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October 6

Writing stories with video game characters

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Since childhood, I dreamed up fantasies, uniting the characters (well, mostly enemies) in video games/ movies into one world. they were part of this world, and the enemies were combined in an army, in a world ruled by a character of my creation. I'm thinking of putting my ideas onto paper, and possibly publishing. I won't take the video game characters name for name and detail for detail, but I'll give them different names. But, the description of the looks characters in the book will make me think of those in the video game. Other than that, that's where the similarities end. Is this a good idea? This seems like a motivation to keep me going forward, but is this legally and "politically" a good idea? thx --LastLived 02:29, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

See fan fiction. --Jayron32 02:42, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Note that this question was cross posted at Humanities. Shadowjams (talk) 06:45, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Please edit this at Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Writing_games_with_video_game_characters to avoid cross-posting. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:25, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who chained two mountains together?

From G. K. Chesterton's "A Defence of Rash Vows": "Yet these vows are not more extraordinary than the vows which in the Middle Ages and in similar periods were made, not by fanatics merely, but by the greatest figures in civic and national civilization -- by kings, judges, poets, and priests. One man swore to chain two mountains together, and the great chain hung there, it was said, for ages as a monument of that mystical folly."

Is this real, and if so who did it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.91.173.228 (talk) 09:17, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't know about mountains, but stretching a chain from one side to another of a narrow bay used to be an effective way of denying access to undesirable ships. TomorrowTime (talk) 11:28, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the mysterious chain in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie? ---Sluzzelin talk 11:33, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sluzzelin appears to be correct. From Thomas Carlyle's "Memoir of Mirabeau": "One Riquetti (in performance of some vow at sea, as the tradition goes) chained two mountains together: 'the iron chain is still to be seen at Moustier;—it stretches from one mountain to the other, and in the middle of it is a large star with five rays;' the supposed date is 1390. Fancy the smiths at work on this business!" —Deor (talk) 11:39, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Neither the original chain nor star are to be seen today. The chains are replaced when they rust and the size of the star has varied through the centuries, from 1m80 to 30 cm. The chain is 225m long and the present star 1m15 is from 1957. Here is a better picture of the star of Moustiers. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:40, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you could amend the WP article if you have a source, Cuddlyable; it says "the star has never been replaced". Alansplodge (talk) 22:22, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have put a comment at the article talk page and will wait a while before editing. My only source is already referred in the article. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:37, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Netflix postage

How much does Netflix spend on postage each year? Procrastinatus (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:04, 6 October 2010 (UTC).[reply]

Apparently about $600 million. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:20, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder which is their biggest cost, the postage or the cost of the DVDs? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 21:41, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is starting to sound like a business school Fermi problem! Well, let's work backwards from $600 million a year. Netflix sends their stuff barcoded first class presorted (as I see from looking at one that came today). That means they spend roughly 38 cents per DVD per one-way trip. Multiply that by two for a round trip and you've got 76 cents per customer DVD. So that's some 790 million DVD trips per year. Now Googling around a bit suggests that Netflix has some 89 million individual DVD discs. Let's assume that on average each disc costs $20 (if I recall correctly from my days in a video store, the price is quite variable depending on the movie in question — some are lower than this, some are much higher, some end up having a lower per-disc cost because they are sold in a box set and then broken into individual discs, etc.) That would mean they sunk, over their near decade or so of existence, some $2.7 billion into developing their inventory. Assume there is some degree of loss from the post office, and that they add considerable new titles per year, and replace some old or broken ones. It seems unlikely, whatever they did, that new inventory and inventory replacement would cost over $600 million per year — that would mean they'd have to replace something like a 1/4rd of their current inventory every year (or grow by some large amount per year). I would suspect the replacement rate is lower than that, say, one in 10 or so. This is very back of the envelope and I'm no B-school consultant, but my general conclusion would be, "yes, Netflix probably spends more per year on postage than it does on acquiring or replacing inventory." This makes perfect sense, of course — your total back-and-forth with the customers can use a relatively small DVD base if it is organized sensibly, since most people are not going to want to see the same DVDs at exactly the same time. Netflix as an operation is all about logistics (getting the DVDs from one place to another, doing it all seamlessly, etc.), not acquisition of inventory. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:11, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect cost <$20 per the Blockbuster system where the company made DVDs to order, and destroyed ones no longer needed (above the base sales guaranteed to a movie company - excess of those were sold in wholesale channels as "previously viewed"), paying the movie companies royalties instead. And they quite likely do have more than a 25% turnover - folks generally want fairly recent movies. I would guesstimate their per DVD cost at about $6, and the turnover at 40% or more each year. Netflix actually wants users to use the internet for classics - their royalty costs would be flat (very low on classic films), and cost of handling and postage for DVDs goes to zero. [1] shows the number of DVDs mailed per subscriber going down - now headed from 6 per month to under 4 per month. Collect (talk) 11:33, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Toronto recreation centres and parks

Is there a website where we can get information of each recreation centres in Toronto in order to hold any kind of programs like reunions and how much a room cost for renting one? also, is there a website where we can get detailed information about parks in Toronto such as how much does it the rent cost to host a picnic? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.18.229 (talk) 16:33, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Google is your friend. I searched on "Toronto event venue" and came up with many websites listing event and hospitality services in Toronto - this is one example, but there were more. I doubt you'll find any sort of bare price comparison online though, because most such venues like to talk to customers and find out their exact needs before quoting a rate for the event. You'll probably need to choose a few likely prospects and contact them direct. I couldn't find any info about parks, but several of the "unique venues" listed on the above site do mention that they host outdoor events. Ka renjc 16:55, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you live in Toronto, phoning 311 is also your friend. They should be able to put you through to someone with the necessary information, or if not, tell you what number to call. They can also be emailed: the email address is the 3 digits and the domain name is toronto.ca. --Anonymous, 18:42 UTC, October 6, 2010.

Toronto.ca also has a webpage for Parks and Recreation, here. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:05, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As a resident of Toronto (and former event planner), I second the link to TSEvents.com if you are looking for a more traditional venue. Bear in mind that with most event venues you must use a caterer from the approved list, or pay an extra fee (usually 10% of gross catering cost) to the venue. Karenjc is half right about venues not posting prices; some do and some don't. It depend son the sort of venue; some will simply have a flat rate for a given room, while others will change or waive the rental fee if you are using onsite catering (e.g. hotels will require a F&B minimum spend; if you reach it the room rental will be free, and you may get discounts/comps on accommodations as well). If all you need is a room, the Parks & Rec site is more useful. If you need more detailed help, feel free to contact me on my talk page. → ROUX ₪ 21:24, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cell phones that are less than of 70g and 1cm thick

Are there any cell phones that are less than of 70g and 1cm thick but have all the features of the Nokia 5310 (like, picture and video cam, music player, radio, emails in real time, etc.) for public from Nokia or from other companies now? Susan White (talk) 17:50, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Google Squared might a good starting point for this kind of research. I added a "weight" and "dimension" column to the search for "cell phones" and was able to find a few smartphones that came close to your criteria. --—Mitaphane _{Contribs | Talk} 18:16, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Big stripes on WW2 aircraft

What was the purpose of the large stripes on some WW2 aircraft, such as in the final illustraion of this article: North American B-25 Mitchell? Thanks 92.24.183.150 (talk) 23:07, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Invasion stripes, to reduce incidents of Friendly fire. They were first used in a major way by the allies during the Normandy invasion in 1944. Buddy431 (talk) 23:26, 6 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They made aircraft easy to see and to recognise as friendly, as has been said. Note, however, that this was only possible because of the almost total domination of Allied airpower over Europe.95.176.67.194 (talk) 07:14, 7 October 2010 (UTC)Froggie.34[reply]

October 7

Vasthu/ Geomancy

I recently purchased an apartment which was previously owned by an Indian Catholic.

I noticed that at the top of every door frame, there is a nail, about 7cm-8cm in length embedded at the top right hand side of each doorframe.

I was wondering why the nail was there, and tried doing some research on Catholic beliefs/Vasthu (as the previous owner was an Indian), but to no avail.

Any explanation why there's a nail on each and every doorframe of the apartment? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Seitoob (talk • contribs) 08:22, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do the doors have keys that might need to be hung out of reach? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:26, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are we to assume that you have discounted previous owners before him putting up mezuzot?--Aspro (talk) 11:41, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

@Cuddlyable3: The locks are turned locks, so no key required to lock from the inside. the Nails are located way high up, at the top of the door frame about 2m to the top right corner.

@Mezuzah : there are no previous owners. i'm the 2nd owner, so there was only 1 previous owner.

I'm not sure about the Catholic faith, but i don't think they have any practices of nails at the top corner of a doorframe, so i suspect it could be Vastu Satha or basically Indian Geomancy.

Rivers

Hypothetically if a river were to flow from north to south, if the more extreme climate in the north caused the river to freeze over for winter, how would this effect the parts of the river in the south? Would this cause the river to stop flowing altogether and dry up for winter —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.89.16.154 (talk) 09:18, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Depends which hemisphere you're in. HiLo48 (talk) 11:08, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Few rivers are sufficiently long that such a climate difference exists and that only the one source which freezes supplies the entire water flow. Even when a river "freezes over", it rarely freezes to the riverbed. The water flow in the Mississippi does not go to zero - but it definitely has greater flow when snow pack in the north melts, frequently causing flooding. An interesting sidelight is the Niagara Falls which has, rarely, frozen completely, leaving the base withut any water flow. As a curiousity, the St. Johns River in Florida is one of the few significant Northern Hemisphere rivers to flow north. Collect (talk) 11:15, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Major north flowing Northern Hemisphere rivers include Ob River, the Mackenzie River, the Rhine River, the Nile River. There might be more then you think. Googlemeister (talk) 13:39, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Nile is a bi-hemispheric river. Collect (talk) 18:40, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not if it is considered to start at Lake Victoria (0.5 deg N), which appears the most common assertion. In any case, The vast majority of its 4,100 mile length is in the northern hemisphere. Googlemeister (talk) 18:54, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, if by freeze over you mean freeze solid, and there is no tributary supplying water to the river, it will run dry leaving something resembling a glacier in its northern reaches. There may be isolated pools of water that eventually evaporate. I don't see that the hemisphere makes a difference. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:24, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The hemisphere comment was with respect to the assumption that a river flowing from north to south would be flowing from a cold to a warmer climate. It's obviously a northern hemisphere centric view. The reverse would be the case in the southern hemisphere. Yes, maybe a petty comment, but this IS a global encyclopaedia. HiLo48 (talk) 11:30, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Religion

