Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

Please help us write the Reference Desk guidelines

We are currently drafting a proposal at Wikipedia:Reference desk/guidelines.
Please discuss those issues on its associated talk page, Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/guidelines.

April 20

Marketing

what does it mean by MARKETING IMPLICATIONS

Who or what is "it"? --Ybbor^TalkSurvey! 01:21, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

No need to be snide, fellow volunteer -- this phrasing has the fairly common structure of a non-native speaker's attempt to say "What does the phraseMarketing Implications mean?" Jfarber 01:27, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I wasn't attempting to do so (such is the limitations of our medium). "It" could have been a reference to a specific Wikipedia article, or something someone else said on this page. In any event, thanks for the tip, and I'll keep a heads up for this kind of language in the future :). --Ybbor^TalkSurvey! 02:52, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Marketing implications: A Google search of the term (in quotes) reveals no definition, but the phrase seems to be used to mean "ways in which thing X reframes the underlying market for goods and services". For example, the marketing implications of modern feminism might include a higher demand for pink cordless drills, an increased cultural demand for pre-made and quick-to-prepare foods, and a need to start portraying women as strong, partnered breadwinners when showing familiy units and promoting products for families. (Oh, and if you use my example for your homework, I expect you to attribute it to the Wikipedia Reference desks, as per our license.) Jfarber 01:27, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Marketing implications must refer to some specific <product or service> in the widest sense. It refers specifically to the implications for the marketer of satisfying the prospective customer's (and/or consumer's) need or want. Thus the marketing implications refer to the use or value as perceived by the customer. i.e. MIs for a motor car may be safety, reliability for an older person, yet - for the same car - speed and pull value for the young male customers. Thus the marketing plan is set with the implications of each market segment in mind. (I'd let you cite me but we must remain anonymous!)90.9.87.148 14:25, 20 April 2007 (UTC)petitmichel

so for a phone company.. picture messaging might HAVE A marketing implication? and free picture messaging for a month? is that an example then?

Picture messaging would only be an issue if sufficient customers wanted it. Otherwise you'd be "product centred" i.e. pushing what you want on to the market. Free usage is a promotional tool designed to persuade wider or greater use. Often used as an intoductory offer.90.27.174.30 11:03, 21 April 2007 (UTC)petitmichel

Is Matrixism Cho Seung-Hui's Religion?

I heard that Cho Seung-Hui followed a religion based on the movie The Matrix. Is that true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.124.144.3 (talk • contribs)

There are quite literally dozens of rumours going around right now, far too many for any one to be verifiable or not. Anyone could say anything about him and someone would take it seriously. --Charlene 02:38, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

The Matrix is now a religion? Wow. I really need to get out more. - Eron ^Talk 03:07, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

See Hyperreality. Nebraska Bob 17:05, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

If you want to learn more about Matrixism, after numerous deletions due to poor citation and a lack of notability, a number of legit sources have been published; we're drafting an article here that cites a good half dozen or so.

Some killers, include Lee Boyd Malvo, the Beltway sniper, [1] do appear to have believed to some extent that the movie was real; often this is used as an attempted insanity plea by the defence. Laïka 10:20, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Are you thinking of marxism? --h2g2bob 18:17, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

56k of spamrant removed (n/t)

Thanks Jfarber, for the memory. ;-) ~ hydnjo talk  06:49, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Apologies -- meant to provide history link as above, but got distracted by several small RL beings needing a bedtime tuck-in. Hope our regulars enjoy the spam. Jfarber 22:58, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Marketing

Kindly give me a name of well known company's portfolio, the product length, the product width and the product line of that same company.

thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brebylina (talk • contribs)

See this or this or even this. ~ hydnjo talk  08:49, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Weyerhaeuser. 8 feet. 3.5 inches. Lumber.

Atlant 13:07, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Locked doors in voting lobby

Hello All, Whilst watching the BBC Parliament channel the other day, I do this rather too much so that I can confirm my belief that democrcacy doesn't work, the Madam Deputy Speaker made a statement that she would investigate the incident of some MP's not being able to vote (Pensions Bill. I think) because they couldn't unlock a door. I can't find anywhere that reports what happened and how many votes went uncast. DOes anybody know? many thanks Scraggy4 09:27, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

There was a tiny bit in the Times. First section on this page mentions it. Skittle 21:58, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Just on the general question of locking the doors: In Westminster parliaments (UK, Australia, NZ, Canada etc), when it comes time to take a vote, bells are rung (typically for 3 minutes) alerting members of the relevant chamber who might be elsewhere in the building to come down and participate in the vote. They might up on their offices preparing a speech; talking to constituents; having a coffee break; taking a crap; or whatever. They're given sufficient time in which to get there; after that, they're locked out during the vote. It's analogous to a public election being held on a specific day, where the ballot stations are open between specific hours. It's the voter's responsibility to get there before the cut-off time; same in the parliament. Otherwise, they'd be waiting forever and nothing would ever get decided. It's a simple practical measure, which imo has nothing to do with demonstrating either that democracy works or doesn't work. JackofOz 00:25, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

In this case it appears that the door broke. Hardly a scathing denunciation of Westminster-style democracy, I know, but those nasty facts....--Charlene 03:07, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Attorney-client privilege

Under what conditions, if any, may the IDENTITY of the client be held privelaged? I.e. if a client would like an attorney to represent him/her on a transaction, but remain annonymous through that transaction, to what extent can that annonymity be legally upheld?

I'm afraid what you're asking is pretty clearly legal advice, which we do not and cannot offer. This is especially problematic here, as Wikipedia is an international tool, and even if it what you ask were generally true/false, the exact conditions under which a lawyer may or may not be able to hold client identity a secret may vary depending on your location. My suggestion: ask a local lawyer this question, or contact your local Bar association. Jfarber 18:29, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

This doesn't just differ from country to country, state to state, or province to province: this differs based on the specifics of each case. As Jfarber says, to get this information you need to talk to a local (in your state, province, or other specific jurisdictions) lawyer. Most North American and British jurisdictions have free telephone legal advice services - in Canada they're often called "law lines". Check in your yellow pages under Lawyer or call the local law society or bar association - they'll be able to direct you. --Charlene 23:10, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

You could also check Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Attorney_Client_Privilege, which, due to some astounding coincidence, has a question very similar to this one. (See also "How to ask a question" at the top of all these help pages.) dr.ef.tymac 00:27, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Benefits of a pure-flat CRT, and the quality levels of cheap CRT screens.

I currently use a pure-flat 58cm CRT television, an LG Flatron series that I got a few years ago for around AU$380. I was looking around today and spotted an 80cm budget CRT -- curved, and only AU$150 (USD$125). What are the benefits of using a pure-flat CRT? Why is the latter TV so much cheaper (they are both 576i/480i only), and what can make cheap CRTs crappier? Pesapluvo 17:29, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, flat-screens help reduce glare. But since the price of CRT TV's are decreasing, it could just be because the first TV you bought was during an era where CRT TV's were more expensive. Jamesino 22:39, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

14.7 pounds/square inch (10,335 KG/M²) is a lot of force. That's how much pressure is bearing down on the faceplate of your CRT, trying to smash the faceplate into the vacuum inside the tube. It's a heck of a lot easier to make a spherical faceplate resist that pressure than a flat piece of glass. The spherical glass can be quite a bit thinner and, therefore, cheaper. The cylindrically-faced Trinitron tubes were in between the two cases.

Atlant 00:24, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

It would reduce the amount of distortion to the image, and a lot harder to engineer a flat surface on a sphere, but otherwise I don't see much difference. CRT TV's are considered obsolete now so everyone would be lowering their prices and selling them cheap. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:48, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

DJ Sharpnel song "Gate of Dreams" sample source?

Does anyone know the source for the sample used in the DJ Sharpnel song "Gate of Dreams" from the Album, Mad Breaks? It is a Japanese source, most probably from an anime.

Programming in non-english places like japan

I'm not a programmer, but I know enough java to realize that almost everything you type is based on an english word. Are there versions of programming languages for other languages, or do they learn the commands even though they don't make any sense to them to look at them.

