Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 February 9

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Miscellaneous desk
< February 8 << Jan | February | Mar >> February 10 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


Contents


[edit] February 9

[edit] Why do colors cause changes in mood?

Hi all. At least for me, different colors cause different changes in mood. When I was little, I used to prefer playing with blue-backed playing cards instead of red ones, because the red ones made me more tense. I intensely hate yellow-colored walls, because they make me feel like the house is fake or something. I could cite other examples as well, but they aren't coming to mind right now. Is this a cultural thing, or a biological thing, or what? Whatever it is, what causes it and is it related to appreciation of art? All help appreciated ! Xhin Give Back Our Membership! 00:28, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Don't know the answers myself. But Wikipedia does have an article on colour psychology. Search for colour psychology on your favourite search engine and you'll find plenty of stuff. Hope that helps. - Akamad 01:29, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
This is an interesting subject. I don't know which book it was (probably one of my bathroom readers), but there has been a lot of talk on the effect different colors have on people. Like, putting prisoners in pink cells can calm them initially, but then make them get angrier after a certain amount of time, and such. I forget all the different colors and explanations and theories and such, but room color can influence mood beyond an athestetic point. -- febtalk 01:33, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Atheistic? V-Man737 01:44, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
aesthetic, sorry. was in a rush -- febtalk 01:56, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I was being facetious. ;-) V-Man737 02:32, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I was being literal. I do that when i'm in a rush-- febtalk 04:02, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
There was a very interesting study done in the UK about color and how it relates to our instincts. The test asked how people felt about certain colors on certain items, such as a white towel stained yellow, and then a white towel stained blue. The former would give a more uneasy emotion, and the explaination was that yellow is a sign of infection etc, so the towel looks unhealthy, while that shade of blue wasn't a naturally occurring color, so you don't get much of a reaction from it. But it might ont have 100% to do with mood, but it is something to do with color and emotion. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:59, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I'd say the yellow one would remind me of urine (rather than infection). Sick! V-Man737 02:32, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Coming from two slightly different angles: I'd also recommend reading the articles on visible spectrum, color vision, and color theory, and familiarizing yourself with some of the concepts. It will give you more background when reading psychological literature on color perception. I also wanted to mention the psychotherapist Max Lüscher who developed a test to "measure" an individual's psychophysical state according to current color preferences. If you're interested in taking the test, two sites link from the article on Lüscher color test. The second one looks more serious, but you have to register. The first one doesn't look serious, but I took it. My result: Relatively inactive and in a static condition, while conflict of one sort or another prevents peace of mind. Unable to achieve relationships of the desired degree of mutual affection and understanding. ---Sluzzelin 04:12, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
(Cough cough) cool! V-Man737 04:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I'm always bemused at the TV ads for tampons which use blue liquid to demonstrate their holding ability. Everyone knows the real liquid is red, but somehow that would make people squirm in their seats. Red = blood = body temperature = hot, but Blue = cool (in more ways than one). JackofOz 04:54, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Because no-one wants to see the real thing on tv (or something resembling the real thing), because that would make them squirm. --Candy-Panda 05:31, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
Exactly. A perfect illustration of the phenomenon. Even though we know the stuff is red in real life, looking at a blue-coloured representation of it doesn't have the same mood-altering effect. JackofOz 01:01, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bet

What do you call the things or actions that are inacted as a result of you winning a bet? --The Dark Side 01:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

1. Do you mean "enacted"? 2. What exactly is your question about? 惑乱 分からん 02:24, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Perhaps the gambling wager? V-Man737 02:39, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Do you mean, "If I win, you have to put on a dress and sing Wind Beneath My Wings on Main Street at noon"? Payoff maybe? Clarityfiend 03:10, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
The stakes. Black Carrot 03:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Oh Lordy,I've just had to humiliate myself on my blog because the Bears lost the Superbowl.hotclaws**== 09:46, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
  • Well, as for post-Super-Bowl humiliation, see this case! --Anonymous, February 29-17, er I mean February 9, 2007, 23:45 (UTC).

