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June 17

Stolen art

When priceless works of art and rare books are stolen, where do they generally go and who generally steals them? Are there actual criminals that appreciate these things in their own homes and hire the thieves to steal them? If not, why steal them in the first place then? Dismas|^(talk) 13:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Our article Art theft says that sometimes they are held for ransom...so in those cases, nobody other than the original owner actually has to appreciate the art. But it also says "Only a small percentage of stolen art is recovered—estimates range from 5 to 10%. This means that little is known about the scope and characteristics of art theft." - meaning that so little of it ever gets found that we have no good clues as to where it's all going. Worst still, in cases of ransom, the crime may never be reported - so the true extent of that kind of theft is likely to be underestimated. Our article does contain many accounts of what happened in cases that are well documented - and that is somewhat revealing about the motives of the criminals involved. Clearly, some of them did steal the art so that they could have it in their homes. In many cases, those were inside jobs from people who worked at the gallery or museum who clearly did appreciate the art for it's own sake rather than for it's value. List of stolen paintings adds more information that you may find interesting. SteveBaker (talk) 13:59, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Also, some criminals might steal it "just to prove they could", or might appreciate the work of art for it's monetary value alone, even though they can't sell it and don't care for it artistically. It's a characteristic of human behavior that many people will suddenly like something, once told that it's valuable, which they didn't like before. StuRat (talk) 16:47, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's ironic that anyone would steal paintings to "prove" anything as it's apparently about as difficult as robbing a convenience store. When Edvard Munch's The Scream was stolen, for example, a witness noted "What's strange is that in this museum, there weren't any means of protection for the paintings, no alarm bell," Francois Castang told France Inter radio, the Associated Press reported. "The paintings were simply attached by wire to the walls," he said. "All you had to do is pull on the painting hard for the cord to break loose - which is what I saw one of the thieves doing." Source. And, of course, see also this. Matt Deres (talk) 23:26, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well, there the effort was in scouting the site ahead of time to determine that there was no other hidden alarm system. I bet the thieves had to be thinking "It can't be that easy, there must be an alarm system we haven't yet detected". Smart thieves would also test the system first. Perhaps they could give some homeless man a bottle of whiskey if he goes into the museum, rips a painting off the wall, and screams "The CIA has planted an antenna connected to the microchip in my brain behind this painting !". Thus the thieves could observe the reaction. StuRat (talk) 20:14, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The psychology of queueing drivers

On my way to work by car I leave a major highway and pass through a busy intersection. The very long (~1 km) highway exit has two lanes, with the final 150 m or so widening out to four lanes before the traffic lights - the right lane becomes the right turn lane and straight ahead, and the left lane becomes two left turn lanes. I want to turn left, but by far the busiest direction is the right turn, so much so the traffic often backs up all the way to the point where the exit departs the main highway. Unfortunately, those of us who don't want to turn right have to wait behind a mysterious slow moving queue which forms in the left lane of the exit until the point where it widens out. It's a bit like this:

                                                               /----------------------------------
                                                              /                         Left  turn
 ------------------------------------------------------------/        -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
     ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????                         Left  turn
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
     ***********************************************************                        Ahead only
 ------------------------------------------------------------\ **     -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
                                                              \ *********************** Right turn
                                                               \----------------------------------

Rather surprisingly, in the early stages it is often the right lane which moves quickest. The left lane only gets to be quicker as we approach the widening of the road, then suddenly there is almost no traffic in front and no queue at the traffic lights (except for the right turn). Is there something to explain the formation of the slow moving left lane and why the left lane traffic doesn't move quickly to the traffic lights and form a normal queue there? Astronaut (talk) 18:41, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's probably people in the left hand lane trying to get into the right hand lane and the people in the right hand lane won't let them join. Dmcq (talk) 21:28, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely. If this is anything like my experiences as a regular day time commuter (UK) then a good 50% of the people in the left lane are trying to sneak ahead assuming they'll get in further ahead than if they'd just queued patiently in the correct lane. ~

Also, if the right hand lane is backed up to the highway exit, they may have no choice but to go into the left lane, or miss the exit. If this is the UK, it may also be people who don't know which lane they need, and keep to the left, but that seems less likely in a country which drives on the right. 91.208.124.126 (talk) 08:12, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed, they never seem to tell you which lanes turn where, with enough warning to get into the proper lanes, without stopping traffic. StuRat (talk) 08:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the layout I would use to solve the problem (note the solid line, preventing switching lanes, between the initial two lanes:

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                  Left or straight
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                        Right turn
 ------------------------------------------------------------         -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
                                                              \                         Right turn
                                                               \      -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - 
                                                                \                       Right turn
                                                                 \________________________________

It sounds like whoever set up the lanes had no idea what the traffic patterns would be, and they now need to redo the lanes accordingly. StuRat (talk) 08:24, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Looking down between the two lanes, I don't see many moving from left lane to right lane; trying to sneak ahead as suggested above. A more common occurrance is people moving from right lane to the left; presumably when they realise they want to go straight or left. I was looking for a study, perhaps from a body with a title like "institute of traffic mamagement" or something similar. Maybe such a body has been involved with the current works to widen the exit to three lanes, presumably to give more room for people turning right. The work however has been in progress for well over a year now! Astronaut (talk) 15:51, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

To address the psychology issue, yes, people in an unobstructed lane will automatically slow down when passing a slow-moving lane. This is for good reason, as it's dangerous to fly by slowly moving cars. For example, one of those slow moving cars could dart into your lane, causing you to slam into him. StuRat (talk) 19:59, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

These things aren't set in stone (well, it may literally be, in this case, but you know what I mean). StuRat is right that some simple repainting and maybe a tweak to the road layout could fix this problem. If I were you, I'd lobby on the subject to some local politician who is short on votes and would like to chalk up a nice easy win to parade to the local media. --Dweller (talk) 10:11, 19 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes blocking the movement between lanes and moving the place where that may be done back a bit could help considerably. You might like [1] about a vaguely similar problem with people but the advantage of moving the place where they have to choose lanes back is so people do that before the queuing. Dmcq (talk) 11:33, 20 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Bakers Pride deck pizza oven specs

How do I find the specifications for an older Bakers Pride pizza oven: Model #404 Serial #C463. Does it have UL listing?75.159.43.243 (talk) 22:18, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried writing to them? Their web site is here. They have a page full of manuals but I did not see a model 404 there. Dismas|^(talk) 23:40, 17 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

this, according to another spec sheet (for production volumes), is the same as model 404. I would dearly love to know, however, why you didn't just email BP? My dealings with their sales & information people have been uniformly positive and quick. — The Potato Hose 00:00, 18 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]