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April 13

Unidentified kitchen implement

Please identify this "thing" (implement/utensil) I have in my kitchen. It came with the house. It sits above the stove-top, hanging on horizontal metal bars that also hold hooks for spatulas and spoons. The implement has 3 horizontal levels, the bottom two are the same curved shape, the top level is not as deep. See pictures.--Commander Keane (talk) 04:31, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like a cooling rack to me, where you place hot items straight out of the oven. That type of thing is more common in an industrial kitchen, where hot things must not be left on counters, both because of the burn hazard and because the counter space is needed.StuRat (talk) 05:47, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I will confirm cooling rack. El Capitan Mejor (talk) 15:31, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I would say the opposite - that it is a plate warmer. Probably can be used effectively for both... 83.104.128.107 (talk) 15:51, 16 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

english university fees

If my american friend does move to england to study at university, will he just have to take out a bank loan for the full £24,000 in fees and £11,000 in rent and hope the interest isnt too high? How does that compare to the situation in america? Is there no chance of getting any sort of government grant or loan from either country? How much less would it cost him to study in america, and also what sort of money might he be able to earn from a part time job at the same time?

82.132.138.157 (talk) 08:08, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There's a lot of questions there. He's unlikely to get any money from the UK government (unless he's lived in the UK in the past or has British nationality, and even then not much). The cost in the USA would depend greatly depending on where he studied and what assistance was available there; contacting individual colleges might be useful. Can your friend not obtain information from a school/college/etc? Do you mean a part-time job in the UK or US? In the UK he might get 6-8 GBP an hour (~$9-$13) before tax doing typical part-time jobs. --Colapeninsula (talk) 08:21, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Keep in mind, there are strict limits on how much you can work while on a student visa. Further details are here. --Tango (talk) 09:57, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The details depend very much depends on the university. UKP 35000 would probably not cover an Ivy League for a year. However, some of the best universities now have Need-blind admission, i.e. the university only evaluates the academic prospect of the student and, for accepted students, money flows either direction as needed (students from rich families pay tuition and board, poor students don't pay tuition and receive free room and board). MIT, Princeton, Yale and Harvard do offer such a program. Unfortunately, admission to these programmes is very selective. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 09:15, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If your friend is a US citizen and his goal is to get a university education, it will almost certainly be cheaper for him in the US than in the UK. There are many public universities in the United States where state residents pay substantially less than £24,000 ($38,000) per year in fees. To take two of the best public universities as examples, resident fees at UC Berkeley are $12,834 per year. At the University of Wisconsin at Madison, they are $4,651 per year. Now, your friend may not want to study in the state where he is a resident because of his family situation. Perfectly understandable. I was in the same situation once. The solution is to move to a state where he wants to study and wait a year while establishing residency. During that year, he can work low-paid jobs to get by and live in a shared apartment with other young people. As others have said, many top U.S. private universities also offer need-blind admission and virtually unlimited financial aid. If your friend is very strong academically, that would be the best arrangement for him, but admission to those universities is extremely competitive. Marco polo (talk) 19:44, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The article is slightly confusing but if I understand it correctly, what is probably more important here is full need not need blind. Need blind only means the university admission is entirely based on merit without considering an applicants financial situation. (If they guarantee financial aide to people of a certain income then obviously then should provide it even if they need to provide more then expected.) It does not mean they guarantee to meet the full demonstrated financial requirements of a student, so if a student is unable to afford the cost, they will have to reject the place despite an offer of admission.) The universities listed are however ones with need blind and full need for all applicants (including non US ones). According to the talk page, some like Columbia are not fully need blind for international students but are full need for all those who are admitted, such universities may still be useful to the OP. Nil Einne (talk) 22:09, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That cost is for the whole three year course actually. american universities are another option, but we're looking at the chances of moving over here, on the possibility that he may want to live with me for a while. Still wondering on the first question, is it just going to be a matter of a substantial bank loan to pay back? 85.210.118.80 (talk) 20:33, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I believe (and this link suggests it too - http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/info_sheets/tuition_fees_ewni.php#home_overseas) that overseas students can pay higher tuition fees in the UK than 'local' students do so the £24k you quote may be an underestimate (though this will depend on the course and the university). The site has a section dedicated to International Students studying in the Uk (http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/student/immigration.php). ny156uk (talk) 02:21, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I would seriously doubt that any bank will lend out £35,000 (CAN$55,421, US$55,454) to a student. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 16:21, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Please all get the statistics under control before considering further (I know some of the people commenting above have already done so). The UK fees are not 24,000ukp per year, that sum is the imagined total based on tuition fees of 8,000 per year multiplied by an average three year course. The tuition fees for UK students are a maximum of 8000 or 9000 ukp per year (I have no idea where the 8000 ukp came from, I never heard of it before.) Are they greater for foreign students? I don't know. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 22:22, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

