Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 January 9

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January 9

Leap Years

I understand that the Hebrew Religious Calendar back in the turn of the century B.C. to A.D. had a Leap Year every six years where a month was added (Adar Sheni). Adar is the twelth month (February - March in our Julian Calendar0; Sheni means second. I would like to know when was the closest Leap Year month added to A.D 1. Thank you for your assistance. Al —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.235.92.249 (talk) 00:42, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Adar bet is not added once in 6 years, but rather more often, see Hebrew_calendar#Leap_months. The year 2008/2009 CE is 5769, which means the year 0/1 CE was 3761. Since 3761 = 19*197 + 18, that was 18-th year of the 19-year cycle. Therefore both the year before (3760) and the year after (3762) had Adar bet. That is, assuming the rule for adding Adar bet was the same before Hillel (I'm not sure about that). --Dr Dima (talk) 01:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Actually if you read our article Hebrew calendar, you will find that the current method of following a standard cycle of leap years on the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle was not adopted until probably the 4th century CE (AD). In the first century BCE, Jewish religious leaders inserted leap months so as to keep the lunar calendar on a seasonal cycle by judging whether barley was ripe at the end of Adar. If it was not, a leap month was added, and that year became a leap year. In the first century, when it was done by observation, the insertion of leap months would have been irregular and based partly on the weather that year. For example, if Judea had had a cold, wet spring that delayed planting in the year after a leap year, the barley might have ripened so late that a leap month could have been inserted two years in a row. If Judea then had a series of gradually warmer and sunnier springs that allowed for earlier plantings for several years in a row, a leap year might conceivably be delayed for several years. In practice, leap years would have tended to be years with colder, wetter springs. Given this observational basis and irregularity, there is no way to calculate when leap years were declared in pre-Talmudic times. We may not even have a complete historical record of those ancient leap years, so we may not know which leap year was closest to 1 CE (AD 1). Marco polo (talk) 01:50, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

uni degree

what is an uni degree and how do i get one i want to travel to japan and teach english but i need an uni degree first.66.55.209.235 (talk) 01:59, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

A university degree is a qualification issued by a university. The standard way to get one is to attend a university for 3-5 years (depending on the nature of the degree and what country you are in). If you want a career as a teacher, then you will probably need a degree, but teaching English as a way to fund some travelling can often be done with a lesser qualification - see TEFL#Qualifications_for_TEFL_teachers for some more detail. --Tango (talk) 02:16, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Although all of my friends who have gone to China or Korea (not Japan) to teach English have had university degrees (usually in unrelated disciplines...), many have reported that the demand for English teachers is so great that the university degree rule was very lax. Many of the firms they worked for employed people who lied about having a degree, didn't provide any evidence of a degree or simply said they didn't have one. This is not a suggestion. NByz (talk) 20:02, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Canadian Contract Law

Hello. I am asking this question out of curiosity. I AM NOT ASKING THIS QUESTION FOR LEGAL ADVICE. Are contracts made by two minors in Canada legally binding? If so, can either party legally rescind from the contract if the contract involves non-necessaries and if there were no financial benefits?

This what I mean by "there were no financial benefits".

A minor bought vintage comics worth $4233.75 altogether, using money from his parent's credit card through cash advances. The minor wanted to refund the comics after thinking more about his purchase. The store owner refused but offered advice on selling the comics. The minor sold some of the comics. He went to court to void the contract with the store owner, arguing that the contract was voidable because it involved non-necessaries. The court dismissed the minor's action because some of the comics increased in value and the minor would have received a financial benefit.

Thanks very much. --Mayfare (talk) 02:28, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

You may well be asking the question "out of curiosity" but a request about the binding nature of a contract, about the capacity of minors to enter into binding contracts, and about the significance, if any, of a financial component, is a request for an opinion on matters of law, which is otherwise known as "legal advice". Any other opinion, not based on legal knowledge, would be useless in respect of any answer to your question. ៛ Bielle (talk) 04:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I would be very surprised if (a) contracts signed by minors were legal; and (b) stealing and using a credit card comprised a contractual obligation. DOR (HK) (talk) 07:33, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The articles on Contract, Age of Majority, and Capacity (law) have some information. The law varies between Canadian provinces, but generally minors can void most contracts with varying exceptions (they may not be able to void contracts for for sale of necessaries; for student loans; etc). A minor is either below 18 or 19 depending on the province. "Necessaries" is a vague term; a rough US definition is "food, lodging, clothing, medicine, medical attention, and education ... to the extent such items are suited to the minor's social position and situation in life." [1] --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 17:26, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

To try again: the question with the inset paragraph appears to be a case that has already been before the courts. (I am still trying to work out who the second minor is, unless he/she is the purveyor of the comic books.) The OP is asking for the opinion of the Ref Desk respondents on matters of law as have already been decided. If we are still not convinced that this is a request for legal advice, then perhaps we could consider that the question reads most like homework for a class on contract law, and avoid providing commentary. Links may be useful; they may also be misleading. ៛ Bielle (talk) 17:50, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Fair point. DOR (HK) (talk) 04:22, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Are chain letters containing threats illegal in the UK?

