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December 6

Sitcoms

Is there a set list of Sitcom ideas somewhere? It seems like a lot of different shows have the same situations and issues.

You might be interested in perusing the TV Tropes Wiki, which deals with this sort of thing. Chuck 02:36, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This doesn't tell me anything...I mean i see many sitcoms that use a lot of the same Story lines. Are they going off of a list or something.

No, I don't believe there's a single list. But all writers are influenced to some extent by what they've seen before, and may be borrowing--either consciously or unconsciously--from similar plotlines from other shows. The site I linked to above catalogs some common themes in TV (although it's not restricted exclusively to sitcoms), but I'm not aware of any evidence that there's some master list all sitcom writers are using. Chuck 06:03, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

what is healthy?

I was wondering if it was healthier to excersise before eating? Or is it healthier to eat then excersise?

Thank you

Digesting food costs energy, so when you exercise after eating your body has a problem. That's the 'scientific' approach. You could also listen to your body. How does it feel to exercise on a full stomach? What is your body telling you? DirkvdM 11:03, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Dirk's right. You need to give your body to digest food before excersizing. That said, you need energy to excersize, so you need the energy content of the food you eat. So I would say, excersize after eating, but leave some time for digestion. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:28, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This same logic applies to swimming after eating. The digestive tract requires energy, but the body needs to keep itself warm and active as well. The digestive system doesn't get what it needs, and you get pain. -- Ec5618 22:39, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

obi-wan kenobi

could somesome please tell me why he is also called ben? i remember in the 1970's movies hearing the name once. is this a name he was born with then changed when he went to the temple to train as a jedi? could someone let me know i would greatly appreciate it..thank you...cheryl

If you don't get an answer here, you might also try posting it at the talk page for the article on Obi-Wan Kenobi, where people who contributed to that article are more likely to see your question. Chuck 02:47, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

After the Great Jedi Purge, only a few Jedi remained. The only two that are of particular note in the films were Yoda and Obi-Wan. Yoda went to the Dagobah system to hide out. Obi-Wan went to Tatooine. The reason why Obi-Wan went to Tatooine was to watch over Luke Skywalker since he was Darth Vader's son. Luke and his sister Leia were put into hiding so that they might grow up and overthrow Vader and the emperor. Or so was the hope of Yoda and Obi-Wan. To be able to blend in with the people on Tatooine, Obi-Wan took the name "Ben Kenobi". There's more to the story of course since it's a total of 6 films but that's the basics. Dismas|^(talk) 03:36, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've always thought there should be a new entry in the 100 Things I'd do if I Became and Evil Overlord for this - "If I have a son I can't find who might be a danger to me, try looking on my home planet, for someone who shares my last name. And if I find someone who shares the last name of my arch-nemesis there too, take appropriate action." DJ Clayworth 18:48, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

For all Vader knew though, the kids were dead. And his home world was a speck in the back woods of the galaxy so why search there? Also, Tatooine most likely didn't have any sort of phone book or census so how would Vader have known that there was a "Kenobi" on that world? Thinking about this too much, I am. Dismas|^(talk) 23:13, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Folding a handkerchief for the coat pocket

I am looking for the correct technique for folding a white handkerchief for the coat pocket of my tuxedo. I prefer the more classic looks but I have had trouble in the past with getting the handkerchief to fit properly and to stay in place. Anyone have recommendations?

From searching Google for "handkerchief fold", see http://www.ehow.com/how_18037_fold-handkerchief.html. Seems like this really should be in wikipedia's handkerchief article. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:09, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The department store, Nordstroms, at one time gave out liturature showing different handkerchief folding styles. You might also check out your local haberdashery. MRLee216.239.160.71 16:59, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

cash budget

How does a cash budget differ from a budget

In what context? ESkog | ^Talk 04:40, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

A cash budget is an economic budget and a budget is, um.. Another kind of budget? (ie. food budget etc - thinking out loud here) --Yardan

Asian characters on Wikipedia articles

In many places where I presume there should be Asian characters, my Mozilla Firefox instead displays a long string of ????????. What do I need to download/change in order to see these? ESkog | ^Talk 05:13, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You need to download and install a font that allows for viewing of such characters. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:29, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
And depending on the language, you may need to Enable complex text support. Besides Indic languages, you need that for Thai, Arabic, and I suppose Hebrew. That article also has links to getting the fonts. - Taxman ^Talk 14:23, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Website

I am trying to make a website for my school. A place to host study guides, notes, etc.. However, I need to find out how to make usernames and passwords. I need to find software like most websites use, software that says "Hello <username>" at the top of every page. Im not advanced enough to make the software myself, but im sure there are many open source projects like this. I just dont knw where to find them. Please help. Any help would be nice. Thank you.

Rex

PhpNuke is a great content management system. Resources: http://php.resourceindex.com/ & http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/ - What you basicly need is a content management system. Their pretty easy to setup with a little knowledge of html/php/mySQL & FTP clients. --Yardan \ Talk

I've found that school systems administrators using a Microsoft Windows-based setup often like to use Windows SharePoint Services and/or the Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server for something like this. This works pretty well for something like what you described - if your school is using Microsoft products left and right (such as Microsoft Office). These however are far from open-source, and I'm not suggesting you install them yourself, but perhaps suggest them to your systems administrator to use. Otherwise, I highly recommend plone. PHP-Nuke, noted above, is also known to be a good system. — flamingspinach | (talk) 07:19, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

my cherokee heritage

where can i go and search the rolls for my ancesters

Quick hint: Google for cherokee heritage. You should find something there. --Yardan 09:45, 6 December 2005 (UTC) \ Talk[reply]

What are GPA Scores?

(modified this a bit to seperate from the above question Brian Schlosser42 18:24, 6 December 2005 (UTC)) How are they taken and what do they show? Max possible achievable score?etc... Please,details needed. Thanx in advance.[reply]

In my experience in American schools, both secondary and post secondary, the Grade Point Average scale is: A-4, B-3, C-2, D-1 and F-0. Add up the totals for your grades, divide by the number of classes taken, and voila, your GPA. Of course, there are also higher points given in some schools for AP and ID classes, so your GPA could exceed 4.0. Brian Schlosser42 18:24, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See our article on Grade (education). It differs from country to country. In particular, it's pretty meaningless in an international context to give a GPA score without saying what the maximum is.-gadfium 19:57, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ettiquette question

Is it a breach of ettiquette to fart out loud when you're standing at the urinal in the men's room? I say no, that's the perfect place to fart. My wife says yes.

I'd say it depends on where you are. At a football stadium or a stock car race, I'm sure it would be fine. At a fancy hotel or restaraunt, not so much. Of course, there's no authority that decides such matters, so it comes down to would you offend anyone in the situation. - Taxman ^Talk 20:53, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It wouldn't bother me unless the farter and I were at adjacent urinals. In that case I would think it was kind of rude/nasty. ike9898 22:38, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Umm.........we are talking about bodily functions in the restroom, are we not? If one can not fart in the restroom, at the urinal or not, where can one fart acceptably? I fart, you fart, we all fart. Better in the loo than at the table. MRLee216.239.160.71 16:36, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I fart when I want, where I want, and don't give a damn what you think of it.

GPA Scores

I'd like to know what GPA Scores are and when they are taken. What do they show? How are they calculated? What is the max achievable score and what is the average score in the US? Please,details needed. Thanx in advance.

16:12, 6 December 2005 (UTC)16:12, 6 December 2005 (UTC)Hasanclk

A confused guy.

In the United States, grades in classes are given on a range including A (the best), B, C, D, and F (failing). A student's GPA is a numerical measure of these grades. An A is worth 4, B = 3, C = 2, D = 1, F = 0, and all grades are averaged in the simplest schemes, making the maximum possible score a 4.0. Many colleges weight these averages based upon the number of credit hours a class was worth. Often in high schools, some advanced classes are "weighted" courses where it is possible to achieve greater than a 4.0. This can be done in two very common ways: 1) increase the value of an A to 5 (and other letter grades are usually adjusted accordingly) or 2) add a raw value, like 0.1, to the final calculated GPA. I am unsure what the average score is in the United States, but grade inflation is a constant problem. ESkog | ^Talk 17:39, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Do the letters stand for Average, Bland, Crap, Dismal and Failure? Or is there a reason why E has been omitted? — JIP | Talk 18:05, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See also Grade (education)#United States, Canada, England and Wales, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand —Keenan Pepper 18:22, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Grade (education) wikilink above claims that "E" is omitted because:

an F can be turned into an E by drawing a small line at the bottom of the letter
E traditionally stood for Excellent

I thought it was due to the piecewise nature of the grading. For example, while B>60%, C>50%, D>40%, F can vary from 0-40%. The alphabetical jump representing this difference. Could this be right, or am I deluded.--Commander Keane 22:17, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, the typical scheme in the U.S. is 90-100%=A, 80-89=B, 70-79=C, 60-69=D and 0-59=F. In Canada, for some reason, you only need 80 for an A, 70 for a B and so on.

If you get 85% of the answers correct on all of your math assignments, you would theoretically get a B. In practice, some assignments (such as a final exam) are worth more than others. In an English class, the teacher might give you a numerical score on all of your essays and average them together at the end of the semseter for a final grade.

In some schools, the letter grades are subdivided into pluses and minuses. A score of 87-89 might be a B+ and worth 3.33 points, while a score of 80-83 might be a B- and be worth 2.67 points.

Compiling a national average GPA would be meaningless, since an A in one school might be easier to get than an A in another. That's why schools use SAT scores and class rank in addition to GPA.

Now if only I could understand the British education system! -- Mwalcoff 00:25, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Just for completeness, we should mention that GPA means "Grade Point Average". - Nunh-huh 04:07, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My only query is why you skip the E on the grading scale. The other stuff was interesting though. In Australian universities (the ones I know of at least), my one uses High Distiction, Distiction, Credit, Pass, Fail instead of A,B,C,D,F. Another uses GPA, but with 1 being the best and 7 the worst. I say bring on ISO.--Commander Keane 05:28, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've heard of some schools that use A, B, C, D, E, but I always thought most schools went with "F" because "F" means "fail." If you get an "F," you don't get credit for the course and might have to take it again the next year. In some classes, only two grades are possible: "Pass" or "Fail." -- Mwalcoff 01:17, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for two letter country abbreviations

I am looking for the two letter country abbreviations for:

The Canary Islands
Madeira
Dubai
Scotland
Wales

I've looked every where, but can find nothing.

Thank you for your help in advance.

Look at ISO3166. IC is reserved for Canary Islands, but not assigned. I believe Scotland and Wales are part of UK. There do not appear to be listings for the other two.--agr 18:19, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal (PT), and Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates (AE). Natgoo 22:35, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This website may be of some interest.--Commander Keane 23:48, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As noted, Scotland and Wales are part of the UK and do not have their own ISO 3166 codes. It should be noted that the ISO 3166 code for the UK is GB, not UK. This is the only case where a country's 2-letter Internet top-level domain name is different from its ISO 3166 code; in Internet domains, the UK is UK. --Anonymous, 02:50 UTC, December 7, 2005

Im my high school, E is a passing grade for minimum skill/maximum effort. Basically, you're performing like you get an F, but you pass. I've never seen it used, and believe it would only be used if a Special Ed student was taking a normal level class.

Lampard & Redknap

I read that southampton's manager Harry Redknap is uncle of Chelsea's midfilder Frank Lampard. Is Redknap the brother of Lampard's father or Lamapard's mother?

No, Harry and Frank Snr married two sisters (well, one each, I mean) Jameswilson 03:12, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

satin

How is satin constructed?

The Satin article has a basic description, did you want more specific information?--Commander Keane 21:57, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Sims 2 Nightlife Grilled Cheese Aspiration

For the Grilled Cheese Aspiration in The Sims 2: Nightlife, what is the second Lifetime Want (after "eat 200 grilled cheese sandwiches" has been satisfied)? Also, does anyone know what inspired the GCA's creation?

The Sims is a very random game. However, in earlier expansions, I have found Sims seem to cook too much Grilled Cheese, and I'd imagine that it grew as a joke out of that, like the gnome and llama references. Reading the article though, it sounds like the best aspiration of all! smurrayinchester^{(User), (Ho Ho Ho!)} 16:39, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

balance???????????????????????

can you balance a egg on your foot?? Maoririder 20:54, 6 December 2005 (UTC) not a trick question.[reply]

I just tried it and I could do it easily. —Keenan Pepper 21:55, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

While it's very easy the balance the egg on its side, it is more difficult (ie still possible, but it fell off my foot and cracked) to balance it on its end. --Commander Keane 22:04, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What kind of egg? A chicken's egg, a ducks egg or an ostrich egg? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:28, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, you people actualy tried it? That's some dedication for an RD question. Broken S 03:24, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

We should start a club of all the "hard core" RD researchers. We won't rest until your questions are answered! We'll even balance eggs on our feet! =P —Keenan Pepper 05:09, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You're on BJAODN now. ^_^

‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 05:31, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

OK. Using large chickens eggs. It seemed easier with a hard boiled egg than a raw one but that could be just down to the fact that you worry less about dropping it. It's easier with bare feet than with shoes on and almost impossible with winter boots. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:44, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

That would depend on what type of shoes, would it not? For instance, with deck shoes with the stitching around the outside on the top of the shoe, it would stay there rather easily as compared to a rounded leather work boot with a steel toe. Dismas|^(talk) 00:51, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

OK I'll bite. If it's not a trick question why did you need to know? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

SNES RF output doesn't shown on TV

I recently bought an SNES console from eBay, PAL version, with a British power supply, with four games. I replaced the British power supply with a Finnish one I had bought earlier. When I hook the console up to my TV, it powers up, but no matter which frequency I choose on my TV, no picture shows up. The best I can manage is an entirely black picture, which changes to static if I turn the SNES off or unplug the RF cable. Do I have a too old TV or have I bought a faulty SNES? How can I tell? And why is it that a normal NES has RCA output (the double cables with separate audio and video output) but an SNES doesn't? — JIP | Talk 20:55, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

prisoners educational oppertunities

Help I am doing an essay on educational opportunities for incarcerated individuals and I can not find the actuall budget for Iowas prisons! Every page I go to will not open up. Any idea what the budget is for Iowa-or its budget for education? Thanks --Amy

Try here- http://hrw.org/prisons/states/ia.htm

--P.MacUidhir (t) (c) 01:44, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Cyclones in Africa

What African Country was by a tropical cyclone in 1999? Thanks

This site [1] reports of several affected countries Botswana, Madagascar, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique --Tachs 07:45, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Unknown manga or anime

A while ago i barrowed some movie's and i was hoping someone could help me tracking them down i will give as much information possible so here goes:

i thought but am not sure that the title was 'the legend of the 4 dragon kings' its a story about 4 brothers in the story as the time passes they r getting powers to do things impossible for normal humans at first they do not know why nor how but in time they begin to realise that the are a sort of reincarnation of dragons but some people in the {i think} army have realized the same and whant to use the power for own purpose {as always}. the youngest brother is not in control of his power and it happens that he explodes from time to time sadly this is about all i know about these series i have seen about 16 episodes on 4 video's so if the one reading this can help me please send me an email on Email Removed

thanks for reading and way thanks if u know how it is called and where to find info about it or where to purchase it

greeting from holland Bas/Neoxtao

I believe you may be referring to Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings. It is distributed here. — flamingspinach | (talk) 07:07, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

7 December 2005

Tower in Niagara Falls

Reader Connie has contacted the Wikipedia Help Desk with a question about the date that a tower built next to the bridge in Niagara Falls was built. She thinks that it is on the American side in Niagara Falls, New York and that it was used in a Marilyn Monroe movie.

I will advise her that the appearance in a Marilyn Monroe movie could help date it. However, I would be grateful for any assistance you can give her. Capitalistroadster 00:07, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This would be the Prospect Point Observation Tower, which opened in 1961 after 2½ years construction according to this web site. Prospect Point itself was a rock formation in the same area that collapsed in 1954, according to Pierre Berton's book about Niagara; presumably the tower was built to replace it as a viewpoint.

The tower could not, therefore, have appeared in Niagara (1953 movie). The location near the falls where Marilyn Monroe did appear in the movie was a viewpoint near the base of the falls on the Canadian side. According to this web page, this was built in 1951 (or starting in 1951, anyway) as an addition to the Scenic Tunnels, an attraction that allows people to view the falls from behind and was eventually (in 1994 according to this page) renamed "Journey Behind the Falls".

--Anonymous, 02:20 UTC, December 7, 2005

The tower in "Niagara" is the Rainbow Bridge Bell tower. It was built around 1941, from what I've seen. It is on the Canadian side, part of the Customs complex at that end of the bridge. http://www.niagarafrontier.com/bridges.html#b12]Brian Schlosser42 15:45, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, good point. I forgot that scene in the movie. Of course, if Connie is right about the tower being on the US side and wrong about it being in the movie, rather than vice versa, then the Prospect Point tower would be the one. --Anon, 6:45 UTC, December 9

Awful puns

Why are there so many awful puns in contemporary Australian telejournalism? (Maybe foreign TV news shows as well, I don't know). i.e, just last night Sandra Sully introduces a story about a new eye treatment that might let people do away with eyeglasses, and throws in a bunch of phrases like "left in the dark". And then that ice bar opening in Sydney, "the coolest bar in town..." I mean, I havent' given that many examples because I can't remember them, but there are lots. It's riddled with them. Jesus, WHY? This isn't journalism, it's gimmickry!

I entirely agree. And it's not just TV. The worst offenders are the magazines in the weekend papers. No matter how serious the subject matter may be, the title of the article is virtually always some pun or other. How crass! But worse, how predictable! JackofOz 01:08, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a source to cite or anything but at a guess, I would say that it's to give people the feeling that they're being entertained therefore they would want to tune in again to the same station. Also, if the newscasters put forth a bit of humor then people may grow to like them even though they don't actually personally know them. And if you like someone, you're more likely to want to hear the news from them. It's basically brand loyalty. But like I said, I'm no expert. Dismas|^(talk) 01:40, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My theory: Once one has devised a pun (which must be one of bad, awful, or "oh god, that's so painful I must now kill you" - there is no such thing as a good pun) the punner feels an irresistable urge to share the pun. This is because the punner has already experienced the pain of the pun (and it must cause pain, since it belongs in one of the catgeories I mentioned above) and the punner therefore feels a need to share their pain with others. (N.B.: this is a theory I have just made up, and may bear little or no relation to reality...) -- AJR | Talk 02:35, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's probably because you're watching Channel Ten and Sandra Sully. If you want better journalism, switch to ABC or SBS. Dysprosia 02:47, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I was about to say: It is advertised as the Ten Entertainment Network. jnothman ^talk 02:55, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Pretty much all news organizations everywhere do this to some degree. It shows how "clever" they are, I guess. (Some are horrible, others worthy of admiration. The New York Post's "Headless Body Found in Topless Bar" comes to mind... ) - Nunh-huh 04:00, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you really don't like them doing it but you still want to watch that channel then get everybody you know to phone/email the station every time they do it. I can put up with the puns it's the fact that in North America every scandal is refered to as "something-gate" see Watergate. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:03, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

We acutally have an article on this - List of scandals with "-gate" suffix. Thryduulf 12:44, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's not just in North America, in the UK they append gate to 'scandals' too, very annoying & utterly nonsensical. The bad puns aren't too much of a problem here though. AllanHainey 08:26, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See List of scandals with "-gate" suffix.-gadfium 20:05, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

No idea. Do you read the Herald Sun? (Victorian newspaper). On just about every single page, at least one article will have a headline with a pun. It's horrible. I guess it's true that it keeps you interested in a way, since I read it at work during breaks, and often tell my co-workers about the horrible puns as well as the usual dumb stories. Arilakon 10:56, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It is my belief that puns are used to attract your attention. Annoying in the media? Yes. Functional? Yes. Otherwise we would not be discussing this. True? MRLee216.239.160.71 17:29, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

belguim a part of france

is belguim a part of france.

