Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2006 September 26

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"Blue raspberry" drinks/ice pops?

What's the deal with these anyway? I don't know if you have them in the US - but over on this side of the pond, you can buy 'blue raspberry' flavour ice pops and soft drinks. They're just filled with blue food colouring and taste somewhat of raspberries - as far as I know, there is no such thing as a 'blue raspberry' in nature. Oh yeah, raspberry slush puppys are blue too. Anyone know the reason why? --Kurt Shaped Box 00:45, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Don't know but yes, we have that in the U.S. as well. Although we spell it raspberry.  ;-) Dismas|^(talk) 00:51, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Heh - me no spel 2 gud. Fixed. :) --Kurt Shaped Box 00:58, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

My guess is that there's already a number of prominent red fruits -- red is usually cherry or strawberry, so the origin of the 'blue raspberry' meme was a way to produce a fruit-flavoured product in blue, rather than yet another shade of red. I've also seen blue associated with "tropical punch" or "mixed berry" or other nebulous fruit concepts. Blueberries aren't actually all that blue, and I'd guess the flavour is much less popular than raspberry. Once one company came out with blue raspberry, it was presumably easier for others to justify. Blue completes the artificial fruit spectrum; with cherry/strawberry, orange, lemon, lime, blue raspberry, grape being a common set. --ByeByeBaby 02:00, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe someone saw a bluish blackberry and decided to take it to the American candy industry. bibliomaniac15 02:23, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Now explain blue cream soda. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 03:15, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Where does cream soda come in blue? The article only mentions clear, brown/tan, red and pink. Rmhermen 14:55, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

The US. Google for "blue cream soda". --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 15:30, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Has no one else noticed that the Blue raspberry article actually leads to another article about a real blue raspberry? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Longest internship

What medical profession in Canada/USA requires the longest amount of overall internship (open heart surgeon, neurologist, etc..)? Jamesino 00:49, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

You don't mean internship (which is always the first year of postgraduate residency after medical school) but residency and fellowship, which are the next two levels of training for specialties and subspecialities. Many medical subspecialties require a total of 6 postgraduate years. Some of the surgical subspecialties require seven or more. Here for example are the residency programs of the University of Pennsylvania. alteripse 01:51, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

History

I have to write a little paper on what happened on the day I was born. I was trying to use this web site to find information about January 1, 1977. Can you help me?

Go to the top of the page, type "January 1" into the search box (without the quotes). Also, try typing in 1977 as well by itself to give you a larger view of what was going on that year. Dismas|^(talk) 01:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia has articles on January 1 and 1977 but it doesn't have much listed as happening on that date apart from several births. You could try going to your local library and accessing a newspaper from that date for a more detailed list. --Canley 01:30, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Remember that very few events make it into newspapers on the day they happen, except for certain scheduled events. Unexpected events would start appearing from the next day. JackofOz 01:41, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Also, unfortunately, the last week of December and first week of January tend to be quiet weeks; with large portions of the world having a Christmas break, many political legislatures and the like are on holiday. Also, greetings to a near-birthday twin; December 31, 1976 myself. --ByeByeBaby 02:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

There was a worldwide party on your birthday. Now is that cool or what? DirkvdM 07:17, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Go to a library. Any but the very smallest will be able to show you a newspaper for Jan 2, 1977, which will tell you what happened on Jan 1, 1977. Edison 10:54, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Jan 2, 1977 was a Sunday. --Lambiam^Talk 17:50, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• In US football, the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Colorado Buffaloes, 27 to 10, in the Orange Bowl: [1] StuRat 11:08, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• The city Wiesbaden, in central Germany, appears to have expanded to include a number of suburbs on that date. StuRat 11:15, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• Dr R. L. Duncombe became editor of Celestial Mechanics, a scientific journal: [2]. StuRat 11:21, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• The first woman was formally ordained as an Episcopal priest (Jacqueline Means). StuRat 11:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• Czech intellectuals began the Human Rights Group Chapter 77. StuRat 11:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

What's with spoon-feeding this guy his homework, Stu? JackofOz 11:41, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I took the homework assignment to be actually writing about the events, not finding the info. StuRat 11:49, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

