Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 February 11

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February 11

Strep Throat

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis. Please speak to your physician about any concerns you might have on this issue.--TenOfAllTrades(talk) 02:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Chevrolet 2.8 liter V6 information please.

I have been told that you can install a 1985 Chevrolet S-10 2.8 liter engine in a 1987 2.8 liter S-10 pickup if you use the timing belt cover from the 1987. Also I have been told that the 1985 2.8 liter can be used in a 1986 Caifornia registered S-10 if you have all the required CA smog components (TBI, computer, etc,). Yet I have been told that the 1987 S-10 2.8 liter engine can't be used in a 1986 S-10. Why is that? Have I been given some bad info somewhere?69.236.82.186 (talk) 03:22, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Matrixism

What is the correct web address for Matrixism http://www.geocities.com/matrixism2069 or http://www.geocities.com/truematrixism ? 71.231.120.227 (talk) 03:35, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Anyone can set up a website for Matrixism. It's not officially recognized so choose whichever website you prefer.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 12:24, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

The article is obviously referring to one or the other not both. Which one is all I am asking. 71.231.120.227 (talk) 12:57, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

By the way what do you mean by "officially recognized"? 71.231.120.227 (talk) 12:57, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Since this is yet another transparent attempt to gain Google standings for an invented "religion" that crops up on the Ref Desk every few months, I've unlinked the addresses above. Spam is not needed here. — Lomn 15:04, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

The questioner should note that links in Wikipedia articles (or on the ref desk) are all nofollow, so they are not indexed by search engines, and any attempt to increase rankings by including external links in Wikipedia is therefore a waste of time.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:17, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

As a point of interest, Most of the previous questions about Matrixism appeared from the 206.188.x.x range. This may be a genuine question. APL (talk) 15:58, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what Lomn is referring to. I just want to know which Geocities website the article is referring to. I don't have access to the references for the article. 71.231.120.227 (talk) 21:55, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Stripping

My girlfriend wants to get a job to get out of the house and make some money. Should I encourage her to become a dancer? She is very sexy and has a lower back tattoo. Discharging P (talk) 04:25, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what having a lower back tattoo has to do with it. Since you're asking an opinion question, it's hard for me to answer with anything other than just another opinion. And the ref. desks are supposed to be places for factual questions. My gut reaction is not to encourage her unless it's something that she wants to do. If it's just your fantasy to date a stripper, this won't go well... If you want to discuss this further, hit up my talk page. I've dated two dancers before and can lend an ear if you like and maybe answer some questions about the lifestyle and such. Dismas|^(talk) 04:58, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Butt But lower back tattoos are sooo unique ;-) --hydnjo talk 05:51, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I think that this would be a better subject for a talk page. Like Dismas said, the reference desk is for factual questions, not for posting opinions.--Dlo2012 (talk) 18:07, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thinks it's stupid to call strippers "dancers"? The majority of professional dancers, whether female or male, won't have anything to do with stripping. Why is there need for such an euphemism? JIP | Talk 21:43, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I hate to point fingers and I try to assume good faith, but after looking at the userpage and contributions it would appear that this user may be a troll. --Emery (talk) 23:36, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

The Stock Market Doesn't Make Sense to Me II

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aj2Rd_QSs4sE&refer=home

How does the company just produce more shares of itself to sell?

66.91.224.203 (talk) 09:31, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

A company can issue more shares at any time. When a shareholder buys a share, they are buying an entitlement to a slice of the future profits of the company, which are distirbuted as dividends. On the face of it, issuing more shares is simply cutting the pie into smaller slices. However, the deal offered by the company's management is usually that they will expand the business by investing the capital that they raise from selling the new shares (maybe in new plant or more R&D or a new product line or taking over a competitor) leading to a bigger pie in future. So despite there being more slices, everyone's slice will end up being bigger than before, not smaller. To protect existing shareholders' rights, they are usually offered "first refusal" on the new shares - this is known as a rights issue.

