Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 January 6

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.

January 6

DIY electric quadricycle

--Moved to WP:RD/S-- --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:33, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

couches at Coffman Memorial Union

does anyone know where i could buy a couch like the ones at the union at the university of minnesota? Theyre sooo comfortable! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.188.134.93 (talk) 07:32, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

The university would have someone whose responsibility it is to purchase furniture and other goods for the campus buildings. I would suggest you contact the university to find out who that individual is and then contact them. Dismas|^(talk) 09:43, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

This person might have a title such as procurement manager. BrainyBabe (talk) 16:49, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

there is probably a manufacturers tag under the cusions or under the couch somewhere. It may be institutional furniture not available to consumers. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Cost cutting or something else...?

Manufacturers look for ways to reduce cost by replacing a pot metal part with a nylon or other plastic type part or vice versa to take advantage of material market cost fluctuation. However, I have never seen a product until now that used mold wax to replaced a pot metal gear. I am a bit suspicious that there may be more than cost cutting going on here such as the purpose being to intentionally reduce product life to assure out-or-warranty repairs, replacement or sales. Is it possible that a major office supply company would be so desperate as to install a mold wax gear plug in a product instead of the pot metal gear? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 09:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Can someone explain what mold wax is? Dismas|^(talk) 10:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Wax for making moulds? E.g. when a TV villain presses a key into a tin containing a hard wax so that he can duplicate the key from the resultant depression in the wax. --WebHamster 13:52, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Well companies will do a Cost-benefit analysis on the changing of manufacturing parts. Lots of companies make changes that will knowingly reduce the life-span/longevity of their products as it reduces costs/simplifies the process. It might sound odd but the company has to balance quality with production cost. It might be a good way to reduce costs without adversely affecting most customers. You say 'desperate' but it would be nothing of the sort. Products are built with expect life-spans in minds, they can go up or down depending on the products used. ny156uk (talk) 14:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Two other suggestions: (1) mold wax would be self-lubricating and would run very quietly under light load. (2) the teeth would strip from the component in question at a fairly light load which would protect other components in the drive train from overload (analagous to using a fuse in an electric circuit). SaundersW (talk) 15:01, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay,if that is the case why not provide replacement "fuses" at minimal cost instead of one half to two-thirds the cost of the product and 1. prevent customers from purchasing a new unit made in a foreign country (product in reference claims to be made in the US) and 2. prevent customers from using an alternate repair method by replacing the gear train with two pulleys and a belt? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 21:27, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible that the mold-wax gear was included as a manufacturing defect? Going on the assumption that you've only seen or purchased one such product, and that if you were to purchase or examine another example it would have the typical metal gear; one explanation is that the pot-metal gears are cast using a lost-wax process and one of the wax dummy gears slipped through undetected to the next assembly step. If it was durable enough to allow the finished device to function and pass the final quality tests it would not have been detected as a manufacturing flaw. 71.112.136.40 (talk) 17:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It was the first thing that came to mind but there is major separation between part manufacture and part assembly. It is possible I suppose the an order for parts would be sent to the manufacturing department and they could send a box of mold wax parts either accidentally or intentionally instead of the finished metal parts even as a joke. I doubt the assembly personnel would not recognize the difference between metal and wax. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 05:31, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Investment Casting? --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 02:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Learning to speak Spanish.

Anyone care to recommend an effective Spanish Language Course for me? I go to southern Spain quite regularly for annual holidays of a week or two, and I have learned enough Spanish to get by in restaurants, bars, public transport and in emergencies. But I want to be able to speak Spanish, if not fluently, then competently and conversationally. I am going for 2 months during December 08 and January 09 next and I am determined to make the transition no matter how much practice it takes. But I would really be grateful for some advice on a good language course. I am over 60 and confident enough to make mistakes and laugh about it, and I don't want to discuss politics religion or philosophy at Malaga university with the academic staff, but it would be nice to ask Pedro our waiter how his health and wife are instead of just asking for 'Dos copas de vino tinto por favor Senor', and not get stuck when he responds with a rundown of that year's vintage wines. Thanks. 81.145.241.244 (talk) 15:58, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I have taught myself Spanish to the level of fluency that you want to achieve, and have done so primarily by focusing on understanding Spanish. I would recommend listening to Spanish podcasts about a subject that you're familiar with, even if you understand only a fraction of what's being said. That way, you will gradually pick up vocabulary, grammar, and idiomatic expressions, and learn how to break the stream of sound into words and sentences. Radio Nacional de España has many podcasts to choose from, if you follow this link, you can take your pick, and download the audio as mp3 files which you can play from your computer or an mp3 player. If you're at all interested in science, check out our articles about Vanguardia de la Ciencia and El Sueño de Arquímedes. The host, Ángel Rodríguez Lozano, does not speak too quickly, and the contents are top quality. I don't know whether Pedro your waiter is interested in science, but that's beside the point. If you are familiar with the subject matter, it will be a lot easier to understand what is being said. I have also listened to No es un día cualquiera (link) hosted by Pepa Fernández, a talk show that's running for the ninth year, and which offers six hours of listening every weekend. It is quite entertaining, with interviews, "tertulias" (discussions), etc.

