Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

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February 9

St. Giles Street London

Hello, I was wondering if you or somebody else knew the year that St. Giles houses were torn down to make room for New Oxford street in London? And if houses remained or which areas the poor went to once displaced?

I have no other details, but two books I checked (The Book of London edited by Michael Leapman, and A History of London Transport by T.C. Barker and Michael Robbins, volume 1) both say that the street was constructed through this area during the 1840s. --Anonymous, 05:25 UTC, February 9, 2006.

Baile Funk

There is any english band or group of baile funk ??

Dear lord, I hope not. I hope this terrible thing is confined in this terrible place Brazil is, so I can safely move to somewhere far away from it and don't worry ever again with such things. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 06:21, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Anime/Grandizer/ForceFive

Is there an anime wiki? There should be. If not where would I find info on the Force Five robos like Danguard Ace or DVDs of Grandizer?

Yes: http://www.anime-wiki.org/ ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 06:26, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

How do you relax after you get home from school?

I always get home from school and can never find any way to relax myself menatlly, got any suffestains? Im 13 year old girl

Well, I used to take a shower and then a nap. Does that help? ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 02:55, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I used to play music and sing along. -LambaJan 03:05, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I listen to music and read something I find interesting,talk to a friend or watch a movie...you can take a nap right after you arrive, sleep helps you process all the information of the day, so that way it won't overwhelm you for the rest of the day.--Cosmic girl 03:45, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

TV can put you into a trancelike state, just try to keep from drooling. StuRat 05:55, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

When I was that age, my parents had a silly rule about me not being allowed to watch TV or other entertainment until I could show that I had done my homework, so arranging evidence of the appearance of that was a high priority, so that I could see certain favorites. On those nites with neither homework, nor a favorite show, I was back then also a book-a-holic, and sometimes also comic books. I cannot remember when I first got a moped, I think it was age 14, but I loved to go riding it in places without much traffic, like scenic trails. User:AlMac|^(talk) 05:58, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Being a 19-year-old male, it wouldn't be anywhere near appropriate for me to mention how I relax after a hard day at college...so...I recommend that if you don't have any housework to do, and you generally wait until later in the evening to do homework, that you get yourself a single Tylenol PM and a glass of water, and go curl up on the couch in front of some old Deep Space 9 reruns. (Terry Farrel is particularly gorgeous in her little uniform. Mrrrawr.) Cernen Xanthine Katrena 07:56, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Do anything, I just need to avoid the wikipedia website. Oops ... too late, I'm in now... --Vsion (talk) 14:21, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Just don't think about the schoolwork until 5:00. Spend around an hour and a half listening to quiet music, take a hot bath while doing so, and curl up with a nice big thick novel in your living room while you're still warm. Steer clear of rock music. It totally disrupts the rejuvenation process. I'm an insomniac, so I spend this time being a lazy lug-a-bed. --Δ

What is this song called?

I need your help, i have no idea what this song is, but i want to download it onto my ipod. help!

okay, i think these are the begginig lyrics, im not sure though,

Hes comin out, hes comin out, hes comin out, its there! ( backround girls, UHH!

Try this [1] Google search. -LambaJan 03:07, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

hhahahahahhahhahahahaha! I think I know what song you are talking about!!! :D it's a cool song by the band Gorillaz! and the lyrics are like this : it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up, it's DARE! ( I'm not so sure, I'll chek on google... I guess I should've done that before I answered, but oh well...) the song is called DARE...cool song... congratulations for your taste in music. here : http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gorillaz/dare.html --Cosmic girl 03:40, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikified the band and the song (yes, we have an article on it!)

Ooh, good catch. I wouldn't have figured it out, even if I listen to Demon Days quite often. I need to improve my phonetical analysis ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:04, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Same here...I listen to that band all the time and I know exactly what song you're talking about now too. — Ilyanep (Talk) 04:07, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

'cool'---maybe it has something to do with my not being a native english speaker...and yeah, demon days is a cool album. My sister says she thought the song went like: 'it's coming up, it's coming up, it's coming up 'each day', hahhahaha! --Cosmic girl 17:02, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Dare. And have a read of that article to discover one possible interpretation of what is "coming up". Rob Church (talk) 02:25, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

about skinheads

are some skinheads mexican?

huh?...well maybe... if a nazi couple gave birth to their child in mexico...yeah. :|--Cosmic girl 03:37, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Skinheads 're generally descendant of Europeans, I really doubt that Mexico has some. In Latin America homever they're very rare, as far as I know there are some small groups in the "Cono Sur" area (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile) but nevertheless they're still uncommon there.

Logical fallacy! Not all nazis are skinheads, and not all skinheads are nazis... But all Nazi-Skinheads are nazi. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 03:57, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

• I suggest you read the links Kieff gave above, Cosmic girl. To know the answer to the question, you first need to know exactly what a skinhead is. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:47, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

In Saint Paul, Minnesota, there was a group of skinheads or neo-Nazis or something, led by a guy who was later "outed" as having a Hispanic mother... I wish I could find the story online. android79 14:29, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I know what a nazi is, and I know what a skinhead is...I was just kidding, thought it was allowed.--Cosmic girl 17:03, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

It's totally allowed, and it was a good one. I think he thought you were the one who asked the question, and that your joke was part of it. These misunderstandings come up sometimes when people scan instead of read. -LambaJan 03:55, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Nah, I just don't get jokes. -__- ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 05:27, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Lost

What is the black smoke in the tv series Lost?............I have missed the last two episodes.........if the answer was not there please don't tell me...........C

• Try the episode guide? Episodes of Lost (season 1) & Episodes of Lost (season 2) - Mailer Diablo 12:03, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm under the impression that if you miss an episode, you're eternally screwed and will have no chance of ever figuring out what's going on. But I might be wrong. :) --Optichan 14:54, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Nah, with Lost you never know what's going on whether you miss an episode or not. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 15:56, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

The simple answer is that (the last time I saw an episode) nobody knew. DJ Clayworth 19:08, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

wikipedia.com

who is the author of this site? i've looked around the site but i haven't found who the author is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.91.242.165 (talk • contribs)

I am, among thousands of others. We each wrote a part of it. StuRat 06:08, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia for more info on how this site works. Also have a look at Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia incase that is what you are looking for. - Akamad 06:43, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Click on the "History" link at the top of any article and you will see he usernames of the individual authors of that article. Grutness...wha? 09:31, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

No-one, because there is no wikipedia.com. It redirects to wikipedia.org, but that doesn't make the two the same. DirkvdM 10:56, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

It was wikipedia.com until 2002. Yeltensic42 don't panic 04:43, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

USS Belleau wood...ships crew listing

I am searching for a person who served on the above ship from 1942 to 1945. His last name was Shields. He served with Air Group 24 and the Pacific Task Force 58. This is all the information I have about the subject. I believe this person is deceased, but I would still like to know if he served on this ship and any other information that is recorded that is relevent. Thank you. I will return for any answer you can provide on this site. "C".

I doubt the information youre after is available on the internet. However, it may be worth trying the sources at this page for more. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 19:43, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

If you are the next of kin of this individual you can request service records from the National Personnel Records Center, and can even request them online at vetrecs.archives.gov.

If not, you will need to get authorization from the next of kin; if you can't get authorization you will be able to get a limited amount of information available to the general public under FOIA authorization. KWH 18:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I just realized how foolish that sounds, since you only know the last name and you are looking for a crew manifest.

You may be able to get muster logs for the ship at the addresses specified here. Maybe once you find the person's full name from the log, you can try to get the service record per the above. KWH 18:53, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

How much wood would a woodship ship if a woodship would ship wood ? --DLL 22:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

EXIF Data Manipulation

I'd like to be a smartass at my deviantART page and include EXIF data on my uploaded film images...are there programs out there that will allow me to manipulate that data? Cernen Xanthine Katrena 07:47, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to be a smartass on the Reference Desak and the answer suitly emphazi is YES. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:49, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

On the Reference Desk we like to answer questions helpfully, thanks. Sum0 18:52, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

For a slightly less smartass answer, try Google. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 14:25, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Normally my answers are helpful (I think) but Cernen is a regular answerer of questions here as well. And, as such, I didn't think he would mind the smartass answer. But just on the off-chance I left an apology on his talk page. I would not have done that to a casual user of the desk. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 23:21, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh for goodly-sake! he/she has a site devoted to the fine art of 'disdain for Ref-Desk idiots'. Makes me look like a Happy Muffin. --Zeizmic 23:47, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Wow, am I that suitly emphazied? I must be a sitting idol here! Cernen Xanthine Katrena 06:34, 10 February 2006 (UTC) (CambridgeBay: I don't mind because you used the words. Hahaha.)

"T-virus"

Is there any virus which looks like or is like the "t-virus" of the Resident evil games? I don't mean a virus who turns people into zombies but, a virus that makes you eat flesh.

You don't need a virus to eat flesh. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 12:32, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

i don't believe that any virus actually makes you do something weird like eat flesh or start singing and dancing or ... Boneyard 12:56, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Some viruses do, however, alter behavior. For a particularly nasty example, see rabies. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 13:39, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

...and Toxoplasma  Run!  14:01, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

You may be interested in reading this. --Optichan 14:51, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

yuuuukk! I knew I hated cats for a reason.... --Zeizmic 15:29, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

World War II

What was World War II called when it first broke out?

We'll find out once it's happened. There hasn't been any World War III. During the Cold War, some people used the term to refer to a speculative war between the respective sides. But the Cold War is now over, so the term isn't useful in that sense. Some people are using it to refer to the Cold War itself. But as far as the most people are concerned, there hasn't been any WWIII. ("The Cold War" is still by far the most common term) --BluePlatypus 17:06, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, this World War III was a creation of 152.163.100.199 (talk · contribs). Check it out for yourself. --Optichan 17:16, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Well.. it's still an decent answer to the wrong question. :) --BluePlatypus 19:59, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

• Okay, to make this more explicit, the question asked about World War II, and then some joker edited it to refer to World War III, hence BluePlatypus's answer. As to the original question: if you look in the OED under World War, you will find that "World War II" was used by Time (magazine) in their issue of September 11, 1939. So it was called by that name pretty much from the outset. I think the fact that it originated in Time -- which affected a breezy style and was published in a country still at peace -- also accounts for the prevalence of that form, which could be viewed as slightly flippant (numbering world wars like chapters of a book?) in comparison to the more formal "Second World War". (Such expressions were also used sometimes even before the war, discussing future events, just as possible future wars are given higher World War numbers today. The OED cites "World War No 2" as early as 1919.) --Anonymous, 17:43 UTC, February 9, 2006.

By the way, I believe that in England the term 'Great War' still refers to WWI. DirkvdM 19:19, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

This brings up any interesting language issue. "Great" originally meant "large", but has come to mean "wonderful". I suspect the change in meaning took place in the 1950's, as the Great War and Great Depression weren't considered to be exactly wonderful events. StuRat 21:44, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Many elderly people in Australia still refer to WWI as 'The Great War', and WWII as 'The World War'. BTW, the WWI and WWII terminology is not shared by all countries, it seems to be an English-language thing. In USSR/Russia, WWII has never been known as anything other than "The Great Patriotic War". JackofOz 21:57, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Looking through the interwiki links of World War II, it seems that equivalents of that name (or the alternative the Second World War) are used in many other languages than English, so it is certainly not unique to English. Swedish, my mother tongue, uses andra världskriget, literally the Second World War, wars are not usually capitalised in Swedish. WWI is named analogously. However, when Swedes colloquially speak about "the war" without specification, they refer to WWII, which affected Sweden profoundly, despite the fact that we were not directly involved. From what I've heard, the use of la guerre in a similar way in France refers to WWI. /130.243.135.145 23:28, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I would think it would depend on the time frame. As the remaining WW1 vets die off, the phrase "The War" is more likely to apply to WW2. I am also guessing that Germany never refers to either war, just as Japan ignores WW2 in it's history classes. StuRat 00:44, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Obviously you don't know the first thing about Germany, then. The ignorance of that statement is its saving grace; You probably don't realize how offensive it is to most Germans, either. Now go read about Vergangenheitsbewältigung. --BluePlatypus 08:02, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

You're "highly offended" that I guessed wrong ? Then I am "highly offended" that you say I don't know the first thing about Germany, when I have studied both World Wars, the rise of Adolf Hitler, Paul von Hindenburg, Otto von Bismark, Kaiser Wilhelm, and read Mein Kampf. If you can stop being offended for no apparent reason, then I will as well. StuRat 11:48, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I didn't say I was "highly offended". And yes, I do think that by guessing that Germans don't speak about the war and imply that they want to cover up the dark parts of their past, that you are quite out of touch with German mentalities, attitudes and the entire postwar German culture in general. I don't know any nation in the world who has worked more at coming to terms with their past. Certainly not Japan, USA, France, Italy.. any of them. Germany pull no punches when it comes to the dark sides of their history. You're promoting a stereotype, and a grossly unjust one at that. So yes, that is offensive. Maybe you should read less Mein Kampf, and more Günter Grass? The latter is certainly more relevant to Germany today. --BluePlatypus 16:50, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

When I was in Germany during the '70s, I was the object of a diatribe from a German teenager about how the Americans had ruined his country during the war. User:Zoe|^(talk) 04:21, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, there are a few obvious responses:

• Germany should accept the blame for it's own destruction, as a consequence of invading most of Europe, declaring "total war", and committing genocide. StuRat 19:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

• The Russians did more damage to Germany than the US during WW2, by killing off more Germans and then effectively holding East Germany hostage for decades. StuRat 19:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

• I believe the US was instrumental in rebuilding West Germany under the Marshall Plan and protecting it under NATO. StuRat 19:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh great, another word changing meaning through usage. ==LarryMac 01:37, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

About the Great Patriotic War claim, it's not true. The Great Patriotic War refers to a) 6/22/1941 - 5/9/1945 only, b) Eastern front only. The whole war is indeed called The Second World War in Russian. --Ornil 23:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

In response to the original question, if I can be uncharacteristically pedantic for a moment, we might need to get clear on what is meant by "when it first broke out". The German invasion of Poland occurred in late August/early September 1939. At that stage the war had not technically begun because no country had declared war on any other country. That did not happen till 3rd September, when UK declared war on Germany (and Australia and a couple of other countries immediately followed suit). But from the perspective of the beleaguered Poles, it mattered not a whit that there was no formal declaration of war; hostilities had certainly commenced, and they were being massacred in their thousands. Was this part of the war, or was it merely the precursor to war? Was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand a part of WW1, or was it merely the thing that led to the war breaking out? JackofOz 02:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

As a sidenote, while there is broad consensus among both historians and the general public that WW2 started with Hitler's invasion of Poland and ended with Japan's capitulation, there is actually some debate among historians whether these dates make sense - if we let WW2 start with Poland and thus view it as mainly Hitler's war, why not have it end with the capitulation of Germany? If we let it end with Japan's capitulation, why not have it start in 1937 with Japan's invasion of mainland China (which was not fundamentally different from Hitler's invasion of Poland)? Or might it even make more sense to say that 1937 and 1939 mark the starting dates of two large-scale, but local conflicts that became one big, unified world war with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour and the subsequent declarations of war of the US on Japan and of Germany on the US? -- Ferkelparade π 08:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

That's very thought-provoking, Ferkelparade. Since the whole of history is a continuum, where does one draw the line. JackofOz 13:52, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

This is similar to 4 July being celebrated as the anniversary of the United States, even though the United States didn't formally exist until 1783. Yeltensic42 don't panic 05:44, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Our national day, Australia Day, is the anniversary of an event that happened on 26 January 1788. The word Australia hadn't even been coined then. We didn't become a unified nation for another 113 years (1 January 1901). JackofOz 00:19, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Did Canada start with the British North America Act of 1867, or in 1982? Did France start with Charlemagne, or with its current constitution in 1957? Did Germany start with Bismarck, or the post-Cold War reunification? Come to think of it, did the Cold War end with the fall of the Berlin Wall on 12 November 1989, or was it when the Soviet Union dissolved on 31 December 1991? Did Wikipedia start on 10 January 2001 as part of Nupedia, or on 15 January when it became a seperate site? Yeltensic42 don't panic 06:01, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Calendar System info

Erm, which calendar did they use around 4 B.C? --XenoNeon (converse) 18:07, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Hint: Type the magic word over in that funny box on the left. I just did it to check it out, and it's wonderful! Sorry to be so rude (Actually, I'm not!) --Zeizmic 18:34, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

What? The calendar aricle doesn't give a mention. There may well be a Wikipedia article, but I would like to know the title of this, as I do not know the name of the calendar. --XenoNeon (converse) 18:46, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Which calendar did who use? Many people still use different calendars today. Rmhermen 18:48, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

There were lot's of calendars in use at that time all over the world. For example you can read about the history of the Hindu_calendar in it's article, there's a discription of the history of the Chinese calendar here. Here's a good online source for calendar history. Hope this helps. Rx StrangeLove 20:14, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

The original poster is, I think, most likely to be asking about the calendar used in the Roman Empire at that time. That would be the Roman calendar and more specifically the Julian calendar, which the one we now use is derived from. --Anonymous, 09:11 UTC, February 10, 2006.

Ray jackson

What happened to Ray Jackson, the fifth (and least celebrated) member of the Fab Five?

He wasn't drafted by the NBA and played in the CBA for a few years and then played in Europe after that. [2] I'm not sure of too many details beyond that though. Rx StrangeLove 20:04, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Making Your Own Telenovelas

Is it true that making your own telenovelas is a way of converting your anger into something positive? It works for me.

Then haven't you just answered your own question? GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 20:37, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Let me ask another then. Is the word 'telenovela' understood in English? (And whose English?) If so, I assume in the meaning of 'soap opera'. DirkvdM 06:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, I haven't heard it before, but think I can decipher it. A novela is a short novel, and a telenovela would therefore be a televised short novel. Personally I prefer the old fashioned way for working out anger, a nice killing spree. :-) StuRat 09:26, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Telenovelas are Spanish-language soap operas. Although, unlike American soaps and such shows as Eastenders, which seem to run on endlessly, telenovelas run for several episodes then come to an end. They're quite common on Spanish-language stations in the US, and presumably, their home stations in Latin America, although I don't know if they've crossed over to Spain or not. User:Zoe|^(talk) 04:23, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like what we call a miniseries in the US. Perhaps the most famous one is Roots (TV miniseries). StuRat 04:46, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I thought it was a Spanish thing, but the [Wikipedia] indeed says it originated in Latin America. DirkvdM 09:55, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Alt Cigarettes

Does anybody know what chemicals and additives are added to alternative cigarettes such as Magic and Herbal Gold?

