Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2010 April 6

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities 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.

April 6

Wearing opossums?

In this music video, the man on the right hand side appears to be wearing an animal pelt on his right shoulder. What animal is this, and was it ever common for the gentry to wear such pelts, draped over one shoulder, as in the video? --78.151.31.95 (talk) 00:44, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

It's not an opossum. Opossums are wider and not very soft. At a guess, I'd say it's a mink. Dismas|^(talk) 01:05, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Minority Concentrated Districts in India

When I was reading Murshidabad district, at the bottom of the page, there was Minority concentrated Districts in India. Does this mean the districts has most non-hindus concentrations? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.64.128.123 (talk) 01:29, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

It's unclear what the criterion for this category is. The category includes Wayanad district, which has a large Adivasi population, but the Adivasi are mainly categorized as Hindu. So the category may include districts with large populations of non-religious minorities. Since you have read the article, you know that Murshidabad district has a majority of Muslims. Marco polo (talk) 15:17, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Bach for bass

Where can I get 'Bach like' music written in bass clef for double bass?--79.76.156.101 (talk) 01:54, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

The obvious answer would be at a music shop. There appear to be any number of online stores, too. For example: [1]. --Phil Holmes (talk) 09:23, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

the idea of 'question and answer' as elements of classical Indian architecture

I saw something related to this in one of WP's Indian architecture articles, but like a fool didn't bookmark it. Can anyone help me? Thanks Adambrowne666 (talk) 03:36, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

What painting is this?

This face looks familiar. I think it's from a famous painting. Does anyone recognize it? http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8189/10905904.png 71.176.155.65 (talk) 03:41, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

TinEye led me to this page describing an internet meme which features this image (it comes from a yaoi).--Cam (talk) 04:10, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Mail-Order Brides Relationship

There are American & Canadian men who have gotten mail-order brides such Filipino wives, Russian wives, etc..and they have sponsored them to their western countries. The couples only knew each other for a short time. Do a lot of these mail-order bride couples end up in divorces or in happy marriages later? 174.114.236.41 (talk) 04:32, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

According to Mail-order bride#Divorce rate, 20% of such marriages end in divorce, much lower than the average (however the reference that supposedly backs that claim doesn't work). Clarityfiend (talk) 06:08, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

This article notes that the remaining 80% (if that is the right figure) may not necessarily be happy marriages (at least in the U.S.): "After two years, the couple may jointly petition the INS to adjust their status to that of permanent resident. These laws put mail-order brides at the mercy of their husbands by giving the men control over their wives' immigration status. Mail order brides often lack the language skills or knowledge about their new home to negotiate the immigration system or even to support themselves without their husband." Clarityfiend (talk) 06:15, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm always disappointed when my mail-order brides arrive ... because they keep forgetting to punch holes in the box before they ship them. :-) StuRat (talk) 17:59, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Me too. That's the last time I'm ordering from Necrophiliacs-R-Us. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:56, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Why get the human variety? (Sex doll).  :D  70.54.181.70 (talk) 18:45, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

When does the speed limit apply?

Is it as soon as the speed limit sign appears in line of sight or as soon as a car passes the sign?ExitRight (talk) 05:34, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

It begins at the sign.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 05:50, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

But it works against the driver both ways:

• when the sign coming up allows you to speed up, you must not start to do so until you reach the sign. This is where the speed cameras will be placed, to catch the drivers who start to speed up as soon as they see the sign up ahead even though they haven't reached it yet;
• and when the sign requires you to slow down, you must start to do so before you reach the sign, so that by the time you reach it, you're going no faster than the sign says. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 08:56, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Speed zones are presumed to work for the driver, in terms of safety. In the USA, at least, when a speed zone is coming up, typically there will be a warning sign, "Reduced Speed Ahead" or words to that effect. Theoretically, if you take your foot off the gas when you see that sign, you should be down to the reduced speed by the time you get to the actual speed limit sign. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:02, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, when the speed zone is ended, the sign may say the normal speed limit and/or it might say, "Resume Speed" or "Resume Safe Speed". Obviously, at the point the sign is posted, not before. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:04, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

When I said "against the driver", I meant against what a lot of drivers would naturally do if it were not illegal, and what many do anyway. I wasn't condoning speeding. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 09:08, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Roger. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:19, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks to all who answered. ExitRight (talk) 09:57, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Well, nobody who answered has cited any sources. It's nice that everyone agreed with each other and I daresay they all are right, at least for most jurisdictions. But I just looked through the driver's handbooks for California, Ontario, and the UK, and I found nothing in any of them that actually addresses the question asked. The Ontario and UK ones just said things like "this sign indicates a change of speed limit", without actually saying that it changes at the same place where the sign is; and the California one didn't talk about signs at all as far as I could see. --Anonymous, 10:12 UTC, April 6, 2010.

