Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 April 24

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April 24

NBA vs. NHL

Why are the highest/lowest number of wins/losses and longest winning/losing streaks by NBA teams more dramatic than in the NHL? I know in the past, the NHL had ties, but if you count the win percentage excluding the ties (instead of counting each tie as .500 wins, or 1 standings point, as they normally did) and count OT losses as regular losses, this pattern remains true. Also, in recent years with no ties, if you count all the losses as regular losses, this pattern also remains true. Does this mean there is more disparity between strong teams and weak teams in the the NBA than in the NHL? What would be the cause of that? Revenue differences? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.148.206.90 (talk) 01:09, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm not American and don't know anything about the teams but a significant factor may be that basketball has much higher scores than ice hockey. This can lead to fewer "semi-random" results where a good team loses to a bad team which gets lucky in a few plays. PrimeHunter (talk) 01:25, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I think the initial premise is wrong. The worst ever NHL team was the 1992–93 San Jose Sharks at 11-71-2, while the worst ever NBA team was the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers at 9-73, certainly comparable in terms of shittiness. Longest NHL winless streak (losses and ties) is 30 games for the 1980-81 Winipeg Jets. The longest NBA losing streak is 24 games (over 2 seasons) or 23 games (over 1 season). The former was the 81-82 and 82-83 Cleveland Cavaliers and the latter was done by 2 teams: The 95-96 Vancouver Grizlies and 97-98 Denver Nuggets. Recently, the New Jersey Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves had an historically terrible year, which is why it seems like the worst NBA teams are worse, but that is only recentism, in that we had a rare year with TWO really horrible teams (12 wins for the former, 15 for the latter). The premise is simply wrong if applied over the history of the leagues. --Jayron32 01:45, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

The worst NHL team was actually the Washington Capitals of '74-75, with 8 wins total, 21 points total. Take ties out of the mix over, and the totals would likely be more similar. 72.2.54.34 (talk) 01:52, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I get the impression that a lousy NHL team has a greater chance of beating a really good opponent on any given night than its crummy NBA counterpart, making a losing streak easier for the latter. One factor is that the best basketball players get most of the playing time, whereas it's more spread out in hockey. It's not unheard of for a star to play 40+ minutes in a 48 minute game, whereas there are four lines in hockey. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:58, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, but those impressions are just observer bias and confirmation bias. The data does not bear out the impression. Over the history of both leagues, the bad teams have been just as bad, and the good teams have been just as good. --Jayron32 03:21, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

COI for article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasana_M._Sekou

Please remove the comment about conflict of interest between caribbeanTongue and author and publisher at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasana_M._Sekou

Sorry about mix up.

CaribbeanTongue is independent from the author and publisher. The person asking for help probably did so after seeing the internal links comment at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasana_M._Sekou for some time.

Thank you for your meticulous attention. Hope one day I can join wiki's league of eagle-eye editors.

CaribbeanTongue —Preceding unsigned comment added by CaribbeanTongue (talk • contribs) 05:14, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Did you bring this up with the person that added the COI tag? You can find such information by clicking the "History" tab at the top of the article. The appropriate thing to do would be to strike up a civil conversation with that person at their user talk page, and then reach a reasonable conclusion. It is quite likely that the two of you can work this out amongst yourselves. --Jayron32 05:27, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

It seems like a pretty simple case to me - on 22 April 2010, a person logged into Wikipedia using the User:CaribbeanTongue account wrote (on this very page) "Hello Wikipedia, House of Nehesi Publishers would like your expert assistance to further wikify following article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasana_M._Sekou. Description: Please help by adding relevant internal links to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasana_M._Sekou to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Sincerely, House of Nehesi Publishers" - which leads us to believe that this account belongs to someone who works for the "House of Nehesi" publishers. Since House of Nehesi is the publisher of Sekou's biography, that person has a clear conflict of interest in editing our article on that person. Wikipedia's rules on conflict of interest are quite clear. Since User:CaribbeanTongue has made more edits to that article than any other editor, it is necessary for us to either remove all of those edits - or to use a standard Wikipedia template to indicate clearly to readers of the article that it has been edited by someone with a potential conflict of interest. Hence, that template does indeed belong there and we should not remove it without also removing all of the edits that User:CaribbeanTongue made to the article in direct contravention of our editing guidelines. SteveBaker (talk) 17:15, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you Steve. That is exactly why I added the COI tag to the article. I also added an explanation why on the article's talk page. It is quite a new article, but not too bad an effort in my opinion. I think there is a slight emphasis of Mr Sekou's literary achievements over other aspects of his life, but what is there does seem quite well referenced. It could do with some input from uninvolved editors which would hopefully balance out the article. Tha aim of me adding the COI tag was to hopefully attract knowledgeable but uninvolved editors who are familiar with Mr Sekou's work. Astronaut (talk) 18:50, 24 April 2010 (UTC) I changed the title to avoid it conflicting with the previous question. Astronaut (talk) 18:52, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Jamaican Wine

