Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous
| |||||||||
How to ask a question
| |||||||||
|
| ||||||||
After reading the above, you may
. Your question will be added at the bottom of the page. | |||||||||
How to answer a question
|
| ||||||||
Wing Clipping
Two weeks ago I bought myself a pet cockatiel... I love my pet but I'm trying to train him and I've read repeatedly in several webpages that the first thing one must do is clip a bird's wings. Although I find this a cruel thing to do, I am thinking of taking him to a vet and having his wings clipped. How often should this be done though? How long before they "grow back"? Also, is it something I can do myself? I think it'd be a good idea to take him to a vet first to have it done professionally, but can I learn to do it myself or is it too risky?
- wing clipping, if done correctly doesnt hurt the bird - it is rather like cutting one's own fingernails... you have to make sure that you know where the bird's bone and flesh ends, so as you do not hurt the bird... you can do it yourself, but if you are unsure, then yes go to the vet and they'll probably show you how to do it... in terms of how long before trimming again, well you can tell yourself usually, the birds wings look normal instead of cut straight - and they can fly again....we've been clipping our birds wings for years...hope this helps you ... Kattus 00:46, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- To make it painfully clear: the only thing that is cut when wings are clipped is feathers. And the only part that is clipped is already dead. By all means let a vet show you how to do it rather than try it by yourself the first time. see here - Nunh-huh 02:06, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- See also our article on wing clipping. Samw 12:30, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Searching "POPO" the Clown
Searching for information about "Popo, the Clown". What circus("}, what years, etc. Signed, Gregory D. Harper
- Are you sure you do not mean the famous Oleg Popov? 82.210.117.215 13:45, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
Two tier stock take overs.
An English royal woman...Need a name!
The information I have is this: She married Thomas, she fell in love with a footman/soldier, Thomas learned this and killed the footman, buried him outside the castle wihout telling her, she died and haunted the castle (grey lady? Louisa?), Thomas moved away to escape her ghost, was then buried in the same cemetary as his victim.
I think this is somewhere in Westminster or Glastonbury.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Thomas (Thynne), 2nd Viscount Weymouth, and his wife Louisa née Carteret. We find the story, a bit mangled, here: "In Southwestern England the 16th century Longleat house stands. A ghost story is told here. Thomas the Second of Viscount, married Louisa Carteret. He was as evil as she was sweet. He suspected her of having an affair with a footman and murdered him with the help of two servants, and hid the body. Louisa died not long after, they claimed, of a broken heart. Thomas started to see her ghost, smell her perfume, and watch as things would move on their own-he fled in fear and never returned. People thought it was just a legend even though her ghost was seen countless times by many. Three centuries later, workmen dug up some flag stones and found a corpse dressed in 18th century attire. The legend was proven to be true. They buried him in a graveyard not far from the house, and from the tomb of Thomas. Murderer and victim together for all eternity. "The Gray Lady of Louisa" as she is now called, still haunts the house to this very day."
- Of course, there's no "Second of Viscount", but the husband of Louisa Carteret was 2nd Viscount Weymouth. With this, we can find the tale retold better here, and with less bodice-ripping:
- Nunh-huh 02:00, 1 October 2005 (UTC)"Longleat, the residence of the Marquess of Bath, has been haunted for many many years. It is said that his ancestor, Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth, had fought a duel in a passage at the top of the house with an unknown man, who was rumoured to be his wife's lover. He killed this man, and had him buried in the cellars of Longleat. The passage where the duel is said to have been fought is now known as 'The Green Lady's walk', and is said to have been haunted by the spirit of Lady Louisa Carteret, wife of this 2nd Viscount Weymouth. When central heating was put into Longleat, during the 5th Marquess's lifetime, the body of a man was found buried in the cellars. He was wearing jackboots, which crumbled away as soon as the body was exposed to the air. Lady Louisa Carteret, Viscountess Weymouth, died aged about twenty-two, after three-and-a-half years of marriage and nine days after the birth of a child. It was rumoured that Viscount Weymouth nearly ruined himself and his two sisters by his extravagance after the death of his wife."
- You probably misread Westminster for Warminster. --Gareth Hughes 17:03, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
Thanks for all the info. I really need to find a picture of her (or portrait). I sa it briefly on TV, but I need it again! Thanks for the help again!
How to ask a Judge to make a jugement on a matter.
1st. October 2005.
can i ask a high court judge to make a legal judgement of a concern of mine, as to the conduct of a Local Council?
i hope you are well, your servant, Br. Michael.
The Hermitage 20, Berwick Road Marlow Buckinghamshire. SL7 3AT. Grande-Bretagne.
Tel - Fax +44 01628 474034. from sunrise to sunset.
Hermits Journal. www.marlowhermitage.net
- To get a judge to do it, you need to apply for Judicial Review. The standard for that is very high (meaning a judge is very loathe indeed to overturn anything that a democratically elected council has done). You're rather more likely to get some headway from the local government ombudsman. Even then, democratically elected councils enjoy considerable leeway, so you'll need to show they did something egregiously wrong before you have any chance of changing things. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:57, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
Football Double Header
In 1948 or 1949, when I was a young lad, my Dad took me to see the one and only double header football game in Cleveland Ohio. This was a pre-season exhibition trial double header, never to be repeated. The Cleveland Browns were involved, but I can't remember who the other 3 teams or the scores were. I would appreciate it if you could let me know. I am 74 yrs old, and disabled. I have tried in the past to get this info without any success. This would also make a good trivia question for Jeapordy. TNX Norb Walker Sat Oct 1, 2005 <bronreklaw a t hotmail d o t com>
- Google is very good at these sort of things. Searching for "cleveland football double header", the third link is to http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=567111. According to Google Answers, it was 1963, with the Giants beating the Lions 24-21 in the first game, followed by the Browns losing to the Colts 21-7. -- Rick Block (talk) 15:07, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- That doesn't seem quite right..that's an almost 15-year difference in the timeframe...could that be mistaken somehow? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 23:57, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- According to the Cleveland Browns official site, the team only played one preseason game in Cleveland in the 1940s, a 21-21 tie with the 49ers. Every other preseason game they played in the 1940s was either at Akron or Toledo. This page doesn't indicate whether the 49ers game was part of a doubleheader. --Metropolitan90 04:40, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- I'm afraid to tell you that preseason doubleheaders continued in Cleveland into the 1960s. One game would feature the Browns and another game two other teams. According to this guy, the games were played from 1962-61. In the book The Cleveland Browns: The Official Illustrated History, you can see a picture of a game at the old Stadium in which the Browns weren't playing. It looks like Atlanta vs. Minnesota. Mwalcoff 20:04, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Acronym in different scripts
I would like to write the acronym KIS in different scripts, especially Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian, Greek, Hindi and Tamil. Does anyone know where I can look up this info. Thanks.
- There are some links on Transliteration to script-specific pages. Ojw 16:53, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- There are of course different ways to do this. You can take the equivalent letter or symbol in the other langauage and write each one in turn. There may not be an equivalent though. Or you could translate the words that make up the acronym, and then take the first letters of those as your acronym. As for Hindi, if you spelled KIS as a word it would be किस (make sure you have complex text support set up to see that properly), but if you took each letter independently it would be कइस, but that might look a little wierd because as a word it would be transliterated as kais. Periods might help. Basically if this is important, such as for a business logo, you would be better off either just keeping it in Latin script or consulting with a local business person for each language you would want to write it in as conventions for or even use of acronyms at all may be different for each. - Taxman Talk 14:53, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Link Request - Nitrous Oxide
Hello there, I was hoping that you might be able to add my shop to your links. I would be able to advertise your site with every purchase made from my shop, and also on the flyer i have produced to deliver to all known petrol garage's in the UK (of which i have nearly compiled a list). The link to my shop is: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Make-your-car-a-supercar-with-Nitro, and although i will not be able to put a link for your site in my shop, the coverage that i will produce via my flyer will be constant and very wide-scale. I eagerly await your response to this email request. Many thanks, Marc Chilton.
PS. My email address should you wish to respond is: (email removed)
- Wikipedia is not the place for advertising. Thanks for your suggestion though. Dismas|(talk) 14:38, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
Making Soap Operas On Microsoft Word
How many pages are required in order to make a full soap opera on Microsoft Word?
Write 5000 words. Use the "word count" feature of word to know when you arrive. lots of issues | leave me a message 16:53, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
which is the fastest car in the world
The fastest wheeled land vehicle is the ThrustSSC, the fastest street legal car is generally regarded to be the McLaren F1 -Drdisque 18:45, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- We have a new "World's fastest production car"; the Bugatti Veyron, which has just been released and was timed at 407 km/h. A complete waste of time of a vehicle (on most racetracks I'd back a 911 GT3 against it, let alone the McLaren), but it is mighty fast in a straight line if you're suicidal enough to try. --Robert Merkel 14:38, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
History
History of anything in particular? AlMac|(talk) 05:01, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
can I see a picture of Aksapada Gautama
In general, Google Image search at http://www.google.com/imghp is good for these sorts of things, but a search for "Aksapada Gautama" doesn't come up with anything. Are there any alternate spellings? User:Zoe|(talk) 21:35, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
Half-Life multiplayer statistics
I seem to recall a website somewhere out there that gathered statistics from a great number of Counter-Strike/Day of Defeat (possibly other Half-Life mods) servers and collected them into a database, and just by searching for your multiplayer user name (e.g. "Sum0") you'd get a list of your total number of kills, deaths, favourite servers, and so on. But for the life of me I can't find it again. The URL possibly had "athletics" or "athlete" in it.
Thanks, Sum0 20:20, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- Found it; for the record it's Csports.net. --Sum0 09:46, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Ask-a-question web sites
I know you can ask questions here on Wikipedia but would like to know if there any web sites that let you ask questions and then get answered. I tried searching on Google but it came up with FAQs for different issues. Any help? -- Thorpe talk 20:36, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- You could try asking on the Straight Dope forums (or ask Cecil directly). --Sum0 20:53, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- "Goolge Answers" is a service where you pay to have your question answered. I think that Yahoo has a free question answering thingy. ike9898 23:39, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- Experts-exchange is a good site for asking IT-related questions. I haven't been there in a long time but it used to be a decent resource. Rhobite 23:51, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- If you don't mind what seems to me like a spectacularly bad signal to noise ratio, you might have a look at Wondir. - RedWordSmith 07:09, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- It's not the Web, but there's always Usenet and mailing lists. — File:Ontario trillium sig.pngmendel ☎ 21:32, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- Go to the MadSci Network if your question is scientific or technological in nature. Denni☯ 02:48, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
What do chickens eat?
It's impossible to resist answering "chickenfeed". However, we will generously point out that chickenfeed was traditionally grain (like bird seed). We suspect that some sort of industrial byproducts whose ingredients we really don't want to know have replaced chickenfeed in large poultry factory farms. alteripse 22:48, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- In modern agriculture chicken feed may be made from many ingredients, usually formulated to provide the chicken with the nutrients it needs for rapid growth, a the lowest price. I'm no expert, but I think some common ingredents would be corn grits, soybean flakes, and meat & bone meal. ike9898 23:36, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- According to the tags from the bags of chicken feed that we recently bought, Grain products, processed grain by-products, plant protein products, calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, salt DL-Methionine, choline chloride, and about 20-30 more things that I can't really pronounce. If you want to know more you could find a feed store in your area maybe. Also the companies that sell chicken feed probably have the ingredients on their web sites. Dismas|(talk) 11:59, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- Chickens are omivores, they'll eat pretty much anyting. We keep a few chickens in our garden, and they are not fuzzy eaters. Leftover dinner, week old bread, fallen fruits, weeds and regular grass, insects and worms, they'll gobble it all down. Chickenfeed too naturaly. --Sherool 15:32, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Best season to start a new lawn from seed
What is the best time of year to start a new lawn from seed? (I live outside of Philadelphia, PA). Would it die in the winter if I planted the seeds in the fall? ike9898 23:32, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- I planted a big-ish patch in April, and now it's indistinguishable from the grass surrounding it (after several months of looking like a bad hair transplant). If your ground is at all impacted, it's probably a good idea to give it a good forking first. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:47, 1 October 2005 (UTC)
- Fall is an excellent time to start a lawn (in the Northeast) because:
- No weed seeds are trying to establish during the fall season,
- The ground is warmer than springtime and thus encourages faster germination of the grass seed,
- Cooler air temperature results in less evaporation (easier to irrigate),
- Springtime "mud" season is more likely to do damage to seedlings just by walking around.
- Seed planted by early October will have survivability through winter if it has been "winter "fertilized,
- The Winter/Spring frost heaving will loosen the soil and promote growth of existing seedlings in springtime,
- Having done both Spring and Fall lawn starts, I would definitely recommend a start in early September as optimum. Put down 50% more seed than recommended along with starter fertilizer and granular lime. Good luck is also an important ingredient along with plenty of water for the first few weeks. --hydnjo talk 03:57, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- Fall is an excellent time to start a lawn (in the Northeast) because:
gis attribute
- What exactly would you like to know about GIS attributes? Which software package are you using? What feature(s) are the attributes relating to? etc. Please be as specific as possible in order to help us help you. Thryduulf 21:51, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Miss Vero's Supermela
Anyone know to what this refers? May come from the period 1915 to 1945. Term/phrase appears in recollections, written in 1972, from an aunt born in 1899, deceased in 1992.
- Generally, the reference desk struggles a bit with this sort of question. If you can supply some other context - for instance, where your aunt lived, and in what context the reference appears, it may help. --Robert Merkel 14:17, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
N.Y. Times
Who owns the n.y. Times
births in the 1950s
(preceding unsigned comment by 68.113.141.22 (talk · contribs) 02:03, 2 October 2005)
If you want a general list of people born in the 1950s, see Category:1950s births. If you're looking for information on general demographic trends, you might read Post-World War II baby boom. It would help if you were to phrase your question as a question so the people who answer it can figure out what exactly you want to know. —Charles P. (Mirv) 02:22, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
You could also try 1950#Births through 1959#Births --Borbrav 02:28, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Drowning
How exactly does drowning kill you? Why can't the body take the oxygen from the water?
- If you try to breathe water the water will fill your lungs causing them to explode in a gorey mess. If they could take out the oxygen, what will the lungs do with the hydrogen? Make a bomb? Not likely.
- I think a more rational answer is that the concentration of (dissolved) oxygen in the water is too low for our lungs to process. I remember reading years ago that fish die out of water due to a similar problem -- it's not that they can't breathe the air but rather that their gills collapse, leaving them with insufficient tissue surface area to get enough oxygen. Regardless, bombs and hydrogen have nothing to do with the answer. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 06:39, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- There's an article on Liquid-breathing which discusses liquids with dissolved oxygen. Perfluorocarbon is used, rather than water. Ojw 13:46, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- If you're meaning taking out the oxygen from the water in terms of 2H2O->2H2+O2, then the problem is in that it would require large amounts of energy for the organism to perform this reaction, more than what is derived from oxidising food. --Borbrav 22:55, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Chicago Cubs/Chicago White Sox Question
Which mediocre player did the Sox trade to the Cubs who then went on to be a huge success?
