Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

September 7

Secure Encryption systems

Are there any encryption systems, except for one-time pads, that are absolutely impossible to break? Acceptable 00:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

There are no encryption systems at all, including one-time pads, that are absolutely impossible to break, if by "break" you mean simply "recover the plaintext". After all, you might just correctly guess the plaintext, and that would constitute breaking the system.

The unique thing about a one-time pad is that the ciphertext provably gives you no information at all about whether you've correctly guessed the plaintext. I'm fairly sure you can't get that property with any cryptosystem whose key length is shorter than the ciphertext (assuming they're in the same alphabet). A cryptosystem with that long a key might as well be a one-time pad, as that's simplest anyway. --Trovatore 00:43, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

If the key is longer than the cyphertext, it's still possible to break it, if the key was not randomly generated. A crucial element of a one-time pad is that the pad is generated truely randomly. --67.185.172.158 06:25, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Quantum cryptography can be used to generate and transmit a completely random (in the quantum sense) one-time pad - the result is truly, utterly unbreakable. You can't even intercept the transmission of the pad without one of the users finding out that you did that. SteveBaker 20:29, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Hacking my Hotmail password

Supposedlying I ran a contest with a very large prize asking some of the world's best computer hackers to hack or gain access into my Hotmail e-mail account. Assuming that these hackers are anonymous and do not know me nor my personality and receive no other hints other than my e-mail address of course, how will they go about doing this? Acceptable 01:34, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

There are two different sorts of answers here.

One is that it is actually pretty easy to design an "unbreakable" code -- in isolation. If I post a small scrap of ciphertext encrypted by my sooper seekrit new encryption algorithm, and challenge the world's top cryptanalysts to break it, they'll refuse, even if I offer a large cash prize. The reason is simply that this isn't enough information to break the code. But that doesn't mean it's truly unbreakable, of course -- once I or my cohorts actually start using the code to communicate, then there will be enough information for someone to crack it, if it's worth it to them. (The point is that if you make a hacking problem narrow enough, not even the best hackers can hack it -- but this doesn't mean that they're no good, or that you're smarter than they are.)

But to return to your question: just because you're anonymous doesn't mean they can't track you down. (Remember, all's fair in a contest like this. Your opponents are not going to say, "Oh. Dang. He's anonymous, so none of our attacks will work. We give up, then." They're allowed to attack you from some direction you never thought of. They're allowed to cheat and break the rules.) They could hack into Wikipedia (or ask a Wikipedia admin friend they happen to have) to find out your IP address. Then they could hack your ISP (or just sniff your internet traffic) to notice which Hotmail account you use. Then all they have to do is hack that hotmail account (which will be especially easy if they saw your password while they were sniffing your traffic). —Steve Summit (talk) 03:37, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

There are a number of techniques I'd try.

• I'd look for a cross-site scripting vulnerability in Hotmail that would let me get access to your current session or login details.
• I'd send phishing emails to try to trick you into giving me the password to your account.
• I'd send phishing emails to try to get login details for other accounts you have, and look for a pattern.
• I'd look for security holes in the Hotmail system that would let me take control of the whole system (and, as a result, your account).
• I'd try a brute-force search to guess your password.
• I'd try bribing someone who works at Hotmail to give me access.
• If all else fails, I'd apply rubber-hose cryptanalysis to the problem.

--67.185.172.158 06:22, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Any password can be brute-force searched, so unless the password strength toggle on your "change password" screen is green (strong), it probably wouldn't take long at all (if you password is "hello", it is a lot easier to crack than "th1s15as3CuR3407Ma!lPaSsWoRd"). Laïka 09:38, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

In all likelyhood the bad guy could figure out the IP address of your PC and (assuming it's a Windows machine) it'll have a bazillion ways in for a determined hacker. Once in, he can install a keystroke monitor and figure out everything you type. From that point on, it's just a matter of time until you next log in to your Hotmail account. Of course if you don't enter your password every time and let the browser remember it instead - then it'll be even easier to hack because the password will be sitting there in a file someplace. SteveBaker 19:20, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

lol scary... Acceptable 16:47, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

...and just one of the many reasons I use Linux. I also run my own mail server so my email password stays within my machine. SteveBaker 15:52, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Entice you to start an account for something else, and see if you use the same password (lots of people do).Polypipe Wrangler 11:43, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Most Calories in one container?

I noticed that my wedge of cheese had 1100 Calories, and my container of ice cream had 2880 Calories. It seems like a lot, but is there any regular, non-industrial-sized, food product that contains even more Cal than these? HYENASTE 01:38, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

The most Calories (per gram) are fats (9 kcal per g). So technically, a container of oil would be chock-full o' calories (1 litre oil = a bit less than 1 kilogram so almost 9000 kcal per container). Mind you, I don't know that you'd count cooking oil as a food product per se. -- Flyguy649 ^talk _contribs 01:43, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

A pound of butter has around 3200 Calories. anonymous6494 01:52, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Olive oil has 1,909 calories per cup. You can get 3-liter bottles of olive oil. Three liters is 12.68 cups. So that's 24,206 calories! -- Mwalcoff 03:50, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I have a five-pound container of butter in my refrigerator. It's got 16,500 calories in it. In my pantry is a 20-pound sack of flour, with 30,000 calories. --67.185.172.158 06:30, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I don't know about op, but I'd only count food that I can eat without getting sick, so I wouldn't qualify tubs of butter and oil myself. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:51, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

My Unanswered Question about the Golden State Warriors

My Question Was How Did The Nba Team "The Golden State Warriors" Got Their Name? I Looked It Up, But I Didn't Find What Could Answer My Question. I Hope You Can Answer My Question. Thanks For Your Help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.211.141.227 (talk) 04:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, what exactly are you trying to find out? Do you want to know why it's "Golden State Warriors", or are you wondering about the "Warriors" bit? The first is just some geographical indication; they were originally named "Philadelphia Warriors", see Golden State Warriors. This site claims they were named "Warriors" after an earlier ABL team also named "Philadelphia Warriors". However, also see [1] (warning: that site is a wiki and even runs the MediaWiki software, but they say their contents were copyrighted[2]). See also [3]. All this leaves me somewhat confused about Eddie Gottlieb's teams. But anyway, they probably chose "Warriors" because they wanted something "heroic" or pathetic. Imagine calling a team "the wimps". :-) But why "warriors" and not "fighters", "winners" or some other term that indicates competitiveness and that has positive connotations in the sports world, I don't know. (I continue to be astonished about team names such as "Ducks", "Young Boys", "Young Fellows", or "Grasshoppers"...) Lupo 08:13, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

• "The Golden State" has long been a popular designation for California and was made the official State Nickname in 1968. It is particularly appropriate since California's modern development can be traced back to the discovery of gold in 1848 and fields of golden poppies can be seen each spring throughout the state. --M@rēino 13:46, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the real question being asked is, why aren't they the Oakland Warriors? I would guess that's a marketing thing -- a lot of the country probably has only a vague idea where Oakland is, or their associations with Oakland are too negative (violence or no there there).

Anaheim gets a similar lack of respect (doesn't have quite the same negatives, but not too many positives) which is presumably why the Angels used to be the California Angels and are now the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

I have to say the "The City" jerseys the Warriors played in a few times last season made me wonder. Is there a move planned across the Bay? That would explain the bridge on the jersey, too. --Trovatore 17:33, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

It's not that Oakland has negative connotations. It's just that they want to be considered the team of the entire Bay Area, not just Oakland. It's the same reason we have the Minnesota Twins instead of the Minneapolis Twins, the Florida Panthers instead of the Ft. Lauderdale Panthers and the New York Giants instead of the East Rutherford, NJ, Giants. -- Mwalcoff 23:44, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I wonder how many of us are old enough to remember the Boston Patriots. —Tamfang 00:32, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Those jerseys with the bridge that said "The City" were throwback uniforms from the days when the team was the San Francisco Warriors. They wore those uniforms from 1962 to 1971. — Michael J 02:10, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Then there's the story of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team was founded as the Los Angeles Angels in 1961. A few years later, they became the California Angels in preparation for a move to distant Anaheim. As part of a stadium-financing deal with the city of Anaheim in the mid-90s, they agree to become the Anaheim Angels. But that didn't have much ring to it from a marketing perspective, so they changed their name to the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" a couple of years ago. The "of Anaheim" part, a court agreed, meets the team's obligation to include "Anaheim" in their name, even though most people leave out the "of Anaheim" part. -- Mwalcoff 00:50, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

A folklore question

I'm looking for an article about a group of people in islamic or jewish folklore(it might be somewhere else). The world supposed to end if one of them dies(I think). There are seven of them or possibly three. I don't know anything more so I can't find the article. If you could help I'd appreciate it 134.250.60.235 04:10, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

This might be a (slightly garbled) version of the Tzadikim. Have you been reading Sam Bourne? Algebraist 12:57, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

The Wikilink for that is Tzadikim Nistarim. SteveBaker 14:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

That's funny, Tzadikkim worked, and that's misspelt... (I've made a new redirect) Algebraist 19:12, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

3-prong plugs vs. 2-prong plugs

Is there any rule that governs when the grounding pin is included in an electrical device? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shindo9Hikaru (talk • contribs) 06:11, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Appliance classes? --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Also depends a lot which country you are in. Also, at least in the UK, the earth pin is often not electrically connected to anything; it is just there to open the socket shutters.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 10:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Nonsense!! The earth pin is connected to the safety ground line. Without it the socket would be very dangerous in certain circumstances. Some appliances do not need external grounding, but the same three pin plug is used for convenience.90.14.21.146 14:31, 7 September 2007 (UTC)DT

I think Shantavira means that the earth pin sometimes isn't connected to anything inside the appliance - obviously it's connected to something in the house wiring.

Anyway - the main guideline for requiring an earth is when the appliance has exposed metal parts. There may be other specific rules in some countries - but this is the main reason. The idea being that should one of the live wires come loose inside the appliance, it could touch the exposed metal part and potentially electrocute someone. So these parts are grounded ('earthed' if you are British) and should a live wire short against the outside, a fuse will blow or a circuit breaker will trip before any harm can be done. In the case of low power devices with all plastic exteriors, this is not a risk and the ground wire is often not connected to anything. I have seen some devices with metal exterior parts an no ground wire - but these always seem to have the electrical parts of the device shielded inside a totally enclosing plastic box inside - or they drop the voltage down from mains voltage to 12 volts or less (which is pretty harmless). In the US (at least) it is obvious when a device has not ground wire because you have a two pin plug instead of one with three pins. In the UK (where we have 240 volt mains electricity and electrocution is a much more serious risk), the electrical outlets have little plastic 'shutters' that close over the holes of the two live wires in the socket - those shutters are moved out of the way by the mechanical act of plugging in the grounding/earthing pin of the plug (which is longer than the other two pins for this reason). Hence all UK appliances have to have this gigantic plug with a third pin (which is sometimes made of plastic on devices that are not grounded). SteveBaker 14:55, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Funny, in Australia we use 240v and have gated sockets, but double insulated devices do not have an earth pin - you just have to shove them in hard! IRT the original poster, only "double insulated" or class II devices may be unearthed. Double insulated generally means that all electrical components must be insulated from the inside of the casing, and that the casing itself must be made of a non-conductive material and must not allow a standard test finger to touch components inside. FiggyBee 01:55, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

It may seem obvious that the third pin is always connected, but, as above, it is only connected when there is need. Otherwise it simply acts to open the protective shutter. Incidentally there are still plenty of older 3-pin sockets in place in the UK that do not have the shutter. Naturally the protected shutter is required on all new installations. To hopefully complete this topic some UK sockets are individually switched, others are simply outlets.86.209.156.111 14:15, 8 September 2007 (UTC)DT

Just saw the above. I have several small appliances (mostly PSUs) in which the earth pin is made of plastic, ergo it is not electrically connected to anything. It is only there to open the shutters, as I said.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:53, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Counting bullets

Approximately how many rounds of .22 Long Rifle ammunition are there in the United States? --67.185.172.158 06:14, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I would think that is such a common calibre and there are so many manufacturers that the question is impossible to answer. I mean nobody keeps count of that sort of thing, but we're talking billions.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:56, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I've been able to find two sources that reference the number of rimfire rounds produced in the U.S., but that includes rounds other than the .22 Long Rifle. One estimate of annual U.S. rimfire round production is 2.5 billion [4], and a more official looking document [5] says there are 2 billion. That's a lot of shooting. 152.16.188.107 04:03, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Fascinating, I knew we had a lot of guns, but this puts it in perspective. If you look at the number of rounds used to inflict harm on innocent people, vs. the above number, the percent of used to kill people is miniscule(1000's at the worst against billions), although the harm caused is incalculable. If one were to create an index based on # rounds used to kill people(non-military)/#rounds manufactured(available or sold), would that be an index we could use to compare the level of incivility? by city, by township. Just musing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.142.209.247 (talk) 13:28, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

• Civil War: 1,000 rounds fired per person hit
• WWII: 17,000 rounds fired per person hit
• Vietnam: 55,000 rounds fired per person hit

QED. SteveBaker 15:45, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

SteveBaker makes a good point, but must balance against #rd fired/soldier deployed, which went up by about 75:1, & fact dispersal (number of m² covered/man) between U.S. Civil War & Vietnam went up 160:1 (Dupuy, Numbers, Predictions, & War, Pp26 & 29). Trekphiler 03:06, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Tangerines and Magazines

There was a song in the mid 90's i think and the lyrics were about a boy that dies his hair and instead of using hair dye he uses tangerines, there is a girl that blows her nose and uses magazines. Can you tell me who sang this and what it was called. Furthermore, does anyone know where I can buy cd's online, useing a maesto card rather than a credit(master/visa/diners) by Mandoza, I am looking for the song 50/50 and Afterlifesatisfaction by The Springbok Nude Girls. Thanks people.:-) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.144.161.223 (talk) 12:37, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

She don't use jelly by the Flaming Lips is the song you want. Algebraist 12:55, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

See also the Ben Folds Five cover of this song -- we have no way of knowing which version you heard, so I thought I'd offer the "most popular" cover. Jfarber 12:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

By the way, this song is the best song in the world. Capuchin 12:57, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

^ citation needed --LarryMac | Talk 13:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Of course I would not advocate doing anything of dubious legality, but I hear some people use bittorrents for this purpose, and avoid using any cards at all. SaundersW 16:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Guidelines for hailing a chief

Are there official guidelines for which public ceremonies the President of the USA does not get accompanied by that ridiculous blast of bombastic music? I can imagine it being uncomfortable at state funerals, for example. He must be fed up with it - it's only a 50 year old tradition, why doesn't he just ditch it? Is anyone aware of any surveys of how American voters feel about it? --Dweller 13:00, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Given the current "Chief", perhaps the theme from the Bozo the Clown show would be a more-appropriate substitution? Heck, even Bozo can probably tell APEC from OPEC, unlike our present Fearless Leader.

Atlant 14:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

And hopefully Bozo can tell the difference between Shiites and Sunnis, which the person who is alleged to have stolen the 2000 Presidential election is alleged to not be able to do. Corvus cornix 16:18, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not at all hopeful. Yesterday, in Sydney at the APEC Conference, he referred to it as OPEC, and to his Australian hosts as "Austrians". [6]. -- JackofOz 01:49, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Apparently, "Hail to the Chief" may be performed at funerals, if the funeral is for a president, as this source indicates. I doubt that there are official guidelines specifying when the tune should not be played. Probably the president's staff decide when they want an atmosphere of pomp (which you may perceive as ridiculous bombast), and when they don't. I think that the social effect of the tune is to evoke reverence and to confer respect on the appearance of the president. If most Americans felt that the music was bombastic and ridiculous, presidents' staff would quickly cease to have it played. That they don't suggests that most Americans don't find it bombastic and ridiculous. (Note that I have said nothing about my personal perceptions, which are in line with the posts above.) Marco polo 16:38, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh. In addition to Hail to the Chief, there's also Ruffles and Flourishes to contend with. Corvus cornix 16:48, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I've always found US presidents' use of the Monty Python theme tune both amusing and strangely apt. DuncanHill 21:54, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

There was a controversy about 15 years ago when the first President Bush visited a junior high school. The president's handlers first said the school band could not play "Hail to the Chief," since a group of 11-13-year-olds were not considered good enough musicians to honor the president. That decision was overturned after some negative publicity. -- Mwalcoff 23:48, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Our articles on "Hail" and the 2 presidents concerned make no mention of this, but the song was banned outright by Jimmy Carter (see [7] and [8]), and its use was limited by George W Bush. ([9]). -- JackofOz 05:25, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for responses - particularly interested in the Carter and Bush (snr) information, which implies Bush jnr (or his team) like it. --Dweller 08:50, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Saipan MP

What does the MP in Saipan MP stand for ? Tom Motherway —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.110.14 (talk) 13:40, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I can't (yet) find any references to Saipan MP. What's the context? --Dweller 14:27, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Google --Tagishsimon (talk) 14:28, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks --Dweller 14:35, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

According to Northern Mariana Islands, the Internet suffix for Northern Mariana Islands is .mp. I'm assuming that in some way, MP is an abbreviation for Northern Mariana Islands. --14:35, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Marianas Province, apparently. --Sean 15:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

The US Postal Service uses 'MP' as the State/US-Abbreviation for the islands. These abbreviations are always two letters - I guess all of the other relevent M's were taken (eg MI) - hence Marianas Province (MP). SteveBaker 15:08, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

MA, MI, MN, and MS were respectively already taken by Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and Mississippi, but MR is still available. Presumably MP just copied the traditional abbreviation M.P.; at least, Wikipedia says here that that was the traditional abbreviation, but it doesn't say why. Sean has already cited a web page that says P is for Province, but I don't find anything stating that the Marianas were called a province. I did find a web site claiming that the P was for Pacific, and certainly the Northern Marianas were part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific, so maybe that is correct. --Anonymous, 23:20 UTC, September 7, 2007.

