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January 6

DIY electric quadricycle

--Moved to WP:RD/S-- --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:33, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

couches at Coffman Memorial Union

does anyone know where i could buy a couch like the ones at the union at the university of minnesota? Theyre sooo comfortable! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.134.93 (talk) 07:32, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

The university would have someone whose responsibility it is to purchase furniture and other goods for the campus buildings. I would suggest you contact the university to find out who that individual is and then contact them. Dismas|^(talk) 09:43, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

This person might have a title such as procurement manager. BrainyBabe (talk) 16:49, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

there is probably a manufacturers tag under the cusions or under the couch somewhere. It may be institutional furniture not available to consumers. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Cost cutting or something else...?

Manufacturers look for ways to reduce cost by replacing a pot metal part with a nylon or other plastic type part or vice versa to take advantage of material market cost fluctuation. However, I have never seen a product until now that used mold wax to replaced a pot metal gear. I am a bit suspicious that there may be more than cost cutting going on here such as the purpose being to intentionally reduce product life to assure out-or-warranty repairs, replacement or sales. Is it possible that a major office supply company would be so desperate as to install a mold wax gear plug in a product instead of the pot metal gear? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 09:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Can someone explain what mold wax is? Dismas|^(talk) 10:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Wax for making moulds? E.g. when a TV villain presses a key into a tin containing a hard wax so that he can duplicate the key from the resultant depression in the wax. --WebHamster 13:52, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Well companies will do a Cost-benefit analysis on the changing of manufacturing parts. Lots of companies make changes that will knowingly reduce the life-span/longevity of their products as it reduces costs/simplifies the process. It might sound odd but the company has to balance quality with production cost. It might be a good way to reduce costs without adversely affecting most customers. You say 'desperate' but it would be nothing of the sort. Products are built with expect life-spans in minds, they can go up or down depending on the products used. ny156uk (talk) 14:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Two other suggestions: (1) mold wax would be self-lubricating and would run very quietly under light load. (2) the teeth would strip from the component in question at a fairly light load which would protect other components in the drive train from overload (analagous to using a fuse in an electric circuit). SaundersW (talk) 15:01, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay,if that is the case why not provide replacement "fuses" at minimal cost instead of one half to two-thirds the cost of the product and 1. prevent customers from purchasing a new unit made in a foreign country (product in reference claims to be made in the US) and 2. prevent customers from using an alternate repair method by replacing the gear train with two pulleys and a belt? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 21:27, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible that the mold-wax gear was included as a manufacturing defect? Going on the assumption that you've only seen or purchased one such product, and that if you were to purchase or examine another example it would have the typical metal gear; one explanation is that the pot-metal gears are cast using a lost-wax process and one of the wax dummy gears slipped through undetected to the next assembly step. If it was durable enough to allow the finished device to function and pass the final quality tests it would not have been detected as a manufacturing flaw. 71.112.136.40 (talk) 17:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It was the first thing that came to mind but there is major separation between part manufacture and part assembly. It is possible I suppose the an order for parts would be sent to the manufacturing department and they could send a box of mold wax parts either accidentally or intentionally instead of the finished metal parts even as a joke. I doubt the assembly personnel would not recognize the difference between metal and wax. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 05:31, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Investment Casting? --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Learning to speak Spanish.

Anyone care to recommend an effective Spanish Language Course for me? I go to southern Spain quite regularly for annual holidays of a week or two, and I have learned enough Spanish to get by in restaurants, bars, public transport and in emergencies. But I want to be able to speak Spanish, if not fluently, then competently and conversationally. I am going for 2 months during December 08 and January 09 next and I am determined to make the transition no matter how much practice it takes. But I would really be grateful for some advice on a good language course. I am over 60 and confident enough to make mistakes and laugh about it, and I don't want to discuss politics religion or philosophy at Malaga university with the academic staff, but it would be nice to ask Pedro our waiter how his health and wife are instead of just asking for 'Dos copas de vino tinto por favor Senor', and not get stuck when he responds with a rundown of that year's vintage wines. Thanks. 81.145.241.244 (talk) 15:58, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I have taught myself Spanish to the level of fluency that you want to achieve, and have done so primarily by focusing on understanding Spanish. I would recommend listening to Spanish podcasts about a subject that you're familiar with, even if you understand only a fraction of what's being said. That way, you will gradually pick up vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions, and learn how to break the stream of sound into words and sentences. Radio Nacional de España has many podcasts to choose from, if you follow this link, you can take your pick, and download the audio as mp3 files which you can play from your computer or an mp3 player. If you're at all interested in science, check out our articles about Vanguardia de la Ciencia and El Sueño de Arquímedes. The host, Ángel Rodríguez Lozano, does not speak too quickly, and the contents are top quality. I don't know whether Pedro your waiter is interested in science, but that's beside the point. If you are familiar with the subject matter, it will be a lot easier to understand what is being said. I have also listened to No es un día cualquiera (link) hosted by Pepa Fernández, a talk show that's running for the ninth year, and which offers six hours of listening every weekend. It is quite entertaining, with interviews, "tertulias" (discussions), etc.

In addition, you will of course need to read up on the grammar, especially the verbs. The book 501 Spanish verbs, fully conjugated is a must. When you have a solid knowledge of the grammar, you will begin to ask yourself questions such as "why did he use the subjunctive mood in that context?" when listening to the podcasts.

Finally, I would recommend reading Spanish books. Avoid the so-called "easy readers", they were of no help whatsoever to me when I started teaching myself Spanish. Instead, I would suggest non-fiction books or newspapers to begin with. If you would like to read fiction, buy books in Spanish that you previously have read in English (or any other language that you speak). In my experience, it is a lot easier to understand translations from English to Spanish, than books which were originally written in Spanish. Check out the book shops the next time you are there. For me, Agatha Christie was a good choice, in addition to popular science books. Good luck! --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:35, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I found a New Penguin book of short stories in Spanish in parallel text - Spanish on the left page, the English translation on the right. ISBN 0-140-26541-4. Try reading out loud so that your ears can hear what your saying, sounds odd but I'm convinced it helps. Buena suerte y exito. Richard Avery (talk) 20:00, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I've tried reading parallel texts too, but at quite an early stage in the learning process, and it wasn't useful to me then. The reason, I think, was that the presence of the English text made me try to understand everything at once, which, at least then, was far too ambitious. I think you need to learn to think in Spanish when speaking Spanish, and reading in parallel, page by page, is not the way to go in my opinion. A better option is to buy a novel in both English and Spanish, read it in Spanish, and check out the English version only when you are really stuck. You do not need to understand every single word to enjoy a novel. I do agree with Richard's suggestion about reading out loud. If you are able to get hold of a Spanish audio book along with the text version, you might try listening to a paragraph, and reading it out loud while trying to imitate the original. Unfortunately, you will find few if any audio books in Spanish book shops. Maybe they are sold in specialized shops, I don't know. The next time I'm in Spain, I think I'll ask one of the ONCE lottery sellers about where blind people buy audio books. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Some more suggestions:

• Buy DVDs of Spanish films with a lot of dialog. You can find a list of films with English Wikipedia articles here. Two suggestions: Volver and El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's labyrinth). With the DVD, showing the Spanish subtitles while listening and watching might be a good idea. If Pedro likes going to the cinema, you'll have something to talk about.
• Read Spanish Wikipedia articles. When you browse Wikipedia, you will find a group of boxes in the left margin, which in English are labelled "navigation", "interaction", "search", "toolbox", and "languages". If you find a link to "Español", this will bring you to the Spanish article. You can of course also go straight to the Spanish Wikipedia main page, the link is http://es.wikipedia.org
• There is a project in the English wikipedia called "Spanish translation of the week", which translates good articles from the Spanish Wikipedia to English. I only recently became aware of it, but you might want to check out what's going on there. The link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Spanish_Translation_of_the_Week
• Read Spanish newspapers on the web. http://news.google.com might be a good place to start, follow the link "España" at the bottom of the page. Or you might want to go directly to http://www.elpais.com/ or one of the other major newspapers. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 21:34, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

You say that you want to learn to speak Spanish. If so, then I think that there is no substitute for conversation practice with a live partner. Speaking skills are different from reading or comprehension skills. I personally have strong reading and comprehension skills in Spanish but rather weaker speaking skills. You might try advertising for conversation exchange with a native speaker of Spanish wanting to learn English, you might look for a tutor for maybe ten conversation sessions, or you might sign up for a Spanish conversation class. If you are in London, you could try the Cervantes Institute. Marco polo (talk) 22:37, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

My point with putting such emphasis on comprehension, is that it is impossible to converse if you don't understand what the other part is saying. It is, however, quite possible to converse even though your speaking skills are weak. You just need to be, as the original questioner said, "confident enough to make mistakes and laugh about it". I agree that finding a conversation partner (or small group with a Spanish teacher) would be a very good investment. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 10:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

All you need is:

• Vocabulary: Get some dictionaries, in paper (for mobility) and on-line (normally superior searching speed) and google for word lists.
• Grammar (so that you can speak and understand the language better): Get good grammar books, but only look for those that compare Spanish with your native language, otherwise you'll be wasting your time with many things you already know. For example, if I wanted to learn French and I picked up a French grammar and not a compared one, I'd waste time with facts about the purpose of the articles, the genders and many other things that work the same way in French and in Spanish, whereas a comparative grammar focuses in the difficulties and differences of both languages.
• The language in use: read the Spanish Wikipedia or get books in Spanish that aren't too hard.

And when you have more or less mastered all the above listen to the Spanish television or the Spanish radio. Of course every person learns differently, modify the above method to fit your needs. --Taraborn (talk) 09:27, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

All good answers. In my experience, the most important factors are determination and motivation (which often depends on the reasons for learning), access to materials and people who speak the language (much easier in the age of the internet), and time and energy available to concentrate on this goal. Personal aptitude (memory, intelligence, and innate ability) also comes into it, but this is not the be-all and end-all. Have a look at Wikihow's Teach Yourself a New Language. A relevant blog post summarises several methods, with a nod towards dual language texts. Podcasts to encourage solo learners are here. I recommend simplified readers (like basal readers, but for adults) -- but note above that they are not to everyone's taste. Advertise for a conversation exchange partner; this is one example, your local community college may have a paper or virtual notice board for free. Borrow a reasonably bright child of 6 or 8 years old; they are often happy to repeat words and phrases (numbers, colours, common nouns, etc.) for a long time before they lose interest, and may be keenly amused by adults willing to make a fool of themselves (mispronouncing and misremembering numbers, colours, common nouns, etc.). Keep target language radio or other audio on in the background as you go about your daily life so that your ear becomes attuned to the rhythm and sounds you need to recognise. Try several different strategies until you find what suits you. Don't give up! Have fun! Good luck! BrainyBabe (talk) 17:27, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Game Boy Advance SP

Why is it so hard to find one to buy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.210.107.104 (talk) 17:52, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Becuase that don't produce them anymore, they make Nintendo DS. --'n1yaNt 18:54, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

eBay!!! --71.117.34.180 (talk) 03:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia's Dick is Small?

Look at this dick, I am surprised for a site this big would have a stub. --'n1yaNt 18:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Since you obviously looked it up, you are obviously the right person to expand the article! :)--TreeSmiler (talk) 19:13, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

FA status here we go! --'n1yaNt 22:14, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Lol... he put a hidden comment right before the message saying it's a joke. :P · AndonicO ^Hail! 23:03, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If you want a really good laugh, check out Penis enlargement. The article lead is tagged as being too short and needing expansion. --Drop Dead Ed (talk) 23:24, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Other examples include Dishwashing, which sports a {{Cleanup}} tag, and Reference, which only has a single source. Also, anyone else have Category:Watches on their Watchlist? :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 00:07, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Drop Dead Ed and GeeJo, that's hilarious! --'n1yaNt 02:10, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I almost fell off my chair laughing... --Taraborn (talk) 15:43, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Six Questions To Norman Mailer

I,know I shouldn`t be asking this on the refrence desk.But,I just felt so tempted and I couldn`t control myself. If,you could ask Norman Mailer six questions what would they be. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.161.91.151 (talk) 18:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If you know you shouldn't be asking it, why do so? For what it's worth, by an amazing coincidence the same question was asked [here]. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 19:17, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Not such a coincidence methinks. It looks like the same person asking again--TreeSmiler (talk) 20:07, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Asked,answered,get a life.hotclaws 06:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Driver of Princess Elizabeth

In 1951 Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth was visiting Hamilton, Ontario. Could you please tell me who the driver of her vehicle was.

Thank you for the information Elizabeth Robinson —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.85.213 (talk) 20:08, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Economic status discrimination

In the US it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of gender and race. The reason given by the authorities is that gender and race can not be changed. Discrimination against people on the basis of economic status, however is openly and widely accepted and practiced. Is it therefore believed in the US that while everyone can not change their race or gender that everyone can change their economic status to the degree of preventing themselves from being discriminated against, and if not what other logic is used in face of the fact that economic status can not always be changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 21:50, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Because you CAN ALWAYS change your economic status. For every situation you can dream up there is someone who has crawled out of it (god knows how sometimes) and made a success of themselves. Be it ultimate pain, ultimate loss, ultimate poverty. The only thing preventing you from changing your economic status is desire. Race and legally-defined sex (gender can be changed) cannot be changed so deserve protection to prevent discrimination - though even then there are exceptions such as the acting industry. social mobility is possible. Additional what 'discirmination' is there that is economic? Beyond the price of some items being outside of the reach of some people? ny156uk (talk) 23:03, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

How easy it is to forget, ignore and dismiss the disabled. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 23:26, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

"or every situation you can dream up there is someone who has crawled out of it", I would posit that, depending on the situation, the people who crawled out of it had a good deal of good luck on their side, while other hard workers who "desire" social improvement just as much were not so fortunate. 72.10.110.107 (talk) 17:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

That is to assume that the disabled are always incapable of altering their economic situation... I would speculate that for the vast majority this is not the case. Where this is case then often their economic-status will be largely dependent on government policy so can still change, but is less within their control. Economic-status is not unchanging, it alters, it moves, positively negatively. Your race and sex do not alter (even sex-changes do not result in alterations to legal-status of sex). The disabled are certainly are risk of discrimination and are given protection by way of regulation and legal protection but their economic-status is still not static, it can and does change. ny156uk (talk) 23:50, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Most disabled persons receiving government support are required to reimburse the government for their support. In all cases where a person can not change their economic status for whatever reason, especially those based on freedom of choice to avoid unethical or immoral economic activity, there is no protection by the government or anyone else against economic discrimination. In fact, the opposite is true especially for persons who uphold an ethical or moral standard which changing their economic status would violate. They are often urged to forget about their ethical or moral position and trade it so they can have money instead. This is the basis of prostitution, illegal drug sales and gambling. They are told it is far better to sacrifice their ethical or moral position in order to have money and to follow the way of the people of the Golden Calf. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 10:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Would you mind giving an example of what you would consider economic discrimination? Having ultra high price luxury goods for sale? Judging people based on the clothes that they wear (and therefore judging someone who wears old/dirty clothes to be poor)? Without clearly defining what it is you think is economic discrimination, it is hard to try to explain why that may or may not be justified.--droptone (talk) 14:35, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

...you are confusing the act of determining economic status with the act of discrimination on the basis of economic status. For instance: A student might be judged to be poor because they are receiving financial aid, are in a work/study program or because they have never been seen wearing anything but button down shirts and sweaters. The act of determination is not the same as the act of discrimination. An act of discrimination ia when, for instance, the right of a poor person to go to school was effectively denied and they were required to have job instead.71.100.12.59 (talk) 06:41, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

That is not discrimination in its commonly seen form. Firstly, there is no 'right' to schooling beyond that which is legally provided. There is no right I know of (nor can I fathom why one should exist) that says you cannot be denied optional education if you do not have the money to pay for it. There is no right to optional education. There IS a right to not be discriminated against because of your sex or race - because these never change and to remove you from the market on this basis would be unfair (as you could never achieve the markets demand of you). A refusal of entry to a college on 'economic' grounds would be based on not being able to pay the course fees. That is a 'current circumstance' policy and were your economic status to change and mean you could pay the fees you would no longer be denied entry. That in itself is the major difference between the two. There is no right to be able to access every service offered for money - be it education, healthcare, products, services. There exists rights to not be denied them because of factors you cannot change (sex, race etc.). Anything that society feels should be available 'as a right' to everybody regardless of econoimc status will either be state-owned and provided (for example free-entry museums paid for by the state) or subsidized by the state so that the poor can access it for free whilst those who can afford to pay do (progressively taxed/progressively vouchered). ny156uk (talk) 00:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The OP could always point to instances where high school age teenagers "have" to drop out because their family are in such an economically hard place. I put have in quotes because I would wager that most of the argument over that situation would be whether or not that person actually had to drop out. I suppose an important point would be whether there are ways in which the student can still attend school when there is intense familial pressure to drop out and work.--droptone (talk) 12:56, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

PhD admission in the States/UK/Europe

Hi

Would I be allowed direct admission to a PhD program in America, the UK, or Europe after completing a BSc with first class honours in New Zealand? My degree was 3 years of undergraduate for the BSc plus an extra year of papers and a lab research project for the honours part. The first class bit reflects my marks (A to A- average).

