Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 August 15

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August 15

Turkish University Holidays

On what days do Turkish university students have holiday? - Vikramkr (talk) 02:32, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

I have no evidence that the dates are set nationally - in many countries, universities jealously guard their independence, and that may well extend to their academic calendar. Searching for Turkey + "academic calendar" gives this, including (in English) information from the Erasmus programme here. Oh, and the word "vacation" is probably more helpful than "holiday" in this context. Or better yet, "term time". BrainyBabe (talk) 17:50, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Crop circles and universities

Are crop circles found in greater density near universities? If so, is this more true at those specializing in the sciences or in the liberal arts? Have any been found near seminaries? NeonMerlin 04:00, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Well in the UK universities are in towns, and crop circles are found in fields, which are not in towns. Go figure, as they say. --TammyMoet (talk) 08:56, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but fields still vary in their distance from universities. There was a famous example of a crop circle near Cambridge a few years ago in the approximate shape of the Mandelbrot set. Cambridge University is particularly strong in mathematics, so make of that what you will (and die-hard believers certainly did). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:44, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, there you have it "a famous example near Cambridge". So what does that tell us. Not a great deal. To my knowledge the majority of crop circles were in southern England where cereal crops tend to be grown in comparatively more isolated places. I guess it depends where the lads fancy making their patterns and how sharp their sense of humour is when they plan them. 86.4.181.14 (talk) 14:18, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

The circle-makers I've met (disclaimer: I have never personally taken part in such activities) tend to be older than the usual age for university undergraduates, though I think most of them are graduates or of graduate calibre. Good sites for circle art are not as common as you might think, requiring appropriate crops, good overlooking viewpoints from which to see the finished art, accessibility for the makers, yet sufficient remoteness (from busy road and inhabited farm buildings) to avoid casual detection during the construction. Circle-makers will drive considerable distances to such sites. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 02:30, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Yahoo SiteBuilder

I've been using SiteBuilder to make a website, part of which includes Japanese characters. I can enter Japanese in certain areas, such as the Page Properties (which includes things like the page title and keywords) and the navigation bar editing window, but I when I type Japanese in a text window I get those annoying little boxes -- the Japanese shows up in the browser, though, just not in Site Builder. Yahoo clearly doesn't understand the issue; does anyone know if there's some way I can see what I'm doing when editing Japanese text in SiteBuilder? Exploding Boy (talk) 06:20, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like SiteBuilder does not support the Unicode characters. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 11:51, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Things to try: search around in preferences, as there may be a hidden setting to make it understand Unicode. Also make sure you have the latest versiion (2.6) Things that WILL WORK : All things Yahoo have (and often need) work-arounds. Text boxes in particular are very basic. The solution is to type your text in some other editor program that DOES understand Japanese characters, then copy and paste it into the SiteBuilder box. - KoolerStill (talk) 12:16, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

That's what I've been doing; it's an imperfect solution though, because the text turns into boxes when I paste it into a text window... Exploding Boy (talk) 15:43, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Song

I am trying to find any information on the song that I think is called O'brian is tryin' to learn to talk Hawiian, Chords especially, but any info would be appreciated. inclueding who wrote it, when, notable recordings etc —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 08:44, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Just search for "O'brien is tryin' to learn to talk Hawaiian" on Google. Here are a few links I found quickly: [1], [2], and [3]. :) Theleftorium 15:57, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

words by Al Dubin music by Rennie Cormack 1914; © 1918; sung by Ada Jones c.1917 Collected Works of Ada Jones Part 1, at archive.org. DOR (HK) (talk) 07:11, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Elderly Iraqi woman shows two bullets

I saw this picture on Facebook. How can they have "hit her house" when they're in that condition? Is this news item real or a parody? If it's real, then hasn't she ever seen a fired bullet before or what? JIP | Talk 12:15, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Haven't seen the bullets, but Iraqi houses are often built of sun dried mud and straw.86.197.43.177 (talk) 14:42, 15 August 2009 (UTC)DT

Lol. Acceptable (talk) 15:15, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Don't know. I'm guessing that the picture was posed and that the photographer suggested the two unfired cartridges as props, in order to have a picture that tells the story that the photographer was trying to tell. It's also possible that the caption was not written carefully—the woman was trying to say that two bullets from rounds like those she was holding hit her house. I'm inclined to think that the first possibility is what happened. --98.114.98.16 (talk) 17:26, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps she said "These are the two kinds of bullet that have hit my house." and in fact her house is riddled with holes from those two kinds. No way to know without a second source, really. APL (talk) 21:07, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

More likely she didn't still have the bullets but the unthinking photographer said "No problem, we've got bullets here. No one will tell the difference." APL (talk) 21:09, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Even though even I, never having fired a gun, or having seen a bullet in real life, was instantly able to tell the difference, thanks to studying how firearms work and seeing pictures of unfired and fired ammunition. =) JIP | Talk 21:14, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Technically, the caption says the bullets "hit" the house; there is no mention that they were fired from a rifle. Somebody might have thrown them at the house... Nimur (talk) 21:13, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Looks like a bad captioning to me. I have no experience with news photography, but in other realms of "publicly accessible" media I've been involved with, editors often rewrite things according to what they think will be most powerful, even if, in the end, it no longer makes any sense. It's like a game of Chinese whispers. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:03, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Maybe soldiers threw the bullets at her house. —D. Monack ^talk 09:16, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Parliment of World Religions

