Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Miscellaneous/2006 July 21

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Humanities Science Mathematics Computing/IT Language Miscellaneous Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions at one of the pages linked to above.

< July 20 Miscellaneous desk archive July 22 >


Contents

[edit] Projects/Tenders that can be bidded worldwide

Does Wikipedia carry any particular zone where we can view all availale tenders/business oppportunities in various domains like Project Management/Training/IT. I am specifically looking for information on tenders appearing in newspapers of middle east and africa etc at one place instead of going to each country/company and viewing specific links most of them not updated etc.

No. That would be wishful thinking. --Tagishsimon (talk)
Heres a link to the European Tenders Daily Bulletin. Many individual countries also have their own equivalent as it is often a legal requirement. Jameswilson 00:23, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] It

What is it?

It is "a third-person neutral pronoun in the English language", or Information Technology, or any number of things. Killfest2 (Critique my new user page design please) 05:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
It's it. --George 05:27, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

AWESOME! 69.81.50.252 22:17, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] antique balalaika

marty west
355 co rd 124
bremen, al 35033
to whom it may concern, After going on your web-site, I found the balalaika that we own at Balalaika.jpg(15KB,MIME type: image/ jpeg).I was asking if you could tell us how much it is worth.

Thank-you for your time, Marty and Vialinda West

your balalaika?
your balalaika?
Fixed up the posting - don't use spaces at the beginning of lines.
Are you saying this balalaika is yours? Or do you own one just like it? DirkvdM 07:11, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
We could just go to his house and check it out. ;-) Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 12:40, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Seriously, this is not the kind of question we are particularly good at answering, and, generally, it's not the kind of thing one can answer with just a photo like that. At the very least, an expert would need a considerable number of high-resolution photos to determine where the instrument came from and its value. --Robert Merkel 00:03, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Management for Beginners"

Hello, I would like to have a information / presentation on "Management for Beginners", for recently passed graduates.

Thank you. Wajih

Erm - this is an encyclopedia, not a university or a bookstore. I suggest you slide over to Wikibooks, they may have something. — QuantumEleven 11:35, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] venice canal

Do big ships pass through the canal in venice? South Africa 198.54.202.100 06:56, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

The canal? The place is full of them. I don't suppose you mean a venice in SA, because that doesn't seem to exist. DirkvdM 07:24, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Presumably he means the canals. I don't imagine many big ships pass through them. --Richardrj 12:07, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
They could mean the Canal Grande; the biggest canal. From the looks of it, the biggest ships on it are middling sized vaporetti (waterbus-ferry boats). The canal is rather twisty and has some low bridges, and is only fairly shallow (gondoliers can reach the bottom with just a longish pole). smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 13:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Gondoliers do not touch the bottom of the canals - they row their boats in an unusual fashion. There are only three bridges on the Grand Canal and there are no bridges to Lido or Giudecca so larger ships could pass that way, I suppose. But large freighter or cruise ship don't travel the canals. Rmhermen 14:41, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Looks like the average depth of the Grand Canal is about 5 m and the height of the bridges only 6 or 7 m above the water. Rmhermen 14:51, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] When was the first RPG Play-by-post (PBP)?

I just checked Wikipedia for D&D RPG play-by-post games since I was curious to see how far back they go. The article says it started in the mid to late 80's when BBS's became popular.

I started a D&D play-by-post (PBP) on a TRS-80 Color computer (the earliest model with 4K) hosted on Color80 BBS in Milwaukee in 1983 DMing B5 "Horror on the Hill" as the first PBP in the area code (4 1 4). Big success. Next thing you know I see other play-by-posts starting up on other BBS's. I was just a teen at the time so I never thought anything of it. And now it seems mine predates the Wikipedia reference.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_text-based_role-playing_game

Unfortunately, the timeline shows nothing about PBP's...

http://internetgames.about.com/od/gamingnews/a/timeline.htm

...though the possibility of an earlier one certainly exists.

