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July 23

Quick question...

I am from London, England and would like to know how much of the company would you won after purchasing one share? I hear its about 0.001% but am unsure as to the accuracy of the information given to me. Can you help?

Depends on the company - different companies will have different numbers of shares. Some small private companies may have only a very small number; publicly listed ones will have a considerably larger number. Grutness...wha? 02:31, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

For example, Hewlett-Packard has about 3*10⁹ shares outstanding and Google about 3*10⁸ shares outstanding thus one share of Google would represent about ten times more ownership than would one share of Hewlett-Packard. --hydnjo talk 03:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

But your shares may go down in share-value when the company decides to bring out more shares. As I understand it the logic behind this is that the shareholders themselves decide to do that to bring in more money, as a result of which the money-value of the shares may go up. Do I get this right? DirkvdM 05:51, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

The Board of directors (very indirectly the shareholders) may decide to issue more shares for sale thus diluting the ownership percentage of the existing shareholders which usually results in a lower market value per share. This is similar to the effect when a government decides to "print" more money. Conversely, if a company "buys back" its own shares on the open market the price per remaining share usually goes up (for example, Microsoft last week). --hydnjo talk 12:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I suppose you mean when the board of directors has kept a majority of the shares? In that case they'd be pretty much ripping their shareholders off, wouldn't they? I is it that if it were a real rip-off the company would lose so much goodwill that the shares wouldn't sell or something? DirkvdM 18:13, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Er, diluting the ownership percentage doesn't necessarily result in a lower market value per share. Remember, the company increases in value by the amount for which it sold the newly issued shares. Let's take a company – call it WikiFoo – for which there are 100 shares on the market, trading for $1 apiece. The market capitalization of WikiFoo (what the market believes WikiFoo is worth) is therefore $100. If the WikiFoo board of directors decides that they need some extra operating capital to finance a major expansion of WikiFoo, they could decide to issue 100 new shares. If they sell those newly issued shares for $1, the value of WikiFoo rises to $200 in total, and each share is still worth $1. However, a single share before the stock issue represented ownership of 1% of WikiFoo; after the stock issue it represents 0.5%. (It's a smaller fraction of a larger pie.) TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:27, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Also it's worth noting that when new shares are issued like this they are often offered to existing shareholders first at a discounted rate, so it's not really a case of ripping the sharteholders off. Grutness...wha? 02:45, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Pokemon Yellow

It may be a stupid question, but... I have Pokemon Yellow for Game Boy Color. In the game, I recieved the "cut" command from somebody. How do I use it? I cannot find it in my items list, so I cannot get past any of the bushes.

Cut apparently is HM01. Do you have that item? Hyenaste ^(tell) 01:16, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

No. A message came up, I think after I defeated the Water Gym Leader, that said I had it. But I don't.

Oh, that means you can use it. You still have to board the S.S. Anne to actually come into possession of it. Hyenaste ^(tell) 02:18, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

That is strange. You should have it. Perhaps it is not needed to advance in that particular portion of the game? --Proficient 02:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

This means you're now capable of LEARNING Cut, not performing it (yet). You still have to find it (it shows up naturally during the progression of the story).

After you find it on the S.S. Anne, you have to use it on a Pokemon so you can teach it to them. Then just go up to a small tree and press A. It will ask whether you want to chop the tree. Go Yes. Done Harryboyles 06:21, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

HMs can be used infinitely, so you can teach it to multiple Pokemon. Bibliomaniac15 23:58, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Contacting an antarctican

is there any way I could contact a person in Antarctica, especially Admunsen-Scott station?

Try this link. The web cam seems out of service, but try some of the links in the 'living and working in antarctica' section; some of the sites may have email addresses. Or try emailing the guy who runs the main site and asking him.--Anchoress 03:53, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Some of the pages on Amundsen-Scott_South_Pole_Station may be of assistance. 68.39.174.238 01:52, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Binding Keyboard Keys to Joystick Axis'es

I play alot of PC Video Games, (Half Life 2, Garry's Mod, etc.) and there way of driving is using WASD for movement of the vehicle, then you aim the gun with your mouse, and fire with left click. Now i have a Extreme 3d Pro by Logictec, and I would like to be able to bind W to forwards joystick, and S to back, etc. Mostly i would like an editable script, so i can say "Foward Joystick Numpad 2." Then when i pull the joystick back, it would be the equivilent of holding down 2. Is there a script or program that will let me do this? Thanks for any help.

You could try AutoHotkey, which is free and open source. It allows you to rebind keys to other ones. The help pages have details about using joysticks. I've only used it with keyboard keys, but it's worked very well doing that. Icey 23:31, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Edible Croc Shoes?

One of my friends is convinced that Crocs, the popular footware made of foam-like material, are edible if boiled. Does anybody know if this is true or not? I tried looking at the Crocs website and randomly searching the internet, but to no avail. Any insight would be much appreciated! Thanks.

And what does this have to do with math? DirkvdM 05:52, 23 July 2006 (UTC) (it was in math tags but that's been solved now)

I would hope he or she accidentally clicked the math button on the toolbar, but maybe he or she is trying to give the question a special personality. Hyenaste ^(tell) 05:56, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

How great is Australia?

Does anyone know any songs, movies etc. which explains the things that make australia great. e.g. it describes australia being great because it is a free country and so on.

Thank you

• You could start off by explaining the history of the catchphrase "The Lucky Country" and why it is applied to Oz. There isn't much info on Wikipedia about this phrase though, so you'll have to pop down to the local library in order to get enough info for a good mark on your homework assignment. Bwithh 07:27, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your help but i need a reference from a movie or song, not a phrase.

• Banjo Patterson's poetry-hotclaws**==(81.134.68.10 08:43, 23 July 2006 (UTC))

'I Am Australian' is a great song by a couple of The Seekers, often learnt by schoolchildren. Dorothea McKellar's My Country may also be the sort of thing you're looking for. Heck, you don't have to look much further than the national anthem for a celebration of Australia in song. Natgoo 10:09, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

What about "True Blue (Australian song)". Here are the lyrics. Here's a little background. For film/TV content, I would suggest the TV soaps Home and Away and Neighbours as powerful narratives about the attractiveness of Aussie life for people in the UK. Bwithh 19:09, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Yerrk. Those last 2 might make Australia seem an attractive place - and it is - but they generally present a very false, plastic view of what life in Australia is like. For movies that display an authentic Australian spirit, you'd be hard pressed to beat the 1981 film Gallipoli. JackofOz 22:30, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

The Castle comes close. 58.7.170.99 04:12, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I think drop bears make Australia great. --LarryMac 12:34, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The fence was a good australian movie. And Land down under by men at work was a good song193.115.175.247 15:30, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Surely Australia is great merely for being the nearest landmass to the greatest living nation in the known universe...New Zealand :) Oh alright then.Try Austen Tayshus' 'Australiana' song for some fun! 88.106.180.161 16:24, 24 July 2006 (UTC) Lemon (yes I'm a Kiwi)

I remember the newest ad campaign by Australia to promote the country, which was notable for its profanity (though mild, at the end the ad says "Where the bloody hell are you?"). [1] It created a lot of spoofs, poking fun at the mild profanity, or deliberately exaggerating the bad parts of Australia. [2] [3]

"There are those who say that Australia was founded mainly by convicts. However, this is not the full story. Australia was also founded by prostitutes." StuRat 07:21, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Creepy whirlpool location.

There's a scary-looking whirlpool that drains a manmade lake through a dam. Normally a concrete pipe pokes up above the water like this (X is rock and - is water; the dam is to the left):

|         T      T          /XXXX
|---------|      |---------/XXXXX
|---------|      |--------/XXXXXX
|---------|      |-------/XXXXXXX
|---------|      |------/XXXXXXXX
|---------/      |-----/XXXXXXXXX
                 |----/XXXXXXXXXX
                 /---/XXXXXXXXXXX
|-------------------/XXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXX-------------XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

but when the lake fills up, the water rushes down through the pipe and it looks like Charybdis. I remember seeing an article about it, but I can't remember the name of the lake or of the dam. Does anyone remember? grendel|khan 07:36, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

That's a fairly common construction; it takes up less space than a spillway and is possibly more robust. I don't know of any famous installations, though. Any idea roughly where this is? EdC 17:49, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The Hoover Dam has 4 of those things, however they're not quite so exposed. It is a very common construction, and I've seen it reducued to just a rusty pipe in a minor lake. Also, that (in)famous Welsh dam also has one of them. 68.39.174.238 01:51, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Ah! this may be it, although it's shown dry, it sounds like it would produce the (un)desired effect). 68.39.174.238 01:56, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Ricochet

I'm inside a car. I have a gun. I shoot into the roof. Will the bullet ricochet, or go straight through? If it ricochet's, am I at risk? (I don't ACTUALLY have a gun in a car, i'm just hypothetising)

If it does happen to richochet, yes you are at risk. Whether it will or not is dependant on the caliber of the bullet and the thickness of the roof of the vehicle. Dismas|^(talk) 09:57, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

To hit you, it would have to bounce pretty much straight back or ricochet more than once. In either case it will have lost a lot of impulse. And any padding on the roof will slow it down even more. Not something to 'try at home' (don't make the obvious remark), but I don't think you'd be at much risk. DirkvdM 11:08, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I assume for the average car the thickness is shallow enough to allow the bullet to go through, but as mentioned, the caliber matters greatly. --Proficient 11:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I suppose it might depend on wheather or not it goes through the sunroof. --martianlostinspace 16:13, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

It's also worth considering that - unless you had a silencer - you'd probably be temporarily deafened. Grutness...wha? 06:37, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The angle of incidence is also critical; a bullet hitting the roof at a shallow angle is far more likely to ricochet, like skipping a stone on a lake, than one hitting the roof straight on. StuRat 03:00, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Any dumb wives on the tube?

I can think of plenty of television shows that have a husband who isn't very bright or some such similar thing and the wife is of at least average intelligence and doesn't do much of anything that would be considered "stupid". Such shows, off the top of my head, would include The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Home Improvement. There's even Married... with Children which has both the husband and wife being of average to below average intelligence. But I can't think of even one show that has a dumb or bungling wife with an intelligent, does everything right sort of husband. Is/was there even one show like this? If not, why not? Can women just not laugh at themselves as much as men? Would it just be too much heat from feminists? Dismas|^(talk) 10:22, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

There was Edith in All in the Family, but Archie wasn't quite bright either. I Cheers, Sam wasn't the brightest kind of person and Diana was definitely the intellectual type, but then they never got around to marrying. They did live together for a while, if that counts. In Coupling the three guys and three girls balanced each other out quite nicely in stupidness, but the two who finally got married (if I remember correctly) were the most normal ones. Ah, I've got one. In George and Mildred, Mildred wasn't particularly intelligent, but compared to George at least she was the voice of reason. And in Man about the House, the dumbest person was a girl (and a pretty blonde to boot), but they simply lived together, not as couples. DirkvdM 11:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

It has become such a regular phenomenon, that I myself can't recall the circumstance transposed in that the woman is of lesser intelligence and the husband of greater. Perhaps looking through List_of_sitcoms might help you find one. --Proficient 11:22, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Both the wives on I Love Lucy were pretty dumb. And I don't really think you can blame the dumbness of these guys on women, since men created all the shows you listed, lol. I always thought guys made their leading men so dumb in order to make average guys feel better about themselves, and to tell women that that was the best they could do. I don't find dumb men or women funny, and I wish they'd go away.--Anchoress 11:33, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

well, it's a relative thing. Remove the dumbest and the next level up will become the dumbest. You can't win this one. :) DirkvdM 18:22, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

The Australian sitcom Kingswood Country featured Thelma Bulpitt, who was less than the full quid, but then her husband Ted wasn't a Rhodes Scholar. --Roisterer 12:11, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I would suggest King of the Hill. Peggy Hill is usually doing pretty silly things, while Hank Hill has a little more common sense. --Joelmills 15:11, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

In Twin Peaks one could argue that Nadine Hurley was pretty out of it, while her husband Ed Hurley seemed a reasonable fella, but that's more a lack of sanity than of intelligence. In That 70s Show, Stephen Hyde was married to a rather dull stripper named Samantha for half a season or so, but she wasn't really a major character. In Frasier, Niles Crane eventually married Daphne Moon who was not necessarily a brilliant mind (not that the Crane brothers always were either). I dunno if any of those are great examples, though. Digfarenough 19:14, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

It's a very good observation. In advertising, too, men are invariably shown as stupid and bungling, and their wives as sensible and long-suffering. There is definitely an agenda of some sort going on here. Something to do with fear of being condemned as sexist if the roles were reversed. --Richardrj 19:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, no. Since in most family sitcoms the husband is the main character, they focus the humour on him, which is why he's often stupid and bumbling (because stupid and bumbling is funny, and because on TV, intelligence is mostly boring). There's no agenda here, especially not against the people in power. --ColourBurst 23:09, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, the shortness of memory. Radio & television shows with "ditzy chicks" and reasonable men include The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeanie, Bewitched, I Married Joan, Three's Company, Dharma and Greg, Green Acres, Blondie, Easy Aces, My Friend Irma, My Favorite Husband, and probably countless others. - Nunh-huh 19:33, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I have to disagree with some of your choices. Bewitched? Samantha was dumb? I doubt that. I dream of Jeannie? Dharma and Greg? I disagree with both of those. And who was the "dumb wife" in Three's Company? User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:26, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, I didn't expect unanimous agreement, but I'd point out that I was listing "ditzy chicks" not "ditzy wives", thus qualifying Miss Chrissy Snow. Clearly in Bewitched, Jeannie, & Dharma, the wife (and yes, Jeannie was, eventually) was the source of the "comedic confusion" in most episodes. - Nunh-huh 21:55, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I think it predates feminism and PC. Wasnt there always a stereotype of the (usually) working-class wife being in charge, looking after the money, etc, while Dad snored away on the sofa and then went out to spend his "beer and baccy" money (ie the pocket money she gave him) drinking with his mates. Jameswilson 23:20, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rachel and Ross from Friends. While they were only married for a few episodes, they lived together for quite a while, and Rachel was definitely the least intelligent of the two. In one instance Ross tells her "your brains are smaller than mine", and she agrees. Except for a few weird quirks of his, he was generally the more sensible one, and was often the voice of reason in their relationship. --Aramգուտանգ 23:44, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

You see, I think that's why. Oftentimes intelligent men in sitcoms, especially knowledge-intelligent men, are stereotyped as "losers" and therefore would have less chance of being married in the first place. Knowledge-intelligent women are just plain nonexistent in sitcoms. --ColourBurst 03:20, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't think of "even one show that has a dumb or bungling wife with an intelligent, does everything right sort of husband." The only programmes that I can think of are:
Blackadder - Although neither are the wives of a main character both Queenie & Nursie are quite stupid. Queenie is a main character so I suppose this counts.
The Royle Family - Both Husband and Wife in this one are if not stupid are certainly "dumb" and lazy.
Till Death Us Do Part - While the wife is "dumb" the husband a stupid racist not an "intelligent, does everything right sort of husband".
Absolutely Fabulous - No husbands or wives but the 2 main women are quite stupid with a intelligent daughter (The fact that Edina is divorced also implies her former husband had a bit of sense). It looks like the stupid husband/no stupid wife plot stereotype runs through U.K. & U.S.A. TV sitcoms. AllanHainey 15:29, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

At the risk of incurring the wrath of a high percentage of the population, I would suggest many of the characters of Desperate Housewives. DJ Clayworth 17:12, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Phoeobe Buffay in Friends, hardly the smartest knife in the draw, eventually married Mike Hannigan, who was pretty smart, but that was only for the last series or so. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 18:16, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

The actress Georgia Engel has patterned herself after Gracie Allen and made a career out of dumb wife roles, on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Coach, and Everybody Loves Raymond. StuRat 07:43, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Also, Balki's wife on Perfect Strangers (TV series) was at least as dumb as he was. StuRat 08:26, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The "dumb husband, smart long suffering wife" was a pretty common staple a few years back (around the time Home Improvement, The Simpsons and in the UK One Foot in the Grave were at their peak (ie the mid-90s)). I suspect The Cosby Show may have started the trend, albeit with a mild version. Or it may trace its roots all the way back to The Flintstones (and by extention The Honeymooners). In any case, what was a trend became a cliche and then became something writers avoided so as not to seem hackneyed or lazy, so the "dumb husband, smart wife" scenario is much less common nowadays. As for the reason behind it, I don't think it has so much to do with feminism as a combination of the sort of phenomenon that's caused it to become less common nowadays, and the fact that most sitcom writers are male. Just as "dumb husband, smart wife" became a cliche in the 90s, so much older sitcoms had often followed the "well meaning but lacking in common sense wife gets into scrapes" formula for jokes (see I Love Lucy, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie). It's quite possible, then, that writers wanted to avoid following such a formula so as not to appear like a 50s/60s throwback. Also, because the writers were mainly men it's quite possible that they were more comfortable with writing stupid male characters (who would then become the central comic character) rather than stupid female characters, partly because that would make the male characters the main comic characters and partly because they'd probably feel more comfortable ripping into a male character than a female one. Comedies written by women, on the flip side, are much more likely to have stupid, unsypathetic female characters and perfectly nice, normal male characters (see Absolutely Fabulous, Smack the Pony or The Catherine Tate Show, and I'm sure there's American examples, too).

Anyway, to answer the main question, off the top of my head I can think of Keeping up Appearances and 'Allo 'Allo as examples of shows with stupid or otherwise flawed wives and generally clued up (though in the first case way too timid) husbands. Also, I now realise I spend far too much time reflecting on trends in TV comedy. --Daduzi ^talk 09:11, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

family tree

 my name is Thomas lillystone I live in England.
 there is a name of a lillystone drive in Maryland.
 bethsheda.I would like to know how it the was named?
 hope you can help.
             Thomas lillystoneto

Presumably after Lilly Stone, who lived there in the 19th century. See this page. Google Maps spells it "Lilly Stone Drive." -- Mwalcoff 05:24, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Not directly relevant to the above question, but your family might have a link to the Lillingstone villages (Lillingstone Lovell and Lillingstone Dayrell) near the Northamptonshire/Buckinghamshire border in central England. Grutness...wha? 06:39, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Management theories

My name is Julius KR I would like to know the meaning/technical definition of Result Oriented maintenance and its application.Also the word Total quality maintenance. Thanks

I think you might mean 'management' rather than 'maintenance'. For the second term, see here. --Richardrj 21:15, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

NCAA Football

Does anyone know what platforms EA Sport's NCAA football is coming out on. I know that it didn't come out on Gamecube on 2006 and 2007, but does anyone know what platforms it will come out on in the future? --Summonmaster13 16:08, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Its probably coming out on XBOX 360 ,PS3 and maybe the old ones such as XBOX and PS2. I'm not sure but it might also be coming out on the Wii

According to [4], it's confirmed for PS2 and PS3, Xbox and Xbox 360, but not Wii or Gamecube. No idea if later versions will support Wii (probably not if their track record is anything to go by), but it's very unlikely that NCAA 2008 onwards will be on Gamecube, or even PS2 and Xbox. Sum0 09:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

WTF?

You know that Burger King commercial with the 2-inch-high people making burgers? They're midgets. If they were going to digitally make them tiny, why did they need them to be midgets? Son of a Peach 18:42, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I suppose they were trying to accentuate the tininess of the burger-makers. Other tiny beings, like the Smurfs, were not only physically tiny, but they were also more squarish in proportions. Hyenaste ^(tell) 18:57, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

• The word midget can be considered a derogatory term, just so you know. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:31, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I have a problem.

We're living here in Allentown, and they're closing all the factories down. Out in Bethlehem they're killing time, filling out forms and standing in line.

Can someone come up with a solution to this? 69.81.50.252 22:12, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, but if we could do that, we could also eradicate cancer and poverty, and bring about world peace. This is a place for getting questions answered, not necessarily providing solutions to tricky social problems. JackofOz 22:18, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

Every child has a pretty good shot to get at least as far as their old man got. Ziggurat 22:21, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

But something happened on the way to that place, they threw an American flag in our face. 69.40.248.79 22:54, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

It's hard to keep a good man down. Ziggurat 23:00, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

But I won't be getting up todaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy. Natgoo 23:17, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I always recommend listening to less Billy Joel as a first step in solving problems of any sort, but it seems particularly a propos with yours. --ByeByeBaby 04:05, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You may be right (then again, s/he may be crazy). Grutness...wha? 06:42, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You might get more serious answers if you specify the country. Bethlehem is in Palestine, right? DirkvdM 07:29, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

It was a joke- that was a line from the song Allentown, by Billy Joel. 69.81.50.252 15:57, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, so that's why I didn't get the jokes. This is the sort of situation where step into a group in the middle of a conversation, you pick something up, make a remark and then get these looks ... Ok, I'll shut up now. DirkvdM 18:59, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

It's just a matter of finding the right register. The question was asked in song, so it had to be answered that way :) Ziggurat 21:20, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The lyrics refer to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, incidentally, and specifically to Bethlehem Steel. StuRat 07:28, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Games for Senior Citizens

What are some games that I could use to play with a group of Senior Citizens, aside from the traditional Bingo, Shuffleboard, and Euchre?? I work for a seasonal lodge that caters mainly to senior groups so I'm looking for new and fun things to do with them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

• You can take them to a playground, per this Finnish study.--Pharos 04:17, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Cards. --Proficient 06:20, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Why not ask them what sort of things they would enjoy instead of telling them what is available. I bet some of them would have some novel ideas. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 06:38, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Carcassonne? Or ask at the forums on BoardGameGeek.com; I'm sure they will inundate you with suggestions. —Blotwell 01:06, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

60s era Australian legal statute, 'having unlawful carnal knowledge'

Bon Scott (dead lead singer of AC/DC is described in his bio as having done time for, among other things, 'having unlawful carnal knowledge'. The reference was a 1963 newspaper. What would it have meant? JackofOz?--Anchoress 23:42, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

How flattering, Anchoress.  :--). This is what carnal knowledge means in Queensland, and although IANAL I would assume similar provisions apply in other states. It seems to suggest that carnal knowledge is inherently unlawful (ie. having consensual sex with your partner would not be described as such), so "unlawful carnal knowledge" seems to be a tautology. JackofOz 01:46, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

We do have an article: Carnal knowledge. Rmhermen 01:53, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Cool thanks you guys.--Anchoress 01:56, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Jumping Spiders

Hi. I would like to know if jumping spiders are able to jump while on the ceiling, like they do on a wall. We have a debate going on over this. Thank you for your help.

--Ck9054 23:52, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

try looking at Jumping spider. I haven't read it but maybe it has something. Jon513 00:30, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I checked that website and they address spiders jumping up a wall, but not on the ceiling...same concept I guess though. If gravity would make them fall when they let go from the ceiling, it should do the same on a wall I would assume.

July 24

Martial Arts

I'm learning Aikido, and my sensai said it was a good idea to learn other martial arts aswell to broaden your ability, cope better with different situations, and not remain reliant on the same moves. So I was thinking of taking up another martial art, but I don't know what, I want to learn something very different to Aikido, but still useful in the same situations, maybe something with some more range, so I don't really know what to learn, I was thinking maybe Ninjitsu, or one thing I want to learn is Shaolin kung fu, but I don't really know if you can learn that, I dont know. Basically someone with better knowledge help me. Basically I want to learn some sort of Capoeira or Kung Fu, though I'm open to any other suggestions, what are the basics of the styles in how they differ. Also what sort of age do people generally take up Capoeira. And any suggestions of other arts.

Also, how different are Hapkido and Aikido? Philc _T^E_C^I 01:02, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

A side-question: Is Aikido the one where you don't initiate the attack yourself, but in stead just use the force of your attackers against themselves? I find that notion very appealing. The article is alas very unclear. DirkvdM 07:39, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that is the case, there are no attacking moves in aikido. Philc _T^E_C^I 15:50, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't help wondering what an Aikido contest would look like... EdC 17:41, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. Must be some pretty uneventful sparring, unless someone trips and falls forward... Digfarenough 20:27, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

As explained there are no contests, but there are displays, in which someone just takes the role of uke, and performs a grab or attack of some sort, and the defender performs the appropriate move, the attacks are not part of the art though. They are simple as such as strike to the head. Usually the higher ranked practitioner will come out on top, as they generally know more of the counter moves, and so can turn the Qi of even other aikido learners against them. Philc _T^E_C^I 21:54, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

There are no Aikido contests, and sparring is done by your sparring partner attacking you, directing his qi onto you. As for the Aikidoka that posted this question, I would suggest wrestling perhaps, it could fit good because both are grappling styles. As for Capoeira, it's quite unique, I don't think age is important as much as the feel fot the rythm(because music is very important to Capoeira), and, how do I put it, some flexibility and strenght. Further, there are many branches of Kung Fu, for some you will have to practice the minimum of 3 years to be average(that is, if you're good at it). Maybe Karate would be good for you, and even Taekwon-do, because it would improve your kicking tehniques, and not take that much of your time. As for Ninjutsu, I'm not sure how those two would blend in together, because for most martial arts you need a certain level of dedication so you could sucessfully perform it, e.g. if someone attacks you. You could always do weight training if you want. Also, the title of your teacher, is sensei, not sensai, just so you know. I hope this helps!--Captain ginyu 21:08, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Lol, cheers, I'm not accustomed to writing it. I'm not to keen or karate, partly because I just felt like doing something original, and karate seems so sort of played now, but you are probably right, it would offer much more scope in kicking, of which aikido offers none. Is the flexibility and strength recquired for capoeira picked up during the learning, or are you expected to be relatively gymnastic when you take it up. Also if I was dedicated to kung fu, since there are so many branches, can you help me choose one, or irect me to somewhere, where there are summaries of all of the major ones (ones that are likely to be taught in the south west UK). Thanks. Philc _T^E_C^I 21:45, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I imagine that for Aikido agility is very important, and if you pump up your muscles with weight training, won't that reduce your agility? DirkvdM 07:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Also strength is completely irrelavent in aikido. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:33, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

It seems I have not expressed myself good enough, by saying weight training, I meant also cardiovascular training and similar. Something original, you say... I would say that one needs to be relatively gymnastic for Capoeira, it all depends on the individual, maybe he's a talent for Capoeira, maybe he is hopeless for it... It is hard to explain like this. As for Kung Fu, I would say it also depends on the sensei, how fast is he willing to introduce you to techniques. For example, in Kenpo Karate, you can earn your black belt in aproximately 2 years if you're good, and in some styles of Kung Fu, one could need over 10 years just to master one animal style. My suggestion is that you ask around in your town, where you can find Kung Fu and what styles. There are also private teachings, for those you would have to ask better, or find out yourself. What Kung Fu I would reccomend, well, Wing Chun Kung Fu can be great, as long as you dedicate yourself to it, not go just for the recreation. Also for the Kung Fu, there are many animal styles, about 10-15. My suggestion is: first find out what of all this is available to you, then go and study a few trainings or ask here for more details. Take a look here. When you decide, let us know.--Captain ginyu 13:58, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Tae Kwon Do. 69.81.50.252 16:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Wow...very general question....I'll try to keep it short. It's interesting your sensei suggested the study of another dicipline...Suppose UFC changed the way Martial Arts are being taught even in the most traditional diciplines. Kung Fu, as taught by Bruce Lee, highly encouraged students to explore all arts and chose the tactics that work best for the individual, with Jeet Kune Do as a foundation. A transition from art to art can be performed within a single movement. You were right to say this would take a lot of work to master, as the student never really stops growing or learning. As Mixed Martial Arts fighting has become more popular and evolved as a sport, it's crucial for competitors to study multiple arts. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is often utilized as a technique to obtain submissions and be effective from the ground, where most fights ulimately end up. Chokes and locks are taught to submit an opponant. Along with an art teaching strikes would provide a good contrast to Akido as well, Taekwondo is popular as is Muai Thai Kickboxing. Keep your center and should you happen accross Steven Seagal in your studies, tell him he looks funny in a dress. Son of a Peach 00:57, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Super Smash Brothers

This is kind of a weird question that I don't know if anyone answers, but for Super Smash Brothers Melee, for the Break the Targets phase, do they still take in new records on Gamefaqs.com?--Summonmaster13 02:41, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Why wouldn't they take new records, if indeed you do have a new record? If you're not already signed up in GameFaqs, just ask them in the message boards. Here is the link: http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=516492. --Proficient 06:22, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Urination Arrangements

I very much doubt there's ever been a serious study of this, so I guess this is more like a straw poll. When guys take a pee while standing and fully clothed, do the majority remove just their penis from their pants, or their whole package (penis + testicles)? Don't ask me why I want to know this, but I promise it's not a homework question. :--) JackofOz 04:13, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Why would you remove your testicles too? Adam Bishop 05:34, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, scrotum (plus contents). JackofOz 06:16, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Well yeah...but same question :) Adam Bishop 06:22, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know your answer, but I would assume that if you happen to observe someone peeing standing, the manner in which they conduct business is probably consistent, meaning that I think that if they remove only their penis in solitude or whole package, they would do so everytime. ._. --Proficient 06:26, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

It seems another question should precede this one. Do you just undo the fly or loosen the button (and belt) as well? To let it all hang out, you'd have to do the latter, I suppose. Don't really know because I don't. It may depend on the undies as well. DirkvdM 07:51, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

DirkvdM, you don't what? Pee or take your penis out before you pee? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 15:35, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

:) DirkvdM 19:02, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

It could also depend on where the guy is, be it a public restroom (W.C. or whatever y'all over there call it) or at his home. schyler 21:43, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

To answer Adam Bishop's question, some guys don't "go the whole hog", but some do. I know, because I tend to do this myself. And I've seen others doing it (not that I make a habit of looking). I wonder if it's related to penis length, or scrotal weight, or just a cultural thing, or being a show-off, or wanting to minimise dripping, or whatever else. JackofOz 23:14, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You drip? DirkvdM 07:54, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't? JackofOz 22:47, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, yeah, there's always the last drop, if that's what you mean. DirkvdM 07:04, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

To add to my earlier comment, it could also depend on if other guys are in the restroom. I know when I get out of a movie and every urinal has a guy at it, it feels kind of uncomfortable to be next to them, so I want get it done and get out of there. Also it could be if you're standing at a urinal or standing in front of a regular toilet. schyler 23:12, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

What's an Al Gore ithm

One of our professors keep mentioning Al Gore ithms, what can he mean? I don't think it's "isms" like "Bushisms"? The professor doens't have a lisp or heavy accent. I've googled but without luck.

Algorithm. --Richardrj 08:37, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

And please consider asking your professor next time. That's what he's paid for.--Pharos 08:41, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

This is quite funny. --Proficient 14:14, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

And old! IF you do search on google for it, you'll find it a pretty common joke... Digfarenough 16:26, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Does anybody have a good Al-Gore-ithm? --Zeizmic 14:38, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

(From Wiktionary) Algorithm: Al Gore gettin' down 2 sum phat bass. --Howard Train 15:09, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

However, an Al Gore Rhythm would be the Macarena. — Lomn | Talk 23:03, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

riddle

i have a riddle n i dont know the answer..i sit as the 3rd of the great eight,what am i.

Answer: a crap riddle. I'd plump for "Planet Earth" as the third of eight planets in the solar system. I suspect there'll be other answers (including, perhaps, the right answer.) --Tagishsimon (talk)

Since most people accept that there's 9 (or possibly 10) planets in the solar system, it's doubtful that your answer is correct. ;-) However, searching for "Great Eight" on Wikipedia reveals about a dozen different teams, groups, tournaments, etc, that all use that term. And it's quite likely that the one being referred to isn't even among those... so I do concur with your initial answer of "a crap riddle", since there's not nearly enough information given here for a conclusive answer. --Maelwys 13:04, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

For the purposes of saving my face, &c., and with regard to the definition for Pluto as "is the ninth and smallest of the traditional planets of the Solar system, though its status as a planet has been disputed in recent years." you may take it that I stand shoulder to shoulder with the disputants. And besides, maybe that explains the "great" reference in the question, Pluto clearly being as crap a planet as was the riddle. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Since the riddle was given to you, and if the person who gave it to you knows you well, perhaps they are referencing a "Great Eight" that has something to do with you/something you know. Think about it. Otherwise, it is indeed a "crap riddle." :P --Proficient 14:16, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Selling my own GPL photos

Suppose I've given one of my own photos a GPL or Creative Commons license, or something similar, may I then still sell it myself? I suppose not. But suppose I took two identical photos of the same thing (it would of course have to be a non-moving object), and I publish one under GPL, could I then still sell the other one? They may be intentionally the same, but technically they're different photos. DirkvdM 10:08, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

• A license, whether it be GPL, GFDL or Creative Commons allows other people to use and/or distribute and/or sell your work the way you want them to. The image itself is still your property, so you can do what you want with it. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:27, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You may sell the photos. (So may anyone else, of course, subject to license terms). You may sell your photos even if you release them into public domain. Notinasnaid 10:30, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Licenses like the GPL or CC licenses are not exclusive, you can license your work to different people under different licenses. For example, MySQL AB make MySQL available under both the GPL and a commercial license (for example, for people who want to incorporate MySQL into closed-source software.) -- AJR | Talk 10:47, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Would I have to use a specific license then? So far I've used CC-by (Creative Commons Attribution) (see my photos), but I'm very bad at legalese and don't get what it really means. I thought that once you've published something under a certain license you can't change that and using different licenses at the same time sounds like the same to me. Could you be a bit more specific or point me to somewhere where it is explained better? Better than the Wikipedia articles, I mean, because they don't seem to answer my question. Or did I miss something? BTW, the reason I ask is that I want to upload a buch of more artistic photos to Wikimedia Commons. So far I haven't published my best photos to avoid this problem, but now I do want to do that, but for these photos I certainly don't want to lose the rights. DirkvdM 14:10, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The license is only the license that you used to release the photos on Wikimedia Commons, in your example. It isn't intrinsically attached to the photo itself. You, as the holder of the copyright, are free to do anything you like with the photo. You can sell them, license them out to other people using different licenses, and so on. If others download a photo from Commons, then they have the photo under CC-by, and can also sell it, but must give attribution to you. However, they can sell it under a different license - for example, they can restrict the rights of people who buy it. If you use CC-by-sa, then they will be required to sell or distribute it under CC-by-sa. --Philosophus ^T 17:11, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't really lose rights even if you went all the way and made them public domain. It just means you have the same rights as everybody else. With photos, you could make a low res copy pd, and still make numbered prints for sale. If you have an exclusive shot of Angelina's baby, then you enter agreements (with People-mag), which means that you sue the pants off anybody else trying to make money off it. It would also mean that you can't publish your own picture because it takes expected income from People. --Zeizmic 14:36, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

• Look at it this way. I can sell your photos. So of course, you can as well. That's even before we get into separate licenses. Notinasnaid 15:49, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, so I suppose it's a matter of keeping quiet that they're CC photos, because no-one needs to pay for photos under that license and thus any potential buyer who knows of course won't pay. So do I understand correctly that CC-by-sa is the best option? And maybe not publish the very best on Wikimedia Commons. Just enough good ones to draw attention and then link to my own page where people can find the really good stuff. Still, it doesn't seem right to withhold the good ones from Wikipedia. Maybe there should be a Wikipedia-only license, so that I can specify that only Wikipedia can use the photos without paying me. That's really what I want.