In addition, you will of course need to read up on the grammar, especially the verbs. The book 501 Spanish verbs, fully conjugated is a must. When you have a solid knowledge of the grammar, you will begin to ask yourself questions such as "why did he use the subjunctive mood in that context?" when listening to the podcasts.

Finally, I would recommend reading Spanish books. Avoid the so-called "easy readers", they were of no help whatsoever to me when I started teaching myself Spanish. Instead, I would suggest non-fiction books or newspapers to begin with. If you would like to read fiction, buy books in Spanish that you previously have read in English (or any other language that you speak). In my experience, it is a lot easier to understand translations from English to Spanish, than books which were originally written in Spanish. Check out the book shops the next time you are there. For me, Agatha Christie was a good choice, in addition to popular science books. Good luck! --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:35, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I found a New Penguin book of short stories in Spanish in parallel text - Spanish on the left page, the English translation on the right. ISBN 0-140-26541-4. Try reading out loud so that your ears can hear what your saying, sounds odd but I'm convinced it helps. Buena suerte y exito. Richard Avery (talk) 20:00, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I've tried reading parallel texts too, but at quite an early stage in the learning process, and it wasn't useful to me then. The reason, I think, was that the presence of the English text made me try to understand everything at once, which, at least then, was far too ambitious. I think you need to learn to think in Spanish when speaking Spanish, and reading in parallel, page by page, is not the way to go in my opinion. A better option is to buy a novel in both English and Spanish, read it in Spanish, and check out the English version only when you are really stuck. You do not need to understand every single word to enjoy a novel. I do agree with Richard's suggestion about reading out loud. If you are able to get hold of a Spanish audio book along with the text version, you might try listening to a paragraph, and reading it out loud while trying to imitate the original. Unfortunately, you will find few if any audio books in Spanish book shops. Maybe they are sold in specialized shops, I don't know. The next time I'm in Spain, I think I'll ask one of the ONCE lottery sellers about where blind people buy audio books. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Some more suggestions:

• Buy DVDs of Spanish films with a lot of dialog. You can find a list of films with English Wikipedia articles here. Two suggestions: Volver and El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's labyrinth). With the DVD, showing the Spanish subtitles while listening and watching might be a good idea. If Pedro likes going to the cinema, you'll have something to talk about.
• Read Spanish Wikipedia articles. When you browse Wikipedia, you will find a group of boxes in the left margin, which in English are labelled "navigation", "interaction", "search", "toolbox", and "languages". If you find a link to "Español", this will bring you to the Spanish article. You can of course also go straight to the Spanish Wikipedia main page, the link is http://es.wiki.x.io
• There is a project in the English wikipedia called "Spanish translation of the week", which translates good articles from the Spanish Wikipedia to English. I only recently became aware of it, but you might want to check out what's going on there. The link is http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Wikipedia:Spanish_Translation_of_the_Week
• Read Spanish newspapers on the web. http://news.google.com might be a good place to start, follow the link "España" at the bottom of the page. Or you might want to go directly to http://www.elpais.com/ or one of the other major newspapers. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 21:34, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

You say that you want to learn to speak Spanish. If so, then I think that there is no substitute for conversation practice with a live partner. Speaking skills are different from reading or comprehension skills. I personally have strong reading and comprehension skills in Spanish but rather weaker speaking skills. You might try advertising for conversation exchange with a native speaker of Spanish wanting to learn English, you might look for a tutor for maybe ten conversation sessions, or you might sign up for a Spanish conversation class. If you are in London, you could try the Cervantes Institute. Marco polo (talk) 22:37, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

My point with putting such emphasis on comprehension, is that it is impossible to converse if you don't understand what the other part is saying. It is, however, quite possible to converse even though your speaking skills are weak. You just need to be, as the original questioner said, "confident enough to make mistakes and laugh about it". I agree that finding a conversation partner (or small group with a Spanish teacher) would be a very good investment. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 10:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

All you need is:

• Vocabulary: Get some dictionaries, in paper (for mobility) and on-line (normally superior searching speed) and google for word lists.
• Grammar (so that you can speak and understand the language better): Get good grammar books, but only look for those that compare Spanish with your native language, otherwise you'll be wasting your time with many things you already know. For example, if I wanted to learn French and I picked up a French grammar and not a compared one, I'd waste time with facts about the purpose of the articles, the genders and many other things that work the same way in French and in Spanish, whereas a comparative grammar focuses in the difficulties and differences of both languages.
• The language in use: read the Spanish Wikipedia or get books in Spanish that aren't too hard.

