Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 March 15

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March 15

Naked Talk show discussion

Is there a show where people talk on serious topics in nude? if there is, where can I find it on the Internet? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Don Mustafa (talk • contribs) 01:48, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

naked news? БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 02:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Wow. I'm seriously amazed that there was a response that precisely relevant. --Masamage ♫ 06:54, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Ive got mad skillz БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 00:36, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Good online source of common-knowledge facts that grade- and middle-schoolers can learn?

I'm looking for common knowledge facts that grade school and middle school students can learn and understand. (If it's not clear what I 'm talking about, think of the kind of material you'd give a youngster to prep him or her to be a quiz game show contestant). It's like trivia, except that I'm interested in facts that are worth learning. Are there any good online sources? --71.162.242.230 (talk) 04:15, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I'd say Wikipedia is an excellent source for random knowledge. If you ever run out of ideas for pages to read, click the "Random article" button on the left navigation. Acceptable (talk) 05:20, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

(I'm assuming you're looking to try to develop your (or your students'?) general knowledge, rather than game a specific quiz since you say that you want facts worth learning – although, surely, all facts are worth learning! :-) )

A decent familiarity with Greek and Roman mythology is always good, as well as an understanding of the Bible (and other religious texts, too, although references to these (in popular culture, idiom, and so on) are generally lower in Western civilisation). Interestingly, General knowledge is a redirect to our somewhat-unhelpful article on trivia. Books like 'The Pedant's Revolt' might be of interest, since they correct some common misunderstandings. Maybe getting your hands on a basic mathematical dictionary that gives a limited introduction to a wide variety of terms is handy; if you're of an appropriate bent, you may find reading a dictionary moderately interesting (although, I will concede, not for long!). Additionally (although this isn't general knowledge), in the age of Google and Wikipedia, you can garner a fairly in-depth understanding of specific fields with a bit of work.

Of course, you should always be up on current affairs – read a variety of international and national newspapers (another benefit of the web is that you can painlessly regularly access maybe a dozen news sources that interest you). Research the history behind current events. Read magazines – National Geographic, Time, New Scientist. Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 00:26, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Help : missing dollar

3 ppl went to a restaurant had lunch & paid the total bill of $75 (each paying $25 to the waiter) manager gave them $5 back they paid $2 as tip to the waiter it means that they paid $24+$24+$24=72 + $2 they paid to waiter= $74

where did the remaining $1 go? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.154.231.163 (talk) 06:46, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

It didn't go anywhere. The count of money is 75/0; 70/5; 72/3. I can't remember where the mathematical mistake is in this riddle, but I know it has something to do with subtracted when you should be adding, or similar. Hopefully someone else remembers better than me. Maybe someone even knows what it's called! --Masamage ♫ 06:51, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

The issue is that the $24 paid by the patrons includes the tip. All together they paid $24 * 3 = $72, with $2 going to the waiter. You don't add $2 to $72 (since it's included), you add in the $3 that they all received back. $72 + $3 = $75. (I love this puzzle). --Bennybp (talk) 07:34, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict at 1:35AM!) Well, the manager gave them $5 dollars back, so that means they paid the restaurant $70. They kept $3 dollars for themselves ($1 each, I presume), and gave $2 to the waiter. $70 + $3 + $2 = $75. It's all accounted for. Useight (talk) 07:35, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

This is a version of the missing dollar riddle. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:39, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Bennybp's right. I love this puzzle too.

As our very own missing dollar riddle explains (thanks for the ref, Gandalf!) this isn't so much a math puzzle as it is a wordplay puzzle, or even a word trick. For it very much relies on misdirection. If you were trying to double-check the math yourself, you would probably say something like: "Each guest paid $24. Total going in: $72. The restaurant got $70, the waiter got $2. Total going out: $72. Check. (But boy, those guys are lousy tippers.)" It's only because you've been slyly set up by the innocent-sounding but totally bogus statement "72+2=74" that you would ever have a hard time figuring out "where the missing dollar went".

