Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous and Template talk:Dundee F.C. squad: Difference between pages

Revision as of 11:29, 17 January 2007

Revision as of 13:52, 21 July 2007

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{{Football|class=Template|importance=NA}}

{{/How to ask and answer|[[WP:RD/M]]<br />[[WP:RD/MISC]]|id=Misc}}

==Surname sort==

The default sort is by squad number, but only 2 players are shown with a number, 20 have no number. This is unusual as no other squad list has more numberless unless the whole squad is numberless.

So I went with the majority and sorted by surname. The club article has no squad numbers shown at all, so this sort method seems to make sense. &nbsp;<font face="verdana">[[User:Slumgum|slυмgυм]]<small>&nbsp;[[User talk:Slumgum|[&nbsp;←]][[Special:Contributions/Slumgum|→&nbsp;]]]</small></font> 17:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

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{{Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 January 12}}

= January 13 =

== video ==

How can i acheive the following goal: take a video that is featured on the internet and get it saved to my computer?

:I think you'd need some kind of [[video editing]] program. In your browser, you can right-click on the desired video, and then click "properties." A window will pop up that contains the path and file name of the video, usually ending with a dot and [[TLA|three letters]] (in the same fashion as www.***.com), known as an extension. Depending on the extension, the video editing software may be compatible with the file. My answer will probably be inferior to that which the folks at the [[WP:RD/C|Computing]] RefDesk would give, so I suggest that you visit them as well. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:11, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::That's to ''edit'' a video, not to ''save it''. --[[User:24.147.86.187|24.147.86.187]] 01:42, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:If you are ''just'' trying to download the video then it depends on ''how'' the video is being hosted. If it is in a flash-embedded player, like those on YouTube, then a google search for "download YouTube" will give you many options that claim to be able to do this. If it is a RealPlayer (RM) or ASX file then you often can't, at least not easily (you can download a ''link'' to the video but usually not the video itself). Give us some more info on the video and we might be able to help you more — a link to the site itself will give us a lot of information, even if it is not to the exact video you are trying to download. --[[User:24.147.86.187|24.147.86.187]] 01:42, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::There are several stream capture applications that will cap ASX --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 03:24, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::[[Firefox]] has a plugin that allows you to save streaming media from ''certain sites''. Might want to give it a try. [[User:BenC7|BenC7]] 03:28, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== "The Rose" ==

Is there any place on the internet where I can download a free copy of the song "The Rose" by Cara Dillon (originally sang by Bette Midler)? Thanks.

:After a [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Cara+Dillon%22+%22The+Rose%22 Google search], I decided that the song is probably unavailable on the internet. I mostly found it embedded in an [http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Hope-Tommy-Fleming/dp/B0009Y2604 album by Tommy Fleming], in which they sang the song together. Hope that helps! [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 04:10, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. [[User:Jamesino|Jamesino]] 01:21, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Shakespeare's top works ==

What are generally considered to be Shakespeare's top three plays he wrote? [[User:Jamesino|Jamesino]] 03:19, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:Personally: Hamlet then Romeo and Juliet then King Lear or Julius Ceasar --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 03:26, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:By the way, see [[Shakespeare's plays]] --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 03:26, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::That definitely depends on your tastes, as well as if you're asking about the best-structured, or the most famous, or the most well-rounded, or the best at what it does (i.e., a [[comedy]] that actually makes people laugh). Certainly no three of them outdo the others on all the factors involved. My favorites? [[The Comedy of Errors]], [[Midsummer Night's Dream]], and [[Macbeth]]. They each have their individual appeals to me, and trying to figure which is better than the other is like trying to figure out whether a pretzel is more salty than the moon is bright. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::V-Man's comment in re salt v. moonlight is a point well taken, so ultimately you'll need criteria. If, for example, you go by which plays have broadly impacted culture the most, from which more lines have been adopted into the language, and which have kept scholars guessing, interpreting, and re-inventing, [[Hamlet]] must be at or near the top; centuries after the fact, Hamlet himself remains among the most complex characters in all of literature, and his supporting cast is dynamite - second to none. [[Romeo and Juliet]] is a strong second choice by virtue of its tremendous appeal alone, followed by [[Othello]], [[Macbeth]] and [[King Lear]] in no order. Of course, these are all tragedies, but in a body of work like Shakespeare's, I would argue that history has responded the strongest to this category - and for good reason. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 13:33, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::I hated Shakespeare at school; all that The Tempest stuff. So I gave up on the bard. And in my 50th year, my wife took me to a production of Midsummer Night's Dream in Edinburgh during the annual festival. It was so funny, and strangely, I completely understood the vernacular. So that is my number 1. Then I went to see Romeo and Juliet and it was so beautifully scripted, I cried, and I have since seen it on stage and screen and as a ballet (Prokofiev) many times, and each time, I cry - so that has to be my number 2. And then I saw Mel Gibson as Hamlet and I was astounded not just by his performance, which was stupendous, but by the relative accuracy of Shakespeare's treatment of what we now know as Psychology. Extremely thought-provoking but nevertheless, enthralling. So that has to be number 3. But I seek out as many productions of Shakespeare's plays as I can affordably get to in Scotland/England, and am prepared to be shouted down by others at my foregoing shortlist. The Bard was before/during/and after his time. What a gift from God.

:The question is a reasonable one, unlike the comparison of a pretzel's saltitude and the Sun's luminance. For many artists one could answer the question which are generally considered their N best works, where N is a small number. For example, [[Truffaut]]'s best three films might be the first three films he made. Among good artists, it is only for a rare few artists like Shakespeare that it is truly impossible to answer this question. &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 23:18, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== Book references ==

I have noticed that some references that I have used have been changed. Sometimes it is the difference between the hard-cover and pocket book versions. Other times it is a latter edition. As the reference has been made against an actual book, should this be edited and altered? I have not found any policy on this.

On one occasion the ISBN check did not match. In this case I checked both my version and a new book offered for sale. Both had the unbalanced ISBN. This created a problem as the error could be either the number or the check. I chose to used the unbalanced ISBN as printed in the book.

I would like some guidance on this.

Thank you

[[User:DonJay|DonJay]] 03:24, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:You should reference the book that actually contained the information. If a more recent edition has been produced, it should be checked to make sure that it contains the relevant information before the reference is changed. [[User:BenC7|BenC7]] 03:30, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::Clicking on an ISBN number in Wikipedia leads to a page of book sources, and eventually to a webpage where one can order that book if it is in print. So if a book exists in several editions, and you only wish to refer someone to the book title, it helps if you cite an edition that is readily available. Obviously, if you are quoting from a yearbook or something else that changes with each edition, you need to cite the exact edition. Very occasionally, books are published with an incorrect ISBN. For this reason it is best to cite the 13-digit version of the ISBN that appears ''below'' the barcode on the book, as this is usually computer-generated. In fact, from January 2007 ''all'' ISBNs are supposed to be cited in their 13-digit form. There is a currently a [[User:SmackBot|bot]] poised to convert all the ISBNs in Wikipedia to this format, and this bot has already flagged incorrect ISBNs for manual correction.--[[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]] 10:29, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== High Jump ==

In the indoor track and field event of High Jump, at what point is the bar considered cleared? i.e. how long must one wait as the bar wiggles, before it is ruled a successful jump?

thanks, [[User:74.37.228.44|74.37.228.44]] 04:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:If one is to believe the [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/bsp/hi/athletics/rules/field/html/high_jump.stm BBC Sport Academy], "If the bar falls off before you leave the mat it is a failure". –[[User:Mysid|m<font color="#FF0099">y</font>s<font color="#FF0099">i</font>d]]<font color="#FF0099">[[User talk:Mysid|☎]]</font> 09:32, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::The 'falls off before you leave the landing mat' rule was the rule at my school. I remember trying to dive off the mat in time to save myself from being eliminated! Some rules I found are..."Knocking the bar off the supports, or touching the ground or landing area beyond the plane of the uprights with any part of the body without clearing the bar shall count as a failure", also "If the bar falls off without having been knocked by the competitor (eg. due to strong wind) the competitor is not penalized." These are taken from the site www.littleathletics.com.au it doesn't mention a time-scale for the bar falling off so i'm not sure what rule applies to that specifically. [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] 10:02, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

At my track meet last week there was a discrepancy with this rule. The ref was using the mat rule, and a coach claimed that the rule is a myth. I'm in NY. [[User:Omnipotence407|Omnipotence407]] 12:55, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

According to the USATF website

<blockquote>

v. There is a mistaken belief that provided the jumper scrambles off the landing area before the

bar falls, it does not count as a failure. This is quite wrong, and there is no rule to this

effect.

</blockquote>

So it seems to vary by country.

--[[User:Omnipotence407|Omnipotence407]] 15:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Why is the pope informally referred to as "His Palpalness"? ==

I've seen him (the Late Pope John Paul the 2nd) nicknamed as that in several magazines, chatrooms, and message boards. Why is this? The definition of "palp" is the insect's feeler, basically... I do not see the relation between an insect and a pope.

:I think it's a play on the words 'papal' (from pope) and 'palp' (or even just 'pal') &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 05:25, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:Google finds no hits on "His Palpalness"?, but a number of hits on "His Papalness". That would be a play on "papal" (which, as just mentioned, means "of the Pope"). If some people out there is using "his palpalness", this is either a spelling error or a further degree of wordplay (i.e. they think it's funny that there's no connection between the Pope and a palp, or they like the way it sounds like "pal", or something). --Anonymous, January 13, 05:28 (UTC).

::[[The Pope#Titles of the Pope]] gives some really great background on who people are talking about when they use these terms. However, "His Papalness" is not found anywhere in the article, let alone on any reliable internet source (that I've found with a glance at [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=His+Papalness Google]). "Papacy," meaning something pertaining to the Pope, would be a more correct form of this word. "Papalness" seems to be a colloquialism that ranges in nature from general title to highly derogatory. As to its origins, I am unable to find anything reliable. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:43, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Does the pope eat off papal plates ? :-) [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] 17:23, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:No, but I understand that by freezing [[holy water]] you get a pope-sicle. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Most Sold Car ==

What is the most sold car and model for 2006?

: I suspect it might be a Ford truck. However, you might need to be more specific. In the US? In the world? Also, the total numbers for 2006 probably aren't in, yet. --[[User:Mdwyer|Mdwyer]] 06:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::Within the [[Premier Automotive Group]] at least, the numbers are in by the 7th Jan each year. [[User:GeeJo|GeeJo]] ^{[[User talk:GeeJo|(t)]]}⁄_{[[Special:Contributions/GeeJo|(c)]]} <small>&bull;&nbsp;13:21, 13 January 2007 (UTC)</small>

== Cake ==

Can cake melt, excluding the frosting?

: My guess is no. I believe it would denature or burn before it melted. That is, it would stop being cake. Individual ingredients might melt, though, especially the fats. --[[User:Mdwyer|Mdwyer]] 06:44, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::Check this out: [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2004.00831.x/abs/ Tantalyzingly promising], but I'm not sure how to make it work... ;_; At any rate, I've mostly heard of cake burning rather than melting (from too much heat). I'm willing to bet, though, that if a certain cake has too much [[fat]] in it, and it is kept at a constant, high temperature, its shape would slump and it would appear to "melt". However, this is not the same as a [[phase transition]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:57, 13 January 2007 (UTC)(edit: er, well, the cake ''as a whole'' does not undergo a phase transition, but the [[saturated fat]] does.) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:08, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::: ''The thermal kinetics of starch gelatinization in the presence of other cake ingredients'' Who writes this stuff?! :) --[[User:Mdwyer|Mdwyer]] 07:04, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::::People who are ''almost as bored as'' but ''twice as smart as'' us. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 07:25, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Sadly, that article sounds like it's more about cakes becoming solid as they bake rather than melting. I suspect you have to pay to learn more. When you bake a cake, the cake mix initially becomes less viscous (as you can see by it flattening out in the tin and loosing any mounds you may have made) before rising and solidifying. That may be the closest cakes get to melting.

::::Cake can kind of "melt" if it doesn't have enough rising agent. It turns into a sort of glutinous baked pudding. Not terribly nice. I made a birthday cake for my mother once as a "surprise", using "The Mystery Chef's" recipe (and it made me think he was anonymous for a reason). I ended up with a layer cake that was two layers of Mystery Chef butter cake, and one layer of Jiffy yellow cake mix. The Jiffy cake layer rose a good deal higher than the rather melted 2 layers of butter cake, which were interestingly leaden. My mother was surprised. I was even more surprised. [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] <small>[[User talk:Mothperson|cocoon]]</small> 20:35, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[[User:Skittle|Skittle]] 17:44, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Ice cream cake sure will. --[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo]] 17:30, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:Of course. Remember the [[Donna Summers]] song ''MacArthur Park''? -[[User:THB|THB]] 00:29, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== how is it possible? ==

When I look at recent changes I see like 150 edits per minute (not including vandalism). How is it possible to obtain that many edits within a minute?--[[User:PrestonH|'''<font color="green">PrestonH</font>''']] | [[User talk:PrestonH|<font color="blue">talk</font>]] | [[Special:Contributions/PrestonH|<font color="red">contribs</font>]] | [[WP:ER|<font color="brown">editor review</font>]] | 06:47, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:Thousands of editors contribute to that number --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 06:57, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'm actually surprised the number is so low. &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 08:03, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== News Reports DEAD Birds: ==

The News services in Austin, Texas has reported that Birds have fallen out of the sky DEAD. Same for the Aussie News services, they too have reported DEAD Birds falling out of the sky. one sec. they're doing OK, then they're DEAD. Terrorists testing VX nerve gas ? [[User:65.173.104.227|65.173.104.227]] 08:00, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

What the -edited for language- is going on ? [[User:65.173.104.227|65.173.104.227]] 08:19, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:I don't think any of us knows more than the news agencies in [http://news.google.ca/news?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-22,GGLD:en&q=austin+texas+australia+dead+birds THIS GOOGLE RESULT.] [[User:Anchoress|Anchoress]] 08:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::In the actual event of [[nerve gas#Classes|VX nerve gas]], it may be a good idea to [http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Run_like_hell run]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 10:09, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Reminds me of the [[Barton Fink]] movie... [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 14:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::::And [[Magnolia %28film%29|Magnolia]]. For what it's worth, during an interview here in [[Austin%2C Texas|Austin]], the county medical director claimed that it wasn't all that peculiar to see sixty birds die in this manner ... yet he didn't cite another example. Instead, he hinted that the deplorable hygiene practiced by birds may be to blame. We'll see. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 15:56, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== question ==

what is considered to be the second to the first spirit of the world? i thot alaska was the spirit of the world n it being the biggest state in us then the second wud be texas...but thats not it,but av bin told if i thoroughly googled it al get it..any help mates

:Hm, that is a little bit vague, but [http://www.bizrate.com/specialinterestdvds_videos/alaska-spirit-of-the-world-imax-vhs-dvd--pid2059039/compareprices.html this] seemed to be the most relevant thing a Google search dug up. It seems "[[Spirit of the World]]" is an [[IMAX]] movie about [[Alaska]]. Are you asking about a second movie by this title (i.e., Spirit of the World 2)? I'm unable to find anything relevant indicating that one exists... [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 13:32, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== Article writing difficulty ==

Dear Wikipedia,

I am interested in writing an article on a literary character and I have created an account but I cannot find a link that actually allows me to write an article. I continue to be redirected from one page to the next within the community portal and help areas but I cannot find one page that actually gives me the option of starting a page. I think I am missing something. Perhaps it is some sort of prerequisite approval process that I am unaware of. Please help.

