This was a notorious incident in Australia quite a while ago. Can anyone give me a references to an article, or point me in the right direction? Doug Mulray got sued by Knox I believe. - Ta bu shi da yu 01:41, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)
This is really a long stretch...are you referring to the Hobart chapel blaze in May, 2003 in Brisbane?
--allie 02:26, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC) Oh - in Glenorchy? Not that familiar with the territory...anyway, here you go: [1] Let me know if that works. Check my user page for the "Twurled World" site and dig. It's where I found it.
Do you have any info on a controlled aviation simulator? The disk is not a game and does not have a joy stick...but more, Thanks and Happy New Year,
Adrianna, @ ... awire253yahoo.com
Electro Plating metals
I am involved in restorstion of motor cars and need to do small scale plating. Specificaly Copper, Chrome and cadmium. What do I need to get started ? What are the chemicals and their "Recipes" required ? How is it done ?
Thanks for helping,
Bennie.
Try the electroplating and Chrome plating articles. Copper can be plated onto things by using copper sulfate. If the metal you are plating onto is less active than copper (eg. iron, zinc, aluminium - see reactivity series) you may not need any external electric current. Cadmium is quite toxic; I have no idea how to cadmium plate things. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 03:47, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)
Fighter Lead-In Trainer Course
Hi there,
I am looking for a place where they train conduct FLIT course. Preferably from the European countries and allow the contract be handled by an agent, i.e. not a G-to-G thing.
Thank you.
electronics fluorescent light
please i want u to send me some literature review about electronics fluorescent light.i need it to complete my project.please you can send it to my mail if icant get the reply right now. my mail is [email protected].
thanks
A rubbish question
Why is it that, no matter what you put in the rubbish bin, it always smells the same? Is there some kind of chemical released by all foods when it decomposes? My housemates theorized that there must be a chemical reaction with the bin liner, but that is a lame hypothesis. And the above question on colour is a very poignant one too.
I wonder if it's also likely that your rubbish bin tends to smell the same since, over the average week, you tend to put the same things in it. Of course, to see if this is true, you ought to seek out the bins of people who are likely to have a different diet to yourself and give their bins a good sniffing. I think any problems of a social nature that may arise from this activity would be more than compensated by your increased wisdom.
Alternatively you could wuss out and decide that next week you are going to have a themed diet in the household: see what happens if you and your co-habitees live entirely on cake for 7 days. Surely that's an experiment with broad appeal? --62.255.64.4 00:42, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
first world war veteran
Hi, I am looking for any information regarding my great uncle.
Hmm. IP says you're probably British. But, really, give us a smaller target next time... if you can tell us where he was from, we can tell you where to look for the information.
If he died in the war, the Commonwealth War Graves Commision website will have an entry for his grave, and a small amount of related information. Mind you, he was a veteran of it, so probably didn't... The National Archives have a set of interesting leaflets on researching various topics [2] here; specifically, you might find [3] this useful.
If you collate all the information you have on him - where he lived, his full name, dates of birth, anything you know he did in the War - you may find this a very useful way of helping search for information, or decide if information is relevant (if he was an officer, for example, this opens up a whole new set of possible sources; if he won a specific medal ditto, since the citation will be filed somewhere). If he was in the Army, knowing battalion and regiment is very useful; if in the Navy, ship names.
Genealogy websites may also prove useful, although the first half of the century is a bit of a blackspot - it's recent enough that many of the records are still private due to the fact the people in them may be living, but old enough that they're often not easily available.
Hope this helps - we really don't have information to help you with individual people, but we can point you towards relevant resources. Shimgray 17:46, 9 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Dryer lint
So... why is clothes dryer lint almost always (95%?) bluish in colour? Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 06:00, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Perhaps due to the non-binding nature of indigo dye. Rmhermen 06:23, Jan 10, 2005 (UTC)
Mine is usually light grey to blue-grey. ike9898 20:00, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)
When I shared a flat, and a dryer, with a woman, it was clear whose dryer lint was whose. I wore "guy" colours, she lighter and more "girly" ones, and so my lint was blue or black or grey and her's tended to be pink or white or yellow. As neither of us was terribly good about cleaning the lint-trap, several strata of lint would build up. On removing it, one could clearly see (a ladendrochronology) who had done what washes and in what order. -- John Fader 01:54, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The article on belly button fluff has, loosely, I believe a scientific explanation somewhere.--Wonderfool 13:12, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
True. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki has done research on this that won him an Ig Nobel Prize. But it's all in th belly button fluff article as Wonderfool said :) -- Chuq 21:11, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
What is dryer lint?
Does it come from the fibers that make up your clothes, or is it more like dust particles from the environment that collect on the clothes? ike9898 20:00, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)
I'm pretty sure it's mostly clothes. Mine tends to include quite a bit of Kleenex tissue in addition. Some small fraction is probably hair, dead skin, whatever. moink
I'm surprised that old clothes continue to lose fibers, even after many dryings. ike9898 21:47, Jan 22, 2005 (UTC)
Not surprising at all, i think, because these are not whole fibers but small broken off ends. Notice how a garment ages, becoming softer as it's worn and washed; that reflects lessening cohesion between adjacent fibers as they break off where they come closest most often, from the stress that is makes the closth stiff. An old enough garment actually gets thinner as well as softer. --Jerzy(t) 22:32, 2005 Jan 22 (UTC)
yaws
In the religious context or the seaworthy one? Either way, it's yaw singular. --allie 00:55, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Or perhaps the disease yaws? (nobody ever has just one) alteripse 04:57, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Problems occuring when cancelling unstable poles
I'm revising for an exam on classical control theory and have a few problems.
What are the shortcomings of using the cancellation process in the light of uncertainties in the values of the system parameters?
Also, if I have the system G(s) = 1 / (s-1.5)(s^2+s+1)
and have to design a stabilizer of the form C(s) = [k(s^2+as+b)] / (s^2+cs+d), how would I go about this?
anon
Are you taking MIT PhD qualifying exams this week like I am? (which by the way, all of you who may remember me, is why i'm so seldom around).
By "the cancellation process" I presume you mean pole-zero cancellation. It's a somewhat reasonable strategy for stable poles, if you have a pretty linear, well-modeled system, but a BAD BAD BAD idea for unstable poles. Here's why: Our models of systems are never perfect. As you mention, there will always be uncertainties in the values of the system parameters. That translates into uncertainties in the positions of the poles. And of course, these "linear, time invariant" systems we're always talking about are just idealizations. Very little is ever truly linear, we just linearize about the operating point. So if the operating point moves a touch, our model is just a bit off at that point, and oops, the zeros we decided to put on top of those poles are a little bit off. Uh-oh. Unstable poles. They'll have small residues, yes, due to the proximity of the zeros, but something starting small and growing to infinity is just as scary in the long run as something that starts bigger and grows to infinity.
It's even a bad idea to use pole-zero cancellation on stable but "slow" poles. Again, you'll significantly reduce the magnitude of their residues, therefore making them unimportant (relative to other effects) right at zero, but if they stick around long enough they'll start to become dominant. It's really a better idea, in my opinion, to put some zeros way out in the left half-plane somewhere where they can suck in the poles as the gain increases and speed up and stabilize the whole system. That is, if you aren't trying to limit high-frequency noise...
As to your second question, I guess it depends on what your goal is. Do you have particular requirements for your control system? That plant transfer function you have there is pretty simple, just a real pole and a complex conjugate pair. I'd probably do a PD or phase lead if I wanted to increase the damping ratio or speed the system up. But that controller transfer function you've got there looks like a filter aimed at particular frequencies. Depending on the values you choose, it could be a bandpass filter or a notch filter. If I were you I'd use Bode methods to design the controller. And get some requirements. Like, do you have a bandwidth requirement? Are you trying to limit noise in a certain frequency range? If that's the extent of a test question, your prof doesn't know what she's doing. moink
False color images in astronomy
I understand that many of the astronomical images we see in magazines, etc. are actually black and white images that have had color added. But -Why not just take color images to begin with? -Is the choice of added colors based on anything other than aesthetic appeal? -What a about relatively close objects like planets, are some of these pictures in true color? ike9898 20:07, Jan 11, 2005 (UTC)
I've always thought the colors were supposed to convey information; e.g., green indicates the surface is primarily silicon dioxide, blue indicates water-ice, or some such thing. Michael Hardy 03:37, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Reasons include:
The original image was infra-red, x-ray, or some other non-visible part of the spectrum. In order to render into a human visible form, some mapping between the "invisible colours" and the ordinary "visible spectrum" colours must be made. Such a mapping is of necessity somewhat arbitrary.
The original image, while technically in colour, occupied only a narrow band of the visible spectrum. To make details more apparent, the spectrum is "dilated": so things that in "reality" would be slightly green turn into things that are very green, etc.
The final image is a composite of different source images of different types.
Or simply that features of different types have been coloured (at a person's behest) or otherwise enhanced differently for didactic purposes.
As to planets: yes, many of the photos you've seen of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter are more normal colour images, largely because those planets are interesting to look at in the "normal" part of the spectrum. Still, there are plenty of artificial-colour images of all, particularly with planets like Venus which are uninteresting in the visible spectrum. But even though a telescope or probe's camera has a gamut that is roughly like your eye, that doesn't mean that those planets would look just like that if you were near them, looking at them with your naked eye; the detector will have different response characteristics across the spectrum. There was, for example, much debate about which was the "correct" way to post-process colour images from the recent Mars landers - some ways make the sky look the rose/red people expect, others make it appear almost blue, and it's debatable which (if any) is "correct". -- John Fader 20:29, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Consider (as a pleasantly weird example) Hubble's newer "normal" camera, Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. It features broad-response (i.e. black and white) CCDs. Between it and the source are mechanically interposed a filter (one of 48, mounted on a wheel, I think). So the operators can pick one of 48 different response curves. And by taking the same photo through different filters the resulting images can be combined to give a huge range and scope of response characteristics. There's even one filter slide that has a graduated filter, so (by carefully placing the target at the point in the filter with just the desired frequency range) the operator has really accurate control of filtering (per STSCI). All in all this is a system of colour vision so utterly unlike the one your eye uses that really all HST-WFPC2 images (which is pretty much every Hubble image you see in the media) are, and have to be, false colour. -- John Fader 21:09, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The popular press, from your local newspaper to National Geographic, will insist on bringing visually interesting images to their readers. That means colour. Colour—or coloured—images will be requested or selected for publication even if specialists use greyscale ones for their own analysis. For example, how often do you see pure greyscale MRI or CT (aka "CAT") images in the popular press? And yet I do not believe you will see a radiologist make a diagnosis from a coloured image of these modalities. In fact, it has been the norm in many hospitals to render these inherently digital formats on film (inevitably greyscale) for use on lightboxes; this is gradually changing as hospitals find high-quality computer displays more affordable. --Sharkford 14:34, 2005 Jan 12 (UTC)
Black and white (monochrome) images are probably more common in astronomy because they're much easier to accomplish. A monochrome image is a map of the intensity of radiation emitted by an object within a certain band of the electromagnetic spectrum, such as the visible spectrum. A color image also contains information as to the specific wavelength of light.
A camera that captures all of this additional information simultaneously is much more difficult to build than one that produces simple monochrome. AFAIK, spacecraft produce color images by taking a series of several monochrome images in different spectral bands. For instance, they might take one image in the red wavelengths, another in the greens, and another in the blues. The combination of these three images would produce what we know as "true color".
Alternatively, they might take pictures in three (or two or four) radio wavelength bands. For several reasons, not least because we can't see radio, these images are printed in the visible spectrum, producing "false color". --Smack (talk) 05:59, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
P.S. in response to Michael Hardy: Yes, false-color images do often convey information as to the chemical composition of an object. However, I think it's ignorant to believe that someone comes in and applies false color based upon chemical data. I would guess that the image is the source of this data. Take a photograph at a wavelength corresponding to an absorption band of a molecule, and your photo will be a map of the presence of that molecule. --Smack (talk) 05:59, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
What is the similarity between her music and Rhythm and Blues? I know this is how she discribes her music, but I don't get it. They two don't seem very similar to me. ike9898 02:16, Jan 12, 2005 (UTC)
Are there any words that are pronounced exactly the same in both French and English? I would've thought the old reliable taxi would be, but my fr-eng dictionary puts a difference between the pronounciation: tæcsi for English, and tacsi for french. So i thought if taxi isnt the same, then surely no word woudl be.even French words borrowed from English, and viceversa, have been frenchised or englishised. Anybody spotted any?--Wonderfool 09:48, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Many Americans (though no Brits) pronounce "garage" in a very French way: accent on the second syllable, rolled "j" sound, etc., although the first vowel tends to be slightly off (a schwa rather than a pure "ah", but that sound is slightly off when they try to speak French, too!). Or how about "entente" and "detente"? -- Jmabel | Talk 19:24, Jan 12, 2005 (UTC)
I may be answering my own question here, but I was lookin thru a big Collins Fr-Eng dictionary last night, pondering this and found none such - there was the 'r' being rolled or the 'i' being slightly diffrent or wotever. but, there were 2 words i did track down as having the exact same phonetics: wiktionary:Peppy and wiktionary:pépi; and wiktionary:messy and wiktionary:messie. I took about an hour to find those bloody words. Damn the uber-curious mind I have. And somehow, I was expecting a Jmabel reply.Its appreciated. --Wonderfool 12:58, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
French orthographic <e-acute accent> is IPA [e], though, whereas the first vowel in English peppy is [(lowercase epsilon)] in that same transcription. The first is tense and front while the latter is lax and central. English messy is stressed on the first syllable, whereas messie, if it is a French word, is stressed on the last. --G.I.Q.
dude, you're right.that peppy and messie thing was wrong, lookin back.So I decide that there are, in fact, no words are the same--Wonderfool 12:58, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Equality of the genders
In just about every society I have heard of where there is a big fuss about the equality of the genders, this assertion of equality seems to be specifically a denial that women are inferior to men. What, if any, major cases exist of assertion of the equality of the genders being specifically a denial that men are inferior to women? --User:Juuitchan
In the US and other western cultures, women tend to be seen as better caregivers and nurturers than men. Some men contend that because of this bias they are at an unfair disadvantage during custodial battles. The group Fathers 4 Justice comes to mind in this respect. --Cvaneg 20:03, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The Two Ronnies had a long-running segment in their televison comedy show called The Worm That Turned which depicted a matriachal society that oppressed men. Dunno about any real life examples of such a thing. --62.255.64.4 00:52, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Well, the Amazons, although I don't know if you want to consider that a real world example. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 18:50, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
This is fairly common in science fiction and fantasy writing. Almost every travel-to-other-worlds television show has at least one episode in which traditional Western gender roles are reversed, and/or men are considered inferior to women. -Aranel ("Sarah") 21:33, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Trying to locate a soldier!!!!
Hello,
I am trying to find out which troops were stationed in my hometown in 1945/46.
My grandmother got pregnant by a soldier - and it's been hard on our family - since my grandfather does not want to even discuss the subject and my grandmother passed away taking the secret with her.
The name of my hometown is: Schwabhausen - the next bigger town is Boxberg - the next bigger town is Tauberbischofsheim - they are all located in Baden Wuertemberg.
We only have the first name of the soldier - Oscar - and since there couldn't have been that many stationed in or around our hometown and I am assuming there can't be that many soldiers with that first name.
Where would I be able to find a listing of troops???
Any information is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Heike Puhr
Fort Lauderdale, FL
You're not going to be able to find a listing of names, not easily; what might be plausible starting point is finding a broad date when you reckon the chap in question will have been in the area (birthdate of child less nine months plus or minus a month should do it), and trying to work from there. If you have dates and a named location, you might be able to get the names of a set of units from the Centre for Military History [4], but I wouldn't bet on this being exhaustive or accurate (there'll have been a lot of individuals passing through, or non-combat units which often aren't recorded as exhaustively). The problem is... now you have a list of units, and you need to make the jump to the list of names and try to select one from there... I'd suggest your best bet would be to figure out all the information you have, get it down on paper, and then contact the CMH (above) and NARA's Military Personnel Records department [5] - I don't think either will be able to help you on just that information, but it's quite possible they've dealt with similar queries before and may be able to put you in touch with organisations that help with this sort of thing. (Even if you did get a 1945 personnel list, it wouldn't help much; you'd still have to get hold of the records of the individuals)
Note also that CMH has disclaimers like The U.S. Army Center of Military History does not maintain [information on locating veterans], and the release of personnel information is strictly governed by the Privacy Act.. This is likely to be the case with most government bodies; they won't be allowed to release information regarding individuals to you on privacy grounds. If you can identify individual units, however, then you can try getting in touch with (eg) veterans' regimental associations, and asking if they can assist you. Best of luck. Shimgray 20:24, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I've looked at a lot of genealogy sites since there are so many requests at the Wikipedia Reference Desk for information. This one in particular is a good starting point because it does have an exhaustive listing of European links - including ones in Germany! Cyndi also provides useful FAQs for difficult traces, like yours...happy hunting and good luck:
Allie -- would you consider writing a short page with some links at Wikipedia:Genealogy? Something that says "We don't have genealogy experts here to help you, but here are some other useful resources...?" I know people will help out here when they can, but as you say we get many of these requests and it might be nice to have a standard page to refer them to, or a place for willing RefDesk helpers to begin looking for answers. — Catherine\talk 06:39, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Why are roadways at night time always wet in the movies?
This has intrigued me for years and years. I have noticed that in any scene in a movie that shows a sealed road or street in a town or city, the asphalt surface of the road is always wet. It is rarely raining at the time, and rarely has there been any previous scene where it had been raining, or where the roads were cleaned with water. IN fact, the absence or presence of water on the road is virtually always completely irrelevant to the story, yet the roads at night-time are virtually always wet, whereas in day time they are virtually always dry. This happens in American movies, Australian moves, European movies, and others as well. WHY IS THIS SO?? One theory I have dreamed up is that a wet bitumen surface at night-time provides greater reflection and looks "better" on the screen than a duller, darker, dry roadway. Is this something like the truth, or is there another explanation?? Cheers JackofOz 23:32, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The reason you see this in the movies is that cinematographers put it there, and cinematographers love wet streets. They are more visually interesting; they reflect images, light, etc. It's a not-uncommon source of continuity errors, where within a scene you will see the street switch from wet to dry to wet. - Nunh-huh 23:36, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
So I WAS on the right track. Thanks for confirming my hunch. JackofOz 23:48, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
When you think about it, you'll also notice that fog is quite often used for visual rather than narrative reasons. "Cinematographers Love Wet Streets" would be a fun title for an essay<g> - Nunh-huh 23:55, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
And there I was thinking it was just a particularly obscure country music song... ;-) Shimgray 03:03, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I don't think nighttime streets are anywhere near "always" wet in movies. They're wet more often than it rains, yes, but most of the time they're dry. You're just noticing it when they're wet. -Branddobbe 07:50, Jan 13, 2005 (UTC)
Well, you may be right, and maybe I am biasing my observations. And yes, it is probably true that "always" is not correct. But why not take a tally of the next 10 movies you see that contain night-time streetscapes, and tell me how many of the roads are wet. I'll bet you that at least 90% of them are wet. I'll stand corrected if you can disprove me. JackofOz 01:46, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
TB PPD Test
The TB PPD test (or simply the TB skin test) is given to determine if a person has tuberculosis. Now, can having a cold affect the accuracy of the test? I mean, can my having a cold cause the test to be positive for TB?
The PPD test can't determine if someone has tuberculosis. It is used to determine whether they've had tuberculosis exposure in the past and (based on what their chest X-ray looks like) would benefit from antitubercular prophylaxis or needs treatment for tuberculosis. Many things can cause a false positive result (BCG vaccination, infection with mycobacteria other than M. tuberculosis) and other things can cause false negative results (immunosuppression, AIDS). But having a cold should not cause a false positive result. - Nunh-huh 08:00, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Whats the name of this illustration style?
Ive wondered for a while what the formal name for this particular illustration style is, assuming there is a term for it, so maybe somebody can finally cue me in and let me sleep at night. It's basically that old, inky, highly detailed, medieval-ish style. Ive noticed a lot of variations in the style, so its hard for me to be more very specific, but I see it a lot inside of old books, logos and the like. Im refering specifically to the type that has very densely packed lines as shading, not just outlines and figures. This image is really interesting to me and Id also be very curious to know the name of this exact style (really detailed, busy, and whimsical ) if at all possible
this is another really good example of what I'm talking about:[7]
I've heard the term "woodcuts" before, but I think thats just the medium and not really the style. --Clngre 04:06, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Ahem—"...very densely packed lines as shading..." is a characteristic of a copperplate engraving. Wood generally doesn't support this style: if the fine grooves are very close together, the burrs can easily break off. With copperplates, that problem doesn't exist. But that still doesn't give a name to this style. I don't know of one, I've always known this type of illustration as "engraving". On a related note, cf. etching. Lupo 08:13, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
are we just talking about the shading/lines, or also about the style of drawing the figures, or even about the content? I don't know the correct term either, but content-wise I would say it is a typical 18th century allegorical vignette, the kind they typically put on books' title pages dab(ᛏ) 09:50, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
ok, so says 17th century on the parchment thing. sorry. dab(ᛏ) 10:03, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
And there I was thinking it was just a particularly obscure prog rock song... ;-)--Wonderfool 12:50, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think searching on the word Intaglio will give you all you want. Steverapaport 14:41, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Thanks a lot, I have enough keywords to branch out from for a while. At first I was wondering about the style of illustration, as if it were done with a quill pen or soemthing. Assuming that all of its look -- the basic aesthetic look of it -- was done intentionally, but I now realize that some of it is probably just a product of the medium. Just as a sidenote, how would you define that first image I posted; in any sense. So it's probably some form of engraving, it was an image associated with some secret society, its very lavish and busy, and what else? My goal is to narrow down my search for engravings more of the style seen in the first and second images. Kind of absurd, weird, mystical, symbolic, etc. Maybe its even naive to think that there are subgenres or specific movements or eras with it, I dont really know. --Clngre 16:31, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
This is rather a side note, but I recall that shading drafted by using densely placed diagonal lines in two directions is referred to as cross hatching. And my Google search for the term gave this which might give you some related words. This gives you more on cross hatching.