Early games and sports in Kongo

In your entry for the Kingdom of Kongo, there is a section about early games and sports in the Kongo.One game that is mention is called "inclaca" but it doesn't list the source for the game..I wanted to know if u can locate the source for that game..The link is Kingdom_of_Kongo#Early_games_and_sports_in_Kongo —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.205.78.126 (talk) 17:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

This seems unlikely to be true - there is just one Google hit for 'nclaca' - and that's to our article. 'inclaca' (with an 'i') gets lots of foreign language hits - but none in English.

That edit was made to the article by an anonymous editor who has never edited any other article before or since. The only changes to what he wrote were the addition of the W. Holman Bentley book reference and the addition of a 'Who?' tag. Google books cannot find any words like 'nclaca' that I could find - so I'm pretty sure the Bentley book (which claims to actually discuss games played in Kongo) doesn't mention it. On that basis, I have deleted that part of the article. SteveBaker 18:55, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I located the sources for the game "nclaca"..it is "Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville by Phyllis Martin..The game is on page 100...Other games on pages 102 (hockey game) and pg 103 (football game)

Sources for W.Holman Bentley's games are "Pioneering on the Congo, vol II..The pages for the games are pgs 289-93 wrestling,pg 293 spinning the teetotum, and pg 396 mbadi (hockey), mbele,and antelope game.

Difficult yoga poses

What yoga pose(s) is/are considered to be the most difficult? A link to a picture would be a plus.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back 17:07, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

A Google search gives this as the first result for "advanced yoga poses" Dismas|^(talk) 17:37, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

There are lots of different yoga traditions, but the full lotus position is impossible for most adults unless they are pretty flexible. The link marked "crossing the legs" has an illustration. (This article could do with a decent image.)--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:45, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm only an infrequent and mediocre yoga practitioner, but I can do a majority of the so-called "advanced" yoga poses at the above about.com link. There are definitely others that are too difficult for me, but here's a article with a different counterintuitive answer. jeffjon 17:50, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

USAF Air Battle Manager Vision standards?

What are the vision standards for an Air Battle Manager in the USAF? Also what exactly does an ABM do? --Sade22 17:11, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

An ABM has to be physically qualified for aircrew duty. That means an uncorrected visual acuity of 20/200, correctable to 20/20, and perfect colour vision. As far as what they do, we have an article on Air Battle Manager. FiggyBee 02:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Content Question

I have a question that is not necessarily related to Wikipedia, but that I need assistance on if you would be willing to help. On wikipedia and a few other sites, I have seen images that I am uncertain of whether or not they are pornographic or age-restricted. One is the first image on the wet t-shirt contest at wikipedia. How do you know if a an image is considered age-restricted or pornographic in the US.

Thanks, Roger —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.76.128.71 (talk) 18:45, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Pornography in the United States and the links therein, especially, the Miller test, might help. Rockpocket 19:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

As might Legal status of Internet pornography#United States. Rockpocket 19:19, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Tobacco Adversiment in Formula One

which are the last grand prix where tobacco adversiment are still allowed? --201.9.47.152 21:03, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know but Wikipedia has a section about tobacco advertising in Formula One. A.Z. 22:13, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

China. France, too, I think. Trekphiler 02:41, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

DRAGONBALL GT REMASTERED

Will FUNimation release a Dragon Ball GT Remastered set like they did/are producing for Dragon Ball Z? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.189.57.235 (talk) 21:49, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Spoof Articles

I have noticed a number of dubious articles whilst searching Wikipedia, but can anyone estimate the probable number of spoof articles existing here at present?--88.110.43.175 21:57, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Likely fairly low. Even real articles often get deleted quickly if they can't be easily verified. --24.147.86.187 23:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

How low is low? 100, 1000, 10000?--212.139.83.93 23:29, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

It is very difficult to give an estimate, and you would have do fine what a spoof actually is. However, here is an attempt to record previously hoax articles, and Category:Suspected hoax articles point you towards the known suspects at any one time. Based on this its likely that there are not many, probably less than 100, elaborate spoof articles (such as Bishonen's European toilet paper holder) but probably hundreds if not thousands of valid articles but that contain some hoax/spoof information. Rockpocket 00:10, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I estimate many thousands of total spoofs, but not obvious, funny or elaborate ones, are in Wikipedia at any given time. As an example, consider all the totally unreferenced articles about tiny villages in Europe, Africa or Asia which per their articles no longer exist. In an AFD people will object to deletion on the ground that "all inhabited places are notable" and ignore WP:V which requires 'some' verifiable and reliable source that it once existed, besides the assertion of the person who wrote the article. There have been total hoax articles about individuals, but they lack the claim of inherent notability of villages and get deleted more quickly. I have seen (deleted) hoax articles about U.S. villages and roads, which are more likely to be proved to be hoaxes because of good maps and census records. The ones which got deleted were because the article creator did not add any pretense of reliable sources. Foreign villages (or anything else) with claimed references to actual (rare) books or newspapers (which don't really reference the village, person, etc) are very hard to get deleted, especially if they are in some language which few editors read fluently. Edison 01:04, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I took spoof to mean a purposeful parody, in that the purpose is to mock or poke fun, rather than simply create non notable articles for vanity or vandalism purposes. Some obscure village isn't much of a spoof, since no-one will ever read it. If we are taking a wider interpretation, then I agree with the newly be-tooled Edison (congrats, by the way) that we would be looking at thousands. Rockpocket 01:14, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Staring at the new buttons: what happens if I press this one?? D'oh! A good article related to this question is Fictitious entry. Edison 01:17, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Nice article, though it sounds a bit like a description of the contents of teenage boys' discussions. Rockpocket 01:25, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

SteveBaker Suggests 'Random article' by WikipediA

[Random article]; my question is, how is it random? I mean, does each IP address get a different Random? or are all the Randoms in a select order, from the 1 to 2 millionth? Cheers' y'alls. --i am the kwisatz haderach 23:28, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

That is a good question Help:Special page and Wikipedia:Random do not appear to give any information on the mechanism. You could ask a developer, I'm sure they would know. Rockpocket 23:43, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

If I recall, there was a question about this fairly recently. I can't remember the answer though. It does take some sort of shortcut in order to avoid trying to run a query against the whole database, which is quite slow, but I can't remember what the shortcut is. --24.147.86.187 00:09, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

This thread reveals all. You can see it yourself over here. --Sean 00:16, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I also just found this: Wikipedia:Technical FAQ#Is the "random article" feature really random? Rockpocket 00:22, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Visual acuity?

Is there a way to compare a TV screen's resolution to maximum human visual acuity? I'm thinking of the proposed video systems for airliners; how much resolution would the screens have to display to show a pic as good as, or better than, human vision? Thanks. Trekphiler 02:46, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

September 8

password

I accidentally enter my password in the search box at Uncyclopedia and search it. What should I do? Jet (talk) 01:12, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

If you think your password might be compromised (someone might be able to obtain it) then change your password to a new one (and keep a record of what the new one is). Edison 01:18, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

(ec) Exactly. You could change your password pronto, or ask at the Village Dump. They, at least, will have a funnier answer than this one. Rockpocket 01:22, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

It's on a Wikia server. Should I contact the server admin at Wikia? Jet (talk) 01:26, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Why? If you change your password, the old one will no longer be useful to anyone. Rockpocket 01:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Realistically - I very much doubt that anyone is intercepting and investigating what people type into search boxes - that would be a mindlessly stupid way of searching for passwords. I honestly wouldn't give it a second thought. If you are really serious panic-stricken, change your password - but I wouldn't bother. SteveBaker 02:51, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Why would it be a stupid way to search for passwords? I often type my password into boxes other than the correct boxes. A.Z. 05:36, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Because the signal-to-noise ratio would be very poor. Out of 10 million random searches you'd find 1 password, which was presumably not a random search? How would you tell the difference? It wouldn't be worth your time. Plus, you'd have to then be able to match it up with the user name — probably not easy, especially if the user wasn't logged in to begin with (why else would they be typing in their password?). --24.147.86.187 12:41, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree with Steve, there is no way of telling if a word typed into a search box is a password, I have never typed any of my passwords into search boxes - I think I am in the huge majority. Richard Avery 07:40, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Sometimes I fail to connect with the Tab key in between username and password and I end up typing part of my password after my username in plaintext.. it doesn't happen often and the only risk is from my roommate behind me --froth^t 23:12, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

How is the United States Army organized?

500k active manpower but spread among active 10 divisions? Seems strange. Or are there other structures that personel belong to than combat divisions?

67.170.241.199 10:10, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Here is a nice breakdown of how it is compartmentalized. The Field Army is made up of 2-5 Corps, the Corps are made up of 2-5 Divisions, the Divisions are made up of 3 Brigades, the Brigades are made up of 3+ Battalions, the Batallions are made up of 3-5 Companies, the Companies are made up of 3-5 Platoons, the Platoons are made up of 3-4 Squads, and the Squads are made up of 4-10 Soldiers. And there is even more complexity beyond that structure—there are additional, special organizational units as well (e.g. Armored Calvary Regiment, Quartermaster Group, etc.). --24.147.86.187 12:37, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

female celebs with 'guys/unisex' names?

Can anyone give me some?

I've got Glenn Close and Leighton Meester so far. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.238.30.147 (talk) 13:05, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Michael Learned. -- JackofOz 13:51, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, our article Given name tells us that "Most names are specifically masculine or feminine, but there are many unisex names as well, such as Jordan, Jesse, Alex, Ashley, Chris, Hillary, Lesley, Rene, Joe/Jo, Jackie, Pat, Sam." That should provide some material for research. -- JackofOz 13:54, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Then there are those where it's hard to tell: Moon Unit Zappa is one such. Bielle 15:08, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore? And I suppose Nigella Lawson and her sister Thomasina are honourable mentions... Skittle 15:36, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Jaime King used to call herself James King, but I guess she got tired of being confused for a guy. Corvus cornix 18:03, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Rene Russo (the feminine form is traditionally Renée). Cameron Diaz is a marginal case: Cameron is a surname (as are Leighton and Glenn, from placenames), and such names are much more often given to boys, but there's no logical necessity for it and there are counterexamples going way back (just yesterday I saw a mention of a duchess, centuries ago, whose given name was Douglas). —Tamfang 18:51, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I thought of one more - Anne Rice's given name is Howard. Corvus cornix 23:06, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Add to the list of unisex names Kelly and Carrie/Cary. I also once knew a man named Bernice. Also, Spencer Scott is a woman though the name Spencer is often a male name. Dismas|^(talk) 00:15, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The current Governor of Queensland is a woman named Quentin Bryce. Also, what about these newfangled given names that were originally surnames, like Madison, McKenzie, Taylor, etc. I can't understand why anyone would name their daughter with a word that ends in -son. -- JackofOz 13:16, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank heaven! I'm not alone. Though I'd allow Alison, since -son is not a morpheme there. —Tamfang 04:53, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin. Telsa (talk) 10:44, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Dar Williams, depending on what you think 'Dar' is short for. --Masamage ♫ 18:41, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Hayden Panettiere, who plays Claire Bennet on Heroes and also voiced Kairi in the Kingdom Hearts video games. --Lumina83 03:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

What about the other way round-any famous males with female names? John Wayne I know was Marion Morrison,and then there's Holly Johnson,Jade Jones,Kerry Packer, Kelly Petillo and Lora L. Corum(sometimes spelt Laura)... In NZ we have lots of unisex names-Kerries and Kellies and Kims galore Lemon martini 14:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

medical education in cuba

dears, i want an answer of a question related to the medical education in cuba. Does medical education in cuba is up to world level of medical education? how much importance is given to student who has a medical degree from cuban medical institutes in europe, america and in other parts of world if he wants to studies there or wants to job there? what about its curriculum? Is it cmpatible with other courses that are taught in other world universities? Level of practical work ? What about surgery ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.220.222.140 (talk) 14:35, 8 September 2007 (UTC) (Repaired question format to eliminate box.) Bielle 15:02, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Cuba takes great pride in its health care and with little foreign aid, that'll be mostly home-grown, so the education should be good. Oddly, they're especially good at plastic surgery, I assume for financial reasons, because a lot of rich people go to Cuba to get 'beautified'. Last year or so, Cuba started sending out eye-doctors to cure poor people with eye-diseases, first to its friendly neighbours in South America, and then to other parts of the world as well, but mostly poor countries, I believe, where they are very welcome. How highly regarded a Cuban medical degree is elsewhere (or vise versa, for that matter) I don't know, and I'm also curious. DirkvdM 18:43, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Canoe terms

What is the term for attaching canoes together in the middle of a body of water? The canoes are not attached together by ropes but by people holding on to the canoes so that they do not drift apart. It serves as more of a meeting place while on canoe trips. Thank you, Joanna and Dave —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.216.220.208 (talk) 14:38, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Rafting?

Atlant 22:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Canoedling, (if the male occupant of one canoes has jumped into the other canoe to join the female occupant and.....um.... you know what I mean.) Moriori 02:18, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Recycling envelopes?

I was just round at my local recycling point, and being a bit of a sporadic recycler, I had to read through the check list of what could and could not be recycled in each bin. On the paper bin, it said that I couldn't put in my used envelopes - a bit disgruntled, I sorted through my paper bag and pulled out the envelopes. What I'm wondering is, why wasn't I able to? Are they not recyclable, full stop, or do they need to be separated from normal paper (if so, why?), and my council just hasn't provided a bin for this? Thanking you greenily, Icthyos 15:05, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

When I've encountered this at recycling points, they've usually specified envelopes with windows as being unsuitable, because the windows are plastic. I used to tear the window bit out, leaving only paper and glue. However, there might be a different reason in your area. Possibly people commonly use envelopes that have a plastic layer, without realising? Skittle 15:33, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Usually it would be for the plastic windows. Less likely reasons would be due to the glues in them, and due to the pretty low risk of some type of treated or waxed paper. If it's just because of the plastic windows, I guess they think it's easier to just tell people 'no envelopes', rather than confuse them with different options for different types of envelopes. Many recyclers say they can easily remove the windows during treatment, and therefore accept all envelopes. --jjron 16:31, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Here's another one: why do the containers here (in the Netherlands) specify 'no cardboard'? And what types of cardboard? Does that include the very thin 'papery' type? DirkvdM 18:48, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Many even apparently-all-paper envelopes have a thin layer of plastic for some reason. If you lick your thumb and finger and rub it, you can make the paper go away leaving only the plastic. There's no economical way for recyclers to separate the layers. --Sean 19:49, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

My local council (Brighton & Hove City) will recycle envelopes, so long as windows are removed first. AFAIK, this is widespread in the UK> DuncanHill 23:41, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Here in the U.S., the problem with envelopes is generally the plastic window. What I don't understand is the non-acceptance of pizza boxes as well as plastic grocery bags. Grocery stores will often have recycling bins for their (and other store's) bags but for some reason my local recycling center will not take them. Dismas|^(talk) 00:12, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, pizza boxes are made from cardboard and plastic grocery bags are made from, ehm, plastic. :) If you mean putting them in the plastic container, there are two main types of plastic; thermoplastics and thermosetting plastics. From the latter article: "They do not lend themselves to recycling like thermoplastics, which can be melted and re-molded." Maybe bags can't be made from thermoplastics because they're too soft and would sag. There are many variations of plastic, though, and this might again be a policy to simplify things for people. DirkvdM 05:36, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Pretty exotic animals

What real, exotic animals are generally considered attractive? For example, rare species of butterflies, etc... Thanks. Acceptable 17:50, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

"Exotic" literally means foreign, so without knowing where you live, we don't know what you would consider exotic. And "attractiveness" is, of course, highly subjective. I consider the vast majority of animals attractive, and the vast majority are also exotic. And I'm sure there are rare butterflies that are unattractive, like plain brown or something....--Shantavira|^{feed me} 18:22, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Exotic as in uncommon to North America. Acceptable 18:26, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

That's confusing. Your user page specifies you spent just 'months to days' in Canada and the US, so I assume you don't live there. Or are you Mexican? That is usually not mean6t when people say 'North America' in this context. DirkvdM 19:00, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Personally I find a sublime beauty in the platypus, but that's me. 38.112.225.84 18:39, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

