Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 September 23

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous 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.

September 23

Burning a volleyball

Purely theoretical, but assuming an Olympic-regulation volleyball in a gym with a constant air temeprature of 20 degress Celsius and a barometric pressure equal of that at sea level, how much of an impact force or energy would a player need to hit the ball with in order to set the ball on fire from air friction? Thanks. Acceptable 02:37, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

A heck of a lot. Actually, if you hit it with enough force to accelerate it to such speeds, it would just explode, you would need to gradually accelerate it in a vacuum, then have it strike the air, much like a meteor hitting the atmosphere. StuRat 03:48, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

You'd probably get a more exact answer on the science desk. Exxolon 15:35, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

K thanks, i'll ask again on the Science Desk. Acceptable 16:08, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Madden NFL 2008 PC

Is there a way to turn of the salary cap in Madden 2008. Just so i can freely sign players. Any files that might help.--logger 04:23, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Jacqueline Wilson

What is the surname of Tracey, the heroine of Jacqueline Wilson's books? --124.121.46.128 04:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you thinking of The Story of Tracy Beaker? Xn4 05:10, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

No, Tracey not Tracy. Thank you very much. --124.121.50.210 05:16, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

She has written scores of books. Which one(s) are you referring to?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:34, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• The heroine of Wilson's books is called Tracy, not Tracey. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:36, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Digging in dirt

What is a good machine that will dig/burrow through dirt and dig up a backyard? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.121.105.34 (talk) 05:00, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

One of the very best is a pig. Xn4 05:12, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

A backhoe isn't just a prostitute who submits to unconventional sex acts. StuRat 05:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

How big is the backyard? Actually, the right machine depends on the intended purpose and end result. For gardening, you'll probably want a rotary tiller; general heavy digging would call for a backhoe and installing underground pipes might call for directional boring. 152.16.59.190 05:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Are you digging a large hole, a narrow hole, a deep hole or just turning over all the soil? (Backhoe, trencher, posthole digger/auger, rototiller) Rmhermen 05:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Or if you are thinking about doing some gardening, a garden trowel might be what you want. Dismas|^(talk) 02:39, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Or a Bobcat compact excavator? Of course, if you're in the UK, you'll want a JCB instead, which you can operate whilst listening to JCB.

Atlant 15:01, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Awwwww... that video brings me to my happy-place... :) --Mdwyer 21:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You're not alone.

Atlant 00:54, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

help

how can i translate chinese to english —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.90.43.175 (talk) 05:57, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Try Babel Fish or any other online translation tool. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.208.110.207 (talk) 06:55, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Though you might want to try to get it to convert the result back to English to see the kind of quality you are getting, I get the impression that automatic conversion between European and East Asian languages doesn't work that well. The alternatives, of course, are to learn Chinese or to hire a professional translator. Bistromathic 11:32, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Babelfish is good at conveying the core meaning, but it has light-years to go on translating grammar and context. Every real conversation I've used it for, the other paty told me my grammar was atrocious. :-) Saturn 5 00:49, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3

I know that this game upon release was absolutely berated for it`s numerous errors. My question is did they actualy release a patch fixing these errors and if so where would I find such a patch in it`s most recent form. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.111.107.4 (talk) 10:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

The most recent patch is here — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 10:37, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

If I may, though, even with the errors fixed...it's just not a good game. After 3 days I gave up trying to figure out how to build a ride exit on one of the attractions - it simply would not let me, thus I was unable to make the dang thing work. I was much happier with RCT2. Kuronue | Talk 15:41, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

"Fonts"

Yeah I would like to change the font of what I've been writing with on Wikipedia. I think everyone calls it a IB. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.44.155.52 (talk) 11:29, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to take a real guess here and assume that by the above you are meaning that you don't want your IP address to be your "name" on Wikipedia that is displayed when you are editing. All you have to do is just click the "Sign in / create account" button at the top to pick your own name.

Now if you really mean "change the font" as in "change what style the text is displayed on Wikipedia," you can do that, but it requires you to create an account in any case, and then modify a style sheet for your account (I think you can do that pretty easily under your account preferences). --24.147.86.187 15:30, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like they're referring to the <small> font the bot uses to sign their IP for them. In which case the answer is simple, sign your own posts by typing 4 ~ or ~~~~, and the bot won't sign your name for you anymore. --VectorPotential^Talk 19:02, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Another possibility is that what you want to do is change your browser's default font; look for a menu option "Preferences" or the like. —Tamfang 04:11, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

lost DSL filter

We lost four DSL filters when returning a modem to a store to get a new one. The DSL filters are provided by the ISP. We don't have money and time to get a new one. What should we do? Should we go back to the lost and found at the store and say, "We lost the four DSL filters that the ISP provide us." and because we want it back. Jet (talk) 16:48, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Well it's worth a try. Good luck.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 18:02, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

They aren't insanely expensive - I bought a bunch at Radio Shack for something like $10 each. But going back to the store and asking if they kept them is worth a shot. You certainly need one for every telephone in the house - without them, your DSL will be flakey. You could also (I suppose) call up you ISP and claim to have added more phones - maybe they'll give you some filters for nothing. But you can't do without them - that's for sure. SteveBaker 18:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