Their website states that Herbal Gold includes "Marshmallow, Yerba Santa, Damiana, Passion Flower, Jasmine and Ginseng". [3]. The same site indicates that Magic has the same mixture. As far as additives go, they claim not to add any. Several FTC settlements indicate that though these cigarettes do not contain any additives they are not any safer and the makers of Magic and Herbal Gold are limited in what health claims they can make. [4] Chemicals are another story, any substance when burned produces carcinogenic chemicals. Rx StrangeLove 20:41, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Agreed, it's just bad to inhale any smoke, period. StuRat 21:37, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Especially marshmellow smoke, I imagine. Though that still doesn't compare to the shit that is put in some perfumes and after shave. Imagine sitting next to someone, forced to inhale dog poo and stuff. And it's just as carcinogenic, it seems. Then again, nothing can beat the exhaust fumes of cars. DirkvdM 06:43, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes something can beat car exhaust - it's called tobacco smoke. Rmhermen 17:35, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Put someone in a closed running car with the exhaust pipe mounted on the inside. Put a bunch of heavy smokers in another car. See who dies first and get my point. DirkvdM 13:07, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Hold someone under water for fifteen minutes in one room and in another have someone drink scotch for 15 minutes. See who dies first. From this we can see that water is more dangerous than alchol.Brian Schlosser42 16:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

RE: Alt Cigs

What chemicals would be added to make them burn because I can't imagine those herbs burning naturally on their own or people able to smoke those herbs/roots without the aid of chemicals.

You shouldn't make a new section for a reply. Just click the [edit] link on the existing section and add your reply there. Anyway, those "herbs/roots" will burn easily if they are dry enough. —Keenan Pepper 23:40, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

I just looked that up, and normal ciggies have a citrate compound added to the paper to make it continuously burn. There is now a big movement to remove that citrate, so that you have to keep huffing to keep them lit. --Zeizmic 23:43, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

February 10

What to do?

My mom is getting her tax refund check tomorrow. The problem is that, I dont know whether to get:

• An iPod Video

• A PlayStation Portable with Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories

• Or hold out for the PlayStation 3

I'm most conflicted with the last two. Can someone steer me in any direction? I'll take anything not on the list as well. Thanks. Pacific Coast Highway|^{Leave a message ($.25)} 00:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

You could donate it to an underprivileged college student whose student loans and scholarship were slashed to pay for your tax refund--152.163.100.199 20:50, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

So now there is a new holiday when kids get presents - tax refund day ? I suppose some method is needed to prevent parents from investing in their families future, so why not this method ? StuRat 00:38, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I'd personally buy an ipod video, but if u like playstation, I suggest you wait and buy playstation 3.--Cosmic girl 02:41, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Get a Nintendo DS 24.91.16.229 05:10, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Tell your mum that she doesn't need to buy anything for you as you are going to get a part time job and will buy them yourself and she should spend the money on something for herslf. Good brownie points. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:18, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Stay away from the iPod. The PS3 or PSP are both good choices, but I'd lean towards the PSP for you. Wimbo Jales 05:26, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Wait six months and buy whatever's out then. It'll be much nicer than whatever's out now. Night Gyr 06:02, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

What is the legal status of the following activities in the USA

• Recording a television program for personal use.
  • Sending it to a friend.
• Recording a music video from a TV program for personal use.
  • Sending it to a friend.
• Recording a song from radio for personal use.
  • Sending it to a friend.
• Recording a song from live internet stream for personal use.
  • Sending it to a friend.

deeptrivia (talk) 03:33, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe that, unless stated otherwise in the credits, all of those activities are technically illegal. However, unless you sell them they aren't likely to know, or care, that you made copies. StuRat 03:44, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

But I guess, recording TV programs is something everybody does...isn't it? Otherwise, most use of VCRs would be illegal. And if you can record something on TV, then why not on radio and internet? And you can always share your personal things with friends. deeptrivia (talk) 04:01, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I have seen a few shows, mostly PBS, that say something like "you may make one copy for personal use, provided you destroy it within X number of days". The X days seemed to vary from show to show. So, this would be the only case where it is officially legal. There are many other things like this, for example most people only yield at stop signs, they don't come to a complete stop. And many sexual acts are still technically illegal, though never enforced. StuRat 04:13, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I think personal use is generally legal, but making copies for friends is either illegal or bordering on it. I'm not a lawyer, and these things can get rather complicated, but I remember from reading that disclaimer that copy shops have for making personal copies that there is a fair use stipulation that basically covers your own private study. -LambaJan 04:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

See Fair Use. Most of the personal use recording ones would fall under safe as part of the betamax decision, but now that DRM is coming into play you'd need to circumvent copy protection to do so, which is a violation of the DMCA. So the copying itself isn't illegal, but circumventing the copy protection is. Tricky. Night Gyr 06:08, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

There was a US Supreme Court decision on VCRs. If I remember correctly, they ruled

• It ok if you buy or rent some movie or whatever to view on your VCR.
• It ok if you tape something from TV when it broadcast, so that you could view it at some other time.
• It not ok if you view it again and again and again etc.
• It ok if you have friends and family visit your home and view stuff on your TV or VCR.
• It not ok if your VCR tape is passed out to other people's homes to access.

User:AlMac|^(talk) 10:28, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

It is not always legal to share personal things with friends and family. You have to look at the conditions associated with the purchase. Computer software for example is often licensed to a particular person, and/or computer, User:AlMac|^(talk) 10:32, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Basically, can I record streamed music from my soundcard and save it as MP3 files? This way, no law would be broken (unless there's a specific law against this), and i'll have all the latest MP3s without paying anything! What law prevents this? deeptrivia (talk) 19:33, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Basically, there's no "basically" about it! Here's copyright law in a nutshell: The author or copyright holder of a work gets to dictate the terms of copying. You don't. Unless "fair use" is involved. But "fair use" is a very grey and complicated area, and sane rules of logic don't necessarily apply.

Strictly speaking, if you record streamed music and save it as an MP3, and if the source of the streamed audio was a copyrighted work, you are breaking the law -- plain old simple copyright law. You made an unauthorized copy; you're not supposed to do that.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's really, necessarily, ethically or morally wrong for you to do that, and the legal system might even agree with you... depending. Depending on a lot of things, including the copyright law's fair use provisions, and precedents such as the Supreme Court VCR decision which AlMac talked about.

But, again, be careful with your logic. It may be obvious to you, for example, that since your browser makes a temporary copy in its cache of an item you view, it's therefore "obviously" legal for you to make a permanent copy. It may be obvious to you that since it's okay to record a song off the radio by holding a microphone up to the speaker, or record TV shows with a VCR, it's therefore "obviously" okay to record songs or videos off of Internet broadcasts. But those conclusions are not obvious to the legal system that interprets and enforces copyright law, especially given the influence of the big media companies, whose definitions of your rights tend to be quite conspicuously narrow. Steve Summit (talk) 20:44, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

(Obligatory disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice). See our article on Time shifting. Recording from television or radio is considered fair use if it's for the purpose of time shifting (e.g, it's on at 2PM but you won't be back from work so you need to "shift" the time) or space shifting (e.g, you friend gets it on his TV but you don't, so he records it and gives it to you). It is a violation of copyright law to keep these recordings indefinitely. Raul654 19:40, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course, actual enforcement is a different matter. I grew up watching Star Wars taped from TV until we wore out the tape. — Laura Scudder ☎ 22:26, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Why isn't it ok if you view it again and again and again?

Because, as mentioned above, technically, the reason VCRs and recording off the TV is legal is only for the purpose of "time shifting", ie you want to watch a TV programme but it's on at an inconvenient time, so you can tape it and watch it later. You wouldn't be able to watch the original programme more than once, so I guess they argue that you shouldn't be able to watch a "time shifted" (recorded) programme more than once either. And once again, IANAL, but that's my understanding. AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 12:35, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Another way of looking at it (which is pretty closely related, actually), is to ask whether you have arguably deprived the copyright holder of revenue by your actions. If you watch it once, as AlbinoMonkey said, that's just like you watched it the one time they broadcast it, and they are (or ought to be) fine with that. But if you like it so much you want to watch it over and over, then maybe you should have bought the studio-produced VHS or DVD release. (Where it gets more complicated, of course, is if there is no studio-produced version for you to buy even if you wanted to. And then there's also the argument that you didn't want to watch it again that much, that if you'd had to pay for the privilege you wouldn't have, that you're therefore not depriving them of any revenue by watching your own copy.) -- Steve Summit (talk) 14:44, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! That was enlightening :) deeptrivia (talk) 01:25, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Mt St Helens

When Mt St. Helens started to erupt a while back, Why did people go to watch it, knowing that they were in an area that in 1980 got hit by the blast? Are they dumb or just oblivious?

For excitement and adventure and really wild things, of course! And curiosity. I, for one, wouldn't mind getting killed like that, you see. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 06:35, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I think it takes more time than 26 years for sufficient pressure to build up for a major explosion like the one in 1980, perhaps centuries. StuRat 09:21, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

It's moderately safe right now. I have a picture in front of me from my seismic journal of some scientists installing a GPS right on the edge. I'd love to do that! You can also follow the Volcanocam. Right now, in the morning, you can see the infrared glow of the current ash pile. --Zeizmic 13:54, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

That's the dangerous thing about areas with zeizmic activity. The more realxed they've been in recent history, the more dangerous they are when they do become active again (more built-up stress unleashed). DirkvdM 09:59, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Why didn't anyone establish 666 as North Korea's country code instead?

850 sounds like such an innocent number, but North Korea is anything but. Who is responsible for assigning country codes? Why couldn't they set 666 or 187 as North Korea's? Wouldn't those numbers fit in with the nature of the country (evil and murderous)? --Shultz 05:39, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

North Korea as a country can't be labeled "evil and murderous". It may well be that the people in power are that but as to the general population I very much doubt it. Look back and it's only a few years ago that people held the same thoughts about tbe old Soviet Union. Was it not Ronald Regan that called them the "Evil Empire"? So why saddle a country with a number that would be perceived, by Christians only, as representing evil? In a few years the government might chang so why antagonize a whole population for a quick laugh. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:06, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Why antagonize them? Well, 1M members of the Korean People's Army, 5M more in reserve (already beyond 25% of the population), plus more who are -fiercely- loyal to the regime. Those who aren't quite that loyal would possibly (if they get to know about it in the first place, in a country w/ severe censorship) agree that these numbers fit in with the type of regime North Korea has.

Cambridge, I hope the government implodes and gets absorbed by the ROK's. Don't hold your breath though. Who knows if the regime will change in 3 or 30 years. The sooner the better, however. --Shultz 06:28, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

one suspects that the same question would apply to 616 (the alternate of the beast), 668 (the neighbor of the beast), 999 (the beast-and-a-half) and every three-digit number you can think of besides 850. then, too, i imagine that the folks at the International Telecommunications Union (to answer your second question) are sensible enough not to assign any country the code guaranteed to send any number of fundie newspaper exegetes into hysterics. —Charles P._(Mirv) 06:37, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

p.s. since Thailand's country code is 66 and they're grouped geographically, if any country does get that number it'll be somewhere in S.E. Asia—nowhere near north korea, iran, venezuela, or whoever god is going to tell george w. to invade next. —Charles P._(Mirv) 06:40, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Suppose the telephone companies thought your town was evil. How would you feel if 666 was established as the area code for your town? That gives you an idea of why it isn't done. Besides which, North Korea is a zone 8 country under the International telephone numbering plan, so it would need a code beginning with 8. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 07:00, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Radio stations don't have such qualms, apparently. The local ABC station in Canberra is known as "666 ABC Canberra". And, being a government-owned organisation, the ABC is funded by the Australian taxpayer. We're a pretty weird mob admittedly, but I don't think we go as far as devil worship. I didn't understand the reference to 187 - could somebody please explain that to me. JackofOz 07:13, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

numeric code for murder in the state of california. See 187 (murder). —Charles P._(Mirv) 07:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. JackofOz 09:02, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I grew up in the town of Newington, Connecticut (USA) where the main telephone exchange was 666. (667 and 665 had been added by the time I left). I don't recall any huge outcry to have it changed, nor do I think I turned out to be particularly evil. Of course there's a nearby state park called Devil's Hopyard, so maybe all of Connecticut is inherently evil. --LarryMac 15:19, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure you're right. The evidence is overwhelming. JackofOz 15:31, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh really? The entire North Korean army is fiercely loyal to the regime? I take it you've spoken to many North Korean soldiers? What do you base this assumption on? Former soldiers are not underrepresented among defectors. Unless you've been talking to them, I see no reason to believe they are any more or less loyal than the rest of the population. --BluePlatypus 07:42, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

While following route 66 on a map of the USA I found that one of the side roads is called route 666. And a related anecdote. Some universities in the Netherlands were called 'hogescholen' (high schools). When the government decided that they should all be called 'universiteit', the Catholic University of Tilburg was faced with a problem; catholic is spelled with a 'k' in Dutch and 'kut' is the Dutch word for 'cunt'. So they decided to name themselves after the province (apparently they found their religion more important than the city of residence).

But closer to the original subject. Is the meaning of numbers in the various cultures taken into account? Maybe 850 is a 'rude' number in Korean culture. And the one serious question hasn't been answered yet. Who assign these numbers? The List of country calling codes article doesn't say. And why does North America have such complicated numbers? DirkvdM 07:21, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

the International Telecommunications Union—see my first answer above. (The article now says this.) Why North America's numbers are so complex, I couldn't say, but North American Numbering Plan explains how they work. —Charles P._(Mirv) 16:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

• If you value your job (and sometimes your life), being loyal to your government, even if they're evil, is a good thing. That doesn't necessarily mean they agree. It could just as easily be survival instinct at work. Most collaborators in WWII weren't evil, they just looked out for themselves and their family. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:50, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

My favorite area code is for Cape Kennedy, Florida, USA (where rockets are launched). Their area code is 3-2-1. I suspect whoever does the area code assignments in the US has a sense of humor. Then again, you won't soon forget that area code, will you ? StuRat 09:14, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

As to highway numbers, US 666 was renumbered. --Anonymous, 09:20 UTC, February 10.

This was one of the most ridiculous questions I've seen. In effect, it was "Why didn't an international and impartial organisation take the majority political views of one nation (or one small group of nations) as an universal, non-disputable truth, and use that to also side with one particular religion, and then use that as an act against another nation, who won't probably even notice the meaning of the act because they have a different majority religion, when the only thing they'll ever gain from it is being able to snicker at how foolish it makes the nation seem?". JIP | Talk 10:11, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

That sums it up very well, JIP. :) --BluePlatypus 10:25, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

As for U.S. 666, it was renamed because of controvery relating to Satan. There are also local legends in the Southwest (the region it runs through) about scary things happening along it. Also of some interest, I'm aware of two towns in Michigan (Hell and Paradise) that have a round-trip distance between them of 666 miles. But JIP's right, the whole thing is ridiculous. I think the "question" a while back about Tupac was even more ridiculous, though... Yeltensic42 don't panic 05:16, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

The truly ridiculous questions tend to be ignored, This question has prompted well over a dozen comments and some interesting reading.  :-) hydnjo talk 13:05, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

The Tupac "question" also prompted a lot of comments; I'm starting to think that if a question is very ridiculous, it draws attention. Yeltensic42 don't panic 18:21, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

It certainly got "our's". ;-) hydnjo talk 18:25, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Transfer of football player

When a player is bought by one club from another club, does he have any share from the money of transfer? For example, Chelsea bought Ghanian midfielder Michael Essein from French club Lyon this season by over 20 million pound. Did Michael Essein has any share from this over 20 million pound which chelsea paid to Lyon?

Usually the player would not get a share of that, unless there was a clause in his contract (with Lyon, in this case) that gave him the right to a percentage. David Sneek 14:16, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

He would though have got a separate signing-on fee spread out over the period of his contract. In the old days players in England got a flat rate 5% of the transfer fee. 81.131.80.196 00:38, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

The idea is league parity. If this player is better than whoever he's being traded for, the money makes up the difference. -LambaJan 03:40, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Meta Questions

A question about the Reference Desk, for those who might know. Has anyone ever figured out why so many random folks from the internet end up at this URL when they are looking for answers? Has anyone looked at the server logs to see what search terms people are using to find it? (Clarification: I mean the Google or other search engine terms as indicated by the referer.) KWH 06:52, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Followup: We all know about Do your own homework. We also know that there are numerous teachers and professors who edit Wikipedia. Have there been any hilarious examples of an educator finding their own pupil posting homework questions on the Reference Desk? KWH 06:54, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

first question: the main page (which gets i don't know how many hits a day—lots) has a prominent link to ask a question, and the second link on that page leads here. many more people probably use the search box, but that's basically invisible to anyone who's not reading the server logs.

second question: i've never seen anything like that; even if it did happen, the teacher would be more likely to bring it up with the student offline, saying much the same thing that people here say. —Charles P._(Mirv) 07:00, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, but those answers were boring. Anyone got better ones? KWH 13:00, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm in one of my low cycles. I'll leave this to somebody else... --Zeizmic 13:48, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

These dull questions can't inspire me. David Sneek 14:26, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes I get the distinct impression that there are vast underground networks providing support services to people who are, shall we say, not interested in learning how to fish. For example, I maintain the C FAQ list, and since I want feedback on it I publish my e-mail address with it, but for years my reward has mostly been that I get people emailing me "asking" (more like insisting) that I do their homework for them. In fact, a friend who shares the same predicament once discovered (after figuratavely grabbing one of these questioners around the neck and forcing the answer out of him) that both of our addresses were on a list somewhere of what amounted to "suckers who are likely to help you out if you email them". We never found the actual list, but it made a certain amount of sense.

