Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 December 7

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December 7

Poisonous plants and animals on the Island of Kauai, Hi

Hi, I would like to know if there are poisonous snakes, centipedes,spiders, plants etc. on the Island of Kauai, Hi. I lived on the island of St. Croix for approxmately 12 years and there were poisonous centipedes but there were no snakes due to the island having mongooses on the island. I want to know if I go to visit what I should look out for. Thank you99.23.92.216 (talk) 01:23, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Category:Biota of Kauai might be helpful.

—Wavelength (talk) 01:27, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

This yahoo answer looks reasonable: [1] Rmhermen (talk) 02:38, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Roasting small joints of lamb

Dear Wikipedians, I am cooking a 700g (1.5lb) joint of lamb tonight and am trying to work out cooking instructions. The timings and heats I have found online tend to be for much larger pieces of meat, and I'm wondering if they can be transposed downwards without problem. How long and at what heat should I cook my joint? The meat is boneless, by the way. 130.88.172.34 (talk) 14:57, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

If you're thinking the cooking time for 1.5 lbs is just half that of a 3 lb piece, then no, it's no that simple. See [2], and I suggest you measure the internal temperature with a meat thermometer to ensure that it's done (desired interior temps listed in the chart). StuRat (talk) 15:15, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Gee, that is a misleading website. I first thought it said to cook for 20 minutes at 140°F (for medium rare) which way too low a temperature. Presumably, you should preheat your oven to 325 °F (163 °C) (from the top of the table) and cook for 20 minutes per pound (~30 mins in all) until the internal temperature is 140 °F (60 °C). Astronaut (talk) 16:36, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

I thought the usual rule was "20 minutes plus 20 minutes per pound" (= 50 minutes), but perhaps that's because I don't like rare meat. Dbfirs 18:32, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

The best thing to do is to buy a probe thermometer with a heat-resistant probe that you can leave in the meat while it cooks. Something like this: [3] costs 11 dollars. I use these all the time. You just put the probe in the meatiest part of the roast you are making, leave the readout part outside the oven; the wire is thin enough to close the oven door on, and the heat-resistant coating will protect the wire. They are awesome. Just set the alarm for your target temperature and let'er rip. 325 °F (163 °C) - 375 °F (191 °C) is a good oven temperature for roasting meats; the more fatty and gristly the meat the lower you want the temperature (and thus a longer cooking time), the leaner the meat the higher the temperature. As mentioned above 140 °F (60 °C) is a good internal temperature for medium rare (go higher for more doneness; 160 °F (71 °C) is about well-done). Just take the roast out at your target temperature, cover with aluminum foil, and let it rest for 15 minutes or so before eating. --Jayron32 18:35, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Vacuum tube manufacture

Just wondering if any corporations make vacuum tubes for antique electronics.Julzes (talk) 18:26, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

I can't say what the case is now, but this list details all the manufacturers as of 2005. Most then were former-Sov-block or Chinese concerns, building for the long tail of the switch from valves to transistors. There seems to be a level below which production is uneconomic - for example, BBC Radio 4's long-wave service is jeopardised by its dependence on some (massive, obviously very specialised) valves that aren't made (ref). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:41, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

This section should remain on WP:RD/M until the BBC 4 LW transmitter fails. --84.62.204.7 (talk) 21:07, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Antique Electronic Supply sells a variety of newly made vacuum tubes, including many popular in hi-fi amps and guitar amps. If you want REALLY old tubes, then Ebay is your friend. I bought a 1920's radio which had 5 UX201A tubes(introduced 1925) in it, and all the tubes were serviceable, despite dating from the 1920's or 1930's. Many of these antique tubes will have burned out filaments, gas leaks, or internal shorts. Functioning UX201A's might sell for $27 plus shipping. Edison (talk) 23:05, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Don't electronic components of such age often use Bakelite as their insulator? If so, doesn't it become horribly brittle over such a timespan? -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:32, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

The Bakelite article doesn't seem to mention age-related failure. Is this an oversight? (I know my 1952 toaster with Bakelite handles and plug is still working fine in daily use.) Rmhermen (talk) 14:46, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

I have electrical devices well over 100 years old with Bakelite parts (at least they look like Bakelite) which have not become noticeably brittle, but I expect that repeated mechanical stress, defects from manufacturing, or exposure to heat, sunlight, solvents, acids, etc. could cause Bakelite to crumble. I know of cases where high voltage underground electrical cables had Bakelite parts which failed after 60 years due to heat from repeated overloads, but that is a pretty good service life. Tube bases from the 1920's look fine, in general, but the cement holding the glass to the base sometimes comes loose. Edison (talk) 19:14, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Swords?

What was the longest sword commonly in usage? 99.43.78.36 (talk) 19:31, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

The Zweihänder (two-hander) in use by the German Landsknechten were pretty huge. The idea was a sword that could also double as a Pike. It was up to 180 cm (6 feet) in length. --Jayron32 19:36, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

See also claymore and longsword. Rmhermen (talk) 22:08, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Chinese Changdaos may have been slightly longer on average than Zweihänders. Japanese Zanbatōs were sometimes truly huge (I see a source saying that they got to 12 feet in length), they looked like this, but, with that size, they were so unwieldy as to be impractical in battle, and they may have only been used for ceremonial purposes.--Itinerant1 (talk) 02:12, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

LOL, that's not a realistic portrayal of them. Zanbatō were very much swordlike, like a bigger version of Ōdachi. This is how Zanbatō looked like. Still unwieldy but not impossible like in Anime depictions. Besides, if Zanbatō looked like that, it would be a polearm, not a sword. I think it stems from confusion of the latter with the Japanese Naginata and the Chinese Guan dao, all of them have historically been associated with either mounted troops (greater reach from horseback) or dismounting mounted troops in combat ("Zanbatō" itself literally means "horse-killer").-- Obsidi♠n Soul 02:50, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Primark in Essen

Today, Primark opened the Essen store. I have two questions:

1. Has the Primark store in Essen more escalators than any other Primark store?
2. Has the Primark store in Essen more escalators than any other store in Essen?

--84.62.204.7 (talk) 20:24, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

WHOIS indicates you are editing from Germany. The best way to find the answer to your question is to place a phone call to the business in question and ask them. Someone at Primark will have a better chance of knowing the answer on the number of escalators in their store than will anyone at Wikipedia. --Jayron32 21:14, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Or maybe ask at the Auskunft on the German Wikipedia? --Ouro (blah blah) 21:26, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Honestly this is the sort of question you will have to research yourself. The number of escalators in stores in Essen Germany isn't likely to be published anywhere. You'll have to go the stores and count them for yourself. --Daniel 22:15, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

If someone were asking about such a number in any store in my current city of residence I guess I could be persuaded to count them one day at my leisure. But Daniel is absolutely right, this is just too trivial. I'm also interested, heck, well, why on Earth does something like this matter? --Ouro (blah blah) 05:52, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Which store (of any type) in the world has the most escalators? --84.62.204.7 (talk) 07:32, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't know, the numbers keep going up and down.85.211.153.242 (talk) 07:57, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

A quick search yields some interesting results: Essen has Europe's longest escalator (awesome picture), when the Primark store opened yesterday the escalators could not hold the masses (I ignore whether they wanted to count the escalators, e.g., for an opening quiz), and − sting − Essen got a problem with wild-peeing in glass elevators [4]. --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 13:20, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Just as a note, this user is a blocked user known for asking obscure trivia questions which are often difficult to answer, sometimes apparently while already knowing the answer. See Wikipedia:Long-term abuse/German reference desk troll Nil Einne (talk) 07:47, 9 December 2011 (UTC)