Peter Roblejo

:Hi Peter, and welcome to Wikipedia! You can start a new article by writing its desired title in the search box you see on the left. When a search page appears, click on the red link with the text "create this page" and you're ready to write the article. [[Wikipedia:Help Desk]] will help you with furhter questions. –[[User:Mysid|m<font color="#FF0099">y</font>s<font color="#FF0099">i</font>d]]<font color="#FF0099">[[User talk:Mysid|☎]]</font> 14:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::Please bear in mind the article naming conventions ''before'' proceeding. Search for "John Smith", not john smith or John smith. If similar results appear, you will have to consider creating a better title, such as John Middlename Smith, or John Smith (racing driver). This will require what we call a disambiguation page, with which you should seek further help, perhaps from another editor. As a rule-of-thumb; read the help pages before starting an article. It will leave you better equipped to get started. [[User:Adrian M. H.|Adrian M. H.]] 17:25, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

*This is a question about how to use Wikipedia, so it really belongs on the help desk. Anyway, try [[WP:AFC]], [[WP:YFA]] and [[Wikipedia:How to start a page]]. - [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm]]|[[User talk:MacGyverMagic|^(talk)]] 10:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== date ASU became a university ==

wanted to know the year Arizona state univeersity became a university. it was Arizona state college in the early 1950's

:The year was [http://www.asu.edu/about/history/ 1958]. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 15:34, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::Shouldn't that kind of thing be mentioned in [[Arizona State University]]? [[User:Nil Einne|Nil Einne]] 15:45, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

The Wikipedia article definitely says 1885.

:No, 1885 was when the school was founded, as a normal school, not when it became a university. [[User:Zoe]]|[[User talk:Zoe|(talk)]] 18:38, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

==Day care==

Are day cares really bad for your kids (in u.s.a).do they really make them sick?

{{unsigned2|16:05, 13 January 2007|74.225.169.185 (Talk)}}

:It's the society that makes kids sick. The day care is just a symptom... =S [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 16:27, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::As I will state in my upcoming book, ''A Single, Childless Gay Man's Guide to Raising Children'', what makes children these days allergic to so many things is overprotective partents who sterilize and sanitize everything. For goodness sake, let your kids play in the dirt and be exposed to germs while young. Otherwise, they will not build up tolerance and imunity. (I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice.) --[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo]] 17:28, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Many people view a good child care, or pre-K school as being a very healthy positive experience for their children. They are exposed to different cultures, different peoples rules, and learn to socialize with others their own age, before kindergarten. As for disease, they have an opportunity to get immunity to a broad range of diseases even before going to formal school (K-12) and benefit from that greatly. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 19:03, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Physically? I'd have to agree with Nelson. Day cares and other childcare facilities, as well as some other businesses and even residences, are so concerned about "evil germs" and the chance of getting sued for medical care that they nuke everything of germs. Unfortunately, this helps breed chemical resistance and doesn't let the child's immune system build the antibody stocks they need. Cleaning is fine, but the fact is, (going to go a bit into opinion here) commercials such as Lysol's that say that all germs should be eliminated, destroyed, killed help promote this sort of rabid "can't have germs everywhere, can't have germs anywhere" mentality. As for emotionally, supplemental day-care is probably harmless, but dropping a kid off in day-care is no substitute for parenting, and while this might be good for them socially, it's probably not very good developmentally and for bonding with the parent, which is crucial. --[[User:Wooty#Mission statement|'''''W''''']][[User:Wooty|'''''o''''']]<font color="red">[[User:Wooty/b|'''o''']]</font>[[User:Wooty|'''''ty''''']]&nbsp;<small>[[User talk:Wooty|'''Woot?''']]&nbsp;[[Special:Contributions/Wooty|'''contribs''']]</small> 19:57, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

I disagree with those who say daycares are bad for children. My mother ran a day care for several years and let me tell you , it was a very healthy environment. it depends on te day care i guess but my mothers was always clean as a whistle. I swear you could never get any germs from that place. The house was scrubbed clean each night and the place was always neat and tidy. It is not unhealthy mentally either. She taught those children valuable lessons in life that benefitted both the children and their parents. She even once (with parental permission) taught them abou the value of money and from that day on the parents all agreed that the children stopped asking for stuff all the time. It just depends on the day care but some are really helpful. i myself went to a Childrens World day care and learned so much from there. Whether in the house or at a day care facility day cares can really influence the way a child acts....negetivly if a bad one..and very positive if a good one. --[[User:Kittycat rox|Kittycat rox]] 23:18, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:As far as physical illnesses go, there is quite a bit on the net about ''"day care" +illness''. In essence the medical research indicates that a young child in day care clinic (DCC) has an increased risk of sniffling, colds, sore throats and chest infections, compared to a child at home. Epidemic types of infections, such as meningitis, increase. Asthmatic babies have a greater incidence of wheezing and acute breathing difficulties (3x for age group 0-2). "Poor hygiene" infections (skin, diarrhoea, hepatitis) are increased, but can be significantly reduced with strict cleanliness habits. On the other hand, this difference decreases rapidly after 1 year of enrolment and disappears by 4-5 years of age. By 12 years, and in adulthood, the DCC kids have half the "allergies" - food, asthma, eczema - that at home kids have (simply living with older brothers or sisters, or on a farm, has the same effect). No difference in cancers, such as leukaemia or lymphoma. The most recent recommendation (2006) was that health-wise it would be wise to enrol the kid after the age of 1 year, if possible. --[[User:Seejyb|Seejyb]] 03:03, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Yes, physically and mentally. -[[User:THB|THB]] 18:25, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

==Subheadings in exam questions==

My niece was practising some old exam papers and asked me a the following question.

Exams questions are numbered 1,2,3... and subdivided into part questions a,b,c... but if a part question needs subdividing it's done as i, ii, iii, iv, ...... Now this is clearly based on the roman numeral system buy why is it in lower case? Roman numbers do not have lower cases numerals. I presume it's done now because of convention but thought it up in the first place and was there an actual reason for using lower case? [[User:Theresa knott|Theresa Knott]] | [[User talk:Theresa knott|Taste the Korn]] 17:12, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:Wouldn't this depend on the exam? I don't think there is a worldwide standard. --[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo]] 17:24, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::No it wouldn't I've seen it all over the place. Come to think of it, not just in exams, the use of lower case roman numerals as sub sub heading orderings is widespread, but why? [[User:Theresa knott|Theresa Knott]] | [[User talk:Theresa knott|Taste the Korn]] 17:32, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::This is standard practice in many publishing houses, though in some contexts the 1.b.iii scheme is giving way to a 1.2.3. scheme. The fact that the Romans never actually used a lower case is unlikely to bother anyone using this system. It makes it clear that this level is inferior to the one above it.--[[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]] 18:29, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::I agree with Shantavira, 1.b.III doesn't properly convey the intended level structure very well. --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 19:36, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

::::It's probably as simple as the fact that it's the default multilevel numbering in MSWord (blame it on [[Bill Gates|Bill]]). In MSW, headings are numbered with proper roman numerals, then it's: number, letter, small rn, etc ad infinitum. [[User:Anchoress|Anchoress]] 20:29, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::I believe this has been common practice (as Shantavira said) for a long time. I presume Microsoft Word merely streamlined what many writers and editors would have wanted to do anyway. (So I don't think we can blame Bill here.) —[[User:Ummit|Steve Summit]] ([[User talk:Ummit|talk]]) 21:01, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:From our article [[Roman numerals]]: "Sometimes the numerals are written using lower-case letters (thus: i, ii, iii, iv, etc.), particularly if numbering paragraphs or sections within chapters, or for the pagination of the front matter of a book." &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 23:27, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== Do Americans really think they are "nearly english"? ==

In the disgustingly violent film [[Kill Bill]] there is a dialogue that goes something like this:

Japanese cafe proprieter: "Are you english?"

Heroine: "I'm nearly english. I'm American."

As a british person I was shocked that Americans even in fiction could think they are nearly english, as to me they do not seem in the slightest like english people. [[User:62.253.44.35|62.253.44.35]] 18:52, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:People that are not from the "west" basically do think of Americans and Brits as from the same tree. One would never confuse a Frenchman for a Brit or an American, but they view the cultural or political difference between the British and Americans as small, and unimportant for most things.

:The U.S., of course is very widely culturally diverse. Yet, many still feel that their roots as Americans came from England, and a lerge number of people have some english heritage by blood. Culturally Americans and English have very similar cultures from the context of Japanese, Chinese or Korean cultures. Looking closely comparing cultures, there are a great similarities, and of course, a great number of large differences. The cultural stereotypes of each are indeed fairly different from the view of someone who is very American, or very British. But, the point of the humor, I think, is that in the same way the we Americans and Brits lump all asian cultures together, and want to think of them as all being basically the same, is the same way that many cultures view Americans and Brits.

I would say that (in order) that Scottish, Welsh, New Zealanders, Australians, Canadians, and then Europeans are more similar to english people than Americans. I belive far more americans have German ancestry than British ancestry. {{unsigned2|15:17, 13 January 2007 |62.253.44.35}}

The 2000 Census shows about 43 Million of German descent, and 25 million of English descent. (Roughly 16% and 8% respectively by total population.) German americans were highly visible pre WWII, but after that, lost visibility.

Also, a common view (misconception) is that essentially, Scottish, Welsh, NZ Canadians and Australians ARE part of the U.K., aren't they? Americans are merely closely related to the british. American is seen as predominantly influenced by England, and only marginally by France. For instance, laws in all states are based on English common law (except for Lousiana, which is based on French Law). [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 20:14, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Americans definitely do not think of ourselves as "nearly English". We might possibly think of the English as "nearly American", though of course not so nearly as Canadians. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] 19:38, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:The more I think about that line - without knowing the full context - the funnier it gets. I've never met a fellow American who imagined his American identity as 'nearly English', but the line hints at a perceived inferiority complex among some Americans, as well as Trovatore pointing out the contrary, along with a jab at the presumed, perceived, arrogance of Americans in general. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Tarantino's humor is rarely so incidental. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 19:50, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

The humor is, as mentioned before, that all Americans lump all dark skinned people as "Africans", all Asians together as Japanese or Chinese, all hispanics as Mexicans, and all Eastern europeans (previous eastern block nations) as Russians. The film plays heavily on racial and cultural stereotyping. The reverse stereotyping that all Westerners are viewed as essentially Brits is the intent, I think. (See [[Ethnic stereotypes in American media]]).

The inferiority complex doesn't click, because, as you say, the stereotype for Americans is of an arrogant, large, loud, loutish Texan with a large ego. Brit's are portrayed as unecessarily prissy, sexually cold, submissive, overly proper, prudish, and with bad teeth. Of course, the French, the Italians and Greeks have their own stereotypes. Spaniards, Belgians and Dutch don't have much visibility. Although Dutch might be combined with a general setreotype of Swedes, Finns and Norwegians as tall, sexy but rather dumb and overly easy going. Note: I don't believe any of these stereotypes, and thank goodness none of them are any more relevant than thinking all Americans are like George Bush. (A rich preppy North-Eastern mama's boy -- pretending to be an arrogant, large, loud, loutish Texan with a large ego.) [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 20:14, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'm American, and I don't think I'm "nearly English". Though if asked by a Japanese, I might just say "close—I'm American". To me, there is a kinship that is about culture, not ancestry. I remember many years ago being on a ferry from Ostende to Dover and having a strong feeling of coming home. [[User:Marco polo|Marco polo]] 20:38, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:As a Briton, I've never understood why the Americans would think we're prudish or proper (and it seems to be an enduring stereotype regularly trotted out). In my experience, Americans are ''far'' more prudish and proper than the British. Just look at the amount of nudity and swearing the BBC shows after 9pm compared to mainstream US TV channels, the fact that the Americans seem incapable of calling a toilet a toilet (just for the record, public toilets have no baths in them and you don't visit them to have a rest!), and the common American habit of addressing people as "Sir", "Ma'am" or "Miss" (most British people wouldn't dream of doing that unless they were members of a uniformed service, serving a customer - and it's getting uncommon in that context, or addressing a teacher at school). -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 01:47, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::OK, we're wandering a bit from the already tenuous point, but maybe I can help you on the "toilet" question. In the US, "toilet" does not mean the room. It means the actual apparatus (what do y'all call it, BTW?), the thing with a seat and water underneath it. That's why "going to the toilet" sounds a bit overly direct to American ears. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] 01:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Lately, to avert confusion among my intercontinental friends, I simply explain that I am going to urinate. They infer ''where''. Speaking of which... [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::The American impression of British people is the ''[[Masterpiece Theatre]]'' -- note the pretentious -re spelling -- stereotype of upper-class Victorian lords and ladies. The only English people most Americans have seen who don't speak like Queen Elizabeth II (or Shakespearian characters) are The Beatles. And British culture is still far more formal than American culture in some respects. When I was working in Europe, a British colleague of mine was shocked at the informality of the reply I got to an e-mail I had sent to an American company. I had mentioned I had used their product in my home state, which turned out to be the customer-service guy's home state too, so he included a crack about our local [[NFL]] team in his reply e-mail. I think Americans are also far less likely to use last names to address people -- teachers and people over 70 are about the only people called Mr. or Mrs. nowadays. -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 05:46, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::Same in Britain. Mr and Mrs are hardly ever used. People are usually on first-name terms with their bosses, for instance. As to the "toilet", well yes, I realise Americans don't use it for the room, but that was actually my point! In British homes the toilet is invariably in the bathroom too, but you still wouldn't say "can I use the bathroom?" if you wanted to use the toilet. That would imply you wanted to have a bath! You'd say "can I use the toilet?" To refer to the toilet as the bathroom or the restroom implies embarrassment at referring to a perfectly natural bodily function, which the British don't really have a problem with. We call the actual apparatus the "toilet" too, incidentally, or more commonly the "loo" ("can I use your loo?" is also a perfectly acceptable thing to say when visiting someone's house). -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 17:13, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::Wait a minute -- you use it for both the apparatus ''and'' the room? That's frankly bizarre. So you can say "how many toilets are there in that toilet" and no one will think it's strange? --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] 19:22, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::::To clarify, in Britain: actual piece of apparatus designed for use by male or female = "toilet"; actual piece of apparatus designed for males to stand up and use in a public facility = "urinal"; room containing only a (single) toilet = "toilet"; room containing a toilet and a bath = "bathroom"; public facility containing multiple urinals and/or cubicles with toilets in them = "toilets"; cubicle with a toilet in it as part of a larger public facility = "toilet cubicle". Yes, for the larger facility we just use the plural, which makes perfect sense to me. And yet you think it's perfectly normal to refer to something without a bath in it as a "bathroom" and something you visit to use the toilet as a "restroom". Now that I find weird. Why not call a spade a spade, as they say? -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 19:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::::Well, first of all, I'm not sure your list is entirely accurate; I think the "worst toilet in Scotland" in the film "Trainspotting" had more than one fixture in it. Still, even if it is, it's still, by my lights, extremely bizarre that a room with one toilet would itself be a toilet. You presumably don't call your kitchens "ovens", your studies "desks", your living rooms "fireplaces". But maybe I shouldn't be all that surprised, given that I already knew you sometimes have tea with your tea. --[[User:Trovatore|Trovatore]] 22:23, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::::::As I said, far less bizarre than calling a room without a bath in it a bathroom. Have you thought that possibly "toilet" in this instance is just an abbreviation of "toilet room"? People use shortened forms of terms even in America, I suspect. The meaning is obvious by the context. -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 11:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::::::Reminds of my first day at work, I was wondering around the corridors looking for the toilet. Met a lady and asked her 'Perhaps you can help me, I'm looking for a loo?" to which she answered "Lou who?". Perhaps she was of American descent :) [[User:Sandman30s|Sandman30s]] 12:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