Similarly, since Wikipedia is "hot" right now (in sort of the same way that Usenet and FAQ lists were ten or fifteen years ago), it wouldn't surprise me to learn that multitudes of random people out there are saying to each other, via whatever person-to-person informal support networks they use, "Oh, you need help? I don't know, but try posting to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:RD/M. They answer everything!" Steve Summit (talk) 23:43, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

• If you Google free reference desk WP is usually in the top ten. One click away for anyone.  ;-) hydnjo talk 13:14, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

But then why do people come here and ask "How many legs does a cat have?" without looking up the cat article, which is easier to find or just google cat legs? I diagree <suitly emphazi>thogh</suitly emphazi> with David Sneek. This is amore interesting idea than the type of question that can be answered by saying "Try Wikipedia Article" CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:25, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Fair enough, let me try to give another boring answer then. The premiss of the first question is incorrect. Given the popularity of wikipedia, the number of "random folks" that end up at this URL is surprisingly low. I don't think we get more than 100 questions a day on the 5 WP:RD subpages, and a lot of them are from fellow wikipedians. If the service offered here was suitly emphazied, the reference desk would be a sitting idol for curious people and students loaded with homework everywhere. David Sneek 14:14, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree with David, we're certainly not being over-run. I often check to gauge how many of the really bad questions are from "first-timers" and find that it is a majority (subjective, I realize). Also, I've sometimes seeded my response so as to elicit an additional comment from the questioner and rarely do I get one leading me to believe that some expect a "live" person-to-person response and disappointedly go on. My pet peeve was the confusion between the RD and the HD. I think that WP:ASK really helped in that area. My suggestion, FWIW, have fun here, comment in the areas that "tickle your fancy" and ignore the rest. hydnjo talk 16:16, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh my god, am I the first person to notice that "suitly emphazi" is falling into regular use here? 12.72.246.157 09:15, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Song in JARHEAD? What is it???

What's the title and artist of that song played during the montage, when all the marines get back home? I think it played to a piano tune...very mellow.

I think you mean Soldier's Things by Tom Waits. David Sneek 12:05, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

hehe, funny. i went home that night after watching jarhead with that song in my head, and put on the dvd for coffee and cigarettes -- iggy pop and tom waits! thanks! gelo 07:35, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

street of europe in 10,000 bc

i want to know that wat happened with them in 10,000bc n wat they had at that time i want to know all information abt the street of europe plz tell me as fast as u can thank you

Have a look at the 10th millennium BC and Mesolithic articles. David Sneek 17:22, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the only "roads" at that time might be trails where people walked, similar to "Indian trails" in the US. StuRat 19:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Disabling anti-virus prorgam

Sir/madam

Installing a game to my comp. a warning stated; "Disable anti-virus BEFORE installing this game". How can I disable that program without uninstalling it? I would not know how to install it again. Thanks, hope you can help.

Frank

What anti-virus program do you use? Usually there's an icon in your system tray (or notification area, as Windows XP calls it) that you can use to temporarily disable it. If you can't disable it from that menu, there should be an Options menu item or something similar in the menu. You might be able to disable it from the Options dialog box. --Optichan 18:52, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Although most of the time it tells me to disable my anti-virus software, I just leave it running. It doesn't do any harm usually. --Optichan 19:09, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Where did you get the game? For all you know it is a trick to get you to install some viruses. User:AlMac|^(talk) 21:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

For what it's worth, I never once disable anti-virus software when installing things. To my mind, an installer which needs to work around my anti-virus software is not doing it right. Rob Church (talk) 02:33, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Question

Why does people who are about to get an lethal injection get thier arm chemically cleansed first? - Joneleth

So, in case the lethal injection is aborted by a pardon they won't get an infection ? StuRat 19:34, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

um, if they receive a pardon after they receive the injection, isn't it a bit too late?--152.163.100.199 20:48, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

No, because first they administer anesthesia thru the IV, then they wait some time for that to take effect before they add poison to the line. StuRat 00:32, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

152, you were probably talking about cases where the pardon is given after the person has died. There are numerous instances of pardons being given posthumously, and convictions being quashed posthumously (see Miscarriages of justice). Agreed, it's a bit late for the poor guy/gal by then, but at least the family has a small degree of comfort. JackofOz 00:46, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I think it's just standard practice. Alcohol swabs are cheap, and there's no reason to make a special exception for this one kind of injection, even though it's technically superfluous. —Keenan Pepper 20:58, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

This was in the external links for lethal injection.  Run!  21:51, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Received the nth email asking "where are there locks on the doors of a 24/24 7/7 shop ?" and so on. This subject is on the list. --DLL 22:59, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

A controversial Jesus movie made for TV

My professor cannot remember for the life of him the title of a made-for-television movie about Jesus that was nearly cancelled because of a lack of sponsorship caused by a loudmouthed televangelist who claimed it was blasphemous, but one company swept in and rescued it. I don't know the title, nor the sponsor, but he said it made the news. Anyone have any ideas on what the title was or who the sponsor was? Cernen Xanthine Katrena 19:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter!! Or maybe not. Problem is, almost any movie about Jesus is going to make someone angry. So your question could relate to almost any such film. I guess you could try looking at Dramatic portrayals of Jesus. --BluePlatypus 20:12, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes it doesn't even have to be Jesus, here in Greater Orlando, Florida a TV show about a priest who's addicted to painkillers (I think it's called the Book of Daniel or something) isn't being aired because of the controversy Yeltensic42 don't panic 05:01, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

D'oh, BP: I already checked Dramatic portrayals of Jesus. As a semi-regular purveyor of reference desk irritability, I do the whole "check before asking" bit...but I appreciate the advice. Sadly, none of the links provided has anything to do with his question. As for the Book of Daniel, it's really sad they're not airing it in Florida; it's absolutely hilarious. Cernen Xanthine Katrena 07:57, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I doubt this is the one you are talking about, but Jerry Springer: The Opera was almost, but not, banned from the BBC, leading to lots of media attention (especially from the Daily Mail), partly due to the way Jesus was portrayed (and partly due to the 2,000 odd swear words (actually about 100, but sung by a choir of 20)). smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 11:40, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it's everywhere in Florida, just this area. (I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't being aired in the northern panhandle though either, that area is stuck in the Dark Ages, but they're probably showing it in Miami). Yeltensic42 don't panic 18:25, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

It's not showing anywhere --LarryMac 20:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

PSP,homebrew and civilization 2

I have a PSP (Playstation Portable), and Im a bit tied of the games that i have, so I want to have my old CIvilization 2 PC game on my PSP. I have firmware 2.60. Is it possible??? If it is, is there any instructions on the internet??

Thanks on behave (sorry my bad english)

A PC game? I'd have to say no. Are there any PC emulators for consoles? --Optichan 20:34, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, I don't know about the PSP, but people run all sorts of stuff on XBox. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 23:56, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

That's because an X-box is essentially a special purpose PC. It runs Windows, it has a hard drive, it quacks like a duck, ergo, it's a PC. As to running a old PC game on a PSP, I suppose that its technically possible, but I can't imagine anyone taking the time to do it. You'd be better off buying a tablet PC to play it on. Brian Schlosser42 17:18, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

song

umm there's a song i really like, but i only heard once, and am not sure what its called. its a dance/beats typ song, so i dont think mnay peopel would have heard it, as its defnitly not main stream. all i know is that the chorus goes somthing like: must be together baby everytime.. something like that. i really dont know much about the song, so im hoping someone can help me out.-alissa lytio

I Googled "must be together baby everytime" and found a Janet Jackson song called Together Again that might be the song you are looking for. I have no idea if this song is a "dance/beats typ [sic] song", or how "main stream" it is, but I wouldn't count on getting any more help than this. Good luck. CrypticBacon 01:40, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like... maybe a Daft Punk song? -LambaJan 03:50, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

ALL-CAPS Wikipedia titles

I am having a bit of trouble locating this information in the Manual of Style. When are all-caps permitted in article titles? This article caught my eye: GODIVA (a Swiss metal band). Since Godiva redirects to Lady Godiva, should it be moved to Godiva (band)? CrypticBacon 01:21, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

My guess would be that GODIVA is the name of the band; similar to The B-52's; normally, apostrophes aren't used for plurals, but the apostrophe is in the name of the band, as I pointed out on the talkpage. Yeltensic42 don't panic 04:52, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I guess the project page that comes closest to your requirement is Wikipedia:Naming conventions (capitalization), but as you said there is no suggestion as to what is to be done for an all-caps article title. By the way, don't use reference desk for asking questions about wikipedia. Use Wikipedia:Help desk for that. Jay 16:30, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

• You can simply add a note on top of Lady Godiva saying:

Godiva redirects here. For the Swiss metal band, see GODIVA. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:54, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Or better yet,use the messege which is already there. -Mgm|^(talk) 12:57, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

• All Caps titles are okay if those are the common name for the band. Godiva (band) can also redirect to GODIVA. Generally we try to stay away from using modifiers, like (band), if we can make a distinction another way. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:57, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

February 11

Who can I hire to make my Blog? (posted Feb. 10, '06. evening)

Hi. I'm intelligent, but I'm a cyber-dummy! I'd like to start a Blog but I need a Blog Expert to so this for me & I will of course pay him or her. Please advise! Thank you, Calif. senior.

---

What exactly do you want ? If you just want a site where you can post your thoughts, that's quite easy. StuRat 03:19, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

You may be interested in our articles on blog and blog hosting service. --Robert Merkel 03:38, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Magic Schools

I remember when I was little I always thought magic schools were just fiction but when I read in the newspaper about a french girl that went to a magic school I realised they actually had magic schools, any sites where there is some info where some schools are? I wouldn't mind going to one... Of course I'm not talking bout Hogwarts is such, that is fiction, but I know there are Wiccan schools.

What country? Do you mean somewhere like this? Try Googling "school of magic". --Shantavira 18:41, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Nah, 'cause that's more performing arts, I'm talking about actual Wicca.

Since "real magic" is total BS, and only illusions exist, it would be quite difficult to run a school to teach "real magic". StuRat 01:22, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

As for Wicca in particular, I don't know if any Wiccan groups have any equivalent to a Christian seminary where one studies full-time for years. Certainly classes exist, and books. Whether it's possible to gain "real" power from Wicca, or any other faith, is of course a matter of opinion. -- Pakaran 02:37, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah...classes...how can I find more information on that?

I'm not sure if what you're trying to seek is something that many Wiccans would be interested in teaching. That aside, I personally think that gaining "magic" in the terms you describe it from a class is a physical impossibility (putting aside the future possibilities of mimicking it with technology, see e.g. transhumanism). -- Pakaran 05:35, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

S/T in albums

When a band releases an eponymous album, they add S/T to the title. What does that mean? ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 03:03, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Such albums are also described as self-titled. Perhaps S/T is that? --Anonymous, 03:55 UTC, Feb. 11, 2006.

That's probably it then! Thanks. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:14, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Categories in Wikipedia

How many categories are in Wikipedia?

You could look through Wikipedia:Browse. The total number would change from day-to-day as categories are created and deleted. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:13, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

American Sex Statistics

Does anyone know how many times the average American will have sex in his or her lifetime? I think this is very important, especially considering how important we make sexual orientation out to be. Captain Jackson 04:50, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Clarification, please. Is it important that they have sex many times, or is it important that others know how many times they have sex? How is the knowledge that the average American has sex 5,000 times (say) in their lifetime related to their sexual orientation? Why would Americans' sexual frequency be any different from that of people from other countries? JackofOz 05:57, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Such statistics are alway very dodgy. The only way to find this out is to ask people and this is typically something people lie about, giving the answer that they think is most acceptable for their age/gender/subculture/whatever.

And by 'America' do you mean the continent or the country on it that is often referred to by that name? DirkvdM 13:18, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

There are actually two continents, North America and South America, and then there are areas like Central America and the Caribbean which are definitely part of the "Americas" but are difficult to classify specifically with either continent. StuRat 17:15, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, you could of course join the rest of the world and call the one continent 'America' and then (very logically) call its components North-, South- and, if you wish, Central-America. And then there would be no confusion about whether 'South America' refers to Florida and Texas. Or you could be a 'true blue American' and remain obtuse about this. :) DirkvdM 10:06, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I think most US residents consider those 'southern states' as part of the 'southern region' of the country, but 'South America' is generally regarded as referring to the continent. Even by 'true blue Americans.' -LambaJan 04:01, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I know. I was just pointing out the illogicality of it. How can 'South Something' not be part of that 'Something'? DirkvdM 08:46, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I think StuRat is right on this, DirkvdM. It's not a question of obtuseness, but of geographical definition. It's not one continent but two. If the level of the sea were higher (which may not be very far away), they wouldn't even be connected by an isthmus, so the appearance of contiguity is temporary. By your argument, the Netherlands is part of the same continent as Korea and South Africa. I don't think so. "The Americas" includes both continents, but "America", at least to Australians, means the USA and nothing else. I don't think you'd find many Canadians or Mexicans who'd be happy to know they lived in "America", by your definition. (It's a very brave stance to claim to be speaking for the entire world, but nice try.) JackofOz 09:12, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

A logical ordering into continents is a bit of a problem because indeed that would make Africa and Eurasia one big continent which is just too big to be practical for everyday use. So they're split in two. How 'the American continent' is designated is a matter of (fierce) dispute. In English (and therefore in Anglophone countries) it is split (although that is something recent - the term 'America used to refer to the whole in English too). In Europe it is generally regarded as one continent. I don't really know about the rest of the world. But now you go and do what StuRat did too, namely present the 'truth' you were brought up with as some absolute truth. All I did was point out the illogicality of that and be a bit, well, alright, obtuse in the way I presented the argument. DirkvdM 12:25, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

There's a terminology/psychological thing going on here, I think. If South America were called "Dirkia", and North America were called "Sturatia", the temptation to think of them as the one continent wouldn't be nearly as great.

When I went to school, I was taught that Australia was the world's largest island and Ayers Rock was the world's largest monolith. Both statements are no longer considered true. The Ayers Rock/Uluru claim was never true because we now know it isn't a monolith at all. But Australia being an island has only become untrue because of a definitional change. Australia is now classified as a continental land mass, which is mutually exclusive of an island. That redefinition seems to be the prerogative of geographers, and we just have to live with it. So we've deferred to Greenland for the island thing (but we still have the world's largest monolith, Mt Augustus, which most Aussies have never even heard of.) Geographical definition says North and South America are different continents. Whether it's logical is a separate question entirely. JackofOz 12:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

"America was originally named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, then people got sick of calling it Vespuccia and changed the name to America." - Dave Barry

StuRat 17:18, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Well I could give you an answer, but I have to confess that 1) I don't have the necessary book in front of me and 2) I'm too lazy to crunch the numbers. If you're interested enough, a nearby academic library will almost certainly have a copy of The Social Organization of Sexuality by Laumann, et al.[5] The tables in that book contain data on the frequency of sex for Americans between 18 and 65; from that you could make a guesstimate. --George 01:34, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

age

Whats the leagel age for having sex in India?

I think Sexual Offences Laws - India might help. --Silvaran 07:26, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Heterosexual, 16; homosexual, illegal. Yeltensic42 don't panic 18:31, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

NBC's Olympics programming schedule thingy music thing

Okiedokie, second question now, this time about the olympics. (Well...more specifically, NBC's coverage of said.) There's a rather uptempo, kind of action-y feeling song that they're playing that reminisces of other music I've heard; trouble is, I haven't a damn clue who wrote it, or plays it...anyone have any ideas? Cernen Xanthine Katrena 08:00, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

They been playing John William's Olypic March from the 1984 games, as well as the older Olympic song that I son't know what its called. Its pretty up tempo, and sounds familiar because John William's songs always sound familiar...Brian Schlosser42 17:29, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Storage?

Hi there. Im just currently doing an essay on new internet trends and changes etc, and am talking about how wikipedia is now more commonly used more than any encyclopedia before, and how there are less issues/incorrect informations in wikipedia than any book based encyclopedia.

What i was getting to the point about, is version control, and how it is used. Say if i search for "ECU" as an example, the description about ECU comes up, is that description stored in a database? If so, are the other versions too?

I was just wondering about expansion, if this was the case, do you need massive hard drive capabilities etc?

Thanks for your time.

Apparently, Wikipedia and all of its sister projects could fit on a 200GB hard drive (that was on the reference desk before).  Run!  12:00, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

And even less if you leave out the images. 1 million articles at an average of 10 KB would come to just 10 GB. That's two dvd's. By the way, Nature (the magazine) tested Wikipedia against the Encyclopedia Birttanica a while back and found there were more errors in Wikipedia. But the difference wasn't too big. The real shock here was that the Encyclopedia Brittanica contained so many errors. And you have to take into consideration that Wikipedia has only been around for a few years and is still a work in progress. Well, it will always be of course, but it is now in the difficult stage where it's (almost) a serious reference work but not yet complete. I'd say give it another 5 or 10 years and it'll be the best reference work ever known to mankind. But more than time, expert peer reviews are needed to separate the facts from the speculationsand such. And a lot of articles need an improvement in style, but time alone should take care of that. DirkvdM 13:29, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

It should be noted that Nature only compared science-related articles. I'd expect we're a bit weaker on Humanities given the demographics that make up the majority of Wikipedia editors. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 13:39, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

And anything that is even remotely controversial probably contains a lot of errors.  Run!  15:12, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course, some scientific topics are controversial. Yeltensic42 don't panic 18:29, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

It should also be noted though that on average the wikipedia articles were longer than the Brittanica ones, thus making wikipedia as if not more accurate in some cases in the sense of errors per word.

According to Wikipedia:Database download, "As of September 2005, a compressed full database dump (text only), including old page versions, is about 40GB," and "As of January 2006, the image dump for the English Wikipedia was about 76GB." - Akamad 00:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Wicca

The wicca series by Cate Tiernan are actually based on the religion, but is everything they say bout the religion in the book true? Because they said that you have to study Wicca for a year to become a full wiccan or something, but I havn't found that rule on any site, in fact it said Wicca has no rules...