the OP might mean a 'forfeit' spiggy 12:59, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Ah hotclaws so it must have been you giving the rendering of Wind Beneath My Wings at noon in the aforementioned dress :) Lemon martini 14:32, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Let me clarify. Let's say I make a bet $5 with a friend. I win that bet. What do you call the $5 I win? Winnings? --The Dark Side 01:12, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
What would I call it? "Not enough", but "winnings" is fine. Clarityfiend 07:03, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] can you please help

hi you dont know me my name is rebecca my boyfriend steve gerald is supposed to leave on your evening flight tommorrow he was told he needed another 500.00 i have sent everything i have to get him on the plane do you please have a less expensive flight for him to take i have not seen him for a year i really need him to be here can you please please help with a less expensive flight thank you rebecca my email is (Killing spambots as inhumanely as I can think of) please can you help

Hi Rebecca. I think you've misunderstood something. You have posted your question on Wikipedia, which is an encyclopedia. This is possibly because you have mistaken our article on an airline for the webpage of that airline. I would recommend you contact the airline in question, which we can help you with if you tell us what airline it is. Skittle 14:13, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Government of Romania site ,,,can we use their photos of J.K. Rowling

As you know, Wikipedia does not have a public domain photo of J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books. However, there are some photos of her on the Government of Romania site in their photo archives section. (one shot is great). I cannot find any copyright information on the Government of Romania site, i.e. www.gov. ro (english translation site www.gov.ro/engleza). Unfortuneately, the photo section is written in Romanian. Can someone find out if we can use their photos. I suppose one could contact the webmaster or their press department for this information. Anyway, can you find out what the Government of Romania policy is about their photos, especially the ones of J.K.Rowling? Thanks, danwex

It still probably wouldn't be public domain. We don't have fair use pictures though? -- febtalk 04:04, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Hrm. :-S V-Man737 04:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cost of living

What is the cost of living in Nigeria?? how much is a rented house there and what are the eating habits followed there. How about the climate and what best suits there interms of clothing

That very last little bit didn't process well in my brain. My guess is that you are asking "what best suits there in terms of clothing?" i.e., "what do people commonly wear?" At any rate, I think it's a little ironic that the cost of dying in some places is more than the cost of living... V-Man737 05:22, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

You mean to say it is such a dangerous place to live in Please can u also throw some light on the security issues. And how safe is Victoria Islands.

Take a look at this site, which specifically mentions Victoria Island, for info on safety issues in Nigeria. Although this isn't mentioned in the warning, I have heard that traveling between Lagos's airport and the city is dangerous because of the risk of carjacking and robbery along the road between them. According to this site, a 3-bedroom flat can be bought for 2.5 million naira, or $20,000. According to this site, rental yields on Victoria Island are around 4%. This would work out to $800 a year, or about $67 a month. Mind you, apartments advertised on websites are likely to be more expensive than you can find by asking around, so you can probably find a lower rent. There are a number of sources, such as this one that provide "cost-of-living" indexes for cities, including Lagos. However, what these indexes measure is the cost of living a middle-class or upper-class American lifestyle in each city. For examples, some indexes include the cost of expensive liquors, fresh fruit from Europe or North America, and domestic service. If you need to live the lifestyle of a wealthy American or European in Lagos, it will be 30% to 40% more expensive than it would be in Washington, DC. However, if you are willing to live more like a Nigerian, that is, if you eat local foods and walk, bicycle, or take local buses to get around, you can live much more cheaply than you would in the United States or Europe. Prices will probably be a bit higher than in India, because Nigeria's economy relies more heavily on imports and there are added costs for security, corruption (bribery), and pilferage. But because of low wages, prices will still be lower than anywhere in Europe or North America. Marco polo 15:53, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I just realized that you also asked about food and clothing. To start with clothing, the climate in Lagos is hot and humid year round. So you will want very light clothes. However, in most African countries, probably including Nigeria, short trousers (shorts) are not considered proper city attire, and people of both sexes are probably expected to dress modestly. Also, in most African countries, there is a taste for style and color. As for food, take a look at Cuisine of Africa. Staple foods are vegetarian but low in protein, so that it is hard to keep a strictly vegetarian diet and remain healthy. Fish will probably be plentiful in Lagos, so if you add fish to the staple starches and vegetables, you will have a healthy diet. Cattle tend not to be able to survive in the region due to the tsetse fly, so beef and dairy products are not common and expensive if you can find them. On the other hand, I believe that chicken is common. Marco polo 18:01, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] what is the percentage?