If you're looking for more images such as those you gave, the ones with textual content that act as labels for some of the figures etc are, I believe, usually political in nature. So, I would suggest trying to search for something like the history of political cartoons or history of satirical illustration, things like that. Here's a site called Political and Editorial Cartoons In U.S. History which may have some of interest, though a brief look makes me wonder if your style may be older and more European.
Once you've got an idea what sort of period your style hails from try searching on X illustrations where X is a European ruler of that period, a King, Queen or Prime Minister.
Or maybe this one for century+woodcuts (dunno why) is of interest.
I don't think any of them quite hit the nail on the head, but you should have lots of roads to follow, one of which should get you there. If you do find a good site, please report back as I quite like that style of stuff too. --62.255.64.5 01:16, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)...
...found some more. A search on political etchings seems pretty fertile. Led me to [9]which stemmed from this index. You may also find some stuff at Graphic Witness of interest. Political lithography might give you some interesting results too. --62.255.64.5 01:52, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Wow, thanks a lot. Some of the images on those pages you posted were fantastic as it is. I really appreciate it, I'll defintately post some good links if I upon any. --Clngre 06:24, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
A couple of follows up. Although you can usually get finer lines with copper plate engraving, it is certainly possible to get fine detail with woodcuts - it depends on the preparation of the wood, density of the grain and the skill of the artist - see for example much of the work of M. C. Escher (more illustrations in the Gallery section of http://www.mcescher.com/). Also note that woodcuts are in a way the opposite of intaglio printing in that the ink remains on the raised surface, rather than the hollows. With copper engraving, the artist draws in positive cutting through the mask, whilst with woodcuts (and linocuts), the artist draws in negative - effectively drawing the white lines.
The second image shown, is apparently neither woodcut nor engraving, but a pen and ink drawing by the the Jazz musician Lhasa herself [10]. Pen and ink drawing is quite a common technique used in cartoon illustrations. The style does remind me of someone, but I can't quite place it. I thought it might be Sir John Tenniel's illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, but its not.
In terms of the 'busy' style of the first image, as much as anything it is about finding space for each of the symbols that needs to be included. The style is somewhat baroque, but also owes something to the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and peasant scenes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and family (particularly his Netherlandish Proverbs). Of course many similar engravings can be found in relating to freemasonry.
A wonderful book on the history and styles of printmaking is William M. Ivins, Jr., Prints and Visual Communications (Harvard University Press, 1951). It is a joy to read (it is very well written), puts forth a few provocative theses (without printmaking, we'd still be in the Dark Ages; and, the Greeks weren't actually that bright), and will also acquaint you with the different styles of printmaking and how they evolved from the 15th through the 19th centuries. Highly recommended. --Fastfission 18:30, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Menstrual Cycle
I have heard differing opinions about how many eggs are expelled when a woman has her period. One friend stated that it was only one, as this was the one egg that wasn't fertilized (i.e. the woman is not pregnant, so she has her period) but then we later read in a magazine that it was somethign like 1,000 eggs that are expelled each time. Which ever number is right, is that for the 7 days or so that it lasts, or what? Thanks! --anon
1000 is definitely wrong. Maybe the article was discussing fish spawning: but human women produce one or two mature eggs per menstrual cycle, not thousands. That's per month. - Nunh-huh 20:38, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
As it has been explained to me, each cycle sees the "ripening" of many eggs (I believe on the order of a dozen), but usually only one is released (that term being more common than "expelled" in the books). Upon the release of the first one (which can be from either ovary), hormones are released which suppress the release of all others, in both ovaries. Sometimes, of course, two or more are released, which leads to the possibility of fraternal multiple births. Fertilization, if it occurs, is most commonly by sperm which is already present in the fallopian tubes, having found its way there up to a small number of days prior. (After a few days it degrades in motility and becomes unable to fertilize). If fertilization does not occur, the one (or sometimes, two or more) released eggs are lost in the next menstrual flow. In any event the eggs that were not released from the ovaries are "reabsorbed", whatever that means. They don't get re-used; each cycle a never-previously-used group of eggs are ripened. --Sharkford 15:13, 2005 Jan 17 (UTC)
This is partly an article request, but it's also a more specific question. I have a (vague) memory from childhood of two animated cartoon birds, possible crows, named Heckel and Jeckel. In particular, I was wondering if anyone knows if these names may have a history predating those cartoon birds, and in particular if they may have roots in Yiddish theater, which I have been researching. The names look like Anglicized spellings of Yiddish diminutives, and an early play by Abraham Goldfaden was apparently named Yukel un Yekel. (As with all things Yiddish, that transliteration is rather arbitrary, it could as easily be Iukl un Iekl). -- Jmabel | Talk 01:36, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)
I remember them well. They were Anglicized further than you think, to Heckle and Jeckle. They were talking magpies, debuted in 1946, and were "TerryToons" cartoon characters. I found a bit of info about them at IMDB, and a bit about their producer, Paul Terry. Nothing too much there that relates to their history or any antecedent characters, though.A page on the 1955 show is [http://www.toonopedia.com/hekljekl.htm here. - Nunh-huh 02:07, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Math question--Heyting algebra and intuitionistic logic.
I posted this on the talk page, but thought I might get a better response here.
In the "law of the excluded middle" example under "Heyting algebra", is divvied up into a set A and its complement, the first comprising . Now, it would seem to me that the complement of A would be . However, it's given as , which is then used to show that the plane isn't included in the union of A and not-A. How can this be? grendel|khan 03:45, 2005 Jan 14 (UTC)
That's just weird. Doesn't look right to me. -- Phyzome is Tim McCormack 00:44, 2005 Jan 15 (UTC)
Bloomstorm and Synnegi
Would you mind headlining or documenting these terms?
These look to be the personal creations of one person, and seem to have little to no currency. Wikipedia is not (supposed to be) a tool for promoting one's ideas and theories. Specifically, Wikipedia is not a soapbox, nor is original research allowed. -- Cyrius|✎ 07:02, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
installation
please tell me how to install swarm-2.2 in windows 2000 ,thanks!--hywwlh
You're going to have to be more specific. I see at least two pieces of software named Swarm that have reached version 2.2. Since I wouldn't be able to offer specific instructions for either, I'm going to have to go with generalities. Read the documentation, and use the mailing lists/forums. You're going to get better results asking the people that are interested in the software than from the random collection of people on Wikipedia. -- Cyrius|✎ 15:13, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Was there a crisis which called for action?
Abuse of technology in American schools is an excellent example of a crisis which called for action. Here we have an example where computers are available to students to further not only their education and schoolwork, but to provide them with the skills necessary to enter the workforce in society in a more competitive and productive position. In order to do so, however, these students must learn to harness the power of computer technology in a reasonable and responsible fashion. By not harnessing the full creativity and by the abuse of this powerful learning experience, this did indeed create a crisis which called for action. allie 01:17, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC).
Evolution
How and why did some animals becomer amblers others not?
Erik Borries, Denmark.
I think you may get more specific information from editors at the Evolution and Horse gait articles. Personally, I think it's just something they tried early on in evolution. It worked for them, so they survived due to natural selection. That's my opinion, but unfortunately, I've got nothing to back it up. Also, you may want to be careful in giving out personal information like you did. Mgm|(talk) 22:25, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)
Huygens probe
Is this the first probe to land on a moon other than Earth's? I can't find any mention of this fact or any earlier lander. Rmhermen 18:16, Jan 14, 2005 (UTC)
I'm fairly sure that it is. Nothing has ever landed on the Martian moons, although I think there have been some moderately closeup photos from Mars orbiters. Nothing has landed or impacted on Jovian moons either - the Galileo spacecraft made several closeup flybys, and launched a probe into Jupiter itself, but was deliberately sent into Jupiter at the end of its life so it wouldn't ever crash on a moon with possible contamination of any life there. NEAR Shoemaker landed on a asteroid in 2001, and the Rosetta space probe is intended to set a lander on a comet in 2014.-gadfium 19:10, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Well, at least the first probe FROM Earth to land on on another moon;) ike9898 04:06, Jan 15, 2005 (UTC)
Superpower competition?
The CIA relased a report that said by 2020 China might be a global superpower and the United States might loose its unique position of global dominance and instead share the global stage with China. But given the huge gap in military and economic power between the US and the rest of the world, is it realistic to be concerened that China might catch up to the US and restart a superpower competition?
I just have trouble imagining China or any other country for that matter becoming a superpower anytime soon. Since the end of the cold war the United States has leaped light years ahead of all nations in economic, military, and technological capabilities. The United States is a megapower and no one comes even close to matching them. The only way China would catch up is if the US government allows it to happen but as long as the US economy remains strong and the government keeps spending 400 billion a year on defense there is nothing to worry about as China and the rest of the world would be left far behind
Military power relies on having the ability to spend money. The economy of China is expanding at a huge rate whereas that of the US is by comparison static. The Europeans are too good at arguing amongst themselves to present anything militarily. In twenty years the economy of China will be bigger than that of the US and hence they will have more power.
Is this cause for concern? Yes. The Chinese have a very autocratic system of government, though I suspect democratic reforms will have to come at some point. It is very bad if you're Taiwanese. As for competition, this is different from the Cold War competition where the ideology of the two sides was different and at loggerheads, the Chinese don't now want to force Maoism on anyone else, they seem to be happy making money, and if they open their markets to global companies, those companies who weald power in the US and elsewhere won't kick up a stink.
I am very concerned at the behaviour of the US government, and perhaps another large power block could help balance power so as not to leave it unchecked. Dunc|☺ 21:06, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm out of my depth here. But I would imagine any theory that China will match US power would make reference to the vast size of its population and lower labour costs. If the CIA have reported it I imagine you could also discover the CIA's rationale for drawing such a conclusion. In fact here's a BBC thread about it with streaming video of a programme on the topic. --62.255.64.5 01:34, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The parliamentary verb "table"
In the United States to "table" a motion means that the motion is disposed of, exactly the opposite of its sense in Britain where it means to put an issue on the agenda. I heard it used in connection with the Canadian parliament and wonder if Canadians use it in the American or the British sense. PedanticallySpeaking 19:13, Jan 15, 2005 (UTC)
You can google search for occurrences of "tabled" within [canada.com, which is a news portal to major newspaper stories. See [12]
The answer seems to be, the word is almost exclusively used in the context of Parliament and the House of Commons, and there it's always used in the British sense, ie to bring legislation up for consideration. It would not be used in the broader sense of putting an issue on the agenda (of a business meeting or whatever) or the American sense of putting an issue "on ice". However Canadians have a great deal of exposure to American media, both print and television, and are probably familiar with the American usage as well. -- Curps 21:29, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The British sense, I think...that is what immediately comes to my mind, at least. Adam Bishop 00:39, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm looking for a particular phrase-please help
I'm stumped, the phrase keeps coming to the back of my head and disappearing.
The phrase, like an "occam's razor" phrase, is for the ultimate conundrum. A mother is holding two children in the tsunami, she has to let one go or all die. It's the ultimate conundrum that has no answer.
Praises from San Francisco for anyone who can name that obscure phrase.
Isn't the whole point of the Gordian Knot that it can be solved, but in a direct and bold way? ("Cutting the Gordian Knot") --80.3.32.7 21:00, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Occam's razor is correct. Without going through the Latin phrase, his theological rational, and etcetera, it means that the simplest theory is the best theory. Intellectual abstractions are not valid explanations; all reasoning must be based on experimental proof. In other words, there may be several hypothetical explanations for a situation, but the simplest one usually prevails. Yes: Occam's razor is correct. It's a Google hit, just took a really long time to get the search terms down. Best Regards, allie 21:44, 15 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Wow, that Morton's Fork is an incredible article. If the quote that San Francisco is looking for isn't linked somewhere on that page. Thanks! I definitely learned something new! Best Regards, --allie 21:31, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
How about Sophie's Choice? Much closer, both logically and literally. Occam's razor is a guide to choosing the most likely causal connection when one can imagine more than one possible cause. What does it have to do with this situation?alteripse 01:02, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
True: I should have been more careful. He was a fourtheenth century theologian, and I merely followed up on the translation and its contemporary concept, without considering the proper usage for the phrase. That it is also referred to as the "law of parsinomy" should have been a good clue. I ignored it. Criticism well meant, and well taken. --allie 21:31, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The closest single word to fit what you're after would be "dilemma" Noodhoog 18:36, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Dates of events on other worlds
Yesterday's landing on Titan has made me wonder anew about whether there is any agreed convention as to the basis on which events on extraterrestrial worlds are dated. For example, the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon in 1969 happened on 17th or 18th July, depending on where on the Earth you were at the time. So what date do we use to record the event in history books on Earth?
Events on Earth are dated according to the time zone applying in the place where the event happened, at the time that it happened (so, for example, if Daylight Saving started or ended at around the time of the event, this could well influence the date of the event). The problem with events outside the Earth is, there is no such thing as a Greenwich meridian or an in International Date Line or any other type of time-keeping convention (or none that I'm aware of).
It would make sense to me if extraterrestrial "events" were dated either (a) always using Universal Standard Time on Earth, or (b) using the time zone in the place from where the spacecraft blasted off (eg. Cape Canaveral; Baikonur; China or wherever). Of course, the latter option would be of no use for events such as Shoemaker-Levy comet blasting into Jupiter in 1994. But I don't know if either of these conventions actually applies (and if so, when and how were they adopted), or if there is an alternative solution.
Also, when scientists are computing the date of an extra-terrestrial event, do they work out when it actually occurred in real time by taking into account the time it took for whatever electronic signal to reach the Earth to let us know about it, or do they base it on the time that Earth first got to know about it? Does anybody know? Cheers JackofOz 01:30, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I can't tell you about other agencies, but I've got some ideas about NASA.
For most missions, NASA uses what is called "Mission Elapsed Time (MET). This clock hits zero at launch, which is why if you're watching a countdown, you'll hear a guy saying "T-minus #". The clock is negative at that point. This is all well and good for space shuttles and Voyagers and such, because days don't have too much meaning for them. They claim that they convert to UTC for use by others, but I've seen US Eastern (KSC), Central (JSC), and perhaps Pacific (JPL) used.
However, you want to know about things that land on other things. As of right now, we've put landers on four planet-like objects: Venus, the Moon, Mars, and Titan. The landers on Venus and Titan didn't last long enough for any local measurement of time to have any meaning. Lunar landers did last long enough, but days on the Moon are a month long, so trying to operate off a lunar clock isn't really practical. While this is speculation, I'd guess they ran off MET.
However, Mars is a special case. Because the Martian day is roughly the same as Earth's, and because landers have been solar powered, and probably because of some other things too, Mars missions have run off "Local Mean Solar Time" (see Time and date and astronomy on Mars). As I recall, the Mars Exploration Rover teams had watches custom-made to run off the slighly longer days.
According to the Huygens descent timeline, ESA is reporting things to the public in CET "Earth Received" time, which doesn't necessarily mean that's what they're operating on internally. I have absolutely no idea what the Russians were using on their Venera missions. -- Cyrius|✎ 07:44, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The articles on Ethel and Julius Rosenberg and the VENONA project contradict each other, the first stating that the venona evidence proved that Ethel Rosenberg was innocent, the second, that she was an accomplice. Since I know next to nothing about the trial and encountered "VENONA" for the first time when reading the article on the trial (and I doubt any library within reach will have up-to-date info on this), could somebody else find out which version is correct? -- AlexR 02:54, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Google venona rosenberg and you get all the details you want. E.g., [13]. Venona proved the Rosenbergs were Soviet agents; a significant embarrassment to American liberals who long disputed the claim. alteripse 03:01, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Ethel's participation as reflected by VENONA is largely a matter of interpretation. She was not given a code name which seems to indicate that she was not a major player. But again, it's hard to know, and whether she was guilty of what they were accused of, were given a fair trial, or were punished appropriately are all somewhat separate from some of these facts, which is half of the disparity... If you'd read the very link you posted, alteripse, you'd see it says: Associated Press story, David admitted he lied under oath about his sister Ethel's involvement to reduce his own sentence and keep his wife Ruth out of prison. In an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes II," David said simply, "As a spy who turned his family in ... I don't care." David and Ruth Greenglass continue to live in the New York area under assumed names. The problem with the Rosenbergs in general is you are quick to get people on one side who say "VENONA is unreliable, throw it all out" and you are quick to get people on the other side who say, "VENONA proves everything." Neither show a very good knowledge of VENONA or the history of the case, in my opinion. --Fastfission 10:01, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
You are right, I failed to recognize that the question was specifically about Ethel: the VENONA evidence indicated that Julius, Ruth, and David were agents. Whether you consider Ethel an accomplice depends on whether you think it likely (1) she didn't know what her brother and husband were doing, (2) that Julius wouldn't have confessed to exculpate her, and (3) that David and Ruth were evil enough to implicate her if she had been truly ignorant. It doesn't take much more than knowledge to meet the definition of accomplice. This and the other issues people will have differing opinions about. I will agree with you that the more you learn about a case like this, the less likely you are to think that either "side" is entirely right. alteripse 15:41, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Well, in that case both articles should say that it is not so easy to interpret the evidence, instead of interpreting it differently and therefore contradict each other. -- AlexR 13:59, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I agree completely. I think the Rosenberg article in general should go into more detail about where the points of differentiation lie. As I know them, they are: 1. they were innocent, 2. they were guilty, 3. Ethel might have been innocent or at least not guilty of what she was accused of, 4. the evidence is too weak/problematic to decide, 5. whether or not they were guilty, they were punished too harshly, 6. their trial was botched in any event. Or something like that. I'm sort of a #5 and #6 man myself, and though I don't take VENONA at face value I find it likely that Julius at least was guilty (what really bothers me the most about their trial, I have to admit, is that Julius wouldn't just say he was guilty, whether he was or not, to save Ethel. Instead, they both died, and left two kids behind. I find that extremely irresponsible, I have to admit. As despicable as Greenglass generally seems to be, if he did lie in order to save his wife, I would at least sympathize with his motivations, which I don't for Julius and Ethel. But I'm digressing). --Fastfission 18:21, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
BTW, the picture gets even more complicated because while VENONA show pretty definitely that Julius was an agent, it doesn't provide evidence for any of the specific espionage for which he was convicted; also, there is, of course, the question of whether there was any "H-Bomb secret" to steal. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:42, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC)
I think you mean A-bomb secret ("H-bomb secret" wasn't even available until 1951).. the things that Greenglass testified that Rosenberg helped steal (which is now on the new page, David Greenglass) were on the construction of the lens molds and the implosion concept more generally. How valuable were they? Probably not very -- Greenglass's knowledge was fairly general, he often didn't know what he was looking at, and he didn't give them anywhere as complete or accurate information as Fuchs did (though he didn't know Fuchs existed at the time, of course). Did it actually help the Soviets "get the bomb" any quicker? New historiorgraphy based on Russian sources suggests not. But anyway, that's only one aspect of things, relating more to the severity of the sentencing than anything else... --Fastfission 07:06, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I reverted what I thought was vandalism to that article, but Google reveals widespread disagreement about Ash's birthdate. 1915? 1918? Probably May 12 in Hot Wells, Texas, but I'm not confident about the year. -leigh (φθόγγος) 05:28, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC)
I realized just today that Excel won't let me make the graph I want to make. Basically, I have a list of labels and for each label I have 3 different variables (X, Y, Z), which range from -4 to 4. I want to be able to graph them in space as points (not connected), with the label next to each point. What software will do this? (I have easy access to Excel, Freehand, Igor Pro, MATLAB, and Stata, though I have never used the latter three before nor do I know if they are even appropriate) Help! --Fastfission 09:55, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
MATLAB would probably be your best shot, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 06:24, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)
MATLAB will definitely plot points in 3space for you, but I'm not sure how the labeling would look. It might depend on how many points you have. Here's a little MATLAB program for you:
x=[-4 -3 2 2 1 0 1];
y=[3 1 1 -1 -3 0 2];
z=x.^2-y;
plot3(x,y,z,'x')
for i=1:length(x)
text(x(i),y(i),z(i)+0.2,sprintf('x=%d y=%d z=%d',x(i),y(i),z(i)))
end
title('My pretty plot');
xlabel('The x axis');
ylabel('The y axis');
zlabel('z=x^2-y');
grid on
Type "help plot" if you want to see what options there are for symbols. moink
scope and utility of sociolinguistics
can anyone give me in detail the answer of "what is the scope and utility of sociolinguistics now-a-days?"
Well we wont' answer your teacher's question for you, but reading the article on sociolinguistics will give you a few examples and a reference and read pages linked from that page and pages that link there. Remember however, to cite Wikipedia as your source. Dunc|☺ 14:18, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Burning MPEGS to a CD
I want to burn some MPEG files to a CD so I can watch them on a VCD/DVD player. Do I need to burn anything else (i.e. codecs) or do I just have to burn the MPEG files alone and that will be enough? Johnleemk | Talk 11:23, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
No, that won't work - you don't need codecs or the like, but VCDs have a particular format. Most buring programs have an option for burning VCDs, or check http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ for more information. -- AlexR 14:09, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Short answer - no you don't need to put the codec on the disc. Long answer - you can't just burn any old file onto a CD and expect it to work. The content requirements for VCDs and SVCDs are very specific. VCDs hold MPEG-1 format video at 352x240 pixels (NTSC) or 352x288 pixels (PAL); while SVCDs hold MPEG-2 format video at 480x480 pixels (for NTSC) or 480x576 pixels (for PAL) (there are some slight variations that you can make on thse resolutions by changign the frames/sec rate). If your file is in any other format it needs to be converted. Very specifically if your file is in any form of MPEG-4 based format (i.e. DivX, XVid, 3ivx etc..) it must be converted with a high probability of loss of quality. If you use Nero Burning ROM (and if you're not using it you should probably switch to using it) then Nero will attempt to convert any file you try to burn to the correct format, but in all probability it won't do this in quite the way you would want, so I recommend you use TMPGEnc to convert the file if you need to. Jooler 14:15, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Addendum - as AlexR points out - normally you can't just burn a raw mpg file as a data file and expect it to play. You have to use your software to burn it as a VCD/SVCD. This will put various helper files on the disk as well (see http://www.videohelp.com/vcd). However, I am told that some DVD players will bring up a menu if you are trying to play a DVD- on which you have burnt several raw mpg1/2 format files. Maybe this works on some machines with a CD-R too I don't know. There are a few players that are capable of playing DivX format files burnt onto CD, itmight be the case that only DivX capable players treat raw mpgs in this fashion. Jooler 14:35, 16 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm trying to write a program to produce various types of siren sounds, so as to immitate police sirens, abulance sirens, air-raid sirens, etc.. I already have a program that can take a sine wave and modulate the pitch up and down to create a bad impression of a siren. Unfortunately, the result sounds more like someone playing with the pitch-bend wheel on an analog synth than any siren one might actually hear in the real world. I suspect I'd get pretty similar results if I substituted, say, a square wave or a triangle wave for the sine wave in my program.
