Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2008 December 14

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December 14

Is there a word for this concept?

"The knowing that another experiences the same as you and/or expresses it."

I think I read this somewhere in rationalism or existentialism related articles, but I can't remember for sure.

Please and thank you. 71.196.67.138 (talk) 07:21, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Are you looking for "intersubjectivity"[1]? Intersubjectivity involves empathy. Traced from the article Existentialism section the Other and the Look[2] it is part of phenomenology which regards the other as more than another object, rather it is an experiencing entity like oneself. Intersubjectivity extends this simple I-you identification because it is multiple in that it is "the sharing of subjective states by two or more individuals." Julia Rossi (talk) 07:50, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Check out grok. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 01:31, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Inflation adjustment value

Since this RD also includes economics, I'm asking here instead of the Mathematics RD. I need to know how much 100 INR (1978) is worth today in 2008. Please refer to the Reserve Bank of India. The figures are given in gradients of a decade, so I do not know how to calculate 1978 to 2008 values. Could someone please help? =Nichalp «Talk»= 10:10, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

If you take 100 in 1978 then you need to increase it by the % that the retail-price-index (or equivalent) has increased by and that will give you a reasonably close idea of what 100 in 1978 is worth today. So 100 in 1978 was (using All commodities in your linked table) 185.8 - it went to 281.3 by 1982 when it was re-based. 281.3 is 151% of 185.8 so you need to calculate 151% of 100 which is easy enough (151). Then you do the same from 1982-1994 - 247.8 is 247% of 100. You now need to calculate 247% of 151 (372.9). Do the same for 1993-2008 and you have 215.9 is 215.9% of 100. Then calculate 215% of 372.9 and you should get 801.7. Potentially i've done something wrong but that is how I would calculate it. So 100 INR in 1978 is equivalent to about 800 INR in today's terms. ny156uk (talk) 14:30, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I tried to do the same, but since my knowledge of economics is weak, I'm not sure if such a simple means of calculation is correct, or if there is more to it. Thanks anyways. :) =Nichalp «Talk»= 15:39, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

If you wish to buy US dollars, it would take only 8.19 of the 1978 Rupee to buy what 49.34 will buy today ($1), an 83.4% depreciation. In terms of oil, a barrel of oil cost 104.5 Rupees 30 years ago, whereas today it would be 2,467 (i.e., the Rupee depreciated 34.6% against a barrel of oil). In terms of gold, -30.5%, from Rs1,583 to Rs39,888 per ounce.

But are these adjustments valid? =Nichalp «Talk»= 19:31, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Trumpets

Why when a trumpet plays a concert F is it read as a G on trumpet music? Additionally why when a score is in the key of C is the key different on trumpet music? Thanks. 76.187.43.14 (talk) 18:54, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

Because the trumpet is a transposing instrument. DuncanHill (talk) 19:00, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

The article sounds a bit circular in its explanation:"Historically, some instruments have come to be accepted (and widely manufactured) with a certain transposition as a standard, and most music written for those instruments would be transposed." I see no particular advantage to having a trumpet in B flat compared to having it play concert pitch, except for the great existing body of music written for B flat trumpet. It does not achieve much toward avoiding ledger lines. Edison (talk) 21:32, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

As I understand it (although I could easily be mistaken), it dates back to when trumpets didn't have valves, you could just play harmonics. That meant if you wanted to play in a different key, you would need to get a different trumpet. Music would just be written in the key of C and then you would play it in whatever key you liked by picking up the right trumpet. When trumpets with valves were introduced the ones tuned to B-flat when all the valves were open became the most common (I don't know why), but the music is still written in C for those historical reasons. --Tango (talk) 22:46, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

There are important technical reasons for transposing instruments as well. Read transposing instrument# Families of instruments. In short:

Many instruments are members of a family of instruments that differ mainly in size, such as the saxophone, clarinet, flute, etc. The instruments in these families have differing ranges, with the members sounding lower as they get larger. It is desirable for all members of the same instrument family to have the same fingerings, so that a player can play any member of the family using the same fingerings. As a result, these instruments are transposed based on their range such that each written note is fingered the same way on each instrument.

Does that make sense? --S.dedalus (talk) 23:29, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

It would make it easier to select the correct fingering for a written note, when a brass player changed from a B flat to a C trumpet, but any moderately skilled trumpeter can play music written in C about as well as music written in B flat. It is an easy transposition, like an F horn player easily playing a part written for E flat horn. But it has the effect of bad ear training, with a B flat trumpeter or a F horn player having different ideas of what pitch a C is. I know it interferes when I switch from a transposing instrument to singing and vice versa. Edison (talk) 00:12, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Latin America hostile governments

Is this true that America overthrew 40 hostile governments in Latin America during 20th Century? Can you list them if possible because you guys don't have an article that shows the list of Latin American hostile government? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.53.74 (talk) 23:47, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

CIA activities in the Americas may be a helpful place to start. All governments are hostile to someone, so I'm not sure how the list you're requesting would work... SDY (talk) 23:59, 14 December 2008 (UTC)

I think you can assume he means "hostile to the US" and that even the CIA wouldn't overthrow a friendly government. So the question boils down to "Is this true that America overthrew 40 governments in Latin America during 20th Century?". DJ Clayworth (talk) 19:53, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

40 seems awful high, considering there are only 21 countries in Latin America. There are also a lot of fine lines between "overthrowing" and "gave support to someone else who was already overthrowing." For every Guatamala and Chile there are more subtle cases. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:36, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

21 countries can easily have forty governments in a century. —Tamfang (talk) 22:15, 27 December 2008 (UTC)