But I think - as a Californian transplanted in Texas, for the record - that Americans with an acute sense of that arrogant stereotype are more interested in distancing themselves from it. For example, during the time I've spent in Europe, I've always been painfully conscious of the 'ugly American' and probably overreacted more than once to convince Europeans that I wasn't one of ''those'' Americans. As a concerted effort to elude that stereotype, it becomes a push to counter an unflattering perception, one made from a position of inferiority. If I omitted ''perceived'' from the sentence above and amended it to suggest the complex exists among Americans interested in dodging the stereotype - Americans with a conscience, let's say - I think it becomes just such a complex. It's convenient - and maybe even a measure of personal safety - for some Americans abroad to claim they're Canadian simply to avoid the mounting hassles tied to the nationality. Denying one's nationality as self-preservation is one thing, but doing so because the associated stereotypes are embarrassing, quite another. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 21:37, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Many Americans have all or mostly English blood in our veins. After Canada, we consider England to be the most similar culture. And there are plenty of anglophilic Americans running around. -[[User:THB|THB]] 00:18, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:I suppose that canada is very similar to america, but recently (at least in my experience) it's become popular to mock canada, mostly for [[Canadian Forces|their puny armed forces]], their comical (and of course untrue) habit of driking gallons of delicious maple syrup every day, and their unusual accents --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 02:32, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::I think the U.S. is more similar to the other predominantly English-speaking countries (Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and to some degree Ireland) than it is to any other countries. American attitudes toward families, work and the role of the state, while hardly identical with those of the UK, are closer to those than they are to the views of, say, France or Mexico. The [[World Values Survey]] map puts the English-speaking countries in the same blob (although Great Britain is now closer to Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Italy than to the rest of the "Anglosphere," including Northern Ireland). The English-speaking blob of countries is more religious than the Protestant Europe and "Confucian" blobs and more concerned with "self-expression" and individual freedom than the Ex-Communist and Third World (South Asia, Africa and Latin America) blobs. -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 06:02, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I live in the USA, and I dont think I am english.[[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 01:02, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'd say America is more English than England. After all, England uses the metric system, while America uses the English system. America retains the spirit of independence for which England was once known, while England has become a member of the EC. America has the greatest navy in the world now, not England, and has more of an empire (economic) than England, these days. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] 09:07, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::This has resulted in some very strange situations, for example the fact that the only nation that has so far put a man on the Moon is still counting distances in multiples of an average hand's width. Not only that, but it's the only nation to do so. Because of the USA's dominance in worldwide communication, though, I'd guess that the average European has to have a more readily available basic knowledge of the American standard system than the average American has to have of the metric system. So the majority must cater for the minority, not the other way around. [[User:JIP|<font color="#CC0000">J</font><font color="#00CC00">I</font><font color="#0000CC">P</font>]] | [[User talk:JIP|Talk]] 19:18, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Actually, the metric system has been the official measurement system of the U.S. government since 1992. It's just that the U.S. government, unlike the governments of other countries, has not felt it proper to try to force private citizens to use the system. -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 19:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

For the record, the precise dialogue is:

<p>SUSHI CHEF: ''English?''

<p>BRIDE: ''Almost -- American.''

<p>Which leads to a most basic reading: "Am I English? No, but f--k it - you're close enough." [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 10:40, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

<br>

<br>

In Australia, we don't think of ourselves as even remotely English. If anything, we're anti-English, particularly when it comes to [[The Ashes]]. However, we often characterise our trans-Tasman cousins in New Zealand as "more English than the English". [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 00:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, we see ourselves as ''fairly'' British-like (though not necessarily English), and think of ther Aussies as "wannabe Americans" :) In more seriousness, if it was a continuum, I'd say:

::English <-> NZers, Scots and Welsh <-> Aussies, Canadians and Irish <-> Americans.

:[[User:Grutness|Grutness]]...''<small><font color="#008822">[[User_talk:Grutness|wha?]]</font></small>'' 06:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

==[[Book of Revelation]]==

The article [[Book of Revelation]] has some formatting issues... main paragrahs are being shown in the footnote area. If anyone is good at formatting then pls. have a look at it. I tried looking at the source but was not able to figureout the reason for such a display...

Thank you

--[[User:IndianCow|<b><font face="Trebuchet MS">IndianCow</font></b>]][[User talk:IndianCow|<b><font face="Arial" color="#CD0000">^Talk</font></b>]] 20:08, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:With a quick glance at the article, I'd say it seems to have a fairly good description (especially with the HTML code in the text) at [[WP:SPCP]]. Use the article's talk page or other Wikipedia attention-getting pages to get it fixed. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 21:47, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

== Real Esate URL ==

I'm trying to get smart people's opinion on this, so I thought I'd ask here. What would be a good URL name for a service that pools people's money together to flip real estate? Thank you!--[[User:Herzog|orphan frequently]] 21:34, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

*www.thebubblesnotpoppedyetsospeculatenow.com -[[User:THB|THB]] 00:18, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

*www.flipoffrealestate.com [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:55, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Publicly Held Corporation ==

:''Question moved here from the Language reference desk. &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 10:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)''

Hallo,

can somebody tell me, if the are any requirements a corporation has to fulfill before forming a publicly held corporation, i.e. to offer its shares to the public on a stock market ?

Thanks

[[User:77.179.14.254|77.179.14.254]] 22:48, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

:They are many and depend on the jurisdiction and the stock market on which the company seeks to offer shares. I suggest visiting the websites of the [http://www.sec.gov U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission], [http://www.nyse.com New York Stock Exchange] and [http://www.nasdaq.com NASDAQ] -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 23:55, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, had a look at the mentioned sites, but I can't find anything about e.g. a minimum capital that is required to form a publicly held corporation. In the UK you can only form a "PLC" (British companion piece to publicly held corp.) with a minimum nominal sahre capital of 50.000 Pounds and in Gemanny it is 50.000€ for a "AG"(Aktiengesellschaft).

Is there any capital that is needed before forming Corporation that offers its stocks to the public?

Thanks

:I do not think that there is a minimum capital requirement in the United States for forming a publicly traded corporation. However, there are some exacting regulatory requirements, including extensive financial and other documentation, and there is an incorporation fee that varies by state but is usually between $500 and $1,000. The cost of meeting the regulatory requirements would typically exceed the incorporation fee by a considerable amount. So, while there is no legal minimum capital requirement, a minimum of several thousand dollars is required in practice to meet the various requirements. Beyond this, it may be difficult (but not impossible) to attract purchasers of shares without some initial assets. [[User:Marco polo|Marco polo]] 01:35, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Incan Gods. ==

Could I see some images of the gods as well as an explanation of their meaning?

:I suggest you start with [[:Category:Inca deities]] and work from there. <tt>[[User:Dismas|Dismas]]</tt>|[[User talk:Dismas|^(talk)]] 23:22, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

= January 14 =

== Help deciphering a note ==

I got a note from a friend. He has really bad handwriting and I can't figure out this one part. It looks like it says "Have you seen 'The Sorrows of Boner or Meditations in the Island of Bbq'?", but this doesn't make any sense to me and I tried a google search. Please help.--[[User:216.164.192.144|216.164.192.144]] 01:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Almost! He meant "The Sorrows of Boney or Meditations in the Island of Elba". I get at least one Google hit for that. &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 01:13, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::As in [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Boney]] and [[Elba]], I presume. --[[User:Seejyb|Seejyb]] 03:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Yep. It is a caricature of Napoleon by Turner. See page 362 of [http://www.jstor.org/view/00138304/di990229/99p0018a/0]. --[[User:mglg|mglg]]_{([[User talk:mglg|talk]])} 01:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Computers ==

I want to learn about computers. Can someone please tell me where on the web I could do this? The article here is too complicated for a beginner. I did not put this in the computer catagory because I consider this a question about learning. [[User:Musli Miester|Musli Miester]] 01:20, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Start here ? [http://www.bbc.co.uk/computertutor/index.shtml]--[[User:Light current|Light current]] 01:58, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Thank you, but I know how to do all that. I want to know how a computer works. [[User:Musli Miester|Musli Miester]] 02:03, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::OK try this [http://dragon.ep.usm.edu/~it365/module/Basics/Basics.htm]--[[User:Light current|Light current]] 02:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

The field of computers is constantly changing. There is no good place to start really, as everything is connected to everything else, and it is circular. Just jump in learning about some aspect of computers that fascinates or interest you, and read trade magazines, go to the library, buy books from amazon, and establish that interest as a beach-head for topics related to that. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 02:54, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Howstuffworks.com [http://computer.howstuffworks.com] is a good starting point for this type of question. [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] 08:47, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Brett Favre ==

How can Brett Favre be so amazing? Is he the second coming of Christ?

:Yes, the Messiah has nothing better to do, so he plays football. There aren't so many shepherd jobs these days. --[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo]] 02:32, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Jesus was not a shepherd, he was a carpenter.[[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 03:34, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Jesus ''was'' a [[carpenter]], experienced a [[Multiple careers|career transition]], and is now a [[The Good Shepherd (religion)|shepherd]]. ^_^ [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 04:03, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

And now he plays for the Packers [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 05:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:lol. Keeping on-subject, our article doesn't say much about ''why'' [[Brett Favre]] is amazing (and indeed, this may forever be a [[Sacred Mysteries|mystery]]), but it certainly does give many examples of his skills in the game. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I thought that Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet. [[User:JIP|<font color="#CC0000">J</font><font color="#00CC00">I</font><font color="#0000CC">P</font>]] | [[User talk:JIP|Talk]] 08:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::I'm not Christian, but if I was, I would fail to see messianic characteristics in someone who threw 29 interceptions in 2005. -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 06:06, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::[http://bible.cc/daniel/3-29.htm There is no other god that can deliver after this sort.] [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 12:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

He also has the completions record and WILL break the Tds and wins records next year. Dan Marino aint got nothing. Real men arent afraid to throw a few ints. [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 13:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Brett Favre or Jesus? [[User:JIP|<font color="#CC0000">J</font><font color="#00CC00">I</font><font color="#0000CC">P</font>]] | [[User talk:JIP|Talk]] 08:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Haven't you been paying attention? ''same person''! :-P [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:47, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Google Answers? ==

[[User:68.193.147.179|68.193.147.179]] 04:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)What is the Google Answers Blog at Google Groups?

:A [[tongue twister]]! In seriosity (what word am I really trying to spit out??), [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/adieu-to-google-answers.html Google Blog] actually announced that the [http://answers.google.com/answers/ Google Answers thingy] is no longer active, but FWIW, it doesn't seem to have its own blog; rather, the Google Blog seems to speak for all the Google endeavors as a whole. You should still be able to peruse the archives of Google answers via the above link. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:05, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::And, anon, you can just sign your name after your message, not before, if that's no trouble![[User Talk:martianlostinspace|martianlostinspace]] 11:16, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Purgatory ==

Who do Catholics believe will go to purgatory after they die:

1. Only some Christians?

2. Only some non-Christians?

3. Both some Christians and some non-Christians?

[[User:The Anonymous One|The Anonymous One]] 05:29, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Our article on [[purgatory]] is very useful for this question. [[Roman Catholic]]s believe, essentially, that anyone who sins (so everybody) qualifies for purgatory. However, this is an after-life purification state, not to be confused with [[hell]]. People who are damned to hell for [[eternity]] essentially don't have ''time'' to go to purgatory. From the article: "there are two punishments for sin: eternal punishment inflicted in Hell, and temporal punishment inflicted in this life or in purgatory if left uncompleted upon death. Forgiveness of sin, for example through the absolution granted by confession, remits the eternal punishment. Penance, such as almsgiving, prayer, fasting, and suffering remit temporal punishment. Thus temporal punishment is a satisfaction for sin." (Baltimore Catechism 629, 804, and 805) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:43, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:(Edit: long answer short, those who are granted absolution of sins (by a [[priest]] or other holy officer) sidestep the eternal hell, and are instead purged. This implies that mostly Christians (Catholics) will have purgatory.) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:48, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::I am a lapsed catholic who remains a committed christian in that I believe implicitly in the 10 commandments and strive to obey them as well as follow the teachings of Christ. But I can find no mention of either purgatory or hell in either set of codes ([[WP:NPOV]]) If I am wrong, let me apologise, but ([[WP:SOAP|Soapy]] comment removed by [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 13:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC))

:::What do you mean by 'set of codes'? Do you mean, what they believe? For the general Catholic view of purgatory, try the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm here]. Generally it is taught, everyone except [[martyrs]] has to go through Purgatory to get to Heaven; who goes to Hell is usually left more vague. [[User:Skittle|Skittle]] 16:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Thanks V-Man for removing half my response, describing it as Soapy. Perhaps you should exercise that same inconsistent discretion on every page in Wikipedia. <--personal attack removed--> I know what the catholic view of purgatory is, and had V-Man not arbitrarily removed half my response as described here, you may have noted that fact. The OP asks "Who do catholics believe will go to purgatory after they die?", a question that no-one can answer. As to Skittle asking what do I mean by "set of codes", is that not self-explanatory? No, I did not mean "what they believe", I mean, "what the Commandments and Christ direct us to observe as rules of life." <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/81.145.241.245|81.145.241.245]] ([[User talk:81.145.241.245|talk]]) 16:59, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:::You're welcome. If you feel that your words were not soapy enough to be excluded from a level-headed discussion about the beliefs of various religions, then I apologize. To explain, I cut out your acidic remarks because I felt that you were attacking the Catholic faith, and the reference desk isn't the place to attack the religions of others. And, to be fair, I really ''am'' trying to exercise that discretion everywhere I can; this is referred to as [[WP:NPOV|Wikipedia's neutral point of view]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:42, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Just need help finding an article, I can't do it! ==

