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August 27

Why don't more people talk about the 2002 Gujarat violence riots?

My thanks to the fellow above who brought the destruction of the Babri Mosque to my attention. I never heard about the incident before just like, until months ago, I never heard about the riots in Gujarat, which I learned about in a passing reference in a NYT article about bombings in Gujarat. I'm not the only clueless one, many educated Indians I've spoken to living outside of India seemed to have missed this story. I believe I pay very close attention to geopolitics esp. ones involving ethnic animosities. I don't want to sound self-important, but it seems to me that India might be the biggest ticking overlooked time bomb in the world. Is there the possibility of a civil war?

Again, I don't want to sound so self-important so this is not so much a declaration but a discussion prompt. I just want to know more about a region I don't know much about.

Lotsofissues 01:35, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I certainly heard about it and I'm not Indian and don't take much interest there. Why should there be a civil war? they've been there, done that, result Pakistan and Bangladesh. There'll probably be a few more riots too, how long do you want to go on about them compared to Tibet or Georgia or other such places that are more recent and bigger? 86.9.212.205 (talk) 08:12, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

It's harsh to say it, but for many people, things that happen outside their own country aren't important until the media play it ten times a day. There's a quote from somewhere along the lines of "10,000 dead foreigners are only worth 10 dead Americans (replace with whichever nationality is appropriate)", meaning that the importance of a news story isn't necessarily its magnitude but its identifiability. If it's not in the news, people don't think about it. Steewi (talk) 23:36, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Given the demographic balance in India between Hindus and Muslims, it would be an unequal civil war. There already was one, somewhat glossed over here. I knew some people from the families involved in that partition, I believe the Indian term for the migrants is mohajirs, though I can't seem to reference it right now.

If you or anyone else is interested in a wide view of events in the world, I would strongly urge you to subscribe to The Economist magazine. Don't be fooled by the name - it is probably the best available source for wide coverage of world events. After 25 or so years of subscribing, I'd heartily recommend it. Franamax (talk) 00:58, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Live online TV streaming

(I wasn't sure whether this was a computer question or entertainment question, so I figured Miscellaneous was a good place for it.) When I'm away at school, I don't have a TV, or easy access to one, just my computer. I am unable to access most networks' live streaming features because I don't live in the U.S. I know it's possible to find what I'm looking for through other sites because I watched the Oscars online this year, live, commercials and all, from ABC. I got it by googling "live streaming Oscars" during the red carpet pre-show, which bought me a few hours to find a site that worked without missing any of the ceremony (and it did take me a few hours). Six months later, I don't remember what site I used. It's going to be a little harder to google "live streaming Grey's Anatomy" and find a site that works without missing half the season premiere, and it won't work to google it now, because it's not on right now. Most websites out there that offer TV streaming separate by genre, not network (I guess they assume you're randomly surfing for something interesting, not painstakingly searching out a specific program on a specific channel). So, after that very long preamble, my question is: any recommendations (or better yet, instructions) for where I can find the kind of live streaming service I'm looking for? P.S. Not that I actually watch Grey's Anatomy. I restrict my television viewing to much more intellectual programs. I just used it as an example. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :) Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 04:04, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

This isn't the answer you were looking for, but it's a thought: you might be able to download certain shows via BitTorrent and watch them on your computer at the time you choose, rather than having to be online at the exact time the show is streamed. Check the legalities though. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 07:50, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that's illegal in the vast majority of cases. --Tango (talk) 20:34, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

You can use a proxy server that's based in the US to use websites restricted to Americans. See [1]. Or have a SlingBox attached to a TV in the US. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:32, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't be surprised if someone was breaking the law there, as well, although I've no idea who... --Tango (talk) 02:00, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks everybody for your help. I think I've got it working. I just have one more question: If I find a channel that says ABC News, is that the same as just ABC, or is it some kind of sub-channel that's pure news? (Sorry, don't know much about American TV.) Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 04:27, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

The problem is that TV shows are sold to networks on the basis of licensing in a specific geographical area. So (say) Fox licenses a show for broadcast in the US, it doesn't own the rights to broadcast it in the UK. That was great in the pre-internet-streaming-video era - but that model is breaking down. But until TV and movie production companies get their heads around it, we're kinda screwed. I'd *KILL* for access to the BBC's free TV archives - but they don't let you get at them here in the USA. I watch a lot of TV using www.hulu.com - but I bet they don't deliver content outside the USA. It's anachronistic and a pain in the rear end - but that's how it is. The same problems pop up with DVD region encoding - for much the same reason.

I don't think there are many websites that stream "live" Tv as that would be an enormous amount of bandwidth to pay for. If you live in the United Kingdom or have access to a UK based proxy server then BBC iPlayer offers some programs shown in the past seven days. You can also find many programs on youtube and veoh, though they are not always the best quality. Shame Stage6 got shut down as that was probably the closest thing to what you are looking for. You could also buy a Tv card for your computer, which are cheep and would basically turn your computer into a television, and has the added advantage of being small and easily hideable if the inspectors come round. But personally I recommend bittorrent and mininova for your TV needs - almost anything you could want is on there, just make sure to do it from your schools computers, library or internet cafe so it can't be traced to you. JessicaThunderbolt 20:58, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Romance

My wife has said that I need to be romantic. How do I do that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.183.35.59 (talk) 04:18, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Flowers? Useight (talk) 05:43, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Learn to speak a Romance language? Corvus cornix_talk 07:12, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Being romantic is a way of being, not something you do (although being that way automatically means there are things you do that you may not otherwise do. The difference is that you're doing them as a natural expression of yourself, rather than some add-on to make you seem occasionally romantic whenever you think your romance meter is approaching empty). What your wife probably means is that she has a need to be treated romantically, rather than telling you what you need to be. So it comes down to a question of working out what her needs are, and meeting them, as all good spouses do. Well done for taking the first step, though, and asking how you might go about this. That in itself could be viewed as a romantic thing. I hesitate to name any particular thing, but spouses love to receive pleasant and delightful surprises, when they're least expecting them (it doesn't have to be a big thing like a world trip); and to be shown attention, not for reasons such as you want to have sex; or you want to get into her good books after a dispute; but just because you want to show her that she's uppermost in your thoughts and is more important to you than anyone else in the world. Well, isn't she? Attention can be shown in many ways, starting with just smiling at her when she's watching TV, all the way to ....  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 07:43, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

It's a novel concept, I know...but you could ask her what she thinks that is. A very good friend of mine once told me that the magic phrase for all such occasions with wives and girlfriends is: "So how does that make YOU feel?" Try it - it's very effective. SteveBaker (talk) 16:55, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

As JackofOz says, surprises that show you've been thinking about her and how happy she makes you work well. Pretty much anything that starts with "I was thinking about you today and I..." (ending with "got you that new scouring pad for the baked-on stains" might not work, but even then, it shows you care).

Also, poetry slays. Memorize "She walks in beauty like the night / of cloudless climes and starry skies..." and trot it out at appropriate times. Or try this gem from Shakespeare: "If I could write the beauty of your eyes / Or with fresh numbers number all your graces / The age to come would say this poet lies / Such heavenly touches never touch'd earthly faces" Franamax (talk) 17:59, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

If I started spouting Shakespeare at my wife, she would laugh. Then she'd laugh harder. Then tears would roll down her cheeks. She might collapse in hysterics - certainly normal breathing would be difficult. Much, much later - she'd want to know who "the other woman" is. No Shakespeare. SteveBaker (talk) 04:41, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to agree with the above - surprises are the key. It doesn't really matter what the surprise is (as long as it's something nice), but it needs to be a surprise. Flowers, dinner, a weekend break... --Tango (talk) 20:37, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Carefully planned spontenaity goes a long way. Steewi (talk) 23:38, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. For some strange reason, they consider it spontaneous even if they know perfectly well that it must have taken you weeks to plan... women... --Tango (talk) 01:59, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Ah, but the idea is to spontaneously think of some surprise for no particular reason other than that you love her, rather than waiting for her birthday or your anniversary to prompt you out of your unromantic slothfulness - and then, no matter how long it takes to organise, it's all still part of the spontaneity. Steve, it's all in how you do it. If you're sitting at the breakfast table buttering toast and discussing mundane affairs or the state of the world economy, and you suddenly blurt out "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate", no wonder she'd laugh. You've got to pick your time and place. -- JackofOz (talk) 08:49, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Romance isn't always the pure unadulterated truth... 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ? Thou art rather dull and cold, with damp patches expected later on towards the evening' ... Accurate(for a British summer day)? Yes? Romantic? Hmmm...Lemon martini (talk) 12:44, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

It works better in Texas: 'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art Hot...amazingly hot!' ...there are situations where that could work! SteveBaker (talk) 16:13, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Steve, do give it a try - and as noted, you have to pick your moments and be sincere. "If I could write the beauty of your eyes"... - maybe she'd collapse in laughter, but she would never ever forget it, she would tell her friends and family, she would remind you about it, and she would always remember that you did something silly just for her, and that you made the effort to memorize it and use it. Just - for - her. Silly and romantic are almost synonyms... Franamax (talk) 00:40, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Health from God's apothecary

Dear Sir - Madam.

I'm a new user and hope I'm in the right place to ask my question.

I have a book by Maria Treben, " Health from God's apothecary " in foreign language and so are the names of the plants but they also have names in Latin, like : acorus calamus, chalidonium maius, etc,my question is, where can I get translation of this Latin names of plants in to English. With Thanks, Vlad. --70.10.44.161 (talk) 08:13, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

P.S Plesa explane why is the message on the screen telling me that I'm not loged-in, when I did log-in, is it a different log-in account for posting question ?

For many plants, just type in the name into wikipedia's search box. ("acorus calamus" takes you to Common Sweet Flag). Otherwise try Google - probably enclosing the name in quotes to ensure the name is searched for as a phrase. -- SGBailey (talk) 09:03, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

The Royal horticultural society has a plant finder: here. Just type your search into the box at the bottom of the page. It is a very picky search, though. Doesn't forgive typos easily! Fribbler (talk) 11:48, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Technically - you probably don't want a "translation" of the latin names - mostly they aren't really even proper Latin. But as others have said - type the latin name into the Wikipedia search box and you're very likely to find it. If that doesn't get you there, try typing just one of the words - so "acorus calamus" happens to have it's own article - but if it had not, you'd still have found quite a bit of information by typing in just "acorus" - which is the "genus" of plants to which the acorus calamus belongs.

There is no special log-in for the reference desk - your regular Wikipedia account works for all of Wikipedia. You must simply have messed up your logging in somehow.

SteveBaker (talk) 16:52, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

If I eat enough royal jelly will I turn into a bee?

Or will I start exhibiting bee-like symptoms, appearance and behaviour? Bradley10 (talk) 09:23, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

No, don't be silly. Do you become a cow if you drink enough (cow's) milk? A bee is not a bee because of what it eats, it is a bee because that is what it is. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:32, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Not a valid comparison. Most people drink cows milk. No-one has ever eaten large quantities of royal jelly. Bradley10 (talk) 09:38, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I fail to see why. The point is obvious - is there any food stuff of which you know that when consumed makes that person more like the animal that produces that food-stuff? Not that i've ever heard of. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:59, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Sure, there are foods that do that. Hamburgers for instance are made out of dead cows. The more you eat the more unhealthy you are and the closer you are to being dead—just like the cow. --S.dedalus (talk) 05:51, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Well that seems patently untrue to me. If you are close to starvation, eating hamburgers could be quite beneficial, taking you farther away from death. Also, if you are referring to oxidative free radicals produced from eating meat as promoting your early death, they still do not promote an especially cow-like death, just a death due to cellular stress, much like your common or garden-variety fungus suffers equally. Did you have someting else in mind? Franamax (talk) 06:08, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

That's even more silly. "No-one has ever eaten...". Maybe you should try it though, give us a buzz when you have some results. Franamax (talk) 10:06, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

And even saying that "most people drink cows milk" is not correct. Drinking cow milk is only common among people who keep cows and is closely associated with the mutation in the lactase system that allows lactose tolerance into adulthood. The norm is actually lactose intolerance. Franamax (talk) 10:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

And besides...MOOOO! (Sorry, couldn't resist? Could this have waited for April Fools Day like my one about turning a frog into a prince medically?) Somebody or his brother (talk) 15:11, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Okay. I re-phrase the statement to read. "Many people eat cows milk. The price of royal jelly is approximately £500 for a 1lb jar, therefore I deduce it would take a rich and dedicated-to-the-investigation person to decide to consume a large quantity of royal jelly. To the best of my knowledge, especially given the complete absence of documented evidence for human-consumption-of-large-quantities-of-royal-jelly, it seems reasonable to assume that it hasn't been done." Bradley10 (talk) 11:11, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

To my certain knowledge, no-one has drunk cow's milk on 28 August 2008 (UTC). I'll keep you posted on whether it turns me into a cow or not. (and see inductive reasoning and problem of induction) Algebraist 11:17, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you would turn into a queen. APL (talk) 13:58, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I understand that too much royal jelly can cause hallucinations. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 14:20, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Are you thinking of a Roald Dahl story? AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 15:35, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

And you need to shop at the discount royal jelly store instead of the high street. I can get royal jelly on the internet at $75 a kilo (further discount when you order 10 kg or more - hmm, maybe people do already eat a lot of it). Franamax (talk) 17:34, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

• raises hand* uh, yes, i have a question. why is this query getting a valid argument? the answer is no. you are obviously a human. A simple food like jelly cannot alter DNA or other genetic material. Now if you asked if eating radioactive sludge would change you, that would be a different story. the juggresurection ^{(>-.-(Vಠ_ಠ)} 18:35, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Unless you count dying as a change (which I suppose I probably would), the answer would still be "no"! --Tango (talk) 01:58, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Don't tell anyone, but my alter-ego is Suffering-From-Acute-Radiation-Sickness-Man! AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 10:33, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Algebraist, we're still waiting for your report on the cow's milk experiment. Not so easy to type with hooves, is it? Franamax (talk) 00:30, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

There were some issues for a while (as shown by the nine-hour gap in my contribs), but I was able to resolve them. Fortunately my country has no laws against cows gnawing on human flesh. Algebraist 00:37, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Complex searching for strange information..