Does anyone know if there are any easy-to-synthesize waveforms that might sound more like a siren? Or am I going to need to actually go out and digitize sounds from a real-life siren (a la Sampler (musical instrument))? --Ryguasu 04:58, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
A simple sine wave might be a good starting point for a siren sound, but sounds in the real world are generally made up of a number of different waveforms at different frequencies - for a halfway believable siren, you might try adding some harmonic overtones and maybe a tiny bit of phase distortion (more of both for a classic air raid siren than for a modern police siren). It also seems that with most sirens, different frequencies aren't shifted up and down by the same pitch which leads to a slightly more distorted sound as the siren's wail reaches its highest pitch - I guess it would be pretty tricky to sysntheize a naturally-sounding siren unless you either have a pretty detailed idea what you are doing or you are willing to experiment for a couple of hours with some wave-shaping software (which is generally great fun but rarely leads to the results you were trying to achieve - at least, that's the case with most of my synth experiments :P ) -- Ferkelparadeπ 22:14, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Here's a spectrogram of a london-style police siren. As Ferkelparade said, you'd need multiple frequency sources to get the overtones. Notice that the highest frequencies bend up over a longer time period than the root frequency. Also note that this siren has 2 separate whistles, overlapping in time. An alternative to multiple sines or sampling the whole siren would be to record a siren, then take a small looped sample while it is steady at its highest frequency. Then you could pitch bend one or more copies of that waveform to get different siren patterns. -Key45 22:57, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Speaking of synthesizing instrument sounds, I've been trying to make them using overlapped sine waves at different frequencies and amplitudes, but it doesn't seem to work. What am I doing wrong, and where can I find analyses of real instruments to work from? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 16:27, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
Ok, this could be a bit tricky. We all know that the TOCs on Wikipedia have show/hide links, which show or hide the TOC when you click them. How would I go about a similar function on a webpage I'm building, so that when I click a link it expands a table? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 06:26, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)
The simplest solution would be to have two versions of the page, one with the table expanded and one with the table shrunk. You should also be able to use inline frames. --Smack (talk) 07:20, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
is there a reason why you can't do it the way Wikipedia does, using javascript to set the "display" CSS property? Frencheigh 10:05, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Yes - I don't know how to. I'm quite opposed to using multiple versions of the same page, because I want a side navigation bar with "expanding" links. For example:
Link1
This will become visible on clicking link1
This will become visible on clicking link1
Link2
This will become visible on clicking link2
This will become visible on clicking link2
...
So how would I go about this using Javascript and CSS? Have a class element for each table row, and then have a JS function that takes variables to set the display CSS element? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 06:25, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
[14] <- there's a simple example i've uploaded, the important part of which is the function
function toggledisp(x){
}
which (when say called from the onclick of a button) toggles the 'display' (of say a div, with an id). but did you need it to expand a particular row of a table? because out of the browsers ive tested only IE seems to do that correctly. Frencheigh 09:43, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
:Well, I guess I can do it with a div, but my main problem now is how to get it to work when I use frames - I discovered the relevant bit of code sitting around from a downloaded WP page. I'm guessing that it's something along the lines of document.frame.parent.getElementById, but I have very litte experience with JS. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 12:30, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
Ok, I got it to work. Can I get it to work for all elements of a particular class? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 13:46, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
No, if I have interpreted the JS and CSS right. If you look, you will see that the element is identified by an id. You can, by definition, only have one id of each type on a page. There might be a way to reference several ids from one link/button, but you can't do anything with classes with DHTML, which is what this is. Smoddy | ειπετε 18:12, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Boil Advisories
Sorry about there being no question here. I started typing and must have hit return and all that was posted was the header. Then when I went back my request to save text kept getting timed out. Anyhow, thank you, Sharkford, for attempting to answer the question based on only two words. The question I had was that boil advisories are posted by water departments here citing low pressure in the mains. What about low water pressure necessitates boiling water? Where I live most of the water comes from wells rather than surface bodies of water, so runoff shouldn't be the problem.
Sharkford's reply was based on just the header--no question.
If you mean the boil-water advisories that towns occasionally announce, it means that the town water supply is known to have an unsafe high level of pathogens. Bringing water to a boil is presumed to make it safe for human consumption, so you are advised to do this for any water which you will be drinking or cooking with. It seems to be assumed, true or not, that you do not ingest water during washing or bathing. Often such advisories follow heavy rains which introduce lots of surface runoff into the reservoirs or lakes from which the town water supply is drawn, bringing more decomposing organic matter than the utility's chlorination process can accommodate. Less commonly it's associated with a breakdown of the water-purification system. --Sharkford 15:13, 2005 Jan 18 (UTC)
At a guess, wouldn't one of the likely causes of low pressure be a significant leak (or leaks)? If enough water to seriously affect pressure in the whole system can get out, contamination may well be able to get in... Shimgray 00:02, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Could it also work the other way around? If the pressure is high, then any small leaks will be leaks out. If the pressure grows too low, such leaks could leak in, resulting in contamination. -Rholton 05:22, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
That certainly makes sense - it's the logic behind overpressure systems, which we don't seem to have a page on. Military vehicles intended to operate "sealed" in NBC environments are often built in such a way that they're kept at a slightly higher pressure than the outside world, in order that if there is a breach in the protection, air will flow out of the vehicle and not in. When the air outside may be full of nerve agents, this becomes really quite a nice detail... ;-)
Similarly, some medical facilities are built like this; it's not uncommon for research labs to be kept at below the ambient pressure, so that if there's a leak nothing nasty can escape. Shimgray 16:30, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
In fact, when I saw the lone header "Boil advisories" my first thought was "don't break it, it will get infected". So relative to that I guessed prety close! Given the actual question, I think Rholton's got it; low pressure in the mains allows unchlorinated ground water to seep in. --Sharkford 21:29, 2005 Jan 20 (UTC)
Is the Gang of Four's "Design Patterns" of More Than Historical Interest?
I'm hoping to read up on Design pattern (computer science). It seems like the logical place to start might be where the description of design patterns began, i.e., with the Gang of Four's "Design Patterns". That book is almost ten years old now, though, so before I run out and buy it, I'm wondering if it has in any sense become "outdated". Is this book now better suited for those studying the history of programming than for those studying programming itself? Or does it still make sense as a good place to start learning about design patterns? --Ryguasu 19:45, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm sure it remains a perfectly good place to start, this is pretty timeless stuff, but if you don't mind reading on line, you probably won't find much in the book that is not also by now on line. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:22, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)
It's still a good, worthwhile read. It's well written and thoughtfully structured, and the patterns it decribes abound in current OO systems like the class libraries for java and c#. I guess it's no longer (if it ever was) a definative library of the patterns themselves, with numerous new ones being created and some of the existing falling from favour. But what's important isn't the list of patterns per-se, but the principle (you can find endless list of patterns and discussions on their pros and cons for free on the internet). But if you read that, beg borrow steal or save up for The Timeless Way of Building, the original pattern language book (and pleasantly one without all that dull comp-sci stuff to get between your brain and the idea) - it's simply brilliant. -- John Fader 22:47, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Reading some recent coverage about tsunami aftermath in the Nicobar Islands, I was puzzled about why the local government might be prohibiting foreigners from traveling to the island. Union territory says that the islands are ruled directly by the federal government, which seems to contradict the CNN article. [15] says, "Travel to the Nicobar Islands is restricted, and only Indian nationals engaged in research may visit. Some exceptions are made for tourists with special permits." [16] says: "The Nicobar Islands are not open to visiting foreigners, whether scholars or tourists. Indian citizens need a special permit - which is hardly ever granted." [17] mentions the island's lieutenant governor.
So I'm wondering why the Indian government restricts travel to the islands. Is it for ecological reasons, to maintain tribal culture, something to do with the island's past as a prison, or some other historical or political context we're missing?
What is the actual structure of the island's non-tribal government?
The tribal/non-tribal population and protected land area figures also seem to vary a lot from source to source.
The situtation on the islands seems to be in a little bit of flux because of the tsunami, but it would be nice to get a handle on how things were right beforehand. Thanks for any insight you can lend. -- Beland 21:36, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Hmm, there was a segment on Channel 4 News a few days ago, I think about the Nicobar Islands. In this case the government was trying to keep modernity away from the few remaining aboriginal islanders, whose culture was clearly teetering on a precipice. I think the relief consisted of chucking coconuts at the islanders from a fleeting boat, while they chucked pointy sticks back at the boat. So your cultural contamination theory seemed to be supported by that. -- John Fader 23:04, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Have a look at http://www.andaman.org/ - it has some related info on travel restrictions to the Andamans. But I think in this particular case, it may have a lot to do with not wanting people killed by the inhabitants, who are famously hostile to outsiders. - Mustafaa 23:06, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Interesting -- not so much for ecological or conservational reasons than for the safety of citizens and foreigners? Peter O. (Talk) 23:16, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)
This BBC article suggest that some islands are off-limit because of military reasons. Furthermore, this article states that there were 93,000 visits by tourists to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, but it may be that in fact these tourists all went to the Andamans. -- Jitse Niesen 14:31, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I have posted this question on the general help page but thought it might be more relevant here.
No, this page is not for Wikipedia-related questions. Mgm|(talk) 22:34, Jan 17, 2005 (UTC)
Mgm is right, but basically, it looks like your email address used to be owned by a wikipedian. Ignore it. Or, if you feel like it, log in with that address and see what the previous owner was up to. But this really is a question for the Help Desk. -- Phyzome is Tim McCormack 17:14, 2005 Jan 31 (UTC)
Ton
The article on pressure refers to units of weight called 'ton(US)' and 'ton(UK)'. Does anyone know what these are? I suspect that they're Imperial and metric tons, respectively, but I'm not sure. --Smack (talk) 01:07, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Ton explains this, to more detail than your poor mortal mind can possibly withstand. -- John Fader 01:24, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It looks like ton(US) and ton(UK) mean short ton and long ton, respectively. The terms are not used verbatim in ton but the text leads fairly straightly to that conclusion. I have heard of short and long tons forever but never heard of them categorized as U.S. vs U.K. (as are e.g. gallons). Such opportunity for enlightenment is the joy of our poor mortal minds. However, it would perhaps improve pressure to revise it to the more standard terms? --Sharkford 15:25, 2005 Jan 18 (UTC)
Mr. Fader: I read that article, thank you very much, but it does not explain the particular nomenclature I refer to.
Sharkford: Pressure must certainly be revised. I just wasn't sure how to revise it. --Smack (talk) 23:02, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Weapons of Mass Destruction Destruction
Can anyone direct me to an article about the safe destruction of WMD's, particularly nuclear warheads? Every time I hear talk of destruction, I always become curious about the physics and mechanics as to how this is supposedly done. Thanks.
AFAIK (but IANARS) a nuclear warhead will not detonate unless critical mass is achieved AND an appropriate neutron source is introduced to initiate fission. Removing enough fissionable material to prevent critical mass is the safest way to prevent a nuke from going nuclear; however, since critical mass and initiation are usually achieved by an explosion of some kind, it will still explode, making a reasonably big mess. Or at least that's what I've been led to believe. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb might not be of use here. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 12:46, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
Nuclear weapons are comparatively easy. Take out the (overwhelmingly plutonium) fissile core elements and they can be de-enriched (empoverished?) into fuel for a plutonium burning reactor. The polonium initiator is probably going to end up as medium-level nuclear waste. I've no idea what one does with a ton or so of powdered lithium-deuteride fusion fuel, but it's not particularly hazardous. Biological and chemical weapons are a bit harder. Biological weapons are fairly straightfoward, largely because there isn't such a large volume of it and it can't be stored in weaponised form for a long time. Bleach, irradiation and high-temperature incineration are straightforward options. The hard case is chemical weapons. By some estimates the US Army alone has over 30,000 tons of them, and the Soviets had (and thus the Russians still have) even more. The US solution is high-temperature incineration, which is rather expensive. Many of the shells and rockets are decades old and have been poorly stored, and nasty chemical reactions have changed and corroded them. So they have to be processed in a special facility that can dismantle them using machines. Here's a story from the LA Times detailing how incredibly slow and expensive that process is. -- John Fader 13:09, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
For chemical weapons, see also Chemical Weapons Convention which describes how far various countries have come in regards to eliminating their weapons as well as the weapons of mass destruction series which describes in more detail. (By the way the U.S. has less than 22,000 tons of chemical agents and is testing chemical neutralization methods of destruction of chemical weapons) Rmhermen 16:23, Jan 18, 2005 (UTC)
LCD displays
I'd like to know why 17-19" LCD displays almost always have 5/4 aspect ratio, while most CRT and most 15" LCD displays have 4/3 ratio. What is the reason - is it easier to produce, is there particular demand for more squarish displays, do they look better on a desk?
And a second question is why the resolution of LCD displays is so limited? Why are there almost no displays with 1600x1200 or 1440x1050 resolution, while such resolution is commonplace on laptops. Is there no demand for higher res desktop LCD displays? Did someone decided that people don't need that resolution? Is the demand for hi-res LCD panels from notebook manufacturers so high that there are no panels left for stand-alone displays? Paranoid 17:16, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I am not an insider. I guess Microsoft Windows is the perpetrator.
Before XP, Windows support of very high resolutions was poor. And Windows XP is only marginally better. If you are a happy LCD maker, the last thing you want is to get a million angry calls each day over trivial issues such as microscopic Windows texts.
If you do know how to get state-of-the-art hardware, there are huge and expensive 1920x1200 LCD monitors (I wish I could afford one! Ha! Ha!). For example, currently, LG of South Korea ships 2560x1600 (30"), 1920x1200 (23"), 1600x1200 (20") and 1680x1050 (20") monitors. But these models are in short supply because of the available sizes of the raw glass panels. Most of today's LCD fabs only produce glass substrate panels best for making 10" to 19" panels. It is not efficient for a fab designed for 19" panels to churn out a 20" LCD because it will generate a lot of waste. Therefore, large and high-resolution LCD monitors are always in limited production.
Then how about small and high-resolution LCD monitors? I really don't think you want to use that kind of LCD unless it's on your laptop. At least for me, I always put my external monitor a little farther away. That means small texts on an external LCD mornitor will be more difficult to read than on a laptop monitor. You may want to use a 1600x1200 (15") laptop LCD, but this is simply unbearable if it's your desktop monitor. You do need a 20" monitor. And people are not making too many of them today.
I guess today's high-resolution laptop panels are all custom-made. They have inexpensive 12" to 15" substrate panels. They can use a more advanced process to cram more pixels on these panels and make much more money. By the way, they can also fine-tune Windows for that monitor (high-resolution, 16:9, 16:10, other tricks ...).
I think one day things will change. With a smarter OS and larger glass panels, there will be affordable large high-resolution panels. Just wait. And don't forget to save some money. -- Toytoy 13:31, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)
There are 22" (20" visible) 1600x 1200 to 1920x1440 CRTs. However, you probably will not use the highest resolutions all day long. With the LCD, you cannot switch resolution. If you buy a 1920x1200 15" monitor, you live with that resolution. Possibly this is another reason why they don't offer very high resolution LCD monitors. -- Toytoy 15:24, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)
a site to trace a great grandmother born in {gutengerg} mainz 1830 s
Dear sir, My grandmother emigrated to england some time in the early 1800s and her name was theresa breiding. theresa married edward byrchall in london 1873. she is mentioned on the english 1901 census as aged 70 years a british subject born in germany The latter day saints records give her birth place as gutenberg your assistance is requested on where I may search for information as non german perso and no knowledge of the language..
thank you very much ,
david r bluff
Dear Mr. Bluff: I've looked at a lot of genealogy sites, and this is a good start for you. It lists sites from Germany, England, and best of all, it's free! No hidden search charges from Cyndi. She also has a FAQ:
I am presently enrolled in a college Socioligy course and where writing a paper on a certain incedent that has happened with two diffrent groups. I am to take a position on the detailed story and write about it but befor i take a final position i would like to learn the diffrence between the two. Here is the situation:
I'm afraid we need a bit more detail than that :-)
If you were going to ask about the difference between the two terms, then broadly speaking (at least in English common-law systems) the difference is one of intent; murder is unlawful killing with the intent to kill someone, whereas manslaughter is unlawful killing without that intent (although if you set out to seriously injure someone, that may well be considered analogous to the intent to kill)
To take an example, were someone to be assaulted and fight back - and, by using more force than they intended, kill their assailant... that would be manslaughter; the killing was not a lawful one (although a plea of self-defence might well see them acquitted of the crime), but they did not intend for the victim to die.
However, were they assaulted, and fight their assailant off - then chase them down and beat them to death... that would be considered murder, since they acted with an intent to kill.
I have a suspicion you were going to ask for a suggestion over a specific case; my suggestion would be to go through the mind of the killer at the time of the incident. Were they aware their actions could or would lead to death? Had they taken a decision in the light of this awareness to continue with the action?
Best of luck reaching a decision; a lot of very interesting debate has taken place in the past by judges mulling over this very issue, and you may find it interesting to try looking for some of those cases. (For example: if, in the fight example above, party A restrains B - but B party has a grave medical condition, unknown to A, which causes the restraint to kill them... is that murder? A acted with intent to do the particular act that killed B, but did not intend it to be an act that could cause death...)
Huh, it did post last night, after all. Oh, well. Still forgot to sign it, though... Shimgray 20:45, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC))
And, don't forget - State law statute books list the citings of precedents. If I am not mistaken...they do vary by state. --allie 02:16, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
In the absence of other answers, you might try reading the short story And Then There Were None by Eric Frank Russell. (Google will tell you where to find it. Then you might consider whether that society depicted is truly free of medium of exchange. DJ Clayworth 18:35, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
So ur after a society where people give and take at their own will? If i capte what u say, then try looking Economy of Smurfs, or if that doesnt exists, try Smurfs. They may infact be apre-monetary economy
Breast cancer and mammorgrams
moved from Village PumpBrokenSegue 01:54, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Hello out there!
I want to get feedback on the subject of mamograms causing cancer.
I read a long time ago (can't remember where) that the London Journal of Medicine stated that
the pressure put upon the breast during a mamogram could activate inactive cancer cells. Has anyone heard of this? Can you give me any insight? Could this be possible and why or why not.
If you have any info or links you can email me at [email protected] Thank you very much.
There is research on the x-rays used in mammograms causing cancer. Rmhermen 02:25, Jan 19, 2005 (UTC)
First problem, no "London Journal of Medicine"... There seem to be quite a few papers discussing beliefs related to cancer, which mention the popular misconception that mammograms cause cancer, and a lot on the negative effects of excessive screening (basically, it screws with peoples' heads) but nothing I can find which seems to be the research you mention... this isn't a systematic search, but ten or fifteen minutes hasn't got me anywhere. Shimgray 03:39, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I had this question up on the Quebec French talk page for over a week and nobody seemed to know, so I'll try here. The basic question is:
"What are the linguistic terms and basics relating to this accent question? Is it phonology? or something physical? Where can I look up more on this question?"
On the Quebec french "ear" and "mouth"
I'd love to note somewhere the obvious difference between the location in the mouth of Quebec French vs. France French, and the related difference in how a Quebecois hears foreign sounds. Unfortunately I'm not really qualified to do this in detail. All I know is that the foreign "th" sounds come out very different in the different French accents when speaking English:
sound
English
Quebec
France
[θ]
"think"
"tink"
"sink"
[ð]
"this"
"dis"
"zis"
Obviously the two languages are either differently placed in the mouth, or have a different "ear" for consonants, or both. Anyone understand the linguistic terminology here well enough to comment on this?
While the fact has been widely aknowledged (I've seen numerous references to it), I have yet to see a suggested hypothesis. Maybe Quebecois are more exposed to English slang /t, d/ for [θ, ð] than European French speakers? --Circeus 20:42, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)
First, my qualifications to comment: I lived in Ottawa (near the Quebec border) for a year, and in Northern Quebec for a summer. I've also spent a bit of time in France and in other parts of Europe where I have had business dealings with Frenchmen. In English and in Parisian French, which I studied for 7 years.
The difference is definitely not due to slang English influence, because in the remote parts of Quebec there isn't any to speak of. It is rather due to an entire way of speaking. To my ear the Quebecois speak a version of French that is spoken further back in the mouth -- their "R"s retreat almost to the uvula, the mouth is held further open, and the words alternate between sounding swallowed and sounding flat. The articulation points are further back on the tongue. There's also a bit of an adenoidal sound, as if the speaker has a cold.
The Parisiens speak closer to the front of the mouth, with more closed mouth, and most of the articulation done near the tip of the tongue and lips. I'd love to say all this with authority but all I have is my own eyes and ears for this.
I'm pretty sure that the difference in the "th" sounds is related to the different articulation points or the adenoidal thing, but I don't have much to back it up. But I'd love to hear from someone who does! Steverapaport 23:37, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm trying to find out how many people died fighting for the Vatican during all of the Crusades - all 12 or 13 or however many there were. That is, not the people defending the Holy Lands, just the people 'on offense'. Thanks! 168.213.1.134 18:45, 19 Jan 2005 (UTC)
There was no Vatican during the Crusades. You might want to look at Papal States, but even so, the Crusaders weren't fighting for the Pope. RickK 01:19, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Thanks, I guess I'm a bit off on the exact background of the Crusades. But you still understand my question - the number of people who died trying to reclaim the Holy Lands. I guess I'm really shady on my history here... 168.213.1.134 16:49, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think that the kind of answer you're looking for may not exist. Our article on the Crusades contains some good summary information, and links to more detailed accounts. From First Crusade:
Both knights and peasants from many different nations of western Europe, with little central leadership, travelled over land and by sea towards Jerusalem and captured the city in July 1099...