I've looked for ages, I am trying to find an article about a Legal Statement made in a certain Legal Case which is somewhat of a meme on the internet. Basically the statement is a very long winded and technical "fuck you" that people cite (in typical "See X v X" laywer style) as a 'comeback' in certain online arguments. All help would be appreciated [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 07:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Several moments and Google searches later, I came up with [http://slashdot.org/features/00/09/01/149223_F.shtml this Slashdot forum discussion] which seems to get pretty close. I used Google searches such as [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=lawyer-style+insult lawyer-style insult] and [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=humorous+lawyer-style+comeback humorous lawyer-style comeback], nearly all fruitless. Can you remember any particular part of the legal statement? I could refine the search with snippets of wording, especially if you recall any forums or websites you saw it on. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 08:01, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:: There is a Wikipedia article on it, which I can't find. Also it was linked on www.xkcd.com which I participate in but still can't find (since it was an old post). I think the words "fuck you" were actually in the legal statement but I forget. When ever it's cited as a comeback it's always cited as "Refer to X v. Y" or "See X v. Y" in the same way lawyers refer to other cases. I can't remember X or Y T_T. [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 08:12, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:: Also it was in response to a legal threat, a threat of a lawsuit or something. Which they responded with that phrase I'm looking for. [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 08:15, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::I remember [[Jeff Rowland (webcomics)]] making a comic in which Princess Awesomelope tells Sheriff Pony to "[http://jjrowland.com/wigu/20050228.html engage in the act of coitus with yourself."] ...I'll get back on Google for some more power-searching. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 08:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Thanks for the help so far, I've been searching all over but I still can't find it. I think I'm ready to give up on it. [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 09:03, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::: FOUND IT!!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkell_v._Pressdram [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 10:54, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::[[GG]]. Before I could even get back to Google, the power went out. >_< I'm glad you found it despite my shortcomings! AGGHHH, stupid electrons... [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 11:12, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::::I asked on xkcd which I knew someone had posted the link on and I finally got a reply :D [[User:Gelsamel|Gelsamel]] 11:17, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::::Today's laugh. Excellent. I have linked to this article from our fledgling [[fuck off]] article so that it may more easily be found in future.--[[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]] 12:10, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Clueless about cooking ==

I want to cook something more than spaghetti, but I don't know the basics of preparation. I'm going to post a simple recipe. I ask you explain parts that are unclear to me. Thanks.

[http://www.recipezaar.com/38065 recipe]

2 cups dry chicken stove top stuffing mix (from the canister) What is this product? Can I just buy [http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/ProductsPromotions/S-U/STOVETOPStuffingMix.htm this] ?

Pour into a greased 9 x 12 baking dish. How do I grease a baking dish and what is a baking dish?

[[User:66.91.225.188|66.91.225.188]] 08:10, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Yes, [[Stove Top]] stuffing in a box will work, too, but don't use the spice pack unless told to do so. A baking dish is a rectangular dish with rounded corners and a [[draft angle]], usually made of tempered glass, for cooking cakes, casseroles, etc., in the oven. You can grease a baking dish with oil, butter, or margarine. Use a clean paper towel to rub it all over the inside of the baking dish. This keeps the food from sticking. I can't help notice that the recipe you intend to use takes around an hour total. Wouldn't something like a nice [[omelette]] be a lot quicker ? (I can't think of many cases where the cook wants to start breakfast an hour before anyone wants to eat it.) [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] 08:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:Is this for a party? With six eggs, a cup of cheese and two cups of stovetop stuffing mix, that's going to be a big dish (one of the reviews says 'easily serves nine'). [http://images.google.ca/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-22,GGLD:en&q=%22baking+dish%22 HERE] are some pictures of baking dishes; the rectangular ones are what was requested, but any oven-safe dish is OK, as long as it is large enough. [[User:Anchoress|Anchoress]] 11:09, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:For this recipe you need to use the seasonings included with the stuffing mix as the recipe is otherwise without seasoning. I think a [[quiche]] would be easier and better. Why don't you try a simple version of [[toad in the hole]]? (Actually I meant [[egg in the basket]] but that's what we call toad in the hole in the U.S.) -[[User:THB|THB]] 18:05, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::If you are as unexperienced as a chef as you claim to be, then maybe the following advice is not superfluous:

::#Preheat the oven. 10 minutes should be enough.

::#In the absence of instructions to the contrary, put the dish in the oven roughly at the middle height. This means that the oven rack you're going to put the dish on should be a bit lower than halfway. A bit too high is better than too low, though.

::#Before you take out the dish from the oven, make sure you have a nearby place where you can safely put it. Put a folded old newspaper or piece of cloth ''in advance'' on the place where you are going to put down the hot dish when you take it out of the oven. (Once you've taken the dish out, you have no hands free to do this, so then it is too late.) This way you avoid damaging the material underneath by putting something too hot on it. Also, putting a hot oven dish directly on something cold the thermal shock may cause it to crack and break.

::#Wear insulating [[oven glove]]s when taking the dish out. It is easy to accidentally touch a hot spot of the oven and burn yourself. Don't even think of touching the dish with your bare hands. A towel may not give enough insulation, which you (ouch, ouch) may only discover with the dish halfway in transit.

::#It is easier to take the dish out if you slide the rack first towards you. Don't touch the rack with your bare hands, or you'll have to scrape the flesh off the rack. CAUTION. Some ovens, through inexplicably bad design, allow the rack to cant unexpectedly if you draw it out too much, whereupon the dish may start gliding and fall out, spilling its contents over your legs (and the kitchen floor, but that is not the worst part). Make sure it is not going to do that on you. Support the rack from below while you pull it out, and release it only when you have checked that it is stable.

::&nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 19:45, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

If you are really clueless about cooking, I'd suggest buying the book ''Now You're Cooking'' by Elaine Corn. (I guess she was born to do the job.) It's a cookbook for super-beginners. -- [[User:Mwalcoff|Mwalcoff]] 02:22, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:I've taken to a similar recipe lately and rather like it. This particular one looks ''very'' eggy. 6 eggs? I usually use one. For a real beginner I'd advise against winging it, but if you actually buy a box of Stove Top Stuffing you'll find a couple of similar recipes that have been thoroughly tested by the company's employees. Anyone at your local grocery store can lead you to the shelf where the product is sold (it's probably very similar in Canada to the version in the States). Now if we're sticking to the real basics there are a few other points that deserve attention. First, a 9 x 12 baking dish refers to a standard U.S. sizing in inches that's probably archaic in the rest of the world. My metric converter gives that as 22.86cm x 30.48cm. Look for something pretty close to that. While you're shopping get a pair of potholders or oven mitts. Those are insulated cloths that keep you from burning yourself. Any store that carries baking dishes will sell oven mitts and potholders too (these aren't high tech - some people crochet their own). Before you start the oven make sure that a rack is set at mid-level. ''Preheaing'' refers to the time an oven takes to reach the desired temperature, which is not considered baking time. If you set the oven to the desired temperature when you begin to prepare the ingredients it will probably be warm enough when you're ready to bake. Best wishes, <font face="Verdana">[[User:Durova|<span style="color:#009">Durova</span>]]^{''[[User talk:Durova|Charge]]''}</font> 05:02, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks guys. Lots of great advice. [[User:66.91.225.188|66.91.225.188]] 09:36, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Also is that found everywhere tome--the Joy of Cooking--good for beginners? [[User:66.91.225.188|66.91.225.188]] 09:40, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

*You might want to check out the [http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook Wiki Cookbook] too. - [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm]]|[[User talk:MacGyverMagic|^(talk)]] 10:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:[[The Joy Of Cooking]] is probably a pretty good option, but you may find that if you go to the local bookshop and check out the cooking section, you'll find some other great resources for new cooks. I've got one that I believe is titled "The Bachelor's Guide to Fending Off Starvation" or somesuch (purchased by my mother, who didn't realize that I'm actually a pretty darn good cook) that has a lot of good, simple recipes in it. [[User:Tony Fox|Tony Fox]] <small>[[User_talk:Tony Fox|(arf!)]]</small> 17:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Stages of war? ==

You know the 7 stages of grief? Are there stages of war commonly used by the United States to indicate increased tensions? Perhaps, "build-up," "surgical strike," etc?

Thank you for your help!

:The [[Five stages of grief]] don't seem to have much of a cousin in <s>[[wart]]</s> [[war]]; however, the war article does talk about differing stages of war, as well as types of war which exhibit varying degrees of intensity. The article is very in-depth and gives a lot of interesting information. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 11:59, 14 January 2007 (UTC) (edit: I apologize for the vague nature of my reply; I just realized you were asking specifically about the [[United States]]. After stumbling around the [[US military]] category, I was reminded that I am definitely not a military expert. Hopefully someone else will be able to elucidate your answer more fully.) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 12:10, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:There was the [http://www.texaschapbookpress.com/magellanslog41/escalation.htm latter of escalation] of [[Herman Kahn]] but that's not quite the same thing. --[[User:24.147.86.187|24.147.86.187]] 17:33, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:We have the [[Homeland Security Advisory System]], a useless color warning of the level of threat, like on [[Star Trek]]. Thank you, [[Miserable failure|George W. Bush]]. -[[User:THB|THB]] 18:02, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:And the US military has its [[DEFCON]] stages of alert. --Anonymous, January 14, 23:57 (UTC).

== Humanities and Career Development ==

Please explain how these two disciplines are related.

:[[Career development]] seems to be a part of [[humanities]], in the sense that it studies "aspects of the human condition;" however, this may be a controversial classification, as the article does not specifically list it as a part of humanities. The article says: "Other subjects at times included as humanities in some parts of the world include [[archaeology]], [[area studies]], [[communications]], [[cultural studies]] and [[history]], although these are often regarded as [[social sciences]] elsewhere." [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 12:36, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Buying Posters ==

hello,

What shop or company, particually online ones, would be the best for buying posters, like big music posterf for example. Ive tried Amazon but they dont seem to have any actual posters, which is surprising (if there is please let me know).

Thanks, [[User:Killer 777|Killer 777]] 13:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:I know of http://www.art.com where I ordered a few posters (two of the Beatles, one of Queen and one of Led Zeppelin actually). --[[User:Sam Derbyshire|Xedi]] 16:55, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

::Getting posters sent in the post can be expensive, depending on how you local postal service works. Posters used to be cheap to send in the United Kingdom, as they are very lightweight (usually weighing less than a small magazine), but since prices changed from weight to size based, they have shot up. I've bought some posters from places like [[HMV]] and [[Music Zone]]; normal high street music shops usually have some posters, but you may have trouble finding something like a Led Zeppelin poster in such a shop. [[User:Smurrayinchester|<span style="color:#BB0055">Laïka</span>]] 17:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Anyboday heard of Wal-Mart? i bought some greenday and nickelback posters there. <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/209.53.180.34|209.53.180.34]] ([[User talk:209.53.180.34|talk]]) 23:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

::::[[Wal-Mart]] is, indeed, a good place for [[mainstream]] posters. In my experience, however, it would be difficult to find a wide selection of anything older than two years in popularity (such as [[Led Zeppelin]] or [[Van Halen]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:34, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Ice cream gloves ==

Where can I get an ice cream glove?--[[User:216.164.199.241|216.164.199.241]] 20:54, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I want one too. [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 00:08, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'm thinking that one got shelved; [[Ali G|Ali G's]] sales pitch tanked. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 02:06, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

What is it? [[User:.V.|.V.]] ''([[User talk:.V.|talk]])'' 02:07, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:A glove made of ice cream? | [[User:AO|<font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''A'''</font><font face="Papyrus" color="DarkSlateGray">ndonic</font><font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''O'''</font>]] ^{<font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User talk:AO|''Talk'']]</font> · <font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User:AO/My Autograph Book|''Sign Here'']]</font>} 16:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::[[Sticky Fingers]] ? --[[User:Harvestman|<font color="blue"> DLL </font>]] ^{[[User talk:Harvestman |<font color="green"> .. T</font>]]} 17:21, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:It was a joke on the Ali G show. He proposed an invention to venture capitalists which was a glove to wear while eating ice cream. It was sorta dumb. --[[User:24.147.86.187|24.147.86.187]] 18:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Buda or Pest Hungary ==

Is the National Parliament Building in Buda or in Pest? I can't remember which side is which, I was there in 1984. Directions like "East" "West" don't help. Thank you.

Rayilyn Brown <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/68.2.230.8|68.2.230.8]] ([[User talk:68.2.230.8|talk]]) 22:14, 14 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:It's in Pest, on the east bank. -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 23:00, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

== Nunchakus ==

Hi there. I've seen many people using nunchakus in exhibitions and so, but still can't figure out how they don't hit themselves when they strike. The thing is they swing the weapon horizontally until it (more or less) touches their back and then bring it back to the hand again, or under the arm. What do they do to prevent hurting themselves in the back while performing that move? Thank you. --[[User:Taraborn|Taraborn]] 23:50, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

:[[Nunchaku]] may not answer the question, but at least we'll all know what you're talking about! --[[User:Tagishsimon|Tagishsimon]] [[User_talk:Tagishsimon|(talk)]]

::From what I understand, a user does have to use their body to slow it down as well, so it might be impossible to prevent any sort of contact. Let me see what I can find. --[[User:Wirbelwind|Wirbelwind<small>ヴィルヴェルヴィント</small>]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Wirbelwind|talk]]) 00:45, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::A nunchaku spinning is like a [[lever]], when you are holding one section and spinning the other it rotates like a propeller, the end is moving really fast because it is spinning in a BIG circle, if the end hits someone's head it will HURT. The trick when you are spinning it around your body is to hit yourself with the CLOSE end first, the end closest to the chain, that is only travelling slowly (comparatively) because the circle it is drawing is only small. So the close end hits your side, for example, and starts to slow the nunchaku down, it dampens the movement, so that by the time the whole thing swings around and the end hits you it isn't going fast any more so it doesn't hurt. [[User:Vespine|Vespine]] 02:49, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Ideally, the 'far end' does not hit the wielder at all. For instance, when the nunchaku are flipped under the arm the goal is to catch the 'near end' between the arm and the body... stopping its motion and thus preventing the far end from ever hitting the back. Even if this does not work the pressure would slow the weapon and prevent injury as above. Likewise, when flipped over a shoulder the near end is generally caught by the other hand before the 'far end' can hit the body. Catching the far end could damage the hand, but the slower moving near end can be caught and thereby stop the whole weapon. --[[User talk:CBDunkerson|CBD]] 10:05, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

= January 15 =

== person@supanet.???, Unrouteable address ==

A friend in UK sent me his email address: person@supanet From his viewpoint, I should be able to fill in the rest because it might be well known in UK but I am in Australia and I have no idea of what ??? is. As expected, the email was returned with error message Unrouteable address. Then I searched the internet trying to find out what is the substring ??? in full email address: person@supanet.??? but could not find anything. Be grateful if somebody could help. Thank you in advance. [[User:Twma|Twma]] 00:40, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'm not sure how you performed your search, but the first match that comes up from a search of "supanet UK" gives supanet.com. [[User:BenC7|BenC7]] 00:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Have sent again with [e-mail] Will see what happens. Thank you again. [[User:Twma|Twma]] 04:38, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Maybe supranet.co.uk or supranet.net.uk (see [[.uk]]) --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:43, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[e-mail]: I have not received any error message but my friend(?) did not reply me either. So the case appears to be closed. Thanks. [[User:Twma|Twma]] 00:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Well, if I were you I would also try <tt><myfriendsname>@[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=supanet.co.uk&btnG=Google+Search supanet.co.uk]</tt>. &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 05:28, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== new ==

i am putting a book together is it ok yo use information from wikipedia .i plan to validate the information with other credible source but i want to use wikipedia as my source

: Wikipedia is best to use as a tertiary source. Quoting directly from an article is probably not a good idea, given that it could be incorrect or change at any moment. I'd recommend using Wikipedia to find reliable sources instead of actually using an article itself. [[User:.V.|.V.]] ''([[User talk:.V.|talk]])'' 02:08, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Much agreed - I got an A on a major English paper I did last year because of the sources I was able to find through Wikipedia. This was ironic because my teacher at the time felt that Wikipedia has no reliable sources. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::By the way, this is true of any encyclopedia. Wikipedia might be better than other tertiary sources, but encyclopedias are never sources --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:40, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Celebration / LED ==

I have two questions:

1.) Is there a celebration planned for when Wikipedia donations reach $1,000,000?

