Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous

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Fleet Air Arm versus Luftwaffe

Hello,

I was attempting to find information about any air battles between Fleet Air Arm (FAA) Corsairs and Hellcats versus German ME 109s and FW 190s? I know that the first German aircraft shot down over Britain by an American made plane was done by a pair of FAA Martlets (AKA. Widcats); and I was curious to see how well the Royal Navy F4Us and F6Fs did against the German fighters?

Thanks,

Darwin

[email protected]

question for Mr Maltin

Hope this isn't bothering busy people. I'm new to computers and want to ask Leonard Maltin a question: Is there such a thing as a movie book/listing which goes by subject rather than by title? There may be many movies on - or during - the Civil War, but who knows what their titles are? And how would one find out?

Thanks for any help!

Donald [email protected]

I don't know how often Leonard Maltin drops by here, but I can tell you that Haliwell's Filmgoers Companion lists and discusses films by topic area. Any good bookshop will carry it. Adam 07:42, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC)

HELP ME

Moved from WP:VP

I have been dating a 26 year old female who has been suffering from a severe ED. She suffers form Anorexia and bulimia. She has been in treatment centres 2 times at a great cost to her parents. I met her 3 years ago and she was out of recovery and was at a healthy weight. She got better with ups and downs and she is now slowly declining quickly. She is become suicidal, her health is of concern (heart, blood pressure, everything). She is loosing weight and she is doing things that I would not expect. She recently cheated on me and told me as she felt guilty. I am an educated guy who knows I should run but I love her and have stuck behind her for the last 3 years with hospital, doctors and counselling visits. And all all the good times. I know it hard to offer advice but I don't know what to do. I am scared to death. DO I give up. I have my life together but feel I am taking on her problems. This is only because I love her. I feel she manipulates me and I fall into the trap. I ignore behaviours when I know she is vomiting or restricting. I am concerned about the severity of her illness and feel she might have a personality disorder. She is 5,10 and at one point 88 pound!!! This scares me but I have fallen in love with her. I I work as an Police Officer and I am aware of some shoplifting and reckless behaviour but I still stay. Am I an idiot. Should I cut my losses. Please offer me some suggestions. I long do I do what is recommended and is not working?????

[email protected]

You might want to try and get advice from the "Ask Alice" site. The URL is http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/. Check under "Relationships." There might be something already there relating to your problem. Sorry, I don't email non-acquaintances. Good luck. —Frecklefoot 19:42, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Fast Meter

I would like to know why my electric meter is going twice as fast as my niebours and when I just use my microwave or my stove it spins just as fast? My mother lives in a 4 bedroom house and her meter spins slower then mine and she uses the heater more. [email protected]

It sounds like someone may be siphoning your power. Do you have things that sip power in the background, i.e. refrigerator(s), instant-on T.V.s, PCs? I'd check those first. If you have central air/heat, those may use power without you knowing it. HTH —Frecklefoot 19:47, 15 Jan 2004 (UTC)

A friend of mine found out that the hallway lighting was hooked up to the electric meter for his appartment. Of course, the landlord denied it. Robinoke

Indian Government Copyrights

Are Indian government webpages copyrighted? If so (and I guess they probably are) do they offer any sort of unrestrictive license to use their work? --Xiaopo's Talk 07:14, Jan 18, 2004 (UTC)

Help needed

posted to Wikipedia:Village pump by anonymous User:202.156.2.211

During the down fall( 1799) of Tippu Sultan , my ancestor migrated from ARABIA and came to the court of Tippu Sultan . He was appointed as Patel and was posted to Chickmagalore . Is it possible to obtain details about him from old records, if so what is the appropraite action I have to take . Thanks a lot Azeez

Special Prosecutor vs Independent Counsel

There are two articles [both of which I wrote :)] -- Special prosecutor and Independent Counsel. Now I have always heard the two terms used synonomously. I want to know what the differences are. If there are none, then I need to move the contents of one to the other and make it a redirect. →Raul654 12:25, Jan 19, 2004 (UTC)

I believe that a Special Prosecutor serves at the will of the Executive, but an Independent Counsel can be fired only for cause. See http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/counsel/office/dash.html. -- Jmabel 06:49, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Forth

I don't know of anywhere else to ask this, but does anyone know where I could find a free Forth System that supports pixel-level graphics? The only ones I can find either cost money, only support character-color graphics, or fail to work with my computer (e.x. Colorforth). Can anyone help? User:128

Markup Language for Dramatis Personae

Does anyone know if there is an XML dialect for describing lists of characters who appear in a book or series of books? I'm interested in keeping track of characters who recur across a long-running series, and sometimes across several series. I'd like to use an existing standard if possible. Phil 17:36, Jan 21, 2004 (UTC)

I don't know whether a relevant standard already exists but it is easy to make your own XML dialect for this. Optim 16:56, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Sure, but being a lazy programmer (I did functional languages too, that's an in-joke) I like to follow an existing standard if I can. --Phil 18:00, Feb 4, 2004 (UTC)

migration of the apaches

My daughter is currently working on a project for her school. She chose to do the project on the history of the Apaches. We have come upon many great sites with intensive information, but we have not found any information on why the Apaches migrated from Canada. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

"Apache" is a misnomer of sorts -- and describes a few groups of Athapaskan people -- who were, by culture, nomads -- following mountain ranges, rivers and game animal migration in North America from the Bering Strait, it is logical that the nomadic people who became known as Apache would eventually make it to Texas and Colorado. Try here: The Apache Indians: An Unknown Tribe- Davodd 20:26, Jan 21, 2004 (UTC)

Help I cant see international fonts.

Eg. arabic, tamil, hindi etc. I couldnt find any help regarding this. Using netscape 7.0

• Just install all character sets. Then in Netscape 7 go to menu View, Character Coding and choose one which suis you. Optim 01:11, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Steven Spielberg birthdate

Even Mr. Speilberg can't claim birthdays one year apart (although I'm sure he'd be glad to) so, was he born, as listed, in December of 1946 or 1947?

That's odd. I would claim my birthdays are always one year apart--plus or minus a day for leap years. But then I've always felt especially in tune with nature. More in tune than Speilberg, at least, or so it seems.168... 22:35, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I guess you refer to the fact that two wikipedias (german and japanese) give 1947 as his birthday, while the english entry Steven Spielberg and two other give 1946. IMDb also gives 1946, but google gives also lots of links which give 1947 as the year. andy 09:58, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The correct birthday is 1946. I knew Spielberg as a high school friend, and when my birthday rolled around we discussed the fact that he was almost exactly a year older. Biographer Joseph McBride asked me this very question, but didn't leave it at that. He obtained a copy of the birth certificate, which leaves no doubt. See Joe McBride's very painstaking biography. Gene Ward Smith

Botanist needed!

Can some botanist check the new flower pics I uploaded and tell me their official names? Image:Violet-flower-160px.jpg, Image:Beautiful-flower-160px.jpg, Image:Yellow-group-of-flowers-160px.jpg, Image:Yellow-flower-160px.jpg. Thanks! Better to answer on my talk page. Optim 12:41, 22 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Amazing flowers. -Itai 22:29, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Help!

sir,i want to know about recent topics in finance for doing project. i mainly concentrate on share market and banking sector.if you can help me i am greatful to you, so i humbly request you to help me. my e-mail id is [email protected]

Names & Gender

I cannot understand the gender from a name, since the English names don't give me this information (most Greek names give it, both first names and last names, usually, for example first name is konstantinos for male and konstantina for female, and the last name is papadopoulos for male and papadopoulou for female). In the past I had a website and I was an editor at a magazine where I was writing spoilers for some TV series, and I did the stupid mistake to refer to someone as male; When the relevant TV episode aired, I understood I did a so stupid mistake since she was actually female, and I felt a bit shame! So if I haven't associated a name (such as Bill: only male) with a gender from before, I really cannot know! The same applies to usernames. BTW if you do have some standard way of distinguishing the gender in English names, please inform me. I had similar problems with the Chinese people, too, it's very annoying and creates misunderstandings. The only "rule" I can remember now is that usually names ending in "a" are female-only. As a game, and as an interesting way of seeing how different cultures-languages work, can you get any information about the gender form the names: nikos, niki, optim, zanin, kostas, grigoris, eleni, patroklos, bei, hui, ran, weichi, iraklis, dias, hristos, dimitra, dafni, giorgos, alexis, thanos, thanasis, elena, katerina, petros, orestis, frideriki, ifigenia, eshilos, xenia, zoi, bo, xianfeng, alberich, angeliki, aggelos, spyros, hristina, marilena, vagelitsa, vassilis, mihalis? (these include internet nicknames, austrian, greek and chinese first names) copy-paste the names and put the gender you understand next to them in parentheses, if u like. it would be nice if you want to give your cultural and language background (what lang u speak, were u live/born). I will reveal the correct answers after some time and after I get relies:) reply here. feel free to write names from your culture/language and let us guess the gender. hope u find this interesting! .·. Optim 13:50, 24 Jan 2004 (UTC) .·. (?!!?)

Male - Kevin

I think the above-proposed procedure might be worthwhile if it were directed at filling in the gaps in what can be automated.

Prior to the 2000 US Census, i found, in about 10 minutes, on-line lists from www.census.gov of rank & IIRC number to nearest N (N=1000? N=100,000? I dunno!), among US residents IIRC, of

• people with a given surname
• males with a given given-name
• females with a given given-name.

I was pleasantly surprised by the extent of the lists: my recollection is that i formed the impression that 99% or 99.9% of the population i was interested in had their name listed. (Or its other-gender equivalent: be careful with the rare ones!) I

• added a gender column to each of the given-name tables, and
• combined them
• sorted them by name,
• merged adjacent rows that had same name (i.e., one row of each gender), and
• computed the proportion of people with a given given-name who are female.

The resulting table is a lookup by name for probable gender and certainty. It can be sorted by proportion and broken up (you decide, subjectively, the break points) into three lists: of male, female, and unisex names.

I failed just now to find the same pages in twice the time, but i probably have the URL and in any case have the raw data and the computed proportions for (at least) the individuals i was most interested in. If no one can come up with the raw data independently, let me know & i'll help find, or if necessary, supply it.