I don't think either answers your question directly, but we do have articles on both Cate Tiernan and Wicca. Note that there are apparently many different strands of Wiccan belief, so I doubt there's a simple "yes or no" answer to your question. --Robert Merkel 12:01, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe that some groups do have requirements for study before formal initiation (but others don't have a concept of initiation, and many Wiccans practice alone). So yeah, it's pretty variable. I can't speak to the book because I haven't read it, and what I know about Wicca is based on things my friends have said. -- Pakaran 05:38, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Quad and inline skates

After reading the articles on quad skating and inline skates, I was curious: in terms of riding characteristics, how do they differ? According to the article, it's easier to turn sharp corners with quad skates (which makes sense), but do they differ in other ways? And why are inline skates faster, if they both have the same number of wheels and bearings (assuming they are of similar quality and characteristics)? And what about brakes - inline skates tend to have heel brakes, while quad skates have toe brakes, is there a reason for that? Does one type of brake work better in certain situations than the other? Thanks in advance! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 13:47, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I would expect the inline skates to be less stable. That may sound bad, and it is bad for beginners, but this lack of stability can also allow for tighter turns, etc., in the hands (or on the feet, as the case may be) of an expert. StuRat 19:19, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Stu, did you mean quad when you said inline? I think you can have a sharper turning radius with quads because the length of the wheel assembly is shorter than inline; and inline are faster because the flat plane gives you something stable to throw your weight into when making the moving motions. I have heard of inline skaters who liked doing tricks who would rig their skates so that the middle two wheels would be slightly lower than the two outer ones to improve the turning radius, but this obviously had negative effects on speed. -LambaJan 04:11, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

WikiWax

Anyone know what's going on with WikiWax (the site, not the article)? They've been unavailable for a while now. hydnjo talk 16:21, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps someone there forgot to pay their hosting bill? Safari says: "Failed to open page: Safari can’t open the page “http://www.wikiwax.com/” because it can’t find the server “www.wikiwax.com”." 12.72.246.157 09:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Guitar Neck Separation

I'm having some problems with the bolted neck on my guitar, which has now seperated about 1cm from the main body after someone decided to kick a ball at it. The threads seem to be now useless, so does anyone have any ideas on how i can rectify this? I'm thinking about trying to use wood glue on it, but i feel this will be pointless due to string tension. Any ideas? -Benbread 18:13, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

It sounds to me (assuming there are no cracks) like the screw threads are stripped. I would suggest taking it to musical instrument store for repairs, especially if it's valuable. Using a tap and die set to place somewhat larger bolts in the same holes (without cracking the wood) would be my instinct, but this might affect the resonance, so someone trained in musical instrument repair should really take a look at it. Also, don't just force a larger bolt into the holes as this could crack the wood. StuRat 18:37, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the info :) I've consulted Gibson about repair, and the possibility of it still being under warranty. You are right, the threads are stripped, so i'm thinking some slightly larger bolts would do the job, but i don't want to risk it, even though the guitar is hardly valuable.

NO! Larger bolts is a bad idea. I have to deal with this problem all the time with pipe organs, which you don't want to change around for historical reasons. If you can take to to someone under warranty then go for it, but if you can't then this is a simple repair that I used on a different part of my guitar.

The principle is to fill the hole with real wood. You need to be judicious. If you fill it too much then you'll need to re-drill an appropriatly sized pilot hole so that you don't split the wood when you re-screw it. If you don't want to go through all the trouble of filling with a dowel piece and redrilling, then you can simply make up the appropriate mass of wood with one or a few lengths of toothpick pieces. Cut them to length, dip them in a good wood glue (titebond) and screw in the original screws before the glue dries. The appropriate amount of wood is enough for the screw to use and not enough for the screw to push out far enough to split the wood. The appropriate length is rather short, like between 1/3 and 2/3 the length of the hole. Some people like to specially make plugs of beechwood that are 1/3 the length of the hole or less that are pre-piloted and screw them in with a bit of wood glue (the idea for this method is to give something for the end of the screw to latch onto), but this often isn't necessary. It's a judgement call for you. The basic thing is to put some more wood in there, with glue, and screw it in before the glue sets. -LambaJan 04:32, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

This is good advice, but don't sue me if you mess up. -LambaJan 01:52, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

U.S. Postal Service

Does the U.S. postal service prefer roadside mailboxes rather than mailboxes on houses? Who started putting Mailboxes on the roadside, and when did they do it?

I would say it depends on the population density. In a sparsely populated area, driving from mailbox to mailbox is more practical, while in densely populated areas delivering on foot is more efficient. In densely populated areas, they really prefer the system where a block of mailboxes is provided for each apartment complex, as that means the least work for them. StuRat 19:08, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

BTW, does any other country have roadside mailboxes. Why dont American criminals (or just naughty children) routinely empty them? Jameswilson 02:11, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The rural areas where they are used are typically low crime areas and there are very severe penalties for interfering with the mail. StuRat 02:41, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if they empty them, but petty criminals and naughty children/adolescents (the categories overlap, yes) routinely entertain themselves by smashing the boxes, usually with a baseball bat or other bludgeon swung from the window of a moving car. See Mailbox baseball. —Charles P._(Mirv) 02:31, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Geesh, is there anything that we don't have an article about?  ;-) hydnjo talk 03:45, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It is also common now in the U.S. (or at least here in Florida) for new suburbs, like the one where I live, to have a block of mailboxes as in an apartment building. And, as with apartments, they have locks, to deal with naughty/petty children/adolescents/criminals/terrorists. Yeltensic42 don't panic 06:34, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

As far as why they don't empty them, what would be the point? Sure a bit of vandalism since that person won't get their mail for a day but other than that there is little to gain. Money isn't sent through the mail much at all any more so you can't spend what's in there. Catalogs, while nice to look at sometimes, are available just by calling the company and asking for one. Credit card offers are blank and rather pointless to steal. Credit card statements don't have the expiration dates so it would be hard to profit from that. It's just nearly pointless. Dismas|^(talk) 22:03, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I dont know - identity theft maybe, bank stuff, social security numbers. Anyway Im relieved to hear that youthful exuberance is alive and well in the suburbs. Jameswilson 00:53, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

What's the point in vandalizing Wikipedia? Yeltensic42 don't panic 01:15, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Like many things, Canada follows the US in having large numbers of roadside mailboxes. My own take on why this is the case is that it's a combination of practicality and tradition. American houses, especially in rural areas, are much further away from the road than in (say) Britain. Having to go to each house would add a huge amount to the time taken to deliver mail. And the postal services in US and Canada tend to be designed largely to reduce costs more than to make things easier for customers.

Incidentally, in my part of Canada I understand that new houses are not being built with mailboxes on the house, even in densely-populated urban areas. Instead each group of twenty or thirty houses has a central group of mailboxes to which you must go to collect your mail. DJ Clayworth 17:11, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, just like here (the blocks of mailboxes, I mean). I guess it's probably like that everywhere in the United States and Canada now. Yeltensic42 don't panic 03:40, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Another Soap Network

After SoapNet, what other soap network are we going to expect and what is that network's format going to be?--12.18.90.3 20:09, 11 February 2006 (UTC)Eric

This isn't really a new idea. I remember Sky Soap appearing back when Sky was an analogue system. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 21:38, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

In australia we have road side mail boxes and one of my best child hood memories is when we filled some poor persons mail box up with fire works and exploded it.. he he.. no one steals your mail, what good is it but to its owner?

This isn't really the place for confessions. You might try PostSecret though. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 16:18, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Recent news on CNN

On a recent CNN evening broadcast, there was a segment about a web site that offers registration to input biographical information. After you complete registration, you print out a tag with visible numbers that you stick in a car window. If you find an attractive person entering a car with a sticker mentioned above, you can go to web portal, enter this number and obtain bio on this person. It was promoted as a new form of blind dating. Can some one help identify this protal?

What about those poor singles who don't have a car? Are these stickers bicycle-friendly? DirkvdM 10:11, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

We need more information. Are you absolutely certain you saw it on CNN and not another news channel? Do you recall which program aired the segment, or at least recall roughly what day it aired? --Aaron 16:31, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Sounds rather bizarre, as you'd need to see them entering or leaving their car, which basically means hanging around in a car park. So why not just ask them for their biographies then and there? --Shantavira 17:48, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Whats wrong with good old-fashioned Dogging (dont know if Dutch cyclists are allowed though). Jameswilson 00:57, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I did find the site: www.flirtingintraffic.com. Its really cool and free.

Series of 1928 E U.S. 5 dollar bill

I have a 5 dollar bill with a red seal and red serial numbers. It is the Series of 1928 E. I would like to recieve information on this bill. How much is it worth? as well as other information on its history. Please send me an email soon. My e-mail address is ertnmjp2@hotmail.com. Thank you. Sincerely, Evan Treadway --66.218.254.243 20:29, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

If a recent Ebay listing is any indication it's not worth that much. In some other auctions/listings I saw the prices all hovered around the $10.00 mark. You can read a little about it and other like it in the United_States_Notes article. Rx StrangeLove 00:05, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

how come

hello wikipedians i was watching the tense hours before stanley williams excution at san quentin on my television and i was wondering how come they don`t excute people in broad daylight. can you guys tell me why.

Firstly, I'm going to assume you're talking about executions in the United States rather than by firing squad in other countries, which ARE typically done in "broad daylight". Secondly, your question is ambiguous. Do you mean in the middle of the day or in the middle of the town square? If the former, it's mostly tradition, and since any time is as good as another, there's no real reason to change it. If the latter, there's the matter of security to consider, and also dignity of the prisoner and for the prisoner's family.GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 23:16, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe David Feldman wrote they do executions in the middle of the night so as to avoid undue attention. -- Mwalcoff 00:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

February 12

I have 7 bumps on my head

and three bright green arrows on my head, they light up and blick, also are powered by bioeletric eels, what am I? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.163.100.199 (talk • contribs)

A human being who typed a riddle into the Reference Desk? ;-) -- AJR | Talk 01:00, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

a fkn freak. gelo 01:34, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

...whose talk page contains many warnings. :-( --hydnjo talk 01:46, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, it is an AOL-registered IP, so it's pretty likely the messages arent for this poster. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 02:39, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

A gyroscopic stabilizer for dolphin biotechnology. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 02:36, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

LOL, now you're reminding me of User:Khranus' Dolphin brain article. -- Pakaran 02:42, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Not suitly emphazied. 12.72.246.157 09:12, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Hey, even anons are starting to use that. What have we unleashed? DirkvdM 10:14, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

We've created a monster!! Yeltensic42 don't panic 01:18, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

A monster? -LambaJan 01:54, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Difference

In a lot of books, the subject is Wicca and Witchraft, what is the difference? I know that the difference between a wiccan and a witch is that a wiccan goes by a philosophy...

The Wicca article has some material about the differences. There's some terms and concepts explaned also. Rx StrangeLove 06:57, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Generally the practicioners of witchcraft have been persecuted wherever they are in the world. I cannot think of a single nation where they were the bosses, and at the same time the nation believed in literacy for the masses. Thus, anything written about witchcraft tends to be by people other than the witches, so I would take with a lot of grains of salt the veracity. User:AlMac|^(talk) 11:41, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Amazon.com

Hi guys. I live in Australia and there is this really good DVD on Amazon.com that i want to buy. i cant find the dvd at any stores here in australia, so i was hoping i could buy it from amazon.com.

however, i dont know whether they sell, ship or deliver to australia...

so could someone just clarify this for me? CAN i buy something from www.amazon.com and have it sent here? gelo 02:02, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

• Absolutely, though you'll pay through the nose for shipping. See Amazon International Shipping Rates: Australia. --Aaron 02:14, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

• By the way, I want to make sure you're aware that Australia and the United States do not use the same television transmission protocol, so unless you have a DVD player that will convert between NTSC (the American system) and PAL (the Australian system), the DVD will not display properly on your TV. In addition, your DVD player must be capable of overriding DVD region codes, which are specifically designed to prevent people in one part of the world from viewing DVDs intended for another part of the world. (The United States is Region 1; Australia is Region 4.) --Aaron 02:18, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

OK. So how can I know if my DVD player CAN play it or not? gelo 02:31, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

What's the make and model number of your DVD player, gelo? --Aaron 04:10, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, but I'm sure the answer is on its way shortly. Unfortunately a lot of people find out the hard way about this, by being sold a DVD using a foreign region code but without any kind of marking on it to alert the buyer that it may not be suitable for a standard DVD player. I had such an experience, so now I always check before buying. (I'll get to see All About Eve one day - my time is coming.) JackofOz 03:32, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, almost all DVD players are designed to only play DVDs embedded with the region code where they were bought (players sold in America only work with Region 1 (US and Canada) DVDs, UK players only work with Region 2 (Western Europe) discs, etc.). The good news is that a majority of DVD players can be easily modified to become "region-free", often just by pressing a few buttons on the remote control in a certain order. You're not supposed to know about this of course, but thanks to the Internet, it's very easy to get the codes for your player, if they exist. Of course, solving the region code problem will not fix the NTSC/PAL problem. Unless your DVD player or television is designed to convert between the two formats on the fly, you're going to be out of luck regardless. But it should be noted that DVD players that offer that conversion, and can be region hacked, are easily available for as little as US$50. In fact, I just bought such a player a few months ago, from Amazon. --Aaron 04:19, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I will check what make and model my dvd player are when i get home. but for now, i would like to know: is this all the same case when playing a dvd on the computer? or can a computer play any dvd whatsoever?

Probably not. The ones in North America are set to region 1. They can be set to any region up to (I think) 5 times and then they will lock in the last region used. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 09:09, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

However, the Internet again comes to the rescue. For most DVD readers, you can find a hacked firmware update online that will make the drive region-free. And, of course, if you use a DeCSS-based program to watch DVDs, it doesn't really matter what region your drive is set to. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 19:02, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

All of this is to stop software piracy, of course. ^KILO-_LIMA 20:37, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The MTV Sunday Stew

What shows are we going to expect on the MTV Sunday Night Stew?

I'm not expecting any. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:22, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Associated Dry Goods/May Department Stores 1986 merger

Hello,

I could really use some help for figuring out a tax basis. (I received some Associated Dry Goods stock as a childhood gift. Associated Dry Goods merged with May Department Stores in 1986, and May Department Stores merged with Federated Department Stores in 2005.) Because I received a payout for fractional shares as a result of the 2005 merger, I now need some information to use as the basis for figuring out my capital gains. The information I need is: 1)the exact date in 1986 that Associated Dry Goods merged with May Department Stores, and 2)the price per share of May Common Stock on that date. I can't tell you how much I would appreciate it if you could e-mail me this information at Darjimbea@aol.com. Thanks so much!Darjimbea@aol.com 03:26, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It appears that according to this New York Times story, the merger was approved around October 3 or 4, and the deal was for ADG holders to get 1.72 shares of May for each share they held... perhaps you already knew that. I think to get that price per share you may need to go to the library and pull the October 3 1986 stock prices from whatever newspaper is available. I'm not expert on the exact tax strategy problem you are facing, but a little brief reading indicates that this is an arena where the IRS would have the same difficulty as you in determining the cost basis; as long as you do not grossly underestimate the gains (and therefore underestimate the tax liability) the IRS will accept your calculation on faith. (Although IANAL, IANACPA, cross my heart and hope to die.) KWH 00:46, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Gaining access to military records of a family member

We are trying to learn more about our brother who was in the First Marines during WWII - he rec'd two purple hearts - was blown off a cliff in Bouganvillea. The family is wanting more information on our brother (he is deceased) Whom can we contact in the Military or public information center? KNC

Check here for a start: http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/ CrypticBacon 04:56, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Taiwan seems to only be highly developed on the western coast.

Why is it virtually all Urban on just the west coast of Taiwan? Why are the inlands and eastern coasts almost all rural? --Shultz 04:30, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

• For military used,mainly. This is one of the reasons. Belows are for refering to.--HydrogenSu 11:57, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

因為台灣早期的政府(KMT)為了要與中共*(PRC)對抗 選擇把所有的軍事重地 設在西部.

如南方的鳳山 是可以和未來美軍登陸協同作戰(大概由菲律賓駐紮之美軍 由屏東港登入).

而且台灣位居世界重要戰略地位. 一但被共產世界攻佔 將嚴重威脅世界安全.

目前我國總統陳水扁(President Bien) 為了個人私人的政治利益 擅自意慾廢除"國統會" 勢必嚴重威脅台海安全 與世界安全 利益等. 我身為台灣人 非常憂心. 希望不會發生任何戰爭 確保世界和平.

並希望美國政府(USA)能夠及時阻止陳水扁荒唐的作為.

--HydrogenSu 11:39, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

• Ummm, why are you speaking in that language at the en.wikipedia? hydnjo talk 01:53, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

It is common for coasts to be more urban than inland areas; people have always been drawn to bodies of water to use for transportation (well, since they've had boats, at any rate). I don't know why the west coast would be more urban than the east coast, but it could be because it is facing the mainland, where the earliest inhabitants would have arrived from. Yeltensic42 don't panic 06:12, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The islands geological features play an important part. Taiwan is very mountainous in the center and the east. On the other hand, the western part of the island has gently sloping plains making farming and travel easier. Most of the major cities are located in the west because of the advantages the geology brings. There is a larger number of native populations in the east however. [6] [7]. Rx StrangeLove 06:45, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The distribution of major urban centres on one coast is common to many countries, for historical, resource-related or other reasons. Have a look at a few countries - in Australia, the best farming land is on the east coast, and that's where most of the population lives. Same in New Zealand. In the US, much of the poopulation is still in the historically important north-east, and similarly Canada's is in the area just north-east of the Great Lakes. Taiwan has the resource-rich area in the West and - for psychological reasons - they might like to keep Mainland China where they can metaphorically keep a closer eye on it. Grutness...wha? 08:25, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course, now California is the most populous U.S. state (even though New York is still the largest city) and the sunbelt is growing the quickest; it seems that the population of the U.S. is spreading itself thinner over the available land. Yeltensic42 don't panic 17:33, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

California only has the largest population because it has the largest area (except for Alaska, which is too far north to be populous). If the East Coast had a state the size of California (say where New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Deleware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virgina, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia are), then that state would be more populous. 18:46, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Texas is also bigger than California. California is the most populous because most people agree that it has the best climate. After it started getting crowded, they started moving to Florida, which I guess is meant to be sort of a poor man's California. Yeltensic42 don't panic 01:23, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

In California, you can survive without air conditioning. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:25, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Kinda really depends where you are. Weeks of 90 to 100 degree (F, of course) in parts of LA are survivable, perhaps, but most unpleasant without air conditioning. The Central Valley (where much of the agriculture is) has average highs of around 100 in the summer as well. There's a lot of California that doesn't benefit much (if at all) to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 04:00, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

There's a reason why Florida was the least populous state in the South until around 1930...and why few moved here until the 1960s. Yeltensic42 don't panic 04:05, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

HCE

Is Hyper-Cerebral Electrosis real, or just a joke?