This is not a request for legal advice (honestly!) - but I'm wondering if it is, in fact against the law in the UK to forward chain letters/emails/text messages which threaten bodily harm, death or various other 'bad things' to those who 'break the chain' and don't forward the message on to <x number of> people? I know that the pyramid scheme-type chain letters are illegal - but what about the ones of the potentially psychologically-damaging variety?

I know otherwise-rational men in their 30s who'll get freaked out and forward this junk on to everyone they know, 'just in case'. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 03:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Chain letter or no, I'm fairly certain it's illegal to threaten people with violence in the UK, especially in an attempt to force them to do something they would otherwise not do. Algebraist 03:37, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

From the ones I've seen, it's never a case of "I, the guy who just sent you this whom you probably know well, am going to murder you if you don't send this on to everyone in your address book" - rather it's content like "<Whoever> from <Wherever> didn't forward this piece of crap on to everyone in his address book within 72 hours and died in an unexplained car crash/was murdered by an unknown assailant in broad daylight the very next day". It's not quite a direct threat, but it's certainly rather nasty... --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 03:43, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The ones I've seen vary. Some are rubbish,, right from the first word. But some others have excellent content, which I read with great pleasure, only to be turned off by "If you send this to 10 people within 72 hours, <something good> will happen to you. If you don't, <something bad> will happen to you". And I think, why did they ruin such a positive message? I refuse on principle to ever send them on. I'm quite prepared to take my chances. -- JackofOz (talk) 05:29, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Under the common law of England, a threat of bodily harm or death is usually a common assault. Xn4 (talk) 12:04, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I would imagine this would come under the auspices of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (full text). Nanonic (talk) 12:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Only if a threatening chain letter is sent to you by the same person more than once, which seems unlikely. Xn4 (talk) 12:39, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 contains an "Offence of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress" which might apply[2]. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 13:21, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Russian painters

Might someone be so kind as to name the more significant Russian painters? Any era is of interest. Neither Russian painters nor Russian art sheds any light on this question. Thank you. –Outriggr § 03:40, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

There is the Category:Russian painters as well as your list. Off the top of my head – among these, Malevich founder of the Suprematist movement, dynamic cubist Goncharova, and constructivist, Rodchenko stand out. There's also a List of 19th century Russian painters. Oops I forgot Sonia Delaunay art deco orphist, Kandinsky and Marc Chagall. Léon Bakst painted Nijinksy. Once you get into these articles, just click on their contemporaries to get going. There's a beautiful early painter who was a serf but I forget his name. Julia Rossi (talk) 09:25, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Okay, now we've got two, Vasily Tropinin and Vasily Sadovnikov, but Tropinin's work is the eye-candy for people and Maxim Vorobiev also 1700s is for landscapes. :) Julia Rossi (talk) 09:46, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't think I can agree with calling Tropinin's work "eye-candy" (self-portrait pictured) although, curiously enough, in his youth he worked as a confectioner. Xn4 (talk) 12:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Such a list must always be somewhat subjective, but don't forget Andrei Rublev. ---Sluzzelin talk 13:58, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Ilya Repin is probably the most-famous Russian painter of the XIXth Century. --Xuxl (talk) 15:55, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

The most valuable Russian paintings (based on auction prices) are by Natalia Goncharova (her Picking Apples is top), Konstantin Somov, Aleksandr Yakovlev, and Ivan Aivazovsky.[3] The modernist Goncharova is a brilliant artist, and her husband Mikhail Larionov is also very good. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 17:33, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Question about the Blago mess

Hello all,

I'm been keeping up with the scandal over Illinois Governor Blagojevich. A State House panel has recommended he be impeached. Since Governors have pardon powers, could the Governor pardon himself and end all of this? 75.180.235.209 (talk) 07:50, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

No. The governor's pardon power is defined by Article V, Section 12, of the Illinois state constitution, which specifically says that he can grant pardons after conviction. Supposing that he did commit a crime, he could be impeached and convicted first (after which he's no longer governor), then tried in criminal court and convicted there, and he would not be able to do anything.

Note: we are not allowed to give legal advice here. If you are Governor Blagojevich, please disregard this response. --Anonymous, 09:39 UTC, January 9, 2009.

Thanks for your help, Anon! The post above was by me; I just forgot to login; and I'm not the Governor by any means! - Thanks, Hoshie 10:39, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

And keep in mind if officials could pardon themselves out of an impeachment then there wouldn't really be an impeachment power, would there? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:03, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

While I'm not familiar with Illinois law, the pardon power generally does not apply to impeachment. The impeachment process removes a holder from office; it does not convict of a crime. John M Baker (talk) 00:57, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Nonfarm

Why do job reports, specifically in the US, measure job loss as the reduction in nonfarm employment? Why don't they count the agriculture industry in the employment reports? Borisblue (talk) 21:53, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Nonfarm payrolls says "[t]he farming industry is not included because of its seasonal hiring which would distort the number around harvest times". Haukur (talk) 22:11, 9 January 2009 (UTC)