Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/September 2005

A question about being a volcanologist.

I was wondering if you can be a volcanologist and actually go to volcanoes such as Mt. St. Helens if you are a volcanologist for the USGS. I am really interested and just want to know for when I go to college. Thank you.

April S.

Yep, you can! See Volcanology for more info. Dismas 05:00, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Sri Jagannath Astakam

Respected Sirs,

Namaskaram. I heard that Jagatguru Sri Adi Sankara Bhagavtpad varya has written (recited extempore)Sri Jaganatha Astakam, when His Holyness visited Puri. If so, and possible kindly enlighten me on its details. Does it start with -

KADACHIT KAALINDEE THATAVIPIN SANGEETA KAVARO MUDAGOPEE NAREE KAMALASWAADA MADHUPAH RAMASAMBHUH BRAHMAAMARAPATHI gABESARCHITAPADO JAGANNADHA SWAMEE NAYANA PATHAGAMEE BHAVATHUME (1)

Also, kindly enlighten me about SriSankara Bhagavatpada's Sri KRISHNA ASTAKM said to have been written (recited extempore) by His Holyness at Vrindavan.

I remain With kind regards Yours sincerely NSR Sastry, Visakhapatnam

Wow, that is an extraordinarily specific question, so I'm not sure you'll get an answer here. I'm vaguely aware of what you are asking, but not enough to be sure. Are you asking about a specific prayer that this guru has recited? In any case, someone or organization more directly connected to the guru is much more likely to be able to help. But maybe someone that follows our Hinduism article may be able to help you, so you can try asking at Talk:Hinduism, or try asking at the [hi.wikipedia.org Hindi Wikipedia] wherever general questions are asked or at the Wikipedia of your language if it is not Hindi. - Taxman ^Talk 17:05, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

This page should help you with Jagannatha Ashtakam Tintin 17:16, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

And this link has Krishnashtakam. I learned it by heart when I was a boy and can still remember most of it. Never knew that Sankara wrote it. I have a faint suspicion that there could other works by the same name. Tintin 17:22, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Wait. This seems to the right one. It also talks about Sankara being the author. Please ignore the previous link. Tintin 17:24, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Removeing the scent of lamp oil.

An oil burning lamp was knocked over onto my bed and approx. 1/2 C. of the oil spilled out onto and into the mattress. How would one get rid of the oil, or at least eliminate the odor? Sould I wait until the oil has dried before I wash the bedding? Is there any hope of salvageing anything that was contaminated? Thank You, Ladawnaloveskonan

You are, of course, at a great fire risk until this is cleaned up. I would not expect lamp oil to ever dry or evaporate. I personally doubt the mattress can be cleaned, I'd consider it a write off, and I say that in full knowledge of what an overpriced racket the mattress market is. Make sure it's disposed of and not re-used (some mattress shops will take your old one away when they deliver the new one; I'd slash it or something to make sure it doesn't end up in a second-hand shop. Don't just set it out where a street person can discover it.). As for the sheets, new washing machine instruction booklets may tell you not to wash things contaminated with flammables; this is, I think, a liability cover for them, but they may also be worried about disposal of oil in city sewers, which is probably prohibited. The proper advice would thus be to bundle the sheets (plus any rags you use for cleanup) in a sealed bag and set them out for garbage. Heck, in some communities, you might need to take them to household hazardous waste pickup. However, my own (untested!) thinking is that it can't be worse than a mechanic washing his overalls. If you do decide to wash them, make very sure no whiff of oil remains before putting them in a dryer. But if you've just discarded a matress, a sheet set is small beer. And put whoever split the lamp on your mental list of people who can't be trusted with flammables. Unless you've lived with a very elderly person, it's difficult to understand the level of near-neurotic care that was necessary to live in an era of open flame lighting. It was on a level of the street-smarts that urban families need to teach children today; the old folks would no more let a child handle a candle than we would leave a child in an car outside a store for an hour. Sharkford 05:27, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

complete "...red sky in morning, sailors take warning"

The first line is usually "Red sky at night, shepherds' delight", but there are a couple of regional variations of it. Gareth Hughes 15:14, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

You may want to look at weather lore which has the version I always hear, both with sailors. - Taxman ^Talk 16:48, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Red sky at night, sailors' delight. hydnjo talk 19:31, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

It's "shepherd's delight" in the UK, "sailor's delight" in the U.S. Proto t c 09:50, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Aircraft registration prefixes

Aircraft registration prefixes, assigned by the International Civil Aviation Organization, are listed in our country code page and sorted by code in [1]. I am wondering why the majority of them seems to have no connection with the country they refer to. Why "B" for China; why "N" for USA; why "4U" (pun intended?) for United Nations? Is or was there a system behind them? — Sebastian (talk) 16:22, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Doozers

Are there female Doozers? Were they ever shown on the show?

I'm guessing that you're talking about the television show Fraggle Rock?? Dismas 17:52, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Upon reading the Fraggle Rock article, I see that there was at least one female Doozer. Dismas 18:58, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Ethernet Driver

I have installed all of the correct (and up to date) drivers for my Asus K8v-deluxe motherboard. However, apparently an ethernet driver was not included in the driver pack from asus, as windows does not have a driver specified for the on-board ethernet. Does anybody know where I can find an ethernet driver for the board? I looked through Asus' website and ran a google search to little avail. Thanks!

It looks as if that motherboard has a VIA chipset. Try looking on http://www.viaarena.com (specifically http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?PageID=420&OSID=1&CatID=1190&SubCatID=124). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:54, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Ahh, sorry I'm stupid. I should have thought to check Via's website.

diffrenece between CRT and LCD in desplaying characters

What is the differnce in character display between CRT and LCD  ? Is it possible to make LCD character display as clear as CRT ?

LCD is really clearer anyway (although CRT may look subjectively "smoother", as CRT pixels are rather fuzzy). Additionally, it is possible to exploit the regular pattern of the RG and B cells in an LCD display to perform subpixel antialiasing - see ClearType for one implementation. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:50, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

Links: Subpixel rendering is possible with LCD displays. Read about it in the article, and read about it in a nice section of the Apple Typography article. — Sverdrup 19:26, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Though I think it's true to say that an LCD display will only achieve its potential if run at its native (highest) resolution. 09:09, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Auto VINs

Auto VINs Provide Top-Level Info for a Specific Auto -- Found in the Trunk is a Sticker with Many 3-digit A/N Codes which specifies ALL Options Built INto that Particular Auto -- Here's My Problem!

Greetings from Cape Fear, NC first of all -- secondly, I am thrilled with Wikipedia Website; SUPER!

Re; VINs and Information Codes... After asking the supposed 'experts' (auto salesmen) about the Vehicle Identification Numbers and if they contain anything more than engine type, where made, color etc, they always replied stating those VINs were limited to that. So my REAL question is, when looking at an older automobile that's long since had it's window sticker removed, there MUST be some sort of sticker somewhere affixed to the auto that denotes every single option and package that went into building that particular VIN-numbered auto. In Cadillac's detailed owners manual (for all their recent autos) they point out a index card-sized sticker underneath the panel in the trunk floor that covers the spare... I found it and copied ALL the codes. There must've been ten rows of 3-digit, alphanumeric codes, and about 20 of those codes per line. My guess is that those codes represent every specific option that went into the build of that particular auto, basically giving a rundown on it's uniqueness.

BUT, for the life of me, I cannot find any form of cross-reference list that would spell-out exactly WHAT option each of those Codes STOOD FOR!

I am with hopes that I can find it here, through Wikipedia, through one of the good folks that find great use of this Site as I do! Thank-you in advance, as I'm pretty sure I'm asking the right question at the RIGHT PLACE!  :-)

Best Regards to ALL,

Kenn K. Carolina Beach NC (Hooterville, USA)

• Have you checked out the Wikipedia Vehicle identification number article? It may answer some of your questions. hydnjo talk 19:38, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

If you do a google search for Factory Service Manual you can find a FSM for the specific make, and year of auto that you're looking at. The FSM will list what every bit of the VIN stands for. The VIN can also be found under the hood on the firewall and a few other places on most vehicles. Note though that an FSM is going to cost you ~US$100. They're not cheap but very handy for repairing everything. You might also be able to find a message board on the internet for Cadillac enthusiasts and they might know as well without you having to spend the money. Dismas 20:15, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

The FSM is all-powerful! Praise His Noodly Appendages! — JIP | Talk 09:56, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

LOL! Not that FSM!  :) Dismas 12:20, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Our Chevy Astro manual has a page or two telling how to decode the VIN number for the van. Maybe a manual for your car would have this. Also, I remember seeing a sticker like that on the inside of the trunk lid on the old Cutlasses. And, you better make sure the part that sticker is on is the original. If it was replaced for some reason, then the sticker on it won't be of much use! --Phroziac ^(talk) 16:39, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Orengo Nassau

ON THE 24TH MAY 1969 I TRAVELED FROM SOUTHHAMPTON ENGLAND TO MADERIA THEN ON TO GUYANA SOUTH AMERICA ON A SHIP WHAT I THOUGHT WAS CALLED ORANGO NASSAU .I KNOW THAT IT WAS A DUTCH LINER BUT SINCE THEN I BEEN SEARCHING FOR A PHOTO OF THE LINER WITHOUT SUCCESS. CAN ANY ONE HELP ME FIND A PHOTO OR DATAILS OF, PLEASE. E-MAIL TO:--removed email--

• Please don't post in all CAPS. Do remember what the company was called that exploited this liner? Orange Nassau is the official name of the Dutch Royal family, and not a particular rare name when it comes to ships. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:41, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

• On this page I find

Sailings June 1969-November 1970 (issued August 1969) for:
Oranje Nassau, Prins der Nederlanden
Ports of call:
Amsterdam, Southampton, Madeira, Trinidad, Georgetown, Curaçao, Aruba, Paramaribo, Kingston, Grenada, Barbados, Ponta Delgada

So that seems about right. Now, for a picture... Aaah: here it is... 82.210.117.215 17:59, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Top of the pops

Could you comfirm that top of the pops was broadcast from either the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral or the Liverpool Catholic Cathedral in the mid 1960's as a one off christmas special.Thank you <email removed>

• Try posting your question at Talk:Top of the Pops. You're more likely to find someone who knows there. The article says that the show started in 1964, broadcasting from a disuser church in Manchester. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. Ground Zero | t 18:47, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

water moccasin

I found two pieces of misinformation about the water moccasin. You state that they are good climbers and that they are aggressive. Neither is true. Many of the non-poisonous water snakes are indeed good climbers and may go into trees 10 to 20 feet high to sun themselves.

On the point of water moccasin aggression, they are sometimes bold, even curious about the presence of humans. However, once they feel that they are in harm's way, they will do one of two things: 1- stand their ground, often vibrating their tail and opening their mouth, revealing the inner white (thus the name cottonmouth). This behavior is often mistaken for aggression. But, in all my years of catching and observing cottonmouths, I've never had one attack. 2- Rapidly flee. Snakes near the water almost always make a run for it. They tend to stand their ground only as a last resort when away from the water and cannot flee into their element.

Hope this helps clear up some misunderstandings about the water moccasin.

<email removed>

The best method is to click the edit tab on the article, and change the information yourself. Add an edit summary explaining briefly why you make the changes. If you aren't confident editing the article directly, use the discussion tab to comment on the article. I assume the article you are talking about is Cottonmouth (which water moccasin redirects to). I can't help more than this since I know very little about snakes - New Zealand doesn't have any.-gadfium 21:24, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

New Orleans Pump System

I would love to read about how New Orleans' pump system was intended to work. I've read much in regard to it being a revolutionary design that didn't require much maintenance over the years, but no one seems to know how it worked. Rmisiak 22:35, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

Well... so much for that. I've heard that a lot of cash over the years has been diverted away from maintenance on the levees and what not by the shady political culture that tends to end up in power around New Orleans. Is it possible that the rumor you heard was just an excuse to divert said funds? --Brasswatchman 04:30, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

So which Apocalypse are we on?

You know, I really hate to be the first one to bring this idea up - but has anyone been actively declaring the apocalypse since this month? Let's face it - this has been a pretty bad month for the whole world. First those two airplane crashes, then New Orleans and the bridge collapse in Iraq... there's enough nutcases in the world. None of them have picked up on this? --Brasswatchman 04:33, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Don't be such a pessimist. The world won't end before December 21st, 2012. --R.Koot 04:55, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

:) Yes, yes, when the Mayan calendar ends and we all turn into orcs* But I'm guessing I'm not the only one who the thought's occured to, as bad as this month has been. What I'm wondering is if anyone's actually *believed* that thought, and are making some kind of ruckus in the media about it. I'm more interested in the religious studies aspect than anything else. --Brasswatchman 05:04, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

• for obscure geek reference, see Shadowrun.

I actually thought last year was fairly end of the world-ish. We started out the year with the tsunami, then the U.S. was hit by three hurricanes which were all fairly destructive, Mt. St. Helen was threatening to erupt, etc. Now this year it's been not two airline crashes but five in one month (Greece, Canada, 2 in South America I think, can't remember where the last was) and now the entire city of New Orleans is basically under water plus a bunch of Mississippi. Maybe Mother Nature just wanted to thin out the population some... :shrug: Dismas 12:03, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

And Michael Jackson was found "not guilty". If that isn't a sign of an approaching apocalypse, I don't know what is. Ground Zero | t 18:43, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Why, Apple releasing a two-button mouse, of course! — Lomn | Talk / RfC 21:15:40, 2005-09-02 (UTC)

Heh. Fair enough. --Brasswatchman 15:14, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

As it says somewhere in Revelation, it is a very bad idea to announce the apocalypse, before the apocalypse is here. It has seemed kinda end of the worldish to me also, but meh. Wait for the four horsemen of Wikipedia to come, and then you will know. :D Additionally, is the mark of the beast really a reference to being a Wikipedia sysop? hmmm... --Phroziac ^(talk) 16:45, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Emergency Telephone Numbers

Hi! When abroad with a mobile phone (roaming) in order to dial a local number where you are you have to dial the full country and local code as if you were at home. Does this apply to emergency telephone numbers? or do you just dial 112 or 911 etc.. Declan

Hi Declan. You just dial the emergency number, no need for the country and local code. If you are anywhere in the European Union, you dial 1-1-2. In the USA, dial 9-1-1. In Australia, dial 0-0-0. And so on. It is worth being aware of the emergency number in whatever country you travel to, as they do vary. See Emergency telephone number. Proto t c 09:45, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Although 1-1-2 works here in the UK, most people don't know about it and may be confused if you use the term; 9-9-9 is the one everyone in Britain knows. (The two numbers go to the same place.) Loganberry (Talk) 11:48, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

For GSM mobile phones, 1-1-2 will work anywhere in the world --Ballchef 12:45, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

1-0-0 for police 1-0-1 fire and 1-0-2 for ambulance if you're in India (or at least in Mumbai) =Nichalp «Talk»= 08:02, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

In Norway it's 1-1-0 for fire, 1-1-2 for police and 1-1-3 for medical emergencies (if you are using a mobile phone 9-1-1 will also also be recognized as an emergensy number and forward you to 1-1-2 automaticaly (it's part of the phone software and/or the GSM network, there is no special treatment for 9-1-1 in the Norwegian phone grid, so from a regular phone 9-1-1 is just a incomplete number)). --Sherool 01:48, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

How many meals before anarchy?

I should probably ask this on Wikiquote, but my guess is there are more people here who will know the answer.

Does anyone know the origin of the quote along the lines of;

Society is just three meals away from anarchy

Some people have it as four meals, others have 'revolution' instead of 'anarchy'. I can find that it was used in the script for Red Dwarf and it appears to be an internal maxim of Britain's MI5, but I would be sure it is much older and probably by someone like Voltaire.

It just seems somewhat relevant to the events in New Orleans at the moment. -- Solipsist 11:17, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Plato first described society as being 'just a few meals away from barbarism'. Proto t c 11:55, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• Angularly related: "Erst kommt das Fressen: Dann kommt die Moral" (First comes feeding; then comes morals.) --Bertolt Brecht. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:04, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Slug extermination techniques

Kill them! Kill them all!

Every morning, I wake up and discover that slugs have spent the night merrily smearing intricate, glistening trails all over the living room. Occasionally, I'll get up in the middle of the night and inevitably catch a slug red-handed (if they had hands, that is), but there always seem to be others that I don't catch. Can anyone recommend a good way of discouraging these pests? — Matt Crypto 12:22, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• Maybe, by following the trails, you can figure out how they are getting into the house and block the access. For instance, if there's an air vent, a fine mesh might discourage them. If that turns out not to be possible, at least you've identified where they are getting in and can put salt there. If they don't seem to be getting in, perhaps they are already there. Look behind the curtains and in other dark, cool, places. Notinasnaid 12:36, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

• I had this problem when I was a student, and we eventually solved it. Vacuum at least daily. Slugs will come in if there is stuff on the carpet for them to eat. Or, if you have hard floors, mop them daily. You might also consider turning your heating down / off at night (if you have it on), and salting you carpet thoroughly (don't worry, it'll vacuum up, but don't get it wet, as it will bleach the carpet slightly). If you have old padded furniture (ie a sofa or an armchair), turn it upside down and take the cover off the bottom if you can, as it is entirely possible the slugs are living in it. Slug pellets along the edges of the carpet work, but are not advisable if you have children or pets. Proto t c 13:17, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Place a line of salt grains by windows and entrances. It also gives the house a tropical beachy feeling. If that fails, consume only salty snacks. Then even the crumbs are lethal to 'em! --Menchi 18:59, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

That's what I would do -- a perimeter of salt for a few days should keep them away for awhile. At the very least it'll tell you where they got in. --Fastfission 19:30, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Or you can leave shallow plates of beer where they're coming in -- they'll drown in the beer. Though I don't know if you want to waste perfectly good beer that way.  :) Zoe 20:44, September 2, 2005 (UTC)

Then just use some perfectly bad beer. ;-) android79 13:38, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

Then why have I found slugs living in beer cans in the woods? Pakaran 01:46, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips! A guest kindly bought us some slug pellets, so I'll try those out before moving on to the beer. — Matt Crypto 14:01, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

If you want to kill one without touching it, drop salt on it. It draws the water out of their bodies. Also a good way to remove a leech. Pakaran 01:46, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

I suggest you do not drop salt on a slug that is on a carpet or any other interior surface. Once you salt a slug it will immediately exsanguinate the slug way --oozing not blood but oozy gooey fluid from the slugs inside. A very sticky unpleasant mess.

How do I comment on JPEGs?

I'm trying to catalogue a photo album of about 200 JPEGs drawn from different sources. I've found that I can comment on some of the pictures (by selecting 'Properties' from the menu), but others do not allow me to do so. Does anyone know why this is, or how I can add a comment to each file? Thanks. Gareth Hughes 18:24, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

What menu in what program? Kuickshow seems to work for most of the JPEG images I have, just Alt-Enter to view properties, select "meta info", and start typing. Ojw 18:41, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

The files aren't read only are they? Ojw 18:43, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

'Read only' is a good call. I changed all permissions to read and write, but it still doesn't seem to work. Gwenview allows commenting on JPEGs, but on some it says This image can't be commented. I've tried to use the GIMP, but I can't find anything about commenting there. Some properties dialogues have Meta Info and others don't. I don't have Kuickshow, so I can't try that at the moment. Any thoughts? Gareth Hughes 18:56, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

In the GIMP, you specify the comment when you save a file. The first dialog box allows you to specify the filename, the second dialog lets you type comments. It takes a long time to load and save images in GIMP though, if all you want to do is edit metadata. I'd still recommend trying Kuickshow (since you must have KDE to be talking about Gwenview)

Interestingly, the JPEG article notes that JPEG isn't a file format, but an encoding and compression method for image data, which is used in file formats such as JFIF, EXIF, and JNG -- perhaps your images are in one of the weirder formats that doesn't support metadata. You could try converting a JPEG to a JPEG (just do it from Konqueror's right-click menu, or use jpegtrans, or the convert command) to see if that changes the flavour of JPEG to one that you can comment on... Ojw 19:32, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Ah, that's helpful. By resaving images via GIMP I get complete control of the comment field. It maybe that some of the images are in a format that doesn't allow comments, but GIMP can convert them. The process is quite long-winded, so I might take a look at Kuickshow. Thanks. Gareth Hughes 20:24, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Be warned that by re-saving JPEGs, you might cause the image quality to decay -- see lossy data compression. For this case, I would think your best bet would be to use a program that stores metadata about the images apart from the actual image files. I can't recommend one in particular, though… What platform are you using, and what exactly are you using the comment field for?

Anon question about some former student

hi my name is anthony from indiana usa i was just wanting to know about any information you can give me about a student that went there along time ago im 18 years old and looking for just sum information thats can be givin out because i thought it would be neat to research it im not writting a book and im not with any kinda newspapers her name was anneliese michel if you cant help just let me know thank you.

Try Classmates.com or something, perhaps. Wikipedia has no records of who attended a particular high school. Sorry. Hermione1980 21:36, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

im not writting a book -- Thank goodness. Garrett Albright 01:54, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

You have not given us much to go on. Was she born in the 1880s or the 1980s? Was she a student in high school or elementary school or college? Do you know which school? What town are we talking about, New Albany or Elkhart or where? Where did you find or hear her name? Do you know anything else about her? alteripse 23:56, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Well, her name was "annaliese michel", which by the standard of his spelling could be anything really. there is an "Anneliese Michel" who is a character in a film "Emily Rose: The Real Story [yeah, right] of Anneliese Michel's [alleged] Exorcism" Dunc|☺ 02:01, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

origin of surname/last name

Hello,

I was looking through a search on this topic and was hoping you could provide some assistance. I would like to know (if possible) which state of Germany my surname oringinated from. If there is a flag or symbol of any sort for each state; I want to get a tattoo of it. Any help you give will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much, Jon Bumgarner

• Bumgarner (originally Baumgartener?) may be a very common name and it may be difficult to pinpoint its origin. Your best bet, IMO, would be to trace your genealogy back to your ancestors in Germany. Another idea would be to ask on the German Wikipedia – of course, you'd have to find someone fluent in English if your German is as bad as mine. android79 17:09, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

I very much doubt you'll be able to pin down Baumgartner (or Baumgärtner or whichever variant your name originally stems from) on a single German state. It's far too common for that. Regarding "have to find someone fluent in English"... I'd be inclined to take that as an insult, if I were a German. (I'm Austrian. ;)) — ???????? _?–? — 18:59, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Having no idea how common English fluency is on the German Wikipedia (or in Germany in general) consider it a comment borne of ignorance rather than malice. :-) android79 19:06, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

I didn't want to allege malice, of course. Anyway, I'd say that among those people who regularily use the internet - and I think wikipedians fit that description by default - the majority knows at least enough English to get by. ;) — ???????? _?–? — 19:19, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Having travelled in Germany recently, I can verify that just about everybody (excepting those who grew up in the East when it was communist) speaks "a little" English (Germans always say they know "a little English", whether they genuinely only know the basics or could make a living as a BBC announcer). My five-year-old second cousin had already begun learning English and certainly spoke more English than I could German :) --Robert Merkel 23:12, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Contacting

How do I contact people about joining the WikiBuffy Project? Also I was wondering how I could get the Pendragon page improved.

Hello! Wikipedia is a wiki. That means that almost every article and page on Wikipedia can be edited by anyone -- including you! Want to improve the Pendragon page? Go right ahead. Want to join the WikiProject Buffy? No need to contact anyone; just do it. Just click the "Edit this page" link at the top of the page you want to update, and edit away! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia! Garrett Albright 01:53, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• Jus go ahead and add your name to the list of members for that project. If you want to contact other members, you can contact them at their personal talk pages or at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Buffy. - 82.172.23.66 08:28, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

can i be a volcanologist if...

If i were to become a volcanologist would I have to be going all around the world like to Colombia and all different countries or would I be able to choose to stay in the United States? Thank you for your help. April S.

No one can make you go anywhere you don't want to go. That applies to any job. You probably will get the chance to travel to lots of different countries as a vulcanologist, but you don't have to. You should be able to travel to some countries but not to ones that scare you.-gadfium 04:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

I think most vulcanologists work for universities, no? In any case, if you stick to the US or refuse too many places, your opportunities for advancement/ continued employment would be limited. You'd probably change your mind once you got into it though.--JimWae 04:44, 2005 September 3 (UTC)

You'd maybe go to Vulcania

Baton Rouge Refinery

I am a retired exxon employee of Exxon's subsidiary in Norway. In view of the Katrina disaster in the southern part of the US I am curious to learn how badly the floods an hurricane has damaged the Baton Rouge Refinery and when it is expected to be operating at full capacity again.

• Wouldn't it be easier to contact someone Exxon in Norway and try to establish contact with someone who knows what goes on in the US. - 82.172.23.66 08:31, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
• And then update our article? — mark ✎ 19:41, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
• However, to my understanding Baton Rouge is relatively undamaged by Hurricane Katrina. In fact, some refugees from New Orleans are being housed there. The refinery there is probably fine. Superm401 | Talk 21:14, September 4, 2005 (UTC)
  • The French media (notably Liberation of 2005-09-03) describe the Baton Rouge refineries as "paralysed". Further information may well be commercially sensitive, so difficult to come by! Physchim62 22:51, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
    • On the other hand, the US media says Exxon Mobil is boosting the output of their Baton Rouge refinery. [2] --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:58, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Effectiveness of Flamethrowers?

How effective are flamethrowers in terms of actual damage? --Fangz 15:15, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

• It entirely depends what you use it on. If it's something flammable, like a wooden structure or a person, very effective. Alphax ^τεχ 15:40, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

The flamethrower page you link to implies that they were only really used to 'damage' crops, as the two main uses of flamethrowers against humans were (a) fear, and (b) removing air-supplies in confined spaces. In military terms, their effectiveness would be limited by the short lifespan of a flamethrower operator (where fear of the device makes them a prime target for pretty much everybody, combined with the obvious problems of carrying around gasoline in a war zone) Ojw 18:41, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

As Alphax says, it all depends on context. In military terms, flamethrowers are extremely effective at the type of cave-to-cave fighting seen at the end of world war II (three other very effecive weapons against troops fighting inside caves are heavier-than-air poison gas [caves tend to magnify the exposure], phosphorus grenades, and specially designed gravity bombs [which suck the air out of caves and asphyxiate the people inside]). This is particularly true of flamethrowers mounted on tanks, which were in fact american weapon most feared by the japanese. However, for the man using the flamethrower, it's a *very* dangerous assignment (the causaulty rate among flamethrower operators at the battle of okinawa was around 70% if memory serves). →Raul654 01:59, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

Konqueror click to select

Does anyone know how to set Konqueror (3.4) so that clicking a file selects it instead of opening it? Ojw 17:07, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

KDE Control Center -> Peripherals -> Mouse, Icons section. ~~ N (t/c) 17:16, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks -- that was well-hidden! Ojw 18:45, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Luneville

PLEASE TELL ME DURING WHAT PERIOD LUNEVILLE WAS PART OF GERMANY. YOURS TRULY GENE VENNESLAND

• Are you sure it ever was? Luneville just a bit outside of Nancy; it's not part of Alsace-Lorraine (which was swapped back and forth between German and French rule over the last several centuries). However, hmm, all of Lorraine was occupied by Germany from 1940-1944, and Germany considered it part of Germany at that point. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 20:32, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, it seems during the 15th century, Luneville was part of the Duchy of Lorraine, and was first annexed by the French in 1766 [3]. — Laura Scudder | Talk 06:19, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

On a related note, the Image:Alsace-lorraine 1871.jpg attached to Alsace-Lorraine seems a little misleading as currently used as the map only indicates the province in 1871; the region was clearly larger at various points. (Notice for instance that Lorraine (province) says that both Nancy and Verdun are in Lorraine when neither were within the imperial province of Elsass-Lothringen which is on the map.) — Laura Scudder | Talk 06:40, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Maybe I'm confused, but I'd gotten the idea that Elsass-Lothringen did not incorporate all of Lorraine. Did it at some point? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 05:48, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

The point I was trying to make was that the imperial province of Elsass-Lothringen is smaller than the actual region of Alsace+Lorraine. The article Alsace-Lorraine does state that 74% of Lorraine remained in French control, but I guess I felt that it didn't address the full area of historic dispute that some people denote by simply "Alsace-Lorraine". I could be totally misguided though by my sloppy German history, — Laura Scudder | Talk 06:42, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

And now I'm wondering if the western portion of Lorraine was ever disputed at all. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:53, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

"My computer" deleted

I was using Windows on one computer and I accidentally pressed delete on "My Computer". How do I get it back? --HappyCamper 19:51, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

What version of Windows? For XP, Right-click the Desktop and go to Properties. Select the Desktop tag, then Customize Desktop, then check My Computer.

XP and it worked! Thanks! --HappyCamper 23:28, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

PROTECTION SHEILD

MY FRIEND, WHOM IS NOW DECEASED HAD A NECKLACE THAT SHE BOUGHT IN A METAPHYSICS STORE NOT NEAR THE CITY I LIVE IN. I DON'T REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE STORE. BUT SHE CALLED THE MEDALION A "PROTECTION SHIELD". I AM DESPERATLELY TRYING TO FIND A PICTURE OF IT. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME?

I searched the web and found these: [4] and [5] ...but can you describe the necklace at all? --Scapegoat pariah 07:17, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

a metaphysics store? wow, I never knew there was such a thing. dab (ᛏ) 20:35, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Bob Newhart, Born, September 5 or September 29, 1929, or..?

cit http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/N/htmlN/newhartbob/newhartbob.htm (rm posting of entire article at link) - Mgm|^(talk) 12:00, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

A) Was it really necessary to post all of that?

B) This should really be discussed on the Bob Newhart talk page.

Dismas 10:52, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Weight Watchers

Where could I find a copy of the Weight Watchers Plan from approximately 1986 to 1989? Or any possible contacts that you feel would be helpful. I have attempted to contact Weight Watchers directly, but was unsuccessful. Thank you for your help.

This kind of thing comes from those deep dark days of the distant past before the internet (or, more precisely, before the internet was ubiquitous). So you're unlikely to find it directly online.

