Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/November 2004 I

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[edit] Distances

Is London nearer to Paris or Newcastle upon Tyne? [[User:Dmn|Dmn/ Դմն ]] 00:39, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Paris is approximately 290 km / 181 miles south of London, or 341 km / 213 miles by surface transport. Newcastle is 268.5 miles from London Kings Cross by rail (add another mile or so to get to Charing Cross where distances are traditionally measured from). So the answer to your question is "Paris". -- Arwel 01:08, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] OAKLAND RAIDERS / Al Davis

Dear Wikipedia;...I know this is really a stretch; but, I am at my wits' end. I have exhausted every avenue I could find, and been un-sucessful. Would you please forward this letter to Mr Al Davis; or send me an e-mail address where I might be able to reach him. It is the most important thing in my life; and the future of the Oakland Raiders. I will certainly remember you, when I reach my appointed destiny as Coach of the Raiders. R.J.Rooney...hm.# 323-753-8105...cell# 310-387-4926 ranchero50{ a t }netzero.net

Did you try the "contact us" page at raiders.com? They've got a snail-mail address and phone number for the Oakland Raiders' business offices. They're more likely to be able to help you contact Mr. Davis than we are. -- Cyrius|✎ 03:51, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] early voting in the United States contradicts Constitution?

I have a real problem when I read that "early voting" is going on in many states, when it clearly says in the Constitution that voting for President must take place on one day. Apparently there are new federal laws, but if they were going the change the Constitution, wouldn't that take an amendment? What's the deal? Mjklin 04:33, 2004 Nov 1 (UTC)

Article II, Section 1 states "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States." As I understand it, absentee ballots and early voting are allowed as long as people are also able to vote on Election Day. The constitution doesn't say that voting can only take place on a single day. Rhobite 04:56, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)
Well, also: we aren't the electors. The electors are the members of the Electoral College. Congress determined the time for choosing the electors, and they seem to allow early voting -- but the Electoral College has to give their vote on a single day. Anyway, I think that's how it goes. --jpgordon{gab} 06:56, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Precisely. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:58, Nov 1, 2004 (UTC)

I don't suppose we have an entry on early voting? [[User:Rhymeless|Rhymeless | (Methyl Remiss)]] 09:11, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Where is Büttgen

In editing Berti Vogts, it seems he comes from Büttgen (or is it Bottgen?) in Germany. We don't have an article about it, and the German language wikipedia redirects it to de:Kaarst. Can someone with some knowledge of that part of Germany tell what a sensible resolution for Büttgen would be in the english wikipedia?

Also, does anyone know in what position "Der Terrier" played? His scoring record reads like a midfielder.

Thanks in advance. - John Fader

  • Büttgen is Büttgen. I suspect the Bottgen spelling is just a misreading of the u-umlaut as an o. It's discussed under Kaarst in German wikipedia because Büttgen is part of the district of Kaarst. When we do have an article on Kaarst, Büttgen should be a redirect to it. --jpgordon{gab} 08:53, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] EM wave with highest frequency

What is the highest frequency of a electromagnetic wave ever reported?

What is the upper bound for the frequency of any EM wave, and what properties would such wave have? — Kieff | Talk 08:36, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)

To my knowledge, there's no upper bound on frequency. You just get gamma rays with higher and higher energies. A source I don't entirely trust to be accurate says the highest frequency ever measured is 1030Hz. -- Cyrius|✎ 14:05, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I found some more online discussions that we might be able to condense into an answer. There are "Ask a High-Energy Astronomer" from NASA (no theoretical limit, observed up to 10^27 Hz, expected up to 10^30 Hz), and "Ask a Scientist" from the US Dept. of Energy (points out that photon has to get its energy from some finite source), and this discussion group, which kicks the subject around a bit more. --Heron 14:43, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I was thinking about it because of this: if the Planck time, tp = 5.391 × 10-44 s, is the smallest unit of time, then the highest frequency possible would be given by f = 1 / 5.391 × 10-44 wich is 1,855 × 1043 Hz. Now, I was wondering what this implies. If such wave exists, how would it behave? If highest frequencies mean highest penetrations, then this wave would be able to go through anything, quite similar to what gravity does. So, I thought that could mean something.  :P — Kieff | Talk 02:37, Nov 3, 2004 (UTC)
I'm out of my depth here, and I'll be grateful if somebody sets me right, but I thought that the Planck units were based on the size at which quantum effects and classical effects have equal validity. In other words, they are not hard limits, merely mathematical waypoints in a fuzzy cloud of measurement where results are 50% likely to be correct. Is this true? In which case, it would not be impossible for a frequency to exceed 1/(Planck time), but it would be impossible to be certain about what we had measured. --Heron 11:19, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I heard that cosmic rays are higher than gamma rays. [[User:Nichalp|¶ ɳȉčḩåḽṗ | ✉]] 19:38, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

