I signed up for a student account with Abbey National (as it then was) nearly ten years ago, and they gave me a little wok. The account is long since closed, but I still regularly use the wok. 93.97.184.230 (talk) 00:59, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Old Christmas advert

A while ago, I saw on Tarrant on TV an advert: a man cleaning up a reastaurant. He then left. The message (text, I believe, not spoken) was just telling people to go home and have a happy Christmas with their family. I think this advert was by McDonald's, and it only happened once. Does anyone have more information? I'm looking for a video but if one doesn't exist, I'd settle for knowledge, on the basis that sooner or later I will surely be able to find it. :) Vimescarrot (talk) 19:10, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

I remember Chris Tarrant showing the advert, but I don't know where it came from, and Google hasn't been able to find it for me. I can do no more than confirm that it was shown which you knew anyway. Dbfirs 09:09, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Reassuring that I'm not going crazy, at least. Cheers! Vimescarrot (talk) 14:23, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Bus to drive slower than cars?

Do bus actually drives slower than cars. Since From Santa Margarita High School to El Toro took 30 minutes without waiting between buses, I'm guessing driving a car would be faster. Do buses drive that slow or is just the stops.--209.129.85.4 (talk) 20:21, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Buses certainly have less "get up" than cars, so they take longer to get to speed. Also, being that they stop often, they spend more time not moving at all. Furthermore, buses may be equipped with a Governor which limits their maximum speed. --Jayron32 20:39, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Bus engines are designed for capacity and fuel efficiency, sacrificing speed. Buses are also heavy. Two factors which affect both top speed and acceleration. Vimescarrot (talk) 20:46, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Also deceleration, i.e. they have to start slowing-down sooner. And don't many states set a lower maximum speed for buses than for cars (e.g. 55 instead of 65)? ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 21:00, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

There are also limits to how must acceleration/deceleration that human beings who are not strapped in can safely tolerate. Ideally a bus would accelerate and decelerate much faster than a car, because it has people without seat belts in it, some of whom may be standing (or in wheel chairs, or children, or elderly, etc.) --Mr.98 (talk) 00:59, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I assume you meant to say that "a bus would accelerate and decelerate much SLOWER than a car"? ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 01:12, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

And what fun would that be ? :-) StuRat (talk) 16:59, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Even if the speed limits are the same, buses tend to actually drive to them (the consequences for a bus driver speeding being rather worse than others). Also round here buses have other restrictions, such as always stopping at level crossings. DJ Clayworth (talk) 21:36, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Level crossing? Here in the US, school buses have to stop at railroad crossings, open the door for a better view of the track, and then they may close the door and cross. Dismas| 00:55, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Level crossing is non-American for railroad crossing. And here the same restrictions on school buses apply to city buses. DJ Clayworth (talk) 19:28, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Interestingly in my home town (York) the council have recently proposed buses in the city having to drive at no more than 20mph rather than the 30mph that most of the roads around the city are limited to. The piece made our 'yokel' press - http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4780312.York_bus_drivers_face_20mph_limit/ ny156uk (talk) 22:39, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

According to the comments on that article, the story is rubbish. I guess the Press is up to its usual trick of trolling for reader letters. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 08:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Many (school) buses also have speed regulators set at 60 mph or so. Nadando (talk) 02:07, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Buses are amazingly slow. There are the reasons already listed, and also they may not go directly from your starting point to destination, but may instead turn off to go to other stops. Also, allow extra time to wait for the bus to pick you up. My brother has found that he can ride his bicycle 5 miles to work far faster than the bus can get him there. StuRat (talk) 16:59, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

December 9

Olives

Why are green olives sold in glass jars and black olives in cans? I happen to like black olives much more than green -- but are they considered second class olives? DRosenbach 00:41, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm going to take a wild guess here: That because green olives are packed in vinegar, they are not canned, because the vinegar might interact with the metal in the can. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 01:11, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

The Straight Dope answers this one pretty thoroughly : Why is it that green olives come in glass jars but black olives come in cans? APL (talk) 01:54, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Aha, it has to do with prepping the ripe olives to protect from botulism. Nothing to do with vinegar interacting with the can. In essence, they're cooked in the can, which they couldn't do with the glass unless it was Pyrex or something, which would probably make the container more expensive than its contents. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 02:24, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I get my black (Kalamata) olives in glass jars. Kalamata olives IMO are the only ones worth buying. The standard black olives are tolerable on pizza or salad, if you're in a low-expectations mode, but I can't imagine buying them separately at the supermarket. And green olives let's not even talk about. --Trovatore (talk) 02:36, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Interesting post -- what else do you do with olives, other than put them on pizza or in salad? DRosenbach 02:48, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

All sorts of things. Put them in an omelette. Make a toasted cheese sandwich (extra-sharp aged cheddar, habanero chiles, a little avocado, and Kalamata olive). Or just eat them straight. I wouldn't ordinarily bother doing any of those things with the cheap black olives -- the habanero would completely overwhelm them, and eating them straight would be only because I was hungry and couldn't find anything better. --Trovatore (talk) 02:56, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I forgot to mention the tomato-on-the-vine in the cheese sandwich. That went without saying, didn't it? --Trovatore (talk) 02:57, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Black olives are OK on a pizza, green olives are tastier in general. I'm reminded of an old vaudeville-era joke: "We didn't raise olives, but we made them. We knew how." "How do you 'make' olives?" "You take green peas, put them in vinegar, and when they swell up they are olives!" ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 02:47, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Green olives are "tastier" in the sense that they taste like vinegar. If you like vinegar, and want to chew on something at the same time, I suppose that's fine. But they have almost no taste of olive. You get much more of that from even the cheap black olives. --Trovatore (talk) 02:51, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

They're both OK. Black olives have a mild taste. I don't mind the vinegariness of green olives. You're talking to someone who likes lutefisk, so my tastes are broad. But black olives seem to work better when included with other things - like on a pizza. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 03:35, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You don't have to mind the vinegariness, but you surely admit that it's impossible to taste any actual olive in a green olive. --Trovatore (talk) 03:42, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I truly didn't know. I just assumed that's the way they taste, even when sliced and embedded in olive loaf cold cuts and the like. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 03:50, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Kalamata olives take the olive taste that the cheap black olives only hint at, and bump it up several notches. That's why they're the only ones I buy. --Trovatore (talk) 03:43, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice! That item is now on my shopping list. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 03:50, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

By the way, all these articles seem to refer to olives as "fruit" without much elaboration. I understand that it's botanically accurate to call them a fruit, just as it is for cucumber or bell pepper. But does anyone really think of olives as a fruit, in a culinary sense? --Trovatore (talk) 02:44, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Since we're discussing it, Trovatote is right on here. I would consider Kalamata olives to be outside of the usual "green vs. black" dichotomy being discussed here. Kalamata olives are brownish red, and as noted, the canned or jarred black or green olives are pretty much shit next to real olives. Any olives sold in brine and in bulk and whole with the pits still in are far better than any of those crappy flavorless ones. I'll eat Kalamatas by the handful as a snack. The local grocery store carries them in bulk; you can fill up a little pint plastic tub with them and take them home whenever you want. They also have about half a dozen other varieties to sample. Yum. --Jayron32 06:35, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Seems like they could figure out a way to pit them without damaging their quality too much. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 06:38, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Definitely one of the more fascinating RefDesk topics of late. I was of the opinion that I didn't like olives, but listening to you folks run on makes me start to think that I've never actually had a real one. Might have to go shopping myself! 218.25.32.210 (talk) 08:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I might try Kalamata olives, too, if I can find them in Detroit. What do they usually cost ? (By comparison, a can of about 27 black olives in brine usually costs me around US$1.00. I like black olives, but only after I drain them and soak them in fresh water to get rid of some of the salt.) StuRat (talk) 16:49, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Probably more expensive. My local Food Lion sells bulk olives of all varieties at a "mix-and-match" olive bar (basically a bunch of barrels of different kinds of olives) for something like $5.99 a pound, so a quarter-pound tub runs me about a $1.50. More expensive than the canned kind, but then again, it is worth it. As far as how you'll like Kalamata olives, I make no guarantees. I can only say that I never liked olives before I had them myself, working at a Greek-owned pizza joint in my town. They changed my mind. --Jayron32 17:28, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

If you like black olives, try oil-cured olives. I think Moroccan olives are best. I like them even better than Kalamata olives as a filling for omelettes or a topping for putanesca sauce. Your local Middle Eastern grocer will have them if your supermarket doesn't. Marco polo (talk) 20:21, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

