Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 April 29

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April 29

Dominoes [game] in the UK

Does anyone know of a high-street-type store in the UK where I could buy a reasonably cheap set of reasonable quality dominoes? Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►contribs─╢ 09:42, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

A toyshop or a games shop. I would have said Woolworths, but you probably won't have much luck there now! WH Smiths usually has a few games, so if there isn't a good toy/game shop on your high-street, you could try there. --Tango (talk) 09:59, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Wilkinson's may have some of fair quality, but I agree WH Smiths is probably the best high street store outside of a toy shop / internet.Last Polar Bear (talk) 12:02, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

You could try Toys "R" Us - there's one in most shopping centres in the south of England. Gandalf61 (talk) 15:03, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I was in toys r us yesterday and they were selling Dominoes! Chromagnum (talk) 10:59, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Buying Stocks and Shares (UK)

I have just gotten into buying shares online and having deposited my money into a nominee trading account have bought a number of shares at a quoted price and have become the beneficial owner of the shares. But the deal tells me that the settlement date is 3 days from today which is fine with me as the price is fixed at what I was quoted. But who carries the debt during those next 3 days? And what happens if the share-price goes up in the interim? Does the dealer take a hit? Or is this all done on trust? OK, I know I will be charged a premium if I were to default but the question stays the same? Thanks 92.22.222.42 (talk) 15:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

This page (http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/06/settlementtradedate.asp) appears to be what you'd be hunting for, I think. Good luck on the shares-front - do it myself and have managed to boost my savings more favourably than the pittance of a return you get in a savings account at the moment. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 16:06, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

You're making a profit on the stock markets at the moment? I'm impressed! I haven't been following the numbers very precisely, but I thought the indices were generally doing even worse than savings accounts. --Tango (talk) 16:21, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

That is a common misconception. While stocks in general are down, individuals can make a good amount of $ if they were fortunate enough to have a low amount of stock and a large amount of cash to invest between November and early March in the US, as the markets were driven lower then necessary by panic selling (I hope). 65.121.141.34 (talk) 20:46, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I suppose if you are talking very recently then stocks have started to recover. If you timed it right and bought around the beginning of March, then you might have done rather well. My savings account has been paying me a pittance since well before the beginning of March, though. --Tango (talk) 21:20, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Also see: short selling. One can profit from falls in the market. There are also options contracts, which I'm not able to explain eloquently. --Mark PEA (talk) 17:00, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

The settlement date is just the date by which you have to pay for the shares, it used to be about 2 weeks but they've really shortened it now. It doesn't matter if the price goes up or down between the dealing & settlement dates as long as you pay your quoted price by the settlement date. If you don't your broker will sell the shares so that he won't be out of pocket for the money you haven't paid. If the price has gone down the broker will typically charge you for the difference, this should be noted on your nominee agreement. If the price goes up the broker will make a bit of a profit re-selling the shares you didn't pay for - don't expect to see any of it. AllanHainey (talk) 09:17, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

I still don't have any girlfriends

Hi guys. This is really becoming a major problem for me now. I turned 24 a few days ago and to tell you all the truth, I have never kissed a single girl in my life. I never had sex and I never even dated any girl so far. I get extremely anxious whenever I talk to girls. I am a loveshy guy (as the term goes). Moreover, I am gonna surprise you all here. I share my home with two girls. One of whom even lives in my own room (i.e. she is my roommate for several months), but I could never dare talking to her anything abour sex or even remotely anything about these things. Same with other girl next to my room. I have no idea what to do now. I am almost always depressed because of this doing almost no work when I should do. I keep thinking all the time about all this. How can I improve my situation? The other girls reguarly go to have sex and bring their boyfriends. This frustrates me further. Is there anything you guys suggest (not about those 2 girls, but in general)? A friend of mine suggested about this page that a lot of smart guys live here. Can anybody give me practical advice on how to improve my life. I certainly want to break my virginity before I turn 25. That is the goal of my life now. 'Please help me.' I am getting tired of everything now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.132.128.136 (talk) 16:23, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

