Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 September 17

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September 17

Identify this junk

I saw this junk lying on the trash heap while heading to work. I think it is a solar collector of some sort. Anyways it is made of a thick white sheet, the material seems flexible since it is folded enough to show its underside. Its front side contains dull grey octagons arranged in rows. The octagons seems to be embedded in the sheet as the underside of the thing also have the same octagons. Its underside also shows that wirings are sticking out on the faces of the octagons. --121.54.2.183 (talk) 01:16, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you may have found Mariner 2. Actually, you'll get a better response if you could upload a photo. Tempshill (talk) 05:01, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

No idea how to upload the pic to the web from my phone. Anyways, I showed the pic to a colleague. She says that it is either solar cells or semiconductor ingots. --121.54.2.188 (talk) 00:57, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Alien abduction insurance.

I was showing some co-workers our article on Alien abduction insurance (it's a hoot - check it out). I was surprised to see that it says that on at least two occasions, the insurance company actually paid a claim! There is a reference for the fact (an online news piece) - but it doesn't give any details. Does anyone know any more information about this? What could the claimants possibly have said to convince the companies to pay up?! SteveBaker (talk) 01:39, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

The article might not be right (cue stunned gasp from imaginary audience). Google brings up an article written in June that says Grip has never paid out a claim. On a related note, there's a humourous eHow on how to claim such insurance, "so incomplete paperwork doesn't stand between you and $10,000,000." (You'll have to Google them both, as both webaddresses cause the spam blacklist to fire.) Xenon54 / talk / 01:50, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Remember insurance companies are businesses. If you are going to have to pay $1 a year, even if the possibility is there for 1 million years, you're likely to decide it cheaper to just pay the $1 per year if the alternative is going to cost a lot more. In fact in this case it may be worth it just for the publicity, from the sources [1] [2] it's apparent the company does seem to seek publicity (and if you're going to make money that way, why not?) Nil Einne (talk) 03:17, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

THYRIODECTOMY

There is a 15 years old girl who lost her voice after thyriodectomy.The surgeon who performed the surgeory says the voice will come back after 3 months.is it true?

How would you know if a qualified thyriodectomy surgeon were the one answering your question on an internet reference forum? DOR (HK) (talk) 10:08, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Eh?!? You mean I've been getting strung along all this time? I thought we were ALL totally qualified and well respected professionals, especially with regard to medical and legal advice! Damn! Joking aside, though, OP, we cannot give medical advice and would not be able to even if we were qualified to do it (and there would be no way of proving that) - it is quite simply against the rules of Wikipedia. Either ask another surgeon for a second opinion, or search the net for a website of some qualified person(s). --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 10:51, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Our thyroidectomy article has some information on complications, including damage to the recurrent laryngeal nerve leading to hoarseness. That being said, none of us could predict when or if the girl's voice will return without knowing additional details about what happened during the surgery. As far as your second question goes, none of the reference desk regulars has identified themselves as an otolaryngologist, to my knowledge. --- Medical geneticist (talk) 13:10, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

mole removal

Does it hurt?Accdude92 (talk) (sign) 13:28, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Only if they forget to apply the local numbing agent. Go see your dermatologist. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 13:45, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

This[3] site claims reassuringly that "Our Lawn Mole removal is SAFE for: *Kids *Pets *Plants & Yes…it's even safe for MOLES! (Don't worry, we Don't Kills[sic] your Moles...They just move on, Safely & Naturally!) That contrasts with the inhumane Whac-A-Mole method. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:54, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Silly me, I thought he meant moles on the skin. For moles in the yard, a well-designed shotgun can work. That might hurt the mole, but it will feel good to the one holding the shotgun. Otherwise, there's the time-honored trick of putting a hose in the molehill and turning the faucet on. That will have the side benefit of saturating your thirsty lawn. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 14:58, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

My father was killed in a Whac-A-Mole, you insensitive clod! ~ Amory (user • talk • contribs) 15:00, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I thought Whac-a-Mole was a sauce used on tacos. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 15:04, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Whether mole removal hurts depends on who you are. Our government feels more secure without moles but on the other paw, being a notable mole does not look good on one's curriculum vitae.Cuddlyable3

Removing exactly one mole properly can be stressful due to the large number of molecules that need to be counted. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 16:31, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Removing mole can be financially painful if you spill it on an alpaca carpet. Googlemeister (talk) 18:42, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Back to the original question: I had a thingie removed from the end of my nose, and they used a local anesthetic. It didn't hurt. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 21:44, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Authenticity cehck

Ho do we check to know if a person is lying or true on something we cannot verify ,on anything he claims to have done professionally or personally where we have no rights or means but sheer curiosity so that we can carry on to be friends. i mean ,it can be deceptive.