The vast majority of programming languages are based on English vocabulary, but a few are not. See Categorical list of programming languages#Non-English-based languages. Marco polo 18:42, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

So do programmers just learn what looks like random shit? Or do they already know english usually.

Actually, we have a whole article on these, with a more extensive list than my first reference: Non-English-based programming languages. I suppose the experience varies. However, people studying computer programming are likely to have studied some English, either formally or informally. Computer-programming is typically a university-level course, and in most countries, secondary schools leading to university offer English. In the case of Japan, for example, English is mandatory in secondary schools. A person interested in computers would be likely to try to learn English, because it is the predominant language of both programming and the internet. Marco polo 18:56, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I ran into a Frenchman several years ago who said that he programmed in COBOL in French. I imagine it was just some sort of translated interface, like using "allez a" instead of "go to". Corvus cornix 19:57, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

BangaBhasha appears to be just such a translated interface for Bengali. It would not be surprising if similar interfaces exist for other languages with many millions of speakers. Marco polo 21:34, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

There are a few programming languages that people have translated - but generally most people don't bother. There are actually surprisingly few 'key words' in modern languages and many of them are pretty meaningless in English - so they don't suffer much in other languages. For example, we have 'int' and 'char' - which are short for 'integer' and 'character' - but could really be anything. There are other words that don't carry their English meanings too precisely ('static_cast' in C++ for example). In the end, they are arbitary tokens even in English - most of those tell you anything much about what is being talked about - they are almost as arbitary in English as in any other language. In C++ you could write yourself a really short 'include' file that would translate reserved words from whatever language you prefer to the standard C++ words pretty easily. (eg "#define entier int" if you were French) - this is so simple that it's not even worth considering writing a special compiler for non-English C++. What you do' see in non-english programs are class, variable and function names that are in the native language - and native language comments. In Japan, you can usually use native character sets so an English reader who knows no Japanese sees a bunch of utter gibberish with the occasional recognisable Java (or whatever) reserved word. SteveBaker 22:34, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

SASUKE competition

I've done quite a bit of research, read a lot of the material available in English, but I still have no idea how one would actually go about entering this competition. Does anyone have any idea how to do this, where to find an English FAQ page about it, or have the ability to read Japanese and the desire to search for this? 208.140.9.250 18:48, 20 April 2007 (UTC)Sunlizard

What, if you don't mind explaining, is the "SASUKE competition"? Do you have a link? Can you describe it? Leebo ^T/C 20:16, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

It would have been courteous of the inquiring editor to wikilink sasuke. But if s/he'd known about the article(s) (sasuke (television series) looks promising), s/he would have had a starting point for her/his inquiry. Anchoress 23:11, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Plans for space stations and other things of this kind

Why do countries plan things for more than ten years from now? Like a plan to do something by 2020 or 2030 or whatever. Shouldn't they be able to get things done in a couple of years? I mean people make worthless shit all the time, it's not like it would involve too much work. Is it just that they don't have enough funding or not enough people with adequate training or what? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.185.137.146 (talk • contribs)

Designing and building the station, launch system, ground control infrastructure, training facilities, etc., and actually training the people takes time. It also takes a lot of money, and a limited budget will increase the time needed even further. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:55, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Indeed. While it is true that "people make worthless shit all the time," worthless shit won't cut it if you are working on the Apollo Program. (Well, not usually.) Big projects take time, money, resources, and expertise. You might as well ask why most people take out mortgages rather than just buying their homes outright. After all, people buy useless shit all the time. - Eron ^Talk 19:00, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I see how the money could delay it, but what I meant in saying that people make worthless shit all the time is that there are so many people who can do manual labor so that building anything can be done very, very quickly, so I can't see the actual act of "building" taking more than one or two years, and, although I know nothing about designing that kind of stuff, I can't imagine that it couldn't be done in one or two years. Is money the major delay, is it lack of trained people to make ideas and design stuff and that kind of thing, or is it something I'm not thinking of.

Space stations do not require a huge amount of manual labor, which is certainly in abundant and inexpensive supply. Instead, they require a huge amount of highly skilled and specialized labor, which is in short supply and very expensive, and a huge amount of highly specialized capital equipment, which is highly expensive. The design of the station as a whole is incredibly complex and time consuming, involving the coordination of numerous highly trained scientists and engineers. Then, most of the components of a space station, down to the most minute pressure controls, have to be specially designed and engineered for a single use. Then, often, manufacturing equipment to make each of these components has to be specially designed and tooled. Only then can the component be made. Finally, the components need to be assembled according to the design, often in stages for final assembly in space. Meanwhile, the rockets and other transport infrastructure for bringing the stages into space have to be designed and constructed, using similar complex and highly expensive processes and drawing on the same limited pool of highly trained workers. While all this is being put together, the missions for assembling station stages or components have to be planned, and astronauts need to be trained. Now you can see why this takes years and many billions of dollars. Marco polo 19:37, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Plus, there is a great, great deal of testing that must be done on every component that is manufactured and assembled. Taking the F-35 as an example, the prototype aircraft was completed in February 2006, but it diodn't have its maiden flight until September due to the number of ground tests taht had to be performed first. - Akamad 01:23, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

You said, "although I know nothing about designing that kind of stuff, I can't imagine that it couldn't be done in one or two years". You have no idea how long it can take! As systems get larger and more complex, the amount of time and effort (not to mention money) it takes to plan and design them goes up exponentially. The Saturn V rocket contained hundreds of thousands of components; it took about ten years and vast quantities of money (billions of 1960's dollars) to complete. The Microsoft Windows operating system contains millions of lines of source code and Microsoft still hasn't gotten it right. The schedule for the Airbus A380 project was pushed back a year or so simply because two separate groups of designers had failed to maintain compatibility of the computer systems they used to keep track of the lengths of all the wires and cables in the aircraft. Managing complexity is probably the biggest and hardest problem in building large systems. —Steve Summit (talk) 14:20, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

In fact, one thing that governments are often criticized for is that they don't do enough work on things that will take many years to be completed. They want to get reelected and they don't think the public will be interested in things that they've started but which haven't yet produced concrete results, so they're afraid to spend money on them. This issue comes up in all sorts of areas: environmental issues, transportation and other infrastructure issues, support for scientific research (in space and elsehwere), and so on. --Anonymous, April 20, 2007, 21:40 (UTC).

One issue that can greatly improve inception-to-production time is concurrent engineering, where different parts are designed and built at the same time as others. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well for space vehicles as each design feature tends to be dependent on many other features. Thus, if you need to change one feature, many of the rest need to be changed, as well. For example, suppose during the design of the Space Shuttles, they had decided they needed to add another person to the crew, say a "navigator". On a large airplane that would just mean a seat and a few other things. On a Space Shuttle, however, they would also need to add food and water, sleeping quarters, possibly a space suit for EVAs, etc. Even worse, all this extra equipment would add to the weight, meaning they would need to carry more fuel to lift it into orbit, and then more fuel to lift that fuel into orbit, etc. So, they might need to increase the size of the fuel tanks, as well, and possibly increase the size of the entire Space Shuttle to accommodate them. StuRat 13:01, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

boat - new york

Is this boat actually underwater? Or just an illusion, seems kind of strange how the other boat look above the water but the one on the right looks underwater.

