Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 July 3

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July 3

loading issues

why does wikipedia take forever to load a page? yesterday, I click my bookmark for the site and im waiting for almost half hour just refreshing for the wiki page to load. now dont tell me to clear my cookies and all that cuz i just installed firefox... i've had problems with wikipedia loading before as well but it was never this long... i could have taken a long walk and returned home only to find it blank still. what is the issue?! do you have so much data that pages wont load anymore?! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 120.60.22.232 (talk) 02:38, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

I've noticed a bit of a delay recently, but I'm talking seconds, not minutes. Some of these Ref Desk pages do get rather large, but not that large. StuRat (talk) 04:46, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

I've recently found Wikipedia to load swiftly in Chrome, reasonably in IE and very slowly in Firefox. But that just may be the computer I was testing it on - I'm not a techie. --Dweller (talk) 10:18, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

It sounds like you may have a problem with your internet connection, rather than it being a Wikipedia issue. I would check your cookies and cache even though you don't think it is necessary. A surprising number of times that has solved a problem for me, even though there is no reason I can think of that it should (smiles) 76.31.86.97 (talk) 17:20, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Why did I-97 appear in Maryland?

I was told earlier, when AASHTO determines the interstate numbers, when you have too many x-00 in the metropolitan, and all 8 or 9 I-x00s or SR-x00s is used up you can have a eccentric interstate numbers like I-238 in California, and I-97 in Maryland. But I wonder why did I-97 appear up in Maryland. Interstate 995 is never used anywhere in the USA, I heard in Maryland you have all eight sets used up in the state, and the one left unused is the I-995, which could be I-995 instead of I-97. I-97 starts at I-595 (which is unsigned) and it ends at I-895, it can be considered as one end (first digit odd) because I-595 is not signed, so why they can't number that highway a I-995 instead of the I-97?--69.226.40.110 (talk) 02:42, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Interstate 97 was initially planned to be much more longer (with one plan extending it from Annapolis along what is now US 50 (unsigned I-595) to Washington DC, and then beyond), and there were proposals to build auxiliary routes like I-197 and I-297, but local opposition killed all further expansion. Thus I-97 remains the shortest two-digit primary interstate highway in the country, and AASHTO has no plans to renumber it to a 3-digit interstate.

The following is pure speculation on my part, but I-97 could have also been used to follow US 50 west to Ocean City, or cross into southern Delaware. But the bottom line is that I-97 was originally designed as a two-digit primary interstate, but only the segment from Baltimore to Annapolis was completed, and after further expansion plans fell through, AASHTO had no desire to renumber it and change all the signs. Zzyzx11 (talk) 05:49, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Some of these decisions are done for what could be called "political correctness". I-35 splits into I-35E and I-35W in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and I think also in Dallas and Fort Worth. Normally those branches would have been called something like I-35 and I-235. But that would give one city "precedence" over the other, so instead they go with simply East and West. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:01, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Don't forget Interstate 99 in Pennsylvania, which violates AASHTO's numbering convention. That area's local congressman included that designation in a highway act, which resulted in Congress numbering that Interstate instead of AASHTO. Zzyzx11 (talk) 03:29, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

i don't think the fallowing article fits Wiki

David Derzi. i live in Israel. this man is not "famous", not a celebrity. i don't know who wrote this article, but as for 2012, i doesn't fit, as i understand. ask others and than act as you see fit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.64.172.90 (talk) 04:01, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles are based on notability, not on celebrity. Someone can be notable without being famous. Read the explanation at WP:N. After reading that, if you feel the subject of the article is not notable, you can post a request for deletion at WP:AFD. RudolfRed (talk) 04:12, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia articles need to be on verifiably notable subjects. This article currently fails that test, so I have listed it for deletion. --Dweller (talk) 10:15, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Note that the article was created by User:Mastar fx, and this is his only contribution. This makes me suspect he wrote the article about himself, or one of his friends did. StuRat (talk) 10:26, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

I second that emotion. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:06, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

I believe that's called a vanity article. StuRat (talk) 02:03, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Do tell. So, should it be deleted? Or should it just lie fallow? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:23, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I'd normally discuss it with the editor first, but, since the fellow who created it has since lied fallow, deletion does follow, logically. StuRat (talk) 18:33, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I prodded it 3 days ago. --Dweller (talk) 11:57, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Russian Wikipedia incorrect photograph for Christy Henrich

I did a search for a photograph of Christy Henrich (American Gymnast) and found a photo of Brandy Johnson (American Gymnast) labeled as Christy Henrich at http://ru.wiki.x.io/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%85,_%D0%9A%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8 I can sound out some Russian and I know for sure the photo labeled "Christy Henrich" is actually Brandy Johnson.