"oil-cured"? I don't think that can be right. Olives are cured either in water, brine or a solution of sodium hydroxide (hmm, tasty eh?) When they have cured they are either placed in a clean brine or an oil to further preserve them. 'Curing' olives to remove the bitter, acid and peppery taste of the fresh fruit is not possible with oil. Richard Avery (talk) 09:04, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Um, again, "fruit"? Really? Sure, botanically. But does anyone really think of them as fruit? --Trovatore (talk) 09:15, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

A botanist would, no doubt. Botanists are people too. -- Jack of Oz (Speak!) 10:56, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, it seems we just did think of them as fruit. Just shows how flexible the English language is. I think it is tedious to keep referring to them as olives and it is certainly weird if you call them vegetables. If you have any reasonable alternative I'll give it a go. Richard Avery (talk) 15:03, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I put into google and came up with quite a few entries. Consensus seems to be "fruit". This site implies that it's considered a fruit because it grows on a tree. Yet its oil product is considered to be a "vegetable oil", so go figure. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 15:15, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Vegetable oil is the generic name for any oil coming from a plant, be it Sunflower oil which comes from seeds (as do a large number of oils), Rice bran oil whice comes from the germ and husk, Palm oil which comes from the fruit of the oil palm or any other oil coming from any part of a plant even something like Cottonseed oil which comes from a plant not usually thought of as a food crop (although could change according to cotton). Technically it doesn't even have to be edible, but usually when people talk about vegetable oils they're talking about edible oils because non edible oils have traditionally been of limited general interest (with the increasing interest in biofuels,, this may be changing). In terms of the olives things, I have an olive tree and although I don't eat the fruit because of extensive processing required, I would call them fruit if not olives because that's what they are and there's nothing else to call them. I would find callimg them 'vegetables' odd (not so much with tomatoes or cucumbers say) and a simple search shows lots of people calling them fruit but a search for 'olive vegetable' shows primarily results for something with olives + vegetables or questions about whether an olive is a fruit or a vegetable . Even taking away the fruit questions doesn't show much (but works with cucumber for example) Nil Einne (talk) 02:17, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

They aren't sweet, and they aren't tart. Culinary "fruits", in my usage, have to be one or the other, and usually both. Tomatoes and avocados are culinary "vegetables". I admit "vegetable" sounds strange for olives. They sort of shade into "condiments", although you eat more of them than you do a typical condiment. --Trovatore (talk) 02:23, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Snow day

Is tomorrow going to be a snow day? ~ ~ ~ ~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.230.148.207 (talk) 02:18, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

It might be, if it snows heavily where you are. And geolocate says your ISP is in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, so you've got a fair shot at a snow day. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 02:19, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Naw, I'm in Milwaukee. My ISP is always off by a couple miles. 76.230.148.207 (talk) 02:22, 9 December 2009 (UTC)}}

Same general area. So it depends on which portion of the storm hits you. How much is on the ground so far, and is it still snowing? ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 02:26, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

There's no more than 3 inches (I think 7.5 cm, if you're that type) on the ground, but it's still snowing —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.230.148.207 (talk) 02:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You won't know until the morning. It depends on whether the road crews work continuously (and redundantly) through the night, or if they wait until it stops. They would probably do the major arteries more than once. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 02:44, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You can sign up for snow day email alerts at this page. Not sure if it covers your area, so your mileage may vary. Dismas| 05:57, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I assume you've tried asking 22:36, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

It seems 'alright', according to that. Anyway, I doubt the OP wanted to know what the weather was like in London, UK, and it was equally irrelevant to me (not being anywhere near London). --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 03:38, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

? That site gives you the fucking weather for anywhere you ask. Based on the OP's ISP, for example, . I'm guessing that the temperature given is in Fahrenheit, or I think I'd be dead. 86.166.148.95 (talk) 13:29, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Minus two fahrenheit is rather colder than minus two celsius. Of course, as you approach 40 below, they get closer. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 15:17, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but I don't live there. 86.140.172.206 (talk) 19:43, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Do you need to refrigerate Thousand Island dressing?

This salad dressing right here: The ingredients are listed.

It doesn't seem to have mayonnaise in it, but is instead apparently made of a soybean oil base.

It has an expiration date (but then, so do many potato chips and bottles of beer), but it does not say "KEEP REFRIGERATED" or "REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING" on the bottle.

If it was left out in the open for 2 days, would it need to be thrown out? 173.66.202.179 (talk) 03:26, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

There is e-mail and phone contact information on that web site which you linked to. Their answer should serve as a guide. Bus stop (talk) 03:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Was it left for two days with the top on and closed, or off/open. If off/open, I would be inclined to play safe and throw it out. If on and closed, consider whether or not the store where it was bought keeps it on chilled or refrigerated shelves; if not then it's likely OK. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 00:25, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Not exactly, since the bottle on the uncooled shelf was sealed. Mayonnaise is stored on shelves at the store at room temperature, but must be kept refrigerated after opening. Googlemeister (talk) 15:00, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Not really relevant, since (a) this product apparently does not contain mayonnaise

(whose article reads in part "There is a misconception that foods like potato salad can make a person sick if left out in the sun, due to the mayonnaise spoiling. This is false; the pH of mayonnaise prevents harmful bacteria from growing in it. Left out of refrigeration, mayonnaise will develop an unappetizing taste and smell, due to other types of bacteria and molds that can spoil it; but will not make one sick"),

and (b) is not labelled as requiring refrigeration. There is in any case often a gap between what manufacturers are constrained to say to cover their arses in case of idiocy, and what may with the application of common sense be an acceptibly low risk. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 01:02, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

There are definitely things which require refrigeration after opening but not before, although these would usually say they do. Oyster sauce is one, I know from experience of things growing in it after a while (ths happened multiple times). Obviously we're talking weeks rather then days. Even something like (commercial) jam, which of course is intended as a method of preserving fruit can go moldy (again from personal experience as well as ) although perhaps this is related to modern methods (e.g. reduced sugar) and the like as well Nil Einne (talk) 03:42, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Social networking sites

Is wikipedia a social networking site? BigDunc 15:31, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Not really, no. Usually when people say 'social networking' they mean sites where individuals go to communicate with other individuals (one-to-one or one-to-many) e.g. Facebook, MySpace etc. Misplaced Pages is a socially-collaborative website in that it is developed and maintained by (mostly voluntary) individuals. Or to put it more brand-like "it's the encyclopedia anybody can edit". 15:36, 9 December 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk)

It's actually quite difficult to adequately build a "social network" on Misplaced Pages—it is a site designed around editing content, not connecting with others. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:40, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Our "What Misplaced Pages is not" policy has a section on how it's not a social networking site. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 16:26, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

That being said, there are social aspects to Misplaced Pages editing. It is, afterall, fundementally a collaborational project, and when you collaborate long-term with a group of people, you tend to develop a "social network" among those people, if you will. After all, I recognize and get to know people by their on-wiki personalities, and there are even things like "Wiki-meetups" and the like, where wikipedians get together; they would have not otherwise met had Misplaced Pages not existed. That being said, the social networking aspect of Misplaced Pages is supposed to be of secondary concern. Misplaced Pages has an ethic which holds that content holds primacy over all else. So while Misplaced Pages is not a social networking website it does have some aspects of social networking which go on as part of a secondary function of its role as a collaborationally-written encyclopedia. --Jayron32 17:23, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Indeed. And there is an argument that has been made (though maybe I was the only one who used to make it!) that the encyclopedia is an excuse for a community, and that it is really the community that makes the encyclopedia. Hence the reason why empty forks look so pathetic and seem to miss the point. But that being said, I wouldn't call it a social networking site. It doesn't really exist to facilitate networking at all. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:38, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Ideally, it's the other way around - positive social networking facilitates the site. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 23:43, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Dialysis law

The nurses at the facility where my Dad has his dialysis feel free to change his treatment from the prescription, by lowering the flow rate, without his permission (or even notifying him). A low flow rate means no "alarms" will go off, which makes things easier for the nurses, but doesn't provide for a full dialysis. I complained about this and asked if the dialysis machine can be placed so he can view the flow rate himself. (It's on wheels and could easily be turned to a 45° angle.) Their answer was "Michigan state law doesn't allow this, since the patients could fiddle with the controls". This sounds like total BS to me. So, where can I get a definitive answer as to whether this is the case or not ? Ideally, assuming it's not actually the law, I'd like to be able to get a letter from a state official stating that. StuRat (talk) 16:35, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Can you discuss this with his doctor? Or, is there an ombudsman at the dialysis facility?99.166.95.142 (talk) 16:42, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid we can't give legal advice. The hospital will have a formal complaints procedure - I suggest you go through it. --Tango (talk) 17:22, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

