Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 April 30

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April 30

Textbook coverage of the Cold War

Did 1950's-1970's US Social Studies textbooks provide greater coverage to the Cold War, than moderen US social studies textbooks? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.146.124.35 (talk) 00:33, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

On the contrary. When I was in school in the 1970s, history textbooks went no closer to the present than superficial coverage of the Kennedy administration, not even covering the Cuban missile crisis. There was just a final chapter titled something like "The Postwar Years". Modern textbooks typically have a chapter devoted to the Cold War, from beginning to end. Marco polo (talk) 00:55, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I had U.S. history, I believe, three times in junior high and high school and in no instance did we get further than WWII. The book went farther but the teachers never got hrough all the material in the book. So even if a chapter is included in the book, the more important question is "Are Cold War questions included in the standardized tests?". See also Teach to the test. Rmhermen (talk) 14:59, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

A little off-topic, but at school in the UK in the 1970s, the Cold War was covered as an ethical issue in our Religious Education lessons. Given the left-leaning political bias of the educational establishment at the time, there was a heavy emphasis on the benefits of unilateral disarmament. In the 1980s this went a step further, with "peace studies" on the timetable at many schools. Apologies for the digression. Alansplodge (talk) 17:18, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Neighbors ATV racing Noise Unbearable

We live in a rural residential zoned area in Davidsville Pennsylvania. Our neighbors have recently been denied a zoning change they requested which prevented them from surface mining their 400+ acre property (around all of our houses) and now they have decided to "allow" dirt bikes and 4-wheelers to create racing tracks and jumps all over their 400 acre farm. These ATV's and dirt bikes are now constantly racing through their property everyday. The noise is unbearable. There are usually anywhere between 5 and 20 ATV's at one time and they run all day Saturday and Sunday and off and on through out the week. Our peaceful residential neighborhood now sounds like a motocross stadium almost all day every day. I called the police and they said there was no noise ordinance and there was nothing that they could do if the property owner allows them on the property? There has to be something that can be done to stop the constant noise which is making life in our home unbearable and basically uninhabitable. Are there any actions that can be done to prevent this from continuing? Thank you so much for any advice on how I can get our neighborhood back to normal! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.145.27.60 (talk) 00:58, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Davidsville, Pennsylvania, is in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, whose website is http://www.co.somerset.pa.us/, which has a page (http://www.co.somerset.pa.us/county.asp?deptnum=99) about the Somerset County Law Library, which is open to the public.

—Wavelength (talk) 01:27, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Call a lawyer. We can't help you. Sorry. Shadowjams (talk) 01:41, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Well, while we can't offer legal advice, we can offer a bit of political advice... have you considered getting together with your neighbors, and finding out if they are as upset about this as you are? If so, try to form a local advocacy campaign for new zoning laws and noise ordinances. Make enough noise and it will become an issue in local political campaigns next fall. Blueboar (talk) 02:08, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

You can try this resource, but Wikipedia does not endorse it.

• Legal Advice on Noise Complaints | Find, Research, and Rate Attorneys at Avvo.com

—Wavelength (talk) 02:22, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I agree that passing an anti-noise ordinance is the way to go. If you are unable to do so, I suggest soundproofing one "quiet room", where you can go to relax when your nerves get frazzled. StuRat (talk) 04:41, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The real problem is that the U.S. has somehow encouraged the notion that noise should be handled at a local level, but of course, at a local level many municipalities are caught up in a whore war to attract businesses by being laxest. Other environmental laws regarding air and water pollution would be no more effective if passed as township ordinances. Legal action, media appeals, and opening an ATV park when your mining application is denied are just a few of the many means of terrorism from which government is generated. Wnt (talk) 15:18, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I disagree on the need for national noise control laws, as most noise sources are inherently local, and remain a local problem, unlike air and water pollution, which spreads to downriver and downwind areas. And different noise levels are acceptable in a strip mine than in a residential community. An exception would be for mobile noise sources, like airplanes, trains, and motorcycles, where having a different acceptable noise level for each community you pass thru makes little sense. StuRat (talk) 20:29, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I wonder what part of the U.S. Constitution would authorize the Congress to pass a national noise control law. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:22, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, the bastards wasted no time at all deciding that hybrids were too quiet. After a lifetime of their claims they can't touch noise, once they decided something makes too little noise and they have to ruin the environment more, it wasn't even a contest. Wnt (talk) 03:03, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, that's different. Too quiet, eh? Presumably that's under the "interstate commerce" umbrella. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:08, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Are the ATV riders all from in-state? Are the ATVs themselves from in-state? While the interstate commerce clause has indeed been interpreted far too broadly in many other cases, noise does cross state boundaries, and most of the things that make it cross state boundaries also. Wnt (talk) 11:24, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