- You may be thinking of Sammy Sosa. --Metropolitan90 04:33, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Body swapping
Is it actually possible to swap bodies with someone? By like brain transplant or some magical way? And would anyone be interested in writing a list of all the places this cliched plot point has happened?
- We have an article on Whole-body transplants that may be of interest. While there are major technological hurdles to overcome and such an operation is not possible today, it may be possible in the future. One major hurdle to overcome is connecting the brain to the new body (consider the difficulties experience by those with a severed spine - almost always permanent paralysis). Robert J. White once connected the brain of a dog to the body and circulatory system of another dog (see the first external link in that article, and also note what it says about the monkey head transplants). Hope that helps. - RedWordSmith 06:56, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
website of satirical newspaper
This is bugging me soo much!! There's a website for a newspaper (I think it's a real life one) that's basically a satire of old-fashioned turn of the century papers. It had ridiculous patents (for some reason the only one I can remember is a Dead Crow in a Box? or something) and advice, I think? And strange rambling editorial columns from a sailor. It has a really generic name, like the Weekly or something. I lost the URL before, and found it, and now I've lost it again. D'oh!
Please help me, I'm soo frazzled from constant googling :) Thanks!
- I'm not completely sure this is the right answer to your question, but you might like the historical issues of The Onion. David Sneek 07:53, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- The obvious guess would be Private Eye, but try some of the listings at Satire and Category:Satirical magazines. Ojw 13:39, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- I think the Framley examiner had some content that wasm made to look as if it was turn of the century. --bodnotbod 23:08, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Gracanica link
Hi,
Not a complaint, just a warning - the page about Serb enclaves in Kosovo links to a page about Gracanica in Bosnia (rather than Gracanica in Kosovo).
Cheers.
Keep up the good work,
Sam
- Thanks, I changed it. David Sneek 09:54, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Time changes in Nigeria
Hi,
I'm trying to find out if there has ever been a time change in Nigeria over the last 50years. By time change I mean a change in the local clock setting (not related to day light savings....which nigeria does not have anyway. Would anyone be able to help me please?
Thanks
Dils
- According to Nigeria's entry in the "africa" file which is part of the timezone data incorporated into most unix-like operating systems (the most recent version is available from ftp://elsie.nci.nih.gov/pub/tzdata2005m.tar.gz), there have been no changes since September 1919 (when Lagos switched from local mean time to the present UTC+01:00 time zone). —AlanBarrett 16:14, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
How do you get rid of a Bees Hive in your home?
We have a small gap that went un noticed and a colony of bees made a nest. Should i wait for the cold weather to set in before I attempt to exterminate? I was told that they die the next season.68.170.197.142 12:52, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- It'd probably be safest to hire an exterminator. — ceejayoz ★ .com 13:52, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
They will come back next year as the queen will hibernate and keep a group or dormant eggs with her. It will be easier to remove in the winter because of decreased activity though. Purpose built bee/wasp removal systems sold at hardware stores do a good job of killing enough bees that you can safely remove the nest without getting stung. Also, make sure that these are indeed bees and not Yellowjackets or Hornets as these will stay alive year-round and just huddle together for warmth. Removing one of these nests is very dangerous. -Drdisque 22:42, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
ranking in the british police
ranking in the british police
- UK police ranks has some useful information. --Commander Keane 14:30, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
indian defence
If you're meaning India's national defence system, try Military of India --Borbrav 22:40, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
operations by indian defence
Describe and evaluate three models of abnormality
- Please be more specific. Do you mean the Queen's Indian Defence, the King's Indian Defence, the Nimzo-Indian Defence or perhaps the Bogo-Indian Defence? David Sneek 16:06, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
BBC TV Show
Does anyone now what the latin phrase at the beginning of the 90's childrens show Aquila was? It was repeated in the intro every episode --82.44.216.80 15:29, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
My latin is not too good, but it was something like 'Subat aterum Aquila Volat' or 'Fly with the wings of an eagle'. If anyone can translate that a bit better, please do. smurrayinchester 09:12, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Actually, I also have a question about Aquila. I remember in the finale the boys discovered the battle cruiser in space, and immedietly afterwards, followed an advert for another (third?) series. However, I never saw or heard of this again. Was there ever a third series shown.smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 08:48, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Getting rid of Insects
How do you get rid of Box Elder Bugs?
- Acording to this you basicaly have to hunt then down with a vacum cleaner, failing that call a professional exterminator. Aparently the best cause of action is to think prevention. Spray various bug repellants around obvious entryways and seal cracks and such before they enter. Good luck. --Sherool 15:13, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Components of Business Environment
What are the components of business environment?
Environmental Analysis
What is the concept and purpose of environmental analysis? What are the techniques of environmental analysis?
Buffalo, N.Y. - snow/weather?
Does one part of Buffalo, N.Y. get more snow than another area? My daughter is moving to the area and I would like to know which side has the least snow fall. Thanks.
Kat
Due to the Lake effect the western part of the area will see a little more snow than the eastern part, but the entire region recieves LOTS of snow and I do not suggest moving there if she is not comfortable with this. -Drdisque 22:37, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Amateur musican performing for tips.
I am considering setting out on the street corners and byways where I live and playing my guitar and singing songs that I've learned from various mediums and "passing the hat" for tips. Is this legal? I'm not really destitute or anything by any stretch of the imagination nor am I in a needy financial position. But just wondering if anyone out there could offer some insight that could possibly save me some legal greif later on?
- Many cities require a street performer's licence. Also the cops may complain if they feel a crowd who have assembled to watch you are causing an obstruction. Some places have formal or informal arrangements for the distribution of busking slots; it's not impossible that someone else will show up and complain that you're in what he feels is his spot. You should probably check the bylaws of the city in which you plan to play, and maybe ask in a local music shop (who may know the ropes). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:13, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Public enterprise in India
What is public enterprise? Discuss the role played by public enterprise for the economic development of India.
- Why not start out by reading the articles on public corporation and India and then research your homework questions from there? As stated at the top of the page, we don't do your homework for you. Dismas|(talk) 21:08, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- See also Economy of India, a recent featured article.--Pharos 16:00, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Indian Economic Planning
What are the features of Indian Economic Planning? What are the objectives of planning in India? What suggestions would you make to have better plans?
- See the answer directly above this question. Dismas|(talk) 21:13, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- I would start at the Economy of India article and start from there. Capitalistroadster 04:50, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You can go on regular google (not the news) and search for Newspapers ... there are lots of sites with lists of newspapers, organized by nation, and topic, so you can get to newspapers and journals in some nation, aimed at a particular audience, in a particular language ... such as the publications for the people in India who do the topic you are researching.
- You might also do a google search for Research places, and be prepared to spend oodles of money. AlMac|(talk) 21:33, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
nutrition
What are the nutritional values of peppermint tea?
- None, in a strict sense. There's zero calories and zero other "nutrients", as such. However, there are trace amounts of various chemicals, such as caffiene, which have some effect on the body. Of course, if you add milk or sugar, they retain their nutritional content when placed in the tea. --Robert Merkel 04:11, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Scanners
is a scanner a input or output device
- Input, for more info, please see the article on Image scanners. Dismas|(talk) 21:16, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
- And contrast category:input devices with category:output devices. --bodnotbod 23:14, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Mexico's imports
Try Economy of Mexico --Borbrav 22:37, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
death on your birthday
What is the term for someone who dies on the same date they were born, only different year? Deceased.
- Ha! Copying this to BJAODN :)--inksT 22:41, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
What region Kentucky is in
Is Kentucky in the South or the Midwest?
Yes. It's sometimes classed as Midwestern, and it's sometimes classed as Southern. The culture is more Southern, and I think that's where most people conceptualize it. - Nunh-huh 22:16, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
It had trouble making up its mind in the Civil War too. Most midwesterners think of it as more southern culturally, and I suspect so most kentuckians, but the division is more a cultural gradient than a clear boundary. alteripse 22:34, 2 October 2005 (UTC)
Year the late 1980s began
What year did the late 1980s begin?
A phrase like that is used precisely to avoid questions like yours. This is not a snotty answer but an accurate one. If the user of the phrase could have fixed an exact boundary time, he probably wouldn't have chosen this imprecise phrase. To me late 80s suggests 85, 86, or 87, running to 88, 89, or 90 but the edges are fuzzy. I am guessing you either are desperately trying to salvage a losing argument, have Asperger syndrome, or are King Nitpicker. Want to share? alteripse 00:34, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Hey, I sometimes wonder the same thing and I'm not arguing, an aspie or a nitpicker. D: ♥purplefeltangel (talk) ♥ (contribs) 22:19, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Who sang the song in the movie, itself?
WHO actually sang the song 'Three Coins in the Fountain' in the movie "Three Coins in the Fountain"?
DVD boxes
For what reasons, other than the fact that people might get confused, are DVD cases not the same size and shape of CD cases
- They are the same hight and width (but not depth) as a VHS video cassete box, so I have always assumed that it is to enable shops to use their existing shelving, to allow the same cover art to be used, etc. Thryduulf 07:47, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
what is the fastest a man can run in miles per hour
- Your question is a bit vague. The fastest average speed for a race (at any distance) recorded is Michael Johnson's 200 metre world record, which he completed in 19.32 seconds. If you do the maths, that works out to a speed of 23.23 mph. However, his peak speed was obviously somewhat higher because he had to accelerate from rest. Over longer distances, of course, the average speed that a human can maintain is considerably reduced. The current world marathon record, at 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 55 seconds for a 42.195 kilometre course, gives an average speed of 12.52 mph. Average people are obviously considerably slower than these world record times. --Robert Merkel 04:06, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Credit Cards
What do Credit Cards companies do to an outstanding balance of a dead individual? Does death need to be proven?
- Such a balance would probably be treated like any other debt; i.e., it would be paid out of the estate during probate. Your local law may differ. You should probably ask an estate lawyer; http://lawyers.com may help you find one. —Charles P. (Mirv) 02:48, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- As for proof, I'm fairly suredeath would need to be proven. And i'm even more certain that if you are in debt and write to the company saying "I'm dead" in order to try and get out of it, the strategy will be ineffective. --bodnotbod 23:32, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
What is the word with a lot of meaning?
- The word MEANING is completely full from beginning to end with meaning. --hydnjo talk 05:53, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Maybe you mean "set", which supposedly has more meanings than any other English word.--Pharos 06:04, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Consumer Awareness
Hi! I need to know
1. What is consumer awareness? 2. What are the different forms of consumer exploitation? 3. What is the role of producers in consumer awareness?
--61.17.180.28 07:18, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Please read the box at the top of this page. We will not do your homework for you. Thryduulf 07:43, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
The U.S. Deficit Problem
I keep reading about deficit spending in the U.S. and how the recent relief efforts from Hurricaine Katrina and the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are being financed from borrowed money.
With the U.S. compounding nearly a 1/3rd of a trillion dollar debt every year, my question is:...
Why isn't more people in the US, and in the world, voicing more concern over the deficit spending in the United States? It just does not make sense.
Thank you
--155.85.58.253 09:17, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- We are, it's just that no-one is listening :)
- No, seriously, just like with any other contentious issue, there are differing points of view about how "bad" excessive deficit spending is. Also, ask a random person on the street about the national deficit, and they'll probably just look at you blankly - it's a somewhat complicated topic, so it's less likely that you will get a strong public response either way, because most people do not understand the full issue (I certainly don't! :)). Plus, it's not something that affects "ordinary" people directly in the way that, say, higher taxes would - so they don't notice and don't care. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 11:08, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Who exactly is lending money to the US, anyway? It's not me, but I imagine whoever is would be the ones who would have the most legitimate complaints. Garrett Albright 14:14, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Japan and China have lent a great deal of this money (by buying US government securities). They're not at all unhappy about that, as these are interest bearing loans. According to this article Japan (I don't know of that means the reserve bank of Japan, or the whole Japanese public and private investment community) owns 700 billion US dollars of government securities, and China another 200 Billion dollars. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:29, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- And what happens when Japan and China decide that US is owing them too much already, and refuse to loan more? Dollar plunges? --rdnk 21:57, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Also, consider that any time the government issues Treasury bonds they are in effect getting a loan from the buyers of the bonds. --WhiteDragon 17:05, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- For one expert perspective of the issue, you could have a look through Brad DeLong's blog. He's an economist at Berkeley, and he's posted quite a lot on the topic. Please note that he is a trenchant critic of the Bush administration, but if you're a Bush loyalist just skip past that and look for specifically US debt-related stuff. --Robert Merkel 22:35, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
"Deadline" by Millenium Interactive
I've tried to look for a manual for this anti-terrorist SWAT game from the DOS era, but anything I find refers to a adventure game instead of the simulation I'm playing. I guess that's what happens with overly common names. Has anyone got an idea where to get a manual? It's abandonware... - 131.211.210.17 09:18, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Searching GameFAQs for Deadline returns two PC games [2], but they both seem to be text-based adventure games. Is it possible that this game was published under a different title in different parts of the world a la Resident Evil/Biohazard? Garrett Albright 14:11, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Maybe, but if that's the case I'm not aware of it. - Mgm|(talk) 16:15, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Sex Determination
Is there specific advive/steps to take when seeking for a male child?
- Sperm carrying the Y chromosome are very slightly smaller, and some say weaker, than those carrying an X chromosome. With a centrifuge, you can get your chances up to about 80%. There are some suggestions out there [3] regarding timing of intercourse, bathing, etc., to take advantage of the supposed strength and speed difference, but there's not much clinical evidence out there that any of them work. You can also see our not-very-complete article on sex selection. moink 11:24, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Generally speaking, adoption is a lot easier. - Mgm|(talk) 11:54, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Touchè! ☢ Kieff | Talk 14:09, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
And of course the Asian approach is to keep trying while aborting females. I know I will be lambasted for the pejorative generalization but there is some truth unfortunately. alteripse 16:03, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
persons who survive after being shot
Dear Sirs Is there any information on persons who have survived after being shot multiple times? I have a friend who was shot ten times last week and thankfully has survived.
My name is Verona Michael and my e-mail adress in (removed)
I shall be grateful if you will respond.
--205.214.216.87 12:24, 3 October 2005 (UTC)--205.214.216.87 12:24, 3 October 2005 (UTC)Verona Michael
- Besides having the nickname "Lucky" for the rest of their lives, I don't know what other information there is. I've removed the e-mail address per the notice at the top of the page. Dismas|(talk) 12:31, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- I've seen an article about someone who survived multiple hits by lightening, but other than that I haven't seen anything similar. Unfortunately, people who die are much more likely to get attention. - 131.211.210.14 13:11, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- He didn't survive the gunshot. Ojw 21:37, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Many people have survived multiple gunshot wounds both at a single time and in separate instances. Pick up any World War II memoir or soldier-level history, for example, and you'll find plenty of cases. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 14:33, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
What is the largest single page on Wikipedia?
