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= December 4 =
{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 September 9}}


== Subnational laws ==
{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 September 10}}


In all [[federations]], are there laws that differ between subdivisions, such as states, provinces, cantons or parts of countries like Bosnia-Hertzegovina or Belgium? Are there any laws that are dedicated to [[provinces of Argentina]], [[states of Brazil|Brazil]], [[States of India|India]], [[States of Mexico|Mexico]], [[States of Germany|Germany]] or [[States of Austria|Austria]], or [[cantons of Switzerland]]? And in countries like US, Canada or Australia, are there any local laws that differ between local governments? --[[User:40bus|40bus]] ([[User talk:40bus|talk]]) 20:16, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 September 11}}


:Links to a number of relevant articles at [[State law]]... -- [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 21:17, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
= September 12 =
::Hmm, not sure I'm a big fan of that page. It has one blue link, to US state law. All the other links are red, and many are to titles that would not naturally exist at all, unless maybe as redirects-from-misnomers or something. For example [[state law (Germany)]]? What's that? The German ''Länder'' are not called "states". --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 21:56, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
::(I went ahead and searched, and to my bemusement our article on the ''Länder'' is at [[states of Germany]]. Hmm. I don't think that's a good title. I've always heard them called ''Länder'', untranslated. They're broadly analogous to US states, I suppose, but not really the same thing.) --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 22:13, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I've been looking at [[Law of Texas]] in order to verify if its specifical statutes visibly differ from the German cases where the concept of [[Succession of states]] comes into question: following analyses exposed in [[:de:Land (Deutschland)]] in German Wikipedia. "Succession of states" as discussed in that last article has a focus probably more highly contrasted in matter of "rights and obligations" than would apply to U.S. States. In the case of Texas law for example I note the importance of Common law as a defining influence, whereas in German law the same unifying level is rooted very differently. I imagine that the american [https://www.usconstitution.net/english-as-official-language linguistic pluralism] at root also implies some repercussions in classes of problems turning to the inside rather than to abroad. Consequently perhaps the specific problems that appear and were shown in the idea of Secession. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 00:16, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::{{ping|Askedonty}} I'm really having trouble following that. What are you trying to figure out here? Is it about whether ''Land'' is reasonably translated as "state" in the sense that it's used in "US state"? If it is, I don't really follow the argument; I'm not even sure whether you're arguing for or against. If it's not then I'm even more confused. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 01:06, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::German Wikipedia define the U.S.A. as a "föderal aufgebaute Republik" which is absolutely similar to the German "Bundesrepublik". To anybody there is a strange feeling at equating "State" with "Land" so I do not see what reluctance there has to be seeing there is an explanation for it. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 01:19, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::<s>No reluctance;</s> I just wanted to understand better the structure of your argument. It was a little hard to figure out what you were getting at. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 01:22, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::(Actually now I'm not sure about the "no reluctance" part, because on re-reading "I do not see what reluctance there has to be", I don't actually understand what that means either.) --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 01:28, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::Ok, no problem. "Länder" means that Germans living there might be have their families rooted there for ages. I do not think that aspect can be translated without some circumlocutions. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 01:44, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::In several languages, the usual term for a ''Land'' of the FRG uses a part that is cognate to ''state''. For example: Basque ''[[:eu:Alemaniako estatuak|Alemaniako estatuak]]'' (pl), Danish ''[[:de:Tysklands delstater|Tysklands delstater]]'' (pl), Italian ''[[:it:Stati federati della Germania|Stati federati della Germania]]'' (pl); Spanish ''[[:es:Estado federado (Alemania)|Estado federado (Alemania)]]''. When used for a specific ''Land'' and no confusion with the sense of "federal state" can occur, this is often simplified, as in Italian ''lo stato di Baden-Württemberg''.<sup>[https://motori.fanpage.it/autostrade-senza-limiti-di-velocita-la-germania-cambia-politica-test-a-120-km-h/][https://nuovavenezia.gelocal.it/regione/2023/01/28/news/jesolo_international_club_camping_migliore_europa_turismo-12610562/][https://europa.today.it/attualita/germania-bimba-accoltellata-supermercato.html]</sup> &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 08:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:If the subdivisions have separate [[legislature]]s, there are bound to be differences. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 22:33, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
:{{br}} The original question asks ''in countries like US...are there any local laws that differ...''. In the US, "local" usually means city or county level. This will vary from state to state, but typically city and county laws are called "ordinances" and regulate comparatively lesser matters than state law (state law handles almost all one-on-one violent crime, for example). City ordinances tend to be about things like how often you have to mow your lawn or whether you can drink alcohol in public. Violations are usually "[[infraction]]s" with relatively light penalties (though fines can be fairly heavy in some cases, like for removing a tree that you're not supposed to remove in [[Woodside, California]]). --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 23:02, 4 December 2024 (UTC)
::Like the USA, Australia is a federation of states, so it has federal (national) laws, state level laws, and municipality based laws. The latter are like city laws in the US, but not all our towns are called cities. Unlike the USA, our constitution is primarily about what states are responsible for and what the federal government is responsible for. [[User:HiLo48|HiLo48]] ([[User talk:HiLo48|talk]]) 03:33, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::As with most things in the US, the distinction (if any) between "town" and "city" varies state-to-state. I'm most familiar with California, which has no official legal distinction, but the municipality in question can call itself "town" or "city" as it pleases, usually depending on whether it wants to give the suggestion that it's semi-rural (see [[Town of Los Altos Hills]]). Completely different are the [[New England town]]s, which I don't know much about except what I've read in Wikipedia. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 03:56, 5 December 2024 (UTC)


:::The US Constitution does, in fact, delineate the powers of states and of the federal government. American states are not "subdivisions", they are separate entities which joined the USA. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 07:14, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
== [[Edward G. Robinson]] + feeding pigs = in what film ? ==
::::Many subdivisions of current sovereign states, all over the world, were at some time themselves independent sovereign states that later gave up their sovereignty, sometimes not entirely voluntarily, and joined a larger entity. The USA is not exceptional. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 09:42, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::The American states have not given up their sovereignty. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 15:08, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::Then why don't they apply for UN membership? Too much effort? &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 03:40, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::It's a different concept of sovereignty. The theory of sovereignty in much of the world is that it has to be unique; there is only one sovereign at a given place and time. The US, at least historically, explicitly rejects that idea, embracing [[divided sovereignty]] instead. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 03:49, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::: For that matter, recognized Indian tribes in the U.S. also have partial sovereignty, their own courts, etc. - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 05:12, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::::: Yes. Readers who want to know more about this can check out our article on [[tribal sovereignty in the United States]]. Lots of interesting complications if you like that sort of thing. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 19:44, 7 December 2024 (UTC)


:::::::Lambiam -- In the second half of the 1940s, when Stalin was arranging things so that the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR had separate memberships in the United Nations (distinct from the Soviet Union's overall membership), he offered to agree to several U.S. states being admitted to the U.N. but the U.S. didn't take him up on it. [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 00:03, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
Hello L.H. (Learned Humanitarians) ! In [[Chief of Hearts]] (The Simpsons, 2010) , I saw the great EGR as a cameo, associated with pigs feeding from some unidentified cruor in a shed : what film does it refer to ? Thanks beforehand for your answers. [[User:Arapaima|Arapaima]] ([[User talk:Arapaima|talk]]) 07:16, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::::: I did not know that. Wow. Which states in particular were OK with Uncle Joe? Or was it just a number, let the states play musical chairs for it? --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 20:01, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::::{{small|Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas and Texas. [[User:Tamfang|—Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 20:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)}}


:Not a big Simpsons fan, though I don't recall any Robinson film with Pigs (that doesn't mean there wasn't any) could it just be a inside joke with the Simpsons, possibly just ridiculing the fact that Robinson is an immigrant from Eastern Europe and could have easily grown up as a poor pig farmer? Just guessing here. [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 08:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::::::I'm pretty sure it didn't get that far (probably stayed within the Truman White House and State Department), since it would have been a violation of the U.S. Constitution ("No State shall, without the Consent of Congress...enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power"). [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 00:12, 11 December 2024 (UTC)


I suspect that the U.S. is at the extreme of how much laws about rather important matters vary from one jurisdiction to another: at the state level, differences include: whether or not there is a death penalty and (if so) under what circumstances it can be applied; whether cannabis is legal, and almost everything about its regulation (and more or less the same about alcohol, though no state currently has an outright ban); what is the minimum wage (defaulting to the federal minimum wage if the state does not pass its own); almost everything to do with education; almost everything about how elections are run. Also, since ''Dobbs'', pretty much everything about abortion. In some areas, federal law reliably trumps state law, but not in everything (there is relatively little the federal government can do to prevent a state from passing a criminal law, other than either challenge it as unconstitutional or threaten to withhold funds unless they change it).
:The montage shows scenes which remind Homer of Clancy. Clancy resembles Robinson, and, unfortunately (due to the slang word "pig" meaning a police man) he also resembles a pig. See the last sentence in the 2nd to last paragraph here: [http://www.aoltv.com/2010/04/19/the-simpsons-chief-of-hearts-recap]. I don't believe there is any real movie with both Robinson and pigs. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 09:16, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


U.S. states usually have more ability to limit what smaller jurisdictions can do, so they can preempt local ordinances (usually the term, rather than "laws", at the city/town/etc. level, but just as enforceable). Still, often they don't do that, even in ways where you'd think they would. Where I live in Washington state, the minimum wage varies from county to county and city to city, with the state setting only a "minimum minimum". And it gets even more confusing because, for example, King County sets a minimum wage for unincorporated areas of the county, with incorporated communities able to go higher or lower. In Texas, the legality of selling alcohol is a "local option" patchwork. And sovereignty gets trickier in terms of Indian reservations, hence the "Indian casinos" even in states where gambling is otherwise illegal.
:Thanks kindly to all <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/86.200.73.201|86.200.73.201]] ([[User talk:86.200.73.201|talk]]) 17:41, 12 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


::You're quite welcome. Are you [[User:Arapaima|Arapaima]] ? If so, may we mark this Q resolved ? [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 21:24, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
And, yeah, that's just more about the U.S., but I think people from elsewhere have trouble imagining what a patchwork it is here. - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 05:12, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Could be [[The Red House (film)]], where he plays a farmer.[[User:John Z|John Z]] ([[User talk:John Z|talk]]) 21:35, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Thanks to all. I thought there'd be some hint at a film, since The Simpson's cultural references are sometimes deliciously far-fetched...BTW, yes, it was me, riding one of my old iMacs (these dear old hags, with their OS 9 or X, don't know how to log in, but they are so sweet to use...). T.Y. , [[User:Arapaima|Arapaima]] ([[User talk:Arapaima|talk]]) 06:28, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


In Mexico: I know Mexico City legalized gay marriage years before the rest of the country. But if we have a decent article on federalism in Mexico, I haven't seen it.
==International waters on the Great Lakes?==
It is 12 Nautical miles but also 3 nautical miles for civil law? Each North American Great Lake spans more than that. Or does the 3 and 12 only apply to saltwater? [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 10:10, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


In Spain, Catalonia semi-legalized cannabis (allowing "cannabis clubs"); there has been a bit of a fight back and forth with the central government over whether they can do that. And, of course, in Spain each autonomous community makes its own decisions about much of the educational system (which often involves laws) and most have opted to have responsibility for a health system devolved to them, though some have chosen not to take that on. For more on Spain, you can look at [[Autonomous communities of Spain#Constitutional and statutory framework]]. - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 05:23, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:Pretty much, yes. The Great Lakes are split right down the middle between the US and Canada, except in places with special provisions (for islands and such), so there are no international waters there. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 10:17, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


= December 5 =
::Good to know thanks for the quick reply! [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 10:53, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


== BAA ==
:::You're quite welcome. The actual border shows up on any good map. I'll mark this Q resolved. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 10:55, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


BAA ambiguous meaning in context of aviation in UK, could you please check the discussion [[:n:Talk:Airport_security_tightened_worldwide|here]] 🙏 [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 07:30, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Huh? "Pretty much, yes." to what? Is that answering the first or the second question asked? [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|CambridgeBayWeather]] ([[User talk:CambridgeBayWeather|talk]]) 00:46, 13 September 2012 (UTC)


:@[[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] This is the humanities reference desk. Do you have a question on humanities? [[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]]|[[User talk:Shantavira|<sup>feed me</sup>]] 10:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::I had to think about that for a second, but the last question, and StuRats context explains it further. If I have it right no part of any Great Lake is not at least claimed by either the U.S. or Canada, the borders are "right down the middle" usually. Referencing maps also confirmed, RATS to my Casino boat out of Cleveland idea ala [[SunCruz Casinos]] no wonder [[Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis]] had to move to Florida from Toronto to do it, lol. [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 08:08, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::Yes [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 10:20, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::[[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]], next time, I would suggest copying the question you want answered from Wikinews, rather than expecting people here to work out what you want to know.
:::As Wikinews has sources, I suggest checking them, e.g. [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/jan/03/brown-airport-security-full-body-scanners The Guardian] says {{tq|BAA, which runs six UK airports}}, so in 2010 BAA [plc] was a company that ran six UK airports. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 21:47, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:Did you try [[BAA (disambiguation)]]? [[User:Tamfang|—Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 20:55, 16 December 2024 (UTC)


== UK politics/senate ==
:::::At least in this case, the international waters rule does not apply. I suspect it's not so much that the water isn't salty, but that you would have to travel through the territory of one nation or the other to get there that makes this ineligible to be international waters. For example, the [[Great Salt Lake]] is 28 miles wide at parts, but I believe it's still entirely US territory. The whole idea of international waters is to allow safe conduct of vessels which might otherwise be molested by the navies of the nations which claim them. However, in the Great Lakes, nobody has any business being there without the permission of the US or Canada, since there is no place to go on them other than the US or Canada. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 17:41, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


Hi, is this factually accurate [[:n:Talk:Former_Scottish_Conservatives_leader_Annabel_Goldie_to_stand_down_as_MSP|link]] Thanks. [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 07:59, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
{{resolved}}


:See above. [[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]]|[[User talk:Shantavira|<sup>feed me</sup>]] 10:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
::::For the curious, a little historical context [http://www.craigmarlatt.com/canada/canada&the_world/canada&us_border_disputes.html is here]. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 13:36, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::Yes [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 10:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)


== Scipion-Virginie Hébert (1793-1830) ==
:::::Apparently there's a small triangle of water between Alaska and BC which each side wants to pawn off on the other. Is that where poisonous jellyfish hang out, or what ? :-) [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 21:22, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
{{hat|Block evasion}}
::::::No, we just want to have our own [[Bir Tawil]] underwater. [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 17:26, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
The only daughter of Jacques-René Hébert was a repubblican, bonapartist, or royalist? <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/82.56.174.231|82.56.174.231]] ([[User talk:82.56.174.231#top|talk]]) 11:06, 5 December 2024 (UTC)</small> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


:[https://www.croirepublications.com/blog/un-jour-dans-l-histoire/13-juillet-1830-la-fille-d-hebert-et-la-premiere-bible-de-mariage This brief biography in French] says that she was adopted as a one-year-old by an old associate of her father called Jacques Marquet who educated her with the aim of her becoming a schoolmistress. She maried a Protestant pastor called Léon Née (1784-1856) and both became leading figures in the ''pré-Réveil'' (we have an article on the ''[[Réveil]]'' which was an 1814 Protestant revival in France and Switzerland). They had five children, three of whom died early. She was later the vice-president of a society that gave Bibles to newly married couples. No mention of politics, but it seems that her interests were on a higher plane. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 18:02, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:Nice link Alansplodge! [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 15:33, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::can you if there are sources about her political ideas? [[Special:Contributions/193.207.166.191|193.207.166.191]] ([[User talk:193.207.166.191|talk]]) 18:20, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
:::There are none. You can build hypotheses based on the facts that '''''a''''') her father, Jacques-René Hébert was a promoter of the [[Cult of Reason]], yet considering [[Jesus Christ]] a [[Sans-culotte]] ([[Jacques Hébert#Dechristianization]], [https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/O89BAAAAcAAJ?hl=fr&gbpv=1&pg=PA449 ''une religion sans base, fille d'aucune foi, ne procédant d'aucune révélation''] ) '''''b''''') it is known that when she was two years old around her beside Jacques Marquet: ''"The child is surrounded by his uncle, Jacques Goupil, an invalid officer, Pierre Theuvenot, a ironmonger of the rue du Temple (section of Reunion), by Jean-Baptiste Gaignot, employed in the national domains, of the Guillaume Tell section, of Pierre-François Coignard, employee of the National Treasury, living in rue Denis, of his neighbour Joseph Barat, of Pierre François Joseph Guérin, printer in the rue du Temple, all sans-culottes friends of the family – the Revolution visibly offered many places in the New administrations, social advancement"'', '''''c''''') she became an assistant teacher. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 01:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)


::I was hoping to find a little more about the boundary commission, whom I imagine sitting in a rowing boat with a map and compass arguing about where the border line should go; however it's more likely that they used a pencil and ruler in a well heated office somewhere. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 21:15, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::::Note that the Sans-culottes were not keen on any branch of Christianity, see [[Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution]], so it seems unlikely that she would have followed her parents' political path. [[Protestantism in France|Protestants in France]] were a small minority that had been persecuted under successive monarchs before the Revolution. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 10:23, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Heard they sometimes just use darts and blindfolds after a long night of drinking, would explain the non-logic of some border areas. lol. [[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 08:06, 13 September 2012 (UTC)


:::::The author of [http://le-blog-de-jean-yves-carluer.fr/2015/08/28/fonder-une-societe-biblique-auxiliaire-3/ this related blog] is the opinion that Jacques Marquet himself might have been, at least, leaning toward protestantism. And the circumstances that are related are certainly convincing. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 14:16, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
== Why do most republics have ceremonial presidents? ==
{{hab}}


= December 6 =
I've wondered why there are several republics have presidents who have mostly ceremonial roles. I can understand a monarchy where the head of state has limited powers, as usually they are monarchies for tradition or tourism, but why republics? Wouldn't it be more logical for republics to have presidential systems where the president is both head of state and head of government, or even a semi-presidential system like in Russia or France where the prime minister is more or less an assistant to the president and is basically a more powerful vice president? Why is this the case in the first place? [[User:Narutolovehinata5|Narutolovehinata5]] <sup>[[User talk:Narutolovehinata5|t]][[Special:Contributions/Narutolovehinata5|c]][[WP:CSD|csd]][[Special:Newpages|new]]</sup> 11:28, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


== Provenance of some sculptures ==
:One answer grounded in realism, but without a source: A ceremonial head of state can be tasked with doing all sorts of time-consuming ceremonial things that a head of government would rather not spend the time on. Some potential examples can be seen in [[Head_of_state#Symbolic_role]]. --[[User:Dweller|Dweller]] ([[User talk:Dweller|talk]]) 11:36, 12 September 2012 (UTC)


There are a bunch of reliefs worked into the wall of the garden (rear) side of the former Casa Storck, now Frederic Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck Museum, in Bucharest. I can't tell whether they are older pieces collected by Frederic Storck (he certainly collected a number of such pieces; some are in the museum) or his own work, or a mix of the two. Clearly for some of these, if they are his own work they would have been imitative of older styles, but he was enough of a chameleon at times that I would not rule that out. (I had originally presumed they were all his, but I'm having second thoughts.) Wondering if anyone might know something more solid than I do; there is nothing in particular about this I've been easily able to find, except that they seem to date back at least very close to the origin of the building (1910s).
:(ec) Having a ceremonial figurehead helps by having someone go to state dinners, state funerals, etc., leaving the real leader free to spend his time doing more useful things. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 11:38, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
<gallery>
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 01.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 02.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 03.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 03.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 05.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 06.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 07.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 08.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 09.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - relief on exterior of Casa Storck - 10.jpg
File:Frederic Storck - miscellaneous reliefs on exterior of Casa Storck - 01.jpg|Several more here
</gallery> [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 04:20, 6 December 2024 (UTC)


Given my uncertainty, I've put these in a new [[:commons:Category:Unidentified works in the Frederic and Cecilia Cuțescu Storck Museum]] that does not imply authorship by Frederic Storck. - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 04:28, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:(ec2) Having a president with limited political power allows him/her to be more impartial in representing the nation. The president doesn't need to be involved in campaigning or mud-throwing. Similar to a monarch, such a president can be somewhat neutral figure that facilitates stable foreign relations. - [[User:Lindert|Lindert]] ([[User talk:Lindert|talk]]) 11:41, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
: No one with an idea on any of these? - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 19:13, 9 December 2024 (UTC)


== Georges Jacques Danton ==
::There is a historical context too. Countries that have changed from a monarchy to a republic can keep the same apparatus of government by giving the president a similar role to the displaced monarch. Greece is an example of this, who deposed [[Constantine II of Greece|King Constantine]] and established the [[Third Hellenic Republic]] in a referendum in 1973. In post WWI [[Weimar Republic|Germany]] and [[First Republic of Austria|Austria]], the new presidents had less power than the emperors that they replaced, but otherwise the system remained the same. In the [[Republic of Ireland]], where there had previously been no self-governance, they were able to adopt system based on the [[Westminster system|Westminster model]] that they were familiar with, with the president replacing the role of the king. In the post-colonial period, many [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries were actively encouraged by Britain to go down this line, if they didn't want to retain the Queen as head of State. See also [[Westminster system#Role of head of state]]. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 13:16, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
{{hat|Block evasion.}}
:::I have made a mistake in the answer above - Ireland first became independent as the [[Irish Free State]] which had [[Dominion]] status. The head of state was still the king, who appointed a [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State|Governor-General]] on the advice of the Irish cabinet. This continued until 1937 when the office of [[President of Ireland]] was created to take over the powers of the Governor-General. India had a similar but shorter transitional phase as a dominion. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 22:20, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
Are there any sites with the full biographies of their two sons Antoine (1790-1858) and François Georges (1792-1848)?


