Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Miscellaneous/2006 August 25

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[edit] TV show House

What is the name of the actress that plays the legal consultant on House. House is in love with her but she is married to a man in a wheel chair. –Denise Mack

I don't watch the show myself, but taking a look at the article on the show (House (TV series), I'm guessing you're thinking of Sela Ward? Ziggurat 00:25, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] markham, ontario

What is the percentage of Chinese people lived in Markham, Ontario.

Well, there are well over a billion Chinese people, and Markham isn't huge, so I'd have to say that a very small percentage of Chinese people have ever lived in Markham, Ontario. --Trovatore 01:09, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Or to put it another way, 30%. --Howard Train 01:19, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
So 360 million Chinese people have lived in a city of a quarter million people? Boy, I want to be a Realtor there. --Trovatore 01:21, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Um, that's 30% of Markham's population, not China's population. There's around 80,000 Chinese in Markham, taking the 30% figure, and that's less than 0.01% of China's population, which is a drop in the bucket (this ignores the overseas Chinese population, but I figure the majority of Chinese still live in China, so it matters little either way.). ColourBurst 13:21, 29 August 2006 (UTC)


Maybe he means what percentage of the population in Markham, Ontario is Chinese. --Proficient 01:24, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Personal histories

In my constant search for articles and other writings, I am now searching for something about how personal histories (e.g. writing journals, saving old movie stubs, tickets to shows, etc.) are largely pointless and irrelevant.

Hopefully, I will get a link to something about how a person had previously advocated in saving the above, but changed his/her mind and took a visit to the fire pit, bundles of papers in hand.

Hopefully, there will also be something on how the memory, although it will forget many things that aren't recorded on paper, is still the best system for keeping a personal history. -Wjlkgnsfb 01:33, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Whether such memorabilia are "pointless and irrelevant" is surely a matter of opinion. I, for one, would strongly disagree. A concert program from years ago can evoke memories that even a recording of the event might not be able to. What about autographs? How can these be committed to memory? As for the memory being the best system for keeping a personal history, again I strongly disagree. If you want to rely on your memory for your own stuff, that's fine, but there seems little point in advocating others do the same. People will keep whatever records of their life are important to them, and you'll never stop them (nor should you try). JackofOz 01:53, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
I was just looking for some pre-existing articles. This ain't a soapbox. -Wjlkgnsfb 05:41, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Your post looked remarkably like an expression of opinion to me, and I responded in kind. (Oh, and despite this not being supposed to be a soapbox, that's exactly what it turns out to be in most cases. I don't have a problem with that, since most healthy discussions depend on the exchange of different opinions and views.) JackofOz 05:49, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

There are TV shows where the TV people come to the home of a packrat and convince them to get rid of most of their memorabilia and turn their home from a rubbish heap into a pleasant living space. Some items are sold, some are donated, and some are tossed. One principle is to get rid of the broken bike you used to ride but keep the picture of you riding it with your Dad watching. Same for your Mom's unused sewing machine, your Granddad's World War 1 uniform, collections of junk, nonfunctioning lawnmowers you are going to fix one of these years, etc. My sneaking suspicion is that a couple of weeks after the show, the packrats have re-stuffed their home with more junk. Edison 13:38, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Anime series

I have two questions. Do developers start with an OAV usually before they start the series, or start the series than make an OAV? I'm asking this, because one of my favorite games, Tales of Symphonia has an anime OAV according to anime news network, but I don't see a series for Tales of Symphonia, nor not many information.

Second is a two part question. One is are there any animes that haven't had a corresponding manga, that were just completely made by the animation team? Also, could the Naruto animation team have done the filler arc any worse? The series was one of the most popular, if not the most popular anime at the time, but its possibility decreased rapidly during the filler arc.

Instead of Orochimaru, Akatsuki, Major hidden villages, Team Sand, new awesome jutsus, excellent storylines, we get the ugliest villains ever(Aoi, Raiga, Three-headed monster, 2 stupid brothers, 3 hornets, Amachi, and a bunch of others I'm probably missing), repetitive storylines(All 10 or so arcs have the same basic plot), Kage Bunshin and an extremely toned down Rasengan, and terrible artwork.

Yes this is extremely significant, because its such a high level gap in quality. I waatched the Bleach filler arc and it was 10 times better than the Naruto filler arc. So my question is why can't the Naruto animation team do better?