I have a series of items that I am looking for, but I am having a great deal of difficulty finding the proper search combinations. My question for today involves a jigsaw puzzle I used to have, but it was destroyed. The puzzle was a fairly high piece count ~= 1000. The box was a tall box whose base was a right triangle. I know that the company/artist had a number of different puzzles like this. All of them were hand drawn in a cartoonish style. In my particular caae, the theme was skiing. The picture looked like a large poster of a mountainside with at least two to three hundred little cartoon peopl in it. They all wore hats, scarves and boots, but nothing in between. Their actions were typical of novice skiiers. One had run into a snowbank. Another had hit a tree. Some were going up in the lift. This picture, while playing with nudity for it's unusual effect, contained nothing that could be considered pornographic. One of the search criterion I have tried included ("jigsaw puzzle" skiing poster cartoon funny). I get way too many hits and I can't find the approach to thin the response tree. Please advise. OdditiesSearcher (talk) 11:48, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the puzzle you are looking for is not featured on any websites. I would say that was a distinct possibility, depending on how long ago you used to have it. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 11:53, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Try searching for 'jigsaw cartoon skiing' came up with this in the first few(http://www.alljigsawpuzzles.co.uk/shopping/p56.htm). It's 1,000 pieces and has lots of cartoon skiiers on - not 200/300 though. Your best bet is trying to find 'artists' that made cartoon jigsaw puzzles (or their work appears on them) and then use google-images to try track down the artist to a skiing cartoon and go that way. At least that's the technique i'd employ. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:57, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

If it helps, I remember this in the vague haziness of my childhood memories...It's coming back to me. I seen it on the wall of a pub in my home town (in poster, rather than jigsaw form) It was like a cross between a saucy British seaside postcard and a Where's Wally puzzle. I can't find it either, but I hold out hope if more than one of us has seen it. Fribbler (talk) 12:01, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I think I remember seeing puzzles in this style too, with the characteristic box shape, but I'm afraid I can't be more help than that. Are you in the UK, because that's where I saw it? the wub "?!" 12:40, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I believe you are looking for the works of Guillermo Mordillo, whose work I remember seeing as posters and jigsaws in the UK when I was a kid. If you go here and click on publications you might find what you are looking for. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:07, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes - I think it was the UK's Daily Telegraph's weekend magazine that published full-page cartoons from Mordillo - many of those seem to have been made into jigsaw puzzles because they tend to be extremely detailed. SteveBaker (talk) 16:10, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Mordillo sounds exactly right. I had two of these (not the one you describe) and they are cartoonish and come in a box with a triangular base. 83.81.50.89 (talk) 07:43, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

INTERNET SCAMS IN GHANA!!

Hi everybody, Has anybody come across an internet scam that they use the Bank that a person banks at,but the scam account is opened in Ghana??No account of course exists. The scam goes like this: three people are involved,a lady contacts you,she says she is in the U.S. army,and it was her unit that was involved with finding Sadam Hussain.Her cut was millions of U.S. dollars,she is a colonel,and she has her Captain open an account in the persons name that they want to scam in Ghana.The account is opened in Accra Ghana.The third person in this scam contacts the person they want to scam,The Bank official with a title of (International remittance dept) to tell that person that the account is opened,but they cannot have access to the funds until they pay a few of a few hundred dollars,and send some I.D.,that fee should be made by a wire transfer to one of the scammers. How they got hold of the persons name,and knowledge that the person does actually bank at the named bank,but only in the U.S. not Ghana I don"t know. Signed:The wise owl. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 14:52, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

There are a lot of these scams going around. Only thing to do is to bin them - unread.86.194.250.36 (talk) 14:53, 27 August 2008 (UTC)DT

Advance-fee fraud. Fribbler (talk) 16:23, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Do not start discussions. The Reference Desk is not a chatroom. Malcolm XIV (talk) 18:36, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

I removed the name of the bank from the header, since the bank has nothing to do with the scam. Corvus cornix_talk 18:55, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

August 28

Mining

How I mine for fish? NeonMerlin 04:08, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

See Naval mine and Blast fishing. SteveBaker (talk) 04:36, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

better to trawl for them surely?--79.76.196.178 (talk) 04:44, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

First, you find yourself a big ol' mountain. If you find fish scales around the mountain, you know you got yourself a fish mountain! Start climbing the fish mountain (you will notice fish parts strewn about the ground as you ascend), and once you have reached about two thirds the height of the mountain, start diggin'! You'll be knee deep in fish in no time. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 08:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Spare monies for a noob. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:09, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Nice catch Gandalf. We're so damn innocent here. "Just shut up". Franamax (talk) 02:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

You could just telephone them with an old hand cranked telephone magneto and ask them to come to the surface. That has worked well (but illegally in many jurisdictions). Edison2 (talk) 05:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Help

I have recently found out about an Australian store that sells old games called GameTraders. But I want to know their e-mail address. What is it? February 15, 2009 (talk) 08:02, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

fixed link - Tagishsimon (talk) 08:04, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Various of the stores have email addresses cites here. I think that's the best you'll do. --Tagishsimon (talk) 08:07, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I meant the "generic" e-mail address, because I want them to construct a store in my home town. February 15, 2009 (talk) 08:14, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Email the first shop and ask them that question (i.e. what is the email of your corporate people). --Tagishsimon (talk) 08:23, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean by the "first" shop? February 15, 2009 (talk) 08:33, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I think he just means the first one on the list he linked to. The point is, it doesn't matter which shop you email. Any one of them should be able to give you the "generic" email address. Alternatively, you could write them a letter (remember those?) at the "Operations Centre" address given. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:42, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

←I think the way to actually do this would be to call the main number of the "operations centre", and tell them that you would like to propose a franchise, and ask for the best person to contact, and get his/her email. If you end up talking to this person on the phone, just say that you know that their time is valuable and that you'd like to send them some information by email about why your town would be a great place for one of their stores. I think it's not very likely that they will want to open a store in your town unless they can get a franchisee to pay for the store—that's the way this kind of operation tends to work. If you sell it well, though, they might propose it to a store owner in a nearby location (I understand Australia's a rather large place and "nearby" means something different there than it does in, say, Singapore), who might have a look at it and decide to expand in your direction. Good luck. Darkspots (talk) 10:04, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Indeed, good luck. They should be glad that you're taking such an interest in their endeavor. --Tagishsimon (talk) 10:06, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Is this really a reference desk question? DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:01, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't obviously fail Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines#What the reference desk is not. How is it not a reference desk question from your point of view? Darkspots (talk) 15:52, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

The site happens to have a page on franchising. It doesn't give a e-mail, but it has an address and a phone number. By the way, did you happen to get this inspiration from a certain Ben Croshaw? Paragon¹²³²¹ 04:19, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

"Choice listings" on eBay

I know I should contact eBay customer support about this, but talking to them is like wading through treacle, so I thought I'd give it a shot here. I had a listing cancelled because it allowed the buyer to choose from a selection of items (i.e. the winning bidder gets to choose any 10 items from a total of 100, for example). Their policy is apparently that such listings are not allowed "because of the potential for fee circumvention due to the item agreed upon being negotiated offline, transactions taking place outside of eBay and other issues" (quote from their "help" pages). I have no idea what this means and wonder if anyone else can make sense of it. How am I attempting to circumvent their fees? Many thanks. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:41, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, you're not, but you could be. You could be adding extra charges to some items, for example. Of course, it's really no different from doing so with any other item ("Actually, I'm gonna want an extra ten bucks before I send this to you."), but anyway. I think eBay has a vested interest in keeping all transactions like this within their domain, so to speak. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 09:40, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Ideas for daughter's birthday

It's our daughter's 12th birthday coming in a few weeks or so. She's a good kid-like her brothers and sisters she works hard at school and goes out of her way to help at home,and so at Christmas and birthdays they're pretty much allowed to choose what they want to do and anything goes. She's decided she wants her party to be fancy dress-it's just what to wear. She wants the costumes to be something nice for the boys to look at-short skirts, tight tops and showing off her chest. So we need a theme that lets her do that whilst actually getting anyone into any trouble. Whilst we're very broadminded as to what they wear(and they will be supervised) ,it might not go down too well with other parents if they're running round completely naked. We've got a few ideas on the table-60s with the girls in miniskirts or pool party so she can wear her swimsuit (or she did suggest borrowing little sister's as it's smaller!) Any more ideas to help our party go well and keep everyone happy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.153.252.37 (talk) 10:07, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

"Short skirts, tight tops, showing off her chest" is not what everyone would regard as "fancy dress." You knew that when you posted. Twelve-year-old boys generally aren't very interested in girls, and any attention they do pay would result from the oddity of the costume or their curiosity/unease regarding the twelve-year-old chest, not from any regard for your daughter. It's possible that by abdicating your responsibility as a parent to help your child develop a sense of self-worth independent from the pressures of trashy "fashion," you're signing up for an adolescence filled with confrontation. On the other hand, you won't take my opinion any more seriously than I take your question. — OtherDave (talk) 10:24, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Although I did rather like the suggestion in your comment that perhaps they'd like to dress up as trolls. --Tagishsimon (talk) 10:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I was certainly interested in girls when I was 12...they didn't have much to show off yet but that didn't seem to matter. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:53, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

How about the 80's? That's a broad enough theme that its up to them as to how revealing they want to look. --Candy-Panda (talk) 11:35, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Gotta agree with OtherDave, you do have to lay some ground rules. I would ask, why does she want to show her belly like that? If it's becuase "everyone does it," you should be showing her that she needs to take pride in herself, and the real her is what's inside, not what's on the outside. After all, I know it's corny, but I always tell the adolescents I work with, "What really matters is that a couple like each other with they're old, bald, and all wrinkled up like a prune."

That said, a pool party does give the right idea, and if you can find a good indoor pool it should work. (Unless it's warme nough where you live to still do it outdoors.) Perhaps it could be a broader Olympic theme - with Michael Phelps having made swimming so big, perhaps you could have some fun competitions. that would let the boys get a little silly (when I was 12, my firends and I liked to do funny dives - perhaps a contest for most recative among boys and girls?) and let everyone have fun without having the full attention paid to the skin. Indeed, you and your daugvhter could, if money isn't much of an object, buy some plain bathing suits for everyone and design them to represent real or fictional countries' Olympic teams. Somebody or his brother (talk) 14:48, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't want to be a spoilsport but wouldn't this question be better at some chat room somewhere? DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:00, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Probably, but we frequently answer questions that aren’t precisely source oriented, I guess one more won’t hurt. At least it’s not something like “wHy eXActily is OBAMa suchg an idut?” :) --S.dedalus (talk) 22:54, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I hate to be a suspicious old fart, but this message sounds more like someone hoping we'll discuss fun things to do with children dressed provocatively than like a message from a parent to me. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 23:14, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

As I cannot imagine any responsible parent encouraging a 12-year-old girl in "showing off her chest", or, indeed, in creating a social occasion just for that purpose, I have to agree with FisherQueen. If this isn't trolling, then the parent should be reported for child abuse. This is really quite disturbing. ៛ Bielle (talk) 00:57, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't know, I can imagine a 12-year-old girl wanted to have a "grown up" birthday party, and some parents have difficulty saying "no". --Tango (talk) 03:44, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

All valid points, however the only immediate question is shall we revert this and continue this discussion on the talk page, or leave it and get back on tapic? --S.dedalus (talk) 05:43, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to AGF here and assume this is a genuine question-I know for sure that just walking through town on a Saturday night I can walk past half-a-dozen 12 and 13 year olds each night who are wearing practically nothing(and usually smoking and drinking)-perhaps this is a parent saying 'you're not going out dressed like that every night,but maybe for a special occasion as a one off it will be OK' which at least seems to be an improvement. And certainly when I was 11,the girls spent quite a bit of time in the playground making themselves look nice for the boys,and as for the boys-well every game of truth or dare seemed had 'lift up your skirt' or 'take off your top' as a dare. How about tennis party?Girlies can wear tennis skirts which some girls will no doubt hoick up to around their waist,and probably undo a few buttons too.Water fight(especially in summer)is a good way to cool down and also get everyone very wet in the process.I might advise swimsuits otherwise it could turn out like a wet t-shirt competition. Lemon martini (talk) 11:20, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

The flu

How do you know when you are over the flu? Like you stop feeling sick but how long are you contagious for? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 11:30, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Our article on influenza states that:

People who contract influenza are most infective between the second and third days after infection and infectivity lasts for around ten days.[reference 82 of influenza article] Children are notably more infectious than adults and shed virus from just before they develop symptoms until two weeks after infection.[references 82 & 83 of influenza article]

AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:39, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Room prices-more for less?

Off on holiday, perusing through the hotel brochures deciding where to stay, I noticed that one hotel offered a room by itself for £89 a night . Fair enough. But if I have the room and breakfast it was only £78. If I have the room, breakfast and three-course dinner in the evening, it drops to £52 a night. I can't work out why this should be-how come I am paying less for more facilities? Lemon martini (talk) 12:31, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I would assume they've simply made a mistake, and suggest you email them to ask. Some hotels do offer cheap room rates if you agree to pay (extra) for dinner at their expensive restaurant.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:22, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I can see how trying to keep you in the hotel for your evening meal (by throwing in the meal free) would make sense as it could result in increased wine/drinks sales and my understanding is that's the biggest area of profit in many restaurants. The cheaper 'with' breakfast is a bit odd though, as I don't see a huge lead-on of extra sales from breakfast (though maybe that's why i'm not in sales and marketing!) ny156uk (talk) 22:39, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Would you identlfy the hotel and location? I might be interested. ៛ Bielle (talk) 23:15, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

I also would like to see further details. There must be a further fixed charge for meals, otherwise you could go to the dining room and ask for their finest bread-sticks and tap-water.

Another tip to keep in mind - depending on the timing of charges for guaranteed reservations, it's sometimes worthwhile to get to the hotel early, walk up to the desk and ask for their room rate. Depending on their bookings, they may offer a very good rate for walk-in business; and even then don't be afraid to ask "can you do better than that?" Then you go up to your room and use your cellphone (mobile for you Brits) to call down and cancel your reservation. Franamax (talk) 00:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Certainly-it's the Imperial in Barnstaple,England. I have the leaflet with the prices at home.I'll study it more closely to make sure there's no small print, but there were definitely three prices given for room, room with breakfast and room with dinner and they went down... Lemon martini (talk) 10:57, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Starting Rates page for the Imperial. If we head over to the Maths desk, somebody might be able to quickly calculate the large number of possible rates for any given date -- there are several room categories, and the rate per person per night drops for longer stays, and there are options for room only, bed and breakfast, and half board. Then we can throw in the seasonal variations and the special breaks which may be on offer for even more possibilities, meaning the answer to the original question can only be "forty two." --LarryMac | Talk 12:50, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

This is not your problem. Write and book stating the price and if they accept you have a contract. If they do not accept the price, then they have made an error in their advertising and under English law you cannot enforce the price shown.90.0.128.22 (talk) 08:46, 30 August 2008 (UTC)DT

How common was it for the United States Census to miss people in 1900?