Thanks very much for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aaadddaaammm (talk • contribs) 23:30, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

A first class or upper second class honours first degree would certainly be the usual way to get onto a PhD programme in the UK. -- Arwel (talk) 00:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know much about NZ undergradute programs, but I can't see any reason a Ph.D. program in the States would require more than the above to begin the program. Of course that's not the same as saying they'd admit specifically you -- that depends on so many things that there's no use in spinning generalities -- but very few programs require a Master's at admission, if that's what you want to know. --Trovatore (talk) 00:22, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you certainly would qualify academically in Britain and in the US you would qualify only after you took the Graduate Record Examination. One thing to note, especially in the UK, that many PhD's are funded by funding bodies that require the student to be a national of an EU country. If you are not, then they will not accept you. The ones that are open to students of any nationality tend to be very competitive, for obvious reasons. Rockpocket 04:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

January 7

Trademarking animals

Is it possible for companies to trademark an animal? For example, Budwesiser and the Budweiser frogs, Joe the Camel from Camel cigarrettes, or Spuds mackenzie? If it is possible what kind of penalties would occur? If not, how would a company protect their advertisement idea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kstitt (talk • contribs) 00:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You can certainly trademark specifics logos and logo variants which happen to feature animals. You can't trademark an animal itself—just because Budweiser uses frogs in their ads doesn't mean another company that sold a different product couldn't use frogs in their ads. However if another beer company used frogs in their ads, that might be a different issue, as a plausible argument could be made that the company was trying to be deceptive about their ownership/product. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 01:13, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

This strikes me as similar to T-Mobile owning the colour magenta for everything related to telecommunications. While I couldn't find a reference of Wikipedia, this blog post seems to have something on it. — alex.muller (talkpage • contribs) 01:33, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

And Cadbury chocolate wrappers claim trademark on "the colour purple". Basically, a trade mark is anything that identifies a particular brand or service, and many countries (including the US) recognise "common law" trademarks - that is, a trademark doesn't have to be registered to exist, and any copying of a competitors' marks or advertisement is a potential trademark infringement. FiggyBee (talk) 02:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Animal trademark news story. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't UPS own the colour of their vans in relation to courier services? I've certainly heard about the magenta one for T-Mobile on tv recently ny156uk (talk) 23:55, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Right, it's all about being confused for another company. Trademarks are to keep Company B from adopting a logo like Company A and misleading the consumer who was trying to buy Company A's product. So you can trademark all sorts of things, but only within the bounds of what is likely to be confused for another company. If I had a bicycle company called "A Bicycles", I could probably trademark the use of the letter "A", but only in regards to selling bicycles, and only in things like company logos and advertisements, and only in a way that could be confused with my own advertising/logo. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 15:16, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Greyhound Bus/ American Indian History

63.3.2.129 (talk) 02:01, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Circa 1938-40, when I was 10-12 years of age, I saw two Grayhound buses creeping through my hometown of Columbia, Pa. on route 30, the Lincoln Highway. They were going from east to west toward York, Pa. In front of the lead bus there was an American Indian in Indian Garb running. The two buses were loaded with Indians and would change runners as the need arose.

I understand that they were on their way to Washington, D.C. to file some kind of complaint. I have found no one that knows anything of this. Can you help me verify this and explain what they were doing. Where did they come from, who were they,and what was their complaint, and was anything ever done about it?~~

Personal details removed --Tagishsimon (talk) 02:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

This is an intriguing story, and I couldn't dig up anything specific either. However, I have a few suggestions. I'm wondering if the complaint was perhaps something to do with the Indian Removal Act, which culminated in the 1938 1838 Trail of Tears. The Five Civilized Tribes may have been a bit far south to be using that route, but other tribes could have been going to Washington to protest the action of the Government against the ruling of the Supreme Court in Worcester v. Georgia, or perhaps some of the displaced tribes were far enough north to take that route.

My second suggestion is that, this is a good place to find more information. Good luck! Rockpocket 09:00, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Erm, I'm not sure if you're being serious, but you're a century off - the Trail of Tears was in 1838. -Elmer Clark (talk) 09:48, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Ha! Very good point. It was late at night when I was looking into this and obviously my brain had shut off. I guess its possible, as MrRedact suggests, that it was related to the anniversary. However I have struck most of my comments, which are obviously misleading. Thanks for pointing that out, Elmer. Rockpocket 18:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

But it does seem likely that there might have been a demonstration in 1938 to commemorate the centennial of the Trail of Tears. MrRedact (talk) 13:54, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It might be worth contacting a local museum or historical society, or a local newspaper which may have archives covering the event. The local library in Columbia could also help - many librarians enjoy a bit of historical detective work if asked nicely. Are there any Native American organizations in or near Columbia? They too could be a good source of information. I for one would be fascinated to hear more about the event - and can certainly understand it making such an impression on a young boy. Do let us know what you find out. DuncanHill (talk) 15:22, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Avocado

Can you really die from an overdose of avocados? 138.217.145.45 (talk) 04:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You can die from overdose of anything. Water, Food, Oxygen (this is more pressure related than oxygen, but oxygen does cause Free Radicals, which can cause caner), why would you expect avocado to not do the same? --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Is too much avocado bad for you? "Of course too much is bad for you, that's what too much means!" (taken from an old TV comedy debate) However, Avocado#Toxicity to animals mentions that problems are only apparent in humans that have an appropriate allergy, so presumably "too much" avocado would require quite a large amount. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:55, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, it has a lot of fat, and most nutritionists think that most people (at least in the US) already eat too much fat. On the other side of the coin, I believe that much of it is monounsaturated fat, which is the sort the nutritionists are most favorable towards, this week anyway. So maybe the answer is, go ahead and eat the avocado, but to compensate, don't eat the steak. --Trovatore (talk) 23:15, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

El Paso, Arkansas

04:48, 7 January 2008 (UTC)98.20.226.231 (talk)During the late 1950s or early 1960s my family visited El Paso, Arkansas, which was, at that time a ghost town. Later I read an article in one of the Arkansas news papers about a building that was being restored by a person who had moved into the area. I find nothing of tis in your history. I wonder if it has ever been recorded. I write stories about small townis in the Ozarks, and would like to do a story on El Paso, if I can find the information.

I'm not sure from your post whether you've already seen El Paso, Arkansas - the article has a little bit of information, and implies that the town is now populated. -Elmer Clark (talk) 09:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

VoIP adapters - How many phones can they drive?

I'm thinking of moving my POTS to VoIP with naked DSL, but the adapters are expensive ($100+ each). I have 3 phones in vastly different location and not all of them have access to ethernet cable, so I'm wondering can I connect the adapter (Linksys PAP2T or SPA2102) directly to the phone circuit that's already been laid out? Do I need to cut the line to the outside (I have a central splitter splitting DSL and voice) or will the splitter be enough in not letting the signal go outside my house? Intuitively this is doable as it's not very often to pick up 2 phones simultaneously anyway, but just making sure that it wouldn't damage the adapter. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I very would strongly recommend you cut the line. Think about it carefully. The splitter is intended to split the line at the point of entry into one or more jacks for the low frequency phone and one jack for the high frequency DSL modem. But you be connecting your phone output into the internal side after it has been split. While the splitter should in theory stop the signal interferring with the DSL modem, it's not going to stop the signal travelling to the 'outside'. I'm guessing it won't be high powered enough to cause any real problems for the Telecom equipement but it doesn't mean it's something they will like it if they ever find out you're doing it plus I don't now how this will affect the in house signal (I'm guessing it will have a negative effect). More importantly perhaps I don't think the splitter stops the signal completely. Even though you may be without a dialtone, I'm guessing there's still going to be a current reaching your POTS adapter from the external line which is unlikely to be good for it. All in all, mixing the two signals is not likely a good idea so yes, I would definitely recommend you disconnect the phone line. One thing you need to check is how your house is wired. I.E. where does the wiring for the different phone ports come from? If it's in a series then it should be fine but if there are 3 seperate wires coming out from the splitter, one for each port, then you have a problem and will probably have to re-wire somehow. Also be aware that you should not touch anything at the point of entry (i.e. including the splitter). I think cutting the line just after it comes out from the splitter is fine but you should check on this since Telecom isn't happy when people interfere with their part of the line. Presuming the wiring is in a series then I would just disconnect the phone line from the first port that's connected to the outside. That way it's very easy for you to put it back to normal if you change your mind. Finally, the maximum Ringer equivalence number of the SPA 2102 is 3 according to the website. I don't know if the RAL [1] quite correlates with the REN but I'm guessing it's similar enough. In that case, provided your RAL is less then 3, the phones should ring. You should be able to find analog phones with a RAL of 1.0. The PAP2T is higher with a REN of 5 so you're even less likely to have problems. Bear in mind in both cases although the phones may ring okay, I don't know how well they will work if you're trying to use more then one at once, especially with the SPA 2102. Have you considered buying a DECT transceiver and 3 DECT phones to replace the existing analog phones? I don't know whether a DECT VOIP transceiver unit exists if so you might want to consider one of those. P.S. In any case you may want to read this[2] Nil Einne (talk) 18:48, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sample papers solutions

where i can find the cbse sample paper solutions of all subjects (english , maths , science , social science , hindi) of year 2008? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.246.146 (talk) 13:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, the Wikipedia is not a place from which to copy assignments. Doodle-doo Ħ 00:08, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Make Some Money

No, I'm not looking to "get rich quick," nor am I looking for a miracle. I simply want to know if anyone has any brilliant ideas on how to come up with roughly $10,000 USD by sometime in the summer. I already have a job, right now making about $50.00 USD per week (newly started), and I have roughly $300.000 USD to my name right now. Also, please be legal? Selling drugs isn't worth the risk. ;3

Also, if a car was $10,000 USD, approximately how much of a downpayment would be required to reduce a reasonable payment to less than $150 USD per month?

Thanks. EWHS (talk) 14:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Get a loan? Your target is way above what your income can supply in that time frame, and I expect you've already been searching for other better-paying jobs. Note that "loan" doesn't have to mean "bank loan". You could also talk with friends, parents, or other appropriate figures and try to set something up.

As for the car loan specifics, there should be plenty of bank loan approximators online to fiddle with the parameters. The informal loan, on the other hand, may allow a little more flexibility. $150/month for 6 years is about $11k, which might be enough interest to satisfy parents.

Also bear in mind the associated expenses of a car: gas, insurance, maintenance, and so forth. $10k for the car itself may simply be too high a target. — Lomn 14:27, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

(after edit conflict) I can't help with the first part, but regarding the payment, there are a couple important variables that come into play, namely the interest rate and the length of the loan. I found this car payment calculator which automatically filled in a rate of 7.57% and a term of 60 months. You can fiddle with the tax and registration fee entries as appropriate for your location, but leaving everything to default, I came up with $3427 as the necessary down payment to get to a monthly payment of $149.99 --LarryMac | Talk 14:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Some researchers are paying people for participating in experiments, be those social, medical, or whatever. Some of these are very safe, but if you're desparate you could probably raise some more money doing less safe experiments. I think you can also get paid for donating redundant organs and such.

DISCLAIMER: The above should not be taken as a suggestion that this is advisable. Consult with your physician before doing anything of this sort. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:39, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean by "summer"? The summer break for American high schools is typically around 2-2.5 months. Whereas the summer break for American colleges and univerities are typically 2.5-3 months. So you'd have to be earning between roughly $167 (for the 2 month break) and $111 (for the 3 month break) to reach $10,000 (and those figures are without including taxes, since I have no clue what state or country you are in). So that means earning between $20.86 and $13.86 per hour (for an 8-hour day) to reach the goal. That is a lofty goal for someone who may lack any technical skill. Given those hourly rates, you may need to work more than one job. Bartending can be very profitable if you life in the right sort of town/city (and would allow you to work after the business day is over), but you are unlikely to find much work if you aren't 21 or older. Do you have any skills that would justify you getting paid higher than minimum wage?--droptone (talk) 14:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

EWHS said "by sometime in the summer", which means he has half a year or so (assuming he means the next northern hemisphere summer). -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:57, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

E-bay any old consoles or junk you don't want any more. Also I know someone who keeps an eye on charity shops for anything interesting and picks it up cheap and pops it on E-bay. Good start for small collateral. Lanfear's Bane | t 15:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Microscope

1.Who is the first person that invented microscope and when it is invented? Can anyone tell me more about Anton van Leeuwenhoek's microscope and Roberts Hooke's microscope? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stylin99 (talk • contribs) 15:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Our article Microscope has this to say about the invention - "The first useful microscope was developed in the Netherlands in the early 1600s. Three different eyeglass makers have been given credit for the invention: Hans Lippershey (who also developed the first real telescope); Hans Janssen; and his son, Zacharias." DuncanHill (talk) 15:56, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The article Optical microscope has a little about both Van Leeuwenhoek's microscope and that of Robert Hooke. Basically, Leeuenhoek's had a single lens, and Hookes had more, and was more like what we think of nowadyas when we talk of a microscope. DuncanHill (talk) 16:00, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, please do not crosspost questions. Thanks. --Ouro (blah blah) 16:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Also sounds very homeworky. Love it when they are even numbered. Subtle. Lanfear's Bane | t 16:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

fencing

Hello,

Is it at all possible to find out who won the fencing championship in ISRAEL , I am not sure of the year it was in the sixties.

I would appreciate it very much if anyone can come up with the answer.