No, see Belgium. Although French is one of Belgium's official languages. Dismas|^(talk) 00:39, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. It was once... Trekphiler 18:49, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

religious works influcenced by secular works

has there ever been a religious work that has been influenced by a secular work.

Well, yes. But you must have something specific in mind? What do you mean by "a religious work" and "a secular work"? The differences are not always so clear. (Is Leonard Bernstein's Mass a religious work? Are "folk masses" celebrated in the Catholic Church religious works? Both are clearly influenced by secular music.) We can probably help more if you specify what you're looking for. - Nunh-huh 04:05, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Any one of thousands of hymns that use popular tunes for the music? (Including the currently seasonally-appropriate "What Child is This" which uses the tune from Greensleeves.) As Nuhn-huh mentions, you need to narrow this question down. Crypticfirefly 06:06, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Queen of England

I am trying to find out why the Queen of England has two birthdays? I thought it was due to the weather? many thanks===

Well, first off, there is no Queen of England<g>. The person you're thinking of is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Her actual birthday 21 April probably can be accepted without further explanation. The monarch's actual birthday and the "official" birthday - the day it is celebrated - were identical until King Edward VII, born 9 November, decided that he'd like to celebrate in the summer instead. The "official" birthday is simply a matter of scheduling and can change from year to year. When Elizabeth II first came to the throne, her "official" birthday was the second Thursday of June. After seven years of this, it was switched to Saturday as a matter of convenience. It's now the 1st Saturday of June. It's in the summer at least partially to encourage tourism. She also has other birthdays in other realms... Canada is 18 May, Western Australia 28 September, the rest of Australia 8 June, New Zealand the first Monday in June. (Some of these may have changed, and she probably has other "birthdays" elsewhere.) The "second" birthday is just a designated national holiday. - Nunh-huh 03:58, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In Canada it's the Monday preceding the 25 May and it's called Victoria Day except in Quebec where it's called fête des patriotes (Commemoration of the Lower Canada Rebellion). From Holidays in Canada. Also see Queen's Birthday. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:57, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

many thanks for your help....

Standard

I have noticed on the bottom of a cd drive there are a number of markings. One is the CE standard marking, another is the CSA Standard mark. There is a third, which I have seen on a number of devices. It looks like a backward R joined to a U or L. I could not find what it is. Any ideas? Oliverdl 05:01, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Check here Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Marks (3/4 way down) and the home page is UL. It's the mark they use in Canada and the US. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:50, 7 December 2005 (UTC) fixed link — flamingspinach | (talk) 06:52, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Weight Loss

I have lost 100 Pounds in 4 months (on purpose). Is that normal?

I'm not a doctor, and the Wikipedia doesn't give medical advice. If you are concerned about your health and your weight loss program, consult your doctor.

That said, your weight loss sounds *very* fast, to be honest, though it obviously depends on how overweight you were in the first place (if you've lost 100 pounds, you must have had quite a lot to lose). See dieting for some of the issues relating to weight loss, specifically yo-yo dieting and the risks of very low calorie diets and fasting). Also, have you determined what your ideal weight is? Being too underweight can be as bad for your health as being overweight. --Robert Merkel 07:25, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Of course it's not normal. Whether it is good for you or bad for you depends on a lot more info than you provide, as I am sure you realize. Am I being too suspicious in thinking this the come-on line for either trolling or spamming? alteripse 10:33, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

BUSINESS

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT AND A HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT?

Both are the same, I suppose, the latter being recently coined. As opposed, Labor and Industrial Relations has a different function --Tachs 10:15, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hartstein Upper Silesia

David, a Wikipedia reader, has sent the following question to the Wikipedia help desk.

"Hi, I am inquiring about a place called Hartstein in Upper Silesia. can you point me in the right direction?"

The only thing I could come up with was this ancestry.com page see [2] Any assistance you could give would be gratefully appreciated.

Capitalistroadster 10:01, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

From here, Silesia is a little south of east, so yes I can point in the right direction! (Sorry, couldn't resist). -- Arwel (talk) 18:14, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

what is the meaning of "quality of mercy is not strained"? 61.2.70.77 13:11, 7 December 2005 (UTC)

Try The Merchant of Venice and Answers.com. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 13:41, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I remember getting a detention in school (very many years ago), where I was given that very phrase - 'What is the meaning of "quality of mercy is not strained"?' as an essay title.

I remember the story of a parched traveller arriving in the Australian outback town of Mercy, who goes to the bar and orders a drink. He's offered a nice cup of tea, which he accepts. When he starts drinking it he spits out a lot of fur which was in the tea. On complaining, the barman tells him "I'm sorry mate, the koala tea of Mercy is not strained!". -- Arwel (talk) 18:23, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are look for a job. They are available here. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:35, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hats

Why did people stop wearing hats? I spotted a book ther other day that suggests it's got something to do with JFK. Or was it something to do with people growing their hair longer? Jooler 14:06, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I seriously doubt its got anything to do with JFK - what reason did the book give?

If you look in old photos of the 30's or even 40's in the UK almost everyone (men at least) wore a hat. In the 50's I think it was a lot less prevalent & since then or the 60's less & less people have worn hats. Nowadays it seems most men don't (or at least don't all wear a hat as a matter of course everytime they go out). I would assume it was just changing tastes & fashions though I can't say for sure. AllanHainey 15:52, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I seem to recall something similar in one of the Imponderables books but I thought it was talking about one of the Kings of the UK. In other words fashion. People copy their "betters". CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:26, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the JFK story is discussed over at snopes: http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:37, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- Ooh. Searching for an answer to this question led me to Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style (ISBN 0452285232) -- sounds like fun, I bet it has some good answers, or at least speculation. --jpgordon ∇∆∇∆ 17:41, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yep that's the book I saw. I had only read the blurb on the back. After looking on Amazon just now, it turns out that the author acknowledges that the JFK story is a myth, but he uses the allusion to the story i nthe books title and cover to sell a book about what would otherwise seem like a very dull subject (well to most people anyway). Apparently there had been a steady decline in the wearing of hats from about the 1890s. But what I want to know is, why is it that at the beginning of the 60s most men (and often ladies) AFAIK wore hats as a matter of course, but by the end of the decade men didn't. Was it the preponderance of long hair? Was it better tonsorial hygeine? Or was it just a cultural shift towards more casual dressing? (A parallel withj the decline of the three-piece suit) Will formal hats (not the dreaded baseball cap) ever make a comeback on occasions other than weddings and Royal Ascot? Jooler 19:06, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well...as a genetically chrome-domed everyday hat wearer, I can offer some speculation. Hats are a pain in the ass these days. Where do you put them when you dine, for example? Other than at fine restaurants, you're expected to hang your jacket (should you have one) on the back of your chair, and do exactly what with your hat? Under the table? On another chair (and hope someone doesn't squish it?) And that's simple. How about on airplanes? Let's see, should I put my fine perfectly blocked fedora in the overhead bin? Yeah, sure (scrunch). Et cetera. Also, hats with any sort of brim are a nuisance when driving (the rear brim often has an unpleasant interaction with the head rests). But I do suspect that the main reason is simply shifts in style. Baseball-style caps have their place, of course. But I prefer a panama or a fedora -- in part because they're not quite in style! --jpgordon ∇∆∇∆ 19:23, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

~~Here's JFK wearing a hat Snope.~~ CambridgeBayWeather (Talk)

Can't read, I posted the wrong bit. This is what I ment to post. UK Hat museum maybe someone could vist and report back?

Just speculation, but it seems possible part of the effect is due to selective memory. Did people really wear hats all the time, or was it just part of formal dress, which in the past would have been more likely to have been cought on camera. Camera's and film were likely more expensive then and reserved for special occasions to a greater degree than today. Add that to simply changing fashions and you might have your answer. - Taxman ^Talk 23:29, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Er.. haven't you ever seen old films and photos of streetscenes from the 1930s etc. Usually nearly everyone has a hat on! We're not just talking about putting a hat on to pose for a photo. Jooler 23:52, 7 December 2005 (UTC) - e.g. http://www.authentichistory.com/ed/1930s/images/1929_panic_on_wall_street.html Jooler 23:54, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Might there not be several, converging reasons? My beliefs, NOT my knowns, are that before the industrial revolution, hats were important for protection against the weather. The world was agriculturally based. Then as industry sprung up, hats became less important for protection, but people still did as their daddy did, and as was socially/fashionably accepable, continued to wear hats, though smaller in brim size. Along comes WWII. Fashion goes military. Smaller hats. After the war we are now industrialized. formal hatwear for men is Fedora (my personal favorite). But now tract housing, suburbia, and backyard BBQ's are all the rage. Leisure. No need for formal attire or protection from the sun and rain. Baseball style caps (BBSC) become the default hat of choice in the late 20th century. Why? Convienience, leisure, lack of style, comfort, utility. BBCS's work. Easy, cheap, adjustable, colorful, etc. Has anyone noticed that, no matter the sport, baseball style caps are the norm. I would love a return to formal men's clothing (suits, overcoats, hats, etc.) but our penchant for sun and warmth and Hawaiian print shirts, with T-shirts as stand-by are going to continue the hatless style. I think Darwin was right, evolution. Even with hats.

MRLee216.239.160.71 16:02, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Car Windows

Why exactly does my cars windows frost up on cold mornings, but not others?

I assume you mean not on your house windows. It's because they are too warm. See Frost and Dew Point. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:34, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

By others...I meant other days...not other windows. Some days my Cars windows frost up and some days they don't

When the ~~temperature~~ dew point is above freezing dew will form but below freezing frost will form. At cooler temperatures the amount of water vapour required to saturate the air is less. See Dew point and relative humidity. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:15, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

At warmer temperatures the air can hold more water vapour than at cooler ones. So as the temperature drops, (and the air is able to hold less water) it's easier, (for the air) to become saturated (the humidity increases). As the air temperature and the dew point get to within 2°C of each other things like fog and dew will form. If the dew point is below 0°C then you will get frost. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:54, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ansestry

What is the root meaning of the name Rainbolt? --4.255.3.123 16:10, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If it's English-language in origin, then it means lightning bolt. But it's really important to know the language of origin in order to be certain about the meaning of your ancestor's name. Mareino 22:38, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

World War 1

When did World War 1 start?

A little bit after Gavrilo Princip assassinated Crown Prince Ferdinand. Have a look at the World War I article. — JIP | Talk 16:57, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What are Kilkenny cats?

Try A word a day, World Wide Words and Nursery Rhymes. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:30, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Politics-related questions

I don't understand the differences between a democracy and a republic, other than the latter not being under the reign of a king. Please can someone explain?
I have read the article on conservatism, but don't really see where a conservative stands in today's world. For example, could someone tell me in which way the United Kingdom's Conservative Party's policy is conservative?

Thank you,

--anon, 16:49, 7 December 2005 (UTC).

Republic#Concepts of democracy is probably what you are looking for. Most definitions of a republic require it to be some form of democracy. But a constitutional monarchy, such as the UK, is also a democracy in practice. See Conservative Party (UK)#Conservative image for information on the UK Conservative Party's conservative policies. They have traditionally been social conservatives and Thatcherism was a profoundly conservative system - individualist, broadly monetarist and committed to scaling back social democratic structures such as the welfare state and trade unions. Warofdreams talk 18:23, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You might be confused by a weird but consistent trope by some on the right (I don't know the origin of it) whose refrain is "America is a republic, not a democracy"; their definition of democracy seems to be one where you can do *anything* provided you get a simple majority of votes. here is an example of such an argument. Nobody else defines democracy in that manner. By most standards the USA is a federal democratic republic.

The way most political scientists use the terms, the words "republic" and "democracy" refer to two totally different areas.

A republic is any country that has a president or like official instead of a monarch. When we say that "India became a republic in 1950," we mean India disassociated itself from the king of the UK and elected a president.

A democracy is harder to define, but basically, a democracy is a country where "the people rule." In most people's definition, this means that people get to choose who runs the state through free and fair elections.

A republic doesn't have to be a democracy, and a democracy doesn't have to be a republic. Canada is generally considered to be a democracy, but it is not a republic. (It is a monarchy under Queen Elizabeth II, just like the UK.) Cuba is a republic, but most people outside of the far left would not consider it to be a democracy. Most people would consider, say, the Czech Republic to be both a republic and a democracy, while Saudi Arabia is neither.

There is a second set of meanings for the pair of words, in which "republic" means government through elected officials and "democracy" means direct democracy through referenda and public meetings. While I have seen these meanings used by a respectable source, the fact remains that most of the time, "democracy" need not mean direct democracy. -- Mwalcoff 01:35, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As to the British conservatives, their policies in the Thatcher era were conservative in one sense, but radical in another in that they were radically different to the policies that had dominated British politics since the end of World War II. --Robert Merkel 21:34, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Nowadays, the only countries that aren't Democratic Republics are the ones that say they are. --Mareino 22:37, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The last time I heard the phrase "America is a republic, not a democracy" was on The West Wing. The implication behind the statement was 'in a democracy the people get to make policy; in a republic they get to choose the people who make policy'. The specific context was the (pretend) President deciding on a course of action which he believed was right, but which opinion polls show was unpopular. I don't think his definition of democracy would be a widely held one. DJ Clayworth 00:09, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

With regard to the Conservative Party, its current policies are in a state of flux as it has just changed leaders. The party adopted its name in the 1830s when it was identified with opposition to reform of the electoral system, although it had reversed that policy by the late 1860s. In a sense, therefore, the party doesn't really have to be 'conservative' and the name is just abstract. However, it does seem to fit in that the general situation in western democracies post the Second World War is that ideologies of the centre and centre-left propose more areas in which the public sector should be involved, while ideologies of the centre-right resist them. It is also still the case, in general, that members of the Conservative Party are less likely to support legal changes which are called for on the grounds of British society having changed; this latter aspect is decreasing in significance. David | Talk 17:02, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Database Administrator Controls

I am looking for help on DBA Controls. How do you watch or control what the DBA is doing?

I suggest you locate documentation on the Operating System where this is important. In some [[OS}}, there is no need for a human to manage or administer Databases because everything done by a human Database Administrator for one OS, such as for Unix for example, is automated by the computer system on othr OS such as IBM's AS/400 OS/400 recently name changed to iSeries i5/OS for example.

I suspect that a DBA is like a System Administrator or Security Officer, where only another such person can see what that person has done, or is doing. Check out system logs. They usually have links to audit trails of significant changes to how the system's rules are setup, such as triggers, and file reorganizations other than at an application level.

AlMac|[[User talk:AlMac|<sup>(talk)</sup>]] 03:33, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Icecream Manufacturers in the Southern US

Reader George has asked the following question.

"I am looking to install 1000 soft serve machines. I need to research the equipment and ingredient manufacturers. Can you help me find whose who in the business. I am also located in the south of Texas, so a supplier in the south. I am not interested in working with brokers. I am looking for the manufactures to buy from directly."

I have suggested that if he wants a complete list of manufacturers, he might want to go to Google answers. However, I will ask on this board to see if anyone has useful suggestions.

Capitalistroadster 23:58, 7 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You might look for associations of manufacturers and their membership. I suspect the manufacturers of the hardware, and the suppliers of the food inside might be two different sets of companies. AlMac|[[User talk:AlMac|<sup>(talk)</sup>]] 03:35, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 8, 2005

Which Witch is Which?

User Diane has sent the following question to the Wikimedia help desk.

Do you know anything about the above mentioned game and if it is possible to get this board game. I don’t know who it was made by, but I do know it was made in the 1960’s or early ‘70s. Please let me know if you have any information on this.

Thank you for any assistance you can give her. Capitalistroadster 00:57, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Try Which Witch Game CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:06, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This is the Information page for the same company. Other than that it seems that you can only find parts for the game rather than the whole game. I assume that she has tried eBay? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:11, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

IATA vs ICAO

What is the difference ,in terms of competences, between IATA and ICAO ? Brgds / Liem TS ,Indonesia

Well the International Air Transport Association is a trade organization formed by the air carriers and the International Civil Aviation Organization is a United Nations body. The ICAO would have more say than IATA as to rules and regulations while the IATA members can consult and maybe set travel prices. IATA would be more interested in making money for it's members than the ICAO. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:32, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

'Tiffany network"

Why is CBS often called the "Tifany network"? I always been curious.

see here - Nunh-huh 05:55, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Csantaver in old Hungary

A reader Thomas has sent the following e-mail to the Wikimedia Help Desk:

"I would like trace back my family tree, how would I go about it? If you could let me know, please. I could trace it back to 1832 Csantaver, Old Hungary. I would like to find out what part of the map it is??? I would appreciate some suggestions please as to how to find out more."