Recently in the news there was an article in which they discussed an area in India where a sacred Hindu site was also that of an Islamic holy site, the Hindu site had been there for a few thousand years while the Islamic site was built on top of it in the 1500’s. It occurred to me that this is not the only case where such a thing has happened; take the Dome of the Rock for example. This has been a holy site for the Jews for many years, yet now there is a Mosc on the site too, both of these sites have been there for a very long time but the Jewish site predates the Islamic one by many years. I have no problem with any ones religion but am curious if this is a purposely-implemented policy or just coincidence? I have named but two of a number of examples that I could quote where an Islamic holy site has been built on top of, not next to, or across the road, but right on top of a pre-existing holy site of a separate religion. Is this a common practice? If it is a purposely implemented procedure, why? If not, then why does it seem so prevalent, or is my view biased in some way? As an aside, who is the leader of Islam? Who is the leader of the Jewish faith? E.g., the Pope is the leader of the Catholics, the Anglicans have a leader too, whose name escapes me at the moment, Rowan some one or other. Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.89.16.154 (talk) 09:20, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Literally thousands of Hindu temples were destroyed in India by invading Islamic forces.It was a common practice to bury the idol of desecrated Hindu god so that those who enter the mosque could walk over them. Jon Ascton (talk) 19:22, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The debate you are referring to is the Ayodhya debate. Other than that, some places are just naturally suitable for worship, and when one religion replaces another it would come naturally to also take such a intrinsically holy place over. Another reason may be to try and make the transition from one religion to another smoother (think Christmas and Easter being celebrated on the dates of major pagan festivities). Over here in my neck of the woods, there is a whole bunch of iconic little churches built on tops of hills, and one explanation I've heard for this is that they were placed there to replace temples to the god Svetovid, who would around here typically have a place of worship on top of a hill. TomorrowTime (talk) 11:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In some parts of Mexico there are Catholic churches built on the sites of pre-Columbian temples, and sometimes even with the same stones. Vultur (talk) 13:22, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To the OP's latter points, there is no single "Anglican Church" but the symbolic leader of the Anglican Communion (see article) is the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Dr. Rowan Williams. Wikipedia has an article about Islamic religious leaders. Authority in Judaism on theological and legal matters is not vested in any one person but in many rabbis and scholars. (updated) Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:14, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reuse of religious sites goes back thousands of years - some Jewish sites may have been religious sites before Judaism, many European churches were built on pagan sites, Roman temples were found to have non-Roman temples beneath them, and so on. (WRT Judaism, it had "congregationalism" before the Protestant congregational movement existed.) Collect (talk) 11:19, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A striking example is the Great Mosque of Córdoba, which began as a Christian church, was bought and turned into a large and important mosque when the region came under Islamic control, only to become a cathedral again after the reconquista, complete with an entire cathedral nave pretty much plonked down into the centre of the Moorish mosque architecture. Ka renjc 16:01, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Another striking example is the Kaaba, which was already an important religious site before Mohammed destroyed the idols and rebuilt it. --ColinFine (talk) 17:53, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The leader of Islam is the Caliph, though there has not been one since 1924, it seems the kings of Saudi Arabia, who have the best opportunity to claim the title, dislike the idea of such a leader, even if it is themselves. 148.197.121.205 (talk) 15:56, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Dome of the Rock is a different case from the Ayodhya site. Islam has a relation to Judaism similar to the relationship that Christianity has, and so sites that are holy to Judaism are also holy to Islam. There is no basic relationship of Islam with Hinduism, though. Looie496 (talk) 17:54, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The relationship of Islam to Judaism is hardly similar to that of Christianity to Judaism -- Islam split from Abrahamic times with a replacement theology concept. They assert that Ishmael was the chosen son of Abraham rather than Isaac. Christianity was spawned from Judaism when they accepted Jesus as the Messiah, a concept they plucked from Judaism, and they ran with it. Moreover, tenets of Islam dictate that they conquest and dominate over others, while Christianity demonstrates no such theological objection to Jewish self-rule. There are many instances of Jew-hatred that sprung up among Christianity -- such as that of Martin Luther -- but Prager and Telushkin's Why the Jews? explains this all very nicely. So while both religions might have promoted a sense of opposition to Judaism, Islam represents a more belligerent antipathy. Non-Muslims will never really know the details of the rationale of why Islam takes notable sites of worship and reverence from other religions and turns them into sites of Islam, but one can get a pretty good idea from the aforementioned text, and other sources. Or you might find some information at Dar al Harb. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 19:44, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Ishmael legend is about the origin of Arab peoples, not on the origin of Islam. It predates Islam by a long time. While Islam started among Arabic peoples, there are many muslims who have no arabic background at all. Indeed, the largest muslim population in the world is in Indonesia, and I am pretty sure that the Indonesians don't have a foundation myth related to Ishmael. You are getting your wires crossed with regards to arab vs. muslim They are overlapping, but not identical concepts. --Jayron32 22:37, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you read the Ishmael article, you'll see that Ishmael holds a primary position for Muslims, while in Judaism, he is an ancillary character. Arab Muslims claim to be from Ishmael, and non-Arab Muslims are followers of the religion started by Ishmael, an Arab. The same way there can be a converted Asian Jew, there can be a converted Asian or Malaysian or Indonesian Muslim -- and they all follow the teachings of the Koran, which denigrates Jews. That's why Bosnian Muslims volunteered to become an SS unit to fight against the Jews -- not because they were Arabs, but because they were Muslims. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 01:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I'll ignore the nonsequitur stuff which seems to confuse the issue under debate, but the fact is that Ishmael existed some 2000 years before there was an Islam. He didn't found Islam any more than Moses founded the Southern Baptists. There is no unbroken line from Ishmael to Muhammad. Abrahamic mythology had been part of the Semitic world from the Levant to Arabia, even among the pre-Islamic Arabs. And the fact that some people twist their religion to justify attrocities committed against people of other religions doesn't mean that all practitioners of that religion are to be painted with the same brush. Islam is a very diverse religion, and has been for a long time. Bosniak muslims were Europeans too, and so existed in the same cultural millieu as other Europeans. To tease out their anti-semitism as being somehow derived solely from their Muslim status (rather than being justified after the fact by themselves and others as such), and not from the same sorts of places that Germans, Polish, Russian, and other antisemitic Europeans got it from is just silly. I said I wasn't going to do that. Oh well. --Jayron32 02:01, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) I do not really want to get into this, DR, and it is becoming rather outside the scope of the question anyway, but saying the Koran "denigrates Jews" is a bit strong. Paganism is the religion that really gets Allah going, actually, not Judaism or Christianity, both of which are spoken of with respect in the Koran and many other Islamic texts (and as I am sure you may know that is also something that the G-d of Israel seems to have a thing about...). There is nothing in Islam that is fundamentally "anti-Semitic", and much of the conflict between Jews and Muslims is of very recent origin. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 02:04, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, not all of it... Adam Bishop (talk) 15:50, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Recent, as in Mohammed? Since its inception, Islam has put down Jews and Judaism, from jizya to jihad -- and Jews were never the sole beneficiaries, but Mohammed tried to get the Jews to embrace Islam and when they rejected him, he couldn't have been too pleased. DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 19:29, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who is the leader of Islam?

In a sense, Islam is run today a bit like Wikipedia is! We have "Administrators" much like they have "Ulama" in Islam. Our article on Ulama explains:

The ulama in most nations consider themselves to represent the ijma "consensus" of the Ummah "community of Muslims" (or to represent at least the scholarly or learned consensus). Many efforts to modernise Islam focus on the reintroduction of ijtihad and empowerment of the ummah to form their own ijma.

Islam has no single worldly "authority" in the way Catholics have a Pope, etc., but some Ulama clerics (both living and dead) are more respected or influential than others. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 01:34, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Islam is run today...like Wikipedia -- Damn, that explains a lot. Signed, a former ayatollah. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 14:47, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Lots of religious sites are re-used, either sacred places where people gather being adapted to a new religion (e.g. St Pancras Old Church, second oldest site of Christianity in England) or buildings, abandoned by a shrinking congregation, passing into new hands (e.g. Brick Lane Mosque, built as a French Huguenot church, then a Wesleyan and Methodist chapel, then a Jewish synagogue, now a Bangladeshi mosque). You may also be interested in Category:Conversion of non-Muslim places of worship into mosques. BrainyBabe (talk) 22:29, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And, for sake of comparison, Category:Conversion of non-Christian places of worship into Churches. BrainyBabe (talk) 22:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thomas England House

Does anyone have any ideas where I could find the history of the Thomas England House located in Smyrna Delaware? I'm told it has an extensive history and was built 300 years ago. ThanksTig3138 (talk) 10:12, 7 October 2010 (UTC) Moved from the request board. VernoWhitney (talk) 12:16, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Does this help? - Jarry1250 ^{[Who? Discuss.]} 17:03, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't find anything older than this postcard of the house. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 20:13, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Moving to the UK from US

A two part question. Am looking in other avenues but it never hurts to plumb the minds of the reference desk.

What is a good method for shipping personal property from the USA to the UK when a US citizen with a visa moves over? Is there a good shipping or haulage company?
What is a good method for paying off bills in the USA for a US citizen now living in the UK? The company states they only accept US currency and there would have to be some sort of conversion fee or something to do with some sort of Swift account?

Thanks! 95.148.246.128 (talk) 12:54, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For the latter, try to keep a checking account (US term) (current account is the UK term) open in the US. You can then use web-banking to pay your bills from it. Transferring a few large payments from the UK to the US will probably be cheaper than lots of small ones. This assumes that your US bank account doesn't have large monthly charges. In the UK most current accounts don't have monthly charges; those that do give you things like free mobile phone insurance, car breakdown assistance, etc.

You may wish to ask your US bank for a letter-of-introduction; this basically is a sworn letter from them that you are who you say you are. Without it you need to go through rigorous identity checks under the UK's anti-money laundering laws. Unless you have 3 (or 6) months of electricity/phone/gas statements you may find it hard. I removed the blank line between your two questions, as it was stopping the autoline numbering working correctly. CS Miller (talk) 13:31, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If this proves to be a problem, I'd recommend the original poster try to open an account at a bank branch that serves a university. Staff at such branches will be more used to the standards of proof of, and their own bank's systems for handling, the identity of non-UK, and particularly non-EU, customers. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 19:20, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As the OP appears to already be in the UK s/he may have already closed their US accounts. If this is so and if it is only one or two payments, then the easiest option may be to use the UK online banking service of his bank, to request that a Foreign Draft be sent to him. It is about half the normal fee if done online. As the normal fee is about £18 to £20 it still ain't cheap. This is the cheapest fee, that a quick Google of UK banks gave me if he hasn't already got one.International-payments. SWIFT is all capital letters and stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication The post above gives the better way to do it.--Aspro (talk) 16:43, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Amazon/Ebay

What happens on Ebay or Amazon if a person who has paid for something if the seller does not send that item to that person? Besides getting kicked off as a seller? Does Ebay or Amazon cover the cost? How does that work, what insurance do they have that will ensure people get their stuff and don"t get ripped off? Also, does peoples credit card information is it processed through Amazon or Ebay and not given out to every seller, how does that work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.137.246.230 (talk) 13:40, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you purchase from Amazon, I don't think they bill you until their affiliate retailer ships the item.

On eBay, you're dealing with individuals, not stores. If you pay through PayPal, you may be able to cancel your payment. Additionally eBay has recently instituted something called eBay Buyer Protection which gives you further protection on most items, if you've payed through PayPal.

