Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 January 28

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January 28

Hospice care

hospice information, on care for terminal ill patient. when patient is referred to hopice, does that mean that the patient only has a time limit to live? I would also like details how care is provided?

Thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.34.129.184 (talk) 01:30, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I added a title to your question, to help differentiate it from others 87.113.130.148 (talk) 02:28, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

We have a detailed hospice article. "Hospice" implies care for terminally ill people, usually (but not always) in the last days of their lives. But many institutions that describe themselves as hospices also provide respite care, and some terminally ill people may elect to die at home. So while admission to a hospice very frequently implies the patient is quite close to death, it's not absolutely always the case. 87.113.130.148 (talk) 02:27, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I know one hospital in Toronto that has a hospice wing. Its "rules" (unwritten but seemingly known to every doctor affiliated with the place) include one stipulating that the patient must have less than 6 weeks to live. What they do with you if you exceed the time limit, I have no idea. Bielle (talk)

In the UK, people are eligible for care in a hospice if they have a life-threatening illness. It used to be the case that it was restricted to cancer sufferers, but the last Labour government changed the rules so now people with long-term illnesses such as heart disease or ALS can be admitted too. As a volunteer for my local hospice, I was amazed to find that most of its patients weren't discharged in a box! Many of its in-patients go in for a few days respite care, maybe to get pain under control, maybe to give carers a chance to rest and recover themselves. The hospice I volunteer for has both in-patient and day-centre provision, and are currently starting a domiciliary service. The care provided in all three will be quite different, but basically with the same intent: to provide the best care for that patient at that stage of his/her life. So yes to the first question, the patient's life is limited. The answer to the second question will depend on the needs and wishes of the patient in question. --TammyMoet (talk) 10:07, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Do you have a reference for hospices being previously restricted to cancer patients? I've never heard of that before, and it seems rather strange. You probably don't mean "life-threatening illness" - lots of people get life-threatening illnesses, receive treatment and recover. Hospices are for people that aren't expected to recover - they provide almost exclusively palliative care, rather than treatment. --Tango (talk) 17:55, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

At the moment, the only reference I have is the induction programme I went through when I started volunteering at the hospice, when this was commented on as adversely affecting the provision of care because staff were being exposed to conditions they had had no prior experience of treating. This is why it stuck in my memory. I was told that the move towards care for all terminal illnesses had only started in 2008/9. I think it might have been a NICE directive, but I can't find the reference at the moment. As for the phrase "life-threatening illness", a Google search tells me it covers what I meant, which is conditions where the prognosis is terminal. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:11, 28 January 2012 (UTC) After further research, I believe the Gold Standards Framework introduction in 2008/9 introduced a compulsion for hospices to extend their treatment to cover non-cancer patients. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:23, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

"Life-threatening" means the prognosis, without treatment, is likely terminal. You would only go to a hospice if there was little chance of recovery. The injuries sustained in a car crash can be life-threatening, but you wouldn't go to a hospice for them - you would go to an A&E department where they would try and save your life. According to the second paragraph of Liverpool Care Pathway for the dying patient, 5% of non-cancer deaths in 2004 occurred in a hospice (compared with 16% of cancer deaths), so perhaps it was just the hospice you volunteer at that only admitted cancer patients. (The link in the reference is broken, so I can't verify the statistics.) --Tango (talk) 21:43, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

The key word is "illness": you're right that a car crash does not constitute an illness. However, conditions arising later from such an incident may necessitate palliative care. Marie Curie's website uses the phrase "life-limiting illness", which is interesting because I understood that to mean one which limits what you can do with your life, such a rheumatoid arthritis. I'm pretty sure it was general across the UK that hospices only catered for cancer patients. Certainly organisations such as Marie Curie hospices were cancer only, but the one I volunteer for isn't one of those. Something must have happened in order for charities such as Marie Curie to alter their objects in order for them to provide care within the demands of the NHS. --TammyMoet (talk) 10:13, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

