Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous: Difference between revisions

Reference Desk

Science Mathematics Computing/IT Humanities Language Entertainment Miscellaneous Archives
How to ask a question Search first. It's quicker, because you can find the answer in our online encyclopedia instead of waiting for a volunteer to respond. Search Wikipedia using the searchbox. A web search could help too. Common questions about Wikipedia itself, such as how to cite Wikipedia and who owns Wikipedia, are answered in Wikipedia:FAQ.
Sign your question. Type ~~~~ at its end. Be specific. Explain your question in detail if necessary, addressing exactly what you'd like answered. For information that changes from country to country (or from state to state), such as legal, fiscal or institutional matters, please specify the jurisdiction you're interested in. Include both a title and a question. The title (top box) should specify the topic of your question. The complete details should be in the bottom box. Do your own homework. If you need help with a specific part or concept of your homework, feel free to ask, but please don't post entire homework questions and expect us to give you the answers. Be patient. Questions are answered by other users, and a user who can answer may not be reading the page immediately. A complete answer to your question may be developed over a period of up to seven days.	Do not include your e-mail address. Questions aren't normally answered by e-mail. Be aware that the content on Wikipedia is extensively copied to many websites; making your e-mail address public here may make it very public throughout the Internet. Edit your question for more discussion. Click the [edit] link on right side of its header line. Please do not start multiple sections about the same topic. Archived questions If you cannot find your question on the reference desks, please see the Archives. Unanswered questions If you find that your question has been archived before being answered, you may copy your question from the Archives into a new section on the reference desk. Do not request medical or legal advice. Ask a doctor or lawyer instead.
After reading the above, you may ask a new question by clicking here. Your question will be added at the bottom of the page.
How to answer a question Be thorough. Please provide as much of the answer as you are able to. Be concise, not terse. Please write in a clear and easily understood manner. Keep your answer within the scope of the question as stated.	Link to articles which may have further information relevant to the question. Be polite to users, especially ones new to Wikipedia. A little fun is fine, but don't be rude. The reference desk is not a soapbox. Please avoid debating about politics, religion, or other sensitive issues.

December 2

space shuttle astronauts

Why do astronauts wear their orange jumpsuits during liftoff? One would think that if the cabin lost pressure or there was a fire or something, a spacesuit wouldn't do much good --froth^{T C} 06:19, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Froth, I don't think I understand your question, but surely the answer is here. -THB 06:47, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Russians didn't set space on fire it was the cubans --froth^{T C} 07:10, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Do the astronauts have something else aboard to wear, like scrubs or blue flight suits? -THB 08:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Well of course they wear their blue jumpsuits in orbit but they put on the full orange space suit thing for launch (i think the gear they wear under the white spacesuit?)- I'm asking about the orange suits. --froth^{T C} 08:11, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay, the answer is here, under question # 11. I assume it would apply to astronauts of nations other than Canada as well. What you thought they wouldn't work for is what they're for. -THB 08:16, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Per [1]] the orange liftoff suit is a pressure suit which protects them from depressurization if the ship were damaged and an emergency return was required during the liftoff. It protects against low pressure and low temperature, and keeps out water if they parachute into water. It would probably allow survival in the vacuum of space for a time but is not designed as a space suit like the suits for extra vehicular activities. Without it if a large leak developed during liftoff, at, say 80,000 feet, they would lose consciousness and die. With the suit, an emergency return and landing could be made, or if the ship were too damaged for a landing, they could parachute out during a controlled descent. Once they are in orbit they do not wear the suits.Edison 17:08, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

... and, in the event of an emergency landing or crash, they have to be easy to spot for the search party hence the orange colour? Keria 20:20, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

DYK ? The suit is real skin, made from animals that were fed with carrots. -- DLL ^{.. T} 17:10, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Visitor to USA seeks pay as you go cellphone

Can anyone suggest/recommend sources for a short-term pay-as-you-go/prepaid phone contract in the USA? I have a european cellphone but it is not triband. I could buy a triband phone at home (UK) and I have verified that I should be able to get roaming PAYG service in the USA. It will cost about £40 per phone to upgrade my hardware. Would it be economically viable to buy a handset while in the US? I will be visiting for a couple of weeks this time and do not expect to make a lot of calls, but will likely return to the USA or Canada every few years. I am not looking for a definitive commercial recommendation, but USA telecommunications is a complex topic! Thanks in advance for any suggestions Rob Burbidge 11:55, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

You can buy a dualband (America only) cellphone in the United States for around $50 from either Cingular or T-Mobile and they usually include $15 worth of talktime included with the phone. It's good in the way that you don't have to extend your contract with your phone provider, but most of the phones offered are slightly outdated, which not might be a large concern if you intend to come and stay once every few years. Here are two links that will help you [2] [3] --Folksong 12:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I have an old AT&T (I guess it's Cingular now?) phone that I use when travelling to the US. But it's a pain in the ass - if you don't use the phone for a while (6 months I think) they kill the arrangement and you have to find a store and go in and have them put a new pay-as-you-go deal on it. And you have to fill out forms and the lady has to call helplines, and after a couple of years the people in the shop can't quite get it working on your old phone the first time. Last time I did it it took an hour (and you don't have a working cellphone when you need one most, when you arrive at the airport and are tired). As long as you're using the phone for necessities and not chatter, the triband is by far the easiest and most convenient. If you were going for longer, and/or expected to make more calls, only then would the bother of getting a US phone be justified. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:22, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Just buy a disposable cellphone in a drugstore such as CVS or discount store like Target. You can probably refill them, too. -THB 12:59, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

But don't forget that Americans have now moved away from British English and are now also moving away from US English, so when you ask the way to Target, it is important to know that they are aspiring to be Francophiles now, so be sure to say "Can you please tell me the way to "Tarjaay?" (with a soft zhay sound, as in French. Pretentious buggers!!!!!!!!!!

The Tarjay thing is tongue-in-cheek; a joke. Sheesh. --Justanother 13:49, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

And what do you mean now? That has been a nickname for Target since I was a wee tacker. Natgoo 15:20, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

A friend was visiting the other day, and she mentioned "Tar-get". It took me a few beats to realize that she was referring to Tarzhay. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 15:24, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Food and skin

Is there any food which, if eaten alot, could permanently change your skin tone? Like, Paprika or the stuff in Sunny D? Thanks. 62.136.99.54 13:47, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

How much is a lot? I would expect any foods with strong colouring (such as carrots) would do that. Flamingoes are said to turn pink through eating shrimps, and Milarepa turned green by subsisting on nettles.--Shantavira 14:15, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

On a similar note, certain foods can cause body odor changes. I'm thinking specifically of garlic. Our body odor article goes into this a little bit. Dismas|^(talk) 14:21, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, I dunno how much by alot but say I ate nothing but carrots for five years starting today, and I turned orange would I be orange for the REST of my life? And thanks for the replys, they're v.intresting. 84.69.159.165 14:50, 2 December 2006 (UTC) (My IP address may have changed since my question)

It's not really a food, but colloidal silver (once a treatment for colds), in large quantities, causes your skin to permanently turn gray. StuRat 14:53, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I heard saffron turns you yellow. Not recommended, though, since the process also kills you. =S 惑乱 分からん 15:06, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Susan Dey had an eating disorder during the Partridge Family, where she only ate carrots and her skin turned orange. The artice says that it returned to a more normal colour after she sought treatment. Some people pay now to have their skin fake-tanned that colour! Natgoo 15:18, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think so. If you are pale and eat something spicy, your skin tone may change temporaily due to vasodilation. Your skin tone can also change due to a disorder, such as jaundice. But to permanently change your skin tone, you would have to permanently alter the ratio of eu- and phaeomelanin produced in your melanocytes. Short of genetic manipulation, this would probably require a significant change in expression of the cleavage products of proopiomelanocortin, a hormone produced in the pituitary and locally in the skin. Products such as melanotan appear to have a limited effect in this manner, though it is injected, I think, not imbibed. Rockpocket 23:04, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Carrots indeed can turn your skin orange. See http://www.cnn.com/interactive/health/0210/interactive.medical.myths/2002/content3.html User:Zoe|(talk) 02:42, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

But not permanently, thank goodness. Rockpocket 07:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

What tune is this?

There's this well known jazz tune I think goes something like this. Do you know what it's called or who wrote it? —Bromskloss 15:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds a bit like it could be an intro to Bernie's Tune by Benny Golson (I think)--Light current 02:49, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Hm. I had Bernie's Tune running around in my head as I was looking for this posting again, and yeah, it could be an intro to it, but it's also familiar on its own. Certainly it's the same mode as Bernie's Tune...damn! I know I know what it is! (By the way, it's not Benny Golson; Bernie Miller wrote it, and I also note that Leiber and Stoller (or sometimes just Stoller) are also credited; did the write lyrics to it or something?) --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 08:26, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It does not seem to be Bernie's Tune, although I can see why you came to think about it. The melody in the MIDI file is very prominent in the piece I search for. —Bromskloss 15:17, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Try the still astonishing Musipedia site. -- DLL ^{.. T} 17:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. I had no luck, though. —Bromskloss 23:19, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm Nice version of Bernies tune in that lk.! 8-))--Light current 23:24, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Just FYI (and seven years late!): Leiber and Stoller were commissioned to write lyrics for "Bernie's Tune." They had nothing to do with the music. Pstoller (talk) 09:13, 18 February 2013 (UTC)

National Civil Service

I am looking for comparative studies of civil services in different countries. I would appreciate any recommendations or references. Any studies specific to developing countries, or civil service in developing countries vs. developed countries, or studies on civil service in Asia would also be welcome.

thanks 68.3.243.8 17:39, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Start with Civil service and the links on that page. -THB 02:20, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

downloading

If I buy a CD, and then later lose it, would it be unethical for me to download a copy of the same CD for free off the internet?

