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February 24[edit]

Desperately helping Ukrainian civilians and a massive artifact collection[edit]

I was watching an Inside Edition video and a Reuters video on YouTube. They were about a woman with a massive ladybug-themed collection [1], [2]. But with the conflict arising in Ukraine, I feel I must help her, her children, their cat, her friend and the ladybug-themed collection evacuate that country and immigrate to the United States of America. It's only a matter finding the right boxes, documents and time. What do I have to do? Who should I turn to? Anyone know?2603:7000:8100:F444:D500:5C:3873:78B1 (talk) 12:58, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

What is your evidence that she wishes to emigrate to the United States? --Jayron 32 13:16, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Well, since the conflict erupted in Ukraine, I'm nervous about the town of Dnipro getting invaded. It's where the woman, her children, their cat, her friend and the ladybug-themed collection are.2603:7000:8100:F444:D500:5C:3873:78B1 (talk) 18:18, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but you can't very well kidnap her and take her to the U.S. against her will. She has to want to emigrate to the U.S. There are ways to do so, but she is a person with her own volition. Just because you want to get her out doesn't mean that she wants to leave. --Jayron 32 18:21, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn't going to kidnap her and the rest. No, heavens no! I only want to help her if she's asking for assistance, that's all.2603:7000:8100:F444:D500:5C:3873:78B1 (talk) 00:26, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If someone genuinely wants to immigrate to the US specifically, start with this government page. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 17:30, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Newspaper Archives[edit]

I am not sure if this is the right place but I have a question. Does anyone know where I could find an archive of the American newspaper, Daily Fayetteville Democrat, specifically the issue from Nov. 27, 1915. It is probably unlikely as it is an obscure small town newspaper but any help is appreciated. Gandalf the Groovy (talk) 14:02, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Gandalf the Groovy: It's on Newspapers.com, to which I have access via the Wikipedia Library Card. Do you know which story, or at least page, you need? DuncanHill (talk) 14:26, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If Duncan can't help you, Wikipedia has a service called Resource Exchange that may be useful. --Jayron 32 15:37, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@DuncanHill How do I login into Newspaper.com with my Wikipedia Library Card? I am logged in and have access but I am not sure how to sign in.Please ignore the last message, I have figured it out.

Slabs and cartons of beer[edit]

There's a programme on television called Outback Car Hunters, in which two blokes wander around Western Australia buying and doing up cars. When buying the cars they often end up including a slab or a carton of beer to sweeten the deal. How much beer is a slab or a carton? Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 18:41, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This claims a slab is 30 cans, and a carton is 24. I've not heard the term "slab" in the U.S., but carton in the U.S. does usually mean 24. Beer is usually sold in six-packs, four of which are packed into a 24-can carton. Other variations exist, but unqualified a carton is usually 24 cans. --Jayron 32 18:50, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If you're looking for raw volume, in the U.S. a standard sized can is 12 U.S. ounces (355 mL). In Australia, the standard size seems to be 375 mL, according to Beer in Australia. That also claims that a slab was a carton of 24 "stubbies", which is a type of bottle, or of cans. 24*375 mL is 9 liters, also mentioned in the article. --Jayron 32 18:58, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Like this. Alansplodge (talk) 11:46, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Scottish drinking songs[edit]

[3] I know there are a lot of Irish drinking songs that say unkind things about the English. Do they have those in Scotland too, and are they going to be banned? For that matter, does England have them in the other direction? Thanks. 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:C115 (talk) 20:21, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Is there some reason to think the UK is on the verge of banning free speech? DOR (HK) (talk) 01:28, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK, according to the Human Rights Act 1998, freedom of expression may be restricted...

“...in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary”.

--[emphasis added]: 2603:6081:1C00:1187:1C8F:910:778:CC3A (talk) 03:25, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

DOR, see the link at the beginning of my question. 2601:648:8202:350:0:0:0:C115 (talk) 06:35, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Flower of Scotland references the Battle of Bannockburn, in which an English army was defeated in central Scotland in 1314, but it does say in the second verse that "those days have gone now". Otherwise, I can't think of any anti-English songs offhand. In England, traditional drinking songs like John Barleycorn are not much used outside of folk-music clubs, but the extremely rude Rugby songs are very much alive and kicking. The only one I can think of which insults another nationality is this version of the French national anthem. In the 1970s when the IRA were leaving bombs all over England, there was a vogue for "Irishman jokes" although I haven't heard one told for several years. Alansplodge (talk) 10:58, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Another English rugby-connected song that insults (or at least trivialises) another nationality is the parody of the chorus of the Welsh anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau — "Whales! Whales! Bloody great fishes are whales. They swim in the sea; you have them for tea. Bloody great fishes are whales." This presumably dates back to a period (post WW2?) when whale meat was an unliked but cheap item on the British menu. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.209.121.1 (talk) 14:20, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Correct on your whale-meat chronology [4]. Alansplodge (talk) 09:56, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