Uploading reduced-size versions is also a good idea. Anyone I could make money off will probably want a higher quality. DirkvdM 19:19, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Jeremy(?) Baxter(?)

I have been trying for the past five minutes to find out what is actually the name of the person I refer to as "Jeremy Baxter" as I find no related google pages or wikipedia articles on that name, I am assuming it is wrong. I am currently on a gprs connection (paying for every megabyte) so I do wish to minimize the amount of bandwidth I spend on finding the name, so of course I thought of this place. The person is a UK political news reporter, famous for amoung other things, repeating a question 35(?) times when interviewing a person that kept dodging it. He has also been contriversial in the UK for various interviews (George Galloway comes to mind). Who is the person I am thinking of?

Thanks, I am just desperate to find his wikipedia article for some quick info on him :) --Clq 16:39, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Jeremy Paxman. --Heron 16:46, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. Appreciate is a lot. --Clq 16:54, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

FEDERAL REGULATIONS

I need to read a particular Federal Regulation that I can not find printed. Can you help me? 63.144.179.55 17:03, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Which Canadian Federal Regulation are you looking for? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 18:02, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

where did the poster say Canadian?

The IP implies he is from Denver, Colorado. Jon513 20:16, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Your local public library should have records of any laws, rules, or regulations. If it doesn't, the librarians can probably help identify a place where they exist. Google might provide your regulation, too. If you need help here, try specifing which regulation. Emmett5 03:11, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Some quickies

Are cows really jazz musicians? Are dogs nicer people than because they have a shorter lifespan? Are my parents Gods in disguise? Why are all women beautiful? -- 70.26.123.156 18:00, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Of course cows are jazz musicians; dogs are not people; depends on how much you like your parents; men can be beautiful too, and not all women are beautiful! (Have you saw some cards in the UK shop Papyrus..?) Iolakana|^T 18:24, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

No, no, no, mu. Ziggurat 23:21, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

This question has really opened my eyes. Or something. --Optichan 23:33, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Bernard Cardinal Law

Researchers, I hope to be in Rome next year and would like to contact Bernard Cardinal Law beforehand. I would greatly appreciate information on how to reach him. Would you please provide me with his ROME address, e-mail address and/or phone number. Thank you, Mary

Hi, I don't think anyone here would post private information on anyone - this is a public forum, and such an invasion of privacy is inappropriate. You could try contacting the Vatican press office, although I doubt you'll get much help there either. You could also try contracting a private investigator in Rome, or do a search yourself in the Italian white pages, but note that unwanted contact (even by phone or e-mail) could be considered stalking. I'm sure there are many people out there who would like to have a 'talk' with him, and I can't say I blame them, but Wikipedia is not the way to locate such information. Ziggurat 23:18, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The Vatican's website is right here; original poster - take it from there! Tony Fox (speak) 16:32, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Also it would be having Unlawful Cardinal Knowledge.Edison 21:00, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Removal of Relatives

What does it mean when someone says "he's my cousin, twice removed" or "she's my 3rd cousin"? It may be that my examples do not make sense, but hopefully my question is still intelligible. Thank you. —Daniel (‽) 20:41, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

You can look it up pretty easily, but it is the following, if I recall correctly: Your first cousins are the offspring of your parents' siblings (same grandparents). Your second cousins have the same great-grandparents, but not the same grandparents. Your first cousins, once removed, are the cousins of your parents. Your first cousins, twice removed, are your grandparents' cousins. And so forth. Digfarenough 20:47, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Not sure that's entirely true, Digfarenough. The children of my first cousins are my first cousins once removed. They are not the same people as the cousins of my parents, rather they are the children of my parents' nephews and nieces. My first cousins twice removed are the grandchildren of my first cousins. Etc. My second cousins are, as you state correctly, people with the same great-grandparents. Their children are my second cousins once removed, and their children are my second cousins twice removed etc. JackofOz 21:05, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

We have a helpful chart that sorts this out rather well. Adam Bishop 21:12, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah yes, I left out the "forward generation" part of it. My bad, good catch :) Digfarenough 21:19, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

short answer: the once or twiced removed part refers to a difference in their generation. Jon513 23:07, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

So "twice removed" equals "two generations difference between us". Very interesting. Being the only child of two only children, I've never understood all this. Jameswilson 23:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

I've often wondered why we don't call grandgreat-nephews/nieces "nephews/nieces once removed", and call cousins once removed "grandcousins". That would better reflect the blood lines. My cousins, no matter how far removed, all share my blood, but my nieces and nephews only do so if they're from my side of the family. My nieces and nephews by marriage, and their succeeding generations, have nothing in common with my blood. JackofOz 23:25, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks all. I would never have got to that chart normally. —Daniel (‽) 07:36, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

"mapping" of regions inside US area codes

We have good coverage for US telephone area codes (e.g. Area code 530), but do the next three digits have any geographical meaning - i.e if someone has 530 123 xxxx (just a made up number) can one figure out from the 123 to which part of the 530 area code the number is assigned? (yes, I realise that the full street address requires a cop-only reverse directory). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:34, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The next three digits are called a "prefix." For land lines, they are usually assigned to a specific geographic area. However, it's a lot easier to keep your old prefix when moving to a different area of the same area code than it is to keep your old area code when you move to a new state. -- Mwalcoff 22:54, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

The three digits are more commonly called an "exchange."

The article on Telephone prefixes seems to not agree with you. And I've also always heard it referred to as the "prefix". Dismas|^(talk) 23:59, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure both are acceptable. -- Mwalcoff 00:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

The cop-only part is incorrect. Reverse telephone directory are published for business use. You can usually find one at your local library where published telephone numbers are listed in numerical order. Some addresses will even come up if you google the phone number. Nowimnthing 19:12, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

July 25

Army

How do I go about locating my son, Scott Malley, who is a Staff Sergeant in the PA Army National Guard and as far I know stationed at Fort IndianTown Gap Army Base in PA? I have not heard from him in 6 months and he has not returned phone calls. I do not know what has happened to him. I tried finding a contact on the internet for the base but have not gotten very far. Maybe someone knows how to do a search better than I. Thanks - I really want to find him. Fran Malley, his mother

Have you tried contacting the personnel or public affairs departments at the base? The numbers are on this page. You could also try the PNGAS. I don't know how much help this will be given that he's apparently not returning phone-calls though - assuming he received them, there could be any number of reasons why he doesn't wish to do so, and no-one really knows but him. Ziggurat 01:01, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Try contacting the Red Cross or the Salvation Army. They can sometimes help in getting in touch with servicemembers. User:Zoe|^(talk) 02:21, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Not to get into advice column territory or anything, but here's my advice anyways. If he's not returning calls, there's a personal reason for it. (Alternatively, it could easily be that you simply have the wrong number.) I wouldn't persist in trying to contact him if he doesn't want to talk to you. Write a letter, sure, but don't call him again. zafiroblue05 | Talk 04:04, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

My guess is at this point the mother here first wants to know that her son is alive and well. Perhaps there is a way to confirm that outside of phoning him?

My answer presupposes that both of you want to be in contact with each other. From the FAQ list for Fort Indiantown Gap: How do I locate, or get a message to a soldier who is training at the Gap? For emergency communication, contact the Fort Indiantown Gap Police Department, at 717-861-2727. For non-emergency communications, call the soldier's unit phone number, distributed prior to training. They also have a General Information number for civilians (717-861-2572). Since this base has been decommissioned (it is no longer a Federal base), it no longer has a base locator, the usual way to reach someone on a military post.

If you don't meet with success at the local base level, you can try the PA National Guard's Deputy Adjutant General, Army — MG Robert P French, at 717-861-8605, or contact your State Representative. In my experience, they can get a response when an ordinary citizen cannot. --Ssbohio 04:22, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

As mentioned, maybe he doesn't want to speak to you. --Proficient 08:13, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

If you happen to know any friends of his you may consider asking them if he is alive and ok. I would not recommend it, but if you think that something has gone horribly wrong you may want to consider filing a missing persons report. That would put the police on his case, but if it turns out that he is alive and alright and for all intents and purposes not missing you can be brought up on charges of filling a false police report. TomStar81 00:58, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Does an app like this exist?

I'd like an app similar to KeePass, where I can attach a USB thumbdrive to my PC, enter all my passwords into an app stored on that drive, and then have it automatically log me in (using Firefox) to every site who has a username + password written into that app. Sort of like Gator used to do, but not spyware-a-licious.

I use Roboform. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:36, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

There is not all the much in Category:Password managers but it is still work while to take a look. Jon513 11:14, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

It's a built-in feature in Opera. Do you have to stick with Firefox? Natgoo 17:37, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Breaking news (for me): It looks like the new (2006-07-13) Password Exporter Firefox extension will solve your problem. I'm giving it a try, at least. (Aside, another problem if one doesn't know who asked in the first place: they may never see the solution!) --Seejyb 23:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

There is a feature similar to this built into recent releases of Firefox. You enter passwords in sites, and Firefox remembers them -- once you enter your "Master Password" that you set for Firefox, it automatically logs you into everything else. Check your privacy settings. Taiq 07:44, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

American west fireamrs

I am looking for information on teh types of firearms used in teh Amerian west between the years 1836 and 1855. If u could provide the names, manufacturers, calibers, range, and general usage that would be greatly appreciated.

I can't really turn out much in the way of specifics, but you'll find that in that era, long guns were transitioning away from the musket to the rifle. Both articles have some history sections to work with, but I don't see much in the way of manufacturers. (Calibres were "big" and "damn big," from the black-powder rifles I've seen - our article says the muskets used between .50 and .80 calibre. Ouch.) Repeating rifles didn't start coming on the scene until the latter half of the 1800s. Samuel Colt did invent the revolver in 1836, however. Good luck! Tony Fox (speak) 20:55, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Didelphimorphia (Oppossum) diet?

I was wondering if the Didelphimorphia species ate rats and other house pests?

In New Zealand possums are considered pests themselves, but they're not cannibals afaik. DirkvdM 07:58, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Encyclopedia! Right here, right now! --Zeizmic 15:26, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

They mostly eat grubs, worms, insects, bugs, spiders, refuse, carrion, and the odd pencil, plastic sandwich bag, and rubber band. They are not quick enough to be hunters of anything that can run and their teeth are not designed for ripping and tearing the way dogs' and cats' teeth are. They don't have fangs per se. They're omnivores, like humans. --Gabbyhayes 03:44, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

legends ,tlales

can u give me links to sites about festivals,legends,sayings ,rituals,poetry assciated with the land ,air ,water associated with india --Mightright 07:11, 25 July 2006 (UTC)the reason i am asking u to help me is because when i googled it the answers were not very relevant .

Please don't post your questions to more than one reference desk - the best place to discuss this is over at the humanities desk. — QuantumEleven 08:22, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

opps sorry--Mightright 08:29, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

No worries! :) — QuantumEleven 07:34, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Difference between tax terminologies

What is the exact difference between tax terms like tax,cess,duty,levy etc.--Redsan65 07:46, 25 July 2006 (UTC)—--Redsan65 07:46, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Tax refers to all kinds of taxation. Levy is a verb meaning "to impose or collect a tax". Duty and cess are types of taxes. A duty is a tax that is levied on specific commodities, financial transactions, estates, etc., and not on individuals. A cess ussally refers to local taxation. Jon513 14:16, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Using Wikipedia's contents while using others?

Hi, I am making a website about the Treaty of Waitangi. If I use the information from Wikipedia, must my whole website be licensed under GPL? Because I am using information and images from various sources which have different copy conditions, such as "Crown Copyright", CC, and others. I don't want to add a note stating that the paragraph is licensed under GPL to every paragraph taken from Wikipedia. If my site is consist of less than 25% of Wikipedia contents, do I still license the site under GPL? Thanks, --inky 10:25, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Any text or modified version of any wikipedia text is under the GFDL. According to the GFDL a "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with modifications and/or translated into another language. Of cource the GFDL does not limit fair use. Jon513 11:10, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

If you have a sentence from Wikipedia or a sentence from crown copyright material, you must acknowledge it, specifically, wherever you copy. Imagine if you could publish a book where "25% was from someone else's book" without acknowledgement. So your site will, properly, have a large and complex list of acknowledgements (and permissions, where necessary), just as a book would have to. Unless you rewrite. Notinasnaid 11:13, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Look at the "AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS" part of the GFDL. It basically means that if your final product is a collection of documents, and you are not copyrighting the arrangement itself in a restrictive way, then you can use GFDL documents without licensing all of the resulting derivative work under the GFDL. The CC Sharealike license has a similar provision, "The above applies to the Derivative Work as incorporated in a Collective Work, but this does not require the Collective Work apart from the Derivative Work itself to be made subject to the terms of this License." In short: yes, you can keep the individual documents licensed under different schemes, as long as it is clear on the page of each document what their licensing scheme is. --Fastfission 16:39, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for these responses. Rather than making a long and meaningless(who wants to read it?) bibliography, I will release the information in my website into the public domain! --inky 06:46, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

That's good, but just in case you were thinking of it: remember that you can only release your own writing into public domain. You cannot release a single sentence from Wikipedia into public domain. Notinasnaid 23:32, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Of course, many of the sentences in Wikipedia existed in the public domain before Wikipedia was created. Edison 21:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

need help in senior project

hi all, as mentioned in the heading,could anyone suggest me a topic for my senior project which is necassary for the graduation,as i am a final year student doing BSc. in Computer Engineering,Im willing to implement a networking software(or something related to networking). Any idea or suggestion will be appreciated.-- FOZ

do not post in multiple places the computer section was the correct place to post. Jon513 12:27, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

"Hunter's style" food

Specifically, in connection with the preparation of food, many recipes refer to the food as prepared "hunter's style". Please define 'hunter's style'.

Thanks,

LGL

At least in Italian context it means "in seasoned tomato sauce", see Cacciatore [5][6]. Someone speculates "a recipe that is easy to prepare after a long day of hunting"[7] but sounds speculative and also happens to be cooked in tomato sauce. Weregerbil 15:30, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

German Jägerschnitzel is a veal or pork cutlet in brown gravy with sauteed mushrooms. "Jäger" is German for hunter. User:Zoe|^(talk) 15:44, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Perhap's it would be the style of a person who hunts game. --Proficient 08:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thumb: digit or finger

Trying to get an answer to a question that my 12 yr old son and I are trying to figure out. I have read the definition of the thumb, hand and fingers. They are somewhat conflicting. One calls the thumb one of the fingers, one just lists it as a digit and the other says that there are 8 fingers and definitely calls it a digit. Is it a "finger"? Cindy T

accordin to dictionary.com a finger is "One of the five digits of the hand, especially one other than the thumb." I think that it depends who you ask. Jon513 15:20, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Eviction law

I recently moved (I live in a small rural town) and my current landlord wants me to sign a rental agreement that says he doesn't issue eviction notices, and if the rent isn't paid he will lock the property, and I will be arrested for breaking and entering. Many renters in this area do this, but I dont understand how it is legal (I live in the US). How can eviction law be circumvented in this manner, and if it can be wouldn't all companies do it?

Ive been renting there over a month, and my question is if I refuse to sign this (because I dont think it is legal) and he were to lock the property, would I be arrested for breaking & entering? Wouldn't this be false arrest? Sindweller 15:07, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like Texas, where he is allowed to shoot you, as well! --Zeizmic 15:23, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

WHAT!? Sindweller 15:52, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

These matters vary by state. I can recommend Nolo's renter's rights book (ISBN 0873373804) which larger bookshops will carry. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:56, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

You may also find there is some kind of tenant's organisation that might give you legal advice. If this were anywhere other than the US it would be unquestionably illegal. DJ Clayworth 17:12, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

I thought the contract would be illegal, but I am concerned that if I refuse to sign it, he will change the lock where I live and I will have no where to live. I live in a *very* rural community and I am certain there are no tenant organizations around. My town only has 5,000 people and the nearest city is 50-60 miles away. I can't really afford an attorney now...Any advice would be appericated. Sindweller 18:54, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't give legal advice, but it seems reasonable to think at least some chance that if you sign this then it will be binding, and to plan on that basis, rather than assuming that it's just hot air. If you want to be pragmatic about it, you have nothing to worry about if you plan to pay your rent, on time, every time. If on the other hand you expect to be able to "string out" a late rent, your landlord has given you the clearest possible message that he doesn't intend to tolerate that. Notinasnaid 20:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC}

Quite outrageous but if you have no alternative, I suppose... But I would avoid him as a landlord if you possibly can because he doesnt sound like the type of landlord who will cough up for repairs, give you your deposit back, etc, etc. You need to go to some public office (the mayor's office?. local police?) and get some kind of feel for what attitude they would take if he did lock you out for refusing to sign that contract. Would they help you gain access to recover your possessions for example? Jameswilson 23:53, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe that in the Netherlands it's ok to sign a contract that goes against the law because it would simply be invalid. If there is any chance you'll ever have a problem paying the rent you'd better ask someone knowledgeable (if they dont show up here). Or what about forgetting to pay? Could happen. Or worse still, what if you're abroad and something goes wrong with automatic payment? If the landlord even has the idea that he may break into your house and reclaim it, it doesn't matter that you know it's not legal. You don't want that to happen when you're not there. Like James said, you need a good relationship with your landlord. Your house is your turf. If someone else has the notion that it's really theirs and they start off on this footing, you'd better think twice. But then that's what you're doing now.... :)

On the other hand, this may all be some misinterpretation. Have a straightforward talk with him (in as far as that is possible in the US, but you'll know that better than me). That might clear it all up. DirkvdM 07:22, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

It does vary by state, but I suspect most are like this quote I found here for Oregon: [8]

"Although your written lease agreement cannot shorten the number of days required by law for notices of termination, the lease may make notice periods longer."

Nowimnthing 19:26, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Not a lawyer, and the following is not legal advice to be relied on, but: A well written statute, such as a good tenants' rights ordinance, includes a clause stating that the tenant may not sign away any rights. Then however many such waivers one is forced to sign are merely "contracts of adhesion" and don't stand up in court. Not all laws are so well written. But if there is not such a provision, it is too easy for the party with the power to force the other party to sign away rights. Edison 21:11, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

You might want to look over the article on standard form contracts, particularly the section on contracts of adhesion to see some examples of legal thinking on these kind of boilerplate contracts & their enforceability. However, please remember that Wikipedia is not a source of legal advice and that every situation is unique. Many attorneys will give a short consultation for $50 or so. That can be a valuable investment if you're uncertain about this contract. --Ssbohio 22:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Delete account

how do you delete you wikipedia account?

You could start by asking this question at the correct place, which is the help desk. And note that you should always add a title to your question. I've added one for you. --Richardrj 16:09, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

But in short, you can't. —Daniel (‽) 17:50, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps asking an administrator? --Proficient 08:17, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

No, accounts cannot be deleted for copyright reasons. If you don't have many edits, you can get a beurocrat to change your account name. Even accounts with no edits at all are not deleted. —Daniel (‽) 08:23, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Read WP:Right to vanish.--Anchoress 02:00, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Who's a Peach?

69.81.50.252 16:57, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Errr...try Peach (disambiguation) or Peaches (disambiguation). - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 17:39, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

You already asked this question, and received an appropriate answer, on April 26. --Shantavira 19:58, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

• Ty Cobb-hotclaws**==(81.134.68.10 11:20, 27 July 2006 (UTC))

Just a Minute, Theatresports and Organisation

Could Just a Minute be seen as a variant of Theatresports? Are there any groups which practice JAM in some official manner (as in TS), other than the Radio 4 show?

Thanks a bunch. —Daniel (‽) 17:49, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Not really - JAM came first (1967 vs 1970s), so maybe the other way round. -- SGBailey 20:17, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Just a Minute definitely came first, along with lots of other related shows (mainly from the pens of Frank Muir and Denis Norden) such as Many a Slip, Call My Bluff, and Face the Music. If you're looking for a show that can be seen as a variant of theathresoprts and which came after theatresports, try Whose Line is it Anyway?. Grutness...wha? 02:52, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Article Hits

How do I see how many times an article has been viewed, or who has been viewing an article?

Check out Wikipedia:Very_Frequently_Asked_Questions. Weregerbil 20:02, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

You need to know where you're going with that one; the answer may be buried a little too deep for the general enquirer, and in a somewhat counter-intuitive place. I was interested in the answer too, so I clicked the link but nothing showed up. After trying a few likely-sounding links on that page, I eventually clicked the unlikely-sounding "Editing", where I found the topic "Is there any way to see how many people have viewed a particular page?", only to be told:

• Unfortunately, there is not. The servers that run the internet store copies of Wikipedia in "web caches" in order to speed up access to the material. Since many viewings will be of the cached copies and not of Wikipedia directly, there is no way to count viewings, because Wikipedia does not have access to those servers (which are owned by many different companies). Also, Wikipedia is free for anyone to download and display, and therefore many websites, such as Answers.com autonomously provide their users with Wikipedia articles (see mirrors).

I say "unlikely-sounding", since I can't see what simply viewing a page has to to with editing it. JackofOz 01:23, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I think the question refers to page views on Wikipedia itself. There used to be counters but they were turned off long ago because they made the servers too slow. Adam Bishop 02:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

In addition to the "Editing" subheading, this question is on the Wikipedia:Very_Frequently_Asked_Questions page itself. Just scroll down, question 12. I also suggest checking out the other 12 VFAQs, they are good stuff! Weregerbil 07:55, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

You can't. --Proficient 08:19, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Seems pretty sucky that one is unable to see how popular an article is. Is there no list of "most often viewed articles?" Frequent hits would one argument against someone nomination to delete an article.Edison 21:14, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Techno Music

What would you call a album that has two cds as part of a album like for example Dream Dance Vol. 18, Top of Trance Vol. 3, Trance Top 40 Vol. 2 and Trances Voices Vol. 11 and how many albums are related to these albums that I have shown? Thanks.

I'd call them each a "double album". To get a track listing, try typing the names into amazon.com, which will also provide a serach list of other albums with similar styles or titles. -- SGBailey 20:12, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Stripper game

How many games beside DreamStripper are there that deals with strippers because I couldn't afford DreamStripper of the Internet, so I was wondering if there any games that are free from the Internet.

I am not sure what you're asking. --Proficient 08:19, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I think the questioner is looking for porn disguised as a game.--Shantavira 09:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

No, I am not looking for porn disguised as a game. I mean real game of stripper. Look, I ask the already the question above already. Please, can someone tell me where to get a free game of a stripper because I couldn't afford the DreamStripper game of the internet. --Don Mustafa11:48, July 26 2006 (UTC)

So just what the frig is a game of stripper supposed to be? Is it a game where you take the role of a stripper and try to maximise your earnings, a game where you take the role of a punter and try to see as many naked women as possible before your money runs out, a game where you run a strip club, a game where you remove paint from walls in the shortest possible time, or something else entirely? There are bucketloads of free games on the internet, but if you can neither ask a decent question nor use google to search the web then you probably aren't ready for them. --Howard Train 18:00, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm. You wouldn't happen to have a copyright on that paint clearing game, would you Howard? Hyenaste ^(tell) 23:20, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

No, it's the game where you remove debugging information from binaries. --Philosophus ^T 09:43, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

According to the blurb(which I only hunted for for the purposes of Wikiresearch ;)!) *Your own personal stripper on your own computer! You decide her dance moves, what she wears, even the music! Have her writhe or spin just when you want as she dances or create an erotic and exotic dance* but he can't afford that,so he wants a free one off the Internet.

And can anyone else picture the OP jumping up and down shaking his fists when he's shouting out 'I've already asked the damn question above,just answer it' when he's asked to explain or clarify it... 88.106.252.194 22:56, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

Free porn - well, alright, free naked ladies applications - off the Internet usually comes with free trojans, worms, and viruses (or so I've heard at stripper). I suggest you save up your money and get the Real McCoy. Or put in a bid for an early birthday present.--Shantavira 13:57, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Cool Userpage Table

Where can I find all of the options that I can use for the table that a lot of users put in their profile? (example below to right) --Sportskido8 16:36, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

en	This user is a native speaker of English.

Try Wikipedia:Userboxes for an index of all the userbox types (e.g. Wikipedia:Babel for languages). Also note that while there's no rule against having lots of userboxes on your page, some editors (including myself!) think it's in bad taste to fill your user page with hundreds of them (something akin to personality spamming :) .Ziggurat 21:02, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Is there a userbox for people who agree with that? Digfarenough 02:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Inevitably. See Wikipedia:Userboxes/Userboxes. --Shantavira 10:55, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

for example, Template:User Wikipedia/no userboxes

What's the name of that game....

What's the name of the wrestling game where you own WWE? (or WWF, not sure how old it is). It's for the PC, but I can't remeber the name.

Infectious_mononucleosis

With mono, what causes the sore throat? Is the sore throat likely to disappear and then come back again?

Inflammation in the back of the throat, called pharyngitis, is the cause of the throat pain. This is a major response area and immune system battleground for viral infections acquired through the nose and mouth. The sore throat typically does not recur after it has resolved, but your mileage may differ. alteripse 02:29, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!

July 26

Animals

Is there a list that has every single animal on it? Such as:

  Dog
  Cat
  Horse
  Kangaroo
  etc.

List_of_animal_names? Or try [[9]]. Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 01:52, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

You don't need to use underscores, and you definitely don't need to use the full URL. Those links should be List of animal names and Category:Lists of animals (note the leading colon). —Keenan Pepper 02:55, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

You should have told me about the leading colon a few days ago when I needed it, but thanks in advance for next time (i fthat is English). DirkvdM 07:50, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

That's still missing tons of animals!--Teutoberg 06:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

According to this site there may be up to 100 million species. But don't worry, your list will only contain the named ones, and there are only one or two million of those. Better still, the examples you gave are (I believe) all genera (the next step up in the Scientific classification). Alas I haven't managed to find how many there are of those. DirkvdM 07:50, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Wow. It is missing a lot. --Proficient 08:20, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I think the list is accurate as human percieve animals. Ants are all one, but cat, tiger, and lion are all different. basicly it is a list that a child would learn when looking at one of those colorful picture books. Jon513 18:32, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I think I was kidding about 950,000 animals being missing.--Teutoberg 02:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Someone help me identify this song please :3

http://www.gaiaonline.com/profile/index.php?view=profile.ShowProfile&item=3458275 I was surfing on this site and came across this persons page. I was instantly hooked when it came on, please tell me!

According to [10] it's "Here in Your Arms" by a band called "Hellogoodbye". – AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 06:50, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! ^^

The day after (movie)

was Belton,MO ever mentioned in The Day After?--Geobeedude 03:07, 26 July 2006 (UTC)Geobeedude

I don't think so, but I can't guarantee it. íslenska hurikein #12 _(samtal) 21:27, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

What happened to my posting?

I recently submitted an article on Pounamu (Maori greenstone) supplying the Maori names for different varieties of this stone. I returned today to add references and some pictures, only to find that the article had disappeared. What happened? Is someone editing my article, or was it just erased? Why would someone do this? Please explain.--222.153.189.121 07:25, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

According to your user contributions, the question you asked just now is your only contribution. Were you posting from a named account or another IP address before? Because otherwise it's tough to figure out what happened. Was it an actual article you created, or was it a post on one of the help pages?--Anchoress 07:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, there is an article about Pounamu, which has a soft redirect to Greenstone. Your IP address doesn't show in the history of those pages, but that may be because you don't have a fixed IP address (aol perchance?). DirkvdM 07:57, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Here's a list of recent deletions: [11] --Anchoress 08:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Also be aware that your article or edits will not show up unless you click "Save page". People sometimes click on "Show preview" and forget to Save.--Shantavira 09:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

So, did you figure out what happened to your posting?--Anchoress 01:56, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Faith Lehane

Hey Umm i was just wondering how wikipedia found out Faith from Buffy The Vampire Slayer's last name. I have no clue and i would love to know as i am a Buffy Fan Thanks

°.:Lexi:.°

This is explained in the article on Faith Lehane.--Shantavira 09:46, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Stubs

Im running a new portal, the English Portal, and i notice there are lots of english articles that are ... well empty & incomplete. Which is basically what a stub is. Im wondering if theres a section of WikiPedia already dedicated to english stub articles, or if im allowed to start one connected to my portal? BrentonEccles 07:59, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

If it already exists, it'll be HERE. Look carefully, the hard-working stub sorting people get a bit tetchy if dupe categories are created.--Anchoress 08:05, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thankyou very much. :) BrentonEccles 00:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

No probs. Are you going to post the results here?--Anchoress 01:55, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

If i find anything about English stubs? Defeneatly. I havent looked yet, but im about to. :) --BrentonEccles 06:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually, a better place to look is WP:WSS/ST - it gives a complete list of the stub categories and templates. As to one for the portal, if it's not there, the place to propose new stub types is at WP:WSS/P. Grutness...wha? 08:10, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Looking for a PC game

I don't know if this is the right section for this but...

I played a computer game a few years back that I can't find on the Internet again. It was a DOS game, probably playable on Windows 98 as well. It was a 2D Platform_game that looked as if it was drawn by a small child on a piece of paper. I believe the protagonist was a Stickman and some of the enemies I remember were drawn lines that rolled themselves up and went after the player. I remember it being very imaginative with the scenarios, and finding an elevator to the moon in one of the buildings.

I apparently didn't save a copy of it, I don't remember anything about its name, and I haven't found it through my google searches. Does anyone know what game I'm talking about? If so,could you point me to it, or give me some more information so I could search for it more effectively? --Phelan 09:10, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I've no idea, but you could try scrolling through list of MS-DOS games to see if anything rings a bell.--Shantavira 12:01, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I would also try List of platform games. Jon513 18:27, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks to both of you, after going through both the lists, I found a lot of games I had forgot about...Though I did not find a name that seemed to be the game I'm looking for. Could anyone direct me to a site or forum specific to DOS and/or old games, where I can ask if anyone knows the game? --Phelan 02:05, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Underdogs.org are pretty good with this sort of thing. Proto::type 15:17, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

You mean Underdogs.info. Thanks, I had forgotten they had a forum. I will post here again if I ever find out the name of the game. --Phelan 09:35, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Another game

The question above made me think of another game. This was a game that was very like C-Dogs (If you know what that is), as in it was a birds eye view shooter where you controll a guy with a gun. At the end of each level, you can buy weapons and armor. It was described (I think) as 'Quake for dos' (But i'm 10000% sure it's got NOTHING to do with quake). Thanks for your help.

Could you be a little more spesific? Top down shooters with a shop between levels are not exactly one of a kind. What kind of setting was it? Wargame (like Rambo or Commando?)? Mercenaries (like Dogs of War)? Sience fiction (like Alien Breed)? Was it one way scrolling or 8 way (like Chaos Engine), directly top down or isometric etc. --Sherool (talk) 11:32, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Well Im pretty sure it was kind of like a gangster setting, and it wasn't directly top down. Described as 'quake for dos'.

Gangster setting and not directly top down? That reminds me of Syndicate_(computer_game_series). Is this it? --Phelan 16:50, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Quake for DOS? That would be, er, Quake? --Howard Train 18:04, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

100% sure it wasn't quake. Im pretty sure it wasn't a comercial game either. Not science fiction or milittary-more like criminal/gangsta.

supplies

I would like to know the things required in vessel supply business as i hope to go into the business in my country. For instance, the vessel cleaning agents,things from minor to major maintainace.from Hooper a.i

Hmm. Are you sure you're going into the right business if you don't even know what you're going to be dealing in? For a start, it would help to clarify what type of vessel you mean. Drinking vessels? Ocean-going vessels? Pressure vessels? Perhaps you should contact a local vessel supply company of they type you have in mind, and see how they operate before committing yourself.--Shantavira 11:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

hEY

Some loser keeps screwing up my article Whitty Street. He keeps talling me to stop vandalising. Tell him to go away. --Peaking at 1871 at 531 11:44, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Wecome to Wikipedia! You are going to have to devote a couple of hours of your precious time learning how to set up a proper user account, and the proper way to edit things. If you are like my teenagers, and just want to 'do it', then you are out of luck. --Zeizmic 12:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't think the description of your edits as vandalism is completely unjustified. Or can you point us to a reputable source that supports your claim that it should be called Shitty street? Apart from that, this question should have been posed on the help desk. David Sneek 12:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Or to put it another way, your edits were vandalism. Which is really odd, because a) you're obviously intelligent enough to know the difference and b) intelligent enough to make a positive contribution to the wikipedia. Which would make you feel a lot better about yourself than you do now. Give it a try. --Tagishsimon (talk)

• And to describe it as "your article" tells me you're unfamiliar with the fact no single editor owns any article even if they started it. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:59, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia. Is it possible that someone else is using your computer and pretending to be you? In that case, change your password and keep it secret.--Shantavira 13:13, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

where is the page for articles that need creation/editing?

yeah...where is that page? I've been searching for a while now and I can't find it!

