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February 14

Nupedia

A question Wikipedia seems not to have the answer but should: Who coined the name Nupedia and what is its etymology? 16@r (talk) 00:43, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I would guess nu comes from new, and pedia from encyclopaedia. And they probably just didn't think newpedia looked right. HS7 (talk) 20:11, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I asked Larry Sanger and he confirmed me this etymology but he stated he didn't coin the name. Jimmy Wales may have the answer, I'm gonna ask him on his talk page. 16@r (talk) 16:56, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

God and Omnipotence

I’ve heard that Christianity claims that God is all-powerful, almighty, and omnipotent, that is, there is nothing that God cannot or is unable to do. I don’t understand. According to Christianity, does that mean that God can not only do anything that is physically impossible, but he can also do anything that is logically impossible, for example making one plus one equal three? According to Christianity, can God make one plus one not equal two, but equal three? Bowei Huang (talk) 02:11, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

From the Reference Desk header at the top of this page:

• Do not start debates or post diatribes. The reference desk is not a soapbox.

Thank you for your understanding about this. --hydnjo talk 02:40, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

However, you might like to read the article on omnipotence and look at the references and external links that it gives. --Anon, 02:57 UTC, February 14, 2008.

God can only declare "one plus one equals three" in Indiana.

Atlant (talk) 15:50, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, and particularly this take about that. --hydnjo talk 03:31, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

To the original poster: Religion makes no sense, it's just absurd. Don't try to understand it because it can't be understood, it's just faith. --Taraborn (talk) 09:08, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

That's a rather harsh response to a good faith question. Tell that to all those who publish on religious philosophy each year... and when you've finished, go tell it to the millions who buy the books. Maybe some of them are, but not all of those people are absurd. --Dweller (talk) 13:19, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Interesting that you asked about Christianity and one plus one. Christianity includes the concept that God can make one plus one plus one equal... one. --Dweller (talk) 13:19, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes of course god can do logically impossible things - such as making a world/universe out of nothing.. So the asnwer is yes87.102.115.36 (talk) 13:45, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

If you believe that god created the universe, then you believe that god created logic. Therefore, the only reason something seems logically impossible is because god made it seem to you that it would be logically impossible. QED. I prefer the Spaghedeity Mad031683 (talk) 17:09, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

But surely, since we created numbers and definitions and stuff like this, he can't change them, because that would be breaking our rules, not his. 3 is specifically defined as being 1+1+1, if it was anything other than this, it wouldn't be 3. HS7 (talk) 18:17, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Again you're applying logic, in this discussion we presuppose that god created logic and could have made it however he wanted. This means he could have made a universe where it seems as logically ridiculous that 1+1=2 as 1+1=3 is to us. This might possibly be my most airtight argument ever, if anyone disagrees with me, I just point out that their logic is made up. Mad031683 (talk) 19:01, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

He may have created logic, but we created maths and language. HS7 (talk) 20:08, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

But math is based on logic, and according to the Tower of Babel god created language. Mad031683 (talk) 21:18, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Didn't he only create the languages that existed at the time? And one language must have existed before then. HS7 (talk) 21:49, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

One language did exist, the one that Adam spoke on the day he was created so that was also created by god (assuming a literal interpretation of the Bible). Its not really language we're talking about anyway, it's the abstract concept of 3. Even if 3 was called "two" it doesn't change what 3 is in this universe. I'm saying omnipotence implies the ability to create a universe where 1+1 is equal to what our concept of three is. Mad031683 (talk) 22:01, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Just riffing here, but if you can only be logical as far as the information you have (the givens), then the subject who's meant to have invented the tricky "rules" must have a sleeve up which some or many unknowns s/he/it has put, wouldn't you say? Julia Rossi (talk) 00:41, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Making the universe out of nothing is indeed logically impossible, but it's an impossibility only matched by the impossibility of there having always been matter. It's just a question of which one is the less-impossible impossibility (to use a Rumsfordism). -- JackofOz (talk) 00:57, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I tried to understand this question and i want to present my interpretations. I think that question has been made complex by the use of mathematical numbers. We know that numbers 1, 2, 3 ............... themselves do not exist in their physical form. But they are used to tell us the presence of other things or phenomenon. Suppose you are given one apple from your father and one from your mother and, your father says that you have 2 apples, but suppose, you have the ability to create apples by yourself, without any material, without any help, and you create another apple, and now you have 3 apples, even when your father, calculating by the rules of mathematics, says that you can have at maximum 1+1=2 apples. You can say that for you 1+1 can be equal to 2, 3, 4,…. or even 0=n, provided that you are able to create things from nothing. If you agree with me that numbers themselves do not exist but are used to tell us the existence of other things, then you will agree with me that for a divine creator, 1+1= n or even 0=n

To clarify my point, I will suggest you to write your equation in the following form

1 man (whatever) + 1 man (whatever) = 2 men (whatever)

 Here note some points…..

1. Numbers 1, 1, 2 have been used to represent the existence of man that have physical existence 2. If man does not exist, figures 1, 2 do not exist, and you can not write them to calculate an equation or FIND SOME RESULT. 3. The product 2 just depends upon the PROCESS OF COMBINATION of factors 1 and 1 (in the left side of equation). and here consider that no other factor from NO EXISTENCE comes and combines with product 2. 4. Now consider GOD as omnipotent, as is mentioned, OMNIPOTENT means some one WHO CAN CREATE SOMETHING FROM NON EXISTENCE. This OMNIPOTENT GOD creats a man from NO EXISTENCE. This man is represented by another factor 1. 5. And now add this factor created by OMNIPOTENT GOD and add to the product 2. Your result will be more than 2 i.e. 1 man + 1 man= 2 man +1 man( here the figure 1(right side) is representing the existence of one man that was created by OMNIPOTENT GOD and here the existence of figure 1 does not depend upon the combination of factors 1 and 1 (in the left side of equation) as it is for the factor 2 (present in right side of equation) rewriting the equation 1 man+ 1 man= 3 men FACTOR man IS COMMON IN BOTH SIDES. SO taking it common, and then dividing both sides by word -man- , and then simplifying the equation by mathematical rules 1+1=3 or even 1+1= 3, 4, 5 ,………….n (If there is someone who can create factors from non existence ,and these factors are included in products) Shortly, I will suggest you not to talk about figures but talk about those entities for those who are using figures, then it will be easy for you to understand 1+1=3 for OMNIPOTENT GOD. thanks

      MUHAMMAD  ASIF  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.220.222.140 (talk) 04:19, 16 February 2008 (UTC) 

Wheres Tupac grow up?

NWA to Compton, Snoop Dogg to Long Beach, California, Ludacris to Atlanta is like Tupac to what city? 99.240.177.206 (talk) 04:16, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Did you read the article? He lived in Harlem in New York City from birth (1971) until 1984, then Baltimore until 1988, then Marin City, California. So it depends on what age range you think of as "growing up". --Anon, 05:32 UTC, February 14, 2008.

It's in California where his career grew and Death Row Records was in Beverly Hills, (he was creating around Suge Knight etc) so maybe what he's known for is not where he grew up, but where his art was made so maybe, Los Angeles? The title of the 2002 documentary Tha Westside indicates identity of his style. Funny though, I always felt he's kind of New York, but can't find anything on that [add: except for the 13 years as Anon says (1971-84).] Julia Rossi (talk) 06:13, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

its an animal

fire + thunder..clue its an animal —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.202.195.74 (talk) 11:33, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

We are not here just for you to test us.

Is it a dragon? HS7 (talk) 11:47, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

musical guess: bird (Gibson Firebird and Gibson Thunderbird) ---Sluzzelin talk 12:18, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Pokemon? xxx User:Hyper Girl 13:51, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I was thinking this too, but there is no fire/electric type. HYENASTE 03:32, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Sluzzelin's guess is the best one yet. There is also Mozilla's internet suite consisting of Firefox and Thunderbird. But I'm thinking the question is asking about a specific animal. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 14:55, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

cat? (cat steven's firecat | thundercat motorbike) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.194.74.154 (talk) 15:05, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Cat seconded. Schrödinger's cat can be in a superposition between being a firecat, a thundercat and a thundercat. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 13:49, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to go with human. I'm assuming there are several, but here's one specific example. --Onorem♠Dil 14:03, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm assuming this a clue for a cryptic crossword, something I'm surprisingly hopeless at. I can generally see how the clue relates to the answer when I see it next day, but often it still remains cryptic. Still, I'll have a stab at "lightning" (associated with thunder; often causes fire). -- JackofOz (talk) 21:51, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Lightning isn't an animal, is it? Although I do have a cat called lightning. Maybe that's it. HS7 (talk) 12:43, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Hypo -- Taking advantage of a modern day political machine in the US

I recently read a century old collection of notes by a master of the New York Irish machine. He gave simple advice for any machine aspirant: get a following of votes. He began his career by first asking his uninvolved cousin whether he could count on him to follow his vote. His cousin agreed so he marched down to the ward office and announced he represented two votes. A machineman bought him a drink and shook his hand. He asked more family members and gained a following of five. Now a party functionary would light his cigar if he ever swung by. He was able to eventually organize an "association" of local young men in his neighborhood. With a following of 60, the local politicians came to him, offering him jobs for votes.

Machines have largely disappeared in America, but allegedly some still exist. Out of curiosity, is this method still legal and feasible? Could say a street gang or high school clique dress up and pay a visit to whatever the palace of ward patronage is and declare an interest in becoming first time voters and ask their community leaders to pique their interest? Would it work?

Lotsofissues 12:53, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

No clue about legality. About feasibility, though, it would depend on how many people we're talking about. And I get the feeling that today, in a world of mass media, money matters more than numbers alone. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 19:33, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Serious question

<note: this is not medical advice - its a "what if" scenario> If the blood flow away from a guys penis was restricted but the blood flow in wasn't, and they were sufficiently stimulated (either mentally or physically), would the pressure cause the penis to, for lack of a better word, burst?

Not unless you're postulating a high-pressure pump feeding directly in with nowhere else for the pressure to go. On the surface, all you've done is describe an erection. — Lomn 15:26, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

A cock ring allegedly works this way. And, no, explosions have not been widely reported. Friday (talk) 15:47, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

But what might happen is that the blood would go stagnant and it would turn a funny colour and fall off.