"Legal advice" would be if I asked "should I sue ?". I'm not asking that, only what the law states. That isn't any different than, say, asking which states have the death penalty. StuRat (talk) 17:35, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You asked what the law is for a specific real life situation. That is a request for legal advice. While we can look up and tell you the law we don't know if you've missed out a key detail in the story that means the standard law wouldn't apply. That is why we don't answer these kinds of questions. --Tango (talk) 20:43, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You should ask someone other than the nurses, who are liable to take offense. I'd start with whoever wrote the prescription and/or is his attending physician. ~ Amory (u • t • c) 17:45, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You should talk to the doctor immediately; the nurses have no business altering his prescription. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:17, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

And if the doctor is unresponsive, you should tell him that you will have no other choice, then, but to consult a lawyer, since the Ref Desk can't suggest that a malpractice lawsuit might be a recourse. Marco polo (talk) 20:14, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You can search teh Michigan Compiled Laws. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  23:47, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I hazard a guess that Michigan Department of Community Health might be the place to enquire; they're responsible for regulating licenced medical practitioners in the state through the Bureaus of Health Professions and Health Systems. I suggest digging around on that website and rattling their cages. Best wishes for your dad's health. --Tagishsimon (talk) 00:23, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Downloading English wiki with included media

I was wondering if it would be possible to download the English Misplaced Pages with all included media. I know there are database dump of the raw text. what I don't know is if there is a dump for its media counterpart. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.104.186.192 (talk) 17:16, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You may want to ask at the Misplaced Pages:Help desk, they may be more suited to answering a question of this nature. --Jayron32 17:17, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Word question

"witness" comes from this greek word and means___?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 17:17, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

It comes from the word DYOH, and means Do Your Own Homework. --LarryMac | Talk 17:22, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Find the wiktionary website or any other dictionary site and you should be able to get most any word's origin. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 17:24, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

The OED does not think it comes from Greek, fullstop. But really, Accdude: is the rest of the internet dead today, that you really cannot research an etymology yourself? --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:33, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

It's apparently been re-used by Christians as a literal translation of martyr. What that word meant to the Greeks I couldn't say. Something to do with being aware of or concerned about things seems to be the general theme. 213.122.50.56 (talk) 17:42, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Click me. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:47, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Business Network

Are there any business networking sites or blogs like social networking wherein people who want to start a busines humbly (supplier and buyer) as both need each other to begin any business in India or abroad..any hint would be a great help. thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.36.6 (talk) 18:27, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

LinkedIn? --Jayron32 18:38, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Zentrada? --Ouro (blah blah) 12:54, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Recent temperature records

Last week when the temperatures in New England shattered the all-time record for hottest days, I read an article that had information about there being four times as many local hottest days on record than coldest days on record. I have seached Google and News for it but can't find it. Can you help? Thanks! Reywas92 20:39, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but I don't understand your question. Last week, I think on Thursday, many locations in New England had temperatures that exceeded the previous record high for that date. For every date, in every location, there is exactly one record high temperature and one record low temperature. Are you trying to say that the record high for a given date had been recorded in several different years, but that the record low for that date had only been recorded once? Or are you trying to say something else? Marco polo (talk) 21:05, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I think the questioner is referring to how many times recently the record for hottest/coldest temperature on a given day was broken. DJ Clayworth (talk) 21:08, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I would think the Urban heat island effect casts some doubt over what you can draw from an increase in record temperatures in one particular location. An increasing population (or just greater sprawling of the existing population) likely means deforestation and paving things over, which increases temperature measurements in the city. That's why there is an effort to either correct for urban temperature measurements or use rural temperature measurements when mapping temperature changes across a wider area, and since a lot of weather data is not collected in rural areas, I believe satellite measurements are preferred for measurements of global temperatures. TastyCakes (talk) 21:32, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

The number of times a record is broken is a bit of a fuzzy thing. Suppose the record high for this entire week from 100 years ago was 100F. Now imagine a rising heat trend over a period of a week in which the daily highest temperature goes 98,99,100,101,102,103,104 - was the record broken four times or only once? If your answer is "4 times" then did the record get broken 24x4=95 times because we measured the temperature every hour? Was it only 4 times because it got cooler each night? In the end, there was one record-breaking phenomenon - and it could have lasted all summer and still been only one notable phenomenon. So I'm not sure this means much. SteveBaker (talk) 22:10, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

On the other hand, the problems with record highs ought to be the same as the problems with record lows, so if one is breaking one far more often than the other then it is suggestive of a shift in climate. Dragons flight (talk) 22:35, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Expansion of urban heat islands wouldn't have much effect on records in New England over recent decades. The region's population is not expanding much, and what sprawl has occurred since, say, 1970, has not affected many of the region's weather stations. Either they were within an urban heat island in 1970 and still are, or they weren't then and aren't now. Marco polo (talk) 22:36, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Whoa! Sorry, I guess I didn't clarify. There was a news article about this. With the prompting of the high temperatures in New England, the article mentioned that in 2009, the daily temperature in cities in the US had like 19,000 record highs for that day, but only 4,500 record lows, or some big numbers. I am looking for that article, but I couldn't find it searching. Reywas92 02:25, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Here is one article along those lines. Marco polo (talk) 03:00, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!! That's it! Reywas92 03:47, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Cassette-tapes that turn a tape-deck into a CD/MP3 player

You know those cassette-tapes that had a headphone-cable sticking out of them that you put in your car-stereo and it made you tape-deck work so you could play your portable CD player through it? They were popular in the 90s - anyways...how did they work? 22:33, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Cassette tape adaptor --Mr.98 (talk) 23:13, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

I still have one and it works perfectly. And as the article notes, you can play an iPod through it also. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 23:42, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

You can still buy them - my son bought one a few months ago. They work by magnetism. Recall that the head in the tape deck picks up fluctuating magnetic levels as the tape moves past the head - so if you take an electromagnet - place it right next to the tape head and make the magnetic field vary with the voltage coming from the MP3 player - then the tape deck can't tell that there isn't any tape moving past. Interestingly, the electromagnet in my son's machine is just another tape head - driven "backwards". The quality isn't great - but since his car doesn't have a CD player or an audio input jack - hijacking the tape input is the only option. SteveBaker (talk) 00:24, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

It's not the only option. There also exist small FM transmitters that are designed to hook up to mp3 players. You just have to set your radio to the required station and you've got yourself a car mp3 player. I've never used one, but have a friend who does. We use the mp3-to-tape method, but the weird thing is that the fake cassette actually has the little toothed spools in it and you can hear them rattling around in there. I wonder if the mechanism will still work if I crack the cassette and take them out. May have to be some OR tonight! Matt Deres (talk) 18:06, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

The cassette tape adaptor article explains that the spindle is part of a system that tricks the tape player into thinking there's a tape moving in the casette. Modern tape players monitor the tape motion to know if they need to switch sides. You might try this test first: Take the spindles and tape out of a normal cassette tape and insert the empty cassette into your player and see what happens. --Bavi H (talk) 01:58, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

December 10

Most Frequent Placename

I would like to collect a list of placenames that have been used as a name for a place and then reused as a name for another place. An example of what I mean would be Birmingham (UK) in the 'used' bracket and the insane number of Birminghams in the US in the 'reused' bracket. Can anyone think of some of the ones reused the most? This is not restricted to placenames of British origin, and any country/language will be counted (such as the huge number of Alexandrias and Romes). TIA! --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 03:34, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Nah - only 16 Birminghams in the US. I believe Newtown with 17 is commonest in the UK (there are 19 in the US, and loads more elsewhere). But there are 38 Springfields in the US alone (lots more elsewhere) - so that probably wins in the USA (which is why they picked that name for The Simpsons). SteveBaker (talk) 04:08, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

(EC with above) I had always heard that if you include close varient spellings, the most common placename in the U.S. is Greenville, incl. Greeneville, which at my count has 36 occurances in the U.S. Another one would be Springfield, which may have a larger number of "sizable" cities (Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Virginia, Missouri), and 38 total names in the U.S. Fairfield has many too. In the francophone world, Saint-Rémy shows up in a TON of communes, named for Saint Remigius, who was essentially the "St. Patrick" of France. --Jayron32 04:09, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

There are probably a lot of Washingtons in the USA (maybe not all that many in England). ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 04:16, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Washington (disambiguation) indicates 38 cities and 31 counties, to start with. There are also several mountains, and countless city streets named for ol' George. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 04:18, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Oddly - our List of the most common U.S. place names lists Clinton with just 29 - and Springfield getting credited with just 20?!? But our Springfield disambiguation page lists far more than that?!? I guess the list criterion is more restrictive or something. Weird.

Aha! We have List of popular place names - which appears to be a world-wide list. San José appears to be the clear winner with 1,716 places listed with that name!

