Miscellaneous desk
< August 24	<< Jul \| August \| Sep >>	August 26 >

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.

August 25

Cuban Song

When I was in Cuba I heard a really good song. It was a guy and a girl duet. This song is very popular in Cuba. (I think its something about cheating). Anyone know the name of such a song. Greatly appreciated.

What language was it in? Try doing a google.com search for the lyrics that you remember. Rfwoolf 16:15, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reverend Thomas Carter

Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverend_Thomas_Carter

I hope this is the appropriate place to make this observation. The Reverend Thomas Carter is an ancestor of mine. As you rightly point out, he was a Congregationalist minister. However Wikipedia has him listed as an Anglican priest on this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:English_Anglican_priests

Yes, he was from England. Yes, he was a clergyman. No, he was not an Anglican.

The method by which he was ordained (not by an Anglican bishop) precludes the possibility of his being an Anglican priest. The details (plus a painting of the event) are found on this page:

http://www.wilsonpeabody.com/Reverend_Thomas_Carter.htm

Thanks for your attention to this matter.

Jim Spencer

Thanks for bringing this up. Looking at the link you provided, it does seem that the Rev. Carter was not Anglican; I'll remove that category.

Your link seems to have a lot more information than the article; if you'd like to expand it, please feel free to do so.

For future reference, comments like this are usually best placed on the article's Talk page; you can get to the Talk page by clicking on the "Discussion" tab at the top of the page. - Eron ^Talk 01:46, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to follow this up with another question. The article Reverend Thomas Carter makes the claim that he was the first minister to be ordained in the country. That seems a significant thing to me, but I cannot find a source to back it up. There are sources that state he was the first minister in Woburn, but nothing about America as a whole. (The same claim is also made in Woburn, Massachusetts but it isn't referenced there either.) Does anyone have a source for this? And if not, does anyone know who the first minister ordained in America actually was? - Eron ^Talk 02:12, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

USA Passport Number

Do US passport numbers (the record number)stay the same throughout a persons travels when they travel to another country. Even when renewing or getting a passport for the first time.--logger 07:10, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It won't change as you travel. That would sort of defeat the purpose. It does change when you renew it. Plasticup ^T/C 00:12, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

i want to know about the structure or anatomy of truck cabins.

we all would have seen trucks but the interest lies in the cabin from where the driver controls the whole truck having weight of tones..... i want to know about the structure of the truck cabins and also if some modifications are done on it in recent past.?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.212.166.66 (talk)

What kind of trucks and what modifications are you thinking of? If you're thinking about the every day sort of semi-truck, they're not too much unlike that of a pickup truck. Seat, steering wheel, dashboard and guages, and shifter are all there. What specifically were you wondering about? Dismas|^(talk) 08:40, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps what you're really asking about is the connections between the cab and trailer used to control the trailer. I believe pneumatic brake lines are connected which allow the driver to control brakes on the wheels of the trailer with the brake pedal. An electrical connection is also present (a "pigtail"), so that brake lights, turn signals, and running lights on the trailer can be controlled in the usual way by the driver in the cab. A typical truck trailer does not have any drive wheels or steering capability, it simply is dragged by the cabin's drive wheels. For more detail see Semi-truck#Coupling and uncoupling and the following sections. StuRat 14:15, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can you help

I need some help with something, are you able to help me with it?

Thank you so much if you can if not not thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.173.49.230 (talk)

Tell us what it is that you need help with - if we can, we will. DuncanHill 08:34, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps Something might help? Lemon martini 11:08, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

... is there going to be a question or not? --PolarWolf 20:27, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Can anyone really help anyone else? Can we even help ourselves? Existential_humanism Gzuckier 16:15, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vampires

Do vampires suck blood through their fangs or do they pierce the necks of their victims with their fangs first and then suck the blood? --124.254.77.148 15:00, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well vampires don't actually exist, but from popular perception, I think that they pierce the victim's neck first, then suck blood through their fangs. I'm pretty sure about the former because vampire victims usually have fang marks, but I'm less sure about the latter. Acceptable 15:30, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Further, the specific biology is up to any given author to elaborate on. Recent films, such as the Blade trilogy, have gone into great detail about this aspect of vampires, within their own specific continuity. One real-life species associated with the practice, the vampire bat, has an anticoagulant in its saliva, and laps blood rapidly after the bite, rather than 'sucking' it. 24.250.32.81 15:47, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Traditional vampires suck, rather than lap blood, and I have never seen or read about a hickey at the wound area, which would certainly result from any post-bite sucking with the mouth (rather than with hypodermic fangs), so I think it's safe to say that traditional vampires suck through the teeth. As others have said though, the author is free to change canonical vampire behavior if desired. --Sean 20:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since a hickey is a bruise resulting from broken blood vessels, one might argue that the blood that would be necessary for a hickey to show has been sucked from the victim. In the Whedon-verse, the character Angel was shown, on occasion, to be drinking blood from a glass or cup. --LarryMac | Talk 14:48, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Gotta wonder what kind of mechanism would allow a creature to suck through hollow teeth. Of course, if they're dead they don't have any blood pressure, so maybe that makes it easier. Gzuckier 16:09, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Malaysia Borneo Forest

