Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2006 September 21

< September 20	Miscellaneous desk archive	September 22 >

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.

< August September October >

CIMA GBA game

Can anyone help me? I am stuck on the puzzle in the room where Ark sneezes in weakling forest. Can you tell me the weights of the monsters/switch-thingies. Thnx, Max *Max* 00:01, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

You're at the wrong website. Try GameFAQs. —Mitaphane _talk 03:21, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Weird feeling in the pubic area

Can anyone explain why this happened?? When driving up and down a highway with alot of small hills me and my guy friends both experienced a weird feeling in the pubic area.. It is really hard to explain but maybe someone will know what i mean.

If you were riding a bike, I'd say probably a matter of insufficient blood supply to some body parts because of pinched vessels. But driving? In a car with suspension? --Lambiam^Talk 01:32, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

THey said they were driving!--Light current 02:30, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Probably pressure changes on the prostate gland which may give false info as to bladder fullness .--Light current 01:43, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The same thing happens when you're on a roller coaster. 4.246.42.23 03:18, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe - in an epiphany - you simultaneously realised that you were sexually attracted to one another other? Rockpocket 03:58, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, happens to me on a roller coaster. — [Mac Davis](talk) (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)05:59, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

We still remember when we were watching the 'Wild Octopus' ride, somebody yelling out: "Oh, my sack!!". We all laughed till it hurt! --Zeizmic 12:35, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe the hills cause vibration? --Proficient 06:10, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Upper decker

How do you clean out an upper decker. --216.164.197.178 01:27, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

If your talking about a double decker bus, you sweep all the crap from the upper deck down the stairs to the lower deck, then proceed as if it was a single decker! Simple! 8-)--Light current 02:33, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

"Upper decker" is a slang term meaning to defecate in the upper portion of a toilet.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  03:21, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Ahh we have not yet taken up these advanced toilet habits over here!--Light current 13:55, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Yuck! Try draining the tank and taking out all the parts (you might want to replace them or just clean them out if you're feeling up to the task) then remove the tank and hose it out. Just a guess --Froth 04:48, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

What the hell is the upper portion of the toilet? surely not the cistern? Howard Train 16:48, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

If it's types 1-3 on the Bristol Stool Scale, fish out the offending pieces (with gloves, please!) into the "lower deck" and flush a few times (perhaps adding bleach to the tank). Types 4 and 5, I'd recommend using some sort of a net or strainer; you may want to buy a cheap one for this one-time use, or you could use a few plastic bags to scoop the pieces up (water and all) and dump them in the bowl, then flush (with bleach). The Good Lord help you if you have a type 6 or 7 upper decker; rest assured that the person who did the deed will suffer karmically for this. You might be able to make some headway with a 6 or 7 by flushing repeatedly, adding chlorine bleach each time. --ByeByeBaby 13:37, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

whoa, I rarely get a 4, I need to work on my gastrointestinatl. -JAS

Gross. --Proficient 06:11, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Terrorist Websites

01:38, 21 September 2006 (UTC)68.55.108.252So I'm doing a little research on terrorist websites and their legality. I'm trying to find out more information about a specific case study as an example. All I know about this case is that an American helped set up a website for a terrorist and was convicted for aiding a terrorist. If anyone knows anymore about this case or has some suggestions as to where I could get more information, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks, ~Jess

Is this what you're looking for? X --Froth 01:48, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

This is actually really helpful, but it's not what I'm looking for. I think I remember this case having something to do with the Patriot Act and providing support to terrorists. ~Jess

If you Google "al qaeda webmaster" you'll get a lot of potential names. --Fastfission 20:34, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

阴道

你会说英文吗？ --216.164.200.71 02:09, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

See vagina. Next time, use a dictionary (字典), or even here!  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  03:15, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

为什么让标题"阴道",然后说:"你说英语". 有什么奇怪! (been translated online.... expect errors!) Iolakana•T 18:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Looking for my friend Cheryl Ann Churchill

She moved from Santa Cruz Ca to Portland Or and I never heard from her again!