In doing some research on my famiy, I've discovered that they were apparently missed in the 1900 Census. I know from faily history things were quite busy then and they could have just never been home, but how often did this happen back then, when the census takers often just went door to door?

Some background - they parents and perhaps a couple of the children were immigrants, but we have the Ellis Island certificate from 1892, family history stating one son was born in 1894 and was injured in an X-ray accident in 1899. (Yes, they happened, if not calibrated right they could burn you badly.) So they were in the home town I searched for, and they're there in 1910. They don't seem to have been anywhere in the state in 1900, though. And yes, I checked the numerous alternate spellings. Thanks in advance.Somebody or his brother (talk) 14:57, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Our article on the US Census says that there was a fire in 1921 that destroyed some number of records...maybe thats where the data was lost? SteveBaker (talk) 15:59, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

In the excerpt under the Google listing for this site, I saw an estimate of a 6.7% undercount in the 1900 census. 1900 United States Census says the population was 76,212,168. — OtherDave (talk) 23:10, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

My grandfather is listed as a girl in the 1930 census, so they certainly made mistakes. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:09, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

The part about injury from xray in 1899 is interesting. See Clarence Madison Dally, an article about one of Thomas Edison's assistants in xray experiments who tested each xray machine in the late 1890's on himself. They had no idea that xrays were harmful in the early days, until tragedies such as the death of Dalley occurred. Dalley was not alone as an early victim of radiation. As for errors in earlky census, the census taker was not paid much and I see many cases where they apparently took data from neighbors or help about a family they could not reach, because of gross errors of name, age and origin. Some people clearly did not wish to be enumerated. Some people probably had let it be known they would kill any government agents who came on their property. Edison2 (talk) 05:24, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure I would call the 1900 census an "early" census. They were already using punch cards and tabulating machines. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 21:48, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Nor I, since the first U.S. Census was in 1790 and they're required under the constitution every 10 years. — OtherDave (talk) 09:11, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

On the Road

I'm trying to get to New York inexspensively by the morning of the 6th of September. Anyone know the best(cheapest) way to do that other than hitchhiking? Elatanatari (talk) 23:58, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Where are you now? Algebraist 23:59, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Detroit, sorry Elatanatari (talk) 00:03, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

If you really want the cheapest, you can cycle it for free. Algebraist 00:08, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I have tooo much luggage for biking, and I dont think I have the stamina to travel fast enough to arrive by the 6th.Elatanatari (talk) 00:14, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Check the Amtrack, they have stations on jersey and new york city. Nick910 (talk) 00:10, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

623 miles according to Google Maps. Go through London, St Catharines, Buffalo, the outskirts of Scranton. Google Maps claims you can walk it in that time. This is obviously some new meaning of "walk" with which I am as yet unacquainted. --Trovatore (talk) 00:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

It's about $100 on Greyhound; Amtrak starts about there and goes to about $150. But if I was really wanting cheap, I'd find a ride board somewhere -- any college has 'em -- and see what I could do for gas share. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 00:25, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Take a good book to read on the way. Something by Jack Kerouac (no relation) might fit the bill. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:29, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, it is $79.50 on Greyhound with an advanced purchase ticket. The bus trip involves traveling overnight, no matter what time of day you leave, though you could probably break the journey in Pittsburgh and book a room for the night if you don't like trying to sleep on buses, but that would increase the cost considerably. Marco polo (talk) 00:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't need sleep, food, or water, just transportation in time. and I think I'm starting to reconsider hitchhiking. I'm having a terrible time with the amtrak website. I'm also consulting my friends on books, I have a 20 hr flight going out of JFK. Where could I find a ride board? On any college bulletin board? Elatanatari (talk) 03:28, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Can I point out that on Orbitz there are one-way flights from Detroit to New York for only $97? I've never found Greyhound or Amtrak to be a deal of any sort; you save maybe $20 over a flight but you end up losing hours and hours and hours of time... --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:40, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

You don't need sleep, food or water? Impressive... --Tango (talk) 03:39, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

You can probably find a ride board on Craig's List. --LarryMac | Talk 12:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

It would seem Google isn't aware of the need for sleep on journeys longer than a day! --Tango (talk) 03:39, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Also check with driveaway services. Hey, there's something that Wikipedia doesn't have an article on! The idea is that they match people wanting to make a one-way trip with people who need their cars moved to the same city. So if they have a car that has to go from Detroit to New York, and you meet their requirements, you're set.

I just looked at the web site of a company called Auto Driveaway. They say you have to be at least 23 and have a clean driving record, and at one place on the site (but not on the drivers' FAQ page) it says you need a reference in your destination city. You pay a $350 deposit refundable when you return the car, and agree to a driving schedule of about 8 hours a day and no side trips. The site says the first tank of fuel is free, but they don't say if you have to return the car with a full tank -- with the price of fuel these days, that could make a big difference to the price comparison with buses. Of course you will also need to stop overnight at your expense. I have seen it stated elsewhere that the owner can leave stuff in the trunk, so you don't get to use it for your stuff, but I don't know if that's correct. I've never done this myself. --Anonymous, 20:09 UTC, August 29, 2008.

My parents already don't want me to go, I doubt they'd let me get a ride from craigslist or from a college bulletin board. The drive is less than 24 hrs, right? I can go 24hrs without drinking, sleeping, eating.Elatanatari (talk) 23:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Google just calculated "614 mi – about 9 hours 55 mins" for me using a purely-US-based route. Over that distance, if I had a reliable car, I'd definitely consider driving. For even a reasonably-economical car (say, 25 MPG) gas would cost you just under $100 (each way) so driving is competitive with essentially every other mode of transportation. And you get to set your own schedule, bring lots of stuff, and NOT have to take off your shoes or submit to being felt-up by TSA twits.

Atlant (talk) 13:58, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

August 29

Races

It is said of the rat race that even if you win, you're still a rat. Does the human race have the same problem? NeonMerlin 02:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Not really. Rat race describes a competition that can be won. Human race describes a species, not a competition that can be won. --Tagishsimon (talk) 02:27, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

It does? "A rat race is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit." -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 19:31, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Who says being a rat is a problem? Rats seem quite happy being rats. --Tango (talk) 02:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

How can you tell they're happy? NeonMerlin 02:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

They seem pretty playful (pet ones, anyway). Playful would suggest happy, to me. --Tango (talk) 03:40, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Where is Stu when we need him? --LarryMac | Talk 16:13, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Conception dreams

Hi, conception dreams are dreams that foretell a baby's birth (or so they say). The belief is found in Korea, that's for sure, but are there any other cultures where people have such dreams? Thanks. --Kjoonlee 07:47, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, our (terribly sparse) article says, "The belief that a dream will foretell a baby's birth originates from China, and is found in some East Asian countries." So, yeah, apparently so. Seems that the Australian Aborigines also had some pretty similar beliefs, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear of others. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:24, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Heh, yeah, I wanted to ask about cultures besides Asian ones. Thanks. :) --Kjoonlee 09:12, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

African Americans believe that when someone in the family has a dream with a fish in it, a baby's coming. I believe there's an example of this in the film Soul Food. Also, I just read in a travel guide book that West Africans share the superstition.Elatanatari (talk) 03:24, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Exercise / Drink

If you do more exercise, is it okay to drink more? After a day of hard physical work there is often the temptation to go drinking rather than a day of easy non-physical work. Does the exercise counterbalance the increase in boozing? Bradley10 (talk) 12:33, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

It's OK, in fact advisable, to drink more water. As far as drinking more alcohol there's a lot of variables. If you had partially dehydrated during the exercise due to not drinking enough water, then it would actually be worse to overindulge than usual. On the other hand, if you were concerned about consuming excess calories through the alcoholic beverage, then the energy consumed during the exercise would help to compensate. The general medical consensus is to limit alcohol consumption regardless. --jjron (talk) 16:16, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Sleeping with an owl in the small of your back

I was reading a book which claimed to be factual - in it the author claimed that whilst nursing an injured little owl back to health, the owl would often scuttle into bed with her and sleep curled up in the small of her back. Is this safe? Is this advisable? If I get an owl, can I sleep with it in the small of my back? Bradley10 (talk) 12:35, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

As long as you're not simultaneously nursing a Northern Goshawk in your armpit. NByz (talk) 17:51, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Can't really point to any research, but I spent several years sleeping with a cat who would curl up behind my legs (or on my hip), and I'd rarely move while she was there. (Which usually resulted in a sore back from being in her preferred position so she could sleep comfortably.) I think we're a little pre-programmed to recognize small living things in our proximity and subconsciously react to them so they don't get smooshed. Tony Fox (arf!) 18:46, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Can you? Of course you can; who's going to stop you? However, forcing it to sleep on your back is not a good idea as it may cause it distress, especially if it is a wild owl, but if it chooses to then I can't really see the harm. For you it would certainly be ok, but whereas a cat is relatively large and would no doubt let you know with it's claws if you were swashing it, a little owl may have difficulties alerting you, so just be extra careful. JessicaThunderbolt 19:59, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

See also co-sleeping. --Masamage ♫ 19:06, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Um: Owls...nocturnal. Humans...not nocturnal. I don't see how this can end well. Most likely the darned thing is going to fly around and around your bedroom all night, crapping over everything in sight - keeping you awake with "Woo Woo" noises. The best pets are the ones that are naturally gregarious - pack animals like dogs and cats. Owls are loners. Hence: Owl as a pet - Dumb, dumb, dumb. SteveBaker (talk) 02:32, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Buying synthetic diamonds and other precious stones as an individual

Hello,

I'm looking to buy a synthetic diamond or other precious stone for my wife. I have a jeweler who will sent the stone in a ring that we already have.

The problem is that as an individual, I can't find any places on the 'net that will actually sell a stone to me. I can only find companies that sell stones in bulk to other businesses. Can anyone help me find a company that will sell a synthetic diamond to an individual?

Thank you for any help,

--Grey1618 (talk) 13:49, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Our article on synthetic diamonds notes several companies, one of which (LifeGem) appears to market directly to individuals. — Lomn 13:57, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I've found lifegem before, and unfortunately do not have the requisite dead animal to turn into a stone. Though I suppose with some looking... --Grey1618 (talk) 17:46, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

According to the article, LifeGem will also take hair for raw material. I'll also note that eBay has a Lab-created diamond section in their "Loose Diamonds & Gemstones" category. -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 19:28, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Any reason you're looking to buy sight unseen? If you already have a jeweler you like, why not buy the stone there? Friday (talk) 20:08, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Maybe the jeweler doesn't sell synthetic diamonds? --Random832 (contribs) 20:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

D.NEA Diamonds seems to have some synthetic stones available on their web site, and a waiting list in case they don't have the kind you want in stock. APL (talk) 20:43, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

If your reason for going "synthetic" is blood diamonds ("conflict diamonds", etc.), it is possible to buy natural diamonds that don't fall into that category, although assessing the provenance of any given gemstone may be difficult.

Atlant (talk) 13:42, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

As the last three paragraphs of Blood_diamond#Canadian policy say, at least some natural diamonds of Canadian origin are micro-engraved to certify their non-conflict provenance. Deor (talk) 15:02, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Is it just me, or is newsmaker Sarah Palin kind of hot?

I mean, she won't win any beauty pageants but she has a bit of that fantasy librarian thing going for her. Has the press/blogscape made anything of her hotness or lack thereof? Please provide links.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 18:25, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Sticking to encyclopedic information, the article you linked indicates that she had success in various beauty pageants. -- Coneslayer (talk) 18:32, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Hilarious, and I stand corrected. I should have read her article first!--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 18:35, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I think she's kind of hot as well. 92.80.30.42 (talk) 20:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

First thing I thought when I saw her was Vanessa Kensington from the original Austin Powers. Not in the end part, but in the beginning when she was all nerdy. If I remember correctly, there was one part where she wears her hair up just like Palin. Paragon¹²³²¹ 20:29, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Personally I find her just as creepy as McCain. She really looks like Rita Skeeter[2] doesn't she. This conversation isn’t very Reference Desk-ish though is it? --S.dedalus (talk) 20:31, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, it pretty standard stuff for the RefDesk recently... --Tango (talk) 20:36, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, certainly for the Miscellanies desk. :-P --S.dedalus (talk) 20:39, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

It's quite common for US politicians to be good looking, presumably because the American people vote by looks rather than policies... --Tango (talk) 20:36, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Someone's observation that McCain;s VP pick seems, to them, kinda hot is as relevant to the purposes of the Ref Desk as the observation that anagrams of "Sarah Palin" include "Ah, a plan, sir!! " and "A Sharp Nail." Edison2 (talk) 20:48, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

In defense of the Fat Man (a self proclaimed "Reference Desk regular"), I was merely asking if the "press and blogscape" have started to buzz about her good looks and requested links to back up such an assertion. I was not asking if you personally agree with me on whether she's hot.

Besides, if you think this question is pointless, you should see my last one. It generated a lot of enjoyable responses though. Please don't banish me from the Reference Desk.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 21:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Perish the thought, al-sameen alladhi la abadan 'aada. --Tagishsimon (talk) 21:16, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Google Trends says it all: "Hotness: Volcanic". Paragon¹²³²¹ 21:37, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

There was an editorial cartoon in 18941984 which showed Democratic nominee Walter Mondale sitting in a sportscar labeled "Ferraro" (like Ferrari)after his VP pick Geraldine Ferraro, saying "Now I can pick up some chicks!" Didn't work for him. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears might have been the first and second choices, but alas, too young. (edited to correct lysdexia) Edison2 (talk) 22:38, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

They would have been very, very young in 1894, and was the Ferrari horse driven? Sorry -- Mad031683 (talk) 23:14, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't personally find her hot (but then, I wouldn't, would I) - however anyone who names their kids Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow and Piper has got to have something going for them. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

We really don't know that much about her yet:

• Hot.
• Will attract those females who have forgotten the meaning of the word "sexism" to the "old white guy" ticket.
• Thinks that polar bears aren't endangered and that the artic ice isn't disappearing.
• Will give Obama supporters a great answer for the "Inexperienced" question.
• Promotes teaching of creationism in schools.
• Her or her immediate confidants are very likely not beneath POV-pushing on Wikipedia (Note number of positive edits to her biographical article by "LittleTrig" (Trig is the name of her youngest son) in the 12 hours PRECEEDING her nomination as VP).
• Anti gay-marriage, pro gay rights otherwise.
• Anti-abortion.

