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June 1

Abuse of good cars

"And by the way, there's a ding in my driver's side door because you told me not to part it at an angle."

This is a quote from TV show Bones; the character has got a nice car and her publisher (who gave it to her) told her to park it at an angle. Her friend told her it looks silly. Towards the end of the show we find she's taken her friend's advice and parked it straight, resulting in this damage. Why would a car get damaged just for being parked straight? Would someone damage it deliberately just because it's a nice car? I don't live in America and don't drive, and I know nothing about cars...I get the feeling this is something most people would understand, but I don't get it. 90.193.232.165 (talk) 09:59, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

People with brand new cars will sometimes park at an angle, taking up two spaces, to put some distance between their car and those who park within the lines, thus lessening the likelihood that someone would accidentally ding their car when opening a door of their own car. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:03, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Not sure whether this is related, but people will also "key" a nice car by running the end of a key or similar object such as a coin down the side of the car. Chevymontecarlo 10:06, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Sometimes when people get a new and/or expensive car, they go to great lengths to make sure that no other car is parked within striking distance. Basically far enough so that the other person's car door couldn't swing out and hit their car. In parking lots that have perpendicular parking spaces (straight), they will park diagonally. This usually takes up three spaces and people are forced to park far enough away from the car that they can't accidentally hit the expensive car with their doors. Another tactic of these people is to park in the farthest corner of the parking lot and walk the extra distance to the building. Dismas|^(talk) 10:07, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

"Keying" is deliberate vandalism, but dings from car doors being opening carelessly are far more common. Some new car owners will park at the far end of the lot AND park straddling a line in the hope that everyone else will park within the lines. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:20, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

And by the way, parking lot owners putting the lines too close together, in order to maximize the income in a paid lot, is a major culprit in this problem. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:21, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

If spaces are short in a car park, taking more than one space will increase the chances of being "keyed". -- Q Chris (talk) 11:44, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Excellent point. The less vandalistic approach would be to do what someone I knew (not me certainly) used to do: Leave a note under the windshield wiper advising them that if they parked crossways instead of at a mere angle, they could take up 3 spaces instead of 2. Another approach is that if the guy has only partly straddled a line, and you have a small car, you could park next to him, legally within the lines, but so close he can't get in his door. That could be a hoot. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:52, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Just as a note, a lot of people consider this practice to be very rude, at least in this part of North Carolina. I would not park a car like that; if I was that worried about getting dents in it, I wouldn't drive it to that place to begin with. So, yes, some people in America do park their cars like that, but as Agent Booth told Dr. Brennen (in the TV show that the OP mentioned), that's a jerky thing to do. Falconus^{p t c} 16:01, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

In the UK, I would expect people to get a fine for parking across multiple spaces. Of course, the owners of such cars may consider those fines an acceptable cost. --Tango (talk) 21:33, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Indeed I planned to suggest but then forgot that if you see this you could inform a parking warden or police officer or whatever if you see one. They might not bother to do anything, but perhaps they will issue an infringement notice. If it's a private carpark, like in a shopping complex or whatever then perhaps the information desk at the shop. I presume they could clamp the car or tow it if they wanted to. Nil Einne (talk) 20:45, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

If I had a really expensive nice car, I'd pay for my own parking space, or get a bike :p Chevymontecarlo 16:50, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

I must confess that I have done exactly what Bugs describes. I parked my small, cheap, heavily dinged car next to a large expensive car straddling a line, in such a way that they could not open their driver door. It gave me such satisfaction. Marco polo (talk) 20:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Cheers. I now have a valuable insight into the world of...cars. 90.193.232.165 (talk) 06:53, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

No worries :) Chevymontecarlo 12:21, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

XKCD explains the situation elegantly: [1]. SteveBaker (talk) 14:27, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

looking for a good and reliable literary agent to help edit my manuscripts and get me publishing contracts. Can you help me in that direction?

looking for an efficient agent to asist me me in my book publication. Can you connect me with one? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lilyndi (talk • contribs) 11:29, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Didn't someone ask this same question a week or two ago? Have you looked in the ref desks or its archives? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:42, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

We're not going to recommend agents here. There are lists of agents available and we may be able to help you find them. You will need to tell us what country you are looking to publish to book in before we can find you an appropriate list, though. --Tango (talk) 21:31, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

This question comes up every couple of months; this thread is the first thread that came up in my Reference Desk search for "literary agent". Don't work with an agent who charges you money. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:18, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Literary agents are not usually also editors, though some are. Agents help connect writers with opportunities, editors work with the author to help make the book the best it can be. Speaking of editors - and I would not say this if your question was not directly related to selling your writing - you need to work on your spelling - or at least your proofreading. Editors are people too; if they find improper capitalization, repeated words, and spelling mistakes (or typos) all within the first paragraph, they're apt to not read much past that. That's a tip, not a criticism; you should be able to do your own basic proofreading if you expect people to buy your writing. Matt Deres (talk) 23:40, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Double Stuf

Is the Double Stuf Oreos cream filling now the same thickness, on average, as the original Oreo cookie was 15 or more years ago? Regular Oreos' filling seems to be nearly paper thin now. Is there a name for this form of consumer product attrition? I seem to recall someone telling me a very convincing argument about Starbucks shrinking their cup sizes over a period of years, but keeping the "size" names the same; and she had the cups to prove it. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 11:37, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

It seems to be most frequently referred to (as here and here) as "product downsizing". It's been a long-time strategy in the candy-bar industry, for one case. Deor (talk) 13:51, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

I can't believe it. Cookies are getting smaller and smaller. People are getting fatter and fatter. -- Toytoy (talk) 15:43, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Surely not. That esteemed weight guru Marjorie Dawes tells us that if you halve the amount of food on your plate, you halve your calorie intake. Makes sense, not particularly earth-shattering so far. But her fabulous insight is that this means you can then double your portions and end up consuming no more calories. Brilliant! So, unless people are eating not just more cookies than they used to, but more than necessary to compensate for their reduction in size, they should actually be losing weight. Dawesian logic is incontrovertible. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:05, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Oh so if I stop putting salad on my plate, and instead feed myself half a plateful of Mars bars and crisps, I'll halve my calorie intake will I? Tee hee. --TammyMoet (talk) 15:45, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but make sure you don't fry them. All that oil is no good for you.  :) -- 202.142.129.66 (talk) 01:33, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Some incredible rechargeable batteries

I saw some incredibly cheap and incredibly large rechargeable batteries on eBay, such as 1700 1800 mAh AAA and 3000 mAh AA NiMH batteries. Are they really so ... well ... juicy? -- Toytoy (talk) 15:12, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Googlesearch thinks they are common [2] - on ebay however they could well be duds.87.102.77.88 (talk) 16:47, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

They may be much thicker than your current battery. Dmcq (talk) 19:13, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry I was thinking about laptop replacement batteries, Dmcq (talk) 14:57, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

See [3] for some discussion of some eBay NiMH batteries. While there are some things were buying no name brands are okay, NiMH batteries isn't one of them IMHO. I would stick with decent name brands (Powerex, Sanyo etc). You can sometimes get real name brand ones from eBay but unless you know what you're doing it's probably a bad idea since it's also full of fakes. Also bear in mind for a number of uses getting low self discharge NiMH batteries is better than ultra high capacity ones. Nil Einne (talk) 20:03, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Low self-discharge NiMH battery is the link you want. Incidentally, I only use rechargeable batteries for high drain devices like digital cameras (force of habit). Are the low self discharge ones really good enough make it worthwhile to put them into a clock or calculator? Buddy431 (talk) 20:21, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

I wouldn't personally bother with rechargable batteries in a clock or calculator; their high cost means it'll probably take a long time to break even (if ever), although they should probably last about as long as normal alkaline in a low drain device, I believe, although I haven't really looked into cost for a while (and things may be different where you live) nor ever even tried a cost comparison (I still have quite a few spare alkaline AAs anyway). A mouse or keyboard or child's toy or whatever may be (i.e. more medium drain where you'll probably replace the batteries more then once a year).

(See next paragraph for a simple summary of this one) But LSD batteries are still better in high drain devices if you don't charge them regularly (even in a camera, many people may grab their camera after it hasn't been used much for months and without any freshly charged cells). This will vary from cell to cell but definitely after a few months you would likely expect better capacity from LSD batteries. And because of the difference voltage levels over the discharge cycle, some LSD batteries (e.g. Enerloops [4]) can last longer in some high drain devices than even higher capacity ones. See [5] [6] for example. In fact, it's all more complicated than that anyway; it also depends on the discharge current and other things, and all this (capacity, voltage, current they can supply, and how much capacity when supplying such a current, self discharge rate, even what happens when it 'self discharges', some gain internal resistance I believe) varies from cell to cell and brand to brand to some extent [7] [8] [9]. High capacity cells in particularly tend to degrade faster, so after enough recharge cycles (perhaps 50?) your LSD batteries may be better than high capacity ones [10].

The simple summary of the above is, an LSD battery is not necessarily worse than a higher capacity battery, even in a high drain device.