A paragraph at Exploding head tags it as a "persistent urban myth". CrypticBacon 04:59, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The Craft

Wow! I just saw the film, it's great, is there a website with the spells? I looked up the craft on Wike, but it only had the imdb thing as an external link, can anyone help? Cheers

It's fiction. There might be something out there about the spells, but you won't be able to get them to work (I'd gladly bet a hundred dollars against a used kleenex that you can't). -- Pakaran 06:08, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Meaning that 'real' witchcraft isn't fiction? DirkvdM 10:17, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Meh I've done a few spells that've worked, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't insult what people believe/religions.

Would these spells happen to be things that have perfectly valid and logical natural explanations? I'm betting "yes" on that one.  Run!  11:23, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I just did a spell to keep the Sun from exploding, and sure enough, it didn't explode ! StuRat 18:36, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It will eventually, a few billion years from now. STURAT IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! Proto||type 12:56, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not insulting religion. I'm stating that basing a magical experiment on a fictional movie may be misguided. -- Pakaran 21:33, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Car stats 2005

How many people died in the United States from car accidents in 2005? (And at what age on average?)

How many people were injured in the United States from car accidents in 2005?

Thanks for helping.

--- Bryan

I had trouble finding any 2005 information. We might have to wait a while before it becomes more widely available. But for 2004 stats, see http://www.iii.org/media/hottopics/insurance/test5/?table_sort_748377=7. It also breaks down the fatalities into age groups. In terms of injuries, this is a hard statistic to obtain considering the definition of an "injury" can be subjective. But a rough estimate given on this page state it as 3 million. - Akamad 19:35, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

This was someone else's question and I sneaked the age-question in with the purpose of pointing out the shocking facts to people, but it worked better than I hoped. The first 'key fact' mentioned in the first link above is Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people ages three to 33.

What could be done about this? Speed limits, seat belts, coming down hard on drunken driving and many other approaches have already had their effect (in the 1970's the death toll was about a four- or five-fold of what it is now). So what else can we do? Fewer cars would be one idea. But we don't want to curtail people's mobility, so we'd have to put more people in one car. Another idea would be a professional driver at the wheel. And what do we get then? Right, public transportation.

If the enormous death toll among young people doesn't impress you, think of the cost of losing those lives, supporting the handicapped who survived and the cars themselves of course. Or the air pollution being a health problem for people living near busy car lanes (effectively turning them into heavy smokers) and probably causing a climate change. Or losing time when commuting because you have to drive the car, causing you to loose something like an hour every day, that could be spent in a useful way in a train or cab.

The unwillingness to seriously tackle the problems caused by the holy cow have created a situation in which there's loads of room for improvement. So why don't we? The objection I hear most is that public transport is so lousy, it's for losers. But that's precisely my problem. Make it large-scale, standardised and with a fine grid and high frequency and it'll be better than having a private car. Among the thousands of big cities in the world where this could work, there isn't a single one that has made a serious effort. If only one would try it, that would be enough to convince the rest of the world. Just the one. Just this one hurdle needs to be taken. Anyone? (any mayors reading this?)

There, I've said my thing.  :) DirkvdM 20:48, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Dirk, you should go to Paris, Berlin, or Munich. They have fantastic, widely used public transport systems, combining light rail, metro, buses and trams which completely trump car use even out to the medium-distance suburbs. But that only happens because the government invested very heavily in the infrastructure, and because the cities are compact (relative to their population) - you would have trouble doing the same thing in a sprawling mess such as Houston. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

If you're from Houston you might find the public transport in those cities impressive (I haven't been to Houston, but if it's comparable to Phoenix I sympathise with you - public transportation is even totally non-existent there on Sundays). But compared to what a lot of third world countries have it's quite pathetic. And the train-network is nothing compared to the Netherlands. Third world countries don't have a lot of private cars, so public transport is a whole lot better there than in Europe (which in turn is a whole lot better then North America). But even that is not what I have in mind, namely all transportation of people in one integrated system that transports several people per car, where you can get on and off less than 100 m from your point of origin and destination (exactly door-to-door would probably not work). You too are reasoning from the existing forms of public transportation, which, like I said, is always a problem here. Maybe another term should be used. I'm thinking more of a system of taxi sharing, possibly with minivans. DirkvdM 12:59, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

If you want to reduce accident deaths and injuries, one other thing that could be done is making the fitment of Electronic stability control for all cars compulsory. Of course, it wouldn't make such a big difference if people actually knew how to drive, but that's too much to hope for. --Robert Merkel 00:03, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I didn't know about that, but it seems like something very complex that will have little effect (then again I can hardly judge that by the article). But another 'intelligent car' solution is that train of cars that completely takes over the driving (except for the first car maybe). Alas I forgot the name. Cars that happen to be going the same way team up to form a train, with minimal distance between the cars. This, of course, requires automation. But I've seen working prototypes. There's still one person in each car, but the cars are close together, causing less air friction and therefore fuel consumption (and thus cost, climate change and health hazard). And if the first car makes a mistake the closeness of the cars actually makes them safer (though the other one is probably screwed). And the driving is hands free, making it legal again to phone from the car. This works on highways, but probably not (yet) in cities. It would be a start, though, but not as easily implemented as a good public transportation. And of course the two could be combined. But does anyone know the name for this system? DirkvdM 08:32, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

You're looking for automated highway system. It's still a prototype, and likely many years from widespread implementation, because it requires extensive modification of the infrastructure. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

That's it, thanks. Like you say, it will take some time to implement this and like I said it won't work everywhere (or else it will take ven longer to develop). So a solution like I propose above with oof-the-shelf material and infrastructure is for now the way to go. If only one city somewhere would implement it, its superiority could be proven. DirkvdM 12:59, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Bliss desktop from Napa Valley?

The article on Bliss - the default wallpaper that Windows XP comes with, claims that its taken from a photograph taken in in the Napa Valley region. Based on this I had added this info in the Windows XP and Napa Valley articles also. But looks like this may not be true and there are counter-arguments at Talk:Bliss (image). I searched at the Microsoft site and websites related to Napa Valley, but there is no mention of the fact that the photo is from the valley. Any clues as to the correct source? Jay 11:45, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Blocke ads

Go to 33 pol. There should be two pictures. The one on the right I can see fine but the one on the left is saying blocked ads. When I follow the link I also see "blocked ads". If I click on the link on the image page it opens in a blank page and if I try to save it a window opens and closes too fast to see what happened and nothing is save. The picture on the right is fine and I can, if I wanted to, save it. I'm on XP with a IE based (Maxthon) browser. Any ideas why ones ok and the other is not. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 11:54, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Your firewall or browser is blocking it. The url for the image is http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/Seosehpol_inside_night.jpg/250px-Seosehpol_inside_night.jpg. That "ad" in there makes the firewall think it's advertising. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 11:59, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

That'll teach me not to look proper! I knew that yestrday. I will of course hhave myself suitly emphazi right away. But why are some images loaded into a directory with ad in them? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:29, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It's the browser setting. I finally mananged to find IE (I'm at work) and sure enough the picture works. Which makes me wonder how many other people have this problem without knowing why. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:32, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It's the first byte of the cryptographic hash of the picture, converted to hexadecimal. So, ad is in fact 0xad, or 173 in decimal. Around 1 in 256 pictures will have that directory name. It's not MediaWiki-specific; I've seen other sites that use exactly the same kind of system. --cesarb 16:59, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

gardening

How does high altitude (8200 ft.) affect the choice of plants for a garden 20 miles from Boulder, CO (5000 ft.)? -S.T.

Books on rock gardening have suggestions for plants that live in mountainous regions. —Keenan Pepper 16:53, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

HMS Ganges

Where would i find the rcruitment list of HMS Ganges? Years 1902-1914. Hms Ganges Assoc.,National archives,& Veterans Agency don't hold them. Was it done in various towns, cities throughout UK? Regards, Owen

Chuck e Cheese locations

Hello my name is David and I am trying to settle a bet with a friend of mine.

I know there was a Chuck e Cheese location in Burlington Ontario Canada at or around the year of 1980. I have looked on there official website but can come up with no answers. Can you please give me the address where is was located?

Thank you so very much for your time.

If you don't get lucky and find someone here who remembers the place, then I would suggest contacting a public library in Burlington and ask if they have phone books or business directories from that period, and can look up the address. --Anonymous, 19:00 UTC, February 12, 2006.

are their such books

hello wikipedians i have two questions about books which may or may not exist THE FIRST was mentioned on mystery science thearter 3000 a woman was reading a book called the beast in the jungle about a man who has been looking for something special in his life with a woman whom he likes the woman dies and he ends standing in front of the womans grave realizing she was the thing he was looking for all his life.the second is about a group of prisoners of war who have make their dreamhouse to keep from going crazy. PLEASE TELL ME DO THESE BOOKS EXIST OR NOT.

The Beast in the Jungle is the title of a novella by Henry James and is probably the source of your show. I don't recognize the other plot. alteripse 18:31, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

The second sounds reminiscent of The Bridge on the River Kwai, although that was of course about building a bridge, not a house. --BluePlatypus 19:16, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

windows clock question

when a turn off my pc, and then turn on the pc again, the PC is on the same day and time, how i fix this??

Isn't that how its supposed to be ? The PC should always give the current time and not be affected by rebooting. Jay 20:07, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes. but my PC show the same time of when he was turned off, not the curent time and day.

Possibilities include:

• defective CMOS battery. Solution: replace battery
• weird NTP problem. Solution: turn off your NTP client

-- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:26, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

I had a 1979 VW Rabbit with the same problem. It had an analog clock which stopped when the car was turned off. Apparently the battery voltage alone was insufficient to power the clock. StuRat 21:06, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Your Rabbit had a clock? My family's '81 doesn't, although it does have a fuel injection system and a pretty little decal bragging about it.

—WAvegetarian•_{CONTRIBUTIONS}^TALK• ^EMAIL•22:43, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

If your PC is getting old, it'll almost certainly be the CMOS battery. They are usually quite straightforward to replace. --Shantavira 09:19, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

why don`t they make them all the same

hi was reading gelo3`s question about a dvd he wanted to buy and i was wondering why don`t they make dvds and dvd players so they could play anywhere in the world.

Regional lockout explains. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:52, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Not very well, it doesn't. I'm no fan of region coding, but the Regional lockout article is, to my eye, unreadably POV. Some explanation of the manufacturers' goals behind these schemes (no matter how much we as consumers might disagree with those goals) would render the article less POV and, incidentally, make it useful as an answer to this question. Steve Summit (talk) 21:45, 12 February 2006 (UTC) [P.S. Okay, yes, there is a little "Advantages for producers" section; I didn't notice that at first.]

Well, actually, they do. Except that they're of the computer variety and you're thinking of stand-alone machines for video only. And then for just one video format. A computer can handle all types just a matter of software. The only reason for a stand-alone machine is that you might not want to have a computer in your living room. DirkvdM 13:03, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

question about superman

my brother said that the superman doens't fly, he use your another abilities in some way to fly, this is true??

I believe that in the original version, the planet Krypton was supposed to have had much greater gravity than Earth, so the "people" from there were much more muscular and could jump great distances in the low gravity of Earth. As evidence of this, the phrase "able to jump tall buildings" was used in the intro to Superman, and being able to jump tall buildings would be quite trivial to anyone who could fly, wouldn't it ? In later versions, they seem to have done away with all this theory and just allowed him to fly without any explanation. StuRat 21:00, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It supposedly has something to do with Krypton having a red sun and Earth having a yellow sun. Superman's powers don't work on any world with a red sun. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:29, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Exodus 2006

As I was browsing the web late one night I stumbled across this site:

http://www.exodus2006.com/

At first I looked at the site with mild amusement. Apparently, its a site seeking to make people aware that the world is coming to an end, and offering various proofs to back its case up.

The page on the Bible Code has no information on various codes that proponents claim to hold water. In fact, the Exodus2006 site has a number of codes that they claim were found in advance of events that they describe.

I tried to get some information from the Bible Code page on Wikipedia, but it really didn't answer my question about how valid could these claims possibly be? Are they worth getting worked up over? Or is it likely that these same people found codes that actually werent valid, and silently removed them from the site?

--Shadarian 22:14, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

It's crap, ignore it. StuRat 01:02, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

You might be interested in timeline of unfulfilled Christian Prophecy. My opinion is that, as StuRat said, these claims are total rubbish and should be put back into the metaphysical limbo where they came from. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:42, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

TBA

Where exactly is the TBA in Canberra?

The Traditional birth attendant or the Trockenbeerenauslese? GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 23:29, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps the location is yet To Be Announced. --Canley 01:05, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

If I were a betting man, I'd say you might be looking for the TAB (ie. off-course betting shop, see also Australian punting glossary)? It's known as ACTTAB, and there are many outlets. Just ask somebody, or check in the phone book. JackofOz 01:50, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

4 Elephants and a Tortoise

This Uncyclopedia "view of the earth from space" http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Image:Earth-orbit.JPG with 4 Elephants and a Tortoise supporting a flat earth is a parody of something i've seen before, but for the life of me i cannot remember what. This is starting to annoy me, does anyone have idea what it is? :) -Benbread 23:00, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Possibly the Discworld? Or perhaps jsut the myth it was based on (though you have to wonder what the turtle is standing on. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 23:23, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

February 13

Wikipedia vs. Microsoft

Does anyone know what the large paired valleys and peaks in this Alexa rank graph might represent? The valleys correspond to a drop in page views for Microsoft (but not Wikipedia), while the peaks correspond to an increase in page views for both. [8] ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 01:53, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

• Weekends. If you poke around on Alexa, you'll notice that most sites have big troughs every seven days. Microsoft is probably one of the few sites relatively immune to that trend given that so many people need to access microsoft.com at all times of the day and night in order to fix problems with Windows. (And I presume Internet Explorer loads some microsoft.com site as its default home page out of the box, which a lot of people probably never bother to change.) --Aaron 05:40, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

• Interesting thought but I'm not sure that explains the graph as there is one peak and one dip (per website) over the course of a month. There should be at least four of each (per website) for that theory to hold. Oooooh - extend the range of the graph and the relationship goes back for about half a year.  Run!  09:58, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I suspect artifacts in the Alexa internet data, either in their raw data collection (which is not unbiased, and subject to all sorts of anomalies) or perhaps due to changes in the way they crunch it. There were other weird anomalies in December-January for other sites also. Steve Summit (talk) 15:48, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Two sports-related questions

1) I don't watch a lot of American professional football, but this year I happened to be a captive audience for some of the playoffs. I noticed some video effects I hadn't seen before: somehow or another, the line of scrimmage is displayed in some camera views, as if it's painted on the field. Fox has a different effect that they display between plays, and it looks like the players can run over it. Is it some sort of green screen thing? Or what?

2) At the current Winter Olympics, there are now blue lines painted on the snow on the downhill and on the halfpipe. Aesthetically, they are quite unpleasant; instead of the skiers zipping down the beautiful white snow, someone's spraypainted ugliness on it. Also, on the ski run, there are sometimes lines crossing the course. What are these about?

Thanks! --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 04:11, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, it could be worse, instead of blue lines they could have used yellow spots in the snow to guide the skiers. StuRat 05:27, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

• Number 1 is 1st & Ten by Sportvision. --Aaron 05:43, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

That is just so cool. Thanks! --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 07:06, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe the ski lines are about depth perception. At the speeds the skiers are going, and largely surrounded by white, it's easy for them to become disoriented. The old solution used to be pine branches scattered near the track; I presume the blue lines are the high-tech version. DJ Clayworth 22:45, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

idiom

what is the meaning of " putting all your eggs in one basket"

Try this: [9] --Zeizmic 22:29, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

It means "try to distribute risks evenly". For example, the employees of Enron, who had their incomes, assets (in the form of Enron stock), and retirement funds all controlled by Enron, found out how bad it can be when you don't distribute risks evenly. Had they had their assets in some other form and had their own retirement accounts (IRA's, 401k's, etc.), then they would have fared much better when Enron went under.

Interestingly, there are times when it isn't advantageous to distribute risks evenly. In the literal example, putting all your eggs in one basket makes perfect sense if you need all of them for a recipe. In that case, breaking one is just as bad as breaking them all. However, if you only need one egg for the recipe, and are really clumsy, it might make sense to transport them one at a time, until you manage to deliever one unbroken. StuRat 23:33, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

the size of wikipedia

how many gigabytes/terabytes is the entire sum of wikipedia pages? how much does it grow every day?

Thanks so much.

Chris--68.121.254.253 22:20, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous#Wikipedia_Storage.3F. Mark^{your words} 01:33, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Who lived there?

Hello I am trying to find who lived at a certain address in the UK in the1960/70s Do you know of any website or government organisation who could supply this information? Thank you J.Chapman

Try Royal Mail, if the address is still there they'll know where it is & if it isn't they could give you the address of the local Post Office & someone there might remember where it was. AllanHainey 12:34, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

February 14

Non-Operating Business

Hi, I started a business or created a corporation on California last March but unfortunately I wasn't able to get the funding and the business has never been running and it is non-operative. I was hoping maybe someone might be able to help me I called IRS about this month's ago and they only told me that I just needed to send a letter telling them that the business is non-operating. Do I need to include this on my tax forms, where would I send the letter, do I include it with my other forms? I would appreciate any help. Thank you.

OK, I think it's bad enough when people give medical advice here, but never, ever, seek serious legal or tax advice. Ask the Enron guys, they got all their accounting advice here... --Zeizmic 00:52, 14 February 2006 (UTC

Heh, heh. Why don't you call IRS again? Or even go in and see them? Lisiate 02:18, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Go see any accountant that prepares taxes and they can tell you what you need to do. If you had expenses in setting up the business you may be able to claim that as a business loss and a deduction on your personal return. Any basic tax question you have can be answered by going to www.irs.gov, downloading the 1040 form and it's instructions, then keep downloading additional forms and instructions as needed when they apply to your situation. See also the various publications. Of course it may or may not be worth your time to do it yourself, and that is why there are accountants. - Taxman ^Talk 14:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

If aliens were to look for the capital of our planet, would they make this mistake?

It would be understandable for an alien civilization to have a world capital, in other words, a capital of their planet.

Therefore say an exploratory ship enters our solar system and finds sentient life on one of the planets. That would be us, on Earth. They download the total sum of human knowledge by scanning our planet, and searches through all of our languages.

