Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 May 25

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May 25

What are some good websites that have book recommendations and book lists?

I know Goodreads is one. 2001:569:766D:AB00:34C5:294:243:D237 (talk) 06:10, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Goodreads#See also lists some. Category:Book websites may also help. --Jayron32 11:01, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

People who flunked in elementary and high school but later turned out to be geniuses

Are there any people that flunked every single subject in elementary school and high school but turned out to be geniuses later in life? There's a myth about Albert Einstein doing poorly in school but what about true cases? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.207.71.235 (talk) 07:28, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

This may help you in your research. --Jayron32 10:57, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

That linked article is about people who dropped out, not those who flunked out. There's a considerable difference. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:38, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Scholastic achievement does not automatically equate with genii ;-) So the OP is wrongly mixing premises. Performing poorly at school even indicates that they already could not, mindlessly accept, and without question, everything that was being taught to them. So that displays above average abilities even in their younger years.--Aspro (talk) 13:27, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

The OP did not equate school performance with genius. They are asking for proof of just the opposite. Also, it's possible to do well in school without actually accepting what is taught. You just parrot back whatever garbage they claim to be the truth, while continuing to figure the world out on your own. StuRat (talk) 20:54, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Winston Churchill of course never made it into upper school. DuncanHill (talk) 21:02, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Edison Edison (talk) 05:16, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Wacom share holding stock

Would you buy a piece of the company? Is it worth - or did they stopped to built interesting things and the company was years ago more interesting for investment? --Ip80.123 (talk) 17:34, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid we can't give financial advice here. Tevildo (talk) 19:56, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Police / Military Tactics

Where is the best place to find a comprehensive overview of front line police and military tactics? I'm looking for things such as how to assess where the best entry point to a building is, how to conduct surveillance / countersurveillance etc. Mainly looking for individual rather than organisational tactics but won't turn down any organisational tactics that come along, eg how best to quell a riot. Thanks. 82.132.244.174 (talk) 19:07, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

A good example of the two combined is the RUC in the north of Ireland. The government's strategy of Ulsterisation transferred responsibility for military 'operations' into the until-then civilian police force, thus giving the RUC responsibility for both. _Fortuna ^{Imperatrix Mundi} 06:13, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

Note that police and military strategies are often quite different, because the goals are different. The military may want to kill everyone inside a building, then search for documents, etc., while the police aren't supposed to do things like that. StuRat (talk) 20:51, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Regarding Stu's statement (which I will note contains no useful references to help you research anything, as per usual), Militarization of police may help. Regarding specific police strategies, Police#Strategies is a Wikipedia article and section which mentions several specific kinds of police strategies, such as Problem-oriented policing, Community policing, Intelligence-led policing, etc. Wikipedia also has articles on military tactics (a very large set of them) as well as surveillance and Countersurveillance. --Jayron32 22:41, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

I tried Googling around for an instance of a military killing everyone for documents. Found militaries killing everyone, and militaries searching for documents. Perhaps he's half right again. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:14, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

I don't care if he's right or not. I've also never once accused him of not being right. Never once. This is not the "be right" desk. This is the reference desk. No one needs him to be right. We need him to provide references. He's not useful if he doesn't provide references. --Jayron32 23:16, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Right. And no sudden movements, either. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:51, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Jayron's specialty, along with picking fights in the highly inappropriate places like the Ref Desk, is giving unreferenced AND incorrect answers, like this current gem (last sentence): https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities&diff=prev&oldid=721785625. There are MANY other examples. StuRat (talk) 22:26, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

The Scars Of Heroes DVD contains about 1500 military manuals. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 02:21, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

What exactly do you mean by "front line", and are you looking only for modern militaries, or mediaeval and ancient as well? My first thought was a shield wall, which is irrelevant for military use nowadays and useful for police only when fighting off rioters. Nyttend (talk) 03:44, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

I think "front line", in this context, means that they are on the streets, not behind a desk at HQ. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 04:00, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

Shield walls are used to box passersby in as well as fight rioters off. InedibleHulk (talk) 17:14, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

Kettling, they call it. InedibleHulk (talk) 17:19, 27 May 2016 (UTC)