My first port of call would be to contact a research library; if you've access to a university library ask the reference desk there, if not try your nearest "big" library (for instance, if you lived in Victoria, Australia, you'd contact the State Library of Victoria). The second might be to contact an academic whose expertise is in the history of dieting. A google search for "history of dieting" turns up this course list at Emory University where a course on the history of dieting is taught by one M Gilman. If you go to their campus directory service and search for the surname "Gilman" you'll find the email address of Murray J. Gilman, who is more than likely the person who will teach the course. --Robert Merkel 22:29, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Extremes on earth

I think there is a mistake on this page. The vertical drop on Trango towers is much less than listed. The page list it as 6000 meters. Correct should be between 2000 and 3000 meters.

Regards B.R. Oslo

Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make those changes. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in (although there are many reasons why you might want to). The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold in updating pages. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes — they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. Dismas 20:55, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

Which page has the mistake ? Jay 14:25, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Contacting Sango123

Hello-

Sango123 welcomed me as a newbie but I can't figure out how to respond to a question he has posed to me.

Many thanks,

David Justin <email removed>

Hi there, and welcome to Wikipedia! You can click on this link here: User talk:Sango123, and then click on the little plus sign at the top of the page to leave a message. --HappyCamper 02:58, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Beat me to it. But if you mean the question about copying material, BrokenSegue asked that, not Sango123. To contact him, post at User talk:BrokenSegue. In general, to contact any user, post at User talk:username, where username is the user's name(i.e. BrokenSegue). Superm401 | Talk 03:09, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

bloodshot eyes

When i smoke weed, my eyes go red. Even when no smoke actually goes into my eyes, they still go red. This usually happens when I am smoking weed, but now also when I am smoking cigarettes. I use the recommended amount of Visine Original, but recently it seems to have lost it's effectiveness. Can you tell me why my eyes go red, why they are more red now than they used to be, and can one develop a tolerance to eye drops? Thanks for any advice. --Ballchef 13:11, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia kommidy gold. Garrett Albright 14:20, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Over time a human body can develop allergies. For example, I have a reaction to certain foods, if eaten to excess. Definition of excess changes over time ... where years ago I could have second helpings and it did not bother me, while now I have to have like only a half portion to avoid trouble. AlMac|^(talk) 08:05, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

African History

hi i one of my students here in taiwan asked me a question and not sure what it really is could you please help me.

he asked me in the african culture why do they plant a tree when a baby is born?

thanks cary

In Asian culture, why do they expose their dead to carrion birds?

First, it is as hazardous to make generalizations about "African culture" as "Asian culture"; you are asking about a specific practice of a specific society. Do you know which society? It is usually impossible to answer a "why" question about a cultural practice.

Second, the kinds of answers one can give to a why question could include any of the following:

1. a folktale of that society that gives a mythical "explanation";
2. a claim that the practice is functional for a reason invented by someone in another society;
3. "because it is the way of our people", which is somewhat tautological but probably the most accurate. alteripse 16:13, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

The practice of exposing the dead to carrion birds is not a feature of Asian culture generally, but specifically of the Parsi community — for more information see the article Zoroastrianism. rossb 13:31, 6 September 2005 (UTC) Yes, that was precisely my point. I picked a single unusual cultural practice of a single society that captures the imagination. See rhetorical question alteripse 14:12, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

thanks for helping me it this but i'm really sorry i still dont get it. he didnt say exactly in which culture just in general the african culture. I'm getting some feeling its just something in that certain culture and not really any explenation for this and its just something they do. i understand what you saying wththe asian culture but do you think its the same with this african culture?

OK, let me spell out the answer a bit. First, there is no more a single African culture than there is Asian culture. There are hundreds of African cultures. That means that unless the practice is so famous and widely known (like the Zoroastrian funerary practices), you need to specify a culture in order to confirm the authenticity of the practice and find more information about it. Second, think about what kind of answer you want to your "why" question. Here are some very different ways of answering such a why question:

• Would you like a 19th century just-so story formulated by a European anthropologist trying to make sense of an alien cultural practice (e.g., the ritual is a sympathetic magic procedure to promote fertility)?
• Would you like a late 20th century just-so story formulated by a Western evolutionary psychologist that tries to give the practice an adaptive function (e.g., the function of avoiding eating pork is to reduce exposure to parasites)?
• Would you like a native of the culture giving you the ostensible reason for the practice which is cited within the culture (e.g., an American Christian explaining that evergreen Christmas trees symbolize new life in the middle of winter)?

These kinds of answers are sometimes not very intellectually persuasive. I think sometimes the answer is literally "because it is the way of our people". In other words, many cultural rituals serve no other purpose than to promote identification with that culture. We could start a large argument by gathering some anthropoligists and Theorists and evolutionary psychologists and sociologists and folklore experts and asking them why a certain cultural practice is performed. So I ask you again, what kind of answer to why do you want? alteripse 22:04, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Ok thank you very much for all you help!!!!

tough question

This weekend we are celebrating our goldfish's 5th birthday and I have just done an internet search trying to find out how old a fish is in relation to human years. Plenty of info on mamal correlations - cats, dogs, hamsters. I could find nothing on fish.

Got any info on this subject?

Thanks

Kasey H.

Easy question. See [6] which says 10 yrs is average & longest recorded was 43 years. So a goldfish year is roughly 7 human years (perhaps less if you equate with human lifespan in captivity), and a 5 year old goldfish is thirtysomething. alteripse 20:41, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

What's the song in the Sin City promos?

Recently have been looking at buying the Sin City soundtrack over iTunes. But none of the samples sound like the song I heard in the movie's promos and tv spots. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Thanks. --Brasswatchman 23:20, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

• It's "Cells" by The Servant. android79 23:54, September 5, 2005 (UTC)
• Great. Thanks. --Brasswatchman 23:56, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

• I'm gonna go download it off Kazaa. --Ballchef 07:15, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Announcing illegal activities over the internet is a dubious practice. Dmn € Դմն 11:39, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

So I shouldn't say anything about those mattress tags then? Dismas 12:01, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Dmn, most of this guy's edits have been to the bong article and its talk page, and if you scroll up a bit, you'll find he has posted a question asking if anyone knows of anything stronger than Visine to remove red-eye caused by smoking pot. This guy probably doesn't give a damn if anyone knows he downloads stolen music. Garrett Albright 18:51, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

help with pine trees

if someone could please be as kind to help me out here. I need to find out what the difference between yellow pine trees and red pine trees are? Sounds kinda silly but with working in the lumber business,( the office) i had a customer ask. Thanks for your time. amy

We have Yellow pine ("In American forestry, a term for several closely related species of pine with yellow tinted wood, including Loblolly Pine, Slash Pine, Shortleaf Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Jeffrey Pine and several others.") and Red pine articles. David Sneek 07:55, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

need information

What is the loud holler of the old west cattle herders ? what is that word used ?

Animals respond more to volume, tone and attitude than to words (try it), so I doubt whether they would yell any specific words, though probably quite a lot of swear words would be useful in conducting their daily business; "hey" probably gets a bit boring after a while. At the start of Rawhide someone hollers "Herd 'em up! Mooooo-ve 'em out!" but this is an instruction to the herdsmen rather than the herd. Shantavira 08:08, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Shantavira, it might not even be a word. Might just be an utterance that you've heard. And animals really don't know words too well. It's mostly tone and such. Our dogs have a few different nicknames and they'll respond to those that sound close to their name and with the right tone. For instance, Dublin will answer to her name as well as "Wublin", "Wubbers", "Dub", etc. But Calisto won't respond to just the letter "C" since there isn't a "see" sound in the name Calisto. But she will respond to "Lister" because of the "lis" sound and the enthusiasm in our voices. Dismas 13:28, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Just wanted to add that cowboy movies are mostly fantasy. If they shout "Yip! Yip!" or whatever in the movies that doesn't communicate anything apart from the imagination of the scriptwriter. Shantavira 17:39, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Shakey

How legal and uncopyrightable would it be to make a song that sampled a Shakespeare monologue? I wanna do that - get a catchy tune and play it over the top of a famous Shakespeare monologue and get to the top of the charts. And don't be nicking this idea from me. Please. --Sophiebristow 11:43, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

• Since he's been dead for ages, his work is now in the public domain. His work couldn't have been included in Wikisource otherwise. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:11, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

Sophie! It's good to hear from you again. How did it work out with your problem boarder?alteripse 12:20, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Shakespeare is public domain, but a certain production of his work might be copyright. If you read the monologue, you'd have the right to copyright it, but you would have to seek permission to use a famous actor's version of a monologue. Gareth Hughes 12:56, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

It's actually been done before, in a certain sense. A large piece from Hamlet is the basis of a song in the musical Hair ("What a Piece of Work is Man"). Anyway, assuming that you own the copyright to all aspects of the audio recording, there'd be no trouble with the fact that your source was Shakespeare, since his work is all since long in the public domain. You'd own the copyright to the musical recording, but you wouldn't own the copyright to the lyrics (if they were all Shakespeare), if that makes sense. --Fastfission 16:23, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

race descent of Puerto Rico

You could read this, or this, or if you need to know right away, this.--Ballchef 05:42, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Tribal recognized chiefs

I am Cetan Hanhepi (Rev. Night hawk) I am Lakota and would like to ask you who your recognized tribal chiefs are and if a women living in West Virginia named Brenda "white deer" Andrews of Charles Town West Virginia is a recognized tribal chief of the Cherokee nation? She is claiming that she is tribal chief of the southern band of Cherokee. I have a copy of a newspaper article with this her claim of chief and would like to pass it on to the right tribal council leaders if possible. I personally am tribally enrolled in US and Canada as a Lakota and spiritual leader of my people. If your site could assist me I would appreciate it greatly. We as the original peoples of this land have enough to deal with and don't need instant indians causing more problems for us. Pilamaya, Mitakuye Oyasin Rev. Night hawk 63.235.58.152 13:46, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia doesn't officially have an opinion on anything - it only reports facts, including the fact of what other people's opinions on topics are. The best way to determine whether Ms. Andrews is recognised by the Cherokee Nation as a chief would probably be to contact them and ask: their website is at http://www.cherokee.org (though it was down when I tried to check it just now); if not you could try simply looking them up in the phone book and giving them a call. --Robert Merkel 13:03, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Indian Film Producer

Do you mean to ask about Adoor Gopalakrishnan who got the Dadasaheb Phalke Award recently?^[7] If you're looking for general info about Indian movie industry start with Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood. If you want specific info, please specify what you want. -- Sundar ^{\talk \contribs} 17:03, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

Old systems of organization just won't work today ...

Due to advances in engineering and technology, each year fewer workers are required to support an ever increasing production environment. The only answer to this problem is for labor to become more competitive. If this isn't done, there will eventually be no opportunity for Union workers in this country.

The old adversarial roles are just useless. Business (profit) dictates. Unions can either become part of the problem (and be eliminated), or they can choose to become part of the solution (an asset highly valued by all concerned).

The only way for Unions to dump their old image and reestablish themselves as an important part of the labor/employer equation is for Unions to lead the way in merging technology with the labor pool to produce a sort of "Union Hall on the Internet" where both members and employers can get together. If this is done properly, it will benefit both members and employers greatly, and the old days of contention between workers and employers can be replaced by an atmosphere of mutual need and respect.

Now listen carefully. I've built a working model, and over the last 20+ years we've pretty well debugged the process. So … I'm not just spouting off here. Using the process we've developed, Unions could make the transition cleanly to a new and more effective business model … one that could help them thrive in today's ever changing labor market.

The other Unions I've contacted are apparently too busy to listen. Remember the definition of a crazy person? Someone who keeps repeating the same actions over and over expecting a different result?

So … maybe that says something about you if you decide not to answer this email?

Glen C. Simmons 800 367 0898 X4#

Was there a question in any of that? DJ Clayworth 21:10, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Did you recieve this e-mail and are wanting to know if it it a fake? Because I would have no idea. I don't even know what Glen's selling, if that is his real name. What do the numbers at the end of the letter mean? --Ballchef 05:32, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

It's probably a phone number: Dial 1-800-367-0898 and contact Glen by entering the eXtension number 4 and pressing the # key. Perhaps someone inside the US could give it a call and find out what the heck this is about?

Yes 1-800-367-0898 is the phone number of a compnay called "Automated Information", and extension 4 is the voice mail for Glen Simmons, or so the recorded msg says. DES ^(talk) 15:53, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Watches made by women?

Historically (and I am certainly not referring to the late 20th / early 21st century), were there any female watchmakers?

In the movie The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom says she was the first woman to be licensed as a watchmaker in Holland. DJ Clayworth 21:09, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

You had to have a license to make watches?! Zoe 19:49, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

Well making watches is not forbidden, but watchmaker is a real job, and also an art (for "interesting" watches, so people have examinations, diplomas and certifications. :p (and long live commons:category:watches) Rama 19:56, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

the blond who used her body to swindle older men out of money

Hello, I am not sure who is the right person to talk to. I am a writer and I am doing some research on a particular story that appeared in the Canadian media some time in the 90's. An attractive, Toronto female, who worked for a bar on Yorkville, used her body and good looks to swindle older men out of their money. She was later tried and convicted, causing a blurb on the prime time news and in print. Frank Magazine went all out to keep it's readers up to date on her whereabouts when she got out of jail. My question.. what was her name? Paul

Wouldn't it be simpler to just ask the people over at Frank (magazine)? Dismas 16:08, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

most valubale player

who was the most valubale player for the National League of Baseball in 1998?

Sammy Sosa, according to this website. --Think Fast 01:49, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

President Nixion's Political Views

I need some trying to find President Richard Nixon's political views for my project on him.If you would please try to find me a website or the information. I need 3 things he supports and 3 things he's against. Thank you so very much and have a great day! --Love, me

Hi "me", if you read the Nixon article you will see a section called "Major initiatives" which should give you some hints.

However, in politics, things are very rarely that simple. When politicians are unambiguously "for" or "against" something, it tends to either be a) a very vague principle which doesn't actually have much to do with their actions b) something that very few people would disagree with, or c) both of the above. For instance, I think you'd find that most American politicians, if you ask them, would support "free enterprise", "a strong military", and "quality education". Just about everybody does. But the real world, the distributed nature of political power and the need for compromise to get things done, and contentious issues intrude, applying principles to actual legislation and actions starts to get a little more fuzzy. For instance, Ronald Reagan was a strong supporter of the principle of lower tax rates, but on occasion he raised them - or, at least, they were raised by legislation that got passed on his watch.

So think carefully about what you want to talk about; do you want to describe Nixon's professed political philosophy, look at what he actually did while in office, or look at both and contrast the philosophy with the actions?

Sorry if I just made your high-school project horribly difficult; if you're in the early years of high school you can probably get away with just some regurgitations of his achievements (such as the normalization of diplomatic relations with China). But it wouldn't hurt you to at least think about it in a more sophisticated way. --Robert Merkel 04:37, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Identification of space ship in Star Wars

What is the name of the starship in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi that Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia, Chewbacca, and some other Rebels used to sneak into Endor? It was in that ship that Luke Skywalker sensed Darth Vader's presence, and Darth Vader sensed Luke's. I searched through Category:Star Wars starfighters, and couldn't find any information regarding this ship, although the V-19 Torrent starfighter does resemble it.… ‡ Jarlaxle 04:15, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

It's a Lambda-class shuttle. (Why do I know this? Perhaps due to all those hours spent playing TIE Fighter.) —Charles P. (Mirv) 04:38, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Visit [8] for a list (with images) of all starships in the star wars, star trek, babylon 5 ... series. Very cool and interactive site. CG 12:00, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure which is more frightening. That you knew that, or that we have an article on it. :) - Taxman ^Talk 17:43, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

Weird song about smelling

I heard a creepy song on the radio the other day. Its a foreign-sounding woman's speaking voice over the tune of "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. She is talking in a serious voice, and some of the lyrics go something like "Sometimes when one is smelling oneself one is remembering a past time of smelling" and its really odd anyway. Anyone have a clue? --Sophiebristow 11:24, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

"Creepy", "foriegn-sounding woman" and "really odd" and indecipherable lyrics tend to make me suspect Björk, though the closest I know of that she goes to what the rest of your descripte is maybe Oceania (which she sang at the 2004 Olympics). Amazon has an excerpt to listen to.

Got to love her lyrics, though. This was from Hyperballad:

We live on a mountain
Right at the top
There's a beautiful view
From the top of the mountain
Every morning I walk towards the edge
And throw little things off
Like:
Car parts, bottles and cutlery
Or whatever I find lying around.

She's out there. --Robert Merkel 23:32, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

See all Unicode characters

Is there somewhere an index of all Unicode characters? Maybe a PDF file? CG 13:19, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

I like http://unicode.coeurlumiere.com/. A bit more clunky, but more official is http://www.unicode.org/charts/. Have fun with them there squiggles! Gareth Hughes 13:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Got a Mac with OS X 10.3 or later? Apple menu -> System Preferences. Click "International." Click "Input Menu." Make sure "Show input menu in menu bar" is checked (if it wasn't checked already). A familiar flag should now appear in the upper-right corner of your screen (if it wasn't there already). Click it and select "Show Character Pallete." Explore. If you find a character you want to use, you can drag-and-drop it into an input field, or simply click in the input field where you want to put it, then double-click on the character in the palette. Cool, eh? Garrett Albright 14:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Thank you. I prefered the official site, the characters are in a PDF file and they all display. Garret thanks for the tip but I have Win XP. CG 20:03, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

Oh, that's quite unfortunate. I'm sorry. Garrett Albright 04:24, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

For completeness, a nice Linux utility is "ucm" (Unicode Character Map). Steve Summit (talk) 14:33, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Need help with German postal address

I hope that this is Miscellaneous, not Humanaities...

I need to know what this address translates to in an American format. What is the address, street, city, postal code:

Maennchesberg 15
D-34346 Hann. Muenden
GERMANY

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Brian Schlosser42 15:34, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

• The city is Hannoversch Münden; the postal code is D-34346; the street followed by number is Männchesberg 15 (or Maennchesberg). And the map is [9]. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 16:04, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Thank you. That's what I suspected, but I wanted to be sure.Brian Schlosser42 16:09, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

starting a nonexistent frat

Is it possible to start a whole new fraternity, one that doesn't have any national affiliations or any of that kind of stuff? Is there some kind of great Greek overseeing board nationally or is that just by college or does it exist at all? Anyone know?

• This article -- Fraternities and sororities -- has some information, inlcuidng links to the articles on national organizations. Ground Zero | t 18:13, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

It's certainly possible to start a social organization that is, for all intents and purposes, a fraternity. A similar pseudo-sorority was started at my school while I was there, but IIRC, the established sororities screamed bloody murder until the new group agreed to assert that they are not a Greek organization per se, though they still participate at an equal level in all the campus Greek events. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 20:56, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

charmed

can you tell me how long julian mchanson was involved in the show

It can be found on the page for Julian McMahon assuming you were just spelling his name wrong. Dismas 19:14, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Egyptian cats

I was trying to find if there was a certain species of the feline that was sacred to the Egyptians. I cannnot remember the actual name, it starts with a "M", but they were also known as temple cats. Sacred to the moon goddess.

The Egyptian Mau, perhaps? Cats in Ancient Egypt might have the information you want. —Charles P. (Mirv) 19:28, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

The Egyptian hieroglyphs for cat are:

or mỉw. Gareth Hughes 00:50, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

The Island of Chuuk

I had recently looked up on the Island of Guam and I was very shocked to see under unofficial languages listed Chuukese as a language used so that if a homeless person talks to you you could pretend not to understand english. Yet you have a whole page on the Island of Chuuk. If you would like to know more about the Island I would suggest you talk to Mr. Sachuo at the University of Guam. I am sorry I dont know his first name but I do know him as a respected Chuukese educator at the University of Guam. If you can not contact him I would also suggest Mr. Robert Balajadia at the Guam Community College. When I was in high school he was my Chamorro Studies teacher and I am pretty sure he can guide you in the right direction.

Welcome to Wikipedia. There's nobody in charge of articles for you to suggest this to...instead, Wikipedia is created by its visitors. If you have more facts to add to an article, just go ahead! Alternatively, you can add to the discussion page for an article, and other people might be able to work with you. Notinasnaid 10:39, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Rome

Do you know what person was faught by the many generals of Rome who wanted to be emperor?

Thanks!--anon.

Most Roman generals fought for the emperor, against the emperor or to be emperor. Being a general helped your chance of being an emperor (who can say no to a large army of men in skirts?), and not being a general meant that the generals told you what you do. Gareth Hughes 22:43, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Web- conferencing

If a friend from school was at home, How can i make it through web-conferencing, that they are involved?--144.133.126.165 23:59, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Tell your teacher? Gareth Hughes 10:17, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Question about scripting in QBasic?

If you had to write a command to import numerical data from a .txt document, or something else like it, to be used in a qbasic program, how would you do it?? any help would be appreciated, thank you in advance--64.12.117.12 02:10, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

It depends how the .txt document is formatted, but if it is just numbers followed by hard returns, or numbers separated by commas, you'd use the INPUT command. If you look at its help file in the program it should be pretty clear how it works. The other main input command, usually for text, is LINE INPUT. For binary data, you use GET. Hope that helps. --Fastfission 13:17, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

how to have a link to our website ?

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

I have been on the page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System and it apperas to me you made links to companies website such as: http://www.adveto.com/AIS.htm http://www.yachtinsure.com/news-auto-identification-systems.htm

My group is manufacturing Coast station AIS. Would it be possible to have a link to our website on the right website: http://www.prescom.net/maritime-radio-ais.html

Many thanks, Best regards,

---

Hélène BLAY International relations executive Prescom 3 rue Michael Faraday 78180 Montigny-le-Bretonneux Tel : 01 30 85 55 57 Email : hblay@prescom.fr Web : www.prescom.net

Ms. Blay,

The links cited are on the article because the author found them relevant, not because Wikipedia is an advertising entity (it's not). Further, they have been selected for the depth of explanation provided; most notably with lengthy commentary and animated illustrations. At this point I see no need for a further reference; however, that's not to say that some other editor will not find your site appropriate. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 13:25, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Flying fishes

What do flying fishes eat? And, what predators do they have?

Perhaps the article Flyingfish might be helpful. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:08, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

Getting a Doctorate

If one wanted to get their Ph.d even though one weren't actually studying at that level, how would one achieve this? By publishing something?

Joseph Noko,

josephnoko@imap.cc

Doctor of Philosophy might have the information you're looking for. Based on my own anecdotal evidence, however, getting a PhD in the sciences in the US is a process that requires a lot of time, effort, and money. If one is not already "studying at that level" (not sure what you mean by that) simply "publishing something" will not be sufficient — most doctoral graduates are expected to have published a large body of research by the time they graduate, in addition to fulfilling coursework obligations with high grades. If the research published is exceptional, it may be a ticket to begin studying/researching at the PhD level. android79 14:11, September 8, 2005 (UTC)

PhDs are conferred by universities. Most universities will not give you a PhD unless you have completed the PhD requirements of one of their doctoral programs. If you are exceptionally famous, they might give you an honorary degree but this is pretty unlikely (and if you did get one, the odds are it would not help you anyway. By the time you were reknown enough for an honorary degree, you shouldn't need one). --Fastfission 16:09, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Mind you, the coursework requirements of PhD degrees are a bit of an American thing. In a lot of other countries, the coursework requirements are minimal to non-existent, and depend on what your supervisor thinks you need a background in to successfully complete your thesis. Generally, they figure if you've been accepted into a PhD, you've done quite enough coursework. Additionally, universities will occasionally hire people to tenured position who don't have doctorate degrees if their research is exceptional. Robert Floyd is an outstanding example, but these days he may have been forced into copying and pasting a couple of his papers together and calling it a thesis. I suspect if you published some exceptional piece of research today and didn't have a doctorate, there'd be a university who'd be more than happy to let you do just that.--Robert Merkel 23:27, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Lots of people get PhDs without actually studying at that level. They buy them. See diploma mill. alteripse 21:01, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

The minimum you'd need to do is to write and defend a doctoral dissertation (which needs to be a new and substantive contribution to a given field of knowledge). Most places need to you to pass qualifying exams before you become a "doctoral candidate". American universities (and increasingly Commonwealth universities) require a substantial coursework component.

Of course, as Alterprise mentioned, one can buy a doctoral degree online from one of a number of fly-by-night "universities", although these are generally not recognised, although the range from institutions which just sell you a piece of paper, to institutions which require you to do something, like write an essay about your life and award the degree based on "life experience". Guettarda 21:04, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Cuba

Why can't Cuba get new cars? --169.244.143.115 16:07, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Because the United States will embargo any non-U.S. company which trades with Cuba, and companies that make cars want to trade with the U.S. more than they do Cuba. See United States embargo against Cuba. --Fastfission 16:13, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Blue Planet

I looked it up but it's not the right one. Does Blue Planet have anything to do with oranges? --169.244.143.115 16:24, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Blue Planet Foods sells canned oranges according to their website. Dismas 17:07, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Not thinking of Blue Marble? [10]

Chaka Khan

Is it just me or does the lyric "Chaka Khan...Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chaka Khan" from I feel for you turn up other places? An example is on Gorillaz Demon Days album on the song Feel Good Inc. in the background at the beginning behind the "feel good" lyric. I can't seem to find any place on the intarweb that lists out all the different songs that use that lyric. Anyone know places where it is used? I'd like to make a listr and add it to the Chaka Khan article. I think Mike Myers used it in a move and I think there is a techno song with it in it as well. -Ravedave 03:09, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Ha just found one! Dane cook uses 'Chaka Khan...ch-ch-chaka Khan' in a cheating joke on his Retaliation CD -Ravedave 05:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

I think the original use of this lyric is from one-hit wonder British novelty act Morris Minor and the Majors "Stutter Rap". The line goes: "The crowd got angry, and this one man / He was gonna throw a bottle / He was gonna chuck a can, chucka can / Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chaka Khan!". See Tony Hawks on Wikipedia for more info. Canley 07:11, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia servers

Is there a way to view system activity logs of the wikimedia servers? --anon

• Wikipedia:Statistics? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:11, September 9, 2005 (UTC)
  • Yup. Places like Live stats, Status and problems Ganglia, Quickpulse --Tagishsimon (talk)

German Marks: Frist currency printed 1914 thru transitions to 1942

I have several german marks that are dated from 1914 thru the 20's into the early 40's. I had a question as to what their value was to a collector they are as follows with dates and amounts.

August 1942- 5 marks March 1920- 1 mark Feburary 1914- 20 marks November 1920- 100 marks Feburary 1923- 1,000,000 marks September 1923- 20,000 marks November 1922- 50,000 marks

what are their current worth in todays U.S. Dollar amount?

• They are probably no longer legal tender in germany. In the 1920s, Germany suffered from hyperinflation so the currency was devalued tremendously -- a loaf of bread could cost billions of marks. After the end of World War II, new governments were established in the east and the west that issued their own currencies. These notes, if they are in good condition, may have some value int he collectos' market. Try searching for on-line currency collectors' auction sites, or visit your local coin and stamp dealer. Ground Zero | t
  • As this is my area of history I feel obliged by my conscience to expand a touch. In 1923, an economic turmoil (partly caused by the French occupation of the Ruhr) caused severe, or hyper- inflation within Germany. The old Reichsmark became effectively valueless; a wheelbarrow containing notes would be more valuable than the notes themselves. Gustav Stresemann introduced a new currency, the Rentenmark, worth one million Reichsmarks later that year. There, history lesson over; go and look up German hyperinflation, Gustav Stresemann, Rentenmark; oh, and there might be a couple useful links on Munich putsch as well. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 00:33, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Origin of "My voice is my passport"

What is the origin of the phrase "My voice is my passport. Verify me." Googling it brings up lots of hits, but I can't easily find one that gives the source of the quote. Garrett Albright 05:45, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

• It is used in Sneakers (film). Bovlb 05:53:31, 2005-09-09 (UTC)
  • Not a bad movie either if you don't want anything too heavy. Dismas 05:56, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Aha. I saw that movie, but it was a long time ago. I recall it being pretty cool. Thanks for the info. (Don't you wish more people said "thanks" on the RD?) Garrett Albright 06:00, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I do. That's why I try and make a point of it when I need to ask anything here. Dismas 06:05, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Jeffrey Jones, actor

I was curious about the update on Jeffrey Jones'entry.

I tried to find other sources to validate that he was indeed a victim of extortion, but there are not specific sources listed.

Is there any way to find out more?

Also, I think the US media should publicly clear his name if this is true.

thanks a ton.

alex b.

The best place to find out more about him would probably be the Jeffrey Jones article's talk page which can be found at Talk:Jeffrey Jones. People who have edited the article, and thus probably have a keener interest in him will be watching that page closer than they may be watching this one. And as far as the U.S. media goes, well, don't expect an apology out of them anytime soon... :) Dismas 15:19, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Getting a Ford Focus in Europe and bringing it to the US

I am planning to go to Europe on vacation, and like the look European version of the Focus and am thinking about getting one over there (so I don't have to rent a car) and taking it back with me. Is this feasable? What about a right hand drive version?

Some parts of Europe drive on the left, and some on the right. Also prices of cars vary wildly across Europe. If you do your research, you might get a good deal, though be sure you factor in the cost of shipping a car across the Atlantic, and of paying import taxes. Also don't assume you can walk in, pay for a car, and drive off. The dealer might have to order the car, which could take weeks. You may have to pay with a draft drawn on a local bank. So it's possible, but you'll need time, and do your research very carefully. Contact the dealer in advance (which is a problem if you like to deal, because that doesn't give you a very strong negotiating position). Not answered: is unleaded fuel compatible across the Atlantic? Are there import or other restrictions based on emissions? Notinasnaid 08:15, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Do the Focus' specifcations differ from Europe to the USA. I know that cars designed for Australian conditions have different suspension configurations, and probably other differences too (weather considerations, air bag regulations etc), compared to the overseas models. --Commander Keane 08:39, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, will check it out. --216.52.22.131 09:22, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

You might also look into buy-back programs. Some manufacturers have programs where you can buy a car in Europe, use it for a period oftime, and then sell it back to the manufacturer (or its dealer). The buy-back price is set at the time of purchase, but is subject to rules about how far you can drive, the return condition, etc. Ground Zero | t

For a mass-market car like the Focus, the costs of shipping it across the Atlantic, import duties, sorting out compliance approval so you can register it in the US, and so on, are likely to far outweigh the cost of simply selling the car when you leaving and buying another one when back in the States. Keep in mind that you won't get warranty coverage for your car in the US, and its resale value when you eventually do decide to sell it will be less than a US-market car.