Every state has its own laws. Here's a summary of the Illinois signs.[2] It doesn't do a very good job of being explicit, but consider this: A speed zone is bounded by signs that define what the speed limit is within that zone. It's the driver's responsibility to drive no faster than the posted speed, within that zone between the signs. That's a no-brainer. Let's say 65 MPH is being reduced to 55 MPH. How you get from 65 down to 55 in time for the 55 sign is your problem, but obviously you have to do it safely, i.e. don't jam on the brakes at the last second and risk an accident, e.g. if your car skids into another lane. And you can't legally increase speed until you're out of the speed zone, because the speed is 55 within that zone. Some drivers will gun it, to get back to 65 ASAP, as soon as they've left the zone. But, again, it has to be done in a safe manner. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:28, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

That answers the technical question. As for what actually happens if a officer catches you speeding, that's a bit different. The following are my own personal oberservations: Unless you run into a particularly hard-nosed officer, they will let you off with a warning if you are approaching a faster speed zone, the new higher speed limit sign is within sight, and you are accelerating to that speed. In the US, in many areas there will be two speed limit signs. They're usually separated by 100' or so (depending on the terrain, space for signs, etc). So, if you are going from a higher to a lower speed limit zone, then the two signs come into consideration. If you are still traveling at the higher speed by the time that you reach that second sign, then even more lenient officers will often ticket you since you have now passed two signs telling you of the new lower limit. Dismas|^(talk) 10:20, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I was wondering something similar. There is a 2 lane non-divided road near me that has a speed limit of 35 going east, and 45 going west. Which is applicable? It does not seem to make sense for having 2 different limits for the same part of one road. Googlemeister (talk) 13:50, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Is the lower limit direction headed into a built-up area and the other headed out of it? That is true of one similar set of restrictions I personally know. Each applies to the direction to which the sign is facing. Bielle (talk) 14:56, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Actually, the higher speed side is going into town, and the lower is leaving town. And the distance where they are disimilar is about 2 miles. Googlemeister (talk) 16:40, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

When does a speed limit apply ? Whenever there's a cop around. :-) StuRat (talk)

That's where radar detectors come in. Just don't get caught with one, especially in states (like Virginia) where using a radar detector is illegal. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:17, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Those things are pretty spotty anyway. They detect a lot of things that are not cop's radar, and many types of police radar are undetectable no matter what kind of equipment you're carrying. APL (talk) 06:44, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

And it's important to remember that there is equipment that can detect radar detectors. So the safest thing to do is to drive the speed limit and/or go with the traffic flow. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:50, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Or become really good friends with the cops and or judge. Googlemeister (talk) 16:20, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

And hopefully not to become "friends" simply due to too many court appearances. :( ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:23, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

"Band of Brothers" at Mont Saint-Michel on 2009-06-05?

On behalf of someone else, who was in Mont Saint-Michel in France on 2009-06-05 during the 65th anniversary of D-Day, where medal and award presentations were made. They want to know if soldiers from Easy Company who were portrayed in Band of Brothers were there, and if so their names; and if the other USA soldiers there were from the 101st Airborne Division. I've found [3], but don't know where to look for the specifics. -- Jeandré (talk), 2010-04-06t09:24z

The Nature, Origin And Purpose Of Man On Earth

Explain ῌThe nature, origin and purpose of man based on the various religious beleif. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrisosas (talk • contribs) 10:11, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

See Meaning of life. That should answer, as well as inspire, some of your questions. Dismas|^(talk) 10:23, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Or possibly 42. Kittybrewster ☎ 16:30, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I'll tell you if you can pass the infamous General knowledge exam: -- AnonMoos (talk) 18:18, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Details

