Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

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June 19

What's brown and sticky?

<See headline>

Chocolate icing? Vegemite? Bitumen? —Keenan Pepper 00:25, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually bitumen is black and sticky. What about rosin? —Keenan Pepper 00:27, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and don't forget Gorilla Glue. —Keenan Pepper 00:29, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

A stick?

Mole asses --  SLUMGUM  yap  stalk  02:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• A twig???hotclaws**==(81.136.157.206 07:47, 19 June 2006 (UTC))

"whats brown and sticky" is a joke, to which the most common answer is, obviously, a brown stick. similar to "what red and looks like a bucket?" (a red bucket). and "whats blue and looks like a bucket?" (a red bucket in disguise). oh the hilarity. --Ballchef 08:03, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I realize it's a pun, but for any non-native English speakers who might be reading this, sticky means "adhesive", not "resembling a stick", which would have to be something like stick-like. —Keenan Pepper 18:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I would have thought that too, but the OED does have "sticky: 1. Of plant-stems: Like a stick; woody. 2. Painting. Characterized by hardness of outline. 3. colloq. Of a person: Like a ‘stick’; wanting in animation or grace; awkward."--Shantavira 19:03, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Weird. —Keenan Pepper 00:20, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah well the OED is rather wanting in animation if you ask me.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  04:28, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

real person that owns this computer

i am the real person that owns this computer i am 15 and i have a girlfriend and shes 15 and i seen what my friend rote on this website he did that because i told him that he needs to get a life and just to let you know hes the one thats gay hes 13 and has a 10 year old boyfriend so he rote what he rote because he was jelous and was upset that i told him he needs to go get a life so please listen to me i would like you to delete his message in exatly 5 weeks and if its not gone then i will tell all of my friends and family members that this is a very bad web site so deal with oh and by the way your the one that needs to go see a shrink what i just said goes to who ever said i need to see a shrink and who ever said that your just upset so please take back what you said and that thing with my friend im very sorry it will never happen again—71.99.101.78

Who is "you"? Many people read this page and answer questions. The only edits made by the IP address you're using (Special:Contributions/71.99.101.78) are a spelling correction and three posts (including this one) to the reference desk. The reference desk is archived every few weeks anyway, so don't worry about it. By the way, people will be more willing to help you if you use things like capital letters and periods. It's difficult to tell what you're trying to say. —Keenan Pepper 02:41, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

We don't take well to threats at Wikipedia, but you can go ahead and tell your mom and your 15 year old friends that Wikpedea sukcs anyways. Nobody is going to call the police on you if you have a 15 year old girlfriend, mainly because a) it's none of our business b) we are not police c) we can't, really, and d) most of us really don't care. We are also well aware that people are not always truthful when posting on Wikipedia, so either you or your friend may not be telling the truth, and that really doesn't matter either, because we all have open minds and try to examine the details with a critical eye as they come to us.

I guess you want some kind of advice, which is why you posted here... so I'll see what I can do.

• Consider that your gay 13 year old friend might not actually be your friend
• rote -> wrote
• your -> you're
• jelous -> jealous

 freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  06:48, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• is it just me or would it be a good thing if this guy's family and friends didn't use Wikipedia?hotclaws**==(81.136.157.206 07:50, 19 June 2006 (UTC))

Take a look at this...EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 11:04, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Have you ever considered suicide? Mayor Westfall 18:40, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Please keep your peti fallouts off the reference desk! --Username132 (talk) 21:07, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Heres how to get revenge create a long in account and write a bio about your friend.

Service pages

As most Internet users know server ports are used to access various services and applications. For instance port 13 is used to provide a time service or port 7 to provide the echo service. This concept can also be applied to the client environment and used to perform client or application services on the client computer. For instance if you need to sort data you can simply place it in a text file, use a particular name, save the file to a special folder and like magic the data in the special file in the special folder will be sorted automatically while you do something else. I've created a bunch of these for my own computer but my question is whether (owing to all the bots that are being used to maintain the Wikipedia) are there an pages that offer similar functionality such as spelling correction? In other words is there a page somewhere like the sandbox page where a user can submit the text of an edit and have it spell checked or have other checks or services performed before submitting it to an article in order to relieve the various bots the time an effort of file searching? ...IMHO (Talk) 03:39, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Bandwidth surprise!

I hear a lot about people whose sites were flooded with unexpected traffic (from slashdotting, or an internet fad, or anything) and had gigantic bills. This recently happened to my friend (he went 4 terabytes over for the month!) and he has a huge bill.

It seems like this kind of thing happens a lot.. what do people usually do in these situations? He's only 16 so he can't come up with 2 grand by the time the bill is due. Do hosting companies typically offer payment plans or pardons for these cases?

--Froth 04:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

In most cases, I think it's a combination of the person just footing the bill, adding online advertising (web banners; Google AdWords or the like) since there's now enough traffic to generate real revenue; begging for PayPal donations again taking advantage from the increased traffic; and selling merchandise often through Cafe Press, particularly helpful in the case of internet fads. Essentially the same way that high-profile sites often support themselves, since they are high profile sites for a brief time. The problem is that all of this depends on quick reactions, since the internet is fast and fickle. Perhaps there's a market out there for "slashdot insurance"? --ByeByeBaby 05:25, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• Aren't websites usually locked if people go over their bandwith limit to avoid such large bills? Otherwise unscrupulous people could attack sites with thousands of visits daily to generate such a bill for people they don't like. I'd suggest he contact the ISP and ask for advice to stop it happening again. In the mean time, go the commercial route. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:32, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Western World

I frequently hear people refer to the "western world", when referring to certain characteristics of society. They usually use it when criticising one of these western characteristics. What I'd like to know is, what goes on in the "eastern world"? And why do people always think that its characteristics are always the opposite of the west's?

I guess the reason why the "western world" and the "eastern world" are often so inconcernedly divided into two is because of the state the world was in a few hundred years ago, when huge advances were being made in the basic sciences and maths in sectors of Europe, and there wasn't much contact with the main intellectual powers in the "east", mainly China and Japan. Many technologies were developed independantly on opposite ends of the globe, and they exhibited huge differences in lifestyle in the way that they were used and developed. A good example is the way timepieces advanced in Japan (see wadokei), and something like that would most certainly cause many Europeans suspect something strange was going on in the east.

More recently, the "east" and the "west" have obviously come closer in many respects regarding technology and culture, but there are still clearly many differences, from lifestyles to though processes to interests and pet peeves.

The "east" and the "west" are obviously not opposites (though they are, technically, physically opposite), but people have a tendancy to generalize, stereotype, and label other cultures in demeaning ways, often because it's simply easier to point fingers when you have a clearly stated target, whether such a concrete definable target actually exists or not. The same is also true for other areas of the world, such as the "middle-east", "asian minor", "southern asia", "australasia", "latin america", etc. etc.

As for what's actually going on in eastern world, well, they smoke American cigarettes, fight about pension plans and football games, eat a balanced diet of noodles, sushi, and hamburgers, struggle to speak English even they really don't want to, and sleep in rooms that smell funny and reverberate eerie music. Or maybe I'm just generalizing!  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  06:27, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

The western world was a creation of early European societies as a way of separating themselves from people whom they thought of as barbarians (even though Arab countries and China in particular were much more advanced than Europe was in the Middle Ages). See also Orientalism_(book) --ColourBurst 06:40, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Not like "the east" are not equally as responsible for trying to be different from our "evil ways" --mboverload@ 03:31, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The eastern greatly differs from the western world in the philosphiwes that influence them. Europe has influenced, Christianity marxism, liberalism and conservatism. The Easten World has influenced by Islam, ethic nationalism, polytheism and Buddism.

The Residency of George Bush Sr.

I know that George Bush Sr. claims residency in atleast nine different states, which states are they?

Do you have a source for that claim? It seems very unlikely and of questionable legality. Regardless, George H. W. Bush notes that he lives in Texas with a summer home in Maine. I expect that Texas is his legal, i.e. vote-eligible, state of residence. — Lomn | Talk 14:29, 19 June 2006 (UTC)In Bushes life time has lived in four states. Mass, conneticut, maine and Texas.

Name of 1950s comic strip

I am looking for the name of (and a/some collections if any exist) of a comic strip I remember reading in the Sunday funnies in the 50s. It was a two panel strip dealing with poetic justice in hell. The first panel would show the person sinning while alive and the second would show them suffering in hell. As an example, if I were doing it today, the first panel would show John Ashcroft arresting people for using medical marijuana and the second panel would show the doctor telling him that "The only thing we have ever found which could alleviate your agonizing pain and nausea is marijuana." I think it may have been called Haley's Inferno.

It sounds like a cartoon rip off of Dante's Inferno. AllanHainey 10:15, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, although I wouldn't call it a rip off, since it clearly was titled Inferno and in the 50s people knew that meant Dante. But, the entire poetic justice concept seems to have solidified with Dante and I'm certain the concept for the comic was based on his work. I would really like to know the name of the strip and the name of the artist (which must have been the name in the title) and if there are any collections available. Ljward 05:59, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Jimmy Hatlo. See http://vocalienvoices.blogspot.com/2005_02_23_vocalienvoices_archive.html Bunthorne 03:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! That is exactly what I was looking for. Ljward 05:48, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Repeated question about insect

Before few days i have asked the following question: "Any one who can tell me from insects which one is an insect which doesn't have both a leader and an aim?". But the answer which i got from you doesn't answer my question. Please help me once again by answering this question.

I think the reason you didn't get a good answer is that nobody understood your question. What exactly do you mean? What kind of leader? Do you mean like a honey bee has a queen bee? Most insects do not live in groups. What sort of aim? Can you give an example of an aim of an insect. Please explain your question, and we might be able to answer. Notinasnaid 11:09, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Alternatively, you could try bugging (pardon the pun) the science reference desk or looking at insect!

Don't forget top sign your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~)!

EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 11:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

OK. I am guessing this is some sort of riddle? Do you mean "Which insect doesn't have a leader or an aim?" We shall be kind and ignore "Can anyone tell me from insects" this time round. I am assuming it is a riddle as insects are not usually thought of as having leaders. But all insects have an aim, which is to survive and breed.--Shantavira 12:42, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Only social insects have leaders (typically a "queen" which also lays all the eggs). Although I suppose you could debate whether the queen is really a leader or not. That part about "not having an aim" is a bit vague, however. StuRat 17:44, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

soul

according to religious books..we r composed of matter and "soul"...my question is what is soul..how it is created...n where it will go ..after we die????? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.247.152.121 (talk • contribs) .

• Contact your local priest, rabbi or rambling nutcase on the street. --Einsidler 13:05, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
  • Perhaps soul would be a better place to look. Whether or not humans have souls is left as an exercise for the reader. Dismas|^(talk) 13:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Nobody knows "where" it goes, if indeed it goes anywhere. But see afterlife. Also (depending on your religion, mood, or level of optimism) you might like to look at such topics as death, purgatory, heaven, hell, and reincarnation.--Shantavira 13:51, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

According to theosophy, the soul is a multi coloured, multi petalled lotus, that rotates in concentric circles much like monadic cyles, and for the most part is in three tears much like the popes tiara. it originates in the various andrenal glands around the body such as the petuatary gland and the spleen, which also crespond to the chakras seen in eastern philosophy. Ones soul is in direct relation to what we in the west call our bubble, or aura. It is a beautiful thing, and the more one studies it the larger it becomes and the more one is able to feel it and work with it. Some claim to have seen it. there are numerous different centers from which it originates, from the top, not nessesarilly in order of importance: just obove the crown ontop of the head, between the eyes, in the throat, the most prominent (in me at least) the sular plexus, the stomach, the groin. Look after your well, cultivate it! This does however raise a question for me, how does noe go about educating ones friends about the soul and its relationship to thier every day lives without sounding preachy or making them think i am some kind of religious nut like an Evangelical Christian. 193.115.175.247 13:57, 19 June 2006 (UTC)Anton

Oh, and thanks for that question, it was real fun to answer, but where the soul goes after death is anyones guess, But an interesting theory that is backed up by the bible aswell as Eastern philiosphy is that when one sleeps, ones body is (i'll use an annalogy) taking what has happened to you during the day, and all that you have learnd and is backing it up on the hard drive. when we die, it is much like sleep for the soul, after years, we have learned certain things, and in the same way after death the sopul is backing up what ithas learned, and after many many lives one's soul can look back and asses what has happened to it and eventually dies or passes on to either Nirvana, Heaven, or as with this theory, passes to the next plain of existance to become a god, where once again the whole process of life death and rebirth as a god continues. tahnks again 193.115.175.247 14:05, 19 June 2006 (UTC)Anton

who posted this question?

It was 80.247.152.121, just look through the page history...EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 17:03, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

your soul is belived you indestoyable immortal inter essence. Regarding how its created. It is created by a councious higher power. Beyond that even conjecture is impossible. Regarding where it goes there are many theories. Most people belive that a soul will go to heaven, basically the domain of the creator. Some also belive dark souls will got another place called hell which some believe astral plain the nature of both heaven are debated. Some also belive the soul can or electily visit or is imprisoned in the mortal world as a ghost.

Popularity of sports

I was watching the Australia v. Brazil (football/soccer) World Cup game yesterday and the commentator said that football (soccer) is Australia's fifth sport. This made me wonder: (a) What is England's fifth sport? (b) Where in the sports' "league table" would soccer come in the US (ie. is it the fifth most popular, sixth most popular sport etc.) and (c) in what country in the world would football (soccer) be ranked lowest in the sports "league table" (ie. which country has the most sports that are more popular than soccer)? Thanks in advance for any contributions. TomPhil 13:02, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't have any statistics to back up my opinion but I'd say it's behind American football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, auto racing, bowling, and fishing. Perhaps Sports in the United States will give you more info. Dismas|^(talk) 13:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

As for the country where it is the least popular, I imagine there are many small countries where nobody plays, or even knows about, soccer. StuRat 17:40, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd doubt it. Only micronations could really do that - Andorra and San Marino both have football teams, the Vatican City has doubtless condemned it at one point or another (besides, they're in the middle of Rome, and that's a footballing city), and Liechtenstein's captain is a bank manager normally. Of course, these are only European states, but I think any country above about 500 people will play football. --Sam Pointon 17:52, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Further on my previous comment, after I've done some research: all but eight fully-soveign states are members of FIFA, and a decent number of non-sovereigns are members of NF-Board (even Sealand has a team!). So football is quite a bit more widespread thain in StuRat's estimation. --Sam Pointon 18:02, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Further to that there are few of "national" football teams not affiliated to FIFA for political reasons e.g. Vatican City national football team, Palestine national football team. Everyone plays football all you need is a ball and a patch of flat ground. Jooler 12:30, 20 June 2006 (UTC) - edit Palenstine is affiliated with FIFA , didn't know that. Jooler 12:39, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

It depends how you count - number of persons playing, number of persons who pay to go and watch, or number of persons who watch on television would each give different answers. The easiest to measure is television audiences, and by this method I would suggest cricket, Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union as the four sports with a greater following in Australia. Swimming is also a very popular spectator sport in Australia, so I wouldn't be surprised if football was actually sixth.

In Britain, football, rugby union, cricket and horse racing would be the four sports with the biggest audiences - these four are on TV somewhere pretty much every day. Golf is likely next.

As for countries with little interest in football. As rightly stated, football is played to some extent in pretty much every country of the world. Greenland, a vast country with a very small population, is not a member of FIFA - but even there, football is played (by the minority Danish community; the Inuit have little interest in football). Otherwise, I would suggest India and Pakistan as the major nations where interest is lowest. It is played in these two countries for sure, but cricket is the national sporting obsession, followed by (field) hockey, and football comes lower down. (In India, the Calcutta and Goa areas are interested in football, but elsewhere interest is rather lower.) AndyofKent 22:54, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes there is a Greenland national football team See also Template:Non-FIFA teams Jooler 12:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

A poll from last year found soccer tied for ninth in popularity among U.S. adults, with 2% of respondents saying it was their favorite sport. Pro football (NFL) was far and away number one, followed by baseball, college football, auto racing, college basketball, ice hockey, men's pro basketball and men's golf. Had they included young people, soccer might have done a little better, but not too much. -- Mwalcoff 00:00, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

In many countries soccer is the most popular sport, to rate sports popularity. In many countries it is the most popular sport. Such is attest by the international audience. In the US Football, baseball, basket ball are the most popular, with soccer and hockey come in distant seconds. In the Commonwealth countries, soccer, cricket, tennis and badmitan are the most popular sports.

joan baez

does any one know where i can get the chords or tabs to the songs: For Sasha, Song at the end of the Movie, and After the Deluge by joan baez, i wanna learn them but cant find them ANYWHERE. thanks

its not for public performance i just wanna play em for my enjoyment, please, NE1?

You asked this same question just a few days ago. It does not help to duplicate your question, in fact it might annoy. In this case it seems that nobody is able to locate the information you are seeking. Please remember we're all volunteers here and can not guarantee results. --LarryMac 19:06, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

It's very possible they have not been published. Did you try the fairly obvious route, which is to go to the Joan Baez article, click where it says "official website", click "contacts", then click on the name of the appropriate distributor? Then you can send them an email. Good luck. --Shantavira 19:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

tried the official site, but they want only professional inquieries, further more i have tried google and yahoo found pages 1-15 and to no avail they all have the same 6 songs. none of which appeal to me, please please please if any one has the chords to these, please let me know, here. thanks

Arturo M. Tolentino and Vicente M. Piccio, Jr.

Does anybody know what the Ms in the names Arturo M. Tolentino and Vicente M. Piccio, Jr. each stand for? —Lagalag 17:54, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Never mind about Arturo M. Tolentino; I just found out the M stands for Modesto. —Lagalag 19:20, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

name of film about Sean flynn son of Errol Flynn

please could someone tell me the name of the film made about Sean Flynn (son of Errol Flynn)in Vietnam, I think it was a tv movie made in the 90's, many thanks —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.240.144.34 (talk • contribs) .

I Googled your phrase and turned this up. Hope it helps. EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 18:27, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, I came up with this. --Richardrj 18:31, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Many thanks for the information, I've been looking for it for a while, it's been a great help--87.240.144.34 19:29, 23 June 2006 (UTC)Roo

cleaning antique brass chandeliers

What's the best way to clean the metal parts of a dusty,moldy chandelier? Many thanks--Csummers 18:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Try a metal polish like Brasso. —Keenan Pepper 18:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

IP address

I would like to be able to continually change my IP address what would be a good way of going about this? I have tried unplugging my modem and leaving it off overnight, but that hasn't worked. Thanks. Mayor Westfall 18:43, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Use AOL Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 18:56, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Use a proxy server. There are hundreds of them listed here. There'll be a place in your web browser's preferences where you can type it in. Then your IP address can't be traced. --Richardrj 19:23, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Would you mind explaining how to use a proxy server? Im not very familer with the process. Thanks, Richard. Mayor Westfall 20:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

First off, go to the website I linked to and, from the lists, choose a proxy server that works and is anonymous. Then, like I said, it's just a question of finding the place in your web browser's preferences that enables you to enter the IP address of the proxy server you want to use. I can't help you with that part; just check your browser's help feature. (If you're using Internet Explorer, it's probably under Tools somewhere.) Then just surf the web as you would normally. Hope that helps but please come back to me if you get stuck. --Richardrj 20:30, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

You may find this link useful if you use Internet Explorer. It explains how to use a proxy. TomPhil 21:48, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Please note that using a proxy does not change your IP address. It will, however, mean that the websites you visit will think you are coming from a different address. If you use other internet services (like email, IRC, chat) the proxy might not be used or might not work. You could download software that make it look like your ethernet card has a different MAC address. Then, when you unplug, change the address, and plug back, you are likely to get a different IP address from your ISP. --Ornil 01:47, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

• And if you use Mozilla Firefox there's several extensions that can help you surgf the net in anonymity. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:54, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Kids, why?

Why do people choose to have children? To me it seems like they are a huge expense, a near life-long commitment, and require huge sacrafices of free time. If someone invested the money they would spend on a child instead of having a child, he would be a milionare by the time his kid would go to college. Who would rather have a kid over a million dollars? For the life of me I cannot understand why so many people make this seemingly bad decision. Mayor Westfall

Biology. There is a huge biological drive to have children in most people. They are not always aware of it, but it's there making people reckless "I'll pull it out before I come" and women broody "oooh what a lovely baby".It's what makes young people more sexually attractive than old people, (more likely to raise a kid to adulthood) and healthy people more attractive than sick ones. Think about people who don't have these urges, they don't have kids, and don't pass this characteristic on. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 18:55, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

My wife and I chose to have a child because we knew it would add something very special to our lives. And so it has proved. There really is nothing like the feeling of watching our child grow up, knowing that we are responsible for his upbringing, feeling unconditional love for him and knowing that that love is reciprocated. It gives our lives new and very profound meaning. Sure it's hugely expensive and fraught with difficulty, but I wouldn't trade being a parent for $1 million or even $1 billion. --Richardrj 19:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I guess I just don't understand why people like the above poster feel the way they do. To me, It seems like having kids would be a disaster for me. I almost have an abnormal fear of having a child, as being male, I wouldnt have the luxury of aborting it. Mayor Westfall 20:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

May I ask how old you are? You might well find that your feelings about this subject change over time. I know mine did. As I reached my mid-30s, I became dissatisfied with my life as it then was. That's what I meant when I said having a child gave my life new meaning. Another factor is whether you are in a serious relationship with a woman or not. If you are, you might well find that the issue comes up sooner or later. --Richardrj 20:35, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Just to balance this discussion with the other side of the argument; not wanting children is a perfectly normal viewpoint (though clearly not the majoirity one or the species would have died out by now). People kept telling me for years that I would wake up one day and suddenly want to have children, but I haven't seen any signs of that yet. One of the age old arguments that you will likely hear from people if you remain childless for very long is that you are being "selfish", in that you are putting your own self interest above that of a potential child. However, my response to that is to ask, "Which is more selfish, to choose not to have a child, or to choose to bring an unwanted child into the world?" That usually quiets them down. In short though, there is no right or wrong answer. Make what you feel is the right decision for you. Road Wizard 22:00, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

It is best for the male of the species to only contemplate this as he approaches 30. Otherwise, it really interferes with your sex life! --Zeizmic 22:08, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm 26 and in a relationship with a girl that is 20. I really don't see things changing for me, as I have always cringed at even hearing a child cry in a restaurant or theater. People have told me I'm selfish after they learn I dont intend on having kids, but I just tell them that I am selfish, and that I'd rather spend my life on me & my girlfriend of 4 years than some child. I guess that makes me (and her) abnormal Mayor Westfall 01:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

This is somewhat similar to the question of why people marry. It is also hard to justify logically and rationally - it seems you'd be better of not to put yourself in a vulnerable position of depending on someone to such a huge extent, yet most people do it eventually, and many do it again even after painful divorce experiences. There are plenty of emotional compensations in both cases, though. --Ornil 01:52, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I think there are sound logical and rational reasons for marrying, or for having kids, or both. As Road Wizard says, if people didn't have kids, none of us would be here discussing this. What's foremost in a particular person's mind when they're thinking of having a child may not be "the continuation of the species", but at a biological level that's what it comes down to. With marriage/LTRs, all kinds of emotional needs get met by having the same person to come home to every night, with the prospect of a permanant sharing of lives. What's logical and irrational is why Person A is attracted to Person B and not to Person C. There's no accounting for taste. JackofOz 02:14, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I suppose one needs to separate the questions of why people have kids vs. what people say their motivations to have kids are. Of course, it's probably true that most people have kids without actually considering why. It's just a natural thing to do. Both for the biological reasons mentioned, and because of societal pressure (try telling your parents they won't have grandkids). Not to mention that if you have no access to reliable birth control, you don't have much choice in the matter anyway. I wonder if Mayor Westfall is asking about the rare case where the couple actually considers the question rationally, and is asking about the arguments they would advance in favor of having kids. With that assumption, I can tell you what some of my motivations are/were in this matter. I didn't really consider the question deeply and decide to have kids, I always wanted to, since I was one myself. However, here are some of the reasons I think it was the right thing for me:

• I like children. They are a lot of work and a lot of trouble, but I always enjoyed interacting with them. Think of it as a hobby, just the one that's very expensive and takes a lot of time
• Posterity. I want to bring up someone who is like me, that shares some fundamental values with me. There other ways to leave something behind you, like teaching or making you mark in the world by accomplishing something of enduring importance, but it's not for everyone.
• Good of the society. I want the society to continue in the next generation, and it is in the society's interests that I should help do so in this way. Moreover, I think I can do a better job of it than most people.
• Ultimately, it all comes down to emotions. It feels right to do so, and it also brings joy. Presumably, because I am biologically programmed in this way, but that makes no difference to what you experience. --Ornil 03:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Mayor Westfall's suggestion of not having babies, taking the money you would theoretically spend on them and investing it is logically sound. However, it would be even more sensible to have lots of babies and sell them to illegal adoption agencies as soon as they pop out, thus providing you with a regular income. This would give you more time to consider your investment portfolio, and allow you to pursue more high-risk, high-return investments as you would not have to worry about going broke if your investments failed. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 12:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I too share the same opinion with you. I dislike children at a high level and would never want to have children. I think it's normal for a portion of the human population to not want to have kids, in opposition to the larger spectrum of people that do indeed want to have children (or are "biologically programmed" to have children without making rational decisions and high end thoughts thereof). Some people remain childless to devote time to their career, their friends, their significant other, etc. There are various reasons why this would occur, and once again I must state that it's not abnormal. --Proficient 16:24, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Children are nice, having them with you is nice, not having children is nice, depending of our choices. Let us be far for egotism and egotist fears : it is what you like that counts. Things you share with people you know or you learn to know. Now, did any child choose to be born, some say sure, some say no, for myself I'd say nobody knows. --DLL 19:51, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Because if there is a gene which gives you a huge desire to have children, it is far more likely to be passed on. :P. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:19, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you would be interested in this website then :http://www.vhemt.org/ 1. Their of reasons. First of voluntary. Probally the majority of children in world and possibly in US where not planed. 2. Many people see getting married and having children as neccesary to become full fledges members of society. 3. People want children to take care them in their old age. 4. Many people just like kids.

