no relevance to economic growth (an extreme example being a sheik putting an observatory in a desert when it would have been much more useful on a mountain - that's pure waste). If the (sub)average people get more money, they'll be more likely spend it on things that make sense for most other people as well, which makes dollar voting work and will thus lead to a boost for the economy (well, I really mean welfare in the sense more useful goods being produced). Of course, there are many more considerations and someone is bound to point that out next ..... DirkvdM08:03, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
have there been any film adaptations of the giver and if not why haven`t there been.
Have you read the article on The Giver? It answers the first part of your question quite well. And as far as why Hollywood or anyone else hasn't made "Movie X", that's hard to say. The answer could be as simple as "Nobody has thought to make a movie about [insert name of novel]". Dismas|(talk)13:52, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i need some info on the kissing beetle. do you have any info on it or would you where i could get it from. please e-mail me back [email removed] thank you.
Have a look at History of the Royal Navy. Basically, the RN as we know it today dates back to after the English Civil War - during the War, the Navy mostly rebelled against the Crown. When reforming the Navy after Charles II returned to the throne, it was felt to be wise to make it Pretty Damn Clear whose ships they actually were, so it became the Royal Navy rather than the English Navy - in other words, they were the King's ships, not the country's. This still stands today, incidentally - the military is nominally loyal to the Crown, and maintained by the Crown with money provided by Parliament, but only by permission of Parliament.
The same renaming wasn't done for the Army as a whole, as regiments tended to still be raised by individuals not the King directly and the "army" as a single force wasn't a very well-established idea, but the individual regiments were often named in accordance with the same theme - if you have a look at one of the old regimental lists, there's a lot of Royal X Regiment of Foot, or King's Own Something, or Prince Whoever's Light Infantry, or the Loyal Regiment of X, or... you get the idea. The Royal Marines were originally just a regiment of infantry as above, but then became His Majesty's Marine Forces, and then the Corps of Royal Marines; you can see the evolution of the name.
If what was originally meant is "why are they called the Royal Navy without a national qualifier", it's probably the usual reason for something like this - they were the first nation to form an organised Royal Navy as a single force, so got to use the name without having to use a qualifier (like the Royal Netherlands Navy, or the Royal Canadian Navy, &c) Shimgray | talk | 12:41, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Are there restrictions as to how close a school may be built to a private active airport? --anon
Undoubtedly; but the specifics are going to vary by jurisdiction. You'll have to be more precise in your question if we are to have any chance of helping you. --Robert Merkel13:36, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I once attended an elementary school near an airport, in fact the school was on a road called Airport Road, but I still don't know about what restrictions there are (telling us where you live might be helpful for research). Yeltensic42.61817:10, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Are there any secret levels in the Serious Sam: Next Encounter singleplayer mode?
The only secret levels are the ones you earn by getting Golds. Here is a GameFAQs page which links to a Secrets FAQ (due to GameFAQ's policy I cannot link directly to it). Taiq13:38, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In this part of the world (UK), it's almost exclusively a male name. I get the impression that there's a trend in the US towards using traditional male names for girls, but it doesn't seem to have caught on here. Then again, I don't know very many people with small children, so I might be a bit out of date... Nicola7916:57, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This is a name from the Turkish communities in Iran. The name is for males and the correct spelling is Aydin, but someohow over time it changed to Aidin. But to answer your question, It is a male name. --Aytakin22:19, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's a common (well, not very common, but I know two or three personally so it's not obscure) English-language name, which came into general use from Scots or Irish (probably the latter); it happens to have become quite popular in recent years. It is, however, an old name - Aidan of Lindisfarne immediately springs to mind, and he was seventh-century. I doubt recent Western usage, given the popularity of other "Irish" names, comes from Turkish. Shimgray | talk | 00:52, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Just wanted to let you know that the term splog was actually created in January 2005 with the creation of thesplog.com. My blog site was named thesplog, which is shorthand for Spaulding Sports Blog. But, I guess I will be changing it!
Thanks...
Thanks, but we're not really interested in newly created words until they achieve general usage. Let us know when you get an entry in the OED. DJ Clayworth21:21, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I might be reading your reply to our anonymous poster incorrectly but there already is an entry for Splog. The way I understood his comment was that the article on Splog is what he was referring to. Dismas|(talk)23:58, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I use a ThermalTake Tsunami Dream case for my computer. The fans in the case keep making some strange sort of noise. I can't explain it very well, but it sounds like some object is hitting against the blades, or the blades are briefly stopping during rotation. I don't understand at all where this is coming from. Opening up the case stops the noise, and when I inspect the innards, there seems to be nothing whatsoever that could move anywhere near the fan blades. As long as the case is open, the noise is gone. Putting the side panel back and screwing it in place causes the noise to reappear. And there's more: tilting the case to its side, either left-right or front-back, stops the noise. The noise reappears when the case is put back horizontally. Lifting the case in the air doesn't help, so it can't be resonation from my table or anything. I know this a very vague description, but it's the best I can give. Does anyone have any idea? — JIP | Talk20:02, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This was my first guess, too, but opening up the case, I see that the power cables to the fans are tied so tightly against the fan casings that they can't come into contact with the blades. Thermaltake appears to have had the foresight to put a plastic bar across the fan from its center to its edge, and tie the power cable to the bar, so it connects with the fan in the centre, and goes to the motherboard from the side. The motherboard's own power cable and the IDE device cables have some freedom of movement inside the case, but by gently testing them, they seem to be tight enough not to move anywhere near the fan blades on their own. And if it were a rattling cable, why would the noise stop when I tilt the case in any direction whatsoever, and then almost immediately reappear when I put the case back horizontally? — JIP | Talk20:27, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Could it be due to some item loose in the case (a cable or whatever) that is rattling against something due to the airstream coming from the fan? Opening the case would alter the direction of air movement, and so stop the rattling. --Bob Mellish21:44, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Your fan proably just ran out of oil on it's bearings and is now banging around. Drip some 3 in 1 oil on it. Make sure none flies loose and wipe your hands. --Ewok Slayer02:38, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
do field mouse and comman mouse hibernate in the winter?
After having looked over the articles for mouse, meadow vole, and wood mouse it seems that none of them hibernate. The wood mouse article specifically says that they don't and the other two don't mention it, thus I would think that they don't. Dismas|(talk)20:33, 17 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Does anyone out there know the name of a Lifetime tv movie that deals with rape. The story goes like this as much as I can remember. This lady is a business executive and starts to have mental problems and starts to get in trouble with the law. She starts to remember her past. She remembers as a little girl her Mother taking her to the babysitter's house while she went to work. They were a man and woman farmers. He would raped her and then the wife would give her a bath to clean her up before the Mother picked her up after work. While being raped and molested in her brain to combat the ordeal she would make up poetry.
That is about all the I remember about the movie on tv. It has been some time since I saw it so it is most vague in my mind at the moment.
I would like to know when the Twin Towers in New York City were built. I think they started building them in the late 60's, but didn't finish them until later. I need to know the dates they were being built. Thank you very much for helping me with this dilema.
According to this page], construction for the World Trade Center began in 1966. The north tower was opened in December 1970 and the south tower in January 1972; they were dedicated in April 1973. Our article just states they were constructed from 1966-1972. - Nunh-huh01:48, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
On this site I see a picture of a bottle that says Bayer Heroin on it. The picture is new but the bottle is very old. The author of the picture says that the picture was taken by him/her and is being released into the public domain. (There is also an advertisement of Bayer on the same page with no mention of its lawful use.)
Does the author have the right to release a picture with a trademark into the public domain?
Do I have a right to use the picture with a trademark on it? In other words would it be fair use to use use the picture in my website in an article about heroin's history?
Sigal
USA
There's no problem with reproducing a trademark in an educational context. If you were using it to sell heroin, you'd have a problem. - Nunh-huh03:50, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
11.18.05 THANK YOU very much for your answers; so fast and so helpful. Do you know where I can find it simply written on a govenment site? Thanks again.
About 13 years ago I saw an idependent film called The Walking Drum. The film was about gypsies from all over the world. Since then I have not been able to locate a copy.
what does t-bone mean as in "t-boned by a vehicle" or something like that involving motor vehicle accident?
A t-bone occurs when one vehicle (going, say, north-south) runs straight into a vehicle on an approximately 90 degree angle (going, say, east-west). The informal term comes from a T-bone steak, which got its name from its resemblence to the letter T. --Maxamegalon200005:35, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If one number was added to phone numbers to make it a 11 digit phone number, How many more phone numbers would potentialy be available?
There are 10,000,000,000 (10 billion) possible numbers that can be created with ten digits. There are 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) possible numbers that can be created with eleven digits. Eleven digits allows for 90,000,000,000 (90 billion) more combinations. --Maxamegalon200005:31, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I meant, lets say i have the phone number: 212-555-0112. Phone numbers could potentially runout then you could add one digit, then a new phone number would be: 212-555-01120. Wouldn't this only add 10 extra numbers per 10 digit number. Also, 100 billion phone number are not available right now, because there are no Area codes and prefixes that begin with 1 or 911.
I don't get your reasoning. Adding one digit will add 10 extra numbers per 10 digit number. But there are 1010 of those. Also, I suppose you're talking about US numbers (given the fact that you don't specify that). I don't know how that works, but in the Netherlands we also have 10 digit numbers (for less than one tenth of the population!). Cities get a three-digit code with 7 digits remaining for the population of the city. Which corresponds to 10 million. In the case of Amsterdam that's already an overkill (less than a million inhabitants), but for other cities its even worse (Heerlen also has a three-digit code but less than 100.000 inhabitants. With 9 digits it would still be way sufficient for Heerlen, but Amsterdam might run into a problem if its' population grows. So you lose a lot of numbers to this 'overhead'. Unless you distribute the numbers at random, not using city codes. DirkvdM08:23, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In the Simpsons episode Boy-Scoutz N the Hood, there's a few scenes where a bunch of campers head into the woods and are trailed by two shadowy figures. Towards the end, they're attacked while sitting around the campfire. I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether the writers made this up, or if it's a spoof of something? Deliverance came to mind, but only the vibe of it (none of the specific incidents).
What is the type of music called that retail fashion stores such as Zara, armani exchange, aldo, etc. play during hours of operation and where do they find this kind of music?
Strictly speaking, muzak refers to the music published by one company, but more in general it has come to mean music that is designed not to be specific so it doesn't irritate specific shoppers. Which of course in itself irritates music lovers. DirkvdM11:51, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm planning an article on young actor Eddie Cooper. I think his filmography speaks for itself when it comes to notability, but I would still like to boost it by properly including his voice acting on the game of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by Electronic Arts. Unfortunately, Google is being a pain. Loads of sites are copying eachother and none state the character he voices. Could someone with the game in their posession help out and tell me which character he voice and possibly source it with the game manual or something? - Mgm|(talk)11:46, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Looking for the name or a picture of a research vessel ship that studies the El Nino by completely turning vertical and i mean with one end out of the water. cant find any website with a picture or info so any help is much appreciated
It took a bit of searching on google but I found the ship that you're probably thinking of. It's been some time since I heard about this in the news... The ship is called FLIP and is apparently made by a company called Scripps. We also have an article about it here, R/P FLIP. --Dismas|(talk)17:43, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Just wondering. Wikipedia is a great resource, but at times it is just so slow that googling for information is much quicker. Is the bottleneck in the server, the bandwidth, the database...? --Kainaw(talk)15:30, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi
I need information on Jean Anne Kennedy Smith. 8th child of Joseph Patrick Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennnedy. Sister of the 35th President of the USA.
I need a boigraphy on her, she was born 20 February 1928, married Stephen Edward Smith 19 May 1956. I need to know her schooling achievemnts and general information, children etc.,
SAARE is an abreviation of a US calculation scheme. It covers certain cost e.g. a for administration
and helps to come from a purchase price e.g purchase price X plus 15 % saare plus 5 % margin.
Any ideas
Hi i would like to know the area coverd by grass in fenway park and the type of grass in the park .It does not have to be the actual values i just need an estimate .I have to approximate the blades of grass in the park and i am hopping this will help me get an estimate
For example, it's impossible for me to crawl through my monitor screen as if it were air, crawl through a tunnel to the other end, and come out of your monitor screen. Well, maybe. Yeltensic42.61805:23, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As a child in the mid 1930s, I recall seeing a German Zeppelin fly over my home town of Johnstown Pa. This caused much excitement and the newspapers speculated that the Germans were photographing our steel mills.my question is: Was this the Graf Zeppelin or the Hindenburg?
Kenneth S. Tomb
Almost certainly the Graf - the Hindenburg was not completed until 1936, and was only used for the Atlantic passenger run. The Graf was the 'show' airship which did world tours and the like. David | Talk21:33, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Borders-Gen. Info.: Bordering Continents, Number of Countries and their names (lines of Latitude/Longitude from ____ degrees (N,S) to _____ degrees (E,W), hemispheres it is in
Can you PLEASE help us and provide any information? Thank you for any help you can provide. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.63.31.250 (talk • contribs)
With all due respect, if someone just gives her all these answers, then she won't learn the most important lesson: how to find information by herself. If she doesn't know where to start, have her look at maps of Europe and search Wikipedia for articles of the individual countries. --Avijja23:54, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm feeling sympathetic to anyone wanting out of schoolwork, so I'll answer (sorry, Avijja).
Oceans: The Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean
Seas: some are the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Irish Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea (sort of an arm of the Mediterrranean), the Tyrhennian Sea (Mediterranean arm, I think that's the right spelling, but maybe not), the Aegean Sea (another arm), the Black Sea, the English Channel doesn't have "sea" in the name but I think it counts.
Rivers: some are the Volga, the Danube, the Rhine, the Ruhr, the Rhone, the Loire, the Don, the Thames, the Shannon, the Severn, the Humber, the Ouse, the Mersey, the Tyne, the Neva, the Po.
Lakes: The Caspian Sea is despite its name the largest lake in the world, Lake Geneva, Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Lough Neagh.
Gulfs: The Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland
Bays: The Bay of Biscay, the Bay of Naples, the Wash, Tor Bay, Morecambe Bay.
Mountain Ranges: The Alps, the Caucasus Mountains, the Ural Mountains, the Jura Mountains, the Kjolen Mountains, the Apennines, the Grampians, the Cumbrians, the Cambrians, the Pennines, the Pyrenees, the Sierra Nevada, the Carpathians.
Europe's highest point is Mount Elbrus in Russia, in the Caucasus Mountains. The highest point in Europe other than Russia (which is mostly in Asia) is Mont Blanc on the border of France and Italy, in the Alps.
Deserts: To the best of my knowledge, Europe's only desert is Almeria in Spain. Greece might have desert too, though.
Islands: Some are the British Isles (including Great Britain and Ireland, and the Channel Islands, including Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark), Iceland, Crete, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands (including Majorca), Corsica, Zealand, Svalbard, and Thera.