This is not the complete answer to the question posed:

• ethnicities are not attached,
• gender-proportions of names not traditional to the US will be tilted (i think) toward femaleness, due to males "assimilating" faster and thus changing their names to "American-sounding" equivalents in greater proportion, and
• the same spelling being used for "different" names in different cultures confuses the results (French "Jean" (pr. zhawn'), male, is "the same as" English "John" (pr. dzhahn), male, but most Americans named "Jean" (pr. dzheen) are in my experience female. --Jerzy 18:18, 2004 Jan 24 (UTC)

Your experiment (having random people try to decipher the gender of a selection of names) is an excellent idea, but you should really choose a more unfamiliar language. Anyone vaguely familiar with Hellenic mythology and/or tragedy, in other words, anyone who didn't sleep through high-school English class, knows that names ending in '-s' (except for '-is') are generally male, while those ending in '-is' and '-a' are generally female. Some names from your list (i.e. 'Vassilis' and 'Mihalis') are not unique to Greece; for instance, these two are apparently male. --Smack 05:04, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I will venture that "weichi" is probably not a person's actual name. It is the Chinese name for the game of go. -- Jmabel 06:02, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)

• nikos (male)
• niki (female)

• optim (sounds like a Russian male name???)
• zanin (the Kankonian word for eleven . . . doesn't sound like a name)
• kostas (sounds male)
• grigoris (male)
• eleni (female)
• patroklos (male)
• bei (female)
• hui (male)
• ran (male)
• weichi (female)
• iraklis,
• dias (male)
• hristos (male)
• dimitra (female)
• dafni (Daphne = female)
• giorgos (male)
• alexis (unisex)
• thanos (male)
• thanasis (male)
• elena (female)
• katerina (female)
• petros (male)
• orestis (male)
• frideriki (female?)
• ifigenia (or Iphigenia, female)
• eshilos (male)
• xenia (female)
• zoi (female)
• bo (Bo knows . . . -- male)
• xianfeng (impossible to tell)
• alberich (male)
• angeliki (female)
• aggelos (male)
• spyros (male)
• hristina (female)
• marilena (female)
• vagelitsa (female)
• vassilis (male?)
• mihalis (male)

I was born in and live in California, in an English-speaking household with several European au pairs over the years living in. And yes, names with an -a at the end are almost always female, but Joshua, Ira and Ezra are masculine (although Joshuas will usually go by Josh). Likewise -o usually denotes male but Cleo/Clio is feminine. Wiwaxia 02:08, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Mostly agree with the above except:

• "niki", if Greek, is probably male, but in California would probably be female
• "weichi", as I remarked above, is probably not a person's name
• "alexis", if Greek, is male (female cognate is "alexa")

• Thanks for your answers! the correct answers are:

• nikos (greek, male always)
• niki (greek, female always)
• optim (not a name, an internet nickname meaning Optimist)
• zanin (not a name, a french-inspired internet nickname which means nothing)
• kostas (greek male always)
• grigoris (greek male always)
• eleni (greek female always)
• patroklos (greek male always)
• bei (chinese female from North China)
• hui (chinese male fron North China)
• ran (chinese female, from North China, means nature AFAIK)
• weichi (chinese male, from North China)
• iraklis, greek male always
• dias greek male always
• hristos greek male always
• dimitra greek female always
• dafni (Daphne = female) greek female always
• giorgos greek male always
• alexis greek male always. In english it may be female too (this is too strange for greeks!)
• thanos greek male always
• thanasis greek male always
• elena greek female always
• katerina greek male always
• petros greek male always
• orestis greek male always
• frideriki greek female always
• ifigenia (or Iphigenia, female) greek female always
• eshilos greek male always
• xenia greek female always, means "foreign"
• zoi greek female always, means "life"
• bo (Bo knows . . . -- male) yes, chinese male
• xianfeng chinese male from South China
• alberich austrial male
• angeliki greek female always
• aggelos greek male always means Angel
• spyros greek male always
• hristina greek female always
• marilena greek female always: maria+elena (mary&helen)
• vagelitsa greek female always
• vassilis greek male always
• mihalis greek male always

A postscript, if you're still interested: in Hebrew, as in English, you can't usually tell a person's gender by a suffix attached to its name. Furthermore, quite a lot of names - modern for the most part - are used for both genders. To make things more complicated still, in recent years there arose a tendency to give girls names previously reserved for boys alone. Surnames are identical for both genders. As in English, there are, however, a few hints. Whenever a name ends with a 'a' or an 'it', it belongs to a female. These two suffixes are not coincidental. For reasons I have no intent of hereby specify, and under circumstances I do not intend to hereby disclose, 'a' found at the end of a word, in both Hebrew and Arabic (and, presumably, other languages of the same origin), turns to 'at'.

While we're discussing names and gender, I always wondered about nicknames as well, and how different names are shortened in different languages.

-Itai 17:40, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

statute of limitations

Is there a statute of limitations regarding prosecution for taking ones own children out of the country illegally?

You don't say what country, but the short of it (with the usual "I'm not a lawyer" provisos) is that the crime is not just at the time of departure from a given country, but continuing as long as they are minors (the age of majority varying from country to country, etc.). For example, if you had illegally removed a 6-year-old from the United States in 1986, and kept that child out of the country, I believe you would have been continuously committing a crime until that child turned 18 in 1998, so the clock wouldn't start on any statute of limitiations until that time. I wouldn't be surprised if some legal theory could be found to say that the criminal act continued past that date.

(Again, with the same provisos) As I understand it, if the country is the US, and if one didn't have legal custody, the fact that they were "ones own children" has little or no legal bearing (although it might cause a judge or jury to see the case differently). Kidnapping by a non-custodial parent is still kidnapping. -- Jmabel 07:24, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

some jurisdictions have a rule that says that the time you spend outside the jurisdiction doesn't count toward the prevailing time-limitation statute. I dunno if this is the case for US federal law or not. Note also that noncitizens entering the US on an i94 or i94/W have to answer a question that says something like "i have not been involved in the removal of a child from its parent within the US without a court's approval" or somesuch - and note that lying on an immigration form is a felony in itself. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:14, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Who owns the copyright in a text-game?

Hi, I run one of the many text-based games online. I've spent some time honing my legal agreement and checking the copyright laws, and I was curious as to whether my intention - namely to hold copyright on all data created within the game - would succeed if it were examined in a court of law. This legal statement must be read (you have to explicitly type a command to see it) before a character can be created, and without agreement to it, access to the game/server is forbidden.

Basically I want to own the copyright to text created primarily for descriptions builders may produce, as I've had cases of builders leaving in a huff and choosing to have their areas wiped first, and also perhaps for code created, too. Below I include the most relevant paragraph, and then at the end of this question I include the whole statement.

"Furthermore the software of this game (i.e. any program run by using any command within the game, or sending any communication to the server), being designed specifically for creation and management of in-game elements only applicable within this game, which is a not-for-profit game, cannot be used to create data of any monetary worth. Furthermore, because all data created in this environment is intended to be accessed by all, using any software to create data explicitly means that all data created is automatically part of the 'public domain' within the context of the game, and if any copyright can be said to exist, the copyright belongs to the administrators and owners of the game itself, not to the user of the software. Access to this server is based in part on this provision, and permission to change any game data - which occurs as soon as communications begin - is only granted on the basis that the copyright for all data changed and/or created belongs to the game's owners and administrators."

And here's the whole statement. By the way, the server itself resides in the UK.

"Legal Agreement

Access to this server (i.e. the right to connect to it and also to execute commands) is forbidden to all who do not agree to abide by the terms of this agreement.

In order to protect the legal rights of those operating this server, all users (i.e. those who execute commands on this server, and in addition, any on whose behalf commands are being executed) agree to the following:

To indemnify and hold harmless all companies - and employees of those companies - and all people involved in the administration (including the people that are known as "wizards" and "mentors" within the scope of the game) and operation of this game and server, and any other carriers of the communications or

creators of the software, for any claims or damages resulting from your usage without limitation.

Notwithstanding the above, you agree that should we be found liable for any action or lack of action related to your use of this game or server our liability is limited to $0.01 US.

Your access to this system may be revoked at any time with or without cause, and is never guaranteed. All users (as defined above) consent to being completely logged and having their connection recorded for access by the administration of the game. Furthermore the software of this game (i.e. any program run by using any command within the game, or sending any communication to the server), being designed specifically for creation and management of in-game elements only applicable within this game, which is a not-for-profit game, cannot be used to create data of any monetary worth. Furthermore, because all data created in this environment is intended to be accessed by all, using any software to create data explicitly means that all data created is automatically part of the 'public domain' within the context of the game, and if any copyright can be said to exist, the copyright belongs to the administrators and owners of the game itself, not to the user of the software. Access to this server is based in part on this provision, and permission to change any game data - which occurs as soon as communications begin - is only granted on the basis that the copyright for all data changed and/or created belongs to the game's owners and administrators.

This system may be used only for lawful purposes. No United States, United Kingdom, or Canadian laws may be violated. This includes but is not limited to slander and libel, copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit a crime, or violations of trade-secret or patent protections. However, the makers and administrators of this game may not be held responsible for any of the actions of the users of the game in the above concerns.

This system provides NO secure transmissions of data. The operators of this system may choose to log any aspect of the system at any time, with no prior notice being given. Any logs are the sole property of the operators of the computer system this muck runs on.

Any attempts to cause harm to the players or operators of this system, the system itself (both in terms of software within and without the game, and also the hardware and firmware), or the data contained within the system (including but not limited to attempting to breach operating system security or attempting to corrupt the database or files that make up the running system) will be cause for immediate revocation of access to this system, and may result in civil or criminal charges being filed in the jurisdiction of the system operators.

We also promise that the ISPs of repeated rulebreakers _will_ be contacted if and when the 'Wizard' staff deem it appropriate.

All users of this system agree that their actions be in accordance with and legal under the UK's "Computer Misuse Act" of 1990, including but not limited to the sections "Unauthorised access to computer material." and "Unauthorised access with intent to commit or facilitate commission of further offences." This Act of Parliament is shown in full at http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/Ukpga_19900018_en_1.htm .

Equally, all users of this system agree that their actions shall be accordance with and legal under the USA's "Unlawful Access to Stored Communications" law, including but not limited to "intentionally accesses without authorization a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided". This law is available at http://www.cybercrime.gov/usc2701.htm .

If a user does not agree to abide by these terms, they are not authorized to access this program or machine or server or system, until such a time when they may be re-authorized verbally by the administrator of the system (who will be termed a 'wizard' within the scope of the game, as evidenced in the list available with use of the command 'wizlist'). The only authorised and relevant email addresses for the administrator of the system are: [an email here] or [another here] . All users agree only to access this server in accordance with the laws of their country and any other laws which apply in the legal jurisdiction in which they live."

