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= January 11 =


==JeJu AirFlight 2216 ==
</noinclude>
Is this the beginning of a new conspiracy theory?
On 11 January, the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board stated that both the CVR and FDR had stopped recording four minutes before the aircraft crashed.


Why would the flight recorder stop recording after the bird strike? Don't they have backup battery for flight recorders?
{{Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 July 28}}
] (]) 09:59, 11 January 2025 (UTC)


:Do you mean JeJu Air Flight 2216? ] (]) 14:27, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
{{Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 July 29}}


::Yes, you are right, flight 2216 not 2219. I have updated the title. ] (]) 14:51, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
{{Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 July 30}}


It says on[REDACTED] that "With the reduced power requirements of solid-state recorders, it is now practical to incorporate a battery in the units, so that recording can continue until flight termination, even if the aircraft electrical system fails. ". So how can the CVR stop recording the pilot's voices??? ] (]) 10:11, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
= July 31 =


:The aircraft type was launched in 1994, this particular aircraft entered service in 2009. It may have had an older type of recorder.
== Why universities are bad ==
:I too am puzzled by some aspects of this crash, but I'm sure the investigators will enlighten us when they're ready. ] (]) 11:41, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
::Having looked into this briefly, it sounds like an independent power supply for the CVR (generally called a Recorder Independent Power Supply/RIPS) was only mandated for aircraft manufacturer from 2010 in the US . I doubt anyone else required them before. So not particularly surprising if this aircraft didn't have one. I think, but am not sure, that even in the US older aircraft aren't required to be retrofitted with these newer recorders. (See e.g. .) In fact, the only regulator I could find with such a mandate is the Canadian one and that isn't until 2026 at the earliest . Of course even if the FAA did require it, it's a moot point unless it was required for any aircraft flying to the US and this aircraft was flying to the US. I doubt it was required in South Korea given that it doesn't seem to be required in that many other places. There is a lot of confusing discussion about what the backup system if any on this aircraft would have been like . The most I gathered from these discussions is that because the aircraft was such an old design where nearly everything was mechanical, a backup power supply wasn't particularly important in its design. The only expert commentary in RS I could find was in Reuters "{{tqi|a former transport ministry accident investigator, said the discovery of the missing data from the budget airline's Boeing 737-800 jet's crucial final minutes was surprising and suggests all power, including backup, may have been cut, which is rare.}}" Note that the RIPS only have to work for 10 minutes, I think the timeline of this suggests power should not have been lost for 10 minutes at the 4 minutes point, but it's not something I looked in to. BTW, I think this is sort of explained in some of the other sources but if not see . Having a RIPS is a little more complicated than just having a box with a battery. There's no point recording nothing so you need to ensure that the RIPS is connected to/powering mics in the cabin. ] (]) 01:28, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
:The aircraft made 13 flights in 48 hours, meaning less than 3.7 hours per flight. Is it too much? Its last flight from Bangkok to Korea had a normal flight time for slightly more than 5 hours. Does it mean the pilots had to rush through preflight checks? ] (]) 15:31, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
:With this kind of schedule, it is questionable that the aircraft is well-maintained. ] (]) 15:32, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
The OP seems to be obsessed with creating a new conspiracy theory out of very little real information, and even less expertise. Perhaps a new hobby is in order? ] (]) 19:37, 11 January 2025 (UTC)


Just for info, the article is ]. This question has not yet been raised at the Talk page there. Thanks. ] (]) 19:42, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
I have been doing research on why universities on bad. I know that is completely a matter of opinion and I have no interest on why anyone here thinks they are good or bad. What I am looking for is research on how the fundamental structure of distinct courses with one professor and dozens of students fails to educate efficiently. I have a lot of papers and books I've been reading, but I've found that when people ask for references here, the users turn up a lot of stuff that isn't readily available on Google or the local library. The more I have to read, the more well-rounded my research in this topic will be. -- ]] 01:01, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:...nor should it be, per ]. ]|] 10:03, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
::Define what you mean by "bad" and "fail to educate efficiently". By what standard or threshhold? ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 16:56, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::I disagree. It's quite a critical aspect in the investigation of the accident. Not sure it's some kind of "conspiracy", however. ] (]) 10:18, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
:::But I suggest it should only be raised if, and to the extent that, it is mentioned in ], not ] speculated about by/in the Misplaced Pages article or (at length) the Talk page. On the Talk page it might be appropriate to ask if there ''are'' Reliable sources discussing it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ] (]) 10:53, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Quite. ] (]) 10:54, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Have now posed the question there. ] (]) 12:07, 12 January 2025 (UTC)


== Fortune 500 ==
:If you have already decided on the conclusion, why bother with the research? ] (]) 02:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


Is there any site where one can view complete Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 for free? These indices are so widely used so is there such a site? --] (]) 20:05, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
::It is normal to begin with a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and then decide if the hypothesis is correct or not. My hypothesis is that having one professor and many students is not efficient. I can test it my creating my own university and having half the classes taught one way and the other half taught a different way. However, I do not have the income to create my own university. So, I am limited to reading about the work done by others on this topic. From there, I can decide if my hypothesis is correct enough to go further. Of course, you may disagree with this entire process and demand that the whole testing of the hypothesis is a waste of time. That is your opinion. I feel that a hypothesis is rather useless without further research. -- ]] 03:32, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::However, it depends on your methodology and whether or not your hypothesis is truly testable. A hypothesis like "Does mixing these two chemicals produce this predicted third chemical" is easily testable. One like "Does XXXX suck" isn't really testable because it is subject to easy ]. If you go in assuming that Universities are bad from the outset, you are coloring your search for sources. You are more likely to find sources which confirm your bias than not, so you've basically ] in setting up your research. Asking a neutral question like "What are some factors that affect the quality of post-secondary education" or even "What are some alternatives to the standard University model and how well do they work?" would be far better starting points. Once you start with a question "Are all universities bad?", then you aren't remaining neutral in your research, and are not going to produce valid results. --]''''']''''' 04:12, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::: There's no need to interrogate the guy about his research methods. You don't even know what the end result of what he's trying to accomplish. ] (]) 14:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::"X is not efficient" isn't really a testable hypothesis. You need "X is less efficient than Y". --] (]) 18:28, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:"''...a lot of stuff that isn't readily available on Google or the local library.''" Have you tried a university library? :-) ] (]) 14:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC) :You can view the complete list here: https://fortune.com/ranking/global500/ ] (]) 21:50, 11 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 12 =
::By "local library", I actually meant the University library. I work at two universities. One is medical, so nothing there is useful in this area. The other is an engineering university. I got a very good start there. I've spent the last three months reading studies on teaching methods that have been used as an alternative to lectures and grouping them by similarity - creating a sort of semantic graph of how the methods relate to one another and the results they produce. The graph is looking good, but I'd like to have more substance by including as many studies as I can find. -- ]] 18:19, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::A good starting point would be that if the university in question has no library, that's bad. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 23:06, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Questions ==


# Why did the United Kingdom not seek euro adoption when it was in EU?
Try a cost-benefit analysis. Is the cost of any university education repaid by higher earnings during the course of a normal working career, or is the cost higher than the expected income differential with an equally competent person who did not attend any university? I suspect you’ll find that there is some university education, somewhere, that isn’t worth the money. Bachelor of Arts in underwater basket weaving, vs. a plumber or auto mechanic, perhaps? <small> Of course, you may have to attend a university to be able to undertake said cost-benefit analysis. . . </small> ] (]) 07:39, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
# Why did Russia, Belarus and Ukraine not join EU during Eastern Enlargement in 2004, unlike many other former Eastern Bloc countries?
# Why is Russia not in NATO?
# If all African countries are in AU, why are all European countries not in EU?
# Why Faroe Islands and Greenland have not become sovereign states yet?
# Can non-sovereign states or country subdivisions have embassies?
# Why French overseas departments have not become sovereign states yet? --] (]) 13:35, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
#:I see that ] offer a course on . Had you considered that, perhaps? ] (]) 13:43, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
#:# See: ]
#:# Russia, Belarus and Ukraine do not meet the criteria for joining the European Union
#:# If you google "Nato's primary purpose", you will know.
#:# The two do not have logical connection.
#:# They are too small to be an independent country
#:# Non-sovereign states or countries, for example Wales and Scotland, are countries within a sovereign state. They don't have embassies of their own.
#:# Unlike the British territories, all people living in the French territories are fully enfranchised and can vote for the French national assembly, so they are fully represented in the French democracy and do not have the need of becoming a sovereign state.
#:] (]) 15:16, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
#::Some of the French overseas territories are ] with a degree of autonomy from Paris, whilst ] has a special status and may be edging towards full independence. I imagine all the overseas territories contain at least some people who would prefer to be fully independent, there's a difference between sending a few representatives to the government of a larger state and having your own sovereign state (I offer no opinion on the merits/drawbacks of such an aspiration). ] (]) 13:06, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:Too many questions all at once… but to address the first with an overly simplistic answer: The British preferred the Pound. It had been one of the strongest currencies in the world for generations, and keeping it was a matter of national pride. ] (]) 14:03, 12 January 2025 (UTC)


::1. See ]
== Is the ] so dangerous? ==
::2. {{xt|"... geopolitical considerations, such as preserving Russia’s status as a former imperial power, is more important to Moscow than economic issues when it comes to foreign policy. Russia’s sees relations with the EU to be much less important than bilateral relations with the EU member-states that carry the most political weight, namely France, Germany and, to some extent, Britain. Russia thus clearly emphasizes politics over economics. While NATO enlargement was seen by Moscow to be a very important event, Russia barely noticed the enlargement of the EU on May 1."}} . See also ].
::3. See ].
::] (]) 14:10, 12 January 2025 (UTC)


Some people consider them even worse than ]s. Are they really dangerous?. --] (]) 03:04, 31 July 2009 (UTC) ::(5) They're too small? Somebody tell ], ] (21 km<sup>2</sup>) and ] (26 km<sup>2</sup>) they have no business being nations. ] (]) 03:08, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:::More like economically too weak. From our article on the ]: “In 2011, 13% of the Faroe Islands' national income consists of economic aid from ], corresponding to roughly 5% of GDP.” They're net recipients of taxpayer money; no way they could have built their largely underground road network themselves. The Faroe Islands have no significant agriculture, little industry or tourism. The only thing they really have is fishing rights in their huge exclusive economic zone, but an economy entirely dependent on fishing rights is vulnerable. They could try as a tax haven, but competing against the Channel Islands or Cayman Islands won't be easy. Greenland has large natural resources, including ], and developing mining would generate income, but also pollute the environment and destroy Greenlandic culture. ] (]) 10:23, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:::First, because of religious reason, Vatican City is very unique. Second, although it is technically an independent state, according to Article 22 of the Lateran Treaty, people sentenced to imprisonment by Vatican City serve their time in prison in Italy. Third, Saint Peter's Square is actually patrolled by Italian police. Its security and defence heavily relies on Italy. Its situation is similar to Liechtenstein whose security and defence are heavily relies on Austria and Switzerland and its sentenced persons are serving their time in Austria. The key common point of these small states are they’re inland states surrounded by rich and friendly countries that they can trust. ] (]) 10:32, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:::As for Nauru and Tuvalu, the two states located near the equator, they are quite far away from other countries that would pose a threat to their national security. The temperature, the reef islands and the atolls around them provide them with ample natural resources. However, even gifted with natural resources, these small pacific ocean islands are facing problems of low living standard, low GDP per capital and low HDI.
:::Back to the case of Faroe Islands and Greenland, people of these two places enjoy a relatively higher living standard and higher HDI than previously mentioned island states because they have the edge of being able to save a lot of administrative and security costs. If one day Faroe Islands and Greenland became independent, they will face other problems of independence, including problems similar to the fishing conflicts between UK and Norway. The future could be troublesome if Faroe Islands and Greenland ever sought independence from Demark. ] (]) 10:45, 13 January 2025 (UTC)


:Someone's bored again and expecting us to entertain them. ] (]) 15:59, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
:They ''can'' kill you (possibly if you're stung multiple times or are allergic) but the main problem is the extreme pain: being stung by one feels like a combination of pnemonia, having the shit beaten out of you and ''being set on fire''. This can last for hours or ''days''. ]] 03:13, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


::40bus often asks mass questions like this on the Language Ref. Desk. Now you get to enjoy him on the Humanities Ref. Desk. The answers to 2, 3, and 4 are somewhat the same -- the African Union is basically symbolic, while the EU and NATO are highly-substantive, and don't admit nations for reasons of geographic symmetry only. ] (]) 06:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:(ec) The ] article says they killed 2 people in Australia in 2002, whereas the ] article rather confusedly seems to be saying there are 4 or 5 human fatalities worldwide per year as a result of shark attacks. As for non-fatal injuries, looks like shark attacks on humans worldwide are 50-70 per year. Those jellyfish may sting more people per year than that, but, as the article points out, often a sting-ee doesn't identify the source of the sting. (Fixed your link in the section title. You might get better readership from experts over at the Science desk with this type of question, BTW.) ] (]) 03:18, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== plush toy idea == = January 13 =


== reference behind ] ==
I feel there should be three ] plush toys available for purchase. Their names can be Phyto, Daisy and Jackpot. The money from the sales of each plush toy should go to animal shelters. I told the ] about my idea. They think it's ingenious, with the money going to animal shelters. I tried to contact ] about this matter. They never got back to me. Who else should I contact regarding this matter?] (]) 08:18, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


from Season 4 Episode 12 of the West Wing:
:This is definitely one for ].--]|] 08:46, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


They all begin to exit.
How could Dragon's Den, which is based in the UK be of any help to my idea?] (]) 17:48, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


BARTLET
:It is trivial to get plush toys produced. You just have to decide how much you are willing to pay and how willing you are to ignore the conditions in which the toys are produced (as a rule, the cheaper the product, the worse the conditions for the workers). The "money from the sales" is the profit after paying the producer and very likely the shipping company. If you are suggesting that someone produce the toys for free so you can get credit for coming up with a great idea, you will likely find that nobody is willing to put hundreds of people to work with no pay. -- ]] 18:23, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
Maxine.


C.J.
::The American adaptation of ''Dragons' Den'' is Mark Burnett's '']''. It premieres August 9 on ABC. ] (]) 21:48, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
That's you.


JOSH
For your information, I have no intention of being a contestant on that reality show. How about a portion of the sales go to animal shelters? Is there anyone else I can turn to?] (]) 22:08, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
I know.


Leo, C.J., and Toby leave.
:It is very easy. That is why I used the phrase "It is trivial to get plush toys produced." In case you don't understand, "trivial" means "so easy that it is not worth explaining." Go to the store. I'm sure you have at least one store that sells plush toys. All those toys have little tags on them. On the tag is the distributor and/or manufacturer. Write them all down. Then, use Google or Bing to look up a phone number for each company. Call them. Tell them that you want to make, say, 100,000 plush toys. Ask how much it will cost. They will give you a ballpark quote. Some may hang up on you because they deal in millions of toys, not thousands. Sign a contract with one of the companies to produce the toys. Sell the toys. Give part of your profits to the animal shelter. As I stated, this is very easy. The only problem is laziness. If you are asking for someone else to find a company, call them, get a quote, sign the contract, and sell the toys ... it won't happen. Other people have their own ideas to work on. -- ]] 17:19, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


What is Maxine referencing here? From the context of the scene, it's probably a historical figure related to politics or the arts. I went over the list in ] but couldn't find anything I recognize. ] (]) 20:36, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
==Earliest Parliamentary candidature by a living person==
], who is still alive, stood for the British Parliament at the ]. I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to find out whether anyone else who stood in the election is still alive, and also wondered whether this is an international record, or whether there is someone out there who stood for election to their nation's parliament earlier. Any thoughts? ] '']'' 15:38, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:] was elected to the Michigan state legislature in 1933. -- ] (]) 17:23, 31 July 2009 (UTC) (I asked on the Humanities desk instead of the Entertainment desk because I'm guessing the reference isn't a pop-culture one but a historical one.) ] (]) 20:37, 13 January 2025 (UTC)


:According to fandom.com: "When the President calls Josh Maxine, he refers to Hallmark Cards character Maxine, known for demanding people to agree with her." . --] (]) 21:17, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
== How do Germans feel about Jews and the Holocaust? ==
::Based on the cards I see , Maxine is more snarky than demanding agreement. I don't know her that well, but I think she might even be wary of agreement, suspecting it to be faked out of facile politeness. &nbsp;--] 23:32, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
:::More background on Maxine here: https://agefriendlyvibes.com/blogs/news/maxine-the-birth-of-the-ageist-birthday-card ] (]) 18:24, 14 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 14 =
For example, are they still anti-Semitic? --] (]) 17:22, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:That's 60 million people you're talking about. Wouldn't you figure it varies from person to person? ] (]) 17:31, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::Of course it does, but are there statistics about the general sentiment? --] (]) 17:40, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
: There's a question in the same vein at ] -- ] • ] 17:30, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Ministerial confirmation hearings ==
== How do Japanese feel about Japanese actions in World War 2? ==


Is there any parliamentary democracy in which all a prime minister's choices for minister are questioned by members of parliament before they take office and need to be accepted by them in order to take office? ] (]) 18:36, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
For example, do they think the invasions of Asian countries was an act of aggression or self-defence? --] (]) 17:28, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:No individual grilling sessions, but ] the Knesset has to approve the prime minister's choices. ]&nbsp;] 07:33, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:'''If your question is homework, show that you have attempted an answer first, and we will try to help you past the stuck point. If you don't show an effort, you probably won't get help. The reference desk will not do your homework for you.''' ] (]) 17:35, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Is an occupied regime a country? ==
:I'm not sure whether most ordinary Japanese under the age of 65 have strong opinions on the matter. However, there is a relatively small minority of right-wing nationalists in Japan who are extremely vocal -- and on a number of occasions, the Japanese government has taken actions in order to appease this ultra-nationalist fringe (for domestic political reasons) which have ended up having major negative foreign-relations repercussions (such as Yasukuni shrine visits, downplaying the Nanjing atrocities, etc.). ] (]) 22:09, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


If a regime A of a country is mostly occupied by regime B, and regime B is later recognized as the representative of the country, while regime A, unable to reclaim control of the entire country, claims that it is itself a country and independent of regime B. the questio"n arises: is regim"e A a country? ] (]) 18:43, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
== How do Muslims feel about terrorism? ==


:Are you talking about a ]? ] (]) 19:09, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Do they support it? I think many Muslim communities, for example Singapore Muslims, would not. Are there any Muslim organisations that help fight terrorism and discourage Muslims from turning extremist? --] (]) 17:29, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:This is based on the definition of a country. Anyone in any place can claim to be a country. There is no legal paperwork required. There is no high court that you go to and make your claim to be a country. The first step is simply making the claim, "We are an independent country." Then, other countries have to recognize that claim. It is not 100%. There are claims where a group claims to be a country but nobody else recognizes it as a country, such as South Ossetia. There are others that have been recognized in the past, but not currently, such as Taiwan. There are some that are recognized by only a few countries, such as Abkhazia. From another point of view. There are organizations that claim they have the authority to declare what is and is not a country, such as the United Nations. But, others do not accept their authority on the matter. In the end, there is no way clearly define what is a country, which makes this question difficult to answer. ] (]) 20:46, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
::] {{tq|is a country,}} although I suppose the fact that this ''has'' multiple citations says something. (Mainly, it says that the CCP would like to edit it out.) ]&nbsp;] 06:46, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I assumed that everyone was referring to independent countries. I think this is exactly what the question is about. Our article says Taiwan is part of China. China is a country. So, Taiwan is part of a country and not a country by itself. But, the article says it is a country. So, it is independent. It isn't part of China. Which is true? Both? ] (]) 20:51, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
::::"Our article says Taiwan is part of China." Where does it say that? --] (]) (]) 15:40, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:Instead of trying to draft an abstract, do you have a concrete example you're thinking of? --] (]) 20:57, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
:One should always maintain a distinguish between countries and the regimes administering them. Syria was not the Assad regime – Assad is gone but Syria remains. Likewise, Russia is not the Putin regime. Identifying the two can only lead to confusion.
:What makes a geographic region (or collection of regions) a country – more precisely, a ]? There are countless ]s, several of which are sovereignty disputes; for example, the regimes of ] and ] claim each other's territory and deny each other's sovereignty over the territory the other effectively administers. Each has its own list of supporters of their claims. Likewise, the ] and ] claim each other's territory. By the definition of '']'', there is no agreement in such cases on the validity of such claims. The answer to the question whether the contested region in a sovereignty dispute is a country depends on which side of the dispute one chooses, which has more to do with ] than with any objectively applicable criteria. &nbsp;--] 10:16, 15 January 2025 (UTC)


::At least in part, it depends on other countries agreeing that a particular area is actually a nation and that the government that claims to represnt it has some legitimacy; see our ] article. For many nations, recognition would depend on whether the ] had been adhered to. ] (]) 12:24, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:There are certainly Muslim organization against terrorism. For instance, ], ], etc. ] (]) 17:49, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
One of the peculiarities of the Cold War is the emergence of competing governments in multiple countries, along a more or less similar pattern. We had West and East Germany, South and North Vietnam, South and North Korea and ROC and PRC. The only thing that separates the Chinese case from the onset is that there was no usage of the terms West China (for PRC) and East China (for ROC), since the ROC control was limited to a single province (and a few minor islands). Over time the ROC lost most of its diplomatic recognition, and the notion that the government in Taipei represented all of China (including claims on Mongolia etc) became anachronistic. Gradually over decades, in the West it became increasingly common to think of Taiwan as a separate country as it looked separate from mainland China on maps and whatnot. Somewhat later within Taiwan itself political movements wanted (in varying degrees) to abandon the ROC and declare the island as a sovereign state of its own grew. Taiwanese nationalism is essentially a sort of separatism from the ROC ruling Taiwan.
In all of the Cold War divided countries, there have been processes were the political separation eventually becomes a cultural and social separation as well. At the onset everyone agrees that the separation is only a political-institutional technicality, but over time societies diverge. Even 35 years after the end of the GDR, East Germans still feel East German. In Korea and China there is linguistic divergence, as spelling reforms and orthography have developed differently under different political regimes. --] (]) 10:41, 16 January 2025 (UTC)


::CAIR is actually not necessarily a very good example, since it seems to be surrounded in a continual cloud of controversy... ] (]) 21:57, 31 July 2009 (UTC) :The difference with Taiwan vs. the other Cold War governments is that pre-ROC Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Whereas other governments split existing countries, Taiwan was arguably a separate entity already. ] (]) 14:02, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:For the UK, the long-standing diplomatic position is that they recognise governments not countries, which has often avoided such complicated tangles. ] (]) 14:30, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
::To further complicate the issue with Taiwan... When the United States had a trade ban with China, most of the cheap goods shipped into the United States had a "Made in Taiwan" sticker. That was OK because hte United States recognized Taiwan as being completely separate from China. It was a bit odd that Taiwan could produce as much as it did. The reality is that they simply made "Made in Taiwan" stickers and put them on Chinese goods before sending them to the United States. When the trade ban was lifted, there was no need to route all the goods through Taiwan. Now, everything has "Made in China" stickers on them and the United States no longer recognizes Taiwan as an independent country. From a simplistic point of view, it appears that the recognition of status was based on convenience rather than political standing. ] (]) 15:14, 22 January 2025 (UTC)


== Photos in a novel ==
:Muslims in the UK are generally opposed to terrorism. It is only a few people on the fringes that support it. --] (]) 19:17, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


I'm reading a certain novel. In the middle of Chapter II (written in the first person), there are three pages containing photos of the hotel the author is writing about. Flicking through I find another photo towards the end of the book. I think: this must be a memoir, not a novel. I check, but every source says it's a novel.
:Dear 59.189.56.132 -- Your basic question is somewhat meaningless and unanswerable in the form in which you asked it, since there are hundreds of millions of Muslims with very diverse attitudes and diverse concerns. In many cases, the concrete specific details of local political or military events will be a lot more immediately relevant to people's lives than vaguely-defined and general terms such as "terrorism" considered philosophically in the abstract.


