Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 December 8

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December 8

Ditto

<moved, here you go[1]> Julia Rossi (talk) 00:34, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

You should ask this as the Entertainment desk. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:01, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

White Representatives representing majority-black districts in the US Congress

The article on Steve Cohen states that he is one of two such representatives currently in Congress, but does not list the other, nor does its reference. I wasn't able to find out who the other one is using Google, either - the closest I could find was Chris Bell, whose district became majority-black after Tom DeLay's infamous Texas redistricting, but he was defeated in the 2004 primary. Anyone know who the second Representative is? -Elmer Clark (talk) 02:08, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, this New York Times article seems to contradict the article's reference and claims that Cohen is the only such Representative. It could be that the reference and our article are just wrong. If no one comes up with a second Representative, I'll bring this up on the talk page. -Elmer Clark (talk) 02:18, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It may be true if you consider strictly majority black districts, of which there are VERY few. I did some mostly hunt-and-peck research using this map and this website. I found VERY few districts which were actually >50% black; many with sizable non-white population reported large (15-20%) "Other Race" data, making it unlikely to have ANY majority race in such districts. However, if we consider districts that are only a plurality black (that is, black is the largest single racial group, but not necessarily >50%) then José Serrano, a white Puerto Rican of New York's 16th congressional district, which has a 36% Black/20% White/34% Other breakdown, would qualify. There may be others like this. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 03:16, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I think it might be referring to Bob Brady, who represents Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district, which is 45.9% black (and 37.1% white), although that isn't quite a majority. This New York Beacon article (written before Cohen's election) calls Brady the "only...White representative of a majority Black District." Perhaps it was majority black at some point in the recent past. -Elmer Clark (talk) 06:28, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Music in Rolls Royce video

Can someone please tell me what is the music in this video with the matte black Rolls Royce Phantom? It sounds vaguely familiar to me. --Blue387 (talk) 06:00, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Some good music id-ers are at the Entertainment desk. Julia Rossi (talk) 06:09, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Duel of the Fates from the Star Wars films, —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.242.181.183 (talk) 17:27, 11 December 2008 (UTC)

bulb explodes?

I have experienced a few times that life of Incandescent light bulb ends when filament breaks typically while switching it on (it turns on for split second and then goes off). But this time, when I switched on this bulb, it exploded and I heard pieces of glass falling on ground. The circuit breaker tripped and all other lights went off, therefore I could not see whether the bulb fall down and then pieces spread around or they were thrown away due to explosion (around 5 to 6 feet away). The cap of the bulb was still there properly in the bulb holder. The bulb was in use for more than a year but generally only a few hours a week. The bulb was on ceiling, no water contact or any other physical damage. What are possible reasons for explosion of incandescent bulb? manya (talk) 06:23, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

In some bulbs the filament is not straight; for example, it may be supported on a little stand in an arch shape. If such a filament breaks, the broken pieces may fall together so that they touch each other and make a short circuit within the bulb. The resistance is less than it would be with the normal filament, so it burns hotter and brighter (and sometimes you can hear it making a sound, too). It can get so hot it causes damage. The one time I saw it happen, it burned brightly and made a sound for a few seconds first, and then a chunk of filament blew out and made a hole in the bulb. But you can see that an even shorter circuit might make enough heat to explode the bulb before your breaker can trip. --Anonymous, 07:28 UTC, December 8, 2008.

(ec) Unfortunally the link just leads to the Philips site and asks me what language I want. If for example though you were using a Halogen lamp it's possible that you may have touched the glass at an earlier time which might cause it to explode. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 07:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