The percentage of noise that crosses state borders is extremely small, unlike, say, the percentage of water from rainfall. ATVs don't tend to be driven on multi-state trips, but used within one or two states, so, unlike truck drivers, who would need to comply with laws in every state on their route, an ATV owner would only have to worry about one or two. And noise from a given ATV park, unless it happens to be right on the border, won't affect anybody outside the state. StuRat (talk) 17:53, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

The federal government could regulate the meximum noise level of the vehicles, as part of their interstate commerce authority. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:29, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

It wouldn't be a bad start - especially when lots of the ads on television have the general plot "See what an asshole I am - when I rev my massive engine I can wake up my neighbors!" Wnt (talk) 13:11, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

People are allowed to cross state borders freely. Unless the guys in the noisy vehicles are crossing state lines to sell something that's regulated under interstate commerce laws, the federal government likely has no jurisdiction. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:55, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

As a first step, I think you should consider registering an account on Wikimedia Commons where you can be contacted and discuss these matters. Use it to upload video (only from your home, or a public place, such as the street, per Commons policy - don't trespass on tape...) so people can see/hear this nightmare for themselves. Illustrations like this will be useful to you in the broader political fight, or for organizing people in your town who live further away. Wnt (talk) 16:38, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Pocket veto

"A "pocket veto" is where the President of the United States fails to sign a passed bill within ten days, and Congress has adjourned. It is an absolute veto, and cannot be overruled by Congress." This is what i found on the internet and many other sources said something about "the Congress has adjourned". I didn't really understand what is the word "adjourn" mean in this case? Can someone explain to me what exactly is the pocket veto in a different way and the word adjourn? Please explain in simply words enough that any average American could understand. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.20.13.37 (talk) 04:02, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

To adjourn a meeting of any kind is to declare it officially over and done. The U.S. Congress does not meet 365 days a year, but instead meets in various "sessions" of some number of weeks or months. So when they declare a given session over, and go home, the President can "pocket" any bills he has received (i.e. put them "in his pocket"), rather than signing them, and they will fail to become law. It's not something that happens frequently. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:25, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

And I should point out that Congress is free to pass the same bill again when they next convene, or even call an emergency session, if necessary (the President can then veto that, and Congress can then override that). So, the veto is only on that occurrence of the bill, which doesn't mean all that much. Thus, the implication that a bill so vetoed will never become law is not correct. StuRat (talk) 04:35, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

See also Pocket veto and List of United States presidential vetoes. It seems that 2/5 of all vetoes are pocket ones. Rmhermen (talk) 07:14, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I would think the main advantage of a pocket veto would be the lack of media coverage. That is, if a popular bill isn't signed, there's no need for a press conference to explain why it wasn't signed. And Congressmen who might have complained to the media about the veto may be on their way home, and away from the Washington press corps, when it becomes apparent that the bill isn't going to be signed. StuRat (talk) 17:45, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Stories that "predicted" the destruction of the WTC

