Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 December 16

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December 16

looking for a specific Judge Dredd comic

At some point in my youth, I read a single issue of Judge Dredd which was in a store. The story I cared about starred a woman recovering from amnesia who kept 'seeing' people's deaths before they happened; for example, she saw a nurse get her head scalped by a fire axe minutes before that exact same thing happened. She's being pursued by both a street gang and Judge Dredd, and slowly realizes that she's the leader of the gang, and Dredd wants them all dead. The gang finally picks her up and they escape with Dredd in hot pursuit.

She remembered her name at some point, and I can only remember that it included a middle name and reminded me of the name "Jenna Zan Arbor".

Does anyone know how the plot ended? And does anyone know the issue this took place in/the concluding edition? Finally, if you guys don't know, who could I ask? 68.111.165.176 (talk) 00:52, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

The site mycomicshop.com has brief plot descriptions of most Judge Dredd comics. 93.95.251.162 (talk) 16:23, 21 December 2011 (UTC) Martin.

Requesting the bill in a restaurant

What is the protocol for requesting the bill in a restaurant or café from a waiter other than your own? In larger places there are normally a number of waiters, each covering an area of the room. What if you want the bill, but the waiter who has been serving you is nowhere to be seen? Are you supposed to wait until he reappears, or is it OK to request the bill from another passing waiter who has not been serving you? And if you can, what is the passing waiter supposed to do?

• Tell you to wait for your own waiter and request it from him;
• Find your waiter and relay the request to him; or
• Bring you the bill himself? --Viennese Waltz 13:29, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I would imagine it depends on the restaurant, but as a general rule, you can ask anybody. What happens next is up to how they run the restaurant. They won't tell you to wait for your own waiter (unless the service is terrible), they will either bring you the bill or relay the request.--Jac16888 ^Talk 13:33, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

(ec) If you ask me it's absolutely okay to request the bill from whomever on the waiting staff who happens to be nearby, if your waiter is neglecting You then why wait? Although in some cases I'd just walk up to the bar or wherever and ask for the bill, and the staff would either ask me to wait for my waiter at my table or just find her while I wait, for the request to be processed directly at the bar. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:35, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

If you can't find your waiter, requesting from another waiter seems pretty normal to me. I've done it many times, anyways, and nobody has yet to give me any dirty looks. The only way I could consider this problematic was if for some reason the original waiter didn't get the tip you left, but that's between the waiters to sort out correctly, not you. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:05, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Also consider that it's in the restaurant's interest to get your money and get you out of there as quickly as possible, so they can put another paying person in your seat. Turnover is critical to the success of a restaurant. So, the management certainly won't mind. Your waiter might mind, because this points out that he's been neglecting you, but I wouldn't worry about that, it's too late for him to spit in your food at that point, and he probably won't remember you by your next visit, if there is one, and he's still employed there. StuRat (talk) 15:49, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

You might also want to consider restaurants where you pay before the meal, such as buffets and cafeterias, as that allows you to leave when you want. StuRat (talk) 15:51, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I think what country you are in might have a considerable effect on the answer. --ColinFine (talk) 18:06, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I've taken the approach described above both in my country as well as in others in Europe. Noticed no tangible differences. --Ouro (blah blah) 22:08, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

The thought that a waiter might spit in your food as a result of you slighting him/her for bad service is exactly the sort of reason why I avoid going to sit-down restaurants nowadays.--WaltCip (talk) 22:38, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

A waiter spitting in your food is something that simply does not happen in any even slightly decent place, even if there was a member of staff who was so inclined, there will be other staff who aren't going to stand for it, its not like they're going to sneak off to a cupboard to spit in your food. As someone with a great deal of experience from both sides, please allow me to explain to anyone reading this how you deal with a problem in a restaurant: You calmly get the attention of the nearest member of staff. You politely explain to them what your problem is, there is no need to shout, be rude, or make accusations (remember that any issue you have with them is hardly something they did maliciously, everybody makes mistakes, and if it is food related chances are it was the kitchens fault, not the waiters). Unless the restaurant has absolutely no interest in actually making money, said member of staff will then do everything in their power to make things right as soon as possible, unless of course you are an idiot and have decided to make a fuss because your fish is too pink (it was salmon). Should you find yourself in the rare situation where the waiter is not willing to help or is rude, remain calm and request to speak to their superior. Only if nobody is willing to fix the problem do you request the bill, minus the problem food if thats the case, and leave--Jac16888 ^Talk 23:33, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I've never worked in food service, but I would imagine that if by chance your original server didn't want, or wasn't able, to deal with you again for some reason regardless of tip, the person you asked (or else a bartender, cashier or manager) could bring and no doubt settle the bill. You really don't need to know if the reason for the original server's absence was a genuine personal emergency or a diplomatic excuse covering intense personal dislike. —— Shakescene (talk) 08:25, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

Some other thoughts:

1) Don't comment on the service: "My waiter is too slow in bringing my bill", comment on your need: "I need the bill so I can pay and get to the movie in time". This is less likely to upset them.

2) I have occasionally had a few problems requesting the bill. Busboys and those that refill water frequently don't speak any English. Another problem is that the person I ask then asks me who my waiter is. Unless they told me their name and I recall it, this leads to me trying to describe my waiter. The better restaurants seem to have waiters assigned by table range, but those which don't end up having to ask around until they figure out who my waiter is. (They do need to do this, because only my waiter has the info on what I've ordered, unless they trust me to tell them.)