I have suggested he look at our Genealogy article and the Hungarian resource linked to in the reference section. If you can help him, it would be greatly appreciated. Capitalistroadster 07:53, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Using the Shtetl Seeker, the most likely candidate seems to be Čantavir or Csantaver (45°55' 19°46'), now in Serbia, 83.5 miles NNW of Beograd. Various maps at MapQuest, Multimap, and Expedia.- Nunh-huh 08:25, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it's Čantavir in Serbo-Croatian, Csantavér in Hungarian in the North Backa District of Vojvodina. To find out more, you're probably going to need to dig up old church records. For that, you'll probably need to go there, although there may very well be copies at the National Archives in Budapest. [3] --130.242.128.121 23:09, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

grams of protein

greetings ! :D how many avarage grams of protein does an averege size chiken egg contain ? thank you for your support ... Randy age 9

According to the Egg Nutrition Center, one large egg contains about 6 grams of protein - that's 3.6 grams in the egg white, and 2.7 grams in the egg yolk. (Obviously this is a rough estimate, and a lot depends on the size of the egg!) - Nunh-huh 08:28, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Also, according to an article in a recent issue of Mother Earth News, it would vary as to whether the chicken were raised on a poultry farm that keeps their chickens caged up as opposed to one that lets them roam free like a small backyard flock at someone's home. Dismas|^(talk) 11:27, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

indian companies

please, show me list of prominent india based compnies --219.65.190.120

List of Indian companies and Category:Companies of India should give you what you need. Thryduulf 11:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

colleges

which is the most prominent engineering college of USA? --219.65.190.120

There are many prominent engineering colleges in the United States. The most famous is probably the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but there are a lot of other very fine schools. --Robert Merkel 13:31, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

True, MIT's good, but let's give big ups to Georgia Tech, Cal Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Cooper Union, and Cornell. US News publishes rankings, but you have to pay for the full list and explanations. [4]. Mareino 22:44, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Song by Stellastarr....

Theres a song by a band called Stellastarr..i saw the video on vh1 last week....But i cant recall the name of the song....i've tried to listen to every song on their latest album but i can't find it.... I only remember a bit of the lyrics and they go something like this....

I can't remember your ....(something) Its too bad for that (or something like that i guess) I cant remember your ....(something) Thank God for that..

And then The Chorus comes... (but i can't remember it though)..

The whole thing just keeps repeating... And on the video the band plays behind glass panels...

I know the details are sketchy..but i will really appreciate it if someone could tell me the name of the song...

Jayant,17 years, India.

A bit of google searching reveals that the only Stellastarr* track currently on a VH1 playlist is "Sweet Troubled Soul". this post by "Shawn" (apprently a band member?) on their offcial message board gives the lyrics. Although the lyrics are not veyr close to what you posted, they are possible - particularly as the post linked comes with a spoiler warning "For those of you interested in deciphering the words yourselves, or have a clear idea of what you imagine I am saying and wouldn’t want to ever find out". I've never heard of them or their music before reading this post though, so I wouldn't want to comment on how easy they are to understand! Thryduulf 16:09, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the "Sweet Troubled Soul" video is stop-motion animation with dolls. I haven't seen the video for "My Coco", but that's their best song, and virtually every line of the song is designed to sound like another line of the song, so it's hard to understand. For example, "I need some help from a little love / I need some help from a little above / And you were there when I was feeling low / I won’t forget you my Co-coco!" -- Mareino 22:51, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Blue sunglasses..

Why is it not advisable to wear sunglasses with blue coloured glasses?

Jayant,17 years, India.

Who is advising you not to wear them?

-Well..i went for a trekking expedition last year and they told us to get sunglasses to wear in the snow but not blue coloured glasses....And i also read it some where that it is not advisable to wear blue coloured glasses...

Just a guess but perhaps blue does not cut the glare of the sun off the snow and thus Snow blindness would result. This is not sometthing you want to experience. You might also want to read Rayleigh scattering. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:36, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I remember being told that different coloured ski goggles were better for different conditions; one colour for bright sun, one for falling snow, one for fog. I don't remember which colours or why. DJ Clayworth 00:04, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

hmmm....but i already heard those songs.... anyways thanks a lot for the help.....

A small note: I've been wearing blue-tinted glasses full time for about two and a half years. I've yet to notice any ill effects. (I wear them when it is snowing as well.) Trngl999 05:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Sunglasses have two jobs: one is to protect your eyes from harmful UV rays, and the other is to help you see well in bright light. Almost all sunglasses sold today will protect your eyes from UV rays. But because "glare" from snow or water contains a lot of blue light, blue sunglasses don't do a very good job of cutting that glare. Blue lenses won't actually damage your eyes, but because they don't work as well, you should avoid wearing them when driving or doing something that requires sharp vision. Orange-tinted lenses (sometimes called "blue-blockers") are very good at absorbing this blue glare. That's why most ski goggles have orange-tinted lenses. TheSPY 17:46, 12 December 2005 (UTC)TheSPY[reply]

What is the population of ND?

See North Dakota. Shimgray | talk | 17:30, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Or New Delhi. Aren't you glad we didn't just give you a number? -gadfium 21:50, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Or maybe you were enquiring about North Devon? Thryduulf 00:46, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
In other words, please be specific and tell us which country you are referring to when asking a city or country related question. - 131.211.210.16 08:54, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

pakistani company

which are the prominent pakistan based company? -- Shahinarashid 17:58, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has a list at List of Pakistani companies. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:55, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

i am trying to decide whether to debt finance or equity finance a lease, which one is better?? thanks...

What made you think asking complete strangers about financial advise was a good idea? - 131.211.210.16 08:57, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Also, please read the instructions at the top of this page. Please make a separate header and question, and tell is what you are trying to finance, what country you live in and what you already tried to answer this question and what your personal idea about it is. The more detailed your question, the higher your chance of a useful answer. - 131.211.210.16 08:59, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

portfolio optimization

What is portfolio optimization?

technical & medical colleges of pakistan

please, show me the list of technical & medical colleges of pakistan ? Shahinarashid 18:56, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia has a list at List of universities in Pakistan. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:54, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

RBD

Can you tell RBD that I said "!Hola!"?

No. —Keenan Pepper 05:57, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I told them, but they said "إلى اللقاء" - Taxman ^Talk 15:40, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

ipod vs. washing machine - it works, but the battery is shot

I ran my 40 gb 4th generation ipod through the washing machine, it dried out and will work when plugged in to power, but only when plugged in. I think the battery is shot. Can you recomend the best and preferably cheapest way of getting this taken care of? It is still under warranty, but I think that this wouldn't be covered by it. Also, are there longer lasting batteries out there? (Posted by 209.137.173.69)

Well, the cheapest way is to go to an IPod store and swear up and down that you never ever got your IPod wet and you have no idea how it broke. That would be horribly dishonest, though. You might think about getting a Creative Labs Zen or some other MP3 player that has a removable battery. --Mareino 22:55, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Nah, ipods really are that much better, and besides, it's better to support the innovator than the follower. :) Anyway it's possible you didn't kill the actual battery, but instead the charging circuitry. In that case it just needs to be serviced. Besides, apple's battery replacement service is $60. - Taxman ^Talk 15:33, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

- This method works quite good with rain etc... but if you had it in the washing machine they will clearly see the that the cause is water by locking at the pcb. helohe (talk) 15:35, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As a point of interest, a Game Boy Advance cartridge of ours was lost for months before we found it in a trouser pocket. That thing probably went though a thousand washes, and the thing worked at still does, perfectly (it's Yoshi's Island by the way). However, I once sat on another cartridge just after swimming in the sea and still wet. It was in a pool of salt water under my bottom. The internal clock broke, although the game was Pokemon Ruby so that may not have been to do with that. Kid Apathy 15:15, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Mystical

How does the following link work: [5]. I have already gathered a few ideas: it changes the symbols each time so it must make you pick the same one every time. Does anyone know a proper solution???--XenoNeon 20:26, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the numbers and symbols are red herrings. Here's the trick: Pick a two digit number. OK, so, now you have 10X + Y, where X and Y are the first and second digit respectively. Now add the digits (X + Y) and subtract from the original: 10X + Y - (X + Y) = 9X. Ah ha. Now look at those numbers and symbols. Every multiple of 9 has the same symbol. All the rest are noise to confuse you. --jpgordon ∇∆∇∆ 20:42, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

When you add the digits of a number together, the resulting sum is the same, modulo 9, as the original number. So when you subtract the sum of the two digits from the original number the answer must be 0 modulo 9, which is another way of saying that the answer is always a multiple of 9. Also note that the largest answer you can get, when you start with a two-digit number is 81. Knowing this, it's easy to see how they do it: each time you do it, the same symbol is associated with each multiple of 9 up to 81. These are the only numbers you can get from the subtraction, and it's that symbol which appears. Chuck 20:46, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ack, too late. You guys beat me to it! :| ☢ Ҡieff⌇↯ 20:50, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Just look at it mathematically. Consider the number 23. It's the same as 2*10 + 3. So any 2 digit number can be written as 10a+b. What it proposes is that you sum both algarisms (a+b) and subtrac this from the original number, what mathematically gives: 10a+b - (a+b) = 10a-a + b-b = 9a. So in 23 case, you'll have 9*2 = 18. In another words, whichever number you pick, from 99 to 00, the proposed calculations will return a multiple of 9. Now look at the table and take a look at all multiples of nine. They're all the same symbol, and they change every time. But notice, too that the highest number you could pick, 99, leads to 81. That's why all 9 multiples over 81 (90 and 99) are different symbols. ☢ Ҡieff⌇↯ 20:48, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Travel by horse in ancient britain

How long would it take to go from Tintagel to Edinburgh on a horse if you could only take roman roads or oldr roads? 216.43.124.150 20:34, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I bet those guys that were balancing eggs on their feet will love this one. ;) Mareino 22:57, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There are some factors to decide on determining length of time of long-distance horse travel. The main one is how many horses are available. The limiting factor is not how fast the horse is, but how long it can go without getting tired and needing to eat. That's why enormous distances could be quickly covered by an organisation that kept horses available at different places, and had the rider switch from one horse to another, or pass whatever they were carrying to a new rider. One rider on a single horse would be much slower. DJ Clayworth 23:59, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Partial answer 4.425 hours. This is based on a horse running at a constant top speed of 40 mph over a straight line distance of about 177 miles. This is a rotten answer as the horse would not be able to keep the speed up for that length of time, nor is the distance a flat straight line. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:00, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Note that Microsoft Autoroute 2002 gives an estimated journey time by car of 8 hours 13 minutes over a driving distance of 508.6 miles. Nationalrail.com gives the quickest journey time by train from Bodmin Parkway (the nearest railhead these days) as 8 hours 52 mintues. Thryduulf 00:35, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you're doing this for a story (I'm assuming that's what it is, since you asked about Roman and earlier roads), then try this -

First, you need the distance in miles.
Figure out what kind of horse they're riding, including age, then figure out the weight the horse is carrying.
Find out the horse's normal speed is under the above conditions.
Calculate how quickly the horse would get there with the above speed.
Add in time for weather problems, carts, and/or children.

You'll need to measure the Roman roads - if your map has no scale, just trace it out onto one that has a scale and add it up. Ductape Daredevil 03:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Not forgetting of course that the Roman road system would stop well short of Edinburgh as you'd leave the Empire when you passed Hadrians Wall. -- Arwel (talk) 03:42, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There might have been some form of road up to Cramond? There was certainly a smallish military settlement there, though offhand I can't think of anything leading to it. Shimgray | talk | 12:17, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This map gives a known road through the middle of the Borders, running up past Galashiels, and then suggests it extended to Edinburgh though the specific route isn't known. Shimgray | talk | 12:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Then do you know what kind of horse they would have used? 64.198.97.66 17:31, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Probably a cross between an Arabian and a Welsh Mountain Pony. Google is your friend, in this case. MorganLeFay 02:48, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

elevations

what are the elevations of following cities in greece-mykonos,hydra,napflion, delphi,athens?thank you --205.188.116.131 20:35, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean at their highest point, lowest point, at their centre or on average? --Canley 06:55, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

company bios

assuming that it is bad form (or perhaps even discouraged) to place company bios on wikipedia, can someone tell me if there is a wikipedia-like site that does encourage this sort of thing? thank you kindly, ttocsmij--24.97.213.214 20:39, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Articles on major companies are certainly appropriate. You might want to review the page about Notability, although it doesn't really give much direction there. The page on Importance might also be useful. I'm just one Wikipedian, but my opinion would be that any publicly traded company would be notable enough to have an article. Some, but not all non-publicly traded companies would be notable: a large, well-known one is; a very small company may not be.

Also, you probably wouldn't want to just cut and paste a company's own biography from the company's website into an article. First, that would probably be a copyright violation. Second, we strive for a neutral point of view at Wikipedia, and a company's own description of its history is likely to emphasize positive points while minimizing or ignoring any negative issues. Chuck 21:00, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

P.S. However, a link to a company's history on the company's own website would be very appropriate for the "External Links" section of an article on the company. Chuck 21:21, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Check out WP:CORP for guidelines on corporate entities. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 22:23, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Classic toaster guy on the Upper West Side?

There is this guy who sells classic vintage restored toasters on the Upper West Side. I can't remember the name of him, his store or website! Help!

Upper West Side of what? Dismas|^(talk) 22:09, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

New York City. Do you know of another place called the "Upper West Side"? - Nunh-huh 22:27, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Let me get this straight... Everyone, everywhere is supposed to know that A) New York City has an area called the "Upper West Side" and B)this is the only "Upper West Side" on the planet? That's rather geo-centric of them. Dismas|^(talk) 23:22, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I said nothing remotely like that. I asked you if you knew of another place, and indicated that the reference was clearly to Manhattan's Upper West Side. - Nunh-huh 01:50, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The reference may be clear for people who know about it, but which Upper West Side was my first response too. Just like in articles, you can't assume the answerer knows the same you do. The instructions clearly say you need to be specific (especially when asking geographical questions). 131.211.210.16 09:05, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So which other Upper West Side did you think it might be? - Nunh-huh 09:31, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Previous to this question being asked I didn't have any knowledge of any "Upper West Side" so I couldn't even try a few google searches or anything to even attempt to help the person out. ~~Unfortunately though, even with the clue from you that they were talking about NYC, I still haven't been able to find anything of any use.~~ I just found a link to Toaster Central which is apparently run by a guy who "During the week he is located near 76th Street and York Avenue on the east side of Manhattan". Not the "Upper West Side" I'm guessing since it says "east side" but they may be able to help out the original poster. User:Dismas|^(talk) 13:38, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

overstock.com question

i have a question about overstock.com what was the name of the woman who did the original overstock.com commercial,what is her name,why isn`t she still doing the overstock.com commercials,what is the name of the current women who is doing the overstock.com commercials how old is the women who did the original commercials

Hee name is Sabine Ehrenfeld; she was born in 1963.--Pharos 12:08, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

looks like dido to me - (unsigned comment by someone who disputes the above answer)

Valley Mississippi

My grandmother's birth certificate states that she was born November 5,1923 in Valley,Mississippi. That said, I have searched the internet and ask m any people but I cannot find Valley,Mississippi. Can anyone help guide me in the right direction? Thanks. Ray Smith rsmith9632@aol.com

Just a thought but is it possible the birth certificate should read Mississippi Valley and just got written up backwards? It's possible if she was born outside of a community. The other thought is, could the community name have got dropped off? As an example, Bigbee Valley is in Mississippi. If the certificate is the original then a mistake is less likely but if it's a later reproduction an error could have crept in. I would try and find old maps of Mississippi and see if there is anything on them. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:17, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know the county of Mississippi she was born in? That might help narrow it down. And it's possible to request another copy of her birth certificate to see if the first was a transcription error. You can print out the order form here and order it; it's possible the long form certificate may be more informative than the short form. - Nunh-huh 02:04, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Slovak Name Origin

What is the origin of the Slovak surname "Bensko" or "Bencko"? Yeltensic42.618 23:47, 8 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 9

Enfield Jungle Carbine Authentication

Reader Tom has sent the following question to the Wikimedia Help Desk.

"I own an Enfield No 5 Mk. 1 Jungle Carbine. I am looking for a source to authenticate the markings on the rifle. Can you help in this."

Any information you can give hime would be gratefully appreciated.

Capitalistroadster 01:08, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Try [6] and [7]. The second one may be able to help with the markings. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:22, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Tool

Hello. I have a tool that I need help identifying. It look like a long, thin pair of tongs. The whole thing is about 16 inches long. The "tong" part is a metal rod about 3/8 inches in diameter. One end looks like it is meant to grip something round which is about 3/8 - 3/4 of an inch in diameter. On this end, both sides of the "tongs" are the same. On the other end, the sides are different. On one side, the end is round with a nearly elliptical hole about 2.5 inches by 1 inch. The other side does not have a hole. On the other side, the "tong" part stays the same diameter until the end, when it comes to a little knob-like end about 1/4 - 3/8 inches in diameter, the face of which is perpendicular to the plane of the elliptical hole. This end aligns with the middle of the hole on the other side. I have looked on the internet and could not find anything. Any help is appreciated. --Think Fast 01:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a picture that you could put on your user page? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:24, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

No. I really wish I did, but I don't. Sorry. --Think Fast 01:39, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Could you draw a simple diagram in MS paint and upload that? It's hard to visualise from the description. --Bob Mellish 17:08, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Great idea. Here it is. File:Tool Diagram for Wikipedia Reference Desk.gif --Think Fast 23:58, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The inward facing teeth remind me of a chip extractor, a tool used to remove computer chips from their holders in a controlled manner (that doesn't bend the little pins while doing so). Here's a picture of one. But that's only a few inches long; I can't imagine what kind of chip would need a 16 inch extractor. SO it's probably not for extracting chips, but perhaps for extracting something else. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:05, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The link appears dead. I get nothing. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:27, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The closest thing i can think of is a pair of fire wood tongs. Try this site for a picture, you'll see what i mean, this tool is slighly different.[8]--Ali K 01:46, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It reminds me of something used to handle hot coals. The charchoal should rest snuggly in the ring, while the other end can press against it when you close the other side. --HappyCamper 02:50, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I just did a Google image search for tongs, and then looked through hundreds of pictures of tongs (for which the God of Inventors has an inordinate fondness) and found none even remotely like this. Does it show any wear patterns to indicate where it's held? --jpgordon ∇∆∇∆ 03:08, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I could not see much wear, but it seems highly probable that the tool is held at the end with the circle and the little "knob." The other end looks like it is meant for holding something round. (And thanks for looking through so many pictures.) --Think Fast 15:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I've used this tool several times. It is used to expand the leather of tight fitting shoes in specific spots. You place the 'nippled' end inside of your shoe/boot that is hurting your foot and the outer ring is outside and opposite. You press the inner part of the shoe outwards to releive the leather. I do not know the proper name of the tool, but we at work called it the boot stretcher. MRLee216.239.160.71 16:10, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is that what it really is?! If so, I think this question was asked a while ago, and it should be somewhere in the reference desk archives! --HappyCamper 17:26, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I can not say for sure, but that is what it looks like to me. Pert near identical. I did not ever figure out the function of the handle crimping/grooved function. MRLee216.239.160.71 18:10, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have been watching this topic with interest. I posted an answer to a similar question on 29 May 2005 (#132 What is it?) here. In that case, the tool in question was a "bunion stretcher" or "spot stretcher" for shoes (see a picture here). However, I do not believe that this is the same kind of tool. For one thing, every bunion stretcher I've seen has a round hole about 1" in diameter (not an elliptical hole 2.5" by 1") and a "knob" that's almost as big as the hole (not much smaller as described here). Also, I have never seen a bunion stretcher with the other end being anything other than just regular handles (not tongs, crimpers, grippers, extractors, or anything of that sort). Nor have I ever seen a bunion stretcher with "straight" rods for the arms. I am certainly no tool expert; I'm just saying that if this mystery tool is a bunion stretcher, then it's much different than any one I've ever seen. I do wonder though, if the ball and ring end might be used in a similar way. --DannyZ 20:38, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Houses in Louisiana

Someone I work with mentioned that people in Louisiana used to be taxed on how much road frontage their house had. The wider the house, the more the tax. Therefore people built houses that were extremely long where all the rooms were basically in a row along one long hallway. Has anyone ever heard of this? Is there any truth to this? User:Dismas|^(talk) 01:37, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Such a tax was considered by the Cabildo in 1794, but wasn't passed at that time because it was judged to be regressive. I don't know if such a tax has been instituted since (though I can't find it in any obvious Internet place), but "shotgun houses" exist in many places without such taxes. - Nunh-huh 01:55, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the info! User:Dismas|^(talk) 15:38, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Commercial areas where there is a premium for having a frontage on a street and land behind is comparatively cheap encourages this type of development. Having long narrow buildings maximises space available for the cost and allows more people a frontage on the street. It is very common in the UK from at least the medieval period, and it is still a common factor in the design of modern shopping malls, etc. Thryduulf 16:42, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What is acute care

A google search yields these. Definitions are directly from the listed sources.