However, there are strict time-limits on both of these methods of getting your money back. A clever con artist will try to string you along with lies and promises until you've gone past the 30 days for a paypal refund and the 45 days for the buyer protection.

If you've used some other form of payment, more than likely you're simply screwed. APL (talk) 15:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

eBay and Amazon definitely do not cover the cost. My understanding is that in some cases eBay will forward on information to local law enforcement if need be, but that's about the maximum amount of action on their part, other than banning sellers. As for the credit card information, generally it goes through a service like PayPal. You give your credit card info to PayPal and say, "send $10 to account XYZ." The seller, at account XYZ, gets a message saying, "$10 has been credited to your account." The seller never sees the credit info. Now there are some situations, if I recall, that PayPayl itself can be used to reverse transfers regarding credit cards. So you could buy something with a credit card, and if you don't get it, tell the credit card company to reverse the charge to PayPal, or something along those lines. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:00, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mr.98, do you have a citation that eBay definitely does not cover the cost? APL linked to the "eBay Buyer Protection" description, which seems to state that if you paid with PayPal or a few other methods of payment, and if you comply with a lot of rules, then eBay may refund your money and bill the seller. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, well, they may have changed it since I last looked. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:03, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There seems to be a lot of confusing info here. eBay/PayPal has had buyer protection eBayers using PayPal for I understand a fair while. (I can find discussion of the buyer protection since at least 2008.) I think SteveBaker mentioned it a year or two ago. It depends precisely which eBay site you use to buy the item and also I think where your PayPal account is registered as but as I understand it most of the main ones do include decent buyer protection. (Certain items are ineligible for protection and there is a maximum amount.) I believe the change APL mentioned above is that for various reasons probably including fear of anti-competition action in some countries, eBay has recently changed policy to remove PayPal as a compulsory payment method and added buyer protection for some other payment methods.

For PayPal, the way it works if you don't receive an item is usually relatively simple. You file a dispute within 45 days. At this stage, PayPal automatically puts a hold on the total sum if there's still that much in the sellers account. You then have up to 21 days to resolve the dispute with the seller. Failing that, during these 21 days either party can choose to escalate the dispute where PayPal will mediate. If you claim the item is not received, the seller has to show evidence it was delivered. It doesn't matter if they can show evidence it was sent. If the item is over a certain value, they need to show a signature recorded delivery. If they fail to show evidence it was delivered, they're basically SOL, no matter what they or you may have said before buying. (PayPal has seller protection as well.) I'm not of course what will happen if anyone takes the issue to court.

In the past, many of the cheap HK/Chinese sellers used to offer insurance or tracking for extra saying it was the sellers responsibility if the item was lost, this isn't true in general and I've noticed few do that any more, in fact quite often for cheap items and popular destinations they will mention they will refund you if it doesn't arrive in X number of days. As may be obvious here, although it's PayPal's protection most of the time it's the seller. (I think a lot of small time sellers don't realise their requirements under the protection policy.) Of course if the seller has taken the money out of their account and disappeared then it is PayPal covering it.

I myself won a dispute a few months back against a German seller, the item arrived the day after I won the dispute so I repaid the seller. I presume it got lost for about 2 months because of the volcano disruptions in Europe. I actually waited the full 45 days, was planning to wait the 21 days but the seller quickly escalated it. This meant I lost more money because of being hit by currency exchange fees both ways (refund and payment or repayment) and annoyingly most of the cost of the item was in the shipping (shipping from Germany is rather expensive for small items, silly Deutsche Post/DHL).

Note that PayPals protections if you buy something outside eBay are different (for starters they usually don't cover you at all and do indeed only offer to try and recover the money fromn the seller).

BTW things get complicated if you have other problems, like the item isn't what was described (this includes I think extreme cases like you bought a computer and received a shoe) or was damaged or whatever. Generally for item not as described, as I understand it (this isn't one aspect I've looked in to that well), if you can't come to an agreement then you have to send the item back to the seller, at your cost. And as with the seller, you need to make sure you have evidence of delivery since if the seller claims they didn't receive the item you sent back, your SOL. Also in a case like this, you may only receive the cost of the item back less shipping even if the shipping was outrageous and not at all proportional to the actual cost.

Nil Einne (talk) 03:52, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

[2] (safe search off although I don't see anything that is likely to be affected) suggests protection has existed in some form since 2003. By the by, there may be some differences in whether you pay by credit card or whether you put money in to your account. As credit card is the only option in NZ, it's not something I've paid much attention to. Nil Einne (talk) 04:06, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I said "recently" because I thought that the buyer protection had only existed (in a useful form) for under a year. I couldn't find a cite for that, so I freely admit that it might not be as "Recent" as I believed it was. APL (talk) 04:26, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes I understand the details have varied over time. I admit I never paid much attention in the past, I didn't really buy that many items anyway (no on uses eBay for inter-NZ auctions). I've been looking in to the history to try and see how it's varied. Archive.org seems fairly useless in this case because it doesn't cover the relevant pages.

[3] mentions the changes in Australia in 2007, an increase in value covered if the seller has 50 total feedback and greater then 98% positive. And perhaps more important an expansion of the scheme to a lesser value but for most transactions, in particular the removal of a $25 administration fee which used to apply for those not covered by the older eBay scheme. ([4] from 2007 and the US mentions something similar.) This from 2006 and the US mentions the high feedback requirement as well [5]. Neither of these mention that you'll get the money back if it can't be recovered but this from 2005 and the UK [6] mentions they do (as I somewhat expected). Also [7] from 2006 mentions the requirement for proof of delivery.

From these results I think when you had coverage the scheme it self has been useful (meaning the seller can't just disappear with your money without sending the item) since 2005, possibly since it existed. But coverage in the past has only been with those where you probably don't need it i.e. with high positive feedback sellers. However since 2007 it appears coverage was expanded to probably most transactions.

I should also mention that not sending the item is probably only a minority of problems buyers have. I've already hinted at the issues you may face when the item isn't as described and I think these sort of problems are much more common. While searching I found plenty of complaints from buyers (and also some from sellers) about the protection scheme, these were all (in the case of buyers) of the item not as described variety. These were also the issues I recall reading about when researching in the past. Given the way the scheme works, it isn't surprising. (Another common complain is the fairly scripted manner of responses, from my history with eBay I'm not surprised of these complaints.)

BTW I forgot to clarify earlier I'm only referring to PayPal or eBay protections. You may have additional protections, e.g. from your credit card depending on the laws and policies where you live.

Nil Einne (talk) 06:39, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Professionalism

does it mean to be a professional you have to control ur emotions and not let human feelings overcome you even when it is an emotional situation. are'nt these diplomacy/professionalism have a stromg foundation of human respect and dignity or it means to be sly and get he job done to our advantage ??

please advise as i am in a dilemma witj my boss —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.36.6 (talk) 14:52, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The first option is more correct. 92.29.116.249 (talk) 09:25, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Have you read our article professional? That covers some of the many definitions of the term. Warofdreams talk 16:03, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Professional article is poor. Its better to read Profession#Characteristics_of_a_profession and Talk:Profession#A_skeleton_article_on_Professionalism. 92.29.116.249 (talk) 09:53, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Defining "professional" is unlikely to make much difference in a dispute with your employer, and quoting dictionary definitions at him/her may make matters worse. People put their own interpretations on words, although I think most would agree with you that professionalism implies a degree of self-control. If your employer's policy is to do business in a way you believe to be unethical, or if you feel under pressure to behave unethically in order to be seen as "professional" by your employer, are you in the right job? Ka renjc 16:19, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Our article "professional" isn't going to help the original poster, and nor, surprisingly, is the Wiktionary entry. The definition over at m-w.com is better: "exhibiting a courteous, conscientious, and generally businesslike manner in the workplace", and the example sentence is, "I was impressed by the calm and professional way she handled the crisis." That said, I agree with Karenjc that quibbling over word definitions — although it is a STAPLE of what we do here at the Reference Desk — is often a pretty bad idea when interacting with your boss. Unless your boss also likes to edit the Reference Desk, I guess. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:55, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The OP is asking about the usage of "professional" to characterize a person's work ethic rather than its other meaning of having a formal qualification. The problem is that speakers tend to attach their own job interest to the word. For example, for a triage medic it means making calm objective decisions in a medical emergency. For a soldier it means unhesitating willingness to kill designated enemies. For a lawyer it means presenting only the aspects of a case that are to a client's advantage. For a plumber it means doing medium-quality work for a very good payment. For an advertising copywriter it means writing whatever will sell the product. The only factor in common is that all these people claim to be professionals with a foundation of human respect, whether that is credible or not. Wikipedia has a link for the so-called Professional criminal. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:56, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not very professional to assume that all plumbers are satisfied with medium-quality work. There must be some exceptions, surely. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:38, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nor is it to direct the visitor to our article on Habitual offender in response to this question! If I were the visitor, I would come away quite confused by your answer, Cuddly. :|

I suppose I agree with CT's comment most. Yes: it is important to conduct oneself with "professionalism" in a dispute with one's employer. That may well include being respectful of their position (relative to yours), which may mean moderating those of one's emotions which in another context one might feel freer about expressing. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 23:27, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The OP is understandably as confused as I am sceptical when the term professional is invoked but its intended meaning is obscure. It may mean as little as touting basic competence to satisfy a client, or as much as membership of a Guild that demands high standards for membership. Thus context is everything as my examples try to show. Jack is right that the single plumber I mentioned does not represent all professional plumbers nor the depths to which some plumbers plumb. Such as the exceptional one who routed sewage flow to his client's jacuzzi. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:13, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Q. "does it mean to be a professional you have to control ur emotions and not let human feelings overcome you even when it is an emotional situation"
A. "yes"

WikiDao ☯ (talk) 12:03, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Look, when a boss starts talking about 'professionalism' there's really only two things you can be sure of: (1) the boss is annoyed with some general aspect of your behavior, and (2) the boss thinks you're a good employee (otherwise you wouldn't get the 'professionalism' talk, you'd get a lot of free time to look for a new job). The boss probably doesn't have an exact idea of what he means by 'professionalism' any more than you do, but it usually boils down to one or more of the following things:

Attitude: 'professional' people treat their job as though they they are in it for the long haul. they arrive on time to meetings, they arrive prepared, they think ahead and anticipate future needs, they spend the time and effort to do things right. A boss will see you as professional (for an instance) when he says "We need a solution to X" and you say "Yes, I started working on that last week."
Demeanor: 'professional' people inspire trust and confidence in both fellow employees and clients. part of that is sheer appearance - you'd be surprised how much a little thing like a stain on your tie can give people bad impressions (of the 'is he going to manage my account as badly as he manages his tie?' variety). Part of it a willingness to 'do for' without becoming servile; people don't have confidence in servile people and don't have confidence in people who they see as snooty, but a businessman who takes time out of his busy schedule to do something that needs doing is usually viewed as a consummate professional.
Skillset: People expect professionals to have ready answer to difficult problems, so you have to be ahead of the game on the skills, information, and tools you need. again, that's part of the proactive attitude, but applied to yourself rather than the company - you need to ask yourself what you need to make yourself better at your job and seek it out.

