Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 November 14

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November 14

Does such thing as a higher pitched electric guitar exist?

Does such thing as a higher pitched electric guitar exist?

Unlike piano that has 88 keys and so is able to cover a extreme percentage of our audible frequency range, many instruments can't have this amount of unique pitches and so need more than one version of the instrument, and you pick the version that will have the pitch range you want to play. This happen with electric guitar that has the electric guitar and also the bass electric guitar that has lower frequencies, does some version of electric guitar that is the higher frequency version of the "default" electric guitar exist?2804:7F2:5A1:6EA:A80B:723F:7E60:AFD3 (talk) 00:37, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

A capo is a device that can be used on most guitars to make them play at a higher pitch. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 00:50, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

There's also the tenor guitar and the alto guitar. I'm not sure I've ever seen electric versions but I suppose it's possible to make one...Adam Bishop (talk) 02:29, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

The capo is a convenience device that avoids the need for some difficult barre chords and other tricky (and sometimes impossible) fingerings, but it doesn't enable the guitar to sound notes higher than its existing range.

The design of many electric guitars, with a fretboard extended at the higher end (compared to a conventional acoustic guitar) and body cutaways to allow access to those higher frets, already allows higher notes that are obtainable from most acoustic guitars; the highest of these notes are already so high that being able to play even higher ones would seem (to me) to be pointless, as they would be difficult for the ear to distinguish and thus lack musical utility. [Disclaimer: not an expert, just a music fan and very inept guitarist.] {The poster formerly known as 878.81.230.195} 90.205.225.31 (talk) 21:32, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

The highest note on a 24-fret electric guitar (not uncommon) would be an E6. That's high, but it's not entirely unmusical to go higher. The highest note on a standard piano is C8, an octave and some higher than that. --Jayron32 12:15, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

• It also depends on whether you consider things like ukuleles and mandolins to be guitars or not. Both of those are made in electric versions, and both are tuned much higher than standard tuning. --Jayron32 12:12, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Why Slavs were slaves

Why Slavs were the only European race to be enslaved that much that slavery was named after Slavs? Who enslaved them (was it the Tatars?) and what was the reason behind that? And where were they transported to mostly? Ottoman Empire? Arabs? Europe? And why a big Empire such as the Russian Empire couldn't stop it although it was a huge waste of human and economic resources? Shorouq★The★Super★ninja2 (talk) 08:24, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

Why Slavs were the only European race to be enslaved IMHO this issue calls in for more nuanced position. I am writing bit off hand you can check related Wikipedia articles.

Slavs and Circassians might have suffered most but they might not have been only European race to be enslaved. Slavery is an age old thing, in pre– historic and historic times Whites would have enslaved whites too. Since medieval times first Al Andalus and there after Ottomans came on European borders. In Al Andalus times itself they had reached till borders of France if I am not too incorrect.

It's not that slavery was new to Europe but advent of Islam brought slavery in new form with a distinct phenomenon. Many sources attempt to underplay or condone Andalus and Ottoman slavery by only showing positive sides and normalizing it saying any way slavery was normal for those times. But doing harsh things in the name of religion do not bring any accolades to any religion or the God for that matter, nor for their followers or who condone it or forward excuses.

As far as resurgence of Russian empire is much later phenomenon after West Europe started colonizing the globe before that Moscow was a weak enough state that Tatars and I believe even Circassians used to harshly loot them as and when they could. When Russians got united later first took time to understand and adjust to distinct Islamic phenomenon ended up expelling Tatars and Circassians in brutal manner from their own respective territories. Russians learned managing Central Asian states amicably at much later time.

If Crimean and Ottoman slave trade affected more of east Europe and central Asia (also Spain and Greeks to an extent). Barbary slave trade very well affected shores of Mediterranean Europe and European and US trade travelers.

Above answer could have been better answered with refs but articles are available on Wikipedia I just tried to give you a brief and may be other users might throw light on some other aspects.

