Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2006 October 26

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[edit] October 26

[edit] Concerning This Photograph

I remeber reading somewhere that this photograph was taken at Utah Beach, but the image caption says Omaha Beach. Obviously it can not be both beach, so which beach is it? 75.9.140.241 01:35, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I would have said it was Omaha, but the angle-and the limited perspective-makes it difficult to be certain. Clio the Muse 01:49, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Manneken Pis

I was in Brussels in September and stumbled upon a festival (during the beer celebration) concerning Manneken Pis. It was September 2, 2006. When they unveiled the statue in his costume, the crowd sang a song in French about the statue. What are the lyrics to this song and how do they translate into English?

It seems the song is by Maurice Chevalier. The French lyrics are here. I will leave the translation to others :-) --Cam 02:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

For translations you do better to ask on the Language reference desk, but what the heck, here's a quick job (and remember, you asked for this):

In the world there is a place
Where in heat or cold,
There rules a pretty young guy.
Generous day and night
Before many onlookers
He dispenses all his goodness.
Manneken Pis, little guy from Brussels
Manneken Pis, cute bringer of happiness,
Manneken Pis, sprinkle the prettiest women,
Manneken Pis, sprinkle all hearts.
When he goes: pss, pss
And again goes: pss, pss,
Softly, he gaily pushes: pss, pss, pss.
Manneken Pis, an immense innocence
Comes out in a full jet
From his little whistle.
Countries may move,
Tire out, get angry;
Him, he never deigns to change.
Even in adversity,
He defends liberty
and the right of free speech.
The most reputable people
Have come to admire him
And he has shown them all
Decorated(?) costumes,
Bemedaled jackets,
That didn't cancel that.
He seems to contemplate everything
With a disinterested eye.
Nothing seems to aggravate him,
Anything can go the wrong way;
Yes, but he, day after day,
Is always satisfied.
I have the very strong impression
That he loves this song
And makes it flow in his own fashion,
And I'm going to start thinking
That he wants it to start over
He asks for a full encore.

--Anonyme, 03:55 UTC, 27 octobre.

On another note, when I was in Brussels a few years ago, I was told by friends that manneken pis is so called because he ran up to emperor napoleon while napoleon was parading through the streets and pissed on his boots...anyone else heard of this? It isn't in the Manneken Pis article... ChowderInopa 00:31, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

That's definitely not true, because the legend and even this statue itself is at least a hundred years older than Napoleon I of France. But there is a legend that from the 12th century about a man whose son urinated on the enemy. There is also a version in which the boy neutralizes explosives. As usual with legends like these, nothing is clear. Keep in mind that there is also a Manneken Pis in Geraardsbergen, and they claim theirs is the original one.Evilbu 20:09, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Name that tune

It's a waltz or something ballroomey that has a melody that goes something like this (in super bad notation):

                     E♭

                       D                     D

                         C         C       C

                          B♭    B♭     B♭
      A,      A,
                            A♭,     A♭,
    G       G   

  F       F       F

D       D       D

TIA, this is driving us batty. ¦ Reisio 01:54, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Musipedia is the best place for "name that tune" questions.--Shantavira 08:27, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I've had a play with Musipedia but can't find anything that fits the "waltz/ballroomey" description. Tell me if I've got the right order or not:
  • E♭, D, C, B♭, A♭, B♭, C, A♭, B♭, C, D, D, F, G, A, D, F, G, A D F.
Can you indicate where the first beat of each bar falls? And are you sure the "A"s in the DFGA runs are not "A♭"s? JackofOz 08:50, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Cool site, but yeah I didn't have any luck either. Fairly certain those would be natural A's - I'm thinking the D & F are pickup notes and the G would be the downbeat of the next measure. It's possible the waltz vibe is completely hallucinated, though. :/ Thanks for the responses. ¦ Reisio 00:20, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Worlds Most Powerful Institutions

I'm writing a novel and am trying to come to some sort of consensus as to the world's most powerful institutions, specifically those that if brought to collapse would have the largest impact on the world at large. Some suggestions I have received and researched so far include: The Federal Reserve, OPEC, The European Union, NATO, Harvard, Oxford, NYSE, The UN, The World Economic Forum, WTO, Transatlantic Business Forum, ICC, European Monetary Union, WHO, Business Roundtable, and G8 Summit.