if you are just looking for someone to lose your virginity to, why not go to a bar? I'm sure you'll be able to find someone there...atleast that's what I hear ;). If you are looking for a GIRLFRIEND or something for emotional attachment beyond only sex, you should take a look at yourself first. What are your interests? hobbies? Perhaps the best idea would be to look for a girl with similar tastes and interests and go from there. Like music? why not go look for a girl at the music store? are you a sporty guy? why not look for a girl at the gym? see where I'm going with this? Good luck!!! 12.204.178.35 (talk) 16:41, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I would sort of second the above. I'm not sure how effective the bar scene is with a lot of people (especially when it comes to meeting total strangers rather than bonding with existing friends), but I think the key is to get out and interact with the world and stop worrying about finding a girl. If you go and take up activities you're interested in (and maybe some that you're not but you think you could get into) sooner or later you'll find someone. Find a (co-ed) sport team, take dance lessons, go to events in your area. If you're in school, there are probably hundreds of student groups you could join. As far as anxiety goes, I'm not sure if you drink but I think having a couple helps a lot of people relax and interact more smoothly. Anyway, that'd be my two cents. TastyCakes (talk) 16:58, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Dance lessons could be a good idea - if you take up something like ballroom or salsa you'll be paired up with a girl each week and, even if you never speak to any of them outside the lessons, you'll get used to talking to and interacting with girls. That should help build your confidence, which is generally the issue. One other idea you could consider (you may wish to reject the idea immeadiately, that's fine, I'd just thought I'd mention it): You could pay for sex. Losing your virginity might give you the confidence you need. You don't mention being embarrassed by your virginity, so this might not apply to you, but some people end up avoiding forming intimate relationships if they haven't done so by a certain age because they are embarrassed to admit to their new partner that they are a virgin and aren't sure what they are doing. (There is no real need for such embarrassment, it would be very unlikely for a girl to turn away from you because of that, but that doesn't stop some people worrying about it.) --Tango (talk) 17:17, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Seconding all the above. I'm the same as you OP, I've never kiss a girl and maybe even my case is harder because I'm a girl myself. So you're not alone, many people are the same and there is no reason to get depressed because of the simple fact you've not had a girlfriend. Maybe you could try looking at the on line classifieds, like craigslist, where there are loads of people looking for dates etc. And Tangos suggestion for paying for it you might consider. Make sure to go to a proper escort service or something and not streetwalkers who might have stds or just rob you for your money. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.54.169 (talk) 17:44, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

You would be surprised how far a smile and touch will get you. Even a glancing touch to an elbow. Kittybrewster ☎ 17:54, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

82.44.54.169, since you are a girl, why do you need to kiss a girl? Are you also a virgin and as old as I am? Sorry, this is none of my business, but just as a curiosity. It might give me psychological support. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.132.128.136 (talk) 18:51, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Presumably 82.44 is attracted to women. It's not unusual to discover you are homosexual some time before your first homosexual relationship. --Tango (talk) 20:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks all above. You say I go to bar. But as I told, I find myself extremely incapable of initiating talks with girl and even if I start talking, the girl will immediately understand that this guy is totally new to this business, because I am sure I will be shaking in front of that girl and that girl is just gonna walk away. Yes, I am sporty, but same holds true over there as well and I am sure not many girls go there to start talking with guy like me. I might go to Salsa or Tango, but then when I will hold the girl, it will be the same story. I do not want to pay for sex as yet, in fact I wanna try one more year on my own (until I turn 25). Please tell me, how can I ask the girl for a date? Is it just like 'go and ask if she wants to come with me for a date or is there some indirect way (some kind of hinting through the eyes etc.)'? and If I manage to go for a date, what should I talk about there with the girl? because it is unlikely that I will find a girl of my age who is not already an expert and I will likely end up getting a rejection. What do you suggest for that? All my friends are not virgins and I feel embarassed to talk about it with them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.132.128.136 (talk) 18:48, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Most of the couple's I know started out meeting each other through mutual friends, whether that's through work, school or other activities. Going out with a group of people for a meal or a drink seems to allow people to spend time with and get to know a girl (and her to get to know them) without the inherent awkwardness of a "date". Also, I often observe people being "set up" by their friends and their friends girlfriends, I think many people (particularly girls) like to play matchmakers. While I agree it could be embarrassing talking to friends about this sort of thing, if they don't know you're looking for a girlfriend they can't help you. TastyCakes (talk) 19:43, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, although I don't know anyone that has used them, online dating services may be useful for you. I think there are many girls that find themselves in similar predicaments to you, and such websites would allow you to communicate with them without initial awkwardness. Craigslist is a free one, and I think there's one called "plenty of fish", although I'm sure the ones where you pay, like e-harmony or lavalife are much less sketchy. TastyCakes (talk) 19:48, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I think paying for sex and drinking to lower your inhibition level are both net negative ideas. I think the best way to meet a female is in a lab class in the hard sciences. I would take such a class in chemistry or physics or some such science. Females wearing eye goggles and empirically testing the world ask guys out on dates. Bus stop (talk) 20:02, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps it was only my school, but the extremely limited number of girls in my "hard" lab classes (ie the engineering ones), and the often tedious nature of the work, makes me doubt the likelihood of this working. Even if it does work, I think there's a high likelihood you'd be being used by a pretty but lazy, unscrupulous and not particularly scholarly young lady that doesn't want to do the work herself. I'm sure in other places and other subjects, this would not be the case. But where I went to school, engineers would take humanities courses for the sole purpose of meeting (or at least seeing) girls. Well that and filling their elective course requirements, of course. That all said, I think classes in general are a very common way for couple to meet, usually first as friends and then quite fluidly and naturally developing into more. TastyCakes (talk) 20:14, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Might be worth reading this first! --Tango (talk) 20:26, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, I think we could all learn a lot about issues of the heart from xkcd ;) TastyCakes (talk) 20:29, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