Any thoughts? Thanks for reading.

A very simple and specific thought: spend some money on a lawyer. This is a thicket. No non-lawyer -- hell, no one but an intellectual property rights lawyer -- is going to be able to give you an opinion worth a damn. -- Jmabel 07:27, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Finding a Town In Saxony

I would like to find two towns in Saxony. My great-grandmother was born in Burg Walda, Saxony in 1844. She married Christopher Wagner in 1869 at Von Slaben, a village near Burg Walda. I have been unable to find these towns in my U.S. reference books. I will be visiting Dresden and Leipzig in June and would very much like to visit these areas if possible. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide. e-mail [email protected].

Well, it's your ancestry, but I suspect the stories got garbled over the years, maybe from someone reading a document in a language they don't read well. "Von Slaben" seems like an unlikely place name, but a likely name for a noble family, and by implication for a castle or estate where the wedding could have taken place. Similarly, Burg Walda might not be a town name: "Burg." could be "mountain", but it could also be an abbreviation for "Burgomeister" ("mayor"), and might have been someone who signed a particular document. Best of luck sorting this out, but consider these possibilities as well. -- Jmabel 07:36, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

To be precise: "berg" is a mountain, and "burg" is a town (hence "burgemeester" = "master of the town"). So "Burg Walda" would pretty much have to be the name of a town. —Paul A 02:11, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The tool you are looking for is a gazetteer: if you search for "German gazetteer" in Google you will find several. One such can be found here. Burg-Wald is on Map IV, quadrant I-6, near Marburg, Battenberg and Rosenthal. Links to other German gazetteers are here. You might also find geoserv useful. Hope this helps. Nunh-huh 06:09, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Dynamo

Sir, I want to know whether there is any difference between Dynamo and a generator. I learned that dynamo can be termed for both ac and dc generators, then can we call an alternator also a dynamo.

An alternator translates mechanical energy into electrical energy; it replaced generators in the automobile. However, the usage for dynamo evolved before (say 100 years) the usage for alternator (say 25 years); thus the inventor of the alternator would probably feel uncomfortable being labelled with 'inventing' a device with an 'old' name. Probably, when buying an alternator from a parts store, you should stick with the conventional name. You might get some strange responses if you ordered a dynamo, or tried to install it in your car. 169.207.90.214 06:49, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

how tall

Did the tallest candidate always win the presidential race? Can you e-mail a list and the match-ups in order of year. I am usding this information for a college class.

thank you ray ruddles [email protected]

I'm sure the answer is no, but as a general trend, the taller candidate has usually won. Take a look at List of U.S. Presidents by height order, which is still very much a work in progress. --Minesweeper 03:59, Jan 26, 2004 (UTC)

I did a web search and found this claim, although at least once this was claimed true only since the introduction of television, and most resources use the ubiquitous "most" (for instance, see [1]). I failed to find any substantiation. Generally speaking, I cannot recall any gnome ever being elected President of the United States. If you like, this is the sort of question The Straight Dope enjoys taking apart, although the answer, know in advance, is "no". -Itai 22:23, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

How does the media attemp to address the diversity represented in the American landscape?

Example of this would be the show All in the family. How does this television address the diversity represented in the american landscape and to what extent doe the media rely on sterotypes when dipicting a certain group and does it fostered a better understanding of diversity and multiculturalism? Please Justify

I hope your deadline is far enough away. People on Web sites will sometimes volunteer to do some of your homework for you, but here you'll usually get pointers to things you can look at; and looking up the things and thinking about them may take some time. For my own part, I can't provide any good sociological studies to look at; the best I could suggest would be to look at some media, like All in the Family tapes, while keeping these questions in mind. Might give you some ideas. Dandrake 21:45, Jan 27, 2004 (UTC)

I agree, but as a hint--think sopranos. Ilyanep 14:29, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

INFO PLEASE

THANK YOU FOR TAKING MY QUESTION I AM LOOKING FOR INFO ON A ENGLISH/USA PAINTER BY THE NAME OF "VICTOR WILLIAM COULES"1891 - 1981 I CANT SEEM TO FIND ANY ON THE WEB I WONDER IF YOU CAN PUT ME ON THE RIGHT TRACK THANK YOU

                        VICTOR

I haven't been able to find any information, but know that your query ranks 11th on Google's search for "Victor Coules". Sometimes I wonder whether there is any future in the web, and if there is, whether I'll be able to find it.

- Itai 22:26, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Intense Pulse Light treatments - scars

Hello,

I am of East Indian origin and have recently had Intense Pulse Light treatment to remove a few moles on my face. Even though I was assured by the lab technicians than this treatment does not leave behind any scars, I was left with a scab on two of the treated spots followed by a dark scar. This was last October, 3 months ago and despite the application of Vitamin A & E creams, the marks are still there, just a little lighter. Is there hope that they will eventually disappear? The lab technicians keep reassuring me that they will. The reason it is taking so long is because I have pigmented skin. Please advise as to what I can do to hasten the process of clearing up.

Thank you.

T

Dairy Goats

Hello, i posted information about the saanen and oberhasli dairy goats, i was wondering if there was any way to post pictures so that people could get a visual?

Thank you very much Jennifer Frutos

[email protected]

There is a defined method of uploading pictures to the wikipedia. Go to Special:Upload. Ensure you read the information there before uploading. akaDruid 17:32, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Production of 'Perfect" Light by a Firefly

Oxygen plus luciferin results in a chemical reaction that produces the "cold" light at almost 100 % efficiency. [Compared to the ca 10 % light, 90 % heat of a household Tungsten filament bulb] How is the system regenerated? Some reduction reaction must take place.

Ceramic and Clay Sound Analysis

Ceramic and Clay Sound Analysis I am doing resarch on this for my final year paper (mechanical engineering). Please contact me if there is any information or if you have any leads or links to this sort of matter, please do inform me. I do need a big hand here whether from Nobel Prize Winners or from pre-school geniuses. Thank you so much.

E-mail: [email protected]

Metropolitan Police changes due to CDPA 1988

Hi

I work for NCALT in association with the Metropolitan Police and have been recently tasked the job of researching and analysing the recent changes to the CDPA 1988 in the UK. I was wondering if you had any articles discussing these changes and what they mean. It is a matter of urgency because my analysis has to be completed this week. So if you could direct me to where i could find articles on your site relating to the CDPA 1988 i would be very greatful.

Many Thanks

Kamran Habib

Slav migration from Illyricum

The Russian Primary Chronical says the Slavs originally lived in Illyricum. Does anyone know of any documentation to substantiate this?

"Originally" is so tricky. Originally, according to most anthropologists, we are all from Africa, so the issue begs the question of what date is being talked about. Is this a claim about pre-Roman times? Unless I am very mistaken, during Roman times, no significant group of Slavs were ever inside the Empire and according to the generally reliable (if inevitably imprecise) Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, in A.D. 362 (the first date it covers) the Slavs were in the north, sandwiched between the Finns and Ostrogoths. Is this helpful, or are we talking even earlier? -- Jmabel 18:27, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The mystery bar from Mars ...

Hello!

Many years ago when the Mars Bar was of a different shape and size and was wrapped in a kind of opaque green wrapper (all of which I preferred) there was another bar besides it and the Milky Way, Three Musketeers and Snickers. The bar was coated with dark chocolate and had a nougat filling, it was delicious and for the life of me I can't recall its name. I think the name started with an H.

Solve this mystery please.

Sincerely, Pete Rossini

Heath? --Smack 18:52, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

collective nouns

Wikipedia Does the collective noun 'slaughter' exist? I have heard 'slaughter of lambs'!!! Thanks Martin

See collective noun for several lists. If you find a mistake or something missing, edit it. Enjoy. --Phil 08:48, Jan 28, 2004 (UTC)

Red Barron

I need to know the Military ID Number of Manfred von Richthofen. Can anyone help. Email me at [email protected]

Thanks

Glenn Smith

Graves Basedow

Someone posted the following on a (now deleted page) which is linked to from Graves-Basedow disease:

HOla mi nombre es carolina no escribo bien el inglés, me detectaron Graves Basedow hace 2 semanas tengo oftalmopatía pero unilateral me midieron con el exoftalmómetro 12 en un lado y 14 en el otro, usaré anteojos, me dieron tratameitno con yodo radioactivo hace 2 días, mo pregunta es??? si esta se exacerbará y si ecsite tratamietno independiente del hipertiroidismo??' mi correo es: [email protected]

which google very roughly translates to:

Hello my name has been carolina I do not write the English well, detected Graves Basedow to me for 2 weeks I have oftalmopatía but unilateral they measured to me with exoftalmómetro 12 in a side and 14 in the other, I will use eyeglasses, gave tratameitno me with radioactive iodine for 2 days, mo asks is? if this will be exacerbará and if ecsite tratamietno independent of the hyperthyroidism ' my mail is: [email protected]

I pass the question on without comment. Perhaps someone knows of a suitable newsgroup/website?-- Finlay McWalter 00:58, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Trying to get this closer to English (there were some misspellings etc. even in the Spanish):

Hello my name is Carolina. I do not write the English well, two weeks ago they found that I have Graves Basedow. I have ophthtalmopathy, but unilateral. They measured to me with exophthalmometer as 12 on one side and 14 on the other. I will use eyeglasses; they treated me with radioactive iodine 2 days ago. My question is: whether this will worse and whether there is treatment independent of hyperthyroidism ' my email is: [email protected]

If anyone has a response & needs it translated to email to Carolina, just leave it here, I or someone else can translate to Spanish & send it.

Spanish VP or Reference desk sounds better for this. --Menchi (Talk)â 07:40, 31 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Good thought. I've posted it on es:Wikipedia:Consultas. Jmabel 11:53, 31 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I don't know what Carolina means by "independent treatment". If she means "is there a need to treat the specific manifestation of exophthalmos other than treating the underlying thyroid disease", the answer is that generally it is not treated separately: if it does not resolve with treatment of the thyroid disease, and if it is severe or disfiguring, it can be treated by various means, including surgery. (A search on "exophthalmos treatment" will show various treatments). The other question seems to be "will my exophthalmos (eyeball protrusion) improve or get worse?" to which the answer is: everyone is different, and in most cases treating the hyperthyroidism means the exophthalmos will not get worse: however, the exophthalmos doesn't always get better, and if it does, may take a long time to do so. There's no way to predict if she will have improvement or not: it's a case of "wait-and-see". It might be worth mentioning that many people need to take thyroid hormones after getting radioactive iodine treatment, so she needs to keep up with her doctor visits and testing. And she should ask her doctor these same questions on her return visit. - Nunh-huh 20:58, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Rifle valuation

I would like some information on the value of a Whitworth percussion muzzle loading rifle by Cartmell. (hexagonal bore .65) Do you know of anyone in Ottawa, Canada who could give me an accurate appraisal?