Couldn't find anything in google's phonebook but I did find a review she wrote on amazon.com --Froth 04:47, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps shes trying to avoid you?--Light current 00:55, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Or more accurately, me :) --froth^{T C} 20:46, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Capacity Management

Discuss the role forecasting and capacity management play in the future of an organization168.209.97.34 06:50, 21 September 2006 (UTC)(e-mail removed, because even obvious homework questioners don't deserve spam)

No, how about you discuss the role forecasting and capacity management play in the future of an organization. Right after you've finished your homework. JackofOz 07:09, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Now now, he does deserve some pointers at least (assuming good faith that he's not trying to get a full answer!). Here's a tip: game and even software developers design their software counting on Moore's law; that is, they assume that by the time their product is released people will have good enough computers to run their software. --۶٢٥۴ﻄ^{T C} 19:22, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The manner in which a question is asked usually has a lot to do with the response it elicits. In this case, it wasn't even a question, but a command. That didn't seem terribly courteous to me (which is a courteous way of saying it seemed somewhat discourteous). Would the questioner walk up to a real live reference librarian and start off with "Discuss the role ....."? Certainly not. Not even a person with a limited command of English would do that. Why should we tolerate any less respect? JackofOz 21:15, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Because we (or at least I) provide this service for the sake of indescriminately making information available to the world... and I don't refuse to answer just because the questioner didn't pretty up his question. --froth^{T C} 22:30, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

That is your prerogative, my friend. It's not about "prettying up" the question. It's more about not wanting the Ref Desk to be the world's doormat. We say at the top: Please do not post entire homework questions and expect us to give you the answers. This person apparently posted an entire homework question, and did so discourteously into the bargain. We do the Ref Desk a disservice by warning users not to expect an answer to entire homework questions, but then giving them an answer anyway. (I have made similar comments recently - see here). I'm not against providing pointers, particularly where the person is ESL, but there is a Universal Law that discourtesy has its consequences. If they don't even know enough English to know how to say "Please", or "Can you help me", they certainly wouldn't understand an answer to a question about forecasting and capacity management. From their question, I assume this person is studying at tertiary level, hence they are an adult and we should treat them accordingly. JackofOz 00:54, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I didn't give them an answer, I evaluated what he needed to know and what I knew, and gave him some of the specialized knowledge that a non-IT-specialist might not know. Nowhere in the cycle do I think "hmm he sure isn't being very courteous, I'm not going to tell him anything!" I certainly recognized a homework question, but didn't assume cheating- I'm partial to giving pointers on homework rather than macroing out "no homework sorry" - which is really saying "rephrase your question so it's not so obviously a homework question, and wrap it in plenty of courtesy", since asking for homework pointers and posting homework expecting pointers are fundamentally identical --froth^{T C} 05:31, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

site

who knows a site on which i can actually view for free music videos over the net.like yahoo music or you tube and is quite fast coz for you tube you have to wait for a music video to download as you watch.yahoo is fast n nyce but the videos arent the best of qualities

Videos are generally either small size/bad quality or large size/good quality. Pick your choice. 惑乱 分からん 10:17, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Not necessarily! Give XviD a try --Froth 16:19, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Xvid is indeed solid. --Proficient 06:12, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

XFX Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS

Why does Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion run at 17 FPS? (My system meets the requirements)

You need a new, powerful machine to run that. We got a new high-rate AMD and a 7900 card that takes 2.5 slots, must weigh a good pound, and looks like something from 'Lost in Space', with all the cooling pipes. --Zeizmic 12:42, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Zeizmic, but would recommend a Falcon Northwest Computer. Some of these are capable of over 2 gigs of memory and have 3 hard drives, each of about 120 GB. Not to mention that they are liquid cooled and have a high-end graphics card, similar to the 7800. All this pleasure for about 3750-4500 bucks. Xel Pos'tare 17:26, 21 September 2006 (UTC)User:CaptainXel

The video card seems fast enough, you may need more memory, this is the cheapest upgrade which will increase speed. Also a slow harddisk or dvd player will slow you down more than CPU speed in some cases. In my own case Oblivion was unplayable without 1gb of main processor memory. But it only costs $50 so i upgraded to 2gb. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 18:42, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Post your system specs! --froth^{T C} 22:31, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I suggest upgrading or building a computer yourself. --Proficient 06:19, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I have 1GB MEMORY and a 2.8 GHZ Dualcore Processor. I don't have the latest driver.