:An article in French can be found [https://www.jstor.org/stable/41920566 here]. You'll need to access it through a library. Their basic biographical details are also available on various genealogy sites, but I expect you're looking for more than just that. [[User:Xuxl|Xuxl]] ([[User talk:Xuxl|talk]]) 16:02, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
== Russian patronyms ==


How do you say the patronyms "son of Louis" or "daughter of Louis" in Russian?--[[User:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|The Emperor&#39;s New Spy]] ([[User talk:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|talk]]) 16:22, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:Can you search for others? Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/87.5.237.18|87.5.237.18]] ([[User talk:87.5.237.18|talk]]) 16:08, 6 December 2024 (UTC)
:[[Eastern Slavic naming customs]] has some background. It doesn't list any cognates of Louis/Lewis/Ludwig in Russian, but [[Louis (given name)]] has an interlanguage link to the Russian wikipedia, so you could combine that with the standard patronymic rules from Russian and work out a reasonable answer. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 16:31, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::The Russian equivalent to Louis is [[:ru:Людовик|Людовик]] (Lyudovik), which doesn't seem to be a particularly popular name in Russia. The patronymics are Людовикович (Lyudovikovich), e.g. [[:ru:Драверт, Пётр Людовикович|Пётр Людовикович Драверт]], and Людовиковна (Lyudovikovna), e.g. [[:ru:Цурцумия, Лела Людовиковна|Лела Людовиковна Цурцумия]]. — [[User:Kpalion|Kpalion]]<sup>[[User talk:Kpalion|(talk)]]</sup> 17:14, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Just to transliterate (those of us who are completely familiar with Cyrillic easily forget exactly how confusing those look to people who don't), those two very long names that Kpalion posted are Pyotr Lyudovikovich Dravert and Lela Lyudovikovna Tsurtsumiya. --[[User:Mr.98|Mr.98]] ([[User talk:Mr.98|talk]])
::::And in case anyone is interested, Dravert is a Russian scientist, poet and writer; and [[Lela Tsurtsumia]] is "the most popular" Georgian pop/folk singer. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 18:31, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

== Religious police in Saudi Arabia, do they carry firearms? ==

Do they carry firearms? are they uniformed? Thank you. Timothy. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 17:01, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:I'm working on getting some more direct references to answer your question, but in the meantime, the article [[Legal system of Saudi Arabia]] has some background information you may find related to your inquiry. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 17:07, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::Found more. The so-called "religious police" are officially known as the [[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]] or the [[Mutaween]] and according to the Wikipedia article, they are currently unarmed, but previously carried wooden canes as weapons. That article, and the related article [[Freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia]] has some more background as well. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 17:10, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
Thank you! [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 17:19, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

== Is the economy a "renewable resource"? ==

Hi. While arguing spastically one day my mind conjured up this unusual question. Basically, what I think my question means is: can an economy return its net revenue toward creating more resources that in turn generate more revenue? I'm not considering "pulling money out of thin air", though wind energy could work if more efficient; I'm hoping someone will make sense of my question. Thanks. ~<font color="blue">[[User:AstroHurricane001|AH1]]</font>&nbsp;<sup>(''[[User_talk:AstroHurricane001|discuss]]!'')</sup> 17:14, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:As far as I can see, you are simply describing the concept of [[investment]]. But maybe I have misunderstood you. [[User:Looie496|Looie496]] ([[User talk:Looie496|talk]]) 18:00, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:Economies can re-invest the money generated in ways that return more investment. There are limits to growth, however (at an absolute physical end, there's the [[Second Law of Thermodynamics]] but practical human economies are going to hit that limit long before that). Even renewable resources have finite energy outputs — there is a limited amount of wind energy to be harnessed for example — we're nowhere near it, obviously, and it's a very large number, but it's completely finite. --[[User:Mr.98|Mr.98]] ([[User talk:Mr.98|talk]]) 18:37, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:What do you mean by "net revenue"? Economies are usually measured in terms of production (GDP). Pretty much everything that is produced is then consumed, so the net is essentially zero (there is some investment, which is basically defering consumption until later, and there is some international trade, which involves the production and consumption happening in different countries, but everything gets consumed somewhere in the end). You're basically talking about [[economic growth]], though, so that article may be useful. --[[User:Tango|Tango]] ([[User talk:Tango|talk]]) 11:16, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== John Nash 's "Over the top" : what precise date ? ==

Hello L.H. . At what date in 1918 did the Artists Rifles's 1° Battallion scramble over the top to attack towards Marcoing, near Cambrai ? The picture can be seen here : [[:File:NashOverTheTop.jpg]].
Thanks a lot beforehand. signé Arapaima (I'm using an iMac, & the old miss doesn't know how to log in...) <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/86.200.73.201|86.200.73.201]] ([[User talk:86.200.73.201|talk]]) 17:40, 12 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:The full title is "'Over The Top': First Artists' Rifles at Marcoing, 30 December 1917", do you have a reason to doubt that date is correct?&mdash;[[User:EricR|eric]] 18:57, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::This particular battle is more often referred to as the "Action at Welsh Ridge"[http://www.1914-1918.net/bat21.htm], in which the Germans attacked across snow covered ground wearing white camouflage suits, and penetrated a British salient in the line near [[Cambrai]]. The 1st Battalion, the [[Artists' Rifles]] was ordered to counter-attack. A fuller account can be read in [http://archive.org/stream/regimentalrollof00highiala#page/xxvi/mode/2up The Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record of the Artists' Rifles (1/28th, 2/28th and 3/28th battalions, the London Regiment T. F.) page xxvi]. The modern descendant of the Artists Rifles is 21 [[Special Air Service]] Regiment. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 21:45, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:: Thanks awfully ! I added the right date to [[World War I in popular culture]] & [[John Nash (artist)]]. Alan, thanks +++ for your excellent docs. Ghastly...My grand-parents owned a farm in that region, & my father (born in 1910) told me that, while playing as a 12 years old boy in the fields with his pals, they would find here and there some half-buried skeleton. And it was to come back 21 years later ! ..T.y. [[User:Arapaima|Arapaima]] ([[User talk:Arapaima|talk]]) 06:42, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== What were the methods of collecting public housing rent in the 1960s/70s in the UK? ==

Public housing in the UK in the 50s and 60s was owned by the government or by non-profit organisations. My question is: how did the councils collect these rents? Today, tenants can pay it online, for example. But 60-odd years ago did you have to go to the council with a rent book? Specifically I'd like to know whether or not members of the local council did the rounds collecting the rents from tenants in government properties. I'm thinking about the UK, specifically Glasgow. Thank you! - Kiskispal

[[User:Kiskispal|Kiskispal]] ([[User talk:Kiskispal|talk]]) 20:05, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:Personal knowledge, based on having worked on old housing files: Tenants could pay at a local rent office (of which there would have been many more than there are today) and there were also, certainly in the earlier part of the period, council workers who would call at properties and collect the rent. A rent card or rent book was used to keep a record of payments. [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 20:11, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::Well in the [[Black Country]] we had a rentman come round every week, then every fortnight after about 1965. This happened to my knowledge right up until the 1990s in that case. I also had a friend in South Yorkshire who was the rent lady for large parts of Rotherham in the 1990s. (My parents kept every single rent book by the way. They paid rent for a total of 48 years.) --[[User:TammyMoet|TammyMoet]] ([[User talk:TammyMoet|talk]]) 20:11, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:::Same here. We had a rent collector (and insurance collector, and the baker, and the coalman, and the laundryman, and the paperboy, and the milkman....) coming round to every house in my village in the 1950s, and of course all the housewives would usually be at home to deal with them.--[[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]]|[[User talk:Shantavira|<sup>feed me</sup>]] 20:25, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::::From the [http://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/council-s-rent-man-frank-bids-his-final-farewells-1-1667719 Burnley Express] in 2005: ''"Frank Edwards, one of the country's last council rent collectors, has hung up his cash bag after 17 years."'' [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 20:56, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::: From enquiry. Paying rent could be a problem for a single working person. Time needed to be taken off work to go to the rent office to pay in cash there. Easier if you had a housewife. ~~.~
:::::::Wasn't the rent payable at the post office back in the late 60s early 70s? I remember going to the post office to pick up my grannies pension and it seems to me that sometimes my friends who lived in public housing being there to put in the rent money. Don't forget that the post office would have been open on Saturday and could be visited during the lunch hour instead of taking time off. Would the rent office have been open on a Saturday too? [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|CambridgeBayWeather]] ([[User talk:CambridgeBayWeather|talk]]) 00:42, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::::::I was thinking about this last night for some time. Many utilities (gas, electric, water) had offices/showrooms in towns for people to go to and pay over the counter, and they would be open until at least 1pm on Saturdays (how generous!). Try as I might, I cannot remember my parents ever going anywhere to pay their rent, and can only assume that, if they missed the visit of the rent collector, it would have been my mother going to our nearest council offices during her lunch break. Maybe CBW's right about the post office. --[[User:TammyMoet|TammyMoet]] ([[User talk:TammyMoet|talk]]) 09:18, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::::::I was looking for more information and discovered that you can pay at the [http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Councilandhousingassociationhomes/Rentarrearsandeviction/DG_188686 post office] today. Curious, TammyMoet, but was Saturday [[Shops Act 1911|half day closing]] common to all shops? I just can't recall anywhere that closed at 1 pm on Saturdays. [[Campbeltown|Ours]] was on a Wednesday. [[User:CambridgeBayWeather|CambridgeBayWeather]] ([[User talk:CambridgeBayWeather|talk]]) 10:16, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::::::::I paid gas, electricity and telephone bills in the way Tammy describes until the mid-1990s. The shops, selling appliances, were open all Saturday afternoon, but the counter at the back where bill payments could be made did indeed close at about 1pm. I also paid [[Community charge]] and then [[Council tax]] by this method at the counter of my local council's payments office (now closed), where I queued with people waiting to pay their council rent. This office too was open until Saturday lunchtime. (These days, efficiency savings mean direct rent payments are taken by the local sports centre seven days a week, taking advantage of their longer opening hours.) - [[User:Karenjc|<font color="red">Ka</font>]][[User_talk:Karenjc|renjc]] 12:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::::::::CBW I'm a generation removed from all this, being a child of the 50s, but to my recollection Saturday was half-day closing as well as a day in the week (Wednesday or Thursday). Factories in the industrial West Midlands worked a 5 and a half day week AFAIK, and they would then disgorge the men into football grounds. The 2 day "weekend" only became common during the 70s, as did shops being open past 1 pm. --[[User:TammyMoet|TammyMoet]] ([[User talk:TammyMoet|talk]]) 13:51, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:::::::::::Shops in London were open all day on Saturdays in the 1960s, but my father had to work on Saturday mornings at his factory. Banks and offices had a 5-day week though. Not far outside London, shops in small towns and villages were still closing at 3pm on a Saturday in the 1990s. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 20:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you very much, everyone. Some interesting facts and recollections, and now I know that the rent collectors did exist. Thanks again!
[[User:Kiskispal|Kiskispal]] ([[User talk:Kiskispal|talk]]) 21:35, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== Euro/US dollar comparison ==

Why is saving the euro such a daunting task? Imagine that Texas or California starts increasing their public debt to the highs of Greece or Portugal, would that have any effect on the dollar? I don't see why public debt matters so much.
If EU countries had independent currencies, they could devalue their currency and improve their competitiveness. But, US states also have different economies, and are tied by one single currency, why is that not a problem? [[User:OsmanRF34|OsmanRF34]] ([[User talk:OsmanRF34|talk]]) 21:20, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:European national economies vary more than US state economies. For example, the age of retirement varies more. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 22:12, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:Part of the answer may be that a US State cannot legally go bankrupt. Municipalities and certain public entities can go bankrupt under [[Chapter 9, Title 11, United States Code]], but a state cannot declare bankruptcy, and there is no legal path for a state to simply be absolved of its debts. And so while creditors of a state may certainly have doubt as to when they will be payed back, they can have confidence that they will be eventually. So I guess to answer your question, public debt matters because Eurozone members are sovereign states and get to decide what they do with their public debt, whereas US states are stuck obeying a common set of financial regulations. [[User:Someguy1221|Someguy1221]] ([[User talk:Someguy1221|talk]]) 22:19, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::The reason states can't go bankrupt is [[sovereign immunity]]. Accordingly their recourse is to simply not pay, if they choose. There is no guarantee that state creditors will be paid. The federal government can do the same. The better answer is AnonMoos below. [[User:Shadowjams|Shadowjams]] ([[User talk:Shadowjams|talk]]) 23:27, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
:::I see I have grossly misapplied the rule on exceptions to the rule. Municipalities have a bankruptcy procedure precisely because higher forms of government don't need one. But does their immunity truly exist, though? From a legal perspective. Under the [[Tucker Act]], the US Federal government can be sued for monetary damages that stem from a contract with to which the government was a party. Is there no similar law(s) regarding state liabilities? Of course it's questionable whether any government can be compelled to pay a debt by its own courts, so there is still no lack of guarantee. I notice that in our [[sovereign default]], it is suggested that no US state has defaulted on its debts in over 100 years. [[User:Someguy1221|Someguy1221]] ([[User talk:Someguy1221|talk]]) 00:33, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::Yes, the Tucker Act is much like the [[Federal Tort Claims Act]] in that the government consents to being sued, usually with reservation. There are similar laws in most if not all States. The obvious reason being that nobody's going to contract with you if they can't ensure you will follow through with your end of the deal. And the tort equivalents are based around political considerations. Chapter 9 is rife with constitutional issues too related to this, that were only fixed by a consent process that's built into it. [[User:Shadowjams|Shadowjams]] ([[User talk:Shadowjams|talk]]) 19:38, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:OsmanRF34 -- the Eurozone's situation falls awkwardly between a true economic union (where there would be a central treasury, uniform interest rates, centralized control over banks etc.) and separate nations with separate currencies (where in a crisis an individual nation can independently allow currency devaluation etc. to prepare itself for eventual recovery). The Eurozone doesn't really have the necessary tools to deal with an overall crisis, but the existence of a currency union precludes steps that individual nations could take to deal with crises within their own borders. With respect to Greece, the EU has undertaken a long series of temporary stop-gap measures which don't really solve the problem (but just postpone it for several months), combined with relentless demands for austerity which contracts the Greek economy without providing any near-term or medium-term prospect for recovery. The Greeks have had problems with collecting taxes, controlling budgets, etc., but it's not clear how temporary stop-gap bailouts plus contracting depressionary economy really fixes anything... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 23:08, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, excellent answer, AnonMoos. The US Federal government can't "do the same", as Shadowjams said though. It has constitutional obligations to perform the very easy action of "paying" its debts, as a lot of case law before & after the 14th amendment prohibition of questioning the validity of the public debt. There is no doubt that the courts would rule in favor of a defrauded creditor of the USA.

::On the other hand, the Eurozone's problems are intrinsic to the Euro & basic features of the treaties creating it, which could only have been concocted during a dark age of (macro)economics, and which were predicted, but dismissed, from the outset. Essentially, rational, ordinary common sense actions by the states & the ECB are superstitiously prohibited, while suicidal absurdities are institutionalized. The real problem of the Euro states is that they have saddled themselves with enormous debts, from the inception of the Euro. They are equivalent to US states, but with the exception of Luxemburg, they are all far more indebted than any US state has ever been. And above all, ''since these debts are in a foreign currency that they cannot create, they can become unpayable'', just as US states, households or firms can have unpayable debts, and the Eurozone superstition/structure acts to forestall necessary central action to help the beleaguered Euro states. If they had their own currencies, as the USA does & the US states do not, then they could pay any of their interest bearing debt with ease, by printing up the money or by allowing matured bonds to be used to pay taxes. In a normal country, OsmanRF34 is right, public debt matters hardly at all. If anything, the National Debt is too small in the US, UK etc.

::This security of issuing debt with a stable nominal value, at a controllable interest rate, allows normal states to issue as much currency or bond debt (they're really the same thing) as they please, and to achieve full employment by fiscal policy. Whether or not this devalues the currency or makes the country's exports more competitive is secondary; could be good, could be bad. The [[European Central Bank]] is the only actor which can create Euros universally accepted in the Eurozone, so it has enormous quasi-fiscal, quasi-sovereign powers. Following innumerable similar stopgap measures, it has very recently exercised them, over some German objections, to support members' bonds & interest rates. This would be a good thing, but it only does so if the institutionalized superstitions are obeyed, if the periphery engages in purely destructive austerity, which raises unemployment and inefficiency, and thereby makes their debts higher and more unpayable, the opposite of the purported aim of austerity. Essentially, seeing that the Euro as designed cannot work, but seeing that it is a great engine of destruction of European welfare states and the prosperity and security of the lower 99%, the periphery nations are kept alive in the Euro system which is wrecking their economies and will continue to wreck more and more of them. It gives them a transfusion, so that they can be bled longer.

::''But, US states also have different economies, and are tied by one single currency, why is that not a problem?'' In the USA, the federal government provides an enormous equalizing role, in many ways, by e.g. military spending - which Congress has directed to every county in the USA, by pensions like Social Security, by conceiving of high unemployment as a national problem - federal spending on unemployment insurance, by any sort of federal spending. Banking is controlled federally by the Federal Reserve System & banks' deposit liabilities backed by the FDIC, not the individual states, so banking crises do not bankrupt & wreck whole state economies, as they have in Spain & Ireland. Different US states have different [[balance of payment]]s with each other. Some have dollars flow out, some flow in. But because there is a stable currency issuing government over all, hardly anybody keeps track of or thinks about such things. These "fiscal transfers" serve to counterbalance flows of money the other way. In the old days, say, spending in the South would enable it to continue to buy goods from the industrialized North, to the benefit of both sections of the country - the South would get more real wealth, the North would accumulate more money, both get higher employment.[[User:John Z|John Z]] ([[User talk:John Z|talk]]) 01:35, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::There is 0 constitutional obligation for the U.S. federal government to "pay its debts" as you describe it. And if you disagree, please point me to the decision / Constitutional provision that says otherwise. Your first paragraph answer displays a remarkable ignorance of basic constitutional law, that a quick reading of <strike>''[[Hans v. Louisiana|Hans]]'' should hopefully fix.</strike>... I actually can't even name a federal sovereign immunity case offhand (long day), and I don't have the resources available right now to look it up, but the fact is so basic that our article doesn't even list an appellate case. Perhaps I'll revisit this later, but the point is painfully obvious. [[User:Shadowjams|Shadowjams]] ([[User talk:Shadowjams|talk]]) 07:51, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::::The [[Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Validity_of_public_debt|14th Amendment's public debt clause]] (noted above) & even before the Civil War, the [[Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution#Takings_clause|5th amendment's taking's clause]] have been so interpreted (very naturally) to protect bondholders. The general principle that Congress has the power to create obligations that can bind future Congresses (unlike, say, the UK Parliament) because they are constitutionally protected, and include above all, US debt, has been stated in a long line of cases up to the 2004 (?) Cherokee Nation case (iirc the 1995 Winstar (?) Corp case has a brief historical review & comparison to the UK ). [[Gold Clause Cases|Perry v US]] enforced the principle by breaching it concerning redeemability for gold. E.g. "Having this power to authorize the issue of definite obligations for the payment of money borrowed, the Congress has not been vested with authority to alter or destroy those obligations." Yes, the government could forestall the courts, but politically there is nil probability that it would for such a suicidal purpose; it never has for such financial cases, afaik. Perry was the closest, and there are no gold clauses any more.[[User:John Z|John Z]] ([[User talk:John Z|talk]]) 09:50, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

:::::You're taking some text that popped up during the debt ceiling debacle over a year ago and running with it. While a few believe the public debt clause works like you describe it (they don't make the 5th amendment leap you do though), many others do not (http://www.volokh.com/2011/07/03/is-the-debt-limit-constitutional-part-deux there's a list). For one, who actually gets to sue under section 4? There's never been a case where the Court has ruled section 4 has abrogated sovereign immunity, standing, or political question doctrine. Moreover, default does not necessarily equal repudiation. Section 4 was as much about rejecting Confederate debts as it was validating Union ones. As far as I know section 4 has never even come up in a Supreme Court case. You're right, my 0 mention quip is wrong... however it's far from a settled issue. Your interpretation of the 5th amendment too is outright wrong. ''Flemming'' (363 U.S. 603) speaks to both of these issues quite clearly. Anyway, I don't have access to lexis or anymore time to waste on this tangent. [[User:Shadowjams|Shadowjams]] ([[User talk:Shadowjams|talk]]) 20:35, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

*My understanding of the problems in the Eurozone is that you have a disconnect between [[Monetary policy]] and [[Fiscal policy]]. In a country with its own currency, the two policies work together. For example, if a country has fiscal problems (i.e. it spends more than it takes in), it can correct for those issues partially with monetary policy (by controlling the flow of cash). The problem with Europe (and I can't believe that all those smart economists didn't see this shitstorm coming decades ago) is that ''monetary'' policy is handled at the continent-wide level, while ''fiscal'' policy is handled by the individual countries. Thus, when Greece gets itself into fiscal trouble, it has no monetary relief. Greece can't control its own money supply to ammeliorate its fiscal problems, so it is fooked. In the U.S., the federal government handles a LOT of the big expenses the states don't have to, things like the military, and it heavily subsidizes the responsibilities the states have, like education and infrastructure, which gives some cushion to the states. In Europe, there isn't an effective system of doing so. In the U.S. the individual states have limited internal sovereignty, but the greater sovereignty lies with the Federal government. The Eurozone flips that relationship; the individual nation states have full sovereignty, excepting for the parts they have ceded to the ECB and European Parliament, which isn't enough to get them out of the mess they are in. At least, that's my understanding. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 02:39, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

::I think you have it there - the federal government ''does'' try to give money to states unequally to favor those that fall behind, by virtue of programs targeted at the poor and so forth. But I think there's also an element that people move very freely in the U.S. - there are no language barriers and there's nothing unusual about crossing the country for work or education. Even so, there are definitely regions that get the shit end of the stick, such as [[East St. Louis]] or [[Camden, New Jersey]] - the twins of big cities reserved to a very poor population that can't support taxes. And the worst turn of the screw is reserved for the [[Pine Ridge Reservation]] and such, little zones under America's ever quaint system of Indian affairs which has provided the perfect preserve for corruption, censorship, murder, and Third World poverty. [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 04:44, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::When you get down to the granular level, the U.S. does have its failures, at least in meeting the needs of all of its people, and that is well documented. It is also well outside of the scope of the discussion, which is about why the U.S. economic system works well enough to prevent the sort of precarious problems Europe is experiencing right now. It's a macroeconomic issue, and it boils down to the fact that Federalism in the U.S. works for supporting a single currency, whereas it appears that Federalism in Europe is too skewed towards having too much sovereignty among the individual countries. That is, the Eurozone is playing a dangerous game: Greece has enough sovereignty to get itself into trouble, but has surrendered those parts of its sovereignty that could help itself. In the U.S., the balance is skewed in the other direction; certainly the states can get themselves into trouble (witness: California since about 2002), but on the balance the states don't have the sovereignty issues that Europe does. If you really want to over simplify it: Oregonians and New Jerseyites and North Carolinians are still Americans first, so the ways that money flows between U.S. states doesn't generate a lot of questions about the sovereignty of each state. Greeks and Germans and Belgians are '''not''' "Europeans first", in either a cultural or legal sense, so there are serious cultural, social, and legal hurdles towards the Eurozone efficiently shuffling money around to deal with problems as America does. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 04:56, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== Protestants majority nations ==

Which Caribbean nations are Protestants majority? I ask that because the map of Protestant world by country didn't make sense or confusing. Also, which Oceania nations are Protestants-majority nations? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/70.54.66.95|70.54.66.95]] ([[User talk:70.54.66.95|talk]]) 22:02, 12 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Roman Catholic majority nations ==

Which Caribbean and Oceania nations are Roman Catholic majority? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/70.54.66.95|70.54.66.95]] ([[User talk:70.54.66.95|talk]]) 22:08, 12 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:For this and the Q above, I suggest you do some research at the [[CIA Factbook]]: [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/]. To get you started, here's their info on [[Aruba]]: [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/aa.html]. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 22:41, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

::I suggest you find a better source than the CIA Factbook if you want to do research on the topic - the CIA has neither the mandate nor the means to actually find such data themselves, and seems to be remarkably inconsistent in how it presents what they do have. Find scholarly sources instead. 23:45, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

:::AndyTheGrump, do you have an example of this inconsistency ? (One possibility is that they rely on local surveys, which will tend to vary in quality. However, I doubt if any ref source actually is able to do the surveys themself in every nation.) [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 23:54, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Examples of CIA Factbook inconsistancy regarding religion in the Caribbean:

:CUBA: "nominally Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jewish, Santeria. ''note'': prior to CASTRO assuming power" - rather out of date, I'd suggest?