Ski Rescue Team

I am looking for somebody who was on the ski rescue team for the 1960 Winter Olympics. Does anybody know where I can hopefully contact somebody from this team.

Thanks so much

about English churches

Hello. I am a Canadian who will soon be living and teaching in Gwangju for a year. I was wondering if there are any English-speaking Christian churches in Gwangju that I could attend. Is there any way for me to find out? Any help would be appreciated. If you know of any info, please email me at [email protected]

Thanks.

making my own manga

i have already finished my whole manga but where can i go to publish or edit it?

Sweden's Deaf Schools

I am writing a paper about Sweden's Deaf school and would like to know what kind of budget and/or resources are devoted to their education? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Ginger

How to research a corporation that may no longer be in business

I am attempting to research the financial viability of some old stock certificates-- How is that done? The information that I have, as an example, Name: Inter World TV Films, Inc. Incorporated: 1952, Delaware. I have done multiple web searchs at different sites with no luck. Thank you for any help. M. Lane [email protected]

Hehe. Everything in incooperated here. :) Tell you what - if you can figure out the name of the agency you want to call, I'll look it up and post the phone number here for you. →Raul654 05:18, Jan 31, 2004 (UTC)

From the article on Delaware corporation, I found the Delaware Division of Corporations website. Gentgeen 08:40, 31 Jan 2004 (UTC)

World War II Vets Interviewed

I remember hearing something about either the Smithsonian or the National Archive interviewing World War II vetrans. They want to record the vets' stories, for posterity's sake. Can anyone give me more information on this? →Raul654 06:54, Jan 31, 2004 (UTC)

Sichuan

Is it true that "Sichuan" means "four rivers"? If so, what are the four rivers? Dominus 05:07, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yes, the Min Jiang, the Jialing Jiang, the Tuo Jiang, and the Wu Jiang, according to this mailing-list post. Jiang means "river", in this case, as in Chang Jiang. Yes, chuan means river too. He means rivers too (Huang He). --Menchi (Talk)â 05:30, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Actinides make salt

If you add an actinide with some other chemical (don't remember which) you can theoretically get radioactive salt. Can anybody direct me to a place that shows the characteristics of it? Ilyanep 14:24, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

A salt is a compound consisting of a cation (positive) and an anion (negative). All actinides are metals, and hence form cations. To make a salt, you just need to combine the actinide with any anion, for example chloride, fluoride, carbonate, etc. A well-known actinide salt is uranium hexafluoride. Uranium hexafluoride is sturdy enough to survive boiling, an invaluable property for uranium enrichment. See enriched uranium, isotope separation and this description of uranium hexafluoride. -- Tim Starling 10:19, Feb 2, 2004 (UTC)

4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire adapter

Hi, I'm about to buy an iPod, and the specs include '4-pin-to-6-pin FireWire adapter' as an included item. What does this do? Is this an adapter for the player or an adapter for my comp.? (asking because I really don't want to spend $30 to buy a firewire card for my comp. and then find out I don't need it) Ilyanep 16:03, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

as far as I understand it is an adapter for connecting a 4pin firewire device to a 6pin firewire port. It seems to be like the case with the USB Type A and USB Type B. Optim 16:47, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

alright. That's what I thought, but they don't explain it anywhere on their site. Thanks. Ilyanep 16:58, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

PDA privacy paranoia

• Hypothetically, how can someone delete PDA's computer memory completely, so that nobody will be able to restore its contents? Is the "delete" facility of the PDA's operating system enough and safe to be used by privacy paranoids? :) Answer at my talk page. Optim 16:44, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

MISSING VICE PRESIDENTS

After their presidents died, did the following finish the terms with no vice-president at all? If so, who was next in the succession?

After Roosevelt died, 1945 to 1948, President Truman served with ____________?

After Kennedy died, 1963 to 1964, President Johnson served with ___________?

Thank you.

In both cases, no Vice President. Prior to the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, if a president died in office, there would be no vice president for the remainder of the term. -- Jmabel 00:15, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

By the laws that were then in place, the next in succession for Truman was the Secretary of State from 1945 to 1947, and the Speaker of the House from July 18, 1947 on. Johnson's was the Speaker of the House.

Looking at the pages this gives the following next-in-lines:

For Truman: Edward Stettinius Jr., James F. Byrnes, George C. Marshall, possibly Sam Rayburn, Joseph William Martin, Jr.

For Johnson: John William McCormack

There have been two more recent case where there was no vice-president:

After vice-president Spiro Agnew resigned on 10 October 1973, the Speaker of the House was the next-in-line, which at the time was Carl Albert.

Gerald Ford became president upon Richard Nixon's resignation on 9 August 1974, but Nelson Rockefeller became vice-president on 19 December of that year. In the period in between, the next-in-line was again Carl Albert. Andre Engels 02:32, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Some more trivia: No vice-president had two non-consecutive periods, but still Albert was not the first 'de facto vice-president' who had two periods of office. William R. King as president pro-tempore of the Senate was 'second in line' to president Millard Fillmore from the death of president Zachary Taylor on 9 July 1850 until 20 December 1852, then was the regular vice-president of Franklin Pierce from 4 March 1853 until his death on 18 April 1853. David R. Atchinson, president pro-tempore of the Senate, succeeded him on both occasions, and thus was next-in-line from 20 December 1852 to 4 March 1853 and from 18 April 1853 to 4 December 1854. John Hay, as Secretary of State, was second-in-line from 21 November 1899 to 3 March 1901 after the death of vice-president Garrett A. Hobart to and again from 14 September 1901 to 3 March 1905 after the assassination of president William McKinley.

Conquistadores

Longish item on the conquistador sons of Pedro Serrano and Catalina Fernandez, and their Mexico & New Mexico descendants, moved to Talk:Conquistador/Ancestry, along with contact information for the person who posted it. Moved because it was not a question, it was just a statement. -- Jmabel 00:32, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Meteor

(translated by →Raul654 to something a little more readable)

Sirs: I enjoy reading your site. I'm Korean and my English is not so good. Please bear with me. I have a memory I want to discuss. Around 17-20 years ago [when I was much younger, I was student in Gangneung- City, on the East coast of Korea] I saw a big meteorite in the midnight sky.

I had left out my room, and was standing in the garden, watching the black night sky. It was about 10 P.M - 2 A.M. I'm not sure about the season. It was probably summer or spring, or possibly autumn. Definetely not winter. I don't remember the exact time. There was no moon visible in the sky. The night weather was cooling and the sky was cloudless. The night stars were very bright. Suddenly, A big meteorite appeared in the night sky . From my perspective, the meteor appeared to be the same size as the moon - about the size of a handball.

The meteor's body was a black circle, and the meteor's head part of the black circle was red fired, and the fire covered the black circle's skin [ very similar to the Man's hair and head. ] and the center of the black circle, small fire was seeing. The meteor appeared north-night-sky, heading south. It soon disappeared. The reasen for the disappearance was that the black circle's red fire was turned off. I clearly saw the body of meteor. It look like black circle - the help of the fire-light.

From its first appearence until the time it disappeared was not more than 3-seconds. My handball sized meteor means that the real size of meteor isn't handball size, but the size of flying the sky was look like handball size[almost look like moon]. The meteor didn't burn up entirely. Beacuse when the fire stopped, the black circle, the meteor's body was clearly visible. So I guess that the meteor come in short time, and was bound out from the earth's gravity boundary. I asked some Korean professors, and they told me that the meteor might have been a fire-ball. So I have been compared the picture of fire-ball, but they don't appear similar to my meteor. My meteor was very big, but it is not bright. When the fire was stopped shortly, it's surrounding sky and ground was not bright. It's fire only light on small part of itself. So I guess the meteor wasn't usual fire-ball. If the meteo flying From the surface of earth, 300-600 kilometer upper site, the really size was 3-5 kilometer of diameter.

I have no passion about the relation between the meteor [ I saw ] and the cruithne. But I want to know the truth. At that time, I knew nothing about astronomy. And I have been thinking that the big size of meteor was a common thing, but now, I know that the handball sized meteo is very unsual and very harmful. If the cruithne and my big meteo is equal, the theory must restart from 0-point. If it has no relation, according to the data, we have a chance that we will find some other planet. Some professor said that my opinion have some truth partially, but the process of truth will very differcult If you have any more interesting thing or quession, give me e-mail. I'll help you. Thanks,

Park Kwansu e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] mobile telephone +82-(0)11-305-8815 fax : +82-(0)31-636-8015

TeX help

I was trying to replicate the equation title of track 2 on Aphex Twin's Windowlicker. This site has a GIF representation. When I input my TeX version, I get several errors. Can you tell me what is wrong with it?

<math>\delta M_i^{-1} = - \propto \sum_{n=1}^N D_i \left[ n \right] \left[ \sum_{j \in C \left{i\right} } F_{j i} \left[ n - 1 \right] + Fext_i \left[ n^-1 \right] \right]</math>

$\Delta M_{i}^{-1}=-\sum _{n=1}^{N}D_{i}[n]\left[\sum _{j\in C\{i\}}F_{ji}[n-1]+Fext_{i}[n^{-1}]\right]$ - I have to check on propto, however, but I gotta scoot. Dysprosia 10:10, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

translation needed!

My name is Daniel Molina, I am a Brazilian and a i live in São Paulo, 23 years old. My question is:

"God be with you"

I really want this sentence translate it in western aramaic, i was searching in the internet and only what a found is alphabet of neo aramaic.

Please help this brasilian student!

Thanks

Daniel Molina

please white it back at:

[email protected]

[email protected]

meaning of the greek name: Efigenia or Ifigenia or Iphigenia

Well, the actual question seems to have disappeared, but the name means "mighty-born", if that helps. Adam Bishop 20:29, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

linear interpolation

Good day.