Is it this page? - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 15:57, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks man. That's it.

Or try Wikipedia:Articles for creation. User:Zoe|^(talk) 17:31, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

ADD on the back of a music CD?

What does ADD mean on the back of a music CD, and can you please add that meaning to the article ADD?? :)--Sonjaaa 15:28, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

It means it was recorded in Analog, and mixed and mastered in Digital. There must be something about this in Wikipedia to link to from ADD; I'll try to find it. --Allen 15:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

It's called the SPARS Code, the use of which has been largely discontinued. --LarryMac 15:38, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I've added the link from ADD now. --Allen 15:45, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

address and phone # of CKC

need to find breeder not listed . Ian and Joy Littlejohn Black River Falls Wisconsin thanks--216.54.156.186 15:39, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

If that's the Canadian Kennel Club, the info can be found at their website. Tony Fox (speak) 16:27, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Neon Bulbs and Mercury?

Hello... I knocked over my lamp as I woke up just now and broke a neon lightbulb on the corner of my desk. How do I clean it up? Should I be worried about the mercury or phospherous powder contained in them? :S

Nothing dangerous in a Fluorescent lamp. Use a damp paper towel, and don't eat the stuff. --Zeizmic 16:28, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Thankee, sir.

Incidentally, it's only neon if it glows red.--Shantavira 18:33, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Fluorescent lamps contain a small amount of mercury (very small in newer bulbs) and a fairly inert phosphor. Collect any broken glass carefully in a puncture resistant container (cardboard box or the like). Wipe up any powder and small fragments with a damp paper towel. Gloves are strongly recommended, mostly so that you don't cut yourself. (Don't try to vacuum up powder, it will vaporize any mercury.) The stuff inside fluorescent lamps isn't good for you, but it's not that bad, either. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 01:00, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Mercury contained in lighting equipment is inorganic. Mercury is only poisonous when it is cointained in Organic compounds, so unless you play around with it and try to alter it, it should be pretty safe cleaning it up by wiping and throwing out the paper towel.

Ignore that last edit. It's untrue. Elemental mercury is toxic. --Heron 18:13, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

William J. Pointdexter

I've already accessed the NSA homepage to view thumbnail photos of recent NSA staff CEOs, but there is no picture of William J. Pointdexter.

In view of the current Patriot Act importance and magnitude, is there any article (photograph)in your vast Wikipedia ouvre on this patriot?

Wikipedia isn't a photo library, so the only place you're likely to find photos of a person is in the relevant article. I don't see an article on any William J Pointdexter, but that would be where to find it if we had it, or possibly an article on NSA, whatever that is. Wikipedia has an additional problem with photos of living people: all of them are copyright, and so we do not necessarily have permission to use a photo, even if a good one exists. Notinasnaid 16:49, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Are you talking about John Poindexter? User:Zoe|^(talk) 17:33, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

please help asap

i neither gain nor lose weight,what am i?its a riddle.am nattytuks--196.200.37.214 16:36, 26 July 2006 (UTC)nattytuks

a rock. air. the CD in my car stereo. a super-intelligent shade of the color blue. --LarryMac 16:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

It's a riddle! David Sneek 16:46, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

eating the same amount as your excreting. Philc _T^E_C^I 16:52, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Suffering from worms. Frozen in time. Endlessly ingesting your own faeces. Wasting people's time. --Howard Train 18:10, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

The whole universe? Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 19:03, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

You're not fat, you're just big boned. --Tadhg 22:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

3D viewer eye-misfire

I have been using a program (HFSS) that includes 3D modeler software. I often have the odd experience of finding that my eyes have inverted the object, so what I think is in the front is in fact in the back. Sometimes it takes a five or ten seconds of squinting and rotating to "reset" my eyes to the correct orientation. I'm more curious than annoyed - does this have a name? I assume using lighting and perspective (the former of which is usually not in use and the latter of which is not implemented in HFSS) help to eliminate this in other software. --198.125.178.207 18:28, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

See Necker cube it sounds like a type of Optical illusion called ambiguity. Nowimnthing 18:42, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Yep, that's the idea. Thanks! --198.125.178.207 20:33, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Insignia - Duke of Rothesay

In this website, the coat of arms for the Duke of Rothesay has black? or a very dark blue? in the upper left and lower right quadrants, whereas an actual flag flown on a public building during Prince Charles' tour of Scotland has a decidedly brighter blue. Can you clarify for me which is the correct insignia for the Duke of Rothesay?

Many thanks for your time and courtesy --84.68.103.49 19:40, 26 July 2006 (UTC)Jack M. Robertson

I think the illustration on the wikipedia page is probably wrong. The equivalent design on the burgh arms is certainly a lighter blue {see here). Jameswilson 23:45, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

For Screening Purposes Only

Hey there, while watching Supersize Me at home the phrase "For Screening Purposes Only" kept popping up. What exactly is this? Maybe it's a more common term in the US but i'm unsure of its meaning. Asking google brings up a couple of pages of other people complaining but no real answer. Does anyone know what this is about? Thanks! -Benbread 20:11, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Did you download this movie from "somewhere"? It sure sounds like somebody ripped a screener and placed it online. --LarryMac 20:16, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah it sounds like you got an illegal copy, hope you didn't pay much for it. Nowimnthing 20:37, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Uh oh :| Well that would certainly explain that slogan, i was assuming it was some legal jumbo about the medical information. Thanks greatly for clearing that up. -Benbread 20:43, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

The MPAA thugs will be by shortly to have a little talk with you. (Yes, I know you're not in the US. They don't care.) ;-) --LarryMac 20:51, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Please report it to the MPAA. I hate them as much as the next guy, but I hate people who profit off copyright infringement even more. They have a special number for it. --mboverload@ 22:23, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't. They could get you for possessing the ripped screener. (Only theoretically, of course. It would be stupid of them. But I wouldn't trust the MPAA, because the MPAA certainly doesn't trust you.) zafiroblue05 | Talk 22:43, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

there have been cases where someone tells a website about a vulnerablity they found in order to help them and in tern where sued because the website was hacked by someone else (they became the only suspects because they knew about eh vulnerablity)! DON'T tell the MPAA they have everything to gain and nothing to lose by sueing you. Jon513 00:29, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Interest Rate Increases

There is talk that the Reserve Bank here in Australia will increase interest rates by .25% next month (in an attempt to curb inflation). My understanding is that this means the Reserve Bank charges my bank an extra .25% to borrow money from them. My bank in turn charges me an extra .25% to counter this. So, effectively, the Reserve Bank collects all these .25% from people with mortgages and credit cards.

My question is: What does the Reserve Bank do with this extra revenue? Does it sit in an account? Is it spent by the Government? Does it offset the extra .25% that savers get from the increase?

On another note- Apparently inflation is been driven up by increased fuel prices. If seems crazy by me to increase interest rate in an attampt to curb inflationary increases when this will have no affect on fuel spending. Or will it? Will people drive less or is this insignificant compared with the annual national commercial usage of oil?--Downunda 23:48, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't think increased interest rates will necessarily make every Australian drive a teensy bit less, but it probably will make a number of people decide to get rid of their cars; higher interest rates = more expensive payment plans, and higher returns for money left in the bank and not spent on a car.--Anchoress 23:52, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

People will spend less on other things, as well, like new houses, if interest rates are higher. This will have the effect of depressing prices for those items, which will lower the rate of inflation. StuRat 00:57, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I guess that's the theort StuRat but where does the money go? Surely the reserve Bank have to sit on it and not let it get back into the economy or it would just stimulate spending again.--Downunda 01:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Federal funds rate explains how the US system works, and I don't know how similar it is to the Australian system. However, I learned a few things by reading it. According to the article, the nominal federal funds rate is what the media almost mean when talking about the Fed changing rates. The federal funds rate is the rate charged between banks, so no money goes to the Fed.–RHolton≡– 02:10, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

IIRC it used to be called the "Minimum Lending Rate", which was clearer. The central bank tells other financial institutions they cant lend money to each other cheaper than that.

Anyway, as StuRat says, the point is to depress other parts of the economy a bit to compensate for the extra people are spending on fuel. Jameswilson 22:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

July 27

looking for map of Manhattan

I'm looking for a good, printable map of Manhattan with all of the important things on it that google maps lists. Preliminary google searches bring up nothing. Is there a way to print the whole google map of manhattan on 6-10 sheets of 8.5x11 paper?

thanks.

google's help has some information about printing google maps. Jon513 00:57, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

thanks!

There are several of varying detail if you use 'manhattan map' in google image search [12] Nowimnthing 02:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia provide any kind of Parental Controls?

My question is if any sort of Parental Controls might exist within Wikipedia itself. Google has a "Safe Search" option that seems to eliminate most of the more objectional site from their results. There are a number of articles within Wikipedia that are of a concern to me, and it appears that links in these articles lead directly to hardcore pornography. How can a concerned parent allow their children to use Wikipedia knowing that these articles and links are so easily accessed?

Thanks

Concerned Dad

Being an encyclopedia targeted to a general audience, Wikipedia is not censored or filtered for the protection of minors (see Wikipedia:Content disclaimer). There are currently a couple of proposals to provide a version of Wikipedia for children (Wikichildren and Wikikids), but these are still in the planning stages. Ziggurat 03:54, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Additionally, you may want to consider pointing your child in the direction of the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, which "is a specific selection of 2000 articles suitable for school children and has been checked and edited by deletion for this audience" Ziggurat 04:01, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

On the rare event that an external link led directly to hardcore pornography there would almost certainly be a warning tag. Believe me though, if your kids wanna look up porn on the Internet, they will. Battle Ape 04:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

However of course we cannot guarantee that there will be warnings. The nature of Wikipedia means anyone can add a link to pornography. However such things are usually removed very quickly, and your child would be very unlucky to find one by accident. DJ Clayworth 13:17, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Right, Wikipedia should be the least of your concerns. Can you give any examples? DirkvdM 07:29, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

There are a bunch of articles on people working in the porn industry, which tend to link to their home pages. For example. I don't see this as a problem, but I can understand others' milages may vary. --Tagishsimon (talk):

If you are concerned, maybe you should check out your options for Content-control software. Not that I am an advocate, I believe kids that are curious should be able to explore their curiosity in a healthy way, but you can have much better control of what comes into your home than with generic content controls like google. Nowimnthing 19:08, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

It would be nice if more kids went to an encyclopedia to learn, rather than go to porn sites. One thing Wikipedia is proud of is that if you type in something like "vagina," then you will learn about the vagina.

• 1 Anatomy
• 2 Functions of the vagina

o 2.1 Giving birth o 2.2 Menstruation

• 3 Sexual health and hygiene
• 4 The vagina and popular culture
• 5 See also
• 6 External links

Yes there are diagrams, and one picture, although they are no different than one you would find in a textbook. Because it is an encylopedia, not a porn site. — The Mac Davis] ญƛ. 20:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Wikipedia is for learning. Your kids can learn. Just tell your kids to not look at hardcore pornography. ;) --Proficient 18:10, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Airplane lights

I just saw an airplane with an unusual lighting scheme go by. The airplane was on landing approach, with the wheels down and the landing lights on. In addition to the blinking red and green lights on the wingtips and the steady, bright white landing lights on the nosewheel and wing roots, there was a bright white lights, as bright as the landing lights, about a quarter of the way from the wingtip to the wing root on each wing. These lights were pulsing alternately with a period of about one second. What is the purpose of these lights? --Carnildo 03:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Anticollision lights? Thissection of the FAR's may be helpful.

Annual economic growth.

I would be interested to find out the annual economic growth rates for all the countries of the world.

There are numerous pages dealing with GDP in it's various forms which are very interesting, but I cannot seem to find any page that gives an annual percentage increase in economic growth for different countries.

The page economic growth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_growth) deals with the analysis of how it is measured in different ways, but no facts for specific countries in recent history.

I imagine that China and India would be the top two, and I was interested to compare these with EU countries.

I hope I haven't missed something somewhere!

Cheers, MRD 27/07/06

I once found something like that on this page. I believe it was the 'Angus Maddison' link, but that's dead now. The other links might still be helpful. DirkvdM 07:38, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Try the CIA Factbook, such as the Economics section of this entry for Afghanistan: {https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/af.html#Econ}. StuRat 21:52, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Jewish Holidays

Good morning...

Your site has been very informative on its explanations of the Jewish Holidays...My question is why do the Jewish Holidays all seem to fall in the 2 months of September & October?

Thank you...candi

Um, they don't. Firstly, they are based on the Hebrew calendar. I'd write you a list, but I can't be bothered. Read the article Jewish holiday. —Daniel (‽) 15:27, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot all fall in the time period you mentioned. There are few other holiday that fall at other points in the year. Nevertheless those three are the most concentrated of the holidays and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the most observed. These holiday are explicitly written in the bible and God did not explicitly explain why he chose to place the holidays in this way. Nevertheless, there are theories by Jewish philosophers to explain the rational behind them. Some theorize that these holiday are closely related to one another and represent a unified spiritual process (the relationship between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is much stronger than that of yom kippur and sukkot). Maimonides theorizes that the reason for the holidays falling where the do is because it is a time of less work in the agricultural cycle and would not be burdensome for farmers. Jon513 19:02, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Simple and stupid question...

I'm interested in posting a new article/page. I've read through everything and have an idea of how to do it, but I am apparently missing the most important and simplest step. WHERE TO BEGIN? Where is the page to start a new article on someone?

Thank you, and I apologize for my stupidity but it's getting frustrated. I must find an answer!

RSS

Type the name of the article you want to create into the search box, and click Go. WP won't find it, and will offer you the chance to create a new article with that name. So make sure the name you type into the search box is definitely the name you want the article to have. By the way, this sort of question is best asked at the help desk. --Richardrj 13:39, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Your first article and Help:Starting a new page should also be of help to you. Good luck writing! — QuantumEleven 14:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I found the Wikipedia articles and general help about writing Wikipedia articles difficult to use. You can ask me about anything you need help with or are confused about; I'm here everyday and am fairly experienced. Also, be sure to stick your "signature" on every page that isn't an encyclopaedia article if you "talk." Do this by typing --~~~~. It will automatically turn into your signiture with your name (or IP) and the time. — The Mac Davis] ญƛ. 20:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd strongly recommend you start out by editing articles on subjects you know about; watch what happens to your edits; if they are removed or changed, find out why. After a few months of experience and growing confidence, you may be ready to create a new article, an otherwise very daunting task. Be sure you aren't writing about something too personal (e.g. your self, your company, your friends). Notinasnaid 09:04, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

automobiles

I am the proud owner of a 2005 Toyota Camry. But the seat belt warning chimes are driving me crazy. They are extremely loud, long, and intrusive. The dealer who sold the car to me new says they can't help.

I NEVER drive with out fastening the seat belt. How can I turn down the volume, or better yet, disable the warning chimes.

Would fastening the seat belts before turning the ignition key help? --vibo56 ^talk 14:35, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried taking it to a mechanic? I doubt you'll be able to turn down the volume or disable the chimes, but it might be worth a try. — QuantumEleven 15:11, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Reach under the driver's seat and disconnect the connector which has a black and a white/black wire. (Courtesy of this site). Google is your friend.--Shantavira 15:34, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

XBOX 360

I would like to know what was the highest price paid for an xbox 360when it was launched at www.ebay.com in an normal auction? Also, I would like to know what was the lowest price when it was launched too. Thank you

I am not sure that they keep records that far, but http://search-completed.ebay.com/xbox-360_W0QQcatrefZC6QQfisZ2QQfromZR10QQfrtsZ0QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ1QQsacatZQ2d1 might help. --Proficient 15:52, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

muscles

I am trying to find some information on the muscles that help with breathing? Can anyone help me.

See Respiratory_system, subheading Anatomy, Diaphragm (anatomy) and Intercostal muscles. --vibo56 ^talk 19:11, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Try asking that one in Science next time. — The Mac Davis] ญƛ. 20:27, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Prayer

What does a typical Muslim prayer sound like? What does the person praying say? To whom is he speaking?

See Salat. David Sneek 18:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Sounds to me like asking what a typical Christian prayer sounds like. Or is there less variation in Islam? (Or more, for that matter?) DirkvdM 06:49, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I hate salads!!

Hello! I hate salads! But recently I was told that I need to “eat healthier.” As a consequence, I’m trying to force down salads. The problem is that I really hate salads! So, how do you all improve the taste of your salads?

I have tried many difference types (Cesar, chef, etc) with different toppings (oils, Ranch, Italian, etc), but I just cannot seem to find a balance that is pleasing to my palate.

thanks,

-Rangermike 18:22, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Eating a salad soaked in some kind of oily dressing isn't exactly eating healthier. How do you feel about other vegetables? Smaller portions? Broiled vs. fried? --LarryMac 18:25, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

eat whole vegtables there must be a least one that you like. Jon513 18:44, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

You can probably eat healthier without having to eat salad. What sort of meats and vegetables do you like? I'm sure we can suggest a healthy way of preparing it.--Shantavira 18:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate the suggestions. I have stopped eating fried foods, I no longer eat fast food (but I'm in college, so when the semester starts back up, I might lapse), I stopped drinking soda (I now drink Gatorade and water). Honestly, I really don't care for vegetables, unless they're cooked into the meal (i.e. like soups, stews, pastas, etc). The vegetables that I really like are: corn (on the cob only), beans, and potatoes (I’m not very adventurous, I know). Other than that, I love meat (all kinds) and Italian food. Thanks again. -Rangermike 20:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

An excellent low-fat meat alternative is Quorn which you can buy in some health stores in the US, so it might not be as cheap as it is in Europe. I've eaten lasagne, spaghetti and tacos made from this, and they're all great! I'm not even a vegetarian. Now, I hardly ever eat real meat. --Bearbear 19:27, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

You may be a supertaster, which means you're unusually sensitive to bitter tastes. If that's true, you probably particularly don't like rocket (arugala) and celery. But there are plenty of non bitter, and often sweet, vegetables to try. Many things are great raw and get worse when cooked (raw cabbage and spinach are great; cooked they're frightful). Try raw carrots (or raw baby carrots, which are very sweet). Next time you have a barbeque, take a wood/bamboo skewer and put mushrooms, sliced bell peppers, and layers of red onion - barbeque that (perhaps brushed with olive oil to stop it from burning or drying out too much). At the same barbeque, rather than having a burger, have salmon or tuna steaks. Raw corn, peas, and beans taste great. Try different kinds of tomatoes, particularly small ones like cherry. I could virtually live off raw red onion, and if you're in the states you may be able to get sweet maui onions - they're fantastic raw. Those naff dressings are vile; make your own - mix virgin olive oil with (cheap) balsamic vinegar (50:50) and have it in a side bowl when you eat vegetables (so you gently dip, rather than pouring it all over the food). Or mix honey with natural yoghurt (and optionally little teeny slices of cucumber). But one problem remains - it's great that you've given up soda, but that bloody gatorade is still the cause of a lot of your problem - its powerful chemically taste nukes your taste and smell, so you can't taste the subtle little flavours in things like raw veggies (which, consequently, taste like blotting paper). For now drink only chilled water (ideally filtered) before and during food - the drink sets the "benchmark" against which everything eaten in its proximity is measured. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:46, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for those suggestions! You're correct about the bitter foods. I have tried to eat some of the vegetables that you mentioned, but something with their texture or flavor really turns me off. -Rangermike 20:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Very intersting article on supertaster. I happen to dislike several of the foods mentioned in the article, mainly grapefruit, coffee, and celery. Thanks for pointing me to that article. -Rangermike 20:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I had some other ideas: to garnish your salad, try toasted (i.e. dry fried) sunflower seeds, pine nuts (pignoles), or maybe almonds - toasting all of these gives them more flavour, and they in turn make the salad more interesting. As well as raw and grilled veggies, try steaming them. Fully cooked (boiled) broccoli is worse than the devil's lung biopsy, but lightly steamed (I do it in the microwave in a special steamer gadget, with a little salt and pepper and lemon juice) and they retain their nice taste and have a nice crisp texture (not boiled and smelly and vile). Similarly for carrots and green beans, and particularly asparagus. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:35, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

What do you put in your salad? I don't like salad unless I'm the one making it with lots of ham, chedder, parmeson, tomato, mushroom, and I like lemon juice as a dressing because all the rest I've found are much too strong for me. — The Mac Davis] ญƛ. 20:26, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The foundation of most greens salads in the US is iceberg lettuce, which just tastes nasty and bitter to me. I use spinach leaves instead, which are both healthier and tastier, and can't understand the popularity of lettuce. Also note that most salad dressings contain mainly "good fats" (vegetable oils and such), as opposed to bad animal fats, so don't feel you need to avoid them. However, if you do want to keep the fat low, I suggest a nice raspberry vinaigrette. Some toppings, like egg, cheese, and real bacon bits, are quite unhealthy and should be limited in quantity, while mushrooms, tomatoes, cukes, peppers, and veggies add both flavor and nutrition.StuRat 21:33, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Iceberg lettuce® is manufactured by the DuPont corporation in its factory in Lansing, Michigan. Made from patented aramid fiber, iceberg lettuce is suitable for use as home insulation, animal bedding, as a filler material when packing delicate goods for shipping, and in the manufacture of surgical trusses. It is unsuited, however, for eating. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:11, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't believe you would say something so totally untrue; DuPont is in Wilmington, Delaware, although Dow Chemical Company is in Midland, Michigan, near Lansing, Michigan. The rest, of course, is perfectly true. :-) StuRat 22:48, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

True, schmue. I love iceberg lettuce. One man's meat ......  :--) JackofOz 00:02, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

• salad sandwich,on really nice bread,the bread will help to change the taste and texture-hotclaws**==(81.134.68.10 09:41, 28 July 2006 (UTC))

I love salads, and I especially like iceberg salads and "spring mix" type salads with the leaves that look like weeds :) You might want to try all those oily dressings and develop a taste for salads before you go "hardcore" and only eat healthy salads. I especially like Balsamic Vinagrette, Italian, and just plain red wine vinegar. You might want to try adding sunflower seeds or croutons or imitation bacon bits. Better Seasons makes some of my favorite dressings. And if you have an Olive Garden in your area, go there and get their bottomless salad. Probably the most unhealthy salad out there, but (at least in my circle of friends) it's unequivocally the absolute best salad for any amount of money. I used to hate salad before I tried it, and now I'm a genuine salad affectionado. It's all about the dressing IMO; the texture of most salads is unappetizing. But that's part of the beauty of the olive garden salad - the best dressing in the world, and very tasty, tender, not plant like at all, lettuce. --Froth 19:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Making them taste better will not improve your health. --Proficient 18:15, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. If it doesn't taste good, most people won't be able to stand eating it for long and will go back to unhealthy foods. StuRat 00:14, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

That's not necessarily true either. I agree they won't be able to stand eating it for long, but what they do eat may well be some good tasting alternative healthy food. JackofOz 12:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

mug shots

How can i go about getting a copy of a mug shot of a relative who is now in prison?--71.48.167.87 18:26, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

If you don't mind the quality, you may be able to go to the Florida Department of Corrections website. On that site is an inmate search. Simply enter in all the information and you should be able to find who you are looking for. Assuming you do in fact live in Florida. Hyenaste ^(tell) 20:03, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Winter Park, Florida. Iolakana|^T 21:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Name of this music

What's the name of the second music on this video? The one that starts just after the narrator says "the biggest player around". Thanks! ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 19:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

It seems to be a version of The Who's I Can't Explain, but I can't be more specific.  Slumgum T. C.   19:42, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

No I don't think that's it. This music sounds more like something from Fatboy Slim. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 13:10, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Found it accidentally, just as usual. It's called Going Out Of My Head by Fatboy Slim. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 00:40, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

2 Films my Dad remembers - can anyone help?

The first was a French film with a plot where a man was dating his best friends daughter, which he did not know at the time. A memorable scene is where she sees them both together at the beach and she waves to them. Both wave back and wonder why the other is waving. The second was a war film, possibly Polish or German, where three German soldiers are in charge of a small village where they treat the villagers very well. One has a child with a local girl but dies later. In the end, the mayor of this town recognises the men when they were captured and tries to save them. He convinces the allies that they were terrible and he wanted to kill them, but the firing squad used blanks and so they lived. I believe both were shown on BBC2 at one time or another. --Bearbear 19:33, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The first one sounds like Blame It On Rio, although that's not a French film, as far as I know. --LarryMac 19:54, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmm... he was fairly sure it was French, as it was in a "foreign film" series. Unless he's confused. I'll ask. --Bearbear 14:31, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It's fairly common to remake (and rename) movies from one language to another. Blame it on Rio is a remake of the French film One Wild Moment. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:49, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that could be it! Not much luck on the other film though... --Bearbear 18:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

help choosing a game

can i have some suggestions for a game to buy on the XBOX 360. Not Oblivion, Saints Row or Dead Rising as i've already got those. Not Fifa world cup, top spin 2 , call of duty 2 , gun and perfect dak zero as i have had these but sold them back to the shop.

Thanks --86.130.255.231 20:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Have a look at Gamespot's top Xbox 360 games. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is good fun. Sum0 22:27, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I liked Kameo: Elements of Power. Bibliomaniac15 19:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Obesity

I'm what you would call obese, how do I lose weight? Fast. I'm going to the beach in a few weeks.

You don't. Losing weight requires serious lifestyle changes like eating less food, eating healthier food, and exercising. Don't expect your weight to drop dramatically. A pound a week is a nice safe goal. Losing significantly more than this can be quite unhealthy and dangerous. One hint to weight loss is to stop drinking soda, juice, coffee, and tea (even those with artificial sweeteners) and drink water instead (with a few drops of lemon juice for improved taste). This alone can make a dramatic diff in your weight (provided you don't consume more calories to make up for those saved). StuRat 21:12, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

It should probably be pointed out that none of us here are doctors. Or if we are, we ain't your doctor. Gotta keep the lawyers at bay. --Howard Train 05:19, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

To answer half, obesity is having a body mass index of over 30. Hyenaste ^(tell) 21:00, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

There's no answer for everyone. Without surgery, losing enough weight to go from 'obese' to 'average' or even 'overweight' will probably take more than a few weeks. Talk to your doctor. Deltabeignet 21:08, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I know that, but how do I lose weight I weigh 300 pounds, I'm relatively short, and most of it isn't muscle, but some of it might be a part of my skeletal structure. Im going on vacation in 2-3 weeks and I don't want to be embarassed by my weight. How can I lose weight fast, help me Wikipedia!?

Put simply, you can't safely lose a hundred or more pounds in two weeks. Liposuction, by the way, is off the table, as removal of more than five liters of fat is considered dangerous. If you don't want to be embarrassed, all you can change is your outlook. Deltabeignet 21:12, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Burn more calories than you consume. It isn't healthy to lose more than 3-4 pounds per week. So in 3 weeks you would only be down to about 290. Not much of a difference in how you look. I would suggest working on your self-esteem, if you are comfortable with yourself you will be less concerned with what others think. If you are serious about losing the weight for health reasons you could drastically change how you look in about 1 year with the proper nutrition and exercise. I'm not quite as big as you but I have found it suprisingly easy to drop 50-60lbs in a year. It is keeping to the routine over time that is the problem. Nowimnthing 21:20, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

So you guys mean to tell me that all those weight loss pills and machines on the TV don't work. They advertise them as working to lose flab really fast (from flab to ab), so why couldn't those work for me? Also isn't extreme lifestyle change a little hard, how do people actually lose weight by going through with that. Even so, my lifestyle isn't that bad, I only drink 1-2 sodas per day and I eat fast food a few times a week when I am strapped for time due to my job. PLEASE, HELP ME NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT MY BODY!

The diet pills are fradulent. The exercise machines work, but the aren't any faster than anything else. And it doesn't take an extreme lifestyle change to lose weight, you just need to stop eating so much and start exercising more. --Serie 22:13, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Also, all of those exercise machines say they only help you lose weight "when combined with a healthy, low cal diet". In other words, the machines alone don't do much. Think about it, if you could lose 100 pounds in two weeks by taking diet pills, then nobody would be obese, would they ? So, I think you will still be embarrassed this year, but can be proud of your appearance by next year, provided you get started NOW. StuRat 22:36, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Ensure you shit a little more than you eat for a few months, while making sure you get a nutritious diet. Walk a couple of miles a day and halve the time you spend watching TV or using the computer. Learn to juggle. Try yoga. And keep track of how much weight you've lost - lose ten pounds, then carry ten pounds of flour around with you all day. You'll feel the difference. --Howard Train 05:31, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

300 pounds? That's 150 kg, isn't it? That's not "what I'd call obese", as you put it. But I won't say what I would call it because you also say (nay, shout) that you don't want us to help you feel bad about your body. :) If your lifestyle isn't that bad and you weigh this much, you probably have a medical problem, maybe a hormone problem. For once let me be the one to tell someone to go see a doctor.

Just on the off chance that you do indeed consume more energy than you lose, let me illustrate what some others said before me. I used to weigh 86 kg (close to 200 pounds, which is considered fat where I come from) and had a bet with my brother that I would lose 10 kg in one year. So I started eating less (especially less sweet food) and after half a year I was on schedule, having lost 5 kg. After that, it stabilised. One month before the end of the year I was still 5 kg short. So I stopped eating food for 5 days (drank loads of water to 'cleanse the body' in the process). After that I started eating again, like a birdy at first, slowly building it up to a normal diet again. I only just won the bet (thanks in part to a little cheating that my brother let slip (nice guy :) )). After that I kept on losing weight and even went down to 72 kg, I believe. Now I'm at around 75, which is fairly normal for my 1,86 m height.

In short, forget it, you won't really have a very noticeable effect in just a few weeks. But there's not just this summer. There's still the rest of your life ahead of you. Keep that in mind when you go on a diet. Well, diet, normal eating, I mean. Whether this should be done abruptly or slowly, I don't know. 'Listen to your body', so to say. And once your stomach has shrunk, it really isn't that hard to keep it up. At least that's how it was for me. It's just the transition that's hard. Like getting off drugs, I suppose. But easier than quitting smoking, something to which I can also attest.

By the way, I still eat fatty food, just not so much food in general, and no sugars at all. But I do sit before the computer almost all day. That's almost. I take the stairs in stead of the lift and walk or cycle in stead of driving a car (which I don't have :) ). Just figure out what works for you. Be sensible about it. There's no miracle cure (as usual). Just your own intelligence.

Finally, let me point out that it really feels great not to have that weight to lug around. It's really worth it. DirkvdM 07:27, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

• ;lose those sodas,NO fast food,take a healthy meal in for yourself,walk more-hotclaws**==(81.134.68.10 09:45, 28 July 2006 (UTC))

You could be like that girl on CSI - keep a notebook of how many ounces of food you eat and how many you poop, and if the first ever exceeds the other, stop eating until they balance out. That might be a little extreme though. At a very nerdy 17, I weigh only 110 pounds so I really wouldn't know :) --Froth 19:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Geez, you're either a midget or a toothpick...go eat something, quickly ! StuRat 04:35, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, he's 17. Maybe he hasn't yet had that growth spurt. About the weighing of food and poo, you can save yourself the nasty trouble because it doesn't say anything. It's how much energy your body takes out of the food and that depends on the type of food, not the quantity difference. No matter is taken from the food for energy, it's just a chemical process with the same amount of matter before and after. DirkvdM 05:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

That's not entirely true. If you measured the total mass going into the body and the total mass out, any difference would exactly match the mass gain or loss in the person. However, mass isn't just lost during defecation, but also urination, perspiration, respiration, evaporation from eyes, etc. So, while in theory this method would work, it's extremely impractical, as well as plain nasty. StuRat 07:07, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Diet and eat healthy for the rest of your life. Also, excercise vigorously everyday. --Proficient 18:20, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Adding a new entry

Hello,

I am with the Texas A&M Health Science Center and I need to add an entry for my institution. There is already one for the Texas A&M University System, which mentions the Health Science Center but we would like our own page. We already have a username, how would we go about this?

Thanks,

Will

Type in the name of the new article in the search bar (top left part of this page), and you will get a message that no such article exists and the option to create a new article. Pick that option and an edit session will be started on the new article. Be sure to pick the "Save page" button at the bottom when you are done. If the new article is poorly formatted it will either be corrected, or tagged for correction, by other editors. StuRat 21:20, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Alternately put double brackets around the words Health Science Center on the A&M page when you save, they will be red. Click on it to start the page. See Help:Starting a new page Nowimnthing 21:24, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I would include "Texas A&M" in the name of the article, as well. StuRat 22:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Minor note: When you say "we already have a username", if "we" implies more then one person, you may want to check out WP:SOCK as far as "role accounts" go, just to make sure you don't inadvertently get tripped up. 68.39.174.238 02:20, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Perfect crime

How do i commit the perfect crime?