If I were an American with a vote: Generally it doesn't matter a damn who the VP is - they are almost powerless in office. But in this case I'd be very concerned that such inexperience is being added to the McCain ticket given that at his advanced age, he's quite likely to die in office - and that her views have been selected to 'balance' his...which means if she takes office - you get the opposite of what you voted for.

SteveBaker (talk) 01:36, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

More like forced to act as "pro gay rights"! Read here on the page where Palin's noted as having "complied" (= caved in, to a state Supreme Court order!) because legal options to avoid doing so had been exhausted." -- Deborahjay (talk) 06:51, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Deborahjay, as a grammar-nazi, I must rule your comments invalid (except the parts where you're right) on the grounds that you wrote that "her is very likely" rather than that "she is very likely". "She or her immediate confidants are very likely" would have scored you more points. Michael Hardy (talk) 19:28, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Michael Hardy, as an attribution-nazy, I must rule your comments invalid (even the parts where you're right) on the ground that Deborahjay didn't write them (I did). SteveBaker (talk) 02:52, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I require that politicians do the right thing...I don't give a damn whether they personally like doing it. Having some flexibility in the event you're wrong is a good thing. I recall Margret Thatcher's years in office in the UK. She was absolutely famous (or is that "infamous") for not changing her mind about anything. One time she was giving a speech about some list of good works she was claiming to have done and she said that she'd set in motion some program or other which her government was funding to the tune of 30 million pounds. An aid whispers in her ear that she'd misspoken and it was really only 3 million pounds - she immediately turns around and says "Well, it SHOULD be 30 million - I'm going to make it 30 million." ...spending 27 million pounds of taxpayer's money just because she misspoke and didn't want to admit it. A little flexibility is a good thing. SteveBaker (talk) 07:35, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

So here it appears we have a high executive officeholder whose support for or opposition to policies according to what she (not necessarily you) considers "the right thing"—in line with the requirements of her Republican constituents and supporters—evokes the intervention of knowledgeable (albeit interested) watchdog bodies and a strong judiciary enforcing rights she would, given her way, trample. As we learned in high school civics, this is the role of the "checks-and-balances" safeguards of the U.S. political system and its Constitution, arguably preferable to that of my adopted home overseas. How much better it would be to have wise, fair, and humanistic leadership (everywhere).-- Deborahjay (talk) 08:31, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

The creation of the American Republic is sometimes called The Great Experiment, on which we don't seem to have an article. It doesn't mean what most people think. It's not democracy, or representative government, or even a written constitution. What it was was the disavowal of the notion that good government was the product of the personal virtue of those who govern.

The founders for the most part had a pessimistic view of human nature, and did not spare rulers from it. Nor, I think, were they particularly favorable to the notion that the state is somehow the arm of God. They expected both the populace and its representatives to be heirs to the Fall of Man and to behave accordingly.

The Great Experiment was to try to structure a system in which good government could happen anyway. The data are still being collected. --Trovatore (talk) 08:52, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

It's sad when the US - or any - election campaign comes down to hotness. In a perfect world, policy would surely be the main driving factor and whether a person seems sexy or otherwise would have nothing to do with it - and I'd be surprised if there's any correlation between policy and sexiness. FWIW, I'm waay to the left of the US Democrats in my politics, so the Republican Party is hardly what I would vote for (if I were in the US and about to vote). But that wouldn't stop me being more than interested if Condy Rice sidled up to me and suggested some form of foreign relations get-together, if you get my drift. As far as Palin's concerned, she's not my type (at least, oif pictures i've seen of her are anything to go by), but her policies - though not my type either - should appeal to a large-ish sector of Republicans. It'll be interesting to see how her activities with the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission are viewed by her party, though. Grutness...wha? 08:48, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I agree. Instead of hotness, we should be concentrating on important issues, like the height of the candidates. Does anybody know who's taller? Sen. Obama or Sen. McCain? Obama looks taller, but I don't recall ever seeing them stand next to each other, so it may just be an optical illusion with Obama being so thin and all. I would hate to vote for the wrong guy because of an optical illusion. APL (talk) 18:56, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Y'all would seem to be missing one of the key -- KEY -- reasons behind her nomination. Traditionally, the VP nod goes to someone who can balance the ticket geographically: a Northerer picks a Southerner so they don't secede again, a Senator from the Southwest might pick a running mate from the Northeast to not alienate the big-city folk, etc. Senator Obama picked a running mate nominally to balance his lack of experience in certain essential areas. Senator McCain or his handlers in the GOP have broken new ground by picking a running mate for the primary purpose of attracting and hanging on to all those Senator Clinton supporters who have already, are thinking of, or threatening to abandon their party because Ms. Clinton didn't get the nomination.

Hot or not, it's going to be a VERY interesting next few weeks in this country!

--Danh, 70.59.119.241 (talk) 19:05, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Writing a letter

I am going to e-mail the admissions office of a university im thinking about going to next year to enquire about something. How should such a letter be set out? In particular how should it start and end? --RMFan1 (talk) 22:18, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Well it depends what you are going to inquire about. But here's a free hint: proper grammar and spelling go a long way, even on the Ref Desk, if you want to be taken seriously. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Certainly you need to pay attention to spelling, grammar, capitalisation and punctuation and (of course) be unfailingly polite. But it's still email and it's unlikely that a casual enquiry about something would be recorded and examined when it came time to deciding admissions - so I think you could avoid the whole "Dear Sir or Madam" thing. The main thing is that they don't remember "that guy who was such a pain in the butt about asking questions last year". SteveBaker (talk) 01:12, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I found that an email I'd sent to my Uni with a quick question (after getting accepted, before actually starting) ended up with a copy in my official file. Whether Unis commonly keep track of emails from prospective students (rather than actual ones), I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised. --Tango (talk) 04:25, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

There are some pointers in the formal letter article. If you're just asking a question, set up a free yahoo! or hotmail account and email them anonymously. JessicaThunderbolt 14:07, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Part of my current job is working as a university admissions officer. We don't currently keep track of enquiry e-mails from prospective students, but will be doing so as of some point next month. There's no intention to hold anything against prospective students - just to keep track of who has asked and been sent what. Remember that the vast majority of universities will be keen to help, as they want you to apply, provided you are on track for the right kind of results, and provided you're polite and clear, nobody's likely to worry how you set out your e-mail.

The one exception could be if you are applying for something extremely competitive (such as medicine, or something at one of the very top universities). When there's that much competition, anything could be taken in to account when deciding who to give an offer to. It shouldn't be an e-mail enquiry, but some academics have odd ideas as to what counts. Warofdreams talk 03:03, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

zoom airlines

I saw the news about zoom airlines going bankrupt and leaving people stranded in America. Obviously some people would have booked through a travel agent or paid via a credit card and therefore be guarenteed a flight back without losing money, then there would also be some people who have the money available to buy another ticket back, but what happens to any people that have no money? Obviously they are not allowed to work to gain funds to buy a ticket if on a tourist visa. Would they be given a free flight back, or be deported, or allowed to stay untill they overstayed their visa then deported, or just allowed to stay? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.103.46 (talk) 22:33, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

I believe there are frequently agreements between airlines that they'll offer spare seats on flights to people who are stuck when an airline goes under. If all else fails, many countries have embassies who can help out people who are in such trouble. Typically, they'll fly you home and bill you for the cost of the ticket when you get home. But different countries may offer different amounts of assistance. In the USA, you can't legally work on a visitor visa - so you can't earn money (legally) while you're here. I guess if you overstayed your visa, you'd be slung in jail for a while and then eventually repatriated at US government expense...but I don't think you'd like the "eventually" part. SteveBaker (talk) 01:08, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

How long is deportation likely to take if you don't fight it? Would they imprison you simply as punishment? --Tango (talk) 18:44, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

There are lots of ways of getting money if you are abroad. If you have a credit card you can pay for a ticket with it and worry about paying it back when you get home. You can have your bank wire you money; you can have a friend or relative wire you money. The number of people for whom none of these work is going to be exceptionally small. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:27, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

August 30

Does this look legit?

I need to know if anyone knows if this site is actualy a good payoff before i get into something bad.[3] the juggresurection ^{(>-.-(Vಠ_ಠ)} 00:01, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to say "No, it's an utter scam" without even looking at it. Then I'm going to read it - and then I'll be back to comment. Gimme a few minutes. SteveBaker (talk) 00:54, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Yep - I was right. (My point being that if you have to ask...it's a scam). They are collecting data on you - I bet you'll never earn more than a buck or two. No reputable survey company would use people who self-select to complete the survey. Survey data is only valid if you get a random cross-section of the public. Consider that by inviting people who are prepared to do this - and give away all of this personal information (Hello...ever heard of identity theft?) and do it for (likely) very little money - they aren't getting anything LIKE a valid cross-section of the community. So the results would be quite utterly useless. What they ARE collecting is a detailed list of information about people who are basically gullible - that's a useful set of information - and in the wrong hands...yeah...exactly. Don't do it. SteveBaker (talk) 01:00, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Legit or not, survey sites are not an easy or quick way to make money. The surveys generally take at least 10-15 minutes to go through (if you read the questions as you go) and they only pay you a dollar at most for the survey. So in 15 minutes, you've made ~$1 or so. That's $4/hour which is half minimum wage. Or they award you on a point system and you can redeem the points for either cash or stuff that you don't really want/need in the first place. Dismas|^(talk) 02:52, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I think a lot of people underestimate how much their time is worth, and consider this sort of thing "free money" because they aren't clocking in a timecard. Time's the most valuable resource one has—spent it consciously. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:05, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

That's the other problem - what's to stop someone from just randomly clicking on any old junk just to get through the survey quickly so they can get onto the next one and pick up more money? That makes the results doubly useless. Who in their right mind would commission such a survey? The results have to be utterly useless for any practical purposes. Redeeming points against goods is a common scam - I bet you have to pay cash for postage. The junk these people sell is worth less than the small profit they can make for inflating the cost of postage. You see this in a lot of TV adverts where you buy something and they say "Free refills for LIFE! You just pay postage!!" - then notice that they are charging you $8 for postage and when it arrives there is a $0.75 stamp on it and it's in a $0.10 cardboard box. SteveBaker (talk) 07:43, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Amen to the above. This same offer came up in my in box and I trashed it without even reading it.--89.168.230.161 (talk) 05:55, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I'd just like to add that any -- honestly, any -- offer to make easy cash is most likely a scam, and if people just learned and accepted this, we could eliminate a lot of pain and regret, just like that. If it looks too good to be true, it is. No one is handing out money for something really easy to do. It's not happening, and it's especially not happening on the internet. There are hordes of people out there who prey on our hopes and exploit our gullibility, and they will take our money if we give it to them. There's an upside to this, though: they're not at all hard to avoid. All we need to do is learn to ignore the "opportunities" that spammers send our way and disbelieve what those endless websites and banner ads out there promise us. A bit of healthy skepticism goes a long way. And User:The juggresurection, I should probably add, should be pleased with himself for being smart enough to look before he leaped. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 14:06, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes - exactly. That's why I was confident in saying "It's a scam" without reading it - without even knowing what the page was about. If you have to ask...it's a scam. SteveBaker (talk) 14:32, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Memory improvement

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment recommendations. For such advice, please see a qualified professional. If you don't believe this is such a request, please explain what you meant to ask, either here or on the Reference Desk's talk page.

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis, or treatment recommendations. For such advice, please see a qualified professional. If you don't believe this is such a request, please explain what you meant to ask, either here or on the Reference Desk's talk page. --~~~~

--S.dedalus (talk) 02:02, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Twenty-seven is way too young for noticeable memory deterioration and increasing clumsiness. I suggest you see a doctor. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:35, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Science quote?

Who said something like: “Science is to ask the right questions. Any first year student can find the answers.” —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.226.70.173 (talk) 04:13, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, the focus on asking the right questions is quite common in all realms of study... there are a lot of variations on this sort of thing attributed to people, e.g.

• "The scientific mind does not so much provide the right answers as ask the right questions." — Claude Levi-Strauss
• "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." — Voltaire

And so on. Here's a whole page of similar quotes (though of course with all such lists I'd take them with a grain of salt unless you found a good source for the original quote). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:02, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Another one I always like on a similar topic (I may be paraphrasing slightly) is from Isaac Asimov: "Fewer scientific discoveries were announced with the word 'Eureka!' than by the phrase 'Now why did that happen?'" Grutness...wha? 02:33, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

air plane crash

Is there a way to find out if a certain person was killed in an airplane crash. I have a name and the plane date when it went down but can not find any way of locating passenger info. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.182.52.201 (talk) 04:43, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I would imagine that you could simply contact the airline in question and explain that you think someone you know might have been on that flight, provide them with the person's name, and ask them to tell you whether that name was among the casualties. They'd certainly let you know. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:54, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Assumes it was an airline. I do note that the NTSB does not include any names in its accident reports. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 14:39, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, yeah, you're right, it could be a private plane. Should that be the case, I'd probably contact the police in the area where it crashed. I mean, either way, barring some really unusual circumstances, I don't think this kind of information is too hard to get out of official sources -- unless there are bodies that cannot be identified for some reason, but in that case contacting the authorities about this is probably a good idea anyway, since they'd probably appreciate the information. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:16, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

What city is this?

I was looking through wallpapers included with Windows Vista on my two-month old laptop and came across this black and white image of a city at night. (Here is a copy [4].) Examining the info in the properties, all I have is a year, 2006, and a photographer, Jean-Francois Gate, and my searches on Google and Getty showed nothing. What city is it? I speculate it could be one of more new/modern parts of Shanghai or in the Middle East. --Blue387 (talk) 08:40, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Question

How do you find out your SHA-512? February 15, 2009 (talk) 12:50, 30 August 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by February 15, 2009 (talk • contribs) 12:49, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Not quite sure what you mean. If you have a string of text, say 660725FED251F314A2AF0570264C155776E407AD, I don't think there is a way to determine what cryptographic hash function created it. If you're trying to find out what the original text was I think it's near impossible without a enormously powerful computer. The Cryptanalysis and validation section of the SHA hash functions article deals with most of this, and you may get better answers at the Computing Reference Desk. JessicaThunderbolt 13:56, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, you can reverse simple hashes without too powerful a computer, using rainbow tables. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:34, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

The Linux program sha512sum will calculate the hash code/checksum for an arbitary string of data. That program probably runs on other platforms too. However, I don't know what you mean by "your" SHA-512. What data is passed into the program to generate the code? It really matters - if you put your name into the program, you'll get a drastically different result if you put a period at the end versus if you don't. For example;

~> sha512sum
Steve Baker
8f67363ab5be74697254b0589cd6d3abb07a8a8ae830c3a4490a13daf7689cc4356d730c1a17a49a8b912acfe5ebe739b31b323cce91abb015af050038146d55  -
~> sha512sum
SteveBaker
7df9bfd36c2638dc384985ec69ebb0d33d01f2caef11c68e2917fc0ecc6175cae140ff7c10dd342fa67ed0b474d2e00308af67efff593dc67e0d8e39f7253c16  -

The difference of a space between "Steve" and "Baker" produced an utterly different result.

