Miscellaneous desk
< November 3	<< Oct \| November \| Dec >>	November 5 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous 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.

November 4

Question to smokers about addiction

A smoker in my philosophy class was discussing the addiction of smoking today. She seemed careless to it, and she unconvincingly told us (many times) that she's tried quitting and is trying. What does the addiction to cigarettes feel like? I was thinking about it and compared it to eating spicy foods with only water to quench your thirst. Milk or dairy products are better for stopping spicy foods, while water just spreads the spice around, but not before some temporary relief. Is this what it feels like to be addicted? Is it like a need you have that you temporarily quench with something that only makes it worse? 70.50.103.86 01:18, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, the relief is real, it's the guilty feeling that overcomes one after the fact that makes it worse. Have you read our addiction article? --hydnjo talk 03:10, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What's your favorite food? Do you ever crave it, and if you have it nearby or have the money, would you not eat it? It's roughly like that for cigarettes, only I guess it might be more of a habitual behavior than a craving for food. At least, that's my take on it. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:13, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good job taking philosophy, a good high-level course will change your life --⁪froth^{T C} 05:05, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

High level course? Over here, philosophy is a freshman level college course, I believe. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 05:30, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn't saying that the high level course called philosophy will change your life, I was saying that a high level philosophy course (as opposed to a low level course) will change your life. I'm aware that philosophy courses range from basic logic all the way up through analyzing the Critique of Pure Reason and beyond, so I clarified by saying "high level" --⁪froth^{T C} 23:09, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

:: I haven't smoked for over 20 years since I was told by a Consultant Cardiologist in Scotland that I could either smoke or live, but not both. And that was after having smoked 60 a day for the previous 20 years. The pain of giving up smoking was terrible, but I had only been married for a year or so and the choice was made for me by the doctor and my wife (and my conscience). The above responses do not begin to approach the torture of going without cigarettes. I cannot liken it to anything else including sex, food or booze(I have never used any other recreational drugs by the way). Your behaviour changes to being angry, irrational and moody. Eating and drinking do not satisfy the craving - that's the word - craving. I would not go to bed without making sure I had a full pack of 20 cigarretes in the bedside locker. If I went to the swimming pool, I would have to get out and go to the lockers for a quick smoke. I would smoke in between each course of a three-course-meal and sometimes during the meal itself. I was disgusting, but even knowing that, wasn't enough to stop me smoking. I reckon that at today's prices here in the UK, by not smoking 60 a day of my favourite brand, I have saved over £135,000, around $270,000 over the last 20 years - but I am emphatic in saying that had anyone told me 20 years ago how much money I could save by giving up cigarrets, I would not have been motivated to stop - only my health did that. Finally, in trying to answer to the question posed above, I do not consider myself a non-smoker - I still suffer the most awful withdrawal symptoms, and still say quite sincerely, "I am dying for a smoke", and for that reason, I dare not go into any enclosed space where smoking is permitted. Thank God that Scotland has now banned smoking in public places. I can once again go into pubs, clubs, cinemas, theatres, restaurants and public transport without the temptation of smoke in the atmosphere.White Squirrel 10:20, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Wow, that's hard-core. Great job on quitting! --Justanother 14:01, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is it against Wikipedia rules or policy to submit information on an online game?

I added Ambar - War Of The Elementals into Wikipedia and others edited it and added to it and I thought it was all done very well, clean, and proper. Now when I look for it it is gone and I was wondering if I violated any policy by including an online game's information on this site. If I did, it was purely not intended to violate said policy, but I would like to know. I have never submitted or edited anything on wiki before and I only know the online game is family friendly and doesn't even have adult oriented advertisers.

No, it is not against policy to put it and was probably not against to remove it. Re the removal of yours, the why is the philosophy of some editors and the how is the nature and process of wikipedia. The why is that many editors don't like fancruft and consider that it clogs wikipedia which they think should be more "serious". Such people may also be what is termed Deletionist but that is not only about fancruft but more about cruft in general. Other people are termed Inclusionists; they may not like cruft also but might not consider your game to be cruft. That was not intended to be a complete statement of those philosophies. Re the how: I won't tell you how to find out what happened to your article and how to put it back because that sort of info is addressed at the Help Desk. Three clues, though: WP:SPEEDY (misused if used here), WP:PROD, or WP:AfD. --Justanother 14:37, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It was not speedy deleted, and was not deleted against policy. Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ambar. User:Zoe|(talk) 00:35, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I, for one, never said it was. Note that most things that a deletionist might pull "just because" are actually pulled for other reasons. If Ambar were a well-written article then it might have done better in the AfD. --Justanother 00:40, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Formula 1 Grand Prix Racing

What is the name of the musical piece that is played at the end of the trophy presentation ceremony at every Formula 1 Grand Prix event, when the drivers are on the podium and spraying champagne ?

Who is the composer of this piece ?

Thanks,

Dr D Mitra59.94.242.75 14:21, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Georges Bizet - The Toreador Song - Phydaux 01:09, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Destemming Leaves

How could you remove the stems from a leaf?

With a scissors or a sharp knife like an X-acto, or just a single-edge razor blade? --Justanother 18:24, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What kind of leaf? -THB 23:58, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Song in Jackass 2.

In the beginning of Jackass 2, when the cast is chased by bulls, a "classis like" song is played. What is this song called and who made it???

