Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2006 July 18

Humanities Science Mathematics Computing/IT Language Miscellaneous 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 at one of the pages linked to above.

< July 17 Miscellaneous desk archive July 19 >

Making links

I'm trying to add one of those internal links, like going to octopus and in blue letters there is a link, but it has the name of the section its leading to. I need to make this in order to tell people about one of the less seen residents of Cape Town. Thanks in advance.

Help:Link and Help:URL should help out.--droptone 02:38, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Beirut

Beer Pong. Also known as Beirut. How come?

I suggest you read the article on Beer pong. Dismas|^(talk) 04:38, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Nixon's famous "V"

1. what's the meaning of

the often-parodied "V"

. Does it mean he has confidence that he's innocent or something? Confident in the democratic way even after such a scandal?

2. Did he do it just once on August 9th when he resigned or was it a trademark move?

Thanks.

See V sign - I believe it usually means 'victory', but the article suggests it can also represent defiance, which fits closer with the image you've offered. Ziggurat 03:15, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Per Richard Nixon#Popular culture, it was a trademark move. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:24, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Tricking bank into thinking I have direct deposit

I have a "free" Chase checking account as long as my summer job keeps up the direct deposit...

my question: would it work to use something like ingdirect.com or treasurydirect.gov that use ACH transfers to fool my bank into thinking that I'm still getting direct deposit? Then I wouldn't have to pay the $6/month fee..

Can anyone who works at a bank let me know how they verify whether or not you have direct deposit?

Yeah, punk - I work at a bank, and I'm CALLING THE FEDS. LOL, j/k - but seriously, why would you ask bank employees how to defraud themselves? --Bmk 04:03, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

it's not fraud if they define direct deposit as having a treasury direct or an ingdirect account...

Change your bank. Don't you guys have free bank accounts in the States? Hmm, I just looked at current account (banking) and checking account and it seems perhaps not.--Shantavira 12:53, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Of course there are free accounts in the States. I have three of them at different banks. As far as the original question, why not just ask the bank what qualifies as a direct deposit? Going in the with attitude of "tricking" the bank is probably not going to help, though. --LarryMac 13:07, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I called them and it turns out I don't have an account that was listed on the website...I have some special account or something that doesn't do that monthly charge shit. problem solved...thanks for the suggestions

I deal with ACH at a Credit Union. We can tell by the information included in the ACH record. --SuddenPresence

Liberal-Libertarian

Is there a particular political party that is home to people who consider themselves liberal-libertarians?

Anywhere in the world or a particular country? I'm not sure if I understand the term correctly (there doesn't seem to be an article on it), but D'66 might fit the bill. DirkvdM 18:21, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Antlion

Do antlions have eyes? If so where are they?

A quick googling for antlion eyes reveals "antlions have small eyes" (compared to dragonflies' eyes). Or do you mean the other kind of antlions? Nasty things... Weregerbil 08:58, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I assume he means the larvae (it is obvious where the eyes are on the adults). They are just above the pinchers (see this picture or even this wonderful sculpture). Sometimes they are pretty hard to see though: check out how tiny they are in this picture. --Fastfission 17:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes. --Proficient 08:55, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Longest winning streak against a different opponent every time

This has been bugging me for a while. What is the longest winning streak in world sporting history (individual or team), involving a contest that is fought annually (eg. Wimbledon), where the repeat winner fought a different opponent each time? The contest as a whole might involve many players/teams, but the final must involve only 2 (eg. the Tour de France is out). Our article is little more than a stub at the moment. JackofOz 06:06, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Per List_of_Wimbledon_Gentlemen's_Singles_champions, Pete Sampras won the Wimbledon men's singles against a different opponent four years running, from 1997 to 2000. There's a start. --Richardrj 07:53, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Per List_of_US_Open_Men's_Singles_champions, Richard Sears won the first seven years of the US Open men's singles, each time against a different opponent. --Richardrj 07:59, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Rosenborg BK football team won every Norwegian Premier League for 13 years, holding the title from 1992 - 2005, meaning they have only failed to win the competition twice. Philc _T^E_C^I 12:08, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

How about the America's Cup?USA retained it from 1851-1983.132 years is pretty good going in any sport 88.106.237.170 12:11, 18 July 2006 (UTC)Lemon

Neither of the above suggestions help, since the questioner specified that the winning streak should be against a different opponent each time. -Richardrj 13:52, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