I doubt a normal human heart could create anything like the pressure you would need for that though, and if it could, I would expect it to burst through the blockage first. HS7 (talk) 17:19, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

See priapism, a serious medical condition requiring rapid treatment. Gangrene is indeed one possible complication. Gandalf61 (talk) 17:53, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Possibly relevant: some men amuse themselves by inflating their scrota to questionable degrees with saline. NSFW link. --Sean 20:27, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh, dear me. This image gives new life to the expression "he put all his eggs in the one basket". -- JackofOz (talk) 00:52, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

WP:BEANS Please for the sake of all that is good,DO NOT try this at home... Lemon martini (talk) 12:49, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Lute

Having read the article Lute I was wondering why they fell out of use, surely the guitar would be developed alongside the lute, and that there would still have been luthiers making them as well as people playing them, why then did they disapear, with modern luthiers having to relearn how they were made? Lets say in 1750, every one stoped playing them and then in 1901 there was a revival. There mus have been peiople playing them and making them between this time even if they were not overly popular. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 16:11, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

More expensive to construct and more difficult to play, in comparison to guitars? AllenHansen (talk) 00:25, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

And, simply, fashion. Lutes have continued to be played since the Renaissance, but only in very small numbers. There are many instruments that went completely out of fashion and have had to be reconstructed from pictures and descriptions. One that was just superceded was simply called a serpent (serpent (instrument) may work). Steewi (talk) 00:43, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Among many factors, some indeterminable, no doubt, one possible explanation for the lute's waning popularity among early 16th century Spanish luthiers might be found in the Spanish people's acquired rejection of all things "Arabic" after the Reconquista's successful conclusion in 1492. The instrument was to bear no resemblance to its Moorish mother, the oud. "Historians believe that in order to ease their feelings towards the lute, the Spanish luthiers decided to dispense with the vaulted body, the hard angle of the headstock, and create a new shape for the body. This alteration also simplified construction considerably and one cannot overlook the economics of the move. The instrument could no longer be considered a true lute, although its repertoire and playing technique remained virtually unchanged. The resulting instrument, the Vihuela de mano, probably sounded very much like a lute, as they are both tuned the same and both carry double courses. However, the Vihuela, with its flat back and indented waist, visually resembles the guitar." So lute players would have had no trouble switching instruments, and old compositions could be played on the new "European" vihuelas.

Despite this Iberian trend, luthiers in other parts of Europe continued to fabricate and even enhance the lute. Gradually adding strings and courses to the instrument, eventually making the fingerboard too wide to be spanned by the player's hand. As pointed out by AllenHansen, these sometimes monstrous archlutes became increasingly expensive to buy, cumbersome to carry and hold, and difficult to play in comparison with the vihuela and, later, the guitar. (From The History of the Guitar, George Pellegrin's website) ---Sluzzelin talk 07:25, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Private military contractors and ranks

Do private military contractors (for instance Blackwater) use the same ranks as national militaries? And if not, what do they use?

Thanks! -- Avocado (talk) 17:07, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

To the riffiest of the American raff, i.e. regular RD contributors

I've got a $10 credit to Amazon.com that I can't use, seeing as I no longer reside in the U.S. of A. (more like the Disunited Provinces of Eh). It expires tomorrow, so who wants it? First come, first served. Contact me on my talk page. Clarityfiend (talk) 17:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm going to say that exchange of goods is not allowed via Wikipedia. Also, if it expires tomorrow, how can one be sure they will get it in time to use it. Lastly, U.S.A. is a silly and dull name, what happened to Columbia? 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:43, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

(A) What exchange of goods? Did you see any price mentioned? (B) I would have emailed the gift certificate code. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:52, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Nothing happened to it, it's still there, in south america, where it has been for a long time.HS7 (talk) 18:13, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Tsk, tsk. I knew someone would do this. I'm talking about Columbia, not Colombia. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 18:19, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Noone cares about Columbus, he just got lost in the middle of the carribbean. Lots of other people did a much better job of discovering america, both before and after him. HS7 (talk) 20:06, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Oh, Leif Ericson, hardly anyone remembers you. My point is that the "U.S.A" needs a real name, not one that is just a description of the country. Imagine if, say, France was called "The United Regions of Europe" or some boring title like ours. Basically every country has a real name, why not us? 206.252.74.48 (talk) 21:23, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

At least it's shorter than the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Algebraist 21:30, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I thought they were going to call it Atlantis. And what about the united states of Mexico? And probably a few other countries like that. Anyway, this is off topic. HS7 (talk) 21:47, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, the United Mexican States are named after the city of Mexico. We take the name of a continent with other countries on it. What is Canada? The "United Provinces of America"? No, it has a name: Canada. But yes, let's drop it, it is just another one of my silly gripes. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 21:50, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I like Ericsonia. Y'all should consider renaming your country to that. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 23:46, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

You do realize that Amazon.com ships to Canada? They're even advertising to Canadians for them to take advantage of the weak U.S. dollar. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Man, I can't even give it away! Well, it's too late now. I decided to take Mwalcoff's advice and try to use it myself. True, you can ship to Canada, but the shipping charges are $4.99+$3.99 for a book, and then there would probably be duty to pay, so it's not really worth it. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:52, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Comment:You can't really discover a country after it's already been discovered surely?? And hey before you start moaning about our great country's lengthy name,be glad you're not a resident of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (now with extendable passport) Lemon martini (talk) 12:52, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm not complaining about the long name, pay attention. I'm complaining because we HAVE no name. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 13:39, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

PRESIDENTs LETTER FOR 100TH birthday

my mother will be 100 on 30 mar 08. is there a procedure to receive this letter ? ie, do you request or does the govt pick up by public records ? rex dunivent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.139.16.14 (talk) 17:53, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

If your mother is a citizen of the United States of America, you want this. I don't know about other countries. Algebraist 19:59, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Laughing matter

I am in my 20's. Do you think I would get a negative reaction if I wore the following t-shirts? Or are some acceptable and others not? These sample shirts are in various sizes, the ones I have fit (some are a tight fit, though), I just want you to be able to see the shirts and guess if I will be laughed right out of the room. Oh, and I'm a guy.

• Fits fine
• Tight fit
• Tight fit
• Fits fine
• Tight fit
• Fits fine

Thanks for your opinions. 76.8.208.59 (talk) 18:24, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Tight fit or normal isn't something I can comment on.. They are all ok to wear except possibly the 'cars' one (first link)- that might get you lynched. Maybe pokemon is not ok.87.102.114.215 (talk) 18:32, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, I'd laugh at you. They're pretty loud. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 18:54, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

They are a bit loud - but what's wrong with loud? Surely you can't laugh at everyone in a loud shirt?87.102.114.215 (talk) 19:02, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

I suspect it depends on what part of the world you're in. For instance, New Yorkers generally pretend not to notice anything unusual they see on the street, but many would certainly judge you for wearing loud t-shirts; in some places, the shirts themselves might not draw comment, but the fact that you're wearing them tight might lead to assumptions about your sexuality. -- Avocado (talk) 19:12, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Go ahead and wear them, rebel against conformity and all that jazz. Then again, I usually don't judge people by what they wear, so I'm a little biased. (Side question: anyone know where I can get a t-shirt that says "You can't help but read this t-shirt" on the back?). 206.252.74.48 (talk) 19:39, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

i'd laugh at you. it's ridiculous, you're not a child! sell that shit.

Are you a hipster? If so, you can wear these shirts with a black leather jacket, pearl necklace, and golf pants. --Masamage ♫ 21:05, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

If you wear one of those for the job interview you've got tomorrow I might just take you on. (provided there are no other candidates of equal calibre)87.102.114.215 (talk) 21:51, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

It's a matter of what you wear them with and your attitude about wearing them. If you have a carefree attitude and wear it with otherwise fashionable clothing, you might be able to start a trend. If (like me) you're a bit more withdrawn and shy, people are more likely to pick up on your worry and make fun of you. Being fashionable and starting new trends needs the right personality. My guess is that if you're worried about it, you won't wear them well, but in the end it's up to you. If you have a friend who might wear something similar at the same time, it could take some of the heat off. Steewi (talk) 00:49, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Mario, Sonic and Pikachu you could pull off as cool. The rest, no way. --Candy-Panda (talk) 14:21, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. 76.8.208.59 (talk) 21:06, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

February 15

meg white sex scandel

was there something that happened with the White Stripes drummber Meg? I heard rumors that there was something to do with a sex scandel and that is why shes off tour, but i wasnt sure.

Stretching tattoo?

If one gets a tattoo and undergoes physical dermal changes such as gaining or losing a lot of weight, will the tattoo get stretched? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acceptable (talk • contribs) 02:05, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Yep. Like drawing something on a balloon and blowing it up. :P FiggyBee (talk) 02:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Which is why a tatoo on the stomach is a very bad idea. Especially for girls. Useight (talk) 04:20, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Haha! Acceptable (talk) 00:01, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Unless they got one of a map of the world. Then they could be used as an illustrative model of continental drift! Poechalkdust (talk) 17:15, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Dollar value of virginity

Is my virginity an asset or a liability? How much is it worth? On what schedule is it depreciating? NeonMerlin 03:29, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

That depends on whether your objective is to lose your virginity before or after marriage. If you want to wait, then it is appreciating, otherwise it may be depreciating. If you're under 20, it's definitely an asset, but if you're over 30, it's a liability. There are a lot of factors. However, I recommend waiting until you're married (and hopefully your spouse does the same) to avoid catching anything. Useight (talk) 04:19, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Useight, in your world nobody gets raped? --68.144.68.238 (talk) 05:13, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, one shouldn't base their life on the hypothetical situation of them being raped. Hence, I didn't take it into consideration. And no, nobody in my world has been raped. Useight (talk) 05:17, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I suppose there are no prostitutes in your world either, Useight? bibliomaniac15 05:22, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of. I'm sure there are some, somewhere, and I'm sure someone got raped, too, unfortunately, but now we're far from the original question, which only I tried to answer. Useight (talk) 06:17, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

It also depends (a lot) on which sex you are. The going rate for a reasonably good looking 18-year-old woman in the UK seems to be £8,400. See Rosie Reid.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:03, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I'd like mine back and would pay a nearly expired amazon voucher for £10 for it. hotclaws 08:13, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The closest thing to buying it back would be Hymenorrhaphy. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 09:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Or become a movie star with a squeaky clean reputation. Lots of men "knew" Doris Day and Grace Kelly before they became virgins. -- JackofOz (talk) 09:31, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

That wouldn't work if hotclaws is male Nil Einne (talk) 17:47, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

As the self-appointed spokesperson for the minority perspective, I'm not so sure about that, NE.  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 20:56, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Luckily, Hotclaws is not male :P Skittle (talk) 20:20, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Hey! Clarityfiend (talk) 04:40, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

As a fan of American Pie,just look below at the next post ;) Lemon martini (talk) 12:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Average sizes for flutes and clarinets

Hi, can someone tell me average sizes for flutes and clarinets, please?

