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January 20

How many admins does it take to change a light bulb?

How many admins does it take to change a light bulb? A8v (talk) 00:17, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

LED or incandescent? ―Mandruss ☎ 00:42, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

It depends. Are they hanging from the street lamps? μηδείς (talk) 01:09, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

I haven't a clue, I'm not the OP. ―Mandruss ☎ 01:26, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

We don't give opinions. Besides, it's working just fine. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:46, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

It's not working fine though - it's on the blink. Mitch Ames (talk) 13:32, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Not sure about admins, but it takes 61 general Wikipedians. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:09, January 20, 2015 (UTC)

In other words, the average wikipedian shines at .984 watts? μηδείς (talk) 20:50, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Not as many as it takes to change a heavy bulb. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:09, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Nice! I can't believe I'd never heard or thought of that before. InedibleHulk (talk) 05:14, January 20, 2015 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be hatted as a medical or perhaps legal question? --jpgordon^{::==( o )} 16:40, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Sure. What's stopping you? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:17, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

• 'Fraid I can't answer this question. I just do speedy deletions and so on. I leave technical stuff like that to the experts. Pete "I can't believe he's a sysop" AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 07:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I thought this sort of tomfoolery was banned on the ref desks. Has the rule been changed?--86.157.136.156 (talk) 19:33, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Is Shingo Kitamura male or female?

In the GRG pending cases, Shingo Kitamura is listed as female. But in the list of living supercentenarians, Shingo is listed as male. Which is correct? Deaths in 2013 (talk) 04:33, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

It's a guy's name, so I'd lean toward male. InedibleHulk (talk) 05:17, January 20, 2015 (UTC)

Check z3.invisionfree.com/The_110_Club/index.php?showtopic=9975. Looks like a male to me. Google is your friend. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 14:47, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Based on what I have read on the 110 Club forum, Mr. Kitamura is a male. Futurist110 (talk) 07:27, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

January 21

Qur'an translation different language MP3 free download

Is there a website where I can download Qur'an recitation with translation in different languages for free and with no virus? The languages that I want to hear for translation are Bengali, Albanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Bosnian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Baloch, Kurdish, Somali, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Malay, Indonesian, Turkmen, Tajik, Kazakh, and Turkish, Azeri, Lur, Gilaki, Mazandarani and Qashqai. I am sorry if it is too much. Please take your time to answer. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.17.253 (talk) 01:27, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

First, do you actually want a recitation, which implies it is spoken, rather than just a translation? For that you might try youtube, there won't be any better source. As for translations in the written text, try "Qur'an Bengali text +pdf" as a search term at google--use +pdf to indicate you want pdf files, which are easily read and downloadable. If the pdf is available, such a search will find the text for you. That will be a lot quicker than anything else. μηδείς (talk) 01:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

(Actually, do an advanced search and put the laguage name in the language field if the above method doesn't work. μηδείς (talk) 03:27, 21 January 2015 (UTC))

Further, if you only want MP3 (not sure how that comes with a translation, though--maybe I am misunderstanding you, files downloaded from youtube with the free and reliable RealDownloader can be converted to MP3 files using the free and reliable FormatFactory. μηδείς (talk) 17:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

No "translation" of the Quran is "proper" - it is intrinsically and absolutely restricted to the classical Arabic in which it was first given. There exist "translations" into many languages, none of which is then the Quran. Collect (talk) 20:54, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

That's an in-universe opinion of certain players, Collect, not an objective fact. And I suspect that being from Ontario, the OP was already aware of the caveat. μηδείς (talk) 22:33, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Actually, I'm an agnostic Jew and was going to say the same thing, but Collect beat me to it. Those of merely considered interpretations of the Qu'ran and I suspect a lot is lost in translation as it were. As for location, it doesn't mean a lot. I've met New Yorkers who don't recognise Hebrew or know the difference between a Jew and a Muslim. Being a fellow New Yorker, I think you can imagine how much facepalming this has resulted in. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 3 Shevat 5775 00:40, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm no fan of Vatican II, either, and as a tutor I know just how shockingly horrible translations can be. Especially of literary fiction, like Shakespeare, Hugo, and Tolkien, or of prose artists like Nietzsche, Chesterton, Orwell, Ortega y Gasset and the like. (At least Screwtape becomes Escrútopo in Spanish--not bad) But if someone asked about the Rankin and Bass The Hobbit (1977) my last response would be that the only art is in the original. I do read the Greek New Testament to check the English, and I don't read Arabic. But if the option is between the vernacular or total incomprehension? The OP didn't come here asking to be told to learn Arabic, and if he's a Muslim, he already knows what's been thrown in his face. In any case, the Qur'an doesn't "mean what it means" in vacuo, no text is uninterpreted--that's the Lutheran fallacy. μηδείς (talk) 02:28, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

And I've known people who lived in California their whole life, and probably fancy themselves cosmopolitan, without learning how to pronounce Spanish words. —Tamfang (talk) 06:54, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Names - First, Nick, or otherwise

I just finished watching the first episode of Whites (which leads me to believe that the British have the same problem with good shows being canceled as much as us Americans) and wondered about a couple of the characters' names. Are 'Skoose' and 'Bib' common names in England? Are they short for something or nicknames or the like? Various Google searches for 'skoose' don't turn up much other than references to the show. And 'bib', well, there's quite a bit about baby bibs to weed out. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 02:29, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I've done some searches for the name "Skoose" both as a nickname and otherwise, and I think you're likely correct that that name is an invention of the show; I'm not finding it anywhere as a common enough nickname to stand out beyond the show itself. --Jayron32 03:07, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Those are not names that this British editor recognises, either as names or as nicknames. --ColinFine (talk) 11:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Does Skoose have a Scouse accent, as a person from Liverpool/Merseyside?
Sleigh (talk) 12:58, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

As your average American, I wouldn't be able to tell it from a London or any other English accent. He just sounds English to me. So, maybe one or our British editors who has seen the program can answer that for you. Dismas|^(talk) 13:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