SteveBaker (talk) 14:25, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Mysterious spikey objects in London

Can anyone tell me what this is? There are several fixed and wired to adjacent lamp posts along High Holborn in London, England. Thanks. Oosoom ^Talk 15:44, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Suggestions: Anti climbing device, weird sort of antenna, light diffuser or lamp protector.--79.76.176.172 (talk) 17:19, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Possiblly some sort of anti-pigeon device maybe —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.98.87 (talk) 17:26, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

That seems a little overkill for an anti-pigeon device. Usually those sorts of things are small and subtle. And why would you need them going up-side down? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:32, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

On second thoughts, probably not an anti pigeon device becasue the other parts of the light don't seem to have any spikes, bit of a mystery, i've never seen anything like that on streetlights before —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.98.87 (talk) 17:41, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Boy that's odd. It does seem wired to that box, meaning it's "spikes" are probably more than ornamental or just to discourage climbing or tampering or birds (could have accomplished that with a lot less). They look like antennae to me? The ends of them seem to have little tiny protuberances as well. Very strange. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:28, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Maybe it's decoration and at night they light up like optical fibers. JessicaThunderbolt 17:50, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

It's a ornamental light. The spikes contain fibre optic cables with a bulb in the middle. Power is taken from the main street light via the box.[5] Nanonic (talk) 17:53, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. That's a relief. I had a horruible feeling that they were part of a world-wide-wifi network and would appear on every post everywhere! :) Oosoom ^Talk 10:09, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Can I get in trouble for publishing my "Harrry Pot-ter" book?

As a new author, I realize how hard it is to write a successful book. My friends often remind me on how the odds are against writing a best seller the first time out. My friends tell me-"Forget it, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning while sliding up a rainbow." My friends don't know ME very well. I want success, and I want it NOW. Writing is a highly competitive field and one must find a way to stand out. I literally tripped over the answer when my niece left her Harry Potter book on the floor, leaving me to trip over it. 16 stitches later, it occured to me that if I spell JK Rowlings intellectual property slightly different, it may not be her property. So if I publish my guaranteed to be best seller "XJ14-jj**AHHHHH!!!!!" with the subtitle "Harrry Pot-ter Returns! -The Half Blood Prince Philosopher Brings the Secret Goblet of Fire To a Hallow Uniting Prisoner in Phoenix!" people will flock to buy what they think is a surprise release of a new Harry Potter book. They may feel tricked and angry at first, but after they read my story about hairballs, plumbing and why the main character Gertrude turns to Jesus, they'll be glad they did!--Hey, I'm Just Curious (talk) 18:53, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

I can't give any legal advice otherwise I'll be banned. But you may want to read this: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24247105-2703,00.html

Dismas|^(talk) 18:58, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

The producers of Hari Puttar - A Comedy Of Terrors are being sued. Corvus cornix_talk 18:59, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

If it's a parody and not an outright ripoff it might fall under a fair use clause, see Parody#Copyright issues. JessicaThunderbolt 20:47, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry if I came across as seeking legal advice. That's why I phrased it "Can I get in trouble". Anyways, thought I found a sure fire loophole by making the "Harrry Pot-ter" part the subtitle, but probably not. Now the world will never know what an articulate vessel of intellectualism I am. And sadly, the world will continue to carry on blissfully ignorant about trap fittings, air admittance valves, and sulfate corrosion.Hey, I'm Just Curious (talk) 21:59, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

If you are making a work with the explicit intention of it getting confused for another work, you open yourself up to all sorts of lawsuits from the copyright holder as well as even the potentiality of criminal fraud. Borrowing heavily from another's intellectual property in a way that does not fall under parody (which has a stricter legal definition than the popular definition), especially a very successful and profitable franchise, will surely get you into legal hot water. Misrepresenting your book with a title of another book—especially one that has no relation to your actual book and is clearly just an attempt to defraud the consumer—well, it's a bad idea. Fortunately for you, no publisher in their right mind would sponsor such a thing. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:54, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. While this is not legal advice, I don't think you have much to worry. Not because there are no legal issues, but because the chance any reputable publisher in a country with resonable enforcement of copy protection anyway, will publish your novel is next to zero. I suspect even many vanity publishers will stay away from it. Heck you may even have problems self-publishing it. And even if you do publish it, it's unlike any stores will stock it. Nil Einne (talk) 06:07, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I recollect hearing a long time ago (but cannot remember the details) of a man whose real name was Albert Hall wanting to use his name to publicise some venture of his, but the "Royal Albert Hall" took him to Count to prevent him using this name.Simonschaim (talk) 08:46, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Why is everyone talking about copyright? Copyright does not protect book titles or character names. The only issue here is trademark. The purpose of trademark protection is to prevent people from mooching off a valuable brand, pretty much exactly as you're trying to do here. You'd never get away with this, but copyright isn't your problem. -- BenRG (talk) 12:35, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

In the U.S., copyright also grants the holder the right to make derivative works. Thus you can't simply draw a new cartoon featuring Bart Simpson, write a new book about a bunch of kids at Hogswarts School, or publish your own contribution to the Star Trek series. People do these things, usually under the aegis of fan fiction, but have no legal standing to do so. (This has nothing to do with the book the troll is pretending he would write.) — OtherDave (talk) 20:13, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Salt Export

I have a salt factory and i've been supplying the local market(middle east), but now i'm interested in export. Where and to who can I export salt to?

please reply to my email at <email removed to prevent spam> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.114.160.32 (talk) 20:49, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

What kind of salt are you interested in; table salt, sea salt, bath salts etc. I guess the most basic answer I can give without further information is that you can export salt to whoever you want and wherever you want; it's not toxic or controlled to any large degree by trade barriers. Might be hard to find a buyer though, and the abundance of salt on Earth means you'll have to sell tonnes of the stuff to make any sort of profit margin. JessicaThunderbolt 21:03, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

August 31

Making Fun of Spanish language Telenovelas

Could you make fun of Spanish language telenovelas and get away with it? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 00:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

This would seem to depend strongly on what context you're in, how you make fun, and what constitutes getting away with it. I'm sure I could drunkenly rant against them in my local without problems. Algebraist 00:46, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I really can't see why you couldn't. Considering your obvious, uh, fervent interest in the topic, Ericthebrainiac, this may come as a bit of a shock to you, but there are a lot of people who just don't care all that deeply about them, if at all, and have no problems making fun of them. (Really, considering that people can get away with making jokes about rape, murder, war, religion and a multitude of other subjects that most people take very seriously, making fun of some soap operas strikes me as a non-event.) I mean, I'm sure there are some circles where those would be fightin' words, but that'd be a pretty exceptional situation. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 01:37, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

In most present-day developed countries excluding China, I think you'd be okay.--El aprendelenguas (talk) 19:52, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

What, China don't take no crap off no telenovela haters? Man, the People's Republic never ceases to amaze me. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 00:53, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

2 different degrees

How common is it for people to study 2 whole degrees in 2 different subjects and is there any logic to doing such a thing? For example, a Bachelor's degree in Classics and then another Bachelor's but in Maths. the reason im asking is that I find both maths and classics interesting but dont know which to choose to study. On one hand the applications of maths are obvious and i like the kinds of job opportunities it offers. On the other hand, Im not sure I'd like many of the jobs I'd get with Classics but feel i like the subject more. So i dont want to end up with a job i dont like but I really would like to study classics? So thats why Im thinking of doing CLassics and then Maths. --212.120.246.239 (talk) 00:53, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Some universities over joint degrees, sometimes in wildly different subjects. That might be preferable to taking two full undergraduate degrees. Where are you planning to study? Algebraist 01:01, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

It's not uncommon for people to get more than one bachelors degree, but usually it's because they've decided to go for a completely new career later in life and go back to uni to get the second degree, rather than planning to do both from the outset. Doing some form of combined degree would probably be a better option. If you can find a university offering "Mathematics with Classics" or something, then great (such a course may well exist somewhere), otherwise you could looking a more general combined course that lets you pick and choose modules from various departments ("Combined Arts" and "Natural Sciences" are the two such degrees offered by my Uni). --Tango (talk) 01:18, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

This was the case a number of years ago; I do not know if it still applies today: once you get a, say, BSci degree, you have the BSci degree, and you can't get another. You can get a BA or a BAE or BFA, but not another one of what you already have.

It's kind of like virginity, but in reverse. --Danh, 70.59.119.241 (talk) 02:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

What's your source for this? It sounds extremely unlikely. I can't see why you should be able to keep getting as many BScs (say) as you like (I certainly know people with two). Algebraist

What would be the point in getting a second BA in the same subject? And what, really, is the point in doing a second BA anyway? With one BA you can move on to an MA, which you can probably get in the same amount of time it would take to get a second BA. If you're going into a vastly different subject area you may be required to take additional foundation courses. The other option would be an interdisciplinary degree, which are very sexy right now. I'm sure there's some way to combine classics and mathematics. Exploding Boy (talk) 02:21, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Funny you should mention that. I started out on a Mathematics degree, intending to do a double maths major. I got the first major out of the way, and decided I was sick to death of left-brain stuff. On a whim, I checked out the modern languages department, and found that I could do Russian as my second major, with full credit for the work I'd already done, as long as I changed the name of the degree to a BA in Modern Languages (plural, even though I only studied one language. Go figure. That offended both my mathematical brain and my language brain, but not so much as to actually prevent me from going down this path). The irony is that I increasingly rarely use either maths or Russian these days. The saga took so long (I was doing it part-time while working in a more than full-time job) that the thought of doing a second bachelor's degree, in a third discipline, was anathema - let alone a Masters. But if I ever did do a second degree, it would have something to do with history or politics. Or music. (I like to cover all the bases.) -- JackofOz (talk) 02:33, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

No-one has suggested doing two bachelors degrees in the same subject, that would be pointless and I can't see any university letting you. We're talking about doing them in different subjects, and that is pretty common. I know of nothing which prevents someone holding two BSc's. (And I very much doubt there are rules preventing you from doing a second BSc but allowing you to do a BA, since the distinction varies from university to university, for example Cambridge calls everything a BA, if memory serves.) --Tango (talk) 02:41, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

There would probably be very little point in getting a second BA in the same subject - unless you passionately wanted a higher grade and retook the course in order to get it - or perhaps you had a BA in some subject at a crappy degree-mill and then decided to retake it somewhere very prestigious. But 70.59.119.241's claim that you can't have (say) two BSc's in different science subjects is flat out untrue - I know quite a few people who have multiple BSc's. SteveBaker (talk) 02:47, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I doubt any university would let you try and improve your grade like that - the grading system is designed for people that have spent a certain about of time studying it, if you spent twice as long you will almost certainly do better, but that doesn't mean you are actually better at the subject (you're just better at sitting exams in the subject). --Tango (talk) 02:55, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

So let me get this straight - you don't believe that studying a subject for a longer period makes you more expert at the subject? If you're prepared to study for six years instead of three - isn't it likely that you'll understand the material better, get a better grade AND actually deserve that grade? I'm guessing that most universities wouldn't let you do it - but that's because places on most courses are limited and they'd prefer to let someone else take a shot at it. But someplace where you pay them a large pile of money to do the course ought not to care. SteveBaker (talk) 05:55, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Sure, you'll be better at the subject, but not by as much as your grade would suggest. A university grade doesn't just assess your knowledge and skills, it assesses your ability to learn, and your ability to learn is no better than it was the first time round. --Tango (talk) 12:50, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't buy it. If the value of the degree is in measuring your ability to learn - then why would a second degree in a totally different subject be acceptable? Didn't you learn how to learn when you took your first degree? SteveBaker (talk) 15:46, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Universities are not in the business of giving credit for things students already know. That's why native speakers of Spanish are not allowed to take 1st year Spanish classes, for example. There would be absolutely no value in taking a second Bachelor's degree in the exact same subject. No university would permit someone to do it, and there's no point in it anyway: where's the value in having 2 BAs in the first place? And for both to be in the same subject?

Anyone trying to suggest such a thing would be told to move on to an MA if they're still interested in studying the subject. The generalized courses offered to undergraduate students are not suitable for someone who already has 4 years of study under their belt: they take the more specialized courses offered to advanced students, who have already mastered the undergraduate-level material Sticking with Spanish, someone who has a BA in Spanish could go on to do an MA in a variety of related fields: Spanish linguistics, literature, history, politics... You can get an MA in 2 years, which is the same amount of time it would normally take to do a second BA. The only reason to get a second BA is if you want to move to a vastly different subject area for your MA, an area so different that you are lacking the foundation required to study the new subject at an advanced level. Even then, it would probably be better to be unclassified for a couple of terms, only take the courses you absolutely require, and then register as an MA student. Exploding Boy (talk) 16:12, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

See Conjoint degree. Or look at [6] for examples. Note this is (usually) only if your are trying to get different degrees, e.g. a BA and a BSc. If you just want two majors, you can usually do a double major or for a BA a major and minor. At least here in NZ you can do certain Maths majors under BA as well so that might be an option depending on what you want to do. But be aware that if you are planning to do something like this it can be quite intensive and because you are concentrating on two subjects, it means you may have little room to do other courses outside your majors which in some cases can lead you to an option you might not have considered Nil Einne (talk) 05:28, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Combined degrees (Arts/Asian Studies, Arts/Science, Science/Economics, etc.) are very common at my (Australian) university. I did Arts/Asian Studies - which, if I wanted, could have been something like Indonesian, Chinese History and Drama. I know someone doing a degree in Music and Chemistry, and had a friend who, at one stage, was studying Psychology and Geology. As to the wisdom of combining them, it depends on your career choice. The usefulness of many degrees are in their demonstration of your ability to achieve critical thinking, written communication skills, understandable logic and making a coherent argument, rather than specifically on what you have learnt. Steewi (talk) 04:12, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Odd Behaviour of BBC RSS Newsfeed

Each time I open up the default BBC newsfeed that came with my Firefox browser, I noticed that about halfway through all the headlines, there is a block of headlines that is considerably shorter in length and more esoterically titled than the other titles.

