Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 January 5

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January 5

Personnel Flight Records

Am trying to find record of my departing Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii for Saigon on or about Feburary 2, 1967, or personnel manifest of arrivals Saigon around the 3rd of Feburary 1967. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.209.79.145 (talk) 00:32, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Assuming you are a former serving member of the US military and your travel to Saigon was for military purposes (rather than being a member of the press corps for example), I suggest you first try the United States Department of Veterans Affairs - website: http://www.va.gov/ Failing that, try the U.S.A.F. or the branch of the military in which you were enlisted. Finally, you could try Hickam A.F.B itself. Astronaut (talk) 13:44, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia map question

Hello everyone. I was just wondering if there's a place to find locator maps like these (ones with highlighted states aren't necessary.) I looked around on various user pages but they included just the ones made by themselves, and I couldn't find a page on Wikicommons or anything with all of them. Help? 64.229.180.189 (talk) 00:35, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Start going through the categories, or search for "Atlas of" in commons. Get some coffee or whatnot, there are thousands of'em. Unless you can be more specific as to what exactly you're looking for. Choyoołʼįįhí:Seb az86556 ^{> haneʼ} 01:15, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Start here for location map templates Category:Location map templates. Mikenorton (talk) 21:12, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Writing an article

Aloha,

How are you?

My name is Anthony Calleja and I am a Honolulu, Hawaii based Artist and Photographer.

My reason for contacting you is I was doing some research on line and one website recommended writing an article on Wikipedia about my website and art photography.

I am wondering on how do I go about accomplishing something like.

Could someone help me with this.

Thank you so much.

Peace and Aloha,

Anthony

www.anthonycalleja.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Callejaphoto (talk • contribs) 01:29, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Here is how to Create your first article. Make sure you follow the Conflict of Interest policy. Future questions about how to edit Wikipedia can be asked at the Help Desk. RudolfRed (talk) 02:16, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

That is generally not a good idea. Writing about yourself presents a clear conflict of interest, and unless you're at least somewhat famous, you probably don't meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines.

However, if you believe your business meets those guidelines, and are determined to try it, here are some instructions on how to create a Wikipedia article.

Do you mind if I ask which website recommended that you do this? APL (talk) 02:24, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it's usually not recommended to write articles about yourself; Wikipedia is not a free advertising service (despite what some other websites may suggest). If you think you are suitably notable and have currently been overlooked for an article perhaps you should drop a note at a relevant Wikiproject talkpage and request someone to do an article on you. WikiProject Visual arts and WikiProject Photography are both active as far as I know. I'd say to give yourself a bit of a self-assessment according to our Creative professionals notability guidelines first, and then outline your post in terms of that. And in the meantime, please feel free to contribute any of your relevant work here. If you want to contribute images you can nominate them to become Featured pictures, which then gets them listed amongst Wikipedia's best and published on the front page as a Picture of the day, which can help increase your exposure (so to speak). --jjron (talk) 02:37, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Oh. Before any of these replies, this editor went ahead and created the article Anthony Calleja Photography. It's already been tagged for speedy-delete. APL (talk) 03:23, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. I deleted it as blatant, unambiguous advertising and self-promotion. (It was even written in the first person!) JIP | Talk 05:44, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Please tell us which site recommended this, so that we can tell them that they are giving wholly wrong advice. --ColinFine (talk) 18:11, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

You will need to ask that on their talk page as they have now been blocked. As should have been evident from the start of this discussion, their username is a blatant violation of our policy as it clearly represents a business. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:38, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

You have a formula one racing citation that I didn't find any history of, Will you please answer a question

I'm trying to understand the different classes of road race cars during the late 30's and after. From what I've found, there were FIA and AAA classes for 3 litre supercharged engined cars and naturally aspirated 4.5 Litre engines in cars, they had other specifications requiring only one carburator for each two cylinders etc.The definition for these roadracing cars seems to be before the title Formula one, what was it and what were the specifications? It would be good for someone to enter a citation of the early specifications and how they changed. Initially, of course there were none and they have continually become more inclusive over time. Thank you Michael Rogers <e-mail removed> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.5.198.189 (talk) 07:08, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I've removed your e-mail address. Wikipedia does not answer questions by e-mail. If someone knows the answer, they will post it here. JIP | Talk 07:15, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Share Market, Share Price, Nifty, NSE, BSE

