Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 March 4

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March 4

Art

What is considered as 'good art/painting?> The well known masters are considered to be 'art' at its best, In order to replicate the considered good art what should be understood?

thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.220.19.233 (talk) 04:17, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The "Value judgment" section of the Art page looks like editorializing, so it may not help that much, but at least it's a start. Read the full article for possibly more insight. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:22, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The object of art is not replication of someone else's Artistic inspiration. It is having your own. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 04:26, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

So to "replicate good art", using essentially the xerox machine approach, is not really what it's about. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:29, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

in the eyes of the beholder —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ditreaium (talk • contribs) 10:56, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The thing that convinced me was the explanatory note next to An Oak Tree by Michael Craig-Martin. Really sorted out the "Is that art?" question for me. 13:50, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If you were interested in producing really good art, emulating the masters will not do; you will want to develop your own unique, perhaps idiosyncratic style. Vranak (talk) 15:39, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Anonymous porn help

Okay I know the title sounds like an intro to trolling. I'm not. Serious question. How do I truly anonymously sign up for and pay a pay porn site? I mean really anonymous. Paypal is not anonymous at all for example. Yeah, it's more hidden than just paying with your credit card but whose account logged the transaction is still out there. Can anyone help me?--162.84.166.14 (talk) 04:28, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Unless you're engaging in illegal activity of some kind, what's the problem? And how can you pay on the internet without having some kind of identity? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:31, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

That's what he's asking! APL (talk) 06:01, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Not precisely the same. I'm raising a logical question. We'll see if it has an answer. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:06, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

No, seriously, you just rephrased his question.

He said "How can I anonymously pay for a porn site?" and you said "How can you pay without having some kind of identity?"

Unless you think that someone was confused about what "anonymously" means, you did nothing but rephrase his question! (Well, not 'nothing', you did prepend a subtle insult.) APL (talk) 06:20, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

So what's the answer to his question and/or mine? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:23, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The short answer is: without engaging in fraud, you cannot. I suggest making use of the endless supply of free pornography available on the internet to satisfy your needs. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 05:10, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I think that you can buy American Express gift cards for cash at places like grocery stores. Comet Tuttle (talk) 05:19, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The OP could go to his favorite site and simply start the process and see if gift cards are an option. I would guess not, because there's no way to deduct the amount. But there might be a subtlety there I'm overlooking. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:27, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

A money order would seem to be the way to go. In the US, you can get them from most any grocery store, bank, or Western Union office. If you can't pay the site directly, maybe you can send it to Paypal or some other service and then pay the porn site that way. I don't know the minimum info that PayPal requires or if you have to prove your identity in the least. Dismas|^(talk) 05:37, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Why wouldn't a Visa gift-card work? I've never had one, but I've always understood that they worked just like regular Visa cards. APL (talk) 06:02, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Sure, in a physical store, where they can swipe it and deduct from the amount on it. Maybe there's a way to "virtually" swipe it? Like if there's an instantly-updated central database where the remaining balance on all gift cards is stored? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:05, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

You don't seriously think that the cash value is encoded on the card do you? If only Visa had a gigantic financial database with computer terminals at every point of sale and every online merchant that they could use to track when a card was used and subtract that from an account of some kind. APL (talk) 06:20, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I do. But you're obviously smarter than I am. So what's the answer to the OP's question? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:23, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Anyway, as I said, before the OP rushes out to buy gift cards, he should go to his favorite website and see if the use of gift cards is an option. Although, given that this OP's IP has only this one entry, I wouldn't count on him reporting back to us. But maybe he'll prove me wrong. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:28, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

That would be the wrong advice. As I hinted earlier, the cards work with Visa's pre-existing payment network. His favorite porn site wouldn't do anything special to accept them.

The place to check would be Visa's website about the cards. Here is the link right here : Using your gift card. To summarize, the name you give the porno site will need to match the name you use to "register" your card.