The link is [2] because i cant figure out how to put the image on here. Google maps co-ordinates are 40 41 51 N 74 02 21 W i think - Its right at ellis island anyways. Rickystrapp 20:05, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[Here is a direct link to the Google Maps ghost image. —Steve Summit (talk) 16:11, 21 April 2007 (UTC)]

It might just be a ghost image of the same boat from images at different times being spliced together. Cyraan 20:30, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

I'd go with the ghost image reasoning. If you look on Google Earth there is a very similar looking boat just south of the "sunken" one that looks similar in both style of boat and "sunken-ness". I think that they're boat loads of tourists going to the island. And the sunken one seems to have people standing around on it so it's obviously not actually under water. Dismas|^(talk) 21:07, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

If it is a 'ghost' image, it is of the boat to the south, because their are subtle difference between the 'ghost' boat and the boat slightly north west. But then again going by the wake coming from the 'ghost' boat it looks like its come from the north rather than the south. Rickystrapp 21:13, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

The photos that make up Google Maps are a montage of pictures taken in different ways (from low flying aircraft, from high altitude or from satellites) - on different days and different times of day - with different kinds of camera/film/lens, etc. Also, it's not always possible to get a perfectly overhead photo. Hence there is a lot of sophisticated software that corrects for all of these things and blends and merges all of the photos together to make something that seems pretty seamless. However, that does lead to issues like this. I would guess that we are close to the boundary between two original passes of a low flying recconnaisance aircraft. The passes would have overlapped somewhat and we can assume that the boat (or boats) had moved around between the two passes - so when the computer tried to come up with a viable blend between the two photos of that area, it probably mixed 50% of one photo with 50% of the other in the region around the boat. The effect of that is a 50% transparent boat - which would look a lot like either a ghost or a ship sunk in shallow water. These kinds of anomalies are very common in satellite and aerial photography. SteveBaker 22:19, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Animal Rights

What percent of people support this.

Our article on animal testing contains a section on sampling support and opposition to animal experiments. What you find is that the results differ, depending on who commissioned the poll. In the UK, where animal rights is perhaps most prominant, newspaper commissioned polls tend to show 50/50 to 60/40 in support of medical related experimentation, but much less support of non-medical experimentation, or that providing the most distress to animals. When animal rights groups commission a report, the results show much less support. Make of that what you will. Of course, there is more to animal rights than just opposing experimentation, but I don't believe there has been a much sampling into those who support the entire philosophy of giving animals inherent rights. Rockpocket 22:25, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

The wording of a poll question, or even different intonations used in reading the same question, can yield very different results. For example, if you ask "Do you support scientific testing of animals to determine whether a drug can save human lives?", you will get much more support than if you ask "Do you support scientific experimentation on animals that may cause them pain, illness, or death?". Or, depending on how you read the following statement, you may get very different results: "Do you support scientific research on animals to find medical cures for people even when animals may experience pain, illness, or death?" If the latter clause is read with emotional intonation, support will be much lower. Marco polo 22:52, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I am aware of the reason for the difference in the results of similar polls, the difficulty is in interpreting these differences to get an idea of what the population actually believe with any accuracy. Thats what I meant by "Make of that what you will." Rockpocket 23:21, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

And then you have to detangle the entire "animal welfare/animal rights" knot. Many people believe that all actions on behalf of animals can be called "animal rights" actions, while others see promoting humane treatment of farm and companion animals, running no-kill shelters, paying for spaying and neutering, etc. as "animal welfare", not "animal rights". Many people who support animal welfare are in favour of using animals in necessary medical experiments (to discover a new cancer drug, for instance), but don't support the use of animal testing in food or (especially) cosmetics production. One major stumbling block to unraveling this knot is that the best-known animal rights organization, PETA, claims to be in favour of animal welfare as well - but many believe it doesn't live up to its words in that regard and is actually anti-animal welfare. --Charlene 23:03, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

These three useful responses taken together, then, suggest that it may not be necessary to buy into the "entire philosophy" of giving animals inherent rights in order to feel that animals deserve SOME rights of some sort...but that until we define what we mean by "rights", the question is unanswerable. Even THEN (says Mp) even if we have a sense of what "counts" or "does not count" for "supports animal rights", we may not be able to get a clear sense of those numbers. Still, until we know what YOU consider "supporting animal rights", we can't really answer your question even to the extent that Marco Polo defines the parameters of questioning. Could you refine your question? Are there certain rights you are interested in? How do you wish to count the rights/welfare issue Charlene brings up? Jfarber 23:13, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Almost everyone would agree that animals have some rights (like kittens have the right not to be set on fire as a form of "entertainment"), while not the same rights as humans (like the right of chickens not to be "murdered" and eaten). Also, there is almost universal agreement that larger, more intelligent animals, like whales, deserve more "rights" than simple, tiny animals, like ants. StuRat 12:23, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

The comment above demonstrates some of the common confusions between animal rights and animal welfare. It may be that "almost everyone would agree that animals have some rights," but I very much doubt it and there is no evidence supporting it. Indeed the only animals with any real support for affording rights to, are the Great Apes (see Declaration on Great Apes). What is likely true - and I suspect what StuRat means - is that almost everyone would agree that animals deserve some level of legal protection (perhaps more than they currently have). Society tends to agree that mammals' welfare deserves greater legal protection than non-mammals, but they are generally not afforded any more rights. The reason for this distinction is because once you give animals inherent rights, they can no longer be considered property and obtain a type of legal personhood. Generally animals, themselves, have few legal entitlements. That said, some states have afforded animals limited rights, these include Germany and Switzerland. The situation is best described in our article on the subject:

[Current law] categorizes animals as property; not as legal persons with rights, but as things that other legal persons exercise their rights in relation to. Current animal law therefore addresses the rights of the people who own animals, not the rights of the animals themselves. There are criminal laws against cruelty to animals; laws that regulate the keeping of animals in cities and on farms; laws regulating the transit of animals internationally, and governing quarantine and inspection provisions. These are designed to offer animals some protection from unnecessary physical harm and to regulate the use of animals as food, but they offer no civil rights to animals, who have a status similar to that of human slaves before abolition. American legal scholar Steven Wise writes in the Encyclopaedia Britannica that the failure to recognize individual rights makes animals "invisible to civil law."

Rockpocket 19:52, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

This is where the interesting part gets in...You may notice that cute animals = more likely to have 'rights' than uncute animals. Pest-control that looks after killing unwanted cockroaches and other bugs are much more likely to receive general support than say the annual seal (cubs?) cull that occurs in Canada. The 'humanity' issue surrounding method-of-death does come into it also, but the definition of a 'cruel' death is very subjective. Also there are many questions about the pain-feeling ability of differing animal types. Suffice to say that in general insects/bugs get much less support than mammals. ny156uk 14:47, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't see any more legal protection for "cute" insects, like butterflies and ladybugs, than for the rest, although I would bet that a zoo planning to add a "butterfly habitat" would get more donations than one adding a "cockroach habitat". StuRat 20:04, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Legal protection is not passed on the basis of cuteness, though protests on behalf of animals are. The UK is generally considered to have the tighest controls in the world. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 differentiates between vertebrates and invertebrates with one exception (a 1993 amendment to the Act included a single invertebrate species, Octopus vulgaris, as a protected animal). In addition, the protection only occurs from half-way through their gestation period, or until they are free-feeding.

Animal rights activists (as opposed to animal welfare activists) make the argument against speciesism - that all species deserve to have inherent rights - yet oddly it is only the cute animals that are given any serious attention. For example, our animal testing article lists the number of animals of each species used each year. They are listed in order of number of individual animals used and killed. If you take the top six (Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans, mice, rats, fish and frogs) you have accounted for well over 99% of all animals used. Yet, how often do you see animal rights activists appealing for support to help these animals? Instead we see images of kittens (in UK in 2005, just 308 cats were used) and great apes (not one has been used for research in the UK since 1998). Something to think about during World Laboratory Animal Liberation Week, which starts tomorrow. Rockpocket 21:30, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Hi I asked the question even though I might have a different IP now. What I meant by animal rights is the belief that people's rights should be curbed to some extent--small or large--for a purpose of which the primary beneficiaries are animals, not people.--71.185.132.150 00:18, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it really matters anymore what I meant though because people say the polls vary widely and nothing is specific anyway. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.185.132.150 (talk) 00:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

April 21

journalism?