One or two more things happening on Saturday January 1, 1977: Lebanon imposed press and theatre censorship, the German Democratic Republic tightened controls on access through the Berlin Wall, and Roy Jenkins became President of the European Commission. David | Talk 22:39, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Life

I have my life ahead of me. What should I do with it? Яussiaп F 01:53, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Dont waste it on WP!--Light current 01:56, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Of course I can't to anything of highly signifigant nature until I finish schooling, until then, I will continue to expand my knowledge with Wikipedia, under the assumption that the more I know, the farther I'll go. Яussiaп F 02:00, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

""As the body grows bigger, the mind must flower! It's great to learn—'cause knowledge is power!" — Catherine\^talk 04:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes use it to expand knowledge, but not to stifle your life like it has some of us poor creatures 8-(--Light current 02:06, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Ha, in ten year's time I won't be on here nearly as much. Perhaps to ask for a street map of Damascus, or flight information to Ulaanbaatar. I am just wondering if anyone's got some particulaly inventive life scenarios for an aspiring student. Яussiaп F 02:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean waste it on WP? Unless all you do is vandalize and get yourself and a hundred sock puppets blocked (i.e. Willy on Wheels), I really can't think of any conceivable way to waste your time. X(. (unless you're doing it while doing homework at the same time) bibliomaniac15 02:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

my friend, I was like you once. I believed in traveling the world, and I did. Travel is fun, I suggest you earn some money and blow it all on travel as i have done. But believe it or not, travel does get boring after a bit and you may come to realize that there's no better place to live than the USA (i'm speakign to a fellow american, back off you anti-nationcentrists).

furthermore, you may come to realize that while the spontaneity and insecurity of travel is a type of pure freedom, there also exists much nontrivial freedom domesticallly, and believe it or not, there is much freedom in "settling down". Jasbutal 05:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Make a plan. I can't say what that plan ought to be because I don't know you - and life changes so the plan has to be flexible. A lot of people reach age 30 or 40 and say, "If only I had done that while I was in school..." And stay away from selfish destructive people. Best wishes. Durova 05:42, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Jasbutal, a life spent on wikipedia, is a life wasted. From pretty much every perspective. 172.200.201.120 19:16, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I know two people who have done the following... they both worked hard in well-paid careers, made more money than they could ever possibly need and then at about 30 had the guts to throw it in and go work for charities, full-time. One became a volunteer driving disabled people around and the other took a low paid job as a manager of a centre for people with special needs. Two of the happiest and most fulfilled people I ever met. Now all you need is to find a career that'll leave you loaded... and then have the strength of mind to be able to resist the lure of Mammon! (In their shoes, I dunno if I could have done it.) --Dweller 09:37, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Beverly Hills 90210 - Brenda

In wich episode is it that Dylan "dreams" about how his future will be if he marriage one girl or another, and when he dreams about his life with Brenda (at least I think its her), she haven't done much else as a wife than being pregnant?80.90.254.23 07:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Hungarian Women

Somewhere I read that on an avarage Hungarian women are more beautiful than women from any other part of world, Is it true? - pavanto

As beauty is not a quantifiable quality, I don't think you could say so. JIP | Talk 09:40, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

That's not true; beauty is measured in Millihelens; the amount of beauty required to launch exactly one ship. smurrayinchester^{(User), (Talk)} 14:18, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

They say that about women from Florence, Ukraine and Brazil as well.Evilbu 09:49, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

And about Sweden, my home country. Uh, many look nice enough, anyway... (Never heard Hungary before, though...) 惑乱 分からん 11:00, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia's Miss World page has some interesting statistics. Hungary doesn't do very well in those particular stakes.--Shantavira 10:48, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

In photographs I've seen, the most beautiful people in the world, male and female, are from Afghanistan. Though lots of the Miss Universe winners have been from Venezuela. User:Zoe|(talk) 02:48, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

What we need is a page listing nations by average female beauty expressed in millihelens :).---Sluzzelin 11:11, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