I've never encountered anything like this before: photos in a novel. Sure, novels are often based on real places, real people etc, but they use words to tell the story. Photos are the stuff of non-fiction. Are there any precedents for this? -- ] </sup></span>]] 20:59, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
:However, one little discrepancy which I find interesting is that during the middle ages, the mainstream consensus of Islamic legal interpretation was strongly in favor of regularized rules of war which would protect civilians in time of combat, etc. -- but nowadays there are extremely publicly prominent Muslim legal-religious scholars (such as ]) who say that suicide attacks deliberately targeting Jewish women and children are fully acceptable according to Islamic law -- in fact, Qaradawi has said that the one and only reason that it can ever be permissible for a Muslim woman to go unveiled in public is if going unveiled helps her to kill Jews! In this particular case, the ethics and morality of Islamic legal interpretation by some professional scholars has certainly degenerated and gone backwards since the medieval period. However, Qaradawi doesn't speak for, and is not necessary typical of, the many hundreds of millions of Muslims in the world... ] (]) 21:57, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


If anyone's interested, the novel is '']'' by ]. -- ] </sup></span>]] 21:00, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
::The Muslims I've known have been peace-loving. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 23:05, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:IIRC ''Loving Monsters'' by James Hamilton-Patterson has some photos in it. ] (]) 21:03, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
I know Muslims (and Japanese and Germans) are not monolithic blocs and even Muslim subcommunities are not monolithic blocs. But there are many surveys which show that "X% of Community Y support Z", so surely there are some for Muslim subcommunities and their views towards terrorism? For example, I think we can safely say that Singapore Muslims are less supportive of terrorism than Arab Muslims, but by how much? Try exploring the issues instead of calling me a troll. --] (]) 07:55, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


:'']'' by ], 1892. ] (]) 21:13, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
== How do whites feel about slavery, colonialism and all their racist crimes? ==
:I can quickly go to the fiction stacks and pull a dozen books with photos in them. It is common that the photos are in the middle of the book because of the way the book pressing works. ] (]) 21:16, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
::Really? I would like to hear some examples of what you're referring to. Like Jack, I think the appearance of photos in (adult) fiction is rare. The novels of ] are one notable exception. --] 21:31, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
::: in a blog "with an emphasis on W.G. Sebald and literature with embedded photographs" may be of interest. ] (]) 23:44, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
:::: Fascinating. Thanks. So, this is actually a thing. Someone should add it to our ]. -- ] </sup></span>]] 18:30, 16 January 2025 (UTC)


:::The word "adult" did not come up until you just decided to use it there. I stated that there are many fiction paperback books with a middle section of graphics, which commonly include images of photographs. You replied that that is rare in adult fiction. ] (]) 00:42, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Are most whites still racist today? --] (]) 17:30, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::::]s, you mean? ]&nbsp;] 06:59, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:What planet are you from? Don't you know many white people? Why are you cluttering this page with your nonsense? ] (]) 17:32, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::::It was assumed that we are talking about adult fiction, yes. --] 09:06, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::Of course I have met many white people online and many of them are racist. But I am looking for facts and statistics. --] (]) 17:37, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:'''Note to admins'''-this section should be removed as race-baiting. Clearly the anon editor has an agenda to push. ] (]) 17:40, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:All sections made by the IP should be removed. ] (]) 17:43, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::I agree, please don't ]. ] (]) 17:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
*I'm a numberist myself. Go away, you horrible digit. ]] 17:47, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::Has the OP read our article on ]s? ] (]) 18:09, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:::::I found , a "bibliography of works of fiction and poetry... containing embedded photographs". ] (]) 12:28, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::::I feel the OP needs to make a strong attempt to comprehend that people are individuals. There is no such thing as "how whites feel" or "how Jews feel" or "how blacks feel" because the entire race doesn't feel anything. The individuals have feelings and there is never a case in which all of the individuals feel the same thing. By continually making the accusation that every individual in the race be treated as a whole, the OP is demonstrating how extremely racist he or she is. The only cure for racism is education. If the OP is willing to learn, we can teach. If the OP is a die-hard racist with no purpose but to try and get others into an argument, then ignore the racist troll. -- ]] 18:27, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::::I have no idea how to paste a photo in here. What I am referring to is fiction paperback novels. They don't have to be fiction. Some are non-fiction. That is not the point. The book is a normal paperback, but in the middle of the book the pages are not normal paperback paper. They are a more glossy paper and printed in color with pictures. There is usually four to eight pages of pictures embedded into the middle of the otherwise normal paperback novel. It is very common in young adult novels where they don't want a fully graphic book (like children's books), but they still want some pictures. Out of all the novels where there is a graphic insert in the middle, some of the graphics on those pages are photographs. I've been trying to find an image on Google of books where the center of the book is shiny picture papges, but it keeps pushing me to "Make a photo album book" services. ] (]) 13:34, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::::::::*Clarification: "novel" refers only to works of fiction. --] (]) 21:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::::::Can you name one adult fiction (not YA or children's) novel which has a section of photographs in the middle? --] 14:00, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::::::So having photos in the middle of a book is quite common in non-fiction (example: I have a bio of Winston Churchill that has photos of him during various stages of his life). Publishers do this to make printing easier (as the photos use a different paper, it is easier to bind them in the middle… and photos don’t reproduce as well on the paper used for text).
::::::It is certainly rarer for there to be photos in works of fiction, simply because the characters and places described in the story are, well, ''fictional''. But it obviously ''can'' be done (example: if the fictional story is set in a real place, a series of photos of that place might help the reader envision the events that the story describes). ] (]) 13:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
:::::::I just realized another area for confusion. I was personally considering a any image that looks like a photo to be a photo. But, others may be excluding fictional photographs and only considering actual photographs. If that is the case, the obvious example (still toung adult fiction) would be Carmen Sandiego books, which are commonly packed with photographs of cities, even if they do photoshop an image of the bad guy into them. ] (]) 18:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::::::::]'s novel ''The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece'' tells a story of adapting a comic book into a movie, and includes several pages of that comic book and related ones. (To be clear, these are fictitious comic books, a fiction within a fiction). Where the comic book was printed in color, the book contains a block of pages on different paper as is common in non-fiction.
:::::::::...and then of course there's ]'s novel '']'', which is a spoof biography of an artist, including purported photos of the main character and reproductions of his artworks (actually created by Boyd himself). As our article about the book explains, some people in the art world were fooled. ] (]) 10:30, 17 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 15 =
:I haven't committed any racist crimes, thank you very much. --] (]) 19:15, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Refusing royal assent ==
Q: How do whites feel about slavery, colonialism and all their racist crimes?<br>
A: We're against them.
:Any more questions? ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 23:03, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


Are there any circumstances where the British monarch would be within their rights to withhold royal assent without triggering a constitutional crisis. I'm imagining a scenario where a government with a supermajority passed legislation abolishing parliament/political parties, for example? I know it's unlikely but it's an interesting hypothetical.
{{resolved}}


If the monarch did refuse, what would happen? Would they eventually have to grant it, or would the issue be delegated to the Supreme Court or something like that? --] 14:38, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
== Times when world population have decreased... ==


:Our ] article says: {{xt|In 1914, George V took legal advice on withholding Royal Assent from the ]; then highly contentious legislation that the Liberal government intended to push through Parliament by means of the Parliament Act 1911. He decided not to withhold assent without "convincing evidence that it would avert a national disaster, or at least have a tranquillising effect on the distracting conditions of the time"}}. ] (]) 15:05, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
I was reading the article on the ] just now, and the intro states that "The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400". This is a pretty stunning statement, that the plauge was so horrible that it significantly decreased the number of living humans. Has there been other events (plauges, wars, famines, whatever) where something has had an impact world population?


: Not British, but there was the 1990 case of King ], whose conscience and Catholic faith would not permit him to grant assent to a bill that would liberalise Belgium's abortion laws. A solution was found:
I found ] in the article on ], and it seems to show that it has essentially only happened twice: a rather sustained fall beginning around 500 BCE and continuing for a few hundred years after that, and a few times in the years 1000-2000 CE. The second one I assume is different outbreaks of the plauge (would that be a correct assumption?) but what is the first? I would be most grateful if someone could enlighten me and direct me to the apropriate articles. ] (]) 17:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:* (quote from article) In 1990, when a law submitted by Roger Lallemand and Lucienne Herman-Michielsens that liberalized Belgium's abortion laws was approved by Parliament, he refused to give royal assent to the bill. This was unprecedented; although Baudouin was de jure Belgium's chief executive, royal assent has long been a formality (as is the case in most constitutional and popular monarchies). However, due to his religious convictions—the Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion—Baudouin asked the government to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he could avoid signing the measure into law. The government under Wilfried Martens complied with his request on 4 April 1990. According to the provisions of the Belgian Constitution, in the event the king is temporarily unable to reign, the government as a whole assumes the role of head of state. All government members signed the bill, and the next day (5 April 1990) the government called the bicameral legislature in a special session to approve a proposition that Baudouin was capable of reigning again.
:Do you mean an impact where the world population decreased, or simply where it was significantly effected? The demographics of Africa were (and are) significantly affected by AIDS, but absolute population hasn't gone down, it just hasn't increased as quickly. There were also many deaths in North America after European contact - Misplaced Pages's ] gives estimates as high as 140 million, but after the various diseases and wars the number of "natives" in the Americas was down to a tiny portion of that. ] (]) 17:54, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
: There's no such provision in the UK Constitution as far as I'm aware, although Regents can be and have been appointed in cases of physical incapacity. -- ] </sup></span>]] 15:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)


:::A more likely scenario in your hypothesis is that the Opposition could bring the case to the ] who have the power make rulings on constitutional matters; an enample was ]'s decision ]. 15:23, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
::I was actually more interested in those events that where so catastrophic that world population actually decreased, but information on other events which have had a huge negative impact on demographics is certainly appriciated. ] (]) 17:59, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::The ] killed 50 to 100 million of the 1.6 billion people in the world at the time. I don't know if births outweighed this at the time. ] (]) 18:06, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::The ] may be part of the reason for the flat spot above "year 0" on the chart. What caused the decline before that though? One out of 38 people (2.6% of world population) were killed in the ] but it led to the ], not a decline. ] (]) 18:09, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::::Of course, Jutinian was 500 years or so after the BC/AD line (the non-existant "year 0")... --]''''']''''' 18:27, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:::There is the ability to delegate powers to ]. There are restrictions on what powers can be delegated in section 6(1) of the ], but I don't see anything prohibiting the monarch from delegating the power to grant Royal Assent. He could then temporarily absent himself from the UK (perhaps on an impromptu trip to another Commonwealth Realm) so that the Counsellors of State could grant such Assent during his absence. ] ] 15:40, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::::I'm actually starting to suspect that it may just have been a poorly drawn chart (well, a chart based on poor information at least). The image-page for the chart states that it uses the same information as ] (only drawn logarithmically), and that chart uses the lower estimates from . But if you look at the table at the Census Bureau-page, you see that most of the lower estimates comes from "The Atlas of World History" by McEvedy and Jones, but they don't have a stat for 400 BCE, so instead the lowest estimate comes from "An Essay Concerning Mankind's Evolution" by Biraben. But Birabens stats are consistently higher than McEvedy and Jones's, which makes the lower estimate "jump up" slighly during that time. Maybe there was no population decrease at all between 200 and 400 BCE, just that the table where the information came from was exceedingly poorly constructed. ] (]) 18:39, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Fratelli Gianfranchi ==
: If you want go back far enough, the ] 70,000 to 75,000 years ago may have reduced the population to as few as 10,000. (The article doesn't mention what it was before the event. The ] asks, but there's no definite answer.) ] (]) 13:23, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


Can anyone find any information about Fratelli Gianfranchi, sculptor(s) of the ]?<ref>{{cite news |title=Daily Telegraph: A New Statue of Washington |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/harrisburg-telegraph-a-new-statue-of-was/162933969/ |work=Harrisburg Telegraph |date=August 18, 1876 |location=] |page=1 |via=] |quote=The statue was executed by Fratelli Gianfranchi, of Carrara, Italy, who modeled it from Leutze's masterpiece}}</ref> I assume ] means brothers, but I could be wrong.
*Hey, don't forget the Castastrophe on June 6th, 1996. A mysterious explosion destroyed the Chernolton research facility near Moscow. Lucifer Alpha, a powerful biological weapon under secret development there was released into the atmosphere, creating a deadly biohazard. Carried by the trade winds, Lucifer Alpha spread through out Eastern Europe and Eurasia, destroying 80% of the populace. Half of the world's people died. ]] 18:11, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
{{reflist-talk}} ] (]) 15:31, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
**And for those people who missed the oblique reference to a 20 year old video game, read ]. --]''''']''''' 18:29, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:"Fratelli Gianfranchi" would be translated as "Gianfranchi Brothers" with Gianfranchi being the surname. Looking at Google Books there seems to have existed a sculptor called Battista Gianfranchi from Carrara but I'm not finding much else. --] (]) 06:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
***What do you mean ''game''? ]] 18:35, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::The city of ] is famous for its ] which has been exploited since Roman times, and has a long tradition of producing sculptors who work with the local material. Most of these would not be considered notable as they largely produce works made on command. ] (]) 09:53, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Thank you both, it is helpful to have confirmation that you couldn't find any more than I did. For what it's worth, I found Battista Gianfranchi and Giuseppe Gianfranchi separately in Google books. It is interesting that, of the references in the article, the sculptor is only named in an 1876 article and not in later sources. ] (]) 13:55, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
::::In the light of the above, the mentions in the article of "the Italian sculptor Fratelli Gianfranchi" should perhaps be modified (maybe ". . . sculptors Fratelli Gianfranchi (Gianfranchi Brothers)"), but our actual sources are thin and this would border on ].
::::FWIW, the Brothers (or firm) do not have an entry in the Italian Misplaced Pages, but I would have expected there to be Italian-published material about them, perhaps findable in a library or museum in Carrara. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ] (]) 18:43, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:::::I have added the translation for Fratelli Gianfranchi as a footnote. I agree that more information might be available in Carrara. ] (]) 20:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 16 =
== Can I seek Chapter 15 protection while a case is ongoing in my home country or after it finished ? ==
Simple question. I don’t have Us citizenship, but I owe a large debt amount in New York that can’t legally exist in my home country where I currently live (at least where the 50% interest represent usury even for a factoring contract).


My contract only states that disputes should be discussed within a specific Manhattan court, it doesn’t talk about which is the applicable law beside the fact that French law states that French consumer law applies if a contract is signed if the client live in France (and the contract indeed mention my French address). This was something my creditors were unaware of (along with the fact it needs to be redacted in French to have legal force in such a case), but at that time I was needing legal protection after my first felony, and I would had failed to prove partilly non guilty if I did not got the money on time. I can repay what I borrowed with all my other debts but not the ~$35000 in interest.
The last time there is a recorded decline in the world population, equal to a stunning 25%, was ]. Since then, births have out-weighed deaths. ] (]) 07:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
:::<small>OK, I forgot about ]. My bad. ] (]) 07:50, 3 August 2009 (UTC)</small>
::::Now ''there's'' a story Ark.
::::Let's not forget World War II, which between the wonton slaughter of soldiers and the mass murders of civilians made a notable dent in the human population. Not like the Black Death, but significant still. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 07:56, 3 August 2009 (UTC)


Can I use Chapter 15 to redirect in part my creditors to a bankruptcy proceeding in France or is it possible to file for Chapter 15 only once a proceeding is finished ? Can I use it as an individiual or is Chapter 15 only for businesses ? ] (]) 09:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
==Hitler's quote==
:We don't answer questions like that here. You should engage a lawyer. --] 09:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
Some time ago I red this quote in Wikiquote ''Anybody who sees and paints a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized'' (in German it would be something like ''Wer sieht und malt ein Himmel grün und blau Felder müssen sterilisiert werden'', just to guess). Now it's absent, I think because it was unsourced. Can someone verify if it's a real quote? It would be amazing if you could find the original German form and when it was actually said. --] (]) 18:32, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:Chapter 15 bankruptcy does cover individuals and does include processes for people who are foreign citizens. ] (]) 11:24, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
:Well, the first source given in the #1 Google hit for me is Dorothy Thompson, who attributed it to Hitler in the N.Y. Post, Jan 3, 1944. So apparently an unofficial (maybe even biased) source, then. - ]&nbsp;<sup>]!</span> ]</sup> 18:48, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


= January 17 =
::It should be noted that ] was very biased against Hitler, especially after being expelled from Germany. Her statements may be based in truth, but unless others make the same statements, I would assume she is exaggerating. -- ]] 19:04, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


== Raymond Smullyan and Ayn Rand ==
:::<s>The German seems very hard to track down, even just on the keywords (e.g. I would expect green and blue to equal grün and blau (with or without endings) regardless of the rest of the translation). So it probably didn't exist in that form, though</s> Hitler's own views on modern art can be easily sourced. - ]&nbsp;<sup>]!</span> ]</sup> 19:14, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:::"Jedermann, das Blau sieht und malt ein Himmelgrün und auffängt, soll entkeimt werden." is the German apparently. Googling it now. - ]&nbsp;<sup>]!</span> ]</sup> 19:21, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::::2 hits? Maybe not. - ]&nbsp;<sup>]!</span> ]</sup> 19:25, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


Did ] ever directly discuss or mention ] or ]? I think he might have indirectly referenced her philosophy in a a fictional symposium on truthfulness where a speaker says that he(or she) is not as "fanatical" about being as selfish as possible as an earlier speaker who said he himself was a selfish bastard.] (]) 02:23, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
: <small> Is anyone else reminded of the ''Blaues Gras'' cantata by P. D. Q. Bach? —] (]) 04:06, 2 August 2009 (UTC) </small>


:I guess not. Smullyan wrote so much that it is difficult to assert with certainty that he never did, but it has been pointed out by others that his ] philosophical stance is incompatible with Rand's Objectivism.<sup></sup> &nbsp;--] 12:23, 17 January 2025 (UTC)
Yeah, he did, that is a quote from Mein Kampf. Trust me I have read it many many times. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 19:29, 31 July 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Wow, where? I CTRL-F'd Reynal And Hitchcock's translation and couldn't get any hits :( - ]&nbsp;<sup>]!</span> ]</sup> 19:31, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::I don't think any of them do. It doesn't actually sound like Mein Kampf, to me. His discussion of ] is much more reserved in the book, and clings very tightly to the medicalized language of ], at least in the editions I have seen. --] (]) 20:23, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


= January 18 =
It's an exaggerated paraphrase of something Hitler said in his speech at the opening of the first ''Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung'' (Great German Art Exhibition) in 1937, . The quote is:


== "The Narrow Way" issued to prisoners in 1916 ==
:"Ich habe hier unter den eingeschickten Bildern manche Arbeiten beobachtet, bei denen tatsächlich angenommen werden muß, daß gewissen Menschen das Auge die Dinge anders zeigt als sie sind, d.h. daß es wirklich Männer gibt, die die heutigen Gestalten unseres Volkes nur als verkommene Kretins sehen, die grundsätzlich Wiesen blau, Himmel grün, Wolken schwefelgelb usw. empfinden oder, wie sie vielleicht sagen, erleben. Ich will mich nicht in einen Streit darüber einlassen, ob diese Betreffenden das nun wirklich so sehen und empfinden oder nicht, sondern ich möchte im Namen des deutschen Volkes es nur verbieten, daß so bedauerliche Unglückliche, die ersichtlich am Sehvermögen leiden, die Ergebnisse ihrer Fehlbetrachtungen der Mitwelt mit Gewalt als Wirklichkeit aufzuschwätzen versuchen, oder ihr gar als "Kunst" vorsetzen wollen. Nein, hier gibt es nur zwei Möglichkeiten: Entweder diese sogenannten "Künstler" sehen die Dinge wirklich so und glauben daher an das, was sie darstellen, dann wäre nur zu untersuchen, ob ihre Augenfehler entweder auf mechanische Weise oder durch Vererbung zustande gekommen sind. Im einen Fall tief bedauerlich für diese Unglücklichen, im zweiten wichtig für das Reichsinnenministerium, das sich dann mit der Frage zu beschäftigen hätte, wenigstens eine weitere Vererbung derartiger grauenhafter Sehstörungen zu unterbinden. Oder aber sie glauben selbst nicht an die Wirklichkeit solcher Eindrücke, sondern sie bemühen sich aus anderen Gründen, die Nation mit diesem Humbug zu belästigen, dann fällt so ein Vorgehen in das Gebiet der Strafrechtspflege."


