Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 July 20

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July 20

Who was George Tuld?

I read that George Tuld wrote articles on chromatography. So he may be a chemist. But I do not find any biography of him. Who was he? Horus1927 01:17, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

References

It looks like his name was actually George Field. (In any event, Mr. Field published Chromatography, or, A treatise on colours and pigments in 1835. The dictionary you linked to has "Chromatography; a Treatise on Colours and Pigments, Lon., 1841, 8vo."). ---Sluzzelin talk 19:11, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Who was Aupin?

I read that Aupin was a French chemist and a student of Prof Malaguti. But there is no biography to be found. Can anyone help with a biographical profile? Horus1927 01:27, 20 July 2020 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Horus1927 (talk • contribs)

References

Unless Aupin did something substantially more notable other than determining the amount of silver in Dead Sea salt on behalf of his professor, it is unlikely that we will find further biographical information.  --Lambiam 16:22, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Smoke in South Africa

Cigarettes are now illegal in South Africa.News reports state that 180 people were arrested over the weekend for the sale of illegal cigarettes. I have several questions...1. Is this just a COVID measure or is this expected to be a permanent stance? 2. Has any other government globally taken this stance during COVID? and 3. The most important question, are there any countries in the world where the sale, purchase and or consumption of tobacco is illegal? Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.172.130.137 (talk) 09:29, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

For question 3, List of smoking bans tells me that Bhutan is the only country in the world to outright ban the existence and usage of tobacco products within the nation since 2005, with the heavily taxed exception of importing tobacco for personal use only. Even the imagery of tobacco products in advertisements and works of fiction are censored out with the exception of educational clips produced for the purpose of health promotion. A few other countries such as Turkey, South Korea, Netherlands, and I think recently the Philippines have come close but not quite to the level of Bhutan's strictness. --72.234.12.37 (talk) 11:30, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

(EC) Here are a couple of articles on the ban in South Africa: [1], [2]. It was originally a measure related to COVID-19 and confinement, but since it is still current while other confinement measures have been lifted, there is speculation that some may wish to make the measure permanent (I couldn't find any article on the government's official position, but it must be out there). The first article mentions that India and Botswana decreed a similar ban when the crisis started, but have since lifted it. See also the article smoking ban which mentions that Bhutan and Turkmenistan have a total ban on tobacco, and other countries have stated that it is a longer-term policy goal. Tobacco sales and consumption are of course highly regulated in most countries nowadays, independent of the current coronavirus pandemic. Xuxl (talk) 11:37, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Gauging the "intent" of a governmental body, given it is by nature the product of many policymakers working towards various goals, is a notoriously difficult process. While official statements are relevant they often do not exactly represent reality. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 12:58, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

The cigarettes may, or may also, have been illegal in the sense of being manufactured, or imported, or sold, or a permutation of the foregoing without the applicable taxes being paid and/or safety regulations being complied with. Many governments raise significant revenues from taxing recreational drugs like tobacco (and alcohol), and prosecute those evading the taxes.

In the UK crimes involving the sale of smuggled/illegal cigarettes are not uncommon, and in the US a recent police homicide, which contributed to the creation of the Black Lives Matter campaign, involved the arrest of a Black man allegedly selling individual cigarettes on the street illegally. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.41.197 (talk) 15:48, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

The interstate smuggling of cigarettes to avoid taxes (that is, so the retailer can pocket the difference) was pretty common in the US some years ago. Here's a story of one operation being broken up in New York. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 17:55, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

How did they do this movie scene?

I'm retired and watch a movie a day. Yesterday it was "The Hound of the Baskervilles." In one of the last episodes the villain, Singleton, tries to escape and steps into a bog and drowns with screams "Help me! Help me." That scene was actually shot cheaply, unconvincing. All the background is blackened out, the face is naturally visible, but I am sure they shot it in a bathtub. But how about that Arab boy, Daud, who disappeared in the quicksand in Laurence of Arabia? It was in broad daylight, desert sands were visible on miles around. How in the world did they do it? AboutFace 22 (talk) 21:35, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

It will help if you'd please let us know which version of Hound that you saw. There are a baying pack of them out there and several different ways to fake someone sinking into the ground :-) MarnetteD|Talk 21:42, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

The OP is asking about the scene in Lawrence of Arabia. DuncanHill (talk) 21:59, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I was going to say, the Hound of the Baskervilles scene he's describing is the one at 1'38" of this video, but that's not relevant to answering the question. --Viennese Waltz 22:06, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Having just watched the relevant clip on a popular video sharing website (search on 'Lawrence of Arabia quicksand'): the scene is cleverly shot and edited, but in all of the close-up views one can only see a patch of dry sand a few yards across, which I presume could easily have had a buried structure hidden under it to create the sinking sand effect. The medium and long-shot views (not necessarily shot in exactly the same place) merely show the actor in a shallow hole dug in the desert, and one never sees the victim actually disappear beneath the sand – there is a cut away to the onlookers just before that supposed point.

The episode is dubious anyway, since ordinary quicksand is formed by upwelling water, and Dry quicksand has been created in the laboratory, but has never been proven to occur naturally on Earth. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.41.197 (talk) 23:31, 20 July 2020 (UTC)

Thank you all. @Viennese Waltz correctly posted the video I watched. I actually watched it as a part of so called "Brit Box," a subscription service. The episode of drowning is almost at the end. Now I will have to re-watch Laurence of Arabia to see all the details I missed. AboutFace 22 (talk) 01:20, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

Yep, there is something fishy about this scene (the edges of the funnel-like hole are not round) but is is still very impressive, very dramatic. AboutFace 22 (talk) 01:25, 21 July 2020 (UTC)

There is an interesting black and white “behind the scenes” video on YouTube that shows this scene being filmed. It shows the actors and crew between takes... the actor is just standing there, hip deep in the dirt. It looks like they dug a hole in more solid ground, and then filled it with loose “sand” once the actor climbed in. The video does not show him “sinking”, but given the depth of the sand, he could just kneel for it to be at head height. Blueboar (talk) 16:27, 21 July 2020 (UTC)