Thanks, Nurit —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.139.143.79 (talk) 16:28, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

email removed, leading spaces removed. --LarryMac | Talk 16:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Presumably national championships are annual.. So the question can't really be answered except in the context of a specific year. Friday (talk) 16:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

And neither the FIE World Championships in Fencing or the Olympic games have been held in Israel. 84.64.244.109 (talk) 17:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Postnominals

hi, I am wondering about the etiquette surrounding postominals. I currently have a CertHE in general science, will have a CertHE in health and social care shortly and then in 2 years a DipHE in operating departnment practice. How would I list these aftermy name? DE —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.67.160.202 (talk) 17:33, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

In some systems, a diploma (or other highest award) supersedes anything else and can stand alone (such as in grad books, staff lists), but for other purposes all can be listed in order of attainment, eg CertHE (Sc), CertHE (Health), DipHE to show the scope of your qualificiations. Less often, awards are listed with the name of the institution after them in brackets. Julia Rossi (talk) 22:13, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Another piece of postnominal etiquette is that you don't use them willy-nilly. Those indicating educational attainments would normally only be used in an educational context. For example, if you were a lecturer at a university, then all your educational postnominals would be appropriate for your entry in the institution's literature. If, however, you became a lawyer in private practice, your business card might show your law-related postnominals, but not those relating to your studies in the irrelevant area of public health. -- JackofOz (talk) 00:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Vintage Knives

Can anyone provide me with any information on Henry Sears and Son? I have a couple turn of the century hunting knives with this name on it. I know they were established in 1865, but I would like to know how long they were in business and where they were located. Thanks

Wally —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.175.149.98 (talk) 17:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

email removed — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 19:00, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Form Googling they appear to have been a Chicago company, who had a number of patents relating to knives, scissors, razors etc. DuncanHill (talk) 19:59, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Is the British Education system banning teaching of 'the Holocaust'?

I just had an e-mail (from an American e-friend) asking me to pass on an e-chain protest about Britain banning teaching in schools about 'the Holocaust' because 'it offends the Muslim community who claim the Holocaust didn't happen'. I would happily pass on the e-protest if I knew its claim to be true, but I have never heard or read of it in the British media. Anyone here know if this anti-holocaust-teaching story is true or false? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.145.242.163 (talk) 18:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

No, it's complete nonsense. See this BBC News article. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 18:57, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe I'm being pedantic, but another, far less obvious, way to tell is that Britain doesn't have a uniform education system. Scotland's is completely seperate. --Bearbear (talk) 19:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I did GCSE history last year and the holocaust was deffinately on the sylabus and I was taught about it. 'Germany 1918-1945' was one of the largest modules as well as 'the history of medicine'. However there was some choice on modules, I think the other option was (if i remember correctly) Communist Russia (I didnt study it, so i am not sure). If a school choses to do this module then i imagine the holocaust is not mentioned due the fact it has nothing to do with the Soviet Union. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RobertsZ (talk • contribs) 21:08, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks to all respondents - but Matt Eason's above proved to be the most authoritative - and I have since copied the article to my American e-friends. Thanks Matt.81.145.242.163 (talk) 21:12, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah I read the article after writing my own account, it did set the record straight, the BBC is good at that, well done on finding that Matt. RobertsZ (talk) 21:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It might be an elaborate practical joke just to make someone issue a "Holocaust denial denial". --Milkbreath (talk) 22:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

No, there really was an instance of a school England that avoided teaching the Holocaust because it feared how Muslim students would react. That is alarming by itself, but the story snowballed from there. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:47, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

You can read the entire report: it's available online. Here is a link from the Historical Association website: linky to HA here Telsa (talk) 16:21, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

And here is the scoop from Snopes. [3] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gadget850 (talk • contribs) 21:47, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Indeed, and what Snopes appears to have overlooked is that the one school history department that avoided teaching the holocaust in fact only chose not to use it as a module at GCSE, which is pretty reasonable. The reason for the choice was bad, but there's no reason that module should be compulsory. They were still teaching the holocaust to 11-14 year olds. In fact, some have expressed concern that British schools teach little history but nazis and tudors. Certainly I recall getting slightly holocaust-fatigued in year 9, when we seemed to do the holocaust in just about every subject! Skittle (talk) 23:36, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

long lost cereal...

Hi yes you guessed it I'm trying to track down something stolen by a cereal killer *ouch* so here's the serious question - a long time ago, maybe over twenty years, I used to eat a cereal called Kellogg's Country Morning - then all of a sudden it was discontinued and I've never seen it since. Does anyone remember this, and does anyone have any idea if it is still available somewhere or maybe called something else? Sandman30s (talk) 19:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

There is a brief mention of Country Morning in the granola article, which led me to Bear Naked and from there to Kashi. I can't speak to whether any of the Kashi brand cereals would be as tasty to you as the Country Morning, but that seems to be the corporate lineage. Perhaps one of the Post or General Mills offerings mentioned in granola is still available and would be worth checking out? --LarryMac | Talk 19:12, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

More . . . The Kellogg's product page does not show any evidence of Country Morning, however they have both a "Low Fat Granola" product and "Mueslix". If you search the FAQ area for "product availability" you can get to a page showing items discontinued in the last two years (not-linkable due to damnable ASP); I did not see CM on this list, but that might just mean it was discontinued more than two years ago. --LarryMac | Talk 19:29, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the research! I'm in South Africa and don't recall seeing Kashi's products in our stores. Granola-type snack-bars are available all over but I have yet to see a cereal similar to CM. When combined with hot milk it used to caramelize into a yummy crunchy-yet-soggy mix. Sandman30s (talk) 19:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I should have done a location-check; all of my research was US based. Good luck in your search. --LarryMac | Talk 19:59, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Yip, also South African and there is not a day I don't yearn for my breakfast of Country Morning, Great Stuff Indeed - it takes me back to my childhood on a dairy farm in the Natal midlands - you may recall the picture on the box - a farmhouse at Sunrise - it was really just like that ! Maybe we can petition Kelloggs to bring it back ??!!--196.207.47.60 (talk) 17:36, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The "Contact Kellogs" page is at http://www2.kelloggs.com/ContactUs.aspx I would guess that the Kellogs corporation would be the most qualified to talk about what happened to one of their products. ;-) 128.104.112.236 (talk) 23:56, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Washing Tee's

I bought a shirt from Threadless, but unfortunately some asshole drew some marker on the design. I referred to the website for washing instructions, but they didn't have any info on how to remove stains (especially the kind from permanent markers!). Does anyone know how to remove a (permanent, i presume) marker stain from the design without damaging the shirt, ruining the color, or messing up the ink in the design? Thanks for the help. Btw - I have no idea if it's important or not, but the ink that was colored on is mostly white, with some of the shirt and a small portion of black ink being covered by black marker. --71.98.28.243 (talk) 22:05, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Isopropanol (Isopropyl alcohol) will almost certainly dissolve the marker, so you could probably put an absorbent backing fabric behind the shirt and soak some of the stain out into the backer, but I think you'd be hard-pressed to get the last bit out, even after a number of "cleaning cycles". Maybe a dry cleaning service can help?

Atlant (talk) 23:12, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The OP did mention that the marker was on the design itself - any idea if isopropanol may have any adverse effects on whatever kind of ink it's printed with? — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 02:28, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Only a careful, small test, preferable on a non-visible or unimportant part of the design could reveal that. But because most clothing will withstand occasional liquor splashes (ethanol), I'd somewhat-expect the design to survive isopropanol.

Atlant (talk) 17:28, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks for the advice Atlant. Much obliged, --71.98.26.188 (talk) 00:24, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I have got marker pen out with disinfectant.hotclaws 08:31, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

toaster boners

What's a toaster boner? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dr. Kerazyman (talk • contribs) 22:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know. What's a troll? --71.98.28.243 (talk) 22:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

(e/c) No idea. The only 2 Google results are for nonsense spam pages. There's nothing on Scholar, Books, Blogs or News, so I suspect the answer is "nothing". --Kateshortforbob 22:39, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

maybe it has something to do with this[4]? Cryo921 (talk) 02:48, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps a mistake by a Cylon? --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 03:15, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Jail (TV series)'s theme song

What is the name of Lil' Droppa's theme song for Jail (TV series) and what are the lyrics to the song? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 22:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

This (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1128727/soundtrack) is maybe the song? Get Me Out by Jon Lee is the only listing. I have no idea if this is the same show, but IMDB is always a good place to start for tv/movie stuff. ny156uk (talk) 23:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

ny156uk appears to be spot on - see here, but I have also been unable to locate the lyrics for this. Lanfear's Bane | t 15:56, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Canada article is inapropriate

When I visited a the page provided for the search "Canada" (minus quotes) the contents I recieved were inapropriate and contained several sexually offending statements. If you could please look at the article on "Canada" (minus quotes) and change this problem, I would be deeply greatful.72.39.231.142 (talk) 23:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It's called "vandalism" and it happens all the time -- it's just like the weather; you do what you can about it and otherwise learn to live with it. It appears that the article was set right within one minute by a bot -- you just got "lucky" and happened to see the article during that minute. --Trovatore (talk) 23:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

January 8

Walking into the Soviet embassy in DC

At the height of the Cold War, John Anthony Walker "began spying for the Soviets in December 1967, when, distraught over his financial difficulties, he walked into the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC and sold a classified document (a radio cipher card) for several thousand dollars, negotiating an ongoing salary of $500 to $1,000 a week.[1]" Isn't the Soviet embassy monitored? Isn't this obvious? How did he not get caught right there?

66.91.224.203 (talk) 06:35, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Given the prevalence of embassies to be used as the seats of espionage rings, I find it unlikely that the comings and goings of people there wasn't monitored. So there's probably more to it than just that. That being said, it's possible that even if they did see him go in that they didn't necessarily know who he was and didn't think it was necessary to spend their time doing a full background check on him—embassies have all sorts of innocuous visitors as well. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 15:38, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

BTW, in case you're not aware embassies are generally considered soverign territory of the nation who own's the embassy. The US could do whatever they wanted on the outside but there it would often be very difficult for them to monitor what was going on in the inside. Of course, countries do try with varying degrees of success, since they often have a role in building the embassy e.g. [5] (this refers to the U.S. embassy in Moscow but I'm pretty sure the new Soviet embassy in Washington was heavily bugged too but of course since the article was published in 1988 it wouldn't mention that. Nil Einne (talk) 18:28, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Andrew Daulton Lee apparently walked into the Soviet Embassy in Mexico City with classified documents. Corvus cornix_talk 19:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

There was a great deal of debate about this when Yvonne Fletcher was shot in 1984 from the Libyan Embassy in London and the Libyans refused to hand over those responsible as they were on Libyan territory when the incident took place IIRC Lemon martini (talk) 14:24, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The US government was conducting photo surveillance and phone taps of the Soviet and Cuban empassies in Mexico City in the early 1960's [6] [7] so it seems highly likely they would have similarly monitored those in the US itself, where it would be far easier. This is not to say they learned the identity of everyone entering the place or phoning it. Edison (talk) 20:55, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Contacting wikinfo

I have unsuccessfully attempted to create a user account at wikinfo. I keep getting a message about something called "reCAPTCHA". Many of the Help Pages are blocked from me (it's almost as though my IP address is being partially blocked). Just how do I contact someone over there to find out what the problem is? Thank you for any assistance that you might be able to provide regarding this matter.

--NBahn (talk) 06:40, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

You may want to take a look at CAPTCHA and reCAPTCHA. There is probably some CAPTCHA the system is expecting you to solve. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 08:44, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I had a look at the sign-up page. It seems as though the API key (sort of like a license number) they are using for reCAPTCHA is incorrect which means you can't register because you can't pass the anti-bot test. You could try emailing fredbaud at fairpoint dot net, who is apparently the registered agent to tell him that the API key needs corrected or replaced. That's the only email address I've found so far. I'm not sure why you can't access the Help pages; I had no problems, although a lot are still redlinks and the site was running a bit slow for me. --Kateshortforbob 12:51, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I've informed the registered agent at User talk:Fred Bauder. Warofdreams talk 02:14, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I have fixed this. Thanks for the help. Fred Bauder (talk) 03:57, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Dimmu Borgir

I am looking for a translation to any or all of the songs/ song names on the album For all Tid by Dimmu Borgir, I believe they are Norwegian so anyone that can speak it, please help me out. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.3 (talk) 13:26, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

This search might be a good starting point. I am afraid most of the sites appear to be filtered for me from work so I can't currently suggest a specific one. Lanfear's Bane | t 13:48, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Dear 136.3, I have left my translation of the lyrics on your talkpage -> talk. Please let me know if these are not satisfactory to you. They were my own writeups, and I can sort out any immediate confusion that may arise from the translation. Please consider using four tildes (~~ ~~ without the space between) to sign your comments/input. Also, hello Lanfear's Bane, I recognize you from EVE. :) 81.93.102.185 (talk) 17:15, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Why hello! Nice to be recognised. :) Lanfear's Bane | t 12:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Briliant! thanks alot. really intelligent lyrics, lol, but seriously, good music, good album. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 13:37, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Poland

I wish to read about a town in poland called christchenko I am not sure of the spelling and so cannot find it, but it is pronounced kris-chenk-o I believe it to be near the carpathian mountains and have a river nearby. I saw holiday photos of it from a friend and would now like to know more thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 14:09, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Krościenko? That's actually a disambiguation page for three villages in Poland with similar names. Maybe one of those is your desired location. --LarryMac | Talk 15:01, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I need more coffee - only one of the links on that page goes to an article, the other two are redlinks, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's Krościenko nad Dunajcem. There is a website linked from the article, but it's in Polish. Lots of pretty picture at the Galeria zdjęć link, though. --LarryMac | Talk 15:17, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Thats the one thanks alot, beautiful place heh? As for coffee, we all need more, try a double esspesso, redbull and then a Latte, will give you a good buzz —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.3 (talk) 16:11, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Or for a longer lasting solution, 10 hours of sleep! --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Furniture manufacturing firms

There is a firm that make Stressless furniture (Ekornes) who make this beautiful modern looking, ergonomic stylish stuff. Now they are an absolute pain in the behind to find UK costs for online (not to worry they are out of my price range based on a trip to shops that sell them) BUT I thought the combined knowledge of Wikipedia might know of firms that make 'similar' styled stuff but at much better cost. I'm not fussed whether it reclines, It seems sofas are either ultra-modern and uncomfortable, or ultra-comfortable but ugly as sin. Stressless stuff is modern but also comfortable, there's gotta be other firms that have bridged this divide! (i'm aware that 'comfortable' and 'ugly' are subjective, but any help is greatfully received) Oh the help I require is... firm names, uk distributors. I've spent ages trying to find comparatives but beyond the laze-y-boy stuff (which falls into ugly-comfortable) there's few firms I can find that make this sort of stuff. ny156uk (talk) 20:09, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Chest hair

I'm an 18-year old guy and I don't have too much chest hair at the moment. At what age will my chest hair be fully grown and is their any way to increase/speed up chest hair growth? Thanks.--70.250.152.68 (talk) 20:54, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Mine didn't really start growing until I was into my twenties. DuncanHill (talk) 20:55, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

And mine didn't really start until my thirties... Dismas|^(talk) 22:38, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

And i'm mid twenties and i'm virtual free of chest-hair. I've no idea if that is a good or bad thing (personally I couldn't care less, but obviously it might help you to know the situation of more than just DuncanHill (no offence!)). ny156uk (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 21:05, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

It may go on getting thicker for some time. See Chest hair. If my experience is anything to go by it'll probably be complete by the time hair starts coming out of your ears. William Avery (talk) 21:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

It really depends on the individual. I'm 15 and I have more chest and abdominal hair than my dad, many of my male relatives, and often more than some full grown men I see shirtless (such as at the public swimming pool). I've known people who didn't get their first tiny-weenie chest hair until late, late puberty (~16-17ish) but exploded with chest hair in their twenties. But like William Avery said, it's a continual process but usually levels out anywhere from late teens to late twenties. --71.98.10.228 (talk) 22:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Isn't this associated with evolution? We do not need too much chest hair now, because we keep ourselves warm using clothes and hugging and that kind of thing. I have almost no chest hair, and to get good third day stubble I'd have to wait at least a month - my father envies me. On the other hand, I had hair on my legs when I was twelvish, and I have a lot of it. Turning 26 this June by the way. --Ouro (blah blah) 08:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Evolution has nothing to do with it. It takes place over a much longer time period than you appear to believe (many thousands of generations), and the mere fact that we no longer "need" chest hair because we wear clothes is unlikely to be a factor. You no longer "need" an appendix, but you still have one. 80.254.147.52 (talk) 15:13, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

We're off on a tangent but please note that there is now seculation that the appendix actually serves a function. See Vermiform appendix#Latest Interpretation: Maintaining gut flora.