I thought exactly this until I was 35 years old, been married for three years, and had settled down into a more comfortable life. There's no one good answer, but for my wife and myself it came down to the fact that kids are, for the most part, enjoyable (for us) to have around. They aren't for everyone, and every one of use knows someone who does such a crappy job of parenting that they shouldn't have kids. But for those of us who think "you know, we don't care if we get rich, and we'd like to share our lives with another person", the rewards are actually pretty good. Unconditional love is one amazing aspect of it, and until you experience that you won't have a clue what I'm talking about. --Kickstart70-T-C 06:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Id probably say because they feel obligated to by society. Though not everyone has kids, everyone has had parents, and there's always pressure (especially in early years) to start a family of your own and be like your parents. As for me though I hate babies and dislike children. And I'd never accept all the discomfort of menstuation, pregnancy, and childbirth to become a woman, even for the profit of adoption agencies. Though investing all that left over money sounds good..

Japanese stores in Manhattan

Can anyone recommend stores in Manhattan that specialize in Japanese products, or give me the links to sites with that information? Thanks, it'd be much appreciated --anon

A Google search for "Japanese stores in Manhattan" produces several useful-looking hits. ➨ ЯЄDVERS 22:21, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

• The site http://tokyo-nyc.com looks useful (Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the site or anyone connected with it. Not responsible for content. May contain nuts.) --Cam 01:02, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

There's a Takashimaya on 5th Ave. Ridiculous prices. --Nelson Ricardo 02:07, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

There should be a few Hello Kitty stores around. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

You will like Century 21, hich has lots of brands. I like that shop :-) Iolakana|^(talk) 17:05, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

geographical distance

could you please tell me what the distance is between nottingham england and london england? and possibly how long it would take to get there by rail? thank you, i appreciate it. my e-mail address is: [redacted to prevent spam]

Distance, 123 miles (source).

A very basic search at this page, showed 5 hours 15 minutes from Nottingham to King's Cross Station. --LarryMac 20:48, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

No way does it take that long. Direct trains take between 1 hr 45 mins and 2 hrs. And the London terminus is St Pancras, not Kings Cross (although admittedly they are next to each other). --Richardrj 20:52, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict) This site indicates there's a two hour train from Nottingham to St. Pancras Station. It's operated by Midland Mainline, if you want to purchase tickets or check schedules. Depending on which train you catch, it could be as quick as 1h45. You probably could have found this faster, though, by Googling say "nottingham london rail" and "nottingham london distance". --ByeByeBaby 20:59, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry for the misinformation on the timing. I guessed at which station in London to choose in my search, being an ignorant Yank and all that. I did say it was a very basic search though :-) --LarryMac 01:33, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

For any rail travel in the UK, the NRE journey planner is your best friend. — QuantumEleven 09:09, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

How much profit does Nintendo receive when they publish a third-party developer's game?

The title says it all. To be more specific, I was wondering about Rad Racer for the NES. The game sold an impressive 1.96 million units, with the majority of those being sold in the U.S. Apparently, however, Square (the developer) was still in financial hell after Rad Racer's debut, and it wasn't until Final Fantasy that they were in clear waters. So, knowing that the U.S. was published and licensed by Nintendo for its U.S. release (Square didn't have a U.S. branch back in 1987), did Nintendo take in a LOT of the profits or what? Thanks! Tristam 21:24, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

I imagine they get a cut of the revenue generated from the game, not the profit. I doubt this information is made public, but if I were to guess, I would say about 20% ---Mayor Westfall

Indeed, a percentage is more likely than a set in stone amount. --Proficient 17:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

great grandfather

I am looking for joseph carey my great grandmother nora 0 carey I dont know what her mothers name was. I know they lived in franklyn co in the late 1800's can you help me find any thing out about them?

thank you so much (email address removed)

There are a lot of tips on searching, and some very useful internet links, at our article on Genealogy. ➨ ЯЄDVERS 22:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

If I where I would try took look at the public records in Franlin from the period.

Chinese names

I know that in China, a person's last name comes before their first. In my experience, most formal documents require that you put your last name first. In China, do they put their first name first on documents or what?

I'm not sure: I'll ask my friend and get back to you if you leave your IP address. EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 23:11, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

no. In China, documents asking for your name usually ask for it in a single field (not separated surname and given names). Chinese surnames are almost always a single character long and the very few Chinese compound surnames in existence are well known, so it is easy to tell from context what is the surname and what is the given name. In addition, people refer to each other using their full name (even among family members) in Chinese (e.g. "My friend, Jiang Zemin") a lot more than in English (e.g. "My friend, Bob").

In this bi-lingual HK immigration form, they ask for the Chinese name in a single field (姓名) but ask for the English name in two separate fields, surname first. --Jiang 23:18, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Traditionally, most Chinese paperworks require you to submit your fullname (姓名; family name + given name). Since most Chinese names are quit simple in structure with only 1- or 2-character family names given names (more than 95% 1-character) and 1- or 2-character (more than 90% 2-character), it is easy to dicipher a fullname.

Here are some examples (family names are underlined):

• 李白 (Li Bai)
• 孫中山 (Sun Zhongshan)
• 歐陽修 (Ouyang Xiu): More difficult to dicipher
• 歐豪年 (Ou Haonian): Painter and calligrapher
• 歐陽菲菲 (Ouyang Feifei): Singer. I think this is a stage name.
• 端木蕻良 (Duanmu Hongliang): Finally, a REAL 4-character name.

There are very few 2-character family names in China. Most people know what are these compound surname because there are really very few of them. However, some writers or artists may adopt 2-character family names as their pen names or stage names. Many wuxia authors adopt these names as a way to make their names stand out (e.g. 司馬翎, 諸葛青雲, 司馬紫烟).

Many 2-character family names are quite ancient. Some are evolved from names before Chinese languages became "monosyllabic". However, some are created only several hundred years ago. For example, "范姜" (Fanjiang) is a Hakka family name mostly located in southern China and Taoyuan County (Taiwan). The founder of this family name was a man about 300 years ago. His family name was "范" and his stepfather's family name was "姜". To show his gratitude for his stepfather's care, he named all his five children "范姜" and created a new family name.

Non-Han Chinese people may have longer family names and given names. Educated Han Chinese people used to have many aliases, but these Chinese style name (e.g. zhi, hao) are mostly abolished these days. Very very very few forms reserve a field for these names.

Computerized data processing changed the business convention. Now many computer systems require you to enter your family name and given name separately. -- Toytoy 03:54, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

The reason you put your surname first on official documents in the West is because it makes sorting easier. (Overlapping given names are more common than overlapping surnames.) With Chinese/Japanese/Korean names, there's no need to do that because the surname already comes first, and given names are less likely to overlap. --Kjoonlee 07:27, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

One of my PCs is displaying the chinese characters. The other is not. Both mozilla firefox on winXP. What do I need to change on the derelict computer? thanks --Tagishsimon (talk)

Iron-ons.

I have a black jumper/sweater I'd like to put some white text on. I was hoping there was some sort of material I could use in my inkjet printer that could be ironed onto the product easily and without the possibility of explosions. Do such materials exist?

A hasty Google search holds the key to your quest...EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 23:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Please note that to put light text on a dark shirt, you should use iron-ons specifically designed for dark fabric (it'll be somewhere in the product name) because the "regular" ones aren't white enough; they wind up looking like rubbish. Buy these rather than these, for instance. --ByeByeBaby 01:24, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Answering questions

Can I put an answer a question other than the one at the bottom of the page (the newest one)? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Russian F (talk • contribs) .

Yes, just click the "edit" button on the section you want to add to. —Keenan Pepper 23:44, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Be bold, Russian! There are also some unanswered ones in the archives (link is page top). --DLL 19:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

TV Guide Covers

Hi, I'm very new to this site and I've called TV Guide themselfs. I saw an advertisement, since February 2006 to June 2006, in the TV Guide about a book/publication of all the TV Guide Covers, or something like that. Can anyone help me or know what I am talking about? Please contact me via e-mail, <email removed to prevent spam>. I work a ten hour job and it takes me an hour to get to work and another hour to get home. I have very little time to search the Internet. I took my first pick on a Google search and found this site. Thank You. David

Here it is on Amazon. --zenohockey 01:21, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Another Lethal Weapon Sequel?

Will there be another sequel to Lethal Weapon in the near future?

It is rumoured that there will be, but nothing is confirmed: see [1], [2], [3] — AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 01:41, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

That is unlikey, Mel Gibson has recently cut down his movie acting. It seems liking he is phasing out of acting and becoming fulltime producer.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover's characters have stated numerous times that they are definitely getting too old for... you know the rest.

June 20

Where can I purchase blank sheets of acetate paper?

Where can I purchase blank sheets of acetate paper? Javguerre 01:44, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

A stationery or office supplies store or a copy shop ought to be able to sell you some. If you only need a few sheets, you can probably mooch some from a friendly teacher or professor. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:52, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

And remember, don't feed clear acetate into a copier or laser printer! It does a marvellous job of turning into glumpy goop. --Zeizmic 12:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

---When did Wikipedia become an online shopping reference site?? I thought this was a user-friendly reference site viz. an encyclopaedia.

Stanley Cup final Game 7 highlights on TV... not allowed?

I was watching the late news on my local Fox affiliate. It was the sports segment, and the anchor said that Carolina won, 3-1. Then he said something surprising: "We'd love to show you the highlights...but we're not allowed to." I've never heard of this happening before. Then he went on to the World Cup.

Did ABC really deny Fox the right to show highlights of the Stanley Cup tonight? Or was it just my local Fox/ABC station? Or what? --zenohockey 03:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Probably - similarly, in Canada, CBC owned the rights to the Olympics, so the sports news channels could show only still frames from various events (and I seem to remember David Letterman's out of focus highlights because CBS couldn't get the rights from NBC). On the other hand, CBC shows the NHL finals here too but the other channels can show highlights. Adam Bishop 21:07, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

So you get to see a real game instead. Write and thank them. :-) DJ Clayworth 21:45, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

And a Canadian would say that? --zenohockey 01:16, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I just blew my Canadian credentials didn't I. They'll probably deport me now. DJ Clayworth 13:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know anything about this specific example, but the "still pictures only" thing has cropped up from time to time here in the UK, generally with regard to boxing. I don't follow boxing so couldn't tell you how common it is, but I remember that (at least at first) the BBC was only allowed to show still frames from Buster Douglas's shock win over Mike Tyson.

What now happens, at least between British networks, is that there's an agreement that "news access" (a minute or so of highlights - so the goals for a football match) is permitted, but that if the BBC uses ITV footage, they have to put up a caption saying something like "Pictures from ITV sport". It seems to work reasonably well. Loganberry (Talk) 23:02, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Copyright of soundtracks for owners of the original material

Is it legal to download a videogame's soundtrack if you own the videogame in the US? Is it legal to download the soundtrack to a movie if you own the movie? -Quasipalm 03:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

No, no more than it is legal to take a second copy of a movie or game (or the OST of one) when you already own the original (e.g. stealing). Actually, I take back that "no". Your question is very difficult to answer because the courts are often out-to-lunch when it comes to what part of downloading copywrited material is illegal: the distribution and/or/xor the acceptance. Most of the time, though, both are.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  04:20, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Is it illegal? I cannot say. Is it wrong? IMHO no. It's not illegal to record the soundtrack of the game/movie yourself. You have fair use rights. --Kjoonlee 06:12, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Fair use? Didn't the DMCA and other such laws get rid of such silly things? (Yes, that was sarcasm) --ColourBurst 07:18, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, in the US, they can sue you on a whim. They usually settle for what the market will bear, and I don't think any of this has been tested in court. --Zeizmic 12:45, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

In terms of fair use, it may depend what you mean by "soundtrack". If you mean "an audio recording which is exactly the sounds heard on a movie which you own", that might go one way in court. On the other hand if you mean "a sound recording which has the same name as the movie plus the word Soundtrack", something which often has more complete songs, for example, it might be more likely to go another way as you don't already have exactly what you are getting a copy of. Notinasnaid 13:00, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks all. I was just wondering. I don't actually pay for music anyway, so it's not like I needed to know. But I was curious if I was breaking the law or not, even though it won't change what I actually do.  :-) -Quasipalm 16:06, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, that's what the common man does. ;o --Proficient 21:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

mp3 cd burner

Where can I download a free mp3 cd burner from? --elpenmaster

Didn't you get one with your cd burner?

As our article on optical disc authoring software states, the standard open source program for this task is cdrtools, but that has a command-line interface. I presume you're looking for something easier.

Try doing a search for "cd burner" at download.com and you might find something of interest. --Robert Merkel 05:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

List of optical disc authoring software. I've heard good things about Burrrn. --Kjoonlee 06:03, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

email me please **email removed**

Hello. I am currently a girl living in New Zealand. I wish to get a sex change to a male. If possible could you please email me back with any information on this producer as well as as many places round world that does it and costs invovled. I will be looking forward to your reply. Many thanks, Laura

Sorry, we've removed your email address to prevent spam harvesting. You might try our article on Sex reassignment surgery, which has some information and links that might be of use. Needless to say, this kind of surgery is not something one enters into lightly, and is not a simple matter of walking into a doctor's office and asking for it, but you probably already know that. --Robert Merkel 05:29, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Internet without telephone line

Which ISP in England can provide broadband without the need of a telephone line? (unsigned)

Ultimately there has to be some kind of connection. Other than a telephone line, your choices include

• ISDN line: sort of a digital telephone line. Not really broadband. Probably not an option if a phone line is not.
• Fixed line: sort of an always-on telephone line, very expensive. Ditto.
• Cable connection: only you will know if cable is available in your area.
• Satellite connection: satellite broadband is available, subject to planning concerns and line of site from your premises to the satellite. Costs more than phone broadband, obviously.
• Shared wireless with someone else within around 100 metres who does have broadband.
• Mobile phone connection for a laptop. These are not very fast at all.

If you can indicate which of these work for you, someone else might be able to help with a suitable ISP; where you are in England may also be relevant. Notinasnaid 09:41, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I fired my laptop up in Nottingham recently, and picked up a wireless provider which seemed to be providing a city-area-network ... but I don't recall the details. But it makes the point that there may well be copper-less providers out there. --Tagishsimon (talk)

nipples

i,ve heard that if u tickle ur(man) nipples..u will get excited...n get pleasure...my question is does tickling nipples of man is also a mastebation????...coz it gives u pleasure...and is there any disadvantages of that?.

IMHO yes, it would count as masturbation. Disadvantages? It doesn't give me enough pleasure. :p --Rentice 10:10, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

does it effects ur health like real masterbation does!!!!!

"Real" masturbation does not have noticable ill effects. Read the article, please. --Rentice 10:31, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

This is the English Wikipedia, not the Leet Wikipedia. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:45, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Business communications

Due to the fact that I've tried my level best to get outstanding&substantiated notes on the above,i therefore ask you to provide all detailed information concerning the same!

Have you read the article? Business communication. --Kjoonlee 10:35, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Is there any spoken article in wikipedia spoken by a woman?

I doubt it, but take a look at this list: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Spoken_Wikipedia#Active participants and find out for yourself.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  12:01, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Looks like Laura has a few: History Of New Jersey, Solar eclipse, Markup language, WP:NPOV, WP:EQ, WP:IAR.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  12:09, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Men have less harmony and differences in frequency and takes less brainpower to understand - apparently a reason most people with voices in their heads have a male voice. --mboverload@ 03:25, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia also is dominated by men, most active wikipedians are men. (UNSIGNED)

That might have been true in the early days, but I think it's an unverifiable statement now. --M@rēino 16:11, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The first name of the British Royal Family.

Is the first name of the BRF known? Thank you. Kahang 12:19, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean by "first name"? The members of the British Royal Family each have a first name (e.g. for Prince Charles it is Charles), but I don't think that can be what you mean...? Notinasnaid 12:22, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you mean their surname? In which case, they don't officially have one, but informally it is Windsor.--Richardrj 12:32, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

The first member of the artificial House of Windsor was George mk.5, and they all descend from Queen Victoria

- surname-wise, it's anything from Wales to Windsor. The current Prince (whichever one's in the army, I forget) uses 'Wales' (it's on his helmet, at least). Tyrhinis 12:38, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

There's also Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Mountbatten-Windsor, and Wettin. Quite complicated! --Kjoonlee 13:23, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Don't forget Guelph/Welf. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:48, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, your're right, Richardrj, I mean their "last name". Sorry. -- Kahang 13:47, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:SGBailey/2003 -- SGBailey 16:26, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

The Royal family seems to be remarkably lacks with regards last names, choosing a name whenever a formality demands surnam. However if I was to declare last name I would probally use the name of the house. As long as their is a house of windsor the Royal family clearly could use the last name of windsor. When Charles Assends as Windsor-Mountbatten, that will be the most appropriate royal last name.

Thanks all!! -- Kahang^{Shall we talk?} 11:15, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Closest capital cities

Which 2 capital cities of adjacent countries are the closest to each other (as the crow flies)? Would it be Montevideo and Buenos Aires? JackofOz 13:38, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps Rome and Vatican City? --Tachikoma 13:52, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Or Kinshasa and Brazzaville? СПУТНИК^{CCC P} 13:59, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes Vatican City is in Rome so the distance is zero.

Use http://www.mapcrow.info/

Kinshasa and Brazzaville are the closest both 'serious' capitals I guess : 5.3 miles or 8.5 kilometers.

Bratislava and Budapest :100 miles/163 kilometers..

Yerevan and Tbilisi :107 miles 173 kilometers

My very own Brussels is very close to Luxembourg, the capital ofLuxembourg :110 miles or 177 kilometers. But Pyongyang and Seoul are pretty close too (120 miles or 190 kilometers)

Buenos Aires and Montevideo are at 143 miles or 320 kilometers. Evilbu 14:01, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Apparently Vienna and Bratislava are the closest, at 64 km. I can't find the distance 'tween Brazzaville and Kinshasa, except that it's a 20 minute ferry. Judging by this photo, i'd imagine they're pretty close. СПУТНИК^{CCC P} 14:11, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh oopsie, didn't read above. СПУТНИК^{CCC P} 14:12, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Taking oldies into account : Bonn and Berlin ; Rome and Ravenna ; Paris and Bordeaux or Versailles ... more to come if you wish. --DLL 19:37, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

The more the merrier. I wasn't thinking about enclaves, there's got to be some distance between them, so Vatican/Rome is out. It's looking like Kinshasa-Brazzaville at the moment. (How confusing would it be to live there, with the two countries' names being so similar as well.) Can we have a continent-by-continent breakdown as well? Africa's taken care of. In Europe it seems to be Vienna-Bratislava. Asia - anything closer than Yerevan-Tbilisi? South America - probably Monty-Buenos. What about North America? Australia and Antarctica don't even rate (that's because we're special). But how about Oceania? JackofOz 20:49, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

And while you're on that, you can probably guess my next question. Which 2 world capitals are the greatest distance apart? and also within each continent/region. JackofOz 23:09, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

In a straight line, or curving with the Earth's circumfrence? Emmett5 23:47, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

As the crow flies, whatever that means. JackofOz 01:51, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd say Astana, Kazakhstan and Jakarta, Indonesia. 4481mi/7211km. Ooh, Pretoria, SF and Rabat, MO are more distant: 4721mi/7597km.--Anchoress 00:02, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Buenos Aires and Beijing are at 12036mi/19369km. Robert Krulwich actually discussed something similar on the radio recently, and referenced our antipodes article[4] in an accompanying webpost.--Pharos 00:12, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Buenos Aires and Beijing aren't on the same continent, are they? ;-) That's the criteria, same continent or region.--Anchoress 00:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Eh, that criterion not quite as fun :) Anyway, Singapore and Quito are at 12251 mi/19715km. Not sure if these are the most antipodal capitals, but looking at the antipodes map it's almost certainly in that region.--Pharos

I think Basseterre and St. John's would be the closest capitals of independent countries in North America, at 59 miles or 94 kilometers. Castries and Kingstown are pretty close, though, at 62 miles or 99 kilometers.--Pharos 00:06, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• How about Ulan Bator, Mongolia to whatever the capital of Yemen is (Aden?) for Asia? Wellington NZ to London is pretty hard to beat (both in the Commonwealth). Lisiate 00:09, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

London and Wellington are 18802 km apart. Singapore and Quito beats that. JackofOz 01:51, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Well here is a distance calculator.--Anchoress 00:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for these lovely quick responses, folks. Here's a summary of what we have so far. Updates and corrections appreciated. JackofOz 01:51, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I added the furthest capitals for North and South America, and Europe; these are just my guesses, confirmed with the above distance calculator; i probably overlooked something. СПУТНИК^{CCC P} 02:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, I've got a new candidate for most distant in Asia: Sana'a and Tokyo.--Pharos 02:53, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Great. The Bratislava-Vienna distance was in at 64 km, but Bratislava says it's 50 km and on mapcrow it's 56 km. I'll be using mapcrow as the standard measure for all these. JackofOz 03:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Continent	Closest capitals	Most distant capitals
World	Brazzaville and Kinshasa (9 km)	Madrid and Wellington (19,837 km)
Africa	Brazzaville and Kinshasa (9 km)	Pretoria and Rabat (7,597 km)
America, North	Basseterre and St. John's (94 km)	Ottawa and Panama City (4,066 km)
America, South	Buenos Aires and Montevideo (230 km)	Caracas and Montevideo (5,165 km)
Asia	Amman and Jerusalem (69 km)	Sana'a and Tokyo (9,613 km)
Europe	Bratislava and Vienna (56 km)	Nicosia and Reykjavik (4,872 km)
Oceania	Majuro and South Tarawa (662 km)	Apia and Dili (6,832 km)

More distant capitals: Wellington and Madrid are 19837.49 km apart.-gadfium 03:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Updated JackofOz 03:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I did Oceania, I think. Since I assume we only care about independent countries, and Oceania only has 14 of those, I just found the airport codes for the capital cities and ran them through the Great Circle Mapper (my query), then just sorted. The mapcrow link above wasn't able to verify distance between my pairings, but they seem correct. If we don't want to include Timor-Leste in Oceania, then the second longest distance is 6,777 km from Koror to our old friend Wellington. (Possible ad slogan: Wellington: When you're here, you're nowhere near anywhere else.) Also FYI, I left out Jakarta on the theory that while part of Indonesia was in Oceania, the capital wasn't. If we included it, then we could argue for Washington as an Oceanic capital (on the basis of Hawaii). I also assume we don't care about countries with two capitals -- aren't Amsterdam and The Hague pretty close? One is a legislative capital, one administrative. --ByeByeBaby 03:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for Oceania. I guess one could define any geopolitical areas one liked and continue the process forever. Maybe the entire Pacific area would be worth looking at. I've corrected Montevideo-Buenos Aires, they're only 230 km apart, not 320 km. And I've found a more distant pair in that continent, Montevideo and Caracas. Interesting that Monty figures in both the nearest and furthest pair in its continent. (Who said Wikipedia was good for nothing?) Great work, people. JackofOz 10:40, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

To be pedantic, many European atlases put Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Europe rather than Asia. Jameswilson 23:27, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

For Asia, Jerusalem is approximately under 70km from Amman, less than half the distance between Tbilisi and Yerevan (173 km). (No need to quibble about what continent the Caucasuses are in! (BTW they're in Europe)). Loomis 02:08, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Great, thanks Loomis. As to continentality (is that a word? If not, I hereby coin it), particularly with Europe-Asia, it all comes down to which definition we're using today. JackofOz 13:34, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I was actually dissappointed when I first discovered that the Caucuses were indeed in Europe. I would have much preferred to have discovered that they were in Asia. You know well of my deep animosity towards the politically correct. What a mess they would find themselves in to discover that "Caucasians" are indeed "Asians"! The whole PC vocabulary would have to be rewritten! One could no longer euphemistically refer to an East-Asian (i.e. Oriental) person or a Central Asian (i.e. Indian) person as simply an "Asian", as white people (i.e. Caucasians) would have just as much a claim to being Asian as the others! What a mess they'd find themselves in! Oh well...one can dream. Loomis 22:49, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and BTW, should someone come along and dispute the fact that Jerusalem is indeed the capital of Israel (as I anticipate...you know me, if there's no prospect for controversy, where's the fun?), I'd simply add that there's another rather large city in Israel called Tel Aviv, which for some odd reason many nations seem to prefer to put their embassies in, (perhaps they like beautiful the ocean view?) In any case, Tel Aviv is about 111km from Amman, still beating out Tbilisi and Yerevan by quite a bit. But that's a purely moot point, as everyone knows that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, while Tel Aviv is its largest city. (A common and innocent mistake...like assuming Sydney is the capital of Australia). Loomis 23:02, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Being categorical about where the dividing line between Europe and Asia is drawn, is not likely to be very helpful in general. Our article on Europe seems to have a foot in three camps (a rather uncomfortable position). Georgia is listed as being at least a possibility for being part of Europe, whereas Armenia is not. This gives a whole new meaning to arbitrariness. Transcontinental nations doesn't really resolve the problem.

