Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 October 21

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October 21

road bridges consstruction

i would to know , a form three students i have been asked this question in the exam and failed to answer it, the questions is :

why are road bridges often built one end fixed and other free to move rollers —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.167.184.13 (talk) 09:58, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The materials that they are made of expand and contract with changes of temperature. If the bridge was fixed at both ends, with no ability to accommodate such changes, then the stresses could cause the bridge to deform and possibly even break. Another way to solve the problem is with expansion joints. the wub "?!" 10:17, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Bridges must also resist loads from wind loading and the weight of traffic on the bridge; the operators of the Forth Road Bridge explain the bridge's expansion features here, saying "Articulated trains slide over curved girders, allowing the suspended deck to expand and contract as required by temperature, wind loading and weight of traffic." (p4 on that site) -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 12:39, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Incidentally, PTFE pads are often used in place of rollers, in order to better distribute the load.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:18, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Series of numbers on book's title page

On the title page of some books, there is a series of presumably small numbers. They aren't necessarily in order, and in the last 5 minutes of searching, I've only noticed them in books with several editions. These aren't ISBNs, LCCNs, Dewey-Decimal numbers, etc... For example, this title page has "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1". Any idea what this is for? It would be nice to find a RS and add this info to the title page article. Thanks. Haus^Talk 17:12, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

See printer’s key. The lowest digit generally gives you the edition number. ---Sluzzelin talk 17:16, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

That's been bothering me for years!! Thanks, Sluzzelin. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:54, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The lowest digit is not the edition number but the printing number. Typically, little or nothing changes from one printing to the next; whereas changes are made from one edition to the next. For the first printing, publishers may order just enough copies of a publication for sales and sampling purposes. Once they have a better idea of initial demand, they may order a second printing sufficient to meet anticipated demand for the next, say, 6 months. (There is a cost-benefit calculation between the cost of foregoing interest on the outlay until all copies are sold and other warehousing costs on the one hand, and the overhead cost for each printing on the other.) Assuming the second printing is about to sell out, the publisher will order a third printing to meet anticipated demand for a subsequent period, and so on. All of these printings will be of the same edition. If a new edition is issued, there will be a new ISBN and a new sequence of printings, beginning with 1 (the first printing). Marco polo (talk) 20:35, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The other thing to correct is that this is not normally seen on the title page, but on the copyright page, which is usually the next nonblank page. --Anonymous, 23:01 UTC, October 21, 2010.

WHAT they are has been addressed, WHY it's done this way has not. The answer is: before everybody had an inkjet printer on their desk, documents with large print runs were printed using Offset printing. Metal (usually aluminum) plates have a positive image on them. You print your first 5000 copies, take the plate off the press, clean it up and file it away in case it's needed again.

When it is needed again, you pull the plates out of the file, ERASE the last and lowest digit from the plate, and print. Thus, the plate for that page doesn't have to be remade for each subsequent printing -- all you have to do is plan ahead the first time through.

(Minimum wage was $1.60/hr in the U.S. when I was running a press as a summer job...) DaHorsesMouth (talk) 03:39, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

How did you physically remove the last number? File? Hammer? --Sean 17:31, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Most books were printed with "hot type" which is raised. Removing a number requires just removing a small amount of lead from the type, thus making any further impressions of that number impossible. Offset was not generally used for large print runs. You can easily see whether a book is "offset" by looking to see if the letters are impressed into the paper. Offset letters are completely level with the paper without any indentations. Removing letters from an offset plate requires almost no effort at all -coating the letter with almost anything will prevent it from holding ink (which then would get transferred to a printing blanket of some sort). Collect (talk) 18:00, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Subculture vs. Islam

Is there a website where it shows about Islam vs. Rock and Roll subcultures like skinhead Shia, riot grrrl in burqas and mohawk Sufis based on the novel "The Taqwacores"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.22.37 (talk) 20:17, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

According to our article on The Taqwacores, the 'Islamic punk' scene depicted in that book is fictional, not real. -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 23:26, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

According to that article, though, the book seems to have helped spark into reality a whole music genre and subculture:

"Some of the most popular taqwacore bands are: The Kominas, Al-Thawra, Secret Trial Five, Fedayeen, and the Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate. The novel has also been credited by Asra Nomani as first presenting her the idea for woman-led prayer, leading to a historic woman-led congregation on March 18, 2005 with Amina Wadud acting as imam."

Which is actually kind of interesting actually; I might even read the book! WikiDao ☯ (talk) 23:46, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps the film No One Knows About Persian Cats might be helpful if one was interested in what Islamic rock subcultures look like in real life. Timbouctou 23:37, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

french naval history

I would like to know if a french naval vessel left the port of st. malo france onnov. 6th 1762 bound for st. johns newfoundland with a captain villiers and a pierre la mont as his bosin,,thank you,,hayward —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.163.12.67 (talk) 23:09, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Likely related to the French capture in June 1762. and British recapture in Sept 1762. [1]. By the time November rolled around, the French ship likely did not land there - making it harder to setermine which ship it was from the Canadian records side. Many of the French records may have been destroyed circa 1789. The name is likely "Le Mont" by the way. As a coincidence, Alan Villiers was a noted seaman. Collect (talk) 10:42, 22 October 2010 (UTC)