Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 March 25

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March 25

SSBSA degree

Does anybody know what SSBSA (and its not the Somerset Small Bore Shooting Association) stands for? It came up in a résumé the other day where the applicant stated they had, along with some others, an SSBSA degree. They received it from St. Lawrence College which given they went to Queen's University is probably St. Lawrence College, Ontario. I looked at the St. Lawrence site but didn't see anything. The degree may have some relationship to real estate. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 01:54, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

The applicant may mean Queens Australia in which case it make sense. Can't remember what SSBSA stands for but it is a degree. The applicant must have included a email address. If only for your own further edification contact him for more clarification. When writing a résumé one strives for brevity to get everything in and maybe the applicant assumed too much. If the applicant does come from the sunny, warm climes of Australia, may be worth considering why in the hell would he desire to work in Cambridge Bay? He may have a very good reason and which cold make him a good employee. It is a skill of really good employer to spot the right applicant out of all the other mediocre applicants that have all the right qualification... but not the drive. i.e. All show but no go.--Aspro (talk) 11:36, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Fearing I was falling in to the same bad habits of some other editors here, who just spout things off the top of their head … had a little google around. It is only one letter away from Senior Secondary Board of South Australia (SSBSA). Perhaps typographical error on the résumé. Don't guess -find out from the horse's mouth.--Aspro (talk) 11:59, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

What's the distinction between SSBSA (per the OP) and SSBSA (as you state above)? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:05, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

SSBSA is recognized by most as a degree, whilst SSABSA is not. It is the applicant’s responsibility, when there is doubt, to clarify things to the prospective employer's satisfaction. Which I assume is why CambridgeBayWeather is asking. Up in his neck-of-the-woods (or should that be tundra) these non- north American qualifications may make no sense at all. So, is it not natural for him to ask on WP for extra input. Think the very fact that Cambridge has asked at all, is because he knows how to read a résumé. That is not the issue. It is just that (I think) he has come across a qualification that does not ring all the right bells – so he is asking.--Aspro (talk) 13:01, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Where are you seeing SSABSA? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:04, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Don't know if you have ever heard of an online encyclopedia called Wikipedia? That has lots of articles about this, that, and everything. It even has an article South Australian Certificate of Education which mentions the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia (SSABSA) in the second paragraph!--Aspro (talk) 13:47, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the link and hence the clarification. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:57, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

(ec) Thanks. The SSABSA is the Senior Secondary Assessment Board of South Australia, the article is at South Australian Certificate of Education. The person is in Canada and it is the Queen's in Ontario they are talking about. Unfortunately, we can't/don't contact candidates prior to interviews. That is the résumé and cover letter must contain sufficient information, along with at least a Bachelor of Education degree (they had that), to make us want to interview them. We have had applicants from Australia, and several other countries, before but not this time. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 14:13, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

So, what is this "Queens Australia", Aspro? Do you mean Queensland? I'm not following this supposed Australian connection. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:25, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

As you should know better than I. An Aussie uses a lazy laid back vernacular dialect that is very similar to English. Assuming, that if he is an alumni of Queens, the whole ruddy world should know he is referring to Queen's because Australia is the center of the whole universe from his point of view. At least, that is the impression that Aussies give when they travel abroad. --Aspro (talk) 22:11, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Can you provide some evidence that there are actually many Australians, even self centred ones if you desire, who refer to the University of Queensland as Queen's University? Americans are often said to be self centred as well, but it doesn't mean they're likely to refer to New York as simply 'York'. Especially since so far the only Aussie here has found this odd, and we've already had a claim SSBSA is some sort of degree in Australia only for a later correction that it was SSABSA and did not award degrees (nor was really part of university except I guess a path to admittance), something which a quick search told at least some of us was likely the case before this correction was offered. Nil Einne (talk) 22:57, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Err. It was actually 'me' that pointed it out the difference between SSBSA & SSABSA if you have bothered read all the above. So don't see what your point is.--Aspro (talk) 00:05, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Maybe my response wasn't clear enough. I knew you were the one who offered the correction. As I said, I found out for myself that there was no common SSBSA degree associated with Australia before you offered the correction because a simple search told me this. (As it told me about the guy who works for SGI with the SSBSA job title [1].) A search you didn't do initially but instead relied on a memory which doesn't seem very reliable for things Australian.

