Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2024 December 21

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December 21

Britannica

Why Encyclopaedia Britannica uses imperial units in its articles, ever for things that are measured in metric in UK such as temperatures, if it is based in UK and read by people in metric countries? --40bus (talk) 07:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

40bus, it is not based in the UK despite its British sounding name. The Encyclopaedia Britannica has been published in the United States since 1901. That's two years before the first human piloted airplane flight. Cullen328 (talk) 07:57, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Why it is not based in the UK? And if it is read and edited by people in metric countries, why many of its articles use imperial units first? It even uses British English spelling. And are there any similar UK-based online encyclopedias? --40bus (talk) 08:36, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No. Go be bored somewhere else. Nanonic (talk) 09:27, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If all else fails, you could try asking them. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Can't you do that for me??? —Tamfang (talk) 21:47, 29 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Webpages

Are there any web pages from late 1980s and early 1990s that are still in their original address, rather than on Internet Archive? Was it common for a company or person to have website in early 1990s? --40bus (talk) 07:53, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We have a List of websites founded before 1995. The IN2P3 site from 1992 can still be visited, where you may enjoy seeing the French National Institute for Nuclear Physics and Particle Physics's contact details, a small picture of the building, and five hyperlinks. The article says there were 2,879 websites established before 1995, so no, it wasn't common.  Card Zero  (talk) 09:19, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Were there any websites around in 1990? This year feels still relatively recent. And are there any saved TV broadcasts from that time in the web, from any country? --40bus (talk) 11:47, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Are you just randomly asking questions? Polygnotus (talk) 12:00, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Take the effort to read the first sentence of List of websites founded before 1995 and you will have the answer to your question.  --Lambiam 10:41, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Did Donald Trump's father,

Fred, know Rudy Giuliani's father, who is said to have been a mob contract killer? I'm asking because I've heard rumors somewhere that both Donald and Fred had mob contacts in New York City.Rich (talk) 22:43, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"Said to have been"; is there a reliable source that claims this? It has also been said that Donald Trump is a shape shifting lizard.^[1] Harold Giuliani was at the bottom of the low end of shady dealings in the Italian immigrant community. It seems extremely unlikely that Fred Trump, a high-profile successful real-estate developer from the German immigrant community, would have a reason to meet him.  --Lambiam 10:38, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well, that's what the OP is asking. You're just repeating the OP's question using different words. --Viennese Waltz 10:52, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The OP did not ask whether it was plausible but whether it was true. Even if the mob contract killer story should prove more than randomly created innuendo, there is still nothing to suggest the two fathers ever met. The suggested mob contacts would not make this more likely than two random New Yorkers (like Henri who sometimes ordered pizza and Freddy who sometimes delivered pizza) knowing each other. It is very difficult to prove a negative, but the question implied the OP thought it was at least plausible, which, as I tried to point out, it is not.  --Lambiam 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No insult intended to shape-shifting lizards. Clarityfiend (talk) 10:50, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

(it's easy for you to google that the rumors are out there, Lambiam.Rich (talk) 18:59, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I did not dispute the rumours exist, but IMO they are irrelevant to the question whether the two fathers knew each other, so I ignored them.  --Lambiam 01:09, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Giuliani gave a eulogy and he probably would have mentioned it if they knew eachother, but it doesn't seem like he did. https://nypost.com/1999/06/30/trump-patriarch-eulogized-as-great-builder/ Polygnotus (talk) 18:22, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

https://stevevillano.medium.com/the-trumps-an-incestuous-intertwining-with-organized-crime-ab65316c2b48

Rich (talk) 19:30, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for finding this, Polygnotus. But are you sure Rudy would have mentioned it in his eulogy, being possibly embarrassed about his father's occupation? And mentioning an acquaintance with his father would not make Fred seem more illustrious, which eulogies are meant to do. Rich (talk) 19:03, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No, I haven't found definitive proof. Polygnotus (talk) 12:08, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]