In his book '''', about prison life in England in 1916, the Quaker Hubert Peet says:
Translation:
: "I saw many works among the pictures submitted here for which it indeed has to be assumed that certain people's eyes show things differently than they are, this means that there are really men who see, or, as they may say, experience, the present-day body shapes of our Nation only as degenerate retards, who generally perceive meadows as blue, skies as green, clouds as sulphurous yellow, and so on. I do not want to argue whether the people concerned really see or perceive it like this, but I just want to prohibit in the name of the German Nation that these poor unfortunate people who clearly suffer with respect to their vision try to forcefully sell the results of their misconceptions to the public, or even declare it "art". No, there are only two possibilities: Either these so-called "artists" really see things in this way and hence believe in what they represent, then one just would have to investigate whether their eye problems were caused mechanically or through inheritance. In the former case very unfortunate for these poor people, in the latter case important for the Interior Department, which would then have to look at the issue of at least preventing a further inheritance of such dreadful vision problems. Or, they do not believe in the reality of these perceptions themselves but try for other reasons to harass the Nation with this nonsense, then this method of operation belongs into the area of criminal law."


:On entry one is given a Bible, Prayer Book, and Hymn Book. In the ordinary way these would be supplemented by a curious little manual of devotion entitled “The Narrow Way,” but at the Scrubs Quakers were mercifully allowed in its place the Fellowship Hymn Book and the Friends’ Book of Discipline.
It seems Dorothy Thompson is a rather more succint writer than Hitler... --] (]) 19:23, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


What was this book ''The Narrow Way''?
== Information requested by sweepstake forms ==


Why do they often ask age and gender for sweepstakes ? Is it to prevent certain categories people from winning ? (ie: a 79 old woman registers in a contest aimed at a teenage male audience) ? ] (]) 20:19, 31 July 2009 (UTC) I thought the question would be easy to answer if the book was standard issue, but I haven't found anything. (Yes, I'm aware that the title is a reference to Matthew 7:14.) ] (]) 03:46, 18 January 2025 (UTC)


:Letters of a Prisoner for Conscience Sake - Page 54 (Corder Catchpool · 1941, via Google books) says "The Narrow Way , you must know , is as much a prison institution as green flannel underclothing ( awfu ' kitly , as Wee Macgregor would say ) , beans and fat bacon , superannuated “ duster " -pocket - handkerchiefs , suet pudding ... and many other truly remarkable things !" so it does seem to have been standard issue. ] (]) 04:22, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
:It's probably ''not'' for that reason, mainly because I am fairly sure they can't discriminate along the lines of gender and age (with the possible exception of minimum ages). It's probably because most sweepstakes are really ways to harvest addresses for advertising pitches, and knowing that kind of information (and often they ask what you household income is, as well) means they can sell targeted ad lists. Just my guess. (In reference to a US context in particular.) --] (]) 20:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


:Google Books finds innumerable publishers' adverts for ''The Narrow Way, Being a Complete Manual of Devotion, with a Guide to Confirmation and Holy Communion'', compiled by E.B. . Many of them, of widely varying date, claim that the print run is in its two hundred and forty-fifth thousand. it's claimed that it was first published c. 1869, and have a copy of a new edition from as late as 1942. Apart from that, I agree, it's remarkably difficult to find anything about it. --] (]) 12:13, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
::One way to find out is, if you have to give your name, give a fake middle initial, and see where that starts turning up. Then you know who they sold their mailing list to. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 23:37, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
::You can for £5.99. ] (]) 15:30, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
:{{small|Fun fact: a copy of ''The Narrow Way'' figures in ]'s novel '']''. ] (]) 22:26, 20 January 2025 (UTC)}}


= January 19 =
== Religion,biography of William Temple ==


== Federal death penalty ==
I want to know the biography of William Temple,archbishop of Caanterbury <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 21:48, 31 July 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:See ]. ] (]) 21:51, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


Is there a list of federal criminal cases where the federal government sought the death penalty but the jury sentenced the defendant to life in prison instead? I know ]'s case is one, but I'm unsure of any others. ] &#124; ] 01:41, 19 January 2025 (UTC)
== Third Punic War info request ==


== Official portraits of Donald Trump's first presidency ==
Did the name of ], where ] besieged Carthage, have a meaning relating to '''Mars'''.--] <sup>]</sup> 21:52, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
:The article you linked to, ], says, "The name is derived from the ] word for ''citadel''." Do you have reason to doubt that? ] (]) 00:04, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::No, I am sure that is correct. I have reason to believe that either that hill or another (apparently there were three additional blockades or "hills" protecting Byrsa) were referred to as Mar's hill. Citadel is correct as many ancient sources say this is the meaning for Byrsa. Perhaps one of ] was referred to as the hill of Mars?--] <sup>]</sup> 11:44, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::Problem solved. I found what I was looking for.--] <sup>]</sup> 12:24, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::Perhaps you would like to share the solution you have found with the rest of us. ] (]) 17:49, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Right now I am studying various aspects of ancient history. I am reading from Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch. '''Mars hill''' turns out to be ], nothing to do with Scipio it turns out. Areopagus was the council of elders of the city, similar to the ]. So I guess one could say Areopagus (Greece) is the counterpart of the Roman Senate. --] <sup>]</sup> 22:26, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Also I note that there is ] to '''Mars''' in one of ], ].--] <sup>]</sup> 13:54, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Also I note that there is a reference to it in ], if the King James Version (1611) had been used for the Acts of Apostles reference for verse 22. ''Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious.''
::::I see that in verse 19 ] is referenced. Areopagus in the ] means "the hill of Mars."
::::KJV reads: ''And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is?''
:::: Areopagus (Greece) is the counterpart of the Roman Senate? --] <sup>]</sup> 16:29, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Also apparently the '''''' was at the location of ] prior.--] <sup>]</sup> 18:06, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Also apparently ] made reference to '''Mars''' as pointed out in ]: ''For your cattle, for them to be healthy, make this sacrifice to Mars Silvanus you must make this sacrifice each year.'' Apparently it is believed that all Romans are descendants of '''Mars.'''
::::Also there seems to have been a in Rome, that Misplaced Pages has ].--] <sup>]</sup> 18:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


{{multiple image
== Pope Re Abortion ==
| image1 = 20170607-OSEC-PJK-0061 (34770550600).jpg
| alt1 = Yellow cartouche
| width1 = 413
| caption1 = *grim*
| image2 = Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg
| alt2 = Official portrait?
| width2 = 200
| caption2 = *grin*
}}
Commons category '']'' only contains variations of the portrait with Donald Trump smiling. But '']'' only contains photos incorporating Trump's official portrait with a vigorous facial expression, which is otherwise not even included in Commons?! This seems inconsistent - what is the background and status of either photo? --] (]) 10:51, 19 January 2025 (UTC)


:The framed portraits hanging on the wall in these photos are an official portrait from December 15, 2016, of the then president-elect.<sup></sup> The one with bared teeth is from October 6, 2017, when Trump was in office.<sup></sup> For two more recent official mug shots, look . &nbsp;--] 12:31, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Is it true that the Pope refused to allow a 9 year old rape victon to have an abortion? Did a brazilian archbishop at the center of the controversey get excommunicated? ------- <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 23:59, 31 July 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
::Ok, thank you. Do you know why the president-elect photo is not even uploaded in Commons? Shouldn't it be included in ]? --] (]) 16:00, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
:::The most plausible reason that it was not uploaded is that no one missed it. Among those aware of its existence and having the wherewithal to find it on the Web and to upload it to the Commons, no one may have realized it had not already been uploaded. Or they may not have felt a need; there is no shortage of images in the relevant articles.
:::Strictly speaking, it does not belong in ], as Trump was not yet president. However, ] features nothing but lugubrious portraits of the president-reelect. &nbsp;--] 22:56, 20 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 20 =
:As far as I can tell, the abortion was long over before the Pope received word and commented. This recent states that the doctor and the girl's parents are excommunicate. The girl herself is not as she is too young to have been responsible for the decision. As for the archbishop, why would he have been penalized at all? He was entirely on side with the official doctrine. ] (]) 00:17, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::I'd be less worried about the current pope if he didn't look like the preacher from ]... ]] 00:20, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::To me, he looks more like Emperor Palpatine ] (]) 21:22, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


== Trattato delle attinie, ed osservazioni sopra alcune di esse viventi nei contorni di Venezia, accompagnate da 21 tavole litografiche del Conte Nicolò Contarin ==
= August 1 =


I am trying to find the illustration’s description from the original source: ''Trattato delle attinie, ed osservazioni sopra alcune di esse viventi nei contorni di Venezia, accompagnate da 21 tavole litografiche del Conte Nicolò Contarin'' including species name and description for these sea anemones: https://www.arsvalue.com/it/lotti/541811/contarini-nicolo-bertolucci-1780-1849-trattato-delle-attinie-ed-osservazio . I requested it on the resource request page but was not able to find where in the source these illustrations are or where their descriptions are. It doesn’t help that I can’t read Italian. ] (]) 00:11, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
== Why didn't Europeans die from a lack of immunity to diseases in the new world? ==
:Apparently you need to locate an occurrence of "(T<small><small>AV</small></small> VII)" or "(T<small><small>AV</small></small> XII)" in the text. --] (]) 12:04, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
:{{ec}} References to the illustration are in the form "{{serif|tavolo VII}}" or "{{serif|tav. VII}}". So, for example, page 99 refers to {{serif|fig. 1 e 2}}. The text refers to the development of the actinae being studied without precise identification, specifically to their sprouting new tentacles, not being (''contra'' ]) a prolongation of the skin of the base, but from parts of the body. The same page has a reference to {{serif|fig. 3}}. &nbsp;--] 12:17, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
::Sorry where are you seeing this page 99 you are referring to? ] (]) 20:47, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Oops, I forgot to link. It is (and also ). &nbsp;--] 22:42, 20 January 2025 (UTC)


== Pu Yi ==
Why didn't Europeans die from a lack of immunity to some diseases in the new world in the same way so many Native Americans died from diseases brought from Europe?
<s>Although member of the Chinese Communist Party, the last Emperor was an anti-communist and counter-revolutionnair until his death? <!-- Template:Unsigned IP --><small class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 17:26, 20 January 2025 (UTC)</small></s><small>Block evasion. ]<small>]</small> 18:58, 20 January 2025 (UTC)</small>
:I imagine that during the ], it was wise to keep one's opinions to one's self. ] (]) 17:31, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
::{{small|] did apparently not get the memo. &nbsp;--] 22:32, 20 January 2025 (UTC)}}
::] can give psychological pressure on the individual and affect his or her behaviours. ] (]) 09:38, 21 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 21 =
For example, it would seem that the ''same process'' that made Europeans able to survive smallpox in relatively large percentages while killing many Native Americans should have resulted in some disease in the new world being as fatal to the Europeans.


== text of executive order ==
It seems reasonable that Europeans had developed some sort of immunity (antibodies or genetic selection) to smallpox through generations of exposure while Native Americans had no prior exposure, leaving them much more vulnerable. But why wasn't there some other disease in the New World to which Native American's had become immune that was just as devastating to the European immigrants as smallpox was to the Native Americans?


Hi. On 2025-01-20, POTUS signed an ] titled "Ending Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal Immigrants". This event has been reported by virtually every major news outlet in the world.
It just seems that each population, isolated from the other, might harbor diseases that they have developed immunity to, that would be fatal to the other population. <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 00:52, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Jared Diamond talks about this in ]. He gives some good reasons, like the old world having a much larger population (Europe, Asia and to a degree Africa) and, crucially, population density in some parts, which increases the chances that pathogens will evolve. My opinion, in short, is that while it was entirely possible for some disease to rise in the America's that the rest of the world was very vulnerable after first contact, that simply didn't happen. For whatever reason, or maybe for no reason at all beyond chance, the diseases in the old world were more virulent than those in the new and the latter suffered for it. ] (]) 01:01, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::ah I almost forgot, if I recall he also mentions living in close quarters with domestic animals (pigs etc) as a habit more common in the old world that encouraged the development of diseases. ] (]) 01:06, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::While it does not discuss the disease factor directly, the more recent '']'' has much higher population estimates for the New World based on some new research that was unavailible or ignored for GG&S. Also, you should read ]'s book ''The Columbian Exchange'' (our article titled ] discusses his concepts, but not his book directly) which makes the case, often since repeated, that diseases DID move back to the old world, namely ], which may have been carried back to Europe by Columbus's crew themselves. Additionally, without potatoes, you would not have the ], so you could easily consider the famous Irish potato blight to be another disease that came from the new world to the old. These three books (Guns, Germs, & Steel/The Columbian Exchange/1491) actually compliment each other well. They disagree on many points, but if you are looking for the three most important popular histories on the effect of colonialism on the New World, these three are probably the great triumverate. Also, another point not made about why diseases may have not been brought back to the old world; there was no large scale population migrations to the old world. The movement of people was largely one way (there was some movement in the reverse direction, but not a significant amount) and (the syphilis example notwithstanding) this probably goes a LONG way towards explaining why the diseases also seemed to travel only in one direction. --]''''']''''' 02:43, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


It is now 2025-01-20 9PM Washington time, and I have been trying to find the exact text, or even portions of its text, for a while now, to no avail.
:Total speculation here, but consider this: A significant portion of the Europeans died from the Black Death. Those that didn't presumably had stronger immune systems. Maybe that helped in fending off diseases that the Indians might have carried (though not syphillis, obviously). ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 04:29, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:I found this '']'' article () pretty interesting. Basically, the author claims that a lethal disease needs a dense enough population to keep itself going; if say an isolated tribe caught it and was wiped out, the disease would have nobody left to infect and would die out. The Americas just didn't have enough people to sustain epidemics, and Europe did. As an example, he states that "Studies show that measles is likely to die out in any human population numbering less than half a million people." ] (]) 08:30, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


1. Is the full text of this executive order available to the general public?
== Business question: Joint parenthood for companies? ==


This ] site claims that: "All Executive Orders and Proclamations issued after March 1936 are required by law to be published in the Federal Register."
I seem to have encountered a company that has two parent companies. How does that work? Did they get things wrong and should one be assigned to be the parent (maybe the one forming a taxable entity with the subsidiary) and the other company just be called s.th. else. (If yes, what?) ] (]) 02:49, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:Could be some kind of ]. If not, which company are you looking at? ] (]) 07:23, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


2. Assuming that the above claim is true, is there any requirement or guideline on how quickly an EO is published after it has been signed by POTUS? ] (]) 02:22, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
:Formally, a company can only have one parent company, because a parent company owns >50% of the other (at least in Swedish legal defintions, which I work with). However, the parent company may itself have a parent company too, and then the owned company can be said to have more than one parentcompany, even if one of them is acctually a "grandparent". ] (]) 01:29, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


:Nevermind. The full text was posted some time around 2025-01-20 8:45PM Washington time. None of the news agencies reporting before that got the title right, so I'm guessing that the title of the EO was only released when its full text was released. ] (]) 02:49, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
== Pilgrimages, succession, infighting ==
::As I read the order literally, it implies that persons to which birthright citizenship is denied by force of Section 2 (a) of the order can also not be naturalized at a later date (or, if they can, no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing the acquired citizenship). &nbsp;--] 10:46, 22 January 2025 (UTC)


== Deadline for ratification of amendments to the US constitution ==
What known connections exist between the ] and the ]? Any common families, parishes or otherwise? How about the religious background combined with rebellion? Were the new Pilgrims mocking the Catholic ones, or were they heirs to their tradition, just having evolved into a Protestant movement of recusant and/or separatist Christian communities?


Hello, and thank you for this opportunity to ask the experts. There's been talk recently about the proposed ] to the US constitution after former president Biden stated the he considered the amendment to be ratified and part of the US constitution, as it had been ratified by 38 states, reaching the bar of three quarters of the states the Article 5 of the US constitution sets.
:I doubt it extremely, since the two movements were on opposite sides of the western Christian religious fractures of the 16th and early 17th centuries, and the "Pilgimage of Grace" originated in the north of England, while the Pilgrims tended to come from East Anglia or the south of England... ] (]) 16:14, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


The National Archives disagreed and pointed to a deadline (later extended) for ratification set by Congress; since the required number of states had not been reached by the final deadline and since the deadline had not been extended further, it said, the amendment could not be considered ratified.
Wasn't the Pilgrimage an offshoot of the ]? That's where Boston is and the home of ] as well as many of the other colonists, William Bradford being from Austerfield, West Riding of Yorkshire. For instance, the original Pilgrim church is at Scrooby, Notts just next to the West Riding and close enough to Lincolnshire as well.


This appears to be plainly at odds with the text of ], which contains no mention of Congress being able to impose a deadline, or in fact any other requirement, for the ratification process. The best argument I've seen in non-scholarly sources is, in essence, that "the 5th Amendment is silent on this", but that strikes me as unconvincing. The 5th prescribes a process, and there is no reason (that is readily apparent to me) to presume that this process may be changed by Congress in either direction. Just like Congress may not declare that ratification by one half of the states (rather than three quarters) is sufficient, it may not impose that additional steps must be taken or additional hurdles passed: say, it may not require that four fifths of the states must ratify and that three quarters is not enough. The Constitution prescribes what conditions are necessary for an Amendment to become part of the Constitution — but it also dictates that when these conditions are met, this does happen.
=== English succession ===


As such I find the National Archives' position to be inconsistent with the Constitution and the 5th, and Congress's attempt to impose an additional requirement in the form of a deadline strikes me as out of line with the Constitution, rendering said additional requirement null and void.
How do we know that ] and ] were impostors for real and not that the Tudors used spin doctoring to claim otherwise, such as their suppression of the ] and depiction of Richard III as a hunchback monster? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 06:34, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->


''That said,'' and this is where my question comes in, I am not a legal expert. I haven't studied law, nor do I work in or with law in any way; I am merely curious. And although appeals to authority are fallacious as far as logical reasoning is concerned, I don't doubt that the National Archives (as well as, presumably, Congressional staff) have considered this matter and concluded that yes, a) the imposition of a deadline by Congress, above and beyond the process prescribed by the 5th, is constitutional; b) meeting of said deadline is then an additional condition for ratification; and c) since this deadline has not been met here, the ERA is not part of the Constitution.
How come during the Wars of the Roses, the rebels of Richard III chose a Tudor, rather than a Somerset aka Beaufort aka Plantagenet (or even a Stafford of Buckingam?) and have him marry Elizabeth of York, or have the Clarence Earl of Warwick marry a Somerset (etc)? What attempts were there to revive this dynasty during the Tudors or at the end of Elizabeth's reign, seeing as there were no more Tudors? What about the de la Pole family? Why not raise them to the throne at her death? What was the point of bringing the Howards into it, when the even older lines could have played a part in the conspiracies against the Tudors? Did the Somersets simply back the Tudors because of Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII?