3) I've often wondered about the legal implications. That is, how long are you legally required to wait for them to bring your bill until you can walk out without paying ? (Pick any jurisdiction you'd like if you want to answer.) StuRat (talk) 17:32, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

No idea what the law is, but you can walk out (after a reasonable time) but you will still owe them the money. Seems reasonable to require you to make a reasoanble effort to allow them to invoice you for the sum owed - perhaps leaving them your address so that they can post it to you.

In any case, in most restaurants I have been to (this may be a geographic thing), after I order the orders are kept centrally by table, so that if I want to add something to my order I can tell any waiter and not just one particular one, and if I want to pay the responsible person can also tally up the bill by retrieving the order from that central depository. In most restaurants this is on paper, but the more advanced ones use electronic systems. I thought this was done everywhere! --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 21:11, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Houston Post archives for 1959

Is there an online archive for the Houston Post for the year 1959? If so, can you post a link to it here? HurricaneFan25 — 16:25, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

From this Houston blogger:

They (the archives) are not available online at the Houston Chronicle. Here's an explanation from ombudsman James Campbell in his new blog at the Chron. At the bottom of the blog post, there is a list of where you can find archived Post material.

As mentioned, at the bottom of the page, there is a list, too extensive to copy here, of other ways you can get hold of them. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 20:01, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Fuzzy tree

I guess this may be one for US readers, but can anyone tell me what a fuzzy tree is, as in "I'm itchin' like a man on a fuzzy tree" from the Elvis Presley song? I recently created a disambiguation page on which I referenced an article from the New York Daily News which claims it could refer to a peach tree, but I'm led to believe that may be wrong? Can anyone help? Cheers. Paul MacDermott (talk) 16:29, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

1) Which Elvis song? 2) That link goes to a recipe that uses the phrase "fuzzy tree-ripened fruit", so there is no matching use of "fuzzy tree" there. --LarryMac | Talk 19:29, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

(The song is All Shook Up).--Shantavira|^{feed me} 19:41, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Could they be shoe trees, full of Blue Suede Shoes ? :-) StuRat (talk) 19:44, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

(EC)

1. All Shook Up (the full lyric being 'A well I bless my soul / What's wrong with me? / I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree / My friends say I'm actin wild as a bug / I'm in love / I'm all shook up / Mm mm oh, oh, yeah, yeah!')
2. I suspect that we will never know exactly which tree The King (or, rather, Otis Blackwell had in mind when he wrote this. However, my money's going on the Palm tree, mainly because it gives me a chance to link to this. Enjoy!
   

Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:49, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

(Accessibility edit) For anyone who can't/doesn't want to click the Youtube link, it's a video of Baloo from the Jungle Book itchin' like a man on a fuzzy tree, the tree in question being the aforementioned Arecaceae - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:55, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I see that NY Daily News article has been referenced elsewhere on the web, but the full sentence reads "Peaches can be found in December, of course, but they're no match for the [s]ummer specimen: blushing, juicy, slightly fuzzy tree-ripened fruits that range from a demure pale yellow to lascivious orange-red." A comma placed after "slightly fuzzy" would clarify the meaning and prevent the odd notion that this recipe page somehow supports the idea that a peach tree is a "fuzzy tree". --LarryMac | Talk 21:11, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, should have said which song it was. Yes, I am referring to All Shook Up. Incidentally I arrived at that link from a discussion elsewhere on the web, and the wording does leave it open to interpretation. Thanks for the Baloo link, by the way, I like it. :) Paul MacDermott (talk) 21:15, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

I suspect that the fuzzy tree is poison oak, poison ivy, or a tree that supports one of these two. Poison oak and poison ivy make you itch and two of their distinctive visual features are fuzzy bark and leaves.--Itinerant1 (talk) 21:41, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Hold on now, this is on the verge of some serious misinformation. Poison oak does not have fuzzy bark nor fuzzy leaves. The leaves can be shiny, if covered with oil, or dull, but they are not fuzzy. The vines/branches, devoid of leaves, are fairly nondescript stick-like things (well worth learning what they look like, but there's nothing I can say in a few words that's really going to help; you need to look up some pictures). --Trovatore (talk) 19:37, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

To be even more specific, Eastern poison oak would not be described as a "fuzzy tree" because it is a short shrub and it does not climb other trees like a vine, Pacific poison oak would have been unfamiliar to Elvis Presley (who grew up is Mississippi and Tennessee), so that leaves poison ivy. It climbs trees and its appearance is described as fuzzy rope.--Itinerant1 (talk) 23:00, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Most people don't itch the minute they touch poison ivy or poison oak. There is a latency period, typically. Edison (talk) 23:43, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

Maury Dean suggests the American Smoketree (Cotinus obovatus, syn. Rhus cotinoides), aka Venetian sumac: "Brimming with fuzzy, downy stuff, the poor fuzzy tree often suffers from local pyros whose lighters make it go POOF." Rock 'n' Roll: Gold Rush : A Singles Un-Encyclopedia, Algora Publishing, 2003, p 220, ISBN 9780875862071. ---Sluzzelin talk 03:24, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

How about poison sumac ? It's range is in the Eastern US, and it's somewhat "fuzzy": [1]. StuRat (talk) 17:21, 19 December 2011 (UTC)