In my personal case, I got a set of LSD and 2 or so sets of high capacity batteries for a digital camera; that way, when you are using the camera a lot, e.g. on a holiday, and charge the cells regularly you get the hopefully better capacity (with the earlier caveats) from the high capacity cells but if you haven't used your camera for months it will hopefully still work (I would actually recommend you keep the set of high capacity cells in it and the LSD unused, switching only when the high capacity cells don't work anymore).

BTW for some reason Eneloops in particular tend to be very popular (I'm including 'Duraloops' which are Eneloops sold under the Duracell brand). I know they were first but even among those who you would think can and would research it themselves, but when I researched it myself then and again from a brief look now I'm far from convinced they are that much better, in fact in many ways there are some advantages and some disadvantages and many of the tests only seem to be comparing one set anyway (rather then multiple sets preferably purchased from very different places over a long time period) which is always dubious (but very common for so many things on the internet) given likely variance from batch to batch [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]. In my particular case (they were being bought in Malaysia and this was in early 2009) the Enerloops were like double (wasn't aware of Duraloops at the time but don't know if they were available there) over the Powerex Imedion. If the price is very close as perhaps it is in the US (& Canada) particularly with the Duraloops which I think can easily be purchased at retail stores there, then the Enerloops will have more of a fight on their hands then they did when I was looking. Edit: In fact from [18] it appears even in the US things are far from clear-cut since some people claim you can get Rayovac hybrid LSD either branded or rebrands for about 1/3 of the price of the Duraloops and it's claimed these aren't that much worse at least for AA. Likely also has relevance to the LSD vs alkaline; it's claimed you can get these for about US$1 per cell.

P.S. As an even more random aside, I still hate the name 'precharged'. Nil Einne (talk) 12:25, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Angela Merkel's tergiversions

Recently I saw her being accused of lying, but concretely, which are her last lies?--Quest09 (talk) 17:32, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

See wikt:tergiversations. -- Wavelength (talk) 18:03, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

In response to your question, she has been accused of lying by her opponents, but this is often a matter of interpretation. The most recent such accusation I could find after a bit of searching was from this commentator. He accuses her of saying that the EU aid package for Greece was to save the euro and Europe, when in fact it was to save big German banks and investors. However, we do not (yet) know whether he is correct. Even if he is correct, Merkel might honestly believe that the package was also necessary to save Europe. We won't know for some time whether the package did save the euro. (And whether it "saved Europe" will remain a subjective judgment.) It is really impossible to answer your question, "which are her last lies". (By the way, you can say "welche sind ihre letzten Lügen" in German, but the correct English translation is either "what are her latest lies" or "what are her most recent lies".) This question can't be answered because politicians generally do not make statements that are obvious lies when they are made. They are careful to speak in a way that at least their supporters can find credible. So, any recent lies that Merkel might have made will not be known until facts emerge that prove they were lies. Marco polo (talk) 13:39, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Can an American get a Syrian tourist visa in Istanbul?

Can an American citizen obtain a tourist visa for Syria from the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul? - Vikramkr (talk) 21:35, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

This forum and this forum suggest not, but that you can instead probably get one at the border with a bit of a wait. The second link has contact info for the consulate, which is probably a better bet than random forums. Calliopejen1 (talk) 21:46, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

shout-outs in Pokémon

What are these references to, and where in the Pokémon games do they show up?

1. "Pokémon fight! Ready, go!"
2. "Hit me with your best shot!" (loses) "Fired away!"
3. "I'm a ramblin', gamblin' dude!"
4. "Want to be a winner is you?"
5. "Why so serious?"
6. "We'll KNOCK YOU DOWN!"
7. "My Pokémon Is Fight!"
8. "Never give up, never surrender!"

--75.25.103.109 (talk) 22:27, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

I took this from Bulbapedia:
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl contain many references to Internet memes and chatspeak. The lead translator, Nob Ogasawara, is a member of the Something Awful Forums, leading to numerous internet references. There are also multiple references to the Something Awful website and community scattered throughout the game, such as one Pokémon Trainer announcing "My Pokémon is Fight!". "Noob" is also used several times, "Owned" is said by a Galactic grunt and Buck, and ROFL is available as a speech option. Also, in the player's first encounter with Team Galactic, they tell Professor Rowan to "hand over his research so that they would refrain from causing massive damage to his assistant". The receptionist in the Team Galactic HQ and a Fisherman on Route 212 use the phrase "For the Win". In Veilstone City, a girl tells a man asked her in a strange language "if she liked Pokémon or something", and a clown tells the player "A winner is you". Perhaps coincidentally, Twinleaf Town shares its Japanese name with that of the original *chan imageboard, 2chan.
In-game dialogue makes reference to popular internet memes, such as Silver saying "why so serious?" in one of the battles against him, and after winning the Bug-Catching Contest, a contestant saying "You won? The winner is you!?"
During the Gym battle in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Fantina exclaims "Never give up, never surrender!", the catchphrase from the 1999 science fiction comedy Galaxy Quest.
Earl is notable for changing the order of the words in his sentences, somewhat like Yoda from Star Wars, although his grammar is generally incorrect. For example, when asking a potential student if they want to learn from him, he will ask, "What you want to know? Want to be a winner is you?" This may be a reference to Engrish. He does not talk like this in Pokémon Stadium 2, which may be due to the quite extensive scope of the Pokémon Academy in this game. This could be a reference to the NES game Pro Wrestling, where the phrase "A WINNER IS YOU" is shown at the end of a winning match.
In the past, they were known as Gamblers, but this was changed due to ethical reasons to Gamer in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. This occasionally caused slight problems, such as in FireRed and LeafGreen when a Gamer describes himself as a "rambling, gaming dude" instead of a "rambling, gambling dude." In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Pokémon Platinum, they are called PIs, implying that they are detectives rather than gamblers, but their dialog is all still based around gambling. --151.51.51.194 (talk) 22:57, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Number 2 above is a reference to Hit Me With Your Best Shot. (That article even mentions the Pokemon mention.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:14, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

"In Veilstone City, a girl tells a man asked her in a strange language "if she liked Pokémon or something"" I don't get it. --75.25.103.109 (talk) 00:10, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Probably a reference to the "do u liek mudkipz" meme —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.167.165.2 (talk) 05:41, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Bulbapedia does not seem to be very useful here, but some of them are apparently from Something Awful ("My Tank is Fight" for instance). "Why so serious" is from The Dark Knight. "A winner is you" is from Pro Wrestling (which has a section about the phrase). "Never give up, never surrender" is from Galaxy Quest. Adam Bishop (talk) 05:56, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Oh wait I guess Bulbapedia already mentioned some of that. Oops. Anyway, "knock you down" is apparently from one or more Final Fantasy games. "Rambling gambling dude" seems to be from another Pokemon game. Adam Bishop (talk) 14:33, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

"Knock you down" is uttered by Garland in Final Fantasy I. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 05:05, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

June 2

Biting cat

Kittens like to bite things but I don't like to be bitten. I want a substance that I can put on my fingers, that won't hurt me, but tastes horrible to a cat, without actually harming it. Is there such a substance? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 00:07, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Bitter apple might work. Or you can just wait a few weeks until the kitten grows out of it... Dismas|^(talk) 01:50, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

It's one of the things you need to get used to if you own a cat or kitten. If you play with them, they're likely to scratch you (which can hurt quite a bit) or bite you (which isn't really very painful). The only solution I'd recommend is not to get your hands to close to them when they're in a playful mood - either use gloves or a toy on string. --Phil Holmes (talk) 07:58, 2 June 2010 (UTC) (sitting here with both hands scratched).

With any animal, you figure out how they play. I have four cats. One of them doesn't like her stomach scratched even though she regularly lays on her back when being pet. To her, it's a game to show her stomach and she doesn't know that she's causing pain when she brings out the claws. Another likes to bite my wife's toes if we sleep in and the cat's food bowl is empty in the morning. So, we've learned to make sure they don't run out of food. Kittens don't bite that hard though and in most cases they grow out of the desire to bite at all. Dismas|^(talk) 08:12, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Cats loathe the taste of orange juice and citrus. And who says they don't like to be bitten?John Z (talk) 08:44, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Nobody. Cuddlyable3 merely said that she or he doesn't like it. No advice to offer sorry, I've never owned a cat. ---Sluzzelin talk 11:14, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Learn to play with your kitten in such a way that she won't bite you! Be led by the cat, rather than try and impose your way of playing on her. At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious, cats are not dogs and do not like rough play. If she bites, stop everything. Just stop. She will soon learn not to bite. This works on cats who like to play with your knitting while you're knitting too. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:38, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

There are solutions you can buy that you can put on somebody's nails to stop them biting them. That tastes horrible to a human, but I'm not sure whether it's safe enough for a cat - it's got some random chemicals and stuff that make up the horrible taste. Chevymontecarlo 12:20, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

TammyMoet's answer is the right direction. Behavior modification. ASAP. Yours and the cat's. The chemical solutions are risky, to you and the cat (and maybe human babies that enter the house, other animals, etc.) Also consider that cats are smart and sometimes vengeful. Some cats, if they think an owner is "doing a number" on them, will find ways to get back. 24.130.145.155 (talk) 13:41, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Indeed, although I should add that I've known cats that really enjoyed rough play. However, they found it hard to know when they were going too far, and needed to be trained to never bite, and to be careful with scratching. This training took about a year to be completely successful, and we had to be careful not to undermine it at later stages. You need to know what the specific cat does and does not like, and do something the cat doesn't like that doesn't hurt it immediately the cat bites you. If you can't correct the cat immediately, don't do it at all: it will only confuse and upset the cat. Things I've found worked with different cats were:

Withdrawing attention immediately, and continuing to ignore and avoid eye-contact with the cat for about half an hour.

