Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 June 27

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June 27

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How can I get in contact with an article author racerreporter1971? <email redacted> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.61.208.57 (talk) 00:59, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

I've removed your email. No one here will ever contact you by email, and publishing it publicly is unwise. You can contact that user by leaving a message at User talk:RacerReporter1971. --Jayron32 01:25, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Unavailable as an ebook…

I am into fat acceptance and checked two different sellers for Marilyn Wann's FAT!SO?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size. Neither carries it as an ebook. Is it available from any renowned sellers of ebooks? Or has the ebook industry deemed it "dangerous?"

If not, don't worry about me…I can always get it in print. Theskinnytypist (talk) 05:41, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

It's entirely up to the publisher whether they release it to retailers as an ebook. You would need to ask them about availability in that format.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:18, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

If the book is on Amazon, they have a check-box where you can say "I'd like to see this as an eBook" - and if enough people ask, Amazon will pressurize the publisher for you.

I very much doubt that the ebook industry gives a damn whether it's "dangerous" or not - they just want 100% of everything in eBook format. It's really just a matter of what the publisher with the rights to the book wants to do. Some publishers are embracing eBooks - others are fighting desperately against the raging torrent of people converting to eReaders. There is actually a (small) cost associated with making the eBook version. Someone has to convert the files to the right formats, check the formatting and get with the eBook vendors and have them take it. If they believe that the demographic of the potential readership is mostly the kind of people who don't like eBooks for whatever reason - then they may not wish to incur the expense. Increasingly, the reverse is also becoming the case - with many new authors not bothering with getting a print edition of their books made.

Besides, what's so "dangerous" about a book like this? It seems pretty much obvious stuff to me. Why would you even need to read it? All you need to know is right there in the title. If you're not worried about the health consequences of being overweight - then fine, do your own thing - if not, then diet. Why do you need a book to tell you that? SteveBaker (talk) 15:46, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Beware the use of simple logic. It can confuse people. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:11, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Ferrari 4SS Spider

I've poked through the Ferrari infobox/timeline, and I'm stumped on this... I'm scanning negatives from a newspaper (for which I can't access the actual paper itself, easily), and there are images of a "Ferrari 4SS Spider". The images are from 1995, so it can't be a Ferrari 458 Spider. Chronologically, it would have to be a Ferrari 456 Spyder, but there's only four of those ever made, two of which were aftermarket. Help? I'm wondering if I should just declare it a Ferrari F355 Spider. -- Zanimum (talk) 15:31, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Impossible to say without an image. The only one that I can think of with a "4" and an "S" is the (1967) 275 GTB/4S Spyder.  —71.20.250.51 (talk) 01:08, 28 June 2014 (UTC)

"Plinking" on animals?

Plinking usually means informal shooting at thingies. In contrast to that meaning in the article, some people use it also for hunting small animals like squirrels. Is this usage correct or wrong, or is this a gray area of the term? --KnightMove (talk) 16:20, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

If some people use it that way, then that is one of the meanings of the word. If you want to know whether or not it is "correct", tell us which style guru you wish to grant the power to rule on correctness. --ColinFine (talk) 16:49, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

"Plink" and words like it most likely refers to the sound.[1] Hence the Leroy Anderson tune, "Plink Plank Plunk", which consists mostly of plucking the strings of a violin. So the original "plinking" would refer to the sound, and with its connection to shooting a gun, could be extended to hitting any kind of target, whether it makes a "plink" sound or not. That's how language evolves. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:08, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Discussion that is not pertinent to question