The simple fact is you offered a nonsense claim, about SSBSA being a degree associated with Australia and only later corrected yourself on both points. Yes it's good you corrected yourself and relatively fast unlike certain other contributors, but the simple solution is not to make such claims without being extremely certain of your memory or double checking before you post.

More importantly, given you track record, it's entirely reasonably that we're reluctant to trust you when you claim that they abbreviate the University of Queensland to Queen's University. Especially since no one else including the only Australian here has ever heard of such a thing.

Note that no one ever said that people don't abbreviate except you. All that was said it we find Queens University an unlikely abbreviation of the UoQ. I'd note the first thing someone is likely to abbreviate is University anyway.

To give a related example, if someone told me they went to Universiti Kebangsaan Malay, I would have to question the likelihood they went to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia because it's simply not a common abbreviation. Similar to the way Malay is not a common abbreviation for Malaysia. M'sia on the other hand.... ("Malay" could be a typo, although more likely to be indicative the person doesn't really appreciate the difference. I'd note even a Malay nationalist isn't likely to abbreviate Malaysia to Malay.) Of course the most common abbreviation for Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is UKM. If greater clarity is needed I can imagine a bunch of things like "Uni Kebangsaan M'sia" or maybe even "Uni K'saan M'sia" or "Uni K'saan M'sia" (although no one else seems to have used either the later 2 on the Google search internet). But not Universiti Kebangsaan Malay or really anything with Malay in it.

Likewise I may say I went to UoA or Auckland Uni or Akld Uni or Akl U or a bunch or other things. Or yes even Auck Uni or Auck U and heck it seems a bunch of people even use Auck University. But if someone says they went to Aland University, I'm more likely to think they went to Åland University of Applied Sciences than the University of Auckland. And if someone says they went to "A'land University" or "A-land University" and they meant the UoA, I'm going to question the likelihood they actually went there because it's simply not a common abbreviation.

I mean sure no one can rule out some weird dude abbreviation it that way. It seems likely at least one reason why this question arose is because an uncommon abbreviation was used (although there's a far chance whatever it is is also a lot less common than the name of a university). But there reaches a point where you have to say that's so unlikely to be not worth considering. And even without seeing the resume or the clarification from CBW, we have to consider that this person would have to have not only abbreviated UoQ to Queen's Uni, they would have had to misspelled SSABSA to SSBSA and referred to a degree when the SSABSA doesn't award them.

Nil Einne (talk) 10:42, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes, I was once a student at the Uni of Queensland, and I've never heard it referred to as "Queens". Not even in common parlance, let alone on a CV. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:05, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Oh, so. When every other University post-students from all over the world abbreviate – you and your alumni alone, always give the full title of The University of Queensland, Australia. Oh come on... pull the other leg.--Aspro (talk) 00:29, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

I've never heard anybody (Australian or otherwise) abbreviate Queensland to "Queens". Alansplodge (talk) 00:52, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

UQ is the usual abbreviation, to my knowledge. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 06:04, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

And I'm guessing UQ would be understood by most Aussies, just as UoA is understood by most Kiwis and UKM is understood by most Malaysians; which further reinforces the point. A self-centred Aussie may talk about UQ expecting everyone to understand they're referring the the University of Queensland, even though it's perhaps reasonable people won't. There's no particular reason to expect them to use an abbreviation which will probably make most Aussies think they didn't actually go to university in Australia. Nil Einne (talk) 10:28, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

Not sure if this is the same thing, but I found "EDUCATION / TRAINING / CERTIFICATIONS: B.A.-B.PHE. / B.ED. / SSBSA 1976 / 1997 Queen’s University & St. Lawrence College Kingston, ON (definitely nothing to do with Queensland though). Alansplodge (talk) 23:46, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Also "Independent Real Estate Professional - Education - Queen's University B.A-B.PHE.-B.ED., PHE & Psychology - I also got a SSBSA Degree from St. Lawrence College". Possibly something to do with Social Science and Behavioural Science? Alansplodge (talk) 00:02, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

That's the candidate. I had seen the second while looking for the degree. Interesting that he is the only one that turns up. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 00:45, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Finding an article that lists mature topics/categories.