I would like to ask how should I interpolate linearly to find for the seven values between two points given?

Please e-mail me at [email protected]

Thank you very much.

+I'll send you an excel sheet that makes it very simple. Good luck. ike9898 14:40, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

My Ancestors--Help, Please.--from Elizabeth L. Nice

Hello, My name is Elizabeth L. Nice. I am in the United States. My Father was Franklin Motes Nice and all the Nices dateing back to the 1500-1700's were from Nice, France. I have an official coat of arms and I am looking into my ancestoral background. Any information you could give me would be greatly appreciated. My Grandfathers with the name "Nice" came to the United States we believe sometime in the 1700's--As far as we know, they were all doctors--My father broke that chain and did not become a doctor. I was also told that my ancestors founded Nicetown,Philadelphia. My one Grandfather, John Jacob Mickley has the credit for being one of the men responsible for rescuing the Liberty Bell during the Revolutionary War when the British were coming to attack Philadelphia and destroy the Bell. Thankyou so much for your time and any information about my ancestors from France. Very Sincerely Yours, Elizabeth Lee Nice

re: Brigadier General Robert M Montague

I would like any information regarding the general that you have. This is extremely important as I have discovered something regarding him that should not have been discovered here. My address is [email protected]

Ethnic Group

(moved from Village pump)

I wonder if you could help me.I am trying to fill a form out and it is asking my ethnic group,I am struggling with the answer as my grandad was apparantly jamacan and my grandmother english, and my mother was quite dark half cast and my father english.I was adopted you see so I am a bit stuck with my ethnic group I wonder if you can help Thanks Tracey.

If there's a space for it, you could write in mulatto. →Raul654 10:45, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

Mixed-race is more commonly used in the UK. Mulatto is seen as derogatory. Secretlondon 21:44, Feb 8, 2004 (UTC)

I usually select "Other" or write in "American" (although that might get some people thinking "native american"--which I am, too, but not in the sense usually meant. I was born here.). Elf 00:05, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Nineveh

While reading your info re the ancient city of Nineveh, I was wondering where I could find more information specifically about the tablets of history found while unearthing the ruins. Where are they displayed, and where have they been recorded for public interest. I am trying to find specifics regarding the historical evidence of Jonah and his ministry in Nineveh. Thank you for your help.

quaternized protein

What exactly is the meaning of 'quaternized' protein? I am very familiar with protein, so don't bother explaining any of the basics. A google search mostly just turns up company's 'quaterized protein' products for use as ingredients in personal care products. ike9898 14:27, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

I've never heard of a "quaternized" protein, but I have heard of 'quaternary conformation,' aka 'quaternary structure.' It refers to the way multiple polypeptide chains join together to form a protein. For instance, hemoglobin is composed of four separate (IIRC identical) polypeptides. My conclusion, FWIW, is that certain companies' use of the term is intended as a deceptive tactic. --Smack 07:56, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

A Kiss Before Dying

(moved from the above article)

Hi!

I´ve a problem! I´m a austrian student and i have to make a book report about "A KISS BEFORE DYING" But I have not enough time to study this book! If you could send me a summery of this book, i would be very pleased!! ([email protected])

I hope you could read my worse english!

Greetings

Ok, it goes something like this:

There's three robots, Zork, Spork, and Fnork. Spork and Fnork are in love with each other. All three are on a spaceship, but it crashes on a desolate planet. They survive, but Spork's powerpack is damaged in the crash. It will take weeks for rescue to come, and Spork will be dead by then. All three robots have interchangable powerpacks. All three are programmed not to cause injury to another, so Spork and Fnork can't kill Zork and take its powerpack. Fnork offers Spork its powerpack, but Spork says that losing Fnork would make it too sad, and that it would kill itself. Fnork feels the same way. So it looks like when rescue arrives only Zork will be alive, as Spork will have run out of power and Fnork will have killed itself with grief. But the dying Spork has a plan. At night, when the other two are sleeping, Spork opens Fnork's casing, and rewires Fnork to be in love with Zork (rather than Spork). Similarly, Spork makes Zork love Fnork. This way Fnork won't be so griefstricken when Spork dies, and so two of the three will survive to be rescued. Its selfless rewiring done, Spork kisses its beloved Fnork goodbye, and then dies.

Good luck! -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:58, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The factual accuracy of this summary is disputed ☺ →Raul654 02:11, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)

Accuracy

Hi, I have been a frequent visitor of this site for some weeks now after stumbling across it on a popular search engine dogpile.com. I have today however found out that anyone can edit this site anywhere in any article - now this worries me slightly. How accurate is this information? How can you tell the sources of this information are honest and true? Is there some sort of testing process to ensure this 'new donated' info is 100% truth. This is quite important for me as I am about to set upon my dissertation and can't afford incorrect information. Thanks Alex Bird - Leeds, UK

That's a good question, Alex. Surprisingly, quite a lot of it is accurate, particularly in the "important" areas. Gross inaccuracies do tend to get removed fairly quickly (I just fixed some comedian who altered Tony Blair to show his successor as Michael Howard, something that hasn't entirely happened yet). But some stuff is nonsense, and there's any number of places where eternal controversy rages (religion, abortion, terrorism, israel etc.). Wikipedia has been cited on news reports, and even in a court case. In most places it seems to be genuinely more neutral (a neutrality often born of fire) and more comprehensive than most professional sources. But there's no such thing as 100% truth (depending on what kind of philosopher you ask, there's no such thing as truth at all). I wouldn't cite wikipedia, or anthing else, without corroboration. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:29, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

For my take on it - I've noticed that when articles do contain errors, they are often very minor in scope. This morning I fixed an error over at the Foundation Series article - it had said the series was written over the course of 42 years, when it was actually 44. Like I said, a very trivial error. And I don't really see blatant errors (not counting vandalism) very often at all. →Raul654 16:47, Feb 4, 2004 (UTC)

I would suggest that the answers at Wikipedia:Replies to common objections would be a more extensive explanation of our take on this issue, but Raul and Finlay have given excellent short replies, I think. The community is able to police itself remarkably well on almost every issue, and errors of fact are becoming hard to find (though I still seek them out, of course...have to get it perfect! :) Jwrosenzweig 18:13, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Title sequence, help needed

Hi everyone my names Tony im doing a HND in graphic design. We have just been set a brief to create a typographically (type) based title sequence for either blockbusters, 15 to 1 or family fortunes. Any ideas as to where i can find the existing or the old title sequences for these shows or any ideas on an approach or concept. Tried researching in all the search engines without any luck.

Thanks in advance.

Tony

[email protected]

You might try looking over at http://tv.cream.org which is about "classic" British TV. They occasionally have clips of some title sequences, etc., or might link to them. -- DrBob

St. Antoine's

My daughter has a report to do on St.Antoine's in Paris, France. We have spent days searching for any information. Unfortunately, all we have discovered is that it was a church in Paris in the 1500's. We would like to know where we can get more information. Unfortunately, her report is due on Thursday (UGH!), so if possible, any info would be greatly appreciated as soon as possible. I can be reached at [email protected]. Thank you.

This church seems very obscure...my only suggestion is that the St. Antoine district was involved with the Fronde....perhaps the church was involved as well? Another option would be to try the French wikipedia (fr.wikipedia.org), but of course it's a french language site, so I don't know how receptive they are to questions in English. Might be worth a try. I also sent a reply to the email address above. Jwrosenzweig 18:11, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hmm. Are you sure that your daughter's assignment wasn't supposed to be about Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts? See, for example http://www.discoverparis.net/parisinsights/July03_churches.html. -- Jmabel 05:10, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

February

How often does February occur with 5 Sundays? -- [email protected]

The short answer is that it happens every 28 years. The longer answer is that, on average, it occurs every 28.866 years (think about century leap years). Stewart Adcock 00:40, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Does the fact that there are 5 Sundays in this February (Leap Year) have any significance or does it drum up any superstitions? -- Larry / Anchorage

family

I WAS WONDERING IF THERE HAS BEEN A FAMILY GENEALOGY DONE ON MR. CLARK. AND IF SO CAN IT BE SEEN ON THE INTERNET OR OBTAINED/ THANKS CAROLYN CLARK

Hit the third key from the bottom on the left side of your keyboard once, please. It's labelled 'Caps Lock' and may hold a LED. Jor 23:25, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Firstly, Clark is a very common name, so you would have to be more specific in order to find any meaningful information. Secondly, this is an encyclopedia, not a general information repository, so the best we can do is offer you information about genealogy. - IMSoP 01:24, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Because you haven't given Mr. Clark's full name or particulars, I'm going to assume you mean the U.S. presidential candidate. If so, you can find the Ancestry of Gen. Wesley K. Clark compiled by William Addams Reitwiesner here. Since he was born Wesley Kanne, the son of Benjamin Jacob Kanne and Veneta Updegraff, and took the name Clark when Veneta married her third husband Victor Clark, I wouldn't assume that you're related on the basis of having the same last name. - Nunh-huh 21:09, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The Eagles

What album were The Eagles writing/recording when occupying a beach house in Encinitas, Calif. in the early 1970's?

