Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Welcome to the miscellaneous section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

June 14

Share of informally employed by country of the world

Hello, where is the data on the share of informally employed in all countries of the world in dynamics by year from as early a period as possible? Thank you in advance. Vyacheslav84 (talk) 10:44, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

Your question makes no sense. What do you mean by "informally employed" or "dynamics"? Anyway you might like to start by referring to Employment-to-population_ratio#Employment-to-population_ratio_in_the_world and follow relevant links from there. Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:17, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

Informal employment redirects to Informal economy. See also Gig worker and Precariat.  --Lambiam 22:00, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

You should dig around this page from the International Labor Organization and see if you can find what you're looking for. Xuxl (talk) 14:17, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

Note that the definition has not been consistently applied the same way in different countries and has been subject to revision and refinement, which may make comparisons somewhat iffy.  --Lambiam 22:13, 14 June 2023 (UTC)

Thank you so much, I'll take a look! --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 18:49, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Bear in mind that the concept of informal employment includes the very strong likelihood that such employment is undocumented (no tax paid, no insurance), and hence outside of statistical databases. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 06:06, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

The ILO is aware of the issue, which is why they have issued an extensive statistical manual on "Measuring Informality".  --Lambiam 08:31, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Thank you so much, I'll take a look! --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 18:47, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

June 15

Are these part of UK?

Are UK overseas territories, such as Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Pitcairn part of the United Kingdom, like Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion, Mayotte and French Guiana are part of France? I don't like that the flags of the five aforementioned French overseas departements have no official status, unlike UK overseas territories flags. Are there any instances of French overseas departments' flags shown with theeitories' names in English Wikipedia rather than French flag. I also don't like that the overseas departements are too closely tied with France. --40bus (talk) 20:56, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

@40bus: The difference is in your post, overseas territories versus overseas departments. Overseas departments and regions of France says: "They have exactly the same status as mainland France's regions and departments." It's like Hawaii which is one of 50 US states with exactly the same status as the 49 mainland states. A French overseas collectivity has a different status. The British Overseas Territories "do not form part of the United Kingdom itself". PrimeHunter (talk) 21:12, 15 June 2023 (UTC)

Since the OP doesn't like it, where should they go to complain? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:16, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

The government of France. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:45, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I don't like that the residents of UK overseas territories are not allowed to vote in the UK general elections and cannot freely relocate to Great Britain and take a job there. The residents of the overseas regions of France can vote in the legislative elections in France and can freely move to mainland France.  --Lambiam 09:07, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Since 2002 almost all British Overseas Territories citizen also hold British citizenship and so do have the right to live and work in the UK. The right is not, however, reciprocal. DuncanHill (talk) 09:21, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

The advantage of the British over the French system is that territories can decide to become independant whenever they want; for example Belize which was granted independence in 1981. Gibraltar is a special case; it can only choose to remain British or be returned to Spain because of the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (in a 2002 referendum, 99% of Gibraltarians voted to stay British). Alansplodge (talk) 21:25, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

June 17

Check the source

Good afternoon! In the article https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00172091 says "This hypothesis has a longish history, dating back at least to Leibenstein (1957)." and "Leibenstein H (1957) Economic backwardness and economic growth. Wiley, New York". How do you check the existence of these theses in that source, if it is not on the Internet? Thank you in advance. Vyacheslav84 (talk) 08:40, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

This book? (You can search it without borrowing it.) I don't know what I'd do, if it wasn't on the internet. In principle there are libraries of physical books and librarians who could be convinced to check things for you, if you wanted to go to the trouble of contacting them. That's probably the way. Or another option would be to buy an old copy and resell it later, but this requires a certain dedication to checking facts. I see the page you provided also has a link to Google Scholar.

One quote from the book:

We distinguish among three types of utility to be derived from an additional birth and two types of cost. The types of utility are: (1) the utility to be derived from the child as a "consumption good," namely, as a source of personal pleasure to the parents; (2) the utility to be derived from the child as a productive agent, that is, at some point the child may be expected to enter the labor force and contribute to family income; and (3) the utility derived from the prospective child as a potential source of security, either in old age or otherwise.

There's more like this on subsequent pages. I recommend a search for "old age" (in quotes).  Card Zero  (talk) 12:01, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Thank you, but there are only 14 pages. --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 16:51, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Depending on where you live you may also have the option to lend it through your library even if they do not themselves have a copy. In some countries public libraries cooperate through a system where one library can request a book from another library for a limited time. You have to pay a fee and it may take a few days (or even weeks depending on availability), but it may still be cheaper than to buy the book. Some libraries also offer to send you a scan or copy of short sections of books for a fee; as with the first option you usually have to be a member/user of a different library in the same system.

