Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 September 25

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September 25

How big is pepsi?

I boycott Pepsi because of how anti-gun they are. I apologize for any typos, I'm quite shitfaced.

I was wondering how big Pepsi is? How much do they make on average in USD per year? How much are they worth in total assets? How much are they worth in stocks? how much are their stock worth on average? I know they own (basically) the United State; How would it affect the US, and the world if they shut down? Wow, I type better when I'm drunk!

Figures...I guess between the obsession with guns and the getting shitfaced, you didn't have time to read PepsiCo? The financial information is right there. They do not in fact own the USA - they are only a little larger than The Coca-Cola Company, McDonalds and Google - quite a bit smaller than Microsoft, barely a blip on the map compared to Ford Motor Company who in turn are barely a blip on the map compared to WalMart, ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation and ConocoPhillips. How it would affect the US if they went away is speculation - and we don't do speculation here. SteveBaker (talk) 01:27, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm - aside from a bunch of rabid fanatics making claims that were only substantiated by references to other rabid fanatics - I was unable to find any reference to Pepsi actually saying anything in favor of gun control. If they are promoting it, they are being amazingly inept at doing so! In fact, on one site (ramdac.org), I found this statement that is claimed to have been obtained by phoning the PepsiCo customer relations hotline: "The pepsi company is not for gun control and is not against it. If you can find out how this other person recieved this information, then we would love to hear from you again, so we can correct what he may have heard, and make a formal statement on the issue. It is a myth, and we do not have a side on the matter.". So I guess your fears are misplaced. <shrug> SteveBaker (talk) 01:45, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I thank you gentleman. Once again, I apologize for being drunk. One more thing though. Is 'Signbot' broken? it didn't sign my post.24.15.217.137 (talk) 01:49, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

The problem is not being drunk.... the problem is posting while drunk! ;-) Signbot is kind of temperamental and sometimes misses them. No worries. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:32, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, Sinebot is temporarily down. See that user page for more. Dismas|^(talk) 02:34, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Editing Under the Influence is relevent reading here. --Jayron32 04:08, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Where's the citation for Pepsi being "anti-gun"? →Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 09:28, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm, getting 'shitfaced' and loving guns (so much so that the OP is boycotting a company based on what appears to be a rumour) is not a wonderful recipe. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 10:45, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I was going to suggest that they either put down their gun or drink something non-alcoholic, like Pepsi. StuRat (talk) 12:54, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Yeah - my recommendation is: Go get a Starbucks Frappuccino or a Lipton Iced Tea to wake yourself up - then sink some Gatorade to get rehydrated and perhaps eat Quaker Oats to settle your stomach before filling up on Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Fritos, Rold Gold. Ruffles or Tostitos. Then you'll be in good shape to check out the info-box on PepsiCo. SteveBaker (talk) 13:59, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Others are boycotting guns because of how anti-Pepsi they are, so it balances out. →Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 14:21, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm such a fanatic that I stopped drinking Pepsi about 15 years before I bought my first gun. —Tamfang (talk) 03:28, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Cops

I think ive seen it where they turn on their lights just to speed, can they and do they do this?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 02:09, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, how would you know they were doing it "just to speed"? I've certainly seen cops turn on their lights just to go through red lights when they were apparently not on emergency missions, but it's hard to judge the latter as an outsider, of course. Can they do it? Sure. Who will stop them? Other cops? There's not a lot of risk of that—it's like a perk of the job, and I imagine the consequences for ratting on fellow cops for such a petty thing would not be very pleasant, career-wise. Now if they did that and created a huge car accident, they'd probably get in trouble. But otherwise? Probably not. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:25, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Coincidentally, yesterday I saw a cop who was in the left turn lane and stopped at a traffic light. All of a sudden, he turned on his lights, went through the light, travelled maybe a quarter mile and pulled into a church parking lot. That's where I passed him. He was in the middle of the parking lot with no other cars around him nor any obvious reason to be there. What I think happened was that he got a call to respond to something, turned on his lights and went through the intersection. He was then notified that he wasn't actually needed and turned into the church parking lot simply to turn around, go back to the intersection, and make the left turn (now right) that he was intending to make moments before. I didn't think there was any nefarious purpose since I couldn't, and still can't, think of any good reason why he would interrupt traffic just to hang out in a church parking lot. Dismas|^(talk) 02:32, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