What I'm looking for is a list of the 12 most powerful institutions, with a bit of supporting evidence or links to where I can find such.

Thanks in advance.

--Spriteyone 06:43, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I like the NYSE, since the stock market crash of '29 revurburated world wide I would say this is a safe group to include. 75.9.140.241 06:47, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I can't really imagine the world shivering if Harvard or Oxford collapsed. What about The World Bank, and a few of the world's biggest companies, like IBM, Walmart, Boeing, or Micro$oft? Anchoress 09:23, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
The Roman Catholic Church? Huge in terms of high influence over individuals and groups, being the largest organised religion, and a very wealthy corporation. Natgoo 09:55, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
The IMF? The US? Wikipedia?  --LambiamTalk 10:32, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Is Walmart that important? I thought they were only important in United States... 惑乱 分からん 11:14, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
It's not so much that they're so important, it's that they're so huge. Several of the biggest companies in the world (including WalMart, IIRC), have economies equivalent to those of small nations. In addition, as stated below, WalMart (and other companies with ties to raw materials and manufacturing networks - Ford and GM are other examples) can cause significant shifts in global markets v/v their purchasing power and the economies they support. Also, although WalMart is US-based, they have had such an impact on the economies of communities where they have eliminated competition (for goods and employment), that if they were to suddenly fold, the trickle-down effect might well shake the US economy, and therefore the world's. Anchoress 12:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I mean, if you look at the WalMart page (which I hadn't when I mentioned them), it says they are the second largest corporation in the world, and they have 20% of the grocery market in the US. Lots of communities have no other local source for the goods they buy at WalMart; imagine they were to collapse? It would probably throw the US into a recession due to the overnight explosion in the cost of consumables and the resulting unemployment. The article also says WalMart is the largest employer in the US and Mexico. Anchoress 12:34, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I would suggest FIFA as well. This is of course impossible to quantify so you'd have to make it up yourself. Surely this is part of writing a novel? BTW, if you're talking about companies, don't forget Nestlé. And if you're including Walmart probably should mention Carrefour as well (and perhaps Tesco. These are important actually and even Walmart not just in the US. For example, they say Walmart keeps the Chinese economy growing. Not really true but it is important in many ways. There probably should be some financial type companies as well, maybe ING Group? Nil Einne 12:08, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
If you mention Tesco, you might as well mention Ahold, which has a much higher net income - at a comparable revenue, which supports the claim that they overprice their products. DirkvdM 13:07, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
The New York Stock Exchange is pretty important, as is the Federal Reserve banking system in the US, but any national bank that goes bust or any national stock exchange that goes bust will have enormous ripples. The bigger the institution, the bigger the ripples. If the NYSE or Fed went bust, the ripples would be tsunamis. Geogre 12:30, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Of course who knows, maybe the Bilderberg Group is the most important of them all? 12:54, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Could be, but it's very unlikely. See [1]. -- ExpImptalkcon 12:29, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

the catholic church and microsoft :|...and Aleksey Vayner's charity enterprise...lol j/k.--Cosmic girl 13:37, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

You could try these: Forbes Global 2000 and List of the world's largest companies. - Zepheus <ツィフィアス> 23:19, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I believe CISCO, Swiss Re and Munich Re might be other competitors. But nothing, imho, beats the US of A and the stock markets in impact, i believe... On the other hand all those, who are merely associations of other institutions will not have a large impact: If EU, NATO, OPEC or the WTO collapse, the member states are still there, with all their power and influence.-- ExpImptalkcon 12:29, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The First Sports Car

Hi, I need to know which was the first sports car developed in the world - I know that the term sports car itself is debatable and we'll not include supercars in this Based on my research I am assuming it is

"the one Ferdinand Porsche invented. It was the first supercharged Mercedes-Benz SS & SSK sports cars in Stuttgart, Germany in 1923" - Automobile History, www.about.com

Anybody with different views / figures?

Thanks George

  • There are those who think that the 1911 Vauxhall C-type was the world's first production sports car. [2] --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 16:19, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Night of wilding in Central Park

Many years ago, several black youths were charged with raping & beating a white female stockbroker in central Park. The crime was referred to as the 'Night of Wilding'. What was the outcome of that case?