Btw, I see some confusion between "caucuses" (the plural of caucus) and the singular word Caucasus. JackofOz 23:55, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Transcripts for student in approximately 1986

I would like to access my transcripts from approximately 1986 when I attended your university. My name is Masteneh Jafari. My address at that time was Colbeh Sadi, Shiraz Plastic, Mood Avenue,First Eight Meter Road, fourth house. I was enrolled in the midwife program. I attended for two and one half years. If you could please send me this information I would be greatly appreciative. I would like to continue my education in the USA and need this to verify what courses I have taken. Please send it to me in care of Address removed

We're an encyclopedia, not a university. You'll need to direct your question to the relevant university's registrar. — Lomn | Talk 14:02, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I'll have to check our records, but I don't think we even have your transcripts. Because this is an encyclopedia. --Optichan 16:10, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

what a weird question. since when do we have a midwife program?

wait, since at least 1986, apparently :) 82.131.190.200 18:17, 20 June 2006 (UTC).

Simple transposition of posts, I'd say. There's probably some university records department looking at a request for information about some odd subject and saying "What a weird question, wonder why they asked us this. We're a university, not some kind of Wikky-whatever thingamy". JackofOz 20:34, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Watchlist or bookmarks

How do I save a search or a page it returns, for future use? I can't find info on My Watchlist in the Help section and I sometimes do not use the same computer, so bookmarks built into each browser won't do. Thanks. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by <--email removed--> <--email removed--> • contribs) 17:01, 20 June 2006 UTC.

Having logged in under your username, you click on "Watch this page". To get to it you click on "My Watchlist". -- SGBailey 16:21, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

You could read Help:Watchlist --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 17:54, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

You can also create a subpage in your namespace if you are logged in. For example, if your username was User:SoandSo, you could create a page at User:SoandSo/Links, which you could paste page names into. --Fastfission 22:04, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

• • • Thank you both for the above info...it was really helpful***

Laptop computer

I have 2 Questions) 1. Do laptop computers play CD-ROM video games and 2. How much would one of these cost?

1. Yes, assuming the computer has a CD-ROM (or a software emulator for one). A laptop is still a computer and is no functionally different from a standard desktop PC.
2. Laptops generally cost about twice as much as a comparable desktop. However, that makes for a massive range of price, and what's best depends heavily on what its target environment is. — Lomn | Talk 18:49, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Some computer games do have system requirements that might preclude them running on a laptop, however. For example, some games require a relatively high-powered graphics processor, something that a low-cost laptop, or one designed for business users might not have. --LarryMac 20:42, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

They can play games, but as LarryMac says, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money you are often constrained to lower-quality graphics cards and things like that. Additionally it is very hard to upgrade laptop hardware in comparison with desktop machines. As for price... depends entirely on the make of the laptop. Some are relatively cheap ($400-900), and there is not much of an upper limit to them. --Fastfission 22:07, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

gas engines

I have come across a reference to a single stroke gas motorcycle engine and cannot find any reference to anything but 2 stroke, 4 stroke, wankel, etc. Do you have any information available on how this engine works or is this another way of saying 2 stroke?

Thank you,

Marty ````

Sounds like another way of saying 2-stroke to me, as two strokes (up + down) would constitute a single circular cycle of the shaft. Probably just a glitch in terminology. — Lomn | Talk 18:33, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I suspect your reference actually means a single cylinder engine, which could be either 2-stroke or 4-stroke.-gadfium 22:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Armed Forces and Space

If/when space travel (in both the normal and sci-fi senses) becomes possible, it is reasonable to assume that the armed forces will take control over it. I was wondering which force it would come under (at least in the UK, I don't know other countries' arrangements). Would it be under the Royal Navy (because there would, presumably, be space-ships), the RAF (because they travel around in the sky) or under a whole new division? How is it likely to work? Daniel (‽) 18:18, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

We'd be getting into "unknown territory", both metaphorically and literally. We couldn't assume that humans would be the only beings with an interest in having some say about this. JackofOz 20:28, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I suspect that it would be under the Air Force, since in the end spaceflight has more in common with atmospheric flight than it does ground operations or water operations (even underwater ones). At least, that's how I imagine it would be in the US, also because the Air Force is the biggest sponsor of space-based research and activity (such as rockets), I believe (the Navy and the Army also have rocket forces and research and things like that, but the bulk of them are under control of the Air Force. This is not the same elsewhere, though; i.e. in Russia the Army controls the strategic rocket forces). However it is also highly likely that if the militarization of space did take place on a large scale, most governments would set up an autonomous branch of operations for it. --Fastfission 22:23, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I would expect a mix of civilian and military "flights" in space, just as there are mixes in sea travel and air travel. StuRat 04:09, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

there is an article on this, there are treaties governing space, no country or entity can control, buy, sell, test weapons, or claim soverenty over any part of space. i think the article is called interstellar space treaties or sometghing like that, read it a long time ago.193.115.175.247 09:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Does that treaty only cover space itself or things that happen to be in space like planets (if so presumably it specifically excludes the earth), asteroids, etc.

Dealing with the original question. Space travel is possible, in the U.S.A. it is dealt with by the NASA. There are commercial space travel operations in planning (such as Virgin Galactic utilising SpaceShipOne's technology) but this is civillian and not controlled by any branch of the military (apart from arguably air traffic control). I wouldn't expect any significant Star Fleet style military space force to emerge until there is a real need to fight up there (eg aliens to fight) or there are significant advantages to fighting other human space forces in space rather than just using space as a base for missile launches. Of course there are I believe treaties against putting rockets & bombs in space but if the perceived benefit ever outweights the perceived consequences these will be broken. AllanHainey 11:23, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

the treaty covers interstellar space, planets, asteroids and just about any thing else extra terrestrial. read the article called Outer Space Treaty. very interesting, and should answer all your questions. take it easy 193.115.175.247 13:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

If such occures they would likely create a new force. Their is no reason to belive that the navy would be qualified to operate this space. The competency of operating occean ships does equal competency in operating a space ship. In deed the only thing a space ship and ocean ship have common is word ship. The Air force might be able to do however. Space so complex and different terriestial flight that Air force would not be a commpentent agency. Instead a knew specialised branch would likely be created. Before the war on terror began the Rumsfeld Defense depart was quiently planing the United States Military Space Service, which would have function as a coequal branch of the military. With resources and time spent time on the war on terror that plan has been postponed.

Length of Time Asset can be held in Construction in Progress

Hi,

I have an Accountancy question: How long can you keep assets/unfinished projects in the "Construction in Progress" account. Is there a maximum number of years before transferring this unfinished project and capitalizing the asset and depreciating it.

A project was ongoing, however there is no definite date for completion of the project, not sure what to do with the costs associated which are sitting in CIP. What is long-term time frame of keeping asset here until the project is complete.

Also, would like to know what are US GAAP guidelines on this question as well as IFRS International Financial Reporting Standards guidelines on this question.

Thanks for any help on this question.

Sam

What is that citrus?

When I was working in Yemen about 15 years ago, they used to cut a citrus and eat its skin and pith. This citrus was lemony color and the flesh looked so shrunk and dense. You can only eat the pith and it was delicious. The whole fruit was not as light as large-pith citrus I ate after, but was not heavy either. I looked everywhere for it trying to find its name, but in vein. None of the citrus listed on Wikipedea fitted my memory of it, and no one seems to know it. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.39.116.42 (talk • contribs) 21:23, 20 June 2006 UTC.

Maybe it was a "sweet orange"? http://www.fao.org/docrep/U5000E/U5000E0s.htm --Proficient 21:51, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

My parents have an old tree (probably 80+ years)with similar fruit, but the flesh is edible as well (and very tasty also). The fruit look like greenish-yellow, lumpy lemons. We call them Lemonades but I've no idea whether this is the formal name for them. Lisiate 23:17, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

• Actually, a quick browse of the list of citrus fruits makes me believe the fruit I'm describing is the Citron. Does that image look familiar? Lisiate 23:22, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi everyone, I am the writer of the question. I looked at pics of citron, but it is not the one. Well, I will keep looking, but keep an eye on it. The difference between citron and this fruit is that the flesh of the fruit is way smaller inside. Thank you.

Prostitutes

Hi, why do Prostitutes charge more for a 'Greek' hour, and what does that mean? Serious question.

Travelling to Greece means anal sex, and it's more because: it's riskier health-wise for the SP (service provider), it can be painful, it can be humiliating, and, supply and demand. Few women do it, the demand is there, so they can charge a lot and men will pay.--Anchoress 00:08, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

So the question is, why is anal sex associated with Greece? —Keenan Pepper 01:38, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

BTW, HERE is a list of sex trade acronyms and euphemisms. I haven't been able to find an explanation of the euphemism, but I know that there are a lot of them in the sex trade to get around the solicitation laws, and maybe it has to do with the classical Greek traditions of pederasty?--Anchoress 02:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

While anal sex was not a widespread practice in ancient Greece, the popular misperception that any homosexuality must involve anal sex no doubt lead to the association of anal sex with Greece (although some grease might well be advised :-) ). StuRat 04:02, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

June 21

Hispanic Immigrants / US Colleges

Hi

I am looking for resources that help hispanic immigrants (college students) assimilate themselves into Americain society. For a hispanic immigrant student looking to attend a United States college, what resources are available to him/her? (On a nationwide basis). What services do colleges offer to immigrants, and what can a hispanic immigrant expect to find in the US college system that is different than that of their own college system (using Mexican colleges as a base, even though there will be differences in where people come from). Any and all ideas would be VERY appreciated. Thanks!

The only major issue I would expect is English proficiency. Hispanic culture isn't so different from US culture that anything else is likely to be an issue. This might not be the case if we were talking about Arabs in US colleges, which might have differences in religion, polygamy, attitudes towards women, dress, and customs. StuRat 03:57, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Another major difference would be working from 2-4 instead of taking a nap Mayor Westfall 15:10, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, wow. Geez. WTF? I'm truly out of words. --RiseRover|^talk 06:55, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Dog Eat Dog World?

do dogs ever eat other dogs? aren't hot dogs like canabalism to them?--Bee(y)^Ti 01:19, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Hey, I think this page is for serious questions. That kind of stuff might go on the Uncyclopedia Forumthough. On a lighter note, no, it is not cannibalism. Hot Dogs are not, in fact, made of dogs. Russian F 03:17, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe that dogs will occasionally resort to cannibalism, as do people, and, I suppose, all carnivores and omnivores. StuRat 03:50, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Seems likely. --Proficient 17:41, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Hot dogs are not made out of dogs, contary to popular belief. They are instead made out of pork, beef, chicken, and byproducts. Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 20:59, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• I believe that in harsh environments where they use dog-sleds; as a last resort the weaker dogs are fed to the others.Capt.Scott came in for much criticism (from more pragmatic races)because he shot his dogs at the South Pole and didn't eat them.hotclaws**==(217.39.11.210 06:24, 22 June 2006 (UTC))

Considering the great size disparity in dogs it is conciveable bread dog could easily over take a smaller breed dog.

Built-in Wikipedia functions

I can't figure out a more specific place to ask this, so here goes. What "built-in functions" does Wikipedia have and where can I find a list of them? I'm probabably using the wrong name form them but they look like templates and are things like "PAGENAME" "REDIRECT" "CURRENTTIMESTAMP", etc. Thanks, Rfrisbie^talk 02:32, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

See Help:Variable (except REDIRECT isn't a variable). —Keenan Pepper 02:51, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! :-) Rfrisbie^talk 04:04, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Is "REDIRECT" in some sort of special group? Rfrisbie^talk 04:12, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I guess I really was looking for Help:Magic words. Thanks. Rfrisbie^talk 05:56, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• This kind of question belongs on the Help desk. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:40, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Logo Typeface

Hi, This is an odd question and I wasn't sure where to ask. I was wondering what kind of font(typeface) is used for the "WIKIPEDIA" part of the Wikipedia logo.

Thanks,

It looks like Garamond. --Canley 04:43, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Harddrive error checking

I'm running the error checking tool on WinXP on a large harddrive. I knew it would take a while, but it's been stuck in Phase 4 for about six hours without the progess bar moving although the harddrive activity light is blinking and I'm not using the harddrive in any other way. Is it safe to End Task? --Ephilei 06:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It probably is safe to end task. What was Phase 4 doing, anyway? What elements did it successfully complete?--Anchoress 13:16, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Always be careful with other hdd utilities that partition and such. Stopping them may corrupt something and will lead to a lot of trouble. It's always good to backup and image though. --Proficient 17:42, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Ask User:Cernen. He is a Microsoft certified XP expert. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 21:33, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Most and least central capital

Hi, this continues the fun capital topic :)

If you take a look at the location of Ashgabat or Tashkent or Bratislava, you can't help but feeling that these are not so central.

In fact they could as well be the capital of another country.

What are the most and least central capitals? Now as a math student I know I should properly define that. One could calculate the shortest distance between the city and the geographical center of the nation, but one also has to take the actual size of the country into account.

In my opinion London is not central, while Madrid and Brussels are.

Evilbu 08:10, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Canberra is very un-central, even given the relative size of Australia. Not sure how to do the required calculation though AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 08:17, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Washington DC is thousands of miles from the geographic center of the US - especially if you include alaska and hawaii. I suspect Beijing is too. Raul654 08:18, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. As I said I am still in doubt how to properly define 'most central'. One could divide the distance to the geographic center by the square root of the area, or by the diameter. Then again, who cares if in a small country like Luxemburg the capital is near the border? Evilbu 10:23, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

A few more: -

• central - Tirana, Brussels, Berne, Minsk, Riyadh, Ulan Bator, Wellington, Santiago, Bamako, Tripoli, Abuja.
• not-central - Dublin, Oslo, Helsinki, Islamabad, Muscat, Ottawa, Havana, Kinshasa, Gaborone, Libreville, Bangui, N'Djamena. And Cape Town, which is one of the capitals of South Africa.

Least central? Possibly Nouméa, although that's in a territory rather than a true "nation". Maputo would be another possibility. Most central would likely be Wellington, Windhoek, or Dodoma. Grutness...wha? 13:07, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Wellington's cropping up all over the place today. JackofOz 13:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Shouldn't the centralness of the capital be defined as a ratio of the distance of the captial to the centre, and the distance of the centre to the furthest border. Philc _T^E_C^I 16:04, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Good proposal. --Proficient 17:44, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It is said that Madrid was deliberately chosen as capital because of its central position. Same for Brasilia? Jameswilson 23:34, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, if by "capital", we can include state capatals of the U.S.A., I've got a VERY non-central one for you. If you look out of the windows of the State Capitol in Trenton, New Jersey, you can look into Pennsylvania

Yup - Trenton would probably be the most non-central state capital, and I'll repeat my nod for Maputo for national capital. Grutness...wha? 05:23, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• I would disagree with Trenton. It may be very far west in New Jersey, but it's very central on NJ's main North-South axis. My vote goes for Juneau, Alaska, with Cheyenne, Wyoming in second. They are both in the southeastern corners of their states. Also, on the national capital issue, it's worth noting that Washington, D.C. is not very central on the USA's main East-West axis, but that when the country was founded, it was fairly close to the population center and geographic center. Brazil had a similar problem until they moved the capital to Brasília.--M@rēino 16:21, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Psychology

What are the principles of growth and development? One is endocrine glands

One is do your own homework Mayor Westfall 15:26, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

E472e

This topic fits into the Wikipedia category of bad jokes and other deleted nonsense. It is suggested that it be moved to it. Please discuss this on the discussion section for this topic.

Oh great, some of you already have. I guess my maintenance help isn't needed after all. I feel so useless. This is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. You think I'm making that up. Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without trying to invent any more of it.—Marvin 18:16, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

While waiting for the kettle to boil, and the toast to pop, i was reading the ingredients of my bread, it says it contains E472e. What is this, how does it affect me, my bread, and ducks and sans and whatever else might eat bread. 193.115.175.247 10:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

What are "sans"? JackofOz 10:17, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Sans are small creatures which are addicted to eating bread. You can catch them by setting special magical traps called "san witches". Grutness...wha? 13:11, 21 June 2006 (UTC) methinks it was meant to be "swans"

I must be getting Alzheimers. That seriously never occurred to me, Grutty. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when Kiwis spot things that Ozzies miss. Lol.

See here, they are "Mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids". CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 10:20, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

... which are emulsifiers. See E number. –Mysid^(t) 11:48, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

sans are a type o i meant swans. lol.

Great, thanks. I never knew what kind of blood swans had till now. JackofOz 14:10, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

This question is in serious danger ofbeing moved to BJAODN or somewhere similar. Grutness...wha? 02:34, 22 June 2006 (UTC) "Grutty"??? It suits you, mate. Besides, you don't get a say about the nick names your friends give you. JackofOz 12:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Permanent deletion of malicious identifying information?

I know this can be done because I have seen it done, but I can't remember where I saw it or how it was done. Basically one editor has abused the edit summary facility in an attempt to maliciously post identifying information about me, I would very much like that permanently deleted. How do I go about it? Thanks--Zeraeph 12:34, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Post your request on the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents page.--Anchoress 12:37, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Franchisee density

Is there an article on franchisee density of chain stores? -- Toytoy 13:53, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Lewis Black has a great piece.

From the beginning of time, man has looked at the heavens and firmly believed that the end of the universe ends out in space. It's not true. The end of the universe happens to be in the United States. I have seen it. And, oddly enough, it's in Houston, Texas...I know, I was shocked too... I left the comedy club there and walked down the street. On one corner, there was a Starbucks. And across the street from that Starbucks, in the exact same building as that Starbucks, was a Starbucks. At first I thought the sun was playing tricks on my eyes. But, no. There was a Starbucks across from a Starbucks. And that, my friends, is the end of the universe. People have said to me, 'how do you know?' And I say, 'go there. Stand between those two Starbucks and look at your watch. Time stands still.' And if you turn this way, and look at just this Starbucks, immediately you think, 'You know, There cannot possibly be a Starbucks behind me. Nobody would have been that stupid, to have built a Starbucks across from a Starbucks. And if there was a just and loving God, he wouldn't allow that kind of shit to go down.' So you turn slowly, thinking, 'well, I'll see a Gap, or a Denny's, maybe even a Mobil Station... BUT THERE'S A STARBUCKS!' - The End of the Universe

- From [5]

book makers rules

What is the minimum space required to start a betting shop

Rather odd little question. What do you mean? JackofOz 14:05, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

0 square feet/0 square meters. You can operate as a bookie without any facility at all. Just carry the cash and betting list on you at all times. StuRat 14:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

But, if you must have a facility, let's say a small room only large enough for the bookie and one customer, and a desk to hold the cash and betting lists. StuRat 14:24, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• Knowing how to properly set up a business and acquire the needed licenses would be a more useful question. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:12, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The occupation is nearly universally illegal, in the US out side of Nevada their are no bookies outside the undergroun economy.

No... Vitriol 04:53, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't say it was "nearly universally" illegal. You can find at least one bookies' shop on any British high street. To answer the original question, there is no minimum size restriction on gambling offices in the UK, and although the applicant has to provide an address to receive his (or her) license, the relevant page in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport website says that "Actual entry to licensed premises in order to place a bet is not essential". High street betting shops are usually pretty small, perhaps 20 square metres, because they don't have to have room for any actual stock. Ironfrost 06:07, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Copyright

If I owned a convient store, and somehow got 7-11 signs & other branded material e.g. cups, how would 7-11 ever find out I'm infringing on their trademark...I mean, it seems like no one would ever notice? WHo checks on these things? This isnt just a question specific to this situation. If I were to build a building, who checks and makes sure I comply with all applicable laws...? Thanks. _Mayor WF

Da, da, daaaaaa: Captain Copyright to the rescue! I hope somebody supplies a more useful answer shortly. --GraemeL ^(talk) 15:13, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Ironically, that article could be placed under my next question, as an example of Irony. Mayor Westfall 15:24, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

(1) Don't assume that your customers are not fervent supporters of copyright and any other law; if your shop is seen to be breaking the law, it might be reported. In some cases (e.g. if a company is using pirate software) there might even be a reward. (2) In the UK, you must submit plans for building (describing all techniques and materials) for approval before you start; on completion, the building control people have the right to inspect and demand changes. Planning permission is also required, but this does not deal with details of construction, only the overall appearance. Notinasnaid 17:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Some companies have active people who check for infringement of copyrights. I don't know if 7-11 is one of them or how they operate. But basically, obviously if they don't know and can't know (for whatever reason), then they can't know that they should sue you. But if they do, somehow, find out, you're in trouble. (Which would be a great way for an employee to get back at you if they got fired.) --Fastfission 18:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

But if some one built a building without getting approval, who would notice? I would think the building approval guys would assume that approval was requested and recieved. Who checks up on this stuff? -Mayor WF

In the UK, if a building appeared without planning permission, the neighbours would notice, and probably report it. Every single building put up in the UK has to have public notices posted, discussion, agreement. If a building has planning permission but not building approval, the chances are a system will eventually pick that up, since they are different departments of the same organisation. Yes, things do slip the net sometimes. For example, you need building permission to convert an attic to a room. But we purchased a house where this had been done without permission, and it caused us a lot of difficulty when we came to sell it. Anything that looks like a recent change is likely to send potential buyers off to check the official records. Notinasnaid 18:22, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Surely your customers would very soon notice if they didn't get the goods and services they expected to get from a regular 7-11, and they would complain to head office. Why else would you call it 7-11 if you didn't expect to get customers who were familiar with the brand?--Shantavira 18:24, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

In my area there's an 11-7 [sic] (they even write it "11-Seven" superimposed). If they could get away with more, I'm sure they would.--Pharos 21:36, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• Virtually all franchises (and I'm sure 7-11 is in this category) have managers from Headquarters who travel from town to town inspecting all the stores. If they drove past a fake 7-11, they'd know, and they would be on the phone with 7-11's in-house legal counsel within minutes. --M@rēino 16:25, 23 June 2006 (UTC)
  • Where I am now, they have a "Lucky 7", whose logo is a 7 with lucky written through the middle, just like 7-11's. I don't know how they get away with it. -Goldom ‽‽‽ ⁂ 13:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Opposite of Irony

Often I encounter a situation that is kinda the oppostite of Irony, and I was wondering if there is a name for this. I guess I would give an example of pulling out of a car wash and moments later a bird takes a giant shit all over my car. Or sort of like the situations mentioned in Allanis Morest's song Ironcic, which Ironically, contains no irony. Mayor Westfall 15:19, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Have a look at Sod's law and Murphy's law. The article on Sod's Law actually makes the same point as you about the Morissette lyric. --Richardrj 15:44, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I was trying to find a term that doesn't always have to be something negative. LIke If I open a box of cookies and find....cookies :) Is there such term? There should be Mayor Westfall 16:14, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It -is- ironic though that after the carwash feces gets on. --Proficient 17:46, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Irony often has to do with bad timing (as in the car wash example). The opposite might be synchronicity -- the bird nails your car just before you enter the car wash. JamesMLane t c 20:56, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

A 2nd helping of Irony

The article on IRony claims that [Alanis Morissette’s popular 1995 song “Ironic” breathed new life into the ongoing controversy over the definition of irony. The song attracted a great deal of attention from prescriptivists for its (arguably) flagrant misuse of the word ironic. Morissette’s alleged misuses of the word include the following:

It’s like a traffic jam / when you’re already late He won the lottery / and died the next day

Among those who assert that the song uses an invalid definition of irony, many find it ironic that Morissette would write a song titled “Ironic” with no actual irony in it. In 2004, Morissette herself acknowledged that the song doesn’t live up to the definition, which is what makes it ironic.]

