Humanities desk
< October 12	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 14 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 13

Legality of Prescription medicine purchases in Canada by Americans (No. 2)

The section above with this title makes me wonder: why does Canada permit Americans to buy drugs in Canada? I can't quite see why a government would subsidise something for its taxpayers yet welcome those who don't pay its taxes to buy that thing at the same rate. As an American, I see it as being as silly as it would be for one state to offer in-state tuition rates at its public universities to residents of other states. Nyttend (talk) 01:26, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It should be obvious why visitors to Canada or any other country are allowed to buy drugs -- they might need them. Either they got sick and went to a doctor and got a prescription, or they had to stay longer than they originally intended and ran out of pills, or they left them in a hotel room before flying to another city, or whatever. As long as it only happens occasionally there's no issue. If it happened so much that Nyttend's point became an issue, and it was decided to charge a higher price for visitors, that it would be a big deal for drugstores: they'd have to have two (or more) prices for products that now have only one, they'd have to check ID on purchases where now they don't, and they'd have to do the necessary accounting to submit the price difference to the government. Canadian hospitals do do that sort of thing, but drugstores do a lot more transactions where the dollar amounts are a lot smaller, so the burden would be larger.

That said, I'm not sure how many drug prices here in Canada actually are regulated or subsidized. Is there a good, unbiased source for that? --Anonymous, 06:07 UTC, October 13, 2010.

Don't the Canadian provinces price-control drugs rather than subsidize them per se (except for people on a government drug plan)? -- Mwalcoff (talk) 22:31, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Custodial award statistics by state

I am writing an exploratory essay regarding paternal custody rights but cannot seem to locate Washington state info. Any search engine wording suggestions? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.255.29 (talk) 01:59, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, you need to be a little more specific — what have you tried so far, and what are you looking for that you haven't been able to find? I tried washington paternal custodial rights on Google, which provided a number of irrelevant links up toward the top; but the first page did include a seemingly useful eHow link, which in turn included a few reference links. I can't link directly there because eHow is on Wikipedia's spam blacklist, but you can manually type "www.ehow.com" in your browser and follow that with "/list_6504455_washington-parental-rights-unmarried-fathers.html". Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:47, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

U.S. federal death row for women?

Which Federal Bureau of Prisons facility is officially designated as the death row for women?

I understand the only federal female death row inmate that I know of is in FMC Carswell. But is Carswell considered to house the female death row? What documentation states where women under death sentences should be held? WhisperToMe (talk) 09:19, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The U.S. federal gov. has only executed two women since 1927, the last in 1953. There appear to be only two women on federal death row currently. Angela Johnson who was convicted of helping a drug lord kill several witnesses against him and Lisa Montgomery who kidnapped and killed a pregnant women to steal her unborn child, who she then crossed state lines with.[1]. Both seem to be held at Carswell. 75.41.110.200 (talk) 04:38, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I checked the BOP inmate locator at http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp . Both are in Carswell. Based on this I am simply going to say that Carswell has the female death row. It would be nice to have official documentation directly stating so, though. WhisperToMe (talk) 13:13, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Serbian football team salute

Last night before the ill-fated Serbia-Italy qualifying football match at Genoa, the Serbian team appeared on the field and gave a type of salute to their supporters. Does anyone know exactly what this signifies?--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:34, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Was it the Three-finger salute (Serbian)? It seems to be a sort of national/ethnic "gang sign" that means "I'm Serbian and proud of it!" WikiDao ☯ (talk) 10:55, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, the three fingers is sort of a touchy subject in ex-Yugoslav space. It's one of those things that are meant to be patriotic, but sometimes cross the thin line over into nationalistic, and given the recent history of the Balkan peninsula, one can understand why many non-Serbs here cringe when they see it. TomorrowTime (talk) 11:11, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, it was a three-finger salute. Thank you for the explanations.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 11:43, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, a copy of this salute is used by Neonazis (I'm unsure if there is any connection whatsoever). In Germany it's called the 'Kühnengruß' or 'Widerstandgruß' (it's a means to evade legal prosecution - the Hitlersalute is punished by law). Flamarande (talk) 11:48, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, an Italian reporter on the field questioned one of the Serbian football players what it meant and he brusquely replied that it was given to pacify the supporters; the Italian sports commentators, however, viewed the gesture in a negative light.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 12:10, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