Here is a compilation of a few shots to demonstrate what I mean (Work-safe, 123kb):[[7]] The portion highlighted in red is the block of headline that I am referring to.

Why does this occur? I thought perhaps this is a function of the time of day that I check it at, I live in the NYC Eastern Time Zone, but regardless of the day and time of the day that I check the feed, there is always that block of short titles in the middle of the feed.

Thanks. Acceptable (talk) 02:15, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

It looks like they are from the "Features, Views and Analysis" section (at least, one of them is in that section on the home page now, and articles in that section usually have short names like that). I guess they are all uploaded together each day, so end up in a group. --Tango (talk) 02:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

small business

The pay as you go tax system is part of our australian activity statement. Could you help me find out what this means for my small building company. Like what taxes fall under this category and what they mean ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.30.47.167 (talk) 04:06, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I recommend you ask a tax accountant. Useight (talk) 07:59, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Agree with Useight. Our article on the subject is Business Activity Statement. Darkspots (talk) 08:25, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Being watched

What's the WP's term for a feeling of being watched? Eyes burning a hole in the back of your head, etc.? --Johnny (Cuervo) 04:15, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

We had this question a couple of years ago. As I recall, we couldn't come up with a word for this, but maybe this field of research has developed since then. I also recall claiming that it's possible to make someone feel uncomfortable by simply watching them, even though they have no overt evidence that any such watching is going on. Others disgreed with me, but I still believe this. And your question seems to support my view. -- JackofOz (talk) 04:48, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

And from what I recall, someone found a page that was discussing some online military game. On that page someone had quoted a US Army manual which said that while doing recon, you shouldn't stare at the human target for fear of them "feeling" you stare at them. Dismas|^(talk) 05:31, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

That's amazingly silly! SteveBaker (talk) 05:51, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Edward B. Titchener, an early experimental psychologist, wrote in 1898 about "the feeling of being stared at," (cited in [8] but reported that lab tests showed no such ability. This failure to detect whether one is being stared at has been replicated several times since. Edison2 (talk) 06:40, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I think that's one of the types of experiment that could only prove/disprove the effect in the particular case of the subjects they were monitoring. I don't see how they could conclude that, just because it didn't work in the controlled test, it would never work in non-testing conditions. People have been talking and writing about this phenomenon for hundreds of years, so there's plenty of evidence that something's going on. -- JackofOz (talk) 06:50, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

As they say, "The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'." Consider your statement, but substitute a different topic.

• People have been talking and writing about ghosts for hundreds of years, so there's plenty of evidence that something's going on.
• People have been talking and writing about angels for hundreds of years, so there's plenty of evidence that something's going on.
• People have been talking and writing about Yeti for hundreds of years, so there's plenty of evidence that something's going on.

Sure, there is something going on—but it's just more evidence to support the confirmation bias built in to the human mind. Consider the infantryman on patrol. Every so often he gets a twitchy feeling between his shoulder blades, and decides to have a look behind him. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, he sees absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and carries on with his rounds. No big deal, he's supposed to be looking around anyway, it's what he does for a living. Nothing special, nothing to remember. One time out of a hundred, he turns around and sees an enemy scout looking at him. He shoots the scount, and reports back to base. "Sarge, I took out an enemy up in the hills. I swear, I never woulda got him, but it was like I could feel him lookin' at me." And so the legend is strengthened.

'Aha', you say. Surely this shows that his sense of being stared at does work, it's just usually lost in the noise from all his other twitches and peculiarities. He did, after all, turn around the one time where he needed to. Well, that's fine—except that we're missing data. We didn't hear back from the other infantrymen who didn't turn around when they were being looked at.

We could also take the evolutionary biology point of view. Knowing when something large and predatory is looking at you would confer a tremendous survival advantage. If there were any hint of such a trait in our genetic makeup, it would almost certainly be both conspicuous and omnipresent by now.

Suggesting that it's simply a flaw in our controlled experiments is all well and good, but these aren't particularly difficult or costly experiments. Why, in hundreds of years, have we not been able to reproduce this phenomenon in any trial? Can you prove a negative? Well no. But at some point you have to be prepared to say that the hypothesis is unlikely. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:32, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think there's a specific term for this feeling, and there's no reproducible experimental evidence to prove that it's based in fact, but people do experience it and it does change their behaviour. See this. Karenjc 19:18, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

That link's a bit different from what's being discussed here, though. People certainly change their behaviour when they can clearly see eyes watching them, and there is ample experimental evidence of that. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:26, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

The term paranoia seems useful as an answer to the querent . There is no difference between reality and imagination for those who believe their experiences to be factual. Of course, this applies to religion, as well. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:31, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

There is no laboratory-replicable ability to tell when someone is staring at the back of your head, but humans are extremely good at detecting with peripheral vision when someone is looking in their direction, and fixing the looker with their own baleful stare ( This may be the basis for the belief that one can tell when someone is staring at them. Turn it around: has anyone every "caught you" staring at them, when they were seated in front and a bit to the side of you? Edison2 (talk) 18:30, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

It's also worth remembering that humans put an immense amount of importance on eye contact, probably more than any other species does (if our extra-large sclera are any indication). As we all know, when you lock eyes with someone it's electric for the human brain—something goes through you, a little "holy shit wtf" switch is tripped no matter who is doing it. So when we casually turn around in a crowd and are scanning the heads and our eyes inevitable lock on to someone else, we notice it, big time. We probably sometimes fool ourselves into thinking we've detected them watching us in the first place. As has been brought up before, there's been a lot of work recently on the evolution of the large sclera in humans speculating that being able to tell where other humans are looking has played a major role in our evolutionary history. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Staircases

As I recall, on the television show "Faulty Towers", when people are shown going up the stairs to the bedroom level, they appear to arrive on a small landing and then have to DESCEND a few steps to reach the hallway floor.

I have seen the same thing on the series "Father Ted", which is set in Ireland.

Is there some feature of English and Irish construction that would make sense of this "up then down" stair? CBHA (talk) 04:30, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

It's possible that it's needed in order to get over an internal structural beam or something. It's also possible that the room beneath the the landing has a higher ceiling than the room beneath the area where the bedrooms are. My house has a couple of steps down into the (upstairs) media room because it's built over the garage - which has a lower ceiling than the rest of the house. SteveBaker (talk) 05:50, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Incidentally, the up-and-downy stairs in Father Ted were included as an intentional homage to Fawlty Towers.

The reason the stairs are constructed in that way has nothing to do with "English and Irish construction" - it is because the sets in question were built in a flat studio, and without that little landing, the characters could not be seen ascending the stairs at all. Given how much of Fawlty Towers involves Basil frantically running up and down the stairs, the set designer evidently felt that this was the best solution to the problem. Malcolm XIV (talk) 09:23, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Regardless of set design, this is very common in older houses in the UK. The last three houses I lived in all had this sort of feature somewhere, and in my brother's house you have to step down into an upstairs bathroom. Most houses here are at least 100 years old and have undergone various alterations and extensions. Most small hotels were originally family homes and may have been altered several times. My present house was divided into two flats about 20 years ago, which required a landing with split levels. In my previous house, the entrance hall and reception rooms had higher ceilings than the kitchen, which meant stepping down into the bedroom that was above the kitchen. Also small houses were often knocked together, and they may have different levels.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:27, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I've known houses where you have to step down into the upstairs bathroom as well. It makes a certain amount of sense for a bathroom - prevents flooding from getting into the rest of the house. --Tango (talk) 11:23, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Stepping down into a set is a very common device, as it highlights the actor's entrance onto the set. Examples would be the Dick Van Dyke Show (the Petrie residence, Andy Griffith Show (the courthouse), the Mary Tyler Moore Show (Mary's apartment) and Cheers. Acroterion _(talk) 03:10, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Cancer-Project or Cancer Scam

Is "The Cancerproject a scam? I was told it is a front for PETA since it claims that eating animals will give you cancer. Are they for real or really full of shit? The Cancerproject just started advertising on the radio, during Coast To Coast AM and George Knapp was anchoring instead of George Noory. 65.163.117.223 (talk) 06:57, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Almost anything would cause cancer eventually... But this has to be BS. Humans evolved by eating meat, if it gave us cancer we wouldn't have evolved to be able to eat it so much. Some people in northern russia for example eat only meat and apart from say scurvie and a few other vitamin defficiencies they actually show less amounts of cancer (as do most people living in non industrialised counteries).--58.108.249.161 (talk) 10:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Err, humans ate meat pretty differently in their evolutionary history than they do today (much greater volumes of it), and your argument about how evolution would have put a limit on our meat intake is, well, a bit unsupported. It's pretty well known that red meat can probabilistically increase your cancer risk (see Red_meat#Cancer), and that grilled meat in particular carries a high level of mutagens in it. That being said it's a probabilistic risk, not a sure thing, and a lot lower than the carcinogenic risks we're more familiar with, like smoking. As for the Northern Russians I wonder what their average lifespan is—cancer is a much more "modern" disease in part because people live a lot longer than they used to, and many forms of cancer take 10-20 years to really develop after initial exposure to whatever caused it (as an anecdote, in my family, almost all the males used to die of heart attacks; with the invention of medicine to treat that, now they all eventually die of cancer! fix one thing, another steps into its place). (And in any case, from what I gather from National Geographic, these particular people spend most of their time eating fairly lean reindeer meet, a far cry from buckets of cheeseburgers.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:06, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

building

I have found ab building near Bill Gates House, what looks very interesting. What's this for a building? Who's the owner/which company is working inside this building? Photoes of the building at ([Google], [Live] and [Panoramio]) --79.210.195.88 (talk) 11:55, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Webster Hall in NYC

This may be a long shot, but I'm hoping that someone familiar with the area will be able to help me. A couple months from now, a friend and I will be attending a concert at Webster Hall in NYC. What we didn't realize is that doors are at 11:30 PM. This seems somewhat risky, as we will need to be back to Penn Station by 1:41 (I think) with enough time to make it onto our last train. I've e-mailed the venue with my concerns and to ask if they have additional details about when the performance will most likely start and end, as well as requesting information they might be able to give about subways etc., and while I hope they will reply helpfully I am still a little anxious. What I don't know, and hope that someone may be able to assist with, is what the best (and quickest) way to return to Penn Station from Webster Hall will be. I know almost nothing about subways, and can't determine online which line would be quickest (or even running so late), or how long the transit might take. I figure that the best choice may be to take a taxi instead. A quick glance at the rates online suggests that it would definitely be an affordable way to avoid the risk of missing our train, so my next (and perhaps only) question is whether anyone knows how hard it might be to find a taxi nearby at that hour, and how much spare time we should leave open for us to find one, ride, pay, and rush in towards our train. Sorry that there's so much to this question. Thanks for any help. :)

The poster of the "building" section seems to have accidentally overwrote my whole post :(, so this is a repost!

-- 64.0.112.2 (talk) 12:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

As you suspected, your best bet is to take a yellow cab. It's only 20 blocks or so from the venue, and I suspect the fare would be $10 or less, which you could split with your friend. It is extraordinarily easy to find a cab in the East Village at night, especially on a weeknight. If this concert is on a weekend, you might have to compete with a more people, but you'll still find one in a matter of minutes. To minimize stress, try to get to Penn station a good 15 minutes before your train departs (and buy your train ticket in advance), which means try to hop in the cap no later than 25 minutes before your train leaves.

If you want to save a couple bucks, take the subway. You'll just need to allow yourself much more time, because the subway runs far less frequently at night (try to get to the subway station maybe 35-40 minutes before your train at Penn Station leaves; you could cut it much closer, but TFM doesn't want you to have to run for your train). From Webster Hall, you could walk to the Union Square (14th St.) station and take the N/R/W or Q uptown to 34th Street and then walk 2 blocks to Penn Station from there.

Or, if the weather is nice, and you want to walk a bit further, try walking to Washington Square (West 4th St station) and get on the A, C or E train uptown directly to Penn Station.

Sorry if this is a convoluted answer. Problem with NYC is that there are far too many options. Don't forget to bring a map!--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 14:48, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for writing such a helpful reply! It will be on the weekend (and of course right outside of a popular nightclub), but if you're right about everything then it shouldn't be too terrible to pay ~$10 (my sister's guess as well) for a quick and relatively stress-free cab ride. You've also helped illustrate that saving a few dollars by taking the subway doesn't seem like it'd be worth being that much more pinched for time (not to mention not worth any potential confusion). Beyond praying that the show begins quickly and doesn't stretch on until after we have to leave, what I will most likely try to do is escape the place with no less than 30 minutes to go and snag a cab. The walking in nice(?) weather and riding the subway will perhaps be best utilized as our method for getting to the concert, so I'll note those suggestions.

And as a completely random bit of trivia, "the fat man" is a nickname that my ex-girlfriend and I used to almost exclusively call my cat (who fortunately has always come back) :). Speaking of my ex-girlfriend, my next question is: what's the best way to survive attending a NYC trip and concert with someone who dumped you two months prior? Just kidding... :( -- 64.0.112.2 (talk) 16:09, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Take the cab up to Penn Station. If you have any trouble getting one right outside the venue because they're mobbed, walk uptown on 4th Avenue towards Union Square. If you can't hail one along the way, you're sure to grab one going west on 14th Street that time of night. (Just cross 14th Street to the uptown side and hail one in that direction).

If you're training down to the East Village, you can exit Penn Station on the Seventh Avenue side, which is pretty close by if you're coming into the city on the LIRR or Jersey Transit. That'll get you closer to the N/R/W at 34th and 6th; TFM is right, that's the best way. Enjoy the show. Darkspots (talk) 00:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Excellent! :) Thanks for the consensus. I'll definitely be sure to note your cab tips, too. Funny thing (although probably a common oversight) is, I wouldn't have even thought to be sure to grab one heading west. :) As for getting there, I'll be keeping your (and TFM's) subway tip in mind, but there's no telling what our day is going to be like so I have no idea when we're going to be where... Again, thanks! -- 64.0.112.48 (talk) 14:09, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

BTEC national diploma?