Your best bet might be a second-hand car whilst you're in Europe, if you're going to be there for a long enough time to justify a purchase. As soon as you drive a new car off the lot its value immediately drops substantially, whereas a resale has considerably less of an effect. The other thing to keep in mind that, at least in the UK and Germany where I visited, cars were much more expensive than the United States.

In any case, might I suggest you borrow or buy a Lonely Planet guide to the countries you intend to visit? They generally have a section on hiring, buying, or using your own car. --Robert Merkel

Depending on exactly where you are going and what you are doing in Europe, public transport is a real possibilty. Many of the services are really first rate (the danes make an announcement if thier trains are running 30 seconds late!!! and if a train is cancelled the railways pay for a taxi - I swear to god, i don't know how often it happens but it happened to me while i was there). You can get some really good deals (very cheap and very felxible) on tickets between countries and cities if you buy them thru a travel agent outside of europe. Much cheaper than if you buy there. The bellman 14:00, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Cutlery Makers Sheffield

Any information with reference to the name KEYWORTH,GEORGE.

Please!

Try going to this website they may be able to help you http://www.sheffield-made.com/ahistory.htm

consumer credit

Is the company National Consumer Credit Service what it claims to be? It claim to consolidate Credit Card bill and get a person lower interest rates at no charge to the consumer.

tori

Not quite at "no charge." From what I understand from this and similar companies, NCCS will pay off all your creditors immediately, and you then pay NCCS back with a rate that was lower than those you were paying your creditors -- but it's still an interest rate. You may also have to make more payments than before as well. Anyway, when I had a credit problem issue about a year ago, I went to my local credit union to see if they could help. I had kept up on payments for the most part, but the interest rates were killing me. They basically let me do the same thing NCCS does; they gave me a loan to pay off the credit cards and other high-interest things, and the interest on that loan is much lower than the other rates were. So consider starting at your own bank or credit union before heading for a big company like this. Garrett Albright 14:38, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

To answer your question though, not that what was said isn't good advice, you should be able to call the Better Business Bureau as well as any federal oversight organizations to find out what you can about NCCS. Dismas 14:48, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

We have a little at Debt consolidation, nothing at Credit counseling. Looks like an area where we could add a lot. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:46, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

Query on Authenticy of a Bank

Please let me know whether the following Name and Address of the Bank is in existence or not:

TAIPEI BANK CHENG CHUNG BRANCH 15 PARK ROAD, TAIPEL, 10039 TAI WAN. CHINA

regards,

A S Nath. Mumbai.India.

• I don't know, and I don't know the context, but keep in mind that if someone is trying to get you into a transaction with a bank you don't already know, it is probably a scam, even if the bank is real. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:47, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

See, in particular, Advance fee fraud. This is a very common email spam technique. -- Rick Block (talk) 02:30, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

auto muffler

Could you please advise who the inventor of the auto muffler was...I understood it to be John Groelich of Toledo, Ohio, who was also a great philanthropist.

Our Muffler article says the inventor was one Hiram Percy Maxim. Garrett Albright 14:31, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

654 Flotilla Royal Marines WWII

I am presently researching my father's WWII history as a Royal Marine. Would Wikipedia had any information on 654 Flotilla or any suggestions for further research. Thank you.

Ed Campbell

I've done a google search of Wikipedia for 654 Flotilla but got no results, sorry. --βjweþþ (talk) 20:02, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

All I can tell is basically the same as what you posted elsewhere - a flotilla operating landing craft of some form off Gold Beach. "Build-up squadron" doesn't much help; it seems to be what the squadrons were sent to do after the initial landings. I'll see if I can dig anything else up; check back in a few days. Shimgray 23:51, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Aha! E Squadron appears to have been one of the "normal" subsidiary squadrons of Force G... I was getting completely lost. [11] suggests they may have been, at least in part, landing 47 Commando, part of 231 Brigade Group, on Jig Beach. In that case, here's some context: "No. 47 R.M. Commando landed on JIG Sector at 0930 and in doing so lost all but two of their L.C.A. and much equipment including all their wireless sets." [12]. The devon link talks about 90 landing craft to the Squadron, which sounds about right for landing one Commando. ISBN 0850528666 is a book that may be of some use; it's a study of the landings at Jig Sector on Gold. It should confirm things like flotilla numbers. Shimgray 00:37, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Ecomics-per capita income

QUESTION 1. Discuss the problems of using per capita income as a measure of welfare.

QUESTION 2. Discuss the problems of international comarison of per capita income.

Those aren't questions, they're statements. Are you doing your economics homework while ignoring your teacher in English (or other language) class? It's Friday though, just wait till Sunday to get your homework done.  :) Dismas 16:48, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Okay, here's a hint: If you won the lottery this year, would you work (and thus earn income) next year? Beyond that, DYOH: Do Your Own Homework. Garrett Albright 17:28, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

Here are two questions for you:

1. Do you walk to school, or eat your lunch?

2. What is the difference between a duck?

Discuss. Ground Zero | t 17:34, 9 September 2005 (UTC)

2. One of its legs is the same! -- Jmabel | Talk 01:52, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

Actually, I'm going to give a couple of short clues on the two questions originally asked:

1. Bill Gates and I, taken together, have a marvelous per capita income. Unfortunately, I don't see much of it.
2. There are two very different measures of GDP, one based on international exchange rates and the other on local purchasing power. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:56, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

Miyamoto Musashi

Did Miyamoto Musashi ever married with any woman in his life? Was the girl named "Otsu" in Toshiro Mifune's movie, " Miyamoto Musashi" a real person in MUsashi's life? Thank you. Grace

unidentified animal

while diving, me and my girlfriend discovered a most strange animal, and maybe you can help me identify it? we found the animal at a depth of about 4 meters on the bottem off the caribean see at the north east-coast of cuba. it was near the entrance of a little cave, and was about 40 cm tall. the back-half off the body was like iguana with a short tail, the fronthalf of the body was , more bird like,with bold little wings. he was all dark coloured a trunklike bill,all in the same scale-like dark skin. the eyes sidewise off the head, and it crawled over the sand!

Maybe you can help us identifying this little creature, we asked already a lot of prof. divers, but until now, no succes,Not even whether its a fish, reptile,mammel or ?? please help us.

frank olde loohuis lidwien kuiphuis oldenzaal Holland frankoldeloohuis@aol.com

Yours sincerely frank/lidwien

Strange indeed. Too large to be a pipefish. Can you provide more information? 40cm tall but how long was it? How wide? Did it have legs and if so how many? What colour was it? Mottled or striped or evenly coloured? Shantavira 10:50, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

What kind of caterpillar do I have?

I Live in western washington and have found a very "furry" caterpillar which has black at both ends with the center of the body being of a reddish or copperish color. My son would like to know what kind of plant to feed it and what it will turn into. ----

In my experience, if you don't know what to feed a caterpillar, the thing it is most likely to turn into is a dead caterpillar. They will die before eating the "wrong" plant. If you didn't find it together with a host plant, I'd give serious consideration to releasing it. - Nunh-huh 02:01, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

One of these guys? We used to call them "woolly bears" here in Ontario. They're the larvae of the Isabella tiger moth. I suspect the main problem you'll have with getting that caterpillar to pupate is that they do so in spring[13], so your little guy will want to start hibernating soon. I agree he probably won't make it to spring if he doesn't get the seasonal cues to fill up and hibernate. — mendel ☎ 02:14, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

Great Basin

I was wondering why the Great Basin gets so little rain compared to the eastern area of the US. - anon

The Rocky Mountains block the rain-carrying clouds from getting through. Zoe 20:28, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

history of flight

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Wei%C3%9Fkopf

this information is missing from the english edition.

Look at Gustave Whitehead.-gadfium 08:42, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Fixed Assets Capitalization in US GAAP

Hi,

My question is 'Does US GAAP enforces to set a salvage value of at least 1 for each capitalized item in Fixed Assets?.

Thanks and regards,

Yaseen

Sea Level of Conway, SC

Is Conway, SC above or below sea level? C. Mungroo

• On first glance, our article doesn't seem to say; you could try posting your question on the article's talk page. I understand that GoogleEarth gives elevation data. Bovlb 14:57:54, 2005-09-10 (UTC)
  • Is there an airport in Conway? The reason I ask is that every airport knows what the elevation is at the airport. So for instance if you do a google search for "Chicago ORD elevation" you would find pages that gave the elevation of O'Hare airport. That would give you an indication of the city's elevation. Dismas 15:21, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

• According to http://www.city-data.com/city/Conway-South-Carolina.html, it's 40 feet above sea level. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:55, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

  According to the USGS topo map from 1983, it is between sea level and less than 15ft (you can see the contour lines for 5 and 10 ft, but neither the one for zero or 15 ft). The Conway-Horry County Airport (KHYW) is at 34 ft. Lupo 08:15, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

“TKO”?

Here's a silly trivia question. Since I have an email address, I get dozens of those phishing scams under subject lines like "TKO: your eBay account could be suspended". I'm curious to know what a real TKO notice is. Under what circumstances would eBay send me one, and, specifically, what do those letters "TKO" stand for?

(It's remarkably hard to do a web search to answer this question. All you get is people asking "What's this TKO notice I just got?" and other people saying "It's a scam, ignore it, delete it, definitely don't click on any links in it!". But that much I already know.)

Steve Summit (talk) 15:05, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

No reputable organization will ever ask you to resubmit sensitive data over the Internet. If you ever want to change your password or whatever, go to the real home page of the organization and start from there. I don't know what TKO stands for in this context. Turnkey operation? Googling "TKO stands for" gives a variety of results. Shantavira 15:19, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Well you certainly hope that's the case, but many banks and other reputable organization aren't always particularly clued up about security issues. On more than one occaision I've had my bank and my mortgage lender call me back on the phone yet continued to follow their standard procedures and asked me to confirm my password and security questions. Fortunately I was alert enough to refuse to give the information — when they phone me, I have no way of knowing that the caller isn't an imposter. Nevertheless the bank and most of their customers are probably oblivious to security risks like this. -- Solipsist 20:04, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Reputable organizations habitually hire employees who are given inadequate training on security topics. I recently got a bad credit report, and it was probably because I refused to give out my social security # to a phone caller from a bank that had bought out an outfit that had issued me a credit card ... basically I told the caller "How do I know you are telling me the truth, and are not part of some identity theft scam?" AlMac|^(talk) 08:18, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Steve Summit? Don't I know you from comp.lang.c?

Anyway, I don't have an answer to your question, but I want to rant more about phishing. Lately, I've got faked questions from eBay members. I've never sold an item on eBay (only bought items), yet I got an email asking if I would ship to some address in the USA. It was about a specific item (a Husqvarna something device), so I checked the item number mentioned. It didn't exist. Do they honestly think I would enter my username and password in the link provided? — JIP | Talk 18:13, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Why so little on-field advertising in baseball?

In cricket, advertising is pretty much universal within grounds - for example, here's a typical picture of Australia's Sydney Cricket Ground, and here's another one, of English bowler Darren Gough. On the SCG picture you can also see a sponsor's logo painted on the turf. This level of sponsorship is also the norm in football (soccer), rugby etc in Britain, and I've seen logos beneath the ice on Canadian ice hockey rinks. Yet in what I've seen of US baseball the fence is painted plain dark green, with no billboards at all around the "boundary" (to use a cricket term), and baseball players' shirts do not (as far as I can see) carry commercial sponsorship at all. Why not? Loganberry (Talk) 16:21, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

This is a very interesting question. The revenue structure of U.S. major-league sports is totally different from that of European sports. Most of the revenue comes from television; comparatively little comes from a team's own sponsorship. The TV networks, in turn, get most of their money from advertisements aired during stoppages of play. Excessive advertising on the field, and almost any advertising on uniforms, is considered to be classless. A few years back, there was some controversy because the owner of the Dallas Cowboys sold Nike the rights to put a little Swoosh on the uniforms. The owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers said that an NFL uniform is "sacred" and should not be defaced with advertisements.

Over the past 20 years or so, advertising around the playing surface has become somewhat more common. It's now common for TV networks to superimpose electronically generated ads on the backstop behind the home plate in baseball, and advertising has returned to outfield walls. (Stadiums in minor league baseball, which is generally not televised, are covered with ads.) But I don't think we'll ever see ads covering the field as on European basketball courts, and we'll never see advertising on uniforms to the extent you see it in Europe. I can't imagine American fans cheering for walking Siemens advertisement.

But then again, there is NASCAR... Mwalcoff 15:32, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

• Oh, advertising is pretty much universal in the US, too, but so is television, and it turns out that's what that "plain green fence" is for. If you watch televised coverage of a baseball game, advertisements are digitally superimposed on that fence, and they change every inning.

(I realize I haven't really answered your question. I don't know why there's so little "real" advertising inside major league baseball stadiums -- perhaps various arguments about "traditional appearance" are somehow holding out against commercialism.) Steve Summit (talk) 17:07, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Older ballparks often had advertisments on the outfield fence (what you've called the "boundary"). I remember ads where some merchant offered a prize to any batter who hit a ball in a way that hit their ad. I couldn't find any pictures quickly on line; does someone have something? -- Jmabel | Talk 18:27, September 10, 2005 (UTC)

The explanation for the green fence makes sense; presumably we don't see it on the (few) baseball programmes in the UK because there's no point in advertising US brands over here. The lack of advertising on shirts is slightly more surprising to me, actually. Loganberry (Talk) 22:53, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Pretty standard for major league American team sports. They are their own brands. -- Jmabel | Talk 04:03, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

But a number of top football teams are their own brands too; according to Forbes in 2004, Manchester United are worth about $1.2 billion (cf $952 million for the Washington Redskins), yet United still have huge Vodafone ads on the front of their shirts. Loganberry (Talk) 13:47, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

• Believe it or don't, there's a Ralph Nader connection to this issue. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:13, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

• Which isn't mentioned in his article, so please could you be a bit less cryptic? Loganberry (Talk) 01:51, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

• It strikes me as funny...http://www.leagueoffans.org/uniformadvertisingletter.html ... --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 02:05, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Madison square garden found collectible

I came across going through my grandfathers stuff a large brass boxing bell. It Is on a wood mounting. The bell is brass and 12' inches round. Above it it has a beutiful brass plaque that says Madison square garden singleing device. This bell looks athentic. Is ther a picture of it anywere in archives..Or does anybody know were I can find more information.

Regards John Laundry222do@msn.com

Latin Translation

Hello

I wonder if anyone can help me i'm trying to find the latin translation for tracey?

Do you know how to spell it in ancient latin?

I can provide you the transliteration, but not the translation, because the name doesn't have a meaning that can be translated. The transliteration would be tresi, pronounced exactly as in English (the long e has an English long a sound and there is no soft c in standard classical or ecclesiastical latin pronunciation). Ave atque salve! alteripse 01:11, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

• Derived from Tracy or Theresa [14] meaning "summer" (aestas) or "to harvest" (metěre). Personally, I think Aestas is the better name in this case. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:14, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

Sumo wrestling.

My question is,

Is there a weight requirement to be a sumo, or can any person become one? I noticed that there is no sumo under 100kg, but could there be a 60kg sumo?

• I believe there is amateur sumo down in that range, but not professional. Can someone who knows Japan better weigh in (so to speak)? -- Jmabel | Talk 04:08, September 11, 2005 (UTC)
  • I'm not positive, but I don't see why not. The reason they weigh a lot is the fact that you are trying to knock someone down, or out of the ring. One good way to do that is to weigh a lot (that way you have mass on your side and the force you can hit your opponent should be greater). But I am not a sumo expert. --Lord Voldemort ^{(Dark Mark)} 20:34, 12 September 2005 (UTC)
    • I vaguely recall seeing a documentary once and there was one sumo wrestler who was fairly small. At least compared to his opponents, so I don't there there are weight classes as such. He stood no chance head on, but he was far more agile and was eable to "fake out" many opponents and make them loose footing or literaly run out of the ring. --Sherool 22:00, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

What types of theatre are the following:

• Lyric Theatre
• Open Air Theatre
• "In the round" Theatre
• Black Box Theatre
• "Installation" or gallery space
• "Street Theatre"
• Concert Hall
• Ampitheatre
• Vaudeville and music hall theatre

Please answer in full desciptions of the different places e.i: seating arrangements, what size, ect Thankyou -Ally220.237.41.106 08:53, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Not sure about the others, but Vaudeville/Music Halls usually have Stalls nearest the stage, with dress circle and upper circle following, and boxes along the sides. For the most part, you can get a seating plan by looking up a specific theatre. The only site I know of with a list is theatremonkey.com, but as far as I know, that's only for theatres around London. --anon

Not all of these answers are going to be the same. For example see Theatre in the round for one answer, which is about seating layout. Street theatre gives you another (which should be fairly obvious) , as should "Open Air Theatre". Vaudeville is a performance style. Some are about seating layout and some are styles of theatre. Type each relevant terms into the box marked 'search' on the left for more information. Was this by any chance a homework assignment? DJ Clayworth 21:32, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

How to request an article

I'd like to see an article on rare books - I'm afraid I really don't know enough about the topic to write the article myself, though. However, when I went to the requested articles page, I was unsure of exactly how to request such a thing - is there a form I'm missing, or do I just edit the appropriate category page to add my request? --anon

Just edit the page. --R.Koot 12:45, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, this is the best place - requests elsewhere don't get much response. Have a look at book collecting and see if it meets your needs though. Should rare book and rare books redirect there? - Nunh-huh 03:51, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Marlboro Man erectile dysfunction Image

In 1999 a billboard in Houston and in Los Angeles showed a picture of a man in a yellow rain slicker, a Cowboy he and a horse. He also had a cigarette a-the artiste downward droop. the caption I "Smoking louses erectile dysfunction." was at The bottom of the picture.

I have been unable to locate a copy of this very powerful Image or to identify the origin or Sponsor. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

I could find many verbal descriptions but no image. Have you contacted the Calif Dept of Health, who sponsored it? alteripse 14:25, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Agreed, images are hard to find, but see [15] and [16] for descriptions about the billboard and the California Tobacco Control Program. This Microsoft Word document has a small image of workers erecting the impotence billboard, and this stock photographer says he has pictures of the billboard for sale. HTH — Catherine\^talk

Victory of Samothrace

i would like to know what is the exhibit number of Victory of Samothrace for the Louvre Museum....Thank you M.S.Konstantinos

The Louvre's page on the Winged Victory of Samothrace is [17]It doesn't show the exhibit number, so maybe it doesn't have one? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:14, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

• I think that might be the Ma 2369 on that page? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 00:16, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Third Main Bridge Lagos

How long is the bridge?

I'm guessing you are looking for the length of "Third Mainland Bridge". This article says: "But the six lane third mainland bridge was built entirely on water for 22 kilometers", but I don't know how accurate that is. --Commander Keane 09:21, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

Using Google I found another source saying that it's 18 km, and the longest in Africa. --Commander Keane 09:25, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

Hm. This article writes about the "eleven-kilometer, eight-lane monster of concrete and tarmac"... Lupo 09:43, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

And if you click through this image gallery, you'll eventually come to an image caption saying "The 8,062m long bridge is a 3-lane independent dual carriageway structure with a median separator". Lupo 09:55, September 12, 2005 (UTC) (P.S.: note that although this is the most precise figure I've found, it's not necessarily also the most accurate one!)

Questions about a Korean soap opera

I have a friend who would like to watch a particular Korean soap opera. It is about a girl who grows up in Korea and works as an assistant in the royal courts and later becomes an accomplished doctor and herbalist. Does anyone know what this soap opera is called? Apparently the soap opera had a very good reception in China and Hong Kong too. Also, I would like to obtain the name of the Korean theme song used for the show (ideally where to find the lyrics as well and their translation). Many thanks! --HappyCamper 00:26, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Is it Dae Jang Geum? Here's the theme songs. 60.234.144.135 01:32, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Voice Recognition Technology

1. I know in Star Trek you can verbaly ask the computer a question. Example: "Computer, what time is it?" "4:00" But how close to that are we in real life. How good is our voice recognition technology today? Tobyk777 05:32, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

• A lot of the problem today is not the recognition of words per se, but rather the interpretation of the semantics of the instructions. If you want a system that can respond with the time when you ask a set question, then that's fairly easy today. If you want something you can trust with "Fire photon torpedos and jettison the warp core!", then you'll have to wait a little bit. Bovlb 06:11:43, 2005-09-12 (UTC)
  • Yeah, first we need to work out just what photon torpedos and warp cores are before a computer will be able to fire/jettison them for us The bellman 13:34, 14 September 2005 (UTC)
• Per Speech recognition, as of 2001 large vocabulary systems trained to a single speaker can achieve 98% accuracy (2 words wrong out of 100) whereas speaker independent systems as of 2005 achieve 80-90% accuracy. Restricting the vocabulary helps considerably. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:32, September 12, 2005 (UTC)
• Even with just 10 minutes of voice training(It could probably do it with no training, but I didn't try) I can make my phone to tell me the time and date. So I guess we're getting there in some ways! ~~

A colleague of mine has a voice recognition system in has car, which definitely falls within the 'limited vocabulary' class. "Find nearest Italian restaurant" produced a correct list, even in the car environment and with no training. But "Find nearest taxidermist" confused it and "Find nearest gun dealer" produced a list of Honda dealers. DJ Clayworth 21:09, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Windows Vista will have basic voice recognition built in, ETA nov 2006. See [18] and [19] They both mention it.

- Ravedave 03:53, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Need a source for 1969 Executive Order regarding currency

On the following page two Executive Orders are cited, one is given a specific number I could use to look it up and read it in its entirity... the other is not. Here is the page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denomination_bills_in_U.S._currency

My original question was why my bank teller said she could not give to me a $500 bill (if she ever got one). She said she could be in serious trouble if she did not turn it over to the federal gov't right away. Some searching led me to your site, and the page referenced above. This page does not say it is illegal for a bank to sell it to a customer, or for a teller to purchase it from her drawer and sell it to a collector at a mark up (thus out of circulation). It only says "Circulation... was halted... 1969 Executive Order". I would like to read this Order to see if they must be destroyed, and/or if there are any penalties for not turning one in.

If this information is found, could you please simply add the appropriate reference to the current article, and possibly a link to the Order like the other one on that page, so I can read the whole Order. Thank you, and I will be checking back again soon.

Sincerely,

Joe Haskins

There's a complete list of executive orders signed by Nixon in 1969 at http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/1969-nixon.html. The one that removes high denomination bills from circulation is not immediately obvious. -- Rick Block (talk) 14:16, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

According to a couple sources I've seen, it was an executive order by Donald M. Kennedy (Secretary of the Treasury). But I've still not found the exec order itself. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 23:23, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Julia Roberts and her favorite Soap Opera TV Show.

Hello. I recently found out about Wikipedia and since then, I've enjoyed thoroughly on looking up information, people, places, and events. One night, I was looking up some people on Wikipedia and came across on looking up Julia Roberts. As I was reading down information on her, I found out that she is a long time fan of a soap opera show "Days of Our Lives", according to Wikipedia. However, from what I recall, she is a big fan of a soap opera show "All My Children". Please forgive me for not being able to remember and cite properly on what show I saw her on a few years back, but she was on an Award show, possibly on Emmy Awards or even Academy Awards, saying how happy she was for winning an award, but what made her even happier was that she said she saw the whole cast of her favorite TV show "All My Children" on the award show. I'm pretty sure she is a big fan of "All My Children" because not only did she say that, but she said that on live TV show.

Any positive feedback on this piece of information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Porcupine75@email deleted

Googling didn't turn up any evidence for this, but she did apparently audition for a part once. This All My Children site seems to have some discussion boards where you can talk to people who might be more expert in this topic than the regulars on the Reference Desk, whose collective taste seems to run more towards Buffy the Vampire Slayer than All My Children.

By the way, listing your mail here is a guaranteed way to fill your inbox with spam, so we strongly recommend you don't. --Robert Merkel 02:10, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I found out that Julia Roberts is indeed a big fan of "Days of Our Lives" soap opera, thanks to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000210/bio ..... "At the 2002 Peoples Choice Awards she admitted to being a huge fan of "Days of Our Lives" (1965) and asked to be seated near the cast."

Thanks for your help on looking into this.

Porc

A drawing of two Cheetah cubs on a tree branch.

Dear readers,

Hello. I'd like to know if anyone could help me by locating this particular picture of two Cheetah cubs, either one male and one female, or two females. It's a drawing, and at one time I had that picture as a wallpaper for my computer, but I accidetally deleted it, and since then, I couldn't find it. I searched for the picture on Google.com and Google Images, but all I found was a toy or a figurine of the picture on sale. If anyone would be able to help me out on this, I would really appreciate that very much.

If visible, here is the picture of two cheetah cubs I was referring to, but the one I'm looking for is a drawling of the same picture. www.dowdytreasures.com/images/M210.jpg

Thank you in advance for your help.

Porc

Nursery Rhymes or children's books

I am trying to find a nursery rhyme or children's poem that begins: A, B, C, tumble down D...

How can I find it?

Thank you,

Joyce Waugh @ (address removed)

A search on Google returns this page. By the way, it is extremely foolish to add your email address to posts on this page, as it will likely be harvested for spam. I removed it from the page, but it may be too late… (Also sending reply via email). Garrett Albright 15:07, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Determining dimensions of a Flash movie

I have various Flash movies that I have downloaded from various places on the internet over the last few months. I'd like to put them into web pages, but to do so I need to find the exact dimensions of the Flash movies. How can this be done? Neither the Flash plug-in nor the standalone Flash player seem to offer any hints. Garrett Albright 15:03, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Flash movies are generaly made up of vector graphics so they will look ok at virtualy any size. Some flash movies might be designed to work best at a scertain size, but they do not have any fixed dimentions. Just experiment a little with different sizes and see what works best on the web page you want to use them on. --Sherool 21:34, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

One approach might be just downloading the trial version of Flash here and using it to find out. --Fastfission 00:08, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Sherool: But many Flash flicks also have sprites, which do not scale as well. Fastfission: Not an ideal solution, but I suppose it'll work in a pinch. Thanks. Garrett Albright 03:14, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

what are prime numbers?

Prime numbers are natural numbers (i.e. integers equal or greater than 1) that can only be divided by themselves and 1.

The exception is 1 itself, which is generally not considered a prime number. The reason for this is that this greatly simplifies a mathematical rule: every natural number can be expressed as a unique collection of prime factors (i.e. prime numbers that, when multiplied by each other, make up the number). If 1 were a prime number, you could add 1 to this collection as many times as you like, and it wouldn't be unique any more. — JIP | Talk 17:14, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

I'd correct three details about what you said: Firstly, 1 is not "generally not considered a prime number"; 1 is never considered a prime number. Secondly, it becomes clearer if you use a better definition; try "Prime numbers are positive integers divisible by exactly two numbers: 1 and the number itself.". Thirdly, natural numbers include zero. — ナイトスタリオン _ㇳ–ㇰ — 17:32, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree with the first two points but not the third. It is a matter of discussion amongst mathematicians whether 0 is a natural number. My mathematics teachers wrote N⁺ when they wanted to say 0 was not included and N⁰ when they wanted to say it was. I excluded 0 from the natural numbers to avoid the issue of discussing whether 0 is a prime number (I don't think it is). — JIP | Talk 18:02, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

Having participated in the Austrian Mathematics Olympiad for four years, I can tell you that it's not a matter of discussion at Austrian universities at least; I know that it's a source of much confusion among non-mathematicians. (And among some mathematicians, too. ;)) You don't need to exclude 0 from the discussion, though; 0 has got a lot more than only two divisors, either way. ;) — ナイトスタリオン _ㇳ–ㇰ — 12:48, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

There seems to be something of an international divide on this. My (admittedly quite limited) experience has been that here in Britain, most sources tend to exclude zero from the list of natural numbers, whereas US sources (and, it seems, Austrian ones) will tend to include it. Loganberry (Talk) 22:45, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps wikipedia's prime number article might be helpful as well. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:21, September 12, 2005 (UTC)

Kalahari - Grazing capacity

Could anyone please assist me in the following statistic or tell me where to look for the correct answer:-

What is the grazing capacity (hectar per lsu - large stock unit - in the Kalahari ?

Thank you

Medusa

who is the author of Medusa, Greek Mythology?

Mythological creatures weren't thought up by any one individual author: rather they are built up out of many mentions in folklore, tales, religion, and later are brought to written pages. Medusa, most prominently part of the Perseus myth relating to the founding of Athens, is mentioned in many literary works by many authors, including Hesiod's Theogonis 275; Apollodorus vol. 2.49; Pausanias 10.26.9, Ovid's Metamorphosis) See here for more info and refs. - Nunh-huh 02:13, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

JOHN BOLTON

DEAR FOLKS:

I AM AN 80-YEAR OLD WHO ADMIRES MR. BOLTON'S VIEWS REGARDING THE U.N. AND HIS TENACITY IN ITS REORGANIZATION TO LITE. I CANNOT FIND AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR HIM OR HIS OFFICE. CAN YOU FURNISH ME WITH IT?

SINCERELY YOURS, WILLIAM L. KELLY

wlkelly@bmi.net

Too late. I think I saw a headline on The Onion recently that said "Disgruntled Bolton Shoots 17 UN Delegates, Self." David Sneek 06:15, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Mr. Kelly, as you can see not everybody agrees with you in respect to your admiration for Mr. Bolton, but David Sneek is being rather rude and against the spirit of the WP:NPOV policy. You can contact Ambassador Bolton's office through the United States Mission to the United Nations. There is a "contact us" link on that page, which gives a postal and email address. I'm sure you're aware that in most cases you're unlikely to receive a personal reply from Mr. Bolton. --Robert Merkel 09:07, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Ineternational Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in Asia

Good Morning,

Does anyone know which was the first school in Asia to offer the IB Diploma programme? I would very much appreciate any information on this.

