Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 April 7

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April 7

Saul Krugman

Hi.

My query is about Dr. Sal Krugman. ¿Does anybody know which were his mother´s name?

Thanks.

Daniel, April 7th 2016. 81.38.143.8 (talk) 07:16, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Are you referring to this Saul Krugman? Because otherwise we're really not going to be able to answer. Even then, what I'm seeing, the information doesn't appear to be commonplace. Ian.thomson (talk) 13:08, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes, I´m referring to that Dr. Saul Krugman (1911-1995)

Daniel, April 7th 2016 81.38.143.8 (talk) 15:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

According to quite a few family trees on Ancestry, his mother was named Rachel Krugman, née Cohen. Warofdreams talk 22:49, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

"And God said, Love your enemy, & I obeyed Him & loved myself."

Everywhere on the internet that I can I find this quote, it is attributed to Khalil Gibran. Wikiquote tells me that it is, in fact, a misattribution, but without a citation and without mentioning the correct author. Is it possible to find more information about the quote?--The Traditionalist (talk) 11:00, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Wikiquotes is no more infallible than Wikipedia. This source http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1054116-and-god-said-love-your-enemy-and-i-obeyed-him quotes it, and says it comes from Broken Wings by Gibran. I don't have time to check it - but the text of Broken Wings is here: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500551h.html I hope you enjoy reading it. 217.44.50.87 (talk) 15:33, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Goodreads is not infallible either! I searched the Gutenberg text. "God said" does not occur. "Enemy" occurs three times, none are relevant. "Myself" occurs seven times, none that relevant. "Obey" occurs four times, again, none seem related to OP's quote. I suggest this might be a paraphrase of something Gibran said rather than an outright misattribution, but I'm pretty confident that exact phrase is not in that Gutenberg text. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:03, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

That seems more like extracted from Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran, rather than from Broken Wings.Scicurious (talk) 21:47, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Or Pogo, as in "We have met the enemy and he is us." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:46, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

I found at "Spiritual Sayings" the phrase "My enemy said to me, 'Love your enemy.' And I obeyed him and loved myself.". It looks like someone modified it and the new version went viral.--The Traditionalist (talk) 10:38, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

@The Traditionalist: Cool! Did you find some online excerpt or copy or did you look in a dead-tree book? Either way, perhaps you could update/clarify the wikiquote page with this improved information. SemanticMantis (talk) 14:45, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

@SemanticMantis: I found it here and I already updated the page, which contained that link.--The Traditionalist (talk) 15:51, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Unfortunately, "Spiritual Sayings" is a collection from Ghibran's works, put together, and translated, some 30 years after he died. That still doesn't tell you where the quote came from. What I don't know is whether everything in that collection came from published works, or whether some may have been translated from unpublished papers or manuscripts. 217.44.50.87 (talk) 18:03, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

Text in patents that has expired

What is the copyright status of text and pictures in US patents that has expired? Can it be copied into Wikipedia? Bytesock (talk) 17:07, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

c:Commons:Copyright rules by subject matter#Patents might (or might not) help. Thincat (talk) 17:24, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Whether the patent has expired or not shouldn't affect the copyright status of the patent specifications. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 17:50, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

User:Moonriddengirl might be able to answer your question.—Wavelength (talk) 18:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

WP:WHAAOE: Copyright on the content of patents and in the context of patent prosecution, which has links to the USPTO website. If you in doubt about the specific use you have in mind for a particular patent specification, why not try calling USPTO? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 09:13, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

British pound sterling

During the Victorian Era, approximately how much was one British pound sterling worth in today's U.S. dollars? I've been reading Sherlock Holmes and I'm curious. Mademoiselle La Souris ^(Squeak!) 21:31, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

{{inflation|UK|1|1891}} tells us £1 in 1891 is worth about £138 now (ouch!). I don't know if we have a template for currency conversion but Google tells me £98 is about $138.[1] Thincat (talk) 21:53, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

I think you meant:

• 0.0072491509725224 with a / instead of a | before UK. --Scicurious (talk) 22:04, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

This tool I found gives a current dollar value of $128.42 (for £1 in 1891). (Methodology for that calculation given here). $128 vs $138.....near enough :) FlowerpotmaN·(t) 22:02, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks so much, guys! And wow, that was a lot of money. O_O Mademoiselle La Souris ^(Squeak!) 23:02, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

The Victorian era lasted longer than the then-average lifetime, and the Canon of Sherlock Holmes stretches from 1887 to 1927. Over the course of that almost-century, there was a fair degree of variability in what one pound sterling represented. You may care to look at the classic work of sociology, Round About a Pound a Week, alluding to the income of a poor family at the turn of the century. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 11:24, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

I don’t think that inflation featured much in late nineteenth – century/early twentieth – century Britain. For example, the cost of posting a letter was fixed at 1d in 1840 and I believe it was the same eighty years later. When I was a kid a bus ride cost ½ d minimum and now it’s over two pounds. The methodology says "When decimal currency was introduced on 15 February 1971, the shilling was reduced from 12d. to 5 new pence, or 5p, and the coin itself ceased to be minted. Thus the pound which had always equaled 240 d. now represented 100p. (People with jars of pennies laughed all the way to the bank.)"

A more sophisticated inflation calculator can be found on the site of the Bank of England. A purchasing power comparator from 1270 is here. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 10:24, 9 April 2016 (UTC)