And when you have more or less mastered all the above listen to the Spanish television or the Spanish radio. Of course every person learns differently, modify the above method to fit your needs. --Taraborn (talk) 09:27, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

All good answers. In my experience, the most important factors are determination and motivation (which often depends on the reasons for learning), access to materials and people who speak the language (much easier in the age of the internet), and time and energy available to concentrate on this goal. Personal aptitude (memory, intelligence, and innate ability) also comes into it, but this is not the be-all and end-all. Have a look at Wikihow's Teach Yourself a New Language. A relevant blog post summarises several methods, with a nod towards dual language texts. Podcasts to encourage solo learners are here. I recommend simplified readers (like basal readers, but for adults) -- but note above that they are not to everyone's taste. Advertise for a conversation exchange partner; this is one example, your local community college may have a paper or virtual notice board for free. Borrow a reasonably bright child of 6 or 8 years old; they are often happy to repeat words and phrases (numbers, colours, common nouns, etc.) for a long time before they lose interest, and may be keenly amused by adults willing to make a fool of themselves (mispronouncing and misremembering numbers, colours, common nouns, etc.). Keep target language radio or other audio on in the background as you go about your daily life so that your ear becomes attuned to the rhythm and sounds you need to recognise. Try several different strategies until you find what suits you. Don't give up! Have fun! Good luck! BrainyBabe (talk) 17:27, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Game Boy Advance SP

Why is it so hard to find one to buy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.210.107.104 (talk) 17:52, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Becuase that don't produce them anymore, they make Nintendo DS. --'n1yaNt 18:54, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

eBay!!! --71.117.34.180 (talk) 03:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia's Dick is Small?

Look at this dick, I am surprised for a site this big would have a stub. --'n1yaNt 18:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Since you obviously looked it up, you are obviously the right person to expand the article! :)--TreeSmiler (talk) 19:13, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

FA status here we go! --'n1yaNt 22:14, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Lol... he put a hidden comment right before the message saying it's a joke. :P · AndonicO ^Hail! 23:03, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If you want a really good laugh, check out Penis enlargement. The article lead is tagged as being too short and needing expansion. --Drop Dead Ed (talk) 23:24, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Other examples include Dishwashing, which sports a {{Cleanup}} tag, and Reference, which only has a single source. Also, anyone else have Category:Watches on their Watchlist? :) GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 00:07, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Drop Dead Ed and GeeJo, that's hilarious! --'n1yaNt 02:10, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I almost fell off my chair laughing... --Taraborn (talk) 15:43, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Six Questions To Norman Mailer

I,know I shouldn`t be asking this on the refrence desk.But,I just felt so tempted and I couldn`t control myself. If,you could ask Norman Mailer six questions what would they be. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.161.91.151 (talk) 18:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If you know you shouldn't be asking it, why do so? For what it's worth, by an amazing coincidence the same question was asked [here]. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 19:17, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Not such a coincidence methinks. It looks like the same person asking again--TreeSmiler (talk) 20:07, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Asked,answered,get a life.hotclaws 06:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Driver of Princess Elizabeth

In 1951 Queen Elizabeth II, then Princess Elizabeth was visiting Hamilton, Ontario. Could you please tell me who the driver of her vehicle was.

Thank you for the information Elizabeth Robinson —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.112.85.213 (talk) 20:08, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Economic status discrimination

In the US it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of gender and race. The reason given by the authorities is that gender and race can not be changed. Discrimination against people on the basis of economic status, however is openly and widely accepted and practiced. Is it therefore believed in the US that while everyone can not change their race or gender that everyone can change their economic status to the degree of preventing themselves from being discriminated against, and if not what other logic is used in face of the fact that economic status can not always be changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 21:50, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Because you CAN ALWAYS change your economic status. For every situation you can dream up there is someone who has crawled out of it (god knows how sometimes) and made a success of themselves. Be it ultimate pain, ultimate loss, ultimate poverty. The only thing preventing you from changing your economic status is desire. Race and legally-defined sex (gender can be changed) cannot be changed so deserve protection to prevent discrimination - though even then there are exceptions such as the acting industry. social mobility is possible. Additional what 'discirmination' is there that is economic? Beyond the price of some items being outside of the reach of some people? ny156uk (talk) 23:03, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

How easy it is to forget, ignore and dismiss the disabled. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 23:26, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