That proposal sounds like an arms race for an edit war... @_@ 惑乱 分からん 11:58, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Havent spent a weekend in Budapest last year I'd have to say, IMHO, a resounding yes. Even the 'ordinary' woman were abolutely stunning, more-so than the women of Prague and that takes some doing. --DPM 13:08, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

"Havent spent?" Do you mean "having spent"? 惑乱 分からん 18:06, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

World-renowned lesbian pornographic director Viv Thomas frequently uses Hungarian and other Europeans models. Jamesino 22:32, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Pedant! ;-) Yes, I meant 'having' spent and no, it's not referring to prostitution before you ask. There is a massive open air nightclub on an island in the middle of the river (don't recall the name) and I've never seen as many beautiful women in any one place at the same time. Trust me, it was worth the entrance fee alone, and that was nothing. Saying that, some of the meanest looking men I've ever seen were there as well!

Please Help me

Hello mt name is Gemma and i was just wondering if u had any information at all on Harold Anthony Troy who was the first man in Australia to do 100mph on water. This is very important to me and my family as Harold Troy was my grandfather and to have this bit of history framed it would mean the world to my mother.

Thank you

Gemma

Dont know if its of any use but i found a minor page refering to him "http://www.vintagehydroplanes.com/australianpowerboatracing.html" 1st place - H. Troy. Joneleth 10:32, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia does not appear to have an article on him. Here is a newspaper article: [3]. You might want to go find the original in a library and get a better copy, suitable for framing. Also, try contacting these folks, they might have kept an original and be able to offer you a higher quality copy: [4]. StuRat 10:48, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

LPG explosion disaster in Bangkok,1990 ?

I need to find about more infomation about LPG tanker explosion in Bangkok, Thailand in 1990 for my study purpose. I have to complete a case study over that case. I searched net for hours but couldn't find any important info. (even wikipedia don't have any..!!!) So plz let me know some important links about that incident and more details of the incident.

Help : try http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com

Sithara, Sri Lanka

The event, while tragic and unfortunate, was small on a global scale, and in a part of the world that tends to attract less attention from Western news sources. Also, 1990 was very much only the beginning of the broad use of the internet. Combining these two factors, it's not surprising that you can't find many online sources. You may have to visit your local library and start looking through news archives from September of 1990 to find more information. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 12:12, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

TEA COLORED WATER IN THE POCONO LAKES, PA

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY THE LAKES IN THE POCONO REGION OF PENNSYLVANIA ARE A TEA-COLOR? I understand the reason for low pH values in these streams and lakes is the tannic acid from the pine trees. But can you tell me what causes the discoloration (the tea color)? Also, can this water, if accidentally ingested by humans, cause problems? and what kind of problems? Mark

The tannins also causes the color like in this waterfall in a cedar swamp in Michigan: Rmhermen 14:40, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

see Boston Tea Party --froth^{T C} 21:25, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

North America Map

I learned in school that North America has 3 countries, CANADA, USA AND MEXICO, yet a the map I found in your site you present Mexico as part of Central America. Is this a mistake from your part, or has geography change? or is a political issue trying to exclude Mexico from North America. I am not a Mexican citizen, I am just concern of my geographical knowledge of the Americas. Please correct the problem, or correct me! if things have changed recently. Thank you

I think the North America article answers the question. Different authorities propose different cut-off points for North America. Can you point us to, or tell us which page the map you saw was on, so we can check whether there is an error in it. thanks --Tagishsimon (talk)

Actually in Mexico the term norteamericano refers to someone from the U.S. or Canada. Durova 14:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

In some cases that version is used in the U.S. and Canada as well, for instance, the "North American box office" never includes numbers from Mexico. Rmhermen 14:44, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Most of the continents, and regions (such as the Middle East), are not precisely defined at all. And since they are not administrative units there is no need to do so. See continent and related topics for detailed discussion of this.--Shantavira 17:04, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I would say geographically, Mexico is part of North America, but ethnically, socially, economically, and politically, it's part of Central America (being a poor, Hispanic country with endemic corruption). StuRat 18:58, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Oh man, that is not nice. If I'm not mistaken Mexico is cleaning up its act, no? Chris 22:37, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Well, there's that town where hundreds of women have been murdered, all with similar MO's, without even a lead. This implies the cops are either totally incompetent or in on it. Then there's another town where the local cops were so corrupt and in bed with the drug dealers they had to bring in federal troops in to clean it up. StuRat 03:04, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

North America has more than three countries. --Proficient 05:37, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

When topics are vague and/or controversial you can usually find debates and argumentation on the corresponding talk pages and their archives. Ideally, the editors explain their views in an objective and referenced fashion.---Sluzzelin 05:59, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

How could you describe my political beliefs?

