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April 30

law

I need a template to respond a legal motion — Preceding unsigned comment added by 166.147.123.17 (talk) 01:01, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

We can't offer legal advice or help, and the form to reply with will be different in each jursidiction. Ask the clerk of the court for the form. Or, try Nolo, they offer some legal forms. Or ask your lawyer. RudolfRed (talk) 01:42, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

"Nolo" here meaning Nolo.com (Nolo Press), a US publisher of legal self-help books. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 10:03, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, thanks. I should have been more clear on that. RudolfRed (talk) 15:09, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

There will be no form nor template to answer a motion. See a lawyer.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:07, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Doctorate from a British University

John Swindale Nanson Sewell (born 1904) was awarded a doctorate degree(Ph.D.) by a British University, almost certainly, during the 1940s. Apart from having to write to every British University, can a user please suggest how I can find out from which University he received his doctorate? Thank you. Simonschaim (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:28, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

It isn't exactly conclusive, but this page might interest you. Looie496 (talk) 05:48, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you Looie. Although Sewell received a B.A. in 1939 and an M.A. in 1942 both from T.C.D, this university, who made a thorough search, could find no record of his receiving a Ph.D from them. In the 1950s he received a baccalauréat ès lettres from the Sorbonne. Simonschaim (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:17, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

You wouldn't have to write to every current British university, only the ones in existence in the 1940s, a much smaller list. I'm not sure how many of them offered the PhD then, perhaps not all of them. 194.81.199.46 (talk) 15:13, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you Simonschaim (talk)

Running a Background check

I need to run a background check (mainly for criminal activity) on two people (in the US). How can I find a reliable service to do that? A Google search turns up a lot of them. However, Criminal records in the United States says "The NCIC (National Crime Information Center) is one such database. Generally, with a very few exceptions, the records compiled by the federal government are not made available to the private sector. Some private re-sellers claim to offer an NCIC record search. In most cases, these claims are fraudulent. " so I'm worried about getting a fraudulent one. How can I get a reliable one? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:30, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Can you ask the NCIC for a list of companies that are authorized to run a search on your behalf? Obviously, they are unlikely to recommend a specific company, but given a list of authorized accessors, you can then use your own judgement to narrow down the field. CS Miller (talk) 21:32, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

That same article says that private investigators can search court records for criminal history. So, you don't need NCIC access to conduct a criminal background check. RudolfRed (talk) 22:47, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, but court records probably apply only to a small jurisdiction. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 00:02, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Some or maybe many contracting companies run background checks before they'll hire you. Have you talked to any H.R. offices for some tips? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:20, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Which towns have/had mayors of the same name?

For example, has has someone named Gary been mayor of Gary, Indiana? (Nope.) Or has a Charles or Jones run a Charleston or Jonestown? Basically just looking for a list of notable instances of this sort of thing. Preferably English-sounding names, but no matter where. More interested in current mayors, if you'd like to prioritize. Not looking for towns that are named for their mayor or founder. Just (apparent) coincidences. It's a big question, I guess. No expectations of an exhaustive list (unless you want to), but at least five instances would be nice. Of course, I'm not paying you, so whatever's good! InedibleHulk (talk) 20:28, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Start at Category:Lists of mayors. Have fun. --Jayron32 20:33, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, but isn't this where I come to have questions answered for me? Not trying to sound rude or entitled, just thought this was the point. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:38, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, this is where you get help answering questions. If I had to answer the question you wanted answered, I would start combing through Lists of Mayors at Wikipedia. You can find all of them starting at Category:Lists of mayors. Sorry to be so helpful. I'll try to do worse next time. --Jayron32 20:39, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

No, helpful's good. So is prompt. That's why I said thanks. Don't let the "but" fool you, it was sincere. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:42, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

I spot several men named "Thomas" (First name) at List of mayors of St. Thomas, Ontario. --Jayron32 21:02, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Walter Washington was the first mayor of Washington, D.C.. --Jayron32 21:05, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Charles Robinson, Jr. was a mayor of Charlestown, Massachusetts. --Jayron32 21:11, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone, Lord Mayor of London EamonnPKeane (talk) 10:36, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Sir Alfred Barrow was mayor of Barrow. JMiall₰ 11:49, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I know it's not relevant, but I just have to mention Wolfgang Wolf, former mananger of VfL Wolfsburg.Dalliance (talk) 22:01, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

Alfred Salisbury-Jones, 1928-29, Mayor of Salisbury, UK Richard Avery (talk) 15:01, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, people! That's enough for me, if you'd like to stop. But if you wouldn't, don't. That Wolfgang Wolf bit is pretty cool, as well. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:06, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Stefan Sofiyanski is a former mayor of Sofia. His family name indicates his origin - "from Sofia" (see Bulgarian name, #Family names, #Suffixes). --Theurgist (talk) 05:34, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

May 1

Limit

Is there a limit to the amount of kilobytes wikipedia can host? Or limitless? Pass a Method talk 13:29, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Please read WP:NOTPAPER. The answer is "of course" since there is not an infinite amount of storage space in the universe. However, Wikipedia is not currently in any danger of running out of storage space, and one of the Wikimedia Foundation's primary jobs is keeping it that way. So, yes there is a limit, no we're never going to reach it because if we get close, it can be raised as often as needed. --Jayron32 13:42, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Fortunately the issues that Wikipedia faces are orders of magnitude less severe than the issues that a site like Youtube faces. A single media file can easily take up more space than thousands of text files. The images stored on Commons are probably the most taxing thing, but even so, in the broad scheme of things there are not that many of them. Looie496 (talk) 16:20, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

(The English) Wikipedia is one website that runs the mediawiki software; this is a collection of front-end (user-facing) PHP scripts, a set of back-end scripts, both of these talk to an instance of mysql, which is a database program. I don't know what limit mysql places on a database, but it's probably in the exabyte range, and not even large RAID sets are that big. For reference, the current size of the English wikipedia database is 42Gigabytes. This includes all the talkpages, userpage, project pages (like this one), and their histories, and some of the images. CS Miller (talk) 16:23, 1 May 2013 (UTC). Redacted 42GB includes talk pages and history, as Jaron32/JIP pointed out, I was mistaken. CS Miller (talk) 10:37, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Only 42 gigabytes? That could easily fit on my personal hard drive. It would take me about a day or two to download all that information. Are you sure it includes everything in Wikipedia itself, including the actual articles and their histories? I imagine it would exclude all image files. JIP | Talk 20:08, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Size of Wikipedia has some information. If printed, Wikipedia would occupy about 1781 volumes of 8,000,000 characters each. At 1 byte per character, that's 1781*8,000,000 = 14,248,000,000 bytes. If you use 1 decimal gigabyte = 10⁹ bytes, that's 14.248 gigabytes. If you use 1 binary gigabyte = 1,073,741,824 bytes that's 13.26 gigabytes. Now, that's just article text. If you include all the other namespaces AND all of the past revisions we're getting a LOT bigger. I'll look to see if I can find what the latest estimate for that is; that is if it is really 42 gig. I suspect it's a lot bigger than that, but I am not sure until I find the reference. --Jayron32 20:20, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Here we go. According to Wikipedia:Database download the size of the full, uncompressed database of English Wikipedia is 42 gigabytes. --Jayron32 20:22, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