Thanks in anticipation Penny Ohana Kodaikanal International School Tamil Nadu India

sega mega drive cd?

I want to sell my sega mega drive cd, but what price should i put on it, it comes with 21 games and 2 conrollers (with 2 extension cords) accessories (all ac/dc adaptors etc) and information booklets? thanks

diddlysquat299@aol.com

It really depends on what games you have for it. Some games are rarer than others or are more popular; if it turns out you have a rare or in-demand game you should sell it separately to get the best price.

You could try looking up the games you've got on eBay or similar and monitor some sales there to get an idea of the sort of price those games go for.

You'd probably get a better deal by selling all of the games individually rather than as a single lot, as that way it's accessible to people who only want one or two of the games. Garrett^Talk 12:47, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Re Lulav and Myrtle Farms in USA for Sucoth

Hi . I was wondering if some one can send me information where I can find Farms who have the Lulav grown on the the Date tree, or palm Trees, here in the USA? What is a Lulav?, Please click below links to find out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulav Described as A shoot of the palm-tree in its folded state before the leaves are spread out (also called Lulav) ; this must be at least three handbreadths long, so that it may be waved, and must be bound round with a twig or tendril of its own kind;

For a Picture click below http://www.holidays.net/sukkot/symbols.htm

http://www.judaism.com/display.asp?nt=Be&etn=JJHAI

I would appreciate if some one can send me a list of these farms or where I can find out about them Thanking you in advance Abe Branch

Relocating to New Orleans

There has been much in our paper in the mid-west about the business not coming back or staffing of business may be lacking when New Orleans is back and ready for business. I have sucessful retail Bridal Shop in the midwest, I am trying to find information about relocating to New Orleans .I have been looking for a place and it occured to me that this might be a good time to consider a move south. I don't mean right now this month, but you know, when it is possible. Question, is there anywhere posted yet that is offering incentives for new business to relocate to New Orleans? This may be a bit premature, but Ray Nagin said in our paper that the new begining may start as soon as the end of the month, and many business up and running before the end of the year. I would like to get in on ground floor. Thank you

You might want to check with the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce at http://www.norcc.org/ Good luck with the business. Dismas|^(talk) 14:46, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Print-screening DVDs

If I want to do a screen grab of a DVD playing on my comp in PowerDVD, Windows Media or Real, how do I go about it? "Print Screen" won't work properly.--84.51.149.80 18:14, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• This is the result of a rather clever system by the designers to stop you stealing copyrighted material, but you could get around it by using a search engine to find a piece of software that will do it for you. Robmods 19:15, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• • Or a rather clever system by the designers to control your behaviour while you view material which just happens to be copyrighted. You might want to play the DVD on a linux computer (try a bootable CD) and use the kaffeine player which lets you just press Ctrl-S and type a filename to save to. Ojw 21:10, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• • I've heard the VLC media player is, amongst other things, a very good Windows DVD player. I have heard rumours that it can do all sorts of useful things ;) --Robert Merkel 23:00, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

• You mentioned PowerDVD: My version of PowerDVD (bundled with my DVD player) has a nice "take screenshot" button (camera icon, hotkey C) right on the main interface panel, works like a charm for me. Just click the button to copy the current frame to the clipboard and then paste it into your favourite graphics program. --Sherool 18:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Get round it like this:

Open the film in Window Media Player Then go to Tools > Options In Options, select the Performance Tab Way below you click on the Advanced Button Uncheck "Use Overlays' Click Ok Standard print screen (the PS button) should work.--213.18.248.25 07:40, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Problem with English - or just me!

What is the definition of "poverty rate"? Rate implies change something per something eles such as miles per hour or number of people going into poverty per day etc. Is this a misnomer?

Is the term "poverty rate" the same as "poverty level"?

I usually interpret "rate" as meaning something per something. In this case you could say that the poverty rate is the number of people below poverty level per so many people (per capita, per 1000, whatever). So, by my understanding of rate, your identification of it is a particular case of my definition: change in something per unit time. This is simply how I use the word. — Laura Scudder | Talk 20:43, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I've often understood the "poverty rate" to be like the "unemployment rate" where it's actually a percentage of people in the population who are below the poverty line or unemployed respectively. It's X per 100 people. Dismas|^(talk) 20:51, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Mayonaisse

I am a very busy mother, and usually UI tel my kids to d a sandwich after school until I get home. You know kids usually use mayo and leave the spoon inside; well once i had to throw away a bottle of mayo because there was green stuff in it from the spoonall around the spoon(the spoon was made of silver). DO you know if the green substance is a harmeful and if is or if its not what is the green substance? Would yopu please e-mail me back as soon as possible my email is <email removed>.

Thank You, Carmen Rodriguez

Maybe it was mold on your mayonnaise ? Lupo 10:32, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

I suspect it was a copper salt. The copper was probably in the spoon. Nickel silver is an alloy commonly used to make cutlary, and it contains quite a lot of copper.If this reacts with the lemon juice/vinegar in the mayonaise it would produce copper citrate or copper ethanoate. If it is copper, then yes it probably is harmful if eaten in sufficient quantities.(although I doubt the quantities would be large) Theresa Knott (a tenth stroke) 17:36, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Questions about hard drives

Last night I got a new-to-me computer. It's an old PC that I hope to use to learn a bit more about computers. I plan on putting Linux on it.

It's an HP with a 500 Mhz Intel Celeron. The problem lies in the hard drive. It's about 7 years old and on its last leg. So I called around today to find out about a new hard drive. I talked to three people and got three different responses about what I needed.

Guy 1) Either a 40 or 80 GB drive would do but the mother board might not be able to write to all of the 80. So I might only get about 60 GB capacity. But seeing as how the prices for 40's and 80's are so close, I might as well go with the 80 and get what I can out of it.

Guy 2) This guy didn't want to sell me anything. He told me I need to flash the chip to get it to recognize a larger drive and after I did that he would sell me a hard drive. I don't need that big of a drive since it's just something to learn with.

Guy 3) The mother board is so old that I probably won't be able to see all of a 40 GB drive (or even an 80). At most I'd only be able to use 20 GB of it. Also, flashing the chip has a 50% chance of frying the chip.

So, I've decided to ask a bunch of people on the internet and get even more responses. :D What part of all this is correct? Anyone have anymore input? Dismas|^(talk) 20:54, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

What's the serial number and brand on the motherboard? --HappyCamper 22:21, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm not at home right now (ya gotta love internet access at work) so I can't tell ya right now. The computer model is an HP 6545C though. Dismas|^(talk) 22:37, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

Okay, the motherboard is not really all that easy to get to. I'd have to basically do major surgery to get at it. But the numbers that I could see are these:

On the chip itself:

Intel 810
W82810
L939IB38
SL35X

And on the sticker next to the chip:

MS19B2210-M6P675-B04-00906

That help any? Dismas|^(talk) 15:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Your HP 6545C has an Intel 810 chipset and seems to have originally come with Windows 98SE. AFAIK the only disk size limitation with Windows was a 2GB limit with Win 95. I have put a 40MB drive into an older Win98SE vintage machine with no problems. Here is a link to the HP page showing the specs for your machine, with links to driver downloads etc: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&lang=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=61091&docname=bph05191 ... and here is a link to the Intel 810 page, from which you can navigate to various other downloads: http://support.intel.com/design/chipsets/810/ . HTH HAND :-) (and yeah, 'net access at works is a good thing.) LarryMac 15:21, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Further research shows that there have been other limitations on disk size due to various BIOS and OS capabilities; even now somebody buying a 160GB drive might be surprised to only be able to see 130GB or so. Anyway, to the situation at hand - I'm not sure who you were calling when you got the above answers, but I'd try to contact the most reputable, small, local dealer that you can, and see if they'd let you try out a 40 or 80GB drive. If you have success, of course, I'd recommend buying from that dealer, even if the cost is more than the nearby MegaCorp store. good luck! LarryMac 19:24, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, both of you. I'll be getting the 80 GB drive today. Maybe by the end of the month I'll be editing Wikipedia from a Linux box...  :) Dismas|^(talk) 09:58, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

abbreviation

A.A

My name is Anas.Can you tell the full form of WPIDC on my email address ansthe1athotmaildotcom

Thank you

Allah Hafiz

Perhaps the West Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation? --Ballchef 09:29, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

exoskeleton

greetings, my question is in regards of snails. is the hard shell an exoskeleton ? i am very confused when trying to read if it is or not.

thank you very much for your support

I'm not a biologist, but from my reading on the topic the answer is yes. The shell is a hard shell that provides protection and support to the snail. You'll note that our exoskeleton article lists mollusks as having a type of exoskeleton. Snails are a subgroup of mollusks. --Robert Merkel 12:31, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

ozzy osbourne

I have looked all over the internet looking for imformation on a concert im sure i went to in 1983. It was texas jam concert. Playing at the concert if I remember correctly was Foriener, loverboy, Luru and ozzy osbourne. I would really like to know if this really happened or am i crazy. If you find any sites could you e-mail the addresses to me. thank you so much nancy shearman

If you check Ozzy Osbourne's official site, it has a list of the tours he's done. Nothing seems to match the other acts you describe. If you could name the venue it should be relatively easy to check all the concerts held there. --Robert Merkel 01:21, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Foods developed for US Military?

I read something in the newspaper that mentioned that several common foods inluding M&Ms were developed for use by the US Military. Where can I find a complete listing? Also, where can I get a "Hooah!" bar? I have heard that the chocolate flavor is pretty good.

The answer to your second question is at http://www.hooahbar.com. — Laura Scudder | Talk 18:12, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

The article on Military chocolate has a category of Category:Military equipment of the United States although it doesn't include other food items besides c-rations. Dismas|^(talk) 20:53, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

By the way British is the best we have Yorkie bars and wriggles chewing gum

Weather Channel "Local ID" numbers?

Is there a complete list of the Weather Channel "Local ID" numbers? Also, what purpose do they serve? The seem odd as they don't corespond to zip codes.

No idea but I recommend Weather underground as a better weather site. [20] - Ravedave

Where can I find out about the abandoned Dupont Circle underground trolley station?

Where can I find out about the abandoned Dupont Circle underground trolley station? I have heard some rumors that there is one there and seen what may be entrances. Also, did the trolleys run on some sort of undergroud power source while in the District, but switch over to overhead once they got to Maryland?

This page gives you some info about the underground. No idea on your second question. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:28, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, Washington did have its streetcars powered from underground. The track had a central slot similar to that on the San Francisco cable car system, but rather than a moving cable, the conduit contained a live contact, effectively a third rail. This system cost more than overhead wire but was considered to make a more attractive streetscape. It was also used in a few other cities, notably London, England. The device that ran in the conduit was called a "plough" in London; I don't know about Washington. It could be detached and a trolley pole raised to power the streetcar; both London and Washington did this on parts of their systems.

The conduit/trolley changeover point in Washington was not at the state line, or not always. In this gallery of 87 Washington streetcar photos, you can see several where the location is identified as inside the District but there is no conduit and the trolley pole is up. In the Dupont Circle shots, though, you can see the conduit.

--Anonymous, 05:35 UTC, September 17, 2005

Metro to Dulles?

I have heard rumors of a fully built Metro station at Dulles. Are there still plans to build a Metro line out there? If so any idea what line it would be added to or would it be a new line? I guess I would add it to the Orange Line, maybe? Is there any history of proposals anywhere? Will it ever be built?

If you look at our Washington Metro article, you'll see it mentions a proposal to extend the Orange line to Dulles. A google search using the keywords 'metro dulles proposal' turns up a number of links, some supportive, some opposed. If you search Google News, it appears to be an issue in the Virginia governorship election campaign. --Robert Merkel 01:36, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

NBC Newschannel?

I have heard some references to a NBC Newschannel. Isn't this what Drudge said MSNBC was going to be renamed? But, the references were like something that exists now. Can anyone clairify?

A lot of the local NBC stations call themselves "NBC Newschannel x". For example, NBC Newschannel 6 is Channel 6 in eastern Idaho, and NBC Newschannel 11 in Yuma, Arizona. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:30, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

• NBC News Channel is NBC's affiliate feed service for news reports and video. It is run out of Charlotte, North Carolina. NBC has several reporters who are used exclusively for this service, although on air they may use the tag of the station. NYTVGuy 20:51, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Is there a weight to drunkeness ratio?

Is there a weight to drunkeness ratio? Is there a way to figure out how much beer and booze you can drink before getting drunk based on your weight? Or is getting drunk more of a personal thing?

Getting drunk is a very personal thing. People of the same weight and gender may be influenced differently after consuming the same amount of alcohol. Blood alcohol level can however be estimated if you know amount, weight and gender. Try http://www.health.org/nongovpubs/bac-chart/ for one. --hydnjo talk 17:37, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to add that ethnicity plays a role as well. The proteins that break down alcohol vary in quantity based on a persons genetic heritage - generally speaking, caucasians have more than asians.--inks 01:02, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Muscle/fat ratio also effects drunkeness, so using just weight could be misleading.--Commander Keane 09:24, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Why are the lights on police cars in one state red, in another blue, and in another red and blue?

Why are the lights on police cars in one state red, in another blue, and in another red and blue? Why isn't there a national standard?

My question to you is why does there need to be? If you see flashing lights, you know to get out of the way. If there's no need to do something, why do it? It would just create more red tape for something that isn't really necessary. Dismas|^(talk) 19:19, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

As one example, Americans would feel silly pulling over for the blue flashing lights of an Ontario snowplow (or, Ontarians would feel silly wondering why the snowplow kept up with them on as they sped along an Arizona interstate). — mendel ☎ 19:35, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

I was always under the impression that red flashing lights (or red and blue, or red and any other color) meant that you need to pull over or otherwise yield to that vehicle, while other colors like blue or yellow are used for things like snowplows, construction, or otherwise warning of hazards. kmccoy (talk) 22:24, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

In Britain, flashing blue lights indicates an emergency vehicle (police, ambulance, fire engine), yellow indicates a highway contractor, and green is occasionally used by doctors. If you see a red flashing light here, they might have installed it themselves... Ojw 19:09, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

In New York State a blue light indicates a volunteer firefighter while a flashing green light indicates a volunteer medical vehicle.[21] Is green ever used anywhere else? Rmhermen 22:01, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

This page says that the red-blue combination is for better visiblity although I am not sure I believe the exact details. As to why they differ by location, remember that the U.S. does not have a national police force, we have approximately 18,760 separate ones, each subject to and enforcing the laws of the own jurisdictions. Rmhermen 22:08, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

In Estonia the meanings of the colours are written in the traffic law. Blue means "don't disturb me, let me drive as I want" (on ambulance and police cars, also on the cars escorting the president etc.), red is "if you're driving in front of me, stop" (used by the police when they're chasing someone), and yellow means "I'm doing my work on the road, let me do it" (e.g. on road repairing machines). — Pt _(T) 11:39, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Is there or has there been a movement to give DC back to Maryland?

Is there or has there been a movement to give DC back to Maryland? I think it would make more sense to make it part of Maryland again, perhaps that would actually improve things!

The US Constitution requires that the United States capital be not part of any state, so at least the Capitol building and some of the federal buildings would not be able to be in Maryland. There has been discussion of making the parts of DC which are not immediately around the Capitol a seperate state, but Republicans have opposed that, since it would be a permanent Democratic state, considering current voting patterns. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:42, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Where does the Constitution say this? As far as I can tell, the only mention of the district is in Article I, Section 8: (Congress shall have the authority) to exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings. So it seems to me that the framers were saying that if Congress created such a district, then it would be sole authority over the district; but it doesn't say it has to create one, and doesn't say what should happen if such a district were not created.--20:54, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

OK, I've always understood that to mean that the district could not be a part of any state, but that could be a misreading of that clause. User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:06, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Oh. (hitting self on head) Capitol vs. Capital. (thump) It does say it can't be part of any state, actually: it requires cession by the state.

(Inserted response) No, it doesn't; it says may be ceded and become the seat of government, not shall be. --Anon, 05:45 UTC, Sep 17, 2005

I have always wanted to see the documents by which Maryland ceded its territory, and also by which Virginia did so, and how Virginia got their part back. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 22:45, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

• Found it! An ACT concerning the territory of Columbia and the city of Washington. Interesting details re: Maryland. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 04:31, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes. It's called "retrocession." See [22] Mwalcoff 15:37, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Voting rights in Washington, D.C. might help also. --Sum0 21:17, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

watchwatchlist

Is there any way that I can see other peoples' watchlists? I'm sure I stumbled across someone's before. Drop me a message pls if u answer it. --Wonderfool t(c) 19:37, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Sure. Just sign in as the user of interest and hope that their password is "password".  ;-) --hydnjo talk 03:55, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

In other words, you can't. A lot of folk have a list of articles they're interested in on their user page, and I would guess that's what you stumbled across. Doing a Google search on their user name (and restricting the search to this site) can throw up lots of relevant stuff, especially if they sign their name on Talk pages. Shantavira 08:39, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

You can also go to the person's talk page or their page and click on their contributions, which will include pages where other people made contributions ... it looks kind of similar to a watch list. AlMac|^(talk) 21:03, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

How to make a "public watchlist": Make a user-subpage where you put links to all the "watched" pages, then on your proper userpage you add a link to Special:Recentchangeslinked/<your watchlist page>. Anyone following that link will then see all recent changes to the pages that are linked to from that subage. Not 100% identical to the watchlist (shows multiple edits to the same page within the given timeframe), but quite close. Only works for users who have made such a setup though. --Sherool 00:33, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

free perpetual calendar gregorian

This is a reference desk, not a search engine, so in the future you may want to ask your question as a complete sentence, as it will be read (and hopefully answered) by humans. That said, you might find what you are looking for here, although the Gregorian dates shown on that calendar only go back to Oct. 15, 1582 (which is when the Gregorian calendar was first adopted anywhere, so trying to find Gregorian dates for anything earlier than that is purely an academic exercise); earlier dates are Julian dates. You may also be interested in this, which tells you more than you probably ever wanted to know about when different countries adopted the Gregorian calendar. Chuck 22:36, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Chinese random number websites

I've noticed a lot of Chinese websites that seem to be a bunch of random numbers, e.g. http://www.163888.net/. What's the deal with the numbers? Is there some hidden meaning or pun if you read them aloud due to words sounding the same? --128.123.81.209 23:38, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

The reason is threefold.

Firstly, now that China's equivalent of rural rednecks can go on the internet, the whole demographics of internet users in China has changed. It used to be the professionals, academics and students that goes on the internet, now pretty much everyone can. As such, many users in China do not know English. Websites which have easy-to-remember names, such as wikipedia and yahoo, are not so easy to remember for these English-illiterate users. (Just tell a redneck to remember a few characters of Hanzi...)

Secondly, domain names in Chinese (and non-Latin scripts) are a really new innovation, so not every browser, webhost or registrar would be able to handle them. Rendering domain names in Chinese would also be inconvenient to people without Chinese input programs.

Thirdly, you are right, some seemingly random sequences have meanings. Take 163888 for example. "8" represents prosperity in Chinese culture, and 3 (as in three 8s) is a metaphor for "many". 163 is the name of another popular Chinese portal, but I've no idea where its name came from.

Hope that helps. --Miborovsky 01:10, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Who is the Author of Wikipedia?

Everyone is. Sounds positively Borgish, doesn't it? --Miborovsky 01:38, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

See Wikipedia for more info on what the Wikipedia is and when it started, etc. If you're looking for information on how to cite Wikipedia for a school project or paper, see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. Dismas|^(talk) 02:04, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

LIGHT SOURCE

Hi. Can assist in explain the difference between continuous and discontinuous light sources? And the relevance of light source type in selecting sources for certain applications? Personal info. removed to avoid assisting the spammers.

You could try our articles on light, light source and perhaps search for continuous light source using the search box to the left. I would imagine these ought to give headstarts. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 21:37, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Cybersix Comic Books

I have a question regarding the Cybersix Comic books. How many comic books have been written and does the original artist still produce these books?

There are twelve volumes, though I'm unsure exactly how large each "volume" is. The series is no longer in production, and the series has not been translated into English. This fan site has a lot of good info on Cybersix, including the comics. Garrett Albright 03:40, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

U.S. British relations

When did the U.S. and Great Britian become Allies?

---Jon

The first major joint military alliance was World War 1, but the countries intermittently acted together on more minor issues for most of the latter 19th century. The last period of serious hostility was during the American Civil War, when significant sentiment in Great Britain favored the Confederate States. The British government avoided egregious violations of neutrality and US-British relations steadily improved thereafter. alteripse 03:34, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Remember that Great Britain has not been a country as such for over 200 years (see Kingdom of Great Britain. In the 19th century, it was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, then after the partition of Ireland in the 1920s it gained its current title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Incidentally, although the British Isles (terminology) article says that the terms "Britain" and "Great Britain" are interchangeable (and mean England, Scotland and Wales) I know a number of people who do draw a distinction, and for whom "Britain" includes Northern Ireland while "Great Britain" does not. I don't know how common this is. Loganberry (Talk) 11:31, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Pedantically, Brtain refers only to the largest island in the British Isles, exluding the island of Ireland, and all offshore islands like the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Lewis even the very small offshore islands like Steepholm and Lindesfarne. This use is very uncommon though. Britain and Great Britain are used commonly to refer to both England, Wales and Scotland and as a shorthand for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. British almost exclusively is used to inlcude people from Northern Ireland as well as those from the other "home nations". If you want to exlude the Northern Irish for any reason, then the individual nationalities are normally explicity mentioned, although in practice this is not as often as you might think. Legally (afaiu) the entity of England and Wales is assumed unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. Some legislation appies to England and Wales and Northern Ireland but not Scotland. Thryduulf 13:01, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

I regard "Britain" as an ambiguous term that typically resolves to the United Kingdom. Bovlb 14:40, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Well, there you get into wonderful arguments about what defines Britain, United Kingdom and even United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 21:39, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia & Me

... This is my 1st visit to your website. As a print journalist of 35 + yrs. (in both the gay & mainstream media in the U.S.- 17 yrs. with Billboard Magazine in L.A., Vegas & the Buffalo/ Rochester markets + 2 major PR firms in L.A.), I'm wondering what I could contribute.

I'm writing my 1st book about being a Gay (now former) Mormon & working on my 1st TV Pilot.

Also, does your organization have a business address? (or where is it located). I found out about your group via the "Coast To Coast AM" national radio program, which was dealing with a program on Jack The Ripper Thursday night.

Thanks for your help & time. And keep up the good work!

... Sincerely,

Hanford W. Searl Jr. East Aurora, N.Y. (The home of Fisher-Price Toys near Buffalo, N.Y.)

• As long as your contributions are from a neutral point of view and well-sourced with references so others can doublecheck your work you can contribute pretty much anything you're interested in. You can setup an account at Special:Userlogin and let us know you've done so here, so we can send some helpful welcome messages. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:27, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

• If you take a look at Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers and Wikipedia:Introduction, you'll see that Wikipedia is almost entirely run and written by people like you and me. The best way to help out is to get stuck right in and start contributing to articles, or writing your own (possibly after getting a username first, and MGM suggests above). If you're particularly interested in gay-related topics, there are plenty of articles listed on List of gay-related topics, as well as Category:Sexual orientation and identity and Category:LGBT. If you're interested in Mormonism, you can check out Mormon and Category:Mormonism. Get stuck in right away, and you'll find you understand what this is all about quickly, and you can see if it's a project that interests you. Also, eel free to drop a line on anyone's talk page if you have other questions. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 13:18, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

movies

how can we differentiate between a motion feature film and t.v feature film?

Well there are a couple ways you could do it. First you could list film and television work in seperate sections. Or you could list them together chronologically in one big filmography and put something like "(TV movie)" or "(TV series)" after the name of the television work. Take a look at a few actor bios to get an idea and go with what works. Dismas|^(talk) 12:18, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

That answer would help if it was on the Help Desk, but this is presumed to be a factual question not particularly connected with Wikipedia. However, being unable to think of a particularly well-worded response, I'll bow out gracefully here. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 21:40, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

pictures of florida

If the pictures in the Florida article aren't enough, try our sister project Wikimedia Commons. When there, try the Florida category: [23]. --Celestianpower ^hab 17:30, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Battleship, the game

Does the game Battleship actually involve any skill at all? Is it possible for a player to employ a tactic that will be reliably better than playing randomly and leaving everything to chance? -Fang

Yes, there is. For instance, say I have already guessed incorrectly a spot somewhere in the middle. Guessing a spot one space off from that for my second guess wouldn't be very wise, as the only way that guess would be correct would be if the ship were right up against my original guess. Say, however, I guess a spot two spaces to the side. Now I had the chance of hitting a ship whether it is right next to my original spot, one space over, or two spaces over. The chances of making a hit there are much higher. Thus, as sections of the board get marked off, the remaining spaces have different probabilities of getting hit, and, if you were to calculate them individually, you could work out which squares would reap the best rewards (or, alternitively, which spaces whould cut down the number of remaining options most efficiently). Also, one should pay attention to what kinds of ships the enemy has left. If there are a high number of large ships left, you don't what to be guessing spaces in areas which have been well-covered by guesses, where it is very unlikely that a large ship would have escaped. Finally, there is an element of human psychology, of knowing your oponent, to know whether he is more likely to squeeze his shps tightly together, to spread them out, to keep to the edges, and so on. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 13:09, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

As a trivial example, consider the case in which you get a hit on your first play; a good next move will involve one of the four squares immediately adjacent to the hit, a 1 in 4 chance, while playing randomly only gets you something like a 16 in 99 chance of a hit. — mendel ☎ 19:49, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Technically you have better than a 1 in 4 chance of hitting next to an existing hit, as you might have hit a 3 or longer length ship that is on both sides of a hit. Answering the original question, assuming you dont know your opponent and can predict their actions, you can imagine a battleship board as a probability matrix. Even before you place the first shot you can make some statistical assumptions - because a piece cannot go off the edge of the board, squares near the edge have less configurations of ships that go through them, strongest right at the edge as even a 2 length boat has less configurations that lay on those spots, corners are even less likely to have a boat statistically. This effect continues with a lesser effect as you work inwards, the set of spots 1 in from the edge have less configurations for 3+ boats, and finally the third row in has just slightly less configurations.

As soon as you play a peg, all of the squares near that in both ranks and files have less configurations of ships that could be there, so playing in a direct line less than 4 spaces away from an existing peg has a lesser chance of getting a hit. Note that pegs have no effect at all on diagonals from them in the normal rules of play, so playing in diagonal lines can be an effective way of trying to reduce the chance of any ship being in a general area - for example if you had half of the boards pegs to play at once, a checkerboard layout would guarantee you hitting every boat once (and a 50% chance of 2 hits on 3 length, and 2 hits for sure on the 4 long ships). If you have two misses on the same row one space apart as your first two plays, there is no reason to look for a ship in that space in between - either play above or below it so you also have a chance of hitting a ship oriented horizontally as well as vertically. Sfnhltb 10:31, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

On addition, you can look for patterns in your apponents gameplay. Does he or she tend to cluster the pieces together, do they avoid the edges, etc.

katrina disaster

I want to give a message to the people who were-Idon't know the exact word to say but-involvedin this disater.i don't know how to say it but i want to tell them that there's always a hope and they have been really brave facing it like that.how to do that.i mean i don't want them to think that i am not the one who has seen what happened and i shouldn't say that they should be brave i hope you get my point rimsha

Did you have a question? The best way to offer your condolences would probably to donate blood and/or money to the American Red Cross. Garrett Albright 14:12, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

What is flash memory and why is it used in storage devices

I want to know please tell

See our flash memory article. Garrett Albright 14:12, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

In a nutshell, because it is relatively:

• non-volatile
• cheap
• fast
• low-powered / no moving parts / random access (co-listed as these are all interlinked)
• re-usable

For extra credit, compare and contrast with Write Only Memory. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 15:35, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

non volatile storage

why isb flash memory considered this

Unlike what we colloquially refer to as RAM, flash memory does not require an active power source to maintain state. That's the volatile vs non-volatile distinction. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 15:26, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

LIZARDS

There are lizards In Louisiana,that are very quick to hide. The small ones are almost transparent; their organs are visible under the skin. They can climb on glass windows and are about 3-4" long. Since the floods, they are invading homes. What are they? and is there any controling them or keeping them out of the house? DLM777 in Louisiana

You might be talking about what we in Texas called anoles (they sound way more like yours than what the article describes, so it must be the wrong name). They eat small bugs, so I'm sure after the flooding there's been quite a feast for them. We always considered them rather a blessing since they cut back on insect populations, so we never even tried to get rid of them. — Laura Scudder | Talk 22:14, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Glass making with lighting rods

Is it possible to make a glass art/sculptures by inserting a lighting rod into a sandy beach- most likely during a lighting storm? Will a magical glass shape apear out of the ground? I work in a glass blowing studio and a woman got this idea from the movie "Sweet Home Alabama"; she in turn asked me if this was possible. In theory, I belive it is possible, but if it is possible, who on earth has done this sort of thing??? I would really like to know if this technique is being used. Thanks. -Vicky

You could probably create fulgurites in this way; whether or not they constitute sculpture is a more subjective decision. Our article on Lichtenberg figures may also be relevant. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 18:52, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

I don't know if fiction is any indication, but the male lead in Sweet Home Alabama (film) did just this, and created sculptures with the created glass. (Yes, it's sad that I know this. My wife loves chick flicks, and as chick flicks go, that one isn't terrible.) android79 19:38, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

I would agree that if you can get the lightning to hit the rod, it would work as it did in the movie. However, I think you'd have a deuce of a time getting it to strike there in the first place. Most beaches are surrounded by higher objects. Trees, buildings, cliffs etc, and lightning would preferentially strike there instead. You'd need a huge huge expanse of flat sand. And a big rod.--inks 08:54, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

comparison between heterogeneous and homogeneous

A comparison isn't really a correct term, as our articles on heterogeneous and homogeneous indicate that they are antonyms. Regardless, I expect what you're looking for is found in those articles. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 18:55, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Sir Peter Landry, The White Rabbits, Donald The Black, and New York City Flooding article possibly for entry.

