The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
Is there some kind of reason why when the tennis scores come on the news they always put on the worst possible picture of the two competitors, especially so with the womens games. Is it a running inside joke within the media or just tradition or because they can't be bothered to find any niceish ones? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.107.197 (talk) 00:40, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
They do worse with politicians! There's a trick where you take two pictures in rapid succession; the person puts on a good face for the first, and the second catches them reacting to the flash. You print the second. 79.66.90.252 (talk) 22:16, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe they buy the best-value photos, rather than spending a fortune on Associated Press shots that only appear on screen for 5 seconds? This way the newspapers pay for the pricey 'high quality' shots, and the tv stations save money by having the 'budget' shots that are perhaps less flattering/not as sharp/less dynamic etc. Photographs are rather expensive and businesses are always looking to cut costs, this could be one way of doing that I guess? Just speculation though, but then I suppose seing as 'worst possible picture' is opinion based a speculative response is as good as can be expected. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:18, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or maybe they are using photos of the athletes doing what they are good at, i.e. competing in a sporting event, rather than looking glamorous. DJ Clayworth (talk) 17:04, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
San Diego bus route question
As the title suggests, I live in San Diego, California. I want to know if you can get a single day bus pass, so you can ride as many busses as you want for that day. I also want to know what the route to the Us/Mexico border is on the bus route. Thank you75.62.207.163 (talk) 02:09, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I am gobsmacked at this question. Last year, my wife and I were in SD for our first ever visit (we live in Scotland UK), and within minutes of leaving our hotel on Hotel Circle North, were directed to Fashion Valley where we caught the Trolley to central SD and then subsequently to San Ysidro for Mexico. We never hired a car during our visit, but we saw the wineries near Temeculah, then Coronado, Seaworld, the Zoo, Balboa Park, and many other places easily reached by public transport (without needing timetables etc., and I bet we visited more places in SD Area/California on public transport than the OP has ever dreamed of or heard about (without ever once resorting to the internet or Wiki for directions)). It's called interacting with people. Oops - not politically correct. Sorry - NOT. 92.17.37.124 (talk) 20:36, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, getting to and from the tourist destinations from Downtown isn't particularly challenging, but SD (and its surrounds) is a huge place. The public transport system is pretty dire unless you live on one of the trolley lines. As a visitor, I expect you never set foot in National City, Chula Vista, Lemon Grove or many of the city's neighborhoods that do not have tourist attractions. We offer a service in which we invite people to ask questions. Your comment, criticizing someone for doing just that, really isn't very constructive. Rockpocket20:51, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
WWII and FDR
I recently saw a picture in which FDR is declaring war after the Japanese Pearl Harbor bombing. The caption specifically mentions the president wearing a black band without explaining its significance. What does the black band on his left arm mean? Is it something that presidents wear traditionally when declaring war or something? And also, when was the last time we officially declared war? Was it WWII?--A Real Kaiser...NOT! (talk) 07:06, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See Armband. At that time, it wouldn't have been necessary to point out why he was wearing the black armband. They're worn when someone close to you has recently died or when some significant event has caused many deaths and you are in mourning. That custom is no longer widely observed though. Dismas|(talk)07:44, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On a side note - this custom is still observed in the UK though mainly within sporting-events (footballers often can be seen sporting black-armbands). Politically I haven't noticed any recent times Prime Ministers wearing an armband, though wearing a memorial-day poppy is standard-issue for anybody appearing on tv in the weeks around Remembrance Sunday. The flag flying at half-mast policy seems to be the preferred method used in the UK for marking a tragic event. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 07:58, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify the Poppy is the symbol of the sacrifice of so many men in WWI. The fields of Belgium were covered in poppies as the men died. Poppies of all sizes are marks of donations to assist today's injured troops.86.200.134.214 (talk) 10:45, 16 July 2008 (UTC)DT[reply]
Eeehhh *wibble motion with hand* Sort of. The association of poppies with the dead of WW1, the wearing of them and the whole remembrance thing was so grassroots in many ways, and in many ways continues to be, that it's hard to say exactly what it symbolises or marks to any given person. Certainly getting a plastic poppy involves making a donation to assist soldiers, or feeling horribly guilty, but I'd be careful of assuming someone wearing a poppy means the same as you do. 79.66.90.252 (talk) 22:12, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This site agrees that it was for his mother. A Google search finds a number of mentions (and images) of him wearing it prior to the Pearl Harbor attack. Deor (talk) 16:07, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
He started wearing a black silk armband after his mother's death. "Mr. Roosevelt wore a dark blue business suit and black tie. On his left arm was a black silk band. He wore his glasses." (Washington Post, 10 September 1941, burial of FDR's mother) That's the only time the press mentioned the arm band—my bet is that he was still wearing it a few months later when Pearl Harbor was attacked. They saw fit to comment on it when he first put it on, but nobody said a thing about it later, leading me to think he hadn't changed anything about it. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:15, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Elvira, part of modern Granada in Andalucia, southern Spain, which went on to become the Alhambra Palace, one of the truly "must see" collections of buildings anywhere. Wiki has a very good series of articles about the Alhambra and Granada and their place in the Muslim Kingdom that was eventually conquered by the Spanish Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, thus returning all of Spain to Christian rule. 92.3.31.27 (talk) 11:49, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The questioner asks for the capital of Moorish Spain or Al-Andalus in the 8th century. Granada did not become the capital of what remained of Al-Andalus until the 13th century. At the beginning of the 8th century, the Moors had not yet invaded Spain. After they conquered most of Spain, they established their first capital at Seville in 715. Four years later, in 719, the capital shifted to Córdoba, where it remained for the rest of the 8th century and right through until the 11th century. Even after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Córdoba remained the chief city of Moorish Spain until its conquest by Castile in 1236. It was only during the final phase of the Moorish civilization in Spain that Granada was the Moorish capital. Marco polo (talk) 13:27, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A male dressed as a woman is generally used more often for comedic effect than a woman dressed as a man. Namely because a woman in man's clothing isn't as easy to 'notice' the difference visually (plenty of female clothes look like men's clothes but with the exception of kilts and a few other items, men in dresses are instantly noticed as no dressed in 'male' clothing). For that reason I would suggest Bill Oddie dressed as Kate Humble... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk) 14:44, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I agree that men dressed as women tend to have more comedic potential, but Kate Humble (at least on Springwatch) doesn't really dress in a particularily feminine way. As far as I remember it is pretty much just jeans and jumpers, so unless he has got a curly blonde wig on as well then it may not look that strange. Franmars (talk) 15:38, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, to answer the question yes (given that "anybody" can be anybody, and someone somewhere must have watched it). I did, for one. Bigfoot, they call him bigfoot... Grutness...wha?02:02, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
So they believe him to still be alive and well and living in SAmerica. So 1, why doesn't some one just go there and strangle the bastard as has been done in the past by some Sonderkommando survivers as detailed in the movie and book Shoah. 2 could his daughter be prosecuted for harbouring a fugetive? or some other sort of crime such as hiding a mass murderer, conspiracy, aiding and abetting or accomplace to whatever. Thanks Zionist193.115.175.247 (talk) 15:26, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Finding one person in a place as vast as South America (which is 17,840,000 km squared according to the article) isn't exactly as easy as just 'going and doing it'. Secondly resorting to barbaric tactics against a barbarian reduces that individual to their level. Better that they are placed on trial and made accountable in a court-of-law for their actions, that way the hideous crimes they have committed are not reduced in significance by an angry-mob taking vengence on the person. Finally yes if someone is harboring a suspected criminal then my understanding is that most nations will consider that a criminal offence and upon finding them they too will be subject to prosecution and potential punishment for their crimes. ny156uk (talk) 15:52, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why don't they go in and murder the guy? Well, the Sonderkommando survivors themselves are, at this point, in their eighties at best. They're not likely to be in any shape for trekking through South America and engaging first in possibly dangerous and positively arduous detective work and then some wet work. So why doesn't someone else do it? Because it is murder, for starters -- justifiable, possibly, but I'd say that most people don't see the appeal in murdering a guy who's so old that he's liable to drop dead any day now from natural causes (supposing that he's not dead already), no matter how much of an utter bastard he is. I don't think too many people want to go to jail for him. That's in addition to the fact that finding him is very, very hard, what with South America being just a little on the large side.
As for his daughter, prosecuting her might well be possible, but then again, that would require evidence that she knows where he is and that she has aided him, which is probably easier said than done. (In practice, this would probably require catching Heim himself first, as that would probably result in said evidence.) If she is helping him, they're probably not being stupid about it, as evidenced by the fact that he hasn't been caught yet. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 17:26, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What species is my hat?
I have an old Russian fur hat(apparently a few decades old, since the label says "CCCP"), and I'm not sure what kind of fur it's made from. The fur is slightly coarse in texture, each hair about half an inch long, light brown and tipped with a darker reddish-auburn color. There are patches where off-white skin is visible. Based on this information, can anyone determine what animal the fur came from? 68.123.238.140 (talk) 16:00, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Are there standard tie-breaking criteria for FIFA or CONCACAF football matches? I've been looking all over for the criteria for the [2008 Canadian Championship] and [2008 North American SuperLiga]. Can someone help me out? 75.21.167.0 (talk) 17:44, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In general, in a knockout tournament (in a league a draw's a draw, of course), you possibly have a full replay, followed (or replaced) by extra time, have extra time, possibly followed by a replay (followed by more extra time), followed by a contest of kicks from the penalty mark. If you mean you want to know how ties are broken in league tables, it's normally on goal difference. But all this is not standardized; you should read the competition regulations to be sure. Algebraist18:50, 16 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On the North Irish Horse page authentication of the four Tank Brigades, in which the Regiment was a component, is requested. How do I provide the necessary proof?
If you get the document (it doesn't have to be a book - a historical documentary can also be used) simply add a reference section and something like this
Usually, but it depends on many things. In some countries higher education is completely free. Most students also need to think about their living expenses. In your hometown you might be able to live with parents or relatives and you would know how to find a part-time job to help finance yourself. Some countries do not allow international students to work at all. Itsmejudith (talk) 07:11, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To expand on Itsmejudith's comments, countries that have free or subsidised higher education do not always extend it to all overseas students. UK Universities have subsidised fees (or free in Scotland) for UK citizens, which I think is available to all EU citizens but not people from other countries. On the other hand some Universities have scholarships exclusively available to overseas students. -- Q Chris (talk) 10:01, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Note: whilst EU residents are typically regarded as 'home' students, I don't think this is the case in Scotland, for some reason. The fees here are free only for Scots - English students who come up to study have to pay something comparable to the fees down south (or cheaper - fees for non-ancient universities are generally much lower, I believe, being in the region of £1,500 rather than ~£3000). Angus Lepper(T, C, D)13:49, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In the US, at least in California, in-state residents are charged lower fees to attend state schools, than out-of-state residents are charged. Corvus cornixtalk21:16, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Probably depends on what you mean by "cost", where you're from, and where you're going to. As mentioned previously, most publicly funded universities give discounts to natives (presumably because natives help fund the Uni through taxes, whereas foreigners do not). Also, if you're anticipating paying for college with savings, going to a high cost of living country when you're from an impoverished country will seem more expensive than if you stayed at home. Going the other way may be a lot easier, as your savings will extend further (so it may equate to being cheaper). If you're not using savings, they you have to consider employment prospects. If you stay in your home country, you may be able to find a part-time job. If you're a foreign student, you may be prohibited from working, so the amount of debt you incur may be more than if you stay home. - All that said, there are certainly benefits to studying abroad, especially if the Uni's in your area are not considered top-tier. I know that a large number of Indian and Chinese students come to the USA to study, despite the fact that they cannot work part-time to defray costs, and the cost of living is higher. The perceived value of a US education outweighs the costs. (You really should view education as an investment.) - Finally, even if there is a large difference in general costs, there may not be the same difference in personal costs. Although within the same country, my undergraduate university's nominal costs was about ten times that of the "local" Uni. However, for me the nominally more expensive Uni was actually cheaper because they gave me a generous scholarship, whereas the local University was not as generous. -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 18:06, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It means to send it in such a way that intermediate people who have to handle it understand that it's intended for the end user, and is private for their eyes only. -- JackofOz (talk) 06:53, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've recently started playing around with some electronic music production software and have found plenty of sites where I can upload any music I produce. But what I can't find are sites where I can download other people's original vocals that I can incorporate into my songs. Does anyone know of a site like this? There must be singers out there with original compositions but no instrumentation, who want people like me to put music to their work, where can I find them? Thank you. Iiidonkeyiii (talk) 07:21, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Changes to the way football (soccer) looks and is played
Watching the Euro 2008 tournament last month, I was struck by a few changes in the way professional football looks and is played now from when I used to follow it as a boy in the 70s and 80s. I would like to know the reasons for these changes, which would include:
Previously, the goalkeeper would always wear a green shirt, and the rest of his strip was the same as the outfield team. Nowadays, he seems to wear whatever colour he likes.