It says "current revisions only". I image it excludes page histories. A dump including all the histories could easily extend to several terabytes, or am I imagining things? JIP | Talk 20:25, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

The text itself is pretty tiny - but the photographs and diagrams completely dwarf that 42Gbyte number. A little thought experiment is the key to understanding that number. Pretty much every word here is typed by someone at some time. We have about 100,000 regular editors - so you can see that typing in 42Gbytes requires something like a half million keystrokes per editor...and that's assuming that we never revert, re-edit or delete...which we do A LOT! So it's not entirely unreasonable that the text is so very small. It's in the nature of how fast mere humans can type. But pictures are another matter entirely. SteveBaker (talk) 21:08, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

"Pretty tiny" compared to what, Steve? And "so very small" compared to what? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 06:09, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Pretty tiny compared to pictures. That is, the number of bytes dedicated to storing the text of Wikipedia is much smaller than the number of bytes dedicated to storing the pictures that illustrate that text. For just one example, File:Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange.jpg, which is on the main page right now, has a full resolution version which takes up 2.75 Mbytes. That means that single picture, used to illustrate one article, takes up about 1/3 of a "volume" as noted above. That is, the space dedicated to saving the full-resolution version of one image from one article would occupy 1/3rd of a standard-sized volume of a print encyclopedia. At that rate, the entire text of Wikipedia would the same space as a mere 5,300 images or so. English Wikipedia (NOT including images at Commons transcluded here) is already storing 931,426 files (most of which are images, though a tiny number are sound files and other media). Throw in the fact that Commons stores another 16,851,454 available for use at Wikipedia (the vast majority of images used in articles are transclusions from Commons) and you start to see the scale of the issue. --Jayron32 12:35, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Pretty tiny compared to a typical modern hard drive (2,000 Gbytes)...or compared to a typical Blu-Ray DVD (50 Gbytes)...or compared to the amount of stuff on my PC's hard drive right now (90 Gbytes)...or compared to the size of Wikipedia WITH the pictures (Not sure - but it was over 400Gbytes in 2007 and the number of articles here has grown by about two and a half times since then...so probably over 1,000 Gbytes by now)...or compared to the number of digits of pi that have been computed (10,000 Giga-digits)...or to the size of the human genome (1 Gbyte)...or to the estimated memory capacity of a human brain (100 Gbytes). 42 Gbytes just isn't that much these days.

It's likely that the whole of Wikipedia - including talk pages, old revisions and all of the pictures - would fit on a single $170 four terabyte hard drive. Put another way, the company that hosts my web pages would charge me less than $20 a month to host a Wikipedia mirror for me.

Add a Raspberry Pi computer, a touch-screen and a battery - and you could hold the whole thing in the palm of your hand for less than the cost of a decent cell-phone. The temptation to write "DON'T PANIC" in large, friendly letters on the back would be almost overwhelming!

The technical difficulty with "storing" wikipedia isn't the volume of data - it's the bandwidth and fault-tolerance that's needed to host one of the ten most popular websites on the planet. SteveBaker (talk) 12:42, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for explaining those relativities and what was in your mind. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:15, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Coffee and cognac

How am I supposed to drink coffee and cognac served together? One first and the other later, or take sips of both in turns, or pour the cognac into the coffee? JIP | Talk 19:26, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

It's up to you, of course, but coffee is often more critical in terms of temperature. If it's too hot when served, I'd start on the cognac, then switch to the coffee when it cools adequately, and try to finish it of before it gets cold, then switch back to the cognac. StuRat (talk) 19:51, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

There is no wrong way to do it. You do whatever tastes good to you, seems appropriate, and makes you the happiest. If someone thinks ill of you for whatever you choose to do, they've proven themselves an idiot whose opinion doesn't matter anyways. --Jayron32 20:10, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

If you're looking to fit in, look around at what other people are doing. If you're drinking to get drunk (or just want the extra room), mixing both in one cup seems practical. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:14, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

OK, thanks! So far I've been sipping both in turns. Mixing them doesn't seem like a bad idea - the last time I had Irish coffee, I felt that everything tasted wonderful: the coffee, the whisky, and the cream. One woman once asked me to get her an alcohol-free Irish coffee. The barmaid asked me what exactly is an alcohol-free Irish coffee. I told her that it is otherwise like a normal Irish coffee, but simply skip pouring any whisky into the drink. The woman who asked me for the drink was satisfied with her drink. JIP | Talk 20:20, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm reminded of the breadless sandwich, and its legendary cousin, the foodless sandwich. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:27, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

We have an article about a song about loveless love, goal-less goals, milkless milk, and silkless silk. Edison (talk) 21:55, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

In the UK, it's called a "floater coffee", usually for the one who is driving home! Alansplodge (talk) 15:42, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Hmmm... If you're a guest and you are served a glass of Cognac and coffee, it would be rather insulting to your host to dump it in your coffee, the inference being that it's too rough to drink on its own. Conversely, it might also be a taken as a sign that you don't appreciate good brandy. Of course, if you've paid for it yourself and you're not trying to impress anybody, then do what you like, as Jayron suggests. Alansplodge (talk) 23:42, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Good point. You need to take into account the quality of the drink - you probably don't want to pour a fine cognac into a coffee, if only out of respect. I once was at a very nice Italian restaurant in Tuscany (while cycling from Florence to Sienna), and a bigshot in his bigshot cabrio with the bigshot blonde bombshell ordered the five course menu, got the best (or rather most expensive) bottle of red wine from the cellar, and then proceeded to smoke a bigshot cigar with his meal and wine. He was not popular with the owner or the staff of the place, regardless of tip. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 11:06, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

See "The Man Who Lit His Cigar Before the Royal Toast" by H. M. Bateman. Similar outrage can be caused in Scotland by buying a 12 year-old single malt whisky, and then adding Coca-cola. Quelle horreur! Alansplodge (talk) 15:36, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