It's not clear to me if it's legal to use a pseudonym for this process, but I seriously doubt if they check it out, so I suppose you could just go for it. It's not like you intend to rip anyone off. APL (talk) 06:50, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Since a gift card is already paid for, I don't know why they would care, other than the possibility of counterfeiting (hopefully they have safeguards for that); and if you say your name is John Smith or Sig Sackowicz or whatever, how would they know whether it's true or fake? Unless they can ask you to hold your drivers license up to your web-cam. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:01, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Erm. Pre-paid Visa cards are available in stores, just like regular gift cards. Of course it will be accepted at paysites just like any other regular credit cards. More importantly though, it's his IP address 162.84.166.14, which i'm sure would be recorded when he makes the website account purchase. --Kvasir (talk) 21:26, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

While it is probably more trouble than you want for this particular transaction, for anonymous transactions people sometimes hire lawyers to perform the transaction for them. The lawyer would be identifiable, but as long as what you are doing isn't illegal, the lawyer is generally precluded from revealing his client's info under attorney-client privilege. Such methods are sometimes used for truly anonymous donations and the like. Of course, that would generally be a very expensive way to obtain anonymity since lawyers are almost never cheap. Dragons flight (talk) 06:31, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Hiring a lawyer to buy porn for his client. Interesting idea. Getting back to Apple, he's correct that Gift cards generally connect to a database. So, in theory, they could be used online. But there's no substitute for a test. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:34, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

In order to use a Visa gift card online you generally have to register an identity for it. In other words, you still need to have something set up that you fill in when they ask for name and billing address on the card. Visa gift cards generally come with instructions on how to set this up, but of course if one is being honest then it would defeat the point. I don't know how difficult and/or illegal it would be register a gift card for online payments under a false name / address. Dragons flight (talk) 06:41, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The last time that I saw a Visa/Mastercard gift card, which has been some time I'll admit, it didn't have an expiry date which any online pay system will require. Dismas|^(talk) 06:44, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

They do nowadays. And they're advertised as working online, so presumably they've thought of all that. APL (talk) 06:52, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

They may not have an expiry date, but there is usually a monthly maintenance fee, which will eventually deplete the value store on the card. The card is not usually reloadable. --Kvasir (talk) 21:29, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

On the other hand, I don't have the details handy, but I believe that it's possible to use paypal such that they don't won't reveal information other than your email address. (Unless there's a fraud investigation.)

So depending on why you wish to be anonymous that may be acceptable to you. (ie: If you're worried that the Porno owners will rat you out or send you incriminating junk mail, then that'll probably work out for you. But if you're secretly a high ranking government or church official worried that anyone might blackmail you, then it probably won't work out for you, because the folk at Paypal would still know.)

APL (talk) 06:58, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If someone is trying to hide his activities from his church group, he has bigger issues than how to use a gift card online. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:03, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

[1] APL (talk) 07:15, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Whatever point you're trying to make, you're smarter than I am so I don't understand it. What I'm getting at is that if he's engaged in deception, he might want to question his own supposed Christian ethics. Which might have nothing to do with the drive-by OP, who might simply be paranoid about discovery just because he's like that, or at the very least, he might worry his Mom will find out. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:38, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

In terms of these Visa etc gift cards, even though they are like credit cards it's my understanding any business can choose to reject them. In particular, since they don't provide any real age verification, many porn sites may choose to reject them for that reason. PayPal for example and other auction sites generally do as well as other sites that rely on credit cards to connect to a real life identity [2]. (As mentioned there you don't however need to register a name here, you simply enter 'Prezzy Card Holder'.)

Also it's it's my understanding that in the US, they're not truly anonymous since you need to provide identification when buying one due to US law related to money laundering and terrorism. There aren't I believe directly connected to the card, but the authorities and perhaps someone with enough resources and willingness to do questionable things could I presume easily track down who bought the card.

Here in NZ, you can buy them without identification and with cash provided the amount is $50 or under (or something like that), although as they're sold by the post office which also operates KiwiBank the vast majority of places would have security cameras and for the same reason trying to hide your face is likely to be a bad idea so while harder, probably not impossible to track you down. Perhaps you could randomly get someone else to buy one for you, but I suspect if some random stranger hidding their face and disguising their voice goes up to someone in the street near a post office and asks the person if they could buy a Prezzy card for them here in NZ, most people are either going to ignore them or inform someone like the police, the people in the shop or any security if present so again, probably not a good idea.