...and The most common place name in America attempts to ask which place names appear in the most states (not quite the same question - but interesting). It says:

• "Riverside can be found in all but four states (it does not exist in Hawaii, Alaska, Louisiana, and Oklahoma)."
• "The runner up was Centerville in 45 states, followed by Fairview (43 states), Franklin (42), Midway (40), Fairfield (39), Pleasant Valley (39), Troy (39), Liberty (38), and Union (38)."
• "Springfield isn't even in the top ten (only 35 states have a Springfield)."

But this says: Franklin – 37, Salem – 36, Washington – 32, Springfield – 32. Clinton – 31. I don't know who to believe.

SteveBaker (talk) 04:33, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Some years ago I downloaded a copy of the freely available US Geographic Names Information System database, extracted a list of "populated places" not designated historical, and examined it for the most common ones. The results were numbers far larger than the ones given for US place names in this thread or at the Misplaced Pages list of common US place names (which is based on Census Bureau data). I presume this is because a large number of the "populated places" noted by the USGS are unincorporated hamlets/villages considered insignificant for census (or postal) purposes; or maybe some of them are city neighborhoods or that sort of thing.

Anyway, the top place name turned out to be Midway, with 217 instances occurring in 39 different states, including 27 instances in Texas, 22 in Tennessee, and 15 in Arkansas. These are all the place names occurring 100 or more times:

  Occurrences  States   Place Name
      217        39     Midway
      208        39     Fairview
      166        31     Oak Grove
      149        28     Five Points
      125        46     Riverside
      123        30     Pleasant Hill
      115        31     Mount Pleasant
      110        34     Bethel
      108        43     Centerville

Regarding the place name in found in the most states, my result agreed with one cited above: Riverside, in the same 46 states. And the most occurrences of the same place name in the same state was Five Points, Pennsylvania, with 31 instances (Five Points also occurred 21 times in Georgia, 17 in Alabama, and 15 in Ohio), followed by Oak Grove, Tennessee, with 29 (and 17 in Arkansas and 13 in Alabama).

Of course, none of these beats the worldwide figure mentioned above for San José. --Anonymous, 05:06 UTC, December 10, 2009.

Which gives new meaning to this song. -- Jack of Oz (Speak!) 10:52, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes. If there are actually 1,716 places with that name, theoretically you could start off in any direction, follow the associated great-circle route, and have a good chance of hitting at least one of them along the way. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 11:12, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Excellent results! Thanks a lot guys! I guessed it wouldn't be a placename in the English speaking world that would hold the title of 'most reused', but couldn't be sure. Right, San José it is! --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 14:57, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the "most reused" name is surely not one in US/Europe. For example there are 100s (1000s?) of villages in India named Rampur. I could find no systematic way of finding the exact number online, but this search should give you some idea of how often Rampur is used as at least part of the name - and Rampur is probably not even the most common of such names in India. US census lists some 25,000 places in its survey, while India has over 600,000 villages alone; so it's not surprising that names tend to get repeated much more there. I am guessing that the situation in China would be similar, especially since linguistically it is more homogeneous. Abecedare (talk) 16:58, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I have to say - it's REALLY annoying that there isn't a single, clear answer to this! No matter the source - the answers never seem to agree. Even in a place like the US, where everything is digitised and computerised to the N'th degree - we still have no clear, unambiguous answer to this rather simple question! It's not even that the numbers are close - we have places like "Clinton" which one source claims is by far the most common name - and it doesn't appear AT ALL on some of the others! We have "San Jose" being listed as the most with 1,500 places - then we are told there is some other place with close to 20 times that number of occurances! How can we be sure of any of this when all of the sources disagree so violently about such a relatively simple matter?

Probably, the difficulty is that of having a solid criterion. For example - would a street named "Springfield Street" count as an occurrance of "Springfield"? Would it be OK if there was a river called that? Does it have to be an inhabited place? Does it have to be on maps or in the census? I think that can be the only reason we're having such a hard time answering this.

SteveBaker (talk) 21:49, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that there is no clear definition, at least in the U.S., on what an "inhabited place" means. Do we restrict it to incorporated municipalities? What then of Arlington, Virginia or Honolulu, Hawaii, neither of which is incorporated as a city. What qualifies a place name to be a place name? Do neighborhoods within incorporated cities count? What do you do when comparing a place like New England, which is organized very differently than say the Midwest or the South (see New England town)? Is a civil township a place? Is a county a place? What about place names which used to be used, but have fallen into disuse? The GNIS is likely to be riddled with places which are like this, which makes it hard to decide how to exactly count a place as a place. --Jayron32 22:07, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah - sure. What surprises me is how the top name on one list isn't even in the top 10 in another. Very few (if any) of those names show up in all of the lists. Still - that's how it is. Weird. SteveBaker (talk) 04:45, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Fwiw, the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) "populated place" class includes ghost towns--that is, it includes any place that was populated at some point in time, unless the place is completely and physically removed from the landscape, in which case it is supposed to be labeled "historical". "Supposed to be" meaning only that that is what the USGS aims for, but ymmv. It also includes things not usually considered populated places, like railway sidings. Pfly (talk) 07:38, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Life Expectancy, Infant Mortality, and Death Rate

What was the life expectancy of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

What was the infant mortality rate of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

What was the under-five mortality rate of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

What was the death rate of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

What was the neonatal infant mortality rate of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

What was the early neonatal infant mortality rate of the world in 2000, in the exact beginning of the year 2000?

Bowei Huang (talk) 05:01, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure such statistics are kept to the details on a day-to-day basis. You may be able to find such demographic data for the year 2000, but I doubt that it is kept to the level of detail such that it is known for "the exact beginning" of the year (say January 1) versus the next day, or the day after that. --Jayron32 05:59, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

To answer the question more directly, the CIA World Factbook keeps most of these statistics annually, so if you want the 2000 data, you would probably need either the 2000 or the 2001 edition of the CIA World Factbook. Your local library may contain such back issues. You could also do a simple google search for all of the above terms (such as "Life expentency 2000" or something like that) and you may find results that way. Play around a bit with Google, and good things can come back to you. --Jayron32 06:03, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

A quick google search turned up this as the first link for the term I quoted above, and a link in that article led me to this database at the U.S. census. You can likely find much of the information you need there. Click "Data access", then click the "region" tab, select the data table you want, then check "world" and "2000" from the next two pull downs, and viola, you get whatever you are looking for. --Jayron32 06:08, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

If not 1 January 2000, then what about January 2000, round about the beginning of 2000, early 2000, or the year 2000? If not that, then I mean these things.

Bowei Huang (talk) 23:53, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Did you look at the links I provided? The U.S. Census International Database link I gave above has just about exactly what you need. --Jayron32 00:54, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

how can i increase my height without going to the gym?

i also cant hang from anything, because... there's no such thing to hang onto. please suggest any excercise and also, if possible, dietary needs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.50.132.6 (talk) 15:59, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Proper nutrition is believed to be an important component of height, but this really only applies if you're still growing. Once you're done growing, the primary options are illusions, with elevator shoes or high-heeled shoes being prime examples. There's also the extremely controversial practice of applying distraction osteogenesis to break and lengthen one's limbs. Note that "hanging from things" isn't on this list anywhere. It won't make you taller. — Lomn 16:12, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't think going to the gym is going to increase your height no matter what you do, unless they have a rack. 99.166.95.142 (talk) 16:31, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Spend most of the day lying down. Apparently, standing up compresses the spine. And lying down is much nicer than standing up, especially if you're lazy like me. --Dweller (talk) 16:39, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

The two main factors of determination of adult human height are genetic and diet during the periods of growth during childhood and puberty. If you want to increase your body's height and you are no longer growing, you are out of luck, since a diet change will not help you grow more (though it may help prevent losing height in the elderly), and the technology to change an adult's genes is pretty much non-existent. I suppose if an adult were to develop a pituitary disorder, they might restart growing, but that comes with some very severe consequences, and good luck finding a doctor willing to instigate something like that. Googlemeister (talk) 17:07, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Some doctors will help some people to grow taller if they're very short, by controlled injections of Human Growth Hormone. See Growth hormone treatment. 99.166.95.142 (talk) 17:33, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

(Seriously) hair style and careful choice of clothes can also give an appearance of being taller. --Dweller (talk) 18:01, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

You could always ware stilts Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 18:10, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

William Goldman wrote in one of his two "screen trade" books that nearly all actors are short, and all are shorter than they want to be; and that most of them wear "risers" in their shoes, and he knows at least one who wears risers in his socks. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:14, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Heh. That reminds me of an anecdote I ran across the other day. Matt Damon (5 feet, 10 inches) will be playing South African rugby player Francois Pienaar (6 feet, 3 inches) in the movie Invictus. On meeting Pienaar for the first time, Damon reportedly blurted – in an attempt to be reassuring – "I look much bigger on film.": . TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:26, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