I know they can vary, but rough figures in centimeters will be very helpful. Thank you. --Kjoonlee 07:23, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

don't feel bad if yours isn't as many centimeters as other people's Flutes. It's not how long it is that matters, it's how you use it. I'd just stop worrying about it if I were you. It doesn't help you play any better. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.23.221 (talk) 10:05, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The soprano clarinet tuned in B♭, the most common type of clarinet, measures about 60 cm (23.6 in) according to hyperphysics. The western concert flute tuned in C, the most common type of traverse flute, measures about 66 cm (26 in) according to hyperphysics again. Of course there are all sorts of other types of clarinets and flutes, longer and shorter, but I found no comprehensive list including measurements. ---Sluzzelin talk 10:18, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Well I did find A guide to the lengths of flutes (lengths given in mm) and:

1. E-flat clarinet (high) (length 19 inches or 48.3 cm) (really could be "soprano" member of the family)
2. B-flat clarinet (standard) (length 26.25 inches or 66.7 cm) (really could be "alto" member of the family)
3. E-flat alto clarinet (length 38 inches or 96.5 cm) (really could be "tenor" member of the family)
4. B-flat bass clarinet (length 55 inches or 139.7 cm) (really could be "bass" member of the family)"

(copied from Antandrus's answer over a year ago). ---Sluzzelin talk 10:26, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The Balkans and conflicts

Is there a brief summary that explains the conflicts of the peoples of the Balkans? I seem to go blind on all the articles and Balkans itself, but it doesn't provide a very clear overview. Ie, what states sympathize with others, who hold grudges, who don't, et cetera? I know Russia is now supporting Serbia's claim to hold on to Kosovo (as I remember the Russian people was very disgruntled when Russia's government didn't side with Serbia under the NATO offensives), but I am interested in knowing about the relationships that Croatia, Slovenia, Serba, FYROM, Montenegro and, maybe Albania share with each other. Of course one can easily pull in Hungary and Bulgaria, but the westernmost countries of the Balkans are of my most immediate concern. Help will be appreciated like you don't know. 81.93.102.185 (talk) 15:01, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I certainly can't explain it succinctly, not to mention from a neutral point of view, but I would point out the article on Yugoslav Wars, from which you can zoom in the articles on War in Slovenia (1991), Croatian War of Independence (1991-1995), Bosnian War (1992-1995), Kosovo War (1996-1999), Southern Serbia conflict (2000-2001), and Macedonia conflict (2001). And also check out History of the Balkans for more context. ---Sluzzelin talk 15:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

As for foreign relations, see Foreign relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Foreign relations of Croatia, Foreign relations of the Republic of Macedonia, Foreign relations of Montenegro, Foreign relations of Serbia, Foreign relations of Slovenia, Foreign relations of Albania and so forth. ---Sluzzelin talk 15:42, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Remember to pay attention to ethnicities and religion. (Excuse the generalisations) Albania is Muslim and there are a lot of Muslim in Bosnia and Kosovo. Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia are mostly Catholic, rest are mostly Orthodox. FYROM has its own problems with every country surrounding it wanting a piece of it, claiming centuries old right to it. Parts of Greece and Bulgaria are named "Macedonia". In Vojvodina (Serbia north of Belgrade) there are people of all ethnicities and religions, with sizeable comunities of Hungarians, Montenegrans, Croatians, Serbians from Kosovo and Bosnia and so on. — Shinhan < talk > 16:53, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Bosnia-Herzegovina is not mostly Catholic. It is (according to the CIA) 40% Muslim, 31% Orthodox and 15% Catholic. Algebraist 18:40, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit conflict] Bosnia is not mostly Catholic. No religious group forms a majority in Bosnia. Muslim Bosniaks are the largest group (but less than half the population) in Bosnia, followed by Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. What especially complicates matters is that within the boundaries of each of these countries (except Slovenia), there are sizeable minority groups. In Croatia, there is a large Serb minority, though not as large as it was before the ethnic cleansing or parts of the Serbian Krajina. In Bosnia, there are the three large minorities mentioned above, and no majority group. In both Serbia and Montenegro, there are sizeable Bosniak populations in the Sandžak region and large Albanian populations in Kosovo and neighboring districts. Serbia also has a significant ethnic Hungarian population in the Vojvodina region. Finally, Macedonia has a large Albanian minority. In the context of this kaleidoscope of ethnic minorities, which was largely dispersed and not clustered in homogeneous territories before the Yugoslav wars, the politics of ethnic exclusivism that developed on all sides after 1989 brought deadly consequences. The dominant group in each region engaged in some degree of ethnic cleansing, though the Serbs and Croats did this on an especially massive scale. Because the ethnic minority subject to ethnic cleansing was often the dominant group with a military force somewhere else in the region, these forces often retaliated on behalf of their "cleansed" brethren or made the ethnic group that had engaged in "cleansing" victims of the same where they formed a minority. Marco polo (talk) 19:06, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your answers so far. I've been trying to better understand all the different ethnicities and religions that are key to the conflicts. I'm just now starting to research Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). I understand that the major source of aggression came from Serbia, since Yugoslavia-wide, high up officers were traditionally Serbian. Correct me if wrong. I would like to know about Neum, which has a clear majority of Croats in its population. Still it belongs to BiH, and it doesn't say that it was attacked during the wars '91-'95 (belonging to the Croatian republic of BiH). Am I to understand no attacks were carried out in this region? How come Croatia didn't use the time of unrest to secure the port? Indeed, the entire Croatian republic of BiH? 81.93.102.185 (talk) 18:50, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

The brief answer to this question is that the international community would not have allowed such an annexation. NATO and the EU considered the republics' existing boundaries sacrosanct, partly because they feared that any annexation could unleash wars of conquest that might further destabilize the whole region, for example by involving Greece or Turkey. NATO used the stick of the threat of a military response to discourage pan-Croatian and pan-Serbian schemes, while EU offered the carrot of development assistance and access to the EU market to encourage compliance. See my comment above, written while you wrote your last post. You might also look at the Dayton Accords. Marco polo (talk) 19:03, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

On your first point, I think it is fair to say that Serbian nationalism was the spark that set the Yugoslav Wars ablaze, but the other parties were far from innocent victims. Each group at a minimum violated the rights of minorities within its area of control, and most committed atrocities or war crimes. The Croats treated their Serb minority especially brutally. Marco polo (talk) 19:18, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit conflict]Thank you Marco Polo, your comments and answers went far in regards of helping me understand the conflict, and/or assemble an overview. Particularly that of retribution happening elsewhere. I had also mistakenly believed a Bosniak to be just any Bosnian (thinking the noun a bit odd). I am aware that all parties were more or less guilty of warcrimes, none particularly innocent, so it was never the intention to make it seem as if I thought the blame lay on anyone special. Excuse also the mistake in saying Croatian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when it is in truth Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. A final question begs itself: What sets the Croats of BiH apart from the Croats of Croatia? 81.93.102.185 (talk) 19:28, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I suppose that the main difference between the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and those of Croatia is which side of the border they inhabit. However, there are some historic commonalities between the Croats and Bosniaks of Bosnia in that they are probably descended from the same pre-Turkish population. Like the Bosniaks, the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina lived for much longer under Ottoman Turkish rule than did the Croats of Croatia, who before World War I were under Hungarian rule. Also, the Croats and Bosniaks (and for that matter, the Serbs) of Bosnia and Herzegovina share similar spoken dialects of Serbo-Croatian per this map. The spoken dialects of Bosnia and Herzegovina are distinct from those in most parts of Serbia and Croatia, even though the different Bosnian communities espouse different written standards (i.e. Bosnian language, Croatian language, and Serbian language). Marco polo (talk) 21:45, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Geography

• 

Who knows where this place is? (Image should moved to Commons with a corect name.) --GeorgHH (talk) 21:01, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Looks like Crater Lake, Oregon. --Milkbreath (talk) 21:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

He he - "Shot myself August 2005"; I hope the injury was only a flesh wound and that you recovered quickly.  :) PS. Sorry, but I don't recognise the scene. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:10, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I can confirm that it is Crater Lake. (I've hiked to the top of Wizard Island, shown in the photo.) Marco polo (talk) 21:19, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Yet another thing to put on my (really long) list of places to visit. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 21:50, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

That's Crater Lake, specifically Wizard Island as viewed from the southwest rim of the volcano. At a guess, I'd say the photograph was taken from the Watchman Peak viewpoint. --Carnildo (talk) 22:45, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all for your help! Image is now available on Commons as Image:Wizard Island, Crater Lake National Park 0001.jpg. --GeorgHH (talk) 00:01, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Who kills the most Americans by gunfire?