Im starting a BTEC national diploma, but are they stronger than A/AS levels? For e.g. you get a distinction in a BTEC ND is that stronger than various grades in multiple A levels??? THX —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.114.62 (talk) 16:24, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, as regards university entry in the UK, the UCAS Tariff is widely used. A pass-pass-pass in your BTEC national diploma is given 120 points, the equivalent of 3 A levels at grade E, while three distinctions in the diploma is given 360 points, the equivalent of 3 A levels at grade A. Warofdreams talk 20:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Fr. John Jeffrey Purchal

I am trying to find information about a street priest in Springfield Massachusetts who has a homeless ministry called the church without walls. I think he is an Episcopal minister. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.98.211.230 (talk) 19:53, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

It would help if you told us what sort of information you're looking for. A Google search doesn't turn up much but there may be a name of a church mentioned in one of the links that you could call for more info. Dismas|^(talk) 21:16, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

[9] is the first hit in Google. There is an email address and phone numbers given on this site. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 21:32, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

VW beetle engine splash guard

Where can you find a engine splash guard for a 2000 2.0 VW Beetle? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chief731ss (talk • contribs) 19:59, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

The dealer, ebay, craigslist, etc. Where in the world are you? That might help. Dismas|^(talk) 21:13, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Sarah Palin's son in Iraq

When Track Palin gets stationed in Iraq, does he still get Secret Service protection? Corvus cornix_talk 22:32, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I love this question. Couldn't find any answer to it, though I did find some examples of other people asking the question. I do know that in a sort-of-similar situation, the UK decided not to allow Prince Harry to go to Iraq with his unit [10]. - 22:43, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

That was because a terrorist organization had put a price on his head. Corvus cornix_talk 22:51, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

I guess the same question would apply to Beau Biden. Corvus cornix_talk 22:51, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Prince Harry is a quite different case though - he's third in line for the throne. His brother will almost certainly become King of England and then Harry would become King should something bad happen to his brother before he has children. In terms of "importance", that's more like being a Vice President Elect (who steps into line if the President-Elect is killed or incapacitated). The son of an unelected Vice President is not in the path to power at all - aside from the distress it would cause his mother if he was injured or killed), he is of no more importance to the nation than any other citizen. If he wants to risk going to Iraq - that's entirely his own business. That's not to say he won't get some special protection or be considered differently from the rest of the troops...but it's not a slam-dunk as it was with Harry. SteveBaker (talk) 05:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

According to the Secret Service website, major-party Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates and their spouses are covered within 120 days of the general election (if not before), but it doesn't mention their families. Once elected (even before inauguration), their families do get protection. I assume that Palin will get reassigned stateside if his mother wins. Darkspots (talk) 07:28, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

By the standard of World War 2, his only protection would be his weapon and his fellow soldiers. James Roosevelt, the son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, ironically enough, served in Iraq with British troops in 1941.Later he served with the Marine Raiders, a US Marine commando unit which conducted guerilla style attacks behind enemy lines He received the Navy Cross for heroism in the attack on Makin Island in 1942. He later served with the Army and received the Army Silver Star in 1943. No record of any Secret Service squad assigned to protect him. His brother Elliott Roosevelt served in the Army Air Corps, apparently without any on-board Secert Service protection. Their younger brother Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. served in the Navy and was received the Purple Heart and Silver Star. It looks like Presidential offspring did get interesting assignments and fast promotion, though. Edison2 (talk) 18:24, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Names to Music Industry faces

Howdy! Way back in November 2007, I found a batch of unidentified celebrity photographs. Given how successful the Reference Desk was in identifying people last time, I figured I'd give it a go with another, smaller, batch from the American Music Awards of 2007. Images are courtesy of Luke Ford. With no further ado:

• IMG10
• IMG16
• IMG18
• The guy in IMG5 (woman is CC Fontana)
• IMG27
• IMG28
• IMG33

Jesse Carmichael? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 04:58, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

• IMG49
• IMG56
• IMG57; Kellie Pickler? Clarityfiend (talk) 02:18, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Any help would be appreciated :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 22:56, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Extra bonus credit if anyone can identify the only unidentified person from the last batch. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 23:02, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

September 1

Eurasians in Japan

Please don't cross post. This question is already on the Ref Desk Humanities. ៛ Bielle (talk) 03:00, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

No one answer my question about the population of eurasians in Japan. 72.136.110.93 (talk) 02:57, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Some questions are unanswerable. It's perfectly possible that such data has never been collected. We don't generally have a way to say "Nobody knows the answer to your question" because we never know whether someone may eventually come up with something. But generally, if you ask on the right branch of the reference desk and don't get a satisfactory answer within about four days - there is little point in asking it again. Sometimes it's simply that nobody knows - so nobody answers. SteveBaker (talk) 06:05, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Telethons

Since AFAIK these work by making a pledge and people send a cheque in later, is there generally a significant difference between the total pledged amount as compared to actual receipts (either people deciding to donate more, or not making their donation for whatever reason)? --Random832 (contribs) 03:44, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes - but they must take the vast majority of their money from credit cards or PayPal or (in some countries) 'cheques by phone' - so the overall percentage evidently isn't too terrible. My local NPR radio station KERA get the majority of their funding from pledge drives. I looked up their annual financial report. It says:

"The Corporation determines its allowances based on historical write-off trends. The Corporation writes off receivables when they become uncollectible based on a delinquency status in excess of 120 days and when the collection efforts have been transferred to a third-party agency. Payments subsequently received on such receivables are credited to the provision for bad debts account."

So (at least with KERA) they have a good idea what percentage of people will weasel out of their promises (I'm not good at reading financial statements - but it looks like they are using 12% as their "contingency" for planning purposes - but I don't see the actual delinquency amount written down anywhere). But it's clear that if you pledge and then don't follow through with the money - they nag you for 120 days and then sell your debt to a debt collection agency!

"A promise is a promise" !!

SteveBaker (talk) 05:05, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

New post

How do i make an new entry, such as a Biography of my self and the Charity i have started, The Miracle health network? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zanderboy (talk • contribs) 04:02, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

We don't encourage people to write their own biographies. See WP:Biography for more information. See also WP:N for more information on why people need to be notable before they get a Wikipedia biography. If the charity becomes successful and renowned, someone will quickly write a bio of the charity, and perhaps yourself. Steewi (talk) 04:18, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

It's certainly not considered OK to write your own biography - and it would also be a conflict of interest for you to write about a charity that you started...so between our rules covering biographies of living people, our rules about notability and our rules about conflicts of interest...there is no doubt that neither of those things are allowed. If you were to create those articles, they'd be swiftly deleted by people who spend large parts of their lives looking at newly created articles and deleting the bad ones. If you are indeed a "Notable person" within Wikipedias stringent standards, then someone else will sooner or later get around to writing about you. If not...not. The same is true for your charity.

However, you did say "...such as..." those things. If you have found another subject to write about for which no article exists (the Caliroa cerasi species of Sawfly for example) then you could enter it's title into some another article (or your own Talk: page for example) between double-square-brackets like this: [[My article title]] - and it would show up as "red link" like this: My article title when you save that page. Then you could click on that red link and Wikipedia would pop up a message telling you that the article doesn't exist and asking you if you'd like to create it. Then you can just type your text in as you would when editing any other article and hit "Save page" when you're done. The "red link" will then turn blue and you have the beginnings of your article. But PLEASE don't create one about either yourself, your business, your high school, your rock-band, any of your friends or relations, or about your charity...because it would surely be deleted very soon afterwards - and a lot of people would be very unhappy with you for doing it. SteveBaker (talk) 04:43, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I would beg to differ about high schools. They are generally notable. bibliomaniac15 04:56, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I think "generally notable" is putting it too strongly. How about "some high schools are notable"? But I believe SteveBaker's point is that one ought not to create an article about their own high school. Wanderer57 (talk) 05:06, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I'm generally an "inclusionist" - and I'd be quite happy for every school on the planet to have an article written about it. However, we have rules. There was an effort (See WP:SCHOOL) to write a notability guideline for schools - which would (IMHO) have excluded a large percentage of schools on grounds of lack of notability. However, that proposal hasn't gotten consensus...so right now, schools fall under WP:CORP - which specifically states that educational establishments are indeed covered by it's rules. (Specifically under the "non-commercial" section for public education - maybe under commercial for private schools). Of particular concern is: "Organizations whose activities are local in scope are usually not notable...". That means that very few high schools indeed should be able to meet the bar and most should be listed as a section under their educational district or some such thing. SteveBaker (talk) 05:28, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Nevertheless Bibliomaniac is right; a rough consensus exists at AfD that high schools are (pretty much) inherently notable. Darkspots (talk) 07:16, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Christian Universalist Churches and Congregrations

If a person wants to become a Christian Universalist, or join a denomination of Christianity that is Christian Universalist, but lives in a place where there are no Christian Universalist churches or congregations nearby, what should he or she do? Bowei Huang (talk) 05:17, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Going to church does not make you a Christian. You can be one without attending a church of that denomination. You could, however, contact a church online for advice. Avnas Ishtaroth _{drop me a line} 05:49, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

(B)Oy Vay: a religious joke!

You will, of course, go to hell and impersonate the proverbial shrimp on the diabolical barbie Down Under. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 07:27, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Did you try praying for God to give you an answer? (This is the Godelian Atheist answer BTW) SteveBaker (talk) 05:59, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Macbeth songs

What are some songs that relate to Macbeth? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 06:25, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Macbeth#Musical_adaptations lists both classical and rock adaptations. DAVID ŠENEK 09:35, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There are, however, Macbeth-related songs that are not adaptations, such as the track Macbeth on John Cale's album Paris 1919. Algebraist 10:06, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Silly questions

I seem to remember a while back reading a list of hilarious questions placed on the reference desk that had no business being there (like can you get me into college). Anyone know what I'm talking about? It might have been part of BJAODN. 68.50.107.144 (talk) 11:59, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There are two lists maintained here and here. JessicaThunderbolt 12:31, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Also,see Wikipedia:Unusual requests and Wikipedia:Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Helpdesk Emails - they used to be part of BJAODN. Graham87 16:02, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I CAN"T SIGN INTO MY E-MAIL! PLEASE ADVISE?

Hi everybody, Somebody has got into my yahoo e-mail,and i can"t sign in. I have tried to contact yahoo security,have had no reply to numerous e-mails. What can I do?? Cna anybody give me a yahoo security contact e-mail?

Very worried  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 135.196.110.222 (talk) 12:14, 1 September 2008 (UTC) 

Are you sure someone has got into your account and you've not just entered the password wrong? Also I think they have a new system now where you have to enter your whole email address into the ID field, so instead of just "random223" you have to enter "random223@yahoo.com". Try asking at the yahoo! security center to see what they can do. Sorry I can't be of more help, you might get better answers at the Computing Reference Desk. JessicaThunderbolt 12:43, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Yes! I have done that you mention,and just need yahoo security to reset my password somehow.Then inform me of the new password at my alternate e-mail at hotmail. Some how a person got in and changed the password,I have had e-mail scams sent to me,and did think that maybe one had a virus to do this. It has been a week,and every time I contact yahoo security,I have no reply. What can I do next! CAN anybody advise?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 14:56, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

hi, i'm not a computer expert, but if you're worrying about viruses, don't open any of the scam emails. If you already opened the scam emails and think you may have a virus, you could download a virus scanning software that will find and delete any viruses on your computer As for new password, i don't know because i'm not a yahoo user. ZXS9465 (talk) 15:07, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I just tried getting my Yahoo password wrong, and got a page that said (among other things) "Did you forget or misspell your ID or password? You can recover your ID and/or password by confirming your private information.". It looks as if clicking "recover your ID and/or password" will let you reset your password, provided you can remember the private information you gave Yahoo when you set up the email address. (In case you don't see the link when you try to login, the page I got was this.) This is probably easier than trying to get the Yahoo Security Center to respond - it's surprising how unresponsive people can be if you're not doing things the way they expect!

Oh, yes, one thing more: apologies if you've already thought of this, but I'd suggest using a different password from the one you used to have. AJHW (talk) 10:42, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Black Metal

Why is Black Metal classified with metal such as death Metal or thrash? Many BM songs are far more Classical or Operetic in thier sound. Some dont even have drums such as Burzum. Do most Black metal fans listen to normal thrash or death metal too, or are they more inclined to listen to Classical or opera? Any related info would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:30, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Most BM fans believe that the melodic BM is 'untrv' and therefore the majority is more inclined to Buzrum/Gorgoroth/Mayhem - the blackened death metal end of the spectrum. Then you've got me, who prefers the Dimmu Borgir sort of melodic black metal, but I can listen to the harder stuff if I wanted. Avnas Ishtaroth _{drop me a line} 05:10, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Distrubution

I have recorded 30 or so songs, and chosen 10 or so and burned them onto CDs, I have had booklets printed with the album cover and lyrics, includeing copywrite violation warning ect, I have now 5000 CDs to distribute, how would I go about getting these into CD shops around the world or at least in Europe? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Your best bet is to approach local retailers (perhaps independent stores are better) and offer them to host your CD for sale. The chain-retailers will probably push you through their approved distribution route, but perhaps local independents will give you a go. Also consider approaching places such as coffe-shops etc. to have your CD in-store where they will play it and sell it at the counter for a cut of the profits. Also try looking into approaching iTunes to have your music hosted on their site. As I understand it you pay an annual fee for this, earn very little by way of profit but potential increase in exposure could well make this worth your while. For now I would suggest your best bet is to stay reasonably local and try to build from there, if you spread your resources and stock too thin you could struggle more than if you concentrate your limited resources into a key segment. Unfortunately you are one of 10s of 1000s of artists trying to get 'discovered' and 'heard', so don't expect to just put them in the shops and them to sell because they are on a rack - you need to push for your sound to be heard, so intelligent/inventive marketing is a necessity. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 13:28, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Line up

How do band s such as Dimmu Borgir and others manage to change thier line up and maintain the same sound? Many band have had numerous members, who contribute to the song writing process, yet they maintain thier individual sound over numerous albums and years? I play in a band and we recently got one new member, and although our old keyboard player now plays guitar, we have rehashed and old song from our previous band, same band, one new member, the song is completely different from how it used to be, even though most of us are playing the same chords, with the same beat, melody and tune. This is a good thing but I remain curious about other bands and how they retain thier sound? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:48, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

One reason (possibly among many others) is that the band has a leader—who writes most of the songs and/or exerts the most creative control in the songwriting process—who remains with the band through the lineup changes. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 15:43, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

If you're talking about recorded music, especially commercial, consider that there are sound engineers and marketing directors, et al., involved in producing the tracks and selectively shaping the results. Another factor: as do artists in other media (notably painting), skilled and otherwise talented musicians may spend a period of their training copying "the masters" of their genre and may become quite good at reproducing the elements and stylings of a favored model. -- Deborahjay (talk) 20:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Questionare

In my spare time I enjoy answering questionnaires, such as Would you make a good neighbour, consisting of 30 multiple choice questions, and then have them analized at the end. such things used to be found in People magazine South Africa, where can I find such things online? And, why are these things usually orientated toward women? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Fixed "questionaire" typo which caused redlink. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 17:45, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Because for men, the answer is "no you are not a good neighbour, now stop perving on my fifteen year old daughter". -mattbuck (Talk) 19:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Mobiles