just my 2¢. --Ludwigs2 07:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The OP asks about behaving diplomatically and professionally in an emotionally-charged dispute with his or her employer in New Delhi. The answer is that yes of course it is important to moderate one's emotions in such a situation. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 08:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think that if the OP is unclear what their boss means by professional in this context then it is fair enough to ask. I am not quite sure whether the OP is saying that the boss said that they were unprofessional or whether the boss is asking the OP to act in a sly and underhand manner, which they consider unprofessional. Perhaps some more information could help us answer. -- Q Chris (talk) 09:44, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(ec) The question also implies that controlling your emotions is sly. To quote more definitions, "sly" means 1. wise in practical affairs, 2. clever in concealing one's aims or ends, and 3. lightly mischievous. I'm guessing #2 is the intended meaning here. The question's wording does seem to suggest a moral or ethical problem resulting in strong emotions being expressed. If this is the case, I would say the real question is how much you need the job. If your job requires you to do something you are morally or ethically opposed to you should consider quitting and finding work better suited to your standards. If it is very important to keep the job then you have a personal dilemma to work out--and no one can tell you what the right choice is. I suspect most people struggle over questions about whether one's job is moral or ethical, or of value in general. Finding employment that is truly good and virtuous is extremely difficult--or at least tends to pay very poorly! However, if the issue here is not about ethics but more a matter of having lost control of your emotions, then something as simple as a sincere apology might be appropriate. It is okay to "let human feelings overcome you even when it is an emotional situation", but you are responsible for whatever happened as a result of being overcome by emotion. Apologizing for having lost control does not necessary mean you agree or are being "sly". I sometimes lose my temper, for example, and say hurtful things. It happens. The important thing is what to do about it afterward. If it is important enough to you, apologize for having lost control and then explain--calmly--why you do not agree. If it is not important enough, just apologize. Losing control of your emotions isn't a matter or being professional or not. Everyone loses control now and then, on or off the job. The question is what to do after the emotions subside. If you said something hurtful, apologize. If someone is asking you to act in a way you find unacceptable, explain why you cannot. Pfly (talk) 10:06, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The question does not imply that controlling your emotions is behaving in a sly manner. Professionals stay cool in difficult situations. They are ruled by reason, not emotion. They never let their emotions get the upper hand. Even if the client was being rude to the professional, or even if the client privately despised the client, the client would still recieve the same high standard of service that any other client would get. 92.29.116.249 (talk) 09:31, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are some situations where you might be asked to do something unethical because people have not understood or even looked at the situation. Even if you strongly disagree with what you are asked to do it is worth discussing the situation before leaving. An example I know of was a young woman who worked some evenings in a call centre to help finance a degree. She worked in collections and one of the jobs she had was to warn an 80-year old widow about an impending repossession of a house. The debt was about £5,000 on a £200,000 house! She told her colleagues that this was wrong and they all said "you have to do it". When she called her supervisor he talked to the collections manager and told her that this case should never have been sent for repossession, they had a lien on the home and could easily afford to wait until either the home was sold or the widow died, then collect the debt plus interest. -- Q Chris (talk) 12:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, always striving to do what's "right", even if that is not always entirely clear, in a calm and responsible manner, according to common-sense and established procedure, even in the face of difficulty and resistance, is also an important aspect of "professionalism." WikiDao ☯ (talk) 12:34, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Altruism is an important aspect of professionalism. 92.29.116.249 (talk) 10:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Worth remembering of course while the people involved in the above case may have been primarily motivated by what seem ethical and right or fair to the old lady involved, even from a purely selfish business POV it's unlikely repossessing the £200,000 house of an 80 year old lady because of a £5,000 debt is a smart idea. While a collection agency is probably always going to be somewhat controversial, that's easily the sort of thing which could become a very major PR disaster if the media picks up on it. Even worse of course, there would very likely be a blow back on to whoever was original owed the debt. Nil Einne (talk) 09:33, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The man who crash-landed the aircraft in the Hudson behaved in a professional manner. But the most important aspect of professionalism is being impartial and selfless. For example a judge making a decision without letting their own personal likes and dislikes for the individuals concerned influence their the decision, and disregarding any personal interests. The opposite of professionalism would be this person: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11500370 .

See the relevant parts of Profession#Characteristics_of_a_profession and Talk:Profession#A_skeleton_article_on_Professionalism for information on professionalism. Anyone can and should behave with professionalism, you do not have to belong to a professional body: if everyone did that, the world would be paradise.

A lot of confusion, which has resulted in poor quality articles, is due to confusing the vernacular use of profession, particularly in American-english, with non-vernacular useage. 92.28.254.120 (talk) 13:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cillit Bang ads

Was the fictional character of Barry Scott in the Cillit Bang adverts based on Billy Mays, do you know? Thanks. --95.148.106.22 (talk) 16:26, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't know, but curious readers may be interested in the history of the Cillit Bang advertising campaign - here and here. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Broken glass in my rug

A glass shattered all over my area rug. I picked up the big pieces and vacuumed several times, but I am worried about slivers that are embedded deep within the rug. Upon checking the internet for advice on getting the shards out I ran across an unusual one: a piece of bread can do the trick. How can bread pick up tiny pieces of broken glass effectively? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 19:44, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It can't but spreading out breadcrumbs will mark where you have and have not vacuumed. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 19:58, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

roll it up, take it outside and beat it (unroll before beating!). Sweep up the outside afterwards, return the rug to your room - that ought to get rid of a good amount of the tiny shards too. Also use the 'hand' ny156uk (talk) 20:27, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My hypothesis behind the bread idea (if it does work) is that it would mimic someone's foot and that, under pressure, glass slivers would be forced into it. Upon lifting the bread (similar to raising one's foot while walking) the glass would remain embedded in the bread. If it doesn't get stuck in the bread, it wouldn't get stuck in someone's foot, I suppose the idea is. I can't actually comment on the efficacy of such a treatment though. Brammers (talk/c) 22:46, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could have my wife walk over your rug. Her feet can find glass like you wouldn't believe! Dismas|^(talk) 23:00, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

^{[citation needed]} WikiDao ☯ (talk) 01:36, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

minor but obvious point: if you use the bread technique, it would be best not to eat it afterwards. Peanut butter, jelly and glass shard sandwiches are not quite as satisfying as one might expect.

--Ludwigs2 07:44, 8 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

That already sounds exquisitely unappetising even without the glass shards. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 09:54, 8 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

...unless one is very very hungry. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:28, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

even then ... ---Sluzzelin talk 10:37, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was talking about peanut butter and jelly in any circumstances. What sick mind ever dreamt of putting those foodstuffs together? (Almost as bad as the Oysters in Licorice Sauce I wish I had the balls to make and serve to some unsuspecting "friend"). :) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

I'm not a big fan of jelly (it strikes me as jam for people who don't really like jam), but I don't know why you'd object to the combo with peanut butter. I love peanut-butter-and-jam sandwiches, as long as it's good jam. Plum, or orange marmalade, say. --Trovatore (talk) 09:25, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Therefore everyone has to like it? Just because you have a weird streak does not deprive me of the right to be repugnified by the very idea of peanut butter and jam/jelly together. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:23, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

PB&J is a very common concoction in America, though I've never liked it. On the other hand, I like any kind of mollusk, and no small number of folks are repelled by them, or by some of them. And not everyone likes lutefisk either, but some of us do. On the other hand, oysters with licorice? Blecch! And I'm not saying Blecch to the oyster half of that. :( ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:01, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When I've had the problem the OP describes, a thorough and repeated vacuuming seems to fix it. One thing to consider (though I've not tried this), would be to spread some duct tape over the area, press it down, and then pull it up (assuming it doesn't also pull up the carpet) and that should pick up all sorts of small debris. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:03, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Re: Travel to Spain from England in the early 20th century

If you were travelling to Spain from England in the early 20th century, what port would you have left from and what kind of ship would it have been? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.3.61.207 (talk) 22:00, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cadiz has always been a major Spanish port. I think it is still fairly important. --Jayron32 00:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The OP is asking for an English port. I think Dover, and on to Spain by rail, would be one route. AFAIK, this was Laurie Lee's route. --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:56, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I see. Then why not Southampton. The article mentions a ferry service ran out of Southampton to, among other places, San Sebastián. It does not mention when it started, but says that it ran until 1996. John Lennon stood at the Docks of Southampton, trying to get to Holland or France. There's also nearby Portsmouth, which according to its article has a service to several cities in Spain, including Bilbao and Santander. Historically, one of England's most important ports was Plymouth, so that may be your best bet. As far as the kind of boat, it would undoubtedly be some sort of steamship, see Steamboat#Ocean-going_steamships. Picture boats like the RMS Titanic or the RMS Lusitania, though probably smaller, as Intraeurope ships would likely be smaller than these larger transatlantic vessels. --Jayron32 01:50, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Liverpool vied with Southampton as the major passenger port in the country in the period, and certainly ran passenger ships to Spain as well as elsewhere in the world. The route is mentioned in this article, together with a list of the passenger lines that operated, some of which would have gone to Spain, but I can't be specific as to which lines ran that route. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:19, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To summarise the above posts I think it comes to a choice between taking a short sea trip across the channel then taking the train or a long sea trip to a Spanish port -- Q Chris (talk) 09:47, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Was John Lennon around during the early 20th century - and was he trying to get to Spain? No! Caesar's Daddy (talk) 16:23, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, he was "Peter Brown called to say/You can make it OK/You can get married in Gibraltar, near Spain". Christ, you know it ain't easy (being right)... --Jayron32 03:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, later known as P&O, got its start operating steamships between London and the Iberian Peninsula, including Spain. This is where the "P" in its name comes from. Steamships were certainly the main form of passenger vessel used for sea voyages in the early 20th century. It makes sense that a traveler would depart from London, where all major rail lines in England terminate. If one were going to go to the trouble to transfer in London to a boat train to one of the Channel ports, such as Southampton, Dover, or Portsmouth, then why not buy a through ticket and board a train in France for the remainder of the journey to Spain. If, instead, one wanted to avoid the hassle of multiple transfers in London, Channel ports, and probably Paris, the most sensible thing would be to travel by train to London, and instead of going to Victoria or Waterloo Station for a boat train, just go to the docks and board a steamship directly to Spain. No doubt steamships left from other English Atlantic ports, such as Liverpool and perhaps Southampton or Plymouth, for Spain, but I would think London would be the most convenient for anyone south of about Derby and not on a direct rail line to a Channel port. Marco polo (talk) 16:54, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reminder service

I'm looking for an online service/e-mail client that will send me reminder (in the form of an e-mail preferably) after a specified amount of time. The more difficult part is that I want it so that no one can access this reminder during the specified time. Thanks --The Dark Side (talk) 23:29, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would Future Me do what you need it to do? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 23:40, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They don't allow any time spans of less than a month.