2.8ghz? That's rather high for a dual core- It must be a core 2 duo. But intel doesn't make a 2.8ghz model, it goes from around 2.7 at the high end to 3.0 for the insane $1000 extreme edition conroe. Annnyway, you shouldn't have any problems unless you have a really abysmal 3d card. Tune your game settings- change the resolution to 1024x768, use low or medium quality textures, turn off fancy lighting and shadows and water effects. --froth^{T C} 03:54, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

My complete specifications: HP Pavilion t350.uk Model 1st of 3 Motherboard - model standard Processor - Intel Pentium4 HT 2.8GHz Dualcore 2x512Mb DDR RAM P2700 2.5V XFX GEFORCE 7800 GS 256Mb DDR3 375MHz and 1.2GHz Forceware version - 84.3 16x DVD Drive Seagate 120 GB 5400 rpm Windows XP Home Sevice Pack 1 Integrated Sound Card DirectX 9.0c for both cards Xeon 500W Silent PSU

Benched at 58 FPS for High Quality with 2xAA

          37 FPS for Ultra HIgh Quality with 2xAA

Bench tool - Trackmania Nations

windows explorer

If there is a 3 in front of windows explorer what does that mean? --69.151.239.168 13:47, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It means you have 3 explorer windows open and XP has condensed them on the task bar. — Lomn 14:03, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

(after edit conflict)I'm going to guess that you are using a version Windows XP. There is a setting in the Taskbar properties to "Group similar buttons". If this is turned on, and you have three Windows Explorer windows open, in the taskbar you will see just one button, with a 3 in front of it. Similarly, if you had two instances of Firefox running, you would see a single Firefox taskbar button, with a 2. [1]This page talks about the Taskbar menu, and the information about grouping buttons is in the section "Remaining Taskbar properties."

Also, just so you know, there is a Reference Desk for Computer questions. --LarryMac 14:04, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Begging for a help

Hallo! I am a seminarian doing theology in Nairobi-kenya a western country in Africa. During my pastoral activities I meat a lady who was involved in an accident and is completely paralysed. In our talks I told her about the foundation of Jean Vanier. The was very interested in knowing more about it and begging a help for university stadies in order to be enabled to give even some private tuitions and therefore survive. Please, if there is anyhow to help her, we will be gratifull for that. Thank you so much! All the best. And my God bless.

Her only "foundation" seems to be L'Arche which by the looks of it doesn't give out scholarships --Froth 16:18, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Aid to the third world!!

Is aid to the developing countries from developed countries doing more harm than good?

This could be argued both ways really. A government may say that they are helping progress a third world technology, but really regular people (like us) will argue that we are infringing on their culture. Either way, there is no way of knowing for sure. Xel Pos'tare 17:23, 21 September 2006 (UTC)User:CaptainXel

