Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 December 23

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December 23

Anti-Pakistani and Anti-Indian pictures

Is there good website where they showcase good pictures of Anti-Pakistanism and Anti-Indianism? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.149.85 (talk) 00:02, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

No. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:27, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Are you saying this because you know, for a fact, that there indeed is no such website? (Which I doubt.) Or because you just wished such websites didn't exist? If you don't want to be helpful, just don't post. There are plenty of legitimate reasons that someone might be interested in such a site. In any case, it doesn't violate our policies on the Reference Desk in any way that I know of. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I know what's good and that is not it. See Great Commandment and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"—Matthew 19:19. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:46, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

So doing a research paper on this topic wouldn't be good? Or wanting to have a deeper understanding of these particular types of pictures? Come on, get off your high horse. If you don't like a question, ignore it. Don't be a pill just to be one. It's not very "loving" to give wrong answers in my book. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:14, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

The solution to the general problem solving problem

Given a set of existing information or observations, presumably there exists a "best" action to take in response to the information so as to solve a problem or achieve an optimal outcome, or optimal expected outcome that the observer would take assuming he is 100% rational. I.e. given information $x$, the best action to take $a$ should simply be a function of $x$ i.e. $a=f(x)$. Is there an expression for the function $f$? Or is there an algorithm of some kind to find $a$ given $x$? Or, due to the extreme generality of this problem, is there a field of study devoted to solving it?Omniintelligentia (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:11, 23 December 2010 (UTC).

Maybe Game theory? Depends on what you define as "problem" or "outcome". Vespine (talk) 04:36, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I question the assumptions in this Q. Let's take a real world problem: People have committed crimes. What could be done about it ? Well, that all depends on what your goals, budget, and morals are, the ages and criminal records of each individual, what crimes they've committed, whether they are mentally ill or addicted to drugs, etc. The solutions might go from doing nothing to treatment to incarceration, right up to execution. So how do you express this as a single function ? Perhaps a large flowchart of if-then statements might be better suited. StuRat (talk) 06:59, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The likely best way of doing it would estimate the $ worth of the various states or outcomes and then use the decision trees (possibly using NPV also) as mentioned below. 92.24.186.101 (talk) 12:50, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

But different people would assign those values very differently. To some, removal from society would have the highest value, to others reform would, and to others, salvation would. And certain people would refuse to assign value to such things in terms of dollars. StuRat (talk) 18:18, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Then you would have to try to reach a consensus on the worth of the different states, or use some other quality of life measure such as is sometimes used in the UK but which I have not been able to find any information on. 92.15.31.212 (talk) 19:47, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

See Optimization (mathematics) and Combinatorial optimization in particular. For a given problem, characteristics of the n+1-dimensional surface given by n variables and the cost function may lead to special algorithms for finding solutions. For example, in physics simulations described by systems of linear equations whose matrix is symmetric and positive-definate, algorithms like the Conjugate gradient method can be used.Cheers. Haus^Talk 07:54, 23 December 2010 (UTC) On other problems, for example [[[NP-hard]] problems like the Travelling salesman problem, no general method for locating a globally optimal solution is known. Haus^Talk 07:57, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes there is, you just try every possible combination. 92.15.31.212 (talk) 20:14, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Wrong. See this explanation. Haus^Talk 20:41, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Banal. I'm rather insulted that you think I need a simple-minded pictures to point out the bl**din' obvious. The try-every-combination is effective if the number of entities or states is not too big. With modern computers that number should be large. If there were truely no solution, nobody would be able to shop at more than one shop per journey. 92.15.31.212 (talk) 21:57, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Is it bleedin' obvious that it's much easier to find a "good enough" solution than to determine the single best solution, and that this is generally adequate for shopping? —Tamfang (talk) 20:56, 28 December 2010 (UTC)

Yes it is, but our friend Haus asserted that "no general method for locating a globally optimal solution is known" which isnt true as I pointed out. 92.15.4.201 (talk) 22:06, 29 December 2010 (UTC)

I would use decision trees with net present values, but if money was not involved you could use some other value or figure of merit. 92.24.186.101 (talk) 12:33, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

There is no perpetual single simple solution for f(x) where any given instance may have multiple outcomes. The best one can do is emulate Monte Carlo at that point. In the case of (for example) betting on a single outcome of a coin toss, or the outcome of a horse race, each additional bet should be based on the total prior bets - and does not stand alone as a decision. Collect (talk) 12:52, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The goals "solve a problem" and "achieve an optimal outcome" are different things. The latter may be defined as an example of the former and in any case the variable to be optimised will need to be defined. Example: is the optimal design of a car engine the design for maximum power or for best fuel economy? Another example: 100% rational observers all acting in rational best interest can precipitate this tragedy. However if the variable to be optimised is a mathematically differentiable function, Newton's method is a workable algorithm. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:24, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