"or every situation you can dream up there is someone who has crawled out of it", I would posit that, depending on the situation, the people who crawled out of it had a good deal of good luck on their side, while other hard workers who "desire" social improvement just as much were not so fortunate. 72.10.110.107 (talk) 17:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

That is to assume that the disabled are always incapable of altering their economic situation... I would speculate that for the vast majority this is not the case. Where this is case then often their economic-status will be largely dependent on government policy so can still change, but is less within their control. Economic-status is not unchanging, it alters, it moves, positively negatively. Your race and sex do not alter (even sex-changes do not result in alterations to legal-status of sex). The disabled are certainly are risk of discrimination and are given protection by way of regulation and legal protection but their economic-status is still not static, it can and does change. ny156uk (talk) 23:50, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Most disabled persons receiving government support are required to reimburse the government for their support. In all cases where a person can not change their economic status for whatever reason, especially those based on freedom of choice to avoid unethical or immoral economic activity, there is no protection by the government or anyone else against economic discrimination. In fact, the opposite is true especially for persons who uphold an ethical or moral standard which changing their economic status would violate. They are often urged to forget about their ethical or moral position and trade it so they can have money instead. This is the basis of prostitution, illegal drug sales and gambling. They are told it is far better to sacrifice their ethical or moral position in order to have money and to follow the way of the people of the Golden Calf. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.12.59 (talk) 10:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Would you mind giving an example of what you would consider economic discrimination? Having ultra high price luxury goods for sale? Judging people based on the clothes that they wear (and therefore judging someone who wears old/dirty clothes to be poor)? Without clearly defining what it is you think is economic discrimination, it is hard to try to explain why that may or may not be justified.--droptone (talk) 14:35, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

...you are confusing the act of determining economic status with the act of discrimination on the basis of economic status. For instance: A student might be judged to be poor because they are receiving financial aid, are in a work/study program or because they have never been seen wearing anything but button down shirts and sweaters. The act of determination is not the same as the act of discrimination. An act of discrimination ia when, for instance, the right of a poor person to go to school was effectively denied and they were required to have job instead.71.100.12.59 (talk) 06:41, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

That is not discrimination in its commonly seen form. Firstly, there is no 'right' to schooling beyond that which is legally provided. There is no right I know of (nor can I fathom why one should exist) that says you cannot be denied optional education if you do not have the money to pay for it. There is no right to optional education. There IS a right to not be discriminated against because of your sex or race - because these never change and to remove you from the market on this basis would be unfair (as you could never achieve the markets demand of you). A refusal of entry to a college on 'economic' grounds would be based on not being able to pay the course fees. That is a 'current circumstance' policy and were your economic status to change and mean you could pay the fees you would no longer be denied entry. That in itself is the major difference between the two. There is no right to be able to access every service offered for money - be it education, healthcare, products, services. There exists rights to not be denied them because of factors you cannot change (sex, race etc.). Anything that society feels should be available 'as a right' to everybody regardless of econoimc status will either be state-owned and provided (for example free-entry museums paid for by the state) or subsidized by the state so that the poor can access it for free whilst those who can afford to pay do (progressively taxed/progressively vouchered). ny156uk (talk) 00:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The OP could always point to instances where high school age teenagers "have" to drop out because their family are in such an economically hard place. I put have in quotes because I would wager that most of the argument over that situation would be whether or not that person actually had to drop out. I suppose an important point would be whether there are ways in which the student can still attend school when there is intense familial pressure to drop out and work.--droptone (talk) 12:56, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

PhD admission in the States/UK/Europe

Hi

Would I be allowed direct admission to a PhD program in America, the UK, or Europe after completing a BSc with first class honours in New Zealand? My degree was 3 years of undergraduate for the BSc plus an extra year of papers and a lab research project for the honours part. The first class bit reflects my marks (A to A- average).

Thanks very much for your help. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aaadddaaammm (talk • contribs) 23:30, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

A first class or upper second class honours first degree would certainly be the usual way to get onto a PhD programme in the UK. -- Arwel (talk) 00:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know much about NZ undergradute programs, but I can't see any reason a Ph.D. program in the States would require more than the above to begin the program. Of course that's not the same as saying they'd admit specifically you -- that depends on so many things that there's no use in spinning generalities -- but very few programs require a Master's at admission, if that's what you want to know. --Trovatore (talk) 00:22, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you certainly would qualify academically in Britain and in the US you would qualify only after you took the Graduate Record Examination. One thing to note, especially in the UK, that many PhD's are funded by funding bodies that require the student to be a national of an EU country. If you are not, then they will not accept you. The ones that are open to students of any nationality tend to be very competitive, for obvious reasons. Rockpocket 04:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)