Wikipedia:Reference desk archive/Miscellaneous/2006 July 7

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[edit] Please help settle a dispute between myself and my wife

Ok this question may seem weird... but is Mr. Clean black or white or other? I have no idea how we got on this subject, but I swear that Mr. Clean is black and my wife says he is white. I seem to remember hearing something about some African American Ethnic group being in an uproar about the stereotypical qualities portrayed by Mr. Clean.

Thanks for your help in resolving one of the many dumb disputes between us!

We have articles on everything, including Mr. Clean. It says nothing about his race; given that the character dates from the 1950's, I would be surprised if he was intended to be African-American. He is supposed to be a sailor, according to our article. Unless I'm missing something, the original advertisement which you can watch here doesn't hint him being in the least African-American.
So nothing definitive, but I have to say that there's nothing to support your view, and plenty of circumstantial evidence against Mr. Clean being intended to be African-American. --Robert Merkel 03:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I always thought he was white, I guess because I assume a black cartoon would be a darker colour of black, but I suppose that says more about me than cartoons :) I also thought he was a genie, since he has no legs, like the genie in the Disney version of Aladdin. I didn't know he was supposed to be a pirate until looking at the article right now... Adam Bishop 04:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I also always thought that he was supposed to be a genie. The skin tone always reminded me of a Middle Eastern person, not a white sailor. I thought he was a genie also because I can't see the correlation between a sailor and cleaning products. Whereas a genie would fit a marketing scheme where they highlighted how quickly and easily the product cleaned, much like as if a genie had done your cleaning for you. Dismas|(talk) 04:58, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
It never crossed my mind that he may be African American. I thought he was always white. --Proficient 05:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Guys, it's a fictional character! In other words, he can be any colour or 'race' you like. The concept of race with humans is very disputable, but here it is a little pathetic, isn't it? So you can only speak of 'colour', which is, ehm, a bit beige? DirkvdM 07:22, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I think I remember a commercial with Mr. Clean in which it was revealed that his votes only count 3/5ths as much as everyone else's, so he may be black. Mayor Westfall 15:35, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Was that a rascist comment? Philc TECI 16:26, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
Sounded more like irony to me. If you have to ask, it's something to think about, which suggests some form of intelligence, which excludes the possibility of racism. DirkvdM 06:26, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
Well he looks white, but I can see why someone might disagree now that I really look at it... (and the above isn't a racist comment, it's a refernece to the racist 3/5th law in the US constitution)--T-rex 16:38, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
Sorry for my ignorance, but the law doesnt still stand does it? Philc TECI 21:52, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
The three-fifths compromise is almost certainly the most misunderstood aspect of U.S. constitutional history. It was the opponents of slavery who didn't want slaves to be counted in the census. Of course, with the abolition of slavery, the clause is no longer in effect.--Pharos 05:26, 10 July 2006 (UTC)


He has a Europeans skin color, but his nose, ears, and lips are somewhat African. Still this makes him European. But what does it is that the article says, "Mr. Clean's bald head and muscular appearance evokes comparison to skinhead fashion, but his clean (proper) image dissociates him from the dominating politically extreme-right wing of that movement. In youth subculture he is used as a counter-example to the stereotypical skinhead. T-shirts with his portrait and the slogan "skinheads against racism" were quite popular in the 1990s. His determined look is seen as a symbol and demand to actively act against racist skinheads." Hence that quote says white. DyslexicEditor 22:08, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

From a current day UK perspective, Mr. Clean looks very much like a muscular white 30-something gay clubber stereotype. Incidentally:"Mr. Clean has always smiled on the packaging, except for a brief time in the mid 1960's when he was frowning on the package." What the hell happened in the 1960s to make the marketers make Mr. Clean frown? Anti-hippie pro-authority sentiments? Bwithh 16:07, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Winrar didn't work

What program would I use to reassemble a file like this:

 *.avi.001  ~~  *.avi.002  ~~  etc.