If the character "Bib" were corpulent (which he unfortunately isn't), then it might have referred to Bibendum who is also sometimes nicknamed "Bib". I did find a couple of non-English people nicknamed "Bib" such as Bernard Heuvelmans (not even English-speaking) or Joseph Darling Ibbotson (with whom Ezra Pound had studied Old English, but he was American). ---Sluzzelin talk 13:03, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

I'm reminded of the Radio 1 DJ from the 60s Keith Skues, which might sound like "Skoose", so I'd say yes it is an English name, albeit uncommon. --TammyMoet (talk) 21:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Maximum number of stents placed in the heart of a man as per limca book of records

I want to know maximum how many stents have been placed in the heart of a man as per Limca Book of Records. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.98.33.146 (talk) 07:02, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Limca doesn't have that information, but it does give this.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:12, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

And note that stents aren't placed in the heart, but rather in blood vessels, etc. A coronary stent is placed in the blood vessels that supply the heart, so perhaps that caused the confusion. StuRat (talk) 16:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Stents are used in Percutaneous aortic valve replacement (and I believe there's a similar procedure for the tricuspid, although we don't appear to have an article on it). However, I agree that the OP is probably asking about coronary stents. Tevildo (talk) 21:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

What is this bird please?

First time asking a question so please be gentle! (Although I thoroughly enjoy reading the reference desk)

I am an expat living in the UAE, specifically on the North Coast in the Western region. Around this time of year white birds with a short orange beak are noticed in the local park. They don't appear as far as anyone knows all year round so are probably migratory (especially given that searching images for Middle East/UAE birds brings up nothing similar).

I have a photo (taken by a friend which I don't think violates your copyright rules) but I'm not quite sure how to upload it, assuming I'm allowed (especially as Imageshack seems to now be preventing me uploading there unless I pay!)

Can anyone help? 2.51.134.244 (talk) 13:50, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Have you looked at birds in Google Images to see if there's one or more that fit the description? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:12, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

At the risk of stating the obvious you would of course need to Google white bird orange beak, though that isn't much to go on. Can you give us a more detailed description? We have an article on List of birds of the United Arab Emirates which might give you some ideas. Have you tried uploading the photo to a free site such as Flickr?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

imgur is by far the easiest light-weight way to share photos - no user account is needed on either end. Another possibility would be to upload to wikimedia commons, but that's not as easy, and not really the purpose. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Good birders can ID a bird from a good description. E.g. "Large (goose sized), white bird, standing upright, with small orange beak, in small group, foraging on the grass in an open park" is very different from "Small (sparrow sized) white bird, rounded, in flock of over 30 birds, twittering in trees" - get the idea? Behavior, shape, size, any non-white colors, sounds, all of these will be clues in addition to the photo. Actually, in many situations a good description in words is even better than a photo! SemanticMantis (talk) 15:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

The RSPB has an identifier facility on its website. No idea how good it is for sightings outside the UK, but it's helped me here in Scotland. Dalliance (talk) 00:44, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Problem with my link, so repeated - http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdidentifier/ Dalliance (talk) 00:48, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

• Stab-in-the-dark, but the Caspian tern is fairly prolific and would be migratory to the region in question (I think). St★lwart¹¹¹ 03:46, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

January 23

Add ability to post articles on facebook-twitter etc...

I use your website a lot to educate people about very important topics-I would like to see if you can add the ability to be able to share links to the pages & info to places used as educational forums such as facebook-Thank You-Ginger VassyGinger Vassy (talk) 02:48, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

AddThis will do what you want as an add in to Firefox and/or Chrome. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 03:20, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Or just copy and paste the link into to Facebook - it automatically allocates a thumbnail when you post a link to that site... gazhiley 10:20, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

On most desktop browsers, pressing Alt-D, Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C will move the cursor to the URL bar, select the full URL, and then copy it to the clip board. The Ctrl-A may be optional. LongHairedFop (talk) 11:24, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Things like AddThis seem to be more helpful for copying things to many sites at once. Keep in mind that AddThis is a notorious data aggregator first and a friend second. If you don't want them following you around, copying and pasting is better. InedibleHulk (talk) 15:34, January 23, 2015 (UTC)

Hello, Ginger Vassy. This has been suggested many times, and consensus has been that it is not appropriate for Wikipedia. See the summary at WP:PERENNIAL#Share pages on Facebook, Twitter etc. and the many individual discussions linked from there. --ColinFine (talk) 11:54, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Since you have an account, you can also add User:TheDJ/Sharebox. Dismas|^(talk) 13:18, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Do humans have a mating season?

I can't help but notice that most people tend to be born around december certainly where I am based in the northern hemisphere. Why is this.

Given that human gestation is around 9 months, that would mean most breeding occurs around early spring.

Who else has noticed this and is there some sort of explanation. Maybe Feb and march are the horny months for women. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.100.51 (talk) 18:24, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Happy reading. People will be along shortly to banter with you about horny months for women. ―Mandruss ☎ 18:34, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

(EC) An alternative hypothesis would be that human female (or possibly male, or both) levels of fertility exhibit an annual periodicity. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 212.95.237.92 (talk) 18:37, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This page (open "Characteristics of Birth 2, England and Wales, 2013", and select the tab "Table 2b") has a table numbers of live births in England and Wales between 1992 and 2003. As far as I can see the numbers areas fairly consistent across the years, and don't vary much between months, taking into account the different numbers of days in the months. The only exception is December, which tends to have rather low numbers. The questioner's IP geolocates also to the UK, so he/she may be experiencing confirmation bias. Remember that most people in developed countries can to some extent decide when to conceive a child: maybe they tend to aim at months other than December to avoid clashing with Christmas. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 19:31, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

The lull in December births is two-fold in cause. No one plans to have a child on Christmas. And weddings shouldn't be scheduled during lousy Smarch weather. μηδείς (talk) 19:41, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

That would imply that children born of wedding night (and honeymoon) nookie represent a statistically significant number of births, compared to children born from nookie at other times of the year. People fuck in March whether or not they are married. They may not plan to have children in December, and so may choose to not go off whatever form of birth control they are using at the time, but it has nothing really to do with weddings. --Jayron32 20:25, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Your answer seems oddly hostile, Jayron. The difference is rather small, so the two OR factors I mentioned could be at play. I was conceived on my parents' honeymoon, and my younger sister was conceived on my parents' anniversary, so I do think weddings dates are relevant. μηδείς (talk) 20:36, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

My Mom was born exactly 9 months after the repeal of Prohibition. :-) StuRat (talk) 22:58, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

WHAAOE. Even your mom... - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 08:16, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Jayron32's response seemed fine to me. The anecdotes weren't mentioned before, your answer seemed to imply this was definitely the case, rather than just one possibility your were suggesting which you now say. Anyway, more to the point, better OR suggests your second claim in still highly misleading as presented, anecdotes aside.