Thinking only of people (of any nationality) who are killed in the USA illegally by any kind of gun whether held illegally or legally by their users/owners; versus the number of American Military Personnel who are killed by any means in foreign conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan (though not exclusively), both statistics to be in the same calendar year or 12 month period; which category claims the most victims? Any responses not to include survivors of gun or other attacks please - only the numbers of mortalities resulting directly from them. Thanks. 81.145.240.145 (talk) 21:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

About 1 thousand US military are killed each year in Iraq, which is by far the most dangerous theatre. The FBI statistics page says about 8 or 9 thousand people are killed illegally with guns each year. Sources: Iraq deaths, US deaths (see table 2.9). --Sean 22:57, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, Iraq Coalition Casualties lists 901 US Military fatalities for the 2007 calendar year in Iraq, and 117 for Afghanistan. According to this page, 80 people in the USA die from guns every day, which means 29,000 fatalities per year, give or take. -mattbuck (Talk) 23:00, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Bear in mind of course you're still much more likely to die from a gun as a US military personnel overseas then you are as a person in the US. There are 300 million or so people in the US + all the tourists etc versus 300k? military personnel overseas Nil Einne (talk) 17:45, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Actually that's not necessarily strictly true, as the military deaths are not all deaths from guns (many/most? are from explosives). --98.217.18.109 (talk) 15:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Writing as the OP I want to thank all above respondents for the prompt and carefully considered answers provided. It can be seen however that there are a few conflicts in the info. quoted such as Toto's statistic that some 8-9000 deaths accrue from illegal guns each year in the US when Mattbuck gives 29-30000 - a significant difference methinks, and definitely not one attributable to either of those 2 respondents. And whilst I can see some merit in 98.217.18.109's responseful challenge to Einne's response, I DID ask for deaths in conflict zones by ANY means so am quite content to accept the latter's comment. But, I have to say that as a Scottish tourist to the USA on many occasions, I have yet to see the merest hint of aggression or violence so am always shocked at news reports such as that of the recent slaughter of students in the Illinois university. And it might just seem to a casual outsider such as myself that a fully equipped, armed, trained and alert on-duty US soldier might actually stand a better chance of survival in his hostile deployment terrain than an unsuspecting, untrained, unarmed, unauthorised to retaliate, non-alert and trusting Joe Soap such as myself peacefully walking down Any Street USA, notwithstanding the numerical variances prevalent between those two wildly differing geographical scenarios. Thanks again for all interest shown. 81.145.240.98 (talk) 18:06, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

February 16

Text message from unknown source

Yesterday I received a text message. The "phone number" it was sent from is "36245". So that confused me from the start since it isn't a phone number. The message reads:

Woody@andelini.com(WEG)like to c.hat see my pf @:*(Rosetta.somegrooves within.com)

What is this??? Does spam now come in text messages too? Is it a virus or what? Any help to what this is or how they got my phone number would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.7.130.43 (talk) 01:19, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, spam comes in texts, too, sadly. Some unscrupulous companies will sell your details, including phone numbers, on to third parties for 'marketing purposes'. You may or may not be able to opt-out, depending on laws and just how devoid of scruples any given organisation is. Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 01:59, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Note Short code, an article revealing that with the magic of cell phones, phone numbers aren't nearly as limited in size as they used to be (although I think these are only usable for SMS/text msgs). Five- and six-digit short codes are increasingly common in the US. Be aware that messages sent to them can cost more than messages to normal phone numbers. Faithfully, Deltopia (talk) 03:49, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Also be aware that replying to spam texts can sometimes be taken as you "choosing to subscribe" to a service where you pay to receive texts. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 10:44, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

If it makes you feel any better, spam bots will probably pick up on that e-mail address and start spamming it. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 14:56, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I have a sneaky suspicion they may send you spam without your phone number being sold. The only time I've ever received spam was when I turned my cell phone on in the taxi leaving the Las Vegas Airport heading to the casino I was staying at. Maybe they have a false tower set up which records the details of the cell phones coming online outside of the airport (this seems more likely than them having access to actual cell phone towers).--152.2.62.27 (talk) 12:38, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

eiggnr

what sixletter word do these letters rearrange to form —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.125.54 (talk) 01:24, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

GINGER; so, what's the prize? ៛ Bielle (talk) 01:29, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

(triple edit conflict) It can spell "Ginger". Use this. Useight (talk) 01:30, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Something tells me that's not the sixletter word he wanted us to find... Lemon martini (talk) 23:55, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, in fact he wanted us to find the verb erging (exercising or simulating a race stretch on the erg machine) or the adjective gering, meaning "little", or Greing, a little island near Unst, or gringe for grunge so bad, it makes you cringe and some expectable definitions in Urban Dictionary. Next puzzle, what five-letter English word can be formed out of the letters lolrt? ---Sluzzelin talk 00:57, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Harsh, but still funny, Sluzzelin. Steewi (talk) 01:12, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

error with corn article

i searched for "corn" and got some goddamn mexican named article. please fix this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.125.54 (talk) 01:41, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean maize? If so, this is unlikely to change (although corn is a redirect there) because maize is the more specific term (and so avoids ambiguities). Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 01:56, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

To explain a little further, the word corn refers clearly and specifically in American English (and probably Canadian English) to the grain crop with a tall stalk that produces kernels on a cob. However, in all other varieties of English, the word corn refers to any kind of grain. In England, it typically refers to wheat, but it can also refer to rye, oats, and so on. The word maize is a perfectly good word in American English, although it is mainly used by scientists in the United States. In other parts of the English-speaking world, maize is the only word that clearly refers to the plant Americans know as corn. Since the English-language Wikipedia is meant to be accessible to all English speakers, the main entry is under maize, which is understood throughout the English-speaking world. Marco polo (talk) 02:24, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

where i come from maize is what the mexicans call corn in spanish but its not an english word. its just confusing is all —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.125.54 (talk) 19:36, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid that maize is an English wordhotclaws 11:53, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

And where I come from (New Jersey), maize is those pretty multi-colored dried ears of corn you use for autumn decorations. --Milkbreath (talk) 21:28, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

It is likely that more corn is produced in countries where it is called corn than in countries where it is called maize. Edison (talk) 03:49, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, Image:2005maize.PNG shows most of the maize/corn in the United States as apparently being grown in New York state, which is pretty obviously not the case. Corvus cornix_talk 05:27, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I live in England and I've never known anyone to call anything maize. Corn we call corn and wheat we call wheat. HS7 (talk) 12:28, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I think it is true that 'corn' for grain in general is less common in the UK than it used to be - both because few of us are familiar with farming, and because 'sweet corn' is a familiar vegetable, sometimes referred to as 'corn'. But if I see a field of growing grain I may be unsure whether it is wheat or barley or some other grain, and will quite happily refer to it as 'corn'. (It's unlikely to be maize). --ColinFine (talk) 13:29, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

This may not count for anything, but the species name is also mays. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 21:27, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Two questions

• Did you know that:

1. There is a lunar eclipse on or near Feb. 20,2008, but 1/2 to 3/4th of the US will have problems with foul weather, so could someone get some pixes ?
2. That the US will shoot down a disabled spy satellite this week ? 65.163.112.114 (talk) 02:42, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I know that US will shoot down a disabled spy satellite but I don't know the time. Most probably it will be this week. Visit me at Ftbhrygvn (Talk|Contribs|Log|Userboxes) 04:00, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Lethal injection needles

Why are they sterilized? Bellum et Pax (talk) 04:15, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

The article on lethal injection goes over this point. Dismas|^(talk) 06:18, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Lethal injection#Procedure in US executions to be precise. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:17, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

You don't think Bellum has a "find" function in their browser? :-) Dismas|^(talk) 21:34, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Can't find the article: "What the #$%@ Fridays "article.

The show is on Spike TV, but can't find the article. 65.163.112.114 (talk) 04:16, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

It's possible it just hasnt been created. BonesBrigade 04:18, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Its on Spike TV Right NOW. 65.163.112.114 (talk) 04:23, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I didnt mean it doesnt exist but no one has created an article on wikipedia yet about the show. You could consider registering an account and creating the article yourself or request it be made. (Someone show him were to go with wikilinks cuz i hve no idea what the shortcuts are called) BonesBrigade 04:27, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

It's also not a show, but a theme day of shows like Most Amazing Videos and whatnot. 63.165 needs to go outside and get some fresh air. Adam Bishop (talk) 08:01, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Tsk, Adam, we don't give medical advice on the Ref Desk. SaundersW (talk) 12:03, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Besides, where I'm from, going outside at this time of year will get you killed, so WP:BEANS. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 15:09, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Meaning of dreams

What does it mean when a woman dreams that she has a penis? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 07:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Try (http://www.dreammoods.com/) there is no 'true' meaning of dreams but plenty of sites exist that speculate on the meaning of things that appear in dreams. ny156uk (talk) 10:21, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Ambition?--Mrs Wibble-Wobble (talk) 10:22, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

More likely lack of ambition.  :) Corvus cornix_talk 05:28, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

You could consider penis envy... Julia Rossi (talk) 13:04, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

From my limited OR into these matters I have deducted that some 50% of humans do, indeed, suffer from penis envy. However, my late countryman Freud did ascribe it to the wrong gender :) --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 00:20, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

You seem to have revealed a hithertto overlooked classical case of projection, herr doctor. Julia Rossi (talk) 11:33, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

As you seem to have diagnosed my shortcomings from the distance of a Southern penile colony, may I congratulate on your visual acuity which may prove the phallacy of said projection. Regards to Down Under (I lived there for 20odd years). --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 16:17, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Down Under salutes you for those odd years Cookatoo, regards Julia Rossi (talk) 10:06, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, I added a comment before which someone else decided was unimportant to the discussion, but there I opined that the problem is you watch too much pornography. I opine as much now: your dreams almost always are just a product of what you're thinking about at a given time. The Evil Spartan (talk) 05:46, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Pouch Envy

The above reminded me of a scene from Seinfeld regarding the male kangaroo having pouch-envy. I've had a quick scan around on google but I can't find anything to confirm whether or not this really exists (or is just a funny idea). I found some stuff about the pouch and its role for Joeys but not about whether male kangaroo exhibit jealously over the pouch. Does anybody know anything more about this? ny156uk (talk) 13:13, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, you know, Seinfeld was probably using it as a metaphor for what males could be envious of without offending anyone. IMO male kangaroos would know there's no spare room in the house once they've grown up and left home. Julia Rossi (talk) 13:45, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

No real evidence, but I'm prrrettty darn sure that real kangaroos do not suffer pouch envy!--Eriastrum (talk) 23:53, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

dedicated refdesk site?

can some body tell me what is this site ? it looks like wikipedia refdesk but a whole site for it only?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.51.82 (talk) 13:21, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

There are tons of forums on the internet where people ask questions and other people (try) to answer them. That one just looks like a plain old forum. In any case, what differentiates any given set of sites of this nature are the people who answer the questions, and how many active people there are at once (which determines who long before you get a generally good answer). I doubt you'd find as many knowledgeable people on so many different topics too many other places than the Wikipedia ref desk. In my opinion it's one of the better "generalist" sorts of places you can go to ask questions, and has real strengths in the humanities and sciences in particular. (With computing there are fewer points of view represented than you would find in a more specifically dedicated computing forum, in my opinion.) --98.217.18.109 (talk) 16:37, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Hair growth after cutting

Does the cutting of human hair increase the rate of its growth? Ray Schwartz Memphis, TN. 74.170.83.241 (talk) 16:55, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

There's an article here that touches on this, mostly, although obliquely. The thrust of the matter is that hair has no idea when it has been cut, and it doesn't much care, since it's dead tissue, so it doesn't grow differently. Hair does -look- like it's growing faster after it has been shaved (if you shave your legs or face, for instance, it will seem to grow back quickly) but that's largely because a day's growth is more visible against bare skin than it is on top of several days' growth. Hope this helps. PS- I advise removing your e-mail and name and address and such all; things are set up so that we don't need them to answer here, and you will probably be spammed mercilessly. Faithfully, Deltopia (talk) 17:00, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree with Deltopia. The hair does not grow back faster, thicker or somewhat more in quantity. The reasons above sufficiently explain the matter, yet I must add that new hair looks darker and thicker because the sun has not had a chance to bleach it yet. Λua∫Wise ^{(Operibus anteire)} 17:48, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Pavement/Sidewalk--only in Philadelphia??

