Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 April 5

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April 5

Slope (geography)

I read Grade (slope), but it didn't help much: Suppose someone tells you "X is the name of the Eastern slope of ABC mountain." — where would the be on a map? The Eastern edge? The foot? The whole side? Thanks. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 ^{> haneʼ} 06:37, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

A slope is defined as "An area of ground that tends evenly upward or downward."[1] A "Mountain Slope" is a slope that forms the side of a mountain.[2] The "eastern slope" of the ABC mountain would probably be the whole region east of ABC peak that's at an incline, but is not a cliff.

But it's not the most precise usage in the world. In many cases it would be difficult or impossible to draw a line around the "slope of the mountain" and nothing else.

APL (talk) 07:15, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Ah. thanks. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 ^{> haneʼ} 07:21, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The steep side of a mountain is often referred to as a "face"; see The North Face of the Eiger. This definition seems to have escaped our Face (disambiguation) page, but is mentioned in our Pyramidal peak article. Alansplodge (talk) 16:37, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

I dunno if this helps, but I remember a math problem where line from the peak relative to the center of the base at sea level was asking for the angle of the slope. But this also required you to figure the center of the base at sea level based on the measurement of the sides, and the example "mountain" was pretty unrealistic, being more of a 3 dimensionalrhombus. I know I'm missing some important details here...it was a long time ago, and I hated math. Ditch ∝ 02:52, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

See aspect (geography), which means "slope direction", more or less. In terrain analysis "slope" refers just to steepness and "aspect" to the the direction of the slope. In GIS applications aspect is frequently mapped in nine categories (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW, and flat), and usually with the same colors as in this example, [3] (note that the legend actually has two "north" classes but both colored red; apparently the mapmaker didn't know how to merge the 0-22.5 degree class with the 337.5-360 degree class in the GIS software). I think this color scheme is common because it simply applies a "rainbow" spectrum to the compass direction classes in degrees, starting with red and zero degrees (north). Sometimes you see aspect color schemes with warm colors for south-facing slopes and cool colors for north-facing slopes (eg, [4]), which is more sensible when one is dealing with insolation. In any case, the most common way to map aspect is in those nine classes, with north distinguished from northeast, etc. However, when dealing with a specific mountain there are often terrain features that distinguish particular faces. Long anticline ridges for example, like the Saddle Mountains, which have an obvious north slope and south slope, [5] Finally, to repeat the point about slope and aspect being two different things, here's a terrain analysis map showing an elevation map being used to generate slope and aspect maps: [6] Pfly (talk) 06:57, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

U.S. Censuses Question

Which U.S. Censuses besides the 1900 U.S. Census recorded someone's month and/or day (the 25th, for instance) of birth, rather than simply one's year of birth? Thank you very much. Futurist110 (talk) 08:15, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Actually, most of them (through 1940, anyway) captured only the age at the time of the census. Which may be fine for the census takers, but is annoying for genealogists, as it means at least two possible birth years. I say at least, because they don't always get it right. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:49, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

In regards to genealogy, the earliest document is generally the most likely one to be correct since it is the closest to the individual's birth date. Futurist110 (talk) 21:13, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Especially if it's a newborn, where they might say "11/12", and when you compare that with the actual census date, you've pretty well zeroed in on the birth month. Errors can arise, though. The census-taker might mis-hear the information and it's recorded that way for posterity. Compounding it is when the transcribers (as for ancestry.com) mis-read what they're seeing. But that's another story. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?}carrots→ 22:28, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

One can look at Ancestry.com documents himself/herself if he/she has a subscription. Also, if a mistake occurred in the earliest document, then this mistake can be noticed/realized by looking at later documents, checking if the birth date/month/year on these documents matches the birth date/month/year on the earliest document, and checking if there is consistency in the birth date/month/year on various documents other than the earliest document. Futurist110 (talk) 03:14, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Only 1900, 1970, 1980, 2000 and 2010. This site has all the questions for each census: [7]. Rmhermen (talk) 17:49, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Futurist110 (talk) 21:13, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

Near side/off side in older US usage

I'm pretty aware of what the terms near side and off side mean in a UK context, but I'm working on Ezra Meeker and would like use the image here. Meeker is using the terms, writing in about 1905, about events that took place in the US in 1839 or 1840, and I'd like to be able to say which boy is intended to be him.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:39, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The illustrator may have had his own view, but it's probably worth noting that as Meeker says he and his brother went "bareheaded", just a few lines above that image, the real answer is neither, because he clearly had no say in the illustration. (More arguably, those shirts don't seem particularly "checkered", either) It seems extraordinary that the illustrator made such (a) simple error(s) - so perhaps it's a stock engraving that the publisher found? --Dweller (talk) 16:29, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Possibly. But I'd like to use the image and since Meeker says he always traveled on one side and his brother on the other, the reader may be naturally curious as to which boy is intended to be the man who wound up looking like Methuselah.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:38, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

According to Brewer's Dictionary, the near side and off side are the left and right sides, respectively. John M Baker (talk) 16:45, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Ah thanks, and this seems to confirm that.--Wehwalt (talk) 16:46, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Near side and off side are still regularly used of vehicles in the UK (with Brewer's meaning). I didn't answer earlier because I wasn't sure whether the meanings had been reversed in the USA and Canada when they changed road sides, but it seems not. On modern roads, it is probably safer to lead animals with the person towards the centre of the road and the animal further from motor vehicles. Dbfirs 18:17, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Searching for data on a specific coal generation plant

I am looking for specific data on the Hickling Generation Plant located near Corning New York. This is a coal-fired generation plant and last available data on the internet is from 2005 when the unit was put on cold-standby. I am trying to find out if the plant was modified and put back into operation or shut down. There is very little in Wikipedia on any of the the close to 600 coal-fired generation plants in the US. I work for a company that builds actuators and we largely supply Nuclear Plants and a few of the coal or fossil fuel plants. Wikipedia has been of great assistance in researching the Nuclear Power plants, but not so much when it comes to the fossil fuel plants. I am currently researching the various fossil fuel plants with the intention of expanding our business into this area - however data on these plants is difficult to come by. If you have anything on the Hickling plant I would greatly appreciate it and if Wikipedia would consider adding data on the coal plants it would be of benefit. I thank you for your efforts and truly appreciate the fine resouce that Wikipedia provides.WikiKatMeow (talk) 13:04, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

The U.S. Energy Information Agency has lots of data. This page includes data on the ten largest power plants in the state. They might have more data elsewhere. Rmhermen (talk) 17:43, 5 April 2013 (UTC)