Wikipedia, being the great reference for researchers and criminals alike might give you some ideas: perfect crime -Benbread 22:01, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Do what lots of corporations do - commit the crime before the lawmakers (who are slow, and don't read magazines about new scientific, technical, or cultural phenomena) get around to making it illegal. Standard Oil did all kinds of naughty things that are now illegal, but weren't illegal then. Coca-Cola made a killing pushing cocaine before it was illegal. Of course, Congress is working hard to make everything illegal, but if you run fast you can beat 'em to it. Right now internet telephony, internet radio, and trading in virtual items on online games are all profitable and largely unregulated, but in a few years expect them to be regulated too, with many of the things people do now being illegal. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:05, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

But wait: by definition, if it's not illegal, it can't be a crime (or can it?). Sum0 22:24, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, people will whine, they'll call their congressman, they'll search high and low through existing statute (look at Computer Misuse Act 1990, which features a pretty extreme attempt to streeeetch an existing law to try to cover a new "crime"), maybe you'll be prosecuted, but probably unsuccessfully. It won't really be entirely clear if it's a crime or not, so (just like hacking, and coke, and monopoly) they'll pass a law that makes sure it's a law. In the meantime its not entirely legal, but not entirely not, and you stand to make a lot of money doing little work. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:31, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

I've already committed the perfect crime.Nobody knows it's me.The body has gone.No evidence.I will never be found out. *evil laugh*... 88.106.252.194 23:01, 27 July 2006 (UTC)This is not Lemon-I leave no trail

According to Alice Sebold, you should use an icicle, because it melts away...--Amanaplanacanalpanama 03:25, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

In other words, you could start by not revealing your intentions on the Internet. DirkvdM 07:36, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Become a top manager. That way you can steal millions and get away with it. But then that is because it is not legally a crime, so again it doesn't answer your question. Sorry. DirkvdM 07:32, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

A perfect crime, by rights, should be the best crime- the one that produces the most morally admirable results. I would therefore nominate some kind of corporate fraud which steals money from the rich and greedy, with the proceeds invested wisely in helping starving Sudanese orflings. Henry^Flower 19:22, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

The perfect crime by rights would fall under the category of the Dark figure of crimeTeh Janitor 03:22, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

World's shortest reigning monarchs?

Where can I find a list of the world's shortest reigning monarchs?-in terms of length of reign,not Midget Kings of the World :) Whilst Wikipedia has a list of the world's longest reigning monarchs,it only appears to have the shortest reigns of Popes and Chinese emperors. Google's no help either :( 88.106.252.194 23:04, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

Lady Jane Grey would probably set the standard, having ruled for a mere eight days on the English throne (as ane fule no). Whether any monarchs reigned for less, I don't know. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:07, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

No she wouldn't as she wasn't a monarch & didn't rule from the English Throne, her husband was the monarch & it was his reign not hers. AllanHainey 07:52, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Nope, Jane Grey was Queen regent (i.e. a Queen who is a monarch, as opposed to a Queen consort who is a Queen whose husband is monarch) and so was monarch. Of course, her nine days is more than some of those mentioned below, but still, she was monarch. -- AJR | Talk 12:45, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Well I know of Jean I? of France who was born king after the death of his father and died a day or two later...There's a Nepali king who reigned for a couple of days after a family massacre about 2-3 years and there's a reference to a Chinese emperor who ruled for 'half a day' but no more details.A list would be helpful-perhaps this can be my first Wiki article! 88.106.252.194 23:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

You're thinking of Dipendra of Nepal who massacred most of his family (mostly explained as him going psycho over a dispute about who he could marry, although there are various conspiracy theories too) in 2001, and was king for 3 days (in a coma from being wounded in the incident) before dying (how unlike the home life of our own dear crown prince). No idea about the chinese emperor. Bwithh 23:49, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The one I always think of is "Luis II" of Portugal. This is from our article on Carlos I of Portugal:

• On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by coach to Almada and from then took a boat to cross the Tagus River and disembarked in Cais do Sodré in downtown Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the carriage with Carlos I and his family passed through Terreiro do Paço. While crossing the square, shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men: Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buiça. The king died immediately, his heir Luís Filipe was mortally wounded, and Prince Manuel was hit in an arm. The assassins were shot at the spot by members of the bodyguard and later recognized as members of the Republican Party. About twenty minutes later, Prince Luis Filipe died and days later, Manuel was acclaimed king of Portugal, the last one of the Braganza dynasty.

Guinness World Records used to list "Luis II" as the world's shortest reigning monarch, at 20 minutes. However it seems he was never formally recognised as king and Manuel is usually listed as succeeding Carlos. JackofOz 23:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Ugh.If you extend it to all world leaders(Presidents,Prime Ministers),then you get plenty that last less than a month.Greece and France seem to have a habit of it.How much policy and government can be performed when you're Prime Minister for 2 days?Enough time to decide who's buying the coffee and plan your first meeting.... 88.106.252.194 02:24, 28 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

Presidents are heads of state, not monarchs (except maybe in the unusual case of Andorra, and even there the French President is only a co-monarch). And Prime Ministers are not even heads of state, just heads of government. JackofOz 03:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

If by monarch you include monarchs during a revolution I'd say, depending on their orders of execution, one of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia's c

Well I know of Jean I? of France who was born king after the death of his father and died a day or two later...There's a Nepali king who reigned for a couple of days after a family massacre about 2-3 years and there's a reference to a Chinese emperor who ruled for 'half a day' but no more details.A list would be helpful-perhaps this can be my first Wiki article! 88.106.252.194 23:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

You're thinking of Dipendra of Nepal who massacred most of his family (mostly explained as him going psycho over a dispute about who he could marry, although there are various conspiracy theories too) in 2001, and was king for 3 days (in a coma from being wounded in the incident) before dying (how unlike the home life of our own dear crown prince). No idea about the chinese emperor. Bwithh 23:49, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The one I always think of is "Luis II" of Portugal. This is from our article on Carlos I of Portugal:

• On 1 February 1908 the royal family returned from the palace of Vila Viçosa to Lisbon. They travelled by coach to Almada and from then took a boat to cross the Tagus River and disembarked in Cais do Sodré in downtown Lisbon. On their way to the royal palace, the carriage with Carlos I and his family passed through Terreiro do Paço. While crossing the square, shots were fired from the crowd by at least two men: Alfredo Costa and Manuel Buiça. The king died immediately, his heir Luís Filipe was mortally wounded, and Prince Manuel was hit in an arm. The assassins were shot at the spot by members of the bodyguard and later recognized as members of the Republican Party. About twenty minutes later, Prince Luis Filipe died and days later, Manuel was acclaimed king of Portugal, the last one of the Braganza dynasty.

Guinness World Records used to list "Luis II" as the world's shortest reigning monarch, at 20 minutes. However it seems he was never formally recognised as king and Manuel is usually listed as succeeding Carlos. JackofOz 23:58, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Ugh.If you extend it to all world leaders(Presidents,Prime Ministers),then you get plenty that last less than a month.Greece and France seem to have a habit of it.How much policy and government can be performed when you're Prime Minister for 2 days?Enough time to decide who's buying the coffee and plan your first meeting.... 88.106.252.194 02:24, 28 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

Presidents are heads of state, not monarchs (except maybe in the unusual case of Andorra, and even there the French President is only a co-monarch). And Prime Ministers are not even heads of state, just heads of government. JackofOz 03:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

If by monarch you include monarchs during a revolution I'd say, depending on their orders of execution, one of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia's children would be the shortest reigning - probably by the length of time it took to reload & fire. AllanHainey 07:52, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Nicholas II abdicated not in favour of any of his children, but in favour of his brother Grand Duke Michael. Michael sort of accepted the throne, but relinquished it the very next day. Whether he was ever truly the Tsar has been debated for almost a century now. There is no general acceptance that that was the case. His article gives a reasonable summary of the story. JackofOz 00:34, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

If by monarch you include monarchs during a revolution I'd say, depending on their orders of execution, one of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia's c

If not, consider John Paul I. Cthulhu.mythos 18:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

July 28

Meow. Question about cauterization of wounds...

Okay, I saw a movie once, in which a man was severely lacerated. He pulled a round out of his gun, removed the powder, poured it upon the wound, and ignited it, in an effort to: A) Cleanse the wound of bacteria and B) Cauterize the wound.

My question is, it actually seems like it might work (i'm into field medicine)...Would it?   
   
--Abnerian 00:03, 28 July 2006 (UTC)   
   

It might work, but it would be unspeakably stupid. Gunpowder isn't just imflammable, it's an explosive. It would have been better to just hold a match to the flesh and burn it (and that would still be stupid). Best method would probably have been to pour alcohol into the wound and ignite that. But I'm not a doctor and this is largely speculation from common sense. Emmett5 02:07, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Gunpowder is not an explosive when it's not in a constrained space like a bullet.

Not true.--Anchoress 03:11, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

That article says that gunpowder "has a very slow decomposition rate and therefore a very low brisance. This same property that makes it a poor explosive makes it useful as a propellant." Whether it's the one or the other depends on whether the container it's in is completely closed or open on one side. Without a container it's neither, just very flammable. Saying it's an explosive is just an incorrect shortening of what would otherwise be too long a description for practical use. I suppose. DirkvdM 07:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Ugh, no. Cauterizing a wound is not an effective way to disinfect it, because burned flesh is particularly susceptible to infection. Cauterization is meant only to staunch bleeding, particularly in the instance of amputation. Please, please do NOT pour ANYTHING flammable into a wound and light it for any reason. If you have a severely bleeding wound and feel competent to cauterize it yourself, build a fire, heat a piece of metal and cauterize locally (think of a soldering iron). Or better yet, go to a doctor. It is to be noted that alcohol is not a particularly good antiseptic, but cleaning a wound with alcohol is vastly superior to pouring it into a wound and lighting it. Assuming a worst case scenario (Post-apocalyptic Distopia or stranding on an island), severe wounds should be staunched with pressure, cleaned with soap and water or alcohol, dressed with clean bandages, and protected from further injury.--Anchoress 02:19, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Dear, obviously it would not be GOOD. I was asking if it would be effective. But thank you for the info. --Abnerian 03:16, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Dude, if you read my response carefully I answered that. It would not be effective at disinfecting, because it would make the wound more prone to infection. It would not be effective at cauterizing, because cauterization is done with more precise tools.--Anchoress 03:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

By the way, I think one of the movies in which this occurred was Rambo III. --Canley 03:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I think someone did it in an episode of Lost too. --Richardrj 05:14, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

My god, pouring gunpowder into a wound and igniting it would not help the situation under any circumstances. First of all, burning flesh does not prevent infection. Second, the potassium nitrate, charcoal, and sulphur would hurt like hell and only help to get the wound infected. Third, by igniting it you would just burn the surface off the wound and remove any platelet or other coagulents that are there in the first place. Perhaps try a tourniquet. --69.138.61.168 21:42, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

do restaurants not have websites?

seems like many restaurants usually do not have their own website and when I search for them on the internet I always have to pull up some cob-webbed dining review server. Why is this?

Restaurants are part of the service industry. Traditionally this industry has relied on word of mouth promotion, thus getting reviewed is the primary way restaraunts get their name out and build a reputation. Most restaraunts don't have a very large staff and may not have someone on their staff who has the time or experience to run a web site. They also may not think that the fees associated with getting commercial level webhosting.—WAvegetarian•(talk) 00:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Still, it's stupid for a business not to have a website, if only a simple one showing the basics, in this case the menu plus some photos of the restaurant. Any idiot can make that.

But more in general, companies often have lousy websites. So much so that I've developed the habit of, when I'm looking for information about a product, to avoid the manufacturer's website. The best info is found on usenet, where there are often links to some hobbyist's site, where you can compare it with similar products. Which of course companies don't want. So why are they so stupid? The most extreme example I came across was when I was searching for information about a certain type of lamp. Philips is the major lamp producer, and I once saw a good informative overview of their products in a leaflet, but on their website I found nothing of the sort. The very least they could do was scan the leaflet, put it on the website and tag it such that people looking for 'lamp overview' are given a link to that. Not too difficult, I'd say. And we're talking about one of the major companies in the world, and even one that sells computers and stuff. Why are companies so stupid? DirkvdM 10:43, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Not really, no-one chooses their restaurant on its website, and you cant put the taste on the site. Also companies don't want you to make an informed choice between thier product and others, unless theirs is better in every single aspect, in which case they will never cease to boast about it. Companies will simply pick up on a few favourable aspects of their product, and make a big deal out of them. It's not stupidty, its business sense, they want to avoid people bacoming aware of the down sides to any of their products. Also in all fairness no-one really researches lamps, they just go to a shop and choose a nice looking one. So you could even argue that it wasn't worth the money to upload the leaflet onto their website. Philc _T^E_C^I 21:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I believe your initial premise is inaccurate. I know of many restaurants that have websites, both in big cities and in small towns. I have no actual data, but I would guess that the percentage of restaurants with website is no different than any other type of business. Smaller, less-well-known establishments with less money are more likely not to have a website. But even they are learning of the need for efficient advertising. And, Philc, I have used websites to pick restaurants. When planning a group trip to New York a while back, we checked several websites before coming up with the one we chose. — Michael J 22:18, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I was speaking more in generality than in absolute terms, though I realise that wasn't clear. But the market of diners that use the internet to select restaurants by the restauarants websites, and not the reviews that are on the internet already must be very small, as it seems an ilogical practice. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

My point was that if the companies were to give good information about their products, people wouldn't end up elsewhere where a comparison is made, the very thing they want to avoid. And the lamp I was looking for was a special fluorescent lamp to use for plants. If they make a whole range for various special purposes then it makes sense to explain which ones are meant for what. I didn't mean 'lamp' in the sense of table lamp or such. Is there no way to distinguish between the two in English? DirkvdM 04:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Ah, ok, well light bulb? But more to the point, if you bought the bulb, then there was no benefit for the company having the thing on their site. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The linguistic problem is that this is not a bulb but a tube. Anyway, in this case you're right because whatever I buy will be Philips because they have pretty much a monopoly in the Netherlands (and elsewhere). But if there would have been competition and they did provide info then I would have picked one of their lamps. And if no manufacturer would have given any info then I would have asked elsewhere (preferably on the Internet, rather than in a shop), where the competition might have come out better. So putting the info on your site may stop some people from ending up getting their info elsewhere. DirkvdM 18:00, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

World's shortest reigning monarchs?

Where can I find a list of the world's shortest reigning monarchs?-in terms of height, not length of reign :) --67.185.172.158 00:09, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

When you say 'reigning monarchs', do you mean currently reigning? Otherwise, 'shortest monarchs' would probably be a more accurate description of your inquiry.--Anchoress 01:56, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't think such a list exists. Perhaps you should begin creating one on wikipedia!?

signing the back of a credit card

My credit/debit card is "Not Valid Unless Signed" and I haven't signed it (no one has, it's blank). If it gets stolen and/or used without my permission, would I have a case for arguing that the card was invalid and therefore the charges were invalid? Could the bank/credit card company do anything about the previous 1000 purchases I made when my card was "invalid"?

It would depend on the policy of the bank or credit card company. That message means that merchants are not supposed to accept an unsigned credit card, so it's possible that if several did, you may be able to claim them as invalid. If you confirm you made the previous 1000 purchases, then I don't imagine the bank would care. If the card is stolen, however, and you haven't signed it, bear in mind that there is nothing stopping the thief from signing it themselves. --Canley 03:34, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd recommend reading the terms and conditions carefully. Each issuer may be different. It might be that prompt signing is part of the contract, and that failing to sign it would remove any protection you might have, giving you unlimited liability. Notinasnaid 08:31, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Its not valid unless signed, it doesnt specify who signed it. If a thief signs it, it is valid until you cancel it. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

A mystery question

Hi to you all, this question is for those of you who are interested in mysteries, paranormal etc. On the net I saw this video(2: 04 minutes), and it shows a few short clips and some pictures, all supposedly paranormal, so I was hoping someone here can identify me everything in that video(what is it, where did it happen etc.).--Captain ginyu 01:49, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

In order, the ones that I can easily ID are: Bigfoot, Alien autopsy, UFO, another Bigfoot photo, your standard household Grey, a bigass shark, Stonehenge, some kind of giant bird, not sure, a ghost (is that Al Capone in the front seat?), another UFO photo, a ghost that made me jump, yet another ghost (looks like a multiple exposure to me), not a clue, possibly the silhouette of a werewolf, couldn't tell, and a crop circle.

Sorry I can't give details other than the links, but at least you've got a starting point. Tony Fox (arf!) 02:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, but I was thinking if someone has some links to the articles on the net about those specific events, please, anyone?--Captain ginyu 22:53, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I haven't seen the video (I don't have the necessary downloads to run it) but if the bird is large and ostrich-like, could it be the Moa supposely sighted in the 1990s? Grutness...wha? 01:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The first, I believe is from the Patterson-Gimlin film, the second is definitely from the Alien Autopsy film mentioned above, the fifth is identified as "Casper E.T." on this site, the seventh is, of course, Stonehenge, the eighth reminds me of the Thunderbird and is shown on this site, the tenth with the ghost in the car is described on this site, the 15th (shadow on the wall) is from Nosferatu, the 16th I think is a photo of a phantom cat, and the last is a fractal spiral crop circle, which can also be seen on this site. --Joelmills 04:00, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! But it still leaves a few things:

Picture number 4, with something looking like bigfoot(i'm interested in who pictured it), picture number 6, with a very big shark(anything about this particular case would be appreciated), picture number 9(with something hanging from a tree, also I am interested in this particular case) and a footage that comes after picture number 10(some ghost girl). If anyone knows anything about those particular cases that are left(links to that specific events like given by Joelmills), I would appreciate it very much!--Captain ginyu 15:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Can someone please tell me what this is?

Is it a game? [13]

If so, which game? 71.250.75.56 02:36, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It appears to be a parody of Mortal Kombat, SSBM-style. It has been assembled from clips of other games.Hyenaste ^(tell) 05:42, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It's not a game, it's a cartoon made with images from the Mario games overlaid onto some footage from the Mortal Kombat games. Quite funny, but an old old idea. --Howard Train 05:41, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I think it was made with a software called MUGEN. This is a PC software in which you import "sprites" (The characters) into this software and you can actually use any character. E.g. Street Fighter V.S. Fatal Fury.

A philosophical problem.

I'm a 16 year old guy in Australia and I'm interested in losing my virginity to an (unwed/unattached) pregnant woman). Where do I even start for something like that?

Sydney, Australia Craigslist.org. Consider either the personals section or the erotic services section. Expect to pay for the service.--Anchoress 03:09, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Would "ladies" who charge tend to be pregnant? Not usually, I would have thought. JackofOz 03:26, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Not usually, but occasionally. There's a demand for it in the STI, that's for sure, and SPs do exist to fill that demand.--Anchoress 03:30, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

How is this a philosophical question? —Daniel (‽) 08:23, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Not a philosophical question, but a philosophical problem. Can't say I disagree there. :-) --Allen 10:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

• See Age of consent and make sure you're in the right part of Australia. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:56, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Or more specifically Ages of consent in Australia and Oceania. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 17:24, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I know it's none of my business, but I'd love to know why you would like her to be pregnant. -Richardrj 09:12, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe Pregnancy fetishism? --RiseRover|^talk 11:00, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Pregnancy porn is more common than you'd think... what mother would ever, ever, ever do that? --Bearbear 14:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

A mother who really, really, really needed money.--Anchoress 00:48, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. He may be able to pay a price in order to fulfill his goals. --Proficient 18:23, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The diversity of sexual tastes is truly astonishing. Money may have nothing to do with it. JackofOz 00:27, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

football books

Is there any fiction books on American football stories because I have a book called "Blitz" and I was wondering if any other title that is related to football?

Hundreds, thousands, millions. For a start, what kind of football are you referring to? I can think of five without even opening my brain. --Howard Train 05:43, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Make that six --Howard Train 05:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Have you opened your brain yet? If so, could you take a photo of it? The brain article hasn't got a photo of a live one yet. By the way, I can think of only four: association football (the original), Rugby, Aussie rules and 'American' football (which is an odd name, really, because in most of America the term 'football' (or 'fútbol') is used for association football). DirkvdM 10:53, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

There are two distinct types of rugby (league and union), and the one you are missing is probably Gaelic football. Are you sure most of America calls association football "football"? I was under the impression almost the whole place calls it "soccer"; and are one of very few countries that do so officially. But back to the question, I think the sport being referred to is the American version, as from my very little experience of watching the game, the "blitz" is some kind of set play. Like Offtherails says, there are probably heaps (sorry i can't help with specifics, try Amazon maybe) – AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 11:13, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Rugby Union, Rugby League, American Football, Canadian Football, Aussie Rules, Gaelic Football, and (of course) Football. That's seven, excluding things like Rugby sevens, and any minor differences between AFL and VFL Aussie Rules. Grutness...wha? 01:34, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, do an advanced amazon search with 'football fiction' as the subject [14], you will get a ton of results. Nowimnthing 13:42, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

By 'America' of course I meant the continent. I thought the use of the word 'fútbol' was a pretty solid give-away. Anyway, Spanish speakers could never use the word 'soccer' because in Spanish a word can't start with 's'. So it would have to become something like 'esoccer'. Weirder and weirder. :) DirkvdM 17:56, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

"...in Spanish a word can't start with 's'." Where'd you hear that one at? "San"? "Sabado"? "Sur"? "Segundo"? Admittedly, I can't think of many, but I'm sure there is no rule in Spanish that words can't start with the letter s. Danthemankhan 03:58, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Oops, that was indeed wrong. I believe the rule is a word can't start with an 's' followed by a consonant, which is why Spain is called 'España' in Spanish. Same with estilo and especial. But that doesn't apply here. DirkvdM 04:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Um... the question (as it reads now) specifically says "American football." While there aren't nearly as many football novels as baseball ones, you can try Semi-Tough and the semi-fictional North Dallas Forty. -- Mwalcoff 23:48, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

In America "soccor" is association football and "football" is American football. The rest of the other "footballs," the vast majority don't know nor care about. In fact, most Americans don't even like soccer. --Proficient 18:25, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

You mean in the US. America's a bit bigger, at least in the view of most association football playing nations (many of those are in South America). So it makes sense her to disambiguate. DirkvdM 06:57, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

may i boy from kentucky ask you big city folks some questions

hi am from kentucky i just wanted to ask a few questions the first i heard somewhere that Kathleen Harrington was an extra in the godfather. sorry i forgot what my second question was. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.161.95.41 (talk • contribs) 06:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

• In the future, please use some punctuation marks. Also, volunteers around here are from all over the place, not neccesarily the big city. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:52, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Techinically you did not ask a question. There is no reference to anyone named katheleen harrrington being an extra in the godfather at the Internet Movie Database. That does not mean that she wasn't. Jon513 10:26, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

This user has been blocked for vandalism before, and has made some strange edits today (on the same subject) to the talk page of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, whose middle name was Hartington (not Harrington). --Richardrj 11:05, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Cargo ship off the coast of Perth

There's currently a HUGE container ship moored off the coast of Perth, Western Australia. Bigger than any I've ever seen. Is there any way I can find out what it is? The light blue hull makes me suspect it could be the Regina Maersk. Battle Ape 07:00, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I just found this cool website which tracks the positions of ships in real time. But clicking on the Perth part of the map only reveals one ship moored there, something called 56544. Further clicking shows this to be a drifting buoy, which doesn't sound like what you are looking for. The site says that it "contains only a small fraction of the ships worldwide, those that participate in the World Meteorological Organization's program of voluntary at-sea weather reporting." So presumably your ship isn't one of those.

You can also search the website by the ship's name. Entering Regina Maersk puts it somewhere off the coast of China. So that's probably not your baby either. --Richardrj 07:50, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Weather stations at sea are rare and in high demand, so ships should be obliged to have a weather station. especially in view of the ever more important issue of climate change. But that's a bit off topic.DirkvdM 10:58, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Check to see what flag the vessel is flying. If you know which country the ship IDs herself with you may be able to find out what it is. TomStar81 01:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Your local newspaper will probably have a section saying what ships are in port in Frematle. Checking the last couple of days for arrivals and departures might give you a list of possibles to work from. Grutness...wha? 01:38, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The Fremantle Ports website has a lot of infomation available about the ships in port, as well as future and past visits. Here: [15]. dave_au

New British Passport and Identity Service?

With whom do this newly created agency share "customers'" personal data and under what circumstances?

What information is stored on the RFID chip in the new E-passport? (Particularly interested in whether changes of name are recorded, i.e divorced woman reverting to maiden name-is the married name still on the passport in the information on the chip?-obviously not printed on the page)--Toblemory 08:33, 28 July 2006 (UTC)Toblemory

I recently got a new passport with the RFID chip, and apparently its used to store measurements of the distances between facial features which they find out from your passport pic, apparently they'll be introducing (of at least thinking about) retina data. So, apparently that's all on the chip, but question is, are you going to believe them? -Benbread 18:02, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Vandal

Yeah someone vandalised the pokemon page just dont know where to report cheers.

Looks like it's been fixed already. --Richardrj 11:14, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Report them at Wikipedia:Administrator_intervention_against_vandalism, cheers —Minun ^Spiderman 11:18, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Most viewed article?

What is the most viewed article on Wikipedia (except the main page)? Is there a way to find out? 142.179.0.142 12:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

No, Wikipedia doesn't track how often an article is viewed, as it would cause an even greater load on the servers (and the servers are already very heavily loaded). See the VFAQ (very frequently asked questions). — QuantumEleven 12:59, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

For a fair idea, strip the topical articles out of Wikipedia:Popular pages; the answer is probably Current events. Henry^Flower 22:00, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Adding an Entry with the Exact same title as an Existing Entry

I want to add an entry for the French Canadian Singer-songwriter and actor, Claude Gauthier. There is already a page for a hockey player with exactly the same name. How do I go about adding this new topic without causing confusion? Do I first try to set up a "disambiguity" page? Detailed help welcome. Bob em 15:02, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

This question is better suited for the Help Desk. --LarryMac 15:40, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Simply edit Claude Gauthier (singer) - I've added a link to it from the Claude Gauthier page. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 17:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

competency-based education

Competency-based education, a model often used to train physicians and psychologists, appears to be based on the principles of outcomes-based education (OBE). Is anyone aware of a good discussion of the pros and cons of this model--designed for primary and secondary education--being used for training professionals?

I'm not sure precisely what you are looking for - maybe [16]? Searching under "competency based assessment" may give you more success than "competency based education". BenC7 10:04, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Image troubles

How do I merge A Map of Suffolk with Media:a map of Suffolk --Qho 16:23, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

People are unlikely to respond to your talk page. It's extra effort for them and it means fewer people are likely to see the answer, which means they'd be doing more work for less benefit. Have you considered adding the RD to your watchlist? --Howard Train 17:10, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Or taking the question to the Help Desk? --LarryMac 17:39, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, someone told me to come here.

Qho

The Idatarod

Hi guys, I need to know how many miles the Idatarod race across Alaska covers. Also, I need to know how many dogs the racers actually use throughout the race.

Thanks. --68.40.215.31 17:55, 28 July 2006 (UTC)Sunny

ugh!!! is it really easier to type a sentence asking us that than to type Iditarod in the search box??? Maybe not since he spelled it wrong... Nowimnthing 18:05, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

iDataRod? Sounds like a new memory stick from Apple... Digfarenough 19:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

M/Sgt. Hewitt T. (Buck) Dunn

M/Sgt Hewitt T. (Buck)Dunn was in the 390th Bomb Group during WW ll, flew 104 combat missions. Was he the most decorated enlisted man of WW ll?

Well, Audie Murphy is generally recognized as the most decorated American soldier of WWII, according to our article, but he was awarded a battlefield commission before he won the Congressional Medal of Honor, so not sure if that counts or not. (Impressive guy, though!) A Google on Hewitt Dunn turns up nothing on him specifically other than the fact he was the only man to fly more than 100 missions, usually as a reference regarding the 390th. I can't pinpoint anything specifically to enlisted men, unfortunately. Tony Fox (arf!) 05:36, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Only 'American' to fly more than 100 missions. Guy Gibson for example flew over 174 missions over Germany. Lisiate 00:07, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

mimosa tree

do all mimosa's bloom? If so,what age do they start blooming?

You may find Mimosa a good place to start looking for a response on this one. Tony Fox (arf!) 20:44, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Captains performing marriage

I am informed (though only by Humphrey Bogart films) that ship captains can perform marriages. Is this true (in any jurisdictions), or just a Hollywood convention? Henry^Flower 19:10, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It is true. --Abnerian 19:18, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Please suitly emphazi your answer. Henry^Flower 19:19, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

What does basic research turn up? [17][18][19] Weregerbil 21:37, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

My research on Wikipedia turned up nothing. Though I did find this. Henry^Flower 21:57, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Captain Picard married people all the time, it must be true! Adam Bishop 22:25, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

A quick Google search reveals the answer to be an unambiguous "maybe": [20] --Serie 22:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

If Sea Captains are legally allowed to marry people then it must either:

1. Say they have that power in national law/Naval regulation or be an accepted custom/practice; or
2. Be part of the Law of the Sea or general accepted practice for international waters.

AllanHainey 12:13, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

No for the most part, I believe. But there are probably places where it's legal. --Proficient 17:53, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Native American Bushcraft

Are there any articles about or containing sections on the buschcraft or other survival skills used by the preferably apache or any other native american tribes. I have tried searching from the Apache and Survival skills articles, but haven't found anything with any relevance to the other.Philc _T^E_C^I 20:38, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Can't help ya with your question, but have you ever seen any of Ray Mears' bushcraft shows? They're quite interesting, filled with all sorts of survival skill related things. Worth checking out if you haven't seen them and are interested in the subject. Digfarenough 21:16, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeh, I regularly watch them, and they are very interesting, however the programmes alone are more of a "did you know" thing, there is not nearly as much information in them, as is available, I was particularly interested in an episode on the apache, and wanted to look further into how they survived in their envirioment. Philc _T^E_C^I 13:25, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Catalytic Converters

I know many automotive parts are serialized in some way to assist in identification. Does anyone know whether a standard, factory-installed CatCon has a serial number or other unique number, other than the general production number?

Names

Do names deserve their own articles?Jmatt1122 22:21, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

They do if they are notable. See Michael and Alexander for examples. —Keenan Pepper 00:42, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Or Dirk. Most notable! :) DirkvdM 04:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Damn! It's been moved to a disambiguation page. Seems I'm no longer notable enough to deserve my own namespace. DirkvdM 04:59, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

• But Dirk wears white socks!-hotclaws**==(81.134.68.10 08:37, 30 July 2006 (UTC))

Only when I'm around Adam. DirkvdM 06:52, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Intelligence Quotients: Changing Ratios

Here's the situation: I am familiar with the classic definition of IQ and the normal distribution along the Bell curve. But I recently ran into an article that claimed that IQ scores above 120 actually mean a higher basic intelligence than the standard numbers would indicate- that is, a score of 150 on an IQ test would ordinarily mean that person was "one-&-one-half times as smart" as a person with an IQ of 100. The article I was reading implied that the 150 IQ individual would actually have an intelligence somehow "skewed" higher than the numbers would indicate. I realize this is somewhat vague, but is there someone out there who understands this phenomenon and can clarify it for me? Thank you!

There are two factors here:

1. IQ scores only provide a relative ranking, not an absolute one. You can say that someone with a score of 150 is smarter than someone with a score of 100, but not how much smarter.
2. Most IQ tests have trouble with scores outside the range 70-130. So someone who tests at 150 could actually have an IQ anywhere above 130.

--Serie 22:49, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, that assumes there is such a thing as "smarter." :) Really all it tells you is that one person answered more questions right than the other, for whatever reason... Digfarenough 23:28, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

The usual intelligence quotient tests are designed to generate a roughly Gaussian distribution of scores, with a standard deviation of 15 points about a mean of 100. In other words, you can rank individuals by score and place them relative to the population—someone scoring 115 would have scored higher than about 84% of the population; someone scoring 130 (two standard deviations above the mean) would have done better than nearly 98% of the population.

I wouldn't be surprised if most tests had poor resolving power above a score of 130, just because there would be few individuals taking the test expected to score at that level and few questions aimed at that score regime. Only 2.3% of the population should score above 130, and less than 0.4% should score above 140. If someone creates an intelligence test on which only 0.4% of people achieve a perfect score, you couldn't assign an IQ to those individuals; you would only be able to say that they had an IQ equal to or greater than 140.

So what does it mean that a person is, for example, 'one-and-a-half-times as smart'? It's sloppy use of math, language, and any science that might be kicking around. Can an individual who is 1.5 times smarter add numbers together 50% faster? Could such an individual play the Minute Waltz in only forty seconds? Trying to say that one person is 1.5 times smarter than another based on an IQ score is meaningless. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 23:54, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about high IQ's, but at the lower end the distribution doesn't quite follow normal distribution all that nicely - there's a breakpoint, sort of like there is a minimum level of intelligence for 'normal people'. A score below that often indicates there's something wrong. I believe that is indeed around IQ70, as Serie indicated. He also mentions above 130, which is the Mensa criterium, so I wonder if that is the reason. There are however different tests for different intelligence levels. Someone with a high intelligence might perform worse on a test for lower intelligences because they can't believe any serious test can be that simple and start double guessing. DirkvdM 05:16, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

deck of cards

Yea I remeber a while back they came out with a deck of cards that had 'terrorists' on it, with Saddam being the ace of spades. I was looking for the article here and just wondering it there is one about it here. Thanks....Coasttocoast 23:13, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know about a "terrorist" one, but there's Most-wanted Iraqi playing cards -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:15, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Yea thats what I was talking about, I just didn't know the name for it, thanks....Coasttocoast 23:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

So the most wanted Iraqis are all terrorists? If so, the US were quite right to invade. DirkvdM 05:18, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

• You're switching cause and effect. They became most wanted because they are terrorists. I still don't think invasion is ever a good thing. Too many innocent people die even if you try to stop it from happening. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:54, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

It was an ironic remark. :) DirkvdM 18:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and also, I interpreted 'wanted' literally, in the sense of 'desired' or 'popular'. But I was already afraid most people wouldn't get that. DirkvdM 06:59, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

July 29

Boat Odometers

Do any boats come equipt with odometers? If not, then why? Are these not a desirable feature for boats or are they simply not made for boats? Thank you.

