Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 March 6

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March 6

Travis Kalanick, Ayn Rand, Objectivism

Is Kalanick by chance an Objectivist?155.97.8.169 (talk) 06:07, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

No, if he's an Objectivist he would deny that it's by chance! —Tamfang (talk) 07:27, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Seniority in the United States Armed Forces in World War II

I'm puzzled by the statement (in Marston's article) that John Marston (USMC) was not sent to Guadalcanal with his division because he was "superior" (which I assume means senior) to the corps commander there, Alexander Patch. They were both major generals, and as I understand United States military seniority, the senior would be the one who was promoted to that rank first. However, according to their respective articles, Patch was promoted to major general in 1941 and Marston in 1942. So what gives? Clarityfiend (talk) 10:50, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I think that you're misreading the military seniority article which says - "For officers in the same rank or pay-grade, seniority is determined by a "lineal number" which is based on the date which an officer was first commissioned" - i.e., when they first became an officer, rather than when they were appointed to that particular rank.

A similar system operates in the British Army, although I don't think that there is an actual numbering system. If you've seen the 1964 film Zulu, there is an exchange between Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead about who was the senior; Chard had been commissioned first and therefore took charge of Bromhead's infantry company, despite being an engineer with no combat experience. Alansplodge (talk) 18:35, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I'm not going by the article, but what I've read elsewhere, e.g. this 2013 DoD instruction, which states in p. 5 that "Rank among commissioned officers of the same grade or of equivalent grades is determined by comparing dates of rank." Clarityfiend (talk) 22:54, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

If you read on a bit in your source (section 3), it clarifies "Except as provided in section 5 of this enclosure, the date of rank of a person originally appointed as a Regular commissioned officer in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, or the Marine Corps who is not a Service Academy graduate is the date of that appointment [...]", so the "date of rank" is not the date they achieved the current officer rank, but the date they became an officer. There is an exception only for the Chiefs of Staff or equivalent. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 07:55, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

No, that is a specific case. On p. 7, it clarifies what "date of rank" means: "All other officers who have the same or equivalent grades and the same date of rank will rank in order of seniority based on the following criteria: a. Previous grade’s date of rank or, if the same, the date of rank in an earlier grade." Frocking also equates "date of rank" to "the official date of promotion". Clarityfiend (talk) 06:26, 9 March 2017 (UTC)

Captain Cook article

The section on his early life has him being baptised before he was born. Don't understand? 82.1.129.106 (talk) 12:22, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

See Old Style and New Style dates. During the early 18th century, Britain changed over from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar. This can be confusing for biographies of people who lived during the changeover, as original sources will often list the "Old Style" (Julian or O.S.) date, while many modern biographies may have recalculated the date using New Style (Gregorian or N.S.) dates. The article needs to be fixed, as the same sentence mixes dates. November 3 Old Style would be November 14 New Style. --Jayron32 12:48, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. That explains things perfectly. He was born 4 miles from my birthplace and in preparing to visit Australia and New Zealand for my 70th birthday, I have been doing a bit of research and couldn't make sense of what appeared to be an anomaly. Thanks again for your prompt and informative response. 82.1.129.106 (talk) 13:16, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

I see that User:Jayron32 has helpfully sorted the mess in the article. If you're in Melbourne, don't forget to visit Captain Cook's Cottage which was dismantled and moved to Australia in 1934. Alansplodge (talk) 18:23, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Except that's a major misnomer. It was his parents' house, and it's doubtful James personally ever lived there. He probably visited his parents there, that's all. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 18:45, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Spoilsport! Next you are going to tell me that he didn't build Cooktown! --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:48, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Next thing he's going to tell us is that his hand and alarm clark were also not eaten by a crocodile! --Jayron32 20:41, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

No, that was Captain Kirk. DuncanHill (talk) 22:21, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Who will indeed be born in Riverside, Iowa in 2233, a fact, unlike this Cook stuff. --Golbez (talk) 01:40, 7 March 2017 (UTC)