Atlant (talk) 17:36, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The question is a bit surprising -- I kind of thought chest hair was out of style. Is it coming back? That would be cool with me; I never wanted to do the waxing thing. --Trovatore (talk) 09:07, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

If it's about chromosomes, can you check with male family members on both sides and compare notes about secondary characteristics and maturing rates perhaps? although there're always exceptions, it might give you a guide. Julia Rossi (talk) 09:38, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

It also depends on your hormonal activities at the time. If you are engaging in a lot of activities that get your hormones (especially testosterone) working busily, or else taking some medication that stimulates them, it can cause a spurt of growth of body hair. SaundersW (talk) 09:59, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

January 9

Virgin

How can you tell if a girl is a virgin or not?--68.157.23.56 (talk) 00:03, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Ask her. There exists no other provable method. The hymen that seems to be the popular policy can be broken during the normal life of a young woman. ny156uk (talk) 00:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

...and "repaired" by a medical operation. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:50, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

And may persist after copulation according to Gray's Anatomy. Cryo921 (talk) 02:06, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Although if she has had kids then it is obvious she is not a virgin. Cryo921 (talk) 04:01, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Unless your name is Mary and your son's name is Jesus, at least some people believes so. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:43, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

There are a lot of other gods and other religious figures who supposedly were born of a virgin birth, too. It's been a popular myth. See List of virgin births. MrRedact (talk) 06:08, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Of course, Science could thwart even that simple test. APL (talk) 04:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Hyman G. Rickover, on the other hand, was never broken. Edison (talk) 07:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

And it's not just "science". It does happen -- I think it's not even spectacularly rare -- that girls (more often teen girls than adult women, I suspect) get pregnant while they're still technically virgins. Depends on definitions, of course. --Trovatore (talk) 08:52, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Asking her is a "provable method"? The human central nervous system is capable of deliberate discrepancies between internal data storage and externally output information. In other words, she can lie. And it's not at all unreasonable she would have had intercourse without knowing it (being drugged or unconscious, amnesia...). Better to stick to physical evidence if available. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Brill answer, Meni. Gotta save this discrepancies quote somewhere. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Same here. Might i suggest using notepad or microsoft word as a place to store it, that's what i use. Cryo921 (talk) 03:06, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The obvious problem with that answer is the "if available" part. For almost every girl the OP might possibly be asking about, there doesn't exist a videotape of the girl having sex. MrRedact (talk) 16:59, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually for all we know there could. Never underestimate the perversion of humanity. Cryo921 (talk) 03:07, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Well if you've had sex with her then you know she is not a virgin. Also if you have videotapes of her having sex or have seen her having sex. Cryo921 (talk) 13:48, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Personally, I think the worry over virginity is often outmoded, sexist, and, frankly, can lead to very bad choices by artificially shrinking the available pool of mates. The fact is, their being a virgin or not is something that only is going to matter for a very brief amount of time, because presumably any mate you marry will soon not be a virgin. After that, you're stuck with the person, and if that's not a good match, well, you've got a long time to regret it ahead of you. Better to pick a good match for you, not worry about the virginity, and accept that any God worth obeying would understand that you were trying to go for the good long-term solution. In my totally non-theological opinion. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 15:10, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually, it's possible to get pregnant without any means of artificial insemination or without having intercourse. If ejaculate gets on the vulva, without having sex, it's quite possible to get pregnant. --71.98.26.188 (talk) 00:21, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

That's what Trovatore said. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 09:11, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

FWIW the surgical operation to "repair" the hymen (the membrane that partially covers the opening to the vagina in some but not all virgins) is called hymen reconstruction surgery, colloquially referred to as a hymenoplasty, or very technically known as a hymenorrhaphy. BrainyBabe (talk) 17:46, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

War movie cliché

In old war films, when a soldier is killed, his comrades stick his rifle in the ground beside his grave and put his helmet on it. Did that actually happen (it seems rather wasteful)? Clarityfiend (talk) 06:23, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

War is wasteful enough as it is. --Ouro (blah blah) 08:01, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The terms for that symbol/practice that I'm familiar with are Battlefield Cross, Soldier's Cross or Fallen Soldier's Cross, but I finally found our article on it, which is rather sparse, under Fallen Soldier Battle Cross. Maybe someone could make some of those redirect there? As to your actual question: yes it did happen [8], though I can't definitively answer as to how often and under what circumstances it did so. Our article claims, unsourced, that the practice was a means of identifying the bodies of fallen soldiers. My understanding was that it served as kind of a makeshift grave when circumstances didn't permit the more traditional kind and as a way to, hopefully, link names to bodies in the future. I also remember reading an account from WWI, though I can't remember if it was fictional or not, describing the practice and including the detail that the rifle bolt of of the gun was removed so the weapon wouldn't be of any use to an enemy soldier happening upon it. Azi Like a Fox (talk) 10:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I've created the redirects as you said, see here. Oh, interesting what you wrote, Azi. --Ouro (blah blah) 10:38, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks and thanks Ouro. Probably should have figured out how to do it myself, but kind of busy night here at work :). Maybe when I have time I'll look for a good picture for the article, seems like it could use one. Azi Like a Fox (talk) 13:47, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Probably there should be downstyle redirects as well, "Fallen soldier's cross", "Battlefield cross", etc., and the article should be moved to have a downstyle title. Anonymous users aren't allowed to do that, so perhaps someone else will. --Anonymous, 01:20 UTC, January 10, 2008.

Picture here. Is it possible to tell from the picture if the bolt has been removed? Lanfear's Bane | t 14:03, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

This would allow the possibility of the body removal teams actually transferring the body to a proper military cemetary, as opposed to it lying in the woods in a shallow grave and being eaten by animals, or carried as "Missing in Action/Prisoner of War" like thousands of Vietnam War dead. But it seems likely that the gun would be stolen by human scavengers. No bolt? Then find one in a rifle with a ruined barrel. Interchangeable parts and all that. Edison (talk) 17:23, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 05:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

paper pattern of dresses of america paris milan india

defination and comparison of paper patterns of dresses of america paris milan india —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arvindberry (talk • contribs) 06:29, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Pardon? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.111.72.146 (talk) 07:32, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Vogue patterns publish high quality patterns from various design houses. I have notice that paper patterns published in the US tend to have a lot more pattern markings than French ones which were often not printed at all, just paper cut-outs. Paper patterns have changed a lot over time, however, and it would help if you could clarify what you are asking. SaundersW (talk) 11:57, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

This sounds a lot like it is some sort of question on a test or someones homework. Cryo921 (talk) 13:53, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

This sounds a lot like someone thinks they're using a search engine.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Travel to Volgograd

Anyone had the chance to visit the Motherland statue in Volgograd, Russia? What process do you need to follow —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roland stanton (talk • contribs) 09:07, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Depending on where you're hailing from - get a visa, get a plane/train ticket, and you're off. --Ouro (blah blah) 09:26, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Wiki convention

Once heard about a wiki covention where wikipedians can go to meet other wikipedians, is there such a thing and when and where is uit held? Will any of you be there? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 13:36, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikimania William Avery (talk) 13:39, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Hi the link you might find useful is Wikipedia:Meetup – it's a good starting point. From there you will find your kind of distsrict and maybe find out who's going etc, Julia Rossi (talk) 10:35, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

limewire

WHY, on gods earth, when I put a search into limewire, no results appear? Thanks for any help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.206.200.138 (talk) 15:47, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

What are you searching for? Maybe it just isn't there? --Ouro (blah blah) 16:44, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Firewall? Very old version? Searching in the right field? Spelling correctly? Could be many things. A little more detail and we might be able to help. Lanfear's Bane | t 16:47, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Frostwire is better. :-) --71.98.26.188 (talk) 00:17, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you aren't allowing it enough time to connect to the server? EWHS (talk) 13:29, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Russia

If one seed the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Russian-regions.png

at the bottom right of russia is the only blue piece, an autonomous oblast according to the key. However it is just labeled Jewish. I wish to read more about this place, and any other relavent info please and thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 15:56, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Jewish Autonomous Oblast --Milkbreath (talk) 16:02, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Make sure that you are connected to the internet and then try. If this doesn't work then restart your computer. It works for me —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.106.248.77 (talk) 10:55, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

information about house sharing/room renting

Hi, I guess I'm looking for personal thoughts more than absolute fact, but if anyone can ref a website which answers my question then great.

I'm 38 and considering the option of getting a job in London. I currently live in Norfolk (UK), have my own house, wife, kids etc.

My plan would be simple: get a job which pays enough to carry on paying regular house bills (mortgage etc) and has enough left over so that I can rent a room in a house in london - hopefully fairly close to where I would be working.

when people advertise 'rooms to rent' (eg http://www.roombuddies.com) sometimes the bills cover 'phone' - would this include the actual phone calls? also, what about food. I have read of people who fight/steal food in fridges etc.

any advice/annecdotes gratefully recieved - as well as any potential flaws in my very simplistic plan.

thanks 83.104.131.135 (talk) 17:02, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Your job would have to pay REALLY well if you wanted to be able to afford to support your family and rent a non-scummy room. London rental prices are ridiculously high.

Regarding your query about phone calls, I think it varies from landlord to landlord. When I was hunting for a place to live in London, the definitions of "inclusive" seemed to vary wildly. You just have to ask them when you speak to them.

And with food, it very much depends on the people you end up with. Yes, there's always the possibility that you will end up with a bunch of slobs who never do housework and steal your food, but you might also end up with clean, tidy people who respect your boundaries and are a pleasure to live with.

As you seem to be looking for somewhere only for weekdays, a good option (IMHO) would be to rent a room from someone who lives in the premises. A housemate is far more likely to respect your boundaries and take good care of the property if they own it and thus have a vested interest in the place. I found a nice place on moveflat.com. I'd try there. Good luck!86.137.88.172 (talk) 17:41, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

thanks everyone (especially for moveflat.com). 83.104.131.135 (talk) 08:56, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I was intrigued when I heard about Monday to Friday, which lets you rent a room in the landlord's house (ie therefore presumably a decent property) and go home at weekends. Also try craigslist. Also it may be worth contacting networks you are already a part of (union, church, pigeon racing association, etc.) and asking them to spread the word, or putting an ad in their newsletter. As for what "all mod cons" includes, yes, you just have to ask. BrainyBabe (talk) 17:55, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Real Zombies!?

(Seeing as how this link has been used as spam, I'll just post the URL with anti-spamfilter munging, just remove the spaces) http : // zomgzombies . ytmnd . com / Is the news article shown here (within the link to YTMND) real??? If so, there is a strain of malaria that is 100% fatal and turns people into real-world zombies IN THE REAL WORLD and we're worrying about AIDS and West Nile Virus!??!?? 71.220.211.235 (talk) 18:23, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

It's fake - http://www.snopes.com/humor/iftrue/zombies.asp . The link you posted crashed my browser too. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 18:28, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

As a side, would it help if you set Firefox to not run scripts on suspicious sites (using addons like Noscript? (assumes your browser supports noscript.) Kushal^t 02:26, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

(Might as well turn Javascript off for the Snopes link too, while you're at it. All they use it for is one of those silly, but annoying, anti copy/paste scripts.) APL (talk) 05:13, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. This is a relief that there are not real zombies. And I'm sorry that the link crashed your browser, it ran fine on mine so I assumed that it wouldn't crash other browsers, like most links. 71.220.211.235 (talk) 00:39, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

SYSTEM DYNAMICS FOR FRESHERS

SIR/MADAM I HAVE STARTED TO RESEARCH ON SYSTEM DYNAMICS, BUT I AM STILL LOOKING FOR SOME USEFUL LINKS WHICH COULD HELP FRESHERS IN THIS FEILD —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.201.120 (talk) 18:31, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Did you try System dynamics as a starting point by any chance yet?--TreeSmiler (talk) 00:20, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

yes i did and found only limited information on system dynamics i am specifically looking for some kind of e-book or links which could give much more informatiom —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.201.120 (talk) 08:44, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

OK. Well I'll assume you followed up the links also; so you'll have to wait for someone else to point you in the right direction. Sorry I cant help you more ATM--TreeSmiler (talk) 02:58, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

see we dont know what sort of dynamics ur interested in by I found this on the web [9]--TreeSmiler (talk) 03:29, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

David Blaine

I just saw David Blaine perform a stunt on TV whereby he appears to use his hands to pull out the front teeth of a woman leaving apparent gaps in her smile (at which she is understandably horrifed), and then appears to spit / blow in her face thus restoring her 'missing' teeth. This stunt is performed in front of a crowd in a busy public area. How is such a stunt performed, given that the multitude of witnesses would have the potential to see through any weaknesses in the trick ? --196.207.47.60 (talk) 19:01, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I would also like to know how he does all of these tricks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.134.93 (talk) 19:19, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I would suggest the "teddy bear and green jersey joke" with the help of some bad actors and out of shot activity....but what do I know! Richard Avery (talk) 20:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Ugh...that video was painful. --71.98.26.188 (talk) 01:17, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

They're all actors, as shown by the credits at the end. As for the teeth woman, I assume she was a stooge.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:21, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

That is not David Blaine in the video, you know. And the trick that the original poster is asking about does not sound like him, either. I smell spam and dirty socks. YouTube hits are worth money. --Milkbreath (talk) 12:18, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

the david blaine in the video's beard is drawn on with a sharpie. hilarious. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.134.93 (talk) 07:05, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Sto-Rev Co. Productions

What was Sto-Rev Co. Productions like? The reason that I'm asking is because I want to know because I never saw what it was like on television before. Ericthebrainiac (talk) 20:50, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

His Dark Materials -Meaning of the Title

Why did Philip Pullman, the author of the series His Dark Materials, called it "His Dark Materials"? What does the title mean? Who is the "he" in His Dark Materials? What are the "dark materials" in His Dark Materials? Why and how are they dark? Bowei Huang (talk) 23:04, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

My money would be on it being a quote from Paradise Lost by John Milton, the famous English poet. Philip Pullman is something of a fan of Milton. DuncanHill (talk) 23:17, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

It is from Book II, lines 898-899

"Into this wilde Abyss,
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all these in thir pregnant causes mixt
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
His dark materials to create more Worlds,
Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,
Pondering his Voyage."

Hope this helps. DuncanHill (talk) 23:20, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it's also safe to say that "dark materials" also refers to a major theme throughout the later two-thirds of the trilogy. Please note: my Wikilink here may be a "spoiler" for you.

Atlant (talk) 13:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

What exactly is the connection between the band Rush and Objectivism?