The answer to the OPs final question is operations research. 92.15.11.221 (talk) 14:05, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

maple candy

Every time I have maple candy, I wonder: why doesn't somebody produce a mass-market candy bar with maple flavor? Is the market not there (I'm often reminded that my tastes correlate poorly with the median!), or would the price have to be too high to fit beside the more common bars? —Tamfang (talk) 08:39, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I've never sampled it, but one of the Bun Bars is maple-flavored (with chocolate and peanuts, and they're not really bars, despite the name). ---Sluzzelin talk 09:00, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

At the following links you can buy maple candies, a box of maple-flavoured chocolates or a maple-flavored lollypop Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:07, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Genuine maple candy, as opposed to (artificial) maple-flavored candy, is very expensive because it is very labor intensive to make it. Pure maple syrup (which isn't even candy yet) takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. To reduce this down to pure, crystaline maple sugar takes EVEN more sap. Maple sap is one of those things that technology really cannot "speed up" the production or collection of. The large maple sugar farms basically still work like they did hundreds of years ago; they don't collect the sap in buckets, instead they use rubber tubing to bring the sap to a central location, but you still need someone to manually tap each tree, maintain the plumbing for sap collection, etc. So there is just not the capacity to "mass produce" real maple sugar candies. That makes them scarce and expensive. --Jayron32 16:03, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Bun is the only fairly mass-market one I could think of but there is also this milk chocalate maple bar from Vermont: [1]. and someone should add a link to maple syrup. Rmhermen (talk) 16:11, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Maple candy is special because it's unusual. If it was widely available, it wouldn't be special anymore, and thus wouldn't be worth more money than other candy, to most people. Incidentally, many things are similar, such as diamonds. They are only "special" because the supply is kept artificially low. If all diamonds in existence were dumped on the market, both the price and how people feel about them would decline dramatically. StuRat (talk) 18:12, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Except that I'm not sure how much of it is genuine "artificial scarcity". Maple sugar is itself quite difficult to obtain. Other such agricultural products, like beluga caviar and saffron are very expensive because they are genuinely rare and hard to obtain. Maple sugar is likewise similarly hard to obtain and rare. Its just that there isn't anyway to mass produce it cheaper. Its very different than the diamond market. --Jayron32 20:25, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm sure China would be happy to plant a billion maple trees and pay starvation wages to the workers, if they thought there would be a market for it. But they don't think there would be (especially after they start dumping toxic chemicals into the product, as they inevitably would). StuRat (talk) 21:07, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

China doesn't really have the climate for Sugar Maples. APL (talk) 00:22, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

That map includes a fair portion of China which has that climate. StuRat (talk) 05:22, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

China can plant all the sugar maples they want, but it'll be 40 years or so before the trees are big enough to be tapped. Further, without a winter freeze, the maples won't produce the high-sugar sap that can be turned into syrup; if the temperature profile during the spring thaw is wrong, the syrup will contain undesirable flavors. --Carnildo (talk) 02:02, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

There is certainly a winter freeze over large portions of China, such as Inner Mongolia. StuRat (talk) 05:22, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Which is mostly desert. Look, just like you can't just grow saffron anywhere and get tons of it for sale, you can't just grow sugar maples, of the right type, anywhere and get usable sap. Its a product which is limited by actual availiblity, and any method which could be used to actually make sugar maple trees grow in places where they don't currently, such as terraforming the Gobi Desert so that it has just the right climate, is likely to be so outrageously expensive as to not make it worth it. --Jayron32 05:29, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

There are parts of China which freeze over in winter and are humid in summer. See the map here: Humid continental climate. StuRat (talk) 06:49, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

What about the soil in those areas? What about the local flora and fauna which are symbioticly codependant on each other as they are in the sugar maple producing areas of North America? What about the fact that these are trees, not heads of cabbage, and aren't really suited towards a quick life cycle? --Jayron32 21:45, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

As for the time needed for them to grow, that was mentioned previously, and is a valid point. But you also seem to have the concept that no tree can ever live in any environment other than where it originated, because, of course, conditions will never be exactly alike in another location. If that was truly the case, we wouldn't have the many species of transplanted trees we already have. Also, the fact that the sugar maple has a range over many US states and Canadian provinces implies that it can withstand quite a range of environments: [2]. StuRat (talk) 21:59, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

The question is not whether the tree could live, the question is whether it could provide a viable source of maple sugar. As already noted, sugar maples are finicky things, unless the exact sequence of temperature fluctuations are just right, and the soil type is just right, the trees don't produce the proper sap to make a viable source of sugar. You could possibly get a stand of sugar maple to grow in China quite well, even thrive, and then wait 40 years, tap them, and find that the sap is useless in producing maple sugar. It could also make good sugar, but who is going to spend the time and expense to find out? It's just too risky of an experiment to spend 40 years on a maybe. --Jayron32 02:25, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Also StuRat, you should read the article Terroir, which is more to the point of what I am trying to get at. --Jayron32 02:28, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