You must send your email at least 30 days into the future...0 won't cut it. We're not a reminder service. This is your chance to say something profound.

Other than that, it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Do you happen to know any reminder services similar to this site? --The Dark Side (talk) 00:04, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why not one of the on-line calendar services like Google Calendar? You can set up reminders to events at any time in the future, and if the calendar status is set to private, no one else can see them. Rojomoke (talk) 02:07, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To be more specific, I don't want someone (even using my account) to be able to see them. --The Dark Side (talk) 03:20, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

iCal by Apple Mac serves me very well, and will give notifications of events years ahead, though the OP's last request might be difficult to fulfil.--Artjo (talk) 07:47, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would go further and say it was impossible to fulfil. If you're the user of the service you're going to want to access/edit/delete reminders. Such functionality will always be provided. --Viennese Waltz 08:00, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You don't need an e-mail connection to do this. Just make a program that displays the reminder and save the executable. The task scheduler in Windows can run the program at any future time you choose. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:55, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ask a friend to call you and remind you. --Ouro (blah blah) 12:23, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

May we know why the reminder has to be kept secret or inaccessible, or is that a secret? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:37, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm trying to lock certain functionalities of my computer during the work week to prevent easily distracted people (read: myself and colleagues) from time wasting. --The Dark Side (talk) 14:54, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder if there might not be a tool to do that directly. I don't know of one, but I'll bet a lot of people would use it. APL (talk) 15:35, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If the "certain time wasting computer functionality" that you wish to have prevented is editing Wikipedia, then I know an easy way to get that done for free.Cuddlyable3 (talk) 16:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are services such as StayFocusd and Boomerang that may help with productivity. BrainyBabe (talk) 10:55, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Boomerang is a blatant E-mail address harvesting operation and I don't see anything on their site claiming otherwise. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:48, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oh dear! I've been using Boomerang with no ill effects so far. It does what it says, to delay sending emails till a time of my choosing. What makes you think it has nefarious purposes? BrainyBabe (talk) 09:49, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Four reasons 1) That's how it's done, 2) the e-mail addresses that they get are sure to be fresh and active, 3) greed, and 4) did I mention greed? Where do you think the money comes from to run the service? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 08:55, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

October 8

Buying music downloads from a French website

I'm trying to buy a music download from a French website. It's a recording that does not appear to be available in other countries as a lossless download (I don't want mp3 or other lossy formats) or as a physical CD. The owner of the recording (one of the major labels) has licensed it to a French online retailer, but only for sale in France. Apparently I will need a credit/debit card with a French address, or an IP based there, or maybe both. (I'm in the USA.) Bright ideas would be appreciated. ReverendWayne (talk) 02:05, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure it's not available as a physical CD? Ever? If it's owned by a major label, that would surprise me. If you tell me the artist and title I can try to find the CD online for you. --Viennese Waltz 07:58, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mahler's Sixth Symphony, by Eduard Flipse and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, on Decca. Not on Naxos (which is dubbed from LP) or Bearac (also dubbed from LP) or even the orchestra's own release (apparently licensed from Naxos) but the one on Decca, which presumably has been remastered from the original Philips tapes. Thanks! ReverendWayne (talk) 00:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Budgie

How do i get my bugdies to lay eggs? I got male and female and I can make them mate but my female never lays eggs. Money is tight (talk) 05:38, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Our Budgie article talks a bit about Budgie breeding and some of the problems there can be with it. Good luck! WikiDao ☯ (talk) 05:48, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If birds do not reproduce when other conditions are adequate, artificial insemination may be the answer. Sources confirm that works for many kinds of birds and are sure about chickens, pigeons and kakapos whose reproductive biology seems not too unlike budgies. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:23, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My Dad used to breed prolific amounts of canaries and budgies and sell 'em to local pet shops and individuals in Northern England at a healthy profit during and after the WW2 years. He always gave an eyedropper drop of whisky or brandy to the hen bird directly on to her beak as he placed her with the cock bird, and they produced wonderful chicks as a result. It must have been the ornithological equivalent of the date-rape drug used today by some unscrupulous human males. But at least the practice used by my Dad ensured a steady stream of baby Budgies and Canaries - it made a lot of people happy as a result - and it made my Mum happy as there was always food on the table for our family of 2 adults and 5 post-war kids. 92.30.139.42 (talk) 18:29, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What a lovely story; it made me happy too.--Artjo (talk) 20:37, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How did they taste? ;) WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:11, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Of thyme and parsley if they used Paxo.--Aspro (talk) 21:31, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Or did you mean by How did they taste? in the sense of:

A:My dog's got no nose.

B: How does he smell then?

A: Ruddy awful!

--Aspro (talk) 21:40, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interested to know either way, actually. :) WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:44, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The only reference that comes readily to hand suggesting they taste good is from the Australian National Budgerigar Council (ANBC) Inc. “...however, it can be stated on reliable authority that the name means “good food”. Two extracts support this. In Budgerigars in the Bush and Aviary by Neville Cayley, Percy Peir is quoted as saying.....” [8] If it is sitting upright on a perch, I suppose that it represents a balanced diet or perhaps a meal that is perfectly balanced :)--Aspro (talk) 09:25, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My male goes on top of my female's back, and each time seems to have an orgasm (basically it rubs its underparts on my female's back and then suddenly stops and flies away). Is that how they do it for they to lay eggs? Money is tight (talk) 08:13, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Basically yes, plus a lot of wing flapping. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:59, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Prevously-unexplored territory for wikipedia: Parakeet Porn. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:56, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not porn, it's educational. (video) Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:07, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Where did I say porn was not educational? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:31, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, it was rude of me to overlook your needs. Porn just reminds us adults of what we already know. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:39, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If you only have two of them, perhaps one or the other is infertile?Snorgle (talk) 11:43, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rock Hyrax

I need the exact sub specie of the rock hyrax that orrichanated from Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.133.186.18 (talk) 13:23, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Think you might find it is capensis or full name Procavia capensis capensis Common Rock Hyrax. If you look at Mammalian Species: Procavia capensis by Nancy Olds it gives all the type localities . This means the location of where the animal was found, which was first discribed and been given that name. I can not see Nelspruit listed. Cavia capensis entery appears to be the closest. --Aspro (talk) 14:44, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A question on intvu

is there some ways we can improve our interview skills on questions asked based on circumstances about leading the team e.g how will you handle the team if two people are not going well in the team/ what if you feel the top performer has behavioural issues do you throw him out , what are the challanges and changes you would introduce etc...etc i.e questions on events/circumstances ,so is there a link or a website that can help. sorry if this is too demanding i very well know this is not "very appropriate" a platform to asked about, but anyone who may, would appreciate it.. thanks in advance.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 16:57, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Some of this is sometimes called "behaviour based interviewing", and a Google search for that finds quite a bit of helpful material. In general it works pretty well, except on software engineers (who seem to lack the "Delta Brain Wave"). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 17:13, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When I attended some training as an interviewer (many years ago) we were advised not to ask "what would you do if ... " questions, as they will tell you either what the candidate thinks you would want to hear, or else what the candidate hopes they would do. We were advised to prefer "what did you do when ... " questions. --ColinFine (talk) 18:00, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that was the gist of the interviewing course that I got. Stuff like "tell me about a situation in your work history when you had interpersonal conflict with your manager". It worked splendidly on hardware (electrical) engineers, who came equipped with lengthy stories of how horrible everyone they'd ever worked for was, and how noble and magnificent they'd been in response. But the software engineers all, to a man and woman, claimed they "couldn't recall" any such circumstance; it was like interviewing Nixon. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 18:11, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, not to be snarky, but the best way to answer questions like that is to know the answers. The questions that were mentioned only make sense for a management-level position, and a person shouldn't really expect to get a position like that without having some actual management skills. Looie496 (talk) 20:17, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Q: How will you handle the team if two people are not going well in the team?
A: I shall bring my experience of what works when this situation arises in Wikipedia. I will not tolerate bad behaviour such as rudeness by either part. I will encourage discussion and hold a neutral position until both parties are satisfied that their viewpoints are heard and understood. If the matter is still unresolved then I shall state my opinion and ask whether both will abide by that, or will they agree to whatever another uninvolved arbiter decides? For the sake of the team there will be no other option.

Q: What if you feel the top performer has behavioural issues do you throw him out?
A: No. I shall meet with him/her to ask about what is holding him/her back from giving his/her best performance that we value. Are there ways to help him/her cooperate easier with others? Does he/she realize that if the behavioural issue is not resolved, he/she will no longer be assessed as a high performer?

Q: What are the challanges and changes you would introduce?
A: I would start by installing spelling checkers in the PCs around here.

Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:29, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You could start by correcting "challanges" to "challenges". Also, "What if you feel the top performer has behavioural issues do you throw him out?" is in need of grammaticisation. (You have asked for feedback and correction.) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:44, 9 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

Most ubiquitous product

What single product can be purchased in more retail outlets in the U.S. than any other? I'm thinking it's probably a 12 ounce can of Coke, which can be found in any supermarket or convenience store, most drugstores, and a bunch of other places such as restaurants, ballparks, and amusement parks, but I could be wrong. Any other possibilities? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 17:41, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say the 20 oz bottle far outstrips the 12 oz can. Even my local Staples carries a few 20 oz bottles of various sodas near the check-out lanes. But the only place I can get an individual 12 oz can would be at some gas stations. Dismas|^(talk) 18:01, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unless you count US currency as a product ("purchasing" 4 quarters with a $1 bill for example), I would agree with the 20 oz bottle theory. Googlemeister (talk) 18:23, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think the Coke is probably a good bet. If there was a particular candy bar that had the same kind of market share that Coke does, it might qualify, but there's probably too much variety there. Those individual packages of Kleenex that hold a small number of tissues are pretty commonplace, but you wouldn't often find them in restaurants. Of course, many/most "bottles" aren't sold in ballparks/theatres in favour of the syrup-based fountain drinks. Matt Deres (talk) 19:21, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bic pen? Bus stop (talk) 19:37, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hershey Bars. Ubiquitous. Collect (talk) 20:35, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Coke bottles are more common than Coke cans, or certainly Hershey bars, where I live. Is it cheating to say the product is "water" without defining a brand? Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:00, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Water, water, ubiquitous, nor any drop to drink. :) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:35, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not sure if you include all stores, but if you confine yourself to American and/or British supermarkets, the most purchased food item is bananas.[9], [10], [11], [12], [13]. So many bananas are sold in supermarkets, that the markets make more money off of bananas than any other single product, even though, on a per-pound basis, bananas are among the cheapest foods you can buy. (cited at several links above as well). --Jayron32 03:15, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bad experience at airport

Previous title was "That feeling you get just before someone smacks you in the face.............". Brammers (talk/c) 12:07, 10 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

