Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 March 15

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March 15

what insurance company did I have for the companies that I worked for from American Cyanamid to Pfizer

> Hello, my name is Gary Davis I was employed by American Cyanamid from 1977 to 1994 when company became American Home products. In 2000 the company was again sold, this time to BASF. American Home products changed its name to Wyeth Corp. In 2009 it merged with Pfizer. I am trying to get info about any insurance company that was offered by any of these companies. I am retired know from Pfizer after 33 years. The Social Security office needs to verify that my wife had insurance though what ever company that I was working for at the time. I am not sure that you can help me or not.> Thank you,> Gary Davis — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.6.33.47 (talk) 04:03, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Call the HR department at Pfizer, they should be able to give you this information. RudolfRed (talk) 04:55, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

After 35 years and several mergers and acquisitions? They might be able to find that information, but it wouldn't surprise me if they no longer hold it. --Tango (talk) 20:26, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Do you know there was even an insurance company involved? Companies that large are often self-insured. 67.117.144.57 (talk) 19:43, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Whisky bottle with a lamb on its brand, in the '40

Hello miscellaneous lovers ! I read in Hemingway's Islands in the Stream (chapter At Sea) that a man of his crew, the ("black sheep" and) radio Peters, used to drink from a whisky bottle "with a lamb on the brand". Do you know of that brand ? Thanks a lot beforehand for your answers Arapaima (talk) 10:13, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Here's an improved link: Islands in the Stream (novel). Your link is about that Dolly Parton song that always makes me think of her floating on her back down a river. StuRat (talk) 10:17, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

BTW, that whisky brand may be entirely fictional. Would you settle for a sheep: [1] ? Then there's Lamb's Rum: [2]. StuRat (talk) 10:21, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks StuRAt, but no, it is whisky (almost shocking, since everybody else on board drank rhum, of course) Arapaima (talk) 10:35, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

The makers of "Sheep Dip Scotch Whisky" put a sheep on their bottles, see here [3]. They also explain the name "Came about because British farmers have long referred to whisky as Sheep Dip. There was a time when farmers distilled their own “home-made” whisky and in order to avoid paying taxes to the revenue man hid the whisky in barrels marked “Sheep Dip”". Unfortunately, the company's website says they started making this whisky in in 1970, so this was not what Hemmingway was describing. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:02, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

While the house-wives had the booze written down on the grocer's bills as "soap", too (in A.J. Cronin 's Hatter's Castle , I think...):-)))!!. In Hemingway, it reads "a little lamb on the brand", while the Sheep dip portraits a big-horned rather belzebuthoïd ram...Thanks a lot anyway to all, it has been a pleasure. T.y. Arapaima (talk) 11:48, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Circles in Iran

Greetings,

While searching Google Earth for some of the alleged nuclear sites in Iran I came across a "bunch" of sites that appeared as perfect circles of varying sizes. They have to be man made. Nothing that I can decipher from the images gives any clue as to their origin, significance, function, etc.

I'm new to posting anything on this site, so I have no clue about how to post an image.

Google cordinates for a view are: 34 55'00 48" N 51 04'22 56" E

Any thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joel B Wulff (talk • contribs) 11:23, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

They do indeed seem a little too perfect to be natural. My first though was depressions caused by underground explosions, but if you compare this one to those in the US you can see how they are different - for a start, the Iranian one isn't a complete circle. It seems to have been made in the same way the nearby linear feature was been made, perhaps by scooping up the desert sand with machine like a bulldozer. However, nearby there are some that look like bomb craters caused by air dropped munitions, and this looks like dugouts/foxholes for infantry training. Maybe this is some kind of military test/training range? Astronaut (talk) 12:32, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

All of the circles/craters near 34.926062° 51.071119° are in the "historical imagery" as far back as 2000, at least, with no modifications since then. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:28, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Relatedly, what does it say (in Arabic? Farsi?) here? --Mr.98 (talk) 17:41, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

In Google Earth there's a "Google Earth Community" layer that often contains placemarks linked to forum posts. Not that these forum posts are particularly reliable, usually, but sometimes, like in this case, there are hundreds of placemarks and posts. Here's one thread about the area, [4]. There's a lot of posts claiming the area is a military weapons testing range and close to the uranium enrichment facility near Qom (see Nuclear program of Iran #Second enrichment plant). Pfly (talk) 03:39, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

PS, the imagery is slightly different, but you can tell it is the same place as described here: [5], Iran's second uranium enrichment plant, next to a military facility with an air defense system. I don't know what the circles are exactly, but would guess they have something to do with the military site. As Mr.98 pointed out the circles have been there for a long time, suggesting they predate the nuclear facility. Pfly (talk) 04:10, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Bible question

where is the bible portion that says Cast your bread into the waters during rainy season 41.215.1.62 (talk) 14:30, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