- Wikipedia:Featured_pictures_visible probably qualifies as the longest. - 131.211.210.14 13:13, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Sorry. I meant to say, an article; namely, something that's not a category or list, and also doesn't have Wikipedia: in front of it.
- A list of the longest entries in the article namespace is available at Special:Longpages. --Allen3 talk 13:55, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Those are all lists. For a long time, I'm fairly sure Anarchism was the longest real article. I'm not certain if this is still the case.--Pharos 15:56, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- It would appear that First English Civil War is the longest "real" article. --Maxamegalon2000 20:42, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Perhaps worth noting that very long pages often get split into multiple separate pages as we're encouraged to avoid excessively long articles. --bodnotbod 23:36, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- A list of the longest entries in the article namespace is available at Special:Longpages. --Allen3 talk 13:55, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Sorry. I meant to say, an article; namely, something that's not a category or list, and also doesn't have Wikipedia: in front of it.
- Comparison of layout engines (DOM) seems to be the (most bytes) longest article. --hydnjo talk 21:24, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Generally speaking, why do doctors have such bad handwriting?
Finally, a question in a specialist area of mine! There's no single reason. One is that they are very busy (or maintain they are), so will write as quickly as possible, to save time. Another (less frequently mentioned nowadays) is that they don't like their patients actually being able to read what they've been prescribed, and so will make the docket as indecipherable as possible. A third is that doctors, more than any other group of workers, are prone to intellectual elitism (ever see a gang of junior doctors sashaying along with their stethoscopes flung raffishly around their necks? They're all playing the music from Reservoir Dogs in their heads)), and like to have their own private 'code' that only their fellow doctors can decipher. Proto t c 13:35, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Also, many of the terms on a prescription are in latin and will not be understood by the average layman. SeanMack 13:38, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Latin or not, their handwriting is still awful. ;) I don't know the law regarding this in the US, but it's now against GMC policy in the UK to use all but the most common latin abbrevations on prescriptions. Proto t c 14:21, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- There is a very simple answer. You try handwriting and signing 50-100 documents a day and see what happens to your legibility. alteripse 16:01, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- I think it's also just a general problem; most people don't realize how hard it is for other people to read their handwriting. Take a look at hand-addressed envelopes in the mail. I'm sometimes astounded that the PO ever figures out how to deliver them! Elf | Talk 23:26, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
"Chevrolet Apollo"
If anyone is familiar with Chevrolet brand cars, please see Chevrolet Apollo and Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chevrolet Apollo. -- Curps 12:49, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Dog Grooming IE: Proper Nail Trimming method
- I'm guessing that you're looking for info on how to trim the nails? You can ask your vet or dog groomer to show you how to do it at home. It's fairly easy. Just don't cut into the quick. Dismas|(talk) 13:29, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Illuminati Diamond
The illuminati diamond is suppose to be an ambigram of the words, Earth, Air, Fire and Water in the shape if a diamond. Does anyone know what this symbol means and where it came from?
September 29,1949
How happened on September 29,1949?
- Try looking on the articles for September 29 or 1949. I found "First Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves design for the Flag of the People's Republic of China.". Also "Mrs. Iva Toguri D'Aquino is found guilty of broadcasting for Japan as "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.".--84.51.149.80 16:56, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Credit debt
Do credit card companies ever "Forgive" a debt?
- Hah! Perhaps if the person has no family and dies. ☢ Kieff | Talk 17:55, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Well there is personal bankrupcy. I'm not sure about the spesific requirements and it probably varies from country to country. That's a last resort though as it basicaly involve you selling off everyting you own and pay as much as the debt as possible in exchange for having the rest of it deleted (there are some quarantenes and stuff too I believe). Best approach: Stick to a debit card. --Sherool 19:19, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Creditors can't go after family members unless they co-sign your agreement. If someone with credit card debt dies, the debt gets paid out of the estate. Any excess debt is written off - family members do not have to pay it (although they won't receive any inheritance). The answer to your question is yes, creditors and collection agencies will settle your debt for less than the amount you owe. They won't forgive the entire debt, of course. And it will ruin your credit. Talk to a lawyer or an accountant about this - often it's a better option than filing for bankruptcy. Rhobite 19:31, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- If you're in the UK you can get good advice from Debtline. A credit card company may consider allowing you to "pay off" the debt by accepting a smaller amount than is owed if you pay it off in one go. They may agree to stop charging you interest on the loan if you have suffered a loss of income or other difficult circumstance. --bodnotbod 23:44, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Bananas
Who is the leading Asian producer of bananas?
Ranks in the UN
In the article of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights it talks about ranks of sec-gens. I can see the following, throughout WP: Sec-Gen, Deputy Sec-Gen (actually on the UN website: not on WP), Under Sec-Gen, Assistant Sec-Gen. Are there any more?--84.51.149.80 16:45, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- "Rank" is perhaps an inappropriate term; the United Nations has titles within its beaurocracy, but not a formally defined rank system like a military uses. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 17:27, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
The article does say rank.--84.51.149.80 17:29, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- I don't dispute that; I'm saying they're not fixed titles. You could easily have a Deputy Assistant to the Under SecGen or some such, so there's no real "these are all the possible ranks" answer. Contrast that with the normal usage of rank (military), where (for example, in the U.S. Army) the progression runs, without variance, from Major to Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel, without someone being an Undercolonel or a Deputy Major. See my point? — Lomn | Talk / RfC 20:18, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
What is Insider Trading? What are its types and Regulations?
see the subject----219.64.179.19 17:46, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
what do people yell when they run with the bulls
- You mean during the el encierro festival commonly asosiated with Pamplona? Acording to the article it's "aiba! aiba!". Didn't find a translation, but I would guess something like "Get out of the way!" :P
- I'm real curious to hear the answer to this. It appears to be the local dialect (the word shows up a lot in Bilbao contexts); if I were guessing, I'd guess it was a form of arriba. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 20:50, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Yes, my guess would be "Arriba," which means "up" or, in this context, "faster." It's also often used by one Speedy Gonzales. Garrett Albright 16:37, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
2 Windows Xp os'
OK, I'm sure the title could have been a little more descriptive, but... here's my situation:
I have 2 XP's loaded on my hd for some reason, at start-up i get the screen to select which one to boot from, one works, the other doesn't. How to I get rid of the one that will not boot? I want to get it of my hard drive all together, how would I go about doing that?? john
- In your C:\ folder (asuming a default install) there is a hidden file called boot.ini. You most likely can't see it because Windows XP will hide hidden files by default (logicaly enough), to show hidden files go to "Tools" and pick "Folder options" in a explorer window. Then pick the "View" tab. Find and uncheck the options to "hide protected OS files" and "hide hidden files" (the names might not match exactly I have a Norwegian version of Windows, but you should be eable to find your way). You might also be eable to just type in "boot.ini" in the open file dialog. Once you have opened boot.ini in Notepad for example you can edit it to remove the extra Windows, they should appear in the order they do on the boot screen. Alternatively try renaming one of them, reboot and see wich one is the one that works, then remove the other one. Just be carefull though, if you mess up that file Windows might not boot at all (make a boot disk first and backup the file before you change anyting). --Sherool 22:02, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Mike Myers and Saturday night live
What did Mike Myers do to get his citizenship revoked, or was that just a joke, as stated on Saturday night Live on October 1?
- Joke. What he did was stand by stunned while Kanye West made comments critical of the government during the live television fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Rmhermen 22:22, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- And according to our article on Mike Myers (actor), he is a British citizen, not a U.S. or Canadian one. Rmhermen 22:37, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
- Um, no. "...Myers has British as well as Canadian citizenship" was added only today but even before that the article said that he was born in Canada; he would thus be a Canadian citizen unless he were to take the rare (and rarely useful) step of renouncing it. There is no indication that he's sought or received U.S. citizenship; I take the revocation comment as being a joke referring to Kanye West, not himself. Sharkford 20:31, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Am I correct in thinking that Brits are subjects, not citizens? User:Zoe|(talk) 03:15, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Not since 1948, generally. See British citizenship; the status of British subject continued to exist after that date at least for some people, but "British citizen" is a legally recognized status. --Metropolitan90 03:40, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- And according to our article on Mike Myers (actor), he is a British citizen, not a U.S. or Canadian one. Rmhermen 22:37, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
define sugar alcohol
See Sugar alcohol. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 20:32, 3 October 2005 (UTC)
Nose Bridge
I was wondering why east asians have a low nose bridge.
You might better ask why Europeans and West Asians have a more prominent nose bridge. The explanation I heard many years ago was that peoples living in dry climates developed longer noses to better humidify inspired air but larger noses had no advantage in more humid climates. However, note that this is a perfect example of a plausible but unprovable just-so story. alteripse 00:50, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
interview questions, patent agent
The Bible is the best selling book of all; which is the second(not rlated to it )
(preceding unsigned comment by 64.237.164.90 (talk · contribs) 02:16, 4 October 2005)
Probably the Qur'an, but is that "related to" the Bible? The Guinness Book of Records is the best-selling copyrighted book; that may be what you were thinking of. Other contenders, according to [4], are Gone with the Wind and Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-Tung. —Charles P. (Mirv) 03:37, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- The Bible
- Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (Little Red Book)
- American Spelling Book, by Noah Webster
- The Guinness Book of Records
- The McGuffey Readers, by William Holmes McGuffey
- A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard
- The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, by Dr. Benjamin Spock
- World Almanac
- The Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
- In His Steps: "What Would Jesus Do?", by Rev. Charles Monroe Sheldon
Ash, Russell. 1997. The Top 10 of Everything. New York: DK Publishing. —Wayward 03:44, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- If the McGuffy readers,Guinness and the World Almanac make the list, why not the Yellow Pages? Surely there have been more Yellow Pages printed than Valley of the dolls.Brian Schlosser42 17:23, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- It's a question of whether you coulnt different editions. Each district has its own yellow pages, and they are of course completely different. Should they count as one book? No particular version of YP (i.e. for a particular district and a particular year) would come anywhere near making the list above. DJ Clayworth 18:31, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- That's my point. The Guinness Book of World Records, the World Almanac and ther Mcguffey Readers all are multi-edition works. No one edition of any of those three books would make the list by itself. Brian Schlosser42 14:51, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Yellow Pages in the UK aren't usually sold - they're distributed for free, so would not be bestselling. --bodnotbod 23:49, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- That's my point. The Guinness Book of World Records, the World Almanac and ther Mcguffey Readers all are multi-edition works. No one edition of any of those three books would make the list by itself. Brian Schlosser42 14:51, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
what is VC in a University?
VC stands for Vice-Chancellor in Universities. But some VCs become "Virus Chancellor" like virus in a computer, when they start to create problems for the entire system of academics and administration. Especially when a particular VC is not interested in the standard of academics but interested only in the trading of Degrees and diplomas, there a Virus Chancellor is born. The recent example is the VC of Hidayatullah National Law University at Raipur.Whereever there is money,VC will be there. He wants only percentage. nothing more.
- Our question on Vice-Chancellor answers your question. However, you seem to be making a statement about the Vice-Chancellor of the above university rather than asking or answering a question. If you are answering, please don't forget the instructions about the Reference Desk not being a soapbox.Capitalistroadster 04:23, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
Extreme sports
Can boxing and rugby be considered as Extreme sports?
- Not according to our Extreme sport article. It notes in particular that rugby is not considered to be an extreme sport both because of its traditionalist reputation and because it is a Team sport. Capitalistroadster 05:09, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
Sale of water
Why don't bottled water companies sell Canned water along with bottled water?
- Because the cans would cause the water to taste funny, which isn't good for sales. - Mgm|(talk) 08:08, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- They do in France, but sales are low. The 330 mL size of a standard can is smaller than the usual bottle sizes (500 mL miniumum), and the packaging is more expensive and heavier (for a product whose main costs are transport and marketing). Physchim62 09:42, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
siria singh kahalsa
i am searching for siria singh, and i have been informed that he is at wikipedia: can you get a message to him? susan sterling63.245.73.22 04:38, 4 October 2005 (UTC) panajachel, guatemala63.245.73.22 04:38, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Unless you know what username he is using, then this is not possible. A quick search suggests he is not using any obvious combination of his names, at least on the English Wikipedia.
- If you know what his username is then you can go to the [[user talk:<username>]] page, and leave him a message there. Alternatively if he has entered an email addres in his preferences and accepts email from other users (both of these are optional) then there will be a link called "email this user" in the toolbox to the left of that page that you can use.
- Neither of these methods are guaranteed to get a message to him though. Thryduulf 08:14, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
joe budden track
What track did joe budden appear in for the rap artist jin or what track did he place his own verse in of rap artist jin lyric song on a mixtape? If mixtape, what mixtape was it?
- Our Joe Budden article says that he has worked with Jin albeit with little detail. Capitalistroadster 05:14, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
American sports coach salaries
The best paid football (soccer) manager in the world is Jose Mourinho of Chelsea F.C, who is paid £5 million ($8.8 million) a year plus bonuses. How does this compare with the highest paid coaches in American sports?
- I believe Larry Brown is the highest-paid coach in the U.S. His 5-year contract is reportedly worth between $50 and $60 million. —Wayward 08:48, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
File Naming Convention for an Office Environment?
I am in search of examples of file naming conventions for an Architectural and Engineering office environment.
More specifically, I currently in the process of implementing a new document storage database to store new and existing electronic files and need to develop a clear and concise file naming system using hierarchical groupings of categories and subcategories. These categories and subcategories are only two of several attributes being used within the database to describe each document and are only intended to create general document classifications for search and retrieval.
Following are a few examples of categories and subcategories to help better understand the type of naming convention I am considering:
Contracts: lump sum, T&M, GMP, change order, change request, etc. Purchasing: work order, purchase requisition, purchase order, invoice, bid, etc. Funding/Budgets: estimate, budget, funding request, etc. Drawing: elevation, floor plan, section, detail, etc.
Any assistance or ideas would be greatly appreciated. --131.215.151.157 05:42, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Look at ISO 9000, which basically specifies that filenames should be as unintelligable as possible (no, seriously). For example, Invoices might be stored in /550/209/100/30.doc. Put a Microsoft Word document in each folder to explain what each numbered item is, instead of using meaningful file names. Ojw 22:19, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- I am a programmer. I have created hundreds of thousands of programs ... each one needs a name, which I assign when I create them. There are several rules of thumb that I use when assigning names:
- At some point a human being needs to key in identity of some computer object that they need to access ... I want them to be able to key in a few characters, instead of an extremely long string.
- As we organize objects, we want to have meaningful names.
- to satisfy the first 2 points, I very heavily develop a list of abbreviations and acronyms common to the application, that can be strung together, then a person can search directory of computer objects to find all of those which share those common naming ingredients
- There is a security dimension ... let's suppose PAY is the abbreviation for Payroll ... we can structure the security to limit the people who can access computer objects in which PAY is part of the naming.