I tried Winrar, and that didn't work for this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! --Dimblethum 02:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

My guess is that the file has been split up with something like the split command. If you're prepared to brave the horrible, horrible world of the MS-DOS command prompt, you might be able to join them back together with the copy command using the "+" syntax. --Robert Merkel 02:53, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Uggg...any other suggestions? Lol ;-) --Dimblethum 03:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

--Optichan 15:43, 7 July 2006 (UTC)::Jeez, you people with command line phobia...if you really want a GUI, these programs should do the job. Back in MY day, we used to manually encode printer escape sequences into word processing documents to get the type style we wanted on old 9-pin dot matrix printers... ;)--Robert Merkel 03:21, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

We also used to burn witches and use phones without speed-dial. --Howard Train 05:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Assuming the video is compressed (say, DivX or XviD) it wouldn't make much sense for it to be rar'd or zipped as well, so as Robert suggested above a simple copy/merge of the pieces will hopefully result in a complete file. Otherwise, I'd suggest trying some kind of file identification utility on it to find out what kind of archive the pieces are from. A quick google turns up [this one] which says it's free, but please note I've never tried or used it, cannot guarantee it works/doesn't have spyware, etc. --Noodhoog 03:31, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
If you don't mind other people potentially examining the contents of the file and it isn't too large, there's also this website, which is an online gateway to a computer running the file utility. --Robert Merkel 05:20, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Use HJSplit to join the parts; it's freeware. —Wayward Talk 10:52, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Do you remember where you got the files? If they were downloaded from a website, it probably has instructions somewhere on the site. --Optichan 15:43, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Rename the files to example.avi.r01, .r02, etc, then extract the .r00 or .r01 file in WinRAR.

[edit] excel sheet in power point slide?

how to fit the excel sheet in power point slide?..i m getting lots of problems doing this.

Assuming you already have your Excel file saved someplace... Go to Powerpoint and go to the slide where you want to insert your spreadsheet. From the Insert menu, choose Object. Click the button that says Create From File, browse to your spreadsheet and click OK. Voilà!
Alternatively, if you want to create a new Excel sheet within Powerpoint, do Insert, then Object again, but click the button that says Create New instead. Pick 'Microsoft Excel Worksheet' from the list, click OK, and you're away. --Richardrj 08:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Looking for ........................

Can anyone please help me...I need to find someone who migrated from Cyprus to Australia in 1972.as this is about a delicate subject, I cannot give any information at this time .. the person was male..born Oct 15th 1951 and migrated from the farming area of cyprus

I would imagine that contacting the immigration officials in Australia would be the logical first step -- I don't know how useful they can be, but if you have no idea how to reach this guy, it certainly couldn't hurt. If you've got their name, date of birth and know when they immigrated, it seems to me like you could have something to begin with. Not that it sounds like an easy thing to do, but that much you probably know already... -- Captain Disdain 07:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Due to privacy reasons, I'm not sure DIMA would be willing or able to give you details of such a recent migration. Presuming you know where in Australia this person migrated to, you may have better luck contacting a Cypriot community group in that state, e.g. the Cyprus Community of NSW in Stanmore, or the Cypriot Community of Melbourne and Victoria in Carlton or SEKA in Richmond, Victoria. -Canley 10:51, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] masturbation

wat effect masturbation causes on health(physical+mental)?

In short: whack away, pal, it's perfectly safe as long as you use some fairly rudimentary common sense and don't turn it into a completely obsessive lifestyle choice. Masturbation deals with this in more detail. -- Captain Disdain 07:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
It can get rid of stress and prevent you from doing more aggressive things. --Proficient 10:23, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

A regular emptying of the tanks can prevent later prostrate cancer. [1] --Zeizmic 13:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know. I will do some extensive research & testing this weekend and get back to you with the results of my study on Monday Mayor Westfall 15:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Speaking as an experienced wanker, I can tell you that masturbation is physically perfectly safe, and mentally only dangerous when your mum walks in on you in the middle of it. But I'd rather not go there if it's all the same to you. --Howard Train 16:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC) (I can't believe I signed this post)
Don't worry, Howard. Any healthy guy who claims never to wank is very likely lying, or sexually repressed. JackofOz 04:11, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
No, just a liar =D --mboverload@ 04:45, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
Well, my first option was "lying". I prefer to say they are lying, rather than brand them "a liar", because we don't know that they habitually lie about other things too. The sexual repression reference was not a joke. A friend of mine is highly self-aware, and has a successful psychotherapy practice. He maintains the first time he ever masturbated was in his late 20s, and I have no reason to disbelieve him. He's been making up for lost time ever since, I imagine. JackofOz 05:17, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

\\Are we talking self, solo, mutual, multiple, group, tantric, dreamsleeping or teletronic?