And my question is: why? On what legal basis? Surely Congress cannot create additional requirements out of whole cloth; there must be some form of authorization in it. What's more, since we are talking about a process prescribed by the Constitution itself, said authority must itself be grounded in the Constitution, rather than taking the form of e.g. a simple law (Congress cannot arbitrarily empower itself to change the rules and processes laid down by the Constitution).
It seems like there were three parties about the Tudor succession descended from Henry VII:


I would be very grateful if someone with a background in law (professional or otherwise) could explain this to me. Thank you very much! ] (]) 07:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
*Papist (via jointly Arthur & Henry Tudor, with the same wife): Philip Habsburg & '''Mary Tudor'''
:I ain't no lawyer, but as I recall, the deadline was stated within the amendment proposal itself. That was the case with a few other amendments also, but they were ratified within the time limit, so there was no issue. It's possible someone will take this issue to court, and ultimately the Supreme Court would have to decide if that type of clause is valid. On the flip side, there is the most recent amendment, which prohibits Congress from giving itself a raise without an intervening election of Representatives. That one was in the wind for like 200 years, lacking a deadline. When it was finally ratified, it stood. ←] <sup>'']''</sup> ]→ 11:31, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
*Puritan (via Mary Tudor): Guildford Dudley & '''Jane Grey'''
::Thank you very much for your reply, much appreciated! I didn't know the deadline was in the proposal itself. I'm not sure I'm convinced that this should make a difference, since for as long as the proposed Amendment is no part of the Constitution, it really is ''not'' part of the Constitution and should not be able to inform or affect other provisions of the Constitution. That said I of course agree that it would take the Supreme Court to decide the issue for good. Thanks again! ] (]) 16:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
*Anglican (via Margaret Tudor): Francis Valois or Henry Stuart or James Hepburn & '''Mary Stuart'''


:::<small>The ] may be quite busy with executive orders for a while. Quite possible, that the ] has to appoint another 6 or 12 judges to cope with all that work load. --] (]) 18:44, 21 January 2025 (UTC)</small>
How come the ] was allowed to succeed to the English throne (despite Henry VIII's restriction of Margaret's line and although not while the King of France was still living) and that it used the Anglican (Episcopalian) model, whereas the Puritan (Calvinist) faction of Northumberland and Suffolk, English as it was, had no luck? It seems odd that the rulers of England and Scotland were opposite of the national constitutions between them and I don't understand that.
:::The courts in general views these things as ]s. <span style="font-family: Cambria;"> ] (])</span> 21:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
::The deadline for the ERA was mentioned in a resolving clause before the text of the amendment itself. In other cases, such as the ], the deadline was contained in the amendment itself. Whether this makes any practical difference is a question for the courts. --] (]) (]) 13:51, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
: I don't understand why it is the National Archives rather than a legal/constitutional authority such as the Supreme Court that gets to decide whether a proposed amendment has become ratified or not, ie. become law or not. -- ] </sup></span>]] 21:09, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
:::There is the Executive, in this case the National Archives, doing what the Chief Executive ordered them to do. And there is Congress, which set the rules. This sounds like a ]. <span style="font-family: Cambria;"> ] (])</span> 21:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
::By a that took effect in 1984, the task of certifying ratifications of amendments to the US Constitution has been given to the ], which is why the interpretation of the National Archives (that is, the Archivist) matters. One might argue that this statute is unconstitutional, as the Constitution does not include a provision requiring certification for ratification to take effect, unlike for other federal processes that depend on the outcomes from the several states. AFAIK the constitutionality of the statute, or any of its predecessors (like ) has never been challenged in court. &nbsp;--] 10:15, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
::: I see. Thank you, Lambiam. -- ] </sup></span>]] 11:20, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
::: But of course there must always be some form of official certification. That would be the case for any law passed to a state governor or the president for signing, just as it must be for a constitutional change. Otherwise, ''anyone'' could claim that a proposed constitutional amendment has been ratified by a sufficient number of states and must now become part of the law of the USA. Surely the system depends on not just ''anyone'' claiming this, but a properly constituted authority with the legal power/responsibility to make such a certification. -- ] </sup></span>]] 06:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Note that there was no certification procedure for the original ]; actually, the amendment provision of the ], which required unanimous approval of the states, was bypassed. I don't think there was already one in place for the ] either – when Congress met on on January 18, 1792, the President simply informed them that he had "a copy of an exemplified copy of an Act of the Legislature of Vermont, ratifying" the amendements,<sup></sup> which implied a sufficient number of instruments of ratification had been received. The procedure for the ratification of the electoral votes in presidential elections was only specified in the ]; the ] managed to do without. I agree, though, that there ''ought'' to be an official procedure for the ratification of constitutional amendments, but is the ability of Congress to inspect . The question is, is Congress passing (by simple majorities) a bill that such and such procedure shall be it, which is then signed into law by the President, enough to make it official and binding?
::::The US Constitution does not define who is "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. At the moment this is a hot issue. If Congress passes a bill, next signed into law, declaring that the definition is made by ], is the issue thereby settled? &nbsp;--] 16:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 22 =
Would it be safe to say, that Ireland held onto the Papist (Catholic) succession, until the time of the Infanta or later? How much coordination did the Irish and English Catholics have in their oppressive circumstances by Protestant persecution, or in pursuit of restoration for Philip and his family? I know that as late as the ], Catholics still tried to influence national politics, but when did they give up? Was it because of Cromwell, or did they give up when William III invaded? Did they hold out as long as the Jacobite Risings, or was that merely Scotland? That's something I'm curious about, because all of the religious (and even republican) rebellions Ireland is known for, began in England (just like related Tudor rebellions spawned by exiled Yorkists) and yet, the English are not stereotyped as religious (despite their significant medieval history in that field).


== Sir John Simon's soul ==
I am wondering why Englishness, Protestantism and political freedom are said to be synonymous (it seems more true for the Dutch, almost all being of one stripe), but Protestantism was forced upon the Commons by a rapacious House of Lords whose sympathies were Lollard, being that the Lords at this time were not long ago of the mercantile crowd and all the "lesser people" than the armigerous and professional types were called ignorant papists who didn't know what was best for them. I find it hard to believe that stereotypes of the establishment can substitute for the common people, although the Establishment I am referencing, is completely Anglo-Saxonist and like to pretend anything Roman or "Celtic" has no business or place in Englishness. How do the people put up with this kind of propaganda and to what degree of brainwashing of this sort is legal? It doesn't sound populist, but the rabble-rousers seem to succeed in stirring the masses to this kind of hate. I wouldn't even say this is merely BNP, but both the Tories and the Liberal Dems, to whatever degree their descent is Whiggery, share this ideology.


"] has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered into his soul" is a quotation attributed to ]. I have been unable to come up with a definitive source, and neither ] (in ''The Chancellors''), nor Duncan Brack (in ''The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations'') have been able to either. Can the RefDeskers do better? Thank you. <small>I felt ''sure'' I'd asked this here before, but I cannot find any trace of it in the archives. </small> ] (]) 18:49, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
The same thing with Scotland; they had nationalistic Catholic rebellions but the people are stereotyped as Calvinist. Why don't the Irish have a Jacobite or even Celtic Irish monarch? How much of Ireland's republicanism owes itself to Cromwell, Washington or Robespierre?
:I looked into this question a while ago. The earliest evidence I could find came from a diary entry by ] for 14th December 1912:
::The other day ] told me a good story of a member who, when speaking in the House of Commons, remarked, "Mr. So-and-So has sat for so long on the fence that the iron has entered into his soul".
:It's . Shame that no-one's named. --] (]) 20:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:Both parties were named by ] . Google Books also claims to have it in a version naming Lloyd George and Simon in a 1931 number of the ''New Statesman'', but I find their dating of "Snippet view" periodicals unreliable. --] (]) 21:03, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
:I found a 1922 case of "Who was it who said of a Free Church leader: "he has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered into his soul"?". ] (]) 01:33, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::Ha! The Spring 1905 number of ''Forest Leaves'' magazine ( at vol. II, no. 2, p. 16) gives us this: "] said that Sir ] 'had sat so long on the fence that the iron had entered into his soul.'" A rare example, then, of ] in reverse. --] (]) 08:11, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:: tells us that Churchill said this at a meeting of the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association in, apparently, April 1905. --] (]) 10:04, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::Oh well done! I'd always rather associated it with Manchuria. Lloyd George does have a certain gravitational pull for put-downs. I can't quite see him actually nicking one of Churchill's, and I think he would not want to associate himself, even indirectly, with such a negative comment about CB. I'm reminded by ] that it is an echo of Psalm 105:18 in the Prayer Book. <small>If I were Lawrence Frances Flick I would be VERY careful about the choice of type-face for my bookmarks</small> ] (]) 10:58, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::I found the ''Forest Leaves'' version (with a couple more from the column) in ''The Mail'' (Dublin) 4 January 1905. Interestingly, there was an article in lots of local papers in January 1905 which mention the iron entering Lloyd George's soul as a result of how power is abused in the hands of an ascendant Church. ] (]) 11:16, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::::Interesting. Got a link to the ''Mail'' version? --] (]) 11:31, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::(ec) The says that Mr Churchill made the dig at CB "at Bow, February 19, 1902". Dublin ''Mail'' 4 Jan 1905 ] (]) 11:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::The "iron entered his/my/our soul(s)" trope seems very common at the time, usually of course in a more positive sense. ] (]) 11:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::::And here is a report of Churchill addressing the Annual Meeting of the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association from the ''Derby Daily Telegraph'' Thursday 20 February 1902 . ] (]) 11:39, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::::The report appears in many local papers. The report in the '''' says CB has NOT (my emphasis) sat so long on the fence that the iron has entered his soul. ] (])
:::::If you have access to a copy it might be worth taking a look at the eight-volume ''Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963'', edited by Robert Rhodes James. --] (]) 14:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::::::Not in , where it should be. ] (]) 18:11, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::The anecdote is told in a Lloyd George–John Simon version on page 472 of '']'' issue of October 17, 1931:
:::{{tq|Sir John Simon's acidity of temperament and capacity for being a little in several camps but beloved by none led his late chief to remark—or so I'm told—that "Sir John has sat so long on the fence, that the iron has entered into his soul." {{quad}}{{quad}}{{quad}}{{smallcaps|Critic.}}}}<sup></sup>
:: one can verify, in spite of the snippetness of the permitted views, that this indeed the issue of this date. So it is indeed true that Lloyd George "is said" (or, more precisely, "has been said") to have commented this – although using a slightly different word order and punctuation than the quotation in our article. It is, of course, by no means sure that he <u>actually</u> has done so. &nbsp;--] 14:55, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::: it is on Archive.org. It is Volume II Number 34, despite what Google claims. ] (]) 18:04, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
:::On the other hand, the Churchill/Campbell-Bannerman version was as late as 1950, so the two variants co-existed for many years. --] (]) 17:13, 23 January 2025 (UTC)


= January 23 =
----
::Don't feel like trying to follow through all your attempted connections, but as for why traditionally in England "Protestantism and political freedom are said to be synonymous", that's fairly easy: Starting in the mid-16th century, Catholic authorities and rulers committed a series of rather crude and heavy-handed maneuvers which ended up completely alienating the majority of literate urban dwellers in the south of England. During the reign of Mary, England's interests were subordinated to those of Spain, and "heretics" were burned at the stake. After Elizabeth came to the throne, the pope issued a declaration (]) strictly requiring all English Catholics to be political traitors in order to be faithful to their religion; and the highest English Catholic leader, ], schemed and plotted with England's enemies for an invasion of England, and issued ] which revealed him to be completely out of touch with the situation within England.


== Marco Guidetti ==
::By contrast, Elizabeth disclaimed any ability or desire to make "windows to see into men's souls", and executed people only for treason, not for heresy. The result was that by the 1580's, many people in England identified Catholicism with plotting with England's enemies for an overthrow of the English government, with crude and heavy-handed religious persecutions, and with conniving amoral Jesuits and "Machiavels" (in late 16th-century English, the word "Machiavel" meant someone who, as a conscious choice, had absolutely no ethical inhibitions or concern with morality). Such people were firmly convinced that the coming to power of an openly Catholic ruler in England would be the start of a huge bloodbath in which many many thousands of "heretics" would be burned, and would also mean that England would become weak and subordinate in its foreign policies.


Who was Marco Guidetti in relation to ]? ] wrapper says "Marco Guidetti Pentera de Tomaso", but my search didn't yield any meaningful results for him, including books. My guess , but not sure. ]<sup>]</sup> 10:45, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
::The idea of a Stuart monarchy in Ireland and a Hanoverian monarchy in Britain may sound nice in the abstract, but it ignores the geopolitical realities of the early 18th century, which meant Ireland could not be independent of England unless it was strongly allied with (an effective protectorate of) a major continental European power, while an England which was unable to prevent Ireland from becoming a hostile power base could only be a weak England without a strong navy... ] (]) 23:30, 1 August 2009 (UTC)


:The creator(s) of these ] wrappers misspelled "Pantera", so they were not overly careful. Perhaps they misinterpreted the name of the author of the photograph as being the name of the car model. &nbsp;--] 15:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
That response in the first two paragraphs is straight out of a Whig textbook. No offence, but I was hoping to find something more intuitive than the usual statist, toeing-the-line propaganda. Catholic behavior at this time could have been no different than Protestant, except in how they deal with Church vs State issues. The Catholics were essentially into spiritualised politics (theocratic, Papist), whereas the Protestants were defined by political spirituality (secularist, Imperialist). In a sense, it was much like ], mixed with Avignon Papacy, Lollard and Hussite (Anglican and Lutheran) and possible Cathar influences, among the Calvinists.


:One possibility is that the particular vehicle shown was owned by a Marco Guidetti, possibly the movie designer and art director of that name who worked on Mad Max and other films: IMDb link (unreliable source) . Relatedly, he may instead have been involved in designing the model's styling. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ] (]) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Anyways, it simply astounds me that for instance, whereas so many martyred themselves under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth, Protestant propagandas use Mary alone to wipe out all favour for Catholicism, although John Foxe also included Sir Thomas Oldcastle as vitriol in his polemics, possibly also with Wat Tyler in mind. I've been reading about the Catholic restorationist revolts and the demography behind it. It seems striking that many of the former Catholic rebel families (e.g from Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancashire, Cheshire, Derbyshire or the Dales) became Quaker under the Stuarts, rather than Puritan (but those in Lincoln apparently went this route), although many, especially the more well to do, either could pay off their recusancy fines or they decided to convert to Anglicanism, as it appears that the Nevilles and Percys had eventually done. In any case, it is far from as cut and dry as your reply would indicate. I'm looking for more insight and intuition than the stereotypical Tory celebration of the (Whig) Establishment (or is that Whig support for Toryism? What's the real difference between Episcopal and non-Episcopal Protestants, when the Catholics are treated like scum for not joining the liberal bandwagon?), but not some Labour nonsense either--not that you offered any of the latter.


:A Marco Guidetti is credited to authoring and photographing and a Marco Guidetti also authored . So it appears likely it is the name of the photographer as suggested by Lambiam when the gum was recently reintroduced, although this doesn't rule out the alternative possibilities that they are the car's owner or its designer as suggested by The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195. ] (]) 16:59, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
About Ireland, I was referencing the transition to republicanism in the 20th century. Surely, by this time, the Irish could have possibly had a united island under a separate, more palatable monarchy with relations to that in London and be tolerated by the British establishment, as a peace settlement. It might invariably lead to a succession in British favour, which the Scots already experienced, so perhaps that is why they avoided the monarchy. But I don't see why they wouldn't elect a chief of the O'Neils or O'Briens or whatever, rather than even the Butlers or Fitzgeralds, considering all of their Gaelic worship. The Irish could even enact a no-British clause in the succession, much as the British monarchy is forbidden to Catholics, or how the succession acts of Henry VIII barred Margaret Tudor's Scottish line. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 07:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
::We also haven't ''yet'' ruled out the author/photographer/car designer(?) and the film designer being the same person, although the car originated arond 1970 and film guy's career seems to have started around 2003. Of course, 'Marco ]' cannot be that uncommon a name in Italy. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ] (]) 19:42, 23 January 2025 (UTC)


== Australian Antarctic Territory population ==
] & ] ] stories carry little weight with me and I wonder how the general populace of that time, either neutral or pro-Catholic, could be led by the nose from the dictations of the ''noveau riche'' "nobility", except through strong-arm, ] tactics by this new elite. How many thousands of Catholics need to die for a complete purge? The same with the blood of ]. Yet, this is an "acceptable and enlightened" response, to gut the soft underbelly of Englishness, in favour of what..."Germanness"? Advancing foreign German nobodies is supposedly more nativist than retaining the established French dynasties, well integrated into the population?


What was the population of the ] in the ]? I assumed this would easily be discoverable with a Google search, but I couldn't find this information from the ]. Since the census counts people where they are on census night (and not where they live permanently), since ] is inhabited year-round, and since the AAT is considered an external territory of Australia, the AAT should have been covered by the census (comparable to Christmas Island, the Cocos, etc) and should have had a non-zero population on census night. ] (]) 19:46, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
You know, it's a catch-22 to be English and Catholic. To express pride in Englishness, it is invariably disconnected from the stereotypical Englishness the world has known since Victoria and any clash with the Protestant version, is considered unpatriotic. One could just as easily point to the Tudors' destruction of the old royal family, the nobility and church all as fifth columnists who were committing treason ever since Owen laid his head in Katherine's lap, then passed the Throne to the Auld Enemy in Edinburgh. All of this was treason and yet the Spanish Armada alone conjures up all kinds of hatred from Protestants, who pride on the Establishment's cutthroats such as Cromwell and Walsingham, feeling they are entitled to a blank check on the sufferings of Catholics and cornering the market on Englishness. I'm happy that Misplaced Pages usually takes both sides into account, but my early schooling made no distinction between deceptive bias and truth. ] (]) 08:27, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


:The external territories are listed here: . Quoting our article "Australia is an original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Under section 4, all territorial claims are held in abeyance." Which would appear to explain why it's not listed. ] (]) 20:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
----
::Whatever -- Elizabeth I may not have been any more moral or virtuous than Philip II, Gregory XIII, or Cardinal Allen, but she was sure the hell a '''''lot''''' more politically astute than they were when it came to the domestic situation within England. The prominent Catholic leaders of the 1570's and 1580's seemed to place all their bets on a future invasion of England, and so had no real contingency plan B for what would happen if the invasion failed, and also no realistic consideration of what the repercussions of their actions would be if the invasion did not succeed. The result was that in 1603, English Catholicism was in much worse shape than it would have been if they had never made all their elaborate plans and menacing threats -- and I don't think one has to be a Whig historian to recognize this fact... ] (]) 13:38, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


: "Expeditioners to Australian bases in the Australian Antarctic Territory (and other locations) are included in the Census. Their 'place of enumeration' is an Offshore Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) in Tasmania." -- ] </sup></span>]] 20:45, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Well, what about prior example of various factions seizing the throne? The Lancastrians and Yorkists did this habitually, in and out of England, sometimes in Ireland, Scotland or France, etc, so was the memory of domestic turmoil so vividly unsettling, that there was no willing native contender to take the Crown in the name of Catholicism, apart from Reginald de la Pole and his relative who died at Pavia in 1525? I'm wondering who else could have assumed power, apart from the vacillating Norfolk, with more claim to royal descent (e.g. pre-Tudor lineage) and Catholic beliefs? Was it Courtenay alone? Did all of the other Plantagenet heirs simply go along with the Tudors after the beheadings of Margaret Pole and Buckingham? What's the present status, or what was the prevailing religious sentiment for the Somersets of Beaufort? They seemed to have dropped off of the radar after Bosworth, only the latent Yorkist factions seeming to have problems. ] (]) 22:12, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

E.G. why didn't the Somersets assume the throne after Elizabeth? Wouldn't they have had a prior claim to the throne than the Stuarts, considering the heritage of the Queen Mother Margaret Beaufort and Henry Tudor's claim to power? ] (]) 22:15, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

=== Misplaced Pages or IRL fights these days ===

How come whenever it comes to reading about this kind of stuff on say, Misplaced Pages, there are conflicting accounts about the nature of customs and culture in these countries? I have found that I cannot discover anything about those "Anglo-Celtic" lands without some massive mutual hatreds between ethnic backgrounds, like separatisms...consequently, there is no room for tolerant discussions and if they even exist, they are under begrudging terms. This is immensely disturbing, because in the "colonial" world, people with these kinds of heritages more often stick together at almost all costs, whether it's the Commonwealth or America, although the Irish still like to go on about St. Paddy's Day and Fenian or IRA this or that. Obviously, the Scots celebrate Highland Games and tartans, but their amount of antipathy is an interest in Braveheart. The English and Welsh don't really have any bone to pick with anybody, other than the French, if at all and this usually comes down to arguments at most.