State Roads of Each State

Where can we find lists of the state roads for every state? I am currently trying to update the List of State Roads in Florida page. Thank you. Allen (talk) 02:31, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't know if you can find them all in one place. This webpage has a bunch of info for all the California Highways: [1]. Here's a page from the Florida DOT that might help you: [2]. There are probably similar pages for other states. RudolfRed (talk) 04:12, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Be wary that it varies quite a bit from state to state what qualifies as a "state road". States like Virginia and North Carolina literally have thousands of numbered state roads, as nearly every public thruway has a posted number (many are only posted on street signs here is how they do it in North Carolina, for example, and here's one from Virginia. Route numbers are repeated from county to county, but they are not county-maintained roads, they are state roads. As a counter example, someplace like New Hampshire has just over 100 numbered state roads, and they only number and maintain major routes between the towns; other roads and streets are under town maintainence. --Jayron32 05:22, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

The 300 foot long cul de sac outside my house is a state highway as I live in Virginia and outside cities, almost all roads are state roads. When it snows, we speak of VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) coming through with the plows.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:32, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

For Pennsylvania, go to the website pahighways.com. (This is not an official state website.) The links page has connections for some other states, but I am not familiar with them and I don't know if they are as comprehensive as the Pennsylvania site.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ 03:15, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

How does mail without an address work?

I used to belong to the Columbia House record club, and I remember that their mailing address was something simple like "Columba House, Terre Houte, IN". No street address or PO Box (but perhaps a zip code), and the mail reached them just fine. I was curious how that worked, and if any other companies have mail addresses like that with no address. Netflix must handle as much mail as Columbia House did, but they have a PO Box address. Does the post office not allow this practice any more? RudolfRed (talk) 04:59, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

It works just fine, so long as the post office (identified by the zip code) which is receiving the mail knows where it is going. Columbia House did enough business that I'm quite sure the postmaster in Terre Haute knew exactly how to find them. My wife's mother grew up in a town small enough that you only had to address a letter to the person's name and town name, and it got there; the mailman knew everyone personally. --Jayron32 05:16, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Also note that with a good enough post office and postal carriers, you can make significant error in addresses and have them reach their destination. In a previous house, my grandfather would botch the address up bad, but he got the zip code right. The post office was able to figure out, from that, which street he probably meant (since it was usually similar but not the same), and my postal carrier recognized the name and knew which house it was. Of course, for large areas, zip codes narrow it down a lot. --Mr.98 (talk) 05:39, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I wonder if it still works to write "City" instead of the actual name of the city when it's the same city it was sent from? That's from the time where there were two deliveries a day, and you might be able to post a letter that morning and have its recipient get it that afternoon or the next day. The postal service has various rules, but they have to do something with the letter, which may involve trying to figure it out. In one famous incident (believe it or not) someone successfully sent a letter to Robert Ripley, who at the time was a well-known radio personality, and the address consisted of nothing but wavy ("ripply") lines. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:17, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

The Australian Taxation Office routinely instructs the taxpayers to send their tax returns to

Australian Taxation Office
GPO Box 9845
IN YOUR CAPITAL CITY

with the explicit instruction "Do not replace the words IN YOUR CAPITAL CITY with the name of your capital city and its postcode – they are not needed because of a special agreement with Australia Post." (I'd link to the specific relevant page on their website, but it's offline at the moment.) Mitch Ames (talk) 08:44, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I can't top BB's amazing anecdote (did the letter arrive unopened?), but in the days before postcodes (and zip codes), my father was amused to receive a letter with just his name, house name and "Yorkshire" as address. On the outside of the unopened envelope was a record of the Post Office's efforts to find the correct house ("try <postal town>" -- "not here", etc) in nearly four million acres of the three ridings of the largest county in the UK. In those days (and sometimes still today) the post office took pride in a successful delivery, however poor the address format. Dbfirs 09:17, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I am a student at the University of South Africa, one of the oldest and largest distance learning universities in the world, and their postal address is simply <Name of the department>, UNISA, <Postcode>. Due to the huge volumes of mail they handle their mailing department is effectively treated as a separate post office with their own postal code. Roger (talk) 09:26, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Royal Mail appear to enjoy a challenge - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:58, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