Give me anything you know please? --Godblessthelord 18:41, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Flooding in New York any counts on inches fallen? --Godblessthelord 19:08, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

It's a little hard to understand exactly what you're asking, given that the title of your message has several other references in it; however, I may be able to give you a headstart with the most likely. For rainfall or flood statistics in New York City, you may like to start with those articles I've highlighted. Also, you could search for flooding in NYC and see what comes up; be sure to try more than one search engine. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 21:48, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Manute Bol tallest or someone taller?

--Godblessthelord 18:58, 16 September 2005 (UTC) Thanks

Robert Wadlow was and is the tallest human recorded in modern times. As an aside, please make sure that the context of your questions is clear, I can't make heads or tails of the line above this one. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 19:04, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Basketball Player? --Godblessthelord 19:06, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

My guess is that the original poster of the question wants to know if Manute Bol was the tallest person ever to play professional basketball although it's hard for me to tell since there aren't any complete sentences used. As for the answer, I don't know. Though the article might say, I haven't read it. Dismas|^(talk) 19:40, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

w Yeah tallest basketball player? Godblessthelord 19:50, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Gheorghe Mureşan. This information is in the first paragraph of the Manute Bol article. android79 20:03, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Skinnest object in the world?

Skinny like whatever you have? --Godblessthelord 19:01, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Kate Moss. --anon

How about a nanotube? (apparently 50,000 times skinnier than a human hair) Or if you don't mind theoretical objects see string theory. Shantavira 08:12, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Dinosaurs Breath?

What did it smell like? Maoririder 20:11, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Meat-eating dinos' breath smelled like partially-digested meat. Grazing dinos' breath smelled like partially-digested vegetation. User:Zoe|^(talk) 20:42, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Are there no dinos with breath like sweet springtime rain? No wonder they're extinct! - Nunh-huh 02:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Not unless there were dinos whose diet consisted solely of mint leaves.  ;) User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:52, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

What about the Tictacosaurus? DJ Clayworth 17:35, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Monkey acting nasty

Why? Scrathing genetils and everything Maoririder 20:13, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

No doubt they itch. Anyone who can get the Aloe Vera consession for Monkeys ought to really clean up :) DES ^(talk) 20:52, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

Landry family? Acadian

What do you have on Landry?

We hear they're Acadian. But it's supposed to be a secret. --Tagishsimon (talk)

currency devaluation

We've got an article on it; see devaluation. Garrett Albright 13:51, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

what is the definition of poverty?

Poverty is most frequently defined by a poverty line, though such definitions are arbitrary and vary by location and defining agency. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 00:49, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

a "cide" for food supply?

My son, the Bobby Pendragon fan, was curious. Is there a term for the deliberate poising of a world's (or some other large group of people) food supply?--67.51.171.106 23:44, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

It's effectively a non-racist form of genocide. Orson Scott Card advances the word Xenocide in a similar context (racial extermination of non-humans). However, I doubt that there's any specific linguistic notion for "by food poisoning" -- even if you take common examples like driving over a person, it's vehicular homicide—no special word per se. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 00:44, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

A closely related concept is salting the earth: making food unavailable to a conquered people, though in this case one is poisoning the ground rather than the food proper. - Nunh-huh 00:47, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

In a few places I found uses on the web of the term horticide - as opposed to horticulture(note that Horticide is a trade name of a pesticide I think), but I doubt it has enough usage to treat it as anything other than a Neologism at this time, after all its unlikely to see enough usage to be treated as a common word. Sfnhltb 12:52, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

words that start with the letter x

Pick a dictionary -- any dictionary -- and open it to the W's. Now turn to wyvern and start reading from there. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 00:40, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

For example, Wiktionary. Ojw 14:42, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Prison Mail

Are inmates in maximum security prisons allowed to send and receive mail? -anon

Yes, although it may be opened and read before they get it. I suspect that mail priviledges in prison would depend greatly on the country and degree of security involved. --inks 08:50, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Jubilee necklace gardens

Where exactly Jubilee necklace gardens locate in Hyderabad. This is the place where a music concert will be held on September 24th. --anon (moved from WP:ASK — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 09:46, 17 September 2005 (UTC))

who sang aeiou in the 1980s

I did a Google search for "singer aeiou 1980s" which had some results that didn't tell me exactly but they also mentioned a band by the name of EBN-OZN. So I then searched for "singer aeiou EBN-OZN" and the first result was this which says that the group had a song called "AEIOU and Sometimes Y". As to whether this is the same as the song that you're thinking of, I don't know. Dismas|^(talk) 14:32, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

I remember this song and I agree that it was EBN-OZN. --Metropolitan90 05:22, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

• About.com confirms that it was EBN-OZN see [24]. It was a hit around 1983 EBN went on to join Scritti Politti. Allmusic.com confirms it see [25]

Capitalistroadster 11:03, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

There was also a song called AEIOU by a band called The Europeans which came out in 1983. LarryMac 13:42, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Antidisistablishmentarianism

what does antidisistablishmentarianism mean?

See http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=Antidisestablishmentarianism -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:28, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Both Wikipedia (Antidisestablishmentarianism) and Wiktionary (wiktionary:Antidisestablishmentarianism) have articles on this word. Thryduulf 23:37, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Why was Ned Kelly infamous

Have you tried reading the article on Ned Kelly? Dismas|^(talk) 13:21, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

He was a highwayman

• In fact, he was a bushranger the most famous of them. As Dismas suggested, the Ned Kelly article is a good place to start and check out the references if you have time. Capitalistroadster 11:12, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

time

Hi,I have a question actually,not comment. There is this one 'thing' that has been bothering my mind for a long time.I know that whatever we see or feel need sensory nerves to send impulse to the brain so that the brain can interpret what actually is happening.The impulses must have needed some time to be sent to the brain and got interpreted and send reaction to the muscles to react.So it actually need time to send impulse to the brain and reply from the brain to the muscles.Example,our eyes are looking at a ball falling from a table.The light reflected from the ball to our retina and then to the brain later interpreted and back to our eyes needed time.What I'm curious about is,is it whatever that happen in front of us is actually happen a few seconds ago?I mean,we get the 'message' from the brain later than the incident.

• Yes, what you described is essentially correct. Both light and electricity travel at finite speed. When a ball falls from a table, for example, it takes non-zero time for the light reflected from the ball to hit your eyes, and further non-zero time for the electrical impulses to travel through the optic nerves to your brain. It even takes non-zero time for your braincells to figure out that what you just saw was a ball falling from the table. So yes, you notice things happening after they've already happened, not at the same time. — JIP | Talk 13:40, 17 September 2005 (UTC)
• When we first learn how to drive on the public highways, there is a rule about how close is safe to drive behind vehicles in front of us, generally measured in car lengths and multiples of 10 mph. Basically, we need to see the tail lites of the car in front of us, which go extra bright when the driver steps on the brakes (assuming the electrical system working properly), so that we can do the same thing to avoid crashing into the car in front of us.
  • There is a time delay the car in front signalling slowing down, getting to our brain, then our brain deciding do what about it, then sending the nerve impulse signals to step on our brakes, and likewise our car actually slowing down. For this reason we are not supposed to be tailgating, and when roads are wet, allow additional distance. Most people do not follow these rules, which is one reason there are so many traffic accidents. AlMac|^(talk) 21:10, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Sport-Patrick Viera

When was Patrick Viera Born

The first result from a quick Google search says that he was born on June 23, 1976. Dismas|^(talk) 14:00, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

As does Patrick Vieira. -- Arwel 09:46, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Antarctic Living

If you wanted to, could you legally set up residence in Antarctica and live there? Whose laws would you be under? ---Anon

Interestingly, many of the people living in Antarctica have been told that they must pay taxes to the United States. Don't think it applies if you set up your own camp though... Ojw 19:32, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

The law that governs Antarctica is the Antarctic Treaty System. Citizens of signatories are subject to the laws of their home country while present in Antarctica. The 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty has as its first article:

The Parties commit themselves to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems and hereby designate Antarctica as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.

The tone of the rest of the treaty, while not specifically prohibiting permanent residence by private citizens, contains enough clauses to almost certainly rule it out as incompatible with preserving the Antarctic environment unless those permanent residents were carrying out research work. --Robert Merkel 00:45, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

When did Hurricane Katrina become a hurricane (date)?

August 25, 2005. See Hurricane Katrina. Ojw 19:53, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

gaelic

See Gaelic! Gareth Hughes 17:37, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

Isle of Coll

I am trying to trace my family history, which seems to originate on Coll. The farthest back I can go is 1720 and the place name appears to be "Triallon" or some variation thereof. Is this a town, county, burgh or whatever on Coll? Or could my ancester have travelled from a neighbouring island? Is there a Museum or Government Office on Coll which I could access? TI can be reached at: bionicbitchofbytown@yahoo.ca. Thanks for your assistance, Linda D. MacDonald ----

According to our Coll article, it has a population of less than 200 people, so it's probably not that hard to research the genealogy of the entire island. A Google search for isle of coll turns up a number of interesting links, including this one from the Isle of Coll Association with a map on it. There is an email address on that page, which might be a good place to ask. --Robert Merkel 12:24, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

What M&M's stand for

What do M&M's stand for?

Check out M&M's. The answer is there. Joyous (talk) 22:12, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

TV Cubes Website

I remember seeing a website that sold little cubes that you would stick on your television screen (with a little suction cup) and when you filled the screen with these cubes the cubes would all light up with the light that it gets off from the tv. anyone know the address of this site? i forgot it, and ive tried all kinds of queries on google : ( chris

I remember this! I saw it on Cool Hunting, Funfurde, or Moco Loco. Here's a German one but that's not the one I remember, and your description seems to match the one I remember better. Aha, it's a Groovetube! I found it by searching Google for "imedia_tv mocoloco", to see if anyone else had blogged it, and someone did, comparing it to the Groovetube as I had hoped they would. It's too bad "large" only goes up to 27" or I'd order one right now. — mendel ☎ 19:01, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

YES! thank you for finding it! -chris

earth, astronauts veiw

(no question)

• Earth? - Mgm|^(talk) 08:48, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Jumpseat

Where did the name jumpseat originate?

This tread [26] on an aircrew forum appears to give the answer. Thryduulf 23:34, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

what are the seven longest rivers in the contiguous united states?

1. The Mississippi River is probably one of the longest, which is 2,340 miles long. AlMac|^(talk) 01:59, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
   1. However, this source [27] claims the longest is the Missouri River, which as a tributary of the Mississippi river, is 2,540 miles long. AlMac|^(talk) 02:02, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

      The Mississippi is a tributary of the Missouri, not the other way around. User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:54, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

      Depends on how you think about it. When a stream runs into a river, we say the stream is a tributary of the river. Typically, we think of the Mississippi as starting in Minnesota and heading down to Louisiana. In that sense, the Missouri is a tributary. However, where the two meet, just north of St. Louis, the Missouri has the greater flow. So you might call the Upper Mississippi a tributary of the Missouri + Lower Mississippi combination. By the way, the Missouri is also longer than the Upper Mississippi, which results in a relevant fact: The longest river in the U.S.A. is the Missouri + the Lower Mississippi. — Nowhither 17:40, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

2. The Rio Grande, which runs along the border of USA and Mexico, is 1,900 miles long. AlMac|^(talk) 02:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
3. The St Lowrence, which flows into the Great lakes seaway is also 1,900 miles long. AlMac|^(talk) 02:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

The length of a river can change over time, so different sources can show different lengths for the same rivers. Here is a link http://www.usgs.gov/ to the US Geological Survey, which is the dept of US government in charge of categorizing this kind of thing. AlMac|^(talk) 02:08, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

major rivers in North America

• Here's a link [28] you might find helpful.
• According to this [29], the Yukon (1,265 miles long) is the 3rd longest river in the USA, but it is in Alaska, and is frozen October thru mid June.

AlMac|^(talk) 02:18, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Do you come from a land down under

Where women glow and men plunder

1. not me ... is this from some poetry? AlMac|^(talk) 02:09, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

It's from the Men at Work song Down Under. Joyous (talk) 02:12, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Fun&games

what are the favorate way inwhich to pop balloons?

Let's see,

• With a pin
• Stomping (with shoes on preferably)
• Over inflation (ie, keep on blowng up the ballon until it bursts, what out for wayward condensation though)
• I've never seen it, but releasing a helium filled ballon and watching it burst when it reaches a height with low enough atmospheric pressure could be fun too. --Commander Keane 06:44, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

'Filling it with water and throwing it at someone' has always been one of my favourites. DJ Clayworth 17:30, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

You can put a flame to them too. --Dangherous 13:17, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

While screaming, "I TOLD YOU NOT TO BRING IT ANYWHERE NEAR ME, YOU LITTLE BUGGER!" Rob Church ^Talk 21:53, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Who's watching me

I don't know anymore

Are the neighbours watching me

Who's watching

Rockwell asked the same questions, but I don't know if he ever got an answer. --Metropolitan90 05:18, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

And neither are you by the looks of things. It depends on who you are, where you are and what you believe in. Some commons ones are: God (and various other religious figures), 4 dimensional people, dead relatives, friends and pets, aliens ... the list goes on. By the way, that's almost a Haiku! --Celestianpower ^hab 18:47, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

world heritage site

what is the criteria to be declared a world heritage site

See http://whc.unesco.org/criteria.htm#debut -- Enochlau 07:16, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

what is a flight "sector"?

IANA airplane pilot, but I believe the a flight's sector refers to the flight's path in terms of its origin and destination. For example, check out an airline article such as Tiger Airways, where you'll see a chart of various flights and their sectors, such as Bangkok to Singapore. Garrett Albright 10:14, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Where does a band like slipknot get their inspiration for their songs?

I don't know any band like Slipknot, but from the look of their album list at Slipknot (band) I would say their local Accident and Emergency Department. Shantavira 08:31, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

refineries in eastern europ

My name is Malcolm Geary. A client requests me to locate eastern european oil refineries capable of supplying 15,000 metric tonnes per shipment of gasolene, diesel and kerosene.

I would appreciate Refinery names and e mail contact details if u have this information,

best regards,

malcolm geary

e mail = malcolm.geary@btopenworld.com

You might try Ploieşti in Romania, which is the most famous oil region of Europe. The article mentions several oil companies. alteripse 12:40, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

You might also try Google Answers. That sort of question is what they usually deal with, and for the measly sum of USD$200 (which I'm sure a client who wants 45,000 tons of petroleum product can afford to part with), you can get a very comprehensive answer in a very short period of time. Full Disclosure: I have nothing to do whatsoever with Google Answers, I just know it exists.--inks 23:26, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

old people

what is the demography of old people in kerala and how is the situation of elderly in kerala in reference to caring(of elderly) and grandparenting? d.s

sites for knowing cross cultural studies

i want to learn about the status of old people of china and usa and kerala can you give me some sites which can be visited for this?- d.s.

Concerning the use of electricity.

That which is known as 220 and 110 at the household outlet.

Which consumes the most electricity if all things are equal, 220 or 110?

Bob

I've removed your address and telephone number: it's not a good idea to post it here. Those numbers refer to the voltage of the supply, which refers to the ammount of energy carried by each unit of charge. If you were to connect a 60 W ligh bulb to a 220 V supply it would draw a current of 0.27 A. If the same lightbulb were connected to a 110 V supply, it would draw 0.55 A. The actual rate of consumption of energy is the same (60 W). However, with the lower electromotive force of 110 V, a higher current is required to provide the same ammount of energy. Gareth Hughes 13:59, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

And remember - voltage doesn't kill - current does. →Raul654 16:59, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

The above is not quite true. The resistance of a light bulb is constant (ish); if you took a 60W bulb designed for 220V and connected it to a 110V supply it would draw half the current, not twice, and only consume a quarter the power (and probably give much less that a quarter the light). However if instead of using the same bulb you used a 60W bulb designed for 110V you would get the results described above. DJ Clayworth 17:26, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

what is a genius?

Perhaps wikipedia's article, genius, might be helpful. -- Rick Block (talk) 18:12, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Or perhaps genus. Superm401 | Talk 18:28, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Wall St. Journal/Dow Jones and Co.

Did the WSJ publish a Saturday edition back in the first half of the 20th century? Thanks. Rick Peterson, Duxbury, USA

Good Burger

Where was "Good Burger" filmed? -anon

• According to the Internet Movie Database it was shot in West Covina, California. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:17, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

history of the avertising for JIF peanut butter

(no question)

• We only have a small article on Jif (peanut butter), but it lists the official website, which I assume points you to people who can tell you much more than we can. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:20, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Who were Ma & Pa Kettle?

They're characters from The Egg and I and ten other films. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 19:53, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

how did hurricane katrina affect people

• Here is an index to many articles here about that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Hurricane_Katrina AlMac|^(talk) 21:10, 18 September 2005 (UTC)
  • You can link to a category by putting a ":" in front. Eg, [[:Category:Hurricane Katrina]] gives Category:Hurricane Katrina. --Commander Keane 05:14, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

coca-cola

Hello, I am doing a coca-cola research, and I've went to google, fortune 500, ect. but I just can't find the answers! I would appreciate it so much, if you could help me. I think it would be rude to ask you to completely do them all, so if you want, you could just tell me were to go to get the answers! :) ! But it'd be really, really great if you could just flat out tell me the answers, because I've been reasearching a LOT. Ok, here are some of the questions that I have left: :) :

Questions:

what are 3 of coca-cola salaries,

what is coca-cola's rank, (what sites rank exp: Hoover's rank is 345),

what is the number of coca-cola locations and/ or stores,

who/ what are coca-cola's subsidiaries and/or affiliates,

what are last coca-cola stock price________ High________ Low________ 52 week range,

and coca-cola's price/earnings ratio. :) 205.188.116.131 21:39, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

If you could answer those, it would be a humongous help! Thank you Soo much!!!

The salaries, # of locations (bottling plants?), and subsidiaries can all be found in Coca-Cola's latest annual report, which you can download from their investor relations web site. I'm not sure what you mean by rank though, there are many ways to rank companies. Maybe you need their Fortune 500 rank (based on revenue), or their market capitalization rank. Their stock information and p/e ratio can be found on any financial site such as http://finance.yahoo.com . Coca-Cola Co's ticker symbol is KO. Hope that helps. Rhobite 21:52, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

How do I care for my thunbergia plant?

How do I care for my thunbergia plant? [30] and [31] both offer advice on caring for a thunbergia. Note that there are many different types and varieties of thunbergia so a more specific name would probably be more useful. For reference I found the above two sites by doing a google search for: thunbergia care. Thryduulf 23:24, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Cat Worms

Our Worm page suggests cat worms are most likely to be either Cestoda (Tape worms) or Roundworms. If you would like a more specific answer, please ask a specific question as requested at the top of this page. Thryduulf 23:01, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

birch beer

Is any part of the birch tree used in making birch berer? Stillken

See birch beer. Dismas|^(talk) 00:00, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Egg Shells?

How does one make an egg shell white?

What is the purpose of making an egg shell white?

White eggs come out of the bird that way. Of course, many eggs are not white, but if there is is someone out there who makes it their business to turn them white, then I've never heard of him, and I wouldn't know how or why he does it. Anyone else? — Nowhither 23:57, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Nope, though I suppose you could paint or bleach them. --fvw* 00:02, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Eggs come out of the chicken white. Bleaching might harm the yolk inside and make it inedible since the shell is semi-permeable. Yolks can even be different colors. They can be green and still have the same flavor. It's dependent on what they eat. Some breeds like the Araucana will lay what people refer to as "Easter eggs" since they come out in a variety of pastel colors such as blue, pink, green, etc. The color of the shell is dependent on the breed of the chicken, the yolk is dependent on what the hen eats while forming the egg in her body. Dismas|^(talk) 00:08, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

According to an episode of the Martha Stewart show I saw once, the color of a chicken's eggs is the same as the color of the chicken's earlobes. I have not personally validated this. User:Zoe|^(talk) 23:00, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

According to a number of pages that turn up on a Google search, chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs, and chickens with red earlobes lay brown eggs. I haven't seen any source for this that I would call "reputable", however. — Nowhither 17:19, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Your Logo

Hi

Can you please explain your 'globe' logo:

http://www.wikipedia.org/

Why is it missing the north part (no top hat)? Is it a puzzle? What do those symbols represent? Kindly give me maximum information.

Thank You

Zameer H. Mir

{EMAIL REMOVED!!}

I don't know if there is an official explanation but to me the reason for it not being "complete" with the top part missing is because there are still articles being added by people. In essence, it's never "finished". And yes, it's a puzzle. To represent all the info fitting together to explain everything in the world. And the symbols, to me, represent the many languages that Wikipedia is written in. Hope this helps, even if it isn't the official word on it. Dismas|^(talk) 00:12, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Some long and torturous discussion went into it.--Fangz 23:50, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Order of academic degrees after name

I can't quite remember the rules for the order in which academic degrees should be placed after a person's name. I have a vague memory that higher degrees are placed first, and then degrees of equal rank are place earliest to latest. Can anyone find a definitive source on this? Gareth Hughes 23:52, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

I don't know about a definitive order, but literally from the age of five I was taught to use ascending order, such as B.A., M.S., Ph.D. -- Jmabel | Talk 03:58, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

For what it's worth (since I know where to find the list), the University of Durham seems to style its senior staff in ascending order - "BSc, MD, PhD, (various hon. degrees)", or "BEd, MEd, MA, PhD". Honours and decorations (if any) precede this, "professional" qualifications and memberships follow. Shimgray 09:09, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

I always list mine in the order I received them, except that I usually omit the non-doctorates and honoraries. A full list, as I would prepare it, would be: B.A., M.A.R., Ph.D., J.C.D., S.T.D. (h.c.), Th.D. (h.c.), but as not to be pretentious, I usually just cite Ph.D., J.C.D. as the first two are assumed in the Ph.D., and the final two are honoraries (for the most part, attempts to get me to make donations). Perhaps I've been doing it wrong all these years! -- Essjay · Talk 17:13, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

You get honourary doctorates on spec over there? Here they generally wait until you've given them a million or two before awarding one... Also, I don't know about you academic chaps, but in the real world people often prefer not to have STD on their business cards ;-). Shimgray 20:50, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

They're both religious degrees (i.e., from a seminary, rather than a university) and thus, much easier to come by. I have a friend who is an Archbishop, and he has thirteen or fourteen of them! By the way, for those who might not have been aware, S.T.D. is Doctorate in Sacred Theology not sexually transmitted disease. -- Essjay · Talk 00:07, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I looked it up; the US seems to go in much more for specifically named degrees than we do over here. It's interesting - not sure why, but it's probably indicative of something interesting. Shimgray 22:07, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Admission to Stuyvesant HS from private school

My junior high does not provide applications for Specialized High School Exam. Where can I get it from? Please help. Thank you.

• I'd suggest you contact Stuyvesant. There doesn't seem to be an easy way to do that on line, so it's either snail mail, telephone, or walk in the door. -- Jmabel | Talk 04:03, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

sunset

what time was the sunset in raymond, new hampshire october 17, 2000?

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory Data Services, sunset would have been at 5:58 p.m. EDT on that date. DannyZ 04:14, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

watergate

The article on Watergate starts with the sentence "On February 30, 1972..." As far as I know, February in our calendar does not have 30 days. Could we fix this? -anon

• Hi - welcome to wikipedia, thanks for noting this problem. Anyone can edit wikipedia. All you need to do is find the correct date, click the "edit this page" link and fix the article. If you like editing enough consider signing up for an account. Good luck! -Ravedave 06:28, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

• I found the right date, June 17, 1972 and fixed the article. -Ravedave 06:33, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
• You may be interested to know that we have an article about February 30. Thryduulf 07:44, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

fo ti tieng

(no question asked)

Wikipedia does not have an article on "fo ti tieng". However, a quick Google search turns up the information that it is "a registered trademark name for an herbal product containing gotu kola (Centella asiatica), cola nut (Cola nitida), and Indian physic root (Gillenia trifoliata)". If that was not what you wanted to know, you could try again, and ask a question. — Nowhither 17:27, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

How many cars are there in the world?

How many cars are out there approximately? This doesn't include large vehicles such as trucks. Is there a good, reliable number on this?

Arrrrr, there be about 500 million today according to [this website]. I doubt it's possible to be any more accurate, since even if one could collate all the manufacturing numbers, it would be impossible to know how many had been scrapped. Shantavira 17:27, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Places such as the DVLA, state DMVs, etc. will tell you on a per-country basis how many cars have road-tax paid on them each year. For example, the DVLA "maintains records on 32.3 million currently licensed vehicles" (in the UK) according to their annual report.

You could also try the census websites, for example the 2001 census shows 17,761,885 households in the UK with at least 1 car or van [32]. I'm guessing they don't count company cars, unsold cars, etc.

It's worth noting that the hypertextbook.com website mentioned above uses articles such as Cars Emit Carbon Dioxide published online by globalwarming.enviroweb.org as references, which doesn't look like a primary source. Ojw 14:32, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Flight 93 Memorial

Is the chosen Flight 93 memorial actually going to be built? David Simpson

Have you read the article on Flight 93? It says that it will be built but that there is some controversy around it. Dismas|^(talk) 12:10, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Defintion

What is the exact definition of Gender Bias.

A prejudice against a particular gender. Dismas|^(talk) 12:33, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Yarr, ye be findin' more information at our sexism article. Arr. Garrett Albright 16:17, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

english translation of japanese word: tsumi

i would like to know what the english translation of the word 'tsumi' is... some sources i have found say "sin" or "crime" but i'm not entirely sure. can someone help with this one?? thanks

kattus

I've answered you at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language; there's no need to place your questions on more than one page. —Cryptic (talk) 14:11, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

do you have any information about hirricane katrina

Some people would say we have some info about the hurricane at Hurricane Katrina but I wouldn't believe them if I were you, that'd be too obvious. Dismas|^(talk) 14:28, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

who is the "piano man" actually?

See Andreas Grassl or http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4177530.stm -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:37, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Fascinating link. Billy Joel is another possibility. Nelson Ricardo 02:32, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

spiders

what is the name of the spider who is a medium brown color and has a golden brown fleur de lei on its back? -----Jes

Arrr, that sound loike it be George, the European garden spider. Have ye a look at that arrticle. (They be not confined to Europe.) Shantavira 17:12, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

house of representatives

the house of representatives in the US congress has 435 members plus 4 delegates and 1 resident commissioner

sounds about right. Did you have a question? You might check United States House of Representatives#Members and elections. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 18:08, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

AM aerial

how do I make an external AM aerial for my tuner?

just about anything long and conductive will do for an AM radio antenna. I used to use a long length of fencing wire mounted underneath our gutter... --Robert Merkel 01:23, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Horizontal piece of wire that's approximately some fraction (1/2, 1/4 etc.) of the wavelength you want to listen to. For example 800KHz would be about 380m, so an 11m wire would be 1/32 of the wavelength. See Antenna (radio). Ojw 12:12, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Idiom

Who said the idiom first, who deduced it?

1. "Never change a winning team", soccer (Bobby Charlton?)
2. "Never touch a running System" information technology
3. "Never change a running system", mixture of both above?

-- 172.182.61.57 19:50, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

• I don't know, but all of those look like variations of "Don't change horses in midstream". --Fastfission 22:13, 19 September 2005 (UTC)
  • They are also not idioms. I'd call them "sayings", or maybe "aphorisms". — Nowhither 17:43, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

re: missile launch

Is a Bried a viewing platform of some sort? Thanking you,Tanya

context? -- Jmabel | Talk 07:07, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

define the word driver

driver

see Wiktionary:Driver. Thryduulf 20:28, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Or Wikipedia disambiguation page Driver for several articles depending on meaning. --hydnjo talk 20:54, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Me, as soon as the lads in Swansea sort their act out. Keep off the roads! Rob Church ^Talk 21:59, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

RE: Aviation question on old saying??

Hello to all, does anyone know where the term... "winchester" comes from in regards to all bombs or ammunition gone???? from Aircraft??? Thanks once again, Tanya

I don't know about the specific aviation context, but I would guess this has to do with the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and their Winchester rifle.--Pharos 22:15, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

List of such abbreviations if anyone's interested, although without explanations. Looks like they're defined by NATO. Ojw 12:04, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Do Sea Stars have a brain?

I read recently as a little known fact, that Sea Stars (star fish) do not have a brain. I would like to have this theory proved, before I use it in a workplace discussion.

Many thanks Jenn K

Sea star indicates it is an echinoderm; that article tells us "most echinoderms, with the exception of the sea cucumber, have a brain, although it is very small." See also Sea star#Nervous System. Radagast 21:34, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

The page at http://www.wonderquest.com/sea-stars-nights-space-radiation.htm explains a bit more. They have a neural network that acts in a similar fashion to a brain but isn't located in just one place. It's more distributed over the entire body. Dismas|^(talk) 21:38, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Jenn: The concept of a "brain" as we normally think of it is really limited to vertebrates (animals who, like us, have backbones: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish). Whether other animals have a brain really depends on your definition of "brain". For example, in their heads, insects have clusters of nerve cells called "ganglia" (singular "ganglion"), which you might call a "brain", or you might not. However, while these ganglia are important, in a pinch an insect may be able to do without them. Cut off an insect's head, and it can no longer see or eat, but many types of insects can otherwise get along quite well (until starvation sets in, anyway). As for echinoderms, the article is probably talking about similar maybe-it's-a-brain ganglia (and the article should probably be updated to reflect this). Some animals, like hydras, have a completely decentralized nervous systems with no ganglia at all. Other extremely simple animals do not have nervous systems. These animals clearly do not have "brains". But for most others, it really depends on what you are willing to call a "brain". — Nowhither 18:26, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

how do i get berry juice in emerald?

i need to know, please!

I think you're referring to the 'Berry Juice' item in Pokemon Emerald. As a sidenote, please try to write your question more clearly in the future, since I'm not quite too sure what you're asking. If that's what you're asking about, though, the GameFAQs.com site ( http://www.gamefaqs.com ) should have information on that--just search for Pokemon Emerald, and then read through the guides. A Google search might also be useful. I'm personally not familiar with Pokemon Emerald (although I am with Red/Blue/Yellow), so I can't help you directly there (sorry!). But good luck with your search, in any case. :) ~GMH talk to me 02:53, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Law/theory about keeping population in check

Two years ago while taking notes in world geography my teacher named this law or theory. It had someting to do with what keeped population stable and I think it had 3 factors, 2 of wich I think I remember (war and famine). I did some google search and even on wikipedia. If possible can you give me the name of the theory or law?