- For example, I just started creating a bunch of programs that list stuff that have to do with the European manufacturing standard Restriction of Hazardous Materials so I am using ROHS as part of the name of all of those programs. The first program I wrote, I called ROHSVENIT meaning list the items, from what vendors, that we purchase, that need to be ROHS compliant.
- This name meets the 3 criteria I identified above ... not much to key in to get the report, is composed of abbreviations familiar to anyone in the enterprise, and works with the security if we want to restrict who may access this information.
- For example, I just started creating a bunch of programs that list stuff that have to do with the European manufacturing standard Restriction of Hazardous Materials so I am using ROHS as part of the name of all of those programs. The first program I wrote, I called ROHSVENIT meaning list the items, from what vendors, that we purchase, that need to be ROHS compliant.
AlMac|(talk) 15:52, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Dasani
In Britain, sales of the bottled water Dasani failed after it turned out to be over-priced carcinogenic tap-water. Is it the same in other countries. If so, do people know and why do they buy it?smurrayinchester 09:16, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Penn & Teller devoted one episode of their television series Bullshit! to bottled water. In it they said that a third of the bottled waters on the market failed to meet the EPA's standards for safe drinking water. The EPA is in charge, in the U.S. of course, of determining if tap water is safe for the public to drink. They also said that there are hundreds of EPA inspectors whose job it is to test tap water. The FDA, whose job is to inspect food (which is the category bottled water falls under), has less than one person to test all the drinking waters that are sold in the U.S. I don't know where they got their info for that though. Dismas|(talk) 09:34, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- There is the convenience of having it chilled and in a bottle. There are also areas of the world where the ta[ water quality is considerably below Western standards; in that case drinking bottled water can actually make sense. --Robert Merkel 11:52, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- I have no idea where Coca-Cola's Dasani and Pepsi's Aquafina come from, but I see them a lot. That's due to the marketing power of Coke and Pepsi. If Coke has an exclusive contract with a chain of fast-food places, they'll sell Dasani-brand bottled water. A lot of people will wind up with a bottle of Dasani because their sandwich meal deal came with a drink, and they didn't want soda. A Coke vending machine will have Dasani in it, not Brand X bottled water. Dasani and Aquafina also get primo shelf space at the store thanks to Coke and Pepsi. -- Mwalcoff 03:02, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Price of aluminum: historical data
Does anyone know where I can get some data over the last, oh, 10, 20, or 50 years on the price to large manufacturers of aluminum? Preferably, the source would be free, and accesible quickly. Thanks. moink 09:37, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- I'd suggest Google Answers but you would have to pay. Capitalistroadster 09:53, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- The London Metal Exchange will sell you the data for an outrageous price (GBP 40 per year of data), maybe you could try asking the Aluminium Association. Physchim62 10:48, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Wow, they really are pricey! I didn't think this information would be this hard to get, or hoarded. I mean, don't they announce the price of metals on the TV every night (well... maybe not aluminum, but still...). I am not paying thousands of pounds for a class project. moink 11:14, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- I wrote to the aluminium organization's statistical dude. I doubt he'll be helpful though, so I'm still looking for sources if anyone knows of any. moink 11:24, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You didn't specify what prices in which country you mean... the first hit in a Google search for +"aluminium price" +historical is this web site listing some interesting links. One of these links goes to a USGS page, where you can get the U.S. aluminium prices from 1850 through 1998. Other links from that Google search might also help. Lupo 12:26, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Thank you! That totally rocks! That was exactly what I was looking for. I did some google searches myself, but obviously the wrong ones. moink 12:35, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- (edit conflict) Yup, it was no typo. :-) Lupo 12:47, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Thank you! That totally rocks! That was exactly what I was looking for. I did some google searches myself, but obviously the wrong ones. moink 12:35, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You didn't specify what prices in which country you mean... the first hit in a Google search for +"aluminium price" +historical is this web site listing some interesting links. One of these links goes to a USGS page, where you can get the U.S. aluminium prices from 1850 through 1998. Other links from that Google search might also help. Lupo 12:26, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Thanks for the quick tutorial on Google! I will try to translate that information into a paragraph for the the aluminium article. Aluminium prices over the last thirty to forty years or so shouldn't depend too much on the country, as they are (usually) quoted before transport. Physchim62 15:03, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
What is the best method for trapping houseflies (homemade)?
How to build a house fly trap and what is the best bait for luring house flies into the trap?
- See http://www.makeyourown.net/Flypaper.shtml or did you want to keep them alive? Shantavira 15:02, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
This version uses two plastic bottles, one for bait and another for the trap http://www.talcuk.org/free/html/flytrap/flytrap.htm
what is the 1992 eu package holiday directive?
It is the 'EC Directive on Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours', implemented in the UK on 01/01/1993. It lays down regulations controlling the sale and performance of holiday packages sold or offered for sale. Packages are defined as the pre-arranged combination of at least two of; transport, accommodation, or other tourist services not in addition to transport or accommodation and accounts for a significant proportion of the package; when sold or offered for sale at an inclusive price and when the service covers a period of 24 hours or more or includes overnight accommodation:
It sets down information which must be given to the customer before a contract is concluded & terms which must be included in that contract. It also places a strict liability on the organiser/retailer of the package holiday for the proper performance of the obligations under the contract, regardless of whether they are to be provided by the organiser or by another. AllanHainey 09:07, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
fun places to visit
We have articles on many of them, but if you are looking for tourist information, you might want to try Wikitravel. Warofdreams talk 13:58, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Wikepedia, and the other Wiki projects are fun to explore in their own right, and educational too. Stick around and Enjoy! AlMac|(talk) 15:59, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
bank cubic metres
Bank cubic metres (bcm) is a term used in the mining industry for the volume of rock, ore, waste material etc moved by trucks, loaders, shovels and the like. I would like to know how the formula is derived and what 1 bcm actually is as a comparative measure. i.e. what is the definition/formula? Is there a website someone can direct me to for further info? I have done numerous searches on the net and come across mining pages with the terms 'bcm' and 'bank cubic metres', but nothing with an actual explanation of the term.
Thanks,Roy --202.7.190.131 14:33, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- "a traditional unit of volume in coal mining. A bank cubic meter represents the contents of a cubic meter of rock in place, before it is drilled and blasted." [5] Shimgray | talk | 15:39, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
I want to know about the commission for re-building New Orleans. I cannot find it in the articles on New Orleans or the Hurricane. In particular, I want to know who the 17 members are, and their backgrounds. Thank you.
- Mayor Ray Nagin ?? Is he on the commission?
- Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University
- Joseph C. Canizaro (multimillionaire businessman with ties to the White House)
- Donald T. Bollinger Jr (multimillionaire businessman with ties to the White House)
- David White (business executive often described as the mayor's closest confidant)
- Wynton Marsalis, musician
- Barbara Major, a black activist and executive director of St. Thomas Health Services who will serve as co-chairwoman of the commission
- Mr. White
- Daniel F. Packer, chief executive of the New Orleans subsidiary of the Entergy Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week;
- Alden J. McDonald Jr., who for 33 years has run the Liberty Bank and Trust Company, which today ranks as one of the country's five largest black-owned banks.
- Maurice L. Lagarde, a New Orleans native, who runs the Delta region for the hospital giant HCA. The commission's other co-chair.
- I can't seem to find any more - anyone got any clues? Thanks!
- "Mayor C. Ray Nagin has formed a special commission of business and community leaders to advise city officials on rebuilding. The Bring New Orleans Back Commission members are: Co-Chairs Mel Lagarde and Barbara Major, Boysie Bollinger, Kim Boyle,Cesar Burgos, Joe Canizaro, Doctor Scott Cowen, Archbishop Alfred Hughes, the Rev. Fred Luter, Wynton Marsalis, Alden McDonald, Dan Packer, Anthony Patton, Jimmy Reiss, Gary Solomon, Oliver Thomas and David White." [6] Shimgray | talk | 15:20, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- (If you're wondering, the trick I used was to pick a couple of unusual names in the set you gave and google for them together - there was a good chance that any list of names which included them both would turn out to be the complete list, and lo it did) Shimgray | talk | 15:23, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Thank you! I notice a lot of them don't have articles - is it better to start articles, or do short bios on the Bring Back New Orleans Commission page?
- I'd suggest putting short bios for each on the Commission page, and from that it should be reasonably clear which ones deserve an article anyway, in which case you can create it and start on that article... but a one-sentence description of who each is on the main page is a good idea. Shimgray | talk | 15:32, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- OK - have done - the article is starting to shape up...
REQUEST FOR NAMES OF ALL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WITH THEIR STATES, DISTRICTS, CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGE
RESPECTED SIR/MADAM
I (SHAJU CHUKKIRIYAN, PROP. OF RESURRECTION LAND)WANT NAMES OF ALL COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE STATES, DISTRICTS,
CITIES IF POSSIBLE TOWNS AND VILLAGES ALSO, FOR MY WEBSITE.
I AM REQUESTING THIS BECAUSE I FAILED TO FIND IT AND IT IS VERY VERY TIME CONSUMING.FOR I AM BUSINESS MAN WITH LOTS OF PROBLEMS.
I WILL BE VERY THANKFUL TO YOU IF YOU CAN HELP ME IN THIS MATTER.
WITH WARM REGARDS. SHAJU CHUKKIRIYAN INDIA
MY USERID IS: shajuic
MY EMAIL ID IS: shajuic@hidden.com
- shajuic@hidden.com
- List of countries will be a good start. If you click on the countries, most will have a list of sub-divisions, some have towns and villages. I am sorry to hear about your problems, hope this helps!
- I've obscured your email addresses for you
- Please don't post in all caps, it's interpreted as rude shouting and it's harder to read
- You can start at List of countries. However, a complete listing of the entire world, gratis, is likely to remain one of your problems. Perhaps you should purchase a good atlas and hire someone to transcribe it? — Lomn | Talk / RfC 15:19, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You can see our list of cities, which includes very nearly every country in the world, but does not necessarily include every city in each country. Warofdreams talk 16:28, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You might also try the CIA world fact book: [7] (or see wikipedia's article about the CIA World Factbook) --WhiteDragon 17:01, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- You need to take a class in computer literacy and/or internet navigation. You can also browse book stores for a line of books _____ this or that for Dummies ... now in reality this is not for Dummies, it is for people who want to learn the subject and are starting from scratch. It is evident from what you are asking for, and how you are asking, that you are a beginner in this infrastructure, while to survive in business, you do need to have certain essential skills, that are lacking for you, so getting a proper education is really critical.
- Visit any public library and ask for help in locating maps and atlases. These are reference materials that have existed for centuries to provide the kind of info you asking about. They are also available on the internet but since you are a busy businessman who has not yet aquired the skills to use the internet effectively, your time can be used more productively by using dead tree (paper) copies of this information.
- Within individual nations, contact publishers of directories, such as Thomas publishing to get at demographic and census details. If you do not know how to find such publishers, then ask your local Chamber of Commerce or Better Business Bureau for help.
AlMac|(talk) 16:08, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
dengue fever Costa Rica
How do I contact Costa Rica's Minister of Health ... his name ... contact info. Thank you. We are planning a wedding in Nosara on November 24, 2005, but because of the reported epidemic of dengue fever we plan to cancel and will loose all deposits etc. Thank you in advance for help in contacting the correct agengy. Nancy Fromm
- Not sure, but are you sure that you want the minister of health? Are you asking whether or not the dengue outbreak poses a large enough threat to cancel your wedding? If so, a travel clinic might be a more appropriate first port of call.
- I'll echo the above "Minister of Health is not likely who you need to contact." You could also check the Center for Disease Control's travel bulletins. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 15:25, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
this one deals specifically with this issue.
I Ching
Yo this is "Life". i am from miami i went to famu and learn alot out of school i started to lost focus. i am a rider for the cause now, but anyway here my question how or what type of questions do dead prez ask the I ching as a black male, to help make money or any questions that dead prez might ask the i Ching. i have been using the i ching for atlease 6 months.
- Sorry - could you restate the question? I'm not sure I understand.
- I have the I Ching, but i would like to Know what type of questions dead prez would ask the I Ching? being that they would have more experiance using the oracle.
- Two issues: One - which 'dead prez'? A former President? President of what? Two - what makes you think anyone here is qualified to speculate on what questions a dead president may or may not ask the I Ching?
i am sorry my wording is not perfect i was talking about Dead Prez Stic And M-1. They are the nain reason i went out and purchase the I ching so i was just wondering what type of questions they would ask.
- Dead Prez appear to be a rap duo. Their article doesn't say anything about the I Ching, and probably the only people that can answer your question are the rappers themselves, unless they've been publicly interviewed about their spiritual beliefs. I would suggest a Google search. android79 16:59, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
They do seem to have something to do with the iching though... the I Ching article says Dead Prez - an activist hip-hop group that refer to the I Ching in several of their songs. To them, the I Ching represents the change they want to bring about through revolution. The symbol in their logo is the seventh hexagram, sze, which represents an army - the "people's army".
midget pygmies
Pygmies are said to be about four feet in height (give or take). Midgets, who, from what I gather, are simply well-proportioned -- head-to-body -- dwarfs, can be as small as three feet tall. My question is whether there are any pygmies who are also midgets. Because if there were they would have to be extremely small. There may be some genetic reason why pygmies never suffer from dwarfism and hence some reason why there are no pygmy midgets. Just a thought.
Eugene Valberg [e-mail address removed]
- As a note, remember that to the majority of little people, the word "midget" is considered pejorative. The prefered term is dwarf or little person.Brian Schlosser42 17:37, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- if you look at the articles you link to, you will realize that Eugene is using "midget" for "proportionate shortness" as opposed to "dwarf" for "disproportionate shortness". IANAG (geneticist) but my guess would be that pygmies do not suffer from super-shortness, because they already have what we would call "proportionate shortness" (although from their perspective, we are rather suffering from proportionate tallness). apparently they are at the center of human expansion. But I think it would be wrong to say that humans were midgets 'originally', since homo erectus stood some 180cm tall, and the pygmies could have shrunk again after human phylogenetic separation some 200kya. Since Australopithecus was only about 120cm tall, it appears that we began to grow beyond midget size some 6Mya, with occasional relapses; if the relapse is beneficient under environmental circumstances, it will of course persist, as in the case of Homo floresiensis (100cm), and in to a lesser extent among the Pygmies (150cm) 19:20, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
From a medical perspective:
- Dwarfism is extreme shortness due to abnormalities of bone structure. There are hundreds of types of this; most cause disproportionate shortness. Achondroplasia is the most easily recognized common form. The most publicized treatment that adds several inches is limb-lengthening surgery (Ilizarov procedure).
- Extreme proportional shortness is usually the result of untreated growth hormone deficiency. William Stratton/Tom Thumb had this. Although growth hormone is a single hormone made by the pituitary gland, there many causes of deficiency. Growth hormone treatment can make a several inch difference in height. Midget is no longer used in a medical context (as mentioned above) and we prevent the really extreme degrees of proportional shortness by treating them, but it is probably fair to say that most people considered extreme midgets in the past probably had untreated GH deficiency.