A friend of mine has a very fine collection of old single malts. And a magnum bottle of Jim Beam for certain people and their unholy mixers... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:16, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Or Tesco Everyday Value Whisky would fit the bill - "as rough as a badger's arse" allegedly ;-) Alansplodge (talk) 23:23, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

I take it the bigshot in question caused disapproval by lighting his cigar first by drowning the taste of his five-course meal and wine in his cigar smoke, and second by forcing others to inhale his cigar smoke when they had preferred the aroma of their own meals? It's a good thing that smoking inside public restaurants in Finland has been forbidden for the past seven years. JIP | Talk̃

According to Smoking in Italy, it was banned there in 2005. Alansplodge (talk) 23:26, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Checking the conference I was cycling to, it was IJCAR 2001 in Siena. More to the point, it was a lovely summer day, and everybody was sitting outside on the patio. I think it was more the "fine wine and food will be wasted" kind of disapproval. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:16, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

It depends on the event. If you expect there to be speeches and toasts, hang on to the cognac to drink the toasts. If you're at a restaurant or a private dinner, just drink them separately. I'd advise against mixing them; a brandy that is good for drinking neat should not be wasted making liqueur coffee. AlexTiefling (talk) 13:47, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

I'd just mix them and enjoy! But then, I am Canadian . . .

99.250.103.117 (talk) 03:32, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Probably why I suggested it, too. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:17, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

TOGETHER, QUICKLY. THEN, RECKLESS ABANDON. Shadowjams (talk) 07:40, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

May 2

Pitch detector

Where can I find a free (online) pitch detector? -- Ypnypn (talk) 00:48, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Does Electronic tuner help? I didn't see a free online one after a quick read. Some of the blue wikilinks may link to them though.--Canoe1967 (talk) 00:55, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

http://instrument-tuner.software.informer.com/ Found some.--Canoe1967 (talk) 01:00, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! -- Ypnypn (talk) 01:31, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Space Debris Removal

Hi,

I've presented this question at least 5x's to various organization's an met with just red tape that eventually turn's to, "We don't know who?"

Its a simple question that I ask, "Whom can have scrap right's to the space debris that no one wants in Space? Not only is it useless but it can pose definite threat's! An when I present the case to whom ever I get nowhere. I have the capacity to REMOVE it with the exception of any nuclear powered engines or anything that contain's nuclear waste or material in it. An the fight rages on between the various group's that do know its a threat but nothing ever gets done!

I want the salvage right's to the stuff that (no one wants) its simple. Yet impossible to get an answer to this question only very strange looks. EVERYONE AN ANYONE DOESN'T WANT IT YET NOTHING SEEMS TO BE DONE TO GATHER IT. I will gather it up an scrap the material simply put. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Scrapper11 (talk • contribs) 18:03, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi. Thank you for your question. Unfortunately, we aren't able to give legal advice - which is what this question boils down to. Nevertheless, you may find some useful information through Googling 'Space salvage laws' or similar terms. For instance, this article, "Space Junk and the Law of Space Collisions". - Cucumber Mike (talk) 18:17, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

What are you talking about? Have you tried even just googling "space junk cleanup"? Pretty much ALL the articles are about how something desperately needs to be done and ideas of how it could be acheived. I have absolutely NO doubt that if you actually had a viable plan, you'd be winning grants and sponsorships and salvage rights without ANY problem. The far more likely scenario however is that you just don't understand why this is such a hard problem. It costs a LOT of money to launch space ships and the "scrap" you'd like to salvage, of which there are tens of thousands of pieces by the way, won't cover anything close to a meaningful fraction of your operating costs. Vespine (talk) 23:05, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Well, if you are talking about the value for selling off the items as scrap, then yes, I agree. However, some items, like intact but dead satellites, might go for millions of dollars to the appropriate museum or collector. StuRat (talk) 05:52, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

But even if true for some items, I don't see that would significantly affect Vespine's final comments. Nil Einne (talk) 04:31, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Why not just salvage some of the junk and see if anyone even notices! If someone does notice and then takes you to court, you could set a precident! 99.250.103.117 (talk) 03:31, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

If you actually could do this and make a profit my guess is most of the owners would be willing to pay you a bit more to gather junk that might otherwise not be worth your while. Otherwise they are very likely to be fully liable for any damage their junk causes. There may be some bits that people would want to control like spy satellites but really most of the junk satellites up there have no value from the strategic point of view that I know of and use out of date technology. Even for spy satellites I'd guess the owners would just like to be able to pick it up immediately once it is retrieved. Dmcq (talk) 10:24, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

By the way what I'd like eventually instead of just removing the junk by burning it in the earth's atmosphere or dumping it in the oceans, is to have an automated orbiting recycling and manufacturing plant where the bits are directed to. There's lots of refined materials in the junk and producing simple bits from them for bulk structures should be possible and possibly some small bits can be reused. Dmcq (talk) 10:57, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

For our original poster, to be brutally honest, your claims are very hard to believe. If you aren't already affiliated with some large space-related business or a national space agency - then it's entirely reasonable that nobody wishes to discuss your idea with you. Those are busy people - and you simply don't come across as a credible, professional expert in the field...I don't mean to insult or demean you - but that is most certainly the impression you give.

The problem here is that once you're up there in orbit, the economics are entirely different than they are here down on earth. Down here, exotic metals are very expensive and bricks are not. Up there in orbit, the horrific cost of getting something into orbit in the first place means that bricks and lumps of solid gold with identical mass have very similar costs! But then we run into the extreme difficulty of building anything like an orbiting factory that could consume a scrap brick or a scrap lump of gold - and turn it into something that someone would want up there in orbit.

Recycling things in-orbit and leaving them in orbit is therefore an entirely different set of economics than collecting scrap in orbit and returning it to earth. I strongly suspect that the cost to fly a mission to collect scrap by far exceeds the value of that scrap down here on earth...but if you could find a way to collect scrap in orbit and use it for some good purpose up there - then perhaps you're on to something.

To that end, it has been suggested that if satellites were made by combining standardized modules (like Lego bricks for Satellites), then it would be possible to have robotic craft that could be employed to dismantle a failed satellite and to store all of the modules that DIDN'T fail (which is probably all but one of them!). It would then be able to use those standardized parts to repair other satellites. It could also be given the ability to de-orbit unrepairable failed modules.

