Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

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disability which causes typing transposition of letters need help or workaround suggestions

A question I have is whether there is any type of spell checker available when we are writing. I have a minor (?) mental disability which results in transposing letters when I type. This was diagnosed by medical experts as a coordination problem. I also have auditory processing deficit (basically a delay in interpreting what we hear) and hyper focus, which can be a good thing, as you can get intensely into whatever you are paying attention to. These are all manifestations of adult add, which was diagnosed when I was 42.

To explain briefly, I had career in bus transportation, so I know how to spell "fleet". (duh?). When I type, I can mentally envision F-L-E-E-T, but it will come out as FLETE or something like that. This occurs every thrid to fuifth word on average, like this sentanec e I am typing right now, whcih i will refrain from cleaning up (sorry).

When I manually print, the problem doesn't happen, and for years, at work I had help to do my typing (in the days before computers). I actually spell pretty well, but have to go back over every single word I ever type, even e-mail. Spell checkers on a computer were a godsend for me, and help enormously, although they don't catch it when I make another word by accident or when what I come out with is beyond the suggestions.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. I have tried working off-line in my word processor, but I am trained and used to an outdated one (Lotus Wordpro a.k.a. AmiPro) and it doesn't work very well with wiki formatting. I someday will need to earn MS word like the rest of the world, and have been doing that some. Copying previous work and editing it also is a workaround for me. I tried voice recognition stuff 8-10 years ago before I retired, but the results were poor. Expensive software or equipment is out of the question these days, as I am one of those seniors on a very fixed income.

For my Wikipedia contributions, I am mostly focused on history and people, places and railroads. I have been working on Virginian Railway and several related others items. I also have founded and moderate Yahoo groups, 3 rail and 1 for bus enthusiasts. 2 of my rail groups are very active, and info I have used on wiki has come from many others with hands-on historical backgrounds. Some of our work is used in the Virginia Standards of Learning online stuff for public school here! Here are is the url for the most active group for anyone who may be interested in what we are doing.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/VirginianRailwayEnthusiasts/

I would like to spend more time on composing content and less on cleaning up my bad typing which results. I would appreciate some suggestions, as I am enjoying contributing to Wikipedia!

My email is vgn700{ a t }aol.com if anyone wants to write me offline.

Yours in Richmond, VA Mark Fisher, aka vaoverland

Mark i have exactly the same problem though possible not as severe, although as well as transposing letters I also miss them out alltogether or sometimes I'll add a letter from the next word liket his. I don't have any anwsers. I haven't found any mechanical methods to solve this problem. generally , for wikipedia pages, i just do the best i can and let the many wonderful people who loike to clean up articles catch any I miss. Theresa Knott (Not the skater) 12:20, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

May be we should be developing a specialised word processor for people with such difficulties, one that suggests alternative spellings, even if you've typed a valid word. As for Wikipedia, it is a big self-organising community with people of diverse interests, capabilities and focus areas, so don't worry. -- Sundar 12:36, Oct 27, 2004 (UTC)

I recently downloaded the Ultra Hal Reader from http://www.zabaware.com . The program can read a bunch of selected text, which makes it easier to catch spelling mistakes. It might clash with the auditory processing deficit, but at least, you can catch transpositions with it. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 18:20, Oct 27, 2004 (UTC)

I've been working with it for a long time, and I will continue to do so. I am not upset about it, just know that it wastes time. If the hal reader turns text into sound, it rpobably wouldn't help me much, because I can almost always spot the errors quickly. With my particualr ADD and aspects, I am much more visual than auditory. the frustration is seeing it in your mind the way you want to type it, and then seeing the word come out in the wrong order. I'll keep an eye on this thread, and let 'yall know whenever I find was to improve or workaround. Thanks, Mark

Hi Mark. You asked me this on my talk page, but we may as well stick the discussion together.

There's a pretty good web-based spellchecker, though it seems to work almost too well, considering that, in testing it, I misspelled 'the' as 'teh' and it didn't mark it as wrong; turns out that 'TEH' can be an acronym for a few things.

If you're using Internet Explorer, there's an apparently gratis extension you can download called ieSpell. I haven't tried it and recommend Firefox. :-)

Some other spellcheckers exist, but they tend to cost money. Here's a Google search for 'spell checker', which simply gets more results than 'spellchecker'.

By the way, if you do try a different word processor (and there's no reason to if you're happy with your current one), please give OpenOffice.org a try. Word is needlessly (for you, not MS) expensive.

And of course remember that if you misspell things, only morons will whine about it and do nothing. We can always correct your typos, but we cannot equal your knowledge of the subjects that interest you. Keep up the good work. Chris Roy 19:45, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Termination procedures and time limits for Section 8 housing

Well, I'm not sure what the exact question is here, and of course IANAL, but in general, terminating a tenancy will depend very much on the state, county, and municipal laws where your rental unit is located. Your best bet would be to contact your local apartment/rental association or a lawyer who specializes in rental law. The amount of money spent on such services will vastly outweigh potential losses of rent as a result of an incorrectly executed eviction, or losses due to litigation regarding unintentional non-compliance with local rent laws. For what it's worth, though, IIRC Section 8 only deals with partial payment of rent from the government, aside from that it is like a standard tenancy --Cvaneg 17:56, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I would suggest going here: [1] It is the section of the Housing and Urban Development website that deals with Housing Choice (or Section 8) Voucher programs. Skyler1534 00:26, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

Schubert article

I would like to know who wrote the article on Franz Schubert.

A.G. Perry

These people --Tagishsimon

On the other hand, if you would like to know for the purposes of citing the article, then you should instead look at Citing Wikipedia --Cvaneg 18:05, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Invention date and usage of fMRI

I am researching brain injury diagnosis and can't find out the date of fMRI invention or date of initial usage, as a diagnostic tool, in Texas,United States. Do you have any such information? I found out that EMI Laboratories had one at Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco,Texas in 1979. ---anon.

fMRI using oxyhemoglobin to measure brain oxygen uptake wasn't developed until 1990. Slightly earlier using gadolinium but not as far back as 1979, I don't think. Rmhermen 20:08, Oct 27, 2004 (UTC)

Employment statistics for the late 90s

Between 1995 & 2000 the millenium scare created a lot of high paying jobs that went away in 2000. Are there any statistics on this subject?

There are loads of statistics, but it requires a lot of reading. There are no simple tables and such. I'm an academic economist, so I am used to the reports. The statistics it sounds like you are looking for would be published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They release the Unemployment Situation on the first working Friday of every month. You can find the archived versions of the reports going back to 1994 here: [2] For background information (such as why these things occurred in certain regions), you can also read the Beige Book reports published by the Federal Open Market Committee. The information is divided into the twelve regions covered by the twelve Federal Reserve Banks. Archives releases of the Beige Book reports can be found at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis' website Skyler1534 00:48, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

An anecdotal comment: you may find that much of the y2k prep work was done not by creating new jobs, but by deferring other projects. Programmers and sysadmins who would otherwise have been deploying new apps spent '98 and '99 reworking old ones. Likewise, many new hires in those years who went straight into y2k work would have been reassigned to catchup work in '00, not let go. At any rate, there was a huge I.T. labour buildup in the U.S. throughout the late '90s owing to the phenomenon generally called the dot-com boom, which ended in a bust in early '02. It might be hard to discern y2k hiring effects against that background. Sharkford 14:39, 2004 Nov 1 (UTC)

interpreter

hi i am fluent in English and Bulgarian,I would like to help by translating articles in and from Bulgarian; could somebody let me know @ kalina_pp80{ a t }hotmail.com? thank you kalina

Hi, I'd say just do it. Anyone can help, join up, and edit articles. You may notice there is a Bulgarian Wikipedia at http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/ So start in, have fun and translate articles back and forth. Just make sure to spend some time getting familiar with the resources and conventions. It will help you contribute more. - Taxman 15:36, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

For translations from Bulgarian, see Wikipedia:Translation into English. It's a good project, and I'm sure there are articles in the Bulgarian Wikipedia that would help expand our coverage here! Jwrosenzweig 19:25, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Also, please create yourself an account and sign up at Wikipedia:Translators available. We don't have any Bulgarian translators on the list, so you would be very welcome.