Personally, I wouldn't think so, but that's an issue you have to decide on, yourself... 惑乱 分からん 17:50, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I would not have a problem doing that personally and I am against illegal downloading. But you would likely want to refrain from seeding it for others or otherwise distributing it. --Justanother 18:23, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

That redirects to a disambig which lacks this usage. Can anyone write a stub for it?—WAvegetarian•(talk) 18:40, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

It is defined and referenced numerous times in the BT article. I think a separate article leans toward WP:NOT: a dictionary. --Justanother 18:49, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

It would definitely not be unethical, but unfortunately the RIAA and IFPI might not agree with you. The safest thing for you to do would be to buy a used CD from Amazon.com or Half.com.--Folksong 19:41, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Um, why don't you just load it into iTunes when you buy it? --Nelson Ricardo 23:53, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe it would be unethical. You already paid for it for personal use. It would be unethical for them to ask for you to pay for it twice since it costs them nothing for you to get it. -THB 00:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

No. Counterquestion. Is it ethical for a company to charge you twice for rights, such as when you already had the lp and then want the cd? Production and distribution take up only a small fraction of the price in the shops. DirkvdM 06:39, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe your question is based on the supposition that the downloading is "victimless". You wouldn't ask about stealing a replacement CD from a shop, as the shop has suffered a tangible loss. So, consider that situation. If you knew for certainty that you couldn't get caught, would it be OK to steal a CD from a shop at 9am and return it at 4pm? You may think "No harm done, eh?". Alternatively, you may believe that taking without permission is never acceptable and that justifying theft is not the right thing to do, victim or no victim. --Dweller 13:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

danish punjabi singer?

What is the name of the female danish singer who sings punjabi?

Anita Lerche [4] [5]. –mysid☎ 18:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

georaphical features. Wales.

I wish to know the name of the deepest lake in Wales. Grateful for your assistance. Hubert Dagnall.

Llyn Cowlyd but North Wales. Still looking. --Justanother 18:52, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

How funny. Looking up "deepest lake in Wales" at Google, I get:

• Bleak Llyn Cowlyd is actually a reservoir, it is the deepest lake in Wales - http://www.snowdoniaguide.com/the_carneddau.html
• Llyn Cowlyd, second deepest lake in Wales - http://www.nwt.co.uk/english/snowdonia/trefriw.htm
• Llyn Cowlyd, the third-deepest lake in Wales - http://www.welshvilla.co.uk/Trefriw.htm

User:Zoe|(talk) 02:45, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I know, I got that too. No luck clearing it up either so I gave up. Guess if you really wnated to know you would ring up (how is that for British!) ring up some Welsh gov't office. --Justanother 06:45, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

How many named streets are there in the world?

I have seen the start of a project to create stub articles for each and every street in a city, even if 1 block long and not known for anything. How many streets are there in the world which have names and which could have stub articles written about them? Edison 20:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

OpenStreetMap has lots of street names available under a Free license. It might be easier to write about them there than on wikipedia though. Ojw 23:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, a lot that is for sure. I mean if you think about the population of the Earth; how many live on streets (or rather in houses on streets) and how many work on streets (or rather, well you know). And what might be the average size of a named street - well it would be lot of streets! I am guessing on the order of 10⁷ unique streets. Most of them would have nothing of note; just homes.

Obviously you could write stubs about all of them but what is really the point?

Elm Street stretches from Pine Street on the east to Grant Avenue on the west and covers six city blocks. The numbers run from 4500 to 5091. It includes a total of 70 single-family homes generally built in the 1960's. 4681 is a double-sized lot and the corner lot at 5090 is undeveloped. The street has a 50' R/O/W with asphalt paving and 4' concrete sidewalks. Blah blah blah.

Talk about cruft! Don't get me wrong, you could write reams about one street but there has to be some relationship between the effort to provide information and the need for it. Very few need this information and those that need it generally know how to get it and are not going to get it from a wiki. In the US it is available from municipal gov't and the US Census Bureau (see LandView, whoops, another that needs a stubby. See here for now then)

Better would be a write-up of all businesses, period. The streets are irrelevant. --Justanother 01:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Ignoring the Wikipedia aspect, I think this is an interesting question. Let's estimate it this way. My MapArt road atlas of cities and towns in the Golden Horseshoe area (Toronto - Niagara Falls) has an index 46 pages long. The typical format of an index page is 5 columns and if you knock off a bit to allow for headings and things, the typical column is about 120 entries. With 7+ million people in the area, it works out to roundly 250 people per street on average.

I also have an AA street atlas of London, which I believe covers more or less the area of Greater London, and that also has 7+ million people. Over there they tend to prefer streets not to go very far under the same name, so there should be more street names, and sure enough the index this time is 97 pages long. It's also 5 columns, but longer ones, say 140 entries per column allowing a bit for headings. So their average is not much over 100 people per street.

Now of course two urbanized areas in two English-speaking, Western countries are not nearly sufficient to construct a worldwide estimate with any accuracy -- but if they were, then it would seem that the number of named streets worldwide ought to be around 50 million. Give or take a few tens of millions. I think it's probably safe to say that it's correct within an order of magnitude, at least: there are between 5 and 500 million named streets.

--Anonymous, 06:43 UTC, December 3, 2006.

You can travel in mind just looking at street names. It is very interesting, even if I don't believe that it pertains to WP. -- DLL ^{.. T} 17:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Mind you, I was not suggesting DOING such a project, just wondering the implications of others having started on it and looking for a reality check as tohow selective and incomplete such a project would of necessity be. There are Geographic Information System databases which are proprietary which are behing Mapquest and Googlemaps, which have basically all roads and streets in the US and probably in most other countries. Unlike Wikipedia, no one outside the GIS company can edit them, and if they have an error, as in cases I have found, there is no way to make them correct it, other than emailing Google or Mapquest and asking them to forward the error report to the GIS company, who then ignores it. So Wiki at least is a correctable database, although there have been hoax streets and towns. Edison 21:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Here are some actual numbers for you to go by: In New York City, there are 9,099 named streets. Some of these are very long, such as Broadway; and some are not much more than alleys only 100m long. By contrast, my hometown of Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania (population 2,000) has 41 streets, the longest of which is just 10 blocks long. (I have lists of all the streets in both towns if you want them.) — Michael J 00:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The disambig problems will be fun to sort out. In London alone there's dozens of streets with the same name. As for the American convention of street numbering... the mind boggles. --Dweller 13:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Romanticism and Hip Hop

Is there any romanticist-themed hip hop? 69.40.249.70 20:29, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, my own favorite is L.L. Cool J's classic "I need love", a personal favorite, also Outkast released a track called "Slum Beautiful", and you could probably find more from their catalogue... Otherwise, romanticism is probably a r'n'b thing... 惑乱 分からん 21:01, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

college in the 19th century

Am looking for info regarding the cost of tuition at the mid-19th century in America - institutions such as Harvard, Brown and Yale. How would tuition have been paid - weekly, monthly, yearly or by semester? Appreciate any input anyone has.Bunnyhill 21:29, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Gay Niggers from Outer Space

Who made this movie and why?

See the article Gayniggers from Outer Space. As for why, I have no idea, and don't want to know either. bibliomaniac15 21:47, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Because it is very funny!!!! -THB 00:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

You've seen it? --Justanother 06:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh, yes, it's at Google video: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5121649266422516795 . In a way, we're all Gayniggers from Outer Space. -THB 15:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The famous scream from Starcraft, Aaaah! Real Monsters, etc

A few of us are trying to figure out the name of a famous scream, which mefi and ytmnd and slashdot and IMDb are trying to find out. It was used when you clicked the Starcraft Terran Academy, it's played at the previously mentioned YTMND, it's used apparently in Half Life 2, and was the "Aaaah!" in Aaahh!!! Real Monsters[6] and nobody can figure out what it is. It's obviously not the Wilhelm Scream. --TIB (talk) 22:14, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like a TIE fighter. :) --Wooty Woot? contribs 00:01, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow very creepy, now that I think about I've heard that scream a lot. By the way the half-life 2 fast zombie scream doesn't sound exactly like that, just very close. It also has some other screams that are sound similar and are sampled identically. Also you seem right about the terran academy. If you ever find out, post back here! --froth^{T C} 04:50, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I emailed valve, cross your fingers. --froth^{T C} 05:04, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I found it! I've been looking for ths for years! Z-Design has it on his DeviantArt page http://z-design.deviantart.com/ Is there any way I can upload this sound file to it's own page, and does anyone want to help me make a list of things it has been in? Does anyone know the file name? Everyone understands the knife. 12:08, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

If you can't find this scream, it is downloadable here http://blog.scarecrow.com/blog/?p=157

This scream had a wikipedia page, Gut-wrenching Scream And Fall Into Distance, before it was deemed non-notable by deletionists who don't realize it was used in everything. The full title is Hollywood Edge - PE 13 - Human Sounds 1 - 44 - Man Screams #3- Gut-Wrenching With Fall. A compilation can be found in this youtube video. --TIB (talk) 17:45, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

I didn't even notice that I was the one who asked two years ago. I answered my own question. I rock! --TIB (talk) 17:50, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

December 3

Itching ear

If your ear is itchy inside, what can you do?--Light current 00:24, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Scratch it? --Wooty Woot? contribs 00:25, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Inside!--Light current 00:34, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Assumed you meant in the ear canal, but not INSIDE the ear. Wow, that's really odd. --Wooty Woot? contribs 00:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I know what you are talking about. This happens to me quite often.Яussiaп F 00:45, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes the canal where you cant get your finger.--Light current 00:51, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Scracth with a Q-tip. If it's too soft, strip the Q-tip of the soft cotton material and insert the hard, bare plastic tip into your ear. This can be dangerous and is not usually recommended. Jamesino 01:28, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Never put anything in your ear like that. You can cause permanent damage. If your ear is itchy, you could have earwax. A doctor can remove it or you could buy OTC wax removal kit. Ear candling is a total scam. -THB 01:39, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It's an allergic reaction, typically associated with allergy to dairy products...I suffered with it for years. Identify whatever you are allergic to (sometimes even shampoo)and eliminate it. In the meantime mix water and hydrogen proxide and squirt into the ear to control the fungus which is causing the itch. This operates much like the fungus candida. And properly done ear candling is a very valuable tool to remove the debris caused by the fungus in the ear, but it cannot 'cure' the itch because the itch is caused by the fungus which can only proliferate when the allergen is present and until you stop ingesting the thing you are allergic to, the problem continues. I eliminated all dairy and soy and bingo, no more itch. I also noticed that certain shampoos triggered the itch and as soon as I stopped using them, the itch was gone. You'll also notice that when your ears are most itchy, you also have other itchy spots, like around the eyes or nose..... graceyjo 20:08, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Buenos Aires

Hi, everybody. I will be spending the Christmas holiday in Buenos Aires, my first visit to the city. I've read all the guidebooks and done all the research, so I know the main places I want to visit. I would appreciate some guidance, though, from anyone who knows the city well, on the less obvious attractions. Can anyone recommend a particularly good restaurant? Where are the best bars and night spots? Above all, where can I see some authentic tango? Clio the Muse 00:39, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It takes 2 to tango. So I hope your not going alone!--Light current 00:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow, have a great time! I'm super excited for you. Try some of the results of THIS GOOGLE SEARCH that lists some Buenos Aires forums where people are asking (and answering) those kinds of questions. Anchoress 01:43, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, Anchoress, I intend to! The links you provided were really useful; I'm in your debt. Oh, I 've been invited to a dinner on Christmas Eve at a French restaurant called La Burgogne in the Avelar Palace Hotel. I'm told it's very good. Clio the Muse 09:04, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Might be la Bourgogne (Burgundy in french). -- DLL ^{.. T} 16:58, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

It is!. Sorry for the typo. Clio the Muse 00:18, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Post Wedding

What is polite in Western culture for one to say to a newly wed Groom? "ccongratulations"? Jamesino 01:35, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, and you can tell him what a lucky man he is. (It's not nice to tell the bride what a lucky girl she is, however.) You can also say that you know they'll be very happy together. -THB 01:37, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

So it's not good manners to say 'She's a very passionate girl when she gets excited.Trust me,I should know'? :) Lemon martini 10:26, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Straight after a wedding, I always ask the bride and groom "Well, how's married life?", and they usually say "Great .... so far". :) JackofOz 00:49, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Ideal Profession

What would be the ideal career for someone (me) who wanted to travel the world, visit exotic locales, voyage to the far corners of the Earth? Without having to be rich. Яussiaп F 03:19, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Reporter? Soldier? Sailor etc.--Light current 03:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Old joke: "Join the Navy. Go to exotic places, meet interesting people, and kill them." --Anon, 06:50 UTC, December 3.

