Humanities desk
< March 30	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	April 1 >

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

March 31

gayelle

is there any college related research in the interdisciplinary studies regarding the term gayelle?NewAtThis (talk) 00:31, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Considering it's a newly made up (and trademarked) term, it's doubtful. Corvus cornix_talk 16:58, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

My goodness, NewAtThis, I certainly hope not: it's an infelicitous and ugly neologism. Besides, it looks to me like a demeaning diminishing diminutive (ha!). One might as well offer the substitution of 'gayatess' or 'gayatette'. I mentioned this to some of my lesbian friends today and they fell into gales (gayelles?) of laughter! Clio the Muse (talk) 23:07, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What strikes me is that it's only one letter out from gazelle... FiggyBee (talk) 03:23, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Penelope's suitors

How many were there?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 00:32, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

136 according to Apollodorus, 108 according to Homer. Our article on Penelope says 108, but for some reason the 20 from Zakynthos got lost along the way, I'll put them in. FiggyBee (talk) 00:44, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I've been helping on a featured article about the great Texan Ima Hogg--who turned down 30 marriage proposals--but I guess she still doesn't compare to Penny.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 00:58, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not by a few, no. Good work with the article, by the way. :) · AndonicO ^Hail! 23:31, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

racist

What you do you call a person who is racist to his own race like a white guy hates his white people? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Don Mustafa (talk • contribs) 01:38, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's actually a rally good question. Given the richness of the English language, there has to be a word to describe such a person--what, for instance, is the opposite of a xenophobe?--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 02:24, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The opposite of Xenophobe is Xenophile...it follows the greek structure. Xenos = stranger/foreigner, phobos = fear and philos = attraction. --Cameron (t/c) 18:51, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

intraphobe or racial self-loathing —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.1.209.112 (talk) 02:41, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thinking outside the box. freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ 08:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Leukophobe? Julia Rossi (talk) 09:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bigot? AllenHansen (talk) 12:49, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

dunno about black and white but in the case of asian and white there are two words 1) for someone who is white on the outside, but yellow on the inside (an "egg"), and 2) for someone who is yellow on the outside but white on the insight (a "twinkie").

So, these two words, egg, and twinkie, might, in this narrow, comma, comma, comma, special usage refer to racial self-hatred. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.53.248 (talk) 14:42, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They're usually used by others who are contemptuous of such people. (And I've heard the second type called a "banana".) Clarityfiend (talk) 19:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Whigger? Corvus cornix_talk 17:04, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Counter-xenophobe? -- JackofOz (talk) 22:47, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

You know, I was at a college party (how rare is that) some weeks ago, and someone asked that question. Someone answered. It was a term for Black people that was against Black people. Black cops. ;/ Neal (talk) 02:34, 1 April 2008 (UTC).[reply]

Contra White or contra Black or contra culture (culture used here in the sense of subscription to the same rules of conduct). I know several Blacks who were educated as and who think like Whites, even against there own race. When Blacks moved into their neighborhood they said they had decided to move to a different (predominantly white) neighborhood because the reason they moved to the neighborhood they were living in, in the first place, was to get away from "those people." Certain Whites (normally only women) can converse perfectly with Blacks in their own dialect, especially those who attend the same schools as Blacks and become half of an interracial marriage. -- 71.100.11.124 (talk) 04:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC) [reply]

It is also 'rasict' because racist means bias based on race and not bias against people of other race

Stub Articles

As a college history project, a classmate and I wrote an article expanding on a previously existing stub article on Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa. We wrote out a 5 page paper, complete with an extensive bibliography, and submitted it as a Wikipedia page. It was recently classified as a stub, and we were wondering why this happened. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Screaminghistoriansofdoom (talk • contribs) 02:30, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

User John Z (Talk | contribs) has removed the stub tags on the article itself, but in the talk page ratings, it hasn't been rated again since (April 2007/Sept 2006). Afaik, you can go into edit the talk page and upgrade it to a start class article since it's been expanded with lots of references. Don't know, but it's not likely a bot will do that for you, so, be bold, and put your brief reasons on the talk page to cover it (such as, expanded with ref list) and sign it with four ~ to give the date and your signature for the record. : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 03:11, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Looking at the article before you added stuff and since, was there any reason why you simply removed mostly what was there already? Maybe I've got it wrong here, but I guess I prefer for newer material to be woven into existing material as a matter of personal choice, rather than simply blanking old stuff (unless it's completely off topic). I've got nothing against changing through editing but usually people before you also go to trouble in the first place. Have I misread the comparisons? Julia Rossi (talk) 03:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Considering the old version was unsourced, it isn't a great loss... it wasn't as well written either. · AndonicO ^Hail! 23:34, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

diplomatic missions and foreign policiy

'diplomatic missions are the overseas arms of the state through which the foreign policy is executed'. explain this statement indicating the different kinds of missions.

thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.175.151 (talk) 03:01, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are the articles diplomatic mission and foreign policy any help? both have interesting links to other articles. Get back to us if you get stuck on something specific. Cheers, Julia Rossi (talk) 03:26, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps the use of the word mission is confusing? I know I used to find it confusing. The word 'mission' today is often interpreted through its military usage, as a generally short-term, immediate job - diplomatic missions on the other hand, are indefinate, and wide-ranging. Ninebucks (talk) 11:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

International Business

What is Export Orientation & trade dependency? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.62.250 (talk) 05:48, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wilde and Salome

Oscar Wilde's Salome is so out of keeping with his other well-known plays that it clearer has an entirely different source of inspiration. Is anything known of the background to his tragedy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.42.104.181 (talk) 08:26, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wilde's play is based loosely on the biblical story of the woman who danced for Herod, described as a daughter of Herodias - see St Matthew 14, 6-11. The only Salome named in the Bible is a follower of Jesus, but Josephus gives the dancer's name as Salome. Xn4 08:35, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

P. S. - For a much fuller answer to this question, see Salome. Xn4 11:48, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As to Wilde's interest in the story, Neil McKenna's The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde tells us that, on his honeymoon, Wilde read Joris-Karl Huysmans' novel À Rebours, in which the hero Des Esseintes obsessed over 2 paintings of Salome by Gustave Moreau. Wilde was fascinated by this novel, and became obsessed with Des Esseintes's obsession, making it his own, and he spoke of the story often to his friends. Richard Ellmann's biography of Wilde tells us that he told his Guatemalan poet friend Enrique Gomez Carrillo that he "had the same sickness as Des Esseintes". It took him 7 years after reading Huysmans' novel to write his own play, although he had had had it in mind for a considerable time before he put pen to paper. -- JackofOz (talk) 12:10, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It might also be of interest to you, 217.42, that Salome was fully consistent in its presentation with Wilde's theory of drama. In one of his letters he says that "...I like comedy to be intensely modern, and tragedy to walk in purple and be remote." And I don't suppose it is possible to get more purple and remote than Salome!

Incidentally, there is a third source of inspiration for the play, beyond Huysmans' novel and Moreau's paintings. In 1888 the Pall Mall Gazette published Salome, a dramatic poem by an American named J. C Heywood. This in turn draws on Heinrich Heine's Atta Troll, in which the ghost of Herodias kisses the head of John the Baptist. Heywood's innovation was to make her do this while still alive. It was Wilde who took this one step further, to make Salome kiss the lips of the Baptist in the great dramatic climax of his play. Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood? . . . Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love. Purple and decadent; who else but Wilde could have achieved that?! Clio the Muse (talk) 00:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Purple and decadent; who else but Wilde could have achieved that? Various popes of the Medici family; and Jenny Joseph . Possibly. --Tagishsimon (talk) 15:20, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

removing money in circulation

How much physical money would you have to remove from circulation in Australia, to cause problems, and what effects would it have? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.100.231.216 (talk) 08:58, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Christopher Skase. Julia Rossi (talk) 09:50, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Like all developed economies, only a small fraction of Australia's money supply is in the form of physical notes and coins. From the graph on the right, I estimate physical current to be less than 5% of the money supply. Even if it was feasible to somehow remove a large proportion of the physical currency from circulation, it would have very little effect on the economy, and would be only a minor inconvenience to individual citizens, most of whom can probably use some form of electronic money for all but the smallest transactions. And the Australian government could easily solve the problem by minting more coins and printing more banknotes - the Royal Australian Mint has the capacity to produce over 2 million new coins per day. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:08, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't sometrhing like that happen in England during the war with Napoleon, with no disasterous consequences? HS7 (talk) 19:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed I'm pretty sure that in Australia, as in New Zealand, the use of EFTPOS and credit cards is widespread and common even for relatively small transactions like $5 at the supermarket or even for a trip to the local dairy or bakery. Nil Einne (talk) 18:35, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