The crusades were not simple military campaigns, but were also a sort of migration. You might want to think of something kind of like the invading Vandals. -Rholton 15:56, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It would be almost impossible to give you a number, since no one can even be sure how many people went on crusade in the first place. The contemporary sources exaggerate the numbers of combatants, as all ancient and medieval sources tend to do, and on the First Crusade there were tens of thousands of people who were either poor or beggars or women or some other sort of person they didn't bother to count. For the First Crusade there were many deaths from starvation and disease, not just deaths in battle. On the Second almost everyone was killed, and there were a lot of big battles and sieges during the Third. Would you also count the number of people who died in between those specific crusades, since there was virtually non-stop warfare in the Crusader states? There were also crusades against the Baltic peoples at the same time, and various other things called crusades. The number is probably hundreds of thousands, if not a lot more. Also, as Rick said, there was no "Vatican" as such (well, there was, the Vatican is actually just a hill) - and the Popes did not always call a crusade, and sometimes lost control of the ones they did call. Adam Bishop 02:09, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
You might also want to include the Albigensian crusade against the Cathars, which lasted a decade+ and resulted in the effective erasure of a regional culture. Not a very nice episode, but produced beaucoup death. ww 01:24, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Rather than a link, I can offer some guidelines which are known to be predictors of failure:
7th grade performance of a student is an early indicator of how well that student, who was used to the less demanding environment of 1st - 6th grades, might fare. This is an indicator of high school performance for that student. (Specifically, how well they cope with change)
Similarly, the grades in a high school chemistry (including lab work) course are precursors of college-level performance. Those students taking the manual drafting course will get grades that are precursors of post-high school performance.
The key is how do the students react to more exacting or demanding standards. Ancheta Wis 15:02, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)
... which is fine if you know the lengths of all three sides, but if you know the length of one side and an altitude then you can use Area=(Base x Height)/2. The triangle article describes several different ways of calculating area. Gandalf61 10:49, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Can someone either direct me to a webpage completely explaining the Usenet hierarchy (eg alt. and talk.) or explain it below. I have looked at Great Renaming and Usenet already. Thanks, --anon
free articles?
Hello,
I am building an internet business and am looking for a source for free articles that I can send through a retail opt-in list. Can I use Wikipedia and if so then what is my next step? Thank you in advance.
Best Regards,
-anon
Well, theoretically yes. But in practice you have to comply with the GFDL which means that in addition to sending the article itself you'd also have to send the entire text of the GFDL (which is rather large) and a full list of all the wikipedia contributors who contributed to the article. Now, there are those (left-handed unibrowed communists, all) who'll tell you that you need only distribute a link to the latter, but that's never been tested in court; I can't recommend volunteering to be the test case. -- John Fader 01:20, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Medical records
I would like to know if I have a right to request copies of medical records form the various doctors and hospitals I have gone to through my life (I live in the US). How do I go about it? Should I expect to pay very much?
ike9898 19:39, Jan 20, 2005 (UTC)
Your right to access and correct your medical record (aka "personal health information") is protected under the HIPAA. Unfortunately, the HIPAA doesn't help make the process of obtaining your PHI any easier -- I'm pretty sure you'll have to request documents from each hospital individually. Just call or write them; they'll send you a form or (rarely) direct you to a website where you can download and print out a PDF and mail it in. IIRC, in many (most?) cases, you should expect to pay up to about $1 per page. --David Iberri | Talk 21:38, Jan 20, 2005 (UTC)
These answers apply to US only. You have the right to see your records and request copies, but remember that they are the "work notes" of your contractors and the original physical record does not "belong" to you. In general most doctor's offices, clinics, and hospitals do not charge to send a single copy of your current records to another doctor or hospital. Especially sensitive (mental health, HIV, addiction) records have tighter legal restrictions of various types and transfer and access can be a bigger pain in the rear. Many will charge to make a copy if you ask them to send to yourself, especially if the records are voluminous. You mention "through my life;" I don't know how old you are, but law does not require storage forever for adults. Most hospitals and clinics send records to storage occasionally and you might expect to pay for accessing archived records (or you may find they cant be found). As far as I know, there is no law regarding charging for copies of records, so above is custom and may or may not be followed in unusual cases (e.g., if your inpatient records take up an entire shelf in the hospital). If you are an adult and you actually get records from, say, the 1970s, you may be surprised at how scant they are. Legally required documentation has increased probably 10-fold over the last 25 years (and you wonder why health care costs continue to rise). And absolutely, you will have to request from each provider; legally, even if your current provider has a complete set of your whole-life records from ten previous providers, they can only transfer the record of their own care of you to another provider. alteripse 13:26, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Metaphysical Psychotherapist
Is there such a thing as a Metaphysical Psychotherapist
Yes, but not for long. You see, the constructive interference caused by the wavefront coincidence of two such strong sources of pseudoscientific claptrap will produce localized levels of blatant untruth that exceed the fundamental capacity of Einstein-Minowsky spacetime to sustain dissemblance (given by the Rumsfeld constant, that is 14.6 barefaced lies per cubic inch). To shed the excess nonsense a Heisenberg-Posen bridge will form (a perfect sphere with a diameter of approximately one meter) and the space therein will be ejected into hyperspace. From the frame of reference of a nearby stationary observer, that volume will appear to vanish (with the corresponding inrush of 4*pi/3 cubic meters of air, producing a loud "gasp" sound) leaving only the calves, feet, and sandals of the metaphysical psychotherapist (unless they're a midget, of course). -- 81.153.211.84 01:56, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It is with extreme reluctance that I venture to even slightly temper the positively awe-inspiring paragraph offered above. And I've been led to believe that some of my wit was a tad sharp for tastes here... I also wouldn't trust a "Metaphysical Psychotherapist" as far as I could speculate her, but their more honest cousins usually hang out under the sign of "philosophical counseling." Google it [18] and you will find an immediate page of references to their learned societies and even pages answering that common, burning question, "what is philosophical counseling" [19]. alteripse 02:46, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It only leaves us with the burning question ... can paragraphs from this page be transferred to BJAODN? (Though GJAODN might be more appropriate). DJ Clayworth 04:34, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Veterans Administration Cuts - 70% ??
Reference junkie here can't find anything to verify this. According to the VA Patient Advocate at the VA in Florida, the administration is cutting the VA budget by 70%. Now, why can't I find anything to substantiate this? It's not on Google or High Beam - nada. Apparently, it was just announced to the VA. Even if it wasn't released to the press yet, wouldn't there be something somewhere to confirm this? --allie 22:10, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Time warp? This [20] was posted in March 2003. Here is another angle from approx 1 year ago on this same topic [21]. These two [22][23] from last spring address the planned reductions through 2009: more like a 17% reduction over 4 years, it looks like. A 70% imminent cut that none of these groups has heard about seems unlikely. alteripse 05:06, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Thank you. I feel like such a dyslexic dolt. Appreciate the references, very, very much. --allie 11:09, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Sri Lankan local government
What is the structure of Sri Lankan govt (not LTTE areas) below District level? What are the names of the administrative subdivisions in Trincomalee? Thanks! 203.94.91.81 05:10, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Intermittent modem hardware failure
Yes, sad to say, some of us are still using 56k dial-up modems. Occasionally mine attempts to dial and says "hardware failure". Now, it only does this when my dial up tries to connect (my ISP disconnects me every 2 hours on the dot but I have a little bit of software that reconnects me automatically to fight my ISP's evil ways), so it can't be a loose connection. Rebooting often, but not always, solves it. Any ideas?
Apologies in advance if my signature appears strange. I've been told off. I worked on the bloody thing for ages, but now I'll have to simplify it again. Grrrrr! Actually, what was said was that it made somebody's page go broken, so probably best not to put it on a significant page at all. (No sig, this is user : bodnotbod).
Saving money by cancelling school
About how much money would the U.S. and the school systems in it save if they took off the last day of school for all public schools? How much would be saved in pay, transportation, etc? --elpenmaster
In all likelyhood, not as much as you might think. I believe all administrators and teachers are exempt from overtime laws, meaning that they get paid the same regardless of how many days they work. You might get some savings in power utilization, and perhaps fuel and salary from busses, assuming that the district picks up the tab for them and not the parents. Also, it's important to remember that many schools do not shut down just because the school year is out. There's always summer sessions, the janitorial staff is typically employed year round, so costs will always be incurred. Also, I believe in California at least, a district's funding is directly tied to their attendance, so by cutting a day, the district itself would be getting less money. Of course, this also raises the counter-question, "What is the average cost/benefit to society per student per day of school attended?" --Cvaneg 22:42, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Asian alphabetization
Let's say the only language you know is Japanese, or one of the other Asian languages that doesn't use a [[phonetic alphabet. Is there an equivalent of alphabetization that your can use to organize items, such as an index or a phone book? How does this work? ike9898 14:16, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Japanese is a bad example, because it does have a phonetic alphabet, and has had for about a thousand years. But your question is reasonable. I recently did some research into the way medieval Chinese printers organized their type cases; as you can imagine, the problems are similar.
Typically, each Chinese character is associated with a "radical", which is a common subpart of that character and many others. For example, the character for "明" = "bright" is clearly a compound of the two characters for "sun" ("日") and "moon" ("月"), and the radical is "sun". The radicals themselves are ordered partly by the number of strokes they contain and partly in an arbitrary but conventional way. Often, a major dictionary such as the K'ang Hsi Tzu-Tien (Kangxi zi dian in modern spelling) of 1716 will establish an order for characters or radicals, and this order will be re-used for hundreds of years afterwards.
Chinese characters in dictionaries are usually ordered by one or more of: number of strokes; what radical they contain (with the radicals themselves ordered as in K'ang Hsi Tzu-Tien or some other well-known and widely-available source); how many strokes they have in addition to the radical; what order they appear in a standard dictionary; or some combination of these.
Typically, for example, the dictionary will list the characters ordered first by number of strokes; characters with the same number of strokes will be ordered by radical, with the characters with simpler radicals before those with more complicated radicals; where the radicals have the same number of strokes the radicals will be ordered in a conventional and well-known order; and where the characters contains the same number of strokes and the same radicals, they will be ordered in a conventional order.
Note that even a phonetic alphabet doesn't solve all your problems. Consider the problem of locating John Smith in the telephone book. The spelling is unambiguous, but you still can't find the one you want. Modern Chinese dictionaries often list words in order by pinyin phonetic spelling, but some languages, like Mandarin and Korean, contain so many homonyms that this is insufficient. My Chinese dictionary, for example, lists seven different words all pronounced "chá".
I suggest that if you're interested in this you go to the library or bookstore and take a look at a Chinese-English dictionary. You will probably find its organization quite absorbing.
I hope this was helpful. -- Dominus 16:07, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)
THEN
Even though it was Chinese who invented movable type, as late as a couple of hundred years ago, many Chinese printers preferred block printing because of economics. Reason: Cheap labor. Some books are selling like hot cakes. Instead of reset each page at each run, they could save the wooden board for later use.
Movable type was not very popular in China. However, it was a different story in Korea. Many Korean scholars studied Chinese works. To help their customers catch-up quickly, many Korean printers used durable brass type to print Chinese books as soon as they got a copy from China. I don't know how they managed the font.
The project of Chin Ch'ien (Jian Jin) in 1776 had twelve huge type cases with two hundred drawers each. Each drawer was divided into eight compartments and each compartment held four types. The cases were labled with the twelve divisions set out in the K'ang Hsi Tzu-Tien and each drawer also had a label; the drawers were ordered (as usual) by radical and by number of strokes.
Before each page was composed, the printer would go through it and make a list of which characters were required and how many of each. Then his assistants would gather the types from the case. Another person was responsible for returning the types to the cases when a page was broken down.
Often an unusual character would be required that had not been made up beforehand. Chin Ch'ien was using wooden type, so he could have a new character made up on the spot when necessary.
Wang Chen in 1313 was using metal types. He had them organized on two huge round tables with rotating tabletops. On the tables, the types were organized as usual, by strokes and radicals, with one table for the common characters and the other for the rare ones. As the types were needed, a printer sitting between the tables would select the appropriate types. -- Dominus 13:54, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
In the
NOW
A Chinese dictionary usually has two or more index systems. The formal one is radical + stroke number system. No matter which dialect you speak, if you can write, you can use it. A schoolboy has to spend weeks to months to learn how to use the 100-some radicals. Usually, there will be another index that orders words using stroke numbers only. These are usually for the "difficult" words. Sometimes, you just can't tell which radical is the one.
Another method is to order the characters according to its pronounciation. Before the 20th century, there was no widely accepted way to so it. People invented many ordering systems. Currently, two widely used standards based on Standard Mandarin are used: pinyin and bopomofo. If you can pronounce, you can find it.
There are many less-used index methods. Example: the four corner method. Not each dictionary is using it.
Today they don't print so many copies of telephone directories. A telephone directory may order names according to the family name -> given name order. Family names are sorted by stroke number -> order of pinyin or bopomofo. -- Toytoy 18:37, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Okay, so if a literate Chinese person was given 100 index cards that each had a different word on it, could he easily put these cards in order according to one of the above schemes (without using any sort of reference book)? ike9898 22:34, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Possibly not. To sort several English words, you just compare each word's each alphabets. With Chinese characters, this can be more difficult. 1st level ordering could be easy. 2nd level would be much more difficult.
Radicals and stroke numbers are 1st level. They do not distinguish each charcter withing the group. You need another ordering method to sort each character. ("狼" (wolf) and "狗" (dog) both have the "犬" (the left part) radical, you don't know which comes first). Using phonemes is usually easier.
Some methods are too difficult to do it in mind. There are 100-200 radicals (1st level), you just can't remember the correct dictionary order of them unless you are truly insane. Counting stroke numbers (1st level) is a tedious job because there are some exceptions when two strokes are actually counted as one (or vice versa) because you are wrong and they are right. (How do you write R? P then slash or I then "a crescent and a slash"?) Sometimes, your order of writing is just different from theirs. (How do you write H? Vertical, vertical, horizontal? Or vertical, horizontal, vertical?) Possibly you still need a dictionary.
Ordering using phonetics is somewhat easier. Many people in Taiwan were taught bopomofo (a set of non-Roman phonemes) in kindergarten or 1st grade. People in China learned pinyin (Romanization) at about the same age. Both systems are nearly identical except for the writing systems. (See: music notation). It is possibly easier to order in pinyin because many bopomofo users forgot the exact order except for the first four or eight phonemes: bo, po, mo, fo, de, te, ne, le ... . They know the order of Latin alphabets.
If you have a rollodex or a notebook filled with telephone numbers, you may use stroke number or pinyin to order names. There's a system of family name's order "The Hundred Families' Surnames" (百家姓) (趙錢孫李 周吳鄭王 ...) and another list of 1,000 frequently used characters "An Essay of One Thousand Words" (千字文) (a meaningful article written in exact 1,000 different words: "天地玄黃 宇宙洪荒 ..." "In the beginning of the time and universe ..."). These are not usually used for general purpose ordering. Many ordering systems may be too difficult to implement in mind.
You can configure your Chinese version of Microsoft Windows, Linux or MacOS to order using the character codes or language specific orders. With the Traditional Chinese Windows, you can choose between stroke number and bopomofo. Some systems may support more ordering methods. -- Toytoy 04:25, Jan 22, 2005 (UTC)
Can someone find info on the Sculptured Reliefs at Perspolis? I can't seen to find anything on them ((well at least not that which is useful.. >>; )) What info I do have is mostly pics and that cannot help me do a report on it. So please if you do find something ie- How is it made... What materials where used... What techique was used.... In what location are the works found.. bla bla bla.. you get the Idea I'm pretty sure
It's possible your trouble finding info is that most people who are likely to be providing useful info spell it Persepolis, and PRESTO, there's a whole article about it right here! alteripse 12:44, 22 Jan 2005 (UTC)
electrical heating element
My electric stove has a heating element that has 'gone bad' (doesn't heat when voltage is applied across it). I assumed these things go bad because somehow the conductive path is broken, like a light bulb burning out. However, when I test the resistance across the busted heating element, it is not infinite but something more like 1 M-ohm. Can these heating elements go bad in some other way? ike9898 22:44, Jan 21, 2005 (UTC)
Ordinarily, the resistance should be a few tens of ohms (e.go., 220 V across 30 ohms gives 1.6 kW of heat). 1 M-ohm will be leakage across imperfect insulation somewhere. —AlanBarrett 10:56, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Chef
Is there a complete list of the Chef's songs from South Park? I cannot find one that is GFDL or other open license. --Fan
You mean you want the lyrics, or just the titles? The lyrics are copyrighted, and will be for many years, so you're not going to find a GFDL listing of them. If you're just talking about the titles, that can't be copyrighted, so a list is perfectly free use. RickK 21:59, Jan 22, 2005 (UTC)
Just the titles, and maybe some information about where each one appears, the context and some description of what the song is about and any guests who feature on it. I could not find it on the South Park article. Am I missing it? Thanks --Fan
What are all of the (APCO?) 10 codes? (i.e.: 10-4 = "Message recieved", "OK"; 10-10= "Negative","No.") I found a list of them, but it only have from 10-1 to 10-34 or somewhere around there. I know there are more (95?)..
Codes above 40 vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction; APCO only created (I think) and standardized the first 40, and allowed anything higher to be defined by the user. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 03:05, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Okay, thank you. Do you know of a website (or do you know them off-hand?) where I can find the entire list for the NYPD? (And uh...just out of pure curiosity, what does APCO stand for?)
The 10-codes are not standardised. APCO stands for Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. I think the 10-codes are different for each city or whatever. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 09:45, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
Here are the NYPD radio codes. They differ significantly from common (if not "standard") usage -- so much that an outsider trying to interpret and act upon them could get quite confused. For example, the "common" (if not standard) 10-10 is, as stated, "negative"; but for the NYPD, 10-10 means "Possible crime" -- while for FDNY, 10-10 means "Current location". --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:58, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
South Park Script?
Where can I find the script to "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut"? I found a script once, but it left out some parts. I'm looking for a script that has everythnig every character said, word-for-word, including the songs. Does such a thing exsist? o.o;
Can you buy it? It must be copyright. The South Park Article is a little vague about many details. --Fan
It's not unusual for movie scripts to be published. If this one hasn't been, it probably will be. You might do a normal web search for the title plus "ISBN"; you might try a book-focused site like Amazon or Abe Books; you might talk to a library or book store, especially a book store specializing in film-related books. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:54, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
I've had a good look around Amazon for you and then tried searches elsewhere and haven't been able to find any evidence that the script is available for purchase. If you have a copy of the film and the incomplete script you might be able to finish it off yourself. --bodnotbod 19:20, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
I'm guessing ur aware of the laicité situation in France, whereby it seems to me that its illegal to do a survey on the national religious practices. So France is vague. Hard to get a decent value for number of believers. I'd imagine Pitcairn is not very religious --Wonderfool 13:08, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Actually, every Pitcairn Islander is a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. This makes it the most religious country in the world, although the population is only 47.-gadfium 21:53, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
It is probably impossible to answer this question objetively. It depends on how you define the word religious. Most Americans would probably claim to believe in God, but how many ever actually do anything religious on a regular basis? What about countries with a state religion, where everybody is technically a member? There are also people who don't like the word religion, even though they might seem very religious by your standards. You can, I am sure, find statistics on this, but you have to remember that their interpretation is very subjective. -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:37, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I agree with that, but for instance, Hungary takes a skeptical attitude to religion; the churches are never full except on major holidays such as Easter and Christmas. (A result of its having passed through a twentieth-centuryatheistgovernment? I wouldn't know.) In Brazil, it's considered almost offensive to ask if one believes in God because the answer is so overwhelmingly yes. So it is measurable to some extent. (The Pitcairn Island thing is fascinating, by the way!) --anon.
Do you consider Vatican City a country? It has a population of almost a thousand, making it larger than Pitcairn Island.
Vatican City has indeed been an independent nation since the Lateran Treaty of 1929. It is recognised as such world-wide, and it would be eligible for admission to the United Nations etc but has chosen to remain aloof from that kind of global politicking. It sends its ambassadors (papal nuncios) to other countries, and recognised ambassadors from other countries who are accredited to the Holy See. JackofOz 00:37, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
GUllman 01:18, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC) 01:06, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The correct link is Laïcité. -- Itai 01:32, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Made the redirect for you. &emdash; Catherine\talk 20:15, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Creative writing assignment
Have you ever been trapped and imprisonned in a tall dark tower? What do you think it would feel like? What thoughts would go through your head? Tnx. Nigel
Or, of course you could arrange to be trapped and imprisoned in a tall dark tower. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:56, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
Try Anne Boleyn and Rapunzel, Nigel. Then go lock yourself in a dark closet before tackling that assignment and try not to plagiarize. --allie 00:24, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I reckon, first thing would be annoyance that u let urself get trapped. then later stages would come paranoia, hunger, thrist, boredom, until you eventually get used to the dark and use the time to think really deeply. what id do is invent a language or sumthin, just to keep my mind from going to jelly. sometime during the imprisonment i'd think "does the fact that the tower is tall actually affect the mindframe? i'd make up dozens of stories in my head, then put music to them in my head. and try and think of every single person ive ever met, of every place ive ever been, of the best things i've ever done. maybe u should put sumthing in the essay about time, and how it all seems so pointless when there's no days or nights, and everything is the same always. The key is keeping ur mind and body useful. so i guess doing pressups or pushups or situps or some kind of exercise would be a good plan. And I'd spend a certain amount of time simply doin nothing, paying attention to the sound of silence, trying to somehow make things appear or happen thru telekinesis. And id also try somehow to inscribe something into the wall or the floor, with my nails perhaps. inscribing things like how many times i peed, or trying to draw perfect circles. I would create an imaginary friend, and talk to him/her/it about escaping and what we would do when we got out. And some time i would possibly think "Dude, am i dead? i may aswell be. Death is just darkness and nothingness. or is it? how should i know.im not dead. because i can think. dammit who said "credo ...." i think therefore i am. I would love to die just to feel what it feels like". paranoia, u know. at some time, id be eventually thinking "i wish i had internet here". And worry about if my capturees have forgotten about me.but then again, i guess they'd be obliged to send me food. So the food would be a pleasant relief.u could use the time to try and cunt to a million; and try to predict, using ur counting, when the guards are gonna come and feed you. Phew, that was the fastest thing ive ever typed in my life. also the most useless. but i hope this shit helps. if only i had an essay like this to ask the world help for
Yanno--that's exactly what happened to Anne Boleyn! And then she had her head chopped off. But I don't think she did push-ups...or said, "dude," but really accurate nonetheless. A- based on creativity, turning in the assignment with lightnening speed, but the spelling and grammar gets you every time... Best regards --allie 02:24, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Papillon has a good few pages on solitary confinement. Although the prisoner isnt actually solitary-theres a few dozen prisoners in a room seperated by walls, but they have to stay silent or they are given punitions graves, so in other words they are silent cos the punitions are very grave. but anyway; the prisoner stays sane by eating smuggled coconuts. wait a second, this isnt answering the question.nevermind.--Wonderfool 10:49, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
"what id do is invent a language or sumthin" - - You appear to be doing that already. Does this mean we ought to be trying to rescue you? --bodnotbod 19:23, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
Now, I understand that this can be done with frameborder="0" in the frameset tag, but this isn't official. Is there an official way of doing it? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 09:54, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
In fact, frameborder="0" is exactly the coding to remove frame borders in XHTML. This is shown in the DTD as produced by the W3C[24]. If you search for "frameborder" in that, you will see that this coding is allowed under XHTML 1.0. It is also allowed in HTML 4.01. However, in HTML 3.2, not only was frameborder not allowed, neither were frameset and frame. If you are interested, this can be seen at [25], where trying to search for "frame" does not yield results. So if your website is being written in strict 3.2, you cannot actually use frames. They are an innovation introduced with HTML 4, although, obviously, many browsers already had them in their programming, and they were de facto standard, although not de jure. However, most websites you will write today will be in 4.01, so you can include frame, frameset and frameborder="0" to your heart's content. :) Smoddy | ειπετε 19:37, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Unfortunately I can't find any way of entirely removing the frameborder and still conforming to the DTD. The following will do it, but is there a better valid way?