My question? Last week I flew from Scotland to Mallorca (and return) with my wife using the budget carrier Ryanair. Despite many warnings about baggage charges, online check-in, chargeable hold baggage with severely restricted weight checks, severely restricted cabin baggage weights etc, etc., we actually had no problems, probably because we read the small print very closely and abided by the rules. We did see a lot of problems at both airports where the "victims" were clearly at fault for not doing so and suffering as a consequence, which consequently added to the wait of those behind the "malefactors". My question? Oh, yes. When we got to the boarding gate, after security etc., we saw one couple being refused permission to board because "they had not checked-in at the Bag-Drop" (previously known as Check-in). The couple protested that they had no bags to check in, only cabin hand luggage below the allowed allowance; that they had paid to check-in online; that they had turned up at the airport in plenty of time; and that they saw no logical point in queueing at the Bag Drop desk as they simply had no bags to drop. But they were still refused permission to board the aircraft and had to plead to be allowed to return to the "Bag-Drop" area to "Check-in" as they had already been allowed to pass "the point of no return at Customs". They eventually missed the flight. My question? I am not asking for a legal interpretation here - but am simply wanting to know what is the difference in real terms between a "Bag Drop" and a "Check-In" desk for future reference. In other words, if I don't have any bags to check in, and I have paid to check in online, why do I need to go through the "Bag-Drop" procedure? Thanks. 92.30.139.42 (talk) 18:21, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Heh, and after all that, your question appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with the title you've given it. I would understand it better if you'd called it "That feeling you get just before you smack someone in the face". :) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:03, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Jack (no pun intended), your response was the smack in the face I was anticipating when I posted my question. I must be getting too good at this. But my question stands anyway. 92.30.139.42 (talk) 21:02, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Next time please use a descriptive heading for your question. --Saddhiyama (talk) 21:11, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Was the problem possibly that they lacked boarding passes? If they didn't possess them, then indeed they should have checked in, at the Check-In area naturally, and obtained them. They should have been stopped at the security checkpoint if they lacked boarding passes, though. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:53, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like it's a small print solution. Ryanair state here and in at least one other (fairly obscure) place on their website that passengers must get online boarding passes checked and validated before proceeding through security. It says you do this at the "Ryanair Visa/Document Check Desk" - presumably this is the same place as "bag drop" aka "check-in". In other words, you have to queue at check-in whether you have paid for online check-in or not, and whether or not you have any hold baggage to check in. As Comet Tuttle rightly points out, they should not have made it through security without someone pointing this out to them (although "validation" of their home-printed passes may not amount to anything more than a checkbox on a computer screen, so the problem may not have been apparent until they were compared against an approved list on a screen at the departure gate). Doubtless Ryanair, being committed to customer service, will want to review the clarity of their passenger information to ensure others do not suffer loss as a consequence of a similar misunderstanding. Ka renjc 22:17, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ANSWERED MY QUERY - INCLUDING JACK - WHO RESPONDED AS ANTICIPATED IN THE WAY HE DID. TO Sadhiyamah, I say, get a life. And to the rest, I thank you for confirming that Ryanair are simply using online Check-in as a subterfuge for charging people to home-print their boarding passes in the expectation that they won't need to go through the Bag-Drop alias Check-in procedure (thus generating yet more income for Ryanair. Yet another cover-up for customer abuse. Sounds something like a banking scam to me. But never again. 92.30.139.42 (talk) 23:27, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's a somewhat unnecessary remark to Sadhiyamah. He/she was just saying in a more direct way what I was suggesting in a more roundabout way. It really is important to have titles that reflect at least something of the substance of the question (hence our rule not to call a question "Question", for example). Your heading seems to have zero relevance to your question, hence our remarks. Typing in all caps is also not on, as it is interpreted as you shouting at us, which we don't like. We're quiet, nerdy types here, and frighten easily. But we also know how to stand our ground when necessary. Like now. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 01:58, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

In fact the guidelines make this clear, although it seems common sense to me. If you make a mistake because you are unclear of the guidelines or not sure what to put for the title, that's fine, but yelling or telling people to 'get a life' when they point out to you that your title is fairly useless is clearly not on. If it wasn't a mistake but your purposely put a useless title to annoy people or to get a response out of certain contributors, that's even worse as it's WP:POINTy and clearly disruptive behaviour i.e. highly unwelcome on the RD Nil Einne (talk) 16:58, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's not quite so clear-cut as you suggest (that online check-in is a ~~scam~~ way to relieve you of €5). The wording of the Ryanair FAQ actually says: "... all non EU/EEA citizens must have their travel documents checked and online boarding pass stamped at the Ryanair Visa/Document Check Desk ..." Maybe the couple in question non-EU citizens. Certainly, the last time I had no baggage to drop-off and checked-in online (with another airline), I went straight to security with no airline personnel seeing my home-printed boarding pass until I presented myself at the gate. If I had been refused boarding because of some tiny detail only buried in the small print, I would have been very annoyed.

As for the difference between "bag drop" and "check-in", there used to be a big difference when self-check-in (either with a machine at the airport or online at home) was something very few people did. Now though, there is no difference. Astronaut (talk) 09:07, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Astronaut is absolutely right about the non EU/EAA clause, and I hold my hands up in shame. However, further investigation of the Ryanair website reveals the following here. "If you are travelling with no items of checked baggage (cabin baggage only) and have printed your online boarding pass you can proceed directly to airport security (except non EU/EEA citizens)." I have read and reread that every which way, but cannot get it to mean anything other than "if you are from within the EU/EAA, you do not need to go to Baggage Drop if you have online boarding passes and no cabin baggage". So, either the people the OP saw were from outside the EU/EAA, or they missed their flights because Ryanair staff did not understand company policy. If I were them, I'd be looking for redress. (And I don't think the digs at Jack and Sadhiyamah were appropriate either - I spent a while puzzling over the title, trying to see whether I'd missed something important about the question, before I went off to try and help answer it.) Ka renjc 10:25, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Free advice: As a frequent flyer I sympathise with the stress of waiting for slow impersonal procedures at airports while one is tired. The OP observed problems that affected other travellers ahead and must have been irritated not least by the added wait for him and his wife. After a good rest to detach one's feelings from the experience, it would be sensible to write a complaint to Ryanair. However your complaint should not focus on accusing Ryanair of subterfuge or of victimisation; rather you may suggest that clearer passenger information from them could have avoided a disapointing part of your holiday experience. Don't write "Never again". Karenjc is doubtless right. You may receive only a form letter in return but Ryanair cannot afford not to count complaints. I took the liberty of changing the title to help future reference and hope you don't mind. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:54, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

News in America

Anyone ever notice how over-dramatized the news is in America when you compare it to British news? Why is American news so over-dramatized? Battleaxe9872 ^{وکیپیڈیا} 22:15, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"If it bleeds, it leads." The movie Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore theorizes that one function of TV news in America is to surround Americans with an atmosphere of fear. (The film directly contrasts American news broadcasts with some understated Canadian broadcasts.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:26, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what you mean by "the news." Certainly newspapers in the U.S. seem much more sober than many of their equivalents in Britain. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 22:32, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A major difference between the two situations is that a huge player in British TV and radio is the BBC which, while it does chase ratings to some extent, is funded by the public through licences and by the government, so doesn't actually depend on ratings. American media doesn't have an equivalent moderating elephant in the room, and is almost exclusively dependent on advertising revenue based on ratings. In my view, that leads to a greater short term emphasis on sensationalism in American news services. HiLo48 (talk) 22:38, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I would make a slightly different argument than Comet Tuttle and Michael Moore. I agree with HiLo48 that, because the American media are completely dependent on advertising, ratings are much more important to them than to British media, where the BBC, sets a tone and would offer competition to over-the-top and moronic news. However, I'm not convinced that vapid stories about violent crime would necessarily draw more viewers than hard-hitting exposés of the utter corruption of American politics and its abject subjection to the big corporations and the wealthy oligarchy who control them. Because we have no real equivalent to the BBC to keep our mainstream media honest, our media, controlled by the same oligarchy, offer sensational "news" as a form of circus to distract the American people from the fact that they are being robbed blind. Marco polo (talk) 00:09, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gee, and I thought my post may have been a bit too POV! Are you suggesting it's a variation on Bread and circuses? HiLo48 (talk) 00:19, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

When I was working in television news, one of the more frequent comments I heard was that the purpose of a news broadcast was to fill the time in between the commercials. — Michael J 00:46, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The OP notices transatlantic media stereotypes that are not hard to recognize. There is the BBC with its sober history of binding together a colonial empire and later the resistance of occupied Europe, contrasted with the vapidity of CNN that dilutes a thimblefull of news in a sea of self-advertising graphics. However counterexamples exist. VOA and RFE/RL show constructive U.S. based reporting, and the UK has newpapers like the one pictured. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:57, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the image, Image:Newsoftheworld.jpg, because it's fair use. - Jarry1250 ^{[Who? Discuss.]} 12:15, 9 October 2010 (UTC) Thanks. My carelessness. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:54, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder why the OP thinks this is anything new in America. It's not for nothing that newspapers were called "scandal sheets" a century or two ago. And keep in mind that the Hearst papers helped to fuel the Spanish-American War. Financial scandals certainly get covered here, but bad news that affects "us" is depressing, whereas bad news that affects "someone else" is kind of energizing: it breaks up the daily humdrum, gives us something to talk about or maybe even do something about. There's nothing much to do about the banks "robbing us blind". Neither political party really has the answers to that question. So it's more interesting, and safer, to focus on a warehouse fire in some obscure city. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:52, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I say TOMATO!!!, you say tomahto? Clarityfiend (talk) 22:11, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Please explain how part of a song written and sung by Americans is relevant to the OP. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:52, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's just a joking reference to the differences between the British and the Americans (I wish I had said "KILLER TOMATO!!!" though). Clarityfiend (talk) 02:10, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Small text. Small joke. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:32, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seriously? Do you have nothing better to do than to vent your childish spleen? Clarityfiend (talk) 04:20, 12 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seriously? Do you have nothing better to do than criticise people for trying to inject a bit of light-hearted humour into an otherwise straight conversation... gazhiley.co.uk 08:34, 13 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

I don't think Britain is that far behind in the dramatisation of news. I've noticed an increasing tendency towards drama on this side of the pond, though perhaps I haven't seen the worst of American news presentation. Dbfirs 07:50, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Significance of ten in China?

This article on the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11503729) states that people are rushing to get married on October 10, 2010 because the date is 10/10/10... but it doesn't explain why that date might mean something (and also has no evidence of statistical import, but that's another matter). I gather from the article that it has special importance to Chinese people, but it never says why. The only thing I was able to find after skimming the Chinese numerology page was Double Ten Day... but it doesn't seem like that's what the article was about. Any ideas? 69.120.0.81 (talk) 22:42, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

People in China might attach an even greater significance to the day, but such "special dates" are regarded as "auspicious days" throughout the world (or at least, in this case, everywhere that uses the Gregorian calendar), perhaps just because they are easy to remember. Perhaps someone here will try to make an edit at 10:10 on 10/10/10. Dbfirs 02:40, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I wouldn't discount the historical day, just like Americans getting married on the Fourth of July, or French getting married on the Fourteenth.—— Shakescene (talk) 07:02, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

10 October 1911 The Wuchang Uprising leads to the demise of Qing Dynasty, the last Imperial court in China, and the founding of the Republic of China.