Weellll... I think you're going to have to be a little more specific about what you're referring to. Do you want to know if he really got his degree from such-and-such university? That he had a job and An Important Company? That is he really the son of Whomever He Says He Is? I mean, each of these would have different ways of verifying, some of which you could do "just because you are curious," some of which you would not be allowed legally to do because of privacy rights. Try and be a little more clear about what you are asking about and we can be a little more specific in an answer. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:27, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes you'r right, he claims to be highly qualified and sounds genuine when says it.

You could tell him "Show me your advanced university degree you've talked about, I want to see what it looks like". Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:56, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Many universities will tell anyone who asks some very basic information about their alumni, like whether they were there, what dates they came and went, and what degrees they received. This helps the university by reducing the number of charlatans who can claim to have attended but did not. Just call them up and ask. Also, you could find someone whom you know to be qualified in the field and ask them to administer a brief test to the questionable person. --Sean 17:03, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Alternatively, if it is a professional qualification (chartered accountant, for example), the professional body that issued it will also be able to verify it for you - that is the main purpose of such bodies, to provide a way of ensuring people know what they are doing. --Tango (talk) 20:18, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Ask if they are willing to undergo a polygraph test? If it's something that the person has claimed to have done personally, there are no independent ways of confirming this and they want to convince you of their veracity, they may be willing. Of course, the process is by no means 100% perfect. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 11:58, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

internal Job posting

What all things we need to know if an interview is being carried out for an internal job posting for the post of manager from sales to customer service or vice versa (opportunities in both) if its chaired by the general manager ,are there any strong points we can talk about and if any loopholes that may be missed. Please advice

Please sign your posts here by typing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of each post. To answer the question, your text is a little confusing — I think you are asking about tips for interviewing for a promotion to a managerial job. If you google "promotion interview tips" or "job interview tips", you'll find a lot of advice. As far as "strong points we can talk about", how are we supposed to know the strong points of your past performance? Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:54, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I think the OP might be talking about things for the interviewers to ask the interviewees. 94.168.184.16 (talk) 18:22, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

As an HR professional, I suggest asking yourself why you have been named responsible for conducting interviews when you obviously know nothing about them? Someone tasked with hiring a new manager should NOT be using Wikipedia's RefDesk as their primary training materials. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 01:40, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Highest Bail amount

Recently the bail for Phillip Garrido was set at $30 million. What is the highest amount ever set for bail? What is the highest amount actually paid for bail? What is the highest amount forfeited (because the defendant fled before trial)?

Clark Rockefeller had bail set at a ridiculous $50 million before it was revoked altogether. I'm not sure if that is the highest, but that's quite high (if you're going to set it that high, you ought to just deny bail... which is what they did. I feel similarly about $30 million—if he's that much of a flight risk, just deny it!) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:57, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

That wouldn't be a ridiculous amount for a real Rockefeller. Maybe the judge took the guy at his word. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 17:06, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm...isn't the right to 'reasonable bail' enshrined in the US Constitution? Rhinoracer (talk) 13:31, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Even if it is, the judge would probably be in charge of determining what reasonable means in a specific case all the way up to infinity billion dollars (denying it outright) for some cases. Googlemeister (talk) 14:44, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

¶ The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, (part of the U.S. Bill of Rights) says that "Excessive bail shall not be required, ..." There is, needless to say, a huge body of case-law and judicial opinion on the subject resulting from prosecutors trying to stop defendants from fleeing and defense lawyers trying to spring their presumedly-innocent clients while awaiting trial. Over the last few decades, Congress has enacted or inserted various "no bail" provisions, which have met different fates in the courts.—— Shakescene (talk) 21:30, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Lead doorstops

I have a couple lead pigs that I don't have any real use for. They have no coating on them. I thought they would make nice doorstops. The thing is, I have a dog. Will this be a potential health risk for an animal, just to be in proximity to them? (She will not eat or lick them, that is for sure. They weigh some 10 lbs each and are not interesting to her at all.) What if I coated it in some way? I tried to paint one of them, but the paint really didn't adhere to the lead very well (it is tacky and easy to peel off). If I were to paint them, what kind of paint should I look for that will adhere to the lead? (Or how else to do it—I haven't really painted metal before, so I don't know if a primer is necessary, for example.)