Hi could you tell me if it is breaking the law to text on a mobile phone whilst driving in the UK? thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.140.2.103 (talk) 19:01, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if it's illegal, but I can say that it is certainly stupid. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 19:19, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

According to the Mobile phones and driving safety article "most countries and states that ban hand-held cell phones while driving also ban texting while driving". No source or specifics though. JessicaThunderbolt 19:26, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Confirmed here and here; "The use of mobile phones for [texting] are prohibited if you hold the phone". Apparently it's ok if you don't hold the phone, though not advisable, and the "police may use their powers to stop you under existing laws." JessicaThunderbolt 19:33, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

So it's legal to text if you set the phone on the seat next to you and try to use it while driving? That doesn't make a lot of sense. Corvus cornix_talk 21:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Looks like. Though I think there are laws regarding being distracted while driving that would cover this. I remember a story about someone being fined for eating a Kit Kat while driving. JessicaThunderbolt 22:05, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

[E/C] You might have the phone in a car-kit cradle, so that you're effectively pressing buttons on the dashboard. I used to have such a setup, though I didn't in fact use it for texting. Texting from a cradle-mounted phone may not be specifically illegal in the UK (though I wouldn't be surprised if it were), but it could certainly be prosecuted for as driving without due care and attention, or careless driving. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 22:18, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

This suggests you can go to jail for killing someone if you text when driving, this confirms you can't text if you have to hold the phone to do so, even if you don't cause an accident. This confirms what a stupid, irresponsible idea is it to attempt to do so and what the consequences may be. Karenjc 23:55, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

At the bottom line in the UK you are likely to be charged with driving without due care and attention if you drive while doing something which distracts you from the act of driving safely. The media representation of the action which causes the lack of care and attention usually leads to misleading representation. Someone won't be charged with eating a Kitkat while driving but with careless driving or driving without due care and attention. The media will report the Kitkat eating but not the three lampposts demolished, to get best headlins effect. Richard Avery (talk) 07:20, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

WWIII

Why is it, that in futuristic fiction, when a character recounts history of earth and humans they often refer to the human race having fought three world wars? This is seen time and time again. What is it that causes so many authors to believe that at some point in the future we will again be plunged into war? The causes of world war 2 can be seen in the aftermath of WWI with the treaty of versai, (spelling)and other mitigating factors. It could be said that before WWII it could be predicted that it would occur by analizing the feeling of unfair treatment within the German poplus. What then could be the causes of a future world war, and what can b analized today to predict when, where, and why. And how can it be avoided, if it can attall. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.18.32.117 (talk) 20:52, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There is an article on World War III which offers some thoughts. JessicaThunderbolt 21:00, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

There's even an article about its use in fiction, etc. World War III in popular culture. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:34, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

How does WWI dictate or predict the Pacific theater of WWII? It's not nearly so cut-and-dried as you think. In the aftermath of two world wars in a 25-year span, and with the spectre of nuclear weapons (without a clearly defined notion of mutually assured destruction to curtail their use), and with the post-WWII peace rapidly devolving into the Cold War, it wasn't unreasonable to suppose that a third such conflict would follow. — Lomn 21:01, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

The idea of WWIII was especially prevalent during the Cold War. The idea, as the article suggests, is that eventually all of the tensions inherent to the Cold War would bubble up into another full-blown war, and that due to improvements in military armaments since WWII (e.g. ICBMs, SLBMs, hydrogen bombs) such war would necessarily be horrible. The causes for that version of WWIII are easy to analyze: they're explicitly part of the Cold War.

But! But! We didn't have that war. No, despite the fact that nearly everybody thought the Cold War would become WWIII at some point, it didn't really work out that way. (Unless you do consider the Cold War to be WWIII. I don't. It was a protracted series of near-wartime, punctuated by proxy wars, but it wasn't an all-out war.) Which is a due warning about pretending that was can analyze the causes of a war and foresee it or prevent it. WWI was essentially unforeseeable—it could easily have not happened, is another way of putting it (a slightly more flexible government in Germany and it need not have occurred at all). Whether our world will slide into a future "World War" remains to be seen. I think it's fairly clear, though, that looking to WWI and WWII for analogs about the present and future is treacherous territory—we live in a different world than those two eras. Not necessarily safer, but different. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:34, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I have a comic which details a possible fourth world war taking place twenty years after the Cold War erupted into WWIII. Unyclopedia takes it even further and has at least 25 World Wars. More on-topic response will come when I'm not at school. Avnas Ishtaroth _{drop me a line} 05:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

According to Albert Einstein, "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." (as found on Wikiquote). Your interpretation of that may provide some clues. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 05:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Talking about WWIII is a handy narrative device; it conveniently establishes that we are in the future, and in a future that is still recognisably the same world that we live in today (ie, not some far-flung fantasy world where the 20th century and its wars have been forgotten). FiggyBee (talk) 22:28, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

How to use optimisation For Free

Hello, I'm an web user who's trying to get a blogg around, called (removed to prevent spam), and am looking to optimize it or something so people can become more aware of what I had to say. It's not a business, just a message I was trying to gain exposure; so my question is: are there any reputable and free optimization systems that I could try? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.254.47.173 (talk) 22:12, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I assume what you mean by "optimization" (which has many meanings in the computer world) is Search engine optimization. Our article covers the basics of it. Other than those, your best bet is to find sites with a high pagerank that might be willing to link to you (and you'd link back to them, but that wouldn't get them much of anything), and consider trying to do something on your page that would get it a little attention on the social bookmarking sites. But if your site is really about cryptozoology (I couldn't get your URL to work) then I'm somewhat suspicious that you'll really have to stand a head above the other million such sites on the 'net. There are a billion blogs out there—most of them are totally unknown. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:23, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

The problem is that the algorithms used by search engines are specifically designed and optimised to deliver the best quality content to their readers. That means that the one and only tried and true technique to get your site noticed is to produce really good, reliable, useful content. It you are merely blathering on about your own opinions - you'll sink into a morass of other similar things. But if you put premium content out there - things people actually need to know - hard facts that aren't showing up in a million other places - then your page-rank will rise. Sadly, there is no shortcut - only ways to cheat. Pagerank (the Google algorithm) basically gives your site a respectability score for each search criterion that depends on the number of other respectable sites that link to it. This is quite cunning because it prevents you from getting a high score by being linked to by a lot of crappy sites. It's tough to get a respected site to link to you unless you too are respected. One cunning trick (which a suspicious mind might wonder if you just tried) would be to sneak links into Wikipedia (which is INCREDIBLY respected in pagerank) - however, that won't work because Google allows web sites to tell their web-crawlers "Please don't consider any links we make as being especially respectable just because we say so" - which makes having links from Wikipedia completely useless for improving your pagerank.

Proof of this is if you type my name into Google's search box ("Steve Baker") my web site is usually in the top five hits of the 600,000 or so places that name is used (Hmmm - today I'm only number two...darn!). I don't use ANY tricks or cheats to push my page rank - I've never asked other people to link to my site - I just have a lot of original "stuff" there that people seem to like to link to. So I get a better page rank than the other Steve Baker's in the world - except for (today) the entry in the Motorcycling hall of fame for some famous biker with the same name as me.

So just concentrate on making an interesting, useful, high quality website. On the web we have a saying: "Content is King" - it's true.

SteveBaker (talk) 04:08, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

It also depends on where you're searching from. At the moment, Steve's home page is number 21 on www.google.no, 32 on www.google.es, and 5 on www.google.com (search performed in Oslo, Norway). --NorwegianBlue ^talk 08:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

September 2

Gods kingdom

How many animals in Gods kingdom will happily eat their own fresh vomit? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.154.239 (talk) 00:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Good question. Do you mean how many individual animals or how many species? Also do you mean specifically here on earth or across the whole universe? Wanderer57 (talk) 00:56, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I've seen it in both dogs and cats. That's a start (anectodal as it is). Steewi (talk) 01:52, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

This question has been asked before (word for word, as I recall). I suggest you check the archives to see what responses there were that time. --Tango (talk) 04:19, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

It's some kind of a tradition - I believe the very first question ever asked on the Wikipedia reference desk was essentially this one. SteveBaker (talk) 05:46, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, when I say "before" I mean in the past couple of weeks... --Tango (talk) 10:59, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

The first question ever was a bit different: Why dogs it other dogs' poop? Admiral Norton ^(talk) 18:38, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

How do we know that they're doing it happily? Corvus cornix_talk 18:21, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Well nobody's forcing them to do it. I duno about other animals, but dogs do this all the time; so much so in fact that the phrase "a dog's breakfast" has come to mean vomiting in the street after a night of drinking. It's probably instinctual behavior. In the wild I'd imagine any animal which eats it's own vomit does it for one of two reasons, either to leave no trace to predators and prey or to conserve food and energy. Also Dan Joyce is famous for this. JessicaThunderbolt 19:06, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

poster mysteries to solve

I'm trying to find copies of World War II era health protection posters. One is a baseball-themed prophylaxis poster. (I can't remember the exact title of it). The other is titled "You Can't Go All Out When You're Feeling All In". I've seen them somewhere on the Internet. But I can't remember where off the top of my head. If anyone has any information, please let me know. Thank you so very much.72.229.139.13 (talk) 02:37, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Try searching 'propaganda posters'? Avnas Ishtaroth _{drop me a line} 05:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I tried several times. But I get thousands upon thousands of hits. It's time consuming to go through all of them. What can I do? Any ideas?72.229.139.13 (talk) 15:26, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

please help me.

What is the sole purpose of a case study house???

We have an article on Case Study Houses, though I'm not sure if this is what you're asking about -- case study may be of more use. In either event, I think a sole purpose is unlikely. — Lomn 13:40, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Age of fibrous plaster board sheets as internal cladding

There is a house in country victoria (Australia)... One part is lined with large ,i think prefabricated, sheets of plaster board. These are predominantly fiber, possibly coconut, with plaster all through the fiber mat and creating a paintable plastered internal suface. I hope someone knows when they might date from.Merelyn saunders (talk) 10:53, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Prefabricated boards which are "predominantly fiber" in an old house are very likely asbestos (ie, Fibro). If they're damaged or individual fibers are breaking off they are a serious health hazard, and you (or the owner) should get them professionally assessed and removed - do not attempt to remove, paint, drill holes in, or do anything yourself. FiggyBee (talk) 14:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I agree - this sounds a lot like asbestos - especially if it's in an older house. Asbestos fibres are really dangerous if you breathe them into your lungs. If there is any dust from these boards floating around in the air - that could be REALLY bad. If that's what it is, you need professional help to get rid of the stuff. Mixing fibres into plaster to make a stronger kind of plaster board (aka "sheet-rock" if you're an American) is a great idea - but fibrous asbestos would have seemed like a great idea before we discovered the horrible health problems associated with the stuff. Coconut fibres are a possibility - but they aren't fire-resistant like asbestos is - so that would be a less likely choice. SteveBaker (talk) 15:15, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

screaming old doll head

what material is screaming old doll head made of? and how can i get some Bradley10 (talk) 10:57, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard of anything called 'screaming old doll head', and neither has google. What are you talking about, exactly? Algebraist 10:58, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean a doll's head that is screaming? Pug power (talk) 15:03, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

famous quote help

i need some good famous quotes on civil liberties, can anyone help?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.7.133 (talk) 12:36, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

See this and this. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 12:41, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Nudity in images

Are there any websites that publish nudity but NOT pornography. A large archive would be preferred. Both genders or single gender sites are both fine. --217.227.89.30 (talk) 13:21, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

See this site. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 13:27, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Here is a good image. Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 13:28, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

To get a decent answer, you probably would want to more precisely define what makes something "pornography" in your eyes (or why you're looking specifically for non-porn nudity). The subject of what does/does not rise to the level of pornographic/obscene is highly observer dependent, to the point where it is the origin of the phrase "I know it when I see it". (Some people think that any non-medical nudity is pornography, whereas others don't mind it as long as it's "art", which brings in the whole question of "what is art?".) - I will note that WP:Wikipedia is not censored, so you may be able to find what you're looking for on Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons. -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 17:18, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

CCTV maps

are there any links to maps that show where CCTV cameras are?? like the one's that show speed camera's —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.7.133 (talk) 13:41, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Do you have a particularly country/city/place in mind? I doubt you will be able to get 'all' cctv - you may be able to find maps that document the location of 'public' cctv (or government owned) - this website (http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/sc_cctv_map_camera_locations.htm) looks like it is for one of the boroughs of the UK. I doubt a ordinance-survey style map exists as cctv cameras probably number in the millions, whereas fixed cameras for speeding (based on this site http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/Gatso.htm) is much more manageable at around 4,500 (GATSO account for 90% of fixed cameras and there are around 4,000 of those apparently). 194.221.133.226 (talk) 13:57, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

ya, UK is the place. What about graphs that show an increase in surveilance over the years? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.106.7.133 (talk) 14:13, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

how many work legal work days per year are there in the states?

? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Joeyhammaker (talk • contribs) 19:06, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

All of them. There is no day on which it is illegal, per se, to work. --Trovatore (talk) 19:09, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Most jurisdictions in the U.S. do not impose limits on what constitutes "work days". That is, there is no requirement that certain days of the week, or certain holidays, be days off, nor that employees receive any certain amount of vacation or sick leave. -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:10, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Relevant articles: Public holidays of the United States 40-hour week 40-hour work week (oddly, the last two do not redirect to the same article) --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

White Glow sticks

Why does the article omit the fact that there are glow sticks that emit WHITE light? I have these, and you could get them from Sportsman's Guide and other Sporting/Emergency Preparedness outfitters. 205.240.146.95 (talk) 22:13, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't. It mentions that white glow sticks can be made using a mixture of 2,4-di-tert-butylphenyl 1,4,5,8-tetracarboxynaphthalene diamide and 9,10-diphenylanthracene. Algebraist 22:23, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Granny Smiths

How many women can take 2 granny smiths without their eyes watering? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.154.239 (talk) 22:29, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Define "take". --Tango (talk) 22:44, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Joan Armourtrading

Why did she chose the name of a weapons dealer for her stage name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.154.239 (talk) 22:33, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

You would probably be better off asking her. See if you can find an official website, or something. --Tango (talk) 22:44, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Pornography

Is it, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.154.239 (talk) 22:39, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

In that different people enjoy or do not enjoy different forms of pornography, yes. --Tango (talk) 22:44, 2 September 2008 (UTC)