SteveBaker (talk) 14:51, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Well I'd have thought all the mass must be usable for something if it could be made safe if only as a shield.. Mass is the expensive thing to send up, not the intelligent little components. An ion rocket that could turn anything into a gas even little bits of metal would be good too. Dmcq (talk) 11:54, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I see the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket is already going towards having the sort of characteristics I'd want - not the highest efficiency but long life and able to handle most any stuff as fuel. Dmcq (talk) 13:46, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I once had an idea about attaching a very strong and large net to very long, strong and extendible legs. It would be like straining fish from a stream. Seemed like a good (but crazy expensive) idea, till I realized the Earth (and any giant nets on it) moves at the same speed as the junk. So I wouldn't recommend that, if that was your idea, too. I hope not. But I would guess the legal owners are still the people who owned them when they weren't junk. There are no laws in space, but once you bring it back to Earth, the old rules apply. InedibleHulk (talk) 16:30, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

To the OP: if you wish to be taken seriously with organizations that you believe could properly answer your questions, it's important to make sure your writing is clear, proper and coherent. While we are able to work out what you want (you may not be a native English user), other organizations may toss your correspondence on first glance with all the grammatical errors. Normally I wouldn't comment on this, but it's important to be aware that such things do matter when trying to present a case. Mingmingla (talk) 19:23, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I understand that there are pretty clear laws covering the rights of finders to claim Flotsam and Jetsam. Part of the answer to this question would relate to whether such laws also apply in space (or whether anyone has proposed that they should, or shouldn't.) HiLo48 (talk) 04:40, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I once heard that when they built the George Massey Tunnel a gold miner staked a claim on the sand pile they had dredged out. He didn't work it very much but they were forced to buy him out to use the sand. Could be an urban myth but interesting if true.--Canoe1967 (talk) 23:03, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Turducken origin

Is the origin of this meal American or English? It is listed as an English meal but the article itself seems to indicate a US origin, however it is without sources. Does anybody know the history of this funny meal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.49.33.138 (talk) 21:27, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Did you check our Turducken article? It says that the general idea of stuffing one bird into another has been around since the Romans...and claims to have three references to back that. SteveBaker (talk) 21:56, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

I've never encountered it here in the UK. Not sure who'd want to eat a food whose name begins 'turd'...AlexTiefling (talk) 22:06, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

It's an innovation in the UK promoted by the big supermarket chains, who have wisely avoided the "t" word, going for "three bird roast" instead.[1] The Romans may well have eaten it, but the Romans weren't English. Alansplodge (talk) 23:16, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Come on folks, the turkey is an American bird. Everyone knows Rush Limbaugh both invented the meal and the innovation of deep frying it. μηδείς (talk) 01:11, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

You do also realize it is pronounced terDUCKen, not TURDecken? μηδείς (talk) 08:12, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Of course. But the sound doesn't go away just because it's not stressed. And that pronunciation guide has serious consequences for the pronunciation of the tofu-based alternative... AlexTiefling (talk) 08:36, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Ack, chewally the loke aishin of the sih lubble bough & dairy is vair eeyimp ortant.μηδείς (talk) 01:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

What would that be - tofu stuffed inside a load of tripe and brains, stuffed inside a squid? Where does one go to vomit around here? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 11:28, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I strongly suspect (without wishing to ruin my lunch by checking) that it will involve a layer each of tofu, seitan and tempeh. I love cooking with tofu, but I don't suppose that using it to replicate a turducken will be much less repulsive than the original dead-poultry version. AlexTiefling (talk) 11:46, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

hail seitan Foofish (talk) 14:55, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm torn between repulsive and repugnant. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 11:50, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

But not as torn as a duck that's just been forced to swallow a chicken! SteveBaker (talk) 14:30, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Would that be a ruptured duck? --Carnildo (talk) 01:06, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I nearly choked to death trying not to laugh at a French restaurant when the waiter said the the special of the evening was "a duck stuffed with a mousse." Edison (talk) 01:29, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Maybe they bought their supplies from these people. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 01:35, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

And the show has reached a new low. Shadowjams (talk) 07:27, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

May 3

Factual information

How do I give you factual information? It's taken me hours to get here, so I have zero interest in editing myself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by LstrmCloser (talk • contribs) 07:24, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

If someone understands the statement "It's taken me hours to get here" please let us know, I feel it would be essential to understanding the content of the question.--Lgriot (talk) 08:33, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I interpret it as meaning "Here, to a place on Wikipedia where I can actually ask a question and stand some chance of getting an answer". In which case, my response is:

If you are unable or unwilling to edit an article directly, but have a link to a reliable source which could be used to enhance that article, edit the talk page, and make a short, polite request for other users to update the article; be sure to include a link to the source you would like to see used. Please be aware that we're all volunteers, so it my take some time for people to respond. Please also be aware that if the source is not reliable, or does not provide verifiable facts relevant to the subject of an article, your request may declined with varying degrees of politeness or bluntness by other users. If there isn't yet an article on your topic of interest at all, please begin at Requested Articles. Thank you for wanting to help enhance Wikipedia! AlexTiefling (talk) 11:07, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

To answer the question, go to the Talk Page of the article that you have information about (click on the "Talk" tab at the top left corner of the article). Click on "New Section" and type in your information exactly as you have done here. To be included, it will need to be referenced by some kind of published material (book, magazine, newspaper, website) which you need to tell us about. Then you need to wait for a kindly editor to put it in the article for you, if they think that it's relevant and notable. Alansplodge (talk) 11:16, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

And to get to that article in the first place, type its name in the Search box above and press Go. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 11:24, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Problem With Downloading a PDF Version of "The Constellation E-Book"

Hi Wikipedia Staff...My Name is John White & my e-mail address is: (email address removed)... The question I have is that I am unable to download the e-book as titled above from your site. I have followed these steps with the following results: 1). Attempted to download the PDF file numerous times and I reach approximately 92% and I get a "Render Error" Code... 2). I am "logged" in as a "user/member"... 3). The book "contents appears to load fine, then the "License Pages" start at about 85%+/-, then continues until 91% and "change"...Then I get the "Render Error" script response with a page of data... 4) The last line of the error code reads: "rendering 91.1784361773% rendering in function system, file /home/pp/local/lib/python2.6/site-packages/mwlib/nslave.py, line 64"... Is there something I should do to remedy this???...My intent is to use it only for my private studies and will not be sharing it the file with anyone... Your assistance regarding this matter would be much appreciated...

Thx Much...And you all are doing a "Fantastic Job" with respect to Wikipedia!!!