Borders on Asia (unless they form Eurasia)
Hemishperes: Nothern, Easter, and (a smaller part) Western
I know there are grasslands (steppes) in eastern Europe, but I'm not sure what they are called.
Can anyone please tell me how many autos were produced in the US last year or the most recent year for whichj statistics are available? I am not simply thinking of the Big Three (GM, Ford, DaimlerChrysler) but also the fairly recent newcomers such as auto producers from Japan, Germany and South Korea such as Toyota, BMW and Hyundai.
Can anyone help, please? I really would be grateful.
Best wishes Hopeful Anne - (delete email - check history if needed)
A Wikipedia user has posted this on the Help desk mailing list and I am posting it here to see if anyone can help this gentleman.
I linked to your site from the Conrail Cyclopedia site. I don't know if you can help me but I'll try any way.
First off: My quest has nothing whatever to do with model railroading! I'm looking into the way the railroads ordered stuff back at the turn of the century(1900s).
As an example, If it was decided by the "powers that be" to run a telegraph/signal line from one town (station) to another I've been told by an old time railroader that the "STORES DEPARTMENTS" were the ones that supplied the required materials (i.e.. poles, wire, insulators, signaling devices, telegraph stuff, etc.). He further told me that they would consult a source known as the "Maintenance of Way Cyclopedia" that told them what was available and where to order it. He further told me that the cyclopedia was used by different rail lines and was not unique to any one line.
Now, I'm trying to find a copy of this "Maintenance of Way Cyclopedia" to look at. I want to see who they would order the supplies from. I know that this is a crazy request to a fellow such as yourself who seems to be more involved with rolling stock. Would you have any suggestions as to where I might locate this resource? I've tried the Smithsonian, various libraries and many rail fan sites with no success.
I'd appreciate any info you can provide. By the way, I'm not a school kid doing a term paper. I'm a 76 year old retired telephone engineer who's father put 40 years into the Santa Fe as fireman, brakeman, electrician, and a few more jobs. He brought power into the Dallas/Ft Worth yards when they opened up. I'm just doing a little personal research.
"More concerned with rolling stock"? It's always nice to be mistaken for a specialist...
The Library of Congress has a copy of:
The maintenance of way hand book, containing tables, rules, etc. for use in the construction departments of standard railways, with tables of wages / Klumpp, Charles M.. Union City, Ind., M. of W. hand book pub. co., 1895.
My understanding is that these were general reference books. Your engineer would know he needed to buy a pile of 4.54" flanged triple whatevers, so he'd pull the handbook off the shelf, find a triple-flanged-whatever manufacturer in there - if they were in the book, they were probably reliable - and wire them an order. A sort of cross between a catalogue and a directory. Equivalent things exist in some fields today - I think I've stumbled across building ones, and some IT fields still have them - but mostly I believe they're gone. (On the other hand, a lot of individual large companies now have something like this - a big internal list of pre-selected suppliers for things, so if you need to buy something standard you can check the book and phone them up rather than having to go and figure out where to get it)
The thing is, though, there wasn't one book - there were plenty, probably dozens at different times. I assume the Cyclopedia was one particular version; there's one or two in the Library of Congress, under various names, and I suspect I could find more if I tried hard (These things tended not to get to libraries, though; they go out of date fast, so tend to be replaced by new ones if a library carries them at all). There's a company selling a scanned copy of the 1922 version here, which isn't quite the same, or someone selling an actual 1921 copy [40], but...
The other solution, of course, is to go to someone who knows about these and get them to tell you. I suspect there's a group of rail nuts who collect them - bound to be - but finding them might be tricky; leaf through a few magazines and see if there's anything like this mentioned? Shimgray | talk | 02:46, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Nice writeup, Shimgray. I had a hard time understanding how this book was used based on what little information I found, but your answers made a lot of sense. A modern day equivalent of the Cyclopedia is the Electronics Source Book, which helps electronic engineers find manufacturers for, say, 4.54 jiggawatt triple-channel gizmos. --Avijja03:31, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, I was wondering if y'all knew what the Lat Long co-ords were for Jimbocho, in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. It's the huge book-selling district. I don't really need anything too precise, just gonna mark it on Google Earth as a place I want to go ^_^ Thanks ^_^
35.695783, 139.757359. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) and paste "神保町" (Jimbocho) into the search box, you'll get a highly detailed street map of that area. Trust me, it's book lovers' heaven. It's Mecca if you're interested in any aspect of Japanese culture. There are many antique/2nd hand book stores.
Some search terms: "東京" (Tokyo), "千代田区" (Chiyoda Ward) and "神保町" (Jimbocho). If you visit there, don't forget to ask for a free map of the bookstores. -- Toytoy12:33, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In Scrabble, is there a website or a book somewhere that has words listed with common word parts, like all the words that end in -tion or all the words that end in -ing for example?
What exactly is this: grep tion$ /usr/share/dict/words? Do i search for that?
The grep part of the previous answer is assuming that you have a Unix-based computer. If you do (and that includes Mac OS-X), then the above command or some minor variant of it should work. On my current Linux system I need to specify grep tion$ /usr/share/dict/british-english or grep tion$ /usr/share/dict/american-english as words is a link to a non-existing file. Some variant may also work if you have cygwin installed on a Microsoft Windows system.-
grep is a standard unix program which searches for words or parts of words within files. It's more powerful than that, but that's the basic function. The dollar sign tells it to only match text at the end of a line. The /usr/share/dict/words is a list of words, one per line, which can be used by spelling checkers or for exactly this sort of purpose.-gadfium20:35, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello,
Please can you tell me which parts of London did the Lancaster bomber fly over?
Could have been almost any part during its operational service but normally they would fly directly from their bases (overwhelmingly in East Anglia) to their targets in Germany. On the off-chance that you mean the only currently airworthy Lancaster which is part of the Battle of Britain flight, its London flights are only over the Thames and then up the Mall and over Buckingham Palace before going back to its base at RAF Scampton. David | Talk20:42, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have just acquired a standard definition digital set top box, and occasionally (couple of times an hour) the TV screen (rear projection) flickers. The flickering always occurs when there is a change in scene (eg changing from an ad break to a TV show, or changing scenes in a movie). The reception (from an external aerial) is excellent and the flickering occurs on all channels, so I'm not convinced that is the problem. Could the problem be the set top box or the TV? I am located in Australia. --Commander Keane11:52, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Can anyone tell me about the black rock faultline that runs through the stone quarry at Crarae in Argyll It seems not to be part of the Highland Boundary Fault
Many thanks
Alan G Jones
I have a small, beautiful, old what appears to be prayer book written in some kind of Czech (I'm told it looks like 19th century, German-influenced) which language faculty at Dartmouth College have told me is "Heavenly Path" A calendar of holy days and saints for the whole church year; fervent prayers (for both sexes); Budapest & New York; Catholic Publishing Co. J. Steinbrener, royal bookprinter.
Does anything in this description strike a cord with you?
Whats the difference between earnings per share and dividends?
There's no strong relationship between the two. Earnings per share simply means the total revenue the company brought in minus expenses (more or less, see EBITDA) divided by the number of shares in existance. Earnings can either be retained by the company, or passed along to shareholders through a dividend. Some companies never pay dividends no matter what their earnings are, like Berkshire Hathaway. Other companies have a specific dividend that they pay each quarter (Radica Games is like this, they pay 4.5 cents per share each quarter as of this writing). Some companies declare their dividends based on their performance. On an extremely rare basis, a company will actually borrow money to pay a dividend (I recall the Motley Fool critising someone for doing that last year). - RedWordSmith00:24, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was a wikipedia article about why humans see faces in seeming random collections of lines and dots. It featured a picture of an alarm clock which appeared to have a frowning face. Unfortunately, I can no longer remember what it was called. What is it called? smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)21:55, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello,
As an author, I need to know what women used as depilatories in the 19th century, - particularly pastes and their constituents. Were they dangerous (poisonous)? I understand that thioglycolic acid is used today, but believe it was only developed about sixty years ago. Were any arsenic based products used? Were they highly poisonous? I shall be most grateful for information. Thank you. --- David
Tweezers and razors. Pastes and such tended to be "home-spun" rather than actually dangerous. [41] mentions (18th century) cat dung, egg shells, vinegar and quick-lime. Nothing specifically 19th century but their 20th century page points out that Nair (the thioglycolic vanguard) was developed when stockings became scarce during WWII, a connection I hadn't thought of... - Nunh-huh01:14, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hey there, David. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this page, but it does make mention of depilatories used by women in the early 1800s. I quote the site — "A typical formula now is one that contains chopped oak and white French wine; it is to be digested in a hot water or vapor bath for 24 hours. Another recipe calls for distilled water and celandine roots, and walnut oil is a popular hair-removing ingredient."Deltabeignet01:23, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
So I read this story in this anthology of banned writers. It was about this girl who kills this girl's pets because girl 2 flirted with a boy girl 1 liked. Then centipedes killed girl 1. I can't remember the name of the story or the book or the author, but the story might have been somethig like 'love centipedes'. 64.12.116.7301:52, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
well, you can type in that title at google or ask.com and see what info. they have...or you can check at your nearest library...who knows, you might get lucky and ask the reference desk (at the library) person about the story, and she/he might actually know what your talking about... ♥Hot F.l.i.p.
A user e-mailed the following question to the Wikipedia help desk.
I am a Dragon on the Chinese calendar. I always find pictures of the
Dragon and Tiger in battle with each other. I would really appreciate it
if you could explain why it is this way. Thank You.
Any advice you could give this gentleman would be greatly appreciated.
There was a Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon (龍爭虎鬥; long zheng hu dou; literally: dragon (龍) fights tiger (虎); a frequently used Chinese four-character idiom). When two good players are fighting a good fight, a Chinese would say it's "dragon fights tiger". It can be used to describe a great boxing match, Coca Cola v. Pepsi, NATO v. Warsaw, or any other heated fight. Maybe you can say "lollapalooza".
It's unthinkable for a big cat to purr and a large snake to drop dead and become a stick. There really was a Cantonese dish called "龍虎鬥" (dragon fights tiger) which is a soup made by a cat and a snake. But anyway, dragons and tigers are not always fighting each other in Chinese mythology. They do have their own shows. They do not need to meet and fight each other all the time. -- Toytoy03:11, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
According to this Chinese page, the Cat + Snake dish was invented during 1850s to 1870s by a government official.
Three snakes: 200 g (three kinds of snakes frequently eaten by Cantonese people)
Anyway, this is a difficult dish. Too complex and time consuming for any home chef even if you have all the ingredients and cooking wares. You really don't want to do this at home. -- Toytoy03:31, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hey its ♥Hot F.L.I.P. again...i was just curious, the poeple who answers my questions here in wikipedia, are they often correct?, i mean like do they base it on facts that they actually learned about, or are they just saying what they think? , also, since anyone can answer my question on this site (young or old), does that mean that the dumbest person on the planet can just comment on my question and say something like, "trust me, i know lots about this subject, my dad was a doctor"... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.42.91.228 (talk • contribs)
Hopefully when people answer questions, they provide a reference, which would hopefully provide credibility. But the fact that anyone can answer any question means you should always be careful with interpreting the results. But you can always believe my answers because I know lots about this subject, my dad was a doctor. Akamad03:05, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Haha, we're all liars and make things up, but also none of us knows what we're talking about, so more often than not it cancels out and you get the right answer anyway. =P
That's a good point, one of my lecturers at uni said he trusts Wikipedia over most other internet sources because at least on wikipedia there is a level of independent fact-checking and editing. Akamad03:30, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, we're us, ya get what ya paid for. My dad wasn't a doctor so I know nothin' bout docterin'. But, if you're lookin' for common sense you're at the right place. -- ♥hydnjotalk03:39, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I generally do use my common sense, combined with Google and journal articles. So I can be incorrect, or my answers can be less than full (like with my limited response to your car pollution question, journal articles indicated testing for heavy metals was the way to go, put as was indicated by someone else, testing for acidity might be a good idea). I have found that if a question is too technical, an answer may simply be wrong - the answerer doesn't understand the level of the question and just writes what they think. You can't be assured of the quality of an answer here, but they are free and generally good quality. --Commander Keane07:22, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well i guess you can't blame other people for putting down what sometimes seems to be a dumb ass answer, i mean c'mon...it is kinda fun just playing around and typing down what you think and putting down not so smart answers just for the fun of arguing with other people...anywayz..." ♥Hot F.L.I.P." means, which some of you might know (or not), but it means F(ine) L(ittle) I(sland) P(erson)...the original version was Fucking Little Island People, used by white peope in world war 2 (i think), insulting the filipinos...but of course we have revised this through time...I know my history because my dad is a professor at Harvard University!...Well anyways, i guess i'll just have to hope that people who answer my questions will actually have many rescources to back it up...hope you guys will answer any of MY questions intelligently in the near future...Also thanks "commander keane" for so far answering each of my questions that i have posted ♥Hot F.L.I.P.
So where do you live along I-94? Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota or Montana? Well anyway, thanks for telling us what your name means...I came up with "Yeltensic" by messing up the letters in "cosmically insignificant adolescent" (someone called me that after I wrote an article about myself) until unrecognizable; the 42 is from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the other digits are from 1.618, the Divine Proportion. By the way, you may want to consider getting a user account, you could use Hot F.L.I.P. as your username, it would also be quicker to sign your name here, as you could sign with four tildes. Yeltensic42.61822:36, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
i live along 1-94 illinois, chicago...why?...and yeah your username is niiice..so sophisticated...i like that...One thing that caught my attention is "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy"...how old are you really?... you don't really have to answer, but i'm just curious, because i imagine the people who answer my questions are old..probably in their 30's, no offense to the young ones (because you guys answer so wisely...using very smart and difficult words), and when i read that you based your "42" on hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is kinda...i don't know "youngish"...but i don't know maybe older people saw that movie too... ♥Hot F.L.I.P.
Why? I am extremely nosy, I always have to know where other Wikipedia users live (I live at almost the opposite end of the interstate numbering system from you, near I-4 in DeLand, FL..as I type I am in my other house in nearby Ormond Beach, closer to I-95). I am fifteen, as you can see on my userpage by following the link in my signature (or you can find it here, or here, or even there). It seems like most of the Wikipedians are in their 20s, with a fairly large minority in their teens, and fewer over 30. My username is less sophisticated than it may sound, given that it means "cosmically insignificant adolescent", which can be seen first used (though worded slightly differently) here. As for hitchhikers, your post implies that you think the movie is all there is...it was actually based on a book by Douglas Adams, published in 1979, which in turn was based on a 1978 radio series written by him. The book (which I read before seeing the movie) may be considered less youngish. It also lead to four sequels (The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless), and to some extent some or all of the sequels were less youngish (Book 3 mentions an award for the most gratuitous use of the word fuck in a film, Book 4 has a sex scene preceded by a chapter on how most readers find it difficult to picture Arthur Dent fucking). By the way, I haven't seen any ugly-ass aliens around...yet. Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. Yeltensic42.61808:25, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Back to the question, which is a very valid one. The main thing, I suppose, is 'who would be bothered to give answers'? Not someone who hasn't a clue. That sort of vandalism is much more 'thrilling' in Wikipedia proper (the encyclopedia). Except of course when that person is curious too and manages to find the answer (or thinks he did). I do that sometimes. Most of the time, though, I tell what I know from the top of my head (and sometimes I don't answer but ask more questions). And sometimes someone (sometimes even me) is a genuine expert on the subject. And in my experience that shows. As with every information you get in life, you'll have to be able to sniff out the bullshit. Where else can you get reliable tailor made information? And for free? (this is not strictly meant as rhetorical question).