Out of all the edits in Wikipedia (not just the English version), what is the percentage of edits being vandalisn, NPOV violations, or other policy violations. Thank you very much!--PrestonH | talk | contribs | editor review | 05:27, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

This would be very hard to find, especially since some innocent posts might seem like vandalism, and vice versa. I do remember seeing somewhere on the site a study had found that most vandalism on the english wikipedia is reverted within 5 minutes. -- febtalk 05:42, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
In my own watchlist, the clear majority of edits are pure deliberate vandalism, and most of that is from IP addresses, so threats of a temporary ban are pretty ineffective. Edison 16:28, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I don't know overall figures - but I can tell you that from studies I've done, it varies immensely depending on the nature of the page. If you pick a really obscure subject - a Japanese railway station or a 14th century pope or...whatever...then the odds are very high that it's never been vandalised and possibly never will be. If you pick topics that a typical teenager might type into a computer while bored at school ("Car", "Computer", "School", etc) then you'll see that for those pages, around 80% of edits are either vandalism or reverts of vandalism. If you pick an article about a US presidential candidate close to an election - then between the generally bad edits, the edit wars, the spam and the vandalism, you'll have to scroll through hundreds and hundreds of edits to find one that actually advanced the article in any useful manner probably 99.9% of edits are junk. However, since there are vastly more articles about Japanese railway stations, 14th century popes and such - the actual percentage of vandalism overall is probably fairly small. It's hard to know for sure. SteveBaker 18:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Barack Obama's beliefs

is Barack Obama a muslim?

216.175.117.154 06:50, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

No. He attends Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. See Barack Obama#Early life and career. Rockpocket 07:00, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Why would it matter? He wants to become president, not pope... Aetherfukz 13:43, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunately, it matters to quite a few people. The U.S. has only had one Catholic president. And not being a thieist is paramount to being thought a Nazi when it comes to running for pres. If the general public thought he was/is a muslim, the prejudice could ruin his chances for a presidential run since we Americans don't actually check our facts, we just trust what we hear... Dismas|(talk) 15:43, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
It probably doesn't help that even the mainstream press has gotten mixed up on the apparent phonetic similarity between Obama and Osama. --24.147.86.187 20:20, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Snopes has covered this myth in great detail at http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp. Although he attended an Islamic school at one point, he is a Christian. Sadly the entire thing seems to be a smear campaign targeted at the sort of person who doesn't know the difference between "Muslim" and "terrorist". Laïka 14:53, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
It's not an "Islamic school". It is a secular public school in Indonesia.

[edit] Building a wiki service

Hi, I am trying to create a community the same as Wikipedia except that it is not for an encyclopedia. Any companies can enter the site for free and find out information about products and services that can save them money so I am trying to create a community to develop the knowledge. Any help and steps on how you started would be very appreciated. Thank you

