Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 September 9

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

September 9

poker machines

Which country in the world has the highest number of poker machines per capita, and, the highest number in total?02:53, 9 September 2009 (UTC)Cassandraduggan (talk)

From Slot machine:

"In 1999 the Australian Productivity Commission reported that Australia had nearly 180,000 poker machines, more than half of which were in New South Wales. This figure represented 21% of all the gambling machines in the world, and on a per capita basis, Australia had roughly five times as many gaming machines as the United States. Revenue from gaming machines in pubs and clubs accounts for more than half of the $4 billion in gambling revenue collected by state governments in 2002-2003."

This doesn't say much for the rest of the world. Steewi (talk) 03:33, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Wanna bet?  :) -- JackofOz (talk) 08:11, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Online poker makes any PC potentially a poker machine. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:24, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

If those figures are correct, I make it that the U.S. has approximately 58% of all the poker machines in the world, so that must be the highest number in total. The most per capita might be Australia, but Monaco would only need a couple of hundred to beat it. Warofdreams talk 09:27, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

This source [1] claims NZ is the second highest per capita. It doesn't say what's the highest but I'm presume it's Australia particularly as our 20k is obviously lower per capita then Australia's 180k. On a somewhat related note [2] says Australia spends the most on gambling per capita so perhaps the high pokie level is not surprising Nil Einne (talk) 18:49, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Triggering an external flash

I have an old non-brand name external flash from a film camera (I have only the flash) and I'm wondering if it's possible to trigger it manually. Can this be done without breaking into it, and if not, how does one trigger a flash from the inside? Thanks! 124.154.253.31 (talk) 04:27, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Is it hotshoe mounted? If it is you can trigger it by shorting the big contact with the edge of the shoe. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:00, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

It is hotshoe mounted, but how might I go about shorting the big contact "with the edge of the shoe"? Is the shoe the part of the camera that it's supposed to attach to? I tried it on my DSLR (I know now that was probably a bit risky), but either it couldn't recognize that it was there, or the flash just doesn't work (possibly both). 124.154.253.31 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:22, 9 September 2009 (UTC).

The hotshoe article shows a picture of the shoe holder on a camera. Antilivid means to short together the mating contacts on the shoe part of your flash. Many flash units have a test pushbutton that does the same thing. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 09:18, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmm I've always thought hot shoe is the part on the flash, but it seems it's the socket... --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

If it were the other way around, it would be a 'hot foot'. And no, I've never heard the part on the flash referred to as the 'foot' of the flash. Dismas|^(talk) 20:54, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

FYI, older flashes may develop a high voltage across the hotshoe terminals, which can damage the electronics in modern cameras. If you're thinking of trying the flash on a newer camera, do some research (and realize there's still some risk of inaccurate information). -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:10, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Please do not open the flash to experiment with it. An electronic flash uses a circuit to raise the battery voltage to several hundred volts, stored in a capacitor, which is quickly released through the flash tube. If that energy passed through your chest, it might well stop your heart. Electronic flashes I have owned had a little button to manually trigger the flash. Look for that. Edison (talk) 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Provinces and capitals of Region 1, Philippines

what is the provinces and capitals of region 1 in the philippines? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pearlversion pokemon (talk • contribs) 07:00, 9 September 2009 (UTC) This questioned repositioned from previous entry overlapping previous question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.4.181.14 (talk)

Try Regions of the Philippines, it should provide the information you want. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.4.181.14 (talk) 07:19, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

To Kill A Mocking Bird

In the book To Kill A Mocking Bird."Our courts have their faults ,as does any human institution , but in our country our courts are the great levelers and in our country all men are created equal"

Critically analysis how the trial of Tom Robinson disaproves this belief? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.11.134.77 (talk) 10:49, 9 September 2009 (UTC) Preceding comment edited for Caps lock by AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 11:59, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to Wikipedia. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our aim here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. SteveBaker (talk) 14:12, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Ah the good ol' days of critical analysis... But no, we won't do your homework for you. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:03, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