Some stories published before 9/11 included a terrorist attack on WTC as a plot element. Two examples I know of are deus ex and The Lone Gunmen. Are there any more such stories? Short stories, novels, TV series, movies, games, any media is fine. I'm not spinning conspiracy theories here, just interested in finding these coincidences. Billions of stories are published every year, so it's not strange that a coincidence like this would occur. Given that WTC were attacked back in 1993, and were also the tallest buildings in NYC, it's not hard to imagine another attack on WTC even before 9/11. 173.32.168.59 (talk) 07:32, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

There was a famous album cover which had to be hastily changed in the days after the attack (see Party Music). Anything published after 1993 would not be too prophetic or greatly coincidental, in my opinion... AnonMoos (talk) 07:40, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

This page lists several things, including another game, that foreshadow the attacks. Stephen King's 1982 novel The Running Man (which is very different from the film they made of it) ends when the protagonist flies a hijacked airliner into a skyscraper (but not the WTC). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 07:49, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the input, but I want to focus on the WTC specifically. The more general case of "flying plane into skyscraper" is just another trope.173.32.168.59 (talk) 08:20, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Would the stories have to predate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing? --Colapeninsula (talk) 09:03, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

No necessarily. But pre-1993 cases would be more interesting.173.32.168.59 (talk) 20:08, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

There are some examples here85.52.87.200 (talk) 18:05, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

The single documentary which will forever change your life and reality is called 'In plane sight' I think the movie makers themselves have made comments in regard to the use of bit torrents to distribute it, I think they said something along positive lines.

Anyhow the doco you are looking for is probably 911 - Loose Change. Naturally, watching anything along these lines will forever change your view on how people around you view reality. From a psychological perspective it is astounding beyond all reason. Good luck living your life after viewing these documentaries. have you seen them ? how are you holding up ? err., probably wiser to cut the conversation short.. Penyulap ☏ 11:37, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

A) This is off topic for the question at hand. B) The claims in Loose Change have been debunked for years. That's why they keep changing the video: the current one is not the same video that originally came out, not to mention the intermediate versions. — The Hand That Feeds You:^Bite 16:30, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

how tall is the Lexington Building (London's exclusive new Flakturm)

It seems the UK's Ministry of Defence is considering using the roof of London's Lexington Building (the former water tower of a match factory) in the Bow Quarter development as a location for missile defences. I can't find, however, how tall that building is - all the Google searches I've tried merely try to sell me titchy flats in it. Can anyone find out? -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:11, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Just by eyeballing the picture, I would say 9 - 12 normal 10' stories + the 15 - 20' section on top. My bad guess would be 105 to 145' then. One could email/phone and ask the owners, a local museum, government, or even the airport may know.--Canoe1967 (talk) 14:55, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

"2 tall towers of 10 stages" according to British Listed Buildings: Bryant and May Factory. The search continues. Alansplodge (talk) 16:09, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Nope - I've drawn a blank, except that a lot of the estate agent's blurb talks of "double height ceilings", Alansplodge (talk) 17:12, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for looking - the listing alone is informative (and indeed on closer Google Maps/Streetview inspection, the second tower is visible). Some of the flat listings do show a kind of bedroom mezzanine (so they can pretend they're charging a quarter of a million quid for a one bedroom flat rather than a studio); that shows they've had to wedge odd floor heights in (presumably because of the existing structure of the building) which makes a simple count-and-multiply strategy for estimating particularly unreliable for this weird building. I'm sure it'll get more media coverage if they actually do deploy starstreak on its roof. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:38, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

But how tall is it, not counting the mezzanine? Nyttend (talk) 23:06, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Is the bank of Norway losing money on the destruction of the 50 øre coin?