Thank you

Summonmaster13 02:43, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

There are many animé series that are not based on manga: Cowboy Bebop (though there is a manga, it was made after the animé) and Spirited Away are two examples. For discussion of Naruto, try visiting the Naruto board at the IMDb. Taiq 17:13, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
To answer your question about OAVs, in cases where a show has both a TV series and OAV episodes, it's a lot more common for the TV series to air first. The production team can make much more money from getting their show on TV than releasing it direct to video, so it's only shows that are unsuitable for television (either because of their small potential audience or unsuitable material) that get released in OAV format. It's not impossible for OAV shows to gain a large enough following to get a follow-up TV series (examples include Tenchi Muyo, Oh My Goddess and Blood the Last Vampire), but they are far outnumbered by TV shows whose audience was too small to keep them on the air but hardcore enough to make extra DVDs profitable. Ironfrost 06:52, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photography question

Hello, I am thinking of taking up photography as a hobby and was wondering if anyone could suggest a good starting camera that doesn't cost too much.(no more than $250). Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you, Deyyaz [ Talk | Contribs ] 02:56, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Are we talking digital photography or the old fashioned kind ? StuRat 03:15, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
I don't think you can buy a good camera for $250 or less. If you want to take up photography, I suggest buying a good camera (that's not a point-and-shoot), even if it costs several hundred dollars. Try to buy a camera that gives you full manual control, because the camera doesn't always make the best decisions.
If we're talking about digital photography, I don't suggest buying the highest-resolution camera you can find. Instead, I suggest buying a medium-resolution (maybe 4 megapixels) camera with a high optical zoom, because the zoom will partially compensate for the resolution. --Bowlhover 04:15, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
What do you want to take pictures of? The best camera (and lens, if you go that far) for the purpose will vary considerably according to what you want to do with it. And certain photographic subjects demand much more equipment than others. Sports photography, for instance, really needs a lot of equipment.
Think a little bit more about what you want to do, and we might be able to help guide your search a little more precisely. --Robert Merkel 05:11, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
If he's thinking about taking it up as a hobby he probably isn't sure yet what he wants to do and needs a first camera so that for the next one he will know which questions to ask and what to look for, which makes a lot of sense. I agree with Bowlhover that big image size ('resolution' is s misnomer here) isn't necessary and that will greatly reduce the price. Just look at my photographs at Wikimedia Commons to see what you can do with a 4 mp camera (or rather what I can do with it :) ). I took those with an Ixus 400. Also as Bowlhover suggested, what you would want is a camera with full control, so you know the worth of those features. I suggest you have a look at http://www.steves-digicams.com/. DirkvdM 08:23, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
I certainly think you can get a decent digicam for less than $250, mine (a Concord 5345z) was about $100 less, has 5 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, including rechargeable batteries and recharging unit. I did have to buy an SD memory card for it, but that was only $25 and gives me more memory than I need. StuRat 10:40, 27 August 2006 (UTC)
I'd like to recommend Photo.net's What Camera Should I Buy, A Guide for Beginners. Authored by Philip Greenspun, and quite good. dpotter 06:54, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] mgs mad macs keygen

i downloaded this game for my nokia 6600 and am lokking for its keygen to crack it. plz help. MadMacs

we're not a warez. go away. --Tagishsimon (talk)

I thought you guys had answers for everthing. guess wikipedia's not so great after all.

O_o Wow, just wow. -Bromskloss 10:09, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
The reverse psychology is too much for me - now I'm going to go spend some time looking around so this fellow can play games on his cell phone, just to avenge Wikipedia's honor. --bmk -The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.92.251.11 (talk * contribs) 14:53, 25 August 2006.
Wikipedia is not honoured, but rather damaged, by being party to an attempt to defraud an intellectual property owner. You should think carefully about what you're proposing to do. --Tagishsimon (talk)
Sarcasm --Howard Train 15:59, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Offtherails Howard is a Crazy Train. - [Mac Davis] (talk)
If you need any help with PC/Mac applications see my talk page. (Hee hee) - [Mac Davis] (talk)


Google can do anything if you try hard enough. But it's bad to steal games and such. --Proficient 02:49, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

You misspelled "max" ..... how do you misspell a three letter word --Froth 03:29, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Search for relative

My sister Christine Atherton [ but remarried & pos.another surname] recently committed suicide in Victoria on Thursday. I am trying to trace here daughter last know address :-

Mrs Helen Akkurt [nee Atherton] 14 Laurie Av. Tecoma 3160 Victoria Australia

Can any one help?