Lifting the cat, gripping the scruff of the neck to prevent additional biting (but don't support the whole weight of a large cat with the scruff of its neck), then releasing the cat slightly roughly from about half a metre up. The cat should land in an undignified fashion without hurting itself.

Holding the cat in such a way that it is restrained and cannot bite or scratch (a kind of hug-hold) and talking calmly and quietly very close to its face until it calms down.

The first of these is always my go-to, with the others used temporarily in conjunction with it for cats who don't seem to get it. 86.164.69.239 (talk) 19:42, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Most pet stores sell 'bitter apple' spray that deters both dogs and cats from licking and chewing. We've had success with this stuff with our dogs. SteveBaker (talk) 14:19, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Saying "No!" and simply withdrawing attention might be an effective form of conditioning. Rough play with a kitten can train it to be bite and scratch. Edison (talk) 15:25, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

From experience, I'll say that chemical solutions (heh) rarely work. First, are you really going to soak your hands in it all day long? Second, I've yet to find anything that will overcome a cat's curiosity (having tried a number on my shower curtains). Third, many things that taste bad, smell bad, especially to a nose as sensitive as your kitty's. If you did manage to deter your cat from biting, you might also succeed in deterring the cat from accepting your affections. The cat books I've read suggest that the playful bites are simply the result of ignorance - the kitten doesn't know your skin is so much thinner and more sensitive than their own. If you want to teach them that it does hurt you, you need to communicate that in their language - a loud shout and an immediate end to the interaction. Go ahead and wait out in the car for a couple of minutes. Personally, I'm okay with my cat biting me during play - and my cat does bite me during play, though only within the rules of the game. My wife and daughter don't put up with the bites and my cat doesn't bite them. Cats are smart; they can figure out their boundaries if you give them a chance. Oh - and one more thing, if the cat does bite you during play, they tend to bite down and clamp on. Whatever you do, don't jerk your hand away when they do that - their teeth point inwards! Stop moving, wait a second and/or pry their adorable little jaws off you and then withdraw. Matt Deres (talk) 23:55, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Guntino

Is there a website where I can find different designs and colours of the Somali dress guntino? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.52.224 (talk) 00:11, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

If you are doing a search for this - the more usual spelling is "guntiino" (two 'i's). SteveBaker (talk) 14:15, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

NRI Details.

Hi,

I require the current NRI population and their financial wealth break up for each country.

Also the exposure to emerging markets.

Thanks.

Bhavnesh Thakkar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhavneshthakkar (talk • contribs) 13:36, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

The Non Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origins Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has a report on the global NRI population. It includes population estimates for every part of the world. It is about 8 years old, but it is apparently the only comprehensive survey. This report does not contain detailed information on the financial wealth of these people, much less on their exposure to emerging markets. Such information is of course personal and confidential, and I don't think that it would be possible to collect it without violating privacy laws. Therefore, it is almost certainly not available. Unfortunately, each chapter of this report has its own URL. For example, Chapter 1 is at http://www.indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter1.pdf, Chapter 2 is at http://www.indiandiaspora.nic.in/diasporapdf/chapter2.pdf, and so on. I would have to manually adjust the chapter numeral in each URL to list them all. I trust that you are clever enough to do this yourself. Marco polo (talk) 15:16, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

the essential managerial tasks of Benz ?

the essential managerial tasks of Benz (leading, controlling, planning, organizing )111.243.1.230 (talk) 15:04, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like a homework question and you should do your own. One key, by the way, to asking good questions that invite getting useful answers, is to identify your subject very well. Here, "Benz", standing alone, is not very illuminating. Maybe it's something from the list at Benz?--70.107.78.246 (talk) 22:42, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Acting - How to sound female without sounding silly?

Simple question - If you are male, how do you sound female without it being an obvious falsetto or painfully bad 'lady' voice?

Sfan00 IMG (talk) 16:09, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

The article on voice therapy for the transgendered has some links to vocal technique sites (and could use some going over, from the looks). It's not something one can do overnight, so far as I know. It takes quite a bit of practice to "move the voice higher in the throat" to raise the pitch without breaking into a falsetto. Somewhere I remember reading the technique is similar to that used while straining to force a belch. Some jerk on the Internet (talk) 17:06, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

The article Falsetto notes that it, when properly used, can make possible some desirable tonal effects. That combined with feminine dress can be convincingly ladylike, as demonstrated by Davina Pons [19] (video) Cuddlyable3 (talk) 17:51, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Some women (myself included) have naturally deep voices (I used to sing tenor in a choir). Men with higher voices have fewer problems sounding "female" than those with lower voices. However, trying to sound "female" just sounds forced. I'd be interested in the replies to this as I have a couple of TG friends with this predicament. --TammyMoet (talk) 20:32, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

My reason was asking was acting related as opposed to TG, but yeah simmilar techniques might be applicable :) Sfan00 IMG (talk) 22:07, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Note that where your voice is to start makes a huge diff. If you are a bass, then you probably won't be able to do a soprano, but might be able to manage an alto or tenor. Also, you might consider electronic voice alteration. This would be tricky for a real-time stage performance, but easier for a recorded performance. StuRat (talk) 05:06, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Pitch is one thing, but timbre and tone are arguably more useful. Men tend to speak in a crisp, declarative voice, while women tend to use softer or more muted eliciting tones. in essence, when you want to talk like a male, speak as though you're talking to an entire room even when you're speaking to one person; if you want to talk like a female, speak as though you're talking to one person, even when you're speaking to a room. Women also tend to have more emotional inflection in their sentences, but be careful with that because too much emotional inflection sounds like a stereotypical gay male rather than a female (even women sound like gay men when the overdo emotional inflection). Best thing you can do, really, is to listen to some of your female friends talk - ignore the pitch but listen carefully to inflection, pacing, emphasis, how they respond to conversational signals from each other - gender differences in those kinds of unnoticed things are ingrained in people at a very young age, and people respond to them on an unconscious level. if you can capture them, pitch will become a lot less important. --Ludwigs2 06:52, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The film Tootsie is pretty much all about this. --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:40, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I don't know *how* he did it, but in the film "Soldier's Girl" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0324013/) Lee Pace does a remarkable job of talking like a woman. There are youtube interviews with him from when they were filming the movie and he did the interviews in character; my guess was that once he'd figured out how to get his voice there it was probably best to just leave it there as long as it was needed. --Plokiju

My Dental Records

I recently called my old dentist to have my records transferred to my new dentist, and that got me to thinking: who is the rightful owner of the records - me, since they are of my teeth; the dental office, which takes the x-rays and records any notes during an exam; or the insurance company which pays for everything? What about when the dentist retires or dies - are the records destroyed, or saved? How then would they be accessed if needed? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 17:53, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Surely this depends on the law where you live. This California government page says that in California, medical records — I assume dental records are subject to the same laws — don't belong to the patient, but to the medical provider; but that the patient has a right to view the originals and obtain copies. It goes on to state that if the doctor dies, there's no central repository for medical records, so it's up to you to find out if another doctor took over the practice, or to find the executor for the doctor's estate if not, so you can ask the executor for copies. And that after a while the executor can have the records destroyed. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:17, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Note that in many jurisdictions, a dentist will have a retaining lien on the files if you owe them money, meaning they don't have to provide you even with copies until you settle your bill unless there's a life threatening condition associated with the records.--70.107.78.246 (talk) 22:38, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Royal mail new posting rules

If i want to send a letter in a normal sized envelope, but containing also a package that is perhaps 9, maybe 9.5mm thick, would I need any extra stamps?

Also, suppose I wanted to send a parcel of around 290*210*20mm, what would I have to do then? And how might I go about wrapping it? Do they still sell that brown paper?