We'd love to have English translations of any good articles in the Bulgarian Wikipedia (especially articles containing local knowledge on Bulgaria). I believe the Bulgarian Wikipedia is still in a pretty "fledgling" state, so you should be careful to look for possible copyright violations in its content; many of the smaller Wikipedias have a lot of problems with these.

There is undoubtedly an almost boundless need for translation of English-language articles to Bulgarian. I would particularly urge you to take a look at Wikipedia:Featured articles, which should link to some of the best English-language articles. I'm sure that translations of some of these would be helpful to any of the smaller Wikipedias. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:36, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

Do electric blankets really cause house fires?

I like to use an electric blanket in the winter, and I convinced it save me money on my heating bill. But I always have people warning me that these blankets can start fires. In fact, one friend who told me seemed to know what he was talking about - his company did repair work on houses that had been damaged by fires, floods, ect. BUT... It seems to me that if there really were that many fires caused by these blankets, some goverment agency (the Consumer Products Safety Commision?) would step in. Is this an urban lengend? (I've heard the same about Glade Plug-ins) ike9898 14:03, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

Look for the UL label, or the CE logo where appropriate. In principle, these products are tested so that ordinary use shouldn't cause an unexpected risk of injury or property damage.

It does happen. [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] But, when the blanket isn't faulty due to poor manufacture, the insulation is intact, and the blanket isn't worn out, it is not supposed to be possible for it to cause house fires. An electric blanket is a device which draws electrical current with the intent to produce heat in a space where the heat is not quickly radiated away. There are inherent risks that don't go away under those conditions. I doubt any class of government regulation short of banning them could make them totally safe, and I imagine that the certification labs and the risk of lawsuits usually acts in lieu of comprehensive regulation. But, such processes are corruptible. Manufacturing standards vary and users are not always careful - especially the elderly users who are the most likely to need them.

Diderot 14:19, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Tourism article Author?

hello, I would like to quote off the tourism article on the website (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism) and need to know the author. is it possible you have it in your records. Many thanks Alistair Minty

Well you can find the list of contributors here: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Tourism&action=history, but you are more likely looking for How to cite wikipedia - Taxman 15:39, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

Would it be worth putting a citing wikipedia link next to 'about wikipedia' and 'disclaimers'? Intrigue 16:50, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Yes, we should consider something like that. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 17:58, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, Wikipedia will be an increasingly cited source as time goes on, especially if wikipedia articles are well researched and cited themselves. Is this developer issue now, and where would we take this to get wider approval for the idea? - Taxman 19:35, Oct 28, 2004 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)#"Citing Wikipedia" link, or Citation Box, on every page for an interesting discussion of this. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:40, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

Free font or software to draw syntax trees

For both Wikipedia and personnal purposes, I would love to be able to draw nice syntax trees using a free software or font. Does anyone know if such a thing exists, for MS-Windows, in a stable and functionnal state? --[[User:Valmi|Valmi ✒]] 22:52, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

• It looks like aiSee is free for non-commercial usage. -- Wapcaplet 23:19, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Question transferred from Eikonal equation in Gemotrical optics

Anon 202.141.24.2 asked:

I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE EIKONAL EQUATION AND SOLUTION OF THE EIKONAL EQUATION. lITERATURE SAYS THAT IT HAS BEEN USED IN GEOMETRICAL OPTICS TO COMPUTE THE TRAVEL TIME OF WAVE IN THE MEDIUM WHICH HAVE DIFFERENT REFERCTIVE INDEX

And I quote: "Please avoid using all capital letters; not only do they make a question harder to read, but they are often interpreted as impolite or shouting."

I don't think we have any artickle on the eikonal equation. Only gradient index optics about variable refractive index. Charles Matthews 16:39, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Citing

How do you cite Wikipedia? How do you find out the author of the articles?

See Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. →Raul654 16:58, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

Generally, you do not cite individual authors (since each article may have many), but if you wish, you can click the "history" link that is at the top of most pages using the default style. [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 16:59, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

On a side note, we get asked this a lot. I can't imagine how many users there are who don't get as far as this page and give up hopes of citation. Should we think about a more prominent way of linking to the citation page? If we believe we're a usable encyclopedia (and I do) that students might quote, I think it's worth discussing how best to do that. Although this particular page might not be the right place....I don't know about that. I fear a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Citing Wikipedia wouldn't attract much interest. Jwrosenzweig 19:08, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Look at the citing question 3 questions above this one. It's already being discussed. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 19:49, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC)

what does the number lock do

If the number lock is turned on, the keys of the numeric keypad will give you numerals instead of behaving as up and down arrows, etc. On my laptop, this is particularly useful, since it makes it much easier to get at special characters and such. See IBM PC keyboard and Num lock. [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 18:57, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

If you're on a desktop Mac, NumLock does nothing; it's just there on the "Clear" key for compatibility (with non-Mac OSs like Windows (in emulation) or Linux/Unix, I suppose). Garrett Albright 06:36, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Finding the author?

I cant find the author of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagism how can I find the author(s)?

Here, although I think you'll find the answer more surprising than useful. If you're interested in citing Wikipedia, please see Citing Wikipedia --Neschek 22:05, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

This question is asked so often that I wonder if people know the meaning of the word 'cite' or 'citation'. Maybe we should change the title of the article to something more obvious, such as, Wikipedia:Who is the author of a Wikipedia article?, or How to use Wikipedia articles for your research paper. GUllman 03:42, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Latin phrase

From Neque porro est qui dolorem ipsum quiadolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit:

I have been sent this message by a lost loved one. It is almost certainly from Dante. Can someone tell me what this phrase means, where it's from and what follows it in it's original source? This is extremely important to me, thank you.

" Neque porro est qui dolorem ipsum quiadolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit... "

my email is (deleted, see history)

• It means "There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain...". Here's our writeup on what it's best known for: Lorem ipsum --jpgordon{gab} 02:10, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Vitamin B-12

I do not know if this will accomplish what I want. I am trying to find a simple Email contact to ask a question. I can find all kinds of data about deficiences in vitamin b-12, but I cannot find out what is undesirable about having too much in the system. A doctor removed my wifes consumption of a multiple vitamin because she had too much b-12 in her system. What could be the possible consequences of having too much? --anon

That's odd. The Institute of Medicine states that "no adverse effects have been associated with excess vitamin B12 intake from food and supplements in healthy individuals." Your doctor must be privy to some very exclusive information... As for finding an email contact, we generally don't encourage people to request email replies here, as it benefits all for answers to these questions to be public... but you didn't leave an email address anyway. Garrett Albright 04:45, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Although B12 isn't believed to be harmful in itself, there are several reasons your doctor may wish her to stop taking it. Chiefly its a diagnostic tool - elevated serum B12 can be indicative of several conditions (including obesity, ulcers, diseases of the liver and kidney, diabetes, and certain metabolic imbalances). So if he's tested her blood and found elevated B12 it's quite reasonable that he ask her to stop taking a B12 supplement so he can be sure that it's the cause of the elevated B12, not one of those conditions. - John Fader

is this web site copying the information on Wikipedia illegally?

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/idiom

Unfortunetly, according to the GFDL license, no. See on the bottom:

"This article was derived fully or in part from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License."

