Humanities desk
< August 4	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	August 6 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

August 5[edit]

Crime victims[edit]

Among foreign visitors to the US, who is more likely to be victimized by crime: males or females? How about amongst foreign visitors to the EU? I know that amongst Americans, males are more likely to be victimized by violent crime, and females by sexual assault. I don't know how well this generalizes to tourists. --50.125.66.85 (talk) 03:01, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ed Freeman's wounds[edit]

Was Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freeman really wounded four times, as the Wikipedia article says (followed by an inline citation that doesn't confirm that assertion)? 202.155.85.18 (talk) 03:19, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's no mention of it in this interview. In fact, he states he was back at it the next morning. Also, the sentence was misleading in mentioning one "badly damaged Huey"; in the interview, he says "I went through three helicopters", so I've taken it all out. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Name of video art at Philadelphia Museum of Art[edit]

Hello. I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Philadelphia Museum of Art (wow!), but I can't recall the name of the piece or the artist's name of a video that was being shown there. It was this ten minute long, two piece collage/stop motion animation set up in the film/video room at the Museum. It was quite violent and featured a lot of hunting/American Revolution imagery. I've tried googling around, but couldn't find it. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! 74.69.117.101 (talk) 03:32, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Quickest thing you could do is probably just call the museum; they'll know for sure. Phone and email contacts here. 184.147.136.32 (talk) 11:34, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

interconnection between airline and network[edit]

During the 1990s I've flown on several United Airlines domestic flights. On just about every one of them, I'd watch NBC Newsmagazine in the Air, NBC Sports Skybox, and quite a few programs which were on NBC at the time. What type of interconnection did United Airlines and NBC have?142.255.103.121 (talk) 04:56, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sure a google news search will find you some articles on that, but having flown several airlines before it is the name of the aviation game to lock in a supplier be it jet fuel (which some airlines supply themselves), peanuts or news feeds. Which party is the one giving away the loss leader would have to be answered by a news source on the subject but I would guess NBC gave it away to United as a way to increase viewership loyalty and probably promote cross content ("Hey and don't miss our companion coverage this Tuesday on Dateline, check local listings!") its basically free advertising for NBC product lines with the most captive audience humanly possible (what else are you really gonna do for 2-3-5 hours?). If my theory holds the airline would have disincentives to go out and get a normal cable lineup in that NBC is willing to pay a lot to monopolize that captive audience as United's "official news source". Similar to how companies vie to slap the NFL logo on their product and be advertised at the stadium, exclusivity/monopoly with a captive audience that is ready and willing to buy (be it at a stadium all pumped up or homesick on a trans-con for hours looking for a way to remind themselves of a better place). But again for a definitive answer a google news search might assist best if such articles exist.^{Market St.⧏}_{⧐ Diamond Way} 05:12, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

These types of deals to provide inflight programming seem common. For example, see this press release in which United says they offer TV programming from "Australian Broadcasting Company, BBC, Deutsche Welle, NBC and TV5". 184.147.136.32 (talk) 11:41, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Alright. Does American Airlines have an interconnection with another network?142.255.103.121 (talk) 04:59, 9 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Monetary Policy In Australia[edit]

As an Aussie citizen looking to be enlightened, I was wondering, how monetary policy is being implemented currently (or over the recent years) in Australia? 220.233.20.37 (talk) 09:18, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See: Reserve Bank of Australia, Open Market Operations and monetary policy. The long and short of it is, the Reserve Bank buys and sells securities, (largely government bonds) to alter the money supply and thus the interest rate. It attempts to set the interest rate to achieve its inflation target of 2-3% as well as maintain full employment.Do you have a more specific question? 203.206.240.247 (talk) 11:11, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes I do. Please see next topic over 220.233.20.37 (talk) 11:38, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Your next topic is about fiscal policy, which is implemented by the government, whereas this topic is about monetary policy, which is implemented by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is independent of the government. If your question is how monetary policy has responded to recent economic and financial challenges (in concert with fiscal policy), you might refer to this article. Marco polo (talk) 14:43, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We should probably have an article Four pillars policy on Australia's policy regarding consumer and retail banking services. Australia uses the banks, and the RBA to synchronise Australian monetary policy. However, as as been shown in recent years the four banks do have an independent monetary policy on Interest Rates which amounts to more than merely profit taking through oligopoly. In general, as a medium sized vulnerable economy, which has suffered coups d'etat regarding banking supply (Lang, etc.); Australia has a policy of national capital and government working together to ensure the viability of the banking system internationally. YMMV: it is the bourgeoisie we had to have. Fifelfoo (talk) 00:46, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Implemented Fiscal Policy In Australia Post GFC[edit]

What did Australia, Post GFC, hope to gain from implementing fiscal stimuli such as the first-time home buyers grants and stamp duty discounts? Also, were their hopes of the fiscal stimuli achieved? 220.233.20.37 (talk) 12:27, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Australia was the only country in the OECD that did not go into recession or experience major shifts in any other economic indicators. That was what the stimulus measures were aimed at, and they clearly succeeded. References for this are abundant. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 12:31, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Help with referencing? I just need to be pointed in the right direction! 220.233.20.37 (talk) 12:44, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

^^ Thanks heaps man. 220.233.20.37 (talk) 13:26, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a story about the announcement of the Economic Stimulus Package in February 2009. And here's a 2013 assessment of the effectiveness of the package.

