Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 June 27

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June 27

Fireworks in San Diego

I'm staying in a hotel in San Diego, and right now they are shooting fireworks off of the back of the Midway outside my window. Does anyone know what they're for? Does this happen once a week or something? I just thought it was strange since it's not the 4th of July or anything. 12.147.18.2 (talk) 04:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Mmmm. They sometimes have private events on the Midway, occasionally they include fireworks. Alternatively, USS Boxer (LHD-4) arrived in port today, perhaps it some celebration related to that. Rockpocket 05:00, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Here in Germany people are setting off fireworks to celebrate various accomplishments in the UEFA Euro 2008, but somehow I doubt anyone in San Diego cares about that. 05:29, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, ya never know. Maybe there are some German San Diegans lifting a glass of Arrogant Bastard to celebrate right now. --Trovatore (talk) 05:41, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps they are fans of the Spanish team? Adam Bishop (talk) 06:43, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I saw some people celebrating Canada Day today. They were a little early, but you know Canadians. Plasticup ^T/C 13:29, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

gilded age

Are there peer-reviewed journals that are purely electronic? no or yes! That means they don't put their peer-reviewed "papers" on paper. If so, are there any that put them out once they are available, such as if they are available on TUES, then it will be out on TUES, then on WED there are 3 articles out, on THURS there are none. Next week, WED will have only one article out, even though there were none on on TUES, MON, or the previous FRI. (Not counting Saturdays or Sundays).68.148.164.166 (talk) 09:06, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

If not, why is this so?68.148.164.166 (talk) 09:07, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

What benefit is there of being 'purely electronic'? I can understand the move towards placing things online, but why exclude paper? Generally I have found that people are happy to read things online/on-screen when they are under a few pages long, but beyond this they tend to prefer paper-based reading. As for peer-reviewed journals in particular i'm not sure, but would suspect the above reasons would carry across to those too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:15, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

There are, no-one seems to go to the library to read journals anymore unless they are looking for very old articles. So it is quite common for new journals to be purely online. For example, Biomed Central publishes a range of journals that are purely electronic. The details are here for BMC Developmental Biology http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcdevbiol/ Under Speed of Publication it states "Articles will be published electronically in manuscript form immediately upon acceptance. A fully structured web version, and accompanying laid out PDF, will be published within a few weeks of acceptance." So articles will at least appear for the first time on any day of the week. However, I am not sure if the 'Fully Structured' versions also appear on any day of the week or if they are released as a weekly 'issue'. The website is playing up at the moment for me so I can’t check. Franmars (talk) 13:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I go to the library to read journal articles all the time, because at least for humanities journals, there is a "rolling wall" of about five years until they put the new ones online. It's extremely inconvenient. Adam Bishop (talk) 04:35, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, most humanities journals these days have e-versions as well for new issues, put out by the publisher. (At least in my field.) The "rolling wall" is only in the big databases. Google Scholar can often pick up articles before they end up in the databases, if you are searching for something in particular. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:53, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure there are probably some exclusively digital journals, but at the moment paper still holds prestige in academia, while all-digital things do not (in part because the cost for all-digital publication is a lot lower, and if you can't get someone to put any money behind it, then what's the real value? etc.). I have seen on-going debates about whether all-digital publications (books, articles) can even count towards tenure review (and if that's in question—I'm not far enough to really know, myself—then you can see what the disincentive would be). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:53, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

German Abitur

Does anyone know what the UK equivalent of a German Abitur is? I think there is some organisation that shows the respective equivalents but I can't find it. Does anyone have any info? I'm grateful for any info! Thanks! --Cameron* 10:55, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The A levels? I'm not sure how it compares to the Abitur, though.Fribbler (talk) 11:09, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The article on Matura, the equivalent term used in a variety of European countries states "The equivalent British term (except Scotland) is "A-levels", the Scottish is "Higher", the Irish is "Leaving Certificate", the German is "Abitur", or simply "Abi", the French is "le baccalauréat", or simply "le bac" and the Romanian is "bacalaureat". In Swiss French, it is called La Maturité or, informally, "La Matu'"." --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 12:01, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The Abitur perhaps more directly fulfils the function of an entrance exam to university or certain professional training courses than A-levels do, although it's taken at the same stage in education. The Wikipedia article on Abitur compares it to Europe's International Baccalaureate (also offered in some UK schools) and to the tests in the US Advanced Placement program, but you could also compare it with the new Advanced Diplomas which the UK government is proposing to introduce as an A-level equivalent [1]. --Karenjc 12:16, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

As an aside, whilst the Scottish Higher may be equivalent insofar as it is the standard university 'tariff' in Scotland, it is not generally considered academically equivalent to a full A-level. Pupils headed for Scottish universities often leave in the 12th rather than 13th year of school, with the university courses a year longer than in England (i.e. a batchelor's degree would be 4 years against 3 in England). English universities will more typically specify entry requirements for Scottish students in terms of Advanced Highers (which, in Scotland, will often allow for direct entry to the second year of a course). Angus Lepper^{(T, C, D)} 13:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

By "Advanced Dipomas" Karenjc means the 14-19 Diplomas. Agreed that the nearest equivalent in Scotland is the Advanced Highers. We need more work on these articles. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Bees in the chimney