Makes me sad, though — Kieff | Talk 09:48, Oct 31, 2004 (UTC)

You mean "no," not illegally. The information on Wikipedia is free for folks to completely leech like this, so long as they attribute Wikipedia. See Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks. Garrett Albright 20:57, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Erm, actually, the site must credit the copyright holder, NOT Wikipedia. Citing Wikipedia is possibly one way to credit the copyright holder since the contribution log is preserved. Tricky 07:03, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Ah, yes, I meant no. I thought it said LEGALLY. Ugh, sorry. It's fixed now. — Kieff | Talk 21:20, Oct 31, 2004 (UTC)

How much of a journey from Paris to Versailles in 1693?

For an article about an Englishman, John Vanbrugh, who stayed in Paris in 1693, it would be great if somebody could suggest how much of a journey it would have been for him to go see Versailles. Could it have been a day trip? (How far is it?) Would there have been a stage coach (diligence)? Would the public be allowed close enough to get a good impression of the exterior? Probably hard questions to answer exactly, but any good guesses or estimates would also be much appreciated.--Bishonen 15:40, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Off the top of my head, didn't the citizens march to Versailles in 1792 as a mob? I think it's less than 10 miles. Alteripse 17:08, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

1789, actually -- and it was mostly women. --jpgordon{gab} 19:27, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

In 1693? Dunno. But I can show you how to make the journey now. Go to mappy.com and enter "Paris" and "Versailles" under Itinerary. It is apparently 21.4 km from the centre of modern Paris to the centre of modern Versailles, taking an average of 29 minutes in a typical car. Chameleon 17:28, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Oh, cool, thank you both very much. If the mob could do it on foot, I guess a healthy young man would have made it an easy day trip, either on horseback or by diligence. Vanbrugh was to invent English baroque later, that's why I wondered if he could have seen Versailles. In 1693 he wasn't a sightseeing Grand Tour kid, but a political prisoner who'd just been let out of the Bastille and allowed to move freely in Paris only, but if Versailles is that close, I don't think it would have been a problem. He wasn't especially supposed to have tendencies to assassinate royals. Thanks.--Bishonen 18:27, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Easy enough to get to on horse back and a popular day out for Parisians today. It might be on the edge of Paris now, but I would have thought Versailles would have been seen as a very separate village in 1693. Surely it would have meant leaving the city boundaries. -- Solipsist 08:01, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

In an SR-71 he could have done it in 20 seconds. You have to write that in the article. -- FirstPrinciples 06:16, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

Distances

Is London nearer to Paris or Newcastle upon Tyne? [[User:Dmn|Dmn / Դմն ]] 00:39, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Paris is approximately 290 km / 181 miles south of London, or 341 km / 213 miles by surface transport. Newcastle is 268.5 miles from London Kings Cross by rail (add another mile or so to get to Charing Cross where distances are traditionally measured from). So the answer to your question is "Paris". -- Arwel 01:08, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

OAKLAND RAIDERS / Al Davis

Dear Wikipedia;...I know this is really a stretch; but, I am at my wits' end. I have exhausted every avenue I could find, and been un-sucessful. Would you please forward this letter to Mr Al Davis; or send me an e-mail address where I might be able to reach him. It is the most important thing in my life; and the future of the Oakland Raiders. I will certainly remember you, when I reach my appointed destiny as Coach of the Raiders. R.J.Rooney...hm.# 323-753-8105...cell# 310-387-4926 ranchero50{ a t }netzero.net

Did you try the "contact us" page at raiders.com? They've got a snail-mail address and phone number for the Oakland Raiders' business offices. They're more likely to be able to help you contact Mr. Davis than we are. -- Cyrius|✎ 03:51, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

early voting contradicts Constitution?

I have a real problem when I read that "early voting" is going on in many states, when it clearly says in the Constitution that voting for President must take place on one day. Apparently there are new federal laws, but if they were going the change the Constitution, wouldn't that take an amendment? What's the deal? Mjklin 04:33, 2004 Nov 1 (UTC)

Article II, Section 1 states "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States." As I understand it, absentee ballots and early voting are allowed as long as people are also able to vote on Election Day. The constitution doesn't say that voting can only take place on a single day. Rhobite 04:56, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)

Well, also: we aren't the electors. The electors are the members of the Electoral College. Congress determined the time for choosing the electors, and they seem to allow early voting -- but the Electoral College has to give their vote on a single day. Anyway, I think that's how it goes. --jpgordon{gab} 06:56, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Precisely. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:58, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)

I don't suppose we have an entry on early voting? [[User:Rhymeless|Rhymeless | (Methyl Remiss)]] 09:11, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Where is Büttgen

In editing Berti Vogts, it seems he comes from Büttgen (or is it Bottgen?) in Germany. We don't have an article about it, and the German language wikipedia redirects it to de:Kaarst. Can someone with some knowledge of that part of Germany tell what a sensible resolution for Büttgen would be in the english wikipedia?

Also, does anyone know in what position "Der Terrier" played? His scoring record reads like a midfielder.

Thanks in advance. - John Fader

• Büttgen is Büttgen. I suspect the Bottgen spelling is just a misreading of the u-umlaut as an o. It's discussed under Kaarst in German wikipedia because Büttgen is part of the district of Kaarst. When we do have an article on Kaarst, Büttgen should be a redirect to it. --jpgordon{gab} 08:53, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

EM wave with highest frequency

What is the highest frequency of a electromagnetic wave ever reported?

What is the upper bound for the frequency of any EM wave, and what properties would such wave have? — Kieff | Talk 08:36, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)

To my knowledge, there's no upper bound on frequency. You just get gamma rays with higher and higher energies. A source I don't entirely trust to be accurate says the highest frequency ever measured is 10³⁰Hz. -- Cyrius|✎ 14:05, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I found some more online discussions that we might be able to condense into an answer. There are "Ask a High-Energy Astronomer" from NASA (no theoretical limit, observed up to 10^27 Hz, expected up to 10^30 Hz), and "Ask a Scientist" from the US Dept. of Energy (points out that photon has to get its energy from some finite source), and this discussion group, which kicks the subject around a bit more. --Heron 14:43, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I was thinking about it because of this: if the Planck time, t_p = 5.391 × 10^-44 s, is the smallest unit of time, then the highest frequency possible would be given by f = 1 / 5.391 × 10^-44 wich is 1,855 × 10⁴³ Hz. Now, I was wondering what this implies. If such wave exists, how would it behave? If highest frequencies mean highest penetrations, then this wave would be able to go through anything, quite similar to what gravity does. So, I thought that could mean something. :P — Kieff | Talk 02:37, Nov 3, 2004 (UTC)

I'm out of my depth here, and I'll be grateful if somebody sets me right, but I thought that the Planck units were based on the size at which quantum effects and classical effects have equal validity. In other words, they are not hard limits, merely mathematical waypoints in a fuzzy cloud of measurement where results are 50% likely to be correct. Is this true? In which case, it would not be impossible for a frequency to exceed 1/(Planck time), but it would be impossible to be certain about what we had measured. --Heron 11:19, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I heard that cosmic rays are higher than gamma rays. [[User:Nichalp|¶ ɳȉčḩåḽṗ | ✉]] 19:38, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Cosmic rays are particles, not electromagnetic waves — Kieff | Talk 00:04, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

Mind your Own Business

A popular French saying I'm told that literally means "mind your onions" but I can't seem to trace it! Can you help?

