Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2012 February 23

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February 23

Meaning of word or name

Searching the word Arwyn on wikipedia redirects to a disambiguation page for Sojourn with no mention of Arwyn anywhere. Likewise there's no explanation of "Sojourn". Ghits show it's Welsh, a rare personal or family name sometimes spelled Arwen for girls and is Welsh for "muse". Am I missing something here? or is there a case for making a separate listing for Arwyn? Thanks in advance, Manytexts (talk) 02:44, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

There's enough Arwyns, so I'll make up a dab page I've made a given name page. (Near as I can figure, the editor responsible actually intended to redirect to Sojourn (comic book series).) Clarityfiend (talk) 04:08, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Ah thanks Clarityfiend. Thought I slipped a cog. Manytexts (talk) 11:40, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Humanities Freemasonry

It is important to be accurate and precisely clearly separate Regular Mainstream Freemasonry from Illuminati Freemasonry . Satanic. Occult. If it was not for Democracy quality a lot of Muslims would not be in Canada, we highly question the abuses deaths incarcerations imposed upon Lord Lovat Scouts Canadians 1st family and Canadian Moroccans. Investigations are occurring across Canada.

Please include thank you — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.151.227.128 (talk) 03:15, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

What? AndyTheGrump (talk) 04:06, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree with Andy. Please ask a question if you want us to answer you. Nyttend (talk) 05:15, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. – b_jonas 09:26, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Low vehicles per capita for Colorado and Nevada?

I was just glancing through our List of U.S. states by vehicles per capita and as expected, the more "rural" states have a higher count of vehicles per capita. I expected New York to be that the bottom of the list but surprisingly Colorado and Nevada were the lowest two. These two states gave me the impression that they were quite sparsely populated. So what gives? 99.245.35.136 (talk) 07:23, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I don't know the answer, but a vehicle per capita measurement would be independent of population density (all else being equal). If there's one person in a state, and she has a car, that's a 100% vehicle per capita rate. . . DOR (HK) (talk) 07:58, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree that they're independent when all else being equal, but "all else" are not equal in this case. A more rural state will have lower population density but also less urbanization, thus the average citizen will need to travel longer to reach where they need to be, hence a greater need for cars. There's a clear correlation from that list, with the exception of Colorado and Nevada.99.245.35.136 (talk) 08:06, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Colorado and Nevada are both examples of states centred on a massive city, surrounded by huge areas of almost empty land (61% of Coloradans live in the Denver–Aurora–Boulder Combined Statistical Area and about 71% of Nevadans live in the Las Vegas – Paradise – Pahrump combined statistical area, both of which have decent public transport systems.) Wyoming on the other hand, at the very top of the list, has no major urban areas at all. There will probably be other factors - wealth probably plays a part (especially in cases of multiple car ownership), as will the types of jobs predominant in each state, and our article on Colorado mentions the state being "healthier" than most too - but that, I think, is the most significant factor. Smurrayinchester 09:21, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that explains it. 99.245.35.136 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 09:40, 23 February 2012 (UTC).

Actually, there is something else going on here. Most of Colorado's population may live near Denver, but it is somewhat hard to get around the Denver area without a car. Check out this discussion. Apparently, many Colorado residents drive cars registered elsewhere because of the state's high car registration fees. It is probably no coincidence that neighboring (and much less populous) Wyoming has the highest rate of car registration per capita. No I know why I saw so many cars with out-of-state plates last time I was in Denver! Perhaps something similar is going on in Nevada, because I can't think of a more car-dependent city than Las Vegas. Marco polo (talk) 18:54, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Pete Hoesktra's attack ad

I don't understand this ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrbdXUWryXk

If you wanted to make someone the target of your hatred, why would you choose a young, attractive woman who was a contestant for Miss California? She even has a soothing voice and is obviously fluent at English, despite her artificial attempts to seem otherwise. --140.180.9.36 (talk) 07:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Ignorance, racism and bigotry come immediately to mind, followed by isolationism, protectionism and other closely related failings of the far, far right. DOR (HK) (talk) 08:02, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