I don't see how a boat odometer could be very accurate, unless it used GPS or something. A car's odometer increases each time the wheels turn. Generally if the wheels aren't turning, the car isn't moving (the only exceptions would be things like skidding on ice). On the other hand, it's impossible to tell whether a boat is drifting without reference to some fixed position. —Keenan Pepper 00:41, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

If I'm not mistaken, boats have a gauge that measures hours that the engine is in use, instead of an odometer. Here is a page with several instruments for sale; you can see that some of the multifunction meters have measure fuel, RPMs, hours, etc. --LarryMac 00:54, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

LarryMac is correct: Boats do not have odometers. They have "hours of use" instead.

What are "Architectural plants"?

I know they are types of plants used in a garden, but how does an architectural plant differ from other types of plant? I once read the first few pages of a book about Architectural plants to find out, but it seemed to assume that the reader already knew what they were, and similarly with other gardening books I've looked at. Thanks. --81.104.12.13 00:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe this? Someday someone will make a website where you can just type in words and it will show you other websites about the words you type in... (just kidding, seriously though: searching is your friend) Digfarenough 02:08, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

North American Union

Why were all references to the North American Union deleted from Wikipedia, and then security protected to prevent the topic from being recreated?

--24.196.86.238 02:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/North American Union. Articles that are recreated after being deleted are deleted again and sometimes protected to prevent them from being created again. -- Rick Block (talk) 05:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Peak Oil

Most geologists say that global oil production will peak about 30 years later from now.But in November 2005, an episode of the TV show Catalyst called "The Real Oil Crisis" [21] talked about the possibilty that global oil production might peak early, in only 3 years later rather 30.Just like Pascal's Wager, it said that because oil is so important for our economy, we should pay attention to this possibility just in case.

I don't understand.When will global oil production really peak?In 3 years or 30 years later.There must be a mistake.Either the geologists who believe oil will peak early or the geologists who believe oil will peak later must have made a mistake!

A passage of the episode said: "These (Arab) governments have not let anyone in to verify how much oil they have got for a quarter of a century and in the 1980s there was really suspicious treatment of oil reserves data." I don't understand.The rest of the comment has been removed as trolling.

60.241.116.24 03:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

In order to regulate the price of oil on world markets, the members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) have voluntarily agreed to limit their production and exports of oil. The amount of oil each OPEC member country is allowed to produce under this agreement is tied to the size of that country's oil reserves. By overstating its reserves, a country can snare a larger portion of the production quota and therefore a larger amount of oil revenue. There is strong suspicion that several OPEC countries have engaged in such overstatement of reserves; several countries also cheat on their quotas more directly, simply by exceeding the set quota limits. Because OPEC countries represent about two thirds of the world's total (estimated) oil reserves, misstatements about either their reserves or their production can significantly affect projections about peak oil. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

post-edit conflict

"If they're Muslims, how come they're not more honest?" That's an absurd generalisation. Why should Muslims be more scrupulous than anybody else? Maybe the people in question aren't very good Muslims. Devout people who scrupulously follow the laws of their religion tend to be taken advantage of. Those in power are more likely to be the ruthless, pragmatic individuals who are happy to bend or break the rules.

Besides, it's much more complicated than simply looking to see how much oil is in the ground. Oil reserves (good article, check it out) aren't huge underground caves with a defined volume of liquid crude sloshing around like some vast subterranean lake - they tend to be more like a sponge, with the oil filling the gaps in rocks such as sandstone. It's hard to tell how much oil there is in such circumstances, and harder to estimate ahead of time how much oil can be extraced before it becomes economically unfeasible to do so. The useful size of a reserve is more a matter of professional judgment than a simple measurement. Check out the article on Petroleum for a rundown on how oil is extracted, and the point at which it would take more energy to get the oil to the surface, transport it, refine it and transport it again than could ever be extracted from the oil itself.

In addition to that, some middle-eastern countries have very little in the way of assets besides oil - a dry climate means poor farming conditions, which means either a small population or large-scale importation of foreign foodstuffs; only Iran has notable iron ore reserves, nowhere in the middle east has much in the way of bauxite, copper or gold. Tourism is unlikely to become big business around there any time soon, thanks to the remoteness of the area and the history of conflict. It's good business practice for such a nation to obfuscate the details of their principle asset, perhaps driving up the price in the short term and delaying the day when their customers are able to look elsewhere for their needs. --Howard Train 03:54, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

What's with the muslim honesty? Was text you reacted to removed or something?

The tourism thing might not be entirely right. One of the bad things about Israel invading Lebanon is that it will chase away tourists. If that is such a bad thing then tourism must have been an important part of the economy, despite the troublesome recent history of the country. People have very short memories. DirkvdM 05:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I removed part of the question when I posted my own answer: [22]. I didn't think that a paragraph whinging about those 'deceitful' 'fucking Arabs' was going to be useful. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 12:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm, that's a bit iffy. Not to say 'not done'. You can't edit other people's contributions to the ref desks. The above shows one problem with that, but it's also rather rude, even if what you removed is itself rude. It's censorship. Not fine with freedom of speech, which includes the freedom to offend (a rather lively discussion in the Netherlands in recent years). DirkvdM 18:11, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

What does 'peak' mean? That production goes down after that. That largely depends on the relative prices of different energy sources. Suppose someone would find a miracle way to use solar energy that is very cheap. Then the demand for oil would go down, and the production with it, despite the fact there is still 'loads' of oil in the ground. And there is (notice the scare quotes, though). Maybe for another 100 years or more. But it will become more and more expensive to extract it. Canada has recently started tapping it's reserves of oil in sand, which is hard to extract. Rising oil prices have made that a viable source now. So on the one hand the cost of alternative energy goes down and on the other hand the proice of oil goes up. Where the two lines meet is where oil peaks. Determining that point is probably a hard thing to do. DirkvdM 05:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Howard, lots of people go on holiday to the Middle East. The bloke who delivers my groceries has been twice this year already! If you go to the travel agents, there are loads of offers for Egypt, Qatar, Tunisia, Israel, UAE, etc.

The 'Peak' in this context is when the highest point in a bell shaped curve depicting total oil production over time. See Hubbert peak theory for more info. Essentially it is the point at which we've extracted half the oil reserves in the world. Up to the peak you could increase oil production (relatively) easily whereas after the peak it will cost (on average) more to extract each barrel of oil than it would have the previous barrel

Original Poster - It is impossible to tell when global oil production will peak until we've passed that peak and can look back with hindsight (though it may be hard to tell until a while after). That said there is a lot of evidence & comment coming from a range of retired geologists that indicates their belief (disputed by the United States Geological Survey & most national governments) that reserves are vastly overstated and that we're more likely to hit peak oil (if we haven't already) by 2012 (dates vary but I take this as the latest early date) at the outside. Personally I believe we're likely to feel the effects of peak oil in closer to 3 than 30 years but there is a lot of information on the internet about this, just search for peak oil or Hubberts curve on google. AllanHainey 12:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

History of Headstones/gravestones/tombstones

I heard a long time ago that the French invented the headstones. It was a way to mark a grave so the spirit wouldn't 'haunt' around looking for their bodies. Is that true?. Thank you so much in advance.

Headstone has information on this subject, and more links where you might find more information. I don't see anything in there about *why* they were used, however. Tony Fox (arf!) 05:29, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Grave markers with engraved names go back thousands of years; many Roman and Greek epitaphs have been published. They were not invented by the french. Also there is no evidence they originated from such a belief. Stories about cultural practices were often "deduced" (i.e., invented) in early years of the 19th century when anthropologists were beginning to bring the first descriptions of primitive societies back to the West. There were a lot of theories about a unilinear evolution of society from primitive to advanced in which it was assumed that most of the cultural practices of "primitive" or "early" societies had magical purposes. In most cases these were "inferred" or "deduced" from the anthropolists' ideas of how "primitive man" thought. In many cases there was little or no evidence for such "why" explanations. The ones that made good stories continued to be told, but an educated person should learn to immediately recognize them as such. alteripse 11:50, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you so very much for answering my question! I really appreciate it.

Art owned by Rita Hayworth

I own 5 paintings that were supposedly owned by Rita Hayworth. They were supposed to be in her freize. The only signature is on one of them & it looks like an asian letter. I'm wondering if there is anyone that would be able to verify this for me.

Take pictures so we can see. --Proficient 18:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Australian larrikin

Is crocodile dundee considered an australia larrikin

thank you

In a word, yes. JackofOz 00:21, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

What is a Larrikin? AllanHainey 13:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

My dog got skunked

I'm already doing the peroxide baking soda solution, but is there anything else anyone knows from personal experience that can help me? She took it mostly in the face, so I can't really use the solution there. I've got a vet's appointment tomorrow.--Anchoress 08:20, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

If memory serves, tomato sauce (the stuff you put on cooked pasta) will take away skunk stink. Raul654 08:31, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Strike that - according to [23] - it simply masks it. Raul654 08:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

From the same article: If you are sprayed, a shower is your best first defense. If your pet was sprayed, a better solution is to mix a quart of three percent hydrogen peroxide with a quarter cup of baking soda and a teaspoon or two of liquid detergent, according William Wood, a chemistry professor at Humboldt State University. This will neutralize the smell, Wood says, which is much better than masking it. Don’t store this magic potion, however, because the oxygen buildup could blow off the top of the container, and it could also bleach your dog’s fur. Raul654 08:32, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, thanks... as I said in my original post, I'm already doing the peroxide baking soda thing. The problem is tho that it can't be used near the mucous membranes, and she was sprayed right on the muzzle and around her eyes. She doesn't have any eye irritation, but she still really stinks there.--Anchoress 08:41, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

So, did the vet solve the problem? Hyenaste ^(tell) 02:41, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, she got a rabies shot, but they didn't do anything about the smell. The peroxide wash is OK except I can't use it around her mouth. They said it'd just go away eventually.--Anchoress 02:45, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I </3 peanut butter

I am by no means allergic to peanut butter or peanut oil, but the smell of peanut butter sickens me. I can smell it on peoples' breath, when used in cooking, or even in a non-peanut butter cookie that has been stored with peanut butter cookies. The odor makes the back of my throat feel dry and my nose stuff up and causes general displeasure. Is there any physiological explanation for this aversion? Hyenaste ^(tell) 09:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

This isn't a medical opinion, but if you're sure you're not allergic to peanuts, you might be allergic to the mildew that commonly grows on them. I find that certain foods, when they get musty, really choke up my throat and lungs and it sticks with me a while. It's kind of like a dry throat thing, I feel a little like I'm choking but it's not from a closed throat, it's cuz it's so dry and I'm almost dry-heaving. Peanuts don't do that to me but other things do.--Anchoress 12:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

One possibility is that you've experienced conditioned taste aversion which is a very powerful form of learning. Chances are it would have had to happen when you were rather young and hadn't had much experience with peanut butter. Your question is related to the interesting question of why some people like certain foods and others dislike the same foods, even though the chemicals (and, supertasters aside, the sensation of the taste and smell) are identical. Aside from conditioned taste aversion, I've heard the hypothesis that disliking foods can come from experiences with the food your mother ate while you were still in utero. 128.197.81.223 14:44, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Oops, that was me, neglected to log in. Digfarenough 14:51, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I recently saw that in a documentary. First shot wolves were happily eating a sheep. Next shot they were fed some sheep meat with a pill in it that would make them very sick very fast. Last shot there were the two wolves again, with a sheep. They repeatedly snapped at the sheep, but instantly recoiled every time. At first the sheep stood there rather, ehm, sheepishly. :) But after a while it started noticing what was going on and even started attacking the wolves! DirkvdM 18:18, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

CTA is quite possible. I understand that when I was in utero, consumption of peanut butter caused my mother to throw up. Anchoress mentioned peanut butter mildew; could that have caused the reaction? And would that incident be enough to cause a lifelong peanut butter aversion? Hyenaste ^(tell) 22:23, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

This doesn't really relate to topic, but the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of one's mouth is arachibutyrophobia.

• I think your aversion is psychological and so strong it has physiological effects. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:04, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Charged for postage twice

So I ordered a bulky item by mail order. The seller didn't give any indication of when it would be delivered. A couple weeks later, I went on holiday. When I got back, I found that the item had been kept in the post office for a week, then returned to the seller because I hadn't collected it. When I got in touch with the seller, they told me I had to pay the postage again in order for the item to be delivered again. Was this reasonable of them? Please note, I am not asking for legal advice, I don't want to know if they were within their rights to do this. I just want your opinions on whether it was a reasonable thing for them to do. Thanks. --Richardrj 09:27, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Well it's not their fault you didn't pick it up from the post office, but IMO the problem is with the post office; I've never heard of items being held for that short a time. I'm in Canada, and I've never had anything held for less than 3 weeks.--Anchoress 09:31, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

This was in England, and it was a registered item. It's standard for these to be sent back after a week. --Richardrj 09:49, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Assuming you didn't ask them not to post it while you were on holiday, I think they were perfectly reasonable. Henry^Flower 11:54, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

My opinion: yes they were. It's a very unfortunate set of circumstances. Only if the seller had indicated delivery schedule A and then delivered on schedule B would I think it right for them to cough up. FWIW. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Yes, it is reasonable. --Proficient 18:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Buisness practices

While most companies advertise encouraging you to buy more of their product, Hydro Ottawa (the main provider of electricity and water in Ottawa) advertises on radio stations and transit buses to use less water and electricity. What is the reason for this? Don't they want to make more money?! Do any other water/power providers do this? 13:15, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Because there is only a finite amount of water and power, and since public utilities are required to meet customer demand, if they run short of demand they will have to either buy enough to cover the shortfall (from other utilities, at a premium) or build more infrastructure to make higher quantities of the commodity available. Either one is expensive. So they ask consumers to conserve so there will be enough for all, available at a (hopefully) reasonable rate.--Anchoress 13:53, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Adam, I know you read my reply (because you then went and vandalised my userpage), so why didn't you acknowledge my answer? It's really nice to get a little 'thank you' from question posters, just so we don't run out of juice. Wouldn't you thank someone who answered a question like that in person?--Anchoress 14:31, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I wanted to give an answer, but since you're a vandal I won't. I wanted to check your talk page to check if you've done this sort of thing before, but you remove everything from there, which looks rather suspicious. DirkvdM 18:30, 29 July 2006 (UTC) Your intentions weren't bad it seems, so I'll give you the answer after all.

They can't sell 'no'. Normally that is bad business, but here it's an absolute imperative. A difference with a normal business is that the amount of customers doesn't depend on how well you perform. The number is fixed and you have to perform well no matter what. This is why such services are normally in public hands (the free market system doesn't apply here). Their website isn't clear about that. It seems to be a private company, butbit's probably bound by certain rules. The main one being to deliver enough water of sufficiently high quality. It may also be a public/private cooperation, something that has become popular in the Netherlands in the last decade or so. DirkvdM 07:16, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

website dilemma

does somebody know any website where i can download free novels in html form. i dont need classic novels i need some recent novels by authors like stephen king, salman rushdie, sidney sheldon, john grisham etc. please help me. i will be very grateful to u. thank u very much

You won't find them, cuz they are a) copyvios, and b) very very easy to find and shut down. You might find rips of e-books thru a filesharing program like Kazaa, or if it's to your taste some mp3s of books on tape. But also, those kinds of authors are very popular in second hand bookstores, and you can often find paperbacks there for under a dollar each.--Anchoress 14:29, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually they can be found (or could in the past) pretty easily. Not gonna mention any places here though, but if someone had blatant disregard for the law or lived in a country where the books either aren't available or where laws wouldn't forbid such activity, said person could probably track them down with a little effort. But everything you say is true :) Digfarenough 14:51, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I respectfully disagree with you. Text is extremely easy to search for, and the publishers of famous authors are always on the lookout for copyvio uploads; if they were online, they would be so well-hidden that they would be virtually impossible to find.--Anchoress 15:38, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

And I'm going to respectfully disagree with you - if you can access usenet there are many, many e-book channels. There are also many, many e-books available on bitorrent sites. If you know how to use google you shouldn't have any trouble finding free books. They're not usually in html format, though - .pdf and .doc are more common formats. Natgoo 16:36, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The author must be dead for quite some time before they are released into the public domain, thus have no copyright and can be edited, re-published etc. etc. This website may be the best bet. And here are some questions about when a book can be published on the internet. Hope this helps. Iolakana|^T 14:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Most popular p2p programs are distributing extremely popular books and such, but not many people usually share lesser, not-as-popular books. Not that I am telling you to download books illegally. --Proficient 18:37, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Project Gutenberg has lots of public domain novels. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:17, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Baen has some of their older titles available online for free: see the Baen free ebook library. --Serie 23:50, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Time zone in Alaska before the present one came in to bing.

I am looking for an older map of the time zones of Alaska before the present one that is now in use. A map of the older one is needed.

can send to (please don't use an e-mail address, wait for a reply here) Thank You Allan Fuller

I don't understand: the position of Alaska hasn't changed since many, many, many years ago. However, although you say you do not want a modern time, Alaska is -9 (minus nine) hours from GMT time. Iolakana|^T 16:23, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

See Alaska Time Zone where there is some history. It's a little complicated. Did you have a specific year and settlement in mind? Before 1900 the inhabitants observed local time, i.e by the sun, even though it was officially all on Central Alaska Time. From 1900 to 1967 Alaska was divided into four time zones. Then it was divided into three time zones until 1975.--Shantavira 18:39, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

When alaska belonged to russia, surely they wouldn't have had a nearly 24 hour difference with the nearest part of the empire, surely they would have been in a time zone so that they were in the same day as the rest of russia. Philc _T^E_C^I 18:44, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

When it belonged to Russia, it operated on the Julian calendar, so I thought it best not to go that far back. But like most of the world at that time they would have used local time anyway. I'm assuming we want figures for the twentieth century. From 1967 to 1975 the Yukon Standard Time Zone (UTC-9) was applied to the area between 127° 30' and 141° 00' longitude; the "Alaska-Hawaii time zone" as it was then called (UTC -10) was applied to the area between 141° 00' and 157° 30' longitude; and Bering Standard Time (UTC -11) was applied between 157° 30' and 172° 30'.--Shantavira 18:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Two things,

1. Julian calender doesnt affect time zones, just month lengths/names
2. Even if people are using local time, the date line has to be somewhere, so when alaska was russian, which side was it on.

Philc _T^E_C^I 19:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

You refer to "the rest of Russia", assuming that Russia uses one time zone for the whole country. In fact, its spread is so wide that is uses, from memory, no less than 14 (!) time zones. When it's dawn in Vladivostok, it's already evening in Kaliningrad. JackofOz 00:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Isn't it (by the most reasonable conventions) always earlier in Kaliningrad than Vladivostok? —Blotwell 07:03, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

How very true. Right principle, wrong direction. My bad. JackofOz 23:39, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

sports

What sport was played first in the space by the astronauts? baseball, football, golf or volley ball?

Is this part of a trivia quiz? Might want to check out Apollo 14 for the answer. Hyenaste ^(tell) 15:48, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I seem to recall astronauts playing golf on the moon (!) - could be that... - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 16:09, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

On the Moon is not "in space". :)

The first astronauts were Russian, and the Russians had almost all the firsts in space travel for the first ten years, so it's more likely to be something Russians play. And something that requires little space, because it would have to be done in a space craft. Space walks are too risky to play around. And it would have been more likely if they had some time on their hands, a wish to relax and some stuff lying around to play with (Russians don't have such a wish to show off, so it was probably done out of a genuine desire to relax). So my guess it would have been on a spacestation, probably a Salyut. Chess is very Russian and something astronauts, being well educated, might like, but pieces flying around would not help (could have been a magnetic board, though). Actually, it would probably have been something that makes use of the weightlessness, playing around with that new phenomenon. most likely something with throwing a ball. Volley ball wouldn't work because the ball goes in a straight line (the net would be pointless). And for the others you need too much space (no pun), at least if you want to play it as a real sport, not putting in a glass or something. Are you sure it's one of those four you mention? DirkvdM 18:50, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

The Salyuts were not launched until after the US moon landings. The first sport in space was golf. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Like I said, that's not in space. The Moon may be in space, but so is Earth. DirkvdM 07:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I think golf is what's being looked for. How can you play a real sport out in the middle of nowhere? No nets, no goals, no holes, no nothing. I don't think the engineers would be too happy with astronauts whacking a ball around in their expensive craft. And anyway, chess is more of a game than a sport - see its article and its Wiktionary definition. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 09:52, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Depends on how you play it, playfully or seriously. Chess played competitively is a sport. Golf played by yourself without any 'holes' and therefore any well-defined goals is a game. So that's a second reason golf can't be the answer.

And calling chess a game based on the article is like saying they don't play any sports at the olympic games. It's playing with words. DirkvdM 07:10, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Is saying that the moon is not in space anything different? Where does "space" begin? JackofOz 09:54, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Space is all around. But when you're on the surface of an object on space, you're not in space. That's a physical thing, not linguistic. Of course, there are border cases, like being on a asteroid. To make sure, I'll ask this at Talk:Outer space. DirkvdM 07:25, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you very much.

I don't know what sports have been played in space, but surely table tennis is a viable one. although the ball will travel in a straight line, you still have to bounce off the opponents half of the table and avoid the net. Spin would work. and controlling your floating body would compensate for the ball going straight. -- SGBailey 20:18, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm not willing to speculate on the answer of the question because I would tend to doubt that most spacegoing vehicles have enough room for any sport other than aerobics (exercycle, treadmill specifically). That said, I have heard in soft SF (specifically the early-80s incarnation of Tom Swift) of the idea of zero-g racquetball. In theory, you could also have variants of tennis, soccer/team handball, possibly hockey, and even quidditch. Some sports would be pretty much impossible -- baseball, rugby, and American football don't seem to lend themselves to zero-g play, for example. Some form of basketball seems possible, though it would be radically different from anything played on Earth. Haikupoet 20:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I suppose that in those SF stories they have spacecrafts that are big enough to play such sports. Or maybe it was done outside any craft, in 'open space'. But neither option is realistic at the moment (let alone in the first decades of space travel). So it would have to have been something small, preferably with nothing flying around. My bet is still on chess. DirkvdM 07:10, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

animal

In the cat family, among tiger, lion, wild cat, leopard, etc. which of them go hunting in group, not alone?

I think lions do, although the article doesn't really make it clear. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 16:16, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Lions certainly do. And I can't think of any other cat that does. Cats are generally pretty solitary. DirkvdM 18:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Male Cheetahs may hunt together and Jaguars might during breeding season. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:18, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Lions are sometimes described as the only social cat, so maybe none of the others do. Jameswilson 00:19, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean by "groups"? Females and their cubs hunt in groups. User:Zoe|^(talk) 03:20, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much.

Haircut clipper lengths

I usually get my head shaved with the clippers when I go to SuperCuts... and I usually ask for a 6 on the top and a 3 on the sides. But always been curious, what length of shave do these clipper numbers correspond to, and how high do they usually go? --Rc251 16:11, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Six on top? You long-haired hippie! :P

Based on my set, #1=1/8" (3mm), #2=1/4" (6mm), #3=3/8" (9.5mm), and #4=1/2" (13mm). My set doesn't go up to six.

Is that the length it cuts off? Because where I've always gone, 1 is the shortest cut (leaving the head almost shaved) and 6 leaves a fair bit amount of hair on the top. --Rc251 17:33, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Surely the length that it doesn't cut off. Henry^Flower 17:35, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

That's the length that is left behind, all else is cut off. 1 gives you the closest shave, and 4 leaves your hair quite long. Curiously, I measured each of the attachments and the measurements I got were different from what was printed on each attachment. I suspect that it has to do with your hair being bent over at an angle by the attachment, as for example, the #1 attachment measured less than 1/8" thick.

Turks and Caicos joining Canada

I see the benefit to Canada for these islands to join - tax dollars being spent in the own country, an excuse for exotic holidays for politicians(!), etc. But why would these islands want to join Canada? Surely this is taking a step backwards since many of these islands are becoming independant (I know the population is very small). Why do they have a good relationship anyway? Finally, would Britain allow the 'capture' of one of its dependencies? --Bearbear 16:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Well this Briton doesnt mind - full of expat tax-dodgers and swindlers! Jameswilson 00:22, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Sadly, Proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories doesn't really answer this either, although a little bit of the background history can be found at Canada-Caribbean relations. Grutness...wha? 01:21, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I can't find any detailed information on why they might want it, but it's possible to speculate. Like you say, the population is small — if they believe they're too small to be independent, they're going to be part of someone, and if their links with Canada are stronger than those with their nominal "owner", they may well want to change. Maybe Canada is just deemed more likely to pay attention to the islands than Britain — Britain is further away, and has many other territories to deal with, and the Turks and Caicos might feel neglected. If there is significant tourism or investment from Canada in the islands, being part of Canada would encourage and facilitate that — Canadians (and their money) could visit the islands with a minimum difficulty, as they wouldn't actually be leaving the country. The Turks and Caicos might also anticipate development assistance.

As for whether Britain would allow it — I don't know, but if the Turks and Caicos expressed a definite, democratic wish to transfer, I wouldn't expect the British to block it. They don't really gain much from the islands that I can see. There are precedents in history, too — the Cook Islands and Niue were both British until they were transferred to New Zealand (although that was a century ago, when New Zealand would still have been regarded by the British as a colonial possession itself). -- Vardion 08:05, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I think we need to examine the most important aspect of this; what will happen to cricket in Turks and Caicos. Currently Turks and Caicos are part of the West Indies cricket team but presumably under this proposal would become part of the Canadian cricket system. I doubt they get any financial support from the England Cricket Board and the West Indies Cricket Board is habitually broke. If they could source funding from Canada and in turn supply cricketers to the Canadian national teamm, then surely everyone is happy. On the other hand, if the Turks & Caicos are forced to take up Lacrosse at the expense of cricket, then there would be wailing & gnashing of teeth down Turks & Caicos way. --Roisterer 09:15, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the lengthy answers everyone! --Bearbear 10:39, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd like to see the Turks & Caicos Canadian football, baseball and ice hockey teams.  :) User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:27, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Racko

Who was the game designer for the classic Racko game? --WAC 17:52, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I found it for you, Travis Fischer, [24] hope it helps, cheers —Minun ^Spiderman 18:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Homebrewing

Is it possible to use Honey in Homebrewing instead of sugar for carbonation? helohe (talk) 18:26, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Of course it is. You can use any sort of sugar. Or no added sugar at all, because the malt is supposed to supply that. But there are all sorts of variations on beer. In kriek, for example, cherries are added. And other lambics use other types of fruit. None of them very tasty, if you ask me. And that's the more relevant question. You can do anything you like, but will you like the result. There's only one way to find out .... DirkvdM 18:56, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know anything about brewing beer, but IIRC from a cooking show I saw on home brew, you have to get a special recipe if you use honey because of the moisture content and relatively lower sugar content, and I think you have to pasturise it right before, to kill any microbes, because honey is friendly to some nice, harmless bugs that are fine for us to eat but wouldn't be so nice feeding off the starch in beer. However... this site makes no mention of any issues with using honey, other than that it will take longer to mature.--Anchoress 19:02, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean mead? Skittle 21:02, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

You can use honey for homebrewing, with some adjustments (see some example recipes here and here and an overview on using it here). A number of commercial brewers also manufacture honey beers, off the top of my head I can think of Young's' Waggledance and Lefebvre's Barbar. --Daduzi ^talk 19:04, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Termites?

I think I have termites in my house. (In the Termite article it doesn't show the termite holes). The holes are vertically 1 inch high and about 2 mm wide. Thanks, SoaP 19:50, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

If you take a photo of the termite holes, and upload them to wikipedia, you'll solve two problems. FIrstly, people will be able to confirm whether they're termite holes, and secondly (if they are) we'll have a photo of termite holes with which to enhance the termite article. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:59, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

If you search Google Images for "termite hole" you get just one result, which seems to match your description exactly.--Shantavira 09:41, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

insects

--Frank london 20:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)slender, non-stinging insect that lives and dies around waterways and whose wings fold when at rest?--Frank london 20:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)--Frank london 20:04, 29 July 2006 (UTC)fr

Practically anything in the odonata order of insects would fit.--Shantavira 09:29, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

• One signature is enough though... - Mgm|^(talk) 13:00, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

He actually wants us to identify the insect from that description? Or what? Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 19:45, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Criss Angel: Mindfreak

How does Criss Angel (of the popular A&E series Mindfreak) create the illusions of levatating and walking on water?

• By learning how other magic effects were done and building on that knowledge. Anyone who knows how this is done is likely a magician who would be breaking their oath by revealing the secret to you. If you're still interested in finding out, you could simply buy the levitation effect Criss developed. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:58, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Actually you can usually find explanations of illusions online, if you want to spoil the mystery for yourself. If you do so, perhaps spend some time trying to figure it out for yourself first to better appreciate the cheap tricks used. :) digfarenough (talk) 15:26, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Th links from levitation and the article walking on water will give you some strong hints. The secret to most illusions of this sort can be found on the web if you search hard enough.--Shantavira 17:20, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Whenever people ask this sort of question, people always say camera tricks and paid audience or to look hard enough on google and find it. They never actually give a link or describe how the feat is actualy done. ._. --Proficient 17:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

What are the USA's busiest airport by departing passengers only?

Can we add a Wikipedia page listing the busiest USA airport's by departing passengers? There are several pages listing world airports by arriving/departing/connecting passengers. Along with aircraft landings/departures.

It's not a stat that I've ever seen. I suspect the actual number of passengers is just an estimate anyway. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:38, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

O'Hare International Aiport in Chicago is very large, as is JFK International Ariport, and the ariport in Atlanta (I forget the name, you can check yourself). Viva La Vie Boheme

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Both "Hartsfield" and "Jackson" were former Atlanta mayors. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 00:10, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I can't think of a reason why the number of passengers departing an airport would be significantly different from the number arriving, under normal circumstances. DJ Clayworth 16:03, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

July 30

WikiLibel

I removed an entry on a talk page a couple of months ago because it libelled someone. It's only just occurred to me that - under UK law at least - the libel is still present because anyone could read the offending entry by looking at the history of the talk page or by clicking here [[25]]. As such, the defamatory material is still being published and the person in question could, in theory, sue Wikipedia for an awful lot of money if she stumbled upon the page in question. Unlikely, yes - but is this a risk Wikipedia decides to take or is there a legal loophole here? Ericatom 00:38, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

In circumstances like this it is possible to delete specific parts of a page history. Can't remember whether admins can do this (I certainly never have) - it may be a bureaucrat-only capability. But it is possible. Grutness...wha? 01:25, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

It will take more than just deleting the entire talk page and restoring all but the original edit. As I just found out. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 01:36, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Deleting revisions is a feature supported in the MediaWiki software, and is called Oversight (policy for using the feature, and a list of the very small number of users with Oversight permission, can be found at the link). --MCB 05:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

And then there are loads of copies of Wikipedia articles all over the Internet. Who is responsible for any inaccuracies there? DirkvdM 07:24, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

In the case of copies of Wikpedia articles copied by another website, the publisher of that other website is responsible (again, under UK law). Should I report the Elliott Smith thing to an administrator? How should I go about doing that? Ericatom 11:47, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

This stuff gives me a headache, but the Wikipedia:Libel policy and Wikipedia:Requests for administrator attention should help. (The Elliott Smith article is up for FA status right now, by the way, so that may make this more important.) --Galaxiaad 18:38, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Fastest Military Aircraft?

Which plane currently in service/use (2006) is the fastest (in the world)?

Official or theoretical Black project? The fastest manned object is the space shuttle, the Concorde was the fastest civilian plane, and the SR-71 Blackbird was the fastest used military plane ever. --mboverload@ 01:00, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Hehe, I saw you bolded the currently in service/use part. I saw it =D. I thought it would be easy, but I had no luck finding the fastest one currently in use. --mboverload@ 01:20, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

The first google hit for fastest aircraft gives a list. Now your turn to check which ones are still in service :-) Weregerbil 17:40, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, an any additions to air speed record you find be sure to update the article. Weregerbil 17:45, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

So probably the MiG-31 unless some MiG-25's are still flying. Rmhermen 18:01, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Puzzle

hi,

Can any one pls tell me the how to find the 13th item in the room.( thr r totally 13 items to get out of the room). The link is of the puzzle is g http://www.fasco-csc.com/works/crimson/crimson_e.php.

