Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 August 7

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August 7

Accuracy of Grad rockets

The BM-21 Grad page says rockets can be fired between 20 and 30 km depending on the type, but are they usefully accurate at that range? I'm wondering how far away you could launch them from and still have a worthwhile chance of hitting, say, a garden shed, if you knew in advance where the shed was. Or are Grad systems really just for randomly hitting large areas? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.119.181 (talk) 13:02, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

The BM-21 Grad is a 60s variety of the WW2-era Katyusha rocket launcher or "Stalin organ". Its projectiles are neither guided missiles nor individually aimed. The weapon's strengths are its mobility and quick delivery of a devastating amount of explosives to a target area. It has lower precision than classical artillery and cannot be used in situations that call for pinpoint precision. It relies on a large number of shells dissipating over an area for a certain hit rate on specific targets. It would be inadvisable to stand closer than +/- 3 σ away from your garden shed if that is what a BM-21 Grad is aimed at where σ =Standard deviation depends on firing range and assumed Gaussian spread of impacts. See Multiple rocket launcher for some history. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 13:40, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

What, so you're saying I shouldn't try this at home?? ;) 129.67.119.181 (talk) 15:57, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

why am I being contacted?

"I did't complete the sign up application and closed the page when they wanted access to my contact list--NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THAT...BUT now I'm getting requests to link with me from friends on my LIST---WHY ?" help me to be comfortable and secure please !! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:0:5500:200:6C44:8D4A:3AD4:E00 (talk) 14:18, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't do this. Which website are you talking about? 129.67.119.181 (talk) 15:50, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

LinkedIn, Facebook, G+? Whatever, maybe you're in their contact list and they gave access. —Tamfang (talk) 04:18, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Are Facebook "About" pages linked to the original Wikipedia pages?

Hello,

I am working on some maintenance of my company's social media presence. Currently we have a Facebook organization/about page that I would like to delete completely. However, the text was generated from Wikipedia, and I want to know: IF I delete this page, will this action also cause the original Wikipedia page to be deleted? Because I do not want that.

I appreciate your help and prompt attention.

Kindest regards,

Sonia — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.19.129.210 (talk) 18:07, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

Facebook and Wikipedia are not linked (in fact most of those Facebook pages reflect old, and often errant, versions of our articles). Any action you take while on Facebook will not affect Wikipedia's pages.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 18:24, 7 August 2014 (UTC)

The only connection between Facebook and Wikipedia is that Facebook often copies content from Wikipedia (which is allowed, providing they cite Wikipedia as a source). Wikipedia and Facebook have no control whatsoever over each other. As WilliamThweatt above said, deleting a page on Facebook which has been copied from Wikipedia will absolutely not harm the original Wikipedia article in any way. And in turn, deleting a Wikipedia article which has been copied to Facebook will probably not affect the Facebook page. JIP | Talk 18:15, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

To be fair, we also copy their content for info in Facebook. And when they change their stuff, it affects us. That was 2011 info, anyway. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:43, 9 August 2014 (UTC)

Like the others have said, we have no control over Facebook and they have no control over Wikipedia's articles. If you are tempted to come to Wikipedia just to try to delete the article about your copmany, please don't. You clearly have a conflict of interest, so the best approach to make changes to the existing article is to work with other experienced editors to improve and update it. As a general rule, we do not delete Wikipedia articles, just because the subject of that article does not like it. Astronaut (talk) 13:38, 9 August 2014 (UTC)