They see that a bell is "the ship's soul" in our culture. (I learned that a ship's bell is the soul of ships when we went over a unit about the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in school several years ago.) Therefore, they deduce that the "soul of our planet" must be on Earth somewhere.

Then they find a city named "Seoul", which sounds so similar to "Soul" that they think, "All right. We found it. This city MUST be the capital of planet Earth. We could assume that they regard their world capital as "the soul of their planet".

I guess to go out on a limb (in terms of typing this), they even decide to try and make contact with the planet's leader. But in order not to frighten the citizens of the metropolitan area, they send their landing craft to a narrow band of uninhabited land, ~37 miles north of Seoul to prepare to meet humans and make contact with what they believe is the leader of Earth.

So, could aliens mistakenly believe that Seoul is the soul and capital of Earth? I've been curious about this for a while now and the thought of this possibility keeps coming back. --Shultz 03:05, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Answer - This question is very good, but unfortunatly you pass the answer in your desire to be clever with the Soul/Seoul notion. Aliens coming is definitly possible. People give aliens the ability to find our planet but do not consider how much about our infrastructure. Now back to your question, could the Aliens find the capital? Well 1) if they were given all human knowledge like you say, "through scanning", then of course they would know how our country is divided. 2) Even if they didn't they would go to the places of highest population, ergo the New York city approaches (Independance Day). Seoul is a very large city, but UN meetings and things like that could lead one to believe that maybe the is the head of the world, which as anyone on this planet knows is quite the opposite. 3) They would probably go the route of using their superior intellectual abilities to find out where humans were originally civilized. That could be many places depending on your school of thought. Africa, Egypt, Jerusalem...etc. The important question is not if they would make the mistake of going to Seoul, it's what the Aliens are doing in the first place. Are they going to go War of the Worlds on us and drain our blood onto the streets in the form of vegetation. Or will they do a K-Pax Kevin Spacey thing and just visit for "the produce".

I think that it's time for your nap now.  ;-) --hydnjo talk 03:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Gee, why do you tell me THAT? Anyway, is it reasonable to assume that aliens will mistakenly believe that Seoul is the soul (hence Capital) of our planet? --Shultz 03:19, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It's fun speculating about extraterrestrial life. I always thought it curious that, in 50's and 60's B-movies about discovering life on other planets, and TV shows like Star Trek, all the inhabitants of the alien planet spoke the same language. Why would they make that assumption, even for dramatic purposes, when our experience is so vastly different? JackofOz 03:31, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the aliens used to all speak different languages, but over time as the planet became one nation (which also seems to be the case, usually) the languages were narrowed down to one. (After all, it's possible that in the distant future everyone on Earth will speak Mandarin or English). The other thing that's odd is how common it is for the aliens to speak English. Good thing Douglas Adams used the Babel fish to get around that. Yeltensic42 don't panic 03:49, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

No, wait! You forgot to consider the language mergings! That means in the future, all humans will speak some sort of Chinglish! Oh, the horror!! D: ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:24, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps they would choose to assume that Passo del Sole, Switzerland was it! (Emphasis on the word Sole)  ;-) --hydnjo talk 04:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

But they'll see that Passo del Sole isn't notable nor large enough, so they'll decide that it couldn't be the capital of the planet. Seoul has over 11 million people so they'll think that would have to be the case. --Shultz 04:20, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

This list may be of some use to you. BrokenSegue 04:35, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Shultz, your question is unanswerable so our answers can have no meaning. We have no idea if aliens exist nor what their thought processes would be. In which case we cannot guess what their thoughts on the Capital of the world would be so any guess is as good (or as useless) as any other guess - Adrian Pingstone 09:36, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Not to mention the outright assumption that English is the only language in the entire universe. JIP | Talk 11:20, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Of course it is. I have no doubt in my mind that all extraterrestrials speak American English. --Optichan 14:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Prosfilaes, I hope you're reading this. The reform of English spelling we've been discussing doesn't just involve this planet, it's a much bigger problem apparently. JackofOz 14:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It's possible that they wouldn't have a concept of a "capital". It might be that their government is centered wherever the ruler happens to be, or that they are governed by some kind of general consensus of the population. Or something else too alien for us to think of. Even here on Earth, South Africa and the Netherlands each have multiple capitals, while some small nations (such as Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City) don't have a capital which is separate from their overall territory, and such US states as New York, Illinois, Nevada, Pennsylvania and California have a capital which is so much smaller than the financial/population center that aliens might see the later as more important (and I wouldn't necessarily disagree with them). -- Pakaran 15:47, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

• I'm sure that if aliens are smart enough to visit us, they're also smart enough to do their own homework and investigate by intercepting and deciphering our communications before assuming anything. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

• • It's obviously a plot for some kind of story / play / script / novel you're trying to write. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone would believe a race of space-faring aliens would be retarded enough to think Seoul was the soul of the planet. Particularly when it's only similar to the word 'soul' in English, which, when last I checked, wasn't the native language of South Korea. Proto||type 12:52, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

• • • Actually, in Slovak, Swedish, and Finnish, their word for "Seoul" is indeed "Soul". (The Swedish form will have a dotted accent, however.) --Shultz 18:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
      • Too bad the word for soul in any of those languages is something other than "soul". (And the Finnish name is sometimes also written with a dotted accent: Söul.) JIP | Talk 12:19, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Maybe this planet is another planet's hell? ^KILO-_LIMA 20:32, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Joe and Chuck Scarborough

Are Joe Scarborough and Chuck Scarborough related? They share the same name and have ties to the Republican Party - Chuck donated money to Republican candidates while Joe was a congressman from Florida. Also, it is possible that Chuck Scarborough is old enough to be Joe's father - Chuck, born 1943, Joe, born 1963. Related or coincidence? --Blue387 03:32, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Chuck is described as a 'Pittsburgh native' and has been anchor of WNBC since 1974. Joe is described as being born in Atlanta, GA and went to high school in Pensacola, FL. The postulate is not completely disproven, but signs point to 'no'. KWH 03:48, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Is there a connection to the Master Musicians of Joujouka and pederasty?

Several people (and maybe it was in a Burroughs text, too), when mentioning the Master Musicians, often bring up the little boy, sewn up in goat skins, representing the goat god Bou Jeloud. Allegedly, he engages in sex acts with the some of the festivals participants. is there any truth to this? Am I getting it confused with some other pedophilic festival?

High grade truffles and mushrooms

How do high grade truffles taste like? How do they compare with mushrooms? --HappyCamper 04:39, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The description in the article you linked is fairly accurate—including the bit that says "no description, however, has ever fully sufficed to make their flavor imaginable without having tasted them in some quantity." (I've had them maybe twice and have eaten truffle-infused oil a few times more.) One doesn't use them like mushrooms: the paper-thin slices that the article are a common preparation, or a pinch or two of finely-grated truffle might be sprinkled over the dish. —Charles P._(Mirv) 04:50, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I remember once going to dinner with a group of colleagues, in Italy. One ordered a truffle rissotto, the most expensive thing on the menu. When it came - heaped high with slices of truffle - he complained "it's nothing but rice and mushrooms". I wonder what his criteria for choosing it were... Notinasnaid

What kept Hitler from invading Switzerland and Sweden?"

this question was given as the example and i want to know the answer.

And that's the reason it's been asked before as well. For one of those times, see this link. Dismas|^(talk) 05:26, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I hope this doesn't become the next Good Burger....Yeltensic42 don't panic 19:38, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

No, that's the guy who keeps asking us why he's using songs to create his telenovelas. I keep deleting them. User:Zoe|^(talk) 22:11, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

How many car crashes are there a second in the U.S.?

How many car crashes are there a second in the U.S.?

I couldn't find numbers for the US. But for Europe it's 2 million per year costing 127 000 lives [10]. There are approximately 40 000 American lives lost on the road every year [11], therefore, an estimate would be 630 000 car crashes in the US per year (assuming that US and Europe have the same fatalities to crashes ratio). Which is 0.02 crashes per second, or about 50 seconds per crash. - Akamad 06:45, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Based on Car Accident Statistics] there are 6,000,000+ accidents a year (40,000+ deaths) so the figures would be closer to 0.2 accidents a second and 0.02 automobile deaths a second. And a accident every 5 seconds and an an automobile death every 50 seconds. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 10:17, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

One problem with computing this sort of statistic is defining what you mean by a "crash". Is it a crash if you bump into the next car while crawling along at less than 1 mph and there's no damage? Or if it's 4 mph and the only damage is a tiny dent? Or a big dent, or a broken window, or a bashed-in door? Where's the cutoff? You might say the cutoff is whatever the law says about having to report the accident to the police, but that won't be the same everywhere either, not from one country to another or from one US state to another. And for that matter, do you really want only "car" crashes (and if so, is an SUV a sort of car?) or should accidents involving trucks and motorcycles count?

Okay, the European press release Akamas cites doesn't say exactly what it counts as a "crash", and it switches between talking about "road traffic crashes" and "car crashes" too. But have a look at this PDF document from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It tabulates all motor-vehicle crashes reported to the police in the US in 2004 (the stats for 2005 aren't available yet), and it says "Fatal - 38,253; Injury - 1,862,000; Property Damage Only - 4,281,000; Total - 6,181,000."

So if that's the statistic you want (and if not, perhaps you can find the one you want somewhere in that fat report), then it'd be about 10 times Akamad's estimate (presumably the difference is mostly for the sort of reasons I outlined, i.e. statistics on a different basis). 6,181,000 crashes per year is one crash every 5.1 seconds or, if you really want to put it that way, just under 0.2 crashes per second.

Drive safely, eh? Or even consider public transit. --Anonymous, 10:20 UTC, February 14, 2006.

This link, which was given in a recent thread a few days ago says 6 million crashes. But such data are pretty arbitrary because, as said "what constitutes a crash?" This insurance company probably bases it on reported crashes (they may have to pay for). A more interresting piece of info would be what it costs (after all, which point are you trying to make with the data?). And that was 230 billion US$ in 2000. Which is roughly 2% of the US GDP. That's an impressive figure. Losing 2% of the money you make on just this one cause! Then again, owning a car costs at least 3000 € per year (in Amsterdam - that'll be less in the US). Which is about 10% of the average GDP per capita in a western country. Imagine spending 10% of the money you make on just getting to the job and back (which represents probabbly about 80% of the normal use of a car - that's a guess, but probably not too far from the truth). DirkvdM 13:27, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Book suggestor?

Hi. i was roaming around on a forum a while back and i came upon a guy who gave a link to this site where you input several of your favorite books/authors, and the thing takes these and recommends other books/authors that you would like.

however, i never saved the website or bookmarked it.

anyone know what this site may be? gelo 09:26, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Amazon will do this for you based on what books you browse on their site as well as what you buy... Just a thought. Dismas|^(talk) 09:31, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Hmm...tnx, but that wasn't it im afraid....anyone else have any clues? gelo 11:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Are you thinking of Gnooks? It's explained [12] and you might want to look at Recommendation system as some of the links might help out. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:31, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I missed this. It might be useful. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 12:36, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Years ago, there was a website called Firefly.com which was probably the first application of Collaborative filtering. It was subsequently bought out by Microsoft and then shut down. The article does list several similar services though. --LarryMac 19:49, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Kotomae in Management/ Business sense

Hi. I would appreciate it if anyone could kindly enlighten me on what is Kotomae in the field of Business Management Culture. All I know is that it is a Japanese word and is about controlling your finances by trying to foresee or forecast your expenses & investments.

Thanks. Mike --202.228.229.72 09:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Happy Valentines Day

This isn't really a question, so I'll phrase it as one in order not to get queried.

Is there any reason why a person couldn't post the following statement here? :

• To all those readers and users who haven't received a Valentine today so far, and don't believe they have any reasonable prospect of getting one, and would like one ... Happy Valentines Day. There, I hope that made you feel better. Enjoy your day.

JackofOz 11:27, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I can't think of any reason why you should not be able to post that here. So if you want to go right ahead. I don't think anyone will mind. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:06, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Why, thank you, CBW. Consider it done. JackofOz 13:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Well thanks for the kind thoughts I feel suitly emphazi. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:37, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh, so that's how you feel when you get a Valentine! I've always wondered. What a revelation this site is!JackofOz 14:35, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

...and here is a very special Valentine's Day heart for each of you: [13] StuRat 23:10, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

<grumpy>I don't want any happy valentinos. That's a US thing and posting that here is cultural imperialism. </grumpy>. <somewhat more seriously>What is a valentine anyway? No, don't tell me, I don't want to know. Posting this question suggests I care!</somewhat more seriously> DirkvdM 11:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Too late, try valentine. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 11:33, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Have a Jill Valentine, Dirk. --Optichan 14:37, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

When I grew up I believed that "Valentine's Day" is so named in remembrance of Rudolph Valentino and his swooning fans of the 1920s. Is there a grain of truth in that? 192.121.232.252 12:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Not the slightest - see St. Valentine's Day which was around a lot earlier than old Rudy. JackofOz 12:16, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Donald Duck comics question

What is the Donald Duck comics series called where Donald and Fethry are working for a secret government institution whose job is to fight malevolent extraterrestrial aliens? The characters in the institution include a large, brown-skinned pig as the leader, a tough, hot-tempered female agent and some kind of blue alien with a snout. I know it's "Päihitämme Avaruuden Muukalaiset" in Finnish but what is it in other languages? JIP | Talk 12:25, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

The institution was called TNT (Tamers of Nonhuman Threats). I think the comics are just called the TNT series. --Canley 02:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I need help with research topic

I am having a hard time finding information about a method for establishing boundries between self, relationships, friends, aquantances, and strangers. The method I want to use is called circles or boundaries. It is designed like a dart board with five different colored rings. Is their an article or other source that I can find it in? I really need this for a class project about abuse prevention.

dollar bill weight

My grandpa used to say, anytime someone would say "what do you want...",A pound of twenties. How much does a twenty dollar bill weigh? Thank you very much for any help

• Merkin money is said to weigh about 1 gram per note. One of your "pounds" is 454 grams in real units, so it's the weight of 454 notes. If they are all twenties then you'll have $9080 or about €7640 in real money. JIP | Talk 16:08, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

According to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the U.S. agency that prints paper money) all bills are about a gram, so a pound would be 454 notes [14]. By my own calculation, they would be worth $9,080, though I wouldn't trust that figure too much, since the given weight only has one sig dig. I weighed a new $20 bill in a Calibron X scale (handy if you're a geek interested in chemistry, and came up with almost exactly 1.1 g, so $8250 is probably closer. Clearly, there's been some inflation since your grandfather said this :). Incidentally, the hardest part of this research was folding the bill such that it would stay in the scale. -- Pakaran 16:15, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I'll bet the humidity has a significant effect on the weight of a bill. StuRat 23:03, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

And money laundering makes the bills really soggy. --Zeizmic 01:09, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

U2 Query

> I know this is a long-shot but here goes anyway. > > On April 1st 2006 I am to be a best man to my friend, who is a lifelong > and fanatical U2 fan having travelled the globe to see > > them perform. > > The long and the short of it is, I am trying to get in touch with the band > to see if I can get some best wishes from them - especially > > Bono! > > Not sure if you can help, and I know this is a long shot, but any help would > be a good start. > > thanks for listening. > > PJR

Best wishes to the groom and his bride to be, The Edge (sorry Bono isn't here but i'm sure the rest of the lads hope the big day goes well)

More seriously, you could try contacting U2's record label, Island Records. You might have more of a chance if you offer a donation to one of Bono's pet causes if he provides the message.

You could also ask around at the fan forums at u2.com to see if anybody else has had any luck with this kind of thing, and how they went about it.--Robert Merkel 23:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Economics question

What does it mean when a country (i.e. China) wants to float its currency? --Heather

Floating a currency is the opposite of binding it to another. A bound currency's value follows the value of another currency exactly, so their ratio is always the same. When a currency is floated, it is thrown at the mercy of the world's free currency market, so its value is determined on how much people want to buy it, not by the value of another currency. JIP | Talk 16:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

It's worth mentioning that this usually occurs only in the situation when the currency is believed to be over-valued. That is, it has been pegged at a value significantly above what it's free-market value would've been. So in practice, floating the currency works as a devaluation, at least in the short-term. --BluePlatypus 17:17, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

That's not the case in China, where their currency is thought to be consistently undervalued (to make their exports cheaper in other countries and thus help create a trade surplus for China). StuRat 22:57, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

To put this in a layperson's terms: The official exchange rate of the Comoros franc is 491.97 francs to the euro. It will remain at 491.97 until the government or central bank changes its mind. If Comoros were to float its currency, it could go up to 200 per euro or down to 49,000 per euro or whatever. -- Mwalcoff 04:33, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

A lot of former French colonies had their currency pegged to the French Franc, in keeping with the French colonial ideal that the inhabitants should become equal 'citoyens'. So the colonies were basically part of France. So even if the currency wasn't equal to the French Franc, at least it should 'float with it' (our richess is your richess, so our ups and downs should be your ups and downs). The odd exchange rate is most probably a esult of France switching to the €. Similarly, the currencies of the countries that adopted the € are now effectively pegged to each other by virtue of being the same. Which is probably a major cause for the positive development of the ecomonies of Portugal and (especially) Ireland (although subsidies played a big role here too). DirkvdM 11:33, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Pabeng River

I am trying to find out what river this. All that comes up in Google search is the poem that I am researching. This is a Victorian era anglised name for a river in the Burma are during the Third Burmese War. Any ideas what the current name is or is just too small of a river to noted anywhere on the internet?--Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 17:31, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

This is just a guess, but I wonder if there's any connection with the city of Luang Prabang and Khong Phabeng waterfall, both on the Mekong River in neighbouring Laos? Perhaps Pabeng or some variety of it was an old or poetic name for the upper Mekong? Grutness...wha? 21:38, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

There's a place called Pak Beng or Pakbeng at the Mekong River too. [15] -- David Sneek 22:08, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately it looks like both those areas were in French territory at the time and this would be in the British sphere. --Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 12:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

That's true, but the Mekong does form part of Burma/Myanmar's border - and mountainous Southeast Asian border areas may not have been as rigorously demarcated in Victorian times, so the war may have spilled over slightly into IndoChine/Tonkin/whatever Laos was back then. Grutness...wha? 00:34, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Regular expressions

I am wanting to write a number of regular expressions that contain the characters ) and |. How can I quote them so that they are taken literally? --Gareth Hughes 19:23, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Usually special characters are escaped by using the backslash, however you have to account for any additional pre-processing being done prior to the regex processor getting ahold of your string. See | here, under Special Characters and Programming Languages. --LarryMac 19:42, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, Larry. I was using the backslash, but I couldn't work out which characters needed escaping. The link was very helpful for helping me rewrite the expressions. --Gareth Hughes 15:12, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

snowboarding terminology

How to tell a McTwist from alley oop? Snowboarders, all forms, can write definitions for the snowboard entry. I have no idea where to begin this, but am curious after watching the Olympics.