Like any accounting problem, you just have to balance the "gozintas" and the "gozoutas". It's a classic conservation law. —Steve Summit (talk) 18:21, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Otherwise known as debits and credits. But I hate accounting as much as the next guy. Useight (talk) 21:05, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

www.charlottesworldwideweb.com

Is this a good idea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.30.58 (talk) 07:21, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Only if it's profitable. Useight (talk) 07:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

If you're thinking about it, I recommend checking out the copyright status of the book first of all, and probably consulting with a copyright lawyer. As the book was published in 1952, its copyright may have expired if not renewed. On the other hand, bear in mind that the author was still alive and this is an internationally known book, so I wouldn't put money on it being in the public domain. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:49, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

You can easily check whether books have had their copyrights renewed in the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database. In this case, the answer is definitively yes. No lawyer necessary in something as clean-cut as that (thanks to Stanford having digitized all those copyright office records).

As for whether using a title derivative of a copyrighted book is a good idea, it's not the best idea in any case. I'm trying to think if I've heard of similar examples but not coming up with anything right now; there are lots of examples related to trademark law, though, like MikeRoweSoft.com. A worst-case scenario is that you are accused of cybersquatting and have to hand over the domain name to the publisher or something like that. --98.217.18.109 (talk) 16:34, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

There's also www.nissan.com, not owned by Nissan Motors, but they're trying to get it. Useight (talk) 01:12, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Titles of books are not copyrightable in the United States, Canada, and the UK. This is a very different matter than a trademark such as Microsoft or Nissan. Whether the White estate has trademarked "Charlotte's Web" is another matter. You really should talk to a lawyer in your locality about this. --NellieBly (talk) 06:23, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

I poked around the trademark database a bit. If it's just a trademark issue, then it's probably pretty safe. The closest I can find is an entry for a company that trademarked the term "Charlotte's Web" for web services: [1]. That doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't use it on a website, but that's the only trademarked use of the term "Charlotte's Web" that would even reasonably apply (others are for things like toys, video games, etc.), and you'd want to make it really clear what exactly your site was about. If you really wanted to be safe, you could try registering the trademark with the USPTO—it'd give you a lot more legal leverage than you'd otherwise have. Again, not a lawyer, you'd want to consult one if you were really worried. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 18:18, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Internet Networks

If I have a internet network broadcasting silently at home how do I find out what the network name is if it's broadcasting silently? 220.233.83.26 (talk) 10:18, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Log into the router? Edit: to clarify: you'll need to use a wired connection to do that. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:51, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

"Click It Down"

Who says "Click It Down" on Maury (TV series) and should boys do it? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 12:31, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Old company logo

Looking to find out what company may have had the following logo I found on an old match stick box. The logo is of a tire with wings, tread facing to the right. It has the words "moving forward" on it. I was thinking it was a tire company log or a raceway logo but have not been able to find a match. Judging from the match stick box, it could be 20's, 30's or 40's.

Jwmjr1 (talk) 14:27, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean it is a flip of the logo of the Detroit Red Wings, a variant of the Austin Motor Company logo or Indianapolis Motor Speedway or like this or this? Unfortunately the winged tyre is a symbol that's been used a lot in the past, even appearing on traffic signal boxes. And one more, possibly a better one - the Southern Motor Manufacturing Association of Houston, Texas used a logo along those lines in 1920. Nanonic (talk) 14:50, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I believe the Indiana or Ohio State Police once had a flying tire logo on the sides of their cars, but it looked a lot like a flying peanut. Edison (talk) 19:37, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

slap bet

When will the next slap occur on How I Met Your Mother? Have they set a date? I've tried slapbetcountdown.com but it just redirects to cbs.com. xxx User:Hyper Girl 15:58, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Well there are just 2 slaps remaining but I suspect unless anyone is privy to the scripts that they will not know. Hopefully Marshall will be as creative as the last slap, the whole countdown/build up stuff was great. ny156uk (talk) 15:48, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

POLISH FOODS----HOW TO MAKE BAKED PIEROGIES

66.67.118.242 (talk) 20:02, 15 March 2008 (UTC)--66.67.118.242 (talk) 20:02, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I don't know nothing about the Pierogies. Ericthebrainiac (talk) 20:06, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

They sound like ravioli do you know how to make them? But you boil (and maybe fry them) not baked, maybe you could bake them, I'd suggest coating them with butter or something so they don't go too dry.

