Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 June 26

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June 26

Feeling personal attachment towards footwear

Some people name their shoes and get attached to them, as if they were their friends, and refuse to throw them out. Is this attitude more common among women, and is this part of the stereotype about women and their shoes or not?

Huh? I'd like to see the evidence that this actually happens, for starters. // BL \\ (talk) 01:16, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm a male computer nerd and have felt that way about shoes (grungy old hiking boots as it happens). I didn't give them names though. 208.70.31.206 (talk) 02:19, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I suppose that attachment to boots is not that uncommon, I have already met a couple of men with this problem.--Mr.K. (talk) 09:02, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

That sounds like a simple example of sentimentality to me, rather than anything specific to footwear. --Tango (talk) 10:38, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

There is an article on Shoe fetishism, however what you're talking about doesn't sound worrying unless they wear them in bed :) Dmcq (talk) 12:39, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

A different Richard Southern?

It strikes me that the author of this bibliography is not the Richard Southern of the Wikipedia page (here plus several interwiki). My Google search hasn't revealed anything substantive about the one who writes on theatre history. I've queried on the Talk page, suggesting that the medieval historian might suitably be referred to as Richard W. Southern with at least a disambiguation page noting two similarly named published academics. At this point, I'd appreciate help on investigating this further. -- Thanks! Deborahjay (talk) 09:27, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Good catch. The Library of Congress authority file (official site here, but more easily searchable via WorldCat), also recognises these authors as two different people:

• Southern, Richard (lccn-n50-21642) is the theatre historian.
• Southern, R. W. (Richard William), 1912- (lccn-n50-21643) is the mediaevalist.

WorldCat lists one library holding about the theatre historian: the Richard Southern Print Collection at Bristol whose website you already linked to. The Bristol website includes a biography and reproduces an obituary from The Independent. Searching LexisNexis for August 1989 also finds obituaries that were published in the The Times (4 August) and The Guardian (7 August), so it looks like there's enough source material for a short article on him. EALacey (talk) 10:03, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm of the opinion that titles of articles about authors should reflect the names that they used on their publications (cf. C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, H. G. Wells). Since the medievalist invariably published as "R. W. Southern," I'd recommend moving Richard Southern over the redirect at R. W. Southern. Then an article about the other guy could be created at "Richard Southern" (if it's determined that he's notable), and hatnotes could be added for cross-referencing. Deor (talk) 14:08, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I just made a redirect from R.W. Southern the other day...it was unusual to see his name without the W. and I never thought to make the link that way. I think Richard W. would be fine, but Deor is right, his name is invariably "R.W." Adam Bishop (talk) 02:23, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Can countries declare bankruptcy?

Definition according to WP:

• Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor ("involuntary bankruptcy") in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring. In the majority of cases, however, bankruptcy is initiated by the debtor (a "voluntary bankruptcy" that is filed by the insolvent individual or organization).

Mr.K. (talk) 10:19, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

In bankruptcy an individual or organisation has their financial affairs supervised by a court. There is currently no international court with powers to exercise such financial supervision over a country. Our article on default (finance) says "Sovereign borrowers such as nation-states generally are not subject to bankruptcy courts in their own jurisdiction, and thus may be able to default without legal consequences ... In such cases, the defaulting country and the creditor are more likely to renegotiate the interest rate, length of the loan, or the principal payments." Gandalf61 (talk) 10:29, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Countries don't declare bankruptcy, as such, they just default on their debts and the only thing anyone can do about it is not lend them money in the future (this is a significant deterrent, though). There is no way to compel a sovereign nation to pay up. --Tango (talk) 10:36, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Bankruptcy has become a shorthand way of saying the phrase "Bankruptcy protection" This definition is somewhat new, under the literal meaning of the word, the term bankruptcy is merely a synonym of sorts for "insolvency". When you declare yourself bankrupt, you are merely notifying your creditors that you will not be repaying them. Anyone, even national governments, could default on their credit obligations and thus be "bankrupt". Many governments, such as the U.S. government, have provided bakruptcy protection laws which protect bankrupt individuals from being destroyed by the condition, and which also provide means, such as bankruptcy courts, for there to some sort of remediation availible to creditors. But concepts such as "state bankruptcy" do exist, even if there is no "supranational bankruptcy court" to preside over any sort of remediation hereing, the term "state bankruptcy" is in common usage to refer to the insolvency of a national government. We do have a fairly new article titled National bankruptcy which needs some help, but there are LOTS of examples of state-declared bankruptcies; for example that of Philip II of Spain, of Denmark in 1813. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 12:44, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