If you are nervous around the girl you are paired up with in a dance lesson she will just think you are nervous about the dancing, which is perfectly normal. Since you'll be going to a novice class to start with, she might well be nervous too. Once you get started you'll probably find it much easier to relax and enjoy it. Being direct is often the best way to ask someone out. You can try and drop hints to try and work out if they would say yes, but that isn't very reliable! Much better just to ask. In addition to TastyCakes' idea about online dating services, you might want to try speed dating too - don't worry if you are so nervous the first time that you don't come over well, you'll get better with practise. --Tango (talk) 20:11, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Here is a potentially wacky idea: why don't you enroll in a local acting class? If you consider yourself to be shy by nature, you might feel more comfortable inhabiting other personalities via sketches and improvisational exercises in an acting class. Plus, you could meet some lovely young ladies in your class! Pastor Theo (talk) 01:51, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Relationships don't just happen, nor are they transactions like picking your best car or computer based on tick-list features.

Are you an interesting person? Do you like yourself? Do you imagine that anyone could/would/should like you? If your depression includes being down on yourself, then anyone who's sensitive enough to be a good girlfriend is going to be sensitive enough to pick up on it, and shy away.

What I'm getting at here is, before you can find someone to like you, it really helps to like yourself first.

See also this recent xkcd comic, which had just caught my eye earlier tonight, and is a scarily accurate portrayal of the way I used to think about my girl "friends". —Steve Summit (talk) 04:08, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

The flaw with that (fantastic) comic is that, in my experience, the options presented in panels 2 and 3 are not mutually exclusive. --Tango (talk) 06:38, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

You also can take services of sex therapists but they are often very expensive. The Other thing you can do is you can spend some money not to do sex but just to spend time with a girl (maybe kiss and other stuff), because I can see you are not willing to pay for sex, this might help in confidence building. - DSachan (talk) 06:38, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Ultimately your best bet is to A) Put yourself in situations where you are likely to meet other women - attend social-events you are invited to. B) Figure out what you want - do you want casual-sex or a relationship? Be honest with yourself about it - don't worry either way as there's plenty of women looking for both. C) When talking, be interested in what the person is talking about and D) If the conversation turns to you - be honest about your interests. If you like Soccer or you like StarTrek or you like collecting Pokemon it doesn't matter, be confident about what you like and be inclusive. E) Be fun and light-hearted but don't be a clown. You don't have to make jokes, but generally when talking to people they don't know well most people (at least in my experience) prefer the company of light-hearted people rather than the serious.

As a last part i would add - never ever pay for sex. It won't resolve any of your problems, it won't make you more confident about sex, it won't be like any other sex you'll ever have. Mutual sex (whether casual or relationship) will have mutual-desire, it will be a 'gift' rather than a 'transaction' and it will have elements of passion, care etc. All my humble opinion, and i empathise as I was a long-term singleton (single with no-relationships between 18 and 25) myself 194.221.133.226 (talk) 08:44, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

There is a question above that asks for statistics of age at loss of virginity. By my reading of page 51, about one in twenty men at the age of 25 has had no sexual contact. Virgins are in a minority, but you are by no means alone. Work on your social skills, learn to flirt, make the best of your physical appearance, join activities that have at least 50% female participation (sports, amateur dramatics, certain evening classes), volunteer within your community, be kind to other people and to yourself, let your friends know that you are looking for a girlfriend. BrainyBabe (talk) 17:54, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks everybody. I feel much relaxed now after reading all your replies. Yes, I am gonna try and I hope to find a girlfriend. I will soon start going Salsa class which is for free and full of beautiful females. There is always scarcity of males in that class. I am gonna take every opportunity in hand where lots of females are present. Yes, I am gonna talk to more and more people and try to be social and confident. Thanks everybody. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.132.128.136 (talk) 18:22, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