Who owns Malaysia's Borneo Forests (Sabah/Sarawak)? David Brand supposedly spent US$200M buying up tracts of forest. Is there a map that shows who (private owners, logging company, or the state) owns the land?

Wasps and mosquitos

What predators eat or kill wasps and mosquitos? If I buy some of these whatever they are and put them in my yard will that solve my wasp and mosquito problems?

One good way to deal with mosquitos is to put mosquito eating fish in the water where they breed.

Lots of other things eat both - birds, bats (these eat a lot of mosquitos I've heard), spiders may catch a few etc - however the nature of predation means that they never get them all.

Building a 'bat roost' is supposed to be helpful though.87.102.84.56 18:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

See Mosquito_control#Biocontrol for more options.87.102.84.56 18:43, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As for the wasps - it depends on the species I think - you could look at http://www.eartheasy.com/live_natwasp_control.htm or search for "wasp control" or "wasp predator"

For wasps birds seem the best bet - though in my experience the best solution is to take out that nest (especially when it turns out to be inside the house - as happened to me) - have you considered using toxic chemicals against these unwelcome pests?87.102.84.56 18:48, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, good, replace the mosquitos with rabid bats? :) Corvus cornix 20:18, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Mosquitos are far more dangerous than rabid bats. Even in the U.S. they kill far more people: in 2006, 177 died in the U.S. just from one mosquito-transmitted disease (West Nile virus) versus 2 deaths from rabid bats. Rmhermen 14:48, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Plus, some of us don't have to worry too much about rabies in our bats. Skittle 17:04, 28 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

My mom has bats around her house, and there are never any mosquitos and few other insects. You might think that bats are creepy, but you never actually see them, since they are tiny, black, silent, only come out at night, and hide at the first sign of people. The most you ever get is the feeling that you saw a shadow out of the corner of your eye, but by the time you look in that direction, it's already gone. She did have a problem with them nesting in her attic, but closing up the bat-sized holes (after chasing the bats out), solved that problem. StuRat 15:32, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I see bats eating the bugs above my back yard almost every night in the summer. I find their swooping arcs very enjoyable to watch. --Sean 20:05, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bats became my new best friends when I was doing jungle training in Panama. It was just getting dusk and we were lying in ambush along a road. The mosquitos were absolutely swarming and it was difficult to swat at them without making noise. Then something flitted past my ear, then another and another. Within a couple of minutes a swarm of bats had completely taken care of the mosquito problem. Not one mosquito was left to bother me after they moved on. Also, since they were eating mosquitos I knew they weren't vampire bats. Bats are very good at mosquito control, but as has been pointed out, the nature of the predator/prey system means they never get them all. 152.16.188.107 06:26, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not every mosquito on Earth, no, but they do seem to get every mosquito in the area where they hunt. I think there is some other limit on their population besides food, probably lack of places to sleep during the day. Those that can't hide are likely easy prey for cats, snakes, and other higher predators. StuRat 06:43, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Revving an automatic

If I was to put a car with a regular automatic transmission into Neutral and rev the engine to about 6,000 RPM, then suddenly shift into Drive, will my car bolt forward like it would in a manual? Thanks. Acceptable 20:26, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Depends - if it's a hydraulic transmission or contains hydraulic couplings torque converter the answer is no, at least not as much.

