Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 December 19

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December 19

Deleted article: John Ben Shepperd

I am concerned that an article to which I made extensive contributions has been deleted from the English language wikipedia. I have attempted unsuccessfully to find a record of the deletion history.

The page is John Ben Shepperd, a former Attorney General of the State of Texas (now deceased)

I would appreciate assistance in finding out the reason it is a deleted page, and pursuing getting it restored.

Thanks! Robert1947 (talk) 21:21, 19 December 2019 (UTC) Robert1947 (talk) 00:32, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

The deletion log at John Ben Shepperd says "10:28, 26 September 2019 MER-C talk contribs deleted page John Ben Shepperd (Listed on Wikipedia:Copyright problems for over seven days: Presumptive deletion per Wikipedia:Copyright violations#Addressing contributors, User:Billy Hathorn) (thank)" So the deleting admin was @MER-C:, and it was deleted because of contributions to it by the now-banned user User:Billy Hathorn. DuncanHill (talk) 00:40, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

The article was written by Billy Hathorn. The relevant policy is Wikipedia:Copyright violations#Addressing contributors - the whole article is a presumed copyright infringement and restoration is not possible. It is best to start again. MER-C 08:00, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

This makes me sad to have to start over from scratch, but I understand the reason why. I thank you for researching this issue for me.

Robert1947 (talk) 21:21, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

Birthdays

Do people with birthdays that fall on otherwise-significant days (Christmas Day, New Year's Day) think differently about their birthday, or about the entire concept of birthdays? Has any research been done into this? 2001:8003:A015:4100:D127:ABCB:10B6:826C (talk) 05:10, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

I had a barber who was born on January 1, 1900. He gleefully informed us that we would always know exactly how old he was; the math was trivial. He also packed heat as insurance against robbers and other men of malice. He was quite a character. Elizium23 (talk) 05:14, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

My late Dad was born on Boxing Day 1919. He'd be turning 100 next week. We always gave him separate presents for Christmas and birthday; he always said it was too much and we shouldn't spend our hard-earned $$ on him; it was always like water off a duck's back. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 07:30, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

I know someone born on Halloween. He never has a birthday party, because it cannot compete; so he's a bit sour on the concept. —Tamfang (talk) 02:46, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

I doubt there's been any research about it, but of course they do. Born on Christmas? Your birthday's not a big deal, and the budget doesn't cover birthday gifts. Born on New Year or July 4? You'll assume the fireworks are for you, and be disappointed when you discover they're not. Born on Valentine's? You're definitely gonna hear your parents engaging in the marital act upstairs for the duration of your childhood. Temerarius (talk) 06:48, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

The "marital act"? Do you mean her screaming "When are you gonna fix that damn roof!" and him retorting with "Blow it out your ass!"?  :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:53, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

My thought as well. For further information, see The Bickersons and The Honeymooners. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:01, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

I had the amazing coincidence to be born on my birthday. Beat that. Lugnuts ^{Fire Walk with Me} 18:05, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

I can't beat that, but I can tie it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:09, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Gosh I liked listening to The Bickersons - I can still hear Don Ameche and Frances Langford's voices. Especially when arguing about his snoring and how he should have his uvula snipped off :-) While not a holiday I have known people born on Feb 29th who liked to play the game of saying they were celebrating their 8th birthday when they turned 32 etc. MarnetteD|Talk 03:53, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Since we're going with anecdotes. I know someone born on Christmas Day. They found it sucks, especially as a kid, since it means your birthday often isn't really celebrated very well, and some even combine presents as Christmas and birthday into one (probably without a corresponding increase in value). It also means any birthday freebie that some places offer but only on your exact birthday may be unusual or impossible to access. Nil Einne (talk) 10:44, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Electric wiring in a load bearing wall

What is generally done when you need to find out where the wires are located in a 1 ft thick load bearing wall (so that you don't drill thru them)? I've heard of Xraying but not sure if that's just a slang term for something else. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.168.116.7 (talk) 16:11, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

X-rays seem far too expensive. In the past various tricks were used, such as drilling a small hole just through the wall surface and inserting a probe, or hoping that the person who built the wall protected any vulnerable wires with metal plates where they went through studs.

But these days, industrial endoscopes are available at attractive prices. Just use your favorite search engine. If possible, ask a friend in the business for the name of a model that works well.

If this is a solid wall, rather than a hollow wall, that's an entirely different situation. Jc3s5h (talk) 16:48, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

We don't have a Wall scanner article yet. sigh Stud finder#Radar scanners. Depends on the wall material whether or not one would work of course, and "1 ft think" and "drill" doesn't sound promising.—eric 16:52, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

There's cable locator usually for buried lines and pipes with tracer wire, which use different active and passive methods. When searching for one for use in walls the results that pop up are just wall scanners.—eric 17:43, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

• It's rare to install cabling deep inside a load bearing wall - it's just too awkward to do. So it's usually placed on the surface in a conduit, it's run through the middle of a hollow wall in a pre-existing channel, or it's chased shallowly into the surface of that wall. Much depends on the type of wall, the age of construction, and whether the cable duct dates from the wall being constructed or added later.

"Radar" is useful, but it's also cheap and easy - measure the 50Hz radiated field from mains wiring (easier with a current load on it, not just idle wiring). You can detect this with a cheap buried cable detector. You can even (if the powers off, or the cable's deep) hire something like a CATscan, the sort of thing used before digging roads. This puts its own signal onto the cable and uses a more sensitive detector.

You can also look - is there a plaster mark on the surface of the wall? A cable disappearing into it at one end? It's also good practice to chase cables into walls in obvious locations, such as vertically up and down from sockets. Endoscope cameras (plugged into phones) are now $10, small and cheap enough to keep in the toolbox. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:51, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

I use something similar to this. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Scanner-Upgraded-Function-Detector-Detection/dp/B07XY8WBKW/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=find+a+pipe+in+a+wall&qid=1576778892&sr=8-1 or this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastech-Tracker-Locator-Detector-12-400V/dp/B00PADUPK2/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=find+a+pipe+in+a+wall&qid=1576778935&sr=8-3 Anton 81.131.40.58 (talk) 18:09, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies. Trying to figure out where I can put my HVAC unit. Makes sense that cables would be near the surface cos the only ones that should be there are for the outlets and the light fixtures. I think the wall is made of brick (the house is fairly old and in Europe). 95.168.116.1 (talk) 16:53, 20 December 2019 (UTC)

I have used cheap borescopes from Ebay that work well for such tasks. 96.55.104.236 (talk) 05:04, 22 December 2019 (UTC)