Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/August 2005 II

Casting Director

I am looking for anything and everything related to the revenue that these firms generate, the profits that their partners take home, individual contract rates per production, anything that can give me a better sense of the yearly incomes of these people. Obviously, the top top Casting Directors make alot, but I don't know exactly how much. If one could provide this data (but not solely for the top directors), it is what I'm looking for.

Ideally, I would like percentiles/groupings (i.e. 2% of casting directors had revenues (or profits) in excess of x dollars a year) or some other way to gauge the comparative success of one casting director to another.

• Since nobody else has answered I'll give you my inexpert guess about how you might go about finding out this information. You would need to look at the specialist press, ie Variety Magazine or, better still, any trade magazine that Casting Directors buy (ie, there may well be a magazine called Casting Director, it seems like every profession has a trade magazine).

However, even then it's unlikely you'll get as detailed a breakdown as you're after. You'd probably need to get a report from a market research company (there's a big one in the UK called Mintel, you don't say which country you're in). Such reports are costly to produce, though, so tend to cost a lot to the purchaser.

A shortcut would be to make friends with a casting director and pump him for the information --bodnotbod 21:42, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

Assigning values to function keys

Ok, I know how to do this in unix like systems, but in Windows 2000 and XP how do I assign a text string to a function key so that it pastes in when I hit the key. It would really help in some editing situations. Microsoft.com was useless, as was the OS's help system. Thanks - Taxman ^Talk 22:10, August 3, 2005 (UTC)

There's a proprietary program called Regsoft that does it. I don't think it would be that hard to code a program that did the same thing. I can't do it myself, but I'm sure someone on Wikipedia can :) Hopefully, they'll release it as open-source. It would seem to be a simple matter of keeping a process running in the background and trapping some keystrokes. I could do it in JavaScript, but it would only work in your web browser and for the document that was running the script. Ahh.... Superm401 | Talk 22:27, August 3, 2005 (UTC)

So how do you do it in unix-like systems? Ojw 23:11, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

You can redefine keyboard scancodes in the registry. I've used this to disable keystrokes on kiosks before. Now that I've typed this response I see that it has nothing to do with your question, but I'll post it anyway. Nyahh. Rhobite 01:19, August 4, 2005 (UTC)

How do you make bales of hay?

How do you make bales of hay? I mean, what is the procedure that people use to dry up the grass, and roll them up? Certainly this is not done by hand. What is the machine used to do it? Why do they seem to be randomly spaced out when the are on the field? Do you need to store them outside for a while before taking them inside?

And finally, do cows prefer hay, or grass? Thanks for the answers! --HappyCamper 17:25, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

• See Hay and Baler. Can't help with what cows like to eat. Joyous (talk) 17:28, August 4, 2005 (UTC)

• As to the spacing in the field: the balers eject each bale when it's the right size, after collecting enough hay off the ground. If the crop yield is perfectly uniform over the whole field, then you should expect a bale exactly every so-many metres apart, as the baler is hauled up and down the field. In the real world hay is likely not perfectly uniform owing to rich and poor spots in the field, crop circle damage, etc. Traditionally hay was cut and left to thoroughly dry before it was baled or stored, to prevent subsequent mouldering or even fires owing to spontanous combustion (yes, really!), but more recently techniques have emerged to bale and store "green" (undryed) hay for better nutrient content; see silage. Once baled, hay can be put into storage immediately, but the larger bales are reasonably weatherproof and can be left outside, possibly with a loss of the outer few inches of hay. Some farmers wrap them in plastic material for better protection; there's a machine separate from a baler that does this. I think cows prefer fresh grass, certainly it's more nutritious, but year-round pasture is unavailable in many climate zones. Traditional small farmers pastured their cows in summer and fed them hay and supplemental feed over the winter. Sharkford 18:02, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

How does the bale of hay not separate apart when it falls off? It looks like it's just rolled up. --HappyCamper 20:19, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

According to the baler article there is some twine that is wrapped around the bale, although it may or may not be knotted, depending on the type of baler. --CVaneg 21:06, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

"Baling wire" is a kind of very flexible thin wire that automatic balers use to tie the bales with. Joyous (talk) 21:16, August 4, 2005 (UTC)

Oh, I see. I didn't think that wire could hold the whole thing up. Thanks! --HappyCamper 21:44, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

As everything gets so tightly packed, you only need a little bale wire to keep everything together. If you try to pull clumps of hey off the edge of a bale, where there is no twine, you'll find it's still quite difficult to remove much. Note that hay can also get stored as cubes, which makes packing easier in the barn. Also note that, for questions of taste, cows are big fans of silage. — Asbestos | Talk 11:03, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

From my girlfriend, who works with cows daily... They're going to prefer good grass (different grass tastes better... if you're a cow...) but will eat hay to get roughage to help with digestion. Also, the big round bales of hay are held together with twine or thin mesh netting. Dismas 22:10, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

How do you say "Niger"?

I've always pronounced the nation of Niger as NYE-ghur, but I heard a BBC reporter calling it NEE-zher, very French-sounding. So is there a preferred way to say it? PedanticallySpeaking 17:04, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Well, Niger says the latter is correct but the former is acceptable. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:14, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The article you link to seems to answer the question very directly; basically nee-ZHER, but NYE-jur also acceptable. Am I misinterpreting your question? — Pekinensis 17:17, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

I could have sworn it was on this list, List of words of disputed pronunciation, but I don't see it there now... Dismas 19:27, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The French pronunciation is nee-zhay, with a pure vowel in both syllables and pretty much equal emphasis on each. NEE-zher is a slight anglicization of this. Physchim62 22:59, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The Chiltern Hundreds

Can anyone point me to the text of the commission issued to parliamentarians that formally appoints them to the office of steward of the Hundreds? PedanticallySpeaking 18:09, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Air distances

Can anyone point me to a site to calculate the distances by air between cities? PedanticallySpeaking 18:09, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

• Do a google search for air distance between cities and you'll find bunches of 'em. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 19:04, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Can someone who has actually used one of these sites recommend one for ease of use, accuracy, etc. PedanticallySpeaking 15:27, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

If you're looking for the length of the great circle between two cities (which is the route an aircraft would typically follow in the flight levels), I always use the calculator at Air Routing International (usually via an Infobot, but still, that one). Before that I used the calculator at landings.com but I find their site innavigable these days. — mendel ☎ 00:01, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

hot cds

My cd player is making cds hot. When I remove them immediately after play, thet are hot. They soon cool when removed from the player, however I am worried that this effect may be damaging to the discs. Is it?

I'm fairly certain that you should be fine. I had a CD player that did that too and never had an issue. The plastic and metal data layer of the disc would have to melt (although just slightly) to render the disc unplayable. I would hope they're not coming out that hot!  :) Dismas 19:18, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

CDs are essentially a really thin piece of metal sandwiched between two pieces of plastic. Unless the CD player is hot enough to melt the plastic, you should be fine. BTW, check out this really cool image on the fractal page: It's a microwaved DVD! --HappyCamper 20:07, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Actually, a CD is metal-coated plastic (accomplished by sputtering, if I'm not mistaken) with varnish over it. Only DVDs have polycarbonate on both surfaces. This is why you can resurface the "working" face of a CD to remove scratches, but they become transparent in places when you scratch up from the back.--Joel 22:50, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

So much for polymer science! --HappyCamper 22:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Where can I purchase Acacia oil or perfume?

Hello, I am looking for Acacia oil or perfume and I can't find where to purchase it. I know Acacia farnesiana or famesiana is used by perfume industries, but where can I buy it? Thanks

Google is your friend. Add your country to the search string for good luck.

No, we're their friends. Google is a search engine. It doesn't answer questions(except on the rare occasions it takes the answers from Wikipedia articles). We do. If you don't like answering questions, don't man this page. Superm401 | Talk 22:13, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

It would help if you said where you were from, though. Superm401 | Talk 22:18, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

Deriving Escape Velocity

Can someone tell me why is the square root of 2 multiplied by the circular orbit velocity formula to get the escape velocity formula? Where does the square room of 2 come from? why that number and not another? how was it determined to do so to get the escape velocity? Thank you.

--anon

As escape velocity explains, it can be calculated by setting the kinetic energy equal to the negative of the gravitational potential energy. Kinetic energy is 1/2*m*v^2. In order to isolate v as the variable of interest, you multiply both sides by 2, divide by the mass, and then take the square root. Does that help? James 17:48, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

Here's a derivation since I don't see one at escape velocity:

Initially the object has kinetic energy

$KE_{i}={\frac {1}{2}}mv^{2}$

And potential energy

$U_{i}=-{\frac {GMm}{R_{E}}}$ where $R_{E}$ is the radius of planet you want to escape from, like, say, Earth in this case. So the total initial energy is

$E_{i}={\frac {1}{2}}mv^{2}-{\frac {GMm}{R_{E}}}$

What is the final energy? Well, by definition, if you just barely escape the orbit of the planet then you have just enough energy to get infinitly far away from the planet with no extra kinetic energy. So when you get to r = infinity you should have v = 0. So the final energy is

$E_{f}={\frac {1}{2}}m(0)^{2}-{\frac {GMm}{\infty }}=0-0=0$

Since there's no nonconservative forces, $E_{f}=E_{i}$ so

${\frac {1}{2}}mv^{2}={\frac {GMm}{R_{E}}}$

When you solve for v you can see that you'll have a 2 under a square root. --Laura Scudder | Talk 18:02, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

That's a very helpful derivation. Could you add that to escape velocity?

What is linixpedia

Hello, Today I googled "acetone polar aprotic solvent", and a wikipedia article about solvents faithfully popped up. In addition, a linixpedia link also came up. I was surprised to find that the linx link led me to a copy of the wiki link, minus the wikifeatures and plus an ad-bar on the left side of the screen. My question is, what is linixpedia? Thanks for taking the time to answer --Levittating 18:52, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

It would appear to be one of the many sites that copy Wikipedia's content for free. James 19:11, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

For more see Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks. --Laura Scudder | Talk 19:16, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

However, if you're referring to the Linix Encyclopedia that serves this solvent article, they appear not to attribute Wikipedia or host their own copy of the GFDL. That means they're in violation of the GFDL, and hence guilty of copyright infringement. I'll go post that info to the appropriate page for non-compliant mirrors. Superm401 | Talk 22:25, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

It's already listed under low compliance. Superm401 | Talk 22:36, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

They do have a GFDL notice on the bottom of every page, though no attribution to Wikipedia. James 01:07, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

However, they don't host the text of the GFDL locally. I'd forgive that if they mentioned Wikipedia. Superm401 | Talk 04:37, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

I don't care about mentioning wikipedia; they don't have to as long as they provide/provide means to find out the authors behind the text.. — Sverdrup 07:47, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, the important thing here is that the GFDL access providor (be it Linix Encyc or Wikipedia or whatever) references the copyright holder under the GFDL. Referencing Wikipedia is irrelevant under the GFDL as Wikipedia does not hold any of the copyrights. The only justificiation for referencing WIkipedia would be that you can find the copyright holder by looking at the history of Wikipedia, and that the authorship of some articles is so complex that this is one of the only reasonable ways to do it. Comply! 12:43, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Windows Update review site?

Is there a site that reviews updates from Windows Update and says whether or not an update breaks anything, or other things it does? Just wondering, because I have Windows Update open in a Firefox tab right now and there are some for software that I don't use, like Messenger.

As to how I have it open in a tab in Firefox, see here: [1] --pile0nades^{talk | contribs} 03:32, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

While Microsoft certainly has sinister plans of IM client domination, MSN Messenger does serve a purpose now - it's used for remote assistance, iirc. Anyways, if you don't want it, don't get it. If you're upset that you're being force-fed stuff you don't want, don't use Windows. ¦ Reisio 14:18, 2005 August 7 (UTC)

Unless the description sounds like something you'd actually use, there's no reason to get the "recommended" or lower priority updates. If you're tired of seeing the same updates you've decided not to install, you can remove them from your list by clicking on "Customize this site" (at least I think that's what the link says. I'd check, but I'm on a Mac right now). James 15:28, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

Nausea / Feelings of aversion while looking at art

Hello, it was some time ago I came across a wikiarticle explaining a phenomenon whereby a person looking at a piece of art can be so profoundly moved that a sense of illfeeling, nausea, aversion, etc. can be precipitated. The viewer is emotionally overwhelmed. The effect has a name. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Thanks in advance! DonCamillo

Yes, it is Stendhal syndrome. Hope this helps. Graham 08:41, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

BJAODN submissions

Do bad jokes (according to convention) have to be placed somewhere within Wikipedia before being moved to BJAODN? I'm asking this because, being a rising Wikipedia geek and possible addict, I sometimes come up with BJAODN-worthy Wikipedia-type jokes, and I was wondering if I should submit them to BJAODN. (As a sidenote, I don't find it very meaningful to create/change something, then speedy-delete/revert it just for putting something on BJAODN.) ~GMH 06:37, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, BJAODN is for material that people contribute to Wikipedia, not for material people intend only for BJAODN. There should probably be a Wikipedia:Wikipedia humor or Wikipedia:Wikipedia humour page for people who intentionally want to make amusing comments about wikipedia. It should be placed in Category:Wikipedia humor. Please create one. I suspect it will be submitted to VfD, but it might survive if it's funny enough.-gadfium 06:51, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Uncyclopedia is an un-serious Wikipedia knock-off expressly for articles more humorous than factual.Garrett Albright 16:50, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Could someone check this American's rusty English?

Okay, so it's been a while since Mrs. Hesslau scolded me for my poor grammar in the fifth grade... If someone had the last name of "Jones" and you wanted to refer to a shoe owned by Mr. Jones, would it be "Mr. Jones' shoe" or would it be "Mr. Jones's shoe"? I think the second looks wrong but I'm beginning to doubt myself. Maybe I need some sleep... good thing work is almost over... Dismas 10:37, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

In my understanding, it would be Jones'. However, referring to Fowler's Modern English Usage (Oxford University Press, 1926 & revised in 1947) we find, under Possessive Puzzles: "It was formerly customary, when a word ended with -s, to write its possessive with an apostrophe but no additional s, e.g. Mars' hill, Venus' Bath, Achilles' thews. In verse & in poetic or reverential contexts, this custom is retained, & the number of syllables is the same as in the subjective case, e.g. Achilles' has three, not four. But elsewhere we now add the s & the syllable, Charles's Wain, St James's not St James', Jones's children, the Rev. Septimus's surplice, Pythagoras's doctrines." So, armed with enough reference books from as long a time-spread as possible, you can defend most uses. :--Tagishsimon (talk)

Oh, and the Economist Style Guide - much more up to date, since I don't have the latest Fowler to hand - splits the difference with Fowler [2]:

Use the normal possessive ending 's after singular words or names that end in s: boss's, caucus's, Delors's, St James's, Jones's, Shanks's. Use it after plurals that do not end in s: children's, Frenchmen's, media's.

Use the ending s' on plurals that end in s--Danes', bosses', Joneses'--including plural names that take a singular verb, eg, Reuters', Barclays', Stewarts & Lloyds', Salomon Brothers'.

Although singular in other respects, the United States, the United Nations, the Philippines, etc, have a plural possessive apostrophe: eg, Who will be the United States' next president?

People's = of (the) people.

Peoples'= of peoples.

Try to avoid using Lloyd's (the insurance market) as a possessive; it poses an insoluble problem. The vulnerable part of the hero of the Trojan war is best described as an Achilles heel.

Do not put apostrophes into decades: the 1990s.

--Tagishsimon (talk)

To misquote Teresa Nielsen Hayden on copyediting (in Making Book, buy your copy now!) - read Fowler's for enjoyment, not accuracy :-). It is quite archaic in places, I believe... Shimgray 12:17, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• Yes, it's Jones', although I believe Jones's would be technically correct too yet less commonly used. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:39, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

So now I'm in a quandry... Because someone used Spears's all over the Britney Spears article. I think it looks odd and puts too many Ss in there. I started to change them to Spears' but then thought I should double check. (wasn't sure where to put the question though since it's a matter of grammar more than a matter of the wiki) Dismas 12:05, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps you could ask at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style, though we don't seem to have details there on standard grammatical queries. Apostrophe may help (and if not we should probably add a section)... and if all else fails, ask Bob. Shimgray 12:17, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

I love Bob :D gkhan 12:59, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

Chicago Manual of Style, The Elements of Style, Modern Language Association and A Pocket Style Manual all agree that it should be "James's", "Jones's" and "Spears's", though not for historical names: "Jesus'", "Archimedes'". Our in-house guide, Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Usage_and_spelling, however, expresses no preference. — Asbestos | Talk 12:48, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Alford's Queen's English is definite that "we form the possessive cases of James, and Thomas, and Charles, not by the mere apostrophe, but by the apostrophe with the s. "Thomas is Charles's son ...""... but that for plural nouns, like 'sons', the apostrophe is used without the extra s. So it'd be Jones's childrens' toys... Shimgray 13:46, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

And now for some sanity... you can do it however you like. These associations on English usage are not absolute authorities. Both ways have merit and most people will be able to understand the meaning either way. ¦ Reisio 14:22, 2005 August 7 (UTC)

That's strange. I went through a phase of looking at style guides and the advice I remember seeing was that you add the second s if you would say it. Ie, if you would normally say Jone-zez (as I would) you would use Jones's. Whereas with Britney, I think I would normally say just Spearz (hence Spears'). --bodnotbod 01:25, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Hey, are you all pretty sure it doesn't depend on grammatical number? 2004-12-29T22:45Z 01:29, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Number doesn't enter into it, as standard practice is to use only an apostrophe on plurals ending in S, regardless of whether or not it is a name. So it is always "the Jones' book". James 01:41, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

But number enters into it when "Jones" is singular, that is, when you refer to a single person with "Jones" as a last name. For example, you can say "Jones's book" when you refer to the book of a single invidual with "Jones" as a last name. It's "the Joneses' book", because the plural of "Jones" is "Joneses" and the genitive of "Joneses" is "Joneses'". 2004-12-29T22:45Z 01:47, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough... sorry for the bad example. Still, number has nothing to do with it. The singular "Jones" can be written either "Jones's book" or "Jones' book." Different sources seem to prefer one over the other, but they do not agree and do not give very good reasons to think either one is more correct. James 02:00, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

It doesn't depend on pronunciation. Many times, Americans don't pronounce the schwa phoneme with the zee/zed phoneme at the end, and they still mean a word that is written with "'s". 2004-12-29T22:45Z 01:36, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Both spellings of the singular possessive, Jones' and Jones's, are considered correct and are commonly used. Note that some answers above refer to style guides; style guides are the wrong place to look for this information, because their purpose is to recommand a particular style, so they will pick one or the other.

As stated just above, the non-possessive plural is always Joneses, while the possessive plural is always Joneses'. (I met Jones; I read Jones's [or Jones's] book; I visited the Joneses; I went to the Joneses'. The last is possessive because it's elliptical for the Joneses' house.) As the last poster states, there are many people whose choice of spelling, Jones' or Jones's, does not correspond to their choice of pronunciation. --Anonymous, 15:15 UTC, August 10, 2005.

Configuring port 25 on a server

How do I configure my apache server so that I can use the PHP mail() function? I'd like to send users an e-mail with their user information when they register. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 13:13, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

That would depend on the operating system you're running. You won't have to configure Apache for it, though.

For Linux, the problem is simple; you just need to place the sendmail binary in one of: a directory in your PATH, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/etc, /etc, /usr/ucblib, or /usr/lib.[3] Obviously, you'll have to configure sendmail as required.

Under Windows, PHP talks directly to the SMTP server. Modify php.ini using the above link as reference. You can probably use the same SMTP server as the one you use for your regular mail account (but no guarantees). --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 23:15, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks...sounds about right. I think I'll try that. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 23:23, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

mathematics

is there a formula to calculate prime numbers???if there is, please tell me the formula...thanks

See the Prime number article, and those it links to. Thryduulf 13:41, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Or go directly to Sieve of Eratosthenes and Sieve of Atkin. David Sneek 13:43, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• "Mathematicians have tried in vain to this day to discover some order in the sequence of prime numbers, and we have reason to believe that it is a mystery into which the human mind will never penetrate." — Leonhard Euler

See Formula for primes. Dysprosia 01:57, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

A vitamin is a vitamin is a vitamin, right...?

Is there any chemical difference between a vitamin in a pill and a vitamin in food? Is one healthier? Is a vitamin in food easier to digest than from a tablet dissolved in water? And is there any truth to the idea that cooking can destroy vitamins? How?

Thanks! --Mary

• The only difference I can think of between tablets and food vitamins is the amount. Vitamin tablets may be helpful to get in stuff you're missing in your regular diet, but eating only tablets may lead to a overdose of vitamins in your system you're not using. Chemically there the same. I'm not sure whether cooking can destroy vitamins, but I'd assume if it did, it would be the heat that made the molecule fall apart. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:29, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

Some vitamins are not absorbed as well from pills as they are from food, hence the "overdosage" you see in most multivitamins. A good site on the issue is here. James 15:37, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

If you're talking about the chemical structure of the vitamin molecule, then no, there is no difference. The difference, for what I know (as merely a college student) is in presentation: a slice of carrot has much less of any vitamin than does a pill, and contains other things, for example. but no one eats just one or a few slices of carrot like he/she may take a pill. As for dissolving, which I believe occurs via the various enzymes and acidic conditions in the digestive system, I don't know about that, but it just has to be ready for absorption, molecule by molecule, in the small intestines. I'm pretty sure modern vitamins get that job done.

As for vitamins being destroyed, I'm not sure if any of them are, but people use the term 'destroyed' sometimes to apply to vitamins that aren't actually chemically ruined, but just lost in some way. For example, Vitamin A is not soluble in water, but is soluble in nonpolar solvents, so cooking carrots (which contain Vitamin A) in oil would result in the Vitamin A leaving the carrot and mixing with the oil. Therefore, if you don't eat the oil used for cooking, you won't get the Vitamin A. (I'm pretty sure that example's correct.) ~GMH 15:43, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

As far as I know, technically there is no difference - BUT, just taking vitamins is not a replacement for a healthy diet. You need a healthy diet, and you may as well try to eat food that includes the nutrients you need. As for cooking: <-- http://tiny url.com/86n3a ¦ commented out due to blacklisting - I cannot save page with this in. Widefox 11:59, 5 October 2006 (UTC) ->> Reisio 15:53, 2005 August 7 (UTC)

I'm trying to get to the bottom of this one for folic acid, as the current article seems a bit confused on the issue. Normally the answer is yes, the vitamin in the pill is chemically the same as the vitamin in food. Cooking can destroy vitamins (usually only partially, luckily) by a number of reactions: pyrolysis (simple action of heat), oxidation(action of air) and hydrolysis (action of water) are probably the most important. All these reactions are much faster at higher temperatures. Physchim62 22:27, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Maybe. Vitamin D comes in different analogues (at least D2 and D3). Dietary vitamin is D3, but vitamin D-supplements are either D3 or D2. There mey be similar issues with other vitamins, especially the hugely complex B12. -EnSamulili 07:30, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Vitamin RDA

My box of vitamins has, among other stuff, vitamins in the following (high) amounts

                RDA %
Vitamin C         793
Vitamin B1        743
Vitamin B6        355
Vitamin B12       860
Pantothenic Acid  379
Riboflavin        850

Are these amounts safe to take as one-a-day pills? From the vitamin article, all the vitamins above but B12 don't get stored in the body. B12 gets stored in the liver, however. Is 860% RDA safe? What about the other two? And is there any need for such high amounts?

Thanks! --Mary

• RDA stands for Recommended Dietary Allowance. I'd say 860% is way more than you need. Personally, I'd only take extra vitamins if my doctor would prescribe them. - Mgm|^(talk) 15:32, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

• Maybe 860% of RDA doesn't hurt you but personallt I wouldn't recommend it. It sounds a bit scary to eat nine times as much as is recommended. As far as I have heard (and remember) there are no known dangers with those vitamins listed but other ones like vitamin A can kill you in too large doses. Jeltz talk 15:43, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

None of those vitamins are toxic in those levels. Some of them, B-12 in particular are not well absorbed when taken in large doses, which is why there is so much more than the RDA in the pill. It is not very toxic at all, with people taking more than 4000% of the RDA daily with no side effects. For this reason, the FDA chose no upper limit for Vitamin B-12 consumption. The only vitamins to worry about are Vitamins A and D, which are both deadly if you reach toxic levels. An extremely detailed reference on each vitamin and mineral is available here.

Despite it being safe to consume vitamins at these levels, it is far better for the body to get them from fruits and vegetables, as they are absorbed better and fruits and vegetables provide other benefits that vitamins aren't able to, such as fiber and anti-oxidants. James 15:50, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

• James pretty much worded a point that I tried to make myself. I wholehartedly agree. - Mgm|^(talk) 16:57, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

All the vitamins listed are water soluble, and effectively non toxic. The excess is excreted in the urine (except for B12, which either passes out in the feces or is broken down: it is not stored to any significant extent). Fat soluble vitamins (A, D and E) can be fatally toxic at high doses. Fatal vitamin D poisoning has caused the death of several polar explorers who ate the livers either of polar bears or husky dogs. Very high doses of vitamin C (several grams a day) can cause diarrhea, and one possible case of fatal vitamin C poisoning has been reported, also at doses of several grams per day (the victim also had a problem with iron metabolism, which may have enhanced the toxicity). Physchim62 22:12, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

The only other thing to bear in mind is that some vitamins are are absorbed competatively. That is to say that the body can absorb only a certain amount of certain types of vitamin per unit time, and that one vitamin can be 'blocked' from being absorbed by having too much of another. This is only really an issue when you take a boatload of everything at once, you may find you only actually absorb a subset of the vitamins, and, in fact, less of some than you would have if you had taken less of everything. In general, if you must take that much (and I don't think it is necessary unless you have some unusual medical issues) then spread it out over the day, not all at once.

Réunion's flag

what is Reunion's flag? --Revolución 17:12, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• Could you be talking about Réunion the island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar? It is an overseas département and région of France, so I'd assume it's the French flag. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:00, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

• The French Wikipedia's page on Reunion [4] states that it has no flag, although one has been proposed ("drapeau", shown on that page).82.210.117.55 17:09, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• Could someone translate this from the french wikipedia:

Un drapeau pour La Réunion ?