They'd presumably not count "No. 1, London" as a challenge, since that's well known to be Apsley House, though apparently its correct postal address is now 149 Piccadilly. --Antiquary (talk) 11:05, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Back in the day when I concerned myself with such things, there would be articles in stamp publications about specialists at the postal sorting centers who would specialize in difficult addresses. And Linn's Stamp News would send out such things on purpose, just to see how many would get through. Yes, there was a time when in major cities like New York, there would be deliveries five times a day and it would be routine to send out invitations for dinner and receive back RSVPs in plenty of time for the preparations. All by mail. And yes, "City" was a common shorthand when much sorting would take place at the local station or even by the carrier as he received it. Fearsomely efficient.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:28, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

When a friend if mine moved to a small town in country Australia about ten years ago, as an experiment his brother tried sending him a letter from Melbourne addressed simply to his first name and the postcode, knowing he was the only one in town with that first name, and figuring that was the most economical possible way of addressing it. To change details to protect the innocent, he sent it to say: Ian, 4835. The letter duly arrived a couple of days later, with no complaint from the post office. --jjron (talk) 14:35, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Reminds me of when the composer Giuseppe Verdi was once asked his address so that an admirer could write to him. He replied: "Giuseppe Verdi, Italy" will be sufficient. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 11:05, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

To borrow a Victor Borge-ism, I wonder if it still would have arrived if it were addressed to "Joe Green, Italy". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:15, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I'll note that in the United States, a high-volume mail recipient will often be assigned their own unique ZIP+4 code. That information alone would be sufficient to uniquely identify, for example, the delivery point for Columbia House. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:45, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

The IRS service centre in Fresno, CA has its own ZIP code, 93888 (map). All the +4s in that ZIP correspond with departments within the IRS Fresno Center (although I imagine only a few are actually used). 90.202.164.239 (talk) 00:36, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies, everyone. RudolfRed (talk) 18:33, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Tangentally related is Dead letter office, which deals with hard-to-deliver mail. --Jayron32 01:35, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

There's a story that once a letter addressed:

WOOD
JOHN
MASSACHUSETTS (or just MASS)

was successfully delivered to John Underwood of Andover, Massachusetts. I'm guessing a letter sent to "W, 20500" would have reached the White House in 2001-08. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 02:07, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I grew up in a town so small that, at the time, there were no street addresses. Everyone's address was simply their name, and the name of the town and state (and the zip code, once those came along). I used to send letters with nonsensical addresses (e.g., with Greek letters), except for the town, state, and zip code. They got there just fine; the postmaster knew me and would give the letters to my family. John M Baker (talk) 17:36, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Costa Rica does not use street addresses except for a small area in downtown San Jose, the capital. Everywhere else, the populace and mail service use directions, like "Don Alberto Rosas, 100 meters east of the Angels School, Alajuela". One Newsweek story from a couple of decades ago claimed that in one rural town, one person gave their address as "50 meters north of where the dog was burned", a locally memorable event. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:25, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

On a similar note, here is a BBC article about the Kabul postman. There they have no postcodes, street names or house numbers, so letters are just addressed with directions. The postman will generally ask neighbours for the exact location once he's in the right neighbourhood. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 12:20, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

You don't have to go to Afghanistan to have that kind of local-knowledge-guided delivery. I have relatives that live in a rural part of Canada. Their mail is addressed to the nearby village, and bears the recipients' names along with "Rural route 2" ([3]). Presumably the fellow who delivers the mail on that route knows that CousinJohnOfAllTrades lives in the blue house with white trim at the top of the hill. I don't know how the system handles two individuals with the same name appearing on the same route.... TenOfAllTrades(talk) 14:24, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