This is a question involving local laws. You're going to have to specify where you live if you need help looking up the local laws on such matters. Tempshill (talk) 05:46, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I just love the way people make assumptions about police motives with next to zero information. 86.4.186.107 (talk) 06:05, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm hearing Gomer's voice now, hauling down Deputy Fife: "Citizen's a-ray-yest!" →Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 09:27, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I noticed something that bothers me on highway turn-arounds. The sign says "EMERGENCY VEHICLES ONLY", not "EMERGENCIES ONLY". If taken literally, this means they can be used by a police car just on it's way to the donut shop, but not by a mother trying to get her dying child to a hospital in time to save them. StuRat (talk) 12:52, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I think if you had a sudden, actual emergency and felt compelled to use the highway turnaround, they wouldn't fault you for it. →Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 14:20, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't count on it. There was a recent case of a car pulled over for speeding while trying to get their dog, which was choking to death, to the vet. When the policeman was told this he continued slowly writing out a ticket, and just said "If he dies, you can just get yourself another dog". The dog died. StuRat (talk) 14:27, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Lot of difference between a dying child and a dying dog. Speeding puts human lives at risk (not just the driver's) and while most people would say that was an acceptable risk if a child was dying, far fewer would say it was acceptable if a dog was dying. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:03, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Speeding merely increases the risk. It doesn't put lives at risk; driving a car (at any speed) does that. The point at which one ceases to drive at a legal speed and starts to break the law is essentially arbitrary. I know cops who, rather than callously continuing to write out the ticket, would have given the dog's owner a police escort, just as they would do if a woman were about to give birth in the car unless she got to the hospital quickly. -- JackofOz (talk) 19:07, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

That complaint may be a "correlation does not imply causation" debate; (we don't need to debate that here). Either way, there is no doubt whatsoever whether speeding is correlated to traffic accidents and traffic-related deaths. Back in June, I cited numerous case studies on speed-related traffic fatalities. If you really do not believe that speed causes traffic deaths, then you should at least acknowledge that it is very strongly correlated. E.g., your risk of fatal crash doubles for each 2.5 mph over the speed limit (based on Australian statistics!) Nimur (talk) 20:34, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

So we should abolish all speed limits because then the fatal crashes would trend to 0 :) Googlemeister (talk) 20:51, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I certainly wasn't advocating that people should exceed the speed limit; nor was I doubting that reckless driving is a major factor in road deaths. Just that the speed limit varies from place to place and is essentially arbitrary; if the authorities in their wisdom raised the general city speed limit from 60 to 80 kph, the number of road traffic deaths would obviously rise, but the number of "speed-related" deaths would drop, because what constitutes "speeding" would have changed. -- JackofOz (talk) 21:44, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

As others have stated, it likely depends on jurisdiction. In NZ, it's definitely not okay for a police officer to speed if it isn't a genuine emergency e.g. [1] (while this would likely include unmarked and private cars the same principles would apply). I believe there was a specific case a few years back but I was unable to find it. There's is an in/famous where members of a motorcade for the then Prime Minister were prosecuted and although the convictions were quashed on appeal I'm pretty sure the reason was primarily because the people involved believed there was an emergency even if there wasn't as mentioned in [2]. Also it being an emergency is obviously no guarantee you won't be fined or prosecuted [3] [4] it likely depends on the circumstances as DJ Clayworth said [5]. The same of course for breaking traffic laws in other ways [6]. And even if in a genuine emergency and legally allowed to speed you do still need to drive relatively safely [7] Nil Einne (talk) 19:11, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

In the UK I believe the relevant legal phrase for police officers being allowed to break traffic laws is "in the performance of their duty". So it's not a case of it being an emergency, but of whether it's part of their job. That gives them a reasonable amount of latitude. However I dimly remember a police officer being prosecuted for illegal parking of their police car while they went to get their dry cleaning - it being argued that collecting their dry cleaning wasn't part of their duty.