Hello, I've often written news articles and research news stories. I have always wandered is there such a place in which I can post these articles and if any news papers think its good enough to publish them. I'm a real novice when it comes down to journalism. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks --(Aytakin) | Talk 00:41, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

You might want to look into our sister project Wikinews(link to site). I don't know if it would be a way to get directly into the news business, but you may find people there who can offer you some advice. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:07, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I've contributed to Wikinews and have some warnings for you. One is, like Wikipedia, your contributions will be ruthlessly edited by others. The other is that, at least when I was there, it had a strong ultra-liberal, anti-authoritarian bias. Thus, you would find articles about "police brutality", which were really about police breaking up an illegal "rave" party, for example. (I'm very strongly against police brutality. myself, but think that representing cops doing their jobs as "brutality" doesn't help the cause.) StuRat 12:14, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for all the info, but I was not looking for wikinews, I'm looking for newspapers. Thanks again. --(Aytakin) | Talk 14:15, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikinews is a newspaper, an online newspaper. As time goes by, I expect a larger and larger percentage of newspapers to be online. StuRat 19:55, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Houston Gunman Kills one, self / Ed Anger Safety Plan

Today on FOX News and other news outlets, a gunman hit the Space Center, took hostages, killed one, killed himself. This is on FOX News, related news outlets. Question: Why is this NOT mentioned ?? The incident had begun at two CST/CDT today, and is still on the news, and people such as Michael Savage has commented on it.

• It is on the news. See Wikipedia's sister project Wikinews. Here is the story [3]. J Are you green? 02:04, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Also, I've found a plan by Ed Anger, who is a columnist for the Weekly World News that says that pigs placed at airports and the like will reduce terrorisim, since "you" HAVE to touch the pig OR "you" will either get arrested for terrorisim or just get shot. The pigs will be the ever popular Vietnamese pot bellied pigs or other pigs. Is THAT worthy of a article under th Ed Anger article ?? 205.240.146.156 01:32, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Of course Ed Anger has a metal plate in his head that may have corroded. 205.240.146.156 01:42, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Banknote Identification and Translation from German

File:10 Heller Note.jpg

I believe this banknote to be either Austrian or German. Translations from free services like Google and Babelfish came of garbled. Can this be identified? A translation may help too. J Are you green? 01:46, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

It's a 1920 ten-heller note from the Austrian commune of Viechtwang: that much I can tell. Edited because of course it's "Viechtwang", and here [4] is a copy of the currency online. --Charlene 02:51, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

And to add to this: a heller was one-one hundredth of a krone, which before 1923 was the old Austrian unit of currency. Also, and I keep editing this so bear with me, it's emergency currency. I don't know specifically which emergency - lack of actual currency or hyperinflation or what (both took place in the early 1920s in Austria) - but that's what it apparently was. Searches on eBay suggest that the bill is worth about sixty cents, which is more than it was worth when it was in use. --Charlene 02:54, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Translation

"Community of Viechtwang

According to the G.R.B. (probably Gemeinderatsbeschluss/Community Council Decision) of April 6, 1920, the Community of Viechtwang issues certificates up to the amount of 50,000 Kronen and commits itself to pay out these bills in the form of legal money until March 31, 1921.

The Vice-Mayor, The Mayor, The Vice-Mayor (the other one I guess)

10 Heller

Imitation will be punished!"

Viechtwang lies in the district of Gmunden in Upper Austria (Oberösterreich, hence the Ob.- / Öst. under the emblem. ---Sluzzelin talk 03:09, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm... I do not think that Wikipedia has an article specialised enough for this scan. However, thanks for your help in identifying it. It always is interesting to learn what these things are. J Are you green? 19:04, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

See Austro-Hungarian krone. -- Arwel (talk) 19:00, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

If Wikipedia is a person

If Wikipedia was a person, what would it look like?--69.233.24.199 04:31, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Note: If this contains trolling, I apologize in advance for unintentional trolling.

Hello, 69.233.24.199, Wikipedia might well be three people actually: you, me, and a gigantic army of sockpuppets operated by someone who looks like this. ---Sluzzelin talk 04:49, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

See Wikipe-tan for a cute anthropomorphisation of Wikipedia. --Candy-Panda 09:06, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Or this and this --antilived^{T | C | G} 12:05, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Mentally disturbed. Confused, delusional, confrontational, multiple-personalities, perhaps with Tourette syndrome. --24.147.86.187 14:37, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I strongly concur. It would have its eyes put out, disgusting lesions about its mouth, ears torn to shreds, its tongue cut out. Its only intact sense would be touch -- but its hands would be bound with a flag -- I'll let you guess which one. Vranak

Why the negativity? Multiple personalities, yes, but more along the lines of idiot savant, and polymath, and Renaissance man, I would think. —Steve Summit (talk) 16:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

All the mutiliation is supposed to represent Wikipedia's systematic biases towards 'reputable' sources, even though 'reputable' is ultimately just a matter of opinion. It represents Wiki's avowed disinterest in truth, and obsession with 'verifiability'. The mouth sores parallel those of the Mouth of Sauron, which got that way from 'speaking so much evil'. Vranak

If love was a train I think I would ride me a long one
Hear me talking -- fifty boxcars long...
— Michelle Shocked

Perhaps [[5]] Howard Hughes in his latter days. All time and efforts devoted to the encyclopedia project, none to personal life. Edison 04:56, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

A fat guy with Asperger's that likes The Simpsons? Recury 13:33, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

A fusty old professor who swears by the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica and contributes nothing to human knowledge. This does not stop him publishing endlessly, leeching off other people's research. He will only accept a new idea once all his younger colleagues have already published on the subject and it is already passé. From time to time he gets cautioned for masturbating on public transport, but uses his influence to prevent this being reported in the press. -Multivitamin 13:57, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

BMW 3 series vs Lexus IS

I was wondering how they compare in handling. My friend has an IS and says it handles very well, but not even close to a BMW. Anyone drive both? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 76.167.136.84 (talk) 06:30, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

Any time I've bought a car I've found that dealers are more than happy to give test drives. Savvo 11:58, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Also try parker's guide (http://www.parkers.co.uk/). Personally i'd choose the IS because I prefer the way it looks, its interior and generally reliability of Lexi (Alan Partridge phrase) are very good. As Savvo says, though, you can test almost certainly test-drive them yourself, or (failing that) be taken on a test-drive by someone. ny156uk 14:40, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

tecnology management

Explain the concept of a protection strategy for a discontinuous technological breakthrough and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of proprietary and open forms of control? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 155.232.128.10 (talk) 11:27, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

Please do your own homework. -- mattb 11:35, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, reference work does not include "explaining concepts", or "discussion". We can refer you to resources which will help YOU explain the concept, however -- if you're interested, please phrase your question appropriately, and we can help. Jfarber 14:27, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Concept: the planning and methods used by both established and new firms to gain (or maintain) competetive advantage in order to maximize the long term profitability of technological investments; where such investments may be affected, enhanced, or superceded by innovations that render prior technologies obsolete.

Discussion: for discussion on forms of control and the relative advantages, (See e.g., Anti-competitive_practices, Barriers to entry, Format war, Path dependence, Category:Market structure and pricing, Category:Competition).

Please also see "How to ask a question" which is listed at the top of all Wikipedia Q&A pages. Thanks. dr.ef.tymac 14:45, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Review of "sellyourlot.com"

Describe your experience doing business with NRLL, "sellyourlot.com"? Dprice1030 11:43, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

There are websites and forums [6] discussing this issue. I'm not sure that Wikipedia is an appropriate place to seek such opinion. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Everything's gone italic

Can anyone give me a clue why Firefox has been rendering wikipedia in italics for the last few weeks? It's really starting to annoy me -- checked all my font settings, turned on/off all the stylesheets I can find. Before I go to the lengths of removing and reinstalling Firefox, any help? Savvo 11:55, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

You can install the webdeveloper plugin which allows you to disable individual stylesheets and find the culprit or start carpet bombing them. Your choice. --antilived^{T | C | G} 12:03, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I have that plugin, have turned on/off all the stylesheets I can find. Savvo 13:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

You've checked Tools -> Options -> Content -> Fonts & colors -> Advanced -> Fonts -> Allow pages to select other fonts...? Does the problem occur on anything other than Wikipedia? Have you (or has someone else) been playing with User:Savvo/monobook.css.

Sounds to me like your CSS got corrupted in loading somehow, which can have odd effects. I'd try making sure you emptied out all your caches and forced Firefox to reload the page. --24.147.86.187 14:42, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Firefox is designed to be used by multiple users on the same computer. So everything it does just for you -- every preference it saves, every extension it installs, every page it caches, every cookie it stashes -- is saved in your own "profile", not on a machine-wide basis. So if you're up for a bit of dinking around, you can safely nuke everything in your profile, and get an absolutely fresh start, without having to reinstall Firefox from scratch, and without permanently losing all your preferences, bookmarks, customizations, extensions, etc.