Treatment for a short-term or episodic illness or health problem.

http://www.premera.com/stellent/groups/public/documents/xcpproject/pvd_gl_a.asp

Medically necessary skilled care provided by medical and nursing personnel in order to restore a person to good health.

http://www.myinsuranceguy.com/glossary.htm

Medical care administered, frequently in a hospital or by nursing professionals, for the treatment of a serious injury or illness or during recovery from surgery. Medical conditions requiring acute care are typically periodic or temporary in nature, rather than chronic. top

http://www.healthinsurancesort.com/health-insurance-terms.htm

care received in an inpatient hospital setting.

http://www.providence.org/Health_Plans/Members/Definitions.htm

Care that is generally provided for a short period of time to treat a certain illness or condition. It can include short-term hospital stays, doctor's visits, surgery, and X-rays.

http://www.setnlegalservices.org/glossary.htm

Tv Language

When did the word Bitc* become acceptable on regular Broadcast TV?

Which country's regular broadcast TV are you interested in? Thryduulf 09:46, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Usually when someone fails to mention a country, it's best to assume Merka. — JIP | Talk 09:55, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've never heard Bitc* on TV. Perhaps you meant bitch? --Nelson Ricardo 12:00, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I meant U.S. and the word is bitch (please excuse my language)

I realy dont care if they say that words on tv and here in switzerland they do and nothing gets censored. helohe (talk) 15:27, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Good question. The It Hits the Fan episode of South Park is generally credited as the watershed event for the S-word, which was allowed only sparingly before then. The V-chip law technically means that networks can get away with ANYthing short of X-rated shows, so long as they file the proper warnings. No network does that, though, because of the public relations fallout. Mareino 16:47, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

- Broadcast television is still subject to "indecency" laws. The seven dirty words, which do not include bitch, are still illegal before 10 p.m. But you're still unlikely to hear them late at night due to the probable negative reaction of advertisers and the potential that Congress would enact more-stringent legislation. -- Mwalcoff 17:28, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This brings to mind an episode of The Simpsons, where Bart told Marge that Santa's Little Helper was seeing a bitch. Marge told Bart to stop cursing, but Bart said "But Mom, that's what she is!" and showed her the dictionary entry. — JIP | Talk 22:39, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

- From "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?":

Bart: So, any idea where this bastard lives?

Homer: Bart!

Bart: His parents aren't married are they?

It's the correct word, isn't it?

Homer: I guess he's got us there.

Marge: Mmm...

Bart: [singing]

Bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard, bastard bastard!

- The Fox Network censor asked the producers to "remove seven bastards," according to the DVD.

Mwalcoff 17:28, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

- - Wouldn't that mean sacking most of the board of the Fox Network?

Type of flower.

Can anyone identify any of the flowers in this photo?

http://img286.imageshack.us/img286/5448/flowers0ru.jpg

The one at the front looks like a Tiger Lilly. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:24, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The white ones look like roses and the rest look like unopened tiger lillies. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:31, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The lilies are specifically "Stargazer lilies" (and they have a wonderful fragrance that is very strong! - and their pollen has a tendency to stain things). The unopened ones are stargazer lilies waiting to happen. I think "tiger lilies" is usually used for orange colored lilies; I'm not sure how they are botanically related, but I think tiger lilies are a wild type species, while stargazers are hybrids. - Nunh-huh 05:38, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Male/female dogs

I have a 5 yr old male dog, and I'm about to buy a new puppy. Should I get a male or a female? If both are desexed, they won't attempt t mate, will they? Are two male dogs more aggressive than one?

My neutered dog will still occaisionally get "excited" around a female, but he's never tried to mate. I've never heard of two males being particularly aggressive together, especially neutered ones. In fact, male dogs are much more cuddly with humans than females in my experience having had both. — Laura Scudder ☎ 05:54, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It has a lot to do with when your 5-year-old was neutered. Generally, if he was neutered after puberty, he'll try. Talk to your veterinarian, though, since she can give you more detailed advice on what sort of puppy would get along with your 5-year-old dog's personality. Mareino 16:51, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Associated Foreign Press"

Is there, or was there ever, a news agency called Associated Foreign Press? If so, who are they? If not, where did the name come from? I have seen it cited as a news source several times on the web, and had previously assumed that it was what AFP stood for, but now find out that it isn't.

A Google search shows 496 hits - seemingly too few for a real agency, but too many to be a mistake. If the Associated Foreign Press Home Page is in there, it's nowhere near the top. Surely zdnet, NASA and 'Liberia's Most Trusted News Source' aren't all citing a ficticious agency, but a real agency that doesn't have a web site or a Wikipedia article is quite an enigma. I'm mystified. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

My first theory was that "Associated Foreign Press" would be one of the not-really-an-agency things you get these days; a small organisation putting out paid-for news stories and so on. However, looking at the links, it seems to be people doing exactly what you did - assuming AFP stands for Associated Foreign Press not Agence France-Presse, and expanding the name wrongly.

For example, this quotes Associated Foreign Press. However, this has the same story credited to AFP. Shimgray | talk | 12:12, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Why would any organization self-identify as "Foreign"? I would guess that "Associated Foreign Press" is just a mistaken expansion of 'AFP' by someone who has never heard of Agence France-Presse.--Pharos 12:13, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks guys, it would seem misidentification of AFP is the most likely, but I'm still curious to know how the same wrong name could have been used by so many people - AFP could stand for anything, after all. Did some notable source spread the error? If it spontaneously arrose all over the world, it's quite a strange phenomenon. --Linton 10:10, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Golden Globe Awards are run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Could that be what you're thinking of? User:Zoe|^(talk) 05:26, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Kannada text problem

Why is Mozilla Firefox not printing Kannada text properly. Its prints square box is showing the text properly. How can I solve this problem?
Thanks in advance,
daya

(Mgm|^(talk) formatted the above question) - Mgm|^(talk) 14:02, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Printing is usually done by printers and not browsers.
Yup. And you never told us if your browser displays them correctly in the first place. If not see Wikipedia:Enabling complex text support for Indic scripts. That page will also give you links on how to get the fonts you need if you don't have them already. - Taxman ^Talk 15:23, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

(In the original version of this post (before formatting), the poster told Firefox shows them correctly. –Mysid 15:53, 9 December 2005 (UTC))[reply]

It probably means that the typeface used for the font is only a screen font and not a printer font. How to fix this depends 1. on the type of computer you are using and 2. the type of printer you are using. One approach is to try and change the font assigned to it to something which is known to be a Postscript font, which generally work on all printers, and away from something which is just a TrueType font, which I have found to be difficult in situations like this. It may also involve installing language-specific printer drivers; one think you might try is downloading Adobe Postscript drivers in the language you need and trying to use those. --Fastfission 17:14, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

thnaks for replay. the firefox browser showing kannada font currectly and i can read it but the problem is printing it prints squre boxs and i checked adobe Postscript drivers for kannada but i did't find and one more thing the konqueror browser prints correctly and shows correctly but i need to print from mozilla firefox browser

thanks daya

country info website

I am very much eager to know about China , India & Pakistan .Can anyone refer such a websites for each above mentioned countries where i can find every thing about that country i.e its government,culture, cities maps,economy, education status,millatry power, cities info etc. I want sepapate website for each above mentioned countries .Please may anyone help me in search of it. Shahinarashid 12:45, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See our sites for China, India, and Pakistan. --Think Fast 12:58, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There's also the CIA World Factbook. Just pull down the menu and choose the country for which you'd like some information. And best of all, the info is in the public domain since it's a work of the U.S. government. User:Dismas|^(talk) 13:46, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

shannon capacity limit

kindly looking for your great help.

what are the possibility of transmitting information when the signal is lower then noise?

Shannon capacity redirects to Shannon–Hartley theorem, so you probably want to read that article. Signal-to-noise ratio might also be of help. Thryduulf 16:35, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Witches

What Type of thing do witches do? This is for a report at school.

Have you already tried the Wikipedia article on witchcraft? –Mysid 15:38, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Are you referring to real witches who if memory serves me correct believe in Wicca and/or Paganism or are you referring ot witches in fiction? - Mgm|^(talk) 12:56, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, what 'things witches do' cannot really be defined in a short space. :) If you find someone who says 'witches do <insert random nonsense here>', more than likely the next 99 people you meet will disagree. As for them being folk who "believe in Wicca and/or Paganism"... that is not necessarily true. It is more common for witches in the present time to not be pagans, wiccans, or anything else of that sort. Witchcraft can be said to be a generic term for a set of talents and skills, usually incorporating herbalism, ritual magic, and other trades- but it is not a religious preference (again, only speaking for the present).

P.MacUidhir (t) (c) 01:59, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

steve martin irish

is steve martin irish.

According to Steve Martin, his family "was of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent". He himself, however, appears to have been born in Texas. Shimgray | talk | 16:01, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

belize

what is the climate like in belize year round please

See Geography of Belize#Climate. Thryduulf 16:30, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Atlantic records

I'd like to know the names of officers and key management at Atlantic Records...can you please help me find this out? (email removed as per policy, see top of page)

Atlantic Records is a part of Warner Music Group, having been bought by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1967. According to Warner's website, the chairman and CEO of Atlantic is Craig Kallman, and Atlantic's president is Julie Greenwald.[9] -- AJR | Talk 00:54, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

frog?

http://www.friendsofkeji.ns.ca/images/2004_photo/RMS_48.JPG what kind?Maoririder 17:16, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Where was this picture taken? There are a lot of species of frogs in the world. Slicing 16:26, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

does anyone know??

wheres the rest of oliver cromwell

i just finished reading sommething called a loop on who2 according to it his body was exhumed hung and beheaded what happened to the rest of him.

From "The Trial of Charles I" by J.G. Muddiman (Hodge, 1928):

"At the suggestion of Colonel Titus, the House of Commons ordered the bodies of these four (John Bradshaw, Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and Thomas Pride) to be exhumed and hung on the gallows at Tyburn upon 30th January, 1661. The body of Pride was presumably not in a fit condition to be removed, for those of the first three only were exhibited on the gallows on that day. At sunset the heads of the three were struck off and afterwards displayed on poles on the top of Westminster Hall, their bodies being cast into a deep hole under the gallows."

He adds a footnote:

"Periodically, a dried-up head, asserted to be embalmed and to be that of Cromwell, is described in the newspapers. It has no claim to be genuine, for the remains of Cromwell's head were thrown down from Westminster Hall when the pinnacle to which it was fixed was rebuilt in 1681. See "Heraclitus Ridens" for 12th July, 1681. After twenty years' exposure to the weather and the onslaughts of kites and crows, little would have been left of the head by 1681. The process of embalming, in any case, would have been no protection against these onslaughts. Moreover, the whole claviculum of the dried-up head has been sawn asunder in the roughtest possible manner, and this certainly would not have been done had it been embalmed."

Hope this helps. David | Talk 22:06, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you njoyed this, you might find posthumous execution amusing. - Nunh-huh 05:41, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

the White Stripes and hieroglyphic writing.

On http://www.whitestripes.com/ after the apple, rock imagery, caesar and stuff, then the top loads links to photos/bandinfo/etc..., Do we know what the symbols/hiero's stand for? If anything? Thanks. --Jake

They're Alchemical symbols, not hieroglyphs. --BluePlatypus 19:53, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't read them saying this in interviews, but they probably got the idea from Zoso. Mareino 02:51, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Forms of contemporty cooperation

What are the contemporary forms of business cooperation?

DYOH - please Do Your Own Homework (see top of this page). — QuantumEleven | (talk) 22:22, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of two phrases

Where are these phrases from?

"Reaching out into other worlds" (this one always show up as a sound taken from the original source. It appears on the "American Money" song from Cowboy Bebop — the opening theme from the reward show thingy)
"Oh, the humanity!" (often quoted by several movies, it's been hard to track it down)

☢ Ҡieff⌇↯ 22:58, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think "Oh the humanity" uttered by an on-the-spot radio newscaster distraught at the burning of the dirigible Hindenburg in NJ in the late 1930s. It has been turned into a joke in recent years by being applied to trivia, but few people even know where the phrase came from. alteripse 23:03, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Absolutely. It was Herb Morrison who was the radio reporter (he was covering the arrival of the Hindenburg). It was recorded as-it-happened (the explosion can be heard on the recording), but wasn't broadcast until the next day. - Nunh-huh 23:09, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've heard the recording but didn't realize that it was the original usage of the phrase. Interesting! — flamingspinach | (talk) 06:16, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This site has a streaming video of the crash with the reporting by Herb Morrison. - Akamad 23:14, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent! Thanks for the answer! Now for the other one... ☢ Ҡieff⌇↯ 14:28, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Back in the day someone asked a similar question (see Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/September 2004 I#What this dude says?). I gave a link that suggested one of the other phrases in "American Money" ("Deep Thrust Telescopic Probe") came from Lost in Space [10], it's possible that all the snippets came from that source. - Lee (talk) 14:44, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Did you notice that this "someone" was in fact Kieff, who asked this question as well? :) — flamingspinach | (talk) 19:38, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Heh. No, no I didn't. Makes you wonder who should have been paying more attention. ;) - Lee (talk) 19:46, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Flying Saucer" / "Disco Volador" cooking utensil

I'm looking for a cooking utensil that was popular in Miami during the 1950s and 1960s called the "disco volador" or "flying saucer". It consisted of two slightly concave disks, attached to each other at the edges by a hinge, and having two handles projecting from the opposite edges. Bread would be placed in the concave dishes, and then covered with various fillings. Then, the handles would be brought together, clamping the dishes together, and the whole thing would be heated over a stove until cooked (various items sticking out would be trimmed off). When the handles were opened, a completely enclosed delicious grilled sandwich would be inside. They do not seem to be available anywhere that I can find locally, nor can I find information about them (they are not panino). Please tell me if there is anywhere I can buy this cooking ware. Many thanks. — flamingspinach | (talk) 23:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 10

Sports

In what year did the Philadelphia Eagles cap have the E A G L E S logo with a yellow eagle bird over the letter A?

The cap is green - the letters are outlined - the cap visor is black.

According to The Helmet Project, the Eagles have had the same basic helmet design since the 50s. It's doubtful they had any helmet design before that. Are you sure you're not looking at the helmet of one of the many college or high school teams that uses the Eagles nickname? -- 70.27.57.22 15:23, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The question is concerning the caps that are worn on the sidelines, not the helmets. Unfortunately, I can't answer the question. User:Zoe|^(talk) 19:21, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If it's an unauthorized cap, it could literally be any year. If it is authorized, though, then someone at the Eagles front office (the phone number is on their website) will be able to tell you. Usually those people are nice, b/c they make their money by being nice to fans. --Mareino 02:46, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

X-mas gift dilemma

What should I get my Uncle? The only thing I know about him is that he likes history and trains. MorganLeFay 02:43, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My Dad, who is into trains, has large collections of Great Railway Journeys, Swiss Railway Journeys, etc., all on videotape. Lots of trains chugging around scenic places, with endless descriptions of switching yards, locomotives, stations, and jockular tales of railway antics. Normal people would rather die than watch a whole episode, but it's meat and drink to railroad nuts. In addition to online vendors, they're often sold in shops that also sell model railway stuff. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 02:52, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If he has a computer then I would suggest [Microsoft Train Simulator. I have a copy and can recommend it. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 03:12, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks and a happy Chrismahaunakwanzakastice to the both of you! MorganLeFay 04:09, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

How about a calendar with pictures of old trains? Gift certificate to a local hobby store? MRLee216.239.160.71 17:20, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

how to convert .propj files to .ppj files?

I'm using Adobe Premier Pro,btw.202.156.6.54 03:56, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Places to visit in Russia

Reader Harrish wrote to the Wikipedia Help mail list asking for good places to visit in Russia on his trip there. I suggested Moscow and Leningrad as well as seeing his travel agent and reading a guidebook. I also referred him to the Russia portal. Does anyone have any suggestions of places to visit while in Russia? Thanks for any help you can give. Capitalistroadster 04:29, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Leningrad has been called St. Petersberg since the end of the Cold War. But yes, Petersberg and Moscow are usually the two major places listed for visiting, and both have immense cultural resources as their pages explain. These two cities, along with Kiev (now in Ukraine), were the three major cities for most of Russia's history. --Fastfission 05:00, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
- St. Petersburg is the most commonly accepted spelling, I believe. — flamingspinach | (talk) 06:12, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Surely WikiTravel's guide to Russia can help Harrish out here? - Mgm|^(talk) 13:00, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
What to see very much depends on your comfort levels in speaking and understanding Russian. Generally, any country that was not colonized or administered by the British has the highest concentration of English-speakers in its largest cities, and small towns that are not known for their tourist attractions may have few or even none. Mareino 02:44, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

NW?