try http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,baked_perogies,FF.html 87.102.2.103 (talk) 22:35, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Polish pierogi are boiled and may be fried afterwards, but not baked. You may be confusing them with Russian pirozhki (baked dumplings stuffed with meat, larger than Polish pierogi) or pirogi (even larger) or even pirozhnoye (desserts). — Kpalion^(talk) 09:26, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

There is at least one Polish RD regular, user:Ouro. You could try his talk page. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 17:21, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, just because he is Polish doesn't mean he's a cook. I don't know how to make them and I've seen my mother make them hundreds of times. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 13:02, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

The Bombing of Llanview Hospital

What is the bombing of Llanview Hospital based on? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 21:26, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

See Llanview,_Pennsylvania#Disasters_and_major_events section "One Pure People Arson Attacks" it seems to have been a racially motivated bombing.87.102.2.103 (talk) 22:39, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Fraternity Row (soap opera)

What is Llanview, Pennsylvania and Pine Valley, Pennsylvania's soap opera Fraternity Row about and who are the cast & crew behind it on All My Children and One Life to Live? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 21:34, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Jonathan Lavery's brain tumor

What was Jonathan Lavery's brain tumor based on? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 21:51, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

A need for yet another crisis? ៛ Bielle (talk) 01:16, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

A roll of the GM's dice? —Tamfang (talk) 06:48, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

employment

what is the easiest and quickest way of getting a job, if I have never had one before and haven't got much experience of working. Are there any website or anything I can go to, or should i just type out a CV and deliver it to a few shops and stuff. And, how likely am I to get a job that after six months i can leave when I go to university, or have them transfer me to somewhere closer to my university? is it hopeless, or is that quite a common thing to do. HS7 (talk) 22:00, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

It's common to take your cv around to shops and businesses. And it works when you're in a new area as well. Going to a website such as seek.com, asking at job search agencies – depends what you want to do or are willing to do (such as labouring on a building site). The direct approach works pretty well for people. It adds to your cv experience and you can likely transfer your skills to wherever your university is located. Jobs pop up on uni notice boards as far as I know. Julia Rossi (talk) 23:21, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Once you do leave for university... If possible, go to the town where you'll be going to school and start applying early. Once all the students come flocking back into town, the job market will dry up quickly. If you get there a couple days early, you may get a jump on everyone else who will be looking for part time work while they go to school. Dismas|^(talk) 03:07, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

And for some employers, it isn't always a problem that you're leaving for school in six months. Last summer I got a job in the mall just for the two months until I left for university, with the understanding that I'd be back for Christmas and the next summer. In fact, when I came back for Christmas a couple months ago, they were glad to have extra staff for the holiday rush that didn't have to be trained. I don't know if you'd want to come back to the same job on your vacations, but it's something to consider. Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 04:52, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Strength/weakness: one word

I posted this at the language desk, but haven't been able to find an answer, so I thought I'd ask here.

Is there a single word for a trait or object which is both a great strength and a great weakness? Examples might include being able to see into the future, being hyper-sensitive to grammar, being extremely tall, having advanced levels of technology, etc.

Related terms are "a blessing and a curse", "Pyrrhic victory", "two-edged sword", and the common mistranslation of hamartia, but I'm hoping to find just one word. It's a pretty common literary trope, so it's gotta have a name, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.

It probably doesn't exist in English; we may need to delve into Greek and Latin, or possibly even assemble something. I wouldn't know where to start, though. It's hard to look things up by definition, and I can only reverse-engineer Greek and Latin stuff, not make it up myself. --Masamage ♫ 22:01, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Mmmh a single word - kryptonite - I'll try looking for a serious answer.87.102.2.103 (talk) 22:20, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Isn't that only a weakness? X) (Assuming it's green.) --Masamage ♫ 22:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

The argument is a bit tortuous but only supermen are affected by it - so it could be considered to be related to his strength. (A sort of faustian pact with a rock). In reality of course kryptonite doesn't actually cause superman to be strong (action at a distance).. Superman is super because he's from krypton (planet) and kryptonite is the remains of the planet. ok. not kryptonite.87.102.2.103 (talk) 22:48, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I think you are starting with two terms which are extremely loaded: strength and weakness, those being by definition positive and negative traits.

