Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2022 February 9

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February 9

Why doesn't Sweden use the Euro?

I am curious as to why Sweden has not chosen to use the Euro as their national currency. -Kelly — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.160.125.123 (talk) 09:01, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

According to the Sweden article, it's because the people voted against it. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:05, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Indeed. I suggest you read Sweden and the euro and 2003 Swedish euro referendum.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:10, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

In theory, being outside the euro zone allows Sweden to set its own monetary policy. However, in practice it does not; interest rates mirror those of the euro. More, by being outside, Sweden has no “seat at the table,” i.e., no policy voice. In the end, it is a political decision. DOR (HK) (talk) 23:24, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Norway (not in the EU), Denmark and Sweden have their own similar Krona system. Seven other EU countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania) are also not in the Eurozone. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City (all small states outside the EU) use the euro with a monetary agreement: and Kosovo and Montenegro use it unilaterally. Britain had a brief and disastrous dally with the ERM, see Black Wednesday. MinorProphet (talk) 05:40, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

It's only from comparatively recently that exchange rates haven't been fixed against each other (it may be that some currencies are fixed against other specific currencies). Previously a government announcement on "devaluation" (remember Harold Wilson's "pound in your pocket"?) or "revaluation" was necessary to effect a change. 2A00:23C3:FB80:7C00:C495:3CE7:3180:2449 (talk) 13:40, 13 February 2022 (UTC)

Pocatello public flag design contest - copyrights?

The current Flag of Pocatello was created after a process of collecting suggestions from everybody who wanted to take part, which resulted in 709 flag design suggestions. The page publishing all of them is still available in the Wayback Machine (barely loading due to the many images). Anyway: What is likely the copyright situation for these flag proposals? Is the copyright probably still with the creators? Or did Pocatello demand the copyright of each proposal to be signed over to the city? I assume the latter is the case, as otherwise they could hardly have extracted and combined elements of the proposals for the final design. But I want to be sure. --KnightMove (talk) 16:06, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

The Copyright Act of 1976 was the major change to US Copyright law. Prior to 1976, works had to have affixed on them a notice of copyright (see Copyright Act of 1909). The removal of this requirement means that once a copyrightable work is in a fixed, tangible form, the copyright exists and is presumed to be held by the creator; unless it is a work for hire, or unless they transfer the rights to another entity. If the latter two conditions are not met here, then the creators retained their copyright. If they relinquished their control of the copyright as a condition for submitting to the contest, then those conditions would apply. --Jayron32 17:33, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

The official rules for submitting a design, as formulated in 2016, contained the following clause: "All entries become property of the City of Pocatello and the author/creator relinquishes all rights to the design. The City reserves the right to alter, modify, or combine designs to create an official City of Pocatello flag."^[1] I interpret this as implying that by submitting a design, its creator transferred their copyright to the City of Pocatello, which then (presumably) is still the copyright holder.  --Lambiam 20:28, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Thank you both! --KnightMove (talk) 06:37, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

History of Malta Occupation

Hello,

I am investigating the history of the Maltese government/occupation and whether it has ever been occupied/conquered by other countries or taken over by other countries to be used as a strategic military area or for other reasons. I have heard that because of its location in the Mediterranean that throughout history it has been used as a strategic military area for countries in times of war and I am trying to understand the validity of this. If you could help that would be great. Many thanks, Traci

69.62.241.234 (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 19:18, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

History of Malta is a good start for your research. Malta has only been an independent nation state since 1964, and as such was frequently used by groups as a base of military operations, way back to the Knights Hospitaller in the 16th century, and before them, by the the Normans and before them by the Arabs, and before THEM by the Romans, and before THEM by the Phoenicians/Carthaginians. You've got a lot of history to work with there. --Jayron32 19:39, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Although independant in 1964, there was a considerable British military presence in Malta afterwards. A series of defence agreements continued until 1979 when the last British forces left, an event commemorated by the Freedom Day national holiday. Malta remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. See also Malta–United Kingdom relations. Alansplodge (talk) 11:24, 10 February 2022 (UTC)