Alors que la période féodale a installé de nombreux drapeaux et blasons en France métropolitaine, la Réunion ne possède pas de drapeau officiel. Cette situation risque de perdurer : un drapeau réunionnais serait assimilé à une revendication indépendantiste.

Le drapeau ci-contre a été sélectionné par l'Association française de vexillologie en 2003. Il représente physiquement le volcan de la Fournaise sur un fond azur et les rayons du soleil. De plus, il symbolise l'arrivée des populations qui ont convergé vers l'île au cours des siècles.

"A flag for Réunion ?

While the federal period installed a number of flags and [tokens?] of metropolitan france, Reunion doesn't have it's own official flag. Due to this risk this situation might continue: a Reunion flag will be welcomed as a vindication of [our] independance.

The flag was selected by the french association of vexologists in 2003. It represents the volcano of Fournaise, on a gold background with sunbeams. In addition, it symbolises the appearance of populations who converged on the island at the turn of the century." Ojw 17:28, 7 August 2005 (UTC) (not a real translator)

I'm pretty sure of that "blason" should be translated as "coat of arms", but my French isn't that good. Jeltz talk 20:51, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

---

And I forgot to sign my name earlier,

--Revolución 17:12, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• See also the entry for Reunion in Wiktionary http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/R%C3%A9union

I've made an edit to Flag of France to start to include this - though based on the above it needs expanding Richard Taylor 17:20, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

The French quote above refers to the flag of [[5]] Reunion island, which can be seen on this page, http://www.nationalflaggen.de/flags-of-the-world/flags/re!.html the french describes the symbolism of the flag elements Red for the volcano, blue for the sky, yellow for the sun, Red for strength, blue for sweetness, yellow for clearness. Richard Taylor 17:24, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

People’s Will and Alexander the Third

There's a line in Alexander III of Russia which says : "In 1887, once again the People's Will planned the murder of Tsar Alexander III". This line was added by an anon user. Wanted to know if it's known that they had planned attempts before; if so when was the first attempt ? Jay 21:50, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

It doesn't look like there were any attempts before, but that they planned it can hardly be doubted. They killed his father a few years prior and he took great care of personal safety, so they probably couldn't get to him earlier. Ornil 01:57, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Then maybe what the anon meant by "once again" was the earlier assassination of Alexander II. I'll modify the article accordingly. Jay

computer slow while playing game

I recently installed World of Warcraft, and I notice that during certain parts of the game, my computer starts to get really slow. It is the worst when I am in Ironforge or when I'm riding a gryphon. The framerate drops, and the game lags so bad that it sometimes causes me to lose my connection. I was wondering if there is anything I can do to speed things up, without spending any money, to hold me over until payday. Looking specifically for things like software for Windows, tweaks for RAM/HD/VIDEO, etc. My computer: 2.4gHz processor, 256mb of RAM, 128mb agp nvidia video card, cable internet. Thanks a bunch!

• Get more memory, to start with. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 01:56, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The biggest thing you can do is shut down all programs not needed to run Windows or the game. An excellent way to do this is click on start, then on run, and type in "msconfig" and hit enter. Select the bullet next to "Selective Startup". Deselect "Process SYSTEM.INI", "Process WIN.INI", and "Load Startup Items". Then click on the Services tab and select the box next to "Hide All Microsoft Services" and then click on "Disable All." This will load Windows with an almost bare minimum of background programs running. If you still have problems, you can go through the Microsoft services and turn them off, though you should not do this without knowing exactly what the service does. Hope that helps some. Also, memory is not very expensive and greatly improves game performance, much more than improving processor speed. Take a look at PriceWatch for memory prices. James 02:25, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

I forgot to mention, you then have to click on OK and restart your computer. You must open msconfig again and click on "Normal startup," click OK and reboot to get your normal background programs running. James 02:27, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

• I don't know the details of World of Warcraft, but most games have an options menu where you can turn off some of the flashier graphics details, or reduce the resolution, to gain a better framerate. If the game is unplayable, that's an option I'd be seriously considering. Another thing you can do is update your video drivers, as sometimes new drivers can improve performance significantly. Moving up the difficulty scale somewhat, you may be able to overclock your video card, processor, and memory - essentially, run them faster than what's specified on the box - but doing so will void your warranty, may damage your computer, and even if it doesn't damage your computer straight away will shorten the life of its components. It's just like hot-rodding a car - do it at your own risk... I have to agree with Jpgordon that if I was spending money more RAM would be my first option...--Robert Merkel 02:31, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't think that there is much gain from doing anything with the video card or the CPU. I don't think that World of Warcraft is very CPU intenistive. Overclocking probably doens't affect the speed noticably since you have a pretty fast CPU already. If I was in your situation I would, as others alredy have recommended buy more RAM but since you have no money to spend follow James's advice. Jeltz talk 12:27, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a player of World of Warcraft. That said, perhaps the problem would be with the connection, not the hardware? It reads to me like a very laggy internet connection... Shimgray 13:17, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

As the only Warcrafter here (weird) I feel like I should say something... It's nothing to do with the connection - I get the same problems on 2Mb. I get this problem in crowded, popular places like Ironforge, leading me to think it's a problem with the server itself being slowed down. You might want to try a less-populated server, because I definitely find Ragnaros (medium population) has less slowdown than Skullcrusher (practically full to the brim). The problem also disappears somewhat if I wait around for a few minutes after entering a slow area like a capital city, giving time for the lag to dissapate. It seems to work. --Sum0 20:08, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Source of ATX connector color standards

On nice, new ATX motherboards, the connectors are color-coded. For instance, the VGA port is dark blue, the mini DIN mouse port is green, serial ports are teal, and so forth. Who came up with this idea, and why wasn't it done from the inception of the ATX standard? (It almost makes up for the keyboard and mouse using the same connector despite not using interchangeable ports!) I looked at the ATX standard 2.2, but although page 15 shows those colors in use, it doesn't define them. The PS/2 article says that the PC 97 standard specifies them, but that article doesn't say anything about port colors. I can't read MS Word documents at this point, so I can't tell if the linked MS page defines those colors. Does anyone know when these were defined? grendel|khan 02:49, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

AFAIR, it was defined exactly on one of these Microsoft standards you linked to. --cesarb 03:04, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Khatri subcastes and their meanings

Hi, I am interested in knowing the origin of the Khatri surnames, their meaning or why they were called so and for what reason, etc. if available pl mail me.

 - Azadyogi <[email protected]>

Hi,

I am a writer on Sikhism and I am interested in knowing the origin of the Khatri surnames, their meaning or why they were called so and for what reason, etc.

Same information on Jatt subcastes would also help.

Rajinder Nijjhar,

Someone left this on my talk page. I have no idea what prompted the OP to ask there. lots of issues | leave me a message 03:36, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

You can start by asking the question on the respective talk pages - Jat, Punjabi Khatri. Jay 11:40, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

ADSL Linux

Hello. I am currenly happily connected to Fasthosts Broadband with an ADSL Speedtouch 330 on Windows (XP). I had always bought the modem in mind of Linux as there were a few tutorials on the web to getting the Speedtouch 330 going on Linux. SOme of them have now disappeared and others seem not to work. I was wondering if anyone knows:

 How to get the Speedtouch working easily without messinbbg around with source codes etc.?

OR

 A modem that can easily be working in Linux without much/any problems?

By the way, I am using SuSE Linux 9.2 Professional.

Thankyou.

Um, the reason why there are so many tutorials and stuff is because traditionally, it has been hard to get Speedtouch modems (which depend on windows to do most of the processing) to work with Linux. I've had some success on Mandrake though, by using the speedtouchconf script. It's pretty obvious how to use it, I think, though you might have to fiddle with your shorewall settings. -Fangz (Temporarily too lazy to log in)

If you can't get it working, if you have a working Ethernet card in your machine it's trivial to get just about any Ethernet-interface ADSL modem/router going under Linux. All you need to do is point a web browser at the router's address on the internal network (usually 192.168.0.1, but mine uses 10.1.1.1 for some reason) which brings up a web interface through which you can configure the modem to work with your ISP. --Robert Merkel 12:06, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Lyre-like instruments

Is there an instrument called "eten"?

A quick google search didn't yield anything, there isn't a Wiki article with that name, so I would guess not... Do you have a particular context that you can quote that would make you think there was? Maybe there was and I just wasn't looking for the right keywords. Dismas 10:28, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps the Chinese erhu? --HappyCamper 11:53, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

BIG Brother UK Credits

I am looking for a full list of credits for the people who produce, direct etc big brother in the UK

• The Internet Movie Database is your friend. Here's a link detailing full cast and crew of the British Big Brother. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:39, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Honorary title usage on tombstones

Are honorary titles usually inscribed with the names of people on tombstones or memorial plaques? I am thinking of titles such as MBE, OBE, CBE, MC, DFC, etc.. What is the correct thing to do include or not the title on plaques.

The latter two are decorations - the Military Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross - not honorary titles. Traditionally major military decorations are given on a grave, but I don't know about OBE and the like - I doubt not. Your best bet would be to consult a manual of etiquette - try your local library? Shimgray 13:14, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The Salon - Credit List

I am looking for a full list of credits for the people who produced, directed etc. the British reality TV series "The Salon" - about a hairdressing salon - in 2003. I would like credit list for the 2003 series

None of these look entirely complete, but you might want to start with the iMDB list or TV.com's cast list. grendel|khan 13:58, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Can't find a reference indicated in Eastland's article

Hi

I just read in the James Eastland article, in the "Further reading" section, that Patricia Webb Robinson wrote "A rhetorical analysis of Senator James O. Eastland's speeches, 1954-1959 by Patricia Webb Robinson. ASIN B0006WZP1Q". I wonder where I could find this analysis; I've search a bit on the web but couldn't find it. Does anybody know if some library has that text ? How can I get it ? It would be very helpful for my masters' thesis. Thanks.

Alienor

Ugh... why do people think an Amazon internal reference code is the least bit of use? The code doesn't resolve to anything inside Amazon, Library of Congress doesn't know about the book... this looks like weird grey literature. I'll dig for a bit and get back to you here. Shimgray 13:35, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Having looked more... they were added to the page after an Amazon search a while back, but the book no longer exists there. The ASIN number is something given by Amazon when it doesn't have an ISBN to work on. The Library of Congress doesn't know about it; I suspect this was never formally published.

My current guess is that it's someone's thesis (or possibly an individually reprinted journal article, they do sometimes crop up), but I don't know how to track down a thesis in the US. I strongly recommend going to your university library and asking there; they have access to more relevant bibliographic sources than I do. Shimgray 14:30, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The author's institution would've been more helpful than the ASIN. Then you could at least get ahold of her. --Laura Scudder | Talk 15:39, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

A search on Google Scholar reveals that the article was written in 1978 at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. I'd recommend contacting their library for more information. James 19:56, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

I think this link is what you meant. HTH HAND —Phil | Talk 08:49, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, thanks for catching that. I don't know what I was thinking... James 14:51, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Which shuttle mission landed at White Sands?

The article about White Sands Missile Range mentions that once in the history of the Space Shuttle a mission landed at the range, due to poor weather at both the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base. However, it doesn't link to a mission number (e.g. STS-xxx). This should be fixed if anyone happens to know what mission it was. moink 14:40, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Fill up the camper, drive down to White Sands,

And we'll pour the champagne when the Space Shuttle lands - Leslie Fish.

Slightly more seriously, STS-3. White Sands was written off as a routine landing site thereafter - dust got everywhere, and when Columbia was flown back to the more humid climes of Florida, it basically all turned into cement. Very time-consuming to fix. Shimgray 14:48, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks Shimgray! I actually had just figured it out myself too, from List of space shuttle missions. The article has been changed to reflect my new knowledge. moink 14:52, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I noticed someone had already added STS-3 when I went to add it... I originally thought it was STS-9, then guessed -5... hmph. At least I got the orbiter right! (In future, it might be helpful to try going to the White Sands page, hitting "What Links Here", and seeing if any missions were listed there) Shimgray 20:39, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

what are the indications for analgesics

I'm afraid you're going to have to be more specific. Indications of what for analgesics? - Mgm|^(talk) 16:39, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

I think the person asking the question was using the medical definition of "indication." As the article linked by Mgm notes, analgesics, by definition, are used to treat pain. Individual analgesics might also have additional indications; see the articles for each individual drug, such as Aspirin. Chuck 20:52, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Right, most (including acetaminophen) also reduce fever (I think this makes them antipyretics) and many (Aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDs) are also anti-inflammatory agents. The acetaminophen in Tylenol PM seems to be there for marketing purposes. Oh, and I think some people use heroin for anxiety, boredom, or to be fashionable...Rush Limbaugh seems to have used analgesics to the point that he doesn't have to listen, but that was probably unintentional.--Joel 21:51, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

George Fisher

Dear Wikipedia:

The following quote on perfection is floating around the net: When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target. ~George Fisher

The problem is that no one (and I went through at least 3 search engines using different criteria) gives any information about WHICH George Fisher this quote can actually be attributed to. Unfortunately there are quite a few George Fishers out there, including the cartoonist you feature on Wikipedia. Can you help?

Thank You and best regards!

Jacqui Ehninger

I have no idea but you might give the folks over at Wikiquote a try. Dismas 19:15, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The quotation is also frequently attributed to Geoffrey_Fisher, who was once Archbishop of Canterbury. --Tabor 19:42, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Religion

What are the three vovws of the Catholic clergy, and what are the purposes behind each of these vows?

Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, as noted at Profession (religious). For the purposes, you might want to look at this section of the Summa Theologica (What is now called "chastity" was called "continency" in the Summa.) Chuck 21:13, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Note that this is for monks, not priests. Priests may be different. DJ Clayworth 19:20, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Sunday Morning Classical Radio Show

I live in York PA. On Sunday mornings around 7AM, i receive a show on public radio by Carl Haas {SP?}. He teaches about music and is wonderful. Please send me his name [correct spelling] and the name of the show. Also, please advise where I may access or buy anything he authored. Thank you, Dr. Mary-Louise Hooper

• That would be the late Karl Haas. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 18:53, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

When you use opium how long does it stay in your body?

That depends what you mean on "staying in the body" As far as drug tests are concerned, the standard five part drug test can detect it from 24-48 hours after use. The good folks at erowid can help you with more information:

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/opiates/opiates_testing.shtml

Note that this applies to urine tests, which I believe are the most commonly used. Many drugs (I don't know about opium specifically) will remain in your hair in testable quantities until the hair grows and is cut off. Bovlb 01:05:24, 2005-08-09 (UTC)

It should be noted that many drug tests don't actually test for the drug itself, rather they test for metabolites of the drug. Many times metabolites can remain detectable by testing long after the drug has stopped affecting your body. This is why heavy Cannabis users can test positive even if they have abstained for the past week. Anyways, back to your question. There are two major active ingredients in opium: morphine and codeine. Morphine has an elimination half-life of 2-3 hours and codeine has an elimination half-life of 3-4 hours. This means that for the average person, the drug will be approximately 90% eliminated after 9 hours. steffinb 6:44AM 08/09/2005 (PST)

Note that the definition of half-life means that theoretically, there is always some quantity of the drug left in your body after any amount of time. But practically, after a certain amount of time, the concentration becomes so low that it is undetectable. There are constantly new techniques being developed in analytical chemistry to deal with low detection levels, and for certain things, quantities of around 1 part per trillion can be detected. I'm not sure about detection limits for drugs, but there are standardized procedures and tables for this. --HappyCamper 23:54, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Train Wrecks/crashes located in the Angola, New york area in the USA.

We are looking for some information on any train crashes or wrecks in the Angola, New York area. We are located outside of Buffalo, New York in case this may help. We are looking for dates, maps, if possible, or any information you may be able to give us.

Thank you for your help, Donna

Supposedly, there was an accident referred to as the Angola Horror on December 18, 1867. I can't find any references of the event that I would consider reliable, but this search will point you to a couple of the not so reliable ones. --CVaneg 21:15, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Plank time

Is an (SI) second an exact integer multiple of Planck time? --R.Koot 21:10, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The second is defined as 9,192,631,770 times the period of the electromagnetic radiation related to a specific electronic transition in a cesium-133 atom. In order to answer that question, you'd need to be able to measure that period with an error of considerably less than ${\frac {t_{p}}{9192631770}}$. But since times of less than the Planck time are immeasurable, you'd never be able to measure the period with this accuracy, so the question is unaswerable--not just unanswerable given our current technology, but theoretically unanswerable regardless of any future advances in technology (unless physicists' current understanding of quantum mechanics turns out to be horribly wrong). Chuck 21:33, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

I was afraid you were going to say that. My guess would be that following question is also wrong: "But the fact that we can't measure that precise doesn't mean that events happen which takes n × Planck Time, were n is not an integer"? --R.Koot 21:58, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Very interesting comment! As far as I am aware of, time is not quantized, in the sense that the evolution of the universe does not occur in units of the planck time. So, it's perfectly possible to have an "n" which is not an integer in the equation you specified above. In certain "fringe" theories of the universe, n is indeed restricted to integers. However, keep in mind that even if time were quantized, the sheer enormity of n and the smallness of the planck time would render the quantized nature somewhat irrelevant to the world we perceive everyday. --HappyCamper 22:46, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Isn't time quantized in loop quantum gravity? --Tothebarricades 01:32, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Fall Out Boy

What is the name of the song Fall Out Boy sang on MTV when MTV was on the Strip in Vegas, they were singing on a stage in a swimming pool? It was this past summer (2005). I think it was early summer, around May maybe. I can't find it anywhere. Thanks for the time. Jared

It was Fall Out Boy's only charting single, "Sugar, We're Goin' Down", which got to #30 on the US Billboard chart. On June 23, 2005, the video for "Sugar, We're Going Down" reached number one on the MTV show Total Request Live (TRL). Proto t c 14:30, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Family Guy

Hey you guys know that episode of Family Guy where Chris gets pulled into that sketchy zone at the supermarket? Could someone tell me what song that is at my talk page? Thanks, Redwolf24 22:10, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

a-ha's Take On Me. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:18, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Paper from milkweed

I've got another bumper crop of milkweed coming along, and I've contemplated making paper from it for years, but I have no idea how to do this. The link to the wiki article about milkweed says it's good for papermaking, but doesn't explain how you get past the water-proofness of the fibers to make it a mush. Any suggestions? --Mothperson cocoon 22:36, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[6] might be of interest. Shimgray 22:43, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Oh, my god. --Mothperson cocoon 00:43, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

International Law Career

It would be great if you could help me with the following question:

My objective is working in an international field of law outside my country Peru. As a student of Law in Peru, Latin America.I would like to know what is required to be able to pratice law in other countries as consultant, for example. Is there a MBA for law students or Post grade which allows an international licened or state approved law career?

I really appreciate your help! Gracias.

It is my understanding that all that is necessary to practice law in the states is to pass the BAR in the state you wish to hold a practice.

In order to take the bar exam you generally have to show evidence of having had a legal education (that is, a certified transcript from a lawschool). I just checked the California Bar Association's terms for the bar exam and they say foreign educated applicants should contact the Bar Association's admissions office. I suspect they'll send you off to lawschool for a conversion course before you can take the California bar exam. I suspect other US states will have much the same policy. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:23, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

On looking further at California (just as an example) you definately have to undertake further legal education if your existing law qualification isn't from a system based on English common law (which is the case for the US, England, and most commonwealth countries). So I guess you would be going to college again. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:37, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

The legal code in Louisiana is based on the Code Napoleon. Does the same requirement hold there? Zoe 21:38, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

The LLM is available from many law schools for international students. It is usually a year-long program. -- Essjay · Talk 08:15, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

No one will hire a LLM holder (if he wants to do corporate work). lots of issues | leave me a message 21:48, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

List of most frequently misspelled words

I am trying to help an ESL student out with their English. Is there a List of most frequently mispelled English words in Wikipedia? --HappyCamper 23:58, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

No, as that list would be quite difficult to maintain... Redwolf24 23:59, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, take a look at List of common misspellings in English in Wikipedia and Wiktionary:Wiktionary:List of common misspellings in Wiktionary. hydnjo talk 00:17, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Sorry. Redwolf24 00:21, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

You might also find List of frequently misused English words and List of commonly confused homonyms useful. All should be taken with a grain of salt, though. Not all of the words listed are all that common. -Aranel ("Sarah") 00:40, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Most architects cannot spell fluorescent. I don't know why. --Mothperson cocoon 12:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Fear of Buoys

I have an overwhelming fear of buoys (the kind that are in the ocean and not of the male variety) i know it sounds very silly but cannot explain it. Was just wondering if you could tell me the name of it? if there is one

PUediphobia? Displacement (psychology)?, Displacement (fluid)?, irrational?, a sinking feeling? Have you tried avoiding open water?MeltBanana 00:49, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

How about this: http://www.unusualphobias.com/buoys.html. BTW, good job on finding this page with your very first edit from 84.9.65.35. hydnjo talk 01:01, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Possible meathods of overcoming this can also be found in [classical conditioning] [operant conditioning] and [psychoanalysis]. 67.41.95.174 01:01, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

TI-89 question

Is it possible, on TI-89 calculator, to have it return integer values which satify an expression? For instance, if I wanted to find which integer values (or at least AN integer value, perhaps the lowest) n satisfy the expression n^2+1 / 3 such that the answer is also an integer. I'm doing some number theory stuff and this would be helpful. --Tothebarricades 02:07, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

The TI-89 calculator is programmable so you can program the problem and then specify a range of n's searching for the first n which yields dp=0 (decimal place = zero). hydnjo talk 01:55, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't know how to do that. Could you explain? If it's not too hard, that is. Thanks. --Tothebarricades 02:12, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

I'm sorry that I cannot provide explicit program language as I'm using an HP-48. But, generally, you should be able to write a program in which you enter the lower n and the upper n in ((n^2)+1)/3. Having done that, the program should then provide (if you ask) all of the n's which result in an integer solution, that is, the decimal place equals zero (dp=0) which are integer solutions.

Write the program so that the boundaries (lowest n to highest n) are asked for right up front and then supply those limits to the main program. hydnjo talk 03:02, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Do you know how to program? It's a matter of writing a simple loop. I have a TI-89 myself, but I don't remember TI-BASIC all that well. Dysprosia 04:20, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Chapter 17 of the TI-89 manual, downloadable from education.ti.com, explains how to use loops in TI-BASIC. The For...EndFor loop is one of a number of different sorts of loops that can be used to do what you what.

If you graph your equation, and iPart(x), and find the intersections, that should give what you want. ~~ N (t/c) 03:00, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Excellent, if the intersections are sufficiently accurate. The approach I suggested inputs integer n's and looks for integer results. That's why I went in that direction. Of course, graphing a range would provide additional insight to the general solution. Tothebarricades is now able to select from a couple of approaches to get his integer solutions. hydnjo talk 03:22, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Baronets

I know the UK stopped awarding hereditary peerages at least 20 years ago, but has it stopped awarding other hereditary honors, like baronetage? Ornil 02:04, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Thatcher's husband snagged the last one in 1990 and before then the last title was awarded in 1964. lots of issues | leave me a message 06:23, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

NBC Television Show "24"

Does anybody have information as to when the NBC TV show 24's next season starts? Which seasons have been released on DVD? Thanks a lot in advance!

See 24 (television) -- Chuq 03:23, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

All four seasons have now been released on DVD. Season 5 will premiere in the USA in January 2006 on NBC FOX (and there will definitely be at least one more season after that ^[7]). Only six months to wait! Proto t c 09:22, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Also note that 24 airs on FOX, not NBC. Chuck 15:00, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Whoops.  :) Proto t c 15:35, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Apparently not all four seasons have been released, at least per amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/notification-item-request-done/104-8881883-6312761 67.41.95.174 04:12, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

cardinal directions

are cardinal directions magnetic north or true north?

True North. See North Pole.  RasputinAXP  talk * contribs 03:27, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Depends. On home deeds, magnetic north is the usual reference (stupid as that may seem). hydnjo talk 03:29, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Does that mean the boundaries of my home lot shift by a few minutes a year? DJ Clayworth 19:15, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

It's probably not as bad as other problems with changing property lines. I know of a particular California earthquake where an entire town's houses ended up technically on their neighbor's land. --Laura Scudder | Talk 21:18, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Not to mention particular winter storms where entire blocks of houses (and sometimes the state highway) end up in the Pacific Ocean. Gentgeen 21:43, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Correct this English sentence

I cannot seem to rewrite the following in a more elegant way. Chopping up the sentence, adding more words, anything to make it better - I'd settle for it. Could someone provide suggestions I could use? Perhaps briefly explain what grammtical concept is being misused would be nice too. I know it has something to do with the word "its" and the vagueness surrounding its use.

"An example of work completed prior to the submission of this document is attached to its end."

I want this to mean

"An example of work A completed prior to the submission of this document B is attached to the end of this document B".

Thanks for your suggestions! --HappyCamper 05:00, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Is A a first draft of B or is it a seperate piece of work? If so, maybe this would do...

"Appended to the end of this document you will find a previous draft of the work being submitted"

How's that? Dismas 05:17, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Hmm...that sounds better. Actually that gave me an idea: "At the end of this document are preliminary results supporting the work of this thesis" ... better, but just doesn't seem to quite cut it. A is a separate from B. B is a new document describing what someone would like to do with A. --HappyCamper 05:44, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Or "Appended to the end of this document you will find an example of earlier related work." -- Jmabel | Talk 05:50, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

How about - "At the end of this document is an example of related, earlier work, supporting this thesis." Or, "A piece of earlier work supporting B is attached to this document." Or, "Appendix A contains an example of previously completed work (A) supporting the conclusions of this thesis." Proto t c 08:55, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Could you use something more specific than "work" and "document" to help clarify? For example, "An example of a short story completed prior to the submission of this application is attached." Also, is the sentence appearing in B itself, or in another document outside of A and B? If it appears in B, it should be sufficient to say "...is attached" rather than "...is attached to document B." But if the sentence is not in B, some clarification of where it's attached may be necessary. Chuck 15:06, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

I haven't thought about it that way before..."Preliminary calculations supporting the development of this model are attached to the end of this document." Hmmmm not bad. Thanks for the ideas! --HappyCamper 00:01, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

"At the end of this submission is an example of work completed previously." ? --bodnotbod 01:45, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

• snip* -- that sounds great! Nice and short and sweet. --HappyCamper 04:14, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Help With Strip mining

Hello Sir/Ma'am i am after some infomation about Strip mining (surface mining)

We have the mining and Strip mining articles. Let us know if these links help you find what you need. --HappyCamper 06:47, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

There is also Surface mining, which clearly needs to be merged with Strip mining. James 06:48, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Merged strip mining into the surface mining article (as strip mining is a form of surface mining. Proto t c 09:07, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Modern day Judea

What are the modern day physical boundries of Judea? Thank you, Patrica Burns

have you checked judea? it contains some info on this, not sure if it's enough for you. Boneyard 14:08, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Is teaching a profession?