The story of the postcard received by Terry Waite while he was imprisoned as a hostage in Beruit always amazes me. The sender used the simple address "Terry Waite, c/o Hezbollah, People of God, Beruit" - the successful delivery to Waite must've been the result of a terrific international postal effort.--sparkl_!sm ^hey! 12:51, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Don't really see that. All the GPO (assuming it was posted in the UK) had to do was deliver it to their Lebanese counterpart (conveniently headquartered in Beirut), as they must have routinely done. I'm sure LibanPost (or whatever they were called then) knew how to deliver mail to Hezbollah. {The poster (ha!) formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.193.78.57 (talk) 20:58, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Adding the verbal kiss-up to the address probably didn't hurt the process. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:13, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Question about muscles in the female body

I cannot find any answer to the following: How many muscles in a female body? Why does it differ from a man? I got the answer to male muscles is +- 640 on the muscle page, and it says that females have less but no amount to how much less or why is there a difference.

Can you please help.

Regards

Drienie — Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.22.161.34 (talk) 06:52, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I can't find any Wikipedia article that indicates that females have less numbers of muscles. List of muscles of the human body indicates the "640" number is a kinda ballpark figure anyways, as there are different ways of counting what makes a distinct muscle. Sex_differences_in_humans#Skeleton_and_muscular_system indicates that females do have less strength than males, on average, and this is because that females have less muscle mass, but AFAIK, they still have the same number of muscles; they're just smaller. --Jayron32 06:59, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Probably a doctor or someone into anatomy could answer this definitively, but maybe it's that there are non-skeletal muscles that differ, for instance uterine wall muscles, or perhaps other sexually distinct anatomy. Humans are obviously sexually dimorphic when it comes to size and strength, among other things, and the most basic reason is testosterone but also a lot of other subtle factors. But I understand your question is specific to anatomical layout. Shadowjams (talk) 08:12, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, where did you get the 640 figure for males (you say the "muscle page")? The muscle article says: "There are approximately 639 skeletal muscles in the human body. However, the exact number is difficult to define because different sources group muscles differently and some muscles, such as palmaris longus, are variably present in humans." There is no distinction made there between males and females, and I can't think of a reason that there should be a difference. That is of course skeletal muscles, as opposed to mainly internal smooth and cardiac muscles, which as Shadowjams says could be different due to different internal anatomy, and would be much more than 640. --jjron (talk) 14:44, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

There are apparently muscles in the penis. Looie496 (talk) 18:19, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

And there aren't analogous muscles in the vagina? --Jayron32 03:45, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

The penis is analogous to the clitoris, not the vagina. The first two organs have muscles connected to them; the vagina is essentially a tube of muscular tissue (our article says "a fibromuscular tubular tract"). BrainyBabe (talk) 16:56, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Doubt it is the same for everybody anyway. I have extra tendons in my wrists for example. Dmcq (talk) 20:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

In the "Who are you?" episode (episode 16, season 4) of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Slayer Faith (while impersonating Buffy) said to vampire Spike "I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you until you popped like warm champagne and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more." Edison (talk) 02:34, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