- Pygmies are people with extreme proportional shortness due to a specific genetic variation. Because the gene difference is spread thoughout their population, the short stature is not considered a disease. The biological difference in the largest pygmy population, the Efe, has been reported to be reduced senitivity to insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), but this is not consdired conclusively established, as they do have a difference in the principal IGF-1 receptor gene (IGF1R). Other pygmy peoples besides the Efe are known, and may have different genetic differences.
- From a medical perspective, there are many other causes of both proportionate and disproportionate shortness than these 3 categories.
Specific replies to your questions. You make at least 2 unwarranted assumptions. First that other forms of dwarfism do not occur in pygmies. Do you have any evidence of this? As there are hundreds of types of dwarfism and a large share of many types occur due to new mutation, it would imply that the pygmies are somehow resistant to mutation. If true, it would be a discovery that would transcend entirely the issues of height. The second false assumption would be the resultant height on a pygmy who had dwarfism. It is not unusual for more than one type of shortness to occur in a child. The resultant effect is not multiplicative and is usually less than additive, as if some of the result was overlapping or redundant. alteripse 00:15, 5 October 2005 (UTC) alteripse 21:33, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
poison lizard?
are their such things? --130.111.98.16 18:17, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Yes, the Gila monster and the Mexican beaded lizard. —Wayward 18:27, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Don't forget about the Komodo Dragon, a member of the monitor lizard family, which has a strong bite and infects the wound of its prey with some of the 50 different strains of bacteria in their saliva which causes the prey to die after its release so the Komodo Dragon can eat peacefully. - Mgm|(talk) 22:07, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- It also happens to be the largest lizard in the world, according to our article on it. - Mgm|(talk) 22:08, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Don't forget about the Komodo Dragon, a member of the monitor lizard family, which has a strong bite and infects the wound of its prey with some of the 50 different strains of bacteria in their saliva which causes the prey to die after its release so the Komodo Dragon can eat peacefully. - Mgm|(talk) 22:07, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
unknown ___location
their is a tower and a factory with a sign that says york road --Clownfish 18:35, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- How unknown is this ___location? Do you know what country, or continent, or hemisphere? —Charles P. (Mirv) 20:28, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
who killed cock robin?
it was a story but who killed cock robin --130.111.98.16 18:44, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- The sparrow. Want to know what he used? —Charles P. (Mirv) 20:10, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Or were you thinking of Jean Craighead George's Who Really Killed Cock Robin? In that the culprit was . . . actually, I don't remember. Not the butler, though, nor the first suspect. —Charles P. (Mirv) 20:25, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
Which buttons insert shapes,objects, and drawings
- Which buttons where? Wikipedia? Microsoft Word? Inkscape? Flash? ☢ Kieff | Talk 22:09, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- Perhaps Wikipedia:Images is helpful? --bodnotbod 23:56, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I suspect the questioner is using some software application, which needs to be identified, but if it is any good it came with some kind of clickable HELP section, which can be navigated like any decent on-line manual, to find out the process to do inserts. AlMac|(talk) 16:19, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Capitol one commercials
Who is the man that David Spade always picks on? --169.244.143.115 21:21, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- The actor's name is Nate Torrence. —Wayward 21:54, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
Police Officers Per Capita
Where can I find a resource which will give statistics about police per capita? My city has 1,000 police officers. It has been suggested that we increase this force. I am searching for statistics which will help me put the size of our police force in perspective.
Thanks to all.
216.31.117.22 22:08, 4 October 2005 (UTC)J O
- If you are in Australia, the Productivity Commission puts out such statistics yearly as part of a comparison of the efficiency and effectiveness of State and Territory Governments in performing their functions. This report is called the Report on Government Services and is available for download here. [8]. Capitalistroadster 01:22, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- You seem to be in New Mexico - I'd advise contacting the New Mexico Sheriffs' and Police Association and see if they have any ideas, or can give you someone to speak to. Alternately, look up phone numbers for the police force in cities about the same size as yours in the state (or in nearby states), give them a call and ask how large their force is - that'll give you an idea if you're high or low compared to similar cities. Shimgray | talk | 14:46, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- The FBI and US Department of Justice publish statistics like this, or have links to them, and I would not be surprised if it is also in the Census since they publish oodles of statistics. There are also various law enforcement associations. I guess one issue would have to do with what is the appropriate ratio vs. the overall population like how many police persons per thousand population, is smart for a community, and what is the size of the community? AlMac|(talk) 16:22, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
how tall is a hurricane?
no one has ever said how tall a hurricane is. so, in laymens terms, how tall are they usually? 64.12.116.73 22:48, 4 October 2005 (UTC) karen in florida
- From this, I'd say that's about 18 km (11 miles) [9] — Lomn | Talk / RfC 13:03, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
names of hurricanes that we skipped
how come we don't use every letter of the alphabet when we name our hurricanes? or am I missing something? 64.12.116.73 22:54, 4 October 2005 (UTC) karen in florida
- See Hurricane - Naming_of_tropical_cyclones and/or Lists of tropical cyclone names. --Tagishsimon (talk)
- Karen,
In fact, our 2005 Atlantic hurricane season shows that every name allocated between Tropical Storm Arlene and Hurricane Stan has been used so far. However, in the case of tropical storms they only received coverage in local broadcasts in contrast with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which had extensive coverage around the world. Capitalistroadster 01:30, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- The letters Q, U, X, Y, and Z are not used for naming hurricanes because there are too few given names that start with those letters to add to the name lists. --Metropolitan90 07:00, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Location of new minister in Edmonton
I am looking for a contact for the Rev.Dave Guzzwell from Newfoundland who recently moved to Edmonton John Waller box 213 Brigus NL A0A 1K0.142.163.9.65 23:47, 4 October 2005 (UTC)
- A Google search came up with noone by that name in Edmonton. However it did appear to show that he was in the United Church. The United Church locator in Canada says that there are 27 churches in Alberta [10]. I would try sending an email or letter to each of these churches saying you are looking for Reverend Guzzwell. I suspect you will soon find him if he is there.Capitalistroadster 01:40, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Vice President
Does a Vice Presidential selection ever need Senate approval?
- Assuming you are asking about the situation in the US, the answer to your question is: not normally, but if a Vice President dies or resigns in office the replacement must be approved by both houses of Congress. An explanation is contained contained in the article Vice President of the United States and in more detail in Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. --Robert Merkel 04:57, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Dreamworks
What does "SKG" mean under the Dreamworks logo?
- See the DreamWorks article. —Wayward 05:14, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I'm feeling nice. Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. Brian Schlosser42 15:25, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
WP awards
Is there a page where I can see all the various barnstars and such that are bandied about or do you have to just learn them by seeing them on various user pages? Qaz (talk) 07:55, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Start with Wikipedia:Barnstar and see if that gives you what you're looking for. Dismas|(talk) 08:13, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Wikipedia Reference Desk
Skim reading through this page, a lot of the questions appear to be poorly phrased, meaning less or could be solved simply by reading the article. Just out of curiousity, what percentage of the questions on this page are well enough written to answer properly? (I know I am probably opening a can of worms, here!) smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 09:00, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I don't know any exact numbers but I'm afraid the percentage of worthwile questions is too low. - Mgm|(talk) 09:55, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
On a related note, it appears that the regularly recurring ALLCAPS questions (in spite of clear instructions on top of this page) frequently are asked by South Asians / Indians. Is this some cultural thing? Are ALLCAPS texts common in India, or is this connected with unfamiliarity with the Latin alphabet, which would make capital letters easier to read (because they are learned first)? 130.60.142.65 10:35, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Hindi at least, and I'm assuming any script language does not have a distinction between upper and lower case. To them it's not something they're likely to think much about. As for people asking poorly phrased questions and not reading the instructions, I think that's just the breaks for how the reference desk in a wide open Wiki is going to go. Ask for clarification, provide as much detail as you feel like, and don't sweat it. Otherwise provide as many links to our articles as possible and call it even. - Taxman Talk 14:24, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
I have never seen a response when clarification to the question is requested. And only once did I spot a thank you to an answered question. Perhaps, ppl post and forget. lots of issues | leave me a message 12:25, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I think there may still be an assumption that the question has to fit entirely in the small title box. I also sense that a lot of people lose their question once they've asked it. Is there a way we can make things easier for unfamiliar users? --bodnotbod 00:03, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Another thing I've noticed is that the Help Desk seems to get more misc questions than the reference desk! I suppose no-one reads the messages about which desk to use, multiple postings, ALLCAPS etc. What might work is if questions could be given sub-pages, with this page becoming a list of question titles. It would help people track their question, and shorten this very long page. It's a pain putting the desk in a watchlist, since everytime anyone changes any question, the watchlist comes up with a new entry. Therefore, it is very rare to find that the flagged change is the one to your question. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 09:58, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Y"all might also like to visit the Talk page on this (click on discussion very top of this page), and perhaps contribute to some threads there. AlMac|(talk) 16:27, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- Is there a way we can make things easier for unfamiliar users?
- One thing I would like to see in the future ... after the person has entered their question, up pops a link that they are invited to cut & paste, or place in favorite places. This is link to THEIR question so they can check back in a few hours, or a day or two to see if anyone has answered it. The accompanying text would say that because of the large number of people posting questions, it can be difficult for you to locate your question, and its answers, so here is a link to make it easy. Hopefully the link would still work (redirect) after the content has been archived. AlMac|(talk) 16:44, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Canadian terminology
Okay, this is a weird one.
I'm currently writing a good chunk of fairly formal text about Canada, focusing on differences between certain aspects of the provinces and territories. This, sadly, entails writing "provinces and territories" a lot, which gets rather annoying for the reader (not to mention the writer!). Is there a one-word term used to describe these - "regions", say? Several sources seem to used "provinces" as a catch-all, but that seems to be asking for confusion. Shimgray | talk | 11:31, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Not weird at all. Since it is a formal paper, you have an option of defining any terminology you might use for clarity. For the purposes of this paper, the term "regions" or "regions of Canada" will denote both the formal provincial and territorial jurisdictions of Canada. Where necessary, the terms "provinces" and "territories" will be used for further clarity where any distinction between the two is necessary. --216.191.200.1 14:26, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I really only run with it for a couple of paragraphs and then it becomes readable again - it doesn't seem worth defining terms for just those, but I guess I can stick a footnote in (it's formal, yes, but I don't want to make it sound too turgid) - the differences are between individual regions rather than "provinces v. territories". I really just wanted to know if there was a standard term, since it's generally preferable to use that (and you never know when the reader will turn out to speak Canadian!) Shimgray | talk | 14:34, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Most Canadians would, I think, use 'Regions of Canada' to mean groups of provinces, such as Atlantic Canada. You might want to say that you will use provinces to include territories unless otherwise specified. Of course as long as you define your meaning it won't matter. DJ Clayworth 14:45, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I'm Canadian and I've never encountered a term which refers to "provinces and territories" while growing up. The meaning has always been unambiguous based on the context. --216.191.200.1 14:49, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Perhaps you could say, "The term 'provinces' in this document refers to both provinces and territories unless otherwise noted." The US Code sometimes uses a similar trick with the District of Columbia, saying that for the purposes of a particular statute, the term "state" includes DC. -- Mwalcoff 02:57, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- The best example of this definition I've yet run across, incidentally, is the New Jersey legal code:
- State. The word "State" extends to and includes any State, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Canal Zone. (1:1-2)
- I can't help but feel they should get around probably to fixing that bit one day... Shimgray | talk | 14:03, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- The best example of this definition I've yet run across, incidentally, is the New Jersey legal code:
From the Help desk
Hey everyone. An anonymous user User_talk:164.83.99.83 posted this header at the help desk:
"florida/what is florida's major attractionand landmark"
Maybe you Wikipedians can help out and decipher what question is being asked? Thanks for your help, and have an excellent day! --216.191.200.1 14:17, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- I'm pretty sure that Florida's most popular tourist attraction is the Walt Disney World Resort. --Metropolitan90 14:23, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Nicknames
Why is William called Bill and Richard called Dick?
- William shortens to Will changes to Bill (or -> Willy -> Billy).
- Richard is a little more complex; it was originally pronounced with a bit of a k as Ricard (Ric-hard rather than Rich-ard). This shortened to Ric(k) easily, and then to Dick.
- Consider also Robert -> Rob -> Bob, for another example of the same thing. Shimgray | talk |
I think the hard part of the question is why the initial consonants changed, since that doesn't happen when most names are converted to diminutives or familiars. I don't know the answer to that. alteripse 15:28, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- William already changed - previously Guilliame ("gwu-" to "wih-"), so it's not that far-fetched. I believe there's a term for this, but IANALinguist. Shimgray | talk | 16:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- The Rick -> Dick is just an alveolar approximant becoming a voiced alveolar plosive, so the only difference between the two initial sounds is the manner of articulation. Will -> Bill makes some sense too as /w/ (Labial-velar approximant) and /b/ (Voiced bilabial plosive) are very similar (only slightly different manners of articulation and slightly different places of articulation). — Laura Scudder | Talk 21:36, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
http://www.critchley.ca/Images/Unknown%20Building.jpg what is this
Help
- It sure looks like that's the Golden Gate Bridge off to the left, and the scenery in the background sure looks like Marin and Tiburon. So that would suggest it's the state prison at Alcatraz, and indeed it looks to me like the main cell block there. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:35, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- On looking further at some maps, it's not the cellblock. It's a building on the west of the island, which this map seems to say is the "new infirmary building". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:46, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Trucks killer
the movie with emilio estavez killer trucks what is it? ADD IT TO WIKIPEDIA [[ ]]
what IS IT?
The film is Maximum Overdrive, based on the Stephen King short story Trucks; King also directed the film. android79 16:05, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
fleece gem
on a fleece there is a gem on the zipper like its crystal silver with black anyone know? --169.244.143.115 16:50, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- If you're asking what the "gem" is made of, it's probably polymethyl methacrylate (perspex). Shantavira 18:25, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
PLAYS
IS THERE ANY HISTORICAL BASIS FOR HAMLET
Hamlet might be able to tell you, and if this is for a homework assignment, I suggest you not type it in ALL CAPS. android79 18:58, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Our Hamlet (legend) discusses the possible historical origins of the character in depth. Capitalistroadster 04:55, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
COMEDY
WHAT ARE THE NAMES OF THE THREE STOOGES
- Larry, Moe, Curly, Shemp... uh, et al. See Three Stooges. Frencheigh 19:21, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
leather
We have a pretty good article on Leather. Go read it and come back if you have any question the article doesn't answer. - Mgm|(talk) 21:01, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Dungeons and dragons
Very interesting that you have knoledge of the whole colection of dungeons and dragons cartoon series... Where could i GET THE WHOLE COLLECTION OF IT ?