Of course it is. And a very noble one. Proto t c 15:47, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

See Profession and Professional for more. Chuck 15:49, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Pennsy-Ohio border

What is the meridian that forms the boundary between Ohio and Pennsylvania? PedanticallySpeaking 17:04, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

• This article on the Pennsylvania-Ohio Border Retracement Survey should get you started. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:20, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Page cited does not contain the information requested. PedanticallySpeaking 15:26, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

This isn't too reliable, but superimposing a boundary line on Google Earth and reading off positions makes it look like 80 degrees 31 minutes west, give or take a couple of seconds of arc. Shimgray 18:04, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Using the topographic maps at TerraServer, the state line appears to fall between 80°31'10"W and 80°31'11"W. Chuck 19:10, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Called the "Ellicott Line" after Andrew Ellicott, it should be at 80°31'12"W according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Lupo 08:57, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

BTW, there's a second "Ellicott's Line" that was supposed to follow 31°N and that defines the border between Alabama and Florida. Lupo 09:00, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Java program works differently under debug mode

This is an extremely frustrating variation on the old "tv only works when the tv repairman is around" problem.

I have a fairly simple program written in Java which contains no threading or anything that needs to be synchronised (though obviously a calculation or line must be completed before the next line is excecuted). I'm currently running the program in Eclipse.

The program doesn't work the way I expect it to (though no explicit bugs are produced). However, when run under debug mode, even with no breakpoints or any other reason to stop, the code runs perfectly. This happens every time (I've run the program about 20 times now, 10/10 errors in normal mode, 0/10 errors in debug mode).

What could possibly be happening? Obviously I don't edit the code what-so-ever between trials. Could the slow-down experienced when the code runs in de-bug mode have something to do with it, like for some reason lines aren't being fully executed before starting the next line when the prograsm is run in normal mode? The code uses lots of random numbers — could the production of pseudo-random numbers (just the java Random class) be different in debug mode? Any help much appreciated, I'm tearing my hair out... — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 15:37, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Some more details would be great. But since you say you don't use any threads (and I assume doesn't rely on user input) it can't be a timing problem. (BTW, a line not being executed is something that just can't happen, period.) are you using Math.random() or a Random object? Random objects sometimes generate the same sequence over and over if you copy them or create new ones. --R.Koot 15:51, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, I don't know what further details would help, but here we go:

• I'm running a genetic algorithm with many environments (in a separate Environment() class). In each environment there is a little creature that, in each generation, decides randomly whether to go forward, backwards, left or right. Upon making that decision, he looks at where he would be from the shape of the landscape generated back in the main class, and if he would be higher than his current position he moves in that direction. He's trying to get to the top of the hill.
• When the java program is run like a normal program, the creatues climb about half way up and then stop making any further progress.
• When the program is run in debug mode, to find out why the creatures aren't progressing, all the creatures get to the top of each hill with no problem.
• The directional decision is made using a Random object, rand, created by 'rand = new Random()', and then the decision is made using 'rand.nextInt(4)'.
• No threads, no user input, no changes at all between trying the program using debug mode or not.

— Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 16:07, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

What if you use Math.random() instead of the Random objects. I remember that a friend of mine described that had problems with the Random object when we had to write a genetic algorithm half a year ago. --R.Koot 16:11, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

I now remember the exact problem. If two Random objects are created within a microsecond, they will generate the same 'random' numbers. In debug mode, thing being slower might prevent this from happening, or some precations have been enabled in debug mode to prevent this from happening. --R.Koot 20:30, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

BTW are you sure you copy the dna-vector before mutating and not just makeing an assignment, this would cause both the original and the copy to be mutated? --R.Koot 16:14, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

I would try dumping all or most internal data to a file as you run (start with the random values you get, but be sure to seed the random generator with some fixed value). Then compare the file you get with and without the debugger. The first difference would probably pinpoint roughly where the problem is. Ornil 18:33, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

It's possible that you're running the two test cases (debug and non debug) with different bootclasspaths. Personally I'd manually run both from the command line, so you're explicitly defining which java executable (and which jdb executable) you're really using. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:10, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Also, if you're doing anything with random numbers, it's a very good idea to have a flag that has it use a PRNG with the same seed each time, rather than the system random code. That way any bugs than the randomness exposes are reproducable. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:13, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Eclipse has been working terribly all day — freezing, losing projects, getting errors when loading up (wretched buggy university unix network). After tearing out most of my hair and throwing the computer out the window, I managed to restart (during one of the four-second periods when the computer was responding) and now everything appears to be working perfectly once more. The program runs as it does when in the de-bug mode, that is, exactly as I expect it too.
Thanks very much for the good replies above. I'd look into them further, but, with my dissertation deadline two weeks away, I'm going to run with good results while I can. For the moment, I should probably just not use Eclipse, as the command line is obviously safer — it's just a bore when I'm basically writing the program as I'm running it. Thanks all! — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 19:35, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Random category changes?!

is it really a bad thing if someone adds a Category:Herbology tag to dozens of random articles? don't random changes just make life more interesting? doesn't fish taste better when you dip it in lime juice? doesn't the pineapple of life deserve a little bit of random postage stamps? didn't it?! -- anon (unsigned question by 172.163.228.215)

• Yes, it is a bad thing. Categories are meant to help sorting our articles. If the article tagged with "Category:Herbology" and it's not related to said category in any way, it should be removed. Random changes are a good thing, but not when you're trying to make an encyclopedia, which is the case here at wikipedia. - Mgm|^(talk) 17:55, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Can anyone direct me to a picture of a white flag (on wikipedia)?

See headline... Frenchman113 16:57, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (John Trumbull, 1797). On the right is the American flag, on the left is the French flag (white flag of the monarchy). Despite the painting's title, Cornwallis (claiming illness) was not present and is not depicted. Washington is on horseback in the right background; because the British commander was absent, military protocol dictated that Washington have a subordinate—in this case Benjamin Lincoln—accept the surrender.

Richard Taylor 23:21, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

climate for rubber trees

What kind of soil and climate would rubber trees require for healthy growth ? For one I guess it grows only in the tropics. Jay 18:25, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

• You would obviously need rubber soil- (unsigned answer by 172.144.193.86)

You can find more information about rubber trees than you'll ever need from the Project Gutenberg's online source of "The Romance of Rubber" by the U.S. Rubber Company here. In particular: The tree grows wild in the hot, damp forests of the Amazon valley and in other parts of South America that have a similar climate. The ideal climate for the rubber tree is one which is uniform all the year round, from eighty-nine to ninety-four degrees at noon, and riot lower than seventy degrees at night. -D. Wu 00:04, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

How does the Wikipedia "Show Changes" function work?

When editing a wikipedia article, authors have the ability to click "show changes", this compares their current version with the original and highlights any differences.

How does this work using PHP? Is there a script that demos it?

Are you asking for the general idea, or Wikipedia's specific implementation? The general idea is that there is a class of computer algorithms for efficiently determining a minimal set of differences between two strings of text. One algorithm I'm familiar with is due to Stone, and was used in the original Unix diff program. A general-purpose diff program is a fantastically useful utility -- I couldn't live without it, and it's one of the many reasons I love Unix so much. But since wikipedians obviously don't have access to the command line of the servers where wikipedia runs, it was very nice of the designers to somehow make this "show changes" feature available via the web interface. Steve Summit 14:29, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

(If you're curious, do read wikipedia's diff article -- it's quite comprehensive. Steve Summit 14:53, 10 August 2005 (UTC))

Mediawiki, on which Wikipedia is based, is open source software, so you can see exactly what it does yourself by browsing the source in the CVS repository (or by downloading it and reading it locally). I'm not familiar enough with the Mediawiki source to point you to a specific file, sorry. — mendel ☎ 00:24, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Wilhelm scream in Family Guy?

According to List of films using the Wilhelm scream, the Wilhelm scream is used in an episode of Family Guy. I don't doubt that this is true, but I've seen every episode and the leaked film and can't recall any instance where the sound has been used in the series. Does anyone know in which episode and where within it the scream is used? --Jacj 21:49, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

The article title is "List of films using the Wilhelm scream." If I recall correctly, the scene is parodied in the Family Guy movie, which was recently released on DVD. Garrett Albright 17:19, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

While that's true, the fact that the list referred to "Family Guy" and not "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story" suggested to me that the scream was featured in an episode. Also, [8] explicitly states that the scream was in an episode. --Jacj 21:10, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Energy required to maintain water at certain temperatures, Cal or BTU vs. Temp chart

Please direct me to a resource where I can find charts showing the energy required to maintain water (and other substances) at certain temperatures, Cal or BTU vs. Temp chart.

Thank you, Erik

That would depend on the difference between the air temperature and the water temperature. This site has a table of various gallon amounts of water and the wattages needed to maintain different temperature differentials in an aquariam. You can convert that to calories or BTUs.

As a side note, calories and BTUs are poor choices for this sort of thing, as they vary depending on a number of variables. A calorie or BTU actually corresponds to less energy when going between 14.5°C and 15.5°C than the average between 0°C and 100°C. James 22:53, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

abbreviation

How do you abbreviate the title "Pastor"?

The handful of style manuals I found on the Web that addressed the issue all indicated that Pastor was not abbreviated, but many of them suggested that it wasn't a title in the sense of a form of address anyhow, just a position like "minister" or "archbishop", and that the title of a pastor is "The Reverend" or "Mister". There's some talk about referring to clergy at Reverend. — mendel ☎ 00:31, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

I think it depends on the denomination. A lot of denominations use "Pastor" interchangibly with Minister, and would refer to the individual as "Pastor Jones" or "Pastor Bob"; some denominations reject using the title "Reverend" for ministers. Other denoms, like the Roman Catholic Church, use pastor as an office only; the pastor of a given Catholic church is a priest, and as such is addressed as "Father" (Fr.) and would not be addressed as "Pastor." If it is a case of the former, where the individual is called "Pastor Bob" and the church rejects titles like "Reverend," I think it would be appropriate to spell it out wherever possible, and abbreviate to "Pstr." if absolutely necessary. -- Essjay · Talk 02:47, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Natural Science

How many grams of water can a cubic meter of air hold at 37°C and 100% relative humidity?

I am not a student (formally, although I have never stopped studying). I fear that my economy of words made it appear so. I am a science hobbyist. I have spent many hours testing a solar powered space cooling device. I wanted to have an idea how much water was in air on a hot humid summer day in Florida (my location). Thanks to all that responded.

Ragnar

It's been a while since I've done any physics, but I think you could compute it by calculating the partial vapour pressure for water vapour and then using the ideal gas law to compute the mass. This sounds very much like a homework question, so I hope you'll excuse me for not just giving you the answer. --Robert Merkel 01:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

A table of saturated vapor density and saturation vapor pressure vs. temperature is available here. They say it can hold 44 grams of water. The site doesn't mention it, but I imagine the values are for 1 atm of pressure, so things would be different on top of a mountain. James 01:22, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Actually, they wouldn't be much different. To a first-order approximation, the saturation vapor pressure is independent of any other gases occupying the same space (unless you're talking about very dense, near-liquid gases, which is not the case with the atmosphere. The oft-cited explanation that "warm air can hold more water vapor than cold air" is incorrect; it is more accurate to say that a given volume of empty space can hold more warm water vapor than cold water vapor. The fact that there's also some nitrogen, oxygen, and other trace gases occupying the same space doesn't make much difference. Chuck 18:36, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Paris

Which of the arrondisements (wards) of Paris is considered the most upscale? PedanticallySpeaking 18:09, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Le 8ème arrondissement? --HappyCamper 23:11, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

The Grid lyrics question

Does anyone have the lyrics to "Rise" by the British techno band The Grid? I'm particularly interested in the chorus:

Will you rise, brothers?

Will you -I can't understand this word-, sisters?

Brothers and sisters...

And what does the "Hodba hodba!" or something mean? Is it just a nonsense word? — JIP | Talk 12:39, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Can someone clearly define Hispanic?

Can someone clearly define Hispanic? The more I read the more confused I get. What I seem to have gleaned from various sources is that anyone of any Spanish ancestry or from any former Spanish colony is Hispanic, but it is a self indentification thing for people of any race. So a few questions:

• Are Filipinos Hispanic? If so why, if not why not?
• Is a person German-Italian from Argentina hispanic?
• Why aren't Brazilians considered Hispanic?
• It would seem that people from Spain aren't considered Hispanic. Why?

See our articles: Hispanic and Hispanic culture in the Philippines Rmhermen 18:19, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

I don't think any cultural group can be clearly defined. For instance, there is great controversy on just who is Jewish/a Jew. Hispanic is a term that is generally applied to those of Spanish or sometimes Portuguese descent who live in Latin America. There are lots of gray areas there. I would venture to say that Spaniards are rarely called Hispanic, because their culture is distinct and quite different from cultures in Latin America, due in part to the influence of Native Americans on the Spanish settlers. James 19:05, August 5, 2005 (UTC)

"Hispanic" is more difficult than most terms in part because it is very arbitrary -- it refers to a number of distinct and different cultures, linked primarily (but not exclusively) by language, and as a census category in the U.S. it is used as an awkward surrogate for race (even though as such it is problematic to the point of meaninglessness). It is a very awkward category as such. --Fastfission 19:34, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

• You may want to check out the U.S. Census Bureau site [9] and its definition of Hispanic:

For the Census 2000 and the American Community Survey (ACS): People who identify with the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino" are those who classify themselves in one of the specific Hispanic or Latino categories listed on the Census 2000 or ACS questionnaire—"Mexican," "Puerto Rican," or "Cuban"—as well as those who indicate that they are "other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino." Origin can be considered as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race. [10] That hopefully won't confuse you more! 24.158.18.138 22:53, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

• According to Wisconsin Statute 560.036, "'Hispanic' means a person of any race whose ancestors originated in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central America or South America or whose culture or origin is Spanish." Mwalcoff

Hispanics are just people of the Spanish-speaking culture, many times including Spanish people. 2004-12-29T22:45Z 01:31, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

OpenOffice.org 2.0 XSLT

As you may or may not know, you can change an odt file to a zip file and inside is xml info containing styles/content/etc. Can anyone make some code up or find it that can style the content.xml file (perhaps using the styles.xml file)? This might come in handy if I bring the odt file to a computer that doesn't have openoffice [ignorant friends]. I'm not real good with XML, so I need help here :D — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 04:19, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

Maybe the JAXP might help [11]? --HappyCamper 04:29, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

legitimate online work-at-home business

I would like to enquire if anyone has knowledge of legitimate online work-at-home businesses such as typing, data entry, transcription, surveys, focus groups etc. to make cash or a reasonable income.

--anon

I you serious??? Are you telling me that you fall for the work-at-home or get-rich-quick schemes? Perhaps, software creators and other professionls such as Stephen Wolfram, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others create their products at home. But this is not for you and me who do not even know the design of an airplane, car, telescope, and so on. [Some people don't even understand compound interest nor can they calculate their mortgage payment!] The reality is that all people are not equal.

Why do you think people work 40-50 hours/week? These are the facts.

I've heard from that some companies really did use to pay people for envelope stuffing, but I think it's become more efficient to automate it. However, I personally know someone who does phone support from home, so that's at least one legitimate business. Superm401 | Talk 22:16, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

• • Sure. I know people who do phone support too, several of them; I know a number of programmers who work out of their homes; good typists and translators can always work out of their homes. For example. However, any company that advertises "Work at home! Earn big bucks" without requiring any sort of skills is most likely going to scam the hell out of you. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 22:21, 6 August 2005 (UTC)
    • True. But the asker requested legitimate suggestions, and we should provide as many as possible. Superm401 | Talk 22:39, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

• • • • I understand that proofreaders work from home. It's unlikely you are currently qualified to review books/TV, but you could aim for those as long term goals. Web design. Depending on your definition of legitimacy you could take phone calls from people looking for erotic conversation. Being a writer is another one, though with that you're even more likely to get f***ed. --bodnotbod 00:55, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Deadlines in Book Publishing

Do publishing companys, like Random House, give deadlines to the writers who write for them, or can the writers turn in a manuscript whenever they are finished?

Though I'm nowhere near getting anything of mine published, the way I always understood it is that a publisher will sign you to a contract to have X number of books written over X number of years. It may change by author though, if you make them enough money, I'm sure they'd be happy whenever you got them something. Dismas 04:48, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• If it's fiction, it's actually quite common for authors to write something in advance and then offer it to publishing houses. If the publisher likes the manuscript they sign the author. When it is about non-fiction, the publisher usually gets an idea either from an author or from another source after which they commision the author to write the manuscript in a certain amount of time. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:51, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

• This varies a great deal depending on the publisher and the author. Newer authors may not get a contract until they turn in an acceptable complete manuscript. Authors with an established reputation may get a contract and a payment on promising to have a book done within a particular time limit. It has been known for authors to fail to deliver on such promises. Publishers usually do not sue or demand the return of the advance in such cases, but it may well mean that the author will get poorer terms in future, or even be unable to get accepted at all. In short, it all depends. DES ^(talk) 22:15, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

• Douglas Adams had a famously casual approach to deadlines:

"I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by."

Of course, Douglas Adams had a great deal of clout. I would say that, if you're a writer starting out, you should establish precisely what the publisher expects of you and do your very best to meet those stated requirements. If you're particularly prolific like Stephen King or Barbara Cartland I assume the publisher just takes your manuscript, and says "see you next Tuesday" as he waves. --bodnotbod 01:04, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Guinness in US

Is Guinness in the US different that the product in Ireland and Europe?

I think that Guinness in Europe is already different than in Ireland; it's quite a decent beer in Ireland, but in Europe, it feels like making love on the beach. Chances are that it is different in the USA as well then. Rama 13:05, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Guinness is different all over the world. See the Guinness FAQ, or even our own Guinness article. — mendel ☎ 17:03, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

That may be, but I have trouble imagining a brewer mangling the recipe for Guinness enough that it starts to resemble sex on the beach.--Joel 22:31, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I suspect the reference was to the concept more normally rendered as "making love in a canoe" - fucking close to water... Shimgray 16:25, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Digitial communications in Wikipedia

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this question, but I'll give it a shot anyway: Would there be any use for a Wikiproject:Digital Communications on Wikipedia? I think it would be really neat to have consolidated resource for digital communications on Wikipedia. Or perhaps it already exists somewhere on Wikipedia already? Thanks for your help! --HappyCamper 20:52, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

• Why not? You should probably call it Wikipedia:WikiProject Digital Communications, though.- Mgm|^(talk) 21:00, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

Or you could join the #wikipedia IRC channel. --pile0nades^{talk | contribs} 03:38, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

How does one do that? I've seen those links before, but whenever I click on them, I get nothing...just some error. --HappyCamper 04:40, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

IRC's basically a large network of chat rooms. Since you get an error when clicking on the link, your browser doesn't support the IRC protocol, so you'll need to download a separate IRC client to connect to #wikipedia. There's a decent introduction and tutorial about IRC here. -D. Wu 05:19, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

If you have Firefox you can use the ChatZilla extension --pile0nades^{talk | contribs} 05:22, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Indira Gandhi

I am looking for the collected letters of Indira Gandhi. The name in the letters I'm looking for is Jean Ewing-Scott.

Jack Collins

Do you mean the letters written by Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi which were later compiled into the book Glimpses of World History. Jay 16:32, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Website desgin

Hi, what are some of your favourite website in terms of design. Thanks --Fir0002 06:08, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Try UK Yahoo Finds of 2004. It's a bit old now, but the websites that have been voted as better than the rest, and design has contributed to that. My personal favourite webstie deisgn is bill-bailey.co.uk, particulary the posters section, but the site is really complicated to make yourself. Hope that helps. --Commander Keane 10:47, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Ug, it's all Flash-based and it plays music without my permission… I strongly disagree with Mr Keane about that site being good web design. In terms of technically impressive website design, I like Google's Gmail and Google Maps, because they do things that "shouldn't" be possible with just normal web standards (see AJAX). Garrett Albright 16:36, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

I like The Guardian and BBC News as they are clear (especially if you use Firefox on the Guardian to remove ads). Flickr is very nice. I'll probably think of more later. --bodnotbod 01:50, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Outside doors on homes

Watching MTV's Room Raiders I noticed in Florida, most homes had outside doors that opened outward. Here in Ohio, every home I've seen had its doors opening inward. Is this some sort of Florida peculiarity? Does the building code there mandate this?

Possibly hurricane related? Rmhermen 17:15, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

I don't know how my response got erased but I dug it up from the history...

Normally the outside residence doors that I've seen in the U.S. have two doors.

1. ) The screen door of either wood or metal that opens out. This door usually has a self closing mechanism and a screen so that it can be left closed while the other door is open to allow air travel without letting bugs in.
2. ) The main door which is made of wood and at least an inch thick and opens in. This is the main security door and normally has small windows, called "lites" in the door industry. The windows provide light and a way to see who's at your door without sacrificing too much security.

Dismas 23:34, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

• There is a similar, but reversed arrangement within the old colleges of the University of Cambridge. There there is a heavy security door between the college staircases and the sets of rooms in which Fellows and some students work and live. This heavy outer door is known as an Oak http://www.quns.cam.ac.uk/Queens/Misc/jargon/CUjargon-all.html and opens outwards, there is also an inner door, which may open in either direction. When a Fellow is present in his rooms the outer door will usually be open indicating that he is in, but the inner door will be closed to protect against the cold drafts of the staircases of the old stone buildings which are sometimes open to the elements at the bottom.

Brooks Range

My first cousin, Jule Thibedeau, was a bush pilot in Alaska. He was killed in a crash, in the Brooks Range, in the late 1960's. I understand, from other relatives, that there is a mountain range, Mt. Thibedeau, named after him. Do you have any information on this, or any photographs of it. I'd appreciate your response. Thank you. Meri Will, awill3065 AT charter.net

A search of the U.S. Geological Survey database did not show any summit in the U.S. with the name Thibedeau. Rmhermen 21:01, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

That seems like an unusual spelling of the name. Thibodeau(x) is more common, but neither turns up anything in a simple google search. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:51, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

That's it. Meri, I guess you're talking about Thibodeaux Mountain in the Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Note that this entry in the USGS databases seems to have some typos: the pilot "crashed", not "rashed", and the elevation data seems to be wrong; according to [12] and the USGS map, it is 7539 ft (2298 m) high. Lupo 07:38, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Ancient name for Lebanon

What would have been the Roman name for the land now known as the nation of Lebanon? PedanticallySpeaking 16:22, August 9, 2005 (UTC) Lebanon in Roman times was called Phoenicia. http://www.romansonline.com/h_oth_Lebanon.asp

The land now occupied by the state of Lebanon was part of the Roman client kingdom of Judea from its conquest in 63 BC; from AD 6 it became a directly administered province, Iudaea Province. From 135 it was part of the larger province of Syria Palestina. See Roman province, History of Palestine, and Palestine (region). Gdr 20:25:12, 2005-08-09 (UTC)

From this map of 120 A.D. and this undated map it looks like modern Lebannon was part of the province of Syria rather than Judea. What time period are you interested in? I'll pull out one of my historical atlases. --Laura Scudder | Talk 21:34, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Oops, yes, you're right. Lebanon extends as far south as Tyre, which in ancient times was part of Phoenicia, was conquered by the Romans in 68 BC and became part of the province of Syria, which was combined with Iudaea in AD 135. Gdr 12:54:55, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Brush strokes

I'm looking for either, a) a way to create those kind of hand painted, slightly rough 'hand painted' lines that those stylized japanese caligrahpers use, or b) clip art of basic shapes (arcs, lines, circles) drawn in that style. I am creating a basic diagram that I want to look like it is painted with a thick japanese style brush. Any thoughts? Thanks!

Do you wish to create these on paper? Or stylize them on digital media? --HappyCamper 00:05, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

A number of computer graphics programs, such as Inkscape, have brushstroke tools. For one that is somewhat realistic, you'll probably want to look at add-ons for Photoshop or GIMP, or else a specialized program such as xshodo. This latter is a program for X11 which attempts to simulate realistic brushwork. It requires an X11 graphical environment -- e.g. a Linux/BSD/Unix system, Apple X11 for Mac OS X, or Cygwin X11 for Windows. --FOo 03:32, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

• A great program for creating realistic stroked paintings is Painter It is a drawing tool similar to photoshop but based on substrate mediums and brushes for realisticly drawing strokes as they would appear in a real painting or inking. It is rather expensive and for the best quality you need an electronic brush tablet with angle sensitivty like the upper end wacom tablets. Another thing to consider in japanese ink brushing is the unique dye diffusion of the papers used. This effect is very difficult to simulate. (the softening tendrils that appear around the edges of shapes on close inspection). But using a wet-on-wet medium with a very heavy brush load in Painter can simulate this to a degree. If the symbol is simple enough i could take a crack at brushing it it shouldn't take more than 5-10 minutes, email me. Another alternative is buying a brush and some ink and trying to do it in real life. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 13:33, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Cleopatra's children

Hello. My name is Aleta, I'm 15 years old and I love history. I read your pages about Cleopatra and her children and I have a question: where did you find the information that her son Ptolemy Philadelphos died in 12BC by an accident? I thought that the last information about the children of Cleopatra and Mark Antony was their depart to Mauretania - that's the only thing that the ancient historians wrote about their life after the marriage of cleopatra Selene. Please, explain me that mystery.

Aleta

You might get a better answer to this question at the talk page of the articles in question. HTH, Meelar (talk) 21:12, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the person who added that information has been banned from Wikipedia and thus can't give us her sources. I have a feeling she's mistaken, however. This site suggests that he may have died in 29 BC and no other information is known after Marc Antony and Cleopatra died. James 23:03, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

McIntyre System

Can you advise who comes third in the national rugby league finals using the McIntyre Top 8 system.

Under the Macintyre system, which was invented in Australian rules football, teams are ranked during and after the home and away games for the purpose of deciding which teams play which in the finals. There is no "third" in the finals series, only a premier and a "second" (the othe team in the grand final). Grant65 (Talk) 11:36, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Anteroom of hell?