I think you may be better off asking that at wiktionary.org... [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 12:43, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)

You want "Occupe-toi de tes oignons". It's the third result in the Google search for "mind your onions". --Heron 14:49, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

You can say both "Occupe-toi de tes oignons" or "Occupe-toi de tes affaires". There is also another nice one, somewhat related: "A chacun son métier (et les vaches seront bien gardées)" which means basically: "Everyone to his trade" or something like that. --Edcolins 19:29, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)

"To each his or her trade (and the cows will be well guarded.)" --Gelu Ignisque

Reminds me of the Dutch "schoenmaker, blijf bij je leest" -- "let the cobbler stick to his last", but unlike English, it's a common proverb in Dutch. From Latin "ne sutor ultra crepidam", see Apelles#Legacy. Probably occurs in other languages as well. JRM 23:11, 2004 Nov 6 (UTC)

Count of teeth

I asked this question at Talk:Tooth but got no response :

In humans, does the first set have 20 teeth and the second set 12, or does the second set have 32 ? Do all the 20 teeth of the first set fall off ? Jay 04:23, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Tooth answers this pretty well, but perhaps you might recommend improvements to the language? It says, "The second, permanent set is formed between the ages of six and twelve years. A new tooth forms underneath the old one, pushing it out of the jaw. " In other words, the 20 "baby teeth" are replaced with permanent teeth, and 8-12 more come in. --jpgordon{gab} 22:18, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, I've tried to incorporate this in the tooth article. Jay 16:20, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

How many teeth do you have, Jay? --User:Juuitchan

Emigration/Credit question

Okay, here's the situation. The wife and I are tossing around the idea of moving to Canada. Before you draw out the guns though, I'd just like to point out that A) she's a Canadian already, B) I married her in 1998, before it was fashionable for lefty Americans to love Canada and C) we've been tossing around the idea of moving there since 1998. That said, our credit here in the US is pretty good, and her credit from 1998 in Canada is, shall we say, not so fantastic. Would credit translate across borders? If it doesn't usually, is there a way to get credit for our good credit? Thanks much.

Guh, forgot to sign it. The above question is mine. --I. Neschek 16:28, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

In fact it's been trendy for lefty Americans to fetishize Canada (if not, alas, Canadians) since at least the '60s. But to answer your questions, it has been the experience of some friends of mine that Canadian banks can, indeed, reference U.S. credit reports, at least when it comes to assessing overall debt load; so if you've got a pocketful of high-limit cards, they will count against you. For the most part, if you're looking for a loan or a mortgage, the question will be "What are your current jobs, and how long have you been in them?".

In general, the black cloud of credit seems not to hang over Canadians the way it does Americans. For example, I believe it remains very rare for Canadian landlords or employers to look at credit reports as indicators of trustworthiness. Landlords may want a letter from your employer confirming your pay.

There is a newsgroup, misc.immigration.canada, from which you may be able to glean specific anecdotal info.

Sharkford 19:10, 2004 Nov 3 (UTC)

Real answer: no, but you can fake it. Use your US credit cards as a credit reference when you open your bank account in Canada. It worked brilliantly for me when I went the other way - the bank gave me a $2000 credit card on the strength of my Canadian cards. If you intend to apply for a mortgage or something, I'd advise bringing a copy of your US credit report. But for commerical credit, use your US cards as credit references and you'll be fine. Diderot 06:58, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Chemical Dependency classes

I'm trying to find classes for my CEU. Can you help me

Statistics and Probability

Maths Methods assignment

Hi, this is a Maths Methods assignment for me. I have done sme planning, etc. But I'd just like to ask for some other people's opinions. Thank you!! =)

topics: data variance (statistics) & probabilty

A game shop decides to have a "sale with a difference"

To determine your percentage discount, you toss three six-sided dice and your discount is the sum of the uppermost faces. The faces of each of the dice are: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15.

The accountant is concerned about how much this might cost the business.

Prepare a report setting out the expected overall discount from the sale if the games shop goes ahead with the idea...

Now, some of the things i will consider is, how much profit does each game make? assuming $100 to $250 per transaction.

The problem is, how do I assume what numbers will be rolled? Because each combination or each sum will have the same possibility as one another. Or perhaps i will make assumptions based on the AVERAGE percentage discount.

ohh....This is so stressful!

• My advice for getting started: make a list or a table showing each possible outcome on the dice. 0 and 0, 0 and 3, 0 and 6 and so on. You can't "assume" what numbers will be rolled; you can only predict with what chance they will be rolled. That's why it's called probability :-) Once you know all the possible outcomes and the chance that each outcome will occur, you can figure out the discount that will be rolled on average. -- Wapcaplet 01:54, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• If the teacher just wanted an answer (as a manager probably would in real life), then I'd just as soon write a program. (This is untested--do not rely on it.)

  // {{PD}}
  #include <cstdlib>
  #include <iostream>
  #include <iomanip>

  using namespace std;
  const double min = 100, max = 250; // Range of purchase amounts

  double percent_discount() {
    const int faces[6] = { 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 };
    int percent = faces[rand() % 6] + faces[rand() % 6] +
                  faces[rand() % 6];

    return double(percent) * 0.01;
  }

  struct {
    double sale_price;
    double discounted_price;
    double percent_discount;
  } total;

  int main() {

    const int trials = 100000;
    total.sale_price = total.discounted_price = total.percent_discount = 0;

    for (int trial = 0; trial < trials; ++trial) {
      double current_price = min + double(rand() / RAND_MAX) * (max - min);
      double current_discount = percent_discount();
      double current_discounted_price = current_price -
             (current_price * percent_discount);

      total.sale_price += current_price;
      total.discounted_price += current_discounted_price;
      total.percent_discount += current_percent_discount;
    }

    cout << "Simulated " << trials << " purchases\n";
    cout.precision(2);
    cout << "Total sales were $" << total.sale_price << "\n";
    cout << "Total sales with discounts were $"
         << total.discounted_price << "\n";
    cout << "Average percent discount was "
         << total.percent_discount / double(trials) << "%\n";
    cout << "Expected revenue loss: $"
         << total.sale_price - total_discounted_price << "\n";
    cout << "END OF REPORT" << endl;
  }

• But this being Math Methods, the teacher will likely want you to use the principle of expected value to determine the answer. It's sort of elegant to be able to come up with, by hand, what a chunk of hot silicon needs a hundred thousand trials to determine. (Of course, we can teach computers to use expected value, too.) --Ardonik.talk()^* 04:58, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

I would imagine the kind of answer your teacher is expecting is dependent on your current educational level. If this question is intended for an audience more advanced than a university Freshmen (and maybe not even that) then I have no idea. Otherwise, I would say that your assumption is correct and the expected value of each (presumably fair) die is (0 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15)/6 or 7.5, and since they are all independent events, the expected sum of the three dice should be 22.5 Of course, maybe there's something strange going on with the variance there that has some adverse impact that I'm not aware of, and you should listen to someone who took more than a sememester of statistics in university. --Cvaneg 20:34, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I've set up an excell worksheet with all the possible combinations of 3 uppermost faces. Since there are 3 dice, 6 sides, there should be 6x6x6=216 different combinations. I'm not sure if this is necessary. I worked out the average of the data, created a frequency table, made a histogram & polygon on it. From this graph, I can see that the most common score is 21% dicount and 24% discount. Do you think I'm on the right track? Now, I have worked out the central tendency and will go into details in terms of probability. ~from cindy. thanks heaps!

The origin of "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

I was wondering about the origins of Itsy Bitsy Spider, a popular nursery rhyme which exist in many languages. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 07:09, 2004 Nov 4 (UTC)

• According to http://www.rhymes.org.uk/itsy_bitsy_spider.htm, the history and origin cannot be traced. --jpgordon{gab} 01:54, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

islamic history

Hmmm, and what is your question? [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 08:59, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

We have an article on the history of Islam. tl;dr version: Timeline of Islam. Garrett Albright 05:47, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

PARCHMENT - MEDIUM AND TOOL USED TO WRITE

WIKIPEDIA REFERENCE DESK:

What was the medium (ink) and tool (stylus) used in ancient paegamon on parchment after the invention of parchment by the shepherds as a result of the embargo of paparyus by the Egyptians?