:HAITI: "Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%. ''note'': roughly half of the population practices voodoo" - so is voodoo a religion or not? If it is, one would assume that any useful data would include an indication of any correlation between the voodoo and other religions, and if it isn't, why mention it?

:JAMAICA: "Protestant 62.5% (Seventh-Day Adventist 10.8%, Pentecostal 9.5%, Other Church of God 8.3%, Baptist 7.2%, New Testament Church of God 6.3%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of God of Prophecy 4.3%, Anglican 3.6%, other Christian 7.7%), Roman Catholic 2.6%, other or unspecified 14.2%, none 20.9%, (2001 census)" - No mention of [[Rastafarianism]]?

:SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS: "Anglican, other Protestant, Roman Catholic" - no percentages.

:SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES: "Protestant 75% (Anglican 47%, Methodist 28%), Roman Catholic 13%, other (includes Hindu, Seventh-Day Adventist, other Protestant) 12%" - does anyone have a clue what the difference is between 'Protestant' and 'other Protestant', and what makes them 'other'?

Having looked at the abysmal mess the CIA Factbook made trying to report on ethnicity in Latin America, I'd suggest that they are actually doing marginally better here - but they still fail to mention their sources more often than not. [[User:AndyTheGrump|AndyTheGrump]] ([[User talk:AndyTheGrump|talk]]) 00:07, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

: <small> I love it when someone talks of a source's inconsistency, and spells it "- ency/ent" in one place and "-ancy/ant" in another place. Giggle. Sorry. Please continue. -- ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 00:41, 13 September 2012 (UTC) </small>
::<small>Ooops! Mea culpa, peccavi, etc, etc - though in my defence, I'll point out that seeking consistency (or even consistancy) in spelling is a recent phenomenon, and probably a passing fad. [[User:AndyTheGrump|AndyTheGrump]] ([[User talk:AndyTheGrump|talk]]) 01:10, 13 September 2012 (UTC)</small>

:It's fascinating how many other sources use the CIA data, though. It's cited on our article [[Religious demographics]] and another main source cited there, [[Association of Religion Data Archives]], notes it used CIA data (see [http://www.thearda.com/internationalData/countries/Country_103_1.asp the entry for Haiti], which also doesn't mention voudou). The apparently most scholarly source in the references section of our article, [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00435.x/abstract this paper], used CIA data as one of its four sources (and I'm not even certain the other three sources it checked are independent of the CIA data). The UN [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/sconcerns/ doesn't seem to collect religious info.] Where else can the OP look? Our article [[Religion in North America]] doesn't even include the Caribbean. [[Special:Contributions/184.147.128.34|184.147.128.34]] ([[User talk:184.147.128.34|talk]]) 00:49, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

Back to trying to answer the question... [[Oceania]] has many definitions, so it's not clear what's included, but I'd suggest that to find the Catholic "''nations''" (another issue in itself) you couldn't do much better than picking those with French background, i.e. [[New Caledonia]], [[French Polynesia]], and [[Wallis and Futuna]], but I'll admit I'm guessing. A broader definition of Oceania might include the [[Philippines]] which is pretty strongly Catholic. [[User:HiLo48|HiLo48]] ([[User talk:HiLo48|talk]]) 01:48, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

: [http://www.antigua.gov.ag/pdf/statistics_reports/complete_census_summary_report.pdf Antigua and Barbuda government census] - see page 42 for religous data. 94% religious. 10% Roman Catholic. 26% Anglican. 56% other Christian protestant denominations. [[Special:Contributions/184.147.128.34|184.147.128.34]] ([[User talk:184.147.128.34|talk]]) 09:45, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

= September 13 =

== [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]] ==
In the "Scholarship and controversy" section, there is a sentence: "There is also no mention of Nebuchadnezzar's wife Amyitis (or any other wives), although a political marriage to a Median or Persian would not have been unusual." If we didn't know if Nebuchadnezzar had a wife or not then why this article confirms [[Amytis of Media]] was indeed his wife. The article also gave a birth date and dead date of Amytis, I wonder if they are actual real information or made up.[[User:Pendragon5|Pendragon5]] ([[User talk:Pendragon5|talk]]) 00:47, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:That refers to "lack of documentation in contemporaneous Babylonian sources", leaving open sources outside Babylon, and/or later sources. For example, later sources could have been based on "contemporaneous Babylonian sources", which have since been lost. Unfortunately, the farther back you go, the more difficult it is to tell fact from myth, and we must rely on second-hand or third-hand sources, or even worse. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 01:17, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

[http://www.plinia.net/wonders/gardens/hg3d.html This] page summarises most of the sources that deal with the hanging gardens. Many of them are lost or fragmentary but the story was repeated by later historians. The whole period was a complicated mess of competing empires and it is likely there were several gardens including one by [[Semiramis]] 200 years before [[Nebuchadnezzar]]. Calling Amyitis the wife of [[Nebuchadnezzar]] seems to originate, long after, in [[Eusebius]] who got his information from [[Abydenus]] who in turn seems to use [[Berossus]]. The information from Berossus is quoted (probably via [[Polyhistor]]) by [[Josephus]] but the queen is not named. [[Ctesias]] on the other hand mentions Amytis (note single I) as the wife of [[Cyrus the Great]] and Ctesias is the one who places the garden earlier with Semiramis. Both Amyitis and Amytis could be the same person, a remarried widow, or two women confused. No idea where the dates come from, they seem little more than a plausible guess. The whole subject of the gardens is a romantic legend and any truth there may be is blurred behind the stories the later historians embroidered from it. The wikipedia article is just the latest in a long line of texts misusing sources and presenting conjecture as truth. ''<small><font color="#000000">[[User:MeltBanana|meltBanana]]</font></small>'' 15:28, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:<small>You'd think some enterprising person would make hanging gardens, in a place they would call Babylon, just so they could say "Even if the original was a myth, we have the real thing now !". A [[Las Vegas]] casino named Babylon comes to mind. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 21:56, 14 September 2012 (UTC) </small>

{{collapse top|Personal attack removed}}

::Thanks, i'd almost forgotten how moronic this site and its inhabitants were. ''<small><font color="#000000">[[User:MeltBanana|meltBanana]]</font></small>'' 22:31, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

{{collapse bottom}}

== compositional balance vs composition ==

What is the difference between "compositional balance" and "composition"?[[User:Smallman12q|Smallman12q]] ([[User talk:Smallman12q|talk]]) 00:59, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:[[Context]] please ? [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 01:12, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:Compositional balance is an aspect of composition -- it means having a composition that is balanced. Composition is the way that items in the scene are arranged -- balance means that they are distributed so as to create a center of interest, similarly to the way that massive objects can be distributed to create a center of mass. [[User:Looie496|Looie496]] ([[User talk:Looie496|talk]]) 01:41, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

::Are you talking about photography, writing, or something else ? [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 01:46, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

{{resolved|I was thinking of art...[[User:Smallman12q|Smallman12q]] ([[User talk:Smallman12q|talk]]) 22:41, 13 September 2012 (UTC)}}

== Can I be Regarded as a Philosopher being an Autodidact? ==
{{hat|close oft repeated req for opinion}}
Please give a straight forward answer and seriously and briefly explain. Thank You very much!

Being an autodidact in philosophy while academically undertaking a Major in Political Science can I be considered and regarded as a philosopher not by just mere entitlement but by the notion that one creates and studies philosophical world view as anybody of such field does regardless of academic degrees? I am so disturbed with some comments that it is only through credentials that one becomes a philosopher I would would like to defy and counter this confined notion by proving that it is not the only means, thus I require supporting views of this topic so once again, can I be considered and regarded a philosopher being an autodidact. <small><span class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:BT-7A|BT-7A]] ([[User talk:BT-7A|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/BT-7A|contribs]]) 02:33, 13 September 2012 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:This question has been posted repeatedly, the inquirer knows the consensus on this, but requests that we provide a different answer--we do not do opinion here. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 02:39, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
{{hab}}
{{hab}}


= December 7 =
==Baja California and the Mexican-American War==
Why did the U.S. choose to draw the line at the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] at the point that it did? Why not attempt to go a little farther, and say, ask for Baja California or other Mexican territories? [[User:Futurist110|Futurist110]] ([[User talk:Futurist110|talk]]) 05:32, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:Once again with the "Why didn't" questions. The terms of the treaty are explained in quite some good detail in the article you describe. The article states that the U.S. had considered asking for Baja California, but when one considers that the ultimate goal of the treaty was to secure a workable Pacific coastline for the U.S., there wasn't much impetus to get Baja California: there weren't any good ports or mineral resources the U.S. coveted. The line was picked somewhat arbitrarily, but the mechanism for picking it is described exactly in the article: The U.S. wanted San Diego. Through Arizona, the [[Gila River]] made a convenient natural boundary, but west of where the Gila empties into the Colorado, there's not a convenient boundary, so the just dropped a ruler on the map and drew one giving the U.S. the port of San Diego. After the Mexican War, there were some putative attempts to grab additional Mexican territories, essentially by soldiers of fortune who had no connection to the U.S. government. See [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]] and [[Republic of Sonora]]. Nothing much came of that. But to your original counterfactual question, what about Baja California did the U.S. Government really want or need? They wanted San Diego and San Francisco, and they got that. There's just nothing in Baja that they needed. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 05:52, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::Baja California had a huge amount of coastline which would be used for vacation resorts as well as for secure military base locations. [[User:Futurist110|Futurist110]] ([[User talk:Futurist110|talk]]) 06:26, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Part of the debate in congress (I studied it years ago) was population, even though New Mexico and California had some Mexican population you had American (white) immigrants in NM and Cali as well as present day Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Texas. Part of the debate in congress was the feasibility of somehow assimilating and governing huge wide swaths of territory in the mid 1840s, Baja had virtually no white or American immigrant factor and the the extreme southern parts of it actually had larger Mexican populations then NM and Cali combined at that time. Though not in the Congressional debates per se Bajas long and very close coastline to large population centers (relative to back then) in Mexico may not have been desirable, I say this because it was a common theme in the congressional speeches to place the border west of Texas in the middle of "no mans land" basically to draw the line in desert parts away from natural population centers or potential population centers as much as possible. Remember this is an era where the Southern politicians with slavery as the norm thought in terms of racial politics and even purity and northern politicians were weary of taking more and more Mexican territory that could one day out vote the north on issues concerning slavery and abolition, this actually was a local issue in Arizona and New Mexico even parts of southern California in the late 1850s and early 1860s and is the reason Nevada was redrawn to include its southern tip (most maps had Nevada's southern border aligned with Utah's and present day Clark County etc. in Arizona). Arizona had some pro-slavery rumblings in the 1850s so free slave state controlled Congress shrunk it down. Imagine [[Bloody Kansas]] and the [[Missouri Compromise]] being compounded with Baja North and Baja South or even other Mexican border states seeking admission as "slave states". Was this really a realistic fear for northerners? Was the lack of any history or tradition of "white" immigration into Baja like there was in 1830s and 1840s Cali and NM really a realistic "race mixing" fear of Southern politicians? Doesn't really matter except that it was the pressure cooker and the real "ends" to the annexation "means" that these decisions were hammered out in. Plus after the Louisiana Purchase in the 1810s, East and West Florida in the 1820s, Oregon and now Texas and the Southwest, you would have been laughed off Capitol Hill if you suggested we wouldn't be taking over Mexico, Cuba, etc. in the next 50 years anyway, who knew then that it was pretty much the last major expansion (aside from non-contigious Alaska, Hawaii, PR, VI, Guam).[[User:Marketdiamond|Marketdiamond]] ([[User talk:Marketdiamond|talk]]) 07:57, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::::Good summation. Thanks for providing that insight. Directly answering Futurist's questions regarding the vacation and military significance of Baja. To put it simply: in the 1840s, neither was a concern at all. People didn't take vacations, at least in the modern sense, so having a place for spring breakers to go and get drunk and laid just wasn't in the thinking. And there also wasn't anything like a "standing army" that the U.S. maintained in times of peace. The modern practice of establishing permanent military bases, either at home or abroad, is a 20th century innovation. Marketdiamond hints at the race politics issues involved in dealing with the [[Mexican cession]], a good read regarding that particular issue is [[Wilmot Proviso]], and the long debate over how to handle the Mexican Cession was one of the direct political causes of the civil war. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 12:01, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::Yes, I wrote a thesis on the Mexican-American war. MarketDiamond's got the main issue, the North did not want to spend lives and money on territory which would presumably be settled by Southerners and increase the [[slave state]] vote. See also [[Manifest Destiny]] and [[History_of_Cuba#The_possibility_of_annexation]]. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 18:54, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
Thank you very much for all your responses. Yeah, the distance from large population centers, the fear of more [[slave states]], and the lack of whites in Baja California combined seem to make sense and be good factors for this. [[User:Futurist110|Futurist110]] ([[User talk:Futurist110|talk]]) 06:44, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

This thread might be resolved, but I can't help adding a bit to it. As usual for me I want to draw on [[Donald W. Meinig]]'s "geographical history" ''The Shaping of America'' (vol. 2 in this case, quotes from pp. 146-154). He devotes a good number of pages to the question of how much of Mexico to annex after Mexico's surrender. Baja California was definitely on the annexation table and desired by some. Early on "a large part of the American public", with "some vociferous supporters in Congress", wanted to annex all of Mexico, but this fizzled, as did the idea of establishing a military protectorate over the whole of Mexico. The main issues for Polk and his cabinet were the Nueces strip (required because the war began over who had sovereignty there), San Francisco Bay and "a broad Pacific frontage". There was no question about the bay, and Mexico yieled it in the first round of negotiations, proposing [[37th parallel north|37°N]]. The US wanted a lot more than that though.
*''"Polk and several of cabinet members wanted to annex both Californias and all of Mexico north of [[26th parallel north|26°N]]—a belt of territory more than a thousand miles wide north to south and embracing four Mexican territories, three states, and parts of four others. Latitude 26°N was chosen as a simple geometric boundary west from the mouth of the Rio Grande... There were strong supporters for even more..."'' [such as all of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, and parts of four other states]
Other cabinet members, however, focused on Alta California and "argued for a separation along the Rio Grande to the southern boundary of New Mexico and thence westward to the Pacific", which was soon clarified as [[32nd parallel north|32°N]].
*''"The maps they relied on showed such a line intersecting the head of the Gulf of California, giving the United States access to that sea whether or not the whole peninsula was taken. In the end Polk gave way to this 32°N line as the minimum acceptable, with Baja California as desirable but not essential."''
For its part Mexico gave up Alta California early on but tried hard to keep New Mexico. When that failed Mexico tried for a boundary along the Gila River to a point on the coast just north of San Diego (approximately [[33rd parallel north|33°N]]). The US demanded San Diego, correctly pointing out the traditional boundary between Alta and Baja California was south of San Diego.

Finally, Baja California was believed by some to contain rich mineral deposits, as was Sonora. Even after the boundary was settled "many fortune seekers" explored and schemed over Baja California (and Sonora). [[William Walker (filibuster)|William Walker]], "the restless Tennessee adventurer, sailed from San Francisco with a small force, seized [[La Paz, Baja California Sur|La Paz]], the capital of Baja California, and tried to detach that territory and Sonora from Mexican rule..." By that time the US government was trying to acquire the Gadsen Purchase and adventures like Walker's were "an embarrassment". Anyway, point being, the Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty line was a kind of compromise between Polk and some of his cabinet, who wanted a lot more, and others in his cabinet, other politicans and interests, and Mexico itself. Of the question of how much to annex Meinig writes: "No ''national'' government had ever faced such a range of apparent possibilities for extending its territory and reshaping itself on such a scale (the nearest precedent, Louisiana, was huge in size but presented in one piece for a simple decision: take it or leave it)." [[User:Pfly|Pfly]] ([[User talk:Pfly|talk]]) 22:30, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

== Does Anyone remember his Name ? ==

Eleven years ago I recall my late Father telling me about a guy he had just read of in the paper who had died. There was an article on him, with the obituary. This guy was alleged to have carried out a payroll robbery in 1969, of the Aulesbrooks biscuit factory here in Christchurch New Zealand, ( our version of the Brinks Job ), but his involvement was never proven. This factory one of the places my Father had worked at in the off seasons from the Freezing Works over the years.

The man in question could have been a good league player, but chose the other side of the tracks, getting involved, allegedly dare I say, in dodgy deals and drugs, from what I understand. There was a news item more recently about his daughter publicising his papers and people were keen on finding if he had had involvement in the robbery, but there was nothing there to indicate that. He may even have seemed a kind of DB Cooper type character locally as well, since in certain circles his reputation was known. Back in the sixties my Dad won a prize in a raffle this man had run, and went with a friend to collect a choice of prize. The friend said to my Dad, " What ever you do, Jim, take the money. If you choose the TV, he will know your address when he delivers it, and come later and burgle it back " - such was this man's reputation. Again, to be clear, I allege, as I am honestly not sure what is officially proven about him, and what is rumour.
But now I simply cannot remember his name or find any other reference of him. I asked my Dad's older brother, who may have known even more, and he did recall who I was talking about, but not the man's name. If anyone has any ideas, that would be appreciated. Thank You.''[[User:Christopher1968/Chris The Russian|Chris the Russian]]'' '''[[User:Christopher1968|Christopher Lilly]]''' 06:52, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:Wayne Beri -- http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10671161 [[User:Futurist110|Futurist110]] ([[User talk:Futurist110|talk]]) 07:00, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

::And the suspected accomplice was Phil Brown. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 07:01, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:BTW, you had all the info needed to do a Google search, which is what I, and presumably Futurist, did. The search term I used was:

1969 "Aulesbrooks biscuit factory" robbery Christchurch "New Zealand"

:The first hit was that article. The quotation marks means those words must be kept together as one search term, in that order. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 07:33, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== Cory Monteith and categories ==

Hi!, I'm fan of Canadian actor [[Cory Monteith]], and I just love him because of his early life and his struggles with alcohol and substance abuse. I love the way he turned around his life and became a good person. But my question is, should he be regarded as [[:Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics]] or [[:Category:People self-identifying as substance abusers]]?. Thank you. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 15:40, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:Hi. This question would be more suitable for the [[Wikipedia:Help desk|Help desk]], which answers questions about how to edit Wikipedia. Our article states (with a reference to [http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/06/cory-monteith-glee.html an article in Parade Magazine]) that he ''"began to drink, smoke pot, and skip school''" and had a ''"drug and alcohol addiction"''. These statements would seem to suggest he could be considered in both categories, although given his subsequent 'drying out', maybe he would not necessarily ''self-identify'' as either any more. In any case, if you wish to edit Wikipedia to add or change a page's category, just [[WP:BOLD|go right ahead]] (although be aware that articles regarding [[Wikipedia:BLP|living people]] must meet particular standards of verifiability). If you need assistance with editing, this can be found at [[Wikipedia:Help desk|the Help desk]] or by [http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:New_contributors%27_help_page/questions&action=edit&section=new&editintro=Wikipedia:New+contributors'+help+page/editintro asking at the new editors' help page]. - [[User:Cucumber Mike|Cucumber Mike]] ([[User talk:Cucumber Mike|talk]]) 17:27, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== How many Canada's and UK's soldiers have died in Afghanistan? ==

Thank you. Timothy. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 16:38, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:"Since February 2002, 158 Canadian soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan or in support of the war."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%27s_role_in_the_Afghanistan_War#Canadian_military_deaths_in_Afghanistan]
:"Between 2001 and May 2012 a total of 414 British military personnel have died on operations in Afghanistan."[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Army#Afghanistan]
:Though please note these numbers are out of date so the real figure will be slightly higher. [[User:A8875|A8875]] ([[User talk:A8875|talk]]) 16:43, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

