Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 May 15

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[edit] May 15

[edit] Nipple Cripple

Hi. A few friends of mine claim that they saw some science thing that says that nipple cripples (see School_pranks article) can give you cancer. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this? Thanks Mix Lord 00:44, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

That sounds highly unlikely to me, unless a "nipple cripple" involves injecting plutonium into a nipple. StuRat 00:56, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
That urban (playground) legend was old when I was a kid. Dismas|(talk) 01:44, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Absolutely not. --frotht 04:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Not true, but if your hand is bigger than your face then you do have cancer ... (smack!).  :) --TotoBaggins 05:05, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
That made me giggle. 213.48.15.234 08:16, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I was amazed to find that what we called the "Cripple Nipple" was called a "Purple Nurple" by friends in Leeds. Any other regional variations? Anyway, whatever it's called, it was blimmin painful. --Dweller 09:56, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd always heard "titty twister" (Florida, US) and occasionally "purple nurple." Recury 14:51, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Has anyone seen any scientific evidence of the cancer link though?Mix Lord 01:44, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Having been a small scholar myself, I can confidently state that nipple cripples, titty twisters, purple nurples, and other such activities have no correlation with cancer. V-Man - T/C 00:01, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How do I find out who the author of a Wikipedia article is?

How do I find out who the author of a Wikipedia article is? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by PurdueScott (talk • contribs) 01:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC).

How do I find out who the author of a Wikipedia article is?

See that page's History. -- Phoeba WrightOBJECTION! 01:38, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
...which will show you that most pages have many authors. StuRat 01:40, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Or if you are trying to cite Wikipedia for a paper or other school project, see Wikipedia:Citing Wikipedia. Dismas|(talk) 01:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Most articles are co-written by a lot of people - even the ones that are mostly written by one person typically have dozens of small corrections and tweaks by other people. Given that, it can be quite hard to figure out who the principle editor was. Note that it is very common for the first editor to make a teeny-tiny stub article and for the principle editor to come along months or even years later and to expand it out into a full article. So it's not even enough to find the person who created the article in the first place. SteveBaker 03:00, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hockey: Can you assist on your own goal?

I was just looking at the stats line for game 2 of the West Finals between the Ducks and Red Wings, and saw that Rob Niedermayer got an assist on his own game winning OT goal.

For some reason, this seems...strange. Assuming ESPN is correct, why such a strange rule? 140.180.10.134 03:12, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Scott Niedermayer scored the game-winning goal, with the primary assist going to his brother, Rob Niedermayer. See the official scoresheet here. It is not possible to be credited with an assist on your own goal. --68.205.161.201 03:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

The phrasing makes me wonder how many times an own-goal has been achieved by two or more players working together. —Tamfang 23:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "aquisition" by US Navy

What exactly does it mean that the Navy "acquired" a vessel? Does that word have some special meaning? According to this page the Navy "acquired" the schooner Gracie S. although they add "No U.S. Navy service". To the contrary, Cunliffe and Osler (2001) in their book Pilots don't talk about any change in ownership during that time and simply say the ship was used as a pilot schooner in San Francisco. Thanks for all your ideas. --Ibn Battuta 05:11, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