UK gift to China after Beijing Olympics

There has been news this week of Brazil presenting London with a replica of the Cristo Redentor to commemorate the end of the 2012 Olympics and the hand-over to Rio for the 2016 Games. What, if anything, did the UK present to China in this way in 2008? Or did they simply have the satisfaction of listening to Boris waffling about Wiff Waff? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:28, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I am not aware of any "handover present" custom; Rio may start a new one here. The usual way of marking the handover is a moment during the Closing Ceremony when the mayor of the city which will next host the Games in four years receives the Olympic flag. Usually, the mayor of the city which has just hosted the games gives it to the IOC president who passes it to the mayor of the next city. Then, there is usually a short presentation by the city which will be the host in four years. I have been to almost all Olympic cities (mostly not when the Games were going on) and I've never seen or heard of such a thing. There is almost always a park commemorating the past games and usually listing the medal winners, but what you mention is new to me.--Wehwalt (talk) 11:38, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I found Boris's amusing speech to the British delegation at the post-handover party. Whatever you think of his politics, you can't deny that he's a grand orator. You can see the actual handover here; wisely, they didn't let Boris actually say anything. Alansplodge (talk) 12:30, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Maybe it was the soccer balls David Beckham punted off that double-decker bus. ;) --jjron (talk) 14:50, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I confess to be less than impressed with the mayor after watching him unable to do five minutes of stand up without having very ostentatiously to refer to his notes repeatedly. Even if he's without a teleprompter, the breed has devolved; politicians used to be able to speak for three hours without notes before breakfast as a way of warming up for their main orations.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:08, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes that's true. Harold MacMillan was the last I can remember that was able to deliver a long speech without notes. I was quite impressed by David Cameron's first conference speech as party leader, but he had a few bullet point cards on a chair that he looked at now and then. Still, much more effective than reading aloud from the awful autocue[4]. Alansplodge (talk) 16:02, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I wonder why more sports commentators or auctioneers or rappers don't go into politics. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 11:09, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Speaking without notes does not an orator make. It's generally agreed that Winston Churchill was one of this country's greatest speakers, but he had copious notes to help him along, and used the dramatic pauses in his speeches to look at them. [5] I'd rather have someone that can think well and has good ideas, but presents badly, than one of the current identikit politicians who are, effectively, doing the same job as a newsreader. Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:39, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Contact lenses Sunglasses

Can you get contact lenses that are sunglasses? E.g. instead of me buying a pair of sunglasses (which I tend not to like and don't think suit me) could i get some sunglasses that do the same thing? A (admittedly brief) google search seemed to bear no fruit apart from something that seemed to look very 'concept' rather than consumer available. ny156uk (talk) 19:07, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

There's a safety problem inherent in that idea. If they were dark all the time, you'd be absolutely blinded in dark areas, such as in a tunnel when driving. There are photosensitive sunglasses which darken in bright light, but I'm not sure if this can be done in contact lenses. Even if it could, the reaction speed might not be fast enough. With regular sunglasses, if they don't lighten quickly enough, you can just take them off, but obviously there's no way to take out your contacts quickly while driving through a tunnel.

The usual compromise is to wear contact lenses with non-prescription sunglasses. Since non-prescription sunglasses can be very light and thin, the weight isn't as much of a problem as with prescription sunglasses, and you can get them for far less (I buy mine for $1 at the dollar store). StuRat (talk) 22:35, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Be careful with very cheap sunglasses. They sometimes block visible light but not ultra-violet, which means your pupils dilate (because there is little visible light) and let dangerous amounts of UV in. See Sunglasses#Standards for sunglasses and make sure you get ones that meet a suitable standard. --Tango (talk) 03:21, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Not to mention, wouldn't your eyes look really, really weird with such contact lenses? I mean sunglasses are dark, so it follows that contact lenses modeled after them would be, too... 70.29.250.165 (talk) 11:09, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Probably a little something like this... -- Dismas|^(talk) 11:37, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Well, you could make them only dark at the center, where it's always on top of the pupil, so none of the iris is obscured. This would tend to exaggerate the natural effect of dilation and contraction of the iris, which would be beneficial, and would protect the most sensitive part of the retina from damage. That is, when it's too bright out, you would be looking entirely through the dark spot, while, when too dark out, you would be looking through the clear portion, too. It might be rather disconcerting to have a dark spot right in front, though, with brighter peripheral vision. If this could be combined with UV protection and a quick enough photosensitive response time, you might make a practical contact lens. (If not quick enough, I suppose you could wear a normal contact in the other eye, for the "driving through a dark tunnel" scenario.) StuRat (talk) 18:34, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

