Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 December 27

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December 27

jOHWAYNE QUOTES

IN WHAT MOVIE DID JOHN WAYNE TELL A DOG TO PLAY DEAD? THE DOG DID PLAY DEAD BUT WAS STILL WAGGING HIS TAIL. JOHN TOLD HIM "DEAD DOGS DONT WAG THEIR TAIL" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.20.52.55 (talk) 01:28, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

You hit your caps lock at the "H" of Wayne and left it on. Posts are signed with 4 x ~.Britmax (talk) 14:03, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

There's an "H" in Wayne? (John Whayne, perhaps?)  :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 19:21, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

There's an H in "John" and the moral is to read the post rather than pressing "save" before answering the door. Britmax (talk) 23:17, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

A John Wayne movie in which a dog played a prominent part was Big Jake, but I don't recall if the scene you describe was in it. —Kevin Myers 20:45, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Poker question

In a non community hand of poker, is 4 aces with a king kicker = to 4 kings with a ace kicker? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gadgettools (talk • contribs) 04:40, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

No, the kicker only comes into play in a tied hand. Since there is only one way, in a non-wild game, to make four aces, the kicker is irrelevent. All four-aces hands always beat all four-kings hands. Kickers only come into play in games with pairs or two-pairs when there is a tie that needs to be broken, or in community hands where cards are shared, or in wild-card games, where multiple four-of-a-kinds of the same card are possible. Kickers are never needed in anything better than two-pairs for non-wild, non-community games of standard poker (5 or 7 card draw or stud games). --Jayron32 04:46, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Oh, and to correct something else you said, four-of-a-kind ranks below the straight flush. The most powerful hand in a (non-wild) game is a "royal flush" or A K Q J 10 of the same suit. --Jayron32 04:49, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

If you have 4 aces with a king kicker vs. 4 kings with an ace kicker, it's time to break out a new deck. Clarityfiend (talk) 04:53, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Note, the OP originally had a longer post, but edited most of it out for some reason. The removed sections make my comments a bit nonsensical, given that I was responding to stuff that the OP had said when I answered them. For one example, Clarityfiend's comment was already dealt with by the OP in their original comments, but they removed them. --Jayron32 05:05, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

This is also answered at List of poker hands. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:31, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Fictional corporations with ideological goals

I am fascinated with fiction that involves some kind of non-governmental entity, mostly corporations, that conduct espionage and covert operations normally relegated to the CIA in movies or MI6 in James Bond to achieve something more than profit. I suppose the corporation in 007: Nightfire, the IBBC in The International, or the organization from Burn Notice would be three. Can anyone give me some more examples? --Melab±1 ☎ 19:43, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Starkwood in 24 (season 7). --Viennese Waltz 20:14, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

The firm in the film Inception are doing this sort of thing to try take over another firm or something I believe. The article description gives a bit of an explanation but that's one that i've seen recently that comes to mind (though until read plot summary my memory assumed the main company were government based). ny156uk (talk) 21:07, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

The Centre from The Pretender (TV series). Royor (talk) 07:45, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

This figures prominently in the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, especially in Green Mars. Meelar (talk) 20:23, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

I remember watching Alias a few years back, which had a similar theme. Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 22:50, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

how can i add info to an exsisting page

hi i was wondering hoe to update info on a wiki site about pretty boy Floyd — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.179.35.22 (talk) 21:18, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

You go to the Pretty Boy Floyd article, and either pick Edit at the top to edit the entire article, or above a section to just edit that section. (I'm assuming you want to edit the English Wikipedia article, but it should work in a similar fashion at any wiki.) StuRat (talk) 21:27, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

English football abbreviations

In the various English football league season tables, the teams are abbreviated to three letters across the top. I noticed that there are no common abbreviations across several levels of leagues, and over many years, although I haven't checked them all obviously. Are these official abbreviations, comparable to the IOC or FIFA country codes, or were they the creation of the article or table creators, or perhaps the football WikiProject? Either way, is there a comprehensive list of these abbreviations somewhere? (Similarly, the same type of abbreviations are on tables for leagues in other countries, such as La Liga in Spain, or Fußball-Bundesliga in Germany. Same questions relating to them.) Thank you. — Michael J 22:54, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

I would venture (having lived in the UK with a lifetime of football result reading to draw on) that in the absence of a standard authority on such things any variation derives from editors copying the style of the publication from which they usually obtain their football results. The abbreviations vary from newspaper to newspaper and between other sources in a similar way and our open editing policy here probably does the rest. So there is unlikely to be a "standard" list anywhere. Britmax (talk) 23:07, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

I think the abbreviations change dependent on which 2 teams are playing too. If Man United and Man City are playing they may show "Man U 1 - 1 Man C" but if Man United were playing West Brom it may show "Man 1 - 1 WBA". ny156uk (talk) 10:42, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

No, it would never say just "Man". United and City are always shown as "Man U" and "Man C" even where no disambiguation is required. --Viennese Waltz 11:03, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

It's a sporting tradition in some places never to resort to undisambiguated terms. AFL players, when talking on TV or radio about the clubs they play for, always but always refer to their "football club", never just their "club". We sort of know they're football clubs they're talking about, not tiddlywink clubs. But that's sport for you. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 18:46, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

We see that a lot in the USA also. Reporters and players will say "this football team" or whatever. Less so with baseball, which is still the "national sport" in some sense. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:19, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

They also often mention that they are playing "the game of football", in case we didn't realize it. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:10, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Maybe they just like saying the word "football". I've also heard "this game of baseball", but less often. Possibly "confirmation bias", but just "ball", as opposed to "baseball" has always been very common. If you say you're a ballplayer, it's baseball by default. Otherwise you have to specify the sport (football, basketball, soccer, rugby, etc.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:48, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

All interesting information, thank you, but I was referring specifically to the results tables on the Wikipedia articles about each football season. Each club is identified by a unique three-letter all-caps abbreviation (e.g., Aston Villa is AST, Manchester United is MNU, etc.) that carries over from season to season, and from level to level when teams are promoted or relegated. Someone obviously created a comprehensive list, I just wonder who, if it is an official FA list (like those of the IOC or FIFA), or is it unique to Wikipedia? Either way, does it exist in list form anywhere? — Michael J 19:37, 29 December 2011 (UTC)