I know there is a connection, but what exactly is it? MalwareSmarts (talk) 23:56, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, just looking at the pages Wikipedia has on its members, Neil Peart is apparently known to be a big fan of Ayn Rand and uses related themes in his lyrics. Note that I really don't know anything about the band other than the fact that I don't like their music. From what I can tell Manhattan Project (song) is one of the greatest music offenses ever created, but I know that there will be some who (incorrectly) disagree. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 02:50, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know that one, but I like Freewill --Trovatore (talk) 02:54, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

They also refused to perform at Live 8 because it did not fit their Randroid worldview... Adam Bishop (talk) 08:07, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Many people object to listening to Rush? --WebHamster 13:15, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

January 10

Something I heard...

I heard from a friend that there is a fish in a river in South America that when a person urinates in that river, the fish flies up and goes up through the genitals. What's this fish called, what river does it live in, and is there a way to get it out of the genitals if it sticks up there? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sirdrink13309622 (talk • contribs) 00:37, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

It's called the Candiru, it lives in the Amazon river, and I believe a big knife is involved in its removal. DuncanHill (talk) 00:42, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

From the page:Because of spines protruding from the fish, it is almost impossible to remove except through surgery.[8]. It doesnt say how big the knife is. I would have thought it might be a scalpel (or maybe a corkscrew). Ouch! anyway--TreeSmiler (talk) 03:04, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Otherwise known as the urethra fish. Helpful if you're ever trying to come up with animals for every letter of the alphabet. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:52, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Or the willy fish. DuncanHill (talk) 00:53, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Redmond O'Hanlon, in his book In Trouble Again describes adapting a cricket box and a tea strainer to make a protective device against this piscine menace. DuncanHill (talk) 03:06, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

This is quite possibly the most bizzare animal I have ever heard of. What sort of niche does this fill!?TheGreatZorko (talk) 09:24, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Err, it fills an anatomical niche <rim shot> --WebHamster 13:14, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

It fills the niche of scaring people who might otherwise pee in the pool.

Atlant (talk) 13:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I remember reading about this in Willard Price's Amazon Adventure many many moons ago. Sandman30s (talk) 14:11, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

To clarify the OP's phrasing, I don't believe anyone's claiming that the Candiru "flies up" if someone isn't submerged in the water at the time of micturation; rather, it swims in only if you're in the water. This myth is addressed in the Candiru article. jeffjon (talk) 15:13, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Our article also mentions that it's probably not attracted to urine. (Re the discussion above - I expect when your penis is being cut open the size of the knife is the least of your worries...) — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 20:00, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I rather think that if the creature is addicted to urine, it would quickly find its way to your bladder, if not your kidneys! OOOO! that hurts!--TreeSmiler (talk) 03:34, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

That’s one of the most amazing/bizarre/revolting things I’ve ever heard of! I’ve added it to our Wikipedia:Unusual articles. --S.dedalus (talk) 03:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

For these with a macabre interest in this check out the YouTube video. --S.dedalus (talk) 03:39, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Y'know, I'm not even *tempted* to click on that link now. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 11:17, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Saddest movie...EVER!

What is the saddest, most heart-wrenching movie you've ever seen? I'm looking for some real tear-jerkers here. Thanks for all of the help! --71.98.26.188 (talk) 01:19, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Sicko^{[citation needed]} is a sad movie, though probably not^{[citation needed]} the saddest movie ever. Warning: This movie, like most good documentaries, is biased^{[citation needed]}.Kushal^t 01:51, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not literally looking for the absolute saddest movie ever (subjective and impossible to find, anyways), but rather just some real tear-jerkers that'll make you cry. Thanks for the suggestion. That movie, like most movies by Mikey boy, is VERY biased. --71.98.26.188 (talk) 02:10, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The Reference Desk is not really a place for these kinds of questions. You should just Google "saddest movie ever" and look at what you find. It'll be a lot more helpful, I think. — Kieff | Talk 02:14, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Why not? But I already tried googling it and I thought that instead of sifting through the massive piles of worthless forums and junk I'd just go straight to the source -- the fairly reliable, kind, insightful, and movie-watching people who frequent the Ref Desks and have excellent tastes in cinematics. So thank you for your comment, have you seen any good movies lately? --71.98.26.188 (talk) 02:26, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I find this question (and others that demand subjective rather than factual answers) is perfectly acceptable here. --Taraborn (talk) 08:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Titanic is very sad. I mean, the whole love story, plus the ship sinking. You'll definetly think its sad, that is, if you have a soul. Grango242 (talk) 02:32, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

What, it sinks?!? Spoiler! :P FiggyBee (talk) 02:55, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

My sister tells of coming out of the movie theater after watching Romeo+Juliet and overhearing a couple of high school girls discussing it. One of them sniffed tearily "I can't believe they died". --Trovatore (talk) 02:59, 10 January 2008 (UTC) Or did I tell that story to my sister, having heard it from someone else? Can't remember now.

Haha, ZOFMG! Romeo and Juliet die at the end? I totally wasn't expecting that even though it says it straight out in the first scene of the first act or something like that. But yeah I've seen the Titanic, and Romeo + Juliet (I honestly didn't think it was very sad). Let's see...I think I recall that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a good, sad movie.

Btw - I should probably elaborate: I'm looking for sad movies that have been pretty well received by critics. I don't care if they bombed in the box office or if they are an indie film, but I want a nice sad flick that's really good to watch. Thank you for your suggestions so far. --71.98.26.188 (talk) 04:29, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, for current/recent releases, Lust, Caution struck me as sad, though not in the manipulative way associated with the term "tearjerker". Fast Times at Ridgemont High, though funny, left me deeply depressed; I don't know whether that was what the filmmakers were going for or not. It was a sadness without catharsis, which may not be what you're looking for.

The other night I saw an episode of The Twilight Zone that might fill the bill -- it was the one where the Mexican boy is about to be hanged and his father buys "magic dust" from the town scumbag to save him. --Trovatore (talk) 04:37, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Definitely Stroszek. Just ask Ian Curtis.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 04:52, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Love Story (1970 film). --Richardrj ^{talk email} 05:08, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Schindler's List is the saddest movie I've ever seen (at least, it is the only movie where I have ever bawled uncontrollably). Titanic was definitely not sad...for some reason me and a bunch of my 17-year-old friends saw that in the theatre and burst out laughing at a particularly sad part when people are falling off the vertically-tipped sinking boat (one guy hits the propellor! I mean, come on!) Adam Bishop (talk) 08:06, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Not a movie but - Jurassic Bark. I nearly cried. The Snowman when he melted at the end. I cried, but I was about nine years old. Lanfear's Bane | t 09:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Grave of the Fireflies, Ikiru, and Late Spring are my three must-see tearjerkers. It's just coincidence that they're all Japanese. Also La Strada, Bicycle Thieves, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Harold and Maude. -- BenRG (talk) 09:46, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

This might do better on the Entertainment reference desk. But since it's here, Charly (the movie made from Flowers for Algernon) is a pretty sad movie.

Atlant (talk) 13:01, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The Green Mile has to be right up there with the tear-jerkers even though it isn't billed as such. --WebHamster 13:12, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

You want melodramatic tear-jerkers, 3 hours at a time, check out every second movie from Bollywood! Sandman30s (talk) 14:07, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Caseys Gift (the love of a child) is pretty sad, kid dies in neighboures pool, very sad indeed. pretty old though —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.151.98 (talk) 20:10, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Old Yeller stands out in my memory. I was about 8 when I saw it. -- Arwel (talk) 16:40, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I_am_Sam is pretty sad (but it's the proper cinematic experience where there's the happy ending and you come out feeling "moved"), but I'm sure there are sadder movies. Rfwoolf (talk) 20:12, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The Elephant Man gets me every time; a couple of scenes do, anyway. --Milkbreath (talk) 20:38, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

How about... Sidewalks of New York is quite tear-jerking at times. It depends on what 'gets you'. If it is ultimate sadness, or lost-love, or love-found, or someone who misses out on what they want. That sort of thing. I would include in my list of favourite 'emotion producing' movies...The Bicentennial Man, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Groundhog Day (in parts), Punch Drunk Love and many others I cannot think of now. Personally i'm not a fan of the really maudlin movies which are over-dramatic. I prefer a bit of balance between happiness, connection with the character, then rooting for them to get what they want (rather than just awful tragedies happening to people). ny156uk (talk) 21:52, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I found Dancer in the Dark depressing to the point that I disliked it. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 22:06, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! They're much appreciated. And I was considering asking this on the entertainment desk, but nobody goes there =P. Any more ideas? Thanks again. --71.98.13.166 (talk) 23:09, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Brokeback Mountain was the last film that had me crying like a girl sniffling. My Own Private Idaho, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon & Hard Core Logo were good for that too. My sister still tears up at the mention of All Dogs Go to Heaven, nearly 20 years after seeing it.--Kateshortforbob 23:50, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Since you asked nicely...I liked Big Daddy, Goodbye Mr Chips the version with Martin Clunes in. It's very good, it's a made for tv film though. Also Serendipity is great, and I love Lost in Translation probably more than any movie made in the past 20 years - kinda amazed I forgot about it in my original list. ny156uk (talk) 23:53, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The episode of Futurama with Fry's dog is infamously the saddest TV episode ever spawned. Watch that, it's only half an hour long. --f f r o t h 02:10, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

My two saddest movies are both black-and-white 1950s films made from Terence Rattigan plays: The Browning Version (1951; the later versions are ok but just not in the same class); and Separate Tables (1958), which won David Niven a Best Actor Oscar. Another real tear-jerker for me - but not a sad film at all, in fact one of abundant hope and joy - is Field of Dreams. -- JackofOz (talk) 05:34, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Subjective question or not, you guys are all wrong. The saddest movie is Awakenings. And when you're done bawling at the end of the movie, reflect that it is based on a true story and start crying again... Matt Deres (talk) 21:29, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Any existentialist outcome gets me down so I vote for Lost in Translation as a dipper, but Arwel (talk) might like this from Steven Spielberg who votes for Bambi here[10]. That shot sounds like it echoes through history! Julia Rossi (talk) 09:09, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

TDSB Transportation

Hi there, I want to know something. My have friends who live in Toronto and they sons and daughters. My #1 friend has one son and one daughter. Both of them graduated from Crescent Town PS and my #2 friend's son and daughter graduated from Secord PS and they are currently studying at D.A. Morrison Middle School and this their final year (gr.8). After that, #1 friend's son wants to go to Easy York Collegiate Institute and the daughter wants to go to Danforth C & TI. Same thing with #2 friend's children. They are going to these schools because of the TDSB street guide. If the son of #1 friend is going to East York C.I., then which transportation does have to take? What about the daughter? Which transportation does she take when going to Danforth C & TI? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Don Mustafa (talk • contribs) 02:39, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

TDSB Transportation 2

Which type of transportation does the students of Presteign Heights, Victoria Park, Selwyn and George Webster, elementary school take to go to George A. Brown middle school? and after that, how about East York C.I. and Danforth C & TI?

For those who may be mystified, this would be in Toronto. As to the question, I can't say. --Anonymous, 05:43 UTC, January 10.

For both questions, if you contact the school board, the individual schools, or the TTC, you will probably have an easier time finding answers. Adam Bishop (talk) 08:02, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Stock Information Offine

There are many websites out there that offer information regarding stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and NYSE. For example Google Finance, Yahoo Finance etc.

I was wondering in regards with getting all the information of the stocks offline including p/e etc. I have MS Office and XP.

What would be the best way for me to go around doing that?

Thanks.

No response at the computer desk inclined me to post the question here

--Obsolete.fax (talk) 10:59, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't quite understand how you mean by getting the information offline? Surely once the stock information is offline it can no longer be updated and is thus useless? Or do you mean offline as in not using a web browser? EDIT: Does your version of Office come with Microsoft Money? It seems this would most likely do what you want, although having never used it I cannot tell you how

EDIT EDIT: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA010346091033.aspx may be helpful in doing what you want.TheGreatZorko (talk) 11:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Blah! It's not letting me download the MSN MoneyCentral Stock Quotes excel add-in software. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=485FCCD8-9305-4535-B939-3BF0A740A9B1

Now I need to go hunting for more product keys for Office XP! :) --Obsolete.fax (talk) 11:25, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

www.iii.co.uk is a uk site that gets you the information you require in a copy/pasteable format for excel. Having the data off-line is extremely useful as it allows you to developed advanced filters, to track information that you want to return to, to build your own charts/things like that. Rather than relying on the more 'industry standard' filters/charts that the websites tend to produce. What you're looking for is something with a CSV style output. It shouldn't be too hard to find one of the many online stock-brokers that will provide info on the constituents of the above stock exchanges. ny156uk (talk) 21:42, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Where in the www.iii.co.uk website can I get the information in copy/pastable format? --Obsolete.fax (talk) 11:06, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Whom is more famious?

Whom is more famious, Elvis or G W Bush? Weasly (talk) 13:32, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

It depends. George W. Bush is probably more infamous, especially to modern-day persons, but Elvis will always be known as the King. So, I suppose it depends on your definition of famous, as well as what field of fame are you speaking of; political or general. EWHS (talk) 13:35, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

"Elvis" gets 65,100,100 Google hits, while "G W Bush" only gets 1,840,000. Edison (talk) 13:37, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

And "George Bush" gets 17,000,000 while "George W Bush" gets 11,000,000. My money is on Elvis. People with little access to education are more likely to have heard of him.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:44, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The only problem I have with that, Shantavira, is that in the current situation, people in wartorn areas in the middle east (e.g. small, impoverished, and uneducated families in Iraq) might be more likely to know about George W. Bush, the "hated American President," rather than Elvis. And when searching "George Bush" rather than "George W. Bush," I'm am willing to guess that the majority of those articles are about George W. Bush. EWHS (talk) 20:25, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Even if George W. Bush is more discussed at the moment, and I'm not sure that he is, in 20 or 30 years, he will be largely (fortunately) forgotten outside of history books, while Elvis will probably retain popular appeal, only somewhat diminished by the passing of a generation. Marco polo (talk) 21:24, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know any singers from earlier than the 1940s, but I know plenty of presidents.. --f f r o t h 02:08, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The current leader of the strongest nation in the world vs one of the biggest name singers in history...I would say entertainment will trump politician every day of the week. As for G W Bush, his presidency has had some major events so his name is likely to be one of the more famous presidents of modern times. History will be kinder to him than the current day (it almost always is), but I would be amazed if he was more famous than Elvis, who, lets face it, was an icon of an era - and not only any era, the era of tv-for-the-masses and the first real music-aimed-at-youth. ny156uk (talk) 21:39, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not so sure about the entertainer trumping a politician every time...think about Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden; their very famous/infamous (depending on what part of the world you live in) and on a worldwide scale, are probably better known than Elvis. Maybe in a few decades they will fade into obscurity (more or less), but who knows? --71.98.13.166 (talk) 23:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Remember the fuss caused when John Lennon said that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus". It all depends on what you mean by famous, popular, big, important, etc. BrainyBabe (talk) 13:40, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

It's "who is more famous", not "whom". "Whom" is the adjective form. It's like saying "Me am more famous than you". JIP | Talk 12:49, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Objective, not adjective. Otherwise, yes. :) FiggyBee (talk) 15:16, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Connecting to LimeWire

I can download, install, and open LimeWire, but I'm unable to connect to the network. I'm positive that the school is somehow blocking programs from connecting to outside networks. I used to be able to connect, but then coming back from a break, after considerable work on the proxy, computers, etc., I'm not able to. Even after my countless 1st periods spent trying to figure out how they are doing it using command prompt, I'm still not able to find it. So, I need two things: 1- How do I enable Control Panel, using Command Prompt, on a computer that has it disabled. (I can use administrative powers if necessary) 2- How can I stop whatever is blocking LimeWire from connecting from doing exactly that?