A valid mathod that works? I think you're in dream world now. I don't think any browser will complain if you put the border attribute in. Smoddy | ειπετε 21:31, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Well, Firefox and IE both handle it ok. I'll just have to be happy with everything else being W3C complient. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 05:53, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)
rainfall patterns in Ireland
Does anyone have a link for rainfall patterns in Ireland on a month by month basis? I'm thinking of holidaying in Ireland in the summer and would like to know what is most likely to be the least wettest month. Jooler
For a start: [26] and [27]Joyous 16:46, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
Canadian pilot ww1 question
I am having trouble finding any information on the
Canadian Pilot (ww1-?) Eddie Redenbacher.
Am I spelling the name wrong....Can you offer me
any help or suggestions on how to get the info??
Output to screen: How does an appropriate binary pattern output by a program get
turned into a pattern of pixels on the screen? How is it possible to change the
appearance of some text by changing the font, font size, etc.? How is flashing text
implemented? How is it that a picture (e.g. text) stays on the screen, even if the CPU
is now executing some quite unrelated task?
It's not done in one step, of course. If you're talking about text, the rough order is:
Text memory -> markup engine -> video memory -> video driver
The text memory remembers alphanumerics, and handles remembering what's been printed, where the cursor is, and what will come next.
The markup engine (in a word processor, etc) will keep invisible tags in the text that indicate that some text is bigger, smaller, flashing, colored, etc.
The video memory is on the single pixel level, and has enough memory to represent the output screen, in full color, at least once. The markup engine writes the text in fonts and colors to this memory, where it remains until it's erased or changed. Video memory is often double-buffered, so it keeps two copies around -- one for updates, and one to display. This way the memory doesn't have to change while it's being displayed on the screen, which would cause unpleasant flashing effects.
The video driver simply copies the appropriate video memory buffer to the display, sixty or so times a second, over and over. Or you could consider it the other way round, the driver repaints the screen many times per second, taking its latest information from the video memory.
Note that the CPU need be involved only in the first two stages. In modern computers the video memory and driver are in separate hardware.
In general, which of these components is on the motherboard, which is part of the video card, and which is included in the operating system, all change between vendors and over time. That's why I've used very generic names for everything.
Anonymous request moved from article space. Peter O. (Talk) 21:44, Jan 23, 2005 (UTC)
song Title Four and Nine
Words I took a lady out one night
she had a very large appetite
I took her to Lockharts but we didnt go inside
I took her to the Cecil Four and Nine
This song was sung in the music halls about the 1930's
Can somebody help. If so please contact gerryb@big pond.net.au
Scrap Iron for the War effort-WW II
Where or how can I find information about the United States civilian war effort during WW II? Specifically farmers turning in scrap iron and farm tools for the war effort.
Thank you,
Gary Owens
[email protected]
The Library of Congress: http://catalog.loc.gov/ has a good selection of photographs, but it'll take some research to find more than that. I tried the "Farm Administration Bureau" but be sure to narrow your search terms to a specific area or a more specific request, or you'll just end up with some very interesting photos, the way I did. Hope that's a lead for you. --allie 00:47, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
And I did find a book... Wilcox, Walter W. The Farmer in the Second World War (1947) Ames, IA: Iowa State College Press. But there's nothing in the index about collecting scrap iron, sorry. --allie 21:36, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Effect on (air) pressure by filling up a space with fluid
Hi,
please assume the following:
I have a cylinder that is filled with air (1 atmosphere) and it is oriented in a horizontal direction, so that you could roll it, on a table for example. The top and bottom are seals.
The seals are necessary, because on both sides of the cylinder you have oil.
Now, the seals are leaking, and oil seeps into the cylinder.
What I am concerned with here is the effect this seeping of oil has on the pressure inside this cylinder.
My thoughts are: the air gets compressed, so that if we would half the cylinder filled with oil, instead of having 1 atmosphere, we would have 2 atmosphere, in the part that is filled with air. (note: I assume that air cannot leave the cylinder)
Is that correct?
This is the pressure, that according to my thinking, is now acting on the surface of the oil, and on that part of the seals that is not yet covered with oil.
The next question is: what is the pressure on that part of the cylinder wall that is covered with oil?
The surface of the oil at midpoint should be
length of cylinder * diameter of cylinder
The cylinder surface that is covered with oil is:
2* 1/2 of the top and bottom (=2* pi*r^2)
1/2 cylinder side surface (= 1/2 * h*2*pi*r)
What pressure will be acting now on this surface, if the pressure on the top of the oil surface is 2 bar?
Thank you very much for your help!
Sincerely,
Juergen
Oil is a liquid, so we're going to assume that it's incompressible. So yes, if somehow oil is getting in and air is not leaving you will get an increase in air pressure. Now, the next question is whether or not the temperature varies, and how. If your system is in contact with a constant-temperature reservoir, you could assume it's isothermal (i.e., the temperature is not allowed to change). We can model air as an ideal gas. Then you get pV=RT=const, or, if you halve the volume that the air is in, you'll get twice the pressure. Alternatively, you can assume, instead of being isothermal, that the system is adiabatic. That means that there is no heat transfer from the air to the oil or the cylinder or any kind of reservoir. Then you'd use:
Where for a diatomic gas such as the nitrogen and oxygen that mostly make up air you have .
Now for the pressure in the oil. Since air is much lighter than oil, I ignored the hydrostatic pressure variations in the air. But you're going to find that the pressure varies with height through the oil. Specifically, in the oil:
where is the density of the oil and is the acceleration due to gravity: 9.81m/s^2.
And the pressure on the top of the oil will be the same as the air pressure. So, at a distance d below the surface of the oil, the pressure in the oil will be:
So it's going to be different at different parts of the cylinder. If you want the total force, you'll have to integrate it. Or alternatively, the total force on the bottom of the cylinder is just the weight of the oil plus the weight of the air. On the ends of the cylinder, you'll have to integrate it.
Hope that answers your question. moink 20:20, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
material that lets through air, fuel and oil, but not water and dust
Hi,
I am looking for a material that I can use to plug a hole.
It should let air, fuel and oil through, as these are inside the pump I want to plug, but it should not let water and dust through (possible contaminants from the outside)
If the material gets destroyed over some time by fuel and oil, this is okay.
Thank you!
How about a few more details - what is the pump for? Is it a fuel pump? If so, you should filter the fuel before it gets to this stage. Can you post a sketch?
Hi, yes, it its a fuel pump with a weep hole chamber into which oil and fuel are leaking.
So, we want these to run out of the weep hole chamber, by putting a weep hole on top, but we don't want to let water and contaminants in through the weep hole. Therefore I am looking for a material for a plug that might be suitable here.
Thank you!
Music: turning 1 beat into 2 (or 4)?
Sometimes, it seems, a song will have its tempo increased, not by shortening the duration of each beat, by placing new beats halfway between the original beats, so each beat becomes two beats. One Celine Dion song had so slow a tempo that each beat had to become, not two, but four beats for the dance version!
What is it called when the tempo is increased in this manner?
In what you are describing, does the "faster" version of the song take the same amount of time, line for line, for instance (the dance version may be longer, but through repetition)?
Rock and roll usually features an eigth-note ride (or cymbal) pattern, while disco and later dance music usually features a sixteenth-note ride pattern.
Thus when a song is turned into a dance version the amount of rhythmic activity increases even if the tempo does not. Hyacinth 03:45, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I don't know, and don't care, about eighth notes and sixteenth notes. And of course what I described increases the tempo! --User:Juuitchan
If you take eight notes and split them into sixteenth notes, the effect is just what you described. The tempo describes the length of one measure (for instance). If you have two beats in one measure (say they're half notes because they take up half the measure) and you add two extra notes in between, then you've got four quarter notes. The tempo, however, is the same, because it takes just as long to play two half notes as it does to play four quarter notes. You can divide it again into eight eighth notes or 16 sixteenth notes, all without necessarily changing the tempo.
You increase the tempo by shortening the duration of each beat. Subdividing the beats as you described does not change the tempo at all, although it does make the music sound "faster".
(And no, I don't know what this is called.) -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:30, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
How many beats in a "measure"? If I don't have the score in front of me, how can I know? Actually, I don't care. I just count beats. Sometimes I count in hexadecimal, for obvious reasons. --User:Juuitchan
Then I guess what you are describing would be called, "doubling the tempo". You could describe it various other ways, such as, "having increased the tempo to twice its original speed or value". Hyacinth 04:07, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I suspect it's a matter of semantics. (Does it really matter whether you actually doubled the tempo or just doubled the number of notes? Could anyone who wasn't a musician tell the difference without seeing the score?) I don't know if it's possible to tell with any certainty how many beats are in a measure without seeing the music, but I imagine a musician could give you an educated guess.
On the other hand, it's usually fairly obvious that, say, a waltz has three beats. You could conceivably subdivide the notes to make it sound more lively, but the dancers would probably not appreciate it if you doubled the tempo. (Whether the beats fall on every note or every other note is important if you're dancing to them. It's less important if you're just listening. Or, for that matter, playing, so long as you're not trying to keep time with someone else.) -Aranel ("Sarah") 04:18, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Its very easy to tell in popular music, especially dance music, since at least the seventies because the drum patterns determine the beats. You all can find out for yourselves: read in metre (music) about the number of beats, read in dance music about "four to the floor", and read in Beats per minute and Tempo about determining tempo. Hyacinth 04:42, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
One may not care for verbal understanding, being able to talk about something is a good sign of understanding. It may not be the ideal way for one to learn anything, its the only way I have here. Hyacinth 05:06, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Tempted as I am to launch into a lengthy spiel on the subjectiveness of tempo perception, I'll just try to answer Juuitchan's question: as far as I and several musician friends know, there is no specific jargon term for what is being described. If the tempo is doubled, by any means, then, as Hyacinth says, one would probably describe the process as simply "doubling the tempo". If the rhythmic structure was changed so that the beats were half as long, then it might be described as "halving the beat". --Camembert 16:33, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Educational System - 1879-1890
Whatwas formal name of boarding schools
what are names of schooling like college?
I think you may have to say a bit more about this question? Are you looking for an official name used to describe schools where the pupils live there? If so, which country are you interested in? DJ Clayworth 04:22, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
ethical code of professional teacher in republic act 7836
Commonly referred to as: NAEP Code of Ethics for Test Administration and Data Collection - it's in PDF format, and here's the link, concerning governing the SAT's. --allie 22:18, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
To my eye (based on readnig the header information), it looks like it's lossless and uncompressed. →Raul654 07:35, Jan 24, 2005 (UTC)
It depends on the value of the 'encoding' field (word 3 of the header). Formats 2-7 are uncompressed PCM, therefore lossless. Formats 23-26 are ADPCM, which is a lossy, roughly 4:1 compression. Formats 1 and 27 are μ-law and A-Law, respectively, both lossy. Several of the others are DSP commands or data, designed to be processed by the NeXTMusicKit software. -Key45 21:22, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC).
Neon lamp
Hello,
my question is about a neonlamp I have in my room. It has the shape of a palmtree, but the right part of it doesn't glow as much as the left part.The weirdest thing is: when I touch the topdown right point of it the whole tree glows at the same amount, it has someting to do with the touching. Can I fix my lamp? And why is my lamp ok when I touch it?
Hope you know the answer!
greetings
--Sanneseubers 13:25, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Is it fairly new, or vintage? If you know the manufacturer, try this link. It's a handy one.
Consumers Handbook for people who hate telephone menus: [29] --allie 01:40, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Nellie Harbridge, artist
moved from Wikipedia:Help desk -- Ferkelparadeπ 13:34, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I am looking for any information on one Nellie Harbridge. I have recently acquired a pair of watercolours at auction, and would like to know if anyone knows anything about the artist. They appear to be approximately 70 years old, possibly older, from the signatures. Both are beautifully executed works of wild flowers gathered from beside a riverbank or pond, with details of waterlilies, water iris, forget-me-nots, mimulus, tansy and other flora, grasses and leaves. It may be that she was an amateur painter and I have purchased something which just gives me pleasure, but if there is a history behind the glass, I should be happier to know of it.
Well, a quick flip through Google, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Museum yielded nothing. However, do not despair: a call to Sotheby's and to Christie's American Arts Department in Manhattan might yield a clue. Both have an 800#. They'll ask you to send in photographs and won't guarantee a response; lovely, I know, but there you go. There is also a special database that dealers use, so try to locate a reputable one who specializes in this market - watercolors, prints, posters, et. cetera. A lot depends on the provenance, the condition of the watercolors, and of course - the name. Good luck! --allie 02:10, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I found some links for you to start; the third one is that artist database I referred to. --allie 20:56, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
What does the letter K stand for in this CNN article?
CNN.com
Updated: 10:54 a.m. EST (15:54 GMT) January 24, 2005
• Man wins 450k for wrongful surgery
LAW CENTER:
$450,000 settlement for wrong surgery
Friday, January 21, 2005 Posted: 9:12 AM EST (1412 GMT)
NEW YORK (AP) -- A hospital and the New York Rangers' hockey team doctor Thursday were ordered to pay $450,000 to a dance director and choreographer who had surgery on the wrong knee.
What does the letter K (450k) stand for in this article?
With kind regards
Martin de Wit
The Netherlands
kilo, i.e. thousand. -- John Fader 16:37, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
American Election 1860
As I understand it, the population of the US at this time was about 31,000,000
ONLY 5,000,000 PEOPLE VOTED
hOW MANY PEOPLE HAD THE VOTE?? or WHAT WAS THE APPROXIMATE BREAKDOWN OF THE POPULATION??
pRESUMABLY WOMEN COULDN'T VOTE
I unfortunately don't have time to dig up the numbers right now, but here's a couple of thoughts:
Age distribution. This has been changing in recent decades, but in the 1860s, I'd be surprised if more than 20 of the 30 million were of voting age.
Of course, women could not vote in the 1860 election, so take away another 10 million.
Slaves also couldn't vote, but I don't know if the 31 million figure is for population or for number of citizens, so let us ignore that for the moment.
Now take into account spatial distribution (most people lived in the big cities in the East coast, but maybe a million or two lived out in the middle of nowhere without much communication with the outside world and without much interest in the goings-on in politics), and an approximate 50% voter turnout does not look all that bad.
Oh, and methinks your caps lock key got stuck :P -- Ferkelparadeπ 17:46, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Here is everything you want to know about the US population in 1860 broken down by race, religion, male, female, and more. You crunch the numbers and get back to us. Sounds pretty interesting. [33] --allie 21:06, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Area from GPS coordinates...
Anybody know the best algorithm to calculate the area of a region bounded by points of which you know the latitude and longitude (from a GPS)? At the moment I'm cheating by assuming the earth is flat (which is a reasonable enough approximation over a small area, but not so great on a big one). Do I have to approximate the surface with a bunch of triangles in 3D space, or is there something more elegant? --Robert Merkel 23:40, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I'm guessing here, but how about mapping the coordinates onto an cylindrical equal-area map projection, and then taking the rectangular area? for "Lambert's Cylindrical Equal-Area" projection, it should be simply: x = longitude, y = sin(latitude), where lat and long are in radians. You'll have to multiply x and y by the number of kilometers in one radian as measured at the longitude of the equator. -Key45 02:32, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Someone asked this on another forum I peek at. And we're all struggling. --bodnotbod 05:00, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)
Well I don't think I've ever heard of steps having railings. And stairs are rarely outdoors. Does that help any? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 10:12, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
What about very wide steps up to the entrance of a museum, they sometimes have a rail. And you seem to acknowledge that stairs can be outside, though I can't think of any examples. So there's something unsatisfying about leaving it here. We said similar things at the other forum. Any other takers? --bodnotbod 16:36, Jan 25, 2005 (UTC)
I looked it up in the Oxford English Dictionary. Stairs are a series of fixed steps leading from one level to another; especially from one floor to another in a building, often connected by a railing. A step is a thing on which to place the foot ascending or descending. The plural is: steps. Also, in plural, a flight of (especially outdoors) stairs." That's why it's a muddle, I suppose. Even the OED is a bit confused on this one. --allie 22:41, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Could one say that stairs are a human construct? That steps exist naturally, but stairs do not, since they are essentially associated with buildings? Tim Rhymeless (Er...let's shimmy) 23:40, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Umm...not according to Led Zeppelin --allie 01:34, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think people who claim stairways can lie on the whispering wind can be safely excused as reliable sources on this matter... JRM 18:49, 2005 Jan 26 (UTC)
OK, looks like I'll have to accept that there's no delightfully solid distinction. --bodnotbod 19:31, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
fax modem software
I have a win xp machine with a fax modem, what software do I need to make it send and receive faxes? Is there some free software? Nothing came with it. Thanks, perplexed.
WinXP already has faxing support. Open "printers and faxes" (which is in the control panel, and several other places too) and in the bar on the left hit "set up faxing". -- John Fader 16:44, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Greatest number of runs from a single stroke
Can anyone tell me the greatest number of runs scored by a Test batsman following a single stroke of the ball. I imagine, for example, someone running four or perhaps five without (obviously) the ball reaching the boundary, followed by one or more overthrows.
I'd like to know the circumstances as well please.
Tulma
Have you tried... BBC • [34] because they have a pretty good search engine. --allie 22:47, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Cricinfo has a fantastic database of all cricketing stats. Here are the highest test scores in one over for example: [35]. Unfortunately I couldn't find the most runs off a single ball. At a guess I'd say seven - a no-ball hit for six (although on second thoughts I'm not sure whether the extra run for the no-ball is credited to the batsman). You could try asking at the cricinfo site. Let us know when you find the answer!. Lisiate 22:31, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Theoretically, couldn't you hit a no-ball, run 5 before it made it to the boundary, and then get another 4 on an over-throw that makes it to the boundary (ie, 10 runs)? Guettarda 22:44, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
True, but the question asks for something that has actually happened. I saw a no-ball hit for six in a State Shield game (NZ domestic one-dayers) last week so it probably has happened in one of the 1700+ test matches played. Lisiate 00:49, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Oops, my mistake, missed the crucial word "Test" up there. I was just thinking about school-yard blunders. Guettarda 06:14, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I need some translation help!! (flushing & drinking)
In whatever non-English language you're fluent in, please translate "He, who does not flush, shall drink." --Jiang 10:51, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I can't, unless you specify what meaning of "flush" you mean. "To blush"? "To flush the toilet"? "To take wing suddenly"? Some of the even more obscure meanings? Are you sure "flush" isn't translated from something else, here? JRM 11:27, 2005 Jan 25 (UTC)
Is this an obscure reference to alcohol-induced facial flushing as a deterrent to alcoholism? alteripse 21:23, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Sorry for not being clear on this. I mean "flush" as in flushing the toilet and "drink" as in drinking a beverage. I live with some pigs. --Jiang 22:45, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think subtlety and wit would be lost on them. Spell it out plainly, good luck, but don't bother to report back. alteripse 00:50, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Chinese: 他媽的死豬頭，你再不給我沖馬桶，就自己喝下去吧！ (I hate people when they don't flush. So do not expect me to be very polite. Ha!) -- Toytoy 05:33, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
French: Celui qui ne chasse l'eau, doit boire. That was the best one i could find from 3 i made up --Wonderfool 10:59, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Dutch: "Wie niet doortrekt moet drinken." JRM 18:39, 2005 Jan 26 (UTC)
German: "Wer nicht Spülen will, der soll trinken." (My German is not the best, however.) JRM 18:39, 2005 Jan 26 (UTC)
Swedish: Han som inte spolar, skall dricka. Alternatively, replace the first word ("Han" = he) with "Den" (gender-neutral). —Gabbe 20:04, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)
Latin doesn't have a concept for flushing toilets, of course, but how about "Qui latrinam non everrat, ex eadem bibeat" (he who does not clean the toilet, let him drink from it). Adam Bishop 00:15, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I don't understand UHF signals.
And I can't find any websites that really help. Despite the fact that there are several major TV broadcast stations in the area, the only one I have ever been able to get is NBC, which I gather is on a VHF channel. All of the other major stations are UHF. I am very tired of watching Law & Order.