The earlier discussion concerned the England & Wales, so I'm going to ignore the US (feel free to research it yourself and present it here, I'm just saying this is related to the earlier stats). These stats [1] show the month which the least marriages was January. Even if these were mostly late January (there may be some bias, but it seems likely there would still be a fair few early in the month), it's fairly unlikely many chilren conceived during the honeymoon or anniversary of a January wedding are going to be born in December. In fact, the rate is fairly low from November to March.

February is the next lowest after January, it's possible some February honeymoon (and a smaller number of anniversary) conceptions will be born in December. Notably if [2] is to believe, it looks like more births are after the due date than before, although that would include due dates calculated from estimated time of conception which may not always be that reliable I suspect and I think may be more biased in terms of a later estimated conception than reality.

Anyway I would suggest we'd still expect more in November and taken with the other stats, the wedding factor would seem to bias births towards being low in August to December, with the peak low probably in the October-November period (and lowest in October probably being a fair bit lower than December).

Ultimately none of these actual statistics (instead of random new anecdotes) suggest wedding dates are in itself a reason for there to be a lower rate in December than in other dates. Of course, wedding dates could contribute along with other factors to a lower rate in December. And similar the rates aren't as low in October or November etc as would be expected because the other factors are far more significant. But none of this was properly explained in your first post.

It's worth remembering that stress in either partner is also likely a factor against successful conception, so it may not be just planning (although I'm not sure anyone was intending to suggest it was only planning). AFAIK, there's decent evidence that the pre Christmas time can be quite stressful for people. (Wasn't thinking straight, this would explain lower conceptions, not lower birth. Ultimately coming up with 2 random factors and saying "this is the reason" is always going to be very poorly thoughtof on the RD or anywhere else which expect decent sourcing or at least reasoning.

I would also note that things have likely changed significantly from either conception you mentioned which I'm guessing may be at least 30+ years ago. Probably even more so in modern day E&W when compared to the situation in the US those 30+ years ago. While it's difficult to get good stats because of the sensitivity of the issue, it does appear that the rates of pre-marital or non-marital sex, including among those engaged have gone up. Definitely the rates of living together before marriage is far higher. Similarly, there's far less controversy over a conception before or without marriage and likewise far more children born to unmarried parents. (In fact, while an unexpected pregnancy may have very often been in the past a reason to bring a wedding forward, which can still be the case, nowadays seems it's not also uncommon for it to instead be a reason to postpone.) It also appears there's greater thought given to family planning than in the past (and more availability and possibily knowledge of different options). All these factors and more suggest that even if in the US wedding dates were a significant factor 30+ years ago, which 2 anecdotes doesn't establish anyway, they are not necessarily so nowadays in England & Wales.

Of course, we do have to consider the influence of those who are more "traditional" (for lack of a better word), who may be more likely to have kids even if they're a smaller percentage of the population in modern day E&W than the past US. Incidentally since we're discussing anecdotes. While you mentioned both honeymoons and anniversarys rather than wedding nights, I can think of at least 2 cases when I'm not sure there even was sex on the wedding night. Too much else going on. That said, in neither of these was kids a realistic possibility.

Ultimately I get back 2 my first point. Jayron32 had a good reason to challenge your statement presenting these 2 factors as the definite answer, despite you presenting little to actually support it. While we can't rule out wedding dates being a factor, the evidence doesn't suggest it's a big factor.

Edit: Note the stats for above live births are from the period 1992-2013 as you may guess from the title, not 1992-2003 which I think was a typo. I had quick look at the data and it appears to me that November is a bit lower on average too. So is February, but I think this may be because it of fewer days. I don't think there's a clear lower rate in October or August-October though, but there may be in April. I do agree that there doesn't appear to be a clear difference in trend over the years. In other words, the social changes mentioned earlier, while may not be that much from 1992-2013 and just within E&W, don't appear to have have had a clear cut change. How much of this is because wedding dates was never a big factor, I can't say. I may do a more careful analysis later.

Nil Einne (talk) 04:07, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

For quick analysis here's a spreadsheet with births per day in the month (starting from AF) derived from the above data. [3]. I've removed everything else exept the new and original data (to make checking my work easy) for copyright reasons. So you'd need to check the above original data if there's anything unclear. I've added an overall total, as well as a total over 5 year period to try and make determing trends easy. Graphing would probably be useful, but may be another time. The dip around December seems definite and consistent but it isn't always the lowest. In fact in recent years, it seems January - March tends to be lower. November which I suggested above is less clear or consistent although it is seemingly always lower than October. September also seems to be a consistent peak. Interesting that August seems consistently lower than July and oviously September (or alternatively you could say there is a mini peak around July time although it's less clear). You could probably also say there's an overall lower rate in the October-May or even June (whether to include October or even November is perhaps also questionable) period which is similar to the wedding data above (perhaps a bit later) which doesn't seem consistent with the idea conceptions may often happen soon after the wedding unless a lot of people are having a ~12 month pregnancy. Perhaps instead, the factors which result in fewer weddings in those months also result in fewer planned birth in these months and/or the conceptions happen ~4 months or so after the wedding and/or other factors are at play. (Although in any case, the actual difference in births is far lower than in weddings, not even 10%.) Nil Einne (talk) 06:39, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

This phenomenon has been noticed for centuries: nearly 200 years ago Tennyson wrote "In the Spring a young man's fancy/Lightly turns to thoughts of love" (Locksley Hall, 1835 pub 1842).--TammyMoet (talk) 20:34, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Humans actually have four mating seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:32, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Not much good if you live a country that doesn't have four seasons. Hack (talk) 13:03, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

