Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 September 26

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September 26

Astronauts and cosmonauts

what is the difference between astronaut and cosmonaut? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.20.239.158 (talk) 01:48, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Cosmonauts are Russians, astronauts are everyone else. See Astronaut#Terminology. They are basically synonymous, it is just that the Russians called theirs one thing (from one Greek root, "space sailor") while the US called theirs another thing (from a different Greek root, "star sailor") and because it was the Cold War Space Race people had to make a big deal about it and keep them as separate terms. From a strictly functionalist perspective, cosmonauts have CCCP written on their helmets, astronauts do not. I'm sure there's a "what's the difference" joke in here somewhere, as well. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:15, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I added a section heading to this thread. --Theurgist (talk) 03:02, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Add the recent addition to the terminology: taikonaut. TomorrowTime (talk) 08:27, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

RFID

How cheap and easy to use has this technology gotten?

How much does it cost for a device to locate something that is rfid tagged? Can an RFID tag be put on a sticker and just stuck on an object?

Newcastlebrownisgood (talk) 04:00, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Are we talking about Radio-frequency identification? Everard Proudfoot (talk) 05:10, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Do you know of any other definition of RFID that fits in with the rest of the OP's question? Dismas|^(talk) 06:20, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't know any definition of RFID at all. Everard Proudfoot (talk) 07:31, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Now you do! :-) RFID redirects to Radio-frequency identification. Dismas|^(talk) 07:34, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Library books around here have RFID stickers on them, so they must be pretty cheap. Range to the reader is quite small though, only a range of a few centimeters. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Googling for rfid tag price finds several kinds of tags that you can order online in various quantities. Some indeed appear to be stickers. 88.112.56.9 (talk) 13:37, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

The thing that doesn't seem to work well enough yet (where "well" means "both accurate and affordable at the same time") is mass RFID scanning. This is something of a holy grail for retail applications, and for stock-keeping in general. They really want to be able to wand a shelf, or push a little cart down the aisle of a warehouse, and have the equipment there interrogate every RFID on the items on the shelf (and for the cart locate which shelf each is on). Retailers are virtually salivating over the possibility of en-masse RFID self-checkout. That way you walk around the store with your own bags in your cart, filling them as you go. Once you're done you just walk through an arch (or maybe put the bags, still packed, on a belt that puts them past a detector and weighs them to verify that the the scans match the expected weight). The big retailers love this, because they can get rid of about 80% of their checkout staff; the potential for a much faster and simpler checkout will be a big sell to customers too. But right now it seems that equipment manufacturers haven't managed to get such mass-scan equipment working reliably enough (they need to handle 100 or so RFIDs all replying essentially at once, and still not accidentally detect the neighbouring customer's or neighbouring shelf's tags). -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:09, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

In a somewhat related way, some grocery stores in the US have started a scheme where you pick up a hand-held scanner when you enter the store, load your own bags in your cart, and as you do so, you scan each item. When you leave, the scanner is plugged back in to the charger unit and you are given a receipt for your purchases. You never deal with a cashier. This whole thing requires that you register your credit/debit card with the store before hand. Once your card is in the system though, it's good until the expiration date of the card is reached. Dismas|^(talk) 09:29, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

And it's not just retailers - anyone involved in stock-keeping is either dreading this (as it will make some jobs redundant) or waiting impatiently for it to come to fruition (as it will reduce/remove a lot of the grunt work from stock-keeping). While the sales brochures say it's right around the corner, there are several roadblocks that have to be cleared. First, you need everyone to do it - or almost everyone. That's tricky because many manufacturers still haven't even gotten around to working with UPCs/SCCs. Second, you need the reading range to get a lot larger, like an order of magnitude larger, from a few tens of centimeters to at least meters. Third, there are various security aspects that need to be worked out. So much more information can be encoded directly on one of these babies than on a traditional barcode that corporate espionage becomes a serious problem. As it sits now, RFIDs are mostly used as theft deterrents in books and DVDs and various other retail and library items. In those case, little or no information is actually encoded on the tags, all that's needed is for the scanner to see that something is leaving the building. Matt Deres (talk) 13:26, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Not to disagree with your general points, Matt, but on the library front, my (UK) County's libraries uses RDIF stickers on the inside of the back cover combined with a counter-top scanning pad (and touch-screen menu) to identify the individual book and add it to (or when returning remove it from) the (County-wide) database of one's current loans - I suspect Graeme Bartlett above was alluding to this. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:48, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not as current on RFID as I used to be, so you may well be right. Most libraries around here still use a barcode scanning system to manage all that - the RFID scanning is only to prevent overt theft. Seems silly to do it that way, but the barcoding was much more reliable. Matt Deres (talk) 13:28, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

