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{{Short description|Wikimedia Project Page}}
[[Category:Non-talk pages that are automatically signed]]<noinclude>{{Wikipedia:Reference desk/header|WP:RD/M}}
<noinclude>{{Wikipedia:Reference desk/header|WP:RD/M}}
[[Category:Non-talk pages that are automatically signed]]
[[Category:Pages automatically checked for incorrect links]]
[[Category:Wikipedia resources for researchers]]
[[Category:Wikipedia help forums]]
[[Category:Wikipedia reference desk|Miscellaneous]]
[[Category:Wikipedia help pages with dated sections]]</noinclude>


{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 February 28}}


= December 13 =
{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 March 1}}


== LUFS meter vs. Audiosurf algorithm ==
{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 March 2}}


What are similarities and differences between [[LUFS]] meter (especially momentary) and [[Audiosurf]]'s audio analysis algorithm (when comes to how tracks are colored in particular way depending on the song intensity)? Considering the color (when "fancy coloring" mode is enabled) of momentary LUFS bar on my own [https://codepen.io/TF3RDL/pen/gONWJby multichannel peakmeter] when fed with the same song as the video, lines up with the color of the blocks and the tracks on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_YLetFU9bg this video] and/or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpV4jFzOXj4 this] sometimes and at other times, it doesn't line up assuming they somehow sync with the video. [[Special:Contributions/2001:448A:3070:DCCD:D862:849B:9C69:6E43|2001:448A:3070:DCCD:D862:849B:9C69:6E43]] ([[User talk:2001:448A:3070:DCCD:D862:849B:9C69:6E43|talk]]) 03:43, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
</noinclude>
:[[Audiosurf|The article]] about the Audiosurf game tells that the game engine analyzes an imported song to create and save its dynamics in an ASH file. [[Reverse engineering]] these files to extract the generating algorithms is research that is beyond anyone here. This is proprietary information that the game creator Dylan Fitterer may choose to withold. Already as you look for correlation between your objective LUFS detector and the game screen, bear in mind that where the object of Audiosurf is more to entertain than analytical logging, some degree of randomity may be deliberately included. [[User:Philvoids|Philvoids]] ([[User talk:Philvoids|talk]]) 16:32, 14 December 2024 (UTC)
::@[[User:Philvoids|Philvoids]] BTW, what's the difference between song intensity estimation algorithm (which [[Audiosurf]] probably uses it) and a [[LUFS]] meter (aka. a K-weighted RMS meter)? And are these two even interchangeable? [[Special:Contributions/2001:448A:3070:E1D7:6927:DCA6:924C:1623|2001:448A:3070:E1D7:6927:DCA6:924C:1623]] ([[User talk:2001:448A:3070:E1D7:6927:DCA6:924C:1623|talk]]) 02:47, 23 December 2024 (UTC)


= March 3 =
= December 15 =


== Name of Norwegian song ==
== Meta physics ==


about things beyond nature [[Special:Contributions/105.113.11.194|105.113.11.194]] ([[User talk:105.113.11.194|talk]]) 20:36, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
Do you know the name of this ( http://cafe.daum.net/esong39/Ep0a/646 ) Norwegian song? I got the English name "As Small as Stars" but don't know Norwegian name. -- [[User:JSH-alive|JSH-alive]] <sup>[[User talk:JSH-alive|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/JSH-alive|cont]] • [[Special:Emailuser/JSH-alive|mail]]</sup> 06:00, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
:See [[Metaphysics]]? ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 21:34, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
:Note that metaphysics is not about phenomena or entities that are ''beyond'' the [[Scientific law|laws of nature]]. The usual term for these is "the [[supernatural]]". &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 07:57, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:The word "meta" means “beyond” and “about”. The word “physics” means “nature”.  Therefore, metaphysics can be regarded as the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality and existence. [[User:Stanleykswong|Stanleykswong]] ([[User talk:Stanleykswong|talk]]) 06:45, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::[[File:Aristotle Metaphysica page 1.png|thumb|120px|{{small|{{serif|Των μετά τα φυσικά}}}}]]The Ancient Greek preposition {{serif|[[wikt:μετά|μετά]]}} also means "next, after". It is generally thought that the title of Aristotle's book [[Metaphysics (Aristotle)|{{serif|Των μετά τα φυσικά}}]] (Tōn metá ta phusiká), "Of the things after Physica", the etymon of our term ''[[wikt:metaphysics|metaphysics]]'', was given to it (not by Aristotle but by the editor) simply because it was the next book in series, following Aristotle's book ''[[Physics (Aristotle)|Physica]]'', "Natural phenomena". &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 11:22, 19 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 16 =
:You would probably get a better response if you asked this on our 'Entertainment' desk. They are very good at that kind of thing. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 18:48, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


== My habit of feature requests scared a developer? ==
::[[WP:RD/E|Here]]'s the link. --[[User:Alinnisawest|Alinnisawest]],<sup>[[Special:Contributions/Alinnisawest|<font color="black">'''Dalek Empress'''</font>]]</sup> ([[User talk:Alinnisawest|<font color="#cf0021">'''extermination requests here]]'''</font>) 02:13, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


Reading these posts ([https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,115912.msg1047396.html#msg1047396 this] and [https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,115912.msg1051731.html#msg1051731 this]) on a thread about foo_enhanced_spectrum_analyzer in [[HydrogenAudio]] forum about my doings that "scared" off a developer of foo_enhanced_spectrum_analyzer and foo_loudness_peakmeter components for [[foobar2000]] player and yet, the developer of a [https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=39765.135 spectrum analyzer plugin] for [[MusicBee]] did implement my feature requests into this plugin despite I've not have written fanon wiki pages about future version of CoolEdit Nostalgia (like I did [https://fanon.fandom.com/wiki/Enhanced_Spectrum_analyzer_2.0.0.0 this] and [https://fanon.fandom.com/wiki/Loudness_Peakmeter_2.0.0.0 this] before). So, why would they? [[Special:Contributions/2001:448A:3070:EA0F:F1A2:31A3:43A5:587B|2001:448A:3070:EA0F:F1A2:31A3:43A5:587B]] ([[User talk:2001:448A:3070:EA0F:F1A2:31A3:43A5:587B|talk]]) 18:22, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
== how do you spell ==
:What has this got to do with wikipedia or finding references for anything? [[User:Nanonic|Nanonic]] ([[User talk:Nanonic|talk]]) 19:34, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
::{{ping|Nanonic}} perhaps finding a reliable reference for what some bad habits when comes to feature requests that are likely to made software developers quit their job. [[Special:Contributions/2001:448A:3070:EA0F:A59D:BE84:1D03:3CD|2001:448A:3070:EA0F:A59D:BE84:1D03:3CD]] ([[User talk:2001:448A:3070:EA0F:A59D:BE84:1D03:3CD|talk]]) 21:20, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Your questions are scaring off the Reference desk respondents. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 09:57, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:Whatever drama you're involved with on that board, I suggest you keep it there and don't post about it here. --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 10:02, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 17 =
how do you spell funsway, phunswey etc.? and what is the meaning? thank you <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/75.88.122.142|75.88.122.142]] ([[User talk:75.88.122.142|talk]])13:15, 3 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


== Futures contract ==
:Are you thinking of [[feng shui]]? --[[User:LarryMac|<font color="#3EA99F">LarryMac</font>]][[User talk:LarryMac|<font color="#3EABBF"><small> | Talk</small></font>]] 13:20, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


I don't understand finance, so I thought I'd ask. If I buy a [[futures contract]] for say a ton of corn at a specific price, and I hold it until the delivery date, will someone literally deliver a ton of corn to me? Thanks. [[User:Therapyisgood|Therapyisgood]] ([[User talk:Therapyisgood|talk]]) 00:04, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::yes thank you so much I couldnt think of that to save. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/75.88.122.142|75.88.122.142]] ([[User talk:75.88.122.142|talk]])</span>
:The contract is likely to read "FOB Kansas City," or something like that. You'll probably have to move it from whatever transportation it is on (train, ship) yourself. Or, arrange (pay for) delivery. [[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (ex-HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 01:38, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::At the delivery date, the current buyer will have become the proud owner of a ton of corn ''somewhere''. The identity of the buyer of the contract almost always changes, so the seller drawing up the contract does not know the identity of the eventual buyer at the delivery date. Therefore, wherever the "somewhere" may be, you as the buyer can be reasonably sure it will not be delivered to your doorstep. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 09:54, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:Oil futures have even been known to have a negative price, when the producers' local storage was full and demand was low. At that point the buyer of the contract is being paid to take it away. [https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52350082] --[[User:Amble|Amble]] ([[User talk:Amble|talk]]) 20:30, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:Most futures contracts are cash-settled and there is no physical transfer of the underlying asset. [[User:Stanleykswong|Stanleykswong]] ([[User talk:Stanleykswong|talk]]) 06:31, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::True, but this depends on both parties agreeing to a new or modified contract. If the buyer does the unexpected and just sits it out, as suggested in the original question, and also does not agree to a new contract, the seller is obligated to produce the asset to the buyer, even if this means they need to go and buy it on the market. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 10:58, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, a futures contract is ultimately for purposes of delivery of the specified contract in accordance with its terms. A standard corn futures contract is for 5000 bushels (although there is also a mini corn future for only 1000 bushels). A bushel of corn (maize) weighs 56 pounds, so at settlement the buyer owns 140 tons of corn (or, for a mini corn future, 28 tons).
:But that is not going to be you. You are a retail investor and would trade through a [[commodity broker]], who is probably not going to be willing to accept physical settlement on your behalf. [[User:John M Baker|John M Baker]] ([[User talk:John M Baker|talk]]) 00:41, 20 December 2024 (UTC)


== Which Political Bloggers are Former Programmers? ==
== Nasty gas or something on the underground ==
{{rd-deleted}}
Sudden, unexplained onset of a symptom is something that you should talk about with your physician, rather than with some random strangers on the internet. I'm afraid that Wikipedia cannot offer you more specific guidance than that. [[User:TenOfAllTrades|TenOfAllTrades]]([[User_talk:TenOfAllTrades|talk]]) 14:52, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
*The discussion of this deletion is at [[Wikipedia talk:Reference desk#Removed request for medical advice]]. [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 15:12, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


Such as [[Curtis Yarvin]] and [[Ruan Xiaohuan]]. [[User:Saedeer|Saedeer]] ([[User talk:Saedeer|talk]]) 13:45, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:One possibility would be PM (particle matter). Assuming that you still live in Vienna, this site [http://www.wien.gv.at/ma22/lgb/luftsl.htm] lists the measurements of PM10 at various locations. Compared to other emissions / pollutants (CO2, SO2, NO2 and Ozone) they seem a bit poor, but there are no separate measurements for PM2.5. The article on [[particulate]]s has some data on the health effects. --[[User:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM]] ([[User talk:Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM|talk]]) 15:00, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
:Why do you ask that? I don't think the answer to this question can help you. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 01:15, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::Maybe the OP wants to find out how many other former programmers aren't very bright. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 13:46, 20 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 19 =
== Looking for a memoir by an ex-nun ==


== Who is the following unknown? ==
This was written by a English woman who entered a convent on the eve of WWI and came out during WWII. Much of the memoir describes the spiritual and practical lives of nuns, and the other part follows her [[Rip van Winkle]]-like awakening to the modern world. All I can remember about her personally is that she had been educated with women of upper middle class (at least), and that she was related (as a niece?) to a British prime minister, though I'm not sure when he was an active politician. It was a fascinating read. Any ideas? [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 18:26, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
:''I Leap Over The Wall: A Return to the World after twenty-eight Years in a Convent'' by [[Monica Baldwin]], a niece of [[Stanley Baldwin]]. [[User:Lantzy|<font style="color:black">'''L'''<small>ANTZY</small></font>]][[user talk:Lantzy|<sup>T<small><font style="color:black">ALK</font></small></sup>]] 18:59, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
::Magic! (Az da kidz seh.) How did you find it so quickly? [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 19:05, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
:::I typed "nun memoir prime minister" into Google. [[User:Lantzy|<font style="color:black">'''L'''<small>ANTZY</small></font>]][[user talk:Lantzy|<sup>T<small><font style="color:black">ALK</font></small></sup>]] 20:21, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
::::''Hits self on forehead.'' (Except I did try something similar.) [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 20:51, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


When asked '''<span style="color: orange">"WHO IS YOUR X?"</span>''' (X still being unknown to me but is known to the respondents), here are the answers I get:
==Non-fiction by children==
:
Are there any competitions for ''non-fiction'' works by children (up to 16-year-old or similar) that are free to enter and apply to the UK? There seem to be plenty of creative writing/poetry competitions, but I can't find any cover this area (I've tried searching a bit). Thanks.
:'''<span style="color: blue">A answers: "A"</span>'''
:''[[The Guardian]]'' has the [http://www.guardian.co.uk/katine/2008/oct/18/schools-competition-terms Katine Journalism Competition], open to UK children aged five to ten. [[User:Lantzy|<font style="color:black">'''L'''<small>ANTZY</small></font>]][[user talk:Lantzy|<sup>T<small><font style="color:black">ALK</font></small></sup>]] 02:50, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:'''<span style="color: red">B answers: "C"</span>'''
::The Literacy Trust has a long list, and while many are for creative writing, not all are.[http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/whatson/writingcomps.html]. The Royal Mail's young letter writer of the year competitions are quite famous. There are a lot of journalism and criticism prizes if you try Googling, though many of them have fairly short periods for entry, so you'll have to keep a look-out. In the past there's been things like Sky young journalist award[http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2008/06/12/sky-launches-young-journalist-awards-for-14-19-year-olds/], Guardian young critic[http://arts.guardian.co.uk/youngcritics/], young film critic of the year[http://magazines.scholastic.co.uk/content/5173], Bayer/Daily Telegraph science writer award[http://www.science-writer.co.uk/]. There are also many regional awards e.g. the Neil Gunn award in Scotland[http://www.highland.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/libraries/neilgunn/]. --[[User:Maltelauridsbrigge|Maltelauridsbrigge]] ([[User talk:Maltelauridsbrigge|talk]]) 11:30, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:'''<span style="color: red">C answers: "C"</span>'''
:'''<span style="color: green">D answers: "F"</span>'''
:'''<span style="color: green">E answers: "F"</span>'''
:'''<span style="color: green">F answers: "F"</span>'''


To sum up, the special phenomenon here is that, everybody has their own X (usually), and if any respondent points at another respondent as the first respondent's X, then the other respondent '''must''' point at ''themself'' as their X.
== Public disasters in eerily convenient or appropriate places ==


I wonder who the unknown X may be, when I only know that X is a ''natural example from everyday life''. I thought about a couple of examples, but none of them are satisfactory, as follows:
[[US Airways Flight 1549]] ditched in the Hudson River "roughly abeam 50th Street (near the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum)". The [[7 July 2005 London bombings]] included a bus explosion. "The detonation took place close to the [[British Medical Association]] building on Upper Woburn Place, and a number of doctors in or near the building were able to provide immediate emergency medical assistance." Coincidence or what? [[National Enquirer|Enquiring minds want to know.]] And some more examples would be fascinating, of sudden unexpected events happening in just the right place to deal with them or commemorate them. [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 21:07, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
:
X is the leader of one's political party, or X is one's mayor, and the like, but all of these examples attribute some kind of ''leadership'' or ''superiority'' to X, whereas I'm not interested in this kind of solution - involving any ''superiority'' of X.
:
Here is a second solution I thought about: X is the ''first (or last)'' person born in the year/month the respondent was born, and the like. But this solution involves some kind of ''order'' (in which there is a "first person" and a "last person"), whereas I'm not interested in this kind of solution - involving any ''order''. [[Special:Contributions/79.177.151.182|79.177.151.182]] ([[User talk:79.177.151.182|talk]]) 12:11, 19 December 2024 (UTC)


:Drummer? [[User:Card_Zero|<span style=" background-color:#fffff0; border:1px #995; border-style:dotted solid solid dotted;">&nbsp;Card&nbsp;Zero&nbsp;</span>]]&nbsp;[[User_talk:Card_Zero|(talk)]] 14:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:Yes, coincidence. Think of how many disasters happen - that two happened somewhere convenient (and not even convenient in the same way) is hardly statistically significant. There are doctors all over the place, it's really not unlikely for a disaster to happen without running distance of a hospital or doctors surgery. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 21:34, 3 March 2009 (UTC)
::The OP also posted this question on the Math desk. What if everyone says "I'm Spartacus!" ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 14:30, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::I forgot to add an important point (so I've just added it, thanks to your response): Everybody has their own X (usually). [[Special:Contributions/79.177.151.182|79.177.151.182]] ([[User talk:79.177.151.182|talk]]) 14:58, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::::What do you mean by "everybody has an X"? A lot of folks have an "ex", but is that what you mean? ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 15:08, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::I mean that everybody has their own X (usually), whether X is one's mayor, or X is the leader of one's political party, and so forth. Additionally, keep in mind that if any respondent points at another respondent as the first respondent's X, then the other respondent must point at ''themself'' as their X. [[Special:Contributions/79.177.151.182|79.177.151.182]] ([[User talk:79.177.151.182|talk]]) 15:21, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::(ec)The statement "everybody has their own X" makes no sense to me, and I'm a native English speaker. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 15:36, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::X is the usual symbol denoting an unknown (as in mathematical equations), but here the unknown is a person, like "a mayor", and the like. [[Special:Contributions/79.177.151.182|79.177.151.182]] ([[User talk:79.177.151.182|talk]]) 15:42, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:There are too many possible answers that still don't involve order or superiority.
:- Translator
:- Publisher
:- Spokesperson
:- Copyeditor
:- Cleaner
:- Keyholder (person who closes a shop and responsible for turning up in cases of property related emergencies - sometimes it's a manager but sometimes it's merely someone who is willing to stay late or be early)
:- Scribe
:- Accountant
:- Driver
:Basically anything where there's a "role" in a group but usually only one (barring circumstances).
:What are you hoping to accomplish by asking a question like this? [[User:Komonzia|Komonzia]] ([[User talk:Komonzia|talk]]) 15:34, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thx. {{resolved}} [[Special:Contributions/79.177.151.182|79.177.151.182]] ([[User talk:79.177.151.182|talk]]) 15:42, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I don't believe it. A publisher doesn't have necessarily a publisher, because it normally is not an author. A keyholder could be a trusted neighbour,who doesn't work at the shop and is therefore not its own keyholder (at least in relation to the shop). Of course in relation to its own living quarters mostly everybody is a keyholder, but that was not part of the definition. Even a translator doesn't translate itself when it expresses itself in the foreign language. At least not necessarily. Even a cleaner doesn't necessarily cleans up after itself. I know one! Personally!
:::When you're satisfied by these examples that don't match your description, then I would like to see the real description. [[Special:Contributions/176.0.128.31|176.0.128.31]] ([[User talk:176.0.128.31|talk]]) 08:24, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:So this is interesting linguistically and socially - the use of the word "usually" lets in a lot of the examples given, at least in some societies. However mathematically you are looking for something impossible. Lets assume that everyone has an X (or equivalently ignore those people without an X, who are also no-one's X). The relation partitions the set into subsets (i.e. the subsets include all the elements, and each element is in one and only one subset). Each subset has one self-X call it C for centre, and all the other elements (0 or more of them) point to C. Example, whole numbers under the relation "what is the remainder if you are divided by 5". 5 subsets with C=0, 1, 2, 3, 4. In every case there is a "privileged" centre, whether it would be considered superior, inferior or just special is open to interpretation. You can only have no centres in the case where there are no elements at all. All the best: ''[[User:Rich Farmbrough|Rich]] [[User talk:Rich Farmbrough|Farmbrough]]''<small> 21:07, 20 December 2024 (UTC).</small><br />


