Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 April 20

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April 20

MH370 (flight)

Is it common for news reporters to refer to a missing aircraft by its flight number, such as "MH370"? The aircraft has its own serial number apart from the flight number. (A similar phenomenon occurred when news reporters began to refer to a series of aircraft crashes by simply stating the month and date of the crashes, "9/11".)
—Wavelength (talk) 03:06, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

It's very common here in the States. A flight number is generally shorter and/or easier to remember than the aircraft's tail number. (I'm guessing that by "serial number" you mean tail number.) The tail number can be up to 5 or 6 characters long and thus rather cumbersome to say again and again. This is one reason why pilots and air traffic controllers will often abbreviate an aircraft's tail number while communicating. MH370, Flight 93, Flight 175, or Flight 77 are easier to say and remember. Add to that the chances of a second instance of MH370 going down being rather slim, there's little reason not to use the flight number. Dismas|^(talk) 03:16, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Yes, this is common. News reports about such events never mention aircraft registration numbers. Airlines retire flight numbers that have experienced deadly crashes. "9/11" is more memorable than the 4 individual flight numbers. I do note that US Airways Flight 1549, in which everyone survived, is better known as the "Miracle on the Hudson".—Nelson Ricardo (talk) 03:18, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

(ec) Yes, universally common. You won't find "MH 370" written anywhere on the fuselage, assuming it's ever found. But the flight number is the public identification of the flight and hence the plane. Its serial numbers, Aircraft registration (for Malaysia it's always 9Mxxx), and any other identifying features are all too technical for the public to grasp. Now, if there were another major incident involving a different plane also travelling on flight MH 370 (at a different time), that would be confusing and some extra ID would be necessary to disambiguate the two events. But I've not heard of that sort of coincidence ever happening. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 03:19, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) By convention, flight disasters are known by the flight number, not the airplane call number or serial number. United Airlines Flight 93, Pan Am Flight 103, Air France Flight 447, etc. are all known by their flight number. --Jayron32 03:20, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

And especially the infamous Flight 191. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:08, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I remember reading somewhere that airlines "retire" flight numbers after fatal accidents, so United no longer has a Flight 93 and Air France don't have one numbered 447 any more, and so on. If they fly the same route on the same schedule it gets a new number. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 12:26, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

How come United gets a singular verb (has) but Air France get/s a plural verb (don't)? Just curious. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:58, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Isn't it something to do with American English using plural verbs for organizations, while in Europe either is fine? KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 21:28, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

No. "Doesn't" is correct in the US of A. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:25, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I thought it was the around, sorry. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 05:45, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

I may be being fooled by a recency illusion, but I think this "universally common convention" only started in 1983 when the Soviets shot down a Korean airliner that went off-course. It was flight 7 and flight numbers with less than 3 digits are sometimes padded with leading zeroes. Journalists found the notation of a flight numbered 007 irresistible and into the headlines it went, and and having done that once, they then started copying the practice with all other air disasters, to the point where Wikipedia has copied it as well. (I may only be talking about North American journalists here.) --50.100.193.30 (talk) 22:44, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

The crash of AA Flight 191 at O'Hare was in May of 1979, and that flight number immediately became well-known. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:57, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

The crash of American Airlines Flight 320 on February 3, 1959 (yes, that February 3) didn't seem to be called prominently by its flight number, at least not in the handful of contemporary references I've seen on the internet. That suggests the practice started something between that 20-year window. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:10, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

The flight number of the D.B. Cooper incident, in 1971, is mentioned well into the article,[1] although the focus in that story was on the hijacker rather than the plane itself. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:15, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Journalists have to have SOMETHING to call the story. Generally, disasters can be named after the place where they happened (eg "The Boston Marathon Bombing") - in the case of a plane crash, if the place it crashes is somewhere with a name - then they often use it (eg "The Lockerbie bombing") - but if the event happens over some large, nameless tract of ocean - or if (as in this case) nobody knew within a million square miles where it went down - what else is there to use than the flight number? That said, Wikipedia has "Pan Am Flight 103" as the official title of the article on "The Lockerbie bombing" - which is odd because I don't think the flight number was much used by the press at the time. But if you check the "Talk:" page for that article, you'll see there was some discussion about that particular name choice there. SteveBaker (talk) 18:17, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