prank smses

had u ever received SMSs saying ur mobile will switch off, and when u try to exit or delete or even just want to leave the screen mobile just switch off. Can u tell me how those SMSs are made. Also how could they be deleted. I will be glad to read more about it..thanx--Myownid420 (talk) 09:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this is what you are referring to. However, my mobile can be set with a lock string. If it receives a SMS that contains ONLY that string, then the phone will lock, and can not be used until a PIN number is entered. This is also needed if the SIM is changed. Combined with a PIN on my SIM, then if my phone is stolen, then I can get a friend to send the lock message to my phone. Unless the PIN numbers are known, the phone is useless if it is turned off, the SIM is changed when its on (the SIM isn't under the battery, so this is possible), or it receives the lock message. The lock message, unlock PIN and SIM pin have all been chosen by myself (and only known by myself), so it can't be locked maliciously by pranksters. CS Miller (talk) 13:30, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

in that way u r locking the phone, n making it useless until one knows the pin. but those messages do not lock neither need a PIN.--Myownid420 (talk) 16:42, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Thinking about it a bit more, I seem to remember reading about SMSs that would crash mobile phones, via a bug in the way the SMS was handled. Most mobile phones have a watchdog timer that will reboot them if the phone locks up. Otherwise removing and the reinserting that battery will perform a cold boot, which should work. It is conceivable that the phone's operating system could be damaged enough that it wouldn't reboot, but I doubt how likely this is. I can't remember the details off-hand, and a quick web-search didn't reveal anything. CS Miller (talk) 17:35, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Dates on magazines

Why do magazines date issues and stories so far in advance? I received the latest issue of Time on September 25 (and it had been in stores even before that), yet it was dated October 4. I'll receive the next issue before that date. And then how do you reference it? This article has been cited on Wikipedia using its date of October 4 despite being released well over a week before, so it seems like we can tell the future. Shouldn't it technically be cited to the date used? What is the reason behind this absurdity? Thanks, Reywas92^Talk 16:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's simply so that they can keep selling copies for several weeks; once the date has passed, it will appear to be out of date. It's not unusual to see monthly periodicals on sale two months before the date on the cover. One references them by the date on the cover, whether or not one agrees with the policy.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:22, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

For the reason above and: Magazine like Time have international distribution. Printers have to print well in advance in order to mitigate for things like late deliveries, strikes and things generally beyond their control. Then the copies have to be distributed from different printers in different locations to the local warehouse distribution centres. Whilst this is going on, publicity for the new issue is being placed with newspapers, TV, radio and other media organization. This takes time to negotiate good rates and send in the necessary artwork etc. The whole system needs to have ample amount of reserve built into it for the unexpected, because the buying public get very upset if their magazine does not arrive when they expect to be there. The publisher will do anything to avoid disturbing the regular habit that their have of buying their publications. --Aspro (talk) 17:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

None of which alters the fact that the public will expect the next issue (of a weekly publication) to be available one week after whenever the last one was issued, totally regardless of whatever date is printed on the cover. -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:35, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

You expect the next issue of your monthly (and every 2 months, fortnightly etc) magazines to be out one week after the last one was issued? Is that an Australian thing? Nil Einne (talk) 19:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Odd question. We're talking about Time (magazine), which happens to be a weekly publication, so I would expect its issues to be issued a week apart from each other. I expect my daily newspaper to be delivered one day after the last one, and I expect my monthly arts magazine to be available one month after the last one. And so on. Do my trans-Tasman cousins have difficulty understanding these basic concepts? -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 19:59, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It wasn't clear you were referring to Time, since Time was given as an example, but it's clear the OP was asking the question generally. Similarly the person you responded to said "Magazine like Time" but was also clearly referring to the general case. Shantavira also referred to monthly publications. Notably, no one else has referred to Time specifically, without making it clear they were referring specifically to Time. It is true in New Zealand we have no difficulty understanding basic concepts like what an example is, and the need to specify what we're talking about when it's not clear from the discussion, unlike I guess in other countries. Nil Einne (talk) 20:11, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