Air courier Dang, another red one; go here then. --Justanother 03:33, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Casual courier --Justanother 03:35, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Pilot, flight attendant, work on a cruise ship, travel writer, backpacker, hobo, sex worker. -THB 03:40, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Working for Reuters takes you literally everywhere. Some with a fairly high degree of danger, though. Clio the Muse 03:46, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I was on a cruise ship in the Greek islands when I was 18 years old, and I was pretty sure the musicians providing nightly entertainment on board had the best job I could think of. Now it's over a decade later, and I've had at least a dozen different jobs, and I'm not sure I was wrong when I was 18. -GTBacchus^(talk) 04:14, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Flight attendants travel all over the world, but hardly get to see the places they visit. Just the airports. Being a travel guide would be better, but for that you'd need some travelling experience first. DirkvdM 06:44, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

In general, if you assume a perfect market for jobs, anything that looks 'ideal' usually has a compensating side, such as low pay. Only the top talent in any field gets high pay and ideal conditions. --Zeizmic 16:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Definitely the Navy. "Join the Navy and see the world- through a porthole." Assuming your country is not landlocked, and has a world-wide navy. Being crew or entertainer on a cruise ship has possibilities, also.Edison 21:15, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I work as a stagehand for a touring theatre production. I spend about 85-95% of nights in hotels and visit lots of different places, some exotic, some mundane. But I usually have time in each place to really actually get to see it (unlike a flight attendant, for example), and I work with the locals to set up the production, so I talk to more than just the hotel bartender. It's a good gig with lots of travel. kmccoy (talk) 05:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Are there groupies for production people for Sesame Street? -THB 12:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Voting member of the International Olympic Committee has just gotta be up there. --Dweller 12:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Arms dealer? --Justanother 13:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Telecommunications technician, engineer or project manager. You can work in most countries in the world, and the the need for qualified people is absolutely there. So go on, and get educated;-)) br Iris

What's the music?

What is the music used in certain scenes of usually comedy movies? Two examples are the happy place in Happy Gilmore and running to the park in National Lampoon's vacation?Reywas92^Talk 04:12, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean that song that they play in sports movies and stuff when people are moving in slow motion? I don't know the name, only the context. --Wooty Woot? contribs 04:15, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Check out List of clichéd classical pieces. I'm guessing you're thinking of the love theme from Romeo and Juliet? —Keenan Pepper 05:01, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

One song that is frequently used in such contexts is "Young Love" from Max Steiner's music to the film A Summer Place. There's a sample to be heard on this Amazon page (Disc 2, track 7): [7] --Rallette 10:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

No, it isn't Young Love. I think Wooty knows what I'm talking about. I've never heard Romeo and Juliet. Reywas92^Talk 23:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Is it possible you mean the Chariots of Fire theme? Often played when people are running in slow motion, or achieving something. Skittle 14:33, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Never heard Romeo and Juliet? Get it. You'll love it. JackofOz 00:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

what is this song called?

hi peoples i have this song stuck in my head. all i know is that it's from the t.v program scrubs(ch 7) and the chorus goes "where did i go wrong, i lost a friend" please if anyone knows who its by or what its called please answer!!!

Sir Sagman 04:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)Sir SagmanSir Sagman 04:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The song is "How to Save a Life" by The Fray, it's playing right now on the radio! --Nevhood 06:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

thanx heaps.

Sir Sagman 07:51, 3 December 2006 (UTC)Sir Sagman

this chick

ok i was wondering bout this chick i saw on tv once she was born as a guy and then she had a thing done and over time she became a chick and she was on a tv show called "theres something about meruim" but thats not her name and i was wondering what her name was and how to spell it coz me and my friend were talking bout it yester day and now im wondering

There's Something About Miriam --Justanother 05:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Forbes 400 - Percent of Wealth Inherited

Hi everyone, I have been trying to find out what percent of the total wealth of the Forbes 400 was inherited, but I only can find the percent of people who have become a member of the Forbes 400 by inheriting wealth, which is about 40%. Can someone please help me find this? Thank you so much! --Nevhood 05:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

You would have to know what percentage of each person's wealth was inherited, and that would be difficult in many cases. -THB 14:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Let's imagine it is random : why not, then just take 40% of the total wealth. -- DLL ^{.. T} 16:51, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I guess I'll have to do that. My economics teacher assigs the weirdest extra credit questions! --Nevhood 17:58, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Then you should consider adjusting for the hyper wealthy, such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who did not inherit their wealth. -THB

Yet another what is this movie question

I saw a preview for a movie quite some time ago—maybe two years, give or take. I think it's an Italian film, possibly French. Man is riding a scooter, may be making a pizza delivery, not sure, and is weaving insanely in and out of traffic; an apparent comedy or at least in the realm of zany. Ring a bell for anyone?--Fuhghettaboutit 06:21, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like it could be Taxi (1998 film), though the date it was released might make it too old. It has a few sequels (in 2000 and 2003) but i don't know if there is scooter action in those films. Even if it isn't Taxi, you should check it out. Great movie. Rockpocket 07:08, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

That's it! Thank you! As for the timing, I have no idea where i saw the preview--it may very well have been on a vhs rental. I remember thinking that the movie looked great and making a mental note to look it up sometime but then i forgot the title.--Fuhghettaboutit

The opening scene of Taxi (1998 film) depicts the said scooter scene.

Odd uses

This should be a quick one. Where can I find articles, both on and off Wikipedia (prefer at least one Wikipedia article), that cover strange or nonstandard uses for mundane items (wire, peanut butter, duct tape, paper plates, spaghetti noodles, cereal boxes, etc.)? A search through creativity and innovation found no relevant pages.

If you should also find a page that refers specifically to apples, please note it too, as searches for them keep turning up the computer.

Thanks! lvlarx 09:23, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

You can make a marijuana smoking pipe from an apple. -THB 14:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

For those things, Make: is not so bad. -- DLL ^{.. T} 16:49, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

There was a book and PBS pledge week show on just such things. The author was named Graham something, if I recall correctly. One of his suggestions was to spray shaving cream on the bathroom mirror and wipe it off to keep it from steaming up. Another was to suspend sweaters on clotheslines with a pair of pantyhose to prevent them from stretching out. Does anybody else recall his full name or the name of the book ? StuRat 12:15, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you are thinking of Haley's Hints, ISBN 0451211820.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 20:43, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Yep, that's it. StuRat 10:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

you could put a peice of uncooked pasta between your back teeth and crunch down on it while pretending to break your nose. It fools people really well. They think that you broke your nose.

Try here. —B00P 21:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, you can brush your teeth with milkshakes for a quick weight gain, and you can also check out [Joey Green's site].--Folksong 22:14, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Your imagination??martianlostinspace 16:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

nitric oxide

<moved to the Science reference desk>

question (optical illusion)

how did this guy done that?

Easy. The chair is laid on its side on the floor, the man appears to sit in the chair when in reality he is also laying on the floor. The camera is suspended above the man & the chair. The man is not springing up in the air, he is spinning in place on the floor. 192.168.1.1 5:35am, 3 December 2006 (PST)

Note you can't see his feet. Someone could have helped him.martianlostinspace 17:02, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

evolution of the ski

What adventages do modern skis hold over wooden ones? I would like to know, including the physics behind an answer..

• Less friction.
• At temperatures around 0°C, water penetrates the wood. The water freezes, and allows snow to cling to your skis. Soon, you have a thick layer of ice and snow underneath your skis, which is quite difficult to remove, and which makes skiing difficult. This problem is greatly reduced with skis made of synthetic materials.

--NorwegianBlue ^talk 22:16, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Skis are one of those things that really benefit from a good stiffness/weight ratio (like airplanes!). You can't beat carbon fiber or other exotic materials for this. --Zeizmic 23:26, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Ski bindings that don't try to rip your leg off when you fall. Curved edges ("Parabolic skis"). Inset metal edges.

Atlant 15:34, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Don Hahn, former Mets outfielder

Hi. I would like to write a page about Don Hahn, former New York Mets outfielder. I notice that there is already a page telling about another Don Hahn who is a Disney animator.

Could somebody kindly tell me how I can go about doing this? I have edited pages before, but I have never started a page. Also, how can I differentiate for the reader between the two Don Hahns?

Thank you.