Instructions: Read all questions carefully. Time limit is 4 hours. You may begin when you are ready. History: Describe the history of the Papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating especially but not exclusively, on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific. Medicine: Behind your desk you will find a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work is inspected. You have fifteen minutes. Public Speaking: 2500 riot-crazed drug addicts are about to storm the room. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin, Greek, or Phoenician. Biology: Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if this form of life had developed 500 million years earlier, with special attention to its probable effect on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis mathematically. Music: Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano in the closet. Psychology: Based upon your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, and Hammurabi. Support your evaluations with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate. Sociology: Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the world. Conduct an experiment to test your theory. Engineering: The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in in a box under your desk. You will also find an instruction book printed in Swahili. In ten minutes, a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take what actions you deem necessary. Be prepared to defend your actions and justify your decision. Economics: Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan on the following areas: Cubism, the Donatist Controversy, and the Wave Theory of Light. Political Science: There is a red phone on the desk next to you. Start world War III. Report at length on its socio-economic impacts, if any. Epistemology: Take a position for or against Truth. Prove the validity of your position. Philosophy: Sketch the development of human thought. Estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought. General Knowledge: Define the universe. Give three (3) examples. Describe in detail, being objective and specific. Alrighty then, let's give this a go: History: Describe the history of the Papacy from its origins to the present day, concentrating especially but not exclusively, on its social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific. The Papacy began on a high note, with Peter. Since then, it has petered out. Medicine: Behind your desk you will find a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of scotch. Remove your appendix. Do not suture until your work is inspected. You have fifteen minutes. OK, I razored the appendix out of my textbook. Now what? Public Speaking: 2500 riot-crazed drug addicts are about to storm the room. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin, Greek, or Phoenician. Hold up a sign showing food and/or women, with an arrow pointing to the nearest exit. Biology: Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if this form of life had developed 500 million years earlier, with special attention to its probable effect on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis mathematically. OK, I have revived Life magazine. To the second part, if Life were first published 500 mega years ago, we obviously would have had the printing press sooner, and Parliament could have printed a lot more hot air. Music: Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano in the closet. a piano concerto I'll get back to you on the other. Psychology: Based upon your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Gregory of Nicea, and Hammurabi. Support your evaluations with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate. They were all loonies. And they admitted to it. Sociology: Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the world. Conduct an experiment to test your theory. Even now I'm negotiating with Dick Stuart to activate the Doomsday Machine. Engineering: The disassembled parts of a high-powered rifle have been placed in in a box under your desk. You will also find an instruction book printed in Swahili. In ten minutes, a hungry Bengal tiger will be admitted to the room. Take what actions you deem necessary. Be prepared to defend your actions and justify your decision. Stand behind at least one of the other students, decreasing the likelihood that you will be attacked by the tiger. Economics: Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan on the following areas: Cubism, the Donatist Controversy, and the Wave Theory of Light. Print more money. That should fix everything. Political Science: There is a red phone on the desk next to you. Start world War III. Report at length on its socio-economic impacts, if any. See the question about the Doomsday Machine. Epistemology: Take a position for or against Truth. Prove the validity of your position. Philosophy: Sketch the development of human thought. Estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought. I paraphrase Will Cuppy: "In the beginning, people were not very bright. They've been getting brighter and brighter ever since, until they're like they are now." General Knowledge: Define the universe. Give three (3) examples. Describe in detail, being objective and specific. The universe, by definition, is "everything". Also known as the complement of "the empty set". A "parallel universe" is actually a subset of the universe, because the universe, by definition, is "everything". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:46, 6 April 2010 (UTC) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:46, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

lol bugs that's brilliant.--92.251.159.250 (talk) 00:42, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Rates of abject poverty in the past