I do not know how to let them know as I don't understand Russian, just can sound out cyrillic text. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TasCat (talk • contribs) 17:02, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

For a simple message like that, a machine translation would probably work. If you want a better translation, you might want to ask at the Language Ref Desk. StuRat (talk) 18:27, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

The Russian Wikipedia has an "embassy" where you can ask questions in English and get answers in English. Looie496 (talk) 18:32, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

You could also edit the Russian article yourself to remove the image. The proper buttons are easy to figure out in most languages. Rmhermen (talk) 19:03, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but if this action isn't explained, in Russian, in the edit summary, it might well be reverted as apparent vandalism. StuRat (talk) 20:54, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Here's a machine translation:

Неправильная фотография с надписью: "Кристи Генрих", лицо на фотографии это "Бренди Джонсон".

I suggest you delete the picture from the article and leave that as your edit summary. Here's the English version:

Wrong picture with the inscription: "Christy Henrich", person in the photo is "Brandy Johnson."

StuRat (talk) 21:57, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Checkout/Payment splitting

In this video, at 3:10, the co-op apparently has separate stations for checkout and payment (or maybe just cash payment). Little explanation is given for this other than that it is "a system that we developed many, many years ago". What sort of benefit or reason could there be for this split? 67.164.156.42 (talk) 22:41, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Casual workers can help at checkout without necessarily being trusted to handle cash. DriveByWire (talk) 01:08, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

I can't view that video for geographical reasons, but I remember a similar system being used at Foyles bookshop in London, to the great inconvenience of customers. (More detail at the first reference for that article). As I understood it at the time, one of the aims was (as DriveByWire says) to limit the number of people who could deal with money. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 14:43, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

I too was surprised at that system in Foyles in the 70's, and also saw it in Moscow in 1971. My understanding was that in both cases they did not trust their lower-status employees with cash, but I don't recall who gave me that explanation. --ColinFine (talk) 22:32, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

It's still done in China, especially in pharmacies for some reason 59.108.42.46 (talk) 04:15, 6 July 2012 (UTC)

The video states/shows a couple things which, I think, are relevant.

1. Members of the co-op are required to work 3 hours a month at the co-op. There are 16,000 members. (3:00 mark in the video)
2. There is a credit card swipe machine visible in the video.
3. "I like to pay cash, so I'm going to go over to the register"

Considering people only have to work 3 hours per month, that would be quite a few people who would be handling cash and would have to balance their drawers at the end of a very short shift. If you only have 20-30 employees who are working longer shifts handling money that means there is less counting out after a shift, fewer people to look at if money does start disappearing, etc. The customers can still use credit cards at the same place that they are bagging their purchases though since the employee doesn't handle any cash and has no way of ripping anyone off. Dismas|^(talk) 00:38, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I've seen this a couple places:

Fretter Appliance stores did that, before they went bankrupt. They also would go get a box out of the back that they claimed was just like the floor model, but you never quite knew what was being shoved into the bag, until you got home. They also had the dishonest claim that they would give you "5 pounds of coffee if we can't beat your best deal", but those were tiny "Fretter pounds".

The Wayne County, Michigan government does that. There you have to go to the department of interest, wait in line to find out what you owe, then go to a cashier on another floor, in a caged-in area, wait in a line, pay them that amount and get a receipt, then take it back to the appropriate department, wait in a line again, to have the payment applied to your taxes. Quite the exercise in wasting taxpayer's time. Clearly, a business would go bankrupt if they tried such a method. StuRat (talk) 01:59, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

That makes good sense. Thanks everybody. 67.164.156.42 (talk) 08:01, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

You're welcome. I'll mark this Q resolved. StuRat (talk) 08:34, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Resolved