You might have more luck with self-acceptance.--Shantavira| 08:32, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Try to be seen emerging from lower-than-average doorways. This technique was explained to me at Universal Studios, California as the way they built sets to make cowboys appear big, and conversely heroinnes to appear petite with high doorways. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:20, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Trip from Fairbanks, Alaska to Rio Grande, Argentina

If I got the top of the line, brand new Hummer, would it be possible to drive from Fairbanks, Alaska to Rio Grande, Argentina? If so, what would be suggested that I would need? My own opinion is that it wouldn't be safe but I'm just curious. It would be a trip of a lifetime. --Reticuli88 (talk) 18:46, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Do you mean by road? If so, you can't because there's a big gap in the Pan-American Highway as I understand it. But if you don't mind taking a ferry I'm bet you can do it. I'm sure there's a lot of crappy roads in Central and South America that would make it less safe, but very doable, particularly in a vehicle like a hummer. TastyCakes (talk) 18:50, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

You might be interested in reading Road Fever by Tim Cahill, who drove from Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay. --LarryMac | Talk 19:06, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

OH! I can't wait to get that book! Thanks! LarryMac! --Reticuli88 (talk) 13:23, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

The gap is called the Darién Gap. The article claims it is "frequented" by 4WD vehicles, but there's no explanation of what this really means. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:08, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

While I wouldn't be surprised if hobbyists and regularly ventured into the fringes of the Gap, I suspect that few are interested in trying a full crossing. Based on the article, it appears that there have been infrequent attempts to completely cross the gap using four-wheel-drive vehicles (Land Rovers and Jeeps), motorcycles, bicycles, and even on foot. Most such attempts have employed ferries or barges to cross over or move along portions of the Atrato River. The first successful, all-land, four-wheel vehicle journey across the entire Gap took place between 1985 and 1987, taking a stunning 741 days to travel 125 miles. (That trip employed a CJ-5 Jeep.) It's actually faster to do it by bicycle or motorcycle, because you don't have to go around quite so many rocks and trees.... TenOfAllTrades(talk) 19:20, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

The Misplaced Pages article says that the 1959-60 crossing by Land Rover zoomed across (partly over water) at an ear-popping speed of one furlong—220 yds, 1/8 mile or 201 metres—per hour. Of course the armies of World War I could take months to advance (or retreat) that distance. Usain Bolt took less than 20 seconds (1/180 of an hour) to cover 200 metres in the 2008 Summer Olympics and Veronica Campbell-Brown took less than 22. —— Shakescene (talk) 10:43, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

My brother and his new bride did almost this very trip for their honeymoon a few years ago and as a practical matter skipped Colombia anyway, due to political/crime problems there. They did it in a 30 year old van (guess which brand), so you don't need anything new or top of the line. --Sean 19:53, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

If I were making the selection of vehicle, I wouldn't choose an H3. They're too luxury and not enough offroad. Additionally, when you break something, it will be harder to find parts in South America for anything like a new H3. Go for something older that's easier to work on. If it were me, I'd go with a Jeep CJ, YJ, or TJ or one of a number of Toyota trucks or even a Land Rover. Dismas| 22:20, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

You might find this archived question of interest. Astronaut (talk) 05:02, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

People are too easily dazzled by the Hummer brand name. The H3 isn't anything special - it's an Isuzu chassis that's also used on a bunch of relatively recent GM/Chevvy trucks. H2's are Chevvy Tahoes with different body panels...a soccer Mom's SUV dressed up to look like a serious off-roader. The only Hummer that's in any way a special kind of off-road monster is the original military HMMMV and the civilian version of it. Of course those are a total liability in town - they are hard to drive, impossible to park - but they will get you through rough terrain better than one of the more modern soccer-mom-Hummers. In the back-of-beyond, what you need is something with a really good likelyhood of being able to get decent spares. If you break an axle on an H3 halfway through South America - you're screwed. You can't tow it out and you can't fix it. You need something much more basic - something that any shade-tree mechanic can fix - something that's been in use out there for enough years that the junkyards of South America are full of spares. I'm not surprised that someone could make it in a VW microbus - those things are stunningly reliable - and very easy to fix. If your H3 shows a Check-Engine light, you have zero chance of fixing it without a computer and all sorts of other complicated stuff. Pick an old Jeep or a Land Rover or something - find out what people are actually driving out there. Something that's already survived 20 years in those harsh conditions is the thing that's most likely to survive another year to get you where you're going. Something new and shiney with too much high-tech is not a great choice.

SteveBaker (talk) 05:11, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Besides the obvious issues of dealing with the terrain, there's one key question about The Gap: Where do you get gasoline? ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 05:25, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

The article says that the gap is 99 miles straight across with the first crossing taking a total of 125 miles. I don't know how to estimate HMMMV millage over rough terrain, but it doesn't seem unreasonable that you could carry the fuel with you. I'm assuming that there are reasonable sources of fuel to either side of the gap. APL (talk) 07:31, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

At those very low speeds, miles-per-gallon becomes a meaningless concept. Hours-per-gallon is probably a closer measure...but even so, it's very dependent on how you are able to drive. SteveBaker (talk) 22:32, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Personally I think the most obvious issue is the one Reticuli and Sean mention, i.e. how do you deal with the people with guns who'd have no qualms about kidnapping you for money or other purposes? Nil Einne (talk) 10:39, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks everyone for your input! (btw) I donated $ but my comment dodn't show up!  :( --Reticuli88 (talk) 13:23, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

December 11

Name for a kind of cake

A friend of mine is wondering about the name of a kind of cake he had in Britain (specifically, a school canteen in Sussex) made up of bananas, ground-up biscuits, whipped cream, etc. It's something like "Benoffi". Any ideas? 133.25.61.35 (talk) 08:10, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Banoffee pie 93.97.184.230 (talk) 08:25, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

...which was invented in Sussex where it remains very popular.--Shantavira| 08:44, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Obama Nobel Peace Prize Salutation

At the very beginning of Obama's speech on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, he said "Your Majesties, your Royal Highnesses, ...." My question is why would he say both? I understand that the Norwegian royals were there, and presumably other royalty -- is this difference in address warranted simply by the fact that one set is sovereign and the other set visiting, or is it because of differing conventions in the nations that had royalty attending? I assume that it wasn't a mistake on his part. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.106.180.134 (talk) 09:38, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Only monarchs and their consorts get "Majesty". Other persons of princely rank get "Highness". If various royals were in attendance, not all of whom were monarchs and consorts, then he'd be covering all the bases by using both forms of address. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 09:45, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if any members of the British Royal Family were present, but Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh (who is not His Majesty) †, Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales) and Charles' siblings, Princes Anne (the Princess Royal), Prince Edward and Prince Andrew, are all Their Royal Highnesses (H.R.H.) Only H.M. The Queen is Her Majesty.

† The uncrowned consort of a British Queen regnant is no longer made King; Prince Albert was His Royal Highness. However the wife of a British King is usually made Queen and Her Majesty. —— Shakescene (talk) 10:17, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

"no longer"? When was the consort of a British Queen regnant ever King? The only one I can think of is Philip II of Spain, and I don't think he ever actually did anything while married to Mary which qualified as royal. 99.166.95.142 (talk) 16:33, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

William III of England, to answer your question. To answer the OP, differing countries have differing styles, and there were a number of members of the royalty and nobility. It is probably the case that Obama was covering "all of his bases" here and useing both forms, which should have covered everyone present regardless of local protocol. --Jayron32 17:12, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

OK, I can buy that, though technically William was something like third in line to the throne, anyway.  :) 99.166.95.142 (talk) 17:14, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

tv

I've done some google search and can't find the info, so I hope you people can help. In the UK do you need a tv license if you own a television but never watch it, for example it's in a box in a cupboard with the plug removed? I read somewhere that you don't, and that the license is only for watching or recording television, not actually just owning a television set. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.54 (talk) 10:54, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

According to our article Television licensing in the United Kingdom, licenses are needed for devices that are "'installed or used"' for 'receiving a television programme at the same time (or virtually the same time) as it is received by members of the public.'" Given that TVs used exclusively as monitors or games consoles do not need a license, a TV that is not being used does not seem to need to be licensed either - only TVs that are actively in use to watch live programming. Obviously, if you ever decided to rescue the TV from the closet, then you would need to get a license. Xenon54 / talk / 11:19, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

There is detailed information in this Parliamentary document. It states that good evidence that a TV is installed but not being used is if no aerial is plugged in and the aerial socket is covered, and that the TV is detuned so that channels are not received - but none of these steps are necessary. So, according to this document, a TV in a box in a cupboard with the plug removed would certainly not need a license, but one plugged in and apparently ready to receive transmissions still does not need a license provided it is only ever used for permitted purposes, such as watching pre-recorded DVDs. Warofdreams talk 12:49, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, just try arguing that with the Authority! They claim that a TV plugged in, etc., is in use. You have to prove that you only use it for games. And in court after court if necessary until you run out of money. This is a government institution we are talking about! Of course simply owning a TV that is clearly not in use does not rquire a licence to be bought. To switch slightly - I cannot understand why the British (and I am British) don't collect the TV fees with the property taxes (as in France). Then individuals can opt out via a tick box on the payment form. A far more efficient, and cheaper, way of collecting the tax.Froggie34 (talk) 16:34, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Froggie34.