. . especially if you shout!! Turn off your caps lock. 86.4.181.14 (talk) 11:31, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

If you are studying English Literature, you probably should learn the differences between "analysis" and "analyse" and between "disapproves" (note the double 'p') and "disproves". As with any student, you should also learn the importance of doing your own homework. --Tango (talk) 13:54, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Not to mention the proper use of the question mark. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 14:27, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Tom killed a bird that had been mocking him, he was sentenced to a prison term on an deserted island, where he eventually escaped (on a friday), but not before having to eat 30 eggs and to celebrate had a butterfly tattoo, inked on his chest Perry-mankster (talk) 17:46, 9 September 2009 (UTC)(B.Eng Lit (failed))

No, it was 50 eggs, I saw Paul Newman doing it!86.4.181.14 (talk) 17:49, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

The standard American usage (as in Harper Lee's title) is mockingbird (one word). --- OtherDave (talk) 18:12, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Consider this - what does it mean for the courts to be the 'great levelers' and for all men to be created equal? Does Tom's trial/treatment/experience reflect a system which upholds these principles? Why or why not? Hope this doesn't count as doing OP's homework but as just giving him/her some pointers. --Joe^Talk_Work 21:11, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

I assume by "this belief" you're referring to the belief that US courts encourage "level" playing fields and that all men are equal. This seems easy - just choose five or six relevant elements of Tom Robinson's case and explain how each one shows that the justice system is not fair and that Robinson is not considered equal. Start with a gripping introduction and end with a fancy conclusion and you should be fine. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 11:10, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

National Healh Plan

Describe the proposed national health plan proposed by President Obama. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.235.0.116 (talk) 12:13, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems. Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. Nanonic (talk) 12:20, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Do Health care reform in the United States#Obama administration proposals and America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 answer your demand? AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 12:26, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

To be honest, this is something of a moving target. The president has been 'adjusting' (OK - majorly refactoring) his plans in a vain effort to get the republicans on-board. Since that ship appears to have sailed, he now has to reposition it to allow every single democrat to vote for it since there is no room for a single democratic "no" vote if it's to pass without republican support. So expect the contentious parts to be left vague in order to preserve 'wiggle room'. Obama is giving a big speech to (I believe) the Senate later today where things may become a lot clearer. If you're tasked with writing a paper about this - you should really find a radio station that's going to play it "uncut" (probably, any NPR station will do) and listen to what he actually says...which right now is the closest you're going to get to understanding his true position as of today. However, you can bet there is some serious horse-trading yet to come as those democrats holding out with the last few votes realise that this is the last chance they'll get for a long time to have the presidency "owe them a favor"! SteveBaker (talk) 14:09, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Most members and adherents of the U.S. Democratic Party consider themselves to be republicans (few want to restore the monarchy), and most Republicans consider themselves to be democrats (rather than champions of aristocracy or autocracy), so please capitalize when referring to one of those political parties or Congressional caucuses. ;-) For some reason editors at all levels seem to misspell section headings more often than they do body text. —— Shakescene (talk) 15:05, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

That is because the misspelled words are underlined in red in the body, but not in the title, so mistakes in the title are more likely to go unnoticed by the writer.

Even without 60 senators on board, there's Reconciliation (U.S. Congress). --Sean 16:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

In fact the President hasn't directly put forward a specific plan so far. He's left that up to congress, which has produced several different bills that are making their way through the House of Representatives. He's sort of vaguely endorsed certain provisions that he'd like to see in a bill, and as SteveBaker mentioned, even those stances have been shifting as the White House and its allies in congress try to gauge what they can reasonably hope to get passed and negotiate with the various parties involved. The speech will hopefully contain a lot more concrete details about what he wants and expects to be in a final bill, so you can find out with the rest of us tonight. Rckrone (talk) 18:17, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Philanthropic traveling

