Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 December 23

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December 23

SS Columbia in NYC

New Yorkers (perhaps Jim.henderson?) needed. After decades of ferrying holidaymakers on the Detroit River and years of being tied up on the Detroit riverfront, SS Columbia was moved last year to Toledo and Buffalo in preparation for a move and long-term residency at New York City. It's easy to find online references for the move being planned, and online references for the move being underway (the Detroit and Toledo papers wrote about its departure from each city, for example), but I've found nothing about it reaching NYC or otherwise getting downstream of Buffalo. Can someone help me find solid, reliable sourcing, something that speaks of the arrival in the past tense or explains that the plans fell through? Online or print will work; I just need it to be WP:RS, although bonus points if you can get the location where it's docked when not in use. Nyttend (talk) 00:26, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Never heard of it. A web search found a Buffalo TV news report saying she arrived there in Sept last year. [1] and will come here next year. Nothing yet from NYC media. My camera and I will be pleased to welcome her. Jim.henderson (talk) 00:46, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Last Dowager consorts in Forbidden City

What happened to Imperial Noble Consort Ronghui (died 1933) and Imperial Noble Consort Jingyi (died 1932), the widows of Emperor Tongzhi, once Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924? Did they follow Puyi to the Japanese Concession of Tianjin and then to Manchukuo in 1932? Where exactly were there places of death?--The Emperor's New Spy (talk) 02:15, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Wei Huang Gong, Puyi's palace as Emperor Kangde of Manchukuo seems a rather improbable place for their residence, superficially judging after the article at any rate. Without prejudicing their relative positions in Beijing in 1924 again, Pu-Yi in February 1925 left Beijing secretly by train for Tianjin, then was followed by his wife and consort ([2]). In March 1925 he is mainly surrounded "by some former courtiers and officials" (later page 201 from the same book). In November 1931 again Japanese officials arrange for the Emperor's wife to join him: [3]. It is to be feared that the two old ladies lived their last years in other houses owned by other relatives than the Emperor's. --Askedonty (talk) 19:20, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Artist name search

I am attempting to identify a painting and the painter. It is difficult to make out the signature, however I can make out the last few letters, which are "ouille". Does anyone have a suggestion? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trenrev1 (talk • contribs) 05:36, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Does this painting appear in any online images, and if so, could you supply a link? If not, could you describe the style, so as to reduce the pool of possible names? For example, if it's a Mannerist painting, we can ignore all the Post-Impressionist painters. Nyttend (talk) 15:21, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Steven Avery

Can someone explain this to me. Steven Avery was filing filing a civil lawsuit. Why can't he continue with his civil lawsuit while in prison? Does being guilty of murder, strip him of his right to proceed with his civil lawsuit on a matter that is completely independent of the murder? 175.45.116.66 (talk) 05:43, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Where does the article say he's not allowed to file suit? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:17, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps he regards it as a waste of his effort. If he were to win the civil lawsuit, he's still stuck in jail for the rest of his life - so why bother? Our article does say that he claimed that his imprisonment would: "make it harder for him to win his pending civil case"...not "impossible" - just "harder". I can easily imagine that it would be in some way harder to win that case while in jail for murder than while at liberty. So I don't think our article is incorrect. SteveBaker (talk) 19:05, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Our article is just reporting what he said anyway so what matters is whether he really said it and whether it's significant enough to include in the article. Whether or not it's true doesn't matter much. That said, I also agree the claim is entirely plausible. Meeting people, doing research etc is likely to be more difficult in prison. Some of these may even be impossible, as some people may simply point blank refuse (not just because of the prison part but also the convicted murderer part) and likewise I don't think all possible resources would be required to ensure someone in prison has access. Lawyers likewise may be less interested in helping him. Civil trials of this sort do seem to be decided by jurys in the US (presuming they are decided at trial, many seem to be settled out of court). If it did go to trial it's possible lawyers representing the defendant/s could have found a reason to mention he's currently in prison for murder since most parts of the US doesn't seem to have strong restrictions on these sort of things. Nil Einne (talk) 03:09, 24 December 2015 (UTC)

Trenta being 31 oz?

"Venti" is twenty in Italian, so Starbucks naming their 20oz drink size after it makes a bit of sense. But "trenta" is thirty in Italian, so how come the trenta drink size is 31oz? 731Butai (talk) 13:17, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

See marketing--Jayron32 19:38, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Is online download similar to photocopies/scanning yourself?

What's the legal difference between downloading a book and going to the library and photocopying it or even scanning it? I mean downloading from those sites not authorized by the copyright-holder. I don't want to explicitly name them.--Jubilujj 2015 (talk) 15:18, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Since you are asking a legal question, we unfortunately cannot help you. As you can read at the top of this page, we are not allowed to give legal advice here. Laws surrounding copyright vary between jurisdictions, so make sure to follow the laws that are applicable in your jurisdiction. - Lindert (talk) 15:27, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

I am not asking for what's my legal situation. Just what the law says in the US or UK about this. That's similar to asking is there death penalty in the UK? You are not advising me. --Jubilujj 2015 (talk) 15:33, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

As far as I know, they are all illegal in the UK. A library here might allow you photocopy or scan the odd page for educational purposes, but they need a licence to allow this. Perhaps someone can point to the appropriate copyright law. Dbfirs 15:42, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

The Copyright Licensing Agency has information which may be helpful. Their licenses do distinguish between downloading and photocopying/scanning works. Warofdreams talk 15:53, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

You may find Fair use of interest. As a practical matter, there's nothing to stop you from copying something. Whether you get into legal trouble could depend on what you do with it after you've copied it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:55, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

[edit conflict with Bugs] Under certain circumstances, making individual photocopies is considered fair use by US law, under 17 U.S.C. § 108 (especially subsection (f); run a search for "shall be construed to impose liability for copyright infringement"), and even if you infringe copyright with their equipment, the library is specifically exempt from liability if they follow certain practices and standards, which includes providing a big warning on the copier that reminds users not to infringe copyright (see details from Stanford University). Offering an opinion about whether or not a specific circumstance is fair use would be legal advice, but there are circumstances in which photocopying a copyrighted work is unambiguously legal in the US. I'm not familiar with the fair dealing standards in UK law, so I can't give a good answer there, and I've not seen anything specifically related to individual downloads of Internet resources. Nyttend (talk) 16:58, 23 December 2015 (UTC)