Just curious. Does anyone know of a play-by-post that predates mine (1983)? I'd like to know when they started to see if mine was one of the first.

Brian Miller

Rules for Wikipedia says only post stuff here that's verifiable on Internet or published books, etc. which means a lot of true things cannot go in Wikipedia, because they not published there. RPG (the games, as opposed to RPG the programming language) postdated D+D by several years (e.g. I played an RPG game called Western Gunfight several years before Chainmail evolved into D+D). I think this was in the early 1970's. Games postdated games on computer. Many types of games were developed, then it became many decades before people figured out how to use computers to assist the games, like resolving conflicts in minatures. Some types of gaming were much slower to transition to the computer world than others. Same goes for transitioning to Play-by-Mail, or other alternatives to Face-to-Face. Many more games became defunct than were ever written up in any literature after the mediums of play evolved. In all probability the first game of any kind or combination of media, is lost to history, because so much amateur activity in the hobby. In the USA, "Play by Mail" was the popular terminology, not "Play by Post" which sounds British to me. User:AlMac|(talk) 16:34, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Just to clarify, Play by Mail and Play by Post are entirely different types of games. Play by Mail is using "snail mail" relying on the post office, Play by Post is using a BBS / Forum system on the internet to interact at a much faster rate. So he's referring to the first game played using an online system of some sort, which was probably done on the old dial-up BBS systems (pre-public access internet), but as you said would be almost assuredly non-verifiable, so we couldn't post any specific game here as the "first". --Maelwys 16:41, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
AlMac (my brother?) I believe you mean predate. --LarryMac 17:36, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] music question.

What's the sourest note? 82.131.187.228 07:29, 21 July 2006 (UTC).

Well I guess that it depends on the context. If you are playing a piece in the key of Eb, then when there is an accidental for a B natural it may sound somewhat wrong. Unless you play something in that key and it is just the same the next bar except one semitone up each note. Its just how we hear music. It just depends. schyler 13:28, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
A single note could be 'sour' when it's badly played (especially by a violinist) or played on a bad instrument. Other than that, there are intervals - a note may sound bad together with another note. One reason might be the instrument is out of tune. If it isn't, it could be a dissonant. Most people would say a minor second (one half-note difference) is the worst, although I've heard that a diminished fifth (6 half notes) is (theoretically?) even worse. Then comes the major second, I suppose. That said, you couldn't play, say, jazz, without an occasional 'sour' note. Even in classical music (not before the 19th century) it is not uncommon to play dissonants to build up a tension, so that that can be released with the next note or interval. And it's a cultural thing. Some intervals in Bulgarian music will hurt ears that are only used to western music. And different cultures use different scales. Even within western music there has been a development of the scales. The modern equally tempered scale may have sounded wrong to Bach (although especially he would have loved the mathematical background behind it). Enough variations on 'sour' for you? :) DirkvdM 14:17, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Depends on quite a bit. .-. --Proficient 02:52, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] topic suggestion

Can someone suggest me a topic related to electronics. i have to take a seminar in college. it must be related to electrical or electronics. it can also combine electronics with astronomy, military, marine technology, biology, geography, or anything at all but it must be related to electronics. and please suggest something which is new and vvery interesting. i will be very grateful to u. please if u know u can also tell me where to find manuals in it. please someone help me thank u

How about electronic music? Loads of interesting history there, as our article demonstrates. --Richardrj 12:05, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The McDonald's (MacDonald's) from th Isle of Skye, Scotland

Has anybody done any research on the Donald & Effie MacDonald,(original spelling) or McDonald (latest Spelling) Family? earliest data I have is they Emigrated to Australia on the 13th September 1852 on board the ship "Allison" arriving in Melbourne Australia on the 20th December 1852. The Motto of the Clan is – Per Mare Per Terrass "By Land By Sea". Thanks in Anticipation. Norman_1–—≈≈≈≈