2.) I have several red and white LEDs salvaged from cheap broken 3 volt bicycle flashers that I'm testing. The "flat" should mark the negative or the cathode (k) lead and inside the clear plastic case correspond to the smaller electrode that serves as the "whisker" that touches the positive "seat." Although the white LEDs require nearly 6 volts to light instead of 3 volts the white LEDs follow this "flat" mark for the cathode pattern. This, however, is not true for all of the red LEDs. Some have the negative lead marked with a "flat" and some have the positive lead marked with a flat. If the "flat" is used by the manufacturing equipment to locate the negative lead how could the flat be on the wrong side??? What is going on here? -- [[User:71.100.10.48|71.100.10.48]] 02:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:The flat part of a LED representing the cathode was a standard established before the time of the ancients, well, a long time ago anyway. If you have LEDs where the flat part is on the wrong end, you may simply have examples of very poor [[quality control]]. [[User:Vespine|Vespine]] 02:34, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:For #1, probably not since IIRC the goal is 1.2 million (1.5?) --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:31, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

==What movie is this==

I remember watching this movie but cant remember the name. It was about a harvard student who gets his thesis lost, and a homeless person living in the library basement gets it and asks favors for each page...what movie is it?, thx.--[[User:Coasttocoast|Coasttocoast]] 02:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:''[[With Honors]]'' ([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111732/ IMDb link]) &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 03:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

==Identical twins==

Please help! Is it possible for a boy and a girl to be identical twins? Many, many thanks.

:No. Identical twins are genetically identical, meaning (among other things) they are either both boys or both girls. See [[Twin]] for more. [[User:Dave6|Dave6]] 08:28, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Keep in mind also that [[fraternal twins]] can be different in gender, and yet (sometimes) look very similar. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 11:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::(This answer refers to the [[XY sex-determination system]]) One of Dr. [[Robert Winston]]'s documentaries featured a pair of identical twins who were different genders; they started as a single male (XY) embryo, but when the [[zygote]] split, the [[Y chromosome]] for one of the zygotes disappeared, leaving a pair of twins, one of which was XY and the other X, but otherwise identical. Unfortunately, as the girl only had one X chromosomes, lots of rare [[Recessive gene|recessive]] genetic disorders were expressed. In addtition, occasionally a faulty sperm cell is produced by [[nondisjunction]] which contains XY instead of just Y. When this fuses with the X egg cell, an unstable XXY zygote is produced, which then splits into an XY and an XX. [[User:Smurrayinchester|<span style="color:#BB0055">Laïka</span>]] 11:47, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Or, if it doesn't split, it leads to [[Klinefelter's syndrome]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 13:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Well obviously, they weren't identical, even though they came from the same fertilized egg. -[[User:THB|THB]] 15:32, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== love.... ==

okay so heres the deal. im in love with this guy and he says he is in love with me. We have liked each other for about 5 months now. We can not date because of certain issues our families have...lets not even get into them. My mother has not banned me from even speaking to him. They can not be reasoned with to see our side on it. My mother even forced me to call him and tell him it will not work. i still love him and again..he says he still loves me. I sometimes get onto his myspace so i can sent him a message so that my parents cant tap into mine and read it.

I went on just a few minutes ago to discover that he has not writen back to me but has sent my/his friend a message saying ..and i quote "please dont tell cat (me)about Emily. I still love her"

What do i do? im shaking right now....i can barely type. This is no "oh i love him..blah blah blah" This is true love..the purest of the pure. I can not just let him go. I have been trying for quite some time but i love him too much. please..anyone..what do i do? --[[User:Kittycat rox|Kittycat rox]] 10:12, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Sorry, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, and so it can't provide much help with emotional/love life problems. You could read our articles on [[star-crossed lovers]], [[love sickness]] and [[unrequited love]] - there might possibly be something in there that helps you. [[User:Gandalf61|Gandalf61]] 10:22, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Applying [[WP:IAR]] to [[WP:NOR]], it is my experience that time has a funny way of causing things to happen the way they should. [[serendipity]] aside, Gandalf has a point with where you are in your search for answers. The Ref Desk crew probably won't have a fully satisfactory answer to any relationship question. Take me, for example: If I was good at relationships, I'd be making out right now instead of typing away on the computer. I wouldn't trust my advice if I were you. But I ''can'' point you in the direction of [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=SUNA,SUNA:2006-08,SUNA:en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=online+relationship+advice&spell=1 some people who feel that they know what they are doing.] Sigh. If Google was a woman, I'd be after her like a Wikipedian after references. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 10:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Applying [[WP:IAR]] to the obsession with keeping metacomments off the RD, IMO it's a joke to even try to follow [[WP:NOR]] on the RD ;D --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Stop trying to let him go. He has enough respect for you to not want to hurt your feelings, but he's doing another chick now, and you've got to face that. Channel your feelings into anger at him and they'll dissipate. But actually ''trying'' to let him go won't work-it's like "don't think about this catchy tune I'm going to play" Good luck. -[[User:THB|THB]] 15:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Look on the bright side, you'll be choosing your parents' old age home some day. That'll be a good time for revenge, which is a dish best served cold. --[[User:Nricardo|Nelson Ricardo]] 17:54, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::No, don't do that either. Revenge is a dish best not served. | [[User:AO|<font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''A'''</font><font face="Papyrus" color="DarkSlateGray">ndonic</font><font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''O'''</font>]] ^{<font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User talk:AO|''Talk'']]</font> · <font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User:AO/My Autograph Book|''Sign Here'']]</font>} 18:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::No, revenge is a dish best served immediately, before it melts. <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/216.164.199.58|216.164.199.58]] ([[User talk:216.164.199.58|talk]]) 19:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

::::::Vengeance is mine, says the <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">lord</span>! [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2012:19;&version=9;] Just wanted to throw that in there <small>o_o</small> If you want to play God, though, that's a great verse to quote ominously to your parents ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2032:35;&version=50;]) --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:28, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Why not just throw the dish at your parents right now, and save the revenge for later?

what am i suppose to do exactly about th revenge. they know seem to find out everything.

i will try this being angry thing. i really do get over things better if i am angry at them. thanks.i understand this is a wikipedia thing but i really have no where else to go. No one knows how to help me and i really have no one to talk to about it. so it sits. bottled up inside me. Yes. i think anger might do the trick. If i am to angry at him i will be tempted to even want to talk to him. --[[User:Kittycat rox|Kittycat rox]] 00:14, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Forget about revenge. While your parents shouldn't be meddling with your love affairs, it will do you no good to retaliate. Projecting your anxiety as anger over him is a pretty good strategy because, hey, you have good reasons for that. But also, if he's already with some other girl, that'd mean your trust and feelings about the depth of this love you had with him were wrong and inaccurate all along, so there's really not so much on the stake after all. Move on, there's more (a lot, lot more) in life than "love" and personal relationships. Keep yourself busy with those other things instead and treat any love you find as a bonus. &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 01:48, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Franking ==

Why is franking, the practice of companies stamping their mail with a machine, called franking? I've looked it up and can find no reason for the name. [[User:212.240.35.42|212.240.35.42]] 14:04, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:It comes "frank" as an adjective, meaning free. A franked letter is "free from obligation in respect of payments or other conditions; free of charge; unconditional" (OED). BTW, this question would have been better asked at the [[WP:RD/L|language reference desk]]. --[[User:Richardrj|Richardrj]] [[User talk:Richardrj|^talk]][[Special:Emailuser/Richardrj|^email]] 14:32, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::I read that it was derived from Italian "porto franco", free of charge for receiver due to pre-payment by sender. [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 15:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Yep, it also applies to congressmen; they have "franking privileges" which allows them to send US mail for free. --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:16, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:According to the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]: "["frank"] acquired the sense of "free" because in [[Franks|Frankish]] [[Gaul]] full freedom was possessed only by those belonging to, or adopted into, the dominant people". -- [[User:Necrothesp|Necrothesp]] 19:21, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Lesser Key of Solomon ==

Having read these, it would seem to me that they are a collection of spells, hard to do, but spells, that could theoretically be done. What I wish to know, is has any one tried to do these in modern times, other than Alastair crowley, and if so, what were the out comes? Did they conjure up deamons and if so what happened? What did they have to say ect? <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/81.144.161.223|81.144.161.223]] ([[User talk:81.144.161.223|talk]]) 14:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:Please don't post the same question multiple times. [[User:Rmhermen|Rmhermen]] 16:59, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::Ah, What did they have to say ect? is fun, but Why did they have to say ect? looks funnier. --[[User:Harvestman|<font color="blue"> DLL </font>]] ^{[[User talk:Harvestman |<font color="green"> .. T</font>]]} 17:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC) *They say "ect"to conjure ectoplasm([[User:Hotclaws**==|hotclaws**==]] 18:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC))

== Watches. Time Always Set At 10:00 10:00 [[User:66.41.244.168|66.41.244.168]] 17:39, 15 January 2007 (UTC) ==

You'll notice when ever a watch is displayed the hands are set to read 10:00 10:00. The watch you display with your archive button is set at 10 10.

[[User:66.41.244.168|66.41.244.168]] 17:39, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:As I understand it this is supposed to be something to do with allowing the 'company logo' of the watch to be seen and also because the time is quite distinctive. I've also heard it looks like a 'smile' and thus is a positive act too. Look at the discussion page of [[watches]] for more. It is interesting that even photos of digital-watches seem to often follow this trend (though I would add that both 1 and 0 on a digital watch are the best numbers to show off the rather simple-font that most digital watches use - 5s and 4s look a little 'ugly' for instance). [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] 18:16, 15 January 2007 (UTC

:See [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_330.html the Straight Dope] on the topic. -[[User:THB|THB]] 20:37, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:I'm pretty sure we have an article on this. Can't find it anywhere, though. &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 20:46, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::I remembered this coming up before on the RDs, and had a look back - found the old question [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous&oldid=85255344#10:10_clock_setting here]. Kieff is right, we did have an article on it, but unfortunately it's been deleted - see [[Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/10:08]]. --[[User:Richardrj|Richardrj]] [[User talk:Richardrj|^talk]][[Special:Emailuser/Richardrj|^email]] 21:58, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::I spent a bit of time looking for it, too, because I thought there was an article on it. Chalk another one up for the deletionists. The discussion on the deletion was particularly inane. -[[User:THB|THB]] 23:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Huh? I have no clue as to THB's comment having anything to do with "Watches. Time Always Set At..." --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 01:24, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::So ''Doesn't contain a single verifiable fact'' is inane? [[User:Zoe]]|[[User talk:Zoe|(talk)]] 16:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::(There is a constant tension between the folks who think that this cyberspace encyclopedia can contain essentially all information about everything (the ''[[Meta:Inclusionism|inclusionists]]'') and the folks who think it should only contain the information that '''they''' deem necessary (the ''[[Meta:Deletionism|deletionists]]''). [[User:Atlant|Atlant]] 17:43, 16 January 2007 (UTC))

::::::And you're an admin? You know, of course, that the so-called "deletionists" do not believe any such thing. [[User:Zoe]]|[[User talk:Zoe|(talk)]] 17:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== U.S. Political Parties ==

Is there a party in the U.S. that supports punishment of gays, but is not based on religion? --[[User:216.164.199.58|216.164.199.58]] 19:08, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:In order to help us understand your question more clearly, could you please cite an example of a party in the U.S. that supports punishment of gays, that is based on religion. --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 19:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::How does giving an example allow you to understand my question more clearly? I want to know, out of all non-religious U.S. parties, are there any that support punishment of gays.--[[User:216.164.199.58|216.164.199.58]] 19:19, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:See the problem with that question is the "supports punishment of gays". By phrasing it like that you suggest that you are right, and others are wrong. Also, generally most people don't subscribe to punishing people because they have different philisophical views. So, people reading the question might form a negative opinion of you.

:A better way to phrase might be "I am philisophically opposed to sodomy. Are there non-religious based political parties that have similar views?"