Please do not post your questions on more than one reference desk as this could waste volunteers' time in trying to answer an already answered question. I have removed your duplicated question from the Mathematics desk. Road Wizard 02:15, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

http://www.phoons.com/games/crimson.html -- SGBailey 09:59, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

And another solution. – b_jonas 22:46, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

User Page Template

I'm new to Wikipedia, and I'd like to make a User Page for myself. I've read though the entry on User Pages, and I understand what I can and cannot have on on my User Page. However, being new, I'm having trouble creating articles from scratch. I'd like to know if there is a template I could use and edit so my User Page would meet quality standards and help me get a better grasp on how to edit Wiki pages. Failing that, is it reasonable to use another user's page as a template? If that's ok, should I cite them as a template source? Sorry for all the questions, and thank you very much in advace for the assistance : ) Teh Janitor 03:02, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Seems fine to me. I also looked at other people's user pages to see what I could put on mine and then copied parts of the source. As long as the contents are changed I don't see how anyone could object. If you really copy someone's style you might point that out as a friendly gesture, but I don't think that's necessary. Then again, I don't know what precisely you have in mind. Nice user name, by the way. :) DirkvdM 07:36, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. I greatly apperciate the help :) And thanks for the compliment! --Teh Janitor 07:59, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

What I did (when laying out my first proper user page, I've since tweaked it and made it more personalised) was have a search around the user pages of some of the members of Esperanza; they have (or rather had, it's now spun off) a Trading Spaces programme where users improve other users pages, so there's a lot of high quality examples to check out. Of course, you could always sign up for the programme and let someone else do the hard work for you. --Daduzi ^talk 04:07, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Graphical modification of existing product images

Hi,

if I take an existing picture of a product (e.g. RAID) and I modify it so it reads something different (e.g. RAIDYMILK) but keep the graphism of the original bottle, and modify the print (e.g. it reads "The wiki milk for admins" instead of "Insect Killer") for a prank, what is the legal risk, knowing that this article would be a joke and would not be in any shape or form created for a bad publicity for Johnson & Johnson ? Fabwash 03:11, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

We don't give legal advice here, and such a picture wouldn't belong on Wikipedia. If you put it on your own website, it might or might not be considered parody.-gadfium 04:15, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Question on editing the Marka Ragnos Picture

I found a picture of the Sith Lord of Marka Ragnos to put on the Marka Ragnos article that doesn't have one, but when I put in the correct HTML tags, and/or the Embedded Image, it never works, can you please help me.

Marka Ragnos Site:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marka_Ragnos

Maraka Ragnos Picture Sight:

http://www.dmeb2.org/fanart/3dimages/shadowofmarkragnos_alch_tmb.jpg

• This is a copyright image (see http://www.dmeb2.org/fanart/). Notinasnaid 19:39, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Dairy products

Who was the first person who made cheese from milk? and when?

Thanks very much for your possible answers, as I cannot do that for my daughter

Oh, cheese is WAY older than you think =D. See Cheese#Origins --mboverload@ 05:56, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

How can you know what people think? :) DirkvdM 07:46, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

People he/she assumed they had a name --mboverload@ 09:34, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

One might imagine it's perhaps one of the oldest foods...I mean, we domesticated cows pretty early on...--Abnerian 06:03, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

You pretty much refuted your own statement. We had to domesticate cows (or some animal) first. That happened just thousands of years ago. And we had to eat before that. Humans evolved millions of years ago. So it's a relatively recent food. DirkvdM 07:46, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Not as recent as Doritos. --Nelson Ricardo 03:27, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

There you go. People who sit in front of the telly all day, stuffing their faces with packaged food are incapable of seeing the broader picture. :) DirkvdM 07:21, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I heard something about cheese first occuring when milk was stored for transportation in skins made from animal stomachs. The natural rennet in the stomach would have then began to separate curds from whey and all that, and considering some estimates of humans settling down (12,000-10,000 years ago, from what I've heard) and how certain it is that as soon as milk began to be transported it would be done so in stomachs, the first "cheese" probably occured about ten thousand + years ago. I think. So I don't think there's really a "who" or even a which culture that we'd know about having first made cheese. Blue cheeses as we know them are relatively recent, because they began being produced after the advent of penecillin (sp?), which is still the most common molding agent injected into blue cheeses. Sashafklein 09:53, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I think blue cheeses are far older than the discovery of Penicillan - you don't need to know what you're encouraging to grow to make the veins, most probably the process was discovered by trial and error. See the Roquefort article for an appropriate legend - a shepherd forgot his lunch in a cave and the rest is history. Not also Pliny praising the local cheeses in 79 AD. Lisiate 03:10, 1 August 2006 (UTC).

Non-physical cultural heritage

How many non-physical cultural heritages in Vietnam have been acknowledged/recognized by UNESCO so far?

Thank you for your valuable answers— Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.234.138.64 (talk • contribs)

Two, according to the article Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The Nha nhac, a type of Vietnamese classical music and dance, and the 2005 entry was the space of gong culture in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The candidates for 2007 include quan ho singing style and the ca tru festival tradition, according to the references in the article. -- Graham talk 12:05, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

70's Interior Design

Y'know that wood paneling that they loved to use in the 70's and early 80s for rec rooms and such? Yeeeeah, anyone know what that's called?

Wood grain?--Jamesino 20:02, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

It's just called wood paneling, what else would it be called ? StuRat 23:51, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Tacky! That's what.

Petite vs. Teenybopper

Are Petite and Teenybopper the same?

I don't think so —Minun ^Spiderman 14:18, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Petite is a French verb meaning "small". A teenybopper is a stereotypical western teenager. Click on the links.--Shantavira 18:43, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Petit(e) is an adjective in French, not a verb. David Sneek 19:10, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes? Who said it was a verb? User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:30, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, since you asked, Shantavira did. But that's ok, nobody's perfect. JackofOz 23:33, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Gaa. I looked for that, and couldn't find it. My eyes are starting to fail me. User:Zoe|(talk) 02:57, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

In response to Shantavira, I thought teenybopper referred to 50s era teenagers? I don't think it's used very much to refer to modern teenagers, and I think the description 'Western' (which I realise is in the article, which is itself not very good IMO but that's another discussion) is a little too broad, as IMO the term was only used for English-language teens, and perhaps only US/UK/Canada. Or maybe just US/Canada, lol.--Anchoress 05:34, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes of course petite is an adjective, not a verb. Sorry. FWIW, the OED puts the first recorded usage of tennybopper in 1966, in Australia, and I think it's worth quoting: A girl in her teens or younger, esp. one who is a fan of pop music and follows the latest fashions.

1966 Telegraph (Austral.) 12 Oct. 58/3 The teenybopper is aptly named because her two distinguishing features are her teeny size and her cool boppy with-it attitude to life.--Shantavira 07:51, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Whew, was I wrong! I'd better get on the trolley.--Anchoress 10:58, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Dragon Flies vs Pine trees

We live in Michigan and are having a problem with dragon flies this year. They are sucking the water or nutrients out of the new growth on our pine trees and maple trees. For example: the dragon flies sit on top of the new pinetree leaders and suck out the water or nutrients and within a week the leaders begin to turn brown and die. They are also doing the same thing to the new growth on our maple trees.

We have tries using insect sprays, but they do not bother the dragon flies. Any suggtestions as to how to keep the dragon flies off of our trees. We have about 50 trees we are concerned about?

I would not worry about the dragonflies they are predators and eat other insects, not trees. Not sure what is killing your pine trees though. --Sherool (talk) 16:07, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah. Dragonflies are your friend, unless you really really like mosquitoes. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 16:18, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

How do you know the dragonflies are causing this and did this start happening before or after you started spraying? And how many dragonflies are there anyway? A tree weighs a tonne (or something). Much smaller plants can survive an aphid infestation. Surely a maple tree can handle some dragonflies. DirkvdM 07:31, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I wouldn't have to work at all, I'd fool around and have a ball?

There's a Japanese reality TV show called "The Legend of Gold" (ja:いきなり!黄金伝説。) which regularly holds a ¥10,000 (US$87) for a month contest. They would hire four celebrities, send them to an apartment, and give each of them ¥10,000 as a month's fees for foods and utilities. The one who keeps most money at the end of the months wins.

I wonder if is it possible for a person to spend 100 million yen (or about $870,000) a month on foods. You cannot buy anything other than foods and reasonable food-related items. You cannot waste your foods. You have to pay reasonable money for your foods. If the dealer gives you a volume discount, you have to accept it. You have to eat most of your foods by yourself. You cannot buy ingredients developed for biological purposes (e.g. a clone sheep with a sky high price tag; a single cell made by artificially synthesized DNA; ...). You cannot buy ingredients made for scientific purposes (e.g. salt consisted of unstable isotopes of sodium and chlorine; see isotopes of sodium and isotopes of chlorine). You cannot burn diamonds to roast your marshmallow. You cannot pay Bill Gates $869,998 and have him fetch you a $2 soda. ...

So far the most expensive food I've found are 7 bottles of 1978 red wine auctioned for $167,500, or $23,929 per bottle in 2001.[26] There are more expensive wines but these 18th century wines are not drinkable. I think you can stir fry lots of highest quality saffron and truffles, but these things are simply dirt cheap if you have $29,000 a day to burn.

So how do I spend 100 million yen a month on food? -- Toytoy 17:48, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

One word: restaurants. It's easy to spend $300 on food (e.g. at kobe beef steak houses in Tokyo), but the wine list is where the real action is, since a top restaurant might multiply the retail price by 6 or more, and readily available wine retails for as much as $5000. Apparently Walnut Creek restaurant has an imperial (big) bottle of 1975 Chateau Petrus, for $29,000. Of course, you would die before the month was out. Notinasnaid 19:12, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Cleopatra was said to have once drunken a pearl dissolved in vinegar - I imagine that would cost quite a bit if you can stomach it. Ziggurat 22:26, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I thought the pearl was dissolved in wine? But then, the wine of the time probably wasn't that far removed from vinegar. User:Zoe|(talk) 03:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Cleopatra VII of Egypt#Cleopatra and Mark Antony specifies vinegar. But of course I first heard about it through Asterix and Cleopatra :) Ziggurat 03:07, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Sequential manual gearbox

Do cars with a seguential manual gearbox have the clutch pedal? More specifically, does the Enzo Ferrari have a clutch pedal?--Jamesino 19:59, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Using a search engine will tell you pretty quickly that the Enzo Ferrari doesn't have a clutch pedal. For example this image show the two pedals (the four shiny metal things in the photo are: foot rest, brake, accelerator, and reflection of the accelerator).--Commander Keane 00:59, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Interesting, that they list sixteen different possible configurations of the brake and accellerator pedal. If I spent a million dollars on a car, I'd expect a pedal that causes it to dispense margaritas, so perhaps that's one of the combinations!

Image hosting

Where the heck can I find a public, free of charge, non-pornographic image hosting site that accepts photographs of topless women? I've tried Photobucket, Webshots, Flickr and Smugmug, but they all forbid any pictures of women with bare breasts, regardless of the situation. JIP | Talk 20:14, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

If you compromise by censoring out some of their body parts, you might be able to host it onto Photobucket or other hosting services. --Jamesino 23:02, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Does National Geographic accept them ? I was of the opinion that they only allowed topless native women in their mags. :-) StuRat 23:44, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

If they are ARTFUL nudes, DeviantArt with gladly take them. --mboverload@ 03:36, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if they constitute artful nudes. They are from the World Bodypainting Festival, featuring models in various states of painting. The festival is open for families and children. The women in the photographs are just posing for normal photography, not in some fancy artful poses. I showed some of the photographs to my mother, who has been an amateur photographer for years, and she complimented the quality of the pictures. JIP | Talk 09:23, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like an epitome of artful nudes, to me. I note that our article on the subject is devoid of images - perhaps you would consider uploading one for us? --Tagishsimon (talk)

I would, but I'm not sure if the festival rules allow that. They say any photographs taken are only for personal use. Here is a detailed FAQ. Does this mean I can upload pictures to Wikipedia or does it mean I can't? JIP | Talk 10:38, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. Were you a registered photographer? Then yes. If not, then I'm not sure. You might, I suppose, have entered into a contract by buying a ticket, under which you agreed to abide by their conditions. I suspect that if you approched them and explained that you wanted to put one or two images onto Wikipedia, they' give you permission. Looks to me like they're trying to dissociate body painting from "erotic" (read pornography) publications, which Wikipedia clearly isn't. Perhaps enclose the images you'd select for us. It would be great to have them. --Tagishsimon (talk)

I don't see anything in the FAQ about personal use. It says that registered photographers can only use pictures for non-commercial purposes, but the only restriction on unregistered photographers seems to be that you aren't allowed to take photographs in a "special area". As I understand it, all Wikipedia content (including the Reference desk and any images here) has to be usable for commercial purposes. So if you're registered, you can't upload images here; if you aren't registered, you can. Which is an odd state of affairs. Henry^Flower 12:12, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

This does indeed sound odd. There were also signs at the festival entrance forbidding commercial use of photographs, and I think I saw something about personal use only, but I'm not sure. As for the "special area", well, everyone is allowed to take pictures of models in that area, but if you're not registered, you can't go in that area yourself. I took pictures through the fence. I was there as a normal visitor, not as a registered photographer. But I think I'll have to ask the festival staff themselves about this. JIP | Talk 12:17, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

They may have some promotional images that they'd allow you to upload... just a thought. Dismas|^(talk) 12:27, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I asked the staff, and they said it is OK to upload the pictures, as long as I mention it was taken at the festival, and provide a link to it, and it would also be good if I mentioned the artist's name. Trouble is, I don't remember nearly all the artists. The only artists I remember were a couple of Finnish teams and a German team I got acquintated with. JIP | Talk 16:22, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Wel, put them up; quite possibly someone will be able to reunite the photos with the names in the wikipedia way of things. Good work on contacting the organisers. Looking forward to seeing them. --Tagishsimon (talk)

OK, but how many pictures should I upload? Should I only put pictures normally on the side of the article, or make an image gallery? JIP | Talk 07:22, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

If the photos are good and distinct, I'd put one or two on the side & a gallery at the foot of the article. --Tagishsimon (talk)

I'm having trouble picking the sidebar images out of the hundreds of model photos I made. Should I go with female models, male models, or both? Every picture in the main body painting article seems to only show female models. Also, the images are 2560×1920 pixels in size, and weigh almost 2 megabytes each. Is this OK, or do I have to shrink them before uploading? JIP | Talk 12:05, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I uploaded eight pictures, six of bodypainted models and two otherwise from Seeboden. See for yourself. It turns out that Wikipedia automatically makes thumbnail images of the pictures in the articles, and doesn't just resize the originals. Kudos for that. I only know the names of the artists in one picture - in the second female picture, the man is called Olaf and the woman is called Ruth. JIP | Talk 17:57, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Concerning Allergy (RAST test)

In an allergy test result (RAST test), a number was given after "food allergy" and "anaphylaxis" in the result sheet. What do these numbers mean? I am asking what scale or measurement the numbers are measuring. Thanks. --Proficient 23:44, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

This suggests that the results "are reported semi-quantitatively as a score or as a category of reactivity to indicate either a negative result or low-, medium-, high- or very high degrees of sensitisation." Were the numbers 0-4? That might correspond to those categories of reactivity. digfarenough (talk) 23:56, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

No, the numbers were in the hundreds, but thanks for your help. --Proficient 17:17, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Maine

Did the U.S. purchase land from canada that would for the northern portion of the state of Maine? If so does the purchase have a name does it have a Wikipedia article and is their any maps of the purchase and maps of the U.S. before the purchase?

Webster-Ashburton Treaty Rmhermen 05:43, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Fireflies

Is it possible for a firefly or lightning bug to give off a blue light instead of a green-yellow light? Thank You

I don't think so —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 13:38, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

There are many subspecies of firefly some glow yellow, others green and some blue.Anton 15:14, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

help

what can neither gain or lose weight?does anyone know the answer to this riddle?

Wasn't this comprehensively answered the last time it was asked? Notinasnaid 08:03, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

This is not really a riddle, is it? A riddle is "1. A question or statement intentionally worded in a dark or puzzling manner, and propounded in order that it may be guessed or answered, esp. as a form of pastime; an enigma; a dark saying. 2. transf. Something which puzzles or perplexes; a difficult or insoluble problem; a mystery." (OED). --Shantavira 10:07, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Weight is a measure of how two masses attract each other at a given distance. Given constant masses, the weight will change with a change in distance. Therefore, anything with mass can have a change in weight. Thus, something which "can neither gain or [sic] lose weight" would have to be something with no mass. Such as: a thought, an idea, a word, love, hate, time, etc. –RHolton≡– 22:44, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

A cylinder made of an alloy of platinum and iridium of 39 mm height and diameter, which is kept at the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (International Bureau of Weights and Measures). If it looses or gains weight it still weights a kilogram - but the weight of every other item in the universe changes. AllanHainey 13:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Bubble era

Hi, i bumped into a term "bubble era" couple of times lately. What does it mean exactly? Does it describe some period of Internet development only? I would appreciate anybody's answer greatly, thank you! T

Possibly refers to Dot-com bubble, though could point to any of a number of other bubbles, back to the The South Sea Company or Tulip mania. Or Real estate bubble, United States housing bubble, Irish property bubble, Economic bubble, California property bubble, Spanish property bubble, Japanese asset price bubble, New Zealand property bubble, &c &c. So you'd need to consider the context of your bubble era. --Tagishsimon (talk)

u guyz aint that smart..the answer actually is an active monkey..it can hardly gain or lose weight...

Is putting your comment against the wrong question an example of how smart you are?  :--) JackofOz 12:27, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Brute force and code breaking

what is brute force...is it a means of code breaking...and how does it work.what are other means of breaking codes?

Brute force can mean a few things. What you seem to be interested in is a Brute force attack. There are a variety of other means of cryptanalysis, such as rubber-hose cryptanalysis.--Philosophus ^T 09:01, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Philosophus explains the basics of it fine, so I'll just add that brute force attacks are the "baseline" for how secure a digital cipher is. If there's a method that breaks it faster that means the cipher is insecure. --ColourBurst 19:43, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I think of "brute force code breaking" as trying every possible combo. For example, a 4-digit numeric PIN for a credit card only has ten thousand possibilities, which can all be tried out in a few minutes or hours using a computer, provided the software isn't sophisticated enough to lock out the PIN after a small number of mistakes. StuRat 23:37, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

sloths

just wanting to know if the male,female and baby south american sloth are known by any other names? e.g moose males,females and babies are also known as bulls,cows and calves. thankyou for your help jinine--220.238.26.5 09:14, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Neither sloth nor list of animal names mention any other names. In fact the sloth article refers to "infant sloths" at one point. Rmhermen 17:21, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Lunar Rover

There is a featured article concerning the above. However i have noticed the following in varios places and pictures: Why in the picture of the lunar rover, are there no stars? The moon has no atmosphere, and should therefore show millions of stars, however the sky apears black. please explain if possible. Thanx193.115.175.247 13:17, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Since this is a Wiki, you can fix it yourself, but you have to register to upload images —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 13:37, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Stars are not visible because they are very dim compared to the moonscape. If the film was exposed long enough for stars to show up on it, the foreground dust would be hopelessly over-exposed. If you own a camera you can experimentally verify this yourself tonight. Earth's atmosphere has little effect on things; clear non-polluted air blocks very little visible light (sorry, can't find an exact figure right now, I think it is a fraction of a percent). Weregerbil 14:28, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Because they were filmed in a soundstage on Earth! Adam Bishop 15:31, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

There is a more detailed discussion of this at Apollo Moon landing hoax accusations#Photographs and films. --Shantavira 15:32, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I assume that you can see both the stars and the surface of whatever celestial body you're on with your eyes because human vision adapts, whereas in a camera the same sensitivity and exposure are used for the whole CCD or film. But where is this done? In the eyes or in the brain (or both)? And wouldn't it be possible to do something similar with cameras? I often have this problem that different parts of the photo differ so much in brightness that I can never give them both the right exposure. An intelligent camera could notice that different sections of the image differ greatly in brightness and adapt the sensitivity of the different parts of the CCD to that (wouldn't work with film). However, thinking of it, it seems rather complicated. How does the camera (or editing software) know which of the two an average-lit part belongs to? This again gives me great respect for the way human perception works (or any other animal for that matter). DirkvdM 07:58, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Proper Pronunciation

I would like to ask you how to pronounce the Minotaur and Centaur are they ( Tar ) or ( Tor) if you can help me out thank you, and if not thanks anyway. (e-mail adress removed to prevent spam) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.47.252.104 (talk • contribs) 13:58, 31 July 2006.

Go to [27] and [28]. Click on the a loudspeaker to hear a word. Jacek Kendysz 14:12, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

According to wiktionary:centaur, 'centaur' is pronounced closer to an 'o' (specifically, IPA: /ˈsɛntɔː(r)/). I presume 'minotaur' is much the same. --Sam Pointon 14:23, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Binary dual

I have recently been reading about Monadic Cyles, I wish to know does the earth's sun have a binary dual? or to simplify, does our sun and galaxy revolve in with another? It is said in the book i am reading that it does, and with Andomeda, but that is a galaxy, acn any one shed any light on this subject in any way thanxAnton 15:11, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Just tell me if theres anything about the book you don't believe, and then we can decided if you should believe it or not, cheeers —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:52, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like you're mixing up stars and galaxies. Our galaxy (the Milky Way) may revolve around another, but our star (the Sun) doesn't. DirkvdM 08:04, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

What i believe to be true is irrelavant, What i want to know is Does our Sun have a binary dual and if so which/what/where is it.

Let's go back. I've never heard of a binary dual, and there aren't any hits in Google that seem to be relevant (except one earlier question here). So, since this is a specialised term, can you let us know where you have found this term used (a URL, if possible), and how it is defined if it isn't on a site we can visit. Thanks. Notinasnaid 14:32, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Right, Wiki has an article on Binary star. (dont know how to make link) Does our sun have such a Binary dual.? I really apreciate your help. Thanx193.115.175.247 14:54, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I think you would have got a quicker response if you had said "binary partner" or "companion star". No, the Sun does not have a binary partner; it is not part of a binary star, as scientists would mean the term. However, if you are dealing with esoteric cosmology, this is more like religion than science. Notinasnaid 15:16, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I am dealing with esoteric cosmology actually. Well done Dude. But how would we know whether or not we are part of a binary. To observe a binary one needs to use the dopler shift, but this cannot be done as our binary partner would always be either moving away or toward us. So my actual problem is i am trying to write a book on the correlation between esoteric religion, christianity, hiduism, budism and science and how they all come together as part of a greater monadic cycle. any help in any way would be appreciated. thanks.

If the sun was part of a binary system with a nearby star, we would see it. Or, if it was black, it would still have a significant effect on the orbits of all the planets. However, scientists are able to calculate planetary orbits very accurately, which means there cannot be a nearby large gravitational source unaccounted for. If you posit that the entire solar system was in a dual relationship with a further away star, we would see the effects of the orbit in that the galaxy would appear to be rotating against our system. Or so it seems to me. But how about this for cosmic philosophy: it is never correct to say that one thing just orbits around another. While the earth orbits around the sun, so the sun orbits around the earth. Both influence each other. However, because the earth is so much smaller than the sun, the effect is that the sun has a tiny wobble, while the earth goes round very nearly the centre of the sun. So the Sun has a partner in each of its planets, and asteroids. Notinasnaid 15:57, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Very true, however, we might not notice the other scource rotating around us as it would do so so slowly. we might notice it comeing or going depending on what part of its cycle it was on but the sideways shift at its furthest point is impossable to observe, true or false. And again thanks.

Coffee

Cofee beans are edable. Are Coffee berries, the fruit from which the beans come, edable, and if so what do the taste like? Are they available comercially? Why is coffee only made from the seeds of these plants? why not others such as orange seeds for different types of coffee?

For starters, check out the article on the coffee plant. It mentions that the berries are in fact edible (note the spelling). You might also be interested in the article on drupes, which are the classification of fruit in which the coffee berry belongs. --Bmk 16:11, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I asked this same question a while ago and never got a really good answer. Maybe you'll have more luck. —Keenan Pepper 22:03, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

We don't take that "I didn't get a good answer from the reference desk" kind of thing lying down, you know. Oh no. I'm actually propped up on my sofa as I intimate that a) Two nuggets I've picked up are "I tried the berries David, they're quite pleasant in a sweet sort of way. Apparently it was originally the berries that were used as a beverage, the beans were discarded."[29] and "The coffee berries are difficult to chew so early coffee experimentation involved roasting the coffee beans to make them edible. Gradually, people began pouring hot water over the roasted coffee beans to make the well-known cup of coffee."[30]. Perhaps the best overview is here - enough on the history of coffee berry munching. Been going on for thousands of years, they reckon. b) Why not other seeds. Why not indeed. Google, being your friend, would like you to look up coffee substitute where you'll observe an offer of organically grown chicory, figs, cereals and acorns; and later Soy. So clearly there are nutty & legume substitutes c) And you'll recall Ersatz coffee from the war years, made of some bean or other. In short, I imagine that there are a bunch of things which make more or less palatable beverages, and many that don't, and/or that'll make you proper ill. By the same token, why not tea from chesnut leaves or grass? And yea, we see a plethora of herbal infusions including Ersatz tea made from raspberry leaf. Conclusion: get out there and start roasting & boiling things & see what the result is. --Tagishsimon (talk)

When at a coffee plantation I once ate peeled coffee berries, straight from the plant, and they weren't difficult to chew at all. However, they didn't taste like coffee at all. Nor did I notice any effect of the cafeine, but I'm an avid coffee drinker and I only ate a few. But that will have been the original reason for coffee consumption. Once people find something like this out they start experimenting and thus someone must have come up with the idea of roasting them for taste and then someone else came up with the drink. Or the other way around (although that sounds less likely).

Oddly, when people use other plants for brewing a hot drink, it's usually called 'tea'. Shouldn't there be a separate name? DirkvdM 08:12, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

By the way, coffee brewing has developed in something way too complicated. The best coffee is the simplest, cowboy style. Just add hot water to the ground coffee. To avoid the sludge at the bottom you could also filter it (afterwards!), whic makes it more complicated again, but that doesn't affect the taste. I suppose the reason this tates so much better is that all of the ground coffee comes into instant contact with almost-boiling water. The Coffee preparation article says "The recommended brewing temperature of coffee is 93 °C". If the water filers through a heap of coffee, only the top will get the water at the right temperature. DirkvdM 08:29, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I've tasted a new beverage that claims to be coffee berry juice. It has a sweet, and very mild flavour. A bit like redcurrant juice, but milder. It's amazing that this comes from the same plant as coffee. JIP | Talk 10:32, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Timeline for admission to law school

I'll be a junior at UCLA this fall, after transferring from a community college. I would like to attend law school as soon as I graduate, which I estimate will happen by the summer of 2008. Supposing that most law schools would begin their academic calendars during the fall of that year, this means I would have to submit my applications the year prior, doesn't it? (That is, the fall of 2007, when I would be beginning my senior year.) If this is the case, would anyone like to share their thoughts on whether this would be a good decision? I feel that I would not have much under my belt at the university so soon after arriving. --71.103.130.75 17:42, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

The European e-mark

Hi,

I have searched here and many places to no avail to find information about what the International/European "e-mark" is and what the criteria is for a product to receive this mark.

It appears on a product as a lower-case e. I am aware of certain products that have this, but I don't know what it means and what it takes for a skin care line, as an example, to receive this mark. I have been told it is some mark of excellence that has to do with the approval of some commitee of the European Union. Your help would be appreciated.

Yours,

Jeremiah Charles

I think its just some kind of logo —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:03, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean CE mark or more probably Estimated sign? MeltBanana 19:32, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

It explains in the article about that, check it out if thats what you mean —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:46, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the "Estimated" sign, a lower case e, which certifies that the actual contents of the package comply with specified criteria for estimation. See also[31]. The EU does not award marks of excellence, but of standardisation. In some cases it will be illegal to sell products that do not conform to EU standards, which may include carrying marks. Notinasnaid 20:06, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

There are also European Quality Charters for all sorts of products and services (above the legal minimum standards). Is that what you mean? For example the 1998 European Quality Charter for CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) link.

For specific info for businesses re EU Directives, Regulations, etc, contact any of the Information centres (EIC's). Here is a list of the ones in Britain [link]. Jameswilson 23:16, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Cool, I did some more digging and found the info that you were saying about the standardization mark. It has to do with quantity regulation of pre-packeged goods, of consistancy, and honesty in labeling. Thanks for your help. -Jeremiah

In short, if you don't give it the mark, every package has to contain at least the quantity the package says it does. With the mark, it only needs to be that amount on average (and within certain limits). DirkvdM 08:34, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Rechargeable Batteries

Do rechargeable batteries(AA) specifically made for digital cameras work effectively for other divices? Thank you.

Ask Jeeves claims that they don't —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:01, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Strange, I was fairly confident that they would but wanted verification. Any ideas as to why not? Thanks again.

I'd like to see a link for the claim that they don't. If they are AA batteries, why wouldn't they work for other devices? For the record, I did go to Ask.com (it hasn't been called "Ask Jeeves" for some time now), typed in the question and found no links supporting the above responder's claim. --LarryMac 19:28, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, my mistake I found I was reading about a different kind of battery [32] sorry —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:48, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Now that I think of it they would perform better if anything being as digital cameras go through batteries like nothing-sounds like a good 8th grade science fair project.

A similar project would be to see it the batteries packaged as "for digital cameras" behave any differently from standard alkaline batteries. I have a feeling it's all a marketing game. --LarryMac 20:40, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I suspect otherwise. The charge-voltage curve for standard alkaline batteries is decidedly unfavorable towards use in cameras and other digital devices: the voltage drops too low for the device to use it long before the battery is fully discharged. If these "digital camera" alkalines have a different curve, they'll appear to last longer even though they don't actually store more power. --Serie 00:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

NiMH batteries (which is what I assume you are asking about) can be used almost anywhere. In practice a problem is that they suddenly go from good to totally flat, whereas ordinary alkalines gradually lose power, giving you some warning that they are running low. This means that for NiMHs you start off with a good beam from your torch and 2 minutes later you can have nothing at all! And then a set of NiMh batteries running with one flat destroys the flat one permanently (even if it were its first use). See the WP article link above. The Star batteries Faq (although quite obviously biased in order to sell the stuff) gives valid, scientific, understandable information. For medium drain applications such as cameras and cd-players they are the most economical. But they discharge spontaneously on storage, so for inclusion in a "disaster emergency kit" a box of waterproof matches would be a better choice :) --Seejyb 00:16, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Serie gave an important part of the answer. Of course standardised batteries could easily be made, but that would mean a drop in sales - good for the manufacturer, but not for the producer. Consumers may demand what they wish, but if manufacturer don't deliver, that's the end of the story. The free market system isn't as perfect as it is often made out to be. It's sort of like with democracy: it sucks, but it's the best alternative we seem to have at the moment. DirkvdM 08:40, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

the time of day of Zidane's headbutt?

Hi...I really need to know the exact time of day (to the second even IF possible) that it was when Zidane headbutted the Italian in the worldcup final on July 9 2006.

The game began at 8pm I believe (Germany time) and the headbutt was int he 110th minute, but I need to find out the exact time of day that it was when that happened (i.e. 10:00 PM)...

This is a real challenge I think so thanks for any help

Well Zidane headbutted the guy on the 117:41 minute and the game started at 8pm German time, then it would have happened at approximatly 9:57:41pm in German time, give or take a few seconds due to the fact that the match wouldn't have started precisely on the 8pm mark. --user:02pollaj

--squiggly things

Don't you have to add in half-time to that? And stoppage time? Adam Bishop 06:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes you would need plenty of extra time for half time + stoppage time + the time in between full time and extra time... I didn't record the match, but if someone did on one of those HDD recorders, they will usually tell you the exact time you started recording and the exact time something happens. – AlbinoMonkey ^(Talk) 08:49, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

You'll never get the exact time by trying to add duration of match time, half time, injury time, etc. The best way to get the actual time it occurred would be to either get a full recorded video of the match or to check FIFA records as presumably the Referee recorded his red card somewhere & this woud have the time on it. I've just thought, some TV companies show the time as well as the score, who's playing, etc superimposed on the screen so just a picture of the headbutt from TV might do it. AllanHainey 14:11, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Re: Criss Angel

Could anyone direct me to the site(s) that explain these illusions. Maybe supply some vauluable keywords or simply the links. I have put considerable time into finding them for myself as well as previously trying to determine the explanations for myself all to no avail. Thanks.

Do you mean images (by illustrations)? —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:48, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Try Google Image search to find examples of images, and CrissAngel.com for most other info, cheers —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 19:59, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I never mentioned illustrations, perhaps you misread illusions?

Walking on water is explained at walking on water. How else?--Shantavira 07:24, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

"Levitation" is explained at invisible thread and David Copperfield's flying and the "patent" link from there. All rather obvious when you know, isn't it?--Shantavira 09:50, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

kung-fu actors' attire

i watch a lot of kung-fu movies, and some of the actors have a white square with a red circle on the square pasted to their head. i was wondering, what is the significance of the square.

Hinomaru? David Sneek 20:29, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

bible question for a prisoner

genesis 2:16-17 Gensis 3:22-24 Did God did not want man to live forever???

Or does he not want man to live forever now that man has eaten of the fruit and knows right &wrong, good&evil ???

It was alright to eat from the tree of life &live forever, until man ate from the tree of conscience?

Man was never told "not to eat from the tree of life...? This Question is haunting my son (JoeyHipp)who has done extensive study of the Bible... "Please if at all possible" could somone answer this so i can send it to him???