I'm not really educated about politics, but as I can legally vote in 2 years (I'm 16, and in Australia the voting age is 18, and it's mandatory) I'm starting to take an interest and would like to know what my political beliefs could be described as, and what articles I should check out to know more about them. I did take the test at political-compass and got -8.3 on the ecomonic scale and -9.13 on the social scale (extremely left-wing). Some things I have strong feelings about:

1. No one chooses their country of birth, so it's foolish to be proud of it.
2. People are ultimately divided more by class than nationality.
3. Controlling unemployment is more important than controlling inflation.
4. Because corporations cannot be trusted to voluntarily protect the environment, they require strong regulation.
5. It's a sad reflection on our society that something as simpled as bottled water is now a branded consumer product.
6. Governments should pen alise businesses that mislead the public.
7. A genuine free market requires restricitons on the ability of predator multinationals to create monopolies.
8. Marijuana and other soft drugs should be legalised.
9. Civil liberties are being excessively curbed in the name of counter-terrorism.
10. The death penalty is never acceptable.
11. Rehabilitating criminals is more important than punishing them. It is never a waste of time to attempt to rehabilitate criminals.
12. You can be moral without being religious.
13. A same sex couple in a stable, loving relationship, should not be excluded from the possibility of child adoption.

Thanks for any responses.

Your beliefs are rather similar to mine, except that I would be tougher on criminals than you. StuRat 18:44, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

You could try taking the Political Compass Test. My guess is that you will find yourself somewhere in the lower left corner, marked 'libertarian left', though some of your statements suggest an authoritarian view too. I could be wrong!---Sluzzelin 14:55, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I did take the Political Compass Test, I got very, very close to the lower-left corner. I was just wondering what articles I should check up on to learn more about it.

I'm sorry, I should have read your entire question before posting. Apart from checking out the article on Libertarian Socialism and seeing what links from there, I'd always recommend reading writings by authors with political views differing, even opposite, from your own. ---Sluzzelin 15:14, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm astonished that a 16 year old could pen item number 7. Clearly the Aussie educational system produces more than just sportsmen and soap opera actors. --Dweller 15:36, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Or maybe the school system is as bad as the American's and UK's, but he learns outside of school. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)15:42, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

1. 7 and several others are just direct copies of questions from the Political Compass which to which I selected "Strongly Agree".

Ah... I'm therefore impressed by the fact that you understood number 7. --Dweller 15:50, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Dweller, we certainly know about the Gettysburg Address, which is apparently completely unknown in the rest of the English-speaking world. Even Americans can't even spell it correctly. :--) JackofOz 20:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Compulsory voting? A very good idea, since we all know that one vote doesn't matter :) --froth^{T C} 17:24, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I think people should be paid to vote, to give blood, etc. If we believe in capitalism, then why do we all of a sudden think that people will do such things without any financial incentive ? StuRat 18:21, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

If we believe in capitalism? Speak for yourself. I don't think the questioner believes in capitalism. --Lambiam^Talk 23:29, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

That's why I said "If". StuRat 23:57, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Someone said "Anyone who is not a liberal at 20 has no heart; anyone who is not a conservative at 50 has no brain. " I have no brain yet.Edison 05:30, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Why would you want to find a label for your political beliefs? It's bad enough that everyone seems to think they should be able to sum up your entire philosophy in a single word, without you helping them. When you come to vote, don't think "I'm left wing, so I should vote for a left wing candidate"; look at what the candidates believe and vote for the one that best matches your beliefs. (P.S. I reformatted the original question to reflect what I imagine you meant. I apoloise if I was wrong). DJ Clayworth 18:24, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I like your political beliefs, too. I think you'd be a way better leader, and way more efficient, than what we have now. Temp

the age, Melbourne, October 17, 1854

I would like to find out about the very first edition of The Age newspaper. How many copies were printed on October 17, 1854 and how many original newspapers exist now? Where are they available for viewing? Do they have any historical or financial value?