:Supposed you had phrased it "punishment of blacks", "punishment of women", or "punishment of jews"? When you could say "supports white supremicism", "against women's rights" or "supports anti-semitism"? Phrasing it like you did, or like you might have here, makes you sound like a closed minded bigot, who wants to harm people to force them to adhere to your philisophical beliefs. I'm sure that isn't your intention. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 20:03, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Possibly some extreme right party... [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 19:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::216.164... , you have now presented your question quite differently by paraphrasing your original question. Please restate your question, as best you can, so that we may understand your question more clearly. Thanks, --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 19:37, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::He never said that there are parties based on religion that support punishment of gays. He was only asking whether there are any that aren't based on religion and support punishment of gays. Is the [[KKK]] a registered political party? If so, my money's on them --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:46, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::Atom, asking someone to rephrase their question to meet the answerer's preconceptions is fraught with pitfalls. Sodomy is not a practice exclusively associated with homosexuals; many heterosexual people also do this. Many male homosexuals practise sodomy only rarely, or never. The vast majority of female homosexuals have nothing whatever to do with it. [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 23:32, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::Well, of course I know all that. The purpose is for ''him'' to get it. It seems likely that his prejudice is religious in origin. The religious reference is based on sodomy, not "gays". The point that anal sex is practiced by heterosexuals (well, primarily by heterosexuals) is indeed another element that I hoped would occur to him by the example. And if he does not have that conception, then the example still serves quite well to guide him on reqording, even if it is not precisely what he mean't. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 02:30, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::::OK, so if the intent is the noble one of pointing the questioner in the right direction, why do you point him in the direction of a stereotype that you've just acknowledged you know is false? That may not have been in the questioner's mind at all. He said at the outside that the punishment he's seeking information about is ''not'' based on religion, so I see no evidence that this question is about sodomy. The prohibition on same-sex couples (including lesbians) being able to marry in the US (and most other places) seems punishment enough for gay people, but no lawmaker has ever suggested (to my knowledge) that all gay people do is practise sodomy 24/7. [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 05:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::::He didn't say his reasons were not religious, he said he wanted to find a political party that was not religious based. The example he gave, like mine, are stereotypes, like his own, that are considered to be unreasonable discrimination, the same, not different. Why would anyone want to "punish" gays at all? His objection is likely sodomy based, as that is the objection of 99% of all people who want to discriminate against gays. I did not suggest that their reasoning for discriminating aganst gays made sense. It obviously doesn't. If it did, they would discriminate against heterosexuals too (since most sodomy is by heterosexuals, not homosexuals). Their agendum is based on hatred toward homosexuals, and their reasoning is most commonly biblical, based on their misperception that homosexuals are "sodomites" described in the bible. Religion isn't based on rational logic, and so that is not their strong suite. They have faith that gay people are immoral, and that is enough reason to castigate, disparage and persecute. A cursory reading of leviticus would show any christian a dozen other areas as bad or worse than sodomy. For instance adulterers, or those who eat pork. Clearly if conservative christianity did not have a common enemy to fight against, they would fight against the differences they between themselves instead. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 13:01, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::::I agree with a lot of that. But for the life of me I could not make head or tail out of your 2nd sentence (''"The example he gave ..."''). He didn't give an example in the original question, and when asked to provide one, he pointedly refused to do so. [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 00:00, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:This sort of party would be extremely authorotarian. I would start at [[American Political Parties]] and work from there. In a very lazy way I would look for parties with 'national', 'workers', 'traditional', 'populist' that sort of thing - these are parties that are likely to have less mainstream views. It is not a case of this being an issue of the extreme-right (always a problem with politics - anything authorotarian is labelled as right-wing), it is an issue of civil-liberties. I'm not sure how many would be non-religious but the above link is a good place to start I guess. [[User:Ny156uk|ny156uk]] 19:58, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I think his question was rhetorical, primarily, as he asked earlier why people felt that his questions were trollish, or innapropriate. If it is a genuine question, then a good source might be [[American Nazi Party]], or [[Aryan Nations]].

:Yes, there is: the [[Republican Party (United States)]] wants to punish homosexuals by denying them the hundreds of basic rights that come with the marriage contract. The "president", [[Miserable failure|George W. Bush]], even proposed a constitutional amendment depriving homosexuals of these rights. -[[User:THB|THB]] 20:05, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::The OP's question asks about the opposition that is '''not''' based on religion. I believe that the Republican party's position is "faith based". --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 20:21, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:No, I think virtually all opposition to gay rights is now religiously motivated, since all non-religious motives for institutional homophobia have basically been discredited. It was once regarded as a mental illness, but this is no longer the case. Mainstream medicine and psychology can no longer be used to defend homophobia. Anyone opposed to gay rights must now base his position either on personal revulsion or "traditional values". Or, more likely, personal revulsion rebranded as traditional values.

:Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that U.S. political parties, at least the big two, are not ideologically uniform. There are a few Republicans sympathetic to gay rights ([[Lincoln Chafee]], arguably a Republican), and there are still plenty of unabashed gay-bashing Democrats ([[Harold Ford Jr]] comes to mind). The parties also generally avoid language like "punishment of gays". Even if their ultimate goal is to make gays' lives miserable, they prefer to frame the issue as the ''defense of traditional values against the encroachment of... blah blah blah''. No one is interested in looking persecutory. [[User:Bhumiya|Bhumiya]] ([[User talk:Bhumiya|said]]/[[Special:Contributions/Bhumiya|done]]) 00:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

* In a word,no([[User:86.53.57.148|86.53.57.148]] 16:26, 16 January 2007 (UTC))

: I'm not aware of any organised political party that has what could be considered 'anti-gay' beliefs that are not based on religion. The closest group i can think of is Scientology, but i guess that would be a religion (although a very unconventional one), and i'm not sure you could consider them an actual 'political party'.

: However it's important to note that there are ''individuals'' (and probably small groups) who oppose homosexuality on some level for (at least what appear to be) 'non-religious' reasons. I have a relative, for example, who is a pretty hard-core atheist but is also extremely prejudiced against gays. My novice psychology skills tell me that this is just a carry-over from his up-bringing (which you could consider religious), but he does not ''actively'' base his beliefs on religion. He just doesn't realise their source.

: I have also argued with people on-line who base their opposition to homosexuality on some sort of natural or biological law (e.g., 'it's not natural!', 'it's an evolutionary dead-end!', &c.). This is absurd because biology and morality really have almost nothing to do with each other, and honestly my guess is that the root of their beliefs is similar to that of my aforementioned relative's, but again those beliefs aren't ''actively'' based on religion. ~ [[User:Lav-chan|lav-chan]] @ 23:28, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Can someone identify these plants? ==

Can someone identify these plants? These pictures were taken in the [[Eastern Cape]] of [[South Africa]]. Thanks in advance! [[User:Servien|Servien]] 19:33, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[[Image:Plant in duinzand.JPG|thumb|250px|left|? (almost a [[heath (habitat)|heath-like]] plant)]]

[[Image:Klein_plantje.JPG|thumb|250px|left|? (the small red plants)]]

{{-}} <!--clears to margins so the pics dont appear beside my question-->

== Watch water resistance ==

Somebody asked a question [[Talk:Watch#waterproofing|here]] but nobody's answered it. I'd also like to know --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:38, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Done. I even gave a reference via an outside website. This is another example of why answers to RD questions cannot be restricting to referring readers to articles: because the info isn't in Wikipedia. -[[User:THB|THB]] 20:03, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Military strength of number ==

If two military units A and B fought to the death under a given set of conditions, A would have an X% chance of winning and would do so with, on average, Y casualties. Now suppose both sides are multiplied by some number N -- NA vs. NB. Would NA still have an X% chance of winning, and would it do so with an average of NY casualties? [[User:NeonMerlin|<span style="background:#000;color:red;border:#0f0 solid;border-width:1px 0">Neon</span>]][[User talk:NeonMerlin|<span style="background:#0f0;color:#000;border:red solid;border-width:1px 0">Merlin</span>]] 19:39, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Even discounting obvious factors like technologial supremacy (like china having many more troops than America, but America could whoop china into next tuesday before next tuesday) and strategic supremacy (like thousands of allied troops dying at the hands of dozens of nazi machine gunners on D-Day), on the battlefield level it still depends on individual soldier skill and I'd hesitate to say definitively anything about battle stats --[[User:Froth|froth]]^{'''[[User_talk:Froth|<small>T</small>]]'''} 19:50, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

::During my (short lived) consultancy for a military contractor, I was told that the Army uses predictive equations dating back to the first world war to model battlefield casualties. (I do not know what they are called, though) Presumably the arguments to this equation take into account all the factors you mention (or at least the most relevant ones). [[User:Raul654|Raul654]] 20:35, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Surely if someone has already won, they don't need to fight a second time. :]

:::I believe that the OP was asking whether or not such warfare is linear. To a "small" degree I suppose that it is. However at the margins ("A" has a 99% to 1% chance of winning with Y casualties) "A" may decide to apply maximum force (as Napoleon Bonaparte said, "If you start to take Vienna, take Vienna") and make N = 10. Then I ''don't'' believe that "Y" would become "10 Y". Good ol' Napoleon figured that one just fine, overwhelming force will out. So, if he had the resources he would make "N" become "10 N" and would have the expectation that "Y" would certainly '''not''' become anywhere near "10 Y". <small>Generaliamo [[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 21:47, 15 January 2007 (UTC)</small>

:::On the other hand, "B" being faced with a non-linear extrapolation ("N" = 10) may decide to go [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear]] and that's that I suppose. --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 22:07, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:::It's always a bit more complicated than just numbers though, and it really can depend on what forces in particular one is talking about. Technology and training can make big differences, as can things like who has the "home court" advantage. While I don't doub that you could come up with reasonable mathematical models, you'd have to factor in a lot more than just how many people were on each side. There are numerous instances of small forces effecting highly disproportionate numbers of casualties on the other sides due to training and technology. --[[User:24.147.86.187|24.147.86.187]] 18:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Suppose the available technology is such that they can only go person against person, that each individual fight is until death of one of the two, and that the members of the A group are twice as likely to come out victorious. So if the groups both have size 1, the A group has a 2/3 probability of winning. Now suppose both groups have size 2. AA against BB. With probability 4/9 AA survives, with probability 1/9 BB survives, and with probability 4/9 one A and one B survives. They fight each other in a second round, with 2/3 probability for A and 1/3 for B. So for the final configurations we have: AA 4/9 = 12/27, A 2/3 × 4/9 = 8/27, B 1/3 × 4/9 = 4/27, BB = 1/9 = 3/27. In the first two cases the A group wins, with total probability 20/27 > 2/3, while the B group wins with probability 7/27 < 1/3. So the probability does not remain the same. Also, for A against B, there is one casualty. For AA pitted against BB, the expected number of casualties is 22/9, which is larger than 2 × 1. &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 23:10, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Identify Celebrities ==

Please watch [http://www.supplyanddemand.tv/directors/tony_media.php?id=261 this] commercial and tell me who all these people are. The ones I already know are Dave Stewart, Tom Jones, José Carreras, Robbie Williams, Wallace & Gromit, Jarvis Cocker, Sting. Thank you. <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/195.218.15.86|195.218.15.86]] ([[User talk:195.218.15.86|talk]]) 21:54, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:Umm, we do have an [[WP:RD/E|entertainment]] desk. --[[User:Hydnjo|hydnjo]] [[User talk:Hydnjo|talk]] 21:57, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

:Could be tricky if you aren't from the UK & I guess that this is 10+ years old. Some more are [[Statto]], [[Richard Attenborough]], [[Vic Reeves]], [[Bob Mortimer]], [[Alf Garnett]], [[David Mellor]], [[Jimmy Hill]], [[George Best]], [[Chris Eubank]], [[Quentin Crisp]]. I can't remember the names of the grey haired guy or the woman. [[User:JMiall|JMiall]] 00:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::For Alf Garnett, read [[Warren Mitchell]]. [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 00:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::[[Stephen Berkoff]] [[Anna Friel]] <small><font color="#FF0000">[[User:MeltBanana|meltBanana]]</font></small> 00:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== firing order ==

I need the firing order for a 1981 chevy V6 229 cid motor. If any one can help me PLEASE!! I am going to rip my hair out if my husband asks me one more time.

[[User:67.142.130.45|67.142.130.45]] 22:45, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Per (Chevy Production 90 degree - V6 Engine[http://engine.firebirdv6.com/V690.html]) Firing order on all 90 deg. - V6 engines is 1-6-5-4-3-2. [[User:Atomaton|Atom]] 23:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

== Animal Crackers ==

Are [[animal cracker]]s actually crackers, or are they cookies? THe article does not clearly say, it just suggests an argument for each side. <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] ([[User talk:Rya Min|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Rya Min|contribs]]) 23:42, 15 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:They're cookies, or biscuits if you prefer. They aren't crackers according to the modern definition of that term. [[User:Bhumiya|Bhumiya]] ([[User talk:Bhumiya|said]]/[[Special:Contributions/Bhumiya|done]]) 00:07, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::They crack when bitten, unlike most other animals. I'd actually have more question about whether they ''are'' animals. Cracker, biscuit, cookie, fine. But are they ''really'' animals? [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:01, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::I think a better question is, why are humans eating them? You don't eat dog biscuits, do you? --[[User:Wirbelwind|Wirbelwind<small>ヴィルヴェルヴィント</small>]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Wirbelwind|talk]]) 02:03, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::... They're not ''that'' bad. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:32, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::I didn't mean it that way. Dog biscuit → Biscuit for dogs. Animal crackers → Crackers for animals. --[[User:Wirbelwind|Wirbelwind<small>ヴィルヴェルヴィント</small>]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Wirbelwind|talk]]) 04:45, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::::Sorry, I meant the ''dog biscuits'' aren't bad. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:25, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

People do feed them to goats. [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 21:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== What is Nu-Austerity? ==

What is Nu Austerity? [[User:59.167.252.197|59.167.252.197]]

:Aside from being [[deliberate misspelling|misspelled]], [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Nu+Austerity this] Googley searchey seems to indicate that it's a company of some sort. As with most other companies having flashy names, they seem to produce mainly buzzwords and cliches. (Okay, I didn't look ''that'' far into it, but I got turned off before I could get much more involved.) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::It seems to be a name invented by a marketing company called thefuturelaboratory for a supposed trend they want us to seek their advice about how to exploit. --[[User:mglg|mglg]]_{([[User talk:mglg|talk]])} 04:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Jesus ==

Which literature/historical/fictional characters are similar/can be compared to Jesus? For example: Simon in "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. [[User:Jamesino|Jamesino]] 02:08, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Loads of 'em. Perhaps one of the more famous examples is Valentine Michael Smith in [[Stranger In A Strange Land]]. [[User:Grutness|Grutness]]...''<small><font color="#008822">[[User_talk:Grutness|wha?]]</font></small>'' 02:26, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::[[Aslan]], [[Donnie Darko]], [[Simba]], and [[Neo (The Matrix)|Neo]] are the first to come to my mind. (edit: I neglected to mention [[Spock]] and [[Brett Favre]](see thread on him above) - I am so ashamed.)[[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:30, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::[[Gandalf]]. He comes back from the dead, or so the other characters thought, he goes from being Gandolf the Grey to Gandalf the White, white being a color for purity. He performed what may be viewed as miracles. He could communicate with animals which may be looked upon as a trait of a Christ figure. <tt>[[User:Dismas|Dismas]]</tt>|[[User talk:Dismas|^(talk)]] 03:45, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Does he really communicate with animals, minus the Great Eagles? I thought that was mostly Radagast. But aside from that, he has been compared to Jesus. --[[User:Wirbelwind|Wirbelwind<small>ヴィルヴェルヴィント</small>]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Wirbelwind|talk]]) 04:43, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::I always thought his relationship with Shadowfax at the least bordered on direct communication. <tt>[[User:Dismas|Dismas]]</tt>|[[User talk:Dismas|^(talk)]] 05:09, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[[Prometheus]] as well. Check out [[Christ figure]] for more. [[User:Wolfgangus|Wolfgangus]] 03:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:[[Billy Budd]] (amazing--he's not in [[Christ figure]], at least not yet). Casey in ''[[Grapes of Wrath]].'' There's lots... it's fun thinking of these. [[User:Antandrus|Antandrus ]] [[User_talk:Antandrus|(talk)]] 03:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Santiago in ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]''. [[User:Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme|Someoneinmyheadbutit&#39;snotme]] 04:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::The man in ''[[Whistle Down the Wind (film)|Whistle Down The Wind]]'' (a great film, btw) is mistaken for Jesus by a group of children. And then of course there's [[Life of Brian|Brian]]... --[[User:Richardrj|Richardrj]] [[User talk:Richardrj|^talk]][[Special:Emailuser/Richardrj|^email]] 08:47, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[[Ghandi]]? | [[User:AO|<font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''A'''</font><font face="Papyrus" color="DarkSlateGray">ndonic</font><font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''O'''</font>]] ^{<font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User talk:AO|''Talk'']]</font> · <font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User:AO/My Autograph Book|''Sign Here'']]</font>} 12:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[[Gandhi]]! ^_^ [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 13:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Long John Willoughby in ''[[Meet John Doe]]''. &mdash;[[User:Chowbok|<span style="background:black; color:white; font-weight: bold;">Chowbok</span>]] [[User talk:Chowbok|<span style="color:black;">☠</span>]] 15:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

[[Brett Favre]]? <g,d&r> [[User:JIP|<font color="#CC0000">J</font><font color="#00CC00">I</font><font color="#0000CC">P</font>]] | [[User talk:JIP|Talk]] 17:35, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

: [[Tommy (rock opera)|Tommy]]

:[[User:Atlant|Atlant]] 17:46, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

dill in scar night.