BTW "dairy" in New Zealand English refers not to the place where cows are milked but to a convenience store. BrainyBabe (talk) 02:17, 2 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

April Fool

Since tommorrow is April Fool's Day I would be interested to know of some of more noteable pranks, practical jokes, hoxes and deceptions recorded over time, not necessarily perpetrated on 1 April! ZZT9 (talk) 12:44, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but the Ref Desk committee has banned all April Fool-related questions. There might be a useful article here, but you didn't hear it from me. Gandalf61 (talk) 13:24, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you wait a day, lots of newspapers, TV stations and website run stories about good jokes from previous years. Although sometimes they like to make up good previous jokes... DJ Clayworth (talk) 14:05, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

"On 1 April 1925," six-year-old Raymond Smullyan was lying sick in bed ... "In the morning my brother Emile (ten years my senior) came into my bedroom and said: "Well, Raymond, today is April Fool's Day, and I will fool you as you have never been fooled before!" I waited all day for him to fool me, but he didn't." He couldn't sleep and complained to his mother who commanded the older brother to resolve the issue immediately. Emile explained to Raymond that he had fooled him by not fooling him after making him expect being fooled. ... "I recall lying in bed long after the lights were turned out wondering whether or not I had really been fooled." Raymond Smullyan, What is the name of this book?, Prentice-Hall (1978) 83.78.176.92 (talk) 14:09, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Jovian-Plutonian gravitational effect was pretty awesome. Adam Bishop (talk) 15:18, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well, here is a real beauty for you, ZZT9. The great Jonathan Swift hated all forms of superstition, especially when it took the form of astrology. He had a particular loathing of one almanac-writer and astrologer by the name of John Partridge. Partridge compounded his offence in Swift's eyes by being a Whig, who attacked the Tory Anglican establishment. He was also in the habit of using his almanacs to predict the deaths of notable figures, achieving a few hits and far more misses. Swift took revenge in January 1708 by publishing a letter, under the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaff, entitled Predictions for the Year, in which he forecast Partridge's death of a 'raging fever.'

On April Fool's Day itself, another letter was published, purporting to have been written by 'man employed by the Revenue', in which it was announced that Partridge had indeed died. Swift went on to compose a 'eulogy', damming both Partridge and, more particularly, damming those who took his nonsense seriously. Before long Partridge, who was very much alive, had regular crowds of mourners calling at his house, so dense that the trades people could get nowhere near the front door to make deliveries. He published a letter, saying he was still alive, to which Bickerstaff responded that nobody who was alive could possibly have written "such damned stuff as this." Partridge's reputation is said never to have recovered. Clio the Muse (talk) 00:57, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is the old BBC Spaghetti harvesting hoax. bibliomaniac 15 Hey you! Stop lazing around and help fix this article instead! 00:59, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If 1 April isn't a requirement, then it's worth considering Forgotten Silver: a fake documentary made by Peter Jackson. NZ's Country Calendar also regularly announces fake agricultural developments (you can watch highlights here and discussion of both of these examples can be found in this book)

The spaghetti hoax mentioned by Bibliomaniac15 was in 1957: more here if interested. That link will also lead you to other well-known hoaxes. Gwinva (talk) 01:39, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I enjoyed reading the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Times. This is on the same website that Gwinva pointed out as a source for the spaghetti hoax, but Gwinva's link is now broken. --Bowlhover (talk) 05:36, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed: a keying-in error, sorry. Gwinva (talk) 07:38, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have a read of the "did you know..." on the front page today. . .or is that a double bluff April Fool. In today's Guardian there is an advert by BMW purporting to have developed a system to dissuade dogs from peeing on car wheels, its called the Canine Repellent Alloy Protection (System)Richard Avery (talk) 15:36, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Well if 1 April isn't a requirement, I really think it's difficult to beat The War of the Worlds (radio) Nil Einne (talk) 18:30, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Dictionary of National Biography has posted links to some hoaxers and jokers that makes entertaining reading.