Anetra Wright 2-4-04 email address: [email protected]

This encyclopedia has an entry on The Eagles, and one on Encinitas, California, but unfortunately neither gives a clear answer to your question. - IMSoP 01:24, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Unknown Artist

My wife and I bought a still life painting, fruit & flowers, large framed in the 1970's on the east coast, this has hung on our wall since, we have tried to research this artist with no results, I believe he may be Italian, but I don't know, the painting is signed lower right corner M. Ruggio, any help as to age or value will be most appreciated if possible, photo can be sent if needed, thank you

Victor Kovach/ email: [email protected]

which medicines are safe to use after "expiry date" has elapsed?

does anybody know whether the expiry dates on supermarket medicines (e.g. non-prescription medicines like multivitamins or Pepto-Bismol etc) mean that the medicine is actually unsafe if you use them after that date, or does it usually simply mean that the efficacy or efficiency is only guaranteed until that date? are there various classes of medicines which are safe to consume after the stated date (albeit having less of an effect) versus ones that aren't? i would imagine that because medicines available in the supermarket are more likely to be misused than those available on prescription that manufacturers of multi-vitamins and aspirin for example would unlikely stock medicines that would not be safe if consumed after their expiry date simply because of fear of litigation. but i'd like to know for sure. --Clarkk 08:36, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Please see the Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer. You'd be best off asking your pharmacist. Angela. 08:55, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)

Though it's probably worth knowing that in most instances the expiration date is there because the drug becomes ineffective with age, rather than becoming noxious. The ineffectiveness is a danger in itself: you don't want to reach for the nitroglycerine when you're having your heart attack and have it not work. That's why the expiration dates are there: if you find you don't use a whole bottle before they expire, throw out the expired bottle and buy a smaller quantity next time. 0 Nunh-huh 10:53, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Good information on this is hard to get, and often does not exist. The Wall Street Journal did a story or two on it a few years ago, basing most of its treatment on a study by the U.S. Department of Defense, which doesn't want to waste money buying drugs and throwing them out (no sarcastic comments, please). The general conclusion was that expiration dates tend to be arbitrary, backed by little or no actual testing. The economic incentives, a matter to which the Journal tends to pay close attention, are against the manufacturer's specifying an excessively long shelf life, to put it mildly. Naturally, many things really do have a brief life; a prescription for an infection, marked with a short lifetime, clearly needs to be used and thrown out, not kept for another time. Dandrake 21:22, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)

Milo (drink)

Does anyone know the history of Milo the chocolate drink? Thanks! PMA 11:41, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)

The Milo section on Nestlé Australia's web site is very child-friendly (ie. loud, bright, and not very informative), but has the basic details. —Paul A 02:18, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Observability Duals

What is observability duals in Control theory? What is defining H as G^T? -- [email protected]

Wesley Clark Question

Could you please tell me if Mr. Wesley Clark could possibly be the same person who gave a 'talk' at the Naval Air Station, Memphis, TN. in the 70's? Not sure of year but after 1973, maybe late 70's. Thank you.

It could well be. If you have a look at the Wesley Clark article, he was apparently an instructor at West Point from 1971 to 1974. As such, I'd imagine he's the kind of person that would give talks to sailors/naval airmen/whatever you call them (I'm neither American nor a military person). You can also go to his campaign website and have a look in his "reading room", which has a bunch of documents from his military service. --Robert Merkel 00:55, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY INFO.. PLEASEEEE READ!!!

I need to know who wrote the article Subliminal Message, i need the location of the posting orginization, and the date of document. Please this is URGENT! thank you! e-mail me the info if you can (prefered) [email protected]

It sounds to me like this is for a bibliography. Is there some policy page somewhere which says how you are supposed to cite wikipedia in a bibliography? →Raul654 22:46, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. :) Jwrosenzweig 22:50, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Ok, since it's probably too much to hope for him to check back, I'll send him the email ;) →Raul654 22:53, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)

Should've mentioned I was going to email....I did, and then got back this: "Your mail to the following recipients could not be delivered because they are not accepting mail from your email address: foxyroxy0709".....ah, I love helping others. ;) I hope foxy roxy (why, btw, did you assume this was a "him" Raul? :) checks back here, 'cause email apparently isn't "(prefered)". Jwrosenzweig 23:54, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I got the same thing too. And (call me sexist) but I tend to assume it is a he unless other information is presented. I didn't even notice the name ;) Anyway, let me post my email in its entirely just in case (s)he does return.

→Raul654 23:59, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)

---

Dear FoxRoxy:

On the Wikipedia reference desk, you posted the following: SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE BIBLIOGRAPHY INFO.. PLEASEEEE READ!!! I need to know who wrote the article Subliminal Message, i need the location of the posting orginization, and the date of document. Please this is URGENT! thank you! e-mail me the info if you can (prefered) [email protected]

The subliminal message article is located at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_message

It sounds to us like this is for a bibliography of some sort. We have an page with instructions for citing it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia

To answer your question specifically:

Q) I need to know who wrote the article Subliminal Message

A) Because Wikipedia can be edited by anyone on the internet, this question is

hard to answer. The Citing Wikipedia page says specifically that you should not cite any particular author. In this case, I count about 15 people who have contributed to that article.

Q) I need the location of the posting orginization

A) The posting organization is the Wikimedia foundation

(http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia ). It is located in Florida.

Q) (I need) the date of document.

A) According to the article's history

(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Subliminal_message&action=history ), the last time it was changed was: (cur) (last) . . 03:24, Jan 5, 2004 . . Thunderbunny (details to 2000 ad message)

The last person who edited it was user Thunderbunny on January 5, 2004.

I hope this has been helped. Feel free to ask me any other question you might have about Wikipedia.

Sincerely Yours, Mark *********

---

Ripple (the alcoholic drink)

I have heard of a drink called Ripple refered to several times. It normally has come up in old black (African-american) comedy and music. Any idea if this is still produced? Can anyone tell me anything about it? I suppose it was probably a fortified wine, something like MD 20/20... ike9898 02:12, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)

The Gallo family marketed several infamous inexpensive wines (among them Boone's Farm, Ripple, and Thunderbird). Thunderbird was "fortified"; I believe the others were just cheap. But in terms of reputation, you're thinking right if you're thinking MD 20/20: a cheap high rather than a complement to fine dining.... - Nunh-huh 04:12, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

J. Frederick George

What is J. Frederick George's actual name? Bevo 06:29, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

J. Frederick George's real name is George Jewsbury, according to an interview with Neal Stephenson in Locus magazine. Jwrosenzweig 21:14, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC) (this answer also on Bevo's talk page)

Thanks! I like the new organization of the articles tieing it all together. Bevo 15:24, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Congratulations

I want to thank you for this wonderful resource. This is exactly what the internet should be all about.

Cheers

rich

I think I speak for all of Wikipedia when I say - thank you for the kind words. →Raul654 12:06, Feb 6, 2004 (UTC)

Hear, hear! It's nice to feel that one's work is being used and appreciated. :) Jwrosenzweig 17:30, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

script

I am currently writing a movie script, and I am almost done and would like to sell, I would like to see if you are willing to read it.

We do not publish or read original scripts here. Good luck sending it to a movie producer or agent. Thanks for stopping by, though, and feel free to look at our articles on movies for inspiration. :) Jwrosenzweig 21:08, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Playable range of a trumpet?

What is the playable range (i.e. lowest and highest possible notes) of a trumpet? That information isn't in the article. (Actually, I don't think it's there in many of the other instrument pages, either. I'd add it, but I don't know it.) --bdesham 04:18, Feb 7, 2004 (UTC)

They usually call it "playing range", not "playable". Such data can be found, fortunately for us, easily in groups of many popular instruments, e.g., [2]. --Menchi 06:54, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

There is no theoretical upper limit. It's a matter of technique. As for the lower limit, there is one; haven't played trumpet in over 20 years, so my memory could be wrong. Would someone who has played more recently please weigh in? I believe the low note is a F# in the B-flat notation used for trumpet, but it might be possible to get a half-tone lower with all the valves down; I believe that it is equivalent to the E below middle C on a piano. Any good player should be able to get up at least to the C (in B-flat notation, so really a B-flat) 2-1/2 octaves higher. A serious player can make it, at least briefly, to the G (in B-flat notation, so really an F) three octaves higher. Beyond that would be very impressive technique, and really good lip muscles, but it can be done. -- Jmabel 07:02, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I'm not a trumpeter, but according to the Concise Grove, the range extends (as Jmabel says) from the E below middle C (written F#) and typically extends upwards for about three octaves, though there's no theoretical upper limit, just a practical one (also as Jmabel says). I've added the info the article. --Camembert

Seek info Pope Paul VI visit New York 1965

I have Comemorative cards of the Popes visit in 1965 but no captions or comments. Some of them I have figured out. He did visit the UN and meet the Secretary General at that time.

• Mass at St. Pats?
  • He "visited" St. Pat's. No mention of a mass there.

• Mass outside stadium (which one) or Central Park?
  • Yankee Stadium

• Pope visiting with President Johnson, where? Did the Pope meet the President at the White House?
  • At the Waldorf-Astoria. This article also has other info on his visit.

Help, commemts, appreciated

• • I found all of this in 8 minutes with Google. -- Jmabel 03:31, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Intersection of a plane and a polyhedron

I'm not too hopeful on getting an answer here, but Google wasn't much help. Does anybody know how to calculate the area of intersection of a plane and an arbitrary 3D polyhedron? Let's say, for starters, I have the plane in terms of a point and two angles, and the polyhedron is the convex hull of an arbitrary number of points. What's the area of their intersection?

Other things that will be helpful in the future include the area of intersection of a cone section and a plane, and a cylinder and a plane.

Thanks. moink 23:03, 7 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I've simplified the problem a bit. Now I just need the area of the intersection of a plane (in any form, standard i.e. x+By+Cz+D=0 is fine) with an eight-sided polyhedron made up of two not-necessarily-similar trapezoids in parallel planes, and those trapezoid planes are parallel to the x-z plane. moink 02:25, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

There may be a better way, but it should be possible to take every pair of points, and find the intersection between the line through the pair with the plane. Then the problem is to find the convex hull area of a set of points in a plane. Κσυπ Cyp   13:15, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! That was actually quite helpful. I have a piece of incomprehensible Fortran code from the 50s that does this. It had an array of 12 intermediate variables, and I couldn't for the life of me think what there could possibly be 12 of. It's the intersections of the plane with the edges of the polyhedron! So now I've got that down, I just need a formula for the area of a plane polygon (I'm actually projecting it onto a coordinate plane, so I have it nicely in 2 coordinates) expressed as the convex hull of some number of points (0-12). (Actually, I'm sure there's an upper limit on the number of points, and that it's less than 12, but my visualization is pretty bad, so I don't know what the limit is. Also of course with less than 3 points it's trivial) moink 19:24, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The area of a plane polygon is the total area of its composite triangles. The area of a triangle with points A, B and C is ½|(B-A)×(C-A)|, × being the cross product, || the length. Κσυπ Cyp   22:02, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yep, thought of that. Just need to come up with a complete set of non-overlapping triangles to make up the polygon, by only knowing it's vertices, and nothing about the arrangement of its vertices. moink 22:05, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The Graham scan would probably work. Where P_i is the ith sorted point of n remaining points, the triangles are then {P₁, P₂, P₃}, {P₁, P₃, P₄}, {P₁, P₄, P₅}, ..., {P₁, P_n-1, P_n}. Κσυπ Cyp   22:24, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Cyp, you're awesome! And the Wikipedia is awesome! Who knew I could find an algorithm in here to do exactly what I needed to do? moink 22:32, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Even better, I just found out that Matlab (which is how I'm doing this) already has a function to return the area of a convex hull! Yay!!!! moink 02:09, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Mother and fetus: incompatible blood type

How can a fetus with a different blood type than the mother tolerate the mother's blood?

