Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 April 8

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April 8

Future of Bangladesh.

Under the leadership of Sk.Hasina the prime minister the country will develope very fast. But the oppositions and other group of the country trying to resist it.I want to put some valuable advice for PM.How can I do that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.226.37.112 (talk) 00:00, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Do you want to send him a letter or email ? If so, maybe we can find an address for you to send it to. BTW, I would advise him to prepare for global warming, since, with the low elevation there and yearly monsoons, Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable. StuRat (talk) 00:05, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Sheikh Hasina is a woman. This website has contact information for her office. However, her office may ignore unsolicited advice from strangers. It might be better if you could convince someone who might have more clout to advocate for your position. An example might be your member of parliament (MP), if he or she is a member of the Awami League. Here is a list of current MPs by constituency with their contact information. Marco polo (talk) 15:44, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

other wikis

is there other wikis? I would like to have a list. thanks for your help! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.56.200.125 (talk) 01:00, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

There's pretty much a Wiki for every general topic. List of Wikis is what you asked for, but Googling anything+wiki will find more. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:25, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

You didn't ask for List of wiki software, but you can have it. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:27, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

There are really two things called "A wiki" - the software and the website with the software running on it. Wikipedia uses software called "MediaWiki" - but there are lots of other software packages that offer more or less the same kinds of feature. Here at work, we use one called "Confluence". MediaWiki (being free and very easy to install) is quite popular for all sorts of web sites.

As for web sites USING this wiki software, there must be hundreds of thousands - if not millions of them. Far too many to list. I, personally have half a dozen of them set up on various websites that I own. The content of these web sites is quite amazingly varied - and quite often it's not even obvious to the average use that a Wiki is even being used. Some wiki's are only editable by the owners - and some (one of mine included) can't be read without having an account on the system - and new accounts can only be created by me. MediaWiki is incredibly flexible in that regard.

So I think that to give you a decent answer, it would be worth asking what kinds of thing you're looking for in a Wiki? Maybe then we can give you a more focussed answer. SteveBaker (talk) 19:35, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

can you get a degree in Spokes?

Other than celebrity or ex officio, what career track leads to "spokesperson"? —Tamfang (talk) 02:54, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Journalism would help. Many spokespeople (especially in the political realm) are either trained as or former journalists. See Press secretary, Press agent, Attaché, etc. Many of the people who held those jobs were journalists by training (André Laguerre, Pierre Salinger, Stephen Early, etc.). --Jayron32 02:59, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

I should also note that in the EXACT article you linked, it states "In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and public affairs..." So, if you actually read the article, you'd have answered your own question. --Jayron32 03:00, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, well, just think how dull life would be without stupid mistakes like that! Or I could say:

Of course I read it, but the language you quoted implies that this is a recent development; where did spokespersons come from before the present media-sensitive world drove many (not even "most") organizations to hire journalists? —Tamfang (talk) 07:17, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

That's a good question: here in the UK, government "spokesmen" were civil servants with no formal training in media skills. It reminded me of the hapless Ian McDonald, who announced the outbreak of the Falklands War on television but soon got out of his depth. --TammyMoet (talk) 11:11, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Well, Stephen Early was a journalist, and served as Roosevelt's press secretary in 1933. That's hardly "present day". --Jayron32 14:10, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Tammy, how was McDonald hapless? I'm not seeing any explanation of why they had to replace him with military men. I found one video of him in which he's a good speaker, so apparently the problems happened in other press conferences. Nyttend (talk) 03:22, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

Yes he was a good speaker, but he was truly out of his depth when trying to answer technical questions, or put "spin" on the facts. He was serving the Government that is true: but his answers were doing the Government no service in trying to make the war more acceptable to the people. Thatcher got rid of plenty of good men during her reign as prime minister, and he was just one of them. I think his performances in the Falklands war mark a turning point in the history of political spin, and certainly the "spin doctor" became more prominent as a result of the Falklands. He just wasn't conveying the message Thatcher wanted and so he was ditched. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:25, 13 April 2014 (UTC)

If AVG is #2, who is #1?

Here AVG is marked as the #2 anti virus. Who is number one according to this roster? 50.43.180.176 (talk) 03:22, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Avast! If ye had clicked around through the category, matey, ye would have run into it eventually. Dismas|^(talk) 03:53, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Beware. I've got Windows 7. Not long ago I upgraded to the latest version of Avast (to make them stop pestering me several times a day) and it's such a hog that the browsers stopped connecting (both IE and Firefox). I had to disable it and install a much older version which a little bird gave to me. I've had Avast for several years, but I no longer trust it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:57, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Flight 370 ping?

Much has been made of the fact that the pings detected are at a lower frequency than standard for a Underwater locator beacon. But the pings are supposed to be 1 second apart and last for 10 milliseconds. I haven't heard anyone comment on the duration of the sounds that were detected or their spacing. Is there any report on that? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:46, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

NPR broadcast a story about this today/yesterday (depending on your time zone). Dismas|^(talk) 06:23, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. After I wrote the message above, I heard a recording that sounded like pings 1 second apart to me. There isn't much it can be except from 370, except for the remote possibility that someone dropped a pinger out there recently. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:39, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Resolved

The pings are reportedly at 37.5 kHz which requires an Ultrasonic sensor, part of a towed underwater Sonar equipment. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 23:43, 10 April 2014 (UTC)

Banco de Mexico: legitimate bank?

Since I could not find a listing on Mexico's only stock exchange for Banco de Mexico, I wondered: is Banco de Mexico a legitimate bank? I was called by someone who claimed to be from Profeco, a time share scam victims' rights agency, who said we could get a victims' rights settlement from the Banco de Mexico, but I can't find it on their Mexico City stock exchange. H. Rossman — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.228.119.214 (talk) 18:15, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

We have an article on Banco de México. There's no reason for it to be listed on the stock exchange.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 18:31, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

[edit conflict] The Bank of Mexico is not a publicly traded bank. Rather, it is a state institution. It is Mexico's central bank, just as the Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States or the Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom. Having read the much more extensive article on the Banco de México in the Spanish Wikipedia, I did not see compensation of victims as one of the functions of the central bank. I would be suspicious of the communication you received. We cannot offer legal advice; you may wish to contact an attorney. Marco polo (talk) 18:39, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

Also, it should be noted that not every company is publicly traded. Some companies are held privately, and do not have their shares traded on the open market. So even if it wasn't the State Bank of Mexico, it still wouldn't mean anything if it wasn't trading shares. --Jayron32 19:13, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

PROFECO is also a Mexican government agency. They might be interested in someone claiming to be from their office. The Spanish Wikipeda article on PROFECO is very extensive if you can read that. Richard-of-Earth (talk) 19:18, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

• Possibly the Banco Nacional de México? (Mexico's second-largest bank.) Looie496 (talk) 02:43, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

Social Security S4 Grant

To Whom it May Concern, Can you tell me information on the S4 Grant and what exactly is the S4 Grant and can you get child support when the father/mother is on it?

Thanks Jessie — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pinejessica (talk • contribs) 18:45, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm not seeing anything either here or in Google about that. What can you tell us about it? And keep in mind that we are not experts on tax law. You might be better off to call the IRS. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:30, 8 April 2014 (UTC)

... or your respective jurisdiction's tax authority. —Tamfang (talk) 07:20, 9 April 2014 (UTC)