If you were wondering why your link is oddly red, that's because you included your own quotes inside the square brackets, Steve. American punctuation conventions notwithstanding, it only works if they're outside. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:54, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Ooops! My bad! All better now. SteveBaker (talk) 02:58, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Playing or Ripping a broken dvd

If this question can be asked here, Can anything be done with a DVD that is broken and missing plastic? My idiot sister intentionally destroyed some of my stuff and in the batch of broken items is an EXTREMELY rare DVD that can literally not be found anywhere online now and it took me a lot of time and effort to find it for sale in the first place. It's literally one of a kind and it is extremely important to me. I've only had it a few days, I haven't even watched it all the way through, and now the DVD is broken and missing plastic due to my idiot sister's antics. Not much talk of broken dvds at Google since they're so freaking old and no one really uses them anymore I guess, but I figured if anyone has the answer it's Wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.8.106.52 (talk) 03:27, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

There exist companies that specialize in recovering data from damaged media such as DVDs. I also found This utility that claims to recover lost data from damaged CDs and DVDs. This company claims to be able to recover such data for you. --Jayron32 03:38, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Just as an FYI, I would not expect the price for a recovery service to be cheap. I checked into it once for a hard drive that failed and it was several hundred dollars at least. A DVD may be easier to read than a damaged hard drive though. Dismas|^(talk) 03:43, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

We've had an article on IsoBuster (Jayron's link) since September 2005 (there seems to be some dispute over the optional download of an additional browser toolbar). It would be interesting to know if anyone has tried this recovery software. If the DVD is broken and has missing plastic, then I think recovery is unlikely (despite built-in error recovery in the format) and it might be simpler to find someone who has another copy. Dbfirs 07:10, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

The DVD should be cheaper because it doesn't require a clean room, just a player that spins slow enough that it won't damage the disk further and that can handle a disk with a high error rate. --Carnildo (talk) 01:41, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

The disc is so damaged that my laptop won't even play it, so I don't think IsoBuster will help since the DVD can't even be read. I tried tape but all that and the misshapen parts of the disc did was prevent the DVD from spinning in the drive. I can't believe this has happened. I've only had it a few days and I haven't even watched it all the way through. It was my most prized possession and it's now destroyed. Jeez. I couldn't even get an apology out of her. She was like "Just buy another one." and I was like "I can't because THERE ARE NO MORE!" I hate her. Thanks for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.8.106.52 (talk) 09:59, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Sorry about your loss. I don't think tape is a good idea because it might damage your drive. I'd have tried superglue, but I don't know the exact condition of the damaged DVD. If you tell us the title, perhaps someone here might know a source, though if it's as rare as you claim then perhaps not. Dbfirs 11:07, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, it's definitely not good to put a cracked or otherwise damaged disk into the player. It won't play - and there is a very large risk of it breaking apart under the centrifugal force and wrecking something inside the player. DVD drives spin at a couple of thousand RPM - and the outward forces on the disk are quite significant. Trying to fix it wouldn't work - and would probably result in an unbalanced disk, which could also wreck your player. For these reasons, you stand zero chance of recovering the data without some exceedingly specialized equipment. I'm quite sure that no matter how rare this DVD was, it's worth less than the cost of recovering it. Also, depending on where the breaks fell, it's possible that there is data that is simply completely missing. Although DVD's and CD's have some redundancy in the data so that they can recover from a scratch or other minor imperfection - they really aren't good at recovering from damage that completely spans the disk. If the disk is truly, demonstrably of great value, you might consider trying to recover the cost from home-owner's insurance. It's not clear whether they would cover this as an accident - but it might be worth checking. SteveBaker (talk) 19:07, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

(Incidentally - if you'd care to tell us the title of the DVD, maybe we can figure out where you can get a replacement.) SteveBaker (talk) 19:48, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

I want to, PURCHASE AN ALBUM

Hello, I "HOPE" you can help me. I am trying to purchase an album by, Matraca Berg (Country) with the song, "It's Easy to Tell" on it. Do you know where, how or IF I can purchase it. I had one and someone liked it so much, they STOLED it.