Also, Wikipedia has a system where volunteers with access to good libraries help other users to get sources they need for their work on Wikipedia articles: WP:WikiProject_Resource_Exchange/Resource_Request-- Random person no 362478479 (talk) 13:55, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Thank you! --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 16:51, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Small 'inconsistency'

Hello. If you look at the link on the page below, where the nationality of people born in the UK is described, you can read before the 'breakdown' of the three constituent Nations, that most people of white ethnicity born in Britain prefer to put their national identity first despite being British citizens. However, I want to focus on England alone; if most white people call themselves 'English', why under the heading of England alone is everything 'turned on its head', so that most people tend to call themselves British instead of English? Perhaps the white population is not taken into account or is it in the minority in that particular context? Thank you very much. http://projectbritain.com/nationality.htm 93.41.98.58 (talk) 19:58, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

First let's be clear, this is the work of one Mandy Barrow of Woodlands Junior School. Barrow may be an expert, or may just be someone trying to help 6 year-olds out; whatever the case, the site has no relationship with Wikipedia. Mathematically her claims are just possible. Of the 60 million living on the island, "most" could be as little as 31 million. If all the Scots and Welsh prefer Scottish and Welsh, then than would mean 25 million English prefer "English" and 31 million "British". As I said, mathematically possible but absolutely no authoritative sources are quoted and the "facts" are dubious in the extreme. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 20:35, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

National identity, England and Wales: Census 2021 from the Office for National Statistics says:

In England:

*15.3% of people selected an "English" only identity (a decrease from 60.4% in 2011)

*56.8% of people selected a "British" only identity (an increase from 19.2% in 2011)

*72.1% of people (40.7 million) selected either an "English" only or "British" only identity (a decrease from 79.6%, or 42.2 million, in 2011)

*14.3% of people selected both "English" and "British" identity (an increase from 9.1% in 2011)

It suggests that the decrease in those identifying as "English" only, might have been because "British" had been moved to the top of the list on the census form issued in England. Make of that what you will.

However, the assertion that "most people of white ethnicity born in Britain prefer to put their national identity first" is obviously just plain wrong.Alansplodge (talk) 21:26, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

No Sex Please, We're British. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:27, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Package shipping

I want to ship a 15 pound box (containing mostly clothes) from California to New York. It is not fragile and delivery is not urgent. The contents won't fit in a USPS flat rate package ($22.80) and the online price calculators for random boxes that weight at USPS, UPS Ground, Fedex etc. are all $60+. That seems pretty crazy since I can get a plane ticket for around $120 with a bit of advance planning. Any suggestions of a cheaper way to ship? Greyhound apparently stopped doing package delivery a year or so ago. USPS Media Mail would be around $13. This box doesn't qualify as media, but that rate shows how gouged the other prices are. Thanks for any ideas. 2601:644:8500:C9F0:0:0:0:38B4 (talk) 21:53, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Exact destination and package size will determine your cost. I just did a quote check at ups.com for a medium size package to Buffalo NY from Beverly Hills CA and it is showing $18.15 for ground shipping. This is for the flat rate shipping that is up to 50 pounds. Going to a larger box is $24.55. It likely varies depending on the source and destination address, so you may just want to talk to someone there on the phone directly to get some assistance. RudolfRed (talk) 22:45, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Yes, the large flat rate box is about 0.5 cubic foot which is too small for these bulky clothes. Alternatives seem to cost a fortune. I have indeed been using shipping calculators that take the src and dst addresses, weight, and dimensions. I haven't talked to anyone on the phone yet but I guess I can try. I was hoping for "try XYZ discount shipping at [url]" or something like that. I know big online stores can't pay nearly as much for shipping as USPS/UPS/etc claim to charge. 2601:644:8500:C9F0:0:0:0:38B4 (talk) 23:51, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

Added: this looks promising, 1 cubic foot for $26.05. This didn't show up through normal navigation on the UPS site or their rate calculator. I found a mention of it through a wider web search. I think I can pack the stuff I want to send into 1 cubic foot. 2601:644:8500:C9F0:0:0:0:38B4 (talk) 00:24, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

See if splitting it into multiple smaller packages is cheaper. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 04:55, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

The comparison with a plane ticket is somewhat flawed: with a bit of advance planning, your ticket will be cheaper than average. At $120, it's barely enough to cover the fuel cost (around 100 litres/passenger). You are self-loading cargo, your package isn't. Last mile delivery is also quite labour intensive. The driver of the van with medium packages spends several minutes handling your package only. A smaller package (as suggested above) may put it in a different van, handling far more packages per hour. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:16, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

June 18

Burger King doesn't sell regular cheeseburgers and hamburgers separately now?