– — … ° ≈ ≠ ± − × ÷ ← → ·§ sheryl

The victim's name was Trisha Meili - you can read about the case in her article if you don't want to sit through the Erik Estrada-filled goodness of Night of the Wilding. Natgoo 10:00, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Note that "wilding" was a misinterpretation of "Doing the wild thing", that is, having sex, a phrase from a song out at the time called Wild Thing (Tone Lōc song). StuRat 17:46, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dora Maar au Chat

Can anyone tell me if the Dora Maar au chat was just painted in oil paint ?

I know it has been painted in a synthetic cubism style but I need to know exactly what media was used

Can ayone help ?

Master Lee Lee 11:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)--Master Lee Lee 11:58, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Sotheby's listed it as "oil on canvas". Can't say for sure if it was exclusively oil, but I have a feeling they'd have noted the fact if it had been something more exotic. --BluePlatypus 14:21, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Death Star in ROTS

Was thinking of asking this in the ROTS article but OT so here instead. Was there ever any explaination in any of the G or C canon (see Expanded Universe (Star Wars)) of why the first Death Star took 20 years or so to build (and it already seemed to be well on the way in ROTS) but the second one was done in perhaps a year? If not what about the lesser/non canon? Nil Einne 12:18, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I suppose, like any new technology, it took many years to test and perfect. But, once perfected, production could be relatively quick. For example, the first nuclear weapon took any enormous effort to produce, but now they can be churned out quickly on an "assembly line". StuRat 17:33, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Interestingly enough, this is answered on our Death Star page:
"Lucas has made offhand comments regarding the first Death Star. He explains that the incomplete Death Star at the end of Revenge of the Sith was the exact same one as seen in A New Hope. He goes on to say that it would be "a bit of a stretch", but explains that due to "union disputes and supply problems", it took 19 years to build (a curious nod to a conversation about the contractors in Clerks). However, Kevin J. Anderson's novels Jedi Search and Champions of the Force explain that a prototype Death Star was built in preparation of construction of the first Death Star in A New Hope, which would give another explanation for why the first Death Star took so long to build, in contrast with the second Death Star from Return of the Jedi.[4] The contradiction between the novels by Kevin J. Anderson and the movies have since been resolved (or retconned) in The New Essential Chronology, which establishes that the first Death Star was indeed the one seen at the end of Revenge of the Sith: however, major problems with the technologies used to create the planet destroying superlaser led to the creation of a testbed proof-of-concept prototype to ensure that the superlaser and the other systems would work. Created by Bevel Lemelisk and Tol Sivron, this is what became the Death Star Prototype. Once this was completed and tested successfully the First Death Star was completed, thus reconciling the various elements of continuity."
So sturat is essentially correct, the first death star needed a prototype to test out various functions, once that stuff was worked out, it went much faster. It may also be noted that while the laser is functional in the second death star, the superstructure obviously still had a lot of work left to finish. So if we consider the second one half finished in the 4 years since the battle of yavin, that would give around 8 years to completion. So really just a little more than twice as fast as the first one. Nowimnthing 00:42, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
But did it need a key to turn it on? 192.168.1.1 8:36, 27 Rocktober 2006 (PST)

[edit] I need information about online colleges that offer Juris doctor degree that you can accelerate

Can someone please provide me with details of colleges that I can study law online and can accelerate email.....kenandrewandyke.com

You asked virtually the same question yesterday. Please go back and see the answers that we offered yesterday. Marco polo 14:20, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Shareholders Suing Company

I'm wondering on what basis can shareholders sue a company they hold shares in? I was reading the article on class action and it said they could sue for losses, but isn't that a risk one takes when buy shares? --Username132 (talk) 13:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

Well you can sue someone for anything in the US it seems. However I would say shareholders have the right to sue a company if they have done something illegal etc. Nil Einne 14:04, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
At a minimum you must have standing, which means you were harmed in some way by the party you are suing. StuRat 17:28, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
You're playing lawyer, Stu. "Standing's" got little to do with it. According to statute, the proceeding you would institute would be termed "Opression". Loomis 07:30, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
The article strike suit mentions some ways in which a stockholder may sue a company - although a strike suit is illegal in some states. --Kainaw (talk) 17:31, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Desperate Housewive

In the pilot of Desperate Housewives, Paul Young decides to dig up the toy chest with the body in it. My question is why didn't he just leave it where it was?

He's a necrophile? Clio the Muse 23:42, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Military to military relations and military culture in Ghana

I would like to have information concerning military to military relations, as well as the military culture in Ghana. This is strictly for academic work. Thank you in advance.