Norway is currently getting rid of the 50 øre coin. In this opinion piece, [1](in Norwegian), it is mentioned that the coins will be destroyed and sold for scrap by the bank of Norway. The metal content of each coin is estimated at 13 øre. Does this mean that the bank of Norway loses 37 øre (+cost of processing the coin) for each coin? 176.11.18.168 (talk) 15:04, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Norges Bank is the central bank of Norway. I assume it's authorized to issue new currency corresponding to the destroyed. The new may be larger coins, notes or electronic. PrimeHunter (talk) 15:28, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The coin is being withdrawn because people didn't use them [2], but they still had to keep minting them, so no replacement. Mikenorton (talk) 15:38, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

No, they don't lose money, in almost every case the cost of minting a coin is meant to be a tiny fraction of it's face value. If it is based on a commodity, like minted from a valuable element like gold, silver, copper, nickel, then the ruling regime loses the power to 'steal' the money out of your pocket by devaluing it. The 50 øre coin cannot fall below the commodity price of it's metal content, which means if Norway is attacked financially and it's government went bankrupt and so forth, nobody can take the last 13 øre out of your pocket, because you can exchange it for 13 øre worth of another currency from a metal dealer. This is a problem for rulers, so all currencies are not allowed to be based upon a commodity and have to be made as cheap as is possible, and better still from paper or even plastic! or electronic money, which is all worthless. The very best possible things you can invest in in life is knowledge and friends. It is always what, and who you know that matters. Money is irrelevant. The new coins that are used in place of the 50 øre will probably be worth-less. Penyulap ☏ 11:52, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

Black population in Europe

I read that France has the largest population of Black people and UK has second largest, so which European nation has third largest and who is after that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.153.222 (talk) 16:01, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The information in Black people in Europe is probably as good as you are going to get. 130.88.99.231 (talk) 17:15, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The "regions with significant populations" section of the infobox suggests you're correct about France and the UK. The next four would be Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal. Note that the numbers for Italy and Germany are expressed as ranges, so maybe the Netherlands or Germany could be third in this count. It's probably Italy, though. --BDD (talk) 19:52, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The figures are pretty meaningless - each country has its own definition, and so there is a lack of consistency. There are many ways of defining whether someone is or is not "black". The article on Black people in Europe has inconsistencies of its own, and provides little clarification. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:03, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

to train my dog to walk next to me, can I grab its tail

my dog, basically a puppy, (4 months), insists on all but CHOKING itself trying to run ahead whenever we walk, while panting and making gargling noises from all but choking itself on its collar (which isnt too tight or anything). I don't run ahead, but walk normally and ask the dog to stay. (I have a leash that's long enough for the dog to sniff about within a good radius of me, though it's a traditional shorter leash). Can I just grab the dog's tail whenever it starts leaping ahead (not hard, just so that if it leaps ahead, it finds it's just leaping against its own tail), so that it learns to walk at my pace? If not, how should I train the dog to walk at a nice pace bessides me? Feeding it treats when it happens to be doing it by itself does not work, nor does it ever listen when I try to chide it for trying to leap ahead / compliment it when it slows down: this works for about half a second, and (if its excited) it just keeps trying to leap ahead and choke itself. I don't think this is healthy for it!--188.157.143.195 (talk) 17:35, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I think that pulling the dog's tail could injure it or provoke it to bite. What I use with my dog is a harness that goes behind her front legs and in front of her chest. The harness connects to a leash in front, at the chest. This solves the choking problem that you get with a collar. (She wears a collar, but I don't use it for her leash on walks.) It is crucial to use a harness that hooks at the front, rather than at the dog's back. If the harness hooks at the front, you can control the dog's direction and movement much better; you pull the dog. If the harness hooks at the back, the dog pulls you. With a front-hooking harness, you can control the dog's action. The thing to do is, whenever the dog gets ahead of you, force it to stop. Don't let it start going until you say so. If it gets ahead of you, stop the dog again. Wait a few seconds, then try again. If the dog stays at your side, keep going. The dog will gradually learn that if it wants a satisfying walk without lots of forced halts, it will need to stay at your side. Marco polo (talk) 17:59, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