Finally, I'd like to apologise for having such an incredibly boring User Name (it's just my ordinary name with the las name initialised). :) DirkvdM12:14, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, I forgot one. Especially on the science reference desk it's just simply fun. Some people waste their time doing crossword puzzles or sudoku's. I exercise my mind here. Many questions are not about plain knowledge, because one can look that up oneself (in Wikipedia or elsewhere), but rather about combining bits of info to get to understand something. And that's where we come in. And you, of course, if you like. I don't just answer questions, but, like I said, ask at least as many. DirkvdM12:56, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose we can let you get away with your boring username...this thread is giving the atheism thread a run for its money in length, but also has gone way off topic, thanks to me. I am the king of non sequiturs (actually my maternal grandmother is worse, she's been known to suddenly say,"You know, I would like to go to Alaska"....of course, quoting her was in itself a non sequitur). Speaking of which, has anyone here ever seen the Loch Ness monster? Yeltensic42.61819:18, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, my dad is a lawyer and my mom is a quality control consultant, so you can trust me with any questions about Florida law or quality control. Plus, I was a marine biologist in a play once (the play sucked, by the way), so you can also trust me with any questions about marine biology. Or Pacific entymology, or Central American botany, or criminology, or theater itself, or aristocracy, or bipolar disorder, for similar and equally bogus reasons. Yeltensic42.61819:27, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well "DirkvdM"...don't worry about it, your name doesn't sound that lame...anyhow...like you yeltensic, i am also very nooosy! so i was just wondering, not to offend you or anything, but are you a guy or a girl?, because if you are a guy, then i just wanted to say that you talk pretty much for a guy! also...you know soooo much for a 15 year old!!! and yeah we are kinda getting off topic, and since were already off topic, you know what commenting here on wikipedia is like? its, to me at least, is just like chatting online with my friends...well sort off, only you guys don't know me (and i surely donno you!), and were discussing a certain subject, and...thats about it...well before i go out, i just wanted to say...that if you guys need any help in the fields: medicine, nursing, dental stuff...feel free to ask, because my mom is a dentist turned nurse, and my dad is a doctor...and i'm serious this time! ♥Hot F.L.I.P.
Going off-topic one last time, it says on my userpage that my name is Christopher Michael Bensko, an indication that I'm a guy. Any further discussion of whether I talk a lot for a guy can be carried over to my talkpage (which is here to avoid violating Wikipedia policies about the reference desk not being a discussion forum. Yeltensic42.61817:04, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
"The Age" newspaper (Melbourne) features a daily section about a famous person born that day. The other day, they chose to feature Jeff Buckley. They said that he "disappeared", and "is believed to have drowned". Any reader who knew nothing about him would reasonably infer his body was never found. They ended with "Source: Wikipedia". I checked our article and those words do not appear, either currently or apparently in any earlier version. His body was found some days later, and there was never any doubt that he drowned. Is it OK for a paper to make up words, then misattribute them to Wikipedia? JackofOz03:40, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm thinking there's something about the proximity of the words and the footnote that's bothering you. I can't say if it bother me without seeing it, but think about this: lots of people get things wrong in papers with citations, and lots of times citations are wrong. It doesn't reflect badly on the source, it reflects badly on the author. As long as our article is right, I don't think we should worry about it. I doubt that it was an intentional mis-citation. - Nunh-huh04:03, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, I am doing a project in school on Haiti and I was wondering if I
could ask you a question. It is: How long is Haiti's shoreline? Can you
please give me the answer or a web site to find it on? Thank you, Bye!
That depends on the precision, so any answer will be pretty arbitrary. Which will probably not deter people from actually construeing an answer. You could have a look at How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension (by far the longest Wikipedia title I've ever seen). It's rather technical, but the relevant phrase is "the measured lengths of coastlines and other natural geographic borders are dependent on the scale of measurement". If there's a big rock on a beach, would you ignore it or trace around it? And would you trace every indentation? And down to the smallest scale? To stretch the point, would you trace around molecules? So if you state the length of the coastline you should also state the scale, which might make it too mathematical if it's a geography project.
I am hoping to make a tshirt with our name in different scripts. I have these drawn on paper but I would like to be able to type them. I can download the scripts (I suppose) but how do I then find the letters on my Roman script keyboard. Could I get different people to email them to me? Would I be able to read them or would it just come up as gobbledy gook? Anybody who has any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Thanks Aviija - great work.
If you post the band's name here, I think some nice people would post translations and transliterations. Do not post your email address. // If you want to do this yourself, the easiest way is to look up alphabets for foreign scripts, such as this, and then copy-and-paste the letters you want. Another great source for writing systems is Omniglot. // Actually typing these requires more work. You'd need to go into your operating system's regional settings control panel, add a new language and keyboard. This usually adds a control to your system tray that lets you switch between these. Note that pressing "d" does NOT necessarily give you this foreign script's equivalent of "d". You'll need to find the layout or use an "on-screen keyboard" that shows what button is what symbol, but you'll need to read that alphabet to make sense of that. // If you want the name written out in a non-alphabetic language, such as Chinese or Japanese, things get much more complicated and you need to look up dictionaries, tables and use a composition input system. // If your band's name has a meaning, rather than just a sound, then it can be translated as a concept, as well as transliterated as a sound. // Be aware that sounding out English words in a foreign script can produce offensive or bizarre messages in those languages. :) --Avijja06:22, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually its not a band its a school.... The acronym is K.I.S. and I would also like "Welcome to Kodai" translating in the script of Bengali, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Hindi. Tall order eh?
Hi,
I have found that almost all electric voltages are multiples of 11 e.g. 110V,220V,440V,11000V,33000V,132000V etc.Why?
My guess is that someone picked 110 V by chance, and then, in order to make transformation easier, decided to make the other voltages easy multiples. For example, if you had a 110V, you could simply half the current and double the voltage to produce a 220V. Of course, the numbers given as a voltage are often out by up to +/- 10%, so the number will never be perfect. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)15:49, 20 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Transformers can have any ratio of input/output voltages, as it's simply a ratio of the number of windings on each side.
UK voltages were 240V until recently, and now is 230V to standardise with Europe?
The supply to houses is typically one phase of a 3-phase supply which have their own equations (often involving root-3)
Voltages for long-distance transmission tend to be designed to minimise resistive losses (I²R), so use as high a voltage as their insulators (including the air around conductors) can handle
The Netherlands also changed from 240V to 230V, I believe because you can run both 220V and 240V machines on that. Another question. There used to be switches on machines to choose between voltages, but I haven't seen those for a while. What's the reason for that? DirkvdM12:23, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Supply voltages throughout Europe were standardised at 230V +- 10% fairly recently (some point in the 1990s I think.) The 10% tolerance allowed countries using 220V and 240V to stay at those voltages, despite having adopted a common "standard" voltage. Personally, I think we need more of the kind of standardisation which doesn't require anything to be changed, it's celarly the key to a harmonious Europe. :-) (Seriously, though, the effect it does have is to ensure that the same devices will work everywhere in Europe.)
As for the disapearing voltage selection switches, that is due to the use of Switched-mode power supplys, which can cope with wide-raning input voltages (the laptop I'm typing this on has a power supply brick which can take anything from 100V to 240V AC input to produce its 19V DC output.) -- AJR | Talk13:08, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I was taking the tolerances from mains electricity, which says "...supply within the EU is now nominally 230 V +/− 10% (though some countries have stricter specifications: for example, the UK specifies 230 V +10% -6%)." -- AJR | Talk02:55, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi,
I've searched the site from end to end and used various wording for searching but can't see any reference to Englands most visited tourist site. I found France's easily enough so perhaps I'm missing something obvious.
It used to be Stonehenge or the Tower of London but I'm not sure. Can you help?
Thanks for reading this.
i watched a repeat of an episode of judging amy. amy was talking to an ins agent about a case during the conversion he said sweden was at war on and off for 50 years is that true.
Well, wait. Sweden was at war a lot in earlier times... Gustavus Adolphus in the 100 years war, and Charles XII in 18th C. for instance. They were in one of the coalitions against Napolean too. Maybe the guy was referring to those times. Herostratus06:46, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I just found this spider in my backyard, in the middle of some old wooden boards we were moving around. It's about 5 cm long, and the body (cephalothorax + opisthosoma) are about .8 cm together, and almost indistinguishable from eachother. The color is a deep brown, and it has no spots or hair. The back legs are a lot thicker than the rest, and have spikes. I live in Minas Gerais, Brazil, so it should probably be something from this region.
I live in Torrance, CA, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. I need to know what is the closest mountain range to my city, and the highest mountain closest to my city.
I think I remember reading that it's also because most New Yorkers supported the British Empire during the American Revolution, but I'm not sure where it was that I read that. Yeltensic42.61817:09, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
ihave read that this club has chapters everywhere,but i cannot find
any listings anywhere,where there are local chapters to belong to.
can you please tell me where and how i find a listing of the chapters
and states they are in?
thank you,diane loverde
In my travels I have seen a few towns and citys that have fire trucks painted like FDNY trucks. Are they old FDNY trucks?
Do these trucks actually say "FDNY" on them? The color of fire trucks in the U.S. doesn't vary too much from city to city so I'm wondering how you know that they're from New York. That said, smaller towns and volunteer fire departments often get their trucks when larger cities upgrade their own trucks. The smaller towns can't afford the new ones so they'll often get the old ones that larger cities aren't using anymore. Dismas|(talk)04:52, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Camden, New Jersey has trucks that look very much like FDNY trucks, its almost as if they stuck Camden Fire Department stickers over the FDNY ones. Also, I have seen fire trucks in many different colours, ranging from white, to various shades yellow, and of course the traditional red.
This probably doesn't help you much but I don't think you'll be able to find a "first" instance of these questions with a verifiable source. When I was a kid we'd play that "game" all the time. We'd ask each other "If you could have any superpower...?" or "If you had to choose between having X's powers or Y's powers, which would you choose?" etc. Dismas|(talk)04:44, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Daniel of Liverpool England asked the following question in an e-mail.
Hi
My name is Daniel I am 9.
I hope you can help me I am trying to find out how many men are in a
tank during battle. My xbox game has two in a Rushian tank, is this right ?
I know the Cheftan Tank has 4
I hope you can help me
Thank you
Daniel (Liverpool England)
Daniel - the number of people in a tank (called the crew compliment) depends on the type of tank. Almost all tanks ever made have had between 3 and 6 crewmen; 4 or 5 are probably the most common. Typically, you have a driver, loader, gunner, tank captian, and maybe a backup driver/backup loader/radio man. Raul65410:47, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Most recent Russian (or Soviet) tanks have a crew of 3 (commander, driver and gunner). Most other recent tanks have have a crew of 4 (commander, driver, gunner and loader). Russian tanks are equipped with an auto loader so the loader is eliminated. However, the U.S. does not believe in the reliability of such complex machinery, so U.S. tanks (and tanks made by most other countries as well) are still crewed by 4.
Your page on Tatars contains an image depicting the faces of many "famous tatars" but no reference to their names or who they were or are. I searched, but could not find any identifying information, which was frustrating. If such information exists somewhere in the vicinity of that page, perhaps it could be made easier to find. If such information does not exist, I am sure the problem can easily be remedied by one of your extremely knowledgeable writers.
Can any body please assist me with the following infomation
Am a design engineer based in Nigeria,and am designing
an application that works with hydraulic fluids.
1)A hand book of the types of hydraulic fluids available,
with their viscosity/temperature curves;including their properties
(more emphasis on the multigrades)
2)Any manufacturer's published operating and optimum viscosity values of hydraulic components
Does Wikipedia have a article on it?? if not should have Small Unknown Spider. Thanks Mao
A urgent matter of information
If you search on Google for spider and picture, there will be several picture galleries of spiders listed. Go through those to see if you can identify this spider. - Dalbury(Talk)19:47, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I need Wikipedia Reference Desk help PLEASE
You might want to try posting under science. Noting how messy the web is, I'm wondering if this is one of the spiders they gave LSD to observe the effect on web design. StuRat22:13, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well, if it was 40mg you're not missing much... heh. At any rate, to fix your 40GB ipod I'd ask www.ipodloungue.com, they'd probably have more useful information.
I dunno about washing machines, but I've witnessed a couple of ipods get swirlies; seemed like panic at first, but after a couple of days just sitting in a dry room (ok, I'm in Vegas, every room is a dry room) they woke up again and worked fine. I suppose a less than honest person would just get Apple to fix it and not mention the provenance of the soap suds; all they'll do is send you a new one anyway (at least, I've never experienced Apple actually repairing, as opposed to replacing, an iPod.) --jpgordon∇∆∇∆20:51, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe you can clear up a heated disscusion. I realize the starboard side of a ship is the right side facing the bow, in the movie titanic when they spotted the iceberg the wheelsman was ordered hard a starboard, but turned the ships wheel to turn the boat to the left. Was this wrong in the movie or am i missing something. Thanks much. Ed
That must have been really confusing for the helmsman. In the case of a simple tiller it makes some sense, but when you use a wheel it must be really confusing. DirkvdM12:05, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Not actually that bad, when you think about it. On a ship large enough for Board of Trade regulations to be used (where you had a crew assumed to be unfamiliar with each other, and it wasn't a matter of "Bring her to port a touch, Mike, will you?"), the helmsman would have had almost no contact with the actual navigation or direction of the ship. He wouldn't have to worry about whether they were turning this way or that, or why; he'd just do as instructed by the navigator, and "hard to starboard" automatically meant "wheel to port". He was a seaman; it wasn't much difference to him which way the ship went, it was the officer's job to worry about all that rubbish. (The Merchant Navy of the period wasn't as feudal as the Royal Navy, but it was still pretty bad). Plus, of course, sailing ships were still being operated, some of them pretty old - an able seaman, or an officer, could plausibly have worked on wheel ships and the odd, archaic hangovers with tillers interchangeably. In those circumstances, you'd want to make sure neither party had to stop and think what ship they were on before giving an order - and everyone was used to giving tiller commands for pretty much this reason, so it was codified as using tiller commands.