Superman - he died, attracted a cult and then returned from the dead. --[[User:Larry laptop|Larry laptop]] 20:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree with JIP [[User:Rya Min|Rya Min]] 21:50, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Izola Ware Curry ==

Please shed some light on the life of Izola Ware Curry, the woman who attempted to kill Martin Luther King, Jr at a New York City book signing and photo op event in 1958. She was whisked away to a mental institution (where she may still be), and the public was told she was just paranoid-schizophrenic. My husband worked for MLK Jr in the early 1960's, and the word then was that MLK Jr knew Mrs. Curry back in Georgia and may have had some responsibility for her taking leave of her senses. Was she ever able to get back to a normal life? Or were they able to make their diagnosis permanent? <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[User:Livylee|Livylee]] ([[User talk:Livylee|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Livylee|contribs]]) 03:00, 16 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:There doesn't seem to be much in the way of activity beyond her institutionalization. It would have been big news to hear that a previously would-be assassin of Dr. King had been released; [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Izola+Ware+Curry this] Google search doesn't shed much light beyond 1958 (Although [http://www.geocities.com/salvation20/unsolved.html this] website should be useful for entertainment purposes). On a sidenote, an article on [[Izola Ware Curry]] would be a great addition to Wikipedia, especially in light of the holiday. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:42, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Headphones ==

Can anyone help me to find decent quality circumaural headphones for under ninety dollars with a good range (at least 20 hz to 20.5 Khz) and even frequency response (low bias toward or away from any frequency range), or at least reasonably so for the price? And not wireless? And don't say Sennheiser HD 497; they're apparently discontinued. Thanks. [[User:Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme|Someoneinmyheadbutit&#39;snotme]] 04:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:[http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=49510&is=REG Sony] has never let me down; those are 99 bucks, though... *still searching* [http://www.chiefvalue.com/product/productdetails.aspx?item=26-159-087 these] cost $35.49, making me wonder what's wrong with them (site lists full details); [http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=circumaural+headphones this] Google search provided those links. For the sake of optimism, [http://cgi.ebay.com/SENNHEISER-HD497-HEADPHONES-HD-497-JUST-ARRIVED_W0QQitemZ120026671393QQihZ002QQcategoryZ61333QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem this] might interest you. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Thanks for tryin'...the second Sony ones were wireless (forgot to specify that in the original query). [[User:Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme|Someoneinmyheadbutit&#39;snotme]] 21:34, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

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The $35 ones are used ("recertified"), that's why they're so cheap. |-[[User:THB|THB]] 23:58, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Am I going to have to remove this flaming remark? ;-) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

|}</div>

== Stepfamily ==

The daughter of the first wife is the stepdaughter of the second wife. What is the relationship of the daughter of the second wife to the first wife.

BD Long[[User:Bdlong|Bdlong]] 09:08, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:That would be referred to as "daughter's step-sister" by the first wife, or "step-sister's mother" by the 2nd wife's daughter. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 09:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Was Jesus born out-of-wedlock? ==

If so, is a pejorative term applicable?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lotsofissues lots of issues] | [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Lotsofissues&amp;action=edit&amp;section=new leave me a message] 12:03, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:The Bible doesn't say if Mary and Joseph were married at the time Jesus was born, but certainly they were not married when he was conceived. Mary was a virgin. And, for the same reason, a pejorative term is not applicable. [[User:BenC7|BenC7]] 12:21, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Mary and Joseph were Jewish. According to Jewish law, a marriage is not complete until consummated, so if you believe she was a virgin her whole life, she never married. I suppose you could argue that she therefore married God, as the reverse also applies in Jewish law (ie sexual intercourse is a method of marriage, willy nilly) but I ''believe'' that only applies to sex between Jews... and Judaism certainly doesn't regard God as Jewish. --[[User:Dweller|Dweller]] 12:28, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::(in general, you really shouldn't apply pejorative terms to religious figureheads - it's rather tactless.) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 12:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::::Also to my knowledge the marriage was the ''public taking'' home, which Joseph did before the pregancy was apparent to the public, in order to avoid the implications for Mary. [[User:Agathoclea|Agathoclea]] 12:48, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Some people have claimed that Mary wasn't a virgin at the time, just that she hadn't had sex with Joseph. [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 13:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Joseph and Mary were married according to Jewish law, thought the marriage had not yet been consummated. Still they were married.

::Agathoclea is completely right in what he said.

::Wakuran, "some people have claimed" is not enough for such claims. You are simply stating the most sensible alternative to the Virgin Birth.

::God certainly is not Jewish but that whole issue is irrelevant because God has not, does not, will not, cannot have sex with a human being.

::[[User:Str1977|Str1977]] [[User talk:Str1977|^{(smile back)}]] 13:39, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Well, yeah... I guess I am... [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 15:22, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Str1977, even if they had a wedding ceremony, they were not married. They're not the same thing in Jewish law. Nor, it would seem, in some versions of Church law... I recall that [[Henry VIII]] used this argument in his efforts to have [[Anne of Cleves|an inconvenient marriage]] annulled.

I'd be interested to learn whether conventional Christian teaching has it that Mary and Joseph ever consummated their relationship. --[[User:Dweller|Dweller]] 16:07, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Dweller, your take is not accurate. They were married even if they did not consummate. Of course, this could be a ground for an anullment (to use canon law language) but that only applies if anyone wants to annul it.

::Tradititional Christian teaching held that Mary was ever Virgin and they did not consummate their marriage. [[User:Str1977|Str1977]] [[User talk:Str1977|^{(smile back)}]] 00:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Mary and Joseph weren't Christians. They were Jews. As such, a wedding ceremony is only part of the Jewish marriage process, which in their day would have comprised separate erussin and nissuin ceremonies and intercourse. Marriage is incomplete until consummated. Just to enlighten you as to how different this is from conventional understanding of wedding ceremonies, the erussin (betrothal) would often take place a year before the nissuin (wedding), but if a couple decided not to proceed with the nissuin, they would need to divorce. --[[User:Dweller|Dweller]] 09:31, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::The first chapter of Matthew deals with this question quite thoroughly, especially the first verse, which establishes that Jesus was descended (via Joseph) from Abraham.--[[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]] 16:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Matthew gives a legal descent but also says that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, who - according to Matthew - conceived by the Holy Spirit. [[User:Str1977|Str1977]] [[User talk:Str1977|^{(smile back)}]] 00:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::::It may be of significance to note that all four Gospels make reference to Jesus' [http://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Jesus%27+brothers&qs_version=31 mother and brothers] trying to talk with him while he is surrounded by a crowd (implying that Mary did, indeed, go on to have more children, and thus must have consummated the marriage with Joseph). [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 09:53, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::::Brothers was used as a figure of speach; it means his friends/followers. | [[User:AO|<font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''A'''</font><font face="Papyrus" color="DarkSlateGray">ndonic</font><font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''O'''</font>]] ^{<font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User talk:AO|''Talk'']]</font> · <font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User:AO/My Autograph Book|''Sign Here'']]</font>} 11:20, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:See [[Tiberius Iulius Abdes Pantera]]. See also [[Desposyni]]. [[User:Zoe]]|[[User talk:Zoe|(talk)]] 16:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Progression of disciplines ==

I remembered hearing (in a human geography lecture, I think) about a sequence of stages that someone came up with which all fields of study were supposed to go through.

It went something like (a completely mangled version):

1. Description: early work in a field just describes observations (what?)<br />

2. Categorization: later work groups observations<br />

3. Theorization: finally, (why? / how?)<br />

My question is, who came up with it and what did it actually look like (I think it's fairly well-known).

Thanks, --[[User:Halidecyphon|Halidecyphon]] 14:16, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== I'm bored. ==

Help me out! [[User:206.176.119.180|206.176.119.180]] 16:45, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Click on the ''Random article'' link to read a random Wikipedia article. Or if you want something more active, take a look at the list of tasks at[[Wikipedia:Community Portal]]. If you are new to Wikpedia, you can learn more about how it works by starting at [[Wikipedia:Introduction]]. [[User:Gandalf61|Gandalf61]] 16:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::That's no good anymore. Now 1 in 5 articles you get will be a stupid, boring stub about some municipality or county. I wish there was a "random article" from inside a category &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] 22:52, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:: Check out Wikitravel[http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page]. [[User:Vranak|Vranak]]

:::Get [[StumbleUpon]]. [[User:Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme|Someoneinmyheadbutit&#39;snotme]] 21:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== tennis ==

What is the largest number of tennis balls that can be stacked in a pyramid on a tennis racket? <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/151.38.127.235|151.38.127.235]] ([[User talk:151.38.127.235|talk]]) 17:29, 16 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:Wouldn't that largely depend on the size of the racket? Oversized ones can be about twice as big as old, wooden ones used in the past. --[[User:Wirbelwind|Wirbelwind<small>ヴィルヴェルヴィント</small>]]&nbsp;([[User_talk:Wirbelwind|talk]]) 18:44, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

one, the rest would fall off :][[User:Hidden secret 7|Hidden secret 7]] 19:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I can make a big one (the largest I know of); my mid-size (100 square in.) raquet can hold 35 balls. | [[User:AO|<font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''A'''</font><font face="Papyrus" color="DarkSlateGray">ndonic</font><font face="Papyrus" color="Black" size="1">'''O'''</font>]] ^{<font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User talk:AO|''Talk'']]</font> · <font color="DarkSlateGray">[[User:AO/My Autograph Book|''Sign Here'']]</font>} 11:25, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Animal Rights ==

{{alib}}

I don't understand why anybody supports animal rights. Could somebody provide a list of the main reasons supporters use? Thanks.--[[User:216.164.249.7|216.164.249.7]] 18:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:The article [[Animal rights]] contains some of that, particularly in the "philosophy" section. [[User:Friday|Friday]] [[User talk:Friday|(talk)]] 19:07, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

<!-- Editors: please do not rehash the debate on this, or any other controversial topic, at the ref desk. -->

::I read most of that, but I still don't understand why people would believe and support that stuff. Why would anybody think that preventing animals from suffering should be a goal for humans.--[[User:216.164.249.90|216.164.249.90]] 19:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:::Is there a particular part of the article that is unclear to you? Keep in mind Wikipedia really exists ''for the articles'', not as a place to rehash debates on controversial topics. [[User:Friday|Friday]] [[User talk:Friday|(talk)]] 19:43, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::: For better or for worse, believers in animals rights no doubt feel [[compassion]] for more than just members of their own species. It's not such much an intellectual issue as an emotional one. I'd suggest visiting CuteOverload.com[http://www.cuteoverload.com/]] for some of their best propaganda. [[User:Vranak|Vranak]]

::::Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. For debate as to whether suffering is only a human condition, or humans are not animals, etc., talk to your spiritual advisor. Or google. [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] <small>[[User talk:Mothperson|cocoon]]</small> 20:18, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

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PETA has lots of good reasons, I agree with all of them even though I'm not a vegetarian. It's hard to look at some of the videos they have while eating a pork chop or a chicken leg. Check out their website. -[[User:THB|THB]] 23:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Even harder to actually do the Butchering yourself. I'm glad someone out there is doing it, so I can just enjoy the meat. --[[User:Measure|Measure]] 00:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::: The navbar to the right provides links to a lot of our resources on animal rights. Reading these articles should give you a good understanding of their reasons for supporting the cause. [[User:Rockpocket|<font color="green">Rockpock</font>]]<font color="black">e</font>[[User_talk:Rockpocket|<font color="green">t</font>]] 01:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::::An interesting anecdote is that my grandfather's buisness was a cow exporting company. They slaughtered, I belive, hundreds of bovines a day, and yet, he eats beef almost every day. He's about 85 now, so I guess beef is good. :-)

== Help with finding a better-suited website for me ==

Hi. I've used wikipedia RD for a while now, but I tend to get frustrated with it when asking about political stuff because almost everybody here is a libertarian, and nobody shares my views.(For example, I asked the question above about animal rights.) Does anybody know a political website that I would like? I favor policies that support people as a collective and favor policies that further national objectives, and disapprove of policies that support individual "pursuit of happiness", private ownership of the means of production(I favor state ownership), and disapprove of unnecessary pursuits. Of course this is brief and doesn't go below the surface of my beliefs, but hopefully you can get the jist and can help me. Another possibility is that Wikipedia's libertarians will insult me and be unhelpful, and I hope this doesn't happen.--[[User:216.164.249.90|216.164.249.90]] 19:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, as a bonus, if you help me instead of saying I shouldn't ask for this on the RD, I won't be here to bother you anymore.--[[User:216.164.249.90|216.164.249.90]] 19:58, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

: em.. maybe a link from here? http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Links.htm --[[User:Larry laptop|Larry laptop]] 20:00, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:You want a website where people are just going to agree with your views? I find that I learn more from being exposed to opinions I don't already have. The website http://forum.darwinawards.com has forums, including one on politics- they probably get a decent cross-section of ideologies there. [[User:Friday|Friday]] [[User talk:Friday|(talk)]] 20:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::Ok, I want to summarize your statements here, let me know if I'm wrong. First, You believe that almost everyone here is libertarian. Second, you are really looking for a website that has completely different views from libertarianism. Third, You decide that the best source to ask for a anti-libertarian website is... a bunch of libertarians on the RD. Good luck with that. --[[User:Measure|Measure]] 21:17, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

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I apologize to Mr. Contentious Topic dialog box. And, if needed, to 216. --[[User:Measure|Measure]] 21:45, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Odd straight path across upper northeast Canada ==

What is the wide straight path (currently white) that crosses Labrador or upper northeastern Quebec for what seems to be hundreds of miles? It occasionally angles off to the southeast but remains straight to an amazing degree. I saw it from too high up to be able to judge its actual width, but it looks like at least the size of a six-lane highway. I was thinking Hydro-Quebec, but I couldn't see any power lines, or pipe lines. It was most mysterious. [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] <small>[[User talk:Mothperson|cocoon]]</small> 20:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:To me, it sounds like it was probably power lines. You would not be able to see the thin power lines and metal supports from high in the air. However, a swath of vegetation is normally cut back beneath power lines, and you could have seen this snow-covered swath from the air. [[User:Marco polo|Marco polo]] 21:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

::That's what I was kind of expecting. But from where to where? There were no settlements anywhere in sight. It was a vast wasteland of snow and rock, and this line had to be going from somewhere to somewhere else (which is why I thought it might be Hydro-Quebec). It was a little creepy, such a straight wide path going on indefinitely. I really would like to know for sure what it was. We can't put such major marks on the earth without a lot of people knowing what they are. Or maybe we can. The Nazca lines of the future. Eh? [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] <small>[[User talk:Mothperson|cocoon]]</small> 21:30, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

This shows their system map, with a big straight line right to the [[Churchill Falls]] power dam. [http://www.hydroquebec.com/transenergie/en/reseau/bref.html] --[[User:Zeizmic|Zeizmic]] 23:26, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:That's it! Thank you very much, [[User:Zeizmic|Zeizmic]]. [[User:Mothperson|Mothperson]] <small>[[User talk:Mothperson|cocoon]]</small> 06:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== The [[Caine Mutiny]] Court Martial Verdict. ==

I know the above novel was fictional, but had the events occurred in fact, and had Lt. Maryk been found guilty as charged by his Court Martial, what would have been his punishment under the then current US Navy Regulations - perhaps they remain the same today? Would he have been hanged from the yardarm perhaps?