I hope my understanding of the fact and assumptions above are correct.

Thanking you in advance.

David G. Puckett, AIA --64.12.116.137 21:24, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC) DAVID G. PUCKETT, AIA DAVID G. PUCKETT ARCHITECTS 8729 MEMORIAL DRIVE HOUSTON, TEXAS 77024-7010 TEL [phone] FAX [phone]

DGPUCKETT{ a t }AOL.COM

__________________________________________________________________________

• • • • CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE****

This e-mail is the property of David G. Puckett, A.I.A. and/or relevant affiliates and may contain confidential and privileged material for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any review, use, distribution or disclosure by others is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient (or authorized to receive for the recipient), please contact the sender and delete all copies of the message. Thank you.

• Hm, perhaps this question should not be posted here, if the licensing requirements of the question are incompatible with the GNU FDL. -- Wapcaplet 23:06, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hmm. Well, by submitting it, he released it under the FDL, right? So shouldn't the confidentiality notice be interpreted in light of it. If the "intended recipient(s)" are the general public, then there's no problem. :) -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽

Completely off-topic, but isn't it ridiculous to voluntarily send a message to someone with an obnoxious note that it's your "property?" If you want to retain full control of your words beyond that inherently granted to you by law, don't send me anything. These warnings have been popping up more and more on e-mails and faxes. Knee-jerk lawyerism, and it'd get laughed out of court if you sued someone for violating one of these warnings. Rhobite 21:29, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Valparaiso University

I wrote the article on Lowell Thomas and the sources I used say he graduated from the University of Northern Indiana in 1911. That institution is now known as Valparaiso University and the article there says it was called Valparaiso College in 1900. Can anyone clarify when it changed its name? PedanticallySpeaking 22:54, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

Just six years later in 1906[8] --Cvaneg 22:58, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

But my books say he graduated in 1911 from the University of Northern Indiana. Was UNI perhaps absorbed by Valparaiso? Or is this an entirely different institution? PedanticallySpeaking 18:12, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Well according to Britannica he attended Valparaiso. So I imagine that he did attend the university now referred to as Valparaiso, but one source or another has their timeline mixed up in regards to the exact name of that institution at the time of his graduation --Cvaneg 19:39, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There never was a University of Northern Indiana. There was a Northern Indiana Normal School, which was rechartered as Valparaiso College in 1900. Thus students who graduated before 1900 are somtimes incorrectly cited as graduates of Northern Indiana University. "University of Northern Indiana" appears to be an error in at least one widely cited biography of Lowell Thomas. Britannica says he graduated from Valparaiso in 1911. Diderot 21:23, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Lowell Thomas's memoir Good Evening, Everybody (New York: Morrow, 1976) states, page 64, that "officially it was the University of Northern Indiana at Valparaiso." PedanticallySpeaking 17:59, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

The French Revolution

I need some pictures of events that happened during the French Revolution. How do I go about to getting them???

Ronnie --207.62.11.21 00:18, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, you probably won't get too many high quality digital photographs but, depending on the quality and content of the images you need, you may want to just look in GIS --Cvaneg 00:53, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

House of Reps vacancy locations

Wikipedia-

I have noticed that there are two seats vacant in the House of Representatives. One in Nebraska and one in Florida. However, I can not seem to find the areas that these seats represent. Any chance I could be pointed to a map or description of the areas not represented.

                                    Thank You
                                         -Chad

P.S. GREAT site, thank's again

Well technically with this past election, since all of the seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for grabs every two years, after Tuesday there were no longer any vacant seats,(assuming that no one died in the past couple of days). However, the vacated seats for the 2003-2004 house were Nebraska CD1 and Florida CD14[9] you can look at CNN's map of congressional districts to figure out exactly where those districts are. (The Nebraska one is towards the eastern end of Nebraska and the Florida one is on the southwest coast of Florida.) --Cvaneg 02:05, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I should also point out, that there were actually other vacated seats during that congressional session, however they ocurred early enough that a special election was held to fill the empty seat with a new representative, while these past two were so recent (Aug/Sep 2004) that there was no time or need to do so. --Cvaneg 02:12, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The Nebraska 1st Congressional District seat is vacant due to Doug Bereuter's retirement at the end of August 2004 (see [10]). It will presently be filled by the newly elected Jeff Fortenberry. See [11] for an map of the state color-coded by district. [[User:Rdsmith4|User:Rdsmith4/sig]] 02:38, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Sandhills Region of North Carolina

What major towns and cities are located in the North Carolina Sandhill region and is Sanford, NC located in the Sandhills region?

We have a page for Sanford, North Carolina, and it mentions nothing of any Sandhills. Some quick Google searching shows that the Sandhills region seems to be in/around Moore County, North Carolina. The map on this page shows the general area. Garrett Albright 05:41, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

carbon dioxide

Could you please provide me with information on the effects of co2 on bananas during storage and or transportation. Also what effect it has on the ripening process.

In a controlled environment with high co2 buildup over a period of days will it cause cell damage to the peel which would compromise normal ripening or yellowing of the product.

If you can help me or lead me to someone that can I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance,

Mike Digioia Mdigioia77{ a t }verizon.net

More info can be found in our articles on bananas, ripening and carbon dioxide. Apparently ethylene is used to make fruits ripen. And carbondioxide can promote plant growth in live plants. Since live plants use carbon dioxide for respiration, I don't expect it to cause to much damage to the banana. I'd have to do some more research to find out whether CO₂ helps bananas ripen, but I don't really expect it to. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 22:32, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

US population distribution by religion and age

I would like to inquire if someone has a cross-distribution of US population by religion and age. Any input will be highly appreciated. Please, send your reply to tanyapolyak{ a t }yahoo.com

The US Census Bureau has excellent web-based and machine-readable data at http://census.gov/ however, they are limited by law in their ability to ask Americans about their religion: [12]. Some third-party statistics can be found in tables 79-82 in the Census Bureau's 2003 abstract. CUNY's ARIS 2001 is one of the surveys used by the Census Bureau. I didn't look closely, so I don't know if they cross-reference by age. Rhobite 21:19, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Sun over the yardarm? When exactly is that?

Does this saying refer to late in the afternoon or early in the morning? I searched under "yardarm" but only found specific sailing info. Thanks Marie

Hint for next time: search for the whole phrase in double quotes, like this: "sun over the yardarm". I used that technique for a quick Google search, which turned up this:

"The drunken sailor stereotype may be fading away, but the rich tradition of drinking and sailing live on in our lexicon. You still hear sailors talking about splicing the main brace. For those not up on their seafaring lore, this is not an act of marlinespike seamanship. It’s old sailor talk for having a drink. Then there’s the business of looking for the sun over the yardarm, the idea being that when the orb is just over the foreyard when viewed by the quarterdeck, it’s time for a drink. Yardarms have gone the way of the drunken sailor, so a spreader is usually substituted. One authority says that in the high latitudes in the days of yardarms, the position of the sun indicated it was time for a drink at about 11 a.m." from Sailing Magazine

Hope that helps, [[User:CatherineMunro|Catherine\^talk]] 02:54, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

What do you call a person from Massachusetts?