== Street View ==
:Well and think about it this way. The Hudson River happens to be right next to a main runway from the airport. (Many rivers, are in fact, used as major airplane approaches and things like that for urban areas because you don't have to worry about buildings, as much noise, etc.) And the London bombings—do you really think the terrorists were hoping that they'd set it off next to a bunch of doctors? Is that how terrorists really think? It seems unlikely. And given the density of a city like London, you're going to be near a lot of things no matter where something happens. Neither of those two examples raise any of my eyebrows. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 22:09, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


Why Googlehas not launched Street View in mainland China? There do exist several user-submitted photos, mostly from landmarks and historical cities, but why Google cars have not traveled there yet? How likely is that in 2034, mainland China will have photos by Google cars if Street view is launched there?
::If Flight 1549 ditched a little further south, it would have been eerily close to the [[Empire State Building]], which a plane crashed into in 1945. A little further, and it would've been eerily close to [[World Trade Center site|Ground Zero]]. Another mile, and it would've been eerily close to the Newark Airport. You can't throw a rock in a city without hitting a doctor or a cultural site. Ironically, if you hit a cultural site, the doctor can't fix it, but if you hit the doctor, you'd have to find a doctor. Coincidence? --[[User:Fullobeans|Fullobeans]] ([[User talk:Fullobeans|talk]]) 23:55, 3 March 2009 (UTC)


And, why South Korea, a country with a large economy and almost no bans, still has large unphotographed areas with most minor cities and major freeways are not photographed entirely? And could North Korea ever get Street View by Google cars? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 17:54, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Yes - exactly. You could pick absolutely any point in or around the city and have found a hospital conveniently right nearby - or an airline office - or the offices of the company running the tourist boats that rescued the people, or the home of one of the crew or...something. There are just too many things that you would have found coincidental had it not been this thing. And...if you ''could'' find a place where there was absolutely NOTHING of relevance nearby - then that particular event would simply be conveniently absent from your list of coincidental things. A better way to evaluate your claim would be to do so in advance. Let's say that an airplane crashing within a mile of an aerospace museum is your criterion for 'coincidence'. Now look back through all of the plane crashes of the past decade and see how many of them crashed within a mile of an aerospace museum. When you have your answer, look at the number of aerospace museums per square mile of the earth's surface within (say) 100 miles of an airport...and see if that number is disproportionately high. If so - then you have proved something important...if not...not. I'm pretty sure the answer is 'not'. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 00:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:Here is some info: [[Google Street View in Asia]] There are some places in China where they have it. As to future predictions, Wikipedia can't do that. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 19:07, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
:{{ping|40bus}} https://webapps.stackexchange.com/a/160276 (and see also my comment below). {{tq|could North Korea ever get Street View by Google cars}} That is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, and anything beyond that is unforeseeable. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 01:12, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::My dream would be every country in the world having full coverage. Is that likely in next 20 years? At least Belarus's lack of Street View should be corrected. I would like to see views from every country. --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 06:21, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:::"[[If wishes were horses, beggars would ride|If wishes were horses...]]". ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 07:13, 20 December 2024 (UTC)


:Though a multinational, Google is at base an American company, or at least is perceived as such.
:There was a helicopter crash at a Michigan hospital last year, although since it caused closure of part of the hospital, that's not very convenient[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,359841,00.html]. The National Transportation Safety Board is located in Washington, DC., less than a mile from the site of the 1982 [[Air Florida Flight 90]] crash, though I don't know if the NTSB was there at that time. I'm sure there was some fairly recent major disaster or terrorist attack that happened to occur near a conference of emergency medicine or similar, and the people there were able to help, but I can't remember the details. --[[User:Maltelauridsbrigge|Maltelauridsbrigge]] ([[User talk:Maltelauridsbrigge|talk]]) 11:43, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:Think about the political tensions between the [[Peoples Republic of China]], and the West in general and the USA in particular. Now ask yourself – how ''might'' the [[Government of China]] feel about American-controlled spy-cars driving around the whole of China, photographing everything visible? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} [[Special:Contributions/94.1.223.204|94.1.223.204]] ([[User talk:94.1.223.204|talk]]) 20:51, 19 December 2024 (UTC)
::That is (obviously) not the reason; your tin foil hat is malfunctioning. The USA does not require something as lowtech as a 360 camera mounted on a car to drive through an area to spy on that area. The reason is that Google does not want to waste its money. And China has a habit of creating local state-owned alternatives to foreign services, allowing those to rip off the foreign tech, and then massively disadvantaging the foreign company. They have done this many times before. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 01:10, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I'm not suggesting that the ''US'' would ''want'' (or need) to do this. I'm asking how the ''Chinese'' Government would welcome the ''appearance'' of it, particularly in the perception of their own people. International relations and management of internal perceptions are all about opinions, beliefs, and what can be spun, regardless of truth.
:::Recently, in my own country, Chinese visitors and personnel from an ostensible language school fomented a totally spurious 'incident' at a London railway terminus, by approaching a well-known busker and YouTuber filming his and others' performances on a public piano, and then insisting that he stop filming, complaining to police present that he was violating their rights by filming them. This was not done for any valid reason, but (presumably) to try to manipulate public opinion within China, and create a spurious 'grievance' to use in diplomatic discussions. Such games go on all the time. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} [[Special:Contributions/94.1.223.204|94.1.223.204]] ([[User talk:94.1.223.204|talk]]) 01:36, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::::{{tq|I'm asking how the ''Chinese'' Government would welcome the ''appearance'' of it}} I have answered the original question; please don't hijack this thread to ask a vaguely related question and then bring up unrelated stuff (which was not recent but a year ago, and a storm in a teacup, and your conspiracy theory is not supported by evidence). There are plenty of diplomatic incidents between China and the UK; neither side has a need to manufacture one. If you want to ask a new question, please post it in a new section. Thank you, [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 01:44, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::Telling a user "your tin foil hat is malfunctioning" is offensive, and is by itself a "hijacking" of this section. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 02:20, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::Incorrect (on both counts). And posting 2 conspiracy theories in 1 thread is a clear sign of a malfunctioning tin foil hat. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 02:21, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::If you love the Chinese government so much, maybe you should have your own "tin foil hat" checked for malfunctions. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 02:49, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::Thanks for proving my point. The CCP killed insane numbers of people through brutality and incompetence. But we should still call out tin foil conspiracy nonsense. The idea that all conspiracies about the "other" must be true, just because we don't like them, is a very very dangerous one. Just like the idea that everyone who points out that some conspiracies about the "other" are false must be an "other". [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 12:07, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::Considering [[Restrictions on geographic data in China]], it seems correct to mention the Chinese Government as a cause. [[Baidu]] and [[Tencent]] have presumably obtained authorization, because they're not foreign organizations. This incidentally functions as protectionism. I tracked the piano thing down to [[Brendan Kavanagh#St. Pancras Station piano dispute]], and I suppose there ''is'' a tenuous connection since it involves the [[UFWD]] and image rights. [[User:Card_Zero|<span style=" background-color:#fffff0; border:1px #995; border-style:dotted solid solid dotted;">&nbsp;Card&nbsp;Zero&nbsp;</span>]]&nbsp;[[User_talk:Card_Zero|(talk)]] 03:32, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::Google's use of GCJ-02 coordinate data and WGS-84 sattelite images has led to [https://i0.wp.com/www.kronkeling.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-29-at-12.40.51.png?resize=1024%2C655&ssl=1 weird results] in the past. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 12:12, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::The Surveying and Mapping Law led to 14 companies being given exclusive rights to map China. All local companies. Google Maps applied and was denied. https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/63636/ https://medium.com/@anastasia.bizyayeva/every-map-of-china-is-wrong-bc2bce145db2 [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 12:27, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:Relations between Google and the Chinese government have been difficult for years. China wants its citizens to see only a censored version of the internet, requiring Google to filter results from its search engine. In case of Street View, the Chinese government is concerned about what their own citizens can see (and I suppose they also want to know who views which streets). Google isn't very eager to comply with all China's request, as that could be quite expensive and bad for their image in less authoritarian states. [[User:PiusImpavidus|PiusImpavidus]] ([[User talk:PiusImpavidus|talk]]) 19:44, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
:Why Somalia, Venezuela and Cuba do not have Street View yet? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 23:38, 20 December 2024 (UTC)
::This question can be answered by chatgpt or similar. Or by reading the Wikipedia articles about those countries. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 01:33, 21 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 21 =
::According to the causes section at [[Aviation accidents and incidents]] "...80 percent of all aviation accidents occur shortly before, after, or during takeoff or landing..." That would mean that although some airports are going to be a fair distance from the city they serve, most will be within convenient distance from a hospital. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|Enter CambridgeBayWeather,]] [[Special:Contributions/CambridgeBayWeather|waits for audience applause,]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|not a sausage]] 12:26, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


= March 4 =
== Britannica ==


Why [[Encyclopaedia Britannica]] uses imperial units in its articles, ever for things that are measured in metric in UK such as temperatures, if it is based in UK and read by people in metric countries? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 07:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
== Filling a room with popcorn ==
:{{u|40bus}}, it is not based in the UK despite its British sounding name. The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been published in the United States since 1901. That's two years before the first human piloted airplane flight. [[User:Cullen328|Cullen328]] ([[User talk:Cullen328|talk]]) 07:57, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
::Why it is not based in the UK? And if it is read and edited by people in metric countries, why many of its articles use imperial units first? It even uses British English spelling. And are there any similar UK-based online encyclopedias? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 08:36, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
:::No. Go be bored somewhere else. [[User:Nanonic|Nanonic]] ([[User talk:Nanonic|talk]]) 09:27, 21 December 2024 (UTC)


:::If all else fails, you could try ''asking them''. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 16:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
How much corn would I need to buy to make enough popcorn to cover a 5m x 5m room to a depth of roughly a foot? [[Special:Contributions/86.8.176.85|86.8.176.85]] ([[User talk:86.8.176.85|talk]]) 01:38, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:Googling [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=popcorn+expansion+ratio&btnG=Google+Search&meta= popcorn expansion ratio] gives, for instance, an expansion ratio [http://www.av-outlet.com/en-us/dept_269.html#What_is_expansion_ratio_on_popcorn_and_what_is_the_optimum_level between 40 and 44]. If we take 42, then circa 0.182 cubic metres of unpopped popcorn is required. Now we need a volume to weight conversion for unpopped corn, and we're there. So. Based on [http://www.av-outlet.com/en-us/dept_269.html#What_Size_Popcorn_Machine_Do_I_Need an assertion] that a 1 ounce serving is 3.5" by 2" by 8" (i.e. 0.000917676 cubic metres) then we need 8303 one ounce servings, or 235 kilograms of popping corn. --[[User:Tagishsimon|Tagishsimon]] [[User_talk:Tagishsimon|(talk)]] 01:50, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::(EC with above. Leaving my solution anyways) Let's do a little [[Fermi problem]] on this. Let's just guess that a popcorn kernel is 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm x 1.5 cm. That's 3.375 cubic centimeters or 0.000003375 cubic meters. Assuming we are filling a rectangular prism of size 5 m x 5 m x .305 m as you describe means that we need 7.625 cubic meters. 7.625 divided by 0.000003375 is 2,259,259 kernels. So you would need 2 million kernels. I have no idea how much this translates to in terms of how much of what sized containers of popcord you would need to buy. But I say, why stop with a 5m x 5m room 1 foot deep. Go all the way and do [[Real Genius|what they did in this fine piece of cinema]]. --[[User:Jayron32|Jayron32]].[[User talk:Jayron32|<small>talk</small>]].[[Special:Contributions/Jayron32|<small>contribs</small>]] 01:58, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::{{ec}}Don't forget to use a [[Real Genius|chemical laser]]. --—<i><b>—&nbsp;[[User:Gadget850|<font color = "gray">Gadget850&nbsp;(Ed)</font>]]<font color = "darkblue">&nbsp;<sup>[[User talk:Gadget850|''talk'']]</sup></font></b> - </i> 02:08, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::(EC)From a few Googles, I came up with a figure of around 500 kernels per average bag of microwave popcorn. So you'd need about 4,000 bags of microwave popcorn. Of course, factoring unpopped kernels per bag, you might want to get an extra hundred bags or so to be sure. There's a 6-pack of cheap popcorn that I got at [[Aldi's]] for $1.49, so it'd cost you roughly $1000. Of course, if you used gourmet popcorn, it'd probably be considerably pricier. --[[User:Alinnisawest|Alinnisawest]],<sup>[[Special:Contributions/Alinnisawest|<font color="black">'''Dalek Empress'''</font>]]</sup> ([[User talk:Alinnisawest|<font color="#cf0021">'''extermination requests here]]'''</font>) 02:10, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


== Webpages ==
::::Wow, quick answers, brilliant. I'm going to use the crappy popping corn you can buy in half-kilo bags in supermarkets [[UK|here]]; a bag is normally about 60p. If it's not prohibitively expensive/timewasting I'll do more than a foot, but I need to know what I'm getting in to. [[Special:Contributions/86.8.176.85|86.8.176.85]] ([[User talk:86.8.176.85|talk]]) 02:17, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::::Note that my first answer has changed, as I made a basic error. It seems to be rather a lot of popcorn... --[[User:Tagishsimon|Tagishsimon]] [[User_talk:Tagishsimon|(talk)]] 02:22, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::::::As another cross check, [http://cigr-ejournal.tamu.edu/submissions/volume1/CIGRFP99_0005/Popcorn.pdf this paper] shows an experiment in which 30g of popcorn produces circa 1250 ml of popped corn. You have a volume of 7,620,000ml to fill, which would be 6096 * 30g servings, or 182kg. --[[User:Tagishsimon|Tagishsimon]] [[User_talk:Tagishsimon|(talk)]] 02:31, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::::Let me just say that I love it that you weren't asking this just out of curiosity, but are actually crazy enough to fill a room with popcorn. -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 07:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:If it happens I would love to see some pictures. '''<font color="SteelBlue">[[User:Lanfear%27s_Bane|Lanfear's Bane]]</font> | <font color="DimGray">[[User_talk:Lanfear%27s_Bane|t]]</font>''' 09:26, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:Don't forget to put up a web site, like [http://greatduckcaper.com/ this] previous reference desk questioner. :) --[[User:TotoBaggins|Sean]] 14:02, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


Are there any web pages from late 1980s and early 1990s that are still in their original address, rather than on Internet Archive? Was it common for a company or person to have website in early 1990s? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 07:53, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
:Depending on the circumstances of your prank, you may be able to get away with significantly less popcorn if you're just aiming to achieve the ''appearance'' of a full room, rather than an actually full one. If you elevate the floor (using sheets of carboard or plastic) and pile a a few inches of popcorn on top of that, the apparent depth is increased. Similarly, placing large boxes about the room will displace some popcorn and reduce the volume you need to fill (Archimedes' principle!).
:Another alternative is to construct a box inside the room, with dimensions slightly larger than the doorway. Line one side of the box with clear plastic sheeting. Install the box just inside the room, flush against the doorway with the plastic sheeting facing out. Fill the box with popcorn. To the casual observer, the room now appears full &ndash; floor to ceiling &ndash; with popcorn when the door is opened. (This solution also reduces the hassle of cleanup, as there won't be popcorn jammed into every nook and cranny of the room.) Don't forget to construct a similar bag or box of popcorn around any windows which might be visible from the exterior. [[User:TenOfAllTrades|TenOfAllTrades]]([[User_talk:TenOfAllTrades|talk]]) 14:37, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


:We have a [[List of websites founded before 1995]]. The IN2P3 site from 1992 can still be visited, where you may enjoy seeing the French National Institute for Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics's contact details, a small picture of the building, and five hyperlinks. The article says there were {{tq|2,879 websites established before 1995}}, so no, it wasn't common. [[User:Card_Zero|<span style=" background-color:#fffff0; border:1px #995; border-style:dotted solid solid dotted;">&nbsp;Card&nbsp;Zero&nbsp;</span>]]&nbsp;[[User_talk:Card_Zero|(talk)]] 09:19, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
: I am totally in favor of this kind of prank - yes, the ENTIRE room must be filled. Anything short of that WILL be a letdown - and you will not be able to tell your grandchildren about it with the pride it deserves. Resist all temptation to do a half-assed job. However, I would urge finding something better/cheaper to fill it with. Filling the room with something bigger/cheaper might make sense. Balloons is a be passe...but you CAN think of something!
::Were there any websites around in 1990? This year feels still relatively recent. And are there any saved TV broadcasts from that time in the web, from any country? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 11:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Are you just randomly asking questions? [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 12:00, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Take the effort to read the first sentence of [[List of websites founded before 1995]] and you will have the answer to your question. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 10:41, 22 December 2024 (UTC)


== Did [[Donald Trump]]'s father, ==
: When a friend at college went home for spring break - we took the door off of his bedroom and moved the hinges to the top edge of the door - so you had to lift the entire thing upwards and outwards to get in. This was OK - but it was a half-assed job and we knew it. So the following Xmas break - we removed the wooden surround to his door - we nailed 2x4's across the gap, nailed sheet-rock (aka plasterboard) to that - plastered it over, spackled it and painted it to match the rest of the walls in the corridor - we even added a bit of trim at the bottom to match the rest of the wall and hung a poster on that section of wall to make it look 'natural'.