The command "Heel!" is well covered in any book on training your dog and in on-line videos. Your dog is waiting for clear direction from you, the Alpha-Dog.--Wetman (talk) 18:05, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I totally agree that you need to show the dog that you are alpha, and verbal commands such as "heel" can be useful. I thought I would add , though, most dogs have a natural walking pace that is faster than many humans are used to walking. However, most humans are capable of walking at a pace that is comfortable to dogs if humans walk briskly. I have chosen to walk briskly with my dog, partly to make the walk more satisfying and better exercise for her, but also because a brisk walk is better exercise for me! If you are capable of walking fast and want to give it a try, you and your dog might have a quicker and easier time finding a rhythm that you both like. That said, if you can't or don't want to walk fast, you can of course insist that the dog slow down for you. Marco polo (talk) 18:08, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like your dog has you well trained. :-) StuRat (talk) 20:15, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

In addition to what's already been said, I'd also recommend having a treat pouch or pocket full of treats and dole them out as you walk with the dog at your side. The dog, if a food motivated dog, will want to stay by your side for the treats. If it's a tall enough dog, this is fairly easy to accomplish while walking. Also, it would help if you worked on other commands and exercises. Does your dog know how to sit, stay, lay down, or come when called? This will reinforce the idea that they want to be near you (possibly for treats). If you're concerned about your dog filling up on treats, one option is Lickety Stiks. (I don't work for the company and one of my dogs doesn't care for these) Another option is Charlee Bears which is a low cal treat. (Again, don't work for the company but my dogs love these) Dismas|^(talk) 20:08, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

You might also reduce their regular meals, both so they won't get fat and so they will do more to get treats. StuRat (talk) 20:15, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I agree that pulling the dog's tail is a bad idea. If nothing else works, you might escalate with a shock collar, and give it a zap whenever it leaves your side. Some people think of these as cruel, but the alternative might be a dog that will run into the street (possibly dragging you with it) and get hit by a car. StuRat (talk) 20:15, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

It is a completely ignorant statement to propose that the two options are shocking the dog or them running into the street. There are completely pain-free training methods that are extremely well known and much, much more effective than causing your dog pain on a routine basis. Training requires work, and sometimes expert consultation, but pain should play an almost minimal role in it if you want a psychologically healthy dog. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:47, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

It's going to depend on the dog. Just as some people won't behave without the threat of punishment, the same is true of some dogs. StuRat (talk) 08:04, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Note that these are illegal in some places (Wales, for example), and according to our article, "use of shock collars is controversial and scientific evidence for their safety and efficacy is mixed." 130.88.99.231 (talk) 10:20, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Pulling the dog's tail is a bad idea. Whenever the dog gets ahead of you and starts pulling you, you stop, not stop the dog. If it does not work well. Whenever the dog gets ahead of you and starts pulling you, you turn around and walk in a different direction. If the dog gets ahead of you and wants to turn right, you turn left. The dog should learn you are the leader and you are the one who decides where to go. Oda Mari (talk) 08:11, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

I picture a smart dog figuring this out, and always heading the opposite direction of where he wants you to take him. :-) (I did something similar in school, where one teacher would call on whoever wasn't paying attention. So, when I had something to contribute, I'd stare vacantly out the window. If I had no idea what the answer was, I'd raise my hand impatiently.) StuRat (talk) 08:17, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Please watch this video. 71.215.84.127 (talk) 06:24, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Don't pull it's tail, it will probably interpret that as you being excited. Learn to stop, and stop the puppy with the lead and growl deep as you can, do that each time, often accompanied by a little smack on a flat surface of the dogs torso or back thigh, this is dog language for 'I am not impressed with what you are doing'. You must do this at the same time as the problem behaviour. never wait, and worst mistake to make is if the dog runs away from you loose from it's lead, DO NOT punish the dog when it returns to you, always praise it for returning, otherwise it will not come back to collect a smack. There are smaller amounts that you can teach a younger dog compared to an older dog, but in all circumstances, a poorly trained dog is the result of a poorly trained owner :) read up, study up, don't wear the 'I know nothing badge' of a badly trained dog. Penyulap ☏ 12:00, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