Respectfully, John White IV...(email address removed) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jwhite888 (talk • contribs) 08:23, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I have removed your email address to protect against spammers - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:34, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Hi John. Thanks for your kind words about Wikipedia.

As I understand your problem, you are trying to download our article Constellation as a PDF by clicking Download as PDF in the left-hand menu. Apologies if I've got the wrong end of the stick.

I've just tried to replicate the error, but it worked perfectly for me. Therefore I've saved the PDF elsewhere, and you can access it here. I'll try to keep the file online for a day or two, but please try to download it sooner rather than later. Let me know if you have any problems. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:47, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Mozilla Archive Format ¦ Reisio (talk) 12:00, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Can you explain that a little more, Reisio? I've read the article a couple of times, but I don't really see the connection. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:02, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Why rely on a server corrupting HTML into PDF when you can save the HTML directly. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:30, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Gotcha. Thanks. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 07:08, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure this is a misunderstanding of the problem. Constellation is a commercial service that creates e-books for publishers. The OP is probably referring to some specific e-book, but unfortunately there is no way of figuring out which one or where the OP is trying to download it from. There is a facility in Wikipedia for creating e-books (go to the main page and look for "create book" in the left column), but as far as I know it doesn't have anything to do with Constellation. Looie496 (talk) 15:37, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I thought that, but the OP seems to know they're at Wikipedia, and the process described does seem to be mostly similar to the 'Create book' process here. I've left a message on his talk page - guess we'll just have to wait and see if we get any feedback. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:51, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

I suspect you're right. The error mentioned above also seems to come from the MediaWiki collection extension used to generate PDFs [2]. Nil Einne (talk) 04:22, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

criminal background checks

I would like to know how many years a potential employer can do a background check. I read somewhere that it illegal for them to check back more than seven years,depending on what your applying for. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ricardonartates (talk • contribs) 17:40, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

You can read about your rights as a prospective employee here. uhhlive (talk) 18:18, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

It depends entirely on your jurisdiction. The above link is only valid for the US. Mingmingla (talk) 19:16, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

In the UK, employers who are authorised to obtain CRB checks can find out about any charge or caution (or even suspicion in the case of enhanced CRB checks) right back to the age of criminal responsibility (10 years). For other jurisdictions and employers, the situation will be different, as mentioned above. Dbfirs 12:26, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Airports which only Ryanair flies to

Here in Europe, I'm travelling with Ryanair, which is known for, with a number of exceptions, mainly using secondary airports. However, I was wondering: what are the airports which at present only Ryanair flies to? A quick Google search confirms that there are such cases, although I couldn't find a lot of specific cases or a list of such airports. The closest example I can think of is Rome-Ciampino, which at present only Ryanair and Wizz Air use (I'm not sure if easyJet still flies there, as they did fly there in the past). From what I've read, most of the airports which only Ryanair flies to are very small and serve only one or a few flights, but among the airports where Ryanair is the only airline, which of them are bases or otherwise used for several destinations? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 20:28, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Have you checked out the airports listed at Ryanair destinations? That might help. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 01:07, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I think that's very unlikely. An airport would be disadvantaged by restricting their services to one operator. Being an Irish airline, I would expect any such airport to be in Ireland, but all its Irish airports are used by other airlines.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:05, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I think you'd be looking at a new / newly converted, small airport which is still in thep rocess of attracting airlines. For example, between about 2011-2012 London Southend Airport was a single airline airport, but is now a two-airline airport, and will very soon become a three-airline airport. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 14:38, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

May 4

What is the symbol?

The symbol is here. I saw it a few times and wonder what it is. --Justin545 (talk) 01:55, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

See peace symbol. Dismas|^(talk) 01:57, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! --Justin545 (talk) 02:03, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

As our article says, it's a representation of the letters "N" and "D" in the Semaphore code, for "Nuclear Disarmament". The symbol is actually the logo of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Alansplodge (talk) 08:27, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

It also neatly resembles the footprint of a dove. Ah, the 70s, where are you now? -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 08:38, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Also that of a vulture. They've gotten a bad reputation, but they live in communes, don't mind smelling "natural" and almost never kill to eat. Doves have always struck me as ivory tower types. InedibleHulk (talk) 17:39, May 4, 2013 (UTC)

"Ivory tower" - now you are finally talking my language. Come on down. Or rather, up. Or rather, just keep away and leave me alone. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:12, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

They (the 70s) are in the North Laine, Brighton & Hove. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:12, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it rather got appropriated didn't it. The original CND crowd were often rather earnest middle aged folk in gaberdine mackintoshes, who wouldn't be seen dead without a tie. Alansplodge (talk) 20:02, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Right wing types in those days fancied that it looked like the track of a domestic bird, and said it was, "The sign of the American chicken". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:58, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

And don't forget, the broken upside down cross, therefore a symbol of .....Satan? Gzuckier (talk) 05:26, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Given that CND was founded by an Anglican parson and a Methodist minister, I think that's rather unlikely. Alansplodge (talk) 08:31, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Double Brackets Edit Summary

When placing double brackets around a word what would an appropriate or useful edit summary be? I searched Wikipedia for an answer but could not find one. All I could find was something about "red links" aka WP:RED but what I'm inquiring about is creating "blue links" when placing brackets around a specific word/words. 24.90.154.201 (talk) 04:15, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

If the word I doubly bracketed was 'gizmo', I'd write "linked gizmo". It's as simple as that; that's all you're doing, linking it to an article. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 05:02, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I usually say "wikilinking", but "linking" is fine. Looie496 (talk) 05:16, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Please don't post the same question in multiple places. The help desk is the right place for this question, and it is already posted there. RudolfRed (talk) 05:32, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Jeremy Forrest

What is the current situation regarding Jeremy Forrest, the man who allegedly abducted a British teenage girl last October? This story says his case was listed at crown court on 11 January, but I can find no information on what, if anything, happened in court that day. If he has not yet been tried, when will he be? --Viennese Waltz 06:52, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Googling "Jeremy Forrest" gets lots of results saying that he pleaded not guilty, and one (not RS)says he is currently on remand waiting for his trial to begin. He is also appealing against his extradition from France. Rojomoke (talk) 07:47, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

fundraising

Could I post the same project on both Indiegogo and Kickstarter to increase the number of people that see it and the amount of money we can raise, or is that just 'not done'?

213.104.128.16 (talk) 10:52, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

My guess is that it would violate the TOS of some such sites, but not all. ¦ Reisio (talk) 12:22, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure about Indiegogo - but I don't think it violates Kickstarter rules. I'm posting here as a once-failed, twice-wildly-successful kickstarter veteran myself (my most recent project finished last night after raising 700% of goal and $60,000!). Bottom line is that I'd strongly advise against doing this.