148.197.115.54 (talk) 18:33, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Complete this online form (http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinder?catId=23500532&gear=pricingcalc&campaignid=pricefinder_redirect) and you'll find out what it should cost you. It first asks 'where to' and 'weight' then what size 'envelope' etc. ny156uk (talk) 19:16, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

My local post office still sells brown paper! --TammyMoet (talk) 20:30, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

What if I don't know the weight? 148.197.115.54 (talk) 21:05, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Weigh it, dear sir. ╟─TreasuryTag►secretariat─╢ 21:06, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

(Edit Conflict) Re the envelope: the maximum size and weight for a (standard) Letter requiring only a single 1st- or 2nd-class stamp is

Length: 240mm max

Width: 165mm max

Thickness: 5mm max

Weight: 100g max

so your 9mm-thick enclosed package would exceed the thickness limit. You would need to pay the Large letter rate whose limits are

Length: 353mm max

Width: 250mm max

Thickness: 25mm max

Weight: 750g max

which would also cover the proposed size of your parcel. Post Offices are supposed to display templates with slots of the maximum dimensions so that you can try out your envelope. Further details also covering parcels proper, from the same website as Ny156uk linked, are here. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 21:14, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Raisins and sunflower seeds

Hi. I've found that when I eat sunflower seeds and raisins, most of them taste so-so, not really noticeable. Some, however, taste really good, in a way that's difficult to describe. I guess one could say that they are more savory or more rich, but that's not quite right. Has anyone else noticed thhis? Is their any name for it? 69.210.134.65 (talk) 22:13, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Our Taste article will be of interest. Some people have claimed that umami is a "primary" taste, if primary tastes do exist. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:17, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

It's possible that given the mass production way that those two items are processed before being bagged and sold has some gaps in it. Maybe the sunflower seeds that you like were on the outlying areas of the roaster and weren't roasted as much. Maybe those are the ones that you find particularly tasty. Basically, a producer tries to make everything according to a certain tolerance. Think of it like a bell curve they aim for that center point. They've found that the market likes it and that's what they shoot for. But with anything, there is some variation and you happen to like the variants more than the ideal. Dismas|^(talk) 22:27, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Going with the same sort of processing variation, maybe the ones that are better than the rest are the ones that weren't as well saturated with BHT;-)--70.107.78.246 (talk) 22:35, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

. Butylated hydroxytoluene doesn't mention anything about an effect on taste. In fact it seems likely having less antioxidant could easily negatively affect the taste over time and exposure as the fats go rancid and other components that impart taste are damaged (well it's possible that's what you meant but I don't think many people prefer the taste of rancid oils although this [20] suggests some do) Nil Einne (talk) 02:16, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Proper adhesive

My car side view mirror was smashed, so I ordered a new one. Not the whole mirror unit but just the glass. I affixed it to the housing using liquid nails and it fell out and broke. I've just gotten a new one and I don't want to repeat history. Anyone have any advice for the proper adhesive to use? Epoxy? Thanks in advance.--70.107.78.246 (talk) 22:33, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Sticking things to glass (or glass to things) is tricky. There is special adhesive they sell in car parts stores for sticking rear-view mirrors to the windshield - I kinda suspect that's the stuff you need for the door mirrors. Cars produce lots of vibration and have crazy-large temperature changes to endure - I don't think just any old glue will do. I'd find local car-parts store and ask there. If all else fails, I recommend the http://www.thistothat.com/ web site. It recommends Loctite 349 Impruv for both glass to plastic and glass to metal - but notes that it's intended for transparent glass because it needs UV light to cure it. The fall-back suggestion is JB Weld - which is an epoxy - but much better than regular epoxy glues in cases where appearance isn't everything! My only slight concern is that the back of your mirror isn't really glass - it's some kind of coating...it's anyone's guess what that might be made of. Could you tell what kind of glue was used on the original mirror when it broke? Was it hard (like epoxy) or soft? SteveBaker (talk) 00:02, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Many dealerships carry the OEM adhesive used for attaching those mirrors. I reccomend going to your local dealership for the brand of car you drive and visiting the parts counter to see if they either have it or can order it for you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.167.165.2 (talk) 03:33, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

On the several occasions I've had to install a replacement side view mirror glass, it has always come with its own adhesive backing (covered by protective paper which has to be stripped off) over the whole of its rear surface (rather than leaving the user to guess and supply an adequate fixing method). Provided one also follows the accompanying instructions about preparing the surface on to which it's being stuck, there ought not to be a problem.

Are you able to get to a reputable large car parts store (in the UK Halfords is one of several such chains) to select the appropriate replacement glass for your particular make and model? If not, you might still be able to select and order one from such a supplier online. If you ordered a mirror from the actual manufacturer of your car, it's possible they sent a standard new item needing a technique or materials known or usually available only to a professional garage to fix it properly, rather than one specifically designed to be fitted as a replacement by a lay person. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 05:06, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

I had a problem with the rear view mirror that had fallen off the inside of a medium sized van. The fixing was a flat shiny hard plastic to the glass windscreen. I bought some rapid-hardening epoxy glue. It took about three minutes to harden and has been firmly in place for 18 months. I took time to clean both surfaces with alcohol before applying the glue. Caesar's Daddy (talk) 06:57, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I've had success with epoxy resin in the past, but I've also had failure because it creates a very rigid bond so cannot absorb a shock. The thin foam pad is the usual fixing method because it absorbs vibration and sudden shocks. A professional grade of adhesive is necessary because that on the hobby grade foam pads will soften in hot weather, and cleaning of the surfaces is important as mentioned above. Liquid nails is not a suitable adhesive for adverse conditions. Dbfirs 07:20, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks all. I'm going to go with a professional grade epoxy, clean the surface well, read all the backs to find one that says it good for glass to metal and so on. Just so you know, the glass comes with these pathetic little foam sticky pads, three and very small. The first mirror that fell off: I used those as well as the liquid nails. It lasted a month.--70.107.78.246 (talk) 22:45, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

That may be your problem. The pads by themselves might have done the job just fine - but by adding the liquid nails, you prevented the pads from dampening out the vibrations so that the next time you drove over a bump, the glass shattered. If the mirrors have pads - then you should use them and nothing else. Be sure to clean all of the old crud from the liquid nails off first - and clean the surface you're going to be sticking the pads onto carefully. SteveBaker (talk) 19:51, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

June 3

Defamation question

I am a student at a graduate school that is fairly prominent. I wanted to describe my personal experience within the department and how it functions generally but I have to name people in the department (such as the administration). I am worried about defamation laws. I know it's against the law if it is untrue but if it is true but also opinion because it is based on my personal interpretation of my experiences is this still defamation (because it is objective and true in virtue of my actual experience but close to gossip because it is also my view of the events). I don't want to get sued. Please help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.58.70.142 (talk) 02:07, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Sorry but as stated in the header wikipedians can't offer legal advice, I suggest you speak to a lawyer or other person competent to offer such advice if you are worried about defamation. For general info, the article may be of interest Nil Einne (talk) 02:12, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Does your prominent school have a law department? ;) Defamation is a very tricky one, even if you are super careful and do everything correctly and legally, you can STILL be sued for defamation. Doesn't mean you'll be found guilty but even just defending yourself can be an ordeal. Just ask Simon Singh, the case against him was eventually dropped but it still cost him a few years of effort and a half million Euros to defend himself.. But i don't mean that to discourage you if you think it is the right thing to do. Vespine (talk) 06:29, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Apparently Simon Singh is British, and was sued in Britain for something he published in a British paper. British libel and defamation laws are notoriously plaintiff-friendly and very very bad from a free-speech perspective. US laws (the OP's address traces to Pennsylvania) are very different. That's not to say I can offer the OP any assurances of any kind; I can't. But if I were researching the possibilities, I wouldn't start with a British case as precedent. --Trovatore (talk) 10:15, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

_{Why don't you write an autobiographical novel, and change the names to protect the guilty?} Joking aside, if you have problems and are in the UK, there are whistleblowing laws to protect people who speak out against malpractice, but the procedures have to be strictly followed. When you do seek legal advice, make sure you get advice on whistleblowing. --TammyMoet (talk) 07:58, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

It sounds like you want to express criticism of administrators at your school. First look carefully at your motive. Personal dissatisfaction does not help one to be objective. If you have something important to say, make an effort to express it in a constructive way. "A little honey helps the medicine go down". Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The IP address geolocates as from Pennsylvania, US. --Tango (talk) 16:14, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

If the questioner had been in the UK he would have been able to go through the National Union of Students. Is there an equivalent body in the US? An organisation of students or one that advises students? Should s/he perhaps contact the accrediting organisation? Itsmejudith (talk) 19:55, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

There is a United States Student Association, however, this sounds like a general legal question rather than the kind of student-oriented question the organization would have expertise on. Some general comments about defamation law in the U.S. that should not be construed as advice: You can be sued for expressing an opinion. If you say, "It is my opinion that Joe Blow is a thief," and Joe Blow can demonstrate he is not a thief, you might still be at risk legally. However, "an opinion with no 'provably false factual connotation' is still protected." If a statement is factually true, as in 2+2=4 true, it is almost always safe from a libel claim. If someone is a public figure, he/she must demonstrate not only that a statement is libelous, but that the defendant had actual malice against him/her. Finally, remember that anyone can sue anybody for anything, and just because you're in the right legally doesn't mean someone can't sue you and cause you an expensive headache. For advice on your specific situation, you need to contact a lawyer versed in this kind of law. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:46, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

