Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2018 May 25

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.

May 25

70.3 and 140.6

I recently saw a car with placards on the bumper saying "70.3" and "140.6". This is in the United States, so that they may be distances in the US customary system of English distances. However, I don't recognize them as distances in miles. I know that "26.2" is the length of a marathon. Are 70.3 and 140.6 specific ultramarathon distances? If so, are they in miles, or kilometers, or what? They aren't multiples of 26.2. Robert McClenon (talk) 03:00, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

They are the distances of two common triathlons: the half-Ironman, and Ironman, respectively, in miles. --Jayron32 03:04, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

How do people find their way?

In my country, Australia, we have Street name signs everywhere. Every street corner has one. I know they are also common in the UK, the USA, and New Zealand. No doubt other countries use them a lot too, but some don't. Parts of South America I have visited hardly ever have them. Google Street View shows me that many parts of eastern Europe seem to not have them. So, how do people find their way? HiLo48 (talk) 09:54, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Experiments using T-mazes find that the hippocampus located in the medial temporal lobe area of a rat's brain is responsible for spatial memory. Humans with further skill can tackle a Porteus Maze test or even overcome the Embarrassment of asking strangers for directions. DroneB (talk) 10:43, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Asking strangers for directions has its limitations when one is largely incompetent in the local language, as was my situation in South America. HiLo48 (talk) 23:46, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

How does that answer the question? If I told you to take Scuffetown Road to Woodruff, turn left, then turn right on Batesville. Drive until you reach Roper Mountain... If there are no street signs, how do you do that? Do you seriously stop at every intersection and ask locals what the names of the roads are? An answer to the question would be that people don't use road names. They use landmarks. Instead of giving directions with names, you tell someone to drive until you see the gas station, turn left, and drive until you see the bank, turn right, drive until you get to a stop sign, etc... 71.85.51.150 (talk) 11:32, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Or use GPS navigation or a scaled schematic of the area printed on paper that has been annotated with street names (aka "map"). 85.76.69.142 (talk) 13:01, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

I think the OP is overestimating the need to "find your way". Most people live their lives by going to the same 20 or 30 places all the time, and when they go to a new place the first time, they are taken there by someone who knows how to get to that place, or given instructions like "turn right just after the supermarket that you already know". If that is not possible, then people use maps. People are a lot more mobile than 50 years ago, there is more of a need for street names, but it has become especially easy to find names now that maps are free online. --Lgriot (talk) 13:39, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Having been to some places where they don't have street names (or where names of streets are hardly used), people use names of neighborhoods and local landmarks to give directions. Something like: Take the first street to the right after the sporting goods store, go up the small road until you reach an elementary school, and the house is the second on the left. It can be very confusing if you're not from the actual neighborhood. --Xuxl (talk) 13:50, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

• An aunt of mine was in Ireland once, and needed to find some place (a post office, I think). She asked a local, and was told the place was "up-a-by where Nelson was". That needed some unpacking; "up-a-by" means "near", and you had to know that "Nelson" referred to a statue of Lord Nelson that had been blown up in The Troubles some years earlier, long before my aunt ever made it to Ireland. It was no longer a visible landmark, and only locals would know it had ever existed at all, or where it used to be. As my aunt was asking about the post office, and had an Australian accent, she was obviously not a local. But there you go ... God bless the Irish. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:04, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Sounds like she was looking for the General Post Office, Dublin, and was directed via Nelson's Pillar. DuncanHill (talk) 20:20, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

• Sounds like Costa Rica, where there historically have been very few named streets and numbered houses. Postal workers would have to know not only where landmarks currently are but also where they used to be in order to deliver the mail. [1]. clpo13_(talk) 19:28, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Then there's the famous story of when Giuseppe Verdi was once asked his address, and replied "I think Italy would be sufficient". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:34, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