If it's a Continuously_variable_transmission then and 'cogs' are involved it will probably jerk a bit - yes.87.102.84.56 20:44, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This is not a nice thing to do to an innocent car. Friday (talk) 22:16, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's a conventional automatic, like one that you would find on an economical family sedan with a torque converter. It's certainly not a CVT. But if I was to rev my engine and suddenly shift into drive, what would happen? Acceptable 13:58, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Well, in extreme conditions (and if you do it often enough - even under less extreme conditions), you could very well break something in the torque converter - which would be "A Very Bad Thing". Our article lists: Stator clutch breakage, Blade deformation/fragmentation and 'Ballooning' as possible failure modes due to abrupt application of power. None of those will be cheap to fix - the torque converter for something mundane like a 2003 Acura will cost you $1100 - plus installation. The fancier the car - the more it's gonna cost. But assuming that no actual damage occurs, mostly the car will accellerate quite hard - but less so than a manual transmission because the fluid coupling in the torque converter will be slipping until the engine and transmission can move at the same rate. This falls into the general category of "Don't Do That" - and if you want a sports car, buy a stick-shift! SteveBaker 14:22, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Long story short: test it in a rental. :) --Sean 20:06, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not just the torque converter! I once trashed my gearbox, was at the lights, gave it a little gas and realised it was in neutral, i took my foot off the accelerator and as the engine was revving down, it wasn't even going that fast, i put it into drive and it went "clunk" and wouldn't move, had to get the gearbox swapped. Admittedly, the gearbox was probably on the way out anyway, but that's what finally killed it. Vespine 01:35, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If you're seriously into it, floor it in drive with your foot holding the brake, then let 'er rip. Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007_June_27#Acceleration:_Manual_vs_Automatic

I once managed to shift a Mercury Comet two-speed automatic with the mighty "thrift power 170" engine from L past D, past N, all the way into R. Car stopped immediately, ran very badly when restarted; turned out to have two plug wires which fell off the plugs. After reconnecting them, it worked perfectly for many years. Not recommended, though. Gzuckier 16:08, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

They tried that in a recent Mythbusters episode (a favorite of many Ref Desk folk) - they tried slamming both an automatic and a manual into reverse at reasonable speeds - presumably hoping for something spectacular to happen. In both cases they were completely unable to jam it into reverse while driving at speed. My experience with 1st gear in my Mini definitely backs that up. I'm surprised your car made it into reverse but I guess older transmissions were less well protected against our little "oopsies"...it's kinda cool that the plugs leads fell off though! Almost like the car was saying "You got away with it - but you can't go unpunished!" SteveBaker 19:03, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

what is the Democratic National Committee?

is it a corporation? A business? a nonprofit? a comapany? Does the gov. recognize it as an entity or it just a loose collective with no official existence?

It is, as the name suggests, a deliberative assembly within the Democratic Party (United States) that is responsible for party affairs between National Conventions. Along with the Convention, it is the legal entity of the Democratic Party. It has an official existence inasmuch it's role, responsibilities and make up is defined in the Charter of the Democratic Party of the United States, but no regognition outside of this.

As a secondary question, does anyone know the reason the DNC's rules state that the committee be comprised of "The chairperson and the highest ranking officer of the opposite sex from each State party"? What is the reason for ensuring a gender balance on a committee, is this normal in US politics? Rockpocket 22:25, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know if the DNC is an incorporated organization, but I do know a gender balance requirement is typical for the Democrats. The Ohio Democratic Central Committee, for instance, consists of one man and one woman from each state Senate district. -- Mwalcoff 02:49, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's common in the United States with organizations concerned with social justice; for example, the ACLU has similar goals, if not outright rules (I'm not sure) for its national board of directors.

Atlant 12:13, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

page for class discussion

I use Wikipedia in my class as a way to talk about collaborative editing and interdisciplinary thinking. For the first day of class, I'm looking for an article that has gotten a lot of edits and may be the subject of a minor "war", but is not something they would expect. It's easy to think that the abortion page or Hamas' page is contentious, but Processed Cheese? Anyone have a suggestion for a topic like that? GumbyProf: "I'm about ideas, but I'm not always about good ideas." 22:06, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars is our dirty little secret. An extreme example, that is laughable in its lameness, is the war over the spelling of Yoghurt. (This has benn going on sporadically since 2003, but see Talk:Yoghurt/Archive 4 for some of the most recent debate). Rockpocket 22:34, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You might also be interested in this web page - a screencast explaining Wikipedia through the history of one particular article. Get rid of the popup and click on the image of the Wikipedia page when it appears.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:55, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That right there is my nomination for Reference of the month - great stuff, Shantavira Rockpocket 20:02, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Very entertaining. Great find, Shantavira. Plasticup ^T/C 22:59, 26 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Just imagine the possibilities if someone out there develops an easy "pointy-clicky" application that allows anyone to generate a screencast for any Wiki article over any arbitrary edit range. dr.ef.tymac 03:23, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not as entertaining, perhaps, but almost as interesting, is this little research project from the IBM labs. Confusing Manifestation 03:49, 27 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]