--Ice Jedi5

Try looking at Malthusianism and Thomas Malthus. See if that is what you are recalling. DES ^(talk) 21:44, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Damn edit conflicts. Yeah, see Malthusian catastrophe and Malthusianism - it was probably being referred to as Malthus' Law, though we don't have an actual article by that title. Note that it isn't generally seen as being correct under modern conditions. Shimgray 21:46, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

I tried the links provided, none of wich look familiar enough to be the thing I was looking for. Thanks anyway for the help --Ice Jedi5

Population generally follows a a sigmoid curve - does that ring any bells? Shimgray 22:02, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Are you referring to the population of PEOPLE in which the main controls are: birth rate; death rate; immigration (legal and illegal); and the opposite (people leaving to go to another nation), or are you referring to wildlife, in which a major factor has to do with the food chain. Overpopulation of a species can lead to over consumption of whatever it is they eat, leading to starvation, leading to underpopulation. Then there is what mankind does to try to fix things, like making it too easy for there to be wildfires. Have you heard of Mad Cow disease, the result of mistakes managing agriculture, which has now spread to Mad Deer variant, and all kinds of other wildlife. 68.179.177.137 23:06, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I did not notice that Wiki had kept population in check by logging me out. AlMac|^(talk) 23:09, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I am refering to population of people. --Ice Jedi5

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse include War, Famine, and Death. Malthus' law inspired other people to look at this problem; they have come up with a different law (this means Malthus does not have to be right in the need for population control): see logistic function, which can have 4 parameters. But they aren't War, Famine, and Death, they are 1) Growth Rate and 2) Competition for a symmetrical logistic curve (sigmoid curve). This same theory predicts the population of the world will stabilize at 9.6 billion people, which depends on how fast it becomes more expensive to have children. We will have 9.6 billion people on Earth in this century. Growth should have stopped by then. But we don't necessarily have to control population with War Famine or Death; we just need to increase the standard of living (more jobs and capital) in all of the inhabited continents. Check out the September 2005 issue of Scientific American for more. Ancheta Wis 19:43, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

polotics

What is the purpose of goverment according to the natural rights philosophers?

Although the title refers to parasitic infections of polo horses (and players?), I would draw your attention to our finely written articles on natural rights, inalienable rights and John Locke. Gareth Hughes 22:02, 19 September 2005 (UTC) Government should only make sure ones exercise of his rights does not infringe on other rights.

sims 2 alien babies

how do I make my alien babies in sims2 grow into toddlers?

It is vital to know the exact species of alien involved before giving any rearing advice. Using the wrong technique could result in death or injury for the mini-martian or for you. Please take the time to study our article on extraterrestrial life for more information. Gareth Hughes 00:18, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Or go straight to astrobiology... Gareth Hughes 00:20, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Or rephrase your question so someone has a clue what you are asking, or if (as I suspect) you are asking about a game, you'll probably have better luck on a gamer site. -- Jmabel | Talk 07:11, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

have you checked that you don't have the aging cheat off? and also maybe you need to buy a birthday cake and get either an adult or teenager to carry the baby to the cake so it may grow up... they should grow up normallly...remember they stay toddlers for 4 days before moving onto the next age... i hope this helps... i have the game myself so i know lots of stuff bout the sims2...Kattus 08:03, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Why not soften

Why do the laundering instructions for some fabrics indicate that softeners should not be used ? 12.73.132.172 00:29, 20 September 2005 (UTC)Dan J

Because the fabric may not be able to withstand the "harsh" effect of the fabric softener without some degradation of the fabric. --hydnjo talk 04:03, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

It also makes materials less water absorbent, so it should not be used when washing towels. Shantavira 07:49, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

what keeps spiders away?

• Avoid having whatever it is they eat, which may be unavoidable (there is some critter in my home that likes to eat the paper than my books are made of).
• Get some other critter in your home that likes to eat spiders, which may lead to other problems with that critter.

AlMac|^(talk) 03:50, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I've heard spiders are very averse to the smell of bleach; spreading bleach along cracks and other places where they might enter may help. ‣ᓛᖁᑐ 04:32, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

"I know an old lady, that swallowed a fly..." Rob Church ^Talk 22:01, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

• I heard on the radio that spiders won't live in a house made of mahogany. It's... Thelb4! 20:05, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Worlds largest selling books

I would like to know which 3 books in the english language are the largest selling in the world. I believe the Bible is number 1, and had heard that Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seus was number 3. Is that correct? and what is number 2? Thanks

• I suspect a Dictionary is pretty high up there, especially in places where English is not the native language. AlMac|^(talk) 07:12, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
• I suspect some kind of "How to" or "owners manual" is the most bought and least read book in the western world. I mean, every home computer comes with some kind of documentation, which almost no one reads. AlMac|^(talk) 07:14, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
• Does it count if we get it but don't buy it, like our income tax form? AlMac|^(talk) 07:14, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
• The Guinness Book of Records is the world's most sold copyrighted book. Fredrik | talk 07:31, 20 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Here is where definitions get tricky. In what sense are two books "the same"? For example, the Bible is certainly the all-time bestseller. And most Bible translations are copyrighted (or were when they were first published). If you counted all sales of copyrighted Bible translations as sales of the same book, you would probably exceed the sales of the GBoR. But when talking about copyrighted works, we would generally distinguish between different copyrighted translations. Now, should we distinguish between sales of different years of the GBoR? That would make its effective sales plummet. — Nowhither 18:34, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

what is FLying Spaghetti Monsterism?

It is a parody "religion" satirising creationism and specifically intelligent design. See Flying Spaghetti Monster. --Robert Merkel 01:36, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

2 Live Crew Lyric

Hi - I want to know the meaning of a lyric in a 2 Live Crew song, "We Want Some Pussy". In one of the lines in the song they say "Let's have group sex and do the Rambo". I want to know what they mean by "do the Rambo"? I realise that this is explicit and I apolagize if this question offends, but it is something I have wondered since I was a young teen. Cheers.

Urbandictionary.com has what seems to be the relevant definition. Subtle fellows, the 2 Live Crew...--Robert Merkel 01:29, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Well, seeing as 2LC has put this song in six different albums, all with different motifs, it's anyone's quess. ;-) --hydnjo talk 02:12, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

"the Rambo" reference has to do with "taking out as many guys out while solo," as Rambo did, refering to how in previous lyrics before that line are referring to many men taking turns with one girl.

Origin of the Ninja v. Pirate feud

I was engaging in some light-hearted banter with friends the other day when ninjas and pirates came up. Does anybody know what the origin of this "feud" is? I googled it, and it mainly brought up mock answers, and silly articles. But is there some true, pop-culture reason or something for the ninja/pirate feud?

Truly, the feud is rooted in mockery and silliness. Also in throwing stars, parrots, and eyepatches. Arr! — Lomn | Talk / RfC 05:15, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain that Real Ultimate Power is the source. See [33]. Garrett Albright 14:47, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

request of information

Request: The tv show "the next great champ" (everything on it, boxers(bios)(like you did with the Contender tv show), etc.), the dispute and controversy on cam'ron and mase(both rappers, how did it start all the way through to the lose touch thing), the roc-a-fella records break up(the separation between jay-z and dame dash,how and why there were a separation, etc.),roc-a-fella records history(from how they start,to the disputes and controversies to todays bases), what tracks Swizz Beatz produced(apart from hit singles like you did with timbaland) and list of diss songs from rap artist(s)(all,every last one, from the start of diss songs to the today) description on the diss songs from target,motive,brutal bars(lines from songs that hurt or disrespect the target more) and availablity.

tutor, (how to) elementary school language arts

• I suggest reading aloud to young children, with them seeing the book that is being read from. AlMac|^(talk) 06:23, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

What is SAP?

• This is the acronym for a computer software company ... I forget what the letters SAP stand for.
• There is something in a tree known as sap.
• Sap is also a word sometimes used to describe a person who has behaved in a naive or idiotic way.

AlMac|^(talk) 06:33, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Additional possibilities include:

• A weapon consisting of a leather bag filled with sand or lead shot.
• To Sap, a form of military engineering were enemy defenses are undermined by digging a tunnel under their foundation.

--Allen3 ^talk 13:33, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

• Secondary Audio Programming is my first inclination. I have no idea why someone would want to watch Everybody Loves Raymond in Spanish where available, though. --Maxamegalon2000 21:55, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

pictures of the band VAST

does anyone know a site where i can find pictures of the band Vast (Visual Audio Sensory Theature)????

i have some of their songs but i don't know what they look like or who's in the band...

if you could help that would be great thanks!!!!

kattus & em

I take it you've read our article on VAST? Which would lead you to their official website? And done a Google image search? Dismas|^(talk) 08:10, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Australia

What are the names of the premiers for the following states and territories. Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania.--203.122.73.172 09:12, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I've wikilinked the names of the territories so that you can go to the articles about them. The info should be there or at the very least, linked off of those articles. Dismas|^(talk) 10:10, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

At each of those links Dismas has kindly created you will find the information you need in the infobox (specifally under the map on the right). The Northern Territory doesn't have a Premier, but the Chief Minister is equivalent. --Commander Keane 10:51, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

how poor is romania ?

hello again, this question is in regrds of how poor is romania ? is there a comparison ? for exapmle, how much does a house sell for in american currency ? or is it literally cheap over there ? thank yu again keep up the good work :D

A good starting point would be taking a look at Lists of countries by their GDP. --Commander Keane 16:24, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

It sounds like you need a cost of living comparison. Many companies sell software and investigative reports on cost of living. Usually these are sold to international companies which use this information to set their internal adjustment rates for payment of oversea labor. (And stipends for expatriate workers). I have investigated this myself for my own overseas move and I did not find a lot of freely available data. The most relevant report I found would have cost $500 dollars to access. I eventually found some relevant figures by googling "cost of living adjustments" and "cost of living comparison" along with the country name. If your company is planning to move you overseas you may be able to ask them to get you some information on the cost of living. Various US government agencies also keep this information but it is not published online and is based on the cost of living at a particular consulate or expatriate community. I have found that housing is not a good measure of comparison, neither are the costs of particular goods without having a good idea of the average wages and taxes. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 15:56, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

A lot is incommensurate. Romanian currency is generally undervalued in terms of international currency exchange, so the local purchasing power of the leu is 4-5 times what it brings in foreign exchange. The ratio of property prices to Western Europe is comparable: if you pick, say, a city in Spain and a comparably sized city in Romanian, a comparable housing unit in Romania will cost about 15-25% of what it does in Spain: 15% in poorer rural areas, 25% (maybe a little more this last year or two) in Bucharest, or in some of the Transylvanian cities, which have stronger economies than the general economy.

Most Romanians own rather than rent their dwellings, which also makes comparisons difficult.

Does that more or less answer your question? I probably won't be looking at this topic again (I usually zip through these topics once each), so if you want to follow up, ask me on my talk page. You don't mention what countries you are comparing to, or exactly what scenario you are looking at. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:28, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Police crest

What is the police crest at the bottom left of this picture?[34]

--213.18.248.22 10:09, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

The blue ring around the badge would normally carry the name of the force, but in this picture the ring simply reads POLICE. I think the scene is meant to be in Westminster, so the Metropolitan Police Service (you can see a picture of a Met police car in that article) would be the correct force. However, many scenes for the series were filmed in either Cardiff or Swansea, where the South Wales Police would be the force. However, the badge is different from that used by either force. It might be a prop badge rather than that ofa real force. Gareth Hughes 12:47, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

So you mean it's a "generic" symbol?--84.51.149.80 16:24, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it might be an invented badge used as a prop. However, the van in the background does seem to have the long blue badge that is used by the Met. I really don't know anything about the different badges used by different forces in the UK: I just know that each has its own, and might just be able to recognise tha of my local force. Perhaps you should take a look at http://www.police.uk/forces/ as it list all the different forces in the UK, and links to their official sites. Gareth Hughes 21:49, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

I've had a look through the badges of all the police forces in England and Wales (all except Dyfed-Powys have decent images on their website) and it doesn't match any that I can tell. The badge looks like it is based on the coat of arms of somewhere. My initial thought was Essex, but the Essex police badge isn't remotely similar to that. The scene in the photo is almost certainly outside the central police station in Swansea [35]. Swansea is in the South Wales Police area, like all the Welsh forces they use bilingual signs and badges (i.e. South Wales Police - Heddlu De Cymru). Thryduulf 00:51, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Budgerigar training

How do you train a budgerigar?

have you checked the budgerigar article on wikipedia? Boneyard 11:55, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• Your local library should have some good books on the subject. --Commander Keane 16:18, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

callao bird

Can I see an image of a callao bird and its research.(from the Philippines)

are you sure about that name? google doesn't turn up much about it. and what do you mean with its research? Boneyard 11:59, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Foolish or Brave

I have reasently been thinking about the different types of people in my school, and indeed different people out side of school. One thing that struk me was that there are manny people trying to be people that they are not, or are trying to acomplish somthing, and ultimatly, will never be able to do so, due to there very nature. This led me to thinking are these people foolish or, are they brave to try and be or do somthing they are not? Now Correct me if I am wrong, but the general consensouse is that, it is brave to for go peoples expectations and be somthing different, good or bad. I on the other hand am not convinced, if you try and do/be somthing but you will never acomplish it then why start in the first place? Wouldn't these people be wasting their time and effort, when they could be doing somthing much more acomplishable? But then again isn't that brave? Trying to do somthing that they will fail in? I leave this to you to answer. It would be much appreashiated. Andy p.s. sorry about the spelling and punctuation. I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

Wow! This is the most interesting question I've seen here for a long time. It is not easy to answer as it opens up lots of ethical questions. I suggest you talk to your teacher about this so that you can discuss specific examples. Our article on courage says "some distinguish between courage and foolhardiness in that a courageous person overcomes a justifiable fear for an even more noble purpose. If the fear is not justifiable or the purpose not noble, then the courage is either false, or foolhardy". In other words, the difference often depends where you stand politically, ethically, or philosophically. For example, some people think that going into battle is a very brave thing to do, some think it extremely foolish, and some would say "it all depends..." Shantavira 12:35, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• Another related thought is if you ask people, what is it that they consider to be their most important reason for existing in this world, this life, because that has a great impact on their philosophy of what risks are worth taking.
  • Try to make oodles of money so as to improve quality of life for self and family.
  • Do a good job raising a family, so that the kids are better off than we were when we were kids.
  • Service to nation, to protect nation, and help make it stronger, and better.
  • Converting people to one's particular relgious beliefs.
  • Become the best at ones's chosen career.

AlMac|^(talk) 18:01, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• There's a fine line between bravery and foolishness, or even insanity. For example, someone is determined to learn how to fly by jumping up and down and flapping his arms and he fgures that eventually he'll get it right. Is that person foolish? Insane? Or maybe he's enjoying seeing other people's reactions to their behavior, in which case he's possibly being brave for risking ridicule for his experiment in interpersonal relationships. How about the person who has lost both legs in an automobile accident and yet wants to become an Olympic champion? There are plenty of examples of people with missing limbs or artificial limbs who have accomplished amazing physical feats that would be out of the reach of even most healthy people, but they probably had to endure many people telling them that what they were trying was impossible.

As an example, Christopher Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down but wanted to walk again. He achieved amazing results in being able to move parts of his body and to be able to breathe on his own for short times, way beyond what most medical experts thought he'd be able to do, because he didn't give up on that dream. Although he never did walk again, his determination and his time spent promoting work that would help others to someday walk has probably made a big difference in the future of other people with paralysis. He could have just spent the time at home, lying in bed, watching old movies, being spoon-fed ice cream; instead, he endured tremendous effort and pain and constant defeats in his efforts to get what he wanted and to travel to spread the word. Was it foolish for him to keep trying against all odds? Personally, I don't think so. Elf | Talk 19:08, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Fluorescent colours in MS Word

How do I get fluorescent colours in MS Word?--213.18.248.21 12:45, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• I assume you mean for fonts, MS limits its initial choices to colors which display well on paper but you can create custom colors. Click on the font color drop down window (an arrow next to a capital A on the toolbar) -> click "More Colors..." -> click on the "Custom" Tab. You should now have a control where you can create any color. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 16:17, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Collective Nouns

Is there a collective noun for a 'collection of collections' i.e. numerous collections?

Ron Redfern

Ron: I don't think so. But you could try "metacollection". — Nowhither 18:44, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Tun Mahathir

who is tun mahathir

He is a former Prime Minister of Malaysia. "Tun" is an honorific. See Mahathir bin Mohamad. — Nowhither 18:38, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

what does avatar mean?

See Avatar and Avatar (disambiguation). And please put soem text after the subject of your questions in future, and sign them with four tildas. DES ^(talk) 15:43, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

counties that relate to a street address or city/town

Hi !

Do you know if a downloadable file exists that would tell me what county a street address, zip code or city/town belongs to?

Wally Wittenberg

• It probably depends on the country. In the UK, the postcode (zip code) database is a valuable and protected object, available under licence. Notinasnaid 16:50, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Our article on List of ZIP Codes in the United States says there's a free downloadable database at http://www.cfdynamics.com/zipbase/ Shantavira 18:34, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

speed record

did mccoy attempt a new land speed record

I can't find any references to anyone named "McCoy" doing such a thing. Maybe you could provide a first name? — Nowhither 18:43, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• It would also be helpful if it was a land speed record without any mechanical aids or with a specific sort of vehicle. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:20, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

White Rabbit Restaurant, Onset, Massachusetts

(no question)

Did you have a question? — Nowhither 18:48, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Hot Air Balloons

Does the barometric pressure have anything to do with restricting a scheduled flight? Are they equipped with an altimeter?

Wind speed and cloud cover are much more important than air pressure itself, though these factors are all connected. The barometric pressure will have a small effect of the lifting capacity if that's what you were wondering. The article hot air balloon gives more details. They certainly carry an altimeter and quite a few other bits of gear. Shantavira 08:40, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

While the barometric pressure doesn't affect a balloon's capabilities as such, it's an indicator of what kind of weather is coming, so a pilot might say "the barometric pressure is dropping so we are going to cancel the flight", meaning that bad weather is on the way. DJ Clayworth 17:48, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

oceana

can anybody find a recipe from oceana

Using Google brought this result. The top result is http://www.uktvfood.co.uk/index.cfm?uktv=recipes.recipe&iID=514183. Try using a search engine. Gareth Hughes 21:37, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps you mean Oceania? If so, you can find some recipes in Wikibooks:Cookbook:Pacific cuisines, or the Australian or Tahitian sections of RecipeSource. Chuck 22:48, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

While Oceania is a much bigger and more varied place than just Australia, if you want some "authentic" Australian bush recipes, you could try this teenager]'s collection. Particularly the witchetty grub soup (personally, I'd demand photographic evidence that somebody has actually eaten this) :) Note that we do have an article on Australian cuisine. Beyond Australia, one of the great traditional culinary practices of New Zealand and the Pacific is the Hangi. This is a cuisine that I'd actually heartily endorse :)--Robert Merkel 23:39, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

World Tour Grossings

Where is a good reference source to find out how much music world tours have grossed for any specific artist?

Maybe Billboard? This is probably hardcopy library research. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:39, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

• Pollstar is apparently a good source of info regarding concert tours. Their website is here [36]. It may be something you need to go to a library for as per Jmabel.Capitalistroadster 07:49, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Rough and Brittle Hair

What is the solution for rough and brittle hair?

Hair conditioner maybe? Dismas|^(talk) 21:03, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

• You could always shave it off... - Mgm|^(talk) 10:33, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

the "SORRY!" board game

How do you print out a "SORRY!" board for the boardgame "SORRY!"?

Sorry! is under copyright and a high-res picture of its board (suitable for printing) would not be permissible under fair use laws. However, that shouldn't prevent you from finding an interpretable picture of the board and constructing one yourself. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 21:59, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Mountain lion habits and behaviors in Central Arizona

I am becoming interested in the behaviors and habits of central Arizona mountain lions.

I would suggest you start with articles like mountain lion and progress from there. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 22:01, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Zeitgeist

Who first used the word Zeitgeist in Phsycology?

• See Zeitgeist.

The concept of zeitgeist goes back to the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder. However the word itself was coined by the philologist Christian Adolph Klotz in 1769. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:35, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

the levees in new orleans .

was the levee to be fixed every year to keep it from flooding ? or a major repair one time thing or every year to keep it fix? thank you rick okoneski

You might find some useful info via the Hurricane Katrina article.

I believe it was an on-going effort by the local (allegedly corrupt) government to spend money on continual upgrading, and reviewing needs, with the help of Federal funds and the US Army Corps of Engineers. A major issue was whether it was supposed to be able to protect against a storm of a particular intensity, and what the drainage of water was doing to the risk of a major flood.

AlMac|^(talk) 00:17, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

what is homecoming?

Homecoming can have a couple different meanings. Normally it just means "coming home". In college and high school sports, esp. American football, it is generally the first home game of the season. At the school the game is normally held on a Saturday and a dance is traditionally held that night for the students to celebrate. A Homecoming Queen and king are generally chosen from the student body as part of the celebration. Dismas|^(talk) 00:08, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

The article Homecoming (tradition) might also be of help. -- Essjay · Talk 00:18, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

There was this Carling Homecoming on TV once, where big bands played in venues where they grew up near. Like there was one where the Manic Street Preachers, who used to gig in a pub opposite where is now the Millennium Stadium, and their homecoming gig would be inside the stadium. --Dangherous 13:30, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Radio Transmissions in Space

How can our radio transmissions be traveling way out in space if radio transmissions seem to weaken the farther you are from the Transmitter?

There's no atmosphere to travel through in space (or at least very little). Thus the signal isn't running into anything. Dismas|^(talk) 00:13, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, they get weaker and weaker, but they never entirely disappear. That does mean that anyone hoping to hear our radio transmitters on some planet around another star is going to need a very sensitive antenna. Our article about SETI has some interesting stuff about one planet listening for another. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:15, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Alaska

How many days of daylighthas Alaska through the year?

I beleive this varies with latitude as some, but not all, of Alaska is within the Arctic circle - areas outside will have daylight every day of the year, at the artic circle I think you will get one day without daylight, with more such days the further north you go. Have a look at the Alaska article and the others I have linked as they might have some more information on this. Thryduulf 00:56, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

It's worth noting that because the Earth is revolving, every point on its surface receives exactly the same amount of daytime over the course of a year, i.e. it's daytime half the time and nighttime half the time. However, the closer you get to the poles, the lower in the sky the sun will be, so the amount of actual light received (and hence warmth) decreases. Shantavira 08:53, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

The amount of light varies greatly with latitude, and Alaska covers a lot of latitude. However, most of the state is south of the Arctic Circle; in such places the sun rises and sets every day. On the other hand, 'way up north in Barrow, Alaska the sun will set at 1:40 p.m. on November 18, 2005 and will not rise again until 1:01 p.m. on January 23, 2006. Keep in mind, however, that just because the sun is below the horizon does not mean it is dark. In fact, Barrow gets at least a couple of hours of civil twilight every day of the year. — Nowhither 01:05, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

when did the exorcism of emily Rose occur?

The Exorcism of Emily Rose was filmed in 2005. It's a movie. Fiction. Never really happened. It was inspired, apparently, by the starvation/exorcism of Anneliese Michel who died on June 30 1976. - Nunh-huh 01:42, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

what is save for a rainy day?

The expression "Save for a rainy day" just means to put something aside in case hardship comes. For example, if you won a large sum of money someone might tell you to put some of that money in a savings account so that if something bad happened, "a rainy day", you would have that money to draw from. Dismas|^(talk) 02:39, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

free website

I would like to know why there are so many free websites available on the internet; and who pays for these websites; An example of the websites I mean are:

• A website that helps you convert temperature or volume from the decimal to the metric system and vice versa. available on the internet for free; or other websites that helps one translate a text from one language to another etc.

thank you anon.

Both questions don't have simple answers. Websites are paid for by their operators, who in turn receive revenue from advertising, membership payments, or from a supporting organisation. For example, Babelfish is supported by Altavista. Why are there so many websites? Because many people enjoy having them, or many can make money from them, or it doesn't cost much to have one....the reasons are endless really. --inks 03:38, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Many people and organizations believe that the true value of the internet is in sharing information, and they are willing to absorb the cost of doing so to make it happen. For example, my nonprofit dog club pays a monthly fee for the right to have a web site and we can post whatever we want there. So we post lots of information that has been useful to us--text files, photos, Excel spreadsheets that we've created--so that other people can benefit from our experience and knowledge without having to pay for it. I, myself, have a personal web site that I pay a monthly fee for and on which I can post whatever I want; again, I like to share information that I think will be useful to other people. So, for example, when my dog became ill with cancer, I posted information about the cancer as I learned it; since then, I've received many dozens of emails from people whose dogs also had cancer, and they were extremely grateful to find information to help them through their painful times. Neither I nor my club post advertisements or derive any income from our web sites; we are repaid in goodwill, gratitude, and the belief that (as mentioned above) we are making the world a better place for others. Elf | Talk 17:56, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

It's worth also noting that the cost of entry for publishing information on the internet is much lower than, for example, starting a television network or a radio station, or even printing a book, magazine or flyer. Absorbing the cost (to use Elf's term) of running a small to moderate-sized web site would be trivial to someone working full-time in an industrialized nation. It's simply not much of a burden; quite fun, actually. Garrett Albright 18:59, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Searching for information on my late father Armando Molina.

I am looking for informaation about my father Armando Molina who just passed away. I received an american flag two metal plaques one that reads his name and another that says VETERAN. I can include DOB and more information,if you can contact me he was an Army soldier and in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

Are you looking for his service records? See this link to NARA. As next of kin you can use vetrecs to request them. - Nunh-huh 03:37, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

SAF Designations.

Can anyone tell me what SAF designations mean and where I can find a full listing of them? Also SRM Designations. --ViolentGreen 02:55, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

What doeso TKO stand for

Technical Knock Out: it's a boxing term that is extensively discussed in that article. --Robert Merkel 06:14, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Largest Truck Fleet

What company has the largest truck fleet in the World?

According to the St. Petersburg Times (Florida), Walmart owns America's largest truck fleet lots of issues | leave me a message 10:12, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

what is a cat herder

There is no such thing as a cat herder. There is an expression that goes "... is as hard as herding cats". The idea of the phrase is that cats do what they want and are very hard, if not impossible, to train. Therefore they would go all over the place if you tried to herd them together. I suppose if you called someone a cat herder, it could mean that they spend all their energy trying to do things that just won't work. Dismas|^(talk) 09:00, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

• Alternatively, it may be an abbreviation for cattle herder. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:39, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
  • Good point, Mgm. I hadn't thought of that... Dismas|^(talk) 12:57, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

As an aside, there was a Super Bowl commercial about 5 years ago on cat herding. [37] — Lomn | Talk / RfC 13:15, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

If there is no such thing why does this expression get 31,000 Google hits? I had not come across this before either, but it seems that since 'herding cats' is a near-impossible task, a cat herder is someone who is good at organizing people, especially getting them to do things they don't want to do, like all meet up at the same time and place. Shantavira 07:56, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

field hockey

what are short and long corners in field hockey?

Ah! A question I am actually qualified to answer rather than just making it up as I go along :)

Basically, a "long corner" is a free hit awarded when a team accidently plays the ball over their defensive back line. The penalty is a free hit taken from a spot on the side line, five yards from the backline, on the side closer to where the ball went out. Conceding a long corner is no big deal for the defending team; while they would obviously prefer to be in possession of the ball and/or for the ball to be at the other end of the field, it's quite an easy position to defend (you can't lift the ball into a more advantageous position directly in front of goal like a soccer corner kick).

A "short corner", also known in the rules as a "penalty corner", is awarded if the defensive team commits a foul (such as the ball striking some part of their body other than the stick) inside the "circle" - actually a semicircle 16 yards from the goal from which the ball must be struck to score from. In these, five defenders (including the goal keeper) line up behind the backline. One attacker takes the ball from a spot on the backline 10 yards from the goal, and any number of other attackers line up around the edge of the circle. The attacker with the ball must push it to a teammate, the ball must travel outside the circle, and then it is brought back in and (if they can) take a shot at goal. If the ball is hit (with a backlift), an additional restriction applies that doesn't in general play - for the goal to count, the ball not rise higher than "the backboard" of the goal, which is about 18 inches high. A "push" or a "scoop" can be at any height.

At the elite level, penalty corners are scored from a reasonable percentage (maybe 25%?) of the time; some teams have players who are particularly fearsome at them - there was a dutch player called Bovelander whose hit was so hard as to be almost unstoppable, and a Pakistani called Shabaz who had a deadly lofted flick shot. However, at junior and lower senior levels the percentages are much lower. They are also one of the more dangerous situations for defenders, as they often place themselves directly between an attacker with the ball and the goals.

For completeness, if a defender commits a deliberate offence inside the circle, or one that directly prevented a goal being scored, a penalty stroke is taken, analagous to a penalty kick in soccer.

If this material isn't in the field hockey article, it really should be. I'll check :)--Robert Merkel 13:26, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Marta Bus Lines

Hi! I need to know what Marta bus line I should take from the Indian Creek Station to get to Memorial Drive?

Thanks!

Where? There are multiple mass-transit groups known as MARTA. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 14:04, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Original poster: To clarify, we don't know what country you are in, much less what city. (We can guess your planet, but, hey, even that might be wrong.) — Nowhither 01:11, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

But having a wild guess that you meant MARTA in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, this page lists the buses leaving from Indian Creek Station. There appears to be five of them, so have a look at the five until you find the one that you're looking for. --Robert Merkel 03:08, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

re:Re:Aviation question

Hello to all once again... I thank Pharos for the links on the winchester rifle. Sadly I had checked them once before with no success. It does refer to my question however, but not who or where it first originated from...I think I will slowly go crazy in trying to find the answer to this one. Thank you from "Downunder" Tanya.