target acquisition, perhaps? :P —Tamfang 06:44, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I think, in this case, it just means they were bought or otherwise became their possession. Most modern naval ships are built by private companies (like Newport News Shipbuilding) under contract to the Navy. Other ships, especially in the early days, would just be commercial vessels bought by the Navy. Captured ships during war might also be "acquired". I don't believe the US Navy puts such ships into service, but might dissect them, use them for target practice, etc. Some ships they acquire may never be used, I suppose, for a variety of reasons, and may be sold or scrapped, instead. StuRat 07:22, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, the vessel was built and used as a pilot schooner. And she seems to have served as a pilot schooner until her retirement in 1947. So if the Navy didn't have plans to use her, why would they buy her? If they did in fact buy her, they must have resold her to her original owners. It all just doesn't seem to make much sense to me. That's why I wondered whether "aquisitions" might have yet a different meaning here... --Ibn Battuta 08:07, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
An innocent explanation is that they did plan to use it, but those plans changed. A more ominous explanation is that they never planned to use the vessel, as this type of maneuver can be used to direct money from the public treasury to the seller of the vessel, with a nice kickback for those in the Navy who made it all possible. StuRat 02:41, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Reminds me of the not-quite-a-joke: One reason the Armed Services have trouble operating jointly is that they have very different meanings for the same terms. The Joint Chiefs once told the Navy to "secure a building," to which they responded by turning off the lights and locking the doors. The Joint Chiefs then instructed Army personnel to "secure the building," and they occupied the building so no one could enter. Upon receiving the exact same order, the Marines assaulted the building, captured it, and set up defences with suppressive fire and amphibious assault vehicals, established reconnaissance and communications channels, and prepared for close hand-to-hand combat if the situation arose. But the Air Force, on the other hand, acted most swiftly on the command, and took out a three-year lease with an option to buy. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 15:46, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. I've just seen on the linked page that it also contains some [vessels] that were given numbers but not acquired - so that might actually explain it... Sorry about not having noticed it earlier. --Ibn Battuta 17:46, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ILS coverage angle

What is the coverage angle of ILS signal? That is, what is the overlapping angle of the two beams in the localizer and glideslope in a typical ILS system? --antilivedT | C | G 07:02, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mortal coil, what is it?

Can anyone please explain the above phrase, especially in relation to .."shuffling off this..."--88.111.126.78 09:10, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

This mortal coil means life I guess, as shuffling off it means to die. Not sure of the origin of the word coil, perhaps an equivalent would be this mortal plane of existence? Cyta 09:26, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
wikipedia is your friend!! see Mortal coil

spiggy09:29, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Oops seems I was wrong. 137.138.46.155 11:28, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
who edited my edit, and managed to change the url to just text which linked - and how do you do that?? spiggy12:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I did, apologies. Play about with the third button above the edit box on the eidt screen. "Internal Link". You just enclose the words you want to link with double square brackets. If you look on the edit screen of the comment that I edited, you will see how I did it. You can also enclose Blah|Boop in double square brackets, this will give you a link that says Boop but goes to the article Blah, like so: Boop - Capuchin 12:15, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
The oed [1] gives coil as an archaic word for row, turmoil etc. It lives on in English only this one line of Shakespeare. Algebraist 14:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
[2] V-Man - T/C 13:59, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Online religion debating forum

A Wikipedia user is looking for an online forum where s/he can debate issues pertaining to religion with members of other faiths. Particularly, s/he needs a forum where people will not be upset by posts challenging tenets of their religion, but will respond to the issues raised. Any suggestions? --Dweller 09:33, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

There are quite a few Google groups devoted to religious issues.[3] If one is respectful, honest, and open-minded, people will rarely get upset by a critical discussion of religious issues. But if one's purpose is to inform these members of other faiths of something on which your mind is already made up, namely that there is something wrong with what they believe, they may get upset.  --LambiamTalk 14:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Lol. Excellent response, Lambiam. Thanks. --Dweller 14:20, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UK elevation map

Where can I find an online elevation map of England or the South of England? Thank you . Keria 11:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Google for "United Kingdom elevation map" and you will find a large number of companies selling software and hardcopy maps. The official data comes from the Ordnance Survey and they charge a good bit of money to access it. The following two sites may lead you to a map which will meet your needs: list of map sites, Virtual Terrain Project. Good luck, and I'm sorry I don't know of such a map offhand. Perhaps someone else will add better info. KillerChihuahua?!? 12:08, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Google Earth displays elevation data; I don't know if it can display contour lines.
Atlant 14:22, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia map

Is there a map, diagram or index to wikipedia's articles? Keria 11:04, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