Why does Washington D.C use NW as in front of the zip code? --Member 04:45, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't. DC Zip Codes are 20001 through 20599 (although all numbers have not yet been assigned). These Zip codes are numerical without any alpha prefix. --hydnjo talk 04:59, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, an NW is always after the adress (oops!). --Member 05:15, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The "NW" is part of the address. Washington, D.C. is laid out as a series of avenues crossed by numbered and lettered streets. The U.S. Capitol is the center of the city, which is divided into northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest quadrants. Some addresses appear in all four quadrants! Therefore it is essential to include NE, NW, SE, or SW in the address. - Nunh-huh 05:23, 10 December 2005 (UTC) - We've hidden this information at Geography of Washington, D.C..[reply]

Also, it should be noted that the NW is part of the street, not the ZIP code. So an address might look like

John Bayes
101 Wisconsin Av, NW
Washington, DC 20008

— QuantumEleven | (talk) 22:27, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Nunh-huh is right. Also, the Capitol is not in the geographic center of DC, so each quadrant is a different size. NW is the largest and SW is very, very small. Also, the east side of DC has very few government buildings (mainly b/c the mall is on the west side) and very few affluent neighborhoods (just random historical growth patterns), so you are much more likely to see a NW address than an address from another quadrant. Writing the "NW" on your letters is still important, though, because some addresses (say, 300 D St) really do occur four times, differentiated only by quadrant and zip code. Mareino 02:40, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Men vs Women

Does someone know the ratio of male wikipedians to female wikipedians? Any help would be appreciated!--Ali K 07:36, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have investigated it and it is probably something like 30:1. Every 1 in 30 user pages I randomly picked initially stated they were women on their user page.--XenoNeon 12:21, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

We do need more female contributors!!! User:Zoe|^(talk) 19:24, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Out of curiosity, how many fail to reveal gender? alteripse 14:20, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So anyone not revealing their gender is automatically male? — JIP | Talk 14:35, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, you really do your homework! Thank you so much! I guess us women are a bit out numbered. Did you happen to know what the most common age for Wikipedians is?--Ali K 13:43, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Its averaged at about 18. Most people on Wikipedia are students. The youngest Wikipedian is JordanHatch at around 11 and the oldest is a retired computer programmer that is 54 but I don't know his name. And, in response to the thing about not revealing genders, very many Wikipedia users have put something like 'This space has been left blank intentionally'. Most people who Have user pages tell you their genders. I only came across two people who didn't reveal their gender--XenoNeon 15:00, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

From the help desk archives (here)...

From here (a self-included list) the oldest would be CoppBob, born in 1921 and the youngest would be Isabel Santiago, born in 1998.

--Commander Keane 17:28, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible though that some users are misrepresenting their sex. User:Kate of Kate's Tool is in fact a male. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:34, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

So basically, there's no way to know, even approximately. —Keenan Pepper 18:05, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Having met Kate at a London wikimeet a few months ago I can verify that he is definitely male, but I don't think he's 'misrepresenting his sex' so much as using a name which most people associate with the female. But there are others who are deliberately vague. The only way to know for sure would be a random survey - perhaps this would be an interesting project. I find the median age is probably mid to late 20s. David | Talk 18:53, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I was going of what I knew. I was somewhat inaccurate as someone else told me those facts.--XenoNeon 18:14, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

According to the New York Times article this past week, lots of the low-profile people on Wiki are librarians. Since (in the USA at least) that profession is maybe 80% women, I think that the numbers may be more balanced than the user pages would indicate. --Mareino 02:34, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I can verify that, at least in a small way- five of my colleagues (that I know of, anyway) edit at Wikipedia and Wikisource. All five have user accounts, but none of them have anything on their account userpages. Three of the five are females, all in their 30s.

P.MacUidhir (t) (c) 02:52, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ancient huge oak tree in DAX, France

I am looking for information, document, picture, photo etc... about an ancient huge oak tree, known as the "chêne de QUILLACQ", supposedely one of the oldest on earth, located around or in the city of DAX, France. This tree was cut down sometuime last century. Yhanks for your help.

From what I can gather, it was a tree planted by the Moors more than 2000 years ago and mysteriously cut down in the 1920s:

"The Oak of Quillacq was one of the woodland specimens most remarkable of our area. Located in a wood on right bank of Adour, one allotted, with this monument nature, two millenia. With breast height, his circumference was 9 meters and the pad of its roots extended on a perimeter of 25 Mr. Objet of worship and of piety, one had baptized it "Tree of the Fairies". A source to which one allotted to cure the evils of the eyes ran in its fork. Its disappearance goes back to 1920. A pilgrimage took place in the night from the 23 to June 24, celebrates of Jean-baptiste Saint." (translated version of the tourisme landes site).

La France pittoresque also had an article in their 4th quarter 2004 issue, and I found a pic of an etching of the tree about halfway down this page. Hope this helps - you've piqued my interest now! Natgoo 12:01, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Moors could not have planted it 2000 years ago. They came to France briefly many centuries later. alteripse 14:18, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, you're right. It must have had significance to the Moors for some reason. Natgoo 14:35, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Wrestling

The Wrestling performed on WWE is fake. But what is fake and what isn't? Is the drama fake, the injuries, etc.It doesn't say in the WWE article.--XenoNeon 08:52, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's fake in the sense that it is scripted, the bouts are choreographed, the outcomes are pre-determined and some of the hits are fake. The injuries, however, are generally real. A surprisingly good book on the topic is Mick Foley's autobiography Have A Nice Day, and the doco Beyond the Mat is also quite good. Natgoo 12:43, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Why do tickets to wrestling matches cost hundreds of dollar per piece and are hugely popular if the outcomes are pre-determined? Does the audience treat it like theatre instead of sport? — JIP | Talk 14:35, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, yes. It's known as Sports entertainment, and has been described as the equivalent of soap operas for men, providing the same sort of plots, allegiances and drama for a predominantly male audience. I've just found the Professional wrestling article, which has lots more info. Natgoo 14:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much; do you not think that we should have a world wrestling organization that conducts proper wrestling and not just demonstrate it in the Olympics and other major spotring events???

what exactly do you mean with that? i assume there are real wrestling organisations in america. and i don't think that the wwe and such are suddenly gonna reform into that kind of wrestling, it's just not interesting enough to watch. Boneyard 14:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

European military bases in the US?

The US have many military bases in Europe (how many, by the way, and how many secret ones might there be?) and I assume this is a part of NATO agreements. But I've never heard of European military bases in the US (or Canada). Do any exist? DirkvdM 10:39, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

CFB Goose Bay probably the closest thing. The US bases in Europe are generally a legacy of the Second World War, and then later Europe's position on the front line of the Cold War, so I wuoldn't expect it to work the other way around. Morwen - Talk 14:50, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Royal Navy had naval units based in Canada & Newfoundland for some time post-war, which may count. There's also the British Army Training Unit Suffield in Alberta, on CFB Suffield; it's nominally a locally-controlled base, as with most US airbases in the UK, but it's a permanent garrison. There's also odds and ends of NATO training detatchments around in the US, but not operating whole bases. Shimgray | talk | 16:58, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, for a presence today a legacy of WWII is a bit lame and I don't see how Europe was more on the frontline of the cold war than the US. Ideologically it was even less at 'war' than the US and that might actually be the reason for the discrepancy. Imagine a European country or the EU putting up a military basis in Florida to guard against the 'threat' of Cuba :) . And anyway, the one in the Ukraine (which is what made me wonder) is more recent.

When I said 'Canada' I didn't think of the UK. There's a still warm historical connection between those two countries, which would explain Suffield. And training detachments going abroad is normal routine I believe and not quite the same as a permanent basis.

When I Google 'europe "military base" usa' all I get is about US military bases outside the US (and one built by Columbus in Tahiti :) ). Doesn't Europe have any military bases outside Europe? If so, why do the US have so many? DirkvdM 20:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

(not an expert on this, but I'll give it a shot anyway) As Morwen pointed out the reason for US bases in Europe is historical - a relic of the Cold War. Operating a military base (especially ouside your country) is expensive, so you don't build unless you need it, and there is nothing that a European military base in the US could accomplish which one at 'home' couldn't, so none were built. As for why the US has so many overseas bases, that's partly due to US foreign policy, which often calls for military intervention (or at least 'presence') in many different parts of the world. Many of these date back to the Cold War, at which point the US armed strength was vastly greater than that of any European power, so they were building most of the bases. European foreign policy since WW2 has relied much less on military intervention (and/or they never had a standing army comparable with the US), so there was no real need for overseas bases. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 22:36, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Going from memory, the United Kingdom has military bases in Cyprus, a semi-permanent base in Brunei and sovereignty over the base at Diego Garcia, as well as a garrison on the Falkland Islands. France has a major base in Djibouti and a smaller one at N'Djamena in Chad (and a large force in the Cote d'Ivoire, even when that country is not in a state of near civil war). In other words, nothing like the outreach of the United States, but not zero. Physchim62 (talk) 17:49, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In regards to the UK, you're looking at East of Suez as the critical political concept. Also note the semi-permanent Army base in Belize. Besides what you've already mentioned, the RAF has small detatchments based at Ascension Island (to support the Falklands), and there's a few other deployments of varying levels of permanence - in the Gulf, for example, since 1990 - plus RN "fixed patrols" which may or may not be based out of somewhere besides the UK, I don't know. And, of course, there was Hong Kong until recently.

But think of it this way: the biggest military powers, by expenditure at least, are the US, the UK, France, China, Japan, Russia and Germany (in no particular order); of those, Japan and Germany have no overseas deployments for historic reasons, and Russia and China have not actively tried to get overseas basing rights. So that only leaves three, and the US has had a much more forward deployment than the others... Shimgray | talk | 19:26, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

European Countries may not have bases in the United States, but they have stationed troops in the United States for various reasons. I know that Holloman Air Force Base in Almagordo, New Mexico, usually has a number of German fighter pilots present, mostly to train with U.S. Forces. I would imagine that there are other bases in the U.S. where this sort of thing is common. TomStar81 03:12, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Air bases in Wales

Coincidentally, I need to ask whether there are any American air bases in Wales. --Shantavira 11:58, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In preparation for your imminent question on Scotland, I'll put a link to RAF Machrihanish here... (To defend the off-topicity, it does show that some US bases have "RAF" in their name). There are also some US locations at ECHELON that might be relevant (depending on how you define air base) Category:United States Air Force bases doesn't help much yet. Ojw 12:36, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There are no USAF bases in Wales at present. The USAF used to operate out of RAF Sealand in the 1950s but has long since given it up. The main US air bases in Britain need long runways for logistic transport or long-range bombers, which few of the Welsh airfields have. David | Talk 13:36, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As I suspected. Many thanks. --Shantavira 13:58, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Gerberas

I understand that you can buy fake gerberas, for use as decoration. I live in Perth, Western Australia and i was wondering where i could buy them. If you're from Perth, please help! Any suggestions are welcome.--Ali K 13:41, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry: I don't live in Perth, I live in a town in Lancashire, UK but I should think you can buy fake gerberas in florist; a rather big one or a home interior decorator shop. I cannot give you a more specific answer, i'm afraid.--XenoNeon 15:14, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your help, but i was really after a specific store or chain of stores, hence asking for help by fellow West Australians.--Ali K 12:25, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

working capital

what is working capital? what are its determinants?

Start at our article Working capital. Then follow the links off that for more information. Hope this helps. ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 15:26, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

countries that have never had a female leader

besides the united states can you name for me three countries that have never had a female leader.

Why three countries? Is this your homework? Well, East Timor comes to mind. — JIP | Talk 16:37, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You need to define what you mean by leader. As an example Australia's head of state is Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom who is female. But the head of government is the Prime Minister and they have never had a female prime minister. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:03, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Australia has had a few female Premier's though --Ali K 04:59, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Any three Arab countries. -- Mwalcoff 17:15, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Any three North American countries, except Canada for about six months. --jpgordon ∇∆∇∆ 21:55, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, Canada's governor general and official head of state are both women. Both Panama and Nicaragua (if we consider those countries to be in North America) have had female presidents. -- Mwalcoff 02:13, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Obviously, a much shorter list would be countries that have had a female leader. JackofOz 22:15, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

But unless you define "female leader" that list would be just as hard to come up with. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 02:20, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

chart number ones for the usa from 1950 to present day

Ive typed in various different ways to try and find this myself but i cant seem to find what im looking for can you help me please.

As the subject heading says im trying to find all the number ones for the USA from 1950 to present day..list form would be good :)

I look forward to seeing if anyone can help me .

Thanks very much :)

(p.s. ive never used this site before )

Assuming you're talking about music singles, please see List of number-one hits (United States). -- Rick Block (talk) 18:13, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And also welcome to Wikipedia! - Akamad 22:20, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

latin name for marijuana

Cannabis. —Keenan Pepper 18:01, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There are between one and three species - Cannabis sativa and possibly Cannabis indica and Cannabis ruderalis - Guettarda 19:46, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ruderalis is not quite potent enough to classify as marijuana. Although some might actually prefer that. Many have started to hate the potency of nederwiet (hey, no article on that? well, Dutch sinsemilla then), saying it's no fun anymore. DirkvdM 20:46, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

(see Sinsemilla) --hydnjo talk 21:13, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

martin sheen in gods and generals

i saw a martin sheen in the major motion picture gettysburg and i was surprised to find out that he wasn`t in the sequel why wasn`t he.

Because Gods and Generals doesn't appear to be a sequel to Gettysburg. They both have the same subject matter and the same director (and, according to IMDb, the same release year) but that's as far as it goes. There are also many reasons why an actor doesn't appear in a sequel - contractual; other commitments; a personal dislike of some aspect of the previous production; money. You might have better luck by trying a Martin Sheen fan site like this one. ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 19:22, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Both movies were made from books written by Jeff Shaara as well as having same subject matter and the same director. They did not come out in the same year. Gettysburg 1993, Gods and Generals 2003 Rmhermen 20:22, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for other Wiccans in Michigan

I was wondering if there were any Wiccans in the area i just moved to. Ludington michigan.

About.com has a page of links for Wiccans in Michigan generally. I'd advise following those links (or nearby links) and seeing if you can find organisations near to Ludington. The page is here. Hope this helps. ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 19:42, 10 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It's probably worth pointing out that the "Wiki" in Wikipedia comes from the Hawaiian word for "quick", and has no connection with "Wicca"! -- Arwel (talk) 23:22, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There happens to be a Wiccapedia, though it seems to be an almost totally useless web portal. [11] Is Wikipedia trademarked? ‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 01:16, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I believe so, by the Foundation. Shimgray | talk | 11:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It should also be noted that Wikipedia is not a meetup site, and this is not a precedent-making posting for others who want to meet people of similar persuasions, religions, interests, etc., anywhere else. User:Zoe|^(talk) 00:12, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Meetup.com, on the other hand, is a meetup site, and they have a Witches Meetup Group in Muskegon, which may or may not be close enough for you. --Metropolitan90 08:11, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

A "New Deal Coalition" was dominant from around 1932-1968. Is a coherent new Republican coalition, consisting of what in Kansas are called "Mods" and "Cons," emerging?

Please DYOH - Do Your Own Homework. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:25, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 11

Bloglines

I wondered why some feeds, when aggregated to Bloglines, are horribly outdated (for instance, the latest item for "MediaWiki Project News" RSS feed in Sourceforge.net, in Bloglines, is "MediaWiki 1.4beta1 released", released August 2005)? Thanks. 61.94.149.23 00:58, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

coin collecting

what is the meaning of spcimen set?

If you look here it will tell you what a specimen is and here is an example of a set. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:19, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ranking of countries according to Real GDP, per capita

I'm having a very hard time finding a list of countries ranked by Real GDP, per capita. Why is it so terribly difficult? I mean, it's surely possible, right? Why doesn't Wikipedia have it?! Is there some sort of consensus against it or something? I need it urgently. -- Natalinasmpf 05:08, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Try the CIA World Factbook. Rank Order - GDP (purchasing power parity), Rank Order - GDP - per capita and Rank Order - GDP - real growth rate. Now you can create the list for Wikipedia. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:24, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't contain the information I need - PPP is different from Real GDP. -- Natalinasmpf 05:25, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The second link should be the one. It's GDP, per captia. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:29, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

But I need it in Real GDP, not nominal. Thanks anyway, I'm just very frustrated over the lack of such a list. -- Natalinasmpf 05:31, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Whereas nominal GDP refers to the total amount of money spent on GDP, real GDP adjusts this value for the effects of inflation in order to estimate the actual quantity of goods and services making up GDP. The former is sometimes called "money GDP," while the latter is termed "constant-price" or "inflation-corrected" GDP -- or "GDP in base-year prices" (where the base year is the reference year of the index used). See real vs. nominal in economics.

You should be able to use the info Camebridge gave you when you can find out what the inflation was in the years you're looking at. What's your base year? - Mgm|^(talk) 11:23, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I wanted to compare 2001 (and 2004 as well) the per capita Real GDP of all countries, ranked in order. I don't know how to use this information to organise for every single country. I mean, isn't there a list that already calculates all of this beforehand? -- Natalinasmpf 00:55, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Numbers for any given year data across countries should be comparable. Not a lot of countries had major inflation 2001-2004; the US, in particular, had very little, so that if you are using PPP (which you probably should be, if you are talking real GDP: exchange rate is a very nominal measure of value, unless you are doing foreign exchange), that is usually given in US dollars, and all you'll need to do is to make a small adjustment for the inflation of the dollar in that 3-year span. -- Jmabel | Talk 02:37, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

japanese fuso bus

we have a mitisubi fuso 1985 bus and we can't understand the writing on the dash board above the speedometer.

Can you take a photograph of it, and show us? We can't read minds. -- Natalinasmpf 07:34, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you get a photo why not check over at Wikipedia:Japan-related topics notice board#Participants. One of them should be able to help. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:01, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

what is the K-12 is?

See K-12. -- Natalinasmpf 08:15, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Belongings of KIA soldiers

Are the diaries of soldiers killed in action returned to their families along with other belongings? I imagine a diary might have sensitive information in it, which the military wouldn't want released... -- MegamiX 08:18, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The U. S. Army's publication AR-638-2, section 20–6, says: "Safeguarding military information: All documents and any sealed material in the PE (personal effects) will be reviewed to ensure proper safeguarding of military information. Classified material and material warranting classification will be withdrawn and submitted to the intelligence officer for review and proper disposition. Material suitable for release will be returned by the intelligence officer for disposition as PE." At which point, according to the [Vice Chief of Staff Army] website: "Shipment of Personal Effects: When a Soldier dies on Active Duty, his or her personal effects are shipped to the place of residence of the authorized recipient, if the recipient did not reside with the deceased soldier." The complete text of the speech wherein this appeared is here. HTH Her Pegship 07:36, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

how did he

hi, my question is the following : how did michael jackson turned white ? .. thank you

He claims to suffer from vitiligo. David Sneek 09:29, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly what i was going to write, you beat me to it!--Ali K 09:33, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, a rare form of vitiligo that in addition to the destruction of the skin pigmentation, resulted in the modification of his bone structure, nasal cartiliage and labial tissue. Brian Schlosser42 19:42, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And a cloaca named Bonnie Danadeuce. - Nunh-huh 15:35, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Escape from Witch Mountain

who played the young girl in Escape From Witch Mountain? --13:17, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Do you mean the 1995 or 1975 version? In the 1995 version, i think Elisabeth Moss plays the girl named Anna. Could this be her?--Ali K 13:28, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you mean Escape to Witch Mountain? In 1975, the character was Kim Richards, who also had a role in the 1995 TV version, in which the character was, as Ali K said, played by Elisabeth Moss (though the characters' names were different). User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:50, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ranch Entrance

Many ranches and acreaged properties have a structure that you pass under to enter the property, often with a quarterboard naming the propery. It is usually two vertical poles with another pole placed horizontally on top, similar to the pi sign (π). I have heard it called entrance, arch (not technically correct), gate, etc. What is the correct terminology for the structure itself? My horse, cattle, and sheep contacts are not able to agree.