I've been listening to an audio book recently set in Georgeian times. In it the characters vist Jamaica and drink a wine called Cilary or Sillery or something. Anyone know the correct spelling and anything about this wine? -- SGBailey (talk) 08:15, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

It couldn't just be celery wine, by any chance? 131.111.248.99 (talk) 09:54, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Probably Sillery—see the fourth bulleted entry here. Nothing particularly Jamaican about the wine, though. Deor (talk) 10:46, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I should add that one can find a good deal of interesting information about Sillery by searching Google Books for Sillery wine—such as the assertion, by one Herbert Mayo in the early 19th century, that "a man may drink more Sillery with impunity than any other wine". Deor (talk) 11:31, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm convinced (meaning I'm not actually sure) that I'd done aHow come a WP search on Sillery and failed to find anythinbg relevant. Doh! -- SGBailey (talk) 12:48, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Hairstyle Options

I currently have my hair shaved fairly short. I like this for a number of reasons. It means I don't have to worry about my hair, no work on it each morning. No hair products beyond shampoo. Lots of time between haircuts. It has been suggested to me that I try something new, but I value the simplicity of my current style. Are there any slightly more fashionable haircuts which retain most or all of the above traits? I'd be prepared to have slightly less convenience in one or all of the above areas, but I'm not keen on spending lots of time, effort or money on my physical appearance (though I'm prepared to upgrade from the almost non-existent level of each of those I spend now).

Thanks in advance, Prokhorovka (talk) 10:59, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Can we assume you're male ? What age ? StuRat (talk) 11:10, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

My apologies. White British Male student (18-21). Prokhorovka (talk) 16:48, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Also, is your hair straight, wavy, or curly ? What color ? StuRat (talk) 18:45, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

An English Cut (also called a Schoolboy) is quite simple to maintain - grows long on top, parted, but clippered up the back and sides. DuncanHill (talk) 13:28, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

A short back and sides is easy to maintain. Shampooing and combing in the morning, and visits to the barber's every 10-12 weeks, is all it takes. Astronaut (talk) 18:22, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

It's time the Bowl cut cut came back into fashion. Easy to keep it in shape yourself, with items you can find in any kitchen. Be a leader of style and not a follower -go for one of them!--Aspro (talk) 18:52, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

You could always just go the whole hog and let it all hang out maaaan... Hair_musical--TammyMoet (talk) 19:55, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Straight, black. Thanks for the ideas, these look pretty good. Prokhorovka (talk) 09:10, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

How many Pygmy Hippos will fit into the mass of a normal size Hippopotamus

I would like to find out the mass of how many pygmy hippos will fit into the mass of a normal size hippopotamus.

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rickel33 (talk • contribs) 12:29, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Pygmy hippos seem to weigh about 200kg[1], whilst normal hippos weigh about 1500[2] (give or take a couple hundred depending on sex). So you're looking at something about 7-9. 131.111.248.99 (talk) 12:41, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Mass or Volume? "fit into" implies volume - but you say mass. I guess if doesn't matter if pygmy hippos and normal hippos are the same density. J. in Jerusalem (talk) 07:25, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

If we're going on volume, it will make a difference if the pygmy hippos are whole (they don't pack together very well), or minced so you can stuff them into all the nooks and crannies of the hollowed-out big hippo. DuncanHill (talk) 11:08, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

IPA

Hi, I've googled but can't find an answer so I hope you can help. How do you write the Asian sirname Advani (pronounced Ad-var-nee - that's the best I can do to write it phonetically) in IPA. Thanks. 86.184.106.49 (talk) 13:20, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

ripe for the axe

Resolved

I would much appreciate if someone could tell me the meaning of "ripe for the axe".210.66.171.178 (talk) 13:25, 24 April 2010 (UTC)Ann

It means "likely to be cut..." ; it might help if you could share the context in which you read it. If I said "that lazy, mean-spirited worker is ripe for the axe," I'd mean that she was about to be fired from her job. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 13:29, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Google ["ripe for the axe"] and you will see both a literal usage (a tree that's at the right stage for felling) and metaphorical (referring to cutting budgets, etc.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:29, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

It could also be applied literally to people, especially in historic usages, meaning they are likely to be beheaded (or perhaps executed in some other way).