I have planning a trip to either Europe or South America and someone told me about sponsored, philanthropic travel. An organization pays your way and for 7-14 days (whatever), you go to a certain country and work for about 4 hours a day and for the rest of the day you are free to explore the country. Can anyone point me in the right direction? --67.85.117.190 (talk) 15:22, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, I don't know how much you can explore any country much bigger than San Marino if you have to get back to base to work a four-hour shift every day. Nor am I clear on which direction you expect the philanthropy to flow: there are plenty of organisations that will take your money and allow you to volunteer in their orphanages, etc.; however, if you wish someone else to pay you to go travelling, you might look into travel writing instead. For an in-depth look at a country, with no money changing hands, try WWOOF. BrainyBabe (talk) 18:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Voluntary Service Overseas is a charitable organisation which involves overseas work, the categories at the bottom of the page should help you find similar, perhaps more suitable organisations. I understand that much of the work is aimed at teachers/medical people, but their will undoubtably be other opportunities.83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:25, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Category:International volunteer organizations and Category:Development charities may be useful.

If you can narrow the type of philathropic work you want to do, this may help, also try "volunteer work overseas + skill/occupation" as a search term.83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:29, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Cry the beloved country

Who was Stephen's guide and closest friend in Johannesburg?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 16:31, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

For the book, see Cry, The Beloved Country. Reverend Theophilus Msimangu is the guide, played by Sidney Poitier in the 1950s movie version, and by Vusi Kunene in the 1995 movie version. ---Sluzzelin talk 16:46, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Any special reason you wrote "1950s" rather than "1951"? —Tamfang (talk) 05:32, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

medical and legal troubleshooting charts

Is there a list of medical and legal troubleshooting charts? I know that charts are discouraged (although they are used extensively by laymen in Africa) because in advanced cultures they can cut into the bread and butter profits of some doctors and lawyers and can not be held liable if correct. The patient and client however should have the ultimate choice of which they find for their own budgets are better to use.-- Taxa (talk) 20:23, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

I have seen a medical troubleshooting book before. I think it was put out by one of the US military branches, the navy or coast guard or something. 65.121.141.34 (talk) 20:35, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

In the US Nolo.com publishes a range of legal self-help books, which contain checklists, sample letters, and some summaries of relevant statute and case law. In the UK the Consumers' Association publishes similar self-help books, of which a few are legal in nature, or related to property (list) and which have similar info. Every modest sized bookshop in either country will sell a family medical encyclopedia. Professional and academic bookshops will also sometimes sell more technical checklists and so forth (intended for semi-professionals, like paralegals or nurses); while these aren't intended to replace lawyers or doctors respectively, I'd bet that in deprived places they often nevertheless are. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:40, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

The closest I've ever seen to this was an insanely complicated wall-chart in a pharmacy which plotted possible interactions between prescription drugs, OTC drugs, and health symptoms. Simply put, medical and legal problems are often not amenable to yes/no or look-in-table questions. The starting point is often "I just got a lawyer's letter and I want to sue them" or "Doctor, my tummy hurts". So there is a process of discovery, "which lawyer/who do you want to sue?" and "where in your tummy?" Then there is the time aspect, which is a human thing. So the expert watches when you say "no, I just got this letter yesterday" or "no, it only started hurting last week". Then they say "are you really sure? Or have you noticed anything in the past?". How do you put those nuances into a flowchart?

Now it's certainly true that troubleshooting charts would be highly useful for military medics in the battlefield, whose job is to preserve the fighting capability of their unit and to move the incapable out. But I wouldn't call that competent medical "advice" - and neither would I think it was a good legal tactic.

And I wouldn't think the problem is a desire to protect profits. There are tons of medical and legal advice sites. But I think the idea that there can ever be a definitive checklist for these sort of complex fields just ignores how truly complex they are. In both medical and legal areas, more important than "being right" is not being wrong. "The chart said so" is never an excuse for "well, I just died!". "The chart said to file this form" is not an excuse for "I just lost my house"... Franamax (talk) 01:02, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

You kind of have to know how a decision table/flow chart works, especially one that is dynamically optimized and automated. They should be open to constant revision, just like a wiki. In fact this would be the perfect place to publish such a chart. Nuances are just additional variables or states. -- Taxa (talk) 19:51, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