The most beautiful bird I can see from my window (Netherlands) is the Great Crested Grebe. Especially the mating ritual is fascinating - it goes on for hours. Only once did I see the actual mating, which lasted just about a second; up and over and that was it. And hours of preparation for that. Poison dart frogs can also be impressive. And then there is of course the aptly named bird of paradise. DirkvdM 19:00, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Many people feel that parrotts, cockatiels, and other assorted birds are quite beautiful. Dismas|^(talk) 23:57, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Wild cats are popular too. The Siberian Tiger, Snow Leopard, or panther for instance. Some of the most exotic, fascinating, and beautiful creatures can be found in the sea. My favorites are the cephalopods, the poisonous Blue-ringed octopus or Pfeffer's Flamboyant Cuttlefish for instance. See also Claire Nouvian's The Deep - The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. ---Sluzzelin talk 00:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Panda of course! --Candy-Panda 07:31, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

or what better than a small herd of yak grazing the front lawn. Richard Avery 07:42, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Mongooses are delightful. DuncanHill 08:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh yes, mongooses. By delightful do you mean in the sense that velociraptors are peaceful? --froth^t 23:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Mm, wildcats. Get a puma and impress the interwebs. --froth^t 23:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Enjoy the Polar bears while you still can - your grandkids probably won't be able to. SteveBaker 15:37, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Wait, what about the Polar Bear? Would you explain, SteveBaker? --PolarWolf 18:49, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Polar Bear#Conservation Status Skittle 22:43, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Polar Bears are only mildly endangered now - there are still lots of them out there. But as the polar ice retreats, there will come a season when the distance between ice floes grows to greater than the distance a bear can swim. At that point, quite suddenly, pretty much all of the polar bears will either drown or die of starvation. Our usual conservation rules (no shooting or trapping, keeping people out of their terratory, that kind of thing) won't help them in the least. There is nothing we can do that will slow (let alone reverse) the global warming trend within the next 20 years - so the Polar Bears are going to become sad creatures continually pacing up and down in zoos until they become too inbred and finally disappear. SteveBaker 13:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you kidding? Our grandchildren will have it made! Two of them'll have polar ice caps of their very own around the house- a luxury certainly not available to today's generation. (And maybe when humanity is driven underground I won't get so much flak for never going outside. Keep spraying those CFCs people!) -froth^t 23:08, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Country music and rap music put together

What do you get when you fuse country music and rap music together? Ericthebrainiac 01:06 September 8, 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericthebrainiac (talk • contribs) 18:06, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

You might get country-rap Algebraist 18:13, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Ear ache? Bielle 00:38, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Earache My Eye! —Tamfang 18:55, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Crap, for short. --Nricardo 05:13, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Grey noise? Stevie Ray Robinson 10:39, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

It would certainly be hard to bear - but the consequent inevitable fusion of Line dancing and Break dancing might be enough to send me over the edge! SteveBaker 15:35, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

WWE wrestlers' Suspensions

Who are the WWE wrestlers that are being suspended due to a WWE-related investigation about steroid use? Ericthebrainiac 02:55 September 8 2007

I did not know anyone was suspended. Try the WWE article or Google News. If you want me to search Google News and come up with a link, let me know. --69.150.163.1 15:12, 9 September 2007 (UTC) User:Kushal_one

Because WWE's events are entirely scripted and all of that juicy on-screen uproar is rehearsed (at their facility in Fort Worth, Texas), it's not at all clear whether these are true cases of abuse or simply a way to add more interest to what might otherwise be a boring retirement or a transfer to another organisation. Competitors are not under any pressure to take steroids in order to win games - because winners and losers are determined by script writers. Furthermore, not all sporting bodies ban steroids - although Anabolic steroids are controlled substances in the US, if the people involved had a legal right to take them, then it's not clear whether that would even have been illegal under WWE rules. Wrestlers in these ridiculous events are allowed to break all of the other rules and get away with it. An Olympic wrestler who hit another with a chair during a match would be out of competition fairly soon I think! In WWE that becomes a 'signature move'. Sheesh! SteveBaker 15:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

What is the name of a porch post-top decoration?

I am fixing up my house to sell and want to improve it's curb appeal. I have a plain porch and want to add a decorative wood at the top of the posts but I don't know what to call it. I tried "cornice" but that was wrong. Please help.67.87.66.125 21:35, 8 September 2007 (UTC) [Email address removed for your protection]

It's a type of finial (see also here). --Anonymous, 21:59 UTC, September 8.

NO It's not a finial. A finial is an end of a pole etc. What I mean is a roughly triangular piece of wood which goes between the post and the bottom of the roof over the porch. They go on both sides of the post and may have curlicues or swirls etc. I realize the ancient Greeks and Romans decorated the tops of their columns with Doric, Ionic and Corrinthian tops but what I'm looking for only goes on either side of the post, not all around it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.66.125 (talk) 08:30, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Decorative bracket? FiggyBee 08:41, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

YES Thank you FiggyBee. The word bracket looks like the best term so far. I will check it out in other encyclopedias and find where they can be purchased. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.66.125 (talk) 17:32, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Well I checked them out now and they can be very expensive, but at least now I know that they are called brackets. Thanks again. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.87.66.125 (talk) 21:40, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

If you have (access to) a band saw, you could make them.

Atlant 17:19, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

secret agent actions

Have there ever been illegal actions perpetrated by secret agents that have been exposed by the media, similar to the embassy ordeal at the start of Casino Royale? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 22:59, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I recall reading on Wikipedia about a PM's bodyguards assasinating him/her. Acceptable 23:15, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

You might be thinking of Indira Gandhi, but that hardly required exposing. The Watergate scandal is the first example that springs to mind, but the CIA has got up to a lot of dubious activities in its time. Algebraist 23:21, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

• It made a big splash when French secret agents bombed the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace ship participating in protests against their nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific. See Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. --Sean 23:34, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
• Also, it seems obvious to some observers that the Russian government was behind the killing in London of Alexander Litvinenko. And the Libyan government eventually admitted to a role in the Lockerbie bombing (sort of). --Sean 23:49, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

It depends on what you mean by "secret agents." See Watergate, for example. -- Mwalcoff 00:38, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I mean gov't agents on clandestine missions that become not so clandestine by accident. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 01:27, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Didn't Israeli agents go to a scandanavian country after the Munich olympics terrorism to assassinate a plotter, kill an innocent Arab and get caught? Then there were the Nixon plumbers and Watergate break in guys who got caught. There were the CIA guys who kidnapped someone in Italy, and the Italian police traced their celphone calls and hotel payment records. It is a risk that clandestine agents take. Remember Mission Impossible:"As usual, if you or any members of your IMF team are caught or killed, the secretary will disavow all knowledge of your existence. Good luck. This message will self-destruct in five seconds." Edison 02:06, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

That would be Operation Wrath of God. There have been lots of books and at least two movies (most recently: Steven Spielberg's Munich. The Israelis set up a covert unit that had a mission to track down the remaining Black September terrorists and kill each of them no matter where they lived. SteveBaker 15:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Alexander Litvinenko poisoning was probably the most notable recent event. Lots of others are listed in Active measures SteveBaker 03:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Another example; Mossad agents got busted trying to obtain phony New Zealand passports a couple of years ago. FiggyBee 08:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

you might be interested in reading Family Jewels (Central Intelligence Agency). 89.139.31.12 17:53, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Not particularly relevant, but I just have to remind everyone of the extensive and utterly unlawful wiretapping that has been rampant throughout the Bush administration. The FBI has gotten busted soo many times recently- they just pay the fines with taxpayer money and keep doing it. --froth^t 22:08, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

This is in the US by the way for our many international contributors :) (I just know you all love being referred to as "international") --froth^t 22:09, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Don't forget Mossad and the Lillehammer affair. Rmhermen 05:37, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

September 9

dollar general

I just bought a 3.5 oz tube of name-brand toothpaste at dollar general. Is dollar general ever cheaper than other stores for name-brand goods? When? Why?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 01:29, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

See Variety store#Products and Variety store#Economics. Samw 03:04, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

praying mantis

i was just wondering if a praying mantis will attack a human? and how can you get rid of one in a house that won't leave on its own? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.57.86.7 (talk) 03:14, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I've never heard of a praying mantis attacking a human. As a kid I used to pick them up, grasping them from behind, without harm to myself or them. If you're really worried about being attacked while picking one up, you could wear thick gloves - but if you do then be careful of how much pressure you apply. It is easy to misgauge and apply too much pressure when you're wearing thick gloves. Be sure to release it outside your home, as they eat all sorts of insects of the unwanted sort. When I was growing up, if I found a praying mantis egg sac in the woods, I would break that twig off and tie it to a stake in the garden so that the young would hatch in the garden. They are great for natural pest control. 152.16.188.107 03:48, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Shame on me but I have taunted a praying mantis into "attacking" my finger. No, it did not rip my finger off or inject large amounts of venom. (no, I'm kidding they have no venom) It caused a very slight pricking sensation as it grabbed at my finger with its front claws. No pain, but with alarming speed that makes you jump a bit. They are harmless to humans and can, as the previous advisor says, be picked up from behind. But be aware that they are surprisingly soft and easy to damage. An easier way might be to throw a light piece of material over it and then use this to carry it outside. Beautiful little creatures. Richard Avery 07:38, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Coming from the UK where most insects are small and boring, I've been amazed at some of the crazy ones there are here in Texas. I mean, I knew they existed from TV documentaries and such - but seeing them for real is really something else. Stick insects and Praying mantises, things that look just like the leaves of the plants they live on...just incredible stuff. But the Praying mantis is definitely the most cool. That explosion of speed they have when on the attack - after sitting utterly motionless for days at a time beforehand is quite impressive. Fireflies, Terantulas and Scorpions are also extremely strange animals by the standards of British insects. I wonder what drives the evolution of these weird creatures here - but not in northern Europe? I don't think I can recall a single kind of insect that I've seen in UK that I have not seen here (although there must be some). SteveBaker 15:05, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Did you see that question about the household centipede on /S a few days ago? Now that is a fast insect.. also more terrifying than velociraptors IMHO. --froth^t 22:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I've noticed a lot of comments about these "terrifying" centipedes - mainly from Americans. Is there some sort of cultural phenomenon which cause Americans to be disproportionately scared of small harmless things? DuncanHill 11:26, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I would hazard a guess: In the UK, the most lethal insect is probably the bee (if you are allergic to them), maybe the wasp (same reason). But if you aren't allergic to them, there is nothing serious going on. The only snake you have to worry about is the (almost extinct) Adder and that is shy by nature and can only seriously harm small children. Here in the USA, we have spiders and scorpions that can easily kill humans, super-agressive "africanized" bees that can swarm and kill - and lots more insects that sting and bite, some much more painfully than bees. Chiggers...yeah - not lethal but possibly the most itchy bites you'll ever come across. Mosquito's in UK are a mere nuisance - here they can carry West Nile disease. Ticks that you can pick up walking in the woods carry Limes disease...very nasty. In Texas alone there are half a dozen species of lethally venomous snakes. The UK has extremely 'safe' wildlife - you really don't have to worry about anything like that. In the US, there are dozens of creatures that can cause you no end of problems. I presume that this engenders more caution than a Brit might need to show. SteveBaker 13:18, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

That would make sense. DuncanHill 13:21, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about tihngs like lyme disease or west nile, but the sheer quantity of painful crawlies in america has certainly engendered a widespread fear and hatred for all insects. I can't help it- butterflies are pretty flapping around a field, but they're disgusting up close and I'm not going to stick around if it starts trying to land on me. I guess also it depends on whether you grew up in an urban or rural environment.. I know people from rural environments that are astonished at my lack of fear of dogs, but there just aren't any dangerous dogs at all where I grew up and live. --froth^t 22:25, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Note that American dangerous bugs seems to pale in comparison to Australian bugs. They got some creepy scary bugs down under. --72.83.173.248 01:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Going OT here, sorry. As a texan I think you are over exagerating the lethality of our venomous animals. Bites from Brown recluses and black widow spiders are very rare and almost never lethal even though these spiders are exteremely common, the same goes for scorpions. Copperheads are extermely common, especially this very wet year, but their bite is not fatal, one of our dogs has been bitten twice and survived. Out of 4 venomous snake species, probably the only lethal one is the coral snake but I have read that bites are rare because their mouths are to small to get a good bite. You hit the nail on the head that Chiggars will easily cause you the most grief, If you avoid the tall grass on account of chiggars you will also avoid the snakes. I can speculate that the diversity of insects in the americas versus europe might have something to do with north-south axis versus the east-west axis as explained in Guns, Germs, and Steel. in Eurasia species could easily spread east and west due to the similar climate, where in the americas and africa there was more differentiation due to geography, just my guess. -- Diletante 17:03, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

meeting strangers on MySpace

Is it safe to meet strangers on MySpace? I'm meeting new people on MySpace everyday and I got a message from a user that I inviting to be my friend and she asked about me. Jet (talk) 04:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, of course. You should always meet strangers. And get into their cars, especially if they offer you candy. Adam Bishop 05:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Generally, it's safe, as long as you don't give them any personal information and don't arrange to meet up. If you do arrange to meet up, I'd bring along friends, meet in a VERY public place, remain in public places, and have a specified time you'll check in with a friend or relative afterwards so if you don't check in, you've been abducted or injured. Kuronue | Talk 05:51, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

After edit conflict:

They're only strangers if you don't know them. So once you've met them, they won't be strangers anymore. Then again, in line with Adam's remark, a conversation I once heard in a film. little girl: "I'm not allowed to talk to strangers." Big guy: "Oh, in that case, my name is Harry. There you go, now we're not strangers anymore." :) But seriously, one should always keep the possibility of bad intentions of other people in the back of one's head, but not let that get in the way of dealing with them. Most people are good. Just use some common sense. Contacts over the Internet aren't dangerous (well, physically, anyway) and if, for example, you agree to meet someone, you might make sure it's in a safe (public) place the first time at least. If your first assumption about other people starts to be that they're bad, then you'll become anthropophobic. I noticed this in the US - people were afraid of each other. Not good. Take the possibility of badness into consideration, but assume goodness. DirkvdM 06:00, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I remember a similar line from Forrest Gump.. the schoolbus driver tells him to get in or something, same situation. Are you sure that's not what you're thinking of? --froth^t 22:05, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Netherlands

Is the Netherlands called "The Netherlands" or "Netherlands"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.233.83.26 (talk) 06:21, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The state is called "the Netherlands". In some written contexts, the "The" is capitalised. However, it's possible to use "Netherlands", without the definite article, as a synonym for "Dutch". -- JackofOz 06:53, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

If you write Netherlands, you need to write "the". If you write Holland, you do not. --69.150.163.1 --69.150.163.1 15:10, 9 September 2007 (UTC) User:Kushal_one

From Netherlands#Naming conventions - The word Netherlands is sometimes used as an adjective in place of Dutch (e.g. the Royal Netherlands Army). -- JackofOz 03:04, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Or the Netherlands Antilles (I should know, I was born there :) ). Of course, there is still an article in front of it, but that belongs to 'Antilles' (or 'Army' in your example). I suppose the article is needed because it is plural. In the Netherlands, we nowadays call the country 'Nederland', singular, without an article. The English word is a remnant from the time when it wasn't a single country in the modern sense yet, the 'low lands' (the originally meaning), which coincided roughly with present day Netherlands and Belgium (hey, notice I didn't use an article there - is that correct?). Not to be confused with the nether regions, which in a geographical sense might be taken to mean Australia. Note that Holland is something different, but is often used as a pars pro toto, such as 'England' for the UK (the opposite is totum pro parte, such as 'America' for the US). DirkvdM 11:03, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Romanian Food

i need info about Romania and the types of foods grown and eaten by this country —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.100.115.13 (talk) 06:22, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

See Romania and Romanian cuisine.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:37, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

National Football League Replica Jerseys

I was wondering how a replica jersey should be cleaned. Can it be machine washed or drycleaned.--logger 07:44, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

There isn't a tag with washing instructions inside the jersey? Either on the collar or along one of the side seams? Dismas|^(talk) 10:25, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

If it's brightly coloured, wash it separately (perhaps by hand) for the first few washes.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:41, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Netherlands

What are the most popular jobs in the Netherlands? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.233.83.26 (talk) 08:39, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Economy of the Netherlands might be a good place to start. FiggyBee 08:47, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I suppose you mean relative to other countries, not in absolute terms. Trade has always been a very important part of the Dutch economy, and along with that comes banking. But this is based largely on the watery nature and location of the country, which gave it an ideal trade position, at least with ships. So shipbuilding is another important one. The Dutch are often world leaders concerning just about anything that has to do with water, such as salvaging, dredging and water management (the famous Dutch dykes and windmills). Also, the Netherlands is one of the most socialist countries in the world, so I imagine there will be a higher than average percentage of civil servants. DirkvdM 11:23, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Choirs

Saw Last Night of the Proms... why do choirs seem always to need song sheets (music) when other singers learn the words and music?86.200.0.185 09:35, 9 September 2007 (UTC)Patsy

This is not entirely true. Many choirs perform without song sheets. Did the choir you saw have a conductor? 81.93.102.185 11:51, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

And the reverse is also true. In a performance of, say, any of Mahler's symphonies with solo voices and choir, or just solo voices, or just a single solo voice (eg. the 4th), the soloists usually sing from sheet music as well as the choir. Also true for Mozart's Requiem, or Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius and so on. -- JackofOz 13:11, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi - Yes the choir had a conductor. To be clear, what I want to know is why professional musicians/singers, etc., do not learn their parts. I understand the difficulty for amateurs, of course.86.200.0.185 16:08, 9 September 2007 (UTC)Patsy

I guess the sheer variety of songs that choirs will sing is much larger than most singers (who tend to only sing songs written by them/their band). As a result they may not always no every single word. If you are in a band you will have a set of maybe 35/40 songs that you sing - with the ocassional 'cover' thrown in. As a choir member you may be called upon to sing any number of 100s and 100s of different pieces. You may be lead solo in the song this week but then the same piece you might be backing a week later. Well that's what i'd guess as the reason. ny156uk 18:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Where's the 2,000,000th article?