Fred, know [[Rudy Giuliani]]'s father, who is said to have been a mob contract killer? I'm asking because I've heard rumors somewhere that both Donald and Fred had mob contacts in New York City.[[User:Richard L. Peterson|Rich]] ([[User talk:Richard L. Peterson|talk]]) 22:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)
: The room was GONE! As far as anyone could tell, it was never there.


:"Said to have been"; is there a reliable source that claims this? It has also been said that Donald Trump is a shape shifting lizard.<sup>[https://globalnews.ca/tag/donald-trump-is-a-shape-shifting-lizard/]</sup> Harold Giuliani was at the bottom of the low end of shady dealings in the Italian immigrant community. It seems extremely unlikely that Fred Trump, a high-profile successful real-estate developer from the German immigrant community, would have a reason to meet him. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 10:38, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
: Then I went to a friend's wedding - and met my (now) wife as we happily wallpapered his car. The big pink roses really added something to the look of his rusted out wreck - and it looked so much nicer like that that he never did remove it...sadly the car didn't survive more than a month or two before heading off to the car crusher.
:::Well, that's what the OP is asking. You're just repeating the OP's question using different words. --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 10:52, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
::::The OP did not ask whether it was plausible but whether it was true. Even if the mob contract killer story should prove more than randomly created innuendo, there is still nothing to suggest the two fathers ever met. The suggested mob contacts would not make this more likely than two random New Yorkers (like Henri who sometimes ordered pizza and Freddy who sometimes delivered pizza) knowing each other. It is very difficult to prove a negative, but the question implied the OP thought it was at least plausible, which, as I tried to point out, it is not. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
::{{small|No insult intended to shape-shifting lizards. [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] ([[User talk:Clarityfiend|talk]]) 10:50, 22 December 2024 (UTC)}}
::(it's easy for you to google that the rumors are out there, Lambiam.[[User:Richard L. Peterson|Rich]] ([[User talk:Richard L. Peterson|talk]]) 18:59, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I did not dispute the rumours exist, but IMO they are irrelevant to the question whether the two fathers knew each other, so I ignored them. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)
:Giuliani gave a eulogy and he probably would have mentioned it if they knew eachother, but it doesn't seem like he did. https://nypost.com/1999/06/30/trump-patriarch-eulogized-as-great-builder/ [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 18:22, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
:https://stevevillano.medium.com/the-trumps-an-incestuous-intertwining-with-organized-crime-ab65316c2b48
:[[User:Richard L. Peterson|Rich]] ([[User talk:Richard L. Peterson|talk]]) 19:30, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks for finding this, Polygnotus. But are you sure Rudy would have mentioned it in his eulogy, being possibly embarrassed about his father's occupation? And mentioning an acquaintance with his father would not make Fred seem more illustrious, which eulogies are meant to do. [[User:Richard L. Peterson|Rich]] ([[User talk:Richard L. Peterson|talk]]) 19:03, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
:::No, I haven't found definitive proof. [[User:Polygnotus|Polygnotus]] ([[User talk:Polygnotus|talk]]) 12:08, 23 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 22 =
: [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:23, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


== Policy related to places ==
::Agreed pranks are fun, when they go as planned. If you fill the room with popcorn remember that both the people doing the filling (may we suggest blowing the fluff in?) and the people opening the door will have to breathe. Be sure to have emergency procedures in place to get a] a person out from underneath an avalanche of popcorn, b) errant popped corn out of s.o.'s airways. Safety first. (Lots of OR to back that one up :-)[[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 08:19, 5 March 2009 (UTC)


Hello,
== [[Natural American Spirit]] tobacco ==


I want to add an article for a place in delhi cantonment. However, i am unsure about the relevant Wikipedia policies on this topic. I tried searching on DuckDuckGo to no avail And the results of Wikipedia search gave unrelated things. What are the relevant policies? [[User:KhubsuratInsaan|KhubsuratInsaan]] ([[User talk:KhubsuratInsaan|talk]]) 11:16, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
So I finally managed to get my hands on a packet of these cigarettes, and I must say, I am very, ''very'' pleased with them, but they are so hard to find in the UK. After getting a packet of these, I do not wish to ''ever'' go back to regular cigarettes. There is ''none'' of the harshness in the taste, and the smell is not nearly as bad.


:You may find [[Help:Your first article|this guide]] a good starting point. Be sure in particular to study the section on notability. You may also want to look up articles about similar places (if those articles exist) and review them to get a sense of what does and does not go into such an article.
A few questions...
:It looks like you're new to Wikipedia. (Welcome!) You may find it easier to write an article from scratch and get it past article review or new pages patrol if you spend some time here first editing other pages and getting to understand the culture. That's not a strict requirement, just something a lot of people benefit from when they first arrive! -- [[User:Avocado|Avocado]] ([[User talk:Avocado|talk]]) 14:28, 22 December 2024 (UTC)


::And the place for new editors to ask questions is the [[Wikipedia:Teahouse]] (although we're happy to help here too, especially with references). [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 15:24, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
Where can they be bought in the UK? I'm not ever smoking regular cigarettes again if possible, these are so good. They have rolling cigarettes in this form, but I am bad - bad - at rolling. I notice [[Asda]] has the rolling tobacco, but if I was to smoke these I'd have to become more proficient at rolling.


== Indian city classification ==
Do they not stink up the places you smoke them in as badly? Seriously, I think in comparison with regular tobacco, the smell is almost like [[incense]]. I notice that the cigarettes are slower burning as well.


I was looking at [[Classification of Indian cities]]. In tier Y, there are more than 100 cities listed. But in the reference given there are only 88. I even looked what appears to be official website, there's no new circular of new list. [https://doe.gov.in/orders-circulars/32] Are there any other circulars or should I just remove extra cities. Also, as my main purpose to look for a tier classification, was to use it as approximation for urban (Tier X and Y) and rural districts (Tier Z). Is there any other department which does this kind of classification, please let me know. -- [[User:Parnaval|Parnaval]] ([[User talk:Parnaval|talk]]) 17:13, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
Is this like the original way that tobacco was smoked like the American Indians first did, free of additives? I notice there is a Native American man on the packet.
:That circular by the [[Ministry of Finance (India)|Department of Expenditure]] indicates that classification of cities depends on the latest census. Entities using the classification after yearly update seemingly are easy to find ( https://7thpaycommissionnews.in/classification-of-indian-cities/), regarding a specific source explicitly mentioning their is an update the department link to look for has to be related to the census. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 21:28, 22 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 27 =
The article says that they are as bad for your health as regular cigarettes. I do NOT want a lecture on the health effects of tobacco, but somehow I feel that they are not ''as bad'' as regular cigarettes. My throat tells me this.


== [[Black Cube]], Melissa Nathan,&U.S. presidential candidates ==
I do wish to give up smoking, but am not pursuing it actively.--[[User:I Want To Do This|I Want To Do This]] ([[User talk:I Want To Do This|talk]]) 01:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


Black Cube has a wikipedia article, Melissa Nathan is mentioned in the article [[It Ends with Us]]. Both are googleable. My question is if either Black Cube or Melissa Nathan were ever hired to discredit [[John Kerry]] or [[Hillary Clinton]]? I realize that in Melissa Nathan's case, if she had been hired for that, it would probably have been before she formed The Agency Group PR.[[User:Richard L. Peterson|Rich]] ([[User talk:Richard L. Peterson|talk]]) 06:52, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:I live in Brighton, and the Sainsbury's here sells them. The Waitrose I used to work in, in London, also sold them. I've always had the impression that they're uncommon but fairly easy to obtain. Oh, and they're much worse than real cigarettes; they taste like someone else has already inhaled them. [[Special:Contributions/86.8.176.85|86.8.176.85]] ([[User talk:86.8.176.85|talk]]) 02:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


::What? No way.--[[User:I Want To Do This|I Want To Do This]] ([[User talk:I Want To Do This|talk]]) 04:28, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:The link should have been to [[It Ends with Us (film)|''It Ends with Us'' (film)]]. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 19:16, 27 December 2024 (UTC)


== Griggsville, Missouri? ==
Native American smokers did not originally use paper to wrap their tobacco. They almost certainly used a pipe and / or wrapping made of tobacco leaves, i.e., a cigar. [[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 08:01, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


The [[Robert Fiske (actor)]] article claims (without a source) that he was born in [[Griggsville, Missouri]]. I can find no evidence whatever that such a place has ever existed. There is a [[Griggsville, Illinois]], which is about 20 miles northeast of the IL/MO border (which I think is the river, and presumably was in 1889). Was there really a Griggsville in Missouri, or is this a simple mistake? The only substantive author (to the biographical part of the article) is long departed Wikipedia. -- [[User:Finlay McWalter|Finlay McWalter]]'''··–·'''[[User talk:Finlay McWalter|Talk]] 20:12, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:We don't seem to have an article on Native American tobacco smoking in general, but there is [[Peace pipe]], which has some info. The article says, ''A type of herbal tobacco or mixture of herbs was usually reserved for special smoking occasions, with each region's people using the plants that were locally considered to have special qualities or a culturally condoned basis for ceremonial use.'' I'm not sure whether Native Americans smoked recreationally or for non-ritual purposes. I suspect that modern commercial tobacco cultivation is far removed from pre-Columban tobacco farming. I doubt this brand is at all similar to "the original way that tobacco was smoked like the American Indians first did." [[User:Pfly|Pfly]] ([[User talk:Pfly|talk]]) 09:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:I can't find an obit for Fiske in Newspapers.com, and the Findagrave entry [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11467/robert-fiske] simply says he was born in Missouri. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 21:37, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
:[Edit Conflict] I wondered if it might be something to do with the Mississippi changing its course, but it seems not. However, if Griggsville, Illinois is correct, he could be added to that article's '''Notable person''' [''sic''] section, doubling its complement!
:The 'Missouri' inclusion was (as you may have noted) in the article as created in 2005, so at least we know it's not the result of vandalism.
:I notice that the <u>Un</u>reliable sources IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Broadway Database also state Griggsville, Missouri, which may of course have been taken from Wikipedia, and Find a Grave gives merely Missouri. However, The Movie Database does give Griggsville, Illinois. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} [[Special:Contributions/94.1.223.204|94.1.223.204]] ([[User talk:94.1.223.204|talk]]) 21:42, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
::Indications in Ancestry.com are that he was merely born "in Missouri", not a specific city that I've found. Even though the original article writer has been offline for over 9 years, maybe his email still works? ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 21:54, 27 December 2024 (UTC)


::I'm glad you're happy with the choice, though "the smell is not nearly as bad" strikes me as faint praise. --- [[User:OtherDave|OtherDave]] ([[User talk:OtherDave|talk]]) 11:18, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:: I'm wondering if there is some circular [[WP:CITOGENESIS]] between ourselves, Findagrave, and IMDb. I too considered the "moving river" hypothesis, but it's much too far away. -- [[User:Finlay McWalter|Finlay McWalter]]'''··–·'''[[User talk:Finlay McWalter|Talk]] 22:42, 27 December 2024 (UTC)
::: ''[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=irZmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22griggsville+missouri%22 Who Was Who on Screen]'' (1977) confirms he was born in Griggsville, Missouri. No danger of citogenesis there. The search term "Griggsville, MO" throws up a few non-Fiske results on Google and Google Books, but I can't find precisely where it is. --[[User:Antiquary|Antiquary]] ([[User talk:Antiquary|talk]]) 09:22, 28 December 2024 (UTC) Ah, here we are, it's in [[Pike County, Missouri]] [https://www.ciclt.net/sn/clt/capitolimpact/gw_ziplist.aspx?ClientCode=capitolimpact&State=il&StName=missouri&StFIPS=&FIPS=17149]. --[[User:Antiquary|Antiquary]] ([[User talk:Antiquary|talk]]) 10:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Griggsville, IL, is also in [[Pike County, Illinois]] and if you [https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/62340/ look up the zip code (62340)] given on that web site you also land in Illinois. The two Pike Counties are direct neighbours, but there's no indication of any common history or even a shift in the state border. --[[User:Wrongfilter|Wrongfilter]] ([[User talk:Wrongfilter|talk]]) 10:15, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::That sounds ominous. Also, the more of my Google and Google Books hits I follow up, the fewer check out. The evidence that this place ever existed outside of Fiske's say-so looks rather slight. [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DNRMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22griggsville,+mo%22&dq=%22griggsville,+mo%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj5_93SocqKAxUNXkEAHSw2Mzo4ChDoAXoECAUQAg Here] is one cite from 1907, and there are one or two more from the 19th century, but confusion with Griggsville, IL can't be ruled out. --[[User:Antiquary|Antiquary]] ([[User talk:Antiquary|talk]]) 10:46, 28 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 28 =
:There's a lot of companies selling them online if you Google "american spirit cigarettes uk" (WP seems to frown on links of this sort); make sure to check store reviews and see you get a reputable supplier since some online cigarette companies will be selling smuggled or other dodgy merchandise. (Incidentally I notice Native American Spirit got a nice bit of product placement in recent film [[He's Just Not That Into You]], is that the reason for the sudden interest?) --[[User:Maltelauridsbrigge|Maltelauridsbrigge]] ([[User talk:Maltelauridsbrigge|talk]]) 11:50, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


== Why do news reporters name the programme they are reporting for? ==
::"I notice there is a Native American man on the packet." I think images of American Indians have been used to promote tobacco ever since it was commercialized. See [[cigar store Indian]] for another example. --—<i><b>—&nbsp;[[User:Gadget850|<font color = "gray">Gadget850&nbsp;(Ed)</font>]]<font color = "darkblue">&nbsp;<sup>[[User talk:Gadget850|''talk'']]</sup></font></b> - </i> 12:10, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4jRLTPBiDI&t=147s This] is an example by BBC News. ―<span style="font-family:Poppins, Helvetica, Sans-serif;">[[User:Panamitsu|Panamitsu]]</span> [[User_talk:Panamitsu|(talk)]] 05:44, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
::I don't have the quote, but Santa Fe Tobacco insists this wasn't product placement and that they didn't even know they were so prominently featured in the film until after its release. [[User:Tomdobb|Tomdobb]] ([[User talk:Tomdobb|talk]]) 13:37, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


:You have linked to a BBC TV program where at 0:40 the presenter introduces "''Our science correspondent [[Pallab Ghosh]]"'' who signs off his report "''Pallab Ghosh, BBC News''". His report includes statements by two experts each identified by name and affiliation. The video typifies the high standard of jounalism where BBC emphasize distinction between source and editorial content. Incidentally, a good BBC TV reporter tends to become a [[Celebrity|"household name"]] (the likes of [[Clive Myrie]], [[Fiona Bruce]], [[Sophie Raworth]], [[Reeta Chakrabarti]], [[Steve Rosenberg]], Michael Buchanan and more). <small>Edit: I apologise to Pallab Ghosh for initially misspelling his name and thank Antiquary for correcting me.</small> [[User:Philvoids|Philvoids]] ([[User talk:Philvoids|talk]]) 11:19, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
:As for having difficulty rolling cigarettes, have you tried a [[rolling machine]] ? [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 16:22, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::[[Pallab Ghosh]], but I'm sure he's used to it. --[[User:Antiquary|Antiquary]] ([[User talk:Antiquary|talk]]) 11:29, 28 December 2024 (UTC)


== Navigation lights ==
::If you really want to quit smoking like you said, I need to tell you my story. I was what you might call a party smoker most of the eighteen or so months that I really did smoke, but I also did enjoy the occasional puff now and then when walking in the street or just to take a reality break. Anyway, at the same time I also suffered from stomach ulcers for seven years or so. At one point almost two years ago my ulcer burst and I threw up digested blood, which kinda tastes like vomiting chocolate mixed with water, and a lot of it. I was sent to the hospital instantly, and the doctor told me that I shouldn't even look at a fag, much less smoke, because smoking (more or less) dries up your mucous membranes in the digestive tract (apart from other things) and helps nasty things develop. And that was the moment. All it took was for them to appeal to health. <small> This is not, I believe, medical advice, as I am not advising anyone to do anything, it's more in the sharing-of-a-personal-story field. Right?</small> On occasion I do feel I'd love to have a smoke, and I know I'd enjoy it, if it weren't for the fact that I know that I'd feel rotten afterwards again. Hope I didn't sound lectury. Cheers, [[User:Ouro|Ouro]] <small>([[User_talk:Ouro|blah blah]])</small> 21:25, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


Does the fact that aeroplane/ship navigation lights are green and red cause problems for pilots who are red-green colour blind? How do they deal with that? Can they even become pilots? ―<span style="font-family:Poppins, Helvetica, Sans-serif;">[[User:Panamitsu|Panamitsu]]</span> [[User_talk:Panamitsu|(talk)]] 22:49, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Translation for Americans: "fag" = cigarette. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 06:38, 5 March 2009 (UTC)


:I couldn't be a pilot because of my red-green colour blindness, but people with a mild version can apparently - [https://www.caa.co.uk/aeromedical-examiners/medical-standards/pilots/medical-conditions/visual/colour-vision-guidance-material-gm/ this] is a link to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority's guidance on colour vision requirements. [[User:Mikenorton|Mikenorton]] ([[User talk:Mikenorton|talk]]) 23:25, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
::::You took the time to read all that? --[[User:Ouro|Ouro]] <small>([[User_talk:Ouro|blah blah]])</small> 08:39, 5 March 2009 (UTC)


= December 29 =
:::::<small>Sure, my eyes don't glaze over until I hit responses which are over a page long. If there's no end in sight, then I move on. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 06:19, 6 March 2009 (UTC) </small>