Is Nifty likely to break a strong support at 4530 levels before the Elections? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Anupshah112 (talk • contribs) 08:59, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Ultima Adaptogens

Im wanting to take a product called Ultima Adaptogens which says approved by the World Anti- Doping Agency.Its stated on the Product Information Guide ( The Russian Space Agency Now Requires all cosmonauts to take Adaptogen tablets on a daily basis )

I would like to know if this is true. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.215.44.204 (talk) 09:19, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I would think that it is extremely unlikely that cosmonauts take " natural, herbal plants that have been scientifically proven to help the body adapt to and cope with all the situations that threaten our quality of life and throw it out of balance. Unlike vitamins and minerals, Adaptogens are rarely found in the food we eat, making supplementation essential. " from a company in Belize. SmartSE (talk) 16:37, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

[1] says that "Ultima Adaptogens" is a mixture of 6 herbs. The first three are, in fact, used to manufacture herbal supplements in Russia, and there are Russian-language sources claiming that at least two of them are taken by cosmonauts in orbit, though none of these sources are what I'd consider 100% credible. There are stories that the tincture of Eleutherococcus senticosus was supplied to cosmonauts in the 1980's, and it was valued by cosmonauts because of its high alcoholic content. But those could be urban legends. One medicine that does seem to be taken daily by cosmonauts is Phenylpiracetam. --Itinerant1 (talk) 23:53, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Suggestions for volunteer work

Hi all, does anyone know what is the best place to apply for long term "volunteer" work? I use the scare quotes on my own question because I really mean something that will pay subsistence, that is, enough food to get by on, a roof of some sort over my head, and emergency medical care. Also some contact with the outside world, in case there's an emergency close to home, and I need to return. I've applied with the UN, but then I found out that, even for volunteer projects, and even though they warn you it can be dangerous, and you need a degree and so on, they get, ahem, 50,000 applicants for (lots of ahem's) 2000 positions. Can anyone tell me of anything less competitive? I don't have any precise skills, although I've tutored most subjects, and could handle teaching in a developing country, or any manual labour. Thanks, IBE (talk) 10:22, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Voluntary Service Overseas might be worth a look. --Viennese Waltz 10:47, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

The peace corps comes to mind, or if peace isn't your thing, maybe The French Foreign Legion. APL (talk) 10:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Sadly I'm not American, so that rules out the Peace Corps. But the French Foreign Legion sounds interesting - PJ O'Rourke's Give War a Chance comes to mind here :). Thanks to Viennese Waltz for the VSO suggestion, but as with others, it looks competitive - 2 years experience, according to the article. More appreciated, but thanks for those so far. IBE (talk) 11:07, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

You should probably try and narrow down your search somewhat. You're more likely to find an opening with smaller and more specialist charities. Are there any particular countries or continents that you would like to live in? What areas of development do you care about most – water, housing, education, children, the environment, etc? Once you've answered those questions to your satisfaction, you can start looking for openings in those particular areas. It's good to show some form of commitment to a specific cause rather than just a general feeling of wanting to help, as admirable as that is. Good luck. --Viennese Waltz 11:14, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

(EC) Why not teach English in Japan? This way you get to learn things, and get paid at the same time. There are also plenty of other countries in Asia that will take people who are not experienced in teaching. Just Google [country name] + "teaching english". KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 11:17, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

There are a lot of websites and organisations providing information and help, but this will depend where you live. If you're at school/college/university or have recently left, try asking them. A lot of organisations will want you to pay something towards the costs, because it's expensive to send people overseas, train, and support them, and people are willing to pay to do volunteer work. Also it's important that you do research to ensure that the organisation you volunteer with provides proper training and support to volunteers, particularly if they're asking for money, as there are scammers and incompetent people out there[2][3]. --Colapeninsula (talk) 12:01, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

If you are aged between 18 and 30, there are a number of opportunities available through the European Voluntary Scheme. Despite the name you don't need to be European to take part, and subsistence allowance is paid for the duration - normally between 2 and 12 months. The website gives a lot of details, and you can generally choose an organisation to apply to. It's not normally too competitive to get a place. Also, having taken a quick sneaky peek at your user page, and discovered that you are in Australia, I wondered if you have looked at [4]? It seems to be a similar scheme to the EVS (and the aforementioned Peace Corps). - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:13, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I just had two students come back from China--what was supposed to be a year of teaching was cut short to two weeks because of bad logistics and horrible housing. I've heard better things about such positions in Korea. Oh, something else and odd--there's tons of summer camps in the US that Europeans and other go to for two or three months. My wife's done that, for the Girl Scouts and for another private outfit (up in Maine, real pretty). Drmies (talk) 22:26, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Film about group of people after graduation

