Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 April 15

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April 15

Garden advice

I bought some sprouts ten days ago in a health food shop with the intention of eating them But this is the start of the garden season so I put many of them in starter pots and am about to put the peas in my garden. My questions are; Is there any chance that the peas are sugarsnap or mange tout type? The beans are reddish brown Are they going to be bush beans or pole beans?..What do I need to know about growing the chick peas and lentils in Zone 6 USA. Are they going to introduce any dread diseases to my other plants? 01:17, 15 April 2011 (UTC)Sesquepedalia

Does it say on the packet what types of sprouts they are? They could be all sorts of things; see bean sprouts for a list. I'm sure they'll grow just fine, but they might not produce anything edible.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:41, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes the package said beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, alfalfa . There was more alfalfa than everything else together. The lentils, by the way were greenish and not red or black as they could have been. Is there a way to tell if a bean is a pole bean or bush bean without growing the plant? I have in the past infected my Zucchini plants with a wilt I brought in on some cucumber seedlings. But I don't think beans or peas do that to each other as cucurbits do. Sesquepedalia 13:23, 15 April 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sesquepedalia (talk • contribs)

Here are sites offering growing tips for lentils and chickpeas. What they both have in common is that they are crops that originate from the Middle East, where they are typically sown in the winter and harvested in late spring. I also live in Zone 6 and find these legumes somewhat difficult to grow properly. The problem is that they need 3 to 4 months in which temperatures get above 60F during the day for at least a few days a week, don't fall much below freezing at night, and don't get above the mid 80s during the day. Once you get a really hot day, they stop growing. So, you need to plan on harvesting in June. That means planting in early March, which just isn't feasible outdoors in Zone 6. You could probably just about get away with planting them outdoors now, but they are not going to have time to produce a good yield before it starts getting hot. You will harvest skimpy pods with skimpy beans inside around late June (at which point they start drying out and turning brown). While legumes will not pick up most diseases that infect squashes (such as cucumbers and pumpkins), they can and do pass many diseases between legume species. Finally, to have much of a yield at all, you should inoculate the seeds with rhizobacteria. Marco polo (talk) 14:14, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Help identifying an object

Object found in tree stump

Anyone know what the object on the left is? I personally think it's a cannon ball, but my wife doesn't believe me (she says its too small) Anyway, I found it on a friend's land (a seldom used deer camp) where I was doing some metal detecting. It was inside what I think must have been an old tree stump, that had rotted away to not much more than a hole in the ground. It was pretty caked up with mud and grime, but cleaned up rather nicely with hot water. It is definitely a dense metal, and extremely heavy. I wonder if anyone can tell from the size what/when it was used for? I was within 30 miles of Jackson, MS. Also, if it really is a cannon ball, is it worth anything? Could it possibly still be dangerous? (Aside from accidentally dropping it on my foot). Thanks Quinn ^☂THUNDER 04:02, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

First of all, cannons vary in bore; three-inch balls may not be dramatic enough to decorate the courthouse lawn but they did exist.

Aren't cannonballs generally solid iron? Not likely to explode spontaneously.... —Tamfang (talk) 04:57, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Explosive shells are almost as old as the cannons themselves. See List of cannon projectiles. The picture at the bottom even shows one of those round cartoon "bombs" with the little fuse out of the top; those really used to be fired by cannons. However, decorative cannonballs are usually nothing more than solid Round shot. --Jayron32 05:13, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

OP here- Well, I don't see anywhere on it where a fuse might have gone inside, but it's pretty well covered with rust, so I moved it to the back shed just to be safe :). Quinn ^☂THUNDER 05:32, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Have you taken a magnet to it to verify that it's iron?

Anyway, 3" is a reasonable caliber for a Civil War field gun — somewhere around I have a table of caliber vs. pound rating; I'll see if I can find it. The chances of its being explosive are pretty low. PhGustaf (talk) 06:17, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Agreed. And even if it had once been explosive, it likely would be a dud by now. (After all, it slammed into a tree and that didn't make it explode, so it was probably a solid ball in the first place.) It was probably fired in one of the two Civil War battles near Jackson: Jackson,_Mississippi#American_Civil_War_and_late_nineteenth_century_.281861.E2.80.931900.29. As such, it probably does have some value, but probably not thousands of dollars. If you can remove the surface rust and find any writing on it, that may increase it's value somewhat, especially if it's a Confederate ball. Some photos of the place where you found it and a map showing the locale might help establish it's value, too. StuRat (talk) 06:46, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I would not scrape off the rust. Collectors might well value the patina. (Rusty old Lionel trains, for example, lose most of their value if repainted.) Can you find a dealer in Civil War artifacts to show it to? PhGustaf (talk) 07:05, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Patina is one thing, like tarnished silver or copper, but layers of rust are another story. For one thing, rust doesn't stay put, it falls off on it's own, and nobody wants a collectible that's going to leave chunks of rust all over. The other issue is if it hides detail under the rust, like the manufacturer. StuRat (talk) 07:14, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