The problem is that these services are not like eBay or Amazon store fronts. They aren't intended to be places to sell things (although they are often used that way). The culture amongst "backers" (we don't call them "customers") is entirely different - and the way that projects become successful is different too.

If you think that these sites are providing free advertising, you're severely misinformed. I assumed that with my first kickstarter - and it failed miserably. Your project will be visible on their front page for less than an hour...and unless you're lucky enough to become a "staff pick", or you are one of those crazy viral million dollar projects, you almost certainly won't appear there again until the last half hour of your campaign.

The way they work is by word of mouth. You have to work hard to get some critical number of people to see the site - then you have to get them sufficiently interested in your project (not your product...your *project*) to make them want to go out there and promote it for you. If you get that right, then a few hundred people will promote the heck out of your project to all of the blogs, forums and social media sites imaginable - and if what you're doing is good - then hundreds more will join in and a snowball effect will deliver all the promotion you could possibly hope for. If your project "goes viral" then magazine and major news sites will pick it up - and yes, you can earn millions of dollars.

But the key here is that you're entirely reliant on your own efforts to get that initial ball rolling - and then you're reliant on those people to get the word out.

By splitting your project over two or more sites, you'll achieve the following:

• You'll halve the number of those initial people at each site. You only have so many friends and family (or whatever) and by dividing their efforts in two, you halve the size of the message going out there. This could easily cause you to fail to reach that "critical mass" of backers that make the project snowball and take off.
• You'll confuse the message. When news of your project reaches these key blogs and forums - people will be confused by the tangle of messages pointing them at different URL's.
• You'll upset the community. These key backers who'll promote you are generally very savvy in their chosen crowd-funding site. If they see that you're double-dipping, they may well give up on you. I know I would!
• Running a Kickstarter (or an Indygogo) project is an insane amount of work...at least if you do it well. For our last projects, my partner and I had to write a significant news item every two days - with meaningful content - and we personally responded to over 600 postings from our backers with over 200 messages, answering their questions, being friendly, joining in their jokes, being amusing, interested and so forth. Doing all of that twice would simply halve your ability to be helpful and responsive...which is death to a small project.
• If you set your goal amounts realistically - then this is the minimum you need in order to achieve your project. By splitting your backers over two sites, you run the risk that you fail to make goal on either of them...or (possibly much worse) you might make the goal on one and fail on the other - getting only half the funding you need, yet still being on the hook to complete the project rewards. That's a very dangerous situation to be in! If you set your goal amounts unrealistically - then your backers will be suspicious because (at least in Kickstarter) you're asked to explain how you'll use the money to start and complete your project. Either way is very bad news.
• Indygogo and Kickstarter are subtly different - but the result is a CONSIDERABLE issue for some kinds of project. In the case of our second Kickstarter, in order to produce our rewards, we had to purchase a $10,000 piece of equipment - give 10% of the funding to Kickstarter and pay postage to ship the rewards (which turns out to be about 20% of our costs). So we had to earn a minimum of $10,000+$2,000+$1,200 (naively)...so we needed a $13,200 minimum. If we fell even $1 short of that, it would be a disaster.
  • Kickstarter was perfect for us because it says that if you fail to make your goal by even $1, you get no money at all and are not obligated to provide rewards. Great! Either we get our money and have a business - or we don't - but we're not in trouble because of doing that
  • .Indygogo gives you whatever money is raised no matter whether you meets your goal or not and if you fail, it requires that you either complete the rewards anyway at whatever personal cost - or that you return the money to your investors yourself...which is bad news because they use PayPal and that service requires you to pay the credit card service fees...so you'll actually have to pay money to PayPal if you fail.

This means that those two sites are best suited to different KINDS of project. Kickstarter is great for starting a new business from scratch...you either succeed or fail - but the price of failure is nothing whatever. You are not taking any risks on board - except that you might screw up your cost estimates or something. Indygogo is better suited to an established business that knows that it can make and sell just one reward and still make a small profit no matter what...so no "goal" is really needed. You can't be both of those things. Savvy backers will notice that and call you out on it.

• You have to become friends with your backers. They need to understand that you're a living, breathing human being - someone they like - and especially someone they can trust. They are taking an considerable risk by backing your project...many projects fail and most people who back multiple projects will eventually hit one that screws them over and never delivers it's rewards. So they are super-careful to check you out. Reputation is everything. Many of them hang out on both Indygogo and Kickstarter - so the news that you're promoting your project on both sites will be known and written about on both sites within a day or two. I strongly suspect that they'll see this as a breach of their trust...rightly or wrongly...and they won't like it, even if you are up-front about it. The viral promotion aspect of these sites would swiftly be poisoned as the news that you're not a nice person (rightly or wrongly) spreads as fast as the news of your product. Bad news travels faster than good...your personal reputation will soon be in the toilet - and not only this project - but every other one you try to launch afterwards will be tainted.
• The terms of service of both Indygogo and Kickstarter allow those sites to kill a project at any time without giving you a reason and with no right of appeal. You accept those terms when you create your project - so you have no legal recourse. When they cancel a project, you lose everything. So if someone at either site doesn't like that you're doing this (and I can certainly see that they wouldn't like it) - they can kill your project stone dead regardless of what their rules say. Worse still, every new project has to be "approved" by them before it gets posted...and after once pissing them off like that, they might never approve another of your projects in the future. These sites are not democracies and they aren't places where you can apply their terms of service like a legal document. They are privately owned and their owners have a perfect right to do what the hell they like. They can (and often do) kill projects without anyone ever knowing why. You're taking a risk here. Once you've had a project killed - your backers will be disgruntled and are going to wonder why - and your personal reputation is in the toilet again - and now you won't be able to start a new project in the future without a great deal of resistance.