[1] gives the fees for international students for one random UK university, [2] for another and [3] for a third. If the 11k was intended to be the cost of living for three years, it seems a little low from those figures. Nil Einne (talk) 23:46, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

£8000 is the cost at my university, I gather some are more expensive than that. Guess it comes down to looking at what the specific other options are in america, and comparing to those. 85.210.123.14 (talk) 23:48, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The cost for a local student or an international student? Nil Einne (talk) 23:49, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

local, looks like international will be a little higher, I can see this will need something along the lines of making a list of possible options and studying each in detail, but not ruled out entirely. 85.210.123.14 (talk) 00:06, 15 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I would note beyond getting the costs figures right, the other key things is actually working out how he can expect to pay for it. As has been mentioned, loan options for international students are likely to be rather limited. Nil Einne (talk) 14:34, 15 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There are certainly organisations that provide funding for Americans studying in the UK - the Fulbright Program (official site for the UK here) is one, but I imagine its scholarships are very competitive. Universities themselves may provide funding in some cases (often depending on the area of study, academic achievement, and personal circumstances). Note that as well as the limits on part-time work on a student visa, there could be limits imposed by the university, or under the terms of a scholarship. Obviously, if he is going to be dependent on you for accommodation, you will need to be sure that you are able to provide that for the duration of his studies. 130.88.99.231 (talk) 16:07, 18 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Stobart Depots

Dear Sirs,

I am trying to find a list of all 40 depots that Eddie Stobart Co own and operate from throughout the country. I am aware of 3 of these being Crick, Carlisle and Appleton Thorn. I would appreciate if you could let me know the location of the other 37 depots.

Thanking you in anticipation C Sims — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.155.43.146 (talk) 09:25, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It's surprisingly difficult to track these down. The company website itself says "40 depots across the UK and Europe" without naming them. I think you'd be better off asking this question on one of the fan forums dedicated to Eddie Stobart, who are extremely fanatical (I have personal knowledge of this!) --TammyMoet (talk) 11:32, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The Stobart Group website states 'operating from over 40 sites across the UK and Europe'. In addition, the Stobart Group has six divisions, only one of which is Transport & Distribution. This suggests that the number of transport depots in the UK is going to be less than 40. A Google Maps search lists 8 in the UK. Dalliance (talk) 12:09, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Eddie+Stobart&hl=en&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=14.850108,33.881836&oq=eddie+stobart&hq=Eddie+Stobart&t=m&z=5

Freedom in the World 2012

I asked that question in the humanities desk, but I didn't get a satisfatory answer. I thought that maybe that question is more relevant to this desk. As you may know, Freedom House published the "Freedom in the World" report every year. The ratings of the countries are based on the aggregate scores data. Last year, Freedom House changed its website. In the old website, there was an excel spreadsheet in which there was the aggragate scores data for each country for the years 2003-2011. However, in the new website, I can't find the aggregate scores data of Freedom in the World 2012. I tried to search in the Freedom in the World 2012, but I didn't find anything. Can someone find that data? Here is the website of Freedom House: http://www.freedomhouse.org/, Here is the Freedom in the World 2012 page: http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2012/. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.68.29.73 (talk) 09:31, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There's an option in Google Advanced Search to search by file type.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&as_q=freedom+in+the+world+2012&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=&as_occt=any&safe=images&tbs=&as_filetype=xls&as_rights=

I searched 'Freedom in the World 2012' and specified Excel filetype. The second result looks like what you're after. Dalliance (talk) 11:53, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What was unsatisfactory about my response, that the index changed? DOR (HK) (talk) 08:31, 16 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

一个问题(Chinese), moved from Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)

请问Liberty Head nickel中的这个插图是Liberty Head nickel吗? ^DG_ideasChinese 23:36, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can you say it in English? I don't know Chinese and Google translate isn't helping much. Chris857 (talk) 23:42, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think the answer is probably going to be "see Liberty Head nickel#1913.--Shirt58 (talk) 23:51, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

不是。这不是个镍币，它是一个奖章。 The question is "Excuse me, in the Liberty Head nickel article, is this image a picture of the Liberty Head nickel?". The answer is "No, as the image description says, it's a medal featuring Treasury Secretary Franklin MacVeagh". 59.108.42.46 (talk) 09:24, 16 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I accidentally inserted the image, fixed it now 59.108.42.46 (talk) 09:26, 16 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]