My hypothesis is, that human behaviour has no fixed ethic parameters which - under all possible circumstances - render a particular attitude / action / whatever as positive or negative.

Depending on the current reality, some quality X may be - momentarily - a positive strength (or the opposite). The same X, in 2 weeks or in a different country or given some external event which alters the parameters, may turn into a negative weakness (or the opposite).

Reading up Spinoza, Kant, Hegel and Wittgenstein on absolute values may be an overkill. There is also Aristotle et al on virtue and stacks of religions on the topic.

Short version: I don´t know a term for mutabilitly / vicissitude / temporality / equivocality / ethic ambiguity which says it in a nutshell. Back to the Oregon trail... --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 23:30, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Sensitivity is both a great strength and weakness. The more sensitive you are, the more affected you are by both pleasant and unpleasant stimulus. Vranak (talk) 00:11, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

That's true, and a good example of the kind of thing I'm trying to describe. What I need is the name of the kind, if you see. --Masamage ♫ 01:17, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Ok, how about hypersensitive, hyperaware, or simply emotional? Vranak (talk) 02:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Maybe ambivalent and ambivalence come close to a certain extent. I always thought of them as only describing two opposite possibilities but wiktionary is more vague about their meaning. 200.127.59.151 (talk) 01:38, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh, if you're talking about the figure of speech it's oxymoron. 200.127.59.151 (talk) 01:51, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

One might be ambivalent about sensitivity. For example, "I'm ambivalent about my sensitivity. Sometimes it's a huge boon, but sometimes it gets me into awful trouble. I really can't decide whether it's my greatest strength or my greatest weakness". One might also be ambivalent about any other examples of strength-weaknesses, but that doesn't make "ambivalence" the answer to this quest. Masamage, the best minds in the known universe (that's the WP Ref Desk) can't come up with a single word to describe this, so I suggest there is none. Maybe someone, somewhere, coined such a word, and it's tucked away in the musty leaves of the OED, but it seems so out of reach as to be useless. Even if it were tracked down by one of the Noeticas of the world, nobody else would know what it meant. Sorry. -- JackofOz (talk) 01:51, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Right, thank you. I was hoping some of the best minds were fluent in the Classical languages, I guess; I'm still hoping that. But for goodness sakes, I definitely don't care if no one else knows what it means. :D --Masamage ♫ 07:24, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Just curious, Julia Masamage. What's the value of a word the meaning of which is known only to oneself? Aren't words meant to be used for communicating with, well, other human beings? -- JackofOz (talk) 17:50, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

1) Knowing a word is fun. 2) I can tell everyone what it means anyway, 3) thereby reawakening its usage. 4) I can use it in the title of a fantasy story. --Masamage ♫ 20:19, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

I see. Thanks, Masamage. And my abject apologies for calling you Julia (no offence to Julia, btw). -- JackofOz (talk) 21:42, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Ambi-something would have the correct root, maybe a exhaustive dictionary search might turn something up.

I was wondering what the german word for this might be - maybe they have a single word, eg I was thinking of stuff like doppelganger. Category:German loanwords see if you recognise anything. No guarantee the answer si in their.87.102.75.250 (talk) 10:00, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

"ambibeneficial"?87.102.75.250 (talk) 10:14, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

If (Gk) strength is δυνάμη (thunami) as in dynamic, or dynamite, weakness άσθενια and there's ambi to link them, you could try some variations like ambidynasthenia, or just dynasthenia? Or combinations of the German for strength and weakness... festigeit (or kraft) and Schwäche like kraftschwäche maybe? Just engineering, not a linguist here. I like dynasthenia. Julia Rossi (talk) 10:31, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, dynasthenia is nice. The real question is whether it would communicate what I'm trying for to somebody who spoke Greek, but it sounds right... --Masamage ♫ 20:36, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh, hmm. A google search for 'dynasthesia' gets nothing, but 'dynesthia' brings up two hits, one of which defines it as "undue sensibility to pain", suggesting that this combination of words means a weakness itself is strong. --Masamage ♫ 03:50, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