I recall reading in a National Geographic some years ago that a conquistador (it may have been Pizarro) named a place in Peru after the "anteroom of hell". I cannot recall what this anteroom was actually called, and can't seem to find reference to it in Dante's famed work. Can anyone help? DO'Иeil 22:00, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

• Limbo? -- Essjay · Talk 02:50, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

That wouldn't make much sense to me as you don't proceed from Limbo to Hell, but rather from Limbo to Heaven. I did find one webpage that called Dante's first circle of Hell (where his pagan greats go) the anteroom of Hell. Otherwise, all I can find is that there is an Infierno in Peru, which might be related. --Laura Scudder | Talk 00:46, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

IIRC in Dante's Inferno Limbo is described as an endless plain surrounding hell. The virtious pagans are in the first circle. I'm not sure what name Pizarro might have used. DES ^(talk) 00:50, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Tommy Kramer

Have you thought about making a motivation biography movie about Tommy Kramer? Such as Rudy or Fridy Night Lights or other inspiration of the sort. (added by anon user)

The Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a movie studio. It is put together by the collective volunteer efforts of thousands of contributors, and survives on donations from its users and a few companies (who have not asked for anything in return). The broader Wikimedia Foundation also supports a wiki-based news service, dictionary, quote collection, and some other projects, but documentaries or other movies are not on the agenda any time soon!

Our article on Tommy Kramer is a bit short, but anyone, including you, can extend and improve it; given you feel that Mr. Kramer's life story is motivational, you obviously know enough about him to do so. You might also be interested in adding notable quotes by Mr. Kramer to Wikiquote. --Robert Merkel 04:17, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Robert, this is the best possible answer for the above question. :-) -- Sundar ^{\talk \contribs} 04:36, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

ATP in blood plasma?

Is there any ATP in blood plasma outside of cells, in appreciable concentrations? ~GMH 04:52, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, ATP resides in the extra-cellular space and indeed performs many vital functions. "The role of intracellular ATP as an energy source and its complex biochemical interactions with living cells have been the focus of extensive research. A natural progression of this research has lead investigators to speculate on the function of extracellular ATP in biological processes. The potential regulatory effects of extracellular ATP on platelet aggregation, vascular tone, muscle contraction, the generation of pain signals, and the ion channel have been the foci of numerous in-depth studies. [13]" James 05:19, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Signing Reference Desk Answers?

How does one add their user name to the end of questions they answer on wikipedia reference desk? Also, I have asked a couple of questions and done my best to answer a couple of dozen others, but who generally provides the answers to these questions? Is it generally a core constituancy of nice people, or a broader sampling of users?

Users may sign comments by inserting 4 tildas (~) with no spaces between. James 05:20, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Which looks like this: ~~~~ Proto t c 14:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

At the top of this page there is a section entitled "How to ask a question" - read it. ¦ Reisio 05:32, 2005 August 10 (UTC)

The answer to your first question is indeed at the top of the page. The answer to your second... well, nobody is assigned to answer questions but as I've been reading this page for the last few weeks (I only recently found it myself) it seems there are a number of Wikipedians that cruise through here on a daily basis to add what they know. Also there have been a number of anonymous users that have asked and answered questions as well. Dismas 06:23, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, there's a group of pretty nice Wikipedians who are regulars here too. Also, every 2 months or so we get a new cohort of new Wikipedians who help out. --HappyCamper 06:31, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Gigue in simple meter: how to play?

How should I play a Baroque gigue in simple meter? The particular gigue is the last movement of J. S. Bach's sixth Partita in E minor. Should I transcribe it into a compound meter (which gives me bars of 24/8) or should I play it as written (in 8/2) or what in between? ~GMH 05:16, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

That all depends on which makes it easier for you to play. Personally, counting 24 of anything per measure is difficult. I would suggest possibly using the time signature as written and sub-divide in your head. James 05:23, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

I would suggest counting in groups of 3, 3, 2, with each half note receiving the beat. Do you have a link to the music? I can give a more detailed answer, as right now I'm shooting in the dark...--HappyCamper 06:36, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

There's an extended discussion of Bach's "baffling binary gigue" at [14], which says, "The majority of players, it seems, choose to play it as written. Angela Hewitt, Glenn Gould and Gustav Leonhardt adhere to the original score. The Hewitt and Leonhardt interpretations are rather straightforward, while Gould's recording manages to dance despite the duple metre. Trevor Pinnock, Kenneth Gilbert and Andras Schiff choose the path less taken and transfer the duple metre to triple." Gdr 13:57:30, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Graphs, Nodes, and Business Rules - Can't refind it in Wikipedia

I was on a page describing graphs as nodes and edges. Then it applied it to business rules. The example was something like "Customers who spent x amount in last 60 days get a discount of 10%." Then they showed how nodes can be customer, x spending, get discount 10%. Also there was a link on the page to either business classifications or business rules.

If you can help me refind this page I would GREATLY appreciate it! Thanks!!!!

--anon

Are you sure it was in Wikipedia? The English wikipedia? I just did some google searches for those words restricted to en.wikipedia.org, and didn't find anything. Steve Summit 14:08, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

contact process of manufacture of sulphuric acid

why the process is called contact process?

The contact process is so called because it involves the contact of the heated sulphur dioxide and oxygen with Vanadium(V) oxide (a catalyst) to form sulphur trioxide far more efficiently than any earlier processes. See contact process for information on the process itself. Proto t c 14:57, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Insurance, Vehicle

Definitions:

Is there a "2nd party" insurance?

Can only find definitions for 1st and 3rd party insurance on web.

Ted...

In contract law, the first party and the second party are the two principals who agree a contract. A third party is any other person affected by the contract. (Note: the Wikipedia articles on these terms need some work!) So in insurance, you are the first party, the insurance company is the second party, and anyone else is a third party. So you can see why there's no such thing as "second party insurance". Gdr 13:13:59, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Edit: (02:36 AM Malaysia/Singapore time [18:36 UTC ?])

Well thanx loads. How and where do I thank the party (Gdr?)for this fantastic, concise and perfect answer? Read my mind. The above is exactly the answer I was looking for via several search engines, Dictionaries, Insurance Co. sites, Encyclopedias, what have you - without even a sliver of luck. Thanks again.

Ted...

You already have; the other place you can thank them is on their personal talk page. If you're feeling monetarily generous, you could also assist the whole Wikipedia project by donating... --Robert Merkel 22:15, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

You can be my bitch

Bash quote #16245 mentions a song by Master P entitled "You can be my bitch", however I've been unable to track down this song. The quote probably refers to some other song, what is it? —Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 07:18:48, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Moral of story: don't trust anyone on IRC. There is no such song. - Ta bu shi da yu 07:22, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

But there is a song entitled "You can be my bitch 2nite" by a guy named "Ron C" (apparently some minor mid-1990s rapper who released some five CDs). Lupo 08:23, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Standard deviation of a sum

Supposing that a variable is normally distributed has a mean of X, and its standard deviation is Y. When you sum N pieces of X's, what is the standard deviation of the sum? (No, this is not homework - if it were I'd look it up in a book :)) -EnSamulili 07:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Try the central limit theorem....--Robert Merkel 12:38, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

This sounds like a counting problem. Percent errors in counting go like 1/N^1/2, so the error in your sum would be N^1/2Y. Another way to arrive at this result would be to use a standard independent error summing formula: if z = x + y then δz = ( δx² + δy²)^1/2. So for adding N seperate X you would get (N Y²)^1/2 = N^1/2Y. --Laura Scudder | Talk 16:26, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

You could also take advantage of the variance formulas too. Since the distributions (I assume are independent), the answer given above results. --HappyCamper 06:31, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Thank you Laura and thank you, too, HappyCamper. I wish I could understand the variance formulas. I'm not that much of a mathematician... Anyway, the phenomenon in someways isn't even real, normal distribition is just a model etc, so, for now, I'm using the N^(1/2)*Y formula. -EnSamulili 16:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

flat pack furniture

Hello I am not sure if you can help me but my son has to do a dissatation and he needs answers to the follwoing questins and cant seemt o find them so thought you could either help or point me i the right directions

1. Who first invented flat pack furniture 2. When was flat pack furniture first invented. 3. When was it introduced to the public. 4. What social affects did it have

Can you please email me at my personal address

[email protected]

I really appreciae any help you can give me

kind regards

Teresa Dyson

Unfortunately the article on RTA furniture doesn't give much information about who started it. But you might try calling the people at Ikea since they're pretty much the #1 retailer of flat pack furniture. Dismas 09:57, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I've added Ikea's story of the invention of flat pack furniture to the RTA furniture article. Warofdreams 12:14, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

How was J (Sidi Rezegh) Battery involved in the battle in Java during WWII?

Are you sure that it was?

According to the brief history of the 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery on its website [15], "Throughout the desert campaigns of 1939–1943 and the North West European campaign of 1944–1945, Regiment supported 7th Armoured Division "The Desert Rats". During the first campaign at the battle of Sidi Rezegh on the 21st November 1941, 2Lt Ward’s Gun was awarded the Posthumous Victoria Cross for Conspicuous Gallantry, The Regiment commemorates this by wearing a red backing to the Cypher." J Battery is named after that battle, of course. [16]

137 Battery of 40th Regiment Royal Artillery ("The Lowland Gunners") is known as "Java" battery [17], but that seems to date from its history as "I" Company of the 2nd Bengal Artillery, and its involvement in the capture of Java in 1811.

HTH. -- ALoan (Talk) 14:06, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Logging industry

Hi Hope you can help me out with a couple of questions to do with the logging industry: What are the differences in machinery/tools used in logging between now and 100 years ago?

Has safety changed a lot?

For how long has resource management been an issue in the forestry industry (as in not just cutting down all the trees but planning to make it sustainable)?

What are some of the problems caused by logging?

What do logging companies need to operate in an area (amount of trees in density/size of forest etc. The species; Type of labour - cheap labor/skilled labor etc.)?

Is wood mainly used for the same products today as it was used 100 years ago?

What are the most important dates/events in world forestry industry (I.e. what is a chronological timetable for logging) ?

What are the most important dates/events in Australia’s forestry industry?

Does Australia rely on its forest resources as much today as 100 years ago?

Thanks for your help --Fir0002 11:22, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

It would not be difficult to write an essay on any single one of these questions; and some of them, particularly the last, are typical social science/arts essay questions in that a huge part of writing a successful essay is coming up with a sensible interpretation of the question. Do you really need comprehensive answers to all of the above questions?

From the looks of it, what you do need to do is some general background reading. You can start with logging and forestry here on the Wikipedia. You can also try web resources such as the National Association of Forest Industries and, for an opposing viewpoint, green groups like The Wilderness Society. To get an idea of the technology involved in contemporary logging, you can look at companies like John Deere (and this is only a fraction of the gadgets used in advanced logging operations). But, ultimately, I think you'd be well advised to go get some actual books on the topic from the library; ask your librarian for help.

By the way, one big hint: Chainsaws were invented in 1926. --Robert Merkel 12:34, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Angel Falls and the Amazon

Is the Angel Falls located in the area of the Amazon forest?

Basically, yes, although they do not lie in the Amazon Basin. Warofdreams 12:16, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Portly spider crab

I was wondering if there was a photo of the "Portly Spider Crab" available, to be inserted in the current article on these crab. I have fished a crab that fits the description given, but would like to see a photo to confirm it. I have fished these crab commercially(we call them "toad crab")in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland. If I can confirm that these crab are the same as I fished, I may be able to expand on the article. --Wade Turner 11:56, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't know of a picture which could be used in the article, but there is a picture available here which may help you establish whether it is the crab you fished. Warofdreams 12:41, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

There is an image now. Lupo 08:04, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Kodachi/Wakizashi

I am looking to find out which of the two japanese weapons is longer than the other, but have been unable to find reliable information about them. The wikipeida articles both state that they are larger than the other, and no other page i have looked on has had trustworthy information about it.

Please help.

Our article does say " though the blades differ greatly in construction, the kodachi and the wakizashi are similar enough in size and technique that they are sometimes (mis)used interchangeably." It appears that the difference is in the design, not necessarily in the length. I suspect that you could find examples of both styles of the same length. Rmhermen 14:38, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Industrial/Engineering Management

Which colleges in USA offer major in industrial and engineerig management?and also let me know their rankings.

The College Board has a search feature by major on their site. Search for "Engineering/Industrial Management" and then you can limit the search by several factors including location, price, size, etc. As for college and university rankings, it all depends on who you ask. You can go buy a copy of US News and World Report's rankings magazine (which won't rank the engineering/industrial management program separately anyway) or there are a few books that rank them as well. Rankings don't really mean anything though, as you could be do better and learn more from a lower ranked school, depending on the circumstances. James 15:07, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

How do I get a record deal?

Many smaller and "indie" record labels will have contact information for sending them demo CDs. Start here and track down some of these labels, then send them your CD and cross your fingers. Good luck. Garrett Albright 17:28, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Also, this might be helpful. Garrett Albright 17:30, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Are you really sure you want one? It is usually a really lousy deal for the musicians. -- Cyrius|✎ 18:28, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

As opposed to what, not having a record deal? I suppose if you could, by yourself, convince record stores all over the country/world to carry your disc, they wouldn't be necessary, but that will rarely be practical. 15:48, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Musicians tend to end up not making much money and losing control of their copyrights. -- Cyrius|✎ 00:39, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Be talented or beautiful or lucky or timely or predestined or rigorous or "funny" [18] [19].

Alternatively, just write one great song.

chocolateboy 04:27, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

How long do I have to insure my home after the sale?

I am selling my home, its 6 years old and in perfect condition. My realtors tell me I should buy special insurance so that if anything goes wrong with the house when the new buyers take over, the insurance will cover it. (i.e. appliances, furnace, etc...) I don't believe I am responsible to buy insurance for the new buyers. Everything in the home works now and if they break something why should I be responsible for the repairs? I know that builders are responsible for the first year on a new home and I understand that but this house is not new. I live in Oregon, are the laws different in all states? thanks so much Marcea copied from the helpdesk DES ^(talk) 16:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

According to Oregon's Insurance Division, state law doesn't require homeowner's insurance at all. Most lenders require insurance, but that doesn't really seem to apply to your case. James 18:04, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps your realtor is concerned about liability issues. Oregon does have a full disclosure law regarding property sales [20][21]. Your realtor may be concerned that if something breaks within a short period of time, then the new owners may assume that you witheld information and sue you to recover the costs anyway. It wouldn't hurt to look into it and evaluate it for yourself. If you find that you can get quite a bit of coverage for not a lot of money, then maybe it would be worth it. On the other hand, if it looks like your broker is just trying to line his pockets with some kickbacks, then maybe you need a new realtor. --CVaneg 18:27, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Some states have a hidden and undisclosed fault provision. However, the seller must wilfully conceal the problem in order to be liable. So long as you're not trying to hoodwink the buyer you should be fine with no insurance. And besides, if you do wilfully conceal something chances are that the insurance company would find you in default and not pay. hydnjo talk 18:19, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Some buyers may also require such a policy in the bid they place for your home. In that case, it would be better if a policy was ready to go rather than having to go and find one after accecpting the offer, possibly delaying closing. Gentgeen 22:41, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

technology behind measuring race times

I was wondering what kind of technology is used to measure lap time of various sport events. For example running, swimming skiing and others. This also goes for motor-sport as formula 1, motors ... How do they know when a person or car has gone passed finish? Specially if there is more than one through finish in very short time.

• For final race results a camera is triggered in front of the finish line. Pictures are taken in a continous strip (shutter opens/closes then film is advanced and this is repeated) the speed is such that the strip forms a virtual view of the positions of each racer from the side. Time markings along the bottom of the photo can be used to find the exact crossing time of any racer. Or merely comparing their positions along the strip. See [22] for an example strip and an explanation of how this works. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 17:25, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
• For some sports where the ending requirement is easy to define and competitors are seperated into lanes, (such as edge touching with swimming) an electrical contact or laser breaking system can be used to measure the timings of arrivals. But in sports where it is not easy to determine this photos are always considered more exact and lasers are considered merely an estimate. For instance, the front wheels of a car or the chest of a runner are what determines a winner rather than the first body part to break the line. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 17:30, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
• One more comment, we need a Photo finish article. Or am i just missing it? --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 17:42, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
  • Article started - Photo finish. Proto t c 11:52, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Swimming uses "touchpads" mounted to the wall in the end of each lane, and a computer to process the touches into laps and final times. Running the timing system for our high school swim team was actually one of my first technology-related things that I did, when I was in middle school. :) The touchpad in that case was fairly basic -- just a large, flat panel that hung from the gutter of the pool across the end of the lane, and when a swimmer pressed it, it closed a switch and completed a circuit. kmccoy (talk) 05:29, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

seeing how the tour the france racers have some kind of transmitter mounted on their bikes i assume that is used also. not exactly sure how it works but it's prolly transmitting some signal which is picked up when it passes some measuring device. makes sense to use something like that in motorsports also. Boneyard 08:09, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Getting Euros?

I live in the United States preparing for a trip to Europe, is it possible to withdrawl Euros from a local bank? What is probable to be the cheapest option for converting currency before I leave? Thanks! -anon

• Trying posting your question at Lonely planet (on the "Thorn Tree"). You will get a better anser than here. Or call your bank. Ground Zero 18:55, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, being from the UK, I'm obviously not familiar with how things work "over there", but I imagine it will be similar - what you need is a Bureau de Change. These are often located inside banks or travel agents, as well as in international airports and the like; there are probably even online Bureaux, though as with many such things, I'd be careful of the reputability and any hidden costs involved.

As for finding the cheapest, there are two things you need to look out for: commission, and exchange rate - commission is the bureau's charge for their service, usually proportional to how much money you change, subject to a minimum fee; the exchange rate will vary day-to-day, but companies will also hide charges in it - they won't give you as many Euros as they get off their European counterparts - and some will hide more than others. One last thing to check is whether you will be charged (either in commission or in a vastly different exchange rate) for converting any money you still have when you get back.

There are probably sites/articles giving you US-specific comparisons, but I think these criteria will be basically the same anywhere. - IMSoP 19:07, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

When I travel I usually end up buying my cash at an American Express office, as they have reasonable rates and I can also buy travellers checks while there if I want (unless you need several currencies get any checks in local currency - it'll be easier to cash and you'll probably get a better rate here than at some random place that happens to be next to the shop you want to visit).

Now days though, for convienance's sake I don't really take a lot of cash or any checks with me, but bring my credit and ATM cards and get any extra cash I need there. You do have to pay ATM fees this way, but you only need to worry about losing two cards rather than a wad of cash, and the rates I got from my bank were fair so I wasn't bankrupted by them even when living abroad. --Laura Scudder | Talk 19:02, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Withdraw your money from a bank machine. It will be converted from your currency to euros at either the bank rate or close to it. You may be assessed a fee for a foreign ATM withdrawal, but I am sure it will still be cheaper (I am charged $1.50 flat). You can use a debit or credit on a normal purchase with no fee and will again get the best exchange rate there. 119 19:25, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Interesting - perhaps this is a difference in attitudes between the respective banks, because from the UK you will very much be worse off using an ATM, debit card, or credit card abroad; not only do the banks charge substantial fees for this, they apply extremely uncompetitive exchange rates, which you generally only notice when you get back and receive a statement. - IMSoP 19:49, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

That's absolutely not true. In the UK rate for withdrawals using an overseas card at a standard bank ATM is £1.50 or 2% (whichever is higher). And for UK citizens, using an ATM card abroad is usually the cheapest way of withdrawing foreign currency. An example - in the UK, I got 5.2 zlotys to the pound (and that was after shopping around a lot), but when I went to Poland, using my ATM card was getting me 6.3 zlotys to the pound). Whilst the ATM exchange rates are not always particularly competitive, they're better than the average Bureau de Change. If you contact your bank in the US and ask if they have any partnership deals with European banks (both in the UK and on mainland Europe), they may be able to tell you which banks to use to avoid paying any commission. For the amount of time and effort you save, simply using an ATM (ensuring you use on at a bank, not a gas station, supermarket, etc) is probably your best bet. Don't take out more than you need, though, because you will get ripped off when trying to exchange any foreign money you have remaining when back in the US. Proto t c 09:02, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Hm. Looking into it further, I guess it's not as universally the case as I thought - but I don't know where you get your "using an overseas card at a standard bank ATM" rate from, as this will surely depend entirely on the bank issuing the card, and their agreement with the UK bank (or the Cirrus network, or whatever). The objective source I had in mind that suggested not using your card was an article in The Guardian a couple of months back; I couldn't find the exact one online, but I did find this article and this older pros/cons table which both confirm that using cards abroad is at least sometimes an expensive option.

I'm personally surprised that the ATM rates would be all that competitive, since you're effectively a captive market, but other than the market rate shifting wildly just after you left, I can't argue with your personal experience. What I would be interested in is whether you were charged any handling fees on top of the exchange rate - since UK bureaux de change now tend to be commission-free, and hide their fees inside the rate, this may be skewing the comparison somewhat. Otherwise, I can only say that you seem to be pretty lucky, and whatever bank you're with is offering a much better deal than some of their competitors. - IMSoP 15:16, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Hotels, restaurants, theatres, museums etc. will all take credit cards (although you'll have trouble with Amex in smaller places), but you should have some local currency when you arrive, for public transport, taxies, and sundries. Don't rely on being able to find an ATM immediately in an unfamiliar foreign airport when you've not slept in (what feels like) a week, so buy some (maybe 100 or 200 euros in 20s, depending on the size of your party) at the airport Bureau de Change. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:51, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

I'm American so take that into account. I live near the Canadian border. Recently on a trip to Montreal to see Cirque du Soleil we had lunch before the show, dinner after, etc. I just used my debit card for any transactions. When we got back I noticed in my account's recent activity online that I had been charged the full sum, not counting the exchange rate. For instance, a $20 meal in Canada showed up as $20. But a few days later, after everything went through, only US$10 was charged to my card. (figures are for example purposes only, I don't recall the exchange rate exactly) Although the initial "recent activity" sent my account into the negative, it was soon rectified when the exchange rate worked in my favor. Luckily, I'm not charged for overdrafting. Your bank may work it differently. Dismas 23:25, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

As someone from the US who frequently travels to other countries, I second what others have said above. First, check with whatever bank you use for your normal banking and see if they have a fairly cheap way to get some Euros. Don't get everything you need for the trip, though, just get enough so that you're not arriving in another country with no money. I like to have around 60-100 USD worth of whatever currency I'll need, for taxis, tips, etc. If possible, I like to ask for some smaller bills, although in many countries airport workers don't seem to mind being tipped with US dollars. If your bank is inconvenient or expensive, you might also do this as the money exchange at the airport, though this might be even more expensive. Once you get to the other country, use your ATM card. I generally use my ATM card to withdraw about 200 USD worth of currency at a time.

A few other tips: I usually keep $100 worth of American Express traveler's checks as an emergency, in case I can't find a working ATM (I had a hard time in Ireland finding an ATM that would take my card, for some reason, and these checks came in handy in that case.) If you are someone who makes trips out of the country on a routine basis, consider keeping small supplies of various currencies that are left over after a trip. I have an envelope containing Barbadian dollars, British pounds, Euros, Mexican pesos, etc, because those are places I am sure to or am likely to return to in the somewhat near future -- that stash becomes my $60-$100 starter money as described above. And finally, when you're coming home, keep in mind that while you will most likely not have a hard time exchanging any paper leftovers for US currency (if you don't want to keep them), you will have a very difficult time finding anyone who will take foreign coins for exchange. This can be frustrating if you've got a lot of 2 Euro coins. :) kmccoy (talk) 05:41, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I didn't think of that, and have come back from Wikimania with abotu €10 in coins, including some 1 cent coins! I'll keep hold of them as its not unlikely that I'll be going to Euroland at some point. Thryduulf 15:25, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

pressure experiment

Request left on User:69.248.17.104's talk page to ask formal question here. ¦ Reisio 05:02, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

the Teshoo Lama

Kipling's Kim makes mention of the Teshoo Lama, and the book An Account of An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet--Containing a narrative of a journey through Bootan and part of Tibet by Samuel Turner was first published in 1800, London. Is this a real position/lama title, or was it made up? does it represent a real title if it is fictional?

thanks

• Appears real. The usual spellings are Teschu Lama or Teshu Lama. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 22:08, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

The book's certainly real. Samuel Turner, 1749-1802. From the catalogue at Leeds University:

An account of an embassy to the court of the Teshoo Lama, in Tibet; containing a narrative of a journey through Bootan, and part of Tibet / by Captain Samuel Turner. To which are added, views taken on the spot ; by Lieutenant Samuel Davis; and observations botanical, mineralogical, and medical ; by Mr. Robert Saunders

London : printed by W. Bulmer and Co. Cleveland Row, St. James's; and sold by Messrs. G. and W. Nicol, booksellers to His Majesty, Pall-Mall., 1800

Hope that helps. Various UK universities have copies, and I expect various US ones do too. Shimgray 22:40, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Can pouring hot water into a glass container cause it to shatter

I've always thought this, but I've never seen it happen.