What horrible horrible cigarettes do you get in the UK if you like American Spirits this much? Back when I was a smoker a friend of mine bought a pack of those and they were the harshest most foul tasting brand I've ever tried.<small>-- [[User:Mad031683|<font face="Courier" color="Green">Mad031683</font>]] ([[User talk:Mad031683|talk]])</small> 00:42, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

::::Re. native American smoking. Some nations used what gets translated as "cherry leaves". I have no idea what plant they were from. It's just as likely to have anything to do with cherry trees as not. (OR You have no idea how happy I was when I found out that "frog eggs" in one recipe turned out to be a water plant :-) - [[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 08:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Communicating with an alien ==

Inspired by the SETI question above, I was wondering if we ever encountered an alien, would we be able to create a foundation for communication? What would this be based on? Is there anything we could express that isn't dependent on (or can be simply translated out of) an agreed system of symbols? Even stuff like the [[Voyager Golden Record]] seems like it wouldn't convey much to a totally different form of life. [[Special:Contributions/86.8.176.85|86.8.176.85]] ([[User talk:86.8.176.85|talk]]) 02:11, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:If we were to encounter a form of life from an entirely different planet/culture/etc. from ours, I'm not sure we'd ''ever'' be able to communicate fully, probably leading to a war a la [[Ender's Game]]. The drastic differences in our perceptions of life would make it very difficult indeed to find any sort of common ground whatsoever. If one culture (either ours or theirs) had been observing the other for a very long period of time, they might be able to approach them on some sort of common ground, but if we just ran into one another out of the blue, I don't think we could communicate. --[[User:Alinnisawest|Alinnisawest]],<sup>[[Special:Contributions/Alinnisawest|<font color="black">'''Dalek Empress'''</font>]]</sup> ([[User talk:Alinnisawest|<font color="#cf0021">'''extermination requests here]]'''</font>) 02:16, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::Well, any civilization sufficiently technologically advanced enough to recieve and/or send communication with us will likely also be looking to do so, much like we are (they quite likely have their own "SETI" program). They also would likely have at least as advanced an understanding of [[Cryptography]] as we have, and so even if they couldn't directly translate our language (and us theirs) they should at least be able to recognize it ''as language''. Also, certain things, like universal constants (say [[Pi]] and other mathematical constants) should be universally recognizable. They may not use base-10 numbers, but that is a minor deal; any decent mathematician in any society should be able to work out that someone is broadcasting math at you... --[[User:Jayron32|Jayron32]].[[User talk:Jayron32|<small>talk</small>]].[[Special:Contributions/Jayron32|<small>contribs</small>]] 02:20, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::Mathematics is the basis of most of the intentional signals we have sent, many of which attempts are discussed in [[Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence]]. [[User:Rmhermen|Rmhermen]] ([[User talk:Rmhermen|talk]]) 02:34, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:::You assume, Jayron, that they have something that is reasonably similar to our idea of language, or, like Alinnisawest implies, that they won't mistake our "language" for the guttural noises of beasts... it's clear my dog is trying to communicate with me, but that doesn't mean I'll take what it says all that seriously. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 03:00, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::::Yeah, but if your dog transmits radio signals or flies around in a starship, or fills a planet with cities, I bet you're gonna take him seriously, guttural noises or no guttural noises. Barring situations where the alien life form is, oh, the laughter in a child's voice or something as conceptual as that, the idea that one species would mistake another for dumb animals is a kind of a non-issue. -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 07:43, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:::::But suppose we send off a series of the first 100 prime numbers in the hope of contacting them - and 50 years later, what we get back is some kind of interpretive dance with associated digital data representing the odours given off by the dancers. Now what? [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 15:35, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::::::Then we have a problem, obviously. But at that point, the question is not "are these dumb animals"?, because clearly they're transmitting something to us. -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 12:23, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

::::::: Indeed...and I don't really think it's likely that we'd find that kind of problem at the outset. Any civilisation capable of detecting, receiving and decoding our message would have to have a reasonable grip on mathematics. Assuming they don't get strings of binary numbers arriving in their radio telescopes every day - we'd expect a fairly vigorous attempt to understand it. I'm sure they'd spot a prime number sequence for what it is. What will be tough will be the higher levels of communication. So perhaps we'd exchange some numbers - perhaps some equations...but it's not clear that we'd get much further than that. If our interpretive-dance/odor communicators really do that as their only means of talking...it would indeed be tough to get any kind of idea about what they are saying to us. The worst part is that every generation of human scientists only gets to ask maybe one question and get one answer back from it...in the worst case, you'd ask the aliens something - and never live to hear the answer. Understanding the aliens in such a fashion would be an exercise in utter frustration.

::::::: I've long held that the solution in the book/movie "Contact" has it about right. What you do is to send a complete description of how to build a computer system - what all of the software that has to be loaded into it - which would comprise an AI package designed to respond as much like a human as possible - with a database like (maybe) Wikipedia. Then the aliens can learn as much as possible about us on the first round-trip - so perhaps their reply ends up being in similar form. But that's an awful lot of information to send at the low data rates we're likely to be able to use reasonably. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 04:40, 6 March 2009 (UTC)


:If we imagine the alien to be very similar to ourselves, then communication becomes not such a problem. If they are some kind of hivemind, then not so much. If they are some kind of poisonous space spore, then even less so. The assumptions make the answer. There are about a billion different sci fi answers to this question, some more encouraging than others. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 03:09, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

For initial communication, to prove sentience, use math. (Or "maths," if they are more like the British.). [[User:Edison|Edison]] ([[User talk:Edison|talk]]) 05:05, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


'''Assumptions inherent in the above posts:''' Aliens exist; we actually notice said aliens (i.e., they aren’t microscopic); aliens communicate; alien communications require technology and / or cryptography (no telepathy or billion light-year eyesight for semaphore). Folks, we have no idea if any of these assumptions are correct! [[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 08:06, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:I think most people would accept all that implicitly, DOR. At the same time, we can't say they don't exist, either. We just don't know either way. They certainly ''might'' exist, hence SETI etc. -- [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] ([[User talk:JackofOz|talk]]) 19:55, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

A slightly similar communication scenario with fewer assumptions is discussed [http://articles.latimes.com/2006/may/03/business/fi-forever3 here] and [http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=160 here]. Leaving messages for future far distant generations who's culture might be very different to our own, about the dangers of radioactive waste. ''<small><font color="#000000">[[User:MeltBanana|meltBanana]]</font></small>'' 16:32, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::Some musings: ''[[Starman (film)|Starman]]'' is a simple summary of fantasies about aliens: we'd shoot them. Humans already shoot others who are not like themselves so why not aliens? And until we can communicate with other beings (the opposite sex, other age groups, whales, dogs, insects etc) why would aliens be better at communicating with us than we are on our own planet and vice versa? Maths is just one code or signifier, though a brilliant one, it does restrict the options. It's also interesting that filling a planet with cities is a kind of coda for "advanced" – don't ants already do that? I guess it depends where you're looking from. [[User:Julia Rossi|Julia Rossi]] ([[User talk:Julia Rossi|talk]]) 22:54, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

== Who are you? ==

A couple of years ago my employer, as part of the agreement, bought [http://www.helly.ca/EN/products/42-product.cfm jackets] and [http://www.helly.ca/EN/products/43-product.cfm windpants] for all the workers that wanted them. Mainly aimed at the sewage/water truck workers it was offered to all. Out of 7 at the airport only two, myself and another wanted them. My co-worker has worn his constantly since then but I just started using mine about four months ago. I wear the full set and he wears the jacket with a different set of windpants and any of the water/sewage people have long since worn theirs out. Since I started wearing mine several people have called me by my co-workers name. Not a problem, it was on the street and they were at a distance and had to look twice. However, two incidents had me wondering. I was in the store talking to someone and as the conversation finished and they walked off they called me by my co-workers name. Earlier today, at the post office, I met one of the elders, that I have spoken to several times. After both of us saying good morning she asked me a question. I missed it or thought I heard wrong and she repeated it, "How's co-workers wife's name?" Without really thinking and assuming that she had confused the name of my daughter I said fine. She replied that she hardly ever saw her about anymore. I then realised, as she walked off, that it was my co-worker she was thinking of. I said that I was not my co-worker and she turned round, walked back and looked puzzed. I repeated myself and with some surprise she realised that I wasn't who she thought I was. So, after all that (sorry about the length), the question is, what role does the face play in recognising other people? [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|Enter CambridgeBayWeather,]] [[Special:Contributions/CambridgeBayWeather|waits for audience applause,]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|not a sausage]] 06:12, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:[[Face perception]] plays a very big role in how we recognize other people. However there is a rare disorder, [[Prosopagnosia]], which inhibits a person’s ability to ability to recognize faces, often even those of close friends and family! It’s unlikely that you just happen to have two coworkers with Prosopagnosia though. How well do you know these people exactly? I’d put it down to coincidence personally. --[[User:S.dedalus|S.dedalus]] ([[User talk:S.dedalus|talk]]) 06:48, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Do you look at all like your co-worker? I am terrible at remembering people I seldom speak to/meet in the workplace (well, ok, everywhere) and if you happen to share some common traits with your co-worker that would be enough to add in to the confusion. For instance if you are both white, tall, with short-brown hair, clean cut with no glasses then it's more likely you'll be confused as each other. Expectation is a large part of recognition in some circumstances. Example - If you walk into your family home you might not expect to see say the barber you've been to every month for the past 10 years, the circumstance alone may be enough to make you question your assumption of who you think it is. Not saying this is the case here, but there is more to recognising people than simply their face. [[Special:Contributions/194.221.133.226|194.221.133.226]] ([[User talk:194.221.133.226|talk]]) 09:19, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:Thanks for the replies and the links. [[Recognition of human individuals]] explains why on the street people see me as my co-worker. Just to clarify, the two people were not co-workers. I'm {{convert|1.78|m|abbr=on|0}} and my co-worker is {{convert|1.93|-|1.98|m|abbr=on|0}}, we both would be wearing toques, though his is white and mine is black, at this time of year and both wear glasses. The person in the store is a good friend who I see almost every day. The elder is a relative, by marriage, and has been at my house at least twice in the past year. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|Enter CambridgeBayWeather,]] [[Special:Contributions/CambridgeBayWeather|waits for audience applause,]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|not a sausage]] 11:36, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::I rely far more on voice to recognize people than faces. A couple of times I've run into coworkers outside of work, and I didn't recognize them until they spoke. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 16:16, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:::This doesn't really help answer your question but it's related and might give you some insight... I work in a [[clean room]], so the only parts of a co-worker that I see are their eyes. The first and third images in that article will give you an idea of what the suits look like. Although with ours, you can see even less of the face than what is shown in the first image. There are ~200 people that work in the clean room with me. I've worked there for a few years now and I'd say that I can pick out 99% of people just by their body size, posture, gait, etc. even from a few dozen meters away. I don't know them well enough to know all their names but I can tell who is who. And it can be a little strange running into someone in public who I work with since my brain tries to figure out who they are by looking at their entire face, clothing, etc. and I no longer have the context of the clean room in that situation. <span style="font-family:monospace;">[[User:Dismas|Dismas]]</span>|[[User talk:Dismas|<sup>(talk)</sup>]] 16:55, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:Similar issues apply for surgeons and nurses wearing masks in the operating room. There must be medical papers on the subject, or official guidance in training? And similar issues apply in places that observe [[List of types of sartorial hijab|sartorial hijab]] for women -- the Iranian-style headscarf strips out a lot of identifying features, but the Arab [[abaya]] and the Afghani [[burqa]] are even more anonymising, and yet apparantly children have no problem following their mothers aroudn the shops. Maybe it is the walk that adds distinctiveness. [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 17:16, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

The way a person walks ([[Gait]]?) definitely aids in recognition - i can't begin to count the number of times i've known a commentator was wrongly specifying the name of a player on the soccer pitch because i could tell by the way they run/walk that it wasn't the person they said. Also I think one of the Fifa games such as [[FIFA 07]] specifically mimics the running/walking style of players in the game to increase the realism. [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] ([[User talk:Ny156uk|talk]]) 20:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:I think all these replies have given me the answer. As I was coming home earlier I saw a different co-worker. He's a tall skinny guy who always wears a black parka, like [http://www.weaverdevore.ca/product_info.php/products_id/168 this]. Because of his hight and slim build the parka hangs on him in a distinctive way and he always has the hood up masking his face. But as soon as I noticed how they were walking I realised it was someone else with a similar build. That reminded me that when I lived in [[Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories]] we all wore parkas like [http://pro.corbis.com/popup/Enlargement.aspx?mediauids={4b10fa10-c6b4-4701-b7bc-6248554bb5b1}|{ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff}&qsPageNo=1&fdid=&Area=Search&TotalCount=15&CurrentPos=4&WinID={4b10fa10-c6b4-4701-b7bc-6248554bb5b1} these]. Every Christmas or Easter you would either get a new parka or the outer shell would be replaced (the fur and inner duffel would be the same). For a week or some it would be difficult to figure out who was who with the new parka/shell. So I suspect that because we live in a place where for most of the year, and that sometimes includes summer, our clothing is such that it's difficult to see the face we learn other ways of figuring out who people are. I think it must be a combination of all the suggestions above, clothing, build, walk, posture, etc. Then we end up doing it for so long that even when we can see the face we still use the other clues. In the case of my co-worker and myself the jacket is so distinctive, only two in town, and he has been wearking his 18 months longer than I have, it's blocking out the differences in the other clues we use. Thanks to all for helping me figure this out. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|Enter CambridgeBayWeather,]] [[Special:Contributions/CambridgeBayWeather|waits for audience applause,]] [[User_talk:CambridgeBayWeather|not a sausage]] 23:21, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

== looking for a children's book author ==

story is about angels who each day line up at the gate and go to earth to help people. the main character is called 'little dream' who patiently waits her turn to finally be allowed to go to earth to help people.
the book was a soft cover, approx 12" square blue pages, about 10 - 16 pages in length.
how can I find the book?
I hope you can help me
aunty julie[[User:2605freedom|2605freedom]] ([[User talk:2605freedom|talk]]) 08:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:The book you're talking about is called Little Dream and it's author is Cynthia Leonetti.It was illustrated by Laurie Sharp, John Taylor and Cynthia Leech. It is copyrighted 1969 by Atransa Park Television Pty Ltd and printed and published by Sungravure Pty Ltd. There is no ISBN or cataloguing information. I think you can find it in the rare Australian section at most State Libraries. It is comparatively rare and hard to come by, since it dates back to the 1970's. Best of luck with your search. [[User:La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="cornflowerblue">La</font>]] [[User talk:La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="royalblue">Al</font><font face="Broadway" color="blue">qu</font><font face="Broadway" color="mediumblue">im</font>]][[Special:contributions/La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="darkblue">is</font><font face="Broadway" color="midnightblue">ta</font>]] 10:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

== Library Resources Classification ==

Discuss five reasons why Library resources are classified?

Evaluate the NLDS Act in relation to the establishment of Libraries in Zimbabwe? <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Weddington|Weddington]] ([[User talk:Weddington|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Weddington|contribs]]) 10:11, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Welcome to the [[Wikipedia:Reference desk|Wikipedia Reference Desk]]. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is [[Wikipedia:Do your own homework|our policy here]] to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems. Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. Thank you.<!--Template:Dyoh--> [[User:Nanonic|Nanonic]] ([[User talk:Nanonic|talk]]) 10:25, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

== Wikipedia Articles ==

How do we know when a place, or a school, or a temple, etc. is important enough to merit it's own article in Wikipedia? ''Does'' it have to be important at all? If Wikipedia aims at having "the sum total of knowledge of all the people in the world" then shouldn't even the most insignificant things and tiniest objects have their own article?? [[User:La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="cornflowerblue">La</font>]] [[User talk:La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="royalblue">Al</font><font face="Broadway" color="blue">qu</font><font face="Broadway" color="mediumblue">im</font>]][[Special:contributions/La Alquimista|<font face="Broadway" color="darkblue">is</font><font face="Broadway" color="midnightblue">ta</font>]] 10:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

See here [[Wikipedia:About#Wikipedia_content_criteria]] and the links there-in. Notability is a big part of this - because something is notable/important to a small group of people in City X does not make it worthwhile being included as a page on wikipedia which is visible to pretty much anyone. Obviously there are ongoing debates about these - particularly as wikipedia seems to have a huge volume of extremely detailed 'pop culture' articles such as crazily-indepth articles like say episode 7 of series 3 of Third Rock from the Sun (no idea if that is a correct example but you get the idea). [[Special:Contributions/194.221.133.226|194.221.133.226]] ([[User talk:194.221.133.226|talk]]) 11:07, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
*I've asked Jimmy Wales to be more nuanced about the "sum of all human knowledge" statement, because basically it's a statement about Wikimedia, rather than Wikipedia. Wikipedia isn't a dictionary. Dictionary knowledge belongs on Wiktionary. Quotes belong on WikiQuote and public domain poetry and books belong on WikiSource. And then there's the whole [[WP:V|verifiability thing]]; we can't cover something that can't be checked and we have to make editorial decisions to keep articles a readable size. So we're not the sum of all human knowledge just a lot of it. - [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm]]|[[User talk:MacGyverMagic|<sup>(talk)</sup>]] 11:15, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::Well, I really don't think it makes much sense to take that statement very literally. It wouldn't be the total sum of human knowledge unless everything everyone knew was in there, which is obviously impossible -- it couldn't even contain all of ''my'' knowledge, let alone everyone's. That's got little to do with how much I know and much more to do with the ''nature'' of my knowledge. It's a pretty good statement of an ideal, though. -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 13:22, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::But that statement does mean, people come here and promote their business or website, because they think everything can be included. - [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm]]|[[User talk:MacGyverMagic|<sup>(talk)</sup>]] 10:27, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== changing the extended network box message? ==

how do i change the extended network box message? all i seem to find on the web is replace it with a picture not how to change the message <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/88.106.69.142|88.106.69.142]] ([[User talk:88.106.69.142|talk]]) 11:26, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Is this about [[MySpace]]? Please explain.--[[User:Maltelauridsbrigge|Maltelauridsbrigge]] ([[User talk:Maltelauridsbrigge|talk]]) 11:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

yeah myspace :P, i tried a few tricks but it didn't work out properly

Well, nowadays, MySpace has an option where you change it. It's called Mood and Status setting. Good luck! [[Special:Contributions/66.229.148.27|66.229.148.27]] ([[User talk:66.229.148.27|talk]]) 18:25, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

== Automotive price conversion question ==

I'm looking at the new Ford Focus on Ford's New Zealand site, and am trying to work out the currency conversion. The models I'm interested in is the 2.0 Zetec five-door hatchback, at $35,490 ([[New Zealand dollar]]s), but how much is that in [[United Kingdom pound]]s?