There isn't going to be any "right answer". It's all the opinion of the reader. Of course, if you give us a particular denomination, we might be able to find their official stance on this issue. StuRat 23:31, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I am not quite sure what your question is. are you asking if eating from the tree was a sin. do you want to know what God plan was if man did not eat from the tree? Jon513 23:37, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

I find the story a bit silly myself; what was God's plan, just for them to avoid temptation and sit there in Eden doing nothing but "being happy" ? No human civilization, no nothing, just a whole universe created for two people ? Not much of a plan, if you ask me. StuRat 23:47, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

You are very astute to recognize that. God's purpose was origianlly, and remains, that humans live forever in peace and harmony not only with each other, but with nature, forever. The first man was told that he could eat from every tree in the garden except for the one that the Creator reserved as his special posession. The only time death was even mentioned was as a penalty for disobedience and rebellion against God. In essense, what the first man and woman did when they ate that special fruit, was tell the Sovereign Lord of the Universe that they had the right to determine for themselves, "good and bad". 6,000+ years later, we see the result of man's self rule. Utter failure. That is why the prophet Jeremiah was inspired to say at Jer 10:23 that "It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." But the Bible also outlays that this time will pass and that the earth will be restored along with obedient humanity to it's originally intended state. You see, God does not change his mind. The Bible clearly teaches that the Earth is here forever. It also teaches that is was made to be inhabited. It also clearly states that the righteous and the meek would inherit the Earth and that the wicked would be cut off and be no more. Death will be brought to nothing, sickness will be no more, nor will outcry, or pain be anymore. This is the purpose of God's Kingdom that was the theme of Jesus' ministry. This is the promise we hope for...that we look forward to seeing fulfilled. BibleTeacher89

But if you believe the story god created man in the first place. So he put the disobedient streak in him and then punished mankind for behaving in a way that he created us to behave. The story makes no sense. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 03:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It was not a disobedient streak that was put into man, man deliberately chose to disobey. It was the godlike quality of free will that was given man. But, just because you are free to make choices, you are not free to choose the result of those choices. They were made aware of what the law was. They chose to ignore that law. Just as someone who decides to "break the law" of gravity...you don't break any law of God, you break yourself against it. If they would have ignored the misleading advice of the rebellious spirit son of God who became the one called "Devil" and "Satan", they would have continued to prosper, and to fill the earth with perfect human offspring. Even if Adam would have chosen to not follow his wife, he could have been provided another wife and we would not have inherited sin as we all did. But this was not the case. Adam, the responsible and more experienced one, chose to disobey. Hence, death spread to all his offspring. That is why the ransom sacrifice was provided to buy mankind out of that condition. Jesus, having come to Earth as a perfect human, was qualified to "give his life as a ransom in exchange for many" and act as a propitiation for the perfect human life that Adam forfeited. That is why the Scriptures refer to him as "the last Adam". That act of love by Almighty God and his only begotten son paved the way for those in the memorial tombs to come out in the resurrection of the dead and for those and the ones who are preserved through and survive the "Great day of God the Almighty" to live everlastingly and have the priveledge of restoring the Earth to it's potential and filling it with perfect human society who live in peace under the rule, not of imperfect man...but of God's messianic Kingdom. BibleTeacher89 03:47, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't believe that either Adam or Jesus were perfect. The evidence on Adam is his choice of actions (eating the apple). The evidence on Jesus was his questioning God: "My God, why have thou forsaken me ?" (Matt 27:46). And while we're at it, why did God allow the evil serpent and the tempting tree to exist in his "perfect" world ? I must conclude that God, which produces all these creations with a slight evil streak in them, must be both good and evil, as in Eastern Philosophy, where Good exists in the heart of Evil, and Evil in the heart of Good (see the Ying Yang symbol). StuRat 06:25, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

God, being omnipotent, knew before hand that they would sin, therefore he placed the plant in the garden for them to sin with so everything is part of his plan. He planned for them to sin ect.193.115.175.247 09:20, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

To be honest, rereading the thing, it looks like the story got a bit garbled. It makes sense (to me) if you consider that the knowledge of good and evil (right and wrong) can only be learnt through experience, and therefore they had to choose to do something wrong (when they had no sense of right or wrong) and be punished in order to know what right and wrong were. All other explanations I've seen fall down for me because they had no sense of right and wrong, so how can they be expected to know it is wrong to eat the fruit? Plus, if you have an omnipotent, omniscient god, he must have set it up so that they would disobey. Seems to me the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil only in the sense that Death was waiting under the tree in the Parson's Tale. It possibly got garbled once people started taking it literally. Skittle 10:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Maimonides theorizes that before they ate from the tree they saw right and wrong in the same way we view true and false. That is to say that before the sin of the tree they were able to derive a moral system by pure logic. Only after the sin did right and wrong now exsist as separate consepts from true and false. Jon513 11:44, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I also think your question is a bit vague, but if you take away all the question marks what you are saying is generally correct - in my opinion. Perhaps you could explain what exactly is bothering your son specifically?BenC7 11:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

God, being omnipotent could have chosen to know beforehand that they would sin, or he could have configured events so that they would have, but that is not a complete picture of what omnipotence is about. Just as the dial on a radio allows we as people to tune in on a particular frequency, The Creator has the ability to choose to or to not see events that have not taken place yet. Placing the tree deliberately there to stumble them and to caste future mankind into the state of sin and death is not fitting with God's character. God is love, and also outlined in the Scritpures is the fact that it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, this act of deceit is impossible for Him and against all that he stands for since it would have been, in effect, a lie. As said before, man was given the ability to choose his actions. He was told that statute and the consequences of that statute, therefore, he knew what God's requirements were and what good and bad was in the eyes of God. Whether he chose to obey this, however, is another matter. However, the rebellious angel under the guise of a talking serpent, told Eve that making her own choice in the matter of deciding what was good and bad would make her like God. He, in essence, called into question God's sovereignty, His right to rule and determine for mankind what would benefit them and what would not. By following this deceitful advice, Adam and Eve therefore rejected God's sovereignty and decided to choose for themselves the knowledge of what was good and bad. That is why they lost their lives. He decided to choose an act that he knew had dire consequences. Cause and effect. It is like when you pick up one end of a stick, you are free to do that, but you cannot then choose to not pick up the other end. That is the consequence of that action. Adam deliberately went against God's clear command (action/cause). That is why human perfection, albeit temporarily, was taken from them and their offspring. (consequence/effect) It is a matter of God's right to rule; His right to tell us what it beneficial (good) and what is detrimental (bad). Once this matter is settled to the universal law's satisfaction, this little experiement of man's self rule will come to an end, and with it, as the Bible clearly points out, death, the last enemy, will be brought to nothing. --BibleTeacher89 14:54, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Even if God gave them free choice he would have known exactly what would happen. If God is omnipotent then he is complicit in their sin. Your particular interpretation is a bit disengienious. It requires that an omniscient omnipotent being be able to act without understanding the consequence of his actions, which is clearly impossible as it presents a logical paradox. It violates the definition of omniscience. If you believe in a truly unbound God, a God with complete omniscience and omnipotence then you must believe that God preordained the fall of man. No amount of circular logic can get around this. By the bible's own ethical rules not-acting creates the same responsibility as acting. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 15:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

This is some of the funniest stuff i have read in a long time! Well Done people! I just wanted to point out that this is all metophoric. Thanks, Oh, and basically it doesnt matter to the original question as the prisoner has no concept of right and wrong or he would not be a prisoner. i am still laughing at the previous two responses, bloody brilliant hahaha

Well, first of all, where in the Holy Scriptures do you see Almighty God apply any human definition of omniscient/omnipotent to himself? You are relying on human understaning to define the divine and spiritual. Forget, for a moment, your definition of omniscient/omnipotent. God himself, by means of his personal name, defines himself as "He Who Causes to Become" and "I Shall Prove to be What I Shall Prove to Be". He is not limited by your definition of what you think his state of being is. He can be what he wants to fit any situation. The only thing He cannot be, is a liar and deceitful. That is something that He hates and is against his very nature. Also, being complicit in their sin is against his very being. God is love. He is the personification of love and his very essense is love. He fully intended to allow them free will and for them to obey him due to love and respect; To make the choice to obey him, not out of robotic compulsion. There is nothing circular about it. It is a logical and straightforward concept. Forget predestination, it is not a Biblical teaching. It is a philosophy of man. The bottom line and the answer to the question is that Almighty God created humans with everlasting life in mind. He created us with the intent to have us live, prosper, progress, and fill the earth with perfect offspring who live in peace and care for the planet. This intent has not changed. It will be filfilled in its due time. And, if you look at present events and circumstances, that time is drawing ever closer. Our deliverance is at hand!

--BibleTeacher89 17:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Bible teacher, I invite you to take a look at Predestination, specifically the section on the Christian doctrine of predestination, predestination is a basic biblical concept, as you should well know. Anyway, it was a fun debate, although in an inappropriate forum. Because you seem new to this sort of debate I also invite you to have a look at circular logic, logical paradox and Argumentum ad populum. Argumentum ad populum, or the appeal to belief is a tricky argument to use in debate, it can force a false choice in the viewers mind between literal inerancy and atheism. This debate is a very old one see Fall of Man. The position taken by most christian religions is that the story is in at least the small details allegorical. And cannot be considered a literal paradox in that sense. If you had argued this way, then you would have avoided my entire argument. My argument relied on a literal interpretation. This way if your argument fails then most you have lost is your listeners trust in biblical literalism, not loss of faith. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 19:11, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Dark Fred, I don't seek debate. I don't care for debate. I care to teach and there is no learning in a debate, only the desire to win the argument. As for this literal paradox, I simply don't see the paradox. I hold that the account does relate an actual event and that there is nothing allegorical nor paradoxical about it, when you use discernment. When talking about the Bible, I believe in letting the Bible answer the Bible, not leaning on pagan-influenced church doctrine of men like Protestant Reformer John Calvin who defined his concept of predestination in the book Institutes of the Christian Religion. Christendom is littered with these types of empty philosophical attempts to try and understand and extrapolate the Scriptures. In my experience, the Bible answers itself. That is why my points are not circular nor are they based on the fear of loss of certain listeners' belief in the Bible or faith. Even Jesus himself, the Great Teacher, lost some listeners on occassion. He was not concerned with pleasing everyone nor am I, because he was confident that his sheep would hear his voice and respond. He was well aware that not everyone was ready to hear.

Getting back to this non-Biblical doctrine, the Scriptures reveal that there are situations in which God chooses not to foreknow the outcome. Just before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he declared: “I am quite determined to go down that I may see whether they act altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to me, and, if not, I can get to know it.” This text clearly shows us that God did not foreknow the extent of the depravity in those cities before he investigated matters.

True, God can foresee certain events, but in many cases, he has chosen not to use his foreknowledge. Because God is almighty, he is free to exercise his abilities as he wishes, not according to the wishes of imperfect humans. Rather than attach a concept of obligitory omniscience to God's perfection, it is more in harmony with the Scriptures to say that his power is more in line with selective foreknowledge. This would mean that, rather than all history from creation onward being a mere rerun of what had already been foreseen and foreordained, God could with all sincerity set before the first human pair the prospect of everlasting life in an earth free from wickedness.

You and others who agree with Calvin say that God predetermined man’s fall before his creation and that he had predestinated the ‘chosen ones’ before that fall. But if this were true, would it not have been hypocritical for God to offer the prospect of everlasting life to Adam and Eve, fully aware that they would be unable to realize it? Moreover, the Scriptures nowhere deny that the first human couple were given a choice: either to follow divine directions and live forever or to reject them and die.

The fact that God did not choose to know which course mankind would take did not prevent him from prophesying the consequences of man’s good or bad actions. A mechanic who warns a driver of the poor condition of his vehicle cannot be held responsible if an accident occurs or be accused of predestining it. Likewise, God cannot be accused of predestining the sad consequences of individuals’ actions.

The same was true with the descendants of the first human couple. Before Cain killed his brother, God put a choice before Cain. Would he master sin, or would sin get mastery over him? Nothing in the account indicates that God predetermined that Cain would make the bad choice and murder his brother.

Later, the Mosaic Law warned the Israelites about what would happen if they turned away from God, for instance, by taking wives from among the pagan nations. What was foretold did happen. This can be seen from the example of King Solomon, who in his later years was influenced by his foreign wives to practice idolatry. God warned his people, but he did not predestine what their individual actions would be.

Man was given free will, being created “in God’s image.” Free will was indispensable if humans were to honor and serve God out of love, not as robots with every movement determined beforehand. Love displayed by intelligent, free creatures would enable God to refute unjust accusations. He says: “Be wise, my son, and make my heart rejoice, that I may make a reply to him that is taunting me.”

If God’s servants were predestined—or programmed, so to speak—could not the genuineness of their love for their Creator be called into question? Also, would it not be contrary to God’s impartiality for him to make a predetermined choice of persons destined to glory and happiness without taking their individual merits into account? Moreover, if some receive such preferential treatment, while others are destined to eternal punishment, this would hardly arouse sincere feelings of gratitude in the “elect,” or “chosen ones.”

Finally, Christ told his disciples to preach the good news to all mankind. If God has already chosen the ones to be saved, would this not dampen the zeal Christians show in evangelizing? Would it not make the preaching work essentially pointless?

Impartial love from God is the strongest force that can move men to love him in return. The greatest expression of God’s love was to sacrifice his Son in behalf of imperfect, sinful mankind. God’s foreknowledge respecting his Son is a special case, but it assures us that the restoration promises resting on Jesus will indeed be fulfilled. So may we put faith in that Son and draw close to God. Let us show our appreciation by accepting God’s invitation to come into a fine relationship with our Creator. Today, God addresses this invitation to all who want to exercise their free will and show their love for him. --BibleTeacher89 07:23, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The Bible only said God didn't know the conditions in Sodom, it didn't say that the reason was that he chose not to know, that's purely your interpretation. Another example is that God apparently had to "walk" in Eden and "see" that Adam and Eve had clothed themselves, before he "knew" what they had done (all very anthropomorphic compared to our modern concept of God). Not only does this show a lack of knowledge of the future, but even the present, on God's part. My interpretation is that the Bible was written by many different people, each of which had different concepts of God. Most, but not all, conceived of an omnipresent God. The few who didn't added the portions where God doesn't seem to know what's going on. StuRat 08:45, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I would like to point out that User:BibleTeacher89 is clearly a Jehovah's Witness and thus does not represent Christian theology in his answers. BenC7 04:32, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Statistics of average earnings in parts of London?

I am looking for average - preferably median average - earnings of people in various parts of London such as Westminster, Chelsea, the City, Richmond, and so on.

I am seeking the earnings for both where people work and where they live.

I'd prefer the median average as the arithmetic average is distorted by a small number of high earners, meaning that most people earn less than the arithmetic average.

Thanks very much.

in the Winter 2005/06 the Average gross weekly earnings of full-time employees in London was 595 pounds. Information provided by Office for National Statistics of the UK, specifically here and here. Jon513 11:40, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

DVD-R Shelf-life?

I have a collection of files I need to store permanently. I've been warned by people that DVD-Rs only last 5 years if I'm lucky -- is there any truth to this? I'm not pinching pennies, I'm using Ritek, Ridata and Verbatim discs. About 150 are stored in standard plastic DVD cases on a shelf, and another 100 are stored inside a hard plastic DVD binder. How long will they last? Should I re-burn these discs every 3 or 4 years?

The answer is yes. --ColourBurst 07:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Actually according to that very article, the answer is no. 100-200 years for DVD-/+R and 25 years for DVD-/+RW. Nowimnthing 14:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, my bad. That 5-10 years is what the manufacturers claim. The tests are different. --ColourBurst 16:35, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Dr. hugo eckener/ captains german airships 1930's

i am trying to locate the burial sites for the following famous captains of german airships: dr.hugo eckener; ernst lehmann; max pruss.can you assist me & much thanks for your help.

                                        david helms
                 Removed e-mail address

Apollo Group?

Has anyone ever heard of a company called Apollo Plastic Systems or the Apollo group and if so what do they do? There based in North Yorkshire, England by the way. - Thanks Joel

Do you mean the company that is located in Scarborough, with a Managing Director called "Shaun Pollard" and whose place of business is marked on this map? If so I have never heard of them. I don't think the Apollo Group will be of much interest to you as I can't find a Pollard listed for them. And by the way, 81.158.83.44 what is your obsession with Pollard? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 08:13, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Who shot him!?

Does Anyone have any idea who the man was who killed the French man who shot Captain Horatio Nelson? Thanks For any help on this subject

I haven't bother to read it myself, but you could look at Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. Jon513 03:10, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

See my answer at the next question. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

J P

Eya rite who woz jack pollard?? Thanks n dat

Jack Pollard woz a Aussie author n cricket historian. Or a British engineer. No prob sa. Hyenaste ^(tell) 01:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Iz dis Inglish? Whoa iz us! JackofOz 03:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The correct question is who is "John Pollard" and of course he's the man that shot the Frenchman that shot Nelson from the question above. We don't have an article on him (John Pollard is not there) but you can see here and here. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

plz suitly emphazi n dat, ya? --Howie da Trane 08:14, 1 Aug '06 (UTC)

Was Pollard related to "The Man That Shot Liberty Valance"? JackofOz 12:23, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks you for youn help people.

He exists now as John Pollard (1787-1868). CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 19:18, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Can I keep track of my userpage?

In other words is there a possible way that I can keep track of the amount of people who read my userpage? -- TheGreatLlama ^{(speak to the Llama!)}

no. While there is a feature in the mediawiki software for a page counter on every page, on wikipedia it has been disabled because of the great server load that would entail. Jon513 01:57, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks you for your help people.

oh here's a link Wikipedia:Technical FAQ#Can I add a page hit counter to a Wikipedia page? Jon513 16:22, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Six days war : When was the picture of Yossi Ben Hanan taken?

Hello,

The Yossi_Ben_Hanan article does not say when the famous picture of him in the Suez Canal was taken. I was interested in the progress of the Israelis in the Six Day war, and found it a bit weird that the Six-Day_War at best gives 'june 1967' as a date for the pictures.

I asked in humanities but maybe this is a better place for this question. I got no answer there.

Can anyone help? Thanks, Evilbu 21:39, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

I failed to find it at http://www.timelifepictures.com/. Perhaps your best chance is to ask them. Still it is clear that it was taken in between june 7, 1969 and june 23, 1969. It was taken either from the 7 to 10 (durring the war) or from the 10 onwards (after the war). My guess it that it was after the war. Jon513 11:25, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

funnel web spider

Hi,I live in the USA on the south eastern part,I have a large black spider on My porch that has spun a funnel shaped web,I have never seen one like this,I never see it in the daylight and to be honest it has me a bit unsettled,I have taken a picture of it and it actually stayed on top of the funnel for Me to take several shots.Can someone please help Me.Thank You. Angela Kaye

Does your spider look like this one? If so, you could have an Out Of Place Australian Funnel Web Spider, whose bite can be deadly. It would be a long way from home though, so it is more likely you have a far less poisonous relative. Still, I wouldn't handle it if I were you. --Roisterer 04:29, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

There are a number of different funnel-web spiders. Take a look at the various articles and links. Most of them are harmless.--Shantavira 10:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Chip Chewer

So a long time ago (in the 90's) I was a little kid with simple taste in games. There was this great game I liked to play called Chip Chewer. My dad had downloaded it for me, I believe off of tucows or something very similar. It was basically a Pac-man ripoff with a little purple guy with eyes on a stalk, but I really liked it. I was wondering if anyone knew where I could get a copy? (And no, it's not Chip's Challenge. I have that one, I know they're different).

Thanks in advance, ¡209.180.29.73 05:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)!

See here for Chip Chewer and several others. And this appears to be online games. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:43, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Template Trouble

I am not sure where to ask for help on this troubleshooting issue with a template, but perhaps someone here can direct me to the right area of wikipedia. I have been trying to create a template to allow easy surfing between entries on U.S. Cavalry units, but I have trouble getting the text to wrap around it rather than start in line with the template. Consequently, wherever the template is placed in the entry, that is where the entry begins (instead of at the top and then wrapping around the template when it gets to it). An example is better than words: visit U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and then see if you can fix the problem in the template at Template:Cavalry. Thanks, User:Atfyfe

I think that it would need to be included with Template:Infobox Military Unit to work. Or you could just fiddle around with it to fit it where you want it to appear, see User:CambridgeBayWeather/Sandbox. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:36, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

circumcision

hi im 14 and i am curious if anyone knows how to tell if youve been circumcised? and if im not circumcised how can i get circumcised at my age? because i hate having the skin covering the tip of my penis. thanxx kevin

( im kinda new at this whole wikipedia thing )

Why not take a look at Circumcision and foreskin. They both have some excellent links to read up on as to it being a good idea or not. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 07:27, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

If you're not sure whether you're circumcised or not, circumcision is probably not the thing you need to be thinking about. If you turn out to be uncircumcised, before you do anything about it, be very sure this is what you want to do. Talk to a doctor, or an adult male you can trust. If you have it done now, you may live to regret it when you're an adult. Adults who want to be circumcised can always go off and have the operation, but if it's already been done, and you wished it hadn't been, you can't grow it back. JackofOz 07:39, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Mother Nature (sometimes referred to as 'God') must have put it there for a reason. Don't insult Mother Nature (or God, if that's your thing). Of course someone is going to throw an appendix at me now. Thank Mother Nature this is all virtual. :) DirkvdM 08:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Hey Kevin! Agreeing with everything everyone else has said, you maybe want to talk to an adult about why you hate the skin covering the tip of your penis. They may have other suggestions for how to deal with this. A doctor, nurse or counsellor of some sort would probably give you an answer with less of the embarassment you might feel telling others. And if you put ~~~~ at the end of your post, it signs your username or IP address along with the date, so we know when you posted and that you're the same person who posted earlier. Skittle 10:05, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Is this Martha Stewart?

Right now I'm writing a new article: "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!" I found a good source saying Martha Stewart did a Tareyton ad in 1964. The weird thing is...I think I actually found said ad. Honest opinion: Do you think it's her? She seems to have the same blonde hair, facial structure, and brown eyes that Martha does. The only thing that's making me think it's maybe not her is that the woman's nose looks a tad smaller than Martha's. Input, please! For reference purposes, that ad was in the September 1964 issue of Playboy. Do alert me on my talk page when you make a conclusion. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 08:44, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't look like her, in my opinion. --Cam 12:32, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Could be. Difficult to tell. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Matthew Mcchounghey in superman returns

i just read on a website called notstarring.com that mcchounghey was offered the part of both superman and lex luthor in the film superman returns if this is true than it should be included in the matthew mcchounghey article i would have put this on the talk page but i just don`t know how.

I presume you mean Matthew McConnaughey. JackofOz 10:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

How definitive is the site? What are their sources? Can they verify their information? If not, it doesn't meet out requirements at WP:RS. User:Zoe|(talk) 20:39, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

1 August 2006

Table-top speaker (near-field monitor) stands

Does any kind Wikipedian know where I might be able to get a pair of these in the UK? Google and other searches have thus far revealed nothing! They'll be used to support a pair of M-Audio BX5 speakers at about 20cm above the desk. Cheers, Neilius 10:04, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

studiospares, maybe?

Unfortunately not, I have the catalogue and there are no speaker stands like this in there, thanks for the suggestion though. :( --Neilius 09:36, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Ebay perhaps? --Proficient 21:46, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Identifying an Atari game?

Hi, I came across this picture: http://www.rombay.com/images/center_nav/roms.jpg

Can anyone tell me what the name of the game is and what system it was produced for?--195.93.21.101 10:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't know the sytem, but I think the game is called Roms —Minun ^{Spiderman • Review Me} 11:16, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The reason the filename of the picture is called "roms.jpg" is because it was used to link to a ROM database. --172.206.212.40 13:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Staring at the little picture and trying to interpret the blurred pixels into something recognisable is a lot like playing an atari game. The cart says O.B.S.E.S.S. in blue, see here. MeltBanana 15:23, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

How

How can someone be in a relationship with someone for 5 years, commit to spend the rest of her life with you and then suddenly and completely out of the blue leave for someone she just met? How can someone be so cold and heartless to someone she claimed to love for 5 years?Sindweller 12:42, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

do we need a new category on the reference desk for retorical questions?Jon513 14:14, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Women are like that. So are men, probably - I wouldn't know. --Howard Train 16:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

There is something incredablly wrong with this. How could anyone do this to someone they love? Doing so is more morally dispicable than any other type of harming someone, because in doing this, someone can hurt someone so much more. Sindweller 17:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

You're mixing up reasoning (which is done up in the brain) with 'love' (which is hormones wreaking havoc a little further down). DirkvdM 18:14, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It is not wrong to leave someone. One should do so in a way that causes the least hurt, but one does not need to stay in a relationship that they do not want to please someone else. Jon513 19:16, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you did something wrong and she just left because the other person could offer her more material worth. --Proficient 21:47, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Relationships

Why do people bother? If a relationship can fall apart after devoting yourself to buidling it for a long, long time, why would anyone put themselves in a situation like that--where all their efforts can be destroyed by the whim of another? It makes no more sense than building a house on a flood plane Sindweller 12:42, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

If you have no choice but to live on a floodplane, and you want a house, you have little alternative. Think about it. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Do what i have done, I quit woman, they are just too much trouble and bad for my health mentally physically and emotionally. And just keep it together, hearts and thoughts fade with time. In South Africa there is a saying: Sterkte. It simply meens Strength. But does not translate well.

In England we have a similar saying: bollocks. --Howard Train 16:18, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Is that where the English get their strength from then? DirkvdM 18:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes. The Irish, of course, get theirs from Guinness. --LarryMac 19:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

All relationships involve a degree of risk; there is no guarantee they will work out. But that is also true when it comes to investing money, starting a new job, learning a musical instrument, and lots of other things. Some people are highly risk-averse and prefer not to face the prospect of failure. Others consider that certain risks are worth taking, and allow their decisions about relationships to be governed by their heart more than their head. If this were not so, the human race may have died out a long time ago. JackofOz 03:25, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

But relationships require a much larger investment, expose you to more harm, are more volitale and completely dependent on one other person... Investments for example, can be spread out, and are not subject to being destroyed by one girl... Sindweller 13:55, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's all true, and it is scary. But so is crossing the road, yet we all do it. The rewards of a magnificent long-lasting relationship far outweigh the risks. You can argue all day for why you shouldn't enter into a relationship, but at the end of the day you'll be very tired, and lonely, and not getting any sex, and not sharing your life with someone in a way where the whole is much, much more than the sum of the parts. You may think that's a reasonable way of living your life. JackofOz 23:16, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Well it's all subjective what you think. --Proficient 21:47, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Bempton

Does anyone have any knowledge on the underground base at Bempton, North Yorkshire, England. If so can they please tell me about it. Thanks for the help

My Google-fu is mighty! Check out this site as a starting point. There are more links on there. Tony Fox (arf!) 17:27, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Stock Valuation

Hi

Can you tell me how to value a stock?

Regards KK

Many web sites, like Yahoo, offer sections where you can get the trading value of a stock. Note that it changes minute to minute. Notinasnaid 15:08, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the response. I am not looking for trading price. How do I make sure that I am not giving much more than the stock is worth?

Regards KK

I value stocks by summing up the value of their future earnings. It is difficult to estimate future earnings though. If a company earns $1/share per year I would say it is worth about $10/share. If that same company is earning $1/share but I expect it will increase earnings every year by 10%, it might be worth $15/share. Sindweller 16:58, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Stock valuation is a complex pseudoscience. (And calling it "pseudo" just made 1,000 economists very angry at me.) If you want to own stock I recommend buying it from a reliable high-volume stock market. That way there are lots of people who continuously form a consensus price for the stock using all publicly known information about the company (i.e. the holy grail of an efficient market.) Weregerbil 20:09, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

People will tell you different things. Check web sites for the values. --Proficient 21:48, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Sock Valuation

Hi

Can you tell me how to value a sock?

Regards DB (—Daniel (‽) 17:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC))

Take it to the bazaars of Tiraq, where the wise old men tell you its worth from the ancient scriptures. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 18:13, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Just one? Depends who you want to sell it to. Does he have a patch over one eye and a parrot on his shoulder? DirkvdM 18:19, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Your first WP:SOCK will be worth, say, one day's block. Depends on how abusively you use it. Weregerbil 20:09, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for the response. I am not looking for trading price. How do I make sure that I am not giving much more than the sock is worth?

Regards DB (—Daniel (‽) 13:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC))

Sell them. AllanHainey 15:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Check the sock markets. - THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 08:34, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Nominal roll

Was there any type of Nominal Roll kept regarding civilians who joined the Woolseley Expedition as my Grandfather joined them in Northern Ontario? If so where may I obtain this information?

R Cooper <e-mail address removed, see Reference desk rules above>

do you mean the Wolseley Expedition? Jon513 19:54, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

How to become an investment banker

Wasn't sure where to put this so it ended up here: How do you become an investment banker? Does it include getting an MBA or...? Jack Daw 18:17, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

This video offers some great tips; beware of exploding cows and pirates.

Yes you should get an MBA if you possibly can. If you have not yet obtained an undergraduate degree, then a degree in accountancy would be the one to get in addition. I have never been an investment banker myself, but I knew someone who did. He was probably chosen by that particular bank as he had languages skills also. On the other hand Nick Leeson did not have a degree but started being a bank clerk and worked his way up. He said that there were a huge number of applicants for one of the jobs he got. I expect that MBA or no MBA, there will be competition, but even if you dont become an investment banker, accountancy qualifications or an MBA should lead to a well paid job of some kind. You could try looking for job vacancies to see what is required - I'm not sure where these would be advertised - you could try the Financial Times etc. You'd probably have to take junior job for several years.

Access

Who has access to the wikipedia database??

I need something of mine hacked because the password I chose for User:Qho now says the password is wrong.

How crazy the password list I set out for Qho does not work and I put down the 2nd password it the list of 4.

HELP please or is this a Q. for the ref. dsk.?

Missingno 18:35, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

On the log on page you can click "email new password" and that should solve all your problems. This is the reference desk, by the way. David Sneek 19:36, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Dear David

My password will not allow my to access my account.

It is like someone came in and changed my password.

Because I only had 4 passwords to chose from.

And any way password manager says what my password is yet it will not let me access my true account.

--Missingno·^(talk) _(contribs) 20:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

--Missingno^(talk) _(contribs) 20:03, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

And if you click "E-mail new password", do you get an email? You must have given an email address when you signed up... David Sneek 20:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It is not true that he must have given an email when he signed up. Many people don't, however it leaves them in situations like this. I suggest to all reading this to add an email address so it doesn't happen to you. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 23:15, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I think David's point was that if he wanted to have a new password emailed to him, he "must have given an email when he signed up." Otherwise it won't work. That's how I read it, anyway. –RHolton≡– 23:24, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Dear Missingno,

What do you mean when you say password list? When creating a user name, you should have had a free choice of passwords, anything you could type. Where is this list of 4 passwords? Skittle 17:27, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I took that to mean that Missingno has a list of 4 passwords that s/he consistently uses. digfarenough (talk) 17:49, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Robert Moton High School, Westminister, Maryland

Robert Moton High School was the only black high school in Carroll County, Maryland. What happened to it?

according to this it seems that they now allow white people to attend also. Jon513 20:31, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

SVG animation

Does anyone know of a free (doesn't have to be libre free, just gratis) program which can do SVG animation. Preferably one which isn't too complex. That said, it doesn't need to be idiot proof, just easy to at least learn to use. But even that said anything gratis which conforms to the SVG standard would be greatly appreciated. I don't even need it to have the entire SVG specs, as long as what it does have conforms to SVG standard. - ^Рэд_хот 20:41, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't look like it. Since most players and editors are still trying to get full static support, it doesn't surprise me that animation development in the format is still lagging behind. --Fastfission 21:39, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

That's what I thought. Thanks for confirming it. There was one that never moved near alpha. It was called Beez or something like that. It was good, but couldn't save or load!! But by good, I mean that the interface was easy, but had what would probably be the most needed features. - ^Рэд_хот 10:40, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Question

what is the URL for the site?

If you're referring to Wikipedia, it's http://en.wikipedia.org/ for the English. For any others, put its language code in place of en eg: fr for French and de for German. Is that what you meant? - ^Рэд_хот 21:43, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

If you're asking generically, the URL is the address of the website. It is contained in the address bar at the top of your browser (most likely Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Opera, or the like) and almost always begins http:// . Ziggurat 23:28, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

See URL. DirkvdM 11:41, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

www.wikipedia.org --Proficient 21:50, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

4 x 4 Auto Vs Manual

Which is better for 4WD off-roading: manual or automatic transmission?

Personally, I think I'd go for a manual, as you generally get more opportunity to vary the power and torque getting to the wheels with a standard than with an automatic, for those times when the back end is dangling off a cliff and you really, really want lots of low-end power. Tony Fox (arf!) 02:32, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't have to be that extreme. If your wheels are spinning in mud, an automatic gear would think you're moving along quite nicely and shift up gear. when you really want low gear. So I'd say a 4WD with automatic gear is a fake piece of crap for yuppies who just want to impress their neighbours. That said, the Jeep Wagoneer stems from 1963, so that was for yuppies avant la lettre.

