Humanities desk
< May 2	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	May 4 >

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.

May 3

want to know about a 1911 book

i have a book Pokjumie by Ellasue Canter Wagner 1911 said she is from Songdo Korea. But under her name is Nashville Tenn, Woman Missionary Council 1911. I live in Nashville but cant find anything about this book. Help. Thanks.Rubyre (talk) 02:31, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

All books published in the US should end up at Library of Congress. Here is Ellasue's LOC entry here's the book's LOC record. It claims it was published: Publishing House of the M.E. Church, South : Smith & Lamar, agents, 1911. What do you want to find out about the book? Fifelfoo (talk) 02:52, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The author lived from 1881 to 1957, was the daughter of William Nathan Wagner and Sue Frances Canter, and served as a Methodist missionary in Korea from 1904 to 1940.--Cam (talk) 12:39, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Penn state page

Hi, I'm wondering why there's no mention on the page of the current Sandusky rape scandal? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.73.25.239 (talk) 02:54, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's mentioned Penn_State#Modern_era Hot Stop 03:19, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Methodological individualism

Could anyone please explain it in a simplified manner with examples? --SupernovaExplosion ^Talk 14:37, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This term has two related meanings: 1) an assumption by a social science researcher that what goes on in society can be reduced to the sum of actions by individuals in that society and 2) a position taken by a social scientist that any attempt to explain what goes on in society in terms of groups (social classes, ethnic groups, and so on) is invalid and that everything that goes on in society must be explained only in terms of actions by individuals. Obviously, 2) is a more extreme position than 1). Some social scientists would accept 1) but reject 2). Some would accept or reject both positions. An example of 1) might be an anthropologist explaining taboos held by a society using examples from individual informants and refusing to generalize any further than the assumption that other individuals in the society are likely to have similar but perhaps not identical views of those taboos as a result of learning them from others in that society. This would be in contrast with an anthropologist who generalizes from information from a few informants to present an idealized, structured belief system for a society, of which individuals' belief systems are seen as reflexes or outgrowths. An example of 2) might be an economist who rejects the identification of price movements as examples of speculation or developing price bubbles because those concepts are abstractions from specific rational actions by individuals, which are only analyzable at the level of individual trades rather than price movements over time. Marco polo (talk) 18:23, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What is the best open access English speaking university?

According to any perspective: rankings, prestige, Nobel prices, library, whatever. XPPaul (talk) 15:07, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by "open access university"? --SupernovaExplosion ^Talk 15:16, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Open-door academic policy or open admissions. XPPaul (talk) 15:27, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Go for Open University. --SupernovaExplosion ^Talk 15:29, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

And non distance learning? XPPaul (talk) 15:44, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A non-distance learning university will, by necessity, have limits on how many people it can take onto its courses. That means it's either going to be a very poor university that nobody wants to go to or it will have to be at least a little selective. Somewhere like the Open University can take people onto its courses that don't have the necessary pre-requisities (so will therefore probably fail to complete the course, the OU works in terms of modules and a large proportion of people never get enough modules to get a degree, although I'm not sure how many sign up with the intention of getting a degree - I did look for some hard numbers, but couldn't find any) without having to turn away better qualified students because they can easily scale up the course. A brick-and-mortar university can't do that, so they'll only take on people they think stand a reasonable chance of passing. --Tango (talk) 18:43, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorbonne and NYU seem to partially answer your question. OsmanRF34 (talk) 21:09, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Many British universities have access programs (summer schools, evening classes, etc) for people without the correct qualifications for easy entry. --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:43, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Many descent degrees do not have an open admission policy, but they are not very competitive. That's the case of studies such as classics, history, and the like. On the other hand, if someone wants to study medicine or architecture, he will have to compete with a lot of people. 212.170.181.95 (talk) 12:35, 6 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

George Ledwell Taylor (1788 – 1873)

Picture needed please. Kittybrewster ☎ 16:38, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Which is larger

I think there may be more than a hint of sibling rivalry- but according to their articles both the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are the third largest local police agency in the United States. I guess its down to how you count civilian staff-so can anyone cast any light on how civilian staff are usually counted in the US and which of the two agencies is in fact the larger. Thanks.--KTo288 (talk) 18:23, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Larger by what measure? Budget? Manpower (total or uniformed)? (Waistline?) HiLo48 (talk) 20:33, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

They have about the same number of officers, so "third largest" has probably recently been true for both, but the Sherrif's department has about four times the civilian staff. 71.215.84.127 (talk) 06:35, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the anwsers so far,I've put citations needed on both and hopefully someone more knowledgeable about the subject will feel compelled to provide a citation.--KTo288 (talk) 09:13, 5 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]