Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 April 30

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April 30

Looking for source of a quote

I saw it attributed to Groucho Marx, but that doesn't mean much; just about any funny line gets attributed to Marx, Carlin or Twain. I'm also not 100% sure of the exact wording, which may be stymieing my attempts to Google it. Anyway, it goes like this: "To the amateur, nothing is funnier than the sight of a man dressed as an old woman getting pushed off a cliff. But to make a professional laugh, you'd have to use a real old woman." It may have run somewhat longer than that. It feels a bit like something Mel Brooks would say; the feel of it is quite similar to the "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die" line from the 2,000 year old man schtick. But that doesn't seem to be helping me track this down. Matt Deres (talk) 01:40, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Tina Fey. [1] OttawaAC (talk) 03:47, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

She may have said it, but I first read the quote about two decades ago, long before she was famous, and it definitely involved a cliff. Matt Deres (talk) 11:16, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I recall an earlier version - perhaps attributed to Graham Linehan, although I could be wrong - along the lines of "A person in a wheelchair going over a cliff is funny to most people if they know it's fake; to a comedian, it's only funny if it's real." AlexTiefling (talk) 11:38, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Reminds me of Richard Widmark giggling as he pushes an old lady in a wheelchair down the stairs to kill her in Kiss of Death (1947 film). It seeming funny seems like an indication of psychopathy as in the Widmark movie character. Edison (talk) 14:52, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Number of ships in and around Singapore and Malaysia

Having just sailed around Singapore to the eastern side of Malaysia, I am curious to know the total number of ships anchored in this area. I understand that this area also has a lot of abandoned ships. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 183.171.166.150 (talk) 06:54, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Won't that number vary from day to day? And that's rather a vague description of the area. I suggest you take a look at the satellite view of the area you mean (maybe [here http://goo.gl/maps/ag77n]?) and count them yourself.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:16, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Right now, Marine Traffic is telling me that there are 1048 vessels of various kinds in Singapore and the surrounding straits - and that's just vessels which carry AIS transmitters. AlexTiefling (talk) 09:40, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

That's an interesting site Alex, thanks for the link. By the way, did you notice the two pink rectangles in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia? Presumably those are the search area for MH370. --Viennese Waltz 15:27, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Yes - if you use the drop-down menu at the top right of the map, it's currently available as the last option. AlexTiefling (talk) 16:44, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Pink rectangles? Whew, for a moment there .... -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:09, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

I'm fairly certain that the ships aren't "abandoned" - they are "laid up" with a skeleton crew, awaiting an upturn in trade when it will be worth crewing and insuring them. See Idling ships clog up Singapore shores. Alansplodge (talk) 17:03, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Here's another site that does the same thing, just for interest's sake. http://shipfinder.co/ Mingmingla (talk) 18:19, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

According to Strait of Malacca, some 94,000 ships passed through in 2008, which would average out to 258 a day. But, those are just passing through, not anchored. The woefully out-dated Port of Singapore article says there are 67 berths, most of which would be handling containers or fuel. Add cruise ships, ferries, private yachts, dive boats and fishing fleets and the odds are that anywhere from 500 to 1,000 ships (and boats) might anchored there on any given day. But, that’s only Singapore, not the entire area.DOR (HK) (talk) 07:47, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Bircham University

Dear Sirs,

Based on the information you provided for Bircham University,Could you kindly confirm if the following institutions are validating BIU as an accredited University?

• Eduespana
• WCRDE(World Council for Regular and Distance Education)
• IOL accreditation

Also, How can a student get a Hague Apostille for the legalization of a Degree with BIU without accreditation?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.13.164.88 (talk) 21:39, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Everything about Bircham International University appears extremely dodgy. There is no record that it is accredited by any recognized educational accreditation body.

Regarding the three institutions you list, Eduespana doesn't seem to be an accrediting body. I am not sure what "IOL" you mean, but neither this one nor this one seems to accredit universities either. As to WCRDE, Google warns me to stay away from their website due to malware, so I am not going to look into that.

Regarding getting an Apostille for a BIU degree, that sounds a bit like a request for legal advice which we cannot provide. (I would note that there are recognized concerns over the abuse of apostilles with diploma mill certificates.)

- Eron^Talk 22:16, 30 April 2014 (UTC)