Sticking with the metaphorical usage, it could mean any inefficient process or department which is likely to be eliminated for budgetary reasosns. StuRat (talk) 18:38, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

PS: This would have been a good Q for the Language Desk. StuRat (talk) 18:43, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Your explanations are very clear, thanks a lot.210.66.171.178 (talk) 01:50, 25 April 2010 (UTC)Ann

You're welcome. StuRat (talk) 05:31, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps also a government spending programme that appears wasteful. One might say the "xyz department is ripe for the axe"124.171.209.86 (talk) 06:12, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

...after all, who wants a department named "xyz" ? :-) StuRat (talk) 21:34, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I don't know. If I worked at The laboratory for shuttering, reinforcement, concrete and ferroconcrete operations for composite-monolithic and monolithic constructions of the Department of the Technology of Building-assembly operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for building mechanization and technical aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - (pauses for breath) - I'd much rather call it "The XYZ Department" than what its acronym actually and unbelievably was - wait for it - NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT. I kid you not. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 22:08, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

To quote Dilbert, "Can't we find a place to insert 'efficiency' into that name ?". StuRat (talk) 13:25, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

And come to think of it, the "Department for Research on Gantry Robotics" might properly be called the "XYZ Department". StuRat (talk) 01:11, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

management related query

"an imp. factor which influences the balance of payment of a country is the exchange rate of its currency vis-a-vis other major currencies" briefly explain the statement.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Docsabhi (talk • contribs) 14:17, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Besides the fact that you should probably do your own homework, you should read exchange rate and currency intervention. --Jayron32 14:23, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Simplified: An important thing, that changes the amount a country pays, is their currency's worth compared against currencies of other countries. 86.184.106.49 (talk) 14:29, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

That is not correct. See balance of payment. 78.149.153.174 (talk) 21:01, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

kindly explain d following terms

can anyone explain the terms- 1.externalities 2.incrimental capital output rate 3. administrational prices. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Docsabhi (talk • contribs) 14:20, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Did you want someone to direct you to the articles Externality and Incremental capital-output ratio? The third term is vague without context. What is the context for the term? As a further issue, presumably your economics teacher assigned you a textbook. In general, textbooks are better sources for this information because they are tailored to the content and level of the course you are taking. If you open the textbook and read the chapters assigned to you by your teacher that match the part of the class you are in, they often contain clear statements of definition, or the book may have a glossary which explains these terms. --Jayron32 14:27, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Jobs, as you like it

Are there people from one country trying to setup base for information for the other , for e.g people in UK/US wanting some information in regards to vegetation/business/photography from any other country for their business /research and need someone for assistance on a paid bassis, which eases the burden of travelling away from home on a frequent basis and also provides source of income for both.if there are where do we find them? i had a friend helping a science research by providing vital information on spread of various diseases to a research house in another..hence curious, anyone.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.95.140.188 (talk) 16:38, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I can think of some possibilities:

1) An NGO might hire locals to determine which villages need food, wells, medical care, etc., prior to bringing in those resources.

2) A news organization might hire locals to scout out potential stories of interest, so they then know where to deploy their reporters.

3) A government intelligence organization might hire locals to warn them of terrorists in the area or spy on others. This job, of course, is potentially dangerous and may violate the local laws. StuRat (talk) 18:31, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Jobs again

Are there special packages offered to the third world/developing countries for employment offers in the developed countries.got to know lately,that, countries like UK/Canada etc do have such offers. How do i find my way out if i wish to work for about 3-5 years and come back to the country of my origin, how do we get there? anyone please.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.122.36.6 (talk) 16:56, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

In the US, as in all countries, the system is set up so that citizens have a much easier time getting a job than foreigners. Generally a foreigner wanting a US job has to contact the company of interest, apply for a job, get hired, and then obtain an employment visa, like an H-1B visa or an O-1 visa. They make it difficult; there are only 65,000 H1-B visas issued per year, and the employer has to claim they couldn't find a US citizen qualified for the job. (The TN visa is easier to get, but is only for Canadian and Mexican citizens.) United States visas has more information. But I don't believe the US federal government runs any particular type of program that seeks out foreign workers in general, and promotes their hire. This would be unpopular politically in any country, particularly in an era of high unemployment. (There could be exceptions, like if a country has a nurse shortage and all the hospitals get together and hire a few people to try to attract foreign nurses. This appears to be related.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:19, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

I think some nations have a guest worker program, where workers are brought in to work for a certain period of time, but are then expected to leave, and denied any chance of gaining citizenship. I believe Kuwait has such a program. StuRat (talk) 18:26, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

It is worth noting that many guest worker/work visa programs are only for work in jobs where there is a shortage of home applicants. Embassy websites usually have a visa section which provides links to the list of eligible jobs. Astronaut (talk) 20:13, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Cameron's chicken