OK, that mentions growing grapes for wine. That's a good example. The French and Italians each insisted that only they have the perfect climate, soil, etc., for the types of wine they produced. Then came California wine. At first, their wines were inferior, but, as they learned to adapt to the slight differences in Cal, they have been improving to the point where now many Cal wines are competitive with the European wines. If the market for maple products was anywhere near as large as the wine market, I suspect that nations all over the world would try to grab a share. StuRat (talk) 05:26, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Venues in Dallas, Texas

I need info on the following venues:

1. Mother Blues on Lemon Ave.
2. Manhole on Cedar Springs Ave.

What I want to know is are they still running, how long have they been running and what of their reputations as establishments. Also, are they known for having any famous clientele. And yes, I did google them before coming here, but it was of little help. Thanks for the info in advance. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 14:41, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I don't find anything recent on "Mother Blues", making me think it no longer exists. I've found it described as an "infamous" hang out for musicians, here: [3] (starts about halfway down page 1). Here's a Facebook page for those who worked there up to 1980, which makes me guess that it closed down after that: [4]. You might post the Q there for specifics.

I can't find anything on "Manhole", but, based on the name, guess that it catered to "out" gay men. StuRat (talk) 18:00, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Manhole, if it once existed, was no doubt a gay bar. Its absence from the web strongly suggests that, if it existed, it ceased operation long ago. Marco polo (talk) 01:10, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

I googled [dallas manhole] and what came up were several sites selling cufflinks that look like miniature manhole covers. Cute, though probably not was the OP had in mind. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:03, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

In the non-American game of cricket, batsmen wear what is commonly known as a box to protect that most critical piece of the male anatomy. Top English female cricketer Rachael Heyhoe-Flint was once asked by a journalist if women use an equivalent piece of protective equipment. Her response was that some wear manhole covers. So, not necessarily a gay bar. HiLo48 (talk) 23:29, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Fighting everyday institutional corruption - civil ways and means of fighting it

Under Construction — Preceding unsigned comment added by Indiana 357 (talk • contribs) 18:03, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

This is the Wikipedia Reference Desk, where volunteers answer questions. It is not a forum. Do you have a question? Edison (talk) 19:48, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Well, if we change the exclamation mark to a question mark, I suppose that can be made into a Q. Here are some ways I can think of for those within the organization:

1) Hire honest people. That is, people with a track record of ethical behavior. This is especially important for those at the top.

2) Implement a system of rewards for good behavior and punishments for bad behavior. When the bad behavior is illegal, press charges.

3) If a department or entire organization becomes endemically corrupt, it may be best to fire everyone and start fresh, so the "bad apples" don't spoil the new ones.

Here are some ways for the government as a whole to fight institutional corruption:

A) Have strong whistle-blower laws and a policy of forgiving "crimes" committed while exposing corruption, such as releasing classified information.

B) Encourage public protests against corruption, by not arresting the protesters. Politicians could then speak at anti-corruption rallies and show support, where needed, in new legislation or investigations.

C) Have adequate government oversight of institutions, and ensure that those oversight organizations aren't composed of former or current members of the institution they are assigned to regulate. Prohibit them from taking money or jobs from that institution even after they leave their job (say by having them lose their pension if they do). Don't also give the oversight org the job of promoting the institution they are assigned to regulate.

D) If the institution in question is a government one, then leave a competent and honest person in charge, as opposed to assigning a new leader after every election cycle, as a political payoff. However, if the leader isn't doing a good job, then fire them, regardless of any political debts owed to them.

StuRat (talk) 20:38, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

Regarding D), what form of government is it you have in mind for that? It doesn't sound very democratic. Do you have a link about it to substantiate that it deals with institutional corruption better than a democratically elected government? WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:23, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

I did have democracy in mind. Under the presidential system, the new President normally fires all the old department heads and hires a new batch of his political cronies. One of the worst examples of this was when the last President George W. Bush assigned a new head (Michael D. Brown) to FEMA, who wasn't up to the job, leading to an inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina, and thousands of deaths in New Orleans. This is more of an example of incompetence than corruption, but the same practice leads to both. I assume that something similar happens under the parliamentary system, whenever "the government falls". As for non-democratic governments, the same logic should apply. Whether the new ruler comes to power by being a relative of the previous leader or as a result of a bloody coup, they should still keep any old department heads which seem to be doing a proper job and fire the rest. StuRat (talk) 22:21, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

A code of conduct, objective criteria made public, and transparancy, would help. 92.15.31.212 (talk) 22:06, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

As does WikiLeaks because ""The simplest and most effective countermeasure is a worldwide community of informed users"[5]. Three things can not hide for long: the Moon, the Sun and the Truth -- Siddhartha. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 23:40, 23 December 2010 (UTC)

That rule applies to the folks behind wikileaks as well as the folks in front of it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:00, 26 December 2010 (UTC)