• I've got a book on rifles that may hold the answer, but I don't have access to it right now. If I haven't answered this by tomorrow, consider leaving a message on my talk page which is linked in my signature and I'll look if I got some info at my earliest convenience. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:29, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Star Wars 3

The Wikipedia Star Wars 3 page states that the DVD release of Star Wars 3 will be November 1. Will there be a VHS release of Star Wars 3?

Yes, there will be a VHS version released at the same time. Proto t c 15:46, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Accounting - fixed asset depreciation / amortization schedules

I am searching for fixed asset depreciation schedules for not-for-profit organizations. Primarily, buildings built before and after 1986. IRS does not have specific information for not-for-profit depreciation. Miller and Wiley not-for-profit auditing materials do not specify depreciation schedules either. Local library is small and does not have current accounting books.

ropskp@juno.com

Disclaimer: I'm an accounting student, but I haven't taken fund accounting and I'm not very familiar with not-for-profit issues. However, I believe that for IRS purposes, tax exempt organizations are required to use straight line depreciation under ADS (longer recovery period), for property placed in service after 1986. According to pub 946, the recovery period for nonresidential real property is 40 years. See pub 946 (do a text search for "tax-exempt"). If you owned the building in 1986 you may have used accelerated depreciation methods - I'm really not sure about this. publication 534 deals with pre-1987 depreciation, but it doesn't mention any special requirements for tax-exempt organizations. If this question deals with an actual company, you should really look through your records for prior depreciation schedules. If you don't have them, I'd assume that you just bought the buildings? In that case it doesn't matter when they are built, it matters when they were placed in service. If you just placed a building in service under ADS, it is depreciated over 40 years using straight line. Make sure to use the right convention in the first and last years - I think real property always uses the mid-month convention. Use table A-13 in pub 946. None of this is tax advice by the way. Rhobite 19:32, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

democratic and republican parties

If you're looking for information on the parties of those names in the U.S., see Democratic Party (United States) and Republican Party (United States). If you're referring to the parties in some other country, see Democratic Party and Republican Party for lists of similarly-named parties throughout the world. Chuck 17:44, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Poetry

Can you submit poetry and such onto the site?

In the context you probably intend, no. Wikipedia is not a webhost for personal use, things like LiveJournal or Blogger are far better suited. If you are instead refering to famous poetry (say, Walt Whitman), then uploading depends on copyright issues. You can generally upload small segments of a poem as fair use and public domain poetry can be uploaded in full at Wikisource. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 17:14, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

You can, like this, just type it in,

So do not feel defeated.

But as to if you should, well no,

It will only get deleted.

Poetry (if out of copyright) should go to Wikisource. User:Zoe|^(talk) 00:51, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

low-lying areas

where do I find information regarding how to determine low-lying areas of south florida that may be flood prone.?

thank you Jean Markese

Please do not post your email address on this page, or it will be spammed. Probably the easiest way to find out if you're in a flood-prone area is to call up a local home insurance company and ask them; they would be the ones who would know more than anyone, methinks. Garrett Albright 19:02, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

The local town office or county office might have some information on that as well. Dismas|^(talk) 20:37, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

excalibur

(no question)

• What about Excalibur? - Mgm|^(talk) 21:32, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Costume designer in desperate need of help

Hello! Okay so here is the deal I am a costume designer who is working on a movie where there is a shot of someone recieving a Nobel Prize. So naturally the king and queen of Sweden are there. I need to know what the different medals they both where mean or why they wear them. I have some pictures of what they look like but I need some more info. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much! I look forward to hearing anything from you!

The Royal Court of Sweden webpage has an English-language section, including a discussion of some of their royal regalia. The page also has a link to the "Information and Press Department" contact details (no email, just phone, fax and snailmail) which may be worthwhile contacting if you can't find an answe on the webpage. You might also try contacting the Swedish Embassy (or the most convenient consulate) in your country for help. Good luck! --Robert Merkel 03:04, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Robert Merkel's suggestion is excellent: you should drop a line asking which orders and riband and medals are worn to the (1) Awards ceremony and/or (2) the Nobel Banquet by the king and queen (depending on which your movie will show). In most pictures King Carl Gustaf seems to be wearing the Grand Cross of the Order of Seraphim (unfortunately without the collar, which is an eyecatcher), the Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, and the Order of the Polar Star. as well as one other I can't make out, and four medals. Queen Sylvia seems to restrict herself to wearing but one Order (but has some rather nice jewelry....) - Nunh-huh 04:21, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Also, kudos to you for taking the time to ensure an accurate costume, rather than just making something up. Superm401 | Talk 08:41, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

In the UK, you'd get this sort of information (at least partly) in Debrett's or Whitaker's; both reasonably common reference books. If there is a Swedish equivalent, the local consulate is bound to have a copy available, and if you ask nicely can probably at least tell you what all the King's decorations are; if you're lucky they may have someone who knows all this off the top of their head. A good library should then be able to find you a book with high-quality illustrations of these, so you can match each one to the actual shiny thing. Shimgray 12:38, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

trees in Wyoming

Dear Sir, I would like to know what kind of trees grow in Wyoming and what kind of trees grow in the Big Piney region specifically. Thank you Robin Schwarz

• Please don't post your email address unless you fancy getting spammed (see instructions at top of page). Sorry for stating the obvious, but I would expect the Big Piney region to contain Big Pines... - Mgm|^(talk) 21:34, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

According to this site, aspen and lodgepole pine grow in the Cottonwood Creek area of Big Piney Ranger District of Bridger-Teton National Forest. Rmhermen 14:24, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

is it possible to defecate up someone's ass?

Okay, as gross/esoteric as this is, my ex-girlfriend and I basically had a yearlong ever-escalating threat war. We exchanged vows of disgusting punishment until we arrived at what I found to be a realistic threat of assault. So...given proper tubing/environmental circumstances, is it possible to use one's own excretory force to reverse flow of the out tube? Any suggestions you have are appreciated.

"Suggestions"? I suggest you don't try it. — Nowhither 01:12, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

쥠軔傰入兩凁! --01:26, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

གྷ༽྅ྴᆩᆺᠠ₥❤༂ฉҗ!??? --01:32, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

This was a minor plot thread in award winning 2005 film, Me and You and Everyone We Know. For what it's worth. But they didn;t go into the mechanics of it. --Tagishsimon (talk)

The way the lower intestine is set up, feces isn't expelled with much "force", its more let out than forced out. and the sphicter is more than powerful enough to prevent any unwanted entry from something mushy with little force behind it. However, if someone had a very loose anus and WANTED to get feces up their anus, then this would be very possible, albeit very unhealthy.

Military Armament Corp

Do you know the address of the Military Armament Corp in Powder Springs,Georgia?

MAC declared bankruptcy in 1976 and their designs were sold to a company named RPB [38] -Drdisque 06:51, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Font colors

Is there a table of font colors like this in WP that can be called by name rather than Hex code? --hydnjo talk 01:20, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi - sounds like you're looking for Web colors. This is less a Wikipedia issue than an HTML and browser issue (meaning I don't think the WP software cares what you use for a color name). -- Rick Block (talk) 02:14, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Scorpions

Why do scorpions glow under ultraviolet light?

The quick and simple answer, is that they absorb energy in the form of UV and reflect some back as light at a visible wavelength. Several websites found via Google suggests that this ability aids hunting.--inks 02:32, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Namesake

My name is Richard Sr... my son is Richard Jr... He is expecting a new son to be named Richard. What would his title be, Richard III ?

As far as I've always understood the system, yes he would be Richard III Although very few people would get the Shakespeare jokes he'd get.  :) Dismas|^(talk) 03:39, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Of course you could also go for Little Richard.  :)--Pharos 03:43, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

He might get the hump about his name :) -- Arwel 10:43, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Or tiny dick? --Dangherous 13:35, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Tall buildings

After the events of 9/11, why doesn't the government recommend putting parachutes in all tall buildings?

Just a few ideas off the top of my head as to why they don't:

• • You would have to be on a high enough floor to give the parachute time to open and break your fall
  • The parachutes would all have to be packed and folded properly or they wouldn't open correctly
  • The expense of all the chutes and people to inspect that they're folded correctly
  • The windows would have to be able to open and thus possibly cause law suits when someone decided to cash in their chips by jumping without a chute
  • The space it would take up for literally thousands of parachutes
  • Everyone would have to know how to put one on, release them, etc. Training for that costs even more money
  • If there were a fire in a story below them, the parachute may catch fire on the way down
  • People may slam into the neighboring buildings
  • The time it would take to put the parachute on might be time that they could have used to escape via other methods

I'm sure I could think of more but that's just off the top of my head. Dismas|^(talk) 03:46, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Cost versus risk. Despite what you'd think if you watched the news, the actual risk of dying in a terrorist attack on a skyscraper is far smaller than dying in a car accident, let alone a heart attack. Therefore, it's a much better use of funds to install, for exampleAutomated_external_defibrillators in office buildings rather than parachutes.

Furthermore, you might consider hiring Farenheit 911 and watching the segment, taken from one of the breakfast TV shows, of a prototype parachute for just this purpose. Let's just say it's not exactly convincing as to the practicality of the device :) --Robert Merkel 04:14, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

This parachute idea would be BASE jumping. The article indicates jumping from buldings is highly dangerous, with concerns about winds, parchute failure etc. --Commander Keane 08:52, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Fizzing or bubbling sensation in the back of my neck

Occasionally I feel a rather odd sensation in the back of my neck. It usually occurs only when my stomach is empty, and growling, though I cannot say that with absolute certainty. It lasts for only a few seconds, and can occur several times in an hour, though I've gone for months on end without experiencing it. I can feel it when it happens as well as hear it through the tissues in my head (much like the slight crackling sound bubbles in your saliva can make every time you swallow--though much more profound). I've discussed this with several coworkers who claim to have felt the same sensation. One coworker claimed it occurred after he felt a popping somewhere in his upper back, almost like (IIRC) the fluidic padding around one of his vertebra broke (much like cracking your knucles) and the released fluid bubbled its way up the spinal column. This is, however, just a guess.

Web searches (with keywords such as "spine", "fizz", "bubbling", etc.) turn up nothing substantial, with the exception of a phonetic pronunciation of the word "physician" à la fizz-ish'-in :).

Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this or can explain what is happening?

--Silvaran 05:56, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

• No. I would suggest seeing your doctor if its causing you any concerns. Capitalistroadster 06:35, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

• I (far to) often go to bed without bothering to eat a proper supper, so if I sleep late I'm usualy quite hungry when I wake up and I've had this happen quite often. I'd describe the sound almost like what you get when you "choke" a garden hose (only more faint) or something like that. I'd hazzard a guess that it's somehow related to stomac rumbeling noises/vibrations that resonate up your spine or something like that. At least that's the best I can think off. Doubht it's serious beyond the indication that it's high time to eat someting. --Sherool 11:22, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Taxable Income versus Gross Income

What is the difference between the two?? Should the figures be different and why? Ams

• The taxable income is the one over which you need to pay income taxes. This income is calculated by by substracting subsidies and tax reductions and adding other things. If I remember correctly the gross income is the one you actually earn. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:56, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

And yes, they can be different, but they're not always that depends on your personal situation. If you need more info about your own tax situation, try contacting an accountant or a friend that is more knowledgeable about taxes. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:58, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Ford Jaguar

what are the aims and objectives of Ford Jaguar?

• If you are referring to the car manufacturer, I would expect sell as much cars and get as much customers as they possibly can. If that's not what you want to know, I'd like you to be more specific. - Mgm|^(talk) 10:01, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
  • As far as I can tell, the objectives are to ruin the design while dramatically improving the engineering. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 21:49, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
    • This isn't about the car is it? I didn't hear anything about Ford buying out Jaguar and it's not in our article about Jaguar... Dismas|^(talk) 22:36, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
      • Ford has owned Jaguar since 1990. Are you sure you're reading the right article? It's in the fourth or so paragraph in the "History" section. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 22:55, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
        • That'll teach me to read a bit more closely while answering phones at work... sorry... :) Dismas|^(talk) 22:59, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

define: health and safety act

• See Occupational Safety and Health Act
  • Which country did you want this defined for? --Commander Keane 11:34, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Woodepcker Finch Information Needed

I was given a homework assignment that involves research on Darwin's Finches. I have chosen the woodpecker Finch. Surprisingly, I am having a relative amount of difficulty finding which island in the Galapagos this bird is mostly found on. If you know the answer to this, please help me out.

I'm also wondering about some information on the general structure of a woodepecker finch that may make him different from other finches. I would much appreciate your help here, too. I am not looking for details, I just need a little help to get started.

Regards, -Connor

• Connor

We don't yet have an article on the Woodpecker finch. However, our Darwin's finches article looks at the finches of the Galapagos. The Beak of the Finch (ISBN 0679400036) looks at the work of Peter and Rosemary Grant into changes in these finches. According to this article by Robert L Norton of Santa Fe Community College, the woodpecker finch is known for tool use see [39]. That should be enough to get you started. Good luck on your project. Capitalistroadster 13:20, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

PS. This site contains further info on Darwin's finches. [40]

Paris bank fire

Which is the bank mentioned in the Backup article : "A few years earlier (to 2001), during a fire at the headquarters of a major bank in Paris, system administrators ran into the burning building to rescue backup tapes because they didn't have offsite copies." ? Jay 14:01, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

In the last decade there have been two Paris bank fires. The Credit Lyonnais headquarters in 1996. And a fire at Banque de France in 1999, which I don't think anyone cared about. I can't verify the above anecdote. lots of issues | leave me a message 05:05, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Confirmed that the headquarters of the Lyonnais burnt on May 5, 2001, apparently arson. It is rumoured [41] that the disappearances of archives was intentional (the Lyonnais was, at the time, caught up in major scandals). The 1996 fire seems to be cited as an example of what should not be done on sites promoting data backups. David.Monniaux 16:18, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, Credit Lyonnais seems to be the one since it gave many Google hits on "fire" and "Credit Lyonnais". Got a case study for data backup using this fire incident as an example. Jay 07:55, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Applicatrion of Aloe Vera extract for eye problems

Is Aloe Vera extract useful as eye drops for eye problems? Will there be any side effects if it is instilled in the eyes? L.S.Dogra, New Delhi, India

• Our Aloe article doesn't mention it being used in such a way. I would suggest speaking to your doctor about the problems with your eyes so he can make suggestions. Seeing an optician is another option. Capitalistroadster 14:37, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
  • If this is a commercial product that you want to put in your eyes, I would at the very least read the instructions and disclaimers on the side of the package/tube/bottle/etc. to see if it says "do not take internally or put into eyes" or something to that effect. Also, as suggested, consulting a doctor would be a good idea. Many times you can just call your doctor's office and a nurse will let you know if what you have in mind is safe or not. Dismas|^(talk) 15:55, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
• Since most Aloe plants contain sterols and resins, according to our article, which are highly viscous oily substances, I would NOT recommend using them on your eyes. And I echo the recommendations of the previous two people. Asking a doctor or optician is your best option to solve eye problems. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:24, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

24th amendment

Did you have a question about the 24th Amendment of the United States Constitution? Dismas|^(talk) 16:15, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Shower Curtain

Why does a shower curtain tend to "lean in" during a shower instead of staying against the side of the tub?

Air currents. The hot water hits the bottom of the tub, the hot air wants to rise, it is easier for the air to go up along the outside of the curtain. Also, the colder air outside the shower is lower in pressure. The hot air in the shower is higher. Nature wants balance and so the high pressure air goes towards the lower pressure air. It's like if you open a door in an air conditioned building. The hot air outside comes in rather than the cold going out. Dismas|^(talk) 16:37, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

• Alternate view: I remember a few years ago someone did an scientific investigation of this, but I forget the details (you might try searching the BBC News website, where I think I saw it). The overall effect is very complex, involving the geometry of the room, etc., but at base it comes down to the Bernoulli effect: the falling water entrains the air surrounding it, causing an air current. The moving air causes a drop in pressure, sucking the curtain towards it. -- DrBob 16:44, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

debt shelf

(no question asked)

Did you have a question about "debt shelf"? Maybe this page will help you: http://www.investorwords.com/cgi-bin/getword.cgi?1329 . If not, try again, and ask an actual question. — Nowhither 20:47, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Seeking epigram by Martial

Greetings.

I am seeking an epigram, in Latin, authored by Martial, in which he &#151; in contrast with his usual pejorative portraits and nasty numbers &#151; comforts a friend whose daughter has died.

Thanking you, Grumpy Troll ^(talk) 17:45, 22 September 2005 (UTC).

There's 5.34, his epigram on the death of Erotion, who was (I believe) his six-year-old slave. 10.56 is an epitaph for the same person. There's also 7.96, on the death of his friend's infant son. Were you thinking of any of these? —Charles P. (Mirv) 19:22, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

List of artists with most gold and platinum albums

While researching Platinum selling artists, I noticed that Alice Cooper was not listed. Information obtained elsewhere indicated that Alice Cooper had seven Platinum albums and 2 Gold which would have placed above Whitney Houston on the list. Was Alice Cooper not included because some of the albums were with the Alice Cooper Group and some were solo?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kathy Brusseau

• According to the RIAA web site [42], Alice Cooper does have 7 platinum and 2 gold albums (none are listed as "Alice Cooper Group") which would outrank Whitney Houston for purposes of this list. (All eight of Houston's albums are certified platinum.) Regarding the list found at RIAA certification, I don't know if it was created systematically (i.e. some people could be left off). For example, Reba McEntire seems to have 23 gold and platinum albums, and she's not on the list either. Recommendation: edit the article if you know of other artists who outrank those on the list. --Metropolitan90 04:27, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

my favorite author

I was handed this site by a friend when I told him I would really like to know if my favorite author was still living. She hasn't put out a new book since 1998. I cannot find her on your site so here I am writing. Is horror/mystery writer Clare Mcnally still alive? And if so, how do I contact her and beg for a new book. I would really appriciate it if this could be answered. Also I would love to know where to get her out of print books. Can you help?

A google search doesn't immediately turn up a biography, unfortunately. You might try contacting her publishers to find out if you can write to her. If you look at her books listed at Amazon, some of them appear to be published by Tor Books. You should also be able to purchase most of her back catalogue from Amazon, or indeed many other online booksellers. --Robert Merkel 00:36, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Alexis: first of all this is a public website. Don't post personal information here, unless you want every spammer in the galaxy to send you exciting offers. Second, as R.M. suggests, just about any living author can be contacted through their publisher. I would just write to the author in care of the publisher. The publisher will know what to do with the letter. — Nowhither 00:39, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• Alexis,

I responded to your question on the Humanities section. Her Contemporary Authors Online article lists her address as c/o Author Mail, Tor Books, Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., 175 Fifth Ave., 14th Floor, New York, NY 10010. As stated there, I have requested the creation of an article on Clare McNally. Capitalistroadster 09:57, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

millinneals

what are they

Do you perhaps mean millennial? It's an adjective that means "related to an millennium"; it was often used in relation with the change of millenium we had in 2001 (in the gregorian calendar). --fvw* 22:46, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Or perhaps milliner which is the word for a person who designs, makes, trims, or sells women's hats. Dismas|^(talk) 22:49, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

I think you're probably looking for the so-called "millenial generation".--Pharos 01:49, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

apollo 11

collins, the man who had to do with appolo 11. what was his first name

Please see our article on Apollo 11. Dismas|^(talk) 22:42, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

Do you mean Michael Collins? You can find out more about apollo 11 at Apollo 11. --fvw* 22:43, 22 September 2005 (UTC)

People to People Student Ambassador Program

What exactly is the program(the webpage is kind of vague). My son received a letter from them a couple years ago and recently an e-mail. Is it a scam? If not is it worth the time to attend the meeting? Thanks. Falphin 00:02, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Falphin: PtP is not a scam. The person who sent the e-mail may be a scammer who is unaffiliated with PtP. I don't know what sort of meeting you are talking about, but if it is an informational meeting, then why not go? After all, you want information about them, don't you? — Nowhither 00:46, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I suppose, I should be a bit more descriptive. They send out the e-mail for the Student Ambassador Program. Afterwards, they send a letter(which they will probably in mid-October) out granting you an invite, which you must go online and type in the code. It will then give you the location of the place in the city. Whats odd, is that all the invite describes is that a teacher has picked your son and you could go to such and such place. This is the second time its happened. So a different teacher has picked him???? Its not like he's some extroardinary student, he does take the honors program but he doesn't get summa cum laude grades just magna cum laude or cum laude. That is part of the reason I suspicous and secondly when I tried e-mailing them about it the first time(the e-mail they suggested using) they never responded. But, maybe I should go. Falphin 01:41, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Falphin: That does sound like it might possibly be a scam. The problem with e-mailing is that you might just be e-mailing the scammers. I repeat that PtP is not a scam; what you need to do is communicate with someone whom you are sure is a representative of PtP. Why not look up a PtP phone number and call them? — Nowhither 22:57, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Website about a cashed cheque

About 5 years ago I remember reading a web page about this guy who was sent a sample cheque as part of some promotional addvertising thing. As a joke he tried to deposit the cheque and was amazed when it actually went through. He then ended up in a long legal wrangle lasting several with the bank or the company who sent him the cheque. I was just reminded of this for some reason and thouht I'd try to find the page again. but my efforts on Google have been in vain. Does anyone know the website, or have better Googling skills? Jooler 00:31, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Here? I found it by googling for "cashed advertising check bank". I remembered it was American, which was the key -- I started out looking for things with "cheque" to no avail. — mendel ☎ 01:19, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Patrick Combs. http://www.man1bank0.com/ Shimgray 11:59, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I just created Patrick Combs based on the above links. DES ^(talk) 16:51, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

winmx software

I want to know if winmx software is out of work??? for a time?? or for ever??? Thanks Raul

I hear that the developers may be relocating to a different country in an attempt to avoid US jurisdiction. For now, most sites are reporting that the WinMX network is indeed down, no one knows when it will be back, if ever. Search Google News for "winmx" for more information.--inks 06:51, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

You may want to try Shareaza as a replacement. WP 00:42, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

First President

Who was the first president under the Articles of Confederation?

See President of the Continental Congress. It was Samuel Huntington. The official title of the position at the time was President of the United States in Congress Assembled. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:35, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

It's also on the page for the Articles of Confederation. Dismas|^(talk) 01:43, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

El Salvador

Where did el salvador get it's name from?

The name means "The Saviour", and it was named that by Pedro de Alvarado. See History of El Salvador for more information. --fvw* 02:36, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

what is a hunter/gatherer?

See Hunter-gatherer. --fvw* 03:18, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Ireland

Why does Ireland have no forests?

What makes you say it doesn't? Have a look at this for some irish forest. --fvw* 04:18, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Ireland does have the least forest covered area of any European country, at just 8%. See Europe#Biodiversity for more. I couldn't say a definite reason for this, but my guess would be climate and human activity such as farming.

From Early history of Ireland: During the Bronze Age, the climate of Ireland deteriorated and extensive deforestation took place.

From Northern Ireland: The damp climate and extensive deforestation in the 16th and 17th centuries resulted in much of the region being covered in rich green grassland.

HTH akaDruid 08:21, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

In short, cuz they chopped'em all down! --Diderot 10:24, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

This is a point of much anger of the Irish as they accuse often attribute their lack of forests to the English deforesting the country during the 18th century in order to build their giant fleets of ships.

American cattle farm

what is the name of an american cattle farm?

• Ranch? - 131.211.210.12 08:25, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

We haven't to Moon yet.

Do men have landed on moon? Is Neil Armstrong the first landed on moon just a fiction? My counsin told me that men actually never went to moon, as he had heard it in a documentary programme (Discovery or NG, perhaps), is this true? Thanks

This is a common urban legend, started by a FOX documentary, but it can be easily refuted...see for example Bad Astronomy's page on the topic -- Ferkelparade π 08:40, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

And see the Wikipedia article, Apollo moon landing hoax accusations. Fredrik | talk 08:51, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

It precedes the FOX doxumentary, though they were responsible for giving it a new lease of life; it dates back to the early seventies, though the story has got more complex since. Shimgray 11:57, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

The conspiracy theory persists, and likely will persist, simply because no proof of a landing is suitable to the theorists' style of logic. Take, for example, the 2001 photos of the Apollo 15 landing site. A true conspiracy theorist, even if forced to admit that something man-made in fact landed there, will claim that it was an unmanned landing (generally not disputed). Even a manned return to an Apollo site, showing the physical evidence of previous footprints, will somehow be disputed—most likely by claiming that the then-current landings are also hoaxes. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 16:41, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Given how good Hollywood special effects are getting, any theorist can claim some stuff nver happened. There's no such thing as a hurricane, earthquake, 9/11, War in Iraq, that's all faked by the TV to sell advertising. But for those of us who watched when things happened, before Hollywood fakery got so good, we know what happened. There's a lot we wish did not happen, like the Holocaust, but it was real. Proving it to a non-believer is another matter. AlMac|^(talk) 04:43, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

If your cousin tells you "men actually never went to the moon", you probably shouldn't believe much else your cousin tells you. - Nunh-huh 06:11, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Personally I never had any interest in this conspiracy theory, some are interesting to delve into, but with being first on the moon being such a propaganda victory in the space race, if anyone was going to question the landings it would have started immediately with the Soviets. They believed it, and they had a lot of technology watching it no doubt, so this theory immediately falls down - if the people with most to gain debating it, and probably the largest amount of third party data of the event dont even both to raise the question, why spend any time on it. Sfnhltb 12:32, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Cats throwing up

My cat throws up all the time after he eats. I have tried changing his food, water and etc. I have taken the cat to the vet but they don't know for sure what the problem is. Can you please help me out?

To a certain extent, this is normal cat behaviour and part of the digestive process. However, if your cat really throws up daily, it is definitely a good idea to see the vet (this might be caused by worms, infections of the digestive tract, or some serious illness). Did your vet offer any ideas as to what might be the cause, or was he completely stumped? In the latter case, you might consider seeing another vet :P Ferkelparade π 10:49, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• We call it "scarf and barf". Some cats seem absolutely certain that ever bowl of food ever presented to them will most definately be the last food they ever see, and what is more, someone else might get some of it before they are sated. So they eat as much as possible as fast as possible. Not a very effective strategy, I think. Generally, our dog takes care of any problem it causes. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 23:34, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
  • If this is the case, would it make any sense to recommend serving many well-spaced-out and very small portions rather than leaving food out or serving large portions? - Nunh-huh 06:09, 24 September 2005 (UTC)
    • Well, actually, it mostly happens if we've been a few hours late filling the food bowls. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 05:38, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
• This may not help much, but my family has had several cats who were unable to eat any cat food with beef in it, vomiting every time the ate it. A vet informed us that this was due to an allergy to the red dye used. Just a suggestion.Brian Schlosser42 19:11, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
• Some vomiting is normal behavior for cats, but throwing up after every meal sounds excessive to me. There may be a problem with a food allergy; have you tried food with less common ingredients like lamb? A cat may throw up if it has a hairball developing in its digestive tract: there are several medications on the market that essentially lubricate the hairball and allow it to pass through. Some cats suffer from a sort of irritable bowel syndrome that causes repeated vomiting and diarrhea, and may often be controlled with steroids like prednisone. If the cat really is vomiting after every meal, I strongly urge a visit to the vet to rule out some of the more serious disorders. Joyous (talk) 19:20, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Job Ad

Im trying to find out what exactly is included in a Job Ad and as non of the other search engines work i was wondering if you could.. thanks

• A job advertisment needs to include the title of the post, the location and hours of work, whether it is permanent or temporary, the prerequisites for the post, and details of how to apply for it. They often include the salary, some brief information about the company, a job reference code, and a fuller description of the post. Warofdreams talk 15:13, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Name of a Post Mistress

According to the 1920 U. S. census, Ida Allen was a post mistess, presumably at the Keohena Village post office on the Minominee Indian Reservation in Shawano County, Wisconsin. Her husband was Edgar A. Allen, Superintendent of U. S. Indian Schools there.

What was Ida's maiden name? I need the information for completion of a family tree.

You are not likely to find the answer here. There are many geneology sites on the Web. I would suggest finding one with a discussion group (or just go to Google Groups?) and ask your question there. — Nowhither 23:02, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

John J. Rambo

What's his second name? Jay? James? When/Where is it mentioned. thnx -- Cherubino 15:12, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• Our Rambo article does not provide any info. A Google search and IMDB confirms that his middle name appears to be J. see [43]. Harry S. Truman's middle initial was S. in a similar fashion. Capitalistroadster 10:05, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

length and breadth of WTC

What was the length and breadth of the twin towers of the World_Trade_Center ? Jay 15:06, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

This image from our article World Trade Center has the dimensions. Each building was square in plan (looking down), with the shorter one's dimesions: 208 ft x 208 ft x 1362 feet. In metric 63.4 m x 63.4 m x 416.1 metres. Is that what you wanted? --Commander Keane 16:32, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, thats what I wanted. I've added this detail in the article assuming that the dimensions are the same for both the towers. I had been wondering if the Boeing 767 (length: 48.5m, wingspan: 47.6m) would have been fully contained in the towers. Jay 07:03, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

baseball

Why is David Ortiz of the boston red socks nicknamed "Big Papi"?

• According to our article on David Ortiz, fans have given the title due to his size and his hitting ability. Capitalistroadster 10:10, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

British Boxing

Hello,

I have been trying to locate film footage of a boxing match held in briminghan great britan sept 19 1955 Randy Turpin vs Polly Smith can you help me fostine

If it's professional footage you're seeking, have you tried contacting the National film and television archive? --Robert Merkel 12:43, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

String

How long is a piece of string?? Thanks

Twice as long as half its length. Everybody knows that. DJ Clayworth 15:55, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

200cm, or 2 meters. Ojw 17:45, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Actually, if you really think way outside the box, the question makes some sense. What are the approximate measurements of a strand, piece, length, and coil of string, on average? Superm401 | Talk 23:08, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

cable length?

WikipediA Globe

What do the symbols on the globe mean? A friend of mine think they are related to witch craft. I think they look like the Greek alphabet.