Previously, the referee would only ever wear all black. Now, again, he wears all sorts of colours.
Previously, the team would wear numbers 1 to 11 for each match. Therefore, if a team played a different (for example) goalkeeper from one match to the next, both goalkeepers would wear number 1. Nowadays, players have squad numbers which they keep throughout the season, always wearing the same number for each match.
Previously, if the ball went well out out of play (for example, into the stands), it had to be retrieved. It was important that the same ball be used for the whole of the match. Nowadays, there is an endless supply of balls which are brought into play from the touchline if the ball goes well out of play.
Previously, if there was a draw at the end of a big game such as the FA Cup Final, a replay would take place. Nowadays, it is decided on penalties. I can guess the reason here - that a big final needs to be decided on the night - but I don't necessarily agree with it. And if that's the case, why were replays used for so long?
The referee not wearing all black is likely due to games involving teams with near-black kit themselves. The numbers thing is likely for convenience - you don't need to have several different numbered shirts for a substitute to wear, he just wears his own - and the finals thing I would reckon is due to the problems of scheduling (TV and real life) such a large match at short notice. -mattbuck (Talk) 10:00, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In order to maximise revenue from shirt-sales goalkeeper kits are more 'designed' now than in the past. Provided they are noticeably different to outfield players tops they can be any colour. This is required to make it possible for officials to tell them apart with ease.
As noted provided the ref wears colours that make them stand out this makes it possible for clubs to be more flexible in their shirt-designs. Clubs like Newcastle Utd/Inter Milan/Ac Milan have a lot of black in their kits so it is better for refs to wear more contrasting kit wherever possible.
In the Premiership teams choose between the 'multi-ball' approach and the 'single' ball approach. There was some controversary when during a game I think it was Spurs removed all the spare-balls from the side of the pitch to 'waste time'. The reason for multi-ball is less time is wasted retrieving a ball, so more time is spent with the ball in play (the ball is in play for a shockingly small amount of a game of football as it is).
The modern game has huge numbers of fixtures. Replays have been removed to ensure that players do not play 'too many' games, and to ease fixture congestion. I wouldn't be surprised if there was also a part of this that was to do with broadcasters wanting to ensure that they maximise viewing-figures - if it is a one-game final that must end on the day the incentive to stay watching a dull 0-0 is much higher than if you know that with 20 minutes to go both teams are going to end up playing for a replay rather than risk getting beaten.
Other changes you may have not noticed/perhaps purposefully didn't mention:
The pass back rule - introduced to make the game flow better and to make negative play harder
3 points for a win - designed to promote more attacking football
Removal of foreign-player limits. I think it is not only 3 non-EU players per-squad for European competitions, previously I think there was a different rule (can't remember what though)
'active' and 'non-active' off-side. Aimed at making off-sides occur less it seeks only to stop the game when an 'active' player is in an off-side position. This is a controversial law.
Thanks very much for that, most useful. You seem to know a lot so let me ask you something else about offside. I'm sure I remember there used to be a rule that a player could not be offside if the ball was played forward to him from within his own half. But I can't find any reference to such a rule in the literature so am I imagining it?
On the ref wearing black kit, I take the points made but what I don't understand is why this change has only taken place in recent years. In the 70s Newcastle were wearing black and white but I bet the ref still wore black to officiate at Newcastle matches back then. Or if he didn't, I bet it was only for Newcastle matches that he wore a different colour, he reverted to black for other matches. --Richardrjtalk email11:38, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Could another reason for having players "own" the numbers be that it helps with shirt sales? Seven seems like a popular number so give it to guys like Beckham and sell more shirts. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 11:49, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
1) The ownership of shirts was to help the match officials - if every player has their name of their back, it reduces the risk of the wrong name going into the book when a player is booked (especially if a shirt has been replaced during the macth, e.g., if it's been damaged and a new one is put on for the second half). It also makes identifying players easier for commentators. It's an idea imported from sports like baseball and gridiron, and not a bad one.
2) There was never an offside rule about the ball being passed from the players own half. however, a player cannot be offside if he was in his own half when the ball was played. As far as I know this law hasn't changed.
3) It wasn't quitethe case that 'keepers always wore green. They did in the UK and some other countries, though if they were an international keeper they were entitled to wear yellow. It was different in some countries, though - ISTR the great Dino Zoff wearing black for Italy during the 1970s.
4) Not sure about the refs, though with the increasingly exotic colours of team strips, it may have been necessary for referees to have "away strips". IIRC Manchester United briefly toyed with a black away strip, which if worn would have caused problems for refs (as for "only Newcastle united matches", there would have been the same problems with West Brom and some other teams. ISTR that one of Scotland's club sides wears black sometimes, too).
5) Replays are far better than shootouts, and were regularly used in the days when scheduling was less tight. With modern football it isn't always possible for teams to arrange replay dates - and for big matches the logistics of organising security services, of booking the stadium, and of arranging media outside broadcasts are also major considerations. The FA got fed up with scheduling problems with replays sometime around the late-80s and have used penalty shootouts ever since (sadly). Grutness...wha?13:00, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why when so many Nazis were sentanced to death, did some of them, who were quilty of astounding crimes against humanity, get life sentances, or shorter, or were released from prison after just a few years?
Why was the extrodition of so may of them not granted by countries like Argentina, Chile, Brazil ect to countries like Israel, Poland ect, and why does this continue today, see Albert Heim question above.
Furthermore, if so many Nazis escaped via ratlines to various countries, why did Hitler not. These ratlines were organized by the inner cirlce, so why did he not jump ship too?
Can some one please provide me with links to alternative theories on what happened to Hitler after the war. Thanks people. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:06, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hitler killed himself because he was a zealot facing the unthinkable - that he had been wrong. As for what happened to him, there are no other theories worth mentioning. He killed himself. PlasticupT/C12:14, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Great question! Well, there's no definite way to know why Hitler didn't escape, since the only guy who knows for sure is Hitler, and he's dead. But we can make some well-educated guesses. First of all -- where the hell would he run to? Your average guy in some other country wouldn't know who Aribert Heim is, for example. Everyone would recognize Hitler; he was the personification of all of Nazi Germany, arguably the most famous face of World War II and certainly the most demonized man of the era. He wasn't someone who could easily blend into a crowd, and he would be the most wanted man of all. There are people who could slip through the cracks in the confusion, but Hitler would be very unlikely to be one of them.
Furthermore, he didn't want to escape. He was fanatical about the German military might and destined victory, and was pretty clearly in denial about the outcome of the war for a long time, insisting that they could still win even though it was becoming completely obvious that they could not. When he finally accepted that they couldn't, it was a great blow to him, but at that point it was too late to run -- they were already surrounded by the enemy. He could've cut out before, but now it was virtually impossible.
So why suicide instead of surrender? Well, he undoubtedly felt betrayed and harassed. Hermann Göring had attempted to assume control of Germany, Heinrich Himmler was secretly negotiating with the Allies. Hitler apparently didn't want to get executed like Mussolini. And even if that didn't happen, the humiliation of defeat was probably bad enough for him; getting further humiliated in a trial was probably an even less appealing thought -- and he really couldn't look forward to anything but another execution after that, if a little more formal one.
As for extradition, I'm sure money was a factor in it, but it's not the whole truth: it's not as if people like Aribert Heim are necessarily protected by the countries they're in, even if the governments of the time were friendly to them. They undoubtedly have false identities and long-running ties in the country. The governments in question are unlikely to know what their current names are or that they are Nazi war criminals. That's the whole point: if someone were to contact the Argentinan government and say "hey, by the way, that guy by this name and who lives in this address is actually a Nazi war criminal, and here's the evidence for that, could you go and arrest him and deliver him to us?", they would be likely to say "sure thing, we'll get back to you in a couple of hours when we've picked him up." But they don't know where Aribert Heim is, what his name is, where he lives, or even what he looks like today. They can try and track him down, sure, but it's not like he's living publicly under that name in some nice house with a sign that says "Old Nazi Bastard" on the front...
And finally, the sentencing: the death penalty is a pretty controversial sentence, even for Nazi war criminals. And they did hand out quite a bunch of them: of the 24 accused in the Nuremberg trials, for example, 12 were sentenced to death. Only three of them were acquitted. One of the 24 committed suicide before the trial, and one was eventually tried in another trial. The rest of them got prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. So why did Karl Dönitz, for example, get only 10 years? Because he was a naval commander, who perhaps fought dirty, but he was a soldier. It can be argued (and has been argued) that it's hypocritical to accuse him of those actions, when the people responsible for events that claimed extraordinary numbers of civilian lives, like the Dresden bombingornuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- just to pick the two obvious examples -- on the winning side don't end up in comparable trials. Of course, Dönitz was a Nazi and a dick, but neither of those things are in themselves crimes. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 12:52, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
and don't forget the power of the teutonic myths in the whole nazi movement; lots off heroic tragic endings, going down in flames, etc. way better than getting captured and sentenced. Gzuckier (talk) 18:37, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If Hitler had shed the stupid haircut and mustache, he could have become "Senor Shgruber" and lived to age 80 in South America, seeing his grandchildren via Eva Braun grow to adulthood. Numerous other ex-Nazis moved there and prospered. At the end, he had a pilot and an airplane available. Edison (talk) 05:10, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm pretty skeptical here. I don't mean to get into a debate, but really: not that it's impossible that Hitler could've avoided capture indefinitely, but surely, being just about the most famous and hated man in the world at the time, he would've had a really hard time hiding. The resources that would have been expended to find and capture him would have been completely different from the resources spent on people like Aribert Heim, Edward Roschmann, Adolf Eichmann, and Josef Mengele, or whoever. These guys were pretty disgusting human beings for all sorts of reasons, but they were essentially middle management -- sure, there was demand for them, but you didn't see major governments falling over themselves to catch them, undoubtedly partly because the war was over and they had other things to worry about, and partly because the public outcry for their heads wasn't that great. Most people didn't know who they were and probably didn't even care that much. The war was over, after all; who cared about a bunch of no-name flunkies, as long as the big guys got caught and punished? (Mengele, for example, is famous now and often synonymous with the monstrous Nazi human experiments, but back in the day he was just some doctor; it wasn't until years later that the stories from the camp really started to gain momentum that people started to increase priority on him, and even then it's not as if the world suddenly sat up and took notice.) And, of course, both the United States and the Soviet Union had their own reasons to not look too closely what happened to every single German after the war or foster a culture of accountability for every person involved in the Nazi regime or war effort.