/OR/ Incidentally, the soccer riots may have been an echo of a more general feeling of (politically driven) civilian discontent that has recently been fermenting in Serbia and has just a couple of days ago resulted in thrashing of certain left-wing, pro-EU political parties' headquarters in Serbia, disguised as an anti gay riot. Reports say while the protesters were nominally protesting against a gay pride parade, they were given clear orders as to what and where to destroy along the way. Given the anti-EU bent of these Belgrade protests, Italy might have just seemed like a place to thrash, since it is, well, part of the self same EU. /end OR/TomorrowTime (talk) 13:32, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ironically, years ago we used to hear the one-finger gesture referred to as "the Italian salute." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:43, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think it is OR as many journalists are saying the same thing here (Italy). The mood was decidedly ugly and got worse when some of the Serbian footballers started tripping up the Italian players.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 14:08, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oh. It was OR inasmuch as it was my own synthesis of events - I don't have time to follow the news as much as I'd like to these days, but I did hear about both events and thought they might have been connected. In any case, things are boiling in an unpleasant way in Serbia right now, apparently. Not in a "look out, another war is imminent" kinda way, but still unpleasant. Which is a shame, Serbia's a nice country - I just probably wont be going back there for a while... TomorrowTime (talk) 16:27, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If this keeps up, Serbia might even lose its reputation for sunny, laid-back friendliness. LANTZY ^TALK 16:46, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The ringleader of the rioting fans has been arrested, I just saw it on the news here. The newsreader affirmed that both events are indeed connected.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 17:11, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"I went to a riot and a soccer game broke out." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:40, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Soccer is the only sport so boring that getting punched in the face while watching the game is an entertaining distraction... --Jayron32 05:02, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"And the boy gets a cigar!" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:47, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If soccer is so dull then why do all the players get the best-looking girls? They must be doing something pretty exciting! ---Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 11:13, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Uh, yeh, though maybe not directly on the pitch. Regardless of looks, women are generally practical. A survey might show that the attractiveness of the women is directly proportional to the player's salary. For example, Alex Rodriguez has had Hollywood starlets as pals, as contrasted with the average member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And the Pirates' babes are probably cuter than those of the average fast-food or convenience-store worker. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:13, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The other obvious question is: If soccer is so dull, how come so many hundreds of millions of people follow it with an avid passion appropriate for a game that's said to be far more serious than mere life-or-death, and how come some players get paid as much in a day as the US President gets in a year? Huh? Anyhow, it's still dull. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:53, 14 October 2010 (UTC) [reply]

An important soccer match is kind of like a big party that happens to have an athletic event going on. And unlike with games like cricket and baseball, you don't have to keep your eye on the field at all times, since it takes a long time for anything to happen. Kind of like the folks who occupy the infield at Indianapolis and have a great time and never actually see the race. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:05, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Except that seems like the opposite of the behaviour I've personally observed: cricket is a game designed for a holiday or Sunday on the village green, and as such is something you drift in and out of. Observers will chat, read, go to the pub, have a nice drink, and keep rough track of the game, watching only a few plays. It is a game well-suited to listening on the radio while you do other work. In contrast, soccer is a game of space and action: a good match, watched from the stands, is dramatic and tactical, in a way that can only be followed with close attention to the whole pitch. Unfortunately, this makes good matches inappropriate for television. English soccer, in contrast, plays fast and close to the ball, making it much more dramatic to watch on TV than most decent soccer, but much less tactical and interesting at the ground than other soccer. It also means we get owned by the other countries in international matches. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 21:02, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Y'all dang near got pwned by the US, even, too. Interesting analysis as to why that might more generally be happening. WikiDao ☯ (talk) 21:21, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Industrial disasters in Venice?

This page is a press release about a recent music album. The text of the press release refers to "industrial disasters in the Venice area during the 1970s and 1980s, when many workers and citizens alike died of cancer as a result of corporate decisions." I've been trying to find out more about these disasters but without success. Does anyone have any more information? Thanks, --Viennese Waltz 15:12, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is very likely a reference to high cancer rates related to PVC production. The story was generally popularized by Gabriel Bortolozzo. -- kainaw ™ 15:19, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Kainaw. There's something about it two-thirds of the way down this page, under Appendix. But we don't seem to have an article. --Viennese Waltz 15:26, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The mainland towns of Mestre and Marghera, which are politically part of Venice, are notorious for industrial pollution. The English versions of the articles aren't much, but there's more in the Italian versions, if you can read Italian. Acroterion _(talk) 12:39, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Do we have an article on this?

Coverage from Huff Po [2] all the recession articles are in such a mess I can't find it. (Assuming its there)... The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 18:29, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If we did, I would vote for deletion. This is an announcement of a forthcoming investigation that may happen, and it may find nothing occurred. Let's not fall victim to the recency effect. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:51, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Not about the investigation necessarily but this whole part of it shutting down foreclosures in fifty states that itself seems notable and seem some one would have wrritten one since its been in the newscycle for about 3 weeks now The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 18:54, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see anything about foreclosures having been "shut down". This investigation may well become notable, but it isn't yet; and we don't really need to be in a rush to write up a Wikipedia article on every news topic that has "been in the news cycle". That's what Wikinews is for. Our Wikipedia:Recentism article discusses this. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:32, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am not arguing there merits of the case for an article merely surprised that some one may have actually followed WP:NOTNEWS for once. Thank you for you assitance. The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 20:29, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK, this is not AfD, but this was above the fold on The New York Times front page today, and the financial media are blaming this for a big drop in bank stocks today, so it's clearly notable by now. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:09, 14 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]