A person from Texas is a Texan, a person from New York is a New Yorker, so what is a person from Massachusetts called? Is there even a word for it? [[User:Livajo|力伟|☺]] 06:54, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

"Texan" is an adjective; when someone is called a "Texan," it is presumed they are being called a "Texan person." On the other hand, "New Yorker" is a noun. Therefore, "Texan senator" (or "Texan vacation" or what have you) sounds correct to most Americans, but "New Yorker senator" sounds odd. "New York senator" sounds better. To answer your question, I don't think there is a word like "New Yorker" for people from Massachusetts, but you may be able to get around it by using Massachusetts as an adjective, as in "Massachusetts senator." Hope this helps. Garrett Albright 08:13, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Once the post-election emigration begins, you can start calling them Canadians. adamsan 10:53, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

No, Texan is a noun. You would say "a Texas senator is a Texan". Massachusettan receives over 100,000 Google hits which was, by far, the largest for any spelling variation I tried. Rmhermen 14:22, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

It only gets so many Google hits since there are about 100,000 occurrences of this word on one particular website. Excluding that site, the number of hits drops to under a dozen. [[User:Livajo|力伟|☺]] 16:15, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Quite true. Bizarre. How about we just call them "liberals"? Rmhermen 16:49, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

"Texan" is both an adjective and a noun, depending on context. -- Cyrius|✎ 03:38, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

A person from Massachusetts is called a "Bay Stater". --I. Neschek 17:15, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Incidentally, a person from Ohio is an "Ohioan". It's generally used as a noun, not as an adjective. (I would never say "an Ohioan senator". "An Ohio senator" seems much more natural.) It seems to me that these words for residents of U.S. states tend to function primarily as nouns. (But what about "Carolinian"?) [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 00:48, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

See also demonym and List of adjectival forms of place names. - 14:43, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC) Lee (talk)

what about a person from conneticut?

My favorite from all of these people's names is that a person from Liechtenstein is known as a Lillipudlian. Our team won a quiz competition because a guy on our team knew that. I can't find any reference now to back that up though. - Taxman 21:31, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Massachusettsite and (most commonly) Connecticutan respectively. --Gelu Ignisque

A curious situation

If you dive from a good height into a deep pool of water, you'll sink on it quite a lot. When you're that low, the water pressure increases certain amount, but not much since it's density is so low.

But, what if you dived in a pool of mercury? Since the density is what, more than 10 times bigger, would you sink the same amout? If so, wouldn't the pressure of the same depth be too much for the body to take? — Kieff | Talk 07:49, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

Since mercury has a higher density, I'd expect people to tend to float on top of it. Hence, I don't expect you'll sink as much as you do in water. Nevertheless, diving in mercury isn't all that healthy anyway... If you want to be sure, you might want to ask someone at the wikiproject elements ...;) [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 08:54, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

The pressure several feet beneath the surface would be a very minor concern. The density of mercury under standard conditions is 13.579 g/cm³. The density of stone is around 2.5 g/cm³. I should think that trying to dive into mercury would hurt a lot and would probably be fatal from a relatively small height, especially since mercury ought to rebound more than stone would. Fortunately, liquid mercury is only slightly toxic, so the diver won't be poisoned unless the pool is near boiling.

A person submerged in the pool would be driven to the surface very quickly, having a buoyancy of about 965 kg (try holding a balloon underwater). The pressure in the pool increases by one atmosphere for every 2.5 feet of depth. The human body can (uncomfortably) withstand at least 10 atm, or a depth of 25 feet, without injury. It is unlikely to survive 13 G of instantaneous acceleration. --[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 10:38, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Incidentally, a person will sink by about one centimeter in mercury. --[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 10:57, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Ha! Excellent. Thanks for the info.

I'll go fill my pool now :D haha, ahem — Kieff | Talk 18:10, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

Windows media update

I today got an update for my windows media program. but now when i try to put it in full screen mode, the video doesnt take up the entire screen, as it used to. is there any way to change this, and if not, is there any way to revert to my old version of windows media player? elpenmsater

First see to it that the default skin is on. (A problematic skin should be eliminated first). Now press ALT+Enter to jump to full screen. Now make sure that the cursor is centered on the screen (middle). This should hopefully resolve the problem. [[User:Nichalp|¶ ɳȉčḩåḽṗ | ✉]] 19:29, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

Nope, that doesnt work. It appears that the new version of windows media player just doesnt allow for a real full screen. It has a full-screen mode, but even then the video only takes up about 2/3 of the screen. --elpenmaster

If I were you, I'd post the question to the applications section of Experts Exchange. You'll probably get a dialogue going fairly quickly with technical people trying to solve your problem. Salasks 06:12, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Missed stays

What does 'missed stays' mean in a nautical sense?

From http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/songs/tony.html: The Antelope was slow. It takes her two whole days to catch up to "a bloody Great Yankee" that is described as "broad and fat and loose in stays". Merchant ships were wide and stable cargo carriers, and they were commonly described as broad. They were not notably fast.

The many novels of Patrick O'Brian, which are set in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars, and contain many nautical terms, provide a relatively painless introduction to nautical history. The stays are the heavy ropes that run from the masts to the hull. They support the masts. Several staysails are hung from the stays, and these sails often provide angular forces useful in turning and tacking.

O'Brian notes that some vessels would "miss stays" which from context seems a sign of poor design or poor seamanship. Some vessels are praised as "quick in stays." A ship had to "make stays" as it changed direction while tacking into the wind. If it missed stays, it would have to wear about, which involves sailing around to change direction, which was a waste of time. It was necessary to take in sails and set other sails as a vessel changed directions, and this took a coordination among many sailors and the helmsmen. A badly sailed vessel missed stays, or made them slowly and hesitantly, losing ground in a chase.

If I understand this correctly "missing stays" refers to not responding to a change of wind so you can catch it while sailing. -- [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|^(talk)]] 22:41, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

To miss stays is to attempt to tack but fail. A ship sailing upwind by zigzagging must either tack (turn into the wind, through a small angle) or wear (turn away from the wind, through a large angle). Tacking is trickier than wearing because there is less time, and because there is a point in the turn when the ship is pointing directly upwind and so must depend on its momentum to continue the turn. If the sails aren't adjusted in time the ship loses momentum and can't complete the turn: it has to stop and wear instead. On a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel such as a sloop it's easy to tack because you can move the sails on their booms; on a square-rigged ship the operation is much more complicated.

The term arises because on a square-rigged vessel, a fore-and-aft sail between the foremast and the bowsprit (known as a staysail or jib) is used to keep the ship turning as it passes through the eye of the wind. A staysail is so-called because it is rigged using the stays (which support the masts fore and aft, as opposed to the shrouds which suport them sideways). Gdr 17:55, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

Cowcatchers on modern trains?

On reading news reports of the Ufton Nervet rail crash, I'm curious as to why modern trains aren't fitted with a Cowcatcher, to flip a car with which the train is unfortunate enough to collide out of the way (rather than its getting tangled up under the train's nose, lifting the loco and forcing it to derail). Worse, it looks like the shape of the nose of an Intercity 125 (the locomotive in question) looks particularly prone to this (even when compared with other modern fast trains like the TGV or the Eurostar. I suppose I can see an aerodynamic argument, but is that the only reason? - John Fader

British trains have never had "cowcatchers", and I don't think they were ever particularly effective once trains reached an appreciable speed. In most cases of a train striking a car the car gets disintegrated very quickly, particularly if it is struck directly as seems to have happened yesterday, rather than if it's struck a glancing blow when the car may get bounced out of the way. It would be advisable to wait for the official enquiry report to definitively figure out what happened, but it may have just been bad luck that a particularly dense piece of wreckage, the engine perhaps, happened to derail the train. It's not easy for an object to derail an HST power car, they weigh around 100 tons. -- Arwel 21:29, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