• Scientifically, the only thing I can think of other than the calendar is that lactating women don't tend to menstruate while they are breast feeding. μηδείς (talk) 06:38, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Suicide by bridge jumping

I fail to understand how jumping off a bridge into water would kill someone. You can fall through water, like we see when people dive into pools and such. How does jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge (for example) kill people? --Callimpolosī (talk) 21:34, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

You can jump into a swimming pool because the water basically gets out of your way as you go through the surface. When you add height, you add speed. When the speed is high enough, the water becomes more and more like solid ground. So it's like falling onto concrete. I'm sure someone will be able to point you to the appropriate articles here. Dismas|^(talk) 21:42, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

This Quora discussion spells it out in clear, if grisly detail. Marco polo (talk) 22:32, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Perhaps the most relevant Wikipedia article is Equations for a falling body. Marco polo (talk) 22:40, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Note that there have been a few survivors, who happened to hit feet-first. The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook has a theory on optimizing your chance for survival. I don't know if the text is available online. When Nik Wallenda walked across the Chicago River a few months ago, a writeup I saw said that at some 50 or 60 stories up, a fall into the water would be fatal - no chance. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:41, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Even if you managed to survive striking the water, you would be seriously injured and unconscious, so would drown immediately, unless someone just happened to be right there to fish you out. StuRat (talk) 22:45, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I recall seeing one of those news programs like 20/20 a few years ago, in which a couple of survivors of jumps off the Golden Gate told of their experiences. I don't recall the extent of their injuries, but I do recall the most important thing: As soon as they let go, they wished they hadn't. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:49, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Possibly thinking of The Bridge (2006 documentary film). ―Mandruss ☎ 23:01, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

[Anecdote alert] In a BBC documentary about the Metropolitan Police Marine Policing Unit in London, an officer said that you can always tell when somebody is going to jump off a bridge, because they always take their shoes off first. Strange but true, apparently. Alansplodge (talk) 23:29, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Update - they do the same thing in America and Japan according to Barefoot To The End. Alansplodge (talk) 23:33, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Interesting! I would never have thought of that. Is it so they can swim ashore if they don't die instantly? μηδείς (talk) 19:54, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Mythbusters did an episode exactly about this, and they used their crash test dummy to see what would happen if they dropped it from the Golden Gate Bridge. Two of its limbs came off. As said above, from certain heights (i.e. when at terminal velocity) hitting the water without breaking the surface tension beforehand with perfect timing will be like hitting concrete. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 00:06, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Few bridges in London are high enough to cause serious impact injury; I think people probably hope that they're going to drown fairly fast. In Victorian times, Waterloo Bridge had an attached first aid hut manned by a doctor, who would attempt to resuscitate suicides who were pulled from the river. Tower Bridge, then the furthest downstream, had a mortuary built into one of the piers for any corpses that came floating by. Alansplodge (talk) 11:17, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Or, jumping from a low bridge could be like slitting your wrists just a little. A cry for help, no actual desire to die. ―Mandruss ☎ 20:01, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Mandruss. Never dismiss someone's suicide as a 'cry for help', as that is humiliating. People do it for reasons, and very often such attempts are genuine. Simply dismissing a failed attempt as 'a cry for help' is not ever going to help their mental state in any way. I would appreciate it if you struck out that remark. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 20:42, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I was going to strike because it's not worth a fight, but no, I'll fight. I believe the community of mental health professionals recognizes the concept as legitimate. People are free to disagree. ―Mandruss ☎ 22:39, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Sure, the concept does indeed exist, but it does not apply to every case. Nobody puts a gun in their mouth, a knife in their stomach, or takes thousands of paracetomol and whiskey if they are not serious - esepecially not in private - this is not a call for help. A 'call for help' is when you stand on a high building expecting people to talk you down. I have worked as a mental health proffessional. Even when it may be classed as a 'call for help', you should never say that, as, like I said, it is humiliating for the individual in question. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 23:15, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Where did I say it applies to every case? When someone starts putting words in my mouth, that's generally when I decide I have better things to do. The mental health professionals in my experience have recognized that people sometimes make a halfhearted attempt at suicide with no real intention to die. Other mental health professionals may disagree, as there is a lot of disagreement among mental health professionals about a lot of things. Show me academic consensus on your view and I'll shut up. ―Mandruss ☎ 23:22, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Does this satisfy your needs? KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 23:27, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Hardly. For starters, an article by one professional does not constitute academic consensus. But it gets better, as the writer says in her very first paragraph:

Sometimes, it is true that a person who made what appeared to be a suicide attempt did not really want to die. One large study found that of 286 people who reported that they had attempted suicide, almost half (41.8%) nevertheless endorsed the following survey item about their intentions: "My attempt was a cry for help. I did not intend to die."

I don't know what you're reading into my words, but I said nothing more than that. ―Mandruss ☎ 23:41, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

In any case, 'almost half' does not represent a majority, and even still, saying to the minority 'it was a cry for help' is going to make them feel a hell of a lot better, right? No, of course it isn't. Psychiatric help involves knowing how to talk to people, and talk them through their difficulties. Not humiliating them with phrases like that. In any case, I think we are getting off topic, as the OP's question was about jumping into water from a high place. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 23:49, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't know what you're arguing against. Nobody is saying any of the things you're upset about. He just said that it can be a cry for help. He didn't say it always was. He didn't say that is was the "majority" of times. He didn't say it to the face of one of the hypothetical victims. He didn't claim that classifying it that way would somehow help anybody. He didn't say that such things should be dismissed or not taken seriously.

APL (talk) 15:58, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

I thought about this a bit more later on and have a bit of an example for the OP.

Fill up a bathtub or sink. Any sufficiently large container of water will do. And you may want to have a towel handy. Now, take your hand and with the fingers flat like you're going to do a pushup, slowly put your hand into the water. It goes in nice and easy, yeah? No pain? Good. Now take your hand and do the same thing but slap the water as hard as possible. You'll probably notice two things. First, your hand will sting a little. Especially if you don't have calluses from manual labor or something. Second, you will notice that the water felt more solid. It was a little harder to break the surface.