We are not a geneology site. Chances anyone here can assist - beyond recommending links from the geneology article - is somewhere between remote and unlikely. We do have a rather nice Clan Donald article, which may console. --Tagishsimon (talk)
You could try the Clan Donald Society or try a google search for Clan MacDonald. AllanHainey 09:21, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Modernist houses of worship

I've heard of quite a few modernist Christian churches, such as Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral and the Crystal Cathedral, but never for example a Crystal Synagogue or a Crystal Mosque. Living in the UK, all the mosques and mandirs I've seen are very traditional. Do such buildings exist for other religions, and if not, why not? smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 12:57, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Modernist mosques certainly exist- Google turns up references to several, though not many pictures. There's a small picture of one in Turkey at http://www.wowturkey.com/tr22/k_kemal_bereket_kinali4.jpg . For a modernist synagogue, see http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/missouri/stlouis/temple/mendelsohn.html .HenryFlower 13:36, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Unfortunately, the mosque image doesn't work. smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 13:41, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
It works for me. What exactly happens with you? HenryFlower 13:43, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
I get
Not Found
The requested URL /[F,L] was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
smurrayinchester(User), (Talk) 13:48, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
That's odd. I've (temporarily) uploaded it to my flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/60091005@N00/194723616/ . HenryFlower 13:56, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Well there are lots images of different types on commons. I don't know much about architectural classifications but Faisal Mosque might be modernist, Glasgow Central Mosque I suppose is pomo and commons:Category:Mosques in Norway has neo-classical and plain ugly. Modernist might be the most polite name for commons:Image:Synagoge (Dresden) Straßenfront.JPG and im not sure what youd call commons:Image:Livornp-Sinagoga.JPG MeltBanana 15:43, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

The United States is full of modernist (or at least contemporary) synagogues built in the 50s and 60s for Jews leaving the city for the suburbs. The B'nai Amoona Synagogue outside St. Louis is a good example. -- Mwalcoff 23:21, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Similarly, the mosque down the street from me is constructed of precast concrete slabs and is contemporary in style. Crypticfirefly 13:26, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] fast food place?

In this place (each year) residents consume millions of a somewhat unusual type of fast food, and in fact, you can by one for yourself on just about any street.

One of its most famous native sons went on to become one of the highest paid entertainers in all of the Americas.

Anybody know where this is?

Anybody?

You know, I'm not sure the reference desk was really designed to help people with quizzes. Though I may be wrong. Notinasnaid 18:49, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Maybe, its the place where they have the garlic festival. Or maybe, the place where they eat the cows testicles. Maybe someone else can name them..or maybe not. Or maybe we'll never know. Or maybe... Jayant,17 Years, India • contribs 20:59, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Hmm.... --Proficient 02:53, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
The trouble is that the question is terribly vague. What the heck is "somewhat unusual fast food"? Crypticfirefly 13:22, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Also the location is vague, it really could be anywhere in the world! I suspect the "unusual fast food" is some kind of insect like deep-fried crickets or something. Does the "each year" mean this happens once a year (like a festival) or that millions of this food item are consumed over the course of the year? --Canley 01:13, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
The only 2 ideas I have are that the entertainer is either Bob Hope or Harry Lauder, the place is, respectively, London or Scotland and the fast food is Jellied Eels or Haggis. I would go with the former as the most likely. AllanHainey 09:31, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
One idea I have (going with Canleys "once a year" as opposed to over the course of the year) is the Christmas Island red crab. I am not sure if they're edible, and I haven't the faintest idea of an entertainer from CI, but it would be unusual, and their famous annual migration would mean they are definitely available on every street corner at one time during the year. – AlbinoMonkey (Talk) 10:10, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
I don't think Haggis is considered a fast food by anyone in Scotland. (unless you count getting it deep fried in a chip shop) It's an everyday food really, although it is more widely consumed on Burns Night than other days, it's not a fast food. As others have said, stupidly vague question. --Worm 13:42, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Friday Night in San Francisco

In the year 1981 a guitar trio performed to a small crowd of people. In my humble opinion one of the best, if not the best, live guitar performance ever. The trio was composed of Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin (Considered by many the fastest acoustic-guitarist at the time) and my personal favorite Paco de Lucia (A flamenco prodigy).