IF, you can help me, I would appreciate it very much.

SINCERELY,

Thad L. Ardo — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.93.65.82 (talk) 09:16, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I deleted your phone number. It's a bad idea to post personal contact info on the internet. The album "Bittersweet", which would have featured that track, was apparently never published, according to our article on Matraca Berg. If you had the track on another album, let us know what that was called, and we may be able to help further. Rojomoke (talk) 10:13, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I believe the song is on some CD releases of Lying to the Moon, which can be found at Amazon.com: [2]. You can also download the individual mp3 from Amazon. --Jayron32 21:40, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Hail to the Chief Saluting

Does the military (salute) and civilians hold their hands over their hearts when "Hail to the Chief" is played> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.126.75.97 (talk) 18:04, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I never do, if that's any guide. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:54, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

The president is saluted by military personnel when Hail to the Chief is played, since the president is Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. military.[3] Civilians would stand at attention, but not salute. As for holding the hand over the heart, is that not what people do when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance? OttawaAC (talk) 20:11, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

People? Or just some people? Did nobody get Jack's point? Like him, I probably wouldn't respond that way when "Hail to the Chief" is played. In my case that would be because I have no idea what it sounds like. HiLo48 (talk) 22:14, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

OK, US citizens. I wouldn't recognize either "Hail to the Chief" or the Pledge of Allegiance if I heard them. OttawaAC (talk) 00:00, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

That's probably why you are only Canadian. μηδείς (talk) 01:30, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Okay, I'll be the first US citizen to respond, I guess. Civilians do not salute or put their hand over their heart when HttC is played. Standing is done more as a matter of respect than due to the music being played. We do put our hand over our heart when the national anthem is played in our presence (we don't normally do so at home when we see it sung/performed on the TV). Standing quietly with our hands at our sides is also an acceptable option for many. It's simply a cultural thing after all. We could remain seated or continue doing whatever you were doing though you may receive some dirty looks. As for the Pledge, hardly anyone outside of grade school says it anymore and, again, hand over heart is the usual thing to do while reciting it. Dismas|^(talk) 01:33, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

As a fellow American, I concur with your summary. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:08, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

What are any warning signs that lightning is going to strike nearby whilst you are outside?

Exactly as the question says. I am also wondering if eyes hurting are also a possible warning sign. I also wonder what might cause the lightning to flash red (not blue) when striking the ground.

Simply south ...... discombobulating confusing ideas for just 8 years 18:42, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

See [4]: "A soft or loud buzzing, clicking, hissing or cracking sound. A tingling sensation. Hairs on the arm or head standing on end. Nearby metal objects emitting a soft, blue-white glow called 'St. Elmo's Fire'". Though I'd have to suggest that none of that seems particularly reliable. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:43, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Was burning eyes beforehand just a coincidence? And why did I see the lightning strike as red? Simply south ...... discombobulating confusing ideas for just 8 years 20:38, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

Either those are signs of demonic possession, or you should seek a physician. Given it is an open question whether priests are licensed professionals. Random guys on the internet are not lp's; although various admins here will violate wikipedia policy if you know whom to ask. I suggest you search the talk page. μηδείς (talk) 22:13, 20 April 2014 (UTC)

I like what Andy said... I've read anecdotes about lightening victims giving similar feelings. There are probably some physiological effects right before a strike. Of course, at that point it's probably way too late. Don't be outside in a thunderstorm, is the take home point. Shadowjams (talk) 07:48, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

When you don't realise it is a thunderstorm then you can't help that. Are there any other cases of red lightning bolts striking the ground elsewhere in the world? AND I dont mean sprites travelling into the upper atmosphere. Difficultly north (talk) Simply south alt. 12:28, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

We have an article on Ball lightning. Dbfirs 10:04, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

There's also ionized air, but that just means a thunderstorm is in the general area, not that a lightning strike is going to hit right there. StuRat (talk) 13:05, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

When I was almost struck last year, I felt and heard the pre-buzz for about two seconds. When it struck, it looked purple. My eyes didn't burn and my head didn't spin, but my cat took off like a bat out of Hell. The colour might have to do with what it burns, same as the light from a flame. InedibleHulk (talk) 14:26, 21 April 2014 (UTC)