Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 May 6

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May 6

Mexican Holidays

Which is a bigger celebration in Mexico: Cinco de mayo or day of the dead? 50.68.120.49 (talk) 01:05, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

this article claims there are 5 holidays "bigger" than cinco de mayo, including the day of the dead. The way I read it, the biggest national day is Mexican Independence Day, followed by day of the dead, which is celebrated around Latin America, not just Mexico. Vespine (talk) 03:39, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Public holidays in Mexico has some information. The Mexican Federal Government recognizes 8 National (called "Statutory") holidays. Neither Cinco de Mayo NOR Day of the Dead (officially Día de Todos los Santos) is among them. The article does not mention the relative "size" of the celebrations involved, though Wikipedia does have articles on each of the holidays individually. --Jayron32 12:09, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

UK NHS fragmentation

Surveys and think tanks often suggest that the NHS is fragmented but does this mean fragmented in terms of workflows, policies and procedures? Do people have differing views on how things work? Clover345 (talk) 08:36, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

The NHS is not a single organisation - it consists of a large number of local health trusts operating services in relatively compact geographical areas. Certain standards are set nationally, and there is centralised oversight of the trusts, but they retain significant autonomy in the planning of local provision. Some degree of variation is inevitable: hospitals in a large city are fairly close to each other, and so may arrange for some specialised services to be available at some hospitals only, while in more rural areas a single hospital may serve quite a large area and will need to have the full range of provision available on the spot. The full structure is too complex to describe briefly in an answer here: read National Health Service (England) - and even then you only have a part of the total picture. 81.132.106.10 (talk) 11:43, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

The reforms introduced by Andrew Lansley have made the NHS more fragmented, as new bodies were created. They also made the NHS less fragmented, but healthcare more fragmented, because some responsibilities have been transferred to bodies outside of the NHS, such as public health moving to local authorities. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 12:18, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Cultural Appropriation

I was watching this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HrmAgYE-6k) of Hugh Laurie's cover of Unchain My Heart with a friend who scoffed at it and complained Laurie should not be singing that song because he's white. The conversation boiled down to him trying to explain to me that it's wrong for white men to play blues songs. My question is, does this cover of an already well known and oft-covered song count as cultural appropriation, or is it really a homage? How can we tell the difference between the two? To me, it seems like Laurie just covered a song he liked, and was rather good at it, end of story. Does him covering the song cause harm to black people in the states in some way, by misappropriating their identity or by taking away their voices? 139.5.231.141 (talk) 18:59, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia has articles titled cultural appropriation and cover song. Unfortunately, we cannot tell you what your opinion should be of Hugh Laurie's performance, though you are not forbidden by anyone here from learning about those concepts and formulating your own opinion. --Jayron32 19:02, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

It's perhaps worth noting that Unchain My Heart (song) has been recorded by many people before. Nil Einne (talk) 20:13, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Based on that philosophy, Nat King Cole should not have been covering Mel Torme. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:46, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

No... cultural appropriation is intertwined with oppression. Black people have not oppressed white people; taking from the dominant culture isn't appropriation. 99.228.57.72 (talk) 03:05, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Wow, Bugs remembers Nat in the days when all TV was all Black and White. Maybe Dr. Gregory House, MD would diagnose the very antipathy of Folie à deux for the OP & friend's experience and bewilderment of dicovering diffrent view points...--Aspro (talk) 21:25, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

TV wasn't entirely black and white then, there was an occasional Asian. :-) StuRat (talk) 21:35, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

What about the Red Injun Tonto. Don't native Americans count anymore unless they have a Green Card? That reminds me of when Tonto ask the Lone Ranger to look up into the sky and tell him just why they could see thousands of stars in the middle of the night. What did it all mean. Can't remember the Lone Ranger's reply but Tonto said “"You dumber than buffalo. Someone stole tent."” --Aspro (talk) 23:09, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Far Side cartoon: "The Lone Ranger, long since retired, finally gets a chance to look up a word in the dictionary he always wondered about" :

Kimosabe: n. Native American expression for the rear end of a horse.

"What the hey !" StuRat (talk) 03:16, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

That is a dangerous route to go down. Should we ban anyone who isn't French from singing Piaf songs, or anyone who isn't Scottish from singing the Skye Boat Song? Perhaps Americans should not be allowed to sing Verdi opera unless they are of Italian descent! 81.132.106.10 (talk) 21:17, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

We could just restrict the discussion to what is legal. That is, has the original author of the song (not always the original performer) or current owner given permission to cover it ? Thus, it's up to them to decide what uses of the song are, or are not, appropriate. StuRat (talk) 21:22, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

From Cover version#U.S. copyright law:

Since the Copyright Act of 1909, United States musicians have had the right to record a version of someone else's previously recorded and released tune, whether it is music alone or music with lyrics.[6] A license can be negotiated between representatives of the interpreting artist and the copyright holder, or recording published tunes can fall under a mechanical license whereby the recording artist pays a standard royalty to the original author/copyright holder through an organization....

Loraof (talk) 00:41, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

that's correct, people have the right to cover/rerecord music via Compulsory_license so long as they follow the proper procedures...68.48.241.158 (talk) 03:19, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

• I'm waiting for someone to say that people not of New World descent mustn't eat tomatoes. —Tamfang (talk) 06:26, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Nobody should eat tomatoes, vomit-creating balls of hives-inducing laxatives that they are. DuncanHill (talk) 08:24, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

No, bees produce honey. Beekeeping supplies manufacturers produce hives. DuncanHill (talk) 19:07, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Allergies can produce hives. Duncan might be allergic to tomatoes. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:03, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Example of a naturally occuring beehive, made by bees. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 14:14, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

That beehive looks rather exposed. Most bees build their hives in a more protected space, like my attic. StuRat (talk) 14:45, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

Lone Ranger and Tonto suddenly get surrounded by a hoard of hostile Red Indians. Lone Ranger says to Tonto: 'I think were in the shit here Tonto.' to which Tonto replies: 'What you mean 'we', white man?--178.107.62.251 (talk) 17:52, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Cute, and very old. The punch line I've heard is "...paleface." And the joke ignores the fact that the Ranger was friendly with the Indians. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:09, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

I think the tent story, farther up in this section, has also been told about Holmes and Watson. It could just as easily have been Sven and Ole. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:15, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Burqa or niqab comedy video

I remember that on YouTube there was a video like a comedy video on burqa or niqab and it was aired on a French televsion or some European tv network and they were making fun of Muslim womens' right to wear the clothing and they did it by having a woman with niqab and burqa with holes for different part of the body like mouth, anus, vagina, breasts and etc. I see it is no longer on YouTube. Does anybody know the tv network and where can I find it? Please and thanks. Donmust90 (talk) 23:32, 6 May 2016 (UTC)Donmust90Donmust90 (talk) 23:32, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

Could you possibly be thinking of the "niqabitches", two anonymous performance artists who made a video of themselves walking around central Paris wearing face-concealing burqas, cut off at the upper thigh? That was in 2010, just before the French law changed. I'd call it political commentary, rather than comedy, but your judgment may differ. [1] Carbon Caryatid (talk) 17:40, 9 May 2016 (UTC)

No not really. It was different than that. Donmust90 (talk) 16:21, 10 May 2016 (UTC)Donmust90Donmust90 (talk) 16:21, 10 May 2016 (UTC)