Miscellaneous desk
< October 18	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 20 >

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.

October 19

United States Census Bureau Data

Hello. The United States Census Bureau website is blocked in Russia https://www.census.gov/, and I need the following data from it for my work in wikipedia.

Fertility trends (number of children per woman of childbearing age) for the country as a whole and for individual races in particular by census from 1790 to 2020 years (or from which census there is such data).
Fertility by education and income by census from 1790 to 2020 years (or from which census there is such data).

Thank you in advance. Vyacheslav84 (talk) 10:26, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried at WP:REX? Someone here could help also, but WP:REX is set up to respond to requests exactly like this one. --Jayron 32 11:19, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Mobile phones and lightning

A couple of mobile phone and lightning questions:

(1) If you are outside and there is lightning and a mobile phone is ringing in your pocket and you don't answer does it still attract lightning?

(2) If you are outside and there is lightning and you get a text with your mobile phone in your pocket does it still attract lightning?

(78.16.139.30 (talk) 13:04, 19 October 2022 (UTC))[reply]

Your use of the word "still" suggests that you believe that in some circumstances mobile phones can "attract lightning". What is your evidence for this? It seems unlikely to me, since lightning is a discharge between the atmosphere and the earth, and I cannot see what role a phone might play in it. Neither of our articles lightning and mobile phone mentions the other. ColinFine (talk) 13:14, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a quote from the United States National Weather Service: "However, there is a misconception that cell phones attract lightning. If someone is struck by lightning and they have a cell phone on them, it will usually melt or burn. People have taken that and blamed the cell phone, but in reality it is unrelated." (source [1]). This may stem from the fact that landline phones can in fact conduct electricity and should not be used in a thunderstorm. [2]. Xuxl (talk) 13:55, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Theoretically, could lightning affect a house's electrical wiring? If so, if the cellphone was plugged in via its charging cord, it could be zapped by the lightning. In none of these cases is the phone "attracting" lightning, it's just an unfortunate victim of it. One thing we can safely say, though, is that the internet "attracts" the gullible. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:01, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the energy from lightning can certainly flow through household wiring and damage anything connected to it. Here are a few pages on the subject: [3] [4] [5] --174.95.81.219 (talk) 08:11, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning is not sentient. It neither knows nor cares whether you are answering a call or if it is a text message. So, unless you've pissed off Lightning Lad, no [additional] worries. Clarityfiend (talk) 00:31, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning also neither knows nor cares whether you are sheltering under a tall tree. Nevertheless, it is ill-advised to do so during a thunderstorm. --Lambiam 08:34, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning is not sentient, but humans are, and should listen to people who are experts when they are told how to reduce their chances of being struck by lightning. --Jayron 32 14:59, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

If you have an old-fashioned phone with a visible antenna, and it happens to be several stories high and you're in an open area, that might do it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:27, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

^{[citation needed]} --Jayron 32 14:59, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Like walking around with your own portable lightning rod. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:05, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

A quip is not a citation. --Jayron 32 17:41, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Are you arguing that lightning rods don't work? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:38, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning rod fashion was once popular in Paris. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:21, 21 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not saying things are or are not true. I am only saying that you made a very specific claim, that phones with antennas increase one's chance of getting struck by lightning, and have provided no citation to a source that state the same thing. I never said you were wrong, and I've also never said you were right. I've said you need to verify your statement with a source that confirms it. --Jayron 32 13:23, 21 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think you're misunderstanding what I said. If you're in an open area, and are carrying a rod that's several stories high, and if lightning is in the area, you could be hit. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:13, 22 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think what Baseball Bugs said might have some merit to it, but it's such a specific claim that citing it to any source sounds impossible. I suppose a comparable example would be the lightning rods fixed onto the tops of skyscrapers,^[1] but maybe what those are atop of (i.e. tall buildings with tons of electrical equipment in them) makes them more vulnerable to lightning strikes than a really tall mast connected to your cellphone. Hmm1994 (talk) 08:02, 22 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Lightning rods that are meant to protect tall structures are grounded. An antenna on a hand-held device has a much poorer connection to ground. (The descriptions of Franklin's kite experiment suggest that the kite was not connected to ground and also not struck by lightning.) --Lambiam 19:20, 24 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm's reference to "tons of electrical equipment" sounds like the same fallacy as the one about mobile phones discussed above. What is more significant is not the contents of the building, but the use of techniques such as steel-frame construction that effectively make the whole building electrically conductive. --174.89.144.126 (talk) 08:05, 26 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I didn't realize I was wrong about that. Sorry. Before I posted my reply above, I'd been skim-reading online about the subject and saw a few mentions of electronics serving as lightning conductors; unfortunately, I failed to notice that what I was quoting was actually a myth. After doing some more thorough research, it seems that―in addition to what 174.89.144.126 said―two of the actual defining factors for where lightning will hit are the height and shape of a structure, at least according to the National Weather Service.^[2] Hmm1994 (talk) 09:12, 26 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

Congress cigarettes

What company produces Congress cigarettes and are they still produced? My search was inconclusive due to large number of US Congress-related hits. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 18:04, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I couldn't find anything on the Wikipedia page for cigarette brands, so they're more than likely discontinued. BlueNoise (talk) 18:15, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The only thing I could find was this 1879 advert from a tobacco-pouch maker and tobacco importer in Stratford, London, advertising "Congress Cigarettes manufactured from genuine Perique and Turkish mixed, 70 s[hillings (i.e. £3.50)] per 1000". Alansplodge (talk) 21:42, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

One more: a reference in a 1956 novel, The Tooth and the Nail by Bill S. Ballinger; "He put on a lot of airs... well, like smoking Congress cigarettes. Special cigarettes they were, cost thirty-five cents a pack. And believe me, on his salary he couldn't afford 'em". Alansplodge (talk) 21:50, 19 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The advert is explicit about this being a brand name: "The above two brands of Cigarettes, [the other one being San Stefano cigarettes] the finest ever offered to the public".^[6] --Lambiam 08:25, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The trademark owner ('Congress American Blend') is United Tobacco Factories, Ltd.[7] --136.56.52.157 (talk) 14:12, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The company is still in business, but that brand is not listed on their website:[8] --136.56.52.157 (talk) 14:28, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The producer, Coltabaco Ind.Col. Corp., is inactive:[9] --136.56.52.157 (talk) 14:42, 20 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Possibly still on the market in Azerbaijan; see here. The printed warning (saying "cigarette smoking is harmful to your health" in Azeri) means the packaging was designed relatively recently. --Lambiam 07:41, 22 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

[1] ttps://ecle.biz/faq/#:~:text=Lightning%20rods%20simply%20intercept%20a,protection%20in%20place%20or%20not.

[2] ttps://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-myths#:~:text=Myth%3A%20Structures%20with%20metal%2C%20or,difference%20on%20where%20lightning%20strikes.

[1]

[2]