: If you're basing your idea of what Scots think about stuff on ''Braveheart'', a film made in Ireland by an American raised in Australia and written by someone from Tennessee, and decried by every historian who ever saw it as fictious Hollywood rubbish, then you've been abjectly misled. -- ] • ] 11:26, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm referring to the British Isles diaspora. By the way, it is said that Braveheart influenced the clamour for devolution in Scotland.
OMG,I laughed so hard at this] 00:40, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:I read a bit from a 1906 newspaper a while ago where a British person was going around Ireland trying to find out why they wanted a republic. Doesn't Britain have fair laws and aren't people governed justly under the crown he was asking, and the main answer he got back was an agreement that that was so and very possibly their own rule would be worse, but it would be their own government and it would rule according to their own way and not Britain's and that's what they wanted. I think most of this 'mutual hatred' business comes from descendants of people who moved to America at the time of the famine. They set up a famine museum in Ireland so visitors could go and wallow in that sort of stuff just like they cater for blacks finding their roots in Ghana or Nigeria. The same applies to Northern Ireland, the problem there was mainly the lack of any power and self determination for a very large minority and that's what the agreement addressed. Luckily the Unionists in general also seem to have some desire for autonomy so it's all working out fairly well. ] (]) 10:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::What mutual hatred? The Irish and the Brits get along pretty well, in my experience. Obviously there are disagreements in Northern Ireland, but they don't tend to spread anywhere else. --] (]) 22:21, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::It spreads like wildfire on Misplaced Pages! <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 23:03, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Kronos's palace vs. Valhalla ==

In Greek mythology, to what extent if any was ]'s palace in ] a parallel of ]? ]] 06:04, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:Both valhalla and elysium are where dead heroes and warriors go - in that respect they parallel each other. The comparison of different myths is called ] which may be a useful search term when looking for articles.] (]) 17:00, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:Greek, Germanic and Indic myths show other similarities (such as a ] or equivalent), in the same way that middle eastern myths and religions show similarities (eg ]) - this suggests that they may have a common origin - however the stories are so different that it's impossible or difficult to link one motif with another between the myths, except to say that 'these seem similar'.] (]) 17:09, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

== Charles I of England's "tyranny"? ==

How come Charles is said to be a "tyrant" over England, even though his occasion to "tyranny", was wishing to defeat "England's ''traditional'' enemies" of Spain and France, as well as enforce "Englishness" upon the Scots by Laud, as well as upon the Irish by Strafford? I wonder what more the Protestant partians could have wanted, except the massacres of Catholics all over England and a top-down suppression of the Catholics who were not beaten into submission by the Tudors, or who felt safe because James's parents were Catholics and they thought he would be more tolerant, until the Gunpowder Plot (in which, of course, Catholic commoners tried to massacre the ]). None of this is democratic, but the hateful ideology is promoted and promulgated in the educational system, as the ascent of "progress". Please explain. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 06:32, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:Not entirely sure what that rant is about, but one of the substantive issues people had with Charles I was his undermining of accepted legal norms acording to which Parliament had control over most taxes (and certainly all new taxes). Also, ] was highly unpopular in England as well as Scotland, and the term "Protestant Ascendancy" generally refers to Ireland, not England. And I don't know that the "]" were enthusiastic proponents of the anti-Royalist side in the English civil war (though it's true that they were enthusiastic proponents of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688...). ] (])

I have heard from some people that Stuart practices were hardly different to the Tudors', so what was the change? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 22:19, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:The winner writes the history, it is said. Any leader of a state who is overthrown, will usually get accused of being a tyrant by the successors, if not else so as to excuse their own seizure of the power by force. Even if the new regime does not last long (in this case, Charles I's son was restored to the throne later on) its propaganda can have set the mind of people for centuries to come, true or not. ] (]) 01:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Flat caps & baseball (cricket too?) caps ==

Are American ]s an evolved form of ]? Would this explain the stereotype that each is a marker for the "common man" (or working class, in socialist parlance)? Are flat caps heirs of those late middle ages and renaissance caps worn by royalty and nobility? If so, what about ] use of broad brim hats, by commoners? Is it a sign of defiance to established deference, that they assume a station beyond their birth, by adopting a ] outfit? I see that the Spaniards seem to have initiated this style of hat, but it was adopted by rulers and nobility across the board in the 17th and 18th centuries, even by pirates and then by cowboys on the American frontier. Do either the flat cap or broad brimmed hat indicate any social status these days, or is it simply well established as South & West European cultural expression? What about top-hats? Are they still worn by anybody? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 06:43, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:An important practical purpose of baseball caps (or sometimes brimmed hats, in the early years) was and is to shield the players' eyes (and presumably the tops of their heads as well) from the bright summer sun. I would assume likewise for cricket. As to any alleged social significance, I can't say, but both baseball and cricket were originally middle-to-upper class sports. Baseball was originally played as recreation by businessmen in the New York area. It later evolved into a profession. A lot of people wear baseball caps nowadays - even football players on the sidelines. They still serve the purpose of an eyeshade. Team colors also figure into it. Some people wear their team colors to represent fandom. Others wear them because they are the colors of their street gangs. So it ranges across the social spectrum, I guess you could say. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 07:16, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::Farmers wear caps very like baseball caps, but with names of tractor manufacturers or seed companies. They provide less protection from the sun than cowboy (or Quaker) hats. ] (]) 12:49, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::True, but wearing cowboy hats on the ballfield is not very practical, as they would tend to fly off when running after a batted ball. Although I remember a Bill Veeck promotion at Comiskey Park, "Mexican Day", in which the White Sox took the field in the first inning wearing ''sombreros''. That, along with their cute little shorts, made for an interesting sight on a supposedly major league ball club. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 17:14, 1 August 2009 (UTC)



Tophats are still worn at Ascot,posh weddings,by dressage riders and people in full hunting pink. <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 00:43, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

::::Why should baseball caps have any relationship to flat caps? The idea of a hat with some sort of eyeshade is a pretty obvious one, no?
::::On the other hand, I am intrigued by how the baseball cap seems to have ousted the ] from England over the last fifty years. --] (]) 22:42, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
:::::They do look pretty similar. Most other hats with something to shield your eyes have a brim all the way around, flat caps and baseball caps both have just a peak at the front. --] (]) 02:50, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
::::::There were two styles of baseball caps in the early years of the professional game. One was the rounded "school cap" that is similar to the cricket cap. The other is a flat-topped cylindrical or "cake-shaped" cap. Today's baseball cap evolved from the round-topped cap, and the cake-style went out of fashion except for a few teams that revived it in the 1970s (notably the Pirates). ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 03:25, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

==Why is Berkshire Hathaway stock so expensive and who buys it?==
Berkshire Hathaway A stock currently trades at $97,000 and B stock trades at $3,180 . As far as I can tell the lowest that they have traded in the past 5 years is $73,000 and $2,300 respectively. Not only are these prices are substantially more than the majority of other stocks, they are arguably so high that they exclude many common investors from buying a single unit of either stock. I can imagine that some people would buy a few units of the B stock on the basis that it is a fund and therefore inherently diversified, and that institutional investors can buy large amounts of either stock - but wouldn't it be better if there was a stock split (say 1:1000, so that A stock was $73 and B stock was $3) which would potentially bring in more liquidity due to the higher number of people who can buy into it? I guess that people trade derivatives tied to these stocks too, with a lower entry cost, but there are a lot of people who only buy stock. No doubt, the guys at BH know what they are doing, but I just wonder why the high price serves them well. Does it provide a certain aura of a "serious" stock? I wonder if there has been any public discussion on the decision to keep the price so high, but I can't find any. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks ] (]) 10:54, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:At one level, stock is "valued" by the market based on the assets of the company. A good means of approximating the value of a stock is to take the value of all of the assets of the company and divide by the number of shares of the stock. The "price" of the stock will sometimes vary some from this number, depending on how people "speculate" that the value of the companies assets will change in the future. However, insofar as a company is not expected to lose shitloads of money, the value of the company will not drasticly drop, so the price of the stock will not drasticly change. So, that is why the value of one share of B-H is $97,000. The answer to why it is not split is that there is no immediate benefit to existing shareholders to split the stock; so why do it? In fact, attracting ''more'' investors may have the effect of depressing the share value, or of diluting the voting power of the existing shareholders, so they may not want to do so. While $97,000 per share is out of reach of most of us, it serves the existing shareholders well, and so long as that is true, there will not be any reason to change that by splitting the stock. --]''''']''''' 13:48, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::Thanks for your thoughts. You're right that "fundamental" view would value the stock based upon the assets (plus P/E etc) but a "technical" view would suggest that shareholder demand and psychology would set the price. This is why reverse splits can depress the price substantially without any underlying change in value (see AIG for a recent example), a split would typically increase the price, due to people feeling that the stock is "cheap" even though the value of the company hasn't changed. Performing a split would not dilute any holdings, only the issue of more shares could do that, but I do think that (as is said below) this is a plan to limit access to this stock by people who may speculate on it. I guess that BH do not want the volatility that comes with speculation and would rather have more "discerning" investors who are in it for the long term. When Buffet is no longer around I would suspect that there will be pressure to split the stock, to increase speculation and likely push the price up in the short term. ] (]) 15:08, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::Well, I think that the important immediate cause of the stock not being split is that it obviously does not serve the purposes of the existing shareholders to do so. If it DID serve their purpose, they would have done so already. Even if my speculations as to WHY they don't split the stock are not correct, the fact remains that there must be some very good financial reasons why the existing shareholders don't see that it is split. Its not like they say "we could make a ton of money if we split the stock, but we're not going to just cuz". It must serve their purposes, financially, to keep the stock price at around $100,000 per share, perhaps for the reasons listed below. Plus, if you read our article on ], it does actually explain why the stock has never split, from Warren Buffets point of view. He owns 38% of the company, and most of the rest of the board probably owns enough to give the existing board the 51% needed to basically run the company without any intereference from other shareholders. Plus, seeing as this is one of the most successful American companies in history, I don't think the existing shareholders are complaining about the financial practices all that much. --]''''']''''' 17:55, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::One effect is that the high price alters the type of investor. Assuming an investor wants a diversified portfolio, only investors whose portfolios are quite large will be able to purchase BH and remain diversified. For example, suppose you would like to invest 10% of your portfolio in BH. I your portfolio is worth $200,000, then it is impossible for you to hold 10% BH as the minimum number of shares you can buy is 1 and that would put 50% of your portfolio in BH. In fact, the only way you could put 10% of your portfolio in BH is if your portfolio was worth $1 million. ] (]) 14:57, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:::Unless you buy BRKB. --]<sup><small>]</small></sup> 15:47, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Also note that BH is, as I understand it, a closed fund - they are not looking to raise any more money from offerings. The shares that are outstanding now are all that there ever will be, and if you buy them you buy them from the existing owners. From Buffet's point of view, why would he care if it's more convenient for the holders to divvy up and resell their portions? He has expressed on many occasions that he is not interested in short term investment, he is interested in people willing (indeed, happy) to trust their money with him ''for their entire life''. Such devotion is encouraged by such a high price. He doesn't want a constant, high level of turnover from people buying and selling his fund trying to beat the market. ] (]) 21:17, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:See for Warren Buffet's take on the matter. -- ] (]) 01:24, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Thailand ==

(moving discussion from an article talk page)

I have a comment/question for experts in this discussion. As an expat in S.E. Asia
I notice what appear to be extreme cognitive malfunctions in Thailand. Visiting Cambodia,
one is immediately struck by the higher level of intellectual curiosity.

I do <i>not</i> believe this is a racial diifference, but it is too pervasive to even
blame on poor education. Perhaps there is an idiosyncrasy of culture which affects cognition.

My question is: Are there studies available to confirm or explain the cognition defecit
in Thailand?

Because this comment/question may offend some, I sign myself ... Anonymous <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 08:56, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:The question smacks of stereotyping. You have some unfortunate experience in Place X and thereafter say "People in Place X are stupid." <small>Just as Siam, without one plea.</small> ] (]) 12:46, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::This answer strikes me as a stereotyped answer! You may know nothing of Thailand, but are happy to chirp in! I've spent many years in Thailand and could give a number of examples of my point. From experience, however, I know that fewer than three examples would be dismissed as "anecdotal" and more than three would become "ranting". If you wish, I'll add exactly three examples to this section!

::I will comment that Thai language, as it is actually used in rural areas, is remarkably ambiguous. Whether this is a cause or effect of a cognitive defecit I'll leave open. As one trivial example of the ambiguity, I overheard a conversation between a village official running for reelection and a visiting police chief. The chief asked "How many are running for the office?" The incumbent answered "as many as want to, but only two will be elected," telling the chief only what he already knew! They were speaking (ambiguous) Thai, obviously; I've rendered the intended English equivalent here, making a deduction the native-speaker incumbent did not.

:I cannot find a proper reference for this, but I remember reading (probably two years ago), that Thailand was facing a severe problem of ]. Numerous highly educated Thais - at that time - were emigrating to greener pastures, particularly the USA and Australia. --] (]) 15:26, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::I find your assumption that ] must be connected with a cognitive defect (whether as a cause or an effect) bizarre in the extreme, particularly (as in your example) in the political arena. --] (]) 22:45, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::My phrasing ("Whether this is a cause or effect ... I'll leave open") was intended to include "neither" as an option. (Language ambiguity!) Picking a conversation between "politicians" was done to demonstrate that ambiguity doesn't apply to just the least educated of rural Thais. The sentence I rendered in English could have been rendered word-by-word as "They apply how-many person". As a clearly non-political example, on a visit to the local clinic we were asked "15th inject medecine where"; my wife and nurse ended up both confused and it was while driving home that I realized nurse was speaking of next month, wife of last month. "Remarkably Ambiguous"? You decide.

:::I'm afraid that, after these examples, if you still deny rural Thai is more ambiguous than, say, English, then I can't help you. Whether the language ambiguity is related to the cognitive defecits is still an open question. That's why I'm posing the question here: I'd like information, not stereotyped reflexive responses that assume I'm a bigot or imbecile. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 10:02, 3 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Bohemond I of Antioch ==
Hello, i have need of sources for these two phrases, written in the voice ]: "he led the whole Crusader army until the conquest of Antioch" and "From Constantinople to Antioch, Bohemond was the real leader of the First Crusade", because in wiki.it there are people who not believe that Bohemond was the leader of the First Crusade. Thank you.--] (]) 14:57, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:You need the opinion of contemporaries: start with .--] (]) 22:27, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::The Gesta was probably written by someone in Bohemond's camp though. Another source written by a follower of Raymond of St. Gilles would have him as leader of the crusade; the two frequently fought over who got to keep the cities they conquered, and since they were the wealthiest and most powerful of the leaders, and led two of the biggest armies, they both had some reason to claim overall leadership. Of course, there were other armies with other leaders, and if the pope was to be believed, his own legate was supposed to be the real leader. At Antioch things changed, because the papal legate died, and Bohemond remained there while everyone else continued to Jerusalem. At one point, they all elected the relatively less-known Stephen of Blois leader, and a few decades later, some authors claimed Godfrey of Bouillon was really in charge the whole time, since he ended up as the first ruler of Jerusalem. So, in short, the answer is, yes, Bohemond was a leader, and for awhile thought he should be the overall leader, but after conquering Antioch he seemed to think that was good enough and he certainly wasn't the leader after that. ] (]) 00:35, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you both. Unlucky, i didn't find in the Gesta Francorum any reference for the two phrases, i'll looking the opinion of contemporaries.--] (]) 12:33, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:Thomas Asbridge's book on the First Crusade discusses why certain leaders could be considered, or considered themselves, overall leaders. has some info about Bohemond (there is more scattered throughout the book, but at one point before Antioch he was elected as overall commander for one particular battle). Those two sentences in the Bohemond article are remnants of the original article from many years ago, which was copied from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (). As usual, the 1911 Britannica is inaccurate, and we know much more about the crusade than they did. ] (]) 18:14, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Profit is not a four-letter word ==

In (I'm linking to the correct position), a button (is that what it's called?) appears that has "profit is not a four-letter word" printed on it. What does that mean? The button belongs to ], a neoconservative, if that is of any help. —] (]) 16:31, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:"Four letter word" = profanity. The phrase is a reaction to the belief that transactions are zero sum games. That is, in a transaction between you and me, one of us gains and the other loses. Seen in this light, the profit gained by one side reflects an exploitation of the other side. In fact, in the absence of coercion, transactions are almost always positive sum games. So, the profit gained by one side reflects the benefit obtained by the other. A classic example is the billions of dollars that Bill Gates has made producing and selling Windows. He got those billions precisely because we who use Windows (despite its flaws) value it more than the money we gave him for the software. Hence, his profit reflects the benefit we obtain from the software. ] (]) 16:35, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
::Though in many ways Gates is a horrible example. He didn't just get his billions from simple transactions of positive sum games; he created and then exploited a near monopoly, to the point where many feel obligated to shell out a lot of money for an inferior product primarily to maintain compatibility with the monopolistic marketplace. There are far, far better examples out there of people who show that profit is not a four-letter word than Microsoft. --] (]) 18:39, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:::Not to defend Gates, but the idea... If you voluntarilly shelled out money for windows then, de facto, you received more value from windows than you did from the money you shelled out -- that's a positive sum game. The monopoly status (to the extent that it exists, and economists find this debatable) merely alters how the positive sum is split up. ] (]) 13:10, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

::: Well, I got the point anyway. (And as a happy Linux user, I stay away from Microsoft products.) :-) —] (]) 18:56, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:In English, for some reason unknown to me (probably coincidence), most swear words are four letters long, so "four letter word" is synonymous with "swear word". Saying that something isn't a four letter word means it isn't offensive or something to be ashamed of. --] (]) 17:26, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::::Four letters is simply the most common word length in English. The reason swear word are called four-letter words is because their corresponding "polite" words are generally Latin, and Latin words tend to be longer. Compare: shit - feces, piss - urine, cunt - vagina, cock - penis. --] (]) 17:02, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

: In addition to the above replies, it's knowingly comic, as it's perfectly obvious that "profit" isn't a four letter word. You'll even see this pattern used ironically, when people will say things like "porn isn't a four letter word", when obviously it is. Googling for "isn't a four letter word" finds a bunch more, wherein we learn that , , and aren't four letter words either. -- ] • ] 17:44, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

: We have a ] article, incidentally. -- ] • ] 17:53, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, everyone. I've learnt something. —] (]) 18:56, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

'''I was trying to google Google for a list four-letter swear words but couldn't find such a list'''! Anyone able to find such a list? (I also tried by just including the words I could come up with myself, but some of them, like ethnic slurs, I really had to look up to check... leading me to believe a real list would be better than I could come up with). Anyone? ] (]) 14:34, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Wagner's Das Rheingold ==

So i watched this opera a few days ago (James Levine with the Met)

I'm wondering something---

Alberich loses the ring to Wotan and then places a curse upon it.

Can anybody just place curses (within the norse-mythology framework of Wagner's world) on anything? Does Alberich have the right to do it because he had the ring? Wotan is the chief of gods, can't he "un" curse it?


I understand that this is fiction, but i'm wondering if there is a logical consistency that audiences (familiar with the old Norse tales) would've understood way back when this was written.] (]) 18:03, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:I can answer half - curses can't be undone - even by gods - they must run their coarse - it's to do with ] and the concept of living things having will of their own - otherwise we'd have a story about a bunch of gods and their 'robot slaves' :)
:(Occasionally someone can undo a curse - in folk tales this often relates to romance - eg frog price etc)
:Also noted that alberich has already cursed himself (renouncing love) to obtain the ring - thus it is his by right, and he can place a curse on it.] (]) 19:09, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:Norse / Germanic mythology does not have the concept of divine ]. Our article implies that this was an idea of monotheism. --] (]) 19:28, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

== Locating an old rail line ==

I just spent some time ] it up along an old abandoned rail line near ], ], England. After trawling through a hundred years of gorse bush I found myself on an old line flanked by about 60ft embankments, very steep, which keep it isolated. At the end I found the enterance to a tunnel which has been bricked up (though there is a locked steel door). It is also invisible from the air due to the canopy.

On google earth I can trace from hedgerows, discolourations and slopes in the soil, and what is now some footpath, the path of the old rail line from ] to Ruishton, but I can't see any further.

Is there any resource that I could ask to work out what the line used to be? Some historical records that would be held by a county council? ] <sup>]</sup> 21:45, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:If you ask on ] talk page they could probably tell you very quickly, as well as being able to answer all your other questions.
:In general your public library will have lots of books on "disused railways of Somerset" - there isn't a yard of disused track in the UK that hasn't been written about by the fans.] (]) 22:13, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
:Does ] say anything, also if you can give the coordinates on google maps that might help, there's a book listed at the end of that article which might cover it. <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 22:17, 1 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

: has old ] maps (as should http://www.old-maps.co.uk/ , but that seems to be broken right now), which should show the routes of railways. If you'd been talking about Scotland or very-Northern England, I'd have directed you to http://www.railbrit.co.uk/ (which used to be called RailScot); he's got excellent info about disused railway lines, but for now it seems he's mostly got stuff about Scotland. -- ] • ] 22:17, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:Why not order up the ] map for the area?--] (]) 22:18, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

== Divorce Rate among Christians and Atheists ==

Does anyone know the divorce rate for Christian protestants and atheists in Canada and U.S.? Which group have the highest divorce rate? ] (]) 21:56, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

: gives some numbers which compares several species of Christians, jews, and atheists/agnostics. Two caveats: I'm probably wrong (and I have no evidence for this), but religioustolerance.org might just be operated by the Church of Scientology, and so might not be 100% neutral (I'm just going on a vague memory, and I apologise if I'm mistaken). Secondly, surely some of the effect shown is due to some groups marring more, or sooner, than others. So, even if the statistic shown is strictly correct, that doesn't necessarily elucidate the related question "are protestants' ''relationships'' more or less successful than atheists'?". -- ] • ] 22:09, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

::Think first, what kind of ''document'' would link together divorce and religious self-identification? And then who would have access, to tot them all up for you? Tweaked "numbers" shouldn't be "proving" your pre-set expectations.--] (]) 22:15, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

:::Religioustolerance.org isn't run by Scientologists; but nevertheless they aren't 100% neutral, and at least for Christianity, often have a childishly simplistic understanding of various controversies. ] (]) 00:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

::::Marriage for Christians is habitual and customary, but for atheists...they really don't care either way, apart from the financial benefits, so it is rather more a mockery and asking the question is mockery of marriage, as much as infidelity in any Christian relationship. It is sort of like the effectiveness of deviant sexuality practitioners and the myth of "marriage" on that basis, or putting a European appliance plug into an American electrical outlet. Some people just don't know what is appropriate or fitting. ] (]) 08:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::The institution of marriage predates christianity, and has meaning outside it. Marriage is an important part of the lives of many atheists. ] 13:12, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::::Let me see if I understand you correctly, 70.171.239.21. Are you claiming only Christians can appreciate marriage? Are you saying that infidelity is commonplace in non-Christian marriages? Are you equating non-Christian heterosexual marriages with homosexual marriages? Are you even aware of how ridiculously pompous you make yourself sound? ] (]) 19:41, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::::Countless church weddings end up in divorce. Christianity or atheism has nothing to do with it. Commitment and respect are the keys to success, not being a habit or being customary. And there's another factor: In the old days, people stayed in soured marriages because they felt like they had no choice. Now, they do. Women holding jobs and being able to survive without a male breadwinner has a lot to do with it. As Alan King once said, "Divorce was a ''luxury'', that few could afford." Now, they can. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 19:51, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::To say that atheists don't care either way is inaccurate, and silly to the point of stupidity. There are plenty of atheists who are hopeless romantics and have a very idealized idea of marriage, for example. It's just that they don't think that an omnipotent imaginary friend cares about whether people stay married. -- ] (]) 10:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

= August 2 =

== An earth without humans ==

Some days ago I have seen a documentary film at a science TV channel that started to analyze what would happen with the world if for some X reason the human race wasn't around anymore. The main topics were descriptons of how would cities, buildings and most structures deteriorate over time by being left without maintenance, how would nature start to destroy and erase all such things, the few things that would last longer (such as dams, plastics or stainless steel), the fate of most great landmarks like the statue of liberty or the Eiffel Tower, etc. In just a few hundred years, hardly any trace of the human race would remain, except for some things like exploration vehicles that were left on the moon.