Come to think of it, there also were no reason you couldn't have a ship with an oddly aligned wheel - facing to port or starboard, or even aft - or one where the helm was inside, and there was no visual cues as to direction. In that case, you'd want an obvious system, so that you always knew turning the wheel left brought the vessel to starboard - and if there's one thing you want at sea, it's something that's exactly what it seems to be, no confusion or exemptions.
Yeah, but then it would have to be the other way around - imagine a car that would steer that way - that changeover should be fun too. :) Only when a tiller is used might there be confusion, but such boats are so much smaller that you always see what's where. And actually the direct contact makes you 'feel' how a tiller works, so pushing it to the left when you want o go starboard is entirely intuitive. I've never had any problems with it. Actually, on one sailing week there was this girl who wa so thick she couldn't figure out where the wind came from. But I can't recall her being confused at the tiller. DirkvdM07:48, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why are there seven days in a week? Seven is a prime number, so it cannot be divided into more useful chunks of time, say blocks of two or three days. It seems rather inconvienient compared to six or eight days a week. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)19:31, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
One of my friends is a Thallasemia Major. I wanted to know what is the average age of a thalassemia patient who is tranfused regularly.And the maximum age any thallasemia patient has ever survived. And what are the latest developments in curing Thalassemia Major.
You can read up on this condition at [45]. The site at [46] gives some figures on life expectancy, but treat them with care. The figures are averages from past experience. Individuals vary, and new treatments have extended life expectancy from what was seen in the past. - Dalbury(Talk)01:34, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
What do I need to know in order to shoot, prepare, slow roast and prepare an entire deer? It is in order for a deer and beer party that I am throwing shortly. Thanks!
Ah, for my old hunting days... The short answer is rather a lot, since you're wanting to shoot and clean your own. You'll need a fair amount of practice at shooting - deer don't usually stand still nearby to let you shoot them - and so you should certainly take a gun safety course (which may or may not be required in your jurisdiction to get a hunting license). Then you'll need some warm camo (ideally) and of course a gun.
Actually, I should stop there. The sensible thing to do would be to look up a shooting club in your area and talk to a member. They can certainly fill you in on all the local details. Alternatively, you could just buy deer meat, which would inevitably be cheaper than doing the hunting yourself. George21:04, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There's a short Wikibook about cooking deer. See: Venison. It seems to be missing recipes, but it recommends heating smaller cuts fast, while cooking larger pieces slowly and basting. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)22:05, 21 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Err... sorry, I should add that I have a variety of weapons and am quite familiar with shooting. I am more concerned with the dressing/roasting part of things. Thanks!
Well any bookstore will have books on wild game recipes which will probably include guides to field dressing and even butchering. Any hunting/fishing type sporting goods stores will also have wild game recipe guides. The field dressing and aging will have a huge impact on the quality of the meat, as will the care taken in butchering. Carefully removing all of the sinew can greatly improve the flavor. But if by whole, you meant you wanted to roast it whole, you can rent one of those large roasters people roast pigs in, and once the deer is properly dressed, you could probably roast it much the same way. But keep in mind venison is very lean, so your recipes have to take that into account to keep it from being tough and dry. If you've hunted deer before you're likely aware that there are places all over in hunting areas where you can take a dear and have them butcher it for you, and you can choose how much steak, roasts, sausage, etc are made from it. You get less back than if you did it yourself, but that's the price of convenience. Of course a google search for "deer processing" and "venison recipes" could find all this for you too. Heh, typing this out was pretty entertaining since I've done most of the above, but I eat more vegetarian than not these days :). - TaxmanTalk19:46, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
well, history fairs coming up! i was wondering, which topic would seem more interesting, world war II, or, i don't really know what this incident was called, but they made a movie out of it and called it "Hotel Rwanda"- it's where these 2 African tribes battle it out...then a genocide occured, i think the less powerful tribe was called the Tootsies, and in the end many people were killed and most Tootsie survivors hid in a hotel ownd by an African who is not a Tootsie (dont' know the name of the other, stronger tribe), but married one, he is made powerful because the business of his hotel was going very good, that it became an attraction for americans to see...The only reason why i want to do world war II, is because, i think, it envolves a bit of history about the Filipinos (which is pretty interesting) Hot F.l.i.p.
It depends. If including Filipino history is high on your todo list, pick the Second World War. Personally, I think it's been discussed a lot - perhaps too much (at least at my school), so showing some initiative and taking on a more original subject is probably going to get you higher marks if done correctly. - 131.211.210.1609:40, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Let me get this clear. You're wondering whether World War II or the Rwandan genocide would be the more interesting topic? Surely only you can answer that. We can't tell you what to be interested in, which is why we have about 875,000 articles, which cater for all interests. JackofOz02:06, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I just checked the main page and we have about 832,000 articles, just to be obsessive-compulsive about it...but anyway, I would recommend Hotel Rwanda for the reasons above. Yeltensic42.61819:04, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
well, it's not really a "to do" thing it's more like representing my culture...know what i'm saying?...and i like both topics...is there any interesting facts about either one of the topics that you guys know about?...i'll probably pick the one that has more "unknown" facts about the event...♥Hot F.L.I.P.
that remains a personal discission. i can imagine ww2 had some effects on the filipines, where the rwandan genocide prolly hadn't. but then again, the ww2 topic has prolly been covered a lot more times before. Boneyard11:13, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The origins of the Hutu/Tutsi ethnic conflict & resulting genocide is quite interesting - both ethnicities were arbitrarilly chosen by the old colonial power (think it was the Dutch) and people were assigned an 'ethnicity' based on the number of cattle they owned at the time. One group was favoured over the other, as a divide & rule policy, (though the favoured group changed around a few times I think) & over the years there developed major conflict, then genocide, between the 2 groups. I don't know if this is noted in the relevant articles or not. If I've time I'll check & try to add details if not. AllanHainey09:29, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
the article mentions the belgiums as the colonial power, not the dutch, the dutch didn't have much colonies in africa anyway. Boneyard11:13, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm interested in eponymous place names, particularly indirect ones. I've had the following question on Talk:Jacobin Club since September, but no responses, so I thought I'd put it out there to all my learned colleagues.
The term "Jacobins" was given to the French Dominicans because their first house in Paris was in the Rue St Jacques. It was later applied to a different organization, the Jacobin Club. My question is, who was the St Jacques after whom Rue St Jacques was named? Was this the apostle St James, or some other saint? JackofOz01:49, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A Wikipedia user has asked the Wikipedia Help mailing list.
I need to find out how to make a stainless Steel Kettle, I have done some reseach and, I think it could be Die Casting, Gravity casting or even Pressure Die Casting, but I really dont know, could you help me please?
I assume you mean the common house-hold apparatus used to heat up water? To make one of these you'd essentially want casing, a handle that doesn't conduct heat too well and (unless it's a stovetop) a heating element. I am also going to assume that you want to use stainless steel for the main casing of the thing. The easiest way to do this would be to get a sheet of stainless steel and bend it so that it forms a cylindrical shape - you could make the base and lid out of sheets (bending and fixing using screws - trusses presumably). Casting is a very tricky process requiring LOTS of energy (for heat) and lots of specialist equipment.--OldakQuill22:48, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It seems like wheeled luggage has been around, or at least common, for a relatively short time. In fact, one article [48] suggests that it wasn't patented until 1972, and I don't think it became really popular until the 1990s. Why would it take so long for such a seemingly obvious invention to be invented and then catch on? --Metropolitan9006:16, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Many inventions are slow to catch on because people are conservative. One might as well ask why suitcases (including the wheeled ones) haven't disappeared yet, considering that backpacks have, in the West, been around for a few decades now. (Actually, why did suitcases come about in the first place, considering that the rest of the world have always used their shoulders (and sometimes heads) as the most logical support points.) At first, people weren't used to them and they were even linked with hippies, because those were the earliest users. But now they've been around long enough. Those hippies are in their fifties now and only the very old have grown up without backpacks. Still, many use suitcases. Why? I've heard some stupid excuses. A while ago someone said "Yeah, but old people don't have strong enough shoulders to carry a backpack". Well, if you're not fit enough to carry a certain weight in a backpack then you certainly won't be able to carry it in a suitcase. And why are there still so many of those wheeled suitcases with the wheels on the narrow side, so they keep on toppling over, even though the obvious improvement of putting them further apart on the broad side has been around for some time now? I've though of a considerable improvement of the backpack, but one reason I haven't pursued (marketed) it yet is precisely because I'm afraid it will take longer than my lifetime to convince people of the usefulness.
Another example. I'm currently writing an article on the glass palace, which was built in 1935 and captured so much heat that it heating wasn't necessary. Considering the cost of heating (both economically and ecologically) why aren't all buildings built this way? Last night I saw something on tv about a building in Delft (I believe) that is built on the same principle. That was presented as something new, but it's 70 years old and must be obvious enough for architects.
And another example. Why do we drive around cities in private cars when public transportation would save loads of money, space and lives? Well ok, that's because governments would have to implement it and if they can't convince the people whose votes they need then it won't happen, so that may be not such a good example. But there are plenty other examples. Such as the fifth door in a car. Why did that take so long and why are there still cars with oldfashioned trunks? It's plain conservatism. Which isn't all that stupid in general because it's often better to stick with what works. Communism seemed like a good idea, but it was a massive experiment that turned out not to work quite that well in practise. But sometimes, in retrospect, it looks really idiotic how slow people accept an obvious change. Obvious in retrospect, that is. DirkvdM12:04, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Many people dislike glass houses because they offer less privacy, but they have no reason for public buildings. I'm sure the situation is probably different in the Netherlands, but here in the United States where mass transit even exists it is generally poorly operated (some exceptions:New York, Chicago and Boston)and most of our cities (especially in the sunbelt states like Florida and California) are so idiotically sprawling that it is virtually impossible to get around other than by car. So the real question is, why do our governments let this happen? Oh yes, of course...to help the oil companies. Yeltensic42.61819:20, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's liberalism. Governments, especially the one in the US, in principle do nothing unless needed. So the streets got filled with private cars and what little public transportation there is is now quite horrible. So people think it's inherently bad, so they won't vote for parties that are in favour of expanding it. In this case a totalitarian regime could have its advantages. Such as in Singapore. DirkvdM09:51, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also, much wheeled luggage is actually quite useless — the wheels are too small and are more liable to make you drop the thing than get it from one place to another. It seems that it was only relatively recently that people started making luggage with a very strong, stabilizing handle, and two large wheels placed right on the corner of the luggage (which keeps it at a straight angle). Also, just as an aside, if it was patented in the early/mid 1970s, the patents would have just been expiring in the late 1980s/early 1990s, allowing for free use among different manufacturers. So that might be one part of the answer, though I don't know for sure. --Fastfission14:48, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Until 30 or 40 years ago porters carried most of the luggage at train stations and airports. They took the luggage out of the car or cab, and wheeled it on their carts to the train car or the luggage check-in. People who couldn't afford to pay a porter for handling their luggage couldn't afford fancy new luggage, either. Remember, travel used to be much more formal; men wore suits and ties while traveling on trains and airplanes; women, dresses and high heels. It was only after people actually started lugging their baggage around, especially because they wanted to carry it all on-board to avoid the long wait at the luggage carousel, that having wheels on a suitcase made any sense. - Dalbury(Talk)23:34, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Or backpacks. You're talking about the West. Like I said, where people had to carry their luggage themselves, they used backpacks. Or they carried it on their heads, which was often done with those cumbersome suitcases that the colonists brought with them, when they then had to carry them. That places the weight right above the feet, which is ideal for carrying. But it requires a balancing act, which the backpack doesn't. So the backpack is a bit of a compromise. It still has the weight off-centre, but you have to bend forward in stead of sideways, as with a suitcase, which makes a huge difference for the wellbeing of your back. Of course not having to carry the weight at all and only having to pull, as with a wheeled suitcase would be even more ideal. But then it would have to be a proper design, not only with a wide wheelbasis, but also with bigger wheels, depending on the terrain. And if the terrain gets a bit too rough the advantage is gone again. Especially in mud, where you might get bogged down. The wheeled suitcase is for people who don't go beyond airports and hotels and the backpack is the best allrounder. DirkvdM10:16, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi folks, I have an vague query which I hope someone can help out with. It is really bugging me at the moment and I won't be able to sleep tonight unless I work it out ...
I remember on wikipedia, on the 'current events' page, there was once a notice about a famous person (logician? or philosophier?) who recently died. In that person's article, it had a bit about that particular person being born from outside US and when in the US, not being able to speak English perfectly, found himself in some trouble with the police. Apparently (as the story goes) he was something like "You can't ..." and given his accent the police heard a profanity instead.
Is anyone able to help out with this piece of trivia? Who is this person?
Are Roy Keane the one who left manchester united recently & Robbie Kean who is the striker of Totenham Hostpurs brothers or not? Apart from these are there or were there any brothers who play or played soccer at the high club or national team level?
The third sentence of our article on Roy Keane says this:"Roy Keane is not related to fellow Irish footballer Robbie Keane.". The question gets asked in many places on the internet, but 'no' is always the answer. DJ Clayworth15:18, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I just saw a dramatised 'what-if' documentary on tv under above title about what would happen if the US $ would collapse. Apparently the national debt of the US has increased dramatically under Bush (after a short good spell under Clinton) and the US now live way above their standard of living, for which they borrow 3 billion US$ per day (per day!?). This creates an artificial paper wealth. Of course this is quite similar to the 1920/30's and a similar crash could happen again (apparently it's not a matter of if but of when). One possible result of this would be that especially Asian countries, like China, would benefit. Also, China is the largest invester in the US$. This made me think. Could China be doing this on purpose? What if they would start selling their dollars really quick (so they still get a good bargain before the dollar goes into freefall)? That would cause a collapse - others will naturally follow to still get what they can get for their dollars, which would cause a further fall, etc. Might China, with its loans to the US, really be after the collapse of the US economy? Then again, someone else said that China would suffer (losing a major market). So what's the deal here? And what would happen to Europe? (This last question because that's where I live). A possible scenario that was mentioned is that Europe creates an artificially high exchange rate (not linked to the free money market), to which the US react furiously because Europe tries to gain a benefit at their expense. How's that? DirkvdM14:41, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There are a couple of reasons why this is probably not China's goal. China has not only bought US dollars, they have lent the US money and also invested in the Western economies, and so would suffer if they crashed. Similarly a lot of broke companies wouldn't be paying back China they money they owed them. Thirdly China makes most of its money by exporting manufactured goods. Who would they export them to if the US economy collapsed? DJ Clayworth14:52, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would also note that twenty years ago the worry was that the oil Arabs were buying up so much property in the US, and that they could cause a collapse by suddenly pulling out. If it's not one threat, it has to be another. - Dalbury(Talk)23:24, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When it comes to investments and markets, the US may represent a major share, but they're not the only ones. But a more important reason would be political, a reason that doesn't apply to the Arabs (if you ignore the terrorism bullshit for a second) because they just want to get rich. China may seem to have 'turned', but remember the regime hasn't changed. What they are doing now has two effects. It lulls the US into a sense of safety (ah, they've seen the light of capitalism at last). And it gives them the power to crush the US financially. That may cost them a lot, but so does the army (which always takes a big chunk aout of a nations economy). They may simply regard this as a military expense. Oh dear, I'm giving away their little plan for world domination. I expect to see the Chinese secret service on my doorstep any moment now.