I thought there was a way to explicitly switch and manage profiles within Firefox, but I can't seem to find it just now. If you can find it, try creating a new, empty profile, and switch to it, and see if the all-italics problem persists.

What I would do (if I couldn't find an official profile-switching mechanism) is find Firefox's Profiles directory, find my profile in it, temporarily rename it, and restart Firefox, which would, I'm pretty sure, force it to create a new profile. Then, when I was done experimenting, I could either move my old profile back, or selectively move things (i.e. necessities like the Bookmarks file) from the old, broken profile to the new one.

Under Linux, profiles are stored underneath $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/profiles/ or something like that. Under Mac OS X, they're in ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox/Profiles/. I have no idea where they are under Windows. Your profile is a directory, and it has a name like abc5efg.your_username or qrs5xyz.default. (The letters and digits preceding the dot are random, and guard against an obscure security exploit.) —Steve Summit (talk) 17:35, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

NCAA basketball — number of tournament teams

I just made some corrections in the article on the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, in the listing of how many teams participated each year. (I got my information from the NCAA's official web site, which is already listed as a source at the bottom of the article. One of the items I fixed was that from 1953 to 1974, the number of tournament participants varied from 22 to 25 teams. (Actually, there were 25 teams 11 times, 23 teams five times, 24 teams four times, and 22 teams twice.) And the number didn't steadily increase; it went up-and-down like a zig-zag! ... Anyway, my question is: Does anyone know why the number fluctuated like this? ... (I wasn't sure which Reference Desk sports questions should go on — entertainment, humanities or miscellaneous — so I apologize if this is the wrong place.) — Michael J 16:07, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Until 1975, only one team per conference was allowed in the tournament. The variation in number of teams may have had to do with a variation in the number of conferences. -- Mwalcoff 02:24, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Closing dates on coupons

Is there any limit on the amount of time a coupon can be used if there is no closing date on it? I have acquired a pile of Reader's Digests going back to the 1960s and 1970s-some have coupons for reduced price goods or half-price subscriptions in them.If there is no closing date,then surely they must still be obliged to accept them?I quite fancy my 1-yr subscription for £1 :)

Lemon martini 16:32, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

What a good question. As I understand it, no date essentially means "indefinite", notwithstanding the fact that the supplier may be long gone, but I'd bet that there are a bunch of caveats/catches/provisos in consumer law and/or company policy. As you're in Britain, you could ask Consumer Direct and see what advice it gives. Adrian M. H. 16:53, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I suspect it may be the difference between a contractual offer and an Invitation to treat. I quite fancy them sending you a bunch of 1960s reader's digest publications that have been sitting in the warehouse taking up space :) --Tagishsimon (talk)

And those publications will themselves have more coupons in them, and the cycle will continue until Lemon martini ends up buried under a huge mountain of Reader's Digest magazines, though hopefully not like this case here! :-/ Carcharoth 17:22, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about that. Don't they usual sell older readers digests for more then newer ones? Nil Einne 23:44, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually, it's generally the opposite. Since the coupon did not specify a closing date, the manufacturer can easily argue: 1) advertisements are generally not considered an offer; and 2) for this to constitute an offer, it would have to include all material conditions, one of which is most certainly the expiration date. Thus, as Tagishsimon indicated, if you do get anything, it's likely to be the booby prize. [See e.g., Lefkowitz v. Great Minneapolis Surplus Store. 86 N.W.2D 689 (Minn.1957) (USA).]. Read this too. dr.ef.tymac 03:05, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I suspect that such an argument wouldn't work in NZ. At the very least, the store could be had up for either misleading advertising or breaching the fair trading act (or both). Although probably not for a 1960s coupon Nil Einne 23:43, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

See Leonard v. Pepsico Inc. for an example of a case in which someone wasn't able to get what was advertised. In the mid-1990s, Pepsi allowed people to collect "Pepsi points" by buying Pepsi. A TV ad showed all of the things you could buy with Pepsi points, concluding with a Harrier military jet at 7 million points. This guy arranged to buy 7 million points worth of Pepsi and demanded his jet. When he didn't get it, he sued. The judge said the advertisement did not constitute a legal offer. -- Mwalcoff 02:29, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Deadliest school disasters

Rather macabre, but in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, I've been wondering what is the deadliest ever incident that took place in a school? It has to be self-contained, so the schools devastated by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs don't count, but New London School explosion and Beslan hostage crisis do count. I think those two are the deadliest I've found so far, though Collinwood School Fire, Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Aberfan, and Schoolhouse Blizzard are also candidates. Any more? Carcharoth 17:09, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Category:Disasters in schools and its Subcategories might list some more. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Beslan's count dwarves them all with 396 dead in total (and Aberfan wasn't strictly self contained, since only 121 of the that 144 died were in Pantglas Junior School.) Rockpocket 19:23, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

See Bath School disaster. Don't piss off a member of the school board if he has 1) unfettered access to the school basement and 2) lots of dynamite. See also Beslan school hostage crisis which was attacked by outside terrorists. Edison 04:54, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

One thing you can be sure of: Whatever's the top of the poll today will be superseded tomorrow :-(. We have far too many groups and governments in the world dedicated to advancing the cause of murder.

Atlant 12:21, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

video game

i remember playing this playstation game. it was about this mad scientist that created a kindof batman creature thing. the goal was to complete these puzzles and courses and avoid being captured by the doctor. everytime you would lose, it would say game over, with a shot of the creature in a small cage. thanx for the help! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.170.44.145 (talk) 18:15, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

was the creature a mouse? if so, the game is probably "dr. brain" or something like it. -Dixie48 19:17, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

NO!! just kidding, thanx, but thats not the one. It was a little darker than that.

Need help with my contact lenses

I put them in my eyes, but one of them is on the white part of the eyeball, so I can't see through it. I can't shift it and I can't get it out. Help! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.36.212.190 (talk) 18:19, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

When that happens to me, I can usually get the lens to pop out by pushing on the upper or lower eyelid from the outside. Barring that, I occasionally have to pull the lid away from the eye with one hand while probing for the lens with a piece of tissue paper held in the other. Barring that, try asking a nearby real live person for help. Good luck! —Steve Summit (talk) 18:26, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your help ... the rogue lens is now in place.

My contact lens often "go for their morning swim" when I first put them in. They usually find their place after I look around in different directions for a few mins to get them to set properly on the cornea. StuRat 19:31, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Ancient ruins

hi im looking for a acient ruins like stone hendge , in the outer hebrades (scotland ) that dates back 5000 yrs, nr the small islands of hirta ,st kilda west scotland im after pics , photos and exact wearabouts thank you.

Try Callanish Stones. Carcharoth 21:26, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Or possibly Standing Stones of Stenness. Carcharoth 21:29, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Neither of these, of course, is anywhere near Hirta, which is part of the St Kilda archipelago, which lies some sixty kilometers to the west of the Hebrides. Clio the Muse 23:40, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Depends what you mean by near... :-) Anyway, St Kilda, Scotland#Prehistoric buildings is another possibility - with a picture of some sort of ruin included. But then I suppose this doesn't count as it is on St Kilda, rather than near it... Possibly the only thing "near" Hirta is this! Carcharoth 00:11, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Structures destroyed by wind and sand

what human made structure has been destroyed by wind and sand in the past few centureis? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Armaansd (talk • contribs).