Either I just can't get any UHF reception where I live (although everyone else in the building seems to at least get one additional channel—for most people it is the clearest and strongest channel), my TV doesn't work for UHF input (although it's supposed to), or I need to get a much more expensive antenna. I tried a $30 antenna but it wasn't any improvement over the $10 one. (Maybe I just don't know how to use it.) We're not talking bad reception. We're talking none whatsoever. Can anyone explain this to me? -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:25, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The book Backroom Boys (ISBN 0571214967) has a lengthy, and charmingly poetic, discussion about radio planning, the propagation of UHF signals, and particularly their diffraction over terrain. To summarise: even with the smartest computer models and really accurate details of the landscape it's still a black art to figure out where the signal goes and where it doesn't go. It's a problem worsened in places that have high urban penetration of cable or satellite TV - this changes (negatively) the economics of running a terrestrial transmission system, meaning its often uneconomic to install the necessary relay and booster transmitters needed to avoid inexplicable holes in the signal. All I can suggest is you move the antenna around - not just to "obvious" places like windows, but to "stupid" seeming places like inside corners, under beds, and near to metal stuff like fridges. Also note that the orientation of the dipole is important, so try reorienting that too. The sacrifice of chickens to Legba may be called for. -- John Fader 22:39, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think you're saying that you do have an antenna connected correctly to your TV. Is your TV set to "antenna" mode instead of "cable" mode? This would be set in the on-screen menus, usually using the keys on the remote control. That mode controls how it tries to receive signals when you dial channels 14 and above. In cable mode it tries to tune the frequencies that cable companies use to carry those channels on cable; in antenna mode it tries to get those channels from the UHF frequencies coming into the antenna. If it's wrong, you get nothing on those channels. (If you have an old TV that doesn't have on-screen menus, see if there's a switch on the back somewhere. Otherwise, it should only be in "antenna" mode for UHF.) --Sharkford 22:00, 2005 Jan 26 (UTC)
You're a genius. My new hero, even. I don't actually have a cable or antenna mode, but there's a channel auto-preset that goes searching. Which worked. I had no idea that it could actually not be looking in the right place. (It did occur to me to check the instruction manual, but I couldn't find it.) I now I have ten whole channels. -Aranel ("Sarah") 22:44, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
baseball
which american league baseball player won the most hone run titles?
Here is the "Official Baseball Almanac" which will find it in a heartbeat: [36] keep the link. You'll enjoy it. --allie 20:51, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Mitosis
What are the differences between plant and animal cell mitosis? (at least 3 please)
Are you sure this isn't a homework assignment? If you're supposed to know this, I'm pretty sure you'll find it in your biology book. Mgm|(talk) 08:40, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
To be fair, it might be good to have this info in the article!
It does! Please feel free to add the info if you can find it. 131.211.210.157 13:56, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
The famous "1984" commercial that launched the Macintosh during the Super Bowl in 1983 is purported to have been shown only once; but to qualify for 1983's advertising awards, the commercial also aired on December 15 th at a small TV station in Twin Falls, Idaho (KMVC Channel 11), and in movie theaters for weeks starting on January 17th.
This quote is allegedly from the book Apple Confidential, what it doesn't mention however is what movie theatres the commercial was shown in, how often etc. --ÆvarArnfjörðBjarmason 11:03, 2005 Jan 26 (UTC)
Nope. It sure doesn't I tracked down all the links, and the best I could come up with was that the award was the "Advertising Age" award from 1984. That's a pay site, but their research database only goes back to 1996. The only other possible solution is to send in a query to mac.com. Do you have an account? Let me know. --allie 04:22, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Hmmm...another thought is to call Chiat Day in NYC, They're still alive and kicking. Will put some thought into this and make some inquiries. It's pretty old...but the trail may still lead some clues. --allie
is mentioned in the article on Harley Granville Barker. Where can I find that encyclopaedia? Where can I find information about it? How many Wikipedia articles are based on it? <KF> 13:33, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
Googling yielded The Modern World Encyclopædia–Illustrated; Home Entertainment Library; London & Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson & Viney Ltd. 1935. For more information, I'd try asking ZayZayEM, the user who created the Granville-Barker article. Lupo 14:23, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Thanks. I originally thought it was available online, like those other ancient sources. <KF> 15:56, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
Here's a link for an ILL Inter library loan) for out off print books: call your local library & request a copy if you'd like: --allie 20:29, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Is it possible to post question to Wikipedia on matters there is no article on so far, and get it answered ?
I am searching information about "black painters" org "black textile colourers". Colouring textiles black was earlier a difficult matter that demanded special skills. Due to this the English Royal family had their licensed craftsmen to make the black fabrics for their best clothes. There were only a few of them (coulorers), and the last appointed "black painter" is said to have retired around 1930 - 1935. How can I go forward in searching more information on this matter, things like: Who where they, what where their (secret) processes, does anyone know these processes today, where did they operate, how did the community look at them, are there any descendants, and a lot more?
Regards
Stig Sund
Try:
[38] which is incredibly comprehensive & might give you links to UK
[39] which is a professional archival & conservation supplier for museums located in NYC. They'll have books & supplies...might know a resource in your part of the world.
George Washington's birthday is often given as Feb. 11, 1732, Old Style (Feb. 22, 1732 New Style).
Can anyone tell me if the birthdates listed with the older biographies in Wikipedia are New Style or Old Style, when neither style is specifically stated?
The short answer is probably "old style" but no clear way to know. Rmhermen 17:34, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
Typically it will be whatever was prevalent in that country at that time. Prior to the invention of the "new style" Gregorian calendar dates are consistently by the "old style" Julian calendar. The British Empire was a relatively late adopter (hence the need to give both dates for George Washington) and within the European World Russia was pretty much the last holdout (until the October Revolution... which by New Style reckoning took place in November). -- Jmabel | Talk 20:50, Jan 26, 2005 (UTC)
This is huge problem (challenge) for those of us interested in accurate historiochronology. I have done a large amount of private research in establishing whether published old dates are in NS or OS, and there is a surprising amount of information available if you're prepared to track down the right source, which is usually quite a task, but very satisfying when you find credible and authoritative information. I've discovered that in many cases, the published dates have indeed been converted into NS, but in many other cases they have not. There is no real rhyme or reason that I have ever discerned. Dates for Americans born 1582-1752 are nowadays usually (but not always) shown in NS style; on the other hand, dates for people born in Britain 1582-1752 are still usually (but not always) shown in OS style. You already know the problem of a published date being non-specific as to the calendar being employed, and unfortunately in the majority of cases there is nothing available on-line (such as published birth or baptism certificates) that would settle the question one way or another. That would require intensive research into old records, which would generally mean travelling to the country concerned to gain access to them - a daunting and effectively impossible task (that's if they exist, and if are publicly available). There's also the problem of somebody taking a date that they assumed is OS, and converting it into NS, but in fact the date they started with was NS to begin with, so the "converted' date turns out to rubbish. The late, great Nicolas Slonimsky, through his exhaustive efforts over half a lifetime (he died in 1995 aged 101), as editor of Baker's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, corrected a vast number of dates, birthplaces and other important details about composers and musicians, through his personal research into primary records. I'm unaware of anybody in any other field whose standing can match Slonimsky's for sheer accuracy and comprehensiveness. As Rhmermen says, in any given case it is usually not possible to know with certainty. But if you have particular names in mind, I would be happy to share my research results with you. Cheers JackofOz 00:27, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
DEFINITION OF THE WORD FLOPPY
(my ears) -- "Having a tendency to flop or flap"? [40]
with "to flop" meaning
To clap or strike, as a bird its wings, a fish its tail, etc.
Or for those of you over 20 years of age, "floppy" is also a noun shortened from floppy disk, a flat, circular removable data storage medium for personal computers. It is a piece of flexible plastic (Mylar?) in a rigid or semi-rigid, square plastic jacket with a hole in the center to rotate on a spindle in a computer floppy drive. Typical sizes in the 1970s were 8", then 5.25" in the early- to mid-80s, and 3.5" from the late 80s to present. Floppy disks are nearly obsolete. Cf 45 and 33 rpm vinyl records and nickel bags. alteripse 03:12, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think they are made of Mylar; VCR and audio cassette tape is. Compaq were the first PC manufacturer to make desktop machines without a floppy drive, but Macintosh had been doing it for years. And some people still use them (like me), because not all computers have USB ports, or will work with flash drives. As for the definition - I'd say "not rigid". Alphax(t)(c)(e) 06:03, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)
I remember them, they were used for "B Drive" bit
On permission to distribute derivative works
Greetings, Referencedeskians. IANAL, and probably YANAL, and WINLA (Wikipedia Is Not Legal Advice), but with these caveats behind us, let me present the following scenario:
Alice creates a copyrighted work.
Bob creates a derivative work of Alice's and distributes this, but does this without asking Alice for permission. (Bob will soon be visited by the faceless organizations that patrol Recent Violations, and hoard Alice's work, talent and moral rights in exchange for petty cash.)
Carol, a talentless but upright leech, sees Bob's work and wishes to distribute it, but notices that Alice is the original copyright holder and Bob has not asked for permission.
Am I correct in assuming that in order for Carol to legally do so, she needs permission from both Alice and Bob, assuming that Alice and Bob do not do anything about Bob's violation? If so, what is the status of Bob's rights after both Alice and Bob have given Carol permission?
Am I also correct in assuming that if Alice had given Bob permission to distribute his derivative work, it would have been sufficient for Carol to ask Bob's permission, or does this require explicit provisions on Alice's behalf to Bob? JRM 00:26, 2005 Jan 27 (UTC)
Carol needs permission from Alice and Bob, no matter what. That Bob violated Alice's copyright does not give Alice ownership rights to Bob's contribution, whether or not Alice and Bob settle their differences. Contracts between Alice and Bob may modify this, of course.
Bob is still a violator of copyright regardless of any permissions given by Alice or Bob to Carol. However, if by this Alice is given notice of Bob's infringement but chooses to do nothing about it, this may affect Alice's rights against Bob at a later date.
If Bob had Alice's permission to redistribute, Carol only has to ask Bob. —Morven 07:32, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)
I suspect it's a little more complex than this and revolves around just in what way Bob was derivative. He may not have violated Alice's copyright. As for Carol if she is indeed plainly copying, she will need permission from whomever she's copying from, either Bob if the answer to the first question is not a violation or both if the answer is yes a violation. But, some folks get the big bucks to squabble over this stuff and lobby legislatures to violate the spirit of the copyright grant, and I don't, so perhaps my view will be discounted by the court that must decide. ww 01:53, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Do you mean Dunhuang (敦煌)? -- Toytoy 16:42, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
8th grade tsunami report
I am trying to find info on where do most tsunami's happen? Can you help me find it.
You might want to check out our article on Tsunami. If you want to know where Tsunamis happen, it's important to think about what causes them. Tsunamis are caused by very large geological disturbances - the vast majority are caused earthquakes. Less often, they can be caused by volanoes (such as at Krakatoa) or meteors impacting the ocean.
However, as I said, the vast majority of them are caused by earthquakes. The most earthquake prone area on earth is Japan, because of plate tectonics (The earth's Mantle under Japan is cracked, and the plates tend to slide against each other, causing earthquakes). Remember, Tsunami is a japanese word. →Raul654 20:10, Jan 27, 2005 (UTC)
Algonquin info needed
I checked the pages on the algonquin and N. France but therer is no information about their specific contributions, I would need more specific informaiton. Any help would be appreciated --facundo
More specific information about what, specifically? Adam Bishop 23:55, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)
You're talking about the Algonquin and New France? A more specific question will get a more specific answer; you may also be looking for something in the French and Indian War? If so, this may be a userful link. - Nunh-huh 00:29, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Request for content on SMS topics & expatriate topics
I would love if you could expand your Communications by Country to include statistics for SMS/text messaging use per country.
Another area of information lacking is expatriate information. How many people from X country have moved to another area of the world?
These are hard to find pieces of information and if the Wikipedia community could band together to share their combined knowledge, it would be great!!
Bitmap to outline
I hope I have it articulated correctly. I am a programmer, and I am looking for an algorithm to convert a one-bit bitmap image to its representation as an outline. The outline should consist entirely of horizontal and vertical lines that form the general border of the bitmapped figure. An illustration should make it clearer.
I tried searching various terms, but nothing showed up. Online sources are preferable, as well as source code. Peter O. (Talk) 02:08, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)
Well you could probably get that kind of result with a variation on Conway's Game of Life, there should be plenty of implementations availabe for download. All you should have to do is change the parameters such that no new cells spawn and so that any cell with four neighbors dies and then step through the algorhythm once. I think that would give you the result your looking for. It's a bit of a hack, but hopefully someone more knowledgable than me will come up with a more elegant solution. --Cvaneg 19:31, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
You haven't made clear what you're seeking in the end, another bitmap with the outline, or a vector representation of the shape? If you want a vector representation, a two-step process should get you what you want:
Identify the boundary points using the method described by Cvaneg.
Convert the boundary points into a list of polygons. To do this, scan the "outline bitmap" left to right, top to bottom, until you hit a pixel. You've found a corner point (vertex). If it has an immediate neighbour, follow in the same direction until you can't do so any more, "eating" the pixels as you go. When you have to change direction, you've found another vertex. Continue until you end up at the place where you started. Start the scan again where you left off, and continue the whole process until the outline bitmap is blank.
There's several special cases I haven't described here, and undoubtedly several special cases I haven't thought of, but it should provide you a starting point. --Robert Merkel 01:36, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Yes, I wanted a vector representation of the bitmap. I thought I made it clear by saying "polygons". Surely other people can help me find more information.[Struck out because it was apparently rude. Peter O. (Talk) 00:29, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)]Peter O. (Talk) 03:54, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
Whilst we can all be frustrated when an answer we like eludes us, it does not prove fruitful to appear tetchy and ungrateful when somebody seeks to assist. --bodnotbod 23:15, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
Sorry for using the wrong words. That was not my intention. In any case, my algorithm now works, in which I use flood fills to perform part of the work, and I thank the fine editors for their help. Peter O. (Talk) 00:25, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
A couple of extra bits you may not know:
First, the method described by Cvaneg is essentially a cellular automaton or neighborhood algorithm. It can work pretty well, but you need, in general, to define the size of the examined neighborhood to be proportional to the size of the features you want to outline. (Imagine outlining the coast of Africa -- it's a fractal, so the size of your neighborhood will determine the scale of the outline)
An alternative raster-to-outline (still raster) is a variant on the Sobel algorithm -- essentially subtract the image from itself shifted vertically, then again horizontally, then take the magnitude of the vector sum: sqrt(a^2 + b^2) thanks pythagoras.
The second part, converting the outlines to vector polygons, is more art than science -- you'll always find cases where your algorithm has trouble. It's like trying to unscramble an egg, because if you think about it, it's easy to imagine a raster with no valid polygon description. So feel free to set your algorithm to work best on the type of cases you expect to see.
Do any plants require vitamins for good health? I am not talking about any sort of inorganic molecules or minerals, but organic molecules the plant needs, but cannot synthesize for itself. ike9898 14:44, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)
Do you mean houseplants? Try the Master Gardener link at Ohio State University. They'll explain why the need for fertilizer (aka vitamins) vary by the age of the plant, the season, and the amount of light:[41]--allie 17:25, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I don't think that the statement "fertilizer (aka vitamins)" is correct. The important components of fertilizer that I know of are mostly inorganic nutrients - sources of N, K, P etc. I'm really only interested in organic nutrients that any specific plant needs in order live in normal health. ike9898 17:39, Jan 28, 2005 (UTC)
Okay...here is a link to essential nutrients and ionic forms:
The simple answer to that question would be "no", plants are able to synthesize all the organic compounds they need from inorganics. But there is a more complicated answer too, since plants do exchange organics through root-to-root anastomoses, etc. Some of these may have an effect on plant growth, e.g., it has been suggested that some tree seedlings in the forest understorey might depend on carbon from adult trees, but I don't think there is all that much evidence of this, just conjecture. At the same time, I may be wrong, it's not really my field, I am not up to speed on the literature. Guettarda 18:32, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)
In the tragedy King Lear, a character, Gloucester, is tricked into thinking he has jumped from a high cliff (he is blind at this point), in an attempt to disuade him of his suicidal motive. There is a reference made to the height of the cliff, "ten masts at each make not the altitude". As an interesting query, I have been attempting to find information on the average mast lenghts of ships from the time period of this play (early 17th century). As of yet my search has yeilded few results, and I am writing this in hopes that a more net-savy individual might be able to find some. I realize this is an obscure request, but any information will help.
Thank you
I'm not sure how much this will help, but, at that time, they used the White Pine to make masts. These trees grow either: over 120 feet[42] or 75-100 feet(pdf)(html). -Frazzydee|✍ 16:46, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
All American city
What is the month, day and year that Phenix City, Alabama was named an All American city?
Many thanks for your help!
Sorry, I can't find the exact date, but I found the year (1955), if that helps.[43] -Frazzydee|✍ 14:39, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Clarki Clown fish
I have a fifty-five gallon saltwater aquarium that houses two Clarki-clowns as well as three other varieties of fish. The clowns have contracted what a pet store owner described as "pop-eye", but he would not elaborate. Is there anyone out there that can tell what it is and what I may be able to do for them to help or correct the condition. --anon
Here is an informative site on Pop-eye. SWAdair | Talk 07:35, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Can anyone explain how this page works? I have NO idea! --anon.
Step 2 will always result in a number that is a multiple of 9. If you look at the table, all the multiples of nine have the same character assigned to them. -- Cyrius|✎ 04:32, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
To explain it more mathematically, let's say you think of AB (so if you pick 78, then A=7 and B=8). The next step is to subtract both digits, so:
The number you picked = A*10+B
A*10+B - A - B = 9a
The value you get will always be a multiple of 9. →Raul654 04:57, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
Insomnia-- Blood-Alcohol level relation?
I heard somewhere that if you stay up for three or so days straight, that your blood-alcohol level goes up to .15, even if you haven't been drinking. (I think the legal driving limit is .08) Is that true? Does insomnia really cause a rise in your blood-alcohol level?
It seems rather unlikely. The human body isn't capable of creating alcohol. Alcohol is made by yeasts under anaerobic conditions, when they can't convert pyruvate (sugar breakdowns) to more useful products. Under similar conditions, humans make lactic acid, which is not an alcohol. You may feel woozy after several days without sleep, but it has nothing to do with alcohol.-gadfium 08:05, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I think I know what this is about - there have been several reports (military I think) on the effect of sleep deprivation on reaction time and judgement that liken the effects to alcohol intoxication. It is not that the body creates alchol, but that sleep deprivation creates similar effects.
The human body isn't capable of creating alcohol. - this is actually incorrect. If you ingest the right ingredients, you can term your stomach into a still and ferment alcohol in your digestive track. There have been cases of people getting drunk without ever drinking a drop of alcohol. →Raul654 11:00, Jan 29, 2005 (UTC)
It think it was in the early 1990s, there was a Daedalus column in Nature that talked about this background fermentation issue. -- Toytoy 02:07, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
If you can reference this I will write an article about it. I remember a tv show many years ago with that plot twist, but I have never seen the phenomenon referenced in a medical context, and suspect it is bogus, perhaps a perverted and misunderstood understanding of some rare inborn error of metabolism. Can you back it up? alteripse 14:57, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Possibly, but in the context of sleep deprivation, this is not what is going on.
My dog gets drunk from eating apples. At least, we suspect its drunkenness.--Wonderfool 16:02, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Yes, but this is probably because they are fermenting. Elephants do the same thing. There is alcohol in the fermenting apples.
Dogs are much less tolerable to alcohol than us human (but on the Internet, no one knows if I am a dog ...). If your dog gets drunk, feed your dog with MUCH LESS apple or DO NOT feed your dog any apple at all. -- Toytoy 02:07, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
Batch convert m4a to mp3?
What's the fastest, easiest and cheapest way to do this on Win 2k? Thanks!
Yes, I've used dbpoweramp to do a different conversion in the past: ogg->mp3 and found it good enough for my needs. Though I'm no kind of audiophile, so my standards probably aren't very exacting. --bodnotbod 16:36, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)
Sri Lanka
There was a question about sri lanka - I added some infor to Sri Lanka Politics.
Is this an actual question? Peter O. (Talk) 19:32, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
murder of richard hessler
Is it true that two university students from chicago, straus and steiner killed a boy of 12 just for fun, at the beginning of the 20th century? - (unsigned)
No, but Judd Steiner and Artie Straus are the names given to Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in the just-barely-fictionalized version of their story, Compulsion, written in 1956 by Meyer Levin. It became a movie in 1959. There have been other fictionalized versions of the actual story, as well. - Nunh-huh 00:03, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
hand watchmaking methods
watch manufacturing
handwatches
You're going to have to ask an actual question. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:05, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Orchestra: placement of members
Is there a generally accepted placement of music players (strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion) in an orchestra? Who decides who should be where? -- Toytoy 03:13, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
There are some diagrams here that are fairly helpful. The ones toward the top are more standard, but there are some more unusual arrangements further down the page. Typically, strings are in the front and percussion in the very back. This may have something to do with the properties of their sounds. (If the strings were behind the brass section, the conductor probably wouldn't be able to hear them very well...) It also tends to be helpful to the musicians to be able to hear related sections (for example, second violins will often play harmony to the first violin melody), but I don't know how significant that is at a professional level. -Aranel ("Sarah") 03:22, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
If the brass section was in front, the conductor probably wouldn't hear anything very well after a performance. -- Cyrius|✎ 04:59, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
one-celled organism (commonly studied in intro-Biology)
I remember in 8th grade Biology studying a one-celled organism under a microscope. It was translucent, consisted only of a single cell, and it was in water taken from a lake. To "eat", the cell would surround a foreign object with its own cell walls, which then closed around the object, forming a bubble containing that object within the cell.
I suppose it depends on where one is when taking 8th grade biology. I'm guessing you might be thinking of some sort of amoeba, but one-celled organism that uses phagocytosis leaves a lot of possibilities. - Nunh-huh 06:17, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Wow, perfect. Thanks Nunh-huh! My next question is, can anyone recommend a good versatile microscope for an amateur (an adult amateur, so I can afford nice toys :) to watch such organisms? Jawed 06:26, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I love guessing right<g>. Can't help you on the microscope - (someone else pays for the ones I use—which I highly recommend, by the way), but unless you're going to do a lot of amoeba-watching, I'd go for a cheap one. Maybe someone who knows more will chime in. - Nunh-huh 06:31, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I don't own one either, but here's what I feel: Don't buy something too cheap that it doesn't have enough magnification even to make out the critters! Then you'd just be wasting money. Unicells probably need at least...at least 100X (10X ocular, 10x objective lens). Maybe 400X (10X ocular, 40x objective). 1000X is probably not necessary....it needs oil immersion anyway. One eyepiece or two? Two's very comfortable, but one's not bad either. It's very weird at first, but you'd get used to it. But 1-eyepiece microscopes are cheaper I believe.