Cosmic rays are particles, not electromagnetic waves — Kieff | Talk 00:04, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Mind your Own Business

A popular French saying I'm told that literally means "mind your onions" but I can't seem to trace it! Can you help?

I think you may be better off asking that at wiktionary.org... [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 12:43, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)
You want "Occupe-toi de tes oignons". It's the third result in the Google search for "mind your onions". --Heron 14:49, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
You can say both "Occupe-toi de tes oignons" or "Occupe-toi de tes affaires". There is also another nice one, somewhat related: "A chacun son métier (et les vaches seront bien gardées)" which means basically: "Everyone to his trade" or something like that. --Edcolins 19:29, Nov 2, 2004 (UTC)
"To each his or her trade (and the cows will be well guarded.)" --Gelu Ignisque
Reminds me of the Dutch "schoenmaker, blijf bij je leest" -- "let the cobbler stick to his last", but unlike English, it's a common proverb in Dutch. From Latin "ne sutor ultra crepidam", see Apelles#Legacy. Probably occurs in other languages as well. JRM 23:11, 2004 Nov 6 (UTC)
Us British folk sometimes say "he really knows his onions" when referring to someone who appears knowledgeable in a certain area. Haven't heard that used for some time though. [1] --[[User:Bodnotbod|bodnotbod » .....TALKQuietly)]] 10:28, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Count of teeth

I asked this question at Talk:Tooth but got no response :

In humans, does the first set have 20 teeth and the second set 12, or does the second set have 32 ? Do all the 20 teeth of the first set fall off ? Jay 04:23, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

  • Tooth answers this pretty well, but perhaps you might recommend improvements to the language? It says, "The second, permanent set is formed between the ages of six and twelve years. A new tooth forms underneath the old one, pushing it out of the jaw. " In other words, the 20 "baby teeth" are replaced with permanent teeth, and 8-12 more come in. --jpgordon{gab} 22:18, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Thanks, I've tried to incorporate this in the tooth article. Jay 16:20, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

How many teeth do you have, Jay? --User:Juuitchan

[edit] Emigration/Credit question

Okay, here's the situation. The wife and I are tossing around the idea of moving to Canada. Before you draw out the guns though, I'd just like to point out that A) she's a Canadian already, B) I married her in 1998, before it was fashionable for lefty Americans to love Canada and C) we've been tossing around the idea of moving there since 1998. That said, our credit here in the US is pretty good, and her credit from 1998 in Canada is, shall we say, not so fantastic. Would credit translate across borders? If it doesn't usually, is there a way to get credit for our good credit? Thanks much.

Guh, forgot to sign it. The above question is mine. --I. Neschek 16:28, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
In fact it's been trendy for lefty Americans to fetishize Canada (if not, alas, Canadians) since at least the '60s. But to answer your questions, it has been the experience of some friends of mine that Canadian banks can, indeed, reference U.S. credit reports, at least when it comes to assessing overall debt load; so if you've got a pocketful of high-limit cards, they will count against you. For the most part, if you're looking for a loan or a mortgage, the question will be "What are your current jobs, and how long have you been in them?".
In general, the black cloud of credit seems not to hang over Canadians the way it does Americans. For example, I believe it remains very rare for Canadian landlords or employers to look at credit reports as indicators of trustworthiness. Landlords may want a letter from your employer confirming your pay.
There is a newsgroup, misc.immigration.canada, from which you may be able to glean specific anecdotal info.
Sharkford 19:10, 2004 Nov 3 (UTC)
Real answer: no, but you can fake it. Use your US credit cards as a credit reference when you open your bank account in Canada. It worked brilliantly for me when I went the other way - the bank gave me a $2000 credit card on the strength of my Canadian cards. If you intend to apply for a mortgage or something, I'd advise bringing a copy of your US credit report. But for commerical credit, use your US cards as credit references and you'll be fine. Diderot 06:58, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Statistics and Probability

sigh.... The reference desk is not a search engine. func(talk) 03:02, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Maths Methods assignment

Hi, this is a Maths Methods assignment for me. I have done sme planning, etc. But I'd just like to ask for some other people's opinions. Thank you!! =)


topics: data variance (statistics) & probabilty

A game shop decides to have a "sale with a difference"

To determine your percentage discount, you toss three six-sided dice and your discount is the sum of the uppermost faces. The faces of each of the dice are: 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15.