Where's the 2,000,000th article? I cant find a link to it or anything. -OOPSIE- 12:22, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Seems to be the article El Hormiguero --MoRsE 12:38, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

It's linked from the main page. Dismas|^(talk) 12:40, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I can't see any link -OOPSIE- 12:46, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

My mistake, the link was taken down due to a possible counting error. Maybe we have the Florida elections committee doing the tabulating. :-) Dismas|^(talk) 12:52, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe we should keep quiet about that. It would be such a pity to disrupt the party going on over at Talk:El Hormiguero.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:01, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Who certified the article? I know we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find 1.5mil, while 1 million came when the counter was still enabled. Anywhere we can find a discussion of who first noticed this? --Ybbor^Talk 13:37, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

This is a horribly messy business. There is always some debate about which article gets the honor. The problem being that an insane number of junk articles are created here all the time - and as we get close to magical numbers like 2,000,000, that number skyrockets because everyone wants to be the person who created that article. Junk articles are generally speedily deleted - but often require more careful deliberation and are more slowly deleted. Deletions may be appealed and articles are sometimes reinstated. But close to that magic number, the number of deleted articles becomes vastly more than the number of articles that stay the course and make it into the encyclopedia long-term. So the number of articles crosses over the 2,000,000 mark - then drops back down again - then up again, then back down again. It can take quite some time for it to actually stay up over 2,000,000 for any amount of time. So - when do you declare a winner? It's a tough call. I think everyone agrees that we don't want to repeatedly bestow the title to articles that disappear soon afterwards. Worse still, any article that does make it to being tentatively crowned as "The One True 2 Millionth Article" immediately comes under the microscope - and the deletionist flock towards it hoping to find a reason to remove it. I guarantee that there are arguments going on about El Hormiguero already - wondering whether the TV show meets the criteria of notability. All in all, it's a bit of a crap-shoot and many articles that were the 2 millionth at the instant they were created will be deleted - many others that were at 2,000,001 when the article just before them was deleted will be considered - but since one of the articles before THAT will inevitably be deleted too, then they'll be back at 1,999,999. Even after we finally decide on one to award the crown to - something earlier on will be deleted. I would bet that if you sorted all the articles in order of age and looked back even as far as the 1,000,000th one on that list - it wouldn't be the same article from one day to the next. SteveBaker 14:51, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

building with mansion at the top

this was in the nytimes some months ago. There was an art-deco mansion, including ballroom, at the top of a skyscraper in New York, and it was sold for 30-40million or something. what building is this in? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 15:39, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

No idea but this site (http://www.thecityreview.com/) is very informed about NY. You may be able to find out there. ny156uk 19:06, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

As it's art deco it's either Chrysler_Building or Empire State Building which shouldhelp and if not try List_of_tallest_buildings_in_New_York_City (there's some more 1930's buildings there) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.77.35 (talk) 12:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Here's a possibility; maybe not art deco, but built in the 1920s: There were articles in the New York Times on 14 January 2007 and 10 June 2007 about the penthouse at the top of 1020 Fifth Avenue, owned by the family of Samuel H. Kress since 1925, being listed for sale at $50million. The earlier article mentions that the apartment was called a House in the Sky when it was built, and that its 20ft x 40ft sunken salon was sometimes used as a ballroom. - brian the librarian —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.125.140.4 (talk) 21:20, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Probably you're thinking of Fifteen Central Park West. According to an article by Paul Goldberger in The New Yorker (2007-08-27), a penthouse in that building was bought by Daniel Loeb for $45-million. --Mathew5000 06:12, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Links: [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] --Mathew5000 06:21, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Baseball rules

In what year did major league baseball "rule" that the home team always bats last (if necessary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.38.131.36 (talk) 16:33, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The rule stretches back into baseball antiquity. Also, "if necessary" isn't really apt in the context of the question. The home team always bats after the visitors in every inning; it's not a special case of ensuring that they bat last in the game. — Lomn 22:00, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I can't speak for the earliest years of baseball, because there were many variations of the rules. But on the professional level, when rules were standardized, the chronology went like this:

1871-1876	Coin toss for choice of batting first or last
1877	Home team batted first
1878-1886	Coin toss for choice of batting first or last
1887-1949	Home team had choice
1950-present	Home team bats last

Even though it wasn't a rule until 1950, the last time a home team opted to bat first was on July 16, 1908 when the Chicago Cubs batted first against the New York Giants in a game at Chicago's West Side Park. Also, before 1879, the home team still had to bat in the bottom of the ninth even if it was ahead. (Thanks to research from Baseball Almanac, Baseball Library, Baseball Reference and Retrosheet.) — Michael J 04:52, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Great job, but one thing... in the very first Major League game in 1871, the home team did not bat in the bottom half of the ninth. -- Mwalcoff 07:12, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Read that article again. In the second paragraph, it says "In 1871, the home team would often bat in the bottom of the 9th inning, even if they were ahead. Ft. Wayne did choose to do so on this day, while leading 2-0." And it in the play-by-play it has both teams batting in the ninth. — Michael J 02:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, you're right. I guess what I meant to say is they had a choice of whether to bat or not. -- Mwalcoff 05:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

what is meant by "native son"

what is meant by "native son" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 143.111.22.26 (talk) 17:58, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Generally it is a poetic way of saying that a man was born in the certain country or place, with which they are associated, so for example Paul Simon is a native son of New York (and if he isn't, I apologise!)SaundersW 18:06, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

It's also a novel by Richard Wright - see Native Son Kuronue | Talk 17:01, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

*Bleep*

Is there a standard frequency for bleepers? I'm tempted to make one myself for comical reasons. --antilived^{T | C | G} 19:57, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, in lieu of some other kind of bleeper, many studios just inserted the 1000hz test tone that is found in nearly every professional studio. You can download one at the SMPTE color bars article. --Mdwyer 03:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Violating monarchy

I read somewhere a while ago about a queen (monarch, not homosexual, nor queen bee) that was raped while in power. Maybe it was a princess, I forget...anyway, are there any monarchs that have been raped while in power? --Montchav 20:03, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Mary Queen of Scots was captured by Bothwell who raped then married her, to become her third husband.SaundersW 20:18, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Boudicca's daughters were raped by the Romans. Clarityfiend 07:01, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Edward II of England is said to have been killed by having a red hot metal tube inserted in his anus, but the story has its doubters. Corvus cornix 15:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Frozen ipod

My ipod nano has frozen and it won't reset or do anything. Got any tips on what to do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mheaver (talk • contribs) 20:49, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Try... http://macs.about.com/od/ipod/a/ipod_frozen.htm or visit the Apple website (www.apple.com !!) for more potential fixes. ny156uk 20:53, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Spanish language motto for Volkswagen commercials

What is the Spanish language motto for Volkswagen commercials? --Ericthebrainiac 20:50, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Speed limit enforced by aircraft

Travelling back to school after returning home for the weekend, I noticed some signs along the road in Virginia (US) saying that the speed limit is enforced by aircraft. Allow me to point out my suspicions that this is total BS:

• It would be totally uneconomical- plane fuel is just too expensive.
• It would be extremely difficult to automatically identify individual vehicles from the air. I mean ridiculously difficult. And as it doesn't fall under the massive trillion-dollar defense budget, I doubt the state government could afford to develop such algorithms.
• It would be nearly impossible to measure the speed of vehicles relative to the ground. The plane is moving (at who knows what speed relative to the ground), the car is moving in a different direction, there are all sorts of doppler (and relativistic if you drive as fast as I do :D) effects at work, and on the complications go. Any sort of reliable accuracy is totally out of the question. (ie it wouldn't stand up in traffic court)
• It would be even more nearly impossible to get a good shot of a speeding vehicle's license plate number.

I suppose the crew could assist in a few problems (maybe manually taking a picture of license plate), but it would have to be largely automated- you can't just point a distance finder at a car and get its speed without complicated calculations just to see if that single car is speeding.

Is this just a scare tactic initiated decades ago to sort of inspire a fear of unseen law enforcement or something (like today they might use "speed limits enforced by satellite imagery" for a similar effect)? Or am I totally off the mark and they actually do enforce speed limits from planes x_x --froth^t 22:23, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

In that photo the helicopter looks photoshopped in...Anyway you must be right there can't be any economic/logical policy for aircraft to enforce something that could just as easily (and much more effectively financially and otherwise) by motor vehicles. I would just assume this is a prank/hoax, even as a government attempted 'threat' it is insane. ny156uk 22:37, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

No the copter is real, that picture is taken from my camera phone. (of course it's shopped! o_O) --froth^t 22:45, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

• How very sweet! Wrong as all heck, though. In California, the CHP uses a combination of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to help enforce speed limits (as well as for other purposes). They're perfectly capable of timing a car as it makes its way past a pair of roadside markers; if they see you taking 10 seconds to go between two markers a quarter mile apart, they don't need radar to calculate you've been going 90mph. Then they'll just call the patrol car: "a red VW is about to pass you; I clocked him at 90." Poof, there's your ticket. The patrol car that got me said, "The pilot told me to tell you, good grief, you're driving a convertible; look up every once in a while!" --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 22:50, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

Flatly: "oh". (I assume by sweet you mean cutely naive to expect law enforcement to make sense, or some similar sentiment) But is there any particular reason they need to be burning $100 per hour flying a plane around when you can pay 2 cops $20 per hour each to just chill at each point and call out the color and make of cars as they go by? --froth^t 23:00, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

You might spot the Smokie taking pictures[16] , but you are unlikely to see the Bear in the Air.10-4? Edison 23:13, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

One aircraft can spot speeders for dozens of patrol cars - and it's very much more effective because no amount of radar detectors will help you. $100 per hour might sound like a lot - but the fine for speeding is around $100 - so they only have to catch one or two extra speeders per hour to be cost-effective. It's certainly true that they do this though. SteveBaker 04:06, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

In Chester, England, aircraft traffic enforcement is performed in the "downtime" of the spotter plane - i.e. when travelling to and from incidents. And of course, you forget the cost of clearing up after the crash - that $100 helicopter flight may have prevented a crash which would not only cost lives, but cost the taxpayer on average £1.4 million ($2.8 million) to clear up, investigate and, if necessary, prosecute the driver. As for inability to identify individual vehicles from the air, the cameras on police craft can regularly read licence plates from the air; indeed, some police chase shows actually have to pixelise the plates of cars from helicopter camera feeds, which would otherwise be clear enough to read on television.[17] Laïka 11:41, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

In New Hampshire, we have something like a few dozen "speed zones" scattered around the state, mostly (all?) on the limited-access highways. Smart drivers can spot them; they have a clear inverted-"T"-like marking on the shoulder as you enter the zone, a white bar marking every quarter mile, and another "T"-like marking as you leave the zone. If the zone is in use, chase cars will be stationed somewhere beyond the end of the zone. If you can believe the news articles that appear from time to tume, it's usually no challenge at all for the aircraft to spot the blatant speeders nor to convey an unambiguous description to the officers on the ground.

I do get the impression that in the age of instant-on LIDAR, these zones are used less than they used to be as LIDAR is far less detectable than the lazy-cop's old RADAR unit.

Atlant 17:29, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm posting into the archive to add a note that wasn't mentioned while the thread was live: airborne police also have the advantage that they can see dozens of cars at a time and immediately pick out the fastest ones. --Anonymous, September 27, 2007, 22:28 UTC.

September 10

Church cook book

I found a church cook book titled "The Forget~Me~Not Club of St.James Church. The front of the book was gone, I have no idea how old it is, but some of the companies in Quincy were advertised...their phone number were 3-digit and 4-digit numbers. Some...have a letter after the number...example...Insure with HAUTER...LIFE-FIRE-AUTO

                                                 Telephones: Office  430 - Residence 3420-J
                                                 404 W.C.U. Building   Quincy.Illinois

Could you please help me as to where and how old this cook book might be? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.109.254.120 (talk) 00:05, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

You might try searching [http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/top/books61000.shtml ] [18] or you could write them at: [http://www.quincynet.com/explore/worship/ch053.htm ] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Barland1 (talk • contribs) 22:22, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

You could try contacting the phone company in Illinois, and ask if there is a historian on hand. I believe the letter after the number suggests a party line. --Mdwyer 03:54, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Our article on Telephone number explains the format of early phone numbering systems. Also, this document, from 1937, seems to use a similar format to what you described. Have you contacted the church to see if they have a church historian? 152.16.16.75 09:23, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Someone appears to be selling a copy of the same book in an eBay store, and lists its date as "Ca 1920??". You may be able to track down information about the book by contacting the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County and the Quincy Public Library. The latter appears to own a microfilm of St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church records covering the years 1851-1962. - brian the librarian —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.125.140.4 (talk) 20:30, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Eco-scam ?

I'm watching Sean Hannity's America, and they're claiming that the whole Environmental Movement is a scam, such as exposing Al Gore and the environmentalists as hypocrites. I was going to donate some $$$$ to Earthshare, but was told that this was a scam and that I'd be supporting terrorists like PETA, ALF, ELF, Earth First! and worse. Is it a good idea to donate $$$$ to Earthshare in view of this ?! Should the Hannity's America statements be incl. in any articles ? 65.173.105.79 01:28, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia has an article on Hannity's America which gives some idea about the show's view.--Countincr ^{( t@lk )} 01:38, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

(comment removed- even though I disclaimed frantically not to give money to ecoterrorists I'm still uncomfortable with how my comments might be misinterpreted, sorry) --froth^t 03:52, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

See the Wikipedia policy on reliable sources. Hannity has a right to his opinion, but it's just his opinion, and it's his job to be a right-wing blowhard. Earthshare's list of member organizations does not include any ecoterrorist or radical groups. I always wonder at people who say the entire environmental movement is a scam. If I was interested in making money, I'd be much more likely to go to work for a big, polluting company than take a $11/hour job sending out flyers for the Rainforest Alliance. -- Mwalcoff 04:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

• If the environmental movement is a scam, I invite Mr. Hannity to eat a fish from my local stream. It might not have three eyes, but it will be loaded with PCBs from an electrical transformer factory that used the traditional "dump it in the creek out back" method of toxic waste disposal. The Sean Hannitys of the world's definition of "freedom" includes that company's freedom to pollute public streams, but not the rest of society's freedom to take their kid fishing. --Sean 13:43, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

• And PETA aren't terrorists. They campaign for the ehtical treatment of animals. I'm not saying the others are terrorist organisations, I've just never heard of them to comment (not being American).212.240.35.42 14:34, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
  • The ELF/ALF/EarthFirst types are labelled as terrorists because they sometimes do stupid things like property destruction in the name of their causes. They have an explicit policy of avoiding hurting anyone. I think it's stupid, counterproductive, and worthy of calling them vandals or criminals, but "terrorist" seems a bit much, considering that real terrorists tend to kill people. --Sean 17:26, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Wasn't there just something recently in the news about the top heads of non-profit organizations getting tons of money? So while I don't think it's a scam per se, some people probably are taking a percentage of the money for profit. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

aaaargh and daaaaaang

I saw your messages above that linked to this site:

http://www.cs.unm.edu/%7Edlchao/flake/argh/index.html

frankly, I think it's massaging data, i mean how could human behavior be so simply modeled with a regression curve? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 01:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Because people are predictable sheep? I don't see any reason to say that people are particularly difficult to model statistically in general, and his little experiment doesn't seem "massaged" --froth^t 04:03, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Roll one dice - and the number you get is random - all numbers appear equally. Roll 100 dice and add up the numbers on them and probability of each result will closely follow a standard bell-curve with most of the results adding up to 35 350 - very few adding up to 100 and very few adding up to 600. The randomness of a single dice is lost and a simple curve describes the most likely behavior. Similarly with people. The behavior of an individual is certainly too complex to model - but the average behavior of a large number of people may well follow some simple mathematical curve. SteveBaker 04:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

100 dice adding up to 35? And boy howdy you hit the nail on the head with my link to Asimov's psychohistory. --froth^t 04:05, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Oops! Slip of the finger. 350! Asimov's phychohistory is bunk though - while the behavior of a large number of people may well be predictable on a one-time basis (if someone sounds the fire alarm in an office building - most people will move towards the exits - but one or two will head back to pick up something from their desks first - this is predictable on a broad statistical basis), the nature of chaos theory means that Asimov's fictional account of it is a long way from being reasonable (if the one person who goes back happens to be the boss of the company - who is also a US presidential candidate - the consequences for society will be different than if it was one of the secretaries who returned. This is not predicatable from statistics). Phsychohistory is a great literary device to make a great story - but it's not remotely real! SteveBaker 12:54, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

How is this modeling human behavior in the first place? It is not the prediction of the likelihood of some response based on a certain stimulus; it is the # of hits on goolge and altavista for keyword searches. How can you be surprised to see such a nice regression when querying such a huge database? (noting how hard it is to conceptualize huge in this instance) Maybe it is predicting how people will spell dang when they have the desire to type it. I'm sure several factors would come into play: misspelling, emphasis, etc. The graph just represents how likely it is to be spelled a certain way with out respect to any of those.
Mrdeath5493 06:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

It's important to remember that "how likely" is distinct from "exactly how often" ... in this case it's the latter --froth^t 09:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

reminds me of the daaaaaang article where someone said that SteveBaker always over complicates things. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.69.176 (talk) 14:50, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Modeling phenomena without an underlying understanding of the forces, interactions, etc, is misleading. Kind of like astrology, which is based on modeling of visibility and movement of heavenly bodies with some characteristics of humans. What can you do with it(Sorry astrologers, using you as a whipping boy here). I think people have said, that we can model any thing with a sine-curve, but does that make it a plausible and predictable model? Aggregate thinking being ascribed to individual behaviour treats humans as a monolith, which we most definitely aren't. With the incredible data available, easy access to it, I hope we don't create our own version of astrology, a la, data based, but not vetted by science. Its one thing to say things are interesting, but we should caution people about techniques that can lead to spurious (or unproven) results. Fire away!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.142.209.247 (talk) 16:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Large flocks of seagulls acting oddly

I live in central Canada, quite far away from any large bodies of water, and I've often seen large flocks of seagulls (over 100) circling for hours over a certain area of land where there would be a minimal chance of scavenging food. What would make them do this?