Microscopy is a visual treat. Anything small can be placed under there, and details appear magically! --Menchi 18:01, 2 Feb 2005 (UTC)
how does heavy water taste?
So heavy water is just like normal water except that the hydrogen atoms are of the heavy isotope deuterium. According to Heavy water: "Heavy water is not considered toxic, but some metabolic reactions require light water, so consumption of exclusively heavy water can cause illness."Question: How does heavy water taste? If you had a cup of heavy water, could you tell it apart from normal water, just by playing with it? I guess it would weigh more... ;P Jawed 07:42, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I can't imagine one could tell the difference by taste. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:43, Jan 30, 2005 (UTC)
Ditto. Chemically, it's identical to ordinary water, so it should affect the chemoreceptors in the tongue and nose the same way. -- Dominus 00:00, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I suspect it would be noticable heavier if you weighed it. Drinking water has an atomic weight of 18.015, and I believe that heavy water would be 2 heaver (20.015). →Raul654 00:41, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)
High and Low
Has anyone ever reached the peak of Everest and got to the bottom of the Mariana Trench? If not, who's got the closest, or who has been at the greatest difference in altitudes. Then I guess its unlikely that anyone's ever been to both of them and the 2 Poles. Explorers, you have a new quest.
Read the sociolinguistics article for starters. You might also want to obtain the fourth edition of Contemporary Linguistics—its sociolinguistics section is very well explained and thought out. --GeluIgnisque
German Military Aircraft
Could you please tell me the manufacturer and designation of the german military aircraft used in the Indiana Jones movie " Raiders of the Lost Ark ". It appeared to be some sort of delta wing with no separate tail. I thought it was a Blohm und Voss but I must be mistaken.
Thanks.
It's also worth noting that the prototypes the plane in the movie was based on are all from the late-war period - delta wing designs were not far enough advanced for flyable planes of that size in the mid-30s. The specific shape of the plane seems to owe more to desings by the Horten brothers or Alexander Lippisch than to Blohm&Voss aircraft -- Ferkelparadeπ 23:57, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles
Find the acre in a triangle
I have the measurement of a triangle they are 1928 feet and 1423 feet and 1450 on the bottem. Can you tell me how to measure the acre in this triangle.
Thanks Ruthann
Using Heron's formula will give you the area in square feet. There's 43560 square feet in an acre. -- Cyrius|✎ 17:18, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
VHS Capture
I'm experimenting with converting some old VHS tapes to DivX. I transferred the VHS (PAL)output onto a DVD-RW and from then to my hard disk. Previewing the output in VirtualDubMod I can see VHS tracking bars at the bottom that weren't visible (cropped by the TV) when I captured from the tape. I've been trying to see if there is a filter for VirtualDub to remove (or rather shift) the tracking bars, but I can't find any. Other than cropping the video to remove the bars, has anyone got any ideas about how I could remove the tracking bars? Jooler 16:40, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Schengen: microstates in general and Andorra in specific
I have not been able to find conclusive explanations of the exact status Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City State enjoy in regards to the Schengen countries (whether just the border checks have been abolished or whether they are treated like signatories), and additionally, I have encountered conflicting information on whether Andorra has border checks with Spain and France or whether she doesn't. Any answers out there? Nightstallion 17:32, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Andorra accepts Schengen passports, non-EU visitors must get a Schengen multiple-entry visa from either a French or Spanish embassy (as all entry to Andorra is by either nation). Andorra apparently does not do any special passport checks. Likewise San Marino and the Vatican City State don't need passport checks, by a special agreement with the EU, with Italy responsible for them. Monaco is not a Schengen signee, but as it falls under the French customs area, it accepts French visa, and therefore by extension Schengen visa (EU passport holders don't need a visum). hth, User:Anárion/sigUser:Anárion/sig 08:45, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
That means as far as border checks are concerned, all four microstates are de facto equal to Schengen countries? And out of curiosity, where did you find the information? Thanks. Nightstallion 12:08, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Apparently yes, they are Schengen. I googled for it: San Marino and the Vatican City State are treated as part of Italy as far as customs are concerned (see also [44]), Andorra is discussed here [45]. Monaco is mentioned here with "visas for travel to Monaco (…) may only be issue(d) by a French Embassy or Consulate." However from other info such as Politics of Monaco, and also Monaco's website, it becomes clear that France handles Monaco's foreign policy, including visa. User:Anárion/sig 12:29, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Alright then, thanks a lot. Then it's apparently an error on behalf of the German wikipedia. Nightstallion 12:57, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Whjere is Painter's Path?
I am reading a short story that was writtn by Mary Elizabeth Vroman entitled " See How They Run".She is an African American writer. The story is included in the book African American Lierature, An Anthology by DemetriceA. Worley and Jesse Perry, Jr. Second Edition,eitor:NTC Publishing Group a division of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Lincolnwood, Illinios USA.1997.One of the protagonist, Brooker T. Adams,say that "I live in Painter's Path" I want to know where that place is located.
application inquiry
am from Kenya and i want to study biochemistry how do i register and what are you qualifications for the course based on my country's education system.e-mail [email protected]
I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but I'll make some assumptions and try to get you started. Unfortunately, the process for admission to US universities is not standardized. You will have to get information from each university you are interested in. You will almost certainly need to submit official transcripts of your educational background. You may also be asked for your scores on a particular standardized test, such as the SAT or GRE. Separate from getting admitted to the school of your choice, you will also have to deal with getting government permission (a visa) to come to the US to study. If you don't already have a Kenyan passport, you should apply for one. If you have more specific questions, we may be able to help you better. Good luck! ike9898 20:36, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)
You may have better luck at a Commonwealth country such as Britain, Australia or Canada, as they are more likely to understand your school qualifications, and are probably more likely to grant a visa. Try these references: [46][47] for the UK. DJ Clayworth 06:16, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Most large (and many small) universities in the United States (or anywhere) will have an office that works specifically with international students. They'll be used to dealing with qualifications from different countries, but some are probably better at accomplishing the translation than others. If you look at the websites for particular schools, the ones with larger programs will probably have information for international students, as well as people you can contact with questions; you may also be able to get into touch with international students who are actually at the school who can tell you how well things actually work out. -Aranel ("Sarah") 03:56, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
RS-232 vs. RS-485
I have a piece of old equipment that has EITHER an RS-232 or an RS-485 interface, I don't know which. Can I tell which one it is just by looking at the socket? ike9898 20:26, Jan 31, 2005 (UTC)
As I understand it, both RS-232 and RS-485 were electrical protocols, but not mechanical protocols. In other words, things like connectors and pinouts are not defined. Of course, there was a certain amount of "standardization" in various areas of application. Unfortunately, both 232 and 485 commonly used 25 pin DSubs, 9 pin DSubs. In other words, you probably won't be able to tell by looking (unless there's some obvious label). Oh, I do think I've seen 232 implemented with only 3 wires, whereas I think 485 uses a minimum of 5. If you've got only a few pins actually present, that may help out.
Where this forum might be most useful to you would be in finding information on your particular piece of equipment. Can you tell us brand, model, maybe even serial number or date of production? -Rholton 04:45, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Short answer, not with any certainty.
Longer answer, manufacturers used a variety of connectors for both. Note also that there were non-standard implementations of both from various manufacturers, so RHolton's suggestion of checking the equipment's history is well taken. Part of the fun of using these connection methods was finding out which signal on which pin was needed to get the connection to work at all. There are several signals which are meant as operating checks (eg, carrier detect coming from the DCE end and meaning originally that the phone connection was operating and ready), or flow control (eg, clear to send and ready to send both of which serve as announcements (mandatory in some implementations) of status at one end or the other). In real life, these often had to be faked by suitable cross wiring of pins within the connector shells.
There are several issues in using these protocols without proper documentation, including how to set operating parameters such as baud rate, number of stop bits, and parity. Each of these points applies to merely getting a byte from one end of the cable to the other without erroring out. Any interpretation of the byte stream is another (higher on the protocol stack) issue. ww 18:18, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
NIKO KOVAČ- croatian footbal player
Can somebody answer me? Maybe some of you knows his official e-mail address, or any other way for me to contact Niko??? Thank you, croatian girl
Try the club he plays for - Hertha Berlin. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 02:04, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)
US Income Tax Accounting Q
When I get paid by my employer, how does the U.S. Internal Revenue Service decide under which fiscal year that money falls? (e.g. how do they decide that some particular lump of money counts as income for fiscal year 2004, as opposed to 2005?) Is it based on end-of-pay-period date indicated by my employer? On the date on the employer's check (which is variably different from the former date)? On the date when I deposit that check?
What happens if, say, I do some work in November, but my employer doesn't mail me a check for it until January? (This latter situation hasn't happened to me -- I just bring it up to try to understand the rules better.)
If you care, I'm hoping that understanding this better will help me reconcile my own accounting records with my employer's W-2 form.
I am not an accountant, but the basic answer is that if you are a regular employee, you will get a W-2 statment from your employer (Has to be sent out by Jan 31st) that will show the total amount the IRS will consider as your wages from that employer. How the employer decides whether it is 2004 income or not is governed by a lot of detailed rules the IRS has for income recognition. I think the IRS considers all regular employees to use cash basis accounting, which means the income is yours the date the employer puts on the check, as long as it was not unreasonably changed just to avoid being taxed in that year. The date you cash the check has no bearing on when you recognize it as income. Your employer will likely not do what you outlined in your hypothetical example because they want to recognize the income in 2004 because it gives them a deduction, reducing their taxes. At the IRS website, www.irs.gov you can download 'publications'. They are basically fairly well understandable to normal people willing to invest the effort in figuring them out. Publication 538 answers some of that. Though it applies more to businesses, it answers some of what you were looking for. I can't think of exactly what other publications cover that issue, but I think Pub 15 pdf would have some of it too. - Taxman 18:38, Feb 1, 2005 (UTC)
Inventor of Glass Heads in Futurama
Who was the inventor of the glass head thingies in Futurama? --66.215.219.188 08:42, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)
sir,
1.i made a mistake for not printing my confirmation page that carry password.
2.i re fill the form but ithe confirmation page did not open
3.am having 2 bar code
4.can i go ahead wih my interview which is on 15 febuary 2005
thanks
Sorry, can you be more specific? Are you trying to get a Visa or a Visa card? Alphax(t)(c)(e) 14:01, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
I actually knew that. That's what prompted the question: What's the english word for legañas? Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 13:22, Feb 2, 2005 (UTC)
Official, as far as I can google, is "mucus", and Joyous said. Colloquially, one might say "you have sleep in your eye" => "sleep" or, is you listen to too much Zappa, "sleep dirt". --Tagishsimon(talk)
"sleep" is good colloquial English, as is "sand." Children have been told that the sandman visits them every night.
Where was cholera first discovered?
What are some characteristics of cholera?
Please help. I need this for a shcool project by monday Nov. 15 2004!
If you can answer either of my questions please e-mail me at:
[email protected]
THANK YOU SO MUCH 4 YOUR TIME AND COOPERATION!
Hi,
I am doing a project for school. It is do Monday, January 10, 2005. I don't really understand the part that talks about the G proteins being locked in the "on" position. I understand it a little bit b/c in my Biology class we talked about cancer and onco genes. If you could email a diagram or something that explains it a little better that would be greatly appreciated. My email is [email protected]. Thank you so much.
HELP! I need to know when cholera was discovered; for a project due Friday Feb. 4. Email me at [email protected]. 3 DAYS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Normally we're not here to do your homework for you. It's better to find things out for yourself. However a little hint: go to Google (click here), type in "cholera discovered" and look at the first few entries that come up. DJ Clayworth 06:09, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
culture differences between asia and nz
You should probably ask a question, but the main ones I can think of:
There are more sheep in New Zealand than there are New Zealanders
Disclaimer: Anything said when no question is asked is liable to interpretation, the accuracy of which is not guaranteed. YMMV. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 13:41, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
question
how do i site this web site
Wikipedia:Citing wikipedia should give you all you need to know (the link is at the top of this page by the way). Lisiate 02:23, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The Last Supper
Do you have a picture on your site enlarged of The Last Supper since it has been restored at this present time? If so can you email it to me at [email protected] thankyou.
See also Yo Mama's Last Supper and The Last Supper (disambiguation). I am shocked at how little information there is about this very popular theme in art. Am I missing a page that deals with this or lists the important works of art based on this?
Why the number PI for surface and circumference?
Why does the number pi (3.14...) appear in the calculation of both the circumference and the surface of a circle? I understand that pi expresses the number of times that the diameter of the circle fits into the circumference, but thus far I have not been able to figure out (nor has anybody been able to explain to me) why pi also expresses that the surface of the circle is 3.14... times the surface of a square with sides that equal the length of the circle's radius.
The presence of the constant pi in the formula for both the circle's circumference and surface cannot be a coincidence. However, what is the underlying mathematical explanation?
You are right - it is not a coincidence. The link between the circumference and the area formula is explained in words in the circle article, but it is easier to understand with diagrams like this. Gandalf61 15:42, Feb 3, 2005 (UTC)
Thanks to Gandalf61 for the very useful references ! Dominiek
It's not coincidence. I don't know if this will help, but it is a low-level analysis of how the π gets from the circumference formula into the area formula.
Suppose you have a circle of radius R, and you want to find its area, but you don't know the formula. You might try cutting it up into a lot of narrow concentric rings, each one with a width of say h. Then The area of the circle is the sum of the areas of the rings. If the radius of a ring is r, then its circumference is close to 2πr, since the ring is very narrow, and so its area will be close to 2πr·h, also because the ring is very narrow. So we want to add up the areas of all these rings, where r varies from close to zero for the innermost ring all the way up to R for the outermost ring.
So the total area is something like 2πh·h + 2πh·2h + 2πh·3h + ... + 2πh·R. We can factor out the 2πh2 from each term, getting 2πh2·(1 + 2 + ... + R/h).
The sum of 1+2+...+R/h is equal to the number of terms (R/h) times the average term ((R/h+1)/2) and so is (R2/h2 + 1)/2. (See arithmetic progression.) Then the total area is 2πh2·(R2/h2 + 1)/2 = πh2·(R2/h2 + 1) = πR2 + πh2. But h is very small, and so h2 is very very small, so we can disregard it, and we find that the area is actually πR2.
Mathematicians make this kind of argument so often that they have a special way of saying it quickly. They say that "the area is the integral of the circumference". "Integral" just means to divide something into very small slices and then add up the slices the way we did. They write to express the conclusion, that if you add up a lot of little slices of size 2πr for different rs between 0 and R, it totals up to πR2.
I hope this helps at least a little. -- Dominus 18:36, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Yes, your argument is both concise and quite clear. I appreciate it. -- Dominiek
Why is windoze such a piece of crap?
Help! My Winxp box just crashed in the middle of a crucial task. The bastard won't start, keeps trying to boot then restart. Is my harddisk recoverable? Aargh. Bollocks. Help appreciated.
When XP boots and restarts, it's rolling back the corrupted registry to an earlier state. It's probably worth letting it do this half a dozen times before you conclude that there is no stable state for your registry. After that, you need to boot from the Windows XP cd and select the recovery console. You'll need to know your administrator password. If you bought your machine with XP pre-installed, you may not have an XP cd and you may not know your administrator password. In this situation, you may be able to recover your drive with a third-party utility program. Otherwise, you're stuck with a reinstall of the operating system which is likely to wipe out all your data. If you have a backup, use that. If you have an option to boot into a diagnostic partition, or you got a recovery CD with your system, you can probably reinstall the original system without help from your computer dealer.
If you need to recover data from your drive before reinstalling XP, one option is to ask for a Knoppix live linux CD (or similar) from your local Linux user group or friendly Linux user. You'll be able to use that to get data off your existing drive, and you may be able to use that instead of a third-party utility to repair your existing filesystem, although the details of how to do that are probably too technical for someone who asks such a question here.-gadfium 21:53, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The (possibly only) cool thing about XP is that there are two installation options, one that does a fresh install and one (I think it's labelled "upgrade" or something of the sort, but I haven't done it recently enough to remember) that sort of reinstalls on top of the current version. If you use the second option (I think it's listed second, but read the descriptions and it should be pretty obvious), all your data will be retained. I have never had any success whatsover with any of the system restore options (which doesn't mean that you won't), but the reinstall works pretty well. -Aranel ("Sarah") 03:45, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Cabbage Patch Kid
Hello, just a question if you would be able to help me, i picked up a cabbage patch kid from a op shop, First edition 1978-1982 O.A.A Inc by Mattel CB 4B, and has a purple signature on her bottom,she is made of hard plastic measures from the top of her head to her foot about 35cm her eyes are brown and she has one small tuff of brown hair coming out of the middle of her head, she also has like breather holes, one on each heel of her foot, one between her legs, and one just under the writing on the back of her head, i think they are there incase you want to play with her in the bath. She has her original toweling jacket with two pink bows on the front she also has a red velvet dress on but i don't think its her original out fit, I would like to sell this doll in the future, would you be able to tell me a reasonable price i could sell her for, as i don't have any idea about the prices on cabbage patch kids. I hope you don't mind me asking you as i have no idea who to ask, i have looked on the net about kpk but haven't been able to see any history on the kpk i have got... I also picked up a fairy kpk looks brand new she has green eyes, a hard plastic head, golden curly brown hair tied up in a pony tail, she is wearing green and a pink fairy costume with pink wings on her back, on her cheek is a pink rose and she is wearing a pink rose necklace tied around her neck with pink ribbon, and around her wrist she is wearing a pink rose with a green leaf,she is made out of stocking like material, she has a green signature on her bottom, she was made by Mattel in 1995. She measures about 25cm, could you give me a price on her as well, looking forward to your reply.
Thanks Cheers Lyn.
Ebay is probably your best bet here, you can gauge the market price of most things there.
Take me with you and its meaning in English
Answers.com is a mirror of Wikipedia, among its other content. In the process of writing an article about Answers.com, and then trying to add some more content about its features, I formulated the following question:
My question is about the subject take me with you, which has the unusual quality that if you interchange the me with the you, the meaning is not inverted, as you might expect from a simple substitution of pronouns, but instead takes off into another realm of meaning completely.
Version 1: Take me with you might be something uttered by a child as his parents go off on some adventure, leaving the child with a babysitter.
Version 2: If you want a piece of me, I'll take you with me, which might be uttered by a man about to engage in combat with another man.
If you enter the word take into Answers.com's search box, you get a page with over 100 different meanings and uses for the word take; by contrast, Wikipedia's entry on the Answers.com take page has only 2 meanings, which is not too bad, considering the 'pedia is not a dictionary.
Now my question is: this is not in Answers.com, even with its 100+ meanings for the word take. Where can I put this into Wikipedia? What concept does this fit under, in Wikipedia? If I were to successfully put all this on a Wikipedia page, eventually, this page will also get into Answers.com, via the automated feed from Wikipedia.
You are pointing out that in a sentence like I may die, but I'll take lots of you with me, or I may go to prison, but I'll take you with me that the phrase has a sinister or threatening connotation that is not one of the listed meanings of the word take in Answers.com. This use of take is quite ordinary. It is the stated or implied destination that implies the connotation. Or am I misunderstanding your topic? alteripse 14:28, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I'm not entirely sure I understand your post, but generally speaking, word definitions should be added to Wiktionary, one of Wikipedia's sister projects. — Itai (f&t) 14:36, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Thank you for the insight that the meaning of the sentence lies completely outside its content; that the unstated part is that you are going somewhere; I may or may not be going (depending on whether or you take me). So take me with you. In this restatement, the inversion take you with me retains the same sense. Thank you. Ancheta Wis 09:43, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Hebrew for tetragrammaton?
I'm asking here because I don't know that people knowledgeable in my question would frequent the page in question...
Another album is in the making and should be around in July of 2006. It is rumoured to be called יהוהיהוה, which is Hebrew for Tetragrammaton.
Now, I know that the Hebrew shown is not the Tetragrammaton. Is it really the Hebrew for the word Tetragrammaton? If so, the word should be italicized in the article. -Rholton 04:05, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Transcribing the letters, it is yʊd'hä'väv'hä'-yʊd'hä'väv'hä'- which is YHVH twice, the Tetragrammaton Ancheta Wis 09:23, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Biographical details on Chef from South Park
I am having trouble tracking down details on the Chef from South Park. What do we know about his life? How long has he worked at the school? His previous jobs? Help is appreciated.
Um, you do realize this is a fictional character in a cartoon, right? I doubt Parker and Stone put much thought into a backstory. Nelson Ricardo 14:20, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
But if you write to them, you might inspire them to do so! -- Jmabel | Talk 19:05, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
I fail it!
I think I failed it at Maestà - could someone fix it?
In not translating words which have meaning as concepts, it appears that Paul states to Christians (in Romans) I long to see you, so that I may share with you a certain pneumatic charisma (Romans 1:11-12). Charisma is derived (etymologically) from makarismos, which means the manner in which those who had witnessed the mysteries of mystery religions were considered blessed, and pneumatic is the gnostic term for the class of people who were governed by their spiritual side and thus saved.
However, I talked to a friend who studied Greek and he tells me that the word is actually pneumatikon, which is an adjective. Pneuma is a generic Greek word for spirit, not exclusively Gnostic. The other word is Charisma, which is a general Greek word for "gift". Thus it does not make it a confirmation of Gnosticism.
Can some clarify this for me? - Ta bu shi da yu 05:37, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The NIV says: "11I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong". I think linking to Talk:Paul and Gnosticism may be useful at this point. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 13:15, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
The actual Greek expression is charisma pneumatikon, "a spiritual gift". (Personally, I think anyone who claims that Paul was a Gnostic is mistaken, but the Gnostics certainly loved some of his writigns.) Charisma in the New Testament generally refers to gifts given by God. (Paul also likes to use related charis, grace.) I think the Christians used this word more than it was used elsewhere. See [48].
Pneuma is definitely not an exclusively Gnostic word. (It appears frequently in the Septuagint.) Pneumatikos is the adjective you would use to refer to anything spiritual and is not exclusive to the Gnostics. (Anglicizing it as pneumatic is perfectly acceptable, but it does tend to call to mind the Gnostic "pneumatics", which is not what the word actually means.) Pneumatikos is absolutely not "a Gnostic term". (If I spoke of a charismatic leader, would you automatically assume that I was referring to a Charismatic Christian leader?) -Aranel ("Sarah") 17:03, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
In this case, the warning at the top of the article really means it. DJ Clayworth 07:35, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Drive on
What is the bamboo viper in this Johnny Cash song?
