Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 October 24

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October 24

Death of wikipedians ?

Who was the first wikipedean to die ? what happened to his user page

The first person listed in Wikipedia:Deceased Wikipedians is in 2005 but as the IP says, we wouldn't necessarily know about all wikipedians who died, particularly if they weren't very active. Also, it's possible some people who's death was noted on wikipedia at some stage in the early days didn't end up on that page. And that list is only for the English wikipedia. Wikipedians in other languages only won't be there. Having said that, a look at the all those listed at Wikimedia:Deceased editors#See also Meta:Deceased editors#See also only found 3 others with 2005 Commons:Commons:Deceased contributors, es:Wikipedia:Wikipedistas fallecidos, eo:Vikipedio:Forpasintaj vikipediistoj; and none with earlier that I saw. There is also one listed in the wikimedia page too although some lack a date of death there too. While wikimedia and commons aren't wikipedias, it's fairly likely anyone on commons or wikimedia has edited some wikipedia. Anyway a look through all these 5 lists should find which one was the earliest in 2005 of those listed in those pages. Nil Einne (talk) 12:05, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

According to the graphic at right - there were about 10,000 active wikipedia editors in 2005. Averaged around the world, there are about 8 deaths per year per thousand people - so we'd could certainly expect around 80 active wikipedians to have died in 2005. The number may be fewer because the population is skewed towards countries with higher life-expectancy - and because Wikipedians aren't evenly distributed across the range of ages. But clearly there must have been dozens of deaths that year that we don't have records for. It looks like there were well over 1000 active editors in 2004 - so we'd expect there to have been a handful of deaths back then...the population was in the low hundreds in 2003 though - so I'd be surprised if the first death was earlier than that...statistically speaking. Best answer - we don't know, but if we had to guess, it would be someone in 2003 to 2004, well before we kept any such records. SteveBaker (talk) 00:50, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Also, those numbers are for registered accounts. A person who edits Wikipedia regularly without an account, and using an ISP which assigns their IP address dynamically (or any of a number of other out-of-their-control reasons they wouldn't have a regular IP address) could be Wikipedians, and we would have no way to track who they are, or when they died. --Jayron32 13:18, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Absolutely true! There could have been way more deaths on or before 2005 if those people were included. I included those statistics to show that it's almost certain that least some people died before records were kept...I'm sure the numbers are larger than the named-users records suggests. SteveBaker (talk) 17:12, 27 October 2015 (UTC)

Knife handle fit for small hands

I want to buy a set of kitchen knives for a friend who has very small hands, but I have no idea about best fit as I have rather large hands. The main issue, I think, is whether a handle that tapers to the rear or front is best for my petite friend? Maybe some factor other than handle taper is important, I don't know. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:46, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

I don't know much about the theory of knife handles, but I know some small-handed folk who like OXO_(brand). They have a whole line called "good grips" that you might look into. As far as I can tell the blades are decent quality, but nothing special. SemanticMantis (talk) 13:21, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks SemanticMantis, unfortunately I haven't been able to find the OXO brand here in South Africa. I'd actually prefer to get information about the "theory of knife handles" rather than simply brand advice without understanding the principles. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:08, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

Yes the general theory does sound interesting. I looked a bit, but most of the stuff I see about grip design is focused on knives-as-weapons, e.g. [1]. I suppose some concepts might carry over to the kitchen, some might not. Here's a good-looking book chapter and bibliography of scholarly refs on handle design for tools [2]. SemanticMantis (talk) 17:13, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

This is the sort of question you should either ask at a cutlery shop or of the intended gift target. A cook will tell you that a knife handle should taper toward the blade, given that the precision grip of the thumb, index, and midlle finger will be there. I have never even considered the size of my hands, although I do have favorite knives. I have always found the blade quality mattered infinitely more than the handle size, as long as I could grip the handle. (And, no, infinitely is not the word I want here either, so please don't bother to object.) The obvious answer is, compare knife sets at a good kitchenware shop, and buy the best and smallest set you can find, but buy the best blades over the best hamdles. There's also the obvious option of buying a gift certificate, or a bottle of wine and a fifty in a card. μηδείς (talk) 00:58, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks μηδείς, I have found a blog and web forum that discusses knives and they said basically the same as you. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:12, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

I'm not a kitchen-tool aficionado, but I have noticed the Good Grips brand and it seems to me that the way it differs from other brands is that the handles are wrapped in rubber and therefore thicker. For a person with very small hands, they might not be a good choice. --70.49.170.168 (talk) 05:10, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Given the choice of plastic, wood, metal or rubber, Dodger67, I would chose rubber first, wood second, and metal last. The problem is that while rubber and wood give a better grip, they fare the worst in a dishwasher. The rubber-handled cutlery I own specifies that these items should not be washed in a dishwasher, but only by hand. ("Rubber" here is in scare quotes.)

My favoritest knife is a fish boner with a finely- and a less finely-toothed straight edge on opposite sides of a wooden-handled blade. I never wash it in the dish washer, since that dulls the blade. But the knife itself is my Poppop's, at least as old as I am, and still as good as a knife 50 years younger than I am. do dishwashers dull knife blades? My Third favoritest knife is a plastic-handled steel-bladed French knife that I used as a short-order cook in the 80's. It is now actually my father's favorite knife, although only I and his parents actually worked in restaurants. μηδείς (talk) 02:12, 27 October 2015 (UTC)