This must be the origin of the well known WW2-era song, "Whale meat again". Card Zero (talk) 07:03, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Whale oil beef hooked! -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 07:14, 3 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

That linked website (actually a British-ex-pat running club in Sri Lanka) has a xenophobic song unknown to me:

I don't like French or Germans / I don't care for Belgians much / But worst of all worst of all / I hate the Dutch apparently because they They live in windmills / and mince around in clogs. Alansplodge (talk) 11:15, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Nigel Powers must be a charter Gold Member. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:55, 28 February 2022 (UTC) [reply]

Not a drinking song, but a highly seditious toast. "God bless the king. I mean the faith's defender. God bless - no harm in blessing - the pretender. But who pretender is, and who is king, God bless us all, that's quite another thing." Itsmejudith (talk) 11:34, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Maps for medium of instruction and most-studied foreign language[edit]

I would think these maps already exist, but all I've been able to find is File:English in the countries of the world.png, which is only used on WP-fa and where I can't tell some of the colors apart and where some of the choices are dubious (e.g. Russian as the primary foreign language of Belarus, when it's the primary native language).

If they don't already exist, I'd like to create maps for where English, French etc. is the primary language of instruction + where it's the most popular foreign language studied in schools. Also a map of most-popular foreign language by country. I don't want to duplicate someone else's work, though: surely we have this info somewhere? -- kwami (talk) 22:57, 24 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

There's significant debate between political tendencies as to what the Belarusian language even is (see Taraskievica to start with). Anyway, there are some maps of Europe: File:Knowledge of French EU map.svg etc. -- AnonMoos (talk) 01:44, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, Belarusian in Russia is called "Western Russian". But AFAICT that's no longer what most people speak in Belarus. But that's a quibble. Mostly, I keep thinking that someone must've already compiled the languages of education of the world. I've created duplicate maps before because I didn't realize one already existed, and would rather not do it again. — kwami (talk) 07:37, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Nobody calls it "Western Russian" here in Russia. I've been to Belarus five times and never heard a word of Belarusian spoken. This language exists mostly on signboards and official notices. Ghirla^-трёп- 12:42, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

That may be your experience, but Belarusian language notes some inconsistency in the number of speakers, but even the lowest estimates indicate that there are about 2.5 million speakers that use Belarusian at home, which is a minority of the population, but not insignificant. --Jayron 32 14:06, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

@Ghirlandajo: I meant that the Belarusian spoken in Russia is called "Western Russian". On Russian WP, it's called the "western group" of the Southern Russian dialect. I've seen it called "Western Russian" by those who don't lump it in with Southern Russian.

Like in the Basque country in Spain, where people speak to strangers in Spanish by default because even between ethnic Basques there's at best a 50% chance that both will speak Basque, I'd assume that in Belarus, where the numbers are even lower, Belarusian-speakers would speak to strangers in Russian by default. — kwami (talk) 08:52, 26 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Don’t see any map like that in some obvious places for it to be, such as Second-language acquisition or Language education or Language education by region or Bilingual education by country or region or English as a second or foreign language. So it would be very cool if you made one!

Did find similar maps on non-wikipedia sites, which might be useful to look at: Second Languages around the World and Most studied foreign languages in lower secondary education in Europe and Which countries study which languages on Duolingo. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 17:58, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, those aren't much help. As of now, it looks like I'd need to contact 50 embassies or so and ask. But then I'd risk having the map removed from WP as OR. — kwami (talk) 07:52, 27 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

How to find specific people in U.S Census[edit]

Hello, Reference desk editors. I am trying to access information relating to this man here, http://www.dkdonovan.com/getperson.php?personID=I32318&tree=Main. I want to locate information regarding his parents. I would like to access information from the mentioned census's but they are quite hard to read due to their age. Is there an easier way to find this information in a more readable format? Here is the 1850 census for reference, http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/agriculture/files/1850/manuscripts/indiana/1850_Indiana_Amrstrong%20Twp.pdf. Thanks in advance, from Gandalf the Groovy (talk) 23:41, 24 February 2022 (UTC).[reply]

@Gandalf the Groovy You won't find that information here. This is an agricultural census - a list of property, not people. David Johnson is on pg 3 of the pdf, line 8. I presume that's your David Johnson's father. -- asilvering (talk) 04:30, 25 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]