I'm moving this one over to the Language reference desk. --Anon, 08:20, February 17, 2008.

Lawnmower car

I have 2 lawnmowers and I want to make kind of a motor-wagon out of them. This would constitute taking a regular wagon (or something of that sort, maybe even make something myself) and attaching 2 lawnmower engines to it, a throttle, and just steer with the handle. Can someone give me a website or resource with help as to doing this, or tell me how to rig it up? Thanks. Scutterbotch (talk) 22:05, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Try Popular Mechanics. They're known for all manner of things mechanical. 65.173.104.126 (talk) 00:18, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

A lawnmower engine would need quite a gear reduction before it drove the wheels. How about using it to run a generator and making it a hybrid car with a storage battery? This would also help with the problem of the regular lawnmower engine being unable to start up under load at loew speed. Edison (talk) 03:47, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Another Tornado Outbreak

Is there a article yet on this:

• Feb. 16, 2008 Tornado Outbreak

There are tornadoes forming all over the place right now. Two Texas counties are under a tornado warning right now. The tornadoes just started forming. Damage estimates are unknown at this time. 65.173.104.126 (talk) 23:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Correction: The weather service just added another TX county to the list. 65.173.104.126 (talk) 00:00, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm monitoring th Weatherband on a "Self powered radio" and now getting all manner of watch info, tornado watch AND warning info. 65.173.104.126 (talk) 00:08, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm in the affected area, and nearly got hit by a tornado producing storm. 65.173.104.126 (talk) 00:19, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Is this outbreak notably different from those that happen every year throughout the region? —Tamfang (talk) 08:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a news service. If you want to write first-hand accounts of current events, perhaps you want Wikinews? FiggyBee (talk) 04:01, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

February 17

hump in the back

what do people mean by 'hump in your back'??its not an english figure of speech or anythin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arya237 (talk • contribs) 11:11, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

They could be referring to Quasimodo or spinal curvature. Is that what you're thinking of? Julia Rossi (talk) 11:37, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Since it's not a figure of speech, you need to supply some context. To give someone the hump means to annoy them. To live off one's hump means to live off your own resources.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:06, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard either of those expressions. Corvus cornix_talk 21:30, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

To 'have the hump' means to be disgruntled.86.200.128.246 (talk) 15:37, 17 February 2008 (UTC)petitmichel

It does? Corvus cornix_talk 21:30, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

It's off topic, but is that related to "getting your back up"? Julia Rossi (talk) 22:40, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree with all those uses, and there's also "to hump [something] around": carry something heavy, and "over the hump" meaning over the worst. As to "putting your back up", I believe that's from cats (and other animals, no doubt) who arch their back when cross. So whether "the hump" refers to this, or rather grouchy camels, I don't know. Gwinva (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 02:36, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Canadian government lost a document and everyone had to spring clean to find it

Is it true that something (a CD? a paper?) was lost by a department of the Canadian government, and it was deemed important enough that all civil servants had to stop work for a day, and go through all the stuff on and around their desks, even moving furniture, to try to find it? BrainyBabe (talk) 12:49, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

• • • Yes, it is true. The documents in question were related to the Somalia Inquiry which was going on at the time (and missing documents). None (to the best of my knowledge) were found. -- Cdn Searcher —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.228.192.163 (talk) 00:29, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for confirming my understanding, but can anyone provide a reference, or even the date when this spring clean took place? BrainyBabe (talk) 10:17, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

British sex case

This is a classic British silly season story, but it was reported in the broadsheet (serious) newspapers at the time. A group of colleagues was on their way home by train from a day out when two of them, no doubt tired and emotional, decided to "perform a sex act", which is a newspaper euphemism that deliberately leaves one wondering --presumably in this case fellatio. Everyone in the crowded carriage pretended to ignore what was going on, being British, but the final straw was the post-coital-or-whatever cigarette, when the happy couple was upbraided for smoking in a non-smoking carriage. Thus the case came to court, and thus to the newspapers. Does anyone have access to the archives to check this? I seem to recall it being July or August 1991 or 1992. BrainyBabe (talk) 13:02, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it did happen, but I can't find any more info at the moment. I think the story was made into a book and/or tv drama.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:17, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Am I missing something? Your CPS link concerns the appointment of three new Assistant Chief Crown Prosecutors. The story is reported reguarly and I'm sure it's an urban myth. The Best Book Of Urban Myths Ever! (ISBN 1858685591) contains on version of the story, on the 6:04 from Brighton; no date is given. This book dates from 1998 but I'm sure I've read the story in an earlier publication, possibly Fortean Times from the late 1980s. It is also mentioned on a large number of internet sites. --80.176.225.249 (talk) 19:38, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Read further down the page:

Among his previous cases are allegations of international cricket corruption; theft of body parts from the Royal College of Surgeons, which were used for sculpture moulds; and prosecution of a couple who had sex on a train in full view of the public but the only complaint was about them smoking afterwards.

— Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 19:52, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

The one part that's not true is "nobody complained until they started smoking"; what actually happened was that there was no complaint in the legal-system sense because the train crew ignored the other passengers' complaints until they started smoking. It happened in the summer of 1992. If you do a Google Groups search on the words sex, train, and Horseferry, you'll find an article where a clerk at the Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court is quoted as saying something like "it's the sort of case you don't forget". --Anonymous, 00:12 UTC, February 18, 2008. (Copyedited later.)

dodgyhumour If they weren't smoking during the sex act, it can't have been that good. /dodgyhumour Steewi (talk) 01:26, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

OK, I followed the Google Groups link, and found this archived from alt.folklore where someone had inputted an article from The Scotsman, dated 7 August 1992. It names the individuals and gives the date of the offence as 25 May. The fact that it was widely published could, however, mean that it was picked up on the wires by gullible editors looking to fill space in the silly season. More importantly, the article also names the prosecutor as Nazir Afzal, who Shantavira has discovered is director for West London of the Crown Prosecution Service, see also here. So unless this senior civil servant is in on the joke -- and they are not prohibited from having a sense of humour -- the story would appear to be real. It is possible that it is a joke, but more likely that what started as as joke then became a case of life imitating art.

I would be interested to hear about any book or TV that resulted from the event, and also what the individuals did next. BrainyBabe (talk) 10:45, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Question about Milwaukee, WI

On the Washington County, Wisconsin page, the cities section listed states this:

Milwaukee (City in Milwaukee County which annexed a small triangle of land in Washington County, at the request of a restaurant owner who wanted police and fire services.)

I have looked at the official Milwaukee city map and seen the portion on the map that is in Washington County. I am confused about something. In that little triangle, there is no restaurant, it's a recycling Facillity. So I am wondering why Wikipedia says there is a restaurant there? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.230.149.114 (talk) 16:47, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

The claim also appears in this source, which implies that the annexation took place in the historical past. It is not hard to imagine that the restaurant went out of business and sold its property and that the recycling facility has since been built on the same site. Marco polo (talk) 20:36, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Itchy

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis, or treatment recommendations. Your doctor or pharmacist will be able to recommend possible treatments.--TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:03, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

"Walking machines of death"

I read an editorial in a Finnish newspaper once, critiquing terrorist tactics. It began by showing three instances of heroic acts in war: the Trojan war in ancient Greek times, the American war of independence, and the Finnish Winter War. It then contrasted these with what is happening in Iraq in the 2000s. It gave a graphic example: two school-age girls are at a market, petting the various live animals for sale. Unknown to the girls, they are walking machines of death. When enough people have assembled around them, some terrorist somewhere remotely detonates the rings of explosives they are wearing around their waists, killing both the girls and dozens of people around them. Now at the risk of sounding callous about this tragic incident, and altogether emotionless, I have to ask a technical question: How the heck does one carry enough explosives to kill dozens of people around one's waist without knowing it? JIP | Talk 19:35, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Could they have been drugged perhaps? Or somehow there was C-4 or any other explosive embedded as a thin sheet into their clothing? --Ouro (blah blah) 20:00, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I heard a news report about this incident on the radio. According to the report, the girls were mentally retarded. Marco polo (talk) 20:07, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I can imagine this on the Jeremy Kyle Show - are YOU or someone you know a walking machine of death? Call us and you can be on next week's show. -mattbuck (Talk) 20:11, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

This CNN report (e.g.) confirms what Marco Polo wrote. ---Sluzzelin talk 20:41, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

How do you do it? Pretty easily, depending on the explosives. Plastic explosives are very small and pack a lot of wallop, especially if you add some sort of shrapnel agent (e.g. nails). You can mold them into creative shapes, too. So it wouldn't be hard to put a bunch of them into a belt or a vest and not have it be very large at all. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 21:30, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

The Tamil Tigers sometimes mold plastic explosives into brassieres of female suicide bombers. If the breasts are strapped down this would effectively hid the explosives. --S.dedalus (talk) 06:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Why would near death experiences becaused by a lack of oxygen to the brain?