Thank you, MRLee216.239.160.71 15:15, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is it an estate gate as this site [12] suggests? --Tachs 07:54, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

the worst jobs in history

during anicent times what were the ten worst jobs in history,what were the worst jobs in history during the middle ages and in your opinon what are the worst jobs in mordern times.

Do your own homework - if you need help with a specific part or concept of your homework, feel free to ask, but please do not post entire homework questions and expect us to give you the answers. Perhaps you could search Google and find out more about the Channel 4/Discovery Channel TV series your homework is based on. ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 15:48, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If that's a homework question, then a teacher somewhere needs shooting. TheMadBaron 17:34, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Why? The topic seems both legitimate and interesting. Fredrik | t c 17:44, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It may be an interesting question but it's very opinionated. I would not want to be a swamper on a sewage or water truck but others don't seem to mind. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:52, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but the person has to justify his or her argument. That's the whole point of history. -- Natalinasmpf 18:09, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Some would say that the worst job in history is to be a history teacher; others would say that they prefer that to being unemployed. Physchim62 (talk) 17:54, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My opine? Telemarketers. MRLee216.239.160.71 17:58, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Tony Robinson made a TV series (and wrote the accompanying book) entitled The Worst Jobs in History [13]. I can't remember most, but one was urine collector (the urea was used to make gunpowder, I think). The book (same title) is still available. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:22, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Also see the Channel 4 page. --Shantavira 08:55, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I believe Henry VIII (and probably not only him) had a 'royal arse wiper'. The big perk was that he got the rest of the day off, so he was actually envied. :) DirkvdM 21:34, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, we have an article about it. --Shantavira 08:55, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Urine collectors were also used by leather tanners. User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:52, 11 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Jizz mopper is probably the worst job of modern times. Proto t c 14:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Worst job in ancient history: slave. Worst job in medieval history: slave. Worst job in enlightened history: slave. Worst job in the contemporary world: slave. --Mareino 15:00, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think "slave" would be condsidered a "job" by most people. Worst situation to be in in general? Sure, no doubt. But few people choose the career of slavery, and I think the discussion is centering on worst voluntary careers. Brian Schlosser42 19:50, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Armpit Sniffer has to be up there. This is a job working in the research department of deoderant companies. Herostratus 15:22, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

When it comes to bad situations of course something like the nazi concentration camps or a wartime situation in general is (potentially) worse than slavery. But if we restrict it to occupational situations I'm not sure if slavery is generally worse. A slave may mot be free and suffer all sorts of abuse (depending on the nature and whims of the owner), but at least slaves are valuable property that needs to be kept healthy. How did 19th century factory workers fare in comparison? They weren't prone to the same sort of abuse (to the same extent anyway), but they were only free in name; where were they going to go and how would they survive? And there may have been less care om the part of the employers concerning their health. If they got injured (on the job, most likely) they simply lost their jobs because there was a big enough pool of other workers. So less 'social security', so to say. Of course 'factory worker' can be considered a job. And there must be modern equivalents. I vaguely remember something about silver (or what was it?) mines in Brazil. And sulphur mines are pretty dreadful too (in Indonesia?). DirkvdM 09:10, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Travel Blogs with Photos

Where can I find travel blogs/journals or a collection of travel photos (preferrably of East Asia)? I'm more interested in the photographs than the narrative. Thanks!

A former wikipedia contributor runs a site at http://www.photojpn.org/. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:45, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 12

DVD Technology

When will DVD players and DVD's becone obsolete Technology?

Current DVDs and DVD players aren't as good as HDTV. Expect another generation soon (like in 2006). Please see HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:39, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hard to answer, since they are not yet even obselescent. - Jmabel | Talk 02:52, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Is the blu ray being developed to phase out regular DVD? What about my DVD collection?

It's unlikely that yur DVD collection will be affected, since the Blu-Ray players will most likely have DVD capability too, likewise with HD-DVD. - Akamad 06:11, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Some people consider cassette tapes obsolete now we have CDs and DVDs. I still think they have their uses, so nothing really becomes obsolete. Video tapes are still in use as well, so I doubt DVDs will be obsolete any time soon. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:51, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

DVD's themselves will likely not be obsolete for decades, as they'll likely remain playable in whatever successor player comes along. But DVD players themselves will be obsolete in 5 years or less. And if you think that nothing really becomes obsolete, I challenge you to find film for my collection of antique cameras and 1960's and 70's era Polaroids, or ribbon and paper for my 1920's era adding machines and typewriters... :-) Brian Schlosser42 20:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you want it, and it's been made before, there are people that can make it for you again. You may just not want to pay what they would charge :) - Taxman ^Talk 20:51, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Help me solve this crossword puzzle!

After 3+ hours, I am almost done but have 4 clues left.

~~Clue: The organisms inhabiting the surface layer of a sea or lake. Answer: _l_n_c_n~~

~~Clue: Places where alcoholic drinks are made Answer: w_n_m_e_~~

~~Clue:Consisting of yellow or red form of hydrated ferric oxide Answer: O_h_r_u_~~

~~Clue:Waterway in brittany, NW France (the name is two words, both five letters long) Answer:_i_e_ r_n_e~~

Thank you!

Lotsofissues 02:37, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure you other letters are correct? Because "plankton" and "brewery" suspiciously have the right number of letters (but don't fit). Enochlau 02:48, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You might be right about plankton. The clue that generated the c (third from end) was "relating to divination by the movements of mice" The answer is the adj of myomancy. Which would be spelled myomancic? (my assumption) myomantic? (I am certain the answer ends in a c). Thanks for spotting this possibility. Lotsofissues 03:00, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes its plankton. Lotsofissues 04:06, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

ochrous? alteripse 03:33, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yesssssss! ocherous!!! Thank you. My dad (Ph.D in chemistry) and I were looking for a hour and were nowhere near succeeding. Lotsofissues 04:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There is a canal in brittany called d'ille et rance. Perhaps it is some variant of that? --DannyZ 06:17, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Or does RIVER R_N_E lodge anything loose? - Nunh-huh 09:21, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The River Rance perhaps? It's in Brittany. Natgoo 12:38, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The most famous river in NW France is the Seine. Open question whether Normandy and Brittany are "close enough" for this puzzle. --Mareino 15:05, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My guess is no, as the question explicitly asks for Brittany and gives the letters as _i_e_ r_n_e. Natgoo 16:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I'd agree with Natgoo; List of rivers of France seems to say that only Rance could fit that pattern. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Ho Ho Ho!)} 16:31, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you guys, I was finally able to complete the impossible to solve Financial Times polymath crossword. Lotsofissues 22:15, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Casa Editrice Maccari (CEM), via Trento 53, CP 120, 53100 Parma.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope that you can help me please.

I have been trying to contact the above Publisher for some time.

The telephone and fax no. is: 00-39-0521-771268

If I try to phone this no. I get an answering machine from the Telecom Italia. The fax no. doesn't work either.

Would it be possible for you to supply me with the correct telephone/fax no. for this Publisher please?

I await your reply,

Thank you in advance,

Yours sincerely

EILEEN COCKROFT (Ms)
Secretary/Assistant
Source Management

Tel. no: 31-20-4853201
Fax no: 31-20-4853214
e-mail: (email removed)

Are you sure the publisher is still in business? Why are you trying to contact them. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:54, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

AUSSIES

I'm not sure what it's all about, so does anyone know the reason for the surfers attacking foreigners in australia lately? is it a new sort of terrorism or just a civil tiff? are things under control now? are there any cases of servere bodily harm done to victims? i'm a bit concerned as it is not a common attitude of OZ nationals to behave in such a manner and unfortunately the situation is not as well publicised in my country.(i vacationed in australia twice so im really shocked!!!)ME--168.209.97.34 09:45, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

According to the news here in Australia, this attack on foreigners was indeed performed by surfers and youths. They were targetting citizens who did not appear to be Australian. The Prime Minister of Australia has expressed his feelings of uttermost disgust and said that all Australians reglardless of race should be treated with respect. I am not sure if things are under control now, although police have been making several arrests. I was, too, shocked to learn of this behavior as it does not normally happen in Australia. Mind you it was a small amount of people expressing their (racist) thoughts, and the majority of Australians do not feel the same way. --Ali K 10:10, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I am surprised it made such an international wave. Essentially, it is difficult to pull together a multicultural society, where people whose families have been here for a generation or two more may have a sense of elitism or posession; others who have arrived from overseas due to problems there may well rather be where they come from. Ultimately, tensions that started at home became violent as some groups (according to police including some Neo-Nazi groups) of this former group of Australians targeted persons of Middle Eastern origin; in retaliation, there was response in riots, property damage and graffiti. Immigrants and locals anywhere tend to make gangs; and gangs are often centred ethnically and thus an entire ethnic group blamed when a gang member purportedly does something wrong. So it may not be typically Australian, but even Australian society has many difficulties with multiculturalism. jnothman ^talk 10:33, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The racial tensions were probably there for a while, but the catalyst for the riots was the bashing of a couple of lifegards on the 4th of December, by a group of Lebanese appearance. This led to riots targeting Lebanese people (well actually, pretty much anyone of Middle Eastern appearance was attacked). Which then led to counter-riots and will most likely go onto counter-counter-riots. And it certainly isn't common Australian behaviour. Check out 2005 Cronulla race riots for more details. - Akamad 10:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

WOW,that seems kinda hectic! i read the link u provided and i am totally amazed by the perplexity of the entire situation.Do you think this negative behaviour will rub off on the neighbouring New zealand?i have family there but they said that nothing has happened there yet? how far do you think ozzies are willing to take this? are their actions justified in any way? do you think it would affect their tourism stats for the near festive season? are these rebels aware of the stigma they are now attaching to their wonderful(now sceptical)country? which until now has been one of the top tourist attractions? my heart goes out to all rebels for their inability to see the inhumanity of their acts(and how it will affect them in the long run)as well as the victims of this cruel example of "The Beast"(Lord of the Flies)your views will be highly appreciated...ME--168.209.97.34`

I don't think it would have any direct implications on New Zealand. As for affecting tourism, these incidents to date have been confined to the beach areas, which are popular tourist destinations. I was out and about in the CBD today, and I saw nothing of it, so it appears confined to those areas. Australia, while being the multicultural place it is now, is probably still coming to terms with its identity, with immigrants having widely varying levels of attachment to their originating cultures. Enochlau 13:42, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of Flea Market

Why are Flea Markets called such?

A quick glance at the Flea market article gives this: "The original flea market is likely to be the Marché aux puces of Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, a large, long-established outdoor bazaar, one of four in Paris, that earned their name from the flea-infested clothing and rags sold there". Please search wikipedia before asking questions here. Natgoo 12:32, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

just a thought!if you have been to a flea market or at least a Capetonian one you would soon realise that there is'nt even enough space for a flea to jump bcos the place is totally too crowded!!!.--168.209.97.34

The major Dutch flea market is the Waterloopleinmarkt in Amsterdam. The 'island' this is on (Amsterdam is partly a collection of islands named with the suffix '-burgh') used to get flooded a lot and was therefore called Vlooienburgh (after an ancient version of the modern Dutch word 'vloeien' which means 'to flow'). In modern Dutch 'vlooien' means 'fleas', so I've long wondered if that may be the origin of the Dutch word 'vlooienmarkt'. Which i nturn might have led to the English version (it wouldn't be the only English word of Dutch origin). I can't find any source to back this up, but it sounds too good not to be true. If it this is not the origin it's certainly a big coincidence. DirkvdM 09:32, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

how do I get the zest from an orange?

Use a sharp knife (be careful), or, even better, a potato peeler. There are specialised tools for this, but they're expensive. Proto t c 14:20, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Expensive? I had quick look on ebay and the cheapest zester was about 3 American dollars, i don't know where you are from, so i didnt know which currency to quote you in. Using a zester is probably the easiet, most affective way of zesting an orange ( and not to mention safest!)--Ali K 14:50, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As with just about all culinary tools, there's a wide range of prices, with themost expensive generally being exteremely durable but only cost-effective for professional chefs (who need to, say, zest 10,000 oranges per year). You can also zest with a cheese grater, by the way. --Mareino 15:08, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Right, a cheese grater is what I use. I dunno about using a knife or even a potato peeler as the first respnder says, sounds hard to me. Herostratus 15:18, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Just make sure you get only the top of the peel. The white part is very bitter. TheSPY 17:55, 12 December 2005 (UTC)TheSPY[reply]

One of those zesting tools with four holes on the tips is cheap and works pretty well, once you've got the angle right. Graters are easier, but also tend to take off some of the pith (white layer). A microplane grater is probably easiest, takes off a thin enough layer that you won't get any pith, but they are quite pricey. --Bob Mellish 18:02, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Shareholders and Directors of Corporations

I was wondering if there is a way to determine if a specific individual has any shareholdings or is a director/principal of a CCPC, a closely held corporation registerd in Ontario?

Thankyou, Elizabeth Walker CGA

Shower door glass

How do I get hard water stains off

My guess is with a really tough shower cleaner or it might pay to clean them while you are actually in the shower and the glass is fogged with steam.--Ali K 14:43, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Look in the local supermarket or hardware store for cleaners that remove calcium, which is often the main component of hard water.--Mareino 15:12, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Lime-Away works pretty well, though it's nasty to work with; you have to be careful not to get it on clothes, skin, or other surfaces that might be stained by it. android 79 18:31, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
For a low-tech solution, try a scouring pad; it scrubs away water spots and dried soap.

And maybe scratches the glass. --Anon, 09:31 UTC, December 13, 2005

Why buy some agressive stuff when a milder and probably much cheaper solution is likely already in your house. Try vinegar. I'm surprised that the use of removing calcium isn't mentioned there. Recently I used it to remove a fairly thick layer of calcium deposits on the tap in my bathroom. I wrapped toilet paper around it and poured vinegar over that. Considering the thickness of the layer I had to leave it overnight, but after that the calcium pretty much washed off (after some persuasion by a brush). I suppose the chemistry of this is fairly easy, something with Ca2+ reacting with acid. Anyone? DirkvdM 09:52, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Corporate executives -real estate

How can I get a list of the executives in the top 500 corps that make the decisions about corporate real estate transactions. I would also like to have their email address.

dinosaurs

DID DINOSAURS EXIST BEFORE NOAH'S DAY? I HAVEN'T READ ANYTHING ABOUT THEM IN THE BIBLE

That used to bother me when I was about 8 years old too. You will have to make a fundamental decision whether to believe many other things about the physical universe that are not mentioned explicitly in the Bible. Good luck. alteripse 15:19, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well they certainly didn't exist after Noah's day. And they certainly existed. (You might find Young Earth Creationism helpful) DJ Clayworth 15:40, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You haven't read about automobiles or computers in the Bible either. Does this mean they don't exist? — JIP | Talk 19:03, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Whoever the leader at your church is should be able to answer this question in detail for you, but here's how I understand it. Even the newest parts of the Bible were written almost 2,000 years ago. There was a lot that people didn't know back then! There was very little of what we'd now call the sciences of archeology and paleontology, which try to learn things by digging around in the ground and comparing what we find with what we know about the rest of the world. Dinosaurs died out long before civilization began, so you'd never know about them without lots of scientific work. If you think about how little we know about the world 2,000 years ago, it makes sense that no one wrote about dinosaurs in the Bible. Most Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that God came up with all of the ideas in the Bible, but he gave those ideas to otherwise ordinary men to write down. It's hard enough understanding the important parts -- loving everyone, rejecting violence -- so you can understand why the Book of Genesis explains the creation of the world in such simple terms, with no dinosaurs, evolution, Big Bang, or any of that other stuff that requires science to understand. Religion only explains why we're here, and how we should treat each other. All the rest you'll have to look outside the Bible to learn about. --Mareino 19:49, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You might want to read creationism more generally, which describes a whole different range of ways by which people reconcile their religious beliefs with science's current understanding of the world (such as dinosaur fossils). To cut a long story short, many people, perhaps the majority if you take a global perspective, who identify as Christians think that those parts of the Bible aren't to be taken literally; some others claim that scientists have got it completely wrong and the literal word of Bible is right. There are also many other people who aren't Christians (they believe in some other religion, or none at all (see atheism and agnosticism)) for whom the Bible is just another book and so they don't really care what the Bible says on the matter. Personally, I fall into the latter camp; I don't worry about the discrepancies between the Bible and science any more than I worry about the discrepancies between the rainbow serpent story and science. But I can't tell you what to believe. It's something you'll need to figure out for yourself. --Robert Merkel 01:47, 13 December 2005 (UTC).[reply]

Well, i can tell you that Noah did not created an ark, and the real question should be : did noah existed ? the answer is : the bible is a story, there are no magical beings and no one speaks to god, or for god, there was never a huge boat discovered that held all te species of both sexes, thats imposible, and if god wanted Noah to save the earth to make a big test, he SHOULD NEVER started the huge flood in the first place,and besides noah is a human, and all the other living creatures that were saved by him are animals that exist today. Now you do the math : Dinosaur before Man, Noah equals Man, Dinosaurs before Noah , Noah never created an ark, ark does not exist, Bible Made it up. Boom im out! :D

Well, what a sweeping philosophical statement. Logically speaking in terms of analysing it scientifically, there is very strong evidence for dinosaurs, and a lot of good evidence (as well as against) the existence of a supernatural entity in philosophical terms. -- Natalinasmpf 08:44, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Idaho wine grapes

--Could you please tell me what type of wine grape vines will grow in this area? the elevation is about 3400 feet. the planting zone is a 4 although it has gotten to -12. Grapes do grow here but I would like to try some wine types. white would be good.----- Beatrice Shatto area code is 83530

Wikifun

You guys seem good at solving problems. Can you solve any of the Wikipedia:Wikifun problems? Dmn 16:27, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

We're not allowed! Because of the fact that we can answer questions here we've been banned from over there. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:16, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Huh? I've not heard that before. Natgoo 19:29, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well it's true, there's a cabal that monitors it. Why just after typing in the above answer my hard drive crashed on my home computer. I've now moved to a secret location to finish this. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 21:40, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You poor thing. I hope it's somewhere warm with fruity drinks. Natgoo 23:28, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

the fastest shoot(Kick)

hi

I am talking about soccer(football). I heard the the speed of a kick or shoot of one player can measured interms kilometre per hour. If this is true , whose kick or shoot is the all time fastest shoot? & how many kilometres per hour it travels?