The accountant is concerned about how much this might cost the business.

Prepare a report setting out the expected overall discount from the sale if the games shop goes ahead with the idea...

Now, some of the things i will consider is, how much profit does each game make? assuming $100 to $250 per transaction.

The problem is, how do I assume what numbers will be rolled? Because each combination or each sum will have the same possibility as one another. Or perhaps i will make assumptions based on the AVERAGE percentage discount.

ohh....This is so stressful!

  • My advice for getting started: make a list or a table showing each possible outcome on the dice. 0 and 0, 0 and 3, 0 and 6 and so on. You can't "assume" what numbers will be rolled; you can only predict with what chance they will be rolled. That's why it's called probability :-) Once you know all the possible outcomes and the chance that each outcome will occur, you can figure out the discount that will be rolled on average. -- Wapcaplet 01:54, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • If the teacher just wanted an answer (as a manager probably would in real life), then I'd just as soon write a program. (This is untested--do not rely on it.)
  // {{PD}}
  #include <cstdlib>
  #include <iostream>
  #include <iomanip>

  using namespace std;
  const double min = 100, max = 250; // Range of purchase amounts

  double percent_discount() {
    const int faces[6] = { 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 };
    int percent = faces[rand() % 6] + faces[rand() % 6] +
                  faces[rand() % 6];

    return double(percent) * 0.01;
  }

  struct {
    double sale_price;
    double discounted_price;
    double percent_discount;
  } total;

  int main() {

    const int trials = 100000;
    total.sale_price = total.discounted_price = total.percent_discount = 0;

    for (int trial = 0; trial < trials; ++trial) {
      double current_price = min + double(rand() / RAND_MAX) * (max - min);
      double current_discount = percent_discount();
      double current_discounted_price = current_price -
             (current_price * percent_discount);

      total.sale_price += current_price;
      total.discounted_price += current_discounted_price;
      total.percent_discount += current_percent_discount;
    }

    cout << "Simulated " << trials << " purchases\n";
    cout.precision(2);
    cout << "Total sales were $" << total.sale_price << "\n";
    cout << "Total sales with discounts were $"
         << total.discounted_price << "\n";
    cout << "Average percent discount was "
         << total.percent_discount / double(trials) << "%\n";
    cout << "Expected revenue loss: $"
         << total.sale_price - total_discounted_price << "\n";
    cout << "END OF REPORT" << endl;
  }
  • But this being Math Methods, the teacher will likely want you to use the principle of expected value to determine the answer. It's sort of elegant to be able to come up with, by hand, what a chunk of hot silicon needs a hundred thousand trials to determine. (Of course, we can teach computers to use expected value, too.) --Ardonik.talk()* 04:58, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

I would imagine the kind of answer your teacher is expecting is dependent on your current educational level. If this question is intended for an audience more advanced than a university Freshmen (and maybe not even that) then I have no idea. Otherwise, I would say that your assumption is correct and the expected value of each (presumably fair) die is (0 + 3 + 6 + 9 + 12 + 15)/6 or 7.5, and since they are all independent events, the expected sum of the three dice should be 22.5 Of course, maybe there's something strange going on with the variance there that has some adverse impact that I'm not aware of, and you should listen to someone who took more than a sememester of statistics in university. --Cvaneg 20:34, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)


Yes, I've set up an excell worksheet with all the possible combinations of 3 uppermost faces. Since there are 3 dice, 6 sides, there should be 6x6x6=216 different combinations. I'm not sure if this is necessary. I worked out the average of the data, created a frequency table, made a histogram & polygon on it. From this graph, I can see that the most common score is 21% dicount and 24% discount. Do you think I'm on the right track? Now, I have worked out the central tendency and will go into details in terms of probability. ~from cindy. thanks heaps!