Btw, I was wrong about Australia being the only OECD country that avoided recession during the GFC. We were apparently one of only 3 advanced economies that managed to achieve this. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:50, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Names that end in -quist[edit]

How many family names are there that end in -quist?

Renquist
Lindquist
_________?

Sneazy (talk) 16:15, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Blomquist 81.156.237.98 (talk) 16:18, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And of course, Quist. "nickname for a thin man, from kvist ‘twig’." [1] Alansplodge (talk) 16:33, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

One more - Hillquist. Alansplodge (talk) 16:38, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

See https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=*quist.

—Wavelength (talk) 17:05, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It is very common in Sweden to compound two different nature words into a surname, such as renquist ("reindeer-twig"), lindquist ("linden-twig") or blomquist ("flower-twig"). See "Scandinavian family name etymology" and "Swedish name" for some more info. There are several dozen of them. Here are some more: Elmquist ("elm-twig"), Grönquist ("green-twig"), Hasselquist ("hazel-twig"), Ljungquist ("heather-twig"), Lundquist ("grove-twig"), Löfquist ("leaf-twig"), Malmquist ("ore-twig"), Palmquist ("palm-twig"), Pilquist ("willow-twig"), Ringquist ("ring-twig"), and Sundquist ("strait-twig"). Gabbe (talk) 17:50, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And don't forget Ventriloquist. I just had to say it before anyone else did, which was bound to happen sooner or later. Til Eulenspiegel /talk/ 19:47, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- Also Nyquist, which might get aliased as something else. --Trovatore (talk) 19:50, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Trawling through the Swedish Film Institute's database, there's also Ahlquist, Almquist, Apelquist, Bergquist, Billquist, Bjurquist, Björkquist, Boquist, Carlquist, Cederquist, Cronquist, Dahlquist, Edquist, Engquist, Enquist, Fallquist, Fernquist, Flodquist, Funkquist, Granquist, Hallquist, Hedquist, Hellquist, Holmquist, Kjellquist, Lagerquist, Landquist, Lejonquist, Liljequist, Nordquist, Rahmquist, Randquist, Rosenquist, Rundquist, Rönnquist, Sandquist, Sjöquist, Stjernquist, Strömquist, Söderquist, Thornquist, Thörnquist, Wingquist, Winquist, Yllequist, Zetterquist, and Ödquist. Gabbe (talk) 21:56, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The famous Jewish actor, Sol Iloquist? μηδείς (talk) 00:42, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Known for his monologues and one-liners...? Til Eulenspiegel /talk/ 01:07, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

And of course, the party hasn't really started until Bob Utraquist shows up with both bread and wine... Gabbe (talk) 08:27, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

As commented above, 'quist' is just a fancier version of 'kvist' (the common contemporary spelling in Swedish), so for each of the examples above, there are also variants with the spelling 'kvist', such as Edkvist, Bergkvist, etc.. --Soman (talk) 17:30, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's also "-qvist", like Henrik Lundqvist. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:57, 7 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Why are there more cats than seals?[edit]

1,510,000,000 vs 369,000,000! Horatio Snickers (talk) 20:19, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For the same reason that there are more microbes than there are humans. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:28, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I would assume that, under human cultivation and domestication, cats breed like rabbits for keeping as housepets or meat or fur. Sneazy (talk) 21:29, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Not enough Take-out curry restaurants?

Not to mention sockkittens and trollpussies. We have no way, given AGF, of calculating their real numbers. μηδείς (talk) 22:16, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

One way to think of it is that they're really all the same guy. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:33, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it's because cats are useful to humans, while seals are not (except perhaps dead and/or at Sea World). Historically, cats were useful to kill rodents which would otherwise endanger and contaminate the food stores, but they also found a way into people's hearts. (Seals may be cute, too, but do you really want to pet one ?) StuRat (talk) 22:12, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In a recent National Geographic, the subject of Bacteriophages came up. The article said they are "by far the most abundant organism on earth". 1.5 million cats? Ha! The article says there are more than 1 trillion bacteriophages - just in one average human body. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:33, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

That's 1.5 billion cats. Still chicken feed, admittedly. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:41, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

D'oh! I even read it as 1.5 billion and typed 1.5 million. Still, a mere blip compared to microbes. The NG blurb (which was part of an article about explorations) stated that there are more phages on earth than there are stars in the heavens - literally: That all the stars in the known universe are outnumbered by phages. Don't know where they got their numbers from, but it's not hard to believe. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:15, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comparing organisms of such vastly different scales is meaningless. Perhaps if you compared the number of viruses with the number of cat cells, you might get a more meaningful comparison, although cat cells are still far larger than a virus. StuRat (talk) 00:34, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Comparing cats with seals is likewise meaningless. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:01, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree. If you compare two mammals of a roughly similar size, and one is far more numerous than the other, then that does, indeed, require an explanation, whereas in the case of cats versus viruses no other explanation is needed than that they exist at a scale many orders of magnitude apart. Indeed, if the numbers did match in such a case, this would be astonishing. StuRat (talk) 08:31, 10 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's the fault of those damned cat herders doing too good a job. Clarityfiend (talk) 13:20, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You should fucking compare biomass. 163.202.48.126 (talk) 13:35, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You should not fucking swear here. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:21, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Amagama akhe ngamasimba. μηδείς (talk) 21:36, 6 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What? 163.202.48.125 (talk) 12:03, 7 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]