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

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November 25

Skee Ball Game

Can you help me find how old my Skee Ball Game is? It was made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Co., Model # "47" Serial # "537" I bought it at the Crystal Beach Amusement Park auction 25 years ago. I've searched everywhere but can't find this information Any information will be appreciated! Thank You. Guy Lessard, Fonthill, Ontario, Canada — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.238.121.33 (talk) 15:48, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

From this [1] it appears it was made in 1947. 86.168.124.35 (talk) 16:17, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

The Skee ball article indicates between 1945 and 1971 (being the period PTC was the manufacturer). These articles - http://www.techdose.com/articles/The-History-of-SkeeBall-Machines/405/page1.html http://www.skeeball.com/pdf/RePlay%20Nov%202009.PDF - might be of interest. One does suggest that in later models the model number was the year number - though the earliest example quoted is 1974. Wymspen (talk) 16:23, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

Age for male orgasm producing ejaculate.

I've always wondered what the youngest age a male could produce an ejaculation, either with or without sperm being present. Is there any physical reason why it couldn't take place (even with electro-stimulation?) Thanks. Toyama. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.188.82.36 (talk) 17:45, 25 November 2016 (UTC)

According to several sources (including this, this, and our article) boys cannot ejaculate until puberty, but I haven't yet pinned down a scientific study stating that outright. (This seemed like it was going to hit the mark, but the relevant page is not visible to me). Note that physical ejaculation of semen is completely distinct from orgasm, which can seemingly happen at any age. Also note that the start of puberty is extremely variable, so even if we assume that ejaculation can only occur post-puberty, that still doesn't truly pin it down to a specific age in years. Matt Deres (talk) 03:18, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

The Google Books hit that Matt couldn't see was on Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, and I was allowed to see pages 185 and 186, including this key passage:

The earliest ejaculation remembered by any of our apparently normal males was at 8 (three males). We have the history of one unusual boy (a Negro, interviewed when he was 12) who fixed 6 as his age at first ejaculation. The boy had been diagnosed by the clinician as "idiopathically precocious in development." In the literature (e.g., Ford and Guild 1937, Young 1937, Weinberger and Grant 1941) there are clinical cases for still younger ages, most of them involving endocrine pathologies.

So the answer seems to be age 8 unless the male's endocrine system is messed up. --76.71.5.45 (talk) 07:29, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

(Assuming you're talking about human males...) To start producing semen, the seminal vesicles and prostate have to be "switched on" by high levels of testosterone. Testosterone levels in males start rising at gonadarche, when the testicles start producing it. As with all the stages of sexual development, there is individual variation in the age that this occurs, so you're going to have to settle for a statistical range. Sexual development can start abnormally early for various reasons, so the absolute lower bound on age is likely pretty low, but such instances are atypical. --47.138.163.230 (talk) 09:16, 26 November 2016 (UTC)

See also Spermarche. Alansplodge (talk) 14:46, 27 November 2016 (UTC)