There are of course various other systems designed to offer some degree of anonymity. E.g Category:Digital gold currencies (although e-gold is dead) [3] [4] however the authorities in many countries generally dislike truly anonymous systems so tend to put up laws to block them, and although there's a a number of consumers interested in such systems since by their nature they tend to be open to fraud, run the risk of being shut down at any time and are often run by companies and people many would be reluctant to trust, they haven't tended to work very well. Some porn sites may accept some of these systems, so you're welcome to look.

Ultimately, as with most things where anonymity comes up, it really depends on who your hypothetical adversary is. If it's a government agency or someone with access to a significant amount of resources, getting true anonymity is difficult. Also, it's pointless being too worried about anoymous payment, if you haven't worried about other aspects like ensuring your computer system used to access the porn won't give you away. For example, presuming you live in Brooklyn or somewhere else in New York and use Verizon as your ISP, then you probably shouldn't have asked a question like this here without an account if you're worried about anonymity.

Nil Einne (talk) 08:36, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If the issue is simply to avoid extended liability caused by fraud or hard to understand small print, why not apply for a new credit card and insist on a low credit limit. I have considered doing just this if I was to get into online poker. It wii also hide your "activities" from other people who have a legitimate need to see your normal credit-card bill (eg. your employer). Astronaut (talk) 13:45, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Why does your employer have a legitimate need to see your credit-card bill? -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:48, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If you're claiming expenses from it, for example. Or if you're using the company credit card. Thanks for reminding me of another illicit use that could explain why someone wants to be anonymous. I knew a public official who went to jail for putting strip club visits on his department-issued charge card. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:41, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Every place I've worked has required receipts for expenses, not my credit card statement. -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:46, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I believe PayPal would generally avoid extended liability etc, you will pay a specific amount and unless you chose to make a recurring payment, they can't come after you for more money either legally or illegally. It was mentioned by someone above that you can avoid giving away your PayPal identity to the vendor. If you don't trust PayPal, then that would be an issue but from the sound of the above the OP's concern is PayPal will still have records. I presume it would also deal with the credit card records issue/employer to some extent in that while they will see you paid for something via PayPal you can probably choose to hide any details which will reveal what, so as far as they are concerned, you could be buying wool for your knitting and it seems unlikely they'll have any reason to demand what for. It may not help with a partner or spouse who may feel they are entitled to ask what for and would probably know you didn't buy wool for knitting. Nil Einne (talk) 14:11, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

I agree with the advice to use free porn sites, instead. You can find free porn up the kazoo, online, including "up the kazoo" porn. StuRat (talk) 00:57, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

If it is simply a case of not wanting your wife to see what you bought with your credit card, you could ask a (single) friend to borrow his card and pay him back in cash. 195.35.160.133 (talk) 12:57, 9 March 2010 (UTC) Martin

Also, some porn sites may be aware that people don't want others to see "HotChicksWithDicks.com" on their credit card bill, so may bill as something less obvious, like "HCWD Industries". They may list this as one of the reasons to join their site versus others. StuRat (talk) 14:47, 9 March 2010 (UTC)

Interstate bus fares in India

Can a user please tell me by approximately what percentage have interstate bus fares in India increased in the course of the last five years. Thank you Simonschaim (talk) 08:22, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I did a little search on google and got an average from various sites as 17% —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ditreaium (talk • contribs) 10:55, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you Ditreaium. Can you please let me have details of the sites you found. Thank you. Simonschaim (talk) 12:54, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Longest steam railway in UK

Which currently in operation stream engine line in the UK has the longest route? (in miles) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kandorko (talk • contribs) 10:36, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

West Somerset Railway, perhaps? Ghmyrtle (talk) 11:03, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Surely that would be the main line along which Tornado travels from London to York and sometimes further. Seems to have a regularity of around once a month, though, so maybe this doesn't count. 213.122.14.243 (talk) 11:30, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