Added title for question. --Tagishsimon (talk)
I think the short answer would be get a wiki and somewhere to host it, and start building. You might also like to check out wikia, which is some sort of commercial wiki startup and which might be a venue for whatever you're planning. --Tagishsimon (talk)
You really need to install the 'MediaWiki' software [1] on your web server - it requires the 'MySQL' [2] and 'PHP' packages [3] to be installed and hooked up to whatever web server you are using for your web site. All of the software is free/OpenSource. How hard this is depends a lot on your skills and on the nature of the computer you are hosting your web site on. I have my own Linux-based server running on an old PC in my garage [4] - and installing MediaWiki and getting a Wiki up and running on it took about 20 minutes of dinking around. On the other hand, the car club I belong to uses the 'Dreamhosts' web hosting service (which costs about $100 per year)[5] - to set up a Wiki for them took about one mouse-click on their server [6]!! But on the other hand, if your web site is hosted on a much more restrictive web hosting company then setting it up might be very, very hard indeed. The bottom line is "it depends". SteveBaker 23:52, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
Piece of personal advice: use PostgreSQL rather than MySQL. If you ever get to the point where scaling becomes an issue, you'll thank yourself. I'm fairly sure MediaWiki supports PostgreSQL out of the box. -- mattb @ 2007-02-12T00:11Z
Interesting...tell me more! Both of the Wiki's that I run are microscopic - and likely to remain so - but I'd be interested to hear why PostgreSQL scales better. SteveBaker 05:56, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] web page

hello?i wanted to create my own web page and wanted help..what do i need.is it free can someone walk me thru it?

Take a look at this Wikihow category. BenC7 11:50, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Video recording

Is there anyone out there who can explain in plain english how to program digital TV channels into a VCR. Both products are Philips but I don't find the manufacturers handbooks particularly helpful. There are sufficient scart sockets fitted to enable recording to take place. Thank You Norman Martin UK

  • So far I found manuals to be quite helpful when trying this myself. Can you tell us the model number of the VCR and what exactly you don't understand in the manual? - Mgm|(talk) 12:34, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Wikihow may strike again. You decide. --Tagishsimon (talk)
Usually to get digital channels you will need a settop box. That box will be connected via SCART to your television. To record digital channels therefore you will have to connect the box to the VCR and from the VCR to your tv. Then you should be able to record whatever channel comes from the box via the VCRs AV channel. Aetherfukz 13:45, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Indeed. And in my experience, since the only digital channel the VCR can see is the one coming out of the set-top box, you can only record a programme if you have set the box to that channel. So you can watch terrestrial while recording digital, or watch digital while recording terrestrial, but you can't record one digital channel while watching another. You basically set one channel on the VCR to show whatever the set-top box is set to, and change the set-top box channel to change the channel shown. If you want to be able to handle digital channels more like you're used to doing with terrestrial, you need something like Tivo or Sky plus, I think. Skittle 14:03, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Metal Band

There is a metal band recently fetured on a BBC television show Death Metal Murders. They have a catholic monk as thier vocalist. Can anyone please tell me the name of the band. Thank you

I remember watching the programme but can't remember all the bands featured. Was it one of the main bands in the story of the murders, or one of the bands the programme just referred to in passing? There is a summary of the show here, however, which might be a starting point. --Richardrj talk email 15:02, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
The band was not too important to the show unlike Slayer and Deicide. They interviewed the monk for a short moment. Some where near the end of the show. Thanks

[edit] creating a page

I can't find the create page button to save my life. Exactly what is the exact link to it? I have an account and I can't find that button anywhere.
The easiest way to create a page is to type the page title you want into the search box and click Go. A screen will come up including a 'create this page' link. Click that link and you're away. Make sure the page you want to create isn't already here somewhere first. --Richardrj talk email 15:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Note also that you have to have had a user account for (I believe) several days before you can create new pages. SteveBaker 18:01, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I thought that was to move a page, not create it. Dismas|(talk) 18:13, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
It's for both. 4 days. Skittle 20:08, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
No. You can create new pages right away, as soon as you create an account. Looking at Special:newpages right now, I see that User:Jimbeeer registered at 10:02 UTC then, 17 minutes later, created a page about a Monty Python song (the account needs to be 4 days old to move pages or edit semi-protected pages, however). Dave6 talk 10:35, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
  • We have a lot of articles already. Make sure you search by alternative titles before you decide to create anything. - Mgm|(talk) 10:05, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] vandalism

I apologize for posting this here, but I couldn't find where else to place it.

The page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_person has some vandalism, with some bad words, just after the part: "The personal pronouns I and we are said to be in the first person. The speaker uses this in the singular to refer to himself or herself; in the plural, to speak of a group of people including the speaker." (three bad words follow)

When I went to the Edit page, the words were not there to edit out, but they can be seen on the article. I hope someone else can fix this.