It doesn't make sense for something so elaborate to occur if you don't have enough oxygen, so why do people say that? MalwareSmarts (talk) 22:25, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

It's not that elaborate. A small change of chemicals to the brain causes a lot of haywire things to occur, which we experience as very elaborate sensations but that's because the brain is already wired to produce sensations for us. You might as well wonder whether microgram amounts of certain chemicals could possibly produce elaborate auditory and auditory hallucinations. The brain is an elaborate sensation machine—it doesn't take much at all for it to start producing very odd (yet sensually coherent) results. Lack of oxygen no doubt screws up a number of processes which a brain would be struggling to make sense of and create all sorts of resulting odd feelings (out of body, bright light, etc.) in the person in question. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 22:40, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

(I'm not an expert but ...) There are a lot of different symptoms that people report in NDEs, but taken individually most of them are either simple brain malfunctions(Serenity, bright light at end of tunnel, feeling of being out of body and/or flying.), or things that commonly occur in dreams, even normal ones. (Meeting dead relatives, reviewing major moments in your life, feeling of being out of body and/or flying.) The fact that many human brains undergo the same failure modes when faced with a lack of oxygen should not be surprising. (If your car's serpentine belt breaks it will exhibit a large number of symptoms, but they will be very similar to every other car of that make and model that has a broken serpentine belt.)

The fact that NDEs can be induced artificially by reducing blood flow to the brain (pilots in centrifuge training, for example) strongly supports the theory that they are caused (or at least can be caused) entirely by lack of oxygen. Surely God would not be fooled by a centrifuge. [1]

I'm sure all of this is difficult for people who have experienced them to accept rationally. Dreams feel absolutely real when you're having them, and if a dream happened when you were awake then I imagine it would be very hard not to believe in it and rationalize away any inconsistencies. Especially if it told you things that you really wanted to know. (Heaven is real, and all your loved ones made it there with no problem.) It's important to remember this. APL (talk) 01:57, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I also suspect that much of the homogeneity in reported NDEs come from re-telling of the same stories too. Most of the methodology in studies that compare them is in my opinion suspect, e.g. they rarely note how long after the alleged NDE the account was taken and how many people the patient in question discussed it with first. What was initially just "a man" quickly becomes Jesus when you tell and re-tell the story over and over again; the human memory is quite pliable, especially when under that sort of stress and in a dream-like state. I suspect the re-tellings make them more coherent than they really are, as often happens with dreams. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 03:02, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Further reading on this subject: Dying to Live by Susan Blackmore. Don't be put off by it having one of the worst titles ever devised. -88.110.17.187 (talk) 13:11, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

"NDEs can be induced artificially by reducing blood flow to the brain" Well of course, you're killing them if you cut off their blood flow! MalwareSmarts (talk) 19:41, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I said "reducing" not "Cutting off". Don't put words into my mouth. Centrifuge training reduces blood flow to the brain and is perfectly survivable. In any case my main point that the symptoms associated with a NDE are not actually that unusual. Especially when taken individually. I honestly find it puzzling why people attach so much significance to them when, and only when, they happen when a person is about to die or thinks he is about to die.

Even if NDEs do have cosmic significance, I would still recommend taking them with a grain of salt. If someone is in that rough of a shape that they have a NDE, then I wouldn't trust them to remember their own telephone number, let alone accurately relay messages from the Other Side. APL (talk) 23:54, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Has anyone tried to calculate the American homicide rate under other circumstances?

For example, Detroit has a high homicide rate, but the rate is not as high as ones in poor countries such as Kingston. But if Detroit had comparable medical facilities, how much would the rate go up?

132.239.90.162 (talk) 23:56, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't know of any studies, but it does make sense that there would be a correlation between a lower level of medical facilities and a higher homicide rate, based on poor or non-existent treatment of wounds leading to death which would have otherwise been treated. Steewi (talk) 01:29, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Though it's unclear to me that it would be a major factor there. Crime and homicide rates usually have a lot of factors in them; I don't think the medical treatment is going to make a huge difference where gunshot wounds are going to be a primary way of death in either case. There's only so much you can do for gunshot wounds no matter how high-tech your medical system is. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 21:00, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Actually, if you look at the statistics, improved medical care over the past half-century is greatly reducing the murder rate. The crime rates for murder are down, but the crime rates for "I shot him, but he survived" are way up. --Carnildo (talk) 22:32, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, absolutely. If you have access to a good university library, check out A.R. Harris et al. (2002) "Murder and Medicine: The Lethality of Criminal Assault 1960-1999" Homicide Studies 6(2):128-166. If not, the free summary in BMJ is on PubMed Central: link. In brief, the authors note that while the murder rate in the United States has been essentially stable since the 1930s, the rate of aggravated assaults had risen by about 750% during the same period. In the absence of the continuous improvements in medical care since the 1960s, the authors estimate that the murder rate would be up to five times higher. Even within the United States (and other industrialized countries with well-established healthcare systems), there is a significant body of evidence that shows (unsurprisingly) that individuals who take longer to reach a hospital suffer dramatically poorer outcomes. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 23:01, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you so much for that link Ten. That is a scary multiple. I know a violent city like Detroit has 40 homicides per 100k. If that were 4-5 times higher than the rate would far exceed places like Kingston, Johannesburg, etc. Could the worst American cities be the most violent urban centers outside of war zones on earth? Lotsofissues 03:27, 19 February 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lotsofissues (talk • contribs)

February 18

GagaLive-like IRC client

Is there something like GagaLive (clean, minimal Flash chat client) but which speaks IRC? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.51.82 (talk) 00:56, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

How many men in USA are circumcised?

"In North America, where about 80 percent of men are circumcised"

WHAT?! This cannot be right, can it? Source: [2] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.51.82 (talk) 02:18, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Why can't it be right? In fact, 80% seems a little low... 70.162.25.53 (talk) 03:06, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

WHAT?! Are you kidding?! Why would over 80% of all men mutilate their own bodies? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.51.82 (talk) 03:16, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

They don't. It's not usually their decision. Circumcision usually is done shortly after birth by parents. Many men probably wouldn't have gone through it had they had the choose. Bellum et Pax (talk) 03:44, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Most men probably wouldn't. Ack, the article doesn't say, but he had a circumcision in Israel at the age of 37. The aftermath was the worst and goriest I've seen. Much blood. 81.93.102.185 (talk) 06:05, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Is this a medical thing, then? I remember reading somewhere that only about 2% of the population of the U.S. are Jewish, so I figure something else must account for it? --Joe^Talk_Work 13:46, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

In Australia, and I suspect in other anglophone countries, it was widely practised on Roman Catholic boys of Anglo-Celtic background, back in the '50s and '60s and probably still to some degree. Not that I was all that interested in looking when changing for swimming - not when I was that young, anyway ... no, I lie, all boys look at other boys' thingamies, and so do most men, come to think of it - other men's, that is, not boys' - but from memory the only boy in my primary school class who wasn't circumcised had Italian parents. I went to a state-run high school and the proportion of circumcised boys was noticeably lower. But just why it was done when none of us were Jewish was never explained satisfactorily. The best I could ever get out of my parents was that it was simply the custom. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:41, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Circumcision was medically recommended (and pretty much routine) in many Western countries during the 40s and 50s, since it was believed to prevent penile cancer, posthitis, balanitis and infant urinary tract infections. Many of these men later chose circumcision for their sons because that was what looked "normal" (and because they had been told it was "right"). Ethical/moral/religious arguments aside, from a purely medical point of view the current thinking is that the benefits are probably outweighed by (or at least equal to) the potential complications of such surgery on young children. Gwinva (talk) 23:01, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I would add that it was medically recommended right up into the 70s and 80s as well. I suspect that only recently has the number of circumcisions in North America begun to decrease. Virtually everyone I know (friends, relatives) who was born around the same time as me (late 70s) is circumcised. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Santegeezhe (talk • contribs) 23:05, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Stephenville, Texas

Can someone insert this link:

• • Stephenvillelights.com

This is supposed to let people know about what has been going on there in Stephenville, Texas. MY ISP is acting up.65.163.115.237 (talk) 03:58, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, but that doesn't meet our criteria for reliable sources. — Lomn 05:54, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Sending mail without an address

If each house has a unique combination of ZIP+4/delivery point code, then in theory, it would seem that all one would have to put on an envelope is "01001-0110-01" or similar and the mail would get to the destination (assuming there is postage) even without an addressee or an address. Would this work? Better yet, couldn't you just put the POSTNET barcode on the envelope?

I am curious to see if this works. Perhaps I should send a letter to myself. Jared (t)  04:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it should work. A similar thing applies in the UK and Canada, where each postcode applies to a few houses on a street - you'd need to add the house number, though. In continental Europe, the system is much less precise for some reason. I asked about this difference ages ago, see here. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 06:19, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I have successfully sent a letter to myself with nothing on the envelope but a stamp and a ZIP+4 code. I had a P.O. box at the time, so I had my own ZIP+4 code all to myself.

I also successfully sent a letter to my mom with only 10 characters on it: five letters for her first initial and last name, and a 5-digit ZIP code. I'm kind of surprised that one got to her; I presume the ZIP+4 method is much more reliable. MrRedact (talk) 17:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Giuseppe Verdi was once asked his address. He replied: "Giuseppe Verdi, Italy" will suffice. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:00, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Swords through cheek

Warning: this question includes a link to an image which is highly graphic and may be disturbing to some. Please don't click the link if you think this might apply to you.

Here's the image:[3]. My question is: can this be real? Wouldn't such an injury to the face be life-threatening? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:47, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I've seen many such images. I doubt that they're all photoshopped, so I would say it's real. Life threatening? Possibly but I'm no doctor. Dismas|^(talk) 09:16, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I expect it would hurt like the blazes, but with proper medical care it usually wouldn't be life-threatening. There are no major blood vessels through the cheek, so an individual so impaled wouldn't be likely to bleed out. After surgical repair, there would be challenges to keeping the wound site clean, and eating and drinking would be difficult until the injury was fully healed. I don't recommend trying this one at home. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:21, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

It's actually quite common in a number of religious ceremonies to do things like that. See Mortification of the flesh. Injury to the cheeks is not life threatening though it could easily scar. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 15:56, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

One of my fellow students (in the long ago days when I was an engineering student) had a comparable injury on a building site. A steel reinforcing rod was dropped from the top of a building, pierced his cheek and the floor of his mouth, and ended up fixing him to the ground. He had a scar on his cheek: I didn't check the floor of his mouth but he had no speech infirmity, and I deduce that he was probably wearing a hard hat. (with apologies for the original research) SaundersW (talk) 16:30, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

See cheek piercing and Vegetarian Festival. Gandalf61 (talk) 16:57, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Treatment of such wounds should be reasonably straightforward today (although don't read that as encouragement to perpetrate such a wound on yourself or someone else!), and there have been numerous historical examples of similar. David II of Scotland took an arrow in the face during the Battle of Neville's Cross, but continued fighting. He lived another 25 years. Henry V of England (while still the Prince of Wales) was struck by an arrow at the Battle of Shrewsbury, which penetrated his left side of his nose and embedded itself in the back of his skull. Like David, he continued to fight. Afterwards, he endured hours of surgery: the surgeon used a series of probes and threaded tongs to retreive the arrowhead. He would have had a tremendous scar: note how the portrait of him at the above page is full profile! Gwinva (talk) 04:14, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Is there a system to ensure answers on ref desks get integrated into articles?