According to the note in the North Yorkshire Moors Railway article, the West Somerset Railway is the longest heritage railway in the UK, although the North Yorks Moors regularly runs trains along six miles of Network Rail tracks which, if included, would make it longer. Warofdreams talk 12:44, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

When the Welsh Highland Railway finally links up with the Ffestiniog Railway this will be considerably longer. --rossb (talk) 23:27, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Car steering wheels

Is there a standard which converts angle of steering wheel rotation into car manoeuvring - IE do all cars behave the same (eg 90 degree on the wheel causes a 5 degree front wheel angle change or something). Or are all cars different at whatever the manufacturer feels like for this model? -- SGBailey (talk) 14:12, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of. I've never compared them and considering I own two Subarus, I doubt there'd be a difference that I could notice. But during an episode of Top Gear, Richard Hammond at one point mentions that he has to turn the wheel of a particular car that he was reviewing quite a bit to get around a corner. So, that would suggest that he'd gotten used to a certain percentage of wheel turn compared to steering wheel turn. Dismas|^(talk) 14:35, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Series twelve, episode six, the Veritas RS III. Vimescarrot (talk) 15:43, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

No, it's different from car to car. My MINI (BMW), for example, has "quick" steering—a small turn of the wheel results in the car turning more than most cars would. If you look at a car's specifications or magazine reviews, you can usually find specs for "number of turns lock-to-lock", which is how far you can turn the steering wheel from hard-left to hard-right, and for "turning circle" which is the diameter of the tightest turn the car can make. You could probably use those numbers to compare the "quickness" of different cars. Also, I think a car's alignment specs usually give a "turn the steering wheel this much, and the wheel angles should be such-and-such" spec for the car. -- Coneslayer (talk) 15:49, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I have a vague memory of a car which had a variable relationship between stering wheel turn and road wheel turn, depending upon the speed. Not sure if that can be substantiated. --Tagishsimon (talk) 03:40, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

There are plenty of cars that have variable ratio steering - where they vary the spacing of the teeth along the length of the steering rack. This is designed to keep the steering sensitive at small steer angles but reduce the amount of effort it takes to turn the wheels when the angle is greater. BMW have cars with electronically variable steering ratios so that the sensitivity of the steering can be adjusted by the computer depending on speed and road conditions. (This was actually proposed and demonstrated in a concept car for the second generation of the MINI (BMW) but was dropped from the design in favor of computer controlled power steering during the last few months before the launch. On my MINI, pressing the SPORT button gives you more 'feel' from the steering.) There have been many even more drastic proposals for "steer by wire" systems where the steering wheel isn't mechanically connected to the wheels at all but merely tells the computer where to point the wheels. However there are serious safety concerns with such systems - and they are generally unloved by drivers because they eliminate "road feel". SteveBaker (talk) 04:55, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks -- SGBailey (talk) 23:27, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

WP:WHAAOE. I'm very surprised no-one has linked steering ratio as yet. While we are giving anecdotal evidence, in 2003 Honda updated their Honda S2000 and (amongst other things) changed the steering ratio to make it "slower" (requires more turns of the steering wheel to get the same number of turns at the wheels) and thus made the car less "nervous" or "twitchy". I guess some people were not used to the quick steering of the previous model. Zunaid 07:04, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Conversion of 1970 turkish lira in indian national rupee.....

hello guyzzz.... i have a turkish note 20,000 note of 1970 year.... i want to enquire how much will i get it in indian national rupee if i convert the note,i.e., turkish note of 1970 today in india.... ????

the note has followin things riten on it

(i) 2000

(ii) Below this is the serial number that is G59 391049

(iii) TURKIYE CUMHURIYET

       MERKEZ BANKASI

[I GES THE NAME OF THE NATIONAL BANK]

(iv) YIRMI BIN [ Written prominently in the centre]

(v) TURK LIRASI [Writen exactly below the above]

(vi) 14 OCAK 1970 TARIH VE 1211 SAYILI

      KANUNA GORE CIKARILMISTIR

[Writen exactly below the above and in same manner as above]

(vii) BASKAN BASKAN YARDIMCISI [Writen exactly below the above]

Plz do tel me and help me if you can .... i am in a great problem due to this....