That sounds like a great plan - I wish you the best of luck! --Tango (talk) 18:51, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

I've not read through all of the responses, but the advice that would apply to a "normal" person may not apply to the OP, if they are suffering from social anxiety disorder, avoidant personality disorder or something else related to that. Much of the advice recommended here (from a quick skim-read) seems to be suggesting fairly the same thing: desensitization to the opposite sex. The OP seems to be an extreme case and I'd imagine would benefit from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) (possibly in conjuction with drug treatment), but of course all of this advice would be better coming from a professional. To the OP: try and find some CBT-professionals (psychiatrists?) in your area. I don't know how to go about this, possibly the yellow pages. --Mark PEA (talk) 16:56, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

The guy is 24, has never had a girlfriend and is shy around women. How is that extreme? It probably describes a few percent of 24 year old men, hardly a major outlier. --Tango (talk) 16:59, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't think he seems that extreme a case, I had a similar response to talking to girls until I was maybe 20. I think he's just a shy person that gets particularly nervous around the opposite sex. Not particularly unusual if you ask me, and a condition that many people grow out of. I don't think he is in need of "cognitive therapy", just a little more experience interacting with females. TastyCakes (talk) 17:03, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

A dance class, an ice skating class, a hiking club, or a political activist organization would put you in close association with some eligible girls. A job where some girls worked (a fast food place, whatever) would place you around girl coworkers. An elementary ed class would be the happy hunting ground, as would many commonuty college classes, some of which are hobby oriented, such as photography. Then join the girl in the darkroom and see what develops! There is always the socially acceptable and non-threatening chance to propose a photoshoot somewhere, or a study session before an exam. Or a "low-stress" date like a cup of coffee or lunch, where the girl will not feel like she may be in a tight spot where you expect things to progress faster than she might wish. And please do not be a pig who says "I will not go out with girls below my standards in physical appearance," where that "standard" is set equal to actresses, swimsuit models or Miss January in Playboy. Watch the move Marty, about a good natured, shy 34 year old guy who lives with his mother. Edison (talk) 19:09, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

"Then join the girl in the darkroom and see what develops!" - Get your coat and get out. Now. --Tango (talk) 19:13, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes and whatever you do, OP, do no tell that joke to any female you have romantic aspirations towards. TastyCakes (talk) 19:23, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Or anyone else, for that matter. --Tango (talk) 23:25, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Three points. First of all, to the OP, I hope you are still reading this thread. Thank you for coming back and thanking us! It is a rare courtesy, and that sort of good manners and acknowledgement of the effort of others will stand you in good stead as you learn how to make friends with girls and find a girlfriend. Secondly, I have had another idea. So far you seem to have been confining your search to women of your own age. You may wish to consider women in their mid-30s or above who would be only too delighted to take your sexual and romantic education in hand. These are the so-called cougars; I don't like the term myself, but you may find it useful in your online search. You have nothing to lose by creating a free pseudonymous account on one of these dating sites, and chatting with a few of the women. There are plenty of guidelines available to help you design an appealing user profile. Finally, don't believe everything you see in the movies or read online (including Wikipedia). Dating is more of a game than a hunt. Photography puns aside, don't come on to a girl in a small space such as a darkroom (or an elevator, for that matter). You would not believe some of the inappropriate things my female friends tell me that men have tried on them. Be respectful, be polite, be friendly. If you want to talk about this with someone, you are welcome to drop a note on my talkpage. I take it you don't have a sister you could discuss this with? Or a female cousin? What about a counsellor through your place of employment or education? I am not suggesting you have a psychiatric problem -- far from it -- your self-description sounds entirely normal to me. But counsellors are trained listeners, sworn to confidentiality, who are good people if you need or want to talk things through. Again, good luck! BrainyBabe (talk) 03:21, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

I think a mistake a lot of shy men make, and one I've certainly made, is to look to women as a source of validation - thinking that only the approval of a woman can confirm that you're a worthwhile person. That's defining yourself by other people's opinion of you, and it also puts women on a kind of pedestal as the distributors of favour. If you're rejected romantically, you take that as a rejection of you as a whole person, so when you're single you think you must fall short as a human being in some way. But turn it round - think of a woman you know who you aren't sexually attracted to. Do you look down on her as a person? If you did, what sort of person would that make you? Likewise, most women don't think less of you as a person if they're not attracted you, and the opinion of any woman who would is not worth taking to heart.