That's why jumping from a bridge from a sufficient height kills. The force of hitting the water is so much greater from those heights that you do quite a bit of trauma to your body. Dismas|^(talk) 05:22, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

If you jump from Prague's suicide bridge, you can land in someone's bathtub or sink, depending on the resiliency of their roof and your desire to get over the fence. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:34, January 25, 2015 (UTC)

January 24

Robert Young no email response

I emailed Robert Young two days ago asking when he would put up the September edition of pending cases, but he never responded. Is there a particular reason why he did not respond? Perhaps it is because he is busy working on putting up the September update? Deaths in 2013 (talk) 03:21, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't think this is a question for the Reference Desks. Please be more careful about where you post in the future! Thanks. SteveBaker (talk) 03:40, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

If it is, it might help if the OP were to tell us who Robert Young is and what cases they are referring to. That would help anyone interested enough to research the answer. Dismas|^(talk) 05:13, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Robert Young is part of the Gerontology Research Group [4] and involved in research on supercentenarians. The pending cases would likely be pending GRG cases like [5]. The confirmed cases seems to have been last updated in September [6], but the pending cases one seems to be last updated in August. That said, I agree with a SteveBaker, the questions from Deaths in 2013 are getting more and more inappropriate for the RD, and frankly this one is not only inappropriate but silly. And frankly in a situation like this (emailing someone you don't personally know, about something which isn't particularly important and which you aren't paying for in any way and where the person has no real reason why they have to reply to you) there's no reason to expect an answer in 2 days even if they were going to reply. And if the OP has been occasionally e-mailing Young with stuff that is unnecessary or which they wouldn't expect them to answer, like they have been doing here on the RD for the past few weeks, it's even less surprising if Young may not reply. Even the question seems weird. The GRG website seems confusing to navigate but from what I can tell, it doesn't look like there's always a monthly update. And considering it's now nearing the end of January 2015, the more logical question would be something like "when would there next be an update to the pending cases" rather than when the September edition would be forthcoming. And while Robert Young may or may not be the primary researcher behind all this, the page URL makes me thing that nowadays it's possible John Adams is the one responsible for maintaining the web pages. Adams also seems to be the contact point listed throughout the website, so it would seem likely they are who should be contacted regardless of who's maintaining it or doing the research. (I'd also note someone who was involved in the group and a friend of Young and probably Adams recently died, so another reason why they might be a bit behind with stuff.) Of course this is something the OP is highly interested in, so I would have hoped they understand all the background etc better than me, but the more of their questions I read, the less I am confident of this. Nil Einne (talk) 14:32, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Is the rise of obesity in women going to reduce birthrates?

We all know people are getting bigger here in the west, not just fat but morbidly obese. Does this mean we are heading towards a birth rate crisis like we see in Japan.

As a heterosexual man, I have no physical attraction to large individuals of the opposit gender. I think that many men are similar. And also, I would suspect large women are less able to concieve than healthier ones.

So are we heading for a serious food induced demographic problem. Could rising obesity potentially wipe out a nation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.100.51 (talk) 08:46, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I think 'wipe out a nation' is a bit excessive. Remember three things: there are also obese men; there are men who are attracted to obese women; and there are men who don't mind either way. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 10:55, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

WHAAAE: see Fat fetishism. Alansplodge (talk) 11:04, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Human net reproductive success, at least in developed countries, is largely decoupled from biological constraints and instead limited by artificial constraints like artificial birth control. So no, if we manage to wipe ourselves out, it will not be by lack to reproduce. Moreover, attraction to particular body types is significantly affected by cultural indoctrination. See e.g. The Judgement of Paris (Rubens) for how Rubens in the 17th century imagined the three most beautiful goddesses of ancient mythology. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:45, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Venus of Willendorf shows that fat women were attractive to prehistoric men, too. StuRat (talk) 18:00, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

• Study: Curvy Women Live Longer, Give Birth to Smarter Children. μηδείς (talk) 16:57, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Being athletic actually decreases fertility, though after a certain point being obese hurts it. It's goes back to the same mechanisms behind how exercise makes menstrual cycles less severe: a woman who regularly works out has (as far as nature can tell) the body of a hunter who can't afford to be pregnant too often. A woman who's overweight has the body of someone with a lot of well-providing mates hunting for her. Nature can't tell that the relationship between fitness and wealth has almost completely reversed. Ian.thomson (talk) 17:18, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Being overweight also causes girls to start their periods sooner. StuRat (talk) 17:54, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Cheap digital camera vs cheap digital camcorder

Is there any advantage of a cheap camcorder like this over a similarly-priced digital camera (about £20 now)? I've found lots of pros and cons of cameras and camcorders on the web, but only concerning higher-quality hardware.--Leon (talk) 13:59, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

The digital camera probably has better resolution, and the camcorder probably has a higher frame rate. The digital camera may also lack video capability entirely, or just lack audio. StuRat (talk) 17:56, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

In the EU, video cameras are taxed more than still cameras; this is why still cameras can only record for 30mins before they autostop. LongHairedFop (talk) 13:33, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Aesthetic open-ceiling design for residential space

I like the concept of an open (i.e. un-covered) ceiling, which allows plumbing, wires, and structural members to be accessed easily for inspection and repair. (I'm aware that dropped ceilings provide the same benefits, but the ones I've seen look "cheap", office-like, and generally unattractive.) What are some visually-pleasing designs that allow the ceiling of a residential space to remain uncovered? I've seen one design, in commercial settings, in which the ceiling (painted black) is visually "shielded" by rows of painted, regularly-spaced, parallel planks suspended from the ceiling (or maybe rails). I thought that was clever. I wonder what other designs people have come up with that accomplish the same goals. --108.36.120.196 (talk) 21:56, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

How about this:

     CEILING
+----------------+ 
|                |
| |    |  |    | |
| +----+  +----+ |
|                |

So, the U-shaped conduits are open on top, for easy access, and contain all the wires, plumbing, etc. You can expect them to fill with spiderwebs, dust, and possibly dead mice, of course. If the ceiling is white, reflected light should be sufficient to work in the conduits. From below, the conduits can appear to be solid wooden beams. This design obviously doesn't shield structural members, but they can be made attractive enough to remain uncovered. The effect would be a rather rustic look. StuRat (talk) 05:55, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