Thank you. flutem3

It has absolutely nothing to do with witchcraft: your friend should move to the 18th century. Each jigsaw piece in the globe contains a letter from one a world alphabet. You can see a W, to the left of it is the Greek alphabet omega, below it is the Cyrillic alphabet y, and below that is the Hebrew alphabet resh (r). I'm sure other contributors can tell us what the others are. --Gareth Hughes 16:31, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Agreed, there's nothing withcraft about it, they're just characters from a lot of languages. There's two characters in the Devanāgarī script in the middle left of the logo. A number of languages including Hindi, Sanskrit, and Nepali are written using Devanāgarī. Incidentally, the characters (व and ि) are v/w and i sounds in Hindi respectively, but that i character either requires another character after it to be the one the i sound goes with, or it should have gone in front of the व to be the i sound for it, as in (वि). So the Devanāgarī example is not a complete word or sound, or at least not correct. I guess that fits into the overall logo scheme of being unfinished and in the process of being built. See here for probably a better explanation of the order ing issue than I've given. - Taxman ^Talk 17:31, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

The Japanese Kana characters つクイ seem to adorn the top of the globe. Grumpy Troll ^(talk) 17:55, 23 September 2005 (UTC).

That would likely be ウィ, for the "Wi" sound. Though it does look more like ワィ to me, might be an older transliteration. --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 01:14, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

No, don't listen to them, it's actually witchcraft. The "Wik" in the title is actually pronounced "Witch", as in "Witchipedia". No kidding. just kidding. --Fastfission 22:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Wait, are you telling me this has nothing to do with Wikka? Man, that's no fun. I'm outta here. Superm401 | Talk 23:09, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

flutem3: People who practice witchcraft, or think they do, are free to use whatever symbols they want. Some of them might use symbols on the Wikipedia globe logo. However, that is not why the symbols are there. They are simply letters from various alphabets. I would guess that your friend thinks the term "Wiki" is related to "Wicca". If so, he/she is incorrect. See the "History" section of Wikipedia's Wiki article for more on this issue. — Nowhither 23:09, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Hello to everyone,

Thank you very much for your answers. I sent them on. I did not realize this forum existed so I am glad to find it.

Once again, many thanks.

flutem3

Audio from cassette to computer

What's a good way to transfer audio from some ancient audio cassette tapes (remember those?) to my computer? TresÁrboles 16:40, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Get a stereo coupling cable (the 1/4" plug on each end) and run it from a speaker out or headphone jack on the cassette player to the line in (or microphone, in a pinch) jack on the computer. Fire up a recording program on the computer, press play on the cassette, and go!

There's also a product called "PlusDeck" that's a cassette deck for a computer, but that seems overly excessive to me. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 16:45, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

For software, try using Audacity which should run on most computer. Press record on the computer, play on the casette drive, and let the tape play for it's whole 72-minutes. You should then be able to see the silent sections between songs by looking at the waveform that was recorded. Select each individual song, and choose "export selection as MP3" or "export selection as OGG" to save each song. (assuming your audio casette is organised into songs...) Ojw 17:42, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks to all! This is actually not for music but for language tapes I have. TresÁrboles 21:09, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

electrolytes

i have to many electrolytes in my body my doc said i neeed to some remove them from my body how do i do this? thank you upset

Call your doctor back and ask him to clarify specifically what he wants you to do. As you've presented it, it isn't clear: "too many electrolytes" is not a common medical diagnosis, and there's not much anyone can do when instructed to remove electrolytes from their body. - Nunh-huh 18:11, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

winning

what sport uses the phrase "Winning hands down"?

• I think it probably comes poker, but the term is used generally and not just for one specific sport or game. It's also used in other contexts as well, like for a decisive election.--Pharos 19:27, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Horse racing. See [44]

DERIVATION: The jockey does not have to use the whip because the rider is so far ahead of the rest of the horses.

I should know because I missed it in a quiz just the other week :-( Tintin 19:40, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

the degree of a poet

(No question asked)

Did you have a question? — Nowhither 23:15, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

100,000 Deutsche Mark note

Hello,

A friend of the family had served in Germany during WW2. How he came into possession of this Deutsche Mark note is unknown, but he thought it extremely valuable. He brought it home and often said if times got financially tough, he would redeem the note. He died recently and the relatives were handling his last possessions and found the note tucked away. It is damaged considerably,but the writing is still fairly legible. One side of the bill has 100,000 centered on it. in the lower part of the frame is a large A. The other side has the words KREIS KEMPEN centered at the top, with HUNDERD TOUSEND written in the middle section. At the bottom are the words Kempen Rh den 1 Aug 1923

We suspicion that he saw this as valuable in ways other than sentimental, but only an expert can clarify it at this point. Anything you can do to help with this will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Bob G. Stidham
bham@crosstel.net

• I don't know much about this, but when you said Germany and 1923, I thought of hyperinflation. Sure enough, 1923 was the year of hyperinflation in Germany. This happened partly because the government, instead of collecting taxes, printed banknotes instead. By mid-1923, people were being paid 3 times a day, and rushing to the shops before their money became valueless. In November 1923, new Marks were issued. 1,000,000,000,000 old marks equalled one new mark. It's a very interesting period in history, but your note probably has historical interest rather than money value. I researched this on http://www.usagold.com/GermanNightmare.html, a very interesting page. Hyperinflation was not confined to Germany. According to Hyperinflation, a 100,000,000,000,000,000,000 Pengő note was issued in Hungary in 1946. Old banknotes do have some value to collectors, though they tend to be very fussy about condition. Notinasnaid 21:21, 23 September 2005 (UTC)
  • It is unlikely that the note could be "redeemed". The government that issued that note no longer exists. After World War II, the Government of Germany was disbanded, and two new governments were later created to govern the country: the Federal Republic of Germany, and the German Democratic Republic, which no longer exists. The former Reichsmark, which you have, was replaced by the Bundesmark in the West (FRG) and the Ostmark in the east (GDR). The Government of FRG is under no obligation to "redeem" old banknotes. As Notinasnaid suggests, you may be able to get something for it on the collectors' market, if it is in excellent condition. Ground Zero | t 21:41, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

If you take a look at our article on Papiermark (which was replaced by the Rentenmark in November 1923 and then the Reichsmark in 1924 and then the Deutsche Mark in 1948), you'll see that there is a copy of a 500 million mark note there. The Papiermark was, by August, in a state of horrible hyperinflation, and had denominations which went up to one trillion marks. I'm not sure a 100,000 mark note is worth much in a literal sense. Any value it would be would be to collectors; a quick search for marks on eBay doesn't have them going for very much. This wouldn't be very surprising, since one of the main reasons for the hyperinflation is that the currency was vastly overproduced. --Fastfission 22:36, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• What you have is piece of "notgeld" (emergency money) issued by the local authorities in Kempen in the Rhineland - I suppose "county" would be a reasonable translation of "Kreis". A great many local authorities issued notgeld during the hyperinflation period, and the notes usually have an expiration date of about a year after they were issued, so even if they hadn't lost virtually all their value in September-November 1923, it would have no value now. In any case, as Fastfission says, it's not in Deutsche Marks, which were only issued between 1948 and 2001 and which are the only German money which can be converted into current money (about DM1.95 to 1 euro). -- Arwel 14:17, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Cost of bread

How much was a loaf of bread in 1946?

It varied greatly from place to place, just as prices do now. You could start by telling us what country or city you want to know the prices in. — Nowhither 23:14, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

However, this article says some interesting things about national bread and rationing in the United Kingdom in 1946. It suggests that 6d. was the price outside of London atfrom July onwards. In the United States of America, bread cost ten cents accordng to this site. --Gareth Hughes 23:23, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

seeking condoms

I am coming to you via your web pages on condoms and an email from Kat Walsh at your "Wikimedia Foundation" who suggested I ask you for assistance.

I am traveling to Cuba and, among other medical and public health item, am seeking a large number of condoms. I am seeking contact information on whomever it is I might best contact in this quest.

Can you help me??

thanks, richardbell

[email removed]

• Why don't you try contacting an organization like Planned Parenthood?--Pharos 21:36, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• • You don't mention what country you live in. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:58, 30 September 2005 (UTC)

Web Standards

I am creating an internal set of standards for web authors at work. This is a newly created decentralized model. A couple of examples are below:

Ø Underlining – Should never be used unless it is a hyperlink. Best practices dictate that underlined items are always a hyperlink

Ø No text to read “Click here” – Visually impaired end users (section 508) use readers to navigate. These readers leave a visually impaired end user at a disadvantage when there is no call to action. Authors should name the link or at the very least use verbiage such as “Learn more”

I would appreciate any additional thoughts on this subject.

Again, these are standards and not guidelines.

Thank you

Tim CB

It may seem obvious, but read there's the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from W3C. Ojw 22:02, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Tim: I don't know much about this, but I do know that your "underlining" guideline is not a good idea. Web links are generally underlined not because the website designer wants them that way, but because the user's browser is configured that way. If you simply mark links as links and let the user's personal preferences determine underlining, then you are letting users have their way. To do otherwise simply antagonizes them. — Nowhither 23:18, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Note that he didn't say "hyperlinks are always underlined"; he said "underlines are always hyperlinks". Even if your user doesn't choose to have hyperlinks displayed by underlining, it's a common practice for them to be displayed that way - so avoiding underlining for non-hyperlinks, regardless, can help avoid confusion... Shimgray 23:32, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I suppose that's true. But to my thinking, he certainly implied that these standards involved formatting of links. I'm all for users getting control of their own displays in such matters. One way is simply to mark links as links and let the browser figure out how to format them. Another is the Wikipedia method of allowing user preferences. Both are fine. A website designer deciding that links should be underlined, is not fine. — Nowhither 11:30, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

If you say underline always means a hyperlink and the browser determines how to display links, that removes the possibility of ever using underlines. That seems unnecessarily restrictive. DJ Clayworth 16:57, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Film director

Can you help me to locate some address of a NY film director named Jack Baxter. try to e-mail me at <e-mail removed>

Sincerely eric kramer

Eric, we answer questions here, not by e-mail. And this is a public website. Don't post your e-mail address here unless you really like spam. In any case, I don't know how to help you; perhaps someone else will. — Nowhither 23:13, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

According to the website for last year's Hamptons International Film Festival, the contact information for the film Blues by the Beach, which Baxter produced, is:

Pax Americana Productions, LLC

231 W. 29th St., Suite #1001

New York, N.Y. 10001

tel #: (212) 279-3339

email: jackbax at earthlink dot net

contacts: Jack Baxter and Fran Strauss-Baxter

I agree with Nowhither about spam, so I changed the email address to hide it from the bots; obviously, you should replace "at" and "dot" with the symbols. JamesMLane 06:50, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

levitation

how does criss angel levitate?

That is most likely a jealously guarded secret. However, to "levitate" in a live, public performance, one needs to be supported by something. Typically, there are two options:

Thin wires

These work especially well if they are used against a background with the same color as the wires.

Something rigid

This must be connected to the ground somehow. Usually some sort of misdirection is used, so that you don't notice that, say, the magician's foot is always in contact with a wall. Alternatively, a cover may be draped over the person to be levitated; this hides the rigid supports.

On the other hand, to "levitate" on T.V. or film is an easy special effect requiring no supports at all.

— Nowhither 23:32, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I think he may have meant Christ Angel. Superm401 | Talk 06:55, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

It seems rather more likely that he meant Criss Angel. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:39, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

cities in Louisana

It is hard to answer when there is not a question, but I might suggest List of cities, towns, and villages in Louisiana. Gentgeen 22:53, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Canadian political units

Why doesn't Canada make the Territories in the north Provinces? Is there a geographical reason these are territories or is the reason something else?

Take a look at our fine article on Provinces and territories of Canada, and the individual articles on Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory. I believe that the Northwest Territories originally included most of the prairie provinces of Canada. The territories are what remains of the more sparsely populated regions of the north of the country. As populations expanded in the south, new provinces were formed. --Gareth Hughes 23:49, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

The important difference between a province and a territory is that a territory is under the control of the federal government, while provinces have constitutional powers and autonomy. In recent years the territories have been granted most of the powers of provinces, however it is not practical to have a full provincial bureaucracy for territories with only a few thousand people. The cost of providing services to a scattered population in harsh conditions is also too great the be handled by only the local government. Thus most services are jointly administered by the federal and provincial governments, and some areas like natural resources are fully controlled by the feds. As Gareth mentioned as populations grew in other parts of the territories it did become possible for them to become provinces, but the current three territories have seen little growth and are unlikely to become full provinces anytime soon. The creation of a new province would also require that a constitutional amendment. - SimonP 01:40, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Airplane Pressurization

Why do you feel pressure in your ears on a plane when the plane is pressurized.

Airplanes are only pressurized to a certain altitude. So you may be flying at 35,000 ft. but the plane is actually pressurized to feel like 5,000 for instance. Dismas|^(talk) 23:59, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

See Environmental Control System#Pressurization. --cesarb 00:13, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Stamp Price

What was the price of a first class stamp in 1974?_{(I think, though I'm not sure, that 172.149.8.51 wants to know the answer to this. Superm401 | Talk 00:05, 24 September 2005 (UTC))}

According to this site, from 1 Jan 1974 to 2 Mar 1974 the cost was 8 cents per 1 oz; from 3 Mar 1974 to 12 Dec 1974 it would have been 10 cents. - Nunh-huh 00:14, 24 September 2005 (UTC) (Insert usual caveat about this being true in America only here.... )

In Britain, the rate for letters up to 20g was 3.5 pence at the start of the year, and increased to 4.5 pence in July and 7 pence in 1975. -- Arwel 14:29, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

looking for a definition

I would like to what "practice" means ,according to some people it is the highest form of knowledge, of course the lowest is " assumption" your thoughts thank you

Try wikt:practice; it sounds, though, like you're discussing the difference in applied vs theoretical knowledge (which isn't generally a default meaning of "practice", though applied knowledge can be thought of as that which has been put into practice). — Lomn | Talk / RfC 03:51, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Vehicle registration plates / car number plates / license plates

What is the common name (in various countries) for the government-issued plates (alphanumeric) affixed to the rear (and occasionally the front) of a car? In North America, they're usually called "license plates", but what is the most common name in the UK, Australia, India, etc. ?

The reason I ask is because of the wild inconsistency in nomenclature in the articles included in Category:License plates. It would be nice to standardize these. -- Curps 01:49, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

I can only speak for the UK, where the most common term is "number plate", as given Category:License plates. --A bit iffy 08:10, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Similarly, in Australia it's mostly "number plate" or occasionally "registration plate", usually shortened to "rego plate" in that case. --Robert Merkel 00:20, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Shepherd Smith of Fox News

I have checked on many search entries and can not find a age for Shepherd Smith, the reporter on Fox News. I'd like to know his birthdate. I have enjoyed many of your bios and would appreciate having one on one of my favorite newscasters.

He is either 40 or 41. I can't find an exact date of birth. lots of issues | leave me a message 10:08, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

• I will add him to Requested Articles. Capitalistroadster 10:19, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

According to imdb, Shepard Smith (note the spelling) was born 14 January 1964. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:03, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

How much do flamethrowers weigh?

How much does a flamethrower weigh? The Wikipedia article contains information about volume and dimensions, but not weight. Weird question, I know - please just humor me. Thanks. --Brasswatchman 05:48, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

I am guessing it might be related to how much unburned fuel is in it. AlMac|^(talk) 18:51, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Point taken. Okay - how about the weight of a flamethrower when it's completely empty (i.e. just the basic equipment, without fuel)? Thanks. --Brasswatchman 20:00, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Ulp. Managed to find the answer to my own question. Anyone who's interested can click here. Thanks. --Brasswatchman 20:03, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

A google for "flamethrower weight" finds this page, with a variety in the 30 pound range. This says an M1A1 weighted 70 pounds; presumably the difference is the weight of the fuel. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:06, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

It seems like most of the sources said 20-30 kg, which is quite different from pounds. Superm401 | Talk 07:01, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

does north korea have sattelite?

The Taepodong-1 supposedly launched the Kwangmyongsong satellite in 1998, but most outsiders think that the third stage of the rocket failed and the satellite wasn't properly delivered to orbit. There has been no similar North Korean launch since then.--Pharos 06:48, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Why's Rita only the 17th named storm while R is 18th letter?

According to Hurricane Rita, "Hurricane Rita is the 17th named storm". I thought they named them in alphabetic order, so surely the 17th should beqin with a "Q". Why not? --A bit iffy 06:50, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

There aren't enough names beginning with the letter "Q", so it was skipped. Same with X, Y and Z. User:Zoe|^(talk) 07:11, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Because they use 6 year cycles for hurricanes (3 each for male and female) and have difficulty finding 3 names of both male and female that are easily pronouncable in all North and South American languages. Additionally, if one of these Q-named storms caused significant damage, its name would be retired and they would have to find yet ANOTHER Q-name that fit the above criteria. more info -Drdisque 07:14, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, you two. --A bit iffy 08:23, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Fictional IP addresses

In the US, the 555 number is set aside for phone numbers. Are Private IP addresses equivalent for IPs?--84.51.149.80 07:01, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

IP's that start with 127 can generally be used for this since they refer to objects on the local machine or network. -Drdisque 07:17, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

While you certainly *could* use a 127.* address for this purpose, I can't recall an occasion in a Hollywood movie where an actual IP address was displayed recognisably. In the case of domain names, if a fictional website is a plot point, the producers will often register the website and provide (often disguised) promotional material for the movie on it. For instance, http://www.lacunainc.com was created by the producers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. --Robert Merkel 09:01, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Though note the example of katie.com - where someone produced a book with the title of the website, had the author give speaking tours under that "name", and then started making legal threats to get control of the domain from the woman who'd owned it five years! Shimgray 12:58, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

• If I recall correctly, one of the final scenes in The Net involves revealing an IP number wherein one of the numbers exceeds 255. Bovlb 09:09, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

In the movie The Net, they used an obviously fake IP address (it was something like 68.23.258.17) - since IP addresses are the dotted decimal equivalents of four 8 bit values, 258 is an impossible. (Well, it was obvious to *me* at any rate ;) ) →Raul654 09:11, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

192.0.2.0/24 (that is, the range from 192.0.2.0 to 192.0.2.255) is reserved for experimental use, and is commonly used in examples. —AlanBarrett 09:59, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

The source for the above info about 192...?--84.51.149.80 13:11, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

The source for that is RFC 3330. --cesarb 13:20, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

It says: 192.0.0.0/24 - This block, corresponding to the numerically lowest of

  the former Class C addresses, was initially and is still reserved by
  the IANA.  Given the present classless nature of the IP address
  space, the basis for the reservation no longer applies and addresses
  in this block are subject to future allocation to a Regional Internet
  Registry for assignment in the normal manner.

  192.0.2.0/24 - This block is assigned as "TEST-NET" for use in
  documentation and example code.  It is often used in conjunction with
  domain names example.com or example.net in vendor and protocol
  documentation.  Addresses within this block should not appear on the
  public Internet.

But what about the first entry? If I look up one, it says it's in Toronto, Canada. Also, what does the "/24" mean?

See CIDR. --cesarb 13:46, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

?--84.51.149.80 13:49, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

share holding ,(policies and controlling)

HOW AN OWNER WITH LESS NUMBER OF SHARES CAN CONTROL THE COMPANY EFFECTIVELY ADMIST SHARE HOLDERS HAVING LARGE NUMBER OF SHARES?--S.Muthukannan 09:28, 24 September 2005 (UTC)s.muthu

It depends on what you mean by "control". Shareholders in general are almost never involved in the day-to-day operations of a company. They (usually through the board of directors) hire people to run it for them. So that kind of day-to-day control is delegated. Skillful leaders who take companies in good directions are often given a relatively free hand by directors and stockholders.

If you mean controlling over the long term, there are many ways. For example, if a lot of non-voting stock has been issued, then this "owner" (your terminology) might have a majority of the voting shares. Or he might have allies who, together with him, own a majority of the shares. Or he might simply be able to take advantage of the fact that many shareholders don't pay much attention to the companies they own stock in.

— Nowhither 11:39, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Constructive dismissal

What is considered constructive dismissal in Canada

This is really the sort of question that needs to be answered by a lawyer. The general concept of constructive dismissal is the same as anywhere, but if the answer to the question is in any way important to you, find a lawyer. DJ Clayworth 16:48, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Federal Buildings

Why did the government decided to put the Hurricane Center in the middle of a Hurricane prone area and the Severe Storms Lab in the middle of Tornado ally? Aren't they concerned about them being destroyed by a direct hit?

Would you put a science building dedicated to studying the ocean in the middle of Kansas? In other words, they're put there because what they're studying is actually taking place there.Dismas|^(talk) 18:28, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

what is the population of athens, greece?

^{From Wikipedia's own Athens article:}
Athens has a population of about 5 million representing around the 45% of the total population of Greece. Grumpy Troll ^(talk) 16:07, 24 September 2005 (UTC).

who owns boston globe newspaper?

^{From Wikipedia's own The Boston Globe article:}
"The Globe is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The New York Times Company."

Nitro Humus

What is the chemecal make up of nitro humus?

The weight of the earth

Is it true that the Earth is getting heavier because more and more people are being born?

No. Regardless of whether your question is serious, the Earth can only gain mass if it gains matter from elsewhere in the universe. People being born only rearranges matter already on Earth. Superm401 | Talk 19:17, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

The earth is losing mass because of all the space junk we have been sending away for the last 50 years --Ballchef 12:22, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

If I had to guess, the earth is probably gaining mass at a near-constant rate due to mass influx from the solar wind. →Raul654 12:28, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

But negligible amounts, right? Superm401 | Talk 22:11, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

And then there's bits of atmosphere getting knocked off or just floating away by themselves. It's all negligable, but I don't know which is greater.

Anyway, you're all missing the essential point: The earth doesn't Weigh anything, it just has Mass. --fvw* 22:24, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Islam

Is Muslim the same as Islam?

Islam is a religion. A Muslim is one of its followers. --Heron 20:43, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

UK banking

Does anyone know of league tables of customer satisfaction for UK banks? --86.131.62.194 21:43, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

A somewhat oxymoronic concept... --Tagishsimon (talk)

Yes, but a good question. There are plenty of websites that compare the different banks, such as [45], but I doubt whether any actually compare customer satisfaction, as that would require a large unbiased survey. However, I suggest you take a look at the indexes for the magazine which I think is called Money Which? Shantavira 12:41, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Louis XIV

Who is that on the cover of the Louis XIV album The Best Little Secrets Are Kept?

A Google search turned up this link which says her name is Karen Miller. Dismas|^(talk) 03:15, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Collective Nouns

This isn't a search engine. In order to get a meaningful response, you should use a complete sentence to form a question. But you might want to try List of collective nouns. Dismas|^(talk) 03:11, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

who were the mayors of atlanta?

See our own List of mayors of Atlanta.--Pharos 03:40, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Airports in Ireland

See Category:Airports in Ireland. To get a more meaningful answer, please phrase your question in a complete sentence as this is not a search engine. Dismas|^(talk) 03:16, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Private Bank in London, England

Is there really a private bank in London called "Maerkt Baumann & Co. AG" or "MBC private bank"

Address is supposed to be at 54 Lombard St. London, UK. Tel #: (+44) 779 638 7085.

I received a letter asking money from me, I would like to know whether this is a scam or not.

Thank You

Ardie Jay

Almost certainly yes. Please see Advance fee fraud. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:22, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

According to many google sources, that is the address for the main office of "Barclay's Bank" -Drdisque 06:03, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

• Hm. Maerki Baumann & Co AG is a Swiss bank headquartered in Zurich. The first hit on a Google search for MBC private bank comes up with an operation in Nigeria. On the other hand, Maerki Baumann & Co is also known as MBC, and as a private banker. Regardless, Rick is right -- it sounds like advance fee fraud. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:12, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

• • In the UK, aren't Banks required to be Public limited companys? (i.e. a "private" company, by definition, can't be a bank) Ojw 10:39, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
    • A public company can be a "private bank". Private banking is just jargon for the provision of wealth management services to rich folk. CalJW 05:24, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
• 7796 is a mobile phone dialling code (see UK_telephone_numbering_plan#Nongeographic_numbering). I would be doubtful that a reputable bank would operate via a mobile! -- Arwel 19:03, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

• • It's an 02 code ... if someone felt like telling them about this they may disconnect that mobile number. Proto t c 13:42, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

• • I have received a letter asking for money from a different bank (Lloyds TSB) that directs me to the same phone number. Almost certainly a scam.

Financial Services abd Trust administrators

Is there really a company or organization dealing with financial services and administration of Trust called "Hallmark Fiduciary" in Amsterdam, Netherlands ? Tel#: +31 612773858

It appears that there are many organizations claiming providing these services, but could you find out if this were a scam or real?

Thank you.

rjdee

Looks like a scam. --anon

TANK

HELLO I AM CALLING FROM IRAN IHAVE SOME DESIGN ABUOT DEVELOPING TANK . CAN YOU HELP ME OR SENDING ME SOME ADRESSES TO CONTACT ANY TECHNOLOGIST IN YOUR COUNTRY ARMY THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Please do not post in all capital letters. On the chance that any of Wikipedia's editors are military design specialists, they probably wouldn't be too keen on sharing tech with you for fear of being hanged for treason… But you're free to glean whatever knowledge you may find from our article on tanks. Garrett Albright 10:07, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Web page background sound working in Firefox without plug-in

Please could a HTML hack show how to play a background sound, in a HTML page, which doesn't show player controls and which works in Firefox without the need for a plug-in? (It's a simple WAV file.) (And don't tell me "it annoys visitors", I know that, but this is an inside joke.) Thank you! --anon

I don't know if this works in Firefox or not, but the first thing I would try is:

            <embed src="path/to/file.wav" autoplay="true" width="0" height="0" hidden="true" />

Garrett Albright 16:57, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Coat of Arms

hello i am looking for the Schulz / Sinzig fammly coat of arms can you help me or point me to a place to look

Would this hasty search satisfy your query? Grumpy Troll ^(talk) 15:10, 25 September 2005 (UTC).

There is no such thing as a "family" coat of arms. Arms are awarded to individuals, and are inherited just like other pieces of property are. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:06, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

Rhyming words

What words rhyme with 'better' and 'letter'?

Setter. Shimgray 14:35, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Fetter, getter, jetter, Metter, netter, petter, tetter, wetter, and Yetter. Beretta also comes to mind. Grumpy Troll ^(talk) 15:08, 25 September 2005 (UTC).

Beretta rhymes only in non-rhotic accents, such as Received Pronunciation. Nelson Ricardo 18:18, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Also offsetter, forgetter, upsetter, regretter and probably many more. DJ Clayworth 16:43, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

SWF to GIF converter

Could someone please point me to software which could extract the images from a SWF (Flash) animation and make an animated GIF out of them? Thank you, --anon.

Searching for Eric Clapton Song

I am trying to locate the song "Where the Black Rose Grows" or something similar to that. It was sung by Eric Clapton and it was released before 1994.

It was released on his CD Back Home but that was released in 2005. The name of the song is "Black Rose", although Clapton didn't write it as far as I can tell. You can find the CD at Amazon Dismas|^(talk) 19:19, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Types of Utterances

Where can I find a list of all the types of utterances that would, for instance, include the terms and definitions for: oration, eulogy, exhortation, soliloquy, monologue, encomium, paean, and obloquy. - BUNI-San 19:24, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

A dictionary would do, but a Dictionary of Rhetoric might be better. Some of these links might help. - Nunh-huh 23:33, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Physical condition of William Sloane Coffin

Is Dr. Coffin alive or deceased. What is his condition if alive? If deceased, date of death? I am reading Credo now and wish to know. -- Howard Bell Personal information removed to avoid attention from spammers and their ilk.

According to our article at William Sloane Coffin, he's still alive. User:Zoe|^(talk) 21:28, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

NFL Football

What do some NFL quarterbacks move thier foot back and forth before the snap?

Exact meanings would vary by quarterback and offensive system, but it's most likely to alert players behind the line of scrimmage (such as running backs and some wide receivers) that the snap is imminent. — Lomn | Talk / RfC 12:47, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

It's also used to signal the beginning of a silent snap count. The players who see it (and the center) start counting to themselves in a fixed cadence once the leg motion begins, and then the center snaps the ball on the agreed-upon count. User:Zoe|^(talk) 01:08, 1 October 2005 (UTC)

Q-link

Moved from the Help Desk: Can anyone explain how Q-link works. As far as I am able to ascertain it seems to be an electronic method of remotely controlling devices such as DVDs and VCRs. The technical mnauls do not help because they assume prior knowledge? It may be a manufacturers name for somehting more generic. -- David Mottram

Panasonic's glossary has an explanation; it appears to be an digital control data link carried over a SCART cable, to make it easier for appliances to work together (for instance, sharing tuning data). Unfortunately, I suspect it's proprietary to Panasonic. --Robert Merkel

Baptist Church

Please send me details information on how the Baptist Church was founded in the world and who founded it?

There's no universally-accepted answer. Read our article on Baptist for more information.--Robert Merkel 06:53, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Winston Churchill Joke

This joke has been a favorite of mine for a long time:

A lady at a party goes up to Winston Churchill and tells him, "Sir, you are drunk." Churchill replies, "Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober."

I have always wondered - is this based on a true incident or is this a joke that was just made up using Churchill because he was always known for his genius and wit?

I don't know (I'm not sure it's provable), but the woman in question was (if memory serves) Bessie Braddock M.P. (about whom, I'm surprised to discover, there appears to be no wikipedia article). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:01, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

By the way, there's an entry for it on Wikiquote. Dismas|^(talk) 23:38, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

• I had always thought that it was Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor. Our article on her outlines other exchanges between Churchill and her. However, Wikiquote attributes the woman as Braddock and the BBC agrees. [46]. Capitalistroadster 10:38, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

• The Churchill Centre consider it to be Braddock - When encountered by Bessie Braddock MP with the famous "you're drunk" remark in 1946, his bodyguard, Ron Golding, was with him at the time, insisted that Churchill was not drunk, just tired and wobbly - hence his famous, devastating response. [47], for what that's worth. Shimgray | talk | 12:05, 26 September 2005 (UTC)
  • That said, their "Quotes and Stories" section also tells the story of "Up with which I will not put!", which is likely misattributed to WSC. So, hmm. 12:07, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Bessie Braddock