It might be the shot. See also [1]. Oda Mari (talk) 08:43, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

The America civil war was hard on shot putters in the southern states who, no matter how Olympian their prowess, would have been barred from competing in the early Olympic Games that were already regular events at Wenlock, UK because no nation recognized the Confederate States of America 1861 - 1865. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:59, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I wondered at first if the item was a natural phenomenon, as with this:[2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:27, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

OP here- Any suggestions on a method to remove the rust? Quinn ^☂THUNDER 15:42, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Any hardware store ought to have rust removal chemicals. Follow the instructions on the label. Note that after the rust is removed you will need to wash off the chemicals and apply a thin coat of oil, to prevent more rust from forming. StuRat (talk) 18:21, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

If it were mine, I would hesitate to use over-the-counter materials if I thought the item might have some value. That's why I suggested (below) that he consult an expert. Like, for example, if the ball has a manufacturer's name on it somewhere, rust remover might damage it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:28, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

If this was something worth thousands of dollars, then it might be worth taking to a conservator to have have it properly restored. However, in this case, I suspect they would spend far more than it's worth. So, "quick and dirty" may be the best way to do it cheaply enough that they could still make a few dollars profit. StuRat (talk) 02:31, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

A phone call shouldn't cost anything. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:09, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Are there any historical museums in your vicinity? It's possible they have or know people that are experts in the restoration of antique items such as this. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:49, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Nothing really Civil War related. There's an Agricultural Museum that I know has a lot of antique plows and other old farming equipment that they've restored. I'll swing over there (once this damn tornado warning has passed), and let them have a look-see. Thanks everyone! Quinn ^☂THUNDER 16:23, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Surely there's a Civil War museum in Vicksburg? That can't be that far away, hm? Corvus cornix_talk 18:54, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Yeh, I can dig it. Anyone living in tornado alley is a potential victim. The Minnesota Twins should be safe, though, as they are already in the cellar. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:50, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Out of interest, here's a similar item for sale on the UK eBay. There's no provenance and the seller has got his cms and mms muddled - 3" isn't 7mm! Alansplodge (talk) 20:59, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Me again. There's a table of bore and projectile weights in the WP article Field artillery in the American Civil War. A 3" bore suggests it was either a 10-pounder Parrott rifle or a 3-inch Ordnance Rifle both having a projectile weight of 9lb 8oz. Note that rust is lighter than iron, so it may weigh a bit less now. Alansplodge (talk) 21:07, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

"Note that rust is lighter than iron, so it may weigh a bit less now". Erm, I'd ask about that at the science desk. Rust may well be less dense than iron, but oxidisation should have increased the mass - unless the phlogiston theory was correct. ;) (though some of the rust may have fallen off, which complicates things). AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:12, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Now you mention it, it does seem a rather bold statement. I'll ask at the Science Desk. Alansplodge (talk) 08:10, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Solid Shot Essentials: A Guide to the Authentic and Non-Authentic is written by a "Civil War artillery expert" Peter George (a quick Google shows that he has written several books on the subject). Alansplodge (talk) 11:57, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

When anyone "shines up" an antique, they usually destroy the value for a collector. In 2008 a collector trying to grind the rust off a Civil War cannon ball detonated the gunpowder still inside it, with fatal results, [3]. If a shell had gunpowder in it from 150 years ago, there could still be an explosive core of gunpowder inside.[4], [5], [6], [7], [8]. You could measure the diameter, calculate the volume and compare the weight to the weight of that volume of iron (folks on this board could help if desired with the calcs.) I would expect a shell to weight far less than solid shot. Even decades of submersion in water cannot be relied on to make a shell inert: [9]. Edison (talk) 20:20, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Try taking it to the Old Courthouse Museum in downtown Vicksburg or to the Vicksburg National Military Park right off the interstate, on staff historians, might be worth a try. Heiro 06:17, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Locomotive question

In a full-width body locomotive (cab unit or boxcab), does the engineer have access to the rest of the train, or is it blocked by machinery? Are there pictures or diagrams showing what the inside of a modern locomotive looks like? Not just the cab, but the full locomotive. 67.169.5.125 (talk) 06:09, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I think the answer to your question depends very much on what sort of locomotive you are talking about. If you 'google image' "inside locomotive cab" you will get a wide range of pictures reflecting the broad variation of models used in different countries. If you are looking for information or images of a particular country or type of locomotive then it would be helpful if you said which. Richard Avery (talk) 06:30, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I don't know much about trains, so I'll go with what I see locally, Amtrak California. And following some links to other articles I found that "The F59PHI has a fully enclosed carbody which provides protected walkways for easy access to the engine room and trailing units." That answers my question about these locomotives, but I'm still curious to see the interior of any sort of modern diesel locomotive (besides the cab). 67.169.5.125 (talk) 06:47, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