Any thoughts one had on this would be great. Obviously I know that there probably aren't toxicologists running around here with exact figures, but your input would be great as I weigh the options here. (And before anyone asks, there are no children in the household, so that is not a risk.) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:54, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Lead#Exposure_Pathways indicates that if they're just sitting there, there's not much risk. The risk will increase if they're sliding around on the floor a lot, which could create lead dust, which could present an inhalation danger. Obviously if Rover starts chewing on them you must do something. As for painting them, I'm not sure, but maybe you could put them in decorative pillow cases as door stops sometimes have. I suggest a porcine theme. --Sean 17:09, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Seeing as many millions of people for many years drank water that had passed through lead pipes without significant harm should allay any obvious fears. 86.4.186.107 (talk) 21:58, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

And for even longer before that they drank from the same water supply they dumped their waste in ... --Sean 15:08, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Re painting, check out the Hammerite range of paints, some of which are designed to be applied to bare metals such as iron. I don't offhand know if these, or others in the range, are suitable for lead ("led") but you might at least get a lead ("leed") via their own website. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 23:47, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Many years ago I cast some lead to make doorstops and painted them with yacht varnish so that the bright lead showed through and didn't oxidise (or not as quickly). It worked well for a while, but eventually the lead went grey. ... and I still drink water stored in a lead tank and delivered through lead pipes! Dbfirs 16:59, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedias by creation

Is there a place where I can find a list of Wikipedias (I mean English, German, Estonian...) ordered by their date of creation? --151.51.24.225 (talk) 18:04, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

See meta:Wikimedia projects. Nanonic (talk) 21:07, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Mmm...Thank you, but I can't find a complete list of Wikipedias by creation in that page... --151.51.24.225 (talk) 06:45, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

While the article History of Wikipedia in itself is mainly concerned with the English Wikipedia, it is still somewhat helpful, as there seems to be some relevant links in the "Historical summaries" section of the external links. I think that a lot of the information you are looking for is probably to be found in Category:Wikipedia years. --Saddhiyama (talk) 08:21, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Question about bilingual countries

I feel we here in Finland are in a unique situation. Finland is not only the only country in the world to have Finnish as an official first language, it's the only country in the world to have a non-negligible Finnish-speaking population, and I'm pretty sure most Finnish-speaking foreigners are Finnish immigrants or their descendants. But still we are a bilingual country, with Swedish as an official second language. In Southern and Western Finland, every single official text everywhere is in both Finnish and Swedish. In Åland, they don't even bother writing them in Finnish. Outside Åland, in private life, most written and spoken language is in Finnish only. But still, we have to treat Swedish as one of our official languages. I'm not trying to argue against having to speak Swedish (I've sometimes argued for it), but my question is, is there any other country in the world in such a situation? Being the only country in the world to speak a certain language, but still having to have another language as an official second language? JIP | Talk 18:09, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Answering my own question, at least some of the ex-USSR countries, particularly the Baltic countries, come to mind. They all have a sizeable Russian-speaking minority, but is Russian still an official language in those countries? JIP | Talk 18:11, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Ireland and Malta immediately spring to mind, (Malta probably being closer to the Finnish situation seeing as most Irish people don't speak Irish). The Baltic states, AIUI, have only their national languages as official languages, which is an ongoing problem with their sizable Russian minorities who can't qualify for citizenship without passing tests in Estonian/Latvian/Lithuanian--Saalstin (talk) 18:25, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

You could include Wales, since (outside Patagonia) it's the only place in the world to speak Welsh but English and Welsh are both official languages (well, languages "treated on the basis of equality"). But it depends whether "country" means "sovereign state" or not. The Wednesday Island (talk) 18:41, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. What I find especially funny about our situation is, that linguistically, Finnish and Swedish are very distantly related. Finnish is not even an Indo-European language, one of the very few non-Indo-European language to remain as an official language in Europe. I believe the situation is the same in the Baltic countries. Estonian is one of the closest relatives of Finnish, and at least in Tallinn, Finnish and Estonian are mutually intelligible. I don't know if that's the case north of Helsinki or south of Tallinn though. I don't understand any Latvian or Lithuanian, so I don't know the situation with them. I understand Welsh and Maltese even less, but I feel they are also non-Indo-European languages. Am I correct? I specifically did not include Wales in my original question, because it's technically not an independent country, even though it's a separate sub-national entity, and a strong ethnic community. My question was specifically about independent countries. What is the situation in Malta, what are the proportions between Maltese and English speakers? Do most people living in Malta understand Maltese? Are all official documents in both Maltese and English? As a complete foreigner to all things related to Malta, I'm intrigued to know. JIP | Talk 19:22, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Welsh Welsh language is a Brythonic celtic language, which is part of the indo-european family of languages.