But Hitler? That'd be a different story. People would have to get their pound of flesh. How could they let him go? He was the personification of everything the Nazis ever did, the man emphatically in charge and -- in the popular minds, at least -- pretty much directly responsible for every person who died in a concentration camp or in combat against German soldiers. Just saying "well, he got away" and leaving it at that wouldn't fly; the manhunt for Hitler would be massive. It would just have to be. Of course, that doesn't mean he couldn't get away, with good and careful planning (not exactly a cornerstone of Hitler's operations, but, hey, maybe he'd rise to the occasion) and better luck. A little plastic surgery, the good sense to keep his profile low and his mouth shut, enough money to pay his way and grease the right palms... Well, anything is possible. But I think it would be extremely unlikely. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 14:33, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Edison, I had been about to add something like, "Why do you think he grew the "shaveable moustache, and adopted the farcical waxed hairstyle", when just in time I saw your comment. Thanks. Come to think of it, I think I saw him working in a Bierkeller in Tenerife last week. The service was appallingly slow though. 92.17.37.124 (talk) 20:48, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Regarding your first question, as the alliance with the Soviet Union broke off after the war, the Western Allies were more concerned with winning the Cold War than they were with punishing the criminals from WWII. That ruled out tough treatment of West Germany. By the late 1940s, much of the responsibility for denazification had been turned over to the German judiciary, itself largely tainted by Nazi-era ties. Occupation authorities overlooked the release of Nazis from prison lest they ruffle West German feathers. The CIA, meanwhile, used ex-Nazis for espionage against the Soviets; lest this be exposed, the CIA didn't take action to capture Adolf Eichmann from Argentina. Some Nazis fled to friendly right-wing authoritarian countries or Arab states that had little interest in bringing them to justice. There was no cooperation with the Communist governments that now ran Eastern Europe, which is one reason why Israel tried Eichmann itself rather than extradite him to the scene of his crimes. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:52, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Where is food-grade flaxseed oil sold? Can I pick it up at most grocery stores and/or mega retailers, like Wal Mart? Or is this an item I would need to get from GMC-type place? Also, what is the average cost for a bottle? Are we talking five bucks or twenty plus?
it's in the vitamin aisles at stop and shop, etc. mostly in capsules, although i do have a recent small bottle of just the oil, wants to be kept in the fridge when open, one teaspooon per day. or were you looking for frying quantities? Gzuckier (talk) 18:42, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
No, I wanted to look into taking it as a health supplement. Any noticeable changes? I've read it's a long-term commitment.--EndlessDan20:01, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I understand it's high in phytoestrogens so may be helpful if you're going through the menopause. It has multiple uses, not just in cookery but in the home and workshop, e.g. as a wood preservative. In principle it should be very cheap, but food grades are obviously much more expensive than household grades (which may be blended with turpentine or other inedibles). Itsmejudith (talk) 21:20, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The trim on my house is painted brick red and when it get wet and the light is not full brightness due to cloud cover or dawn or dusk male Cardinals are attracted to it and chirp and hop and fly around it as if to claim it as their own or as if they are calling a mate or the owner. They will do this for about five to ten minutes at a time. They do not seem to be attracted to other red objects such a vehicles. What might explain this behavior? --adaptron (talk) 21:02, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's just trying to be helpful and correct your spelling. The same thing happens if you type "vickipedia", or various other things with a "K" and a "pedia" in them. --Masamage♫23:41, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Then you do not grok google bomb, which is an attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by Google. What we are seeing here is not a top ranked listing. What we are seeing is an (entirely normal, as per the first reply) suggestion by google that you might be looking for something else. --Tagishsimon(talk)23:57, 17 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Deep breath. Look at this google search for George Bosh. Note that's Bosh. See the "Did you mean: George Bush" lines at the top & bottom? That's google trying to be helpful. Now click on the image to the right so you can see it really big. That's a google bomb. A search for "miserable failure" has brought back George Bush as the first listing. Notice that there are no "did you mean xxx yyyy" which is what we are seeing in the jokepedia instance under discussion? Now can you see the difference? --Tagishsimon(talk)00:11, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) You can suspect whatever you want, but you're still wrong. What you're seeing is an ordinary Google spelling suggestion. If it were a google bomb, it would appear as a search result, with the associated "Cached", "Similar Pages", etc., links and the URL in green. -- Coneslayer (talk) 00:11, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Does anyone have a copy/link to the original version of this [2] portrait of an Ethiopian Wolf. It was based off a picture in National Geographic a while back, I think. 67.169.56.232 (talk) 00:23, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Close only counts with horse-shoes and hand grenades." (Nearness to the target helps to win in the game of horse-shoe tossing, and in the military tactic of handgrenade throwing). If a bullet misses, it just simply misses, and the target is not inconvenienced by being torn asunder or affected in any way at all. A bullet missing by 1/2 inch is equal to a bullet missing by a mile, as if it had been fired in the opposite direction from the target. Edison (talk) 05:02, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
So, it means that, in this case, coming close to the goal isn't good enough. For example, a doctor almost saving a life isn't of much value. StuRat (talk) 16:41, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Compare also two other sayings: "Give him an inch and he'll take a mile" (alsdo originally 'ell", IIRC), and "to miss something by a mile". In both cases the word "mile" ios simply used to mean any arbitrarily large amount - as is the case here. Grutness...wha?01:40, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ablue chip stock is that of a large company with relatively large shareholders' equity relative to its assets. Your client is an entity you do business with. A client base is a set of clients you regularly do business with. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 11:18, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or at least their blue chip client base consists of large, successful companies. They may also have a "fly-by-night client base". As long as those customers pay up front, they could still be a source of profit. StuRat (talk) 16:36, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
By falsely claiming you have it ? I don't think this would actually qualify as having it, as that requires actively causing symptoms by harming yourself (or others, in the "by proxy" variant). Merely claiming to have a disease you don't have is hypochondria. StuRat (talk) 16:29, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think yes, because in order to fake the syndrome, you have to be faking illnesses. Well, technically you have to be faking faking an illness, but fortunately for our brains there's no practical difference. --Masamage♫16:21, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, there's a (somewhat subtle, but really pretty major) difference between faking something for fun, or for attention, or whatever other reason as a conscious and deliberate choice ("well, I got an hour to kill and I'm an idiot, so what the hell, might as well mess with some doctors"), and doing so because you have a strong psychological need or compulsion to do so. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 17:02, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why would you go to a mega concert?
Why do people go to megaconcerts like U2 and the like? Isn't it like watching television if you are not in the front?
Largely for the atmosphere, also because it is an event to attend. Watching something on tv is enjoyable, but going out the house and having a night-out watching it will be a different experience. So you watch it on the tvs there? So what - you're still at the concert, you're still hearing it live (rather than through your tv) and you're still experiencing the atmosphere/excitement of a live-concert. I can honestly say that i've seen comedians live that were amazing, but on tv come across terribly. Tv coverage is great and i'm not going to say it's 'worse' than being there, but it is definitely a different experience. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:54, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Granted, not the 20,000 seat stadium affair that you're getting at but comedians do play large halls that seat a couple thousand people. Those in the back can't see the expression on the comedian's face which is, at times, part of the humor of the comedian. And people still attend, the shows still sell out, partly due to the experience of going. Dismas|(talk)16:31, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Mario Shindou
What is the difference between "Super Mario 64" and "Super Mario 64 - Shindou Edition"?
Why do many songs have the word September in them, like Green Day's "When September Ends" or Evan Taubenfeld's "Best Days of Our Lives" and various other songs which I can't remember?
September Sun by Type O Negative on thier latest album Dead Again, I think the common usage of this month has to do with the end of summer and the coming winter, in the northern hemisphere, used as a metaphore for the ending of a relationship, as most songs are about love, or about the ending or death of some other thing. Type O negative also did October Rust —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 16:09, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
"Longer than I remember/longer than last September (Brian Eno, "By this river"). Yes, all months are used, but September is used perhaps more than most - and my guess would be because of the connotations the month has (in the NH at least) with autumn, a time long associated with wistfulness and memories. The full lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel's "April come she will" make use of this link between autumn and wistfulness well, for instance. It's interesting that many of the songs mentioned above using other months use October - similarly associated. (oh - "January rain", Hunters and Collectors; "February", The Chills; "April sun in Cuba", Dragon; "May 1, 1990", Adrian belew; "Last day of June', Neil and Tim Finn; "July", Babybird; "August was a heavy month", Bob Geldof; "October", U2; "November", David Kilgour, "December", Teenage Fanclub... not to mention my own "Cold July rain" :). I found tons of marches, but none of them referred to the month. Grutness...wha?02:02, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A brief check of my iTunes songs (21,626 at the time of checking):
January — 3
February — 3 (2 + 1 for the French "février")
March — 0 – 4 (difficult to tell if the context means the month or the music/walk, the "march" — 29 results total)
April — 4
May — 6 – 7 (difficult to tell if the context means the month or the verb, "may" — 23 results total)
June — 117 – 11 (difficult to tell if the context means the month or the female — 12 results total)
Can anyone recommend a castle in (preferably southern) Germany that has guest rooms besides this one? I'm looking for a room for two adults in mid August. Thanks, Dismas|(talk)20:12, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Say what? I live in Berlin, but I am neither from Richmond, NY, nor a she. And I'm afraid I know absolutely nothing at all about castles in southern Germany. I'm familiar with Schloss Charlottenburg and Sanssouci but AFAIK neither of them has guest rooms available. —Angr08:08, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
For those of you who have traveled on the US airline southwest airlines and have purchased a business select fare i have a question to ask. The airline provides a free drink on boarding the aircraft however i have no interest in having it. Would i be able to skip the drink and just board the plane like normal. I think what counts here is that you paid a high fare to get a good seat. They offer this drink to you as a perk but i just want to skip that.--logger (talk) 21:19, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ask for a nonalcoholic drink. Airplane air is very dry; you'll probably be glad to have a glass of water or orange juice or something like that. —Angr08:10, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I agree. You won't get the price of the drink back anyway, so get yourself a nice nonalcoholic drink. It can also help to cool you down when they leave you sitting in the plane for an hour without A/C. StuRat (talk) 15:33, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Psychology
What is the name for the phenomenon when, as Lewis Black put it, "the guy next door to you tells you theres a bear shitting everywhere. You say "ohh, thats ridiculous", and the next day the bear is following you around." Another example would be, and I'm sure this happens to some of you, seeing a certain time, such as 9:11, when you look at the clock, as if you instinctively look at the clock at that time. Is there any documented research of this in any psychology journals? Here7ic (talk) 21:53, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What you've got here is a case of observational selection (we don't seem to have a Wikipedia article on the subject that I can discover), or to be more descriptive about it, counting the hits and ignoring the misses. An example from my own life: because I'm a sad, sad nerd, I always chuckle a little when I happen to notice that my cell phone's time reads 13:37 -- y'know, as in "leet". If I was inclined to do so, I might think that I have some kind of a special ability to look at the time at 13:37 or, indeed, that it crops up all the time. But this is not the case. I probably check the clock about two dozen times every day, so chances are that I'm going to hit that time more often than not. Because the number is, to my sad, sad brain, chuckle-worthy, I notice it more than the other times, but that doesn't mean I factually see it more often than the other times -- meaning that seeing it feels much more significant to me than not seeing it. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:12, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oh, there's nothing nerdy about using a 24-hour clock. (I mean, not that I'm pretending to be anything but a nerd, but this is not an instance of that. =)) Here in Finland we don't call it "military time", either, it's just "the time" -- most of the world doesn't really operate on a 12-hour clock, despite its prevalence in the United States, Australia and a bunch of other countries. I mean, I was probably around ten years old or so before I even understood what that whole am/pm thing was about, and it took me a couple of years to really learn which was which... -- Captain Disdain (talk) 01:19, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The grocery store near my house has signs up saying things like 'anti-skate devices in use, do not skate'. But the sidewalks always look completely normal to me- what am I missing and how do these things work? 70.162.28.222 (talk) 23:03, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Usually anti-skating devices are little bumps on surfaces to keep people from "grinding" on them (which causes damage to the structure, among other things). Sometimes they are added after the fact and look really obvious (like the ones on the Embarcadero in San Francisco), sometimes they are built into the design from the beginning and aren't obvious—subtle bumps or jutting structures. Those are the only type of anti-skating devices I've ever seen, anyway. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:24, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
So that's what those things are!! I've seen those at a local mall and couldn't figure out what they were for. Thanks much! Dismas|(talk)07:52, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It seems to me that for the cost of those anti-skate devices placed on all the roads and sidewalks, they could have built a small skate park and donated it to the city (so they would avoid any legal liability). And having a fun place to skate might very well work better to keep skaters away from their stores, as well as being a PR bonus and perhaps tax-deductible. StuRat (talk) 15:26, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
They have shield laws to protect the government from lawsuits. Otherwise they would be sued for extreme incompetence all the time. StuRat (talk) 17:37, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, they could have built a small skate park, but it doesn't mean all skaters will go there. There are public skate parks (well, at least one that I can think of) in my city, and I still see skaters everywhere else. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 17:27, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you put the skate park right next to the shopping center, I can't see why kids would prefer to dodge cars and walkers. On the other hand, if they have to get to the other side of the city to get to the skate park, they may well choose some place closer. StuRat (talk) 17:42, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That type of link doesn't work well here. It essentially goes out and does the search again every time someone clicks on those links. Unfortunately, Google gives different results to different people doing the same search at the same time (I have no idea why) and also gives different results if you repeat the same search at different times (which makes sense). So, perhaps those searches produced some results related to skating for you, but they don't for me. StuRat (talk) 01:14, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Or jurisdictions where the people are smart enough not to let the city do anything so potentially corrupt and corrupting as exempt themselves from the law. Depending on your perspective. I would add that people often continue to use public spaces for skating even when skate parks are available for a wide range of reasons, some easier to understand than others. 79.66.124.253 (talk) 16:29, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
They only have to make the argument that any lawsuit against the city is paid by the taxpayers, and the taxpayers are then happy to exempt the city from lawsuits. StuRat (talk) 15:40, 23 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
July 19
Removed?