A better question is how they can justify such a fee in the first place. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 18:20, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

See Television licence, which goes into detail for many countries' license fees and what they are used for. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:43, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

And, specifically for the Brits, Television licensing in the United Kingdom and Television licensing in the United Kingdom (historical). Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:44, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I had forgotten that British TV is largely or totally publicly-funded. In a case like that, the license makes some sense - kind of a "voluntary tax". The USA is largely commercial TV, and public TV relies on a combination of public funding and individual pledges. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 19:00, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

As I recall, it has long been the policy of the US government that the airwaves are "free", that is you have the right to receive signals that are sent over the air. Now, if those signals are scrambled or encrypted or whatever, you may not have the right to unscramble them without a license of some kind for the decoder box, but that's a different story. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 19:04, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

FYI BB UK TV is a mixture of 'publicly funded' and commercial. There are several channels of BBC programmes and there are 3 other terrestrial commercial broadcasters. In addition cable and satellite companies can provide dozens more channels of 'TV Lite'. The major advantage of 'publicly funded' TV is no interruptions every 10 or 15 minutes for advertisements. I have watched US TV and I have watched UK TV. I know which irritated me more. Caesar's Daddy (talk) 19:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Note that Channel 4 is, unbeknownst to most people, also publicly owned. Unlike the BBC it shows adverts to fund itself, but was ultimately set up by government and originally was guaranteed a certain minimum income from it if the advertising didn't work out. The only fully commercial terrestrial channel in the UK is ITV (which, interestingly for some of those discussing below, is usually more or less rubbish). 93.97.184.230 (talk) 10:10, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Commercial TV (and radio, for that matter) have always had advertising, which is certainly irritating, but without it there would be no TV or radio as we know it. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 19:56, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Sloppy claim, Bugs. To start with, many pay TV channels without advertising are "commercial TV". And in 1939 and 1940 there were no ads; see History of television. You could imagine a new type of TV that was very expensive, with the excess cost used by the manufacturers to fund broadcasting. Ads are not required for TV to exist — show some imagination. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:07, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

(ec) The argument that "it's what we've had so far, thus it couldn't have been any other way" is not actually rigorous at all. Especially when there are other economic models (and especially when everybody has for the last few years been noting that subscription models seem to produce far better content on the whole, and advertisement-based models all seem to slip into "reality TV" modes). --Mr.98 (talk) 21:07, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I would take issue with the "far better content" claim. Most of the best shows of the last decade — Babylon 5, The West Wing, Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series), Supernatural (TV series) — came out of the ad-based model. Granted, there are a few HBO or Showtime shows that belong in the same company (Dead Like Me, possibly The Sopranos which I never really watched so I can't comment, maybe True Blood), but I don't see a real trend along the lines you state. --Trovatore (talk) 03:16, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Well this thread derailed quickly. Thank you Xenon54 and Warofdreams for the helpful answers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.54 (talk) 21:44, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

There has been a lot of ink spilled lately in business/entertainment periodicals on the fact that the trends that you get with ad-based models are generally pretty bad—lowest common denominator, lukewarm sitcoms, and, finally, reality TV (which is so much cheaper than making "real content", and caters so strongly to a channel-flipping audience, that it has, for example, completely replaced anything resembling music on the so-called music television channel). I do think you can make the argument, even without that, that the percentage of critical darlings on HBO/Showtime are a lot higher than the percentage on the ad-based model. Part of that is just the scale involved, but a lot of that is the investment model (the pay channels have a lot more riding on each show—ad-based channels seem to follow a "chuck a lot at the wall and see what sticks" model). --Mr.98 (talk) 17:08, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Nice to see a wandering thread... :-) Anyway, as I recall, it's a broadcast receiving license for tv, so if you are not receiving broadcasts for tv, then you don't need one. Not that they will leave you alone, you will be hounded by phone, mail, and people at the door who will be convinced you have a tv (even if there is not a single unit in the building) - they have the vision that no one in their right mind would want to live without a tv (I know someone without a tv, so I know this is what they do). But without any proof there is nothing they can do - of course if you are watching tv without a license then they may catch you - but I think there are only a very few detector vans, they prefer the badgering method.  Ronhjones  22:36, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

P.S. with respect to the amount of ads - if I recall correctly it's 8 minutes per hour max here.  Ronhjones  22:38, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Would that it were only eight minutes! or is my mental stopwatch faulty? Dbfirs 17:31, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

How do i repalce the oil pump seal in my 2.4 turbo diesel totota pick up

How do i repalce the oil pump seal in my 87 2.4 turbo diesel totota pick up —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dezelyota (talk • contribs) 15:50, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Hire a Mechanic or take it to an auto-repair shop...Get a Haynes Manual - they are well worth the investment if you plan on repairing your car as it breaks and personally i've never seen another company produce manuals that are anywhere near as good as Haynes do. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 15:59, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Here's the manuals for Toyota - find the one that matches your vehicle and you should be fine(http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10001&categoryId=14540&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=10215&top_category=null). 194.221.133.226 (talk) 16:01, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Against the above endorsement of Haynes Manuals one can weigh such comments as "Haynes manuals' reputation for poor information quality" (Scheinwerfermann 14:52, 27 July 2007), "there is a great deal of support for my dim opinion of Haynes' manuals." (ibid 03:03. 19 August 2007), and "I identify with your prejudice of Haynes being the Big Book Of Lies, some of their info is a/ unclear, b/ out of date, c/ just plain wrong in certain instances..." (82.46.180.56 18:31, 22 April 2008). Full disclosure: I own Haynes manuals for 4 vehicles in 2 languages and they are well thumbed manuals.Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:07, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Certainly, the Haynes manuals are often referred to by old car enthusiasts as "The Big Book of Lies" (that term is so commonplace in our Mini club that you hardly ever hear the real name for them!) - but in truth, they are the best of a generally bad bunch. To be fair, many cars go through small design revisions at intervals of maybe 6 months or less - and with the wide range of optional extras on some cars, it can be literally true that no two cars are the same. When a car manual spans maybe half a dozen years of models - there are bound to be differences. So while I'll continue to describe the books as "The big book of lies" - I own a bunch of them and I'd certainly recommend them above other similar books. SteveBaker (talk) 22:53, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Steve, I thought your Mini got munched. Did you get another one or do you just still go to the meetings and sob quietly? :) Franamax (talk) 22:57, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

The Haynes car manuals that I have seen are aimed at the home mechanic and give some advice about the degree of difficulty or special tools needed for various repairs. Generally they are helpful enough for a task like the OP (replacing an oil seal) but not much use for motor engineering such as reconditioning a transmission or race-tuning a camshaft or a carburetter. This could be SteveBaker's mini club. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:52, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Freedom to reject speech

Isn't there a body of law growing up that says somebody can't sue you for violating their free speech rights if you say you don't want to hear it? 4.249.3.116 (talk) 16:14, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

People have the right to free speech, but there is no compulsion for anybody to listen.Froggie34 (talk) 16:27, 11 December 2009 (UTC)Froggie34

Maybe you could give a more specific scenario? ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 16:31, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm troubled that there would even need to be law on this. The possibility of such a suit existing at all, let alone being successfully prosecuted, would be as unjust as a robber being able to sue the home owner for injuries sustained in the act of robbing a house. We know there have been cases like this, but let the absurdity end there. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 17:56, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Keep in mind that, in general, anyone can sue anyone. That doesn't mean the suit will go anywhere. But I'd like to hear an example of what the OP is talking about - because, frankly, I've never heard of anyone suing on such a basis. If someone's standing on a soapbox speaking in public, there is no compulsion, by anyone, to pay any attention to him. And he has no basis for suing someone for ignoring him. If they try to stop him from talking, that might be a different matter, although "disturbing the peace" and other things could come into play. ←Baseball Bugs carrots→ 18:08, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