Many thanks.

-Tray 159.105.2.118 15:19, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

The vandalism has been removed. The reason why you are still seeing the vandalism in the page but not on the edit screen is because your browser is using a cached copy of the page from when it still had the vandalism on it. Clear your cache and it should appear just fine. Dismas|(talk) 16:00, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
To clear the cache, press ctrl-F5 on most browsers. This forces the browser to download a new copy of the page from the server, rather than look at the old version it has stored in memory. Daniel (‽) 14:18, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 4′33″

How long will it take if I play 4′33″ in largo or allegro? -- Toytoy 15:47, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

According to the article you linked above: "The length of 4′33″ is in fact not designated by its score". So if the score is irrelevent to the length of the piece, that means that the tempo at which you play the score is also irrelevent, and the piece will always be the same length (in this case, 4'33", though any other length is also acceptable if the song name is changed accordingly). --Maelwys 16:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
I love the irony! Thank you, Toytoy. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 02:53, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
"Play it again, Sam. But this time in prestissimo. I want to enjoy a little more of this music." -- Toytoy 22:04, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Height of a 14 year old

My son is only 14 and he's as tall as I am, 180cm (5'11"). Is this behaviour unusual? Should I take him to see a psychiatrist?

Height depends on a number of factors. As a psychiatrist diagnoses mental disorders, there would be no reason to take him to one. We don't give medical advice here, but from my own experience, I've seen plenty of kids that are 14 and 15 that are even six feet tall. --Wooty Woot? contribs 18:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Height is not behavior; it's not as if the kid is growing just to spite you. Clarityfiend 19:12, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
Uh, that's perfectly normal. When I was 14, I was nearly as tall as my mother, i'm 16 now and i'm taller than both my parents. Why in the world would you take him to a psychiatrist? -- febtalk 19:22, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

taking him to a psychiatrist if he's growing tall does nothing. psychiatry is for the mind.

You may be interested in excessive tallness in childhood. Generally, taller children are simply genetically predisposed that way, especially if their parents or grandparents were tall, and may have possibly undergone "precocious puberty", which means they would have recieved slightly more hormones than normal, or "hypogonadism", which means they would have recieved slightly less hormones than normal. Both of these conditions are generally completely harmless. It probably wouldn't hurt to call NHS Direct (or your local equivalent) if you are seriously concerned, but as previous questioners say, being 6 feet at 14 is fairly common. Laïka 23:10, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
That was a totally irresponsible reply - and a shining example of why the help desk is not allowed to offer medical advice. SteveBaker 17:13, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
Don't scare the OP! --frothT 07:41, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

I'd consider him lucky. It's better for a boy to be 5'11" at 14 than 4'9" like some kids I know. School is easier when you don't look like a little kid. Both heights I mentioned are pretty common though... I'm 14 myself so I know. --Candy-Panda 05:42, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

OK - first of all, let's consult the CDC's growth charts for boys in the USA: here. Look along the bottom of the graph for his age - then At 14 years old and 5'11" (which is 71 inches) tall puts your son on about the 95th percentile. What that means is that he is taller than 95% of the other boys of his age - and shorter than 5% of them. This is in no way abnormal. But boys at that age are going through a 'growth spurt' anyway - if he's really 14 years and six months old - then he's only in the 90th percentile - and 10% of boys of his age will be taller than him. So, yeah - he's tall - but in no way unnaturally tall. If there are 100 boys of his age in school - on average, five of maybe ten of them will be taller than him. Please don't panic. If you need confirmation, go to your regular doctor - not a psychiatrist. Doctors keep copies of those CDC graphs. SteveBaker 16:34, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

My little brother is 16, and is taller than almost everyone else in his family. He is taller than either of his parents, taller than our sister (26), and taller than my father. Only I and his other big brother (32) are taller. So I do not think the OP's situation is unusual. JIP | Talk 19:55, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