Bookku, 'Encyclopedias = expanding information & knowledge' (talk) 09:21, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

Ancient Greece, or at least ancient Athens, was largely run by the labour of enslaved people, not particularly specifically Slavs. Germanic tribes held slaves, and the Romans routinely enslaved both Germanic prisoners of war and people captured in conquests in large numbers.  --Lambiam 15:59, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

The etymology linking slaves to Slavs is disputed (by Slavs anyway), see Myths of Russian History: Does the word 'Slav' derive from 'slave'?. Alansplodge (talk) 16:35, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

That article seems to be completely backwards. It spends a great deal of time and words arguing that "Slav" isn't derived from "Slave" but that's not the claim being made, but the reverse. It even mentions a BBC article that claims the reverse position, and links to an etymology website that states the reverse position but misrepresents it opposite of what it claims it does. Iapetus (talk) 10:51, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

For nuanced positions, in our Wikipedia articles Battles of Lexington and Concord there can be found about Edmund Burke saying in Parliament (UK), "An Englishman is the unfittest person on Earth to argue another Englishman into slavery." It's in matters of semantics, the manifestation of some relative plasticity. --Askedonty (talk) 20:18, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

@Super ninja2:: In ancient Sparta there might have been a certain ethnic difference between the Spartan elite and their helots. A big part of the expansion of the Roman Empire was acquiring slaves. As for Slavic slaves, the Saqaliba of Al-Andalus had different roles, from eunuchs to taifa rulers. The Saqaliba article mentions the different markets for them. For another example, the current Icelandic population has a great percentage of Irish mitochondrial DNA from Irish females abducted by Vikings. Crimean–Nogai slave raids in Eastern Europe explains the factors in raids against Slavs by Crimeans. --Error (talk) 20:59, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

U.S. economics question.

When in U.S. history have there been deflation before? With minimum wage going up and such, is always inflation. 67.165.185.178 (talk) 08:54, 14 November 2021 (UTC).

There was pretty severe deflation during Great Depression in the United States. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 10:41, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

During the majority of the 19th century (excluding the Civil War years, of course), there was a slight consistent long-term deflationary trend due to the size of the economy increasing faster than the amount of gold available. Major gold strikes would temporarily counteract this, but between the gold discoveries,, there were a lot of severe recessions or depressions (1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, and 1893). AnonMoos (talk) 15:43, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

P.S. There was no federal minimum wage until 1938, and it's now still at $7.25. AnonMoos (talk) 15:46, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

So basically, there's been no deflation since the 1930s? 67.165.185.178 (talk) 16:37, 14 November 2021 (UTC).

No, there was a period of deflation as recently as during the 2008 Great Recession. And inflation has been quite low since the 1981-82 recession, until quite recently (there was brief spike around 1988-1989). Xuxl (talk) 20:09, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

Nice. I'm curious as to how back the dollar value went back to, say 1990s? 67.165.185.178 (talk) 20:22, 14 November 2021 (UTC).

there's a bunch of "inflation calculators" available online. Here is one random example. --Jayron32 13:50, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Unfortunately I am not seeing any deflation from 2008, say 06-08 and 08-10 and other way around. A dollar in 2008 was still worth more than in 2006. Inflation went up, however, it almost stayed the same from 2008-10. Is that considered deflation? 67.165.185.178 (talk) 19:37, 15 November 2021 (UTC).

Okay, I see pennies are still being made in 2021. Why is that? Not for a legal point of view, but from an economic point of view. How does a penny still being made in 2021 benefit the economy? Who approves of these things... 67.165.185.178 (talk) 19:33, 15 November 2021 (UTC).

Congress. And, until they decide otherwise, the Penny will be minted. DOR (HK) (talk) 02:19, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Heh, do both Dems and Republicans in Congress support continuously producing more pennies? 67.165.185.178 (talk) 02:35, 16 November 2021 (UTC).