I own the audio CD and I have heard that there is a video of this around somewhere but i have search for it and never been able to find it.

Does such a video even exists? Feel free to comment your opinions about the trio or each of the artists if you want.

Thanks in advance, Raul Dominican Republic

You're better off posting a question like this on a McLaughlin fan forum. --Richardrj 15:15, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Longest Day - crickets

I'm watching the movie 'The Longest Day', about the allied invasion in France during WWII, in which the US soldiers are given 'crickets', toys that make a click-sound, as a sort of password. If you hear someone, click once. The other is then supposed to reply with two clicks. If there is no response, start shooting. Or so the message was. But there are two flaws. One is that a gun that gets loaded may also make this two-click sound, which got one soldier killed (in the film). The other, more serious, flaw is that the other allies didn't get those crickets, making the whole thing pointless (unless you don't mind shooting your allies). This sounds like an interresting, but badly thought-through plan (real army style?). Is there any truth in this story? DirkvdM 17:56, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

'Tis indeed a true story. From the website of the National World War II Museum[1]:
The best-known piece of equipment carried by the American airborne troops was a brass "cricket"-a small toy that made a clicking sound when squeezed. Crickets were issued to the men so that they could identify one another in the dark.
There's more on the site, too. I recall seeing discussion about this on a documentary a while ago, as well. Tony Fox (speak) 18:33, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Ok , so it is true. I wonder about those two flaws the film pointed out. I suppose the kind of rifle that needs reloading after every shot wouldn't be used in warfare, so they made that up for the film. And the different nationalities landed on different beaches. But still, they would (or at least might) have met later on. So the soldier's reaction in the film "maybe they're Limeys, who didn't get crickets" made sense. So the idea didn't. Or am I missing something? DirkvdM 19:47, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Snipers may have had guns which were loaded one cartridge at a time. Once the beachheads were secured there should have been less need for that type of device but there always would be some encounters at the edges or as happened through mislanded troops. Rmhermen 19:53, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
A lot of carbines were still in use in WWII, actually, that weren't full- or semi-auto; the Karabiner 98k bolt-action was one of Germany's main infantry weapons during that period, for example, where the Lee-Enfield was a predominant British weapon. As for the use of the crickets, from what I gather, the main units that received them were those that were air-dropped into the interior, well away from the beachheads, with the goals of securing key road crossings, blowing up bridges, and all the fun stuff that didn't involve wading onto a beach while thousands of German machine-gunners tried to rearrange your innards for you. (Witness this bit from our D-Day article.) Tony Fox (speak) 20:28, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] SEALS Vs. Triatheletes

Just for a general opinion, do you think US Navy Seals can beat professional triatheletes in triathalons, such as the Escape From Alcatraz Triathalon?--Jamesino 20:00, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

If they were kitted out with their usual gear, yes, because most of the triathletes would mysteriously disappear on the swimming leg. Seriously, I suspect, judging from the training they do, that they'd find triathletes a fair challenge, but I'd not put money on the athletes over the SEALs any day. Tony Fox (speak) 20:31, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
In an important enough event, I would certainly expect the athletes to beat the SEALs. SEALs train to do a large number of things, while the athletes devote all of their training and practice to triathlons. --Philosophus T 20:53, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
Triathletes would beat SEALs on the triathlon; SEALs would beat triathletes on the SEAL obstacle course. If there existed better training for the triathlon, triathletes would be taking it. grendel|khan 13:11, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WNEW AM

A trivia gura friend claims that WNEW AM broadcast the Newark Bears baseball games in the 1930s, I say never. Is he right again?

According to WNEW (AM),"WNEW was also the home of New York Giants football broadcasts for many years, much of that in an era when radio listenership was high due to home games being blacked out on television." Maybe you have outsmarted your friend this time around. schyler 02:40, 22 July 2006 (UTC)