I'm not totally sure this question is in the right category, but: If a friend says they are visiting their cousin twice removed, how are they related to them? What does the "removed" part mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.169.20.8 (talk) 01:46, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A cousin once removed is your cousin's son or daughter, or your mother or father's cousin - that is, the "removal' is by one generation. Your cousin twice removed is either your grandparent's cousin or your cousin's grandchild. See Cousin for all the messy details. Grutness...wha?02:07, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Of course, I've noticed that some people incorrectly use the term to mean horizontal spanning of the family tree instead of vertical. So they may have meant "second cousin" or even "third cousin". This usage would be completely incorrect. APL (talk) 02:48, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Conversely, some people use "second cousin" to mean a first cousin once removed. This is also incorrect (according to most people who understand the terms, anyway -- you might find it given in dictionaries, as they just record usage and don't prescribe correct usage). --Anonymous, 04:18 UTC, July 19, 2008.
I've used mustard in small quantities several years after it expired and it seemed fine. This was stored in the fridge though and was French mustard not that funny American stuff which is more like a ketchup or sauce Nil Einne (talk) 08:05, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I wouldn't expect mustard to rot, but it may dry out, oxidize (darken), or separate, any of which would make it unappetizing. However, they are also all visually apparent, so you could tell if it had "gone bad" before tasting it. StuRat (talk) 15:11, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Depends on the mustard, but most mustards are made with a large proportion of vinegar, thus making them a kind of pickle (sort of). The purpose of a pickle is to preserve foods for long storage, usually without requiring refrigeration. That's not to say they'll never go bad - if you have a lot of sugar or other such additives you may have an issue. I'm no expert, but I'd probably agree with the consensus of "best before". -- 128.104.112.147 (talk) 19:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
aliens - air and water
I have followed some researches about aliens. Whenever they talk about alien life in other planets, they also refer water, air and climate.
I don't know how these factors also make any sense for aliens.
I doubt there could possibly be aliens in sun and earth too. ;)
Well, water is assumed by many scientists to be necessary for the existence of any kind of life, because of it's multiple useful properties, like its high surface tension and ability to act as a solvent on just about anything, that are not shared by many other molecules. Presumably, any kind of intelligent alien life would also need an atmosphere of some form to survive without exploding (except for underwater life, but arguably an entire planet covered in water qualifies as an atmosphere as well). Climate is a natural consequence of the existence of an atmosphere and the movement and rotation of a planet around a star. I have no idea what the last line of your question means, so I won't attempt to answer it. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 03:59, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is it just because we breath and drink, we expect the same from aliens? Is it just because we have eye, nose, lungs, heart and brain, we expect the same from aliens? Is it just because we need some kind of vehicles to travel, we expect the same from aliens? We still believe in some kind of weird stuffs aliens could have, like, crystal that attracts gold, or advanced microprocessor technology. Why restricting aliens with in these boundaries?! --V4vijayakumar (talk) 13:41, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Read Evolving the AlienbyIan Stewart and Jack Cohen. Stewart and Cohen agree with you - they argue that any study or hypothesis about extraterrestrial life that starts with the assumption that life requires conditions similar to those found on Earth is too restrictive. They make a convincing case. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:51, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
While it may be possible for completely different forms of life to evolve in radically different environments, we don't know that for sure or know which environments to look for. However, we do know that it's possible for life to evolve in an environment similar to Earth, so it makes sense to allocate scarce resources to search those places for life first. StuRat (talk) 15:03, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As a mid-level player I go with trying to get the opponent in the position of taking forced moves, then use that to secure corners and their continguous edges, which are then absolutely safe. Then, at the end, those advantages can be used to flip the most discs and win the game. StuRat (talk) 14:53, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The corporation itself, obviously, and the courts. (Although the courts may only be able to do so indirectly, in certain circumstances, say by seizing all the corporation's assets to pay a judgment against the corporation.) And, perhaps, in the case of corporations like Halliburton, they could be dissolved by Dorothy, using a bucket of water (let's hope Cheney gets splashed with the water, too). :-) StuRat (talk) 01:16, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
girl problem
hi, i just want an answer to my problem
i was talking to a friend of mine when i suddenly splurted out (accidentally) about her ex-boyfriend, and she got emotional and all... and she is very upset
what shud i do to make her happy? give her some of her favorite chocolates? or something else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.50.248.79 (talk) 09:02, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There's something else going on there if she's that emotional about an ex-boyfriend. Only you know if what you said was really wrong or if her reaction was out of proportion based on her lingering feelings. I agree with Angr and Richard, but if what you said was an honest mistake and not something you should've known better about, then I think that should be reflected in the type of apology you give. -LambaJan (talk) 15:15, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Totally agree with the above. Unless you said something truly insensitive or mean relating to this girl's ex, it's really not your fault. She's clearly very sensitive or traumatized about this fellow, and there's nothing you can do to fix her or make her happy. She just needs time to get over him; maybe she should apologize to you for putting you in such an awkward position. If she's truly your friend, she won't make you have to walk on eggshells every time you're having a normal conversation.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 15:21, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Letter riddle
it's above letter j and i .What am i? i assumed the answer to this riddle would be a dot. Could that dot have a special name .Or if anybody knows the answer to this infamous riddle please assist. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.52.66.10 (talk) 09:05, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's crap. The site has apparently been in operation since 2001, according to the copyright information on their site (the Wayback Machine goes back to 2002). Note that they provide no information about how the ciphers were solved. Why would they hide that? There's nothing to be gained by keeping that a secret, and publishing that information would lend them an instant air of legitimacy and credibility. (They do have a picture that shows the letter substitution they used to "decode" the message, but no information as to how they came to use that letter substitution that I can find.) They have "pre-dig video footage", which shows essentially nothing, as well as a bunch of pictures of their "excavation site", but they have no video footage (or, indeed, any pictures at all) from inside the vault. Why not? What, they couldn't bring a camera in there? Sure, they have some pictures of old things that were supposedly found in there, but none of them have anything to do with Beale -- they could've been found anywhere. Also: this is a fairly famous mystery. If these guys had anything, surely the media would have been interested and reported on it? Yet the world at large seems to consider the Beale cipher unbroken. Nope, it's crap. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 11:03, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Furthermore, I'm not sure what the UK's definition for illegal material is, but considering that the three girls in the picture are wearing clothing that is less revealing that most swimsuits are and the characters aren't posed in a particularly erotic manner and there's really nothing overtly sexual about the picture, I'm a little skeptical as to the illegality of this picture even in the UK. (Even the erotic context mostly comes from the fact that the caption uses the word "erotic" rather than the picture itself.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:31, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
...also, let me quote the article itself:『Non-photographic images of children have never been illegal in the United Kingdom[.] However, on 13 December 2006 [it was] announced that the Cabinet was discussing how to ban computer-generated images of child abuse — including cartoons and graphic illustrations of abuse — after pressure from children's charities. The Government published a consultation on 1 April 2007, announcing plans to create a new offence of possessing a computer generated picture, cartoon or drawing with a penalty of three years in prison and an unlimited fine.』Has this plan now been turned into a law? Is the article out of date? -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:33, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
May I also point out that the article on platypus contains a depiction of such an animal in voluptuous full frontal nudity, which may motivate people of bestial inclinations to perform disgusting acts whilst lustily ogling this lurid image.
Even worse, the article on stiletto heels shows such a profoundly pornographic fetishistoid tool of slippery leather and vile erotic gleam, potentially luring the innocent cobbler to orgies of depraved lust and sinful obsession.
There is the clear danger, that all shoemakers succumb to hirsuteness of the palms and visual impairment, resulting in suitable footwear to become extinct. Whereupon the last solution is the breeding of genetically engineered platypus slippers.