I'm very sorry about your loss. I'd suggest you try some regional bulletin boards and e-groups; I'm sure the city of Tecoma and state of Victoria have bulletin boards for current events, etc; I am sure yahoogroups has groups run by and for Victorians, Tecomans, etc, and you might try the Australian craigslist. I'll do a bit of checking and come back with some urls. Hang in there. Anchoress 09:22, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Here are some URLs:
--Anchoress 09:36, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Since you have a name and address,International Directory Inquiries should give you a phone number.That way you can verify that she is still at that address and if she is,be able to get in touch very quickly.Good luck Lemon martini 10:54, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

One way of tracing someone is to ask the neighbors if they heard where she was moving to. You could obtain the neighbors' names and numbers via a reverse directory. If you are serious about finding her, a private investigator can sometimes act as a skip tracer and persuade via pretext persons with access to driver's licence records, internal revenue department records, and the Australian equivalent of Social Security records to find someone in those files.Edison 13:46, 25 August 2006 (UTC)


Ask Australian Post. Seriously, they had to redirect letters to the new mail address. Ohanian 12:40, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Try the Salvation Army. I believe they have an international bureau for searching for missing relatives. At least they did have in past years in England - hopefully they've still got the same thing now in Australia. 81.104.12.9 11:51, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ships and their Builders

I am looking for the builder and date built for the ship now named Le Vacancier. Its current owner is C.T.M.A. in les Iles de la Madeleine, QC

Google is (probably) your friend. I don't speak french, but this google search looks like it probably has the answer. --bmk
Apparently built as Aurella for Viking Line in 1973 [1]. --LambiamTalk 16:42, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Field

" In which field the subject accounting or marketing include?"--86.62.207.87 14:27, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Business? --bmk

"ok now in which branch does the business include in your distribution on the main page of this website"--86.62.207.87 15:59, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't understand your question. Can you give more details of the sort of answer you are looking for? Notinasnaid 16:03, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
The main page has links to several portals, including portal Society. These are not all portals, but there is also a link to all portals. Either will lead you to the portal Business and Economics, which you might call the field for this subject. Note that Wikipedia is not primarily organized as a top-down directory tree, unlike for example the Open Directory Project (a.k.a. dmoz). If you want to know about accounting or marketing, go directly to the articles Accounting or Marketing, or use the search bar. Once you have found a relevant article, you can navigate to more information by following the embedded hyperlinks ("wikilinks") to other articles, using the Categories at the bottom, or "What links here" from the toolbox in the left side bar. For example, Accounting is redirected to Accountancy, and has at the bottom the category Finance. Following that link, you will see it belongs to the category Business. --LambiamTalk 17:08, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Why are you typing with quotes? --Proficient 02:50, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
He first thought of the question and only then he wrote it down, so he figured he was quoting himself? I get the notion he is talking about the business model of Wikipedia, but I can't really make out the question. DirkvdM 08:07, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] teenage violence

what is the main reason for the increase of teenage violence in South Africa?

Basically, the same reason for general violence everywhere. SATAN!! Read the Bih-bal!!
But seriously, South Africa has by far the highest murder rate with firearms in the world—it probably isn't anything new. Is this a homework question? — [Mac Davis] (talk)
the black majority has no agency, and it's getting worse. In some ways, free-market capitalism is the new Apartheid. -Wjlkgnsfb 20:28, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Because it had a high percentage of violence to begin with, then other kids wanted to fit in and became violent. Now a snowball effect has ocurred, I suppose. --Proficient 02:51, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
That is always a factor, but there has to be something underlying it too. Poverty is indeed often a cause. But is it only teenagers and what kind of violence is it? Theft-related, vandalism or ideology-based? DirkvdM 08:12, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Have you tried reading up on violentization(!) and aggression?--Shantavira 09:18, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tsar Kolokol

How loud would the Tsar Kolokol have been if rung before it was damaged in the fire? NeonMerlin 16:20, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Probably about twice as loud as the Great Mingun Bell, which seems the next closest in size (222 tons to 100) that can actually be heard and measured. But I can't seem to find anything about the loudness of it. Nowimnthing 20:27, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Real Estate

÷ What does "&apos" mean in a home description? Example: ..."stainless chef&apos;s kitchen all of the amenities you could want."

