Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 September 24

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September 24

permanent thanatopraxy

Is there a permanent thanatopraxy in the U.K. ?37.170.13.27 (talk) 17:50, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Is the question whether there are practitioners, morticians or otherwise, who professionally embalm bodies of deceased humans with the aim of an indefinite stay of decay?  --Lambiam 19:07, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Yes 37.172.47.44 (The former 37.170.13.27) (talk) 09:39, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Around 1,300 qualified embalmers in the UK are members of The British Institute of Embalmers (BIE) founded in 1927 by 15 Funeral Directors. Their website https://bioe.co.uk/ gives contact information. Video: A cheery embalmer show how it's done (not in UK) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc_QSyWl-GA 84.209.119.241 (talk) 11:25, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Dashed lines II

Since the discussion stalled the first time, I'm going to form a clearer question on the basis of the answers I got:

In Ireland some roads are two-way and have 4 or more lanes total, but all lanes are separated by dashed lines, look at this example (there are more in this neighborhood). What does that imply exactly? Are people allowed to veer into the opposite direction lanes to overtake? I'm from a European country which follows the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic and have driven a good bit around Europe (including on 3-lane roads with a suicide passing lane) but I've never seen this particular setup. 93.136.39.38 (talk) 19:28, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Your example is not really a four lane road. It has briefly widened to provide a turning lane. If you follow the road further, it becomes four full lanes but at that point is marked with a solid white line in the center. Rmhermen (talk) 00:15, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Yeah it looks like extra two turning lanes branching off to me too (which rules out the suicide lane scenario) but that doesn't explain why the dashed lines are between all lanes. Are the cars in the north lane allowed to veer into the south lanes to overtake? Are the cars going south allowed to use the north lane as their 3rd (4th) lane for overtaking? Or is it treated like a solid line except people may turn onto driveways or smth? 93.136.39.38 (talk) 02:22, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

OK, I'll attempt an answer on the basis of being a UK driver (whose road regulations are very similar to Ireland's for obvious reasons) and having visited Ireland – in fact, I think I've walked along that very street, it's Church Street just north of Fr. Mathew Bridge, looking south.

In general, crossing the lines that divide opposing traffic streams is only forbidden (bar the exceptions you know about – turning right, overtaking a slow/stationary obstruction, or if so instructed by police, etc., directing traffic) where poor visibility (due to hills and bends) would make this dangerous in the context of the speed restrictions in force: such places are normally marked by solid dividing lines, as you already know.

The road you have pictured is in a built up area, where temporary obstructions are likely to be common, where the speed limit is almost certainly 50km/h (if not less) and there are no circumstances limiting visibility. In such a situation, there is no need to forbid crossing the division between opposing lanes when it might be necessary in order to pass.

Moreover, the view is from right next to an exit driveway from the Four Courts complex on the left (currently blocked but potentially re-openable) and there are various other side turns a little further north along the street: if you take a virtual wander up it you'll see that some road sections do have a solid divider line, but around side turns (where traffic entering Church Street may need to cross lanes) and stretches where vehicles might need to stop or park temporarily and need to be passed, the divider is dashed. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.219.33.80 (talk) 17:54, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Interesting, didn't expect it to be illegal to pass a parked/stopped vehicle (except if it's waiting in a queue obv). Definitely makes sense to keep the lines dashed in that case. Here in Croatia you're always allowed to cross the solid line when passing them, but it's illegal to cross to pass a slow moving bicycle or moped or turn into a side street or driveway, so they usually paint it like this [1][2] for every legal driveway/side-street turn (altho people mostly ignore all of these restrictions), but don't paint dashed lines just because delivery vans stop there in the morning.

Tho I wonder if people don't get confused about which lane goes in which direction, given they're all separated by the same white dashed line. Staying in the opposite line after overtaking would be dangerous even at 50 km/h. (Amusingly there are a few 3-lane streets in my city where you might get confused which way the middle lane goes due to tram+taxi lanes [3] but only if there are no cars in it to clue you in, so it isn't a crash risk). 93.142.121.167 (talk) 21:53, 26 September 2020 (UTC) - OP

Courtesy link: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 September 8#Dashed center line in the UK and Ireland. 95.148.1.191 (talk) 14:25, 1 October 2020 (UTC)

Question about Zoom meetings

(I don't think this is a fit for the Computing desk. I couldn't find an answer on Zoom's support site, and I couldn't find a StackExchange site where it seemed to fit either).

I have a paid Zoom account, and have created a recurring meeting, without setting an alternate host (I tried, but that only seems to work within an organisation).

I shall be missing the next meeting in this series because I am involved in another meeting (not scheduled by me) that starts before and finishes after my meeting.

I have set my own meeting up so that participants can join before the host. However:

1. If I (the host) am already in another meeting, will Zoom let my meeting start and other people join it?
2. If so, what happens to the host? Is there simply not one until I join?

I have a backup plan, if necessary (join the other meeting without logging in, and come out of the other meeting long enough to let somebody into mine and make them host before I leave). But I'd like to know if I can do it more easily. Does anybody know? --ColinFine (talk) 22:02, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

Somebody gave me the answer elsewhere I need to pass somebody my Host Key. --ColinFine (talk) 11:01, 25 September 2020 (UTC)