Also do tel me the best way to get the lira converted in india. Provided that i live chandigarh,U.T.(CAPITAL OF PUNJAB AND HARAYANA).

I WILL B GRATEFUL TO THE PERSON ANSWERIN MY QUERY.....

ANTICIPATING THANKZZZZ..... :) :) :D :D —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bhuwankant (talk • contribs) 15:21, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but the nominal value of your bank note is very roughly 0. Turkey had a currency reform in 2005, going from the old lira to the new lira. A new lira is worth one million old lira, i.e. your 20000 old lira is roughly 2 kurus (2/100 of a new lira), or 1 Eurocent. If I operate Google finance correctly, that is 1.2481 Indian rupees - unlikely to even pay for the bank fee, even if you can find a bank that accepts a bank note for a currency that has been out of circulation for years. You might have more luck if you find a collector, but I have no idea how rare and in demand such notes are. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:40, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

To give you an idea of the value, there's a 250,000 lira note -- same period, I suspect -- for sale on eBay for GBP 0.50; and there's been a lot of 8 notes, ranging from 5 to 100,000 lira, that went unsold for GBP 2.85. --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 16:49, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the 20,000 lira note was only introduced in 1988, although the E7 emission group of Turkish banknotes was authorised in 1970, but such was the speed of Turkish inflation that the 50,000 lira was introduced in 1989, 100,000 lira in 1991, 250,000 lira in 1992, 500,000 lira in 1993, 1,000,000 lira in 1995, 5,000,000 lira in 1997, 10,000,000 lira in 1999 and 20,000,000 lira in 2001. Notes of less than 250,000 lira were not convertible when the new lira was introduced in 2005 at a rate of 1 million old lira to 1 new one, so it cannot now be converted to any foreign currency. The 100,000 lira note is redeemable for 10 kurus at the TCMB (Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey) until 4 November 2011, while the 250,000, 500,000, 1, 5, 10, and 20 million lira notes can be redeemed until 31 December 2015, after which they will lose all their value. Our article on the Turkish lira is quite informative. -- Arwel Parry (talk) 23:44, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Looking more carefully, the original question sat 20.000 in the first line, but describes the note as having a text of 2000. If it is a 2000 (old) lira note, the nominal value is about 0.1 Eurocent, and its unlikely that it can be exchanged anywhere at all. However, our article does not mention a 2000 lira note at all. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:50, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

"Yirmi bin" means 20,000. The 2000 is likely just a typo. --Xuxl (talk) 16:12, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Fuhrur

Where can I find english translatioons of full speeches made by Hitler. I am very curious to read these and after years of web searching I have only been able to find short movies of 2-3 minutes of speeches, or short quotes. What I would ideally like (like maybe not the right word)is either subtitled movies of his FULL speaches or transcripts of them translated into english, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 16:07, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Well, there's the usual place which only has one link to an English translation, and there are the external links over at his article, where there seems to be a bit more. Hope I helped, and happy reading. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:18, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Google is your friend. Just type "English translations of speeches made by Hitler" into google. Now, that wasn't that hard, was it. User:Curious Cactus 20:38, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Cactus, knock it off. If you can't be polite, don't contribute. Woogee (talk) 00:37, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Never mentioned wars -

Good Morning,

Please, let us know if you have any written/film details of repeated wars between the Polish and Silesian people, esp. in the 1920's. My father fought there as a teenager and my grandfather was injured. We have no souvenirs of any kind from that time, since we were DP's then.

Also, please show a detailed film (if available) with local comments regarding the Spanish Civil War, the volunteers and drafted on either sides and the consequences of that war. We also have connections with some former fighters, but no official pictures/films. Please let us know, (if) and when such films will be published and shown on Military Channel TV.

Thank you.