And — ask a New Yorker: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall" ... [ANSWER] —2606:A000:1126:4CA:0:98F2:CFF6:1782 (talk) 23:54, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Thanks for that, 2606, and for making me notice that nifty tooltip-trick I had no idea existed, and since this is an encyclopaedia, see also ANSWER. ---Sluzzelin talk 00:48, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

The actual answer to that old yarn (applicable to all time periods) is "uphill, seconds east of the top yo."Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 01:20, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

Laurie Anderson plays the flipside: "Well just take a right where they're going to build that new shopping mall, go straight past where they're going to put in the freeway, take a left at what's going to be the new sports center, and keep going until you hit the place where they're thinking of building that drive-in bank. You can't miss it." ("Big Science") —Tamfang (talk) 05:44, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

At least there might be signs for those future entities. As compared with, "Turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:40, 27 May 2018 (UTC)

As an ex-pat Aussie living in the UK for 25 years, I find navigation difficult. In Adelaide (where I'm from), the street signs are usually on the corner of the road, on a 2.5 metre high post, on both sides of the road, at both ends and nice and easy to see. My experience of the UK, is that the street name might be on a building, probably on only one side of the road, or it might 1 metre of the ground, generally with a car parked in front of it, or it might not be there at all. Often there is only a sign at one end of the road, usually the other end where I've entered. I regularly get lost. --TrogWoolley (talk) 21:46, 26 May 2018 (UTC)

Either by familiarity, memorization, or a map. Of course, the map on your phone knows exactly where you are, but even with an ordinary paper map, you only need one point of reference to figure out which street is which. That can be the point you started, a landmark, a natural feature like a river, an unusual intersection, or if all else fails, asking someone where you are.

Having a good sense of dead reckoning helps, too. If you know you'll recognize the landmarks near your destination, you can head in roughly that direction without worrying about exactly which road you're on. This is super easy in grid-shaped cities, but it works anywhere without dead ends, so long as you're content that your route might not be optimal. ApLundell (talk) 09:27, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Largest storage inverter producers?

On p. 25 of this presentation from SMA Solar the company is comparing itself against the two largest competitors in the field of storage inverters.

One is UK-focused with 6 % market share and one is US-focused with 5 % market share. Does anyone from these countries know, which companies are meant?--Eatkarus (talk) 10:55, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Possibly BYD and Parker Hannifin [2]? Although even assuming it is these, I don't know whic is which. Nil Einne (talk) 12:52, 28 May 2018 (UTC)

Middle class idlers today

What would be the percentage of idlers in middle class society in England, USA who live comfortably without working somewhere? Can an idler live well today without any substantial inheritance?Sumalsn (talk) 12:26, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Your question is very loaded and practically impossible to answer. How do you define idlers? How do you define middle class? Is a self-employed person an idler? What about those in receipt of social security, are they idlers? How do you define "living well"? How substantial is substantial? And so on. Why don't you go away and rewrite your question in a way that is capable of being answered, rather than coming here trying to make some kind of point? --Viennese Waltz 12:54, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

What an extraordinarily uncivil way of getting your point across.--WaltCip (talk) 14:28, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

In an attempt to cultivate civility, may I suggest a leisurely browse of The Idler, the current magazine bearing that title. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 16:01, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

Kind of a modern-day version of "The Ant and the Grasshopper". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:15, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

It was an extraordinarily uncivil question. --Jayron32 16:33, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

I'm a middle class idler in Australia living off my savings. I retired when I was 38 in 2003. I took a year off from idling in 2013 to get a Diploma of Business and I haven't worked a day since 2003. When I turn 67 I won't be eligible for a pension as my investments are too much.
Sleigh (talk) 22:24, 25 May 2018 (UTC)

One of the protagonists of About a Boy (film) is a middle-class idler. I don't remember either the book or film saying so, but there's a strong implication that such a lifestyle is inherently bad for the soul, despite the superficial attractiveness. I can't vouch for the truth of such a notion or how widespread it is, but I'd happily test it, given the financial security. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 14:21, 30 May 2018 (UTC)