Wouldn't it be Ironic if someone was overly cautious about flying, and then, when they finally do, the plane crashes? Or winning the lottery, and therefore appearing to be very lucky, but then suddenly dieing? Isnt that Irony? Mayor Westfall 15:22, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I had thought that there were some examples of irony among the bad luck. In my view the entire song is a wrapper for a single couplet "meeting the man of my dreams/and then meeting his beautiful wife". That struck me as irony, but it doesn't meet Wikipedia's definition which hinges on a difference between what is said, and what is understood. For instance, if the song had revealed through storytelling that this man was married, by giving us hints that the singer didn't pick up on, then simply said that she had met the man of her dreams; that would be irony. Ironically, I think the lyrics of "Perfect" on the same album are much higher in irony. (Note that the use of "ironically" in the previous sentence, which sounds perfectly fine to me, doesn't seem to match Wikipedia's definition either). Notinasnaid 17:44, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

If you look under "cosmic irony" (rather than verbal irony) in the Wikipedia definition you get a bit closer to the usage you used in the end with the "Ironically". I don't think any of the examples in the Morissette song are "irony" -- most of them are just examples of bad luck. I don't think in the lottery example the connection between the winning and dying (via luck) is strong enough to consistute as ironic -- if you won the lottery the day before hyperinflation set in, that might be ironic, because the money/luck connection is stronger. Meeting the man of your dreams and finding out he was your father would be ironic (in a classical tragic sense, so to speak); I don't know if meeting the man of your dreams and finding out he's married counts (that is just bad luck, but not a true disconnect from the expected). --Fastfission 01:13, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

• I thought the whole song was just whinging--hotclaws**==(217.39.11.210 06:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC))

I guess the lesson is "don't pick up general knowledge from pop singers"! --ColourBurst 06:40, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Am I a racist?

I recently noticed the following thought-provoking userbox Template:User race-0, which I found to be really profound. I strongly believe there are no signifigant differences between the 'races' of people, but I do believe that people's reaction to the races or perecieved differences in the races causes signifigant differences in demograpics.

I feel that certain demographics have allowed themselves to absorb certain 'race'-specific traits, such the 'bling-bling' culture of young black males, where there are social presures that are not present for other races to spend money on frivilous things. Of course this is just one example, but I feel there are differences, even differences that make a race inferior/superior with respect to another one on certain issues like finanical management, but I do not feel these are the result of the 'race' difference itself, but rather people's reaction to the 'race' difference, via creating sub-cultures that are race specific. Does that make me a racist? Mayor Westfall 15:38, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Well the races are different. for example, whites are better at swimming, and blacks are better at running. A statment of this fact does not make me rascist, so I don't think you are rascist either. Philc _T^E_C^I 16:00, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Depends on what you mean by "better at swimming", "better at running", and "racist". I mean, at extremes you get anomalies anyway; Yao Ming is currently the tallest guy in the NBA, Liu Xiang tied the 110m hurdles record, Shani Davis is the current record holder for 1000m and 1500m speed skating, etc. and the categories for "white", "black", "Asian" and others are so broad anyway that it's impossible to assign characteristics like that to them. The fact that, for example, for many years ice hockey players have been predominately white could be no more sinister than the fact that more white people go into junior hockey leagues at a younger age. On the other hand, it could be from the fact that hockey itself is an expensive sport and because of institutional racism black families will have less opportunity to get into hockey leagues in the first place. Hockey is an expensive sport, whereas running, basketball and soccer are not. Swimming is somewhat of an expensive sport, because the facilities takes quite a bit of money to build.

Specifically, the phenomenon Mayor Westfall talks about where social pressure leads kids to behave a certain way based on their physical traits is called "stereotype threat", a term coined by Claude Steele of Stanford. [6] is a very brief article on the phenomenon. --ColourBurst 06:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Phil, had you added "from the cops" at a strategic point in your post, it would have made you racist. Mayor Westfall 16:16, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

lol, yeah that would change it up a bit if placed in the right location. XM 17:15, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Just a bit, but I'm not from the US so we don't have that racial sterotype anyway. And without the extra addition its not rascist. Philc _T^E_C^I 17:19, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It still looks sort of rascist to me. Anyway, I'd urge you to read an essay featured in the short version of the Norton Reader, concerning genetic diversity and stereotypes. To paraphrase its point, lots of Caribbeans are good sprinters and lots of Koreans are good archers, but not necessarily because of race. Can't find the book right now. --Kjoonlee 06:23, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Maybe I'm confusing two essays, one about genetic diversity and one about racial stereotypes. --Kjoonlee 06:28, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Not so much because of race, but because of the physical build associated with race, example, blacks have thinner longer legs bones, higher hips, better constructed lower bodies (for running), lower muscle density, allowing for better blood supply to muscles, giving an advantage in activities, where blood oxygen is used quickly such as accelerating in a sprint, these are the carachteristics of good sprinter, central africans have a better strength to bodyweight and height ratio for middle distance running, and whites are not so sure why though, a lot better at swimming, if you dont believe me watch the olympics, you'll be lucky to see a white sprinter, kenyans and ethiopians will do amazingly in the middle distance, and all the finalist swimmers will be white. Philc _T^E_C^I 00:12, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

That's probably influential, but then, how many white people take up sprinting as enthusiastically as Africans? How many Africans have access to swimming pools, seas, lakes and rivers? Surely there's nothing special with Koreans that make them better at speed skating or archery. --Kjoonlee 09:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Beacause they are learned skills, however much you teach someone technique, there is a physical limit to how fast they can travel, that is where race comes in, there is no such limit on how good you can become at archery or skating (ignoring outside factors), so anyone can become good at them, if they work hard enough, for long enough. Those are also the reasons I did not include them as examples. I beg to differ on you point of peoples access to facilities, if that were true, from developed countries, you would expect a roughly equal mix of blacks and whites, as there is in the populations, but that is not true swimmers are with exception always white. And I don't think anyone 'takes up' sprinting, they find at an age of about 14, that they are exceptional, and they work on this talent, which is derived from natural ability, something which is heavily affected by race. Philc _T^E_C^I 00:20, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

/me shrugs. I think differing genetic diversity within ethnological groups would be another contributing factor as well. Concerning access, you know that even in developed countries the wealth is not distributed evenly between black and white populations. --Kjoonlee 06:29, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

My understanding is that some Ethiopians and Kenyans are superlative distance runners because of the high altitude at which they have lived all their lives. I don't know whether Peru and Tibet do well at international distance running competitions as well.-gadfium 02:03, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Then surely you would have equally strong competitors from every major mountain range, andes, himlayas, rockys, alps? Philc _T^E_C^I 10:15, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, East Africans come from a rather hot area and are long-limbed, while Andeans and Tibetans come from cold regions and have quite short limbs, rather unsuited to marathons. There's also a pretty strong cultural thing about long-distance running in East Africa.--Pharos 11:04, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Mayor Westfall, what you are talking about is race as a social construct, that is, race as a proxy for ethnicity or something like that. Just because one believes that race is a social construct does not make it a powerful force despite that. Being poor is a "social construct" (it is not related to one's biology), but of course being poor will have huge effects on the life of a person or group of people.

And Phil, saying "blacks are better at running" is, while not racist, not especially precise wording on the issue and could easily imply a belief in typological notions of race. More precise would be something like, "A statistically significant number of people identified as being members of a 'black' race [in the United States] perform better than similar counterparts amongst people identified as not being 'black'" or something like that. In the end, "racial" traits are one the one hand statistical (it is not that all blacks are better runners) and on the other hand tied to social categories ("black" is not a biologically or geographically specific term, and is a complicated mix of biological, ethnic, and geographical elements). Which is to say, each of these terms must have very specific means for it to be a correct statement, and race is more complicated than being just about biology. (As to whether "race" exists or not, IMO it depends on how you define it. Some definitions of "race" seem to be scientifically valid, while others are not.) --Fastfission 20:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

In addition, notions of what "race" is changed throughout history. Specifically the definition of "white" changed because for most of history it was Europeans who cared about the specific "race" modifier, and therefore care about who is "white" and therefore a part of "them" or "not white" or not a part of "them". Other people tended to group based on country or smaller social dividers. For example, in the U.S., Irish, Italians, and Jews were not considered "white", while they are now (except to perhaps some extremists). --ColourBurst 06:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

As far as I am concerned there is a huge difference between being non-pc and rascist, calling black people black, is non-pc but not rascist. It would be rascist to imply that it was a bad thing to be black though. Philc _T^E_C^I 10:15, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• Don't go knocking social constructs. I do not believe in the existence of government, love, education, or hope except as social constructs. I could easily add religion and civilization to that list without being too controversial.--M@rēino 20:43, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

is NY33Q part of the call numbers on one of the 9/11 planes' tails?

Does "NY33Q" have anything to do with insignia on any of the 9/11 planes? Look at what happens when you change it to wingdings font. Of course, it only means something if the letters actually figured somehow... "site:wikipedia.org NY33Q" returns nothing... :( 82.131.188.156 16:04, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

snopes has an article on this. It's BSMayor Westfall 16:12, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely. See Q33 NY.--Pharos 16:23, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

thanks! That cleared it up in a jiffy!  :) btw, do planes even have special serial numbers or designations (other than flight numbers, which change from flight to flight / get recycled, right, unless they're retired because of some famous event????) <--- is this right, since my original source didn't call it the flight number but some 'tail' designation or whatever. ("serial number"?, heh) 82.131.188.156 16:35, 21 June 2006 (UTC).

Aircraft sure do have tail numbers. A quick googling reveals some countries never recycle tail numbers but I don't know if that's global. Weregerbil 18:54, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Note, though, that according to the FAA's rules "NY33Q" would not be a legal tail number, since the first character after the N has to be a number. —Zero Gravitas 19:03, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

so what were the tail numbers of all the planes involved? incidentally,

American Airlines Flight 11 says "American Airlines Flight 11 was an American Airlines flight aboard a Boeing 767-223ER aircraft, registration number N334AA."

United Airlines Flight 175 says " The airplane on the flight, a Boeing 767-222 with registration number N612UA, was hijacked and crashed in New York City during the September 11, 2001 attacks."

American Airlines Flight 77 says "On September 11, 2001, while being piloted by Charles Burlingame, the Boeing 757-223, N644AA, was hijacked as part of the September 11, 2001 attacks."

United Airlines Flight 93 says "United Airlines Flight 93 was a Boeing 757-222 flight that regularly flew from Newark International Airport (now known as Newark Liberty International Airport) in Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco International Airport continuing on to Narita International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, on a different aircraft."

So, the fourth one does not mention registration number like the first three, however, it is on the side-bar to the right: "Tail number N591UA". (This side-bar does not conform to the format of the previous three articles I linked).

So we have the terms "tail number" only in this one and "registration number" only in the first two and the third flight I linked mentioned the lettors without saying whether they are tail numbers or registration numbers. Are these terms synonymous? The format of the fourth flight should parallel the format of the first three.

Tail numbers are just the aircraft registration number printed on the tail of the aircraft. Other places you might find it are under the wing or along the side. Each country has it's own registration, see International Civil Aviation Organization and scroll down for the aircraft registration list. Also for information and the ability to check a US aircraft registration see FAA. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Important

I've prepared a special image report on my findings:

[7]

However, I don't have an account. Could someone upload it and inline it to the end of the above post? (Inlining external images is no longer allowed on Wikipedia.).

You can't, as far as I'm aware, insert images from other sites into Wikipedia, perhaps to prevent copyright infringement. I'm not sure, whilst the subject of an amusing chain-email a few years ago, the image would prove too useful on Wikipedia either...EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 22:38, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thats not shocking at all, so what if the N in windings in a skull and cross bones, the 5 is a chest of drawers, and the 1 is a folder and A is a hand, what is the significance of these? nothing! Philc _T^E_C^I 00:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I see you did not notice the "super conspiracy" part. Anyway would you PLEASE upload it to wikipedia so I can inline the image on some talk pages? Thank you so much.

I saw the super conspiracy part and I don't see the relevence. It's just a bunch of Wingdings characters, several of which have no significance at all in this situation. --Optichan 16:31, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I did see it actually, your reply implies you believe the fact you scribbled super conspiracy over it, makes it a conspiracy. Philc _T^E_C^I 00:25, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Searching for Alan Keyes

Hi all - I am trying to find an email address for Alan Keyes that is NOT associated with the Renew America Web site. Thank you so much for allowing to post this search with you good folks. Kathy

Try a search such as this, and add any other terms you want to exclude as -term. Might get you there. --Tagishsimon (talk) For privacy purpose he probablly does not release his personal email adress.

hjelp low vision user to find how to create a new article

I have low vision, ARMD and it is difficult for me to read through a lot of stuff even though I have a ttext to speechengine but long descriptions just fly by. I have succesfully registered, Claude A.R. KIagan I have successfully edited SAM76 article I have successfully edited MY TALK in my page.

I cant find after about a real full day of trying, how to just open a new page to edit in it an artricle with a new name.

I had an aborted experience with CREATE your FIRST, I got as far as the NAME, GLOBOTYPE and hit a wrong key and it vanished.

I did create GLOBOTYPE article in my talk and I want to actually have a new article named GLOBOTYPE so I can either copy from my talk or from by master file in my machine.

My ARMD, macular degeneration is compounded with a rare affliction of the Charles Bonney Syndrome, I have visions at the worde possible time link on the computer screen when I am editing, maps, castles and other visions overwrite the screen and I have to separate the vision from the edit.

I h ope this question is not too long. I tried to change skin to simple but that was a disaster. There was confilict in the left side between the left column and the body due to a long user name.

Best wishes to your gang.

Claude a. r. kagan <-- email removed to contact, see User:Claude A. R. Kagan -->

Pardon typos, I cannot read this microscopic type in this small window. I can listen to it but that is difficult to listen and edit while the speech keeps on talking.

I'm invoking the spirit of this new article. Globotype, AYT (are you there) ? I'm now building a special circle made of double square brackets around thy name, Globotype. Now anyone can play with you just by clicking it with his magic wand (or mouse pointer). Good luck. --DLL 18:25, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Other ways to create the article:

1. If it exists in your user space, use the "move" link at the top of the page to move the article to its correct name
2. Search for the exact name of the article you want to create, and you'll get a page saying "This article does not exist, click here to create it" or the like. — Lomn | Talk 19:09, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Just so you know, if you need the letters bigger to help see, hold ctrl and roll the wheel on the mouse back (in windows). Philc _T^E_C^I 23:53, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

On a Mac, most browsers will have a View menu with the option of increasing text size. You might also try holding down the ⌘ and + keys to make the text larger. In the Mac OS there is also a system preference called "Universal Access" that is designed to help people with low vision or hearing. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 17:31, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

George & Robert Alexander Construction

Greetings,

My name is John Albert Mc Bee and I manage an apartment complex located at 7200 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. In an attempt to obtain the original blueprints to speed up process for plumbing and electrical repairs for this building, it was discovered that the original owner and contractor was a George Alexander Co. (As it appears on the permit to erect new building) The only information that I can seem to locate for this man was a large project that he and his son worked on in Palm Springs. Their files will not help me here in Hollywood. Can you help me with any leads for locating his/their work in Los Angeles so that I may obtain files for this particular structure? Several sites mention that they achieved their success from previous work performed in Los Angeles...but no info on what or where.

I appreciate any assistance you will offer.

Sincerely, John Mc Bee

You have not mentioned the year of construction, that might help somebody to find it. If the building is quite old, you have little chance of finding the original blueprints, since that stuff does not store well, and the company is most likely defunct. --Zeizmic 17:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

That's the Alexander Construction Company. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Fortune 1000 company rankings

Hello,

I'd like to see if I can get Fortune 1000 rankings of companies back to 1994

My email is (email removed) My phone# is (removed)

Thank you,

Terry Eichelberger

It would be wise not to include your phone number and much more your email. --Proficient 21:30, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

• Your local library should have issues of Fortune magazine going back that far. --M@rēino 20:46, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Archeology help for book

I'm writing a book and looking for a more specific setting that will hopefully fit some of the more general characteristics that I've laid out. Therefore, if anyone knows of an archeology dig site or a good location to put a fictional one that fits this description, please let me know:

Desert Site in the middle East (possibly the Negev? Sinai desert?) Neolithic to early bronze age settlement In a place where Westerners would be allowed to come and set up a dig.

Possibly previously worked site?

Thanks for any help that you can offer me. ~BJP

We have a Category:Archaeological sites in Israel that may be of use. Adam Bishop 22:18, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you should have the work site be at the Anatolian highlands in present day turkey. This mountainous region is where the metals associated with the broonze age where first mined and where the broonze age began.

Jericho is probably the most famous "neolithic through bronze age" dig site in the world. alteripse 02:36, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

sex

Can you have sex at the age of 13, 14, 15 and 16 years old?

You can, but it's probably not legal. Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 20:56, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

It might well be legal. It all depends on where you live. --Richardrj 20:58, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

And the age of the other person engaging in the sex.--Anchoress 21:10, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Most likely legal for you to do so, but an adult having it with you will be in legal doodoo. --Nelson Ricardo 21:12, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Probably. --Proficient 21:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

If you can masterbate you can have sex. Legality has been answered. — The Mac Davis] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 02:05, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It's not true that if you can masturbate you can have sex. Some kids start masturbating at 1 or 2 years of age, that's too young to have sex, the genitalia isn't sufficiently mature.--Anchoress 03:35, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Are we sure this isn't a troll question? I mean...what kind of question is that? --mboverload@ 07:14, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

• Technically, masturbation is sex with just one person. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:07, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Regarding whether a 13, 14, 15 or 16 year old it depends. Often 13 and 14 year olds espessally boy would not be physically mature enough have sex. The vast majority of 15 year olds probablly woulsd be. Of course no one at this age should be having sex! It depends,

Yeah, like 'technically' abstinance is sex with the null set.

This question was asked a few months ago and the conclusion was that most kids break the law all the time. Don't tell them or they'll get the notion that breaking the law is fun. DirkvdM 07:30, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

"Often 13 and 14 year olds espessally boy would not be physically mature enough have sex." Lies. Vitriol 04:38, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Final answer. As long as the boy is physically mature enough for penetrative sex, the age difference between them is not great, and it is consensual it is perfectly legal. However, I have heard of cases where a 15 year old has sex with 10 year old or something....I'm not sure how that turned out. --mboverload@ 05:06, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikimania

Is there an age restriction for this?--Triviaman 22:05, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so, but you should contact the organizers about it. Ideally if someone were a minor I imagine it would be best if we had some proof that their parents had authorized it (just in order to avoid any liability issues if a 12 year old goes to Wikimania in order to hook up with an internet stalker) but I don't know if that is an official requirement. --Fastfission 01:16, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I would also advise that you do this well in advance, and get documentation you can show to security if necessary (I'm not sure how tight security is at Wikimania). I would also make arrangements to have a person of influence in Wikipedia who can argue your case with security if necessary. I remember going to a conference where I was supposed to present something when I was 11 or so, only to have to have the people who invited me come out and argue with the guards to let me in. Having that happen is not fun, but it is better than not being let in at all. --Philosophus ^T 09:59, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

There is no age limit. I started when I was 12 or 13, if there is a limit, it is 13 if you live in the United States. Then again, Wikipedia also has the ultimate unreachable goal of catalogueing all human knowledge. There are some things on here you may not want to read, and there are images concerning your sexual pieces that some people believe shouldn't be seen if you are too young. — The Mac Davis] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 02:08, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The questioner was asking about attendance at the Wikimania conference, not reading the website. --Richardrj 09:18, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Midsummer

When is midsummer's night?

Tonight Philc _T^E_C^I 23:54, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to the English language: Midsummer is the first day of summer, midwinter is the first day of winter. Emmett5 03:36, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Not necessarily. In some English-speaking countries (eg. Australia) the seasons officially start on the 1st of March, June, September and December. JackofOz 03:52, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

That may be true, Jack, but then again, there are some things that the state cannot simply legislate, and then "poof" they become true. According to the Australian government, Winter may begin June 1st, but I'm sure if you'd ask any self-respecting Australian scientist s/he'd tell you that Winter actually starts at the Winter solstice (June 21/22? I believe it varies). Loomis 12:43, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Off topic a bit, but why is it Midsummer, if it takes place at the start of summer? smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 15:00, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Not positive, but I'd assume that it's probably because Midsummer is the Summer Equinox, which is the longest day of the year. It's the day between when the days are getting longer, and when they start getting shorter again. So in that way, it is indeed a "mid". So while an optimist might say "Yeay, it's June 21st! It's now officially summer!", a pessimist will respond "Yeah, but now the days are just getting shorter, we've already passed the peak and it's all downhill from here." ;-)

I REALLY REALLY hate to be a pedant, so I'll just assume that when you refered to the Summer "Equinox", you were actually refering to the Summer "Solstice", as there's no such thing as a Summer "Equinox". Easy slip of the tongue (or fingers) I suppose. Loomis 22:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, if we're going to be pedants, I'll just point out that Philc 0780's original answer was only true for half the planet. Here, it was midwinter's night. Grutness...wha? 05:30, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe I specifically refered to the fact that from Jack's point of view, June 21/22 would be the winter solstice. Yes, I'm fully aware that everything's upside-down for you guys! (The one question I have, though, is why you apparently don't turn your globes upside-down. Doesn't it hurt your necks when you crane them to locate your country?) Loomis 02:25, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Ah hadn't noticed that (the winter note) sorry. As to globes, we do have some "upside-down maps", though they're usually made for their whimsical value rather than for any real "southist" reason. Grutness...wha? 02:51, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Really? I wouldn't stand for that sort of borealocentrism! Those northern chauvinist pigs! Everyone knows there's no up or down in space! As an act of solidarity with my southern friends, I intend to turn my globe upside-down and tell all the little children I know that Santa in fact lives way UP in the SOUTH pole, and that we Canadians actually live "down-under"! Loomis 21:30, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Where are US brand cars and trucks manufactured?

My 2003 Dodge Dakota was made entirely in Brazil and final assembly was in the US. Seems we are not entitled to know where anything is "manufactured" as long as final assembly is done in the US and the Company can legally lable it "Made in USA". Can you include "actual manufacture" and location in all the great automotive info you now have? Thanks, Deano

In a globalised world, I would say that even if that information could be adequately verified, it would be too fast-changing to be included. Today the parts come from Brazil, tomorrow half the tiny screws could be coming from Ghana and the day after that the axles would be from Malaysia. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 16:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Sam. I read this in a mag while waiting to see my Dr. The cover was missing but I think it was an automotive type of consumer's digest. Guess I just dislike the "made-in-usa" rules of FTC, created to enhance out-sourcing.