There are 1.77 million articles. Not mappable. Not diagrammatical. Index (not quick, despite the name). --Tagishsimon (talk)
Links to that index, to categories, and to topics such as history and science are at the top of the main page. A very effective search stragegy to find Wikipedia articles dealing with a topic, say "global warming" is to do a Google search at www.google.com for Wikipedia "global warming" including Wikipedia as a search term. It will find all articles which mention the term. Indexing in Wikipedia is not very good, and you can easily miss articles which contain info relevant to your needs if you just look in the index. The article for "Corn" is called Maize, for instance. The article for "Ground Fault Interruper" is called Residual-current device. Sometimes there is a redirect to help you get to the article you want, but that does not always occur. The Wikipedia search box is sensitive to capitalization and punctuation, where Google is more permissive. Edison 15:16, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
The article about airplanes illustrates your point well. A.Z. 20:36, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
About that Mountain View search engine : Firefox is a browser that offers add-ons. Some of them make easier the above search. Try them! -- DLL .. T 18:59, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Type O Negative

In the Type O Negative song She Burned Me Down. Off the Album Dead Again. The singer sings in Icelandic or Russian or some thing, what language is he speaking and what is he saying? Thanks81.144.161.223 12:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Our article Dead Again (Type O Negative album) clearly shows that the entire album has a very Russian feel to it - with Grigori Rasputin on the cover, faux Cyrillic script, etc. According to our article on Peter Steele (the lead singer) he was born "Peter Ratajczyk" - which is a Polish name. So I'd bet it's in either Polish or Russian - but I don't know for sure. SteveBaker 17:46, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] rose hip

why is a rose hip called a hip?58.84.68.209 13:27, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Removed E-mail address, smite thou spam!Perry-mankster 13:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
The oed [4] indicates it's from an old english word for thorn-bush or bramble. Algebraist 14:19, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
That link only works if you're a subscriber to the online OED, btw. --Richardrj talk email 15:58, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, I forgot it wasn't free. Here's the full etymology given:
[OE. héope, híope wk. fem., from same root as OS. hiopo, OHG. hiufo, hiafo, MHG. hiefe wk. masc., thorn-bush, bramble: OTeut. types *heupôn-, *heupon-. The regular mod. repr. of OE. héope, ME. hēpe, would be hepe or heep; hep and hip appear to be due respectively to ME. and mod.Eng. shortening of (eː).] Algebraist 16:35, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
btw, most people in the UK (and doubtless some elsewhere) can access the OED website for free via their library's subscription, as explained here: [5] Algebraist 16:39, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello Algebraist, for those who can't subscribe nor imagine what those FA mean : OS is Old Saxon, OHG old high German ME middle English, wk. fem. I shall ignore. PCMWN (Plz correct me when necessary.) -- DLL .. T 18:57, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What a speaker thinks about people in his/her audience

When a speaker is talking in front of a seated crowd, I'm curious about where exactly they tend to look. For example if 0° is their far left, 90° is directly in front of them and 180° is their far right, where would I sit if I wanted them to notice me more? notice me less?
And what about my closeness to the front of the seating - does sitting at the very back make me seem less interested? Bored? Less serious? Having less concentration? Does sitting at the front make you seem more eager and enthused?

Side notes:
I remember in school all the students that had ADD or with less concentration used to prefer sitting at the back (away from the teacher), and those that focused more sat at the front. The teacher would remedy this by bringing unfocused children to the front.
If I had to guess I would say speakers tend to look at about 25° and 70°, and occasionally looking at 0° and 180°. Distance-wise (i.e. the proximity to the FRONT and BACK of the group) I'd say they focus towards the middle of the group

Rfwoolf 15:06, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Also note, some speakers deliberately employ tactics to avoid potential distractions that would result from focusing on individuals in the crowd. For example, when I am at the lecturn, I make an adjustment of looking slightly above the heads of the audience, so as not to disproportionately "engage" any particular individuals. dr.ef.tymac 16:25, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