[edit] Downloading with Firefox

I am having trouble downloading anything with firefox onto my hard drive. I can browse everything fine, but whenever I want to download a file to my hard drive, it doesn't work - the download dialogue box shows, but the file doesnt appear in the download manager nor in the download statusbar extension. I can't even save a picture to my pictures folder, but the odd thing is that I can make that picture my desktop wallpaper. Thanks for any ideas. --AMorris (talk)●(contribs) 09:17, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR USERNAME\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox and delete everything in it. Restart Firefox. Note that this will delete all your settings --mboverload@ 10:01, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
A less drastic approach would be to make a new user profile. Jon513 12:02, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I would try disabling the latest extensions you installed one by one, and see if any of them is interfering with your downloading. - Mgm|(talk) 12:48, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links to businesses

I don't understand why some links to companies are acceptable and others are not? For example, if you look at the links under the search term 'Private Tutors" you will see three that take you to web sites that then only link to companies. Is the general rule that as long as the link from Wiki is to a site that LOOKS like it's adding information that's okay, but if the link is to one that's blatantly selling something, then that's not okay? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Acaller (talk • contribs) .

The page giving information on this sort of thing is Wikipedia:External links. For future reference, the help desk is a place to ask questions specific to Wikipedia. Oldelpaso 11:26, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
The external links page doesn't have much on this. See instead Wikipedia:Spam, which is official policy. Feel free to remove commercial links and cite this policy. By its nature, Wikipedia is prone to having lots of spamlinks inserted (especially regarding computing topics it seems) and there is no easy way to weed them out. Ideally, all external links in Wikipedia should contain at least some useful information about the topic under discussion.--Shantavira 14:21, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I am more concerned with whether the link adds new info, or pics, than whether it tries to sell something. This is because the purpose of an encyclopedia is to provide info, and if that requires a commercial site (typically because they contain info or pics we don't have the legal right to copy), that's OK with me. On the other hand, a commercial site which provides no new info and no better pics is just a waste of time for those looking for info, so should be deleted. StuRat 15:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] H.M.S. Antrim

Please, Could anyone tell me what happened to the royal navy ship H.M.S. Antrim and a CPO Maurice Jones who served on her in the mid-seventies

HMS Antrim (the second one) was sold to the Chilean Navy in 1984, renamed the Almirante Cochrane. Can't help with the CPO though, sorry: try contacting the Royal Navy/Ministry of Defence. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 12:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] geography question

What place is located on a peninsula, high and is surrounded by sea that females cannot go to?

That would be Mount Athos in Greece. --Roisterer 14:18, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
The Castro District? User:Zoe|(talk) 01:15, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] history question

Good morning.

I am attempting to determine the current counties that comprised the original 13 colonies. I have seen various maps that show the settled areas of the provinces at the time, but I can't find the names of the current counties.

I'm doing a fire department study and want to compare the number of fire houses in the counties that comprised the original 13 colonies, with more recently incorporated counties.

Thanx for you efforts. John R. Waters <email removed to prevent spam -- sigh>

This is an encyclopedia, and our article on Thirteen Colonies appears to answer your question. Feel free to search first; it's quicker.--Shantavira 14:27, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
While the article might be a good starting point, it does not at all answer the question that was raised regarding counties. --LarryMac 14:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

EDIT CONFLICT

Many countries have had colonies, some have had more than 13. I think, from the fact that you don't mention any country, that you are referring to the original 13 colonies that came to form the states which constituted the U.S.A. It might help if you are more specific in future as I was about to try to list the first 13 colonies of Phoenicia (not the original - first - colonies but probably as far back as records run). AllanHainey 14:54, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
That's a bit silly, Phoenicia certainly didn't have counties and fire departments. However, someone with no knowledge of the history of the US might not recognize that they were talking about the US, so it would have been nice if the questioner had explicitly stated the name of the country in question. StuRat 15:35, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
He probably assumed that someone from the United States would answer this. It seems plainly obvious that was what he was referring to when I saw it. But others that are not from the United States may have had some trouble, which is understandable, yet even someone with intermediate amount of knowledge might still recognize that he was referring to the US orignal thirteen colonies. --Proficient 17:23, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
But not everybody on the English Wikipedia is from the U.S. and the U.S. isn't the only English-speaking country in the world. There are many people don't know about U.S. history as much as Americans would, surprising as it is to some. --ColourBurst 22:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
County boundaries changed throughout time, even in the established colonies. The book Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by William Thorndale and William Dollarhide show all county boundaries for the period covered although it doesn't reach the actual colonial period. Many libraries, especially ones with genealogy collections will have this. Rmhermen 17:43, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