New cars in the U.S. have a label showing the percentage of the car supplied by each country for just this reason. Rmhermen 03:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Little Problem

Dmitry Salita and Dmitriy Salita are two articles with the same name, however, Dmitriy Salita is the incorrect spelling, I am not sure how to redirect Dmitriy Salita to Dmitry Salita so could someone please do it for me?--GorillazFan Adam 23:31, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

I was going to change to a redirect, but there is some information in Dmitriy Salita that is not present in Dmitry Salita, so the articles need to be merged. I'll have a look at this when I have time, unless someone else wants to do it. --Canley 00:57, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Done, I hope. I kept all the information from both in there. AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 04:55, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

June 22

Electricity

Hi, I was wondering this: could a human body hold an electric charge, and if a human could use that charge in any manner; furthermore, if that charge could be measured in Volts, and by what, if any, means could such a thing happen.--Captain ginyu 00:49, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Sure, anything can hold a charge. It's usually called "static electricity". You can't really "use" it for anything, except touching other people to give them a little shock. Charge is not measured in volts, it's measured in coulombs. —Keenan Pepper 00:59, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Unlike the The Matrix! --Ephilei 01:27, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

...With a proviso that for an object of known capacitance, one could indirectly specify the charge in volts. (The charge in coulombs is equal to the potential in volts multiplied by the capacitance in farads.) Shuffling across a carpet on a dry winter day, it's possible to build up a potential of several thousand (even tens of thousands) of volts above ground. Fortunately, your capacitance is pathetically tiny (on the order of a hundred picofarads) so the total charge you can accumulate from a carpet is only enough to give you a nasty tingle and not cause lasting harm. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:49, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, but NO, that is not what I had in mind. I was thinking of a charge that you would obtain, e.g. if you survive a lightning strike or something like that. You can not shock people with static electricity when you want, I was thinking of a charge you could control(for example, like shock with static electricity but at will). Does anyone know what I am talking about.--Captain ginyu 01:45, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Electric charge is electric charge. It doesn't give you superhero powers. When a person is struck by lightning, the charge passes through the body, but it doesn't remain there afterwards. Read what TenOfAllTrades said, he's smart. —Keenan Pepper 02:35, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Ha! I'm a scientific dilettante. My undergrad was in physics and chemistry, grad work in biophysics, biochem, and cell biology. I'm a compulsive dabbler with a short attention span. All my knowledge is 'thintelligence'—I can expound on any topic for about five minutes, then I run out of steam and have to refer to a Wikipedia article. :D TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:49, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Anyone wouldn't be having the Mutant-X gene lying around, would ya? ;-) Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 09:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, I was not exactly thinking of superhero powers, I am not stupid. Also, an edit conflict ocurred when i was writing my response to Keenan Pepper, so I have not seen other answers then. And, When a person is struck by lightning, the charge passes through the body, but it doesn't remain there afterwards, that is pretty much what I had in mind(if a person could keep the charge in his body, and manifest it somehow). Thanks to TenOfAllTrades, though.--Captain ginyu 13:08, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Since you've got a low capacitance, storing a big charge is associated with being at a high potential. Unfortunately, being at a high potential makes it very easy for charge to bleed (figuratively) out of you. Charges can be disposed of directly into the air; damp air is particularly good at this. (Neutral molecules from the air strike your body, pick up or drop off an electron, and then are repelled by your remaining charge.) At high potential you can also get corona discharge, or even an outright spark which will drain just about all of your charge. (At a potential of a million volts above ground, you can throw a spark half a meter or more in length.) If you could increase your capacitance somehow, you could store more charge without the associated high potential. I can't think of a 'natural' process to do this, but there are mechanical ways. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 13:49, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Standard Science Centre Demonstration: Person (preferably one with long, dry, fly-away hair) stands on insulated platform by the Van de Graaff generator. Hand on generator, zoomdezoom, hair stands on end. Hand off generator, hair still up. At this point they are holding a good charge, and can become a superhero. Demonstator zaps them with a neutral, and hair comes down. They are no longer 'Electro-hair', and are 'discharged' from the guild. --Zeizmic 14:32, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Not only can a human body hold a charge, you've almost certainly done it, or seen it done. It's a pretty popular high school science experiment (or it was in my day) to get someone to stand on an insulating object and charge them up with a Van de Graff generator. Mainly you notice their hair stands on end. DJ Clayworth 16:17, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Now, I have two questions: 1. When you are charged with Van de Graff generator, for how long can you keep that charge, and can you manifest it somehow(like give people a shock like with static electricity or something like that), and 2. for TenOfAllTrades, what mechanical means of increasing capacitance were you thinking of. Please, those answers are very important to me.--Captain ginyu 20:35, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It depends a lot on the weather. On a dry winter day, you can hold a charge for a long while, maybe even several hours ...as long as you don't touch anything. You have to be wearing rubber-soled shoes so the charge doesn't leak into the ground. And as soon as you touch someone, at least some of the charge will flow into them (all of it if they're grounded) and give them a shock. —Keenan Pepper 02:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Well...the mechanical means are what you'd expect—you'd have to conceal capacitors, wired correctly, on or about your person. It would be relatively simple to design and build a Capacitor Man superhero suit, as long as you weren't intimately wedded to skintight spandex. (There's no magic bullet here.) I'll note in reply to Keenan Pepper's remark that you'll hold a kilovoltage charge for a fair while in dry air, but a megavoltage charge (such that you might get from a Van de Graff generator) will tend to very quickly bleed down even in dry air. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:22, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Static charges granting superhuman powers? that reminds me... Tyrhinis 20:47, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I once heard of a girl who had so much electricity in her body she could make the TV change channel without touching it and make power sockets explode... I think her name was Jacqueline Priestman or something, but that isn't it because her name didn't come up with any good results. Vitriol 04:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

How do you know when your body has reached the limit of capacitance when you are charged with Van de Graff generator.--Captain ginyu 21:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

No matter. This question is climbing, and I got pretty much all the answers I wanted. Thanks a lot to everyone, especially Keenan Pepper, and of course TenOfAllTrades.--Captain ginyu 21:58, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Prince Phillip

What exactly is the "real-life" original nationality of Prince Phillip? The article speaks of dozens of titles that range from one end of Europe to the other, and a very geographically vague upbringing as well. I know that he was once a Prince of Greece, but then again, European royalty can be somewhat misleading, as the current royal family is actually German, rather than British in origin. Nonetheless Queen Elizabeth II, despite her ancestry, is clearly a Brit. In plain and simple terms, if Prince Phillip were an ordinary citizen, based on common sense, how would his nationality be described? Is he basically also a Brit with a bunch of confusing pan-European titles or is he indeed Greek? Or something else? Loomis 02:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The article on Prince Philip says: "Originally a Greek subject [...] he renounced these titles and his allegiance to marry the Princess Elizabeth." So he had Greek nationality, but no longer. I assume he has now British nationality. Presumably, some law was passed to properly regulate everything. Have you by any chance been enbribd? --Lambiam^Talk 03:09, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

From the first section of the article: Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born on June 10, 1921 atop a kitchen table at Villa Mon Repos on Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian sea. He was born a greek to the son of the king of greece, which makes him pretty solidly greek. Since he fled to france, he became a greek expat. If you're talking personalitywise, though, you'd have to ask someone who knows him personally. Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 07:56, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

He is danish, his family is a branch of the danish royal fsmily. When greece became independent they choose the brother of the danish king to become their king (I believe philps grandfather or great grand father). They chose a foriegn royal because they though he would be more objective, he would have no stake in any local disagreement. They also thought giving the crown to an established prince would give their monarchy more prestige . The ethic Danish rulers did not marry Greeks but instead married other northern european royals. Accept for his birth, in Greece and his membership to the greek royal family philip cannot be called an ethnic Greek. He has not a drope of Greek blood. In addition from childhood on he spent his entire life outside of greece. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.12.116.199 (talk • contribs) 20:56, 22 June 2006 (UTC).

And apparently the family spoke English among themselves. User:Zoe|^(talk) 02:01, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to you all for all your utterly contradictory replies :) I'm still rather confused about Prince Phillip's real nationality (ignoring all the irrelevant legalities). Is English his first language? Is he fluent in Greek? So far, from what I understand, he's a Danish-Greek who happens to be a Prince of England, making his son, Charles, a Danish-Greek-German-Englishman who happens to be the Prince of Wales and is the heir apparent to become king of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This is all giving me a bit of a headache! I realize it's a tough question to answer and I hope you all understand that I'm teasing when I say your responses are utterly contradictory. I really appreciate all of your (unsuccessful) attempts to clarify the whole thing. Any more confusing info would be well appreciated! All the best. Loomis 02:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Remember that his mother, Princess Victoria Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie of Battenberg, although technically a German princess, was born and raised in London, and her father was the first Marquess of Milford Haven. User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:54, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Name Issue

What would be some good names to call your girlfriend (examples, sweety, honey, babe etc...— Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.251.1.2 (talk • contribs)

You really need to ask her, they all have their own tastes. I prefer "darling". --mboverload@ 07:13, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't seem to have a list, yet. But there is a list here that you could look through for ideas. However, I think a unique name is usually more appealing. Maybe something that just starts out as a joke, and then becomes your own private name. Also be aware that while some girls will just love being called things like "squidgy bum" or "piglet", others might be offended or turned right off by it.--Shantavira 07:54, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the link those names look appealing. I'll take a look.--biggie 08:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC) Probally by an informal version of her name or nickame. For example her name is victoria call her vicky. Or her name is mildred, but informally the name ella, you shoul call her by that. Many pet names sound exaggerate (Juliet to my Romeo), or might offend ( such names which imply anatomy), or imply the existance of a relation which has yet to develop(such as phyical intamcy). Such migh make you girl friend uncomfortable or even alienate her. Some names such as sweetheart are good pet names and would not likely be found as offensive.

affidavit of adverse claim on land title.

Is an adverse claim annotated in the year 1975 still in effect now?

can we request the register of deed to cancell the adverse calim?

Somehow I sense that this is a legal question. Stay away from this place! Read the stuff at the beginning, and you will never ask a legal question again! --Zeizmic 11:44, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh relax Zeizmic! :) True, this isn't the place to get "official" legal opinions or advice, but asking for some casual legal info is perfectly fine to me.

Unfortunately, the questioner, like so many, just doesn't seem to understand that different places have different laws.

Without knowing what jurisdiction you're talking about, I'm afraid the question is no different than asking: "What's the best restaurant in town?", without it occurring to you that the internet, being international, has know clue what town the hell you're talking about. Loomis 01:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

World Cup

It is obviously possible with the 2006 draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup final to be between two teams who had already played in the Group phase. Has this ever happened in previous World cups - and if so did the same team win both times? -- SGBailey 11:43, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

in the 1962 World Cup Czechoslovakia and Brazil were in the same group, they drew in the groups stages 0-0 Brazil won 3-1 in the final. and in 1954 World Cup West Germany and Hungary were in the group stages together, hungary won 8-3 in the group stages, as Germany rested their first team, believing the match would simply tire their players, as hungary were considered the best team in the world at the time. Germany won 3-2 in the final. Philc _T^E_C^I 12:50, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Brazil played Sweden twice on the way to the 1994 title, 1-1 in the first round and 1-0 in the semifinal Tintin (talk) 13:00, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

sex2

can a 16 years old boy can have sex with a 15 or 14 years old?

"Can"? Usually. "May?" Different issue. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆

It depends on the country whether doing so would be a crime. In most English speaking countries though, it would be considered along the lines of Statutory rape. See also age of consent. Road Wizard 15:05, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe that this is made considerably more complex, at least in the US, by the age similarity, especially in the 16-15 case. --Philosophus ^T 21:18, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

If you're in the U.S. you may also want to check out http://www.ageofconsent.com/ I am not a lawyer -- Dismas|^(talk) 18:13, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Generally speaking a 16 may not have sex with a 14 or 15 year old. In the US age of consent is 16 or older. Though some common law countries have created a close in age exception which may legalize such relationship however such does not exist in the U.S. 14 and 15 bellow the age of consent. If 16 has sex with them they will go to jail. In some states their is two level of age consent one where the relation is illegal but relation is not considered as bad as forcable rape, but bellow age the relationship is considered the same as forcable rape, usually in such states the cutoff age is 15, under that and possibly at that what your doing would rape. These laws are reasonable. A 14 year olds should not be in sexual relationships. Reasons 1. Because of their in experiense they would be more likely become pregnant or get a disease. Such because at this age they would not be old enough to understand sexuallity and contracetion. 2. Teenagers, espessally young teenagers often feel imortal it can't happen to them. Because of this disablity their consent to sexual activity has less meaning because it is not informed. This sense imortaltaity often would make the person less carefull. 3. Teenagers espessally teenage girls often mistake sexual advances as love. Emotions often cloud judgement and make consent. Often grown will pretend they love the girl, or try make their supposed love contingent on sex. 4. The possibility of pregnancy. 14 and 15 year olds often cannot take care of themselves, they certainly would not be able to take of infant. This lack of ability to take of a child will hurt the childs well being. The father usually will not involved in childs care. Since most fathers are kids themselves, or adult men who prey on teeage girls. Because of the inability of the mothers inability to provide for the child finacial, physcological they often becomes burdens of the state. Because of the loss educational oppurtunities often will become a perminate member of the struggling class. The child because the poor role model of a teenage mother an lack material upbringing often will have the same fate. 5. Physical: A 14 yearold may not be physcially mature, therefore the sexual act in itself could injure her. 6. It also could cause phycological problems. Teenagers who become sexualized early often are conditioned towards living sexually unhealthy unfilling lives. For example they might be promiscious because associate sexual experiences with love and engage in such behavior to get that feeling of love. They might also be more appt to accept a abusive relationship, or relation where their being used often when teenagers espessally teenage girls have sex it it is with a man (often an older man) who is useing and abusing them. By being sexually socialized in such a maner they would alow them to have healthy relationships in the future.

Stereotypical typeface

What is the typeface used on just about every stereotype Irish, Scotish, Welsh and Manx object in existance? It looks very distinctive, quite curly, and generally very "Celtic". smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 15:15, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Can you find an example somewhere for us to look at? Random guess: the Omnia family. Online font catalogues list other families with a similar Ye Olde English feel. Weregerbil 17:09, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

If you mean like seen here:[8], it is (an imitation of) the half-uncial script, which was used, for example, in the Book of Kells. --Lambiam^Talk 23:37, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

FYI, there's some relevant info at Irish orthography as well. --Kjoonlee 06:21, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Australia belongs to Asia or Oceania?

From my general knowledge, Australia is a Oceanian country. However, Australia is now a member of Asian Football Confederation, but not Oceania Football Confederation.

I am asking if Australia belongs to both Asia and Oceania, if not, why Australia could join the Asian Football Confederation.

Dont double post, you posted this on the Humanities desk. Philc _T^E_C^I 16:55, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It is in oceania. see the bottom of Australia. Reywas92 02:50, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

That's by the "five-continent" scheme taught in Europe. By the "seven-continent" scheme used in the States, the continent on which Australia is located is called Australia (and does not include Indonesia et al; I'm not certain whether Indonesia is considered part of Asia, or simply not part of any continent, like Hawaii). --Trovatore 02:55, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Top teacher in Ju jitsu school

What is the formal name for the top man in a Ju jitsu school?--Light current 17:08, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Isn't it Sensai in every japanese martial art. Philc _T^E_C^I 18:10, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I thought it may be that, but I wasnt sure!--Light current 22:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The title depends on the skill of the senior teacher at the school. The one you are thinking of could be Renshi, Kyoshi or Hanshi. See Japanese titles. Road Wizard 19:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Correction. Though it is somewhat controversial, many western schools have bestowed the title Soke on their headmasters in recent decades. Road Wizard 19:53, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

THank you all for the info!--Light current 22:30, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

The title of sensai is an informal generic title for person who is considered learned in a discipline. For example Medical Doctors and unviversity proffessor could appropriatly be adressed as Sensai. When used it is often used in place an academic or proffessional title. For example instead of being styled prof. Lee he could be styled as Sensai Lee. Their is no direct english translation for this title. The head of traditional martial would considered learned and thus could be appropriatly adressed with this title. However their is noting about this title in it self which suggest martial instructorship. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.188.117.68 (talk • contribs) 23:57, 22 June 2006 (UTC).

A little note I forgot to mention earlier, make sure to say Sensei (Sen-say) rather than Sensai (Sen-sigh) as Sensei means teacher (or doctor, etc.), but Sensai means incompetent. Not the best pronunciation to begin a conversation with. :) Road Wizard 00:45, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah thanks for that one! I wouldnt want to offend the Grand Master (Sensei) or he might throw me to the other end of the dojo!--Light current 01:25, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Do edits made to Wikipedia affect its sister site, Answers.com?

I updated some outdated content on a diabetes-related content page in Wikipedia. That same content appears to be shared in the Answers.com Web site, which seems to be a sister site of Wikipedia.

My question is this ... will the edits I've made in Wikipedia be reflected in the Answers.com Web site? If so, how long before those changes are reflected? If not, how do you edit the Answers.com site?

• seeing as how answers.com isn't a 'sister site' in such much as it's a content mirroring advertising server, I'd say yes, they even mirror user pages, and quite a few deleted pages as well--64.12.116.199 18:15, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

There are hundreds of sites which mirror wikipedia content - most listed from Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks. Changes made in Wikipedia will eventually turn up on these sites, which either periodically download a data dump of wikipedia, or grab and reframe a wikipedia page each time a user requests a page from them, known as Remote loading. And for the most part, wikipedia is very cool with this - it is well within the permissions given in the GFDL licence under which wikipedia is released. Clearly sites will vary in terms of their lag behind wikipedia - notably, changes to the wikipedia database structure, changes to the format of data dumps, or wikipedia's failure to make dumps available regularly will be causes of delay, as will be apathy on the part of the mirror site owner. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Wikipedia is very much not cool with remote loading, which is essentially stealing bandwidth from our servers. Sites have been blocked to prevent this.–RHolton≡– 01:13, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Someone did a survey of Answers.com content, and it seems that their database is updated from wikipedia once every few months--it was about three months behind at the time they checked. You can see for yourself by checking the version of an article on answers.com against the history of the article on wikipedia.Night Gyr (talk/Oy) 22:25, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Go to Answers.com, search for "2006" and note that April is the last "News by month" link. Link to April, 2006, and note that there's data for 30 April, 2006. Seems to be pretty strong evidence that the database was dumped sometime on 30 April, 2006. –RHolton≡– 04:06, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Krill

Are Krill fish or plants? If fish, do they have scales and fins. It is important to me to know whether they are plants or fish, and if fish whether they have both scales and fins. Thank you.

Perhaps you would like to read our article on Krill. --LarryMac 19:36, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

...but the short answer is no, they are neither fish nor plants.--Shantavira 07:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Definitely closer to fish though. Vitriol 04:24, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Closer to shrimp or plankton than fish, I'd guess. Not kosher, if that's what the thread starter meant. --Kjoonlee 06:16, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

money earning programes

sir its a gr8 help n immmense plessurre using wikipedia

sir my question is can i can earn money online without nay investment? note-i dnt know any computer languages

You might try selling your unwanted possessions through EBay.--Tachikoma 20:57, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It is also possible to create a website without knowing internent langauge. In terms it is possible have an internet bussiness largely free of over head. Beacuse one needs no store cost can be kept down. My parents own a small internet company which sells medical software they have virtually no over head. They have no fixed costs, because it is simply website operated out of the family home. Nor is their merchandice cost because they do not hold merchandice, instead they act as sales agents for the various publishers.

Any cases prosecuting individual sellers for selling counterfeit brand-named shoes?

Are there any (or, does anyone knows that) lawsuit prosecuting the individual sellers for their selling counterfeit brand-named shoes (e.g. PRADA, Gucci, BAPE) on the ebay? Or, the shoe companies just prosecute the ebay company as supplying a platform for people to sell fake/counterfeit PRADA, Gucci shoes through ebay?

Are there any laws set up in the USA, Uk and other European countries against the counterfeit Gucci/PRADA shoes on ebay? Or, those genuine companies are just not aware of this yet?

But, will it be reasonable and right to ban for selling the fake shoes on Ebay, as a online e-commerce platform? Would it be practically possible to supervise the listings on ebay, and suppose one really get genuine brand-name shoes, and want to re-sell it on Ebay, what type of proves do they need to put on the listings on ebay?

In addition, do most people prefer to be able to get cheap brand-name shoes (no matter whether it is genuine or fake) from ebay? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Korenzhang2244 (talk • contribs) 20:05, 22 June 2006.

You have asked this question on Talk:EBay as well as several other pages. Please do not post questions in multiple locations without mentioning it in each location, otherwise you are just wasting other editors' time. Thank you. Road Wizard 21:21, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Are the laws against counterfiting yes

It is generally illegal to sell counterfit brand names. Though a person who just selling the goods (and not manufacturing them) could only be held crimminally liable if they know or should know that the goods are counterfit. A platform like ebay, probably could not be expected to know the exact nature of goods sold. Ebay is large company with a large in house legal staff, they are aware of any law which could effect their bussiness.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.12.116.199 (talk • contribs) 20:16, 22 June 2006.

Many of the questions you have raised are discussed in this recent internet article. Road Wizard 21:00, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Some people knowingly buy counterfeit goods cheaply if they are brand names. Some prefer it, some don't. --Proficient 21:14, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Take a penny, leave a penny

What exactly is a "Take a penny, Leave a penny" tray? It doesn't seem something we have here in the UK, and apparently nither does Wikipedia. So what exactly does it do, and what purpose does it have? Thanks a lot :) -Benbread 21:47, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

For people who don't like to have pennies jingling around in their pockets and find them useless, they can leave their pennies in a little tray near the cash register. These are usually found at convience stores and gas stations, less so at supermarkets. Then when someone has a bill of $10.26 and they just have a ten and a quarter, they can take a penny out of the tray to give to the cashier. Or sometimes the cashier will take one for the customer just so that they can give them 3 quarters back instead of having to count out two quarters, two dimes, and four pennies. Dismas|^(talk) 22:20, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

We just have charity boxes for pennies you don't want. Philc _T^E_C^I 22:47, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Nothing to do with spending a penny. JackofOz 23:27, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It means what it says. --Proficient 02:00, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

We now have an article on it... Take a penny, leave a penny. Dismas|^(talk) 03:52, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

How can I change a page name when the "move" tab won't let me?

I am a new user. I think this is a great resource. I really need to change the name of a page I added but the "move" tab won't let me. Can you please give me detailed instructions on what I would have to do? Thanks very much for your time — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rightrx806 (talk • contribs)

Which page is it?. Please use --~~~~ at the end of your posts so we know who said it. --mboverload@ 23:43, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It's Chronology of Jesus' Last Days. List it on Wikipedia:Requested moves --Tagishsimon (talk)

The move function only works a few days after you register. You appear to be a new user, so it hasn't activated yet. Another reason is that the page may have been protected from vandalism meaning there will be restrictions on what you can do. Road Wizard 23:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

It's often a good idea to discuss page moves on the discussion page for the page in question. You can do that, even if you don't yet have rights to perform the actual move. Usually, if the move has general approval, someone will implement it. –RHolton≡– 00:58, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Although this was a case of an article appended by the questioner ten minutes before asking the question; probably not much community interest in the article at that time hence not much point trying to solicit a discussion. --Tagishsimon (talk)

You can always use Wikipedia:Requested moves. --cesarb 18:16, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

June 23

Message

How do you message specific users? Joneleth 00:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You can leave a message on their user talk page if you like. That link back there goes to yours, where you presently have two messages. Howard Train 00:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Or you can email them with the link in the "Toolbox", below the search bar. However, that only works if the user you want to contact has enabled people to send emails to them. Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 20:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

New Mac commercials

Question about the new Mac commercials, with the "Mac" guy and the "PC" guy comparing various assets. First though, my beef... a Mac IS A PC, do those idiots even know what PC stands for? If they mean Windows-based they should say so. Anyway, the question... does anybody know who the guy is that plays the "Mac"? I know I recognize him from somewhere, but can't place him for the life of me. Any help would be appreciated, thanks! --Maelwys 00:25, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

But 'PC' is also an accepted abbreviation for a Windows-based as opposed to Mac computer, so it's perfectly OK for the ad to call them Mac and PC. --Richardrj 05:11, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The PC is John Hodgeman from the Daily Show; the Mac is Justin Long from Dodgeball, Herby Fully Loaded, The Break-Up, etc. —Wayward ^Talk 00:51, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

In the Touché commercial at [9], the Mac guy says "...and I'm a PC too..." So, there you go. They aren't idiots. schyler 01:56, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

But when he says that, he doesn't mean that they are both PCs in the sense of a PC being a generic term for any personal computer. He means that Macs can now emulate Windows PCs, because they now run on Intel chips. In fact, 'PC' should not be used as a generic term to describe any personal computer including Macs. It really is an abbreviation for IBM/Windows computer. --Richardrj 09:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I disagree with your last sentence. That is the arguably the most common usage, but then what do I call this box with an Intel processor running Ubuntu Linux? --LarryMac 14:17, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

It's a PC. Richard shouldn't have included Windows in the last part of his argument. PCs have been around long before Microsoft Windows. The reason a Windows PC or Larry's Ubuntu box is called a PC is because it is IBM-compatible. It is based off of the IBM PC. Therefore, I would call the Intel-based Macs PCs. Also, Intel-based Macs do not emulate Windows. They actually boot Windows. They can do that because the processor is an x86, which Windows is designed to run on . --Optichan 16:09, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Just call x86 computers with Windows installed "Wintels" or "Billboxes" for clarity and disambiguiety. JIP | Talk 10:33, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. "PC" is the name of an architecture that started with the first IBM PCs. Nowdays, the architecture of Macs are closer to that then they were, even to the point where you can run Windows on a Mac computer with some problems. This is probably so that they can put the same video cards, hard disks, USB devices etc to a Mac as in a PC. But originally they were quite different and they still differ somewhat nowdays. – b_jonas 18:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Ironically, our very own Personal Computer article indicates that "The term was popularized by Apple Computer with the Apple II [...] and afterwards by IBM with the IBM PC." Personally, I just say "computer." --LarryMac 20:29, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Before IBM introduced their PC, we were calling PCs PCs. It did not refer to an architecture; it was just an abbrev for Personal Computer. The Apple ][ was one, but there were many more on the market. --Lambiam^Talk 21:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• I can't watch those commercials without thinking of "Hey kid, I'm a computer! Stop all the downloadin'!"--M@rēino 20:52, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Planetary Habitability

This is a passage from a book about Christianity and the existence of God:

We all know it: The conditions need for a planet or moon to be inhabitable are very great, numerous,rare, and fine-tuned.But there are over 100 billion billion stars in the universe, contained in 10 billion galaxies. Because of that, for a long time, people have claimed that because the universe is so large and there are so many stars and therefore planets in it, even though the chances of a planet being inhabitable is so small, there would still be probably one or a few inhabitable Earth-like planets in the universe.

But actually, scientists have calculated the number of planets out of which you would expect to find at least one inhabitable planet.What they found out is this: The conditions needed for planetary habitability are so great that number of planets out of which you would expect to find at least ONE inhabitable planet is much greater than the number of stars, and therefore planets, in the entire universe!The chances of a planet being inhabitable is 10 to the power of 33 or probably even greater, but the number of stars in the universe is much smaller, only 10 to the power of 20.