[edit] The origin of "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

I was wondering about the origins of Itsy Bitsy Spider, a popular nursery rhyme which exist in many languages. -- Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 07:09, 2004 Nov 4 (UTC)

Whilst the origin may be obscure, it surely cannot be true that the history can't be traced - within living memory, at least, and further back if it ever appeared in print (I'm assuming that it's quite old). One merely has to ask people where and when they first remember hearing it. I'm 49, and I'm fairly sure I heard it as a small child in southern England, so that dates it to the 1960s in England, at least.

[edit] islamic history

Hmmm, and what is your question? [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 08:59, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

We have an article on the history of Islam. tl;dr version: Timeline of Islam. Garrett Albright 05:47, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] PARCHMENT - MEDIUM AND TOOL USED TO WRITE

What was the medium (ink) and tool (stylus) used in ancient Pergamon on parchment after the invention of parchment by the shepherds as a result of the embargo of papyrus by the Egyptians?

I hope my understanding of the fact and assumptions above are correct.

Thanking you in advance.

David G. Puckett, AIA --64.12.116.137 21:24, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)

  • Hm, perhaps this question should not be posted here, if the licensing requirements of the question are incompatible with the GNU FDL. -- Wapcaplet 23:06, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Hmm. Well, by submitting it, he released it under the FDL, right? So shouldn't the confidentiality notice be interpreted in light of it. If the "intended recipient(s)" are the general public, then there's no problem. :) -- कुक्कुरोवाच|Talk‽
Completely off-topic, but isn't it ridiculous to voluntarily send a message to someone with an obnoxious note that it's your "property?" If you want to retain full control of your words beyond that inherently granted to you by law, don't send me anything. These warnings have been popping up more and more on e-mails and faxes. Knee-jerk lawyerism, and it'd get laughed out of court if you sued someone for violating one of these warnings. Rhobite 21:29, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)
The ink in question is known as Indian ink. The parchment, noted in the Pergamon article, was made of calf skin and referred to as pergamum. --[[User:Eequor|η♀υωρ]] 22:14, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Valparaiso University

I wrote the article on Lowell Thomas and the sources I used say he graduated from the University of Northern Indiana in 1911. That institution is now known as Valparaiso University and the article there says it was called Valparaiso College in 1900. Can anyone clarify when it changed its name? PedanticallySpeaking 22:54, Nov 4, 2004 (UTC)

Just six years later in 1906[2] --Cvaneg 22:58, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
But my books say he graduated in 1911 from the University of Northern Indiana. Was UNI perhaps absorbed by Valparaiso? Or is this an entirely different institution? PedanticallySpeaking 18:12, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)
Well according to Britannica he attended Valparaiso. So I imagine that he did attend the university now referred to as Valparaiso, but one source or another has their timeline mixed up in regards to the exact name of that institution at the time of his graduation --Cvaneg 19:39, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
There never was a University of Northern Indiana. There was a Northern Indiana Normal School, which was rechartered as Valparaiso College in 1900. Thus students who graduated before 1900 are somtimes incorrectly cited as graduates of Northern Indiana University. "University of Northern Indiana" appears to be an error in at least one widely cited biography of Lowell Thomas. Britannica says he graduated from Valparaiso in 1911. Diderot 21:23, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • Lowell Thomas's memoir Good Evening, Everybody (New York: Morrow, 1976) states, page 64, that "officially it was the University of Northern Indiana at Valparaiso." PedanticallySpeaking 17:59, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] The French Revolution

I need some pictures of events that happened during the French Revolution. How do I go about to getting them???

Ronnie --207.62.11.21 00:18, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, you probably won't get too many high quality digital photographs but, depending on the quality and content of the images you need, you may want to just look in GIS --Cvaneg 00:53, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
You can visit the Carnavalet Museum in Paris. David.Monniaux 21:03, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] House of Reps vacancy locations

Wikipedia-

I have noticed that there are two seats vacant in the House of Representatives. One in Nebraska and one in Florida. However, I can not seem to find the areas that these seats represent. Any chance I could be pointed to a map or description of the areas not represented.

