Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 June 27

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June 27

Flood lines on bridges

Is there any specialised term for the dark line caused by floodwaters, either on bridges or on other things? This photograph I took the second time I visited the site: at the first time, the deck and much of the rest of the bridge was submerged, and you can see near the tops of the trusses the line that I'm asking about. Nyttend (talk) 03:40, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Probably some sort of High water mark, perhaps the ordinary high water mark. Buddy432 (talk) 04:16, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

The first example I thought of is Lake Mead, which uses the term high water mark along with the colloquialism "bathtub ring". Basically, it's mineral desposits left behind when the water recedes. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:33, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

I've always known them as Tide marks, I know they have nothing to do with tides as such, but the usage seems to have spread to flooding rivers. --TammyMoet (talk) 12:32, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

The Cadillac of Semi-automatic Firearms on the Military Channel

Which weapon is the narrator refering to? "The Cadillac of Semi-automatic Firearms". This quote at the beginning of every show.

J. Brunackey — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.40.32.214 (talk) 16:19, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

According to [1] its the M1 Garand--Jac16888 ^Talk 18:25, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

US presidential line of succession

Once inaugurated, if a current US president was found (for whatever reason) to have not been eligible for the position at the time of the election, what effect, if any, would that have on the United States presidential line of succession? Would the original ineligibility of the Pres during the election extend to their running mate? (Coming here with it after seeing a misplaced discussion at Talk:John Boehner) --Onorem♠Dil 18:12, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Basically, I think the answer is no one knows for sure, but that that vice president is the most likely successor. There has never been a president declared ineligible after being put in power, and very few comparable precedents for any other office. At face value, there doesn't seem to be anything in the constitution that would prohibit a vice president from serving even if the president he ran with was found to have been ineligible for election. Once a vice president was elected and is otherwise qualified, the constitutionally mandated order of succession would seem to still apply. I think the judiciary would be loath to throw out the entirety of the election for anything short of outright vote tampering, even if part of the ticket was technically ineligible. They tend to defer to the will of the people fairly strongly in electoral matters, provided the votes were counted fairly. However, if such an issue ever came up in earnest, you can be certain that there would be a lot of litigation on the issue and it would probably require a Supreme Court ruling before we could be certain about what will happen. Dragons flight (talk) 20:16, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

The result would undoubtedly be a constitutional crisis. Even the first time that a vice president succeeded on the death of a President, it was entirely unclear how the situation should resolve itself. John Tyler became President (and most importantly for this discussion NOT Acting President or Interim President) basically on the "because-I-say-so" principle, it was not resolved constitutionally until the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed in 1967, despite having been working in practice (though not unambiguosly in law) for over 100 years. Since the 25th amemendment only deals with death, resignation, or incapacitation, there is no specific language dealing with ineligibility to stand for election. It may not be a great crisis, but it would certainly require the interpretation of the Supreme Court. Most likely they would confirm the succession of the Vice President to the Presidency, since the VP was rightfully elected. --Jayron32 20:47, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

FJ in Yamaha FJ1200

[Originally posted as Talk:What does FJ stand for on the Yamaha motorcyle FJ1200 prefix:Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives; question forwarded here by Athaenara ✉ 18:25, 27 June 2011 (UTC)]

Does anyone know what the FJ stands for on the Yamaha motorcycle FJ1200? Its an older model. Spindaddy (talk) 14:10, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Perusing List of Yamaha motorcycles, all of the "F" motorcycles are four-stroke road bikes, and the "FJ" motorcycles all seem to be "touring class", see the list below. I don't know that the letters necessarily stand for any specific words, sometimes they are just arbitrary classifications.--Jayron32 18:50, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Culinary advice - permitted?

If permitted, here is my enquiry. I'll soon be picking several kilos of blackcurrants. I need ideas for preserving them. Plans so far: jam/jelly (but are there any spices/flavourings that will work well?), bottling, creme de cassis, syrup, flavoured vinegar for salad, ice cream. Any other ideas? Something bold and different? Thanks if you can. Itsmejudith (talk) 21:05, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

One method is freezing, although you can expect this to alter the texture (making them mushy) and cause some juice to leak out, unless you have the ability to do flash freezing. But, this is fine for many purposes, such as making them into syrup at a later date. If do freeze them, make sure they are in a sealed container, so they don't absorb freezer smells. StuRat (talk) 21:09, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

As for other ideas of how to prepare black currants, how about pressing them to obtain juice or putting them in bread or muffins (which you could then freeze) ? StuRat (talk) 21:12, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