--Slater79 22:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

See WP:D for info on disambiguation pages. Don Hahn (baseball) might be an appropriate name for the new article, assuming there's not more than one baseball player of that name. Friday (talk) 22:21, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Slater, just click on the red link that Friday has provided and start typing (citing sources, of course). Then add a stub tag like {{baseball-stub}} if you only start the article. Add both Don Hahns to Don Hahn (disambiguation) (you can use something like Roy Rogers (disambiguation) as an example). New pages are created by just typing them in the search box or the address bar or between [[]] in the sandbox or elsewhere and then clicking on the red link. --Justanother 14:15, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

And be sure to put {{otheruses}} on the top of both your baseball player article and the animator article, so that visitors to those pages would know that there is a disambiguation page. User:Zoe|(talk) 19:48, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

"tr" and "str" letter combos

(question already answered on Language Desk) -THB 23:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Fijian Military Crisis

Why does The Commodore belive that his Small country would be able to Resist invasion? When in all actuality a Determined country would have No problem in Invading Catman503 22:29, 3 December 2006 (UTC)Catman503

Why does canada have an army? --froth^{T C} 22:42, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Ninety percent of all Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border. Fiji's neighbor Tonga successfully invaded the Republic of Minerva in 1972. -THB 23:02, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

We're planning to take over the world. (OK, so it's a very long-term plan.) Clarityfiend 23:44, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Fiji has an army of only 3,500 - and only around 3,000 of them are in country (some are on UN peacekeeping assignments) It wouldn't take even a determined country, just an interested one. Rmhermen 23:53, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

I thought so because seriously who's he trying to kid? he couldn't resist invasion if he tried and it'll be a matter of time before someone takes offense to his Nonsense and invades fiji (Tis a Wonderful place to visit..Went there when i was a Kid)Catman503 00:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

There's always defense from terrorists, cults, and other militant groups, as well as from internal uprisings (revolt). That's what I meant about canada. Plus you know how dictators are :) --froth^{T C} 04:46, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

See Defence Scheme No. 1. A lot of Americans live near the border with Canada, too. -THB 06:03, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I can just see it now: in the middle of Prohibition, Canada invades and all the thirsty Americans desert. I'm curious though; why did we want Great Falls? Clarityfiend 19:57, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Nobody's invading Fiji, I think those Thailand coup-people are still around. Perhaps Canada should invade Fiji to provide another place for baby-boomer snowbirds. After all, Florida is pretty well filled up.... --Zeizmic 12:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The percentage of Canadians living within 100 miles of the border has declined in the past 20 years to something like 75%. The majority of the population of Alberta, the fastest-growing province, lives well over 100 mi from the US border.

With respect to the Fijian commander, Frank Bainimarama: it's not likely anybody's going to bother invading just to prop up the civilian government. After all, when it comes to power, he's got it. (Oh baby, he's got it. Ahem, sorry.) There have already been three coups in the past 20 years and nobody intervened then: why would they do so now? --Charlene 07:39, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

So, is Fiji now a Bainima(rama) republic? Clarityfiend 10:15, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

In practice, 3,000 soldiers is a very large army given Fiji's location, small size, and weak economy. While it would be a relatively simple task for the United States to deal with the Fijian military (if its army wasn't busy vainly trying to pacify Iraq), for Australia and New Zealand it's a different matter. While they could certainly massacre much of the Fijian military if that was the goal, it would be beyond their current military capabilities to occupy the country, maintain order, and defeat an insurgency run by trained soldiers (who, while not supported by most of the population at present, may well gain such if a foreign force intervene). This is particularly the case as Australia already has troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands, and East Timor. --Robert Merkel 05:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Ethno-linguo-cultural revisited

Which ethno-linguo-cultural groups do poorly at business and money-handling compared to others? Why? -THB 23:10, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

In the US, statistically, probably blacks (though there are probably others) - even though discrimination is illegal.martianlostinspace 17:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

As there is no reason to believe that any group of people are intrinsically less competant than average in dealing with such matters, it appears that lack of education, both formal and informal, and lack of interest by a higher percentage of the individuals in such a group, when compared to the average, would be the cause. That is, of course, granting the unproven premise that such groups do, in fact, exist. B00P 18:17, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

integrity of data

Please highlight somewhere on your page what are the means at your disposal to verify, correct, maintain the integrity of the various pages, so that each entry is true, accurate, neutral to political bias and refelcts verifiable, authenticated knowledge.

THis mystery is the one big question I allways had. In today's NYT Magazine they speak about how the U.S Intel Community needs to emulate Wikepidia. To share intel to protect. One of their issues is the possibility that certain elements with access to the data or those with the right to edit, change, bend the direction or the integrity of the data (I.E: a disgruntled employee who does not agree with certain policy could cleverly enter misleading data that over a period of time becomes part of the accepted version of certain entry, thus causing enormous harm to everyone) which also applies to all of your users, when controversial data is entered, redited, manipulated, and possibly by some with malicious intentions.

It would be great if you has a link that takes the vistors directly to a page explaining how you keep vigilant of your data collection.

Sincerely,

TJBarker (email removed to prevent spam)

You asked this on the Help Desk as well. Please see replies there. --Wooty Woot? contribs 23:43, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

The U.S. intelligence community already does this. See Intellipedia. They even use our software. Rmhermen 23:49, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Another good way to get good decisions is to have people bet their own money on the validity of the info. For example, would Bush have invaded Iraq if his fortune was personally dependent on finding WMD ? Probably not. StuRat 10:41, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

December 4

infinite tip

This may be an odd question:

First. Suppose I buy something, say hot chocolate, from a cafe for 10 $, and I tip 1$. I've just given a tip of 10%, right? (1/10=10%) Now, suppose I get a free drink (from a generous employer at Christmas) and tip 1 $. I spent 0 $, tipped 1 $, so I've given an infinite tip, right? (1/0=infinite) Duomillia 00:02, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

1/0 isn't infinite, it's undefined. As Division by zero says, "n ordinary (real number) arithmetic, the expression has no meaning.". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

So, if I tip 100 $ for the free drink, the hundred dollars would be meaningles? ;) Duomillia 01:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

But your tip could be said to approach infinity (in percentage, that is); it is as close to infinity as you care to make it so the bartender is a lucky man indeed! Merry Christmas!! --Justanother 00:10, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Interesting concept to be told around the table. --Proficient 01:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Straying a little from the original question, I was thinking today about tips. It's standard practice to tip a particular percentage -- usually 10, 15, or 20 percent. However, isn't the idea of tipping to provide a little reward to your server? Psychologically, I'm sure they're not too worried about what particular percentage you've decided on. A nice even dollar, two dollars, or five dollars seem to me to be an appropriate amount to tip for your single-person meal. Or, if you're paying the bill and tip together, just leave a $20 if your bill is for $17.35. Saves picking up a bunch of nickels and dimes.

Of course if you're paying with plastic none of this applies. :) Theavatar3 01:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, from what I do and what I've noticed others do, paying with plastic pretty much follows paying with cash; you round up to the nearest buck or, for a cheap meal, maybe half-buck. As far at the attitude of servers; I am sure that most of them feel that, overall, their tips are related to their attitude, even if they do not always act as if they know. --Justanother 02:20, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

You don't have to tip at a catered party: the person paying the caterer tips the staff, especially if they're asked to stay later than originally agreed. If you tip on a "freebie", though, you tip on the value, not the cost. For instance, the owner of a restaurant gives you dessert "on the house". You still tip the waiter, based on what the dessert would have cost if you had paid for it. Also, in the U.S., waiters are required to pay taxes on a certain percentage of the checks as if they received that amount in tips whether they did or not. -THB 02:15, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Off of Theavatar3's comment. In the US wait staff isn't payed minimum wage, so tipping is their main source of payment for the work they do. So the percentage does mean a lot to them. If you tip poorly and come back to the same place enough, ALL the wait staff there will know you're a bad tipper and treat you as such (they talk to each other a lot). Also, in my experience, over tipping (say 20-25%) somewhere you go a lot can get you a lot of privileges and free desserts and drinks etc. So tip good! And one mre thing, I've read an article once that generally girls get tipped more then boys irrespective of the service quality. Hurray! --Cody.Pope 05:21, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

If by "infinite" you mean "lousy", then the answer is yes. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 05:30, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The percentage method seems inadequate for determining tips. Let's take two scenarios:

• You order a 50 cent cup of coffee, with free refills, get excellent service, sit and talk with the waitress for a half hour, get advice on where to get your car fixed, and directions on how to get there. You consider this excellent service, so give her a 20% tip, which comes out to one thin dime.

• Your group of 10 goes to a fancy restaurant for brunch, and you all order the buffet. The waitress does everything properly, but doesn't really have much to do but write up the bill, which comes to $200. Does she deserve a $40 tip for that ? StuRat 10:32, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Comment Does it really cost 50 cents for a cup of coffee with free refills in the States? That's about 26p. Gosh that's cheap. If you tipped her a few hundred % it'd still be cheap. How do I emigrate? --Dweller 10:39, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

No, it is about $1.50 but refills are still free at most places (I don't know about Starbucks because I don't really like their coffee and never asked for one). --Justanother 12:09, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

There is a diner near me that offers coffee, with free refills, for 50 cents. I can't believe they make money off that, it's likely a loss leader, to get people into the diner, assuming they are likely to buy food once there. StuRat 19:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I would never leave less than a dollar tip even for a single cup of coffee that cost 75 cents at the counter in a cheap dirty diner in a small town in the middle of the country when the place was empty in the middle of the day. A dime tip would be a pointed statement that you were dissatisfied. And no, you don't tip the same percentage for a buffet. Did the waitress refill beverages or remove dirty plates? I can't imagine leaving less than $1.00 per person if the waitress did anything more than just write the check. I especially like the comment "if by infinite you mean lousy....." -THB 12:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Off topic to the original question, but I thought I'd share a story of a naive American (me) in Dehra Dun, India. No one in the hotel except me and a bunch of Russian contractors (this was 1987) who sat together at a big table by the wall. My first dinner I sat by the window, with a view of the Himalayas. Then I went into the bar, where I had 3 beers (for irrelevant reasons I needed the drink!) which cost about US $7. I was the only one in the bar, the bartender was attentive and kept my bowl of crackers well filled. I left the equivalent of $10, a $3 tip (I later learned that the bartender probably made about US$500 per year). Next morning at breakfast, all the tables by the window were reserved, so I sat in the middle, until the waiter in broken English made it clear that all the tables were reserved for me! It went like that for the whole week I was there. Cheers Geologyguy 16:27, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

That's so awesome. :) Indian people are so loveable, I find. Theavatar3 17:35, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

When I was last in San Francisco, visiting from Scotland, we were recommended a seafood restaurant on Pier 39. The waitress was so intent on her nail varnish conversation with her colleagues, she ignored us so noticeably and eventually served us with badly presented and nearly cold clam chowder with such a disdainful attitude that when the bill arrived, I paid it with cash, and left a single cent coin in her check book. As we were leaving, she opened the book to see how magnanimous we had been and the insults she threw our way were vituperous. Eventually I calmed her down and advised her that I had just done her, her waitressing career and her employer's future business a great big favour, and given her a lesson she would never forget. And I also reminded her that the cent was by far in excess of what she deserved. I hope she reads this and responds.

