Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 January 20

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January 20

Is it okay to ask fellow editors for the sources they cited/found for an article or map of theirs?

If someone made an accurate map of an empire based on the sources that he/she read and put it in the infobox of the article, is it okay to ask that editor for the sources he or she found/cited for the map they made and claimed to be accurate? Keeby101 (talk) 03:32, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Using maps and similar sources in Wikipedia articles is linked from WP:OR and has good information on using maps. -- Jreferee (talk) 04:24, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

And yes, it's OK to ask them for their sources, but try not to make it sound like you think they made it all up. StuRat (talk) 04:27, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much for answering my question! :D Kirby (talk) 06:26, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

ethnic composition for all census of Guizhou and Yunnan

Where can I get ethnic composition for all census of Guizhou and Yunnan?--Kaiyr (talk) 10:35, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Cotton socks

I require pure cotton socks. No elastine, no polyester blend (no matter how small a percentage) but I cannot locate any. Are they still manufactured?114.75.19.216 (talk) 13:14, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Sock Shop sell a range of socks (here) advertised as being 100% cotton, and I'm sure that other retailers have a similar range. Tevildo (talk) 14:18, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

I've shopped online myself for socks. In my case, I'm OK with cotton/poly blends, but I don't like elastic, either, as it degrades when I use bleach in the washing machine, which is the only way I know to get white socks white again. StuRat (talk) 15:10, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

To help generate useful responses, the OP's IP address geolocates to Victoria, Australia. HiLo48 (talk) 20:50, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Looking for starting strength 3rd edition in Barnes and Noble

Hello there, I am looking for Starting Strength 3rd edition By Mark Rippetoe in Barnes and Noble. This book is available in amazon.com. But I have to purchase this book via third party publisher who only imports foreign books through Barnes and Noble. When I place my order to the publisher, I usually provide him the books link from Barnes and Noble. As for the Starting Strength 3rd edition, the site shows vague link of this book and some of this book link claims weird price such as 45 to 79 dollars. How can I get this book from Barnes and Noble? Thank you--180.234.230.29 (talk) 17:01, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Starting Strength is, essentially, self-published (Rippetoe owns Aasgaard, the publisher). They seem only to have online distribution deals with Amazon in the US (and not in other countries). Not, it seems, with BN or other online stores - so what you get on them is their "marketplace" - 2nd hand (usually older editions) at a variety of weird prices. If you get a book from one of these vendors (it's not from BN directly, which might mess up the arrangement your importer has) there will likely be expensive postage charges too (Starting Strength is large, heavy book). So you don't have an easy option. Some things that might be possible for you:

• get it from Amazon.com rather than BN
• get it direct from the publisher http://aasgaardco.com/
• buy the Kindle edition on Amazon.com (the kindle edition is much cheaper too); remember that you don't need a Kindle to read this, just a Windows PC (or an iOS or Android device)

-- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 17:42, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Urgh, but Kindle ebooks sometimes have geographical restrictions, so I don't know that the Kindle edition would work for you in Bangladesh. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 17:48, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

So perhaps the best idea is to email Aasgaard's customer service and ask them where in Bangladesh you can get the book - maybe they have a local partner somewhere. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 17:52, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

• • Yeah, you are right. Kindle does not work in Bangladesh. Well, I am going to contact their customer service to make it available in B&N. Let's see what happens. Thank you--180.234.244.149 (talk) 11:09, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Some one is sending People magazine. I do not want this magazine.