Also, I've seen other large flocks of gulls "migrating" (they were all flying in the same direction, in any case), but completely silently. Is this natural behavior?

205.200.133.133 01:52, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Go to Linda Moulton Howe's website and report this. Sounds bizarre to me. 65.173.105.79 02:04, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

(remember RD regulars, always AGF --froth^t 03:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC))

I have also seen this circling behavior and can confirm its validity (and strangeness). I live in Seattle and I have observed groups of, perhaps forty gulls, circling a false front on a clothing store near Pike Place Market. The birds did not appear to be feeding or engaging in mating behavior. They flow continuously in a clockwise direction and I watched them until my bus came (maybe half an hour). It was quite puzzling, especially by their almost precise repetitiveness. Perhaps the birds were sick in some way? If anybody has an idea about this I too would be very interested. --S.dedalus 06:12, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

If they weren't doing much flapping, they just would be riding a thermal. Easier and safer than hanging out together on the ground.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:19, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, see our article Thermal. Also, while they are coasting around up there, they can keep an eye out for sources of food. Incidentally, if you take a look at Herring gull, you will see that these birds have adapted to life in inland cities. Also, they will migrate out of areas that experience cold winters (such as central Canada). Marco polo 19:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Yep, sounds like a thermal to me. They get a free ride and a free look-see out of it - possibly fun too. On the other hand, it wasn't flying ant day where you live, was it (or a 'whatever fat, flying bugs your have where you live emerging and swarming' day)? The gulls here circle en-masse and have a huge feast round here on that particular day of the year, plucking the ants out of the sky like they're going out of fashion. --Kurt Shaped Box 20:37, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, that seems to fit. Isn’t kind of odd to have a thermal so near a building though? Perhaps whatever heating or cooling systems they have on the roof was creating an updraft? --S.dedalus 22:14, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Might not necessarily be a 'thermal', as such. Wind hits building, wind is diverted up side of building and over? --Kurt Shaped Box 22:23, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, here is a map of the location. The gulls were circling the entry way of Ross Dress for Less I believe. --S.dedalus 06:08, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

This is called 'slope lift' - I used to fly radio controlled gliders and we could chuck them into a good strong headwind on a steeply sloping hill and fly for hours using the lift caused by wind blowing up the hill. But get onto the other side of the hill and "Very Bad Things" would happen in the turbulent down-wash on the opposite slope! SteveBaker 20:34, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Academic field nicknames?

Economics is known as "the dismal science". Are there any other academic fields with nicknames? - RedWordSmith 04:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've heard of physics referred to on a number of occasions as "the Queen of Sciences". --jjron 11:01, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

What about taxonomy being disparagingly and incorrectly called "stamp collecting". --jjron 11:07, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Actually, the exact quote is from Rutherford, and goes "All science is either physics or stamp collecting.". Laïka 11:23, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Gauss said "Mathematics is the queen of the sciences ..." - see Wikiquote. Gandalf61 11:09, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Where I studied, there was an inscription that stated "Mathematics is the queen and handmaiden of the sciences." A quick search seems to attribute this to Eric Temple Bell. --LarryMac | Talk 13:43, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

In the UK at least, geography is often compared to "colouring in" Capuchin 11:36, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Geography was traditionally a rowing degree. DuncanHill 11:40, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I like the quote "If it moves, it's biology. If it reacts, it's chemistry. And if it doesn't work, its physics!" :) Exxolon 21:37, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Not academic ... but the sport of boxing is referred to as "the sweet science." (Joseph A. Spadaro 17:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC))

Introductory books about Australia and New Zealand

The local English-language bookstore has one or two compact, informative books in English about the US or Britain that could be digestible and interesting for somebody intending to study for half a year or longer in that nation, with chapters on the government, the sexes, class, immigration and ethnicity, youth, the mass media, sport, culture, etc. (One about Britain has the misleadingly grandiose title of British Civilization.) But nothing analogous for Australia or New Zealand, let alone both, was in stock. Web searches have got me nowhere. Nothing essayistic, theoretical or polemical, please; compactness and up-to-date-ness are musts, and organization into digestible chunks would be most welcome. I'd be very grateful for author/title combinations (or ISBNs) of a few options, which I'd then look up. -- Hoary 07:52, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Are the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide type books along the line of what you are after, or do you want something more academic? They are a good place to start. The Lonely Planet guides for example are quite thorough on many aspects of the country, pretty accurate, usually up to date, compact, and fairly cheap. They should be easy enough to find and have variety - for example there's one on Australia overall, plus I believe separate ones on each state if you want that extra detail. --jjron 11:21, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the reminder. Yes, I'm familiar with both series, though I haven't seen the Rough Guide to Australia. I presume that the LP guide to Australia will be accurate as it's an Australian production and has gone through a number of editions. But there are two problems: it's dismayingly fat, and the great majority of it is about (a) what to see and how to have fun in Australia, rather than (b) how the place ticks. (Oh, and the reviews at amazon.com suggest that it's a turkey.) There is something titled Australia - Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette, which sounds a bit shallow but promising. -- Hoary 14:57, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Having never been Down Under I can't comment on its accuracy, but Down Under by Bill Bryson is the sort of book I would take if I did go to Oz. DuncanHill 15:15, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Many libraries use the subject heading "Australia--Guidebooks" for travel guides on the region. You can see a representative sampling using the WorldCat national library catalog: [19] If you enter your zip code, it will show you holdings in your local libraries. --Bill Pardue, Arlington Heights Memorial Library [20] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Billahml (talk • contribs) 15:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)--Billahml 15:33, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you both for your comments, but but but I'm not after a guidebook, or something that's "easy reading" (though I might have to settle for the one or the other). Instead, I'm after something that's very informative, compact, and not too difficult. Here's the British model; it's marketed as an area studies "textbook". -- Hoary 06:48, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Bryson is very entertaining (with a number of errors and exaggerations mind you), probably worth reading before you come, but not what Hoary's after. Sorry, can't think of anything to match that British book, but if you'd like me to look next time I visit some decent bookstores around Melbourne in a couple of week's time, drop me a note on my talk page. If you have any specific questions I'd be glad to help out where I can. --jjron 08:39, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

That's a very generous offer. I'll now hop over to your talk page. -- Hoary 11:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Israeli footballers and Sabbath

Having settled down to watch the England-Israel Euro 2008 qualifier,I noticed it was starting at 5pm Saturday (well before sunset) which seemed rather odd. Would playing in a football match be considered 'work' on the Sabbath? Do Israeli league football matches take place on Saturday and if so would they have to move about to accommodate sunrise/sunset times? Lemon martini 10:56, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Interesting question. You might find these links interesting. Apparently professional football is mainly played on Saturdays in Israel. The Israel Cricket Association has a special cricket league for those who don't play on the Sabbath. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 11:33, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Plus, it's unreasonable to assume that all Israeli's are hard-core religious types. All sorts of services (electricity supply, airports, telephones) have to be kept running on Sundays - there are people working at these places throughout the country. SteveBaker 12:44, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

And by Sundays you mean Saturdays... ;) FiggyBee 07:04, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Only about 13-24% (number vary based on criteria) of Israelis are religious. Also many religious people do not participate in professional sports at all (Haredim). Anyone who wouldn't play on shabbat wouldn't join the league in the first place, and while that may exclude a few religious players it is more worthwhile for the league to play on shabbat than to have a few more good players. But to answer you question, No, playing football is not technically considered work on shabbat. Nevertheless very few religious Jews and many traditional Jews would not play professional sports on shabbat. Jon513 14:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the Israeli league matches are played on Sabbath. I believe that international matches played at home are not played on Sabbath, but I don't have a source for this and could be wrong. The majority of Israeli society is indeed secular, so this doesn't raise issues normally. However, I recall that when Avi Cohen, perhaps the first Israeli player to gain widespread fame, played on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) for his club, there was widespread condemnation in Israel, even in sections of the less/non Orthodox community. --Dweller 14:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

NOT A NEW QUESTION

DEARS, I asked a question on reference desk on 8th september and this question is present with a title "medical education in cuba" (article 5.4). I am very thankful to DAVID who made a favour upon mi by answering to this question. But I need much more informations. I request you to try to give mi as much informations as possible because it is very very important for mi. I dont know who has more information about this topic, if you know some one who can answer this question in a better way, plz get him attended to this question. I will be very thankful. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.220.222.140 (talk) 12:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Earlier this year Venezuela began honoring Cuban medical degrees. There remains much doubt in the US regarding Cuban trained MDs. Many doctors fear that the education is skewed by the socialist/political rhetoric and that given limited access to resources their doctors are not trained properly. In general the feeling is that if you want to practice to medicine in a under-developed nation, a Cuban medical degree may be right for you. If you want to practice in the US, you should probably consider other options.
Librarians - Ask us, we answer.
Find your local library at: http://lists.webjunction.org/libweb/Public_main.html Ktg2 14:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I always thought that Cuban medicine and, by extension, Cuban doctors, where pioneering and used world leading technology? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.41.139.85 (talk) 03:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

And you believed that Cuba is a haven of social equality and freedom of speech as well, I suspect. It depends on your definitions of "pioneering" and "world leading" but it is hard to think of a single Cuban innovation or discovery adopted by the rest of the medical world since 1960. alteripse 03:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

hey, no-one likes a smartass mate. Judging by Healthcare in Cuba they do ok, esp considering US embargoes... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.41.139.85 (talk) 04:47, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

rave

I'm wondering how raves get started and people are invited to them. It seems like if you just told your fellow ravers, the cops would eventually get wind of it and raid the rave. How does this work? --MKnight9989 14:45, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

• There are usually postcards and flyers in head shops and attached to utility poles. Raves are not in themselves illegal (in most places). There are many places where fairly harmless illegal activity takes place and the police only occasionally bother to investigate (bars popular with underage drinkers, crackhouses that the neighbors aren't complaining about, law offices that pad their billable hours, etc.). Police involvement usually follows a complaint, not individual initiative. --Sean 17:32, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
• Answering the first part: they're generally started by a promoter who will rent a space for them, arrange for the music setup, advertise, etc., and then charge admission to make back his/her investment. --Sean 17:34, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. --MKnight9989 13:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

De ja vu

Hi! Anywho... I just read the article on deja vu and then looked at the discussion which told me to go here instead of posting there. I had a deja vu last night whilst i was eating chicken pie and my brother was talking about some star wars stuff. The week before i was playing warhawk and i had one. The article said " formal studies 70% of people report having experienced it at least once". So does anyone else think its wierd except formal studies and my mum??

Thanks helpful wikipedian guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.69.176 (talk) 14:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

This desk isn't for opinions especially, but I've had De ja Vu many times, I thought it was just me. Until a friend said "Whoa I just had a da ja vu" and I thought "What?". I always assumed it meant something posh or extravagant like "You think your're to good for public school? Well de ja vu!". ::Manors:: 16:51, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I have never had it; I had no idea the numbers were so high. o_o Now I have to interrogate my family and friends, because none of them have ever mentioned it either. --Masamage ♫ 18:50, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

The important thing to remember is that the strange thing is NOT that the exact same thing happened to you twice (it probably didn't) - it's that your brain is (for some weird reason) telling you that this exact thing happened to you before when that is clearly not the case. Plenty of people have reported deja vue events that could not possibly be repeated. SteveBaker 19:41, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've had both "kinds": something really does happen twice despite astronomical chances against it, or it's just a trick of the mind and it had never happened before. I get the feeling a lot during dreams for some reason. --froth^t 22:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

De ja vu

Hi! Anywho... I just read the article on deja vu and then looked at the discussion which told me to go here instead of posting there. I had a deja vu last night whilst i was eating chicken pie and my brother was talking about some star wars stuff. The week before i was playing warhawk and i had one. The article said " formal studies 70% of people report having experienced it at least once". So does anyone else think its wierd except formal studies and my mum??

Thanks helpful wikipedian guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.69.176 (talk) 14:47, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

This desk isn't for opinions especially, but I've had De ja Vu many times, I thought it was just me. Until a friend said "Whoa I just had a da ja vu" and I thought "What?". I always assumed it meant something posh or extravagant like "You think your're to good for public school? Well de ja vu!". ::Manors:: 16:51, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I have never had it; I had no idea the numbers were so high. o_o Now I have to interrogate my family and friends, because none of them have ever mentioned it either. --Masamage ♫ 18:50, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

The important thing to remember is that the strange thing is NOT that the exact same thing happened to you twice (it probably didn't) - it's that your brain is (for some weird reason) telling you that this exact thing happened to you before when that is clearly not the case. Plenty of people have reported deja vue events that could not possibly be repeated. SteveBaker 19:41, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I've had both "kinds": something really does happen twice despite astronomical chances against it, or it's just a trick of the mind and it had never happened before. I get the feeling a lot during dreams for some reason. --froth^t 22:31, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Hehe... Lemon martini 14:59, 11 September 2007 (UTC) 14:57, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

cosmic hehe. Gzuckier 16:25, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

"It's deja vu all over again"Yogi Berra,hotclaws 17:18, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

just realised you guys had copied my question, now that is funny. We could do with a barnstar over here!! 89.243.21.81 06:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

		The Barnstar of Good Humor
		I agree with 89.243.21.81, It deserves a Barnstar! Wow, that's two barnstars awarded to two threads in just two weeks. Funny (^_^) --PolarWolf 23:32, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Haven't I seen this barnstar somewhere before ...? -- JackofOz 23:42, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Who is Matha Amrithananthamayi

would like to know more...pls help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.164.130.111 (talk) 15:49, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I haven't been able to find much online, but she appears to be a spiritual and humanitarian leader from Kerala. DuncanHill 16:00, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Same here, I guess she isn't especially popular. Good name though. ::Manors:: 16:46, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

2 Millionth Article

Does anyone know the exact date / time of the 2 millionth Wiki article? Not to mention, the title? Also, where / how would I go about finding that info on my own, if I did not come to this Ref Desk for help? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro 18:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC))

I found it by looking at Wikipedia:Two-million pool. Tentatively credited is El Hormiguero, at 4:21 UTC on September 9, 2007. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 19:35, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Quadratic formula

How do i show that this: $x={\frac {-3\pm {\sqrt {(5^{2})-4x-3x2}}}{2x3}}$ = two thirds or minus five thirds —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.182.217 (talk) 19:22, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion 1 -- move over to the Math Help Desk at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics. You are certainly more likely to fare better there than here. (Joseph A. Spadaro 19:24, 10 September 2007 (UTC))

• sorry i thought WP:RD/M redirected to the maths reference desk —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.36.182.217 (talk) 19:27, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

No, that's WP:RDM!--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

PS3 wikipedia

Hi guy, I'm using my ps3 to write and review questions but its made much more difficult by the fact that i can only read 3 words a line due to bad text wrapping can an admin fix this or do i demand too much... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.21.81 (talk) 19:40, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Anyone can do most anything on wikipedia, not just admins! A bunch of plain text and <h3> tags date back to the beginnings of the WWW; if your PS3 is having problems displaying it then chances are you'll have similar problems with almost every other website. Can you be more specific about your problem? --froth^t 22:34, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, sounds like a problem in the PS3's browser, not the site. If the PS3 can't do anything correctly with style sheets, and doesn't know when to ignore them, then it really can't be helped on this end. --72.83.173.248 00:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Its not a problem with the PS3, because my friends looks the same and changing the font size or any other options does nothing. Surely I can't be the only person that goes on wiki on their PS3? Any way i would do it myself but my coding knowledge is limited mainly to games. Like I said it makes the wiki main page really big, for instnace the what happened on this day thing looks like this

On this day

some guy

did

something

and it was

recorded

on

wikipedia.