Yes it can. I have had this happen before. Occurs when the glass is reasonably thin, and the temperature difference between the glass and the water quite substantial. In fact, can be dangerous enough that the glass can shatter very much like an explosion. Think: "laboratory safety" with test tubes, bunsen burners, and the like, to get an idea of where these preventable accidents happen often. --HappyCamper 19:49, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I am not an expert but I have had this problem with a glass vase. I beleive that 'real glass' and crystal will shatter. But cooking glass and pyrex are different, Pyrex has a different structure and whiteware is nearly industructible ceramic. BTW: in my case the water was boiling (tea) and the glass already contained iced lemonaid, the chance is greater with a bigger heat difference. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 19:53, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Yep, and it can happen the other way round too - I had it happen when I poured cold water into a glass that had just come out of the dishwasher (hot from being air-dried) - as HappyCamper says, it's the difference in temperature between the glass and the water. What actually happens is that the glass either expands or contracts - as most substances do when heated or cooled - too quickly, causing it to shatter, sometimes violently. - IMSoP 19:56, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

It's not the speed of the temperature change, but the fact that it occurs unevenly. The part of the glass first coming into contact with the hot water tries to expand, but is still attached to cold glass. That creates stress zones within the glass. Contrary to what was said above, a thick glass is actually *more* likely to shatter from the stress than a thin one. What's even more important is uniformity of thickness, as variations in thickness can act like a sort of lever, causing the stress to be concentrated in certain areas. Mkweise 20:14, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Ah, that makes sense; I thought I'd probably over-simplified somehow. - IMSoP 20:35, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Ah, yes, thanks for pointing that out. --HappyCamper 23:52, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

There's a whole article on the phenomenon...which I happened to write. See:Thermal shock. --Joel 20:47, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Pouring hot water into a glass container does cause the container to shatter, but this effect can be seen elsewhere. I've taken a casserole out of the oven before and the casserole pan shattered because I touched it with room-temperature oven mitts. --Think Fast 23:12, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Unless you're room in a freezer, I don't see how oven mitts could have that effect. I'd bet that there was an impurity in the glass of the dish that made it shatter when having the pressure of your grip applied to it with the glass being hot/brittle. Cloth, I wouldn't think, would do it. Dismas 23:29, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Would it be worthwhile to mention stuff like stress and thermal expansion coefficients? Enough material to make a stub here, although I wouldn't know where to put it all. --HappyCamper 23:52, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

This exact thing has happened to me, but it turned out my "casserole" dish was actually a strange salad bowl made from regular glass. (only use pyrex in ovens). As soon as it hit the outside air it started slow moving cracks from the top of the dishy down, by the time i got it to the sink it was in 4 seperate parts. It seemed almost as if the heat had made the glass brittle or crumbly. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 12:07, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Computerese (Synchronization ?)

1. Synchronization - definition? - specifically, as when saving this page to "Favorites" and the little "Synchronizing" box appears... Impressive - but what's it all mean?

Not being on the 'inside', myself I think this may be a corruption, denigration or mis-use of the term. Sorry, but, honestly, just can't see why a simple old fashioned 'file save' should all of a sudden require something as complex as "synchronization"; unless I'm way off - or there's some new twist to the meaning...

Ted...

If I understand correctly, the bookmark was saved as an offline bookmark which 'synchronizes' every so often. That way when you're not online you can see a reasonable updated version of the webpage. Many people without always-on connections do this with news pages (or if they have a pda). Hope that helps. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 20:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

So, to be doubly clear, the two things being "synchronized" are the current copy of the page on the WWW, and the local copy on your hard-disk ready for viewing when you're not connected. If you come back in a week, the two will be different, and need synchronising again, so this isn't the same as just saving the file. - IMSoP 20:26, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

What can I make/bake?

Good evening everyone.

Here's a challenge for you. I've just finished dinner, and I want some dessert. However, I'm broke and can't go out to buy anything. I just took an inventory of what I have in my pantry to see if there is anything I can make. Here is what I have:

Confectioners Sugar, Dark Brown Sugar, Nestle Toll House Cocoa (Baking Cocoa), Crisco, Salt, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Almond Extract, Ground Cinnamon, Sprinkles, Pure Vanilla Extract, Flour, Butter, Water, Pudding Mix, Yellow Cake Mix, Pound Cake Mix

Here is what I don't have: Milk, Eggs, Sugar

So, is there anything that I can make that will satisfy my sweet tooth?

Do you have any nice neighbors? A single egg or cup of milk would really help in this matter. --CVaneg 21:19, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

It occurs to me that with butter/shortening, flour and water you could probably make a pie crust. Of course, then you need a pie tin and filling. --CVaneg 21:26, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I just ran over to my neighbors house, and she has eggs, but they expired on the 26th of June. Meanwhile, if I were to make some tea, would I be able to use confectioners sugar as a replacement for regular sugar? --Scapegoat pariah 21:34, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I suppose you could, but not being a fan of sweetened tea, I can't say. Looking here it says that you can substitute 1 cup water plus 1 tbsp. melted butter for 1 cup milk. Theoretically, you could use this to prepare some Cocoa with a bit of brown or confectioner's sugar (inadvisable) or use the mixture in your pudding mix (probably not too bad). --CVaneg 21:42, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

• I did some creative cooking last week and for me the BBC food website was really helpful. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:58, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Well... I just got called into work. So so much for all this. I was just about to get started with the pudding idea. Oh well, maybe I can convince my manager to throw me some donuts or something. Thanks for all the fun ideas. --24.194.208.255 21:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Speaking as a person who is hopeless in the kichen,

1. When got a sore throat, mix sugar and butter, mix it up good, it is like honey to the throat ... do this in moderation.
2. If got any left overs still Ok to share, take to office for co-workers ... result is that before long they too will be sharing with you, other concoctions.

AlMac|^(talk) 20:33, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm suprised no one really answered much. You can make all kinds of cookies and cakes with that list of ingredients. Yeah, the egg helps in many cases, but isn't fully necessary and the milk is entirely unecessary, you can use water. Your confectioner's sugar is basically just finely ground sugar and a bit of cornstarch or similar added to keep it from clumping. So while it will act a bit different in some things, you can generally subsitute it just fine. So you could easily search for cake and cookie recipes that you can make. A really simple one, if you are still interested is simply mix the butter and confectioners sugar to make a butter cream frosting (you'll have to test to find the proportions), make the cake mix without the egg (maybe a little extra butter or other fat to keep it from being too dry), and frost the cake once it's done baking and cooling. Add the cocoa if you want chocolate frosting. Your cake won't bind together well without the egg, but should otherwise be fine. I think it will just come out a bit denser. If the cake mix is a complete one, you won't miss the egg at all. Anyway, that was if you are still interested. - Taxman ^Talk 21:22, August 15, 2005 (UTC)

What should one do if one has amnesia?

I think I have amnesia. By the description I got here of it, I'm pretty sure I do. I don't know what kind, but I can eliminate a few. My head doesn't really hurt so I don't think it's that. I can remember when I woke up an hour and a half ago. I don't think I can remember anything before that. I only know my name and location because I've searched the room and house I'm in. I don't recognize myself in the mirror. Frankly, I'm pretty scared. I don't know who to trust, but I really need to get some ideas of what to do or where I might can find what to do. I'm pretty sure there's got to be something I should do. This thing was on the computer already. I looked up memory and then clicked amnesia and it still didn't really give me an idea what I might do so I clicked help and now I'm here asking. I really hope someone can give me an idea what I might should do. (Why I should do it might be a little more comfortable, if you could answer that too, but that's probably asking a little much.) - Amy (I think)

Well, I'd be extremely wary of taking advice from complete strangers on the Internet - even when you know who you are, you don't know who they are. But, as a stranger on the Internet, here's my advice: admit yourself to the nearest hospital; call 999 / 911 / 112 / whatever and get an ambulance to come and pick you up if necessary. Medical conditions require medical expertise, so put yourself in the hands of some medical experts and they'll work out what to do next. - IMSoP 20:32, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Try logging in, or use any system that might have information about you. Don't think about it, just do it. Your motor memory is clearly still working, and it knows things about you that other parts of your brain apparently don't right now :-) Kim Bruning 20:42, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Everyone's a stranger right now, but if enough of them agree, maybe they're right. I didn't even have to remember the name; it was there at login already! I'm not sure it will help, though, but here's hoping. Anyone know of anywhere better I could ask about this? Something to look up that could tell me more (and where to look it up)? I think I'll wait a little while before I go to the hospital. It's only been a couple of hours, I think. Well, unless I forgot that I forgot before. This is confusing. --AmyBeth 20:53:09, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

First, take IMSoP's advice and call 911!

Your IP, 24.194.208.255, resolves to cpe-24-194-208-255.nycap.res.rr.com - so you're in New York City on RoadRunner cable internet. Just after the above your IP made this edit, which if it isn't you is someone else in the same house. In the circumstances I thought checking for a username match would be appropriate - User:Scapegoat pariah has used that address, though that may or may not be you (RoadRunner cable has dynamic addresses that don't change for weeks at a time). Your edit just now was from 68.102.108.57, which is ip68-102-108-57.ks.ok.cox.net (in Oklahoma). Hope this is useful - David Gerard 21:02, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

This is still me. I'm the one that asked the question. I'm pretty sure I'm in Kansas, not Oklahoma or New York. Most of the mail here says Kansas and I found a newspaper, the Wichita Eagle, from August 3, 2005. I'm pretty sure I'm in Kansas. I have good reason to think other people live here, but no one else is home now. I think I would rather wait for someone than call 911. I don't know. I don't know if they are good people. But I don't know if anyone is so it's probably not worth worrying about. :-\ --AmyBeth 21:08:22, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Taking you seriously, (if you're playing a game, at least it's interesting :and doesn't matter to me much either way:-) ), the user contributions for these 2 users are [23] [24], Hmm, check your medicine cabinet to see if you have any SSRIs there, and check the required dosage? Kim Bruning 21:12, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

And if there are any, also check who the prescription is actually for, it might be for one of the other people living there, after all. Kim Bruning 21:16, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Whoa, hold on here, I was just looking for someone to help me find something to make/bake. I hit the edit button when I realized I forgot to add a subject title. --Scapegoat pariah 21:18, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Wondering how it got to be from the same IP then! Did you re-paste Amy's question? - David Gerard 21:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

See if medicine etc. is marked Amy Beth or variations on those. Your original question was posted using the New York IP number, not sure how (unless it's an open proxy and your computer is set up to use those for some reason). If you don't want to call 911, sit tight, read the paper, read stuff on the Net, etc., and see if anything comes back to you or anyone comes back to the house - David Gerard 21:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I only found some levothyroxin marked for me, but someone has confirmed for me that it's the wrong pills in there. At least I know who else lives here now. That's nice. Interesting on that SSRI thing. I seem to have strong opinions on that. I wonder why. Anyway, I think I will just look through some things right now online and off, see if I remember anything before people get home, just, in general, attempt to contruct some semi-coherent world-view. If I still can't remember yesterday and before by the time someone gets home (or tonight, at least) I'll tell them, go to the hospital, whatever. I mean, I can't very well live whatever life I was trying to live if I can't remember what it is. FWIW (which is nothing.. I mean, you could think I'm lying now, too,) I'm completely serious.--AmyBeth 21:42:44, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

Oh, the bottle is old. It's from 2004 so I must have reused it, I guess.--AmyBeth 21:44:49, 2005-08-10 (UTC)

You might be interested in your previous contributions to Wikipedia., particulary this one, where you say, "I'm Amy, but that was taken, so I'll be AmyBeth here. I'm in my senior year of aerospace engineering, but really I'm a geek of broader categories..."--Pharos 21:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Google searches can be interesting, which AmyBeth are you? What's your sirname? It should be on the meds? Here's some clues: [25] and is any of these photos you? [26]. Finally, do you have IRC? (Check for mIRC or so on your machine.) Try join irc.freenode.net, #wikipedia Kim Bruning 22:07, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

Situation has been taken care of. --Tznkai 09:00, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Uh-oh, that sounds ominous. Is it the situation that has been taken care of, or, as I suspect, AmyBeth who has been "taken care of"? Especially suspicious is that the "user" who has taken care of the situation has just come back from a "vacation"... Kansas, anyone? — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 10:31, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

She is fine and doesn't want anyone to worry. I offered to take care of the message for her because I didn't want her to be swamped by people around here. She gave quite a few people a good scare and a lot of suspicious people on the IRC chan. I probably could have left a less ominous sounding note, but it was 5 AM or so in the morning or so around here and I was on my last two brain cells.

As for the questions that everyone is dying to ask: no, I will not answer. Implied confidentiality and privacy between people.--Tznkai 15:32, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Tznkai, but even though you're right and I'd appreciate not answering all kinds of questions (It's a little embarrassing now), I think it might be good for people to at least see I'm still here and that I, myself, say I'm ok. (And not you. ;-) )

So here it is. I'm basically ok. A few days are still missing and many things are still hazy, but I remember who I am, where I am, why I'm here, what I'm doing, most or much of my past, etc. I'm more myself today than I was yesterday. I slept and awoke just fine. I really do think I'll be ok.

I know this isn't what wikipedia is for, but thanks. It was up on my computer and I really didn't know where to go. Thanks. You've been a great help.--AmyBeth 21:16:12, 2005-08-11 (UTC)

Glad to hear you feel better! All the best, HappyCamper 06:30, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Tell us what happened now... before you forget!  :) TresÁrboles 05:22, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Hope you do see a doctor. There are several medical conditions that are treatable, in which some memories go away, come back again.

Inventoryin what's in pockets of clothes can halp ... like an ID ... if you find a photo id & see if it agrees with you in the mirror.

Making sure you can get back inside ... go out & determine street address, then use www.google.com to search for info about that address.

See if you can find bills around the place, like phone bill, then google search that also.

AlMac|^(talk) 20:43, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Ok, so I saw a nurse practitioner today and have an appt with a doc on Thursday. Also talked to a counselor, I guess. I also talked to a prof at my college and he said not to worry about it, to take care of myself and he'd take care of things, that whatever I've done or not done, things can still be ok and for me not to worry. I have some follow-up appointments this week. I think everything has a reasonable chance of being ok. Once I figure out what I'm doing again and get my head on straight, I'll try to figure out IRC again. Wow. Ok. And this is off to archive. I'll see about putting something on my user page since I made this here, but I think I'll take it off after a while, presuming some sense of normality resumes.--AmyBeth 21:02:29, 2005-08-15 (UTC)

this is quite an interesting condition you have, and I suppose quite rare. Assuming that things will come back to you eventually, everything will be ok, but you will have had quite an adventure that most people will never share. In your situation, I would make sure to keep an exact diary over the next few weeks recording what you remember. Have you only forgotten about your private affairs, or about political events as well? What is the last world-news event you remember? Presidental elections? Olympic games? (where?) Invasion of Iraq? 9/11 (where were you?)? The Levinsky affair? The fall of the Berlin wall? Chernobyl? How about regional events? It would be interesting to map what parts of your memory were affected by establishing which were not (apparently your computer skills are not gone, so you could not have lost more than a couple of years). This is not my business, of course, and I am not asking you to record these things here, in public, I am just suggesting that you try to document them for yourself. dab (ᛏ) 21:14, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Glad to hear you are feeling better, Amy. Don't worry. Dissociative fugues are not that rare. They often go away quickly and never come back - but of course you need to get counselling and get to the bottom of what caused this. I don't want to scare you, but dissociative fugues can be followed by depression or an anxiety disorder - so please get the professional help to prevent that. Best wishes --Fenice 21:39, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Goldenrod in French

Jeez. I'm glad I still can remember my password. Please, what is the North American wildflower goldenrod called in French? --Mothperson cocoon 21:19, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

"Solidage" Try searching with the international Linnean name, for Google results in French only - the genus is Solidago Google. w:fr: article would be at w:fr:Soldage Dunc|☺ 23:08, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

A naval photo question.

While on a ferry trip to Arran I noticed this intresting military-type ship and took a photo of it. The ID on the hull is A383 and I'm wondering if anyone can identify it ?

http://x1.putfile.com/8/22116131913.jpg

According to http://www.mvfintry.com/classlist.htm it's HMS Appleby, an Aberdovey Class fleet tender - although List of Royal Navy ship names seems to indicate it's really called HMS Appleby Castle. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:36, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Nope, I take that all back. Appleby Castle was cancelled, and Appleby was a much smaller vessel ([27]). So ignore me :) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:40, August 10, 2005 (UTC)

Could you be more specific than "Arran"? That links to a disambiguation page. ¦ Reisio 01:11, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

It would have been the Isle of Arran. Proto t c 09:08, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Looking back on my photo it seems to be more likely that A388 is the code, which would make it the RFA Fort George (A388) - whose photo matches mine. Robmods 12:21, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

What happens if i drop a beaker of nitroglycerin?

Just wondering...

Let's assume that you are talking about nitroglycerin used for heart medications. These pills would not explode if you dropped them on the floor. :-) --HappyCamper 01:18, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

• MSDS for nitroglycerin--172.141.61.5 12:29, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

A further question, what does nitroglycerin actually look like? — JIP | Talk 07:39, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

According to the article, it's "a heavy, colorless, poisonous, oily, explosive liquid". Dropping a beaker, I expect, would have about the same effect as lighting a stick or two of dynamite (which is actually stabilized nitroglycerin). ~~ N (t/c) 10:12, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Somewhere in the back of my mind is a tale about bank robbers in the old West who would carry bottles of nitroglycerin around with them, so that if they were shot they would drop the bottles and: kablammo, hopefully take a few bystanders with them. Is this just a story, or has it any basis in fact? --Sum0 19:39, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Update the Fail deadly page if you ever do find out the story... Ojw 21:41, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Sounds pretty unlikely to me -- like you'd have a couple dead bandits pretty quickly, unless they were extraordinarily calm and careful under pressure. --Fastfission 00:01, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

On a more serious front, take for example the brief outline of contributions made by Chinese immigrants to Canada in the article Canadian Pacific Railway. Handling of explosives was certainly a formidable task, and many died as a result of accidental explosions. I believe nitroglycerin was used quite often during this period, if I'm not mistaken. --HappyCamper 06:34, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Patron saint

What is a patron saint? I've noticed that a lot of Wikipedians refer to them on their user pages, but I don't understand what the significance of this is. Could someone elaborate? Thank you for your help! --HappyCamper 01:20, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

The various saints have become associated with different occupations, activities, places, etc., usually because of where they lived or what they did or what miracles made them candidates for sainthood. So, for instance, St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, because he was a missionary there and supposedly drove all snakes from the island. So, since there are patron saints for just about anything you can imagine, whenever you are doing something, like driving on a freeway, or about to go on a plane trip, you can pray to the patron saint of that activity or the place you are in or the occupation you partake in, and that saint supposedly intercedes for you. Sometimes saints gain their "patron saint" status because a miracle occurred when someone prayed to the saint. Hope that clarifies things a bit. James 01:43, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Saint Francis of Assisi: "Patron Saint of Animals" and the environment is another example of associating a saint with a particular human endeavor. hydnjo talk 02:43, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Personal patron saints are saints chosen by an individual because of some aspect about that saint that the individual admires. Often, an individual's patron saint is the same as the name of the saint they used for thier confirmation name. Other individuals were not confirmed, thus did not have confirmation names, but still choose to identify with a particular patron. The identification can be because of a similar interest (St. Francis because of a love of animals) or a similar trait (St. Blaise because of a throat condition). Some choose thier patron because it is the patron of their home city or country or thier profession. My patron saint, for example, is St. Justin Martyr, who was a second century philosopher who investigated various systems of belief before decding that Christianity was the correct system. He was a prolific apologist and was martyred for refusing to recant his beliefs. I admire his dedication to philosophy and the willingness to subject theology to the acid of doubt, as well as his unwaivering faith in the face of persecution. Hope that helps, and if you have other questions, feel free to ask at my talk page. -- Essjay · Talk 03:12, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

This was a very nice read. Thanks for all the responses! --HappyCamper 03:45, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I know very little about Hinduism but I know that at least some Hindus have a very similar thing with their favorite deity or guru. I'm sure that's in the article somewhere, but I didn't see it right away and wasn't confident to add it. :)

There is noledge in tradition

Whow can i contact online from Togakure ryu? And how can i locate Togakure ryu, so that i can enjoy some of that tradition?

According to the Togakure Ryu article, Currently, the Togakure ryu is headed by Masaaki Hatsumi of Noda, Japan. Noda is not very far northeast of Tokyo. The Bujinkan article has online links and snailmail contact information at bottom. ¦ Reisio 17:11, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

Why are strands of DNA stable?

A DNA strand consists of a bunch of base pairs hydrogen bonded together along a long rung of phosphate sugars. Why are DNA strands especially resistant towards damage by UV radiation? What are the physical mechanisms behind this stability? What makes the bases so special besides their ability to hold the strands together? There must be other types of molecules which can hydrogen bond in this manner. Perhaps it has something to do with how DNA dissipates UV energy? I'm sure there must be many types of repair mechanisms involving enzymes or whatnot, but I would like to know if there are any physical characteristics of the strands themselves which lend to its stability. Thanks for your help! --HappyCamper 02:43, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

You answered your own question, it's not all that stable, that's why people die of old age, if the only limit on the human life span were the length of our telomeres we'd all live to be thousands of years old, but we don't, because our genetic material degrades after a certian amount of "wear and tear" and we can't properly replicate new tissue, it's really not all that different than RNA in terms of structure, a single OH group added to a ribose sugar allows it to form a helix, but more complex shapes are never more stable, and certianly not under natural conditions, so while a strand of RNA is able to form non-watson/crick base pairs and form all sorts of conformational changes, DNA, at least double stranded DNA in higher mammels anyway, is bound into a rigid structure, the only thing that keeps it from out right decaying is this that those same higher mammels have a whole host enzymes which repair the near constant genetic damage, enzymes which most lower organisms, particuarly unicellular organisms lack, resulting in a much higher rate of muation--172.141.61.5 12:18, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

The main reason AFAIK is that DNA has a dual strand structure. I'm pretty sure there's some math involved, but I don't remember what it is. I think for a piece of DNA to be destroyed by incipient radiation, both strands must be damaged, as if only one is damaged then it can repair itself. And I'm pretty sure there's some formula that describes this, as the chances of both strands being damaged before one can repair is reduced by a considerable amount compared with the chances of permanent damage if there were a single strand. I don't remember the math, it's 5 or 6 years since I studied it near the start of my degree. Proto t c 12:26, 11 August 2005 (UTC)--Joel 18:19, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

The DNA doesn't repair itself, the enzymes mentioned in 172.141.61.5's comment repair it. But, of course, the repair process needs an intact strand to use as a template for replacing the missing section of the damaged strand. It's a simple case of redundancy (engineering), for which the math is not complicated but the logic requires a little flexibility. Redundancy (information theory), on the other hand, does take some math...--Joel 18:19, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I did some more searching around and I think I found an answer to what I was looking for in this article of all things - conical intersections!! --HappyCamper 23:54, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

U.S. Patent number one (1)

What is U.S. Patent number 1? Pages USPTO and John Ruggles disagree about the content, date, and patentee. 68.39.174.91 03:59, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

A time machine, of course! What else? — PhilHibbs | talk 15:33, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

There were two U.S. patent numbering systems. The earliest 10,000 patents were mostly destroyed in a fire in 1836. After the fire, newer patents were numbered from 1 again (what a bad idea!). These earliest patents were called X-Patents. No. 1X was awarded to Samuel Hopkins in 1790. No. 1 was awarded to John Ruggles in 1836. -- Toytoy 04:19, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

It wasn't as bad an idea as it sounds. There was no numbering system at all until after the fire of 1836. After the fire, the X numbering system was established to keep track of the lost patents to the extent they could be recovered, and the regular numbering system was established for all new patents. --Metropolitan90 01:17, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

In the proton-proton chain, where does the positron come from?

I've posted this same question under proton-proton chain reaction discussion. Not sure which is the best place to put it. Here it is:
I'm trying to understand the first step in the proton-proton chain reaction a little better. I have a question, perhaps one of you knows the answer. Where do the positron and the neutrino come from? The two protons are made up of quarks, held together by gluons. One of the protons becomes a neutron ... end result is an up quark has become a down quark. The article says that the conversion of the proton to a neutron results from the weak interaction, and the weak interaction article says something about weak interactions allowing quarks and leptons (and their antiparticles) "effectively to change into each other." This is kind of vague. Can anyone out there explain this in a little more detail. The only thing that I can think of is that some of the excess energy has been converted into matter (the positron and the neutrino) because before the reaction we have 6 quarks (two protons) and after the reaction we have 6 quarks (a proton and a neutron) PLUS a positron and a neutrino. Thanks in advance to anyone able to answer my question or confirm my guess that the positron and the neutrino effectively come from some of the excess energy being converted into matter. Sincerely, Dino. 11 Aug 2005

I haven't taken a class in quantum mechanics, so you might want to take my answer with a grain of salt. I think the exces of energy comes from the fact that two protons repel each other, while a proton and a neutrinoneutron in the deuterium don't. --R.Koot 04:53, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, the positron and neutrino come from the excess binding energy in 2 protons vs. a deuteron. I suspect R.Koot is right about this coming from the lack of electrostatic repulsion between the proton and neutron (not neutrino) in the deuteron, but I'm not sure. The excess energy must take the form of a positron and a neutrino, not something else, in order to satisfy conservation laws. Specifically, the 2 protons have a charge of +2, but the deuteron has a charge of +1, so a particle with positive charge (the positron) must be emitted. But the positron has a lepton number of -1, so an electron-neutrino (with a lepton number of +1 and charge of 0) must be created to balance that out. ~~ N (t/c) 05:04, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

What is a Multiplying Digital To Analog Converter?

We have a link to Multiplying Digital To Analog Converter in the page MDAC (disambiguation). What is this, and could someone add some text to the page? - Ta bu shi da yu 06:38, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

"FAQ: What is an MDAC?: <-- http://tiny url.com/8yfus commented out due to blacklisting - I cannot save page with this in. Widefox 11:59, 5 October 2006 (UTC) ->>  :) Incidentally, why'd you add it if you didn't know what it is? :p ¦ Reisio 15:50, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

Tragedi 13 mei 1969 di Malaysia

Adakah benar tragedi ini sangat dahsyat? Apakah bukti-buktinya?

You'll have more luck if you write in English. — JIP | Talk 07:38, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

ms:Peristiwa_1969 James 07:46, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

• This presumably something about the May 13 Incident. Also in Bahasa Indonesian at id:Insiden_13_Mei. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:45, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Page changes not taking or Bots?

I am trying to correct serious mistakes on under the Listing of "George Adamski". However my edits are not 'taking'.

Either that or the person at 'war' with me on this persons history has a bot program setup to monitor changes in the page and re-post his own incorrect information.

I am trying to keep it as neutral as possible while the other person clearly has an agenda of slander and lies..and he is also a very poor researcher.