With due respect to the eminent Dr. Tymac, other speakers, including this user, will make occasional eye contact with different members of a small (classroom-sized, e.g. 30-40 people) group from time to time. Helps keep people interested and focused, especially those ones in the back lol. Leaving the lectern and wandering among the group at times helps also. I would agree with your perceptions of seating choice, except to add that shy individuals might tend to sit near, but not at, the back.
In large groups like auditoria, often the lighting on the speaker precludes its seeing the audience very clearly. I would focus at about the middle-back, so as to appear to include most audience members, and occasionally look to the left or right, as though making contact or scanning for reaction. Sometimes, it's the speaker who has to "look interested" :-)
Sharp speakers (cough) take care to notice everyone, especially those trying to hide, but if you want to be noticed, my recollections from school were that you should sit in the front middle and be a girl with nice legs and a short skirt. Unimaginative Username 21:29, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Points well taken, UU, although your remark about short skirts is one specific example of why the "disengagement" strategy may have merit, especially if the topic of discussion includes salacious or otherwise indelicate content that would be considered appropriate in a clinical setting, but nonetheless unsuitable for discussion over tea and crumpets. Also, I hasten to add that the strategy need not always be applied, since different fora have different characteristics including those you correctly identified previously. My main point was it is reasonable to assume that not every speaker will perform the same way under every circumstance, even though there may indeed be some general "rules of thumb"[1] that apply to many situations.
  1. ^ (or, as you may prefer, rules of skirt :)
dr.ef.tymac 03:25, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Touché! Unimaginative Username 20:01, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What is the longest article name in Wikipedia?

Even googling this doesn't help - What is the longest article name in Wikipedia? Rfwoolf 15:52, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, there's this, but it's just a redirect page. --Richardrj talk email 15:55, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Are you looking for a one-word title? If not, there are numerous lengthy combinations like Proposed Japanese invasion of Australia during World War II, some of which are undoubtedly longer than even the longest one-word titles. Carom 16:11, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Well what worries me is that there are technical restrictions. I'd be interested in the longest article name in literal form, and I'd take it the longest article name in restricted form is titin (see the article for the full name - if the crazy admins haven't removed it). To answer your question: It doesn't matter to me if it's one word or more, I just would like to know the longest. Thanks Rfwoolf 16:18, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, the longest word on the list located at Longest word in English for which wikipedia has an article that has an unabbreviated title isTaumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu, which comes in at 85 letters. Carom 16:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC) Actually, our article title for that location is abbreviated (knew I should have counted the letters).
But we do have Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft and Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel, both of which are more than 75 characters long. Carom 16:29, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
We also have Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, which I make to be 90 characters... Carom 16:37, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I fell asleep half way through counting Amunugama Rajapakse Rajakaruna Abeykoon Panditha Wasalamudiyanse Ralahamilage Ranjith Krishantha Bandara Amunugama --Dweller 16:40, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
It has 104 letters (114 characters including spaces). Krungthep Mahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchathani Burirom-udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanu Kamprasit has 170 letters (182 characters including spaces). ---Sluzzelin talk 16:51, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks all, so nothing made it to the 256 character mark? Rfwoolf 17:04, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Not so far. I have no idea how to search this, and Wikipedia:Wikipedia_records lists the category, but no entry. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies has 134 letters, including spaces, while United States Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Public Sector Solutions to Global Warming, Oversight, and Children’s Health Protection has 152. Laïka 10:06, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
In fact, United States Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection appears to be the longest English language article title I can find so far; 165 characters. Laïka 12:01, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
@ Rfwoolf: A definitive answer would probably have to be derived by a direct database query. You might have some favorable results if you post a link to your question or ask at the Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical). That's an interesting question because, depending on the specification of the database fields, there may indeed be an absolute 256 character limit (although I seriously doubt it for semi-obvious reasons). dr.ef.tymac 17:31, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I couldn't create an article with >255 characters, but I could create one with exactly 255 characters. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:39, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Well, luckily, it didn't last very long, but I swear I saw the blue link! ---Sluzzelin talk 17:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Sluzzelin, for running that test! :D ... feel free to add my name to the list of people you can call on for support, should any over-zealous enforcers of WP:POINT come knocking on your door. XD dr.ef.tymac 03:32, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
That link is now on my watchlist. ^_^ V-Man - T/C 00:39, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
This question came up last December; the longest one I could find then was How Hedley Hopkins Did a Dare, robbed a grave, made a new friend who might not have really been there at all, and while he was at it committed a terrible sin which everyone was doing even though he didn't know it, which fits within 212 characters. --24.147.86.187 12:45, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
There's Dante And Randal And Jay And Silent Bob And A Bunch Of New Characters And Lando, Take Part In A Whole Bunch Of Movie Parodies Including But Not Exclusive To, The Bad News Bears, The Last Starfighter, Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Plus A High Scho(ol reunion), which redirects to Clerks: The Animated Series episode five, which is otherwise too long. Laïka 14:55, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(technical_restrictions)#Title_length - says "less than or equal to 256 characters"...so 256 should be OK. Personally, I'd be surprised if 256 actually worked...but that's what it says. SteveBaker 17:36, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Well, I did try it, and it didn't work. I won't try it again, I promised not to. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:39, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks all, good work. It's a pitty about Titin which would be 164000 characters (without technical restrictions) - and I'm still keen to know which article has the longest title using one word/term. Anyways, thanks for your help, has been interesting. Rfwoolf 11:55, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Crisp, new American Currency