These are some very specialized questions. You may have more luck if you contact The Age through their "Contact us". The Melbourne Museum has a copy of the first edition. If you have copies in good condition that are over a century old, I bet they have some value, but not hundreds of dollars (except perhaps for the very first day, or if reporting an exceptionally important event). Right now a December 1, 1888 copy is up for bidding on eBay: [5]. You may check how this develops in the next few days. --Lambiam^Talk 17:41, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

The Square Root?

What is the square root of France?

${\sqrt {(}}France)$

Thank you in advance for your assistance in solving this highly complex mathematical expression?

If it is indeed a highly complex mathematical expression, you might have more luck on the math desk.--Shantavira 17:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Please do not post a query on two ref desks. Reywas92^Talk 00:34, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

That depends on your point of view, and how you define France. In my case, I don't either the Time or Money to visit France right now, so I'd define it as $\mathbf {Time} \cdot \mathbf {Money} =France$. Extrapolating from that, we're told that Time IS Money, so we can substitute that in as $\mathbf {Money} \cdot \mathbf {Money} =France$. Continuing this out, we will find that ${\sqrt {(}}France)=Money$.

Also, as an aside... since we know that Money is the root of all evil ($Money={\sqrt {(}}Evil)$) we can take continue from there to prove that ${\sqrt {(}}France)={\sqrt {(}}Evil)$ which tells us that $\mathbf {France} =Evil$. ;-) --Maelwys 17:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

It's only complex if France is negative. R U trying to say something? --Lambiam^Talk 17:15, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe france is imaginary? --froth^{T C} 17:19, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Given that France was founded on the principle of egality, we can state that $F=r=a=n=c=e$.

therefore, $France=F^{6}$

...and ${\sqrt {France}}=Franc$

Given that $c$ is the universal constant, and constants are usually given the symbol $k$, we can further state that:

${\sqrt {France}}=$ Frank. Howard Train 18:52, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

• Interesting... your theory that ${\sqrt {France}}=$Franc seems to support mine that ${\sqrt {France}}=$Money. ;-) --Maelwys 19:03, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Nice. --froth^{T C} 19:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

F, A, C and E are the hexidecimal numbers 15, 10, 12 and 14, respectively. 15*10*12*14 is 25,200. So now we have sqrt(25,200*R*N).

N is the metric system symbol for "nano", which means 10^-9. 25,200*10^-9=2.5*10^-5.

Now according to this page, R represents something called the "Ramanujan Constant," which is an irrational number very close to 262,537,412,640,768,744.

So the value of "FRANCE" is 262,537,412,640,768,744*(2.5*10^-5), or 6.56343532 × 10¹². The square root of that is 2,561,920.2407569209881856178742013.

The answer to the question, then, is about 2,561,920. -- Mwalcoff 02:42, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Consult "Stress analysis of a strapless evening gown," at http://gendertree.com/a_stress_analysis_of_a_strapless.htm as well as http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~lorch/humor/math.html where it is proved by incontrovertible logic that All Horses Are the Same Color (by induction), Every Horse Has an Infinite Number of Legs (proof by intimidation), Everything is the Same Color, Everything is White, and finally, Alexander the Great Did Not Exist and He Had An Infinite Number of Limbs. This may aid in the analysis of the stated problem. Edison 05:39, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Query anent CUNY college listings

I notice that someone has listed difficulties in the claims made for Baruch College / Zicklin School of Business. These difficulties are correct; Baruch's articles, for the college in general and the business school read like something written by who is (was?) the CUNY chancellory official doing PR. Seems to me, there is indeed a good case for flagging these articles as absent a neutral POV and including misleading if not altogether wrongheaded information. So, how is that accomplished? --djenner 17:08, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

For a list of so-called "cleanup resources", see WP:CR. The appropriate one in this case appears to be {{advert}}. Please apply anon. Questions concerning the "inner workings" of Wikipedia should actually be put to the Wikipedia:Help desk. --Lambiam^Talk 17:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

First News Item that appeared in Yahoo website

What is the first news item that ever appeared in yahoo ?