A WP project, or some systematic way of ensuring these wonderful talented answers add to the body of the encyclopedia? I have done a couple, sporadically. Please repost this idea elsewhere if this is not the best place. BrainyBabe (talk) 11:17, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, sometimes ideas stemming from here take the shape of articles, there's even a special cutesy template-box-thingy to signify this, but I don't know what is it called :) --Ouro (blah blah) 12:44, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Reference Desk Article Collaboration. Shortcut: WP:RDAC (and those little hats are cutesy! There's also an adorable user box) ---Sluzzelin talk 12:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Whatever works for you :) --Ouro (blah blah) 18:59, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing this out. I am glad it exists ( I sort of thought something must) but am shocked how little used it seems to be --- only a handful of changes in the past couple of months. BrainyBabe (talk) 19:34, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

As a sloth, I suspect it might have something to do with the fact that it looks like "work". Nevertheless, I too signed up enthusiastically. Revivals will always be welcomed, I'm sure. ---Sluzzelin talk 19:53, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I've actually made a number of changes to articles in response to Ref Desk questions, but then I am too lazy to paste all of the links/templates required for those changes to be registered as part of this project! Marco polo (talk) 02:57, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It would be reasonably straightforward to expand articles based on ref desk answers if the answers came fully referenced! But the work of chasing up all those cites would be a little off-putting. Gwinva (talk) 04:21, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Earnings

If one earns £20k per year, how much can one expect to recieve in ones bank account every month. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 11:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

an aprox figure of £1200 net per month. (might be closer to £1250 - but I was erring on the side of caution) 83.104.131.135 (talk) 13:37, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I assume from the £ sign that you're paying taxes in the UK, in which case the above estimate looks a little low to me. According to the rough and ready reckoner here, assuming you're <65, unmarried and not blind, with £0 outstanding in student loans, your take-home would be c.£1,276 a month. However, as the site says, this is a rough guide and your personal circumstances will affect this figure. --Dweller (talk) 15:14, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Calculator Games

Hello wikipedia;

I have heard that there are games one can apply to a calculator with a suitable graphical disply module, and thus can actually play. On your calculator. I was wondering perchance if anyone would know exactly where on the world wide web one might find such programs and as to what calculating device they would work on. For the record my calculator is a CASIO fx-83es sceintific calculator with a natural display.

P.s. I notice a large amount of questions relating to the phallus.

PP.s Yes I am british.

89.241.203.130 (talk) 14:51, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

The most widely used calculator for such things is the TI-83 graphing calculator. The wiki entry even has links to several games archives in the external links. Enjoy! Poechalkdust (talk) 17:17, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

The TI-89 is better for this purpose, because it has a higher quality screen. I've seen graphics in TI-89 games close to what the SNES could render (but in only black and white, of course). 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:23, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Depends what sort of games you meant, there are a number of simulations and mathematical games you can use a calculator for. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 03:06, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Financial Investment

In Systematic Investment Planning in a Mutual fund,can I invest 500 Rupees one month and 200 Rupees the other month? I mean does it have to be a fixed amount every month? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.192.101.156 (talk) 18:24, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Which bank is it? What kind of fund? What kind of plan? You'd need to give us more specifics. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:58, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

a foot, a foot, my kingdom for a foot!

wotcha all, mrs mankster needs an out-line of a foot, for an on-line reflexology course she is doing, we ave looked thru clip art and had a wee search on the net but alas (a bonny, bonny lass) to no avail.she who must be obeyed needs a simple small out-line of a foot (left or right), that she can paste onto a word document and add chaka points, nerve endings, whatever these reflexologists do thanks Perry-mankster (talk) 19:49, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

We've got some foot outlines (in shoes) at Image:GuteAB und schlechteC Fussbekleidung.gif. Found using this tool, which is pretty handy. — Laura Scudder ☎ 21:44, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

For anything to do with (Lat) pes, pedis: Try Wiki Pedia, specifically Canadian experts on submerged specimen thereof. Help, Bielle! --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:45, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

That's a rather ped-antic comment, BielleCookatoo.  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 22:56, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, I noticed that Bielle's signature had gone white a while ago, but are her entire posts invisible to me now as well? ---Sluzzelin talk 09:32, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

My bad, I misread the post. -- JackofOz (talk) 11:01, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Hate to see anyone in pain, try these [4] for size madam Julia Rossi (talk) 09:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC) n PS: this is printable [5] reflexology chart. It musta bin a week luke. ;)

Free image for McFly (band) & licensing question

Can anyone help me find an image of McFly (| mcflyofficial.com) that I could use in their article? Also, could anyone explain to me what these licenses mean: | flickr.com/creativecommons -- Stacey _{talk to me} 22:06, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I know nothing about McFly, but we have info on the Creative Commons licenses in the article of the same name. Basically, Creative Commons licenses are a group of licenses where people can mix and match which restrictions they place on the item. Not all CC licenses are "acceptable" on Wikipedia. (e.g see Wikipedia:Copyright_FAQ, and Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags#Guidelines). Acceptable licenses "must permit both commercial reuse and derivative works." So the CC licenses which have non-commercial (contains 'nc' or the 'no dollar sign' symbol in the short form) or "no derivative" (nd, equals sign) clauses are not permited on WP. (Note that Wikipedia:Image_copyright_tags/Deprecated#Non-free_Creative_Commons_licenses specifically lists all the unacceptable licenses and says "Do not upload [Creative Commons] images ... [with] non-commercial or "no derivatives" licenses".) Attribution ('by', 'by:') and share alike ('sa', circular arrow) clauses are okay on Wikipedia. The page Wikipedia:Images#Finding_images_on_the_Internet says of Creative Commons images from Flickr - "Images with Attribution and Attribution-ShareAlike may be used on Wikipedia subject to the license terms." -- 128.104.112.47 (talk) 23:05, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

February 19

Digital Tv for Handheld TVs?

How will handheld (i.e. less than 3 in.) TVs be affected by the Digital TV switch in 2009? I live in a hurricane-prone area, so its kind of important that i could get information from small tvs without a large converter box. Porpise of Life (talk) 00:11, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It'll be the same as for anything else -- if the TV doesn't have an ATSC (digital) tuner, it won't be able to receive signals. — Lomn 02:43, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I suggest a waterproof crank radio that tunes into to emergancy and weather bands. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 15:14, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

How Asylum Smackdowns Start

How do insane asylum smackdowns start? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 01:49, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

What? Google has no meaningful references for an "asylum smackdown"; you need to clarify what you mean. — Lomn 02:46, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

No worries, one of a plethora of Eric's unanswerable questions. --Ouro (blah blah) 14:34, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

As I understand, it's a WWF reference - to a specific series of shows. I don't however, know the answer. Steewi (talk) 23:48, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

ipod repair

how much does it cost to repair the screen on an ipod? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.101.53.141 (talk) 04:18, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It depends a LOT on the kind of iPod it is. A quick google search found this. It looks like prices are between $30 and $80 for the parts if you can do the repair yourself, and an extra $40 if you want to send it in and have them do it. They don't seem to hae parts for the older models, thought. (I have absolutely no idea if these prices are typical or if this service is reputable.) APL (talk) 17:20, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

its a dragon

okay i thot this question wud have gone but when i visited the site where i got it from it said it hasnt.the question was put fire and thunder together and u get me the new clue was that its a dragon.am like whooa!there was sumone in wikipedia who had hinted tht it cud be a dragon.so please if he/she can help..the animals first part is a dragon and the second u have to fuse in the thunder n lightning stuff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.87.152 (talk) 05:35, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

chimera? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.101.53.141 (talk) 05:42, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Is this a plug for Flamos? According to list of fictional dragons "the book is expected to be coming out around summer of 2009" (in which case it shouldn't even be in Wikipedia). There, now I've gone and plugged it!--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:47, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you could give us the URL of the site you're visiting. You'll be aware that you're barely explaining yourself; it might be easier if we cut out the middleman. --Tagishsimon (talk) 08:57, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

If "the animals first part is a dragon and the second u have to fuse in the thunder n lightning stuff" (I assume you still mean "fire" though, not "lightning"), then bird might still apply, see dragonbird. The most obvious choice for an animal formed by adding the word "dragon" to another animal, would be dragonfly, (firefly and thunderfly). ---Sluzzelin talk 09:26, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

macro economics help

hi

i desperately need link(s) where i can find

MCQ bank & solved practice qestions for

Functions , demand ,supply (& determination ) of MONEY IS-LM ANALYSIS AS-AD ANALYSIS OF EQUILLIBRIUM IN GOODS/MONEY market

and FE line —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.128.4.231 (talk) 09:51, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Early statue of Oliver Cromwell

It appears that before the current statue of Cromwell in Parliament Square, there was a different one installed temporarily (a photograph can be found on the English Heritage Viewfinder website). Does anyone know any details about this (e.g. who sculpted it, when was it set up and removed, and what happened to it)? Jon Rob (talk) 10:04, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

The statue in the photo on the English Heritage Viewfinder web site[6] looks like it might be the same statue of Oliver Cromwell, sculpted by Matthew Noble in 1875, that's currently on display in Wythenshawe Park in Manchester.[7][8]. That statue had for a while also been in front of Manchester Cathedral until 1967. If that's not the same statue, it's certainly at least a very close copy. MrRedact (talk) 04:55, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

whey protein (yes, it's me again)