- Amazon.com? Dismas|(talk) 20:24, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
how important was america in bringing an end to the first world war
(no question apart from title)
As far as I can determine from the World War I article, the war was primarily a European one. The United States didn't play much of a role in it. The War was ended after the signing of the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles (the latter was never officially ratified by the US). They're biggest involvement was that they declared war on Austria-Hungary on December 7, 1917. So I'd say they added to the war continuing rather than it ending. - Mgm|(talk) 21:10, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- If nothing else, the US contributed a psychological edge to the Allied Powers simply by virtue of the manpower at hand. Germany decided that continuing the war was fruitless (as opposed to World War II, where it was outright overrun) and this no doubt played *some* role in altering the balance of power. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 21:40, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- There was the manpower issue. Germany, England and France were pretty much "bled white" - they had lost most of a generation in the trenches and fought one-another to a stand-still. America was able to mobilise huge manpower resources, and even though many of them arrived at the front badly trained and badly equipped, they tipped the balance of power. Once America entered the war it was just a matter of time before Germany surrendered. Guettarda 23:02, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- To be more exact, the U.S. did more than declare war on Austria-Hungary (and they declared war on Germany before that). At the end of the war the U.S. had 2 million soldiers deployed in Europe and had taken 360,300 casualties including 116,516 deaths. Rmhermen 14:05, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- I believe that the supply of material by the US to the other Allies was also significant. DJ Clayworth 15:58, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
music
who are echo and the bunnymen
Food
Are the tops of carrots and parsnips edible?22:15, 5 October 2005 (UTC)~
- Yes. They aren't poisonous and they do have some nutritional value, but they don't taste very good either. Parsnip leaves are only edible when they're young, I think. Both can cause extreme sensitivity to sunlight in some people. —Charles P. (Mirv) 22:41, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Mysterious Wicca Wikipedia Connection
When I think Wiki as in the Pedia, I think of Wicca as in witchcraftia. Is there a bizzare twist in linkeage? The founder of the wikiP-society heritage? Like a worship of Mother Nature to a worship of Motherboard--Internet Horde?
(*It may be silly of me to think there's a link, and even more so silly to try to botch my question in a pseudo-poem)
- Wiki is a word, Hawaiian I believe. It's been some time since I've read that article. Dismas|(talk) 22:25, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
- Uh-oh. This rumored connection is growing in popularity. See WP:RD/L. Superm401 | Talk 22:51, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
I promise you that if there were the vaguest whiff of wicca connection here, most of us would be out of here before you could say whatever the inane thing they say is. alteripse 23:00, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
USD100,000 note
Dear sir,
Please can you enlighten me the wordings of the notes, I could not read all the words.front and back.Pls enlarge it.
Many thanks Tin LONDON E-mail :<removed>
- Please see the entry on Large denomination bills in U.S. currency. Dismas|(talk) 23:02, 5 October 2005 (UTC)
Hamsterball on Xbox Live Arcade: Multiplayer levels, where to find "secret areas".
I need help finding the "secret areas" used for unlocking multiplayer deathmatch levels in the game Hamsterball. Post the areas you found here, first the level, then where to find it. Please help I'm addicted to this game but I can't find the multiplayer levels, I found one accidentally but can't find any others.
Expert: This happens after the second set of strong fans. You go down a ramp towards the camera, then go down another ramp away from the camera, but before you go down that second ramp, run off the corner with your hamster/hamsterball, in the middle of the two ramps, and you should float on a grey square with a lock on it. Roll over the little grey square and it will turn red, unlocking the multiplayer deathmatch level "Expert".
Note: You must be playing a tournament on normal or frenzied mode to even be able to see the square, if not, you're just waisting your time. ( Then again, everyone that plays this game is sort of just waisting their time. )
A list of Postmasters
I found a site sometime ago about the first Postmaster in Dibble, OK and now I lost it does anyone know where I might look?
Gas Mileage
If i lose weight, will i get better gas mileage on my car?
- Yes, you will, but the difference will likely be so small as to be hardly noticeable. Say the typical automobile weighs about 3300 pounds (an SUV will be much heavier, a minicar like a Ford Focus will be somewhat lighter). Now let's say you weigh 180 pounds now and 150 pounds after your weight-loss program. The difference in the mass of the car with you in it will have gone from 3480 to 3450 pounds, a difference of less than 1%. And, of course, the wind resistance of the vehicle is unaffected by your weight loss. Of course, the greater the weight loss, the bigger the difference; if you lost 200 lbs you may well make a noticeable difference to your car's economy.
- Some simple ways to improve your car's mileage can be found all over the internet, for instance here. A really easy one that many people simply don't do is check your tires regularly to make sure that they are at the correct pressure.
- Note that if you walk or ride a bicycle instead of driving you can help yourself to lose weight *and* save on fuel bills :)--Robert Merkel 03:50, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
London's doubledecker
Why is the doubledecker in London red?
- Our Buses in London is quite detailed but doesn't discuss this. The article on the famous Routemaster doubledecker bus doesn't explain either or our article on Double-decker bus. I will put something on the talk page. Capitalistroadster 05:05, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- I doubt whether there is a specific reason apart from the fact that it's a corporate colour (early London tube trains were also red). In attracting customers, buses work best if they're brightly coloured. Shantavira 08:33, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- It's all for identity. In fact, one of the conditions of getting a London Bus franchise is that at least 80% of the bus must be red. 09:37, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
what is an alter ego?
Alter = "other", ego = "I" (literally "other I", in latin). See alter ego ☢ Kieff | Talk 04:01, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Put Wikipedia Search on my page
How do i put a wikipedia search function on my webpage? I saw some webpage before with forms to type in a search, and pressing the search will take them directly to the corresponding wikipedia page. Thanks in advance
- Here's a code you can use. At Wikipedia:Banners and buttons there's images you can use with it. - Mgm|(talk) 08:23, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
<form action="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search" id="searchform"> <table style="background-color : #000000; float : right;"> <tr><td><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org">Wikipedia</a> search:<br /></td></tr> <tr><td><input accesskey="f" type="text" name="search" id="searchInput" /><br /></td></tr> <tr><td><input value="Go" type="submit" name="go" class="searchButton" /> <input value="Search" type="submit" name="fulltext" class="searchButton" /></td></tr> </table> </form>
- Or if you're looking for a "bookmark" try this link. --hydnjo talk 20:56, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Coldest average sea touching the UK
I need to know what sea, that touches the United Kingdom, has the lowest average temperature. I have tried to figure out this question for the past two weeks without any luck.
Thank you!
Nicole
Cold Temperature
It is possible to Die instantly when it gets down to certain temperature?
- I would have thought not. Ittakes time for the heat to leave your body. As the outside temperature get's lower, that time will shorten, but it'll never go to zero. Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 04:54, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- If you see process of freezing of human body from the movie "Day after tomorrow", chances are it's grossly over-dramatized. The human body has the average temperature of 36 celcius. Now consider this, if you take a glass of lukewarm water, and put it immedietely in freezer and close it for 3 minutes. Does the water freezes immedietly? No. So same goes to the human body.
- But in The Day After Tomorrow, it was far colder than 0°C ... I don't have the DVD to hand to check it, cause I'm in work, but it was something like -150°C, due to atmospheric inversion or somesuch. That would freeze you pretty darn quickly. Proto t c 08:46, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Well, yes, if it is cold enough, but really, it would have to be very, very cold, far colder than any temperatures you're likely to find outside of a lab or a sci-fi movie.
- The lowest temperature you could possibly get is Absolute zero - 273*C (and even this is not actually possible) and surely even that would take time to reach vital organs. Robmods 18:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Which are the most popular brands wine
- I think you'll have to be more specific to get a useful answer. The most popular in which country? (Tastes vary) And do you mean by grape variety or by region? We have several articles on wine so you will might find what you are looking for there. Shantavira 08:51, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
The Great Lakes
Is it possible for ocean-borne freighters to reach ports (such as Chicago) on the Great Lakes? I recall that in colonial times, ships went up a river to reach them or something, but I wouldn't think that was possible with modern super-freighters. So, is there access between the Atlantic and the lakes, or are ships manufactured at the lakes trapped within them forever?
- Our Great Lakes article explains that the Great Lakes became accessible from the ocean once the St Lawrence Seaway started operating in the 19th century. However, some vessels are restricted due to not being able to fit through the locks. Capitalistroadster 06:41, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Lake freighter talks about lock sizes and ocean, seaway, and laker dimensions a bit. In short: Most ocean-going freighters are too large for the Seaway, as are some lake freighters, but many lakers are built to Seawaymax size specifically in order to traverse the St. Lawrence. — File:Ontario trillium sig.pngmendel ☎ 16:29, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
12th anniversary
what is the another name for 12th annversary, e.g 75 years is called platinum anniversary?
- According to this website it's silk (or possibly agate). Shantavira 08:42, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
paistan's services sector
sir i want to know the numerical information about the services sector of paistan. im not finding the right topic can u plz help me?
- I assume you mean Pakistan, you could start there. AllanHainey 12:20, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Our Economy of Pakistan article should provide some information as well. Capitalistroadster 06:48, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Rugby/American Football
Which is more dangerous? American Football has harder tackles, but Rugby has less body armour? smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 09:43, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Not an answer, but some thoughts:
- When you say "dangerous" what precisely do you mean. Risk of "injury"? Risk of "serious" injury for some definition of serious? Risk of death?
- American football has a far greater differentiation between player roles than rugby does; my meagre understanding of American football suggests that punt kickers and quarterbacks are rarely tackled and thus are at comparatively little risk of contact injury. So averages are probably a somewhat misleading comparison.
- There's two forms of rugby, rugby union and rugby league, with significantly different rules.
- Do you mean at elite level, or lower standards of play?
- American football is played at elite level only in the US, Canada and, to a small extent, in a couple of European countries. Rugby is played at an elite level in members of the British Commonwealth (with the notable exception of Canada), France, Argentina, and maybe Italy. I imagine most comparative studies of sports injuries are conducted at a national level - I know there's one annually done in Australia - and so it's going to be difficult to find a study that has information for both American football and rugby.
- Who cares? Everybody knows that, in the words of a famous song around my parts, "when you line them up together, the footy wins hands down." ;-) --Robert Merkel 10:50, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- A bit of a correction. Quarterbacks are actually tackled somewhat often. Any player who holds the ball can expect to be tackled at some point, even punters, theoretically. Kickers and offensive linemen rarely if ever hold the ball and do not get tackled; however, many offensive linemen get injured while blocking defensive linemen and get their legs caught in unnatural positions, and it seems that more and more kickers are pulling muscles these days. Defensive players rarely get tackled either, unless they intercept a pass or recover a fumble; because they make most of the tackles, however, they do suffer from their share of injuries. --Maxamegalon2000 14:08, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Rugby has no body armour apart from the wee rubber head protectors some wear (nothing like a helmet though) so I'd say there is greater risk of injury playing rugby. I'm not sure that American Football necessarily has harder tackles either, although they may need to be harder to knock someone off his feet while encased in all that padding. AllanHainey 12:16, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- I can recall a couple of cases of people dying (through neck/spinal injury) in rugby league. This rarely occurs, and these cases were at the ameteur level. That meets my defintion of dangerous, do people die in American football? --Commander Keane 12:47, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- American football was very dangerous (too many people dying) until Theodore Roosevelt insisted that the universities the game was being played at changed the rules. This led to the creation of the NCAA. Deaths from injuries sustained during gameplay have been pretty much eliminated by now, although this last preseason a member of the San Francisco 49ers died from a heart ailment, and a few years ago, Korey Stringer died from heat stroke, causing a league-wide concern with praticing in high temperatures. I can't even remember any players becoming really seriously paralyzed recently; even that one Detroit Lion stunned everybody by walking up to a podium at a press conference. I'm sure someone can remember more names that I am. --Maxamegalon2000 14:08, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
The Detroit Lions player that was paralyzed was Mike Utley. In the early 90's an LSU football player died from complications of paralyzation a few years after his injury. A handful of other NFL and Collegiate American Football players have also been paralyzed at least temporarily in the alst 10 years. one name I remember is Dennis Byrd who had a movie (Rise and Walk) made about his ordeal. -Drdisque 16:47, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- This article (admittedly from the NFL's own website) says that (American) football is substantially more likely than other youth recreational activities to cause minor injuries but not much more likely to cause serious injuries. I doubt rugby was one of the other activities, since few people in American play rugby. Football, especially played at the professional level, is, a very brutal sport, however. Literally every player on an NFL team (except maybe the placekicker and the emergency quarterback) suffers some degree of injury during the year, and people who play pro football for several years often wind up with big health problems when they retire. -- Mwalcoff 23:48, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
ESKIMO X'S
Do eskimos (or to use a more p.c term- inuits) always kiss with their noses??? And if they do, do you think maybe they find this boring. They can't seriously spend a long time kissing in this way or their noses would go sore... Skooky 10:24, 6 October 2005 (UTC) 10:12, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- The eskimo 'kissing' is actually just a greeting (not sure whether it is actually real though or made up) not a courtship activity. AllanHainey 12:19, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Really? So they kiss like we do i guess then... Skooky 13:47, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Inuit greet each other by pressing faces, possibly because gloved hands make handshakes difficult, in arctic conditions, the face is the only exposed body part.
fluffyness
My friends hannah has beautiful curly hair but she thinks it always goes frizzy. does anyone know what she should do with it? is there any products she could use. ps. my friend laura thinks she has boring straight hair but it is also very beautiful. however, she would also like to know what to do with it. any suggestions for a style of cut etc? To make a point to this and actually ask a question- what is better; curly hair or straight hair??? Skooky 10:22, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
For the curly hair a good thing is john frieda's Frizzease. Put a dollop about a quarter size on wet hair and put through and let dry natural. For the straight hair short cuts are great. Look at Keira Knightley in the movie Dominoe - thats a good cut.
- No, King Arthur! THAT's good hair!
- I believe the movie in question is spelled Domino. --Maxamegalon2000 21:24, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Forget the movies, just look at Keira... Nightly... She could be wearing a burlap sack and she would still look good. Dismas|(talk) 22:10, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Have you considered consulting one of the teen magazines, or maybe Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Vogueor Harper's Bazaar? They tend to be far better informed on this kind of thing than the regulars here. If you still need help, maybe your friend should consult a good hairdresser - it's their job to help people choose a hair style that suits their face, body, and personality. --Robert Merkel 08:04, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
How Many Submersible Water Pumps Are Sold In New York State Every Month?
I am looking for verifiable data on the sales of submersible water pumps sold in New York State every year
thank you
- Well, I doubt that there are any collated records of pump sales by state, since many private companies most likely sell these, and probably do not publish their records. You might get some indication by figuring out who the largest retailers of pumps are, and hoping that they are publicly traded, then figuring out their annual turnover in submersible pumps from published records. Frankly, it's going to be difficult. If you wanted to let us know why you want this information, there may be some easier way to get what you need.
Disaster prediction in the USA?
Some people predicted the New Orleans disaster - is there anyone who is doing systematic analysis of the likelihood of different disasters (natural, manmade etc) in the USA by ___location, probability, probable impact etc? Thanks!
