Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 April 21

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 21

The Onion: U.N. Evicted From Headquarters

U.N. Evicted From Headquarters

What's the joke here? Usually something like this works by role reversal, playing up the discordance of associating something with its apotheosis, but I don't get why the U.N. HQ is particularly vulnerable to a homeless/messiness joke. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.70.226.85 (talk) 11:21, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

I think the gag is just "The UN is ostensibly an important world governing body, but really they're powerless and nobody pays attention to them." Wouldn't it be funny if we took that one step farther an made them completely poor and forgotten? Well, apparently not, but it was worth a try.

I think the messiness stuff just goes along with extreme poverty and eviction in the big city. APL (talk) 14:07, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

I think you are probably right. Thanks! 83.70.226.85 (talk) 02:54, 23 April 2011 (UTC)

Super Injunction

Can you please tell me the names of people who have taken out super injunctions? Jeremy Wordsworth (talk) 12:02, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Wonderfully ironic question... ╟─TreasuryTag►UK EYES ONLY─╢ 12:04, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

• Fred Goodwin ref
• John Terry ref
• Howard Donald ref
• Trafigura ref

-- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 13:42, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

• Tiger Woods, Colin Montgomerie [1]. (John Daly is said to have sought one too). Nanonic (talk) 18:12, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
• Wayne Rooney --TammyMoet (talk) 18:32, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

So let me get this straight. A judge issues an injunction, but doesn't want anyone to KNOW that he's issued an injunction, so he follows that up by issuing a super-injunction against reporting the injunction itself. When does the recursion end? What protects the super-injunction? Is this something like double-secret probation? --Jayron32 20:04, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Well the next stage up seems to be a contra mundum which applies to everyone, not just the press. Nanonic (talk) 20:17, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

We could tell you, but we'd have to kill you. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.111 (talk) 23:32, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

baseball question about earned runs

In major league baseball, who has given up the most earned runs before recording his first out of a season (by the team not him individually)? Doesn't matter if the pitcher was a starter or a relief. Googlemeister (talk) 18:58, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

So what you're asking for is which pitcher has the longest streak of having an undefined Earned Run Average, being that he keeps acruing the top half of the fraction, but never manages to produce a non-zero number for the bottom half? An interesting sabermetric/mathematical conundrum to be sure... The question may be answerable, but not likely by anyone who isn't an employee of Elias Sports Bureau, since you'd need access to the game logs for all of MLB history, and the wherewithal and time to cull through them, collect the data, analyze it, and produce the necessary list of such pitchers. I have no idea if anyone has done so yet, but its not a trivial task, which is why all of the major TV networks employ Elias to do it for them... --Jayron32 19:59, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I am looking for the highest ERA a pitcher has ever had to start off his season that is a real number, and only post 1901. Googlemeister (talk) 20:19, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Well, same difference, because once he records his first out, he would go from having the most runs with an undefined ERA to the highest ERA to start a season. Of course, you never said he had to record an out. Such a pitcher could simply have allowed the most runs by your criteria, and still never record an out for the season... Which would leave him with an undefined ERA... --Jayron32 20:36, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

One lead: Andy Larkin has the worst ERA for any pitcher with a minimum of 100 IPs. Perhaps he hold the record you seek as well... --Jayron32 20:41, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Worst ERA (10.64) for a pitcher w/ a minimum 50 innings, as of 2009: Roy Halladay![2]

This might be do-able at the Baseball Reference Play Index. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:28, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Using the Play Index's Pitcher Streak Finder, I found there have been four pitchers who had outings in which they gave up at least 10 earned runs in 3 or fewer innings of work in their first game of the season since 1919. I'm not a subscriber to BR, so I don't see the names of those pitchers. But if you are, you may be able to look at the gamelogs and see if any of those pitchers (or any other pitchers who had terrible first-game outings) gave up most of their runs before recording a second out. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:33, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Joe Cleary has a lifetime ERA of 189.00 (7 earned runs in one-third of an inning)[3]. Jeff Ridgway matched that in 2007, but pitched in other years. Google books says Bill Wight started the 1956 season with a 216.00 ERA (8 runs in one-third of an inning), sonething confirmed by B-Ref's game logs! 9 runs in one-third inning would be a 243.00 ERA. I haven't found evidence of a major leaguer ever reaching that exalted level, but I'.ve found this article [4] about a minor leaguer who achieved this in 2009 ! --Xuxl (talk) 13:17, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

producer merrie howard star trek the next generation

I may possibly be related to merrie howard.Some time ago i wrote to the star trek fan club in colorado.Six months later i got a letter from a writer of the next generation.He told me to contact her at paramount studios.I did but my letter came back.Is there someway to get in touch with her.I clicked to read her bio on this site and it was empty.Is there possibly a fan club for merrie that i could possibly get some info.Thank you Bev 06australia (talk) 20:22, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Paramount Pictures is at 323-956-5000. Since you have the writer's name, ask the operator to connect you to the writer. If the writer does not have an office there, ask for the writer's contact information. If I were you, I wouldn't tell the story about the fan club or writing the letter; just tell them the writer contacted you about something, and you need to get in contact with him or her. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:00, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wikia, has a page about here here, and her IMDb page is here. That shows her latest activity as being a producer on ABC's The Whole Truth (TV series). There's every reason to believe she has nothing to do with Paramount now; ST:TNG hasn't been in production there for 17 years. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:29, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

learning the mellophone

I have before may to start learing the mellophone(brass instrament) okay...so could anyone help me understand parts of the instrament or the notes you play on it? I havent gotten it yetso tell me what does it sound like? what are the notes?  :)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Mofuis (talk • contribs) 21:48, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

A look at the article Mellophone may be a good start. HiLo48 (talk) 21:55, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

You can easily find videos of people playing them, i.e. [5]. As the article states, modern mellophones are typically keyed in F, in the same range as the French horn. The fingering is identical to that of a trumpet, though some interval lower (most modern trumpets are B flat tuned). If you play either trumpet or French horn, the transition is not particularly difficult. In fact, playing any brass instrument greatly aids the learning of a different brass instrument, though the trumpet and horn are closest in range and Embouchure required to play the mellophone. Buddy431 (talk) 03:57, 23 April 2011 (UTC)