In snowboarding, a McTwist is a general term for any 540 rotation while they grab the board - doesn't matter where, or with which hand - and they will be upside down half way through. In an alley oop, they do the same move, but they don't grab the board. Note that in skateboarding, a McTwist is a specific name for a Mute 540, where you grab the toe (left) side of the board with your right hand (or right side with your left hand if you're left footed) whilst in the air. Proto||type 12:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Is this story offensive?

I heard this story at a university students' party from a woman. She said she had told it to her female friends and they considered it offensive.

There were two monkeys, one male and one female. Both had been raised among humans, so they didn't know they were monkeys, and they had never met each other. Then people decided they should mate. So they put the monkeys in the same cage. They looked at each other, but because they didn't know they were monkeys, they couldn't care less about each other. Both the male monkey and the female monkey just kept on masturbating.

I, and every other male student present, had a "yes, and?" feeling. None of us were the least offended. The female students present did not comment but I don't think they were offended either. What is your opinion about this? JIP | Talk 19:40, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I personally do not find this offensive. However, it may be offensive to someone who considers masturbation a taboo subject due to social or religious influences. --Lox (t,c) 20:20, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Not offensive, but not really that funny either... android79 20:46, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

That's what I thought, too. I was looking forward to hearing a humorous anecdote, such as that one with the monkeys who are sprayed with cold water whenever they reach for a banana, but then the story ended with the masturbation and I was left wondering whether there was a point. JIP | Talk 20:53, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

In my opinion, any story involving monkeys and masturbation is always funny. - Akamad 01:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The woman's female friends need to "get some". --Nelson Ricardo 03:52, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not easily offended and in this case, assuming it's a true story, I don't even see any reason for offense. Would people who are offended by the use of the word 'masturbation' want to ignore some truths? I suppose there are such people, but I'd say "Fuck 'm" and of course not care if they were offended by my saying this. :) Assuming it's a true stroy I also don't see any humour in it. It's just a scientifically interresting story and I'm not too surprised either. If the monkeys were raised as peers by humans (in how far is this possible?) it makes sense that they don't see other monkeus as their peers. I just wonder about one thing. What kind of monkeys were they? Chimps can recognise themselves in a mirror. And I suppose the same goes for all apes. Now if they were apes raised in a human environment they must have encountered mirrors. So how did they deal with not looking like the humans they took themselves to be? If they did, that is, because I don't think that's necesaarily the case.

Another thing is that maybe they didn't understand the concept of sex. In a natural surrounding they would have seen their relatives and others in the group mate. When deprived of such, ehm, carnal knowledge, could they have figured out the concept of sex? Does it need figuring out? In how far is it a natural drive? Humans don't generally grow up seeing their parents mate. But they have various other ways of learning about it (eg videos of someone else's parents :) ). Suppose two humans grew up without any way to learn anout sex, would they figure it out? And don't throw Blue Lagoon at me. :) DirkvdM 11:55, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't see what's offensive about it, either. Could we have a clue? I guess it'd be offensive to some people who find any sex-talk offensive. But.. Well, welcome to the 21st century already. --BluePlatypus 17:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The question demonstrates that labelling something as "offensive" doesn't work. Offence is an individual emotional response to, in this case, hearing a story. Some people may feel offence when they hear it, others have different responses (humour, indifference, curiosity). A person who feels offence and who says "I find X offensive" is not describing his or her own experience, but making a judgment about something external to themself. We could never reach consensus about whether a story is "offensive" or not. But what we can all agree on is that Person A feels offence, and Person B doesn't. Therefore, if you know (or strongly suspect, which seems to be why you're asking the question in the first place) that some people do feel offence at such a story, that is a good reason to be cautious in the use of it, unless you're in the business of wilfully offending people. To paraphrase BluePlatypus from the discussion about the word 'negro': Whether the literal meaning is offensive or not is irrelevant to the connotations associated with the [story], and is no excuse to offend people by using it. JackofOz 08:45, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Who is the person with the most degrees in the world?

I heard of a then 22-year-old Spaniard who had 56 (now probably more, or probably his head exploded due to knowledge overload ;D) and his IQ was measured at an astounding 197 level; it is quite impressive, so I wondered who had the 'Guiness record', googled for a while but didn't find anything useful. Any ideas? --GTubio 22:30, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

well googling on "Guinness" rather than "Guiness" might have helped. You might not count it as "kosher" degrees, but the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh holds the record for most honorary degrees (150). Grutness...wha? 00:59, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Which, of course, doesn't mean squat apart from the fact that some people seem to like him. DirkvdM 11:57, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I actually googled Guinness, just made that moronish mistake while typing this. And, as DirkvdM has said, those honorary degrees have absolutely nothing to do with what I am interested in. Thank you all, I'll keep searching. --GTubio 12:20, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Operation Gladio

Can anyone explain what's Gladio, a supposed NATO secret army (or something like that)??? The article is a bit confusing, and I don't know many military terms like "stay-behind organization" or "black ops forces". Thanks.

For the meaning of 'stay-behind', see Stay-behind. Essentially the plan was that if Russia conquered western Europe, these groups would act as terrorists freedom fighters bombing and shooting the Russkies. Unfortunately the Italian groups got a bit ahead of themselves and started the bombing and shooting before the Russian invasion. Mark^{your words} 22:58, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

See, I don't know, maybe Operation Gladio ? StuRat 01:37, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the questioner has already seen that. David Sneek 09:20, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Mota

Who Is Claude Speed,The Guy From The Gta Series?

Claude Speed is the name of the player character from Grand Theft Auto 3 Flea110 00:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The actor who played him in the FMV sequences of GTA2 is Scott Maslen, who plays DS Phil Hunter on British cop show The Bill. --Canley 02:46, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

See Claude Speed for more information. --Canley 02:47, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

February 15

How to best protect a falling egg

I will soon be competing in a contest in which an egg (probably "size large") will be dropped from about 7 meters onto a hard floor. I'm to make something to prevent the egg from breaking when it hits the floor (to be connected somehow to the egg, not placed on the floor before it's dropped). What is the best/most efficient way of doing this? Flea110 00:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, there's a parachute, but it's quite tricky to get one that works properly so it may take quite a bit of experimentation. You could also suspend the egg, with something like rubber bands, inside a large box. Another option is just to put a lot of soft material between the egg and the bottom of the box, like bubble wrap, packing peanuts, etc. For something a bit unconventional, how about floating the egg inside a salt-water filled bag ? If you can combine different methods together, you can protect the egg even better. StuRat 01:01, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

...or you could ram the egg back up the chicken's butt and toss it off the roof. LOL. StuRat 01:03, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

This is the most common science contest in the world. Try out Google on this, and get some ideas. Most of the time they put on some different constraints (such as you can only use 10 paper clips), in order to make it interesting. --Zeizmic 01:05, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Try putting it in a child's inflatable swimming armband. Make sure that the pressure is on the 'ends' of the egg, not around the middle.
Slumgum 01:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think I'm going to go with the egg wrapped in some bubble wrap, the bubble wrap being suspended by rubber bands, the rubber bands connected to a spiky/pointy exoskeleton of...maybe balsa wood? Any ideas on what to use for exoskeleton material? Flea110 02:35, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The best way to think about this is from several different physics perspectives; you must either: decrease the effect of gravity's acceleration on the egg (through a parachute, parasail, etc), decrease the effect of the kinetic energy imparted by the sudden deceleration of the egg (by "springy" items like springs, foam rubber, rubber bands, bubble wrap which can absorb energy) or else conduct the force of the impact to the egg's surface in a distributed manner (possibly through some form of truss, or miniature geodesic dome). I'm shooting from the hip here because I can't remember what happened when I last did or saw this sort of contest (over 20 years ago) but I think that the last might be most effective; if the egg could be suitably attached in multiple places to the crossmembers of a proper geodesic dome-sphere, much of the force would be absorbed by flexion of the "sphere" and the remainder distributed to the attachment points. A tetrahedron truss would be a far simpler case of the same effect, though with drawbacks. Blends of all 3 approaches wouldn't hurt. This is all, of course, dependent on the materials you are allowed to use. KWH 04:24, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I suspect that, by a tremendous margin, the biggest concern is keeping the egg from contacting anything hard (e.g. the ground). Second is distributing the force over the surface of the egg, and then as long as that's done I doubt the actual amount of [de]acceleration will matter. Eggs are actually pretty strong, but brittle (try manually crushing one). So I worry about suspending the egg with bands, because unless they're extremely taut, I picture the egg continuing on happily once the rest of the structure's stopped and dashing itself against the ground (and then springing back to the center of the structure). So with these in mind my only specific idea is what me et al. did in 5th grade with materials restricted to masking tape and (fairly rigid) drinking straws. Tape the middle of each straw to the egg (wrapping each tape fully around) at more-or-less random angles, so you end up with a spiky ball of straws tangent to an egg (no longer visible itself, it's covered with tape :). So it's equally safe from all sides, and when it hits nothing's going into the egg directly, force goes into the tape surrounding it. The preceding worked from ~2.5 meters (the only height tried). Getting the tape off is a hassle, I assume that's okay.

Party balloons also work wonders (again, subject to any restrictions you may be under as to what you are allowed to use.) Ideally, four of them in a tetrahedral configuration, held together by string (or better, tape), with the egg in the middle so it doesn't fall out. The baloons weigh next to nothing, provide a huge surface (which will increase drag enormously, slowing down the egg's fall), plus a huge air cushion to take the blow on impact. Of course, this is assuming that you're dropping the egg onto a non-spikey surface, so for those egg-drop experiments onto foot-long razor-sharp spikes, you may need to think of a different solution. Egg drops are so much fun! :) — QuantumEleven | (talk) 08:57, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how much time you have to prepare the egg, but if you have, say, at least ten minutes, you could boil it hard. – b_jonas 11:10, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

It's not a great article, but we have one on this too: Egg drop competition. – b_jonas 11:12, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

A slowly leaking helium filled balloon with the egg in a padded basket below. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 11:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Let me generalize the last two comments. Google for egg dropping competitions, see what the rules of such competitions prohibit but yours don't, and use that. – b_jonas 11:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

What about inserting the egg (with a thin layer of bubble wrap) into the middle of a fairly large stuffed animal with a balsa wood exoskeleton? The balsa wood would hit the ground first, distribute the shock of the impact to the arms and legs of the stuffed bear, while the egg is safe in the middle of the bear's belly? Flea110 06:34, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

If the egg is already falling, as the question implies, there isn't much you can do to protect it except put down something soft for it to fall on. AllanHainey 11:40, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Football transfer record for non-international

Does anyone know what was the highest fee paid for a footballer who has never played for his country? The two highest fees I know are for Dean Richards (footballer) and David Villa. Although the latter was paid in Euros, the fee was calculated at the time to be 7.99 million pounds (£). Richards went for £8.1m. I know that the uncapped Denílson went for £22 million, but later went on to play for his country, so he doesn't count.
Slumgum 01:08, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

If it was in total, Paolo di Canio has never played for Italy, and has had about 32432 transfers. Edu (6 million pounds) has never played for Brazil. If Carlo Cudicini ever gets sold, it may well be for more than £8m (he's never played for Italy at senior level, so technically could now qualify to play for England), but at the moment, I'm pretty sure you won't find one more costly than Dean Richards, who was both grossly overpriced, and extremely crap - a lethal combination as regards this record. Proto||type 12:35, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Hitler

Did hitler die a virgin? my teacher says he did but i find this hard to believe if he had a wife. please help me find the truth--68.96.48.203 01:32, 15 February 2006 (UTC)Keenan 2-14-06

Your teacher is a great example of the sad state of education in our country. (I assume you are American.) Just nod your head and agree. You know the truth and that's all that matters. Although difficult to prove, Hitler most likely was not a virgin. --Nelson Ricardo 03:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'd say it was impossible to prove that he died a virgin (because he could have had sex and never told anybody); but it is possible to prove he died a non-virgin if evidence was produced that he had sex. JackofOz 07:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Whoa, your name is Keenan too? Anyway, it's suspected that Hitler was homosexual. See Hitler#Adolf Hitler's sexuality. —Keenan Pepper 03:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

And the relevance of this to whether he died a virgin or not is .....? JackofOz 07:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Even if he was homosexual which can't be proven without doubt, that still doesn't mean he was a virgin. Homosexuals can have sex too. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:35, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

It is of course impossible to prove anything, but Eva Braun includes some interesting information. It is apparently true that Hilter married Eva Braun on April 29, 1945. But they committed suicide together on the 30th, which doesn't give a lot of time. Enough time, of course, but not much time and Hilter was probably pretty busy, and under the circumstances they may not have felt like it. But of course not everyone waits until they are married and "there was gossip among the Führerbunker staff that Eva was carrying Hitler's child". I'm sure your teacher will love to have this evidence presented. Notinasnaid 08:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

You can always make up some evidence - PhotoShop in a Hitler mustache on an ultrasound baby pic. :-) StuRat 06:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

GoDaddy

One of my clients asked me some questions about GoDaddy and since I dont use it very often, I was wondering if someone could help me here. Here are my questions:

1. How do you change the font color of a marquee in GoDaddy?

2. How do you "bookmark" (as in, clicking on a link and it take you to another part of the page) a website like the have done here: http://www.hchybr.com/volunteerinformation.htm in GoDaddy?

Thank you VERY much for your time!!!!! Zach 02:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, the second question is to do with "HTML Anchors", there is plenty at google or you could look at this for example. I don't know what you mean by the marquee though, could you please clarify (or perhaps someone else knows what you mean!) --Lox (t,c) 06:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

"Separate but equal..."

hey guys, i need help with something...If you can link me to any helpful websites, or have your own factual knowledge on these questions, i would be so grateful!

How did Segregation begin between blacks and whites start?
Info. on beginnings of segregation (after slavery ended)
Info. and pics. on racism, and segregation from about 1865-1940s ('50s)
About the lawsuit- "Separate but equal"

                                             ♥Hot FLIP

Assuming you mean in the US, see Plessy versus Ferguson. StuRat 04:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'd say segreagation started by some blacks moving out of Africa, turning white and the Sahara desert drying up and the Mediterranean flooding. Then again, I might have piled one anachronism on top of another here. DirkvdM 12:12, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Were they originally black, though, and turned white? I would have thought they started out with pink skin, like apes, and then the ones who left stayed that way and the ones who stayed eventually turned black. Or maybe I'm just dumb :). Yeltensic42 don't panic 17:01, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually primates, and to some extent all mammals, have a mix of black and pink skin. Black skin is more common on exposed areas, like the noses, and pink skin is more common under fur, inside the mouth, etc. There are exceptions, however. StuRat 05:59, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Not all primates have black noses (Rowan Williams, for example). JackofOz 06:07, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

They'd probably have evolved the dark skin to keep from getting sunburnt when they lost the hair, but I can't think of why they'd have evolved pale skin. The darker a color, the better it absorbs heat, and going north, it gets colder. Therefore, we can think that if they had started out with dark skin, they might have kept it, so as to keep warmer in the cold north. But then again, I don't know what I'm talking about. DuctapeDaredevil 03:04, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Dark skin is just to keep from getting sunburned, so people further north don't need it. Hmm, I hadn't thought of that before, how darker colors would absorb more heat and be useful to keep warm further north...I guess it doesn't work that way with skin? Maybe someone who knows more about it will come along and explain it to us...DirkvdM? StuRat? JackofOz? Keenan Pepper? Do you know the answer? Help! Yeltensic42 don't panic 05:22, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Dark skin would help you keep warm and light skin would keep you cooler, but there are more important factors which control skin color evolution...

You are correct that dark skin is to prevent sunburn (and also skin cancer). Light skin, however, is needed where the Sun's rays are weaker to allow enough sunlight through to provide for the synthesis of vitamin D. Since we now can get that as a supplement, it's no longer an issue, so, in a million years, we may all be black, LOL. StuRat 05:53, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure about this, but if the skin is dark and therefore absorbs the heat, it'll be at the surface, where it is more easily lost. However, to assess this one would have to know how much heat (ie infrared radiation) gets reflected, how much gets caught in the skin and how much penetrates, for blacks and whites. Do we have an article on that? DirkvdM 09:11, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

You might also find useful information at African American history and related articles. --Robert Merkel 14:03, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

wow...thanks for the links, and some weird bias, Yeltensic42 don't panic...But this isn't really what i was asking, i cant explain it...but segregation didn't really start when africans started moving out of africa, well it did but not quite it was more of like slavery... i think that my Proff. told me that, that made them closer (whites needed blacks, as slaves)...let me rephrase my question...Do you guys think that segregation (between blacks and whites, and yes, in the US) began after the civil war? Use facts, along with it's bibliography, to back up your argument. By "segregation" i mean, when blacks had "the same things" as whites but not in the same way...you get what i'm trying to say? Anyway, I'm going to be doing a history "exhibit", so most of the things on my dislpay will be pictures (about this, my subject) but with captions to describe a "story" of the pic., so if you guys find good pictures through these time..."I love YOU!!!" By the way, I just realized that I haven't posted any question/topics in wikipedia for a really long time! (as some of you might remember my penname) I would always start to get off the subject and talk about something else...like what i'm doing right now...stopping...okay...getting back to the subject... ♥ Hot F.L.I.P.

What bias...? But yeah, I remember your username, it's "Fine Little Island Person". (BTW, "don't panic" isn't part of my username). Yeltensic42 don't panic 03:05, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Bias....your point of view.....but whatever. wow! you remember what it stands for? awesome! umm.. yeah i know it wasn't part of your username, i just accidently copied and paste it along with with your name (did this because... actually i have no idea why i lazily copied and paste your name in my editing.) ♥ Hot F.L.I.P.