According to The Guinness book of records Harry Greb was unbeaten in 178 consecutive bouts although "at the time, the rendering of an official decision at the end of a fight was prohibited". Ray Ewry was one of the most succesful olympians. Camarero (an 'orse) won 56 consecutive races between 1953-55. Futabayama Sadaji won 69 consecutive sumo bouts. I haven't found a decent single person year on year record but that is probably the nature of a winning streak; they are not annual. MeltBanana 15:33, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh but they can be. Federer has now won Wimbledon 4 years in a row. That constitutes a winning streak, doesn't it? The Olympics don't qualify for my question, since they're not contested annually. Same for the America's Cup, the Commonwealth Games, and various World Cups. The Superbowl would be OK though. The Tour de France is annual, but the final is not between only 2 cyclists but a whole mess of them. Boxing is not an annual event either. JackofOz 23:42, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

My guess is UCLA basketball, 1967-73. Seven straight championships, no repeat runners-up. (See NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. -- Mwalcoff 02:36, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

OK. So we have Richard Sears and the UCLA basketball team both with a 7-year winning streak with no repeat runners-up. Can anyone top that? JackofOz 03:49, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

In Heather McKay's 16 wins in the British Open Squash Championships, I can count 11 different runners-up in her last 11 years (1967 to 1977) Tintin (talk) 14:12, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Now we're getting somewhere. JackofOz 23:48, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

hello? I need some answers

Several of these pages say my IP address is blocked. {I am on AOL). I have not logged on to Wikipedia in nearly a year, and not on the date listed on one of the pages. What does this mean and who can I ask about it? I am confused about your help page and I swear I didn't do anything to anyone's articles! Sincerely, Martha Clouse <email removed>

AOL cycles IP addresses at a rapid pace; consequently, AOL users editing anonymously commonly see warning messages and blocks intended for other people. If you create an account, the spurious warnings should go away. — Lomn | Talk 12:50, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Create an account as mentioned above. --Proficient 08:57, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Hey, someone told me that their IP got blocked from Uncyclopedia and even when they could log in they were still blocked even though his username was not on the "blocked" list... Does that also happen here at Wikipedia? --yaya

US County latitude longitude

Hello! We are seaching for a list fo US Counties and their min/max latitude/longitudes (Lat/Lon's). We have a straight list of Counties, but need to append minimum lat/lon's and maximum lat/lon's toward locality (city,town...) and Zip verifications. Do you have a straight list of these lat/lon's? Thanks.

Brett Favre

I was wondering if anyone know the drug that Brett Favre was addicted to a few years ago?

I don't have a definitive reference, but the consensus around the web seems to be Vicodin. --LarryMac 14:43, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Some drug, to be blunt. --Proficient 08:57, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Suggestion

Can we please add another section to the reference desk that covers economics, financial and legal issues? Baron Von Westfall 14:52, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

The volume of posts doesn't seem to justify a separate page for economics and financial issues, and Wikipedia does not offer legal advice. Notinasnaid 15:07, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I see someone's managed to get promoted. Hope you didn't pay too much for it. AllanHainey 15:34, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

One day, I shall be a Viscount Baron Von Westfall 19:12, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

It says at the top of the page we dont help with financial medical or legal issues. So unless there are enough economics questions to justify it.... Philc _T^E_C^I 20:03, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Why can't we help with them? Wikipedia could have a forum for legal/financial advice just as many other sites do--there's even a guy that gives marginal legal advice over the radio. Bill Handel for instance. In any case, it would be a place were people could ask questions they need answers for on those specific issues. Baron Von Westfall 20:18, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I don't understand these taboos we have. Really, does it open Wikipedia up to any reasonable lawsuit if they get some legal advice off of the reference desk? What if they read about a legal matter in an article—same difference as far as I can tell. I'm sure people read the medical articles and decide for themselves whether the sores covering their bodies are something they should go to the doctor about—it seems to expose Wikipedia to the same level of responsibility. If you're too dumb to judge free advice for it worth for yourself, then that's too bad for you. Let the rest of us have a discussion. —Bradley 20:35, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

We cannot offer legal advice and medical advice since most of us are not legally licensed to perform such duties. It is illegal to do so, since we will be violating the "unauthorized practice of medicine" and "unauthorized practice of law." Of course, if someone asks to where they can find out about immigration information, we can point them out, we cannot fill the forms for them or tell them what court to see. We are not qualifiied to make that judgement and it is best to leave it to the people who are licensed to perform those duties. User:Zscout370 ^{(Return Fire)} 20:45, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Not to mention that this isn't a discussion forum. --LarryMac 20:59, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

At times, I'd disagree with your statement. --Proficient 08:58, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

OK, it's not supposed to be a discussion forum.  :-) --LarryMac 15:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Bill Handel is a lawyer. Who will recruit lawyers for Wikipedia? Who will check their credentials and prevent other people from answering? Is any of this the least bit relevant to a project whose sole purpose is to make an encyclopedia? I propose closing down these desks, because they take time away from people who might have been editing articles. Notinasnaid 10:04, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

What is the greatest number of countries you can visit in an hour/day?