A possible problem that comes to mind is that, in an existing house, the routing of plumbing, wires, ductworks, etc is not coordinated. Trying to hide all of those with the conduits you described may create a visually-complicated network of conduits overhead in a living space. --108.36.120.196 (talk) 15:25, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I had a new construction in mind. StuRat (talk) 06:41, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Depending on the space you have and its existing style, you might simply consider either painting the main structure white or leaving it as uncovered concrete (this would work particularly well in a modernist building). Then leave all services open and exposed, and colour-code them brilliantly (as was originally done at the Pompidou Centre. If I had the right kind of flat I'd do this in a heartbeat. RomanSpa (talk) 19:46, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Handheld electronic game

Hallo everybody, please could you tell me, how did you call the ″handheld electronic game″ when you were a kid (or how you call it now)? I am interested especially in English, German and Czech/Slovak names. Plase do it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Handheld_electronic_game. Thank you! --Jiří Janíček (talk) 22:02, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I should point out that this probably counts as original research. If you intend to include the various names in the article, you should obtain them from reliable sources, rather than relying on the personal recollections of individual editors. Tevildo (talk) 22:34, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

OK, it seems pretty much to be correct. So let's do it so: you just give me the words, and I then try to find them in the sources - deal? --Jiří Janíček (talk) 22:59, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be easier to do a WP:RFC? This isn't exactly the best place to make this sort of request. However, Gameboy's kind of a catch-all and you shouldn't have trouble finding sources.... Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 05:21, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

When some of us were kids, we had hand-held electronic games, but Gameboys had yet to be invented! --Dweller (talk) 12:52, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Nazis

Have a look at yesterday's strip of Fingerpori. The dialogue goes as follows:

Stalingrad 1943:

• Die, you Nazis!
• You should say "National Socialists".

Now, this caused me to ask my question. Were the Nazis themselves OK with being called "Nazis" or did they prefer to be called "National Socialists" or some similar more official term? JIP | Talk 23:43, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Unlikely they would have preferred to have been called "National Socialists", as they were Germans, not English. You may be surprised to know, my dear Finnish friend, that we speak different languages in England and Germany. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 23:54, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

Thats is beside the point. What I'm trying to ask here is whether the Nazis would have been OK with being called "Nazi" or would they have insisted on the more correct term "Nationalsozialistischer". I find your comment patronising. I know very well Finnish, English and German are different languages. I have provided the translation for convenience. One further time, this entire question has only ever been about the difference between the abbreviatory term "Nazi" and the original German term "Nationalsozialisticher". JIP | Talk 23:59, 24 January 2015 (UTC)

I am sorry. I did not mean to sound patronising, but this is the language desk. We don't need translations. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 04:05, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

This is the Miscellaneous desk. And I, for one, appreciated the translation. Even if this were posted on the Lang. desk, I doubt everyone there speaks Finnish. Dismas|^(talk) 05:07, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Wrong desk, then, sorry. And nobody would have to speak Finnish. It's translated from German to English. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 05:12, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

The original strip is in Finnish. (And it looks like the Finnish word for 'National-socialist' does not contain the 'nation-' root that is found in German and English, and which goes into 'Nazi'; but the Finnish form of 'Nazi' is nonetheless 'Natsit'.) AlexTiefling (talk) 11:55, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Thank you. I understand you didn't mean to sound patronising. I guess my question is pretty much answered now: the Nazis themselves didn't use the term "Nazi" and didn't very much approve of it, but didn't seem to actually impose any restrictions on its usage. JIP | Talk 20:13, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Nazi is essentially an English word. This speech of Hitler contain no Nazis, but 51 varying inflections of nationalsozialistischen. I don't know if they were OK with the abbreviated anglicisation, but somehow I doubt that they cared. Let me clarify. Germans (Deutschlanders) who spoke English would already be aware that English speakers had changed the name of their country, and they in return had mangled all of the English speaking countries except England. It's another language and you live with it. Nationalsozialistischer -> Nazi is small beer. Fiddlersmouth (talk) 00:18, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

What is "small beer"? I'm not entirely sure this idiom is known in the Anglophone world, so it might be best to use another term or say it plainly. A small beer sounds unpleasant anyway. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 05:23, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

'...the word Nazi was favored in southern Germany (supposedly from c.1924) among opponents of National Socialism because the nickname Nazi, Naczi (from the masc. proper name Ignatz, German form of Ignatius) was used colloquially to mean "a foolish person, clumsy or awkward person."... The NSDAP for a time attempted to adopt the Nazi designation as what the Germans call a "despite-word," but they gave this up, and the NSDAP is said to have generally avoided the term. Before 1930, party members had been called in English National Socialists, which dates from 1923. The use of Nazi Germany, Nazi regime, etc., was popularized by German exiles abroad...' etymonline.com Alansplodge (talk) 00:52, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

@ Flinders Petrie "small beer" is well known in the UK, and I suspect many other English speaking countries, as a phrase to mean "of little consequence, of lesser importance". A small beer in southern Spain in summer is the only proper way to drink it. If you have a large beer it will be warm by the time you get halfway through it. Richard Avery (talk) 08:34, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

I don't know, I lived in WC1 for a year and never heard that expression and I heard a lot of peculiar English expressions. And nonsense, you just drink it fast if it's nasty English brews that cost £5 a pint anyway. Though I have never had a small beer in Southern Spain in summer. Have to fix this. Thank you for clarifying though. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 09:24, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

"Small beer" is quite widely known, but it is rather a literary expression, so it's not surprising that you didn't hear it in a year in WC1. It is recorded in the OED from 1498 in its literal meaning "Beer of a weak, poor, or inferior quality", and figuratively ("Trivial occupations, affairs, etc.; matters or persons of little or no consequence or importance; trifles") from 1710. But the OED has a citation of it in the latter sense from 2010, so it is still current in writing at least. It never referred to the size of the portion. --ColinFine (talk) 11:05, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Ah, I'll have to keep an eye out then. Thanks and apologies for the tangential conversation. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 17:53, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Beware Sir William! Heed the horrid example of poor Thomas Thetcher immortalised on his own gravestone:

"Here sleeps in peace a Hampshire Grenadier, / Who caught his death by drinking cold small Beer,

Soldiers be wise from his untimely fall / And when ye're hot drink Strong or none at all."