How come Wikipedia copyright rules are so strict? Most websites use any images they want and just credit the copyright (or not even that sometimes). Is this illegal? PS: I am not asking legal advice. --217.227.123.3 (talk) 16:23, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that would normally be illegal (IANAL, and there are plenty of exceptions). Wikipedia's policies are strict because Wikipedia is supposed to be free content; anyone should be able to legally copy anything on Wikipedia for any purpose. Of course there is a compromise between the free ideal and the goal of creating a good encyclopedia, and so we have the (hotly contested) Non-free content criteria. Algebraist16:42, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Right. We're trying to make it so that people can recopy the content of Wikipedia and do anything they want with it, so the less copyright confusion we have to deal with, the better. --Masamage♫17:05, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It's also the case that as Wikipedia becomes higher and higher profile it opens itself up to greater and greater risk if it had sloppy handling of copyrights. "Most websites" are just tiny affairs—not many readers, not many administrators, not much money exchanging hands to keep it afloat. With greater prominence comes greater scrutiny, and greater possibility of problems. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:41, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It would be a weird pot-luck dinner indeed if there was an intention to produce one high quality example of every possible food item. If the pot-luck did have such lofty goals there would have to be many compromises to its vegan nature. Such a massive pot-luck dinner would require a vast number of contributers, many of them would be more interested in completeness than vegan-ness. If you ask me, the metaphor doesn't really scale properly while retaining the moral its writer intended. APL (talk) 00:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Birthdays
Is there a bias in the distribution of birthdays? I mean are there more "spring babies" than "dead of winter babies" in some nod to our primal nature? TastyCakes (talk) 17:03, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know the "official" answer, but a lot of my cousins got pregnant one winter, and my uncles agreed it was because of a big snow storm we had. So that resulted in several autumn babies. --Masamage♫17:06, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are statistics for the USA quoted here [3] which give July as having the most births and February the fewest, but it also points out that February is the shortest month. It also says "Generally speaking, the numbers are so close for all 12 months that the National Center for Health Statistics warns there really is no single trend." Another survey, of all births at a particular Dallas hospital throughout one year, found that "most births occurred in the fall, between September and November. Child births were least common in the winter during the months December through February." [4]. So yes, there does seem that there may be a summer/winter bias, but not a big one, and it varies. Karenjc18:23, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure how much I trust this data: [5], but it has some interesting features. For one thing, it shows a surprisingly strong weekly periodicity, with Sunday being the least popular day. I would have thought the distribution in gestation times would be broad enough to smooth out such weekly variation, but apparently not. Once that weekly variation is averaged out, the data shows a large, broad peak around August-October, corresponding to conception dates during the winter holidays, and a smaller but much sharper peak centered at November 14, corresponding to conception on Valentine's Day. —Keenan Pepper18:31, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
At http: //www.sciencenews.org/sn_arc98/11_21_98/mathland.htm
is a table of US data for 1978-87 showing average daily birth frequencies
for each month, i.e. it is corrected for the month lengths. Here is a
graphical presentation of the table.
MONTH DAILY FREQUENCY GRAPHICALLY 9TH MONTH EARLIER
January .0026123 * April
February .0026785 * May
March .0026838 * June
April .0026426 * July
May .0026702 * August
June .0027424 * September
July .0028655 * October
August .0028954 * November
September .0029407 * December
October .0027705 * January
November .0026842 * February
December .0026864 * March
As you see, this data set shows a small but distinct peak in births
from July to September, corresponding to conceptions at the time
the weather is getting colder. --Anonymous, 05:26 UTC, July 20/08.
I've been told that if you are in a group of 30 people, it is likely that 2 people will have the same birthday: month and day. We checked this out at work at a staff meeting and another woman had the same birthday as me. The data above is logically sound. My own experience is not. Perhaps I have another case of selective observation.Quakerlady (talk) 05:27, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Usually, esp. if rape of males is occurring in prison. This is, I imagine, because rape of females is seen as the powerful taking advantage of the less powerful, whereas rape of males is supposed to be more commensurate (and males who get raped are seen as having failed at being truly masculine). But that's my ad hoc, cheap analysis, and is purely descriptive, not prescriptive. I don't think rape of males—esp. prison rape—is really that funny either. (It speaks poorly of the US justice system that such a thing occurs quite regularly. It is a savage and unlawful, certainly "cruel and unusual punishment", and the fact that it seems practically condoned as part of "serving the time" is, well, unsettling to say the least.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 18:13, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In the opinion of the late great George Carlin, (paraphrasing from Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics) "You can joke about anything. Even rape. People say rapes not funny. I say it is. Just image Porky Pig raping Elmer Fudd. Why do you think they call him 'Porky'? ... I wonder if there's more rape at the equator or at the North Pole. I mean proportionally. I know there's more people at the equator. We have millions of people at the equator. How many eskimos do we have? Five? ... Now, the biggest problem that an eskimo rapist has... How to get wet leather leggings off of someone who's kicking!" So, you asked if it's "ok". I'd say it depends on who you ask. Dismas|(talk)18:22, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
To be totally honest, I wouldn't ask George Carlin anything, and find that quote pretty intensely horrific. But yes, there are people with whom you can joke around about rape and who would find it hilarious and not be offended at all. Most of them are male. --Masamage♫18:27, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Rape is as funny as any other horrible subject. See black humor for more examples. For a skilled satirist or humorist, all ugliness/horror/tragedy/absurdity in life is fair game; there are Holocaust jokes, pedophilia jokes, 9/11 jokes, not all of them altogether without value.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 18:31, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Mel Brooks is another comedian, and a Jewish one, who's said (explicitly, after being asked by Andrew Denton) that it's OK to joke about the Holocaust, because in his view there is simply no subject that is not a fit subject for humour. Hence The Producers. But it takes a skilled comedian to be able to do it and get away with it without offending people. I'm sure he wasn't in any way downplaying the suffering of the Jews when he wrote Springtime for Hitler. It's possible to have a joke the subject of which is rape (whether male or female) that raises a smile even on the face of the staunchest and most obsessive anti-rape campaigner, or on the face of a rape victim. But don't pervert that concept into making it OK to go around willy nilly joking about rape (or pedophilia, or the Holocaust, or whatever). From a moral point of view, there's no difference in degree of harm between the rape of a woman and that of a man - or a child. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:46, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But don't forget the guys who go in "straight" and come out (no pun intended) having discovered their true sexuality. OK, they didn't go looking for it - it just found them out - and they never looked back (again, no pun intended). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.8.200.239 (talk) 19:14, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That does happen; and one can discover one's sexuality in the most unexpected ways. But I doubt any of those guys are going to be thanking their prison rapists for helping them find their true nature. It's not like "Stop! Help! .... no, actually, I kinda like that so keep going". Rape in any circumstances is horrific brutality, and has nothing to do with sexuality, or even sex. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:56, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My experience of black humor is that a person can make fun of themselves or their group with good credentials. Mel Brooks can make fun of the holocaust because he's Jewish. Germans should probably not do the same. I've seen handicapped comedians make fun of handicaps, ethnic comedians make fun of their ethnicity. I don't expect handicapped comedians to make fun of ethnic background. So I guess a person who had been raped would have the credential to make jokes about rape. I doubt that will ever happen. It does remind me of a joke... (I'll refrain)Quakerlady (talk) 05:48, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I did once hear a German comedian make a holocaust joke, and it was one of the funniest things I've ever heard largely because it was so unexpected and deadpan. But thinking about it, it was sort-of a joke at the expense of Germans rather than the victims. 79.66.124.253 (talk) 16:17, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Seth Thomas Pocket Watch
I have a Seth Thomas pocket watch which I would like any information on. The watch is an open face 18 size.The only information on the back plate is the date =8.1.99. There is no serial number. The name (model) on the back plate is Railway. There is no indication as to the number of jewels the watch contains. The word adjusted is also shown. The watch is a full plate and appears to be identical to a Maiden Lane model with the exceptions noted above, plus some differences in the regulator which appears to be of the star type.
The face of the watch has a double sunk porcelin Montgomery style dial with the numerals 13 through 24 in red on the center sunk portion of the dial. The seconds bit is in the other sunken portion of the dial
Did you open the watch and look for a serial number on the mechanism inside? That is where it is on old pocket watches I have examined. Do not attempt this if you are not capable of doing it without damaging it. A jeweler should have no trouble opening it. Edison (talk) 20:16, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Certain frames can also load pictures over the Internet from RSS feeds, photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Picasa and from e-mail. Such networked models usually support wireless (802.11) connections.
Does anyone know which exactly as I've been unable to find them in google? Can this be done remotely. For example uploading pics for your friends display from your own house. Fanx. 190.190.224.115 (talk) 19:26, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, are these just regular LCDs or are they somehow boosted for crisper colors and better viewing angles? I assume that every single depicted example for sale has had the demo photo photoshoped in as they always appear crisp and with intense colours. 190.190.224.115 (talk) 19:33, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
What exactly did you search for? My first Google search http://www.google.co.nz/search?hl=en&q=Digital+photo+frame+network] gave [7] as the first result. I haven't looked into the details, but I don't see any reason why this couldn't be done remotely. Worst case scenario and the device doesn't use TCP/IP, you set up a listen server on a computer (remote desktop, SSL daemon, VNC, or even a customised web server) in your house which is remotely accessible and does whatever needs to be done to update the image. More likely, the device probably just uses standard TCP/IP so provided you have a firewall/router capable of forwarding the appropriate ports and your remote computer has the appropriate software and is likewise set up to send the traffic over the internet it should be fine. If this really doesn't work, use a router with (or run on your computer) a VPN server and connect to the router/computer with your remote computer. Simce you now have access to the remote LAN there's no reason why it shouldn't work. And yes, images 'displayed' on display devices depicted in a photo are nearly always added after the fact be they digital photo frames, TVs, whatever AFAIK. A random guess but AFAIK you can generally make LCDs with better viewing angles and better colours and better contrast if you are less worried about the response time although I have no idea if digital photo frame LCDs are of that kind. Nil Einne (talk) 20:16, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The primetime article here on wikipedia states that primetime is 8-11 pm eastern and pacific, and 7-10 pm mountain and central. However, this doesn't make sense to me. if the mountain time zone used the east coast feed of a cable channel (obvisously local channels have theirs set up as they wish), than primetime programs would be 6-9 pm. If it used the west coast time, it would be 9-12 pm for the primetime programs. Please help me understand exactly what this is saying.--Ac1983fan22:16, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The hours long predate the existence of cable. It's more a social thing -- I suspect central and mountain time zones had higher proportions of early-to-bed early-to-risers. Predominantly rural vs. predominantly urban. I wonder if the concept of prime time goes back to radio days? --jpgordon∇∆∇∆01:49, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I suspect that TV stations in the Mountain time zone record the Eastern feed, and then play it back an hour later.
I found a similar question as an old Google Answers post: TV times in Mountain time zone. The comments there suggest that it's up to each Mountain time station which feed they receive and how much they delay it. It's also pointed out that the Mountain time zone only includes 6% of the population of the continental 48 states, and that time-delay equipment is more economical than a separate Mountain feed.