I would say it depends entirely on how it's spent. If you just give it to the government, they may use it to buy more weapons to oppress the people. If spent for something worthwhile, on the other hand, like a new well, it does have the potential to improve the lives of people. StuRat 17:28, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm really glad the US stopped giving money to Zambia. The dictator there is absolutely dispicable. GAH!! Also, a lot of the time non-monetary aid is not well spent. i.e. giving blankets instead of DDT in Africa and the condensed milk to Asia fiasco. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)18:44, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean Zimbabwe (dictator = Robert Mugabe) ? StuRat 19:19, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It's a good question but it's not like you can simply say yes or no... It's obviously not working as well as it should. Where exactly does it go wrong? Rebels? Corrupt or indifferent leaders? I once saw pictures in a Belgian newspaper of fairly new army vehicles that Belgium had donated to the Congolese army (a few years ago) : it had gone to waste, local women were using car doors to make their laundry on it..... (Well, you could actually argue whether or not aid to the military there is really a big help, considering ALL parties do things like rape etc...)Evilbu 21:01, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I would assume all the authorities in such a country to be incompetent and/or corrupt (I assume this for the developed world, too), so giving money to them is counter-productive. Instead, direct spending on projects likely to improve the lives of the poor is needed, like improving the water supply, sewage systems, etc. StuRat 04:42, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

See Prime Directive :) --froth^{T C} 23:14, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It's a mixed bag. Disaster relief certainly has humanitarian merits although the occasional Malthusian complains that this leads to greater problems in the long run. I'd prefer to couple disaster relief with voluntary family planning assistance. When it comes to development aid to governments, the arguments also cut both ways: a no-strings-attached handout runs the risk of being misused while external restrictions sometimes prevent the money from being used optimally. A good deal seems to depend on the educational and business expertise of the population: by the end of the cold war East Germany had become the most prosperous of the Soviet Bloc countries even though the Soviets dismantled most of its infrastructure and resources after World War II as war reparations and the country received no external aid - the country had to depend on its human assets in order to rebuild. Durova 19:03, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree on the family planning comment. Otherwise, if you try to help a nation with twice the population that can be supported by the land, by making the land capable of supporting the full population (via irrigation, etc.), the population quickly increases to a level that is once again twice what the land can support. Thus you haven't solved the problem, but made it twice the scale of the original problem. StuRat 04:47, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Within the last month BBC Radio 4 has broadcast a debate where an African journalist (I think it must have been Andrew Mwenda) was arguing that aid and debt relief have a disastrous effect on the recipient countries. I have been unable to find the programme on their website. I was sure it was in their 'Iconoclasts' series, but I can't find any reference to it under that heading or anywhere else. ColinFine 13:28, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

I need to make this character

Some of the characters in my new signature are considered breaking characters (like the space functions for western character encoding) so I need to use a special character to mark them as non-breaking. this is that character.. but I have no idea how to make it. Is there some kind of application that I can enter that code and it copies the character to the clipboard? That would be ideal. Or maybe some other method.. thanks --۶٢٥۴ﻄ^{T C} 17:43, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Here's 2060: ࠌ (type ࠌ), but I don't think it's doing what you want. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:46, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I think I figured it out.. in the windows character map you can go to the character by its number code.. and apparently my 5-letter name is like 9 character spaces long and when you move through it the cursor jumps all around, so I just pasted it into notepad (which doesn't parse the unicode, and leaves it as little rectangles) and then put the glue character in between each rectangle, then pasted it back into wikipedia. Whew! --۶٢٥۴ﻄ^{T C} 19:18, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

On my browser (Firefox1.5.0.1, on Fedora core 4 Linux) I now see your sig as five exotic characters interspersed with four 'I haven't got a glyph for this unicode' blocks. It looks a mess. ColinFine 13:41, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Civil service groups

Where can I get a list of Civil Service Groups in Tulsa, OK? I have tried the internet but I am having no luck. Do you know of a certain website I should go to?

Thank you so much for your help.

It would help if you specified the country. DirkvdM 06:33, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

He did say Tulsa, OK. It's kind of reasonable to assume people know which country that is in. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 07:34, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Why is that? Do you know in which country, say, Broek in Waterland, NH is? Well, do you? DirkvdM 17:59, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

mortgage

Hi,

I'm about to get a full mortgage on a 150,000 house I'm buying. I'll be able to pay this off in its entirity in about 3 months... is that acceptable to do with a mortgage, or are you expected to make payments on it for a while? Thanks!