Maybe "Welcome to Yahoo! A brand new search engine"? Jamesino 20:32, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Missing page for Jacques Laffite?

Hi guys-not sure if this is the right place,but I don't know where else to put it.I'm sure you'll move it if it's wrong.

When I try to bring up the Jacques Laffite page,I get a note saying there is no such article.Yet if I type in Laffite by itself, the article Jacques Laffite comes up as available as a possible choice.It's over 2000 words so it's not a stub,it hasn't been deleted(he's notable enough),various Grand Prix reports all have links to the article,so I can't see why it's not appearing...

Any ideas? Lemon martini 18:40, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

I just clicked on 'purge' on the page I got when I clicked on it. That seemed to work. Try again now. BTW, the correct place for this question would have been the help desk. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 18:48, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Cheese

Are the curds in cheese edible before they're made into real cheese? -- TheGreatLlama ^{(speak to the Llama!)} 19:02, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

According to curd, yes, and according to cheese curds, they are quite popular. Hyenaste ^(tell) 19:09, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Yea, curds are whey cool. :-) StuRat 19:57, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Yet the Turks refuse the give the Kurds their way. Edison 05:43, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Some prefer large Kurds, while others like small Kurds. :-) StuRat 09:33, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah for Canada's national food: poutine --Zeizmic 20:51, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Winds in the Epic of Gilgamesh

In the classic text Epic of Gilgamesh, during the battle of Gilgamesh and Enkidu vs Humbaba, Gilgamesh calls upon Shamash to help him. Shamash summons EIGHT winds to paralyze the giant Humbaba. But as you read the next line listing the winds that were summoned (great wind, north wind, etc...) only SEVEN are listed. Why is there this inconsistency? Jamesino 20:31, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Gilgamesh farted to produce the eighth wind. :-) StuRat 22:04, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

What translation are you reading? This says there were 13 winds. MeltBanana 21:54, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

English. High school level. Jamesino 00:23, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

No StuRat's comment was well below high school level, it would probably embarrass a primary-schooler. You are probably reading something similar to the penguin classics version I have, which mentions 8 winds and only lists 7. It says "English version by N. K. Sandars" but he admits in the introduction it isn't a new translation from the cuneiform as that is hard work. The epic is very fragmentary with versions in several ancient languages and it is not really like the coherent single story as it is often presented. The introduction actually says that more tablets have been deciphered which cover the meeting between Humbaba and Gilgamesh so the online text is probably much more authoritative. MeltBanana 02:07, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Mystery Title

I am looking for the title of a book about a young girl who's elder brother died, and through her grief, her school suggests/forces her to go to a help program starring her (late) brother's 'perfect' girlfriend. The main character one day agrees to help the girlfriend in a routine charity activity for the school, and eventually discovers that the school, along with the girlfriend, has been hiding a large drug ring.

Other, possibly useless, facts:

-supposedly a 'top school' -main character does drugs, mainly pot which she keeps hidden in a stuffed animal or toy (I'm pretty sure she eventually flushes it, though) -she befriends a teacher (?) who gives her advice (meets her for tea occasionally) -also befriends a male student thought to be mentally 'slow' who actually know more about the secrets of the school than he let's on

It's most likely a teen novel, seeing as how I read it either in the 8th or 9th grade. I've searched Wikipedia and Google with keywords and have found nothing.

Any help would be appreciated! Thank you in advance!

amalgam (marvel dc) question

how Doctor Strangefate know about the merged word, if even the living tribunal and the other god didnt know about this merge (after merged). I think that the only person that would able to know that the amalgam has created is acess??

After a review of the articles in question, it appears that, at some point, Access discovers that Doctor Strangefate is a possible version of his future self...so, time travel and magic...awesome. 24.250.33.247 14:15, 30 September 2006 (UTC)