The store is Best Buy. Jet (talk) 18:49, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Explain that when you returned the modem you returns X filters and that when it was collected they were not here. Large firms often have very good policies on things like this (it is often cheaper for them to do things in good will than to risk a disgruntled customer). I find your best chance is not to be angry but to be assertive, not to be aggressive and also not to be accusing. It is more than likely that they got lost rather than anything else - like the above user says they aren't pricey. Alternatively if that's no luck - ask friends. I know a lot of people who only got a phoneline for the internet and so they tend to have only 1 filter in use and therefore have the rest from their ISP spare somewhere in the house. ny156uk 20:03, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I mean that I put the DSL filters to the box and return the box to the customer service at the store and I didn't have time to check it. Jet (talk) 22:03, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't mean "Buy a new one" because we lost it and maybe we can't get it back. Jet (talk) 22:04, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

They can't help me. I can only claim it as my lost property or buy a new set of DSL filters. Jet (talk) 04:10, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Removing beer smell from fabric

OK, this is a random question. I took my nice Tamrac waterproof backpack to a party and got most of a pint of ale spilled over it. It's dried out now, isn't too sticky, but absolutely reeks of beer. I don't want to properly wash it, because the bag has lots of padded compartments and I'm worried they'll just absorb water (luckily the beer only got the top, unpadded compartment wet). Question: is something like Febreze likely to be able to "remove" the smell, even on a waterproof fabric? Rawling4851 16:55, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't know anything about Febreze, but if I were you I would try wiping it all over with a damp cloth (rinse frequently) before trying out any chemicals, as you don't want to compromise the waterproofing.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 18:05, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

In my experience Febreze works its magics on all smells under almost all conditions, and I would give it a try. SaundersW 18:33, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I suggest hand washing the parts that had beer spilled on them, then dry it with a hair dryer or space heater. Beer, being mostly water and alcohol, should readily dissolve in water alone. StuRat 18:46, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Try washing it - (as I always say) - use a shower head and do it by hand. Why would there be a problem with getting a waterproof bag wet?!87.102.17.252 18:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC) You could just leave it outside and wait for it to rain.87.102.17.252 18:59, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

• I've never tried it, but Dawn works for everything else, so it probably works for this too. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 18:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I'll probably try washing it with water first. It's only waterproof from the outside, and I'll probably manage to get some water in if I'm actually washing it, I'm just worried about water soaking into the internal padded bits. Rawling4851 19:47, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I've cleaned a backpack with foamy bits using a shower head - nothing bad seemed to happen - and if the foam gets wet - I'm sure it will dry out.87.102.21.91 12:25, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

You could take it to a dry cleaners if you really don't want to wash it in water. Neil ム 15:07, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

TAQWA acronym

im running madrisa as well as school syllabus.i want to name the institution. i have a word in my mind TAQWA. there are three abreviation of this word in my mind —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.99.175.191 (talk) 16:58, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

203.99.175.191 17:06, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Im running madrisa as well as school syllabus.i want to name the institution. I have a word in my mind TAQWA. there are three abreviation of this word in my mind

• true aims quranic wit apex
• true aims quranic ways acadmey
• true aums quranic ways apex acadmey.

I want you to examine these words or phrase and suggest me what is the better one or beter one else of these. if there is any other then let me know.

If I understand you — You're starting a school, the school needs a name, you want the name to have the acronym TAQWA. Well, of those that you suggest, I think True Aims Quranic Ways Academy is best because it makes some sense. —Tamfang 06:55, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Audio mixing question

I have a recording of someone speaking where the microphone was placed below and behind the subject. The result is that while the recording is clear, it sounds a little out of the way, a little less "direct" than had it been placed more in front of them. What sorts of things can I do with this audio to make it sound a little less murky? It somewhat sounds like it was recorded in a tin can. I'd like to "brighten" it a bit. I have access to various professional audio tools, I'm just not sure which sorts of things will help such a recording. --24.147.86.187 17:47, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

The human mouth is shaped (inside and out) to project sound forwards. Thus the microphone did not pick up a large portion of the audio energy that was emitted. You can experiment with omni- and uni- directional mikes to try and get better pickup, but I think you will want to have the mic in front of the speaker to avoid the murky sound quality. (Thank you sinebot) Saturn 5 00:46, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I know the root cause of it. I'm just asking about after the fact processing that can improve the current recording. --24.147.86.187 04:59, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

I imagine that you lost a lot of the high-ends stuff. You MIGHT be able to cut the lower frequencies and boost the higher frequencies, but that's just going to bring the noise floor up. Will you have the chance to re-record it? --Mdwyer 03:27, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

This sounds like what I will play with. It's just a small, in-house job, so I'm not going to bother re-recording it. --24.147.86.187 04:59, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

Another issue is that a large portion of the sound recorded is likely to be echoes, perhaps more than the direct sound. You would need a rather fancy electronic filter to detect and reduce (or eliminate) the echoes. StuRat 16:55, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

No doubt you could equalize it. I'm no kind of knowledgable, but I'd start by boosting a wideish band of frequencies around 3k or so and see where it goes from there. Gzuckier 18:33, 25 September 2007 (UTC)

brokerages

Say out of all the Fidelity customers, there are a total of 1 millions shares of IBM in their combined portfolios.

Has Fidelity actually purchased 1 millions shares, or could it have gotten away with just buying 800,000 and investing the rest of the money in its own vices? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.217.199.246 (talk) 23:34, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Public funds are (usually anyway) subject to varying levels of scrutiny. While it is possible for a fund manager to not follow the intentions of the contributors, with Enron type scandals in the news lately, that would be begging for the SEC to come calling. Saturn 5 00:41, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, there is such a thing as short selling. Sooner or later, though, the accounts do have to balance. Gzuckier 18:30, 25 September 2007 (UTC)