: The official list is kept here http://www.forces.gc.ca/site/news-nouvelles/fallen-disparus/index-eng.asp <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/142.150.38.84|142.150.38.84]] ([[User talk:142.150.38.84|talk]]) 17:33, 13 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

::This list of [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10629358 UK military deaths in Afghanistan] including the latest death on 09 September 2012 has a total of 427. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15188729 This attachment] breaks the figures down - 376 to hostile action, 33 in accidents and 18 "others", which includes 7 killed in "friendly fire" incidents. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 19:41, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== Ethiopian ==

What college or university in the United States teaches Ethiopian as a language?--[[User:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|The Emperor&#39;s New Spy]] ([[User talk:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|talk]]) 16:46, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:There is no "Ethiopian language". There are hundreds of [[Languages of Ethiopia|languages spoken natively in Ethiopia]], though the [[Amharic language]] is the official language for business and government purposes; and English is also widespread. Assuming you mean Amharic, [http://nalrc.wisc.edu/brochures/amharic.pdf this document] lists several major American universities that have a course in Amharic. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 17:02, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

== Best performance by a Communist party in a free election ==

"Thus, in the 1946 election, the KSČ won 38% of the vote. This was the best-ever performance by a European Communist party in a free election"[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_of_1948#Background]. Was this 38% record a world-wide record as well?[[User:A8875|A8875]] ([[User talk:A8875|talk]]) 18:17, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:Offhand, the country I can think of with the strongest Communist Party which is also generally held to have free elections is Greece, the [[Communist Party of Greece]] (KKE)'s best year was 1958, when they secured 24% of the vote, so your quote for the Czechoslovak election of 1946 may be the best I can think of. There aren't many democratic countries with a strong, truly Communist party. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 19:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::A bit more: Wikipedia has an article titled [[List of communist parties]] which you could comb through to see if any such communist party has won better than 38% of the vote in a free election. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 19:06, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:::Some more. In [[Cypriot legislative election, 2011]] the Cypriot communist party won a plurality of the votes at 31%, roughly the same amount as in [[Cypriot legislative election, 2006]] and in [[Cypriot legislative election, 2001]] it was a little less than 35%. Looking back through the rest of the Cypriot election, the AKEL, their Communist party, consistantly polls between 30-35% as far back as Wikipedia has records for. Again, it doesn't beat your 38%, but it is another strong showing by a Communist party in an open election. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 19:11, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:No contender for a single party, but four different communist parties together received some 52% of the votes in the [[Nepalese_Constituent_Assembly_election,_2008#Results]]. --[[User:Roentgenium111|Roentgenium111]] ([[User talk:Roentgenium111|talk]]) 19:12, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:The [[Italian Communist Party]] got 34.4% of the vote in the [[Italian general election, 1976]]. --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 19:15, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

*The [[Sandanista]]s got a substantial majority in the 1984 Nicaraguan elections, which I believe most observers considered to be free and fair. [[User:Looie496|Looie496]] ([[User talk:Looie496|talk]]) 20:17, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:The [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]] got the most votes for a party in 1999 with 24.29% of the votes.<br>[[User:Sleigh|Sleigh]] ([[User talk:Sleigh|talk]]) 02:16, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

**President [[Aleksander Kwaśniewski]] of Poland was a former communist who ran under the social democrat banner and was widely described in the West as a communist. He won with 51% of the vote and served two terms. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 02:57, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

:The [[Left Democratic Front (Kerala)|Left Democratic Front]] in the southern Indian state of [[Kerala]] is often successful in state elections. In the [[Kerala State legislative assembly election, 2011]], the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] won 45 of the 140 seats, while their LDF allies [[Communist Party of India]] won another 13 seats and the Marxist-Leninist [[Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)]] won 2 seats - that's a total of 60 seats or 43% of the seats. The LDF took nearly 45% of the popular vote.
:In the [[Kerala State legislative assembly election, 2006|2006 election]] the LDF took over 48% of the popular vote, winning 70% of the seats and led the State Assembly for the next 5 years. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 18:18, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

== EU border crossing rule ==

[[Poland–Russia border]] contains this tantalizing sentence:

: ''More crossings are being built, as the EU standards require Poland to operate at least seven for that border.''

Is there a rule that no point of a (non-[[Schengen Agreement|Schengen]]!) land border should be more than 20 km from a crossing, or what? (The border in question is 232 km long.) —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 21:18, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

:Maybe [http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc02/EDOC9560.htm this from the Conseil de l'Europe] is useful:
::"Therefore, the Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers... invite Poland... to establish an adequate number of border crossings at the international land border of the Kaliningrad Region, in particular with regard to small cross-border traffic including local trains and buses" and later "Border controls exist for decades at the common border with the Kaliningrad Region, but the limited number of border crossings does not correspond to the actual demand."
:Seems it might be demand led - hardly an "EU standard" requiring such a thing, even if that is what the reference in [[Poland–Russia border]] says. [[User:Astronaut|Astronaut]] ([[User talk:Astronaut|talk]]) 18:04, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

== Looking for a novel ==

I read an excerpt of a novel over a year ago and I forgot its title. I think I read it on Google books? It's also well known enough to have its own Wikipedia article. As much as I can remember, it's about an alcoholic writer who pens a novel in a short amount of time and has a sexual obsession with a clay sculptor. Oh, and the cover is yellow. That's all I remember! Anyone with the title would receive a billion thanks! Also, sorry that's not much to go on! [[Special:Contributions/86.11.215.72|86.11.215.72]] ([[User talk:86.11.215.72|talk]]) 22:48, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

: Could you be thinking of [[Charles Bukowski]]'s novel ''[[Women (novel)|Women]]'' (based in part on his real relationship with sculptor [[Linda King]])? -- [[User:Finlay McWalter|Finlay McWalter]]'''ჷ'''[[User talk:Finlay McWalter|Talk]] 12:33, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

::[http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Bukowski%27s+novel,+Women&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=jQW&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=911&bih=471&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=H_wYi7cwV1PmFM:&imgrefurl=http://anokatony.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/%25E2%2580%259Cwomen%25E2%2580%259D-by-charles-bukowski/&docid=62pZ0KHdilaYMM&imgurl=http://anokatony.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/41167481.jpg&w=398&h=600&ei=SSVTUK3TOYjm8gTsrYCABA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=692&vpy=72&dur=2447&hovh=276&hovw=183&tx=114&ty=137&sig=111232097721494408543&page=1&tbnh=131&tbnw=86&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0,i:90 Here] is a picture of a book cover. Also article titled [[Women (novel)]]. [[User:Bus stop|Bus stop]] ([[User talk:Bus stop|talk]]) 12:40, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


== Why did [[Pippi Longstocking]] end up never getting married in her adulthood? ==
That's the novel! Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate your assistance. :) [[Special:Contributions/86.11.215.72|86.11.215.72]] ([[User talk:86.11.215.72|talk]]) 19:14, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


AKA her actress, [[Inger Nilsson]]. A lot of suitors would admire famous actresses and trample on each other to have a chance to court them, so a lot of actors and actresses end up getting married, but how come Pippi's actress never got married nor had kids after growing into an adult? --[[Special:Contributions/2600:100A:B032:25F0:1D7A:CC5D:1FC2:21E2|2600:100A:B032:25F0:1D7A:CC5D:1FC2:21E2]] ([[User talk:2600:100A:B032:25F0:1D7A:CC5D:1FC2:21E2|talk]]) 06:17, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
== The "wandering Arabs and Tartar hordes" of 1869 Pennsylvania ==


:Do you know for certain that she wasn't/isn't married and/or has children? If so, from what source?
Pennsylvania's [[voter ID law]] was recently upheld by an appellate court, which cited an 1869 precedent much after the spirit of the current legislation, in which ''the court further explained that to deny the tougher voting rules for Philadelphia voters "would be to place the vicious vagrant, the wandering Arabs, the Tartar hordes of our large cities, on a level with the virtuous and good man."'' [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0913/What-rogues-and-vagabonds-have-to-do-with-Pennsylvania-voter-ID-law]
:Some actors do not choose to make their private life public, so perhaps she was/is and does, and if not, many people (including my elderly single self) are simply not interested in getting married and/or having children. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} [[Special:Contributions/94.1.211.243|94.1.211.243]] ([[User talk:94.1.211.243|talk]]) 11:37, 7 December 2024 (UTC)


:She's still among the living, so maybe you could find a way to contact her, and ask her that nosy question. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 12:24, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
But the thing is, I don't have much knowledge about vast numbers of Arabs and Tartars in 1869 Pennsylvania. Where did they come from? What happened to their descendants? [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 22:52, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
:I believe the court was speaking metaphorically. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 23:00, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
::Yes, [[Metaphor|MEH-ta-<small>PHOR</small>]]. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 02:47, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::I don't buy it. Metaphor for ''what''? What meaning would "Arab" and "Tartar" be taken to indicate? How did they pick those two races? Doing some quick searching I'm finding that [[Tatars]] were described as "Russians" in old sources, [http://books.google.com/books?id=HQA2_BhHwL4C&pg=PA140] and though only 66,282 arrived from 1898 to 1909, 50% of them settled in Pennsylvania and New York.[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14825/14825-h/14825-h.htm] Of course, that is not a good indication of what the situation was in 1869. It's hard for me to say (I'm not good with faces and such) but it seems to me like the woman on the top right in [[Tatars]] ''might'' remind me of the unique appearance of people from [[Hazleton, Pennsylvania]], which, though I don't know what it is, seemed to have some unique recognizable local racial identity when I passed through some time ago. Indeed I see that article lists Russians as one of the nationalities who came there in the 1860s. I'm still way out of my depth on this, but I'm thinking it could be some kind of real reference. [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 06:19, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:If she really could "lift her horse one-handed", I suspect even male fellow equestrians would be very wary suitors. [[User:Martinevans123|Martinevans123]] ([[User talk:Martinevans123|talk]]) 12:35, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
::::In the second half of the 19th century down to Edwardian times, "street Arab" or "city Arab" could refer to street children (who weren't ethnically Arab at all of course; I would guess that it alluded to their being "nomadic" i.e. homeless). Tartars is probably a quasi-literary reference to ravaging medieval Mongol hordes (Gengis Khan etc.). [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 07:13, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


: As an adult, she has chosen to keep her private life private.<sup>[https://www.whosdatedwho.com/dating/inger-nilsson]</sup> So be it. --[[Special:Contributions/136.56.165.118|136.56.165.118]] ([[User talk:136.56.165.118|talk]]) 19:48, 7 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::"Arab" also used to refer specifically to Bedouin, who were of course nomadic (and stereotypically thieving, etc). That's what T.E. Lawrence means when he says "my Arabs" for example, although in that case those are actual Arabs (and several decades later). I assume this also has something to do with 19th century interest in anything Middle Eastern or faux-Middle Eastern. Also from a few decades later, there was the belly-dancer(s) [[Little Egypt (dancer)|Little Egypt]], and the song "[[The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid|The Streets of Cairo]]". [[User:Adam Bishop|Adam Bishop]] ([[User talk:Adam Bishop|talk]]) 09:28, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:I suspect that famous actresses actually try to avoid suitors that admire famous actresses. They don't want to marry someone who is in love with a fake public persona created by the PR department of a studio. Not only actors and actresses, but also a lot of bakers, chemists, dentists, engineers and so on do end up getting married. Being famous does not help. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 13:05, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
::I imagine she particularly would not welcome suitors who admired her as a preteen. [[User:Tamfang|—Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 20:47, 10 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 8 =
:::::By the way, [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/790980 here] is an article from The Times in 1859, reprinted in Australia, that also refers to homeless people as "wandering Arabs". I doubt there were literal crowds of Arabs wandering the streets of London at the time. [[User:Adam Bishop|Adam Bishop]] ([[User talk:Adam Bishop|talk]]) 09:40, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


== Petosiris of Arabia ==
::::::According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "Tatar," or "Tartar," also refers to wandering thieves, criminals, and vagabonds, or people who are wild, uncivilized, and uncontrollable. [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 14:52, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


The rendering of [[Tayma stones|פטסרי]] as Petosiris seems to take inspiration from the [[commons:Category:Tomb_of_Petosiris|far-flung]]. Is this the same name? If ''osiris'' is Osiris, what's the ''pt'' pt?
According to these articles: [http://acc.teachmideast.org/texts.php?module_id=9&reading_id=33] [http://www.adc.org/media/press-releases/2006/june-2006/arab-americans-trace-their-immigrant-roots-to-the-1870s-community-celebrates-heritage-in-annual-conventions/], Arab immigration to the US doesn't really start until the 1870s, after this statement was made. Also, according to our own article, [[Russian American]], fewer than 7,000 Russians immigrated to the US between 1820 and 1870. Again, the real influx didn't come until later (the 1880s). [[User:Wrad|Wrad]] ([[User talk:Wrad|talk]]) 15:00, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
[[User:Temerarius|Temerarius]] ([[User talk:Temerarius|talk]]) 22:49, 8 December 2024 (UTC)


:The [https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010120341 source to which this is cited] has throughout ''Peṭos<u>'''r'''</u>iris''. However, the transcription of [[Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet|Briquel-Chatonnet]] has ''pṭsry''. Roche states the name means {{nowrap|''« qu’Osiris a donné »''}}.<sup>[https://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?id=3288857&url=article]</sup> &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 18:33, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
:Seems to me they are talking about the homeless, both urban and rural, those "of no fixed address". Back in the day, some people led an itinerant rural existence, working now and then as "hired men" then moving on, or just living off the land in areas where they could get away with it. The Court does not seem to be talking about specific nationalities.--[[User:Wehwalt|Wehwalt]] ([[User talk:Wehwalt|talk]]) 15:37, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::I may be mistaken, but wouldn't « qu’Osiris a donné » require פת?
::[[User:Temerarius|Temerarius]] ([[User talk:Temerarius|talk]]) 03:39, 13 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 9 =
Is this a joke? Bedouins and Tatars are classic [[nomadic people]]s who might, like the [[Tinkers]] and [[Gypsies]] be mistrusted by sedentary property owners as not having a settled address or being subject to a known jurisdiction. This has nothing to do literally with Tatars or something about their physical characteristics. It is called ''metaphor''. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 17:18, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


==Tribes and inceldom==
* Ok, Wrad is pretty convincing. In my defense I can say only that it sounds like the author of the piece I cited was no more aware than I of this implication. [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 17:50, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
One common saying in [[incel]] subcultures is that women are "programmed" to only have relationships with the 20% top men. This appears to be consistent (o at least not contradicted by) this phrase in the [[polygamy]] article: "More recent genetic data has clarified that, in most regions throughout history, a smaller proportion of men contributed to human genetic history compared to women."


Then again, while I've heard of modern tribes with weird marriage practices (for example the [[Wodaabe]] or the [[Trobriand people]]) I've never heard of tribes where 70% of men die virgins. Is there any tribe/society where something like that happens? (I realize that modern tribes are by definition different to Paleolithic tribes)[[Special:Contributions/90.77.114.87|90.77.114.87]] ([[User talk:90.77.114.87|talk]]) 13:51, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
:It's a similar metaphor to referring to people who destroy things as vandals, even though they aren't [[Vandals]]. [[Special:Contributions/69.62.243.48|69.62.243.48]] ([[User talk:69.62.243.48|talk]]) 22:59, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:From what I've read in the past, it seems that hunter-gatherer cultures over the last 50,000 years ago probably tended to be mildly polygynous -- that is, certain men, due to their personalities and demonstrated skills, managed to attract more than one woman at a time into a relationship with them. (Usually a small number -- some men having large numbers of wives is associated more with agricultural civilizations, and women there could often have less freedom of choice than women in hunter-gatherer groups.) Everybody of both sexes is likely to be most attracted to high-status individuals, but under hunter-gatherer conditions, women also need help with child-rearing, which factors into their mating strategies. [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 14:19, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
::While in England, we had the [[Egyptians Act 1530]]: ''"Provided alwey that the egipcians nowe being in this realme have maneag to departe w[ith]in xvi daies aftre proclamacion of this estatute among theam shalbe made upon payn of Imprisonnement and forfaicture of theyr goodes and catalles."''[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/citizen_subject/transcripts/bodrugan_commission.htm] The Egyptians in question were actually [[Romani people|Romany gypsies]]. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 00:47, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
::P.S. Under the classic anthropological band-tribe-chiefdom-state classification system (on Wikipedia, covered in the vaguely named [[Sociopolitical typology]] article), most historical hunter-gatherer cultures were "bands", while the Wodaabe and Trobriand people sound more like "tribes". [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 14:26, 9 December 2024 (UTC)


:: Worth remembering, though: who has "sanctioned" relationships is not necessarily equivalent to who actually has sex. - [[User:Jmabel|Jmabel]] &#124; [[User talk:Jmabel|Talk]] 19:15, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
= September 14 =
:::It has been said (in mammals at least) that each 5% difference in mass for males means that their [[harem (zoology)]] has one more female. The [[sexual dimorphism#Humans]] article says that human males are 15% heavier that the females (previously I had heard 20%), suggesting that the harem-holder has three mates (or 4, if the 20% is correct). But this does not mean that 75% of human males never had sex. Firstly, holding a harem is a dangerous, short term job if other animals are any guide, with the harem master regularly killed or overthrown. Secondly, in current polygynous human cultures and in polygynous animals, there is a huge amount of cheating. Evidence from animals shows that when females cheat, they are statistically more likely to produce offspring from that mating than from a mating with their main male. <span style="font-family: Cambria;"> [[User:Abductive|<span style="color: teal;">'''Abductive'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Abductive|reasoning]])</span> 11:09, 11 December 2024 (UTC)


::::It's doubtful that there were commonly "harems" at any stage of human evolution which is very relevant to modern human behavior. Gorillas have moderate harems of often around 3 or 4 females (as opposed to elephant seals, which commonly have a harem size in the thirties). [[Paranthropus|Robust Australopithecines]] may have been similar, but modern humans are not descended from them. What we know about attested hunter-gatherer societies strongly suggests that during the last 50,000 years or so (since [[Behavioral modernity]]) the majority of men who had wives had one wife, but some exceptional men were able to attract 2 or 3 women at a time into relationships. Men having large numbers of wives (real harems) wasn't too feasible until the rise of social stratification which occurred with the development of agriculture. [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 16:50, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
== Finance fraud- - bank account fraud not located ==


:::::How do we know that? Because the same evidence is that prior to 50,000 years ago, humans ''did'' have harems. <span style="font-family: Cambria;"> [[User:Abductive|<span style="color: teal;">'''Abductive'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Abductive|reasoning]])</span> 20:22, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
Hello.
::::::Where can we find this evidence? &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 08:31, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::[https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00239-003-2458-x A Recent Shift from Polygyny to Monogamy in Humans Is Suggested by the Analysis of Worldwide Y-Chromosome Diversity]. <span style="font-family: Cambria;"> [[User:Abductive|<span style="color: teal;">'''Abductive'''</span>]] ([[User talk:Abductive|reasoning]])</span> 14:53, 13 December 2024 (UTC)


== Scattering in US elections ==
I'm looking in your fraud directory, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Finance_fraud and trying to find something. But I cannot find this category.


What does scattering mean in the context of US elections? Examples: [[1944 United_States presidential election in California#Results]] [[1886 United States House of Representatives elections#Mississippi]]. Searching mostly produces [[Electron scattering]], which is not the same thing at all! Is there (or should there be) an article or section that could be linked? [[User:Cavrdg|Cavrdg]] ([[User talk:Cavrdg|talk]]) 14:32, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
Can you add - or point to a page regarding bank fraud. I know its a scam of some sort, but I cannot find it easily.
:If you click on the source for Frederick G. Berry in the 1886 election, then on Scattering on the following page, it says it's for those with "No Party Affiliation". [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] ([[User talk:Clarityfiend|talk]]) 14:44, 9 December 2024 (UTC)


:Presumably from the phrase "a scattering of votes" (i.e. for other candidates than those listed)... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 15:52, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
A possible title will be "deposit money into bank fraud" ??
::I suspect that the intended word is "smattering". [[User:Cullen328|Cullen328]] ([[User talk:Cullen328|talk]]) 09:12, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 11 =


== Shopping carts ==
Summary of fraud: "I have a friend/business that is giving me money, but i need to to open a bank account, so it can be deposited. can you open a bank account for me."