The verb usage is onomatopoeic. Wikitionary cites examples such as Your child may also begin to plink out a few notes on a xylophone... while Oxford Dictionaries confirms a chiefly North American transitive usage plink v. Shoot at (a can, bottle, or similar target). The OP refers to people who regard small vulnerable living creatures as targets for testing their firearms, which fits the profile of life in the land of the brave. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 20:35, 27 June 2014 (UTC) You linked to the US national anthem. Is the US the only country where people shoot "small vulnerable living creatures?" Does no oneshoot defenseless creatures in your country? 23:10, 27 June 2014 (UTC) Bloody hell! That's the single most insensitive thing I've seen in a very long time, User:Edison. Hang your head in shame! 82.21.7.184 (talk) 23:18, 27 June 2014 (UTC) And another IP who likes to bash residents of the US chimes in: Someone who thinks a "mongrel colonial dialect" is spoken in the US. Nonetheless, I will strike the link and just note that the off-topic attack I found offensive geolocates to a country where there is lots of gun ownership and where hunters commonly shoot small animals for sport. Edison (talk) 23:50, 27 June 2014 (UTC) Not long ago, someone on TV pointed out that squirrels are "basically rats with bushy tails". In short, a pest. If the OP had said "rats" instead of "squirrels", it's less likely that an anti-American voice would have chirped in. As to the Norway thing, that horrific act and the meager punishment given its perp is a testament to criminal-coddling gone wild. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:47, 28 June 2014 (UTC) Please stop this - both sides. --KnightMove (talk) 07:05, 28 June 2014 (UTC) The OP's question seems to have been sufficiently answered, so you could box up this section if you want. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:28, 28 June 2014 (UTC) Before that, I must remind everyone that Norwegian rats and sewer rats are the same. If you prick them, they both bleed. And if you shoot them, neither goes "plink". That stuff's for the turtles (if anyone must be plinked). InedibleHulk (talk) 22:12, 28 June 2014 (UTC) I have begun a talk page thread (using a proxy IP) to discuss how this is all my fault, with a little ancillary guilt attributable to User:Baseball Bugs. μηδείς (talk) 22:33, 28 June 2014 (UTC) Could you provide a link (not a plink!). Edison (talk) 00:36, 29 June 2014 (UTC) It's a complex guilt. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:03, 29 June 2014 (UTC) Very small, vulnerable and so lucky not to be in the sights of colonials gunning for redcoats. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 02:43, 29 June 2014 (UTC) With its tail not bushed out yet, it does indeed look like a rat. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:03, 29 June 2014 (UTC) How often are you 50 feet up an oak tree, looking in a dead leaf bundle, Bugs? PS> I left you some celery out back to help with the heat expected tomorrow. μηδείς (talk) 02:33, 30 June 2014 (UTC) Not so often. But there's a guy on one of the cable channels who builds tree houses, and he's probably seen a lot of squirrels up close. He's the guy who described them as rats with bushy tails. [Treehouse Masters, on Animal Planet[. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:15, 30 June 2014 (UTC) So did you. We all do. 84.209.89.214 (talk) 10:52, 29 June 2014 (UTC) Sort of. But without the just-human-enough pink hands. I like rats, but there's no denying the weirdness of those. InedibleHulk (talk) 14:17, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

As an avid target shooter, here is my take. Plinking refers to shooting inanimate objects, such as cans, targets, etc., as stated in the article. Shooting rodents and small animals is called varminting or varmint hunting. The term plinking does not apply to shooting live animals. Justin15w (talk) 15:09, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Miss America age limits

Amanda Longacre was crowned June 14, 2014 as Miss Delaware], but today, June 27 the title was revoked and given to the runner up because Longacre would turn 25 before the end of the year, on October 22, 2014, although her birthday will be after the Miss America pageant in September. Officials said she had filled out paperwork properly documenting her birthdate before entering the competition. The Miss America website only says that contestants must be "17 to 24." Heather French Henry was crowned as Miss America on September 18, 1999, and she turned 25 on December 29, 1999, per her stated birthdate in her bio article. Did the Miss America pageant change the rules since 1999 to require the contestant still be 24 at the end of the calendar year she was crowned, and not just on the date of the Miss America pageant, and is that rule stated somewhere? Edison (talk) 18:01, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

From what I can tell from the website, it only has limited information for potential contestants as they will need to take part in (and win) the state competition to take part in Miss America. You can see the contract for Miss Alabama [2] which clearly specify the requirement for the contestant to be the 24 on December 31st. Perhaps because of the recent change, the Miss Delaware website doesn't work, and internet archive doesn't seem to have anything useful. So while I don't know if it's been update because of the recent controversial, it wouldn't surprise me if it's always been in one or more of the forms that contestants have to sign to participate. I don't know when, or if, the rule changed. Nil Einne (talk) 12:47, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

I have no idea. But is it possible that the state pageants (e.g., Miss Delaware, etc.) have different rules than the national Miss America pageant? Or do they all operate under the same rules? Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 00:28, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Reports are that this stipulation was buried in the contract, which she signed, and in theory the state pageant directors would have known, except it appears they were not paying attention. It is further reported that they decided to go ahead and award scholarships to the one booted as well as the "new" winner. Some have opined that because of this royal screw-up, Delaware should be excluded from the national pageant this year, which might make them pay more attention next year. There was another screw-up in another state this year, I forget which one (maybe Florida) where they mis-counted and essentially had to grab the crown from one contestant and give it to another. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:16, 1 July 2014 (UTC)