A Google search Cast your bread into the waters during rainy season says Ecclesiastes 11:1: http://biblebrowser.com/ecclesiastes/11-1.htm. PrimeHunter (talk) 14:44, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Ecclesiastes 11 in the New King James version, though the meaning of "cast your bread upon the waters" is translated quite differently in the NIV version. The NIV version seems to imply that "Cast your bread upon the waters" is an idiomatic way of saying that one should ship their bread overseas. --Jayron32 15:05, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Ecclesiastes is notoriously difficult to comprehend, but that's a weird translation. The Hebrew of the end of the verse is "עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם" which clearly means "upon the surface of the water".

Rashi's interpretation of this verse is typically brilliant: "Send forth your bread upon the surface of the water: Do goodness and kindness to a person about whom your heart tells you that you will never see him again, like a person who casts his food upon the surface of the water. for after many days you will find it: Days will yet come, and you will receive your recompense. Note what is said about Jethro (Exod. 2:20): “Call him that he should eat bread,” and he thought that he (Moses) was an Egyptian and that he would never see him again. What was his end? He became his son- in-law and reigned over Israel and brought him under the wings of the Shechinah, and his sons and grandsons merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone." online source

So it means: do good to people, even if you think they could not possibly return the favour. You will ultimately benefit from it, materially, spiritually or both ways. --Dweller (talk) 15:21, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't know if it is all that weird, considering the complexities of idiom. Idiomatic phrases often make less sense when translated word-for-word rather than the intended meaning; consider how phrases like "kicked the bucket (dead)" or "knocked-up (pregnant)" would appear if translated word-for-word to another language. Which is not to say that the NIV is the best version to capture the original intent of the text, but saying that is also not to say that other translations do either. There is bound to be some disagreement among scholars as to the original intent of writers using a long-dead dialect of an ancient language in an unfamiliar culture. Rashi's commentary is quite insightful, assuming that his commentary is based on an accurate understanding of the original intent of the words. Rashi is certainly closer, by 1000 years, to the actual authors of the work, but he's still writing some 1,400 years after the original work, so there is no guarantee that his understanding of the original language is necessarily better than ours. And of course, in saying that, I do not mean that we, today, necessarily know that language any better than he did. Just that there is uncertainty, which may be unresolvable. --Jayron32 17:23, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Orthodox Jews have a tradition that Rashi's commentary on the Bible was, more or less uniquely, directly advised by the Bible's author. A more historiological approach is to say that a large proportion of Rashi's commentary is made up of him selecting his preferred gloss/glosses from the various works of Midrash, which places the thoughts he records say 700 or so years earlier than his own time (possibly earlier - not all his sources still exist), but I do take your point. On the subject of the translation, I've just noticed that no-one has brought a version that mentions a rainy season, so I needn't have worried - I assume it's just the OP's memory of the line being slightly inaccurate. I quite like the NIV rendition - it's not literal, but it's not a tortured translation either and it does indeed (as Adam says below) seem to be following in Rashi's footsteps, even if unconsciously. --Dweller (talk) 20:14, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I will just note that the only time I've ever sprinkled bread on the water is when I was feeding birds. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:44, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Isn't that what Rashi meant though? You won't see your bread again, but it will feed the fish, and you can eat the fish (or the birds, I suppose). Adam Bishop (talk) 18:08, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

In modern terms it might mean that you should send an email to yourself in case your hard drive dies with information on it you don't want to lose. : ) Bus stop (talk) 19:58, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Plants anime

I saw this anime on Hulu,it's about this boy who lives in this world where plants have taken over half of earth,he was trying to save this girl he found in a pod,so he fuses with the plant's(which give white hair and super powers),what is the name of this anime movie?74.178.186.35 (talk) 19:11, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Can you give the link to the clip? RudolfRed (talk) 20:24, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

No I don't think so cause I don't know the name,my friend just randomly picked one.74.178.186.35 (talk) 20:54, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Is Origin: Spirits of the Past anywhere close? Alansplodge (talk) 21:22, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes thank you.74.178.186.35 (talk) 23:30, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

kingbow

In the recent movie "True Grit" Marshall Cogburn refers during questioning that a man approached him with a "kingbow", what exactly is that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.38.101.197 (talk) 22:10, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Don't you mean the bit where Aaron Wharton waves a 'king bolt' (which it the big vertical kingpin pivot on a wagon's front wheel axial) at him?--Aspro (talk) 23:08, 15 March 2012 (UTC)