It is bad html language transcription in a browser or similar program. "&apos" is "'", giving just "chef's kitchen". No mystery. -- DLL .. T 18:43, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
So it stands for 'apostrophe'. And what has this to do with real estate? DirkvdM 08:15, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
They just happened to see in in a real estate ad. StuRat 10:13, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] URGENT QUESTION ON NEWCOMERS

Is ther a way you can see a list of newcomer wikipedians?

URGENT QUSTION

Yes!!!!!!! Right here!!!!!!! Hyenaste (tell) 20:39, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Wow. I never knew about that. --Proficient 02:52, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
The 'special pages' link in the toolbox has some cool stuff. With the top link, 'all pages', you can browse Wikipedia alphabetically, like a paper encyclopedia. DirkvdM 08:23, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What is a kid boy's favorite food?

I need to know this one. FireSpike 22:33, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

In general? Kids usually like sweet foods such as candies, cakes, and pies; other junk foods such as popcorn and chips; or other kiddee foods like spaghettiOs, macaroni and cheese, or fish sticks. Of course, any kid can like any food, such as broccoli and honey (oh it's delicious). Hyenaste (tell) 23:13, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
Something sweet I would suppose. If you mean "dinner food" then probably pizza or something like that. --Proficient 02:53, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

However, I don't think there's much difference in the food preferences of boys and girls, prior to puberty. As for teens, boys are more likely to eat protein to help them "bulk up", while girls are more likely to eat salads to "stay thin". StuRat 10:11, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Alright thanks. FireSpike 17:43, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
No-one's mentioned hot dogs yet. Or, if we're misunderstanding the question, 'Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy. Kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?'. Anchoress 18:22, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Sugar water is not as tasty as it sounds. — [Mac Davis] (talk) (Desk|Help me improve)
My favorite food as a lad was crab. That and tortilla chips with mild salsa --Froth 03:36, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I'm trying to remember a crime case I saw on the news a few years ago

The details I remember are scetchy at best, but here is what I remember:

  • It happened in Missouri
  • There was a father, mother, and young child involved
  • No signs of forced entry
  • They all went missing

Here is what I think is correct:

  • It was shortly after the child's birthday
  • I believe they turned up dead

Can anyone help me remember the case, or better yet, give me a link? Also, what happened? Did they turn up dead, and when? Thanks.

ALIENS!!! THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. — [Mac Davis] (talk)
Can I get some REAL answers?
  • I'd love to help, but I'm afraid that's very little information to go on. - Mgm|(talk) 14:55, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
We really should create Category:Missing persons. Perhaps they are located in Category:American serial killers, Category:American rapists or Category:Murderers of children? Iolakana•T 16:31, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
We have, unfortunately it is called Category:Disappeared people. MeltBanana 21:57, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Ya know what's great, everyone? Google. Try searching for "Missouri birthday 'forced entry'", and result #4 is this Larry King Live transcript from Feb. 20, 2004, discussing this case. It is not in Wikipedia. --zenohockey 21:12, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] masters and johnson

I was wanting some more information on where to get this book or how to join a program involving sexual issues. please contact me at (e-mail address) thank you, jessica

Did you read our article Masters and Johnson? They co-authored three books. You could try to get them through your bookstore, amazon.com, or various other channels through which books are regularly sold. Before we can give you fruitful suggestions on how to join a program involving sexual issues, it might be helpful if we have a hint of (a) where you live (Saudi Arabia? Sweden?); (b) what you expect of or hope to get out of the program. --LambiamTalk 08:20, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Who is Cronin?

Who is the football player Cronin, who played for the Ireland National Football Team. I played International Superstar Soccer for Snes and that guy scored 5 goals against me. Who is he?

If he's tall and good at heading it might be Niall Quinn or Tony Cascarino. --Daduzi talk 07:09, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Glenn Cronin perhaps? Sluzzelin 08:03, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
Unlikely considering that Glenn Cronin has no caps for Ireland and made his professional debut in 2001 (the game the question refers to would have been released in 1994 or 1995). In any case, the ISS series is famous for having fake names for real players, so the player in question would definitely not have been called Cronin, but would have had a vaguely similar sounding name. --Daduzi talk 02:52, 27 August 2006 (UTC)