Btw, if you have to ask this, you shouldn't do any serious off-roading and therefore don't need a 4WD, so there's no point in the question. So Why did I answer it then? Well, it could have been an academic question and anyway I like to spew what knowledge I have. :) DirkvdM 11:53, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Also the questioner could be new to offroading and looking to learn. DJ Clayworth 15:36, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Dirk should note that there are reasons to want 4WD without off-roading. I loved dropping mine into 4WD in the snow. Rmhermen 20:53, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Dirk is entitled to his opinion (...if you have to ask this, you shouldn't do any serious off-roading ...) but it is liable to bring the WP Ref Desk into disrepute. Nobody is born with all the knowledge they ever need, and it is certainly wise to ask such questions before just attempting potentially dangerous activities. If a person can't ask a simple question here, of all places, without getting abused, where can they ask? JackofOz 23:06, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Manual as long as you know how to operate one correctly. Nothing like the smell of burning clutch after you got stuck in the snow, mud, etc. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 23:11, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

It's that clutch burning that makes me think that auto could be better. What if the manual driver shifts gear while, say, crossing a flood. Does this open up the transmission allowing water to flood in? Plus DirkvdM, the original question seems like a fairly straightforward one to ask. Wheter or not you think that the questionner is worthy of owning a 4WD or not is completely irrelevant--Downunda 03:22, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

If you start a maneouvre like that you should try to get the gear right at the start so you don't need to switch gears because you need to keep the momentum. Which is another reason not to have automatic gear, because that might kick in at an inconvenient moment, but then Tony sort of already said that.

My derogative remark was inspired by the yuppie status of 4WD's and a feature like automatic gear is a clear sign of that. A 4WD is a special piece of equipment for special purposes. Most definitely not for ordinary on-road driving. Of course they can drive on roads, but that's not what they are primarily built for. Most people will never ever go off road and when they do they had better hire one that is really suited for the job. It's not like you're likely to run into such a situation (for snow use snow chains). To operate a 4WD you really need to know what you're doing. For example, accidentally driving in 4WD on a road will ruin the car and turn it into a gas-guzzler. And the clutch burning is another example. I once saw some cocky idiot do that and what pissed me off was that I had to share in the expense. Why would someone want a 4WD? If you have to ask a simple question like this, that means you haven't even come around to the important issues so it's probably not something you need. Then again, it may be that the questioneer doesn't plan on buying a 4WD and is just asking an academic question, in which case there is no problem at all. :) DirkvdM 08:29, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Manual, without a shadow of a doubt. Off roading requires a lot of control over torque and wheel speed. Engine breaking is a very important part of off roading which is not as effective with an auto and you can sometimes be required to start the engine with the vehicle in gear which is not possible on autos. Most 4x4's that are actually capable of going off road (i.e. not BMW's and the like) have at least two gear levers and some early Land Rovers have as many as four.

When does lottery have positive expected value due to rollovers?

I've only played the lottery once, as I believe its a stupidity tax.

However I am willing to play it when the expected value is more than the ticket price. That is, when the total lottery pay-out divided by the number of tickets bought is more than the ticket price. (However taking into account the chances of another rollover occuring may make this formula a little more complicated). I am referring to a UK-style National Lottery when the prizes are tax-free and paid out all at once.

The one occassion when I played the lottery was when there had been two or three rollovers so that the expected value was more than the ticket price. Surprisingly, I did win about £12 net of the ticket price. Although I am unlikely to win again, I am willing to play when there is a positive expected value.

So, how often do lotteries have a positive expected value?

And, whats the easiest and most convenient way to find out when the UK lottery(s) have a positive expected value? I don't watch much tv, but is there a website that specialises in this sort of thing for example? How many rollovers would it take for example?

I do not consider this a maths question so I'm putting it here.

Thanks --81.104.12.25 22:58, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

This is both a maths question and a sociology question. Let me explain. There are three variables and one constant (the ticket price). The control variable is the amount of money to be won. This increases with rollovers. An increase in this variable raises the amount of expected winnings per ticket if the the number of tickets remains the same. An increase also tends to raise the number of tickets sold. As the pot goes up the ticket value goes up. As pot goes up the number of tickets goes up. As the number of tickets goes up the ticket value goes down. You have to make a guess about how many people are going to actually buy tickets and how much this increase in sales offsets the rise in total winnings. There is no simple formula as there are multiple interdependent variables. —WAvegetarian•(talk) 23:11, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Numbers over 31 also increase your chance of a higher payout, but do not affect your chances of winning. Notinasnaid 09:25, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Care to explain that? AllanHainey 15:25, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

It's because a lot of people use their birthdays and other dates as their numbers. Therefore the numbers 31 or less are chosen by more people than 32 or over (numbers 12 or less are chosen still more frequently). Therefore when the winning numbers include many over 31 there tend to be fewer winners than when they are under 31. DJ Clayworth 15:35, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

For non-Brits, the National Lottery draws six numbers at random between 1 and 49. Tickets cost 1 GBP, and the probability of winning the jackpot is one in 13,983,816. Hence the expected return is positive if the rollover (jackpot not distributed from previous drwas) exceeds 14 million pounds, which happens occasionally. Physchim62 (talk) 15:32, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Good answer, but this dosnt take into account that you can also win lesser amounts if you match fewer numbers, plus as I said above there is also the possibility of there being another rollover.

Interesting. --Proficient 21:52, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Why do they succeed in scaring us away?

I am 59. and have 3 children and 2 grandchildren and I strive to stay abreast of technological progress, and am not frightened to buy new products such as DVDs, CDs, MP3s, and most recently, a new Mobile Phone (I live in Scotland - (Deo Gratia)) that incorporates Digital Photography, MP3, Walkman, Internet Access, Memory Sticks, and goodness knows what else. My point is - when showing all these technological attributes to my friends, colleagues and family members, they all say, without exception, "No way", life is too complicated already - "I already have to get my 7 years old grandson to change the time on my video for British Summer Time."

Am I alone in thinking that such progress, whilst being very appealing to me, who has the time (due to retirement), is designed so as to exclude people in my general age group who are simply not prepared to suffer (and I really do mean suffer) the frustration of merely trying to transfer a picture file from a Mobile Phone to a PC and or back again?

The technological consumer market must be extremely confident in its approach to antagonising such a large (and prosperous) sector of our communities by pursuing such blatantly ageist, non-conformist, non-uniformist, and discriminatory design, marketing and merchandising policies?

Oh, and before our WP experts in such protocols as SUITLY EMPHASI jump on the bandwagon; or our other friendly and carrot-juice-quenching experts in the linguistic arts and juxtapositions pertaining between closed brackets, quotes, commas and periods join them, please just let me say this, at 59 years of age, with a brilliant pension, no mortgage, and well-invested capital reserves, I don't give a shit.

I got the money that you sad b------s can only dream of.

Is it your common practice to insult people who you are asking for help from? In any case, I doubt very much that they are designed to exclude anyone; the unfortunate nature of technology innovation often just isn't user-friendly regardless of age (I know just as many non-techno-savvy 20-somethings as I do 70- and 80-somethings). Ziggurat 23:25, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

Er, S'cuse me Ziggurat - you have peremptorily missed the point (which was not too unexpected - given the immediacy of your response); You seem to have overlooked the fact that I was not actually seeking your own - or anyone else's help- I was merely making the point that the technogeeks out there in Alice in Wonderland are either in ignorance or arrogance forgetting that those non-techies such as myself, my family, and my friends are choosing by default NOT to invest our hard-earned financial resources in the magic and black arts of tech. stocks. If you need further illumination, please only ask. But please take at least 30 seconds before responding.

If you aren't asking for anyone's help then why are you writing this here at the reference desk? Hyenaste ^(tell) 23:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

hum...AOL was made for non-techies and it failed. what does that say? Perhaps there are less of you than you think. Jon513 23:51, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I think you meant FEWER!

And I think you meant "SUITLY EMPHAZI"! Sorry, I must be mistaken - I thought we were volunteering thousands of hours of our time to develop an encyclopedia for all people, tech-savvy or otherwise. However, it appears we are all here to force Scottish pensioners with huge chips on their shoulders (pun intended) to buy complicated mobile phones. For a 59 year old, you have a lot to learn about maturity, take it to Slashdot instead.

By the way, did you need help programming your VCR for British Summer Time? We may be able to help you with that. This reference desk is for helping people with questions, not for sharing your opinion on technological progress, insulting others and grammatical nit-picking (oh, who am I kidding, it is actually). --Canley 00:18, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

What exactly was the question in this post? All that money that you make must've lead you to the conclusion that you do not need to read or follow the directions of the reference desk, which, ironically, you WOULD need to be able to do in order to work all of your techno-gadgets. From a personal standpoint, though, I neither have a cell phone nor want one; it's just a matter of preference. Damn people CALLING me all the time really annoys me to no end, also I have no need for silly pictures. An IPOD is just as bad, gotta jam it into a pocket when you aren't using it; then you worry about dropping the stupid $300 thing and breaking it. I do carry a Ka-bar and a Spanish-English phrasebook, though, very handy where I come from: you use the knife to protect yourself and the phrasebook to talk to the Mexicans. --69.138.61.168 05:22, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Even though you haven't actually asked a question, let me attempt to answer anyway:

1) It isn't necessary to have a product that appeals to every demographic to be profitable. Devices that only appeal to the technical-savvy can still sell to millions of customers, and make billions of dollars, for their producers.

2) Now, had you asked the reverse question, "why don't more people write software and make hardware for the technically challenged", I think you would have a valid point, there is quite a market out there, which is currently underserved. In a classic example, most microwave ovens have a keypad and require you to enter functions in a specific order (read the manual) to get the damn thing to turn on. I, however, have a microwave with only two dials, one is the timer, and one is the power level. I close the door, turn the timer dial, and it goes. That's the way I like it. I can't stand when I go to use somebody else's microwave oven and have to "learn" how to use it...a device this simple should be intuitive to use. If it needs a manual, it's too complex.

StuRat 06:53, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I should also address some reasons why devices the manufacturer intends to be usable by everyone only turn out to be usable by the technically savvy. One reason is that the developers and engineers are themselves technically savvy and can't easily view things from the perspective of the novice. This can be solved by bringing in focus groups of potential customers and observing what confuses them. Another reason is language difficulties. The most basic label, on an ON/OFF switch, is frequently missing, as they intend to market the same product outside the English speaking world. You can get a 0/1 label instead, in an attempt to make it understood by all languages. This method is almost certain to fail, and individual stickers should be added to label the controls in each language. Instruction manuals are frequently written by foreigners with only a vague understanding of English or, even worse, using a direct translator from another language. The results are incomprehensible gobbledygook. They need to hire competent translators. Finally, size is becoming an issue. As devices get smaller and smaller, the controls become tiny and are used for many different things. My cell phone, for example, does not have an alphabetic keypad, so I have to hit the numbers 0-9 multiple times to get the letters A-Z out of them. I guess this is just a compromise we have to take to get the size down to what will fit in a shirt pocket. Perhaps when voice recognition actually starts to work properly, this issue will go away. StuRat 07:15, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

You may have a lot of money, but there are fewer of you. People with average incomes are so numerous that the total of their money exceeds yours. And even that doesn't matter, because you're not going to buy ten walkmans, are you? You count as just one consumer, no matter how much money you have.

If you'll allow me to be blunt (and judging by your style of asking you would or at least should) you're dying out. Why invest a lot of money in developing a product for which there will be fewer and fewer consumers and none in about 10 or 20 years time?

A better question would be "Why don't manufacturers write decent manuals?" That would be a lot easier. I suppose the answer is that consumers don't learn. They buy a product based on what the commercials tell them they can do with them, everytime forgetting that in the past again and again that turned out not to be true because they didn't understand. When buying a spiffy new product, how often do you ask to see the manual? DirkvdM 12:16, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Er, what's a mixed metaphor? Or a split infinitive? And is Suitly Emphazi now recognis/zed as accepted English? Or to put it another way, what's a Ka-Bar? Oh, and for those respondents who patently lack the art or science of basic comprehension and literacy (apart from StuRat who actually addresses the questions posed, for which I thank him profusely (he is clearly a prescient guy who adds value to this site), there are in fact 2 questions in my query - the first asks "Why do they succeed in scaring us away?", and the second is "Am I alone....." Over to the Geek Supporters...............—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.93.21.101 (talk • contribs)

First you say you weren't asking for help, now you say that you asked two questions. I won't attempt to answer your section header question, because it is rather senseless, but with the interpersonal skills I've seen displayed here, then yes, you probably are alone. A troll by any other name . . . . --LarryMac 21:03, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

o.o;;;;; --Proficient 21:53, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The title "Why do they succeed in scaring us away ?" contains a flawed assumption, that scaring away potential customers is their goal. They may, however, decide not to market to the technologically-challenged, because the cost of making devices which are easier to use would be more than the benefit in increased sales. I think globalization is partly to blame, as the larger potential international market makes the smaller, technologically-challenged market seem insignificant. StuRat 03:22, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't globalisation have the opposite effect? A group of consumers that was previously to small too bother about becomes large enough. Apple has a very small market share, but that doesn't matter because the market is so big. So globalisation should be an impulse for relatively (!) small companies. But reality is said to be quite the opposite. Assuming that that is true, why is that? There is an advantage to a company growing bigger (what's that called again), but that stops at a certain point and if you get even bigger it actually works to your disadvantage, which is why big companies often split themselves up into smaller companies. DirkvdM 08:44, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Longest Articles?

I am attempting to calculate how much, if anything, Wikipedia could save on storage and bandwidth charges by consistently using American, as opposed to British, spelling conventions. As a first step, I intend to take a sampling of articles and compare their character counts in English and American spellings. Longer articles would provide better data, but I have been unable to find a list of very long articles. Any suggestions of places to look for articles with high word counts?

Thanks!

--Jed Blue

Special:Longpages see also Special:Statistics. Jon513 23:48, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I doubt this would work, quite frankly. Wikipedia stores all edited versions, so a large change like this would use up even more storage space. Even if you mean that Wikipedia should enact a global replacement ("colour" -> "color" and so on) without storing the version/edit, the discussions and re-editing over this change would easily outweigh any possible storage space "saved", which I think would be miniscule anyway. By the way, are there that many words which use fewer letters in American spelling? --Canley 00:02, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

You're probably correct as regards storage space, but it might effect bandwidth, since the latest edits of pages are far more likely to be accessed than older versions. At this point I'm mostly just curious.--Jed Blue

According to the lists on American and British English spelling differences, only behove (behoove) and pernickety (persnickety) are shorter in Bristish versions than in American spelling. Hyenaste ^(tell) 00:13, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't think those words would appear very much! There's also common words like "color/colour" and "honor/honour" which the poster may be referring to. --Canley 00:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I misread your question. I thought you asked which words are shorter in BrE than in AmE. Hyenaste ^(tell) 00:31, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia couldn't consistently use American spellings though as it would be against policy to rename articles from their common usage, such as changing the Labour Party to Labor Party. AllanHainey 10:06, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Seems like an offensive and fatuous exercise. Other than that, no objections from me. --Tagishsimon (talk)

The differences in text-length between EE and AE versions would be minute and if there is just one image in an article that would make the text size relatively irrelevant. A change from EE to AE would decrease bandwidth usage by at most one permille.

Btw, am I feeding a troll here? DirkvdM 12:25, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Agreed - "color" and "cookie" for "colour" and "biscuit" may save space, but "teeter-totter" and "behoove" for "seesaw" and "behove" does not. I don't think there's much point in your experiment - it reeks of an attempt to prove AmE "superior" to BrE or maybe even vice versa. The difference is negligible.- THE GREAT GAVINI {T-C} 15:52, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Is "teeter-totter" specifically American? Maybe it is used in a few parts of America, but everyone in America understands "seesaw." (Of course, they'll understand "colour," too - but not everyone would understand, say, "lorry.") zafiroblue05 | Talk 20:42, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The savings in bandwidth by reducing the number of characters would almost certainly be outweighed by the additional comments from non-US contributors complaining about American Imperialism. DJ Clayworth 15:31, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Your quest will probably fail. :\ --Proficient 21:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Nd Wkpd cld sv vn mr spc b sng Hbrw spllng cnvntns. (Or what about txtspk?) Not going to happen. EdC 03:24, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Wll, jst n cnvntn, nml lvng t th vwls. DirkvdM 08:49, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Are chickens able to swim?

Yes, are chickens able to swim? This question really bugs me. I have heard reports of chickens drowning in buckets, but that makes them stupid, not unable to swim. Do YOU now? Jobjörn (Talk ° contribs) 02:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

There are reports of human beings drowning in a couple of inches of water. Does that make them stupider than chickens?--Anchoress 04:32, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I would say so, unless there was some sort of mitigating circumstance involved. --69.138.61.168 05:09, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The mitigating circumstance is usually that they are toddlers. But to answer the original question, no, chickens are not designed to swim and will stay out of water if they can avoid it. If you put a chicken in water it will no doubt make a valiant effort to struggle out, but it will not naturally swim, and it will probably drown simply due to panic. In fact, out of all the animal kingdom, land birds are some of the worst equipped when it comes to going for a dip, as their feathers will quickly become waterlogged.--Shantavira 10:19, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Budgerigars are definitely unable to swim. I saw a BBC documentary a few years ago where they showed one drowning after falling into a shallow stream. Sparrows don't seem to be able to either - I once had to rescue one from a bucket in my garden. --Kurt Shaped Box 12:18, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I originally read this as Bulgarians and was distraught. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 20:21, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

You can also drown in your own vomit. Being able to swim doesn't always help. DirkvdM 12:38, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I can't think of many situations where being able to swim in vomit would help. --Daduzi ^talk 13:02, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Then you just haven't been going to the right parties. --Allen 20:26, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Deaths in Friends

Hi,

I have read your artical on the TV sitcom FRIENDS and i noticed that you have made a section on all the births that have happened in the 10 series of FRIENDS. I was wondering if you have a list of the people that have died on FRIENDS.

Thank You

Mikey

I doubt if we do, but if you want to start it here's the only 2 I can think of: Mr Heckles and Ross & Monica's sweetex collecting Nanna. AllanHainey 15:28, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Add Phoebe's grandmother. Dead people referred to but not seen: one of Phoebe's mothers, Monica&Ross's aunt Silvia (Monica inherits the doll house). Are we counting animals? Ross's dog (though that was earlier), Old Yeller and Bambi :-) How sad is it that I know this? Weregerbil 17:40, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Joey's agent, too...what's her name? and i second Weregerbil's sadness and apply it to myself. --198.125.178.207 21:48, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Bambi didn't die it was his mum that was shot. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:57, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Wrestlers taken off the road?

I was looking threw a few Wrestling websites and i found one that has a list of the complete WWE Roster (both Raw and Smackdown) and i found that they have listed quite a few wrestlers as "taken off teh road" when there has been no reason why i was wondering if you could help me. The list goes as

Jimmy Kordiris (ref) Joey Mercury Kid Kash Matt Hardy Paul Birchill Super Crazy Tatanka The Great Khali

Also Rob Van Dam got caught with drugs, Because he is famous is he being let off by the police.

Other Questions

1) What is the extent of Chris Nowinskis head injury

and

2) WHat causes elevated liver enzyme count as that is why Bobby Lashley missed The Great American Bash.

Thanks

Is this about wrestling or some fake entertainment? DirkvdM 08:54, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Cricket Umpire

what should i do to become a cricket umpire?

Join an amateur club and offer to umpire occasionally? For professionals these guys might be able to help [33] --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 15:07, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

And here I didn't even know that crickets were into pro wrestling. Well, if they are, I suppose they need umpires/referees, don't they ? :-) StuRat 03:49, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

In England and Wales, the ACU&S is in charge of umpiring. Sam Korn ^(smoddy) 10:38, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Sawmill Gravy

While on vacation in Florida last week, I stopped to eat at Cracker a Barrell restaurant. I ordered breakfast and got a serving of biscuits and "sawmill gravy." I asked the staff why it was called "sawmill" and no one had an answer. I've checked a number of other places since and no one can link sawmill with gravy. Any thoughts?

Thank you,

Sammy Payne--15.235.153.107 17:27, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I've wondered that too. It's definitely a southern thing (the name, that is) and is a very simple gravy to make (just flour, milk, and sausage grease). Maybe people who worked at sawmills made their own gravy? Hardly a satisfying explanation, but I did a bit of searching and couldn't find much. Hope someone else comes up with something. digfarenough (talk) 18:04, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

The closest thing to an explanation I could find, and it's by no means authoritative, was on this page: "The workers at the sawmills apparently ate the sausage the night before, or for breakfast, and took the grits and sawmill gravy with them to eat for lunch.". --LarryMac 18:49, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I would have guessed it was called that because it resembled a mixture of sawdust and water, a common sight in a sawmill. StuRat 03:46, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

christian era

i am filling an application form and i dont know how to write date of birth in christian era could you please help me out.

Just write the year followed by CE or AD. For example: In 1215 AD AD 1215, the Magna Carta was issued. For more information on the meaning of these abbreviations, see the CE page and the AD page. Hope this helps. Dar-Ape 18:39, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Note, as in the AD article, that AD goes before the number, not after. --Jed Blue

I wouldn't think that there was really any need to put in either AD or CE. Most people will know what you mean for the year. Check the form to make sure that they don't ahve some special requirement as to the date format. Some will say (d=day, m=month and y=year) dd/mm/yy others mm/dd//yy and others yy/mm/dd. If the form does not say which to use then I suggest that you write the day using 1 or 2 digits, the year using 2 or 4 digits. And write the month using letters, either the full month or an abbreviated version such as Jan, Feb. That way there is no confusion to the reader as to what you mean/ CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 22:48, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Are you used to a different calendar system, such as the Islamic calendar or the Juche calendar? If so, let us know which year you want converted and which calendar you want it converted from, and we might be able to help. Ziggurat 02:25, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

British Empire

Was the British Empire the biggest that ever there was, EVER!? - Thanks Joel

Please use a header, and yes (geographically), unless you are looking for the largest contiguous empire, which would by the Mongol Empire. Dar-Ape 21:50, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I believe so. --Proficient 21:56, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

You can ask new questions by clicking on the "ask question" link at the top. In answer, I don't know, but I would be willing to bet that the Russian empire controlled more landmass. Did you mean by population? Landmass? Naval control? There is a great list of empires at empire, if you're curious. Wait! At British Empire and at World's largest empires, it says that the British empire did indeed control the largest landmass. Second was the mongol empire, and third (alas, my bet was poorly placed) was the Russian empire. --198.125.178.207 21:54, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

That's the British Empire in 1921, but the two biggest countries in it, Australia and Canada, were already independent by then. So that doesn't make sense. DirkvdM 09:03, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Appearances can be deceptive. Exactly when Australia ceased to be part of the British Empire is not clear cut. We became a sovereign nation in 1901, but we were far from independent in any practical sense. We had our own Foreign Ministers from 1901, but Britain conducted all Australia's external diplomatic affairs on our behalf until, I think, after WW2. The choice of Australia's Governor-General was always made by the British government until James Scullin put his foot down in 1930 and demanded the right to directly advise the monarch on this matter. George V was extremely unhappy, and even let his feelings be known officially, but he had no choice but to accept the advice of his Australian Prime Minister. (Other Commonwealth countries soon followed suit.) When Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, the then Prime Minister Bob Menzies considered that this automatically and immediately meant that Australia was also at war with Germany. There was no formal proclamation, no parliamentary discussion, just Menzies telling the nation it was his "melancholy duty" to inform us we were now at war. Nobody really thought anything of that at the time, Britain being the "mother country" for the great majority of Australians at that time. Menzies was also notorious for saying "Australia is British to the bootstraps", and he didn't cease being PM until 1966 (!), by which time we had welcomed huge numbers of non-British migrants from Europe and other places. Until 1986 (!!), the UK Parliament had the power to unilaterally amend (or even abolish) the Australian Constitution. Bob Hawke put a stop to that, by ensuring the passage of the Australia Act 1986. By this time, the British Empire had long since evolved into the Commonwealth of Nations, but it's all part of a pattern. JackofOz 11:55, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Moesha's final season

After Moesha's final season, I want Ciara, T.I., DMX, Countess Vaughn and all other rappers and actors to be in the series finale of Moesha.

Well, good for you. I hope get wish your wish. By the way, did you happen to have a question? JackofOz 22:56, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Your patronizing him and you said "I hope get wish your wish"....wow.

No, I wasn't patronising him/her. I'm sorry if it appeared that way. Better a kindly response like that than the vitriolic abuse such non-questions often elicit. JackofOz 01:11, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Moesha ended a number of years ago. Sadly, you won't be getting your wish. Mike H. I did "That's hot" first! 00:02, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Supercharging American Muscle

Can you Supercharge/Turbocharge traditional American Muscle car, such as the '70 Hemicuda or various Doge, Ford models? Most American Muscles appear to be stock while Japanese imports are stereotypically all supercharged--Jamesino 22:55, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes. 30 seconds on Google returned [This picture]. Superchargers are commonly used on American muscle cars to develop very high horsepower.

im a gril and i have a q about my boyfriend

ok im a 11 year old girl and i have a 10 year old boyfriend i was playing with his peepee for a wile and then he said i have to go pee realy bad so he went and used the bathroom when he came back into me bedroom he said this white stuff came out of my peepee and i said and. and then he said i tasted it and it tasted weird and it smelled like cleaner any way my q is what happand–——…°≈±−×÷←→·§ lisa--71.99.85.31 03:21, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure that I believe this is a real question, but just in case...it sounds like he either had an ejaculation or a pre-ejaculation after you got him sexually excited. In any case, it's nothing to worry about, just a sign that he is entering puberty. You had better be careful, though, I see you getting pregnant in the near future if you two go much further. StuRat 03:35, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Come on, Sturat... you don't actually believe this troll, do you? -- Mwalcoff 05:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't know for sure, Lisa, but here's a pretty good guess: You're a 52-year-old man living in a trailer park somewhere (not that there's anything wrong with that!) and you made the story up. --Trovatore 03:48, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

A dirty old man I understand, but what does this have to do with trailer parks? DirkvdM 09:14, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Mississippi River

What direction does the mighty mississip' flow? Ive heard conflicting stories. One particular one goes that Jim and Huck Finn went north to Ohio. Then Ive that the delta down in Louisiana demonstrates that it flows south. Whats the real story? By the way, what are some rivers that do flow north, opposite of the poles.

Thanks!!!

The Mississippi River flows south. The most famous river that flows north is the Nile, and others are on this list. Hyenaste ^(tell) 05:56, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

What's with the poles? DirkvdM 09:17, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Extra question : is the Mississippi river connected/fed by Lake Superior? If so, it effectively cuts one of the largest nations completely in half? (I asked this before but someone reverted the page back then because of an indecent post and destroyed mine as well).

You might want to take a look at Niger River! Evilbu 14:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Reliable online pharmacies?

Can anyone recommend a good online pharmacy that sells prescription drugs? Doing a google search is absolutely useless due to all the linkspamming and some of the sites I've been too look a bit 'suspect' to trust with my money (some of them look like outright scams). Anyone here used one that's actually delivered on its promises? Thanks.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.76.104.19 (talk • contribs)

Surely if they sell prescription drugs online they are not "good". The whole idea of prescription drugs is that they should only be available with a prescription, i.e. under the supervision of a doctor.--Shantavira 14:07, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Buzzing sound made with two front teeth

Is there a name for the sound that can be made by some people using the front teeth? It sounds like a buzzer. The tone can be changed aswell. In fact the only place i've publicly heard it is in Dane Cook's Retaliation (album) as "the sound of growing up".

For a sound clip: I could only find a clip of the sound in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjZG7wBA9Yc at ~0:31 seconds into the video (contains clips from Dane Cook's stand-up comedy)

-Chris

Martin Dillon (musician)

Does anybody know where Image:MartinDillonFidelio.jpg and Image:Martin DillonTails.jpg come from? The creator of the Dillion article had uploaded 5 pictures. 2 were copied from here and one was a CD cover shot or from here. All the images were tagged as GDFL-self but they are not. I tried Google pictures but they didn't seem to have them. Cheers. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 08:44, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Value of Wikipedia in human lives

Based on another discussion (which I don't wish to restart here) I wonder what the value of Wikipedia is compared to a human life. Of course an impossible question to answer, so let me rephrase it. Wikipedia has the potential to empower the powerless with knowledge, something that has in part caused the rise of cultures (like the invention of bookprinting). The technological advances that may result from the spread of knowledge may result in saving lives. So is Wikipedia a lifesaver? To give an example, a decent article on ors could spread knowledge that could save lives in cholera-ridden refugee camps (if someone there would have access to the Internet). DirkvdM 09:44, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

For value in lives, you don't ask how many lives it saves, but how many lives should be sacrificed for it.--Teutoberg 12:47, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Carelessness

How do I overcome carelessness? I want to know all about it.I am curently a student who is really careless.NO matter what i do, no matter how hard i try, i just cant seem to be rid of carelessness.I have tried being careful but its futile.I flunk my maths tests and exams just because of that.somebody please tell me all about carelessness please so i can tackle this annoying problem...

You've already taken the first step. Wanting to overcome a problem, and reaching out to others for help, is the key. JackofOz 11:16, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

People have a tendency to be careful with things that are important, or things that may have a dramatic negative consequence if they are careless. It may be important for you to become more aware of the results of your 'carelessness'. As for maths, I tutor high school maths and see careless mistakes all the time. If you want to get better at maths, you just have to learn to check as you go. Do each step and ask, "Is that right?" It may be slower, but there are no rewards for getting a wrong answer quickly.

From a physiological point of view, you could also try fish oil supplements or brahmi, which are supposedly good for the brain. BenC7 12:02, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

(after 3 edit conflicts!Grr....!!) If you mean that you are being careless in your exams, it means that you are not getting enough practise. One way to overcome carelessness in maths is to practise the sums or problems for a long time. While carelessness in everylife is almost totally due to trying to do things quickly or in a hurry. I'd suggest you do things step by step and not to worry about being careless. Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 12:07, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Practise mindfulness. A lot of people take up meditation to help them with exams, sport, or whatever.--Shantavira 14:02, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

copyright issues when making a fan page about a film

Hello,

me and my sister were joking about making a critical page about the movie Lion King. It could involve text, mixed with some pictures that are discussed from the movie. (BSplayer can take screenshot)

But is that legal?

Take a look at this snopes page :

[34]

As far as I know, Snopes has no dealings with Disney or anything. Is this legal? (apart from the fact that their picture is moving, and there is only one, this is what I had in mind)

So what do you think? Thanks,

Evilbu 14:05, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

New York Yankees/John Sterling

There is a bottle opener that has the voice of John Sterling. He talks about a game ending grand slam -- It is high, It is far. It is gone. etc. Does anyone know what game he is referring to? Linda Baskey

Paddocks(?) at Newmarket

A friend of mine flew his light plane over Suffolk just recently and took a photograph of Newmarket racecourse. I noticed a couple of fields near the helipad both of which had a small knot of trees right in the middle. There two more further away from the race course, so they must have a purpose! Could you tell me what it might be? As a former scientist I have an insatiable curiosity and would come personally, but I live in the wilds of Scotland.

Yours sincerely, P.Brown Bsc,Dip SAD.

You might be able to play around in google maps and get a better idea, or find an image which contains the two fields of interest. I'm not sure which you're referring to. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Germany/Israel

Can some one please tell me, what are the relations between Germany and Israel like? Do they support each other, does Germany do whatever Israel asks, and Do Israel recognise germany as a relavent international power? Do germany accept Israel as an entity at all? This all being in hindsight of WWII and the fall of the Eastern Block. Thanks

Hi,

good question. I cannot prove overview (someone else will definitely), but this might be interesting : [[35]]

And let us not forget about the Munich massacre in 1972 : [[36]] claims they agreed to release the prisoners during a hijacking that was only a show.

Elchanan Tenenbaum tells about German negotiating for the 2004 swap between Israel and Hezbollah. Evilbu 15:08, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Nazi

when Flying into Poland last year i noticed that near to Katowice Airport there is a forest, The forest appears to be evergreen, exept for a collection of trees grown in a swastica formation, thus producing a clear red swastica in the forest, that could only be seen from the sky. Can someone please tell me when this was done, why it was done ans why it has not been reversed by cutting down the trees and eradicating the legacy of the Nazi scum. Thanks guys and dolls.

That's odd, Germany has something like that too: Forest swastika

Evilbu 15:00, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

That is almost exaclty what i saw in Poland, But no one has cutt down any of them, it was Very, very very obvious, and huge.

Just wanted to point out concerning my above question, that i hold NO hostility to any German man or woman under 60, but the rest voted, or should have.

Perhaps people objected to wasting trees on environmental grounds. Notinasnaid 15:37, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

I think I found the airport[37] but I can't spot the trees. The satellite data drop in resolution to the East which is where planes seem to land from. Weregerbil 15:55, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Crisps/Chips

I used to each fish flavoured chips in south africa. They stank! But were Lovely! they were called Creols and i assume they came from Maritiaus (spelling) can any one tell me where i can get them in the Uk?

How much does an MH-53J Pave Low helicopter cost?

Would the government ever sell a demilitarized one to a civilian?

Well MH-53 Pave Low says it cost $40 Million US. And it's a version of the CH-53 Sea Stallion and CH-53E Super Stallion. Maybe Sikorsky Aircraft would sell one. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk)

Dinosaurs' Nervous System

Can someone tell me what we know about the nervous systems of dinosaurs? For example, would they respond to drugs the same way, or did they have completely different receptors then animals today?

Shark eats Gorilla

In the Simpsons episode Lisa the Vegetarian there's a classic scene where a gorilla is reaching out for a banana over a lake, and a shark just surges up and eats it. Where can I get a screencap of this? Short of buying the actual DVDs?

Peterborough Lift Lock

Greetings:

Does anyone know what the address of Peterborough Lift Lock? I need it in order to get directions from my home to Lift Lock on Google Maps.

Regards,

Shuo Xiang 17:25, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Name of a song

I'm trying to remember the name of a song. I don't remember much about it, except that I know it was on MTV, and had the lyrics "Thanks for making me finer", or something like that. Does anyone know the name of that song? Thank you.--Summonmaster13 17:33, 3 August 2006 (UTC)