As an aside, I notice both you and our article write "black currant" as one word, and we similarly have an article with red currant as a single word. This looks very wrong to my US English sensibilities, as bad as a "greencar" or "whiterobe". So, is this a British English thing ? StuRat (talk) 21:21, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes, in British English, a "currant" is a small black raisin and is already black, so the other fruit called a currant is usually written as one word to avoid confusion. It is usually Americans who get the "blame" for running words together, but a blackcurrant doesn't even have a hyphen in normal British English. I've just checked my jar of blackcurrant jam to make sure that this is the current spelling! Dbfirs 21:40, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

See also Rumtopf. --Frumpo (talk) 07:19, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, everyone. I didn't know they are black currants in the US, so that is interesting too. I like the idea of Rumtopf and the NYT article linked from there was good for encouragement just to mix alcohol and fruit. Itsmejudith (talk) 07:58, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Really they're pretty much unavailable in the US, so we don't call them much of anything. I just found out from looking at the article that they were banned for a long time to avoid a thread to the logging industry.

Mostly I'm not a fan of Ribes species that I've tried, meaning mostly gooseberries, which I find quite bland. If blackcurrants have a stronger flavor I might be interested in trying them. --Trovatore (talk) 08:44, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Blackcurrants, redcurrants and whitecurrants are all much nicer than goosegogs. DuncanHill (talk) 10:36, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Pickle them in booze - vodka, cane, etc, any neutral spirit will do. Roger (talk) 11:58, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I was going to do some of them as creme de cassis anyway, using a recipe off the internet and plenty of French "Alcool à 90 degrés". The booze option is the simplest. Trovatore, however you would describe blackcurrants, "bland" would never apply. The flavour is very distinctive. Thanks again. Itsmejudith (talk) 13:25, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

I've always been sad for Americans having no blackcurrants and having to make do with insipid blueberries instead. --ColinFine (talk) 19:34, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Blueberry#Europe: "Except in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain, a blueberry industry is developing in all regions where the production is possible ..." Maybe your just missing the boat? Rmhermen (talk) 21:12, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

I don't think he said they couldn't get blueberries. I think he just doesn't like them. They're not my favorite either, mostly because they don't have enough acid. You can fix that by squeezing a lime on top of them, then adding (unwhipped) cream.

I'm a bigger fan of cranberries, which are closely related to blueberries, but they typically need some preparation as well, usually by cooking them and adding sugar (not too much, though, please). --Trovatore (talk) 21:16, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

We have very nice blackberries and raspberries, though. --Trovatore (talk) 21:00, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

And with a bit of planning we can also eat some very nice wild blueberries. "Bilberries" in standard British English, "whortleberries" in southern England dialect, pronounced "hurtleberries". As a child I was asked by neighbour children "Do you want to come out hurting?"; they meant picking whortleberries. I grow all this stuff, with varying levels of success: blackcurrants, gooseberries, raspbs, strawbs disappointing because of spring drought, one little whortleberry plant in a pot, ludicrous quantities of apples this year, ditto damsons. Easy to get fruit, but we get used to the supermarket principle, getting whatever the recipe says in whatever quantity, any month. Itsmejudith (talk) 21:24, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Throw a party with several friends and eat all the berries in one day. – b_jonas 14:28, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

4th of July fun

A potentially fun question to answer.

I have a group of English children in England, age 7-10, in a village hall. I am also English, as are my helpers. We would like to do something fun for American Independence Day, both because it involves eating doughnuts and because part of our remit is Learning About The World. We have a bit over an hour, once you take out admin and settling down. We already have a range of doughnut-related games, all of which involve eating the doughnuts, since they were quite specific about that (I like to encourage them to have some control over this stuff). I can think of a few other ideas, which generally involve them absorbing some knowledge about America, but I thought the reference desk might have some ideas for fun America/4th of July themed things. I gather American schoolchildren do this stuff every year?

Anyway, awaiting your inspired responses. 86.164.67.252 (talk) 21:17, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

I can't see what donuts have to do with the 4th of July, but perhaps you could use my US spelling to explain how Americans spell things differently, talk differently, etc. You could then ask them for examples from movies and such where Americans talked differently.

Here are some typical 4th of July activities:

1) Fireworks. Might be a bit dangerous for such young kids, but perhaps sparklers or snakes might be OK, if you handle them yourself.

2) BBQ (barbeque), with hot dogs (topped with ketchup, mustard, onions, and chili) and hamburgers (topped with melted American cheese slices, ketchup, mustard, onions, and pickles), corn on the cob, and potato salad. Maybe some apple pie for dessert, with vanilla ice cream. Since they are probably already familiar with hamburgers, hot dogs might be a better choice for something new, if you can only do one or the other.

3) A parade with red, white, and blue on everything (nice since those are UK colors, too) and lots of American flags. A nice march by John Philip Sousa is a must here, particularly The Stars and Stripes Forever. I imagine you would use a boom box with an audio cassette or CD.

