Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 June 8

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June 8

View all languages that had been translated from English version

I would like to view all languages and their title that had been translated in the bottom of English article or somewhere. Do Wikipedia have a tool like this? It helps many other Wikipedias can link together more easier instead of viewing the source code. Dammio (talk) 04:34, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

You mean the interlanguage links that are put at the bottom of the article? You can see them, all the time, without looking at the source code. When viewing an article, look at the left-side menu, and look for the "languages" section. That's where they all appear. Note, however, that this doesn't necessarily mean the article was translated from the English. That language article could have been written from scratch, with no connection to the English version. --Jayron32 04:40, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

I think Dammio is asking for a tool that will show the titles of the other-language articles. I don't know of one, (though in Firefox I just hover over the link and it shows me the URL). --ColinFine (talk) 09:26, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that is exactly the thing I want. I want to see the titles of the other-language articles. So any solutions? Dammio (talk) 12:15, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

In most browsers, if you hover the pointer over the interlanguage link, it brings up a tooltip which gives the title in the other languages. --Jayron32 16:44, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

free reverse phone lookup

Are there any free reverse phone number lookup sites? There are many google hits that say they are free, but several that I looked at won't give you the name of the person unless you pay something. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:08, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Recently I typed the phone number into Google and looked at what came up. Have a go! --TammyMoet (talk) 19:07, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, but scroll down until you find actual info in the Google returns, don't bother picking on any site which just lists lots of numbers, they will want cash. Also, some numbers, like prepaid cell phones, are anonymous, so all they can tell you is what cell phone network it's on and where it was registered. StuRat (talk) 19:23, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

There used to be free white pages on the internet, but now they charge. However, sometimes googling the phone number can give you sufficient info in the little summary in Google. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:52, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Yes, there used to be free ones, but not now. Putting the number into Google gave me the city, but I already knew that. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 17:28, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

It worked for me; when I typed in my land line number, my name popped right up. StuRat (talk) 05:08, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

I tried it again with some numbers I know, and the only one it came up with is one that is on a website. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 20:32, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Well, pipl.com does find most of the numbers I entered and give the name. However, the only one it failed on was the one I was trying to find. Maybe it is a cell phone.. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 20:37, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

I typed in my landline number, and was told I live in a town called Vălenii de Munte in Romania. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ ^{[your turn]} 20:59, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Companies that make things for people on an individual's budget scale

What are some businesses that, for instance, you could send specs for a small fist-sized part to, and they would make it for you out of some strong material like ABS, and most critically, offer this service on a scale amenable to the budget of an individual person (i.e., batches of 10 or less, total cost less than, say $100)? Bonus question: of the set of companies that satisfy the heretofore mentioned criteria, which ones can accept OBJ format files such as what one could make with Blender, assuming the model described something actually makeable (I'm not up on the Autocad DWG learning curve, but am OK with Blender). 20.137.18.53 (talk) 19:10, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

I don't think you're going to find a company that can do what you want in that price range. The closest would be a rapid prototyping company, which can create a model for you using stereolithography ("plastic"), laminated object manufacturing ("wood"), etc. See 3D printing for a list of other technologies. StuRat (talk) 19:15, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

They do exist, at least in the UK. When my old Honda needed a particular part which was no longer made, the garage approached a company that specialised in one-off parts and had one made. It didn't cost a lot. It appears you're in the US however. I wonder if you have an organisation similar to our Chamber of Commerce that might be able to help you find such a firm? --TammyMoet (talk) 08:43, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

What kind of part and how much did it cost ? StuRat (talk) 20:25, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

I think (I'm not car minded you see) it was to replace a rusted engine bracket and it cost about £5. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:42, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

I'm guessing that, for that amount of money, it wasn't built "from scratch". More likely, a similar engine bracket was used, probably from a junk yard, and maybe bigger holes were drilled in it or little bits were filed down to make it fit. StuRat (talk) 17:46, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Shapeways is the first place that comes to mind, although I know there are others. You can uplad a model and they'll 3d-print it in a variety of materials. I'm not sure if you'll come out in the sub-$100 range for something fist-sized in a sturdier material, but it is probably worth checking out.

They might come out under $100 per part, but the OP wants all 10 copies for under $100 total, so, for under $10 each. That seems unrealistic, to me. StuRat (talk) 22:13, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

Ralack?

In the computer game Druid, the "Demon Servants" screen lists the enemies as ghost, beetle, skeleton, snake, ralack, wraith, slime and devil. What's a "ralack"? The game shows it as a blue bird-like creature. It's the only one on this list without a Wikipedia article, and Google can't find anything useful either (it thinks I've misspelled it as "Ra lack"). Is it something Firebird invented? JIP | Talk 21:41, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

My guess is that it's an inside joke, perhaps the name of one of the developers. StuRat (talk) 21:46, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

All Kyocera ceramic knives sharpened by one master in a little shed with a couple helpers?

That's what they said on this show "How do they do it" on the Science channel. Right around 5:50 of this video is where they get to what I'm talking about. I'm having a hard time believing this big company, with the number of dull ceramic knife blanks they make, brings their throughput to such a bottleneck as this would cause. According to this show, the dull knives get brought to a dirty looking shed in a shantytown-looking environment where the little old master opens his dirty shed's roll-up aluminum door, sits down, and sharpens the knives one at a time with his diamond-dusted grinder. Seriously? This doesn't look like something one guy and his friends could really be behind. So was the story that one master and a few of his helpers are doing it pure bunk, or are this big company's ceramic knives seriously made by two or three guys? Sources would be great. 69.243.220.115 (talk) 22:45, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Somewhere in between isn't completely unbelievable. The voiceover refers to 'craftsmen' - plural. If 'his assistants' actually means something like 10 people, and each could plausibly plough through 500 knives a day (~a minute apiece) then that's ~5000 per team. I don't know for sure, but I imagine the number of knives produced each day is a single-digit multiple of that. In fact, a quick search turns up this, which claims that Kyocera sold 5 million in a year - ~15,000 per day. With less conservative estimates, and/or a small number of such teams, this isn't incredible. 131.111.255.9 (talk) 23:12, 8 June 2012 (UTC)