Where were the first shopping carts introduced?
*[[shopping cart]] and [[Sylvan Goldman]] say the Humpty Dumpty chain
*[[Piggly Wiggly]] says the Piggly Wiggly chain and quotes the Harvard Business Review
Both articles agree it was in 1937 in Oklaholma. I believe that Humpty Dumpty is more likely, but some high quality sources would be useful. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 11:55, 11 December 2024 (UTC)


:It seems to be a matter of some dispute, but [https://sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0739 ''Guide to the Telescoping Shopping Cart Collection, 1946-1983, 2000''] by the Smithsonian Institution has the complex details of the dispute between Sylvan Goldman [of Humpty Dumpty] and [[Orla Watson]]. No mention of Piggly Wiggly, but our article on Watson notes that in 1946, he donated the first models of his cart to 10 grocery stores in Kansas City.
:[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=WBH3rhiWsm4C&pg=PA205 ''The Illustrated History of American Military Commissaries'' (p. 205)] has both Watson and Goldman introducing their carts in 1947 (this may refer to carts that telescope into each other for storage, a feature apparently lacking in Goldman's first model).
:[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JCUwEQAAQBAJ&pg=PT17 ''Scalable Innovation: A Guide for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and IP Professionals''] says that Goldman's first cart was introduced to Humpty Dumty in 1937.
:Make of that what you will. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 13:30, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
::Absolutely. I remember that the power lift arrangement mentioned in the Smithsonian's link was still an object of analysis for would-be inventors in the mid-sixties, and possibly later, even though the soon to be ubiquituous checkout counter conveyor belt was very much ready making it unnecessary. Couldn't help curiously but think about those when learning about [[Bredt's rule]] at school later, see my user page, but it's true "Bredt" sounded rather like "Bread" in my imagination. --[[User:Askedonty|Askedonty]] ([[User talk:Askedonty|talk]]) 15:33, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
:On Newspapers.com (pay site), I'm seeing shopping carts referenced in Portland, Oregon in 1935 or earlier, and occasionally illustrated, at a store called the Public Market; and as far as the term itself is concerned, it goes back to at least the 1850s. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 15:18, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
::But perhaps referring to a cart brought by the shopper to carry goods home with, rather than one provided by the storekeeper for use in-store? [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 16:14, 11 December 2024 (UTC)


{{ping|Alansplodge|Askedonty|Baseball Bugs}} thank you for your help, it seems that the Harvard Business Review is mistaken and the Piggly Wiggly chain did not introduce the first shopping baskets, which answers my question. The shopping cart article references a [https://www.csi.minesparis.psl.eu/working-papers/WP/WP_CSI_006.pdf paper by Catherine Grandclément], which shows that several companies were selling early shopping carts in 1937, so crediting Sylvan Goldman alone is not the whole story. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 17:22, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
I think this has a special name of a fraud, but i do not know what it is called. If it exiss, can it be named (or linked from the bank frauds page) <small><span class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Gordonisnz|Gordonisnz]] ([[User talk:Gordonisnz|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Gordonisnz|contribs]]) 07:22, 14 September 2012 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


== Lilacs/flowers re: Allies in Europe WWII ==
:That sounds a lot like a [[Nigerian letter]]... [[Special:Contributions/192.51.44.16|192.51.44.16]] ([[User talk:192.51.44.16|talk]]) 07:55, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


At 53:20 in [[Dunkirk (1958 film)]], British soldiers talk about [paraphrasing] 'flowers on the way into Belgium, raspberries on the way out', and specifically reference lilacs. I imagine this was very clear to 1958 audiences, but what is the significance of lilacs? Is it/was it a symbol of Belgium? [[User:Valereee|Valereee]] ([[User talk:Valereee|talk]]) 21:40, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
::More likely the initial stages of a [[Internet fraud#Money transfer fraud|money transfer fraud]], where fake [[cheque]]s will be deposited and the funds withdrawn before the fraud is discovered, leaving the account owner responsible for the resulting overdraft. The various types of scam listed at [[Internet fraud]] may contain your answer. - [[User:Karenjc|<font color="red">Ka</font>]][[User_talk:Karenjc|renjc]] 11:35, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:I think it's just that the BEF [[Operation David|entered Belgium]] in the Spring, which is lilac time. [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 22:04, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
:There are contemporary reports of the streets being strewn with lilac blossom. See [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/75930659/7411364 here] "Today the troops crossed the frontier along roads strewn with flowers. Belgian girls, wildly enthusiastic, plucked lilac from the wayside and scattered it along the road to be torn and twisted by the mighty wheels of the mechanised forces." [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 22:26, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
::Ah! That would explain it, thanks! [[User:Valereee|Valereee]] ([[User talk:Valereee|talk]]) 16:14, 13 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 12 =
== Has al Qaeda ever threatened Canada or not? ==


== The USA adding a new state ==
I read about the [[Toronto 18]] and the terrorist plot they were planning and would like to know whether those attacks were ordered by al Qaeda or not and whether al Qaeda itself has ever threatened Canada. Thank you. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 13:41, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:The Wikipedia article itself says directly and unambiguously that the Toronto 18 were an al-Qaeda affiliated group. I'm not sure what more you need than that. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 13:43, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
Yes, but I mean, they were al Qaeda members or they were just following their orders without being al Qaeda members? [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 13:46, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:I'm sure the al-Qaeda website has a list of members on it, you could check that maybe. </sarcasm> --[[User:Viennese Waltz|Viennese Waltz]] 13:52, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::(Edit conflict with Viennese Waltz's joke answer). I think you misunderstand how al Qaeda operates. It isn't a military command structure that provides orders for people to do things. It is more of an umbrella organization that provides funding, support, and training for groups that wish to spread their agenda. That is, al Qaeda doesn't order anything. It does support groups that are interested in spreading a particular type of islamist fundementalism through a particular set of tactics, but it doesn't organize and order anything. [[Al-Qaeda#Command_structure]] explains this quite well, and I quote "When asked about the possibility of al-Qaeda's connection to the July 7, 2005 London bombings in 2005, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said: "Al-Qaeda is not an organization. Al-Qaeda is a way of working ... but this has the hallmark of that approach ... al-Qaeda clearly has the ability to provide training ... to provide expertise ... and I think that is what has occurred here."[47]" and later in the same section "The reality was that bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri had become the focus of a loose association of disillusioned Islamist militants who were attracted by the new strategy. But there was no organization. These were militants who mostly planned their own operations and looked to bin Laden for funding and assistance. He was not their commander." So, you see, al Qaeda isn't really an army that organizes and orders things, it is a term (probably largely invented from the outside, and not by themselves) that is used to signify a particular brand of islamist militantism that uses particular tactics, but that it isn't really all that "organized". --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 13:58, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::I thought I read someplace that bin Laden himself had come up with the term, and later regretted it because it was misunderstood and misused by the western media. In any case, forgetting the horrific nature of their activities, it sounds like an amazingly forward-looking business plan. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 14:09, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::And in this case, the "Toronto 18" were "affiliated" in the sense of being inspired by them. Our article states directly at the beginning that they were al-Qaeda members but who knows where that comes from. Later on there are sourced statements denying any specific link. [[User:Adam Bishop|Adam Bishop]] ([[User talk:Adam Bishop|talk]]) 14:51, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::In other words, its something like Wikipedia, but without ArbCom / admins. And its about spreading Jihad instead of building an encyclopedia.--[[User:Robert Keiden|Robert Keiden]] ([[User talk:Robert Keiden|talk]]) 16:08, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::::I don't have any knowledge here, but are you sure you're not being taken in by a story? I mean, lots of groups claim to be leaderless but it turns out to be a major exaggeration - [[Wikileaks]], for example. [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 17:57, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::Wikileaks is leaderless in the sense that anyone, not just the founders, can contribute leaked material, but in what other sense has it claimed to be leaderless? --[[Special:Contributions/140.180.247.208|140.180.247.208]] ([[User talk:140.180.247.208|talk]]) 18:54, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::I'm not. --[[User:Robert Keiden|Robert Keiden]] ([[User talk:Robert Keiden|talk]]) 21:55, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:::::There's a nice line in our article about the group: "centralization of decision and decentralization of execution." It's clear that some parts of it are definitely centralized. It's also just as clear that it devolves down into cells which may or may not actually be part of the command structure at all — for the Toronto 18, "al-Qaeda" was just a flag to raise, not a connection to bin Laden. To say that al-Qaeda is not an organization is I think wrong; to say that it's an organization that is centralized in a few nodes and diffuse elsewhere is I think a bit more correct. --[[User:Mr.98|Mr.98]] ([[User talk:Mr.98|talk]]) 21:26, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


If my understanding is correct, the following numbers are valid at present: (a) number of Senators = 100; (b) number of Representatives = 435; (c) number of electors in the Electoral College = 538. If the USA were to add a new state, what would happen to these numbers? Thank you. [[Special:Contributions/32.209.69.24|32.209.69.24]] ([[User talk:32.209.69.24|talk]]) 06:30, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
== What keeps homeschooling parents in the US honest when grading kids' work? ==
:The number of senators would increase by 2, and the number of representatives would probably increase by at least 1. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 09:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thus, to answer the final question, the minimum number of Electors would be 3… more if the new state has more Representatives (based on population). [[User:Blueboar|Blueboar]] ([[User talk:Blueboar|talk]]) 13:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
:In the short term, there would be extra people in congress. The [[86th United States Congress]] had 437 representatives, because Alaska and Hawaii were granted one upon entry regardless of the apportionment rules. Things were smoothed down to 435 at the next census, two congresses later. --[[User:Golbez|Golbez]] ([[User talk:Golbez|talk]]) 14:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)


Thanks. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Let me re-phrase my question. (a) The number of Senators is always 2 per State, correct? (b) The number of Representatives is what? Is it "capped" at 435 ... or does it increase a little bit? (c) The number of Electors (per State) is simply a function of "a" + "b" (per State), correct? Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/32.209.69.24|32.209.69.24]] ([[User talk:32.209.69.24|talk]]) 21:12, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
Obviously, something like the [[SAT]] or [[ACT]] is reliably proctored, but as far as the buildup of one's transcripts, what keeps a parent from checking off that their kid got perfect scores so they look better on college applications? Do most colleges not accept the transcripts of homeschooled children as indication of their academic performance, or do homeschooled children in most states take verifiably proctored tests so that it is known that they were the ones who took the test and that their parents were not the ones who graded it? [[Special:Contributions/20.137.18.53|20.137.18.53]] ([[User talk:20.137.18.53|talk]]) 18:22, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:As I understand it, it is indeed capped at 435, though Golbez brings up a point I hadn't taken into account -- apparently it can go up temporarily when states are added, until the next reapportionment. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 21:21, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
:{{br}}I suggest that (b) would probably depend on whether the hypothetical new state was made up of territory previously part of one or more existing states, or territory not previously part of any existing state. And I suspect that the eventual result would not depend on any pre-calculable formula, but on cut-throat horsetrading between the two main parties and other interested bodies. {The poster formerly nown as 87.81.230.195} [[Special:Contributions/94.1.211.243|94.1.211.243]] ([[User talk:94.1.211.243|talk]]) 21:21, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
::Nope, it's capped at 435. See [[Reapportionment Act of 1929]]. (I had thought it was fixed in the Constitution itself, but apparently not.) --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 21:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
:Oh, one other refinement. The formula you've given for number of electors is correct, for states. But it leaves out the [[District of Columbia]], which gets as many electors as it would get if it were a state, but never <s>less</s> <u>more</u> than those apportioned to the smallest state. In practice that means DC gets three electors. That's why the total is 538 instead of 535. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 21:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC) <small>Oops; I remembered the bit about the smallest state wrong. It's actually never ''more'' than the smallest state. Doesn't matter in practice; still works out to 3 electors for the foreseeable future, either way, because DC would get 3 electors if it were a state, and the least populous state gets 3. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 23:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC) </small>


= December 13 =
:I believe most states require home-schooled students to take standardized tests (typically annually) in order to verify that they are being taught the required curriculum. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 18:25, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:I don't see how this would differ from European countries or any other country, and why the US was chosen specifically. However, generally, being homeschooled isn't necessarily about grades in a report card, as it would be the parent - or the child himself (many high schoolers will simply teach themselves the material) - making up the grades. Clearly, that would be taken with a grain of salt. What's more important are the standardized tests the student has taken, such as the SAT, SAT IIs, APs, PSATs, any state-wide exams, etc, as well as the activities that the student has engaged in other than the core curriculum, for example joining a math club and learning number theory, which isn't part of most high school curriculum. Hope this helps! --<small style="border: 1px dashed;padding:1px 4px 1px 3px;white-space:nowrap">'''[[User:Activism1234|<b><font color="teal">Activism</font></b>]][[User talk:Activism1234|<font color="darkred">1234</font>]]'''</small> 18:36, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::I only said US because that is the one I have personal experience with (not having been homeschooled, but having gone through public education in the US) I know that colleges take [[GPA#United_States|GPA]] into consideration, and was unsure how or if an equivalent to GPA is kept in the case of homeschooling, since it seems to me that having that in the hands of parents or the student themself would be unacceptable, while a school would seem to be more likely to give accurate, impartial GPAs. [[Special:Contributions/20.137.18.53|20.137.18.53]] ([[User talk:20.137.18.53|talk]]) 18:52, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


== economics: coffee prices question ==
:::Obviously homeschooled students face a challenge when applying to many universities for exactly the reason the OP describes. Many homeschooled students reenter regular schools when they reach highschool, which solves the GPA issue. I'm sure there's some standardization of some aspects of homeschooling, but I can't speak to what those are [hopefully someone else knows]? I would also note that most homeschooling regulations (if not almost all) are state based, so will vary. [[User:Shadowjams|Shadowjams]] ([[User talk:Shadowjams|talk]]) 20:40, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


in news report "On Tuesday, the price for Arabica beans, which account for most global production, topped $3.44 a pound (0.45kg), having jumped more than 80% this year. " [https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36pgrrjllyo] how do they measure it? some other report mention it is a commodity price set for trading like gold silver etc. what is the original data source for this report? i checked a few other news stories and did not find any clarification about this point, they just know something that i don't. thank you in advance for your help. [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 01:32, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::::The article [[Homeschooling in the United States#Testing and assessment]] says:


:[[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]], they seem to be talking about the "Coffee C" contract in the [[List of traded commodities]]. The price seems to have peaked and then fallen a day later
:::::States also differ in their requirements regarding testing and assessment. Following the general trend toward easing requirements, fewer than half the states now require any testing or assessment. In some states, homeschoolers are required either to submit the results of a standardized test (sometimes from an established list of tests) or to have a narrative evaluation done by a qualified teacher. Other states give parents wide latitude in the type of assessment to be submitted.
:*explanation [https://www.ice.com/products/15/Coffee-C-Futures here]
:*I googled "coffee c futures price chart" and the first link was uk.investing.com which I can't link here
:*if you have detailed questions about [[futures contract]]s they will probably go over my head. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 01:54, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::thanks. i see the chart which you cannot link here. why did it peak and then drop shortly after? [[User:Gryllida|Gryllida]] ([[User talk:Gryllida|talk]], [[Special:EmailUser/Gryllida|e-mail]]) 04:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Financial markets tend to have periods of increase followed by periods of decrease (bull and bear markets), see [[market trend]] for background. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 04:55, 13 December 2024 (UTC)


== source for an order of precedence for abbotts ==
:::::Again, using California as an example, students enrolled in a public program are encouraged to take the same year-end standardized tests that all public school students take, but students using tutors or enrolled in any private school, homeschool or not, are not required to take any tests. Texas also does not require standardized tests for any student outside the public school arena, and absence of such tests cannot be used to discriminate against enrollment in higher education.


Hi friends. The article for [[Ramsey Abbey]] in the UK refers to an "order of precedence for abbots in Parliament". (Sourced to an encyclopedia, which uses the wording "The abbot had a seat in Parliament and ranked next after Glastonbury and St. Alban's"). Did a ranking/order of precedence exist and if yes where can it be found? Presumably this would predate the dissolution of monasteries in england. Thanks.[[Special:Contributions/70.67.193.176|70.67.193.176]] ([[User talk:70.67.193.176|talk]]) 06:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::::[[User:Duoduoduo|Duoduoduo]] ([[User talk:Duoduoduo|talk]]) 21:02, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:The abbots called to parliament were called "Mitred Abbots" although not all were entitled to wear a mitre. Our [[Mitre]] article has much the same information as you quote, and I suspect the same citations. The only other reference I could find, also from an encyclopedia;
:I suspect that in general most admissions departments don't pay much attention to the grades for homeschooled students. They are automatically going to fall into the "requires a human being to evaluate, cannot be done by just punching in GPAs and test scores" category, anyway, so presumably the admissions officer is going to be looking more at standardized test results and the other materials (e.g. the essays) to try and figure out what level the kid in question is at. This is a standard part of admissions office procedure in general for kids who are not obviously in or obviously out. (Source: A family member who used to do admissions at a number of American universities.) --[[User:Mr.98|Mr.98]] ([[User talk:Mr.98|talk]]) 21:20, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:{{xt|Of the abbots, the abbot of Glastonbury had the precedence till A.D. 1154, when [[Pope Adrian IV]], an Englishman, from the affection he entertained for the place of his education, assigned this precedence to the abbot of St. Alban's. In consequence, Glastonbury ranked next after him, and Reading had the third place.}}
::Growing up in Ohio, I had two choices according to state law: either I could take a standardised test, or I could be evaluated by a certified teacher. My parents always chose to go the first route (it was always the [[Iowa Tests of Basic Skills|Iowa test]] until I got to high school, when my parents decided to use my PSAT, SAT, and ACT results instead), but we had plenty of acquaintances in our homeschool support group who arranged to have certified teachers examine the children. My grades were a bit of a problem when I tried to do community-college-type classes at the local [[Ohio State University|OSU]] branch campus, but they dropped their opposition to my grades once we submitted SAT and ACT scores as proof that I'd actually been doing something. I didn't know anyone in our support group who transitioned to the local public high school after eighth grade, but I had many friends in Indiana who did that. [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 21:48, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GZnQtCA-a2kC&pg=PA2 ''A Church Dictionary: A Practical Manual of Reference for Clergymen and Students'' (p. 2)]
:[[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 21:47, 16 December 2024 (UTC)


:Sources differ on the order. There is a list published in 1842 of 26 abbots as "generally ... reckoned" in order here
== Tax laws and system in Canada ==
:[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MBZjBKtuIQkC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA182 ''The Church History of Britain Volume 2'' (p.182)] [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 22:15, 16 December 2024 (UTC)


== Are the proposed Trump tariffs a regressive tax in disguise? ==
A book explaining in simple language the taxes and taxation system in Canada. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/99.228.123.209|99.228.123.209]] ([[User talk:99.228.123.209|talk]]) 19:11, 14 September 2012 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:We do have an article on [[Taxation in Canada]]. Or perhaps [http://www.amazon.ca/Taxes-Canadians-dummies-Tim-Cestnick/dp/1894413202/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347650469&sr=8-2 this book] would be helpful? - [[User:Karenjc|<font color="red">Ka</font>]][[User_talk:Karenjc|renjc]] 19:23, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


I'm wondering if there has been analysis of this. The US government gets the tariff money(?) and biggest chunk will be on manufactured goods from China. Those in turn are primarily consumer goods, which means that the tariff is something like a sales tax, a type of tax well known to be regressive. Obviously there are leaks in the description above, so one would have to crunch a bunch of numbers to find out for sure. But that's what economists do, right? Has anyone weighed in on this issue? Thanks. [[Special:Contributions/2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E|2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E]] ([[User talk:2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E|talk]]) 08:58, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
== Remarriage to the same person ==
:There have been many public comments about how this is a tax on American consumers. It's only "in disguise" to those who don't understand how tariffs work. ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 11:34, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thanks, I'll see what I can find. Do you remember if the revenue collected is supposed to be enough for the government to care about? I.e. enough to supposedly offset the inevitable tax cuts for people like Elon Musk? [[Special:Contributions/2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E|2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E]] ([[User talk:2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E|talk]]) 22:36, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
Import duties are extremely recessive in that (a) they are charged at the same rate for any given level of income; and (b) those with less income tend to purchase far more imported goods than those with more income (define “more” and “less” any way you wish). Fiscally, they border on insignificant, running an average of 1.4% of federal revenue since 1962 (or, 0.2% of GDP), compared to 47.1% (8.0%) for individual income tax and 9.9% (1.7%) for corporate tax receipts.[[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (ex-HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 22:52, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:Curious about your point (b); why would this be? It seems to me that as my income has risen I have probably bought more stuff from abroad, at least directly. It could well be that I've bought less indirectly, but I'm not sure why that would be. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 00:02, 14 December 2024 (UTC)
::More like, those with less income spend a larger fraction of their income on imported goods, instead of services. [[User:PiusImpavidus|PiusImpavidus]] ([[User talk:PiusImpavidus|talk]]) 10:48, 14 December 2024 (UTC)
Trovatore, most daily use items are imported: toothbrushes, combs, kitchenware, shopping bags. Most durable goods are imported: phones, TVs, cars, furniture, sporting goods, clothes. These items are more likely to be imported because it is MUCH cheaper / more profitable to make them abroad. Wander through Target, Sam's Club, or Wal-Mart and you'll be hard pressed to find "Made in America" goods. But, in a hand-crafted shop, where prices have to reflect the cost of living HERE, rather than in Bangladesh, prices soar. [[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (ex-HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 19:13, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Um, sure, but surely it's a fairly rare person of any income level who spends a significant portion of his/her income on artisanal goods. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] ([[User talk:Trovatore|talk]]) 06:03, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
:::PiusImpavidus, Every income strata (in America) spends far more on services than on goods. Services tend to be more of a repeated purchase: laundry (vs. washing machine), Uber (vs. car), rent (vs. purchase), internet (vs. books), etc. [[User:DOR (HK)|DOR (ex-HK)]] ([[User talk:DOR (HK)|talk]]) 19:17, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


== Ron A. Dunn: Australian arachnologist ==
I've looked over [[remarriage]] and can't find any information on how often divorced couples end up remarrying each other. I'm sure this will differ greatly based on context, but any information will help satisfy my curiosity. --[[User:BDD|BDD]] ([[User talk:BDD|talk]]) 21:19, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:I don't know much about this but at least I can tell is I know for sure remarriage between divorced couples did indeed happen. Well in most cases, they didn't actually have a wedding in remarriage. So legally, they are still divorced but they are living together still as a couple with their children of course. (I know this from people I know and on some movies based off from real events).[[User:Pendragon5|Pendragon5]] ([[User talk:Pendragon5|talk]]) 21:43, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


For {{q|Q109827858}} I have given names of "Ron. A.", an address in 1958 of 60 Mimosa Road, Carnegie, {{nowrap|Victoria, Australia S.E. 9}} (he was also in Carnegie in 1948) and an ''uncited'' death date of 25 June 1972.
:This [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1258503/Getting-divorced-biggest-mistake-lives-got-married.html Telegraph article] says "statistics on remarriage to an ex are not routinely recorded" but the journalist did find three example couples to profile. [[Special:Contributions/184.147.128.34|184.147.128.34]] ([[User talk:184.147.128.34|talk]]) 00:39, 15 September 2012 (UTC)


He was an Australian arachnologist with the honorifics AAA AAIS.
== Who's a stronger ally of the U.S. in the Middle East ==