It also has the same effect with the synopsis of an article when it has a "this article may contain original research" warning box. It's really spoiling my wiki experience... any help would be muched appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.21.81 (talk) 18:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone know which browser the PS-3 uses? It's surely not something custom-written for the thing? You could always install Linux for PlayStation 3 and presumably you could then use one of the mainstream browsers - FireFox for example. SteveBaker 03:25, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I will have i look tonight on my PSP (i started this thread, but it says my IP has changed so i better start loggin in more). I think they are the same or at least based on one another. I looked at my PS3's browser before coming into school but there was no page or option that displayed "Browser made by x" or "X web browser for PS3". I went on to the PS3 portal today and signed up so I might try asking there. The links on my user page if anyone is interested. Nebuchandezzar 08:40, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I am so sad that before I tried any games on my new PSP this past weekend, I opened Wikipedia in my PSP. The PSP doesn't have that problem of bad wrapping, but it does clutter the tabs and the login stuff, so it makes it hard to login. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:09, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Recyclable?

Are the lids to jam jars, salsa jars, etc. recyclable? They seem to be some kind of metal, but they're weird and coated, so I'm not sure. --Masamage ♫ 22:56, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes. Most food tins have plastic coatings, little different from those found on the lids of jars. I presume it all gets burnt off when the things get melted. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:42, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

Hm, okay. Thank you! --Masamage ♫ 06:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• But don't forget the "reuse" part of conservation. If you start thinking of your purchases as "food, plus a free jar!", you'll never have to buy a container again. --Sean 13:56, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

There's a point where you just have too many jars, or the jar isn't very good for holding things (tabasco sauce, anyone?). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:07, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Biology Display

I'm doing a display board for a biology class and need to choose a topic. The topic should be interesting for passer-byers, i.e. lots of pictures and colour. The topic choice is extremely broad and anything that has a slight amount of relation with biology is acceptable, such as genetic disorders, animals, plants, etc... What would guys recommend? Thanks. Acceptable 23:52, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

A lot depends on what grade-level you are and how broad or narrow of a topic is allowed. But I will tell you the first idea that came to my mind — other people can input what they think and you will have to choose one. My idea is, a comparison of flora and fauna in two parts of the world which have different climates. You could say, "Location A is is warm and wet, and it has these animals and these plants. By contrast, with cold dry weather, Location B has different types of animals and plants such as these." Maybe in the middle you could put the life forms that are similar in both areas, even with different weather. — Michael J 02:57, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Effects of psychoactive drugs on humans and animals? --froth^t 03:38, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I would make a life-size papier mâché replica of the Corpse Flower, with information about it on the display board. You could have a little jar with a dead mouse in it that people can sniff to see what it smells like. You'll totally win the science fair with that! --Sean 13:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Poisonous plants and animals,always interesting and usefulhotclaws 17:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

How about optical illusions and what they can tell us about how our visual perception works? Examples always grab people's attention and they want to know how they work.--Eriastrum 21:05, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Camouflage and natural pigmentation is always interesting, as is parasitism. Rockpocket 06:32, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

September 11

toyota tundra model truck 2005 model

where is the connextion at for the computer code reader ? also how does a person turn off the amber "maint required " light ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.145.235.189 (talk) 03:49, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The connections are usually under the dashboard on most vehicles. And unhooking the ground cable from the battery and then putting it back on after about a minute will generally make the light go off. Though if there is still a problem with the vehicle, the light will come back on once the sensors see that problem again. Dismas|^(talk) 05:13, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Also, when in doubt, why not take it in for servicing? Particularly if it's under warranty, what have you got to lose? Friday (talk) 13:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

There should be a multi-pin connector called the "OBD-II" port down under the steering wheel - perhaps just in front of the driver-side door under a little flip-up cover marked "OBD-II" usually. You have to connect a computer of some kind to that port and tell the truck to turn off the light using specialised software. Your best bet is probably to go to a garage with computerized diagnostic gear (which is most of them these days) and ask them to turn off the light - but they'll probably want to actually do an oil change or something - or at least charge you for the privilage. I believe that some car parts stores will do this for nothing...but there is a lot of variation about what they'll do and what they won't from one store to the next. If you are a real car/computer nut you might consider buying an OBD-II cable to connect the serial port on a laptop to the OBD-II port on your car/truck - and those come with software to let you do stuff like this. (You have to use a Laptop running on batteries though - DO NOT USE A DESKSIDE COMPUTER!) Some cars (like my MINI Cooper) have another way to do it - by holding down various switches on the dashboard while turning the ignition off and on again or something. However, those tricks are different from one car to the next and they are rarely listed in the owner's manual and you'll probably need to find an online "Tundra owners club" or something like that where such things are discussed. You might get lucky and find the information in a shop-manual, but neither of the two shop manuals for my car tell you that - so it's not certain. If it's only an '05 truck, maybe you can get free service at Toyota dealerships? Maybe not...but my car came with 4 years of free service, so they do that stuff for nothing, if yours did too, then take advantage of it! SteveBaker 20:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The standard for OBD-II requires that the connector be within some very short distance of the steering wheel.

Atlant 14:48, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Chartered Accountant

a person of the education of F.Sc.(pre-engineering) from Pakistan wants to become a Chartered Accountant, either it is a right choice. What are your comments in my opinion.Thank You. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.65.200.225 (talk) 05:14, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

If that's what this person really wants to do I see no reason why they should not. You might wish to read our article on Chartered Accountants.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Inscription on my glasses

On my glasses there is a small inscription on the right arm that reads "M6420 /45 6057 48៛20 ↓ 140" can anyone tell me what it means? --Candy-Panda 06:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

It's probably the catalogue number of this particular model of frames. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:20, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The 48៛20 is a measurement - something to do with the width of the frame, and possibly the bridge (nose) width, the 140" (inches?) looks similar to a arm length measurement in mm, most frames may come in different sizes. The rest is probably the frame reference number ie style/colour83.100.251.220 08:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

From (http://www.nuglasses.co.uk/faq.asp) "If you have a pair of glasses that fit you well, you can buy another pair the same size by reading the size on your existing glasses. It is usually shown on the inside of the arm or sometimes on the nose bridge. There are three numbers, the first number is the diameter of the lens from the bottom left corner to the top right hand corner, the second is the width of the bridge across the nose and the third is the length of the arm, all in millimeters."

So your glasses should have 48mm width lenses, 20mm 'nose' width, and 140mm arm length, so "M6420 /45 6057" is almost certainly the style description. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.251.220 (talk) 08:57, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Wow thank you for that description! --Candy-Panda 09:32, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Alfred Schwarzmann

Wasn't Alfred Schwarzmann,a German gymnast in 1936 olympics, a Jew(can say by his -mann surname)?How could he become a Fallschirmjager diring the world war II?218.248.2.51 08:44, 11 September 2007 (UTC)Ecclesiasticalparanoid

The name doesn't make him a jew. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.251.220 (talk) 09:04, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Very many German names end with -mann, Eichmann for example. Skarioffszky 12:52, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

... or Bormann. Gandalf61 13:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• Our Alfred Schwarzmann article makes it seem very unlikely that he was a Jew. --Sean 13:16, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

If the OP is American, you can sort of understand why he would equate a German name with Judaism, since such a disproportionate number of German immigrants in the first half of the 20th century were Jewish. FiggyBee 17:42, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

So at this point I recommend reading maybe ashkenazi to find out why so many jews have 'german sounding names'.87.102.16.32 08:54, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Fascination

I really get fascinated whenever I think about scientific geniuses like Neumann,Feynmann etc...I feel inferior when I compare myself with those brilliant minds.I wonder how can they think so fastly whereas I can't do so?I keep proposing this silly theory that if I will stress on increasing my intellect and I.Q then I will beget an offspring who will be more intelligent and brilliant and this will continue till the limit of human intellect is reached (just as Jews do).I find this idea too silly even to discuss with my friends ,genius is natural, right?Neumann and Feynmann co. didn't force it but Neumann was cool because he was a very brilliant guy at the same time he was a Hedonist and would gaze at female legs.Even I am a silent rouge like him but without the brilliance component.Please help me out of this inferiority complex. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.248.2.51 (talk) 09:10, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Being 'clever' takes work, they didn't pop out of the egg geniuses, work at something and you'll be a genius at that too. That's all there is to it.83.100.251.220 09:35, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Your silly theory is called Lamarckism, btw. Skarioffszky 13:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

There's a rule of thumb (quoted in expert) that it takes ten thousand hours of deliberate practice to become an expert at a skill. That means practice, practice, practice... Therefore if you can find something that really interests you and on which you can motivate yourself to spend every waking hour, then you can become an expert in time. If you spend 8 hours a day for 313 days a year practising, you get your 10000 hours in four years. Motivating yourself, however, is the tricky part. Most people who can find that degree of commitment need to have some intrinsic reward, that is a reward that comes the thing itself. Either they enjoy the practice, or find it very interesting, or they find great satisfaction in mastering something. If your motivation is something outside the thing itself, such as wanting to be famous, or to be brilliant, it will be harder to maintain. Good luck to you! SaundersW 13:26, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

• Along those same lines, here's a good essay that could be applied to many different skills: Teach Yourself Computer Programming in Ten Years. --Sean 13:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, if it helps, I knew a couple of people in my life who I would class as world class brilliant, maybe not Feynmann but serious theoretical contributions to physics or artificial intelligence at a very early age; and as their brilliance in their field grew, their ability to function in the real world declined simultaneously. Gzuckier 16:22, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Richard Feynman is truly my hero. If there was anyone in history I would try to emulate - it would certainly be him. His achievements are horribly underrated in my opinion, he was an intellectual giant compared to Einstein for example. Anyway to the question(s):

• I really get fascinated whenever I think about scientific geniuses like Neumann,Feynmann etc. -- Indeed. Me too. We have a lot to learn from those guys beyond the science.
• I feel inferior when I compare myself with those brilliant minds. -- Well, yes, me too. There has to be someone who is best in all the world at doing something - and the odds of it being either you are me are small. However, it would not be hard to find some aspect of life at which you could do very much better than Neumann or Feynman! Most of us are generalists - and those guys were (largely) specialists. Feynman was more well-balanced than most geniuses though...one of the reasons he impresses me. John von Neumann on the other hand was a bit 'out there' in many regards - a smart guy no doubt - but not by any means a normal human being!
• I wonder how can they think so fastly whereas I can't do so? -- I'm not sure it's a matter of speed. Feynman taught himself all sorts of approximation methods and learned things from the old, dusty corners of mathematics that not many other people bothered with. This gave the illusion of him being very fast. He confesses that his lack of ability in mainstream math meant that he sometimes had to attack conventional problems from strange directions that resulted in things taking longer for him than for most. However, once in a while, he'd come up with dazzling solutions way ahead of the pack - and it's those things that people remembered him for.
• I keep proposing this silly theory that if I will stress on increasing my intellect and I.Q then I will beget an offspring who will be more intelligent and brilliant and this will continue till the limit of human intellect is reached (just as Jews do). -- That assumes that (a) you can improve your IQ through your life by some means ...and...(b) it assumes that IQ is a genetic trait that can be passed onto your offspring. Now - think about this. Those two things can't both be 100% true. If IQ is mostly something you inherit - then your chances of improving your IQ are not so great because you'd be stuck with whatever genes you'd been dealt at birth. On the other hand, if it's mostly not genetic then improving your IQ won't have any direct effect on your kids because learned behavior isn't passed on through genetics. I think the jury is still out on which of those two things it is - but either way your plan is doomed! The only way this can happen is if it's not particularly genetic in nature yet you can pass intelligence on to your kids by educating them well. So that's what I strive to do. I've always made a point of reading my kid 'mind stretching' stories at bed time, chatting with him about science and difficult ideas and so on - making learning fun and yet also difficult. Now, if it's entirely genetic then I might be wasting my time...but I doubt it is. Anyway, I'm blessed with a son who is doing most of his school work two years ahead of his grade and is on-track to graduate from high school a year ahead of time...so whichever it is, it's working!
• I find this idea too silly even to discuss with my friends, genius is natural, right? -- I don't think we know for sure. I don't know much about Neumann - but Feynman's father did a lot of smart things when raising his son and he may well have planted the seed that made a nobel prize winner. However Richards father wasn't a particularly brilliant man. His sister and his son are/were both scientists (cosmologist and computing) - which would point to genetic causes - but then his adopted daughter is pretty smart too...which says it could be passed on from parent to child by educating them at a young age. It's hard to know. Our article Genetics of intelligence covers the ground well.
• Neumann and Feynmann co. didn't force it but Neumann was cool because he was a very brilliant guy at the same time he was a Hedonist and would gaze at female legs. -- Feynman even more so! Read his (many) biographies! He made a science out of chatting up women...and I mean SCIENCE. He taught himself (literally) to socialise with people in seedy bars using all of the formal research approaches he used in designing the atom bomb or figuring out how to crack a safe.
• Even I am a silent rouge like him but without the brilliance component. Please help me out of this inferiority complex. -- Well, it's not the task of an online reference desk to offer physchological advice - and I won't do that. So let's stick to the facts. Feeling inferior to Feynman at math and science is not "an inferiority complex", it's just plain "inferiority"! At the things he did well, nearly 100% of people on this planet truly are inferior, so feelings like that are perfectly correct! However, (as I said before) there are certain to be a whole raft of things that you're better at than those guys. Feynman had to teach himself through sheer effort of will to be someone who could comfortable socialise with other people...things that most of us find comes fairly naturally. So go ahead and feel superior in all of those other regards.

SteveBaker 18:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Gotta say, Steve, I find Feynman to be, as a person, an ass, an emotional infant, and often a blowhard — based on his own writings, primarily. Emulate his brains and hard work, though I might advise skipping out on his personal relations. But there's no disputing he's a smart guy. --72.83.173.248 02:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I have to disagree with that - do you have some specific examples of what you have in mind? SteveBaker 03:12, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

(Not the same poster) - his work aside - the "self publicist" part put some people off him, or you could just describe him as "outgoing"...87.102.16.32 08:59, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Comparing yourself with the best of anything will make you feel inferior. There isn't anybody on this website who can hold a candle to people like Feynman and Von Neumann, I would reckon', in terms of sheer scientific and mathematical intelligence. There similarly isn't anyone here who can run like Jesse Owens or play hoops like Michael Jordan. But these are the exceptions of humanity. They are interesting to us for specifically that reason.

In any case, Von Neumann and Feynman were, from a personality standpoint, total jerks, as far as I can tell. Neither had a reputation for being caring and considerate towards others, neither had a shred of modesty, and neither seem to me to be particularly friendly guys (maybe Feynman a little more than Von Neumann, but not a whole lot). Which is not to take them down a peg, but is just to say: nobody's perfect.