- In theory that should probably be FEMA, shouldn't it? DJ Clayworth 15:47, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Yes, although God help us if it is, but I can't find anything on their site about it. I am sure there must be others, but cannot find them... Thanks.
- Insurance companies, surely? I bet there is a direct relation between the premiums they charge and their assessment of the likelihood of disaster.--Fangz 16:46, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Probably, but I bet they don't publish the info, also, there are a lot of other factors like cost of property, crime etc.
- There are many organizations, government, academic, research, profit, non-profits, that do this kind of analysis within the different areas of risk
- Weather prediction
- I think this is getting to be extremely accurate. They have a storm track, predicting where something will strike the coastline. They may be off by a few miles, and a few hours, but if you evacuate a few days before it hits, you will be Ok. The people in trouble are those who wait until a day or two before it hits, because all of them end up in a humongous traffic jam.
- Earthquake prediction
- I think the state of art here is that all they can do is show where there is some probability of an earthquake occurring, not really when the next one will strike.
- Low risk stuff where risk is not zero, such as Super volcano or giant rock from space hit Planet Earth
- Outside threats to National Security
- I think the government is slowly managing to do a better job in managing the information, as we can see from current news about the New York Subway system for example. It came out in the 9/11 investigations, that in the daily intellibence briefings to the President, there was a warning that a terrorist attack by bin Laden's organization was imminent in the USA, directed against the air transportation industry, but somehow no one got around to telling the FAA about this.
- New kinds of malware
- Weather prediction
- If you get to the references that talk about various disasters such as Hurricane Katrina there are links to some of these places, and they link to each other.
AlMac|(talk) 16:38, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
game of 11/25/34
Dear Sir or Madame; I have a picture with signatures from 11/25/34 game between the Americans and the Japanese. Its copyright date is 1976 by Flash Back Pictures, Inc. I am wondered how to find out its value, how many were produced, etc. Any information you can provide me would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Judy
- You probably need to see an appraiser. You didn't specify what kind of game, either, which isn't that helpful. If it is copyright 1976, you'd want to ask whether or not it is an original or not, which likely matters a lot in assessing the value of it. You'd have to give us more information if we were to get any information on this -- I have almost no idea what you are describing. --Fastfission 19:30, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
legal requierements
What are the legal requirements to start a business in jamaica.
- A good place to start might be the Jamaica Business Development Center [11]
Bank of England 10 Shillings
I have a Bank of England 10 Shillings note. I wanted to know if it can be dated by the serial number.
Thank you,Bobby.
- The quickest way to get a rough date is to look at the picture on the front - if it shows Britannia it's 1928-60, if the Queen 1960-70. You can also date to a few years by the signature of the Chief Cashier - Bank of England has a list of the cashiers with their dates - this should be good enough for most purposes. I assume they can be dated by serial number, but don't have any references to hand telling me what the number sequences are - perhaps try a good library for a banknotes-collector book? Shimgray | talk | 16:53, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Good Burger
What fictional Florida city is "Good Burger" set in?
- This has been asked already in the last week. Please check previous elsewhere on this page or the other Reference desk pages linked at the top of this page. DJ Clayworth 15:32, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
It's not on this page, or any of the other subject pages - any idea where it is? Good Burger does not say either, nor does the IMD.
It's basically astroturfing. Way too many questions about one movie. Lets do the google association thing and make sure that everywhere it says Good Burger, it also says astroturfing. :) - Taxman Talk 17:49, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- OK, but what town is it?
- Good Burger is eight years old? Why would anyone want to astroturf it? Unless a DVD is coming out. If we're going to do the google association, let's associate it to "crappiest movie of all time". Hey, there's a start. DJ Clayworth 17:50, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
population census of Middletown, California
Hello:
I'm curious about the number of tourists Middletown, California sees as any given time during the year, particularly during the summer months. I'm also intersted (if you even have these statistics), the number of medical clinics in the Middletown area and the number of doctors that serve the Middletown area.
Would you happen to have this information?
Just in case you are able to answer the above questions, please send your reply to: <deleted>
Thank you,
Ulin Sargeant
- My suggestion would be to check with the Middletown town offices or chamber of commerce. They may have the information that you seek. Dismas|(talk) 20:35, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Fictional Locations in Soap Operas
Can you give me a list of fictional Florida locations in soap operas?
- Probably not, I really doubt that anyone has indexed them in this way... List of fictional places and List of soap operas might be good places to start though.
Two black mute insane sisters
I heard some kind of article on the net a couple of years ago which stuck with me. It was about two black sisters who did not speak to anyone but each other for all of their lives. eventually they went to live in a hospital until one sister died and the other finally started talking to people and wrote a book about her and her sisters experiences. This is not a movie but a real life thing. Do you know anything about it?
- The BBC made a docudrama about them, which is much as you describe - except I don't think they were actually insane (just a bit weird). I think the belief was they did talk all the time, but only to one another. I can't really remember their names either, but I can confirm you didn't imagine it. I'm almost certain the two were English. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:07, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- I think this is another instance (they're neither black nor british) but there was a film, Poto and Cabengo, made about twin sisters Ginny (Virginia) and Grace Kennedy, twin sisters who shared an invented language. Just in case it sparks a remembrance. (other terms to search "autonomous languages of twins" - This article claims that 40% of twins have them.) - Nunh-huh 22:55, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- June and Jennifer Gibbons. It truely boggles my gourd but wikipedia does seem to have everything. MeltBanana 23:08, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Name of spider
(no question)
- Which spider? - Mgm|(talk) 19:53, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- One spider was named Charlotte. — File:Ontario trillium sig.pngmendel ☎ 16:26, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Incy-Wincy Spider? smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 19:51, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Please let me know the meaning of these words:
Hi, this is related to business issues but i did find out how i could ask questions there so i put here. maybe you could let know that too. anyway pls let me know the meaning of the following acronyms which are used in a business quotation:(these are related to bank and LC and shipping phrases. this is all the help that i can give)
rgds, eve
- Many acronyms have several meanings. You may find this link helpful. --hydnjo talk 20:31, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
Food in scotland
What do people in scotland have for breakfast lunch and dinner?
- Usually food. Other times, haggis. - Nunh-huh 22:17, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Today, for breakfast lunch and dinner I had a pizza. Admittedly, I only got up at two in the afternoon. Yesterday, I had some pasta and then fish and chips. I can't remember the last time I actually ate breakfast. Shimgray | talk | 22:23, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- One would start the day with a deep-fried Mars bar, for lunch one would have an Arbroath Smokie washed down with Irn-Bru, and then one would try to catch sufficient haggis for tea. If a more varied diet is required, see Scottish cuisine. --Gareth Hughes 22:50, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
- Probably the same as most people in the UK or USA, with a few regional variations, we don't all eat haggis regularly, though I do have porridge for breakfast & drink Irn-Bru. AllanHainey 07:17, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- But don't forget the deep frying! Shimgray | talk | 11:38, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Isn't Scotch whisky considered "food"? --hydnjo talk 16:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Of course not - water isn't food! (Beer, now, the beer is food...) Shimgray | talk | 17:03, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
please help me locate relevant law
Hello,
I have searched your online files and cannot seem to find the specific material I am seeking. I have combed the intellectual property sections and links to it that you have and still need some help. If you can tell me where to look this would be wonderfu.
I am trying to get at two things:
1) non-profit employees' rights to use their own work-products, specifically writing and research.
2) restrictions on directors of non-profits in using what employees write and putting their own names on it as the authors of it.
3) restrictions non-profits put on employees in the conflict of interest area, keeping those employees from speaking and publishing on material that they develop a) outside of that non-profit b) within that non-profit c) both outside and within that non-profit at the same time
In all cases mentioned above, the work of the non-profit is in the social issues area and is publically funded by the state of california.
Thanks, bbbb
- I think you're going to need to make a trip to your local law library. They are usually accessible to the public for short bits of research and the reference librarian can help direct you to relevant laws. You'll have to figure out if it is a state issue or a federal one. Other than that you would need to consult a qualified IP attorney. - Taxman Talk 13:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Everything depends on the exact law and where you are, and I am now a lawyer, but:
- I expect that non-profit companies function much the same as for-profit companies with regard to ownership. If you did some work, research or programming or writing, as part of your employment then the company owns the products. They can choose whether or not you can use it.
- Again because you did the work for the company, they can publish your work as their work and not name you as author. Naming a director as author might be more tricky; you'd need a lawyer for that.
- No opinion.
- Actually, #1 only applies if the work is actually work for hire. A basic rule might be: did you sign any official contract or agreement before you started working? If you did, look at that first and see what it says. If you didn't, the odds are you aren't legally bound to anything, though you might want to make sure there was no implicit understanding otherwise. More problematic than IP law in this case will be non-profit law -- I don't know if it risks putting the non-profit status of the organization in danger if you use your time on it to develop things that you later use in for-profit enterprise. But I have no idea on that for sure. You might try checking whatever federal or state law gives the particular organization its not-for-profit tax status. --Fastfission 19:15, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Another aspect of # 1 is if you were working and not being paid, like in some volunteer capacity, and you created something of value for that organization, can you then, legally use the same work effort product to help some other similar organization?
- Generally if you were paid to do some work, then the work belongs to the person who paid for the work to be done, not to the person who did the work. There may be some exceptions for some professions, but they better have some contract in writing specifically stating that they have ownership rights to their work product that is an exception to the general rule of it being owned by the organization that paid for the work to be done. AlMac|(talk) 04:35, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- With respect to # 2, there are some professional standards, that may not be formal legislative rules, but rather controlled by the professional associations. Like in academia, if you are caught doing plagarism, you get an educational death sentence, you are now black listed from any further opportunities for more education or employment in higher education, because plagarism is the worst crime there, because it is about the only crime that higher education can punish people for doing.
- There are similar standards in the news business ... if a reporter or writer is found to have generated material that was not written by them, but swiped from someone else, or ghost written by someone else, then that person is black listed from that profession for all time.
- There have also been law suits alleging theft of intellectual property.
- So # 2 is really a civil matter not a criminal matter. The injured party needs to be able to prove that plagarism occurred.
- With respect to # 3 this varies greatly by profession, for example suppose you were an engineer, and you invented stuff on your own time outside the employer. The employer can legitimately argue that your work product, even produced using time and resources outside the work place, is the property of the employer, because they are paying you for your intellectual energy, and you are not allowed to have a second job, unless there is some contract with the primary employer to that effect.
AlMac|(talk) 04:41, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Llamas
What is a pack of Llama called?
- I don't believe there's a special collective noun for llamas. Herd and flock are the usual terms for other groups of large domesticated herbivores, though. —Charles P. (Mirv) 01:29, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- "Herd of" seems most popular on Google - 750ish hits verus 200 or so for "flock of" and "pack of". Shimgray | talk | 01:44, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
DVD Box set
Is there any news or information about "Joey" season 1 possibly coming out on DVD?
- This just in: Hell freezes over. - Nunh-huh 01:40, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- It apparently already is on sale in the UK see [12]. According to this article in the DVD Times, it went on sale in the UK in July [13]. Whether hell froze over is unknown at the time of writing. :>). Capitalistroadster 07:21, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- It is most assuredly a frigid day in hell. Next: Joey: The Musical - Nunh-huh 23:27, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
what do cow's eat?
Do cows eat only grass? Feel free to answer.... Tanx....♥'Hot Flip'
- No. Cows eat grass but also are fed grain and silage. Dismas|(talk) 03:19, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Mad cow disease is spread when cows eat bits of other cows.
- Oh, come on. Mad Cow Disease is the most overrated disease ever. Our article states 158 people in the world have contracted the disease. The world population is about six and a half billion people. It's not even worth mentioning. Garrett Albright 16:44, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- In Australia cows used to eat Meat and bone meal, but that is now illegal due to the risk of Mad cow disease, so maybe it is worth mentioning. While I'm here, is it true that in Japan you can scan in the barcode from a peice of beef in the supermarket with a mobile phone and recieve the animal's picture/name? --Commander Keane 17:09, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- What the hell? No… Garrett Albright 01:28, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- In Australia cows used to eat Meat and bone meal, but that is now illegal due to the risk of Mad cow disease, so maybe it is worth mentioning. While I'm here, is it true that in Japan you can scan in the barcode from a peice of beef in the supermarket with a mobile phone and recieve the animal's picture/name? --Commander Keane 17:09, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Oh, come on. Mad Cow Disease is the most overrated disease ever. Our article states 158 people in the world have contracted the disease. The world population is about six and a half billion people. It's not even worth mentioning. Garrett Albright 16:44, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Mad cow disease is spread when cows eat bits of other cows.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and African Americans
- See Franklin D. Roosevelt and African American. Specifically, our article on Roosevelt has an article on Civil Rights which discusses the topic in some depth. Capitalistroadster 07:26, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Brooklyn woman hospital
i need the entire address
- I tried a google search but can't find a hospital called "Brooklyn Women's Hospital". Well, I did find a few results for a hospital that was called that back in the 50's and 60's but nothing current. Is that the name? If you have the exact name, a google search would find it for you quicker than coming here and waiting for one of us to tell you. Dismas|(talk) 13:29, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Guavas
Hello! I wonder if someone can advise me about how to look after about 150 guava seedlings, from 6"-12" tall, and any ideas about what to do with the surplus, there is obviously a slight problem with space for the developing orchard! If I keep potting them on until they are a manageable height, then pinch out the growing tips would that limit their growth? The books say they will fruit within 2-4 years, given that I provide the right temperatures can I hope for fruit? Then, there is the slightly smaller problem, (in that there are only 100 of them)of mystery plants from Cyprus, evergreen leaves, reminiscent of carob trees but the germination rate was too high. My mumblings about a tropical area in the garden with undersoil heating and winter protection fall on deaf ears!! Then there's the morning glory which escaped through the conservatory roof and was last seen heading for the sky at a rate of knots, am I really going to have to wrap the whole of the back of the house in bubble wrap? You probably realise that I'm squeamish about killing things, epecially since I grew and raised them, so the obvious answers such as "Pull them up!" don't apply. Trivial, in the light of the world situation, I know, but it's my little bit of it. Thank you195.93.21.36 11:22, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
wormen's issues in 1955
What were the women's issues in 1955. I would have been six then and need to know for my granddaughters Girl Scout project. Thank you for your time and effort. <e-mail address removed>
- Considering I hadn't been born yet I don't know but as a suggestion you can try starting your research at feminism and go from there. Dismas|(talk) 13:19, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Also, history of feminism might be helpful. However, there are some differences in the issues depending on where you were living in 1955. --Gareth Hughes 16:10, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- It was also depend on what your economic and racial status was. The issues of a poor African American woman would likely be very different from those of an upper class white woman (as is the case now). --Fastfission 19:10, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
WHY?????
Why do grown up men rape and murder innocent children?