Ta. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/84.45.219.185|84.45.219.185]] ([[User talk:84.45.219.185|talk]]) 14:36, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

Should add it was because I was thinking of getting it as a [[grey import]]. Ta. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/84.45.219.185|84.45.219.185]] ([[User talk:84.45.219.185|talk]]) 14:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:Google does currency conversions automagically direct from the search box.
:*[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=35490+new+zealand+dollars+in+uk+pounds&btnG=Search 35490 new zealand dollars in uk pounds] or
:*[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=35490+NZD+in+GBP&btnG=Search 35490 NZD in GBP]
:Either the three-letter currency code or some approximation to the currency name will work. Their algorithm is quite clever. [[User:TenOfAllTrades|TenOfAllTrades]]([[User_talk:TenOfAllTrades|talk]]) 14:44, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:That's a pretty serious issue - and I can almost guarantee it's a bad idea. Make sure that the NZ version of it meets UK emissions/economy/safety standards - and that it's tuned to run well on whatever kind of gasoline is common in the UK. There are frequently significant differences between vehicles made for different markets. Within the European community - you should be OK because the standards have been 'harmonized' between the european countries - but with NZ - all bets are off. You'll have to pay import duties on it too. Shipping from NZ will probably cost you several thousand on top of that. If you are looking for grey imports - it makes sense to stay within the European markets where you could probably go and pick up the car yourself and drive it home - where all of the laws regarding vehicle standards are harmonized - and where there are no import tarrifs to worry about. You might also look as US prices...at least the shipping will be cheaper. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 15:29, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::The US and Europe are, of course, LHD. [[Grey import vehicle]]s can be complicated: warranty, taxation, MOT and specification details, parts and servicing will all have to be considered. Also the hassle of shipping (as well as the cost). A quick google found [http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-11958.html this forum] where users discuss shipping cars from NZ to UK, all offers quite different views. Also [http://www.rjj-car-shipping.com/?gclid=CLvU_pmbipkCFRFMagodQGA8lg here's] a shipping company which offers some info. Goggle will find you more shipping companies. Gut instinct tells me it wouldn't be worth it: NZ is not the cheapest place for new cars (but then, the UK isn't either, so who knows). And don't forget you might be able to get a good deal from UK car sale companies at the moment. And why buy new? [[User:Gwinva|Gwinva]] ([[User talk:Gwinva|talk]]) 21:38, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::Europe's LHD, but you can order a RHD car from somewhere else in the EU provided you're prepared to wait for it to be built. (People doing that is the reason you sometimes see RHD [[Opel]]s.) That way you'd also avoid having to get it tested for [[Street-legal vehicle|SVA]] - if I've read the reference correctly, you'd have to get that done for a car imported from NZ. Don't know how much money you'd save that way, but you'd certainly save a bit of effort! [[User:AJHW|AJHW]] ([[User talk:AJHW|talk]]) 11:36, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== I need a certain title for a book ==

The book has to do with Slaves in Antebellum America and in one scene, a certain slave's breasts are torn off. Please help =] [[Special:Contributions/66.229.148.27|66.229.148.27]] ([[User talk:66.229.148.27|talk]]) 17:53, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:DO you want to find a book, or do you needa title for a book you are writing? Thnaks, '''<font face="Arial">[[User:Genius101|<font color="red">Genius</font>]][[User talk:Genius101|<font color="blue">101</font>]]<sup>[[User:Genius101/Guestbook|<font color="green">Guestbook</font>]]</sup></font>''' 22:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::Toni Morrison's ''[[Beloved (novel)|Beloved]]'' is a book like that, but can't recall that scene exactly, it has violent stories in it. It's been awhile since reading it though. Here's a [[Toni Morrison#Novels|list of her other books]]. Unless you do need a title for your own antebellum brutality book. [[User:Julia Rossi|Julia Rossi]] ([[User talk:Julia Rossi|talk]]) 22:35, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:::I think Kindred by Octavia Butler has something similar to that, too. [[User:Steewi|Steewi]] ([[User talk:Steewi|talk]]) 00:22, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

==Chicken Wound==
Monday night, my bantam chicken disappeared. Tuesday night I found her trying to get back into our yard (she was on the other side of the fence). However, she now has a small wound on her chest. She also seems fatter than before and can't seem to flap her wings. Does anyone know what might have caused this and if I can do anything for her. Should I take her to a vet?--[[User:Pufferfish4|Pufferfish4]] ([[User talk:Pufferfish4|talk]]) 17:55, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:If you are concerned, taking her to the vet would be the best plan. Even a small wound can get infected, so I would certainly advise getting professional help. A bunch of random people on the internet are not the best people to trust with your pet's well-being. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 18:05, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:: On the other hand, a random chicken does not have a lot of monetary value, so a replacement might be cheaper then repairs (vet). [[Special:Contributions/65.167.146.130|65.167.146.130]] ([[User talk:65.167.146.130|talk]]) 20:20, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:I would've said the same as 65.167 but judging by the reference to 'her' and 'she' and asking about vets I guess this is more of a pet than a commodity. as Tango says you'd be best off seeing a vet to find out more, anything we say would likely be of limited use (unless you follow 65.167's advise, eat your current one and replace it with a new chicken). [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] ([[User talk:Ny156uk|talk]]) 20:30, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:If you are fond of the banty, take her straight to a vet who deals with such animals. She might or might not need a bit of surgery or antibiotics. We do not provide any veterinary advice, unfortunately. [[User:Edison|Edison]] ([[User talk:Edison|talk]]) 00:52, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:Since it's usually impractical to give chickens the quality of veterinary care that larger animals receive, I think it's appropriate to answer such questions here. We had many wounded chickens after a dog attack. Some were so far gone that we euthanized them. For the others, we washed out the wounds with [[saline]] and a [[topical]] [[antibiotic]], sewed the wounds closed, bandaged them up, and separated them from the other birds. Except for one beloved hen which got a worm infestation and died, all 5 of the wounded made full recoveries. You should get a book on bird doctoring before you proceed. Good luck! --[[User:TotoBaggins|Sean]] 16:41, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I found another, but smaller, wound under her wing, so we think she might have been picked up by a hawk and then dropped and she may be slightly bloated because of bruises. I've been applying [[Hydrogen Peroxide]] and [[Neosporin]] on her wound and they look a little better. She is also running around, eating and drinking. But if the swelling doesn't go down soon I will call a vet. Thanks for your help. If you have any more suggestions, they are welcome--[[User:Pufferfish4|Pufferfish4]] ([[User talk:Pufferfish4|talk]]) 01:33, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
== Bad grades ==

How does people interpret bad grades? Bad luck? Foolishness? Lack of motivation? And how important are they? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/217.12.16.53|217.12.16.53]] ([[User talk:217.12.16.53|talk]]) 18:48, 4 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:That depends on the circumstances and the people involved. Grades in what and at what level? How bad are they? Is it one grade that's bad or lots of them? Did the person in question do sufficient work? What are the grades being used for (getting a job, getting into the next level of education, etc.)? Were there any extenuating circumstances? Without more information, there is no way to answer this question. There is no single explanation for people getting bad grades. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 18:54, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Also, and I realize this will sound snarky, but when the person trying to explain their bad grades says stuff like, "How does people..." it tends to over-ride any explanations or justifications they might have. A grade is a teacher's interpretation of how well a student is doing; using incorrect grammar will also influence people's interpretations of how well the student is doing. [[User:Matt Deres|Matt Deres]] ([[User talk:Matt Deres|talk]]) 21:24, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::The IP address traces to Spain. In Spanish the most direct translation of the English word "people" (''gente'') is construed as singular (this brings me back to one of my hobby horses &mdash; ''people'' is not the plural of ''person''; it's a mass noun construed as plural, as ''gente'' is a mass noun construed as singular). Unless the poster plans to study in an English-speaking country (or get a degree in English) I wouldn't worry too much about this particular aspect. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 09:09, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:Your whole post looks advanced to me. The mathiacs in my high school class had really high grades in maths and the sciences but barely registered on the literature, language scale. They were highly regarded though. Another person had average grades though he worked hard and consistently and was well-regarded by teachers as well. His nice attitude seemed to attract people too. Later he became a teacher himself. But to answer your question, mostly the person who gets bad grades is blamed for it along the lines that you have there. Bad grades are important in that they can prevent you from going further and they give the impression that's all there is to you, but doing something about it and improving grades through commitment and consistently working in class and in assignments can change things. That makes a good impression and people are patient with someone seen to be making an effort. [[User:Julia Rossi|Julia Rossi]] ([[User talk:Julia Rossi|talk]]) 22:30, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:In my experience students getting bad grades either could do well, but for whatever reason (maybe their own fault, maybe not) are not achieving their potential, or could not do well, no matter how hard they try. There is a world of difference between the two. Luck has very little to do with it as far as I can see—grades are a complicated calculus of ability plus time spent on it. That's it. A deficit in either side of that equation (much less both sides) can lead to a bad grade. I give a lot of bad grades, for both reasons. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 01:05, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

If you believe that you have had a bad day, bad luck or that under other circumstances you'll get a better grade go for independent exams: [[SAT]] for bad high-school grades, [[GRE]] for bad undergraduate grades, or perhaps [[TOEFL]] for bad English grades. A short (1 year) master can repair bad graduate grades.

Bad grades will clearly influence your chances of getting to the next level of education. That can be specially harmful for you, if you plan to study further.--[[User:Mr.K.|Mr.K.]] [[User_talk:Mr.K.|(talk)]] 12:31, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:It would be even better if the OP took independent exams that exist in their country (Spain, apparently). People stop assuming the entire world is in the USA. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 13:52, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Does mixing [[mayonnaise]] and [[English mustard]] give an approximation of [[American mustard]]? ==

It certainly seemed to. I just tried it. English mustard is too strong, and that's coming from someone who likes heavily spiced food. But the article doesn't seem to mention this practice.--[[User:Rosechu|Rosechu]] ([[User talk:Rosechu|talk]]) 21:14, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
:And when I say American mustard, I might also mean [[French mustard]] as well. You know, just the milder stuff, NOT the Coleman's stuff which I'm trying to dilute.--[[User:Rosechu|Rosechu]] ([[User talk:Rosechu|talk]]) 21:17, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:: Is American mustard and yellow mustard the same? [[Special:Contributions/65.167.146.130|65.167.146.130]] ([[User talk:65.167.146.130|talk]]) 21:51, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Well something like [[French's]] is much sweeter than english mustard with mayonnaise from my experience, but you'd certainly be getting closer to american mustard and further away from the stronger/more potent english mustard. [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] ([[User talk:Ny156uk|talk]]) 22:17, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:I have no experience with English mustard, but might it make sense to mix it with honey to make a honey mustard? It's rare for American mustard to have anything mayonnaise-y in it, though mustard sauces and dressings often do. Here are the ingredients for the three best-selling American mustards:
:[[French's]] classic yellow: distilled vinegar, water, No.1 grade mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice, natural flavor, garlic powder
:[[Plochman's]] mild yellow: white distilled vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, onion powder, spices, natural flavoring
:[[Gulden's]]: vinegar, mustard seed, salt, spices and turmeric --[[User:Fullobeans|Fullobeans]] ([[User talk:Fullobeans|talk]]) 03:10, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

::I think the difference between American Hot Dog mustards and the traditional English brown mustards is the type of mustard seed and the addition of tumeric, which gives the distinctive yellow color. There is usually no oil or egg in it at all, which are the operative ingredients in Mayonaise... --[[User:Jayron32|Jayron32]].[[User talk:Jayron32|<small>talk</small>]].[[Special:Contributions/Jayron32|<small>contribs</small>]] 03:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

::: I suspect that the difference between American and English mustard is that English mustard is mustard powder mixed with water - nothing more. Other mustards tend to have vinegar, sugar and other diluting agents in it. It's a source of mild amusement to use Brits to see Americans go for the English mustard with the same vigour as they go for the milder American stuff! --[[User:TammyMoet|TammyMoet]] ([[User talk:TammyMoet|talk]]) 09:08, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
::::Coleman's English mustard also contains wheat flour, sugar, salt, turmeric, but it seems that there's a greater quantity of mustard flour[http://www.colmansmustard.com/products.html]. So it's more in the proportions than anything else. --[[User:Maltelauridsbrigge|Maltelauridsbrigge]] ([[User talk:Maltelauridsbrigge|talk]]) 14:50, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Really large payments ==

When some company or organisation buys something really expensive, like a ship or an aeroplane, from another company or organisation, how is the payment actually handled in practice? Does someone sit at an online banking website and key in a transfer of several million euros/dollars? And, a question that has been nagging at my mind, what if say, a ship costs € 100 million, but the customer only pays € 99'999'999.95? Does the provider say "No can't do, we won't deliver the ship until you pay us the missing 5 cents"? [[User:JIP|<font color="#CC0000">J</font><font color="#00CC00">I</font><font color="#0000CC">P</font>]] | [[User talk:JIP|Talk]] 21:58, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Most businesses buy things on 'account', so they are given the product without paying, and then billed later. For businesses where this is a 'standard' purchase that would be reasonably normal. [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] ([[User talk:Ny156uk|talk]]) 22:22, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:That really depends on how they want to do it. I mean, if the two parties trust each other enough, I'm sure they can use an online banking service if they like. Hell, they can even use an IOU, I guess. Typically, though, large transactions like this are done on a bank's premises, or with an officer of the bank presiding over the transaction at another location. In cases like this, money is held in [[escrow]]. In other words, if you're buying that 100 million ship from me, in the beginning of the process, you authorize the bank's officer to take that money from your account and hold it in escrow. This ensures that you indeed have the money, and that you can't suddenly take the money ''and'' the ship and run (or only pay me a part of the money). The terms of the escrow dictate that I will get the money when we both sign the purchase agreement. The bank officer then releases the money to me. The details can vary, but this is how things are typically done. (That's how it works if you buy your own home, too.) -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 22:26, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

:(ec) I suspect it depends entirely on the terms of the contract. Payment may be spread out in some form (advances, milestones, installments, etc.), divided into multiple classes (stock, assets, cash, etc.), or paid as a lump sum (often with the assistance of one or more banks). The contract will also probably provide resolution for partial payment, though I suspect few would bother with a 5-cent discrepancy. I would also doubt that any employee would have access to a website where large amounts of money could be transferred with little or no oversight&mdash;moving that much money most likely requires multiple-level approvals. (This is conjecture; I, unfortunately, do not have personal experience with such amounts of money.) &ndash;&nbsp;<span class="IPA">[[User talk:74.137.108.115|<span style="letter-spacing:-2px;color:#1c1;font-weight:bold;font-size:14px"><span style="vertical-align:-6px">7</span>4</span>]]</span>&nbsp; 22:33, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

::I have to say, we all probably wish that we had that much money lying around. *sigh*. '''<font face="Arial">[[User:Genius101|<font color="red">Genius</font>]][[User talk:Genius101|<font color="blue">101</font>]]<sup>[[User:Genius101/Guestbook|<font color="green">Guestbook</font>]]</sup></font>''' 22:49, 4 March 2009 (UTC)
::: You don't say... With even one million €, I could pay my rent and eat a 15 € meal every day, without having to lift a finger to work, until the year 2091... [[Special:Contributions/194.100.223.164|194.100.223.164]] ([[User talk:194.100.223.164|talk]]) 13:34, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
::::You haven't accounted for inflation. You need far more than €1m to retire that early. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 13:42, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:::::Invest it. With a million to start with, you shouldn't have any trouble finding something that will match inflation. --[[User:Carnildo|Carnildo]] ([[User talk:Carnildo|talk]]) 00:02, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
::::::To use a lump sum of money to retire you need to invest it in a way that allows you to live off the interest without touching the principle (and, in fact, allowing the principle to grow to compensate for inflation keeping the real value of the interest constant). You can try guessing when you are going to die and working out when you can start spending the principle, but you risk running out of money when you're 90 years old, or something, which wouldn't be pleasant. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 01:40, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
::: I don't know about other such huge purchases, but aeroplanes aren't actually 'bought' as such. The financing transaction (varies between transactions, of course, since they are so major) works like this. The customer (airline, say) enters into a contract with a bank to pay a monthly sum (call it rent or interest). The bank securitises that income stream, and sells interests in it (i.e. the right to receive money coming in from the airline) to financiers who, in return, cough up the money up front. That money goes to the seller of the aircraft.
::: You can, of course, add other bells and whistles to make the transaction more complex, but basically the money upfront flows from financiers --> bank --> manufacturer, the plane flows from manufacturer --> airline, and the repayments (rent) flows from the airline --> financier, and thus everything goes full circle.
::: In other (less) large international trade transactions, a [[letter of credit]] is often used to facilitate the movement of the money. --[[User:PalaceGuard008|PalaceGuard008]] ([[User_Talk:PalaceGuard008|Talk]]) 05:01, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:::::One of the bells and whistles PalaceGuard left out would be an insurance company. They often insure both ends to some extent. It's called risk management. So the buyer will have an insurance that will help out if they face financial difficulties and the seller will have a "bad debt" insurance. In addition large purchases are sometimes insured separately from the company's general risk insurance. (... and if lots of companies default on payment for their deals the insurance companies get into trouble - see AIG) [[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 07:39, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:In [[H. Norman Schwarzkopf]]'s autobiography (he was a commander in the early 1990's [[Gulf War]]), he described how the Saudi government contributed something like US$ 500M towards the war costs, by simply writing a check for that amount to the US Government (I think the check may have been signed by the king of Saudi Arabia) and handing it over to one of Schwarzkopf's people. IIRC, Schwarzkopf immediately had someone jump into a military jet and fly the check to Washington DC for deposit, since sending it by normal courier would have taken a couple days longer, and the daily interest on such a large amount was enough to justify the cost of the special flight. [[Special:Contributions/207.241.239.70|207.241.239.70]] ([[User talk:207.241.239.70|talk]]) 13:48, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

==Binocular Chemicals==
I'm doing a science project and I need to know the chemical they coat the prisms and lenses with to make the image look sharper, or whatever. I seriously need help soon! <(^_^)>[[User:Pokegeek42|Pokegeek42]] ([[User talk:Pokegeek42|talk]]) 00:41, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:Take a look at [[Anti-reflective coating]], then ask any additional questions. [[User:Edison|Edison]] ([[User talk:Edison|talk]]) 00:49, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you SOOOOOOO much! You're the best dude! <(^_^)> [[User:Pokegeek42|Pokegeek42]] ([[User talk:Pokegeek42|talk]]) 21:32, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

= March 5 =

== Jeopardy Music ==

I am having a debate with one of my friends, does the live audience of the show Jeopardy hear the music during Final Jeopardy? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/68.231.197.20|68.231.197.20]] ([[User talk:68.231.197.20|talk]]) 03:02, 5 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:Yes. [[Ken Jennings]] in his book ''Brainiac'' talks about how it feels to be hearing the music while actually playing the game. If the players can hear it, obviously the audience can too. --Anonymous, 05:30 UTC, March 5, 2009.