In addition to Arwel's previous comments, there are fairly regular occurrances of trains hitting objects at level crossings. As previously noted, most get bounced away. In order for a 100 ton loco to piggyback a car it would have to be pretty much square on. -- BesigedB 22:00, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

the history of plumbing and sewage systems

i would love to know more about plumbing systems and their historical role- what form they took, civilizations that had advanced systems or came up with inventions. basically where has all the shit and piss gone? I'd assume it wasnt just left in the street to build up, smell and cause disease. im sure the river waters were used for drinking and people wouldnt particularly want to make it unsuitable for drinking (althought i know that this was the case in England and some of western Europe during the early industrial era but that seemed like a new phenomenon which was remedied shortly after people started getting cholera and dying). anyway any information that you could provide me with would eb great. thanks -Ella

I believe the ancient Romans had the first plumbing and public sanitation systems of significance. You can try looking at sewage, sewage treatment and waste management. -- FirstPrinciples 14:45, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Rivers were quite popular for the purpose and that is where all the "stuff" left in the streets ended up anyway. And remember a portion of the "products" were collected for making medicines and for industrial processes like leather tanning and cloth dyeing. Rmhermen 16:13, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

The Romans were latecomers. The Cretans had elaborate plumbing and flush toilets at least in the palace of Knossos around 1500 years earlier. (just do a search on Knossos and plumbing if you want more) Alteripse 18:51, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'll see your Cretans and raise you the Neolithic drains and toilet at Skara Brae. adamsan 19:49, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Wow. That must have been where Fred Flintstone lived. Alteripse 20:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Seattle sports trivia

Can someone tell me when was the last time that the University of Washington Huskies, and the Seattle Seahawks both won home games in Seattle on the same weekend? Seems a long, long time. Thanks if you can help.

Do you know anything about the political situation in Somaliland?

If you do, please help resolve the dispute at Yaasiin Jaamac Nuux, an alleged president. We (well, mostly I :-) can't figure out whether it's a hoax, a partisan article on a pretender, a vanity page or Goddess knows what else. The few WWW pages on Somaliland are, unfortunately, mostly in Somali. Resident expertise is direly needed. I thought the reference desk was the most appropriate place to ask (it's already listed as disputed) but if you think there are other good locations for this question, please copy it. Thanks. JRM 15:53, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

The president of Somaliland is Dahir Rayale Kahin. He is the recognized president by Britain, the EU and some of the members of Congress in America. He was elected in April, 2003. The election was monitored independently and declared to be fair (though very close) from what I understand. Skyler1534 19:38, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Alright, then all that remains is figuring out who the hell Yaasiin Jaamac Nuux is. I'm going to leave it alone for now and give it, say, a week before putting it back on VfD as a suspected hoax (because Somaliland is relatively obscure, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt). I'm pretty sure he's nobody of importance, as my initial suspicion was, but let's not be hasty. We can afford to drag this around for a while.

Skyler, I've copied your note to the article discussion page. JRM 21:29, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

Question?

Hi, I was ask to answer a question which I don't know,the question is;what is the largest sex organ in our body?It will be very appreciated if I can get a fast reply.Thank you for your time & service..

Well, I don't know what your largest is, but as for me... :^)

Answer depends on what you consider a sex organ. Most folks get off on being touched in some way, so the skin is arguably the biggest, since it is also arguably the bigest organ in the body.

As an aside, should there be a wiki sex ed project? Wikinookie? :^) It would certainly be interesting to see what would come of it.

Diderot 19:00, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

By surface area or number of involved afferent nerves, it's probably the skin; by weight, it's probably the brain/spinal cord (since the brain and spinal cord play a critical role during sex in all higher animals). →Raul654 19:06, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

I like big butts... er, never mind. ;-) It's a bit of an odd question, since on the face of it, one might initially assume there would be a difference between women and men, but Diderot and Raul654 are right, our skin contains the external stimuli of the nervous system. func(talk) 20:23, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Brain capacity

1. In biology, are there specific situations where the absolute brain mass of an animal is an important measurement?
2. The encephalization quotient produces a dimensionless number reflecting relative brain mass. Are there equally informative calculations which would produce different values for the same parameters? That is, are there multiple semantically equivalent representations of relative brain mass?

--[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 20:30, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

To answer the former, yes - Carl Sagan's Dragons of Eden specifically says that a certain minimum amount of brain matter is necessary for 'housekeeping' functions. So that for very small animals, the EQ will be disproportionately large. For the latter, I'm not really sure what you are asking. →Raul654 20:43, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

To answer your second question, no. There isn't any other manner of determining brain parameters in a similar manner as the brain to body mass ratio - at least none that are both quantitative and reasonably convenient. ClockworkTroll 14:31, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Grammar question: 'try and' ...

To my ear, it sounds perfectly normal to 'try and find out somthing', or to 'try and see who is there', or to 'try and get more'. My ever meticulous (is it spelled correctly)...editor (mother), changes 'try and' to 'try to' every single time...'try to find out', 'try to see who', 'try to get more'. Seems to me that 'try to' is correct, but is 'try and' incorrect, and why?

I hope someone can try and help me out on this one.

In descriptive linguistics, a common usage is never judged correct or incorrect; scientists studying language aim to describe how language is used and not dictate how it should be used. Because so many English speakers employ this usage, it is obviously part of the English language. The rhetorical device of joining two elements with a copulative conjunction rather than subordinating one to the other is known as hendiadys (a Latin-language modification of Greek hen dia dyoin, "one through two") and was common in Roman and Greek literature; it is like saying nice and warm or cups and gold for nicely warm and golden cups respectively. --Gelu Ignisque

A prescriptive grammarian would however say that "try and" is being incorrectly substituted for an infinitive. What is meant to be said is "try to draw" not "try and draw". But as Gelu notes, some would consider that a bunch of bull. So if you want to conform with someone's idea of "correct", use "try to" instead. Grammar also explains the above idea nicely. - Taxman 21:37, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Speedy-quick translation

How would one say "hidden key" in ancient Greek? I know the root words are kleis and kryptos, but how to make those agree in grammatical gender and in the nominative case? Thanks in advance, Gelu Ignisque.

Kleis is feminine, so the adjective would be kryptê. Adam Bishop 03:27, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Polish+Lexicon

Um... Topic + Question = Answer. ;-) func(talk) 04:27, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Figure of speech

I just posted this on Angela's talk page:

Your home page is a disgrace to the community. It's preposterously stylish and well-organized; a textbook case of rampant simplicity. You make everyone else look bad. Forget that! You make me look bad. And stop doing so much for Wikipedia and its community! Your tireless dedication and positive attitude are lifting everyone's spirits to revolting heights. No wonder everybody is throwing "please-retire-you're-stealing-my-job" barnstars at you! Why don't you and Jimbo get a room, for crying out loud! JRM 22:14, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

(No, she hasn't responded yet. Forget about the exact content for a moment. I'm getting to a real question. :-)

Is this a recognized figure of speech? What's it called? It's not exactly irony—it's more like heavy sarcasm, but sarcasm typically does not contain both positive and negative elements—only positive elements brought in a clearly ironic fashion, intended to mean the exact opposite. Here, I'm giving the superficial impression of heavy and insulting criticism, but on closer investigation this is untenable, because the statements at the core are clearly positive. Perhaps it's a sort of inverted sarcasm with verbal rather than tonal clues? Does it have its own name? JRM 22:32, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

Tongue in cheek? :) func(talk) 03:59, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I have no idea what it is. Nor do I know whether I was expected to respond and how one might do so if that were expected. :) Angela. 08:15, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

Oh, I'm thinking a week-long ban is in order. Wikipedia is not a comedy outlet. :-) JRM 09:41, 2004 Nov 9 (UTC)

Arguing against naturalism

What are common arguments against philosophical naturalism? --[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 23:00, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hmm... I guess, for academic purposes, that I would start off with some of the things mentioned in the last paragraph: semantics, ethics, aesthetics, philosophy of mind. These areas of human study can be seen as representing a "grey area" for naturalism advocates. For some reason, the chinese room thought experiment comes to mind as a potential battle ground for those opposed to and in support of naturalism, (but maybe I don't really know what I'm talking about ;-) ). func(talk) 04:09, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

baby goanna

What is a baby goanna called?