BTW looking at say schadenfreude, there's a greek equivalent compounded with έπι (upon), or you could use έν (in) to get endynasthenia or epidynasthenia – but the annoying thing is there must be a name that does something more than it says – like "Roman holiday" meaning to enjoy other people's suffering or the way schadenfreude (damage + joy) describes a scornful laugh with all that implies. --chipping away enjoying the ride-- Julia Rossi (talk) 11:36, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

The word you're looking for, a single word for something that is both someone's source of strength, their Muse, let us say, and their source of weakness, the thing that leads to their downfall is: Lolita. Something is your Lolita if it is both your source of strength and weakness. Just kidding. But it's the closest I've come... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.1.135 (talk) 14:10, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

by the by, this is how it starts: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul...." Surely your sin is a weakness, and your soul is your strength???  :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.1.135 (talk) 14:14, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

That is an excellent metaphor for what I'm looking for, but it seems a little...loaded. XD --Masamage ♫ 20:19, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

You've (correctly, I think) excluded hamartia as a possibility, but I think the modern(-ish) use of the term "tragic flaw" is exactly what you're looking for. Our article basically just cuts off after ancient Greek examples, but the way tragic flaw is used in literary criticism is pretty close to what you're after, I think. Julius Caesar (in the play) reached the top by being unyielding and resolute... but got himself killed for being so. His unmoving nature brought him the dictatorship, but also turned people against him, to his downfall. Our articles on tragic hero and tragic irony seem a little different from what I learned way back in HS, so perhaps my understanding is incorrect, but to my way of thinking the flaw isn't actually tragic unless it was also behind the character's success as well. Matt Deres (talk) 21:56, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

In Russia are examples such as the intellectual serf whose talent was used so that his master profited from it, so maybe the Russians have a term for it (the tragic gift/fatal flaw idea). (It was in DYK a while back and I can't find him now.) Julia Rossi (talk) 01:25, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

By the way, no offense taken Jackoz, though the leetle leetle hole you dug was amusing. Actually I was thinking of you with the Russian bit -- would you know if the Russians have a term for it? Julia Rossi (talk) 01:30, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, don't know that one. I wouldn't be surprised if such a Russian word exists, though. (I don't know how I confused you 2 ladies. I must have women on the brain or something. Something terrible is happening to me :) -- JackofOz (talk) 01:48, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, "tragic flaw" is very close to what I'm looking for, except for being two words. The other thing is that...well, I've always thought the same thing about exactly what it means (regarding a character's success), and in English it kind of loses the emphasis on how the flaw was sort of a good thing at first (because 'tragic' is often just used to mean 'sad'). Alas! If only hamartia really meant that. I wonder what does. --Masamage ♫ 02:34, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

If harmartia had the meaning in greek of being a time-bomb-stain type thing, then it's only English usage that's changed. A Greek might get it. Could be time to take it back to the language desk specifically to ask for some russian experts. Especially since the Russians are famous for enduring tough things, they must know what it is to have a gift that keeps on back-firing... They invented Russian roulette after all (unless they didn't). Julia Rossi (talk) 02:51, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

It didn't really, though; according to its article, a hamartia was simply a mistake, like a sin, rather than being an overriding aspect of someone's life. It was an action someone commited. Still a tasty word for a tragic concept, but a pretty different one. Meanwhile, I will ask my Russian-speaking friend about that. :) --Masamage ♫ 03:23, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Welllll, that didn't work. Sigh. I guess I'll have to make something up, and then proceed to become so famous that it eventually ends up in the dictionary. --Masamage ♫ 02:44, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Achilles' heel? Fatal flaw? Boomerang? 80.2.195.163 (talk) 21:23, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

But it has to be good, too. --Masamage ♫ 21:41, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Jones New York

Does anyone know who the spokesmodel for Jones New York is featured in the April 2008 vanity fair and also on jonesnewyork.com under Lord and Taylor? (visit jonesnewyork.com click JNY Events click Lord and Taylor Charity Fashion Show)

EdwinHJ | Talk 23:14, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

I don't see the particular web page you're talking about, but Shalom Harlow does most of their ads. It also looks like Angela Lindvall does some. Mangostar (talk) 15:54, 18 March 2008 (UTC)