One thing that can make this confusing is that, if IZ recall correctly, some of the original British colonies in the present US extended, in theory, all the way to the Pacific. Tennessee was a county or counties of North Carolina. Edison 20:51, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moscow

I am currently in a dispute with a friend over whether Moscow is European or Asian. Please give your personal opinion on this. Thank you. --Tuvwxyz 19:04, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

  • According to our Moscow article it's the most populous city in Europe, but I've seen it attributed to both Europe and Asia (kind of like Turkey). I would just say you're both right and get on with your life. - Mgm|(talk) 19:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
    • Moscow is west of the Ural Mountains, so it is in Europe. If you want to be technical, it is on the Eurasian land mass. --Nelson Ricardo 19:38, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I imagine part of the dispute stems from the fact that Russia is both European and Asian, depending on area and cultural group. But Moscow is in the European part. - 216.231.42.197 18:16, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Road test - car

The Florida drivers license offices requires you to bring your own car to the road testing part of the drivers license testing which - as far as I can see - isn't possible since you can't rent or buy a car without a license.

If you need to take the road test for a drivers license in Florida and you don't have a car or the opportunity to borrow a car - how and where will you be able to obtain a car to use during the road test?

Also - if you do manage to borrow a car who's insurance will cover damages to the vehicle?

Most car insurance covers people who have borrowed the car with the owner's permission. But you would have to check the insurance policy in question, of course. As for obtaining a car to take the test when you don't have a car or someone to borrow one from, there may be a driving school that you could make an arrangement with if you take driving lessons with them. Crypticfirefly 20:28, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Alright. If I get a learners permit first can I do the road test directly afterwards and obtain my license or is there a mandatory waiting period before I can switch from learnrs permit til drivers license?
You should probably check with the Florida Secretary of State for the exact requirements. Many states require a certain number of hours of supervised driving for those under 18 before they may obtain a regular driver's license (rather than a learner's permit), and it looks like Florida is no different. Also, it appears that Florida has a requirement that people must take a four-hour "Drug Alcohol Traffic Awareness Course" in order to be eligible for a license. Crypticfirefly 04:08, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] So Sue me

This is an extract taken from the LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard aricle

"The belief is that—as far as can be ascertained—fear of lawsuits, and of a reputation for risk-taking through record runs, scared all U.S. railroad companies away from official record attempts in the 1930s and 1940s, in marked contrast to the constant record claims of previous decades." [citation needed]

Now alot of the rival claims section appeared to have been written by a synical and resentful american, listing all of the american locomotives that he think should have surpassed this locomotives speed record. Now a lot of that has been removed, this, along with a few of the more reasonable claims remains, and I was wondering, had the american "sue culture" already taken hold of risky jobs at that time (1930's) as I was under the impression I was a far more recent thing. Especially since this was slap bang in the middle of the great depression, when I thought workers just did what they were told, as long as they got paid enough to live. So basically is this comment wrong or what? Philc TECI 19:20, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree that it sounds a bit early for lawsuits to be a factor. However, considering the losses from risk takers trying to make new records (such as during the maiden voyage of the Titanic), I certainly think caution would have been a good idea. At the very least, they should avoid having any passengers on board when going for a record. StuRat 20:45, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Well, the Titanic is also an example of how the risks failed to stop them. Philc TECI 00:40, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
The problem of litigation was already old in Britian. In his excellent article on train trauma in 19th century Britain, Harrington quotes from The Lancet, 14 September 1861, that (the troublesome disorders following railway accidents was) 'a question deserving of the most painstaking clinical investigation', ... 'particularly if following upon a fall or blow, or other accident involving shock … in order to elucidate the histories that are constantly being put before medical practitioners by plaintiffs against railway boards.' (my italics) --Seejyb 02:37, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
  • The Titanic was not going for a record because of the coal strike.hotclaws**==(81.133.206.137 09:03, 8 July 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Free web host that supports javascript