I don't blame you for your actions, but I have to wonder if she acted disdainfully because of treatment she received from previous European guests. I once knew a guy who worked as a waiter in S.F., and he told me no one ever wanted to serve Europeans, because they tipped so much less than American customers did. Not that it's a legitimate excuse, but she might have figured you weren't going to leave more than 10% anyway, so she should only do a half-assed job.

I used to live in a Continental European country with generally really bad service (much worse than France). In this country, people generally don't tip more than 10%, and more often they just round the bill up to the nearest round number and leave the balance as a tip. The subject of tips was always one of dispute between the Americans and Europeans in my group. I tried to argue that if customers in the country started tipping like Americans, the waiters and waitresses might start acting like servers in the U.S. -- that is, not require a flare gun to get their attention. Considering the standard of service typical in that European country, the 20% extra we "have" to pay in America is well worth it. -- Mwalcoff 00:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

While I don't take issue with the English poster above, I would say that generousity is never, ever inappropriate, and is always better than 'teaching a lesson'. Theavatar3 17:00, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I do take your point, but my wife and I invariably leave a reasonable tip wherever we eat out. In Edinburgh where we live (I am English and my wife is Scottish) we generally avoid restaurants that employ locals, because the servers are on minimum wage - expect poor tips, if any - and so don't deliver due to the low expectations they have developed - so there is a vicious circle. So, we eat in places where the servers are largely transient gap year employees - mainly Australians, New Zealanders (and never the twain shall be cross-identified - call them Antipodeans to be on the safe side), Americans, Canadians, Italians, Portuguese, Spanish, but never French - they are so rude and disdainful I am surprised they even get paid, and South Africans - brilliant. Those mentioned groups, minus the French, invariably give such wonderful service in a non-subservient and naturally friendly way that it would be unthinkable to leave a poor tip - yet they also invariably say that they didn't expect to be paid one as they are being paid by the proprietor for doing the work anyway. Do the locals learn? No - because we had the "Peasants Revolt" remember, and genetically, we consider giving good service subservient. Maybe that explains the problem between US servers and British diners?

Interesting, I never thought about it that way. I have to say, though, that I've experienced fairly good service in the UK, despite the poor tips the servers receive. The only exception was at an Indian restaurant in Bristol, where the waiter kept saying, "Yes, please," instead of "Hi, how can I help you?" and looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for salad dressing. My English friends had to explain that that's the way Indian restaurants in Britain operate, and that you're not supposed to order salad there! -- Mwalcoff 01:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I think this is related to the phenomenon of 'shucking and jiving' of the African-American experience.

It is easy to be benevolent when you have a history of being well-fed. A lower-class person who comports themselves with benevolence is to be treasured far beyond the gentry. Theavatar3 17:07, 5 December 2006 (UTC) Theavatar3 17:10, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like our Hawaiian/Californian friend who stayed with us for a week last year and got really upset when the waiter(esses)(servers) didn't know what to do when he incessantly ordered "Ranch" with everything. In fact, he became so incensed that on his return to San Diego, he shipped us a large consignment of "Ranch", with the shipping cost far exceeding the product cost - I suspect to educate us. Mind you, I do believe that less than 10% of Americans ever venture outside the United States?

I think that's a bit low, although many US citizens may only travel as far as Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean. However, in this age of terrorism (and the horrible flight conditions which have resulted), 10% might be accurate in the future. StuRat 07:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Remember that although it did not carry a nasty catch-all phrase, what came before 9/11 was worse yet. See grunge, Fight Club, Bosnia, Kosovo. Theavatar3 17:15, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

many movies,many heroes and villians

what do you think are some of the greatest movie heroes and the greatest movie villians of all time

One great villain leaps out-Erich von Stroheim, the 'man you love to hate'. Clio the Muse 00:17, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

For baddies, I like , Alan Rickman (esp in Closet Land), Gary Oldman (esp in Léon (film)), Peter Stormare (saw him in Constantine (film)). Don't know about for all time but they are great ones. --Justanother 02:31, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

AFI's 100 Years… 100 Heroes & Villains sorry no Akira, Ivan the Terrible (film) or Aguirre, the Wrath of God included. meltBanana 02:45, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, the AFI list is for American films. User:Zoe|(talk) 19:56, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I can think of five movies that work really well (realistically) in how the heroes and villians play off on one another: Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, Rob Roy, Star Wars (ep 4-6), and Zatoichi. Theavatar3 17:39, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The best is when, like Clio said, there are villians that you love to hate. Guy Ritchie's two gangster films (Snatch and Lock Stock) are like that, and Hayao Miyazaki's ouvere doesn't even really have villians as such (e.g. Princess Mononoke). Theavatar3 17:46, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Goldfinger

Bond: Do you expect me to talk?

Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.

User:Zoe|(talk) 19:56, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Auric is one of my favourites too. I was talking about this exact scene only last night with my partner.Everyone, it's villain.  :) JackofOz 01:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, Goldfinger. Thanks for the correction. User:Zoe|(talk) 02:56, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Jews

Why do so many jews lend money/bank? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.164.200.130 (talk • contribs)

See Ashkenazi Jews. Basically, in medieval times, Christians were not allowed to lend money at interest for religious reasons. Therefore European Jews took up the slake and provided a needed service. So tradition may play a part along with other cultural factors. --Justanother 02:58, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, the historical and religious issues are better covered under Usury. --Justanother 03:04, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the OP is using the present tense. He or she is wrong. It's an old stereotype, based on the history Justanother quotes. Today, there are of course some Jews working in the banking sector, but you're just as likely to find them working in just about any other of the professions. And the number of Jewish bankers in any country other than Israel will be massively outweighed by the number of non Jewish. --Dweller 10:05, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, it is certainly a stereotype. And when you say "in banking" what does that really mean in today's complex corporate economy. Today money is lend by corporations, not individuals and corporate ownership is mostly a function of rate of return and large investors like mutual funds and insurance firms not medieval history. Maybe if you go back 100 years you can say something about the makeup of bankers. The closest thing you could do today would be an ethnic survey of CPAs. --Justanother 12:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think Jews are disproportionately involved in banking per se anymore, at least in America. I think if you wanted to find fields where there are a lot of Jews, you might want to look at medicine, law, politics, academia and education, entertainment, accounting and retailing. But there are Jewish people in every profession. There are Jewish taxi drivers, cops, firefighters, dishwashers, football players and chicken sexers. OK, I've never met a chicken sexer, let alone a Jewish one, but I'm sure there's got to be at least one Jewish chicken sexer. -- Mwalcoff 00:21, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

French Underground

when the Normandy Invasion took place, was the code to the french underground,"it wounds my heart with a mon------? anger"? or, what was it?

The second line, "Bercent mon coeur d'une langueur monotone" (wound my heart with a monotonous langour), transmitted late on June 5, meant that the attack was to be mounted immediately.

from Normandy invasion. --Justanother 03:57, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Do abbreviations qualify as shorthand?

Although I don't know any formal systems of shorthand, I use a lot of both standard and personal abbreviations when I take notes (acctt for accountant, emp for employee, rcvd for received, dmsss for dungeonmistresses, shdtvbn for should not have been, etc.). Cd a sys of abbrs like this be cons'd s'hand? NeonMerlin 04:14, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

"Dungeonmistress" is a word you use a lot? --Optichan 04:32, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I took that as a joke, but hey, who knows? NeonMerlin could be into fantasy or roleplaying or BDSM or fantasy roleplaying BDSM. I don't judge.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 04:38, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah that stuck out for me too o_o See Shorthand. Apparently what you use isn't true shorthand because shorthand is a different character set (like cursive is to print) --froth^{T C} 04:40, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I had to look up "dungeonmistresses" as well just to see what that was. --Proficient 05:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

It's not a word I use a lot. I have plenty of abbreviations planned out in case I should ever need to use them. NeonMerlin 05:10, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't agree that shorthand has to use symbols in order to be considered such, but it does have to be a system of script made up of time saving shortcuts, so IMO you'd have to be using almost exclusively abbreviations in order for it to be a shorthand system. Anchoress 05:32, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

IF U CN RD THS U CN BCME A SCRTRY & GT A GD JB. No, it's a whole different way of transcribing sounds. -THB 06:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

See Speedwriting --ColinFine 08:15, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Abbreviations are only useful if the reader understands them. So if the notes are for your personal reading then it doesn't really matter, but if you expect over people to understand what is being say things like Dmss are not going to make sense unless it is a commonly agreed upon abbreviation. This is a major problem that businesses suffer with - they use abbreviations and acronyms in inappropriate places and people are unable to decipher them (though sometimes they are a simple way of making information semi-secure from people who don't know the meaning). there is a fine line between abbreviating to save effort inputting and having that saved energy make the reading take twice as long... ny156uk 19:04, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

"Chasing dragons with plastic swords"

This line is from the song "A Change," from Sheryl Crow's eponymous album. Does anyone have an idea what it means? I don't think it refers (at least not specifically) to LARP, somehow. NeonMerlin 05:09, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Child's play? Lots of kids have cheap plastic swords. --Justanother 05:34, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know the song, but to me it suggests both childs' play/fantasy, and also going into battle without adequate weaponry. --ColinFine 08:17, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Chasing the dragon has another meaning as well, but I have no idea whether she intended the line to refer to that. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 08:30, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

You want intriguing Sheryl Crow lyrics -- how about the next one from that song: "Jack-off Jimmy / everybody wants more" (!) Theavatar3 17:44, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Overpass Fence Extensions

I've noticed something curious on the Ohio Turnpike, strange "fence extensions" that stick out from each overpass. They look as if they can be folded back down, but were all "deployed" over the Thanksgiving Holiday (last week). This area does get heavy lake effect snows, so I was wondering if they could serve some related purpose ? I was guessing that they are to catch slush that splashes down onto the highway from trucks on the overpass. Here's a diagram:

              | U |
              | N |
              | D |
              | E |
          |   | R |   | <- Fence Extension
----------+---+---+---+-----------
          O V E R P A S S
----------+---+---+---+-----------
          |   | P |   |
              | A |
              | S |
              | S |

I can provide pics, if needed. Does anybody have any idea what these are for ? StuRat 09:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Isn't it something that's there to prevent people (vandals) on foot getting onto the side of the overpass (so they can drop stuff onto the cars in the underpass)? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:11, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

No, it's like 20 feet in the air, so that can't be it. StuRat 12:22, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I tend to agree with the previous with the addition of preventing tagging of the overpass. Taggers will climb. --Justanother 12:44, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Most likely a snow thing. In Canada we put up solid fences along the overpass to prevent snow being pushed by the plows off the overpass. --Zeizmic 12:41, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it may be to stop people from throwing themselves into the under pass to commit suicide (Seriously) 8-)--Light current 00:34, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

No, they are too far away from the underpass for that, maybe 30 feet (10 meters). StuRat 06:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The speculation here is appreciated, but is there any way I could get an authoratative answer ? That is, who would know for certain which of these reasons is correct ? StuRat 06:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Try the highways people. Do they have a website?--Light current 07:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

W700i

I recently bought a new sony ericsson W700i. The included PC suite and the cd rom are corrupt. How can I transfer java games from my PC to my phone via the USB? I do not have any disk 2 phone software. Where should I copy the files of the game? Please give an elaborate reply..