I tried looking for it on some record sites as well as google, but I couldn't find a relible source. But my grand father was a professional soccer player in Iran around 50 years ago and a few years back he told me about this guy nicknamed Hammer, whose shots exceeded almost 80 Km/h, but I'm not sure if this is accurate. He also told me his shots were so hard that it injured some goalies and hence they made him this leg cast and made him not use that leg to shoot. --(Aytakin) | Talk 22:35, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You heard the the speed of a kick or shoot of one player can measured interms kilometre per hour. Is there a speed that can't be measured in km/h? :) DirkvdM 10:06, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what the record is. But Sky Sports in the UK used to measure particularly thunderous shots, and I definitely remember one from a Sheffield Wednesday player (maybe it was Ritchie Williams) clocking 89 mph (which is about 142 km/h). Matt Le Tissier had one around the same speed once, also. Proto t c 11:04, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well if a soccer ball travels 80 km/h then the guys that were injured were 3 month old children, that an aprox speed of 49mph, and if a shoot or kick is 142km/h it would still be hardly to belive that some one would get hurt, being an aprox 89 mph, in baseball they get hit with a real hard ball at those speeds on the legs and no bones broken yet, with a soccar ball its doubtfull, the only time there have been broken bones speeds have ranged over 120mph when the ball got right of the bat after hitting a 102mph fastball, but in answer to your question so far there hasnt been a contunious record of the speed, but an unoficial one was given, in france, by a player named Ramses Saint Martin who kicked a 96 mph aprox(154 km/h ) soccer ball , thus giving him the number of the same for the frenchman's team, he was the teams high-shool free kicker in mont blanc, but a freak accident took his life, and never made it to national or international recognition.

Sprinkles

I'm busy making cookies (biscuits) from scratch. How do I get the sprinkles to stay on top? It's really annoying as they keep falling off. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 17:48, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

They need glue or moisture of some sort. Any sort of dampness or frosting should do it. (like I've ever baked a cookie...) alteripse 18:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What kind of sprinkles are you using? the little rainbow colored "jimmies" or non-pariels or something altogether different? Brian Schlosser42 20:15, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You could try pressing them down into the dough a little (or a lot). —Keenan Pepper 20:25, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I was using the rainbow sprinkles. Also, as per alteripse's answer how do I get several thousand superglued sprinkles off my fingers, face and out of the keyboard? Have you ever tried glueing each sprinkle to a cookie. The frosting worked but the picture in the cookbook shows them without frosting. Keenan Pepper are you saying I should cook the sprinkles as well? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 21:28, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You should cook them into the cookie. Press down a little before you put them in the oven. They should come out all right, if a little crunchy and carmelized. Brian Schlosser42 21:53, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You could try using some icing. Hundreds and Thousands tend to stick well to that. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Ho Ho Ho!)} 15:34, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Adding the sprinkles before cooking worked as does the icing. I was too lazy to ice cookies. Thanks all. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:42, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Rock band "Fuse" lyrics

Can you tell me the lyrics to the Fuse song "Across the Skies?" Thanks!

Lyrics are copyrighted, and Wikipedia cannot post them here. You might search in a search engine for "Across the Skies" fuse lyrics. Zoe (216.234.130.130 21:45, 12 December 2005 (UTC))[reply]

journalistic ethics

Suppose the editor of a major U.S. newspaper (call him/her A) writes an article defending a convicted child molester (call him/her B). Suppose someone (call him/her C) who has studied the court documents from the case quite thoroughly writes a letter to A rebutting the claims. Suppose A, instead of publishing the letter, forwards it to B in the state penitentiary and includes C's home address, which is not otherwise on public record. Suppose B then writes to C, who fears to open the letter because s/he's afraid it might be deliberately contaminated with tuberculosis bacteria or somesuch.

Did A breach any journalistic codes of conduct or ethics? Does C's planned lawsuit have any good grounds? What if C's fears about the letter s/he received turn out to be justified? (S/he's sent it to the proper authorities for testing—the prison didn't bother to check its contents.) Is A then criminally liable?

This is not hypothetical (I know C), but I'd rather not give any details until after the lawsuit. (I will say that C is not me, despite the matching initial. :-) —Charles P. (Mirv) 18:37, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The journalistic ethics question isn't the important one because journalistic ethics are simply idealistic unenforceable "guidelines". You really need to know (1) what safety risks were reasonably created to C, and (2) what legal recourse or protection C has. Possible risks might include harassment by mail or by internet/email or by third party such as as lawyer, or perhaps physical attack if the prisoner ever gets out, is into revenge, and thinks C was responsible for causing his original conviction or extending or aggravating his punishment. However a medical risk from a prisoner transmitted by a letter is so vanishingly improbable that importuning authorities about it will undermine her credibility. (2) I don't know what her legal recourse is for the transfer of information from journalist to prisoner. It would be best determined and explained by a lawyer (IANAL), but if she sent it to the editor for publication (i.e., public dissemination), the lawyer may not be very impressed. I have to say that the story as you present it makes me wonder what important pieces of info are being omitted or described in a way that might change my responses or view of this. All three characters sound pretty unsavory from your story. alteripse 19:14, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

B was arrested and convicted for molesting young boys, allegedly at gunpoint. C has a young son.

C has also faced threats and defamation in the past for writing about other such criminals, which probably accounts for the paranoia about the letter. As for the transfer of information, well, I've yet to see a newspaper publish details of letter writers' home address—usually they just give the city and state, and C's address in that city and state is not in public records.

C is, of course, looking for a good lawyer; I'm just curious about how the case might turn out. —Charles P. (Mirv) 21:35, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps extended discussion here is not appropriate but one has to wonder (1) why a journalist had "defended" the convicted prisoner unless perhaps there was another side or a mitigating factor or an unjust aspect of the trial, (2) why someone not a party to the original transgression or trial thought it her business to "examine" the court documents and send a letter of disagreement to the newspaper. People disagree with editorials every day but dont expect anyone to attack them for it; hence it sounds like something is missing. (3) why someone is worried that the prisoner is going to attack her if all she did was write a letter expressing an opinion that disagreed with the journalist and agreed with the jury; that happens all the time too. (4) why a journalist would forward such a letter to a prisoner; it is such a bizarre thing to do that again the story sounds incomplete. You can call me excessively skeptical but most of the described or putative actions of all three people (especially C) don't make sense unless there are important missing pieces. alteripse 02:44, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What happened to the biography that was supposed to be written about Malcolm Forbes about 10 years ago aledging that he had a secret homosexual lifestyle?

And who was the biographer?

Could it be "Malcolm Forbes: The Man Who Had Everything" by Christopher Winans? Published in 1990. - Akamad 09:04, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Animal genitalia

what do you call animal genitalia ? is it the same as humans

I would presume so, yes. I've heard of male genital organs in non-humans being called penises, at least. — JIP | Talk 19:02, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If the animal is a mammal, then all of the parts match up, although many people only use the technical terms when talking about animal genitalia, since using slang words to refer to animal genitals can sound a bit silly. If the animal's not a mammal, you can usually use the same terms, but some animals reproduce differently enough that their organs require a different set of words. --Mareino 19:53, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Birds, for example, have a common orifice, the cloaca with which they excrete and reproduce, more's the pity for them, I suppose. Brian Schlosser42 20:23, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Danny Bonaduce calls his "Hermione Gingold". Just in case someone asks. [14] - Nunh-huh 03:22, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Danny Bonaduce has a cloaca? Maybe that explains more than I thought it would...Brian Schlosser42 15:13, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If eighteen year olds are considered teenagers

Are eighteen year olds considered teenagers?

Yes, by definition. However in many jurisdictions 18yr olds are legally adults so people sometimes make a distinction at that line calling 13-17 teenagers and everyone else adults. So if the distinction is between adults and teenagers, your answer may be sometimes not. It depends on how careful the person is being. - Taxman ^Talk 20:21, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Our article Category:Teenage_Wikipedians says that you can add your name if you are between 13 and 19. I guess we call Wikipedians teenagers by definition. --Ali K 03:05, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Technically speaking, a teenager is someone aged 10-19. Being a minor or not is not relevant in this case. "teenager" is based on age, just like twenty- and thirty-something. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:01, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

How can an 11 year old be a "teenager"? Teen-ager implies 13-19. I'd say 10-19 could better be described as "adolescent". Saying that 12 is a "teen" is like saying the year 2000 was in the 90's. Brian Schlosser42 15:16, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

For Your Consideration

I clicked on one of the "for your consideration" ads online promoting movies from universal pictures. The link was www.universalpicturesawards.com . I RSVPd online for a screening, but it asked for a Academy Member affiliation. Are these screenings open to the general public? I successfully signed up, though I don't know if I'll actually be able to get in come the day of the screening.

Ads/spam are not allowed on Wikipedia. Where did you find this? DirkvdM 10:09, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

booker

I AM A BIG WRESTLING FAN AND I JUST WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH COULD A BOOKER MAKE, A GOOD BOOKER?

See bookmaker. -- Natalinasmpf 06:31, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And please don't write in all capitals - it's the written equivalent of shouting... — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:03, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

A wrestling booker is not a bookmaker. In wrestling parlance, a booker is the man who arranges matches, handles the advertising, decides who will win the matches, etc. I don't know how much a good one would make. Probably not that much, at all, unless they're hugely successful and pull in lots of T-shirt sales. Proto t c 11:06, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Annual US Military Recruiting

Question: What is the total average number of the new soldiers recruit to US Army each year? How many from the total recruit to US Force and Navy?

Answer:

Hard to say, but assuming that the rate of new soldiers remains more or less the same it would be in the tens of thousands. According to this report, in 2004 the number of recruits was over 77,000. I know the average age of an army recruit is 19, so figure the number of 19 year olds fresh out of high school, independent, and in need of cash. My guess work would assume that the number would be lower for the navy and air force, since they do not need a large number to project force. TomStar81 03:25, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for website URL where man promises to cut his thumb off if given donations.

i came across a site a few months ago where a man promised he would cut his thumb off if he was given 50,000$ worth of donations by christmas and document the whole process. anyone have the URL? thanks chris

http://www.cutoffmythumb.com/ --Think Fast 01:49, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

aww, there's no update. :( looks like he didnt do it.

What is this????? help me!! everyone please look closely and give me a guess...

http://ebiomedia.com/gall/eyes/images/NHeye.jpg ahh a big blurry eye what is this?? i got more {{underconstruction}}Maoririder 21:34, 12 December 2005 (UTC)thanks where is this?? http://img.groundspeak.com/cache/b611ae38-9333-4138-9942-3e517ef8c6b9.jpg you guys and gals help me before??[reply]

I get a 403 Forbidden error for the first link; sorry I can't help with the second one. —Keenan Pepper 03:15, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I also got a 403 error link for the first, and like Keenan Pepper I don't know what the second one is. TomStar81 03:16, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like mooring masts for the Mother Ship! Harken! It arrives! It is an omen!

P.MacUidhir (t) (c) 02:11, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Any idea (other than on the beach) where it is. Looks like a scarecrow. If the thing to the right is for drying fish then it could well be a figure for scaring off birds. We have similar stuff here in the summer. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 02:28, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

bubba gump

today i heard about a seafood restrurant called bubba gump which is named for the forest gump character what i want to know is does it deliever.

Yes. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 21:45, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I totally agree. Enochlau 22:14, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See here for home delivery information. --Metropolitan90 05:46, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

worcestershire sauce as marinade

Does Worcestershire sauce have the right balance of acid and oil to be used as a marinade?

I often use it as a marinade on beef, caribou and have also used it on polar bear. I have not tried it on chicken or pork. However, as to the balance I could not say. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:30, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You've cooked a polar bear, but can't make the sprinkles stay on your cookies? I guess the Sorbonne has gone downhill since my salad days...Brian Schlosser42 15:20, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on what you want from your marinade. Worcestershire sauce certainly contains a wonderful variety of flavors, so if you like the taste it will work well as a flavor enhancer. It seems to me that you're more worried about tenderizing, however. On that front, worcestershire does contain a fair amount of vinegar and could probably have some mild tenderizing effect, but not much. This is hardly the fault of the sauce, though: The notion that acidic marinades are good tenderizers is generally not true. They simply can't penetrate very far into meat, so the most they can do is tenderize the surface and a bit beneath. And leave them on too long - you've got mushy meat. So don't use worcestershire if you need to tenderize meat; cook it differently. -- George 06:00, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

secret european prisons in the us

iam a postal worker there is a rumor going around that several european countries are operating secret prisons in the us disguised as ordinary buildings where torture is performed[proably because are laws are loose when it comes to that sought of thing] i want to know what do you think about it and if you think there is any truth to this rumor.

There have been reports that the CIA has a number of secret prisons in Eastern Europe where they hold terror suspects. See this Washington Post article. You seem to have heard it backwards.-gadfium 23:58, 12 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Oh my goodness, Americans torturing prisoners in secret prisons in Europe? But Americans have always been the good guys! For example, in the Middle Ages, when various European nations fought bloody wars about religion and butchered innocent people just because they believed in the wrong god, the United States was not involved in this at all! — JIP | Talk 06:54, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

They're just rumors. As long as no real evidence surfaces, I'm not going to worry. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:06, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, there's always Guantanamo Bay, so there's plenty to worry about. Make sure this winter you don't wrap a scarf around your head if you have an middle-eastern face and are carrying a daypack in your hands. Very suspicious. Especially if it consequently turns out you've been to Whereveristan somewhere in the past. DirkvdM 10:15, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The main issue here is cia flights through Europe (plane number N379P with several aliases and longterm-leased to the US government) transporting untried prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured, like Egypt, Syria and Jordan. So that part is not about the cia actually torturing but facilitating torture, which, one might say, comes down to the same thing. Whether these prisons are officially US owned is a relatively minor point. Anyway, certain non-torture treatises specify that one is not only not allowed to torture but also not allowed to extradite people to countries where they are likely to be tortured. It could be that the US haven't signed such treatises (sounds probable), but European countries that have are now presented with a problem if the cia uses their airports for such transports. Even Sweden, one of the last countries one would expect this from, has let the cia have their way in some cases. If even they do that, what can one expect of other countries? Part of the problem is that for certain flights (which includes these flights) the passengers don't need to be specified - only the number of passengers needs to be given, so it's hard to find out the necessary details. DirkvdM 11:55, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Addition (I'm watching a documentary on this). Words of former cia agent Robert Baer: "There's a rule inside the cia. If you want a good interrogation and you want good information, you send the suspect to Jordan. If you want them to be killed or tortured to death, you send them either to Egypt or to Syria, never to see them again." (a variation of this can be read in [15]).

Me again. Just heard on behind the news show Netwerk. If the US practise torture, then the above would mean that the Netherlands cannot hand over people like Wesam al D to the US because that would make the Netherlands an accessory to what ever happens to these people. Judges of the International Court of Justice (such as Blekxtoon) are considering exactly such a stance. And Dutch coalition party D66 and projected biggest party PvdA say it would at present be unwise to extradite prisoners to the US. That should have quite an impact, placing the US at a level with nations like Syria and Lebanon (in this respect, that is). In the words of D66 minister B. Bakker: "The US have in recent years built up a credibility-problem, which is firing back at them all over the world. Because they claim to stand for democracy and human rights, while they themselves violate them. First it was the death penalty and now it's the treatment of people who haven't been tried yet. [...] This affects their moral authority." I'm not sure if he meant to say that the US violate democracy, although a case could be made for that, but that's not relevant here. DirkvdM 15:45, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Our article is at CIA prison system.-gadfium 21:30, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See below Yes, here in Belgium, I too have heard that European governments are operating secret prisons on US soil. European law is quite clear on the subject of torture: it is in all cases forbidden. US laws are, of course, much laxer, and consequently, as I understand it, a secretly chartered Airbus ferries prisoners from the Middle East to locations in America for more intense interrogation than could be tolerated on European soil. I'm told that the facilities include a number of retired Cold War American military bases that are now disguised as public universities. Fort Ord in particular is named in these rumours as a facility where internationals from developing countries are tortured by a secret team of CIA agents disguised as humanities professors and amateur surfers, who subject them to endless discussions of their body piercings, ambiguous sexual orientation, what they did in the 60s, and their day trades as well being forced to attend student government meetings that drastically exceed the limits stipulated in the Geneva Convention. This is in clear violation of ordinary human rights and here it would represent a serious breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, but because of loopholes in the law and ambiguities in the scope of executive authority, the European government is able to operate outside the rules by cooperating with American regimes that have less judicial oversight, concern for human rights or democratic safeguards - like California, a state presently under the control of a former European national. Fortunately, such flights have to transit Canada, which is investigating whether or not its much stronger human rights code is being violated by European overflights bound for the US, so there is some hope this sort of thing will be exposed. --Diderot 22:10, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Technically speaking, U.S. law (note the singular) is not more lax. There was a reference earlier in the thread to treaties which prohibit Extraordinary Rendition (The official US term for sending poeple to be tortured elsewhere); the US signed the relevant treaty and duly ratified it as provided under the United States Constitution, toward which all proper Americans (including me) have an attitude approaching reverence. Hence, under that same Constitution, it is an integral part of United States law; for further info, see the Constitution. In the same treaty is the list of special circumstances in which the use of torture is not unlawful: "No extraordinary circumstances whatsoever". Quite unequivocal. Dandrake 03:08, 14 December 2005 (UTC) Now as the application of the law ---- Sorry, I just ran out of time, somebody is knocking very very loudly on the[reply]

Diderot, do you have a link with information for the Europeans being sent to the US?

Sure, try here. --Diderot 22:42, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ohhhh! I really fell for that didn't I? Hope you didn't look at the history to see who made the unsigned edit. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 03:28, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Well, that was obvious. I was in doubt for a moment because Diderot has been a serious editor here for some time if I remember correctly. But I wonder what the sarcasm is about. It gives off the impression that you don't take the subject seriously. I'd say it's serious enough not to joke about. We're not just talking about human lives but about slow painful deaths. What are you mocking? DirkvdM 08:39, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I've striked-through (struck-through? strikken-through?) the sarcastic bit because it sort of gets in the way for serious readers. DirkvdM 08:43, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, come on! The whole point is that it's difficult to imagine Europe using the US in the way that it's all too credible for America to use the eastern European EU states. Only the aluminum hat and black helicopter crowd could believe that the EU (or UN, or the Anti-Christ) operate secret overseas prisons on US soil - as the original question asserts - while it's all too easy to believe in the US acting that way. Besides, I thought that comparing Fort Ord (now, California State University, Monterey Bay) to the former Soviet bases alleged to hold American prisoners was a neat bit of humor. Certainly, the CSU system has its moments of sheer torture. It should have been an obvious joke just from the suggestion of student government meetings that violate the Geneva Convention.