It's well known that each generation of humans since the middle ages have been a little taller than their parents. Improved health care, better diets and (perhaps) evolutionary pressure is making people taller. It's a solid statistical phenomenon that tall people tend to earn more money than shorter people - so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that evolution is driving this - but improved neonatal and childhood nutrition probably has the biggest effect. SteveBaker 01:37, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

THe height percentile thing doesn't always work:( I was just below the middle a few years ago, but out of 120 people my age at school, only two were shorter than me:( But I was (and still am) taller than both my parents:)Hidden secret 7 11:53, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shrinking projection image

Is there any way to shrink a projector's projection, beyond it's natural zoom range. The un-zoomed, default size of a projector we have at a community art group is way too big for the screen, even the whole wall. Is there some sort of lense that shrinks projected images? -- Zanimum 19:18, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Couldn't you move the projector closer to the wall:?HS7
Sadly we have to have it two feet away from any student because of health and safety issues, and room arrangement, and a short cord to connect to the computer. -- Zanimum 22:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
I believe a simple magnifying glass lens would do the trick. u will need to find one bigger than the front lens of your projector and put it infront of the projector. experiment with distance till the image on the screen is in focus. it would be hard to try to hold or mount it in place. thers probably something u can buy that does exactly this task. does the projector have a screw-on thread for lens accessories?
Any 'tacked-on' arrangement would probably lose too much light. If it is an old projector, I would suggest being creative and finding a used or 'junk' lens. --Zeizmic 21:01, 9 February 2007 (UTC)
It's a 2003 projector, brand new out of the box, since we hadn't set it up. until now. What sort of lens would do the trick? An "un-zoom" lens? -- Zanimum 22:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
To the contrary, a supplemental lens should not "lose" any appreciable amont of light, as long as it is as large as the projector lens. Camera shops sell close-up lenses in 1/2 diopter increment sets, or Edmund Scientific [7] might have the correct lens. You might not need all the diopters of a normal magnifying glass. You could also check on EBAY for lenses. What is the lens diameter? What is its focal length range for the zoom feature? What size screen do you want it to fill at what distance? See Lens (optics). Edison 04:39, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
So they'd all be called "diopter", would they? I can try and get the rest of the info on Monday, when I have access to it. We've got it on the minimum zoom. It's 24 or so feet from screen to projector, and the screen's about 6 foot wide.
We have it set to the "Native" setting, which already shrinks the projection about half the original size. Still, only 1/16 of what's on our computer shows up on the screen, meaning low resolutions of the images. -- Zanimum 22:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
On further consideration, you might want a negative diopter(concave) lens to make the image smaller. I take it you cannot simply move the projector closer to the screen to make the image smaller, and the range of the zoom lens does not make the image small enough. The term for slide projectors would be a "long throw" lens, which would have a larger focal length. Again. such lenses are available from sources such as Edmunds. Edison 06:32, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
Just coming in late to clarify two points for the record:
  • diopter is a measurement of the strength of the lens, not a name.
  • To make a diverging beam diverge less rapidly, you need a convex lens (positive diopters). In this case a fairly weak one, I would think.
--Anonymous, February 15, 02:02 (UTC).
Why can't you just move it closer to the screen? That's the usual trick. SteveBaker 23:42, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of rewards...?

Where can I find on this site a list of different things for which a reward is paid? 71.100.10.48 21:27, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Probably nowhere, because Wikipedia is not a collection of indiscriminate information. There are a potentially infinite set of circumstances. Consider a bunch of space aliens paying another one for blowing up a star, or some other hypothetical scenario. Are you looking for the terminology of "reward" as in a police reward? I can think of many, from capturing or identifying a fugitive to returning a lost cat... Some context here would be nice. --Wooty Woot? contribs 21:53, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Some community websites have organized reward systems to motivate participation in various improvement crusades. Everything2 used to do this, for example. I don't remember hearing about any such thing for Wikipedia, other than Danny's challenge. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:09, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Check out Wikipedia:Reward board. Many of these rewards are "tit for tat" or "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours", but some actually offer cash! − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 02:50, 10 February 2007 (UTC)