You can verify the actual times programs are shown by entering different zip codes on a TV listings website. For example, TV stations available in zip code 84101 (Salt Lake City) use the 7p-10p prime time, according to Yahoo TV listings. --Bavi H (talk) 19:53, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
July 20
gravel screening pavement
I have recently heard of a type of pavement called "screening," which apparently is some kind of gravel mixture that hardens with water and appears similar to blacktop. Can you please tell me a little more about it, along with possible alternate names for it? I've been unable to find any information about this type of pavement using the word "screening." What is it made of? If it is as cheap and durable as I've been told, why isn't it used more often? Are there any environmental concerns? Any regulations regarding its use? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.148.189.142 (talk) 04:12, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Screenings generally refer to a crushed rock which has passed through a screen with holes of a particular size. After levelling and watering it is rolled for roads and footpaths. Weeds will gradually take it over, and water erosion can take it apart too. Here in Aust. its nearly always a light orange colour and mostly quartz. Much less durable than bitumen (blacktop) but cheaper to maintain (with a grader and roller) if the traffic isn't too great. Polypipe Wrangler (talk) 04:53, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps a travel agency, embassy, AAA, or bank. One in a big city would probably be better. It might take a little time before they're accessible in a foreign market. I'm also planning on looking for one. I read that they're only worth about $1 US. They also expire on December 31. Useight (talk) 21:32, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I play golf in my garden sometimes. Because I'm shit, I usually put the ball next to the hole, about 1 cm away. (Actually I don't play golf, but hopefully you get my point akin to 86's point) Nil Einne (talk) 19:54, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
At the start of each chapter in Mario Puzo's books, there is a small symbol. Similar to a circle / flower. What would this symbol be called and where could I find the symbol on the internet. I searched, but not knowing what to call it really hampers my efforts. JelloTube (talk) 14:42, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We have a nest of raccoons that have found an entrance between the walls of our townhomes. Now that they are in there, they scamper between the walls and floors of our 6 units. We have set out traps next to the opening and have caught 4 so far. There are more...we can hear them. We loosely put chicken wire over the opening, so we can tell when they leave the wall. We're afraid to seal it up, since they would die in the walls and ceilings and decay. Is there a way we can smoke or fog them out...so, they leave and we can either catch them...or they can just find another place to live in the nearby woods? Once we stop hearing them move about, we will seal up the opening with a permanent solution. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jrizzi (talk • contribs) 17:59, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This is not quite what you asked about, but just the same: I think you might want to have some sort of a pest control specialist come in and take a look at the place -- I understand that raccoons tend to have multiple entrances to their dens, so the one you have found may not be the only way into the house. Also, depending on where you live, raccoons can also be carriers of all sorts of dangerous diseases, so, again, it might be a good idea to call someone who really knows how to deal with them. And finally, you will want to make sure that there's absolutely no way the raccoons can access to your trash once you have this cleared up; you don't want to give them any extra incentive to make themselves comfortable again. -- Captain Disdain (talk)
I think I'd stick with the traps. They have to come out sooner or later to eat, after all. Make it so they can't get out without triggering a trap. You could smoke them out by drilling a hole far from the entrance and pumping something objectionable in. However, beware that the gas will likely make it's way back into your house if you do this. StuRat (talk) 01:10, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Uh, pumping some kind of gas into your own house in the hopes of getting some raccoons out strikes me as a pretty dumb thing to do. Let me put it this way: this sounds like a situation that has a pretty high probability of someone coming along afterwards and asking, "what the hell were they thinking?" You got a pest problem and you don't know exactly how to deal with it, call a pest control professional -- for a quick consultation, if nothing else. I'm betting those guys are insured, for starters; if they screw up your house, they'll take care of it. If you screw up your house by pumping some random crap in, or killing raccoons within the walls, or not understanding how the raccoons are getting so you don't manage to stop them in time before they turn all spaces inside the walls and in the attic into dens and crap all over the place, or someone gets bit by a rabid raccoon -- or whatever other scenario might conceivably take place -- I'm betting that you're the guy who ends up with the bill. Just saying. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 03:19, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Professional pest control people dealing with squirrels in the eaves of a house attached a "humane" trap to the hole the animals used to enter the dwelling, so that they were trapped one by one as the exited the place. More safe and effective than attempts to gas the vermin without gassing the humans. Edison (talk) 03:41, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Religion.
A non-practising roman catholic, I just watched "Goya's Ghosts" with my wife (a fictional tale of non-fictional inquisitorial Spain in the 17th century as blessed by the Vatican and the Spanish monarchy). I knew what to expect ie., torturing people until they confessed to ludicrous charges of crimes such as refusing to eat pork (when they simply didn't like it) giving the impression they were advocating the (then illegal) Jewish practice of not eating pork. My wife, a non-catholic was horrified, hardly surprisingly. Questions - has any Pope ever unconditionally apologised for the utter stupidity and cruelty of the catholic church's behaviour during those terrible times; and secondly, is there, or has there ever been, a peaceful, unitary-God-worshipping, non-vindictive and non-terrorising religion that my wife and I could join in pursuit of the fulfillment of all the graces, talents, and blessings that a true God has endowed mankind with, in tribute to His/Her/Its Glory? 92.8.200.239 (talk) 19:08, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
How about Baha'i religion, which is relatively modern, very civilized, and a "unitary-God-worshipping, non-vindictive and non-terrorising religion". Omidinist (talk) 14:01, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Do you really need an established religion? Ask yourself what you believe about God, life and the world and act on it -- you don't need to find an existing practice to tell you what to believe or do. 99.245.92.47 (talk) 20:08, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Who or what is responsible for all the earth's problems?
The economy, world leaders, or just basic human selfishness? How come I got no problem being a caring, unselfish person? Sometimes I weep for all the starving children, for example. Something must be responsible. Is this how police states think? Are problems just part of life, (Some win, some lose, Earth still spins,...)?--Hey, I'm Just Curious (talk) 19:19, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think one of the causes of the earth's problem is that certain people choose to ignore clearly worded directions for no apparent reason. For example, the direction at the top which clearly says "Do not start debates or post diatribes. The reference desk is not a soapbox." Nil Einne (talk) 19:57, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In Earthanism, all these natural disasters is part of a prophecy of the apocolypse, and humans are paying for there sins, and sadly enough, soon 1/4 of the evil and sinful people on this earth will die as we are infested with disease-ridden cockroaches and other insects for a year . . . O_O. However, for the starving children, that is just an unfortunate circumstance created by the sinful rulers of the world (and all governmental leaders are sinners because they are disrespecting the deities, and not just one out of the few). They shall be rewarded in the afterlife.
Philosophia X Known(Philosophia X Known) 23:34, 20 July 2008 (UTC) --Earthan Philosopher
There is no single-cause. We could blame big-business and government for economic problems, we could blame consumerism for global warming, we could blame dictators and aggressive rulers for war, we could blame religion for promoting social exlclusion, we could blame lack of religion for loss of social cohesion, we could blame capitalist systems for income disparity, we could blame communism for rabid corruption. There is no single cause - every single one of the above ideas is contested, the cause of the world's problems is that maintaining happiness, stability and security for billions of people (with thousands of different morality, ethics and cultural values) is pretty much impossible. It's impressive we function as a society at all. As for weeping about poverty - pity is worthless, it might make you feel a little better/more caring but it's a waste of time. You are putting your idea of 'life' into their situation and assuming massive unhappiness/disillusion. There will be some, but do not underestimate the mind's ability to create happiness and having fun in almost all situations. The starving around the world is a massive tragedy we should try to solve, but we should not 'pity' their existence. AA Gill said the thing that scared him most when visiting poverty-stricken parts of Africa was not the struggle of their daily lives but that these people were laughing, joking, children were playing and having fun. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try help, it just means that we should be careful about projecting our thoughts about what life would be like - because it turns out we are pretty terrible at predicting how happy/unhappy we will be in given situations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk) 08:40, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(Serious answer) Nobody yet seems to have considered blaming the individual (I'n not suggesting you should - just that it's a possibility)
One of the best answers I've seen is given by Chef on South Park, (from memory): God He's all hung up about something that happened thousands of years ago, and he wants to punish us for it. He gives us life and good things and then takes them away. It's like giving a lollipop to a baby and then taking it away and making it cry. If it didn't have it in the first place it would be fine, but giving the lollipop and then taking it back is really cruel and that's what makes God happy. ... Of course, what I'd say if I were being serious would be the classical philosophical one word answer: Ignorance.John Z (talk) 10:40, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd go with Cameron's "the devil" with a caveat - it's really sin. It can't be God, because the choices from a Christian POV would be to give mankind free will with the option of whether or not to sin, or to make mankind mindless robots incapable of choice. he chose the former, and offered a Savior to save us from our sin. but, we still have many choices within the good that we are allowed to do.
Now, as a Christian, I must say, if you would rather be a mindless robot, that's up to you. I'm glad I have freedom of choice. And, I won't go any further, because this is getting too soapbox-ish already.209.244.187.155 (talk) 19:02, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Music question
Have you ever heard of a "Talk-in Box"? It was mentioned in a radio broadcast on KKJZ 88.1 out of Long Beach, CA yesterday morning on a program that deals with the early days of Jazz. I have searched for any mention of it on the internet and sites like yours and found nothing. It sounds to me to be like the old tabletop jukeboxes that were harwdwired to a main jukebox but I would like to learn more about them. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.129.33.32 (talk) 22:41, 20 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This may elude to a talkie, which was a slang term for a radio in the early days, or to a talkie which later became the slang for a radio soap opera both terms are from the early days of radio, before tv. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 12:50, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My life stinks and I'm sick and tired of working. And I have asthma. Is there a country in the world where, if I so choose, will financially support me for life? I hear some European countries come pretty close, but ya gotta be a long term citizen there, I'll bet.--Dr. Carefree (talk) 01:40, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Come to Great Britain,have at least 2 kids,and stay on Unemployment for the rest of your life here like so many people have already done.The system will pay for everything! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 14:53, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Citizens of Alaska get a payment every year. It's not enough to live on the whole year though. Why not just see a doctor about your asthma and get a job that you like? Dismas|(talk)01:46, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sure, there are countries where, if you're a citizen, you can get all sorts of benefits, thanks to various social security systems. In many cases, if you have a disability that's severe enough, you can get a disability pension. They aren't likely to be too ample, but you can generally get by on that. The problem for you is, of course, that no one's going to be eager to give someone a pension just because he moves in -- the idea is that taxes pay for these services, and you haven't contributed to the taxes at all if you're not a citizen. (This is not to say that every new citizen is expected to pay taxes before getting these benefits, but if you're moving in for the sole purpose of getting them, someone is likely to look into the case pretty closely.) And asthma -- unless your case is a very severe one and really makes working very hard or impossible -- isn't like to qualify you for a pension like this anyway. I'm afraid that there's no one on this planet where you can just show up and choose to be paid for for the rest of your life, and if such a place did exist, it would just collapse under its own impossibility -- it's not like there's a shortage of people who would want to live like that. I don't think the state is likely to just pick up the bill for your living expenses anywhere -- well, y'know, unless you go to jail or end up committed in a mental instution or something, but chances are that it's going to stink a hell of a lot more than your life does right now. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 03:03, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You think your life stinks now? "Try coming to Great Britain, have at least 2 kids, and stay on Unemployment for the rest of your life...", then your life will really stink. To all those who think living on benefits in Britain is well paid, think again. It's a hard life at the bottom of the poverty ladder. In my experience the benefits amount to considerably less than what the government thinks is a minimum wage. And if you're not an EU citizen and you come here illegally, you're likely to be locked up in a "detention centre" (ie. prison) with no social security benefits at all, until they decide to shove you on a plane going back home. Astronaut (talk) 17:34, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
After contemplating the matter, I started to feel like a real heel considering moving to another country to take advantage of thier system. Why do that when there are plenty of opportunities here? I've paid taxes my whole life, so is there a way I can take advantage of this system? Yes, I'm talking about the good ol' US of A! I saw a commercial a while back for a book that claims the government will pay for just about everything. It was hosted by a guy who looked a little like Emo Philips, so maybe you've seen it. Is this true? Will Uncle Sam give me unlimited cash and services? I've paid my taxes for many years, so I see no moral problem here. It's getting me excited thinking about it!Dr. Carefree (talk) 03:50, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As a matter of fact, I think there is always some 'free' money moving around. In the EU or USA, it is the state that gives you this money, in other countries NGOs can give you some help. The main point is to use this money for making something out of you life, not just leech off these institutions. Mr.K.(talk)10:28, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Under the Heading "Cane"
My name is Llano Gorman,
The definition of the term "Cane" is a bit out dated .. very out dated .. try to find a bamboo cane now .. most are made from aluminum or wood. .. this is what it states in wikipedia at this time ..