So you're not the smartest guy in the world — nobody is, except that one guy who is, but that's only one guy. There are all sorts of other talents you can cultivate. You may never be the fastest runner, the longest jumper, the prize-winning aviator, or the mathematical physicist. But you can, almost certainly, be friendly, companionable, considerate, kind, humble, and beloved by those around you. That's something that a good deal of geniuses never could figure out how to do — often because their very genius gave them a disdain for others, an inflated sense of ego, and set their personal and professional stakes very high. You and I are unburdened by such a spotlight; we can take the time to make sure that the people around us are well-loved and that they love us in return. That's not a Nobel Prize, but it's still pretty good. There are probably some Nobel Prize winners who, in the end, would have thought that was a pretty good deal. --72.83.173.248 02:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

There is something odd about feymann - it that he seems to have produced quite a few people who's sole purpose is to "lick his ass", I'd be more impressed with him as a scientist if he had made quantum electrodynamics as well known as he is.87.102.16.32 09:02, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

(disclaimer) - I don't know if feynmann is responsible for his own idolisation, or it's a media related issue due to him having 'been on TV'87.102.16.32 10:00, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

But that assumes that he thought quantum electrodynamics was actually all that important - I don't think he did. He did go to the trouble of writing "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" - which even the layman can understand - not many physicists ever do that. His most impressive work by far (IMHO) was "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" - easily the best undergraduate physics books ever written. He is forgotten for his work in so many other areas. Most people only remember: Bongo playing, Lock picking, Atom bomb design and (perhaps) Quantum electrodynamics. But he worked in a huge array of fields - as a college professor he actually taught the best of a generation of physicists rather than doing the odd lecture in between using the time for his own research. SteveBaker 15:22, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

...and his work on the Rogers Commission. My impression of Feynman is that he was quite self-critical - I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where) that he thought the "Feynman Lectuers" were a failure, or at least only a limited success, because he felt he hadn't met his objective of producing material which challenged the brightest students but could still be understood by an average student. Gandalf61 15:43, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the absence of other (living) well known physicists shone the glare of publicity too brightly on feynmann. I already know more than I need to about him.87.102.16.32 16:07, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that's it. Take Stephen Hawkings for example - he's had the glare of publicity - people say he's the most intelligent man alive and he's written at least one book for the layman. But what do people know of him? He's the guy in the wheelchair with the computerised voice who does complicated stuff to do with black holes...that's it (not that it's his fault - it's hard to do things that are amazingly memorable to the layman in his condition). But Feynman had at least a dozen popular biographies and collections of his writings in print before he died - and lots more since. I think the difference is simply that Feynman did a lot of things that people find fascinating that are comprehensible to the layman. Who can fail to recall that someone working in the most secret project imaginable (the atom bomb) taught himself to pick combination locks in his spare time?! The whole "Tuva or Bust" thing has been the subject of a book, a record album and a TV documentary. His 5 minute presentation at the shuttle disaster enquiry captivated people's minds not because he was clever - but because he was a great teacher - he was able to show (using a 50 cent C-clamp and the glass of iced water that had been set out for the speakers at the enquiry) what went wrong in a way that NOBODY could fail to understand. He didn't follow the paper trail or investigate managerial techniques at NASA - he went and talked to the engineers and to the technicians who actually built the thing, asked them what really was the problem and brought it to public attention in a way that nobody could ignore. That kind of stuff (which one could continue to list for pages) was what made him well known. It wasn't self-promotion. When he won the Nobel prize, he actually decided not to bother to go to the ceremony to accept it - he had to be pressured to do it. That's hardly the actions of a fanatical self-publicist. SteveBaker 20:31, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The whole thing brings to mind Linus Pauling who despite his notable contributions to chemistry, pretty much became the "vitamin C scientist" due to non-scientific media coverage..87.102.16.32 16:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

OIl in California

Does America use it's own oil resources like that in California, Texas, and Arizona? Is there regulations by environmental or others that put a cap and limit the oil that can be brought up in these states, is that why there isn't more drilling or oil sites? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.126.128.69 (talk) 14:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The United States certainly uses oil produced domestically in places like California and Texas. There is no legal limit on the amount of oil that can be produced in any state. Environmental regulations might prohibit putting an oil well in a sensitive place like a beach or in the middle of a public park. However, modern drilling technology would make it possible to put the well head outside of most smaller environmentally sensitive areas and then drill horizontally to reach an oil deposit underneath that area. (This would not work, however, for larger protected areas, such as national parks.) The overwhelming reason why there is not more drilling or oil extraction in the United States is that the United States has already extracted most of its historic oil reserves. The United States passed its peak of oil production in the early 1970s, and it has produced less and less since then simply because there is less oil left in the ground. You might want to look at the articles Peak oil and Hubbert peak theory. Marco polo 15:31, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

And to add a bit -- the US IS drilling a lot; we have more than half the existing oil wells in the world, about 510,000 of 900,000 total, and in June 2007 there were 1,771 active rigs (new attempts to find oil) in the US (and 1,307 in the rest of the world with the greatest number in any one country 208, in Canada). As Marco polo says, the problem is the amount of oil in those wells - we are down to an average of about 10 barrels per day per well and declining (from a high in the early 1970s of about 20 barrels per day per well). Saudi Arabia produces at least 1500 barrels per day per well (some estimates go as high as 5000 barrels per day per well, even though that is likely too high). Also the Atlantic coast offshore, most of the Pacific coast (excluding Alaska), and Gulf of Mexico offshore Florida have been off limits by law for environmental reasons for some time. I'm not sure if that extends to the horizontal drilling mentioned by Marco. And, as an aside, the original question mentioned Arizona, but Arizona has trivial oil production and reserves; the state is not in the top 20 of US oil-producing states and probably produces no more than 5,000 or so barrels per day (US total consumption is about 21,000,000 barrels per day). Cheers Geologyguy 15:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

According to Texas and Oil reserves: The known petroleum deposits of Texas are about 8 billion barrels, which makes up approximately one-third of the known U. S. supply. Texas has 4.6 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves. ('known' means you know it's there, 'proven' means that you know you can pump it out) - so out of a world reserve of perhaps ('proven') 1.2 trillion barrels ('known') 4.8 trillion. So Texas accounts for about a half to a tenth of of one percent depending on how optimistic you are. Our article on California doesn't quote figures - but I imagine it's less - but if Texas' supply is one third of the total for the USA, then with all of the states put together, there is 24 billion (known) and 14 billion (proven). The world is using oil at a rate of 84 million barrels per day of which the USA consumes about 20 million per day (and produces only 8 million). So, from this we may deduce that if oil imports ceased tomorrow then all of the USA reserves put together might maybe keep the country running for two years before running dry using 'proven' numbers or close to four years if we could exploit all of the oil shales and other inefficient sources. However, that's not going to happen because nobody in their right mind would put in all of that investment into enough plant capacity to pump at that rate if it's only going to operate for a couple of years then run dry. At 14 billion barrels, the US reserves are a drop in the bucket compared to: Abu Dhabi (92 billion), Iran (132 billion), Iraq (115 billion), Kuwait (99 billion), Saudi Arabia (259 billion), Venezuela (78 billion).

But these days, we shouldn't be concerned about running out of oil - the problem is what we'll have done to the atmosphere long before we run out. SteveBaker 16:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree that consuming the remaining oil will do serious harm to our atmosphere and climate, but I disagree that we need not be concerned about running out of oil. The "proven reserves" that you cite for the OPEC members above are hotly disputed. As this blog points out, the "proven reserves" of most of those countries jumped dramatically (in the case of the United Arab Emirates—or Abu Dhabi—more than doubled) in a single year in the 1980s. One would expect proven reserves to rise gradually, year by year, as the result of ongoing exploration. Instead, the stated reserves of these countries jumped suddenly in a single year. Coincidentally, the amount of oil that each country was allowed to sell in that period as part of OPEC was keyed to its "proven reserves". Many commentators have suggested that the jump in reserves was not linked to coincidental new discoveries but instead was a fabrication by the oil ministries of these countries (which typically provide no verifiable documentation for their claims) designed to increase their oil production quotas within OPEC. If this is true, then real reserves are likely to be much lower than the stated figures. Marco polo 17:56, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I strongly disagree - do the numbers. Running out is most definitely not the problem here...unless the question was really specifically about the US reserves (and I presume those numbers are not fabricated).

Suppose this is a US-only question. If the subtext to this question was an Americanocentric: "If we just used the reserves the US had could we get rid of this terrible dependence on foreign oil?" and the answer is flat out "NO!" - not unless the US could halve consumption every year from now until eternity. If we agree that there are two years worth of reserves at present consumption rates then here is the 'never running out' model: Year one, consume half of the reserves - but then halve our consumption(!). Year two, half as much oil left - but with half the consumption rate, that's still 2 years worth...and so on, halving consumption and halving the reserves every year - forever). But there is no imaginable way to do that...this year, replace every single 20mpg car with a 40mpg hybrid...next year...um...we don't have 80mpg cars so halve the number of miles driven(!!)...and the next year...um...no clue. So the US is stuck with foreign oil dependancy forever - which is clearly problematic when you look at the list of names of countries with substantial oil reserves and the current political situation.

But suppose you treat this as a global problem then with (say) 1.2 trillion barrels left in the ground, but with 80 million barrels per day being consumed. We have about a 500 year world-wide supply at present consumption rates. So to avoid running out, we'd only have to halve consumption every 250 years - which is easily do-able. However, I doubt any reasonable atmospheric scientist would agree that we could continue to burn oil at the present rate for even 20 years - let alone 250. Even if those figures are inflated by a factor of 4 (which I doubt because the numbers were higher than that before the OPEC reserves rule came into being). If we had only 300 billion barrels in the ground, we'd still have ~60 years to halve our oil consumption - which is still vastly too long to save the planet from global warming. That's why we have to be more concerned about the atmosphere than with running out. SteveBaker 18:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Steve, I don't disagree with you that we need to be more concerned about ruining the atmosphere than with running out of oil. However, I think that, with our current economic and political structure, sadly, ruining the atmosphere is a given. An obvious alternative to oil is coal, which is even more harmful to the atmosphere. While nuclear power would not ruin the atmosphere, it would produce radioactive waste that would endanger the planet for tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of years. But without coal or nuclear power, and with oil depleting, we face a need to dramatically decrease our energy consumption. (Renewables cannot make up a gap this huge.) Think of the corporate interests (automotive, energy sector, chemical industry, metals industry, etc.) that would be arrayed against a reduction in energy consumption, which would translate directly into a reduction in their profits. And think of the drop in the standard of living (as conventionally conceived in terms of mobility, heating, appliances, etc.) that would have to accompany a sharp (and progressive) decrease in energy consumption. What politician would propose such a thing? What politician who did would be elected? Therefore, I fear that we will turn to coal, and the atmosphere will be ruined. Alternatively, we turn to nuclear power on a massive scale with grave environmental consequences for eons to come. Either way, we will buy ourselves only a generation or two before uranium or coal run out at current rates of energy consumption, and we will face the need to reduce energy consumption on an even more ecologically devastated planet. Marco polo 19:41, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

We're getting WAY off-topic here - but I think there are ways to solve both problems - but we have to take the task seriously - and most of the people in the world are not. We can demand 40mpg+ cars - the technology is absolutely there - we just have to pass a law. In the USA, that halves the car problem at a stroke within the average lifespan of a car (5 years or so) - we can get to 80mpg within another 5 years if we only demand it to be so. Similar tricks can probably be applied to other oil-consuming systems. Meanwhile we can ramp up to make ethanol from plants and be carbon-neutral in liquid fuels within a decade. We can use nuclear power to get us over the short term problems with electricity generation until we can build high tech fusion reactors or get helium fuel from the moon (for lower-tech fusion), we can stick windmills on every available inch of farmland and out in the shallower parts of the oceans. Nuclear power is nasty - but we can use technology to contain it. We don't have technology to deal with CO2. If we polluted a thousand square miles with radioactive waste, the net effect on the planet as a whole will be negligable. Let's dump all of our nuclear waste in a big hole next to Chernobyl - so long as it can't wash into the ground-water or blow into the air, it's an acceptable price to pay compared to melting the icecaps. Wildlife is doing GREAT in the shadow of Chernobyl...humans not so good, but we can live someplace else. In the longer term we can consider more radical stuff like orbital solar farms with microwave power down-links. These are all difficult technologies - but not one of them is impossible. However, none of these will come about as a result natural market forces so long as oil is cheaper and pollution is either free or 'set-aside-able'. The way we're going, oil has to get very rare indeed before the capital cost of some of these more radical projects becomes acceptable - and as the numbers above show, it's not going to get really rare for a hundred years or more - and that's WAY too late. Fixing this will require some sacrifices to achieve - but the effects of severe global warming will be VASTLY more onerous and expensive to deal with, 2% of GDP now is a lot better than 10% of GDP in 10 years or 40% of GDB in 20. What we're lacking isn't technology - it's political support and media backing. SteveBaker 20:00, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

But why doesn't the USA simply "liberate" the entire world reserves of oil, wherever it may be - beneath Alaska, Russia, the Oceans, Saudi Arabia et al, and thus reduce/remove its potential use by all the non-USA Tyrannical Governments/Dictatorships as a Weapon of Mass (USA) Reduction, and then use it for the preservation of democratic civilisation (USA style) and the persistence of The Land of the Free and the Pursuit of Happiness? Simple if you ask me. And I feel sure President Bush would agree with me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.145.241.69 (talk) 10:50, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

American Bald Eagle

I need to know all about the Bald Eagle in all stages of its development —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.105.72.180 (talk) 16:46, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Bald_eagle#Reproduction might be a good place to start? SaundersW 16:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

National Oil Companies / State Control of energy sector

Which countries have energy (oil/gas) sectors that are government-owned/controlled? 198.45.26.25 16:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Saudi Arabia, Mexico, China, Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait, among others. Many more have primary companies that are partially to significantly owned by the governments - e.g. Petrobras (Brazil). Cheers Geologyguy 16:55, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

It's not always that clearcut. Gas in the Netherlands is handled by the Gasunie, which was in a partial privatisation-move in 2005 split into two companies. The transport company is fully state owned and the trade company half state owned (the other half being shared by Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil). Electricity in the Netherlands was also privatised recently, but since its nature makes it desirable that it is a monopoly, there is no real free market and the state sets the price. I suppose one could say that it is state controlled, but the state has farmed out (is that the right word?) the actual work. DirkvdM 17:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and nuclear power plants are often state owned (even in the US, I believe) because the cost of building just one is in the order of billions of euros, so that is before any revenues. It takes about ten years to build and then has to run for several years more until the cost is covered and revenues finally start coming in. Way too risky for by far most private companies. The Dutch State Mines (DSM (company) - now a private chemical company) started that way too - 15 years after coal was found in the south, no companies had yet dared to start investing in actually building mines, even though many concessions had been sold. So the state bought up all the concessions and started the operation, until the mines closed in the early seventies. DirkvdM 18:12, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Not disagreeing with anything else you say, but in the US most or all nuclear power plants are owned by utilities and/or integrated energy companies. Cheers Geologyguy 21:04, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant was, in its later years, owned by public Long Island Power Authority. -- Mwalcoff 03:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Aren't the Russian oil companies government-owned? Corvus cornix 03:07, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Some of the Russian companies are, some are not, some are partly... Lukoil, the largest, is officially a private company; it trades on the London Stock Exchange. I am not sure if they still do, but a few years ago Conoco owned a 15% stake in Lukoil - ownership was available as with any non-state-owned company. Lukoil markets in the US and in 2003 bought 1300 Getty gas stations. Cheers Geologyguy 03:35, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

best way to sexually pleasure a woman

i want to drive my babe crazy sexually —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.1.179.153 (talk) 18:59, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

That's a very laudable ambition, but what is your question? SaundersW 19:37, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Introduce her to Brad Pitt? But seriously, every woman is different. Why don't you ask her what she likes? Clarityfiend 19:53, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Coming from a married man, trust me, you need to really get tuned in with what she wants - we men are pretty easy, but you need to talk to your woman and figure out what really gets her going, when the best time to get her going is, how to get her going and where to get her going. When you put forth the effort to do this, she'll reciprocate BIG TIME!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.76.128.71 (talk) 14:49, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The technique described here will have many women moaning with pleasure before the sex even starts (safe for viewing at work) [21]. Edison 20:33, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Best answer ever. --Masamage ♫ 20:37, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Paranormal and Weapons Use

Been reading certain articles here and on the 'net. Why can't it be stated that some people WILL shoot at UFOs, Bigfoot, La Chupacabra, aliens, other monsters ? I KNOW people who HAS shot at these things. YOU see a UFO, Bigfoot, a alien, some monster, will YOU shoot at it ? Troll, ETC., ? No fucking way. After all Wikipedia is NOT censored. 205.240.146.131 22:25, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you referring to any specific article at Wikipedia? The Ape Canyon page mentions a story about some miners who allegedly shot a Sasquatch. Zagalejo^ 22:30, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

UFO, Bigfoot, etc. has articles on the 'net reporting people shooting at things of this nature. 205.240.146.131 23:03, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I've read one about a family in TN who shot at a bunch of aliens, only to be called hillbillies, drunks, religious nuts. 205.240.146.131 23:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I think you're talking about the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, which took place in Kentucky. Do you have a specific question? Zagalejo^ 23:21, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, why are these accounts censored ? 205.240.146.131 01:29, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Google anything paranormal and Weapons Use, people shooting at UFOs, aliens, Bigfoot and you'll see the reports of people shooting at these things. 205.240.146.131 01:31, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Censored by whom? I've given you two Wikipedia articles which mention such events. If similar information is removed from other pages, it's probably because the information was not adequately sourced. We can't include every report than someone has added to a website somewhere. (That's not to say that the Ape Canyon and Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter articles are perfectly sourced at the moment, but the incidents are discussed in plenty of books and tv documentaries, so someone could easily improve the articles if they wanted to.) Zagalejo^ 01:45, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

You posted this link on my talkpage and told me to respond here. Unfortunately, I'm unable to read the entire article. (Whenever I click on it, I get a 404 error.) I do see that the source they give is John Keel, who's not very reliable, IMO. If you want to include that story in a Wikipedia article, you should look for the newspaper reports. Zagalejo^ 04:27, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Take a look at Wikipedia's sources policy. If you can find a site that meets muster as a "reliable source" that talks about this sort of thing, then we'll happily talk about it endlessly as a fact. --72.83.173.248 02:04, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

southern and northern hemisphere star constilations

Are the star consilations the in the southern hemisphere the same as the northern hemisphere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.191.207.105 (talk) 23:09, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The ones that you can see from the southern hemisphere are the same. However, the farther south you go, the less northern constellations are visible, and in addition you will be able to see constellations that are invisible from the northern hemisphere. For example, no one in the U.S. can see the Southern Cross, just as no one in Australia can see the Little Dipper. Antandrus (talk) 23:14, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

As Antandrus notes, the constellations do not change, but your ability to see them does. The article Celestial sphere may assist with the point I think your question was driving at. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:17, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The other thing that comes as quite a surprise is that the heavens seem to turn in the other direction: that is that the sun and the stars seem to go anticlockwise rather than clockwise as they do in the northern hemisphere. SaundersW 07:25, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I had difficulty identifying stars from Sydney, until I realized that Orion was upside down.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:12, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Photoshop not importing clipboard

I run Adobe Photoshop CS on my Windows XP and sometimes when I copy and image on the internet to my clipboard and go back into Photoshop, Photoshop doesnt import the clipboard. So then, to open the picture, I must click "Save as.." then open the file in Photoshop. Does anyone know why Photoshop sometimes doesn't import the clipboard? Thanks. Acceptable 23:50, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

I wish I knew the answer, but I've run into the same problem with different versions of Photoshop on both Macs and PCs for a long time. I've never had the issue with other programs, only Photoshop, and I've been conscious of it for a few years now, on totally different machines. --72.83.173.248 04:26, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I think I know what you are talking about. Now I'm not sure if this is correct, but as best I've been able to discern, this happens when Photoshop 'thinks' that what you are importing is in an incompatible format - maybe a file that it doesn't recognise as a valid image, or something with the wrong extension. If you are able to get it saved to a drive in a valid image format, of course it will then recognise it and open it no worries. That has always been my basic interpretation of it. --jjron 08:20, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this will work if you're using a PC, but I use a mac, and instead of copy-pasting, you can just click and drag whatever image you're trying to open onto the Photoshop icon, and it will open it in a new window. So far, that's worked every time for me.