If there is no early payment fee, this is fine, check your loan agreement or call your loan officer and ask. in fact you should save around 250,000 in interest by paying it off this way. However if you have that kind of cash make sure all your other higher interest debts are paid of before putting it into the mortgage. --Darkfred ^{Talk to me} 18:38, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

there's usually no point in paying off a house that fast and very few people do. Hopefully, your house will increase in value at a faster rate than the loan so instead of paying it off you can just put your money into another investment. -JAS

No point? What about saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest! If you can do that, by all means do do that! --froth^{T C} 23:34, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

say I have $10,000. Say a house costs $100,000. Say the house-property-value increases at a rate of 8% per year. Say I take out a loan of $100,000. Say the loan increases at a rate of 7% per year. Every year I'm making 1% on the difference. I can put my $10,000, and the $90,000 disposable income I'm going to earn into other investments, giving me perhaps 10-15%. There's absolutely no reason to pay it off under these not unreasonable conditions. Jasbutal 04:43, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Two reasons: 1) If you pay it off immediately you're making 8% per year on the difference (8-0). 2) You're not living off that money, it just means more property tax. No extra cash in your wallet whatsoever (unless you sell your property).

"Normally you'd take out a bridging loan instead. Jameswilson 23:57, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

To drain the lizard...

Does that mean to pee or to masturbate? -MF14

Pee. Hyenaste ^(tell) 20:12, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

See Wiktionary. --hydnjo talk 20:58, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Also 'strain the potatoes', 'see a man about a dog', 'drain the sump' etc--Light current 23:49, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

*giggles* Hyenaste ^(tell) 01:02, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Nice idioms. --Proficient 06:20, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

See draining the lizard. On second thoughts don't see draining the lizard, it won't enlighten you any further, I just wanted to show you that you could search for it and get a result.--Shantavira 07:49, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

OK heres a few more:

• Taking the (trouser) snake for a drink
• Visiting the 'gent's'/ladies
• Taking a leak
• Going for a 'swish' (SA female origin)
• Going for a quick one

Powdering ones nose (ladies)

etc --Light current 22:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Local women have to wear the veil in Qatar?

Hello,

please tell me if this belongs in Humanities instead.

A friend of mine went to Qatar to work as an intern for a European dredging company. There were several female students in his group, and they didn't wear a veil at all. He said they didn't enforce the veil on foreign women. But what about muslim women from more secular countries? How would they ever be able to see the difference between an unveiled woman in Qatar,from Syria or Jordan, and a local woman not wearing the veil?? Evilbu 20:56, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

In Qatar they aren't as strict as some places regarding Islamic tradition. They are more Westernized. — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)21:33, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Monetary Value of Earth?

What is the value of all the money, land, property, natural resources, etc. on Earth? And I don't mean the value of all the raw material on Earth (ex. Don't tell me the value of the Earth's core). Thanks. Tuvwxyz 21:01, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

A lot of money. Like a million dollars or something. Wow! — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve) 21:31, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Last time I checked, people don't ask things on the reference desk just to get a sarcastic answer. --Tuvwxyz 21:57, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It's a new ref. desk, Tuv, with Mac Davis and Light Current at the head of the wave. -JKAS

Amusing , maybe. Sarcastic? Never!--Light current 23:53, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Is it possible to value the earth, as value is all relative, and there is nothing to compare it to. Philc _T^E_C^I 22:02, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I think what he is asking is that if you add up the cost for everything there is to sell on the earth, what would it be. As for the answer, I have no idea. Oskar 22:06, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Just to be perdantic, I'm goin to say its value is 0, as as an asset, it has no output, nor does it make any financial gain, so how can it be worth anything. Philc _T^E_C^I 22:11, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Considering monetary value isn't a subjective value, there isn't a really definite answer to this question. Take this into consideration; if everyone today was to put their house on the market for sale the value of houses would plunge. Likewise, if a CEO of a huge company sold all his shares in the company the value would plunge as well. Given this fact, you could try to sum up the monetary value of all the currency in circulation, all land that has been purchased(or has been given some value by people), and all raw goods(based on scientic estimation and its current market value). Would that value mean anything? It's not as if there is a universal economy where Earth's value can be compared to the rest of the economies of the universe. Some day that might be the case, but right now we can't do that.