As Bugs says, there are not many laws — in the US, anyway — that prevent people from suing someone, even for something utterly stupid. If it's stupid enough then you would just show up in court, and you or your attorney would move to dismiss the case, for one reason or another, and the judge would quickly agree; and you may be able to go after them for damages for filing a trivial court case. Their attorney is considered an officer of the court and has certain obligations, including the pursuit of justice, and participating in the lawsuit you describe might get the attorney into trouble with the judge and get him fined. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:40, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I've heard that whole "anyone can sue anyone" canard thrown around for a while. There's an element of truth to it, but (I'm going to use federal rules here because a lot of states fashion their rules after them) Rule 11 provides some strict penalties against attorneys that file frivolous claims, but there's nothing limiting Rule 11 to attorneys. Criminal appeals by defendants are different, but civil cases can in theory be subject to a number of frivolous claim sanctions. Shadowjams (talk) 11:02, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, I could imagine a situation where someone is cold-calling your home phone line at 2am - and when you try to sue them for doing it, they claim that you are infringing on their right to free speech. It might not be unreasonable to deny them that claim by simply saying that you don't want to hear what they have to say to you. Arguably, the right not to be forced to listen ought to be as firmly enshrined in law as the right to be able to speak freely. If someone stands outside my bedroom window yelling through a megaphone all night - I think it's entirely reasonable to use the law to make them shut up...free speech notwithstanding! Obviously there are other ways that the law could handle that - but there are certainly cases where you could imagine it being worthwhile (as well as cases where it would be a disaster). I'm not aware of any body of law that's growing around that idea though. SteveBaker (talk) 21:56, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

As I see it, the test is usually whether the restrictions on expression are content-neutral. If the physical means of your expression interferes with my peaceful enjoyment of my lawful abode, as opposed to what that expression signifies, then I have a claim against you.

This is a distinction that a lot of people seemed to miss, in the debates over "desecration" of the US flag. (Note in passing that the word desecration carries with it implications of sacrality, which ought to be seen as idolatrous by Christians, but that's not the point here.) So people would argue, in apparent seriousness, that the court's decision allowed someone to rip a flag off a building and burn it.

But that's total nonsense. You aren't allowed to rip anything off a building and burn it. It's destruction of property; this is completely independent of what the thing burned signifies. If on the other hand you're punished for burning your own US flag, in a way that you wouldn't be punished for burning, let's say, an old T-shirt, then it's clear that the law is aimed at the meaning rather than the physical act. And that's where the 1st amendment should step in and say, no, the government's not allowed to do that. --Trovatore (talk) 22:10, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I have never heard anyone argue that a lack of prohibition against specifically burning a U.S. flag could be interpreted as a right to burn any U.S. flags at will. That seems like just reductio ad absurdum on the face of it. I've never heard it put forward as as serious argument. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:03, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Reductio ad absurdum is a perfectly valid logical technique. You mean a strawman argument. --Tango (talk) 17:42, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Strawman or not, people did argue it, and appeared to believe it. --Trovatore (talk) 20:49, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

It's a pretty silly argument. I mean, there is no law against burning flagpoles either - but that doesn't give me the right to just set light to anyone's flagpole - unless I own the thing or have permission from the owner. So if people are seriously making that claim, they are idiots. SteveBaker (talk) 22:26, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

The argument is clearly ridiculous, stated that baldly, yes. But the only slightly more subtle version that you proposed, involving the megaphone, seemed to be one where you countenanced the idea that free speech might be relevant, even if it ultimately lost out.

And of course it does get subtle in the corner cases. Content isn't always irrelevant (threats of violence are not protected speech, even if they don't break any noise regulations). And free speech concerns are sometimes held to override restrictions that a property owner might legitimately impose in a neutral-content context (see the Pruneyard case; I think it was wrongly decided, but I wouldn't say it was a slam-dunk). --Trovatore (talk) 22:58, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

options in trading

How could i use options in pairs trading? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sarathsv (talk • contribs) 18:09, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

The Pairs trade article suggests to me that you might buy a put option for the higher-priced of the two stocks, and a call option for the lower-priced. I don't know whether this is a better or worse idea than simply shorting the higher-priced stock and buying the lower-priced stock. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:35, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

nick mag

Im confused is it or is it not canceled?Accdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 21:15, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

You are going to have to be more specific. What is nick mag? --Jayron32 21:21, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Nick MagAccdude92 (talk to me!) (sign) 21:22, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

If you read the article, you would see its publication dates: "Jun. 1993 - present". Their website's still up as well. If it's missing from your mailbox, perhaps your subscription has lapsed. I've done that before. Xenon54 / talk / 21:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I still see it on the Newsstands so, it's still out there. Go to: Nick Mag for the homepage of it. Moptopstyle1 ("I Feel Fine.") (talk) 06:00, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Network of Baptist Associations

I was looking for information on the formation of the Network of Baptist Associations, a networking organization for Baptist Associations and networks across North America. Where should I look? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bgilstrap3761 (talk • contribs) 22:03, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

There is a site called Google where you can go and search for things like this. Type "network of baptist associations" (including the double quotes) into the search box and press 'search'. Any one of the first eight links in the resulting search will give you contact information. Formation information is under the "About us" menu. DJ Clayworth (talk) 22:17, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Human crash test dummies

I remember vividly from many years ago having heard of human beings being used as crash test dummies for Capital punishment. Does anyone know where/if that happened, or, more likely, where the legend emerged? --77.211.125.218 (talk) 22:26, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't see it on snopes.com. It's ridiculous on the face of it, of course. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:32, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Yeah - I can't see it happening. Aside from anything else, you'd have someone totally panic-stricken - trying to escape from the car - and generally not behaving in the slightest like an unsuspecting motorist. If you strapped them down to stop them from doing any crazyiness - the mere act of doing so would screw up the results. No - I don't think this has ever happened. SteveBaker (talk) 22:47, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

In the past corpses have been used as crash test dummies. Perhaps that's what you're thinking of? APL (talk) 23:28, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Crash_test_dummy#Cadaver_testing - so yes, that definitely happened. Bodies of criminals who'd recently suffered capital punishment even...but live criminals...no. There are also people who voluntarily become human crash test dummies. But forcing a criminal to do it...I very much doubt it. SteveBaker (talk) 23:54, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

...a possible example of cruel and unusual punishment? Astronaut (talk) 00:10, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

This site may be of interest. Not a convict, but a living CTD. Matt Deres (talk) 01:59, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your help, I guess that it was cadaver testing that I heard of. All the best --77.211.85.60 (talk) 17:03, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Human Crash Test Dummies are here. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:29, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

December 12

Statistics by the United Nations and the Australian Bureau of Statistics

When the United Nations presents data on life expectancy, infant mortality rate, and death rate, etc, it often gives them as for example, 2000-2005 or 1965-1970. I don't understand. What does this mean? What does it mean, when it says, for example, 2000-2005, or 1950-1970?

When the Australian Bureau of Statistics gives data on life expectancy, it often gives it as 1901-1910, 1932-1934, or 1999-2001. I don't understand. What does this mean? What does it mean when it says, for example, 1901-1910, 1932-1934, or 1999-2001?

Bowei Huang (talk) 04:34, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

What it means is that the data represents an average for the years 2000-2005. It is important to define the time frame you wish to analyze so that you have a meaningful sample size. As an extreme example, we could ask for the life expetency of someone born between 11:01AM and 11:03AM on March 17, 1954. We are unlikely to be able to make a meaninful statement about life expetency from such a small time frame. By averaging data across longer time frames, data becomes more reliable. There's nothing magical about a "year" as a time frame for this purpose. A 5-year period may be more useful than a 1-year period. --Jayron32 05:12, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Life expectancy in a particular year is calculated by in effect assuming a person lives out the rest of their lives in that year. For each year you look at what percentage of people died at that age. So if people lived at most 3 years and in year 2000 .3 of those aged 0 died just as they go to 1, .4 of those aged 1 died as they got to 2 and all aged 2 died the moment they reached 3 the life expectancy at birth in 2000 would be 1×0.3 + 2×(1-0.3)×0.4 + 3×(1-0.3)×(1-0.4) = 2.12 years. That's the basic calculation anyway but I'm sure life insurance companies do something a bit cleverer as just a small difference can make a bit difference to their profits Dmcq (talk) 11:33, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Evil Nine lyrics

I can't find lyrics to Evil Nine's "All the Cash" anywhere, would anyone be so kind as to spend a minute looking as I search myself? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.130.237.183 (talk) 06:18, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

You might get a better response by posting this on the Entertainment desk. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 10:05, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Click her and write down what you hear, if you want to endure such rubbish. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 22:17, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

a 1577 water painting of an eskimo woman by john white

when and how did john white who was in virginia meet an eskimo? his water painting of an eskimo woman is thought to be somewhere between 1577 and 1590 and i find no record of his going farther north then virginia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.65.34.178 (talk) 10:26, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

this page about White says "There is some evidence that he sailed with Martin Frobisher, who explored the Arctic in 1577, during which expedition he created detailed pictures of the Eskimos and their lifestyles." --LarryMac | Talk 13:45, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

US "Jail view"

Hey all (UK calling). I recently stumbled across an automated prisoner filing system used by a handful of US jails called "Jail view" e.g. . Apparently, if I lived nearby, I could just google my local jail, and then get the names and mugshots of all (I think civil) prisoners being held there (or after they had been released), their stated address, bail bond, list of (alleged?) crimes, and even the exact cell number in which they are being held.