A female colleague had an uncommon form of color blindness which comes with high sensitivity to light. She constantly wears a set of red contact lens so that less light enters her eye. 212.29.231.179 (talk) 17:45, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Cheers for all the answers everyone. ny156uk (talk) 18:00, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

This page describes contact lenses with UV protection, but they are supposed to supplement sunglasses rather than replace them. AJCham 21:03, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

“Reiner Knizia Strelow”

This oddity has been elevated to talk page discussion. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:35, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
What is “Reiner Knizia Strelow”? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 20:15, 28 January 2012 (UTC) Reiner Knizia is a German board game desinger. Knizia Strelow is an elevator manufacturer and subsidiary of Schindler Group. Not sure what the three names would be doing all together. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 21:20, 28 January 2012 (UTC) Reiner Knizia was often at the Internationale Spieltage SPIEL, which are held at the Essen fair venue; near to its south entrance, there is in fact a Knizia Strelow lift. My question: Has Reiner Knizia ever used this lift? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 21:18, 29 January 2012 (UTC) How many Knizia Strelow lifts has the Essen fair venue? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 22:02, 29 January 2012 (UTC) Furthermore, the old Karstadt building at the Limbecker Platz in Essen had Knizia Strelow lifts, and a toy department, as well. My question: Has Reiner Knizia ever used one or more of this lifts? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 21:25, 29 January 2012 (UTC) The shopping mall “Limbecker Platz” in Essen, which contains a Karstadt department store, has thirteen lifts accessible to the public: Twelve ThyssenKrupp lifts and a OTIS lift, but no Knizia Strelow lifts. My question: Should the lift company “Knizia (und) Strelow” therefore be renamed “Knizia und Wertlos”? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 21:48, 29 January 2012 (UTC) Why have the lift companies “Knizia Strelow” and “Röbling Seiffert”, both of which are part of the “Haushahn Gruppe” (which in turn belongs to the “Schindler Group”), removed the word “und” from its company name? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 21:55, 29 January 2012 (UTC) Why have all thirteen lift companies in the “Haushahn Gruppe” replaced its old company logos by a common “Haushahn” logo? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 22:00, 29 January 2012 (UTC) Why isn't the lift company “Knizia Strelow” notable enough for Wikipedia, even if the board game designer “Reiner Knizia” has its own Wikipedia article? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 22:05, 29 January 2012 (UTC) Are the any Knizia Strelow lifts outside of North Rhine-Westphalia? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 22:07, 29 January 2012 (UTC) How would “Knizia Strelow” be written in Greek, Cyrillic (Bulgarian, Russian, or Serbian), or Hebrew? --84.61.139.62 (talk) 22:10, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Question about dangerous trip

I am sorry but Wikipedia cannot offer legal advice as a matter of policy.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
This question has been closed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis, or treatment recommendations. For such advice, please see a qualified professional. If you don't believe this is such a request, please explain what you meant to ask, either here or on the talk page discussion (if a link has been provided). The talk page discussion may be found here.--Falconusp t c 23:54, 28 January 2012 (UTC) I'll be going on a solo wilderness trip, possibly several months. There is a small but very real chance I'll disappear. Is there some type of legal documentation I can leave with my wife so she can sign all my stuff or get my inheritance, for example? — Preceding unsigned comment added by PumknPi (talk • contribs) 22:26, 28 January 2012 (UTC) You need to talk to a lawyer. Meanwhile, check out our power of attorney and will (law) articles. StuRat (talk) 22:30, 28 January 2012 (UTC) Definitely talk to a lawyer; it's also probably best not to base your legal actions off of the responses of anonymous people on the internet (and we can't give legal advice on Wikipedia). Good luck with your trip! Falconusp t c 23:20, 28 January 2012 (UTC) Just curious. Why are you planning this trip? Is it a mid-life crisis issue, or something else? --Aspro (talk) 23:28, 28 January 2012 (UTC)