You can download replacement software here. --Justanother 14:09, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Italian fish

We have seen a fish on Italian restaurant menus that we cannot find anywhere else to define what type of fish it actually is. Our host at Piccolo Angelo in NYC has Brazzini on the menu and claimed it was from Genoa, Italy. Can anyone help identify this fish for me? Vincent Lindgren

They had it misspelled - it is branzini, a Mediterranean or European Sea Bass; served topped with sea salt, recipe. Much more here

Branzini, a.k.a. Branzino, a.k.a. Loup de Mer ("Sea wolf"), is a just a plain old Mediterranean sea bass. They are usually about a pound whole, so they're perfect for a dinner for two. Have your fishmonger gut and scale your loup for you, and you'll be able to cook it up in 15 minutes flat.

--Justanother 15:09, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Cashing Out Retirement

Hi, if I left my job and wanted to cash out the retirement a tax I had been paying into how could I do that, or could I do that?

This is a legal-tax-accounting question that cannot be answered in a global forum because: 1. We don't do it. 2. We don't know where you are.... You could ask the Human Resources of your ditched company. They are forced to be nice to you. :) In almost all cases the pension can be transfered or some such thing. --Zeizmic 16:16, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I could answer general, high-level questions about U.S. retirement accounts, probably by pointing you to the proper IRS publication. You would need to know what type of account you have, in detail. If it is truly a "tax" you've been paying, like Social Security, you can't "get it back" until you retire or become disabled. -THB 21:29, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you can. Contact the trustee that has your qualified plan and they'll let you know how. You will generally want to read the Special Tax Notice on retirement plan payments issued from the IRS and direct any tax questions to your CPA or tax advisor. ~snak

Deliberate damage to a page

What happens if we realise that someone is editing a page just to destroy it?

I assume you mean on Wikipedia. In simple cases of WP:VAND someone will WP:REVERT it. You can do it too; be sure to know first what vandalism is. In particular differences of opinion are not, see WP:CON. Weregerbil 15:56, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Or you can report it here. Thanks.--Shantavira 18:08, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Bear in mind you cannot really 'destroy' a page; everything is light and trivial here on Wikipedia. If anything important is tampered with, it will invariably be noticed within minutes, corrected, and the culprit will be dealt with. And, vandalism does serve a useful purpose -- those that contribute constructively will feel validated that their work is important enough for someone to want to mess with. If Wikipedia didn't have vandals, that would likely mean that only sober, serious researchers looked at it. But of course the goal is to expand Wikipedia ad infinitum, both in content and audience. Theavatar3 18:53, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

ian...

1. can someone explain to me what is voip{voice over internet protocol}in laymans language
2. recently we were doing a course on windows 2000.we created our own user accounts and we logged in as administrators and were told to each have their own passwords.the next day i dint attend class,and am told the teacher actually hacked into my computer(is it possible)he dint use any software.he just tried some paswords.so my question is can some put a pasword that overides other paswords or sumthin,n he dint open the cpu.he just typed n 5 minutes or less later he was in...explain

1. VOIP describes a voice signal, being carried over an Internet Protocol network (i.e. the Internet itself). That's basically it.
2. Was this some sort of proof by him that it's possible, or why would he do this? If he himself had a system administrator account, he could use it to gain access to yours, since they can do that. Otherwise he may have just tried a bunch of common passwords and figured your own out because of its weakness, though this would have been easier for him with some sort of software. Passwords should have some completely random element to them to stop this type of attack. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 16:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Refer to computer ref desk.martianlostinspace 16:58, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

design standards for 1991 chevrolet head rests

Would anyone know where I could obtain the design standards for headrests - specifically for a 1991 chevrolet sprint convertible? I need to know how much force it would take to break one. I was rear-ended by a large truck 18 months ago and suffer major headaches and shoulder pain, but the insurer claims there was little damage. They keep downplaying the fact that my head broke the headrest in the accident (they willingly paid to repair the headrest!) I've tried Transport Canada and GM but neither could/would help me. GM said that sort of information is not published and would not be released to the general public, yet Transport Canada said only GM would have that info. Now it seems to me that there were design standards in 1991, so where would I find them? If I could say to the insurer ..."this is how much force these headrests were designed to take before they break", then I would have a fighting chance to prove that since my head was the object the headrest hit in order to get broken, then my medical claims are justified. Thanks very much for your help graceyjo 20:18, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Technically, those are considered trade secrets and no automobile company will reveal them, unless they are legally required to. I think your best bet would be to seek legal counsel, especially an attorney who specializes in auto accidents.--Folksong 03:09, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Some safety organization might have tested them, like NHTSA. You could try asking them. StuRat 07:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Culture Warrior

The US is caught in a tug of war between its contradicting cultures. Bill orielly found a very daisy topic to debate on. It brings a clear confusion today in the minds of majority of westerners whether freedom needs to be valued or there is just impatience for desires. The conflict between the traditional views and those of the secular progressive clearly reflects the confusion. It highlights the importance of education amongst the youth. Liberty is being abused. America wants to fall back on traditional values to reflect a better perspective of the american values in the world. What exactly is the underlying themeline behind the book? Does America want to offer freedom or materialistic freedom or its perception or mindset at looking at things in life?

Or will the traditionals start stringent measures of kicking out the illegals and become racists?

20:41, 4 December 2006 (UTC)~~

What book? 202.168.50.40 20:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Culture Warrior --Justanother 20:47, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Your question is not phrased in a way that makes a lot of sense. We can try to help you with specific questions, if you make it clear what the specific question is. If you just want to discuss opinions, this is a matter for a debate forum, not Wikipedia. Friday (talk) 20:53, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The appropriate question I see here would be regarding just what is the theme of the book. Probably belongs on the Humanities desk. --Justanother 20:59, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I take the view that America and 'the terrorists' are the same culture -- the culture of desperatation, confusion, and boredom. Theavatar3 05:39, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Is that a comment on the nature of the theme of the book? --Justanother 05:41, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

All books are purely autobiographical. Theavatar3 17:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The point of concern here is the extreme to which the west tries to deliberate on such issues wasting time on pointless matters. The americans went into Iraq to give freedom and the irony is that today their emphasis is on traditional perspective, which emphasizes on curbing freedom of the minority communities especially muslims and kicking out the illegal mexicans who also want to aspire for a superior quality of life... 20:42, 5 December 2006 (UTC)~

Life and the World

Why does the end of the world often come? Will there be a beginning afterwards? 71.31.154.248 21:35, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Do you want a religious viewpoint or a scientific viewpoint? From a scientific viewpoint, it hasn't come yet (as we know of), and on a religious viewpoint, you could read up on Apocalypse. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.249.67.249 (talk) 21:50, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

If you are interested in the scientific viewpoint, you could ask on the Science Reference Desk, and if in the religious viewpoint, the Humanities Desk. -THB 23:37, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Soprry we must only give factual answers --- no viewpoints anymore! 8-(--Light current 01:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

If this was meant as a scientific question, see oscillating universe. StuRat 07:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Maimonides states in the Guide for the Perplexed that the world will probably not end, but there is no way to prove one way or the other. see wikisource:The Guide for the Perplexed (Friedlander)/Part II/Chapters#CHAPTER XXVII.Jon513 17:29, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Go find a jehovah witness.

Scientology a cult?

I personaly think that scientology is a cult, but I am wondering whether other people think that way. It seems to me, that it at least is dangerous to babies (because of the honey for babies under one year) but I am really curious whether other people think so. Thank you for your opinions. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.249.67.249 (talk) 21:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

"Cult" is a bit of a loaded term. See Scientology and cult for more info. It wouldn't be appropriate for us to get into our own personal opinions here- that's a matter for a forum, not an encyclopedia. Friday (talk) 21:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

The Wikipedia RD isn't a discussion board, but you will find one regarding the negative side of Scientology on THIS SITE, I'm sure they'll welcome your input. Anchoress 21:55, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

thank you :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.249.67.249 (talk) 22:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

You are certainly entitled to your personal opinion. I just hope it is based on a greater exposure to Scientology and Scientologists than Clambake and YTMND. The baby formula was developed in the 50's before anything was known about infant botulism (a very rare disease, BTW). Most Scientologists I know do not use it; they breastfeed or use the much better commercial formulas that are now available. That seems hardly a reason to condemn a group of people you don't know. --Justanother 22:18, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Many people agree with you that Scientology is a harmful cult but I have not heard such an argument based on feeding babies honey. Another article you might read that is probably linked to from those already mentioned is Xenu. -THB 23:36, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Unfortunately, IMO, the wikipedia articles were mainly written by critics of Scientology and reflect their viewpoints. While experienced Scientologists such as myself are working on removing ingrained POV, there is still a VERY lot of work to be done. Look at the critics' sites but do not be afraid of or biased against looking at the What is Scientology site too. Think for yourself! --Justanother 00:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

In order to do my part to maintain order and prevent this becoming a soapbox or forum for discussion I will not contribute further on this thread but, as always, welcome communication on my talk page. --Justanother 00:09, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

People who go into the Scientology fold and then reveal its inner workings to the world at large are said to engage in 'squirreling' by the betrayed members. This shows that the tenants of Scientology are not meant for the world at large -- they are 'secret teachings'. I think if any line were to be drawn between 'cult' and 'religion', it would be that the latter is inclusive while the former is not. Theavatar3 05:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, it's clear that a high degree of secrecy is a feature most people associate with cults. StuRat 07:16, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The practice of requiring money (usually for "readings" or "classes") to go up in "levels" is not something most people would accept in a legitimate church. StuRat 09:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, how "weird" the beliefs of a church are determines whether they are accepted as a legit sect or called a cult. And some Scientology beliefs, like "an Operating Thetan VIII (the highest OT level released so far) can purportedly kill with a thought", are definitely "out there". StuRat 09:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yet another factor is age, with older religions being taken more seriously. Scientology is quite recent (dating from 1952), so lacks the legitimacy of an old, established religion. (Note, I don't personally agree with this standard for defining a cult.) StuRat 09:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

One thing that might be argued to be in favor of Scientology being a mainstream religion is that they have many, seemingly mainstream, members, who are well-known to the public, like John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. This isn't an accident, however, as they actively seek celebrities in order to achieve this sense of legitimacy. StuRat 09:58, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

No smoke without fire. It seems to be like some sort of pyramid selling scheme involving 'new age' ideas - wierd.87.102.32.250 12:25, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

To be a pyramid scheme/Ponzi scheme, the people at higher levels would need to get paid when they recruit people at the lower levels. I'm not aware of this happening, are you ? StuRat 12:43, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The fact that the first approach of scientology is often psychological profiling through detailed questionnaires (that show an genial understanding of human psychology) and then tailoring further contacts according to the personality traits gives scientology an enormous power of influence on its selected targets (its a modern form of confession : know the sins of your parish gives you enormous power on the flock and instructing them to perform tasks irrelevant to the sin secures your influence on them). Scientology wants to make its adepts better and freer humans (or is it thetans?) and many of its participant must believe their doing good to the world. The fact that their mythology is a compression of fashionable 50's sci-fi themes with salvatory teleology with a tendency towards total control doesn't help its credibility in my eyes. Keria 13:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes it's an evil sick cult, if they approach you tell them to fuck off. I hope this helps you with your question. --Charlesknight 13:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Here are the questions for their 1st test.