(slightly related) - I was once bored at a friends house and knocked his lightbulb with my knuckles, for some unknown (to me) reason the bulb got about twice as bright. It stayed that way from that point forward. Just to add - no it wasn't on a dimmer switch, just a standard on/off switch ceiling light bulb. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:16, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I've seen the same phenomenon before. At university, we'd take to swatting each other's lamps to achieve the effect. The bulb typically burned out rather quickly afterwards, sometimes on the order of hours or days, though some lasted out the semester. Matt Deres (talk) 19:46, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the inside of a light bulb is incredibly fragile compared to the outside. --Sean 13:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I suppose it's also possible that the glass had cracked or the seal at the base had failed and that air had leaked into the bulb. The filament burns up incredibly quickly in air...maybe fast enough to make the glass shatter. SteveBaker (talk) 13:40, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I wouldn't discount the idea of leaking water, as it would explain both the bulb imploding (not exploding, since it's under a vacuum) and the short circuit that you seem to have experienced. Water from condensation (are you boiling water or using a humidifier ?) or leaking from the roof (caused perhaps by an ice dam) can make it's way along a floor/ceiling into a light fixture on the ceiling and cause just such problems. If it was only a drip or two, all evidence may have evaporated after the bulb imploded. One other comment, light fixtures do normally have a cover that goes over the bulb to prevent falling glass, they aren't just for collecting dead bugs. StuRat (talk) 16:47, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It's been a long time since light bulbs were evacuated. These days they are filled with some kind of inert gas. Argon, Neon or Nitrogen typically. So water could crack or even break the glass due to thermal shock - but that would not be either an explosion or an implosion (although it might appear to be so to the causal observer). SteveBaker (talk) 17:03, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I believe they do both. That is, the fill them with an inert gas then evacuate it. This way there is very little gas in it, and none of it is oxygen. StuRat (talk) 17:44, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

How strange, I now have a vision of various inert gasses looking out a train window as it pull out of a London station with Vera Lynn singing in the background. CambridgeBayWeather Have a gorilla 13:18, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all. After reading your comments, now I think I know what happened. On previous day, I had switched it on and off for couple of times in few seconds, before finally switching it off. The bulb may have developed a crack then due to rapid changes in temperature, which later resulted in explosion. manya (talk) 04:14, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Testimonial: this happens in my home every so often (and for a dog owner, even once is too often ;-/ We've considered it to possibly be caused by power surges in our electrical supply, a known problem in our semirural area. Perhaps you have a similar situation? (This might better be asked on the Science Ref Desk.) Deborahjay (talk) 19:26, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Tungsten is used in modern incandescent bulbs. It is rather brittle. If you flick the bulb,the vibration might cause the filament to break. As Anonymous said, a broken tungsten filament, being a long coil, can vibrate around and the broken piece touch a part of the filament or a filament support and weld itself there, creating a shorter filament which draws more current and burns brighter. This could explain 194's observation. In the earliest days of tungsten filaments, it was common try and repair them this way to get longer life, by getting the broken ends to reattach. If the resistance is too low, or if a broken piece bridges a short space between the leadin wires near the base, it could amount to a short(er) circuit than the bulb can tolerate or the breaker can supply, resulting in a small explosion. Modern bulbs other than the smallest wattage ones are filled with inert gases to slightly below atmospheric pressure. If the nitrogen (argon, etc) leaked out and air leaked in, the heated tungsten might combust causing an explosion. Edison (talk) 07:33, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

jewish

i was looking for a book written by a german author about a country he has never step foot on..could it be hitler with the main kampf? please help cos i never got an actual answer from you gyus. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.49.87.158 (talk) 08:24, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Our answer was: no, we didn't think that fitted. Mein Kampf is not about a country. Itsmejudith (talk) 09:00, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