Where, in the US, might I procure crisp, new bills in 20/100 dollar denominations? Which banks are most likely to have new bills directly from the Federal Reserve? I promise I'm not planning a heist >:) ˉˉanetode╦╩ 16:58, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

You can always just tell the bank teller you're looking for particularly crisp currency. That can be a big hang-up when traveling internationally; banks should be used to it. — Lomn 17:47, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
As is the case here, I'm planning a trip to Odessa. Unfortunately a teller from the local bank was dumbfounded by the request. Guess I have to try again at a major branch. ˉˉanetode╦╩ 18:35, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Why NEW US Currency ? Counterfieting is a FELONY and a FEDERAL crime in the US. 205.240.146.147 21:37, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Please assume good faith, 205. It's not our place to impute nefarious motives to our questioners. JackofOz 21:49, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
You take the new currency and make copies of it on a Xerox machine, computer printer. Try that with old currency. 205.240.146.147 21:55, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
By the way, the bankers will assume that counterfieting may be what is going on. After 9-11 happened, people in certain occupations are very vigilent. 205.240.146.147 21:58, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Nowadays, it's impossible to accurately replicate currency with nothing but a scanner, and probably extremely difficult for anyone to replicate at all and still turn a profit. There's no reason to assume that he's supporting terrorism just because he wants fresh bills, please don't go any closer to WP:NPA than you already have -- Phoeba WrightOBJECTION! 06:07, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Counterfeiting is one possible explanation for why Anetode wants new bills. There are many others. JackofOz 22:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Currency collection may be another. In today's world, one has to be vigilent. 205.240.146.147 22:09, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Oh, absolutely. I'd even go further and say that we have to be vigilant. :) JackofOz 22:17, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Why might new bills be associated with counterfeighting? Jamesino 23:29, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
If a person were going to scan and print bills on their home computers, it would be best to scan a new bill as it wouldn't have any creases and smudges that would have to be edited out in photo editing software. Although, I don't see why 205 jumps to the conclusion that there is some nefarious purpose to the request. My grandmother used to give us clean crisp bills in our birthday cards. I had a great-aunt that would give us $2 bills for our birthdays in addition to a standard present. (I still carry some of those $2 bills in my wallet) New bills are also easier to use with some vending machines, so if Anetode hits up the vending machines at his place of work fairly often then they may come in handy. There are a million reasons for wanting new bills. Dismas|(talk) 00:43, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