Maltese Maltese language is unusual (in europe) in that it is a Semitic languages. (Also written in latin, not arabic..)83.100.251.196 (talk) 19:31, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Also see Malta#Languages "The Eurobarometer states that 100% of the population speaks Maltese. Also, 88% of the population speaks English, 66% speaks Italian, and 17% speaks French">83.100.251.196 (talk) 19:33, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

JIP, I find it intriguing that you, JIP, as a Finn, state that Finnish is 'very distantly related to Swedish.' Finnish is completely unrelated to Swedish, being a member of the Fenno-Ugric languages (a subset of the Ural-Altaic languages) and related to Hungarian. You then mention that it's not an Indo-European language, which is correct, so there seems to be a slight contradiction there. I just thought I would point that out. In answer to your original question, though, Switzerland has three official languages - French, German, and Italian - but the native language is Romansh, which as far as I know is not the language in which official documents are regularly printed. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) 19:52, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Well I mostly intended "very distantly related" as an euphemism for "completely unrelated". I'm sure the languages do share some common ancestry, but it's completely negligible, and dates way back to the pre-Christian era. Close political and cultural relations between Finland and Sweden, for the past millennium, must have influenced the Finnish language much more. JIP | Talk 19:58, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

(BEFORE ECs)Non indoeuropean languages spoken in Europe include:

• The Semitic Maltese language noted above
• The Uralic languages, which include Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, as well as such non-national languages as Sami and Karelian.
• The language isolate Basque.

I'm pretty sure everything else is an Indo-european language, even the other Baltic languages like Latvian and Lithuanian. In fact, I am pretty sure that some scholars consider Lithuanian to be the closest modern language to the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. --Jayron32 20:10, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

(AFTER ECs), actually, any Swedish influence on Finnish would have been comparitively recent, and mostly vocabulary-based, much like the influence of Norman French on English, which is still fundementally a Germanic language. The further back you go, the LESS connection (not more) you are likely to find between Finnish and Swedish. --Jayron32 20:10, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

On another hand, see Nostratic languages and Eurasiatic languages. – It's not that Finnish and Swedish (or Basque and whatever) are definitely not related, but that the kinship is so remote that any evidence of it cannot be distinguished from chance similarities. —Tamfang (talk) 20:56, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

The official languages of Quebec are French (first) and English (second), and all public signs must be in both French and English. From what I understand, if a non-native English speaking child comes to Quebec and attends its schools, they're required to study in French. There are English language schools, but only native English speakers are allowed to be taught in English. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 21:50, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't know if it's quite what JIP is aiming at, but the situation in English Canada is also somewhat analogous. French is only widely spoken in certain parts of the country: Quebec, New Brunswick, northeast Ontario and a few communities here and there in Ontario and Manitoba. But French is an official second language everywhere in the country. So the signs at the post office in, say, Medicine Hat, Alberta, where hardly anyone speaks French, are all bilingual, and every consumer product's package must have English and French words in equal size. In Toronto, where French is the 11th-most-spoken language (behind English, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Punjabi, Spanish, Polish, Tagalog, Tamil and Urdu), the highway signs read "EXIT/SORTIE" -- as if French-speaking people couldn't figure out what "EXIT" means. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:55, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Just to clarify, this is the situation in Canada: English and French are national official languages with equal status. In Quebec, French is the one provincial official language. In the other 9 provinces, English is the language predominantly used, but New Brunswick makes both languages official at the provincial level too, and the other 8 provinces have no provincial official language and their governments use French only to the extent that they find it appropriate (like those highway signs in Ontario, a relatively recent change) or that federal law requires (for example, I recall a Supreme Court ruling requiring provincial legislation to be translated into French). By the way, in the territories (not provinces) of the Canadian Arctic, there are additional official languages. Official bilingualism in Canada is the article on this subject, but I'm mostly speaking from my own knowledge here. --Anonymous, 04:21 UTC, September 18, 2009.

More specifically, another example of a country that had a unique first language but also has a second official language is Israel, which has both Hebrew and Arabic as official languages. Luxembourg has French and German along with Luxembourgish. Russian is an official language in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan along with the native languages of those countries. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 01:00, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Philippines?.-121.54.2.188 (talk) 03:39, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Another answer is Paraguay; almost all speakers of Guarani live there, but Spanish is also official. It's different from Finland in that Spanish is also widely used. --Anonymous, 04:21 UTC, September 18, 2009.