My friend argues that starvation/malnutrition are "modern" problems, for the reason that owing to far smaller populations food was never in short supply, and similarly with housing, there was plenty of space. I'm skeptical, to say the least. To what extend have global (and regional, if anyone has any info) rates of starvation, malnutrition and homelessness changed over the last 2,000 years or so?--Leon (talk) 19:46, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Part of the problem is an observation bias -- we don't have reliable data very far back in time, so we're more aware of recent poverty than we are of historical poverty. What seems to be the case is that starvation and malnutrition have (on a per capita basis) been in decline for the past fifty plus years (on average). So, your friend would have to argue that poverty steadily increased from year 0 to 1960 and then went into decline. He'd have to argue (a) why poverty rates would behave like that, and (b) how he knows that poverty was increasing from year 0 to 1960. (Also, where housing is concerned, "space" is irrelevant. What matters is developed space. The latter has been growing over time.) Wikiant (talk) 20:09, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Our Famine and List of famines articles mention many famines, ancient and modern. Starvation is not a modern phenomenon. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:14, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) I don't know if it's possible to give specific figures, but these problems certainly existed in the past. Any place and time where there is agriculture and urbanization will have crop failures, homelessness, and joblessness. We have an article about the Great Famine of 1315–1317, for one example. Some of the early English Poor Laws dealt with the homeless. There is a book called "Home And Homelessness In The Medieval And Renaissance World" by Nicholas Howe that might be useful. Further back than that, I think homelessness, at least, might not have been such a problem in Greece and Rome, partly because anyone that poor (especially debtors) would probably end up as a slave. For famines, Wikipedia also has a list of famines with numerous ancient and medieval examples. One major theme of Roman history is the need to find enough food for everyone. Tiberius Gracchus was killed for trying to implement agricultural reforms (but his brother was more successful). Rome took over places like Sicily and Egypt mostly because they were such rich sources of food. Ha, we even have an article, Grain supply to the city of Rome. Adam Bishop (talk) 20:17, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict with above) I'm not sure about the last 2 000 years, but I known that Jared Diamond has argued that when people lived in Hunter-Gatherer societies (~10,000 years ago), they were better off than when they moved to farming (better diet, etc.). It at least seems reasonable, though I haven't seen any data: people were eating a more varied diet, had a more egalitarian society, etc.

I don't buy that malnutrition is a modern problem (last couple hundred years) though. You look at what the poor were eating in Europe say 1000 years ago, and you feel that they had to be deficient in things (in fact, I asked a similar question a while ago, archived here). Buddy431 (talk) 20:19, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

I think that even hunter-gatherer societies, once they had become numerous enough not to be able to migrate without impinging on others' territories, almost certainly would have faced starvation during a severe drought. Drought and plant disease, along with the population outrunning agricultural productivity, certainly led to famine in premodern agricultural societies. Marco polo (talk) 20:25, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

(ec) There are two things that can cause starvation/malnutrition. Not enough food being produced, or the food being produced not getting where is it needed. Not enough food being produced is usually a short-term problem caused by drought, war, etc.. I think those problems have reduced over time because of better irrigation, hardier crops and the ability to transport food long distances if needed. Food not getting where it is needed may be a bigger problem now than it was, since over the last 2000 years the proportion of people living in cities and towns has increased. 2000 years ago a lot of people would have grown their own food, so nothing can go wrong. If you need an economic system to move food from the rural areas to the cities, there is room for corruption, etc., which can stop the food getting there. --Tango (talk) 20:30, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Another potential nutrition problem is eating food which doesn't fulfill all our needs. For example, low protein foods. This can be caused by eating one type of food only, and such monocultures are also vulnerable to disease, as in the Irish Potato Famine. StuRat (talk) 10:56, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

People's diets seem to have got worse in very recent times - the saturated fats and high salt of junk foods leading to heart disease and stokes, anmd obesity-related cancers. Fats, excessive calories and perhaps salt would not have been so readily available in the past. This is masked by the reduced incidence of lethal infectious diseases and medical and hygiene advances. 78.149.173.243 (talk) 11:07, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Ironically, those foods would be fantastic in a famine. Googlemeister (talk) 13:25, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

Any food would be fantastic in a famine. 78.144.248.81 (talk) 20:50, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

A greasy bacon double cheeseburger with fries would be a lot better than a dry salad. StuRat (talk) 00:23, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

No, because if you feed people a lot of fat after they have been acustomed to having very little, they just vomit it up. Examples are people in concentration camps mistakenly fed chocolate by the liberating soldiers, released American hostages, personal experience. The type and amount of food given to people who have been starving has to be done with care, otherwise it can harm them. 89.242.144.8 (talk) 11:06, 10 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes, they should probably take a bite, let that settle for a while, then take another. But gorging themselves on any food would likely cause probs, not just a cheeseburger. StuRat (talk) 13:37, 10 April 2010 (UTC)