Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 December 21

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December 21

NFL football rules

If memory serves, the NFL (American football) rulebook is for sale at your local American bookstore for US$20 and one cannot actually look up a rule authoritatively online (such as you'd expect to be able to do at the NFL website). Is this (still) the case? (+1 for capitalism, by the way.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 00:27, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Here: [1] is the OFFICIAL unofficial rulebook from the NFL. Its a non-annotated, non-indexed online version of the rules, as released by the NFL. The official rulebook is presumably only of direct interest to NFL officials and teams, since no one else is generally in need of them. this PDF database contains some places to download the UNOFFICIAL official rulebook in PDF form, from sites not sponsored by the NFL. Caveat emptor, since these are not sanctioned they may not be any better than the one above. --Jayron32 00:51, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Go to this link for a complete text of the rules (2006 version). I haven't been able to find a more recent edition, and I have looked frequently. — Michael J 23:19, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Magic shows for magicians

What is it called when magic tricks are designed to entertain magicians, and not the general public? As in, magic tricks like 3 card monte, where the performer swaps the cards in such a way that to the average magician, he used some kind of Mexican turnover or something, but in reality he didn't, so that normal spectators don't see anything interesting happening, but a magician would be "amazed", so to speak.--72.178.133.37 (talk) 00:35, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

While I don't know the answer to your question, if there is one, but I feel I should tell you that Three-card Monte is not a magic trick. It's a confidence trick. Dismas|^(talk) 00:50, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

The OP is likely using that as an example because Teller (of Penn and Teller) likes to tell a story about going up to a guy doing three-card monte and expecting him to show off how well he does the trick. Instead, the guy knew that Teller knew the trick, so he did an entirely different trick which took Teller by surprise. I have no idea where I saw the interview (perhaps a Youtube video), but Teller also explains that magic for magicians is different than magic for the public because magicians know the tricks. So, that is how Penn and Teller works. They explain how the trick works and, in the process, perform an even more elaborate trick. -- kainaw™ 07:28, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

I've also seen a similar story from Teller where he does an elaborate trick to place a ball under a coffee mug. Its one coffee mug, and it looks like he just puts the ball under the mug. Instead, he goes through an elaborate set of prestodigitations to get the ball under the mug. Its a pointless trick; the end result is actually exactly what the audience sees. The audience sees him place a ball under a mug, and lo-and-behold, the ball is under the mug. However, its a typical "magician's trick" because he uses a bunch of tricks to get it there. --Jayron32 15:21, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I did have the Teller interview in mind. However, I was thinking of other tricks as well, like performing a double lift to pretend to show a top card, and then doing a blatant second deal to make a magician think that your trick is going to be that the dealt card won't be the same as the "top card". So is there a name for this? --72.178.133.37 (talk) 02:04, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Which song is this?

Can anybody tell which song this is, please? Thanks LooseJuice (talk) 01:22, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

The question has been answered here. JW..[ T..C ] 03:15, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

What type of flute is this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FoagIMm5Bg 69.77.243.236 (talk) 06:31, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like an alto recorder. 80.219.8.3 (talk) 08:06, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

How do you know what it sounds like?Froggie34 (talk) 11:42, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Uhm..., I clicked on the youtube link, and listened. 80.219.8.3 (talk) 23:00, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Most sites say "baroque recorder", performed by Manuel Staropoli. [2] (Alex's brother) 80.219.8.3 (talk) 08:27, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

"Baroque recorder" is ambiguous. Without context, I would assume it referred to the fingering, i.e. Baroque fingering vs. German fingering (and I'm really surprised these are redlinks, see recorder). In context, I would suppose it refers to a recorder from the Baroque period, which, I suppose, would imply baroque fingering, but which says nothing about the pitch of the instrument. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 22:24, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Indiana Jones

What Indiana Jones film has the highest amount of deaths in the Indiana Jones franchise? David Pro (talk) 12:12, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by deaths? Are you referring to the highest number of characters in the movie that die? Are you referring to the highest number of people working on the movie who died during production? -- kainaw™ 14:48, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

If you are looking for characters in the movie who die, I can get you started:

• Raiders of the Lost Ark: 84 [3]
• Kingdom of the Crystal Scull: 76 [4]

I don't know the other movies aren't listed. -- kainaw™ 14:53, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Music download charts

In the case of the UK Official Download Chart, I assume that only downloads purchased in the UK qualify for inclusion. But how does this work in practice? Does the purchaser have to have a UK postal address? A credit card registered to a UK address? A UK IP address? I can see difficulties ensuring the accuracy of all of these. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 12:28, 21 December 2009 (UTC)