Here in New Zealand we have English and Māori as national languages. We're the only country in the world to speak Māori, and there's a non-negligible percentage of the population which speaks it (though the Cook Islands have a very closely related language). Grutness...wha? 07:08, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

We actually have 3 official languages in NZ: New Zealand English, Maori, and New Zealand Sign Language. Aaadddaaammm (talk) 10:10, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Belgium has Flemish and French as two of its official languages. No other country speaks Flemish. However, Flemish is a dialect of Dutch, and it is claimed that the two are mutually intelligible (not in my experience though!). German is also an official language, and there are other languages spoken in this delightful small country. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:38, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't think anywhere except India has Hindi as an official language, English is also an official language, and Hindi isn't an Indo-European language :) Dmcq (talk) 09:56, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Agree, but small corrections: Hindi is an Indo-European language and one of its dialects, Hindustani, is also an official language of Fiji. Abecedare (talk) 10:11, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Incidentally, Fiji, is another candidate with Fijian (a Austronesian language), English and Hindi (both Indo-European) as official languages. As is obvious, Finland is far from unique in this aspect. Abecedare (talk) 10:17, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Also Sri Lanka with official languages Sinhala, an Indo-European language spoken mainly on the island, and Tamil, a Dravidian language spoken in parts of India, Singapore, Malaysia etc. Abecedare (talk) 10:29, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Switzerland has four national languages (Art. 4), and three official languages, with Romanch also recognised as an official language for the purposes of reports from the Confederation (Art. 70). The constitution is written in all four national languages, with an English version for information purposes. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 11:07, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Singapore has Malay as the national language with English, Mandarin and Tamil as other official languages, with English being used most of all and Mandarin second. Of course none of these languages are unique to Singapore. (But since Canada etc came up) The situation gets even more complicated if you start considering non official but widely used languages. Malay is the only official language in Malaysia. English is widely used including for some official purposes and is a compulsory subject at primary and secondary school (and was used to teach science and mathematics for a while but that's to be abandoned), and also used in universities to varying degrees and considered the language of business but is not an official language. (For example, it may not be used in parliament without permission of the speaker [4]). Mandarin and Tamil is also the medium of instruction for some government supported primary schools but again is not an official language. There is also a number of other indigenous languages in use but sadly not recognised as official languages, particularly in East Malaysia which have varying degrees of government support and problems e.g. Iban language, Kadazan language, [5]. State government may of course also have their own usages of the various other languages, e.g. multilingual road signs [6]. And of course when you consider sub national entities Languages with official status in India and Languages of China are worth a read. Nil Einne (talk) 16:59, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

ISTR some strange situation in Luxembourg where French is used when writing, German is used by the government, and Letzeburgisch (unique to LUX) is used for day-to-day conversation (caveat: this is from a dim memory, so my facts may be way off beam). Grutness...wha? 01:36, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia's Main Page

www.wikipedia.com takes you to a page with a big logo, a search box, and a billion and one links. Given that, how many people really see the Main Page? I didn't even know it existed until more than two years after I started using Wikipedia! Is there some way of comparing the number of hits the front page gets and the number the "main page" gets? Vimescarrot (talk) 19:32, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia is actually www.wikipedia.org, though the '.com' address does lead you to the '.org' page. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) 19:36, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Furthermore, once you select your language from the list, it brings you to the main page of the language you select. So, if you select English, you are magically taken to en.wikipedia's main page. I don't see the problem. --Jayron32 19:38, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Not a "problem", I just find it...odd. Or am I the only one who didn't know we had a main page? Vimescarrot (talk) 19:46, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Statistics. [7], specifically, says that last month, the main page on en is the #2 most-hit page, next to the Search page. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:39, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Cheers. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:46, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. That link doesn't actually include plain old http://www.wikipedia.org/ since it's not on /en/. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:52, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

That isn't really a main page, it is a portal. It's just there to get people to the site they want. --Tango (talk) 20:15, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

There is a dedicated search page? --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 20:24, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

People probably think so. Search redirects to Searching. Vimescarrot (talk) 20:25, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Special:Search --Tango (talk) 21:56, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

When you type in something and nothing comes up it shows you search results. That's teh search page and is the most viewed n wikipedia.92.251.140.93 (talk)

