Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 January 28

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January 28

Influence of the Yom Kippur War on the US military

I've been reading Rabinovich's book on the Yom Kippur war and the constant references to tanks fighting other tanks in the deserts of the middle east got me thinking how much that war influenced US military thinking prior to the Gulf War. Are there any sources which would possibly answer this question. I'm thinking in terms of armour and air force doctrine, logistics and so on. Did the US have observers during the Yom Kippur War? Lawrence, M.J. (talk) 02:17, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Try The American Culture of War: A History of US Military Force from World War II to Operation Enduring Freedom by Adrian R. Lewis (p. 294) and History of operations research in the United States Army, V. 3, 1973-1995 (p. 6), and also US Intervention Policy and Army Innovation: From Vietnam to Iraq by Richard Lock-Pullan (p. 61). Probably the most pertinent is Military lessons of the Yom Kippur War: Historical Perspectives by Martin Van Creveld (1975) but you'll have to track down a copy to read it. Alansplodge (talk) 13:18, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

What is this symbol? TTC

This site from TTC shows the info of the streetcar route 501 Queen. Next to the name it says 10 with some green background. Does anybody know what it is? http://www.ttc.ca/Routes/501/Eastbound.jsp Donmust90 (talk) 04:55, 28 January 2016 (UTC)Donmust90Donmust90 (talk) 04:55, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

It means "The route is part of the 10 Minute Network, and operates 10 minutes or better, all day, every day." See the Route Description tab. General Ization ^Talk 04:58, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Patriot movement and the 1996 Summer Olympics

   Major events in America which alarm or inspire the patriot movement include the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege, the 1993 Waco siege and the 1996 Summer Olympics.

What major event during the 1996 Summer Olympics is being referenced here? Googling "1996 Summer Olympics Patriot movement" got me nothing useful. Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 09:13, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Presumably Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Fgf10 (talk) 09:30, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks.Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 09:32, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Resolved

MPTP

This Times article[1] talks about a poisonous chemical, MPTP, and mentions a dilemma: "...police pondered how to stop the sale of a drug that was not illegal..."

Wouldn't that the fact that MPTP is poisonous, i.e. it causes Parkinson's, make it illegal in this particular context (feeding it to people)? Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 09:56, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

That wouldn't be enough to stop people selling it? Eating fertiliser would probably make you ill too, but that wouldn't be enough to stop people selling it. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 11:22, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

I did mention "in this particular context (feeding it to people)". Selling fertiliser as fertiliser obviously isn't illegal, but selling fertiliser to unsuspecting buyers by pretending it's suitable for human consumption is definitely illegal.Johnson&Johnson&Son (talk) 12:43, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Nevertheless, it is not necessarily a crime to sell something just because it could harm you. Sausages apparently give you cancer. Most places have a requirement to label known poisons, and it may well be a crime to sell a known poison without the warning label. But that is usually based on a list and wouldn't apply if something is not classified as a poison by the law, which may well be the case here because it seems to be a recently synthesised chemical the properties of which were not well known. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 17:36, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

But that depends on the jurisdiction. The Trades Descriptions Act in the UK makes it a criminal offence to describe an item offered for sale wrongly. If you sold a white powder in a packet labelled "sugar" and it turned out to be cyanide, that would be a crime in most places. If you sell fertiliser in a packet labelled "fertiliser" it would not be such a blatant breach of the Trades Descriptions Act, although there may well be other regulations that tell you to put a warning on the label. Itsmejudith (talk) 23:46, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

(... largely superseded by Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.) Even under the Trades Descriptions Act, selling MPTP as MPTP would be okay (the fact that it could harm you does not as such make it illegal to sell it, even if you don't know / don't mention that it could harm you). What would not be okay is if you sold MPTP labelled as sugar. For whether you can sell a poison or not, there is a separate Poisons Act in the UK, which is list-based. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 14:36, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Time magazine and various other mainstream media tended to be unreliable on drug issues, especially back then. The history of MPTP does not refer to 300 people affected MPTP, and in fact it was MPPP/Desmethylprodine that was being synthesized, with MPTP as an impurity in the first trials (that article explains the chemistry). That was an early example of a designer drug; it since has been scheduled and there have been attempts to just "ban all drugs" like the Analog Act. Wnt (talk) 11:06, 31 January 2016 (UTC)

When did Arkansaw Territory become Arkansas Territory?