According to Penny debate in the United States, the times that there have been bills floated to abolish the penny, it has always been Republicans who have sponsored the legislation. That's a pretty small sample size, however, and I don't know what the general support is among both parties, currently. --Jayron32 14:04, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

In my opinion, both the U.S. penny (1 cent) and nickel (5 cent) coins are functionally obsolete by now, but tradition or inertia is on their side, as well as lobbying from the coin conversion companies (Coinstar etc). A penny in 1940 had roughly the same value as 20 cents today... See this blog entry: Moneyness: Pennies as state failure. AnonMoos (talk) 02:25, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

As long as we continue to have add-on sales taxes, we'll continue to have cents and nickels. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 03:40, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Some other countries do what is more or less equivalent to rounding to the nearest dime in U.S. terms (on cash transactions only, I assume). AnonMoos (talk) 04:32, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Canada has gone 9 years without 1 cent pieces, and is doing fine. Cash transactions in Canada are rounded to the nearest CA$0.05, while credit transactions are still managed to the nearest cent. --Jayron32 14:01, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Identity of L. Oulton

Is anything at all known about the identity of L. Oulton, the person credited as co-author of the 1923 continuation of Jane Austen's unfinished novel The Watsons? I have been searching online, but I can't find Oulton's first name beyond the initial L., or even Oulton's gender. Here is the text of the novel on Project Gutenberg:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63569 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.2.54.25 (talk) 13:16, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

According to our article The Watsons the author was a lady, Miss Oulton, known to the Austen family. 2A00:23C7:FB83:7A00:5DCD:8C5E:2B1F:79F6 (talk) 13:57, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

A thorough Google search only turned up this:

In 1923 came 'The Watsons, a fragment by Jane Austen, concluded by L. Oulton, author of Exceeding Pleasant and other Sketches', which totalled about 35,000 words. It seems likely that L. Oughton, whoever she was, had never read The Younger Sister, which shows the family's conviction that Lady Osborne would be quite unpleasant.

Jane Austen Collected Reports 2001-2005 (p. 105) by the Jane Austen Society.

If they don't know, there's not much hope. Alansplodge (talk) 21:57, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

Oulton or Oughton? Typo? Ghmyrtle (talk) 10:07, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

US President's reaction to the Dreyfus Affair

Did any American presidents publicly comment on the Dreyfus affair at the time? --Puzzledvegetable^{Is it teatime already?} 22:23, 14 November 2021 (UTC)

Not quite sure when he said it, but Theodore Roosevelt stated, "We have watched with indignation and regret the trial of Captain Dreyfus based on bitter religious prejudices. You cannot benefit one class by pulling down another." (according to p. 38 of The Dreyfus Affair: Voices of Honor) Clarityfiend (talk) 08:18, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

I did a Google phrase search (i.e. using quotation marks) on the first 10 words or so, and found multiple confirmations that he said something like that, but all the other sources give a longer wording: "We have watched with indignation and regret the trial of Captain Dreyfus. It was less Dreyfus on trial than those who tried him. We should draw lessons from the trial. It was due in part to bitter religious prejudices of the French people. Those who have ever wavered from the doctrine of the separation of Church and State should ponder upon what has happened. Try to encourage every form of religious effort. Beware and do not ever oppose any man for any reason except worth or want of it. You cannot benefit one class by pulling another class down." He said this before be was president, specifically in a speech at Walton, New York, on September 13, 1899, when he was governor of the state. Perhaps he said the shorter version on another occasion.

You can find this at on theodoreroosevelt.org here (hmm, that link stopped working for me), quoted from Dreyfus: The Prisoner of Devil's Island by William Harding, which was published the same year, 1899. Another source is The Elected and the Chosen: Why American Presidents Have Supported Jews and Israel from George Washington to Barack Obama (2012) by Denis Brian, which cites the New York Times of the same date as the speech; this source replaces the 6th and 7th sentences from Harding's version with an ellipsis. Another source is The Dreyfus Affair: A Chronological History (2005, 2008) by George R. Whyte, which quotes the 1st, 2nd, and 4th sentences of Harding's version, without ellipsis. --184.145.50.17 (talk) 11:01, 15 November 2021 (UTC)