This strikes me as being a bit odd (or at least unfamiliar). Is it more usual in the US? I mean, these people could be entirely innocent - one worries for their safety, quite frankly.

Just interested. - Jarry1250  13:59, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure, but I think these kind of things are usually required by ballot initiatives, rather than regular legislation. Ballot initiatives tend to result in the tyranny of the majority more than other forms of democratic decision making - I think this is an example of that. --Tango (talk) 14:14, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

↑ I didn't find much on this system but it seems, to me, more like something a bureaucrat would create than a politician. Rmhermen (talk) 14:52, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't have a citation, as I said: "I'm not sure". While the system was almost certainly created by bureaucrats, I wouldn't be surprised if they did so in order to comply will a ballot initiative. Local legislatures also pass these kinds of laws, though (eg. the law that gave rise to the Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony), so it could be that. --Tango (talk) 15:03, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

The US is very big on the idea that once you have been convicted of a crime you are not longer "entirely innocent" and depending on the nature of the crime, even serving your sentence does not free you from the stigma of being a criminal. So in some states nobody who has been convicted of a felony is allowed to ever vote again, for example. If you are convicted of a sex-related crime in some states, it can require compulsory registration wherever you move, put limits on where you can live in the future, and so forth. Most experts seem to agree that such post-sentencing requirements actually increase the rate of recidivism (as they prevent full integration back into legal society) at the worst and do a lot of individual harm at best, but they are easy things to pass by ballot initiative (as Tango points out), because lots of people are scared of former criminals, especially if it involves children in any way. It is one of the great penal reform issues playing out in the United States at the moment—the politics of the situation seem to lead only to an increasing strictness of laws, even while it is clear to those who study these things carefully that this can easily raise rather than lower the overall crime rate (a classic unintended consequences case), and has ethical/moral problems as well. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:13, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I do not doubt that on face value, however it would be helpful to provide links to such studies. --Jayron32 17:37, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I think we need to remember that the OP isn't just talking about convicted criminals, the site appears to list anyone who has been booked by the 'St. Johns County Sheriff's Office' and some other places which I presume are in the same jurisdiction or something. It's possible some people are excluded for various reasons but in general I see no evidence that all people listed there are criminals. It's possible or even likely that for some of them the charges will be dropped or they will be found not guilty. It doesn't appear all of these are serious crimes either, there's one case which I'm purposely not naming per WP:BLP where the sole count appears to be loitering and the person received a $200 bond. (It's possible of course the person is a convict although it seems unlikely they were on parole since there's no parole violations listed so they must have served their time.) Nil Einne (talk) 01:31, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

I think what the OP linked is what is called a "booking log". This is a log of arrests kept by the police. This sort of thing is considered a public record in most if not all states in the United States and is available to the public. I'd say a minority of police departments post their booking logs online. Of those that do, an even smaller minority post mug shots of people arrested. There may be states or other jurisdictions (counties) that require the posting of mug shots online. If so, it is probably because of legislative action by legislators who think that they will benefit from seeming "tough on crime". Alternatively, it may be a form of public relations for the police department, which can say, "Look at these scary criminals that we've protected the public against." There might be grounds for a lawsuit if a person arrested and immortalized with a mugshot were later acquitted in court but unable to find a job because employers Google their name and get their mug shot. But I'm not a lawyer and don't know whether such a legal challenge might succeed. Marco polo (talk) 02:55, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

There is a spectrum between privacy and openness ranging from countries like Germany on the one hand, where just about everything is private, to Sweden on the other, where even income tax returns are public record. The U.S., while not as extreme as Sweden in that regard, is firmly on the side of openness in government over privacy compared to many other countries. Generally the attitude in the U.S. is everything that a government does should be public record unless there is an overwhelming reason why it should be kept secret. For example, in the town where I used to live, there was a computer at the city hall where you could type anyone's name in it and find any dealing he or she had with the municipal court -- any DUIs, domestic violence arrests, etc. No one complained about it because it's expected in the U.S. that if you do something that involves the government, say, buying real estate, getting a divorce or registering to vote, it becomes a matter of public record for anyone to view for any reason. In many counties, you can someone's name into the county government's website and find a picture of the person's house with its assessed value and everything that may contribute to its valuation, including the number of rooms, whether it has central air, and so on. There are exceptions, such as juvenile court records, census forms and income tax returns, as well as whatever the Bush administration was trying to keep secret.

So for the local jail to post records of who's in there certainly isn't that odd when considering the U.S. view of government openness and privacy. Indeed, it's quite common for small local newspapers to report the names of everyone who's even been arrested in a "police blotter" column. People just have to understand that just because someone has been accused of a crime doesn't mean he is guilty. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 03:49, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

I was reporting on a meeting of the Berkeley, California, City Council in the 1970's that was disrupted by two female city workers with very loud complaints about sexism. When they were arrested and taken down the street to the city jail, I was a little shocked to see that anyone could see their names on a public booking record. But then it dawned on me that this is to protect the detainees and avoid the greater danger of letting the police hold an unknown number of people anonymously. We read all too many news stories today of too many countries where people suddenly aren't around, and no one can be sure why.

While everyone holds to the belief of innocent until proven otherwise, factors like the Internet, easy retrieval of news archives, and the ability of digital data to persist on line (or in some unknown person's computer) indefinitely make this far more problematic than before. In the past, if you'd been mistakenly picked up, say, for joy-riding in Guerneville, California in 1947, and then moved to Indianapolis after your military service, a Hoosier would have to have needed a tip or a hunch in 1963 to know which issues of which newspapers to search in order to find that earlier "Police Blotter" (or more importantly, that that record even existed). In 1967, the FBI established the National Crime Information Center to allow law-enforcement agencies at all levels to share and retrieve criminal records, starting with the more serious or dangerous felonies. But nowadays with the Internet....

Since people were looking for sources, The Economist had a cover story a month or two ago about the dangers of popular but ineffective (or counter-productive) sanctions against released sex offenders. No politician dare vote or act to loosen the restrictions for fear of the next election ("the attack ads write themselves" is roughly how the magazine put it), only to strengthen them, or at least not to speak or vote on the record against a zealot's or demagogue's proposal to tighten the rules. The Economist said that similar pressures would spread the process to other countries with similar deleterious effects. But this is a Reference Desk, not a soapbox, so I'll stop giving opinions on matters of current public controversy. —— Shakescene (talk) 06:09, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Problem with nokia 5130

I am having nokia 5130 express music mobile. But its battery life is very poor . the battery won't stand for a single day , even though if it is fully charged.Please help me. Which software i need to download. Thank you in advance....... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.242.131 (talk) 17:12, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Try Updating your firmware.You can contact nokia here--NotedGrant Talk 17:39, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

But on the face of it I would suspect a hardware rather than a software fault, though one shouldn't completely rule out software. --ColinFine (talk) 01:08, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

The CNET review says: "The 5130 has a rated battery life of six hours talk time and 12 days standby time. The promised multimedia battery life varies as follows: 4 hours of video playback time, 1 hour of video recording time, and 20 hours of music playback time. We received a talk time of 7 hours and 2 minutes in our tests." SteveBaker (talk) 02:58, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

December 13

Low/Mid/High

Are there universally accepted values for low/mid/high divisions in numbers? For example, if someone said (high 50s). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.251.74.65 (talk) 03:31, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

No. 03:34, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Dunno I would say there is almost universally accepted agreement that 55 is in the mid 50s, 51 is in the low 50s and 59 is in the high 50s provided we aren't talking about situations when the decimal point arises. Further then that though, I agree the answer is no Nil Einne (talk) 04:06, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

There's no ISO standard on it yet that know of :) I would have said high 50's was 57, 58 or 59, but it might include more on either side when one says 'about'. And a man describing themselves would include 57 in the mid 50's. Dmcq (talk) 11:11, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Song Name

Can someone please help me with the name of this song. It features the line 'I lose control' and, I think, it's about a guy who sees a girl he likes with another guy and I think it's a recent release. Any ideas? Thanks 92.0.129.48 (talk) 11:03, 13 December 2009 (UTC)