I think that when Itsmejudith suggested that the OP contact the national student association, he/she meant that the OP should take their substantive issue(s) there, not just seek clarification on the legal position. That strikes me as good advice. What is unclear to me is what the OP means by "wanting to describe my personal experience". OP, do you mean that you want to raise a formal complaint to the university, or do you just want to write your issue in a book, blog, article or somesuch? If it's the former then obviously you're going to want to be sure of your ground. If it's the latter then I would agree with TammyMoet that a good course of action would be to anonymize the whole thing. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:07, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

I am wondering if ants suffer from flatulence

I am wondering if ants suffer from flatulance? I do it seems like a silly question but is in great debate between a group of people. 123.3.173.86 (talk) 11:10, 3 June 2010 (UTC) I have given the question its own header (and spell-check) Matt Deres (talk) 13:31, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

They eat plant material and have gut flora to help them digest it. It seems to me that there must be methane production as a side-effect of that process, that has to go somewhere - so yes, I'm pretty sure that ants fart! SteveBaker (talk) 15:14, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like a research project that would probably get nominated for an Ig Nobel Prize if it was ever undertaken. Exxolon (talk) 16:37, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Especially the suffer bit, though that shouldn't be too hard with people trying to prove that plants feel pain. Would the experiment have to be stopped if it was shown they suffered after eating baked beans? Dmcq (talk) 20:06, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

This is the best question I have ever read, thanks.hotclaws 11:37, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes 87.114.111.41 (talk) 20:20, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Very briefly covered here: Straight Dope Staff Report : Do Insects Pass Gas? APL (talk) 20:40, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

military uniform marking

what are those multicolor rectangular on the uniform called like the ones in this image?

--IngerAlHaosului (talk) 12:22, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Ribbon bar meltBanana 12:35, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Not brought out in that article: the bars above the left pocket are individual awards while those above the right pocket are unit awards. The US Army uses a gold frame on unit awards. Bruce P. Crandall lists all of his awards, but mixes the individual and unit awards. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:46, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Flight question - T/Banking in mid-air

Dear Wikipedians, I have a question that concerns military aircraft refuelling from tanker aircraft.

I know that in many situations, when performing such an operation, the tanker aircraft will bank to one side (but not by much), so that, seen from above, their flightpath becomes a very large circle. There are of course situations where tankers fly straight as well, but from my understanding, the above is more often the best solution. What I mean to ask is this: To maintain a steady, uninterrupted bank of this kind, does the pilot make use of any autopilot instrument that is not normally found aboard a 707/similar aircraft, or do they in fact only maintain this bank by keeping a vigilant eye on the HSI, while their Altitude is set by the autopilot? I've flightsimmed for a decade, and I know of no instrument in civillian aircraft that will reliably bank the aircraft in this fashion.

Thank you in advance! :) 88.90.16.232 (talk) 13:59, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Don't let the simulator fool you; flying a real plane tends to be a lot less squirrelly, and (with practice - a simulator alone does not prepare you to be able to fly an airplane safely), easier. Any pilot should be able to keep the aircraft in a turn indefinitely without losing or gaining a significant amount of altitude without any autopilot at all. In fact, on the plane I fly (admittedly, much, much smaller), there is no computer/autopilot at all. That being said, I know nothing of how specifically the KC-135 pilots operate their aircraft during refuelling. I know though that to be certified to fly a KC-135 they will have had to have made many 360 degree turns in their earlier training under different circumstances. Falconus^{p t c} 20:05, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Modern civilian airliners (Airbus and Boeing) certainly support the pilot with settings for "standard turns" (3 degrees/second and 6 degrees/second, if I'm not mistaken). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:51, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

automotive transmission

what do you mean by 4wd? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gurannavaranil (talk • contribs) 13:27, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

4wd stands for four-wheel drive. This means that the engine/transmission is turning 4 wheels instead of the more common 1 pair of wheels. This is useful for when driving on poor surfaces, such as mud or snow, since you are less likely to get both pairs of wheels stuck then just one pair. Googlemeister (talk) 13:39, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

There's also a subtle distinction between 4WD and AWD (all-wheel drive). See All_wheel_drive#4WD_versus_AWD. StuRat (talk) 13:55, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Gods

I have carved wooden statue, approx 100 years old of an old man with one foot on a tiger, holding a child/small man who in turn is holding a fish. From his headgear an antiques expert tells me that he is one of three guardians of the gates of hell. Who is he?

R A Stubbs <email redacted> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.146.92.99 (talk) 16:17, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

• Please don't use ALL CAPS, it's hard to read and the internet equivalent of shouting. I've also removed your email address so you don't get spammed to death - all answers will appear here, they will not be emailed to you. Exxolon (talk) 16:34, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

What is the headgear? Hades, for example, wore the Helm of Darkness, although he had a three-headed dog, not a tiger. Have you got a photo? Gwinva (talk) 22:13, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

It would help to have more information, or a description, or even a snapshot, because this is too vague. That iconography could apply for a large number of religions from Japan to eastern Europe to India or the middle east. I don't know of any faith that has exactly three guardians of hell. most have one (sometimes with attendants) some forms of buddhism use 12 (corresponding to important compass directions). I think ancient Hindu belief might have has three (that turned up in a google search) but your icon doesn't sound like it has the common hindu stylizations (animal heads, skull-cups, multiple limbs, strange colorations). --Ludwigs2 22:19, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Confused about currency comparisons

on this currency chart of dollars verses pound, I am completely confused as to how to read it. The numbers on the right hand side are the number of dollars it would take to purchase 1 pound? Is that right? Maybe someone can answer a question which will make it more clear to me. According to the chart the 52 week range was (rounding down) 1.4 to 1.7. Say I took a dollar and converted it to a pound when it was at 1.4 and then converted the pound back when it was at 1.7, do I lose or gain money? By my figuring I would gain money. Am I right?--98.116.23.226 (talk) 18:57, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that is dollar per pound. Yes, you would gain money. You start with $1.40, buy £1, wait and then sell the pound for $1.70, so you've made 30 cents. --Tango (talk) 19:26, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Of course, in reality, you will get charged money changing fees (they can be ludicrously high) at both ends, so you would be rather unlikely to make that much of a profit unless you are a bank or similar. Googlemeister (talk) 19:54, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

True. Currency speculators typically trade in multiples (often large multiples) of 100,000 of a currency, I believe, in order for the tiny percentage gains to be a significant amount of money (they trade "on margin", so a they only need to have a fraction of that money, the rest is borrowed from their broker). --Tango (talk) 19:58, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

It is a little misleading to say that you made money. If we ignore transaction charges for the moment: You made money if you earn and spend dollars - but if you look at it from the perspective of someone who lives in the UK who earns and spends pounds, you started off with $1.40 (which was worth a pound to you) - and you ended up with $1.70 which is still only worth a pound - so you neither earned nor lost a thing! What should theoretically happen is that because the dollar is now worth less, prices of goods in the USA should rise such that your $1.70 is actually capable of buying less 'stuff' than it used to. So whether you 'earned money' or merely broke even depends on things like how prices of things where you live have changed in the currency you're using. SteveBaker (talk) 19:35, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

In the short term, prices don't follow exchange rates very closely (there are exceptions, mainly commodities like gold that are denominated in dollars). It takes quite a while for prices to adjust for exchange rate changes, by which time there will have been more changes anyway. Purchasing power parity rates are never exactly equal to nominal rates (except by luck, I suppose). --Tango (talk) 19:40, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, you would gain "Dollars". If you're counting your wealth by the number of dollars you have then yes, you have gained money. If you're counting your wealth by the number of pounds you have, then no, you've got exactly the same. Or if you're counting your wealth by some more complex means (Gold standard, consumer price index, cost of living, etc) you're going to have to do that math based on the current value of the dollar. APL (talk) 20:33, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

American iPhone --> Turkish iPhone

Hello! I am an American who has an iPhone, and I therefore use AT&T. I am moving to Istanbul this September, and was wondering how I could go about switching my iPhone carrier to a Turkish one (since AT&T is nonexistent in Turkey). Thank You! - Vikramkr (talk) 19:50, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

It depends. If you are still on your original AT&T contract, your phone is SIM locked and you can't. You may be able to buy you out of this contract - check the small print. You may also have to pay a fee to get it unlocked. If your phone is not locked, you should be able to simply get a SIM card from a local Turkish cell phone provider with a good data plan and switch it in. Apple is selling the iPhone in Turkey, so there should even be a carrier that supports all the extra protocols (however, I've seen people in Europe who are more than happy with alternative carriers). Your iPhone will work in Turkey with the original AT&T SIM card, but you will pay through the nose for international roaming. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:04, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

The international roaming thing can bankrupt you! There have been cases of people taking their iPhones overseas for just two weeks - hardly every using it - and returning to find a $3000 to $5000 phone bill waiting for them[21][22]. The problem being that the iPhone sends out periodic 'ping' messages that are free on local carriers - but which incur some kind of minimum connection fee overseas. So, for 100% sure, you'll need to get it switched. SteveBaker (talk) 19:22, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the help! Indeed, I absolutely do not want to be roaming in Turkey for a year; I want to switch to the iPhone's Turkish carrier. Does anyone happen to know the name of the Turkish carrier? - Vikramkr (talk) 19:45, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

A quick search of "Turkish cell phone companies" turned up this link which seems relevant. There are only a few, so checking them for iPhone compatibility should be easy. Dismas|^(talk) 20:33, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

June 4

Chrome table

I've been given a large glass topped table on a chromed steel frame which is fine pitted with rust. Any ideas please as to how I can restore this frame without the vast expense of re-chroming?--Artjo (talk) 12:43, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Consider painting the frame. During the '80s many car models that had chrome details such as bumpers restyled these to matt black with just a coat of paint. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:30, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Also consider treating the rust in some way. If you manage to remove some of the rust (chemically and/or mechanically, but be careful not to negatively influence the structural strength of the table) and only then apply the paint, the coat should last much longer, and its integrity will not be compromised by the rust underneath it. If you do, remember there is really no 'all in one' solution and no magic paint that will remove the rust AND look great with just one coat. Sandpaper is sometimes your friend. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:54, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Primer would also help your paint job last longer, much to my tables misfortune as the paint is now peeling. Googlemeister (talk) 15:56, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

A couple ideas:

1) To maintain the chrome look, first remove any rust you can with chemical rust removers, then rinse, dry, and apply a thick coat of wax to fill in the pits and prevent further rust.