129.237.203.182 16:03, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

You might start by checking out the website of Ghana's armed forces when their server is not down, as it seems to be at the moment. There you will get a sense of their culture, and you will see that they have participated in several UN peacekeeping missions within Africa. If you read the article History of Ghana, you will see that in the past, Ghana's armed forces, like those of other African nations, have initiated coups d'etat that overthrew civilian governments, generally in response to government misrule. Unlike many other African nations, however, Ghana's military has returned power to civilian governments. The main exception was the military government of the late 1970s, which descended into corruption itself. This government was overthrown by a lower-level officer, Jerry Rawlings, who yielded power to an elected government. When economic turmoil and corruption continued under the elected government, Rawlings took power again in 1981. During the 1990s, Rawlings stood for election and was returned to office in elections judged free and fair. He retired from office in 2000, and the opposition defeated his party in elections that year. His party ceded office peacefully, and Ghana has had relative stability under elected governments since. I belive that Rawlings is credited with removing Ghana's military from the country's politics. Marco polo 18:29, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What does free will mean?

I looked over free will, but it doesn't seem to answer this question: how is a universe with free will distinguishable from a universe without free will? The only thing I could think of was that a universe without free will lends itself to predictability. Is there any other way? And given that constructing a model of the universe complex enough to be predictable is at the very least monstrously impractical and probably (I think but am not certain) impossible, doesn't that render the question moot, even inane? grendel|khan 16:16, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

It's not distinguishable by us, else there would be no argument as to whether or not we have free will. However, it will be different to those who are calling the shots and making us think like we have free will, as well as those people who are aware of that. Say you have improv. Can you say that it was scripted or actual improv? As the audience, you can't tell. But you could if you were the staff in charge, or the actor/actress. We're like the audience to the universe. We can only suspect, but not prove. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 17:00, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
But why do we bother asking, then? It's about as meaningful a hypothesis as the flying spaghetti monster. It can have no possible, conceivable bearing on our actions, our morality, on anything. And yet the article says that ideas about free will do influence these things. It seems that it's not thought of as just a vaguely interesting hypothesis that ultimately doesn't matter one way or the other. grendel|khan 17:10, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Humans ask because when a person commits evil, they want to claim that they were destined to commit evil (no free will), therefore it isn't their fault. When something evil happens to you, you claim the person who did had free will so you can blame them. All in all, it is merely a means for humans to shove blame around. --Kainaw (talk) 17:34, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Sure, but then they're destined to be caught, and destined to be punished, and so forth. It's just mealymouthed weaselwording, signifying nothing. Why is it considered an important issue in philosophy? grendel|khan 18:45, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
I didn't see you mention philosophy before. Why is it important to philosophy? It is a question without an answer. If it ever were answered without any doubt of any kind, it would no longer be philosophy. It would be science. You should read philosophy to better understand why it focuses on issues like this. --Kainaw (talk) 18:54, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Check out the chapter "Free Will and Determinism" from The Concept of Physical Law by Norman Swartz. —Keenan Pepper 04:55, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

The problem of free will is interesting because its answer will have huge effects on what we take the meaning and shape of our lives in the universe to be. Some people think that if there's no free will, our lives are purposeless and morality is impossible. Others think that, because 'free will' in the sense of spontaneous, uncaused causation of our actions is impossible, morality is very different from what we thought (e.g. it doesn't consist of praising some people and blaming others for making particular choices, since they could never have chosen otherwise). Ted Honderich's book How Free Are You? is particularly good on this. Cheers, Sam Clark 09:10, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Southern Presidents?

How many of the United States presidents could be considered to have come from the Southern United States? The presidential section of that article is highly unclear.

Thank you,

--CGP 22:34, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

The answer depends on how you define the South and how you determine where a person is "from." By my count, there were 13 presidents who were unambiguous Southerners:

  • Washington
  • Jefferson
  • Madison
  • Monroe
  • Jackson
  • Tyler
  • Polk
  • Taylor
  • Andrew Johnson
  • Lyndon B Johnson
  • Jimmy Carter
  • Bill Clinton
  • George W Bush (despite having been born in CT)

Then there are the ambiguous cases:

  • Woodrow Wilson spent his first 30 years in the South, but his entire pre-presidential political career was in NJ
  • Harry S Truman was from Missouri, but Missouri is a border state, and Truman spent most of his life in northwestern Missouri, which is arguably more Midwestern than Southern
  • George HW Bush was born and raised in the Northeast, but spent most of his pre-presidential career in TX


  • Although Abraham Lincoln was born in KY, his family moved to IN when he was 7, and his whole pre-presidential career was in Illinois.