• You can check whether your changes are getting lost, or whether they are being reverted, by looking at the edit history for the page. Be sure you are correctly filling in the edit summary yourself. Please be careful not to break the Wikipedia:Three Revert Rule or you could get yourself blocked. If there is a disagreement, you should raise it on the article's talk page rather than getting into a war. Notinasnaid 09:53, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

• The history page of that article indicates that many different editors are reverting your changes -- it is not a bot. You should discuss with them on the talk page of that article if you disagree with them. And you'll have a better chance of being listened to if you are polite! Your edits don't look very neutral to me, though -- you seem to take all of his statements at face value and report things that he said (which are quite questionable) as things which actually for sure happened. You might want to review our policy on Neutral Point of View before trying to edit the article. --Fastfission 21:17, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

SRICL Ltd, Suite 2B, Eurolife Building, 1 Corral Road, Gibraltar

Can any one give me the email id or website reference to SRICL Ltd, Suite 2B, Eurolife Building, 1 Corral Road, Gibraltar? please email to me

Thanks and

Regards

Kishore Nair, Director and CEO. Email: [email protected] Eastern Soffina Services Ltd (www.soffina.com) 48A, Collector Colony, Chembur Mumbai 400 074. INDIA Phones: Office and fax: +91 22 2553 0142 Home: +91 22 2553 0100 Cel +91 98200 53562

Investment Promotion & Funding Specialists

• Looks like you are looking for some verification of an email, or an email address for this company. A directory of the eurolife building does not show SRICL, however the company (SRICL) Southern Rock Insurance Company Limited of Gibraltar has registered the domain SRICL.com. This this site doesn't appear to be online but the registrar address is given as Southern Rock Insurance Montagu Pavilion 8-10 Queensway Gibraltar.

I stumbled upon another connection however. It appears that SRICL presents itself to the public as eBike. I quote the website:

eBike Insurance is a trading arm of Southern Rock Insurance Company Limited. Southern Rock Insurance Company Limited trading as eBike Insurance delegates it’s policy processing and premium collection responsibilities to Group Direct Limited. To contact eBike mail: [email protected]

You should be able to get more information from them or from GDL. You might also try calling the Eurolife building switchboard at +(350) 73495 and ask them for information. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 12:59, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

red carnation

Red carnation is also a symbol of many communist parties throughout the world. Articles in encyclopedias refer to various meanings of red carnation as a symbol in as ancient as the Egyptian and Greek civilizations but do not mention how and why ( the colour ?)and when the red carnation was adopted as a symbol of the communist movement.

"Red" refers to the blood shed by the working class in its struggle against capitalism. - Red Army

The Red Army basically started the Soviet Union, which also adopted a red flag. As for the carnation over other flowers - they are cheap, prevalent (including in Russia and the US, afaik), and they are often red. ¦ Reisio 16:56, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

METAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPARISONS

Can you provide a conductivity comparison chart for metals--especially silver & copper....like the "Thermal conductivity" comparison chart for different metals(pp2 of 4)starting w/diamond and ending with Styrofoam?

Thanks, [email protected]

• The data is at electrical resistivities of the elements (data page). Silver is the highest at 62.1 MS/m, then copper at 58.6 MS/m down to manganese at 540 kS/m, graphite at 73 kS/m and finally sulfur at about 0.5 fS/m (5×10^-16 S/m). Physchim62 13:01, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

"I seem to scare all the birds away"

Did Gary Larson ever draw a Far Side cartoon where a scarecrow sits at a bar, saying to a fellow patron "I seem to scare all the birds away", or did I dream it? — JIP | Talk 13:40, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't remember it, and I had a lot of Far Side books. The wording and setup doesn't seem very Larsonesque to me. — mendel ☎ 17:48, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Ditto. It's not quite macabre enough. --Fastfission 21:20, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I did a cursory look through The Complete Far Side and nothing jumped out at me...but it's not completely Complete and it was quite cursory. ¦ Reisio 20:06, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

As far as I remember, Larson wasn't particularly big on puns. I don't recall that one. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 21:56, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Gary Larson is an American, and very few of us know that "birds" means "women" in Brit slang.

That's what I thought. However, the story is a bit more complex. I was reading a Far Side book, and then just suddenly had this cartoon flash into my head. It's too clever for me to invent right there - I would have had to actually think about it. Perhaps I had read it earlier in some British comic. — JIP | Talk 17:27, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Where is the atomic clock located?

There is no single atomic clock, see our article Atomic clock for a partial list of atomic clocks and a couple of external links -- Ferkelparade π 13:46, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

He/she probably is asking about the broadcasters for radio clocks, of which there are many. Most commercial clocks labeled as "atomic clocks" are really radio clocks -- they receive their time from an atomic clock station. My question about radio clocks are how individual units can calculate the "time of flight". That is, where I work there are a number of these things, and I don't see any way to program in where the radio clock itself is, so that it could figure out where it is relative to the clock station. Are the clocks accurate, or are they slightly incorrect because of the time it takes for the signal to be received? --Fastfission 21:12, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Imagine you're 100 miles away; the delay should come out to about 0.0005 seconds. The timekeeping clocks generally transmit a signal at one bit per second, where 60 bits (one minute) contain enough information to encode the date and time, and the bitrate itself gives you the seconds. So unless you're postprocessing the data, these devices are only accurate to the nearest second anyway.

You can also synchronise to GPS clocks, and I'd imagine that they do know how far they are from the transmitter. Ojw 21:32, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, I know that the error would be small, but it would seem to go against the pseudo-precision of calling them "atomic clocks", would it not? They should have a sticker on them which says, "Not special relativity compliant." ;-) --Fastfission 23:58, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

You cynic, suggesting that catalog-shops might exaggerate things -- next you'll be telling me that Windows isn't the new standard for efficient and dependable computing and Hi-Fis aren't... Ojw 17:26, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Note that GPS satellites do carry atomic clocks. You can also buy atomic clocks commercially if you've got money to burn - here are some examples. They're not very large --Robert Merkel 01:18, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

(My old boss invented NTP so I know more about this than is healthy) - There are two "official" atomic clocks used to track time in the US - the one in Denver which is run by one wing of the government (the NIS?) and the other in Maryland which is run by the US Navy. →Raul654 00:02, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Today's horribly depressing realisation: not only do I know the two clocks, but I can quote the internet address for the time server running off the Navy one. The Boulder, Colorado clock is operated by NIST, the Maryland one by the USNO. (It may technically be in DC, I'm not sure). Shimgray 01:30, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

See also Radio clock. Dysprosia 10:31, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

islamic history in kosovo

i'm going on a missions trip to kosovo in october and would like to know about there islamic beliefs. can you help?

grace

Kosovo
History of Kosovo
Demographic history of Kosovo
Islam
¦ Reisio 16:47, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

Maybe you can ask them when you get there. I am sure they will be happy to tell you all about their religious beliefs. Trollderella 15:48, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

The MOLE HOLE

This was a government funded, deep drilling of the Earth's core. It was unsuccessful and consumed great expenses;hence, MOLE HOLE. I would like any information on this subjec.

Thank You,

Gerard

Are you sure you don't mean Project Mohole? ~~ N (t/c) 15:17, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Mobile phone identifying systems?

The GSM mobile phone system uses SIM cards to identifying handsets. What are the equivalent technologies used by other standards? -- Toytoy 15:35, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Actually, the SIM card does not identify the handset. The IMEI code stored in the handset gives the handset a unique identifier number. The SIM card identifies the service user. I'm pretty sure all mobile phone systems use SIM cards of a sort. Proto t c 22:50, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

No, CDMA, TDMA and AMPS phones, at least in North America, have no SIM cards; instead, the phone leaves the factory with an identifying number which the provider uses to identify the phone on the network. — mendel ☎ 01:20, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

I believe that non-GSM phones just use the IMEI number to identify themselves and their related account to the network. GSM phones also transmit that number to the network (since the phone companies can disable stolen phones by IMEI), but in their case, the account is related to the SIM card, not to the IMEI/phone itself. kmccoy (talk) 02:15, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Oops! I made a mistake. I mean how do telephone service providers assign numbers to handset owners?

In the GSM world, a user with an unlocked handset may simply insert a SIM card and make the call. How do people in other parts of the world do if their systems do not use a SIM card? How do people switch service providers? Let's say you and your friends are travelling and your Nokia's battery is dead. If you want to make a call, you can insert your own SIM card to your friend's Siemenz handset. How do people do that with non-GSM systems?

Last time I went to the U.S., I was using my GSM-provider's roaming service (my handset -> U.S. proxy -> my own provider; some GSM phones suport this feature). I did not notice that SIM cards are not used by U.S. handsets. How do each system solve this technological problem? -- Toytoy 04:14, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

It's a different paradigm. For you, it's natural that the account follows the SIM card, and that a handset is just a tool to use the SIM card. For those of us in the U.S., our mobile phone networks didn't start out that way, and our paradigm is to think of the handset as having the account tied to it, because that's how our networks started. When you switch handsets, you have to do it through your provider, who takes the old IMEI number off your account and puts the new one on.

This is how most networks in the U.S. worked up until recently. While many of the large networks remain as non-GSM, we do have a few providers which have GSM networks, notably Cingular and T-Mobile. Even still, most people buy phones from these providers which are locked to their networks. People generally still think of their phone as carrying the account, not their SIM card. I had my Cingular phone unlocked so that I can use prepaid SIM cards from other countries in it when I travel, and when I try to explain the advantages of this, many people don't understand.

I guess, in short, the answer to your last question is that in most systems, many people don't even consider this "technological problem" a problem. kmccoy (talk) 08:03, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Then how do you transfer the phone book from an old handset to a new one? Do you have to reenter each and every number? It will be very painful. How do people in the U.S. use a prepaid account? -- Toytoy 09:08, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Well, I've done the by-hand transfer. It wasn't pleasant. :) There are actually devices which hook to phones and transfer their phone books, and many mobile phone stores have one. When I purchased my Cingular GSM handset, I was upgrading from an AT&T Wireless handset which was TDMA and GSM. The clerk transferred my phone book at the time of purchase. Prepaid accounts work like any other account -- for networks which use GSM, the account is tied to the SIM card (but the handset is probably locked to that network anyway), and for networks which use other protocols, the prepaid account is tied to the phone. kmccoy (talk) 09:19, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Now, anyone fancy summarising this interesting contrast and including in the Subscriber Identity Module article? - IMSoP 20:38, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Gibraltar Article on Spanish verson of Wikipedia

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express my indignation at the complete misrepresentation of facts seen in the article on Gibraltar in the Spanish version of Wikipedia.

With its half-baked assertions and its thinly-veiled insinuations about political malpracticse, the article in question is no more than cheap Spanish propaganda aimed at discrediting the Rock of Gibraltar and should simply not be allowed to figure on your pages.

It is no right, in my view, that articles on Wikipedia should be based on unfounded and wholly unsubstantiated allegations which are evidently politically-motivated and have little educational value.

I urge you to remove the offending article as soon as possible and allow a Gibraltarian (as opposed to a Spaniard)to produce a more objective and accurate article regarding Gibraltar.

Best wishes

Anon

• I don't speak Spanish, so I can't comment on your objections. However, all controversial statements should be referenced and the article should have a neutral point of view - discussing both Spanish and Gibraltarian views. If you feel that this isn't currently the case, you should raise this issue on the Spanish edition of Wikipedia, initially on the talk page of the article in question, as editors here on the English language edition have no jurisdiction as to what appears on any other edition. Warofdreams 16:30, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

The idea of "allowing" a Gibraltarian to alter the article is simply nonsensical. We don't disallow anyone, unless they are persistent vandals or troublemakers. If a Gibraltarian wants to amend the article, then they can. Presumably you know enough Spanish to read the article, so why don't you start fixing it? If you just get reverted by someone or some group who you feel is biased, then take it up with the es.wikipedia.org equivalent of the dispute resolution service. If the entire es wikipedia is dominated by people with pro-Spanish biases, then I don't know what to do! Has a wikipedia been overrun by bias in the past? (I'm mostly thinking arabic or hebrew here) — PhilHibbs | talk 10:39, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

• My spanish is very basic, but I took a quick [es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar look]. Doesn't 'Gibralter es un Barrio del Londres' mean 'Gibraltar is a ghetto of London?' It does need work, but as a spanish speaker who clearly feels differently to the current tone of the article, perhaps you should take your issues to the es.wikipedia.org, as Phil suggested. This is not really the place - this is the english wikipedia! Proto t c 11:43, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Guitar

Can anyone recomend a good electric guitar for between $400-$500? I'm thinking about getting a new one and want the one with the best quality in that price range. Thanks a lot. Rentastrawberry 17:53, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Don't discount a used guitar, as long as you know enough to tell dirty from broken. I got a very nice Epiphone Les Paul in a pawn shop once, for much less than that. Once I'd cleaned, polished, and restrung it, it was good as new. Best of all, you never have to go into a guitar shop and speak with its morlocks. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:06, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Ya, grab a Les Paul or Telecaster or Stratocaster from the classifieds or ebay. ¦ Reisio 19:10, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress by Howard Zinn

What do you think is zinn's thesis for chapter one?

It's probably "do your own homework". :p ¦ Reisio 21:28, 2005 August 11 (UTC)

Who was the person that founded Wikipedia

User:Jimbo Wales, see also Wikipedia and Jimmy Wales. Dismas 18:17, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

• And Larry Sanger Rmhermen 18:37, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Don't take any notice of those trolls. It was Bill Gates, of course! --Tony Sidaway^Talk 18:50, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

• You could check our very own article about Wikipedia to find out who founded it, and a lot more. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:17, August 11, 2005 (UTC)
  • Must be an echo in here.  :) --Dismas 19:33, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Weird sci-fi comic strip from 1970s or 1980s

I read a weird sci-fi comic strip at my grandparents' summer cottage in the early 1980s. It was originally from the very late 1970s or early 1980s. An astronaut was exploring a planet's surface and he somehow fell inside a volcano. The volcano was filled with liquid and large single-celled creatures swam around in it. One of them grabbed hold of him. That's all I remember. For years I thought it was Valérian but I have read every Valérian album and couldn't find it. Now I think it was Flash Gordon. Did Flash Gordon ever have such an adventure? — JIP | Talk 19:14, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

This kind of quetion may be more likely to get an answer at the usenet group rec.arts.sf.written, where people are partuclarly apt at identifing old SF publicatiosn from limited evidence. DES ^(talk) 19:54, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Well, I do remember a Dan Dare in 2000 AD where he ended up underground in a chamber full of flesh-eating space grubs. That would be around 1979. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:58, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

It is a Valérian story - called Tsirillitis the Asteroid. It's one of the short stories from the late 60s/early 70s published in Super Pocket Pilote. They've all been compiled in the 1997 collection Par Les Chemins De l’Espace (Across The Pathways Of Space). Joe King 14:01, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

The nice orange bar on Wikipedia

How does that message bar thingy work? Does it involve a cookie or something? --HappyCamper 20:35, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure -- though I don't know for sure -- that it just involves some sort of flag on your account (which uses cookies to stay logged in, but that's about all it should have to do with cookies). Wikipedia pages are generated on the fly (much of the HTML rendering is cached of course, though) so it would be very trivial to plop in a little orange box if a "you've got messages" flag is set for your account. --Fastfission 21:24, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

If anyone else edits your user talk page, MediaWiki sets a little flag on your user that says "display the new messages box". It then shows that box whenever that user's cookie is sighted. The flag is cleared when the user talk page is loaded by the person with the appropriate user cookie. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:59, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

You can change the appearance of the Orange Bar of Death or eliminate it entirely by editing your monobook.css. Mine is a nice soothing blue color, which no longer elevates my blood pressure when I see it. If you'd like to know how to do this, I'd be happy to post an explaination. -- Essjay · Talk 04:50, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

I like the orange colour. It gets my attention quickly and has a nice contrast to the blue link. Now whoever thought it was a good idea to write bright yellow text on a white background, or dark blue text on a black background, should have his/her eyes examined. I've seen plenty of examples both on the web and in real life. — JIP | Talk 06:39, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Sure, how do you change that bar? See below: --HappyCamper 06:45, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

I hated the orange color; it made me want to scream. I don't care for the yellow/white or black backgrounds JIP; my monobook.css is actually "mono," as all the links (except redlinks) are gray, instead of blue. Feel free to steal it if you like: User:Essjay/monobook.css. -- Essjay · Talk 10:57, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

How to change the colour of the orange bar?

Copy this text (from the page, not the edit box) to your monobook.css (User:Username/monobook.css), replacing the text in parenthesis with a color code from Web colors:

/* user notification thing */
.usermessage {
   background-color: (Pick a background color, the main color of the bar);
   border: 1px solid (Pick a border color);
   color: (Pick a font color);
}

(End here.) Once you've finished, refresh your browser cache using the instructions at the top of the monobook.css page, and come back here to look at the bar below to see the effect of your changes. -- Essjay · Talk 10:52, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

I deleted the redundant bits and added a closing brace. ~~ N (t/c) 00:32, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

You have new messages that are no longer displayed in a format that elevates your blood pressure.

What I would like to see is when the "You have new messages" box shows up, that it would also give the option of showing the Diff for the latest message, as well as the Diff for all the messages since I last read my Talk page. Do I put in a request for this new feature as a bug report for MediaWiki, or how would I do that?

Also, is there some place that explains everything that's in monobook.css and what can be modified and added? BlankVerse ∅ 20:19, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

refraction detail or picture missing in Wikipedia.

refraction detail or picture missing in Wikipedia. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction

no picture for waves i.e. dashed lines dotted lines

The diagram referred to in the text is the diagram under the photograph (also available at Image:Pencil in a bowl of water.png). There certainly are dashed lines there. --Fastfission 23:56, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Little finger / Pinky finger reference in Japan

I am trying to confirm a cultural piece of knowledge, but it isn't present on the Wikipedia under Little finger. I see this in Anime but I don't know or particularly know the reference. I have seen characters extend their little finger but I don't know the exact meaning of that. Can anyone tell me what it suppose to mean? --AllyUnion (talk) 23:57, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

"Is that girl your woman?" -- Toytoy 00:30, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

I am never going to be able to take people drinking tea seriously again... Shimgray 01:24, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps they're showing they're not in the Yakuza? (Yakuza members traditionally had their little finger removed) Proto t c 08:43, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

I believe ToyToy is correct; it has nothing to do with yaks. Rather, it's a way of wordlessly asking another guy if the hot girl he's with is his girlfriend. Does this fit contextually with how you've seen it portrayed in anime? (I'm no otaku, but I've seen a good deal of anime, and never seen it therein…) Garrett Albright 15:28, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Yubikiri? --cesarb 16:15, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Yubikiri comes very close to pinky promise. But this is used in a conversion, and they do not link fingers. --AllyUnion (talk) 17:59, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

I've also seen this gesture in anime. My best guess would be that it refers generally to a significant other/partnership, depending on context. Then again, that's just my own guess. --Brasswatchman 23:59, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

File:Little finer manga.jpg

1. Little rascal stares at a beautiful woman.
2. Woman: "How rude!"
3. Little rascal with a raised finger: "Boss, is that girl your woman?"
4. The hero (the best sushi chef in town): "No, she's the restaurant owner's daughter."
5. Little rascal: "Hooray!" (She'll be mine ...)

(c) 1993 Nakamura Hirofuni

I found this little piece of gem at a manga rental. -- Toytoy 05:04, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

I've also heard that it's used to silently request a restroom break while in class. Rather than have to talk about it, the teacher just acknowledges you and you know you can leave for a little while. I heard this from an Ethiopian, though, so I'm not 100% sure.--Joel 18:41, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Size of US military during WWII

What was the size of the US military at its highest during World War II? Ornil 01:43, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

12 million (yes, I know this off the top of my head). →Raul654 01:54, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Wow, that's 11 minutes. Must be close to a record:) Thanks! Ornil 02:02, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Double Wow from me. A) The fact that it was 12 million! and B) the fact that you knew it off the top of your head... War buff?? Dismas 03:28, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

You could say that :) →Raul654 03:40, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

So how big was the Red Army then?

As the article says, the army was 1.5 million strong when Germany invaded and increased to a high of 20 million by the end of 1941, of whom 7 million died. James 00:51, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

seven taxa of classification

Hou would you classify yourself using the seven taxa of classification? kingdom,phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species

Please see Human - there is a complete scientific classification on the right. ¦ Reisio 03:03, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

That is so speciesist ! Us dolphins have feelings too, you know ;) Gandalf61 09:40, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

To be pedantic, kingdom, phylum, class and so on are ranks of taxa, not taxa themselves, which are groups of organisms. For example, Animalia and Plantae are taxa with the rank of kingdom. Gdr 15:01:39, 2005-08-12 (UTC)

Spanish translation

What is the best translation of the English expression "see attached" to Spanish? Neutrality^talk 03:43, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

vea unido, I believe; probably with the ending reflecting the gender of what is attached, if you're picky. ¦ Reisio 04:29, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

Really? I'm certainly only borderline fluent, but would have opted for vea ligado/a. -- Jmabel | Talk 07:07, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Hi everybody. I'm Spanish-speaker. It depends, Neutrality. Where you've seen this expression be used? If alone, 'see attached' means vea adjunto. JCCO Talk (2005/08/12 12:35 of Lima).

How does "What links here" work?

How does "What links here" in Wikipedia work? Does it go through the entire Wikipedia database and find out the articles on the fly, or does Wikipedia keep track of backlinks at each insertion and removal of a wikilink? — JIP | Talk 11:13, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

The latter, there's a backlink table. Note that this has a finite size (I think 500), so articles that are linked to from lots of places (like dates) don't show all the backlinks. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:16, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

See m:Links table. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:17, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Actually, that comment about fixed size is incorrect - the links table itself stores every instance of one article linking to another; this is one of the core foundations of the wiki model. Until recently, there was no way of generating a "second page" of links on MediaWiki's Special:Whatlinkshere, and a cut-off of 500 was enforced by the code so that the server didn't collapse trying to generate a list longer than that. The most recent major upgrade, however, corrected this short-coming, and the Whatlinkshere page has now become "browsable" like many of the other list pages, so that you can in fact view backlinks 5001 through 5050 for 2004 (oops, here comes another one ;)) - IMSoP 20:50, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

I would like to know who duane is spelled in gaelic

This seems to be a pretty full list of Gaelic Names, see what you can find. Proto t c 15:26, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

bat on line of crease, bails off, out/not out

“If the bat is on the line of crease & bails goes off is the batsman out?

• In cricket, generally if it is borderline (ie. the bat is ON the line) the batsman is given the benefit of the doubt, and would not be out. This is assuming you are asking about the batsman being out by a run out or a stumping. See Laws of cricket -- Chuq 13:29, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

• Technically, a batsman who has his bat or part of his body on the popping crease can be stumped or run out - the crease is at the back of the crease marking, and the batsman must be behind the crease to be in his ground (see Law 9 and Law 29 of the Laws of Cricket). But it is often difficult to tell. -- ALoan (Talk) 13:42, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

• A fairly recent example in a Test match was in this game between Sri Lanka and England in December 2003; in England's second innings, Gareth Batty was given out stumped when Kumar Sangakkara "whipped off the bails with the toe on the line, but not behind it". Loganberry (Talk) 13:14, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Deborah Morgan

I am a resident of Sanford, N.C. I have been told that Deborah Morgan is my relative. Is there an bio on Deborah Morgan? or an website I can submit questions directly to her?

Teresa Gray(married name)

Hi Teresa! The wikipedia article on Deborah Morgan is here - Debbi Morgan.

For more information on Deborah, which may include contact information, you can try her IMDB entry, which is located [here]. Hope this helps. Proto t c 14:28, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Shorthand version

How do you write Collin in shorthand. THanks

• First you write a 'c', and then an 'o', and then two 'l's, an 'i', an 'n', leave a space, then another 'i', another 'n', leave another space, then write an 's', an 'h', another 'o', and then... oh, that's probably not what you meant, is it? Nevermind. Ground Zero 18:30, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

It seems that for Gregg Shorthand, working entirely from this alphabet key, without using any combinations (which is probably rather non-shorthandish), and assuming the pronounciation kǒl’ǐn:

File:Collins-kǒl’ǐn-Gregg Shorthand.png

The first, third & fourth, and sixth (last) characters should be made with a forward (left-to-right) stroke. ¦ Reisio 18:50, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

Unless you actually pronounce both ls there should only be one l sound mark in the middle. --Laura Scudder | Talk 21:27, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Coincidentally, I just learned Gregg shorthand a couple of months ago. I'd do it like this. My Gregg Shorthand Dictionary has the town Collinsville in it and agrees with me. If you're going to copy it down, be aware that

• if the 'C' is too long, it becomes a 'G'
• if the 'L' is too short it becomes an 'R'
• if the 'i' is too big it becomes an 'a'
• if the 'N' is too long, it becomes an 'M'

--Jbaber 21:51, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

how to be a muslim

--80.75.184.24 18:17, 12 August 2005 (UTC)dear sir. i have a foreigner friend who talks with me about islam .i am a muslim but sometimes i can not help him or answer him well.he sees that islam gives men more rights than women because they can marry four.we discuss most of topics but i am not the right one to do this with him and i wanna him like islam and be a muslim .he is christian and knows that our religions can be similar but his is the best. i need u to tell me how can i talk to him about islam and if u have a trustful sites.and please if u know the email of el sheikh hamza yusuf i think he is the right one for him. thanks

The Hamza Yusuf article has links to Yusuf's Zaytuna Institute website as well as to video and audio lectures by him. ¦ Reisio 18:54, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

Though I am not muslim, it would seem reasonable that you refer your friend to a local cleric (imam?) at your mosque, rather than try to contact someone who probably gets lots of inquiries and might not be able to answer promptly or at all. Ornil 20:02, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

If Islam is to be the path for your friend, you should recommend he talks to a cleric or someone knowledgeable, or reads about Islam. There will surely be many people in Egypt willing to talk to your friend and answer his questions. 86.136.4.66 06:51, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Alhumdulilah Brother. I was a Christian and became Muslim Alhumdulilah. A good website is www.islam-qa.com . It has a lot of questions and excellent answers about islam, Sister Emaan.

Is my 1983 Buick Century 2DR a Classic?

I own a 1983 Buck Century 2door with a viny top. It has only 32,000 original miles.(Color is cream yellow) It is in excellent condition, having been garage kept for 20 years. Would you consider this car a classic?

In a general sense, no, I would not call it a classic because if I saw it on the street today it would not look especially iconic, distinctive or dated (old). If you were to ask "Is a 1983 Buick Century a classic car of the 80s?", however, I would probably agreed. See also: Classic, Classic car. ¦ Reisio 19:06, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

It was under my understanding that if a car is 20 years or older it is considered a classic. So even though it might not look like a traditionally "classic" car, I still believe it is. Rentastrawberry 19:12, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

It depends on who is doing the considering. I think you'll find that insurance companies, licensing bureaus, and car collectors all disagree on which cars are classic and whether or not there is any formula in use. For instance, it is hard to insure motorcycles older than 25 years because at that point insurance companies consider them "vintage" or "antique" or "classic", but that's not a statement of value (a 1980 rat bike is not particularly classic), but rather a desire to avoid replacement claims on irreplaceable bikes. — mendel ☎ 19:23, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Just as a note, Kelly Blue Book doesn't list current prices for cars older than 20 years. James 21:27, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

Measuring tapes

Hi. Just wondering about the history of measuring tapes... The original thought was "when was the self retracting tape measure invented?" but this has now developed in to an interest in the history of measuring tools. got resources? or can I mark most of Category:Dimensional_instruments as stubs?