Also, if you make yourself dependent on a woman's approval, when you're in or pursuing a relationship with a woman you're always trying to please her and never thinking of yourself, so you're likely to find yourself with an abusive woman who takes advantage of your lack of self-protection. The other problem in never thinking of yourself is that your self is the thing about you that a woman would be attracted to, so if you completely efface your self you're not showing her anything to be attracted to.

All the preceding would apply just as much with the genders reversed. But another problem I think is that a lot of men have internalised the low opinion of men espoused by the more extreme end of the feminist movement, which tends to benefit from the "politically correct" status of the movement as a whole and is rarely challenged in the media. We think that our sexual desires towards women are inherently selfish and destructive, or at least that most women regard them that way, and so hold back from expressing them out of misplaced guilt. That attitude needs to be overcome. Your desires may or not be reciprocated, but either way you're entitled to have them and should not accept any ideology that demands you be ashamed of them. --Nicknack009 (talk) 09:56, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Re-reading my previous comment, I should make clear I'm using the general "you" - I'm not saying that any of the suggestions necessarily apply to the original poster. --Nicknack009 (talk) 10:04, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

question

why wen i look at this imaege do i auotmatically start smiling? http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/4481/1241029257684.jpg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Triuruw222333333 (talk • contribs) 18:27, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

See Mirroring (psychology) and mirror neuron. Dmcq (talk) 19:15, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

This is probably a bit more complex than just mimicking a person's face. I'm guessing that Carlton Banks will be associated with humour in the OPs brain, thus when the OP sees Carlton, memories of laughing (at The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) are invoked and this is the cause of the OPs smile. I don't know the technical neuroscience behind it though. --Mark PEA (talk) 16:47, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Sports

name two players that won the english premier league, the european championships and the champions league? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.120.116.185 (talk) 18:50, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

There aren't many teams that have won the Premier League, so I would go through those and see which ones won the other competitions in either the same year, or close years, as winning the Premier League (all this information is available on the Wikipedia articles about the teams). Then find players that were members of the team during all 3 victories (you may need to define the rules a little more precisely, since none of those competitions are a single game - does the player have to have played in every game? Just one game? Just the last game/final? No games, just be a registered member of the team at the time? Etc.). --Tango (talk) 20:24, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

It's almost definitely going to be French players. I was going to say Claude makelele but he wasn't in the Euro winning France squad for some reason. Nicolas Anelka is one of them though (Arsenal, Real Madrid and France). ny156uk (talk) 20:59, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

The other is Fabian Barthez he won the C/L with Marseille, the Premiership with Man Utd and the Euros with France. ny156uk (talk) 21:06, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

There is a third player, another goalkeeper, but he's not French: Peter Schmeichel. With Manchester United he won the Premier League five times (1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1996–97, 1998-99) and captained the team to win the Champions League 1998-1999. And he was a member of the winning team at Euro 1992. ---Sluzzelin talk 05:42, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Google Maps satellite images and Finland

What does Google Maps have against Finland? The only places in Finland where I can get satellite images accurate enough to spot even the largest buildings are the Helsinki metropolitan area and Rovaniemi. In contrast, for example in our beloved neighbour Sweden, even the smallest villages are accurately visible. As an extreme example, Bjurholm is visible accurately enough to spot all individual residential houses, even individual trees, while Tampere, the third largest city in Finland, is only a blurred mess. And yet Tampere has 212 times the population of Bjurholm. JIP | Talk 19:27, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Google Maps doesn't take the photos. They buy them from other companies that take said photos. Most likely there is some sort of Finnish regulation that is keeping said companies from making and selling the images. --140.247.251.93 (talk) 19:36, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Also, I think in general the maps are less extensive at higher latitudes due to there being fewer satellites passing over that area of the globe. TastyCakes (talk) 20:21, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, as well as being less than half a percent of Tampere's size, Bjurholm is located several hundred kilometres north of it... JIP | Talk 20:25, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