2) For a different look, wrap the frame with strips of fabric, and use safety pins to hold them together. This may have the benefit of also making the table less painful when bumped into. StuRat (talk) 19:00, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

There are such things as "electroplating pens" eg [23] [24] which might be a solution.87.102.32.39 (talk) 20:22, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

I used to have a jar of a grey powder that one rubbed onto rusted chrome with a damp cloth. It removed the rust and replated where the spots were. Can't for the life remember the brand name. DuncanHill (talk) 20:55, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Possibly Bar Keepers Friend, which is a white powder that goes grey when wetted. Although our article doesn't specifically mention chrome, the label on the container (which is in front of me as I type) has a list of applications which includes "CHROME Removes rust". 87.81.230.195 (talk) 02:13, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

It wasn't Bar Keepers' Friend. I had this jar in the 80's of the last century, and it was inherited from my grandfather who died in the 70's. From what I recall of the label it would have been made in the 50's or early 60's, and intended for restoring chrome bumpers. With that in mind, Ouro may do well to look in a shop like Halfords or another auto factor, or perhaps a cycle parts & spares shop. Cars and bikes have traditionally involved lots of chrome (sadly not so much nowadays), so yo're likely to find stuff for restoring chrome there. DuncanHill (talk) 09:05, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Acting : 'Mechanical' voicing

This is related to my previous question..

In relation to acting, how do you avoid (or in some circumstance excagerate) sounding 'mechanical'?

For context, this relates to live performance, I know there are countless sound processing techniques you can use on pre-recorded stuff..

17:27, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

This depends on what you mean by 'mechanical'. there are different modes:

• classic 50's robot: use no variations in pitch or tempo - speak syllable by syllable - and speak from the back of your throat to get a growly/nasal sound
• modern computer-speak: use a rich, full-voiced tone with absolutely no inflection - practice by trying to say the most offensive, disgusting thing you can think of in calm conversational tones (err... do that in private, or you'll scare the shit out of people - lol).
• industrial machine: stereotypically between the previous two - very nasal, without inflection, but more fluid than the 50's preconception

You might also play with unusual speech patterns. computer synthesized voices have trouble with irregular parts of speech, creating appropriate tense structures, oddnesses like possessives and contractions, and ambiguous semantics (e.g., getting a computer to read a phrase like "Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana" correctly is all but impossible).

so let me take a guess - you've been cast as a female robot in a sci-fi version of 'Guys and Dolls'? --Ludwigs2 18:11, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Although not strictly mechanical something like Teen Talk Barbie might also be of relevance to this disscussion..

In terms of your examples :

• i) "Danger, Danger, Jimbo Wales!!" ?
• ii) "I'm sorry, but the command <sample of command given> is not recognised <pause> did you mean <followed by a list>..."

(I've had this with telephone call centres...)

• iii) "Wiki admin <pause> cleanup <pause> required in article <pause> 3. <pause> Vandal threat <pause> rising..."

lol - actually #2 is more like: "I'm sorry, Jimbo, but I am required to terminate your system at this time. Please stand away from your computer and any electrically conductive materials.", but otherwise... --Ludwigs2 20:59, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm sure some comedy show did some kind of 'speech synth' sketch , although I can't recall which one... Sfan00 IMG (talk) 20:46, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

We did have a Q about a month back about appropriate clothing for a tranny robot from outer space...I'm beginning to see a pattern. As for robot speech, excessive formality also has been used for robots (and Vulcans): "A multi-legged insect is currently engaging in locomotion along your gluteus maximus". StuRat (talk) 18:33, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

One way they marked Data on Star Trek: TNG was to make him incapable of using contractions. This allowed for some inflection while speaking (avoiding the "DOES...NOT...COMPUTE..." tone '50s-'60s robots and computers take, usually before they start smoking and spinning their tape reels frantically) while still sounding not-quite-human. Some jerk on the Internet (talk) 18:52, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

They weren't able to keep it up, though. Which probably advises against trying the same trick. Even in episodes where data's lack of contractions was a plot point he would still use them. APL (talk) 21:39, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

You can always practice by running things through a text-to-speech system, ideally not a particularly good one. The inflection and pauses a person puts into a spoken sentence are heavily influenced by its meaning. The inappropriately steady rhythm (except for, say, pausing exactly the same amount of time for each comma) and even emphasis is the biggest giveaway for synthesized speech. (This is why, when people write out synthetic speech they often put punctuation-between-each-word and put it in ALL CAPS or a fixed-width font). Paul (Stansifer) 20:03, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

In the video game portal, according to the developers' commentary track, they first recorded all of GlaDOS's lines with a primitive-sounding text-to-speech program, then they had an actress mimic the incorrect inflection of the synthesized text! APL (talk) 21:39, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Or you <pause> act , Like, Kirk , was not controlling , his own mind? XD Sfan00 IMG (talk) 20:53, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

There was a mechanical robot voice in a 1960s french film, directed by Goddard I think. As far as I recall it said each word as if there was a full stop (which means "period" for our American chums) after it, and every word was said slowly in the same deep monotone. For example "I. Am. A. Robot." You could be more extreme by splitting up each syllable: "I. Am. A. Ro. Bot." Incidently, some American accents sound robotic to British ears. 92.15.0.59 (talk) 11:42, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps the computer Alpha 60 (video) in Alphaville from 1965 ? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:23, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that was it, although I may have heard a version dubbed into english that was more as I described. Or perhaps I've merged it with the talking computer in the original version of Star Trek. 92.24.182.48 (talk) 19:04, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Chinese zodiac

What Chinese zodiac was the year 1200 CE? Exploding Boy (talk) 18:07, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

That depends on what day you're calculating from. If you choose today though...

• 2010 - 1200 = 810
• 810 / 12 (number of animals in the Ch. Zodiac) = 67.5
• So, it would be six 'animals' off of what the year is today.
• Today is in the year of the Monkey, so six from that is the Tiger

Someone want to check my math? Dismas|^(talk) 20:29, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Wolfram Alpha says 4 June 1200 would be in the year of the monkey. (We're currently in the year of the tiger.) —D. Monack ^talk 21:58, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Time of death

I've seen on a lot of medical TV shows doctors call "time of death, ". What would happen if a doctor called time of death but the patient was not really dead? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.199.172.31 (talk) 19:44, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Sooner or later, somebody would notice. In all countries that I know the rules for, any sudden death (basically, the deaths of anyone that wasn't terminally ill) must be followed by a post-mortem examination to work out why they died. I believe the first part of any post-mortem is a check that the person really is dead. Once the mistake was noticed, the person would get whatever care they needed and I would expect there to be an investigation to determine if anyone acted negligently. --Tango (talk) 20:03, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Isn't there an episode of Qunicey in which something like that happens? I.E Post Mortem shows patient not dead.. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 20:49, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Not entirely true: if the death isn't suspicious, autopsies can be denied in many jurisdictions. More importantly though, is the fact that time of death refers to the time that death was confirmed, not when it occured, except in the case of forensic investigations. See here for forensic tests. If the time of death is called, but the person isn't dead, I suspect it wouldn't matter, because the person would be alive, and time of death would have only been called if the patient didn't respond to tests to confirm vitality. You don't call death just because they "look" dead. Aaronite (talk) 20:15, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Internal autopsies (cutting them open and studying each organ in turn) can often be denied, but I believe external autopsies are far more common. --Tango (talk) 20:26, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Who is/ are your spanish translators?