My neighbour's beach shed and the shoreline of any island community after a hurricane! Perhaps you have a different order of magnitude in mind? Bielle 22:54, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

Most man-made structures can only be damaged by wind and sand in a few centuries, total destruction takes millennia. StuRat 23:54, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

So you're saying those sand castles that I built are still there?!? :p --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:05, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Not only still there, I'm actually squatting in one of them (thanks btw, nice job). dr.ef.tymac 02:38, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

You should install a toilet. :-) StuRat 03:19, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Check any of a bazillion tornadoes - they take out structures by the force of wind alone all the time. SteveBaker 04:05, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

See desertification. Vranak

Rugby World Cup

Will this fall's Rugby World Cup be on TV in the United States? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.117.135.99 (talk) 23:38, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

Check the listings on ESPN. Also, if the matches you want to see aren't on that network, you can also try watching online. dr.ef.tymac 02:35, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

If you have DirecTV, the World Cup will be on Setanta Sports North America (Channel 615). — Michael J 00:12, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

April 22

Old Obituaries

I was wondering if anyone knows of a website where I can find old obituaries and don't have to pay to get them. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.210.80.143 (talk) 00:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Just in case no one answers with precisely what you want, there is always the fallback option of Microfiche at your local library, which is almost certain to have these in the newspaper archives. dr.ef.tymac 02:30, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Google suggested http://www.legacy.com SteveBaker 02:43, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

How old? In which country? The Google group alt.obituaries carries a lot of archive obits, and TIME magazine's archives are free. --Charlene 07:31, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Citing sources

I'm new at this, so I write why would anyone edit anything without citing sources? Isn't plagiarism one of the cardinal "DO NOT DO" rules? I hope I'm not being naive or appearing naive, but one would think that anyone wanting to write anything would know this. Anyone brave enough to definitely answer this? RandallJNichols 05:55, 22 April 2007 (UTC) --RandallJNichols 05:55, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand, what writings are you asking about ? Wikipedia, the Ref Desk, or a report you are working on ? You can plagiarize whether you cite sources or not, as citing a source still doesn't mean you can copy an entire report out of an encyclopedia. StuRat 07:58, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

My experience when I started editing Wikipedia was that I found a couple of articles that I knew something about, and eagerly started adding material from my own knowledge. It was only after a bit that I started appreciating how important referenced material was. I'm slightly ashamed to say that some of my early work is still there (I'm not going to say what, as I know that interested parties can always go and find it). In some cases I have added references; in others I do not know where to find the support it needs, but I'm reluctant to remove the material because I know it's right. (grin)

On the other hand, I've never copied whole chunks of material into WP, but I can certainly imagine that some people think that is a quick way to get useful material in, and don't understand about copyright. --ColinFine 10:12, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Sources are the main limiter on the ambitions of the Wiki. The scientists complain about the more advanced articles, but they are behind the 'pay wall', or an information cartel. When I write, and use good, stable, open sources, I would always be forced to write to the highschool level (which is good). --Zeizmic 11:39, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

There is a distinction to be made between unreferenced and unreferenceable. If I say something really obvious - like: "BMW manufacture automobiles" - I am not required to go and find a book that confirms this fact, and type in its ISBN, author, title, etc. It is clear that this could be referenced if we ever had a had a serious dispute about it - but it's a clearly obvious fact and it's equally obvious that its not worth the effort to find a reference for it. If we required every single little fact to have a reference, we would never be able to finish a single article. Having said that, there are less obvious thing thad DO need to be referenced: If I said that "BMW have been manufacturing automobiles since 1927" then that would certainly demand a reference. This is not a black-and-white matter - there are shades of grey here. SteveBaker 16:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't think that would need a source, as just going to BMW's web page would likely confirm or refute this claim. I only think facts that may be in dispute and can't easily be found by others need to have sources provided, at least in Wikipedia. StuRat 03:30, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

topics for short notes

Could you suggest some topics for writing short notes on? Topics pertaining to issues that have happened in the past two years, or have been happening eversince. For instance, cross border terrorism, Inflation, Coalition government, The United Nations and their recent affairs.. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.92.138.83 (talk) 06:14, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

How about the war/crisis in Lebanon, the Darfur genocide, or the trial and execution of Saddam ? StuRat 07:53, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Hungary, Thailand, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Korea, Ukraine, France, Macau, Palau. Sorry if some of these examples are a bit more than 2 years old.

The break-up of Somalia and the war currently ongoing in Mogadishu, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and its effects, Same-sex marriage in Canada, the Iraqi legislative election, January 2005 (the first free elections in that country since 1958), the assassination of Rafik Hariri in February 2005 and its effects on Lebanese politics...--Charlene 23:55, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Traditional Communication

What is the relevance of traditional communication to the society —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 41.204.224.10 (talk) 07:15, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

It traditionally involved teachers in the society telling students in the society what their homework assignments were, and those students then writing the answers to those assignments, without using computers to ask others in that society to do their homework for them. StuRat 07:48, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Don't make fun of him. A simpler solution would have being to ask him to do your own attitude. The type of attitude is NOT NEEDED. --125.238.28.10 09:28, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

not needed, but appreciated... --Zeizmic 11:35, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

What StuRat was implying is that it sounds like a homework question and we have a policy of not doing students' homework for them. However, we can point you in the right direction. Reading our articles on Sociolinguistics, History of communication and History of linguistics may give you some ideas. Rockpocket 18:53, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

aborted fetueses in cosmetic beauty products?

I have heard that some comestic beauty products use aborted fetuses in their beauty products ... is this true? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.238.28.10 (talk) 08:45, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

I would expect it is extremely unlikely for this to be true of human foetuses, however this (http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,1568622,00.html) Guardian article seems to suggest something like what you mention. ny156uk 09:54, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

No. Even ignoring the moral, legal and public relations aspects, how could a company ensure it got a steady supply? Clarityfiend 18:28, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Placenta is common in beauty cremes [7] , and is at least vaguely related to fetuses, but presumably of animal origin. Edison 19:15, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Is this question perhaps about embryonic stemcells being used cosmetically? Skittle 21:46, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

It has to do with rumours being spread on anti-choice sites about China using fetuses in cosmetics. This rumour follows up a false rumour that certain restaurants in China serve fetuses, the idea that fetuses are used in fertilizer, rumours that fetuses are used in...well, you get the idea. --Charlene 23:57, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

See also Gaau ji meltBanana 02:54, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Problem in the cell

I have a question that I need answered. Do you know what is the name of the family-gene disease in the blood cells that makes the cell not formed normal? For example, a normal cell would be round, but with this disease, the cell will not be round.

Some effects of this disease is being weak, face getting red and being dizzy easily. It is also known if two people with this disease mate, the baby will be not formed properly.

–211.30.207.193 09:12, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

It sounds like sickle-cell anemia. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 10:39, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

What happens is that we have two genes for the formation of proper red blood cells. If both of a childs parents have one gene for the disease - then they will both seem healthy because the other gene can take over. - but the child might inherit both genes and get sickle-shaped blood cells. Interestingly though, having one 'bad' gene and one 'good' one confers a benefit in terms of resistance to maleria. In evolutionary terms, the loss of an occasional child is worth less than the malaria resistance - so the disease is quite common in people from countries with malaria problems. SteveBaker 03:05, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

organizational behaviour

i am seeking answers to some questions that i have concerning the subject of 'organizational behaviour'. i want u to give me appropriate reference to get correct answers to my questions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.178.83.180 (talk) 09:30, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

You'd better ask them, then. Either that, or look the phrase up in the search bar. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 10:36, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Tracking down a W B Yeats quote

One of my favourite quotes is "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." I've been trying to track it down, and I've found out it's W B Yeats, but I can't find out what it's from. Wikiquote has it listed as "unsourced", and a google search doesn't help. Any ideas, anyone? --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 10:46, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

It could just be something he said, or something he wrote in a personal letter. Vranak

The earliest ascription to Yeats i can find is from Chambers Book of Quotations by Robert J. Fitzhenry (1986) but I don't know if it is sourced. A much earlier version by Plutarch is listed at the education page in Wikiquote. meltBanana 03:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Phone call costs

Can anyone tell me the cost of telephoning the UK from China using a standard land line? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Stevepat (talk • contribs) 11:04, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Your telephone service provider? e.g. BT [8] Savvo 14:10, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

london

today is the day of the london marathon, so I have a few questions about it. 1do the reporters stopping people to talk to them actually count as runners? 2Has anyone ever died during the race. 3could someone run back to the start once they have finished and then do the race again? 4Apart from running and walking, are there any other ways of traveeling that people in the race are allowed to use? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.200.224.42 (talk) 13:21, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