:: I wouldn't be surprised if they still dub over with a "clean" copy of the music, though. [[User:APL|APL]] ([[User talk:APL|talk]]) 13:39, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:::Yes, the audience and players hear all the music while the program is being recorded. The music that the home viewer hears comes from the same source. As [[User:APL]] alluded to in his reply above, the music is sent to the recording tape machine or server "clean" by using a [[Mixing console|mixer]] so that the levels of all of the studio [[microphones]], video playback devices, music and [[sound effects]] can be adjusted and properly mixed. On a show like [[Jeopardy!]], which is recorded "live to tape", [[post-production]] [[Video editing|editing]] is only employed to fix mistakes, add graphics and cut the show to the exact duration needed for [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]]. --[[User:Thomprod|Thomprod]] ([[User talk:Thomprod|talk]]) 17:28, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Canadian Public Company Financial Statements - Data Format ==

Does anyone know of a good, free, source for Canadian financials in a "data format" like .csv or .xls?

Sedar.com provides the information as .pdfs. I spend a lot of time manually inputing data.

Also, if you can think of another place that I could post this (that might have more Canadians, especially market people), I'd appreciate it. [[User:NByz|NByz]] ([[User talk:NByz|talk]]) 05:20, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:If you are just looking for a template [http://www.iasplus.com/fs/fs.htm#2008ifrsmod] one of these may help. Otherwise, I don't know. Canada's not my turf. [[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 07:32, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== Fixing a water distiller ==

If the original manufacturer has gone out of business, can a plumber fix a domestic water distiller, or is an engineer required? [[User:NeonMerlin|<span style="background:#000;color:red;border:#0f0 solid;border-width:1px 0">Neon</span>]][[User talk:NeonMerlin|<span style="background:#0f0;color:#000;border:red solid;border-width:1px 0">Merlin</span>]] 09:48, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Depends on the plumber.[[Special:Contributions/86.211.110.247|86.211.110.247]] ([[User talk:86.211.110.247|talk]]) 15:32, 5 March 2009 (UTC)DT
:Water distillers generally aren't particularly mechanically complex - I would imagine a competent plumber could fix most faults with one. Certainly a plumber would be my first thought to getting it fixed - the worst that happens is that he says he can't. It does, of course, depend on what's gone wrong with it - if a proprietary part in a distiller from a defunct manufacturer breaks irreparably, it may be very hard to source a replacement. ~ <font color="#228b22">[[User:Mazca|'''m'''a'''z'''c'''a''']]</font> <sup>[[User_talk:Mazca|'''t''']]|[[Special:Contributions/Mazca|'''c''']]</sup> 15:39, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

== [[Crime against humanity]] ==

When I read that article it immediately seemed to fit Bush's last government. Does anybody else agree? Could Bush be charged with that? [[Special:Contributions/212.219.0.20|212.219.0.20]] ([[User talk:212.219.0.20|talk]]) 10:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:Please do not use the reference desk as a soapbox. Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/88.112.63.253|88.112.63.253]] ([[User talk:88.112.63.253|talk]]) 10:54, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Ditto. This isn't a place to discuss political views or to start a debate. [[User:Papercutbiology|Papercutbiology♫]] ([[User talk:Papercutbiology|talk]]) 12:35, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:The question seems like a valid one for me - under what circumstances can (ex-)presidents be charged with criminal offenses?
--[[User:Mr.K.|Mr.K.]] [[User_talk:Mr.K.|(talk)]] 12:43, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

The question asked if Bush's last government compares to a crime against humanity. How many people would agree, and how many people would disagree? [[User:Papercutbiology|Papercutbiology♫]] ([[User talk:Papercutbiology|talk]]) 12:57, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:In this form "does anybody else agree") it is not an acceptable question. However, the part "could Bush be charged with that" is a legit question. --[[User:Mr.K.|Mr.K.]] [[User_talk:Mr.K.|(talk)]] 13:03, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, so I guess it should probably be reworded.[[User:Papercutbiology|Papercutbiology♫]] ([[User talk:Papercutbiology|talk]]) 13:07, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:It is true that the question as asked doesn't pass the sniff test, but the underlying question is a good one. The [[War_crimes#See_also|"See also" section]] of the article "[[War crime]]" should keep the questioner busy for a good long while. The [[International Criminal Court]] (ICC) has jurisdiction only over its signatories, for the most part, though it can decide cases brought to it by the [[United Nations Security Council]]. The US is not a signatory. The [[International Court of Justice]] adjudicates among UN member states, mostly. The United Nations Security Council can take military action on its own initiative. The recent rulings against Sudanese president Bashir by the ICC show how hard it is to enforce such things even against a relatively feeble state. International law is in flux, and war crimes cases and rulings are receiving a lot of scrutiny and criticism, not least for the issues of partiality your question raises. If you watch television, British television aired an amusing yet incisive satirical look at the issue that's worth watching, ''[[The Trial of Tony Blair]]'', in 2007, featuring [[Tony Blair|Blair]], not Bush, as is to be expected, but he does get mentioned, also expected. --[[User:Milkbreath|Milkbreath]] ([[User talk:Milkbreath|talk]]) 15:55, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Leaders are rarely charged or convicted by their own country for crimes against humanity. If you look at the [[Nuremberg trials]] and [[Tokyo trials]], both were conducted by conquering powers. Leaders are sometimes held accountable by their own countries during/after revolutions for various reasons/charges (not necessarily crimes against humanity). [[Benito Mussolini]], [[King Louis XVI]], [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]], and [[Pol Pot]] come to mind (although these were more of mob actions that real trials). I could be wrong but I don't think the [[International Criminal Court]] has ever convicted a single person. Could Bush be charged with a [[crime against humanity]]? It's possible, but unlikely. Even if charged, it is even less likely that he would be convicted. [[User:A Quest For Knowledge|A Quest For Knowledge]] ([[User talk:A Quest For Knowledge|talk]]) 17:36, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:In fairness to the ICC, it has only been around since 2002 and issued its first warrants in 2005; it was 2006 before it got its first indictee. It hasn't really had much time to go about convicting people yet. It's forerunner, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] has indicted 148 people since 1994, with 100 proceedings completed and 48 people found guilty by the tribunal and sentenced.- [[User:EronMain|Eron]]<sup>[[User Talk:EronMain|Talk]]</sup> 01:13, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

In regards to the ICC, there is some question as to whether the US would surrender its sovereignty to a foreign body. See the article [[United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court]] for more information. This is purely speculation on my part, but there might be an [[ex post facto]] issue given that the United States has not ratified the ICC treaty. [[User:A Quest For Knowledge|A Quest For Knowledge]] ([[User talk:A Quest For Knowledge|talk]]) 17:52, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

You might also be interested in the book "United States v. George W. Bush et al." by Elizabeth de la Vega [http://www.amazon.com/United-States-George-Bush-al/dp/1583227563]. In it she presents a legal case that Bush and others committed fraud based on Title 18, United States Code, Section 371 [http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1129-32.htm]. [[User:A Quest For Knowledge|A Quest For Knowledge]] ([[User talk:A Quest For Knowledge|talk]]) 18:08, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:No-one so far seems to have mentioned [[sovereign immunity]] which has been argued as excluding all proceedings against a head of state for any alleged crimes committed in their official position. This was one of the defences used by Milosevic, if I remember it right, although the court was not impressed. [[User:Sam Blacketer|Sam Blacketer]] ([[User talk:Sam Blacketer|talk]]) 00:58, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
::As I understand it, in the US the state is (generally) immune from prosecution, but individual members of the government aren't. If that's correct, then sovereign immunity doesn't help Bush survive a trial for crimes against humanity. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 01:16, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Unemployment ==

When slavery existed was there any unemployment? If the possibility of slavery still existed today would people try to get a job for many months in vain? [[Special:Contributions/94.196.103.53|94.196.103.53]] ([[User talk:94.196.103.53|talk]]) 15:19, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:Well, people were unemployed, yes, but [[unemployment insurance]] didn't begin until 1932.[[User:Livewireo|Livewireo]] ([[User talk:Livewireo|talk]]) 15:41, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

::One problem with unemployment is that people are neither unconditionally mobile nor downwardly flexible. It takes a lot for someone to pick up and leave their home and go where there might be work. Obligations, like providing for family members, availability of accommodations that meet what the individual considers his/her current minimum standard, language barriers, cultural differences, unpredictable conditions and the like keep people from moving. People will only consider accepting work below their former skill level, experience and pay scale once they have run out of other options. It is not an advisable career move because it creates a break in one's employment track record and basically means starting over in a new career path or from an inferior position if the original career path is resumed. (Women returning to work after caring for a child are often faced with this reality.) Societies that used slave labor did not replace existing jobs with slaves. The employment tiers were created with slaves at the bottom. A disruption in that system might cause a shift toward the bottom. When slavery was abolished in the South many farms failed because of insufficient availability of "cheap labor". The existing system had been based on prices calculated without any payroll costs for the slaves and only minimal expenses in that area. Many plantations closed. So, yes if the existing system were disrupted people would go look for jobs for months until they got desperate enough to accept working and living in conditions like those of slaves. See [[Human trafficking]] for present day examples.[[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 16:19, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

: You question requires answering, first, "if slavery was legal, could/would unemployed people sell themselves into slavery?"
: Given that slavery is selling away some of a person's basic human rights, and each person ordiarily places some value on their liberty, it probably would not happen unless there were absolutely no other option. That is, when comparing slavery against a given Option A, for example, where Option A does not involve permanent bondage, most people would probably choose Option A even if it paid much less, depending on how much they value their own liberty.
: In any case, in [[Australia|this part of the world]] social security and the welfare safety net means that anyone eligible for those benefits (i.e. excluding illegal immigrants) has a viable and more attractive laternative to slavery in any circumstance. --[[User:PalaceGuard008|PalaceGuard008]] ([[User_Talk:PalaceGuard008|Talk]]) 21:47, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
::Being an [[indentured servant]] would generally be chosen over being a [[slave]] wherever possible. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 01:12, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== largest rifle ==

What is the largest standard round fired from a gun that is carried by one individual, not vehicle mounted? I know the .50 caliber has a very large bullet, and some sniper rifles are that size but are there any larger? [[Special:Contributions/65.167.146.130|65.167.146.130]] ([[User talk:65.167.146.130|talk]]) 18:49, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:To understand this issue, you need to learn the difference between [[caliber]] and a [[cartridge (firearms)]]. Simply looking at bore size does not tell the whole story. There are [[grenade launchers]] with a much larger than .50-inch bore which are carried by a person, but I don't know if that qualifies as a standard round. [[.50 BMG]] is the most powerful one I'm aware of in common usage, but there could be larger ones, once you decide what you mean by "larger". [[User:Friday|Friday]] [[User talk:Friday|(talk)]] 18:54, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:PS. [[Muzzleloader]]s and [[shotguns]] are commonly available in larger than .50 caliber, but they're nowhere near as powerful as a [[.50 BMG]]. [[User:Friday|Friday]] [[User talk:Friday|(talk)]] 18:56, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

: The Soviet [[PTRD]] fires a [[14.5x114mm]] round; that article says that came in a 64.4 g bullet, whereas the heaviest [[.50 BMG]] seems to be 52 g. At 17.3 kg a PTRD is certainly man portable, but (with the bipod, sight, and some ammo) you're not going to want to carry it very far by yourself. Bigger still is the Czech [[RT-20 (rifle)|RT-20]], which fires [[20 mm caliber]]; that article claims a bullet mass of a whopping 100g. [[Special:Contributions/87.115.143.223|87.115.143.223]] ([[User talk:87.115.143.223|talk]]) 22:07, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:: And beyond that we're into the realm of [[recoilless rifle]]s like the [[SPG-9]], which is certainly a gun and just about man portable (although no-one is going to be happy at being asked to carry a 60kg gun into battle; in practice you'd use a golf-caddy-like set of wheels). That fires what is essentially a 73mm artillery round. [[Special:Contributions/87.115.143.223|87.115.143.223]] ([[User talk:87.115.143.223|talk]]) 22:26, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

:::I'll see your 73 mm and raise you the 84mm [[Carl Gustav recoilless rifle]]. Which I can tell you first hand is man portable, as I am a man and I have indeed ported it. (With no wheels attached, sadly.) - [[User:EronMain|Eron]]<sup>[[User Talk:EronMain|Talk]]</sup> 00:28, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Undiscovered Tribes ==

What are the chances that there are undiscovered tribes living somewhere on the planet? <strong>[[User:BigDunc|<span style="font-family:Ariel Black;color:Green">BigDunc</span>]]</strong>[[User_talk:BigDunc|<sup><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:Orange">Talk</span></sup>]] 21:43, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:It is difficult to prove a negative, i.e. that there are no more such tribes to be discovered. [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 21:49, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
:And, of course, such encounters [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/21/amazon?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront can be stage-managed], or even outright faked. Groups can be found, and then "lost", and when found again c. 60 years later, have no memory of the previous encounters, as [[Sabine Kuegler]] claims about the [[Fayu]] in [http://www.amazon.com/Child-Jungle-Caught-Between-Worlds/dp/0446579068 her memoir] of living with them. [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 22:04, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
::[[Uncontacted peoples]] may be of interest. --[[User:Fullobeans|Fullobeans]] ([[User talk:Fullobeans|talk]]) 00:22, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::Undiscovered by whom? I imagine there are plenty of small groups out there who have had no contact with what we'd call "civilisation" - but it seems unlikely that they'd not be in contact with other groups who are perhaps just on the edge of contact. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 03:59, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

=="Jane's Dilemma"==

This is a purely hypothetical case. Any relation to real life events is entirely coincidental. Now, talking hypothetically, let us say there's this girl -we'll call her "Jane"- and her older brother -we'll call him "Joe"-. Now, let us say that "Joe" really likes a girl at his school -we'll call her "Jane 2"- and "Joe" doesn't have any courage. At all. "Joe" has never even taken any interest in any girl before. So, "Joe" goes to "Jane" and asks her what he should do, since "Joe" wants to ask "Jane 2" to the prom. "Jane" has no idea what to tell him to raise his confidence. "Jane" is also really angry at "Joe" since this is more a question he should ask his mother, instead of younger sister, who knows absolutely nothing about love, since she's only in the sixth grade. But, "Jane has to answer his question, because "Joe" doesn't want his mother -the only person who knows the correct answer to his question- interfering in his high-school crush. "Jane" also can't ask "Joe's" mother, because then "Joe's" mother would ask why "Jane" needs the answer to this question. I would very much like it if someone could respond, since it would make "Jane" very, very, very, happy. Remember, all this is purely hypothetical, and any relation to real life events is entirely coincidental. <(^_^)> [[User:Pokegeek42|Pokegeek42]] ([[User talk:Pokegeek42|talk]]) 00:51, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:Hypothetically speaking, I would suggest that "Jane" tell "Joe" to just be brave and ask "Jane 2" to the prom. The worst that can happen is she says "no". Just go up to her sometime when she's on her own and say "Hi, I was wondering, would you like to go to the prom with me?" It's as simple as that! --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 01:09, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::Actually, the worst thing that could happen is that Jane #2 could say, very loudly for others to hear, "I wouldn't go to the prom with YOU! You're just a fucking loser!", then laugh obnoxiously in his face, and then proceed to spend the next few weeks with her friends tormenting Joe for nothing more than her own amusement. But, maybe then again she'd just politely say "no"... --[[User:Jayron32|Jayron32]].[[User talk:Jayron32|<small>talk</small>]].[[Special:Contributions/Jayron32|<small>contribs</small>]] 02:51, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::In which case we have to consider Jane#3 through Jane#N. But there isn't really an alternative - all of the sneaking around and the machiavellian planning doesn't really get you very far - and the well-known problems of all teens in soap operas and sappy movies revolves around not getting in there soon enough before Jane#X has agreed to go with Joe#Y (where X=2 though N and Y>1). So - be bold - be early - be presentable - be sickeningly polite - don't do it in front of all of her snotty friends (see Jane#3..N, above). As for the consequences predicted by Jayron#32 - c'est la vie, que sera-sera, Nec Aspera Terrent, Kaphar hunnu bhanda marnu ramro ...and so on. I doubt that Mommy (whom I shall call "Jane#0" for completeness and consistency) would be able to help - since she probably doesn't know Jane#2 and is therefore unable to predict the consequences of the direct approach. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 03:55, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:Your hypothetical Jane could suggest to your hypothetical Joe that he watch [http://www.howcast.com/videos/461-How-To-Ask-Out-a-Girl this how-to video]. <code>:)</code> --[[Special:Contributions/98.114.146.46|98.114.146.46]] ([[User talk:98.114.146.46|talk]]) 04:27, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::Of course, if Janes 2 thru N all turn Joe down, he could always try asking his sister to the prom :-P [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 04:37, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:[[User:Tango|Tango]] was absolutely correct. "Joe" should pick some moment when "Jane 2" is alone, and just ask her. On the other hand, [[User:Jayron32|Jayron32]] was quite wrong. If "Jane&nbsp;2" behaved like that, "Joe" would be miles ahead of the game by never having to waste even one more minute thinking about a total loser. -- [[User:B00P|B00P]] ([[User talk:B00P|talk]]) 06:01, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:I think Jane should tell Joe that she's just 12 and shouldn't be giving him advice about high school romance. And that maybe he should go see Wikipedia's reference desk because they seem to give that sort of advice. Otherwise, yeah, chicks dig confidence. I heard that in a movie but Jane wouldn't be old enough to get in to see it. --[[User:JGGardiner|JGGardiner]] ([[User talk:JGGardiner|talk]]) 11:01, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