So I think that splitting your project is a dumb idea. You won't get twice the backers - but you will get twice the workload. Don't do it. SteveBaker (talk) 13:37, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

perfect answer, thank you. I think in my case kickstarter is the way to go, if I can't get at least the initial costs it all falls apart. though, interestingly as it would be an expansion of an existing idea, the cost of producing and shipping at least some of the rewards is effectively just a slight discount and a different manner of advertising for my existing sales, which so far have only reached a few people. 213.104.128.16 (talk) 15:04, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Again though, Kickstarter won't bring you more than a handful of sales unless you can self-promote it enough to get the ball rolling. We failed to understand that on our first project - and we got about $900 during the hour or so the project was on the front page...then nothing. For our second project - with a very similar product - we teamed with another company who produces complementary products to ours and ran a joint promotional competition. They supplied a 250 person opted-in email list and we donated the prizes. We got about 800 entrants. On the day that the competition finished, we started the kickstarter and used the excuse of announcing the competition winners to send email out to all 800 entrants. Of those, perhaps 50 or so pledged to the project - nowhere near enough to reach our goal - but they liked our pitch and enjoyed interacting with us - and they posted out to several important forums...which brought in more people...which caused more blogs, tweets, reddit's, forums and other social media to notice us. We hit our $12,800 goal in just a few days - and we rolled in about 300% over-goal at $42,000 after 30 days. Once we'd completed shipping all of those rewards, we ran a second kickstarter with a new line of products - but with our good reputation for doing what we promised, we met goal within a few hours - and went about 700% over-goal at $60,500 last night.

So in my experience, it's all about:

• Getting that initial collection of enthusiastic backers.
• Giving them incentives to promote you (eg: If we go 200% over goal, we'll give every backer a free widget! If we go 300% over goal, we'll improve the product by making it out of Kryptonite!). They'll want the free widget and the kryptonite version - so they have an incentive to push out the word.
• Being a nice person who comes across as honest, generous, friendly and generally likeable. People will work for you for free if they like you! Your project video is crucial for that reason...we filmed ours with crappy lighting in our kitchen and ad-libbed the whole thing - but we were funny and "real" and very, very human. People loved that more than a professionally made glitzy video.
• Delivering on every single promise...even if you made it in error or in haste. A corollary to that is be *VERY* careful about what you promise...if you promise every backer a free T-shirt, then expect to get 10,000 backers at the $1 pledge level!

SteveBaker (talk) 15:32, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I didn't read much of the discussion between you and SteveBaker but I would note I agree with SB that it's unlikely the plan violates Kickstarter's TOS per se. I doubt it violates Indiegogo TOS either. Note in the case of KS, there are a large number of people particularly in the video gaming category who have crowd funding campaigns from their own website using PayPal. These campaigns are usually primarily targeted at people who cannot use Amazon (for US campaigns) for whatever reason such as having no credit or debit card but do have access to PayPal funds and that particular reason also applies to UK campaigns. That means most of the campaigns are focused around their Kickstarter efforts. However this isn't universal, for example Star Citizen's campaign started on their website, and their total collected outside when they closed was higher than from KS at the time. Since they've continued their crowd funding efforts after, the amount collected outside KS is now even more. Other projects have done other sometimes controversial things. E.g. while Shroud of the Avatar's fundraising primarily happened on KS, a lot of the discussion was on their website (they also used live video streams and developer chats which were linked from their KS). You may remember I said 'per se' above, the reason for this is because in KS's case and I strongly suspect in Indiegogo's case (whether you use flexible funding or fixed funding), even though neither is intended as a presales platform, you are still required to complete your project and fulfill promised rewards. Again in the KS case, if you fail to, you're supposed to return funds, or at least explain what happened to them. What this means is actually untested AFAIK, there have been a few failures but so far no one have taken the project creators to court. In other words, if you're going to run a campaign on both, consider what you will do if you met your target on one (I'm presuming fixed funding for Indiegogo), but not the other. Will you have enough funds? If you will have enough funds, this means your total collected if both succeed would potentially be double what you need. This may be an issue in that since most people aren't going to back both and there's no guarantee you'll get more exposure or more support (in fact as I think SB has higlighted you could get less), you could end up with both failing when if you'd just run one you would have succeeded because of the split in support. Of course if you don't have enough funds if only one succeeds, your problems are fairly obvious. (In cases where for some reason you don't really need any additional funding, as I presume is the case for Indiegogo flexible funding campaigns, this isn't an issue but bear in mind people may be less likely to support you if they feel they you don't need their money at all or alternatively they may think you are up to no good. In any case, it's important you are honest with your backers and potential backers.) Most projects that accept PayPal outside KS have waited until they've met their goal before opening up PayPal for these reasons. Nil Einne (talk) 21:42, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Good thoughts! I agree that opening up additional ways to *PURCHASE* your product while the Kickstarter is running are just as dubious as running a campaign on two sites at once. Opening up online sales once the Kickstarter is over is something that a LOT of backers ask for though - and we will be doing that, but only for a limited time.

There are really two distinct cases here:

• Projects (like ours) where we have to slowly manufacture the rewards and ship them out as we make them (typically in first-to-pledge is first-to-deliver fashion). The more people pledge and the more widgets we sell, the longer it'll take for those rewards to get done. In this kind of project, backers are justifiably nervous that any business activity whatever outside of Kickstarter will delay the day when they get their rewards. So proudly announcing that you're selling stuff online will just get people upset with you.
• Other projects, such as (say) producing a stage play or writing a book have the exact same delivery date no matter how many people pledge. In that case, nobody should be too concerned if you've found other ways to fund your project outside of Kickstarter because any additional money you get will not make their rewards any worse, or any later.

So in our case, we are VERY careful to specify that making rewards for our backers takes precedence over any other commercial activity. So for our online store, we'll only open it for a few weeks - and orders received that way will go to the back of the queue for our manufacturing process. In effect it's just as if the project had run for a couple more weeks...but we can get started with ordering equipment earlier than if we'd just added two weeks to the Kickstarter project duration.

As for failed projects - or horribly delayed projects...there are a lot of them out there. Some failed because the project owner made stupidly rash promises...others because they simply hadn't thought through the costs of doing what they claimed they'd do. There are a few that were outright fraud...but those are very few indeed. Mostly, backers feel sorry for the project owner - and give them a spectacular amount of leeway...especially if the owner is trying to get rewards out. That's what makes Kickstarter different from just buying things online. As a backer, you are (mostly) getting a new business venture started...you have to be aware that businesses fail - and that project owners are fallible. You actually have to do your homework.

