Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 August 30

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August 30

Rogatina

What is a Rogatina? The internet claims it is Two things. An Ancient Military Slingshot from 1149 A.D., and also a Bear Spear used in Hunting.

Can you Help, Please? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.161.9.21 (talk) 00:42, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Yep - there appears to be two entirely separate things with the same name. Both usages are Russian in origin. You might have to ask on the Language reference desk if you need to know why they'd use the same word for both objects. Maybe the word really means "hunting weapon" or something more general. Both usages appear to come from about the same era in history - so it would seem possible that the word means something more generic. But hey, it's not like English isn't full of situations where two entirely different things have the same name! SteveBaker (talk) 02:47, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

There are some varieties of javelin which are meant to be thrown with the aid of a sling, See Amentum. It is quite possible that the weapon was a slinged javelin, which would fit both definitions. --Jayron32 04:16, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Along those lines, there is also the atl-atl. Dismas|^(talk) 04:49, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

. . .er, I think you mean a woomera [1];-) Richard Avery (talk) 07:04, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

It seems both got their name from a fork in the branches of a tree from which them might be made, the word "rog" meaning horn in Russian. The Boar spear or bear spear used the Y shape to prevent the speared animal getting too close which was later developed into wings or flanges when the spearhead was forged metal. A slingshot or catapult is well known for using the Y shape fork and although the military slingshot may not have been built anything like a hand catapult it probably retained the name of the simpler hand weapon. meltBanana 13:02, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

That crescent shaped thing around Washington's neck.

This is something I've been curious about for a while. Please look at these two pictures of President Washington. [2] [3] My question is, what is that metal thing around his neck? The thing that roughly resembles a crescent moon with the horns pointing upward. I've seen movies in which German soldiers wore the same thing during World War II. Here's a picture of one [4] (the one on the right in the leather trench coat). Anyone know what that is or the history of it? --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 03:01, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

It's a gorget. The article even has the same picture as your first example. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:30, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Thx. --Steven J. Anderson (talk) 03:58, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Venue seating

1. WTF does GA stand for? I mean, I know that "floor" stands for floor seating, but... 2. Does anyone have a proper map of the venue seating for Terminal 5 in NYC? I've looked all over and can't find one. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 05:09, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

GA stands for General Admission. GA seats are usually unassigned. Whoever gets there first, gets whatever seat they want. It's basically like a movie theater. Dismas|^(talk) 05:21, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) GA = General Admission, meaning "Sit wherever you want". See Seating assignment#General admission. According to Terminal 5 (venue), it has a capacity of 3000 people. From the description, it sounds like the kind of place where you just walk in and find a place to sit or stand, as GA would imply. --Jayron32 05:24, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Additionally, many places change their seating arrangement depending on what is being presented. For instance, a comedian would only need an aisle from the backstage area to the stage and therefore may have a theater in the round sort of arrangement. Whereas a music act would need a lot of equipment and such behind stage and would therefore have a larger area blocked off "behind" the musicians. Dismas|^(talk) 05:28, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all for the info. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 05:45, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

opossum age in picture on your website

I was looking at a page about virginia opossums, here is the address to it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Opossum and i saw a picture of a baby opossum. Can anyone tell me how old the baby is in this picture? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Newbaby.jpg thank youKristyAlyse (talk) 05:58, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

The picture in question was uploaded to Wikipedia's sister site, the image repository called Wikimedia Commons, by a user named "AnimalPhotos". Their userpage at commons is here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:AnimalPhotos . If you register an account at Commons, you can contact them at that site, however their most recent additions were some 8-9 months ago, so they may or may not respond to your inquiry. That would seem to be your best shot, however. --Jayron32 06:06, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Or try tracing for similar photos by searching for the photo in Google images and click similar photos. However that depends whether there are alot of little similar photos, because the likelihood of an answer is quite slim.Sir Stupidity (talk) 11:23, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Teenage girls holding hands

Two or three times in the UK I've seen teenage girls holding hands, and once briefly kissing when meeting. Does this indicate they are gay, or does it have no significance? 92.29.119.94 (talk) 12:36, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Depends on the kiss, and the culture. In America, women are generally more openly affectionate to each other than men are (men's idea of "affection" with each other is more like horseplay - hitting and such). Also in America, parents often hold hands of their young kids regardless of gender, although that's in part to keep them from running off. Many cultures are more comfortable with same-sex public display of affection than with opposite-sex. For example, in a book called Speaking of India it said that male friends often hold hands in public and it has no sexual connotation. And speaking of which, wasn't a similar question raised here a day or two ago? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:57, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

UK resident here - I'd say the only significance you can attach to this is that the girls are close friends. Open displays of "gayness" tend not to occur over here, except maybe at special events such as http://www.brightonpride.org/ .--TammyMoet (talk) 13:06, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes Bugs, two questions both from the southern UK, hmm, some coincidence eh? Caesar's Daddy (talk) 14:14, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Must be a lot of hand-holding going on in that part of the isle. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:20, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

A worrying development in the UK was the recent suicide by two girls who jumped to their deaths holding hands. This resonates with a notorious Japanese film that depicts a large number of schoolgirls who throw themselves in front of a subway train holding hands. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:51, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

"We'll buy some drugs and watch a band/Then jump in the river holding hands." -- David Bowie, "Sweet Thing" --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 15:01, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

The kissing girls may just have said mwah. See the article Air kiss. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:55, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

People are very confusing. They send out all sorts of mixed signals. It might mean something, it might not. Observing peoples actions from afar gives a very limited understanding of what is going on in their lives. 82.44.55.25 (talk) 21:01, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

.....and really who cares?Artjo (talk) 06:19, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

.... Well I don't! ... but, from observation, I would say that hand-holding and kissing on the cheek have no particular significance other than friendship (and sometimes not even that), but kissing on the lips indicates "lesbian". This is not, however, to be taken as an absolute guide. Dbfirs 08:32, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

My observation of my teenage daughter (UK) and friends is that it is currently fashionable to - consciously - make no big deal whatsoever of whether someone is "gay", "straight", "bi", "bi-curious", etc. etc. See, for example, this - behaving counter to people's expectations is "edgy" and "cool". So, nothing needs to be read into any particular type of affection-showing, whether kissing on the lips or not - and, as others have said, it is utterly unimportant to most people anyway. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:06, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I agree that teenagers would not consider it important, and a minority might kiss on the lips for effect, but they still understand the assumptions of previous generations. The full kiss has been used to indicate a lesbian relationship in many soaps from the original in Brookside to the current one in Coronation Street. Dbfirs 18:53, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Deodorant warning

Out of boredom, I read a deodorant's warning label. It said

“ Ask a doctor before use if you have kidney disease ” — Gillette Clear Gel

Why shouldn't you use deodorant if you have kidney disease? Battleaxe9872 ^Talk 20:30, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

The FDA explain it in detail here: [5] Basically it down to the problem of getting rid of the aluminium.--Aspro (talk) 20:47, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Maybe because it's scent is so strong that it will incite your urination putting sudden load on kidneys, what do you think ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 14:23, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

I'd say the FDA's explanation is more likely... Vimescarrot (talk) 14:29, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Last DC3

Are there any pictures of the last DC3 off the line at the Santa Monica Douglas plant around 1943. That particular DC3 was painted barn red with large white letters spelling "Caboose?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.195.167.249 (talk) 22:07, 30 August 2010 (UTC)