Then again, the Chinese have always been a nation of traders, so becoming capitalist 'again' should come natural to them. And they've got a millennia (?) old tradition of merging ideologies, so who knows what interresting mix they may come up with this time. DirkvdM10:42, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A distinction should be made here on what "the dollar falling" means. If it merely means the US dollar will by 10 or 20% less on the international market than before, that would actually be good for the US, as it would make imports more expensive and exports cheaper, thus vastly improving the balance of trade. China has been working very hard to keep their yuan low in comparison with the US dollar and other currencies so they can have just such a benefit.
However, if you mean that the US dollar would go to zero value, that would certainly trigger a global depression, including in China. I don't see that happening, though, as China doesn't have control of that large a share of US wealth to effect such a total collapse. Once a substantial drop in the US dollar occured, you would see hordes of foreign investors pouring money into the US economy to pick up assets at bargain prices, and hordes of Americans selling off foreign assets which would appear to have increased dramatically in value. Both activities would result in massive foreign cash infusions in the US, which would raise the value of the US dollar. Furthermore, the US could move to stop a slide by reinstating a gold/silver standard, whereby the precious metals in Fort Knox could be exchanged at a fix rate with currency. If that ran out, they could then auction off vast tracts of federal land and other assets for more. StuRat20:50, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also note that borrowing $3 billion a day ($1.1 trillion a year) is less than 10% of the annual US Gross Domestic Product of $11.75 trillion. StuRat21:08, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Here are countries with their percentages of foreign debt to GDP listed, to give you an idea how bad the foreign debt problem is in the US compared with other countries:
Iraq =229.8%
Portugal =145.6%
Spain = 82.2%
Israel = 57.7%
Italy = 56.8%
Canada = 55.7%
Australia = 50.5%
Argentina = 32.6%
Greece = 29.7%
Poland = 21.4%
South Korea = 17.3%
Indonesia = 17.1%
Mexico = 14.9%
Brazil = 14.7%
Russia = 12.0%
US = 11.9% <-
India = 3.5%
China = 3.2%
Well, I don't know enough about economy to really judge this (despite years of classes in it, which I hated, so that may be the reason I suppose). But it was a study by NRC Handelsblad, a financial newspaper, so they should know what they are talking about. They talked about a paper wealth, saying that the US consume way more than what they have. So it's about the very lack of a physical basis, so I don't suppose reinstituting the gold standard would help any. And you say that China alone does not have a big enough share in the US economy, but if they would start to sell their US dollars that could cause a panic in the stock markets in the world, with everyone trying to still get what they can, a snowball effect. DirkvdM08:08, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Human Causes For Extensive Damage Caused By A Hurricane
You might also want to consider that more unstable buildings will more easily fall down in hurricanes - thus a whole city of such buildings will experience more destruction and death than a city lacking such buildings. A reason for the number of deaths in New Orleans is that a dam failed, this is ultimately a human error - they could have been made hurricane-proof, leading to less destruction. --OldakQuill22:20, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hurricane-proof is a very tricky, and very expensive goal. By bitter experience we have found that 'hurricane-proof' designs turned out not to be, and the building codes are periodically made stricter, but will never be perfect. By the way, it was levees, several of them, that failed in New Orleans, usually because the storm surge went over the top. A hurricane-proof levee system in New Orleans would be very expensive, I'm sure more expensive than anyone will agree to pay for. - Dalbury(Talk)23:20, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Of course, I wasn't considering the practicality, I was making the point that the destructiveness of hurricanes is also down human beings. Another way in which humans influence destructiveness is how the authorities handle the situation - whether they evacuate effectively, &c. --OldakQuill05:44, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hurricanes are indeed fed by warm water and the effects of global warming are uncertain, especially locally, but it will lead to warmer seas and that will lead to more hurricanes. I believe this is one of the few things that are certain and there are already reports that hurricanes appear where and/or when they're not supposed to.
About the cost of a defence system, that's pretty high indeed, but the Netherlands have done it. New Orleans, which is in a very comparable situation (one big sub-sea level estuary) hasn't. The US have called in Dutch expertise, but whether the rich USA are willing to put the required amount of money into this poor region is another matter entirely. The US isn't a socialist country like the Netherlands. And Bush might think that Katrina was quite litterally an act of God unleashed against this Voodoo region. And do you see Bush going against something that might be the will of God? DirkvdM10:53, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Not to mention God wanting to punish New Orleans for its debauchery and sin :)...I suppose a sandstorm will bury Las Vegas next, an earthquake will destroy San Francisco to punish those sinful gays, Massachussetts will fall into the sea for allowing gay marriage, locusts will descend upon France for disagreeing with Bush over the Iraq war, and last but not least the North Sea will burst the levees and crash upon the Netherlands for legalizing marijuana and prostitution. Yeltensic42.61819:33, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
And then there's that supervolcano under Yellowstone and if the La Palma volcano collapses, a megatsunami could wash out the East coast. The Netherlands are safe, though. As we say "God created Earth and the Dutch created the Netherlands. So he doesn't rule here. :) DirkvdM08:17, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
One problem New Orleans has is precisely that it is in hurricane territory, making levees less helpful (correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Netherlands is often hit by hurricanes). The comment about God not ruling over the Netherlands reminded me of a sign that used to stand along the I-4 highway going through Orlando, Florida (home to Disney World etc.), 40 miles from the computer I am sitting at; it said "Jesus Christ Is Lord Over Greater Orlando", which to me sounds like it means that is all...as soon as you venture beyond Deltona (a bedroom town several miles to my southeast that is usually considered the outer periphery of the Orlando metro area), Satan is in charge. Yeltensic42.61821:45, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also, Bush probably wants God to wipe out the East Coast because of all the states in the Northeast that voted for that satanist John Kerry...and everyone obviously wants to bury Florida after what happened in the 2000 presidential election...Yeltensic42.61821:20, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
To be on the safe side, tornadoes should rip apart Ohio, the coal mines should burst seams and swallow up Pennsylvania, the Great Lakes should crash down upon Michigan, a milk flood should wash away Wisconsin, New Mexico should be annihilated by a nuclear weapons test, and West Virginia and New Hampshire should be buried in Appalachian rubble :). Yeltensic42.61821:20, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
One way is by allowing, and even encouraging, construction of low quality housing in areas prone to disaster, such as below sea level in an area regularly hit by hurricanes. When homes are destroyed in such areas, the government should not pay to rebuild them, or should pay to rebuild them in a way that will allow them to survive a hurricane, such as on concrete stilts above sea level. Banning construction of dangerous homes in dangerous areas should also be done. To fail to do so is a death sentence for some future generation, or perhps the current one, depending on when the next big hurricane hits. StuRat20:27, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Another thought is that draining coastal swamps, which have a great capacity for absorbing excess water without severe damage, leaves the coast more vulnerable to this type of damage. StuRat20:31, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree. The ship does appear to be near land, due to the mountains in the back, but it is not docked, as was the case for most ships attacked at Pearl Harbor. Also, the presence of anti-aircraft flak suggests those on the ship were prepared for the attack, unlike at Pearl Harbor. Furthermore, the planes depicted near the ship could be taken to be kamikaze planes, shince duirng a typical bombing run they would not go so low. This last point could be a matter of interpretation, however, as the planes might have been flying at altitude and have been shot down and decided to take a suicide run at the ship as their last act of vengeance. Kamikazes (pre-meditated suicide attacks) were only used near the end of WW2, near Japan. StuRat20:11, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps the artist is not trying to show anything other than a ship getting attacked, in other words, in might not represent any historical event(s). - Akamad11:11, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The ship is a Missouri- class battleship. None were in Pearl Harbor, but were active in the last years of the war in the northwest Pacific. It looks to me pretty likely intended to represent any of the late WWII actions in support of the island invasions such as Okinawa. The heavy flak indicates air attack, which could well be kamikaze attacks by that stage.
Its not a Missouri-class; Missouri was an Iowa class battleship that had three turrets; two in the front and one in the back; However the battleship depicted in your painting has four turrets, two in the front and two in the back. My educated guess, based on the design of the ship and its features, is that this is one of the Montana class battleships that were cancelled before construction. Since they were concived of during WWII it is entirely possible that the artist is showing what they would have been like in actual combat. TomStar8108:19, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Tom. Those planes are (IMO) clearly intended to be kamikazes, and this depiction matches almost-to-a-tee the kind of battles that occured over the landing zones at Iwo Jima and Okinawa late in the war. (Notice there's another ship under attack in the background on hte left) Raul65408:23, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
On closer inspection and a little digging, I think that your painting is of the battleship USS Pennsylvania. The turret count is right, both bridges seem to be in the right place, and if you notice in the painting the hull has an abrupt right slant around the middle of the boat, a feature found on the Pennsylvania-class, but the largest supporting point for here is the hull number found on the front and back of the ship, which look to be roughly in the shape of a "3" and an "8". The battleship with a corresponding hull number of 38 is Pennsylvania. After the attack on Pearl Habor Pennsylvania was repaired and sent into the Pacific Theatre as a screen for the aircraft carriers and to provide offshore artillery support for US Army and Marine Corps landings. Your painting probably depicts Pennsylvania during the Lingayen Gulf campaign, but don’t hold me that :) TomStar8109:47, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming you mean the lower 48 states of the United States of America, then no, since Atlantis is under water. Unless you are refering to a certain episode of Futurama, in which case you may find this more useful. If Atlantis was anywhere, chances are it would be in the Mediterrainian Sea. You may find this article, Location hypotheses of Atlantis, useful. It doesn't mention the USA, but says it may be off the coast of Cuba. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)21:39, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Some fiction is based on a grain of truth, like the Trojan War as the basis for The Iliad. The best explanation I've seen for the Atlantis myth is that a Greek volcanic island (possibly Santorini) exploded after rumbling and erupting for some time, enabling many of the inhabitants to flee. This would have occured before the Greeks (pre-Greek Minoans, technically) had developed a written language, so accounts would be quite sketchy. The theory goes on to say those who escaped moved to what is modern Israel/Palestine and became the Phillistines. Examinations of Phillistine sites seem to show pre-Greek designs but no written language. The parts about Atlantis being a continent, which required it to be relocated out of the Mediterranean into the ocean named after it, and continuing to support a human population under water, were all be made up later. Volcanic islands do occasionally explode, leaving little or nothing above the water. StuRat23:55, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Some fiction is based on a grain of truth, but there is precious little reason to place the story of Atlantis in that class of fiction. - Nunh-huh00:25, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Does anyone know what the symbol is for the 75th wedding anniversary?
Let's say "opinions differ", probably because that's a long time to be married. I think it's about an even split: the diamond importers/sellers would like it to be a diamond. About an equal number of people would say "Platinum" (figuring that 25th is silver, 50th is gold, so 75th should be a more valuable precious metal.) - Nunh-huh22:24, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
According to Wedding anniversary the 75th is the diamond or double diamond anniversary. Queen Victoria, however, decided to celebrate her 60th year of reign as diamond and, since, the 60th is called Diamond. This has led to the 75th being known as the "Double Diamond anniversary". According to the same page the Platinum anniversary is the 70th year of marriage. --OldakQuill22:28, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The point being that there's no right answer. A 75th Wedding Anniversary is sufficiently rare that there can be no authentic "tradition" built up, so any answer is arbitrary. I'd suggest Dentucreme. - Nunh-huh22:56, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hello iam a pop artist who is not as famous as andy worhol is anyway there is a rumor going around my place of work that babylon 5 is an allegory of world-war-two with the minrbi representing THE U.S.S.R.,the earth allience being the allies,president clark being the axis powers [after all he wants to turn earth into a neo-facist state.] the babylon project representing an atomic bomb. and the minrbi civil war and the shadow war being the cold war which was after world-war-two.what i want is if there is any truth to this rumor.
Well, all stories are alike, and all stories that owe a larged debt to Lord of the Rings will be thought of as possibly analogous to WWII. One problem with the analogy in this case is that all the wars in B5 were anticlimaxes. -Nunh-huh22:56, 22 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When I lived in Houston in the eighties-nineties there was a restaurant called the Strawberry Patch on Westheimer Street across from a public Library. They had the BEST cheeseburgers on this earth and they tasted like NO OTHER burger I have EVER tried. Does anyone remember this place? Is there ANY OTHER Strawberry Patch in the US? Or at least the recipe for the burger?
I believe they changed the name to "Pappas Bros. Steakhouse". Since it's under the same owners, hopefuly it will be as good as ever, although it is rather pricey ($50-$100): Restaurant reviewStuRat19:24, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Correction, I believe the place you want is next door:
A clean, well-lit place for quality burgers in the Galleria area, Pappas Burger is a modern burger joint that also serves beer. The meat is first-rate; they start with never-been-frozen beef, ground fresh daily next door at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse. Then they make a half-pound patty and griddle-cook it. You choose from a wide variety of configurations and order at the counter. The blue cheese burger is the local favorite.
If it's the blue (bleu in French) cheese burger you like, there are many recipes for those. They have a unique taste. StuRat19:42, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
OF course, the "Best Cheeseburgers on Earh" claim has to be contested....Once you've found this jrnt, truck on up to New Haven, Connecticut and try out the burgers at Louis Lunch. All other burgers are toboueffy... - Nunh-huh07:04, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
OK...neither is correct. That resteraunt does not serve burgers. I think it may have been with the same company who owned Pappadeux Or Bennigans. More help please?
They get lots. [49]. Since 1912, they have been shared with those designated by the post office as Santa's helpers - "charitable organizations, employees of local post offices, and volunteers." - Nunh-huh05:30, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
dear sirs, my grandfather might have went to this scool in 1900's i'm not sure would like to know. his name was richmond lyke, ssn: 121-12- 3800, went to culver military academy , in culver IN, he was born august 24 1888., in millerton, pennsylvania. if u could find out for me , u can write me at <e-mail address removed>, thankyou very much for this sight. dean lyke. 5055n 1145 w delphi, IN. 46923
Dean, I have removed your e-mail address so that you won't get put onto various spam lists. If you look at our article on Culver Military Academy, you will find a link to the school's website. that should give you contact information so you can enquire to the school directly. Ground Zero | t14:22, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was a song from the 70s called i believe "think of me' also ia song i believe named second avenue /on second avenue I would like to know the artists of these two songs
Hi. I will like to start programming, but what is the best "programming language"???