On the other hand, policing is a job where you deal with the worse elements of society on a frequent basis and you are in frequent danger (or at least more frequent than I am) so if the perk they get is to run a red light every once in a while, good luck to 'em. DJ Clayworth (talk) 19:32, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Reliable witnesses saw a driver speed from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Police can identify the driver who has never been fined. Was this a cover up? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:00, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Clay walker Song

I am trying to purchase the music to a Clay Walker Song, "I'd Love to Be Your Last," for a wedding. Can you help me.

I just took a look in the iTunes store, and it's 99 cents American. Download the iTunes software for Windows or for Mac, then run the iTunes browser to get to the iTunes store, then search for "Clay Walker" in the search box in the upper right of the iTunes browser window. This song is in the top 10 search results. The task of burning the song to a CD is left as an exercise for the reader. Tempshill (talk) 05:43, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I think the OP probably wants to purchase the sheet music. :) It doesn't appear to be immediately available at any of the major on-line sheet music stores - it might be worth contacting Curb Records directly. Tevildo (talk) 11:40, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Vancouver Schools Spreadsheet / Database?

Is there anywhere I can download a spreadsheet or database with information about schools in the vancouver area? (Address, public/private, number of students, principal, contact info, academic performance, etc?)

Which Vancouver do you mean? The one in British Columbia or the one in Washington State? --Jayron32 03:24, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Vancouver. If there any any B.C. or Canada-wide databases, then I be happy to use those and pull out the Vancouver schools.

Automotive air filter cleaning chemicals

Being quite a Petrolhead, I use a lot of re-usable air cleaners in motor cars as well as my Bikes. The products available on the marker are very expensive and to me it seems like it is chemicals a DIY man has in his workshop anyhow. What is the chemicals they use ? I would think that a bio degradable degrease / Soap would do fine getting rid of the dirt in the filter......through the prorrep cleaning procedures of course. The trick for me is the "Special Polorised Filter Oil" !!!!! Would a oil aerosol like CRC, WD40 or Q20 not do the same job without compromising filter life/performance ? Is it not possable to use some type of Inviromently Friendly oil ? Bennie3813 (talk) 08:49, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I'm a big fan of the re-usable filters. But I would definitely stick with the official oiling stuff - it may be a little more expensive - but that's nothing compared to the cost in terms of gas consumption of a blocked filter - or the cost of a trashed engine due to a filter that's letting crap into the cylinders...and one can of the stuff lasts you practically forever. SteveBaker (talk) 20:50, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Steve, I have a bit of a issue as the "Goodies" are not readily available from Shop Shelves were I live and needs to be shipped in from Major Centers. Purchase cost run around $28 and lasts for 3-4 applications as per indications. I will never dispute their effectiveness but would not mind getting past the middle man’s profits.Bennie3813 (talk) 00:24, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Bats

Own an apartment house for30 years. A woman moved in last spring & all of a sudden this is the 3rd bat in the apartment. Could she have brought them with her & been living there this long?

Maybe she keeps them as pets? More likely, you've got a hole in the wall or eave someplace and they're getting inside. Small creatures don't need much space to get inside. →Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 17:14, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

It's almost certainly just a coincidence. Be careful how you eradicate them - bats are protected species in a lot of places. SteveBaker (talk) 20:47, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Call an exterminator, don't do it yourself. There can be rabies issues as well and you want them to test the bats. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:17, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Call animal control, or your local equivalent, not an exterminator as most species of bats are protected in some way or another. _{Also they could be Draculas.} Daduzi ^talk 09:48, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Bats can be quite useful, by eating mosquitoes and other disease-spreading insects. Therefore, you might want to provide them with an alternative "bat house", then convince them to move (maybe by playing loud music in the attic ?). StuRat (talk) 11:34, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:36, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Currency - Economic

How many currencies exist in the world?

182. --Tango (talk) 23:20, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

181. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:29, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Now we have to debate the definition of "currency". The Zim dollar still exists and can be used, but very few people choose to. --Tango (talk) 21:39, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

First we debate the interpretation of "exist". Lots of obselete currencies "exist" in museums. What can you use one Zim dollar for (outside a bathroom) ?Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:49, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

How about Linden dollars or Monopoly (game) money? Dmcq (talk) 21:07, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

And there have been towns in the United States that have created their own currency usable only at local businesses. This unofficial currency exists (despite the fact that it remains unofficial) Googlemeister (talk) 16:16, 28 September 2009 (UTC)