142.161.53.190 04:42, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

September 12

Sexual attraction to fictional characters

What is the term for being sexually attracted to fictional characters, to the exclusion of real people? How frequent is it? Does it qualify as a paraphilia? NeonMerlin 04:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

While not exactly what you were looking for, Schediaphilia is the sexual attraction to cartoon and anime characters. And according to our article on paraphilia, Plushophilia is the attraction to costumed sorts of theme park characters. Dismas|^(talk) 08:01, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Who didn't have a crush on Penelope Pitstop? I think it's fairly normal however I'm not sure if "to the exclusion of real people" puts it into a different box. Capuchin 08:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds almost like some sort of fetish to me (which is a type of paraphilia). When you say fictional, do you mean as in just fiction books, or any fictional characters? I personally would regard most celebrities as 'fictional' (the people themselves, not just the characters they play in movies or TV), as we as a general public really only see a manufactured 'front' to them, not the real person. Now given the obsession in our society with the cult of celebrity and the number of people that become highly 'attracted' to one or more celebs, my feeling would be that this is a very frequent thing - not necessarily to the extent of excluding real people in most cases, but I'm sure that happens in some. Sorry I can't help with an actual term for it. --jjron 08:14, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you'll find many people attracted to like disney cartoon characters (I'd agree that's a fetish), but a lot of the popularity in anime is teh wimmens and fanservice. See otaku. --froth^t 13:47, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Attraction to Disney cartoon characters is just Dopey.

Atlant 14:52, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Nobody has mentioned Betty Rubble from the Flintsones. She was a babe. Paul. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.86.166.234 (talk) 13:59, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps, but Jessica Rabbit was an über babe. Gandalf61 14:15, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd go with Betty... But I'd be thinking of Wilma... FiggyBee 14:46, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm partial to the Little Mermaid. Adam Bishop 18:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Willow Rosenberg, second series, first episode, with the ice-cream on her nose. I melt when I think of that scene. Xander doesn't notice and I want to jump in to take his place. Sigh .... DirkvdM 18:06, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Ideal Height for a Soldier

I know the Pentagon studies all kind's of stuff so I was wondering if they ever determined the ideal size for an infantry soldier. I imagine this would be the minimum height necessary to effectively deal with the equipment and missions of combat. I figure minimum because the bigger you are the better your chances of getting hit by a bullet or shrapnel. 4.242.24.110 04:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, remember that there are many different roles for soldiers on a battlefield. I doubt there is a single ideal "soldier" size, though one could imagine there being a good "generalist" size. --72.83.173.248 04:27, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I understand that there are a lot of different jobs in the army which is why I specified infantry. 207.69.139.141 19:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I understand the intent of the question, but in reality the size that matters most is internal. How much "heart" a person has is extremely more important than their physical size, especially in the infantry. The old saying goes "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that matters." That was never truer than in the infantry. I would expect that the inner-strength factor so greatly outweighs the physical-size factor that no one is likely to ever do a study on ideal physical size. 152.16.59.190 06:28, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

US Army has 37 active combat brigades, but 500k active manpower so where is everyone else?

According to a NYT article on the overstretched military, the number of active combat brigades is 37, but doesn't a brigade have a maximum of 5000 soldiers? So the active combat brigades represent less than half of the active army? What kind of units are the other hundreds of thousands of active soldiers in?

67.170.241.199 12:29, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The term "soldiers" is fine, there's no other specific unit. --froth^t 13:46, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

the term 'active' means 'at war' or 'in combat' or 'ready to be attacked' - the rest are reserves or resting - the soldiers aren't expected to fight war 365 days a year...87.102.16.32 14:41, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Per the previous comment, a large number of troops who may be trained for combat may not be in the line of fire. Soldiers assigned to Iraq, for instance, will serve for a period of time there and then return to someplace (relatively) safer for additional training, vacation, or other duties.

The definition of 'active' is also important. The United States Army maintains facilities all over the world; even during peacetime these facilities require significant manpower to maintain. As well, there are a number of administrative and support personnel who are rarely (if ever) involved in active combat but who are nevertheless essential to a functioning army. Some of these include:

• United States Army Materiel Command (purchases, delivers, designs, and researches equipment and weapons)
• United States Army Medical Command (medical staff)
• United States Army Corps of Engineers (designs, consults for, and builds major civil and military works)
• United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (trains soldiers, develops new training tools and techniques, studies military theory)
• Judge Advocate General's Corps (handles legal issues, military justice)

All of the above commands employ hundreds or thousands of Army personnel; most of their duties won't involve active combat. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:58, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks tenofall that was very helpful to my understanding. Froth, your foolish insistence on consistency destroys the richness of English. 24.7.47.36 22:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Jerry F/X

I just received an email from a associate. In this email he stated that one of his employees is his "Jerry F/X".
I can't see what he means from the context. Since I'm no native speaker and can't find any related info on the net or in my dictionaries it would be great if anyone could explain what this term is referring to. --Nemissimo 14:22, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It would help to know what business is your associate is in. SteveBaker 15:03, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Ask him? — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 15:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Well if it is slang then this urban dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jerry) for Jerry has a few entries, unfortunately nothing for Jerry F/X though. No idea what it means myself, unless F/X is a department/acronym for a job title (likes say shorthand for Finances Executive) ny156uk 17:04, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, in movies, TV and computer games, "F/X" would be short for 'effects' - special effects: Explosions, lasers, whatever. Knowing the business he is in would really help to answer this. SteveBaker 18:55, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

He is a marketing expert. --Nemissimo 22:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The only remotely credible thing I could find was that FX Marketing in the UK is owned and run by a guy called Jerry [22]. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SteveBaker (talk • contribs) 04:15, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Disabling DRLs

I need to disable the daytime running lights on my car. Someone has suggested engaging the parking brake (partially) in order to turn them off. I'm just curious: will this work without causing any damage to the brakes? I don't want to screw anything up on my shiny new car. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that all cars have the ability to turn these lights off (save for possibly a few old Volvo/Saab models). Usually these are alterable as part of the same panel that turns the lights-on for night time driving. I suggest that you do not take your friends advice at all. What make/model is the car, people will be much more likely to have an answer if they know what car it is. ny156uk 18:44, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It's not just Volvo and Saab. The '07 MINI has them on all the time too. There is a deeply buried menu option somewhere in the onboard computer that lets you turn them off - but no obvious switch. Engaging the parking brake even a little bit is a bad idea - it'll hit fuel consumption and wear the brakes out. If you are really unlucky it might overheat the brakes and warp the rotors or something. That depends a lot on the car and such. If I were you, I'd ask the dealership - if the car is new and there is an option to turn them off - they ought to do it for nothing. I'm curious though - what kind of car is this - and why would you want to turn them off? They consume almost zero energy compared to moving the car and they are a great safety feature. SteveBaker 18:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It's a Canadian '07 Honda Fit. DRLs are not an optional feature here, so there is no switch to turn them off, and I'm guessing the dealer wouldn't cooperate with disabling them (and at that, I don't want them disabled all the time). The only reason I want to disable them is for driving up to an observatory that the university and local RASC branch uses. Shining lights in people's eyes is generally looked down upon. It was the instructor for my astronomy course that suggested engaging it slightly, and I've seen the suggestion on the internet, but I'm pretty wary of it for obvious reasons. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:10, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[23] doesn't list your car, but for other hondas, suggests pulling the relevant fuse. --Tagishsimon (talk) 20:14, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[24] says "Use the fuse puller and remove the 7.5amp (brown) mini fuse from slot 8" (along with a whole bunch of other stuff about where your fuse box is. You might want to peruse this google search some more. --Tagishsimon (talk) 20:22, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

A tad more permanent (and illegal?) than I was planning. If that's the only option, I may simply park and cover the (enormous) suckers up with something before entering the road. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:24, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It's no more permanent than covering them up - just put the fuses back in when you're done. FiggyBee 22:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

If you're likely to need to do this on a regular basis and you're handy with a soldering iron, you could always run leads from the fuse box up to a swith inline with the fuse up somewhere on the dash. Note that this may void your warranty; don't try it unless you know what you're doing; make sure that there is still a fuse inline with the switch; your mileage may vary; etc. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 22:32, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Your mileage clearly does vary. Pulling the fuse - from the description - sounds like a 10 second job to me. 20 at the outside. Replacing it; ditto. Go and try it & then come back & tell us. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:49, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about, and trying to rush responses so no one sees me doing this at work. I'll report back, doesn't sound 'too' bad. Not any more time consuming than covering the things up, probably. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:20, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Just like the MINI - I bet there is a way to turn them off in software on the Honda Fit. I don't see why that should be illegal - daytime driving lights aren't required yet are they? Definitely ask the dealership...if they won't do it themselves, they may well tell you how to do it if you explain why you need to know. Failing that - the way to do it without voiding the warranty would be to buy a replacement fuse, cut away the plastic around the actual fuse link (these things are generally transparent - so that should be easy) and drill through it so that the fuse is now "blown". Now get a two-pole switch and a single fuse fuse-holder and carefully solder a wire from one side of the dead fuse to the switch - then from the switch to the new fuse-holder and from the fuse holder back to the dead fuse. Put a replacement fuse into your new fuse holder and plug the dead fuse into the car. Now you have a switchable fuse - and you've done it without voiding the warranty on the car. When you need to take your car in for a service, just unplug the 'dead' fuse and replace it with a regular one and the dealership will be none-the-wiser. Be sure to use reasonably heavy gauge wires because car lights can pull quite a bit of current. SteveBaker 03:59, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I found this web site [25] - click on Honda - and whilst it doesn't have instructions for the Fit, for all of the other Hondas it says to yank the fuse. So I guess there isn't a software way to do it. I'm surprised. Also (it seems) daytime running lights have been required on all new cars in Canada - so it probably is illegal to disable them permenantly. SteveBaker 04:08, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah. Old cars can go without, but I'm fairly certain that new cars are required to keep them working; and really, I'd rather have them most of the time anyways. In any case, pulling the fuse works fine, and it only takes a few seconds to do. Thanks for the help all. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:01, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

It's off the original point of the question but I can't help wondering how you'll be able to drive without any headlights on in the dark. Right now I'm just guessing that you'll pull the fuse for the DRLs, drive to the observatory, before pulling into the driveway or parking lot you'll turn off the headlights (leaving only the parking lights on), and then drive slowly enough so that you can still make out where you're going using only the red/amber parking lights for seeing obstacles and the road. Dismas|^(talk) 05:11, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Pulling the DRL fuse does not disable the ability to put headlights on, according to the article I quoted above - [26]. --Tagishsimon (talk) 06:54, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Was Goliath a real person and what was his height?

I've been curious if he was or not; I'm Christian, but I know that a lot of the stories on the Bible are metaphors and not historical events. But, I have heard that Goliath actually lived, so I have a few questions:

1. Is it known if he was an actual or fictional person? If so, was he actually alive? Or is Goliath loosely based on another person? If so, who?
2. If Goliath was real, how much of the story from the Bible applied to his actual life?
3. What was his height? I've heard 6'6", 6'9", 9'0", and 9'6". Are any of these true (and I'm talking about both the character and the real person, in case they were different in height)?

Thanks. 71.187.170.128 19:23, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The only way to get an idea of whether he was real or not would be to find some other source of information that referred to him - but which is not derived from the Bible story (or vice versa). That's going to be tough to find - it almost certainly doesn't exist because in the main, the only writings that people kept and passed on were religious texts - and those don't count because they are not independent sources. But in any case, it's generally the case that people were shorter back then than they are now - so even someone as tall as 6' might have been considered remarkable. SteveBaker 20:08, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

The first two heights are conceivable, if very high for the historic period. Since the tallest man ever recorded (Robert Pershing Wadlow) was only 8'11" we can most likely discount the 9'+ heights. Exxolon 20:13, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It relates to a much earlier period (only one generation after the supposed Adam and Eve), but Genesis 6:4 says "there were giants in those days". If that were really the case, and depending on what "giants" actually means in terms of height, maybe one of their descendants was Goliath. Hopeless supposition, I know, but .... -- JackofOz 23:38, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

impromptu intrusion detection strategies

Has anyone ever done research on impromptu intrusion detection strategies?

For examples of what I am asking about, consider:

• putting a match stick in the door jamb of a hotel room to determine whether someone entered the room. If the match is still there, the door was (probably) never opened;
• placing a chair in a precise position, relative to a desk to determine whether someone sat at the desk. If the chair is still in the same position upon return, (perhaps) no one sat there.

Obviously, these depend on the obscurity of the chosen "detection" method. Anyone have citations? dr.ef.tymac 21:16, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

I suppose pointing out movies that used these devices wouldn't be a valid citation?  :) Corvus cornix 21:32, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

It's possible that spy training schools in various countries teach these techniques - but they probably don't publicise them too much because the bad guys will be training his agents to look for matchsticks stuck into closed doors and to be really careful not to move stuff around! There was a British reality TV show where they put people through what was claimed to be authentic spy training - and there was lots of this kind of thing on the show but it's hard to believe that they'd teach the 'real' techniques if they rely on the obscurity of their technique to be effective. Spy School (TV series) doesn't seem much use though. SteveBaker 03:48, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Tap dancing

I was wondering about the history of the cincinnati tap step ( the step insists of 1)spank, 2)heal, 3)shuffle, 4)step) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.110.192.123 (talk) 22:53, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

September 13

what is the name of a picture that has meaning?

This is kind of hard for me to word correctly but, if you we're to see a picture of a black dog (like an outline that is just filled in with black to let you know that it means "Dog") with a long underline under it and the word "FLYING" just below the underline. This to me seems if the picture was asked as a question the answer would be "FLYING under DOG".

This was mostly just an example I need to know what that type picture question is called. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.140.46.245 (talk) 01:31, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

See the article on: Rebus -- this might be what you are thinking of. (Joseph A. Spadaro 01:43, 13 September 2007 (UTC))

You mean like, a picture of two dice meaning paradise, or "|R|E|A|D|I|N|G|" meaning "reading between the lines"? We used to do quizzes on those in junior high and elementary. 142.161.53.190 04:53, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I think that that is what the OP is referring to ... and I think that those are called rebuses (rebi?) (Joseph A. Spadaro 05:37, 13 September 2007 (UTC))

dingbat? ny156uk 06:54, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Broderband Printshop

To the people who own the Broderband Printhop Volume 22 Deluxe,

does it contain within the variety of fonts, a form of Garamond 3? --Writer Cartoonist 02:37, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Africa Geography

How did hippos get into the Ngorangora Crater in Tanzania?24.93.193.1 05:33, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Ngorongoro is actually a caldera, which means there is no other way the hippo could get into it other than walking over the rim. By the way, pretty much every large land mammal of East Africa made it into the caldera, with the exception of giraffe, who presumably find the hike to challenging. Rockpocket 06:25, 13 September 2007 (UTC)