?.#BXNRYCG++++++++++++ECRLOT++C-035 #0419670# PW0573MI00 A DEC14 7370 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CCCE:A3C0:A190:3E3:480E:1DC8 (talk) 17:03, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Sorry to hear that, but this is Wikipedia. Nothing to do with People magazine. Please direct your complaint there. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 18:30, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

I sometimes get magazines I did not order. Not sure how it comes about, but I'm not charged for them, so I don't feel the need to complain. —Nelson Ricardo (talk) 07:45, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Some magazines get dramatically more revenue from advertising than they do from selling the magazines. Since advertisers care greatly about the number of people who read the magazine (which is roughly approximated by the number of copies that are delivered) - it's in the interests of some magazines to continue to send them to you long after your subscription has run out in order to inflate their circulation numbers and thereby pull in more advertising dollars. This is particularly the case for some low-circulation professional magazines. There are a couple of magazines that I've been getting for over 5 years without paying for them - and they've even accepted change-of-address forms from me without demanding payment. One of them keeps saying "Fill out our readership survey and get a 6 month subscription free!" - and even though I don't fill it out, the magazine keeps coming.

That said, I'd be surprised if "People" was like that - but it's definitely possible. The magazine has a circulation of around 42 million copies - and a full-page advert costs $300,000 to $450,000 depending on where it is in the magazine and what special issues you put it in. So very roughly one cent per page of adverts...there is a lot of adverts in that magazine - so they are probably making around 50 cents in advertising revenue from each issue they deliver. Figuring postage and printing costs - they can probably make money doing that - even if they give the magazine away for free to people whom they can't sucker into paying $2.50 a copy for it!

SteveBaker (talk) 21:58, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Heroin Shelf Life

Does heroin have a shelf life? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.23.200.126 (talk) 18:51, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

If you mean heroin as an illegal drug, considering that it is invariably cut with all sorts of crap, any of which could cause degradation, the answer has to be 'maybe' - there are too many unknowns to give a sensible answer (beyond the obvious one of 'don't take heroin'...). As for legally-prescribed heroin - normally referred to as diamorphine - we don't give medical advice. Read the leaflet that comes with the prescription. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:00, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

It is legally prescribed in several countries other than the USA, and searching diamorphine "shelf life" indicates that it does have a stated shelf life, which as Andy pointed out should be stated in a leaflet with the prescribed drug. Edison (talk) 20:35, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

36 months. No clue how that can be taken as medical advice. Advising someone to read a prescription leaflet is more along the lines of advising they get a prescription. InedibleHulk (talk) 20:54, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

Argument Over Medical Advice
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Hardly. It's saying "IF you get a prescription, heed any advice and warnings given by your doctor, the pharmacist, the leaflet in the box, and what's written on the outside of the box". That's what's called common sense, not medical advice. The same basic approach is used when purchasing a toaster or a TV or a vibrator. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 21:50, 20 January 2014 (UTC) All of the toasters, TVs, and vibrators my doctor advised me to buy from the pharmacist broke pretty soon, because I didn't read the leaflets in the box, so I can attest that Jack is right on this point. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 20:28, 21 January 2014 (UTC) Sure, but there was no "if". Just an "or". Google it or get a prescription to read the label. Not even "Ask your doctor if heroin is right for you." If the question was "Should I still take this heroin I was prescribed in 2004?", the leaflet answer would be great. But this isn't so complicated. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:36, 20 January 2014 (UTC) Not trying to rag on Andy's answer, by the way. Using it more in a pro-non-advice way than anti-advice. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:40, 20 January 2014 (UTC) When Andy wrote "Read the leaflet that comes with the prescription", that means "IF you have been to a doctor and been prescribed diamorphine, and IF you've purchased some from a chemist using said prescription, THEN read the leaflet that comes with the prescription". Andy's advice obviously doesn't apply to anyone who hasn't been through such a process or for whom such a process is irrelevant, and it can't be read as an exhortation to enter into such a process. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 05:03, 21 January 2014 (UTC) That's a damn fine disclaimer. InedibleHulk (talk) 02:23, 22 January 2014 (UTC) How silly. If I say "Don't text while driving", I am not urging you to immediately get into your car, right now, so that you can choose not to text while driving it. It is a general precaution which may not apply to you personally at all; you may not have a drivers licence; you may be legally blind; you may have your own chauffeur; you may not own a mobile phone ...... Andy's advice to read the leaflet in a box of pills is in that same category of general precaution. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 04:07, 22 January 2014 (UTC)