Here are some typical failure modes:

• Here, for example, is a guy who made crazy promises. Several people tried to tell him that what he was doing was unrealistic - but he pushed on with it anyway. Fortunately, he seems to have come to his senses within days of the end date of the project and cancelled it - so nobody lost money - but his backers were less than happy about it.
• Here a guy promised more than he could reasonably achieve. He seems to have spent all of the project funds without completing the work he promised and is now selling stuff to online customers before he's finished sending rewards to all of his backers. Now he's close to a year late on some unknown percentage of his reward shipments. About half of his backers are angry and demanding their money back...the other half are patiently trying to help him get through it. The degree of tolerance and support from these people is amazing given the ineptitude of the project owner.
• This one was an outright scam. The project owner stole pictures from other projects - lied, cheated and generally abused the system - he was almost certainly going to take the money and run. Fortunately, backers noticed before the project ended and Kickstarter pulled the plug on it in time.
• This one seems to be a rather sad case...but it's quite notorious. The project owner contracted a company in China to make his product - and they ran off with his money - and his hugely expensive steel molds - and may even be making his product in competition with him. He tried his best to recover the situation - trying to raise more money to pay for new molds, etc. But in the end, the stress of the situation caused him to suffer some kind of a breakdown. Some of his personal friends came in to try to help him out - and even started manufacturing his reward products with a 3D printer - very, very, slowly. Two years after the project ended, people are gradually getting their rewards...but it'll take many years for the project to complete...if it ever does. It's hard to know what the project owner could have done differently.
• This one - which is still in progress - looks like a complete "no-hoper". The projects owner is trying to sell what looks to be a few bits of foam polystyrene stuck to gether for $100! It's a complete non-starter...
• This one was a case where Apple prevented the project owner from making his cellphone charger gizmo. He earned $140,000 or so - and now has to return that money to his backers. Sadly, Kickstarter took 5% and Amazon credit services took between 3% and 5% - so he's going to be around $14,000 in the red at the end. There is a message for business owners here!

Our own second kickstarter (here) was successful - 300% over-goal - but we badly mis-estimated the time to complete the rewards, and we are finishing with the last shipments about 2 to 3 months late. This is absolutely typical of first-time businesses - around 70% of Kickstarter projects are late in delivering rewards. We were too "gung-ho" about being able to ship sooner just by working harder - but even working 12 to 14 hours a day, we were horribly over-optimistic. However, we were unfailingly honest with our backers - we kept them informed, and we made steady progress. They understood - and not a single one of them complained...that's the nature of the game.

However, in our most recent Kickstarter, we're an established business - seeking to expand our product range and to double our production capacity. I suspect we'll be held to higher standards (and justifiably so) - but with what we learned from the first successful venture, we're being much more hard-nosed about what we're capable of achieving...and reward shipment dates are around 8 months for our last backers. But again, so long as you're open, clear, honest and up-front - backers will understand.

SteveBaker (talk) 15:13, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Caffè latte vs. café au lait

What's the difference between caffè latte and café au lait? --107.207.240.46 (talk) 18:58, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

According to the article Latte, in general it is just two different ways of specifying the same thing. But, in the US, apparently, "au lait" could mean use scalded milk. RudolfRed (talk) 19:03, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

And according to the article Café au lait: ""Café au lait" and "caffè latte" are used as contrasting terms, to indicate whether the beverage is served in the "French" or the "Italian" way, the former being in a white porcelain cup or bowl, the latter in a kitchen glass and always made from an espresso machine, whereas "Café au lait" might be espresso or dark coffee based." Personally, I'd rather have a nice cup of tea, but there's no accounting for taste is there? Alansplodge (talk) 19:54, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

I like how the Dutch call it "koffie verkeerd" (incorrect coffee). If I can ask two follow-ups, what's supposed to be incorrect about it? And is there any evidence that France stole the idea from Italy (or vice versa), à la Flaming Homer? InedibleHulk (talk) 01:42, May 5, 2013 (UTC)

It is likely a play off of the drink caffè corretto ("proper/correct coffee" in Italian), which is a shot of espresso with a shot of liquor. If one substitutes milk for the alcohol, that might well make your "coffee correct" into a "coffee incorrect". -- 71.35.99.144 (talk) 16:04, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Also not to be confused with Café Olé, which I think is Mexican coffee... --Jayron32 04:03, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm surprised that we don't have an article on a proper "milky coffee" - hot milk (microwave or saucepan) with a big spoonful of instant coffee and two or three sugars. Much better than this foreign muck made from beans! Tevildo (talk) 12:06, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Agreed, but it has to be full cream milk ("milk wi' nowt taken out"). Adding sweetened condensed milk makes an even richer drink. Dbfirs 15:40, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Sad, very sad. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 19:50, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

May 5

Facebook Issues--HELP NOW

No matter what I do, I cannot get HUNAN, CHINA off of my FB Likes page. I've Liked and Unliked, logged out and back in, tried to follow up with FB, everything you can think of, but I can't get it off of my page.

I want it OFF !

Can you please help me with this asap?

Sincerely,

Michele D, NJ, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.70.66.61 (talk) 13:59, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like this is something you should be asking on the Facebook support pages...but I find that I have to hover over the picture of the thing I want removed. Click on the checked "Like" text that pops up to "Unlike"...and then (crucially) click the "DONE" box above that section to make it permenant. SteveBaker (talk) 14:18, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

radio issues

supposing I wanted to start setting up a small independent 'radio' station online, I understand that I would need to pay for rights to play most music, does anyone know how much that would cost, or where I would go to enquire about the details of this? 213.104.128.16 (talk) 14:29, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

We need to know where in the world you intend to host this service. The laws on this stuff varies wildy. Also, be aware that we're not allowed to offer legal advice here. SteveBaker (talk) 15:17, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Personally I'd recommend you to investigate setting up through Live365 first. --TammyMoet (talk) 16:54, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

yea, it's broadcast from the UK, and having a look around, it seems I'd need a PPL license? 213.104.128.16 (talk) 19:23, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radio-broadcast-licensing/community-radio/ Sfan00 IMG (talk) 19:49, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

abnormal tryglicerides. and maxalt?

Does maxalt meds cause abnormal tryglicerides? Carol — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hotjag (talk • contribs) 16:36, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

What's abnormal is a personal thing. Hence this is a medical question, and we are unable to help. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 19:48, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Oglaf

Not only does oglaf.com refuse to load for me, I can't see the website in any of the top 20 links in Google search either when I search for "Oglaf". Can someone please explain what might have happened? Has the site been taken down altogether? Or worse, has it been taken down only in India or something? La Alquimista 19:28, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

Works for me, in Canada, with Firefox. So not down altogether. No idea about India. But no, Google doesn't list it for "oglaf" or "oglaf.com" for me. "site:oglaf.com" works for results. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:28, May 5, 2013 (UTC)

is there any site that I can to take advices from the women?

I'm man, and I would like to make a opinion poll of one open question. But I need this question only for women (and I don't care if some men will be there...) and it is needed that will be a lot of answers. Do you know any site that may be suitable for that? מוטיבציה (talk) 21:20, 5 May 2013 (UTC)