Such troubles arise almosst invariably in the case where an Rh negative mother has a child by an RH positive father. Now, the blood of the mother and fetus are often incompatible, even in the major A, B, O groups, but this is not serious in itself since the blood of the mother and fetus do not intermingle. The blood vessels belonging to each break up into fine capillaries in a special organ called the placenta developed by the mother during pregnancy. Oxygen and food molecules can diffuse across the placental membranes from the mother's capillaries to the fetus's. Carbon dioxide and waste products diffuse back in the other direction.

Although no red blood cells cross the placenta in either direction, it is possible for some of the blood group substances to work loose of the red cell and diffuse across. If the blood group is incompatible with the new blood where it enters, an agglutinin may be developed against it. To what extent this happens depends upon the particular group substance and the quantity that leaks across. For some reason, RH-positive substance, diffusing across into the blood of an Rh negative mother will occasionally (say, once in twenty times) produce an unusually high titer of anti-rh-positive agglutinins.

--Isaac Asimov, The Living River (a book about the circulatory system), page 88

→Raul654 07:04, Feb 8, 2004 (UTC)

One more thing. There is a condition where blood between the mother and fetus does intermingle, and the mother's immune attacks it. This is called Erythroblastosis Fetalis (usually just Erythroblastosis) →Raul654 20:58, Feb 9, 2004 (UTC)

Open-site.org, Offline Wiki, Multilingual Wiki

Hello, I have 3 questions: 1. Why don't merge with open-site.org? Maybe they have some stuff that coulb be put here? 2. Why not do an offline standalone exe version of Wiki? I thinkt it would give Wiki more users.. 3. Why when I registered into English Wiki and then to log into Polish I had to register new user?

Regards, Talthen --Talthen 18:32, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I can't speak to the first question, but to the latter two

2) Wikipedia (the english one) is big. Really big - 3,000 megs. There are tarballs for download, but the bandwidth necessary to do it is high.

3) The wikipedia user databases are seperate. User accounts on the english wikipedia exist only for en.wikipedia.org. Polish accounts exist only on the polish wikipedia, etc. →Raul654 18:54, Feb 8, 2004 (UTC)

3: Because it is presumptuous to think that others would ever be intrested in say, Bajorian WP, and flood the Bajorian WP up with users who never go there. I doubt you'd ever dare to call yourself a real Bajorian Wikipedian, even if you have an account there. --Menchi 18:55, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

3) Because it happened that way, and therefore now is the potential problem that different people have the same login on different Wikipædias, making it harder to set up a unified login system. Κσυπ Cyp   22:10, 8 Feb 2004 (UTC)

1) Open-site.org have a completely different set up to us. I don't see how a merge would be possible as they have very strict access levels, whereas we allow anyone to edit. Also, their license is not compatible with the GFDL. See the Open site thread on wikipedia-l about this too. Angela. 02:31, Feb 9, 2004 (UTC)

skin color

I have heard that when a child is born, his or her skin color will not be darker than the darkest parent. Is this true?

• No. Next question? Jmabel 00:17, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

research

dear Sirs,

I'm not sure I'm in the right office; if not perhaps you can direct me.

I am writing a novel and need some detailed information on the Yoshiwara pleasure enclave somewhere in Asakusa. I am looking for the specific location or address, size and/or map if possible (permission to reprint) and it's outcome from the fire raid of March 9/10th.

Also, I understand there may have been a POW camp in arakawa called NIPPON TSUUN 10-B. Any detailed information on this or any other camp in the north asakusa area or where I can go to find this information, would be greatly appreciated.

Domo Arigato,

Marc Hagan

Marc, the Wikipedia is an online, volunteer encyclopedia. A brief check suggests, there's no detailed information on that in the Wikipedia; you probably need to visit a good research library for that kind of information. --Robert Merkel 04:20, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

what works of literature written from 1595-1605

Well, for starters, much of Shakespeare. Can you be a little more specific on what you are going after? -- Jmabel 00:19, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Legal term

This is a question I suppose most native English speakers (and quite a few who aren't) should be able to tackle with no great difficulty. What is the legal term - if such exists - for the time since a crime is committed after which no complaints can be filed or legal processes begun? -Itai 20:09, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

We refer to "the statute of limitations". Example: "He escaped prosecution for robbery as the statute of limitations for robbery in the first degree is 7 years." Jwrosenzweig 20:40, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

A simpler verison of the above: "He could not be prosecuted for the crime because the statute of limitations had expired" →Raul654 20:54, Feb 9, 2004 (UTC)

As usual, Raul provides the more useful response at the Reference Desk. :) That is a far nicer sentence than mine. *shakes head sadly* Jwrosenzweig

Thanks! This is just what I had in mind, and both examples are highly enlightening. -Itai 21:37, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

note that "statute of limitations" is a specific US term (particular to the US legal system) and that the phrase is thus specific to that country. Legal systems descending from the UK's legal system(s) (which means most other english-speaking countries) lack both this concept thus any phrase for it. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:11, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for your response! I suppose that, alas, I had best not murder anyone when in Britain. <sigh> Truth be told, I was looking for the English equivalent of an Israeli term, which seems to correspond to the American, as you say, "statute of limitations". I am dimly aware that the Israeli legal system is derived, to a certain extent, from the British, but am no legal expert. -Itai 21:37, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Even in the gun-totin', free-wheelin' USA, I'm afraid there is no statute of limitations on murder. :-) No matter how long it has been, there are some heinous crimes for which you can always be prosecuted here. Jwrosenzweig 21:40, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Actually, the term is used in Canada too, which makes me think it is used in all British-based legal systems. moink 22:19, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Advertising Slogan

Good afternoon,

I hope you can help my work colleagues and myself we are trying to remember which british advert the following slogan relates to:

tasty tasty very very tasty.

thank you for your time.

best regards Kim and the crew

Used to sell Kellogg's Bran Flakes, I believe. -- DrBob

P-51B/C (technical drawings)

Where can I obtain technical drawings of the P-51B/C?

You are far more likely to get an answer if you give us a clue what it is. This could be anything from an airplane to a model of speaker... -- Jmabel 07:36, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It's easy enough to find out - by Googling for "P-51B/C", for instance - what the P-51B/C is. Anyway, I rather think anyone who knew where to find the requested technical drawings would already know what they were technical drawings of. :o) —Paul A 08:06, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Difficulties in Navigation

Is there a way in Wiki to navigate through a hierarchy? It feels like the only way to find an article of interest is through search. I suppose as an encyclopedia nerd, my first instinct is to want to open a table of contents and browse through a multi-layered hierarchy. Does such a thing exist? Is there a master hierarchy to which every article in the database belongs?

Thanks much!

Zachary Ryan

There is no master hierarchy, but there are attempts to categorize major articles by subject area. Try clicking on the subject areas on the Main Page or just click here and see if that helps you find what you want. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 19:15, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It's the nature of knowledge that not all subjects fall into a hierarchy. Many are combinations of aspects of several unrelated fields that are otherwise unrelated. The words in each article, ideally, should provide links not only to broader and narrower subjects, but also to other subjects that are related to it in some other way. Wikipedia can use encyclopedia nerds like you to help create these links. Perhaps you would enjoy contributing to Lists of articles by category, which is closest to the hierarchical table of contents you seek? GUllman 01:41, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Black Holes and White Holes

I realize that the existence of Black Holes and White Holes are still being discussed. However, I was wondering if it has been discussed that their is an exit or why out inside a Black Hole. I know white hole would be a type of exit, but every site I've been to says that they're existence is impossible.

See Hawking radiation — this seems to be the only matter which can 'escape' a Black hole. Jor 21:47, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Even then, that's from just outside the event horizon, so still nothing escapes. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:51, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

No matter "escapes" a black hole. However, black holes do effectively shrink (from the annihilation of particle/anti-particle pairs) through Hawking radiation. Still, the particle that the black hole "loses" is not the same particle as appears near the event horizon. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 22:28, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

This FAQ contains a good discussion of what happens if you fall into a black hole. -- Tim Starling 04:54, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

David Cassidy

Can you tell me please is there a DAVID CASSIDY website on the World Wide Web ? I cannot find one. Thank You

Google is your friend Jor 23:00, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Alter color

If light is an electomagnetic wave could a big enough magnetic discharge alter the surounding area's color by a fraction? I asked my teacher but he said to look and I haven't found anything. your help will be greatly appreciated.

                             thanks
                                Grant Colasurdo

IANAP, but I believe that light isn't exactly an electromagnetic wave, nor is it particular (getting all quantum mechanics-y). It may have something to do with the fact that you can't affect radio waves by magnets, either, I believe. Anyway, someone may want to clarify :) Dysprosia 04:14, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Light most certainly is an electromagnetic wave. However, a magnetic field won't change the frequency (colour) of light as it travels through space. If it is travelling through some kind of matter, a magnetic field will alter the polarization of the light due to the Faraday effect [3]. And some materials may change colour when a magnetic field is applied, for example by the Zeeman effect.

Light is definitely affected by electric and magnetic fields, but in most cases it is the direction or polarization of the light which is affected, not the frequency. The reason light bounces off things rather than passing straight through them is because of the strong electric fields inside the materials. Processes which change the frequency of "monochromatic" (single-frequency) light are called "nonlinear". -- Tim Starling 05:00, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

Just to clarify a few things - first of all, light always behaves like a wave except when it impacts something, and then it behaves like a particle (see Compton effect). You could probably use magnetic fields to "steer" (monochromatic) light, but not to alter its frequency. The only way to do that is to pass it through some kind of material.

Also, as a side note, you might want to read the article on Cherenkov radiation, which is produced when high energy particles pass through matter. They impact with such force that a blue glow is emitted. →Raul654 08:49, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

Is Canadian american records owned or in anyway a part of MCA?

Is Canadian american records owned or in anyway a part of MCA?

BIBLE TIMELINES

I HAVE GATHERED INFORMATION ON HALLEY'S COMET AND NEED DATING OF BIBLE EVENTS FROM ADAM'S CREATION, ALSO FROM ROMAN HISTORY RECORDS. IS THERE SUCH A BIBLE TIMELINE AVAILABLE, IF SO, HOW DO I ACCESS IT?