Can anyone find the full given names, and a source or the death date, please? What did the honorifics stand for? Do we know how he earned his living? <span class="vcard"><span class="fn">[[User:Pigsonthewing|Andy Mabbett]]</span> (<span class="nickname">Pigsonthewing</span>); [[User talk:Pigsonthewing|Talk to Andy]]; [[Special:Contributions/Pigsonthewing|Andy's edits]]</span> 12:54, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or Israel? [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 22:04, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:[[User:Pigsonthewing|Pigsonthewing]] Have you tried ancestry.com? For a start
:Define "stronger". ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 22:09, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:A scan of the 1954 Carnegie electoral roll has
:*Dunn, Ronald Albert, 60 Mimosa Road, S.E. 9, accountant
:*Dunn, Gladys Harriet I, 60 Mimosa Road, S.E. 9, home duties
:I can't check newspapers.com, but The Age apparently had a report about Ronald Albert Dunn on 27 Jun 1972 [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 14:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you. I don't have access to the former, but that's great. AAA seems to be (member of the) Association of Accountants of Australia: [https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/206190746]. <span class="vcard"><span class="fn">[[User:Pigsonthewing|Andy Mabbett]]</span> (<span class="nickname">Pigsonthewing</span>); [[User talk:Pigsonthewing|Talk to Andy]]; [[Special:Contributions/Pigsonthewing|Andy's edits]]</span> 16:18, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:::I accessed Ancestry.com via the Wikipedia Library, so you should have access. Newspapers.com is also available via the library if you register, which I haven't. An editor with a Newspapers.com account would be able to make a clipping which anyone could access online.
:::I agree AAA is probably the Australian Society of Accountants, a predecessor of [[CPA Australia]]. They merged in 1953 ([https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/458467 source]) so the information would have been outdated in 1958. AAIS could be Associate [of the] Amalgamated Institute of Secretaries (source [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vxQ6AQAAIAAJ Who's Who in Australia, Volume 16, 1959] Abbreviations page 9). [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 16:48, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Last time I tried, Ancestry wasn't working for WP-Lib users. Thank you again. <span class="vcard"><span class="fn">[[User:Pigsonthewing|Andy Mabbett]]</span> (<span class="nickname">Pigsonthewing</span>); [[User talk:Pigsonthewing|Talk to Andy]]; [[Special:Contributions/Pigsonthewing|Andy's edits]]</span> 20:50, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::There is a phabricator problem about loading a second page of results. My workaround is to try to add more information to the search to get more relevant results on the first page of results. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 21:03, 13 December 2024 (UTC)
::::::Or perhaps someone at [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request]] could help? [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 12:35, 14 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::::They already have at [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request#The Age (Melbourne) 27 June 1972]]. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 12:42, 14 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 15 =
I mean stronger ties, for instance, militarily, and politically speaking. That's what I mean. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 22:10, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


== Schisms and Byzantine Roman self-perception ==
:This is largely a matter of opinion. Just looking over the ledes of [[Israel–United States relations]] and [[Saudi Arabia–United States relations]], I'd have to say Israel. As you can see in the former, Israel was one of the first nations designated a [[major non-NATO ally]] by the United States. Also, I'd say anecdotally that many Americans perceive Israel to be a stronger ally. Critics of the US's relationship with Israel generally find it to be ''too'' strong. By contrast, there have often been whispers of Saudi support for the [[September 11 attacks]], especially since most of the hijackers were Saudi.[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/13/was-the-saudi-government-involved-in-the-9-11-terror-attacks.html] As you can imagine, this is a rather contentious claim. --[[User:BDD|BDD]] ([[User talk:BDD|talk]]) 22:14, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


Did the [[Rome-Constantinople schism|three schisms between Rome and Constantinople]] tarnish Rome's reputation to the degree that it affected the Byzantine self-perception as the "Roman Empire" and as "Romans"? Including Constantinople's vision of succession to the Roman Empire and its notion of [[Second Rome]]. [[User:Brandmeister|Brandmeister]]<sup>[[User talk:Brandmeister|talk]]</sup> 15:34, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
:Actually, given that Saudi Arabia has never been given [[major non-NATO ally]] designation, I think we can fairly objectively say that Israel is a stronger ally. --[[User:BDD|BDD]] ([[User talk:BDD|talk]]) 22:15, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::Why was Saudi Arabia never been given this status? Also, for this reason, I'd also say Israel. The U.S. gives more aid to Israel and Israel has much closer values to the U.S. than Saudi Arabia, such as support for democracy, women's rights, gay rights, and peace. [[User:Futurist110|Futurist110]] ([[User talk:Futurist110|talk]]) 00:15, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
Thank you for your answers. [[User:Timothyhere|Timothyhere]] ([[User talk:Timothyhere|talk]]) 23:50, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:Various maneuverings in the middle ages (including the infamous Fourth Crusade) certainly gave many Byzantines a negative view of western Catholics, so that toward the end some frankly preferred conquest by Muslims to a Christian alliance which would involve Byzantine religious and political subordination to the European West (see discussion at [[Loukas Notaras]]). But the Byzantines generally considered themselves to be the real Romans, and called themselves "Romaioi" much more often than they called themselves Greek (of course, "Byzantine" is a later retroactive term). [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 17:09, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
:Saudi Arabia does have a history of giving money to Muslim extremists, in order to buy them off so they don't attack the kingdom. Add to that that some of the Saudi views are rather extreme (or at least non-Western) themselves, such as being non-democratic and not believing in equal rights for women or homosexuals. And the bin Laden family is Saudi (with Yemeni roots), to boot. I think of the alliance between the US and Saudi Arabia as like the WW2 alliance between the Soviet Union and other Allies, one of necessity only. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 23:51, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:I think these religious schisms had nothing to do with the secular political situation. In 330, before Christianity became an established religion that could experience schisms, [[Constantine the Great]] moved the capital of the unitary Roman Empire from Rome to the city of [[Byzantium]] and dubbed it the [[New Rome]] – later renamed to Constantinople. During the later periods in which the [[Western Roman Empire|Western]] and [[Eastern Roman Empire]] were administered separately, this was not considered a political split but an expedient way of administering a large polity, of which Constantinople remained the capital. So when the Western wing of the Roman Empire fell to the [[Ostrogoths]] and even the later [[Exarchate of Ravenna]] disappeared, the Roman Empire, now only administered by the Constantinopolitan court, continued in an unbroken succession from the [[Roman Kingdom]] and subsequent [[Roman Republic|Republic]]. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 10:48, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
== Coptic/Ethiopian Church ==
::In Ottoman Turkish, the term {{large|[[wikt:روم#Ottoman Turkish|روم]]}} (''Rum''), ultimately derived from Latin ''Roma'', was used to designate the Byzantine Empire, or, as a geographic term, its former lands. Fun fact: After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, [[Mehmet the Conqueror]] and his successors claimed the title of [[Caesar of Rome]], with the Ottoman Empire being the successor of the [[Byzantine Empire]]. IMO this claim has merit; Mehmet II was the first ruler of yet another dynasty, but rather than replacing the existing Byzantine administrative apparatus, he simply continued its use for the empire he had become the ruler of. If you recognize the claim, the [[Republic of Turkey]] is today's successor of the Roman Kingdom. &nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 12:01, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::The Ottomans basically continued the Byzantine tax-collection system, for a while. [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 23:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


== Foreign Presidents/Heads of State CURRENTLY Buried in the USA ==
A lot of documentaries talk about the Jewish traditions of the Ethiopian Church. But the Ethiopian Church was a part of the Coptic Church in Egypt and was in continuous contact with it until the Muslim invasion of Egypt in the 700s and even somewhat after that, via the Patriarch of Alexandria appointing the Abuna, so does that mean the Coptic Church also have some of these traditions or had them until very recently or are these traditions exclusively Ethiopian. --[[User:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|The Emperor&#39;s New Spy]] ([[User talk:The Emperor&#39;s New Spy|talk]]) 23:14, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:You might want to start with the article [[Oriental Orthodoxy]] and follow on from there. The History section has a link to an expanded history article which has some good information. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 23:17, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::Pretty sure that the Ethiopians are unique in this respect (and if not, they probably share only with the Eritrean church); nothing is ever said, as far as I remember, about the Egyptians following the [[Book of Jubilees]] or venerating the Ark of the Covenant at the [[Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion]]. Have you read the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] article? [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 23:20, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


How many foreign presidents are CURRENTLY buried in the USA? (I am aware of previous burials that have since been repatriated)
== [[Innocence of Muslims]] ==
For example, In Woodlawn Cemetery in Miami, FL, there are two Cuban presidents and a Nicaraguan president.


Where can I watch the entire movie, instead of just the trailer? --[[Special:Contributions/140.180.247.208|140.180.247.208]] ([[User talk:140.180.247.208|talk]]) 23:42, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
Are there any other foreign presidents, heads of state, that are buried in the USA? [[User:Exeter6|Exeter6]] ([[User talk:Exeter6|talk]]) 17:54, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


:It's likely to be highly censored, since watching it apparently inspires people to murder others. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 23:46, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
:As far as I know, all 4 of the presidents of the [[Republic of Texas]] are buried in Texas, which is currently in the US. [[User:Blueboar|Blueboar]] ([[User talk:Blueboar|talk]]) 18:04, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


::[[Andrés Domingo y Morales del Castillo]] was President of Cuba in 1954-55 and died in Miami. Not sure where he's buried though.
::That is precisely why I want to watch it. Long live free speech, and long live the [[Streisand effect]]! --[[Special:Contributions/140.180.247.208|140.180.247.208]] ([[User talk:140.180.247.208|talk]]) 23:49, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::Also [[Anselmo Alliegro y Milá]] (President of Cuba for a few hours on January 1, 1959) similarly went to Florida and died there.
::And [[Arnulfo Arias]], ousted as President of Panama in the [[1968 Panamanian coup d'état]], died in Florida (a pattern emerging here...)
::[[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 19:28, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
:For ease of reference, the Woodlawn Cemetery in question is [[Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum]], housing:
:# [[Gerardo Machado]], president of Cuba from 1925 to 1933
:# [[Carlos Prío Socarrás]], president of Cuba from 1948 to 1952
:# [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle]], president of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972, and from 1974 to 1979 (not to be confused with his father [[Anastasio Somoza García]] and brother [[Luis Somoza Debayle]], both former presidents of Nicaragua, buried together in Nicaragua)
:[[User:GalacticShoe|GalacticShoe]] ([[User talk:GalacticShoe|talk]]) 20:09, 15 December 2024 (UTC)
::Searching Findagrave could be fruitful. Machado's entry:[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6881438/gerardo-machado_y_morales] ←[[User:Baseball Bugs|Baseball Bugs]] <sup>''[[User talk:Baseball Bugs|What's up, Doc?]]''</sup> [[Special:Contributions/Baseball_Bugs|carrots]]→ 21:45, 15 December 2024 (UTC)


:Polish prime minister and famous musician Ignacy Paderewski had his grave in the United States until 1992. [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 07:32, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Have you tried Google? --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 23:52, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
::I guess not current, though... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 01:12, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:You can find some with the following Wikidata query: [https://query.wikidata.org/#SELECT%20%3Fperson%20%3Flabel%0AWHERE%0A%7B%0A%20%20%3Fperson%20wdt%3AP39%20%3Foffice%20.%20%23%20held%20office%0A%20%20%3Foffice%20wdt%3AP279%2a%20wd%3AQ48352%20.%20%23%20office%20is%20head%20of%20state%0A%20%20%3Fperson%20wdt%3AP119%20%3Flocation%20.%20%23%20burial%20location%0A%20%20%3Flocation%20wdt%3AP17%20wd%3AQ30%20.%20%23%20burial%20location%20in%20the%20USA%0A%20%20FILTER%28%3Foffice%20%21%3D%20wd%3AQ11696%29%20.%20%23%20Office%20is%20not%20POTUS%0A%20%20%3Fperson%20rdfs%3Alabel%20%3Flabel%20.%0A%20%20FILTER%28LANG%28%3Flabel%29%20%3D%20%22en%22%29%20.%0A%7D%0AGROUP%20BY%20%3Fperson%20%3Flabel%0ALIMIT%20100]. Some notable examples are [[Liliʻuokalani]], [[Pierre Nord Alexis]], [[Dương Văn Minh]], [[Lon Nol]], [[Bruno Carranza]], [[Victoriano Huerta]], and [[Mykola Livytskyi]]. Note that [[Alexander Kerensky]] died in the US but was buried in the UK. Unfortunately, the query also returns others who were presidents, governors, etc. of other than sovereign states. --[[User:Amble|Amble]] ([[User talk:Amble|talk]]) 19:09, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
:: <small> And it has been highly ''censured''. Were the boot on the other foot, it certainly would be. No excuse for murder, though. -- ♬ [[User:JackofOz|<font face="Papyrus">Jack of Oz</font>]] ♬ [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<font face="Papyrus"><sup>[your turn]</sup></font>]] 00:22, 15 September 2012 (UTC) </small>
:I suppose we should also consider [[Jefferson Davis]] as a debatable case. And [[Peter II of Yugoslavia]] was initially buried in the USA but later reburied in Serbia. He seems to have been the only European monarch who was at one point buried in the USA. --[[User:Amble|Amble]] ([[User talk:Amble|talk]]) 00:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:[[Manuel Quezon]] was initially buried at Arlington. [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 00:20, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Nobody in the press has seen it. They've been reduced to reporting an eyewitness account from one of "less than 10" people who saw it at its one and only screening, who didn't watch it long enough to know it was about Muhammad. The best guesses of many is that there was never anything ''but'' the trailer. For those (there are two versions almost exactly the same) see [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4DjVszAn4GAyzgsjtkJONg/videos] [[User:Wnt|Wnt]] ([[User talk:Wnt|talk]]) 00:23, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
:And of course I should rather think that most monarchs of Hawaii are buried in the USA. [[User:DuncanHill|DuncanHill]] ([[User talk:DuncanHill|talk]]) 00:27, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::If burial was the custom there. (I'd guess it was, but I certainly don't know.) --[[Special:Contributions/142.112.149.206|142.112.149.206]] ([[User talk:142.112.149.206|talk]]) 02:50, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::[[Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla)]] answers that question with a definitive "yes, it was". [[User:Cullen328|Cullen328]] ([[User talk:Cullen328|talk]]) 22:04, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:[[Antanas Smetona]] was initially buried in Cleveland, but then reburied elsewhere in Ohio. --[[User:Amble|Amble]] ([[User talk:Amble|talk]]) 06:36, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::To be specific, All Souls Cemetery in [[Chardon, Ohio|Chardon]] according to Smetona's article. [[User:GalacticShoe|GalacticShoe]] ([[User talk:GalacticShoe|talk]]) 06:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:There are a number of Egyptian mummies in US museums ([[List of museums with Egyptian mummies in their collections]]), but I can't find any that are currently known to be the mummy of a pharaoh. The mummy of [[Ramesses I]] was formerly in the US, but was returned to Egypt in 2003. --[[User:Amble|Amble]] ([[User talk:Amble|talk]]) 22:47, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
== Ghost stories ==


= December 17 =
Hello! Two part question: Who are, historically, some of the most critically acclaimed ghost story writers? And to what extent did they differ at the time from the most popular ghost story writers? [[Special:Contributions/114.75.12.14|114.75.12.14]] ([[User talk:114.75.12.14|talk]]) 23:54, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


:[[Edgar Allen Poe]] ? He seemed to be a master of suspense. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 23:56, 14 September 2012 (UTC)


== Geographic extent of an English parish c. 1800 ==
::Was he well received at the time? I seem to remember reading that his stories were criticized as being "too constructed", and some contemporary author (can't remember who) referred to him as "the jingle man". Is this still the critical opinion today? [[Special:Contributions/114.75.12.14|114.75.12.14]] ([[User talk:114.75.12.14|talk]]) 00:14, 15 September 2012 (UTC)


:::If so, he wouldn't be the first artist to go unappreciated in his own time. In my American Lit class, he and [[Washington Irving]] (''[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]'') were the only two ghost story writers on the curriculum, so he seems to be appreciated now. Were you looking for somebody who was lauded while still alive ? [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 00:32, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
What would have been the typical extent (in square miles or square kilometers) of an English parish, circa 1800 or so? Let's say the median rather than the mean. With more interest in rural than urban parishes. -- [[User:Avocado|Avocado]] ([[User talk:Avocado|talk]]) 00:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:There were tensions involved in a unit based on the placement of churches being tasked to administer the poor law; that was why "civil parishes" were split off a little bit later... [[User:AnonMoos|AnonMoos]] ([[User talk:AnonMoos|talk]]) 01:11, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::Through most of his fiction, ghosts haunted the ravings of a distracted human mind, and not the "real world".
::::'''He could dream with the best, as ghost stories (fake) go,''
::::''But it seems that for Poe it was '''[[Some Words with a Mummy|all a mistake(o)]]''''''.--[[User:Robert Keiden|Robert Keiden]] ([[User talk:Robert Keiden|talk]]) 00:59, 15 September 2012 (UTC)


:[[User:Avocado|Avocado]] As a start the mean area of a parish in England and Wales in around 1832 seems to have been around 5.6 square miles.
= September 15 =
:Source [https://books.google.com/books?id=pJZGAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA494 The Edinburgh Encyclopædia Volume 8]. It also has figures by county if you are interested.
:*p.494 38,498,572 acres, i.e. 60,154 square miles
:*p.497 10,674 parishes and parochial chapelries
:*Average 3,607 acres, i.e. 5.64 square miles [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 02:33, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you -- that's a starting point, at least! -- [[User:Avocado|Avocado]] ([[User talk:Avocado|talk]]) 13:14, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


:::But regionally variable:
== Refs for Citizens United backfire? ==
:::{{xt|By the early nineteenth century the north-west of England, including the expanding cities of Manchester and Liverpool, had just over 150 parishes, each of them covering an average of almost 12,000 acres, whereas the more rural east of the country had more than 1,600 parishes, each with an average size of approximately 2,000 acres.}}
:::[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=grdvBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34 ''OCR A Level History: Britain 1603-1760'']
:::[[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 21:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


::::{{xt|On the contrary , in England , which contains 38,500,000 statute acres, the parishes or [[Benefice|living]]s comprehend about 3,850 acres the average; and if similar allowance be made for those livings in cities and towns , perhaps about 4,000.}}
I'm seeing a lot of editorials for a backfire effect of [[Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission]], in that the party with the few rich donors seems to have chosen a candidate whose appeal doesn't seem to go much further than that group, but no solid RSes for this. So is this just sour grapes or has anybody really done the research here? [[User:Hcobb|Hcobb]] ([[User talk:Hcobb|talk]]) 00:25, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
::::[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fCtdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA165 ''An Essay on the Revenues of the Church of England'' (1816) p. 165]
::::The point about urban parishes distorting the overall average is supported by [[St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate]] for instance, that had a parish of only 3 acres (or two football pitches of 110 yards by 70 yards placed side by side). [https://www.londonparishclerks.com/Parishes-Churches/Individual-Parish-Info/St-Ethelburga-Bishopsgate] [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 21:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::::Oh, that's great info -- ty! I can't seem to get a look at the content of the book. Does it say anything else about other regions? -- [[User:Avocado|Avocado]] ([[User talk:Avocado|talk]]) 23:24, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
:::::The OCR book doesn't mention other regions. I have found where the figure of 10,674 came from: [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fCtdAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA112 page 112 of the 1816 essay] has a note that {{tq|Preliminary Observations ( p . 13. and 15. ) to the Popu-lation Returns in 1811 ; where the Parishes and Parochial Chapelries are stated at 10,674 .}} The text of page 112 says that {{tq|churches are contained in be-tween 10 , and 11,000 parishes † ; and probably after a due allowance for consolidations , & c . they constitute the Churches of about 10,000 Parochial Benefices}}, so the calculation on p.165 of the 1816 essay is based on around 10,000 parishes in England (and Wales) in 1800 (38,500,000 divided by 3,850). [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 01:40, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
::::: The primary source is [https://books.google.com/books?id=6wUSAAAAYAAJ ''Abstract of the Answers and Returns Made Pursuant to an Act Passed in the Fifty-first Year of His Majesty King George III, Intituled, "An Act for Taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and of the Increase Or Diminution Thereof" : Preliminary Observations, Enumeration Abstract, Parish Register Abstract, 1811''] and the table of parishes by county is on page xxix. [[User:TSventon|TSventon]] ([[User talk:TSventon|talk]]) 01:46, 18 December 2024 (UTC)


== When was the first bat mitzvah? ==
:Do you refer to Mitt Romney ? If anything, rich donors were able to keep fringe Republican primary candidates alive longer, and thus delay the choice of Romney as the Republican candidate. There are two opinions of if it helps or hurts a candidate to be chosen early, though. On the one side, the attacks on them by other primary candidates may also work against the in the general election. On the other hand, learning how to deal with such attacks early on may be beneficial. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 00:30, 15 September 2012 (UTC)


[[Bar and bat mitzvah]] has a short history section, all of which is about bar mitzvah. When was the first bat mitzvah? What is its history? <span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧁</span>[[User:Zanahary|Zanahary]]<span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧂</span> 01:52, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
== Slave trade of women in Mexico ==


