Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 July 10

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July 10

sleeping on trains

Where can I learn about train travel in Europe in sleeper cars. I am especially interested in longer, multi-night travel ThomBombadil (talk) 00:37, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Moving from sci RD. Llaanngg (talk) 01:19, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

You might want to start at Sleeping_car#Europe.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 06:50, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

See also raileurope.com, www.eurail.com and www.seat61.com. Alansplodge (talk) 09:15, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

• The Man in Seat Sixty-One (http://www.seat61.com/) is a great website for rail travel advice, and has extensive information about European sleeper trains. Smurrayinchester 09:17, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Oh, one point I'll add: there are not many multi-night sleeper trains in Europe, just because Europe a) is relatively compact, b) has fast trains and c) has several incompatible track gauges, so there aren't many non-stop routes that take more than a day or so (the longest I know of is the EuroNight 17/18 from Moscow to Nice, which takes two nights). If you want a long journey, you've got three options: go for a dedicated railtour service like the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, travel on several different trains (say, get a night train from Paris to Barcelona, then a different night train from Barcelona to Lisbon), or take one of the Moscow-France trains. Of course, from Moscow you can then catch the Trans-Siberian - now that's a long distance train journey. Smurrayinchester 09:51, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

Why is there no Moscow to Paris train? Now Gibraltar or Lisbon to Malmo would be a long trip by European standards (if it exists and there's no rail crossing from Denmark). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:23, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

There is a Paris-Moscow train (EuroNight 452), but it's not as long (since it just has cut across Germany rather than weaving around the Alps). For the most part, it's not possible to go from Lisbon (or anywhere in Iberia) to France or beyond, because Spain and Portugal use wider tracks than the rest of Europe (there was a sleeper train - the Sud Express, but they had to lift the carriages up and change their bogies at the border, which was a pain. Now, you have to change trains somewhere along the way (either Barcelona or Irun, most likely). There is incidentally a direct rail crossing to Malmö: the Oresund Bridge. Smurrayinchester 07:54, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

That seems to me an outstandingly helpful reply. I'd come across that website years ago and forgotten all about it. Thincat (talk) 13:23, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Kindle books

Why is it sometimes kindle books only come in e-readers and not as novels? 50.68.118.24 (talk) 04:38, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Fairly confused by what you mean. If you want to know why some books are only available in digital format and not available as printed copies, this will generally be because of the rights owner or publisher. For books that are either self-published or published by either a vanity or "indie" publisher; while various print on demand and low volume printing systems enable authors and small time publishers to make printed copies of their books available at a fairly low cost, there may still be some upfront cost. Even if there isn't, authors or publishers may still prefer to only publish digital versions for various reasons such as money earned per copy sold, simplicity, perception of print on demand or other low volume publishing etc. In cases where more traditional publishers are involved, they may have quite significant minimum copies they will print, and may only do so if they think there is sufficient demand. But again, this doesn't apply to digital copies so they will have lower requirements before releasing it (presuming they either have or can get the permission of the copyright holder). Nil Einne (talk) 05:03, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Kindle Direct Publishing has relevant information, and the references it cites probably have more. jnestorius^(talk) 23:49, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

writing a book

I have an idea for a book or television series ,problem ,I have never written a book before and do not know were to start if I give the idea to a ghost writer do I still retain the rights, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.236.229.251 (talk) 10:34, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

How the rights (and potential profits) would be shared if you use a ghost-writer would depend entirely on the terms of the contract you enter into with them. You might be able to pay them a lot of money to do the work, then keep all of the rights - just make sure what you negotiate is clear and watertight. Wymspen (talk) 10:48, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

Our article at ghostwriter has some information. Work for hire is also appropriate, particularly in the US. Matt Deres (talk) 15:45, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

You can not be said to have started on a professional writing career until after you begin exposing your ideas and drafts to critical views. For example, a critical reader may tell you that your own posting contains multiple errors of punctuation and spelling. Scripts for TV series invariably go through many rewrites before transmission and literary "ideas" are seldom marketable until they have been incorporated in a significant work of original composition. AllBestFaith (talk) 16:07, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

[EC] It's a common misconception of people who aren't writers that the ideas are the most important component and the skills, craft and application needed to turn them into a finished work are lesser matters that can be delegated to a hireling.

[Disclosure: I'm a former professional non-fiction editor (which itself entails some writing), and have actively studied the craft of fiction writing.]

In reality, for any competent writer ideas are easy to come by – it's the ability to turn them into publishable quality prose (or script) that is difficult to master.

Writing for hire does occur, but it's usually done for people who are prominent for some other reason: ghosting an athlete's "auto"biography, for example, or turning a film producer's scenario into a full script. It's also not cheap: the professional writer has to make a living, which means earning the equivalent of a reasonable hourly rate, which most people with just an idea are unlikely to be able to afford to pay. The proposition of splitting the assumed future earnings of such a collaboration are a much poorer bet than working on something of their own more likely to sell, or writing something commissioned by a publisher. [I myself have worked on the publisher side of such arrangements.]

There are also a good many scam artists around, who will promise much and take money in advance, but may not actually try (or be able) to produce a truly professional-level result. The OP (though not themselves a writer) might benefit from investigating sites such as Writer Beware (scroll down to "Advocacy and support") that warn of such practices and practitioners. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.123.26.60 (talk) 23:41, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

The OP might like to peruse some issues of Writer's Digest or the annual Writer's Market, both of which provide much information about the ins and outs of writing and publishing. Textorus (talk) 03:37, 15 July 2016 (UTC)

Castile's car

Shooting of Philando Castile. If Castile was driving, then Diamond Reynolds's video, which shows him in the right seat, must be reversed. Why?

Another possibility, of course, is that it's a right-drive car, but that's contradicted by this image (note the plate). —Tamfang (talk) 23:39, 10 July 2016 (UTC)

It definitely looks like the video was showing a mirror image. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:38, 11 July 2016 (UTC)

Various sources suggest it's either because it was shot using the front facing camera http://boards.4chan .org/pol/thread/80141302 [1] or with the rear facing camera option set in Facebook's settings [2] (I presume still shot with the front facing camera). I guess it could also be the rear facing camera with the front facing camera option set. Nil Einne (talk) 07:46, 11 July 2016 (UTC)

off-topic
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Actually, the whole thing was staged by Stanley Kubrick, whose death was faked. μηδείς (talk) 22:14, 11 July 2016 (UTC) The question itself implies the images are of questionable provenance, the response was ironic. μηδείς (talk) 20:55, 12 July 2016 (UTC) Or that the OP is unfamiliar with the nuances of “phone” cameras. —Tamfang (talk) 08:47, 14 July 2016 (UTC)