Alansplodge (talk) 19:00, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

I think that's how Shakespeare passed away. As the guides in Stratford put it, 'he got drunk one night, went outside, fell asleep, caught a chill, and then he doy'd'. Needless to say, it's hilarious when heard in-person. That is also a fantastic epitaph. I shall have to have one relating to the dangers of vodka for mine.... Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 19:08, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Not forgetting Henry Purcell who went on a lad's night out, but his wife wouldn't let him back in the house and he had to sleep in the street. He died of the resulting "chill" as well. Alansplodge (talk) 22:58, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Just a comment: The proper German for "a Nazi" ist "Ein Nationalsozialist". The word nationalsozialistischer is the adjective form (note that in German all nouns are capitalised, but the non-noun forms of proper nouns are not). In a pinch, the adjective form can stand in for the noun (with an implicit "something" assumed to complete a noun phrase), and can then be capitalised, but this is not done when the root already is a noun, as in this case. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:05, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

The word Nazi in German is at least slightly demeaning, and the people known in English as Nazis would not generally have used it to refer to themselves, except perhaps in a joking and self-deprecating way, if any of them had a sense of humor. The correct way to say Nazis in Germany under the Nazis would have been Nationalsozialisten. Even today in Germany, the word Nazi amounts to slang. The usual abbreviation in formal or standard German is NS. Marco polo (talk) 17:01, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

So the strip is correct, Nazis didn't particulary like being called "Nazis" instead of "Nationalsozialisten". But I came to understand they weren't very active in imposing or enforcing bans on the word "Nazi". Apologies for my German grammar problems, German is only my fourth best language after Finnish, English and Swedish. This also gives rise to a further question: Why is it "Nazi" in the first place instead of "Nati" or "Natsi"? The original German word is "Nationalsozialist", not "Nazionalsozialist" or "Natsionalsozialist". It is pronounced like the two latter ones, though. But this conversation seems to say that "Nazi" is an English invention, and the letter "z" in English is usually pronounced as a voiced "s", like a bee buzzing, not like "ts". Why was that spelling adopted and not "Nati" or "Natsi"? JIP | Talk 20:19, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

That's a good question. But note that Winston Churchill always pronounced it nah-zee, and when it comes to the meanings and pronunciations of English words, of which, as is well covered above, Nazi is an example, he had few peers. But most of us say nah-tsee. That's probably a beautiful case of hypercorrection. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:32, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

There's some information on the origin of "Nazi" at the Online Etymological Dictionary, which says it's probably modelled on the earlier "Sozi" as a nickname for a socialist. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 22:03, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

January 25

translation from English to Hebrew

I need to translate an article of about 9,000 words from English to Hebrew. Can a user please suggest which is the best online translator to use. Thank you Simonschaim (talk) 07:43, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Machine translators are notoriously unreliable. I find that to be especially true for languages that are genetically further apart and/or for complex sentences involving complicated grammar. For example, machine translation of a simple English sentence to Spanish often gives a comprehensible result that is close in meaning to the English. A machine translation of English to Thai, on the other hand, most often yields nonsense. That said, I have been surprised at the ability of machine translators with regards to Hebrew. Oftentimes a readable result can be obtained, but the Hebrew grammar may not be perfect and the words used may give a different connotation than expected from the English meaning. Here are two examples of Google Translate and Bing Translator, using the English of Ezra 1:2 as a sample text.

• English text: "Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia. The Lord God of Heaven has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me and has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem that is in Judah."

• Google

• gives: כך אומר סיירוס, מלך פרס.אלוהים אלוהי שמים נתן לכל ממלכות הארץ אליי ופקד עליי לבנות לו בית בירושלים אשר ביהודה.
• When reversed, gives: "Thus says Cyrus, king of Frs.alohim God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judea."

• Bing

• gives: כה אמר כורש, מלך פרס. שהאל השמים כל ממלכות הארץ נתן לי, האשימה אותי כדי לבנות לו בית בירושלים זה יהודה.
• When reversed, gives: "Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia. The Lord of heaven all the kingdoms of the Earth gave me, accusing me to build him a house in Jerusalem that Yehuda."

So, as you can probably see, online translators are sometimes good if your goal is just to ascertain the basic gist of a piece of text, but not at all reliable for coherent translations of lengthy texts nor for any kind of formal translation. I've found that this holds true for every online translator with which I've experimented. They all seem equally good (bad). That's why people who make translations for a living earn the big bucks.--William Thweatt ^TalkContribs 08:41, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

That's because that's a Biblical text and online translators often have standard translations programmed into them. If you come up with your own Hebrew text and try to translate that, it will be complete nonsense. To translate an article of this length (assuming it is an article that Simonschaim wrote himself, or some other kind of publication), the best option is to find an actual human translator, but you'll have to pay them...something this size would typically cost several hundred dollars, at the very least. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:34, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

If you're intending to use machine translation to create an article for Hebrew Wikipedia then the advice must be don't. Hebrew Wikipedia's page on translating articles, just like ours, says there is a consensus that uncorrected machine translations are worse than useless for that purpose. And how do I know it says that? Thank you, Google Translate! --Antiquary (talk) 13:08, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Contestants appearing on a game show

Question and responses were moved to Entertainment desk. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:15, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Latest time to send parcels

So I'm sending out three parcels (most likely via USPS) from New York that I would like to have reach their destinations on 14 February. One is going to the Washington, DC metro area, one is you going to the Atlanta metro-area, and the last and most tricky is going to Sydney, Australia. What's the latest I could send each out and have them arrive no later than the 14th? Cheers, all! Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 17:58, 25 January 2015 (UTC) Side-note: the parcel to Aus contains letters and packaged perfume and so I don't think there's any hold-up likely in customs.Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 18:00, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