                                    Thank You
                                         -Chad

P.S. GREAT site, thank's again

Well technically with this past election, since all of the seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for grabs every two years, after Tuesday there were no longer any vacant seats,(assuming that no one died in the past couple of days). However, the vacated seats for the 2003-2004 house were Nebraska CD1 and Florida CD14[3] you can look at CNN's map of congressional districts to figure out exactly where those districts are. (The Nebraska one is towards the eastern end of Nebraska and the Florida one is on the southwest coast of Florida.) --Cvaneg 02:05, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I should also point out, that there were actually other vacated seats during that congressional session, however they ocurred early enough that a special election was held to fill the empty seat with a new representative, while these past two were so recent (Aug/Sep 2004) that there was no time or need to do so. --Cvaneg 02:12, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The Nebraska 1st Congressional District seat is vacant due to Doug Bereuter's retirement at the end of August 2004 (see [4]). It will presently be filled by the newly elected Jeff Fortenberry. See [5] for an map of the state color-coded by district. [[User:Rdsmith4|User:Rdsmith4/sig]] 02:38, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sandhills Region of North Carolina

What major towns and cities are located in the North Carolina Sandhill region and is Sanford, NC located in the Sandhills region?

We have a page for Sanford, North Carolina, and it mentions nothing of any Sandhills. Some quick Google searching shows that the Sandhills region seems to be in/around Moore County, North Carolina. The map on this page shows the general area. Garrett Albright 05:41, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] carbon dioxide

Could you please provide me with information on the effects of co2 on bananas during storage and or transportation. Also what effect it has on the ripening process.

In a controlled environment with high co2 buildup over a period of days will it cause cell damage to the peel which would compromise normal ripening or yellowing of the product.

If you can help me or lead me to someone that can I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance,


Mike Digioia Mdigioia77{ a t }verizon.net

More info can be found in our articles on bananas, ripening and carbon dioxide. Apparently ethylene is used to make fruits ripen. And carbondioxide can promote plant growth in live plants. Since live plants use carbon dioxide for respiration, I don't expect it to cause to much damage to the banana. I'd have to do some more research to find out whether CO2 helps bananas ripen, but I don't really expect it to. [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 22:32, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] US population distribution by religion and age

I would like to inquire if someone has a cross-distribution of US population by religion and age. Any input will be highly appreciated. Please, send your reply to tanyapolyak{ a t }yahoo.com

The US Census Bureau has excellent web-based and machine-readable data at http://census.gov/ however, they are limited by law in their ability to ask Americans about their religion: [6]. Some third-party statistics can be found in tables 79-82 in the Census Bureau's 2003 abstract. CUNY's ARIS 2001 is one of the surveys used by the Census Bureau. I didn't look closely, so I don't know if they cross-reference by age. Rhobite 21:19, Nov 5, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sun over the yardarm? When exactly is that?

Does this saying refer to late in the afternoon or early in the morning? I searched under "yardarm" but only found specific sailing info. Thanks Marie

Hint for next time: search for the whole phrase in double quotes, like this: "sun over the yardarm". I used that technique for a quick Google search, which turned up this:
"The drunken sailor stereotype may be fading away, but the rich tradition of drinking and sailing live on in our lexicon. You still hear sailors talking about splicing the main brace. For those not up on their seafaring lore, this is not an act of marlinespike seamanship. It’s old sailor talk for having a drink. Then there’s the business of looking for the sun over the yardarm, the idea being that when the orb is just over the foreyard when viewed by the quarterdeck, it’s time for a drink. Yardarms have gone the way of the drunken sailor, so a spreader is usually substituted. One authority says that in the high latitudes in the days of yardarms, the position of the sun indicated it was time for a drink at about 11 a.m." from Sailing Magazine
Hope that helps, [[User:CatherineMunro|Catherine\talk]] 02:54, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] What do you call a person from Massachusetts?

A person from Texas is a Texan, a person from New York is a New Yorker, so what is a person from Massachusetts called? Is there even a word for it? [[User:Livajo|力伟|☺]] 06:54, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