I've been unable in a short search to find out when "Arkansaw" gave way to "Arkansas". The territory was organized as Arkansaw: [2] "... and be called the Arkansaw territory"

But when it was admitted [3] the law read "the Territory of Arkansas".

Was there a formal, legal name change at some point, or was it simply the newer law reflecting overwhelming usage? --Golbez (talk) 16:51, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

See Arkansas#cite_note-Arkansas-16. --Jayron32 18:11, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Jayron's link is to the official naming of the state in 1881, after admission to the Union. See also Arkansas Territory and this document linked from it - the first official use of "Arkansas" rather than "Arkansaw" was in an Act of the US Congress dated April 21, 1820. Tevildo (talk) 18:19, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks! --Golbez (talk) 19:04, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Virginity

Please don’t mind about this question…

I was watching CNN, they were discussing about virgin scholarship in South Africa for woman.

• If you were use a condom and have safe sex, even on the first time, whether it was a love, prostitute or fun type one time try out sex, do you lose your virginity?

Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 19:10, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Dbfirs: Sorry D. Thank you for pointing out... -- Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 06:19, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

• Virginity is a social construct, which has it's own definitions in each culture. There is no universal, agreed-upon definition. You're allowed to read the Wikipedia article to learn more about it, however. --Jayron32 19:26, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

Answer is intentionally crude & NSFW although for an IMO good reason. Read at your own risk. Nil Einne (talk) 23:55, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

In terms of the specific scholarship [4] [5], it seems to require regular Virginity testing, most likely checking for for a visible fairly intact hymen. (Our article mentions traditions among some South African tribes.) That means even if the woman has never even seen another man (or woman for that matter) naked that she remembers, never masturbated, never kissed or done anything remotely sexual; if she was born without a hymen (or it was barely visible), or it significantly teared during horseback riding, or because she used a tampon or whatever else, she probably isn't going to be considered a virgin by the test. Meanwhile a woman who has had simultaneous penetration of the mouth and anus many times would potentially be a virgin according to the test (if her hymen is still fairly visible and undamaged). Whether they will also take on board any rumours or whatever I don't know. Since they the sort of people to came up with the scholarship idea I guess they might. There's a Facebook page to keep them company. P.S. Anyone who isn't forbidden from editing the RD or wikipedia in general, is free to remove this answer. If it's removed under such a provision, it should not be added back with my signature. Nil Einne (talk) 00:03, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

I was particularly concerned about this Origin-of-death myth article but the Adam and Eve information been taken off... -- Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 06:19, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Of course, virginity is a social construct and it can be defined narrowly or broadly. However, in my opinion, by far the most common definition of a virgin, at least for heterosexuals, is a person who has never engaged in penis-in-vagina sexual intercourse. Engaging or not engaging in other sexual acts and presence or absence of a hymen are secondary to this core definition. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 06:35, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

-- Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 19:11, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Iranian's world demolition evolution

1. What are they doing for the world/their country since they are being one of the world's oil and gas producer?
2. Do countries have any sort of legislation indicting contribution to climate changing issue will cost __________ from profit earnings...? For any countries to be honest - I'm actually expecting carbon reducing machines being implement as a result.

Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 19:10, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

On the second point, see Kyoto Protocol and Emissions trading. Iran has ratified the Protocol, but without having set a target for emission reduction. Tevildo (talk) 20:05, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

(ec) For the second question, see Carbon tax. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 20:06, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

I'll read through guys, thanks. -- Mr. Zoot Cig Bunner (talk) 06:21, 29 January 2016 (UTC)