Marco polo 00:44, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

If by the south you mean the old slave states-including the border states of the upper south-and if you also mean those presidents who were born there, by my calculation there were seventeen, excluding Lincoln, though I do not suppose there is any good reason why you should. Clio the Muse 08:13, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] different attitude towards surveys in different countries

I moved from Germany to the US some eight years ago, and there are of course many cultural differences. One thing I realized only recently is with regard to commercial surveys. In both countries, companies collect feedback from consumers. But while German companies provide some incentive (usually a prize), American companies hardly ever offer anything. Are American consumers just so much more willing to donate their time for free, or are companies not really interested in feedback here? — Sebastian (talk) 22:49, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

I certainly don't participate unless paid. The survey-takers apparently don't believe in capitalism, in the US. StuRat 23:13, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
Yup, strikes me as pretty ironic, too. — Sebastian (talk) 23:26, 26 October 2006 (UTC)
There are online unpaid surveys in the US, but the results are problematic, because it is a self-selected group and perhaps not representative. Companies in the US do also pay people to participate in focus groups and other forms of market research. Marco polo 00:22, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I took part in a focus group for a movie ad once, simply out of curiosity. I wasn't paid. People also check off those little comment forms you sometimes see at restaurants, presumably because they hope it will lead to improvements. -- Mwalcoff 00:36, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I took part in a focus group for a TV show once, but I got a free dinner for two out of it. I hated the show, though, which starred Tom Wopat as a single father of a bratty teenage daughter. They must have taken my advice, because AFAIK that show never saw the light of day. StuRat 18:38, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I just had an idea: Because the US are a bigger market, there could be more customers for the average product. Thus maybe US companies already get about as much feedback as their German counterparts, even without incentives? (Of course this wouldn't apply to individual restaurants, but it probably was introduced in restaurants chains first.) — Sebastian (talk) 01:28, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I don't think that the market is that much larger, only 2-3 times, possibly... 惑乱 分からん 02:03, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
The EU is actually much bigger than the US (and the distances are shorter). DirkvdM 09:27, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
Well in Flanders it's sort of common sense you get a coupon or something when you take a survey. When I visited Universal Studios in Florida there was an employee at the entrance asking all sorts of questions, and it's not that we were displeased but we were sort of surprised he didn't give us anything:) . Evilbu 11:54, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree that it is population size and attitude. "Population size" is not the population of the country - is the number of people you find mindlessly wandering around the shopping centers. I haven't been to any shopping centers in Germany, but the ones in Norway and England were very sparse compared to the U.S. ones. Also, the European shoppers appeared to be busy. They were just wandering because they had nothing to do. Yes - there were some teens and vagrants, but the average person appeared to be shopping, not just wandering. In fact, a Norwegian lady stopped me and asked if I was American. I asked how she knew. She said it was because I was wandering around with a mindless grin on my face. So, increasing the number of people that aren't busy doing something will increase the chances of getting a person to take a survey without getting something in return. On a side note: Fast-food restaurants do not perform surveys as much as market tests (in the U.S. - I don't know about other countries). The midwest (ie: Des Moines/Kansas City) is commonly used. Growing up in KC, we had all kinds of cool things at McD and BK that never showed up elsewhere. I didn't realize it until I was in Chicago and I ordered Chicken McNuggets. They lady at the counter thought I was retarded. I tried to explain to her that we had the things for over 5 years in KC - they just hadn't passed the midwest marketing test yet. --Kainaw (talk) 16:27, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
They sometimes approach it the other way around. A guy in a shopping street (the European alternative to the shopping mall): "Would you like a free newspaper?" "Yes, thank you" <trying to take it from his hands> "Would you like to answer some questions then?" "No" <still trying to wrestle the newspaper from him> "But you can only get the newspaper in return for answering the questions." "Well, why did you say it was free then?" At which point I usually give up. What do I want with a free newspaper anyway? I've already got an online subsrciption. DirkvdM 19:56, 27 October 2006 (UTC)