Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 September 17

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September 17

Pokémon character design

Why is it that (most) male Pokémon characters have rather bland designs that seem like Ken Sugimori just threw them together at the last second, while the female characters (generally) look like they had more thought put into their designs? --71.153.45.75 (talk) 01:52, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Female characters (and the more flamboyant male ones) are generally easier to accesorize as they generally wear more jewelery and flashier outfits making it easier to create a unique look where as your average joe male character is probably going to be decked out in jeans and a tshirt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.167.165.2 (talk) 04:11, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I think also a male character is a more simple shape to start with, and there's going to be less accessories like the IP above says. Also, it could be just opinion - they might've spent just as long creating the male characters as female, although there are more things they can add to a female character. Chevymontecarlo 14:27, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I assumed OP was talking about the pokemans themselves, not the human characters. Do the pokemon accesorize? I don't think so. Well, probably the reason is they're pumping out so many new characters they just make anything up, but you see these people who make the characters are anime drawers and anime is all about waifus and cute female characters, so they put more effort into female characters than generic male characters who they can't masturbate to. Pokemon after 151 don't count anyway. Quadrupedaldiprotodont (talk) 15:30, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

They are very unlikely to be talking about the pokemon themselves, since male and female pokemon mostly look the same. 86.164.78.91 (talk) 16:08, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

You obviously know nothing about Pokemon 71.190.202.148 (talk) 16:14, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Not necessarily a bad thing... Googlemeister (talk) 18:27, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Six examples out of 500+? That's not an argument. Especially since they're all single-gender Pokemon! 86.164 is right., even if he worded it a little lazily; there is little to no sexual dimorphism among Pokemon for the first few generations (the only exception I can think of is Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂), and even the later generations have minimal differences in most cases. Vimescarrot (talk) 18:52, 17 September 2010 (UTC) Struck through a comment. Changed my mind - nothing lazy about not knowing the word. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:06, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I meant human characters. --71.153.45.75 (talk) 01:46, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

OK. In that case, I am not sure I agree with your assertion. I wouldn't call characters like Lucian, Blaine, Bruno or Chuck all that bland, and there are many more like that. 83.81.60.233 (talk) 05:15, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

But Kamitsure and Fuuro (especially the latter) are better than all other character designs put together! --71.153.45.75 (talk) 01:17, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Emissions trading scheme

How can trading of emissions lower the amount of emissions that will be produced?Milwhee (talk) 07:59, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Magic. You might want to refer to our Homework question policy as well. If you have a more specific question then we're happy to help. Shadowjams (talk) 08:14, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

For a more specific spell, we do have articles on emissions trading, also on personal carbon trading. For regional examples, we have European Union Emission Trading Scheme, UK Emissions Trading Scheme, United States Carbon Cap-and-Trade Program, Asia-Pacific Emissions Trading Forum, Chinese national carbon trading scheme, New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme, and Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (Australia). (all from Category:Emissions trading) ---Sluzzelin talk 10:16, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

You have a misunderstanding, trading emission schemes don't actually lower the amount of emissions, rather they attempt to offset them.Smallman12q (talk) 20:11, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't think that's entirely true (they do attempt to offset them but the idea is also that they will lead to lower emissions). Did you read the first article linked by Sluzzelin which says "Emissions trading (also known as cap and trade) is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants.[1]"? As Shadowjams says, the idea is to rely on capitalism. If you can reduce emissions for $100 000 or buy offsets for $200 000, which one would you do? (Yes this is a very simplistic example.) Note that in some circumstances tradeable offsets may actually be emission reductions. Nil Einne (talk) 21:59, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Any machine which contains gear, belt, cams etc?

I want to know about any basic machine which contains cams, gears, belts,etc? How the machine is made and other details. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nayanmanna (talk • contribs) 12:17, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Many printers (of the type you possibly have attached to your computer) have cams, gears and belts, but I'm not sure where to find details of how these are made. You could take an old one apart to see how it operates. Dbfirs 13:32, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

A car engine? Although admittedly that is definitely more complicated than a printer, and you can't as easily take it apart ;-) Chevymontecarlo 14:24, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

That's debateable. Mechanics routinely dismantle car engines, in the case of race cars even after every race. Cheaper printers are typically thrown away rather than one making the effort of repairing a mechanical fault for which spare parts are not usually sold. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:22, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Meccano (in USA Erector Set) is a toy Construction set over 100 years old that includes gears and pulleys. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:29, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

See Sewing machine. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:30, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

How do lottery winners get the trusted advice they're always advised to get, but never told how?

