Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 September 11

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September 11

Find answer pleasssssssseeee....... (2.5 kittens)

How can a cat have two and half kittens??? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:205:1209:34DD:0:0:13D0:10B0 (talk) 12:25, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I don't follow the rationale behind the question. Can you provide us a link to where you read about or heard about a cat having 1/2 of a baby? --Jayron32 12:28, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I think it's a riddle. --Viennese Waltz 12:34, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I made the title actually useful. I can think of two possible answers:

1) A small or malformed kitten might be counted as half. See runt.

2) You might have read somewhere that "My cat, on average, has litters of 2.5 kittens", which could just mean it had a litter of 2 and another of 3. StuRat (talk) 12:53, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Or, conjoined twins. The "average" sounds like the old joke about having an average family of 2.3 children. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:55, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Don't The Simpsons have 2.3 kids ? :-) StuRat (talk) 13:09, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Your average Cat begins as a whole kitten but a half kitten is twice as adorable. Hemerocallis meaning "beautiful for a day" is a Daylily of which there is a Cultivar registered as 'Two and a Half Cats', [1]. Blooteuth (talk) 13:41, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

A cat can't have any kittens. Two cats can have five. I leave the rest as an exercise for the class. Paid for by the 2.5 kittens in every pot foundation. μηδείς (talk) 21:06, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I think you'll find that registered single LGBT parent cats can also have up to five, in the London Borough of Lewisham, provided they are fostering. So eat your heart out Schrödinger. (Apparently, it's just a tax dodge, anyway.) Martinevans123 (talk) 21:22, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Perhaps the third kitten is half way out at this point in time, in which case the number will shortly be 3, and later perhaps more. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 01:22, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

Why some people keep lying about their salary?

Hi,

I never felt like it was taboo to talk about my salary. I had lower and higher-than-average salaries in my life and I would just tell the exact amount I make in a month if asked without being shy to make much less or more than the person who asked. However, I would never mention my salary if not asked about it cause I just think nobody really cares about it. I recently met a friend who seems to be obsessed with how much he makes. You can expect him to mention his salary within 10 minutes after meeting someone. What I realized is that he likes to lie about it. If he makes 25 an hour, he will say 30 + free food or free transportation. To the point that I never can believe him every time he suggests me to work for someone cause I can't be sure he's telling me the right amount. Why some people just like to lie about their salary? I can understand than a humble person might "lower" his salary to avoid upsetting others but what about the other way? Do you know any case of people doing it and could you understand why? 2405:4800:108C:99CF:A02F:F71D:415F:3DE8 (talk) 14:07, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

If a woman calls a man honey And it's on account of his money Honey & money will soon be gone Take it away, take it away, take it away

[2] says she, she & she as well as 1 Timothy 6:10.Blooteuth (talk) 14:41, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

• This has some leads to answer your question. --Jayron32 14:47, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

If a humble person might lower his salary, it stands to reason that a braggart might exaggerate it.

In our society, salary is a big part of how we measure Social status. (David Mitchel humorously, but insightfully discusses it in this short comedy video : [3])

Basically, he wants people to beleive that he's successful.

ApLundell (talk) 14:51, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

And caring what other people think of you is egotism. StuRat (talk) 21:29, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

It's a well - known pathology: [4], [5]. I think that, of the two, not admitting to being chairman of UKIP was the bigger deception. 81.139.183.197 (talk) 08:33, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

I don't see much evidence anyone didn't admit to being the chairmain of UKIP. The page you linked to suggests the profile was started 9 years ago, when the person in question was working for a Tory politician. It's not clearly stated that the profile continued to be used since then, it doesn't look like it was updated (which admittedly isn't uncommon even when profiles continue tobe used). Nil Einne (talk) 17:14, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

Why is your salary anyone else's business? (And vice versa. Other than your supervisor and Human Resources, obviously.) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:27, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

If you tell your wife it's none of her business, I suggest you prepare to duck. StuRat (talk) 00:56, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

She never asks. As long as the bills get paid, we're good. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:43, 14 September 2017 (UTC)

List of rivers of Madagascar - bridges?