"Texan" is an adjective; when someone is called a "Texan," it is presumed they are being called a "Texan person." On the other hand, "New Yorker" is a noun. Therefore, "Texan senator" (or "Texan vacation" or what have you) sounds correct to most Americans, but "New Yorker senator" sounds odd. "New York senator" sounds better. To answer your question, I don't think there is a word like "New Yorker" for people from Massachusetts, but you may be able to get around it by using Massachusetts as an adjective, as in "Massachusetts senator." Hope this helps. Garrett Albright 08:13, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Once the post-election emigration begins, you can start calling them Canadians. adamsan 10:53, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
No, Texan is a noun. You would say "a Texas senator is a Texan". Massachusettan receives over 100,000 Google hits which was, by far, the largest for any spelling variation I tried. Rmhermen 14:22, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)
It only gets so many Google hits since there are about 100,000 occurrences of this word on one particular website. Excluding that site, the number of hits drops to under a dozen. [[User:Livajo|力伟|☺]] 16:15, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Quite true. Bizarre. How about we just call them "liberals"? Rmhermen 16:49, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)
"Texan" is both an adjective and a noun, depending on context. -- Cyrius|✎ 03:38, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
A person from Massachusetts is called a "Bay Stater". --I. Neschek 17:15, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Incidentally, a person from Ohio is an "Ohioan". It's generally used as a noun, not as an adjective. (I would never say "an Ohioan senator". "An Ohio senator" seems much more natural.) It seems to me that these words for residents of U.S. states tend to function primarily as nouns. (But what about "Carolinian"?) [[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 00:48, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
See also demonym and List of adjectival forms of place names. - 14:43, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC) Lee (talk)

what about a person from conneticut?

My favorite from all of these people's names is that a person from Liechtenstein is known as a Lillipudlian. Our team won a quiz competition because a guy on our team knew that. I can't find any reference now to back that up though. - Taxman 21:31, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

Massachusettsite and (most commonly) Connecticutan respectively. --Gelu Ignisque
  • The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual (2000) says a person from the Bay State is a "Massachusettsan" and a native of the Nutmeg State is a "Connecticuter". See chapter five of the Manual, here, at section 5.23. As for natives of Ohio, of which I am one, "Buckeye" is much better than "Ohioan". PedanticallySpeaking 19:31, Nov 9, 2004 (UTC)
      • Thank you for the information. My curiosity has been satisfied. [[User:Livajo|力伟|☺]] 01:50, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
    • Warning to people who are not from Ohio: Do not refer to Ohioans as Buckeyes unless you know that they are Ohio State fans. Michigan fans might object, and a remarkably high percentage of Ohioans are Michigan fans. -[[User:Aranel|Aranel ("Sarah")]] 01:07, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • We just call each other "Komrade" here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. ;-) Terrapin 20:30, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • I for one welcome our... In MA, joke tells you! - Ok sorry couldn't help it. Taxman 00:15, Nov 11, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] A curious situation

If you dive from a good height into a deep pool of water, you'll sink on it quite a lot. When you're that low, the water pressure increases certain amount, but not much since it's density is so low.

But, what if you dived in a pool of mercury? Since the density is what, more than 10 times bigger, would you sink the same amout? If so, wouldn't the pressure of the same depth be too much for the body to take? — Kieff | Talk 07:49, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)

Since mercury has a higher density, I'd expect people to tend to float on top of it. Hence, I don't expect you'll sink as much as you do in water. Nevertheless, diving in mercury isn't all that healthy anyway... If you want to be sure, you might want to ask someone at the wikiproject elements ...;) [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 08:54, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)
The pressure several feet beneath the surface would be a very minor concern. The density of mercury under standard conditions is 13.579 g/cm3. The density of stone is around 2.5 g/cm3. I should think that trying to dive into mercury would hurt a lot and would probably be fatal from a relatively small height, especially since mercury ought to rebound more than stone would. Fortunately, liquid mercury is only slightly toxic, so the diver won't be poisoned unless the pool is near boiling.
A person submerged in the pool would be driven to the surface very quickly, having a buoyancy of about 965 kg (try holding a balloon underwater). The pressure in the pool increases by one atmosphere for every 2.5 feet of depth. The human body can (uncomfortably) withstand at least 10 atm, or a depth of 25 feet, without injury. It is unlikely to survive 13 G of instantaneous acceleration. --[[User:Eequor|η♀υωρ]] 10:38, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Incidentally, a person will sink by about one centimeter in mercury. --[[User:Eequor|η♀υωρ]] 10:57, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Ha! Excellent. Thanks for the info.
I'll go fill my pool now :D haha, ahem — Kieff | Talk 18:10, Nov 6, 2004 (UTC)
For some information on what immersion in mercury feels like, as well as a picture of a man floating on it, see http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/080/index.html Marsvin 17:01, 2004 Nov 10 (UTC)
That is fascinating. It's nice to see direct confirmation of what I'd written. Their complaints about not having a good liquid metal to play with are so funny. And their comment about cesium is great. --[[User:Eequor|η♀υωρ]] 02:44, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

There's also an interesting article at NewScientist about which substance you could swim the fastest in (due to buoyancy). here Terrapin 20:27, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Windows media update