Helping my friends plan their holidays-flying from Gibraltar to Rome,we've worked out they could without much effort do five or six countries within a morning! Start in Morocco-ferry to Gibraltar,over in Spain,back to Gib,fly to Rome,over into Vatican and then out to San Marino.

Any more suggestions for the most number of countries you could fit in in a day?You have to set foot in the country,not just fly over it.

I doubt you'll get an accurate answer to this, but I'd assume it'd be somewhere in Europe: you could easily do Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Germany in a day, as well as the UK. Obviously, it also depends on the mode of transport you use- perhaps you could buy a Concorde, there seem to be a few spare these days. Maybe Eastern Europe would be better...perhaps you could ask at the humanities reference desk?

EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 18:02, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

From Poland via the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzogovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and Macedonia to Greece could be done in a day, I think. (here is a map, but without Montenegro, which became independent last month.) David Sneek 18:03, 18 July 2006 (UTC) (And it would take only a minor detour to go to Bulgaria and Romania.)

There are two reasons to think Europe. One, of course, is that there are many small countries. The other is that the infrastructure allows you to travel fast. Sweden - Denmark (there's a bridge there now) - Germany - Netherlands - Belgium - Luxemburg - France - Switzerland - Austria - Italy might be doable in a day (if the Alps don't get in the way too much) and if you're really fast you might even go to Slovenia and the rest of former Yugoslavia. But another option is somewhere where you don't need any infrastructure, at sea. If you've got a really fast boat, that is. The Baltic sea is surrounded by many countries. What about Sweden - Finland - Russia - Estonia - Latvia - Lithuania - Poland - Germany - Denmark? That would take less than a day, I suppose, so you might still make it around Denmark and reach the Netherlands, Belgium, France and England. But you might even do several of the first in one hour (as you also asked). You could also go island-hopping in the Caribbean, but alas most of those islands belong to European countries and are therefore not separate countries. You'd just be alternating between Britain and France. DirkvdM 18:43, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Erm... most of "Britain's islands" have been independent for many years. But island hopping is likely to take more time than going by road. Grutness...wha? 02:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

This is what I have done with my family:

going from Malmö(Sweden) to Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium (we left at maybe 8 am and arrived at 10 pm at our front door in Belgium). We didn't really push ourselves to do this.If you are tough, you might make it to Luxemburg or France after that as well, and thus reach six or even seven!

This is what we did in high school :

leaving quite early (six in the morning) in Belgium, going through Luxemburg, France, Germany, Switzerland and finally Italy. We arrived in Milan quite late. I don't think it is quite possible to make it to Rome after that and still visit the Vatican.

You might be able to get to Monaco, though, to add to the country tally! Grutness...wha? 02:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

A few hints : Switzerland is not in the European Union so when doing that last trip you have to leave and then again enter the European Union, it could take some time.

In Rome they don't allow busses into the city, well they do, but it costs a fortune for just an hour.

Evilbu 22:54, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

For a three day trip you could possibly manage Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Rumania, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. You wouldn't be doing much other than driving, though, and you'd literally be cutting across the edge of some of those countries. Grutness...wha? 02:15, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

If you have a fast boat (or, of course, a plane), you could hit a bunch of Caribbean island statelets in a day. Don't know what customs would be like, though. -- Mwalcoff 02:34, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Hey, don't steal my answers. :) DirkvdM 07:23, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

That's pretty cool to visit many countries in a short period of time, but sometimes it's just best to enjoy the countries natural settings without rushing through them, do you know what I mean? The objective is not to travel the fastest, but enjoy the country. Albeit, this might not be the answer tou were looking for, yet the abovementioned suggestions to your question will probably suffice. --Proficient 09:00, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

This is armchair travelling, so this is all academic. And if we can not have academic discussions here, then where? DirkvdM 18:23, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I had a fairly relaxed visit through Scotland, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg through about 5 days. Each day involved travelling through another country! -Bearbear 17:34, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Ice-cream Vans

Where I live, if you make too much noise, or disturb the area too much you can get punished. However, there are evil things which drive around creating great deals of noise with impunity. They also play a horrible tune. How so? Why don't they get their well-deserved comeupance? Can I impose it upon them?