The archive is here[2]. Hitler's name came up often in that thread and he qualifies as an author even though that book was not about the country, he writes about the Jews and others; but Karl May got an airing too and Hitler read his stuff. For my money, it's still on Adam Bishop's offering since you'd have to be a deep trivialist to get the others. Just guessing, Julia Rossi (talk) 09:06, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I think that Sluzzelin's suggestion of Kafka was a good one—Amerika is a pretty famous example of an imaginative construction of a foreign setting that the author didn't have too much actual knowledge of. Whether K. qualifies as a "German author" is disputable, but he did write in German. Karl May is also a good suggestion, but the singular "a book" in the OP's question makes it unlikely that he is the writer the question's poser had in mind. The problem with the question is that it has a number of plausible answers. Deor (talk) 13:21, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I notice that you include other information this time around. The first time, you neither mentioned "Jewish" nor "German" directly, though you did give "relation to Hitler" as a clue. You also asked for "a book about a people", this time it's about a country. These might seem like petty details, but the exact wording of the question does make a difference. Is this a question you have in written form, or is someone (you or another person) trying to remember a book they once heard about? Giving us context and details might help us find your one answer among the many plausible ones, as pointed out by Deor. ---Sluzzelin talk 16:11, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

This really could be anything. Theodor Mommsen never stepped foot in ancient Rome, how about that? Adam Bishop (talk) 02:17, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Completely off-topic here, but I have to say this reminds me of one of Douglas Adams' great lines: The past is truly a foreign country. They do things exactly the same there. If you haven't read the book, don't bother trying to understand it :-). --Trovatore (talk) 02:33, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Aunt Millie's strategy

In the US there's a bread maker with an unusual strategy, they position a product to directly compete with just about every other product on the market. That is, they have products that look like Sara Lee and Pepperidge Farms breads as well a generic brands. Are there any other products that have used such an aggressive marketing strategy ? StuRat (talk) 17:39, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

It is not addressed in the article, however Walgreens seems to have a store brand for many of the items they sell. For example, they have "Wal-zyr" as a Zyrtec equivalent, and Wal-adryl for Benadryl. Many of these are listed at their own site. --LarryMac | Talk 18:35, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Most store chains in Canada have the same kind of thing LarryMac describes; Zehrs markets have "President's Choice" brand everything, Sobey's has "Compliments" brand everything , etc. but I'm not sure that's what StuRat is talking about. Is Aunt Millie available at different stores, or is it a store brand as LarryMac and I described? TBH, what you describe doesn't seem that odd to me; a start-up soft drink company (for example) would have to make cola, clear, root beer, etc lines to compete with Coke/Pepsi and that just what the folks at RC Cola and the other companies do. I'm not familiar with Aunt Millie, but if I was starting a bread company, I'd certainly want to offer a full range of products, including those already made by competitors (if they make it, there's obviously some kind of market for it), though I get the feeling I've misunderstood the question. Matt Deres (talk) 19:55, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Not looking very far - almost all large corporate chain stores over here have own brands of practically everything - Lidl, Tesco, Carrefour - though one should be wary not to choose those items, as they tend to be (very) low quality. --Ouro (blah blah) 20:42, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Not necessarily. A lot of "own brand" products are made by the same manufacturers as "brand" products. Most supermarkets have three levels of quality - the "standard" range, the "luxury" range and the "budget" range - even the budget ranges can be perfectly acceptable quality. Exxolon (talk) 01:12, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Interestingly (though a little off-topic) in Canada, "President's Choice" products (Loblaw empire) are uniformly quite high-quality, just cheaper to buy. Franamax (talk) 21:29, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

I think I know what StuRat means: purposely making your products look similar to your main competitors. Take the Sainsburys brand in the UK: compare dishwasher lqd with leading competitor's. Compare colours chosen for beetroot: [3] against [4] and spaghetti [5] vs. [6]. (Just three examples). Packaging isn't designed to create an unmistakeable "Sainsbury's brand", but to look similar to main competitor at first glance. Gwinva (talk) 21:57, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

@Franamax, problem with that (here in Australia anyway) is that when producers sell in bulk to the chain (for its own generic brand) for x amount which goes on to retail at 2x amount, they are forced to make up the discount they have accepted by selling their own branded product for 2x + amount, affecting their ability to compete, afaik. @ OP, I guess the brand mirroring is something to do with a "tailgating" marketing strategy, scooping up the benefits of brand-building from the forerunners, and gaining sales/exposure by association. Hardly seems legal and I wonder if it's too close, would it stand a legal challenge, or whether companies let it go to benefit from shared exposure. Julia Rossi (talk) 22:06, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