references (insecure life in pakistan)

i want a help with an assignment i have to write on

'causes of insecure life in pakistan'

can anyone tell me any good sources for citing n quoting (e.g any essay related to it or factual or statistical data) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.128.4.231 (talk) 12:48, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds like too big a topic. What kind of insecurity? Food? Political? Health? Hope one of these links can get you started, and best with your assignment. WikiJedits (talk) 16:11, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Some would say that one very important (though seldom publicly-acknowledged) cause of many of Pakistan's woes has been "feudalism", or extreme oligarchy. None of the governments of Pakistan have really directly confronted this issue, and many of Pakistan's rulers have been substantial "feudal" oligarchs themselves. There have been claims that some Pakistani governments have found it convenient to keep the Islamist agitation pot boiling partially in order to distract attention from economic and political inequalities, and one of the reasons why Bangladesh ultimately seceded from Pakistan is that Bengalis came to feel that a narrow Urdu-Punjabi elite was not willing to share significant power no matter how many votes the Bengali parties accumulated... AnonMoos (talk) 20:39, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The English Gentleman

I've been reading your article on the Gentleman and it is clear that a major change over how this notion was perceived in England came in the middle of the nineteenth century with the rise of the new middle classes. So, what were the main differences in the qualities that made up an English gentleman from, say, the end of the eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century? What, in other words, was the 'superior standard of conduct', other the courtesy towards women and general good manners?Balzac's Ghost (talk) 13:16, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a 1746 point of view on the subject, and an 1852 take (or, in more detail, this from 1843 (American), although I am not sure if it was not written years before publication). WikiJedits (talk) 16:44, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think, Balzac's Ghost, you might very well find what you are looking for in Mark Girouard's The Return of Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman. The author describes the nineteenth century rise of what he calls 'the chivalrous gentleman', possessing specific codes of honour-focusing on notions of duty-that would simply have been unintelligible to his eighteenth century counterpart, who respected themselves for their property, not their virtues. In the high-noon of Victorian England the gentleman is reshaped in the light of contemporary domestic virtues, and by a new emphasis on the importance of duty, self-sacrifice and heroism. The English public schools themselves-the nursery of the gentleman-glamorised these new virtues, thrusting aside the self-interested Flashman and his kind in favour of the altogether more morally appealing Tom Brown. Old notions of chivalry were reinterpreted to suit the modern mood, a revived Malory tailored to the hour.

For an emergent middle-class audience Charles Dickens parodied the older type of gentleman, more devoted to his own interests than to the community at large, in characters like Jem Harthouse, James Steerforth and Eugene Wrayburn, all very much on the model, it might be said, of a mature Flashman, attentive, primarily, to their own selfish desires, with a code of personal ethics that neither sought nor required any greater sanction. Now, the greatest fear was for a gentleman to show any form of cowardice, moral or physical. There is perhaps no better example of the 'new model' gentleman than Oscar Wilde, who, faced with disgrace, refused to leave England because, as he later confessed, he did not want to be 'thought of as a coward and a deserter.' An eighteenth-century Oscar would almost certainly have headed straight for Dover, caring nothing for the opinion of others, good or bad! Clio the Muse (talk) 01:37, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend Bryant's Age of Elegance and White's Age of Scandal. AllenHansen (talk) 08:16, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Carbon emissions and locally produced food

I remember reading an article in the Economist a few months ago which cleverly debunked various environmental shibboleths. It argued, for example, that food produced locally to the consumer was actually worse for the planet in terms of carbon emissions than food flown/shipped in from far away. If anyone could provide me with a link to that article (I've searched the Economist website without success), I'd be very grateful. Failing that, does anyone know how the argument outlined above would be made? --Richardrj ^talk ^email 13:47, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is a bit more than a few months ago, but the December 7 2006 issue has an article entitled "Ethical food" which goes into the argument. It's not included free on the Economist website, but I'd be happy to email it to you if you're unable to access it otherwise. Just post a message on my talk page if you're interested. GreatManTheory (talk) 14:17, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That's the one; thanks very much. Apologies for getting the time period wrong. Thanks for the offer, but I found the article on Usenet. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 14:39, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

microeconomic development

.A chemical manufacturer processes two chemicals C1 and C2 in varying propositions to produce three products A,B and C.He wishes to produce at least 150 units of A,200 units of B and 60 units of C.Each tonne of C1 yields 3 of A,5 of B and 3 of C.If C1 costs $40 per tonne and C2 costs $50 per tonne

(a)Formulate the problem as a minimisation LP model

(b)Formulate the inverse or dual of the primal formulation in (a)above

(c)Express the dual in (b)above as standard LP model

(d)set up the initial simplex tableau for the solution to this problem(do not solve)

(e)using the graphical method,identify the feasibility region for the solution in the LP model. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.220.120.202 (talk) 09:01, 31 March 2008 (UTm