Question is, is there an article about this topic here in Misplaced Pages? I have no idea of wich name would it have, or in wich category it may be located ] (]) 04:51, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:This same question was asked some time ago... Maybe a year ago at most? I don't have the time right now but while you're waiting for an answer, you could try searching through the archives (though I don't know what specific terms you'd search for to limit the number of results). I think it was either on Science or Misc. that it was asked. <span style="font-family:monospace;">]</span>|] 05:01, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

::It was ]. I thought it was rather melodramatic, but hey, it was made for TV after all. ] (]) 05:28, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::Okay, so not the same question but the same documentary came up: ] <span style="font-family:monospace;">]</span>|] 06:38, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::This is also the subject of ]'s book '']'' and the (unrelated) documentary '']''. ] (]) 07:28, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::In fiction, the subject was explored by George R. Stewart in '']'' (1949). The Misplaced Pages article is lengthy, but I seem to recall much more in the novel about the collapse of machinery, electrical system, water pipes, etc. than indicated by that article. ] (]) 11:21, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::I expect that in a few decades routine maintenance will be automated or done by robots. Then if people disappeared, things might go on status quo for a very long time, until the robots arrive at a consensus that maintaining humanity's structures and facilities is pointless. Many of the explosions and failure on the series are of the nature of "With no human to mow the grass, turn on/off the pumps, refine the petroleum, operate the controls at the nuke plant, open/close the floodgates at the dam, refill the fuel tank, replace the battery, feed the dog, harvest the crop, fix the roof, tuckpoint the brick wall, replace the gasket, manufacture paint, mine minerals, etc., everything will fall to ruin." As soon as any of these jobs can be done by a robot cheaper than a human, the human will be laid off. ] (]) 01:00, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

::::::If we develop machines that are too efficient, watch out. We could turn into ]. ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 03:22, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
*Cool! I wanna be an id monster! ]] 03:32, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
**Ever notice how much the id monster resembles the orange monster in '']''? Cousins, maybe? ] <sup>'']''</sup> ] 03:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

==The name==
]
I'm looking for the name of this symbol in english. Thanks. ] (]) 20:19, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

:I suppose it's a type of ]. That article has no images (yet!), but compare with . ---] ] 09:19, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

::Thanks for finding that article; I've done some cleanup there and added two images (more could be done...). ] (]) 12:18, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Methodism = Puritanism? ==

Isn't Methodism a form of Puritanism, e.g. the Separatist and Independent types? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 08:11, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:The article on ] answers this one - "the term "puritan" is not strictly used to describe any new religious group after the 17th century, although several groups might be called "puritan" because their origins lay in the Puritan movement." Methodism arose in the 18th century and its origins did not lie in the Puritan movement. You could certainly draw parallels, but don't forget that early Methodism was, using Puritan terminology, "non-separating". ] '']'' 13:26, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

So not all splinter, dissenting factions of the CoE, are "Puritan"? As far as I know, there's only three types of English Christianity: Catholic, Anglican and Puritan (as a broad term). ] (]) 21:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
:Your first sentence is the correct one. The broad term for British Protestants outside the Church of England is ]; this includes those ] groups which survived long enough to be classified as such. ] '']'' 23:17, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

It seems that early ] was ], quite similar to many Pentecostal and some Baptist groups today, rather than Puritan, though none of these movements are really independent of one another. Methodists were involved in tent revivals a la Billy Graham, though Methodism as a whole has become more liberal in the past hundred years. ] (]) 23:31, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:OK, so these "Non-Conformists" broadly continue the Edwardian, Lady Jane Grey and Dudley expression of Christianity from the Tudor period, resurrected under the Cromwells, rather than the Henrician-Elizabethan Anglicanism, or the Marian Catholicism? ] (]) 23:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Basically, all three forms of Christianity: Protestant, Anglican and Catholic, each have origins in royal patronage, but originally depending on the personality of the monarch, one of those three may be responsible for persecution of the other two, or preference of one and singling out the other? It would seem as though there had been no need for the Cromwellian usurpation of the government, when the monarchy had already been known for promoting "Non-Conformist" Protestantism. ] (]) 23:53, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== British Isles diaspora studies ==

Are there any studies of ethnic and shire distribution per colony across the former empire, to show which parts of the British Isles were more influential or important to each settlement? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 08:13, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:Not exactly shire by shire, but '']'' by ] discusses what parts of England the colonists in the various American colonies came from. The contention of the book is that the American Revolution and the US Civil War were continuations of the ]. ] (]) 19:20, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:How much more precise is that study compared to ]? ] (]) 21:51, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::Probably less so, though there are maps. :) ] (]) 22:10, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
:::What is contained within the maps? ] (]) 22:29, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::The parts of England where the various colonists came from. ] (]) 06:00, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
:::::I was more interested in knowing differences between separate colonial efforts, such as America, vs Canada, vs Australia and New Zealand or South Africa. I assume most colonists in India were from London, but that's just a guess. ] (]) 10:27, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

== Avignon Papacy & Counter-Reformation Catholicism ==

How come Catholicism became identified largely with those nations which held allegiance to Avignon? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 08:35, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:You mean, like Italy? ] (]) 19:23, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Spain, France, Sicily...e.g. the ]. ] (]) 21:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:I'm speaking of the "great Catholic powers" and how they all seem to have been Avignonese in disposition, although I wonder about Austria. ] (]) 22:31, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Austria vs Prussia ==

How come Vienna isn't the capital of Germany and Berlin is? Why isn't Austria part of Germany, or even the focus, considering the imperial nature of that country, whereas Prussia was only a German colony of crusaders? I assume the fact that Prussia is the basis of modern Germany, that is an indication of a Protestant victory, seeing as how Catholic Austria is excluded? Please explain more than just: the last Holy Roman Emperor was deposed and left with the rump state of Austria. Even Austria, it seems, was merely a German colony of eastward expansion, so why doesn't Germany re-adopt a more "Frankish" identity and if they did focus more on West Germany in this sense, where would be the appropriate capital...Aachen or elsewhere? Are other German identities merely tied to Austria or Prussia? It would seem that Alemannic, Swabian, Frankish, Bavarian and Saxon cultures are just components of those two. Also, why doesn't the Czech Republic go by the name of Bohemia, or why doesn't Misplaced Pages use this name? Like Danzig, it is the English preference. "Czech" is almost way off the radar of my vocabulary, but Bohemia or Boehm is much more easily understood on cultural terms. I wonder why Bohemia didn't decide to stay with Germany, or why Germany and Italy and Austria, or even all with Prussia, couldn't be under the same federalism. But then, why not France and Germany stick together under the same government, based upon Charlemagne's people? <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (]) 08:44, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:UnsignedIP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->
:The czech state is not called bohemia because bohmeia is only part of the czech state, there are other areas - see the map on ]. Also see ]
:As for your other questions - did you have a particular time in history to which your questions were addressed?] (]) 09:22, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:Some of your questions are too speculative to answer here ie why isn't there a france/germany or germany/italy/austria state - but have you heard of the ] - which to an extent satisfies local nationalist interests in the broader context of a european state. ] (]) 09:36, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:As to why austria did not form part of Bismarck's germany see ] - austria was not willing to separate from hungary, but hungary could not be part of a germany as imagined at that time. Also see ] quote: "This united Germany was attempted to be completed, but regional, religious, and monarchical rivalries between Prussia and Austria prevented such a unification from taking place." ] (]) 09:58, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::I haven't really covered your entire question. Factors affecting states makeup and boundaries include religion, ethnicity, rivers, mountains, wars, rival leaders, family history of kings, queens and emperors, and language as a non-complete list. It's very difficult to give a specific answer to such broad 'why?' questions.] (]) 12:28, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:Your question acctually would demand much more text and time to answer than I or 83.100.250.79 can devote here, and while 83.100.250.79 gives good answers I'll give some too, to other aspects: Berlin became the capital of united Germany in 1871, because it was the capital of the leading state, Prussia. Also, if you look at a map showing the borders of the time, Berlin was somewhat close to the geographical centre of Germany by then, whereas it is not anymore since Germany lost so much land in the east following the Second world war. When Germany was reunited in 1990, it took some years of debate before Berlin once again formally became the capital of the country; some people would have prefered to stick with Bonn, which was the de facto capital of West Germany from its foundation in 1949. – As for the Czech Republic, in the Czech language, "Czechia" and "Bohemia" acctually have the same name, but the English word for the province has for centuries been the same as the Latinized form of the German name Böhmen, while the country as a whole, created in the 20th Century, has gotten a name based on the Czech name. ] (]) 12:32, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:As for the reason why Bohemia didn't stuck with Austria or Germany: it was part of the Austrian Emprie until 1918, when that empire desintegrated following the First world war. Still, there were many German speaking people living within the borders of the historical provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, but the founder and first president of the state of Czechoslovakia, ], was lucky in his dealings with the allied powers who had won the war and managed to secure that the even the almost fully German-speaking areas close to the border of Austria would become part of the new state. Acctually, I think there were more native German speakers in Czechoslovakia in the first decades, than there were Slovaks. The border areas to Austria and Germany where the German speaking people were in majority was called Sudetenland, and in 1939 (some months before the start of the Second world war) Hitler annexed Sudetenland to Germany and made the rest of Czechia a ] and Slovakia became formally independent but in practicality dependent on Germany. When Czechoslovakia was recreated after the war, including Sudetenland, the German speaking Czechoslovak citizens were expelled from the country. ] (]) 12:47, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

::It could be said that the ] received a raw deal in 1919, but many Czechs weren't inclined to feel too sympathetic at that point, since they felt that they themselves had been receiving a raw deal pretty much for the last three hundred years since about 1619. And a more practical and immediate concern was that if Bohemia was divided along ethnic lines, then the borders of any Czech state would be completely indefensible (the German army would be perched in the mountains looking down at the Czechs in the valleys), while most of the industrial assets would also be lost to the Czech state. The reality was that any Czech state established along strictly ethnic lines would be a weak balkanized fragment strongly dependent on its neighbors, and any hope of a strong and truly independent Czech state had to be based on the traditional boundaries of Bohemia and Moravia... ] (]) 14:36, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:As regards the 'czech question' see ] for an explanation of why neither Bohemia nor 'czecho' are a perfect choice.] (]) 14:38, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:Let's see.
:*Why did Berlin and not Vienna become German capital, and why is Austria not part of Germany? -- It's quite simple really: because Prussia won the ] of 1866, which led to the establishment of a new German Empire under Prussian leadership and exclusion of Austria within the next five years.
:*Why did Prussia become a leading German state? -- By the 18th century, Austria and Prussia had become by far the two most powerful German states. The reason for this is the ] -- the colonization of eastern territories by Germans in the Middle Ages. Because of their location at the eastern border of medieval Germany, Austria and ] were the prime beneficiaries of this development. Austria expanded into what is today Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bosnia. Brandenburg expanded into what is today Poland, Russia (Kaliningrad), and Lithuania. For political reasons, Brandenburg renamed itself to Prussia in the 18th century -- this was really just a name change, the center of Brandenburg/Prussia was always Berlin and never in the original Prussia (around present-day Kaliningrad); see ].
:*What about Frankish identity, Saxon, Bavarian identity? -- This is a very speculative question, but IMO wars decide the outcome of history, not people's identities... There was never any political reason for anyone to reestablish a Frankish identity in West Germany. OTOH, ] was capital for 50 years, and that's a Frankish city.
:*Why didn't the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy all stay in one country like it was in the Middle Ages? -- The most important reason is probably 19th century ]. Many present-day European countries were founded between 1806 and 1919, when nationalism was all the rage. Germany, Italy and Czechoslovakia are all products of this ideology, which stated that countries should be based on common languages -- Germany the country of German-speakers, Italy the country of Italian-speakers, and so on. An additional reason is of course that the original ] had slowly, but completely disintegrated and so it never seemed to people like a model that one would want to emulate.
:Hope these answers help. --] (]) 16:50, 2 August 2009 (UTC)


Thank you all very much! Another set of questions: What is the present sense of German "ethnic" identity? Is the "Romanticist" take that Germany owes its character to the Frankish/French hegemony (as with France), or the Ostsiedlung, considering Berlin's primacy? What is the viability of restoring Prussia, or of Russia handing over Kaliningrad for a similar independent state as Austria? Would Poland make this impossible? Maybe I have it wrong, but the extinction of Prussia could have been seen as genocide, in the expulsion of Germans, yes or no? Livonia was a component of Prussia, right? What do the Italians think of their Germanic heritage, apart from the obvious Lombard presence? This is going on a limb here, but by extension, are there any cultural remnants of the Franks in the eastern Mediterranean, or Genoan and Venetian ties? ] (]) 21:59, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:The Prussia revival thing...what is the prospect and the interest, the activism and legality of effecting it upon Kaliningrad, in respect of Russian-European relations and the expansion of the EU? ] (]) 22:02, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::Livonia I don't think was ever part of Prussia - it fell out of control of the Teutonic knights before the expansion of Prussia, (being a little north of the easternmost extent of prussia)
::What does "..or of Russia handing over Kaliningrad for a similar independent state as Austria" - you surely aren't suggesting a swap!? It's possible that Kalingrad might be returned to some other state (or become independent) at some time in the future, under different circumstances (such as the CIS somehow integrating with the EU..)
::The 'extinction of Prussia' is not as far as I know anything like genocide - the term 'ethnic cleansing' is used to day, but it's worth noting that similar migrations have taken place in europe due to border changes many many times. - you meant the ] and all that?
::What do you mean 'restoring prussia'? it's not clear - however history as far as I know does not work backwards, it's possible that 'germans' may return to the eastern baltic in number in the future - in a similar fashion to the Ostsiedlung, made easier by the ] and other EU integration policies. But I can't imagine a state of prussia reappearing..
::As for franks in the mediterraean I don't know, but I'm aware that there still are saxon germans in romania.] (]) 22:36, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::I'm not familiar with a 'prussian revival thing' - though I have heard it said that to some extent that the baltic (and to lesser extent north sea) was becoming more like it was during the times of the ] (which is a vaguely similar thing) - due to the baltic states and poland leaving russian influence etc.] (]) 22:40, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::Well yes, I was wondering about any movement to restore Prussia as an independent German state akin to Austria and if surrounding countries would even allow it. ] (]) 23:00, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::Do you mean what is left of Prussia - a lot of it is in Poland now - which would be a problem.] (]) 23:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::Just Kaliningrad, but I wonder if Moscow sees that as a wedge to control EU affairs by proxy and which would be a reason not to revive Prussia. ] (]) 23:56, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::::::Revival of prussia seems too hypothetical to me to answer - there are lots of other states that used to exist - mercia, yugoslavia, the kingdom of burgundy etc . Why prussia.?
::::::If you were asking about the legal status of Kalingrad/Kongisberg and it's future then somebody might be able to answer that - though we are not a very good crystal ball.
::::::It's also worth noting that there were states in the area that predate prussia. ] (]) 10:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

== relatively recent Japanese short-story collection with S&M themes ==

About 10 years ago, there was a collection of short stories translated from Japanese and published in the US - I don't remember the name of the author or the book's title, or even when the book was originally first published in Japan. All I recall for sure is that in one of the stories there is a moment when the man (husband ? boyfriend ?) gets out a fishing rod to whip the woman (wife ? girlfriend ?), who grows visibly excited at the idea. For information, and despite what the above might lead one to believe, it wasn't genre erotica or anything of the sort. I am fairly sure the book (hardback) was published by a university press or an small press of literary fiction. <small><span class="autosigned">—Preceding ] comment added by ] (] • ]) 08:47, 2 August 2009 (UTC)</span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

== Legislators mass resign and recontest? ==

Apart from the ], are there any more instances where a group of legislators resign en masse in order to contest the by-election? ] (]) 13:23, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:There was the occasion when four leading Labour members of the ] resigned to fight byelections on the issue of whether the GLC should be abolished. The resignation was 25 years ago this week, as it happens. The Conservatives had won all their constituencies the year before, but decided not to fight the byelections so all four were easily re-elected. ] (]) 21:59, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::The simultaneous resignations in 1881 of U.S. Senators from New York ] and ] is vaguely analogous. ] (]) 22:02, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Roman Senate assembly ==

]
::Typically where would the ] assemble during the ] for debates as depicted in this color picture?
]
::::::or this black & white picture of Gaius Gracchus debating as in the article ].--] <sup>]</sup> 21:00, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
:::Cicero ] before the Senate (the event shown in your color picture) at the ]. I don't know if that was a normal place for the Senate to meet, though. --] (]) 21:19, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
:These three links might answer everything :], ] and more specifically ] ] (]) 21:26, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
::Two questions:
::*It was debated and decided by the Roman Senate to send ] to raze Carthage. Where would you image this debate took place? It had to be pretty important as in 147 BC he was still under the legal age and a subordinate officer.
::*Is ] the same as ]. I understand the ] was built on the remains of the ancient Temple of Mars. Is that correct? --] <sup>]</sup> 22:03, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

== Crusader military order ethnicities & the Reformation ==

So the Mediterranean crusader states were considered "Frankish", but the Baltic ones were "Teutonic". What about the Genoan & Venetian areas? Armenia?

Could differences between the Frankish Mediterranean and Teutonic Baltic lead to differences around the time of the Reformation, with their cultural communities becoming Catholic and Protestant respectively? If so, it can explain partly why Anglicanism is said to have both parts, with German principalities providing the governorship of the CoE, but having lands such as Malta, Gibraltar, Minorca, Cyprus, Ionia, Genoa, Elba and Corsica, as well as the ] being the base of Anglicanism in Europe, rather than some Protestant area. ] (]) 22:57, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

:The term "Frank" was a broad generalization whereby the Muslim world during crusader times incorrectly labeled all Western European christians as "Franks"; likely because the first people who turned them back in Spain were the Franks (]) and the earliest ] (i.e. ]) were also Franks; however the Crusader movement was not confined to the "Franks" who, after all, where only one of the settled ]. The Franks did establish a pretty sizable hegemony over modern France and Germany (]), but there were also other Germanic peoples who established similar hegemonies (the ]s in Italy, the ]s in Spain, the ]s in North Africa]]; and certainly many of these people also participated in Crusades as well, as well as many non-Germanic peoples.
:Also, it is an incorrect statement that the former lands of the Teutonic Knights became largely protestant; much of these areas remained majority Catholic to this day (Poland, Lithuania, Estonia). Most of the "Protestant" areas of Northern Europe were those that had been long Catholic, and weren't part of the "crusader" lands of the Teutonic Knights. Other than England, Protestantism first took hold in places that lacked a strong national government, such as the ], where the multitudinous principalites were largely left to their own devices, and Switzerland, which was a weak confederation without any sort of strong national government as well. In states with a strong monarch and centralized government, such as France, Spain, and Austria; well, they remained largely Catholic. Italy is perhaps an exception, but the proximity to Rome goes a long way towards keeping the fragmented peninsula in line. --]''''']''''' 04:09, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

::To clear up some other things, the Venetian crusader states were generally considered to be merchant colonies of Venice, independent of whatever Frankish state they happened to be attached to. Armenia was always separate, although it was heavily Latinized during the crusades. Not all the crusaders were "Franks" per se, and there were certainly "Teutonic" crusaders in the Holy Land; sometimes contemporary authors liked to show off their erudition by referring to contemporary nations with classical names, so Germans are often referred to as Teutons or Alemanni. The Teutonic Order itself was originally founded in Jerusalem, and was referred to there as the Ordo Teutonicorum just as it was everywhere else. ] (]) 05:23, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

= August 3 =

== Henry VIII's dual titles and powers: precedent? ==

Henry as King, ] and ] and his heirs as ] of the ]...could that ] of ]s and ] and ], or ] of a ], such as the Templars and Hospitallers? ] (]) 10:44, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

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January 11

JeJu AirFlight 2216

Is this the beginning of a new conspiracy theory? On 11 January, the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board stated that both the CVR and FDR had stopped recording four minutes before the aircraft crashed.