To clarify, Aunt Millie's isn't a store brand. And, in any case, the store brands I've seen only imitate a small portion of the products out there. Generally they will have one store brand of bread, perhaps in white and wheat, for example, not imitate every competitor on the market, as Aunt Millie's does. The soft drink case would be another example. While Coke and Pepsi imitate each other, I don't believe they imitate all their smaller competitors, like Faygo Redpop. StuRat (talk) 01:08, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

repair clay tile roofs

How do I walk on a clay tile roof to make reairs? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.19.14.25 (talk) 22:16, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Generally tradesmen use a "walking board / roof ladder" which is strong enough to support your weight and which itself is suported by the weight bearing parts of the roof - whichever they are - presumably the apex. They also often (always?) hook over the apex to stop them sliding. Whatever you do be very careful on a roof. If in doubt, don't. Consider employing a tradesman. -- SGBailey (talk) 23:22, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

The trick is definitely to spread your weight across as many tiles as possible - a large thick board - or planks will do that. Crawl rather than walking to spread your weight out still further. But the problem is to avoid whatever you're walking on slipping down the roof and carrying you with it. It's pretty dangerous work. I've seen people do it with a pair of ladders. One stands against the edge of the roof from the ground and must be tied firmly to some part of the structure so it cannot move. (One way to do that is to place a scaffold-pole horizontally inside a window and to tie the ladder TIGHTLY to that.) A second ladder is laid flat onto the roof and it's lower end rests against (and is firmly tied to) the upper end of the first (which is why that first ladder has to be very firmly attached). That's enough to get you to some point on the roof (eg to replace a single tile or fix up your TV antenna) - but for serious jobs, you need to use proper scaffolding setups that give you a horizontal platform to work from. (Like this Image:Dachtreppe_Fanggerüst.JPG)...but this is exceedingly dangerous stuff and I don't recommend doing it unless you really know what you're doing (which you don't - or you wouldn't be asking us!) SteveBaker (talk) 03:07, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Steve, How the heck did you come up with that image just when you needed it to illustrate a point? -hydnjo talk 04:35, 9 December 2008

(UTC)

I typed 'scaffolding' into WikiCommons and looked at the gallery of pictures it produced in the hope that one of them would illustrate my point. Just as there are articles about EVERYTHING in Wikipedia (if you know how to search), so there are photos of EVERYTHING in WikiCommons...if you know how to search! SteveBaker (talk) 14:09, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

A wonderful image indeed. What I can't understand is why the small steps have been so carefully inserted under the tiles in a slightly uneven line when laying a ladder up the roof would have achieved a much better access. It looks more like an art installation than a serious roof access method. Richard Avery (talk) 08:53, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

I've seen serious roofing people doing that. It allows you to stand upright on the roof and walk across the roof as though it was a staircase. If you are carrying heavy loads of replacement roof tile - or bricks for a chimney - a sloping ladder limits you to carrying just one or two bricks/tiles each trip. It's OK for a quick job - but for anything serious, you need something like the gadgets illustrated in the photo. SteveBaker (talk) 14:09, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

You may be able to use two cushions from a sofa. Remove the covers, using only the foam. You can use them like you would use snow shoes, only laying down. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JelloTube (talk • contribs) 10:13, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

No! Cushions would just bend under your weight and apply 100% of your weight to a single tile - which would then break. You need something stiff to transfer your weight outwards - planks or a ladder or something like that. Depending on the age and quality of the tiles - you might need to spread your weight out over a dozen or more of them. I suppose snow shoes might work - but I wouldn't want to risk it! SteveBaker (talk) 14:09, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Snowshoes would be worse than cushions: on a hard surface, all your weight would be applied to the cleats or to the frame, depending on the design, and either would provide a greater load concentration than ordinary shoes. --Carnildo (talk) 23:19, 9 December 2008 (UTC)