10 October 1945 The Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang signed a principle agreement in Chongqing about the future of post-war China. Later, the pact is commonly referred to as the Double-Ten Agreement and is celebrated in Taiwan on Double Ten Day (雙十國慶). Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:31, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Does the same thing not apply to the 12/12/12, 11/11/11.......1/1/01? 92.15.17.139 (talk) 19:57, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

To computer geeks (not that there are any of those here), today is special because it looks like a binary number: 101010. As have several dates in 2000, 2001 and 2010. There should be some more in 2011, and that will be about it for the next 89 years or so. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:44, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bah. No serious computer geek today would abbreviate the year to two digits. --Anon, 22:17 UTC, 2010-10-10.

Random googling turns up a "Ten Ten Restaurant"[14] but I suspect that's a coincidence, as I doubt "ten" means "10" in Mandarin. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:46, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ten Ten ( + + ) day is the anniversary of the fall of the Qing Dynasty (today) S.G.^(GH) _ping! 15:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Look at the Wikitionary article for the Chinese Ideogram for 10 at wikt:十. Note meanings 2 and 3 in the Han etymology, become enlightened. Nanonic (talk) 23:05, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

October 9

background music

i have a song whose background music is the only thing i want. is there a way to detach background music somehow...anyhow. :)--Myownid420 (talk) 07:55, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There are audio filtering techniques that can achieve amazing things, and a singing voice can often be isolated from music by processing the differences in frequency spectrum and amplitude. But it's not likely that background music can be detached without distracting artefacts. I would have to hear the piece to comment sensibly. There is another way which is to let a musician recreate the melody. This example (video) shows what can be done from just hearing a song in a film. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:18, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This question was first posted on the Maths desk, and two answers were given there. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 23:51, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

How to turn down a friend

A friend of mine wants to join my team for group work in a course. He is not a good student academically. I like him as a friend and I enjoy hanging out with him but I don't want to work with him in a team. Please advise me on what I should say to turn him down without appearing too rude. He knows my team still has available spots. Thank you 222.254.26.175 (talk) 12:21, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this; you are a horrible person. Instead, you should feel ashamed and, in that ashamedness, lash out irrationally at those you love. Following this, a long, long life of bitter anger and further disgusting acts by you is to be expected and endured —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.186.241 (talk) 12:27, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think the previous poster is a bit over the top but I do agree it is a tricky situation. Clearly you have a conflict between your academic achievement and your social commitments. You use the phrase ". . . my team still has spots"; does this imply that you have the ability to choose who joins 'your' group? If it is up to you then the only decent way is to be as honest as you can and explain that you are concerned he may not cope well (or whatever) in your group. If he is a friend then he would hopefully recognise and accept you rationale. If it is a more democratic arrangement that decides who joins the group then you may have to accept the results and as a real friend support him if he struggles. Finally you may have to consider that he is not really your friend but 'someone you like to hang out with'. Dealing with this dilemma is going to decide which he is. Caesar's Daddy (talk) 13:24, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Tell him (insincerely) that you think it is a shame that "they" (unspecified) think they can dictate who to have on the team. You share his disapointment. To atone for this white lie you could wreak massive medieval harm upon an unsuspecting IP in New South Wales. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:51, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a reference for that? 60.242.186.241 (talk) 14:03, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Before you reject him - and there is absolutely no foolproof way to do this without hurting him and damaging your friendship - have you stopped to consider the possible advantages of accepting him? Do you really know what your assessor is looking for? Most team tasks are set up to assess teamwork skills as well as progress in the task itself. Successful teams take people with varying skillsets, personalities and talents and weld them into an effective force that makes the best use of what each individual can offer in order to get the job done. If your team already contains academic types, perhaps your friend has other qualities that would be valuable in the exercise. And if your teacher knows you all and your various strengths and weaknesses, s/he may be looking for evidence that you have forged and run an effective team from a mix of individuals, rather than just cherry-picking the class eggheads. Ka renjc 17:13, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Karenjc on this. You may wish to investigate the work of Meredith Belbin regarding what components make up high-functioning teams. OK so your friend may not be an academic, but does he/she have other skills, abilities or qualities? One of Belbin's roles is a "chaser" - can your friend keep on top of what people have agreed to do and make sure they do it? Maybe they're good at coming up with new and different ideas? Or could they have the sort of people skills that neither you nor others in your team possess? Hell, even the ability to remember what everyone has to drink and to supply it at regular intervals is a quality sadly lacking in many teams I've worked in! --TammyMoet (talk) 19:32, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And to add to that, if your friend is less strong academically than you, they may require you to explain what you are doing and why, which helps you consider what you are doing, and will most likely help you learn the material better. They are also more likely to get on with the work rather than try to take control of the task and do it their own way. As Belbin explains, many a team has been stalled and unable to complete the simplest task, because each member was sure they knew the best way to do it, and refused to do it anyone else's way. While I am unconvinced by much of Belbin's specifics, their work was useful in counteracting the idea that a team of super-smart leaders will be the best. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 22:04, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Signs

Deleted following discussion on Talk page. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:59, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sanitized and reasked below. -- 124.157.234.91 (talk) 02:26, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Numbers stations

Are there any numbers stations currently being streamed live over the internet? I'm aware of UVB-76 and am looking for others. Thanks, --Viennese Waltz 15:52, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are you really sure you want to know? “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”—Tom Cruise, Top Gun--Aspro (talk) 16:15, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As a spymaster, I can tell you this is a horrible idea. The great thing about numbers stations is that the numbers can be scribbled down by anybody in range and receipt is undetectable. On the Internet. every time someone 'connects' to your Internet radio station, the radio station — and many intermediaries — know your IP address and can deduce where exactly you are. Receipt is very detectable. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:28, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't mean being streamed by the original broadcaster. I mean being picked up and streamed by anyone. --Viennese Waltz 20:28, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

While it is possible for someone to relay the allegedly covert transmissions onto the Internet, Counter-intelligence organisations would not like this to happen. To help a potential enemy to communicate is not kosher. As things are, the spy who receives the messages can be distinguished by the equipment he carries (a shortwave radio tuned to a particular frequency. That setting can be identified by remote scanning of local oscillator radiation.) and the times when he has to listen or set up a recording session. Another disadvantage is that it would expose the code to worldwide Internet users. There are so many of them that there will probably be someone smart enough to decrypt a code that you can't, or don't want to reveal that you can decrypt. That's not kosher either. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:52, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There seem to be a lot of useful links at the bottom of our article. For example, re. Cuddles' remarks:

How does it work?

"At the spy HQ a message to an agent is encrypted using a cryptography key called a one time pad. This key is a dictionary for a language that is only used one.The message is then broadcast according to a pre set schedule possibly from an embassy or military base located in another country. An agent in the field has is issued a shortwave radio (probably a portable something inconspicuous), a copy of the schedule a book containing copies of the one time pads he will need. The agent then listens at a time and on a frequency listed on his schedule. He listens to the message header to see if the message is for him and what key to use. If the message is for him he notes down or records the number and then uses his key to decode the message. He then destroys the key."

from the Welcome to number stations link.

Does UVB-76 stream online? WikiDao ☯ (talk) 02:27, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes it does, see here, although it's not a numbers station it just transmits buzzes. And forgive me if I'm labouring the point here but C3 didn't quite answer the question I asked, which was simply whether any numbers stations are currently being streamed by "worldwide Internet users" (bloggers, third parties, etc). As C3 says, "it is possible for someone to relay the allegedly covert transmissions onto the Internet". I would just like to know if that is currently happening. Thank you, --Viennese Waltz 07:36, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Many radio enthusiasts hang out on the #wunclub IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel. This is a place where you can chat with fellow listeners, as well as share monitoring catches in real time. You didn't hear this from me. I am not here. I didn't say this.Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:27, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It would be naive to think that agents carry special books printed on the front cover with "SECRET ONE TIME PADS. Tear off and destroy the last page used." The ubiquitous Gideon bibles have been used as one time pads more often than anyone knows. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:00, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A very Strange comment

Recently someone commented on my style of mustache, they are not exactly Fu Manchu thing, but something quite close, thin and tapering downwards. He said something like this, well I cannot tell what he exactly said due to the fact that his accent was very queer to me. He said that early in '70 or '60 etc. guys used to grow such mustache as a symbol for the fact that they have cheated their girlfriends and they are doing repentance for the same ! I know it sounds very-very strange, even absurd. Was the guy mad or is there some hint of truth in what he said to me ? Jon Ascton (talk) 17:13, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Never heard of it. (And those were the years of my young adulthood.) HiLo48 (talk) 20:28, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Neither have I heard it. Moustache growers then as now were proud of their decoration, which is irreconcilable with the idea that they are doing penance. These owners (video) seem satisfied with their moustaches, and a good Fu Manchu moustache can be rewarded in its own category at the World Beard and Moustache Championships. That is not to say that an attractive man with a moustache might not break a few hearts. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 21:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Specops / aviation eye requirements

I have glasses, yet in the military i want to be a specops / aviation officer. Right now, i have glasses, but in the future i want to get lasik. Will i be removed from the pipeline if I have had a recent eye surgery?--LastLived 18:23, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think yes. They are very serious about this matter. It also depends on the fact that whether you get a perfect 6/6 vision after surgery (it is not always very successful) Jon Ascton (talk) 19:04, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Jon, please provide sources rather than speculation. This site discusses the various rules of the branches of the US military. Whether or not eye surgery allows for service in certain areas depends on both the particulars of the surgery (the Air Force is fine with LASIK for pilots, the Navy isn't but permits PRK). Special forces appear generally incompatible with LASIK patients, but they're likewise incompatible with those who need corrective eyewear. However, "special forces" is a wide enough category that there may be exceptions. Your best bet is to speak to a recruiter or other official with ties to the specific positions you're considering. — Lomn 19:19, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There seems to be quite a lot of information out there on this subject. This report suggests that there was previously a blanket ban on anyone entering the US military who has had previous vision correction surgery, including Lasik. The policy has been reviewed, and it seems a waiver may possibly be granted, depending on the applicant's medical records. However, we have no inside track on who might get a waiver, and under what circumstances. Asking the military directly is the only way you will get a meaningful answer. If it were me, I would most certainly not undergo the surgery until I had an authoritative opinion on how it would affect my plans for a military career. Ka renjc 19:31, 9 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You are not able to fly until 1 year after the surgery. If you are already in the military, why don't you just ask one of the docs at aeromed? Googlemeister (talk) 13:58, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

October 10

"Signs"

Someone recently asked a question here about having observed a certain behavior around signs like this. Apparently, some people avoid walking under them for some reason (which may have something to do with the phrase "batty-man legs"). The question was: why? I don't really know anything about it, but I understand from the talk page that the question got some interesting and reasonable answers before getting deleted, so if anyone would like to re-post their answer (or post new ones) here that would be great! Thanks, WikiDao ☯ (talk) 01:17, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

WikiDao.. 'batty-man' (or batty-boy, bottie-boy, etc) is really disgustingly homophobic Jamaican slang for homosexual. Perhaps, since consensus was originally for this question to be removed (it was also originally offensive in other ways), we could keep it removed? That would be great. → ROUX ₪ 01:36, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the info, Roux! See, I didn't know that. I asked this question (different from the original in several ways, you'll agree) because I did not see any consensus for having removed it on the talk page. The talk page discussion was what prompted me to ask it again in this way (there was a complaint about GF edits and interesting info being deleted, Cuddly behaving rather trigger-happily if you ask me, and Bugs' seemingly hesitant acquiescence). If I got this wrong, or if you find this thread offensive, I am not too invested in keeping. It is just my preference, generally, to keep first and ask questions later... sorry. :S WikiDao ☯ (talk) 01:48, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, while "batty-boy" is a sexually prejudiced pejorative, the "batty-man legs" superstition appears to be truly homophobic in all senses of the word, as it deals with the fear that certain behavior may make one become (or indicate that one is) a homosexual. This no reason not to explain the phenomenon or attempt to determine its origin and prevalence. -- 124.157.234.91 (talk) 02:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks WikiDao. The references to "batty-man legs" I've found are:

Facebook: i never walk under the batty man's legs, which mentions, "for all those who are so insecure about their sexuality that they believe walking under the two posts with a sign bridging the gap, will change it..".