Ali Fahiye Gedi

What is known about Ali Fahiye Gedi who reportedly fought against Italian rule in Italian Somaliland? Everything I see basically repeats cursory mention in VOA News. Perhaps there's more widespread spelling of his name. Brandmeister^talk 13:46, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Another spelling might be found: Ali Fahiye Geedi Primary and Intermediary School --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 20:32, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

What to the average English-speaker appears as various spellings with no more sense to their randomness than Clare, Claire, Clair, Klayre, etc. is known to the linguist as transliteration. I suspect everyone who edits here knows this backwards, but I also suspect that most readers don't. The world would be a better place if the concept were more widely understood. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 21:24, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

No luck with that spelling either. Maybe a one-action hero, although a school is named after him. Brandmeister^talk 21:51, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Really? Ali Fahiye Gedi doesn't work for me either. But Ali Fahiye Geedi finds stuff like this tweet of an Instagram which says "Hero Ali Fahiye Geedi(Calan Gube) Was the member of Somali Youth League that established in 1943. Allaah Grant His Jannah and all Heroes those Established @our League@your league@we're @SYL" and includes a possible photo (although I'm not sure since it also suggests it's from 1900). And this Youtube video from the Noor Foundation Somalia who our article suggest are involved with the school, the key point being its title is 'NF 2012 Progress Update, Beeldaaje Cabdullahi (Balidhidhin) iyo Cali Fahiye Geedi (Qandala) School.' It seems to refer to 2 schools, the second one is I'm fairly sure the school linked above.

Searching for Cali Fahiye Geedi finds a mention of Cali Saleeban, a suggestion to search for Cali Faahiye Geedi and a bunch of stuff mostly on Somali or something else which appear to be talking about him. Searching for Cali Faahiye Geedi finds this forum post with the title 'Cali Saleeban HERO Cali Faahiye Geedi known as Calan-Gube' and again a bunch of stuff mostly in Somali or something talking about him. This includes so:Help:Wax ka bedelka which appears to be a sort of article on the clan although I have no idea why it's there (maybe someone who couldn't create articles put it there). Searching for Cali Saleeban finds Majeerteen which suggests it refers to a clan. Calan Gube finds again stuff mostly in Somali or something some of which seem to be talking about him.

To be fair, most of the English stuff don't really provide much more useful info that I noticed but he definitely seems to be somewhat well known. BTW the foundation is UK registered, it's possible they will be able to assist with finding English info even if they aren't particularly dedicated to him (I think).

P.S. I decided to link to the photo despite the possibility of copyvio since it's possibly old enough there's a decent chance it's in the public domain.

P.P.S. The reason why Cali Fahiye Geedi found a mention of Cali Saleeban for me is because of this [1] copy of a twice deleted article from the Somali wikipedia which seems to be the same article now in the help page (supporting by few a semi-spammer is desperate to keep it in). I see it does mention "the clan played a noble role in the liberation of Somalia, Ali Faahiye Geedi, a member of this Clan and Darawiish, was the first Somali hero who burnt the Italian flag in Qandala during 1920s. They reside all over Bari, Mogadisho and Kismayo" which seems to confirm my suspicion it refers to a clan. The other 2 seem to be various transliterations or including in Somali Latin alphabet or similar, of a name and nickname of the person in question. I'm not sure if the nickname always refers to him of course.

P.P.P.S. This [2] does suggest he definitely is far from universally known in Somalia. I wouldn't be surprised if this is partly a clan and/or regional thing, and he's well known among members of Cali Saleeban and/or perhaps in Puntland. There is a link in that forum post which may or may not have been in English, unfortunately it's now dead and couldn't find it on archive.org or webcitation. I doubt it was an RS if you were thinking of an article anyway.

Nil Einne (talk) 05:35, 7 March 2017 (UTC)