(Note: I've checked the bylaws, and using command prompt to run and alter programs that aren't specifically designated for education purposes (e.g. LimeWire) isn't forbidden, so I'm completely legal.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 13:33, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Some 1 help this guy i could do with limewire at work!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 13:38, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

You probably go to crooms, lol

Check out this google search and click the second link. When i post the link directly it doesn't work. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=control+panel+command--Dlo2012 (talk) 14:22, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I've already checked this links (I actually follow Desk advice and research before asking) and I recieved the message that "Control Panel has been disabled on this computer." I need to figure out how to enable Control Panel, rather than run it. Anyone else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 20:28, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I can't remember exactly where it is but if you go to Start -> Run -> Type "Gpedit.msc" you will find the option to enable it in there somewhere, I vaguely remember "Administrative Templates -> Control Panel" --WebHamster 21:13, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Shareaza connects to the Limewire network. --Obsolete.fax (talk) 11:35, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

It seems that none of the settings under Control Panel are configured according to the gpedit.msc command (note: I accessed the gpedit screen by typing in gpedit.msc in the command prompt, rather than the "run" option, for the run command is also taken off the computer). Is there any other way that the school could be blocking LimeWire? That being said, what is the equivalent of the "run" button in Command Prompt? I could actually open Control Panel at that point and try adding LimeWire to the hidden proxy's "accept" list.

It sounds like group policies are set up at a domain level rather than on individual computers. The "run" option is just a cmd without the command prompt box appearing. If I were the systems admin I'd deny access to Limewire via port filtering in the network firewall. Depending on the sophistication of the system and the admin staff packet sniffing could also be an alterenative. A sysamin who disallows access to places via the use of a local HOSTS files shouldn't be in the job. --WebHamster 15:38, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Book Collection Advice

I need some advice on what to do with a book collection.

My grandfather read during his life a huge amount of books and kept a few of them. After he died almost 40 years ago, my grandmother and after her my mother has kept the book collection together. A collection of over 2000 books on a wide range of topics economics, geography, art and the books by Voltaire, Sartre. And in 4 different languages.

The idea is to keep the collection together, but that requires plenty of space, which I don't have. I've heard you can donate book collections to libraries. Does anyone know anything about this or can point me in the right direction? AlmostCrimes (talk) 13:43, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it would be helpful if you could tell us in which country you live so that locals might feel more confident in offering help. Richard Avery (talk) 14:04, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe you might want to go to your local librarian and ask--Dlo2012 (talk) 14:26, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Good advice. First thing I'd do is trot down do my local library and ask whether they want any books. They'd direct me to where I should go. I saw this done a few times. If this particular branch will not be able to use the books you give them, they will distribute them among other branches of the city/province/whatever library. --Ouro (blah blah) 20:17, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd agree with the library suggestion, or you can see if there are any second-hand bookshops around that might want them (and you could get some credit for more books in return!). You'd probably also want to do just a little research, if any of the books looks like it may be valuable (e.g. a first edition of a popular title), as there would probably be some collectors interested in them. Finally, you could try to become BookCrossing's most prolific contributor. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 22:36, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Please note that most libraries aren't archives. That is, although the library may be happy to accept your donation, they won't necessarily agree to keep the collection together. I know that the modus operandi for my local public library is to sell donated books (with profits going to the library) rather than placing them in the collection -- even if they don't have a copy of the donated book. Even when a book is added to the collection, there is no guarantee it will stay there. They occasionally do purges where infrequently borrowed or worn books are removed from the collection and sold at the booksale (Foreign language books would likely not last very long). If your intention is to keep the collection together, you would be well advised to talk to the library about what they would do with the book. Also be aware that things may change in 5-10 years when new management takes over. A better bet than the public library may be a college or university library. A university library, especially a small, poorly funded one, would likely be happy to receive a collection of scholarly books, and would be less likely to sell poorly-used books, favoring instead to keep them for the rare student who would need them for reference. But again, talk to the librarians to see what they would intend to do with your donation. (As a postscript, note that an additional monitory donation for collection maintainence would likely assist in keeping the collection together longer. If you can get them to name the collection ("The Richard P. Cries Book Collection"), that would further help.) -- 128.104.112.236 (talk) 23:44, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Distributed Proofreaders is always looking for new out of copyright books if you wanted to donate them so that they are available for the entire world. 70.162.25.53 (talk) 01:13, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

A school may want them,given the shortage of money in education anywhere.They have libraries,the collection would be kept together and maybe they would memorialise your father in some way through them.hotclaws 07:46, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Standard subject descriptors for tagging IT-related documents

Are there any freely available classification schemes that provide standardized subject descriptors for tagging information technology-related documents? --64.236.170.228 (talk) 16:02, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

DVD Player

Hi, I just bought a DVD from ENgland and it won't allow me to play it in my DVD player, it says something about region. What kind of a DVD player will read and play this DVD player, is it available in the States? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.120.71.118 (talk) 18:54, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

For background, you can read DVD region code, and the links from that article. More specific to your current problem, you would need a "region free" or "multi-region" DVD player. These can be found in the US with some searching, or you may be able to find instructions on the web for a simple way to convert your player to be region-free. Personally, I purchased a Philips brand player at Circuit City and pressed some keys on the remote and now I can play all of my ZTT DVDs. --LarryMac | Talk 19:03, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The other thing to be aware of is the TV standard. US uses NTSC wheres the UK uses PAL50. You will need a TV that will accept multistandard formats or will accept a raw RGB or component signal. --WebHamster 20:58, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The "secret remote control codes" that unlock multi-region usually enable PAL/NTSC as well. I am fairly sure that players specifically sold as multi-region also have this capability. --LarryMac | Talk 21:09, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

They can't change the settings for the TV, only if the DVD player will output the relevant standard. This is far easier outside "Fortress America". Most machines in the US can't be converted by using cheat codes. --WebHamster 21:17, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

And yet the last two DVD players I've purchased have been easily modified to multi-region and play Region 1 / PAL discs on my NTSC TVs with no problem. --LarryMac | Talk 21:23, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Presumably you researched the purchase first? My experience of the average American is that they have no idea that there is such a thing as region coding much less differing TV standards. These people will go out to Target, WalMart or wherever and buy a generic DVD player this isn't convertable. There are some makes such as Sony who deliberately make theirs non-convertable (or at least they used to). Admittedly the cheaper Chinese made brands do tend to be hackable primarily to make it easier for the manufacturer to make one machine that can be sold all over the world. It's rarely a facility that is there for the consumer's benefit. In the UK and Europe multi-region is freely available everywhere, by all accounts this is not the case in the US. --WebHamster 21:46, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Which I think I covered by saying "These can be found in the US with some searching, or you may be able to find instructions on the web for a simple way to convert your player to be region-free." And frankly, the "generic" players from the discount stores are the ones most likely to be modifiable. --LarryMac | Talk 14:09, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The point being that most people in the US don't know, don't care and don't understand the difference. The other thing to beware of is that a lot of DVD players in the US don't have the range of outputs that European and RotW devices have due to their lack of SCART sockets. Most US players I've seen have S-video, composite and if they're really lucky component outputs. It's not called Fortress America for no reason --WebHamster 15:43, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Meaning of "DZ" in Chinese/Taiwanese/Asian products

This may seem like a very weird question...
I'm busy looking at various manufacturers of vacuuming machines. Almost all of them are from China, and although all of the machines have different "manufacturers", the model numbers are strikingly similar:
(Here are the model numbers from 7 different manufacturers):

• DZ600/2S
• DZD-400/S
• DZQ-400B
• DZD-500S VA-500s VAQ-400
• DZ-300Z DZ-400Z DZ'-500Z
• HD-DZ-400C
• DZQ400A

What's also odd is if you do a google search for "DZ series" you will get a whole lot of part numbers across various different industries that all start with "DZ"
But what could it mean? Does it denote a standard? A Manufacturer?
Other examples are screw driver sets beginning with "DZ"
Here is the "Might USA Inc." brands of "Bridge Machines": DZ-3240 DZ-4240 DZ-5240 DZ-6240
Hitachi has a whole series of camcorders that start with "DZ"
There's a "DZ" series of breaks.

Any idea what this could mean?
I hope you don't mind me also posting this question in the Language section. I will try remove one posting once I have an answer
Rfwoolf (talk) 19:41, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Housecleaner Etiquette

So I'm hiring a housecleaner for the first time to tidy up my home since my wife and I work and our children are doing the opposite of cleaning. How picked up does my house need to be prior to a housecleaner's visit? thank you. Beekone (talk) 19:50, 10 January 2008 (UTC) I would leave yr house the way it is that way the cleaner knows exactly what they are getting.--Harliquin (talk) 20:27, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

As a general rule, cleaners clean they do not tidy. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 20:47, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Right. During my starving student days, I briefly worked as a housecleaner. My job was basically to vacuum, dust, and scrub kitchens and bathrooms, maybe wash dishes. Most clients were reasonably tidy. I had one who was an absolute slob. In order to vacuum, I had to pick trash and dirty clothes off the floor. Since I was never told and didn't know where the dirty clothes should go, I just put them in a neat pile in the corner of the room. I can imagine that kids leave toys lying around the floor. If you want the housecleaner to pick these up (as well as dirty laundry or trash) you should discuss that with the cleaner and instruct the cleaner where to put these things. It would be unfair to ask the cleaner to estimate the cost of cleaning without clarifying this. Marco polo (talk) 21:17, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Trustee Savings Bank

I have a 1966 london trustee savings book, does anyone know who deals with these books now--Harliquin (talk) 19:53, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Lloyds TSB are the bank of which Trustee savings now forms a part. SaundersW (talk) 20:00, 10 January 2008 (UTC) Thank u so much, i will now take the book into them and see if they will update it.The book dates back to 1966 and has 55pence in it , it will be intresting to see wot intrest will be put on it ,x —Preceding unsigned comment added by Harliquin (talk • contribs) 20:21, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Just out of curiosity, tell us when you find out! --Ouro (blah blah) 20:49, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I assume the book was used for a few years after 1966, since "55 pence" is not the normal way to describe an amount in pre-decimal British money. Still, the book was presumably unused for many years. I think it's true in both Canada and the US that the bank would have closed the account for inactivity, and with only a small balance, they would have retained it. Or else maybe the accountholder reported the book lost and got a new one and went on using the account, in which case there is nothing to update into the old book. Still, it will be interesting to hear what happens, if Harliquin will tell us. Somewhat to my surprise, Wikipedia seems to have no article on dormant or inactive bank accounts. --Anonymous, 21:29 UTC, January 10, 2008.

Hmm, by an odd coincidence, here's a similar case in the news, but involving rather a larger amount of money! Credit goes to Snopes for calling attention to it. --Anonymous, 00:27 UTC, January 12.

Here is a link to information about how to reclaim funds held in a dormant account in Britain. [11]. DuncanHill (talk) 00:32, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

geography

What is the only city in the united states thats not in a state? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Onstedmccarter (talk • contribs) 21:24, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Washington, DC. --Anonymous, 21:30 UTC, January 10, 2008.

Ah, a flawed question! Let's not forget San Juan, Puerto Rico or Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands (or far too many others to mention). All in the US! None in states! — Lomn 21:34, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

The first sentence in the article United States seems to conflict with that assertion. William Avery (talk) 21:43, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

And the closing sentence of the lede confirms it. Don't read too much into a first sentence good-enough-for-most-answers simplification. Alternatively, what sovereign state (geopolitical sense, not Maryland sense) are those cities part of if not the US? — Lomn 15:56, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Unincorporated territories of the United States may be under the jurisdiction of the US government, but are not necessarily part of the US, or as that article says, they are "not part of the United States proper". Though the article Insular area, says that their goods can be labelled "Made in the USA". Was the Philippine Islands from 1902 to 1935 part of the US? Cuba? No more, I think, than Hong Kong was ever part of the UK, or a sovereign state of its own. From that example it's clear your premise that all cities must be located in a sovereign state is incorrect. William Avery (talk) 21:36, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

wisdom teeth

I was just wondering how people in the past would deal with their wisdom teeth. I know that most people now can just have surgery and take out the teeth if it doesn't fit in their mouths, but what did people do back then to solve this problem?--Dlo2012 (talk) 21:52, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I believe until fairly recently (the past couple of decades), people just let them stay in. Having great teeth wasn't a big concern (think of stereotypical early 20th century British people) and malocclusion wasn't a big deal. Tooth aches are another story though... --71.98.13.166 (talk) 22:57, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

they probably died before their wisdom teeth came through--TreeSmiler (talk) 03:59, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Dentists often take wisdom teeth out because they may push the other teeth crooked so it's aesthetic.It can be painful or ache somewhat occasionally while this happens but it's not bad really.(I speak from personal experience as mine were not removed and occasionally were a bit sore or achey but no real problem.)If you have teeth missing,the wisdom teeth have gaps to push into.In the "olden days" laudenum and other opiates were freely available and are great for toothache.hotclaws 07:57, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Ancient surgeries aren't uncommon at all. In fact, as early as 14 AD (if not earlier), ancient Romans were performing cataract surgery, successfully. I'll research a bit more to see if anything about wisdom teeth pops up. (To help, is there a specific name for the wisdom teeth procedure?) —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 13:30, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

If they treated them at all, it'd've probably been a simple tooth pulling (hmm, that should at least be a redirect to Dentistry), either under laudanum or simple alcohol, and probably performed by a butcher. I'd concur with the above that they'd've in all likelyhood be left untreated, though. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 16:31, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Wouldn't that be performed by a barber? Rmhermen (talk) 17:55, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Whoops, yep. Not sure why I said butcher there :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 18:20, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Certified Nursing Assistants in Europe

For both personal interest and the purpose to expand the italian entry it:Operatore socio-sanitario, i'm looking for this profession in other European Countries. I'm almost sure that the English equivalent is Certified Nursing Assistant, but I'd like to receive a confirmation. What about Spain, France, etc.? Can you address me to the right wiki entries? thanks Giorgian (talk) 22:11, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

In the UK the personnel who provide basic healthcare under the supervision of a Registered Nurse may have achieved a level on the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) scheme. Although this is not obligatory. I am not aware of any of these type of workers being called a "Certified Care Assistant" They usually have a title reflecting their role but this will vary slightly depending on their employer. Their title will be something similar to 'Care Assistant', 'Nursing Assistant' or Nursing Auxiliary'. Sometimes the word 'Senior' is added to the title to indicate that they may have a qualification or significant experience. The entry in Wikipedia for Certified Nursing Assistant is not entirely applicable to the UK National Health Service or private healthcare provision in the UK. Richard Avery (talk) 08:32, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

January 11

food imports restrictions + health

My cambodian roommate just got back from christmas break, and he brought with him 3 HUGE plates of seafood. He's sleeping and they're just sitting there on his desk- a 1' high heaping pile of dry tuna, a 1' high heaping pile of shrimp, and a 1' high heaping stack of whole, dead fish that have been smoked but they're staring at me right now. My question is: how didn't they stop him at customs?! I thought you weren't supposed to bring parasite-ridden seafood from third-world hellholes. Also, they're REALLY big piles and they'll be there for awhile. Please tell me A) I won't get sick from breathing tuna powder, which has made the room cloudy. B) It will go bad so he will have to throw it out. And C) that I'll eventually get used to this smell, which I'm convinced will never leave my clothes unless I burn them. --f f r o t h 02:05, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

According to the US Customs and Border Protection website: "Personal quantities of seafood not intended for commercial consumption are not subject to approval by the Food and Drug Administration. Most personal quantities of seafood are admissible, with the exception of endangered species which are subject to restrictions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." (as an aside, I also found out that it is illegal to carry a switchblade into the USA unless you only have one arm!) Therefore your roommate's fish stash is probably perfectly legal. As for questions, A-C. Who knows? Perhaps you could ask your roommate to store the fish somewhere more suitable. Rockpocket 02:20, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Grr, ok. He barely speaks english and it's pretty awkward so I try not to talk to him.. but this is really just too much. My pillow is going to smell like a giant shrimp! --f f r o t h 02:33, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Buy him some Tupperware. DuncanHill (talk) 03:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Just a sec, you got a roommate you don't speak with? I envy those piles of seafood. Your clothes will probably not smell bad, and you won't get sick from being in the same room with that, don't worry. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 07:54, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Internet Explorer

I have a question about my internet explorer. Sometimes when i go on internet explorer, it will just close all of a sudden. I don't think i have any viruses or anything, but it has been doing this for a while. Does anybody know what it is?--Dlo2012 (talk) 02:25, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Viruses or something? Try Mozilla Firefox --f f r o t h 02:33, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Get rid of IE and change to Mozilla Firefox-- its much faster and more reliable.--TreeSmiler (talk) 03:19, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Also with firefox you can get add ons for wikipedia like twinkle that wont work in IE. And firefox FTW BonesBrigade 03:35, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

This question fits better to the Computing desk. --Taraborn (talk) 11:32, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Could be a popup blocker e.g. Google toolbar, etc. 207.148.157.228 (talk) 19:18, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Australian Senator being Prime Minister?