The Société Générale rights issue which is mentioned in your link is a special case, as Société Générale are proposing to use the funds raised to "replenish capital" i.e. to keep themselves afloat and avoid a takeover. They are gambling that existing shareholders have confidence in the long-term future of the bank, if it can survive its current crisis, and that maybe new investors will be looking for a bargain if the shares are issued at a low enough price. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:09, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Were there people in space (other than a quick "hello" and back) before the moon landings?

Were there people in space (other than a quick "hello" and back) before the moon landings? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.225.48.192 (talk) 12:42, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes. 194.171.56.13 (talk) 12:57, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. See everything on List of human spaceflights, 1960s before Apollo 11. Gagarin did a single orbit in Vostok 1, the X-15 flights were definitely in the "quick hello and back" category, and the early Mercury missions only spent a few hours in space. However, the later Gemini and Soyuz missions spent several days (nearly 2 weeks for Gemini 7) in Earth orbit, and Apollos 8 and 10 went to the Moon and back (without a lunar landing, of course). Gandalf61 (talk) 13:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Writing checks/cheques - okay to put 1/2 instead of 50/100?

I was writing checks to pay bills today, here in the United States, and one happened to be such and such dollars and 50 cents. My checks just have a line with "Dollars", instead of a "/100" before the word dollars. I suddenly mused about whether it was necessary to express it in hundredths - would it be possible to write "x and 1/2" on the line? My hunch is no, since the billing department (and bank) would than have to be able to handle numerous different fractions and it would slow things down a lot, but I was curious. But, not curious enough to try it with my own check.209.244.30.221 (talk) 15:04, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

As a general, legal rule (not that we would ever give that kind of advice here), a legal instrument of payment is anything which is acceptable to both the payer and the payee. If you wanted to write it in Roman numerals, that's perfectly legal as long as the water company accepted it (and cashed it). As a general banking practice, which is a very different thing, they tend to ignore the sloppy handwriting in the blank and just go by the numbers in the little box off to the right. Here's a Straight Dope article on other interesting things you might want to know about checks. Faithfully, Deltopia (talk) 18:49, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

A friend of mine once worked nights in a cheque-processing centre in the UK, being shown scanned pictures of checks on a screen and typing in the details. I believe that machine-printed checks were OCRred automatically, and it was only the handwritten ones that this room full of people were typing. If I remember rightly, they were told to reject any cheques where the written and numerical amounts didn't match. 81.187.153.189 (talk) 19:06, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Incidentally, I have never seen the "/100" used on a cheque in the UK: I know that it is usual on American checks, but here, the normal form (which I remember was specifically recommended when we went decimal in 1971) is "Twenty three pounds 65". --ColinFine (talk) 00:05, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, that still is not a fraction, and is concise and easy to read. I think they do not allow fractions because "1/2" can be confused with "12" or "112" or even "172" if you use your imagination. Not to mention it's somwwhat archaic, you would as well put down "4 bits" at the end instead of "1/2". 206.252.74.48 (talk) 14:17, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Do supplements go bad?

I bought two buckets of supplements (Whey and mixed protein) some five months ago but then stopped weight training and abandoned my diet plan. So those supplements were just sitting there. I'm going to start again, can I use those supplements or would they have gone bad. They were pretty expensive :[ --ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 16:44, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Have you checked the packaging for this information? If they've gone bad and they're expensive, have you considered just eating actual food that has the nutrients you're looking for? Friday (talk) 18:13, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I've checked the packaging and it says nothing about any expiry date. As for your "actual food" suggestion, supplements do serve a purpose. ReluctantPhilosopher (talk) 19:12, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Noctifer

What does the word Noctifer mean? I know its a band or something like that but I want to know the meaning of it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.116.31.254 (talk) 16:46, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

www.dictionary.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 17:16, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

sorry, was not on there. Immortal are such a good band though, try Cradle of Filth or Melechesh. Much better, the only thing worse than Immortal is Burzum. Long live Lamb of God —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.191.136.2 (talk) 17:19, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