They were kind of lost in life, didn't want to join the\work force, but didn't want to become a kind of perpetual student, like one studying for 10 years. (it's not Reality bites). 88.9.109.182 (talk) 16:31, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

It sounds a bit like quite a few films, e.g. Singles (1992 film), Slacker (film), Ghost World (film), Clerks. Can you remember any more details, like where it was set, when it was made, who was in it, what happened in it, or was it comedy/drama/etc? --Colapeninsula (talk) 17:04, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Nice suggestions, but no. It was Kicking and Screaming (1995 film) (not to be confused with the 2005 film of the same name). 88.9.109.182 (talk) 22:43, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

So why ask if you knew already?--92.29.202.96 (talk) 09:27, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Maybe he realised, discovered, was given the answer after he asked the question. AGF and all that. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 09:34, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

JackofOz got it right: I got the answer on another forum and just wanted to share it with people who might encounter this question in the future. It's also a way of stopping people from trying to answer it. Note also that there's a difference of 6 hours between my question and my answer. 88.14.198.215 (talk) 14:46, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

HM Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and the Commonwealth - her Estate upon her Death.

Here's the thing, we know that Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and oodles of other delicious properties, estates and collections belong officially to Her Majesty in Her capacity as Sovereign, but are in fact owned and managed by The Crown Estate who act as a commercial entity and return any financial surpluses to The UK Treasury. And that's fine with me, a UK citizen who has had the pleasure of visiting most of those properties including Windsor Castle and its treasures. It reeks of antiquity and continuity and heritage. But what of Balmoral and Sandringham? These two vast and agriculturally profitable estates are privately owned by HMQ. She "inherited" them on the death of her father King George V1. And she uses both of them extensively as holiday retreats, and Heaven knows, what with media attention all around her, she needs such hidey-holes. But when she dies (and no time soon say I), who will inherit her vast personal property and capital portfolio? Will it go to Charles and his offspring? And if so, will they pay death duties on its assessed worth, as would happen with any other UK citizen? And where, in such circumstances, would that leave HMQ's other children and descendants? I am sure HMQ will have made sufficient arrangements for the financial security of her immediate family, but what concerns me most is the position regarding death duties etc. Let me emphasise that I have no axe to grind here, simply a desire to know what HMQ's personal position will be, as opposed to the Crown Estate's position which clearly will be a case of ad continuum. No jokes please about HMQ's position then being horizontal - that would be truly irreverent. Thanks in anticipation. 62.30.176.76 (talk) 20:51, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

This article is a bit confusing to me (but then I'm no lawyer). It claims that Balmoral at least is "not owned by the Queen. It is owned by Trustees Nominated and Appointed by Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second. The Queen is the beneficiary of this Trust." The writer then goes on to say that the "Balmoral Estate has thus been exempt from inheritance taxes and death duties ever since [1862] as Trusts don’t die." Despite this supposed ownership arrangement, the article then states that it "will be inherited by Prince Charles as heir to the throne" and that he will "pay no inheritance tax" for a different reason: "bequests from Sovereign to Sovereign are exempt". Clarityfiend (talk) 22:07, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

as would happen with any other UK citizen - the Queen is not a UK citizen, and is therefore not subject to UK laws by virtue of her supposed UK citizenship. She may be subject to some laws by virtue of her residence there. And she has voluntarily agreed to pay certain taxes, but any voluntary agreement can theoretically be changed. -- 202.142.129.66 (talk) 01:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

If Lizzie is not a citizen, if she misbehaves could she be deported? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:37, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

"As a national of the United Kingdom, The Queen is a citizen of the European Union, but that in no way affects her prerogatives and responsibilities as the Sovereign", How UK and EU law affect The Queen at www.royal.gov.uk. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:30, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

It is interesting to look at this Australian briefing paper, which concludes she is not an Australian citizen, but does so by taking the fairly simple approach of applying the various statutory tests to her. If we do the same tests with British law, she was certainly a citizen on the day of her accession - born a British subject under the 1914 Act, became in addition a Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies under the 1948 Act.