= March 6 =

== How widespread was World War II ==

I was watching the film [[Destination Gobi]] earlier today. The film, supposedly based on a true story, featured a group of US Navy sailors in the [[Gobi desert]], trying to return to the sea while evading Japanese spotter planes and horse-mounted patrols. I was quite surprised by the idea that the Japanese army would have any interest in the Gobi desert and it got me thinking... Was there anywhere in the world that was unaffected by [[World War II]]? [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 01:34, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

: I suspect Antarctica had nothing going on. Areas of South America as well. [[Special:Contributions/12.216.168.198|12.216.168.198]] ([[User talk:12.216.168.198|talk]]) 02:17, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::You'd think, right? But [[New Swabia|alas]]. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 02:47, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::Yes, but there wasn't any actual fighting in Antartica. <small>BTW, I forget the details but there are some pretty nice conspiracy theories that the Third Reich still exists because New Swabia was not conquered, and that Hitler will return some day from his secret base on the Moon. Or something like that. :) And of course there's my own OR that because the Soviet Union and Japan never signed a peace treaty, the war never really ended, and if fighting breaks out, the Axis powers can still win. :)</small> [[User:A Quest For Knowledge|A Quest For Knowledge]] ([[User talk:A Quest For Knowledge|talk]]) 04:06, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:Prompted by 98.217's link to New Swabia, I found [[Participants in World War II]] and the interesting animation [[:File:Ww2 allied axis.gif]]. Thanks for your help. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 04:00, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::While there were of course neutral countries even in Europe during the second world war (Switzerland, Sweden, Ireland etc), I think most all countries were effected at least economically by World War 2. Possible exceptions are those that had very little trade or contact with the wars participants. Perhaps [[Bhutan]] or somewhere... [[User:TastyCakes|TastyCakes]] ([[User talk:TastyCakes|talk]]) 04:27, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::Bhutan was not fully independent at the time; its foreign affairs were in British hands, and Britain was at war. Further, it was bordered by British territory on one side (namely India) and China on the other, and China was also at war. Still, I suspect Bhutan was a lot less affected than many other places. --Anonymous, 06:01 UTC, March 6, 2009.

:You might be interested in the Undiscovered Tribes question above. =) --[[User:JGGardiner|JGGardiner]] ([[User talk:JGGardiner|talk]]) 10:55, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Is this really copyright infringement ==

I was watching the film [[Be Kind Rewind]] earlier today (I know, two films in one day!). Towards the end the shop is visited by bailiffs claiming the amateur reenactments are a massive copyright infringement. Under the threat of a $3bn fine and a ridiculously long prison sentence, the entire stock of tapes is seized and crushed under a steam roller just moments later. To what extent does copyright extend, and could the copyright infringing material be crushed moments later? If I was to reenact my favourite film starring my friends and using my video camera and not-so-special effects, would the result be a copyright infringement, a parody, a fan-fiction or what? [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 01:33, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
:A (complete) fan-made re-enactment of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark recieved approval from the writers, but I don't know if there would have been a possible copyright challenge on it. [[User:Steewi|Steewi]] ([[User talk:Steewi|talk]]) 02:03, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::I would think that a shot-for-shot restaging of a film could be considered a copyright violation. It might be possible to seek protection as a parody under [[fair use]], but of course the more faithful the adaptation, the harder it might be to claim parody. That said, [[Gus Van Sant]] reshot [[Psycho (1998 film)]] almost frame for frame to match [[Alfred Hitchcock]]'s [[Psycho (1960 film)|1960 original]]. [[IANAL]], but I believe that the original would still be in copyright after 38 years; it would be interesting to find out if Van Sant had to pay for the rights. - [[User:EronMain|Eron]]<sup>[[User Talk:EronMain|Talk]]</sup> 02:09, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::I did notice in the credits at the end of Be Kind Rewind, it has a section like "Reenactment approvals and rights" followed by a list of the films they reenacted. Seems they sought approval when making the film, but I assumed that was because they were actually making another hollywood film, with professional actors playing amateur filmmakers. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 02:24, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:::As far as the ''Psycho'' remake goes, Gus Van Sant didn't pay a cent. Quite the contrary, ''he'' was paid for the job. If anyone paid any money for the rights, it was Universal, but since Universal owns the original film, I'm pretty sure they were free to do what they wanted with the property. (Robert Bloch, as the author of the original novel -- or rather, his estate -- possibly got paid, though, depending on what kind of a deal he made when he sold the film rights.) -- [[User:Captain Disdain|Captain Disdain]] ([[User talk:Captain Disdain|talk]]) 09:15, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:It's a really murky aspect of copyright law. The standard mantra is that you can copyright expressions, not ideas. (You can patent ideas, but that is different.) But in practice, "expression" often covers a LOT more than the exact frame-by-frame shots, and such things would probably be seen as a court as a derivative work.
:Whether they qualify as "parody" is a totally different aspect of copyright/fair use law. It's more specific than most people understand the term "parody" to mean — you have to be parodying the original work, not something else. (So you couldn't parody George Bush with a send-up of King Kong, if that makes sense. You can parody King Kong with a send-up King Kong, and that's it, under the legal definition of "parody.")
:Ages ago I heard a whole paper on the various copyright debates about "fan fiction" going back to the 19th century... for the life of me though I can't recall what the punch-line is, other than, "yet again, very murky, not easy to define from legislation alone."
:Not very helpful, eh? Welcome to copyright and fair use law... where the courts are basically just making it up as they go along, and nobody really wants to start trying to come up with hard and fast rules... browse through some of the key [http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-c.html fair use cases] hosted by Stanford's Copyright and Fair Use center and you can see how fairly arbitrary it can be. --[[Special:Contributions/98.217.14.211|98.217.14.211]] ([[User talk:98.217.14.211|talk]]) 02:42, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:Aside from the law about copyright - what doesn't ring true is the bailiff's just showing up and doing these bizarre things. In most countries, bailiffs act to enforce decisions of the courts. So in order for this to have happened - there would have had to have been a court case - the outcome of which would have been some kind of ruling. Seizing of the offending material is a possible result - and failing to turn it over might get you in contempt - but I don't think the bailiff is empowered to say "do this or pay that". As for the fate of the tapes - they might be destroyed in due course - but I can't imagine them doing it on the spot - and certainly not with a road roller! But this couldn't possibly happen as a surprise - they would have to have served the store owners with the court papers, held the trial, etc, etc. So nothing here really rings true.

:As for the legality or otherwise of your own movie - we're not allowed to give you legal advice here at the WP:RD. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 03:27, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::I realise, of course, the film was in part a parody of the whole MPAA vs pirates thing and reports such as [http://www.daylife.com/photo/0gyfdgyaDq55Q this one] about pirate DVDs being crushed. The world is safe though: I have no intention of making my own copy of <favourte film here> - I'm just no good in front of camera. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 04:28, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

:Various films have been re-made, sometimes with identical shot-for-shot treatment. How the authorities of the day treated them I have no idea, but if you need examples for comparative purposes, you might consider [[The Prisoner of Zenda (1937 film)]], the classic of many adapatations of the novel, remade as [[The Prisoner of Zenda (1952 film)]], which was judged no match for the original. [[User:BrainyBabe|BrainyBabe]] ([[User talk:BrainyBabe|talk]]) 07:29, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== General ==

On which date the 'world Population day' is celebrated? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/59.89.56.18|59.89.56.18]] ([[User talk:59.89.56.18|talk]]) 01:14, 6 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:According to our cunningly-named article [[World Population Day]], it's the eleventh of July. [[User talk:Algebraist|Algebraist]] 01:16, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Question ==

On the bank of which river is Patna located? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/59.89.56.18|59.89.56.18]] ([[User talk:59.89.56.18|talk]]) 01:26, 6 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:See [[Patna]]. [[User talk:Algebraist|Algebraist]] 01:27, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
::...which says "''The modern city of Patna lies on the southern bank of the Ganges. The city also straddles the rivers Kosi, Sone and Gandak.''". [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 03:15, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
:::...and your geography homework will really help you get better grades if you try doing it yourself. [[Special:Contributions/76.97.245.5|76.97.245.5]] ([[User talk:76.97.245.5|talk]]) 04:32, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Music in new Star Trek trailer ==

I just watched the new trailer for [[Star Trek (film)]] and there was some background music. (The link, on YouTube, is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqWXe42Wqo8 here] which will probably be deleted soon.) I've searched adtunes and used Google but have been unsuccessful. What is the music? --[[User:Blue387|Blue387]] ([[User talk:Blue387|talk]]) 07:16, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
:If you haven't been able to find it, chances are that it's gonna be music that was created just for this movie. BTW, the trailer does not look very promising. --[[User:Ouro|Ouro]] <small>([[User_talk:Ouro|blah blah]])</small> 07:55, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
::That would be somewhat unusual. Movie trailers are often produced before the score for actual movie is ready, so they tend to use music from other similar movies. Or so I've read. --Anonymous, 09:05 UTC, March 6, 2009.
:::That's my impression as well, however I couldn't recognise the music, too, and the original poster couldn't find a title, so I believe my suggestion is warranted, even if the case would be unusual. And Star Trek adventures usually deal with a lot of unusual... ;) --[[User:Ouro|Ouro]] <small>([[User_talk:Ouro|blah blah]])</small> 09:50, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Comparisons of Greek Language and Icelandic Language Wikipedias ==

[[Icelandic Wikipedia]] - 24,000 articles. [[Icelandic language]] - 320,000 speakers. 0.075 articles per speaker
[[Greek Wikipedia]] - 36,343 articles. [[Greek language]] - 15,000,000 speakers. 0.00242287 articles per speaker

Icelandic has a ratio of articles to speaker that is more than 30 times than that of Greek.

Now if there's anything that makes me believe in [[Madison Grant]]'s anthropological theories, it's this sort of thing. Whilst the ancient Greeks may have possessed more [[Nordic theory|Nordic admixture]], over the centuries following, they interbred with people from the east and south (such as during the time they were a part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]), and gradually became more mongrelised. As such, there are fewer people with the drive to write Wikipedia articles, something requiring a level of academic intelligence. Books such as [[IQ and Global Inequality]] lend weight to this idea.

Is my theory worth anything? Should I stop thinking like this? How do I stop thinking like this? Am I paranoid?--[[User:UB891UB|UB891UB]] ([[User talk:UB891UB|talk]]) 09:41, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
:Pardon my bluntness, but ''what???'' You're deriving Wikipedia growth ratio inequalities from genetics? We're not a forum. --[[User:Ouro|Ouro]] <small>([[User_talk:Ouro|blah blah]])</small> 09:53, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

::I think a few minutes spent at [[Special:NewPages]] will cure you of this unfortunate illusion that there's any correlation between intelligence and the drive to write Wikipedia articles. I suspect there's a much greater correlation between the length and frigidity of winter and the drive to write Wikipedia articles. There are also those 80 bazillion other factors which contribute to some Wikipedias being larger than others, but, as [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?limit=50&tagfilter=&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=UB891UB&namespace=&year=&month=-1 your contributions] show that you have thus far lacked the drive to write Wikipedia articles, I'll just assume you lack the academic intelligence to comprehend such things and save my breath. --[[User:Fullobeans|Fullobeans]] ([[User talk:Fullobeans|talk]]) 11:09, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

== Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. ==

But what came first and why??

what was the first article published to wikipedia and was it through pure chance or some logic?? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/213.249.138.179|213.249.138.179]] ([[User talk:213.249.138.179|talk]]) 11:06, 6 March 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Wikipedia did not arise by chance. It was deliberately founded by [[Jimmy Wales]] and [[Larry Sanger]]. The details are at [[History of Wikipedia]]. The oldest surviving edits are listed at [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles]]. [[User talk:Algebraist|Algebraist]] 11:11, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
with all due respect, a truely microsoft answer - factually correct but not answering the question, i understand that wikipedia was a deliberate act, and that link does lead me to beleive that on 17th jan 2001 the first article was 'standard poodle' however i was under the impression that wikipedia was founded 2 days earlier. if that is the case was 'standard poodle' 2 days after founding the first article published. If so that answers the what but not the why. Why, one wonders, when attempting to capture all human knowledge would you start with a poodle??

Latest revision as of 00:06, 29 December 2024

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December 13

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LUFS meter vs. Audiosurf algorithm

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What are similarities and differences between LUFS meter (especially momentary) and Audiosurf's audio analysis algorithm (when comes to how tracks are colored in particular way depending on the song intensity)? Considering the color (when "fancy coloring" mode is enabled) of momentary LUFS bar on my own multichannel peakmeter when fed with the same song as the video, lines up with the color of the blocks and the tracks on this video and/or this sometimes and at other times, it doesn't line up assuming they somehow sync with the video. 2001:448A:3070:DCCD:D862:849B:9C69:6E43 (talk) 03:43, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The article about the Audiosurf game tells that the game engine analyzes an imported song to create and save its dynamics in an ASH file. Reverse engineering these files to extract the generating algorithms is research that is beyond anyone here. This is proprietary information that the game creator Dylan Fitterer may choose to withold. Already as you look for correlation between your objective LUFS detector and the game screen, bear in mind that where the object of Audiosurf is more to entertain than analytical logging, some degree of randomity may be deliberately included. Philvoids (talk) 16:32, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Philvoids BTW, what's the difference between song intensity estimation algorithm (which Audiosurf probably uses it) and a LUFS meter (aka. a K-weighted RMS meter)? And are these two even interchangeable? 2001:448A:3070:E1D7:6927:DCA6:924C:1623 (talk) 02:47, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 15

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Meta physics

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about things beyond nature 105.113.11.194 (talk) 20:36, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See Metaphysics? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:34, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note that metaphysics is not about phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The usual term for these is "the supernatural".  --Lambiam 07:57, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The word "meta" means “beyond” and “about”. The word “physics” means “nature”.  Therefore, metaphysics can be regarded as the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality and existence. Stanleykswong (talk) 06:45, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Των μετά τα φυσικά
The Ancient Greek preposition μετά also means "next, after". It is generally thought that the title of Aristotle's book Των μετά τα φυσικά (Tōn metá ta phusiká), "Of the things after Physica", the etymon of our term metaphysics, was given to it (not by Aristotle but by the editor) simply because it was the next book in series, following Aristotle's book Physica, "Natural phenomena".  --Lambiam 11:22, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 16

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My habit of feature requests scared a developer?

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Reading these posts (this and this) on a thread about foo_enhanced_spectrum_analyzer in HydrogenAudio forum about my doings that "scared" off a developer of foo_enhanced_spectrum_analyzer and foo_loudness_peakmeter components for foobar2000 player and yet, the developer of a spectrum analyzer plugin for MusicBee did implement my feature requests into this plugin despite I've not have written fanon wiki pages about future version of CoolEdit Nostalgia (like I did this and this before). So, why would they? 2001:448A:3070:EA0F:F1A2:31A3:43A5:587B (talk) 18:22, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What has this got to do with wikipedia or finding references for anything? Nanonic (talk) 19:34, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Nanonic: perhaps finding a reliable reference for what some bad habits when comes to feature requests that are likely to made software developers quit their job. 2001:448A:3070:EA0F:A59D:BE84:1D03:3CD (talk) 21:20, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Your questions are scaring off the Reference desk respondents.  --Lambiam 09:57, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Whatever drama you're involved with on that board, I suggest you keep it there and don't post about it here. --Viennese Waltz 10:02, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 17

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Futures contract

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I don't understand finance, so I thought I'd ask. If I buy a futures contract for say a ton of corn at a specific price, and I hold it until the delivery date, will someone literally deliver a ton of corn to me? Thanks. Therapyisgood (talk) 00:04, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The contract is likely to read "FOB Kansas City," or something like that. You'll probably have to move it from whatever transportation it is on (train, ship) yourself. Or, arrange (pay for) delivery. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 01:38, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
At the delivery date, the current buyer will have become the proud owner of a ton of corn somewhere. The identity of the buyer of the contract almost always changes, so the seller drawing up the contract does not know the identity of the eventual buyer at the delivery date. Therefore, wherever the "somewhere" may be, you as the buyer can be reasonably sure it will not be delivered to your doorstep.  --Lambiam 09:54, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oil futures have even been known to have a negative price, when the producers' local storage was full and demand was low. At that point the buyer of the contract is being paid to take it away. [1] --Amble (talk) 20:30, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Most futures contracts are cash-settled and there is no physical transfer of the underlying asset. Stanleykswong (talk) 06:31, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
True, but this depends on both parties agreeing to a new or modified contract. If the buyer does the unexpected and just sits it out, as suggested in the original question, and also does not agree to a new contract, the seller is obligated to produce the asset to the buyer, even if this means they need to go and buy it on the market.  --Lambiam 10:58, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, a futures contract is ultimately for purposes of delivery of the specified contract in accordance with its terms. A standard corn futures contract is for 5000 bushels (although there is also a mini corn future for only 1000 bushels). A bushel of corn (maize) weighs 56 pounds, so at settlement the buyer owns 140 tons of corn (or, for a mini corn future, 28 tons).
But that is not going to be you. You are a retail investor and would trade through a commodity broker, who is probably not going to be willing to accept physical settlement on your behalf. John M Baker (talk) 00:41, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Which Political Bloggers are Former Programmers?

[edit]

Such as Curtis Yarvin and Ruan Xiaohuan. Saedeer (talk) 13:45, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Why do you ask that? I don't think the answer to this question can help you. Polygnotus (talk) 01:15, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe the OP wants to find out how many other former programmers aren't very bright. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots13:46, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 19

[edit]

Who is the following unknown?