Facebook: Beware of the Batty Man's Legs: which explains increasing battyness of society since Victorian times by claiming, "the batty government has been planting these BATTY MANS LEGS in YOUR previously non-batty town. ... The BATTY MAN'S LEGS are signs on pavements."

Urban Dictionary: batty man: "(noun) 1. A jamaican term for one who is a male homosexual. A concatenation of the jamaican words for the human posterior (batty) and man.". (The Urban Dictionary doesn't seem to know about BML yet.)

The phrase "batty man's legs" appears to refer to the two posts used to hold up a large traffic sign, and the superstition appears to be related to the concern that a man walking under such a sign (which may be posted high over a sidewalk) risks becoming (or indicates that he might be) a homosexual. I would assume that the allusion is related to the sexually suggestive nature of walking (crawling?) between a man's legs, and thus being in proximity to his crotch. Some confusion was introduced by the photo provided by the OP which is of a sign for a traffic circle on a left-side-driving road, which along with the Jamaican origin of "batty man" contrasts with the Yonkers, NY geolocation of the OP. It was pointed out that the photo is watermarked "2008 Google" and was likely just a random image of such a sign. Will the OP please let us know where he has run across this phrase and superstition? -- 124.157.234.91 (talk) 02:09, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Jesus, for a so-called reference desk, you people really don't have a clue, do you? The sign is not in Jamaica (do you really think Jamaica looks like this?), it is in Britain. That's not a sign for a "traffic circle", it's a sign for a roundabout [15]. Perhaps it would be better for all concerned if people didn't attempt to answer questions they know nothing about. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.115.231.201 (talk) 11:14, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Traffic circle is American English for roundabout. Just FYI. --Trovatore (talk) 07:42, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There's nobody here called Jesus as far as I know. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 11:44, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Jamaica also looks like this. In any case, the ref desk only knows as much as its participants -- participants like you. Thanks for straightening me out on traffic circles vs. roundabouts. (After reading the articles I now know that they are distinguished by the fact that in roundabouts the entering traffic always yields, while in traffic circles it has the right of way in some countries but must yield in many others. ?) Apparently Jamaica has "Road Abouts" and uses yellow signs. Also note that all that I had suggested was that the photo didn't appear to have been taken anywhere near Yonkers. -- 124.157.234.91 (talk) 12:35, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Gosh. I think that 83 has misspelled "Thank you for completely answering my question, which was about why the black people I've met are superstitious about walking under signs, and I'm impressed that you did that even despite the understandable confusing resulting in my posting a picture from Britain while asking about what turns out to be a Jamaican superstition, despite the fact that I'm in Yonkers. You are very wise, and I'd like to buy all of you pie." -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 12:41, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who's 83? The OP of the original question was 96.232.187.242 109.87.135.128 (talk) 13:38, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Quite. I didn't post the picture, I just pointed out that it was obviously not taken in Jamaica. But well done for leaping to further inaccurate conclusions, Fisher Queen.

FWIW, there are people in Britain who use Jamaican slang. See British African-Caribbean community. 87.115.231.201 (talk) 15:19, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The phenomenon is caused by speakers of Multicultural London English and associated lects in the comprehensive schools, further education colleges and post-1992 universities of the UK being given insufficient homework. A message to you. "Stop your messin' around. Better think of your future. Time you straightened right out. Creatin problems in town." Etc. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:05, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

October 11

List of Indian members of the Indian Civil Service

The name of Abul Faez Mujibur Rahman who joined the Indian Civil Service in 1923 is missing from the Wikipedia list. Can you kindly check why that is so? Thanks

It does say at the top "It is not an exhaustive list". And if you think about it, a full list of all such people would surely be huge. I'm not really sure what the purpose of the list is, given that it could never hope to be anything like complete without blowing the page limit rules to smithereens. -- 202.142.129.66 (talk) 04:45, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Generally speaking lists are primarily intended to show notable people so they are inherently self limiting. Whether this list would still be too long even then I can't say although I'm not sure what 'page limit rules' you're referring to as Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists) doesn't mention any limits and Wikipedia:Article size primarily concerns it self with readable prose and a list doesn't really have any readable prose (and in fact it mentions that while lists should be kept as short as possible, the rules of thumb don't really apply to them due to their nature). Or to put it a different way there doesn't really seem to be any norm for lists that I can find. Having said that, it would be possible to split this list anyway if necessary by years of joining. Incidentally what differentiates lists from categories is that they are intended to show addition info that is considered relevant but a category won't show. BTW this questions belongs at WP:Help desk not here. Nil Einne (talk) 05:57, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

giardia lamblia

how to preserve viable giardia cyst41.153.230.99 (talk) 07:25, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My first thought is, don't. Kill it! What good is it to anyone? --Trovatore (talk) 07:28, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As a subject for research on how to prevent or cure Giardiasis, maybe? It's the OP's business why s/he wants to know, and ours to answer if we can and want to, not to question hir motives, other than to help us better answer the question. (87.81 posting from . . .)87.82.229.195 (talk) 09:28, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My understanding is that they are pretty hard to kill. I think the real question is how to find an identifiable cyst. Perhaps the OP can clarify. Looie496 (talk) 20:45, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Renting a car with a prepaid card

Can you normally rent a car with a prepaid - Visa or Mastercard - card? Both companies claim that they cards are accepted everywhere where you see their company sign, however, many people told me they are not sure about it.--80.58.205.34 (talk) 15:54, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That depends on how much you prepay on the card. When you rent a car, the rental agency will usually place an advance 'hold' on your card for the anticipated cost of the rental plus a deposit (to cover possible damage or late return charges). Your card isn't actually charged at this time, but it must have sufficient available credit (see, for example, [16]). People with regular (unsecured, non-prepaid) credit cards must meet the same standard at time of rental. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:24, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Disagree. Prepaid cards are a bit more like debit cards - and many places do not accept debit cards. Collect (talk) 16:29, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This may vary significantly by jurisdiction, but in the United States the vast majority of agencies will accept debit cards as well (albeit with prodding). Generally they require a substantial hold amount (two to five hundred dollars) and may impose a credit check prior to the rental. See, for example, [17], [18]. Note that different franchise locations may have different requirements (that is, the Budget counter at the airport may impose different conditions than the Budget outlet downtown). Your best option is to contact the vendor directly. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 18:48, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Polish Auction

I am placing this in Reference Desk/Miscellaneous because it might fit in at least 3 different Reference Desk categories: (1) Humanities - after all it is about a form of auction which falls under economics, (2) Mathematics - this might fit under game theory as it does represent an unusual pattern, (3) Entertainment - due to the cultural related aspects (positive: fraternal organizations, negative: political incorrectness) of this subject.

On the Talk page of Auction I placed a research type question and there has been no response so I thought I would try linking to it here to see if that helps any.

The question is located at Talk:Auction#Polish_Auction_.3F. Thanks 66.97.213.94 (talk) 18:21, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why are the bananas damp?

For months the bananas at my usual supermarket have been damp underneath, or show brownish stains that look like some organic fluid has dried off. They sit loose on plastic in cardboard bozes, and the lower surface is often damp. I am not the only person to notice this: see http://www.oldskoolanthemz.com/forum/chillout-room/34276-supermarkets.html

I recall that a lot of people got hepatitus at a medical conference dinner by unwittingly eating infected strawberries. The strawberries became infected because the piece-work pickers sprinkled "water" over them to increase their weight. Might the same thing be happening?

The explaination in the link above - that its just condensation from moist tropical air trapped inside the boxes - does not seem entirely convincing. If the boxes were open to the air, then being in a fridge of some kind would dry them, as the water vapour is taken out of the air by freezing or condensing on the condensors. The bananas in pre-packed plastic bags are dry.

Does anyone have a factual explaination for why the bananas are damp? Thanks 92.15.11.165 (talk) 19:29, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, lots of supermarkets have people who go around spraying water on the fruits and vegetables to keep them bright and shiny (and weighing as much as possible). They shouldn't be spraying the bananas, but the people who work at supermarkets are not always the best and the brightest, so who knows. Looie496 (talk) 20:41, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

None of the other fruit and veg are ever damp - its only the bananas. And I've never seen anyone spraying them either. 92.15.11.165 (talk) 21:16, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Roast beef "solution"

I bought some really cheap roast beef and it says "Contains up to 20% solution" on the package- what is this? 149.169.130.133 (talk) 19:49, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cheap meats are often either soaked in, or injected with, a brine solution in order to plump them up and increase the weight (and therefore the price). This isn't actually all bad though. Brining causes meat to retain more moisture when cooked, so you will actually end up with a juicier end product than you would have if it had not been so treated. → ROUX ₪ 21:00, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Bubblegum flavour

One of these 'I've wondered since early childhood' questions. Sometimes, drinks and ice lollies and sweets are available in 'bubblegum flavour'. Despite bubblegum itself coming in a wide variety of flavours, all of which are added flavourings, these 'bubblegum flavoured' things indisputably taste of bubblegum. How is this so? My guess has always been that it is a cheap strawberry flavour, but that doesn't feel like the whole story: there are plenty of cheap strawberry flavoured sweets and drinks that do not taste of bubblegum, and the bubblegum flavour is so evocative that I find it hard to swallow things that taste of it! And strawberry was never my preferred bubblegum flavour ;) Question is in bold, in case it is missed. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 21:14, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I will be watching this with interest, as I was wondering the exact same thing last night. Googling didn't get me much, though this company seems to sell the pure flavour. → ROUX ₪ 21:20, 11 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]