of course it would mean something. It's a gague to see the state of the world's economies, wealth and distribution. For example, it would be very interesting to see a world map of this. The Western nations would shine like a beacon of wealth compared to the rest of the world. -JAS

Perhaps the closest answer to your question is the GDP of the world's countries, which is estimated between $36-$51 trillion based on what method you what to derive that value.—Mitaphane _talk 22:36, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok, as just a quick question, do you mean, what is the sum of all values of everything accessable on the earth, or what is the value of the earth as an asset, or what price would you get should you sell everything on the earth (assuming the arrival of an extra terrestrial prospective buyer) Philc _T^E_C^I 22:52, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I'm thinking of everything being sold (including currency) and without markets being effected by everything being sold. Sorry I don't know much about economics. --Tuvwxyz 23:01, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly enough that if you owned it all, you would be "set up for life" -- not only would you have necessities, but basically anything you would ever want as well. But that's a rather vague answer.. you might ask "if the world was shared, how many people could it sustain." Consider that it already supports more than 6 and a half billion people. Even disregarding such obvious considerations as how can it be worth anything if nobody else can buy it, it's such a staggering value that it really holds no practical meaning whatsoever --froth^{T C} 23:24, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Gross World Product is about $60 trillion. -- Mwalcoff 23:26, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

But isn't that a measure of economic activity rather than a valuation of assets?Lisiate 00:37, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I checked for completed sales on EBay, but there were none. Seriously, I believe a defensable answer could be arrived at, but the assumptions would need to be clear. In a given governmental unit, the private property has an assessed value, both for the land and the improvements, which is a certain fraction of market value, based on recent sales. Land owned by the government has a value which could be derived from comparable property sold privately. There are mineral rights in some areas, in addition to these: owning the land does not always give you ownership of the oil beneath it. Deserts and Great Lakes would be harder to derive a sale price for, because there would be few comps. Then we get to the oceans and the antarctic, again with no comps. So you might wish to value the personal property, intellectual property, land, improvements, mineral rights, value of all nations, private citizens, and businesses (inventory, goodwill, patents, receivables). Do you factor in the national debt of a nation?I would suspect that economists have done such calcs. Edison 23:31, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The biggest problem with your question is that the amount of money money in the world in both value and literal amount is always increasing. Back when the gold standard was in affect, there would have been a set limit because it was representative money. However, once the United States and then the rest of the world switched onto fiat money, the amount of money has begun to, in affect, grow with the development of resources and the like. --AstoVidatu 02:03, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

um.....are you trying to tell me that if a gold standard was in effect in the USA, the country could not increase it's wealth because the gold supply was not increasing? It's works the other way around, even back then. the default is fiat, not godl. sorry. Jasbutal 04:37, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

You lose. Good day sir. --froth^{T C} 16:55, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

It could increase its wealth by acquiring more gold, or if the value of gold went up by -say- irradiating a large amount of it --froth^{T C} 16:27, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Maybe adding up countries GDP and other important values will arrive at a rough answer. --Proficient 06:21, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

The GDP gives the produced economic value over a certain period. Two flaws here. One is that it only expresses economically valued production, not black markets, volunteer work, bartering and such (see Gross domestic product#Criticisms and limitations), which together probably represent more than the economic production (a big one is the work of housewives, which is not usually expressed economically). The other flaw is that it is about production (per year or so), not accumulated goods. A house that was built last year doesn't show up on the GDP, but it's still there and worth quite a bit. And here too, not everything is valued economically (international waters, for example), but that was mentioned before. DirkvdM 08:44, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