Are you asking how many people know of Main Page or how many people know of the 271 or so main pages we have? I ask because the answer will be different and one reason we have www.wikipedia.org is because not everyone understands English and even those that do may want to look at some other language. (Another advantage is it reduces the number of people who come and yell at us because the search doesn't autofocus on Main Page.) Personally I believe I came across the main page before www.wikipedia.org, but I'm not sure Nil Einne (talk) 16:08, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Since I've now got the number of hits per day on the Main Page, I'm now just after the hits per day on the entrance portal, for comparison. Vimescarrot (talk) 16:31, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

In the old, ancient days, www.wikipedia.org immediately redirected to the main page. Then, probably around, I don't remember, 2003 or so, the wise people decided that www ought to be a portal and en just one of many, despite being what most people at the time meant when they said "Wikipedia". And such is how we have it today. I am sure you can pinpoint the exact day by looking through the WikiEN list serve archives. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:02, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Hammerkeeping ruler up...er..haad to name but you get the picture...

this couldn't really happen could it?92.251.212.168 (talk) 21:05, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Well it could be fake - but the principle is that the head of the hammer is the heavy bit and so counterbalances the whole thing - note that the head of the hammer is under the desk. You could probably try this at home...83.100.251.196 (talk) 21:13, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

There are tons of explanations, ranging from straight up shooped (the string especially) to the hammer and/or ruler actually being nailed to the wall (look at the claw of the hammer) to all of that actually being on the floor (the shadow of the hammer's head looks weird). Still, all you really need is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajKLgGo0WZU. ~ Amory (user • talk • contribs) 21:23, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Will look92.251.212.168 (talk) 21:26, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Likewise here: [8] Doesn't look fake, seems to have to do with balancing just right, as noted in the first response. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 01:11, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't think it even requires balancing just right. It looks quite stable to me. I'd think the biggest problem would be the tail end of the hammer sliding sideways against the ruler, but if that ruler is like similar ones I've used then it has a groove on the bottom side which will help prevent that happening. Other than that there's practically no way it can fall without a pretty big push. In fact I'm surprised so many people think it looks unstable. I wonder how they envision it falling. -- BenRG (talk) 11:47, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

It certainly can happen - so long as the head of the hammer multiplied by it's distance under the edge of the table equals the weights of the parts to the right of the table edge multiplied by their distances from the edge. In a good hammer, almost all of the weight is in the head and the other parts of the apparatus look to be very light - so this doesn't suprise me at all. Anyway - if you need convincing, here is a video of someone doing the exact same trick: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/316065/strange_hammer_balance/ SteveBaker (talk) 01:32, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

The key issue would seem to keep the connections stable, i.e. the string along with the handle touching the underside of the ruler are key. Then, as the videos show, you can get the ruler very close to its end, like 1/8 inch from the edge of the table, and the apparatus remains in balance. I would suspect it doesn't really matter how little of the ruler is on the table, as long as it doesn't come so close that it slips off. Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots 14:10, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

What's wrong with this? Seems a perfectly straightforward balancing setup to me. 93.97.184.230 (talk) 15:57, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Maryland state history question

What are the two to three most prominent families in Maryland history? This may include industrial, turn of the century influential families who were residents of the state.

This sounds like a homework question. (Apologies if it isn't.) Wikipedia volunteers will not do your homework for you. Please make an attempt to do the question yourself, then if you have trouble understanding something you can come back here with a question. Xenon54 / talk / 21:31, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

You should probably start with Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 22:04, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

The Ripkens, maybe? -- Mwalcoff (talk) 00:44, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! This is not a homework assignment, I just recently became a resident of the state and wanted to learn more about the area.

I'm not from Maryland, but Millard Tydings and Joseph Tydings were two important Maryland politicians of the mid-20th century. Also consider the Shriver-Kennedy dynasty, including Sargent Shriver, Eunice Kennedy Shriver and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. In the 19th century, the Blairs, including Montgomery Blair, Lincoln's Postmaster-General, were very important in Maryland politics. You could also glance through Category:People from Maryland and its sub-category:Maryland families. —— Shakescene (talk) 21:16, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Engine bore versus Horsepower - 312 c.i. Y block Ford V8 with Holley 4 barrel carburetor

Subject engine is rated at 245 H.P. What would be the effect of a .20-.30 overbore on rated horsepower? Sjmclaughlin (talk) 23:27, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Not as much as a simple blower. -- Taxa (talk) 05:54, 19 September 2009 (UTC)