• Wheelchairs are now an important part of the Marathon and from what I remember even ordinary wheelchairs appeared in the first one.hotclaws**== 14:21, 22 April 2007 (UTC)
• (1) A reporter would count as a runner only if (s)he actually ran in it. (2) Death does not take a holiday during marathons. This notes that there were deaths in the London marathon in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2003. (3) A person could run a marathon again (see Ultramarathon). Clarityfiend 17:58, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

emotions

Can anyone help me. I am trying to make a list of emotions people are likely to have. I have got happy, annoyed, angry and worried on the list so far but I am sure there are a lot more. And I don't want any that are a lack of, or synonyms of, another emotion.172.189.102.190 14:13, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Terror, rage, fright, eager, interested, confusion, melancholy, joy, horror, disgust, excitement, boredom... Vranak

fear, love. dr.ef.tymac 14:56, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

List of emotions --Tagishsimon (talk)

^ lol. Jamesino 20:25, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Gotta love Wikipedia and its lists! — Kieff | Talk 01:32, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

ecology

what is the difference between self regulating mechanisms and self sustaining mechanisms within an ecosystem? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 41.245.57.69 (talk) 15:11, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Whilst this is seemingly a homework question I would say...Self-regulation = the group actively manages the system within boundaries. Self-sustaining would be an event occuring that leads to the continued sustainability of the system. I have literally no idea about this in 'ecosystems' but I would interperate self-regulation as 'active' and the other as 'passive'. ny156uk 20:00, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

ON-Line Reference for Vintage Pocket Watches

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am trying to find an encycleopedia or reference quide which can help me establish the authencity of vintage pocket watches and pendant watchs. I see many in flee markets and antique stores but do not know how to value them or establish if item is real or fake.

Any information would be appreciated.

ivorycl

This list of books may help. --Tagishsimon (talk)

cabin crew : personalit development

I want the answer for

1 specify few factors that you feel are directly responisble for personality development - asked by frankfinn institue of air hostess training

Is there any body on the net who could answer immediately

THANKS —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.182.56.128 (talk) 15:30, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Try our article on Personality development. (Changed case of question) --Tagishsimon (talk)

Electric Scooters

What are the By-Laws in Calgary for riding an electric scooter (the kind with the seat and two wheels).

Magic System 19:01, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Depending on what specific type, you may want to look at the Traffic By-Law [9]. If you can't find what you're looking for there, on Monday call 3-1-1 and ask to speak to someone in By-Law Enforcement - they'll be able to provide you with the relevant act. --Charlene 23:22, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

High resolution african child

Hi, I'm looking for a picture of a high resolution (preferably at least 2550x3300px) skinny, African child looking glum. I'm using it for a report on Sudan, so if such a picture does not exist, any other picture showing people that can capture the glum mood of the country would also be appreciated. Does anyone know where I can find the picture? Thanks. Jamesino 20:48, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

That's really huge, much larger than is ever needed online. Your best bet would be some type of art site that provides pics you can print out and hang on your walls (they will likely want money, though). BTW, is that what you want to do for your report, a large print ? If you want a free pic, you may have to settle for something around 1600x1200, as that's the largest computer resolution commonly available. StuRat 03:21, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I would try a stock photo site like Getty Images. Did a search on their site and there were about 6800 results for "sudan". Sure enough some of the photos on the first page fit your description pretty well. I'd bet that they are at least that high-res, but you'll have to pay. Recury 13:21, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Photoshop vs MS Word printing

What DPI does MS Word use when printing? I have a 600px x 600px picture in photoshop and when i print the same photo in the 2 softwares, the one in photoshop (72 DPI) is significantly bigger when printed out on paper. 74.14.72.250 21:41, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm sure it's not anything to do with the dpi - that's to do with quality not size. Try resizing the image in Word. You can make sure it'll be the correct size if your settings are set to mm or inches.  Sʟυмgυм • т • c  22:57, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

But why is it that if I take 2 identical pictures, and i print one of them in Photoshop and the other MS Word, they come out as different sizes? 74.14.72.63 23:17, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Because when you import it into Word it decides (who knows why) on what size it wants to print it as. 9 times out of 10 this is not exactly what you will want. When Word displays it on the screen as 3 inches tall, it's going to print it out as 3 inches tall, no matter what the DPI is. So resize it if that isn't what you want. --24.147.86.187 00:22, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, "print size" is generally 72 dpi though. But yes, it's misleading because it's not really dependent on dpi. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:10, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

New Airport Dubai Explanation side to get via Google Earth.

The explanation speaks from the new AIRPORT with an area 0f 140 km2 . I think,this is a little too big !! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.134.196.194 (talk) 22:04, 22 April 2007 (UTC).

Not at all! The square root of 140 is about 12 - so if the airport were square, it would be almost 12km on a side. Since modern aircraft require runways as long as maybe 5km - with some considerable space at either end for overrun areas and regions where you can't have buildings and such - it wouldn't at all surprise me that a modern airport (in a place where land is cheap) - might cover 140 km². SteveBaker 02:57, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Elephant ears

what is the liquid that is excretes from the elephants ear? is it benefical? if not what is its purpose.

You may be talking about musth, a dark secretion secreted by bull elephants in the mating season. bibliomaniac15 00:00, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I think the poster is talking about the sap from Elephant's Ear plants, which is a powerful irritant that can cause severe stomach problems if ingested without proper processing by an experienced and knowledgeable person. UC Davis classifies it as a toxin.[10] The oxalates can cause throat swelling which can close off the airway (which without emergency medical help is generally fatal). It's more toxic to children than adults, and it's also toxic to household pets. When used on the skin it can be a potent irritant. --Charlene 00:19, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Probably not what the original poster had in mind, but the liquid that exudes from these Elephant ears is of course the yummy grease they're fried in, and it's beneficial in terms of tastiness but not so much so in terms of healthfulness. —Steve Summit (talk) 00:55, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

April 23

searching for battalion listings in second world war

hi my name is chloe dealey and i am trying to find out which battalion my grandfather, james william wheeler was in in the second world war as my aunty would love to march for him as he has died. i've searched the web for hours and can't find any listings of the sort. if you could point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated.

thankyou —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 219.90.136.234 (talk) 00:20, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

Can you tell us which country he fought for (the UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, US, other) and where he was from? Just the county/province is fine. Also, did he die in the war or more recently? --Charlene 00:39, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

First car flame

Who painted the first flames on cars? If such a thing can be known.. --Quiddity 01:02, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Just a wild guess here, but could they have been inspired by some of the similar paint jobs on aircraft in WW2 ? StuRat 03:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Mental images of unseen people

Has any research ever been done about the accuracy of someone's mental image of what an unseen other person looks like, compared with what they actually look like?

The question is prompted by the stunning revelation that Clio the Muse is actually blonde. Nothing against blondes, but I always pictured Clio as having naturally jet black hair. Despite her coming out of the blonde closet, my mental image of her as a blackhead just won't go away. (Nothing to do with pimples, btw, or that other great Greek muse, Acne).

I have my mental pictures of what some of the other Ref Desk usual suspects look like, and I guess I have to face the possibility that they too look completely different. JackofOz 01:26, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, Jack, you for one don't look like I would have expected!