There are no statutory provisions in the 1948 Act for dealing with the situation of accession to the throne, so the matter of whether or not she would lose it is not immediately obvious. However, the fact that the Australian researchers don't go into the issue at all suggests they'd have been prepared to take "yes" as an answer had she qualified under "normal" law... Shimgray | talk | 17:04, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

That paper reflected the views of its author only; it did not purport to be the official position of the Australian government, and it never went anywhere near the issue of her citizenship (or not) of any of the other Commonwealth realms, including the UK. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 21:34, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

I should add that the queen is subject to a pile of laws by virtue merely of being the relevant ancestor of Electress Sophia of Hanover. Even if she had been a citizen of Mongolia (no offence to Mongolians), she would still have become the queen, because the law says she is the successor to George VI. There are many people in the line of succession who are not UK citizens but are citizens of the USA, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, Australia, you name it. Theoretically, any of them could accede to the throne regardless of their citizenship. If they ever did accede (extremely unlikely), they'd presumably have to forfeit their existing citizenship, but they would not become UK citizens either. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 02:55, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

It was reasonably common for a person to establish a trust so that any inheritance doesn't end up in the hands of the UK government (through inheritance tax) upon their death. The law has been amended (in the late 1990s or early 2000s, if I recall correctly) to fix the loophole which allowed a trust to operate in this way, but the amendment only applied to trusts set up after a certain date. Now, whether this actually applies to the Queen, I don't know. Astronaut (talk) 12:30, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

If the properties are the personal possessions of Elizabeth Windsor, she would leave them in her will to whoever (or whatever - Cats Protection League? RSPCA?) she chooses. Royal wills aren't routinely published, and there has been some moves over the years to change this, but as far as I can tell nothing has changed. --TammyMoet (talk) 16:52, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Lights in my basement ceiling

Question for any electricians/contractors/home improvement gurus/etc.

I have a drop ceiling in most of the basement of my house and the lights (3' tube fluorescent) in the ceiling turn on via the switch at the top of the stairs. The lights in the laundry room are plugged into an outlet in the ceiling. There's no drop ceiling in that room. I've never thought about it until now but I've always just kind of assumed that the rest of the lights were wired straight to the switch. I've just discovered that there's another electrical outlet above the drop ceiling into which one of the lights is plugged. So my question: Is having outlets above a drop ceiling a common thing? If so, why? Why not just wire them straight to the switch? (BTW, I'm in the US if that makes a difference) Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 20:52, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Drop ceiling was a retrofit? We've not seen it. You never invited us around--Tagishsimon (talk) 20:57, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Doubt it. I'm the third owner. The guy who built it in the late '90s, an older woman who only lived here a year, and me. I didn't want you to feel obligated to make the commute. Dismas|^(talk) 21:11, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Most likely explanation is that when he bought the lights they were already fitted with plugs so he just wired in plugs instead of cutting the cords and direct wiring them to the switch. Beeblebrox (talk) 21:15, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Could also be that the guy who built it put in the drop ceiling at a later stage. Marco polo (talk) 21:41, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I've seen that done quite a lot in office units that were built by a large contractor. They often do this kind of thing in order to make more efficient use of the electrician's time, baring in mind that a lot of construction delays are due to different trades either getting in one another's way, or being unable to do their job until someone else has done his. Given the usual configuration of tiled suspended ceilings (bolts holding hangers holding metal strapping to hold the tiles, and heavy things like light fixtures hung from their own hangers) the electrician can work much faster if he isn't working around the installed strapping and having to move tiles. So the options of organising things are:

• Use a fixed outlet (e.g. a FCU): the electrician has to come before the ceiling fitters, install and test the wiring and the FCUs, and then he has to stop. Then the ceiling fitters come, hang the straps and lights and the tiles. Then the electrician has come come back to wire each fitting to the FCUs, and this is slow too because he has to move and replace tiles and work in the dark and confined environment of the ceiling.
• Use a fused socket: the electrician comes (again when the ceiling is naked), fits the outlets and cables, and tests them. If the light fittings didn't come from the factory with plugs, he fits them and tests the lights. Then he's done, and leaves (with the light fittings still on the floor). The ceiling fitters hang the ceiling and light fittings, and plug the light fittings into the sockets themselves.