I think you've answered your own question. :-) "Goannling" doesn't seem right, and I don't imagine that the English language has designed a diminutive specifically for this species as it has for, say, cows ("calf"), cats ("kitten"), and dogs ("puppy"). I imagine "baby goanna" would be the only recognizable word in English, though if I am wrong I hope someone will correct me. Jwrosenzweig 23:15, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I would concur with you. Looking at this handy appendix from our sister project [13] there is nothing listed for iguana (from which they get their name), monitor lizard (which is their actual family), or lizard (under which general category they should fall). Admittedly, since goanna itself is not listed, there may still be a term of which I'm unaware. Of course, many lizards are egg layers, and I IIRC that includes monitors, so theoretically you could use the generic term hatchling. --Cvaneg 00:57, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I believe the general term for a very young bird, amphibian, fish, or reptile of any species is hatchling. That may be suitable for you... ClockworkTroll 14:21, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

What is Westphalia?

Is Westphalia a region, former region or German state or district? --Anon

See Westphalia. [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (hopefully!)]] 03:00, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

Time

How is time part of nature?

The best way to answer that is to simply say that time is a dimension, just like any of the other Euclidian dimensions you are familiar with (height, width, or depth), although it is one that we do not percieve as readily. →Raul654 03:05, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

It may depend on what you mean by "nature". In truth, we don't really have a very firm philosophical hold on what "time" is, but we can measure its passing, and doing so along with measuring other "dimensions" allows us to understand more about the universe, (nature). Much of our understandly of the physical world involves mass and energy in motion, and the notion of motion requires measuring time. We can't comprehend somthing moving at a single exactly point in time... all motion has a duration. With regard to my philosophical hold comment, our ability to notice the passage of time is considered by some to be a part of human a priori knowledge, that is, things that we understand without experience, (we seem to be born with an intuative sense of time). func(talk) 03:52, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

John Soane, R.A.?

In our article on John Soane, it reads that Sloan, who was an architect, "became ARA in 1795, then full RA in 1802." Both ARA and RA link to disambiguation pages, but none of the offered alternatives seem appropriate. My best uneducated guess is that RA stands for Registered Architect, and that ARA for something like Associate Registered Architect. Can anyone with actual knowledge either confirm or correct my guesses? -Rholton 04:03, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It denotes membership of the Royal Academy of Arts -- Associate of the Royal Academy, Royal Academician. See here and here. -- Arwel 10:54, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! You are a gentleman and a scholar. -Rholton 15:08, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Noam Chomsky

What is known of Noam Chomsky's personal life? Is he married? Does he have children? What does he do in his spare time? [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (hopefully!)]] 04:20, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

I saw some documentary on Chomsky once that said he's married with children (one or two I think) but because of his political opinions he tried to shield them from public view. That started in the 60's, when he first stepped out of his role as just a linguist to broadcast his views on Vietnam. As I recall, the film portrayed him as being pretty courageous for putting his family at risk to make his views known (no comment by me). Mjklin 04:38, 2004 Nov 9 (UTC)

No sound on European DVDs

Alright all you techies, I bought some DVDs in Europe recently, brought them back to America, and attempted to play them on my laptop computer. After switching over the region code in Windows Media Player, I get picture but no sound. Any ideas on how to make my French movies as French as they wanna be? Mjklin 04:31, 2004 Nov 9 (UTC)

Have you maybe tried using another DVD-playing program which ignores regions, such as VLC? If you can't get sound out of any other programs either, then it could be possible that, while you can change or ignore the region in your software, your actual hardware DVD drive is hard-coded to Region 1 (or whereever) and isn't playing along so nicely. (Though I doubt that's the issue, 'cuz if it were, I don't think you'd be getting video either...) Garrett Albright 07:02, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I don't think it's a region thing, French tv uses SECAM rather than NTSC. I know that trying to play SECAM films on a PAL player gives you black and white pictures and no sound and I'm guessing there's a similar incompatibility between SECAM and NTSC. If the disc is encoded for a different tv standard then you'd need a p[layer that can cope with it. adamsan 09:02, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Pseudonym and Alias

I asked this question on talk:pseudonym but no one would answer me : Whats the difference between a pseudonym, nickname and an alias ? Can royal and religious titles be considered pseudonyms, for e.g., is Dalai Lama a pseudonym for Tenzin Gyatso ? Jay 07:35, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

• Well, Dalai Lama should be considered a formal title rather than a pseudonym. Since Tenzin Gyatso is generally referred to in English as the Dalai Lama, that's a reference to a title rather than a name. I don't believe that the fact that the title supercedes the name matters in this case. A nickname is generally applied by other people, as opposed to one's self. I believe the main difference between alias and pseudonym is one of connotation; as an alias is more commonly used as a name taken to evade something, whereas a psudonym is usually adopted in order to hide one's actual name but not to actually evade anything. Hope this helps. [[User:Rhymeless|Rhymeless | (Methyl Remiss)]] 07:55, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

reference of editing wikipedia

Well it looks like you may be learning on the fly, but you could try looking here if you're having problems.--Cvaneg 13:05, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

wikipedia

Radiation poisoning

I am living in Bulgaria and have just heard of confirmation from a Romanian border guard of a hushed up leak in the past week. Perhaps some confusion with the Russian "leak/incident", but it got me thinking--in your entries on radiation poisoning and radioactive contamination, there was no information as to whether any self-help was possible in these cases. I am thinking of things like increased consumption of red wine (Ok, any excuse!), which was suggested by a friend as a way to increase anti-oxidants. Scare stories are bound to occur, but lack of information about incidents will surely lead to others like myself searching your site for ideas, as i couldn't find useful information by using google.

Thanks in advance for any helpful comments. 9th Nov 2004

Quoting the U.S. Department of Energy: "There is no medicine that will effectively prevent nuclear radiations from damaging the human body cells that they strike." However, potassium iodide pills can prevent the thyroid from retaining radioactive iodine which lowers the risk of thyroid cancer which is one among many worries from radiation. Rmhermen 14:38, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

Ugh, I hope conditions are safe there. Antioxidants are always good, but the body can only cope with so much ionization at once. Some radiation will reach DNA in any event, at which point you need effective DNA repair more than protection from free radicals.

Of particular concern are radioactive iodine and xenon. The thyroid will absorb any iodine that you intake, which will lead to thyroid cancer if the iodine is radioactive. You can protect yourself from this by taking large amounts of potassium iodide, so that dangerous forms of iodine are less likely to remain in your body. (However, excess iodine or inadequate iodine may also lead to thyroid cancer, and excess potassium may be quite dangerous).

The best way to prevent radiation poisoning is by staying well away from any source of radiation. A dosimeter can be used to measure radiation exposure over time, and a geiger counter or a scintillometer can measure immediate exposure. The limit of safety is 2 millirems or 20 millisieverts per hour.

If you have already received a lethal dose, there is little you can do. If you do not suddenly become nauseated, followed by hair loss, you are probably safe from radiation poisoning. --[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 14:46, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

If this concerns the Balakovo nuclear reactor in Saratov, it was found to not have a leak. --[[User:Eequor|η υωρ]] 16:22, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

what does one call a follower of Russian Orthodoxy?

A "Russian Orthodoxist" gives a few Google hits, but Google wants me to search for Russian Orthodentist instead... Dunc|☺ 17:38, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)