We can't give a direct prediction, especially since we won't know weather conditions. It also depend on the size and nature of the parcel, and what you're willing to pay, go to the USPS site, click on "buy postage" and do a dry run to get costs and estimated delivery times. I can tell you that a book sent from NY to Australia will take about 12-14 days, but that will vary widely with customs and how it's shipped. First class letters and priority rate packages in the US east (not rural) usually arrive in two business days, but they don't guarantee it. If you are willing to pay exhorbitantly, most items will go anywhere in two busines days. μηδείς (talk) 18:07, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

The two parcels in the US are each small (8.5 inch-long) papyrus scrolls ideally sent in the wee-est box they have that will fit, and the scrolls are probably less than 1 oz. They're predicting a massive snowstorm in the northeast this Monday, but this winter has been calmer than the last (when everything was covered in snow and ice and even Atlanta was covered in the black ice). Well, there's nothing worse than late valentines, so I probably would. Of course, Valentine's Day is a very busy mail day. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 18:21, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the scoundrels won't show anything later than 1 February post dates. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 19:10, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Customs aside, perfumes, if they contain alcohol or other flammable solvents, may be prohibited in a number of postal systems at least when shipped by air (so generally always internationally since given the variety of postal systems it's difficult to guarantee it never goes by air), including Australia Post [7] [8] and USPS [9]. (USPS appears to always allow domestic ground shipping of perfumes, Australia Post appears to allow domestic ground shipping by contract only [10].) I think you will find the same for nearly all international couriers (definitely those sending from US to Australia given the only route besides air is sea), bearing in mind that these restrictions often come from civil air travel regulations. (It may be possible to send them by air commercially if you obey certain complex regulations, see e.g. [11]). Presuming the perfume you plan to send does contain a alcohol or another flammable solvent, your best bet may be to find an Australian seller who accepts international credit cards and is able to ship domestically. Nil Einne (talk) 18:35, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Oh wow, I had no idea. They might have confiscated the package and tossed the letters. Thank you, Nil, you just saved my friend's Valentine's Day! Happily, I have a back-up gift for her if the need arises. I'll just hand off the perfumes in-person at a later date. They're very unusual and likely not sold in Aus. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 18:47, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

• Media mail is the cheepest rate, it applies to printed materials like scrolls (read the regs), it will get anywhere in the 48 within a buusiness week. μηδείς (talk) 21:11, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

The scrolls can't be sent by medial mail as they're not educational material. They're the media for the Valentine's Day letters themselves, you see, and so I think First Class or Priority is the way to go. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 22:40, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

• You might've already found out by now that "buy postage" is the wrong link to go. "Calculate a price" (direct link here) is the way to go if you use USPS.TMCk (talk) 22:58, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, I checked it, but they don't let you estimate beyond 1 February right now. At least for domestic. I think I'll send the Aussie one some time prior to the start of next month. It took less than a week from the UK for a similar package, but I don't know about from the US. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 5 Shevat 5775 23:25, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Never saw that but then again I also never used it that way. Shouldn't make a difference tho at least if you pick the same day of the week since their trucks and planes run on a pretty much fixed schedule. More important is the time of the day you'll drop it off (or let them pick it up).TMCk (talk) 23:43, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

We are talking about the time around Valentine's Day; when the USPS is filled up with parcels (similar to the situation on Christmas minus the federal holiday). Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 6 Shevat 5775 05:47, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

- I doubt very much that Valentin's Day has the same impact as X-Mas time.
- There is no Fed. holiday in that timeline so no day off for USPS.
- You can check International mail beyond Feb 1.
Cheers,TMCk (talk) 14:15, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Now, now, no need for the the passive agressive listing (if that wasn't your intent, then apologies). I said similar, not the same as; by federal holiday I was referring to Christmas, and so I believe we're in agreement there. As for the Aussie package, I'll probably just send it sooner rather than later as not all of its contents are Valentine-related and she knows to wait on opening the things that are. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 6 Shevat 5775 15:52, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

At that (local) time of the day I keep it short or don't write at all :) So no, no "passive aggressive" intent on my side.TMCk (talk) 17:20, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

For Christmas, the USPS was nice enough to mail me a flyer listing the final date the various classes of packages could be mailed and still arrive by Xmas. Unfortunately, the flyer didn't arrive until mid-January. True story. StuRat (talk) 17:17, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

So what? The flyer came in early! :)) TMCk (talk) 17:24, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

January 26

What gun is this?

It appears to be a heavily modified AK rifle of some type due to the banana magazine, but can anyone tell what model of Kalashnikov? 98.27.241.101 (talk) 09:09, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Not too sure about the model but the picture seems to be from Payday_2. Obviously there is the possibility someone used Artistic_license to make it look more bad-ass and there is no such gun at all. Will hunt some more...196.213.35.146 (talk) 12:43, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

See if you can find it here. I did a brief scan but found nada. http://payday.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons_%28Payday_2%29 Note: there are custom mods in the game so I'm guessing it's not a real rifle. 196.213.35.146 (talk) 12:55, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

The receiver seems based on an AK-74, but seems a little off along the bottom. The stock seems to be based on an M4 or HK416. The gas block and front sight I'm not recognising off the bat... but as 196.213.35.146 points out this is basically a kitbashed gun meant to look cool and/or scary. WegianWarrior (talk) 13:00, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

what is the meaning of swarajit (in bengali)?

Moved to the language desk, click here. μηδείς (talk) 20:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

okay this is really annoying and I'm going to need the finest minds to help

I TORE my pants! Yes I did! They always tear in the butt area by the central hem that runs by the crotch.

So my question is, why do pants do this. OK they were a cheap pair, but are they just made to self destruct or what. Or does cotton just have a limited life where after so many washed or so many creases the material goes super thin and just tears ultra easily. This problem also happens with jeans, too. Eventually.

Are there any types of pants that don't fail like this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.100.51 (talk) 23:10, 26 January 2015 (UTC)

Not only do we have the finest minds, but the information is absolutely free! Are there any types of pants that don't fail like this? Yes. Non-cheap pants. You get what you pay for. Or, you could buy cheap pants in one size larger. ―Mandruss ☎ 23:20, 26 January 2015 (UTC)