Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 April 28

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April 28

Cars flying yellow flags in London yesterday

I drove past a line of about 10 cars flying yellow flags yesterday, on the southbound A41 in northwest London. The flags had some stylised (and difficult to read) letters on them, which may have been P, K and A. Some of the cars (of varying age, colour and type) also had a similar design on their bonnets. Most of the cars had the same photo stuck in their back window of a slightly tubby man in an olive green shirt, wearing some kind of turban which had an end trailing out of it. Both this man and the people in the cars looked "Middle Eastern" to my very inexpert eye. Anyone know what this might have been? --86.12.139.50 (talk) 13:44, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Could it have been the Flag of Hezbollah? --Jayron32 14:37, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

15 February 2003, PKK supporters at the protest in London.

Could it have been the PKK, a Kurdish liberation/terrorist organization ? The often use yellow or red flags, and sometimes put a face on those flags, or along with them. They also have a presence in London, as shown in the pic. StuRat (talk) 16:10, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Who or what is the target of their protest? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:48, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Pick link in caption. Seemed to be part of an anti-Iraq war protest. StuRat (talk) 18:58, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Would they still be protesting Gulf War II in 2014? That's pretty much over and done with. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:25, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

No, but they might well be protesting the war in Syria or the continued violence in Iraq now. The yellow on their flags, the P and K in their acronym, their presence in London, and their tendency to display large photos of people during such protests, all make me think they could be what was seen by the OP. StuRat (talk) 16:31, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm sure everyone in Syria would like the war to end. Which side would they be protesting for, or against? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:17, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Obviously not everyone, or it would end. And the Kurds might actually benefit from it, in that with the government and rebels fighting, both may leave them alone, allowing them to build up their own military capabilities and hopefully remain independent after the war ends. This is somewhat similar to the situation in Iraq, where conflict between the Sunnis and Shia left them somewhat independent. Of course, all this comes at the cost of many lives, so others will argue it's not worth it. StuRat (talk) 22:25, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Pretty much everyone in Syria, every "side" of the war, wants it to end, but the catch is that every side also wants to win. If all but one of the various sides abandoned that goal, then it would stop. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

There are all those foreign fighters who came there specifically to fight, such as Al Qeada affiliates and Hezbollah. I have to think at least a few of those are sadists who just came there because they enjoy killing people. StuRat (talk) 04:43, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

That's possible. So, which of those groups are the protestors protesting for or against? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:29, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

You'd have to ask them, but it's possible they are protesting against all of them. StuRat (talk) 21:47, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Nope, neither Hezbolla nor PKK. The flags had the initials in the centre and I think no other design. --78.144.74.247 (talk) 22:37, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I had a very thorough trawl of news sites for a demonstration in London on that day and drew a blank. It seems that ten cars and some flags isn't enough to interest the news media. Alansplodge (talk) 12:09, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Could it have been a funeral procession ? Perhaps the pic was of the dead guy. Other cultures do things a bit differently, so that might explain the yellow flags. StuRat (talk) 16:37, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Possibly Norwich City supporters travelling to the match with Chelsea. --Phil Holmes (talk) 11:50, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

Euler–Fokker genus 333 problem

I was using scala, a program to do alternate musical tunings and found one called EFG[333] that i liked it, there was also others with similar name EFG[357], EFG[355]......
I decided to try to find the pattern those tunings followed and found the wikipedia article Euler–Fokker genus. And the article said "For example, the multiset {3, 3, 7} yields the Euler–Fokker genus [3, 3, 7], which contains these pitches:

      1
  3  =3
    7=7
3×3  =9
  3×7=21
3×3×7=63

Normalized to fall within an octave, these become: 1/1, 9/8, 21/16, 3/2, 7/4, 63/32"
So, if I understood right, on EFG [333]:
You would get 3 and div by 2 until it become a number between 1 and 2 (3/2), then you get 3 multiply by 3 and div by 2 until it become a number betwen 1 and 2 (9/8), then you get the number 3 multiply by 3, then multiply by 3 again and div by 2 until it become a number betwen 1 and 2 (27/16). So in the end the pitches would be 4 ones, 1/1, 3/2, 9/8 and 27/16.
The problem is that the file in the scala program give the pitch 4/3 instead of 27/16. I checked a file called EFG[3335], so, a file that has the 3*3*3 thing and yet this new file didnt had the 27/16 pitch file (but had the 4/3) one.
4/3 is 1.3333333 and if i am right you will not reach a integer by multiplying by 2, no matter how many times you do it.
What I OR the program is doing wrong? 201.78.220.207 (talk) 13:54, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

I don't know anything about Scala, but I agree with you that no number 3^n/2^m can possibly equal 4/3. I wonder if Scala might also give you the inverses of these intervals, in which case 3/2 (a fifth) inverted and moved to the basic octave would be 4/3 (a fourth). --ColinFine (talk) 14:11, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

I can see how your calculation and Scala's calculation are related, but I don't understand the subject enough to tell if one is or both are the "correct" Euler-Fokker genus [333].