I wish to know more about the above, this was held in Cape Town about 10 years ago or so, and I beleive it is held every year. any info? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.172.58.82 (talk) 13:04, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Parliament of the World's Religions has some info. Note the "a" in the middle of parliament, it might help with the searching if it wasn't just a typo above. - Jarry1250 ^{[ In the UK? Sign the petition! ]} 13:21, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Tetrapod - generic or specific?

Can the concrete structures inspired by the (original) tetrapod now be referred to as tetrapods themselves?

The article and sub-articles are a little confused on the matter. Given that the idea is seemingly covered by none of our many fine WikiProjects, I thought to ask here. I'm going to have a guess at "becoming generic" myself (biro-style) - but what would be great is some evidence of the usage so that the mess that those pages are in can be cleaned up successfully. Thanks - Jarry1250 ^{[ In the UK? Sign the petition! ]} 13:22, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

This isn't much of an answer (I'm in a rush), but if one Googles tetrapod +breakwater, one certainly finds a lot of cases, including published works (e.g., here), in which it's used as a common noun (uncapitalized). The Japan Times article at the first external link in Tetrapod (structure) says, "TETRAPOD is a registered trademark held by Fudo Tetra, but it is also a generic term used, written in lower-case letters, to refer to any of the concrete blocks that come in a variety of configurations, with three to eight legs"; but that trademark must apply only in Japan, since the company named doesn't seem to be the original developer of the things. (Oddly, I'm currently in the middle of reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, in which the narrator's father was into tetrapods.) Deor (talk) 18:31, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

two cents plain

Hello ! Please excuse my bad English. How can I translate in French the expression "two cents plain" for waters sold during the Great Depression ? Please, see Carbonated water. Thank you in advance. --Égoïté (talk) 15:52, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

I suggest you move this question to the Language Desk. BrainyBabe (talk) 17:52, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Good suggestion; go to Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language. The phrase refers to the price of unflavored seltzer water (2 cents) in New York during the Depression; adding chocolate or vanilla syrup would cost more.

Googling "For two cents plain" will also give you good answers, e.g. Urban Dictionary definition and Big Apple blog entry. In 1959, Harry Golden wrote a memoir of the time and place called For Two Cents Plain that is readily available in libraries and from on-line booksellers [ISBN 978-0-84881-015-3]; an explanatory excerpt from that book is in the Big Apple blog entry above. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:31, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for yours answers. --Égoïté (talk) 06:18, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

UN e-mail address

Please send me the e-mail address of the UN.

<personal information removed> —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.184.89.23 (talk) 20:51, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

I took the liberty of removing your personal information, which we don't encourage being posted here, as it encourages spam at the very least. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 20:56, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

You can try to get in contact through their website, but it's unlikely that you are going to make a lot of difference in doing so. There isn't one "United Nations"—so if you are eager in getting their attention, expressing an opinion, and so forth, it is better that you get in touch with your national representative to the United Nations. For the United States, this is the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who you can contact through this website. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 20:59, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

The trouble is that the UN is a huge organization - and like all organizations, there are different points of contact for different purposes. Why do you want to email the UN? If you answer this, you can help us narrow down which contacts are most appropriate for your purposes. Otherwise, chances are high that your email will be lost in a sea of generic form-letter responses and whatever you are trying communicate will not get to the people who you wanted to reach. For example, if you're looking for a job, the primary contacts can be found at United Nations Human Resources - and you will be funneled to the appropriate contact organization based on your interests, capabilities, and nation of origin. Nimur (talk) 21:34, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

What is the age that you can ride a street legal moped on the road

i am a teen looking to do some bikeing however there are some very large hills i can bike up and when i walk up them i am to tired to continue i wanted to know how old i have to be in pa to ride a moped —Preceding unsigned comment added by Moomonkey003 (talk • contribs) 23:50, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

You could ask the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which has this handy moped fact sheet. It includes a definition of "moped," so your vehicle must match this to be "street legal," I'd think. You must have a Class C driver's license for which the minimum age is 16. --- OtherDave (talk) 00:08, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

What jurisdiction are you in? (That is, what state, what country?) The laws will vary accordingly... (Also, walking up hills is good for you. Someday you'll be able to complain about it to your kids!) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 00:56, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Certainly we can't answer the question without knowing what country/state you live in. Anyway - you might also try googling for electric bicycle...Electric bicycle laws describes the rules they are restricted by. SteveBaker (talk) 00:00, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

I took "how old I have to be in pa" to mean "in Pennsylvania." But I've been wrong before. --- OtherDave (talk) 00:55, 17 August 2009 (UTC)