Our page on Jackass Number Two says it is "The Ecstasy of Gold" by Ennio Morricone. digfarenough (talk) 23:10, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Continental Airlines

I will be flying with CO from Glasgow to Newark, on their (I think) Boeing 757. Will I have my own television on this flight? Thanks, 81.131.129.177 20:04, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

We flew from Edinburgh to San Diego via Newark recently and found the flight to be rather basic (Economy Class). We were served food inclusive in our ticket price and could buy drinks but apart from that there were no added luxuries like TV sets either hanging from the roof or set in the back of the seat in front. The legroom was really tight and we found it most uncomfortable even though we are both shorter than 5'6". The staff were excellent and couldn't do enough for us and kept supplying us with free soft drinks and water. But unless you are upgrading to better seats I think you will be experiencing the same standards as we did. Have a safe flight. Oh, and be sure to use the toilet before you land as the queues at Immigration took us over 2 hours to get through.

The airline, seat class, and airline would all be critical info to figure this out. You should be able to call the airline and give them your flight number to get the specifics. StuRat 23:11, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

scenic painting term help!

my college professor gave us a scenic painting term...he didn't tell us how to spell it either...phonetically its spelled "shlapetka" ...if anyone can tell me how to spell it correctly and what it is that would be fabulous!

Here are some art glossaries:

Although none of them seem to have anything close to what you are asking about; I looked under s and c. Anchoress 20:38, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds sort of Russian, similar to шляпка (shlyapka), which is a Russian word for a small fur hat. You might ask at Talk:Russian culture. -- Rick Block (talk) 22:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are several words in Russian starting with "slepet-" which refer to blindness, being dazzled, or to dazzlingly bright light - would that make sense in context? The other possibility would be another eastern European language... there are various similar words in Czech: Chlapecka and Slapetka for two. But I can't seem to find any connections there, and my knowledge of Czech is approximately nil. I've also found a couple of Lithuanian websites with the word slepetka on them, but again no connection with landscapes. Grutness...wha? 23:14, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Exploding gas tanks

If i shoot a filled gas tanks of car with a pistol (M9 for example), will the car actually explode like depicted in movies? Jamesino 20:34, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well remember that liquid gasoline is not "flammable" per se as there is no oxygen present. A filled gas tank is much less of an explosion hazard than an almost empty one. The little bit of vapor space in a filled tank is probably well over the upper flammable limit and will not burn (insufficient oxygen). Bet Mythbusters has tackled this one. --Justanother 20:55, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To be quite clear though, no one on wikipedia reccomends that you actually try this experiment. Firearms and flamable materials always pose some risk. 48v 21:05, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, MythBusters did tackle this one. Twice. The first time ended in a resounding "Busted", with single shots, short bursts, and eventually an entire clip being shot through the tank at once with no explosion. When revisited, even a firing squad using a whole bunch of different types of weapons couldn't ignite the fuel. In the end tracer rounds were used, which did manage to set the vehicle alight. So there you go :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 21:39, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For more on this kind of think check out this site --⁪froth^{T C} 23:03, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It depends, if the people in the car are evil, it will detonate in a thermonuclear explosion if any one of the four tires should leave the ground, whereas if there are good people in the car it can fall to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the occupants will emerge without a hair out of place.

In GTA San Andreas, the car does explodes when you shoot the gas tank so I would think it will explode in real life as well.--Taida 16:42, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good point. --Justanother 18:42, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Note that video games really have nothing whatsoever to do with real life. Sort of like movies and other pop culture nonsense, video games are written to make you spend your hard-earned money on them, not to be realistic. --Charlene 01:02, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What's an "Embarked voicemail box"?

I call a number and receive recorded voicemail telling me I've reached an "Embarked" (voice)mailbox. What is this?

Perhaps it's Embarq --Tcsetattr 05:53, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On the other hand it could be someone is thinking of "embargoed" as in blocked. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 05:46, 6 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Countries of the world affected by flood and drought

As a starting point for a project, I need to find out about at least one country of the world that is typically affected by flood and drought during the year (for example, drought in summer and frequent floods in winter).

I know of local areas that fit into this category, but for the purposes of the assignment I need to focus on actual countries. (I thought Bangladesh was probably an option, but after reading carefully the article on Wikipedia, I realized that althought floods are definitely a major calamity, drought is not mentioned.) I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks in advance. --Hroswith 21:45, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You might want a place where there is a river through a desert. The desert part has droughts, and those rivers tend to flood once a year. The Nile River flowing through Egypt might be an example. StuRat 21:55, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

India springs to mind. For much of the year, the climate is pretty parched, with temperatures of 32-45 °C. When monsoon season comes around, the huge downpours tend to create some degree of flooding throughout the country. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 22:00, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the kind help and suggestions. --Hroswith 13:21, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Singing fish..

is downloading mp3 from singing fish legal?

Are you talking about those plastic fish that are "mounted" on a wooden plaque and has a button below it that when you press it the fish starts wiggling and singing? Dismas|^(talk) 01:29, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oddly that's mentioned at the Singingfish article. And no, of course not if you don't have liscense to it. Which for most music is a no. --⁪froth^{T C} 03:36, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you mean Big Mouth Billy Bass, you should be able to d/l those from the legit services like iTunes. --Justanother 15:05, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]