I was previously referencing an article here for ideas on what disallow from a forum (which sounds weird, I know). It contained a list of "mature" topics that were extremely specific, like "use of a sharp object to insert into another person" or something along those lines. While it was very detailed it was described in the most clean-english possible. Described vulgar acts without actually being vulgar. I was using it for an art section of the forum to define specifically is and isn't allowed. A year later and I cannot for the life of me find such an article again and never bookmarked it and it would be very helpful if anyone happened to know of such an article that had such examples. I already checked the Motion picture content rating system, Motion Picture Association of America film rating system, Entertainment Software Rating Board, and a few other pages on various rating systems hoping it was a part of those to no avail so it must be a more broad article on mature topics. Causticism (talk) 15:27, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

I'm having trouble understanding your question. You're looking for a Wikipedia article that had a list of mature topics? Like, different kinds of violence or sexual acts described using euphemistic language? Seems like an odd thing have an article on. List of euphemisms just redirects to euphemism. Do you recall if it was just a simple list, perhaps in a table, or was it an actual prose article? Maybe looking through our articles on euphemism and slang will trigger your memory. Matt Deres (talk) 00:21, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Hmm, sorry it's hard to explain. The article didn't have a table but a section that simply had comma-listed examples of what is and isn't considered mature for some sort of rating system. If I'm not mistaken it was a rating system for more "static artistic" works rather than motion pictures or video games. It did have euphemistic-like language but still very blunt and to the point. Causticism (talk) 05:17, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

For some bizarre reason, our ratings organizations are categorized into two groups: Category:Entertainment rating organizations and Category:Media content ratings systems. If what you saw was an article about a ratings system it should presumably be on one of these lists if it hasn't been deleted. If you do happen to find what you're looking for, I'd be interested in seeing which one it was. Matt Deres (talk) 12:36, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Potato question

What's the difference between a Salad Potato, a Baking Potato, White Potato, or a Baby Potato? Besides the price I mean. Are they all the same thing but just different sizes, or are they different species? — Preceding unsigned comment added by CyanDong (talk • contribs) 18:35, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

According to Potato, they are all the same species, and there are several thousand varieties within the species. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:04, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

The different varieties have different characteristics when boiled (or cooked in other ways). For example, some remain firm and waxy whilst others go "fluffy" and fall apart when overcooked. There are also differences in flavour. A cook or a potato expert could explain much more eloquently than I can. See here or here for more detail. Dbfirs 21:09, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Here is an article (with photos) describing the types and uses of some common American potato varieties (and some weird and colorful ones too) Rmhermen (talk) 23:00, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

• Having worked as a cooking the US NE, there are basically bakers and boilers. The TGIF restaurant chain used bakers to make fries, which surprised me. Russets are bakers, they don't crinkle up. Reds and whites are boilers. But this all seems very subjective, and I would read the various articles. In any case, My (Rusyn) mom makes red boilers for St. Patrick's and russets otherwise. She used to use whites to make whipped potatoes, but hasn't for about 30 years.μηδείς (talk) 04:44, 28 March 2017 (UTC)

Dora, Alabama

According to the Dora, Alabama article it is in Walker County, but according to the Walker County, Alabama article it is 'partly in Jefferson County' but this is not mentioned in the Jefferson County, Alabama article. The city website doesn't mention Jefferson County, but I have found www.allplaces.us/z/35062 which states it is in Jefferson County, can this be used as a valid source for the statement that the city is partly in Jefferson County ? Thanks GrahamHardy (talk) 23:43, 25 March 2017 (UTC)