Hi, I´m english-spanish translator, and I use wiki very often, I've noticed so many mistakes in your translation from english to spanish, that is almost imposible to read and comprehend some of the thing written in there. I would like to help with those translation. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Marytamburo (talk • contribs) 21:26, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

If you're talking about the Spanish language Wikipedia (es.wikipedia.org), they're contributed by volunteer Spanish speakers. While some articles there are translations of their English (or other language) equivalents, but many (most?) are just contributed by a swathe of people, just like her in English-land. You can edit those pages there and make fixes, just like you can here. If you want to discuss how that all works, the Wikipedia Café page there is a good place to start. If, however, you mean Enciclopedia Libre Universal en Español, another wiki-based Spanish-language encyclopedia, that isn't affiliated with us at all. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:37, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

@ marytamburo, part of the concept of a wiki is that it requires, indeed encourages, participation from anybody who can contribute. If you are concerned about the level of the Spanish grammar then come on in and correct a page or two. There are plenty of pages to help you, as indicated by Finlay McWalter above. I warn you that it might become addictive;-) Caesar's Daddy (talk) 06:23, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

June 5

Speech Synthesis : How many recordings?

This question posted in response to answers given in response to a previous discussion

Is there any way of determining how many words you need in any given 'industrial' system using a a speech synth?

For example , a typical niche industrial system shouldn't need more than 200 relativly simple words, whereas a more complex semi-interactive system might need more.

I hate to imagine what vocabulary level an interactive amintronic Lincoln would need....

Any thoughts? Sfan00 IMG (talk) 12:56, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Speech synthesisers don't use recordings of words (if they did they wouldn't synthesising anything). Synthesisers assemble a collection of sounds (sometimes recordings, sometimes themselves synthetic), compose them together (sometimes changing them in the process), and emit the result. How many such sounds you need depends on the type of synthesis you're performing, whether you support features like inflection, the details of the spoken language you're using and the domain you're talking about. Speech synthesis has more - you can get by, with basic phonetic simulation, with a few dozen, but high quality synthesis could call for thousands. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:20, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Mostly, they're using 'phoneme synthesis' - depending on which system is used (and which language is being synthesised), there are about 25 to 30 phonemes. You can read about them in English phonology - but they are kinda like letters in an 'acoustic' alphabet - you can "spell" words with phonemes (although the spelling isn't like regular English spelling). However, it's not as simple as replaying a sequence of short sound samples from a library of 25 to 30 snippets (although that's how early systems worked)...modern speech synthesis involves complicated blends between phoneme sounds. Speech synthesis has much more detail about this.

Having said that - if you're talking about a telephone response system or something - then they'll probably have recorded entire phrases read by a human speaker and the computer is merely replaying entire canned responses. Unless your computer has to produce speech from a stream of arbitary text, it's probably better to just record the complete set of phrases you need to have it say. SteveBaker (talk) 14:47, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

They do usually use combinations for things that change a lot like the time, dates (may do all the dates though, i.e. January 1st to December 31st and then just add the year) and account balances. At least in my experience.

Occasionally they will have to add something later and can't be bothered hiring the same speaker (or whatever) so there will be a different voice for new things. I don't so much mean special promotions or whatever where it's not that surprising to get a different voice but a case where it seems a bit unusual particularly if it's part of the same 'conversation' E.g. for complaints about censorship press 1, for complaints about pornography press 2, for complaints about a specific article press 3, for complaints about something on the main page press 4, for complaints about Jimbo Wales press 5, for complaints about the donation banner press 6, for complaints about the Vector skin press 7.

Nil Einne (talk) 05:35, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

It's difficult to determine. If all you need for your synthesis machine to come up with is a sentence frame and numbers in the middle (like directly above this response), then you have a relatively small number of recordings it can just play in sequence. But it's not altogether simple if you want it naturally. To sound natural, you need to at least distinguish between phrase-final numbers and non-final numbers, or the intonation will sound wrong, so you need to have a double set at least of numbers (and likely more for more natural-sounding sequences. If you don't have a small set of pre-established responses (i.e. it will be generating the answers rather than choosing from a list), you need to move to text-to-speech synthesis. The basic number for text-to-speech synthesis is the same as the number of phonemes, but that will sound horribly clunky. You need to have at least the number of phones that occur in spoken English, knowing where they will appear in any given word (harder than it seems). That will still sound a bit clunky unless you accound for transitions between different combinations of phones. It's also important for a really good system to replicate the dynamicity of vowels and the subtle, barely audible differences between vowels in different environments. The differences may be barely audible, but they are also the cues for being able to distinguish synthetic from natural speech. Intonation is an even bigger issue. Steewi (talk) 03:55, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Sci Fi Novel

In the period 2005-2006 I read about new sci fi novel bing published. I have since lost the note I made and have been unable to find the book. The plot involved a near-future earth that was tremedously overcrowded. World government decreed that on a specific day everyone son the planet should simultaneously take a pill. Randomly scattered among the pills were approximately 30 percent that were fatal. No one (except the manufacturer)would know which pills were fatal. World society reluctantly agreed to use this technique to reduce earth's population. But the hero discovered that world government had rigged the distribution process so that the only deaths would be among the enemies of the government. He set out to stop the upcoming event. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.26.76.130 (talk) 19:38, 5 June 2010 (UTC) <email removed>

Had a serious google around for ten minutes, no luck at all. Apologies. SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 20:07, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

That's almost exactly the plot of Nature's End by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka. It was published in 1986, however. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:40, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

SciFi? wasn't that one of Cheney's programs? --Ludwigs2 22:19, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Removed your email to prevent you being spammed. Like it says at the top ofd the page: "Do not provide your contact information. E-mail or home addresses, or telephone numbers, will be removed. You must return to this page to get your answer." Astronaut (talk) 05:46, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Advise on subject combination

Is it good for Electrical Power Engineer to study Digital Signal Processing?221.120.250.83 (talk) 20:09, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

The more you know - the better equipped you are. The real question is what (if anything) you have to drop from your Power engineering course in order to take the DSP course? SteveBaker (talk) 05:50, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Well then i have to choose one of these 1.Measurement and Instrumentation 2.High Voltage course —Preceding unsigned comment added by 221.120.250.73 (talk) 06:35, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Are you more interested in the high voltage things like transformers, insulators, cables etc, or do you prefer doing things with control of the network?--PeekyWeedia (talk) 10:47, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Grapes for wine = seemingly millions of varieties, Grapes as fruit = red or white

My question is pretty simple: Why are there an endless variety of wines (ignoring that wines flavour is more than just the grape but is processing/storage too) but no varieties of 'fruit' grapes. Example - in my local Tesco there's probably 200+ different bottles of wine, all described in different ways and (as I understand) many different varieties of grapes that they come from. In the same Tesco there are 2 types of grapes - red or white. Now i'm not saying there should be 100s of varieties of grapes but there are a good 10-15 varieties of Apples and countless types of Oranges...but never with grapes. Any ideas why (beyond the obvious that wine grapes aren't great for consumption - still could be plenty of varieties grown for fruit) ? ny156uk (talk) 20:32, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, this is because fruit buyers show a distinct preference for seedless varieties of grapes, of which there are only a handful (seedless grapes are non-viable mutations that only persist through grafting and careful husbandry). In upscale stores you'll find other varieties, particularly champagne grapes (in season) and those big purple globe grapes I don't know the name of, but otherwise it's just the seedless guys. --Ludwigs2 20:49, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

As an aside, if you ever have the opportunity to purchase Muscat grapes buy as many as you can carry and eat them with cheese (I recommend rocamadour). They are very seldom available (at least where I live in the UK) but they are wonderful. Equisetum (talk | email | contributions) 21:23, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

ah, yeah, the grape of Muscatel, favored by discriminating east coast winos. --Ludwigs2 22:17, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Muscat wines are great because they are invariably described as tasting "grapey", rather than tasting of wood or biscuits or having fish in the nose or something. It's nice to be able to agree with the wine buffs about something. 81.131.43.116 (talk) 05:48, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Because wine grapes and dessert grapes are usually different varieties, I vaguely seem to recall. Wine grapes are not nice to eat. I guess there may have been a bigger economic incentive to develope more varities of wine grape. 92.24.190.97 (talk) 23:14, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

My father used to make wine from grapes that he grew in our backyard. I, for one, would rather not eat one of those grapes. They don't taste anything like what you get in a supermarket. Dismas|^(talk) 03:36, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

FYI: In some places in California, they make white wine from red grapes - the trick being (I am told) to crush the grapes much sooner after picking (possibly even on the side of the field) - and to remove the skins as quickly as possible. SteveBaker (talk) 05:48, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

also FYI, such a wine is known in France as "blanc des rouges" as opposed to "blanc des blancs". (Apologies for atrocious French spelling - I did German at school!) --TammyMoet (talk) 08:10, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Blanc de noirs surely? Red grapes being, of course, black. DuncanHill (talk) 14:55, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Yes. It has little to do with the time of picking, but everything with getting the juice off the skins in time. In Germany, where we do not usually have enough sun to make great reds, one trick is to press off half the juice to make blanc de noir, and then let the rest ferment on the skins to make a much more intense red than you would otherwise get. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:03, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

The different varieties of wine is probably due to each grape-farm or vinery having their own label, at least apart from plonk. See Vineyard designated wine. 92.24.185.225 (talk) 14:10, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Do we have time for an anecdote? Twenty-plus years ago I was doing some winery-hopping in California, and purely by luck happened to visit Mondavi when Robert Mondavi himself was giving a talk to that day's visitors. I particularly recall one of his statements to this day: "You can make a perfectly drinkable wine out of Thompson Seedless" -- his point being, of course, that the skill of the vintner far outweighs the grape you start with.