For a first language, I suggest BASIC or even FORTRAN, which is also simple to learn. C and especially C++ are far more difficult, so I don't suggest them until you are able to do the basics. StuRat19:08, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I disagree. Nearly my first programming language (after logo) was learning C purely from K&R The C Programming Language. An extraordinarily well written book; accurate, clear, and concise all at the same time, which is quite an accomplishment. That said, it's still not easy and takes a lot of time. Also cynical programmers will tell you that BASIC rots your brain and will forever ruin your ability to program correctly. I never bothered to keep up my programming skills as other interests took me away, but C can be done. It then makes a good base for learning other languages. - TaxmanTalk19:26, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Everyone has their favorite, of course, and asking which is "the best" is likely to lead to a lot of useless bickering, but I suggest Python. It's easy to learn, but it's still a "real" language used for big projects; it's open source and available for many platforms; and the documentation at http://docs.python.org/ is well-written and helpful. —Keenan Pepper22:09, 23 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Depends on what your goals are. Do you want to become a professional programmer? Do you have some specific things you want to write programs for - for instance, do you want to do web programming, or perhaps develop embedded systems for electronics hobby projects? Do you want to program games?
One suggestion I'd make is that if you really want to learn to program properly, you might consider taking a course in it rather than trying to learn purely by yourself. That may of course be because I'm employed by a university, so I have a vested interest in encouraging people to take courses... ;)--Robert Merkel03:09, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I agree strongly that it depends what your goals are. If you just want to throw together little programs, and don't expect ever to do anything large, then depending on the environment you are in you might try PERL, Javascript, or one of Microsoft's .NET languages, mainly because you will easily find a lot of reusable fragments that you can string together to do things. If you plan eventually to be a "real" programmer, though, PERL and Javascript are not places to start: PERL positively discourages discipline (as does most BASIC) and Javascript is kind of limited. Pascal and Modula-2, both invented by Niklaus Wirth were both specifically designed as disciplined languages for beginners, and remain good places to start. I think Java also is something one can learn from the bottom up (with a good book, or a course), and it encourages a disciplined approach, and you can stay in Java from the very simple to the very complex as you learn more and more of what it can do. I'm old enough that I started in Assembler myself: IBM 1401 Assembler. Do not do that. Personally I like—well, love—C/C++, but I think that its ability to use manipulate addresses directly with "pointers" (and the concommitant requirement to understand memory management) is probably unnecessarily daunting/dangerous for any but the very technically inclined beginner. Then again, once you grasp both pointer arithmetic and object orientation, you have quite a vocabulary of concepts to take to anything else. Hope that's at least slightly helpful, if you make your goals clearer probably several of us can give more appropriate advice. -- Jmabel | Talk06:42, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In line with the remark about BASIC being a bad first language because it will leave you with a wrong idea of how porgramming should be done. The opposite goes for object oriented programming languages, like Java. Proper programming is done in a modular way - first writing a very rough sequence of what needs to be done, refine that until you have a list of interdependent building blocks that can be translated into programming language instructions, where possible reusing stuff already written (by yourself or others). Object-oriented programming is designed specifically for this (the last bit, at least). This modular approach also makes it easier to understand the structure of a program and, conversely, to write it. DirkvdM08:30, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Pascal and Modula-2, both invented by Niklaus Wirth
i just finished reading the talk page on paradise lost and the primitive form of copyrights in john milton`s time what i want to know is was there any form of copyright in the time of the poet dante,did it exist in a primitive form and was there any form of copyright in roman times. and in case you are wondering iam not doing my homework.
There were no copyrights for Dante. (Which would in any case not have meant much outside of Florence, as there were also no agreements between states to protect copyrights, or inside Florence once he was exiled.) Books, at the time, were also rather expensive affairs! How then, did Dante manage to live? By patronage - the support of princes for writers and artists. Dante's final patron, Guido da Polenta, of Ravenna, is alluded to in the Inferno in Canto 27 ("Polenta’s eagle") - Nunh-huh04:48, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have been on JK Rowlings website for over an hour trying to get into the "Do not disturb" door. Can anyone help me get in?? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ztocchi (talk • contribs)
You're not supposed to be able to open it when it's marked "Do not disturb". How rude! :) The door has been opened four times: see this link for details and archived images. - Nunh-huh02:47, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've read the article on Lucid Dreaming. I've tried the techniques, but it does not seem to work. I either fall asleep, and can't control my dreams, or, I cannot sleep.
I've been near to success before, I'll explain what I felt:
I had closed my eyes for about 160 counts, when I felt my body go numb (is that sleep paralysis?).
Then after that, I felt a little falling sensation mixed with sensations of being on a boat while the water was choppy.
But I could not progress further much. I gave up and slept. Of course I dreamt, but it was not the slightest lucid.
Could any experts at lucid dreaming give me more tips? Thank you (in advance)--Levin
I've only had them spontaneously, actually only once, despite of trying a lot. But I suggest you spend some time reading or searching alt.dreams.lucid – I recall they have posted some good FAQ's and howtos there. For example, Lars' Lucid Dreaming FAQ there has something about WILD, too. –Mysid08:24, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have read in an article that archeologigists have discoverd Saxon Water Mills on the Ebbsfleet river. Does anyone know any further information about this. I'm doing a project about that time period. Connie Wilson email: (email removed)
"The remains of an Anglo-Saxon water mill have been excavated at Ebbsfleet, near Gravesend in Kent, during work on a station for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology found two large timber chutes, which directed water onto the wheel. The mill is thought to date from about 700 AD, making it the earliest horizontal watermill yet found in England. The timbers were lifted out of the ground intact and taken to conservation facilities at Chatham Historic Dockyard."
When TV footages show the ball possetion of a 2 teams in one match. I always see contradictory to the game, they gave the more percent to the team who is outplayed by its opponent.What is the criteria for this mechanism & how it works?
Exactly right. Posession ratio is literally the proportion of time that a team has had posession of the ball, which might include a smart move down the field culminating in three shots on goal, but might also include time that a team spends running the clock down to prevent a bad situation from becoming worse (if you're 4-0 down with 5 minutes left on the clock, and 2 of those goals were scored from your failed attacks, the last thing you want to do is try and attack again). It's a measure of time, not what the team did with it, which is probably better measured with a combination of territory stats (how much time the ball was at either team's end or the midfield) and posession in opponent's half. Christalk back03:12, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Most ski resorts report total snowfall on their websites, so if you are lucky enough to live near one then that might give you an idea. DJ Clayworth22:42, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How about I can't access any and YOU give me the answer?
If there is one (don't remember there being one), it's probably one of the missions that nerdy guy who runs the RC shop gives you. It's in the second city (San Fernando). But Gamefaqs really is a far better place for this kind of query. Prototc10:58, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe an embarassing question... but I've never seen one fly. I tried to check the Wiki and it never mentioned flight, and the article Flightless birds didn't mention chickens either.
So I wonder... Can chickens fly?
-- Jason 12:56, 24 November 2005 (UTC)
Downloading most films is illegal (see above). Archive.org is your best resouce for legal, public domain movies - it has many old cartoons, newsreels, propaganda films and some films that through age or charity are in the public domain - like Nosferatu. Taiq 2:24 PM, November 28 2005 (Aus EST)
if the euro fails and europe is stricken with the same amount of poverty we were stricken with during the great drpression how will that effect our ecnomy and will we get out of our current ecnomic crisis.
I suppose you mean if the Euro falls (I can't imagine what 'fails' would mean). Considering your referrence to the great depression, you're probably referring to the US. But the rest of the world suffered from that too, just as it will if (when) the US dollar falls again. See the above thread that this question was probably base upon. And of course the reverse will also be true. An interresting question is which would have the biggest effect 0 the falling of the Euro or the US dollar. This depens largely on how much (misplaced) trust is put in the currency. And the US dollar has been the international currency for at least the last century or so. So if that falls it will probably have a bigger effect because people around the world have more US dollars than Euros (or is this an oversimplification?). But that may change and a falling of the US dollar would expediate that. Which could place the Euro in a similar position and I'm not sure if that would be such a good thing. For the EU (which is only part of Europe, by the way) or the rest of the world. DirkvdM11:16, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well, "fails" could mean hyperinflation, for example. ;) I think you are oversimplifying - the US dollar is most certainly not in the monopolic position it had maintained until five years ago. Granted, it'll take some time, but in the end, I'm fairly sure the US dollar, the euro, and between two and five other regional currencies (Eco and SADC currency in Africa, GCC currency and something East Asian in Asia, CSN currency in South America) will split up the market of international currencies between them in the next two decades. ナイトスタリオン✉11:33, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't know Crosby Stills and Nash had their own currency in South America. :) The Yen would be a logical choice for Eastern Asia. But ultimately wouldn't it be a good idea if there were one currency for the whole world? At leat at first it wouldn't have to be a paper currency people would use in everyday life, but something like the Euro (or should I say ECU?) before 2001, when it was just a central reference currency to make international transactions easier. Many still think we should have kept it that way. DirkvdM09:59, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
How come there isn't a wikipedia toolbar. I find wikipedia incredibly useful but whenever I want to make a new search I have to go to the actual physical website. A toolbar would be much more convenient.
Opera lets you set preferences for searching shortcuts. You set them through preferences/advanced/search, then access them either by highlighting the word on the screen and right-clicking to choose what you want to search with, or pressing F2 and then a shortcut key and typing in the word (F2 w teapot brings me to this page). Opera is great. Natgoo20:30, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You can use shortcuts in Firefox as well. Right click on the search box and choose "Add a keyword for this search". Choose a name for it (e.g. "Wikipedia search"), and then choose the shortcut you want (I use "wp" for the English Wikipedia and "cywp" for the Welsh Wikipedia), then click OK. You can then search Wikipedia from the url bar just type "<shortcut> <search term>" (e.g. "wp France" or "wp Wikipedia:Reference desk". Thryduulf13:29, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
| | | | | | | | |
cymbal x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x X x x
snare x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
bass x x xx x x xx x x x xx x
-Hey Happycamper, fancy seeing you again, you're a great guy. and to Keenan, thank you so much, that series of Xs made my thanksgiving. Honest to God. This page never ceases to amaze me, whew. Have a nice day! 67.160.39.15100:10, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi i just finished reading your article on the internet movie database and i want to know if there is a database just like it only for commercials.
Second similar anon question in two days. Is this viral marketing? No, currently, to the best of my knowledge there is not, but IMDB does usually list sigificant actors' appearances in commercials; no one, to the best of my knowledge, tries to keep track of other people's appearances in commercials. -- Jmabel | Talk21:23, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Why is the rate of gold rising so fast and in such an unprecedented fashion?
The price of gold is driven by Supply and demand, and the population of the world is increasing - more people want more gold. A quick look at the Gold prices article (particularly this section) tells us that "demand from the electronics industry is rising by 11% a year, jewellery by 19%, and industrial and dental by 21%". India is the world's largest consumer of gold for personal use, and its population is large and growing. You could also check out this google search
Having said that, though, this price rise is far from unprecedented - take a look at this chart (bottom right of the page, click the box to get the Multi-Year Gold 1975-2005 chart, graphing the Gold Fix from 1975-2005). It's just a blip, and nowhere near as high as it was in the late 70s. Natgoo19:58, 24 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am doing a project on Dracula for a University course and would like some more information on Francis Ford Coppola's particular interpretation. Is there any way of contacting the director or anyone who would have been involved in this picture?
IMDB's page on Coppola has a link to contact details but you have to subscribe to get them (or at least sign up for the free trial). Mr Coppola is likely a very busy man; he's unlikely to be motivated to answer an ill-researched question for an undergraduate essay. Therefore, I'd make sure I'd done my background reading *thoroughly* (and that includes searching the cinema studies journals and books as well as the popular press for interviews) before contacting him. Even assuming you do have a well-researched question that can't be answered from the above, he may also feel that answering even good and thoughtful questions for not-for-publication undergraduate essays isn't a good use of his time. If you're conducting a research project that will ultimately result in publication in a journal, or in the general press, you might have more chance. --Robert Merkel03:39, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Please advise on any information regarding the best RV Engine. The Ford V-10 or the Chevy 8.liter? We want to know for a 33' Motorhome which is best. Thank you.
If I understand your question correctly, you're asking about a truck to tow a trailer. You could try edmunds.com for car reviews. They have a full-size truck comparison. You might also want to see if you can find out on rv.net, which seems to have quite an active forum on RV's. Have you considered a diesel engine, which will merely use outrageous amounts of fuel towing such a large trailer rather than truly stupendous amounts? --Robert Merkel08:12, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A user sent the following message to the help desk.
Please inform me the parity of Indian rupee at the time of independence i.e on 15th August 1947 against major world currencies such as Stg Pound, US Dollar, German Mark etc.,
I would be grateful for any assistance you can give this gentleman.
We have recorded a movie on a DVD-RW thru DVD camcorder but now we are unable to create a CD from that DVD-RW - Please explain in details. We would like to copy the movie on CD and re use that DVD-RW.
For a start, you almost certainly want to record to DVD-R or DVD+R (both of which are one-time recordable DVD's which are much cheaper than DVD-RW's), not CD; DVD's have much more room and thus the video is stored at a much better quality. The minimal amount you save burning to CD instead of DVD is simply not worth the loss in quality.
As to the detailed instructions, that depends on whether you have a computer with a DVD burner, and, if so, what sort, and what software you have with it. --Robert Merkel09:26, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi! I have three questions about Harry Potter, the first one is Harry ugly? It says in the 1st book he isn't happy with his looks and in the 5th book Pansy says Cedric was handsome but not Harry. Also my other question is about Horcruxes. Voldemort, he was using his diary horcrux in the second one, but what about in the 1st book and just after he tried to kill Harry, what exactly was he? What horcrux was he using? And my final question is Pansy ugly? The person that plays her is really pretty, but is she supposed to be pretty in the books?
P.S. Sorry one more question: In Harry Potter movies 1 and 2, Adrian Pucey....which one is he? It says in the cast list that there are two playing him.....if so, which ones are they? I know there is the one with kind of long hair...but who is the other one?
Uncertainty about Harry's looks could be either because: JK Rowling made a mistake between books, his looks changed as he grew, ugly actor are not allowed or it may be a case of an unreliable narrator. When a character describes things or events within a story you have to be wary of them simply lying or not being a good judge of the situation. Many people are unhappy with their looks and over-critical of them. As to the two Puceys IMDB seems to suggest that one is a stunt double, so you probably should not be able to tell them apart. MeltBanana14:54, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The book says that Harry, and not everyone, was unhappy with his looks, and Pansy is a prejudice third person in the story; her thoughts on Harry are less than non-objective.
And Voldemort was alive only because the horcruxes kept him alive. He had no physical form, so he used Quirell as a host for his spirit. We can suppose that Quirrel drank the unicorn blood to keep himself alive, as having an extra spirit attached to you must be a huge drain on you life force.
Hey
There was this person on AIM, she said all these things she did, like kill a dog and all this stuff right? so I said wot the fuck is your problem and all that, and she said she was going to take my isp, It sounds like me just being gullable but I'm not giving you the full story, anyway...is it possible for someone to get your isp? which is where all your information like your address is shown...