(Undent) Anetode mentions that a trip is planned to Odessa. In my travels I have found that badly used US dollars are possibly harder to exchange and carrying some small amount of fairly new currency is a good idea but the best idea is to carry travellers checks. I have never had a travellers check refused in years of travel to third world countries and if they are lost or stolen, which has happened to me, they are easily replaced. Cash is gone, end of story.--killing sparrows (chirp!) 02:44, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Don't worry, they'll take American money in Odessa. Texas only seems like a different country. --Trovatore 06:11, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
WTF? Did Texas annexe Ukraine while I wasn't looking? Algebraist 15:10, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
He (or she) would be referring to Odessa, Texas. Rockpocket 18:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Disagreeing with Killing Sparrows here. Cash is far from gone. If the OP intends to go anywhere outside the hotel neighbourhoods or bank laden main streets , travellers cheques are as useless as 65 year-old deutchmarks. The café at the corner doesn't take travellers cheques, in any country /85.194.44.18 21:58, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
He is traveling to Odessa, Texas; followed by St. Petersburg, Florida. It's all part of this "travel to various US cities that have conspicuously Russian names, but only use brand new bills" project I've been working on for kicks. Seriously though, the way Ukraine is right now, you don't travel there without a stack of bills and a gun. At least not if you're planning to purchase large quantities of Afghani heroin >:) ˉˉanetode╦╩ 23:19, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I have some old deutchmarks and they aren't useless. I just can't spend them.

[edit] British plumbing - Hot or Cold?

Why does the British plumbing system not use mixing faucets? When I visit the UK I am always surprised to see either the hot and cold faucets apart on opposite sides of the sink, or mixer faucets that have two outlets, close together, each pouring either hot or cold water in a unmixed hot and cold downpour. 19:25, 15 May 2007 (UTC)~Ian

Sometimes it does. Newer taps are often mixers. The plus side, as I'm sure you're aware, is that you can get a stream at a convenient temperature. The downside from my personal point of view is that I never feel as hygenic drinking from a mixer tap as from a straight cold tap. Plus, it removes a strong immediate incentive for me to fill a bowl for washing up, rather than just washing under running water. I assume they are done this way for historical reasons, but I shall have a quick scour of the internets for you. Skittle 19:33, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Try this external link for an interesting look at it. Also, the Wikipedia article Tap (valve) says "Mixer taps are more difficult to fit in the UK than in other countries because traditional British plumbing provides hot and cold water at different pressures." Skittle 19:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually, there are mixer taps - but they carefully keep the hot and cold streams separate until they are just outside the end of the metal tube - at which point they are mixed because they are swirling around. This isn't as good as mixing the water properly inside the 'mixer tap' - but there is a really good reason for that. The 'official' reason is that if the water is mixed before leaving the plumbing then there is a possibility that there could be higher water pressure in the customer's hot tank than in the cold supply feed coming from the water main. If that happened then hot water from someones tank could flow back into the public water supply. As a matter of policy, the water company wants to ensure that the public supply is controlled and kept clean - this would be impossible if there were some possibility of dirty water from a contaminated hot tank flowing back into the public water supply. There are a number of other rules that relate to similar issues - for example, it's illegal to have a flexible shower hose that is long enough to get the shower head below the level of the edge of the bath tub - this is to prevent siphoning from getting dirty water from the bath back into the water main. The British plumbing system is actually very cleverly thought out. SteveBaker 20:00, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Very interesting. In Ireland, it used to be all twin-taps. Now kitchen sinks are usually mixers; bathtubs often so; but washbasins are still often twin-tap. As for the shower hose length: huh? Do I understand you correctly? How do you clean the bath with a piddling short shower hose? jnestorius(talk) 22:39, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
You can still wave the shower head around, you just can't manage to dunk the shower head into a tub full of (worst case) sewage that has backed up into the tub from the drain. In the bad old days, there were actual instances of that happening simultaneously with a vacuum being formed in the water supply, causing the sewage to be sucked into the formerly-potable water supply. Nowadays, we enforce air gaps like this shower arrangement and insist on the installation of vacuum breakers and backflow prevention devices in other situations. You see another expression of this in Denmark where sink drains often have another air gap before they flow into a floor drain.
Atlant 12:10, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] BEYOND AND BACK 1978

I AM VERY INTERESTED IN PURCHASING THE DOCUMENTARY FILM BEYOND AND BACK FROM 1978 BUT I HAVE SEARCHED EVERYWHERE, CAN YOU TELL ME WHERE I CAN BUY ONE???

-- removed e-mail address to prevent spam -- —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 207.58.201.139 (talk) 19:49, 15 May 2007 (UTC).