It's clear that the maps aren't Finnish'ed. (couldn't resist!) --Scray (talk) 00:29, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Satellite images get harder and harder to do at higher latitudes because the amount of reflected light is smaller - the probability of clouds covering the area is higher and there are long shadows messing up the photos for much of the time. Also, not all Google map/earth images are taken from satellite data. Commercial satellites are limited to about 5 meter resolution (which is very blurry!) - only military satellites go much higher than that. They can buy some higher resolution photos from Russian ex-military satellites - down to maybe 1 meter (still very blurry) and a lot of the photography they use is from aircraft (which gets down to 10cm or so). In all of these higher resolution sources, the cost of flying a plane or satellite specifically for Google's benefit would be horrendous - it's much more likely that they are buying up much cheaper imagery that was created for other reasons (eg agricultural surveys, urban planning and such) - if not much of that goes on in Finland then you're pretty much stuck with fuzzy commercial satellite images. SteveBaker (talk) 01:18, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

It is a little better in Google Earth. Some areas (eg: Äänekoski, Ivalo, Siilinjärvi) are pretty high resolution. As others have suggested, it is most likely because high-res photos are available only for a few areas in Finland. Astronaut (talk) 03:36, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

FYI, commercial satellite imagery is available with sub-meter resolution. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:40, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

You can view higher resolution maps and air photographs of Finland at Karttapaikka. 88.114.222.252 (talk) 13:31, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

How do I scout a baseball game?

I'm in a softball league and I would like to scout another team that we will be playing in a few weeks. We're in a new league this year. One of the teams was undefeated last year so I'm trying to get a sense of how good they are and how my team can beat them. Obviously, I can watch the game, keep track of each player's strengths and weaknesses and keep score, but I'm looking for some guidance. Our article on scout doesn't really have much useful information. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 19:31, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

If my watching of cheesy movies has taught me anything, identify their best player, and then instruct your most up-and-coming-yet-devious player to do something morally unhealthy in order to deter their best player from winning. Unfortunately, the odds are that their best player will miraculously come around and successfully beat both your other player and the whole team single-handedly (or maybe through an exceptional and previously-undemonstrated example of expertly-coordinated teamwork) and everyone will cheer at them and boo at you. (Sorry, I could not resist... not a helpful answer, I know!) --140.247.251.93 (talk) 20:19, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

One game will probably not give you enough of a sample size to be all that helpful, but what you want to look for is things like: What players are the best hitters and which are not? Who would you want to throw junk pitches to and who would you let swing away. Where does each hitter tend to hit the ball (if one guy ALWAYS pulls to the left, you'd want to shift you players that way, who always hits ground balls? Who always hits it into the deep outfield? etc.), who are the fastest players vs. the slowest players, so you'd want to know who to try to throw out first, set up double plays, etc. That's at least what I would look for. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 01:42, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

You should also keep track of defensive tendencies: e.g. Where does the team park its weak defensive players ? Do any of the infielders have trouble making accurate throws ? Are there some weaknesses that can be exploited by trying to hit the ball to certain areas of the field ? --Xuxl (talk) 15:49, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Sunday Time Rich List 2009

This list makes extremely interesting reading but also seems to omit or exclude certain individuals whom I would have expected to find in there including Torquhil Ian Campbell the present Duke of Argyll in Scotland, a second cousin of the present Queen and who, as far as I am aware, is a significant landholder in Scotland as well as having extensive interests in fishing, farming and property. Can that be due to his family/estate/holdings being worth less than I had imagined, or is he perhaps excluded on some other ground, perhaps his familial relationship to royalty? 92.22.222.42 (talk) 19:57, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

I believe the Queen's estate holdings and the Royal Collection is worth billions and aren't counted on the Rich List. Perhaps it is a similar situation here? TastyCakes (talk) 20:05, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

(after EC):This [1] is how the Sunday Times compile the list. Looking at these rules, it seems that the value of the Duke of Argyll's land holdings have suffered due to the property crash and been marked down accordingly. Also death duties can have a significant adverse effect on the wealth of the old rich families such as the Argylls. --TammyMoet (talk) 20:09, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Their methodology is necessarily very hit and miss and the whole thing should not be taken too seriously. I have met someone who appears annually in that list who laughs at how low the estimation of his wealth is; he has very substantial legal assets they've not accounted for. --Dweller (talk) 09:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

1885 US trade dollar

The 1885 US trade dollar is extraordinarily rare, with only 5 authentic examples created. Are they in one or more museums? Are they privately owned? Wikivanda199 (talk) 20:40, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Not certain but this site (http://www.tradedollarnut.com/Home%20Page/Home%20first%20links/Dates/1885/Other.htm) suggests that 3 of the 5 are in 'famous major collections'. ny156uk (talk) 20:50, 29 April 2009 (UTC)