Again, assuming you mean formal segregation in the US, that is, the "seperate but equal" doctrine listed in the title, then that started with Plessy versus Ferguson. StuRat 05:53, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the 'equal' thing may have been the theory (I don't know), but (probably very much like in South Africa) in practise it didn't work out that way. When my (white) parents were in Florida in the 1950's they sat down in a bus behind a black guy, who consequently got moved to the back (giving my surprised parents a nasty look). The theory may have been that there was simply a segregation between the 'races' (albeit with the blacks at the back, which is probably not a coincidence), but in practise it was the black guy who had to move, even though my parents were the ones who broke the rule. DirkvdM 09:11, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Oscar/aggressive fish

We bought two oscars one albino tiger sriped and one red. They seem to get along but how do we know if they have bred? There is slimy stuff appearing at the bottom of our tank. There is a filter and all they do is lay around but they are alive. WE are worried that they are not active. Please help us.

Tim and Marsha Baker

Well, for the first question, if there are any other fish in there you'll know they've bred. Someone else will have to answer the rest, though. Yeltensic42 don't panic 07:04, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I found a page about Oscar breeding using Google: [16]. You may want to join the MSN group at [17] and post a message there. --Uthbrian (talk) 09:52, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Unsolved Mysteries Case

When I was about 8 years old, I watched a story on Unsolved Mysteries about a young girl who was killed. It was one of the most frightening things I had ever seen. Although any adult would not consider it anything exceptional, it terrified me for months. What I remember is that the girl was abducted from her house during the night, probably through a window which was picked open, and she was murded. Her body was found, and she was buried in a green coffin, which they showed. Damn did that green coffin creep me out. This episode would have aired sometime around 1992. Does anyone know the name of this girl or of any links about the case? Thanks. Captain Jackson 05:16, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Where can I find the source of this figure?

I found this quote at a site:

'Angling currently contributes £3.4 billion to the UK economy and provides substantial employment in rural areas.'[18]

Just what I was looking for. Trouble is, the site gives no source for this figure. I've googled it but no response. Can anyone help? Cheers.

My guess is the Countryside Alliance or some such lobby group with interests in protecting angling would be the source of such a figure. Check with them. --BluePlatypus 12:43, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

You could try DEFRA they collect statistics on agricultural/rural/fishing stuff & if they don't have it they'll no doubt be able to direct you to some other branch of government that has the statistics. AllanHainey 11:47, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Fixed your link. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 14:21, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Pagan/english translator

I have been searching for several weeks on many search engines, trying to find a translator capable of exchanging the english language to pagan and vise verse. I have had no success. Do you have any knowledge of where I may find such a translator? Any suggestions would help, even if there are no guarantees for success. Thank you for your time in this matter.

John Aller AKA: nagurra

You might as well stop looking. "Pagan" is not a language. —Charles P._(Mirv) 06:28, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

afterthought: Is there a specific pagan text that you are trying to translate? If so, posting an excerpt (or linking to it if it's available online) might help clear up which language it uses. —Charles P._(Mirv) 06:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Paganism refers to religion. So the question can only make snese if you're trying to translate a religious text and even then I don't get it. Or are you referring to another meaning of pagan? Maybe some dead Burmese language? DirkvdM 12:17, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm assuming you mean Gaelic. Which may explain why you've had no success. Try searching for Irish or Scottish Gaelic instead of Pagan. --87.82.1.43 15:50, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Difficult to type words

Can you give any examples of words that are very hard to type? I've got an example myself, but I'll keep that for tomorrow so as not to 'lead the witnesses' (or what should I call that here?). DirkvdM 10:23, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Words that use only the fingers on one hand might qualify (this would apply more to people who were properly trained in typing, but probably not to those who just 'picked it up'). Some left-hand examples are: databases, desegregated, effervesced, revegetated, reverberated, stewardesses, sweetbreads, vertebrates and watercress. Some right-hand examples are: monopoly, lollipop and polyphony.JackofOz 10:46, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Short words that get typed fast such as teh, subts, tset and so on. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 10:53, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think the words where left and right-hand letters alternate can be typed the fastest, but are also easier to mistype because you swap two letters. – b_jonas 10:59, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Also any words in a language other than your own. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

And any words which are similar to other, more commonly typed words (or contain letter combinations similar to them. If you regularly had to type the word "thought", and then needed to type the word "though", you';d find it very difficult to stop yourself adding the final "t" if you were typing quickly. As to the ones using the same hand, two I always have troupble with are recidivist and Ethiopia. YMMV. Grutness...wha? 00:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Turns out the very first reply, by JackofOz, points right at one of the problems with the word that inspired me to this question, the Dutch word staatssecretaris (undersecretary of state). It's all letters on the left side of the keyboard (except one). But on top of that there are many repeating letters, and even almost a repeating rhythm, but not really, so the fingers get confused. Maybe this last 'rhythm bit' has to do with me playing the piano. I keep on practising the word (I'm helping out on the Dutch Politics articles) but I always have to do it letter-by-letter, like an absolute beginner. DirkvdM 09:22, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

longest word

what is the longest word in the english language

There's an article on this here: Longest word.--Rhi 11:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Yup, the 'gogogoch' placename I learned at school is in there too. But I'm now disappointed to learn that it was made up just for the purpose of being the longest placename. DirkvdM 12:30, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Why be disappointed? "What's the name of that big city in New York State?" "That's easy: New York!" "No, that doesn't count, that was made up just for the purpose of being the name of that city." Steve Summit (talk) 20:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank for your help (sorry about the grammar; I was in a hurry)

Oh no, you don't get away that easily. It's debate time again. Lots of words are just made up (eg. "Google") and quickly become accepted as legitimate words. I've often wondered why such "lexical entities" (for want of a better term) as Llanfair ... gogogoch and pneumono ... coniosos, and others, fail the test. These "entities" appear millions of times in print and all over the web but they are still denied the status of "word". This is rather counter-intuitive. They consist of letters, in a certain order, and they have a known meaning, so why aren't they words? Who gets to make these decisions, and what criteria do they use? JackofOz 13:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a medical term, ergo it will never be given the status of 'word'.

(Says who? Steve Summit (talk) 20:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC))

Are hepatitis and Casablanca not words? JackofOz 20:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Llanfair is a place name, so the same applies here. Words like floccinauccinihilipilification and antidisestablishmentarianism are in the dictionaries, so these do count as the official longest words in the English language. --87.82.1.43 15:54, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

That a word is not found in dictionaries is in itself no proof that such a word does not exist. It means the writer of the dictionary either (a) is not yet aware of the word, or (b) has chosen to exclude it because of the scope of the dictionary (eg. the Concise Oxford has far fewer words than the Oxford), or (c) has decided it isn't a word at all. That last reason would exclude the above examples and dord from most dictionaries, yet what does Wikipedia say ? - Dord is one of the most famous errors in lexicography, a word accidentally created by the G. and C. Merriam Company's staff and included in the second edition of its New International Dictionary, in which the term is defined as "density". If I were to describe a similar error as "another dord", that would be a proper use of the language. By any reasonable definition, "dord" is now a word despite its erroneous birth, yet lexicographers are still holding out. Same argument for Llanfar and pneumono. JackofOz 20:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Probably Titin. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 16:07, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Pardon me for stating the obvious, but trying to find the longest word is a lot like trying to find the largest number. If you think you've found the largest number, you can always add 1 to it, and -- hey presto! -- you've got an even larger number. If you think you've found the longest word, you can always slap an "anti" or "pseudo" or something at the beginning, or an "ism" or "est" or "er" or "esque" at the end, and make an even longer word. (And of course there are lots more prefixes and suffixes than the few I've mentioned.) Steve Summit (talk) 20:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Gaames mascots size

Anyone know what is the lenght and the height of mario, sonic, alexkidd and donkey kong???

A few centimetres each, I think. JIP | Talk 12:22, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Am I dumb or does this depend on the screen size? Or both? (Let's keep all options open.) DirkvdM 12:32, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Let's go with number of pixels. --Optichan 14:56, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I think there are some games where we're told how tall the protagonist is supposed to be; I can't remember at all where this information is from, but two feet rings a bell for Sonic. Yeltensic42 don't panic 16:56, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to Super Mushrooms, Mario's size can vary even in a single game. But he is usually portrayed as being shorter than his brother Luigi. Of course, we don't know his height either. --Optichan 17:26, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, Bob Hoskins played Mario in the film version and Captain Lou Albano played him in the live action television series. Hoskins is 5'4½'' according to Celebrity heights, and Albano is 5 ft 10 in according to our own article on him. So the best bet is that Mario is 5'4½'' normally, and Albano snacked on Super Mushrooms before every show to gain the extra 5½ inches. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 21:15, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I was not talking about the size of image that you see on the screen, I was talking about of the size that character have, since scale can vary in each game.

line-cartoon

There was this animated cartoon in the 70's (I think) that consisted of one line, basically a 'distortion' of a single line that went horizontally across the screen. What was it called? DirkvdM 12:41, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Linus på Linjen? JIP | Talk 13:00, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

The Dot and the Line? Probably not. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 15:23, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

"La Linea" originally enough, in the original Italian. --BluePlatypus 15:55, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

There is a current series of ads for Hilton hotels playing in the US which uses the same method. Apparently the ad showing Paris Hilton with the caption "millions of men have entered the Paris Hilton, often two or three at a time, some by the back door, so why don't you ?" didn't test well with the focus group. StuRat 21:46, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I liked their slogan: "Experience a night in Paris". --Zeizmic 13:50, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Origin of Jaffa Cakes

Finnish or British?

Hi, a friend wants to know who invented Jaffa Cakes, the tasty chocolate-covered, jam-filled biscuitcakes. He says that some Finnish people believe they're a Finnish invention, whereas many Brits think they're a British thing. It goes without saying that the British must have invented them, but can anyone provide proof? — Matt Crypto 13:19, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Although 'jaffa cake' is now a general term, the original Jaffa Cakes were created by McVities, who are unquestionably a British company (now owned by United Biscuits). That's not definitive proof, though. Hmm. Proto||type 13:44, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

• And there was I, thinking they had some relation to Stargate SG-1 and the Jaffa... - Mgm|^(talk) 08:35, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Copyright Licensing Agency

What is the purpose of the CLA? Surely they can't license other people's copyrights without permission?--Keycard ^(talk) 18:53, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

• I believe they serve as a middle man. Instead of every small publisher or author running their own licensing department, they pay these guys to take care of all of it for them. Somewhat like ASCAP for music. The technical term for this sort of busines seems to be copyright collective. But no, they can't license without permission -- they no doubt get permission to be a designated licenser or something like that first. --Fastfission 19:49, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

graphic artist

I am trying to find employment for an individual with a degree in Graphic Arts. She also has taught art to advamced students and has done some work as a "currator" in a volunteer capacity. I am wondering if there is some job title that may take advantage of these skills that I have not thought about. Can you help me?

tshenk--Tshenk 20:11, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

In order to answer that, we would need to know what you've already thought of. Have you considered creating graphics for web sites ? This could be done from home. StuRat 21:38, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Japanese/Chinese Band in Times Sq., New York

Hi, I was in New York City in the 3rd and 4th of Febraury and I remember there being a Japanese (or Chinese) band playing in a building in Times Sq. They were not playing outsite, but there was a plasma screen showing the band playing so that people outside could see. When they were coming out I walked past one of the singers and [deliberately] banged into him (I was in a rush!). But what I would like to know is: who is this band? I also remember seeing them (if it was the same band) last year. Thanks. ^KILO-_LIMA 20:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

animal anus picture

For miscellanious reasons, I need photos of the following animal's anuses. They don't have to be direct, they can be photos where the animal's anus is simply visible:

• -fox
• -wolf
• -coyote
• -husky
• -alaskan malamute

I had no luck in finding them myself. Thanks, --septumatic

This is my favorite reference desk question ever -- not because it's wierd, because it is, but because it is so obviously encyclopedic in nature. I am so sorry I can't help. --James S. 23:25, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, let's speculate what it's for... ok, maybe not. --Zeizmic 02:41, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps a new Wiki encyclopedia of animal anuses ? Or an addendum to our black hole article ? StuRat 05:35, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

When your not the lead dog, all the views are the same.

Homies

How Many Spanish-Speakers Are In The U.S.A?

Try Spanish in the United States and Languages in the United States. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:10, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

February 16

Rich Author

Who Is The Richest Mexican Novelist In The World?

♥Hot F.L.I.P.

This is little more than a guess, but possibly Laura Esquivel? Grutness...wha? 10:35, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The Muhammad Cartoon

With all these Arabs and muslums that are rioting, taking hostages, and making threats to kill the people who made it, aren't they concerned that they are just confirming the cartoon in the eyes of the world. Or is just that they aren't thinking ahead as usual. Responding to a cartoon depicting Muhammad as a Terrorist by trying to kill everyone just confirms it for me.

Not a question. --Zeizmic 02:36, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It's at least phrased as two questions, though question marks would be an improvement. I think the answers are pretty clear:

1. Probably not.
2. Someone is certainly thinking ahead. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 03:09, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It seems to me that this hypersensitivity to any type of insult can work for the West. Just find a nice isolated spot in the Middle East, erect a giant flag with Mohammed doing something immoral with a camel, and surround the place with thousands of land mines. Since the crazies put such a high value on protecting the image of Mohammed and such a low value on human life, they should be willing to charge the flagpole until they get through. Certainly dying in such a cause will get them a dozen virgins, so everybody's happy, right ? After they destroy that flagpole, erect another one somewhere else, and so on. We will have the Muslim world purged of these idiots in no time. StuRat 05:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Since I can't dissuade you from your Islamic generalizing, I want to at least inform you that it's 72 virgins.  :) Superm401 - Talk 06:30, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Although according to one cartoon heaven is running out of them. DirkvdM 09:43, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Hence one of the better cartoons, of somone entering the afterlife and hearing "sorry, we're all out of virgins..."!

There's a theory that Syria just wants to dissuade the Americans (sort of a more blunt clue for the ones who don't understand Iraq) from trying to invade, with a warning about the sort of violence they might find there, hence the televised riots. Ojw 09:26, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

They certainly wouldn't want to protect the image because any image of Mohammed would be insulting. Also, to storm it they'd have to check where it is, for which they'd have to look at it, which is also 'not done'. Maybe they could hire an infidel to point them in the right direction? That would be ironic. And anyway, even if it would work it wouldn't last too long because there are precious few people who would do something like that, despite what politicians and media are trying to make you think. Let's get upset about stuff that really kills a lot of young people, like (yes, here I go again) cars. Cars kill about half a million people a year. How many people got killed through terrorism last year? I don't know really (anyone?) but if it's 'half a thousand' then road kills are a thousand times more important than terrorism (let alone a bit of fake indignation). Let's stop getting all worked up about a few nuts and a few staged uproars that have little effect in the grand scheme of things. DirkvdM 09:43, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I think it's a bit unfair to call the indignation caused by these cartoons "fake". I just find it quite funny that the European/U.S press is fully behind the idea of free speech for these cartoons, but were absolutely horrified when the competition for cartoons about the Holocaust was announced. GeeJo _{(t) (c)} • 10:41, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

people who feel strongly about an issue usually don't think there actions very well through. i also don't believe it is as much of how muhammad is shown, but that he is shown. there are also stories about local leaders adding cartoons which are worse just to start some extra reactions, it's all kinda typical. Boneyard 12:06, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

What do you call this?

http://i1.tinypic.com/nwfqqv.jpg

I think there's an article about this on Wikipedia but I can't find it. Thanks. 203.173.191.106 02:14, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

It's called a soda gun, apparently. --Robert Merkel 02:42, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks 203.173.191.106 02:54, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

What's the copyright status of that image? I notice the article is missing one. —Keenan Pepper 04:46, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

And here I thought it was an early version of the phaser. JIP | Talk 12:02, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The Sandman: Brief Lives

I need a relatively detailed description of both sides of Delirium's envelope-list from Brief Lives. Can I have said description, or maybe a link to a picture? DuctapeDaredevil 02:55, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The phrase "김일성 시" redirects to Seoul. What does that stand for?

Does anyone have any idea what "김일성 시" stands for and why it redirects to Seoul? Someone here ought to know Korean, or maybe know a Wikipedian friend that knows Korean. If you know a Korean, have them take a look at it and tell us what it says and how it has anything to do with Seoul. Thanks. --68.102.193.78 05:24, 16 February 2006 (UTC)The preceding unsigned comment was added by User:Schultz, who also created the redirect. Mark^{your words} 12:45, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

PS: "서울" is Hangeul for Seoul so the other phrase must stand for something else. --68.102.193.78 05:27, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know any Korean, but it's probably the Korean name for Seoul. Yeltensic42 don't panic 05:26, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Like I said, "서울" is Hangeul for Seoul so the other phrase must stand for something else. --68.102.193.78 05:45, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I fed this to a translator [19] and it reported "Kim Il-Song hour". The Korean Wikipedia [20] clearly shows that 김일성 is Kim Il-sung (I don't read Korean but it has dates of birth and death on it). Interestingly "시" alone is translated as Poem, and may have more meanings. I wonder if it's a political statement. Someone could always ask the contributor... Anyway, is it Wikipedia policy to include original foreign language renderings in the English, in this way? Notinasnaid 09:12, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Redirects are cheap. If we can redirect from the original name, even if it does not use the same alphabet, why not? --cesarb 11:48, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

There's no point asking the contributor (Schultz), because he is also the questioner (Schultz). I'll delete it. Mark^{your words} 12:45, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Quote

Who is the U.S. Economist quoted as saying: "when a man marries his housekeeper the GNP goes down"? Thank you.

It was the British economist Cecil Pigou, who noted the anomaly that if we hire somebody to clean our house, the GDP goes up, but if we marry our housekeeper, the GDP does down. [21]. JackofOz 05:41, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Those are the smartest U.S. economists. Superm401 - Talk 06:33, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

The film "Death of a Son"

Can anyone please tell me how the TV film shown in 1988, called "Death of a Son" and starring Lynn Redgrave and Malcolm Storry ends. With thanks.

Antony Armstrong-Jones photograph

I have in my possession a photograph taken by Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1956, which I would like to include in a book I've written. I have tried all the picture libraries, and I can't seem to find any way of contacting Lord Snowdon's organisation that might deal with the copyright of his pictures. Has anyone any suggestion how I might proceed with this? I would be very grateful for any advice. Thank you David Barry