I today got an update for my windows media program. but now when i try to put it in full screen mode, the video doesnt take up the entire screen, as it used to. is there any way to change this, and if not, is there any way to revert to my old version of windows media player? elpenmsater

First see to it that the default skin is on. (A problematic skin should be eliminated first). Now press ALT+Enter to jump to full screen. Now make sure that the cursor is centered on the screen (middle). This should hopefully resolve the problem. [[User:Nichalp|¶ ɳȉčḩåḽṗ | ✉]] 19:29, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

Nope, that doesnt work. It appears that the new version of windows media player just doesnt allow for a real full screen. It has a full-screen mode, but even then the video only takes up about 2/3 of the screen. --elpenmaster

If I were you, I'd post the question to the applications section of Experts Exchange. You'll probably get a dialogue going fairly quickly with technical people trying to solve your problem. Salasks 06:12, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Missed stays

What does 'missed stays' mean in a nautical sense?

From http://stevebriggs.superb.net/stanrogers/songs/tony.html: The Antelope was slow. It takes her two whole days to catch up to "a bloody Great Yankee" that is described as "broad and fat and loose in stays". Merchant ships were wide and stable cargo carriers, and they were commonly described as broad. They were not notably fast.

The many novels of Patrick O'Brian, which are set in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars, and contain many nautical terms, provide a relatively painless introduction to nautical history. The stays are the heavy ropes that run from the masts to the hull. They support the masts. Several staysails are hung from the stays, and these sails often provide angular forces useful in turning and tacking.

O'Brian notes that some vessels would "miss stays" which from context seems a sign of poor design or poor seamanship. Some vessels are praised as "quick in stays." A ship had to "make stays" as it changed direction while tacking into the wind. If it missed stays, it would have to wear about, which involves sailing around to change direction, which was a waste of time. It was necessary to take in sails and set other sails as a vessel changed directions, and this took a coordination among many sailors and the helmsmen. A badly sailed vessel missed stays, or made them slowly and hesitantly, losing ground in a chase.

If I understand this correctly "missing stays" refers to not responding to a change of wind so you can catch it while sailing. -- [[User:MacGyverMagic|Mgm|(talk)]] 22:41, Nov 7, 2004 (UTC)

To miss stays is to attempt to tack but fail. A ship sailing upwind by zigzagging must either tack (turn into the wind, through a small angle) or wear (turn away from the wind, through a large angle). Tacking is trickier than wearing because there is less time, and because there is a point in the turn when the ship is pointing directly upwind and so must depend on its momentum to continue the turn. If the sails aren't adjusted in time the ship loses momentum and can't complete the turn: it has to stop and wear instead. On a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel such as a sloop it's easy to tack because you can move the sails on their booms; on a square-rigged ship the operation is much more complicated.
The term arises because on a square-rigged vessel, a fore-and-aft sail between the foremast and the bowsprit (known as a staysail or jib) is used to keep the ship turning as it passes through the eye of the wind. A staysail is so-called because it is rigged using the stays (which support the masts fore and aft, as opposed to the shrouds which suport them sideways). Gdr 17:55, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

[edit] Cowcatchers on modern trains?

On reading news reports of the Ufton Nervet rail crash, I'm curious as to why modern trains aren't fitted with a Cowcatcher, to flip a car with which the train is unfortunate enough to collide out of the way (rather than its getting tangled up under the train's nose, lifting the loco and forcing it to derail). Worse, it looks like the shape of the nose of an Intercity 125 (the locomotive in question) looks particularly prone to this (even when compared with other modern fast trains like the TGV or the Eurostar. I suppose I can see an aerodynamic argument, but is that the only reason? - John Fader

British trains have never had "cowcatchers", and I don't think they were ever particularly effective once trains reached an appreciable speed. In most cases of a train striking a car the car gets disintegrated very quickly, particularly if it is struck directly as seems to have happened yesterday, rather than if it's struck a glancing blow when the car may get bounced out of the way. It would be advisable to wait for the official enquiry report to definitively figure out what happened, but it may have just been bad luck that a particularly dense piece of wreckage, the engine perhaps, happened to derail the train. It's not easy for an object to derail an HST power car, they weigh around 100 tons. -- Arwel 21:29, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
In addition to Arwel's previous comments, there are fairly regular occurrances of trains hitting objects at level crossings. As previously noted, most get bounced away. In order for a 100 ton loco to piggyback a car it would have to be pretty much square on. -- BesigedB 22:00, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Given the speeds and energies involved, it looks to me physically infeasible to neatly flip a large obstacle over when hit at high speeds. "Old West"-style "cowcatchers" were used on very slow trains, by modern standards.
As far as I know, when a TGV hits a large animal such as a cow or a horse, the tip of the nose of the train generally gets badly damaged. I've already heard of TGVs being delayed because they hit a wild boar. David.Monniaux 21:02, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] the history of plumbing and sewage systems