ALA accredited schools

While checking for the ALA (American Library Association) accredited schools near me, I stumbled across this map http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105865627555958965474.000449740ea1f057a8b91&ll=41.508577,-93.515625&spn=89.94393,163.125&z=3

I'm completely mystified as to how to explain Hawaii having seven such schools when other much more populous states having one, two or even none at all! Is there a explanation or is this just some bizarre oddity?66.30.10.71 (talk) 19:07, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I believe this is some sort of error. I searched for ALA-accredited schools in Hawaii on the ALA site, and the only result was the University of Hawaii. However, all seven locations marked on that map seem to be campuses in the University of Hawaii system. The map is a nice visualization, but if you're considering library school, I'd recommend this official PDF instead. Good luck out there! It's not an easy job market for librarians. --BDD (talk) 19:49, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes, specifically, the error seems to be that each campus of the University of Hawaii is listed as if it were a separate university. StuRat (talk) 20:21, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Ah! Thanks so much--I see that you're right! Consider this question RESOLVED!! ...also, ugh, I know. Fortunately I plan to be poor for a long time, so it'll all work out. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.30.10.71 (talk) 20:11, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Inflation or already deflation?

Why isn't the inflation negative? I know that different goods, at different proportions, go into the price index's basket, but wouldn't it be obvious to include real estate, which price is falling, as a big share of the basket? That would result in a negative inflation, at least for me, little poor tenant (or lucky tenant). XPPaul (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 21:10, 30 April 2012 (UTC).

Do you mean deflation? I'm guessing that the price index measures things that are often bought by average people; even most rich people don't buy real estate very often. Nyttend (talk) 21:57, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but lots of people pay rent every month. XPPaul (talk) 21:59, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Rent and real estate are vastly different things. Per the article you linked, price indices measure the costs of goods and services, and rent is neither one. Nyttend (talk) 22:03, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

How does it come that renting is not a service? XPPaul (talk) 22:06, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

A service is something that someone does for you. When you rent your apartment, you're paying for the right to use the property yourself. Things such as building maintenance are paid with the rent, but that doesn't make the rent a service. It's like when you buy goods at Wal-Mart such as food or tissues; you're paying for the service of them transporting the goods from distant places to your local store, but your purchase is primarily that of the goods. Nyttend (talk) 22:10, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

So, rent-a-car companies are not service companies? XPPaul (talk) 22:20, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

They're providing the car for you to use. The problem here is the division between real property and personal property; due to the nature of owning/renting/whatevering land, it's completely different from owning/renting/whatevering essentially everything else. Nyttend (talk) 22:24, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

What inflation is really supposed to measure is changes in the value of money. It isn't obvious to me that including real estate in the gauge is the best way to do that. Looie496 (talk) 22:12, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Why wouldn't it include all things that you need? XPPaul (talk) 22:20, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

To answer something you asked earlier — real estate definitely isn't a service, and it's not a good either. An index that measures strictly those things isn't going to measure real estate simply by definition. Nyttend (talk) 23:04, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't see anything to be gained by defining goods and services in such a way that real estate and rental property don't count and then excluding them from your inflation basket based solely on that weird and arbitrary definition. Some inflation indices don't include real estate and rent (partly because you end up with weird feedback effects when you use change interest rates in order to affect inflation which is itself caused by interest rates on mortgages), but plenty do include them. --Tango (talk) 23:44, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Some price indicies include housing, some don't. Your statistical reporter's quality of reporting housing costs to "average" workers may vary. Retail price indicies are not useful for interrogating production prices or aggregate values. Fifelfoo (talk) 22:41, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

In the US, the CPI basket includes rent[3][4].173.32.168.59 (talk) 00:04, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