:Our articles claim that in the book, he is not charged with mutiny - it is less clear from the article what the charge was in the movie. The U.S. military does still retain the use of the death penalty; however, as the only execution for mutiny in the U.S. Navy was for the [[USS Somers (1842)|USS Somers incident]] in 1842, it seems unlikely. [[User:Rmhermen|Rmhermen]] 01:02, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::In the novel, the court martial charge was "Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order and Discipline".&mdash;[[User:EricR|eric]] 02:30, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:According to this [http://www.readyayeready.com/tradition/customs-of-the-navy/6-laws-of-the-sea-and-punishments.htm], the last example of this kind of hanging (usually resulting in slow strangulation rather than the neck being broken) took place in 1860, ye swab. [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] 05:44, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::That was punishment by a different Navy for a different offense. [[User:Rmhermen|Rmhermen]] 05:49, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::And your point is what? That the USN would resurrect a method of execution last used over 80 years ago? [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] 07:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::''if'' the laws back then are the same today (I havne't looked into that), I'd say yeah, he would be hung, to the consternation of great crowds of angry people against [[capital punishment]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:01, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Re: New entry ==

To whom it may concern:

How do I make a new entry? Like, a new page all my own?

Thanks!!!

~~Smskid123~~

Just type the page name into the search bar and then click the red link in "You searched for <page> [Index]"

[[User:206.176.119.180|206.176.119.180]] 21:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Please see [[Help:Starting_a_new_page|here]] and [[Wikipedia:Your_first_article|here]].[[User:Serenaacw|Serenaacw]] 22:14, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:Please note that a new article you create will [[WP:OWN|not be "all your own"]]. &nbsp;--[[User:Lambiam|Lambiam]][[User talk:Lambiam|<small>^Talk</small>]] 22:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

== Bicycle wiki...? ==

Is there a wiki devoted to bicycle assembly, repair and maintenance? I can find lots of excellent sites on the web that are not Wikis but none that are. -- [[User:71.100.10.48|71.100.10.48]] 22:36, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:[http://bikiwiki.wikidot.com/nav:wheels Bikiwiki] looks promising. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:17, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Sidewalk projects basis of priority..? ==

How are sidewalk projects in an urban area given priority? Is it a political (favoritism) or "squeaky wheel gets the grease" method or is the assessment of every project in an urban area based on the degree of improvement the work will provide for each <i>necessary</i> user on the basis of:

1. the level of necessity for its use (such as it being the only way to cross a river),

2. the level of safety (such as whether holes are hidden by puddles),

3. the number of necessary users (such as the number of people that must use it to cross a river), and

4. monetary cost?

By who's mind (or minds) and by what method is the significance of such criteria determined?

-- [[User:Barringa|Barringa]] 23:10, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:In [[New York City]] the building owners are responsible for maintaining the sidewalks, so the level of maintenance depends on how much money the owner has that they want to spend on the sidewalk. -[[User:THB|THB]] 23:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:This is just off the cuff, but I think in certain cities, a sidewalk code is eventually instituted, that says new improvements to lots must include the addition of a sidewalk, but older properties are not forced to build a sidewalk on their property... unless they apply for a permit to improve said property. --[[User:Measure|Measure]] 23:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

:A few thinks later, it's really up to the specific urban area how these things are decided. I don't think there's a federal sidewalk program in the USA, anyhow. (Although with the size of our government, I wouldn't be surprised...) --[[User:Measure|Measure]] 00:09, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::You're substantially correct. As a community grows, the local governing body may implement requirements that new developments improve the streets as they build, and "build out" to the ultimate road configuration along the [[frontage]] of that property. So you may see a new development of houses having a nice three-lane road with sidewalks, curbs, gutters, and planter strips, but it will be adjacent to older homes with no sidewalks, open drainage ditches, and a narrower road.

::And the Federal Government is involved in that it has (again, for the U.S.) enacted the [[Americans with Disabilities Act]] which does enforce minimum standards for accessibility in new construction. This is why new sidewalks will be 5' wide, with large curb cuts and wheelchair ramps, whereas older sidewalks are narrower, and have substandard wheelchair ramps, among other things. So the federal government is not mandating where we build sidewalks, but it does enforce the standards to which they are built.

::To answer some of the original questions, many factors go into sidewalk projects, several of which you have listed: safety, access, number of users, and cost. An area with a high volume of school-age children and also vehicle traffic above certain threshholds (volume, speed), will easily merit the construction of new sidewalks to provide paths for the children to get to school. Unfortunately, environmental requirements make some areas more costly to develop, especially if they contain [[wetlands]] or other critical areas. There's no one easy formula, and yes, sometimes it does boil down to the squeaky wheel getting the grease. If an influential town councillor wants a sidewalk in his neighborhood, he may very well get one during the next construction season. [[192.168.1.1]] 7:55pm, 16 January 2006 (PST) <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/71.112.144.196|71.112.144.196]] ([[User talk:71.112.144.196|talk]]) 04:01, 17 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

== Views on everything - say '''Boo''' to a goose ==

Why is it that some people seem to have views on every subject after a few drinks? whereas normally they might not even say '''Boo''' to a goose--[[User:Light current|Light current]] 00:37, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:See the article on [[drunkenness]]. -[[User:THB|THB]] 01:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::Although, to be honest, the article only mentions how alcohol ''impairs'' a person, not actually how it ''affects'' a person, which could be quite interesting to read about, actually. [[User:Wakuran|惑乱 分からん]] 01:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::[[effects of alcohol on the body]] gives details about the different aspects of this. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 02:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

==Make a user==

How do you make a user on wikipedia?

:If you aren't already signed in, on the upper-right hand corner of almost every page there is the option "Sign in / create account." If you click on that, you are given options and instructions to create a new account. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:23, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Different types of mail ==

Hi, I am trying to find out about different types of mail. What is 1st class mail, 2nd class mail, and so on. thank you <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/67.101.51.190|67.101.51.190]] ([[User talk:67.101.51.190|talk]]) 01:42, 17 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:<s>[[The Postal Service]]</s> The [[United States Postal Service#first-class mail|USPS]] article is very in-depth and useful (assuming you are referring to the US postal service); apparently second, third, fourth-class mail is redefined in these days. Definitely worth a look. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 01:54, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

*The questioners use of 1st class makes me suspect they're talking about British postal services. - [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm]]|[[User talk:MacGyverMagic|^(talk)]] 09:00, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::The IP address seems to be from the United States, and "1st class" mail ''is'' a common term in the [[USPS]] as well as Britain; it implies the existence of 2nd and 3rd class mail, too. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 10:00, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Your face is gonna freeze like that if you keep making that silly face! ==

We've all heard that from our moms at one time, and I'm wondering if that saying has any truth to it. A couple years ago, my eyesight got pretty bad, and I was without contacts or glasses for about a year to a year and a half. During that time, being a student, I needed to see things on the board that the teacher was demonstrating, so I compensated by pulling on the sides of my eyes to make my vision better. From what I understand, doing that manipulates the lens and makes things clearer. But, I'm wondering if doing that a lot over a long period of time (a year to a year and a half) would possibly make my eyes appear more "squinty", if you will, or to appear as if I was of Asian descent. Thanks for any input. P.S. If I didn't explain anything well enough, i.e. how I pulled on my eyes to make my vision better, just ask and I'll try to clarify. --[[User:71.117.43.124|71.117.43.124]] 03:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:It is conceivably possible to get [[cramp]]s in your face; I've not ever heard of it happening outside of [[old wives' tale#Other old wives' tales|old wives' tales]], though (That article mentions it and links to [[Bell's palsy]] as well as providing a link to a website explaining the tale). [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/squint Squinting] doesn't squash your eyeball; rather, it limits the amount of light that enters the [[eye]], making it easier to distinguish lines. Focusing on near or far objects will, however, cause the eye to stretch or compress the [[lens (anatomy)|lens]]. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC) (edit: I can see why squinting might be frowned upon, however, since it might lead to unwanted [[wrinkles]] later in life. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC))

::No, squinting is like reducing the size of your pupil, or having a smaller aperture on a camera: less light will arrive but depth of field is increased so you see out of focus things clearer. --[[User: Antilived|antilived]]^{[[User_talk:Antilived|T]] | [[Special:Contributions/Antilived|C]] | [[User:Antilived/Gallery|G]]} 03:25, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::...A more accurate way of describing it... [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 03:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Beard with no moustache? ==

[[Image:beardindex.jpg|thumb|150px|Barber's guide to men's facial hair styles, circa 1900.]]

Is there a name for it? Every time I see a man wearing a neat trimmed beard but no moustache, I think of the [[Amish]], but I've never heard a name for that practice. The article on the Amish has an explanation of why they trim their moustaches, but does not give a name for it. [[192.168.1.1]] 7:50pm, 16 January 2006 (PST) <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/71.112.144.196|71.112.144.196]] ([[User talk:71.112.144.196|talk]]) 03:50, 17 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:[http://www.sharpman.com/Article.asp?ArticleID=36 This site] actually refers to it as "the Amish style;" [http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=68254 these] forumists(eh?) refer to it as a "jaw beard;" [[List of types of facial hair]] lists numerous variations. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 04:01, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::I always think of it as a "[[Thomas Keneally]] beard", but I know that's not it's proper name. Curiously, there's a reference to the Amish in his article. [[User:JackofOz|JackofOz]] 04:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::It is probably something to the effect of "Any Amish man would be proud to have a beard like Keneally's." (My first reaction to that link was "wow.") [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 04:13, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== Banking ==

Could anyone please tell me what study I need to do, under which program should I study in order to work in a bank. I want to work in Bank. And what are the types of Jobs in Banking. I am from Ontario, and which college could offer better education? <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/70.52.4.64|70.52.4.64]] ([[User talk:70.52.4.64|talk]]) 05:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:(edit conflict) The [[bank]]s I've dealt with require a "bottom up" approach &mdash; entry-level working as a [[teller]] for a while, and working your way up through the ranks. As far as programs or education, they usually require a [[high school diploma]] for entry-level, and taking [[accounting]] and [[business]]-oriented classes in college is not a bad idea for the promotion part. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 05:57, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== W. Butcher woodworking tools ==

I have a very old woodworking plane. It has the name W. Butcher which I understand was a company located in Sheffield, England in the 19th century.

I am interested in verifying the information above and learning more about this company.

Thank you. <small>—The preceding [[Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages|unsigned]] comment was added by [[Special:Contributions/68.77.148.128|68.77.148.128]] ([[User talk:68.77.148.128|talk]]) 05:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC).</small><!-- HagermanBot Auto-Unsigned -->

:[http://www.osv.org/learning/DocumentViewer.php?DocID=1018 OSV] says about a chisel with the same name on it: "William Butcher is listed in Sheffield, England as an edge-tool manufacturer from 1821-1825." [http://www.tilthammer.com/bio/butch.html Tilthammer] here enumerates the life adventures of Butcher. Unfortunately, Wikipedia's article on [[William Butcher]] is not about the man you speak of; this would be a good time to encourage someone to start that article! [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:36, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

==The future is us==

There's a saying that goes something like this - "We've seen the future, and it is us." There may originally have been another word instead of future... Does anyone know where the saying originally came from? A Google search turns up a lot of people playing on the saying - "We've seen the future, and it is _____," with the blank something humorous, or whatever... but does anyone know where it initially comes from? [[User:Zafiroblue05|zafiroblue05]] | [[User talk:Zafiroblue05|Talk]] 06:18, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:Everything I am digging up is either directly or indirectly leading me to [[Lincoln Steffens]], whose original statement "I have been over into the future, and it works" is often misquoted "I have seen the future, and it works." Somewhere along the line (nowhere is very clear to this) the quote seems to have been adopted as a boast - replacing "works" with "is us." In the most serious articles using the quote, it is usually in reference to the progression of [http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2007/01/weve_seen_the_future_and_it_is.php human evolution] and related topics, leading one to wonder whether [[Charles Darwin]] may actually have something to do with it...? [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:46, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::(edit) also, [http://thinkexist.com/quotes/cesar_chavez/ this] website says that Cesar Chavez said "...We have seen the future, and the future is ours.” This may have been a part of the adaptation of Steffens' quote. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:57, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:::(edit) on third thought, some sites attribute the quote in its fullness to [[Walt Kelly]], in his creation [[Pogo]], although mostly these sites seem to have less [[WP:V]] and [[WP:N]] than the first references I posted. [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 06:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

== American Footage ==

Why is it that whenever American footage (such as imported news reports and ads, but not newer TV shows) is shown on TV, they appear different (here in Australia at least)? The pictures seem more greyed out and less colourful. Is this to do with converting NTSC to PAL? [[User:203.208.88.170|203.208.88.170]] 07:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

:I've not a clue; however, I actually think of American news as being ''too'' colourful, if you get my drift ;-) [[User:V-Man737|V-Man737]] 07:10, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

::See [[Refresh rate#Televisions]] - European and American TVs run on different frequencies, and Australia uses the European model. To me, American shows always look grainy on a regular TV. [[User:Natgoo|Natgoo]] 07:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC)