Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 July 18

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July 18

Copyrighted old newspapers

Before 1989, something published in the USA without a copyright notice was not copyrighted. Did newspapers generally carry copyright notices? Nyttend (talk) 01:46, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I think that changeover was in 1977. Before that, there were sometimes copyright notices on specific articles that the newspaper thought might have lasting value. Most stories didn't have notices since by the time anyone copied them, they would have been yesterday's news. 24.5.85.158 (talk) 05:58, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

There was no requirement to put a notice on every story. I haven't done a survey, but I'm sure every newspaper whose editor had ever talked with a lawyer at all had in the masthead or front page, "Entire contents copyright (C)1975 Hearst Co." or whatever. Tempshill (talk) 06:42, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I've never really paid attention to such things, but the inclusion of an issue of Stars and Stripes (the official US Army newspaper, thus obviously PD) from World War II at a gallery at Commons made me wonder about the possibility of including other newspapers. Nyttend (talk) 12:32, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

(For the questions about dates and requirements, see this). Looking quickly at an issue of the New York Times from 1945, under the masthead it clearly says, "Copyright 1945, by the New York Times Company." --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:30, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

painting

Who painted this work? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.176.162.44 (talk) 15:06, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

It looks like one of hitler's self potrait's in ink.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:55, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't look like Hitler's work to me. I'd be interested to see a source.91.109.251.183 (talk) 08:53, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Here's another one http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/9522/awesome006.png —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.176.190.103 (talk) 14:58, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Look's like a hitler Smiley - try [1] 83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:28, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

This isn't Hitler. The eyes are a reference to Kuso Miso Technique, a Japanese gay pornographic manga. It became an Internet joke with reference to the gay lovers' faces, one of which is this half smile of which you've linked to. See this image to corroborate. bibliomaniac15 21:48, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

I finally get to say LOL! Sorry about my wrong guesses then - how was I supposed to know?83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:15, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Bible

What happened on the road to Damascus —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rtboyo (talk • contribs) 15:09, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, have you read the Bible acount? An anonymous query with no context sounds too much like homework to me, so here are a couple good sites for commentaries, which have been written by scholars about it. The verses will be covered by some of them. This one [2] has them by book and chapter. This one [3] says it has them in easy English though I haven't looked at it. I had this listed first [4] but I'm not sure how much it has in way of that specific verse's commentary. (I could have sworn I signed that, I think I might have reased it when I edited.) Somebody or his brother (talk) 15:29, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

See also Conversion of Paul. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 17:26, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

En brosse

In 44 Scotland Street, character Bruce Anderson is described as wearing his hair en brosse. This USAian reader understands only that it's a sort of crewcut, but what does this style signify in the novel's milieu? What does it indicate about this character? -- Deborahjay (talk) 15:50, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

According to the French, thisshort haircut was trendy about the time of the serialization of the book (2004-ish), and is what they call cheveux en brosse. A "brush cut" in my parlance, or a "crew cut" in yours, is much shorter, especially on top, though I am hardly an expert of men's hair styles. Would the cut need any more significance than that it was the latest style, as style was almost the whole of who Anderson was? // BL \\ (talk) 21:23, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I'm with you, just still wondering whether this "latest style" was an on-target choice for the image Bruce wanted to project, or one of his off-key renditions skewed by his profound solipcism. -- Deborahjay (talk) 02:07, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

It was Brad Pitt's hair style at the time, though that doesn't really answer your question any more clearly. // BL \\ (talk) 03:18, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Actually, that does help peg it. Adopting the sexiest-man-alive's style's not so blatant as, say, aping David Beckham's early 2003 cornrows. (Note to self: see about adding that blog as an external link for men's hairstyle pages.) -- Cheers! Deborahjay (talk) 19:05, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

BOOK TITLES

What is the word/phrase for the revealing sentence in a book that uses/explains the TITLE of the book?98.228.215.125 (talk) 17:53, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't think there is a specific expression. It's a device only a few books use anyway. Algebraist 17:55, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure I heard/read this word/phrase years ago but neglected to write it down... Obscure term, I know! Most or many of the novels I've been reading do have the title tucked away somewhere within the work... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.228.215.125 (talk) 18:03, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Titular sentence? Dismas|^(talk) 00:56, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Related to this: Novel and film titles which actually indicate the surprise ending or solve the mystery, if only you had picked up on it. Two such are Theodore Sturgeon's Some of Your Blood and Stephen Sondheim/Anthony Perkins' The Last of Sheila. Any others? Pepso2 (talk) 22:31, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Stephen King's Bag of Bones is sort of up that alley. TomorrowTime (talk) 08:23, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

A classic in that vein is 'The Hands of Mr Ottermole', which you can find in Greene's 'The American Rivals of Sherlock Holmes'. There's also 'To Serve Man', by Donald Wolheim. Rhinoracer (talk) 11:55, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, this one is a movie, but it definitely tells you the ending! Eating Raoul Snorgle (talk) 00:32, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Did Joachim von Ribbentrop really play ice hockey for the Canada men's national ice hockey team?

See Talk:Joachim von Ribbentrop#Early career. I'm still not completely satisfied with the answers there and this question still lingers in my mind. Can someone definitively verify this? -- œ^™ 19:40, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

The listed source says Eisenbahnbau which means building railroads, not national ice hockey. Rmhermen (talk) 19:54, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

The listed source also states "Mitglied der kanadischen Eishockey-Auswahlmannschaft" which translates as "member of the Canadian ice hockey selection team". There are some refenced sources for the statement "In 1914, Ribbentrop competed for Ottawa's famous Minto ice-skating team, participating in the Ellis Memorial Trophy tournament in Boston in February of that year", here [5]. Maybe someone mixed up skating and hockey? --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 21:14, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Two things to note. There are, obviously, other hockey teams in Canada. The Wikipedia article on von Ribbentrop says that be played for "the famous Minto ice-skating team", not the national hockey team; but Minto just links to a disambiguation page. I know nothing about hockey teams of that era outside of the NHA/NHL, and anyway "ice-skating team" could mean figure skating. Second, one of the sources cited in support of that statement was written by a Robert Lawson, who, unless someone is spoofing, is the same person who posted to the talk page to say that von Ribbentrop participated in figure skating and was not a member of the national hockey team. --Anonymous, 01:08 UTC, July 19, 2009.

Smells like a hoax. Edison (talk) 01:31, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Here is a page from the Skating Club of Boston, which talks about the Ellis Memorial Trophy and Ribbentrop on page 6. (By the way, when I think of Minto and Canada, I think of the lacrosse trophy established by Governor General Lord Minto...not hockey or ice skating.) Adam Bishop (talk) 01:54, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah! So we're talking about the Minto Skating Club, founded by Governor-General Lord Minto, and that clearly makes it figure skating. The club still exists but von Ribbentrop is not mentioned on its web site. --Anonymous, 05:39 UTC, July 19, 2009.

Well, it wouldn't exactly be something to brag about. --Saddhiyama (talk) 09:12, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

See Janet Uren's book Minto: Skating through Time for a brief description and amusing anecdote about Ribbentrop's involvement with the club. The champion figure skater Eleanor Kingsford recalled Ribbentrop’s participation in a skating competition in Boston on February 24th, 1914, remembering his "pale, watery blue eyes" and her rejection of his invitation to dance: "The most interesting memory of that trip was the snubbing of Von Ribbentrop, who being in Ottawa on some mysterious business at that time had joined our party. Even then I disliked him, and it must have been quite a shock to one of the 'master race' to have someone who dared to skip his waltz.” As well, I have published an article in the International History Review (Dec. 2007) on Ribbentrop's years in Canada. Robert Lawson