Has a Senator ever become Prime Minister of Australia? Or has the opposition ever made its party leader (the leader of the opposition) a Senator (as opposed to a Member of the House of Representatives)? (For example, the Greens leader Bob Brown is a Senator, so say if the Greens formed a majority in the lower house, would that make Bob Brown Prime Minister?) How would the House of Representatives be conducted then? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.208.109.169 (talk) 04:40, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Senator John Gorton was appointed Prime Minister on 10 January 1968, but the circumstances were extremely unusual. The Prime Minister Harold Holt drowned on 17 December 1967 and his body was never recovered. He was declared "presumed dead" on 19 December, and so another PM had to be appointed. It was assumed that his deputy William McMahon would be the obvious choice. But John McEwen, the leader of the Country Party, the minor party in the Liberal-Country party coalition, announced that he would refuse to continue the coalition if McMahon were the Liberal leader and PM. The Governor-General Lord Casey commissioned McEwen as an interim Prime Minister until such time as the Liberals could choose a new leader. On 9 January they chose Gorton, who was a Senator, but on the understanding that he would resign from the Senate and contest the by-election for the House of Representatives seat left vacant by Holt's presumed death. He did, and won it handsomely. Prior to the by-election, Gorton had resigned from the Senate as he was required to do under the Constitution. So, after having been PM as a Senator for a couple of weeks, he continued as PM for a couple of more weeks without being a member of Parliament at all (which is permitted by the Consititution up to 3 months), then continued as PM as a member of the House of Reps.

The reason the PM always sits in the House of Reps - barring the extraordinary circumstances outlined above - is that the government depends for its existence on money bills being supported by the Parliament, and money bills can only be originated in the House of Representatives. The government is always formed by a party or coalition commanding a majority in the lower house, no matter what the numbers might be in the Senate (which is often hostile to the government of the day). That said, there's nothing in the Constitution to require this, but it's a convention adopted by all modern-day bicameral Westminster parliaments. And it's a very sensible convention, because it would make no sense for a majority in the lower house to be led by a person who sat as a member of another chamber (despite ministers being drawn from both chambers). (The UK Prime Minister was often a member of the House of Lords in days gone by, but that hasn't been the case for over a century.) During the Holt-McEwen-McMahon-Gorton affair, the Parliament wasn't sitting, so it was never tested how the arrangement might have worked on a parliamentary basis. By the time the Parliament sat, Gorton had joined the lower house.

If the Greens formed a majority in the lower house, the Greens leader in that house would almost certainly be Prime Minister, not anyone in the Senate, including Bob Brown. They don't have a leader in the lower house at the moment, bectause they don't have any members in that house (there's only ever been one, to date). Bob Brown is parliamentary leader of the Greens overall, which would include any Greens members in the House of Reps, if there were any. That's until such time as they gained 5 lower house members, which would give them "party status" in that house, and they would then elect a lower house party leader. Brown would then become the Greens' leader in the Senate only. The only way Bob Brown could become PM is to get elected to a lower house seat. -- JackofOz (talk) 05:19, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Excellent answers and well explained, thank you very much Jack :) 203.208.109.169 (talk) 07:50, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

You're most welcome. Drop by anytime. -- JackofOz (talk) 09:01, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Championship Belts

In the UFC, boxing etc. where a belt is the prize, do they have 1 belt that changes hands or does each champion receive one and keep it when they lose ?

Does anyone know how much a belt costs in say the UFC? Thanks, Killa Klown (talk) 05:47, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

getting drunk faster?

Yes, this is a serious question. I was just reading the article alcohol by volume, and it stated that beer has 3-12 % alcohol by volume, whereas wine has 6-18 % abv. Does that mean that a person gets drunk at a quicker rate by drinking wine than they do beer? for example, suppose you drink 20 ml of beer versus 20 ml of wine. Which gives the greater effects? I just don't understand what the article means.76.216.113.87 (talk) 06:08, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Note that those ranges overlap, so a particular beer may contain a higher percentage of alcohol than a particular wine. But if you mean say beer that is 5% alcohol by volume and wine that is 10%, then yes, the wine will have twice as much effect on you. This has a lot to do with why people tend to drink wine in smaller quantities than beer. --Anonymous, 07:24 UTC, January 11, 2008.

Random insert, but it is possible to get drunk faster on beer than wine. Ever heard of the funnel-in-the-rear trick? Pour some alcohol down there, and it reaches your bloodstream un-filtered, and will get you drunk much faster. But, beware of enemas. EWHS (talk) 13:08, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Wow, what a lame, useless answer. For any given means of consumption, a stronger beverage would generally have more effect than a weaker one. The commonly-stated rule of thumb is that a typical serving of wine, beer, or liquor all contain about the same amount of alcohol. This is because the typical serving size gets smaller as the strength goes up, in approximately the right proportion. There are certainly exceptions, tho- the 12% beers for example. Friday (talk) 16:00, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

As the anonymous reply says, yes, something with more alcohol by volume makes you drunker, faster. In Britain, there is a concept of unit of alcohol, so that a half of beer (300mls (ish)) is equivalent in effect to a small glass of wine (125 ml) which is equivalent to a single shot of spirits - 30ml or so, I forget. As the alcohol by volume goes up, the serving size comes down, effectively. I hadn't realised that this was a UK-specific term. Telsa (talk) 17:50, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

. If you really want to get drunk quicker, drink your wine through a straw. Ask the Science Desk why this works SpinningSpark 20:34, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I've heard this many times, but I've never heard a reasonable explanation of how it could work. I've always chalked it up as a myth. Friday (talk) 20:43, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Drink 40% stuff [12]

--TreeSmiler (talk) 23:18, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I took a look at TreeSmiler's link, and this sentence jumped out at me:

The proof of alcohol is equal to twice the percentage so that 80-proof vodka is equal to 45% alcohol

Hmm, can't say that exactly inspires confidence right off the bat.... Trovatore (talk) 23:31, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it should read 'proof about twice the percentage'. I dont know the actual relationship as all drinks here are now quoted as ABV (%).--TreeSmiler (talk) 02:00, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

In US usage, proof is exactly twice the percentage of alcohol (by volume, I think). ISTR that there is another definition floating around somewhere. But 80 proof is a standard concentration for vodka, and it's 40%, not 45%. --Trovatore (talk) 02:02, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Proof (alcohol) discusses the different definitions. Rmhermen (talk) 14:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Food left out overnight

I made a big pan of chili beef last night, ate half of it, meant to refrigerate the rest and reheat it today. But I forgot and left it out in the pan overnight instead. It's winter here. Is it safe to eat? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:50, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately not. Bacteria multiplies in beef left out of the refrigerator at room temperature more than 2 hours. So you need to throw it out to be safe. - Nunh-huh 09:01, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

This isn't analagous to having taken a hunk of raw meat out of the 'fridge and having left it at room temperature for twelve hours. You're absolutely correct: that would be dangerous. But in this case, the beef was (presumably) heated to the boiling point (and probably in an acidic tomato environment) so quite sterilized; new bacteria would have to arrive as infall from the air. I'm a fool so in the absence of any evil odors, I'd probably just reheat it to boiling for thirty minutes or so. Of course what you really want in this situation, is a food taster.

Atlant (talk) 13:07, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Pooh. OK, thanks. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:12, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Bah. Reheating it would likely kill the bacteria. So long as you don't eat it without cooking it a bit, you should be fine. EvilCouch (talk) 09:13, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The question was not what you could likely get away with, but rather what was safe. Food poisoning arises not only from bacteria but also from pre-formed toxins, not all of which are inactivated by heating. Similarly, any sporulated forms will not be killed by "cooking it a bit". - Nunh-huh 09:24, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

My family leave leftovers unrefridgerated everyday in Winter, and I never had a problem with it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:21, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I happen to be in the same situation as antilived (for years, now) and I've never had the slightest noticeable problem (neither me nor my siblings). --Taraborn (talk) 13:19, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

It used to be common practice to nail a freshly killed goose/duck to a door by its neck, and wait until the meat was rotten enough for the body to detach from the head and fall. This was considered a good time to eat the meat, seeing as it was made softer and less leathery. This is called aging. I don't know if this applies to pre-cooked meat, though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 13:17, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

And something similar is still common practice in Iceland; shark meat (from the Greenland Shark) is prepared by letting it rot underground for six months prior to eating. There *is* a reason for this though - the Greenland Shark has no bladder, so its uric acid is instead leaked into its muscles, making the meat poisonous. After it's left to "breathe" for six months, the carcass is dug up and the meat eaten with Breniven (think aniseed schnapps). I can attest that it is the single most disgusting thing you're ever likely to consume in your life, and this is from a lifelong eater of Stilton cheese. The after-meal drink isn't nicknamed "Black Death" for nothing. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 16:11, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Im reasonably certain the food is fine to eat. Of course you would have to take into consideration its appearance, smell, and the ingredients used. For example a cooked pasta is less safe after 12 hours than cooked meat. And if it doesn't smell so good or taste so good then obviously don't eat it. As a small note you may also be concerned about contamination from insects (cockroaches, moths or flies which could have gotten to the food if left uncovered). Although we can't really advise you to eat something, the theory is that it should be okay. Rfwoolf (talk) 13:38, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Folks, when you tell the poster that it is ok to eat the dodgy chili you are working contrary to the spirit of the rules against giving medical advice. As a counterexample, I recall when I was in elementary school that the school's dietition had been at a conference at the other end of the state and brought back home on a long bus ride some leftover sandwich meat from the meal at the conference. She ate it after getting home, got food poisoning, and died. It had stayed too long without refrigeration. She probably thought it was just as safe to eat as some of the above posters. Then there is the question of whether the cat stuck his paw in it, if a cockroach ran across it, or if someone sneezed near it while it was out overnight. Might that introduce some undesirable bacteria? If in doubt, throw it out. Keep hot food hot, cold food cold, and don't mess with mister in-between.Edison (talk) 20:42, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Cost of throwing out the food: $5.00 wasted. Risk of eating contaminated meat: a lifetime of hemodialysis, and possible death. Do the math. Any restaurant that served a meat dish that had been at room temperature overnight would quite properly be shut down by the health department. - Nunh-huh 22:55, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

You might want to scale back that claim a little... I'd hate to have to give up on my tasty lunchmeats --Mdwyer (talk) 23:45, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Ok, then, non-preserved meat :) - Nunh-huh 23:54, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Wonder if the OP ate the food after all ;) --Ouro (blah blah) 07:45, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, he was editing almost 24 hours later. If the food was *still* out at room temperature at that point, he's got noone to blame but himself :P GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 10:58, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

You might like to look into highly spiced foods that originated in warm countries to beat the lack of refrigeration. Food like curry and chili are meant to "preserve" the food temporarily. The best thing is that it's covered lightly even to prevent airborne contaminants. Julia Rossi (talk) 11:42, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Long socks and shorts

My sister insists that this is a fashion faux pas, but I can't find any mention of this on teh internets. Is this true? If so, can someone give me a source? Borisblue (talk) 10:06, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

You don't need a source for everything, you know :) It all depends on whether you think it looks OK. Personally, I think it looks a bit strange and I would not wear that combination. While we're on the subject, wearing socks with sandals is also a bit of a no-no. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 10:59, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Like Richard says, socks and sandals... but long socks and shorts? apart from your sister's attempt to educate you peer-pressure wise, It depends who's wearing this combination. For girls these things make for cute combinations – but for guys if it's someone around 12 to 15+, it could be a skater or pre-teen, even preppy thing; if it's someone older, it's seen as conservative and being "out of touch" with popular culture and unstylish. In Australia it's considered daggy but that doesn't stop people who want to, from wearing them. It's kinda the inversion of being a fashion victim. Someone cool with it may well come across as being indifferent or even anti-fashion. As for me I'm more impressed by people who're not so self conscious about these things. _||_ Julia Rossi (talk) 11:20, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually, when playing basketball and tennis, I wear soccer socks that go above your knees. I am often seen in public like this, and I actually get compliments from strangers. I guess the psychedelicness of the red and white tie dye socks with white shorts is attractive? But, then again, I just do it for sports. Not all the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 13:11, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

That's part of many school's uniform in here, so I guess it is quite uncool to wear it other than when you need to... --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:33, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Best -Free- Music Download Software

My grandmother is getting a new computer and high speed internet, and I've been told that I can use that computer as my music headquarters and whatnot, seeing as she has a studio there for me as well. In your opinion, what is the best music download software? (i.e. LimeWire, iMesh, Frostwire) Why? Why not the other ones? I'm looking for good quality music downloads. EWHS (talk) 13:14, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you want free software or free music? We're really not here to help you infringe copyrights. --LarryMac | Talk 14:03, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can tell (since I'm not in prison), LimeWire isn't illegal yet. Software similar to this, downloaded from the actual sites. I don't want to steal anyone's software. —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 14:30, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

IANAL, but as I recall, it's not the downloading from P2P sites that's illegal, but the providing of files to the network. So, provided you're just a "leech", you're not *technically* breaking any laws. It's still pretty cheapskate not to buy tracks for the whopping price of $0.99 from iTunes instead, though. 90.242.157.16 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 15:51, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

That doesn't sound right to me. Numerous individuals have been prosecuted for doing nothing more than downloading. To answer the OP's question, I would look at BitTorrent. Loads of great free music available for legal download through that protocol. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 15:58, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

There is a big difference between civil law and and criminal law. Something being illegal implies it is a violation of criminal law i.e. the government can bring a case against you. Most of the P2P cases simply involve civil law, i.e. the company who own's the copyright sues you for violating their copyright. In most cases, these people have distributed (i.e. uploaded) content which often makes it even worse. This isn't surprising since with most P2P programs you are forced to distribute. But particularly when all you have done is downloaded content it's often not a violation of criminal law, i.e. it's not illegal. This all depends on jurisdiction obviously (in the U.S. I think it is a against the law simply to possess copyright violating material). BTW, personally I use eMule for my P2P purposes. And I would never purchase DRM encumbered audio, even if it's trivial to remove. Nil Einne (talk) 19:53, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Fun Quote

Not really a question, but I got bored one day and wrote this quote in Latin. I'm not 100% sure of the syntax, but kudos to whoever translates it. No using translators, either. :-P

Regular Script "Petediemcumoptissimumvivistumvivediemindiebus"

Nicely spaced and punctuated script, for easier translation "Pete diem cum optissimum vivis, tum vive diem in diebus"

EWHS (talk) 13:33, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can make out,it's something like... He lives life with optimism,he who lives life day by day...or words to that effect Lemon martini (talk) 14:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Somewhat close...take the verbs that end in -e (pete and vive) and make them imperative. That should help some. —Preceding unsigned comment added by EWHS (talk • contribs) 14:31, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Another question about Jail (TV series)

When did Jail (TV series) have its 2nd season premiere? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 14:04, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

tv.com will often say Nil Einne (talk) 19:47, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Another "fun" quote

As the fun quote guy above asked a q about latin, I've got one. What does "Noo ani Anqueetas hiq qua Videum" mean? Weasly (talk) 14:47, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

This is not necessarily pure Latin, and comes from Stargate SG-1. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

It is apparently similar to Medieval Latin, and reads "We are the Ancients. The place of our legacy." See Ancient (Stargate). Think outside the box 15:54, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

That's not similar to Medieval Latin at all...nor any kind of Latin... Adam Bishop (talk) 19:42, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, do bear in mind that this is from the same show that contends that neutronium can be readily mined from random planets, that humans have spread across three separate galaxies, and even if those humans were taken from Feudal Japan or Ancient Egypt, every one of them is capable of speaking perfect English. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 21:07, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Nintendo64 fan games

Are there any Nintendo64 fan games out there, like ones that'll run on an emulator like Project64? Weasly (talk) 14:47, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Ailsa Craig Engines

Why has this page been deleted?