So what do you think?Is that claim about planetary habitability true?If so, then does that mean, as many creationists and proponents of Intelligent Design have always claimed, that the universe and the earth must have been created by some sort of Intelligent Designer?If not, then what other explanation would there be for this?220.245.178.140 07:15, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Here's your problem: "But actually, scientists have calculated the number of planets out of which you would expect to find at least one inhabitable planet." No, they haven't. One scientist, or theologian, or whatever, may have guessed at the probability, but an accurate calculation of that is way beyond the capability of modern science. The argument is based on a false premise. If you've never heard of the Drake equation, it's worth a look. See also Rare Earth hypothesis. Deltabeignet 01:49, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

As far whether their is life out their, the short answer nobody really knows, and the long answer is nobody really can know.

And also we dont know what kind of habitat we are looking for. A planet without any water, oxygen and at freezing temparatures might hold lifeforms which are not carbon based like us. So, until we know what exactly we are looking for in a planet, we can never calculate the probability of finding life on another world. The above statement you mentioned is the probability of finding a planet in near earth-like conditions. Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 02:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like another pseudo-scientific religious trick reasoning. The key word is 'habitable'. By whom? Humans? In that case it may well be true. The trick is that you conclude that there is no life on other planets. But that's not what they said. But they know you will think it. DirkvdM 07:50, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The Anthropic principle is somewhat relevant to this. In this particular case, however, the primary scientific claims are bogus. --Philosophus ^T 08:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Also, consider this. Let us for a moment assume that the calculations are in fact valid: that the chances of life are indeed very small. Now, consider: I went outside my door today and found a plant growing, right next to a rock. A seed must have been blown by the wind, perhaps from a long way off. Now, let us imagine we were back at the plant which produced the seed, a few months ago. At that plant, we could ask ourselves "what is the chance that one of these seeds will produce a plant, that it will grow next to the rock by my door, and I will see it for the first time at 8.30 am on 23 June"? The chance, if we could calculate it, would be incredibly small. Probably as small as the numbers in the quote above. Ok, but the plant was there, no matter how unlikely. Does this (of itself) prove the existence of god, or anything else? No, it just happened. Ok, what is the point of this convoluted argument? Just that lots of things happen, just happen at random. After the event, you can calculate all the probability you like, but, no matter how unlikely the event, it doesn't prove that it didn't happen, or prove that an unseen hand made it happen. There is life on earth, no matter how unlikely it might (or might not) be. So I don't consider this one of the better arguments for the existence of God; however, it exploits the idea that most people don't really understand probability, and very big (or very small) numbers look impressive. Notinasnaid 08:27, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• Whenever someone uses scientific or pseudoscientific reasoning to prove the existence of any type of religious deity, you should be careful. They're usually more interested in proving the existence of God than actual scientific evidence. Never trust someone with ulterior motives (that goes for non-religious stuff too). In this case the argument didn't include non-carbon based life forms. Also, it's based on approximations and none of it is by any means sure. Scientists initially misguessed the number of genes in humans before the Human Genome Project came off the ground. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:35, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

1) we can colonize most planets, not stars and such like but planets, through either biodomes or terraforming. Or at least we will be able to in the near future. 2) if one looks and reads the wiki article on mars that shows photographs taken on mars. there is one that shows a 1mm hole drilled into a rock, this can be blown up to fill the pc screen, it was unable to photograph a single grain of sand, the sand could be alive because: 3) it has been proven that dolphins comunicate to each other and have names, but we cant talk to them so, even if we did find life on another planet, it would not help us in any way. 4) weather or not there is a god, has nothing to do with weather or not there is life on other planets.

• I recommend the book Lonely Planets by David Grinspoon (ISBN 0060959967), which won the PEN award. It explains the convergences of philosophy and science in the quest to discover alien life in a manner that is scientific and yet easy to read and not insulting to anyone's religious beliefs. --M@rēino 21:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

But how could (large, multicellular) life survive on planets that are very different from earth?

Why cant they survive? As far as we know we cant be sure that the conditions only on earth are suitable for multicellular life. The aliens or animals on other planets, if we find them, maybe using nitrogen to breathe, or maybe they drink something else other than water. The conditions depends on how far you are willing to open your mind up to the idea that life on other planets may exist. Until we actually prove or disprove the theory we have to just keep guessing. Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 13:52, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Abbreviation

Dear Help,

Sorry for a mundane question: what does the abbreviation "fl." mean when used with a date or date range, e.g., "fl.1057-1058" in a genealogical chart?

Thanks,

Robert T. McKinlay

It means "florit" in Latin on "flourished" in English - basically no one knows when the person was born or died, but they are attested somewhere on that date. Adam Bishop 03:23, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

From the Latin floruit. JackofOz 03:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The Breakfast Club

I don't get it. If there are five of them and only one of him, why didn't they just kill him? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.31.154.219 (talk • contribs)

Kill who? Are you referring to the film with Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald?? If so, isn't that a bit extreme for getting a detention? Dismas|^(talk) 03:43, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The pricipal. And it's not that extreme. He threatens one of them, in graphic detail. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.31.154.219 (talk • contribs)

Maybe they realise that if they mess with the bull, they'll get the horns.  SLUMGUM  yap  stalk  04:35, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Why did the five of them not kill the principal. One is such not realistic normal people do not just kill another person. Most view murder as a mortal sin, and in addition, because he was hanging around them they would be the likely supscets, if they where convict they would face life sentences. In as far as far the threats it would seem more logical for them to simply go public with his misconduct.

He's dead anyway! Adam Bishop 05:07, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You think murder is a reasonable way to avoid an unjust detention? This has to be the most despicable opinion expressed here in years. I feel sorry for your parents and community. alteripse 15:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm the one who posted this question. I would just like to say that I don't think murder is ever justifiable in any situation. I'm sorry that I put this here.

• Understood. It's just that we're used to getting research questions, so joke questions sometimes get answered as if they were serious.--M@rēino 15:54, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Easy-to-use guide on writing themes for MediaWiki?

Does anyone know if such a thing exists? I was trying to write a theme for MediaWiki based on a header and footer I have, but looking at the code of the default theme has totally confused me! If anyone knows, that would be great! --203.100.252.177 05:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

mail order?

≈Dear Sir / Madam > whilst my wife and I were on holiday in the USA my wife purchased Excedrin > Migraine tablets and found them to be of particular benefit to her, > unfortunately we cannot purchase these tablets in the UK. > Do you know if it is possible for a company to mail order them to us in the UK > and if so could you give me any information about companies who I could e mail > to place an order. > Thanking you > > Dave Roberts JP

Having Excedrin imported would be quite expensive and difficult; chances are a similar product is sold in the UK, but under a different name. Look for something which includes both paracetamol and aspirin, the active ingredients of the medicine. I wouldn't recommend just taking a paracetamol tablet and an asprin tablet at the same time though. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 06:27, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Just look for something with the same amount of the same ingredients, or (preferably) ask a pharmacist to help you find it. Note that caffeine may also be an active ingredient (in medicine it isn't just there to keep you awake). Note also that the pack will say "acetaminophen" which is the US name for "paracetamol". The pharmacist will possibly not know this. Notinasnaid 09:37, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

In the UK, Tesco's Paracetamol Plus contains both paracetamol and caffeine but no aspirin. May be worth a try though. Anand 10:45, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• Excedrin Migraine has a very different composition from regular Excedrin, but you can actually make your own with a "cocktail" of ordinary asprin, paracetamol (which is the main ingredient in Tylenol, I believe), and a glass of Coca-Cola. See [10]. Obviously, see your doctor if you find that one or two doses is not enough. --M@rēino 21:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Does it really contain acetaminophen and aspirin? I thought it was dangerous to take them together because of the possibility of liver toxicity?--Anchoress 00:30, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• I am very much not a doctor, but assuming that what you say is true, that might be why that combination is reserved for migraines (where the damage to your body from stress could be worse than the liver toxicity) and not used for any old headache. --M@rēino 15:55, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Photo manager with geographical information?

Is there a photo manager that allows you to link photographs to locations on a map? I know that it is possible to include geographical coordinates in the EXIF data, and that there are several webbased applications that offer this (e.g. flickrmap), but I am looking for a (preferably freeware) desktop application, that positions photographs on your harddisk on a map. I suppose I could do it in a GIS application such as MapInfo, but I would prefer a less cumbersome and more 'elegant' solution. Many thanks, --pjd 07:29, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I'd be pretty sure that there are no self-standing freeware applications involving maps down to the level of detail that would be interesting for this (street level). Maps remain the last bastion of total copyright, since they are so expensive to produce. --Zeizmic 16:51, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm, wouldn't this be a perfect Open Source cooperation? Let everyone draw a map of their street (or photograph it in some standardised way), also showing the beginning of every sidestreet. If i every street there is one participating person you could stitch them all together and ... ehm ... ok, sounds a bit tricky. Or is it? DirkvdM 19:00, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Street-level detail is not really what I am looking for, just an application that lets me classify the pictures on my harddrive by geographical location, allows me to access the pictures on a map. I've found out that Picasa Web Albums allows to geotag photos and view them in Google Earth. Unfortunately, you need an invitation to use this application... Can anyone help me out? --pjd 19:10, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Further questions/discuss about the counterfeit goods on ebay

Thank you all for your answers! These are really very useful.

1.However, in terms of a more general view of THE MAJORITY OF the people in the world, if in the reality we can take a poll/a questionnairs to ask all the people in the world, I guess more than 70% of the people will vote "yes, I prefer to buy cheap brand name shoes". If this is the case, (this is just an assumption), so, in this imaginary scinariour, (which is not surprising that only the brand owners dislike the counterfeit goods), would it be more humane and moral to allow the individual sellers to sell counterfeit goods (e.g. Gucci/PRADA shoes, watches, clothes, etc.) on the listings on Ebay? (Just an academic thinking of human behavious on e-commerce, thank you)

2. Can anyone supply the reference/case/news (website links) about the lawsuit against the individual sellers on ebay who tried to sell a counterfeit good, and what were the final decisions from the court?

3. Is ebay going to launch a policy to mendate all the sellers to put on some evidence to prove their goods they are selling are genuine/real product, which does not demage the big name companies' interests?

Would it be more humane and moral to allow people to break the law if it suits them and saves them money? Perhaps. It depends on your ethical framework. It also depends, I suspect on whether you have anything worth stealing. Notinasnaid 09:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I guess I will add my two cents, I don't mind people who sell counterfeit goods on eBay as long as they fully disclose what they are doing. Recently I have been reporting auctions involving CD's of various underground hip-hop groups that have never been released on that format (for example, pretty much all the instrumental versions of rap albums are released onto the 12" vinyl format because the primary audience for them are DJ's who primarily use turntables). Selling CDR's that claim to have the instrumental version of an album is fine if the seller fully discloses that this is a transfer of material from one format to another. Legally, I would suppose the seller would have to include a copy of the actual vinyl release (and merely claim they are offering an extra fee for the transfer of the audio from one format to another) but I am willing to bet this is illegal (or companies would not look kindly on this sort of action) under the DMCA. Legally I doubt eBay would be required to implement steps to verify the seller's items are authentic, just as I doubt owners of buildings where flea markets occur have any legal requirement to verify the authenticity of the seller's products. --69.171.123.148 09:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

This isn't a direct answer to question 2, as it's not on eBay, but it seemed associated, so since I found it I thought I'd post it. "for trafficking in counterfeit luxury items ...24 months in federal prison... $138,264.85 in restitution". [11]. Also, about a lawsuit that eBay is facing, from Tiffany, for not doing enough (they claim): [12]; obviously the result of this could have a big effect on question 3. Remember that Wikipedia does not give legal advice. Notinasnaid 12:40, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

upload help

Can someone please upload this image file for me:

http://img236.imageshack.us/my.php?image=911conspiracy4jo.gif

I'd like to be able to inline it on talk pages, but inlining external images is no longer allowed. Thanks!

--82.131.184.53 09:25, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

• Linking to external images was never allowed [not what sentence "Images on external sites can no longer be linked inline due to several reasons" implies -82.131.184.53 12:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)]. See Wikipedia:Image tutorial on how to insert images into pages. Please remember to tag the image with the appropriate source and copyright information. See Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The problem is that you need a user account to upload images and I don't have one! Mgm: if you upload the image I'm asking I'll assign copyright of it to you as long as you license it to wikipedia under GFDL! I'd just like it uploaded and can't without a user account :( Please please please do this for me. Thank you! I am the creater of the image. 82.131.184.53 09:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

It will only take you a moment to register for an account. Registering for an account is also a good idea if you are participating on talk pages: rightly or wrongly, people pay more attention if a comment comes from a registered user. Notinasnaid 09:34, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

By the way, the other reason that it is essential to register an account and upload it yourself is in case anyone needs to contact you about the image copyrights etc. Notinasnaid 09:40, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

There's no messaging system other than leaving messages on talk pages, so I don't see why it's any different if I have a username. I think usernames are one of the big problems with wikipedia. Anyway, could you please upload this one image for me? Thank you.

Couple of questions. Why don't you want to sign up for an account? And what are you planning to do with this image? It looks a bit silly to me and I can't see any reason why it should appear on WP. --Richardrj 10:09, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You are mistaken. As a registered user you would have a personal discussion page, which did not change, just because your IP address changed. This is where messages for you would be left. When a new message appears on your personal discussion page, you even get a notification the next time you visit Wikipedia. I am baffled, though, why you think usernames are one of the big problems in Wikipedia. Being able to connect together contributions is an important element of makes Wikipedia managable, rather than an experiment in anarchy. (By the way, I agree I can't see any use for this image, since it seems to be original research (not allowed in articles, so pointless in talk pages), but I would hold judgement until I'd seen how you intended to use it. Of course, as a registered user, the chances are nobody would object if it was on your personal page, though strictly speaking the page should only contain things relevant to Wikipedia.) Notinasnaid 10:26, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

anonymous users (IP's) also have talk pages, and also receive messages when these are added to, and I would like you to upload the image so I could put it on my talk page (also, obviously, signing). If you consider the "comment" I scrawled original research, then perhaps you should vote the source article (Q33 NY), for speedy deletion, or at least remove its final paragraph, clearly a comment. As for why usernames are one of the big problems in Wikipedia, I think the current discussion exemplifies it well. I can't believe so many users can waste dozens of minutes reading and typing replies, but not 3-48 seconds to upload an image that they could remove if ever abused. So much for "the Free encyclopedia anyone can contribute to".  :( 82.131.184.53 12:05, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

PS. it occurs to me that you might consider all pictures of user-typed text to be "original research" (including labels added on to a picture), and if so, I would say 1) you are making a distinction without a difference (it's not original research if typed in a form and submitted to edit a Wiki; it's original research if the typing becomes part of a picture added to a Wiki), and 2) you would not make this argument if you didn't have a username. Not everyone comes from a privileged background and social circle. 82.131.184.53 12:05, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You still haven't answered my question why you won't sign up for a username. Your last sentence seems to imply that you think having a username is something that is somehow not open to everybody. Wrong - it is. And you can get one right now. --Richardrj 11:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

okay, please make me a username and password. I've googled for rsa javascript so I can find a form I can create a keypair in, give you the public key to encrypt the username/password with (to paste below) and where I can retrieve it from with the private key. The userinterface sucks but http://home.versatel.nl/MAvanEverdingen/Code/ seems to be okay. Let me know when you've made my account, and thank you very much for all your help. 82.131.184.53 12:05, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Huh? Just click 'create account' at the top of any Wikipedia page, and follow the instructions. --Richardrj 11:58, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

it says "Login error: You have not specified a valid user name." even though it begins with a capital letter. is there some maximum length or something? Please tell me a username I can use that will work and is (probably) not taken. Thank you. (How did you get your username?)

There are rules for valid usernames. Without knowing what name you tried to create, I can't say what the problem was with it. This is a matter you could probably take up with the Wikipedia help desk. --Richardrj 12:41, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

well will you suggest a name? or better yet, why not be nice and instead of sending me on a run-around, what if you could find it in your heart to upload the picture I asked. Please? (I don't know what it is with everyone here, that they'd rather spend 20x the time debating than just doing something simple which I asked nicely and would appreciate. Am I doing something wrong? Is it an unreasonable request? I'm seriously near tears.) 82.131.184.53 14:35, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

Sheesh. No, I won't suggest a name for you. Think of one yourself, and then see if WP accepts it as valid. If it doesn't, keep trying until you find a valid one. Then you can upload as many images as you like. --Richardrj 15:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I've been trying, but apparently you all know something I don't, because it doesn't accept any of my names. I don't want to pick one of your names and add "123" or something, since the rules prohibit that. Could you specify a new name that actually works? I realize this is an "encyclopedia", and as such somewhat formal, etc, but that is no reason to categorically exclude people from a certain background. We have use for information too, and verifiable contributions to make. :(

I just did this: (1) thought of a name (2) Clicked Sign in/create account (3) It says "Don't have an account? Create one" so I clicked on Create one. (4) I filled in my proposed username, and password twice. (5) It all worked. If I try to do this with a username someone already chose it says "Login error: Username entered already in use. Please choose a different name". I wonder if you are missing out the step (3) and trying to login without first creating an account. Notinasnaid 15:32, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! Please, please, please type the "name you thought of", so that I can try a variation on it, and please write that you won't be offended if my username becomes a variation on the "name you thought of". What was the "name you thought" of please, and thanks in advance for all your help!!! :-D 82.131.184.53 15:57, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

You could try Nyáregyháza. Or ByInvitel. Both are free. Notinasnaid 17:43, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for clarifying that. I was not familiar with the background to the discussion, so I assumed that you had made the discovery yourself, rather than documenting an existing idea. So, apologies for that, but sorry I still don't understand your problem with usernames. You given an example, but I can't connect the two. All of us would rather be doing something else than continuing to politely refuse to do something you could do yourself, but I am curious about why anyone would object to usernames. And why on earth having a username is connected to "privileged background and social circle"? Notinasnaid 11:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

All of us would rather be doing something else than continuing to politely refuse to do something you could do yourself yeah well if "all of you" didn't have usernames, you wouldn't be filling my question post with crap replies -- sorry, you wouldn't waste dozens of collective minutes "politely" declining, you would wait for someone who was helpful enough to go through the few seconds I'm asking. And if not, as with my post above, afterwards I would take it from the reference desk to the wikipedia help desk, where perhaps they aren't so snarky. 82.131.184.53 12:05, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

Non sequitur. Ad hominem. I think you're losing respect. --Kjoonlee 22:54, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

By the way, while anonymous users can get messages, IP addresses can change. For some people, each time they most; for others maybe not until they move house. Notinasnaid 11:44, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Right. It looks like it's the same person who wrote "NY33Q part of the call numbers on one of the 9/11 planes' tails?" and "Important" above, posting from a different IP. --Kjoonlee 11:47, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it's the same "important" post but no one answered my question above either [I was thinking of linking it to show I have the "right" to GFDL the pic, but that's obvious and trivial and if there were any contest anyone could just create another] :( :(. Anyway you can see it's the same subnet though as above, but the fact that SO many people wrote snarky replies but not one took 7-56 seconds to help me leave me very sad :( :(. 82.131.184.53 11:52, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

So you wrote both "NY33Q part of the call numbers on one of the 9/11 planes' tails?" and "Important"? Even if somebody were to upload it, I'm sure it would get deleted rather speedily. --Kjoonlee 11:57, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

yeah, of course, I thought it was obvious. I don't want to insert it in any article pages, as I've said from the beginning. :( 82.131.184.53 12:05, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Images not in use would be candidates for deletion as well, I think. --Kjoonlee 12:19, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

on article pages, i said. or do you think its inappropriate on (user) talk pages too?

Images unused on article pages without valid copyright info are candidates for speedy deletion. Since you won't upload it yourself, and nobody's willing to do it for you, nobody can provide proper copyright info. Hence it's doomed for deletion even if someone were to upload it. --Kjoonlee 14:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Are you seriously saying that the fact that I made it and would assign copyright to you not enough "proper copyright info". You can tell I made it. I own the copyright. How is it different if I assign this to you than if I upload it myself? What if someone impersonates me and uploads it: it's already on imageshack. Okay, how about this: Kjoon, if I make a brand new version, with a prominent "released into the public domain", will you upload it from imageshack to wikipedia for me, with the caveat that you will delete it if anyone contests the copyright (legitimately, only I could, since I created it from scratch -- using fonts and such doesn't make it a derived work.) Thank you for your help! You're the only one in all this convoluted mess who's actually thinking of trying to help me. :( (Am I doing something wrong? Should I have phrased my request or anyswers or anything else differently? I don't understand why people would write so much against me, it weighs heavily on my little heart. :( ) 82.131.184.53 15:19, 23 June 2006 (UTC).

Honestly, I don't feel like it. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think your picture would be against what Wikipedia is, and I don't think I want to add to "conspiracy theories." --Kjoonlee 16:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think anyone is actually trying to be rude or anything, I think most people just simply cannot understand why someone would not want a user account. As for the technical problems, that's beyond me, but at least we can't necessarily blame that on you. And by the way - if there weren't any usernames, how would you expect to ID people, with all the problems with IP addresses? I mean, this is open source. You need to see different people. martianlostinspace 16:22, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Honestly everyone else here figured out to create an account so I think you should be able to as well. People have been more than welcoming and more than patient with you. As for in-lining links to images, I don't know if that was truly ever possible -- it certainly hasn't been since 2004, when I first started editing on here. You'd get better responses from people if you weren't so rude to them. If you are having trouble creating an account through Wikipedia, go to the Wikipedia:Help desk, which is where technical questions are answered. --Fastfission 16:26, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

...my eyes are bleeding. Vitriol 04:04, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Troll. --mboverload@ 05:01, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Issues with Velcro

My post-surgical back brace fastens with Velcro strips, which have picked up bits and pieces of lint, pet hair and other stuff. Is there a way to clean Velcro?

Look up 'velcro brush' on Google, and you will get some nice products like this: "Velcro Brush. Great for getting hay, hair, debris off your velcro. Don't replace it, clean it with this nice sized Velcro Brush!" --Zeizmic 12:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Legal question

If someone posts/trolls on an internet forum, and continues to do so after the forum bans his IP address, is that poster in violation of any US law? For someone with limited legal knowledge it is difficult to judge whether or not a legal threat (Stop or you will go to jail, or stop or we will file a civil suit) is legitimate or just an intimidation tactic. I certainly don't want to violate any law, but if my actions are protected under the first amendment, as I believe they are, I don't want to be intidated out of doing something that is legal. Thanks! Mayor Westfall 14:34, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

As noted at the top of the page, there is not much point in asking legal questions here; the law is incredibly complicated, and changes with time and place. It's far simpler to study netiquette. --Shantavira 14:53, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You can't track an IP and I severely doubt if it matters, because US law doesn't govern the internet. Philc _T^E_C^I 15:23, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

It is quite likely that continuing to troll an internet forum after you have been banned violates the terms of service of your internet service provider. If you were to make sufficient nuisance of yourself, the forum operators are likely to contact your ISP, and you might find yourself disconnected. (Contrary to what Philc stated, given a specific time and an IP address, most ISPs are capable of identifying the person who used that address.)

Note also that the First Amendment – and I'm assuming that you're referring the U.S. one – applies only to government-imposed restrictions on free speech. A privately-owned and operated forum on the web is not compelled to provide you with a soapbox for your free speech, and is not obliged to let you troll unhindered. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:36, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

You can only track them with the consent of the servic provider can't you? Philc _T^E_C^I 22:21, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

You double-posted this. See my answer on the Humanities reference desk. DJ Clayworth 15:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I double posted, as I was unsure of the catagory. Looks like I'm getting better answers over here, so please feel free to delete the humanities on if you wish.

I'm not asking if the Forum is legally justified in banning/IP banning me deleting my posts, etc. I am asking if I can be held legally liable, civily or criminally if I bypass those blocks and continue to post/troll whatever they want to call it. Mayor Westfall 16:21, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

How about just not being a dick? If you're not wanted on a forum, go away. If you stop annoying them, they'll stop threatening you. If you kept coming back, I would hope that they could find something to hit you with. Depending on your jurisdiction, there's might be some sort of 'unauthorized use of a computer system' statute on the books; if you make a sufficient nuisance of yourself they might also sue you to recover the costs associated with your unauthorized use. If you're not sure, consult a lawyer—it's your money. But I'd strongly recommend just not being a dick. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:48, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, you might think I'm being a dick, but what if there were a website forum that denied the holocaust and I were a Jew posting on the site calling out their BS. Im only interested in the legal issue here anyways, not if you think im a dick or not. Mayor Westfall 17:48, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

That's still being a dick. It's not your job to police the internet. If you want to call them out on their BS, create your own website that says, "This website is wrong for X and Y reasons." As long as you don't libel them there's nothing they can do about it. --Fastfission 20:23, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

If you are attempting to break into a computer system knowing that you have been specifically banned from it then it probably would fall under some sort of anti-hacking law. However the risk of real legal liabiilty is low. More likely would be attempts to contact your ISP because you are probably violating their terms of service. The First Amendment no more protects your right to break into another person's computer than it does to break into their house. --Fastfission 17:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Fastfiction, do you know what statute governs accessing someone's computer after being IP banned? I mean, if I send someone an email, then I am accessing their computer by putting information on it... Would this really fall under a anti-hacking statute, if I am not actually hacking their computer? Would they be able to file a civil case? If so, how could they claim any damages? Where could I go to get more information on this? Mayor Westfall 17:48, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

If you Google "hacking laws" you'll get a number of hits. The most relevant statute seems to be this one, which is an anti-fraud statute. Most of it is irrelevant unless you are trying to stead credit card numbers. Depending on what state you or the computer are in, there are local laws as well. As for whether trying to get into a site that you have been specifically banned from, I think that probably would fall under a standard definition of "hacking". I am pretty sure sending e-mail would be seen ananlogously to sending real mail -- it is not the same thing as breaking and entering, even though you are "accessing" their house by sending a letter to it. But I don't know about all of this, I know little of cyberlaw. I doubt there is a real legal threat here, but you should probably know that you have no "right" to access a given website (and your time would probably be better spent if you just knocked it off). --Fastfission 20:21, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

FF, thanks for the response and the links. -Mayor WF

registered trademarks

Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to make the circle r (registered trademark) on TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® a subscript next to the company's name. Currently it is the same size as the entire text. We would like it to be smaller.