"A cane is a long, straight wooden stick, generally of bamboo, Malacca (rattan) or some similar plant, mainly used as a support, such as a walking stick, or as an instrument of punishment. Depending on the use, it is left in its natural state or improved (e.g., smoothened, varnished)."
I am proposing a total re-do . Can I do this with out getting into trouble?
It now should Read :
A cane is long and generally straight mainly used as a support.
There are five general uses of canes: 1)Medical Cane / Daily use cane 2)Blind Cane 3)Recreational Cane 4)Collectible Cane 5)Travel Canes.
1)Medical Cane: Is used for weight bearing, or balance issues. This cane must be measured for the individual. 2)Blind Cane: The white cane is the international symbol for vision loss generally, including low vision. "This helps the community know that these individuals have trouble seeing and in turn the "White Cane" helps those with vision impairment interpret their surroundings.
3)Recreational Cane: Fun Cane, or going out cane. Something that is not necessarily for weight bearing, decorative, the main difference .. does not need to be measured for the individual using it.
4)Collectible canes are canes from all varieties such as: Antique Canes, Sword Canes "Which now since 911, are not legal in most states and provinces through out North America, however they can be collected." Daily use and even recreational canes are collectible. Main difference, there is none because collectible means just that, it is the eye of the beholder that makes the type of cane collectible.
5)Travel Canes: Canes that can be folded. Fold-able canes are generally used for the airplane traveler. "Must not be used as a Daily use Cane or Medical Cane for long periods of time"
A cane has 3 components: Handle, Shaft and Ferrule or (bottom)
Handles: Canes have many different types of handles. Such as Derby, Fritz, T-handle, ball, Anatomically Correct, Hook/Crook, shovel and Palm Grip handles. These handles again, are made from many different materials such as, Silver, Gold, Brass, Wood, Ivory, Bone, horn and many different types of Polymer.
A straight shaft, which is made from many verities of wood, aluminum, fiberglass, and other materials.
The Ferrule or (bottom of the cane)which can be made of different materials, depending on the use of the cane. Medical canes generally use rubber tips. However the collectible, or recreational cane tips are made from, rubber, silver, brass, horn, bone, wood, steel and even gold.
I really do not want to hurt anyone .. Its just really out of date .. Many people did not know there are so many different types .. what are your thoughts?
I also have many other pages of information about canes ..
2008
CanesCanada.com has given permission.
I am the author .. Please google my name .. LLANO GORMAN
I am the owner of Canes Canada as well I am handicapped and know this topic extremely well.
I use a cane 24/7 for over 15 years.
I am on the Calgary Chamber of Commerce Health Board.
My Wikipedia Account name is LLANOGORMAN "NEWBEE" ...
Technically, Wikipedia can be edited by anyone (as it says in our unofficial mottoes of "The encyclopedia that anyone can edit" and "Be bold!". Two caveats to that, though - firstly, such a large alteration to the article is probably best handled by asking this same question at Talk:Cane rather than here before you make any edit to the article itself - that way it will alert anyone who regularly edits or views that page. Secondly, be very careful (given that you work in the cane industry) not to include anything self-promotional. Also, if you're including information directly from a company's website, make sure you state on Talk:Cane that you have permission to do so, otherwise there is the risk that the edits will be removed as they would look like copyright violations. Grutness...wha?02:07, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Having "permission" is not really good enough -- it needs to be licensed under GFDL or a compatible license (or, even better, released into the public domain), or else the copyright holder must (irrevocably?) allow the text to be used by anyone for any purpose. --Trovatore (talk) 01:22, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Agree with Grutness, you need to discuss this in the talk page of the article. A quick read through suggests you have completely missed the use of a cane as an instrument of punishment in your proposed wording, something still quite common in parts of the world. It also sounds to me like you are confusing Walking stick and cane. While these words are sometimes used interchangable, it makes more sense to leave the distincion currently present in the article, perhaps with additional sourced wording clarifying the words are used interchagable in some cases Nil Einne (talk) 17:23, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The term walking stick is quite rare in the States. Maybe in Canada too; not sure (I lived there for a year but I don't recall that topic ever coming up). --Trovatore (talk) 01:18, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The walking stick and cane articles are both in poor condition including overlapping and repeating material. A number of things that LG mentions are briefly including in the walking stick article but would more properly be in the cane one. Rmhermen (talk) 18:00, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Chinese Media companies - foreign companies own?
Hi
I wanted to know if foreign companies can own any distribution rights/content in China media companies. Previously it was not allowed. Want to know if its allowed now. tried searching it but not able to find it. Kindly assist. Thanks 155.140.255.209 (talk) 08:41, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In the film and book shoah concerning the holocaust, what was the name of the boy who rowed a boat down the river every day, and was spared due to his lovely singing voice. he was made to sing for the nazi ss guards.
Also, what was the name of the man, who was interviewed, or the men that accompanied him after his liberation from a camp, they went around finding ex camp guards and taking turns at strangleing them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 11:42, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If a client use a prostitute (sexually) and a prostitute use a client (taking his money), does it makes it fair? One thing would balance the other? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.55.243.23 (talk) 12:06, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Of course it is fair. If a price is agreed and a service rendered then the contract is complete. Only if one side cheats would it be "unfair'.86.209.155.92 (talk) 12:28, 21 July 2008 (UTC)DT[reply]
From a legal-standing I understand there's difficulty regarding escorts - people who are paid to be 'company' but where sex is dependent on mutual agreement (not cash paid), and prostitution which is more simply the exchange of cash for sex. As noted above of course that represents a fair-transaction - both parties enter the agreement freely (assuming the prostitute isn't a forced prostitute etc.). 194.221.133.226 (talk) 12:54, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That may be an argument why it's not fair that the person has, or feels they have, no choice but to become a prostitute in the first place. But from the perspective of the transaction between the prostitute and the client, who knows nothing of why the person is making their services available, it's fair as long as they honour their part of the contract, i.e. don't abuse the prostitute, and pay them. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:12, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
One of the above questions prompted me to ask, I am planning on starting a new job part time as a straight male escort. so 1, is it illegal, and if so why, 2, what should i watch out for, 3, any other advice that i should take to heart, and 4 why are there so many questions about prostitution on this page, I see one every two weeks or so. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 (talk) 15:44, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
1. What country do you live in?
2. Police, STDs, rapists, pimps, murders, serial killers, the usual. Prostitutes aren't known for their lifespans.
Barring the above comments, there are some things to consider. First, you should look at our article on Prostitution in the United Kingdom that outlines some of the legalities of the sex trade in your country. If it's anything like Canada or the US (the laws and situations I'm familiar with), working as a private escort (out of your home or a specific location) is generally frowned upon by the powers that be, but I don't hear of sting operations all that much taking down escorts (most of the time the police are working on reducing street prostitution as that's more visible and affects neighbourhoods far more openly than the escort side of things.
As above, there's a lot to consider when it comes to what to look out for. I recommend searching around the 'net for information posted by working escorts, male and female - it's out there, and they provide advice that those of us who are only passing familiar with the industry can't provide. I'd also suggest not to get your hopes up too much with aiming to serve women clients as a guy - from everything I've seen, that's a very niche market.
Basically, though, do your research to see the experiences of others in the same position, and be very careful if you do decide to try the industry. Tony Fox(arf!)16:18, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Everyone here seems to assume you want to be a male prostitute, but you only said you wanted to be an escort. Can you clarify your intent, please ? StuRat (talk) 17:26, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know the situation in the UK, but I have a friend who is a male escort in the US. He advertised his services discretely online, without mentioning sex specifically. One day, he made an appointment with someone responding to his ad. When that person showed up, he was a policeman. My friend managed to get charges dropped in court, but he had to spend all the money that he had saved from 2–3 years of work on an expensive lawyer. So, legal troubles could threaten your income from this kind of work, quite apart from all of the other risks. 192.251.134.5 (talk) 19:06, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But there's the rub - in the UK there is no crime of "prostitution" - the crime is one of "soliciting", ie, advertising your sexual services as an inducement to prospective clients. Don't forget, even in these liberal times, offering a sex act for sale or reward to an "innocent passer-by" was and still is (by the law at any rate) regarded as an outrageous act against public decency. But there is no UK crime of offering a perfectly innocent professional service such as being a male escort, straight or otherwise. And if the client asks for "extra services" then no solicitation has taken place by the escort. 92.1.240.220 (talk) 09:49, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The would depend on the mold (or other type of bread decomposer). Some are very dangerous, like ergot, while others could actually be beneficial, like the one which produces penicillin. On average, I'd expect most to cause an upset stomache, vomitting, and diarrhea. Don't try this experiment at home ! StuRat (talk) 17:48, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Our article seems a little unclear, but it appears that up to 10% of the people exposed to penicillin have an allergic reaction to it. I would assume that the penicillin in a loaf of bread is pretty weak and diffuse, but why take the chance? Ultimately, the best reason not to eat it is that you really don't know what the heck it is and molds have the ability to create all kinds of amusingly powerful mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin. Even more benign molds could create opportunistic infection in immunocompromised people. Matt Deres (talk) 20:26, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As Matt says, you just don't know what it is. Antibiotics have been shockingly powerful for 100 years; there's no reason to think the mold can't use those power for eevil. I am in fact immunocompromised, so maybe a healthy person would have gotten a different answer, but I'm sure a cost/benefit analysis would come out to pitching the bread. --Sean00:05, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure which country you're from, but it seems a remarkable coincidence that this was posted at about the same time (within minutes, I think) as the UK BBC's The One Show reported that she was 4' 3". Angus Lepper(T, C, D)19:31, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd interpret "barely five feet" as no lower than 5 feet, but very little if any taller. Four feet 11 wouldn't be called "barely five feet", would it?-- JackofOz (talk) 22:06, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But interestingly, a pair of her knickers were to be auctioned last week (provenance included) and they measured 60" around the waist, so maybe the barely 5 feet angle referred to her not-inconsiderable belly size ??? 92.1.240.220 (talk) 09:42, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder what sort of person would be interested in Queen Victoria's knickers!! Great name for a book, though. I can see it now - "A saga of royal romance that will resonate through the ages: Queen Victoria's Knickers". -- JackofOz (talk) 11:50, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My sister died recenty and had told me many times about typing something for Pres. Eisnehower to sign regarding charter of People to People. She worked for USIA in this time span, no one has been able to verify this .
The following note was found in her papers after she died
Quote"
As secretary to two Congressional Liaison Officers, I relieved my superiors of difficult and responsible office details in the execution of their daily responsibilities. I took and transcribed highly confidential dictation. I often worked overtime in the Budget Office, compiling and typing the budget for direct presentation to Congress. Extreme accuracy was required as corrections and adjustments had to be made on short notice for Congress. Also typed letters for signature of the President of the United States of America on the "People-to-People" program."
This is something she typed in a resumé on November 23, 1983
I contacted Nation PersonaRecords/Civilian Personnel, they referred me to Stae Dept. they referred me to Eisenhower Library/Archives which is where I started originally, no record there. Nat'l Records & Archives Adm. sent record of her employment with Gov. from 1950 to mid 1976 inclcuding work in France and a Commendation for her work but no one can tell me that she did what I mentioned in quote above. Am at my wits end, 84 years old and I wanted proof of this for my grandchildren before I die.