Thanks. —Daniel (‽) 18:11, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

1. Go and check with whatever organisation runs the town where you live and see if there are any rules that apply.
2. Consider how many times an ice cream van comes through your neighbourhood on an everage day. If it's less than five, consider if you are perhaps overreacting.
3. Chill, man. Go out and buy one of those evil ice creams. They are quite tasty. DJ Clayworth 18:15, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

• This is a very BJAODN question Baron Von Westfall 19:11, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

• Danny, you look too young to be an old fuddy-duddy. --Nelson Ricardo 02:05, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

The evil things are paying taxes to the controllers which is tied to the enforcement agency. So they don't get their comeupance because the enforcers are getting a kickback from the crime, essentially. If you include the government in the crime, any crime may be committed, as the news shows. As for guerrilla warfare, perhaps you could involve the copyright holders of the horrid tune they play to insist it be shutdown due to copyright infringement. That's a rediculous use of the law, but the law is getting rather ridiculous lately. You could also make it clear to the police that the evil things have an exaggerated interest in underage children, and that you fear pedophilia, and if anything happens, you will sue the police and the government and all politicians in power will lose all future elections for connection to pedophilea. --GangofOne 02:57, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

There used to be an ice-cream truck that would come around my house, yet now the truck does not come at all. That is strange; I assume they weren't getting adequate business and there

I'd be wary of wishing bad things on ice-cream vans. You're in the U.K. so you might remember the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars, which would be a good thing as we don't have an article on them. AllanHainey 11:11, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

I am from the Uk too and I also hate the noise from Ice cream vans. I used to live in a cul-de-sac and the horrible things would go and park in the same place near me all the time. Another thing I hated, when I was a student in London, was people running their car or van motors while they sat in them beneath my room. the worst noise I ever had was this very very loud alarm that went off non-stop 24 hours all the time over a long bank-holiday weekend - it was almost too loud to allow me to sleep. --62.253.48.106 13:29, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Where I grew up in the U.S., there were no ice-creak trucks. Apparently, a kid got hurt by one once, and the city banned them. If you think about it, a moving motor vehicle that plays music to attract small children is probably a bit of a liability risk. -- Mwalcoff 22:36, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

One of the most surreal things I've ever seen was a convoy of three ice-cream vans, with music playing, travelling down a country road at 11 o'clock on a winter's night. I've never worked out why. Grutness...wha? 07:43, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

The ice cream van in my area drives around at night-time playing the theme from Third Man. It's kind of creepy. Great tune, but not very fitting somehow.

I wonder if it was this "anarchist ice cream truck"? More here. Crypticfirefly 12:43, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Apply for an ASBO? Bwithh 07:39, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

I have no wish to write an article on the Glasgow (Scotland) Ice Cream Wars of some 25 years ago when the operators of competing Ice Cream Vans took to murdering each other (and unfortunately their families who just happened to be at home when the homes were petrol-bombed during the middle of the night). But it is worthy of note that those particular Ice-Cream traders were not remotely interested in the profits to be made from Ice Cream sales. No, indeed, they were merely a front for the distribution of illegal drugs around, mainly, the sink housing estates of Glasgow, and clearly, big money was at stake. More recently, in Edinburgh where I used to live, we had an Ice Cream van that came around our estate every night, that I discovered was selling Cigarettes, Ice Cream, and other goods such as candy bars etc., to youngsters - ON CREDIT. Some of these yougsters had ran up hundreds of ££££pounds in debt to the trader concerned and in turn, he was blackmailing them to recruit other kids to his scheme in return for "more time to pay before reporting them to their parents". So it's not just an annoying ditty that you hear when your friendly Ice Cream Van summons your nocturnal attentions. Often, it is the Pied Piper of Vanilla summoning your kids to the Party. I would never patronise them, and why should I when we have an abundance of deep freezers in our homes and discount freezer shops nearby?

How is a person's nationality stated on Wiki

I want to know how nationality is stated on Wiki. In Dominic Monaghan's article it states he was born in Berlin, Germany. As I understand it that makes his nationality German, but the article syas he is an English actor. I thought to be English he would have to be born in England or have taken English nationality.

Can someone let me know the right was to site a person's nationality??

Thanks --NeilEvans 18:33, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

It's generally a case-by-case basis, and may be subjective. For instance, several babies are born annually at US military facilities overseas (such as Ramstein Air Base in Germany) and yet they are, from birth, US citizens and will likely self-identify as American rather than German.