What is the best brand of whey protein powder? Some brands have more protein per servings than others, but have different amounts of amino acids? Anyone know? --AtTheAbyss (talk) 14:40, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Define "best". Note that the ref desk os not for discussions ... your question may not be appropriate &c. --Tagishsimon (talk) 14:52, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm not looking for discussion. And by 'best' I mean the type which is most likely to induce the most muscle growth the fastest. I'm going to enlist after the summer and I need to get in shape. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 14:57, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Who told you that eating protein induces muscle growth? If you don't understand nutritional issues yourself, I recommend not going to the "health food store". There are any number of kooks there who will feed you all kinds of bad information. Calories, including protein, are all well and good, but they're not going to magically give you muscles. Try eating a healthy balanced diet and exercising. Friday (talk) 15:17, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

PS. For more info on specific issues involved, try articles like food energy. These supplements are loaded with calories, and if you do nothing to burn them, that extra energy will be stored as fat. 3500 extra calories means 1 extra pound of fat. Friday (talk) 15:32, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I know simply consuming protein won't give me muscles; I work out regularly, and always heard that extra protein combined with regular excercise helped to build muscle. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 15:47, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, be careful. If you continue working out as you've been, but you start taking in more calories, this will generally become fat, not muscle. The article food energy isn't great but it addresses this basic issue. It's a matter of energy in versus energy out. This is an oversimplification of course but the basic idea is accurate. Friday (talk) 15:51, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

That said, building additional muscle mass takes energy too. This has to come from somewhere, so yeah, you're right in this respect. However have you already been exercising enough that your body is trying to build muscle mass, and it's unable to do so because of a lack of food energy? This would generally be a self-correcting problem- you'd feel hungry, and you'd eat more. Unless you've been starving yourself, eating MORE calories probably won't help. Friday (talk) 16:00, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Just as a quibble of detail: proteins are long chains consisting only of amino acids. Different proteins consist of different sequences of different amino acids, but a given weight of protein will always consist of the same weight of amino acids. (Whey protein comes from the non-fat part of milk.) SaundersW (talk) 16:58, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

We do not have good coverage of the digestion & absorption of proteins, amino acids & their derivatives. The best I can find is at Protein in nutrition#Digestion of protein. What is there is not well phrased. Any contributions &c... --Tagishsimon (talk) 18:53, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Water

I live in Abq. and I bought some bottled water from the Rio Grande.The other day I went to drink it and it looked like something black and living was in it.To drink or not to drink that is the question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.80.31.19 (talk) 15:10, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Mayhaps a picture is in place for those that are interested. 81.93.102.185 (talk) 15:51, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I'd say "no" if there was something either black or living in the water. But since this is both, a "hell no" is in order. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 16:59, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Was it something Black and Something living or somethingt that was both black and living. Either way i agree hell no! Cryo921 (talk) 22:35, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

WWII

When soldiers were stationed to a place, lets say Jan was sent to fight in Italy in '43, his army would have kept records of where he was and his movements. Where can I find these records, I wish to know where in Italy my grandfather was, and what he did while he was there. He was Namibian German fighting for the Allies and liberation of europe, but seemed to be a bit angry and fucked up by the time he got back.

Most countries store military records in their national archives. Your grandfather would have served with the army of South Africa, since present-day Namibia was then in effect a colony of South Africa. You could research your father's army unit in the National Archives of South Africa. You would of course need to know the name and/or number of the larger and smaller units that he belonged to (army, corps, division, brigade, regiment, troop, and section), since different units were deployed in different areas and engagements. Most likely you will need to physically visit the archives in Pretoria, since these records have mostly not been digitized, and you will need to plan on several days of leafing through dusty papers. Marco polo (talk) 18:56, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

If you are not able to visit the archives yourself, I have found this list of private researchers whom you can hire to conduct the archival research for you. Marco polo (talk) 19:04, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Terrorism

We have all seen the videos on the news of terrorists going into some or other rant before killing some poor civilian who has been kidnapped. However, we very rarly get to hear the whole speach. Are these made available for the commonpublic so we can evaluate thier stance and help to combat their extremism better. Also, can they be viewed legally with out people thinking one has logged on to this or that site for fundemental reason. Thanks 12.191.136.2 (talk) 15:49, 19 February 2008 (UTC)Patriotic British Christian

You could probably Google-up some martyrdom videos pretty easily, but you're right -- it's entirely possible that one or more government agencies in one or more countries might notice this. See honeypot. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera might have some. Also, you might enjoy the movie Paradise Now which deals with this exact topic along with the rest of the lead-up to a suicide attack.

Atlant (talk) 19:04, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Sites like Liveleak will often have the whole things. Not for the faint of heart. --Sean 21:38, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

The fear of a government spying on what you read or what you watch merely increases the power of that government over you and further weakens our right to freedom of the press and freedom of thought. Whether you decide to watch these videos online and how you do it is a personal moral question. --S.dedalus (talk) 23:06, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It might also matter to your employer should you decide to view them at work.

Atlant (talk) 23:21, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Same goes for other things though. --S.dedalus (talk) 04:10, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

In the UK just now, we seem to have a couple of conflicting cases. There are the Five students win terror appeal chappies who led the lord Chief justice to opine "Nobody should be jailed for reading extremist literature" [9], versus the Terror manuals woman avoids jail, whose "library" of extremist Islamist literature led to a conviction under the Terrorism Act 2000. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:30, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Pakistan Politics

In Pakistan, which party stands for liberalism and which for coservatism and which are between, and to what degrees thanks, basically, should we be happy that musharaf has lost the election? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 16:52, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

For the first part of your question, I suggest you start with our article on the 2008 Pakistani general election, which links to all the relevant parties. The latter part is outside the purview of the Reference Desk, though I am of the general opinion that a defeated incumbent is representative of a fair election. — Lomn 17:04, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Blondi

Was reading the article on Blondi, Hitlers dog, it says that she had 5 puppies. what happened to them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 17:17, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, considering that its been about 60 years now, its pretty safe to say that they are dead right now. But really, on our wikipedia article on Blondi, it says that one of the puppies died, and that it is unknown to anyone what happened to the last four.--Dlo2012 (talk) 18:06, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

We have an article on Hitler's dog!!?? Amazing! -- JackofOz (talk) 22:23, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

As a literary reference: The novel "Dog Years" by Günter Grass is, as the title indicates, about dogs, one of them the late Fuehrer´s canine. Unfortunately, our article on this great novel is not even a minute stublet. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 22:42, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Xbox 360 in 1080p

I have an older 360 premium (w/ component cables) and just recently purchased a flat panel tv that is capable of displaying 1080p. I previously had one that displayed only 1080i and the 360 and tv did so without any trouble. Now I have tried to enable the output in 1080p under the dashboard option and it does not display, however the new tv displays 1080i without any trouble. Is there a step I'm missing switching from 1080i to 1080p?Z28boy (talk) 18:06, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It's a bit unclear, but Xbox 360 seems to suggest you can get 1080p with HDMI cables. Friday (talk) 18:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

That would definitely be an option, but unfortunately, being an early adopter, my 360 has no HDMI port. And the dashboard option still exists-- which makes me think there must be a way. Z28boy (talk) 19:38, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Various stories suggest that, for legal reasons, the 360 does not allow 1080p over component video, only over VGA or HDMI, and that VGA is pretty bad. — Lomn 20:25, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Embargo

Now that Castro's retired, is the goverment going to lift the embargo? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.118.79.173 (talk) 19:42, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

It is to be doubted. I would guess the US government would want democracy and, for all I know, reparations for nationalized industries. However wikipedia is not the place to ask for political speculation. We (try) only (to) do facts. --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:44, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I probably should not speculate, but while I think that it is almost certain that George W. Bush will not lift the embargo, and it is unlikely that John McCain would lift it if he took office next year, I think that it is fairly likely that a Democratic president (Clinton or Obama) would lift the embargo after taking office next year. Most Americans are indifferent about the embargo, a growing number of Cuban Americans oppose it, and many U.S. businesses would like access to business opportunities in Cuba. Marco polo (talk) 21:02, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

The embargo may only legally be lifted under certain circumstances. Either a provision of the Cuban Democracy Act must be met (which boils down to "the US President must certify to Congress that Cuba is run on democratic principles and that they've accepted capitalism"), or the act must be repealed. There are various other laws that would need to be dealt with as well (Helms-Burton Act, etc.). --Sean 21:52, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

February 20

Personally Built Robot

Does anyone know of any company or site that will build a robot (like one on robot wars) or remote controlled toy to your specific liking or ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.120.226.236 (talk) 00:36, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

If you do a Google search on "prototyping", you can find companies that will help you come up with a robot, remote controlled toy, or other machine that you've thought up. But it's not likely to be cheap. MrRedact (talk) 04:26, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Socialist newspaper

What is the best online newspaper for a socialist? —Preceding unsigned comment added by E-mail (optional): Allows (talk • contribs) 01:13, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

A quick search on google showed this website http://www.themilitant.com/index.shtml--Dlo2012 (talk) 02:01, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Also see Socialist Worker. A Google search for "online socialist newspaper" turns up a bunch more. I'll leave it to you to decide which one is the "best." MrRedact (talk) 04:17, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Elections(politics)

In the US, when electing people to congress, each person is elected individually. Are there any countries where people in the equivalent of congress are elected all at once--what I mean is that citizens would vote for a party and then whatever percent of the vote a party gets determines how many representatives they get? —Preceding unsigned comment added by E-mail (optional): Allows (talk • contribs) 01:17, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

I think that would be Proportional Representation--ChesterMarcol (talk) 01:26, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

• Israel is like that. The voters vote for party lists only, and the number of seats alloted to each party is proportional to its vote. See Politics of Israel#Electoral system. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 04:08, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

websites

How exactly do websites make money? I know that wikipedia uses donations, and some other websites use ads, but how do other websites make money? Does it depend on the number of visits per day?--Dlo2012 (talk) 02:00, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm speaking from experience, as I own two tiny e-commerce web sites. The huge way that web sites make money that you didn't list is to directly sell goods and services, as with, for example, amazon.com or netflix. How much money a web site makes only indirectly depends on the number of visits per day. You can create a web site that attracts a huge number of visitors, but if nobody buys goods and services on the web site, nobody clicks on the advertisements, and nobody makes contributions, the web site is going to lose money. It costs money for all that bandwidth needed to send web content to all those visitors. MrRedact (talk) 04:01, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Internationa Business & Trade

202.1.52.45 (talk) 05:52, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Internationa Business & Trade

key reasons for importing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.1.52.45 (talk) 05:56, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

To get stuff that you cant find in your country or is cheaper when bought from another country. Cryo921 (talk) 06:12, 20 February 2008 (UTC)