In most cases, the ceiling fitters aren't allowed to wire things into an FCU, because a qualified electrician has to sign off the job. But anyone can push a normal plug into a normal socket; they're not permanent connections, so they're outside the ambit of the electrical safety certificate. Anyone who has done any construction planning for a large scale project knows that a lot of the cost comes from big gaps in the gantt chart where someone is unproductively waiting for someone else. This dwarfs the (very modest) cost differential between plug/socket and just a direct wiring, and using plugs rids them of the need for the electrician's second visit altogether. Of course you can ask "can't the ceiling fitters be qualified electricians?" and you'd be quite right, but then you'd have to pay them an electrician's wage - which is a much more skilled trade than the ceiling fitter. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:16, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Help! Cooking officinadoes please respond! Kid's waffle cake hangs in the balance!

Alright, I got the 2006 edition of The Joy of Cooking (ISBN 9780743246262) and it has a recipe for a hazelnut custard filling, but there is something odd about it, possibly because the recipe spilled over to the next page. I need someone(s) who has a different edition with the same recipe in it to check--one cup of hazelnuts or two? (Please drop me a line on my talk page...) Thanks! Drmies (talk) 22:23, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Hmm, sticky situation! First, your ISBN is wrong as it's 12 digits not 10 or 13... Like you (I assume) I checked and it can't be read on amazon or google books. How about you give us the rest of the ingredients and from that we might be able to work out which is right. Oh wait - surely simpler than that - use one cup first, taste it and then if it's not right add another. Or am I missing something? SmartSE (talk) 22:36, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Corrected the ISBN. SmartSE, you can't tell me I'm wrong: I'm an admin for crying out loud.

As for the rest, that is an option, but it sounds almost too practical for me. Here we go:

(Makes about 1 1/2 cups) Combine...double boiler...stirring, until slightly thickened 1 cup sugar, 1 cup sour cream, 1 tbs flour...meanwhile beat 1 egg...Whisk about 1/3 (well, you get it, temper with the hot mixture)...stir in 1 cup ground blanched or unblanched almonds or hazelnuts Return it to the double boiler. Stir and cook the custard until thick. 1 cup ground blanched or unblanched almonds or hazelnuts When cool add vanilla or other liqueur.

Note, there is no direction for what to do with the possible second cup of hazelnuts, and the page break is right after the first cup. I see no way that with two cups of hazelnuts one still gets 1 1/2 cup of filling. Drmies (talk) 22:46, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Amusingly, the first 3 ghits I looked at all seem to be reipping off the same source, "1 cup of hazelnuts (see note below)" and there is no note below. :) One of them says to check page 562, who knows, maybe that will work for you too. I'd say 1 cup of hazelnuts. I have a worse crisis myself, I can't even find my copy of Joy of Cooking! Recipes: [5][6][7] Franamax (talk) 23:06, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

I have a much earlier edition, with the recipe all on one page. Return the egg mixture to the double boiler (no hazelnuts yet), stir and cook until thick, then add 1 cup ground hazelnuts. Good luck! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:19, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Note how all those links (based on the recipe Mandarax sent me) have "cultured" sour cream. Franamax, Mandarax, you're only a few consonants apart--odd. Maybe this is a sign that you should share that one Joy. Good luck Franamax: I wouldn't know what to do without mine. Drmies (talk) 00:52, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

A couple years ago I asked a Q about how new pharmaceuticals get systematically named and someone suggested my own nic could work for a prescribed product. I think Mandarax and I might be competitors, and worse yet, they got to market before me. :) Franamax (talk) 01:18, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

• Alright, with the help of the ever-faithful Mandarax the mystery is solved: my edition has a printing error, and the "real" recipe needs only one cup of hazelnuts. Someone please drop Irma a line. And now, what is a waffle cake? Our three-year old started singing "waffle cake, waffle cake" and waving her arms around. It became a happening song in our kitchen, until the five-year old decided she wanted a waffle cake. So I'm making a bunch of waffles, stacking them with this hazelnut filling in between, and covering them in some kind of frosting (I'll gladly take suggestions). Voila, waffle cake. Thanks to everyone for their help, esp. Mandarax of course. Drmies (talk) 00:49, 6 January 2012 (UTC)