Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 December 11

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.

December 11

OLEST MG TD

WHAT CHASSIS NUMBER IS THE OLDEST MG TD STILL IN EXSISTENCE?68.192.210.114 (talk) 03:02, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Say again, I'm a bit deaf. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.211.153.242 (talk) 11:32, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

I found some anecdotal evidence that might help here. The MG TD was first produced in 1949, wearing chassis number 'TD0251'. Two cars were made in 1949, with production really getting going in 1950. Both 1949 cars were RHD, made for the UK market. [This web forum] suggests that the car found its way to the US, namely Washington state, at some point, before returning to the UK around 1989. It was sold and rebuilt around that time, but I don't have any information following that. However, if it was rebuilt and (as seems likely) the history as the first TD was recognised by the owner, it seems likely that TD0251 still exists somewhere. It would then, obviously, be the oldest in existence. By the way, the chassis number 251 was used throughout the 50s for the first MG of any series. It comes from the MG factory's telephone dialling code - Abingdon 251.
Finally, it's considered bad etiquette to use ALL CAPS in writing on the web, since it looks like you are shouting. There is normally a light on the keyboard to indicate if you are using all capital letters. If you press the 'Caps Lock' key (normally found immediately left of the 'A' key, it will go out, and you will be typing in more friendly lower case. You can always use the 'Shift' key (normally just below Caps Lock) to produce a single capital when needed. Thanks!
Cucumber Mike (talk) 16:26, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Skype

I am thinking of creating a Skype account, but before I do, I have a couple of questions regarding how the system works. Signing in, they ask for my full name and warn that anyone can access this information. Does that mean that anyone with the program that knows my name could look me up? How much of my own activity on the program could they see if they did that? Would they then be able to see lists of who else I have been talking to and so on? Then, it asks me to create a username as well, would I be right in thinking that this has to be unique, that I could not just use for example my first name, if someone else already uses that name? I'm also wondering what it would look like, would my name, email address and such like be displayed prominently for all to see?

148.197.80.214 (talk) 17:23, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

The "name" thing is how you appear in the public directory. I can't see any stipulation in the Skype terms of service that says this has to be your real name. So if you want people to be able to look you up, use your real name, and if you actively don't, use a pseudonym - you can always tell friends your skype name and they can talk directly to that, without going through the directory. The username ("skype name") has to be unique - it's this that really identifies your account. The only thing that people can see is your available/away/notAvailable status, which I think is visible only to people you've agreed to add to your contacts list (and you can configure settings for that). It says on the create-an-account page "Note: no-one can see your email address.". No, people can't see who you've been calling. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 17:39, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Nobody can see your email address unless you set your settings that you want to. HyperStudent (talk) 22:13, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

As an observation, a degree at minimum of pseudonymity would seem to be mandatory for many people: otherwise, only one person whose real full name was, say, John Smith, would be able to have a Skype account. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.13 (talk) 10:22, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Website contains spelling mistakes

Take a look at this website. There are some spelling mistakes contained in this information website. http://cuip.uchicago.edu/wit/2000/teams/whales/generalwhaleinfo.html HyperStudent (talk) 22:09, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

How am I supposed to correct the spelling mistakes or let the owner know if there is no contact us? HyperStudent (talk) 22:11, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

You aren't. Anyway it is an 11-year-old website created by what appears to be high school students. I doubt anybody cares much about it at this point. It's just one of many not very useful pages on the internet. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:49, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Disturbingly, it was apparently created by teachers: [1]. If you found something like that elsewhere though, you can often email webmaster [at] <website>.com to get in touch with whoever maintains the site. SmartSE (talk) 13:47, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Well, you see, I just counted seven spelling mistakes and I am using this great website for a school project. I need to cite my information and I cant cause my teacher will see that website has spelling mistakes. HyperStudent (talk) 23:45, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

If the information is good, but the spelling is not, it's academically rigorous to use it and when quoting typos to use the word sic in square brackets, like this:

Some modern historians do not agree: "the use of primary sauces [sic] is flawed" (Badlyspelledsource, Jones et al, 1975, p.57)

Hope that helps --Dweller (talk) 17:08, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. But there is still one problem. What I've been trying to basically say is that I want to edit the website but I can't! Please explain to me in simple words. HyperStudent (talk) 22:59, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Basically, you can't edit it. As Dweller says, your teacher should not have a problem with you quoting content with spelling mistakes as long as you put [sic] after the mistake--Jac16888 ^Talk 23:02, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Also, there has to be better works about Whales to use for information for a project. Why not check out the citations at our article for a starter? Heiro 07:48, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Im not allowed using Wikipedia. HyperStudent (talk) 20:44, 18 December 2011 (UTC)