Just in case anyone is looking for it, the article on measuring tapes is at Tape measure. I'll create a redirect from Measuring tape, which seems logical since the article mentions that name as well. But to answer your question, I don't know. Dismas 21:35, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

Take a look at this. Looks like Alvin J. Fellows patented the retractable tape measure in 1868. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 01:44, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

That appears to be a patent for a spring-retractable measuring tape. Even today, longer measuring tapes (for instance, the ones they use at the Olympics to measure the throwing events) wind up manually rather than using a spring. So that's interesting, but not the whole story.--Robert Merkel 07:42, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Vatican Letter to the Bishop's concerning Christian Meditation 1988

Hello Brother or Sister in the Lord:

In the past I've had a copy of a letter from the Vatican Council of the Doctrine of Faith addressing specific issues concerning Christian Meditation, and more specifically what is not meditation for Christians. It was a 26 page document directed to the Bishop's of the Church for purposes of clarification concerning transcendental meditation v.s. Christian Meditation and scriptrual contemplation. I know it was written in Sept/Oct. of either 1988 or 1989. Where can I find this document? Many blessings in Christ, Larry Rail

I think what you're looking for is Orationis formas (Epistula ad totius Catholicae Ecclesiae Episcopos de quibusdam rationibus christianae meditationis) "Letter on certain aspects of the Christian meditation" from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, October 15, 1989, authorized by John Paul II and issued by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congreagation (now Benedict XVI). The linked text is from ewtn.com. -- Essjay · Talk 08:51, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

RMS Carpathia

I would like to find the Crew List for tha Carpahia on April 15th 1912. Can you help? Thanks.

A list of crew and passengers of the Carpathia when it rescued the Titanic (which is what I imagine you want) is available here.

3.5" floppy disk upload procedure

Do you know where I can find the procedure for uploading a floppy disk into a PC using ME edition of Windows? It's very easy to store the data onto the disk but seems nearly impossible to get the data back into the machine! Many claim to know how to do this but fail at the actual procedure. I've gotten as far as inserting the floppy into the drive but then there are no prompts to continue.

On a Windows machine, individual disk drives are given a letter; floppy drives are always "Drive A", and the first hard disk is always "C". One of the many procedures for accessing these files (and I'm doing this from memory so the details are a bit fuzzy) is as follows: Click on "my computer", which should bring up a window with an icon that says something like "floppy drive a:". Double-click on this icon. You can then click on the files on the floppy to open them, or drag the files where you want them - for instance, the "My Documents" folder.

One caveat. Floppy drives, as well as being small, are notoriously unreliable. May I suggest you invest in a key drive for file transfer, or use a CD writer to make backups? Both are much more reliable. --Robert Merkel 01:33, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

It still surprises me that Microsoft can force keyboard manufacturers to add keys with a windows logo onto their keyboards, but have never succeeded in forcing the industry to create a user friendly floppy drive. --R.Koot 02:51, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

jew down

Recently in dealing with a customer regarding a proposed bill, the customer attempted to negotiate the final cost. I responded by asking if he was trying to jew down the price. I was immediately appalled that I made such a statement and instantly appologised for using such terminology. In my defense, when I was young I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and this term for masterful negotitation skills was often used. It has always been my understanding that Jewish people are trained early on as to the value of the dollar. I have never felt that I am anti-semantic, but now I am not so sure. My parents, Father deceased Italian imigrant and my Mother 89 and US born would often repeat stereotypical statements about members of various races and creeds. Many times these were directed at their own backrounds. I do suspect that my Mother has some underlying prejudical pinnings. I am currently married to a Hispanic woman and I have a daughter who I dearly love that is half African American. I honestly feel that the term I used was some recovery from years past, but I am confused and concerned that I am truly not as non racist as I profess to be. I need help! In 20 years with my company I have never had an incident of this nature occur. This one event has brought on some serious sole searching. In closing I would like to appologise to anyone who reads this and please understand that I believe in my heart that I hold no ill will towards anyhone of the Jewish faith. (left by anon user)

Is that a question or a weird confession of some sort? Ornil 02:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

You apologize to that customer and keep on doing the business. If your customer hates you, he/she can always walk out and never come back again. Just don't let him/her control the situation if that proposed price is unreasonably low. If I were you, I may be a ****ing racist but I am not a loser. If your customer could find someone easier to deal with, he/she could buy from that person.

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the term "jew down". Asking for a better payment condition has never been a crime. You may want to rephrase but that's the only thing you need to do. Just don't step back if you're being unfairly witch-hunted. -- Toytoy 02:59, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the term "jew down". Like hell. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 06:10, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

There is nothing wrong with jewing down. There is a lot wrong with calling it "jewing down". Couldn't you just call it "haggling" or something? — JIP | Talk 08:05, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

So what? People tell Polish jokes [28]. People tell blonde jokes [29]. They usually do it without harmful intent. Without the intent, this shall be tolerated rather than persecuted. -- Toytoy 11:06, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Look at a bunch of blond men jokes to get in a good perspective, that many are meant in good "clean fun" like

How Many Blond Men does it take to change a roll of toilet paper? Answer: We don't know, have ANY blond men ever changed rolls of toilet paper, or any men period?

My all time favorite ... why do blond men have a hole in end of penis? Answer: to let the hot air out of the brain.

I think you're confused. Using the expression "jew down" isn't "telling a joke" -- especially in the casual way the confesser above describes it. I can certainly understand how something like that could pop up without intent to offend, though, especially if inculcated in youth. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 18:37, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Do people tell Polish jokes to Poles? OTOH, I have blond hair, and am not offended by blonde jokes. (I'm a man, though.) — JIP | Talk 11:18, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

There are people who say "f**k you" 500 times a day. Bad taste and poor mental state maybe, intent to criminally rape someone, usually not. Remember, women and some men are constantly being raped all around the world now.

If you tell a Polish joke to the ambassador or president of Poland, that's very likely a taboo because he/she represents Poland. If you tell a Polish joke to a low-level Polish employee, that's also a very bad idea because that implies bullying. Otherwise, it is generally not a bad thing per se if the hearer has the minimum level of the sense of humor or toleration. If you tell a Polish joke and the hearer tells you to stop and you do stop, very little harm could have been done. Some people even say "f**k you" to young, defenseless and sexually attractive women. It depends on the totality of the situation to determine if something shall be tolerated.

If anyone fails to tolerate other people's mistakes in a situation where most other people are simply not offended (no bad intent, poor choice of words, apologized), that person shall be taken as a hopeless bigot. -- Toytoy 12:09, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you are confessing this to us here, but don't worry - we all make mistakes, and that you've been worried by your own actions and questioned your attitudes means you are surely on the right track. People who make racist comments without a second thought are surely far worse. By the way, the term is "anti-semitic", not "anti-semantic". 86.136.4.66 06:30, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I admit it… When I was twelve, I stole some bubble gum from the local drugstore. I'm sorry! Please forgive me! (bawls) Garrett Albright 15:24, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

To fellow Wikipedians: The man feels remorse. That's much more than some of you who replied, who seem to feel nothing. As if that isn't enough, you have to mock the man? I mean, most of us (especially me) probably would've just say: "Oh, I did a bad thing. Whatever, shit happens. I'm not a Jew, nor am I married to one anyway! So I'll just move on and forget it by sleeping it off." I think there's something admirable about his sincere will to actively change himself for the better. Sure, an encyclopedia's job isn't to offer counsel on the "proper use" of racial slurs. But, c'mon, we've seen way more irrelevant questions here, like "what's the phone number of the genealogical gamestation's POV sucks aqsdsafsa213."

To the anonymous man: Maybe you can try About Race Relations forum? The regitration is free for About.com forums. What you're doing is applaudable and don't get discouraged. --Menchi 19:18, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

From Anon and yes I am a man.

Thx to all who have responded. I find it interesting how diverse the responses are. As stated in the last post, some saw nothing wrong with my actions, others felt a better choice of words was in order and some felt the statement was unforgivable. After doing more research I believe the truth lies somewhere between the latter two. I hope everyone will find it interesting that I came very close to loosing my job because of this. Luckily 20 years of outstanding and dedicated performance in my job only resulted in a weeks suspension with no pay. To the last post, I will be going to Los Angeles this week to visit the Museum of Tolerance at my own expense as a condition of my suspension. While some of the posts did seem a bit insensitive to my plight I gathered important insight from all of them. Stereotypes are rampant in society and while many are harmless, others are indeed injurious to the tolerance and appreciation of the diversity of mankind. Again thank you to all.

Anon

Thanks for your reply, I'm glad you found the responses here useful. This is certainly a topic worthwhile of discussion. If there is to be more on this thread, may I kindly suggest that future posters be mindful of their usage of intensifiers if they choose to invoke them? Thank you. --HappyCamper 19:45, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

The forum on race relations mentioned earlier in this post is indeed worthwhile visiting. I have joined the forum as spinman1949. One post that has received a huge response is based on an ethnic joke being overheard and out of consideration for the individuals involved in telling the joke, the incident was not reported. This backfired on this considerate sole and now she is being ostricised for it.

I realize that this forum is a general knowledge forum, but perhaps the level of intelligence that exists at this site could prove useful in discussing the challenging subject of race relations and all the related issues.

Anon / Spinman1949

In a reasonable world, when one accidently bumps into another, a timely apology is usually more than enough. Suspension plus a self-paid visit to a Holocaust museum seems to me sort of stake burning that could only occur in the land of the free (I think I had successfully enraged the whole North America sans Canada).

I found a similar case on Soul-searching in a bike shop where a shop owner was offended by a customer's "I don’t want to Jew you down or anything, but I can get it cheaper elsewhere" and his not-good-enough defense "it didn’t mean anything; it was just a phrase everyone uses." The Jewish shop owner was mad and got that cusomer out of his shop.

Thanksfully that customer was not banned fom buying anything for weeks or he/she would not be able to pay for a ticket to the Holocaust museum.

Now let's see the shop owner's answer: "Do you know what it really means? ... because if you don’t, you will now. It’s an offensive, baseless stereotype. It means that you are an idiot for actually using it. And it means that you are an anti-Semite." I can safely guess that shop owner is deeply-planted with stereotype towards idiots and anti-Semites. Thanksfully I am not in the U.S. And I do find that shop owner a walking display hall of intolerance. He still does not think that he could have done anything wrong.

I think some respondents could more or less agree with at least a little part of my arguments. "Unfortunately, many Jews look for -- and find -- anti-Semitism everywhere." -- Toytoy 00:21, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Yes, as an unrelated 3rd party, I find this racial slur nothing fundamentally wrong. That's also true that the poor employee feels guilty and was badly punished.

I don't know if you guys could reason (prepare to be enraged), but simply eating a beefsteak could enrage a vegetarian. "You killed a defenseless animal! You bastard!" If taking the life from an animal does not count, then what counts? Fact: people tolerate each other as a matter of fact and as a form of social duty. Otherwise, devoted Buddhists shall become worse than PETA members.

If I say "God damn it" like people always do would you think it's blasphemy? A zealot maybe.

You are free to self-criticize as long as it does not drive you crazy. As a reasonable bystander, I find that poor employee wrongly persecuted and unjustly deprived of his rights to work. -- Toytoy 00:44, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Jeesh! Nothing like a religious or ethnicity prompt to get the keystrokes going around here. hydnjo talk 00:50, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Correction for your site

I was on your site looking for information on the music producer "Flood", and you have on of his production credits listed as "Producer" for the Nine Inch Nails album "Pretty Hate Machine". This is incorrect. He was the producer along side with Trent reznor on "The Downward Spiral". Please make the necessary corrections.

Thank You.

-M-

This fun thing about Wikipedia is that anyone can make that change, including you :D. --R.Koot 06:02, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Flood was the producer of both Pretty Hate Machine and the Downward Spiral, both were coproduced with Trent Reznor. This is already stated on the page of the albums. --R.Koot 06:10, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Conspiracy? "Flood" the music producer produced The Downward Spiral album for Nine Inch Nails. Nine Inch Nails use the word Halo to label their albums. Halo the computer game includes a species called The Flood. So does that mean their record producer is a "parasitic virulent life form"? Ojw 17:33, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Vi or Emacs?

Which do you use, Wikipedians? 86.136.4.66 06:56, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Vi

• Vim, because I wanted a text editor and nothing more. I use it mostly for system administration in a terminal; I use Bluefish otherwise. ¦ Reisio 07:41, 2005 August 13 (UTC)

Depends on what operating system I'm using. Usually I'll use vim, but sometimes vi (or the busybox implementation of it) is all that's available. I've been known to use Visual SlickEdit or even notepad in an emergency.-gadfium 08:39, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks to Reisio for the suggestion that Bluefish is worth looking at. I'll give it a try over the next week.-gadfium 08:58, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

• Vim and nothing else. Death to Emacs heathens!!1! ~~ N (t/c) 12:43, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
• Having to choose between vi and emacs, I'll use vi… I learned it first in my UNIX class, so I'm more comfortable with it, and every time I've tried to use emacs it just felt too bloated. However, on my local machine, my preferred text editor is SubEthaEdit… I pretty much only use vi for when I'm ssh'd into my web server. Garrett Albright 15:20, 13 August 2005 (UTC)
• I recommend that every Unix sysadmin trainee learn the basics of vi, because you can rely on its being available on any Unix system you happen to need to use. Learning the basics of emacs is a distant second -- there are certainly places you'll need it, but not nearly so many. I personally usually use vim -- if it were a choice between "classic" vi and emacs, I'd pick emacs, but it isn't. --FOo 17:38, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Emacs

Emacs. — JIP | Talk 07:36, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Because saving with colon-w-q-escape-alt-rshift-delete-0-ctrl is VI's idea of easy-to-use :) →Raul654 08:42, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

I've never understood why people use :wq to save and exit in vi, when using ZZ saves a keystroke. The only time I use :wq is with a bang. Anyone who doesn't understand what I'm saying should note that this is a classic religious war and the anon who raised the subject is undoubtedly trolling.-gadfium 08:58, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If you're using a bang, then :x! is one letter shorter. Besides, Emacs's idea of "easy-to-use" is "M-x wtf RET C-x C-c". ~~ N (t/c) 12:45, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Both

• This question is a bit like, "which do you use, a knife or a fork?" Gdr 10:57:43, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

I fear we have been trolled... That said, nano! Shimgray 16:44, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Our page on Editor wars doesn't yet admit that the Microsoft Visual Studio editor is best because it's the only permitted text-editor where you work... Ojw 17:24, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

The correct answer here is Ed, it's the standard! Kim Bruning 17:48, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If your system doesn't come up all the way, you may be required to use ed . Also if you know ed then you can use sed! TresÁrboles 05:13, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Bosh. TECO, you whippersnappers. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:57, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

MS Wordpad You knew someone would answer this. Almafeta 21:11, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

C:\>copy con autoexec.bat

You can save quite a few keystrokes (if you are typing more than a line or two) with this variant:

C:\>copy con autoexec.zip

It does take a little bit more effort to compose the content.-gadfium 05:04, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

NEED HELP !!!!!

--68.105.134.55 08:51, 13 August 2005 (UTC)Hi my name is dream and i just wanted to see if any one here knew were i could get the cristmas edition of playboy with dita von teese on the cover.Please help if you can.

• If you want back issues of a magazine your best bet is to contact them directly. - Mgm|^(talk) 08:54, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

As a collector of Playboy magazine, I can tell you that there are numerous online dealers and you can also find issues on eBay from time to time. Dismas 13:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Scottish Legal System - roles of various services

What are the roles of the crown officials and faculty clerks within the scottish legal system?

Jackie Smith

You might visit the Scotland article and its "Talk" page to identify what needs to be added to the article. AlMac|^(talk) 16:21, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Copyright Violation and old books

Just a quick question, do books lose all copyright after a certain period of time, a-la music? If so, is it then alright to quote or copy from them directly?

Yes, the public domain article probably has stuff about this. However remember not to conflate copyright violation with plagiarism. Reproducing On the Origin of Species and passing it off as your own work wouldn't be violating anyone's copyright, but it would be plagiarism. On the other hand, reproducing a copyrighted work even if you're careful to credit the source is usually illegal, but you can still quote directly from copyrighted work (short quotes though).

The text of a book is copyright for 70 years after the death of the author in the United States and the European Union. Hence On the Origin of Species is no longer under copyright (as its author died on 1882-04-19), and we could legally scan a copy and place the text on the Internet if we wished (see Project Gutenberg for people who do exactly this). Some countries, notably France, require that you cite the author and title of a work even if it is out of copyright.

Quotations from a copyright work (even quite long ones) are OK if they are for the purpose of comment or criticism, but you can get into trouble if you use a quote for exactly the same purpose as the original text: for example, it is not OK for Wikipedia to use quotes from chemistry textbooks to create its chemistry articles (same purpose), but it is OK to quote lines from a play in an article about that play (comment/criticism). Physchim62 11:44, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

The 70-year rule mentioned above does have a few exceptions. For example, in Great Britain (I can't find any indication of its status in Northern Ireland), the King James Version of the Bible is under a perpetual Crown Copyright because it was published by means of Letters patent. This means that, unlike in most (if not all) other countries in the world, the King James Version is not public domain in Great Britain. Loganberry (Talk) 13:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

In the US, the 70-year rule only applies to works published since 1978. In the mid 20th century the rule was a fixed term of 28 years, at the end of which the copyright holder had the option to renew for a further 28 years. Then the term was extended to 75 years, then 95 years, but works whose copyright had already expired at the top of extension did not qualify for it. Then it changed again to depend on the author's death. --Anonymous, 00:00 UTC, 14 August 2005

Long story, short. Any book that had a U.S. edition printed before 1923 it is public domain. If it was only ever printed overseas, it is public domain if it was printed before 1909. Much other material is also public domain but it is tricky to research. Rmhermen 01:37, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Warships

Can anyone please tell me what a large fleet of warships is called? -- anon

An armada. -- Toytoy 12:32, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

• Armada is spanish for fleet. But came to mean a very large fleet because of the british wars versus the Spanish armada. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 12:43, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If you want a modern U.S. navy term, you may use "carrier battle group", "carrier strike group" or just "battle group", if you do mean the U.S. navy nuclear aircraft carriers and their supportve battleships. -- Toytoy 13:10, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Also task force has a similar meaning. Dunc|☺ 13:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If you mean a large fleet consists of two or more fleets, you may use the term "grand fleet" such as the British Grand Fleet (World War I) or the Combined Fleet (ja:連合艦隊) (World War II). Such a fleet could consist of a nation's own fleets or fleets of multiple navies. -- Toytoy 13:52, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

test

Can u give me a website which u can do a test which tells u what u are best at eg. i am a mathematician or scientist....

Try this career aptitude test Loganberry (Talk) 13:49, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Genius

Can you tell me why is it that a baby who chooses a pen instead of a toy, grow up/turn out to be great genius??? -- anon

There's a Chinese tradition where a baby boy is presented with lots of tools (pen, toy, abacus, ...) on his first birthday. That tradition is called zhua zhou (抓週; literally: grab + anniversary). Girls are usually not tested. If he grabs a pen or a book, he "shall" become an educated person. If he grabs a toy airplane, he "shall" become an aviator ... blah ... blah ... . This illogical tradition is not limited to Han Chinese, as far as I know, Chinese muslims also do the same thing only muslims put Qu'ran among the things. -- Toytoy 12:31, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

• Sounds like a Superstition created by Selection bias. That is only the stories about the ones who chose the pen ever get retold. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 12:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I'd rather call it a harmless but stupid tradition rather than superstition. It becomes a superstition only if you do blieve your son will become a better-than-Pablo-Picasso-superstar painter and totally ignore his love and devotion to advanced mathematics. Parents usually are not that stupid. -- Toytoy 13:41, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Automatic citation generation

I'm a HS science teacher, and observe that Wikipedia is frequently the first resource studens reference, but that most HS and college faculty don't have a clue what Wikipedia is.

In any event, I saw the citation page, and thought: why doesn't somebody add a citation generator to the navigation or toolbox bars on all pages? Click on it and a page pops up with the numerous forms of citation. This would save a vast amount of laborious reference construction, allowing cutting and pasting once instead.

--Mhuben

• That's simply because such a feature needs to be programmed and we have a limited number of developers to do this. However, if you know someone who could help with the programming of such feature, feel free to contact one or more developers. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:15, August 13, 2005 (UTC)
• By the way, automatic citation isn't possible with books. Wouldn't you want your students to learn how to correctly write up citations when automatic citation isn't available? - Mgm|^(talk) 13:19, August 13, 2005 (UTC)
• See bug #800. Bovlb 13:51:28, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

.rpm installation

Each time I try and install an .rpm file in Mandrake, I get a message "already present". Unfortunately, I've never installed it before. How do I install the files? =Nichalp «Talk»= 12:59, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

• Maybe it's got something to do with RPM Package Manager? - Mgm|^(talk) 13:17, August 13, 2005 (UTC)
• I also tried to use the command I read in a magazine: -ivh --force <rpm-file.rpm>, but it still did not install. =Nichalp «Talk»= 14:32, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

• What command and arguments are you running to install it, and what is the full error message? — mendel ☎ 16:56, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

file:/mnt/win_f/rh9.ymessenger-1.0.4-1.i386.rpm in the shell mode everything already installed The popup if I use the RPM manager. (The title of the popup is: gmessage . =Nichalp «Talk»= 19:07, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

http://forum.mandrivaclub.com/ or #mandriva on irc.freenode.net ¦ Reisio 19:36, 2005 August 13 (UTC)

Ok, I'll try there and in other forums. Meanwhile if anyone finds a solution to this, please message me. =Nichalp «Talk»= 06:44, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Trying to ID a song, going crazy!

There is a song I love but cannot think of it's name or artist. I think the title includes the word dream and part of the lyrics go "snake charmer on the dance floor". Any clues anyone?

The only reference I could find through google was this. --Dismas 13:22, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

4 Sanchez Trail Malvern, Ohio

I would like to search the HISTORY of ownership on 4 Sanchez Trail in Malvern, Ohio (at Lake Mohawk). In the area of 1979, who owned this property? Curiously, as I search the real estate, I believe this may have been a family members home. Please help!!! Or, direct me to a site where I may EASILY search the deed to this address. Thanking you in advance, Mary Pearce [email protected]

Carroll County, Ohio's website has a real estate search tool, which does have a listing for that address, but little history on it beyond the fact that the house was built in 1969 and last sold in 2002. It does have the names of the people who own it now, so you could try and contact them and find out if they know more information. A better resource would be to contact the Caroll County Auditor. If he doesn't have the information, he will certainly know who does. James 00:42, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Maurice Baring's father Lord Revelstoke

Can anyone figure out whether Maurice Baring's father was the first or third Lord Revelstoke? See Talk:Maurice Baring. (Feel free to answer here or just edit the Maurice Baring page.) Steve Summit 14:32, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

He was the first. More explicit details on the Maurice Baring article talk page. - Nunh-huh 02:01, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Fire logos in the US

[30] why do fire depts have logos like this?--209.180.215.110 15:28, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

They are ultimately derived from the Maltese Cross, through the early religious orders wich played the roles of aids to the sick and injured, primarily the Knights Hospitaller, who used this symbol, and their off-shoot, the St. John Ambulance corps. DES ^(talk) 16:37, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

The caduceus in the center indicates the medical role. I'm not sure what the meaning of the asterisk surrounding it -- it doesn't seem directly related to the Maltese Cross. --FOo 17:35, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

• That's the paramedic symbol. Here's a somewhat useful history of what they call the "star of life". --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 18:32, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Wasp nests

Last weekend I was attacked by half a dozen wasps while pulling out some weeds in my backyard. Right now I went out and saw two or three around the same area, doing their waspy things that wasps do (they seem to like these weeds that I loathe).

Is it likely there is a wasp nest out there? I don't see one -- could it be under the plants? As to the genus, I am in the New England area, and they look similar to yellowjackets. I am interested in getting very World War I on them. Anything I should keep in mind? I am not allergic to them but they are getting in the way of my proper gardening maintenance. --Fastfission 16:05, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

It is quite possible that there is a nest -- some species of wasps nest underground. DES ^(talk) 16:41, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone. If you absolutely must destroy their home (which you left there for them to inhabit), however, just put on some thick clothing and rip the weeds out. ¦ Reisio 19:45, 2005 August 13 (UTC)

Hey now, don't be judgmental? I didn't start this little war, and I didn't encourage them to set up shop there. (Blame the people who didn't upkeep the property until I moved in!) These wasps have been pretty aggressive towards me, and thankfully I'm not allergic to them. But they've got to go. 'Fraid I don't know any other way to tell them that. --Fastfission 19:58, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I used to work at a Boy Scout camp where we'd run into wasps that nested underground. When we found out we'd grab the nearest three camp counselors and head out to the "mine shed". It housed the dangerous chemicals that we kept the Scouts away from. We'd mix up some kerosene, gasoline, and diesel fuel. And off to the nest we went. We'd get everyone out of the area to avoid any Scouts being stung. Then we'd have one person at the ready with a shovel, one with the mixture, and the last with matches. On a count of three the shovel would go in the ground and dig as deep as possible to try and reach the nest, then that person would run like hell. Next the mixture would be poured down the hole. Third the match guy would strike about a dozen matches and throw them on the mixture so that at least one would catch the whole thing on fire. The kero and diesel are harder to ignite so that's why the gasoline was added because it ignites very quickly. The nest would burn out and any wasps that were roaming around during the destruction would move on. This worked quicker for us than spraying anything down the hole and waiting for them all to die. It also had the added benefit of not having to have one person sitting there pissing off the wasps while the can of spray emptied. Do I recommend this, absolutely not because I don't want to be sued if your stupid and burn down your property.  :) It won't make environmentalists very happy but it solves the problem quickly. Dismas 22:28, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Yellowjackets may live in - I don't know what to call them as I've never gotten close enough to actually see them (having had to run indoors screaming and shedding clothes as fast as possible) - nests close to the ground, which you can disturb by weedwhacking around tree bases and rocks. If you get too close, they'll attack, and it hurts like hell even if you're not allergic. I wouldn't be so bold as to just put on thick clothing and weed around them. Certain paperwasps that make their nests in trees or the edges of buildings are almost as scary. I found a nest hanging high up in a tree. The nest was bigger than a basketball, and these black wasps (I forget the real name) had an extremely painful sting. The instructions for getting rid of the nest included climbing a ladder in the dead of night with your wasp spray, and being able to get away very quickly. I decided to call in professionals for that one. Even these people had to come back twice, because the wasps had established outposts all over the place. But a horrid sidelight was explained. The wasps had been constantly attacking my black Irish werewolf (who has a big white neckerchief on her back neck and down her front) without any provocation, while leaving me and my brown dog alone, unless we accidentally got in the way of their flight paths (towards apple trees). I was told it was because wasps hate skunks, as wasps's nests are a skunk delicacy. So the wasps thought the black and white dog was a giant skunk. I know it sounds unlikely, but I believe it, and I would not wear black and white while dealing with wasps, if I were you. Just a thought. --Mothperson cocoon 23:32, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Couple links:

• University of Kentucky: Controlling wasps, hornets and yellowjackets
• Getting along with Yellowjackets
• Western Yellow Jacket

After reading these, I was ready to buy the nontoxic Victor, but all of a sudden my wasps (which were in a very inconvenient place) died out by themselves. — Sebastian (talk) 23:12, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Hmm, I'll take a look at those links. Last weekend I went out and sprayed the area early in the morning. I then tried to mow around it -- no problem. Then I started wacking the weeds, which worked better than the week before, but one came out and stung me on the pinky finger (this time I take blame for the provocation, as I was indeed trying to kill them and their nest). Less of a response than the week before, but still probably means there is a nest there that I didn't get. So I bought more poison and will try again this weekend, taking care to get the areas around the base of the plants. I did seriously consider setting the whole area on fire but I can see how that would probably go horribly awry and probably violate a number of local laws. We'll see... --Fastfission 13:36, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Two guns?