The UK government has set up the National Pandemic Flu Service with both a website and a national free phone line. I'm not in the UK so can't check out how it works. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 12:21, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

written narritive

How do you wright one? And, could I interview someone here?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 20:47, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

"Narrative" is basically a fancy name for a story. What do you need the interview for? Xenon54 / talk / 21:06, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Maybe this is my day for speculation: our narrative article does indeed describe a narrative as a story, but to me there is more. A narrative is a description of events that is free of commentary or speculation. A narrative should only present the known facts and avoid opinions. So the way to write a narrative is to try to accurately present the things that actually happened, with the minimum of opinion injected. A good example would be a judgement written by a judge, which mostly tries to avoid presenting any personal opinion on the part of the writer, and doesn't try to switch the order of events around to lead the reader to a conclusion. In fact, narrative writing is a lot like what we try to do in Wikipedia articles all the time, just present the neutral facts.

But that's only my opinion, Tolkien wrote a perfectly good narrative and Kurosawa made a perfectly good film. These are both narrative in terms of telling a story in temporal sequence, but fail my definition because they give extra insights into character and/or introduce background story elementa out-of-sequence.

So maybe you should clarify then - do you want to write a creative narrative, or a factual narrative? (And yeah, what is the interview for?) Franamax (talk) 00:32, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

The Hobbit was perfect? I take it that for you, the words perfect and boring are not unrelated? --Trovatore (talk) 02:38, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Hehe, 'tis true that opinions on written works are pretty much one per reader! :) I only meant it as a good storytelling example of a narrative, in that it describes a sequence of events with a fair but not excessive amount of external discourse on backstory and internal life of the protagonists. I suppose it would depend on your own time of reading life on first encounter, exposure to other and maybe more modern forms of presentation, affinity to the themes embodied in the work. Shall we say pistols at dawn then? :) As an intro to the entire Tolkien narrative, or even as a work on it's own...well, I suppose it's a matter of taste... Franamax (talk) 02:58, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I never could quite get what people saw in Tolkien. However ... Babylon 5 was supposedly based on Lord of the Rings, and it's probably the greatest television epic ever made. (Not that many television epics ever have been made — I'm using epic in a fairly strict sense, meaning a multi-year story arc plotted out in advance.) --Trovatore (talk) 04:02, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Our OP[3] is a member of the Wikipedia Typo Team dedicated to getting narratives ritten write. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:46, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps he was thinking of the first public telegram in America? Dbfirs 20:48, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

"A patient waiter is no loser." or "What hath God wrought", when was a telegram ever "public", and what oh Dbfirs has this to do with the OP ?

The "quality of light" to artists

Neither the article on Optics, nor any other that I've been able to track down, give any explanation of what artists would describe as "the quality of light" - the reason why painters are attracted to certain areas, such as Cornwall in the UK, because (I assume) of the clarity of the atmosphere or the patterns of reflection or refraction between the sky and the sea (I'm guessing here - I am certainly neither an artist, nor a physicist.) Can anyone help explain what this concept actually means, or where I can find a reasonable explanation of it? Ghmyrtle (talk) 22:18, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

It seems many painters like the seaside - this could be because of high light levels (no hills in one direction), reflection of light from sea, and maybe higher uv levels.

This might be interesting [4]

Low atmospheric pollution levels may also be a factor.83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:12, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

It's a term used by artists, at the other end of the scale you may be experiencing "advertising material produced by the St Ives tourist board to promote a certain class (purchasing power) of person to their resort".83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:14, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

I can't really find it in the Van Gogh article, but I'm fairly sure that he whas atttracted by the "quality of light" at Arles, and persuaded Gauguin to join him on that basis. I can say from experience that the Arles area has a certain indefinable quality of light and the sky is a captivating shade of blue. To some extent, this was and still is due to lack of pollution, and Cornwall being a relatively windswept and unindustrialized peninsula, I could see the same condition applying. In the case of Arles at least, I'd also speculate that a relative lack of humidity might play a major part, when I was there it was pretty dry. The proof of that would be how low humidity affects spectral scattering, which could explain that deep blue sky - but this isn't the Science desk! And if you assume that the relatively moist countryside of England would generate reletively higher humidity over land than cold sea, then the Cornwall peninsula would have relatively drier conditions than the rest of England, so again humidity. This is all total speculation of course, drawing only on Van Gogh's own impression and a few shaky inferences. Franamax (talk) 00:04, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Pollution may be a factor in a different way than you think. For me, there is nothing like the late afternoon light in Los Angeles. It's a golden glow I associate only with my favorite city, and it affects me at an emotional, nostalgic level.