A "famous" bridge "near Ambondromamy" which I believe must be the Kamoro suspension bridge.

The List of rivers of Madagascar shows over 50 rivers, and they surely have some bridges worthy of appearing in Wikipedia. I have found bridges on Google maps and other maps, but so far I have found no bridge with a name, and nothing that a bridge article should include. I posted some questions In some Madagascar articles, but no help there. Perhaps some editor here can help.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 20:10, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

"The Kamoro suspension bridge is the most prominent civil engineering site in Madagascar" [6] Alansplodge (talk) 22:13, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

The new Komoro bridge seems to be still under construction {picture here), the old one was built in 1930 [7]. Alansplodge (talk) 23:44, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

One more: " the Tongobory Bridge is 150 m long, over the Onilahy River in the Tongobory town. It’s one of the most spectacular bridges in the world..." [8].

See also BBC News - New bridge 'blown up' in Madagascar: "Around half a dozen bridges have now been blown up in the power struggle between Mr Ravalomanana and the long-standing president, Didier Ratsiraka" (2002). Alansplodge (talk) 22:30, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Bridges blown up still rate articles in Wikipedia.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 23:56, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

Sadly no names though... Alansplodge (talk) 23:44, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Definitely the last one from me: "The Betsiboka Bridge is said to be the longest bridge in the country. It’s one of the most spectacular bridges in the world [again]. The bridge over the Betsiboka river is made with iron planks. It’s 350m long. The road over the bridge is called Route 4, a main road linking Mahajanga and Antananarivo". [9] It was originally a suspension bridge, but those pesky French cut the cables during the Battle of Madagascar in 1942, in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the King's African Rifles from getting across. [10] Alansplodge (talk) 23:46, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

Betsiboka Bridge now added, but incomplete.--Dthomsen8 (talk) 18:36, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

Coining the term 'black hole'

Black hole tells me: In 1967, a student reportedly suggested the phrase "black hole" at a lecture by John Wheeler; Wheeler adopted the term for its brevity and "advertising value", and it quickly caught on, leading some to credit Wheeler with coining the phrase.

In this video, Wheeler seems to be saying that he came up with the term himself, as a short cut way of saying "completely collapsed object". He says nothing about any student giving him the idea.

This says the term was first seen in print in 1964, three years earlier than Wheeler's lecture, and coined by Ann Ewing (NB. the expression "black hole" goes at least as far back as the Black Hole of Calcutta (1756), but 1964 seems to be the first use of the term in an astrophysical context). Ewing published in a fairly obscure journal (a newsletter, actually), and it's quite possible that more than one person came up with the idea independently.

So,

• I suggest we credit Ann Ewing with priority for the term at least as far as scientific literature is concerned (I can do that)
• can we get clarity as to whether it was Wheeler or his anonymous student who made the 1967 re-coinage?
• if it definitely wasn't Wheeler personally, is the name of his student recorded anywhere? Or has it sunk into a you-know-what of history? If I were that student and I dreamt up the term without any knowledge of Ann Ewing's work, I'd want my name known to posterity. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:22, 11 September 2017 (UTC)

I recall hearing the term "black hole", perhaps from Dennis Sciama, as a 1st year maths undergrad at Cambridge btw. OCT1966 and JUN1967, before Wheeler's reported DEC1967 use. Not being familiar with Dicke's writings (despite being an SF fan), I assumed it was a [very apt] interlanguage pun on Karl Schwarzschild's surname. Best. Gegenbeispiel (Arthur Kaletzky) UTC 13:37 09APR2019

• I posit that if Wheeler properly covered his posterior, only he (the imposter) will appear as the term poster, for posterity, posthumously. StuRat (talk) 02:14, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

This says Ewing was merely reporting about a conference where the term was used informally, so she cannot be credited with coining it. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:46, 12 September 2017 (UTC)

The term black hole had previously been used (from 1876) by astronomers to mean a region of space without stars, such as the Coal Sack. Dbfirs 20:03, 12 September 2017 (UTC)