The term "bankruptcy" is used that way when people are speaking very loosely, but as a legal term it is a state that can only be declared by a judge. There is a difference between insolvency and bankruptcy in that respect. --Tango (talk) 12:50, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

In short, a country can declare bankruptcy whenever it wants. That declaration does not appear to much in the way of legal ramifications however, since it can also default on its loans whenever it wants without such a declaration. 65.121.141.34 (talk) 19:22, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Has a country ever used the word "bankrupt" to describe itself? Usually they do their best to make the default look like something else (no-one is fooled, but they try!). --Tango (talk) 19:50, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

There's a confusion here between states and countries. States can default on their debt : if you don't give any formal legal meaning to the term, they go "bankrupt", as they cannot pay what they owe. Countries do not have any legal existence : in legal terms, they do not exist. So they cannot go bankrupt. --Gede (talk) 07:45, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Most prolific Britannica author

Who has written the most articles for the Encyclopedia Britannica? --69.113.82.135 (talk) 13:40, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

William Smellie would be a good contender - as the first editor, he borrowed shamelessly from other works to compile the encyclopedia. Christine Sutton was apparently the most prolific contributor to the 2007 edition with 24 articles. Fouracross (talk) 17:00, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

conservative Catholic bishops

About 60 Catholic bishops publicly opposed the President Obama's speech at Notre Dame Recently. Is there a list somewhere of these bishops? --Halcatalyst (talk) 15:11, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

You don't have to look too far [1] Fouracross (talk) 16:50, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks, that was just what I needed. --Halcatalyst (talk) 20:23, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

This seems to be a list of US American bishops, a country where politicians - specifically presidents - have chosen not to stress a separation of Church and state (so help me God). --62.47.146.184 (talk) 18:56, 26 June 2009 (UTC) Ooops, --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 18:57, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

They sound more "activist" or "radical" than "conservative." Edison (talk) 03:06, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Salary on Think tanks

Do think tanks pay better than newspapers?--88.1.123.111 (talk) 19:02, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

That depends on what job you are doing in each. There isn't an obvious correspondence between the levels in one and the levels in the other. It also depends on the relative size and prestige of the think tank and newspaper. --Tango (talk) 19:05, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Anyway, I thought that since the requirements are equivalent, the salary could be equivalent too.--88.1.123.111 (talk) 19:09, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Requirements for what? The prerequisites for making the tea at a local newspaper are very different the prerequisites for heading up a major national think tank. --Tango (talk) 19:21, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Tango would be correct even if he was more generous about trying to interpret your question correctly. Plus currently print newspapers' business has gone to hell because of the Interbanet, and a lot of journalists have been laid off, so the supply of talent is currently clearly larger than the demand, which must mean that salaries at newspapers are not going to rise for a long time. Tempshill (talk) 20:59, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I gave an intentionally extreme example to make a point, but as I said in my first reply there is no obvious correspondence between the jobs in each industry, so I can't possibly interpret the question any better. --Tango (talk) 00:42, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Zanele Dlamini

What year will south African first lady birthyear be like. Since Thabo and Zanele mbeki marry in 1974, then Zanele is likely going to be Thabo's 20 year junior, for Zanele to be at least 15 years younger I thought. I'm guessing Zanele should be born in 1960s. Ana Paula Santos is born on October 17, 1963 is junior of jose by 21 years.--69.229.111.118 (talk) 20:18, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

:Guessing at the birthdates of people is a fruitless and pointless exercise. Every day or so, you ask a question about someone's birthdate, and then go through a long bizarre method of deriving a supposed birthdate, and then ask someone for confirmation of your weird deductions. If you want to know someone's birthdate, seek out an official biography somewhere. I don't see where these questions of yours get anywhere here... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 20:34, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

He does often get help here, and I assume (and hope) he's subsequently improving the Wikipedia articles about these persons. Tempshill (talk) 21:00, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

You're right. That was uncalled for by me. I guess I was in a sour mood. I should not have been so rude about that. Please accept my apology. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 22:28, 26 June 2009 (UTC)