The creator of that ad (and the politician that paid for it) apparently thinks racist tendencies overpowers any sexual tendencies. 99.245.35.136 (talk) 08:08, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Barring an honest explaination from the creators, which seems unlikely, who knows what they're thinking? May be you're supposed to get more angry that it's not some ugly fat Chinese guy who is stealing your jobs etc but a young attractive woman (and perhaps it also sends a message that the target of the attack ad is going to make it more difficult for you to find mail order bride). Remember despite the valid concerns of people criticisng this ad, one would presume the primary purpose of the creators would be to get the audience to dislike or hate the target of the ad, rather then the person in it. It may be they were hoping if the person in it would also be hated, but I don't know if this has to be the case. Targeting the general concept may be a better bet, what's the use of getting your audience to focus your hate on some random actress, when when what you want them to hate or dislike is the general concept and therefore the person who is allegedly causing it? (I'm not saying they succeeded or made a smart decision.) Or may be the creators just weren't thinking and saw this hot girl auditioning so chose her. May be they wanted to use sex appeal to try to better sell their message (as many advertisers do) and didn't consider how well it would fit with their message. Nil Einne (talk) 14:06, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I didn't mean to suggest that the ad is racist. In fact, although I don't agree with its message, I don't think the ad was intended to be racist. From a practical point of view, however, wouldn't you want viewers to think "what a despicable woman" upon seeing the actress, rather than "wow, I would totally do her"? --140.180.9.36 (talk) 20:12, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

As I said, I don't see any reason to think that. It's easy to think that it may defeat the purpose of the ad. Rather then people coming away with and remembering the message that the opponent of the ad is the person they should concentrate their anger/hate/dislike upon (and therefore not vote for her), they may instead come away with the messsage the woman in the ad is the person they should direct their anger/hate/dislike. There's no guarantee that's going to result in that much ill feeling towards the target of the ad, in fact it's easy to imagine they may mostly forget about her if they have another target (the woman in the ad) for whatever ill-feelings the ad generates. That's clearly of little benefit to person who authorised the ad. (I.E. When they are thinking wow, what a despicable woman, the primary thing they should be thinking of is the senator not the random actress appearing in ad.) I'm not of course saying that having the woman in the ad becoming a focus is definitely a bad thing, perhaps it will be better that way. I'm simply saying that it's far from guaranteed and it's a clear risk given the purpose of the ad. Nil Einne (talk) 05:41, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Police badge, shields, and nomenclature

I was surprised to find we don't have much in terms of an article on police badges, instead there's a short badge article that covers everything. My question is, the term "shield" is used to refer to badges or more broadly the concept of being a police officer, but I wonder how specific the term is. For example, the New York Times will regularly use the term "shield" to refer to a detective's badge, or a "detective's shield", which led me to wonder if that's a term reserved for detectives. Or does the term "shield" refer to any officer's badge.

And does the meaning change based on the geography? Any sourced answers would be especially welcome. Shadowjams (talk) 19:44, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

We do have an article, Police memorabilia collecting and this looks to be a good website.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:08, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunately none of that has anything to do with the "shield" terminology. Shadowjams (talk) 01:50, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Random googling led to Air Force Security Police Badge, in which the term "shield" is used liberally. I think they're synonymous, the term "shield" possibly being more specific as its shape suggests a tiny shield like a warrior would use. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:10, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

In the UK, "Warrant Card" would be the equivelent term. It does include a small police badge [1] but it isn't generally shield-shaped in Britain (usually a Garter star). It seems to be a universal concept, because I found this image for a police I/D badge in China. Alansplodge (talk) 09:36, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Star-shaped badges are not uncommon in the U.S. For example, [2]. Perhpas stars are more associated with county sheriff department and shields with city departments? 75.41.110.200 (talk) 15:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

The police occasionally use perplex shields to protect themselves from attacks (such as thrown stones) during a riot. Thus, referring to a policeman's badge as a “shield” could be confusing. – b_jonas 18:22, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

a tomour

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This is the Wikipedia Reference Desk. We answer questions from people seeking information. It appears that you are trying to contact Mitt Romney, but he is unlikely to find your message here. You may want to contact his campaign directly. Marco polo (talk) 20:39, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia have information about the payroll tax cut extension?

I need something to link to.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:08, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Bush_tax_cuts#Extension_of_Bush_tax_cuts? --Tagishsimon (talk) 21:12, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

No, a bill was passed by Congress last week and that article has nothing after 2010.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:19, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Our article is titled Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012. Marco polo (talk) 22:20, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

That was a holy mess. I've made it look a little more like what Wikipedia expects, but I'm still unsure about what to include. And the one reference expired.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:46, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the correct formatting is for articles like that, but someone keeps making it look worse and worse.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:41, 24 February 2012 (UTC)