OK, I've made it clear now. (But did you really have to make this point? Did you really think we expect a monthly publication to be issued 4 times a month? Really? I know we have a monthly magazine called Australian Women's Weekly, but that doesn't mean we're generally confused about such things. :) ) -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:12, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Okay I admit the Australian thing was an unnecessary but typical dig at Australian. Apologies if I caused offense. However I did find your comment odd since even if it was obvious you must be referring to weekly publications, it wasn't really clear to me why and it was also obvious no one would expect a monthly publication to come out a month later. So well it just sounded off. I admit after reading your clarification that you were referring to Time and reading the earlier comments more carefully it was far easier to understand why you said what you said. Nil Einne (talk) 14:39, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Often times those are the dates that the magazine should be removed from store shelves, not the release date or the publication date.

See The Straight Dope's article on this subject. APL (talk) 17:55, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

I would hope that the stores would just know to remove issues one week after a printed dates. It's one thing to be a few days in advance, but ridiculous when the next issue is still before that previous one's date. Reywas92^Talk 19:42, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

We actually have Cover date Nil Einne (talk) 19:43, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

For citation purposes, you cite the date labeled on the magazine. In most cases it does not matter whether it came out a week earlier or later. In the rare instances that the actual date of release is important, you can note that in the text or a footnote. In any case it would be extremely hard to establish when different localities received issues in question. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:05, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Old publications are still useful.—Wavelength (talk) 22:12, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's the same reason why the model year of cars is always a few months early, why Madden NFL's dates are always a few months early, etc. It's mostly marketing. --Jayron32 05:13, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

ObPersonal, but as a decades-long collector of (mostly fiction) magazines I have noticed that the default dating protocols differ between the UK and US. In the UK, monthly magazines usually appear on shop shelves around (or only a few days before) the beginning of the month with which they're dated (though subscription issues may be posted to the subscriber a little earlier), while in the US it's usual, as others have already mentioned, for the cover date to indicate when they are to be taken off sale to make way for the next issue. I suspect also that having the cover date well ahead of the appearance date discourages a casual shopworker with limited shelf space from thinking "Hmmm, that's getting old" and taking the issue off the shelf earlier than the publisher would like.

Where there are several magazines competing in the same niche, there must be (I surmise) a temptation to creep the newsstand appearance ever earlier so as to secure a sale ahead of the competitors (though 'title loyalty' is often strong), and I too have seen some 'zines appear in, say, early May dated July. Also, early appearance is slightly exacerbated by the strategy of some 'zines (introduced in the 1980s?) of publishing 13 issues annually with the 13th 'special' issue appearing late in the year, which has the effect of shuffling the preceding ones a little earlier. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:33, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

The editors at Wikipedia:WikiProject Magazines might be able to provide additional information.

—Wavelength (talk) 21:02, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Colour of Motherboards

Typically Motherboards seem to be green...is there a reason for this? (I was going to ask 'why are motherboards green' but a quick search for motherboards shows up quite a few that are blue and some purple and so on). Anyhoo is there a reason? ny156uk (talk) 21:47, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

It's not just motherboards - most printed circuit boards are green (in consumer, automotive, telecoms, and all kinds of other equipment). Strictly what's green is the solder mask layer near the surface. This article (which claims to be a reprint from Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture has some theories why green was (until quite recently) the overwhelmingly popular choice for solder masks - see the "color your world" section near the bottom. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:17, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

PCBs themselves vary a bit in colour, depending on what they're made of. Some are made of epoxy resin, which seems to be of a vaguely greenish tint (although can often be essentially white), and some are made from other plastic-y substances like bakelite, which tend to the brown. You can see the colour of the board itself by looking at the edge. There's no reason why the solder mask has to be the same colour as the board - it could even be clear, although that would make visually verifying it's been applied okay rather tricky. Flex circuits are usually natively clear, but (for whatever reason) the masking on them almost always seems to be brown. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 22:28, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

The third post on this bulletin board seems to have some possible answers in relation to halogen content: - 220.101 talk^\Contribs 08:18, 27 September 2010 (UTC)