• 5. Do you intend two or less children in your family even though your health and income will permit more? = have yougot extra cash?
• 29. Would you rather give orders than take them? = are you going to be a manager or just a regular sheep?
• 31. Could you agree, to strict discipline ? = how much can we control you?
• 47. Have you any particular hate or fear? = so we can exploit it?
• 52. Would you "buy on credit" with the hope that you can keep up the payments? = are you any good at managing money?
• 28. Are you considered warm-hearted by your friends? 64.Are you normally considered "cold"? 69.Does emotional music have quite an effect on you? = which carrot are we going to give you to make you join us?
• 88. If we were invading another country, would you feel sympathetic towards conscientious objectors in this country? that one is just great who's the "we" anyway?
• 89. Are there some things about yourself on which you are touchy? If thats not planning a good conversation...
• 99. Do you prefer to take a passive role in any club or organization to which you belong? etc... and a hundred more.

Now the problem with sects and totalitarian organisations is one could ask wether they might have some beneficial aspects to them, beneficial to society or the individual. I'm having a hard time finding one for scientology (isn't it a great name for a sect reminds me of truthiness. Keria 17:01, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

There are a set of 4 lectures on this topic on google video. one, two, three, four. Jon513 17:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Without addressing any of the issues here I simply comment that this thread has become quite a forum for heavily biased original research and unsupported hate talk and I, for one, am finding it quite offensive. I doubt we would tolerate a similar discussion of the Jews or gays or blacks or, well, anyone, and it speaks perfectly to my remark about ingrained bias against Scientologists on wikipedia. --Justanother 18:32, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

searching for definition for phrase "bite me"

Ejfuasu 23:01, 4 December 2006 (UTC)My thirteen year old daughter thinks that it ok to use this term in casual conversation. After argueing with her about it, I decided to get a third party invelved. Please tell me how I can find this phrases meaning. Thankyou for your time. Eric

A very good reference for such things is Urban Dictionary. This is a user edited website for slang terms. You might also be interested in the Wiktionary entry on the term.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 23:08, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Try Urban dictionary entry for Bite mebeaten to the punch by the above. Unfortunately when television shows like The Simpsons freely use these terms, kids will think they are acceptable. Maybe you need to explain that it doesn't matter if it is a swear word or not, telling someone to get lost isn't nice, even if it isn't a swear word. Vespine 23:12, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Ditto on using urbandictionary as a reference. You didn't ask, but my opinion is that it's vaguely sexual but relatively mild as far as foul language goes. Vespine is right, it's the underlying message that is rude, more than the actual choice of words. However, it IS funny when Bart says it. Certainly your daughter shouldn't say it to adults, but if used in a joking or friendly manner between her and her friends, there are worse things for you to worry about. It's probably not worth arguing about because it's not likely you'll win, so consider saving your ammunition for something more immediately harmful. -THB 23:28, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

As a sidenote, I think it's interesting that you think to have a third party (other than the other parent of the child) involved in your parenting. Dismas|^(talk) 04:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It's a grey area he didn't feel 100% confident with, and I wish my parents had gotten a third opinion occasionally. -THB 05:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate the fact that Eric didn't end the argument with, "I'm right and your parent. You're wrong and my child. This is the end of the discussion as my opinion counts for more than yours." I think it shows good parenting. Eric is teaching his daughter not to abuse power relationships and good dispute resolution tactics. There is also no reason to assume that there is another parent around. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 05:40, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe this started off as a rather graphic sexual insult, but has become a very mild insult with time. A similar insult, "bugger" (originally meaning a man who engages in anal sex with boys), has come to have a much more mild meaning in the UK. Another example: "that sucks". StuRat 07:09, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Better placed on Language desk.--Light current 07:11, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It's also a parenting question, perhaps more so. -THB 07:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It is equivalent to "Eat me!" or "Blow me!" in meaning and in terms of being fighting words. Edison 15:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Not in the US. Here, "bite me" is much more mild. StuRat 17:14, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The problem with that answer is that "blow me", for instance, has (at least) a couple of very different meanings; one sexual, and one indicating surprise. --Tagishsimon (talk) 15:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

So that explains Popeye always saying "Blow me down !"...I always wondered about that. :-) StuRat 17:13, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

"Blow me" is only sexual in the U.S. It's extremely vulgar. -THB 17:44, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Hiroshima & Nagaski

Did the restoration of these two cities after their bombing occur on the orginal sites or were they move as a result of the effects of long term radition to other locations?

The original sites. --Wooty Woot? contribs 00:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial is almost directly beneath where the bomb went off. Vespine 00:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

December 5

Peanuts

Hi im the peanut farmer who asked bout storing my peanuts in the forsest. Sum one rubbed out my questin. i have lots of theft from my storeroom so i thot to store my crop in the forast. is that legal? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.111.113.185 (talk • contribs)

It would depend upon the laws wherever it is that you farm peanuts and on who owns the forast. -THB 02:19, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't think your peanuts would be safe in the forest - thieves and wild animals would find them there. --Shuttlebug 02:21, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Im not sure on the legality of storing them. AS THB says, it could depend on who owns the forest. My concern would be more one of protecting your nuts from attack by wild animals. Squirrels apparently would have a taste for your nuts. --Light current 02:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Light current, peanuts aren't nuts, they're legumes. I assumed they would be stored in proper containers to protect them from bugs and animals. Surely thieves would have more trouble finding them in the forast than in a storeroom known to contain peanuts. I'm not clear on why someone would steal peanuts. They're quite cheap. It would be more lucrative to steal copper or something. -02:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Apparently stealing almonds can be lucrative. User:Zoe|(talk) 03:00, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, farmers are getting ripped off left and right in California and across the country--fuel, machinery, crops. Almonds are significantly more expensive than peanuts. -THB 03:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Paying employees (in) peanuts

One suggestion is that you pay your employees (if that's who you suspect of theft), at least partially, in peanuts. For example, you could give them 5 kg of peanuts each a week, and decrease their pay by the cost of those peanuts to you (wholesale cost, not retail). The object here is twofold:

1) To satiate their desire for peanuts, so that they won't feel the need to steal them.

2) To increase their perceived pay, as they think of the value of peanuts as the retail price, which is much greater than the price you pay for them.

You could also increase security, by hiring guards, etc., but that can be quite expensive, and the guards might steal peanuts, too.

As for the legal issues, I would think those peanuts would be legally considered to be "abandoned", and therefore anyone who found them could take them. Also, the police might wonder what you are up to, and suspect you of smuggling drugs. StuRat 06:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

What does that say about your employees if you pay them peanuts? 8-)--Light current 07:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm sure they will never forget this gesture (especially compared with the other gestures you might have made when finding out they were stealing from you). StuRat 07:11, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

StuRat, I don't think you should be giving legal advice about abandoned property, as that would vary by location, and we don't even know where the OP is, except that he is on a farm and there is a forsest nearby. I think the OP should contact a lawyer specializing in property issues. The lawyer could help with the trespass issues as well. -THB 07:18, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Can you think of any jurisdiction where leaving sacks of peanuts in the forest wouldn't constitute abandonment ? StuRat 09:06, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I just couldn't comment as I am not a lawyer. -THB 16:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The above idea about paying employees in peanuts is how a few companies operate. It may work for the OP. Jack Daniels gives its employees a free fifth every quarter or some such thing. From what I hear, Hershey's Chocolate lets the employees take chocolate. And I've known several people who have worked for Ben & Jerry's who got free pints of ice cream. Something like 2 pints a day. Dismas|^(talk) 08:27, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think I would recommend giving away liquor at work, that could have undesired consequences. StuRat 10:03, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Wal-mart apparently pays their workers peanuts. They're going to give them a shirt every five years now that they've capped wages. -THB 15:39, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

There are legends that trolls are fond of peanuts. There should be a Ref Desk for trolls where questions like this could be asked. Edison 15:52, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I did not know that peanuts were native to Scandinavia. Perhaps the original question-poster could clarify the location of the peanut farm near the forast. -THB 16:48, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Risk versus reward

If storing peanuts in the forest makes sense to you, then do it. However, you should be psychologically prepared to have them confisicated, by police, squirrels, or anyone else that wanders upon your cache. Theavatar3 17:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

If he buries them underground in the forsest, they will be safer. -THB 17:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Where are the Serious Q&A Only Police when you need them?Edison 20:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

sheet music

where can i find sheet music for a beginner/int. guitarist, actual free sheet music, i dont care what it is thanks

sheetmusic.org ~~snak3

mudcat.org --Shuttlebug 02:22, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

sibeliusmusic.com has a few free examples, but the majority is not. bibliomaniac15 02:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

• If you don't live in too much of a rural area, you probably have a 'brick and mortar' instruments and sheet music store in your vicinity. And since it won't take any shipping costs it will be considerably cheaper than buying online.- Mgm|^(talk) 11:01, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Does it have to be guitar tabs (is that the right word?) or can it be just chords? eg. Gm=G minor? You will find a lot of guitar chords, comme ca, on "normal" music.martianlostinspace 16:51, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