i would love to know more about plumbing systems and their historical role- what form they took, civilizations that had advanced systems or came up with inventions. basically where has all the shit and piss gone? I'd assume it wasnt just left in the street to build up, smell and cause disease. im sure the river waters were used for drinking and people wouldnt particularly want to make it unsuitable for drinking (althought i know that this was the case in England and some of western Europe during the early industrial era but that seemed like a new phenomenon which was remedied shortly after people started getting cholera and dying). anyway any information that you could provide me with would eb great. thanks -Ella

I believe the Ancient Romans had the first plumbing and public sanitation systems of significance. You can try looking at sewage, sewage treatment and waste management. -- FirstPrinciples 14:45, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)
Rivers were quite popular for the purpose and that is where all the "stuff" left in the streets ended up anyway. And remember a portion of the "products" were collected for making medicines and for industrial processes like leather tanning and cloth dyeing. Rmhermen 16:13, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)

The Romans were latecomers. The Cretans had elaborate plumbing and flush toilets at least in the palace of Knossos around 1500 years earlier. (just do a search on Knossos and plumbing if you want more) Alteripse 18:51, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'll see your Cretans and raise you the Neolithic drains and toilet at Skara Brae. adamsan 19:49, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Wow. That must have been where Fred Flintstone lived. Alteripse 20:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Do you know anything about the political situation in Somaliland?

If you do, please help resolve the dispute at Yaasiin Jaamac Nuux, an alleged president. We (well, mostly I :-) can't figure out whether it's a hoax, a partisan article on a pretender, a vanity page or Goddess knows what else. The few WWW pages on Somaliland are, unfortunately, mostly in Somali. Resident expertise is direly needed. I thought the reference desk was the most appropriate place to ask (it's already listed as disputed) but if you think there are other good locations for this question, please copy it. Thanks. JRM 15:53, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

The president of Somaliland is Dahir Rayale Kahin. He is the recognized president by Britain, the EU and some of the members of Congress in America. He was elected in April, 2003. The election was monitored independently and declared to be fair (though very close) from what I understand. Skyler1534 19:38, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)
Alright, then all that remains is figuring out who the hell Yaasiin Jaamac Nuux is. I'm going to leave it alone for now and give it, say, a week before putting it back on VfD as a suspected hoax (because Somaliland is relatively obscure, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt). I'm pretty sure he's nobody of importance, as my initial suspicion was, but let's not be hasty. We can afford to drag this around for a while.
Skyler, I've copied your note to the article discussion page. JRM 21:29, 2004 Nov 8 (UTC)

[edit] Question?

Hi, I was ask to answer a question which I don't know,the question is;what is the largest sex organ in our body?It will be very appreciated if I can get a fast reply.Thank you for your time & service..

Well, I don't know what your largest is, but as for me... :^)
Answer depends on what you consider a sex organ. Most folks get off on being touched in some way, so the skin is arguably the biggest, since it is also arguably the bigest organ in the body.
As an aside, should there be a wiki sex ed project? Wikinookie? :^) It would certainly be interesting to see what would come of it.
Diderot 19:00, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
By surface area or number of involved afferent nerves, it's probably the skin; by weight, it's probably the brain/spinal cord (since the brain and spinal cord play a critical role during sex in all higher animals). →Raul654 19:06, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)
I like big butts... er, never mind. ;-) It's a bit of an odd question, since on the face of it, one might initially assume there would be a difference between women and men, but Diderot and Raul654 are right, our skin contains the external stimuli of the nervous system. func(talk) 20:23, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
The liver. The rest of the body (brains, skin, and actual sex organs); sexual dimorphism itself; indeed, all social structures; and the universe itself have come into existence as the liver's way of making new livers. - Nunh-huh 06:05, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)
LOL!!! I just caught this. func(talk) 20:15, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
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