The reference desk doesn't do your homework for you. If there is a concept you don't understand then feel free to ask about that. DJ Clayworth (talk) 14:01, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

wrong, I'm pretty sure the reference desk DOES do people's homework for them, they just have to disguise it first. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.53.248 (talk) 14:38, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

by not assisting in the concepts you prove quite unworthy to turn to for help,this poor guy is posting his question for help and not to be let down like you are doing

This is a cut-and-paste copy of a question on the Mathematics RD here. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:50, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To the OP: FYI, the page history records the author of every revision. This means when you come to your own defence while purporting to be a third party, we know about it. Algebraist 15:10, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

wife's college

is your wife's college your alma mater-in-law? What would that be in Latin? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.53.248 (talk) 14:37, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

That would be your alma socrus. Adam Bishop (talk) 15:16, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think a socrus provides much alimentum, though. Deor (talk) 16:52, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

that would be the highest building in united states of africa —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.220.120.202 (talk) 14:49, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

CHRONOLOGICAL AGE

How is it possible to go through time, as in living life through the years,but not age in appearance physically or mentally having none of the usual signs of the age process?? Fluter —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 14:57, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Um, it's not possible. Unless you're frozen in stasis or something. Otherwise your cells will, inevitably, age. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 14:59, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is possible if you are Dorian Grey, but you pay a terrible price. BrainyBabe (talk) 15:53, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

But cells are replaced all the time, they can't age much. People can look younger than they really are, I suppose. Especially if they have anti-aging surgery and stuff like that.HS7 (talk) 19:18, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Cells have a limited number of division before they become inactive and die. So no, cells aren't infinitely replaceable.--Lenticel ^(talk) 07:04, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Baby Boomers have been looking for such an ability ever since the oldest one found his first grey hair. No luck so far! Perhaps the troubles in Tibet are to cover-up the discovery of the lamasery run by Hugh Conway. ៛ Bielle (talk) 21:31, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all your comments,but this still doesn"t explain to me why at the age of 51 I have no grey hairs on a full head of dark hair,have youthful skin,a quick and sharp mental attitude,and many people say that I look 32? Maybe it was the water that I drank from the stream in Wales as a young boy that has kept me young all these years! Fluter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 170.86.15.15 (talk) 14:53, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Mayo Clinic would like to hear from you! Julia Rossi (talk) 22:07, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Methuselah's Children :) Skittle (talk) 23:27, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It would have been wonderful if The Mayo Clinic could have contacted me when I was living in California for 19 years,unfortunately I now have a ban not to enter the U.S. until 2011(overstayed my visa by 19 years) so I will have to wait until then,maybe at that time I will look 29 years of age at 54! Fluter.

Luck.HS7 (talk) 20:46, 3 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

HI again re Mayo Clinic -- the clinic needs to be informed of an aberration, then they become very interested. The best avenue is through a specialist physician. It's up to you, happy un-greying one. My vote goes to luck above. Julia Rossi (talk) 07:46, 4 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Minimum wage and working on comission in Saskatchewan

Does an employee have to be paid at least minimum wage, even if they work on comission. 207.195.109.67 (talk) 15:36, 31 March 2008 (UTC)Kara[reply]

Commission isn't mentioned in Saskatchewan's Minimum Wage Regulations. But The Labour Standards Regulations Act says (under "hourly wage") that "The hourly wage for employees who are employed as salespersons and who receive all of their remuneration as commissions is the minimum wage." I'm no good at interpreting legalese, so not sure if this answers your question – but if this doesn't, note that the first link contains a phone number to call for more information. WikiJedits (talk) 16:45, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Eupean Slavery Between the 1500-1800

I am doing a research paper for college on the world history of slavery and I was searching for information connected to slavery in the 1500-1800 with the european slaves. I cant find anything on Wiki that talks about this subject. Just a short explanation of the reseach thats needed;

This is a study that digs deeply into this slavery, the bondage of Europeans by north-African Muslims that flourished during the same centuries as the heyday of the trans-Atlantic trade from sub-Saharan Africa to the Americas. Here are explored--perhaps for the first time--the actual extent of Barbary Coast slavery, the dynamic relationship between master and slave, and the effects of this slaving on Italy, one of the slave takers' primary targets and victims.

Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.134.46.221 (talk) 18:55, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Have you read our article at Barbary pirate? One book to start with is CHRISTIAN SLAVES, MUSLIM MASTERS:White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800by Robert C. Davis. BrainyBabe (talk) 19:10, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/11/highereducation.books

72.134, I would refer you also to White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves by Giles Milton (Sceptre, 2005) and Piracy, Slavery and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England by D. J. Vikus (Columbia University Press, 2001). The problem was not just confined to the Mediterranean basin. Barbary corsairs were making regular raids on the south coast of England in the reign of Charles I. Clio the Muse (talk) 02:00, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

White Gold is the one I was trying to remember, so thanks, Clio. To add some historical perspective to the OP, there is the famous line about proto-English slaves, "not Angles but angels". BrainyBabe (talk) 09:45, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Also, there was some blurring of the categories of prisoners of war and slaves: many Europeans taken captive in wars or skirmishes were required to work. See for example John R. Jewitt, who was taken off Vancouver Island and later wrote Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of John R. Jewitt, only survivor of the crew of the ship Boston, during a captivity of nearly three years among the savages of Nootka Sound: with an account of the manners, mode of living, and religious opinions of the natives. I don't know if any modern historian has brought disparate accounts like this together. BrainyBabe (talk) 14:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Wavell the viceroy

I have read that if Archibald Wavell had remained as viceroy things might not have turned out as disastrously in India as they did under Mountbatten. Is there any merit in this view? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.157.194.213 (talk) 19:22, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

To be perfectly honest with you, 86.157, I'm not sure that it would have made all that much difference at that particular stage in history. In other words, the situation was slipping beyond the point where any single individual, even one as formidable and as sympathetic to India as Archibald Wavell, could have made that much difference. He was certainly in favour of a phased withdrawal, but one also has to consider the capacity of Britain itself-a country verging on bankruptcy-to manage such a potentially lengthy and expensive process. Wavell did his best, from the Simla conference until his dismissal as Viceroy in 1947, to bring Congress and the Muslim League together; but it was by this stage an altogether hopeless task. No Hercules could have managed things better; no Hercules could have prevented what was to come. Clio the Muse (talk) 02:15, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of the South Atlantic Medal

Good morning/afternoon/evening my friends, wherever you may be!!! Just a quick question, I plan to expand an "Origin" section here.

On forums I've heard; The design of the ribbon is attributed to HM The Queen. This precedent was set by her father who designed the WW2 ribbons for the stars. She prepared a pastel sketch and it was sent to Toye, Kenning and Spencer Ltd who produced 14,000 mtrs of ribbon. The medal was authorised under the terms of Command Paper 8601. Perhaps you could mention this no when contacting the Medal Office. Alas I have no information as to who designed the medal but im sure this will be included in the Command Paper.

So I plan to write a letter to the "Ministry of Defence Medal Office". Now assuming they write back and confirm this (or give me another story), How do I convert make that physical letter into a reference for Wikipedia?

P.S. Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question, but if it is, there's nothing to stop you lot researching it online ha ha! (Good luck though, I spent ages trying a while ago)

Cheers, you lovely, lovely people! :D Ryan4314 (talk) 20:15, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Presumably you would have to have it published in some form, Ryan, perhaps in a national newspaper. I'm sorry; this sounds so trite and obvious, but I can think of no other acceptable method of authentication. Clio the Muse (talk) 02:27, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A fall-back might be to scan and upload the letter to a suitable web site - that is, to publish it on the web. With a hyperlink, the letter itself could then be used as a reference, although it would not be such a reliable source as it would be if it were published more conventionally: the problem being that the web is full of things which aren't what they appear to be... so the more respectable the web site, the better. Xn4 07:12, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There's an interesting idea on the duplicate of this question Wikipedia:Help desk#Origin of the South Atlantic Medal I posted on the "Help page", see what you guys think? Ryan4314 (talk) 11:53, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Non-Formal Education

Where can I find a list of famous people that did not have much formal schooling? (such as Thomas Edison) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.119.61.7 (talk) 20:30, 31 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See autodidacticism.--Pharos (talk) 00:39, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

(ec)There are doubtless many famous people who never had any trace of book learning, such as Adam, Eve, and perhaps Attila the Hun. For some who were mostly SELF-educated, see Autodidacticism, where famous persons such as Socrates, Avicenna, Benjamin Franklin, George Bernard Shaw, Feodor Chaliapin, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Michael Faraday, Alfred Russel Wallace , and Penn Jillette are listed, among others. Consider also Abraham Lincoln, who had no more that 18 months of classroom education. Edison (talk) 00:43, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]