Funny story, I thought. DaHorsesMouth (talk) 19:33, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Each of the differently named bottles of wine does not represent a different variety of grape. In European labelling (say French wine or Spanish) the more likely represent vintners, vineyards or specific blends of grapes. In the labelling of "New World" wines you are far more likely to see grape variety names (California wine). See list of grape varieties for many kinds of grapes for different uses. Table grapes come in many kinds but specific ones may only be available in limited area for short seasons. Rmhermen (talk) 05:27, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

The short answer to the original post is that if a farmer is offered $1,000 a ton for his beautifully ripe shiraz grapes, by a vintner intent on releasing the full value of their potential, he would be an idiot to take $200 (or whatever) from a store that would just dump them on the shelf next to the Thompson Seedless. (By the way, DaHorsesMouth, did Mr Mondovi ever explain why he paid many thousands of dollars an acre for prime Napa Valley land, when "You can make a perfectly drinkable wine out of Thompson Seedless"? )DOR (HK) (talk) 07:50, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

June 6

Depth of water

Hi there:

I would like to know the depth of Douglas Channel in British Columbia Canada? An average is fine or the deepest in fathoms or feet.

Barry Davis, atms/cl. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.232.103.32 (talk) 05:55, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

(Whoever finds an answer might improve our stubby Douglas Channel article with the information, if he or she has time.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 06:07, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

This gives a channel depth of 100-300 fathoms (190-570 m or 600-1800 ft). Ghmyrtle (talk) 06:35, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Electromagnetic wave

I wont to ask about the sfe level electromagnetic wave Foralaa (talk) 09:39, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

If you mean the safe power level of electromagnetic radiation, there is no absolutely safe level of anything. For instane, you can be electrocuted with a 1.5v battery if you apply it in the right (wrong) place.--PeekyWeedia (talk) 10:50, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

A 1.5v battery would likely need to be applied directly to the heart. Therefore it would be practically impossible to be elctrocuted by such a low voltage source in normal cicumstances. See Electrocution. Also see this website [25] As for the original RF question, see Mobile phone radiation and health. PeekyWeedia, you need to provide a reference or link to a relevant article when you answer questions here.--220.101.28.25 (talk) ^Contribs 16:38, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

How much current can you get from a 1.5 v cell? It only takes a few 100s of mA to cause ventricular fibrillation. Ref: PD6519:Part1:1988 (IEC standard) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.76.157.65 (talk) 18:11, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Not even "a few 100s", see The Physical Effects of Electricity somewhat ironically found via the article on Thomas Alva Edison. (reference № 35) --220.101 (talk) ^Contribs 05:20, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

There is contradictory evidence regarding the safety of particular types / frequency of electromagnetic wave. See also Electromagnetic radiation and health and Wireless electronic devices and health --220.101.28.25 (talk) ^Contribs16:48, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

You might be interested in Darwin Award - Resistance is futile Dmcq (talk) 23:53, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Peeky seems to be ignoring Ohm's Law and skin resistance. As for the "Darwin Award" story, I doubt someone wanting to measure his body resistance would stick Simpson probes through the skin of his thumbs into the meat. Nerve endings and all. The Simpson in that dubious report had a 9 volt battery, not just 1.5 volts. Of course it is impossible to state how much current the world's most vulnerable heart might require to cause problems. The dubious anecdote (note no name or date is associated with it, just a gruesome "teaching story") claims the guy's "internal resistance" was 100 ohms, without stating how that was measured. Ohm's Law says that a 1.5 volt battery would have produced 15 milliamperes, provided there was no other resistance in the leads or the meter, compared to 90 milliamperes from a "resistanceless" Simpson meter. My respect for the folks at "Darwin Rewards" is greatly lessened by them repeating this story. Edison (talk) 00:25, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Well put, but how could an editor with a name like Edison be wrong? 220.101 (talk) ^Contribs 04:49, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Peeky and 79.76 are socks of a banned user. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:18, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Land Rover but not a Land Rover

I've seen a car near me that is a Land Rover in design, but badged with a Spanish-sounding company name, not as a Land Rover. When I say it's like a Land Rover, I mean just like one, not like a knock-off. Looks like the County Series. Did Land Rover sell the old design and dies etc on to another company, and if so, can anyone tell me what they are called? DuncanHill (talk) 11:25, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Land Rover is now owned by Tata Motors, which I guess is Spanish sounding (though Indian). Maybe Land Rovers are now re-badged.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 11:50, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

No, Land Rovers are still badged as Land Rovers (and anyway, I am familiar with Tata and wouldn't mistake their name and logo with anything else. DuncanHill (talk) 11:56, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

• Found it - Santana Motor. DuncanHill (talk) 12:04, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Dutch

When one has a few drink before doing something important, this is called Dutch courage and is used to build confidence. When one takees a girl out and makes her pay for her self, this is called going Dutch. why is this? What do these things have to do with the Dutch. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.145 (talk) 20:11, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

The origin I accept is described at Dutch uncle#origins 77.86.124.76 (talk) 20:42, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

I've also heard "Irish courage" applied to whiskey. Dismas|^(talk) 20:53, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

These idioms are probably the remnants of old negative stereotypes regarding the Dutch (in the examples you provide, probably that they are drunken and miserly). These probably still exist, though admittedly less obviously today. I can't think of a good contemporary example at the moment. Intelligentsium 23:17, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

I've always thought that they showed the Dutch in rather a good light - fond of a drink and believe in paying your own way. DuncanHill (talk) 23:23, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Ya, you could spin it that way too :-)

DaHorsesMouth (talk) 01:48, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Oooh, you're in Dutch now. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:12, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

"Going Dutch" is another way of saying "Dutch treat", which is intended ironically, because if everyone pays their own way, no one is "treating" anyone. Aye, there's the Dutch rub. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:16, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

June 7

"Do not duplicate" on keys

Many organisations stamp "Do not duplicate" on keys that are given out to patrons, such as college dorms that give keys to the students that live there. What do these organisations do if they need to have a new key made, such as if a dorm resident can prove that a key was flushed down the toilet? Nyttend (talk) 02:48, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

WP:OR warning. If the organization is large enough, like a large university, I would think that their facilities/buildings and grounds/maintenance staff would have a bunch of key blanks and a key grinding machine. Otherwise, they likely have a contract of sorts with a local hardware store or locksmith. Dismas|^(talk) 02:51, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

If you do a Google search on the phrase "keys marked do not duplicate", you will see a number of web sites discussing this. Several of them only talk about what the specific company whose web site it is will do, and they say that they will duplicate such a key if a suitable letter of authorization is provided. At least one web site acknowledges that not everyone would respect the "do not duplicate" in any case; apparently it's not enforceable by law, although in some places it might be. --Anonymous, 03:22 UTC, June 7, 2010.

A further point: many of the keyway profiles for such keys are licensed by the manufacturers, who won't provide blanks to anyone not a licensee. In other words, Home Depot or Ace Hardware won't have the correct blanks. Acroterion _(talk) 04:09, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

A few links in support of Acroterion alexandralocksmiths and integrity --220.101 (talk) ^Contribs 05:06, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Flush a key down the toilet? That's an awesome toilet you have there. And just how would he/she prove it? Seriously though, most key cutters, at least here in the UK, are only interested in making a sale and would ignore anything like that. And they can get blanks for any key, if not from the original manufacturer, then from someone else. Practically any physical key can be copied, which is why all big organizations are changing over to electronic keys and RFID tags.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:04, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Yeah. In the UK, getting a 'Do not duplicate' key cut is pretty easy, and I've been told twice before that there is no law on it - it's just like, "Not for resale" on multipacks of crisps. They don't want it to be resold/duplicated, but the law doesn't protect it. To answer your question - companies like Universities will have access to companies who can cut the keys professionally, probably the people they buy the keys from in the first place. There's a place in Liverpool which, unofficially, claims to be able to cut ANY key. SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 09:14, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

There's a little more information at Key blank. I've googled around. Basically, the way 'Do not duplicate works,' is this: Different companies make different keys. Some companies make the 'blanks' fully available, others seriously restrict them. If a company wants their keys to be impossible to duplicate, they will release no blanks and make copies themselves. These keys are more expensive. Note that third party manufacturers have been known to reproduce these. SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 09:19, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

What other buildings keep/kept their height a secret?

As many people know, the Burj Khalifa kept its height a secret until opening day where its height was revealed to be 828 meters. I was wondering if any other building keeps/kept their height a secret. Apparently Burj Khalifa may have been the first but I am not sure...

I believe Burj Khalifa was the first, though I don't have a source for that. It wasn't exactly a secret - they weren't sure! They'd never built a building nearly as tall as this, they didn't know how certain forces and environmental factors would affect it. The architecture regularly revised the upper components during building. SmokingNewton _{(MESSAGE ME)} 09:22, 7 June 2010 (UTC)