Is this a well-known thing, or is my local BK just being weird? The only way to get your basic hamburger or cheeseburger is as part of a kids' meal - they said they don't sell them separately any more! Seriously - they actually have them in stock but straight up refused to sell me one on its own the other day. Utterly bizarre. Iloveparrots (talk) 16:19, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Probably depends on your country/region/franchise. Still on the menu and available in the UK. Nanonic (talk) 16:37, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

If they're jerking you around, ask for the manager, and tell them you'll spend your money at McDonald's henceforth. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:26, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

I don't think the staff member was messing with me for the sake of it - she said that there wasn't even an entry on the till system for a single basic cheeseburger and therefore couldn't sell me one. Very weird. Iloveparrots (talk) 20:25, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Burger King May Have Secretly Discontinued These Menu Items (March 2022) describes the deletion of several items (mostly salad) from US Burger King menues, but no mention of regular hamburgers. Alansplodge (talk) 21:08, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

Have you tried any other BK's in your region? Maybe it's just that one store. Years ago, McD's used to sell what was called a "double cheeseburger". They eventually took it off the menu so they could promote Quarter Pounders and Big Macs and such. But you could still get a double cheeseburger. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:36, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

You can order double cheeseburgers and double hamburgers on Canadian order kiosks. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:44, 18 June 2023 (UTC)

June 19

Color conversion formula with respect to sea temperature.

The climate chapters of some articles have templates for sea temperature, for example New York City, Detroit, and Tromsø, Norway. But I don't know what is the formula for converting the input temperature value to the output color value? Fumikas Sagisavas (talk) 04:01, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

I can't figure it out either. This seems to be user:D.Nino doing something idiosyncratic. They are color values put directly into tables. Template:Weather box, on the other hand, uses Module:Weather box/colors. It would be logical to make use of that, but here's what I get if I input the sea temperature values for New York City, January to July:

5.44.34.57.311.418.122.3

This doesn't match. The high value is orange alright (too orange, I think) but the low value isn't blue.

I thought maybe it's some simple gimmick like subtracting a value, so I tried subtracting 29:

5.44.34.57.311.418.122.3

This still doesn't match. I guess there's a formula where the input value is multiplied by something, and then something is subtracted, and then the result is fed into the Lua to get the color value.

On closer inspection, I don't think it's possible to get the color used there for June (#FFE9A1) using the Lua color_t function: it hasn't got enough blue in it. The color_t function produces something like #FFE9D4 as the closest match. So I don't know what function's being used, maybe it's only an imitation of the color_t function.

However, multiplying by 3 and subtracting 45 gives results which are close (I included August this time):

5.44.34.57.311.418.122.323.4

Pretty much as required apart from the 18.1 (June) color value.

By the way, I had trouble understanding how _temperature_color() works until I learned that .. in Lua means string concatenation. So it's in three stages: first it chooses the two hex digits for R, then it appends the G, then it appends the B.  Card Zero  (talk) 14:58, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Why should Detroit have a "sea temperature" template? Detroit is located on a freshwater river, hundreds of miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Cullen328 (talk) 18:00, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Change it to say water temperature then. Lots of places are on water but not on the ocean, there's no need to say a river isn't important enough for the climate box when the information is available. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:01, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