I arrived home from work yesterday afternoon to discover a hive of activity. It seems that some bees have taken up residence in my residence. At first I didn't mind so much, but the creatures have the dreadfully rude habit of dying all over the furniture. I mean, honestly. As best as I can tell their hive is located in the chimney but unfortunatly I have a gas fireplace which precludes the most obvious solution. How would my fellow wikipedians deal with this problem? Plasticup ^T/C 13:38, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Isn't that what pest control outfits like Rentokil are for? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 13:44, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I am sure they would love to help me out, but I was hoping for something a cheaper and McGyver-esque. Plasticup ^T/C 14:00, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, personally I would leave that kind of job to the pros. You don't want to make the little critters angry. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 14:04, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Anything useful here?...Fribbler (talk) 14:04, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Or here, if you're right about the chimney thing. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 14:07, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

You could try a local beekeeper, they might be quite happy to take them. 161.222.160.8 (talk) 22:02, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Copyright on paintings

Hi. I have a theoretical question on copyrights. Say a painter sells a painting. Images of the painting are on the internet and some newspaper wants to use it as an illustration. Who do they have to ask permission to? Who do they pay for the use of the image? Does the original artist retain copyright for the image or is it ceded as it is sold? Does the buyer gets the copyright when buying the painting and can he do whatever he pleases with the image afterwards even modify it? Thank you. 200.127.59.151 (talk) 16:35, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

From the legal point of view, the physical painting and the copyright to the image are separate and can be transferred separately: for example it's standard for comic artists to sell their original artwork, but the copyright doesn't change hands. Thus whether the copyright is transferred with the painting would be a matter for the artist and the purchaser to decide. I do not know what the normal practice is for paintings. Algebraist 16:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, the intellectual property and the physical property can be separated. For normal art transactions (like museums) I am sure this is part of the transaction itself in a fairly systematic way. But there's no automatic legal aspect. Just owning something does not make you the holder of the copyright (just as if I buy your book—even if there was only one copy printed—and I wouldn't own the copyright or be the author). --74.223.170.187 (talk) 02:14, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Some artists specifically note on their paintings that they retain all reproduction rights, notwithstanding who may own the painting itself. Canadian Lorne Holland Bouchard [2] is one such. (Looks like we need an article there.) ៛ Bielle (talk) 00:48, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

How do you view all your comments on YouTube?

I'm not sure if this is the place to ask this, but recently I've been unable to view the list of all my comments on YouTube. The address used to be -http://www.youtube.com/profile_my_comments?user=whateveryourusernameis

but in the last few weeks it comes up as an unrecognized page. Does any computer geek, or YouTube fan know how to to get around this now, since they dropped this feature (with this address, anyways) without notice? I really miss this, and your help would be greatly appreciated--Sam Science (talk) 17:29, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

You could google it - like this: whateveryournameis site:youtube.com. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.56.13 (talk) 19:39, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

This is a good question as I too have noticed a change. I can no longer see the message "Clear all viwed videos" or something like that which was quick and simple. Now, I have to go to Help, FAQ, How to Clear viewed Videos, etc., etc., and there is no info. on how to re-create the button on screen. Any help appreciated. 92.18.254.254 (talk) 19:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Boats/Waterline

Assume that some person has just invented a method of lifting every single boat out of all the oceans simultaneuosly. How far would the world wide water level drop? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.64.111.95 (talk) 18:37, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The difference would be utterly insignificant. If you are ever at sea (open ocean, not boating in Maine) you will see how huge and empty it is out there. Plasticup ^T/C 18:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Per [3], the 2002 merchant marine displacement globally was about 650 million gross tons, or 660 billion kilograms, or 0.66 cubic kilometers. The surface area of the Earth's oceans is about 350 million square kilometers. Division yields an expected average displacement of 2 micrometers, assuming I haven't dropped zeroes in there somewhere. So as Plasticup notes, utterly insignificant. — Lomn 19:04, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Interesting. I knew it would be small but I didn't think it would be that small.

Interesting, but not surprising. Most feminists - even the odd male one - would agree with your humble statement. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 20:49, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

How much does a cloud weigh?

How much does a cloud weigh? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.249.17 (talk) 19:19, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

How much does a cloud weigh? -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

pesticides/herbicides

Are weeds killed by pesticides or herbicides? --88.104.167.212 (talk) 20:05, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The short answer is herbicides. Herbicides kill plants. Selective herbicides target certain kinds of plants that might be considered weeds and leave other plants alone. Whether a plant is a weed or not depends on where it is growing and whether someone wants it to grow there. Pesticides kill "pests", which usually means animals, for example rats. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:23, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! --88.104.167.212 (talk) 20:25, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The slightly longer answer is that a herbicide is a type of pesticide see Pesticide#Types_of_pesticides.87.102.86.73 (talk) 20:45, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

No, yours is definitely shorter. 161.222.160.8 (talk) 04:12, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Riding Bicycle drunk

In North America, is it legal to ride one's bicycle on public roads while drunk? Acceptable (talk) 23:44, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmm. In Ireland it is definately illegal, as a bicycle is a "vehicle" once used on the road. Fribbler (talk) 23:59, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

It is illegal in California, see this link for example. --Dr Dima (talk) 00:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm not a lawyer and can't be arsed to look at 50 versions of state laws, but from what google shows, the states that have laws treating bicycles as vehicles probably treat it as drunk driving. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 13:59, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't know either for sure but I would think it is probably illegal to be intoxicated in public places or on the street. This is hardly enforced of course and would only ever taken into account if there are disruptive behaviour associated with the drunkenness or if other crimes are comitted. Still, that would make it illegal to be drunk on the street, biking or not. 200.127.59.151 (talk) 18:19, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

This is the case in some but not all US states. According to public intoxication, it is false in Missouri, Montana and Nevada, for example. Algebraist 22:13, 28 June 2008 (UTC)