Removed e-mail address to prevent spam. --Taraborn 20:12, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I checked on both IMDB and The All Movie Guide, but neither had any indication that the film is available for purchase. --LarryMac | Talk 20:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Forgot Password

I'm a registered user but I forgot my password. Unfortunately, I didn't provide an email address so I can't have it sent to me. Is there another way to retrieve my password? Thanks. JuneTune —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 208.181.100.42 (talk) 20:20, 15 May 2007 (UTC).

In short, no. It will be neccessary for you to create a new account. For future reference, questions about the operation of Wikipedia should probably be directed to the Wikipedia help desk. Carom 20:29, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay, thanks. 208.181.100.54 03:06, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Depending on the length and complexity of the password you might have used, a Password cracking program might be able to try various lists of possible passwords and get back into your account. Someone has apparently used such a program recently to hijack the accounts of several Wikipedia administrators for malevolent purposes, so the technology might also allow a user who has forgotten his password. Of course, the Wikipedia developers might note the brute-force attempt to find an account's passwords and block the IP address attempting it. Edison 18:34, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Oliver Plunkett

I may be a direct decendant of St. Oliver Plunkett but how can I be for sure. Where would I go to find out. If any one knows any thing I can be contacted at [email address removed to prevent spam] please if any one has info please contact me.

thank you sooo much

Oliver Plunkett was a Roman Catholic bishop, so he is unlikely to have had any children, especially considering he was made a saint. If you want an alternative famous ancestor, many Irish-extraction people claim to be descended from Brian Boru or Niall of the Nine Hostages. This is impossible to prove or disprove as records are unreliable to non-existent for the early generations. jnestorius(talk) 21:53, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I agree that bishops don't usually have children (although there many notable exceptions). However, the fact of Plunkett's canonisation does not in itself make it any less likely that he didn't have children. Many saints were parents. JackofOz 00:21, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Few saint-parents were clergy; many that were became so after the death of their family and having repented of their fleshly ways like Saint Augustine. Oliver wasn't canonized until the 1970s; if children had come to light by then I reckon it would have been a deal-breaker for the Vatican. It's not theoretically impossible that there was a secret child somewhere along the line; but I doubt the questioner will be able to find any evidence beyond personal family tradition.
Getting back to backup ancestors: Oliver was a noble; his kinsmen include Lord Dunsany. Perhaps our correspondent is related to him. jnestorius(talk) 00:50, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cell Phones

This question has been moved to the appropriate desk i.e. Computing which deals with Computing Technology. You can find it here: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#Cell_Phones. --Eptypes 08:59, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Malfunctioning !

While editing the Men In Black article, to comply with a template, Wikipedia will NOT accept ANY edits, except to the History section. 205.240.146.147 23:21, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

What is going on ? 205.240.146.147 23:24, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I did find a puddle of metal and silicon on the floor. Was that the Wikipedia servers ? 205.240.146.147 23:25, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I have no problem editing Men In Black or Men In Black (film). What problem are you seeing? Corvus cornix 23:46, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

I was editing Men In Black - the alleged real life enforcers seen by UFO/alien witnesses/contactees/abductees. 205.240.146.147 01:47, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

I hit a database lock not too long ago, although the editing page specifically said this. If you started editing just before the lock, but didn't hit the "Save page" button until the lock was actually taking place, I'm not sure what kind of message MediaWiki gives you though. Confusing Manifestation 02:05, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I saw that database lock a couple of days ago, as you say the editing page said this at the top. A day or two before that I was editing a page and when I went to save it said something about the databases being locked and to try again later, but it hadn't had the lock message at the top originally, so evidently that's what happens if you're mid-edit when it's locked (I hit back in the browser, waited a minute or two, clicked save and fortunately it worked). --jjron 06:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Use: Wikipedia help desk next time. --Eptypes 06:55, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] January 1st, 0 BCE

This question has been moved to the appropriate desk i.e. Humanities which deals with history. You can find it here: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#January_1st.2C_0_BCE. --Eptypes 06:52, 16 May 2007 (UTC)