Gabrielle M. Turner <personal contact info removed>—Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.162.11.146 (talk) 19:10, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

I removed your personal contact information, as noted at the top of this page, no one will phone you or email you, and leaving personal contact information on a public website is a good way to have your identity stolen or to receive thousands of unwanted spam emails every day. That said, these conflicts are not "never mentioned" . We actually have an extensive article on Wikipedia about them, at Silesian Uprisings. Silesia is a region which has for thousands of years been passed between countries like Austria, Poland, and Prussia, and as such, has been the sight of ethnic conflicts for a long time. The specific early 20th century conflicts you are referring to above are explained in the Silesian Uprisings article. The article has a "references" section and a "further reading" section whereby you could find even more info. --Jayron32 19:35, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Please see the sentences at the top of this page, which say: "Is there any way I can get a faster answer? / Yes, you can search first. Please do this." Jayron has given you a link to the Silesian Uprisings: if you put Spanish Civil War into the search box, you will, I am sure, get directed to the article Spanish Civil War. --ColinFine (talk) 19:55, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If you want to know if/when films of particular wars will be shown on Military Channel TV,why not contact them and ask? I'm sure they would be able to tell you-and if there aren't any films of that war planned to be shown in the near future and there is sufficient demand for them,they may decide to add them to the schedule. Lemon martini (talk) 23:13, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

organising a fair

supposing hypotheticaaly someone wanted to orgainse a school fair, have stalls selling various things, hold a few competitons, a raffle, get local people and businesses to offer their services in a charity auction, that sort of thing. What might someone have to do in order to hold such an event, other than advertising it, setting up the stalls and getting volunteers to offer things in the stalls and auctions? And how long would all that take?

148.197.114.158 (talk) 19:41, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Well, you would also have to get the permission of the authority of the location you wish to hold the fair. So, if you wish to hold it at school, you will likely have to contact the school administration. If you wish to hold it in a public park, you will have to work with your local "park district" or "parks and recreation commission" or some such. It can take a long time to plan such an event, especially if you are the sole person interested in it. Even if you can get a sizable organizing committee together to help plan and organize and contact everyone and advertise it, it will likely take several months if not a full year, depending on the scope and scale of the fair. --Jayron32 20:22, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Your jurisdiction (such as your town or city) may also have rules about "games of chance" like raffles. They may be prohibited, or may require obtaining a license or permit, which could take money and time. -- Coneslayer (talk) 20:27, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Be aware that for public gatherings you often need a license or permit. The police may ask you to stop and disperse the crowd if you do not. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Curious Cactus (talk • contribs) 20:31, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

What if, hypothetically, such events had been held each year in the same place, only this time it might be, perhaps, larger and organised by different people 148.197.114.158 (talk) 21:59, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

And don't they do something where people organise social events at american schools, I'm sure I've seen such on lots of TV programs and films, where they choose a theme and hire entertainment and get food and such like. It never seems to take them all year. 148.197.114.158 (talk) 22:01, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

In the UK, you'll also need to get liability insurance (which will be part of the licencing conditions). Your local town council (or equivalent body) is the best place to ask for specific information. Tevildo (talk) 22:58, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

If this event has been held at the same place, and I assume at the same time, under the leadership of different organizers than the "hypothetic" one here, there is probably going to be a conflict if someone else decided to hold a bigger event of the same kind, at the same place. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:35, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

The local authorities as well as those who control the venue may have concerns about keeping order, avoiding incidents such as people getting trampled rushing the stage, avoiding fights and drunkenness, etc. As mentioned above there may be requirements for permits, liability insurance, health inspection of food vending operations, proper installing of electric supply to avoid overloaded circuits, sanitation, crowd control, maximum occupancy of indoor venues and proper (not chained shut) exits, or if outdoors adequate provision of portable toilets. An event has lots of people crowded together, exits may be limited to prevent people sneaking in, food preperation may not keep hot food hot and cold food cold, temporary and overloaded wiring may be used, and people may be drunk or looking to cause panic. On TV shows all this is just left out in general. For classic big-scale versions of "what could possibly go wrong" see Altamont Free Concert(riots and homicide), (food poisoning), (food poisoning), (more food poisoning), (fire at fair), (electric short cause carnival fire), (riot at carnival), (riot at carnival). People have died in senseless stampedes at soccer matches and rock concerts (alcohol involved much?). A successful event may also seek donations of money , goods or services from merchants, including buying ads in a program. Money is needed up front to get acts under contract which will draw a crowd, or to secure commitments from vendors, ride operators, or whatever. Planning is needed to make sure the people do not behave like crazed livestock due to bottlenecks in travel routes. Edison (talk) 16:30, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Space