It's actually explained in our article on Noctifer. 86.21.74.40 (talk) 17:48, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

What's not mentioned there is the relationship between the names Noctifer and Lucifer. Noctifer brings the night just as Lucifer brings the day. Algebraist 18:44, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Letter tails on olde scriptes

Like, the twiddly bits they used to continue the tail with on ys and things. What are they called? Vitriol (talk) 18:16, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

serif? As in many fonts are sans serif (without serif). ny156uk (talk) 18:50, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

You may also want to consult our article on Thorn (letter). Bovlb (talk) 21:16, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Curlicues? -- BenRG (talk) 22:18, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I think Ajsh is asking about swashes, or about flourishes in general. (Check out this page for some lovely swashes. Here's a page with many examples of typographical flourishes.) --Anonymous, 22:37 UTC, February 11, 2008.

Swimming Pool Stage Mist

I am looking to install a device (called a nebuliser perhaps ?) that would create artificial fog for decorative effect on my swimming pool: the dry type of mist that pumps out of a machine used in stage productions. I specifically do not want a high pressure water spray that would make the surrounding area wet .... I once saw such a device like this on the net, but strangely enough cannot find anything like it. Do such things exist, and where can i find one ?--196.207.47.60 (talk) 18:31, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Two of my friends work (for different companies) hiring out stuff like this. I've only ever heard them referred to as "smoke machines" 81.187.153.189 (talk) 19:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I consult in pool installations and can help you with this if you still need it. Drop me a line, [email address removed] - remove ALL the spaces and replace at and dot. Hope you find what you're looking for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Waterworks42 (talk • contribs) 19:23, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

User's only contrib, Wikipedia is not for soliciting. — Lomn 20:23, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Dry ice from a fog machine would be what you want. Skittle (talk) 21:36, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

On a small scale this would work well, and no chemicals or dry ice are needed what so ever. Maybe they have bigger systems that would work for you? xxx User:Hyper Girl 14:59, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

The fogger that uses a 2Mhz ultrasound piezoelectric transducer is good for small scale (about 0.5 square meters). Uses 24v DC and cost about $AUS70 with transformer, it will form a heavier-than-air fog in quiet conditions. Anything the fog touches gets wet. Also "bites" if you put your finger in the water above the ceramic transducer.Polypipe Wrangler (talk) 21:45, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Three Russian astronauts dead and in space

Someone told me that their are three russian astronaughts who died up in space and are still up there floating about since in space people are kind of freeze dried. Is this true? Or is there any instance of space bodies up there...or deaths in space? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.220.2.13 (talk) 21:34, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

According to space accidents and incidents, only 4 soviet cosmonaunts died in flying spacecraft. Of these, Vladimir Komarov died when his craft hit the ground after his parachute failed. The remaining three suffocated when Soyuz 11 depressurised during re-entry preparations, but their craft (and bodies) landed intact. Looking at the US incidents as well, there appear to be no human corpses whatsoever in space, and the Soyuz 11 crew are the only humans to have ever died in space. Algebraist 21:47, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Some people do, however, have their ashes sent into orbit. eg Gene Roddenberry Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 22:27, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Though his ashes are no more, apparently. Has anyone had their remains sent out far enough to survive indefinitely? Algebraist 22:55, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

How do ashes burn up on re-entry ? Is it the greater heat involved? Fribbler (talk) 23:58, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Cremation remains are not, strictly speaking, ashes; rather they are pulverised bone. But yes, the maximum temperatures experienced during reentry are much higher than those found in a crematorium furnace (approx 7000K and 1500K, respectively). FiggyBee (talk) 00:30, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Depending on the method of descent, though, reentry doesn't have to reach such a high figure. There's an experiment planned to launch a paper airplane from the space station, for instance. It has to stand up to higher temperatures than standard paper, but I don't think it's going anywhere near 7000K. All that to say: should an ash vessel break up early enough, it seems reasonable that the ashes/pulverized bone/nonspecific powdered remains could survive to the surface. — Lomn 14:20, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