Jeez, this is far enough outside of the main article space that I'd have thought a little humor wasn't entirely out of line. As for this is a serious subject and shouldn't be joked about - no, this is a serious subject and should be the object of endless ridicule. Americans process contempt from abroad as a sign that they are right and everyone else is wrong. Ridicule, however, they have a much harder time avoiding. They hate looking like idiots. Serious inquiries and solemn discussions on this subject will - I assure you - lead absolutely nowhere. The power to stonewall is far to great. There will be no scandal, no one will lose their voting rights in Brussels, and Washington will produce nothing but non-denial denials as is its standard practice. There will be no accounting, at least not until the issue is too old for anyone to care about. On the other hand, pointing out that this is exactly the kind of behavior that Europeans - and even Canadians - do not do, and making the point that the US is rapidly turning into the world's richest third world country - that has some effect at least. --Diderot 09:16, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 13

NFL Players

Where can i find a list of the 2006 NFL Free Agents?

Hopefully, this is what you're looking for. - Akamad 06:32, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Evie Tornquist-Karllson records

Princess a reader sent the following e-mail to the help desk.

"You wrote a very tiny article about Evie and you had a list of her songs from the seventies. I would like to know how I can get a hold of her songs. I have been trying for a very long time."

A Quick Google showed that records by this artist are not for sale currently on the Internet. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how she could obtain them. Thanks for your assistance.

There are some of her records available for sale via GEMM.com —Slicing 08:49, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Crane illumination

I'm looking to find a set standard for night time operations using a 60 to truck crane. i"ve searched through OSHA and ANSI and have found none. I need to know what lights are needed on the crane in particular the boom part of the crane used in hoisting operations for night time use. I'm working for a contractor in Iraq for the coalition forces and need help finding an answer, thankyou Eugene Lynch.

This is a very interesting question! OSHA standard 1926 specifies minimum illumination levels for construction sites (see subpart 1926.56 for details), but that's just a general indication of ambient lighting levels required. But that doesn't specify the specific lighting rules for cranes. The section on cranes and derricks 1926.550, notes that all cranes must meet ANSI standard B30.2.0-1967, that standard document is of course only available from ANSI for money. But if you've checked that document and haven't found anything, I'm as stumped as you are. You could try contacting crane manufacturers; additionally, in my own country (Australia) trade unions in the relevant area tend to be very aware of the safety rules (they being amongst the heaviest lobbiers for them). So if you know of a relevant union you might try contacting them. Finally, maybe you could try contacting OSHA and asking them?

Keep safe and I hope you can find the information you're looking for. --Robert Merkel 13:28, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

BLASTS!

Are the London Aviation Fuel blasts an accident or an attack as broadcasted in my country? A i understand the blast shattered windows of houses and buildings. was anyone injured? are the blazes under control? it would be cool if you could keep me updated with the truth. Thanx!ME

We have a very good and comprehensive article on this: 2005 Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal fire. The causes are not yet clear, but it appears to have been an accident. (aside: Wikipedia is a global site, you may need to be more specific if you're talking about "my country"...) — QuantumEleven | (talk) 09:07, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If you heard a report when information was scarce, they may have jumped to conclusions. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:08, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And the conclusion to jump to these days is terrorism. People are going nuts over that, seeing terrorism all around them, which might be worse than terrorism itself considering the socially disruptive effect and the low total death toll of terrorism. Which is basically the goal of terrorists - not so much the attacks themselves but the ensuing fear it instills in people. If you look at it this way, the media are the biggest terrorists. DirkvdM 10:37, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

All too true. Steve Summit (talk) 15:17, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Los Angeles county map with city labels

I noticed some Wiki articles for various LA County cities have a map of the county with city borders, like this:

/media/wikipedia/en/2/22/LA_in_LA_County_map.png

Is there anywhere I can find a map exactly like the one above with all of the cities labeled? --Rc251 09:46, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Shannon capacity limit

Base on Shannon capacity limit,what are the possibility of transmitting information when the signal is lower than the noise?

Thank you,

--ELITE,

Elite, see Shannon-Hartley theorem. Is this a homework question? --Robert Merkel 13:04, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly homework as I answered the exact same question a couple of days ago [16]. Thryduulf 22:49, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Satsumas

What is the difference between a satsuma and a tangarine?

I think satsumas have a milder taste and less seeds. The skin is also a lot easier to remove than a tangerine or orange.--Ali K 13:56, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

That's so weird. I looked this up four days ago. See satsuma. --Think Fast 21:18, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Christmas Carols

What is the total number of Christmas songs that have ever been written? Thanks. cb1233

I doubt anyone is keeping count of them. –Mysid 13:15, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And it even depends on what you call christmas. If you mean the celebration of Jesus, that has to go back 2000 years and some songs may have been song throughout that period. If you mean the celebration of the winter solstice that the date was based on then you'd have to include several cultures, such as the Romans and the Germanic tribes. And I assume there will have been plenty songs for that occasion. DirkvdM 08:48, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

sexiest woman alive?

whoMaoririder 17:11, 13 December 2005 (UTC) asap sexiest??Maoririder 20:17, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

How long is a piece of string? According to the collective taste of FHM readers in 2004, it was Halle Berry [17]. But ask n men the question and you'll get at least n + 1 answers. Whatever floats your boat; personally the airbrushed Playboy blonde bimbo look (whatever the actual intelligence of the woman behind it) who make up the majority of that top 100 isn't my thing. But it obviously is the thing of a lot of British lads. --Robert Merkel 22:00, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Tina Fey. —Keenan Pepper 23:14, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Every year, there seem to be more guys into chicks who wear glasses. Is this one of those Generation Y things? Or is it just geeks? --Diderot 23:18, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

No, Tina Fey is just hot. There are plenty of ugly women who wear glasses, and plenty of hot women with good eyesight — just not as hot as Tina Fey. —Keenan Pepper 23:42, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Angelina Jolie, Cindy Crawford, Sarah Michelle Geller, Cameron Diaz, Jenna Jameson and Britney Spears are always farily popular choices. Proto t c 15:16, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Audrey Hepburn?Maoririder 16:33, 14 December 2005 (UTC) does anyone think gwen s??[reply]

Audrey Hepburn: A sexier woman dead than any woman alive!Brian Schlosser42 18:31, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Location of Regions in Spain in relation to cities.

I have a list of 100+ cities in Spain. Though I can relatively easily find the Province in which they are located (in Spain), I do not know how to locate the name of the Region in which the cities and/or Provinces are located.

Is there some form of directory which can assist me,please?

I'm not sure what you mean by "regions", but see Autonomous communities of Spain. 216.234.130.130 18:47, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

King of Pain

Like from 'Three Septembers and a January' The Sandman: Fables and Reflections, but for real. I know he is real, becuase I found a mention of him in an old book at the library. Unfortunately, I didn't bother to check it out, and now I can't find anything about him online. Help? Ductape Daredevil 20:12, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I remember from somewhere that he was a friend & contemporary of Norton I, by the grace of God Emperor of those United States, Protector of Mexico & San Francisco nutcase. I think he was a tramp who made a living by charging people to allow them to hit him with a 2 by 4 or similar. An early version of Bumwars. AllanHainey 14:37, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think the one I'm looking for sold painkillers. Ductape Daredevil 17:02, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

what is a parallelogram

what is a parallelogram.

A parallelogram is a quadrilateral (a shape with four sides) which has opposite sides parallel and equal in length. See parallelogram. You might want to try the mathematics section next time too. Enochlau 22:32, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

(This is not a personal attack on you, Enochlau, but a general comment). There's not much point in asking questioners to check the article first next time, if we've already given them the answer this time. If one editor gives in this time, somebody else will give in next time. I think we need to be evolving towards a standard policy that whenever the answer is quickly available in an existing article, the best we should do is point them in the right direction, but not just give them the answer. This breaches the very rules we give questioners at the head of the page, and we should not be complicit in such breaches, otherwise why have the rules at all? JackofOz 02:45, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Then why not just delete the questions that can be answered by reading an article? That rule needs to be tossed out, or else the reference desk will devolve into a hodge-podge of esoterica. If we're not willing to answer the questions as they're asked, why do it at all? I think lots of people use the reference desk as a standalone feature, and not as part of the 'pedia proper. Just linking to the article makes us look arrogant. "Don't waste our time with simple questions, we only want to debate egg balancing and why people don't wear hats anymore" (to name two recent lengthy discussions. Don't get me wrong, the weird and wild questions are great, and should be kept, but we should be willing to deal with simpler questions, too. Brian Schlosser42 18:41, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

the oldest retail chain in america

what is the oldest retail chain store like sears or jcpenny in the united states.

Federated Department Stores dates back to the 1820s in its Lord & Taylor division, but it wasn't founded as a chain. Montgomery Wards started out in the 1870s as a mail order business, but it didn't become a chain until the 20s. Kresge - later Kmart and now a part of Sears - was probably the first to break out as a chain, starting around 1900. However, if you're really looking for the first general retail chain store in America, it's unquestionably the Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution - founded in 1868 to sell goods wherever Mormons lived, and now mostly rebranded as Macy's. --Diderot 23:00, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Northwest Company claims to be the oldest retailer in North America, here and here. The Hudson's Bay Company has been around for over 300 years as well. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:34, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

December 14

When did American Airlines use DC-10's to serve Buffalo, NY??

I would like to know when American Airlines used DC-10 airplanes to serve the Buffalo International Airport in Buffalo, NY. I believe it was in the late 1970's and early 80's but cannot find any source to confirm the time frame.......... can you help me???

Thank you.

--69.105.97.193 00:10, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

inslaving native americans

i saw a documentry about slavery this morning and what i want to know is why didn`t the white settlers in slave the native americans instead.

They did, and Amerindians enslaved each other, too. (Good times all around.) Check out [18] and [19], both of which have a bit to say about it. Your local library will also probably have several books on Amerindian slavery. -- George 00:21, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the enslaving of indians by white settlers happened in South America. White settlers in North America weren't really that into enslaving people. They preferred to buy them, already enslaved, from the real entrepreneurs of African slavery, the Arabs and other Africans, who had developed commercial slavery of Africans centuries before anyone in Europe dreamed of an American colony, and who are continuing to do it across North Africa 150-200 years after the Europeans and North and South Americans decided it wasn't so nice. alteripse 01:48, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

But also in South America blacks were imported for slavery. I vaguely remember somethigna about plantation-owners complaining the indians weren't strong enough. But there may something else to it. They may have not understood the whole concept of plantation work (at least the ones who lived in the jungle) or they may have been too proud - when you take someone to a completely different environment it's easier to break them, so Africans would have been a better choice. Also, there may not have been enough indians to be found - South America was probably very densely populated and the jungle inaccessible. DirkvdM 09:02, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly Africans were imported to South America. My point was that there was a major difference between North and South America in the magnitude of efforts to enslave the Indians by European settlers, which was the point of the question asked. There were a number of large-scale efforts early in the Spanish and Portuguese settlement of South America to enslave Indians for long-term labor, especially in the mines of western SA. I don't think most were economically self-sustaining, but I do not know of any attempts to do so on a comparable scale by the English, French, Dutch, Scandinavians, etc who colonized North America. I suspect population density was one of many factors to which we can attribute this difference. alteripse 12:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

In most cases the native americans who were enslaved used to run away (at least in Haiti & the earliest British American colonies) as they knew the country & all their friends were still hanging around. After a while the colonists got sick of this & started importing africans who weren't as able to escape & live off the land. AllanHainey 14:42, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Also, the Native Americans were dying out from diseases brought over from Europe, so they brought in African slaves to replace them. The enslavement of Indians mainly occured early on in colonisation history, the Spanish and Portuguese came before the other Europeans, and South America was mainly colonized by them, so that may be why native enslavement was mainly there. Yeltensic42.618 17:12, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Friction Index

Does anybody know what is the minimum required friction index (CRFI/JBI) for a empty B737 (200 series), on a 5000 ft (1524 m) gravel runway that is reported as 100% compact snow and gravel mixed and assuming no wind. If possible the readings for temperatures above -15 ºC (5 ºF) and for temperatures below -15 ºC (5 ºF). Normally I would call the airline dispatch and ask but I think they would give biased information. This is not a homework question. Thanks. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 00:19, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

How can I find out how many words there are in The Long Winter, a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder?

(e-mail removed)

According to this eBay listing it has 67,928 words. I just did a Google search for "The Long Winter" by "Laura Ingalls Wilder" "word count". Dismas|^(talk) 01:40, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ancient Man

How did ancient man figure out they needed water to survive?

How do you think birds know they need water to survive? Knowing how to drink water came long before "figuring out" anything. alteripse 01:38, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

seeking food and water, mating, raising young and for some species other things like grooming, fighting, or migrating are instinctive. A bird doesn't need to "know" to seek water any more than you need to "know" that you want to get it on with that hottie in your class. Your body tells you. -lethe ^talk 03:04, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

help with a joke

Okay, I've heard a joke several times that I don't get. The joke goes:

Q: What do you call a man without arms and legs on your doorstep?

A: Fair warning.

So what's the deal?

Perhaps the idea is "next time it'll be you with no arms and legs"? Doesn't seem like much of a joke to me. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:00, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think Finlay is right on both counts, it's to give that idea, and it's not very good at all. The punchline I was actually expecting was "Matt", as in a welcome mat. There are a lot of these "without arms and legs" jokes around. Dismas|^(talk) 13:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly that's the joke: you expect the punchline to be 'Matt', but you get a more macabre answer instead. After all, jokes are meant to make you nervous. Kid Apathy 14:56, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I think the idea is that this guy has been dismembered as a warning to you, which is why he's on your doorstep. Or it may be an example of Anti-humor. *goes off to make Antihumor redirect* — flamingspinach | (talk)

Where the fuck has WarioWare: Twisted! gone?

Gotta love gratuitous swearing. Anywho, why hasn't WW:Tw come out in Europe yet? Kid Apathy 14:00, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Addis Ababa's houses

Years ago I was told Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, has a city address system that's totally different from the rest of the world's (e.g. 123 Whatever Road, Whatever City). I am not sure if that information is correct. Am I wrong? -- Toytoy 14:30, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

capital of england

London. D'oh! Kid Apathy 14:37, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

This is not a search engine (please read the message at the top). Here is your place to ask questions to be answered by humans. Typing England into the Search box on the left of your screen (as it also says at the top) would have given you the answer in about three seconds. And if you really don't know the capital of England, then you need help. — QuantumEleven | (talk) 14:41, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

He could have meant in the year 974 in which case it was Winchester. Chelmsford has also been the capital but only for a year. There is a case for saying that the capital is really Westminster as that's where all the administrative buildings are. David | Talk 14:57, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm... "England" is not a jurisdiction with a government, so it can't actually have a capital. The capital of the United Kingdom, of which England is a part, is most assuredly London. Scotland and Wales each have parliaments and governments, and therefore they have capitals. The traditional capital of England would be London, aside from the exceptions noted by David. Ground Zero | t 15:12, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Managed services

Does anyone know if the term 'managed services', which seems to crop up frequently nowadays in business contexts, is just another way of referring to outsourcing? Or is there a distinction between the two terms? There are articles on this site about each of these topics, but the definitions provided do not make it clear (at least to me) whether the two terms are actually distinct or synonymous.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Marion

Spike Jones Records

Can anyone tell me where I might find the old Spike Jones record about " Grandma's Lye Soap "

Paul Low 4860 Hawkins Rd. Richfield,Ohio 44286

It appears to be called "It's In The Book (Grandma's Lye Soap)" and the lyrics are here. Check and see if this is the same song you are looking for. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 16:23, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

And then, try eBay or any of a number of online used record retailers. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:13, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

largest thing in the world?

?Maoririder 16:33, 14 December 2005 (UTC) building?[reply]

The Earth. Kid Apathy 16:42, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

See largest organism for living things. — Jeandré, 2005-12-14t16:45z

For structures see list of largest suspension bridges and world's largest buildings. — Jeandré, 2005-12-14t16:48z

Also see User talk:Eequor/Reference/Magnitude. ‣ᓛᖁ♀ᑐ 17:00, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Filming without permission in the UK

I know someone who attends dance classes at their UK school, and the teacher was going to film them. They said no, it's illegal to film us without our permission, and the teacher said OK. A few days later, they were in trouble because, apparently, it was not in fact illegal. Who's right? Note that it wasn't a public place, it was a private dance studio.--84.51.149.80 16:57, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Would this help you at all? Also I don't see why anyone would be in trouble for saying that, it was just a misunderstanding. IIRC in most places it is illegal to publish photographs of people without their consent, but to take the photographs is allowed. This is just what I recall, though. — flamingspinach | (talk) 19:55, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Fear Factor food?? asap.

is it real insects and pig guts and stuff? if it is that stuff is tough? asap.Maoririder 17:36, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Unless there's some sort of enormous coverup, the gross stuff on Fear Factor is indeed real. Whether it's "tough" I can't say, but people eat all kinds of things and I can't imagine bugs are too much worse than some of my least favorite "regular" foods. Snurks ^{T C} 19:49, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

i have a spider question..

http://members.gaponline.de/pedxing/images/old/spider_01.jpg what kind is this? old spider??Maoririder 19:35, 14 December 2005 (UTC) asap free guess.[reply]

What can you tell me?? http://theimaginaryworld.com/baggies03.jpg

http://theimaginaryworld.com/baggies03.jpg banquet was old food.

what is this blurry thing?? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v405/cannon_will502/079_79.jpg free guess.. thanks Maoririder 19:54, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

places??

http://www.angelfire.com/blog/sonikalchemy/dogcookie1.jpg cookie store in belgium?? free guess..Maoririder Where is this need to pinpoint [[ ]]

Maoririder 19:59, 14 December 2005 (UTC)http://www.linaracing.com/pics/1999-maine-forest-unknown-offcourse2.jpg thanks[reply]

What is this a scene of? ASAP please..

http://www.silentera.com/info/img/UnknownFilm1.jpg i got more.. where is this?? http://mywebpages.comcast.net/scaevolatn/images/unkcity.jpg

Maoririder 20:04, 14 December 2005 (UTC) thanks.. i need [[ ]][reply]

Why are they grining???

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/inaug/images/swornin.jpg NOOO!! what is your thoughts on the image of gwb and group grining because they know they have us...

If I had to make a guess, I'd say the people in the image are grinning because they are either being sworn in as President of the United States (in one case) or family and friends of a person who is (in the other cases). --George 20:50, 14 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]