The locomotive engineer can look at what's ahead. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 10:45, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

For the days of steam, see Corridor_tender#Locomotives_.28corridor_tenders.29. --rossb (talk) 08:04, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Voice box

If a person were to have motor neuron disease and needed a computerised voice synthesiser, would it be possible for him to choose Richard Burton's voice? Kittybrewster ☎ 14:49, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Synthesized voices are usually created by recording a live speaker who carefully pronounces the hundreds of possible syllables in the target language, as well as hundreds of different syllable-to-syllable transitions, then using software to combine the syllables and transitions into recognizable words. If you wanted Richard Burton's voice, you'd need to get him in a recording studio and record him speaking all those syllables. It would appear you're about 27 years too late for that to happen. The article Speech synthesis covers all of this. I should note that there are methods being researched to produce human sounds electronicly from first principles (that is, generating them without using prerecorded snipets of actual speech) but the results have been less than satisfying, so most commercial applications still rely on the prerecorded voice, where a "human sounding" voice is desired. Fully synthesized speech has existed since the 1980s (Speak and Spell used such technology) but, even to this day, such technology doesn't produce an output which is as close to "the real thing" as do the ones that use prerecorded voices. --Jayron32 15:09, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Of course, the recording process doesn't have to be intentional, but it does have to be completely free of background noises. When Roger Ebert lost his voice, they were able to create a synthesized version of his own voice from the 'clean' audio files he recorded for commentary tracks on movies. here's one of many articles on the topic. APL (talk) 15:19, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

It must be pointed out that Ebert's new voice synthesizer definitely reminds you of Ebert talking, but it also definitely sounds synthesized. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:29, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Was he previously using a British-accented synthesized voice? (i.e. nothing like his own) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:33, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

In a couple of YouTube video clips, it appeared he was typing on a Mac and having it output some variety of PlainTalk speech. Not British-accented, and also nothing like his own (or like any human's). Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:36, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure he experimented with a bunch of voices and settled on a british one for a while before his "own" voice could be made. APL (talk) 00:06, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

He did use a British voice for a bit. This video popped up in my YouTube subscription, and is very relevant to the conversation: Roger Ebert: Remaking my voice, from a recent TedTalk. ^Avic_ennasis @ 06:07, 13 Nisan 5771 / 17 April 2011 (UTC)

for a while British Telecom used the actor Tom Baker voice to 'speak' out texts sent from a mobile (cell) phone to a landline phone Perry-mankster (talk) 20:24, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

How could I work up my new Facebook sports group?

So, earlier this week, I had started a new sports group on Facebook in which aspiring athletes, coaches, scouts, and other people involved in any sport from all over the country and the world can join. The group is called Alcerance. I was aiming the group to become a big sports organization with many leagues and be collaborating with numerous partners. Right now, there are only three members in Alcerance: me, a Brazilian volleyball player, and a French volleyball coach. I've been going to various sites on the Internet looking for up-and-coming athletes as well as coaches and stuff, even on Facebook, but there was little luck. So, I was saying if there are any people out there who know about sports and about proper group advertisement or the like, how can I get my sports group to be popular and well-known, and what efficient sites on the Internet should I go to to look for athletes and chat and get in touch with them in discussing if they could join the group or be sponsored? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sirdrink13309622 (talk • contribs) 19:22, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

"Big sports organisations" don't start with Facebook groups. Statistical fact. ╟─TreasuryTag►constablewick─╢ 19:28, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

A variant of this question comes up here every couple of months in which a querent asks how they can make their blog more popular. The answer is to make it a great resource. What incentive is there for athletes to take time out of their day to join your group or check in, on a daily basis? If you can answer that question with a very strong answer, then people may decide to join the group because they are in search of that incentive, too. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:34, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

By the way, how did you come up with the name "Alcerance"? What does it mean? Is it a club for also-rans? —Tamfang (talk) 05:44, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

"Alcerance" is just a name I created myself while thinking for a cool name for my group. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.238.140.148 (talk) 17:05, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

Need help with translations

Hi. I have a list of articles in es:Wp without interwikies and I ask myself If someone speake both languages and can check the list to see they´re in en:WP. I already do the Google translation but the result was 0. For example, "demanda insatisfecha". Thanks. --Andreateletrabajo (talk) 22:54, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

How many are there in total? Also, "unmet demand"? What is the article about? Can you provide a link? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:02, 16 April 2011 (UTC)

mumbai university solved fe paper

on which website can i find mumbai university fe engineering solved paper free — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ali142143 (talk • contribs) 23:12, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Best thing would be to ask your tutor.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:36, 16 April 2011 (UTC)