Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2022 June 18

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June 18

Why is galloping a foul in modern chariot races?

Would the combination of slightly higher speed and being pulled instead of riding somehow make this so dangerous that it never became a thing? I know ancient chariot racing was far too dangerous for the modern era but the turns were too tight and they had to try to control 400% as many horses while being whipped and bumped hard by other jockeys. And maybe the legal wheel drilling was real. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:28, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Leaving aside my puzzlement that you (being an old hand here) didn't ask this on the Entertainments desk (since this is obviously a sport), I presume you're referring to Harness racing, rather than Carriage driving, the rather less widespread Scurry driving, or any of the other disciplines mentioned in Driving (horse)?

None of our various relevent articles (including several titled "Harness racing in [Country]" seem to say why. Perhaps you could follow up some of the reference sources in these articles and see if any state an explicit reason, which you could then add to the articles as appropriate. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.201.73.64 (talk) 20:23, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

These races do not happen in this country, although there may have been isolated examples on racecourses (the turf tracks used for horseracing). I first encountered them in Perth, Western Australia, when there were "the trots" every Friday night at Richmond Raceway. I never attended, but if a horse broke into a gallop it would presumably win, which would disrupt the betting market. I assume there was a betting market, presumably some kind of totalisator - off course bookmakers were banned and I'm pretty certain on-course bookmakers were banned also. 80.47.7.183 (talk) 15:54, 25 June 2022 (UTC)

About purchasing power parity and its effect

Hey everyone. I know almost nothing of economics. I recently came across a term, purchasing power parity. So I figured out that if something costs 1 USD in US, then it WON'T cost 75 INR in India (conversion rate), but it will just cost around 15 INR due to PPP. So I was wondering, if someone earns in US and spends in India then it will be so easy for him, but opposite is quite hard on pockets. So what pair of countries can be considered at extremes of this. I hope my question is clear. -- 2409:4043:208E:4C28:6C2E:891A:54B4:331C (talk) 06:32, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Our article is Purchasing power parity. There is a table for OECD countries in the article, in which the two extremes for 2021 are Turkey (least expensive at 36) and Switzerland (most expensive at 147), with the USA being the standard at 100. In other words, a basket of consumer goods costing 100 USD in the U.S. would cost the equivalent of 36 USD in Turkey and of 147 USD in Switzerland. Now, some countries that are not OECD members probably fall outside this range, but that is already a huge difference. Xuxl (talk) 14:06, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Bear in mind that the original PPP concept was strictly limited to (a) goods only, even though services make up ~2/3rds of US consumption; (b) identical products … sorry, bread isn’t the same as naan; and (c) comparison with another highly similar economy. So, US-India is of questionable value. DOR (HK) (talk) 15:15, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Are straight missionary prostitute services more comparable than bread and naan? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:37, 18 June 2022 (UTC)

Probably not. But then: Where can you even buy bread in the US? ([1] - and really, only half joking). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 03:52, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Bread is plentiful in the US. Some of it tastes like shit cause it has calcium propionate and/or vinegar in it to make it last more than 1 day but you can walk in a bakery and buy a preservative-free loaf or loafs in New York City and probably many other places. Lotta bakeries in this city. Subway® added just enough to sugar to make it legally cake sandwich cause selling bread in EU had tax drawbacks or something like that. I was wrong. I bought bread at the supermarket once and it was not sweet enough to be dessert but sweet enough to be unpleasant. But usually it's not sweet, I don't know why some fast food joints in the States add sugar to their burger and sub bread. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 07:31, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

If you look at the list of ingredients of a French baguette in France (or even in Germany), it's usually "Wheat flour, salt, water, yeast". When I checked the analogous list for an upmarket US supermarket baguette, it has about the same number of words as The Great Gatsby, and half of them start with "poly" or "mono" ;-). I think the difference is that US bread is largely mass-produced and sold in supermarkets (and, of course, by fast food joints). Shelf stability is a primary consideration. In many countries in Europe, bread is something bought fresh in a bakery, usually multiple times per week. So it needs less preservatives, and also fewer flavour enhancers (being fresh, it naturally tastes quite well). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 08:42, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

America has different levels of bread quality: Squishy Wonder® brand loafs are ubiquitous in supermarkets and popular God knows why, many people even make sandwiches with the raw slices. To me the raw slice is awful even with butter. The calcium propionate kills mold for like 2 weeks even though it's soggy and the raw crust looks like shit. I can't stand to eat more than a loaf a week (toasted!). Arnold® is preserved with vinegar and 2 grams of sugar per slice and is edible for a week or two at 20°C. Tastes better than Wonder® but more expensive. Arnold®s aren't equally mediocre but all flavors beat Wonder®. Dave's Killer Bread® brand organic sliced bread is like a hipster or millennial bread, it has a long-haired bodybuilder playing guitar on the front and lasts at least a week at 20°C. Tastes better than Arnold® but more expensive. 9.5% of the carbs are added sugar — this allows it to be less sour than that bakery which sells to some New York City supermarkets but preserves with only vinegar (that makes it more sour than Killer Bread® or Arnold®). The sourness can get a bit annoying if you're filling your stomach from empty to full with nothing but this and soda. Other sliced brands can be found in the supermarket too. Like The Baker®, preserved with only vinegar and similarly sour. Or Pepperidge Farm® which is far more not real bread than its farm schtick. Or that delicious sprouted brand which is better than Killer Bread® sprouted. There's also supermarket bread with little to no preservative for they roth quick, most types aren't noticeably sweet but one or two are as I said before. Then there's the stuff you saw, buttloads of chemicals and it doesn't even last that long. Or in New York and probably many other metro areas you can go to a bakery that bakes onsite for preservative-free bread and it's not even expensive. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:58, 21 June 2022 (UTC)