POV tags

Not sure I'm asking this in the right place. If not, I apologise. Having read WP:NPOV and related pages through again, I see that it is expected that use of the {{POV}} tag is accompanied by a reasonably full explanation on the talk page of the article. I was wondering is there any concensus that such tags can be removed if no explanation is given (or it is only a very basic ie. "I disagree" comment is made without citing problem areas and explaining the discrepancy)? There is a huge backlog of tags which undermine articles. Many seem to just be added when someone reads the topic which does not support their own POV on the subject. Thanks. WJBscribe 01:45, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Not sure about this one, but I remember reading somewhere that it can be. As a general rule, if you add a tag, you should say why on the talk page. --Wooty Woot? contribs 01:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

This isn't the right place for this topic (you might want WT:NPOV) but it seems easier to just answer than try moving it. Like many questions about editing, this is a judgment call. Tags with little or no explanation would generally be safe to remove. When in doubt, explain yourself well on the talk page and you should be fine. Friday (talk) 02:01, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I will ask at WT:NPOV. WJBscribe 02:34, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

This may be better on the Help desk--Light current 02:02, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I leave POV tags even if no explanation is given if it's obvious. I think the duty to inform potentially naive users is more important than some technicality. -THB 02:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It is sufficient, perhaps even preferred, to give a reason for removing POV tags and the like in the edit history. If you go to a talk page to discuss your change, you will appear to be inconfident in the eyes of others. And if you inconfident in your edit, do not make it at all. Theavatar3 17:28, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

edits

Just out of curiousity, how many edits per second (or minutes) are in the recent changes (including new user accounts, deletion logs etc.)--PrestonH 05:11, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

This site claims that in January Wikipedia was updated 4,223 times per hour and 110 new users were registered every hour. Thus, it may be safe to estimate 4,500 total events per hour, which is 1.25 per second. –mysid☎ 11:34, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Interesting, I thought it would have been much more. But I guess that goes with the info I found some time ago that that would indicate that most edits are made by what is now maybe 1000 editors and if you figure how many of them are active in any given hour and how many actual constructive edits are made (most articles being fairly stable). Also, my guess is about 75% of edits are very minor or maintenance, vandalism, or repairing vandalizsm. --Justanother 12:40, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Looking at the time stamps at Special:Recentchanges will give you a better idea of what's going on.--Shantavira 13:52, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Of course, some large percentage of the edits are school kids vandalizing Wiki during study hall. nA RCPers work is never done!

Atlant 17:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

pal 4 chat

Is there any scope 4 chat in wikipedia..? if so give me the links in detail or directly..? Temuzion 06:13, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

No. Wikipedia is not a social networking site. Unless you mean a "chat room" like Wikipedia's IRC? --Wooty Woot? contribs 06:24, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Absolutely none.--Light current 06:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

What about WP:PUMP and IRC? Anchoress 06:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Thats serious discussion 8-(--Light current 07:06, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

AFAIK this desk is the closest you'll get to a Wikipedia chat (even though it shouldn't really be used for that purpose), plus you'll learn something every day! However, you might like to browse the Wikipedia Fun department for further ideas.--Shantavira 09:32, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually the pump looked to be a little less formal than the RDs when I lookd last. IRC i cant get into it/dont understand it--Light current 15:08, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Depends on topic. See on some popular topics, you see templates at the top of talk pages - limiting the scope of the topic.martianlostinspace 16:47, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

eg. Talk:Microsoftmartianlostinspace 16:48, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Leaving Wikipedia due to death threats

How many people per annum leave WP due to so called 'credible' death threats? Ive just been astonished to find someone admitting to this action.--Light current 06:57, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

They admitted leaving because of a death threat or they admitted making a death threat to cause someone to leave? -THB 07:30, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

No leaving of course!--Light current 08:21, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

It's extremely rare, as there are all sorts of checks and balances that can be invoked before a dispute gets that bad. Unfortunately, I guess some users might not know that, or not know where to ask for help.--Shantavira 09:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Some of the questions - and not a few of the responses, are enough to bore a person to death.

Yeah esp mine! 8-)--Light current 14:54, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, I suppose, death threats are so extreme that they might be too scared to stay to tell anybody. That way, it's difficult to tell.martianlostinspace 16:44, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

CSI:Crime Scene Investigation: Built To Kill, Part 2

Our article on the episode and several other places are unclear about this. What is the significance of the doll picture on the back of the miniature portrait? Is this ever addressed again? Grissom appeared to have an aha moment, but for me it was a very confusing ending. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:54, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

• Aha, a glance through the upcoming episodes indicate I have to wait for Post Mortem (CSI episode) to show. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:00, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

search on user

Hi, Can you search the work and articles submitted by one specific user? Can you search the work of a user i e.g. Norway from the English page? br Iris Frøybu 14:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

There is a "User Contributions" link on every user page - that'd be the way to do it. --Tagishsimon (talk)

I don't understand the second part of your question. If you are referring to the Norwegian and English Wikipedias, a contributor would need a separate user account for each. They might or might not use the same user name (or IP address) for each account, so it could be difficult to associate their contributions on each Wikipedia.--Shantavira 15:31, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

I think he means "Can you search within the works of only one user?". If I'm right in that interpretation, I think the answer's no.martianlostinspace 16:43, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

To integrate the above (for my own clarity, too:)):

• (From martianlostinspace) You cannot do a search for keywords in the contributions that a specific user has made (i.e. you cannot do a search by username), but
• (from Tagishsimon) you can get a list of the work and article edits made by a user by going to her user page, and clicking on the "User contributions" link found inside the "Toolbox" on the left. From there on you would have to click on every entry and read it to see what it was.
• (From Shantavira) You cannot search the Norwegian language Wikipedia (nor any other language Wikipedia) from within the English one, you have to actually browse to the Norwegian Wikipedia pages (Norwegian Wikipedia (Bokmål)or Norwegian Wikipedia (Nynorsk)to do that.
• The user you are searching for can have a different username on every Wikipedia that she belongs to.

Is the above correct? -- Seejyb 18:20, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Yup. And you could download copies of any and all wikipedias and knit your own search engine, but you'll have to have considerable coding-fu to be able to do this. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Users can also have multiple usernames and no username at all. -THB 19:45, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

admission

---

Hi! i am looking for admission in any school or college in ontario. I have been in canada for two years,living in Quebec since then. but recently I have moved to ontario. and I am facing many problems in understandinG Ontario's educational system as it is way different from Quebec's. I am over 19, and i still do not have high school diploma. it is because Quebec demands French Sec-5 (equivalent of grade 12) too. so i had to start all over. And now as i have moved, and i no more need any french credits, Could anyone please suggest me what is procedure of admission for a student like me, who needs admission in the mid-stream of course. and what college or school should I approach. I am intented to take business stream. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.52.19.232 (talk • contribs)

I live in Ontario, have kids going to university here, and have no clue what you are talking about. I hope somebody else does, or else you will have to do more work by yourself, such as talking to various admission officers for the colleges and universities. --Zeizmic 16:17, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

In the unusual situation you're in, Zeizmic is giving excellent advice. Talk to the admissions people at a couple of the schools you'd like to go to. You may be the same questioner who asked about not having a high-school diploma a while ago. Canada appears to have GEDs. -THB 16:38, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Please don't take offence at this, but is English your native language? If it isn't, you haven't got far to go, from what I can see in you question. But I would suggest you brush up on some of your English grammar - things like the letter "I" always being a capital letter when it is used as a word by itself. If you did, you might vastly improve your chances of being accepted.martianlostinspace 16:41, 5 December 2006 (UTC) And by the way, it isn't too bad. I've seen a lot, lot worse!martianlostinspace 16:42, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, if you aren't a Canadian citizen, that's an issue the admissions office would need to know about. I'm not sure how it works in Canada, but in the US, you would likely need to obtain a student visa to be allowed to stay in the country while in college. Also, you can probably expect to pay more for college than native Canadians. Your English might be good enough, as is, for a Math/Science/Engineering course of study, but not for a major in English Lit, for example. So, you may, or may not, need to improve your English skills first, depending on your intended major. StuRat 16:50, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Zeizmic, do not be discouraged by martian's remarks.

It is no wonder that English visitors are often treated brusquely by the French. Theavatar3 17:31, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

any 1 tats read some postz in da internet nows how bad laik english canget u now?

waddup -THB 19:44, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Worldly newspapers

Hallo! For a market research I need to know how many copies of newspapers are printed daily (or per year) in the world.

Thank you for your answer.

Regards,

Rosa — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.174.59.26 (talk • contribs)

Start with Newspaper. It's a difficult figure to pin down as there are so many newspapers in the world. In addition, many newspapers have internet editions. Do you count unique viewers of those editions? -THB 16:54, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Volcanoes

Does anyone know of places in America and Mexico where volcanoes erupted and destroyed the land that was once maybe forests but now just barren (or changed the land), like it did in the Virgin Valley in Nevada?

Do you mean recently, like Mount St. Helens? -THB 19:40, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

From Yellowstone National Park: "Yellowstone has registered three major volcanic eruption events in the last 2.2 million years with the last event occurring 640,000 years ago. Its eruptions are the largest known to have occurred on Earth within that timeframe, producing drastic climate change in the aftermath". Gandalf61 20:03, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Think of England

Warning: People who watch Stargate Atlantis, haven't seen ep 3x11, and care about small spoilers, shouldn't read on.

A cultural question; in a recent Atlantis episode, replicators had taken over Atlantis, and were taking information from a character by means of inserting their hands in foreheads, and extracting it directly from peoples' minds. When one asked "How was I supposed to resist that?", another, an American General replied, "Well, I like to close my eyes and think of England". What I'm wondering is... what did he mean by this? When Americans are in pain do they like to think of medieval churches? Or is there some level of cultural allusion that I'm missing? I'm English, so it was a bit of a surprise (I might have expected something like 'Close my eyes and think of Minnesota', since it was his home, but England was a surprising thing to stick on the end). --Mnemeson 20:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

You are English? Male, I imagine! It was traditionally the advice that maters are alleged to have given to well brought up 'gels' just before their wedding night; Well, my dear, just lie back and think of England. I hope that helps. Clio the Muse 20:26, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Rectus abdominis - Getting a six-pack

What diet and exercise would be appropriate to define the abs? Thanks --Weird question? 20:38, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Try an ablounge and weightwatchers, they have great results. If you don't have the money, just do situps and other exercises for at least a half an hour a day. Remember to always eat your small snacks between meals (fruits) and make sure you have a lot of different colors of foods on your plate (and i don't mean candy). hope this helps, oh and remember to stretch!

wii searchingf

what is a good website that could help me to find the wii?