Anyway, all that to say: in Monaghan's case, were either of his parents English? Did he move to England at a young age? Is he a British citizen/subject/appropriate word? There are plenty of things to consider beyond simple place-of-birth. — Lomn | Talk 19:20, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Yeah it says on his bio that he was born and raised in Berlin and the family moved to England when he was 12. The family may have aquired citizenship, but that's different than nationality. I guess he identifies himself as British as he spent the majority of his life in England. It doesn't really matter I just wondered what the precedent was for citing a person's nationality.

--NeilEvans 19:44, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

As Lomn said, it's mostly fairly clear cut, but not always. Usually we write whatever they describe themselves as. In less clear cases write more detail than just a simple statement of nationality. In Dominic's case, given his name and history, I would expect that he was probably a British citizen from birth (that's perfectly possible if one or more parent is British). He may have been a German citizen at one time; it's also possible that he may have been eligible for German citizenship but never taken it up. Being born somewhere doesn't always mean you are a citizen of that country, or that you are still a citizen.

For our purposes citizenship and nationality are almost always identical. And British Citizen is the appropriate word, Lomn. DJ Clayworth 20:19, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

(Incidentally this site says he is German, but I don't know where they get their information from). DJ Clayworth 20:21, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

If you read further down that page, you get: "Dominic Monaghan is the younger of two boys. Dominic Monaghan's schoolteacher father and nurse mother spoke English at home and, when Monaghan was 12 years old, moved the family back to their native Manchester." so it looks like he is British from birth. Rmhermen 20:27, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Germany does not give citizenship to everyone born in the country: unless one of your parents is German, you have to apply for naturalisation. Henry^Flower 13:47, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

How is nationality assigned in Wikipedia? Mostly how they self-identify. For complicated situations this is messy. For example Li Donghua, who was born in China, won his 1995 World Championship and 1996 gold on the Pommel horse as a Swiss citizen. There is no article on him yet, but is he Swiss or is he Chinese (mostly likely Swiss)? Dany Heatley would be an example similar to Dominic... he was born in Germany to Canadian parents and competes for Canada, so he is Canadian. Note that naturalized citizens, especially to Canada and the U.S., will often identify as their naturalized country, especially if they came at an early age. See Daniel Dae Kim, who is also on Lost. Oops, bad example, he's shown as "South-Korean born American actor", which seems a little redundant. --ColourBurst 01:30, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Tracer Fire

What is tracer fire? thanks Joel

As I understand it, it is rounds of phosphorous intersperced with ordinary rounds, e.g. in a machine gun. The phosphorous rounds ignite and give out light, allownig the trajectory of the fusillade to be seen. Something like that. The article Tracer ammunition is probably your friend. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Maps

How do you create the green country maps with yellow location dots on them? Xtrememachineuk 20:34, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi! Try asking this question at the help desk, who are more suited to answering questions about how to use Wikipedia. EVOCATIVEINTRIGUE TALKTOME | EMAILME | IMPROVEME 22:21, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Or you could cheat by finding such a page, clicking on "edit", and studying the appropriate code, which will be in curly brackets.--Shantavira 08:20, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Or see Wikipedia:Coordinate-referenced map templates.--Shantavira 08:56, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean? --Proficient 03:03, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

dress

Is there any website where I can buy a African dress, whether from Somalia or west Africa?

Try e-Bay--Anchoress 02:20, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Ebay will work, as mentioned above. Google will also help. --Proficient 03:03, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Hezbollah Rockets

Where Could I find info on the kethusha (probably spelt wrong) used by Hezbollah on Northern Israel? Ken 21:43, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Here: Katyusha --Tagishsimon (talk)

Also see Qassam rocket for info on cruder rockets coming from the Gaza Strip. zafiroblue05 | Talk 01:59, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Vicksburg

Hello, I am working on an "online hunt" and I cannot find this answer anywhere: The number of states (count a state only once), that sent troops to Vicksburg for the decisive Civil War battle. ". If someone could help that would be great!! Thanks! --Zach 21:48, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

'Sounds like someone wants you to learn about the Battle of Champion Hill. Try searching on the words "Champion Hill," Vicksburg, "decisive battle," states, troops. You'll still get a lot of hits, but the first page or two of hits should have the information you're looking for. SWAdair 04:05, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

You might also check the external links found at Battle of Vicksburg. SWAdair 04:10, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

What makes Vicksburg the decisive battle of the American Civil War? The Battle of Gettysburg would get my vote. User:Zoe|^(talk) 02:42, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree. The way the question is phrased, though, is ambiguous about the word "decisive" -- Champion Hill was decisive for the Vicksburg campaign, but it wasn't necessarily the most decisive battle of the war. SWAdair 03:42, 20 July 2006 (UTC)