You probably mean the IP address, not the ISP which is your internet service provider (the company you bought your internet connection from, e.g. AOL). I doubt anyone can discover your IP address through AIM. (All the messages go through a central server, not directly from client to client.) And even if they did, only the internet service provider and the police are able track down your name and address using only the IP address. –Mysid10:26, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure you can figure out an IP through AIM, but it's pretty useless on the whole and you'd have to be fairly savvy to do it anyway. --Fastfission22:01, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's actually pretty easy, I've done it before. You make a connection, like through AIM, and then type a (long forgotten by me) command into your command prompt, and it tells you all the IPs you're connecting with, and puts yours at the top of the list. hackthissite.org might have information, if it's working. 216.43.124.15017:50, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Forgot to say that you can even find IP traces through google, but usually they cost $$$. 216.43.124.150
Please could you tell me how I can go about finding a list of famous people (either alive or dead) with the first name "Evan".
Many thanks,
Tim Drean
While Wikipedia is not the ultimate celebrity index, we have a fair number of articles on famous people from all walks of life - entering "evan" in the search bar and clicking on "search" will show you all articles that have "evan" in the title (some of which wil be irrelevant to your query, but you will also get all articles on people with the first name Evan). By the way, I've removed your email address - we generally answer requests on this page, not per mail, and publishing your email address here will most probably result in large amounts of spam sent to your mailbox -- Ferkelparadeπ13:41, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, I am a 7th grader doing an African project on Gabon. I would like the types of foods eaten there and a place to find recipes to fix them if possible as we have to take a sample of a food to class as part of our grade. Thanks and I love this site it helped me a lot on my board. If you need to send a website to where I can find it that would be apprectiated too.
Sounds like a quote from Dirty Harry (...this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world...). The article on .44 Magnum says this quote was not true when the movie was released (or now), but doesn't specifically identify what is. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:06, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
At a guess, one of the .50 caliber handguns fits the bill, though there are other definitions. Hunting pistols are much physically bigger, and are accurate over a far longer range than any short-barreled jobby, though to me their description as pistols is a bit dubious. In terms of "what's the most lethal close-quarters battle weapon you can conveniently carry", perhaps something like the HK MP7 might do the trick, but they're not available to civilians. --Robert Merkel05:20, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Is it possible to buy the very first "The simpsons" season (1989) on dvd???
Of course, it is sold in North America, Europe and Australia in a pinkish-silver boxset. We even have an article about Simpsons DVDs: The Simpsons DVDs. Anywhere that sells DVDs should have it. Try somewhere like Amazon. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)21:38, 25 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
hi just read your article on NATO and i want to know what will happen if one member state attacks another member state will there be some kind of civil war or something.
I believe the rest of NATO would probably come to the defense of the attacked nation, unless it was clear that the attacked nation was the aggressor. "will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary" leaves plenty of room for improvisation. Say Belgium sends its troops against Luxembourg, but only after tensions between the two that both countries were at fault for . At that point, the rest of NATO is committed to do something, but that something doesn't necessarily have to be an attack; if the U.K. and France send in mediators and use economic sanctions, they haven't failed in their responsibilities. Deltabeignet02:20, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Belgium invading Luxembourg is perhaps not so likely; the only vaguely plausible scenario one could imagine NATO militaries facing off against each other is Turkey and Greece over Cyprus. Let's just say that the rest of Europe and the US would work very hard diplomatically to ensure such a confrontation never took place, and in the unlikely situation that it did would act very quickly to stop it. --Robert Merkel10:32, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In the "People's Diamond" commericial, a famous classical song plays in the background.
Can you tell me the name and who it is by?
Thanx
According to this, it's from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, specifically "Concerto No.2 In G Minor, Rv.315 'Summer': Lll: L'orage (Presto)" and "Concerto No.4 In F Minor, Rv.297 'Winter': L: Allegro Non Molto". Shantavira19:56, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have a pocket knife with the tang stamp James Lincard & Son, I would like to know the history of it.
The company, or what? You'll need to give a bit more information for any data about the knife itself to have a good shot at knowing anything about that specific knife. karmafist00:15, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
instead of scraping old navy ships while doesn`t the government donate them to the navys of devloping countries has any president thought about doing that and if not why.
Partly because they are made of toxic chemicals such as asbestos, partly because they are obsolete, but mainly for fear that they may be used against the government or their allies. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)17:49, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Here's a somewhat more idealistic interpretation: because the developing countries of the world, as a rule, have more pressing needs than navies. In fact, one could make a case that the US gives far too much military aid to developing countries. Does Pakistan really need more F-16 Fighting Falcons (which they are currently negotiating to receive as part of an aid package, see Pakistan Air Force), or more American-trained doctors, teachers, scientists, economists, and the like? --Robert Merkel10:26, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
You might also say that first-world countries have more pressing needs than Missile defence. Or that without their military, some countries might not survive to enjoy their other benefits. It's a common trade-off to negotiate in many RTS games whether you persue economic advantages or military ones, and neither seem to work on their own. Ojw19:24, 27 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Warships surplus to requirements are frequently sold to developing countries. They are usually only scrapped when no country wants to buy them. As for whey they are sold and not give, probably for the same reason that you trade in your old car instead of giving it to a dealer. If a developing country can't afford to buy a ship, they probably can't afford to run one either. DJ Clayworth17:30, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Norton I is a pretty good answer, but if by "empire" you mean a group of people, ruled by one person and under no other nation's authority, then basically every ethnic group in history can trace its roots to a pre-historic time when they were probably a semi-nomadic band, about 100 strong, ruled by a despot or by consenus. Lots of these barbarian tribes stumbled across civilized man.Mareino19:42, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, but using landscape pollution as a heavyhanded representation of moral bankruptcy, and the rural Shire as a nostalgic representation of imagined pre-industrial European society does not make JRRT any more an ecologically conscious novelist than Dickens. The ecological perspective is of a different and more modern generation and is based on an entirely different view of man's place in the world. alteripse12:27, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The former goalkeeper of Paraguay, who is the all time leading goal scorer keeper, Jose Luis Felix Chilavert at one time was quoted,his plan will be to enter in to politics when whe quits football. At this time by keeping his word is he entered into politics? If not on what activity is he participating or what is he works?
Hello, I'm not sure if you can help me. I am living in Canada and was looking up one
of my favourite movies "The Railway Children" from 1970 and discovered that Ann Lancaster, who played Ruth, died at the age of 50 in the year the movie was made. I never knew this and have been trying to find out what happened but can find no further information despite various google searches. Would you know the answer, or do you know where I can look? I would be very grateful for any information. Thank you. Daphne Saint
--70.26.177.7900:03, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Daphne, if you're really interested, IMDB says that she died in London, England on October 31, 1970. Therefore, given that she appeared in a fair number of prominent acting roles, there was more than likely orbituaries in the major London newspapers - The Times or The Guardian, for instance. If you were prepared to spend some time going through microfiche at your local research library, you could check those newspapers in the days immediately after her death to find reports about it. --Robert Merkel13:21, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I hadn't thought of that, will do.
Daphne
About Viggo Mortensen's address in Venice, California
Hello my name is Nicki Bennett, I need to have Viggo Mortensen's address at Venice, California, so I can write to him? write me back, yours truly, Nicki Bennett
If you do a google search for "Viggo Mortensen address" several sites claiming to have his fanmail address pop up, but have obnoxious registration requirements. Note that Mr. Mortensen probably receives quite a lot of fanmail, and may not have time to reply to yours in detail. Have a look at our article on Viggo Mortensen and explore the links from it. If you have a professional reason for contacting him, you might be able to through his publishing company (see our article).
i am trying to find the highest rated tv programs by year. i have been successful up to 1999; after this i can only find weekly ratings. any ideas or links to help?
Richardparker00:15, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I have a very small Tibettan dog and I would like to call it a Tibetan name meaning small, can you help me please.
Thankyou
regards Kimberley
I don't know the answer to your question, but I have taken out your email address from your question. Please refer to the top of the page, where it tells you: "Do not list your e-mail address - questions aren't normally answered by e-mail. Be aware that the content on Wikipedia is extensively copied to many websites; making your e-mail address public here may make it very public throughout the Internet." -Parallelor Together?04:36, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Although I have never seen any of the movies, I hear my friends reference them. When I was told about Dr. Evil's clone being called Mini-Me, I cracked up, because I drew a parallel between minime (no in Latin) and Dr. No. My friends now think I'm reading way too much into this. I think the pun must be intentional, but I can't find any references to this online. Am I brilliant or am I nuts? --24.17.30.16305:02, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Somehow, I doubt the Austin Powers films are really intellegent enough to include puns in other languages, let alone Latin. Although, it is possible, and its a good guess. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)07:45, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Writers do that, not audiences, producers, or actors. If you want to give the writer credit for being even more recondite, maybe it also contains an allusion to Lord Minimus. alteripse12:20, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
When Flying, they say you are flying level when you are pointed at the Horizon. Wouldn't theoretically flying towards the horizon actually mean that you are losing altitude, and if you continued non-stop that you would eventually hit the ground?
The world is curved, so as you fly towards the horizon, the ground 'drops away' below you. Plus as you approach where the horizon was, you are now flying towards a new bit of horizon; the combination of these keeps the plane level. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)07:41, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's actually more complex than that. The 'pointing towards the horizon' is just an approximation, and not really true. The angle the plane's longitudinal axis makes with the ground when in level flight (i.e. not gaining or losing altitude) actually varies with many things, such as weight of the plane, speed and air pressure. You can find out more at Flight controls and angle of attack. DJ Clayworth17:24, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
A lesbian in a relationship said the relationship became unstable when it became gamy. What does that mean? I asked am she said her partner masturbating. I looked up gamy in a dictionary and it said anything sexually illicit. I have ask friends but I always get different answers from gamy meaning playing games to acting like an animal during sex. I am very confused. Thankyou for your help.
It's clearly not SSH, the secure remote computer access program, and urbandictionary.com doesn't have another definition. Why don't you email the author and ask? --Robert Merkel06:31, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Now, this is mostly a guess, but I think it's a fun stab. He's a jerk, and he's in the sophomore year of college, and it's abbreviated, perhaps because it's vulgar? Considering this combination, I'm going to hazard the guess of sophomore s**t head.--ParkerHiggins07:49, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm, maybe, but probably the first word is not sophomore (maybe Swarthmore? or the name of some dorm?). After all, if it was "sophomore", and he's a sophomore now, he couldn't be one of these things last year. --Fastfission03:14, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am not sure if I understand correctly, but: A notebook is simply a small book which one may carry around to make or review various notes. A notebook PC then is named after the paper notebook because of its convenience to carry around. jnothmantalk11:50, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
This is my guess. In terms of computers, a "notebook PC" is a more powerful "notebook". It's characteristics (weight, performance, screen size) are closer to a PC more than a traditional notebook.--Commander Keane17:44, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Assuming that you are talking about a computer, then I would say a "Notebook" is simply a shorter way of saying "Notebook PC". I think they're one in the same. --Danner57820:16, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Carpet sweepers were used. We don't yet have an article, but modern ones are still available (e.g. [52]). Fitted carpets are a relatively modern invention and may well postdate the invention of the vacuum cleaner, anyway. Warofdreamstalk12:40, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I ran The Mattenklopper article through a translation engine. Part of it reads....
"Until far in the years seventy of the previous century was in the most keep house well a mattenklopper to find, that except of on the cloths sometimes also on the buttocks of naughty children became uses, on which they a fine formed only painful print left behind."
That's Google-translator-speak for: "Until 1870 a carpet-beater could be found in most well-kempt houses, which was used not only for cleaning rugs, but also for beating naughty children on the buttocks, leaving behind a distinctive pattern." I believe a carpet-beater was also used in the process of torturing James Bond in Casino Royale, though it was used on a portion of his anatomy close to, but not, the area specified above. - Nunh-huh05:15, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It indeed has. It looks exactly like what is known in Swedish as "mattpiska", or in the Scanian dialect as "mattebankare". We still use such a thing at home, although not for buttocks. That makes me wonder if the :nl article wasn't referring to the 1970's instead of the 1870's. After all, my family isn't so old-fashioned... 130.243.135.14517:08, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In Italy was used too: I have one at home... it has not been used very often. I think a simple vacuum cleaner cannot clean the carpet if particles of dust are not only in the surface of the carpet but entangled in its fibers. So it was particularly used in the Spring Cleaning I remember my mom sayng "if you childs don't behave well I will use a battitappeti " she was only joking referring to times when mothers would use that sistem, spanking a children with bare hands could be painful (!) --Melaen23:34, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Our article on the world's tallest structures, and the articles on the tallest sky scrapers themselves, don't acutally make this clear. The Sears Tower apparently has 108 storeys, and that looks to be the most, but is the correct? Thryduulf13:25, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Burj Dubai [53], under construction in United Arab Emirates, is expected to have the highest number of storeys (160, if we can believe some of the press reports) once it is completed. --Tachs08:16, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
this article says the Sears building has 110 storeys, so it depends on what youi count, I supose. The term 'first floor' is in the US used for ground floor, but elsewhere for the first floor up, so that will influence how many floors are counted. And then there may be mezzanine floors. Do they count? And a penthouse? And the roof if it is accessible? I was struggling with these things while writing the Glaspaleis article. DirkvdM17:16, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I would think that the ground floor could be counted with the numbered floors (ie, if there are 9 numbered floors, then there are 10 floors), and that the penthouse would count, but not the roof. As for mezzanines, perhaps they could be counted as half a floor (see the 7th and a half floor, Being John Malkovich. Yeltensic42.61817:17, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, for what it's worth, the tallest building in the world is the Taipei Financial Center, which in 2003 surpassed the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, which in 1996 surpassed the Sears Tower, which in 1978 surpassed the World Trade Center, which in 1972 surpassed the Empire State Building, which in 1931 surpassed the Chrysler Building, which in 1927 surpassed the Woolworth Building. Yeltensic42.61817:21, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
The former goalkeeper of Paraguay, who is the all time leading goal scorer keeper, Jose Luis Felix Chilavert at one time was quoted,his plan will be to enter in to politics when whe quits football. At this time by keeping his word is he entered into politics? If not on what activity is he participating or what is he works?
It seems he has not. Interestingly, I found an article just a couple of days old detailing what he is doing. This apparently includes running a restaurant, hosting a reality show, and real estate investments. The article says he is interested in coaching the Paraguay team in the future. If you know anything about him, you can help start an article at Jose Chilavert.Superm401 | Talk17:15, 28 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi,
Do you happen to know what the French refer to as correctly spoken French, as in the way we refer to RP English as the Queens or Oxford English ? and the Germans refer to Frankfurt German apparently.
Thanks
Ges.