Can people really carry and use a gun (typically a pistol) in each hand as in so many films and videogames? Is this at all effective? --81.79.207.106 17:03, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't see why not. As long as the recoil isn't too large to diminish accuracy and you've got enough money for ammo. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 19:36, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

If you've ever fired a pistol before, it would be pretty clear that even with guns with relatively little kick, it would severely cut down on your accuracy to try and aim two guns at the same time with both hands. Which is not to say it couldn't be done -- the idea of an ambidexterous sharpshooter seems plausible -- but it would be hard to hit anything purposefully with that arrangement. If all you wanted to do was create a hail of bullets, it would be fine, and plenty dangerous at close range. If you were trying to hit a specific target at 100 yards, it might be difficult unless you really knew what you were doing (I'd drop the one in my left hand and use that hand to help steady my right hand). At least, that's my feeling for it, from the few times I've shot pistols. --Fastfission 20:05, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Fastfission on this. I've shot pistols many times and also am related to and have known many cops. All the cops I know would more than likely not use two at once, they'd prefer the accuracy of one to the quantity of bullets from two. And at close range, the two guns become overkill, literally... Cops normally carry guns with enough stopping power that if at a close range, one bullet would put down and disable a suspect. Their lives are on the line so they want something that will put down a dangerous person now!, not after they've they've fired several shots or given the suspect time to shoot back. This is why you see it in films and videogames is because it looks cool or more dramatic, not because it's accurate. Dismas 22:15, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I believe I once read a pamphlet that Wild Bill Hickock once wrote on the subject of gunfighting. Even in the 1800's, it turns out, there were people interested in trying this. As I recall, Hickock was of the opinion that it was generally foolish, for the issues that Dismas and Fastfission point out above, and that it was the sure sign of someone who was new to gunfighting.

It occurs to me that someone might use two pistols in a situation where accuracy does not matter - such as firing into a crowd, or when trying to serve as a distraction. (Situations, in other words, that a shotgun might be better suited for). What do you think? Is this possible? Thanks. --Brasswatchman 00:05, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

• I suppose you might want to use a pair of six-shooters sequentially? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 01:20, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Notice that none of these practical points stop Stephen King from having his Gunslinger employ two quite powerful pistols very effectively. In other words, anything is possible in fiction. --Laura Scudder | Talk 07:38, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Infrared and Heat are they the same.

Can anyone tell me is IR and heat the same thing ive been told it is and ive been told it is not, ive tried reading up on both subjects however i cannot make a good argument to support the fact i believe IR and Heat are linked but they are not the same. please help. I do not have a Quantum Mechanics degree so please can you keep it understandable, this would solve a discussion i am having with somebody who does have a degree.

Does the article Infrared help? hydnjo talk 17:20, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Infrared radiation is a kind of light. Heat is the thermal energy of a material -- more or less, the random vibration of its atoms. They are not at all the same.

The reason that people associate infrared light with heat, is that objects spontaneously emit light. The wavelength of light emitted is related to the temperature of the object -- see blackbody radiation. And most of the light emitted by warm objects is in the range that we call infrared. Only when something is quite hot does it spontaneously emit in the visible light range -- like a lava flow, or a piece of iron heated in a blacksmith's forge.

So, heat is not infrared light. Rather, objects emit light; the kind of light they emit depends on their temperature; and most of the light emittied by objects that are in "reasonably hot" temperature ranges is in the infrared. That's why cameras that are sensitive in the infrared range can detect hot objects in a "dark" room -- any hot object is a light source, just not in a range that we can see with the naked eye!

Objects that absorb light get warmer, too -- think of leaving a black object out in the sun, and how much warmer it gets than a white object. Since we can't see infrared light, but we can still detect its ability to heat things, we use devices that emit in the infrared to heat things without appearing visibly bright. Thus, infrared gets perceived as "heat radiation" when really we should call it "invisible light" or some such -- it doesn't actually impart any more heat energy than any other sort of light, but heating is the only thing we detect it as doing. --FOo 17:28, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Just to clarify slightly, heat refers to the flow of energy. An object's thermal energy is just that, its thermal energy. Beyond that, F0o's distincion is just right. — Asbestos | Talk (RFC) 18:03, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Does this mean that the wavelength of the light emitted by an object is inversely proportional to its temperature? Would a sufficiently hot object emit ultraviolet light? Could this go all the way to gamma radiation? — JIP | Talk 18:06, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

A sufficiently hot object certainly emits ultraviolet light. From stellar classification : Class O stars [surface temperature 30,000-60,000 K] are very hot and very luminous, being strongly blue in colour ... Class O stars emit most of their radiation in ultra-violet. Gandalf61 18:31, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Aha - here's the rub. This is the ultraviolet catastrophe - simple theory says that a black body ought to be emitting near-infinite amounts of high-frequency radiation, like UV... but, as is apparent, they don't really. (They emit UV, yes - but emmitance tails off quite sharply as frequency increases; see Image:Blackbodygraph.png) A lot of early work in quantum physics stems from this question... Shimgray 18:50, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Further clarification to all of the above: the word "light" has been used rather loosely here. Strictly speaking, what we're talking is about electromagnetic (EM) radiation, which comes in a huge range of wavelengths (and correspondingly, a huge range of frequencies; as one increases, the other decreases), some of which are known as radio waves, infrared, (visible) light, ultraviolet, X-rays, and gamma rays -- see electromagnetic spectrum for more. When we say "light", we usually either strictly mean EM radiation that the human eye responds to (hence the alternative term "visible light") or else a somewhat wider range of wavelengths that includes infrared and ultraviolet (if people say "infrared light", they are using this extended meaning).

So when the previous responder wrote "objects emit light", it would have been more precise to say that they emit EM radiation. For a cold object, this would mostly be radio waves. (These would also have a very low intensity; both the frequency and the intensity increase strongly with temperature, as there is more energy to be carried off.)

--Anonymous, 00:30 UTC, 14 August 2005

How to start a racing career?

Depends. Do you want to race on foot, with a motor or a car? If you want to start a career racing cars, I suggest you start carting. Take up a hobby related to racing and stick with it. - Mgm|^(talk) 18:24, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

I suspect you meant karting; here in the UK at least, it's almost always spelt with an initial K. Loganberry (Talk) 22:57, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Encrypting Cookies in PHP

How do I encrypt and decrypt a cookie value in PHP, like when I use a cookie to store a user's password? — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 20:09, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Typically, you store the MD5 hash of the user's password. Then when users login, you compare the MD5 hash of what they typed, with your stored hash. The reason you do this is so that your users' passwords can't be compromised by anyone cracking your database (and I can't think of any clueful web-application developer who doesn't use this system, although a lot of commercial entities seem to think nothing of storing peoples' passwords in plaintext...) Ojw 21:43, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

To clarify this: when someone logs in, you check that the MD5 of their password matches what you have in your database, and if it's correct, you assign a cookie (which is either a random number, or the MD5 of a random number) to them, and store a copy of that number in your database. In subsequent transactions, anyone who supplies a cookie which matches what you've stored for the cookie of a logged-in user, can claim to be that user. When someone logs out, you delete your copy of that cookie, so that noone can claim to be that user until they supply the password again. Ojw 21:48, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Note that, if the initial login session is conducted in a normal (unencrypted) connection, the hashed password is subject to replay attacks. Rather than doing an SSL session for the initial login, I figure the following is safe (IANAC - I am not a cryptographer): when it generates the login page the server also sends a random number ("white"). Rather than the login script sending back MD5(password) it sends back MD5(MD5(password)⊕white). As white is different for each login, there's no (realistic) chance of replay. This seems pretty obvious, so I guess either everyone does it or there's a gaping hole in my amateur-hour cryptography. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:09, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Please note that you probably shouldn't be using MD5 for new applications, as there have been steadily more effective attacks against it. The vulnerability is not yet applicable in this application, but seeing there are alternative, more secure algorithms widely available it seems silly not to use them. --Robert Merkel 13:09, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I know nothing about PHP, but it's a bad idea to store the user's password in a cookie. How will the user be able to authenticate themselves from a different computer, or after deleting cookies? Gdr 21:37:08, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

By logging in again. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 00:23, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

But their password was stored in the cookie, which is gone. Gdr 10:33:20, 2005-08-14 (UTC)

Here's what I did:

When a user logs in:

• The site sets a cookie with three values:

• ROTCA: User's username, md5-hashed
• ROTCApw: User's password, md5-hashed
• ROTCAsesID: A random number, md5-hashed.

• The site saves ROTCAsesID to a special field in the db.

When a user is verified:

• All of this info is checked against the database.

When a user logs out:

• The cookie is entirely blanked.
• The field in the database is deleted.

— Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 01:09, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Consider not setting ROTCApw, because if the cookie is stolen by some means, then an attacker can mount offline dictionary attacks against the user's password. (I think this was a security problem with Mediawiki a few months ago). ROTCAsesID is sufficient to prove that the user has authenticated himself in the past. Also, how are you generating your random numbers? — Matt Crypto 12:36, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

DC Comics: Calculator

Where on Wikipedia can I read more about the DC villain named 'Calculator'? Almafeta 20:35, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

We don't have an article on that character but you can write one yourself if you know something about him by clicking on his name here: Calculator (comics). Thanks, Dismas 21:17, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Countries

Is there any country that Wikipedia doesn't yet have an article on? --Revolución (talk) 20:54, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Yes, we are missing articles on several; see List of extinct states. Cai and Cao seem to be the most notable omissions. There are almost certainly other countries that don't appear on that list. Gdr 21:34:36, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

If there's any country you find missing, you should update List of countries, which currently shows blue links (i.e. article exists) for everything it lists. Ojw 21:36, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

No, don't update List of countries, that's only for countries that exist today. If you find a missing country, add it to List of extinct states. Gdr 21:38:24, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

I was about to say... if you find something missing that should be on List of countries, contacting the newspaper might be a better idea than updating wiki... Shimgray 21:40, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Apostrophes in plurals

The Oranjestad disambiguation page says "Both Oranjestad's are towns on small Caribbean islands owned by the Netherlands."

Is it correct to form a plural of a city name in this way? Should it be "Oranjestads"? --Revolución (talk) 20:54, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Unless there is precedent for using an apostraphie to form a plural (which is extremely rare), the word should be made plural in the normal way. "Oranjestads" is correct. Almafeta 21:09, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

According to the "Other languages" section in the apostrophe (mark) article, it is apparently sometimes acceptable in Dutch to use an apostrophe for plurals; for example, taxi's is correct Dutch. If the Oranjestad article was written by a native Dutch speaker, that might well be the reason for the apostrophe there. Loganberry (Talk) 23:01, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

I see nothing wrong with simplifying "Thing"s to Thing's myself, but it is most likely very much against general Wikipedia style practices. Luckily it's easy enough to reword. ¦ Reisio 01:46, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

Slightly off topic, but Loganberry is not entirely correct: while plurals in Dutch must sometimes use an apostrophe, this only happens with words that end with a vowel. (Not all words that end with a vowel, but let's save that for another day.) David Sneek 11:08, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Using an apostrophe for pluralization in the English language is a mortal sin. But I edited the article to avoid the issue. Garrett Albright 13:14, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I thought that if you were making the plural of a name of a place or a person then you would in fact put an apostrophe. Rentastrawberry 22:08, August 16, 2005 (UTC)

It's a gray area. You can do what you like, most people can figure it out. ¦ Reisio 22:39, 2005 August 16 (UTC)

Technically, you only use the apostrophe for plurals of letters (as letters) or numbers used as words (for example A's or 2's). People get really confused when applying this to family names. The Smith family, collectively, should be referred to as the Smiths ([31]). If you wrote it the Smith's, you would technically be referring to something belonging to the blacksmith. Plurals of names are just like plurals of other words in English. -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:56, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

No, it is not a gray area. Using apostrophes for plurals is wrong, and that's all there is to it. I also disagree with "2's;" "2s" should be sufficient given the context, or the text should be rewritten to avoid the issue. Garrett Albright 06:21, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Possibly it depends on whether there is potential for confusion. With letters you often really do have to do something. (And there are expressions in the English language that pratically require the apostrophe, such as "mind your P's and Q's", where rewording would be excessively awkward. You could probably get away with referring to ABCs, but if you wrote that you got "straight As", most people would ask "straight as what?") -Aranel ("Sarah") 15:28, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Can anyone reccomend a good linux distro?

If anyone can specify a distro with a decent amount of preinstalled software, graphical install, and can run on an old 64MB RAM Pentium II 350 system, that'd be nice.

See Comparison of Linux distributions and List of Linux distributions. Dismas 22:05, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

Morphix is a good preconfigured (and easier-to-install) version of Debian, which is basically the most popular Linux distribution/base. For a Pentium II I'd recommend the LightGUI version [32] which comes with Xfce4, a very functional, but light desktop environment (as opposed to the larger, heavier GNOME and KDE). The ISO image makes a LiveCD that will give you a functional desktop you can try out before installing - to start the installer you just go to the control panel and click a button. Also I wouldn't worry too much about preinstalled software - most Linux package management systems make it really easy to get and install the software you want. If this is your first time, I recommend finding an IRC channel to hang out in while you install; #linux on irc.freenode.net, perhaps. ¦ Reisio 01:30, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

Les Miserables

What is the pronunciation of of the novel by Victor Hugo (1802-1885) Les Miserables in the International Phonetic Alphabet used by Merriam-Webster or a different IPA? (I know that it means the wretches.) --anonym (Unsigned question by 4.233.118.243.) hydnjo talk 00:37, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I presented these questions because on the top of this Web page it says, "Otherwise, you may sign your name or write --anon. " I did not want to make anyone irate. I will highly appreciate anyone who answers my questions. --Karl

• I'm not familiar with IPA stuff, but maybe French language could help in the pronunciation. I know how to say it, but I've no way to bring it accross. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:46, August 14, 2005 (UTC)
• I you are not familiar with the phonetic alphabet, then could you please type it in a way that would help me pronounce it? My main problem is the second word of Les Miserables. Also, is the s with which Miserables ends silent, or does it sound like the phonetic sound of z or s?--Karl

• Is it /le mizeˈʁɑblə̆/?  Denelson83  17:46, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

I do not know how to interpret the boxes in Denelson's phonetic symbols? They certainly are not part of the phonetic alphabet. --Karl

Well, I am not very good with the IPA alphabet either (although I should be, shame on me), but basically the first 's' is pronounced z, and the last 's' is silent. And of course 'l' and 'r' are pronounced in the usual French way. Ornil 19:21, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Mathematical Induction

$F_{n}$denotes the nth term of the Fibonacci sequence. Use mathematical induction to prove the following statement.

If $a_{n+2}=a_{n+1}*a_{n}\ and\ a_{1}=a_{2}=2,then\ a_{n}=2^{F_{n}}$for all natural numbers n.

--anonym (Unsigned question by 4.233.118.243.) hydnjo talk 00:38, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

the base case is satisfied, since 2=2^F₀ = 2^F₁. Now assume that a_n=2^F_n and a_n+1=2^F_n+1. Then a_n+2=a_n·a_n+1=2^F_n· 2^F_n+1=2^F_n+F_n+1 and since F_n+2=F_n+F_n+1 (this is the definition of the Fibonacci sequence), we have a_n+2=2^F_n+2, which concludes the inductive step and the proof. -Lethe | Talk 23:00, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

Mathematical Induction II

Find and prove an inequality relating $100n\ and\ n^{3}$.

$n^{3}={\frac {(100n)^{3}}{1000000}}$

(Unsigned question by 4.233.118.243.) hydnjo talk 00:40, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Proof by induction: use arithmetic -Lethe | Talk 23:09, August 13, 2005 (UTC)

The keyword here is inequality. I think that they might be looking for something more like:

$n^{3}\geq 100n$ for $n\geq 10$

in which case your base case is n = 10. --Laura Scudder | Talk 07:55, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Complementary Combinations

Without performing any calculations, explain in words why the number of ways of choosing two objects from ten objects is the same as the number of ways of choosing eight objects from ten objects.

In general, explain why C(n,r)=C(n,n-r).

(Unsigned question by 4.233.118.243.) hydnjo talk 00:42, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Lethe, are you still doing 4.233.118.243's homework? hydnjo talk 00:42, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

• This is a cute one, though. And so simple. C(10,8) = C(10,2) because in either case you're picking 2 objects -- either 2 objects to include, or 2 objects to exclude. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 01:10, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
  • You could also say you're picking 8 to include or 8 to exclude. Same thing. Superm401 | Talk 05:44, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

chaos from order

Can you give me the word that describes a person capable of creating chaos out of an orderly situation? --JohnC

I have always referred to such a person as an agent of entropy. alteripse 23:45, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

So maybe the noun form would be entroper? Or entropist? :) --Brasswatchman 00:10, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Or even le entrepreneur extraordinaire! ;-) hydnjo talk 00:19, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Ilyanep? — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 01:10, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Software manager. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 19:07, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

frozen yogurt

what is the differnce between frozen yogurt and ice cream?

This difference is described in the ice cream and frozen yogurt articles.

• Ice cream is made with milk, frozen yoghurt with (gasp) yoghurt. - Mgm|^(talk) 09:48, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

Black names

I have been curious why there seem to be a lot of Black Americans with Arabic names like Omar, Rashid, Hassan, and so on, even if they are in no way connected to the Black Muslims. Is there any article about this?

I don't know if there's an article about it but there are a few who have converted to the Islamic faith like Muhammed Ali. Dismas 01:56, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

they are in no way connected to the Black Muslims

So, you've polled all these people you speak of, then? :p Just a connection to Islam in general or the middle east would it, though...and of course some people just pick names they like. :) ¦ Reisio 02:44, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

When I said even if, I was referring to the ones that I do know, who are not members of the Nation of Islam. In most cases they seem to be Christian. It's true some people just pick names they like but there seems to be a much greater occurence of Arabic names among Blacks. Of course any ethnic group will have names they pick more often; the most common type of Black name that I know of would probably be biblical names, but given that Christianity has played a huge role in American Black culture it makes sense. As far as I know Islam and the Middle East have not had as large of an influence on the Black community. But I could be wrong, and that was exactly what I was interested in knowing about - Islam in common American Black culture, how it's perceived, and so on. Surely if there are plenty of non-Muslim Blacks naming their children with Arabic names, it must be something more than an exotic Eastern religion for them?

Speculation, but I think I'm right :) It's because there is much Islamic influence in Africa, and they are reaching back to their African roots. Also, their American roots are unfortunately associated with slavery and many of those involved were (nominally) Christian. An Islamic/Arabic name may be seen as a break from this. Of course, those who think this way overlook the fact that Islamic people also were involved with slavery. TresÁrboles 14:20, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

It rarely has anything to do with Black Muslims. Many African Americans choose these names because many Sub-Saharan Africans have Arabic names. African Americans are just borrowing from African names. You also see many blacks who have names that are in the Niger-Congo language family. — Stevey7788 (talk) 23:07, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Scrotum disorder

I have this problem that I dont know what to do about. It is apearently normal says doctors that I have seen, and it might be for older men; but I am only 22 and this problem happened over seas. (I am a marine) The problem is that my scrotum hangs a lot lower than normal,and has little reaction to tempetures or touch.It started being like this after I came back from Iraq the 1st time. I have seen a doctor for it and he says it is normal, but I refuse to believe that due to the fact it wasnt a gradual accurence and I am only 22. I was told I have a small vericose seal and a small hydro seal. My question is could the vericose seal and hydro seal be the problem, if not what is and can there be something done about it. I thank you all for your time.

A doctor who has examined you is far more likely to know if it's "situation normal" or if there is a problem than anyone here is. If you are not satisfied with the first doctor you saw, you can always seek out another opinion...perhaps from a urologist. You'll find more about the other diagnoses if you check the spelling varicocele and hydrocele. - Nunh-huh 02:10, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

My dear friend, if your want a modern physician who can truly make a tangible change, then see this surgeon, who does genital surgery. [There are other surgeons as well. I did not name him to avoid advertising.] You need to measure with a ruler how low your scrotum hangs and then contact a surgeon who actually does things of this nature. --Karl

If this is something that is a serious concern of yours, what you may want to inquire about is an ultrasound. The procedure is not invasive, about 15-30 minutes in length and there is minimal discomfort. In a typical procedure, the physician or technician will apply a thin gel to the area so that the signal received by the ultrasound probe is enhanced. This is very similar to what you see on television when doctors use ultrasound to image a fetus in the womb. The ultrasound pictures taken during the procedure will help in the proper and definitive diagnosis of your condition. --HappyCamper 00:10, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

These seals are a small piece of cartilagenous tissue and muscle, respectively. The fact that they are allegedly small causes the portion not connected to the scrotum to hang down lower apparently. Note that both of these seals can break without adequate support (ie jock strap or at least briefs during physical activity) during a lot of athletic activity. This is usually not a concern these days as so many lead sedentary lifestyles. Nevertheless, I would recommend wearing adequate support during adequate athletic activity. Contrary to popular belief, boxers and jock straps can NOT affect your sperm count, so wearing tight undergarments will not affect your ability to reproduce.

The above is a particularly stupid response. There is no such thing as a "seal". The words are varicocele and hydrocele. They have nothing to do with "support" and there is evidence that high scrotal temperature reduces sperm count. Rarely have we had such a set of unhelpful responses to a medical question! Some idiot even removed the only valid list of possible explanations which was offered:

 + # Normal variation in size of body part 
 + # Loss of cremasteric muscle function 
 + # Increased weight of scrotal contents because of significant accumulation of blood, fluid, or tissue 
 + # Prolonged, intentional stretching 

alteripse 11:48, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

A Very Rare Form Of Martial Arts

Is there any information on a form of Martial Arts known as: GUNG-LAY-FUT I found some information about Choy Lay Fut but not Gung I have a friend that was taught by a personal trainer for many years and we are currently working on starting a class for this type of Martial Arts, and I was checking for info about this. He told me I would probably not be able to find any information and I am inclined to believe him now, after searching extensively. Give me some feedback if possible. My email adress is [email protected] Thank You

Ask your friend (or ask him to ask his teacher) what its origin might be. Is it closely related to Choy Lay Fut? ¦ Reisio 02:50, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

I don't recognize the romanization here, but Wikipedia has an article on Choy Lay Fut (蔡李佛) which you might find useful. --HappyCamper 23:58, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Visual C++.NET Editor for cheap teenagers?

Is there a Visual C++.NET editor/compiler that is freeware, similar to many of those availiable for ASP.NET, availiable on the internet? I want to learn Visual C++.NET without having to fork over the hundreds of dollars it costs for MS]'s compiler (or Visual Studio). Thanks — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 02:45, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I guess this might work...right? — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 02:48, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

The Express products are available for free public download. http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/ ¦ Reisio 02:57, 2005 August 14 (UTC)

Oh. Thanks. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 03:27, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

if you're a young programmer now, you might want to consider learning languages and environments that will serve you well on into your future career. Visual C++.NET is a one-platform proprietary language. Moreover, it's a language from a vendor who has shown time and again that it will "churn" languages on you, devaluing the experience you gain now -- see Visual Basic and Visual Fred, for instance. --FOo 03:53, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

While VB is valuable, so is VC++. I think I'd like to learn the more complicated language first and then have an easy time gliding through VB. Besides, if it all runs on the .NET framework, then it shouldn't matter if I use C++ or Fred. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 05:58, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Sorry if I was a little unclear -- I was actually suggesting that the Fred transition suggests that a focus on Microsoft-specific languages is a poor career choice for young programmers, because they are highly likely to become devalued in the future. --FOo 18:07, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Oh, well I already know PHP and some SQL. I also plan to learn some Java after C++, because they are similar. Actionscript and JavaScript may follow in closely. — Ilγαηερ (Tαlκ) 01:01, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

First i'd like to point out that VC++ or even a complete MSDN subscription is incredibly cheap if you buy it from the student bookstore using the student discount. Mine was $135 in school (versus around 1500 i believe at full price). Do not listen to others advice about learning different languages like VB. You will learn VB eventually in your career, however if you already know a high level language which encourages good programming processes then learning VB will not damage your skills. 90% of software engineering is done in C and C++. It is not microsoft specific. Nearly everything else would be qualified as scripting or amateur tools.

That is product called Visual Slick Edit, which is actually an improvement on visual studion. It can work either with the compiler only license of VC (which is free) or with GNU C. It retails around $250 for individuals, although i believe student discounts are available. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 09:14, 15 August 2005 (UTC)