BTW, American school children are typically on summer vacation during the 4th of July, so there are no school activities. StuRat (talk) 21:28, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Agreed with the above. You could also have the kids listen to and try to learn some patriotic American songs, such as our national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner," "God Bless America," or "My Country 'Tis of Thee," "whose melody is identical to the British national anthem, [and] also served as a de facto anthem before the adoption of "The Star-Spangled Banner."" (quote taken from Star-Spangled Banner article) ~EdGl! 21:53, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

I was going to suggest a good-old American baseball or softball game, but you might have trouble finding equipment. You can try kickball (a cross between baseball and soccer) as a half-step. No special equipment required, and you can use a plain rubber ball or even a soccer ball. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:39, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

They could play rounders. 2.97.219.42 (talk) 10:35, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

What about breaking them into groups of 5 or so, giving each group some art supplies, and have each group create something to share(say) the five most interesting things they know about the U.S., and five things they'd like to know? You didn't say if you meet regularly with the children or if this is a one-time event; if you meet ahead of time, you could ask each one to bring something. In any case, it gets them interacting with one another. At the end, you can (gently) correct any wild misunderstandings as well as take note of the unanswered items -- maybe even asking for volunteers to do follow-up research. I'd wrap up with the fun-food kind of thing. After all, when King George and Queen Elizabeth visited FDR at Hyde Park in 1939, the menu did include hot dogs and beer. --- OtherDave (talk) 01:54, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

If you can get fresh sweet corn, still in its green husk, you might just focus on making corn on the cob, an American summer delight. Husking the corn is fun—just tear off the husks and pull off the silk (pistils)—then immerse the cobs in a large pot of boiling water for 6–10 minutes (the longer the softer, but you want to leave some texture). Drain the water (carefully), let the cobs cool just a bit, but eat them while they are hot. In my family, we would have lumps of butter, roll the cooked cobs in the butter to coat the whole cob, then salt and pepper it. Then eat the gooey cob, dripping with butter, holding it at both ends and turning it as you eat it, as if it were an elongated apple. It's great fun and delicious. You will need lots of napkins! Marco polo (talk) 01:39, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Corn on the cob is well known in the UK, and if you go to a greengrocer's or a market rather than a supermarket you might well get them in the husk. Though when I lived in Germany in the 80's the supermarkets were trying to interest people in eating this cattle-food. --ColinFine (talk) 19:39, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

There are many different varieties of maize and sweetcorn is but one of them. Just as you wouldn't put filet mignon in a can of dogfood, you don't use the same varieties of maize for "corn on the cob" as you do for cattle fodder. Or, indeed, for cornmeal or for popcorn, all of which come from different varieties. I don't see why people would have an objection to eating food merely because a related variety is also fed to cows... --Jayron32 20:28, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

By the way, donuts are something that we typically have with coffee in the morning at any time of year, not particularly in the summer or at 4th of July. Marco polo (talk) 01:43, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

While Marco Polo has a point, no 10-year-old will turn down a doughnut based on time of day. Still, if you want to be a bit more mid-day and mid-summery, try Fourth-of-July-themed cupcakes. --- OtherDave (talk) 01:59, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so far. I should probably explain the doughnuts, because rereading my post it sounds a little weird. Doughnuts are intended as an 'American food', and I'm sort of using the 4th of July as a way to do all the things that the children said they wanted to do with doughnuts when they got over-excited during the consultation at the beginning of term! It was that, or become some sort of weekly doughnut-eating club. They'll be interested to hear they're considered a morning-food in America: would you say they are considered a breakfast food?

Kickball is a truly excellent idea. I was struggling to think of an active game to play, and that's perfect: similar enough to rounders not to need a lot of explanation, different enough to their normal playground games to feel excitingly foreign, occasionally featured on American cartoons so they might recognise the name, involves lots of running, played in teams.

There's lots of other good stuff here: the brainstorming what they know and questions is probably sensible, and My Country, 'tis of Thee is probably a good idea for actually singing, since they'll know the tune. We might have to just look at the others. Thank you for all the ideas so far: do keep suggesting! 86.164.67.252 (talk) 11:39, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

I don't see you mentioning how many children are involved: if it is less than 18 you may want to familiarize yourself with the techniques for shorthanded games: invisible runners, fewer infielders, teacher pitch, batting team catcher. Donuts are mainly a breakfast food but are also common at morning coffee breaks at work (since you don't make them at home in the morning but buy them on the way). Traditional Fourth of July picnics often include group games like water balloon toss (less messy than egg tossing), gunny sack races and donut on a string eating contests. Rmhermen (talk) 13:39, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Ha! Thank you for that: doughnut on a string was one of the games they wanted to play, so now I can tell them it's a traditional 4th of July activity! And thanks for the extra doughnut context. It's less than 18 children, but we're indoors anyway so I'll be adapting kickball the same way I'd adapt rounders. 86.164.67.252 (talk) 15:21, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Horse shoes might be another good game. StuRat (talk) 13:53, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