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When asked "WHO IS YOUR X?" (X still being unknown to me but is known to the respondents), here are the answers I get:

A answers: "A"
B answers: "C"
C answers: "C"
D answers: "F"
E answers: "F"
F answers: "F"

To sum up, the special phenomenon here is that, everybody has their own X (usually), and if any respondent points at another respondent as the first respondent's X, then the other respondent must point at themself as their X.

I wonder who the unknown X may be, when I only know that X is a natural example from everyday life. I thought about a couple of examples, but none of them are satisfactory, as follows:

X is the leader of one's political party, or X is one's mayor, and the like, but all of these examples attribute some kind of leadership or superiority to X, whereas I'm not interested in this kind of solution - involving any superiority of X.

Here is a second solution I thought about: X is the first (or last) person born in the year/month the respondent was born, and the like. But this solution involves some kind of order (in which there is a "first person" and a "last person"), whereas I'm not interested in this kind of solution - involving any order. 79.177.151.182 (talk) 12:11, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Drummer?  Card Zero  (talk) 14:25, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The OP also posted this question on the Math desk. What if everyone says "I'm Spartacus!" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots14:30, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I forgot to add an important point (so I've just added it, thanks to your response): Everybody has their own X (usually). 79.177.151.182 (talk) 14:58, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What do you mean by "everybody has an X"? A lot of folks have an "ex", but is that what you mean? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:08, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I mean that everybody has their own X (usually), whether X is one's mayor, or X is the leader of one's political party, and so forth. Additionally, keep in mind that if any respondent points at another respondent as the first respondent's X, then the other respondent must point at themself as their X. 79.177.151.182 (talk) 15:21, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(ec)The statement "everybody has their own X" makes no sense to me, and I'm a native English speaker. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:36, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
X is the usual symbol denoting an unknown (as in mathematical equations), but here the unknown is a person, like "a mayor", and the like. 79.177.151.182 (talk) 15:42, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are too many possible answers that still don't involve order or superiority.
- Translator
- Publisher
- Spokesperson
- Copyeditor
- Cleaner
- Keyholder (person who closes a shop and responsible for turning up in cases of property related emergencies - sometimes it's a manager but sometimes it's merely someone who is willing to stay late or be early)
- Scribe
- Accountant
- Driver
Basically anything where there's a "role" in a group but usually only one (barring circumstances).
What are you hoping to accomplish by asking a question like this? Komonzia (talk) 15:34, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thx.
Resolved
79.177.151.182 (talk) 15:42, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't believe it. A publisher doesn't have necessarily a publisher, because it normally is not an author. A keyholder could be a trusted neighbour,who doesn't work at the shop and is therefore not its own keyholder (at least in relation to the shop). Of course in relation to its own living quarters mostly everybody is a keyholder, but that was not part of the definition. Even a translator doesn't translate itself when it expresses itself in the foreign language. At least not necessarily. Even a cleaner doesn't necessarily cleans up after itself. I know one! Personally!
When you're satisfied by these examples that don't match your description, then I would like to see the real description. 176.0.128.31 (talk) 08:24, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So this is interesting linguistically and socially - the use of the word "usually" lets in a lot of the examples given, at least in some societies. However mathematically you are looking for something impossible. Lets assume that everyone has an X (or equivalently ignore those people without an X, who are also no-one's X). The relation partitions the set into subsets (i.e. the subsets include all the elements, and each element is in one and only one subset). Each subset has one self-X call it C for centre, and all the other elements (0 or more of them) point to C. Example, whole numbers under the relation "what is the remainder if you are divided by 5". 5 subsets with C=0, 1, 2, 3, 4. In every case there is a "privileged" centre, whether it would be considered superior, inferior or just special is open to interpretation. You can only have no centres in the case where there are no elements at all. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 21:07, 20 December 2024 (UTC).[reply]

Street View

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Why Googlehas not launched Street View in mainland China? There do exist several user-submitted photos, mostly from landmarks and historical cities, but why Google cars have not traveled there yet? How likely is that in 2034, mainland China will have photos by Google cars if Street view is launched there?

And, why South Korea, a country with a large economy and almost no bans, still has large unphotographed areas with most minor cities and major freeways are not photographed entirely? And could North Korea ever get Street View by Google cars? --40bus (talk) 17:54, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here is some info: Google Street View in Asia There are some places in China where they have it. As to future predictions, Wikipedia can't do that. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots19:07, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@40bus: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/a/160276 (and see also my comment below). could North Korea ever get Street View by Google cars That is unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future, and anything beyond that is unforeseeable. Polygnotus (talk) 01:12, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My dream would be every country in the world having full coverage. Is that likely in next 20 years? At least Belarus's lack of Street View should be corrected. I would like to see views from every country. --40bus (talk) 06:21, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
"If wishes were horses...". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots07:13, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Though a multinational, Google is at base an American company, or at least is perceived as such.
Think about the political tensions between the Peoples Republic of China, and the West in general and the USA in particular. Now ask yourself – how might the Government of China feel about American-controlled spy-cars driving around the whole of China, photographing everything visible? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.223.204 (talk) 20:51, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That is (obviously) not the reason; your tin foil hat is malfunctioning. The USA does not require something as lowtech as a 360 camera mounted on a car to drive through an area to spy on that area. The reason is that Google does not want to waste its money. And China has a habit of creating local state-owned alternatives to foreign services, allowing those to rip off the foreign tech, and then massively disadvantaging the foreign company. They have done this many times before. Polygnotus (talk) 01:10, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not suggesting that the US would want (or need) to do this. I'm asking how the Chinese Government would welcome the appearance of it, particularly in the perception of their own people. International relations and management of internal perceptions are all about opinions, beliefs, and what can be spun, regardless of truth.
Recently, in my own country, Chinese visitors and personnel from an ostensible language school fomented a totally spurious 'incident' at a London railway terminus, by approaching a well-known busker and YouTuber filming his and others' performances on a public piano, and then insisting that he stop filming, complaining to police present that he was violating their rights by filming them. This was not done for any valid reason, but (presumably) to try to manipulate public opinion within China, and create a spurious 'grievance' to use in diplomatic discussions. Such games go on all the time. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.223.204 (talk) 01:36, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm asking how the Chinese Government would welcome the appearance of it I have answered the original question; please don't hijack this thread to ask a vaguely related question and then bring up unrelated stuff (which was not recent but a year ago, and a storm in a teacup, and your conspiracy theory is not supported by evidence). There are plenty of diplomatic incidents between China and the UK; neither side has a need to manufacture one. If you want to ask a new question, please post it in a new section. Thank you, Polygnotus (talk) 01:44, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Telling a user "your tin foil hat is malfunctioning" is offensive, and is by itself a "hijacking" of this section. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots02:20, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Incorrect (on both counts). And posting 2 conspiracy theories in 1 thread is a clear sign of a malfunctioning tin foil hat. Polygnotus (talk) 02:21, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you love the Chinese government so much, maybe you should have your own "tin foil hat" checked for malfunctions. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots02:49, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for proving my point. The CCP killed insane numbers of people through brutality and incompetence. But we should still call out tin foil conspiracy nonsense. The idea that all conspiracies about the "other" must be true, just because we don't like them, is a very very dangerous one. Just like the idea that everyone who points out that some conspiracies about the "other" are false must be an "other". Polygnotus (talk) 12:07, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Considering Restrictions on geographic data in China, it seems correct to mention the Chinese Government as a cause. Baidu and Tencent have presumably obtained authorization, because they're not foreign organizations. This incidentally functions as protectionism. I tracked the piano thing down to Brendan Kavanagh#St. Pancras Station piano dispute, and I suppose there is a tenuous connection since it involves the UFWD and image rights.  Card Zero  (talk) 03:32, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Google's use of GCJ-02 coordinate data and WGS-84 sattelite images has led to weird results in the past. Polygnotus (talk) 12:12, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Surveying and Mapping Law led to 14 companies being given exclusive rights to map China. All local companies. Google Maps applied and was denied. https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/63636/ https://medium.com/@anastasia.bizyayeva/every-map-of-china-is-wrong-bc2bce145db2 Polygnotus (talk) 12:27, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Relations between Google and the Chinese government have been difficult for years. China wants its citizens to see only a censored version of the internet, requiring Google to filter results from its search engine. In case of Street View, the Chinese government is concerned about what their own citizens can see (and I suppose they also want to know who views which streets). Google isn't very eager to comply with all China's request, as that could be quite expensive and bad for their image in less authoritarian states. PiusImpavidus (talk) 19:44, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Why Somalia, Venezuela and Cuba do not have Street View yet? --40bus (talk) 23:38, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This question can be answered by chatgpt or similar. Or by reading the Wikipedia articles about those countries. Polygnotus (talk) 01:33, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 21

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Britannica

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Why Encyclopaedia Britannica uses imperial units in its articles, ever for things that are measured in metric in UK such as temperatures, if it is based in UK and read by people in metric countries? --40bus (talk) 07:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

40bus, it is not based in the UK despite its British sounding name. The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been published in the United States since 1901. That's two years before the first human piloted airplane flight. Cullen328 (talk) 07:57, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Why it is not based in the UK? And if it is read and edited by people in metric countries, why many of its articles use imperial units first? It even uses British English spelling. And are there any similar UK-based online encyclopedias? --40bus (talk) 08:36, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No. Go be bored somewhere else. Nanonic (talk) 09:27, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If all else fails, you could try asking them. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots16:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Webpages

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Are there any web pages from late 1980s and early 1990s that are still in their original address, rather than on Internet Archive? Was it common for a company or person to have website in early 1990s? --40bus (talk) 07:53, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We have a List of websites founded before 1995. The IN2P3 site from 1992 can still be visited, where you may enjoy seeing the French National Institute for Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics's contact details, a small picture of the building, and five hyperlinks. The article says there were 2,879 websites established before 1995, so no, it wasn't common.  Card Zero  (talk) 09:19, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Were there any websites around in 1990? This year feels still relatively recent. And are there any saved TV broadcasts from that time in the web, from any country? --40bus (talk) 11:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Are you just randomly asking questions? Polygnotus (talk) 12:00, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Take the effort to read the first sentence of List of websites founded before 1995 and you will have the answer to your question.  --Lambiam 10:41, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Did Donald Trump's father,

[edit]

Fred, know Rudy Giuliani's father, who is said to have been a mob contract killer? I'm asking because I've heard rumors somewhere that both Donald and Fred had mob contacts in New York City.Rich (talk) 22:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Said to have been"; is there a reliable source that claims this? It has also been said that Donald Trump is a shape shifting lizard.[2] Harold Giuliani was at the bottom of the low end of shady dealings in the Italian immigrant community. It seems extremely unlikely that Fred Trump, a high-profile successful real-estate developer from the German immigrant community, would have a reason to meet him.  --Lambiam 10:38, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well, that's what the OP is asking. You're just repeating the OP's question using different words. --Viennese Waltz 10:52, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The OP did not ask whether it was plausible but whether it was true. Even if the mob contract killer story should prove more than randomly created innuendo, there is still nothing to suggest the two fathers ever met. The suggested mob contacts would not make this more likely than two random New Yorkers (like Henri who sometimes ordered pizza and Freddy who sometimes delivered pizza) knowing each other. It is very difficult to prove a negative, but the question implied the OP thought it was at least plausible, which, as I tried to point out, it is not.  --Lambiam 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No insult intended to shape-shifting lizards. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:50, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(it's easy for you to google that the rumors are out there, Lambiam.Rich (talk) 18:59, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I did not dispute the rumours exist, but IMO they are irrelevant to the question whether the two fathers knew each other, so I ignored them.  --Lambiam 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Giuliani gave a eulogy and he probably would have mentioned it if they knew eachother, but it doesn't seem like he did. https://nypost.com/1999/06/30/trump-patriarch-eulogized-as-great-builder/ Polygnotus (talk) 18:22, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://stevevillano.medium.com/the-trumps-an-incestuous-intertwining-with-organized-crime-ab65316c2b48
Rich (talk) 19:30, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for finding this, Polygnotus. But are you sure Rudy would have mentioned it in his eulogy, being possibly embarrassed about his father's occupation? And mentioning an acquaintance with his father would not make Fred seem more illustrious, which eulogies are meant to do. Rich (talk) 19:03, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No, I haven't found definitive proof. Polygnotus (talk) 12:08, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 22

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Hello,

I want to add an article for a place in delhi cantonment. However, i am unsure about the relevant Wikipedia policies on this topic. I tried searching on DuckDuckGo to no avail And the results of Wikipedia search gave unrelated things. What are the relevant policies? KhubsuratInsaan (talk) 11:16, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You may find this guide a good starting point. Be sure in particular to study the section on notability. You may also want to look up articles about similar places (if those articles exist) and review them to get a sense of what does and does not go into such an article.
It looks like you're new to Wikipedia. (Welcome!) You may find it easier to write an article from scratch and get it past article review or new pages patrol if you spend some time here first editing other pages and getting to understand the culture. That's not a strict requirement, just something a lot of people benefit from when they first arrive! -- Avocado (talk) 14:28, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
And the place for new editors to ask questions is the Wikipedia:Teahouse (although we're happy to help here too, especially with references). Alansplodge (talk) 15:24, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Indian city classification

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I was looking at Classification of Indian cities. In tier Y, there are more than 100 cities listed. But in the reference given there are only 88. I even looked what appears to be official website, there's no new circular of new list. [3] Are there any other circulars or should I just remove extra cities. Also, as my main purpose to look for a tier classification, was to use it as approximation for urban (Tier X and Y) and rural districts (Tier Z). Is there any other department which does this kind of classification, please let me know. -- Parnaval (talk) 17:13, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That circular by the Department of Expenditure indicates that classification of cities depends on the latest census. Entities using the classification after yearly update seemingly are easy to find ( https://7thpaycommissionnews.in/classification-of-indian-cities/), regarding a specific source explicitly mentioning their is an update the department link to look for has to be related to the census. --Askedonty (talk) 21:28, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 27

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Black Cube, Melissa Nathan,&U.S. presidential candidates

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Black Cube has a wikipedia article, Melissa Nathan is mentioned in the article It Ends with Us. Both are googleable. My question is if either Black Cube or Melissa Nathan were ever hired to discredit John Kerry or Hillary Clinton? I realize that in Melissa Nathan's case, if she had been hired for that, it would probably have been before she formed The Agency Group PR.Rich (talk) 06:52, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The link should have been to It Ends with Us (film).  --Lambiam 19:16, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Griggsville, Missouri?

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The Robert Fiske (actor) article claims (without a source) that he was born in Griggsville, Missouri. I can find no evidence whatever that such a place has ever existed. There is a Griggsville, Illinois, which is about 20 miles northeast of the IL/MO border (which I think is the river, and presumably was in 1889). Was there really a Griggsville in Missouri, or is this a simple mistake? The only substantive author (to the biographical part of the article) is long departed Wikipedia. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 20:12, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I can't find an obit for Fiske in Newspapers.com, and the Findagrave entry [4] simply says he was born in Missouri. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:37, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
[Edit Conflict] I wondered if it might be something to do with the Mississippi changing its course, but it seems not. However, if Griggsville, Illinois is correct, he could be added to that article's Notable person [sic] section, doubling its complement!
The 'Missouri' inclusion was (as you may have noted) in the article as created in 2005, so at least we know it's not the result of vandalism.
I notice that the Unreliable sources IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Broadway Database also state Griggsville, Missouri, which may of course have been taken from Wikipedia, and Find a Grave gives merely Missouri. However, The Movie Database does give Griggsville, Illinois. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.223.204 (talk) 21:42, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Indications in Ancestry.com are that he was merely born "in Missouri", not a specific city that I've found. Even though the original article writer has been offline for over 9 years, maybe his email still works? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:54, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm wondering if there is some circular WP:CITOGENESIS between ourselves, Findagrave, and IMDb. I too considered the "moving river" hypothesis, but it's much too far away. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 22:42, 27 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Who Was Who on Screen (1977) confirms he was born in Griggsville, Missouri. No danger of citogenesis there. The search term "Griggsville, MO" throws up a few non-Fiske results on Google and Google Books, but I can't find precisely where it is. --Antiquary (talk) 09:22, 28 December 2024 (UTC) Ah, here we are, it's in Pike County, Missouri [5]. --Antiquary (talk) 10:00, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Griggsville, IL, is also in Pike County, Illinois and if you look up the zip code (62340) given on that web site you also land in Illinois. The two Pike Counties are direct neighbours, but there's no indication of any common history or even a shift in the state border. --Wrongfilter (talk) 10:15, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That sounds ominous. Also, the more of my Google and Google Books hits I follow up, the fewer check out. The evidence that this place ever existed outside of Fiske's say-so looks rather slight. Here is one cite from 1907, and there are one or two more from the 19th century, but confusion with Griggsville, IL can't be ruled out. --Antiquary (talk) 10:46, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 28

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Why do news reporters name the programme they are reporting for?

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This is an example by BBC News. ―Panamitsu (talk) 05:44, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You have linked to a BBC TV program where at 0:40 the presenter introduces "Our science correspondent Pallab Ghosh" who signs off his report "Pallab Ghosh, BBC News". His report includes statements by two experts each identified by name and affiliation. The video typifies the high standard of jounalism where BBC emphasize distinction between source and editorial content. Incidentally, a good BBC TV reporter tends to become a "household name" (the likes of Clive Myrie, Fiona Bruce, Sophie Raworth, Reeta Chakrabarti, Steve Rosenberg, Michael Buchanan and more). Edit: I apologise to Pallab Ghosh for initially misspelling his name and thank Antiquary for correcting me. Philvoids (talk) 11:19, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Pallab Ghosh, but I'm sure he's used to it. --Antiquary (talk) 11:29, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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Does the fact that aeroplane/ship navigation lights are green and red cause problems for pilots who are red-green colour blind? How do they deal with that? Can they even become pilots? ―Panamitsu (talk) 22:49, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't be a pilot because of my red-green colour blindness, but people with a mild version can apparently - this is a link to the UK's Civil Aviation Authority's guidance on colour vision requirements. Mikenorton (talk) 23:25, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 29

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