  You calculated normalized( 3^0, 3^1, 3^2, 3^3).
Scala calculated normalized(3^-1, 3^0, 3^1, 3^2).

   Your pitches in order: 1/1, 9/8, 3/2, 27/16, (2/1, 9/4,  3/1)
Scala's pitches in order:           1/1,  9/8 ,  4/3, 3/2, (2/1)

(If you start with your pitch 3/2 and divide your pitches by 3/2, you get Scala's pitches.)

   Your scale is very close to playing C, D, G, A, (C')          on a piano.
Scala's scale is very close to playing       G, A,  C', D', (G') on a piano.

--Bavi H (talk) 03:10, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Well program has a thing that compared some tuning file with others tuning files from a folder, I made my genus[333] and compared with all tuning files from a folder with many tuning files. The program said "your tuning is equal to genus[333] (scala program one, not mine) in key 2". Then I got my version of genus and use the scala program to increase the key of it by or to 2, whateaver this means, and it turned into the one scala said is the true genus one. This almost answers my question.

Also This may be related with what BAVI H said in " (If you start with your pitch 3/2 and divide your pitches by 3/2, you get Scala's pitches.)", maybe this is the formula for putting stuff in key 2. 201.78.208.216 (talk) 11:48, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Why aren't my hatched Rattata learning Hyper Fang?

In FireRed, I remember breeding Rattata that learned Hyper Fang from their mother, A Raticate named Brenna who knew Hyper Fang, Super Fang, Attract, and Shock Wave. Now, in Pokemon Y I'm using the same mother (Brenna) but none of the babies are knowing Hyper Fang. What changed between the two gens, and what can I do to fix it? 184.189.220.172 (talk) 20:07, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Rattata learns Hyper Fang by leveling up, not by breeding. It gets it at level 16. It never learned it as an egg move. Mingmingla (talk) 20:17, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

What language are you folks jabbering in? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:55, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

It's an arcane tongue that I used to hear my pre-teens speaking, when they were pre-teens. - Eron^Talk 22:01, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Back when nobody really called them tweens (or millenials). This game helped build those markets, I think. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:48, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

The latest bit of bullshit corporate-speak for people born in the digital age and are completely at ease with all of its aspects including arcane jargon, is "digital native". That's appearing in job ads now, and is code for "Anyone aged over 30 need not apply. If you ever had to relearn this stuff after being taught the traditional ways of doing things, no matter how expert you think you may have become, you'll only slow us down because you'll think you know better. You'll probably use lunch breaks and down time to reminisce about how things were "in your day" and infest younger minds with wider perspectives and broader horizons, and we can't have that".

At the same time, youth unemployment is reaching alarming levels. It seems all jobs are designed for people aged 23-27 now. After that, you're washed up. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:54, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

And yet all the entry-level jobs I find have the requirement "Must have at least two years experience." Ian.thomson (talk) 20:57, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Solved it; In FireRed, the father must have been a Rattata that also knew Hyper Fang. As per Bulbapedia: "If both parents know a move that the baby can learn via leveling up, the Pokémon will inherit that move." 184.189.220.172 (talk) 04:24, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

***** Best RD Question Ever *****

μηδείς (talk) 17:17, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Pokemon questions are fairly common here. The answer to all of them is "check bulbapedia" -- that site is so comprehensive. With respect to topic coverage, it makes WP pale in comparison. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:28, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Assuming you're replying to me, perhaps "Best Header Ever" (Why aren't my hatched Rattata learning Hyper Fang?) would have been more accurate.

(previous comment was an unsigned !nosign comment. Following comment is by a different user.) 86.146.28.229 (talk) 17:17, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

For a snapshot of a formative time in both wikis development, that maybe helps explain this, see Wikipedia:Poképrosal. This page rather downplays the emphasis on "pokécruft", and the general rhetoric about what light this cast the project in, but have a poké around. 86.146.28.229 (talk) 17:15, 30 April 2014 (UTC)