Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 July 12

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July 12

Affect of Bug Bombs on clothing, laptop, and other household apparatus?

I just moved to a new city into a small one-bedroom apartment. I've been having trouble with fleas in my new apartment that they conveniently didn't mention and I hadn't noticed when I scoped the place out before moving in. I complained to management and they said they'd do something about it.

Well, it turns out their solution was to set off a bug bomb and a flea bomb in my room while I was out getting groceries. They didn't remove ANYTHING. My laptop is in there, my clothes are in the drawers, my suits are hung up on hangars in the closet, my sheets and blankets are on the bed. My toothbrush and bathroom stuff are sitting in a probably-slightly-open Ziploc on the shelf.

I'm not allowed into my room until tomorrow, I'll be staying in a hotel. But what do I have to look forward to? What items of mine will I have to throw out? Will my laptop be okay, or at minimum the hard drive? What about my food in the mini-fridge? --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 03:06, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

We do have an article bug bomb and you should read the cans. If you think there might be reason to contact a lawyer or file a complaint entering with a witness and taking pictures to document damage won't hurt, I suggest you look up the local municipal housing authority and contact them. In any case, bug bombs are not insidious, basically anything open to the air will have been enveloped in the cloud of insecticide and may have a residue you'll need to clean. If you think you need professional advice contact the housing/rental authority and/or a lawyer before you enter the premises. μηδείς (talk) 03:35, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

You might consider moving as soon as your lease expires. Your landlords appear to be incompetent and/or dishonest, either of which means you can do better elsewhere. Also, when a landlord says they will "do something", and doesn't specify what, it's time to press them for details, including the date. StuRat (talk) 06:11, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

The refdesk isn't actually supposed to be a place where advice, legal or otherwise, is given, so please value these suggestions according to what you paid for them. We have a brief article on Bug bomb/flea bomb, but you might get better answers if you can learn the brand name or chemical composition of what was used. My impression generally speaking is that bug bombs aren't supposed to require the removal of many items, since bugs can indeed crawl into laptops for example. However, honestly, right now our resources don't stack up well against what you might find in a quick web search like [1][2][3][4] which give fairly consistent advice about some basic things. Wnt (talk) 11:30, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Once again you've messed everything up, Wnt. This is Redundancy. The OP wants Reassurance, which is two doors down. μηδείς (talk) 20:50, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

No Medeis, Wnt has not messed it up, he has provided a straightforward answer. The idea that this question should lead to legal advice about the condition of the room and the lease agreement is a bit OTT. What often comes up for this sort of question is "We are not in the speculation game" or variations thereof. WTF, the OP only has to wait a couple of days to get the real answer by his own experience. (or is there a joke here?) Richard Avery (talk) 06:52, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Yes, wnt's answer, apparently. I advised the OP to read the can's contents and contact the appropriate professionals and authorities if he felt that were necessary, Wnt responded that we shouldn't give legal advice and that the OP should try to find out the ingredients somehow. μηδείς (talk) 03:15, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Just letting you all know, it seems everything got through fine. Management says its important to hit the clothes too, otherwise the fleas could escape the bug bomb on your clothes and then the whole thing will be for naught. And my laptop seems fine. I threw out my toothbrush and it'll take a while to get everything cleaned of the thin film but in general I think we're okay. Thank you! --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 23:22, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Yea, the use of the bug bomb seemed appropriate to me, but them not letting you know when they planned to use it was unacceptable. Heck, you could have had a pet hiding in there when they bombed it (even if you're not supposed to). StuRat (talk) 21:44, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Resolved

Indifference to education in the UK and the rest of the world

I am aware that there is a problem in the UK of children, and their parents, being indifferent to education. My questions: first, is this in some way quantified? Second, is there any evidence that the situation is any different in other countries, especially ones of similar income?--Leon (talk) 16:18, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

What the source for your claim about the particular indifference in the UK? Fgf10 (talk) 16:25, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

I have no source for there being a particular problem in the UK, and I am trying the ascertain if there is a particular problem! That there is a problem is attested by numerous articles in the mainstream British press.--Leon (talk) 16:36, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Your question makes no sense at all unless you can provide a link to those articles. --Viennese Waltz 21:56, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

I listened to a radio show talking about a study of indifference to education. Their conclusions:

1) Indifference to education results in poor education outcomes, which in turn results in low income, high unemployment rates, high imprisonment rates, etc.

2) Indifference to education results from the perception that education will not improve their lives.

3) This perception is often incorrect. That is, even in areas with high unemployment, a good education still provides a much better success rate.

4) The sources of this incorrect perception are more difficult to nail down, coming from the family, peer groups, media, etc.