It makes sense for the color to be different cause the range is smaller. Even the saltiest ocean water (which is usually the hot, dry inland parts like Israel in summer) would get ice crust by about minus 2C and the coldest possible NaCl brine is -21.1C while a weather station has seen minus 89.2C. In non-hurricane desiccating zones the sea has (so far) never been much above 30 and anywhere in the world has only been about as hot as a male rectum (hot desert sea). I don't know what's the record hot lakewater, riverwater or water body in general temp but since water has more thermal inertia than land and air and cools and humidifies any nearby desert it's probably not even 54C (which has happened in air). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:40, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Hope this helps:

	function hex( $value )
	{
		return sprintf( "%02X", $value );
	}


	function range_pos( $value, $start, $stop )
	{
		if ( $start < $stop )
		{
			if ( $value < $start )
			{
				return 0;
			}
			elseif ( $value > $stop )
			{
				return 1;
			}
			else
			{
				return ( $value - $start ) / ( $stop - $start );
			}
		}
		else
		{
			if ( $value < $stop )
			{
				return 1;
			}
			elseif ( $value > $start )
			{
				return 0;
			}
			else
			{
				return ( $start - $value ) / ( $start - $stop );
			}
		}
	}


	function sea_color( $val )
	{
		$item       = "";
		$background = "";
		$text_color = "";
		if ( $val < 17 )
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, 0, 17 ) * 255;
			$background = hex( $item );
		}
		else
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, 60, 30 ) * 255;
			$background = hex( $item );
		}
		if ( $val <= 17 )
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, 0, 17 ) * 255;
			$background = $background . hex( $item );
		}
		else
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, 30, 17 ) * 255;
			$background = $background . hex( $item );
		}
		if ( $val < 17 )
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, - 17, 0 ) * 255;
			$background = $background . hex( $item );
		}
		else
		{
			$item       = range_pos( $val, 20, 17 ) * 255;
			$background = $background . hex( $item );
		}
		if ( $val <= 7 OR $val >= 27 )
		{
			$text_color = "FFFFFF";
		}
		else
		{
			$text_color = "000000";
		}
		return array (
			"#" . $background,
			"#" . $text_color
		);
	}


list( $background, $text_color ) = sea_color ( $val );

Note: temp ( $val ) is in C

--D.Nino (talk) 21:14, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

@D.Nino: In addition, can you create a watertemperature template, you can refer to the weatherbox template, because I don't know the Lua language. Thanks! Fumikas Sagisavas (talk) 09:51, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

In addition, a distinction needs to be made between fresh water temperature (rivers, lakes) and sea water temperature. Fumikas Sagisavas (talk) 09:52, 20 June 2023 (UTC)

Suspicion of Josef Mengele's alleged death

Mengele's name was mentioned several times during the Nuremberg trials in the mid-1940s, but the Allied forces believed that he was probably already dead. Irene Mengele and the family in Günzburg also alleged that he had died. Working in West Germany, Nazi hunters Simon Wiesenthal and Hermann Langbein collected information from witnesses about Mengele's wartime activities. In a search of the public records, Langbein discovered Mengele's divorce papers, which listed an address in Buenos Aires.

This whole story sounds odd to me. Why would the allied forces have assumed he was dead? Viriditas (talk) 08:44, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Have you followed up the citation in the article and read the reference work to which the statement is sourced? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 46.65.228.117 (talk) 09:22, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

Posner & Ware 1986a, pp. 76, 82. It says Mengele's father and spouse convinced the American authorities he was dead. The author argues that the case stopped there. The author also goes on to say that a former employee of Mengele's, Dr. Gisella Perl, a gynecologist at Auschwitz, tried desperately to convince the authorities of Mengele's many crimes, but was mostly ignored by US authorities. This lack of communication seems to have contributed to the failure of the counsel at Nuremberg to cross-check reports of his death, attributed to a mistaken finding of an official in the Locator and Apprehension Branch in Nuremberg, which was relayed to the US--all of which is attributed by the author to the combined efforts of Mengele's father and spouse. It sounds quite far-fetched, that an important Nazi asset like Mengele was assumed dead without any serious verification, and blamed on his family. Very odd. Viriditas (talk) 09:59, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

You find this far-fatched, as it happens, I don't: both are personal reactions. I have no referenced facts, but I see the aftermath of WW2 as a time of chaos, confusion, and greatly overstretched human and organisational resources, where it would be quite understandable for harrassed officials to accept allegations, no less credible than many others they were dealing with, at face value and move onto the next nightmare.

Mengele's case later assumed greater significance precisely because he was belatedly perceived as having slipped through the net, and because the nature and extent of his crimes had become more apparent, but at the time he was just one more on a very long list of alleged and actual, alive and dead, possibly alive and probably dead, war criminals. Dealing with them was, of course, not unimportant, but in most individual and goverment minds probably had less priority than rebuilding shattered national economies and infrastructures, and dealing with millions of refugees and other displaced persons. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 46.65.228.117 (talk) 07:24, 21 June 2023 (UTC)