Hard to know what the town's actual city limits are, but if you google Jefferson County, the town of Dora looks to be well outside of it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:03, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

The A Short History of Dora on the City of Dora Council website says that it is (or at least, was) "in East Walker County". Alansplodge (talk) 00:42, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

However, there is a County Line Rd, Dora which suggests that the boundary runs along the edge of the built-up area. Alansplodge (talk) 00:46, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Searches in Google Maps for cities or counties generally display their boundaries. Search for "walker county AL" and you will see Dora near the southwest side, about halfway between Interstate 22 and state highway 5. Now change the search to "Dora AL" and fix your eye on the city as the result displays. You will see the city shown entirely within Walker County. I presume Google Maps gets the boundaries from a reliable source, but it is always possible that the source is out of date. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 03:09, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

I sounds as if we should ignore www.allplaces.us then, or is it using the concept of a postal address (as sometimes in the UK)? GrahamHardy (talk) 13:44, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Ooh, you may be onto something there. If you do a Google Maps search on just plain 35062, which is the ZIP code for Dora, you get a larger area that does extend into Jefferson County. But normally when we speak of where a city is located, we mean its official city limits and not to postal addressing. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 06:37, 27 March 2017 (UTC)

• We run into this a LOT where people don't know the difference between postal address and city limits. I live near Garner, North Carolina, and constantly have to correct that article when someone adds Johnston County, North Carolina to it. The incorporated city lies entirely within Wake County, but some of the unincorporated areas of nearby Johnston County have Garner addresses. Those places are not in Garner however, they just have their mail delivered by a Garner post office. --Jayron32 14:49, 27 March 2017 (UTC)
  • Presumably because the Garner post office is closer? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:45, 27 March 2017 (UTC)
    • Not all towns have their own zip code. The unincorporated town I grew up in was in Gloucester County, NJ, but the zip was that of the next incorporated town over in Camden County. Our mail often came with the other town's name on it. (One benefit of this was we got free county library passes to the Camden County Library which was University-quality.) The sovereign municipality of which my unincorporated town was a part has at least three zip codes, all associated with other municipalities. The Post Office would not grant our municipality its own zip code because there are already five other town(ship)s with the same name in the state. Mail delivered to me at the Camden zip was inaccurate, but unambiguous, and mechanically sortable. Mail delivered to me with my township's name, but without a zip, might be routed to any of six counties in the state, and would require manual sorting. μηδείς (talk) 16:35, 27 March 2017 (UTC)
      • Of course, this sort of confusion doesn't happen in New England as much, where the New England town system has essentially the entire population covered by incorporated municipalities. --Jayron32 16:46, 27 March 2017 (UTC)
        • There was a plan to change the township's name so that the post office would build a main branch and give the municipality its own zip code, but several were proposed, and each was opposed by a majority, so nothing changed. There was an essay contest, and I suggested Mirkwood, and got honorable mention. Guess I should have gone with Imladris. μηδείς (talk) 02:55, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

(edit conflict)An extreme example is the county of Middlesex which no longer exists administratively but survives in postal addresses and sports club affiliations. Towns tend to be built on rivers and rivers tend to delineate county boundaries. Thus Caversham, a suburb of Reading in Berkshire, was in Oxfordshire until 1911. The promise of a new bridge over the Thames induced the residents to change allegiance. The Oxford suburb of Botley was in Berkshire until comparatively recently. Eton was in Buckinghamshire when its bridge over the Thames was shut. The bridge wasn't rebuilt until it had been moved into Berkshire. Postcodes can cater for areas in different countries - the Welsh Marches have an "SY" postcode which relates to Shrewsbury, which is in Shropshire, England. New Jersey/New York is another example. 86.169.56.176 (talk) 16:59, 27 March 2017 (UTC)