I believe this study was done in the US, but there's no particular reason to think that the conclusions are unique to the US. They determined indifference by simple survey questions asked of the students, like "Do you care if you graduate ?". StuRat (talk) 21:29, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

It is very often said that the English, as opposed to the Scots and the Welsh, place little premium on education. And the UK as a whole is supposed to take less interest than Finland or Hong Kong. Unfortunately, it is difficult to measure this in surveys, because of the difference in the education systems. For example, you can't say "how important is it to you that your child gets 5 good GCSEs", when there is no equivalent of GCSEs in Finland (or in the USA for that matter). What people do instead is talk about the outcomes from education. These are measured in the PISA studies. There are lots of complaints about the PISA methodology, and intrinsic difficulties in comparing outcomes from different education systems and different cultures, but if you go to the PISA website you will find some very interesting comparative studies. OECD is also very good for comparative education stats. Itsmejudith (talk) 13:44, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

I found a newspaper report from 1995: "Parents' hostility to education is to blame for the poor performance of some children in inner-city schools, according to a report published yesterday" [5]. Let's hope things have improved since then. There is an anti-intellectual streak in English society; one sometimes hears of a successful business person who "left school at 14 without any qualifications" as though that were somehow a good thing. Alansplodge (talk) 20:13, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Interesting, but do we have any evidence for the problem being any different to anywhere else, or at least anywhere else of a similar income?--Leon (talk) 20:30, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

This attitude was a problem in the US at least as far back as 1980: "Should I try to be a straight `A' student? ... If you are then you think too much." From song It's Still Rock and Roll to Me, with lyrics found at The Bridge Is Over. (Note that this was a satire by Billy Joel, but one which reveals that the attitude being satired did exist at the time.)

As for the UK, Stephen Hawking claimed that this lax attitude toward education existed back when he was in college, too, which was the 1960s. StuRat (talk) 21:38, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

how do i get to photos to upload side by side?

i cant seem to be able to upload two photos next to eachother. this would be good as they would look better next to eachother than below the other or the other side of page — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mattcymru2 (talk • contribs) 19:27, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi, Mattcymru2. This reference desk page is for requesting references or articles. For help editing wikipedia, see the I want to create a new article or upload media section at Help:Contents and if still stuck, you can ask for assistance at Wikipedia:Help desk. μηδείς (talk) 20:46, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

• Template:Gallery may be what you need.--Aspro (talk) 21:30, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Or Template:Multiple image. Nanonic (talk) 21:33, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

Or Help:Gallery tag--Aspro (talk) 21:36, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

One option is to combine them into a single image before uploading them. This might make sense if the pics are always used together, like pictures of the right and left ears of somebody with some medical condition which affects the two ears differently. StuRat (talk) 21:53, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

What passport has the most languages in it?

Do any have fewer than three? Does Vatican City have Latin? How do they deal with a ton of official languages? Print really small? Write everything many times leaving room for like 1 visa stamp? Have a picture page that says continued on back? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:45, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

From looking at my own, the UK Passport is in 12 languages (EU countries) for the title (p1) and notes (p3) pages but uses only English and French on the photo page (p31), observations (p32) and emergency contact (p33). Nanonic (talk) 23:55, 12 July 2015 (UTC)

The note page on p3 just gives translations in each language for the items appearing on p31 and p32. We have many articles on individual passports, some of which include images of the photo page with additional languages such as Passports of the European Union. Nanonic (talk) 00:04, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

My Canadian passport only has English and French. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:04, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

I've never seen a Belgian passport, but my guess is that the whole text is in French, Flemish and German as they are the three official languages of that country. When I used to work for an insurance company, there was a Belgian tax form that had to be completed and every part was tri-lingual. I believe that the King of the Belgians has to swear his coronation oath three times. Luxembourg also has French, German and Luxembourgish, and Switzerland has Italian, French and German. Alansplodge (talk) 12:08, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

Most of the information in my United States passport is only in English. The labels for the identifying information are in English, French, and Spanish. Robert McClenon (talk) 16:27, 13 July 2015 (UTC)

My mate's Hungarian passport is entirely in Hungarian, with no other language at all, so to answer the OP's question, yes, there is one with fewer than three languages. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 07:42, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Is it an old passport? (Issued before Hungary's EU membership, maybe?) According to Hungarian passport "the data page/information page is printed in Hungarian, English and French", and the example image bears this out. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:47, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

That's really strange. Only Hungarian border officials and maybe those of bordering countries would be likely to read that without a dictionary. At least English is the lingua franca and French is the former lingua franca of int'l relations. I would've guessed that all passports had English and French unless they have space constraints. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:07, 15 July 2015 (UTC)