:To be clear, I am more asking when the bat mitzvah ritual became part of common Jewish practice. <span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧁</span>[[User:Zanahary|Zanahary]]<span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧂</span> 01:53, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
I remember once to have seen a film, which took place in USA in the 19th-century. It was about a Caucasian woman and her daughters, who were abducted by slave traders and taken to a beach in Mexico, where they were taken aboard a ship to an unknown destination, were they were to be sold as slaves. Recently, I saw a completely different film, taking place in the 19th-century and starring with Cate Blanchett, were her daughter were also abducted by slave traders, who were taken to Mexico.
:Parts from Google's translation of [[:he:בת מצווה]]:
::As early as the early 19th century, in the early days of Reform Judaism, confirmation ceremonies for boys and girls began to be held in which their knowledge of the religion was tested, similar to that practiced among Christians. It spread to the more liberal circles of German Jewry, and by the middle of the century had also begun to be widespread among the Orthodox bourgeoisie. Rabbi Jacob Etlinger of Altona was forced by the community's regulations to participate in such an event in 1867, and published the sermon he had prepared for the purpose later. He emphasized that he was obligated to do so by law, and that Judaism did not recognize that the principles of the religion should be adopted in such a public declaration, since it is binding from birth. However, as part of his attempt to stop the Reform, he supported a kind of parallel procedure that was intended to take place exclusively outside the synagogue.
::The idea of confirmation was not always met with resistance, especially with regard to girls: the chief rabbi of the Central Consistory of French Jews, Shlomo Zalman Ullmann, permitted it for both sexes in 1843. In 1844, confirmation for young Jews was held for the first time in Verona, Italy. In the 1880s, Rabbi Zvi Hermann Adler agreed to the widespread introduction of the ceremony, after it had become increasingly common in synagogues, but refused to call it 'confirmation'. In 1901, Rabbi Eliyahu Bechor, cantor in Alexandria, permitted it for both boys and girls, inspired by what was happening in Italy. Other rabbis initially ordered a more conservative event.
::At the beginning of the twentieth century, the attitude towards the bat mitzvah party was reserved, because it was sometimes an attempt to imitate symbols drawn from the confirmation ceremony, and indeed there were rabbis, such as Rabbi Aharon Volkin, who forbade the custom on the grounds of gentile laws, or who treated it with suspicion, such as Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who in a 1950s recantation forbade holding an event in the synagogue because it was "a matter of authority and a mere vanity...there is no point and no basis for considering it a matter of a mitzvah and a mitzvah meal". The Haredi community also expressed strong opposition to the celebration of the bat mitzvah due to its origins in Reform circles. In 1977, Rabbi Yehuda David Bleich referred to it as one of the "current problems in halakhah", noting that only a minority among the Orthodox celebrate it and that it had spread to them from among the Conservatives.
::On the other hand, as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, rabbis began to encourage holding a Bat Mitzvah party for a daughter, similar to a party that is customary for a son, with the aim of strengthening observance of the mitzvot among Jewish women.
:&nbsp;--[[User talk:Lambiam#top|Lambiam]] 11:23, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
::Thank you! Surprising how recent it is. <span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧁</span>[[User:Zanahary|Zanahary]]<span style="position: relative; top: -0.5em;">꧂</span> 21:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)


= December 18 =
This second film made me remember the first, and I it made me curious: were they a slave trade of Cacuasian women in 19th-century Mexico? This seem odd, for I understand (forgive me if this seem ignorant) that Caucasian people where not slaves in any western country in the 19th century. Who could buy them without anyone reporting it? Were where they sold? Or were they rather taken through Mexico and taken to another location, such as the Middle East, to be sold? Both films made the impression, that this slave trade was well known and common. Thank you. --[[User:Aciram|Aciram]] ([[User talk:Aciram|talk]]) 00:48, 15 September 2012 (UTC)
:[[Sexual_slavery#Historical_sexual_slavery]] has a bit of background, but my understanding is that this was a bit of overblown [[Moral panic]] and not a significant threat. Poor women are often forced into working in the sex trade, initially for survival, but then it becomes hard to "get out", but this isn't what is usually meant by the type of "sexual slavery" the OP notes. There was a widespread belief during the late 1800s-early 1900s that middle and upper class white women were being abducted by non-whites and being exported around the world as sex slaves, though I don't know of a single case of that actually happening. The panic in the U.S. led to the passage of the [[Mann Act]], which AFAIK didn't actually stop sexual trafficking, but was instead used to enforce [[Anti-miscegenation laws]] at the federal level; [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] the boxer spent time in federal prison for having a white girlfriend. --[[User:Jayron32|<font style="color:#000099">Jayron</font>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<font style="color:#009900">32</font>]]''''' 00:58, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 06:03, 18 December 2024

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December 4

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Subnational laws

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In all federations, are there laws that differ between subdivisions, such as states, provinces, cantons or parts of countries like Bosnia-Hertzegovina or Belgium? Are there any laws that are dedicated to provinces of Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, Germany or Austria, or cantons of Switzerland? And in countries like US, Canada or Australia, are there any local laws that differ between local governments? --40bus (talk) 20:16, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Links to a number of relevant articles at State law... -- AnonMoos (talk) 21:17, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm, not sure I'm a big fan of that page. It has one blue link, to US state law. All the other links are red, and many are to titles that would not naturally exist at all, unless maybe as redirects-from-misnomers or something. For example state law (Germany)? What's that? The German Länder are not called "states". --Trovatore (talk) 21:56, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(I went ahead and searched, and to my bemusement our article on the Länder is at states of Germany. Hmm. I don't think that's a good title. I've always heard them called Länder, untranslated. They're broadly analogous to US states, I suppose, but not really the same thing.) --Trovatore (talk) 22:13, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I've been looking at Law of Texas in order to verify if its specifical statutes visibly differ from the German cases where the concept of Succession of states comes into question: following analyses exposed in de:Land (Deutschland) in German Wikipedia. "Succession of states" as discussed in that last article has a focus probably more highly contrasted in matter of "rights and obligations" than would apply to U.S. States. In the case of Texas law for example I note the importance of Common law as a defining influence, whereas in German law the same unifying level is rooted very differently. I imagine that the american linguistic pluralism at root also implies some repercussions in classes of problems turning to the inside rather than to abroad. Consequently perhaps the specific problems that appear and were shown in the idea of Secession. --Askedonty (talk) 00:16, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Askedonty: I'm really having trouble following that. What are you trying to figure out here? Is it about whether Land is reasonably translated as "state" in the sense that it's used in "US state"? If it is, I don't really follow the argument; I'm not even sure whether you're arguing for or against. If it's not then I'm even more confused. --Trovatore (talk) 01:06, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
German Wikipedia define the U.S.A. as a "föderal aufgebaute Republik" which is absolutely similar to the German "Bundesrepublik". To anybody there is a strange feeling at equating "State" with "Land" so I do not see what reluctance there has to be seeing there is an explanation for it. --Askedonty (talk) 01:19, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
No reluctance; I just wanted to understand better the structure of your argument. It was a little hard to figure out what you were getting at. --Trovatore (talk) 01:22, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(Actually now I'm not sure about the "no reluctance" part, because on re-reading "I do not see what reluctance there has to be", I don't actually understand what that means either.) --Trovatore (talk) 01:28, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, no problem. "Länder" means that Germans living there might be have their families rooted there for ages. I do not think that aspect can be translated without some circumlocutions. --Askedonty (talk) 01:44, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In several languages, the usual term for a Land of the FRG uses a part that is cognate to state. For example: Basque Alemaniako estatuak (pl), Danish Tysklands delstater (pl), Italian Stati federati della Germania (pl); Spanish Estado federado (Alemania). When used for a specific Land and no confusion with the sense of "federal state" can occur, this is often simplified, as in Italian lo stato di Baden-Württemberg.[1][2][3]  --Lambiam 08:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If the subdivisions have separate legislatures, there are bound to be differences.  --Lambiam 22:33, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The original question asks in countries like US...are there any local laws that differ.... In the US, "local" usually means city or county level. This will vary from state to state, but typically city and county laws are called "ordinances" and regulate comparatively lesser matters than state law (state law handles almost all one-on-one violent crime, for example). City ordinances tend to be about things like how often you have to mow your lawn or whether you can drink alcohol in public. Violations are usually "infractions" with relatively light penalties (though fines can be fairly heavy in some cases, like for removing a tree that you're not supposed to remove in Woodside, California). --Trovatore (talk) 23:02, 4 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Like the USA, Australia is a federation of states, so it has federal (national) laws, state level laws, and municipality based laws. The latter are like city laws in the US, but not all our towns are called cities. Unlike the USA, our constitution is primarily about what states are responsible for and what the federal government is responsible for. HiLo48 (talk) 03:33, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As with most things in the US, the distinction (if any) between "town" and "city" varies state-to-state. I'm most familiar with California, which has no official legal distinction, but the municipality in question can call itself "town" or "city" as it pleases, usually depending on whether it wants to give the suggestion that it's semi-rural (see Town of Los Altos Hills). Completely different are the New England towns, which I don't know much about except what I've read in Wikipedia. --Trovatore (talk) 03:56, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The US Constitution does, in fact, delineate the powers of states and of the federal government. American states are not "subdivisions", they are separate entities which joined the USA. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots07:14, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Many subdivisions of current sovereign states, all over the world, were at some time themselves independent sovereign states that later gave up their sovereignty, sometimes not entirely voluntarily, and joined a larger entity. The USA is not exceptional.  --Lambiam 09:42, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The American states have not given up their sovereignty. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:08, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Then why don't they apply for UN membership? Too much effort?  --Lambiam 03:40, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's a different concept of sovereignty. The theory of sovereignty in much of the world is that it has to be unique; there is only one sovereign at a given place and time. The US, at least historically, explicitly rejects that idea, embracing divided sovereignty instead. --Trovatore (talk) 03:49, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For that matter, recognized Indian tribes in the U.S. also have partial sovereignty, their own courts, etc. - Jmabel | Talk 05:12, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. Readers who want to know more about this can check out our article on tribal sovereignty in the United States. Lots of interesting complications if you like that sort of thing. --Trovatore (talk) 19:44, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lambiam -- In the second half of the 1940s, when Stalin was arranging things so that the Byelorussian SSR and the Ukrainian SSR had separate memberships in the United Nations (distinct from the Soviet Union's overall membership), he offered to agree to several U.S. states being admitted to the U.N. but the U.S. didn't take him up on it. AnonMoos (talk) 00:03, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I did not know that. Wow. Which states in particular were OK with Uncle Joe? Or was it just a number, let the states play musical chairs for it? --Trovatore (talk) 20:01, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas and Texas. —Tamfang (talk) 20:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty sure it didn't get that far (probably stayed within the Truman White House and State Department), since it would have been a violation of the U.S. Constitution ("No State shall, without the Consent of Congress...enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power"). AnonMoos (talk) 00:12, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect that the U.S. is at the extreme of how much laws about rather important matters vary from one jurisdiction to another: at the state level, differences include: whether or not there is a death penalty and (if so) under what circumstances it can be applied; whether cannabis is legal, and almost everything about its regulation (and more or less the same about alcohol, though no state currently has an outright ban); what is the minimum wage (defaulting to the federal minimum wage if the state does not pass its own); almost everything to do with education; almost everything about how elections are run. Also, since Dobbs, pretty much everything about abortion. In some areas, federal law reliably trumps state law, but not in everything (there is relatively little the federal government can do to prevent a state from passing a criminal law, other than either challenge it as unconstitutional or threaten to withhold funds unless they change it).

U.S. states usually have more ability to limit what smaller jurisdictions can do, so they can preempt local ordinances (usually the term, rather than "laws", at the city/town/etc. level, but just as enforceable). Still, often they don't do that, even in ways where you'd think they would. Where I live in Washington state, the minimum wage varies from county to county and city to city, with the state setting only a "minimum minimum". And it gets even more confusing because, for example, King County sets a minimum wage for unincorporated areas of the county, with incorporated communities able to go higher or lower. In Texas, the legality of selling alcohol is a "local option" patchwork. And sovereignty gets trickier in terms of Indian reservations, hence the "Indian casinos" even in states where gambling is otherwise illegal.

And, yeah, that's just more about the U.S., but I think people from elsewhere have trouble imagining what a patchwork it is here. - Jmabel | Talk 05:12, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In Mexico: I know Mexico City legalized gay marriage years before the rest of the country. But if we have a decent article on federalism in Mexico, I haven't seen it.

In Spain, Catalonia semi-legalized cannabis (allowing "cannabis clubs"); there has been a bit of a fight back and forth with the central government over whether they can do that. And, of course, in Spain each autonomous community makes its own decisions about much of the educational system (which often involves laws) and most have opted to have responsibility for a health system devolved to them, though some have chosen not to take that on. For more on Spain, you can look at Autonomous communities of Spain#Constitutional and statutory framework. - Jmabel | Talk 05:23, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 5

[edit]

BAA

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BAA ambiguous meaning in context of aviation in UK, could you please check the discussion here 🙏 Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 07:30, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Gryllida This is the humanities reference desk. Do you have a question on humanities? Shantavira|feed me 10:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 10:20, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Gryllida, next time, I would suggest copying the question you want answered from Wikinews, rather than expecting people here to work out what you want to know.
As Wikinews has sources, I suggest checking them, e.g. The Guardian says BAA, which runs six UK airports, so in 2010 BAA [plc] was a company that ran six UK airports. TSventon (talk) 21:47, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Did you try BAA (disambiguation)? —Tamfang (talk) 20:55, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

UK politics/senate

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Hi, is this factually accurate link Thanks. Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 07:59, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See above. Shantavira|feed me 10:15, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 10:21, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Scipion-Virginie Hébert (1793-1830)

[edit]
Block evasion
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

The only daughter of Jacques-René Hébert was a repubblican, bonapartist, or royalist? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.56.174.231 (talk) 11:06, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This brief biography in French says that she was adopted as a one-year-old by an old associate of her father called Jacques Marquet who educated her with the aim of her becoming a schoolmistress. She maried a Protestant pastor called Léon Née (1784-1856) and both became leading figures in the pré-Réveil (we have an article on the Réveil which was an 1814 Protestant revival in France and Switzerland). They had five children, three of whom died early. She was later the vice-president of a society that gave Bibles to newly married couples. No mention of politics, but it seems that her interests were on a higher plane. Alansplodge (talk) 18:02, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
can you if there are sources about her political ideas? 193.207.166.191 (talk) 18:20, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are none. You can build hypotheses based on the facts that a) her father, Jacques-René Hébert was a promoter of the Cult of Reason, yet considering Jesus Christ a Sans-culotte (Jacques Hébert#Dechristianization, une religion sans base, fille d'aucune foi, ne procédant d'aucune révélation ) b) it is known that when she was two years old around her beside Jacques Marquet: "The child is surrounded by his uncle, Jacques Goupil, an invalid officer, Pierre Theuvenot, a ironmonger of the rue du Temple (section of Reunion), by Jean-Baptiste Gaignot, employed in the national domains, of the Guillaume Tell section, of Pierre-François Coignard, employee of the National Treasury, living in rue Denis, of his neighbour Joseph Barat, of Pierre François Joseph Guérin, printer in the rue du Temple, all sans-culottes friends of the family – the Revolution visibly offered many places in the New administrations, social advancement", c) she became an assistant teacher. --Askedonty (talk) 01:13, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Note that the Sans-culottes were not keen on any branch of Christianity, see Dechristianization of France during the French Revolution, so it seems unlikely that she would have followed her parents' political path. Protestants in France were a small minority that had been persecuted under successive monarchs before the Revolution. Alansplodge (talk) 10:23, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The author of this related blog is the opinion that Jacques Marquet himself might have been, at least, leaning toward protestantism. And the circumstances that are related are certainly convincing. --Askedonty (talk) 14:16, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 6

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Provenance of some sculptures

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There are a bunch of reliefs worked into the wall of the garden (rear) side of the former Casa Storck, now Frederic Storck and Cecilia Cuțescu-Storck Museum, in Bucharest. I can't tell whether they are older pieces collected by Frederic Storck (he certainly collected a number of such pieces; some are in the museum) or his own work, or a mix of the two. Clearly for some of these, if they are his own work they would have been imitative of older styles, but he was enough of a chameleon at times that I would not rule that out. (I had originally presumed they were all his, but I'm having second thoughts.) Wondering if anyone might know something more solid than I do; there is nothing in particular about this I've been easily able to find, except that they seem to date back at least very close to the origin of the building (1910s).

Jmabel | Talk 04:20, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Given my uncertainty, I've put these in a new commons:Category:Unidentified works in the Frederic and Cecilia Cuțescu Storck Museum that does not imply authorship by Frederic Storck. - Jmabel | Talk 04:28, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No one with an idea on any of these? - Jmabel | Talk 19:13, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Georges Jacques Danton

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Block evasion.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

Are there any sites with the full biographies of their two sons Antoine (1790-1858) and François Georges (1792-1848)?

An article in French can be found here. You'll need to access it through a library. Their basic biographical details are also available on various genealogy sites, but I expect you're looking for more than just that. Xuxl (talk) 16:02, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Can you search for others? Thank you. 87.5.237.18 (talk) 16:08, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 7

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Why did Pippi Longstocking end up never getting married in her adulthood?

[edit]

AKA her actress, Inger Nilsson. A lot of suitors would admire famous actresses and trample on each other to have a chance to court them, so a lot of actors and actresses end up getting married, but how come Pippi's actress never got married nor had kids after growing into an adult? --2600:100A:B032:25F0:1D7A:CC5D:1FC2:21E2 (talk) 06:17, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know for certain that she wasn't/isn't married and/or has children? If so, from what source?
Some actors do not choose to make their private life public, so perhaps she was/is and does, and if not, many people (including my elderly single self) are simply not interested in getting married and/or having children. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.211.243 (talk) 11:37, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
She's still among the living, so maybe you could find a way to contact her, and ask her that nosy question. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots12:24, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If she really could "lift her horse one-handed", I suspect even male fellow equestrians would be very wary suitors. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:35, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As an adult, she has chosen to keep her private life private.[4] So be it. --136.56.165.118 (talk) 19:48, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect that famous actresses actually try to avoid suitors that admire famous actresses. They don't want to marry someone who is in love with a fake public persona created by the PR department of a studio. Not only actors and actresses, but also a lot of bakers, chemists, dentists, engineers and so on do end up getting married. Being famous does not help.  --Lambiam 13:05, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I imagine she particularly would not welcome suitors who admired her as a preteen. —Tamfang (talk) 20:47, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 8

[edit]

Petosiris of Arabia

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The rendering of פטסרי as Petosiris seems to take inspiration from the far-flung. Is this the same name? If osiris is Osiris, what's the pt pt? Temerarius (talk) 22:49, 8 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The source to which this is cited has throughout Peṭosriris. However, the transcription of Briquel-Chatonnet has pṭsry. Roche states the name means « qu’Osiris a donné ».[5]  --Lambiam 18:33, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I may be mistaken, but wouldn't « qu’Osiris a donné » require פת?
Temerarius (talk) 03:39, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 9

[edit]

Tribes and inceldom

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One common saying in incel subcultures is that women are "programmed" to only have relationships with the 20% top men. This appears to be consistent (o at least not contradicted by) this phrase in the polygamy article: "More recent genetic data has clarified that, in most regions throughout history, a smaller proportion of men contributed to human genetic history compared to women."

Then again, while I've heard of modern tribes with weird marriage practices (for example the Wodaabe or the Trobriand people) I've never heard of tribes where 70% of men die virgins. Is there any tribe/society where something like that happens? (I realize that modern tribes are by definition different to Paleolithic tribes)90.77.114.87 (talk) 13:51, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

From what I've read in the past, it seems that hunter-gatherer cultures over the last 50,000 years ago probably tended to be mildly polygynous -- that is, certain men, due to their personalities and demonstrated skills, managed to attract more than one woman at a time into a relationship with them. (Usually a small number -- some men having large numbers of wives is associated more with agricultural civilizations, and women there could often have less freedom of choice than women in hunter-gatherer groups.) Everybody of both sexes is likely to be most attracted to high-status individuals, but under hunter-gatherer conditions, women also need help with child-rearing, which factors into their mating strategies. AnonMoos (talk) 14:19, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
P.S. Under the classic anthropological band-tribe-chiefdom-state classification system (on Wikipedia, covered in the vaguely named Sociopolitical typology article), most historical hunter-gatherer cultures were "bands", while the Wodaabe and Trobriand people sound more like "tribes". AnonMoos (talk) 14:26, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Worth remembering, though: who has "sanctioned" relationships is not necessarily equivalent to who actually has sex. - Jmabel | Talk 19:15, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It has been said (in mammals at least) that each 5% difference in mass for males means that their harem (zoology) has one more female. The sexual dimorphism#Humans article says that human males are 15% heavier that the females (previously I had heard 20%), suggesting that the harem-holder has three mates (or 4, if the 20% is correct). But this does not mean that 75% of human males never had sex. Firstly, holding a harem is a dangerous, short term job if other animals are any guide, with the harem master regularly killed or overthrown. Secondly, in current polygynous human cultures and in polygynous animals, there is a huge amount of cheating. Evidence from animals shows that when females cheat, they are statistically more likely to produce offspring from that mating than from a mating with their main male. Abductive (reasoning) 11:09, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's doubtful that there were commonly "harems" at any stage of human evolution which is very relevant to modern human behavior. Gorillas have moderate harems of often around 3 or 4 females (as opposed to elephant seals, which commonly have a harem size in the thirties). Robust Australopithecines may have been similar, but modern humans are not descended from them. What we know about attested hunter-gatherer societies strongly suggests that during the last 50,000 years or so (since Behavioral modernity) the majority of men who had wives had one wife, but some exceptional men were able to attract 2 or 3 women at a time into relationships. Men having large numbers of wives (real harems) wasn't too feasible until the rise of social stratification which occurred with the development of agriculture. AnonMoos (talk) 16:50, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How do we know that? Because the same evidence is that prior to 50,000 years ago, humans did have harems. Abductive (reasoning) 20:22, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Where can we find this evidence?  --Lambiam 08:31, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A Recent Shift from Polygyny to Monogamy in Humans Is Suggested by the Analysis of Worldwide Y-Chromosome Diversity. Abductive (reasoning) 14:53, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Scattering in US elections

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What does scattering mean in the context of US elections? Examples: 1944 United_States presidential election in California#Results 1886 United States House of Representatives elections#Mississippi. Searching mostly produces Electron scattering, which is not the same thing at all! Is there (or should there be) an article or section that could be linked? Cavrdg (talk) 14:32, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If you click on the source for Frederick G. Berry in the 1886 election, then on Scattering on the following page, it says it's for those with "No Party Affiliation". Clarityfiend (talk) 14:44, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Presumably from the phrase "a scattering of votes" (i.e. for other candidates than those listed)... AnonMoos (talk) 15:52, 9 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect that the intended word is "smattering". Cullen328 (talk) 09:12, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 11

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Shopping carts

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Where were the first shopping carts introduced?