As the subject says, does anyone know of a good site where I can get a free website, that will support javascript? I am talking about sites such as geocities, but obviously not geocities. I'm working with the google maps api, and don't feel like buying a dot com if it doesn't work out. Thanks! Debigulator 19:22, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

javascript is written into the html so this should work with any webhost --T-rex 19:27, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I mean linking to a .js file, (such as <script src="file.js" type="text/javascript"></script>) which I can't seem to get to work, maybe I'm doing something wrong. Thanks! Debigulator 19:37, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
JavaScript is a client-side scripting language, so the server doesn't require anything special. As long as the .js file exists on the server and can be accessed, it should work just fine. Is the script returning any errors when run? --Optichan 21:43, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

yeah, I second that it would be very weird if your host refused to serve any .js, .jar, .asp, .pl, .php, or any other file not ending in html. That's the only difference between a ".js" and a ".html" file. (well, that and MIME type :).) Anyway, you know you don't have to have it be a separate file, you can include the javascript right on the HTML page, and it'll probably get to your readers faster (one http get instead of two, three, etc) unless they're using a nice browser already. Why don't you try including the javascript right in the HTML and see if you get the desired results? Then, why don't rename one of your HTML files a .js file (retaining html MIME type) and see if it's still served properly. Finally, I suggest you run the set of files locally and see if they do what you intend. (Use local instead of absolute names in your sources for this to work). Let us know the results. 82.131.184.144 22:16, 7 July 2006 (UTC).

Thanks for the help everyone. I have tried including the javascript in the page, also did not work, so I know I have kinks to work out now. I put it separate as I see some Google Maps API projects do that when there is a fair amount of javascript. I also like to put my CSS in a separate .css file. Anyway, I will read up on javascript, as there is much I do no know. I am familiar with using files locally, which I will try. Thanks again. Debigulator 16:19, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] massively multiplayer game

About four years ago, I used to play some game online. It was free and massively multiplayer, but it wasn't an RPG with a leveling up or combat system. The game had a three-dimensional environment, and you could own a house or something...and you could collect objects and drop them around places. Does this resemble a game that someone knows about? Isopropyl 20:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't know anything about the game, but I've seen people playing RuneScape? Philc TECI 20:30, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Wasn't runescape. This was fully polygons, and wasn't combat-oriented...it was like a chatroom. Isopropyl 20:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
What was the game, ie the objectives, enviroment etc. Philc TECI 21:25, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
Perhaps you mean Second Life? The lack of leveling up and whatnot would be consistent with that. -- Captain Disdain 03:27, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
I'd guess at Maple Story. But If it's none of the one's we've mentioned, you'll have to do some ressearching yourself. Click here to see Wikipedia's list of MMORPGS. If you go through everyone youll find it. J.J.Sagnella 08:06, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Ultima: Online

[edit] Jesus handles?

Is there an actual technical name for the "Jesus handles" in cars? --71.40.28.19 20:21, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Can you please describe what you mean ? Perhaps you mean the handles on the roof near the doors on some cars ? StuRat 20:34, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I'm sure the "panic handle" "Christ bar" or "Oh Jesus" handle is meant (obviously not the technical term)-- it's that handle above the door opening that you can grab to help get in or out of the car. On the backseat, the hook for hanging your jacket is often on this handle, if present. My friend has something that looks very like this kind of handle on her VW convertible, but you can't actually grab on to it to help get in or out because it is the latch for the convertible top. Crypticfirefly 20:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
((after edit conflict)) I would assume the questioner means the handles found inside some cars, usually just above, or above and toward the front of, the windows. The common joke is that they are there to grab onto and yell something like "Jebus Cripes!" when the drive slams on the brakes, or turns sharply or whatever. A variant would be "Oh Shit! handle." In reality, I believe they are supposed to function as a leverage point for somebody climbing into or out of the car. --LarryMac 20:44, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
And as such, they are called "passenger assist handles". e.g. here --LarryMac 20:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I have also seen them called "overhead grab handles". Crypticfirefly 20:53, 7 July 2006 (UTC)