Resolved

When was the last space launch to put anything into orbit? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Curious Cactus (talk • contribs) 20:37, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

From SpaceFlightNow, the last launch was a Proton rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, carrying several GLONASS navigation satellites. It was launched on March 1st at 21:19 GMT. The next will be a Delta IV this evening. anonymous6494 20:43, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Thanks User:Curious Cactus 20:44, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

longest continuously used firearm

Is the Colt M1911 the longest continuously used firearm model for any of the world's armed forces, excluding purely ceremonial firearms? Googlemeister (talk) 20:53, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

According to M1911 pistol, it stopped being standard issue in the U.S. 1985, but there are several countries that appear to use it. Given that the article still lists "present" as the end date for the use of the weapon, a 99 year service life for a single model is likely the all-time record for a mass-produced weapon of any kind. Apparently, if it ain't broke.... --Jayron32 21:04, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Actually, to make a minor correction to my above post, it appears that the current model, the M1911A1, has been in use since 1924, so that's a 76-year service life, not 99. Still impressive though. --Jayron32 21:06, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The SMLE has been in continuous use (not with the same armed forces, admittedly) from 1895 to this day (115 years). Tevildo (talk) 22:51, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

(ec, was just about to say that) :::Modifications like that don't count, it's the same weapon essentially, and the M1911 is still used by the US armed forces even if it isn't standard issue. .45 ACP is a powerful alternative to 9x19 parabellum. I think the Lee-Enfield would probably be the oldest firearm still in service, it entered srevice in 1895 and is used by many commonwealth reserve forces, notably canada, and some police services.--92.251.175.175 (talk) 22:57, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

The cannon. User:Curious Cactus 22:56, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

What about the Brown Bess? If "minor" modifications are allowed, it was in use from 1722 to 1854. The original "Long Land Pattern" was in use for 71 years, the "Sea Service Pattern" for 76 years. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 00:12, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Cannons have changed greatly over the years. Most notably, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the interrupted screw breech, the muzzle brake, and hydraulic recoil suppression were introduced, and time and impact fuzes became reliable. --Carnildo (talk) 01:18, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Some individual cannons have seen very long service - the Dardanelles Gun was made in 1464 and was still in use in 1807. Warofdreams talk 11:30, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

One needed big stone balls to fire that 343 year old cannon at an enemy. Edison (talk) 16:05, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

is that a 343 year old cannon with big stone balls in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?--Jayron32 00:39, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Parts of speach

Is there a name for the following phenomenon where a singular uses plural while the same plural uses the singular, eg, My lung feels like a smokers lung. Juxtaposed with, My lungs feel like a smokers lungs. To clarify, My lung (singular) feelS (plural) like a smokers lung Juxtaposed with, My lungs (plural) feel (singular) like a smokers lungs. Thank you, p.s., this is not a medical question lol. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.145 (talk) 21:34, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Isn't "feel" plural, and "feels" singular? Correct usage, as far as I know, is "Bob feels angry," but "Bob and Alice feel angry." To me, your two sentences are completely correct; there is nothing grammatically abnormal about them at all. "My lung feels like a smoker's lung", while "my lungs feel like a smoker's lungs". Xenon54 / talk / 21:57, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

OP seems to be under the misapprehension that "add 's'" = "plural" - this only applies to (some) nouns, not verbs. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 22:00, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

You might want to move this to the Language Desk. BrainyBabe (talk) 22:12, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Language desk is thataway ---> WP:RD/L User:Curious Cactus 22:57, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

However, it was a real peech of a question. :-) StuRat (talk) 01:00, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Since your question is about adding the letter 's' to words, I feel I should correct your grammar mistake involving that same topic: you mean "smoker's". It is a lung belonging to a smoker, so we need a possessive apostrophe. --Tango (talk) 04:55, 5 March 2010 (UTC)