I am the grandson of the founder and have full copyright on this. Please restore.≈≈

Chris Kisch —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.113.19.130 (talk) 15:27, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Ailsa Craig Engines was deleted because "17:39, 5 January 2008 Jj137 (Talk | contribs) deleted "Ailsa Craig Engines" ‎ (This item appears to be a copyright infringement of http://www.ailsacraigengines.co.uk/index.php?page=history, and no assertion of permission has been made." That is to say, because the article included copyright material from another site, it had to be deleted under Wikipedia policies (to comply with copyright law). DuncanHill (talk) 15:36, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

There is some further information about how to proceed at User talk:Ailsacraigengines - basically the copyright holder needs to email the Foundation to give the appropriate permission for the text to be used on Wikipedia. DuncanHill (talk) 15:40, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

And it should be added that Wikipedia will require more than just the permission of the copyright holder, the material must be released under a free licence, typically by the website in question placing a GNU Free licence on the copied page. SpinningSpark 20:22, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Vote for the crook, not the Nazi

I remember seeing this slogan pasted about a while ago, but I don't recall the details. Who was the crook, and who the Nazi? Why? Where? When? 90.242.157.16 (talk) 15:53, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

The crook was Jacques Chirac, the Nazi Jean-Marie Le Pen. DuncanHill (talk) 15:59, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Since Duncan's answered the who, the where and when are easiest: 2002, France. As for the why, Chirac was put as a crook over his "cooking the books" as Mayor of Paris to fund his campaign, while Le Pen was a "Nazi" thanks to his (and his party's) somewhat extremist far-right ideology. The French presidential election in 2002 was essentially a lesser of two evils vote and, at least in my opinion, the French made the right choice. Though I'd've personally voted for Lionel Jospin over either, had I been of majority (and, y'know, French) at the time. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 16:22, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

• In Louisiana, they had the opportunity to "Vote for the lizard, not the wizard" and "Vote for the Crook. It's Important" when David Duke ran for governor in 1991. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 17:48, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

wagyu where in the uk can i get it

Iforh (talk) 19:50, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

A quick search on Google.co.uk turns up a number of inviting sites advertising "Kobe-style" beef. Bear in mind though that in the same way that you can't get non-French champagne (well, other than in the U.S.), you'd have to order directly from a Japanese supplier to get "genuine" wagyu beef. Still, the British alternatives should do fairly well as an alternative. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 21:04, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if the applies to you, but in the USA we've got a ban an Japanese beef imports, so we can only get Kobe style beef right now. See the article that the other editor linked to see what it takes to be Kobe or Wagyu. --Mdwyer (talk) 23:38, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Pottery

Ok, I was wondering this. Why is it better to create pottery using coils of clay instead of molding by hand?T3hStoner (talk) 19:55, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

By molding by hand, do you mean slabs, casting or wheel work? Coils offer strength and scale and don't need a wheel or other mechanical tool. Amphorae in ancient times were built using coils as far as I know. Julia Rossi (talk) 21:56, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

And just as additional note, coil pots are a lot easier to make than hand-molded in terms of symmetry, consistent thickness etc. Hand-molding on a wheel, for example, is extremely hard to get right, and you'll probably end up covered in muddy water from head to toe. --Kateshortforbob 00:17, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

FastCupid

FastCupid.com is a company that runs dating websites. It seems to run the personals websites for nerve.com and The Onion

I think there are more sites as well. Can someone help me find a complete list of personals sites run by FastCupid? --24.189.12.121 (talk) 20:12, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Dinosaurs in Bible

File:CreationMuseum15.png

With all seriousness, the opening lines of the Bible says something along the lines of, "On the first day, God created the Earth. On the second day, he created the rivers or humans..." But no where does the Bible mention dinosaurs... From archaeological evidence, it is pretty safe to assume that dinosaurs came before humans; the Bible does not give mention to this. What's going on here? Acceptable (talk) 22:44, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

He was moonlighting and didn't want the IRS involved? --WebHamster 22:56, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

From the point of view of the Bible's own logic, dinosaurs would have been created on the sixth day, along with the other "beasts of the earth", and man was created after that. Or you can assume the Old Testament is a man-made work created many centuries before dinosaurs were really understood. Whatever floats your boat. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 22:59, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Dinosaurs are figments of the collective unconscious. Sort of like God. They exist because we want them to exist. BrainyBabe (talk) 23:00, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

If you are going to criticise the Bible you ought to get your facts right. God did not create the Earth on the first day. On the first day He created light (let there be light . . .). The second day was neither rivers nor humans, but the whole day was taken up with just seperating Heaven from "the waters" (quite slow going this creation business you see). It was not until the third day that we got the Earth. At least those are the facts as presented in my King James version. Now for the real info (which is not in the Bible but comes from my own personal OR). The dinosaurs survived the flood because they were on Noahs Ark (that's why it had to be so big you see) but later died out because they failed to adapt to the traffic conditions of the 20th century and road kill took out too many of them. SpinningSpark 00:19, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh no, rest assured, I'm not criticizing the Bible. I'm just trying to figure out where the dinosaurs fit in. Acceptable (talk) 01:41, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

I have seen Young Earth Creationist sites that have postulated that the Leviathan mentioned at one point was a dinosaur. But on a more serious note, the discovery of dinosaurs and the unambiguous knowledge that extinction existed posed a major problem for Christians at the time, as neither fit squarely into the standard Biblical story as it was commonly understood. These were, along with other things, elements on the intellectual path towards an evolutionary theory of life. One does not normally picture a ground sloth in the Garden of Eden or hopping up on the Ark... --24.147.69.31 (talk) 02:20, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Of course, the first few days are sort of screwy, since if we, as the bible's writers presumably did (having no access to quartz watches), define the day as one rotation of the earth, then we have days before days existed... - mattbuck 02:27, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

And light before the sun. And day and night before the sun and earth. - Nunh-huh 03:50, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Right, it doesn't really make a whole lot of scientific sense no matter how you try to parse it. It is clearly, as far as I can tell, not meant to actually be a literal history of the universe as a scientist would understand it. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 04:31, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Nostradamus managed to make lots of "predictions" too, the problem is that they shouldn't be understood "literally". --Taraborn (talk) 08:12, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

"And light before the sun" actually, the standard model of the Big Bang theory agrees with this. The point at which electrons/positrons were "frozen out" of the quantum chaos was immediately followed by mass matter/anti-matter annihilations and a huge burst of light. This happened rather sooner than one day after creation by the way. It was at this point that the universe ceases to be opaque and becomes transparent. Surprisingly, the remnant light of this event can still be found today. "And day and night before the sun and earth", I really wish people would actually read the bible before they criticise it. Day 3: Earth, Day 4: Night and Day (And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night). I am not a Creationist, but it does ones argument no favours to misquote the other side. A Creationist misquoting Scientists would be mocked - this has to work both ways. SpinningSpark 09:01, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

This image was up on Conservapedia for a while, before being taken down, and take a look to the right to see the Creation Museum's take on humans living alongside dinosaurs. :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 11:06, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

I knew the camera was an old invention. But they had colour film in those days? Wow! you learn something new on Widipedia every day. SpinningSpark 14:08, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Hanging/aging meat

Related to the discussion above on food hygiene, how does hanging meat work? As I understand it, the fresh carcase is hung in a cool place for several weeks to improve the taste. How do butchers know when it is ready? Is this used for steak tartare -- what about food poisoning and microbes? I can see nothing under hang or meat. BrainyBabe (talk) 23:09, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the Curing (food preservation) article will help? --Mdwyer (talk) 23:35, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Curing is another process. Aging of beef comes in two forms, wet aging and dry aging, but both are usually done under refrigeration. The process tenderizes the meat through the action of the enzymes already contained in it (and not through bacterial action). The tenderization is rapid for the first 7 to 10 days, and much slower after that. (DIfferent cuts are aged for somewhat different times.) So usually it's 3 to 90 days and it's done. Anything longer than 28 days doesn't do much for palatability and may result in unwanted flavor changes, and risks bacterial contamination. Since steak tartare is usually finely chopped, the initial tenderness isn't really a big issue, so it would be a waste of aged steak. - Nunh-huh 23:52, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Nunh-huh, that's a succinct introduction and it makes sense. I'm not doubting your word, but can you guide me to sources? I'd like to read more. BrainyBabe (talk) 10:37, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

January 12

Smell

Can you smell all of the smell out of a smell? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.210.146.104 (talk) 00:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

When you smell an odor, you are inhaling molecules that have already volatilized. They're "gone" whether there's someone there to smell them or not. So no: smells fade, but it's not because they've been smelled too much. You may be thinking of the process of adaptation: once you've been smelling an aroma for a while, your smell receptors get "tired" and the aroma seems to lessen or disappear; in actuality, it's as strong, you're just not sensing it as well; someone else entering the scene will sense the smell immediately. - Nunh-huh 03:48, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

cupcake with a bit taken from each one

I dont remember this one too much, but back in the early 90's there was a brand of cupcake that was shaped as though someone took a bite out of them. In particular I'm looking for the commercial, on youtube probably, where a cartoon dragon is talking about how much he likes them, so he takes a bite out each one before putting it in the box. What was the brand name? Iownatv (talk) 03:38, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Alternative search engine

I attend a religious school that widely censors content on the internet officially deemed inappropriate for viewing by college students. This includes everything from sex education to "gruesome content".. anyway, as part of it they censor google results. Of course it still works mostly fine, but I object to it, and I don't like only getting half the results, no matter what results are lost. So I want to find a different search engine.. in my experience everything except google is just terrible, but the internet is a big place.. does anyone know of a non-Yahoo non-Live non-AltaVista search engine that's really good? --f f r o t h 04:56, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Ask.com, also known as Ask Jeeves. SpinningSpark 08:21, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

How about this Google scraper, from Scroogle? It Runs your Google searches from its own machine, and displays the results on its own page.--86.146.241.252 (talk) 14:41, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Question

Why are quotation marks used in headlines like "Someone was 'planning to blow up a store'"? Hyano czespony (talk) 05:09, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

This is confusing to answer because you used the word "someone". Let me change the example: "Moriarty was 'planning to blow up a store'".

Okay, what this means is: "Someone says that Moriarty was planning to blow up a store. We're not saying that ourselves, but we thought you'd like to know that someone said it. And they used the actual words 'planning to blow up a store'". If only the words "blow up" were a direct quotation from this person, then only those words would be in quotation marks. (At least, that's usually how it works. In some papers the headline writer might make small alterations that did not affect the sense.) In other words, the story is about someone saying something. On the other hand, if the paper had been able to confirm that it was true, then they wouldn't use the quotation marks.

See? --Anonymous, 05:55:55 UTC, December 12, 2008.

The rule of thumb is that a good way of judging whether news stories have actual solid evidence in them, and should be taken seriously, is to look at the number of quotation marks. Quotes in the headlines are bad; quotes in the article are good. Quotes in the headlines mean that the newspaper will not stand by the story. Quotes in the article mean that individuals have agreed to talk. BrainyBabe (talk) 10:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, sometimes [...] is used to indicate bits left out of the quote. For example, if Moriarty said "I am planning to go to the pub and then blow up a store", the newspaper would say "Moriarty said he was 'planning to [...] blow up a store'". JIP | Talk 12:40, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but the OP was about headlines, and ellipsis is usually not made explicit there. BrainyBabe (talk) 12:57, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

"scare quotes" --65.161.73.245 (talk) 14:20, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Where can I find this commercial...?

Back in 2003, on TV, I saw a Wonder Bread commercial where some announcers are heard and some soccer player is closing on the soccer ball and the player kicks it and then it cuts out to see a little girl in soccer attire playing in the backyard. That was a nice commercial. Now, where can I watch this commercial here on the Internet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sirdrink13309622 (talk • contribs) 06:56, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Acting principal (school)

What does this phrase "acting principal" (or should it be "Acting Principal"?) mean? From what I read around, it roughly means that a... temporary(?) or vice(?) principal assisting the actual principal in a school. :S — Yurei-eggtart 09:59, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

See Acting (law) and Acting (rank). BrainyBabe (talk) 10:39, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

As for "acting principal" vs. "Acting Principal", it is only capitalized if it is used as part of the person's name: "Acting Principal Percy Pettibone", but "Percy Pettibone, acting principal". --Milkbreath (talk) 18:58, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

LazyTown advanced studio?

I read that LazyTown uses some sort of cutting-edge, high-budget studio on Iceland. But the show is really cheesy SFX-wise and even has an annoyingly low framerate (you can tell it "lags"). So what's the deal here? What am I missing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.49.211 (talk) 10:39, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

It's a blend of live action, CGI and puppetry that means it costs over $1million an episode to make - more here including the quote "The show’s computer graphics are so advanced that Scheving had to commission a unique, 70-terabyte processing unit, which is kept in an air-conditioned bunker lest it burst into flame. This is more processing power than exists in the rest of Iceland." 84.71.190.170 (talk) 16:49, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

coffee

about cappuccino diet coffee brazilian under name cacique —Preceding unsigned comment added by Navchaa (talk • contribs) 14:21, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

What is your question?--86.146.241.252 (talk) 14:36, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Sauna

When I was in Germany they had a nice thing at a spa which was sort of like a cold sauna. Basically, it looked like a sauna (but white) and felt like a fridge. Has anyone seen these before? What are they called? --Bearbear (talk) 19:53, 12 January 2008 (UTC)