Please let me know if this is possible, or if the only way to have it is by keeping the same size as the rest of the text. Thank you.

Assuming you are talking about HTML, try this: TWO MEN AND A TRUCK^® (Which makes: TWO MEN AND A TRUCK^®). (If you really meant subscript rather than superscript, use the  tags. If you want to have more control over its exact appearance, Google "superscript CSS", where there are explanations about how to change the exact size of the superscripted character and its exact position using Cascading Style Sheets. --Fastfission 17:16, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Staying completely with HTML, you could also use a font tag to make the R smaller: TWO MEN AND A TRUCK^{<font size=-2>®</font>} (Which makes: TWO MEN AND A TRUCK^®). --LarryMac 17:37, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Sign in / create account

The Sign in / create account links at the top right of the page move to the left side of the page and hide behind the Wikipedia logo everytime I try to log in. This also happens in Wikimedia Commons. Does anyone know why it does this, and if there is anything I can do to stop these rogue links? Any help is appreciated. --71.98.11.92 18:06, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

What Web Browser are you using? Is it IE by chance? -Benbread 18:52, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I am using Internet Explorer. Everytime I put my cursor over the links they jump to the other side of the screen and hide. --71.98.11.92 19:49, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Two suggestions:

1. Try it with a different browser. Mozilla Firefox has a lot of advantages over Explorer, including its proper rendering of pages.

2. Barring that... log-in with the direct link (http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Special:Userlogin), create a new account, then you change the stylesheet used for the account with your preferences (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Preferences), and one of them should work without all of the fancy CSS which seems to be clogging your browser.

One of those should work. I emphatically suggest the first one though I know how annoying it is to be told to "get a new browser". --Fastfission 20:11, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Please use the help desk for questions on Wikipedia itself. --Kjoonlee 00:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I deliberately went onto IE to see what happened, and it looked fine. Iolakana|^(talk) 20:13, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I use Internet Explorer and the login page always appear correctly for me. However, IE does have its quirks, which can cause some pages not to appear as intended. I also use Mozilla Firefox quite often, and I admit that this sort of thing is less likely to happen in Firefox than in IE, probably due to superior support of web standards. Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 23:42, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Serie E Savings Bonds

I have two Series E Saving Bonds. One is a $25 Bond dated April 1967. The other is a $50 Bond dated July 1965. Both are in mint condition. Are these of any value as collectors items?

I don't know about their value as collector's items, but the US Dept of Treasury has a Savings Bond Calculator page that will tell you what they are worth if you trade them in. --LarryMac 18:34, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

canada-mexico

What's happening with the case that involves with the Mexican-Canadian couples' death?

• Sorry, a Google News search turned up nothing. Do you know the couple's name?--M@rēino 21:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

It's Dominic and Nancy Ianiero and there might be something more recent than that. Mareino, next time try just googling, that's how I got the info, the CBC link was the first hit.--Anchoress 00:01, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

We shouldn't have to google it in the first place =D --mboverload@ 13:44, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Football

I notice that Israel and Turkey are considered as Asian nations, but when it comes to soccer, they're part of UEFA. How come?

The article on Turkey says it's considered an "intercontinental nation", and UEFA includes places like Kazakhstan... it's a football tournament, why should geography have anything to do with it? Sorry, that wasn't particularly helpful. Tyrhinis 21:08, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

They also take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. --RiseRover|^talk 21:15, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

And Turkey is about to become a member of the EU --pjd 22:09, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Israel used to play with the Asian countries, but the Arab countries refused to play against Israel, so Israel was forced to move to UEFA. -- Mwalcoff 23:39, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Turkey and Russia are in both Europe and Asia and have always preferred to play in European competitions (more prestige, more money). When Kazakhstan (also in both) became independent they chose to play in Asia but then changed their minds later on (presumably for the same reasons).

As Mwalcoff says, those Arab countries which dont recognise Israel wouldnt play them so they were put in Europe instead to allow the Asian competitions to carry on without constant politicking. Jameswilson 23:55, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

The FIFA Confederations are named for convenience and don't conform exactly to the limits of the continents. There has been a lot of fuss lately about Australia moving itself into the Asian confederation - yet no-one has mentioned that Guam has played as part of Asia for some time, nor that Guyana is in CONCACAF rather than CONMEBOL. It's certainly no stranger than countries like Greece, Turkey, and even Luxembourg being members of NATO (the A stands for Atlantic, remember). Grutness...wha? 01:25, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

NATO isn't an exclusive club for atlantic countries, it's a treaty for western countries really. Philc _T^E_C^I 22:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Now that depends on what you consider to be a "western" country. If you mean it in the political/cultural sense, countries like Australia, New Zealand and Israel should be elligible for membership, yet somehow they're not. Loomis 21:20, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Political parties

How many political parties does each country have that deals with anti- neighbouring countries platform, like for example, Bangladesh has Anti-Indian political parties(Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jammat-e-Islami) and an Anti-Pakistani political partty (Awami League)?

I would guess these are pretty rare. Finland has, though, the True Finns party, whose ideology is pretty much that Finland should only fend for itself in the entire world and not cooperate with any other country, but there is no party whose official statement is opposed to another country. JIP | Talk 22:18, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Some of the political parties in Northern Ireland (in spirit though not in name). Jameswilson 23:58, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I suppose it'd depend on whether or not you count highly nationalistic parties, that are anti- pretty much every other country. If so, virtually every democratic country has a party espousing these views (though in most cases they're consigned to the fringe) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 22:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

The raison d'etre of the Canadian Action Party is anti-Americanism, although they would probably call it something different. The Bloc Quebecois is anti-its own country, although its members wouldn't call Canada their own country. -- Mwalcoff 02:21, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

It also depends on what you're actually willing to count as a party. In most democracies there are literally dozens and dozens of the most bizarre parties imaginable with the most bizarre of platforms imaginable that never actually manage elect any canditates into the legislature. Should we count those? If so, I'd have to say that pretty much every democracy in the world will have not just one, but several political parties of the type you speak of. But if you're looking for parties that actually get their candidates elected, that's an entirely different story. Loomis 21:11, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

About translations...

I was surfing the net, and got across a Wikipedia page in Spanish. But I realized the translation was not complete and I wanted to do it. But then I came across the copyright rights and stuff... and I'm not sure now: what must I do before I can translate a page? Wikipedia pages have copyright rights also? When I translate a page, can I include the pictures from the "original" page or just the text?

Specifically, I was looking at this two pages: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuyin> <http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhuyin>

Any help will be appreciated, --Memonka

You can include the pictures. Those on the ES page are on the Commons, and so they'll load into EN with no additional work. The image on EN will need to be loaded onto the Commons if you want it on the ES page. ==Tagishsimon (talk)

All Wikipedia content is licensed under the GFDL, which means that it is legally compatible with itself. In order to do full GFDL compliance you should put a note in the edit summary that you are translating from the Wikipedia page (attribution), but nobody will care much if you don't. Feel free to translate! People will be very thankful. --Fastfission 03:10, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Computer

On my computer. Is it better for the hard drive to place the computer in "shut down" mode or in "Standby" when I am done with it for the day or session?

Shutdown. Standby is just a low power mode, I believe. There are certain combinations of options that allow you to turn off varied computer peripherals. --Proficient 23:59, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Some computers do have a "Hibernate" mode which puts the computer in a near-shutdown state, but keeps the session data so that when the computer is powered up again, it will be just as you left it. However, I would shutdown a computer when I've finished using it for the day. Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 17:39, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

In anything except shutdown and switched off, in event of power surge, you risk losing everytihng, including your computer. Philc _T^E_C^I 22:17, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Hibernation == writing mem to disk and shutting down. Splintercellguy 09:56, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Cat

Is he really watching me? --Kurt Shaped Box 22:37, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

File:Ceiling cat 00.jpg

This page is big enough without out this dammed cat looking at me. Anyway my own cat never watches.

• He should ... his children's lives are at risk.--M@rēino 23:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I have just removed a speedy delete tag from this section. Unfortunately, the tag applies to the whole page. Road Wizard 23:30, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

keep: the reference desk should continue to contain a miscellaneous section, since many, many questions don't fit in any of the other disciplines and wouldn't be readily answered there.

keep These people need a home! --Howard Train 05:57, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

List of phrases which mean to die

Where can I find a list of phrases that mean to die such as "kick the bucket" or "meet his maker" etc.?

We have a List of idioms in the English language, and Wiktionary also has a category devoted to them. Both pages include many of the phrases you are after, though they are mixed in with many others. Road Wizard 23:28, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

This question has been double posted. See the related section at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities#List of phrases which mean to die. Road Wizard 00:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

C&C Generals: Zero Hour

This question is only meant for players of the mentioned game.

Is there a Challenge mission where one can play against General Juhziz (Demolitions), or is it only available in a mod? Same with General Fei (Infantry). And how can I play this "Ironside" guy. I've never even heard of him. Also, Is there a differance in damage between nuclear radiation and anthrax radiation? Russian F 01:10, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Pretty sure I played against both of these. Ironside was taken out, he was supposed to be the USA counterpart to Gen. Leang (China) but you only get to play against Leang. Nuke radiation does more damage to vehicles than biotoxin, AFAIK. -- Миборовский 01:19, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

June 24

World Cup salaries

I was wondering how much players in World Cup teams get paid for playing. Do they do it for free because they get so much money from their clubs anyway. But then I heard that the Togo players were about to go on strike, because the Togo football federation hadn't paid them something like $100,000 for playing. So do the players just participate because of the pride for playign for their coutnry, or do they get large salaries? --AMorris (talk)●(contribs) 02:37, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

BBC report on England. USA Today report on the USA (box on bottom left ). ESPN report on the Germans. Reuters report on the Ukraine. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 10:27, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Why are humans so stupid and weak in Dragonball Z?

that

Generally, if you hit humans with lightning, they will die. But I don't actually know anything about DBZ. Vitriol 03:44, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Because the writers felt like it --mboverload@ 13:41, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• Funny, I was watching Zatch Bell! last night and thinking, "My god, did they just make an entire episode about how to play tag? Oh, my god, they did!"--M@rēino 15:30, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

It is a fictitious show, obviously. The writers can make humans weak or strong to their taste. --Proficient 17:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Do keep in mind that if you watched the English dub, you are watching a lamer dub version of a Japanese cartoon show, which is a huge strech out of a much more compact comic book. Not all humans are weak, Yamcha and Krilin( if you ignore that he doesn't have a nose) are human.

I am afraid providing cheesy comic relief is the main goal, like mister Satan.

I would say, because superhumans in DBZ are the stars, and the editors probably want to make them a lot superior in contrast to humans.--Captain ginyu 20:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Because Dragonball Z is a TV adaptation of a comic which is (at least initially) based on Chinese mythology, and humans are nothing but insects to be crushed in that? -- Миборовский 01:17, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Italian ancestry of Hilario Davide, Jr. & José de Venecia, Jr.

Please check out the question I posted at Talk:Hilario Davide, Jr. There is also a similar question regarding José de Venecia, Jr.’s Italian ancestry at Talk:José de Venecia, Jr. —Lagalag 04:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

mystery bug

There's a bug in my kitchen and could somebody tell me what it is?

I've seen these around for some years, and they terrify me to be honest.

It's about an inch long and a few milimeters wide, it looks to be made of fur. Its got a kind of spotted pattern in the fur on its back. Out of each side of its body are dozens and dozens of inch-and-a-half-long, thin but very furry legs. I see no antennae or eyes.

I tried to blow air at it to get it to go into a cup I was trying to catch it with and it was totally unresponsive. I then covered a large piece of aluminum foil with 2-sided duct dape and threw the sheet at it to try to stick it (its really fuzzy so i thought it would stick well). I hit it but it zipped off at incredible speed, raising its body a bit and extending its legs fully. After a foot or so of running, it completely stopped, crouched to its original position, and went comatose again. I captured it the next time, and it's stuck to the tape now.. I hope :)

Can someone direct me to an article on these type of creatures? I've never seen it anywhere except my house. Do they typically come in groups like bees ant ants or are they loners like grasshoppers? Most importantly, are they dangerous?

It's one of the most revolting bugs I've ever seen and I don't doubt for an instant that I'd pass out if I felt it crawling on my bare skin. It might ease my anxious mind to know it's not poisonous..

EDIT: it's probably a house centipede (just found it) -- however all the pictures I can find of this insect are really -i dont know- insecty with black shiny armor etc. my bug is very very furry, almost like a big fur ball, and has colored hair down its back rather than colored armor. any extra info on this variety?

--Froth 05:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Three important questions: What country are you in? How many legs does it have? What colour is it? (Are you sure it's not a caterpillar? They can be very furry, but they tend to be slow.)--Shantavira 11:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Eastern US, dozens on each side, brownish. It's definately not a caterpillar; it perfectly fits the descriptions of house centipedes. However instead of hard armor, it has fur. --Froth 16:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

If you want to kill it, just use my napalm recepie. Throw some benzene, gasoline, and polystyrene. — The Mac Davis] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 18:56, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Eight is Enough

I have recently tried my hardest to match actor names to faces in the picture at Eight is Enough. It's been a while since I've seen reruns, and I know I have at least SOME of them correct, so I was wondering if anyone more proficient on this show than me can check to see if I'm right. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 06:31, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

It says on the wikipedia article their names. --Proficient 17:20, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

That wasn't exactly what I was asking. There were eight of them, and I don't exactly remember which child was what actor/actress, etc. I thought I was pretty clear in asking "Can someone check for me if I have the correct names in the caption, corresponding to each correct actor?". Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 18:24, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, the names are in the correct order. — Michael J 20:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Rage The Werewolf: Apocalypse

Who invented this whole Rage Werewolf Apocalyspe thing?

--70.235.157.101 08:05, 24 June 2006 (UTC)Zachary

It was White Wolf, Inc.. It is written inside of the book. Flamarande 13:26, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Wolf%2C_Inc. --Proficient 17:21, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Any laws against the online buyers who are willing to buy counterfeit goods?

as in the title, are there any laws in the USA, UK and other European countries against the online buyers (mainly through ebay) who are looking for cheap counterfeit goods? It wouldn't be fair if the law is only against the ebay as a platform, or only against the sellers who use ebay to benefit the billions of billions buyers in the world, would it?

• A question related to this one was already answered at #Further_questions.2Fdiscuss_about_the_counterfeit_goods_on_ebay. Perhaps you could add your new question to that discussion, and/or comment on some of the discussion there, so as to keep it all in one place and avoid repetition. Notinasnaid 09:17, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Look for yourself here: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/ --Proficient 17:24, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Photo resolution

looks lovely reduced

I have a lot of photos which (in terms of resolution) are all something like this. If you look at the full-size version, it looks awful- all blurry. Does this mean that I can reduce the resolution (and therefore filesize) without a real loss of quality? If so, how do I know how much I can reduce it? Henry^Flower 10:47, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

What's the make and model of the camera? There's obviously something wrong with it. Anyway, doing anything with a picture in jpeg format reduces the quality. However, just resizing it so it looks sharp would "seem" to increase the quality. Is your camera one of the scam ones that use a crappy quality sensor then resize the picture up? --mboverload@ 11:56, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is. What would the difference be between (say) a 3.5 mp jpeg, and the same bumped up to 5 mp by interpolation and then reduced back to 3.5? In other words, would I be better off turning off the interpolation? Henry^Flower 12:10, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

That will reduce quality. Doing ANYTHING to a JPEG reduces its quality, and even if it wasn't JPEG, that process would reduce quality. To get good pictures be sure (a) to get pictures returned by the camera at a native resolution (that is, one that the camera takes directly); (b) use only optical zoom; (c) check the JPEG compression settings; go for one with high quality, not small file size. Increasing the resolution of a picture over what the camera takes is utterly pointless; camera manufacturers offer this only to convince the gullible that they can get more detail from their camera than they actually ever can. There may be other issues with the high resolution image: the blue lines at the edge of objects might mean the optics aren't as good as the image needs, or they might be an artifact from some other issue. Notinasnaid 12:20, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks- replacement isn't really an option until digital SLRs get significantly cheaper, so for now I have to make the best of what I've got. Henry^Flower 13:06, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Interpolation is the DEVIL. Turn it off before it ruins more of your photographs =P --mboverload@ 13:38, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. Also called "digital zoom", it's not only of no value, it's worse than no value, it creates fuzzy, cropped pics instead of a nice sharp pic. Only use "optical zoom". StuRat 15:17, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

• • StuRat is so right that I must concur. --M@rēino 15:32, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Digital zoom generally makes stuff blurry indeed. --Proficient 17:25, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I've also used digital zoom myself on my camera, and have consistently found that pictures taken with it are of significantly lower quality than pictures taken without it. Digital camera manufacturers do, however, tend to warn that a digital zoom can make your photographs "grainy", or something along those lines, in their instruction manuals. Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 17:33, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

After edit conflict:

Well, if there is a choice between digital and optical zoom, I also concur, but if all you have is digital zoom there is the slight advantage that the resulting file will be smaller. Digital zoom doesn't add any detail. What it really does is crop the image - it throws away the edges. You can also do that later in Photoshop or whatever. So if you are already at the limits of optical zoom, want to zoom in further, and may run out of memory if you don't, digital zoom makes sense. Other than that, it's worthless, so normally you should have it turned off at the deepest possible level to avoid mistakes. DirkvdM 17:34, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Amount of pounds sterling in circulation in britain

Hi. I would be grateful if anyone could help me with the following question. I'd like to know how much Pounds Sterling there is in circulation in this country today. How many billions,trillions? If possible i'd also like to have an idea of the amount in circulation in Scotland as opposed to the whole of Britain. Can anyone help? Thanks very much. Ed

• Well, one thing to keep in mind is that with electronic banking, credit cards, and the like, an ever-shrinking fraction of the amount of "money" is actually in paper currency form. So you'll have two radically different numbers for bills and for total net worth. --M@rēino 15:34, 24 June 2006 (UTC)
• If you are interested in cash, British coinage and British banknotes have links to Bank of England web pages which have estimates of cash in circulation. For other forms of money check out Money supply. Did you know in 2004 £86,000 worth of UK bank notes were returned because someone ate them?[13] :-) Weregerbil 16:07, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Australian ISPs.

Is there an Australian ISP that will provide DSL with speeds 1Mbit-down or better and never fine me for downloads, or shape my speed once the quota is reached? (Most AU ISPs give you a limit of 25GB, and then reduce you to 64k after you reach it).

http://bc.whirlpool.net.au/ Maybe that will help. --Proficient 17:27, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Toronto Maple Leafs Last Stanley Cup

Exactly how many days has it been since the Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey Team won their last Stanley Cup. Last win was May 2 1967 up to today's date of June 24 2006. Need to know the exact number of days including leaps years.

14,299, according to this website (which was the first Google result for "day counter", incidentally). Adam Bishop 15:57, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Artemis Fowl Font

Does anybody know the font used on the cover of the Artemis Fowl books, among others? I mean the font for the title, not the Gnommish). Thank you! Daniel (‽) 16:11, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Googlimages shows plenty of fonts for these books titles. Is is the one with a quite square "M" and an a "W" alike McDo's "M" ? --DLL 21:12, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

'Tis the one pictured in the article Artemis Fowl (book). So yes, I think. Daniel (‽) 18:46, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

i am on disability and in my apartment i haven't had hot water 2 days

i would like to know my rights, also i am getting harrassed by my landlord her family, friends, and neighbors. She sent fire dept. up to my house with false statements, lied to the police and to a Sargent. My gas is off and have no hot water. I call 311 and they called HPD for the city and made 4 complaints, I have a lease that she signed in front of city workers, she is responsible for gas & elec Bills. She lied to this cop and told him didn't I see two gas meters. She is a miser and I only get one check a month. My case manager Miss Henry is coming to court with me on July 20th Supreme Court, she heard everything on the phone, she is having me harrassed by lying to everyone. So the Sargent tells me I will have no hot water until I pay the bill, which my case manager has a signed lease she signed stating in my rent she gets from the city gas and elec included she is committing fraud. My case manager says I don't have to pay anything she will have to pay the city all back, she takes the rent checks but does not honor the lease. I want hot water no human has to live like this my name is Francine Malave her name is x I live at x because of all this stress I fell down the stairs cut my finger real bad skin is hanging I would like something done please. my phine number is x. She has people in the whole neighborhood coming up to my house harrassing me. It hass to stop. I want hot water I am not suppose to pay her water bills for that matter any bills. Please respond. Thank u very much

Take her to court and sue the hell out of her. If you have to wait until July 20, then sue for even more. Also keep in mind that bots crawl these pages and harvest your information; don't post your address or phone number. --Froth 16:50, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Keep calling 311. Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 16:57, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Certainly wikipedia is not the place for this. --Proficient 17:29, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Request Gmail Invite

Could someone please invite me to use gmail? I recieved replies last time I asked but when I emailed back, that was the last I heard... --Username132 (talk) 18:37, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry, Gmail is an exclusive club and if you are good enough, you would already have Gmail by now. — The Mac Davis] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 18:49, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I have 99 invites left, coz i'm soooo coooool, how do I send you one? Philc _T^E_C^I 22:14, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I've no idea, not having seen the interface myself. I'm hoping someone else will come along and advise. Now my course is over, my university cuts off my current address in less than a week :( --Username132 (talk) 22:23, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I use GMail myself, as well as Hotmail. If you're in the U.S., you can get a GMail invitation by SMS text message [14], otherwise someone (say, a friend, relative or family member) has to send you an invitation by e-mail. For existing GMail users, there is a section you can use to send invitations (labelled "Invite a friend") on the left-hand side of the Inbox page, which you may have to scroll down to see. Invitations can be sent by entering an e-mail address in the box and then pressing the "Send Invitation" button. If you wish, you can preview the invitation beforehand. I have 99 invitations left if anyone wants them! Andrew (My talk · World Cup) 23:30, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

There are a few websites out there that match people with Gmail invites. [15] (French), [16] (Italian) and [17] (English) might be of help to you. --Howard Train 05:11, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

That English link has had no activity since 2004. The French one, if my linguistic skills don't fail me, has had 7000 invites and 142000 requests for invites. I think asking Andrew would be more productive. ;) Henry^Flower 08:22, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Ask me, I have 100! Iolakana|^(talk) 14:28, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

• I've got plenty too, just click my signature, visit my userpage and use the link in the toolbox to the left to email me and I will reply with an invite. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:01, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I've 3 gmail accounts and all of them have 100 invites! -- Миборовский 01:14, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Robert Rowling - Baptist or Methodist?

I have been researching the backgrounds of the regents of the University of Texas. One trustee, Dallas billionaire Robert B. Rowling, is usually identified in the media as an "evangelic Christian," denomination unspecified. I noticed that Wikipedia lists Rowling under the "Methodist" religious category, along with President Bush, whom he supports.

However, when defending Rowling in a February 26, 2006, letter to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Brian Watson stated, "I know Bob from First Baptist Church..." The funeral of Rowling's father, Reese Rowling, was also held at First Baptist Church in Corpus Christi in September 2001. The funeral of Rowling's maternal grandfather, Ellis Sumerlin, was held at the Faith Baptist Church in Snyder, Tex., in 1997. I have not found any mention of other specific churches in relation to Rowling or his family.

It is a minor point, but what reason is there to suppose that Rowling is a Methodist?

cd

Is there any cd program that invovles with you creating a human body and you make it as a sidekick, like for example, I created a girl and I make it as a sidekick?