If someone dies in outer space can they still go to heaven? What is the church's position on this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.175.125.54 (talk) 13:22, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Given such a ridiculous question, I think it's best to first ask "why wouldn't they?" rather than construct a researched answer. — Lomn 14:59, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Which church? I'm sure scientology wouldn't have a problem with it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.194.74.154 (talk) 15:03, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Vote on the creation of Israel

I can understand most of the votes against, but why Greece and Cuba?129.112.109.251 (talk) 21:45, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Greece apparently had a long history of close relations with the Arabs, probably due to a mutual antipathy with the Turks. Also, as one guy commenting on this page says, Greece had to worry about the Greek population in Egypt until Nasser forced most of them to leave in the 1950s. As far as Cuba goes, there are some JSTOR articles that discuss its vote, so you can probably find the information you seek at a university library. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:40, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

When I first saw this question heading, I was thinking of the Old Testament creation of Israel, not the modern country. I was wondering who was voting against God :) 98.199.17.94 (talk) 20:19, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Satan maybe? Cryo921 (talk) 20:12, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

A place that starts with 'X'

This one is rather simple to understand. I need a city, state, province, nation, continent, island, or other land feature that starts with the letter X (It could even be just called X, if you know one of those). I've searched the whole web and nothing is coming up. --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 22:31, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Xanadu? There are a number of places in China with romanised names starting with X; Xinjiang, Xi'an, etc. FiggyBee (talk) 22:39, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

(ec * 2) Here's a list. Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 22:40, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Isaac Asimov once posed this as a puzzle: What does New York City have in common with Xenia, Ohio? Answer: each is the largest city in the US that starts with that particular letter of the alphabet. The Chinese cities, of course, only start with X in the transliteration used today; in the original Chinese they wouldn't use the letters we know at all. --Anonymous, 22:43 UTC, February 11, 2008.

I can't believe it! Looking back, I went through every Wikipedia "List of cities by country" but accidentally missed the Chinese one! I fel so stupid now. Thanks Figgy bee & Angus Lepper. --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 23:20, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

There are tons of them in China - X is a common transliteration, including for the Mandarin words meaning "West" (Xi) and "New" (Xin). It's also a fairly common letter in several lesser-known European languages - there will be places in Malta starting with X, for instance, and several Catalan locations, like Xixerella. Brazil's Xingu River is the longest river in the world to start with X, IIRC. Grutness...wha? 23:37, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

An atlas of mine lists the following places: Xanthi (Greece), Xanxere (Brazil), Xapury (Brazil), Xero (Paristera Island Greece), Xibury (Brazil), Xilokastron (Greece), Xingu (Brazil).Simonschaim (talk) 11:10, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I have just found a much longer list of such places: Xalanga, Xanten, Xarayes Swamp, Xavier Arizona, Xenia, Xeragi, Xeria, Xermamenil, Xerokhori, Xeros Island, Xertigny, Xerxes Canal, Xeuilley, Xicotencatl, Xie River, Xilitia, Xirakias, Xirbi, Xiririca, Xitta, Xocurina River, Xonacatepex, Xoungs, Xyli Bay, Xyloskalon Pass, Xynias Lake. Simonschaim (talk) 12:35, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Wow. Thanks! Now I'm set for about a month, much less one turn. Thanks guys (Simonschaim epecially)! --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 05:30, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

US Census figures

Where can I find the US Census figures for a particular city since it was founded (for example, if I was looking for Salt Lake City, Utah's population figures since it was settled, 1847, then I'd need the Census figures from 1850 onwards)? Thank you very much - 70.58.35.196 (talk) 23:10, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

The census website appears to have full reports on all censuses, including what you want, but I can't see anywhere where those figures specifically are presented. You might have to trawl through scanned pdfs yourself. And Salt Lake had a population of 6142 whites and 15 free coloureds in 1850. Algebraist 23:26, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Alright, thanks a lot! 70.58.35.196 (talk) 23:37, 11 February 2008 (UTC)