Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 November 5

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

November 5

What animal produced this hide?

What on earth does this woman have on the floor in front of the fireplace? It looks to me like the skin of a Japanese Spitz, but surely well-to-do Americans didn't carpet their houses with dog skins. Smurrayinchester 09:39, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

WAG: Arctic fox? Clarityfiend (talk) 09:44, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Looks to me like a baby seal skin. The pups are born with soft white fur. --Xuxl (talk) 12:39, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

I would say some sort of a fox, judging by the snout and teeth. DuncanHill (talk) 12:56, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

It's not a Japanese Spitz as the picture is from 1901 and the breed wasn't developed until the 1920s. It looks exactly like the foxes hanging around here so I think Clarityfiend and DuncanHill are correct. You can tell it isn't a seal by the tail. Weird use for a fox though. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 14:45, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

It looks a little large for an Arctic fox, would be cat sized, but could also be a small Arctic wolf. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 14:47, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

are you really sure this was taken in 1901. She is using Virtual Reality goggles, wearing an i Watch, with a dot matrix printer in the bottom draw, not to mention a flat-screen TV on the wall behind her!--Aspro (talk) 19:41, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

• I don't want to derail this thread, but do many here find this use of an animal unpleasant, and is this reaction indicative of some kind of cultural evolution or bounty? It's likely they didn't have easy access to other fabrics and had to make do with what they had, but did anyone during this time have an affinity for animals like we do now? Why would you want to look at such a poor creature splayed out on your floor like this? In other words, what has changed in the human condition that we might find this less acceptable today? Don't misread me, I know that as late as the 1960s in the US this was still culturally relevant, but I think it would be considered gauche and cruel today. Any opinions on this or is my vegetarian brain soggy with cassava? Viriditas (talk) 04:15, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Well I live in a different society/culture to most on Wikipedia and hunting is a major way of life in Northern Canada and in a lot of southern Canada as well. At the same time trophy hunting (The Inuit are some of the hardiest, quietest and most highly skilled hunters on the planet!), which is known as sports hunting, is a big business and brings in much needed money for communities that may have a large number of unemployed. One of the major organisations involved with this is the US based Boone and Crockett Club. The majority of hunters from outside of the north tend to be from the first world and have quite a bit of disposable income. Muskox hunting which does not cover the $2000+ return airfare from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay and polar bear is even more expensive, $15,000, $28,000 or $35,000 and you pay that even if you don't get a animal. Of these I would say that most of them are from the US. This is based on living up here (Ulukhaktok and Cambridge Bay) for over 40 years.

Oddly enough it wasn't until you said "splayed out on your floor like this?" that I realised that the picture is rather odd. That type of mount would more usually be used as a wall decoration than a floor rug. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 07:00, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I'm getting the sense that the photographer staged the whole thing. As for hunting cultures, I can appreciate that. We have the opposite problem in Hawaii, where hunting is strictly regulated and axis deer and wild boar run amok and cause problems. Two axis deer were hit by cars just the other day a block away from me, and when I jog at night I sometimes have to dodge herds of deer running through the streets in the opposite direction, which makes my running routine more intense and interesting as I'm often running for my life (these guys are big and could cause some serious damage if they hit you). However, I wonder if hunting, if acting as the predator, is always the solution or even necessary. I love that Star Trek Voyager episode where they replace the live prey with holograms. And then even the holograms become sentient! Viriditas (talk) 10:02, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Pretty much all photographs were staged in those days. The cameras were massive, the lights needed for indoor photography were massive, and the subject had to sit perfectly still for a period of time. It was typical for photographers to put a lot of effort into setting up a scene before taking a picture of it -- just as portrait painters did before photography was invented. Looie496 (talk) 13:41, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, that was one of the other things I was wondering about – if it's a rug, it's a uselessly small one. You couldn't curl up in front of the fire (or sin with Elinor Glyn) on something like that. Smurrayinchester 14:22, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Decorative items aren't "useless". IIRC, the culture of Kazakhstan makes use of small decorative rugs like this, for whatever reason. Viriditas (talk) 02:21, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Categorized food consumption products

Hello,

Do we have any articles that categorises/groups foods…? E.g., all the meat products, all the seafood/water products, all the fruits, vegetables, dairy products, all the spices, and so on? If we don't have an article, can someone help me with this please?

Also, a list of all the foods available around the world for to eat. excluding bugs/insects; would be of help too.

Regards.

Space Ghost (talk) 18:23, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Category:Foods, Category:Lists of foods and Category:Lists of foods by nationality should cover this. Tevildo (talk) 19:40, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Glanced it, looks good. Thanks -- Space Ghost (talk) 05:40, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

Page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bouchet: "This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2011)"

The Page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bouchet_Abdus_Salam_Institute contains "This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.

Many additional cites/refs have been added but the comment box at the top of the page remains.Could you please remove it?

Thanks very much.Slaughtsphysics (talk) 18:26, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

(To clarify, the problem article is Edward Bouchet Abdus Salam Institute, not Edward Bouchet itself). This question would be better at the Help Desk or the article talk page. However, the article as it stands is not adequately referenced, and would be very unlikely to survive a deletion request (WP:AFD) in its present state. (In fact, it's heading for an A7 - "no assertion of notability"). We need references to third-party publications (that is, not from the organization itself) that establish its notability. See WP:INTREF, WP:V, and WP:ORGIND. Tevildo (talk) 19:35, 5 November 2015 (UTC)