Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 September 21

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September 21

A roof in Lerwick

A roof in Lerwick, Shetland. Has the metal construction on roof ridge a decorative purpose only?

Difficult to know for sure without asking the architect, but the only other purpose I can think of is if it works as a lightning rod, that is, if it is grounded (earthed). Thus it would be both decorative and a lightning rod. (The higher chimney would also need to be connected to the lightning rod.) The thing behind the roof looks like some type of antenna, presumably added later. StuRat (talk) 17:11, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Off topic rant that belongs on a talk page, not here.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
You can know for sure by finding reference materials. That's what we're supposed to do here. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:32, 21 September 2016 (UTC) Do you not see my link ? Are you color blind ? If the OP did not know about lightning rods, my link explains all the details. As for that particular building, nobody is likely to find any references explaining the exact reasons, you included. StuRat (talk) 20:58, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

It's called ridge cresting or sometimes roof cresting, and we don't have an article on it, but it is mentioned at New_Bolsover_model_village and St_Oswald's_Church,_Bidston. As roof cresting, it is mentioned in several articles, mostly famous houses [1]. You can see people selling it here [2].

"As decoration, cresting directs the viewer's attention skyward and provides a visual termination to the ridge line; as function, cresting can discourage birds from roosting on the ridge and fouling the roofing material, especially important with glass-laden conservatories." [3].

Our article Second empire architecture has a little more description: "The mansard roof crest was often topped with an iron trim, sometimes referred to as "cresting". In some cases, lightning rods were integrated into the cresting design, making the feature useful beyond its decorative features." - the sentence does not cite any references, but it does lend some support to Stu's guess. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:37, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) This appears to be a decorative element known as a "roof cresting". (Cf. this image of a house, about which our article says, "Iron roof crestings are found on the tower and across the peak of the roof.") A Google image search for "roof cresting" may be rewarding. Deor (talk) 19:45, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks to all of you! Etan J. Tal^(talk) 22:54, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

Also known as brattishing, it is a purely decorative element of Gothic architecture. It enjoyed a resurgence in the Victorian era (see also - Neo-Gothic).--Ykraps (talk) 06:29, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Capital and operational related job salaries

Why is it that in general, jobs which use capital funds, such as project/planning related jobs etc, as opposed to operational funds, such as jobs in operational environments keeping things running day to day, are better paid? Of course there are exceptions but this seems to be the general trend. Clover345 (talk) 17:22, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

I have seen no evidence it is the trend. What is your source for making that statement? There's no use answering a "why" question for a concept which is not already determined to be accepted. --Jayron32 17:23, 21 September 2016 (UTC)

A project is a temporary endeavor designed to produce a unique product, service or result with a defined beginning and end. For this an employer seeks to attract a project manager who by his/her already demonstrated performance in team leadership and resource allocation represents a good probability (see risk) of successful project completion. Such people are often found only by executive "headhunting", they know their individual value and will negotiate a salary to their advantage before signing an Employment contract that will necessarily expire on project completion. In contrast, an ordinary employee is hired to provide services to a company on a regular basis in exchange for remuneration at a level that is largely fixed by the prevailing labour market and is not expected to cover exceptional initiative or responsibility; this salary may have been negotiated at a collective (labour union) level and the individual employee may appear to be easily replaceable by another, both factors that will limit his/her scope for negotiating higher salary. AllBestFaith (talk) 21:24, 21 September 2016 (UTC)