That's not my best side, and it's out of date. I used to look like Santa Claus, but now I have only a goatee, so I look like a combination of the 10 handsomest men you've ever met. -- JackofOz 03:17, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

This question was superlatively answered by one Roger M. Vance in a Usenet post from 1995 which, alas, google groups seems not to have in its archive. It's too long to paste into this RD thread, but I have stashed a copy off of my home page for your reading pleasure. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:59, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Assuming Clio doesn't mind being talked about, while I usually don't think at all about what people look like in RL (unless I actually see a pic of them, like you, Jack), I confess that Clio has always brought to my mind a vague image of that other assertive blonde know-it-all, Nancy Drew. BTW 'know-it-all' was said as a compliment. Anchoress 02:08, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Biting lip hard here. Well, there are studies correlating mental imagery with the subject's emotional health and stress levels. See here, for example. I have no idea how your mind's image (or mine, for that matter) of Clio fit in the Roerich psychodynamic index, however. ---Sluzzelin talk 02:23, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

That's an interesting article. I took that test in high school, or one close to it anyways, and the analysis indicated that I have a very high opinion of myself and that I'm extremely interested in sex. Rubbish, obviously. ;-) I'm actually very curious to know if there are studies that indicate what the likelihood or frequency of actually forming mental images of unseen people says about a subject. I don't know if it's odd that I basically never actually try to imagine the looks or circumstances of Wikipedia members. I occasionally do on other boards, where people are more likely to share about their appearance and surroundings. My (very vague) mental image of Clio is undoubtedly due to her frequent references to her boyfriend Ned, her chums George and Bess, and being locked in flooding basements by unknown persons. Anchoress 02:32, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Regarding being locked in flooding basements by unknown persons, wouldn't that be Rex Morgan, M.D.'s wife June? She was knocked unconscious and trapped in a flooding basement for (IIRC) six weeks. Hey! She has black hair! --Charlene 03:02, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

No, but I once had an (R-rated) dream where I was married to Trapper John, M.D. Anchoress 03:20, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I had pictured a blonde, specifically, Ann Coulter. StuRat 03:00, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Re the likelihood of formal mental images, I'm no expert but I hazard a guess that it might have to do with one's preferred representational system. I'm highly visual, and I almost always form images of strangers on the phone, and here. JackofOz 03:17, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

My images of Wikipedians are also vague at best. (Friday is orange and fuzzy for instance. Don't ask why.) Unlike reading books, which gives me quite vivid, but also surpisingly flexible, sometimes dream-like images. Since childhood I read The Lord of the Rings perhaps five times, and my Aragorn was quite stable, until Peter Jackson came along and made him look like Viggo Mortensen, an image of which I cannot rid myself anymore (not that I'm complaining). Voices definitely contribute a lot to any mental imaging. I watched an overdubbed Magnum, P.I. in the 1980s, and Thomas Magnum's voice was phenomenal and spoken by de:Norbert_Langer, a more persuasive combination than either the voice with Langer's physical appearance or Tom Selleck with his high and slightly whiny voice. ---Sluzzelin talk 05:19, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

@Jack: Hmmm, that's interesting in itself. See, I'm a fairly visual learner, and in fact when I'm talking to people on the phone, I often picture them, what they look like, their surroundings. But it's actually very topical, as I just this week realised that when I speak on the phone with my friend from Israel (with whom I have been corresponding for a year via IM), I frequently envision my own representation of what she and her surroundings are like, although I never do so when we are conversing on yahoo. I also, like Sluzzelin, form strong visual images of reading material. Edited to add: Actually, in analysing it further, I'd have to say that I almost never form visual representations of people I don't know, although I sometimes do so with characters in books. I realise that it's surroundings I am more likely to imagine, although I more frequently do so when I'm talking to someone on the phone than with people online. Anchoress 05:36, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I can do quite well from a phone conversation, usually guessing the gender, approximate age, nationality, race, and weight. Hair color I can't tell, however. This came in handy once when one customer service person put me on hold, then an hour later somebody else picked up and asked "who are you holding for ?". I replied that she didn't give her name but she was an overweight, black woman in her 30s from the Southern US. From that description, they knew just who it was. StuRat 03:00, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

See also Wikipedia talk:Reference desk#The RD editors connection - spooky. JackofOz 03:17, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Ah, they seek her here, they seek her there, those Wikipedians, seek her everywhere! Being prime among my sex, my own self-image is as a younger version of a great first lady, though in some quarters I appear to be quite another Eve altogether. Maybye the truth is closer to this, or just maybe this. Perhaps you will never know for sure! Clio the Muse 05:56, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

i always had the image of Katie Derham, ITN newsreader (sorry don't know how to link) until de muse stated that she is blonde - thou we should keep in mind that people lie! (shock horror) and for all we know clio is in fact a 61/2 foot tall builder from Croyden, called dave - (V tongue in cheek! dear clio) a be it a very intelligent builder. To add to the debate of unseen people, what does everyone 'hear' peoples comments/answers as? for instance JackofOx, of course, sounds Australian, and Clio speaks with a BBC accent (sorry can't remember the proper term)Perry-mankster 11:28, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

My cynical way of thinking is that in this age, with digital cameras as common as they are, anyone who doesn't have a picture of themself readily available must be *use your imagination*. Vranak

Interesting. It has never occurred to me to visualize contributors. Though I will admit that whenever I have met someone I first met on-line, they usually turn out to be older and fatter than I had assumed. Do those people who visualize human contributors also find they visualize the bots?--Shantavira 12:42, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Jack of Ox, eh, Perry-mankster? Yes, I've always been a little bovine, thanks to my Taurus ascendant.  :) JackofOz 12:55, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

I, too, had never thought about Clio's appearance, nor about anyone else's, except Jack of Oz, since he posts a photo. Personally, I like that on the Reference Desk, or elsewhere on the web, people can be appreciated (or not) for their mental ability rather than their appearance. Marco polo 13:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

@JackofOz: The question is ambiguous because you have not defined what you mean by "unseen other person." If you are talking about "user account on a website such as Wikipedia" any such research would almost certainly lack credibility from the start.

Pictures can be doctored and substituted, multiple personnas assumed and discarded, records changed, stats forged; how would you even know if there is a 1:1 correspondence between user account and physical being, let alone whether she/he/other is actually telling the truth. dr.ef.tymac 13:14, 23 April 2007 (UTC) NOTE: This response is general, and is not intended to impugn the conduct or credibility of any Wikipedia contributor, promote personal speculation and gossip, or otherwise discuss similar matters that are obviously beyond the scope of the Reference Desk and a misuse of Wikipedia resources.

True, I haven't defined that term, because I thought it was readily apparent. As that's not the case, I'll explain. I'm talking about talking on the phone to someone you've never met and whose photo you've never seen. I'm talking about listening to someone talking on the radio whom you've never met and whose photo you've never seen. I'm talking about listening to a CD or your ipod, and hearing a singer whom you've never met and whose photo you've never seen. I'm talking about having an online dialogue or debate with a person or persons whom you've never met and whose photo/s you've never seen. There are probably other ways that don't occur to me right now. My question, which was serious, was about people's perceptions of the appearance of the other person/s without any visual evidence to go on. I don't understand why any research into this would lack credibility. Surely I'm not the first person to have ever wondered this. (Or maybe I am that weird after all. :) JackofOz 13:36, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

How many different types of libraries are there in New Zealand?

Hello, I would like to know about the different types of libraries there are in New Zealand. Also it would be nice if there are links to different Wikipedia articles about the different types of libraries.

Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.238.81.121 (talk) 05:13, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

As far as I know there's only one type of library, which is ran by local city councils. Maybe you want to be more specific? --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:40, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by type, and what do you mean by library? Any collection of books is a library. As in most countries, there are public libraries run by the local government department, and private libraries run by individuals and organisations, many of them specialising in any of a wide variety of subjects, but there is no record of these.--Shantavira 08:38, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Baseball team vs team overall record: chicago cubs vs arizona diamondbacks

lifetime / overall record between chicago cubs and arizona diamondbacks since 1998 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Pjbaker (talk • contribs) 05:28, 23 April 2007 (UTC).

About dreams

I always pondered on a question that started as a joke I heard somewhere, but then I realized it had something to it...

If a person is born blind, can he visualize any imagery in his dreams? Does he "see" anything? Or are his dreams based on his other senses. Next, if a person goes blind while he is under 1 year of age (but is not born blind), can he conceive imagery in dreams? What about the other senses?

If anyone did any research on this, it might explain some of the mystery behind dreams in general. Does anybody here know of such a study?

Thanks, Danielsavoiu 08:34, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh yes, there are many studies. [11] [12]. They seem to indicate that people born blind do not experience visual imagery in dreams, and that the chance that they will experience it depends on when they became blind (with little chance if lost before 5). Vision in dreams also decreases as time passes from when the person became blind. Other senses kick in though; touch, smell, taste, sound, etc. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:56, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

help me with this odd facts trivia

1.doing this is believed to improve your health.what 2.what used to occurr at 180 occurs at 121