USIA tells me she could have been on loan to White House or temp. duty and they would have no record, you would think there would be a record if she was gone from them temporarily.
Was told all records over 25 years oldong but I don't know how to shorten without leaving out important details. I sent death certificate,DOB, Social Security # etc but still no luck —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.75.38.31 (talk) 18:59, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I have a suggestion for you. See if you can find the original transcripts from that show, and look for initials at the bottom (I believe it is customary for both the author's initials and the typist's initials to be included). While it's technically possible that some other secretary might have shared your sister's initials, I'd call this rather strong circumstantial evidence in your favor. StuRat (talk) 20:16, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Another suggestion, submit your question to the History Detectives TV show on PBS. This is just the type of thing they like to investigate. And, as a bonus, you and your grandkids might get to appear on TV. Submit the story here: [9]. StuRat (talk) 20:21, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
countline. "contline" can be easily found on google -- countline is vague, something to do with a type of chocolate, but the definition is very unclear. 99.245.92.47 (talk) 04:33, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Originally a Countline was a piece of confectionery not sold by weight. There were a set number of pieces in every retailer's pack. Hence the pieces were counted. Individuals bought so many for a price. i.e. 5 pieces for sixpence. Today the term has widened to include small chocolate (and etc.) bars even though they are sold individually.90.9.80.154 (talk) 09:48, 22 July 2008 (UTC)DT[reply]
Weather for the past month
Hi, I've tried for a while but to no avail. Perhaps someone with better googling skills than me would be kind enough to help. I'm looking for the daily temperatures (high/low) of Durban from June 1 2008 to today if possible. All I've managed to find thus far are useless stats and lots of forecasts. Thanks and please don't ask why, it's complicated... Sandman30s (talk) 20:27, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I use Weather.com for this (when I can stand all their pop-up ads). Here's June: [10]. And here's July: [11]. They list the high and low for each day. They also list precipitation amounts, but they are all zero. So, unless this is typical for the dry season in South Africa, I'd guess they aren't recording that info. (Temps are listed in °F, but you can switch to °C by picking "Metric" at the top, left side of each page.) BTW, weather questions probably belong on the Science Desk. StuRat (talk) 20:57, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Note that today's temps aren't yet recorded, because today isn't over yet. Go back to the July page after midnight in Durban and they will hopefully have added it. StuRat (talk) 21:03, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I use wunderground.com Here is June in Durban. Pretty much the same as weather.com given by Sturat, but his comment wasn't there when I opened this box :P Plus, you never know; one of the sites might go down when you need info. 79.66.13.38 (talk) 21:20, 21 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This may sound a bit strange but please bear with me:
I don't understand how people can say that virgins are rare nowadays. someone has got to be making love to all the ex-virgins. so my question is, what age has about 50% women virgins(oral counts too) and 50% not virgins. and can i(20 yrs) have sex with a woman that age in the u.s. and successfully defend myself in court if it should come to that by saying my religion requires a virgin and virgins over 18 are rare.--96.227.27.156 (talk) 00:50, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'd say that you should contact a lawyer for legal advice, but that strategy is so badly flawed I suspect a lawyer would laugh at you and throw you out of his office. StuRat (talk) 01:07, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
(ec) If you have sex with a virgin, you'd just be contributing to the problem, wouldn't you? Think green: reduce, reuse, recycle, man! Seriously, get a non-virgin; they can show you, uh, stuff. Matt Deres (talk) 01:14,
Most girls lose their virginity by the age of 15. I believe this is illegal for sex in all US states. Your religion has nothing to do with it; I might follow a religion that requires me to starve and beat a goat over the course of two weeks then sacrifice it to Beelzebub but they would still indict me for animal cruelty. My advice is to either find a woman of the same religion as you and marry her, or get a life. 99.245.92.47 (talk) 04:35, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
And from the surveys I've seen it's doubtful that "most girls" lose their virginity before turning 15. If your religion forbids premarital sex, the chances are that most unmarried women who follow your religion are virgins. So try to connect with people of your religion. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 11:03, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't believe that most practicing religious people avoid premarital sex. Much more than simply forbiding sex is needed to prevent it, being a rather powerful drive. That's why religions have resorted to actions like stoning people to death for violating the rules. (They typically only apply this punishment to the women, though, since the men make the laws.) StuRat (talk) 15:31, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That is tautologically false. If religion requires abstinence and practicing religion requires adherence with the religion's requisites, then all practicing religious people will be abstinent. Unless you want to define "practicing religious people" as people who only practice parts of their religion at which point the distinction of a "practicing religious person" becomes meaningless. PlasticupT/C16:24, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder how useful that sort of analysis is, Plasticup (not that I don't appreciate its intellectual rigour). Taken to extremes, given that "the just man sins seven times a day - nay, seventy times seven", one could make a case that sometimes even the Pope is not a practising Catholic, merely because he happens to be a human being with human failings. Further, it would exclude all humans from the category of "practising <whatever religion>". -- JackofOz (talk) 17:43, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm a virgin and I'm a few days from being 26. I plan on staying that way till I'm married and I don't think I'm terribly unique. Maybe a little unique but I'm hardly the only one. -LambaJan (talk) 16:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Vegetarian cooking: Looking for all purpose cookbook
I'd like to explore more vegetarian cooking for everyday meals. I was raised as an omnivore and have a lot of old habits to break. A couple of cookbooks already on my list to check out: "Diet For a Small Planet" and "Moosewood Cookbook". Oh, I'm lactose intolerant. I can eat cheese by taking a pill, but I don't want to depend on cheese as my main alternative. Your experiences would be appreciated.Quakerlady (talk) 05:10, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There are plenty of vegetarian cookbooks around, but I can't recommend one as I am a vegetarian who just throws stuff together. In practice I'm practically vegan. Cheese and milk products are not particularly good foods anyway, so I suggest you investigate veganism. There are plenty of meat alternatives widely available as a source of protein, especially tofu, quorn, and a wide range of beans, and you can do all sorts of things with eggs.--Shantavira|feed me07:06, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
My mother always used to swear by Leith's vegeterian cookbook, which certainly weighed a tonne. However, cheese is often a commonly used alternative in vegetarian cooking, so I'd recommend going to a bookshop, looking in their cookery section for a lactose intolerant vegetarian cookbook, and see what takes your fancy —Preceding unsigned comment added by Worm That Turned (talk • contribs) 07:59, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Is there any other country other than the Philippines that eats "pagpag"?
I cannot find anything about "pagpag" in wikipedia. This is Recycled Garbage Food for the Poor in the Philippines. Is there anything similar in any of the countries?
Visit the below links for reference:
katcarneo.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/eating-pagpag/
showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view_article.php?article_id=79811
youtube.com/watch?v=Ri5eh_oflok —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.23.125.114 (talk) 06:12, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I used to live in the Philippines. I wasn't familiar with the term "pagpag", it seemed to me that everyone ate rice (with some type of "ulam" on it), for every meal. Useight (talk) 17:56, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I would just guess - yes, you can. And beyond knowing how to use a camera, one of the requirements would be that you took the initiative to look it all up yourself. I'm not sure the Army looks for people who just read it on Wikipedia. But please do come back and be an editor once you've made the ranks! Franamax (talk) 12:56, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You never know what these people are up to. Maybe you are helping a child rapist or war criminal. Anyway, why do we help unknown people? 83.40.13.85 (talk) 11:35, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Ignoring, for the moment, the inanity of your question, I would like to point out that you are far more likely to be helping a nice honest fellow than you are to be helping a rapist or a war criminal. PlasticupT/C12:43, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
True, but you're more likely helping yet another SOB than a nice honest fellow. I think there are probably only marginally more of them around than there are war criminals. ;-) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:28, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We even help people who think they're better than other people. I suppose if they got more help along they way they wouldn'tve turned out like that. -LambaJan (talk) 16:32, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps the idea of karma has something to do with it; perhaps we figure that if we do something nice for someone, someone might do something nice for us. Useight (talk) 17:53, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Why do so many countries trade Sing and HK dollars?
I'm traveling through Africa. I noticed the exchange boards offer an unusual variety of currencies. After reading hard currency I see why I always see the Australian dollar, Swedish kroner, etc. But why do so many central banks here offer rates for HK and Sing dollars?
Lotsofissues 12:14, 22 July 2008 (UTC)
Singapore and Hong Kong are major trading cities. People and businesses in Africa are equally or more likely to buy something from a Singapore or HK trader compared to an Aus or Swede. Franamax (talk) 13:00, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Another possibility is that this has to do with the large and growing Chinese trade with Africa. China's currency is not freely convertible, so some of this trade may be handled by companies in Hong Kong or Singapore, or Chinese firms may have easier access to currencies from those countries than to other convertible currencies. (Hong Kong is of course Chinese, and Singapore has a large ethnic Chinese population and close trade ties to China.) Marco polo (talk) 15:55, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
i'm going to new york for my college this fall, i would like to know if there is any need for me buying snow shoes, for use during the winters. is it really needed for the walk on campus n stuff???n would they b available cheaper in the states, than me trying to find snow shoes in a place where it has neva snow- India! temme wat do you recommend!...as snow shoes really needed..n if yes..should i buy em here in India or shuld i buy em in USA?cheers —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.252.224.65 (talk) 18:26, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think someone may have been winding you up. The New York article states that the city receives "about 25 to 35 inches (63.5 to 88.9 cm) of snow every winter season, but often without accumulation because temperatures are not low enough." I think it is safe to say that you do not need snow shoes at all. --Tagishsimon(talk)18:29, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Though we should clarify -- do you mean New York CityorNew York state? If the state, then where? Snowfall is potentially much higher in other areas. As for "snow shoes" -- you are quite unlikely to need snowshoes, though some form of snow-appropriate boots may well be useful. In general, I would think you're fine to wait until you're stateside if you're uncertain of what's needed. — Lomn18:47, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
crossing the US/Mexico border?
I have a question. I am trying to cross the US/Mexico border to get from Downtown San Diego to Tijuana. However, I don't have a passport. I've heard that you need a passport to cross the border, and that you don't need a passport to cross the border. I have a California drivers liscense, showing who I am. I also heard you don't need a passport until June 2009. Can anyone confirm this?76.194.67.39 (talk) 18:30, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
From the US Department of State - (n.b. WHTI="Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative") - "ALL PERSONS traveling by air outside of the United States are required to present a passport or other valid travel document to enter or re-enter the United States . . . On June 1, 2009, the U.S. government will implement the full requirements of the land and sea phase of WHTI. The proposed rules require most U.S. citizens entering the United States at sea or land ports of entry to have a passport, passport card, or WHTI-compliant document." More information at that link, and also at the DHS site linked therefrom. --LarryMac | Talk18:42, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The article Anschluss shows this voting ballot. Notice it says Wiedervereinigung, meaning recombination. Am I just too ignorant of history, or when was Austria originally part of Germany, before the Nazis came to power? Or is it just Nazi propaganda? JIP | Talk18:34, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The history subsection of our Austria article may be of interest. To summarize, it's not really a full lie, but neither is it fully true. Austria has close ties to pre-modern (pre-1871) Germany particularly. While Austria had not ever been part of modern Germany, the association was significant enough that the victors of WW1 forbade the two countries to merge. As such, there was enough of a cultural, if not strictly political, history to make "recombination" a defensible claim. — Lomn18:41, 22 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
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