- Why does anyone rape and murder anyone? There are no easy answers. But generally someone who commits a crime this heinous (that is, to innocent children) has a form of mental illness, or is somehow otherwise able to justify their actions. Garrett Albright 16:39, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Unfortunately the mental illness explanation is simply a tautology, as is evident when stripped to its essentials: "only a mentally ill person would do that, therefore anyone who does that is mentally ill." If you look for other evidence of mental illness besides raping other people (of any sex or age), the majority have none. It is sadly within the repertoire of "normal" human behaviors and is better understood as evil than ill. alteripse 19:58, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Just as some people don't like blaming mental illness on every bad thing as it is often empty of meaning and inaccurate I dislike applying evil to all that is bad. There are frequently understandable reasons for seemingly evil actions although it does not make them less unpleasant. Child sexual abuse is often a continuing problem; if you are abused as a child you may go on to abuse or it is a misguided attempt to recapture a person's own lost youth. The murder is probably an ill-concieved attempt to hide evidence. MeltBanana 23:22, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Following is respectful disagreement. You are free to use another word than evil, though it is the traditional one applied when a human being deliberately chooses to cause this type of harm to another, especially as a direct and personal interaction. I would offer two perspectives that do not support your view. First, around the world today and for most of recorded history, rape and killing of women and children occurs frequently in a setting of ethnic conflict or social enforcement, not as an aberrant and solitary behavior. Obviously in such cases, it is not accurate to say that raping and killing women and children is universally condemned, because groups of people do it and justify it. I contend that such group behavior even more deserves the label of evil than of illness. My second objection to your argument is that it deprives the perpetrator of the assumption of moral agency and responsibility. No matter what word you prefer over evil, one of the principal differences between calling these acts evil and calling them sick is whether you think the perpetrator can be held morally and criminally responsible. How can you possibly advocate simple vengeful punishment for someone who did this from an illness? How many hospitals, physicians, or therapists are claiming to be able to cure this behavior? Do you believe them? Finally, what are the implications of your absolution for our treatment of children who have been sexually abused? Do we then hang a "watch him" sign around his neck? Should we forbid him contact with children when he gets older, or is he, like a dog, allowed one bite? Because if a high proportion of sexually abused children grow up to be abusers, your argument is strong, but it also justifies pre-emptive measures. On the other hand, if only a small proportion of abused children grow up to be abusers and vast majority do not, your argument has poor explanatory power and does not counter the moral agency assumption. Which way do you want it? alteripse 00:01, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- Well I was not actually denying the presence of evil; although many people do. I was simply trying to offer reasons as the initial question asks. As there is no evil gene, evil flu or and the devil is not usually available for comment the answer pople do bad things because they are evil is as unhelpfull as they are ill. Athough is does not have the added problem of insulting the mentally ill. MeltBanana 00:14, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Although we may not have hugely different opinions, I think there are at least three advantages to retaining the term and concept of evil in this context. First, as you mention, it reduces the temptation to frame such behavior in illness terms or other justifications. Second, it connects the person contemplating it to the millennia of previous human attempts to understand and deal with this type of behavior. Third, it unequivocally affirms condemnation. Also (I just caught this)-- I did not explain that such acts were done because of evil, which of course is no explanation. Rather, that attempts to explain this behavior were in my opinion the same as attempts to understand evil behavior, not sick behavior. alteripse 00:43, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- OK I will not attribute your long and unfocused answer to evil, just to being involved in a edit war somewhere and being unable to calm down. Why would you ask and how would I answer "How can you possibly advocate simple vengeful punishment for someone who did this from an illness?" you must be evil. I'm not trying to chuck out the term and concept of evil—I don't believe I have the power—I am just trying to suggest that it is often used simply as a four letter word and does not answer anything. Comparing one event to another in the past is instructive but to put it in a category with every bad deed for millenia is far from informative. BTW I hate a lot of Wiki categories as well. MeltBanana 01:13, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
This is an ill-tempered response to a polite, patient, and logically argued disagreement, which was focused precisely on what you said. I was paying you the respect of assuming you could debate an assertion logically and recognize a rhetorical question. My assumption was apparently incorrect and I offended you. Sorry. alteripse 12:22, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International
does the airport "hartsfield jackson atlanta international"own any other companys
The airport is owned by the City of Atlanta and I believe that is the only airport they own. -Drdisque 17:05, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Non-Ministerial Departments in the UK
Is the list at Departments of the United Kingdom Government complete?--213.18.248.23 12:46, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
University Fencing Club Uniforms
I have a photo of three men taken in Bresslau circa 1939. The men are in Fencing Uniforms and I would like to establish where these uniforms were used (also who the men are)
Peter
Website Templates
I need some templates for my website (i am designing in dreamweaver) I need some that are blogesce but still give you almost complete control over the site Thanks in advance. _Mythicallava_
- You are not going to be able to set up a blog with merely a Dreamweaver template. You'll need some sort of weblog software running on the server that you want to host your blog. If you are unfamiliar with this, your best bet might be to go with a service like LiveJournal or Xanga, which will host the blog and do all the technical stuff for you, while also giving you a good deal of options as to the design of your blog. Garrett Albright 16:36, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
sandove? and other things
What is sandove? What animal is the fastest under water? --Sandove89 17:34, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
The otter? --Sandove89 19:19, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Sailfish is possibly the fastest fish at about 93Km/h. Although probably somekind of diving sea-birds maybe quicker at initial contact with water. Gannets apparantly hit the water at 100Km/h although they will obviously slow down very quickly while diving.Majts 02:16, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
OTAK
what is it? --Sandove89 19:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- An Architecture firm specializing in transportation, growth management, and urban design? [14] Majts 02:30, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Wars
Can a country Bomb both sides if it doesn't agree with either side of a war?
- Who said there are any rules when it comes to war? Dismas|(talk) 18:46, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- No doubt a country could do this, but it doesn't make much sense to do so. Usually it would make sense to fight only one at a time, even if it mean temporarily co-operating with an enemy. The War of the Triple Alliance is the closest I can think of this actually happening, though that was rather different. -- Bob Mellish 18:52, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Only if they really wanted to personally have war declared against them as well. There have been times though when "peacekeeping" efforts have been used, of course, by, say, the UN, whereby they occupy a ___location to keep sides from fighting with one another. --Fastfission 19:07, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- Very often, war involves a lot of emotions on all involved parties. Thus it is often not easily possible to generally agree or disagree with one or another side of a war. From a standpoint of International law, I would see the situation you are describing as a war of country 3 on both countries 1 and 2, individually. That is, country 3 leads two wars simultaniusly, and those two wars have nothing in common (from the viewpoint of country 3).
- The question of "can" is hard - I believe most modern Jurists would say that wars cannot be startet arbitrarily; rather, they should be legitimized by the United Nations. However, a small minority of the world disagrees and holds the believe (as was common until the 20th century), that a sovereign and independet nations has a right to start wars for whatever reason it may deem legitimate.
- Greetings,
- --Florian Prischl 19:15, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Three-sided wars are rather rare. In the later stages of World War II in Eastern Europe there were several three-sided struggles between Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and some third parties caught in the middle, for example the Polish Armia Krajowa and the anti-communist Russian Liberation Army. In Yugoslavia there was fighting between the Chetniks, Partisans and Nazi Germany (though maybe not at the same time?). In China there was a 3-sided war in the 1940s between the Kuomingtang, the Communist Party of China and the Empire of Japan. Gdr 20:29, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- I recognize that the word terrorist is politically incorrect on Wikipedia, but I not know what other word to use instead. It would appear to me that they are attacking EVERY NATION ON THE PLANET that they can get to.
Tariff codes
Hi,
i am looking for a link for Harmonized System Tariff codes to find out what are the different codes for different prodcuts. Any idea?
eqbal
- Our article on the Harmonized System, which will take you to a listing here. –Hajor 20:04, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Locating patents
I have a U.S. patent application number from the 1940s -- "533,378" (applied for on 4/29/1944). How can I tell if it was actually granted and what number it was assigned? The US patent website doesn't seem to go back that far, so I assume there is some other standard reference for this sort of thing. --Fastfission 19:08, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
corniela guest
There's a stub article about her at Cornelia Guest. --Metropolitan90 02:19, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
black people
why get mean
"Arrest Warrants"
this is NOT complaint, but rather, a complement...i would just like to give a big shout out to the author of this article for using, as his example, the heinous criminal ' Nelson Muntz'...very funny stuff! S, Edina, MN.
- The person in question who added this content is Scott Sanchez. Perhaps you would like to leave a note on his talk page? ♥purplefeltangel (talk) ♥ (contribs) 23:01, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
Common Pheasant
What is the life span of the common pheasant?
- Google seems to think about 18 years, although that sounds like quite a long time to me. Bear in mind that animals live far longer in captivity than they do in the wild.--inksT 01:34, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Advertising campaigns
Wikipedia has a list of commercial failures, but is there a similar list or article about huge commercial successes, and if not, does anyone know where I can find a similar list online? This is purely out of interest/ curiosity. ♥purplefeltangel (talk) ♥ (contribs) 21:45, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
I don't understand
why did you block me? what does this mean? caught doing what?--Archive13 23:24, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- The above message relates to a misunderstanding caused by a vandal. See here for more information. Thanks. --Canderson7 00:08, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
birds
what is the most common bird in england?--84.68.202.84 23:44, 7 October 2005 (UTC)
- The number one result from a Google search [15] gives a BBC report compiling the top 20 most commonly sited birds in the UK in 2005 [16] No 1 is Wood Pigeon. Although this is a UK survey I would bet that this result would apply to England as well as it would most likely provide the great majority of the sample. Majts 01:18, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
e-commerce
Yes, I agree. E-commerce indeed. ♥purplefeltangel (talk) ♥ (contribs) 01:29, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Roman Empire
What were the classes of Roman society?
See the article Ancient Rome. —Wayward 05:02, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Green Llama
I was wondering who created the green llama, I remember seeing him on albinoblacksheep like a year ago and until recently it seems he is everywhere. Who created it? --Ice Jedi5
Hmm...
What happends if a unstoppable force, say... Juggernaut, the Marvel Comics one ran in to a unmoveable force, like Blob, from Marvel Comics? >_>
- Since Juggernaut is unstoppable, he presumably has infinite momentum, which means either mass or velocity must be infinite. Since velocity can never be greater than the speed of light, he must have infinite mass, which would require infinite energy to move (there is not this much energy in the universe!). Since Blob is unmoveable, he must have infinite inertia, and therefore also infinite mass, and thus infinite density. Since neither of these are possible, unfortunately it must remain comic book physics. (Incidently, the article Blob (comics) states that Juggernaut can move Blob even when he increases his weight!) smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 09:34, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
See our article on the irresistible force paradox. Gdr 11:30, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Do trees have souls?
After all, they do contain living cells.-
- Depends what you define a soul as it seems very much open to interpretation depending on your belief system. If you believe a soul is a spirit that emerges from organisms that contain living cells then yes. Being a pastafarian I personally believe that there is no such thing as a soul but many will disagree. Majts 07:33, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
WBC Booster
I know there are drugs that some athletes take to increase their red blood cell count, but are there any drugs that increase your white blood cells to help your body fight a sickness?
Yes. G-CSF and GM-CSF are sometimes used in treatment of immunosuppressed people - such as people who don't have enough white blood cells - for example, when chemotherapy for cancer has reduced their white blood cell count. They are generally not used in infections in people with normal immune function. - Nunh-huh 07:36, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Stock Quote
Does anyone know the stock quote for Roche Pharmaceuticals? (www.rocheusa.com) I cant find it anywhere, I looked on the web site and I even did a search for it by name with yahoo stocks. Thanks
- From the Wikipedia article Hoffmann-La Roche it appears that Roche Pharmaceuticals could belong to Roche Holding AG, which is listed in on the SWX Swiss Exchange, ticker ROC.S. --Commander Keane 09:00, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- There are three listings on NASDAQ: ROCHE HLDG AG DIV RT, RHHVF; ROCHE HLDG LTD, RHHBY; ROCHE HLDGS AG BEARE, RHHBF. —Wayward 09:22, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Boosting HP without a turbo/super charger
I was watching this show and they had a 1.8L Acura Integra that had 240HP. They said it didnt have a supercharger or a turbo and without NOS. How did they get so much power out of the engine when the stock HP rating is so much less?
CAN COCKROACH USE AS SOURCE OF ENERGY FOR FLASHLIGHT
No. David Sneek 09:20, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Why do men sexually abused as children sexually abuse theirs?
--anon
- It's complicated -- typically, victims of abuse follow one of two tracks - the become crusaders against abuse, or they become abusers themselves. See cycle of abuse →Raul654 11:53, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- As noted in the earlier debate on this page; it is far from inevitable that an abused person will become an abuser. Reasons for it could be: belief that it is normal behaviour, attempts to exact revenge or trying to re-live traumatic event. MeltBanana 12:56, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
Madness (UK Band)
I would like to know if the band had any success in Australia. Did any singles or Albums chart here as I cannot discover the answer to those questions anywhere.
THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
HOW LONG DID THE Battle of Fredericksburg LAST ON THE LAST DAY.
They were still fighting at sunset of the 13th, apparently, so "all day"? They stayed around on the 14th, then left on 15th-16th [17] First shots would have been 11 December 1862. [18] Ojw 14:48, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
rooster/chickens
this may sound dumb,but a co-worker said that a rooster`s testis are located under their wing while I disagree.....can you help ? thanks
LIFE
ARE THERE ANY CITIES THAT HAVE EXISTED SINCE PRE-HISTORIC TIMES
- According to Plato the city of Atlantis was lost 11,000 years ago which certainly qualifies as pre-history. Ignoring myths though, the serious answer is that what we define "pre-history" is the age before writing was recorded. As the very first written records also tend to date at about the same time as the very first cities about 6000 years ago. Many believe that mankind's ability to record written records was the main factor in forming civilisation and cities. Therefore the first cities coincide with the ending of the period that we call pre-history. So the short answer is no. Majts 16:30, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- Several cities in the Middle East, e.g. Damascus and Jericho, have been settled since, approximately, the invention of agriculture. I don't think the Neolithic settlements can be counted as cities, but they were there. —Charles P. (Mirv) 16:43, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
what is the name for a code of beliefs or doctrine?
(no question other than the title)
- Depends on context but dogma , religion and philosophy could all be perfectly reasonable answers to this question Majts 16:45, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- or creed or credo. - Nunh-huh 17:37, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
WHAT ARE THE TEN GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
WHAT ARE THE TEN GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.
BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS
WHAT ARE THE TEN GREATEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.
You might get better satisfaction visting a public library. Because then you not have to deal with the computer interface challenges that lead you to be repeating the same question over and over and over again. AlMac|(talk) 17:01, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- "Great" is in eyes of beholder. I personally believe one of the greatest is the invention of the encyclopaedia. AlMac|(talk) 17:03, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
- Some documents, strictly speaking, are not books, but I think so great as to be worth mentioning, like a nation's constitution. AlMac|(talk) 17:04, 8 October 2005 (UTC)
BMW owners
How many people in south Africa own the new 760li BMW. AKA .V12