Both articles agree it was in 1937 in Oklaholma. I believe that Humpty Dumpty is more likely, but some high quality sources would be useful. TSventon (talk) 11:55, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to be a matter of some dispute, but Guide to the Telescoping Shopping Cart Collection, 1946-1983, 2000 by the Smithsonian Institution has the complex details of the dispute between Sylvan Goldman [of Humpty Dumpty] and Orla Watson. No mention of Piggly Wiggly, but our article on Watson notes that in 1946, he donated the first models of his cart to 10 grocery stores in Kansas City.
The Illustrated History of American Military Commissaries (p. 205) has both Watson and Goldman introducing their carts in 1947 (this may refer to carts that telescope into each other for storage, a feature apparently lacking in Goldman's first model).
Scalable Innovation: A Guide for Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and IP Professionals says that Goldman's first cart was introduced to Humpty Dumty in 1937.
Make of that what you will. Alansplodge (talk) 13:30, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Absolutely. I remember that the power lift arrangement mentioned in the Smithsonian's link was still an object of analysis for would-be inventors in the mid-sixties, and possibly later, even though the soon to be ubiquituous checkout counter conveyor belt was very much ready making it unnecessary. Couldn't help curiously but think about those when learning about Bredt's rule at school later, see my user page, but it's true "Bredt" sounded rather like "Bread" in my imagination. --Askedonty (talk) 15:33, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
On Newspapers.com (pay site), I'm seeing shopping carts referenced in Portland, Oregon in 1935 or earlier, and occasionally illustrated, at a store called the Public Market; and as far as the term itself is concerned, it goes back to at least the 1850s. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots15:18, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
But perhaps referring to a cart brought by the shopper to carry goods home with, rather than one provided by the storekeeper for use in-store? Alansplodge (talk) 16:14, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Alansplodge, Askedonty, and Baseball Bugs: thank you for your help, it seems that the Harvard Business Review is mistaken and the Piggly Wiggly chain did not introduce the first shopping baskets, which answers my question. The shopping cart article references a paper by Catherine Grandclément, which shows that several companies were selling early shopping carts in 1937, so crediting Sylvan Goldman alone is not the whole story. TSventon (talk) 17:22, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Lilacs/flowers re: Allies in Europe WWII

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At 53:20 in Dunkirk (1958 film), British soldiers talk about [paraphrasing] 'flowers on the way into Belgium, raspberries on the way out', and specifically reference lilacs. I imagine this was very clear to 1958 audiences, but what is the significance of lilacs? Is it/was it a symbol of Belgium? Valereee (talk) 21:40, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's just that the BEF entered Belgium in the Spring, which is lilac time. DuncanHill (talk) 22:04, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are contemporary reports of the streets being strewn with lilac blossom. See here "Today the troops crossed the frontier along roads strewn with flowers. Belgian girls, wildly enthusiastic, plucked lilac from the wayside and scattered it along the road to be torn and twisted by the mighty wheels of the mechanised forces." DuncanHill (talk) 22:26, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ah! That would explain it, thanks! Valereee (talk) 16:14, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 12

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The USA adding a new state

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If my understanding is correct, the following numbers are valid at present: (a) number of Senators = 100; (b) number of Representatives = 435; (c) number of electors in the Electoral College = 538. If the USA were to add a new state, what would happen to these numbers? Thank you. 32.209.69.24 (talk) 06:30, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The number of senators would increase by 2, and the number of representatives would probably increase by at least 1. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots09:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thus, to answer the final question, the minimum number of Electors would be 3… more if the new state has more Representatives (based on population). Blueboar (talk) 13:54, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In the short term, there would be extra people in congress. The 86th United States Congress had 437 representatives, because Alaska and Hawaii were granted one upon entry regardless of the apportionment rules. Things were smoothed down to 435 at the next census, two congresses later. --Golbez (talk) 14:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Let me re-phrase my question. (a) The number of Senators is always 2 per State, correct? (b) The number of Representatives is what? Is it "capped" at 435 ... or does it increase a little bit? (c) The number of Electors (per State) is simply a function of "a" + "b" (per State), correct? Thanks. 32.209.69.24 (talk) 21:12, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As I understand it, it is indeed capped at 435, though Golbez brings up a point I hadn't taken into account -- apparently it can go up temporarily when states are added, until the next reapportionment. --Trovatore (talk) 21:21, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest that (b) would probably depend on whether the hypothetical new state was made up of territory previously part of one or more existing states, or territory not previously part of any existing state. And I suspect that the eventual result would not depend on any pre-calculable formula, but on cut-throat horsetrading between the two main parties and other interested bodies. {The poster formerly nown as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.211.243 (talk) 21:21, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nope, it's capped at 435. See Reapportionment Act of 1929. (I had thought it was fixed in the Constitution itself, but apparently not.) --Trovatore (talk) 21:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, one other refinement. The formula you've given for number of electors is correct, for states. But it leaves out the District of Columbia, which gets as many electors as it would get if it were a state, but never less more than those apportioned to the smallest state. In practice that means DC gets three electors. That's why the total is 538 instead of 535. --Trovatore (talk) 21:58, 12 December 2024 (UTC) Oops; I remembered the bit about the smallest state wrong. It's actually never more than the smallest state. Doesn't matter in practice; still works out to 3 electors for the foreseeable future, either way, because DC would get 3 electors if it were a state, and the least populous state gets 3. --Trovatore (talk) 23:23, 12 December 2024 (UTC) [reply]

December 13

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economics: coffee prices question

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in news report "On Tuesday, the price for Arabica beans, which account for most global production, topped $3.44 a pound (0.45kg), having jumped more than 80% this year. " [6] how do they measure it? some other report mention it is a commodity price set for trading like gold silver etc. what is the original data source for this report? i checked a few other news stories and did not find any clarification about this point, they just know something that i don't. thank you in advance for your help. Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 01:32, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Gryllida, they seem to be talking about the "Coffee C" contract in the List of traded commodities. The price seems to have peaked and then fallen a day later
thanks. i see the chart which you cannot link here. why did it peak and then drop shortly after? Gryllida (talk, e-mail) 04:08, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Financial markets tend to have periods of increase followed by periods of decrease (bull and bear markets), see market trend for background. TSventon (talk) 04:55, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

source for an order of precedence for abbotts

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Hi friends. The article for Ramsey Abbey in the UK refers to an "order of precedence for abbots in Parliament". (Sourced to an encyclopedia, which uses the wording "The abbot had a seat in Parliament and ranked next after Glastonbury and St. Alban's"). Did a ranking/order of precedence exist and if yes where can it be found? Presumably this would predate the dissolution of monasteries in england. Thanks.70.67.193.176 (talk) 06:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The abbots called to parliament were called "Mitred Abbots" although not all were entitled to wear a mitre. Our Mitre article has much the same information as you quote, and I suspect the same citations. The only other reference I could find, also from an encyclopedia;
Of the abbots, the abbot of Glastonbury had the precedence till A.D. 1154, when Pope Adrian IV, an Englishman, from the affection he entertained for the place of his education, assigned this precedence to the abbot of St. Alban's. In consequence, Glastonbury ranked next after him, and Reading had the third place.
A Church Dictionary: A Practical Manual of Reference for Clergymen and Students (p. 2)
Alansplodge (talk) 21:47, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Sources differ on the order. There is a list published in 1842 of 26 abbots as "generally ... reckoned" in order here
The Church History of Britain Volume 2 (p.182) TSventon (talk) 22:15, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are the proposed Trump tariffs a regressive tax in disguise?

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I'm wondering if there has been analysis of this. The US government gets the tariff money(?) and biggest chunk will be on manufactured goods from China. Those in turn are primarily consumer goods, which means that the tariff is something like a sales tax, a type of tax well known to be regressive. Obviously there are leaks in the description above, so one would have to crunch a bunch of numbers to find out for sure. But that's what economists do, right? Has anyone weighed in on this issue? Thanks. 2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E (talk) 08:58, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There have been many public comments about how this is a tax on American consumers. It's only "in disguise" to those who don't understand how tariffs work. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots11:34, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I'll see what I can find. Do you remember if the revenue collected is supposed to be enough for the government to care about? I.e. enough to supposedly offset the inevitable tax cuts for people like Elon Musk? 2601:644:8581:75B0:0:0:0:327E (talk) 22:36, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Import duties are extremely recessive in that (a) they are charged at the same rate for any given level of income; and (b) those with less income tend to purchase far more imported goods than those with more income (define “more” and “less” any way you wish). Fiscally, they border on insignificant, running an average of 1.4% of federal revenue since 1962 (or, 0.2% of GDP), compared to 47.1% (8.0%) for individual income tax and 9.9% (1.7%) for corporate tax receipts.DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 22:52, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Curious about your point (b); why would this be? It seems to me that as my income has risen I have probably bought more stuff from abroad, at least directly. It could well be that I've bought less indirectly, but I'm not sure why that would be. --Trovatore (talk) 00:02, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
More like, those with less income spend a larger fraction of their income on imported goods, instead of services. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:48, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Trovatore, most daily use items are imported: toothbrushes, combs, kitchenware, shopping bags. Most durable goods are imported: phones, TVs, cars, furniture, sporting goods, clothes. These items are more likely to be imported because it is MUCH cheaper / more profitable to make them abroad. Wander through Target, Sam's Club, or Wal-Mart and you'll be hard pressed to find "Made in America" goods. But, in a hand-crafted shop, where prices have to reflect the cost of living HERE, rather than in Bangladesh, prices soar. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 19:13, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Um, sure, but surely it's a fairly rare person of any income level who spends a significant portion of his/her income on artisanal goods. --Trovatore (talk) 06:03, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
PiusImpavidus, Every income strata (in America) spends far more on services than on goods. Services tend to be more of a repeated purchase: laundry (vs. washing machine), Uber (vs. car), rent (vs. purchase), internet (vs. books), etc. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 19:17, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ron A. Dunn: Australian arachnologist

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For Ronald Albert Dunn (Q109827858) I have given names of "Ron. A.", an address in 1958 of 60 Mimosa Road, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia S.E. 9 (he was also in Carnegie in 1948) and an uncited death date of 25 June 1972.

He was an Australian arachnologist with the honorifics AAA AAIS.

Can anyone find the full given names, and a source or the death date, please? What did the honorifics stand for? Do we know how he earned his living? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:54, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pigsonthewing Have you tried ancestry.com? For a start
A scan of the 1954 Carnegie electoral roll has
  • Dunn, Ronald Albert, 60 Mimosa Road, S.E. 9, accountant
  • Dunn, Gladys Harriet I, 60 Mimosa Road, S.E. 9, home duties
I can't check newspapers.com, but The Age apparently had a report about Ronald Albert Dunn on 27 Jun 1972 TSventon (talk) 14:49, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. I don't have access to the former, but that's great. AAA seems to be (member of the) Association of Accountants of Australia: [7]. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:18, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I accessed Ancestry.com via the Wikipedia Library, so you should have access. Newspapers.com is also available via the library if you register, which I haven't. An editor with a Newspapers.com account would be able to make a clipping which anyone could access online.
I agree AAA is probably the Australian Society of Accountants, a predecessor of CPA Australia. They merged in 1953 (source) so the information would have been outdated in 1958. AAIS could be Associate [of the] Amalgamated Institute of Secretaries (source Who's Who in Australia, Volume 16, 1959 Abbreviations page 9). TSventon (talk) 16:48, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Last time I tried, Ancestry wasn't working for WP-Lib users. Thank you again. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:50, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There is a phabricator problem about loading a second page of results. My workaround is to try to add more information to the search to get more relevant results on the first page of results. TSventon (talk) 21:03, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Or perhaps someone at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request could help? Alansplodge (talk) 12:35, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
They already have at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request#The Age (Melbourne) 27 June 1972. TSventon (talk) 12:42, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 15

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Schisms and Byzantine Roman self-perception

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Did the three schisms between Rome and Constantinople tarnish Rome's reputation to the degree that it affected the Byzantine self-perception as the "Roman Empire" and as "Romans"? Including Constantinople's vision of succession to the Roman Empire and its notion of Second Rome. Brandmeistertalk 15:34, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Various maneuverings in the middle ages (including the infamous Fourth Crusade) certainly gave many Byzantines a negative view of western Catholics, so that toward the end some frankly preferred conquest by Muslims to a Christian alliance which would involve Byzantine religious and political subordination to the European West (see discussion at Loukas Notaras). But the Byzantines generally considered themselves to be the real Romans, and called themselves "Romaioi" much more often than they called themselves Greek (of course, "Byzantine" is a later retroactive term). AnonMoos (talk) 17:09, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think these religious schisms had nothing to do with the secular political situation. In 330, before Christianity became an established religion that could experience schisms, Constantine the Great moved the capital of the unitary Roman Empire from Rome to the city of Byzantium and dubbed it the New Rome – later renamed to Constantinople. During the later periods in which the Western and Eastern Roman Empire were administered separately, this was not considered a political split but an expedient way of administering a large polity, of which Constantinople remained the capital. So when the Western wing of the Roman Empire fell to the Ostrogoths and even the later Exarchate of Ravenna disappeared, the Roman Empire, now only administered by the Constantinopolitan court, continued in an unbroken succession from the Roman Kingdom and subsequent Republic.  --Lambiam 10:48, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In Ottoman Turkish, the term روم (Rum), ultimately derived from Latin Roma, was used to designate the Byzantine Empire, or, as a geographic term, its former lands. Fun fact: After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmet the Conqueror and his successors claimed the title of Caesar of Rome, with the Ottoman Empire being the successor of the Byzantine Empire. IMO this claim has merit; Mehmet II was the first ruler of yet another dynasty, but rather than replacing the existing Byzantine administrative apparatus, he simply continued its use for the empire he had become the ruler of. If you recognize the claim, the Republic of Turkey is today's successor of the Roman Kingdom.  --Lambiam 12:01, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Ottomans basically continued the Byzantine tax-collection system, for a while. AnonMoos (talk) 23:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Foreign Presidents/Heads of State CURRENTLY Buried in the USA

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How many foreign presidents are CURRENTLY buried in the USA? (I am aware of previous burials that have since been repatriated) For example, In Woodlawn Cemetery in Miami, FL, there are two Cuban presidents and a Nicaraguan president.

Are there any other foreign presidents, heads of state, that are buried in the USA? Exeter6 (talk) 17:54, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I know, all 4 of the presidents of the Republic of Texas are buried in Texas, which is currently in the US. Blueboar (talk) 18:04, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Andrés Domingo y Morales del Castillo was President of Cuba in 1954-55 and died in Miami. Not sure where he's buried though.
Also Anselmo Alliegro y Milá (President of Cuba for a few hours on January 1, 1959) similarly went to Florida and died there.
And Arnulfo Arias, ousted as President of Panama in the 1968 Panamanian coup d'état, died in Florida (a pattern emerging here...)
Alansplodge (talk) 19:28, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For ease of reference, the Woodlawn Cemetery in question is Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum, housing:
  1. Gerardo Machado, president of Cuba from 1925 to 1933
  2. Carlos Prío Socarrás, president of Cuba from 1948 to 1952
  3. Anastasio Somoza Debayle, president of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972, and from 1974 to 1979 (not to be confused with his father Anastasio Somoza García and brother Luis Somoza Debayle, both former presidents of Nicaragua, buried together in Nicaragua)
GalacticShoe (talk) 20:09, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Searching Findagrave could be fruitful. Machado's entry:[8]Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots21:45, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Polish prime minister and famous musician Ignacy Paderewski had his grave in the United States until 1992. AnonMoos (talk) 07:32, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I guess not current, though... AnonMoos (talk) 01:12, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
You can find some with the following Wikidata query: [9]. Some notable examples are Liliʻuokalani, Pierre Nord Alexis, Dương Văn Minh, Lon Nol, Bruno Carranza, Victoriano Huerta, and Mykola Livytskyi. Note that Alexander Kerensky died in the US but was buried in the UK. Unfortunately, the query also returns others who were presidents, governors, etc. of other than sovereign states. --Amble (talk) 19:09, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suppose we should also consider Jefferson Davis as a debatable case. And Peter II of Yugoslavia was initially buried in the USA but later reburied in Serbia. He seems to have been the only European monarch who was at one point buried in the USA. --Amble (talk) 00:13, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Manuel Quezon was initially buried at Arlington. DuncanHill (talk) 00:20, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
And of course I should rather think that most monarchs of Hawaii are buried in the USA. DuncanHill (talk) 00:27, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If burial was the custom there. (I'd guess it was, but I certainly don't know.) --142.112.149.206 (talk) 02:50, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Royal Mausoleum (Mauna ʻAla) answers that question with a definitive "yes, it was". Cullen328 (talk) 22:04, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Antanas Smetona was initially buried in Cleveland, but then reburied elsewhere in Ohio. --Amble (talk) 06:36, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To be specific, All Souls Cemetery in Chardon according to Smetona's article. GalacticShoe (talk) 06:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There are a number of Egyptian mummies in US museums (List of museums with Egyptian mummies in their collections), but I can't find any that are currently known to be the mummy of a pharaoh. The mummy of Ramesses I was formerly in the US, but was returned to Egypt in 2003. --Amble (talk) 22:47, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 17

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Geographic extent of an English parish c. 1800

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What would have been the typical extent (in square miles or square kilometers) of an English parish, circa 1800 or so? Let's say the median rather than the mean. With more interest in rural than urban parishes. -- Avocado (talk) 00:05, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

There were tensions involved in a unit based on the placement of churches being tasked to administer the poor law; that was why "civil parishes" were split off a little bit later... AnonMoos (talk) 01:11, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Avocado As a start the mean area of a parish in England and Wales in around 1832 seems to have been around 5.6 square miles.
Source The Edinburgh Encyclopædia Volume 8. It also has figures by county if you are interested.
Thank you -- that's a starting point, at least! -- Avocado (talk) 13:14, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
But regionally variable:
By the early nineteenth century the north-west of England, including the expanding cities of Manchester and Liverpool, had just over 150 parishes, each of them covering an average of almost 12,000 acres, whereas the more rural east of the country had more than 1,600 parishes, each with an average size of approximately 2,000 acres.
OCR A Level History: Britain 1603-1760
Alansplodge (talk) 21:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
On the contrary , in England , which contains 38,500,000 statute acres, the parishes or livings comprehend about 3,850 acres the average; and if similar allowance be made for those livings in cities and towns , perhaps about 4,000.
An Essay on the Revenues of the Church of England (1816) p. 165
The point about urban parishes distorting the overall average is supported by St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate for instance, that had a parish of only 3 acres (or two football pitches of 110 yards by 70 yards placed side by side). [10] Alansplodge (talk) 21:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, that's great info -- ty! I can't seem to get a look at the content of the book. Does it say anything else about other regions? -- Avocado (talk) 23:24, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The OCR book doesn't mention other regions. I have found where the figure of 10,674 came from: page 112 of the 1816 essay has a note that Preliminary Observations ( p . 13. and 15. ) to the Popu-lation Returns in 1811 ; where the Parishes and Parochial Chapelries are stated at 10,674 . The text of page 112 says that churches are contained in be-tween 10 , and 11,000 parishes † ; and probably after a due allowance for consolidations , & c . they constitute the Churches of about 10,000 Parochial Benefices, so the calculation on p.165 of the 1816 essay is based on around 10,000 parishes in England (and Wales) in 1800 (38,500,000 divided by 3,850). TSventon (talk) 01:40, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The primary source is Abstract of the Answers and Returns Made Pursuant to an Act Passed in the Fifty-first Year of His Majesty King George III, Intituled, "An Act for Taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and of the Increase Or Diminution Thereof" : Preliminary Observations, Enumeration Abstract, Parish Register Abstract, 1811 and the table of parishes by county is on page xxix. TSventon (talk) 01:46, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

When was the first bat mitzvah?

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Bar and bat mitzvah has a short history section, all of which is about bar mitzvah. When was the first bat mitzvah? What is its history? Zanahary 01:52, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To be clear, I am more asking when the bat mitzvah ritual became part of common Jewish practice. Zanahary 01:53, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Parts from Google's translation of he:בת מצווה:
As early as the early 19th century, in the early days of Reform Judaism, confirmation ceremonies for boys and girls began to be held in which their knowledge of the religion was tested, similar to that practiced among Christians. It spread to the more liberal circles of German Jewry, and by the middle of the century had also begun to be widespread among the Orthodox bourgeoisie. Rabbi Jacob Etlinger of Altona was forced by the community's regulations to participate in such an event in 1867, and published the sermon he had prepared for the purpose later. He emphasized that he was obligated to do so by law, and that Judaism did not recognize that the principles of the religion should be adopted in such a public declaration, since it is binding from birth. However, as part of his attempt to stop the Reform, he supported a kind of parallel procedure that was intended to take place exclusively outside the synagogue.
The idea of confirmation was not always met with resistance, especially with regard to girls: the chief rabbi of the Central Consistory of French Jews, Shlomo Zalman Ullmann, permitted it for both sexes in 1843. In 1844, confirmation for young Jews was held for the first time in Verona, Italy. In the 1880s, Rabbi Zvi Hermann Adler agreed to the widespread introduction of the ceremony, after it had become increasingly common in synagogues, but refused to call it 'confirmation'. In 1901, Rabbi Eliyahu Bechor, cantor in Alexandria, permitted it for both boys and girls, inspired by what was happening in Italy. Other rabbis initially ordered a more conservative event.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the attitude towards the bat mitzvah party was reserved, because it was sometimes an attempt to imitate symbols drawn from the confirmation ceremony, and indeed there were rabbis, such as Rabbi Aharon Volkin, who forbade the custom on the grounds of gentile laws, or who treated it with suspicion, such as Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, who in a 1950s recantation forbade holding an event in the synagogue because it was "a matter of authority and a mere vanity...there is no point and no basis for considering it a matter of a mitzvah and a mitzvah meal". The Haredi community also expressed strong opposition to the celebration of the bat mitzvah due to its origins in Reform circles. In 1977, Rabbi Yehuda David Bleich referred to it as one of the "current problems in halakhah", noting that only a minority among the Orthodox celebrate it and that it had spread to them from among the Conservatives.
On the other hand, as early as the beginning of the twentieth century, rabbis began to encourage holding a Bat Mitzvah party for a daughter, similar to a party that is customary for a son, with the aim of strengthening observance of the mitzvot among Jewish women.
 --Lambiam 11:23, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! Surprising how recent it is. Zanahary 21:51, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 18

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