If you are on the gold standard your money is redeemable for gold (or other precious metals, depending on the system). My point was that if the gold standard is followed there is only a limited amount of gold, and thus only a limited amount of money. Either that, or more money is printed than can be redeemed (which is what happened to the United States) and then you are in a quandry. That's why most countries moved off the gold standard in the first place. Now the only thing that gives the money value is people's faith in the government. If not for that, it would just be a useless piece of paper. --AstoVidatu 21:55, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Another approach is to figure a minimum replacement value. If we sold it , we would need a place to live. The value of the earth would be at least equal to the cost of creating a livable habitat like the Biosphere 2, a domed habitat intended to furnish all environmental needs for a 2 year period for 8 people, at a cost of $30 million per person. It was a bit inadequate to its purpose, but that figure would give a minimum for the Earth's entire population of about $200,000,000,000,000,000 or $200 quadrillion. There might be some economy of scale building such structures for 6.5 billion people. In practice, if advanced alien space creatures arrived, I suspect our leaders would sell us out for the equivalent of $24 worth of trinkets like the Native Americans sold Manhattan in 1626, if the aliens could deliver advanced weapons which could utterly destroy all their enemies, real or imagined, foreign and domestic. Another approach: Per The Straight Dope, http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_156.html the total value of all land in the U.S. in 1975 was $1.3 trillion. The U.S.A. has 9.2 million sq miles, and the world has 149 million sq miles, per the CIA Fact Book at http://www.photius.com/wfb1999/rankings/total_land_area_0.html Thus if the US land is of comparable value to that of the world, the world land was worth ($1.3 *10^9)*149/(9.3)=$20.8 trillion in 1975, which with inflation per http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ would be a 2005 world land value of $77.9 trillion. That does not get you the people. Using the 1861 value of a U.S. slave of about $800, and adjusting for inflation, each person would be worth $16,400 for 6.5 billion = 106,600,000,000,000 or $107 trillion. Land and people go for about $185 trillion. Still need to add in intellectual property, fishing rights, undersea mineral rights, value of personal and business property and something for goodwill. Of course many of the people in the world have little or no personal or business property, and even less good will.Edison 22:10, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Considering the value of a human life. A recent discussion in the Netherlands is if someone is terminally ill, but can be kept alive using medicine, should there be a limit to how much money we (or the insurance companies) should pay for it? Someone proposed 85.000 euro per year. Assume that such a person can be kept alive for another 10 years on average, then that would put the value of a human life at 850.000 euro. That's about 50 times your estimate based on slave prices. So slaves were heavily undervalued, it seems. :) DirkvdM 04:46, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

I have seen cases where a doctor or hospital killed an elderly person by malpractice, and the person was in failing health, so only a few thousand (like $10,000 US) was paid in damages, absent any proof of pain or suffering. Edison 23:25, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Whistling

How do you do that whistling where you stick 1-2 fingers in your mouth and blow hard and a really loud, whistle-like sound comes out? Jamesino 21:10, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

It's not a whistle-like sound. It's a whistle sound. Or, even better, it's a whistle. Try Wolf-whistling. 65.203.61.56 21:14, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Sheet music for Desperado

I can't find it on the internet for free, can anybody help me out? The beginning is really something, and I want to know how to play it! Thanks, — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)21:30, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

So you might say you are desperate to play it? Hmm I think I have it somewhere. Ill look.--Light current 22:14, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Desperado, why dont you come to your senses,

• You been out riding fences,
• For so long now.
• Ah you're a hard one
• Blah blahh blah

There you go!--Light current 23:47, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Sheet music is usually available on-line for a small (2 -5 USD) fee. Lyrics are available at no cost. --hydnjo talk 00:49, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I got it stuck in my head after watching The Checks, strangely enough --froth^{T C} 05:34, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I knew all that, but that wasn't my question. No help guys? — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)20:50, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Apparently not --froth^{T C} 03:57, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

looking for article/paper

Looking for a criticism of modern man equating his ceremonial burial of nuclear waste with that of ancient man's burial of kings and nobles. -JASBUTAL