DOES WIKIPEDIA HAVE ROMAN HISTORY RECORDS WHICH I CAN ACCESS? IF SO, HOW DO I DO IT? SPECIFICALLY, I NEED INFORMATION ON WHEN THEIR CALENDAR OF IDES, NONES AND KALENDS WAS BEGUN.

First, please do not type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. Dating of Biblical events is notoriously controversial. Bishop Ussher made perhaps the most popular calculation of Bible dating several hundred years ago, which placed the creation of Adam in the year 4004 BC (October, if I recall correctly). Many Biblical scholars today would disagree, but Ussher's dates still have their defenders. I couldn't offer any more guidance than that. We are not a Roman history repository, though we do have articles on ancient Rome. Perhaps Roman calendar would be of use to you? Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll need to invest in some specialized books, or better yet go to the library of a seminary or other religious college (even a public university's library would probably help). Books on Bible dating and the more detailed aspects of Roman history are your best bet. Jwrosenzweig 16:59, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

foreign abrev for word "company"

I am stumped for an assignment due today. My instructor wants 5 abbreviations for the word "company" in different languages. I know in french it's SA. Could anyone please help me? Thanks.

From [4] I find the following for compnay

• France - CIE
• Germany - AG

• The Netherlands - BV

Jor 20:16, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

And the following for incorporated

• Sweeden - AB
• Norway - ASA
• Germany - GmbH
• Japan - LTD
• The Netherlands - NV
• UK - PLC
• France - SA
• Spain - SA de CV
• Italy - SpA

Hope it helped. Gentgeen 18:04, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Whales and Dolphins

I heard that anccient whales and dolphins used to walk on land. Is this true? Thanks, Gino [email protected]

No, not exactly. They had remote ancestors, 50 million years or so ago, that walked on land. These had even remoter ancestors, more than 250 million years ago I'd say without looking it up, that swam in the water, which was natural, since they were fish. This all needs to be preceded by a "some people believe", since some people believe in making inferences from the evidence of geology and biology, and some people don't. Dandrake 19:24, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

To put it another way, yes they did. ;) Well, Dandrake's right of course, but I believe the point being made in the statement that you heard is that whales evolved from creatures that left the water to walk on land... only to later head back to the water. This is, of course, the case for all aquatic mammals. Whales and dolphins however (unlike pinnipeds) have lost all external vestiges of their (rear) legs. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 20:25, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The Theme Song from The Late Late Show with Gay Bryne

Can someone please tell me the name of the theme song for the Late Late Show with Gay Bryne?

vietnam veterans

I COULD BE WRONG BUT I THOUGHT SOMEONE MIGHT FIND THE INFORMATION ON THE FOLLOWING WEB-SITES OF SOME INTEREST. htt://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/chas/agentorangedisussion.htm and htt://www.2ndbattalion94thartillery.com/chas/agentorangemedicallssues.htm

Transformation of a Conic

I am obviously terrible at computational geometry. And I got such a good answer here the last time I asked that I thought I'd ask for something else.

For those of you who saw my previous cone-plane-intersection question, I've reduced it to this one.

I have a conic expressed as:

a*x^2+b*y^2+c*x*y+d*x+e*y+f=0

What can I do to make the x*y go away? Like, maybe transform it to a u,v space so that I can make it

A*(u-u0)^2+B*(v-v0)^2=1

I would particularly like it if the area of the conic was invariant in the transformation. If I performed the same transformation on a line that intercepted the conic, would the segment of the conic bordered by the line keep it's area?

Thanks. moink 17:07, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Substituting

$x=u\cos(\theta )+v\sin(\theta )$

$y=-u\sin(\theta )+v\cos(\theta )$

$u=x\cos(\theta )-y\sin(\theta )$

$v=x\sin(\theta )+y\cos(\theta )$

should get rid of the x*y thing (without adding a u*v thing), with the right θ. Haven't checked if I worked it out correctly, but maybe

$\theta ={\frac {\arctan {\frac {c}{b-a}}}{2}}$

Κσυπ Cyp   18:37, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Fixed formula, now should hopefully now at least work for a=1, b=2, c=3. (Probably forgot the 2 in (u+v)²=u²+v²+2uv.) Κσυπ Cyp   18:46, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

P.S. It preserves all areas and lengths, since the transformation is a plain rotation. Κσυπ Cyp   18:52, 12 Feb 2004 (UTC)

UK PRIME MINISTER'S COUNTY HOME

COULD ANYONE TELL ME WHO WAS THE FIRST UK PRIME MINISTER TO OCCUPY CHEQUERS?

MANY THANK

BARBARAC

According the BBC Radio 4 page it was Lloyd George who was the first Prime Minister to use Chequers. In January 1921. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/sceptred_isle/page/187.shtml? --Dieter Simon 00:17, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Soldiers on the Plains of Abraham

Is there a list of names of the soldiers who fought on the Plains of Abraham? I am specifically looking for the names of soldiers who came from other countries to join in the fight. Thanks, Jan

Just to clarify the above - the plains of abraham are located outside quebec. The above is (almost certainly) referring to the 1759 battle of Quebec -- Battle of the Plains of Abraham. →Raul654 07:46, Feb 11, 2004 (UTC)

Printed Dictionary

I am interested in a printed dictionary of common words concerning all PC-vocabulary. Where can I order this? Is such a book available? Thank you for your answer in advance Yours sincerely,

Renate M. Degenfeld Austria

I found a few on Amazon.com. I'm not recommending the books in specific or that you buy them on Amazon, but they do seem to be the sort of book you're looking for. Click here --Dante Alighieri | Talk 20:21, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Liquid crystal sheet

Hi there,

Please can you help me to find where to buy a liquid crystal "sheet" I am in South Africa if it helps

Regards Ian Woolridge

rice field price

hi I want to know how much cost every meter rice field in Ramsar (in Toman)? my e-mail address is : [email protected]

ggg

Dear Sir

I am a researcher in Hefei Physical Science Institue of Chinese Academy of Sciences. I would like to buy a Nd:GGG laser crystal rod with the size 8mm in diameter and 100mm in length. I am to useing rod pumped by flashlamp. On the homepage, I konw you can you can provide Nd:GGG crystal. Please quote for the following products.

Type: laser rod Material: Nd:GGG Nd concentration: 1.1 to 1.5 at.% Orientation: [010] +/-2 deg. Diameter: 8 (+0.0/-0.1) mm Length: 100 (+1/-1) mm Surface quality: 20/10 scr/dig Surface flatness: lambda/10 @ 633nm Parallelism: < 30 arc. sec. Perpendicularity: 15 arc. min Chamfer: 0.2 mm Coating: both faces AR/AR @ 1061nm, R<0.2% Quantity: 1 pc.

Can you tell me more detailed messages, such as its price, how to buy it and so on? You kind response would be appreciated greatly!

Best regards!

your sincerely

Jiang Haihe

P.O.Box 1125
HeFei,Anhui,230031
P.R.China
Tel-No.: 551-5591667
Fax: 551-5591270
E-Mail: [email protected]

I don't know about the price &/c, but this is a Wiki here. We don't sell crystals or lasers or that kind of thing. Dysprosia 09:03, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Maybe *you* don't ;) →Raul654 22:21, Feb 13, 2004 (UTC)

Leap year on Sunday

Does anyone have the answer to these questions?

1. When was the last time Sunday landed on a leap year?

2. When will be the next time that Sunday lands on a leap year?

Thanks very much in advance.

John

They happen every 28 years. The next time will be 2032. The last was 1976. →Raul654 22:01, Feb 13, 2004 (UTC)

Kathleen Kennedy

Did Kathleen Kennedy give up her US citizenship? How else would she have a title of nobility? --Jiang 22:23, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It is my belief, possibly mistaken, that US citizens may hold titles of nobility. We are not prevented from having them...the Constitution only prevents the granting of titles by the US, or the official legal recognition of other country's titles. Her noble status elsewhere wouldn't offer her any status under US law that she did not already have. I'm afraid this is all based on a history major's memory, though, so someone else may have books at hand that offer a more complete answer? Jwrosenzweig 22:38, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Correct. Jamie Lee Curtis for example, is also Lady Haden-Guest through her husband inheriting a barony -- she actually attended the State Opening of Parliament the last year before her husband lost his seat in the House of Lords when it was reformed. -- Arwel 22:53, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

There was actually an unsuccessful attempt to pass a constitutional amendment against US citizens taking titles of nobility. See The missing thirteenth amendment. -- Jmabel 00:39, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

But when US citizens are knighted (e.g. Rudy Giuliani, Steven Spielberg, Wesley Clark) they are not entitled to the title "Sir". The Constitution states "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." --Jiang

No, a US citizen who is not employed by the Federal Government can use any title he's entitled to (and probably those he's not entitled to as well). The non-use of the "Sir" by those who are not British citizens is a British restriction on the honor, not a restriction by the U.S. Constitution. The passage you cite restricts only employees of the federal governemnt. - Nunh-huh 06:58, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yes, the applicable part of that constitutional quote is And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them... (the United States). The restriction on foreigners using British honours is a British one, also affecting Irishmen like Bob Geldof and Terry Wogan. -- Arwel 13:23, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

B.F. Skinner and Conditioned Behaviour

What behaviour did B. F. Skinner agree to be the only one that is not conditioned? --Xiaopo's Talk 23:43, Feb 13, 2004 (UTC)

Is this a trivia quiz, or what? One would have to guess suckling, but I don't have a source for this? -- Jmabel 00:41, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

POPE JOHN PAUL 2

Can anyone tell me the approximate height and weight of his holiness?

anthony

I am researching Colonel Anthony Van Egmond.Specifically his life prior to his involvement in the 1837 Rebellion in Upper Canada. His place of birth, family, religion, schools, military service, years in Pennesylvania, trek to Upper Canada and association with the Huron Tract grant are of particular interest. (Mary P Smith, moved from Anthony Van Egmond by Dysprosia)

grep with context

Does anyone know where I can find a variation of the command line utility grep that shows the lines occurring before and after the line that matches a pattern? Bevo 15:24, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

GNU grep will do that. grep -A 2 -B 2 foo will show 2 lines before and after each match. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:11, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! With that knowledge I was able to find a port that I can use at http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ Bevo 19:37, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

If you're stuck on windows, a download of cygwin is probably be best medium-term solution, most particularly because you get a decent shell. No matter how good a win32 port of a unix utility is, you'll be in pathname and escaped-character hell when you try to run it under (gulp) batchfiles. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:56, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)