But when I try to think what might cause it (other than, which is certainly possible, that my nostalgia is the cause rather than the effect of this perceived glow), the only thing I can come up with is the smog. --Trovatore (talk) 02:43, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely, local factors will always be important for local and former residents. It's quite possible (well, true) that I have an emotional affinity to my visits to Arles. Nevertheless, is wasn't my first impression of the area, and my greater familiarity with Van Gogh and his own impressions of the "light" came later, But I don't think that our OP is asking about "light" as an emotional factor, rather as a subjective factor in aiding the painting process just as much as the artistic process. So by my reading, does the quality of the ambient light itself in certain areas help in painting interpretations of a scene? I have some JW Turner prints of London smog on my wall right now to prove your thesis, but I also have a few Van Gogh's (prints too, I'm not that high-falutin'!) showing a fixation on that clear sky. I think the OP's question is whether there is something compelling about "quality of light" and whether that can be quantified. For Cornwall (and maybe Arles), this clearly can't be defined as presence of pollution. For these locations of artistic preference, a different answer is indicated. I'll still prefer lack of humidity (which = lack of haze) and secondarily lack of aerosol pollution (which = lack of haze) as contributing most to quality of light. If you are talking about "quality of scene", then yes, air pollution can deliver. Closed steel mills on the Allegheny and dead ships stranded on the shore of the Aral Sea count too. Just not sure whether they qualify under the OP's criteria. Franamax (talk) 03:56, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

For Cornwall, at least, I'm sure it's something to do with the facts that the air is clear (no local industry and not humid (thanks Franamax)), it receives "clean air" from across the expanse of ocean immediately to the west, and it is largely surrounded by the sea which reflects light in a different way to the land. @83.100.250.79, it is clearly a real factor - see Newlyn School and St Ives School. But we're all still guessing really - someone somewhere must have done some serious study on this. What's an "OP" by the way? Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:33, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Original Poster. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 07:41, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Glad it's not abuse! Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:05, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

No quality of light is more "artistic" than any other. But there are a host of other things that make some areas inspiring to artists. These things include social and economic conditions that welcome artists, inspiring natural landscapes, and a climate and available locations that suit an artist spending time outdoors. Lighting conditions that change dramatically with season and time of day will stimulate an artist to capture a particular brief lighting mood.Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:33, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, but that is not what I meant - the original question was clear. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:35, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

More precisely, your original assumption and guesswork are clear. My answer is to think outside the paintbox. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:14, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

The BBC TV series 'Coast' made in collaboration with the Open University covered this very subject when they visited St Ives in Cornwall (UK). I'd recommend it... Juliankaufman (talk) 18:20, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

"Northern light" has a reputation for being well-regarded by painters. Bus stop (talk) 18:32, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Besides which, they guide me back to you. —Tamfang (talk) 05:43, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

manufacturing

how to do on line coating on nylon monofilament for sharp kite line —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nuovafil (talk • contribs) 22:58, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

you should ask on the science desk for a better response

Did you mean coat a monofilament nylon line with something - like teflon? - specifically - what substance?83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:07, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Or are you interested in Manja (kite), in which case we're in ground glass territory. --Tagishsimon (talk) 23:17, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

In which case be aware that a falling, windblown sharpened kite line can form a serious hazard to innocent bystanders. And the kite blowing free with an unkown length of trailing sharpened line will be pretty dangerous too. Franamax (talk) 23:41, 9 September 2009 (UTC)