Say you're a 21-year-old with negligible educational background and no connections with or references to any trustworthy sources of legal or financial advice. Say also that you just this second heard your numbers on the TV for a $100 million dollar lottery and they immediately stated there was one winner, which you knew was you. Here's my objective question: how does one with absolutely no trusted references or connections at all who immediately becomes a huge target for scammers find a safe source of trustworthy, quality legal and financial advice? 20.137.18.50 (talk) 15:19, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Wiki can't give you legal advice, but any normal solicitor from a established company (not some shady guy doing business from his front room) is ok, because there are laws and things which stop them from scamming you. Quadrupedaldiprotodont (talk) 15:27, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The Better Business Bureau comes to mind, as they could probably recommend quality legal and financial professionals to the person (or the person could check certain professionals reputations with the BBB). And I don't really think this is a request for legal advice, really... Ks0stm ^(T•C•G) 15:29, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It doesn't take a genius to be able to go through a yellow pages and find a reputable lawyer (lawyer jokes aside) or accountant. Dismas|^(talk) 15:31, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

See the system in the UK for one example. ╟─TreasuryTag►sundries─╢ 15:45, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

It isn't possible. If the person doesn't learn how to personally oversee the financial dealings, there are always ways to run a scam. The only person you can really trust is somebody so rich that your money doesn't matter to them, but such a person is not likely to be interested in advising you. Basically you have to educate yourself and be proactive in looking out for yourself; there's no other approach that doesn't depend on luck. Looie496 (talk) 16:17, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

It is likely that even a random 21 year old has ongoing relationships with some businessmen. If no one of his friends or family has ever consulted an accountant, financial planner or lawyer, he is still likely to have a bank account and car insurance. Thus he could tell an officer at the bank, or his insurance agent, or the owner of a business he deals with, such as his auto mechanic, a pharmacist he knows personally, his doctor, or the guy who owns the local hardware store, that he is "anticipating a small inheritance" and ask for the name of a lawyer, and a financial planner. A large recognized financial company might be a good choice. With a short list of names of accountants, financial planners and lawyers, he can do internet search to check for complaints about them. He should keep it a secret for a short time that he had won, and get a safety deposit box at the bank to store the ticket until he is ready to claim the money, and has a strategy to select a payout which meets his personal situation. A financial planner, vetted by the law firm, can come up with a plan to give him a good payout for his new lavish lifestyle without squandering the total or falling for swindles. I personally would not hand it over to one investment firm or planner, like recent lazy and careless victims of Ponzi schemes did, who should have known better. In the US there's brokerage firms, and investments can be in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, CDs, and IRAs. See Investment, Diversification (finance). Edison (talk) 17:16, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I have to disagree with you there Edison. The OP specifically said "negligible educational background and no connections with or references to any trustworthy sources of legal or financial advice". If I need references (for a passport for example) I only have 3 people I can think to ask and I'm fairly well educated! Spoonfulsofsheep (talk) 22:29, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

A possibly relevant case in the UK is that of Michael Carroll (lottery winner), though he mostly blew the money himself without the aid of scammers. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 17:49, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

From what I understand, the companies who actually payout the big money have a list of trustworthy people who can advise the big winners. This would seem to work - no lottery company wants the bad publicity of someone who wins big and goes off the rails. If they recommended a scammer that would turn into a PR disaster and could really hurt their business so it's in the company's own interest to make sure the winner has access to high quality impartial advice. Exxolon (talk) 19:40, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I've read several good articles about what to do on winning the lottery. Here's a couple pretty good one: [1] and [2]. There's even a WikiHow article on the subject: [3]. One of the key points in any such article is to keep quiet about it, and make a plan. There are numerous stories about people who won the lottery and ended up worse off than before: this is only one such example.

I find it amusing how many people write and read such articles. What a lovely fantasy! If only we all needed that kind of advice. How many more of us have read articles about what to do when winning the lottery as compared to the number of articles we've read about more mundane, practical economic transactions? I reckon I know more about what to do in case I win the lottery than I do about 401(k) plans or IRAs or the like. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:10, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Edison mentioned that you might want to keep it a secret until you know what you're going to do. I would also suggest that you consider keeping your winnings a secret permanently, if that can be done in your jurisdiction (see This former question for a largely U.S. perspective on the issue). It's not just scammers who will be after your money; friends and relatives will pressure you to loan them money or buy them expensive gifts. Old classmates might seem to suddenly take an interest in your life. In [4]this interview of Ken Jennings, he talks about all the crackpots and people with sob stories who wrote to him asking for money after he won. I know that if I win the lottery, I'm keeping it secret even from my dog. Buddy431 (talk) 20:15, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I know that if I found out I'm suddenly a $100 million richer, I'd be in such a deep state of shock that I wouldn't be able to do anything. I wouldn't touch that money until I got myself mentally pulled together. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 20:48, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Happy to help out there, 24.189. My fee is a very reasonable $100,000. :) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 20:55, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

I wish to add my humble advice to the OP in the event that such good/bad fortune should ever befall he or I. I have played the UK and Euromillions Lotteries since their inceptions, and have been concerned that as a regular salaried employee with limited knowledge of the financial markets etc., I would be adrift in a sea of good/bad/indifferent/self-centred advice should I ever win any significant sum in a Lottery. So, in anticipation of any such unlikely event transpiring, I have done my advance homework and now know exactly what actions I should take to secure my own well- (and wealth) being. I have told my lawyer, my banker, my family and my friends that in the event of me winning a significant sum, all my wishes are recorded in my last will and testament with gifts etc. listed as per my wishes. And I have made those wishes known to all those who might benefit from any said gifts. And to more exactly answer the OP's question, I have already selected a group of indemnified and professional advisors - as a body - to act corporately on my behalf, should the need ever arise. 92.30.173.190 (talk) 23:02, 17 September 2010 (UTC)

Living persons' public wills (it's not "last will" until one is certified brain-dead) encourage private conspiracies. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:17, 18 September 2010 (UTC)