Here's one: there's no correlation except the act of burying so why even bother to make such a pointless comparison --froth^{T C}

Because radioactive stuff are cool? Oskar 00:49, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

OTC, radioactive stuff is usually warm--Light current 01:42, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

One source of information may be google scholar, for a change. Micro$oft have a compatible wannabe site for which I cannot vouch. --Tagishsimon (talk)

I didn't know that radioactive stuff is available without a prescription --froth^{T C} 02:22, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

please don't answer if you have nothing to say. THanks. -Jasbutal

Are you saying you know of such an article and just wish us to locate it for you, or are you just hoping such an article exists ? In the latter case, somehow I doubt that it does exist. StuRat 04:36, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I hope it exists, if it does I would like somebody to post me a link. If it does not, I can do without Light-current's pleasantries. Jasbutal 04:38, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I didnt realise I was being pleasant! 8-)--Light current 21:07, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Burial of nuclear waste is not "ceremonial." Unless whoever regulates it has been spending too much time in the wrong place. Clarityfiend 04:51, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

sorry, I didn't realize this was the computing desk and that everyone was stuck in the realm of scientific fundamentalist mumbo-jumb. clarity, I also didn't realize you were a Vulcan, here, please indulge yourself in some Laplace transforms. I think you'll find the time-domain <-> frequency domain interchange table quite fulfilling to your soul. Jasbutal 05:06, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

What the heck are you talking about. *blinks blankly* --froth^{T C} 06:08, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

??? *backs away slowly, making soothing sounds* Clarityfiend 07:14, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

If you want a serious answer, here's one: In both, some object is placed in storage under the surface of the ground. In both, that object decays. The burying of kings was ceremonious. The burying of nuclear waste is not. That's pretty much as far as I can stretch it. And I couldn't help throwing in that pun, honest ;D --froth^{T C} 06:13, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

I would say burying nuclear waste is more like burying excrement. Both are waste products and we want both gone, and never want to have to think about them again. When we bury people, on the other hand, we frequently want to "visit" them, and create some type on memorial on the surface for that purpose. StuRat 06:30, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

please no original research, this is wikipedia. If there exists such an article, and you know the source of it, please reference, if not, then post your wild theories on your personal site. Thanks. Jasbutal 07:21, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Here's a report in the Guardian brushing the subject, but it's not a 'criticism of modern man'. Jasbutal, your comments qualifying editors' suggestions might scare off other people from trying to answer your question.---Sluzzelin 09:42, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

It wasn't original research it was common knowledge --froth^{T C} 16:53, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Two recommended places to go if you want to talk about this. One is to think about the creation of the Chernobyl sarcophagus — a very explicit linking of modern nuclear burial with ancient burial. The other place to look at is the debate surrounding the ability to make long-term (i.e. thousands of years) waste disposal sites that won't be opened up by some man of the future who doesn't understand what radiation is. I don't recall the exact places this was talked about but I believe there was a big, speculative study funded which discussed ways of making things which would psychologically appeal to humans of the future, knowing that when people of the past put up curses and skeletons and thing of that nature over their burial sites it only encouraged later people to think there were riches there. There is, I think, some discussion of this in Joseph Masco's Nuclear Borderlands, which recently came out. As for concerted criticism/analysis of these tendencies — I don't know of much, though that doesn't necessarily say anything; these are just things I've been aware of. --Fastfission 15:34, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Archeologists have found burials which were very much like the burial of nuclear waste. The deceased was buried thousands of years ago, face down, under a thick layer of rocks, with ceremonial objects believed to be intended to keep him or her from coming back. Think Dracula in modern times.Edison 21:32, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

For somebody who came here asking us for help, you are amazingly rude. User:Zoe|(talk) 02:12, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. StuRat 04:40, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

It's not the first time this desk has been subject to Jasbutal's cyber-thugness.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  18:34, 23 September 2006 (UTC)