The UK has 2 measures, the RPI (Retail Prices Index) which includes mortgages, housing depreciation (which is in accountancy terms a cost) and rent, and the CPI (Consumer Prices Index) which includes rent but not the costs of homeownership. So house prices aren't included directly, but the costs of home ownership are included in the RPI. The CPI is supposed to be standardised and comparable internationally, which determines its contents.[5] Although some prices have been falling recently, others, principally fuel but also many basic foods, have increased. Interest rates in most countries have been flat for 2-3 years, and therefore won't affect the index one way or another, while rents in some areas (at least in the UK) have been increasing due to the fact that people can't buy houses and there's been increased demand for rented property[6]; this may have happened elsewhere too. Different indexes are also used for different purposes: calculating benefit rates for the out-of-work, chronically ill, pensioners, etc, is an important one, and it doesn't make sense to include the costs of buying houses for people who are far more likely to rent. --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:37, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Secondary liability

Is secondary liability purely a US thing, or is the term used in other countries? Our article talks solely about US law, and I'm not sure whether it needs to have added a {{globalise}} tag or a statement that it's just an American thing. Nyttend (talk) 23:00, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I think in most other countries it's covered under abetting case law. 71.215.84.127 (talk) 06:28, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

The concept as described in the article doesn't really exist in English law, at least - a BAILII search on "secondary liability" only turns up guarantee cases (where one party has a secondary liability for a debt, etc) and cases on (criminal) aiding and abetting. The cases described in the article would probably be treated as creating joint primary liability in English law (see BAGS v Amalgamated Racing, a case on which we really should have an article...) Tevildo (talk) 13:31, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

How to...

Let say I wrote something in Microsoft Word. Is there a way that i can do which would permanently prevent anyone from changing anything in that specific file? So that file of Microsoft Word will stay like that forever! Nobody could change anything in it (by change i mean change the word or add new word or delete the words in it...). They could possibly delete it, the file, if they want but can't change the content.174.20.13.37 (talk) 23:10, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

FYI, this question is better asked at the reference desk for computing. As far as I know, all Word files are editable by anyone who has access both to the document and to the version of Word in which you wrote it. I suppose you could use Microsoft Word 1.0 (which looked somewhat similar to this), because virtually nobody will have software capable of editing it, but someone with Word 1.0 would still be able to use it, and someone without software to edit it wouldn't be able to read it. You're better off creating a Word document, converting it to PDF, and putting a security lock on it (which is something I don't know how to do) to prevent editing without a password. Nyttend (talk) 23:24, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, although they could still do screen grabs and maybe optical character recognition to reconstruct an editable document, or, if all else fails, they could retype it. StuRat (talk) 07:59, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes. Save it so it can only be opened as read-only unless they enter a password. Click on the Options button on the Save As dialog (exactly where it is will depend on the version of Word you are using, but it will be there somewhere). There are ways around it (you can just copy and paste the content into a new word document and then save over the old one, for instance), but it works well against accidental editing. --Tango (talk) 23:36, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm not really sure what you are hoping to achieve - if your file is stored on a writable medium, it is always going to be possible to modify the file. Even if you turn on some security feature that prevents Word from modifying the file, somebody can still copy the text, images, fonts, etc., to create an imitation of the file, which they can modify however they want and try and pass off as the original: this is an example of an analog hole. So the only thing you can do is make sure you are able to check whether the file is the same as the original. One way of doing this is to save a copy of the file somewhere secure, and use a utility like diff to check the copy is identical to the possibly-modified file. Alternatively, especially if the file is very large, you can save a hash of the file (if you are really paranoid, you will want to use a cryptographic hash function) which you can compare against a hash of the other copy. 130.88.99.231 (talk) 10:09, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

To give a stupid example you could PrintScreen each page and save as an image, or use a virtual printer to create a printout. The main problem is, though, that people have been avidly converting plain old paper books into files to the point where they're pretty good at it. Even if you had some kind of "Eyes Only" viewer, I could still photograph the screen, save the photos into a djvu file, and use the built in OCR to get back the text, and work with that. Wnt (talk) 19:04, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

One option that works for me is to save as a PDF. HTH, Robinh (talk) 02:35, 2 May 2012 (UTC)