In Quebec the French of l'Académie is often called International French, as opposed to the local Québécois variety. - SimonP01:27, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It's also a 'traditional' Dutch song, which makes it somewhat unlikely that it is orginally Quebequan (Quebequian? Quebequese? - help me out here....). About the meaning of the song, I always thought the Dutch translation was wrong, saying the bells are already ringing. But now it turns out the English, German and Danish version say that too. Doesn't 'Sonnez les matines' mean 'Go ring the bells'? 'The bells are ringing' would be 'Les matines sonnent', right? (Excuse my rusty French).
My Danish is even worse, but that article seems to say that the oldest written version was in a French magazine from 1811 and that it stems from the middle ages. So if it were Quebequan there should also be an indian version I suppose. :) DirkvdM17:36, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I think I heard about the Quebec origin on the radio show of Oscar Brand, a Canadian-American folk singer and an authority on these sorts of things. Perhaps it is a variant that is from Quebec, or that Quebec is the origin of the English or hybrid French-English version common in North America.--Pharos10:10, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Québec as the origin of this children's song strikes me as highly unlikely. A Canadian songbook states it was French; and see also [54]. Also check "The Book of World Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk", 5th ed., by James J. Fuld, Dover Publications 2000; ISBN0486414752. Lupo12:11, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I am picturing in my mind Nicholas Cage and Arturo Peniche working on an English-speaking soap opera. Can that dream be a reality for me in the future?
Probably not. Nicolas Cage doesn't appear to be the soap opera type. If you want any chance at it becoming a reality, you should spend some time to learning about the soap business and how to get a new one made. - 131.211.210.1611:19, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
is the movie buck and the preacher with sidney poitier and harry belafonte a true story.
The movie's IMDB entry contains nothing to suggest that it is. Typically that would mean that it's fiction, although it's always possible that they just don't know. --Anonymous, 00:10 UTC, December 1, 2005
I am imagining Anahi doing a song with Mariah Carey and being on either "One Life To Live", "Guiding Light" or any American soap opera. Is that possible? And could you tell her that I said "Hello" in Spanish for me?
The NACDA Director's Cup assigns points for 1st place 2nd place NCAA finishes, etc. across all sports and rank the teams that way. You'll still have to pick a metric though, since whether you take the most recent year's results or an average over 5 or 10 years for example, the results would each be different. Division 1 is generally considered much more competitive than the others. In any case, Stanford is far and away #1 using NACDA's method considering all sports evenly, and I'm a UM fan. If you prioritized sports by public popularity, then the results would again be different. - 15:59, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
The NACDA Director's Cup is definitely the way to go for an overall ranking that treats all sports equally. For individual sports, go to the [www2.ncaa.org/sports NCAA sports website]. They're the organizing body, and the sports page has statistics and rankings. Mareino19:56, 2 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Wearing taller shoes and learning to stand straighter and piling your hair a little higher. I have just saved you lots of money if you were tempted by any of the "programs" or "systems" advertised on the internet. They are scams and when you send money, will either send you some vitamins that do not change your height or will send you advice like I listed. There are worse things in life than being short, and being short does not preclude success, happiness, or health. alteripse12:23, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, here goes. This one is a stretch. My chinese uncle is being hard up on information, treating it like it is a secret. We have been watching a Mandarin speaking DVD collection of his, with subtitles in Cantonese, although I am an English speaker only. Every averaged 1.5 mins., my aunt asks, "Daddy! What did He Say?!!" "Daddy!! What did She say?". So, this translation may be fouled by the many transactions it made to enter the sphere of my conscienceness:
Swordsman, wandering around. Sees two old elders, they come from two worlds on one mountain. Note: On this mountain there are like 7 clans or tribes. (Swordsman/KungFu Hun Dynasty like/WomanMonks/ShaolinMonks/a leader with a changing face when in battle people/...) These two elders are writing a music book together. Ok, he helps them in trouble or something? Meets this witch swordstress that rocks pretty hard, but thinks she's a popo or lulu (grandma styles). He goes back to his master, but master mad that he hung out with the evil ones, per their POV. So then they banish him into solitude for a year in this cave. In the cave the Masters daughter comes to be cute with him all the time, bringing lunch and laughter. She goes back down to spar with a guy that lost his dad, but his dad gave him a book or some knowledge that all the mountain is in a brouhaha about. Back to the main dude...he's up there all bored. Stumbles across secret room with writings on the wall. Old man Elder that looks like Saruman from LOTR busts some crazy Martial moves on him. He learns from this wisecat. Now he gots crazy powers. Comes out of seclusion only to be the outcast of his own master by the masters jealous teenage-like fit. So all these side wars are going on during the story, and after many hours. This must have been a TV show or something in China. Titled 'Something?? Beautiful Song? or something?' I remember asking Uncle Joe about it, and he murmured it, but he's being sly now when I told him I want it in English Subtitles. So the question being. Where can I find this DVD Collection in English Subtitles? Basic concept of the story is that, and I haven't finished watching this warped translated version at my Uncles yet, Swordsman is the Key to this Mountain world/nation. All these feuds are to be quelled by his mastery of martial arts. I'm guessing, they will always be at war, but with him as the heart of the mountain they will live harmoniously? Maybe? Like, he's the only one in the story that isn't in search of mad power and glory, he's just a plain ole' servant. But of course, life is so-called unfair, and the ones that want don't get, and the ones that do not care do get. This is just speculation on the ending..still trying to decipher. Thank you for your time in this. --the void
With a Widescreen TV, how will my Full Screen DVD's VHS, and other tapes work? Will there be black bars on the sides and or top and bottom, or will the image be stretched to fit the widescreen? Or some other way?
When viewing an ordinary 4:3 ratio picture on a widescreen TV, most TVs provide several modes. One is to leave the picture unaltered, which will place black bars at the side. Another is to chop off the top and bottom and zoom up so that the whole screen is filled, but with (rather a lot of) the top and bottom of the old picture removed. Another mode is to stretch the 4:3 picture horizontally - this works okay, but makes everyone on screen look chunky and compressed. And lastly, and most common, there is a compromise mode, which stretches the picture horizontally a bit, and chops off a smaller portion of the top and bottom. Most people leave their TVs in this mode most of the time, and generally you don't notice unless you're watching a sports program which displays scores in the very top or bottom of the screen. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk22:38, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I should mention that more modern widescreen TVs have an automatic setting too. In this mode the TV looks for black borders and stuff, and picks a mode to accomodate. So if you play a DVD or tape which would be "letterbox" on a 4:3 TV, the fancy widescreen will notice the black borders and will just use the chop-top-and-bottom approach (there's nothing in the black bits you'll miss anyway). And given other pictures of varying proportion the TV will try to accomodate those in a "smart" way too. Mine does that, but it gets confused by the on-screen graphics of "who wants to be a millionaire" sometimes. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk22:43, 29 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
So you are saying full screen DVD's etc will work? It sounds like the Preferred way would be to have Black Bars on the sides?
They'll work, but the letterbox format ones will work better. The only widescreen content most people have available to them (bar a very few widescreen cable or satellite channels) is letterbox format DVDs. If it wasn't for them there would currently be little point in having a widescreen TV. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk14:12, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Here in Britain, widescreen is certainly not confined to DVDs, as the majority of digital broadcasting is in 16:9 widescreen, including most BBC programmes [55]. My remote has a button to choose between wide and 4:3 views to allow me to watch 4:3 programmes without the black bars; most modern remotes I've seen have something similar. Loganberry (Talk) 13:25, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Neil has sent the following question to the Wikipedia Help Desk.
I have a question regarding the Twilight Sentinel Sensor in my 1998 Oldsmobile 88 LSS. How do you disconnect the sentinel sensor at the wiring harness? Thank you for the information.
Neil
Elvis did a tour in the united states in 1969,
Can you please tell me the date of the concert he performed in Macon Georgia.
Thank you, (Email removed)
I'm afraid Elvis Presley didn't play Macon (or anywhere in Georgia) on his 1969 tour. 1969 was his year of residency at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. [56] He played 2 shows in Macon on April 151972[57], a show on April 241975[58], and an April 21977 date, which was cancelled, and rescheduled for June 11977. [59]
Why is much of the airspace over Lake Michigan Restricted? Is there a website that shows areas of restricted airspace?
Although I haven't seen the charts for that area in years, I do happen to know that Great Lakes Naval Base is just north of Chicago. Certain altitude ranges are probably restricted for use as training areas. Dismas|(talk)04:42, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Having worked in the door industry a bit I can confirm the above although the term "doorlight" is usually just shortened to "light" or even "lite". Dismas|(talk)07:48, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Do NFL players get Benefits like Health Insurance or 401K etc?
Yes, they have a very nice benefits package including full medical, dental and life insurance. They are reimbursed 70% of the cost of out-of-network services after a $400 deductible. Their families also recieve these benefits. They also have special disability insurance and career savings plans (with nine investment fund options). They may also get severance pay and may be eligible for worker's comp in some states. Check out the NFLPA (NFL Player's Association) Benefits page here for more information. -Parallelor Together?07:36, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Reader Kevin Tuggs sent an e-mail to the Help Desk.
I was wondering if you knew of a site where I can find the names of the buildings that are seen as you come into Whitehall Terminal from aboard the Staten Island ferry.
How do I argue, every rule has an exception, using the argument form Rductio ad absurdum?
Well, reductio ad absurdum always begins by assuming the contrary, so you would start by assuming that some rule has no exception, and try to derive an impossible conclusion from that.
To clarify, the contrary of "every rule has an exception" is "there exists a rule that has no exceptions", and it is this second statement that a contradiction would have to be derived from. If you assume a specific rule has no exceptions and generate a contradiction, you have only proven that that specific rule has at least one exception. -- AJR | Talk17:15, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Note, however, that the proposition "every rule has an exception" is logically inconsistent, because it is itself a rule and therefore must have an exception by application of itself. Therefore some rule has no exception. —Keenan Pepper13:58, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If you're a lawyer representing a debtor, or are yourself a debtor, and it's a major credit card, you'll want to look into Delaware usury law (or use the Delaware Lawyer Referral Service)
Darryl Hewitt sent the following inquiry to the help desk.
When i was a kid i saw old black and white movies such as Laurel and Hardie, Harold Loys etc, in some movies i saw some fantastic tap dancers called Tic Tac and Toe, 3 young Coloured men who were fantastic at tap dancing on tables etc.
Is there any footage or info on them or have you heard of them.
If not do know where i can look.
Thanks Darryl.
Can some one tell me whats the difference between an ache and a pain?? (Like in headache and headpain).. Can we use the two words interchanginly??
Jayant, 17 Years, India.
They are synonyms, but as with any synonyms there are subtle differences in meaning. I use ache to mean a dull, diffuse pain as opposed to a sharp pain. Webster 1913 defines ache as "continued pain, as distinguished from sudden twinges, or spasmodic pain". So, a headache might result from high blood pressure or muscle tension, but a head pain would result from banging your head on something. —Keenan Pepper14:06, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
And the difference being that in common usage no one would use head pain as one word, they would say it as you did "a head pain". But I've rarely hear anyone use the term that way either, perhaps because its simply not as common as a headache. Though I do agree with your distinction on the use of the words ache and pain in general. - TaxmanTalk16:21, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I live in Florida, where it almost never snows (I remember one snow in my lifetime, and that was just a few flakes), so for the holiday season it's common to see "artificial snow" made of cotton and glitter, which obviously doesn't melt. It's far from realistic though... —Keenan Pepper14:13, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Yesterday, I saw an episode of Blue Peter in which they prepared the garden for the cast of The Chronicles of Narnia film by covering the garden in artificial snow. In this case, they watered the plants and covered them in some sort of pulverized paper as they did in the film as well (the water makes it stick). - 131.211.210.1414:06, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
It is also possible to simply powder ice from a freezer and scatter it outside (this only works when it is cold enough for snow, but isn't snowing...a situation that not uncommonly is seen in Florida winters. Yeltensic42.61820:17, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
But wouldn't the /32 prefix mean that it includes all addresses from 2001:0DB8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 to 2001:0DB8:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF? —David Wahler(talk)14:36, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There is some confusion between a network address and a host address. A network address is the base address of a range, and is technically not distinct from a host address, which specifies one single device on the network. Just as in IPv4, IPv6 allows you to specify networks using CIDR notation, which is the number after the slash. Therefore 2001:DB8::/32 as a network is valid, the remaining 96 bits would all be used to specify hosts on that network. To clarify, this notation is the same in IPv4, where something like 192.168.1.0/24 specifies a 24 bit network address leaving 8 bits to specify hosts. --Jmeden200022:04, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Does anyone have any good links or information on the significance of hair cutting in celtic/romano-british cultures after the fall of rome/at the beginning of the dark ages? 216.43.124.15017:27, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Not much information, but some to get you started; Celtic-Brit men would let their hair grow long until they first killed a man in battle, and from then on would style their hair (and moustache!), using natural resins as gels and animal bone combs. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)20:19, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm looking for information about, like, the hair-cutting bit in Culhwch and Olwen. 216.43.124.150
There's also an episode in Nennius, where Vortigern's incest child comes to him to get his hair cut and the king refuses. I have been unable to find any information on this or Culhwch but would love to know if anyone has any.
I have a problem my son wants "scobby-dum" "scobby dee" and "scrappy" characters for Christmas.This is his second year to ask for them but i cant find them anywhere.the characters are from scooby doo cartoons that he has seen but im not sure if they are available for retail.Your help would be appreciated even a web site!Thanks for your help.
Helen.---159.134.137.23319:39, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There is plenty of merchandise available: Warner Bros sell Scooby Doo toys directly on the Warner Bros Shop website. The Scooby Doo plush toys are made by Gund, and while they are not mentioned on the website, they do list retail outlets where their products are available. --Canley06:24, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Well, yes, that's a good source for Scooby Doo, but there doesn't seem to be any Scrappy or other subordinate doggie character merchanise there. Of course, if she wants to get her son a Velma dress-up costume, she could get it there, but I fear there would be psychiatric bills to pay later... - Nunh-huh06:28, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
There was previously a Scrappy Doo character available on the Warner Bros store, there is one for sale on eBay at the moment. The other characters might be a bit obscure, but eBay is probably the best bet for finding such toys. --Canley06:35, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, excellent idea. (And that's a nice Scrappy doll.) It inspired me to look at "Froogle", and I did find some Srappy Doo Burger King figures! here. (I used "figure" to screen out all the videos, which is what most of the products seem to be. I'm glad they never got around to making a film with their ne'er-do-well cousin, Doggie Doo!) - Nunh-huh07:46, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Does this Observer article mean that someone is getting a million bucks from Al Goldstein? I see that snuff film has an oblique reference to the Russian ring run by Dmitri Kusnetsov, but is there any documentation on the "no such films have been found to date"? Anything? (Well, it's because Goldstein's broke and homeless, but why haven't The Straight Dope and Snopes issued retractions?) grendel|khan22:04, 30 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
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