Pig male yon ? --DLL 21:07, 24 June 2006 (UTC)]

Probably. --Proficient 21:30, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

what? --Howard Train 05:15, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't think technology has yet evolved that far...I think you may have to make do with a simple blow-up doll. Loomis 09:08, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Question on an exotic coffee

A friend who once applied to be a manager trainee at Starbucks said that there is an exotic coffee from South America that is one of the most expensive in the world. He said that the secret of this particular coffee was that the beans were eaten by certain rodents, perhaps in the Amazon. The rodents then excreted the beans whole, but some chemical or enzyme in the rodents' digestive system interacted with the beans - this gave the coffee made from these beans a distinctive taste that is highly valued by coffee connisseurs. I think that my friend is kidding - or, at least exaggerating. Has anyone heard of such a coffee?

Chuck Murphy

He's thinking of Kopi Luwak or Chon cafe. They both do exist (albeit in southeast Asia rather than South America). Luwak, as far as I can tell, is shat by a civet; Chon is vomited by a weasel (choose your favourite). Henry^Flower 20:31, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and to be more specific - the civet cat (which is not quite a rodent) eats the coffee berries; these have the coffee beans as seeds. DS 20:59, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Kopi Luwak seems to be what your friend is talking about. --Proficient 22:00, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

This was a question on QI. Stephen Fry claimed he once had to come up with a present for prince Charles, and not wishing to give him something he already had, gave him a bag of chon. DirkvdM 06:26, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it was on CSI: once, when Gil Grissom said it. So, are Starbucks really selling that? Iolakana|^(talk) 14:30, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Term to use in an article section header

Hiya, I'm stumped for the correct term to use in an article I'm working on.

This is the scenario. I'm reworking an article on a broad area of study, similar to mathematics, or relationships, or any broad subject that covers a lot of areas.

Within the article structure there are some things that are within the subject and some which are about the subject's place in human knowledge.

For example, in relationships, there's types of relationship, sex in relationships, social relationships, commercial relationships... and these are all topics and subjects within relationships. But also there's relationships' taxonomy in human knowledge, relationships as a social construct, controversies about gender studies, and so on, and these are about relationships as a field of study.

So I have in my draft article, "Methods within X"... now I need a section title for "X as a field of knowledge" -- and I'm stumped. The subsections this has to contain are things like:

• Taxonomy (classification) within human knowledge
• Other topics connected to X
• X as a discipline
• Distribution of knowledge about X
• Applications of X
• Controversies about X

Can anyone suggest a good section title for a section with these subsections? I know its vague and an odd question but... ideas? :) FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 21:59, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

That was fairly confusing. --Proficient 22:01, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I know... and I'm usually pretty good with words, but this time I'm stumped. Does it make any sense to you? FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 22:02, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Rewrite of question

I'm writing an article on a subject, where its controversial whether it is or isnt a discipline, an art, a science, a field, etc. People cant agree what it is.

I want to discuss "the body of knowledge" rather than "its internal structure or approaches". So I'm after a heading something like "X as a field" to contain subsections on "classification of X", "controversies about X", "means of distribution of knowledge about X", and so on.

I'm not clear what to title that section. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 23:16, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

Be bold, FT2. Your first idea must not be so bad, else you'd not think of it. --DLL 19:09, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Photograph?

I've been trying to find a certain photograph for a while. I'm fairly sure It's an AP photograph, taken during an African conflict, and that among other places, I've definitely seen it on Wikipedia. It shows a black man running towards and to the left of the camera, carrying a child in his arms and with a number of other people fleeing with him. I remember reading in the image caption that the child was nine years old. It's from one of the many African conflicts or civil wars, but I can't remember which one, making it fairly hard to find on this site or any other. Any idea which one I'm thinking of? GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 23:05, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I am not sure, but I will keep my eyes open for you. --Proficient 00:45, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

i would think we wouldn't 'carry' the photo anyway for copyright reasons. ap doesn't go to the public domain or copyleft.

We have lots of copyvios- we just call them fair use. Henry^Flower 08:19, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

This is not an AP photo. You are thinking of the famous photo depicting the Soweto riots. The image can be found here. It is copyrighted and used under fair use criteria in the article on the Soweto riots. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 01:31, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

June 25

finding an article

A few days ago, this is June 24th, I saw an article on the main page that had a picture of a woman, from about a century ago. I clicked on it, and it was about how her ghost was the only ghost in America's history to be successfully used in a courtroom. Now, I can't find the article, and I completely forget what its title was. How do I find it? please email (e-mail removed, questions are answered on the desk).

I think the article you are looking for is the Greenbrier Ghost. – AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 02:53, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Check your internet history files. -Mayor WF

Just went from Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 1, 2006 to Wikipedia:Today's featured article/June 24, 2006 and there is no reference to any women. Iolakana|^(talk) 14:36, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

It may not have been a featured article, it might hzve been a Did You Know? User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:45, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

What Are Degrees Plato Used For?

Sometimes in beer reviews or maybe even on a beer bottle the "degrees Plato" of the drink are mentioned. I know from reading wikipedia's article that this has something to do with the density of the beer (I'm not good (at all) at chem, so "specific gravity" is meaningless to me), but what does that matter? How do I use the Plato scale? What does it mean if one beer is 15 degrees Plato and another is 25?

"The scale expresses the density as the percentage of sucrose by weight, so a wort measured at 12° Plato has the same density as a water−sucrose solution containing 12% sucrose by weight." (from the wikipedia article)

That's probably the easiest way to put it.  :/

--Proficient 03:23, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Are Gen-pets real or a hoax?

I have been trying to find out if Gen-Pets are real or just a web hoax, does anyone know for sure? Has me mystified. The links seem legit.

http://www.genpets.com/index.php

thanks, Don --24.69.216.204 04:58, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Its fake - its one of those hoaxes which justify themselves by being "art projects". See http://www.brandejs.ca/index.php for the culprit. This was discoverable from a whois domain ownership search. Not that the hoax is particularly convincing anyway, given that if it was true, it'd be front page news in the world media Bwithh 05:05, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Wiki policy on listing maiden names...

Hello...came across the Sir Elton John page and it says the following:

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, England the son of Squadron Leader Stanley Dwight, RAF, and his wife Sheila.

I have dug up his mother's maiden name and changed it to read: Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, England the son of Squadron Leader Stanley Dwight, RAF, and his wife Sheila Harris.

What is Wiki policy when giving a mother's name? Do we always default to married name or married name with maiden as a ne or maiden name alone?

Thanks

KsprayDad 05:00, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I would say that it should read:

Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, England the son of Squadron Leader Stanley Dwight, RAF, and his wife Sheila (née Harris).

My reasoning is that by using "Sheila Harris" you imply that this was her name when Elton was born (which I assume it wasn't). Using "Sheila (née Harris)" gives her maiden name without implying that this was her name at Elton's birth.--Melburnian 09:06, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree, "Sheila Harris" is misleading because it wasnt here name when her son was born - "née Harris" is better. Jameswilson 22:52, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks guys...I have changed it to nee Harris but is there no real wiki policy? KsprayDad 00:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies) 2.1 Maiden Names --Melburnian 01:54, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

acouple of other tiny, laterally connected comments. In this case "Sheila Harris" is ambiguous in another way not listed - it could imply that her name was Sheila Harris Dwight (i.e., that Harris was a middle name). Also, as many but not all would realise, née is used for a woman's birth name, but you'd theoretically also be correct to write Elton John (né Reginald Kenneth Dwight) was born in Pinner... Grutness...wha? 06:38, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

translations

can u give me a site for translations of english words into many(italian.french, spanish etc..) other languages?

Try this site. --Richardrj 07:30, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Or this one, or here --pjd 07:37, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Use WorldLingo! Why does nobody ever think to use this one! I think it is good! Iolakana|^(talk) 14:38, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

I use worldlingo. —Daniel (‽) 19:13, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

MS Paint

My friend recently lost MS Paint from his computer. One day it just wasn't there anymore, and doesn't seem to be installed on his computer at all. He really wants it back.

I'd gladly burn it onto a CD for him, or email it to him, but I can't find it anywhere. Does anyone know where it's located on a computer's hardrive? Battle Ape 07:37, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

The exe file is in Program Files/Accessories; I suspect that he's just deleted that rather than actually uninstalling it. If he has uninstalled it, however, restoring it might be more complicated than just re-adding the exe file. Henry^Flower 08:18, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

In XP, if you go to Control Panel and then Add/Remove Programs and click on "Add or Remove Windows Components" on the left, you can re-add Paint under "Accessories." I'm not sure this will work if he's only deleted the EXE, but if Paint is fully removed, that's the way to get it back.-Elmer Clark 10:04, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

• Just a guess, but did he recently receive an email warning him of a 'dangerous' file on his computer that he had to remove? If so, there's a good chance it was a file crucial to using Paint. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:57, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Maybe a system restore will help? --Proficient 17:44, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Sodium silicate

I will appreaciate if you can tell me chemical compatibility of sodium silicate

Did you read Sodium silicate?

glass

what is the density of glass

It varies. Do a google search for "glass density" and you should get some numbers. --Robert Merkel 11:32, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

• It varies indeed. In fact crime scene investigators (like the ones in CSI) can use this together with its refractive index to determine the source of the glass if it was ever found on a crimescene. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:54, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

major revisions complete

The Half-life computation article has undergone substantial revision which has hopefully addressed everyone's concerns. If you have any further comments after looking at the article again, please list the items you do not like, make whatever comment you have and please be specific and allow time for further revision. If there is any reason I can not comply with your wishes then I will let you know the reason why. ...IMHO (Talk) 12:24, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Ambulances and border/customs?

After a friend had an accident in Gibraltar,she was taken to hospital in Spain for treatment.What do ambulances/other emergency vehicles do at border crossings?Can they go straight through-surely on an emergency call,time is critical and it's unlikely that the patient would have their passport/visa/etc with them?--88.106.173.159 13:55, 25 June 2006 (UTC)lemon

kangaroo

Do male kangaroo have a pouch?

• Nope. Only female marsupials have a pouch. DS 14:24, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

No. --Proficient 17:44, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Where do they store their tobacco ? --DLL 18:59, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

They roll it into cigarettes and store the cigarettes behind their ears. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:48, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

The Pope's Easter speech

What happens to the Easter speech if the Pope has died shortly before and the cardinals are still in conclave electing another one?None of the senior cardinals can give it because of the secrecy rules-so who does?Or do they just do without one that year?--88.106.173.159 14:02, 25 June 2006 (UTC)lemon

I would think that they would just do without it. --Proficient 17:45, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Has that ever happened before? (the Pope a dying few days before easter) Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 19:57, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

The last Pope to die near to Easter was Pope Innocent XIII. He died 7th March 1724 and Easter was 16th April. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:34, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

A kind of IP rights piracy

There's a new term that described a kind of outsourcing piracy: The manufacturing factory does an extra shift so it can churn out additional "genuine" but unlicensed goods. How do people call this? -- Toytoy 14:01, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Isn't it just piracy? --Proficient 03:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I mean a freshly coined business jargon. -- Toytoy 04:54, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

regarding copying an article

Hello, i wanted to copy an article and use it on my website. now, i just want the text article, i dont want to use the photo or graphics, is that ok? also, do i need to activate all the links within the article? i just want to use the text without worring about the active links.

You must read Wikipedia:Copyrights#Users' rights and obligations and Wikipedia:Text of the GNU Free Documentation License and follow the guidelines on both pages. —Mets501 (talk) 14:35, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

tree swallows

I have 1 tree swallow house in my yard which has 4 babies in it. Within the past week there have been 5 or 6 other swallows, both male and female, trying to enter the house. Why?

Squatters. No one cares to build its own house if it's build yet and free. Were not the babies using a winchester to fight them ? --DLL 18:57, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

A Song title

I am looking for a song title in which I only remeber these lyrics of the song: Here we go... Here we go again.... I have typed these lyrics into Google, and I found this R&B song Here we go, here we go again Now you're tellin me, that she is just a friend Then why's she callin you, at 3 o'clock in the mornin... which is not what I am looking for. I have typed the melody on The Song Tapper, here if that would be of assistance. Please give me the title and/or artist(s) of the song. Thanks! --Domthedude001 16:21, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Was it the Sex Pistols or James Blunt? EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 17:03, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Might be heading the wrong direction, but could it be There She Goes?  SLUMGUM  yap  stalk  18:35, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it is There She Goes! Thank you Slumgum for the answer and thank you EvocativeIntrigue for taking the time to give me a responce! --Domthedude001 19:19, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

No problem. EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 22:17, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Go for The La's original version, too. Far better than the Sixpence None the Richer cover version. Grutness...wha? 06:43, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I dont think it's There She Goes by The La's. It sort of fits the melody but not one of the lyrics is in that song thus I think has to be ruled out.--DPM 07:35, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

A v quick google came up with 'Here we go again' by Trina Kelly Rowland. Lyrically, I'd guess that a six year old penned the track. --DPM 07:40, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Eastern Continental Divide

I have exausted my search for a Map of the ECD, ie the portion that is located in NC. along the Appalachian Mts. that divides the watersheds, either to the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico. I have found a map showing the ECD in Georgia and S.W. North Carolina. My need is a map showing From Ashville, N.C. area and points North to the Virginia..Please advise, thanks, wayne

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Eastern%20Continental%20Divide&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi

That was of no help? --Proficient 20:17, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Weird Japanese bondage cartoon thingy

OK, this is going to sound weird, but I have to ask it somewhere. I've looked at Japanese bondage cartoon websites, and have noticed a rather bizarre recurring theme. It's apparently some kind of sporting event for girls. The girls are in pairs, their hands are tied behind their backs, and they are tied together by one leg. One girl is gagged, the other is blindfolded. Apparently the blindfolded girl has to grab a loaf of bread hanging from a string in her mouth. Now my question is, what the bloody heck is this all about? I can't read Japanese so the websites' text is of no help. This looks too bizarre to be a real sport (although you never know...), so is it some kind of weird Japanese manga invention? It looks too complicated, and there are too many artists using it as a theme, to simply have popped into someone's mind. JIP | Talk 18:05, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Wow. That is pretty weird. --Proficient 20:16, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

The context makes it seem like some kinky objectification of women, but it actually isn't that strange when you strip it down (intended)to the basic structure. It's probably from some Japanese gameshow. It combines the three-legged race, with pinatas, with pin the tail on the donkey with unconventional communication initiave challenges. The two must move together. One can speak, but the other can see. The best strategy would be for the blindfolded one to tell the gagged one a series of audial commands about what direction to move, e.g. one thigh slap = forward, two = backward, three = left, etc. Actually, it sounds like it could be fun. I'll try it out at my summer camp, but replacing the gag with a simple admonishment.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 01:22, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Obstacle courses featuring bread on a string, three-legged races, soccer, etc. are a part of a Japanese school sports event called undokai. The students get a day off from normal school, get assigned to one of two teams, and compete against each other in several "sports." --Kjoonlee 02:54, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

So this is simply a bondage-oriented variant of undokai? Thanks for the reply. JIP | Talk 05:43, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Almost, but not quite. An undokai is what the whole day of the event is called, AFAIK. The race/obstacle course/soccer does not happen all at the same time. To make an analogy, your manga sounds like a one-man band, rather than a series of sonatas and symphonies. --Kjoonlee 06:19, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

So it's more like a combination of several undokai sports rolled up in one, with a bondage-oriented theme? JIP | Talk 06:55, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Yep, I think that's pretty much it. --Kjoonlee 11:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Unknown relative

Hi, My name is Debra Lein. My grandfather, John Asheim was born in Norway and came to Ellis Island. My father, Leonard passed away and his dying wish was for me to go to Norway and find his cousin...Inger Seim. Her last known address was 5260 Indre Arne, Seim, Norway. I wrote to her several times and she quit writing because of her age. I am traveling to Norway and would like to find her, or at least find out if she passed on. She would probably be about 80 or 90. Would you be of assistance? I have no idea where to begin. --207.200.116.134 21:44, 25 June 2006 (UTC) I am leaving in 2 days. A kind man on the internet said that you might be able to help.

Please respond to: (Email removed, spam is not tasty!). EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 22:12, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Debra (—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.200.116.134 (talk • contribs) ., but AOL IP address).

You could try the humanities reference desk, but I'd try contacting your nearest Norweigen consulate/embassy to see if they could help! Good luck, I hope you find her. EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 22:12, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

This is unrelated but I found interesting that she has the same name (Seim) as the town she used to live/still lives in. Maybe the town was founded by the Seim family? If so, maybe you can find some other relatives there. But yeah, going to the Embassy is a good first step in any case. --RiseRover|^talk 22:30, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

5260 is the postcode. There are six Seims listed (see here) Chances are one of them's related. Jameswilson 23:05, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

swatch sunglasses

I have two pairs of swatch clip system sunglasses in plastic case, possible his and hers. One tortieshell effect other pastel coloured spots. Can anyone tell me anything about them. i.e Year of manufacture, were there many ever made, are they still produced and possible value? Would much appreciate any info as haven't been able to locate much on the internet. Thanks Jen←

article deletion

When an article is deleted where can a user obtain a copy of the last version? ...IMHO (Talk) 22:21, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Ask an admin, but not all admins will do it. -- Миборовский 01:09, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Usually you can. You should check the deletion log to see which admin deleted it, then ask them to copy the article into your user space. If you go to the article that was deleted—by typing the title into the search box and hitting go—you will find a link top this log. You can also go to Special:Log, select delete from the log type menu and enter in the title of the article you wish to inquire about. One reason that you might not be able to obtain a copy is if an article contains attacks or personal contact information or other content that by definition violates policy. If you wish to contest its deletion you may make your case at Wikipedia:Deletion review.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 01:11, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

See Category:User undeletion for admins that have offered to do this. --GraemeL ^(talk) 01:14, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

merging between ip and user

I've made contributions on my IP without being logged in. I was wondering whether I could merge the contributions made with the IP and the ones made with the username. The IP is 84.109.55.5 and the user name is the one I'm using. Yonatanh 22:29, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Sadly not as far as I know. I had the same problem! EvocativeIntrigue _{TALK | EMAIL} 23:08, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Place a redirect in the IP user page. ...IMHO (Talk) 23:23, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes you can, talk to a bureaucrat. -- Миборовский 01:08, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

okay but how about the contributions page? Yonatanh 00:55, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

A bureaucrat? Yonatanh 01:44, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

• Yes, a bureaucrat. Wikipedia:Bureaucrats. - Mgm|^(talk) 07:36, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

nevada

Is there a website where I can buy products of Nevada, the one that make clothes?

http://nevada.uscity.net/Clothing_Manufacturers/ Maybe? --Proficient 03:48, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

french

Hi,

Can someone tell me who was this comedian who made fun of French-Canadians in his talk show?

Conan O'Brien did that while filming his show in Toronto. Adam Bishop 23:54, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Relocation to San Mateo County Help

Hi,

We are soon to be relocating to San Mateo County. I have done all of the research on almost all of the towns in San Mateo County however there is a problem.

We really love greenery. I was on a consulting assignment for the Alameda County Office of Education and rented a house in the Berkeley Hills for 2 months. I was totally smitten. It satisfied my lifelong fantasy of living high in the hills, surrounded by greenery, overlooking a large body of water. (Presently we live in Beverly Hills and although there is much greenery we are not in the hills nor do we look at water).

Out here we have what is called Palos Verdes Peninsula and the highest point on it is around 1500 ft. overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Would you be kind enough to suggest a short list of locations that perhaps satisfy at least two of the three requirements all three including a view of water would be ideal. We intend to rent a house first. I will be working in San Jose and commuting from Berkeley is just too much. (I am 57 years old and for 10 years commuted 90 miles round trip to work and do not want to do that again). Someone recommended Los Altos Hills and another said I would be happiest in Woodside. Sorry to say I was singularly unimpressed with San Jose. Though we live in Beverly Hills we love Los Angeles and all the goings on here events and ethnic restaurants so we would like proximity to urban life. Santa Cruz reminded me of Laguna Beach small nice and incestuous meaning a bit too insular.

Thank you in advance to all for your time and attention in this matter.

Call me naive, but wouldn't the easiest way to find such places be to call a couple of realtors in the towns that you are interested in and ask if there is anywhere that meets your requirements? --Robert Merkel 01:14, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, this is a really specific question that could be answered easily by a specialist. --Proficient 03:49, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

June 26

urban legand or truth

I heard once that a long time ago some famous actors stole the body of another actor after he died and proped him up on a chair and partied with the corpse for a few days. Does anyone know if this is true and who was it? Thank You.

While I haven't heard of this specifically, I'm sure it has happened at least once in human history. I will note that there is an episode of the Americant tv forensics drama CSI that included the stealing of a body from a morgue for the purpose of partying with the corpse, specifically episode 115, which is part of season 5. See List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episodes for more information. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 00:58, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Or see Weekend at Bernie's A very funny movie!

I seem to recall that, around 8 years ago, some medical students in Dublin, Ireland "borrowed" a body from the morgue and brought it to a party. --Downunda 01:50, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I've read that story, involving Errol Flynn I think. Probably one of the Barrymores too. I forget, although my father has a book called "Movie Anecdotes" that has the story in it. Adam Bishop 01:56, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Help! My girlfriend is getting fat

When I started dating my girlfriend she weighed 115-120 lbs, now she weighs 130. How can I get her to lose 10-15 lbs? Mayor Westfall 02:37, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Tell her. Pacific Coast Highway ^{(blah • lol, internet)} 02:43, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Tell her is correct. Discuss what you can do to help her lose weight and not be fat (to be blunt). --Proficient 03:50, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

130 is fat? In what world? You can tell her, but be prepared for her to either get really angry, or dump you. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 03:51, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

What's disgusting is that he's upset because she gained 10-15 pounds between age 16 and age 20. Scroll up, or check the history of the Kids, why? section, for where he mentions that he started dating her when she was 16 and he was 22. Unless she's 4'5" 130 isn't fat. Underage children are children. Children grow. This is a fact of life. Girls tend to grow up and grow out, adding weight. Afterall, mammaries and buttocks are made up primarily of lipids, which is high school science for: breasts and asses are made of fat. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 05:44, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't even want to touch the "she was 16 and he was 22" thing, but seriously, if anything, she gained that 10 or 15 pounds due to a number of factors, including but not limited to basic growing, and the possibility that she started the Pill. In any case, this earns a total wtf. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 06:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

after swimming

why does my penis get smaller after I go swimming?

Maybe it's shrinkage. 71.31.154.84 02:59, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Your genetailia are responding to the cold water conditions of swimming and are retracting to be closer to your core as the testicles have to be maintained at a certain temperature for sperm production.

It's retracting for warmth. It's a reflex and you do not generally have control of it. --Proficient 03:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

masturbation

Why isn't masturbation fun anymore after you ejaculate?

See Refractory period. -- Rick Block (talk) 03:12, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

There is a certain period of time you must wait to have "fun" again. --Proficient 03:51, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Template for Spliting Articles?

Is there a special template you can use to request that an article be split into different segments? Kindof like the merge articles one, only with the opposite effect. --YankeeDoodle14 03:56, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

It's {{split}}. If you need anything drop a message. Yanksox ^(talk) 04:04, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. --YankeeDoodle14 04:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Food origin

Hi, I would like to know how to find out the food origin of the following countries.

For exmaple, Curry came from India

           Sushi oringinally came from China not Japan.

Which food came from Canada oringinally?

       "        "   Australia         "      ?
                    Thailand                 ?
                    China                    ?
                    Russia                   ?
                    France                   ?
                    USA                      ?
                    New Zealand              ?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by JenniferYeh (talk • contribs) 05:39, 26 June 2006 (UTC).

Looks like homework to me. We don't do people's homework for them. Our articles on the relevant countries might be of use, as might Cuisine. There's a whole bunch o' links in that article that might be of use. --Howard Train 04:52, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foods --Proficient 06:42, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

The Kalaam Cosmolgical Argument

The Kalaam Cosmologist Argument is an argument for the existence of God.It goes like this:

1.Whatever has a beginning must have a cause.(God doesn't need to have a cause because he doesn't have a beginning.He has always existed in the past.)

2.The Universe had a beginning.

3.Therefore, the Universe must have a cause.

4.A chain of causes cannot be of infinite length.

5.Because of that, the cause must be God.

6.Therefore, God must exist.

So what do you think about the Kalaam Cosmological Argument?Do you think it is logical?

• • • Well time didn't exist before the start of the universe so how did God Exist in the past? Anyway that looks awfully like special pleading to me. So no it does not look logical to me.

This is a version of the "first Causes argument" and you can find more about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmological_argument

If you want to discuss the issue in detail somewhere like http://www.evcforum.net is a more suitable venue.

--Charlesknight 09:35, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Brian Griffin

Greetings. I have discovered that Wikipedia actually does NOT know everything. My girlfriend asked me what breed of dog Brian_Griffin is. The article, while very thorough, doesn't seem to have this information. Does anyone know, or would like to venture a guess? (I apologise for the silly question, althogh the ref. desk has seen much much worse) :) --inks^T 09:55, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

It took you this long to realise Wikipedia does not know everything? Sorry, I just had to ask it. JIP | Talk 10:27, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

• It's kind of laborious, but you could start by going through the List of dog breeds and see if any dog looks like him. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:49, 26 June 2006 (UTC)