It's just one word, horseshoes. Though I don't know why the two word way is a red link... And does the OP have a picture of Uncle Sam? May come in handy for some explanations of American iconography. Dismas|^(talk) 13:59, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the horseshoes suggestion, but I'm not sure how we'd do that without extra equipment. I'd thought of sticking up pictures, but I hadn't thought of Uncle Sam, so thanks for that :) 86.164.67.252 (talk) 15:21, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Also, a safer variation is ring toss, where a poorly aimed, but lighter, plastic ring isn't as likely to cause injury. StuRat (talk) 15:50, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

On donuts as breakfast—some people might consider donuts breakfast, but they're not really a proper meal. To me, they are more like a substitute for breakfast. One or more donuts are typically ordered along with coffee in the morning by commuters who don't have time (or who won't make time) for a proper meal. This is a key part of the business model of Dunkin' Donuts, a huge chain with almost 7,000 branches across the United States. Hardly anyone actually makes donuts at home. Marco polo (talk) 14:45, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Donuts may be included in the dreaded "continental breakfast", which often isn't really breakfast at all, just a euphemism used by motels to give you junk food, instead. StuRat (talk) 18:41, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

You guys get that too? We get "continental breakfasts" in Australia, which is a continent in its own right, so I always wonder which continent they’re referring to. Back in the good old days, “the Continent” was always a reference to Europe, but that was from a UK/Irish perspective and should not have been particularly relevant to the perspective of any other part of the world. But we here in Australia still talked about visiting “England/Britain and the Continent”. Now, we visit Europe, and anybody caught saying they're going to "the Continent" would be looked at a little quizzically. But motels are still trotting out their "continental breakfasts". After all, better continent than incontinent, I suppose. (Sorry, I just couldn't contain that last remark.) -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 01:37, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

My first time seeing the Changing of the Guard at Windsor - they played "Stars and Stripes Forever." If you are in the UK - try using bratwurst (common in the US) instead of a "hot dog" made from goodness-knows-what. Collect (talk) 20:36, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Isnt it rather redundant having a special American day for UK children, as they are already exposed to a huge amount of what many call "cultural imperialism", such as American food, American tv, American movies, American-style clothing, and so on? 92.29.120.26 (talk) 20:50, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

I have to agree that donuts do not have anything to do with the 4th of July. What does is fireworks, preferably ones you light yourself and somebody gets burned a little because they did not listen to all the warnings from the parents. Comet Tuttle (talk) 03:55, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

For something really wild, you could get the kids' parents to drive them to the session on the right hand side of the road. Then again, maybe not. HiLo48 (talk) 04:21, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Get a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and have them read it and discuss it. Invite each to sign a clean copy, if they agree with the sentiments expressed. Discuss whether a compromise could have possibly kept the US as part of the commonwealth, like Canada and Australia. Sing Columbia the Gem of the Ocean and Yankee Doodle. The only folks likely to eat donuts on the Fourth are marchers , drill teams and the like who get up early and assemble for parades. Edison (talk) 04:48, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Just be ready for a war if the queen decides she doesn't like you doing that. Googlemeister (talk) 19:07, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

I don't think English kids will find apple pie very exotic. We've been making them here since the middle ages. Alansplodge (talk) 22:26, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Yes, but should they avoid anything done by Yanks which happens to also be done by Brits ? That would also leave out hamburgers, songs with a common tune, and fireworks, presumably. StuRat (talk) 15:52, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Historic parish and district for place of Glorup, Svendborg, Denmark

In what historic parish and district of Svendborg, Denmark is the place Glorup located? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.83.74.37 (talk) 21:18, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Are you referring to Glorup Manor? If you are, then it is located in Svindinge Parish (Svindinge Sogn) according to the Danish Wikipedia article. --Saddhiyama (talk) 21:38, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

What kind of batteries does a key fob for 2001 Volvo 850 take?

Hello, Refdeskians! Behold, a quandary: I can't find my owner's guide, I can't find a thing on Google, and my local dealership is closed. I know whatever it is, it takes two of them. Is your Google-skill stronger than mine? Thanks in advance! Foofish (talk) 23:09, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

This was apparently essentially the same design as the S70 -- you can find the relevant section of the 2000 model owner's manual here. It doesn't say anything about the type of battery, though. Do you not still have an old one to look at? They always have identifying information on them somewhere. Looie496 (talk) 01:55, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Does this page help? There's also a "find a dealer" option, so if your localest dealer has closed, you may be able to find one that's somewhat reasonable, or at least one you can get a live person to talk to... --Jayron32 02:16, 28 June 2011 (UTC)