Why would the flight recorder stop recording after the bird strike? Don't they have backup battery for flight recorders? Ohanian (talk) 09:59, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

Do you mean JeJu Air Flight 2216? Stanleykswong (talk) 14:27, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
Yes, you are right, flight 2216 not 2219. I have updated the title. Ohanian (talk) 14:51, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

It says on[REDACTED] that "With the reduced power requirements of solid-state recorders, it is now practical to incorporate a battery in the units, so that recording can continue until flight termination, even if the aircraft electrical system fails. ". So how can the CVR stop recording the pilot's voices??? Ohanian (talk) 10:11, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

The aircraft type was launched in 1994, this particular aircraft entered service in 2009. It may have had an older type of recorder.
I too am puzzled by some aspects of this crash, but I'm sure the investigators will enlighten us when they're ready. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:41, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
Having looked into this briefly, it sounds like an independent power supply for the CVR (generally called a Recorder Independent Power Supply/RIPS) was only mandated for aircraft manufacturer from 2010 in the US . I doubt anyone else required them before. So not particularly surprising if this aircraft didn't have one. I think, but am not sure, that even in the US older aircraft aren't required to be retrofitted with these newer recorders. (See e.g. .) In fact, the only regulator I could find with such a mandate is the Canadian one and that isn't until 2026 at the earliest . Of course even if the FAA did require it, it's a moot point unless it was required for any aircraft flying to the US and this aircraft was flying to the US. I doubt it was required in South Korea given that it doesn't seem to be required in that many other places. There is a lot of confusing discussion about what the backup system if any on this aircraft would have been like . The most I gathered from these discussions is that because the aircraft was such an old design where nearly everything was mechanical, a backup power supply wasn't particularly important in its design. The only expert commentary in RS I could find was in Reuters "a former transport ministry accident investigator, said the discovery of the missing data from the budget airline's Boeing 737-800 jet's crucial final minutes was surprising and suggests all power, including backup, may have been cut, which is rare." Note that the RIPS only have to work for 10 minutes, I think the timeline of this suggests power should not have been lost for 10 minutes at the 4 minutes point, but it's not something I looked in to. BTW, I think this is sort of explained in some of the other sources but if not see . Having a RIPS is a little more complicated than just having a box with a battery. There's no point recording nothing so you need to ensure that the RIPS is connected to/powering mics in the cabin. Nil Einne (talk) 01:28, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
The aircraft made 13 flights in 48 hours, meaning less than 3.7 hours per flight. Is it too much? Its last flight from Bangkok to Korea had a normal flight time for slightly more than 5 hours. Does it mean the pilots had to rush through preflight checks? Stanleykswong (talk) 15:31, 11 January 2025 (UTC)
With this kind of schedule, it is questionable that the aircraft is well-maintained. Stanleykswong (talk) 15:32, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

The OP seems to be obsessed with creating a new conspiracy theory out of very little real information, and even less expertise. Perhaps a new hobby is in order? DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 19:37, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

Just for info, the article is Jeju Air Flight 2216. This question has not yet been raised at the Talk page there. Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 19:42, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

...nor should it be, per WP:TALK. Shantavira| 10:03, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
I disagree. It's quite a critical aspect in the investigation of the accident. Not sure it's some kind of "conspiracy", however. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:18, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
But I suggest it should only be raised if, and to the extent that, it is mentioned in Reliable sources, not OR speculated about by/in the Misplaced Pages article or (at length) the Talk page. On the Talk page it might be appropriate to ask if there are Reliable sources discussing it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.29.20 (talk) 10:53, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
Quite. Martinevans123 (talk) 10:54, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
Have now posed the question there. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:07, 12 January 2025 (UTC)

Fortune 500

Is there any site where one can view complete Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 for free? These indices are so widely used so is there such a site? --40bus (talk) 20:05, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

You can view the complete list here: https://fortune.com/ranking/global500/ Stanleykswong (talk) 21:50, 11 January 2025 (UTC)

January 12

Questions

  1. Why did the United Kingdom not seek euro adoption when it was in EU?
  2. Why did Russia, Belarus and Ukraine not join EU during Eastern Enlargement in 2004, unlike many other former Eastern Bloc countries?
  3. Why is Russia not in NATO?
  4. If all African countries are in AU, why are all European countries not in EU?
  5. Why Faroe Islands and Greenland have not become sovereign states yet?
  6. Can non-sovereign states or country subdivisions have embassies?
  7. Why French overseas departments have not become sovereign states yet? --40bus (talk) 13:35, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
    I see that UCL offer a course on Modern European History & Politics. Had you considered that, perhaps? Martinevans123 (talk) 13:43, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
    1. See: United Kingdom and the euro
    2. Russia, Belarus and Ukraine do not meet the criteria for joining the European Union
    3. If you google "Nato's primary purpose", you will know.
    4. The two do not have logical connection.
    5. They are too small to be an independent country
    6. Non-sovereign states or countries, for example Wales and Scotland, are countries within a sovereign state. They don't have embassies of their own.
    7. Unlike the British territories, all people living in the French territories are fully enfranchised and can vote for the French national assembly, so they are fully represented in the French democracy and do not have the need of becoming a sovereign state.
    Stanleykswong (talk) 15:16, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
    Some of the French overseas territories are Overseas collectivities with a degree of autonomy from Paris, whilst New Caledonia has a special status and may be edging towards full independence. I imagine all the overseas territories contain at least some people who would prefer to be fully independent, there's a difference between sending a few representatives to the government of a larger state and having your own sovereign state (I offer no opinion on the merits/drawbacks of such an aspiration). Chuntuk (talk) 13:06, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Too many questions all at once… but to address the first with an overly simplistic answer: The British preferred the Pound. It had been one of the strongest currencies in the world for generations, and keeping it was a matter of national pride. Blueboar (talk) 14:03, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
1. See United Kingdom and the euro
2. "... geopolitical considerations, such as preserving Russia’s status as a former imperial power, is more important to Moscow than economic issues when it comes to foreign policy. Russia’s sees relations with the EU to be much less important than bilateral relations with the EU member-states that carry the most political weight, namely France, Germany and, to some extent, Britain. Russia thus clearly emphasizes politics over economics. While NATO enlargement was seen by Moscow to be a very important event, Russia barely noticed the enlargement of the EU on May 1." Russia and the European Union (May 2004). See also Russia–European Union relations.
3. See Russia–NATO relations.
Alansplodge (talk) 14:10, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
(5) They're too small? Somebody tell Vatican City, Nauru (21 km) and Tuvalu (26 km) they have no business being nations. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:08, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
More like economically too weak. From our article on the Faroe Islands: “In 2011, 13% of the Faroe Islands' national income consists of economic aid from Denmark, corresponding to roughly 5% of GDP.” They're net recipients of taxpayer money; no way they could have built their largely underground road network themselves. The Faroe Islands have no significant agriculture, little industry or tourism. The only thing they really have is fishing rights in their huge exclusive economic zone, but an economy entirely dependent on fishing rights is vulnerable. They could try as a tax haven, but competing against the Channel Islands or Cayman Islands won't be easy. Greenland has large natural resources, including rare earth metals, and developing mining would generate income, but also pollute the environment and destroy Greenlandic culture. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:23, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
First, because of religious reason, Vatican City is very unique. Second, although it is technically an independent state, according to Article 22 of the Lateran Treaty, people sentenced to imprisonment by Vatican City serve their time in prison in Italy. Third, Saint Peter's Square is actually patrolled by Italian police. Its security and defence heavily relies on Italy. Its situation is similar to Liechtenstein whose security and defence are heavily relies on Austria and Switzerland and its sentenced persons are serving their time in Austria. The key common point of these small states are they’re inland states surrounded by rich and friendly countries that they can trust. Stanleykswong (talk) 10:32, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
As for Nauru and Tuvalu, the two states located near the equator, they are quite far away from other countries that would pose a threat to their national security. The temperature, the reef islands and the atolls around them provide them with ample natural resources. However, even gifted with natural resources, these small pacific ocean islands are facing problems of low living standard, low GDP per capital and low HDI.
Back to the case of Faroe Islands and Greenland, people of these two places enjoy a relatively higher living standard and higher HDI than previously mentioned island states because they have the edge of being able to save a lot of administrative and security costs. If one day Faroe Islands and Greenland became independent, they will face other problems of independence, including problems similar to the fishing conflicts between UK and Norway. The future could be troublesome if Faroe Islands and Greenland ever sought independence from Demark. Stanleykswong (talk) 10:45, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
Someone's bored again and expecting us to entertain them. Nanonic (talk) 15:59, 12 January 2025 (UTC)
40bus often asks mass questions like this on the Language Ref. Desk. Now you get to enjoy him on the Humanities Ref. Desk. The answers to 2, 3, and 4 are somewhat the same -- the African Union is basically symbolic, while the EU and NATO are highly-substantive, and don't admit nations for reasons of geographic symmetry only. AnonMoos (talk) 06:38, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

January 13

reference behind Maxine_(given_name)

from Season 4 Episode 12 of the West Wing:

They all begin to exit.

BARTLET Maxine.

C.J. That's you.

JOSH I know.

Leo, C.J., and Toby leave.

What is Maxine referencing here? From the context of the scene, it's probably a historical figure related to politics or the arts. I went over the list in Maxine_(given_name) but couldn't find anything I recognize. Epideurus (talk) 20:36, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

(I asked on the Humanities desk instead of the Entertainment desk because I'm guessing the reference isn't a pop-culture one but a historical one.) Epideurus (talk) 20:37, 13 January 2025 (UTC)

According to fandom.com: "When the President calls Josh Maxine, he refers to Hallmark Cards character Maxine, known for demanding people to agree with her." . --Amble (talk) 21:17, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
Based on the cards I see here, Maxine is more snarky than demanding agreement. I don't know her that well, but I think she might even be wary of agreement, suspecting it to be faked out of facile politeness.  --Lambiam 23:32, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
More background on Maxine here: https://agefriendlyvibes.com/blogs/news/maxine-the-birth-of-the-ageist-birthday-card Chuntuk (talk) 18:24, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

January 14

Ministerial confirmation hearings

Is there any parliamentary democracy in which all a prime minister's choices for minister are questioned by members of parliament before they take office and need to be accepted by them in order to take office? Mcljlm (talk) 18:36, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

No individual grilling sessions, but in Israel the Knesset has to approve the prime minister's choices.  Card Zero  (talk) 07:33, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Is an occupied regime a country?

If a regime A of a country is mostly occupied by regime B, and regime B is later recognized as the representative of the country, while regime A, unable to reclaim control of the entire country, claims that it is itself a country and independent of regime B. the questio"n arises: is regim"e A a country? 36.230.3.161 (talk) 18:43, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

Are you talking about a Government-in-exile? Blueboar (talk) 19:09, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
This is based on the definition of a country. Anyone in any place can claim to be a country. There is no legal paperwork required. There is no high court that you go to and make your claim to be a country. The first step is simply making the claim, "We are an independent country." Then, other countries have to recognize that claim. It is not 100%. There are claims where a group claims to be a country but nobody else recognizes it as a country, such as South Ossetia. There are others that have been recognized in the past, but not currently, such as Taiwan. There are some that are recognized by only a few countries, such as Abkhazia. From another point of view. There are organizations that claim they have the authority to declare what is and is not a country, such as the United Nations. But, others do not accept their authority on the matter. In the end, there is no way clearly define what is a country, which makes this question difficult to answer. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 20:46, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Taiwan is a country, although I suppose the fact that this has multiple citations says something. (Mainly, it says that the CCP would like to edit it out.)  Card Zero  (talk) 06:46, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
I assumed that everyone was referring to independent countries. I think this is exactly what the question is about. Our article says Taiwan is part of China. China is a country. So, Taiwan is part of a country and not a country by itself. But, the article says it is a country. So, it is independent. It isn't part of China. Which is true? Both? 68.187.174.155 (talk) 20:51, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
"Our article says Taiwan is part of China." Where does it say that? --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:40, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
Instead of trying to draft an abstract, do you have a concrete example you're thinking of? --Golbez (talk) 20:57, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
One should always maintain a distinguish between countries and the regimes administering them. Syria was not the Assad regime – Assad is gone but Syria remains. Likewise, Russia is not the Putin regime. Identifying the two can only lead to confusion.
What makes a geographic region (or collection of regions) a country – more precisely, a sovereign state? There are countless territorial disputes, several of which are sovereignty disputes; for example, the regimes of North and South Korea claim each other's territory and deny each other's sovereignty over the territory the other effectively administers. Each has its own list of supporters of their claims. Likewise, the People's Republic of China and Republic of China claim each other's territory. By the definition of dispute, there is no agreement in such cases on the validity of such claims. The answer to the question whether the contested region in a sovereignty dispute is a country depends on which side of the dispute one chooses, which has more to do with geopolitical interests than with any objectively applicable criteria.  --Lambiam 10:16, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
At least in part, it depends on other countries agreeing that a particular area is actually a nation and that the government that claims to represnt it has some legitimacy; see our Diplomatic recognition article. For many nations, recognition would depend on whether the Charter of the United Nations had been adhered to. Alansplodge (talk) 12:24, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

One of the peculiarities of the Cold War is the emergence of competing governments in multiple countries, along a more or less similar pattern. We had West and East Germany, South and North Vietnam, South and North Korea and ROC and PRC. The only thing that separates the Chinese case from the onset is that there was no usage of the terms West China (for PRC) and East China (for ROC), since the ROC control was limited to a single province (and a few minor islands). Over time the ROC lost most of its diplomatic recognition, and the notion that the government in Taipei represented all of China (including claims on Mongolia etc) became anachronistic. Gradually over decades, in the West it became increasingly common to think of Taiwan as a separate country as it looked separate from mainland China on maps and whatnot. Somewhat later within Taiwan itself political movements wanted (in varying degrees) to abandon the ROC and declare the island as a sovereign state of its own grew. Taiwanese nationalism is essentially a sort of separatism from the ROC ruling Taiwan. In all of the Cold War divided countries, there have been processes were the political separation eventually becomes a cultural and social separation as well. At the onset everyone agrees that the separation is only a political-institutional technicality, but over time societies diverge. Even 35 years after the end of the GDR, East Germans still feel East German. In Korea and China there is linguistic divergence, as spelling reforms and orthography have developed differently under different political regimes. --Soman (talk) 10:41, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

The difference with Taiwan vs. the other Cold War governments is that pre-ROC Taiwan was under Japanese rule. Whereas other governments split existing countries, Taiwan was arguably a separate entity already. Butterdiplomat (talk) 14:02, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
For the UK, the long-standing diplomatic position is that they recognise governments not countries, which has often avoided such complicated tangles. Johnbod (talk) 14:30, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
To further complicate the issue with Taiwan... When the United States had a trade ban with China, most of the cheap goods shipped into the United States had a "Made in Taiwan" sticker. That was OK because hte United States recognized Taiwan as being completely separate from China. It was a bit odd that Taiwan could produce as much as it did. The reality is that they simply made "Made in Taiwan" stickers and put them on Chinese goods before sending them to the United States. When the trade ban was lifted, there was no need to route all the goods through Taiwan. Now, everything has "Made in China" stickers on them and the United States no longer recognizes Taiwan as an independent country. From a simplistic point of view, it appears that the recognition of status was based on convenience rather than political standing. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 15:14, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Photos in a novel

I'm reading a certain novel. In the middle of Chapter II (written in the first person), there are three pages containing photos of the hotel the author is writing about. Flicking through I find another photo towards the end of the book. I think: this must be a memoir, not a novel. I check, but every source says it's a novel.

I've never encountered anything like this before: photos in a novel. Sure, novels are often based on real places, real people etc, but they use words to tell the story. Photos are the stuff of non-fiction. Are there any precedents for this? -- Jack of Oz 20:59, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

If anyone's interested, the novel is Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss. -- Jack of Oz 21:00, 14 January 2025 (UTC)

IIRC Loving Monsters by James Hamilton-Patterson has some photos in it. DuncanHill (talk) 21:03, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Bruges-la-Morte by Georges Rodenbach, 1892. DuncanHill (talk) 21:13, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
I can quickly go to the fiction stacks and pull a dozen books with photos in them. It is common that the photos are in the middle of the book because of the way the book pressing works. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 21:16, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Really? I would like to hear some examples of what you're referring to. Like Jack, I think the appearance of photos in (adult) fiction is rare. The novels of W. G. Sebald are one notable exception. --Viennese Waltz 21:31, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
This post in a blog "with an emphasis on W.G. Sebald and literature with embedded photographs" may be of interest. DuncanHill (talk) 23:44, 14 January 2025 (UTC)
Fascinating. Thanks. So, this is actually a thing. Someone should add it to our List of Things that are Things. -- Jack of Oz 18:30, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
The word "adult" did not come up until you just decided to use it there. I stated that there are many fiction paperback books with a middle section of graphics, which commonly include images of photographs. You replied that that is rare in adult fiction. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 00:42, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Photonovels, you mean?  Card Zero  (talk) 06:59, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
It was assumed that we are talking about adult fiction, yes. --Viennese Waltz 09:06, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
I found Photography-Embedded Literature – Annual Lists, 2010-present, a "bibliography of works of fiction and poetry... containing embedded photographs". Alansplodge (talk) 12:28, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
I have no idea how to paste a photo in here. What I am referring to is fiction paperback novels. They don't have to be fiction. Some are non-fiction. That is not the point. The book is a normal paperback, but in the middle of the book the pages are not normal paperback paper. They are a more glossy paper and printed in color with pictures. There is usually four to eight pages of pictures embedded into the middle of the otherwise normal paperback novel. It is very common in young adult novels where they don't want a fully graphic book (like children's books), but they still want some pictures. Out of all the novels where there is a graphic insert in the middle, some of the graphics on those pages are photographs. I've been trying to find an image on Google of books where the center of the book is shiny picture papges, but it keeps pushing me to "Make a photo album book" services. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 13:34, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Can you name one adult fiction (not YA or children's) novel which has a section of photographs in the middle? --Viennese Waltz 14:00, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
So having photos in the middle of a book is quite common in non-fiction (example: I have a bio of Winston Churchill that has photos of him during various stages of his life). Publishers do this to make printing easier (as the photos use a different paper, it is easier to bind them in the middle… and photos don’t reproduce as well on the paper used for text).
It is certainly rarer for there to be photos in works of fiction, simply because the characters and places described in the story are, well, fictional. But it obviously can be done (example: if the fictional story is set in a real place, a series of photos of that place might help the reader envision the events that the story describes). Blueboar (talk) 13:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
I just realized another area for confusion. I was personally considering a any image that looks like a photo to be a photo. But, others may be excluding fictional photographs and only considering actual photographs. If that is the case, the obvious example (still toung adult fiction) would be Carmen Sandiego books, which are commonly packed with photographs of cities, even if they do photoshop an image of the bad guy into them. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 18:57, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Tom Hanks's novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece tells a story of adapting a comic book into a movie, and includes several pages of that comic book and related ones. (To be clear, these are fictitious comic books, a fiction within a fiction). Where the comic book was printed in color, the book contains a block of pages on different paper as is common in non-fiction.
...and then of course there's William Boyd's novel Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928–1960, which is a spoof biography of an artist, including purported photos of the main character and reproductions of his artworks (actually created by Boyd himself). As our article about the book explains, some people in the art world were fooled. Turner Street (talk) 10:30, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

January 15

Refusing royal assent

Are there any circumstances where the British monarch would be within their rights to withhold royal assent without triggering a constitutional crisis. I'm imagining a scenario where a government with a supermajority passed legislation abolishing parliament/political parties, for example? I know it's unlikely but it's an interesting hypothetical.

If the monarch did refuse, what would happen? Would they eventually have to grant it, or would the issue be delegated to the Supreme Court or something like that? --Andrew 14:38, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

Our Royal assent article says: In 1914, George V took legal advice on withholding Royal Assent from the Government of Ireland Bill; then highly contentious legislation that the Liberal government intended to push through Parliament by means of the Parliament Act 1911. He decided not to withhold assent without "convincing evidence that it would avert a national disaster, or at least have a tranquillising effect on the distracting conditions of the time". Alansplodge (talk) 15:05, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
Not British, but there was the 1990 case of King Baudouin of Belgium, whose conscience and Catholic faith would not permit him to grant assent to a bill that would liberalise Belgium's abortion laws. A solution was found:
  • (quote from article) In 1990, when a law submitted by Roger Lallemand and Lucienne Herman-Michielsens that liberalized Belgium's abortion laws was approved by Parliament, he refused to give royal assent to the bill. This was unprecedented; although Baudouin was de jure Belgium's chief executive, royal assent has long been a formality (as is the case in most constitutional and popular monarchies). However, due to his religious convictions—the Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion—Baudouin asked the government to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he could avoid signing the measure into law. The government under Wilfried Martens complied with his request on 4 April 1990. According to the provisions of the Belgian Constitution, in the event the king is temporarily unable to reign, the government as a whole assumes the role of head of state. All government members signed the bill, and the next day (5 April 1990) the government called the bicameral legislature in a special session to approve a proposition that Baudouin was capable of reigning again.
There's no such provision in the UK Constitution as far as I'm aware, although Regents can be and have been appointed in cases of physical incapacity. -- Jack of Oz 15:21, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
A more likely scenario in your hypothesis is that the Opposition could bring the case to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom who have the power make rulings on constitutional matters; an enample was Boris Johnson's decision to prorogue Parliament in 2019. 15:23, 15 January 2025 (UTC)
There is the ability to delegate powers to Counsellors of State. There are restrictions on what powers can be delegated in section 6(1) of the Regency Act 1937, but I don't see anything prohibiting the monarch from delegating the power to grant Royal Assent. He could then temporarily absent himself from the UK (perhaps on an impromptu trip to another Commonwealth Realm) so that the Counsellors of State could grant such Assent during his absence. Proteus (Talk) 15:40, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

Fratelli Gianfranchi

Can anyone find any information about Fratelli Gianfranchi, sculptor(s) of the Statue of George Washington (Trenton, New Jersey)? I assume wikt:fratelli means brothers, but I could be wrong.

References

  1. "Daily Telegraph: A New Statue of Washington". Harrisburg Telegraph. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. August 18, 1876. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com. The statue was executed by Fratelli Gianfranchi, of Carrara, Italy, who modeled it from Leutze's masterpiece

TSventon (talk) 15:31, 15 January 2025 (UTC)

"Fratelli Gianfranchi" would be translated as "Gianfranchi Brothers" with Gianfranchi being the surname. Looking at Google Books there seems to have existed a sculptor called Battista Gianfranchi from Carrara but I'm not finding much else. --82.58.35.213 (talk) 06:45, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
The city of Carrara is famous for its marble which has been exploited since Roman times, and has a long tradition of producing sculptors who work with the local material. Most of these would not be considered notable as they largely produce works made on command. Xuxl (talk) 09:53, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
Thank you both, it is helpful to have confirmation that you couldn't find any more than I did. For what it's worth, I found Battista Gianfranchi and Giuseppe Gianfranchi separately in Google books. It is interesting that, of the references in the article, the sculptor is only named in an 1876 article and not in later sources. TSventon (talk) 13:55, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
In the light of the above, the mentions in the article of "the Italian sculptor Fratelli Gianfranchi" should perhaps be modified (maybe ". . . sculptors Fratelli Gianfranchi (Gianfranchi Brothers)"), but our actual sources are thin and this would border on WP:OR.
FWIW, the Brothers (or firm) do not have an entry in the Italian Misplaced Pages, but I would have expected there to be Italian-published material about them, perhaps findable in a library or museum in Carrara. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.29.20 (talk) 18:43, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
I have added the translation for Fratelli Gianfranchi as a footnote. I agree that more information might be available in Carrara. TSventon (talk) 20:42, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

January 16

Can I seek Chapter 15 protection while a case is ongoing in my home country or after it finished ?