Question moved from article space -- Ferkelparadeπ 12:35, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
do anyone knows why bedouins in sinai desert wear dark robes instead of white robes when the whether there is so hot that when dark robes absorb heat they can hardly live? -- User:202.148.164.241
While black absorbs heat more rapidly than other colours (such as white) it also dissapates heat more rapidly. I think I saw a TV show that asked this question and the answer was: black robes create a better airflow up through the robe than a white robe would. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 13:03, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
press releases providing information regarding new engineering techniques, new scientific projects etc
I would be most obliged to find out if the British Association for the Advancement of Science is interetsed in being sent information regarding newbreaks in engineering or scientific achjievemments etc.
[49] has their contact details, and they should be able to help you. Shimgray 18:00, 4 Feb 2005 (UTC)
K-1 Kerosene
I would like to know is there different K-1 kerosenes'. Is there a clear and one died yellow?
There are various different dyes used to mark kerosene. They are typically used for marking different quality grades or kerosene under particular tax classifications.
A web search turns up no usage of visible yellow dyes. The EU uses small amounts of a yellow dye as a chemical marker, but the percentage is too small to be seen unless performing specific tests for it.
Other sources indicate that visibly yellow kerosene is old and degraded, or mixed with a lower grade fuel. Said sources (mostly heater manufacturers) state that such kerosene is below K-1 spec and will generate smoke and possibly damage heater equipment. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:14, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
An unknown ancient Bracelet and photos link
Dear Sir,
I wonder may be some of your experts can help me out on this bracelet.
I have a very old bracelet that was inside a very old wood box and the bracelet was covered with years and
years of durt. I cleaned it up and found pictures on the bracelet. I have asked few people (oh, by the
way, I live in USA) but no one can recognize what the bracelet is or what the pictures mean. To me these
pictures are showing some kind of story. I wonder if you might recognize this bracelet or know where it
came from. Please click the photos link below to see this bracelet.
What is this old bracelet and photos link Author: hcchcc (---.indy.rr.com)
Date: 02-03-05 08:25
Hi, I have a very old bracelet that was inside a very old wood box and the bracelet was covered with years
and years of durt. I cleaned it up and found pictures on the bracelet. I have asked few people (oh, by the
way, I live in USA) but no one can recognize what the bracelet is or what the pictures
mean. To me these pictures are showing some kind of story. I wonder if you might recognize this bracelet
or know where it came from. Please click the photos link below to see this bracelet.
If there are any Jewish elements in it, I would have to focus on what looks like a menora or a chanukia,
and a lion holding a plate cut into twelve parts. It could represent David holding the united twelve
tribes, a war, and then another plate cut into five parts, whatever that means.
Hi, Thank you so much for helping. I did know the parts of "what looks like a menora or a chanukia, and
a lion holding a plate cut into twelve parts. It could represent David holding the united twelve tribes, a
war,...", that's why I thought this bracelet might has something to do with Jewish.
However, today, I did find out from the book of "The Compleat Astrologer" published by Mitchell Beazley
Limited in 1971, the symble of "the circle with a dot in the middle" represents the Sun. And this bracelet
has 3 Sun symbles on the center of top edge, and 3 Sun symbles on the right of bottom edge. Plus, I found the Water kind of symbles on the left of top and bottom edges. And my guess is that the plate with 12 parts
might be the 12 houses of sky.
Any thought? Thanks. Jessica
I'd appreciate very much for your help. I am looking
forward to your response. Thank you very much.
Best Regards,
Jessica
This is really exciting!!!!! I think you have found definitive proof that the lost tribes of Israel made it to the New World!!!! Lots of people in the 19th century speculated about this and there have been other suggestive artefacts found before this, but Wow-- a menorah on an Indian bracelet is pretty irrefutable!!!!! I predict you will be a hero to the Mormons and the pseudoarchaeologists alike. (Now let's see, thats Jews, Mormons, Indians, pseudoscience fans, and wikipedians who take the ref desk too seriously--- anyone I haven't offended yet?) Glossobuccalicly yours, alteripse 00:59, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
One doesn't have to take the reference desk too seriously to be annoyed by someone actively being an ass. -- Cyrius|✎ 01:20, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
All right, sorry, I suppose I deserve that. I just looked at the pictures and couldn't help it. alteripse 01:48, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
i just found out about this site, and after a couple searches i couldn't agree more with my-self that this website was the best and most helpful site on the Internet.
i apricaite that this is a free site and that it is so helpful and provided so much info.
makes school that much easiar. Thank You
Keep up the schoolwork. Spelling, grammar and punctuation will all fall into place with sustained practice.
Accents
Dear Friends:
I am having trouble duplicating some accents or diacritical marks. The most common problem for me is how to represent the small "e" with an acute accent - that is commonly used in French, Spanish and many other languages. You have the large "E" acute (É) in the characters at the bottom of each page - but not the small form of the letter. I also couldn't find it in "special characters" under "Editing help."
Can you, perhaps, tell me how to represent this accented letter (and, if there is such a capability, how I can represent other letters with accents - such as a dot below or above letters, etc.?)
If you're using Windows, go to start -> run and type "charmap", which brings up the character-map program, and allows you to select special characters. If you're using a UK keyboard, type [alt gr]+[e]. But my version is certainly displaying é in the list of selectable characters in the edit window... perhaps try in another browser? Shimgray 01:41, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Small e-acute is there for me. I see "Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú Ý ý · À à È è Ì ì Ò ò Ù ù...". What do you see? (BTW, worst case: "é" will show as "é"). -- Jmabel | Talk 01:54, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
Also, if you're using Windows, you can hold down the Alt key, type 130 on your numeric keypad, and let go of the Alt key, to get the é. Taco Deposit | Talk-o to Taco 02:34, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
é is meant to be typed without the surrounding quotes, by the way. ;-) --GeluIgnisque
US income tax e-filing
I just recently e-filed my US income taxes. As part of the filing process they ask you to make up a PIN (any 5 characters, I think), and then tell you THERE IS NO NEED TO REMEMBER THE PIN. What possible purpose could this serve? A possibly important detail, I am married, and they wanted a PIN code from each of us. And just to be perfectly clear, the form WAS NOT asking for any sort of code that we were supposed to have beforehand; they wanted ANY 5 digit #. Wierd. ike9898 05:43, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
Internet Explorer - British English
How can I convert my Internet Explorer browser, which is in US English, to British English? This "favorites" nonsense, when it should be "favourites" is starting to bug me, jguk 15:13, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Go to the "tools" toolbar and click. Scroll down to "Internet options" and click. Go to the bottom of the window. You should be seeing a "Languages..." button. Click that. Mow click on "English (United States) [en-us]." Click "remove." Then go to the "add" button. click it. Scroll down to "English (United Kingdom) [en-gb]." Then click "OK." You should be able to view IE in British English now. Regards --Neutralitytalk 16:59, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
No, that only affects what page is displayed when a site offers multiple languages, www.google.com for example - it doesn't affect the options of the Internet Explorer program itself, which I think is only available in US English. I get around the annoyance by using Firefox... -- Arwel 17:14, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Ah, I see. Thanks. Neutralitytalk 20:02, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
define: remedial methodologies
(This header was placed here without content.) The phrase is ambiguous, what was the context? -- Jmabel | Talk 21:28, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
Queen Victoria
Is there any site that gives a pedigree of Queen Victoria's (1819-1901) family until today. It would be great if it also included the history of hemophilia.
I suspect this is what you're looking for... this lists all descendants, for comparison. Shimgray 22:40, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Actually this is not what i am looking for. I am looking more for a pedigree tree.
Shimgray gave you precisely what you asked for, including the pedigree. If it's not what you are looking for, try explaining what you want. alteripse 23:14, 5 Feb 2005 (UTC)
What I am looking for - the pedigree of Queen Victoria uptil today (including the current queen) displaying who was hemophilic. This is not waht Shimgray gave me Alterpise.
The second link is a pedigree listing - or looks reasonably close to one - and the first lists only those with haemophilia. True, they're not displayed together... but given that the first only lists 21 people (of which twelve are sufferers, and one of those stillborn) out of, what, five hundred odd descendants? It's not efficient to have a second list merely to add another column saying "haemophilic", but if you want one it's relatively trivial to create given the data there. It gives a pedigree of the family until today, at least wrt the descendancy from Vicky, and it includes the history of haemophilia - it's safe to assume that anyone not listed wasn't a sufferer, as it's not generally concealed. Shimgray 00:17, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
can an egg be pushed into a jar by a change in air pressure
(Obvious) errors in the "Orders of magnitude (energy")- page, where at least two lines are not correct.
A.) Assuming the line
1.74 × 10E16 J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in one second
is correct, then the line
B.) 6.2 × 10E20 J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in one hour
would have to read:
6.2 × 10E19 J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in one hour
and the next in context should NOT be
C.) 1.5 × 10E23J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in 24 hours
but is either:
C1.) 1.5 × 10E21J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in 24 hours
and would hence have to be moved upwards in the list, or (what would probably be of higher interest), should read:
C2.) 5.49 × 10E23J — total energy from the Sun that hits the Earth in ONE YEAR
Commentary: The fact that the above two lines -lines, which, unlike most others, can easily be checked- are so drastically wrong, leaves the user with a rather unpleasant feeling: "How many
figures are wrong too, resp., even worse, are there figures, which are correct?"
Who is capable of double-checking all these informations?
Best regards
J. Schuett (schuett at greenmail.ch)
Thanks for noticing and taking the trouble to write. The answer to your question is "You are." Welcome to the community. Accepted procedure would have been to make the corrections in the article and put a note like this on the article's Talk page (where it says, "discuss this page"). Alternatively, if you don't want to make the edit, just put a note like yours above on the talk page. I copied your note to the appropriate talk:Orders of magnitude (energy) page. I agree the page looks like a daunting place to tinker. We'll let those who watch that page confirm and make your corrections. alteripse 14:50, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I think the 1,410 W / m2 on Solar energy is wrong too. this is much too low, it should be about 2 kW. dab(ᛏ) 14:41, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
You sure? That's the number I always remember (well, "one and a bit", anyway)... let's see. Total luminosity of the sun, 3.827x1026 watts. Assume it radiates evenly in all directions.
Surface area of a sphere 1 AU in diameter = (150,000,000,000 m)2 * (4) * pi, which equals 22,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 * 4 * pi, which is 2.83x1023 m2.
Now, divide the total energy pumped out by the sun by that area, to find the energy per unit area at a distance of 1AU... and we get 1354 watts per square metre; ie, 1.354 kW. I've probably made a rounding error somewhere, which explains the discrepancy, but there you go. Shimgray 16:49, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)
what do you mean? I remember 1.something kiloWatt myself, and your calculation confirms it. Just imagine, if you got just one Watt out of a square meter of solar panels... you'd need to plaster your roof just to get a pathetic bulb going... dab(ᛏ) 15:12, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
ah, I'm sorry. 1,410 W are 1.41 kW. I read the comma as a decimal point. My mistake... dab(ᛏ) 15:19, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I don't want to change it. There may be other numbers. -- Toytoy 17:05, Feb 6, 2005 (UTC)
Why no writing/production credits on songs played?
I was just wondering why it is that at the end of TV shows and movies there is always a long list of writing and production credits, but when songs are played on the radio the songwriter and sometimes even the name of the song are never mentioned. And in music videos the director of the video is credited now, but not the songwriter. Is this to preserve the illusion that singers actually write the songs they sing, when many don't? Thanks. Mjklin 19:28, 2005 Feb 6 (UTC)
It's contractual stuff, probably -- whoever represents the songwriters (ASCAP? BMI?) haven't insisted on title credits for songwriters. The songwriters I know certainly appreciate the royalty checks they receive far more than they would any credit (especially the useless credits on modern TV shows.) --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 00:45, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Miniature Postcards of Portland Maine (moved from help desk
I have in my possesion 4 minaiture Postcards of Portland Maine in black and white. They measure 1 1/2 x 2 1/2. They are postcards one of (1) "Junction of Congress and Free Streets,Portland Maine
(2)"The Portland-South Portland Bridge connects these two cities
(3)"Union Station, Portland Maine
(4)"White Head-Cushings Island, Portland Maine
They were mail to my Mother back in 1929 in a little mail pouch with
U.S. MAIL from Portland Maine on front of pouch with leather strips at the top of the pouch and a yellow tag attached to that with my Mother mailling address on it.At the very top it says "GREETING" the From---------- then under that TO________ on the back of tag it says From_____.
Then a long line and a verse
A Little remembrance fo where I have been.
A U.S. mail bag and views within. Which when opened is the Postcards.
I am trying to find out about these little postcards. Anyone knowing someone I can connect about them would be appreciated very much.My e-mail is
[email protected]
I can take pictures of them and e-mail it to the right person, have no fax, as mine stopped working when I had DSL install and have no filter on the printer/fax.
Thank You very much.
Priscilla
There's a song that schoolchildren are often taught. (It's an annoying song.) I found the lyrics online but I haven't been able to find a recording of the tune. I also ran across this site when I was looking: [50]. -Aranel ("Sarah") 01:20, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Can you find a picture of the 1890s George Thomas(the first person to put a photographic images and music together?
Hmm. He seems to be mentioned here:
One day George Thomas, a Brooklyn theater electrician visited Marks and Stern. He had been experimenting with flashing a slide on a screen while a vocalist sang a song. The firm decided to use him to make slides for their song "The Little Lost Child". In 1894, thiese were exhibited for the very first time by the Primrose and West Minstrels.
It helps clarify who/where he was, but doesn't seem to get us any further to a photograph. That company is now part of the Edward B. Marks Music Company; perhaps if you contact them they might have a lead, or a photograph on a corridor wall, or something? I doubt it, personally, but they do at least seem a sensible place to ask. Shimgray 03:15, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Suppose I want to have a freely editable Wiki page that could be used to host discussion on er, anything. I decide that Wikipedia is the easiest place to put it. Problem being, I don't want anyone to know that it is there. I also don't want anyone to pick it up during a Recent Changes search.
Where would I put such a page, ie. which namespace?
I suggest you consider Wikicities. It may not meet all of your criteria above, but it comes close. Don't use Wikipedia; that's not what our encylopdeia is about.-gadfium 05:38, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Gadfium makes a good point - Wikipedia is not a web hosting service. You can use subpages for pretty much anything you want, but if you are talking about dozens and dozens of pages, then it's a better idea to do it elsewhere. But if it's something small and low traffic, then (in the opinion of this long time editor) that's perfectly fine. →Raul654 06:11, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
Ok then - most of what I was thinking would be reasonably small, and definately low traffic. If it becomes an issue, I'll move it to Wikicites. Alphax(t)(c)(e) 06:41, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
Urgent last wishes
A friend of mine who grew up in Blum is dying of a cancerous brain tumor--in the final stages. When he was in second grade (I am guessing 1963 or 1964 since he was born in 1957) he wrote a poem called "The Boy With Green Hair" and it was published in the newspaper. He desparately wants to see that poem and share it with his family before he passes away. Can anyone help me find it or tell me how to find it--I am all the way in San Diego California? His name is JOHN LANDRUM son of Evelyn Basden.
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. The more specific you are, the better. Do you mean Blum, Texas? I couldn't find any other Blum. It's good that you're asking here but two better options would be to call the newspaper or call a library. If you know which newspaper it was, you should try calling them. Also try the Dallas Public Library and ask for help finding the article. It may only be available on microfilm but they may have an electronic database which could tell you when and in which paper the poem ran. I did search LexisNexis, but they don't carry all newspapers and they only go back to the 80s or so. Rhobite 07:33, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
pub bar
What do u reckon is the most famous (real) bar or pub in the world? I've never heard of the ones in the pub article, so there's gotta be some bar somewhere in the world that is really famous, maybe for an event that happened there or sumthing. --Wonderfool 14:29, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
The bar portrayed in the TV series Cheers is pretty famous. I don't think it's name is actually 'Cheers'. ike9898 16:19, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
I believe that in London, both World's End and Elephant and Castle were pub names before they were neighborhood names. That's one way to get famous! In New York, there is Fraunces Tavern, duly historic and very famous, probably mentioned in most U.S. history textbooks; I'm sure other cities have comparably famous bars/pubs. I'm sure Madrid and Paris each have a few contenders, though nothing is leaping to my mind at this instant. Maybe something in Amsterdam, Berlin, or Rome? -- Jmabel | Talk 17:29, Feb 7, 2005 (UTC)
Jmabel's and Ike's suggestions are good. I'd say "fame" is very difficult to gauge -- for me, I'd think of the most famous pub in the world as the "Bird and Baby" (The Eagle and Child) in Oxford, as any moderately well-read fan of either C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien is quite familiar with it, but I'm sure someone can come up with an even better and more widely known example. It seems to me that Samuel Johnson might have had a favorite pub that is still in operation, but the name escapes me. Jwrosenzweig 23:29, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Footling around the web tells me that Johnson used to frequent the Anchor Inn on Park Street, SE1. Joshua Reynolds and Oliver Goldsmith were also regulars, apparently. It still exists. I'm not sure it could really be called "famous" though, it just had some famous regulars. --Camembert 00:43, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
And there is the Eagle (by the marketplace in Cambridge), where Watson and Crick met to work out DNA when they were supposed to be leaving the project to a colleague, so they couldn't do it on the Cambridge U. campus. Fine pub, too; haven't been there in years, but I imagine it's just like it was. -- Jmabel | Talk 01:52, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
I'm afraid it's been remodelled. It's not even like I remember it, and that was only twenty years ago. DJ Clayworth 04:09, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Another famous London pub is, of course, The Angel, Islington, known to generations who never knew it was a pub... Shimgray 02:38, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Motto
I've decided I can't be without a personal motto another day. Could anyone tell me what "Kick them when they're down" is in latin? Pomp My Socks... To Da Max 01:58, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
basic neeeds of oranges
what basic needs to the human body do the fruit oranges supply
A single navel orange supplies about 65 calories mainly in the form of 16g sugar and 1.4g protein, small amounts of vitamins C and A, and folic and pantothenic acid. The human body also needs water and various electrolytes and oranges supply water and some potassium. There are smaller amounts of several other trace nutrients. alteripse 03:58, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
CD drive not found in Windows XP
Hi there,
I'd appreciate if anyone could nudge me in the right direction with a tech question I have. How is it that all of a sudden a DVD and a CD drive, both on the same IDE cable, can just drop out of Windows XP's sight? They are both listed in Device Manager with the horrible yellow question mark sign on them, but it's not a driver problem. Under "Properties" is says "Windows successfully loaded the device driver for this hardware but cannot find the hardware device." If I uninstall and reinstall it, it seems to "find" it, but then it can't "see" it later. So are my drives fried or what? Thanks. Rower48 03:26, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Are you sure the IDE cable is intact and correctly attached to both drives? Mgm|(talk) 10:00, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
Mosses and Ferns
Why do Ferns grow larger than Mosses? Does the reproduction of these plants affect the size of them? Also, what is the advantage of having both sexual, and asexual forms of reproduction? -- anon
That's like asking why people grow larger than mice. It's got nothing to do with the reproduction. It's in their genes and environment. And I imagine that being able to reproduce asexually has it's advantages when no organism of the other sex is nearby.
What is the proper name of the operation that is the inverse to exponentiation? This is the operation that is notated with the radical (mathematics), but certainly it's not called "radicalization." :) Surely there is a real name for this.
Note that I'm not asking for the inverse function to the exponential function, which is the logarithmic function. I'm looking for the verb form of the generalized operation being carried out by square-roots, cube-roots, 4th-roots, nth-roots.
Is it not exponentiation itself with negative powers? -- Sundar 05:08, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
yeah, it's still called exponentiation, with inverse (not negative) exponents. n-th root is exponentiation to the power of 1/n. dab(ᛏ) 06:42, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Oops! How stupid I was? :p (read my suggestion above). -- Sundar 06:53, Feb 8, 2005 (UTC)
Thanks, guys, but unfortunately that doesn't help me. You have provided a definition of the inverse operation to exponentiation, but I am looking for a name for the operation. It is true that exponentiation is its own inverse. But it is also true that addition is its own inverse; yet there is a specific name for that operation, and we call it subtraction. Subtraction is defined in terms of addition (add the opposite), and in fact it really is addition, but it still has its own name (and it is possible to notate and perform the operation without reference to addition at all or even being aware that they are the same). In the same way, division is defined in terms of multiplication (multiply by the reciprocal), and in fact it really is multiplication, but it, too, still has its own name and can be performed and notated without reference to multiplication.
So it is true that "radicalization" is mathematically the same as exponentiation (exponentiate to the reciprocal of the index of the radical), but that still doesn't help me find a name for it. I'm looking for a proper mathematical term, if there is one.
Thanks for any additional help anyone can provide. I'm probably pretty weird, but this kind of thing has always interested me. Jdavidb 15:04, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
"Taking the radical" or "taking the n-th root"? Does the operation have to have a "proper name"? If so, what is wrong with "radicalisation"? (Other than the problem that you might get odd looks when you "radicalise" 2 and 3 to to get , or possibly ...) But, in any event, as others have said, the operation is identical to exponentiation by a fractional power, so exponentiation fits too. -- ALoan(Talk) 15:50, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Colt Model 04690RCN
I am looking for information on the Colt Model 04690RCN, other wise marked 1911 RECON. I own one but can't find any information. I bought the 1911 at Lone Star Guns in Plano, Texas over 2 years ago. Message from anon moved from article space. Left note on IP talk page directing user here.SWAdair | Talk 06:50, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)
![{\displaystyle {\sqrt[{3}]{2}}}](/media/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/9ca071ab504481c2bb76081aacb03f5519930710)
![{\displaystyle {\sqrt[{2}]{3}}}](/media/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/28908d3fe667ebb8dca94dadcf82e5545b4a3ed8)
![[7]](http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg400/g421/g42190h3au9.jpg){kind=link}
![[8]](http://www.ripon.edu/Faculty/Amsdenr/THE231/MedievalTheatreFolder/MedievalImagesEdited/ManOnPageantWagonLeaP39.png){kind=link}