What point is the chicken that follows David Cameron trying to make? Cameron pulled its head off recently. 89.243.213.182 (talk) 17:19, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

The Daily Mirror are backing Labour in the general election. They put some questions to David Cameron as part of the usual pre-election smear campaign and he didn't answer them, as he was too 'chicken', so they got a man dressed in a chicken suit with the paper's logo on his chest to chase him around London shouting those questions at him repeatedly. Nanonic (talk) 17:46, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

For the curious...[3]. Alansplodge (talk) 19:35, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

How curious. Perhaps the Mirror's staff have been watching The West Wing. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 07:17, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Sexuality labelling question

Are people who like their own sex who have had an operation to become the opposite sex gay? Are people who like the opposite sex who have had operations to become their own sex gay? I know labelling is kinda unhelpful but just want to know.--92.251.206.24 (talk) 23:48, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

People who have had sex reassignment surgery are usually referred to as transsexuals rather than simply "gay". Those articles are both rather detailed and provide some information about the sexual orientation of the people involved. The short answer is "it's complicated and it depends". Matt Deres (talk) 00:18, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

No you misunderstand. Is say, a male, who likes transwomen gay? Is a male who likes transmen gay?--92.251.142.171 (talk) 00:24, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

And I still say "it's complicated and it depends". Gayness and straightness are not binary options; the real world is much more complicated than that. A man who is sexually attracted to "a" male-to-female transgender may be attracted simply to the person as an individual and not particularly care about their biology/anatomy. It may be useful to keep in mind that both people's orientation may be complicated. That is to say, the male might be attracted to the transgender female because she's "woman enough" for him or he may be attracted to her because she still exhibits some male traits. In situations like this, labels are not useful. Matt Deres (talk) 01:27, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

It depends on how you define yourself. If you're a guy, and you've fallen in love with a trans woman, you're still straight if you think you are. Or you could say, "I'm straight, but I'm flexible enough in my straightness to marry Jennifer, with her Y chromosome and all." Or you might say, "I'm sort of straight- I really am most attracted to trans women, which is why Jennifer and I are so well suited to each other. Well, that, and her fabulous baked goods." -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 01:37, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes an important point I planned to make myself. A man who is nearly exclusively attracted to women is most likely to consider himselves heterosexual and even if he finds out that one of those women happens to be a trans woman he's probably not going to change his view of his sexual orientation. Similarly a man who is nearly exclusively attracted men is most likely to consider himselves gay and even if he finds out one of them happens to be a trans men he's probably not going to change his view of his sexual orientation. For a man who has always considered himselves bisexual and is attracted to both men and women and this includes trans men and trans women, they're still going to consider themselves bisexual and the question of whether a relationship with a trans man or trans woman is heterosexual or gay is rather moot. Similar examples for women of course. If someone is primarly attracted to trans women or men, things will probably be different. Nil Einne (talk) 08:37, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

The question is shown to be in part nonsense by specifying genders: "A heterosexual man who likes women has an operation to become a man." No operation is needed "to become their own sex." Edison (talk) 02:25, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

While I agree the question is silly, I think your misunderstanding, it probably not helped by insufficient punctuation and poor word choice. The 'own sex' does not refer to the sex of the person undergoing the operation but the sex of the person who is attracted to that person. Same sex would be a better word here rather then own sex. In other words, is a man who likes post op trans women gay? Is a man who likes post op trans men gay? (the converse for women obviously.)

For example, in the first case, we are discussing a post op trans woman who formerly had the same genitialia as the hypothetical male in question (i.e. 'own sex' of the hypothetical male) and underwent operations to change their genitalia to that of the opposite sex as the hypothetical male. Note that many trans women would I think consider themselves always women both pre-op and post-op so saying they underwent operations to become women may be offensive, and even biologically the concept of sex isn't always clear.

Nil Einne (talk) 08:21, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Pre- or Post-op don't really have anything to do with it. A transwoman isn't a man who suddenly became a woman when their genitalia were changed. The same way with a transman. Straying into the binary, as I feel I must, a man is straight if he predominantly favors women, cis or trans; gay if he strongly favors men, cis or trans; and the same with women.

Cldod (talk) 01:07, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

You shouldn't try too hard to pigeonhole people. Some people fall in a gray area between labels. That's OK. If there's enough of them, maybe one day someone will invent new words to describe them. Or maybe not. There's no law that says that everyone's sexuality can be described with a single word. APL (talk) 03:35, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, some identify as being attracted to "people" rather than use the terms bisexual or pansexual. Remember these are just labels. Calling someone gay doesn't mean anything.124.171.209.86 (talk) 06:09, 25 April 2010 (UTC)