Simple question. I don’t have Us citizenship, but I owe a large debt amount in New York that can’t legally exist in my home country where I currently live (at least where the 50% interest represent usury even for a factoring contract).

My contract only states that disputes should be discussed within a specific Manhattan court, it doesn’t talk about which is the applicable law beside the fact that French law states that French consumer law applies if a contract is signed if the client live in France (and the contract indeed mention my French address). This was something my creditors were unaware of (along with the fact it needs to be redacted in French to have legal force in such a case), but at that time I was needing legal protection after my first felony, and I would had failed to prove partilly non guilty if I did not got the money on time. I can repay what I borrowed with all my other debts but not the ~$35000 in interest.

Can I use Chapter 15 to redirect in part my creditors to a bankruptcy proceeding in France or is it possible to file for Chapter 15 only once a proceeding is finished ? Can I use it as an individiual or is Chapter 15 only for businesses ? 2A01:E0A:401:A7C0:6CE2:1F60:AD30:6C2F (talk) 09:13, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

We don't answer questions like that here. You should engage a lawyer. --Viennese Waltz 09:23, 16 January 2025 (UTC)
Chapter 15 bankruptcy does cover individuals and does include processes for people who are foreign citizens. The basics. 68.187.174.155 (talk) 11:24, 16 January 2025 (UTC)

January 17

Raymond Smullyan and Ayn Rand

Did Raymond Smullyan ever directly discuss or mention Ayn Rand or Objectivism? I think he might have indirectly referenced her philosophy in a a fictional symposium on truthfulness where a speaker says that he(or she) is not as "fanatical" about being as selfish as possible as an earlier speaker who said he himself was a selfish bastard.Rich (talk) 02:23, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

I guess not. Smullyan wrote so much that it is difficult to assert with certainty that he never did, but it has been pointed out by others that his Taoist philosophical stance is incompatible with Rand's Objectivism.  --Lambiam 12:23, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

January 18

"The Narrow Way" issued to prisoners in 1916

In his book 112 Days Hard Labour, about prison life in England in 1916, the Quaker Hubert Peet says:

On entry one is given a Bible, Prayer Book, and Hymn Book. In the ordinary way these would be supplemented by a curious little manual of devotion entitled “The Narrow Way,” but at the Scrubs Quakers were mercifully allowed in its place the Fellowship Hymn Book and the Friends’ Book of Discipline.

What was this book The Narrow Way?

I thought the question would be easy to answer if the book was standard issue, but I haven't found anything. (Yes, I'm aware that the title is a reference to Matthew 7:14.) Marnanel (talk) 03:46, 18 January 2025 (UTC)

Letters of a Prisoner for Conscience Sake - Page 54 (Corder Catchpool · 1941, via Google books) says "The Narrow Way , you must know , is as much a prison institution as green flannel underclothing ( awfu ' kitly , as Wee Macgregor would say ) , beans and fat bacon , superannuated “ duster " -pocket - handkerchiefs , suet pudding ... and many other truly remarkable things !" so it does seem to have been standard issue. TSventon (talk) 04:22, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
Google Books finds innumerable publishers' adverts for The Narrow Way, Being a Complete Manual of Devotion, with a Guide to Confirmation and Holy Communion, compiled by E.B. Here's one. Many of them, of widely varying date, claim that the print run is in its two hundred and forty-fifth thousand. Here it's claimed that it was first published c. 1869, and Oxford University Libraries have a copy of a new edition from as late as 1942. Apart from that, I agree, it's remarkably difficult to find anything about it. --Antiquary (talk) 12:13, 18 January 2025 (UTC)
You can buy one on eBay for £5.99. Alansplodge (talk) 15:30, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Fun fact: a copy of The Narrow Way figures in A. A. Milne's novel The Red House Mystery. —Tamfang (talk) 22:26, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

January 19

Federal death penalty

Is there a list of federal criminal cases where the federal government sought the death penalty but the jury sentenced the defendant to life in prison instead? I know Sayfullo Saipov's case is one, but I'm unsure of any others. wizzito | say hello! 01:41, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

Official portraits of Donald Trump's first presidency

Yellow cartouche*grim*Official portrait?*grin*

Commons category Official portraits of Donald Trump (First presidency) only contains variations of the portrait with Donald Trump smiling. But Photographs of the official portrait of Donald Trump only contains photos incorporating Trump's official portrait with a vigorous facial expression, which is otherwise not even included in Commons?! This seems inconsistent - what is the background and status of either photo? --KnightMove (talk) 10:51, 19 January 2025 (UTC)

The framed portraits hanging on the wall in these photos are an official portrait from December 15, 2016, of the then president-elect. The one with bared teeth is from October 6, 2017, when Trump was in office. For two more recent official mug shots, look here.  --Lambiam 12:31, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Ok, thank you. Do you know why the president-elect photo is not even uploaded in Commons? Shouldn't it be included in commons:Category:Official portraits of Donald Trump (First presidency)? --KnightMove (talk) 16:00, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
The most plausible reason that it was not uploaded is that no one missed it. Among those aware of its existence and having the wherewithal to find it on the Web and to upload it to the Commons, no one may have realized it had not already been uploaded. Or they may not have felt a need; there is no shortage of images in the relevant articles.
Strictly speaking, it does not belong in Category:Official portraits of Donald Trump (first presidency), as Trump was not yet president. However, Category:Official portraits of Donald Trump (second presidency) features nothing but lugubrious portraits of the president-reelect.  --Lambiam 22:56, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

January 20

Trattato delle attinie, ed osservazioni sopra alcune di esse viventi nei contorni di Venezia, accompagnate da 21 tavole litografiche del Conte Nicolò Contarin

I am trying to find the illustration’s description from the original source: Trattato delle attinie, ed osservazioni sopra alcune di esse viventi nei contorni di Venezia, accompagnate da 21 tavole litografiche del Conte Nicolò Contarin including species name and description for these sea anemones: https://www.arsvalue.com/it/lotti/541811/contarini-nicolo-bertolucci-1780-1849-trattato-delle-attinie-ed-osservazio . I requested it on the resource request page but was not able to find where in the source these illustrations are or where their descriptions are. It doesn’t help that I can’t read Italian. KAVEBEAR (talk) 00:11, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Apparently you need to locate an occurrence of "(TAV VII)" or "(TAV XII)" in the text. --Askedonty (talk) 12:04, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
(edit conflict) References to the illustration are in the form "tavolo VII" or "tav. VII". So, for example, page 99 refers to fig. 1 e 2. The text refers to the development of the actinae being studied without precise identification, specifically to their sprouting new tentacles, not being (contra Spix) a prolongation of the skin of the base, but from parts of the body. The same page has a reference to fig. 3.  --Lambiam 12:17, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Sorry where are you seeing this page 99 you are referring to? KAVEBEAR (talk) 20:47, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Oops, I forgot to link. It is here (and also here).  --Lambiam 22:42, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

Pu Yi

Although member of the Chinese Communist Party, the last Emperor was an anti-communist and counter-revolutionnair until his death? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.207.179.151 (talk) 17:26, 20 January 2025 (UTC)Block evasion. Dekimasuよ! 18:58, 20 January 2025 (UTC)

I imagine that during the Cultural Revolution, it was wise to keep one's opinions to one's self. Alansplodge (talk) 17:31, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Jiang Qing did apparently not get the memo.  --Lambiam 22:32, 20 January 2025 (UTC)
Situational strength can give psychological pressure on the individual and affect his or her behaviours. Stanleykswong (talk) 09:38, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

January 21

text of executive order

Hi. On 2025-01-20, POTUS signed an executive order titled "Ending Birthright Citizenship for Children of Illegal Immigrants". This event has been reported by virtually every major news outlet in the world.

It is now 2025-01-20 9PM Washington time, and I have been trying to find the exact text, or even portions of its text, for a while now, to no avail.

1. Is the full text of this executive order available to the general public?

This Library of Congress site claims that: "All Executive Orders and Proclamations issued after March 1936 are required by law to be published in the Federal Register."

2. Assuming that the above claim is true, is there any requirement or guideline on how quickly an EO is published after it has been signed by POTUS? Epideurus (talk) 02:22, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

Nevermind. The full text was posted some time around 2025-01-20 8:45PM Washington time. None of the news agencies reporting before that got the title right, so I'm guessing that the title of the EO was only released when its full text was released. Epideurus (talk) 02:49, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
As I read the order literally, it implies that persons to which birthright citizenship is denied by force of Section 2 (a) of the order can also not be naturalized at a later date (or, if they can, no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing the acquired citizenship).  --Lambiam 10:46, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

Deadline for ratification of amendments to the US constitution

Hello, and thank you for this opportunity to ask the experts. There's been talk recently about the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the US constitution after former president Biden stated the he considered the amendment to be ratified and part of the US constitution, as it had been ratified by 38 states, reaching the bar of three quarters of the states the Article 5 of the US constitution sets.

The National Archives disagreed and pointed to a deadline (later extended) for ratification set by Congress; since the required number of states had not been reached by the final deadline and since the deadline had not been extended further, it said, the amendment could not be considered ratified.

This appears to be plainly at odds with the text of Article Five of the United States Constitution, which contains no mention of Congress being able to impose a deadline, or in fact any other requirement, for the ratification process. The best argument I've seen in non-scholarly sources is, in essence, that "the 5th Amendment is silent on this", but that strikes me as unconvincing. The 5th prescribes a process, and there is no reason (that is readily apparent to me) to presume that this process may be changed by Congress in either direction. Just like Congress may not declare that ratification by one half of the states (rather than three quarters) is sufficient, it may not impose that additional steps must be taken or additional hurdles passed: say, it may not require that four fifths of the states must ratify and that three quarters is not enough. The Constitution prescribes what conditions are necessary for an Amendment to become part of the Constitution — but it also dictates that when these conditions are met, this does happen.

As such I find the National Archives' position to be inconsistent with the Constitution and the 5th, and Congress's attempt to impose an additional requirement in the form of a deadline strikes me as out of line with the Constitution, rendering said additional requirement null and void.

That said, and this is where my question comes in, I am not a legal expert. I haven't studied law, nor do I work in or with law in any way; I am merely curious. And although appeals to authority are fallacious as far as logical reasoning is concerned, I don't doubt that the National Archives (as well as, presumably, Congressional staff) have considered this matter and concluded that yes, a) the imposition of a deadline by Congress, above and beyond the process prescribed by the 5th, is constitutional; b) meeting of said deadline is then an additional condition for ratification; and c) since this deadline has not been met here, the ERA is not part of the Constitution.

And my question is: why? On what legal basis? Surely Congress cannot create additional requirements out of whole cloth; there must be some form of authorization in it. What's more, since we are talking about a process prescribed by the Constitution itself, said authority must itself be grounded in the Constitution, rather than taking the form of e.g. a simple law (Congress cannot arbitrarily empower itself to change the rules and processes laid down by the Constitution).

I would be very grateful if someone with a background in law (professional or otherwise) could explain this to me. Thank you very much! 2003:D5:AF0E:DE00:95C4:DF2F:3B13:850E (talk) 07:42, 21 January 2025 (UTC)

I ain't no lawyer, but as I recall, the deadline was stated within the amendment proposal itself. That was the case with a few other amendments also, but they were ratified within the time limit, so there was no issue. It's possible someone will take this issue to court, and ultimately the Supreme Court would have to decide if that type of clause is valid. On the flip side, there is the most recent amendment, which prohibits Congress from giving itself a raise without an intervening election of Representatives. That one was in the wind for like 200 years, lacking a deadline. When it was finally ratified, it stood. ←Baseball Bugs carrots11:31, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
Thank you very much for your reply, much appreciated! I didn't know the deadline was in the proposal itself. I'm not sure I'm convinced that this should make a difference, since for as long as the proposed Amendment is no part of the Constitution, it really is not part of the Constitution and should not be able to inform or affect other provisions of the Constitution. That said I of course agree that it would take the Supreme Court to decide the issue for good. Thanks again! 2003:D5:AF0E:DE00:C4C7:395C:56A3:A782 (talk) 16:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
The SCOTUS may be quite busy with executive orders for a while. Quite possible, that the President has to appoint another 6 or 12 judges to cope with all that work load. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 18:44, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
The courts in general views these things as political questions. Abductive (reasoning) 21:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
The deadline for the ERA was mentioned in a resolving clause before the text of the amendment itself. In other cases, such as the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the deadline was contained in the amendment itself. Whether this makes any practical difference is a question for the courts. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 13:51, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
I don't understand why it is the National Archives rather than a legal/constitutional authority such as the Supreme Court that gets to decide whether a proposed amendment has become ratified or not, ie. become law or not. -- Jack of Oz 21:09, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
There is the Executive, in this case the National Archives, doing what the Chief Executive ordered them to do. And there is Congress, which set the rules. This sounds like a political question. Abductive (reasoning) 21:59, 21 January 2025 (UTC)
By a statute that took effect in 1984, the task of certifying ratifications of amendments to the US Constitution has been given to the Archivist of the United States, which is why the interpretation of the National Archives (that is, the Archivist) matters. One might argue that this statute is unconstitutional, as the Constitution does not include a provision requiring certification for ratification to take effect, unlike for other federal processes that depend on the outcomes from the several states. AFAIK the constitutionality of the statute, or any of its predecessors (like this one) has never been challenged in court.  --Lambiam 10:15, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
I see. Thank you, Lambiam. -- Jack of Oz 11:20, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
But of course there must always be some form of official certification. That would be the case for any law passed to a state governor or the president for signing, just as it must be for a constitutional change. Otherwise, anyone could claim that a proposed constitutional amendment has been ratified by a sufficient number of states and must now become part of the law of the USA. Surely the system depends on not just anyone claiming this, but a properly constituted authority with the legal power/responsibility to make such a certification. -- Jack of Oz 06:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Note that there was no certification procedure for the original ratification of the United States Constitution; actually, the amendment provision of the Articles of Confederation, which required unanimous approval of the states, was bypassed. I don't think there was already one in place for the Bill of Rights either – when Congress met on on January 18, 1792, the President simply informed them that he had "a copy of an exemplified copy of an Act of the Legislature of Vermont, ratifying" the amendements, which implied a sufficient number of instruments of ratification had been received. The procedure for the ratification of the electoral votes in presidential elections was only specified in the Twelfth Amendment; the 1796 United States presidential election managed to do without. I agree, though, that there ought to be an official procedure for the ratification of constitutional amendments, but is the ability of Congress to inspect . The question is, is Congress passing (by simple majorities) a bill that such and such procedure shall be it, which is then signed into law by the President, enough to make it official and binding?
The US Constitution does not define who is "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States. At the moment this is a hot issue. If Congress passes a bill, next signed into law, declaring that the definition is made by executive order, is the issue thereby settled?  --Lambiam 16:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

January 22

Sir John Simon's soul

"Simon has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered into his soul" is a quotation attributed to David Lloyd George. I have been unable to come up with a definitive source, and neither Roy Jenkins (in The Chancellors), nor Duncan Brack (in The Dictionary of Liberal Quotations) have been able to either. Can the RefDeskers do better? Thank you. I felt sure I'd asked this here before, but I cannot find any trace of it in the archives. DuncanHill (talk) 18:49, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

I looked into this question a while ago. The earliest evidence I could find came from a diary entry by Sir George Riddell for 14th December 1912:
The other day F. E. Smith told me a good story of a member who, when speaking in the House of Commons, remarked, "Mr. So-and-So has sat for so long on the fence that the iron has entered into his soul".
It's here. Shame that no-one's named. --Antiquary (talk) 20:38, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
Both parties were named by Konni Zilliacus in 1935. Google Books also claims to have it in a version naming Lloyd George and Simon in a 1931 number of the New Statesman, but I find their dating of "Snippet view" periodicals unreliable. --Antiquary (talk) 21:03, 22 January 2025 (UTC)
I found a 1922 case of "Who was it who said of a Free Church leader: "he has sat on the fence so long that the iron has entered into his soul"?". DuncanHill (talk) 01:33, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Ha! The Spring 1905 number of Forest Leaves magazine (here at vol. II, no. 2, p. 16) gives us this: "Winston Churchill said that Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman 'had sat so long on the fence that the iron had entered into his soul.'" A rare example, then, of Churchillian Drift in reverse. --Antiquary (talk) 08:11, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
One more Google search tells us that Churchill said this at a meeting of the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association in, apparently, April 1905. --Antiquary (talk) 10:04, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Oh well done! I'd always rather associated it with Manchuria. Lloyd George does have a certain gravitational pull for put-downs. I can't quite see him actually nicking one of Churchill's, and I think he would not want to associate himself, even indirectly, with such a negative comment about CB. I'm reminded by Jeeves and the Yule-tide Spirit that it is an echo of Psalm 105:18 in the Prayer Book. If I were Lawrence Frances Flick I would be VERY careful about the choice of type-face for my bookmarks DuncanHill (talk) 10:58, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
I found the Forest Leaves version (with a couple more from the column) in The Mail (Dublin) 4 January 1905. Interestingly, there was an article in lots of local papers in January 1905 which mention the iron entering Lloyd George's soul as a result of how power is abused in the hands of an ascendant Church. DuncanHill (talk) 11:16, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Interesting. Got a link to the Mail version? --Antiquary (talk) 11:31, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
(ec) The Belfast Telegraph - Thursday 23 May 1907 says that Mr Churchill made the dig at CB "at Bow, February 19, 1902". Dublin Mail 4 Jan 1905 Column called "Mixed Metaphors" DuncanHill (talk) 11:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
The "iron entered his/my/our soul(s)" trope seems very common at the time, usually of course in a more positive sense. DuncanHill (talk) 11:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
And here is a report of Churchill addressing the Annual Meeting of the Bow and Bromley Conservative Association from the Derby Daily Telegraph Thursday 20 February 1902 Mr. Winston Churchill and the War. DuncanHill (talk) 11:39, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
The report appears in many local papers. The report in the Westminster Gazette says CB has NOT (my emphasis) sat so long on the fence that the iron has entered his soul. DuncanHill (talk)
If you have access to a copy it might be worth taking a look at the eight-volume Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897-1963, edited by Robert Rhodes James. --Antiquary (talk) 14:14, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Not in Volume I, where it should be. DuncanHill (talk) 18:11, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
The anecdote is told in a Lloyd George–John Simon version on page 472 of The New Statesman and Nation issue of October 17, 1931:
Sir John Simon's acidity of temperament and capacity for being a little in several camps but beloved by none led his late chief to remark—or so I'm told—that "Sir John has sat so long on the fence, that the iron has entered into his soul."             Critic.
Here one can verify, in spite of the snippetness of the permitted views, that this indeed the issue of this date. So it is indeed true that Lloyd George "is said" (or, more precisely, "has been said") to have commented this – although using a slightly different word order and punctuation than the quotation in our article. It is, of course, by no means sure that he actually has done so.  --Lambiam 14:55, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
Here it is on Archive.org. It is Volume II Number 34, despite what Google claims. DuncanHill (talk) 18:04, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
On the other hand, the Churchill/Campbell-Bannerman version was still being quoted as "famous" as late as 1950, so the two variants co-existed for many years. --Antiquary (talk) 17:13, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

January 23

Marco Guidetti

Who was Marco Guidetti in relation to De Tomaso Pantera? This Turbo wrapper says "Marco Guidetti Pentera de Tomaso", but my search didn't yield any meaningful results for him, including books. My guess he could be this one, but not sure. Brandmeister 10:45, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

The creator(s) of these Turbo wrappers misspelled "Pantera", so they were not overly careful. Perhaps they misinterpreted the name of the author of the photograph as being the name of the car model.  --Lambiam 15:26, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
One possibility is that the particular vehicle shown was owned by a Marco Guidetti, possibly the movie designer and art director of that name who worked on Mad Max and other films: IMDb link (unreliable source) here. Relatedly, he may instead have been involved in designing the model's styling. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.29.20 (talk) 15:57, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
A Marco Guidetti is credited to authoring and photographing Valentino Rossi : campione and a Marco Guidetti also authored JAGUAR . So it appears likely it is the name of the photographer as suggested by Lambiam when the gum was recently reintroduced, although this doesn't rule out the alternative possibilities that they are the car's owner or its designer as suggested by The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195. Modocc (talk) 16:59, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
We also haven't yet ruled out the author/photographer/car designer(?) and the film designer being the same person, although the car originated arond 1970 and film guy's career seems to have started around 2003. Of course, 'Marco Guidetti' cannot be that uncommon a name in Italy. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.8.29.20 (talk) 19:42, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

Australian Antarctic Territory population

What was the population of the Australian Antarctic Territory in the 2021 Australian census? I assumed this would easily be discoverable with a Google search, but I couldn't find this information from the ABS. Since the census counts people where they are on census night (and not where they live permanently), since Davis Station is inhabited year-round, and since the AAT is considered an external territory of Australia, the AAT should have been covered by the census (comparable to Christmas Island, the Cocos, etc) and should have had a non-zero population on census night. Nyttend (talk) 19:46, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

The external territories are listed here: . Quoting our article "Australia is an original signatory to the Antarctic Treaty of 1959. Under section 4, all territorial claims are held in abeyance." Which would appear to explain why it's not listed. Modocc (talk) 20:35, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
"Expeditioners to Australian bases in the Australian Antarctic Territory (and other locations) are included in the Census. Their 'place of enumeration' is an Offshore Statistical Area Level 1 (SA1) in Tasmania." -- Jack of Oz 20:45, 23 January 2025 (UTC)
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