Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 July 14

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July 14

Picture of some toffs

I would be interested to know if anyone can shed light on this picture. It's taken from a record sleeve by an English music group, but I don't think that information is particularly relevant and the sleeve has no further details of the photo. The picture seems hard to date. The record is from 1986, so it can't be any later than that. I keep wondering if the bloke on the right is David Cameron during his Oxford days, it certainly looks like him. It's not, though, a picture of the famous Bullingdon Club, since the dinner jackets are not the same. Tineye brings up no results. Any ideas? --Viennese Waltz 10:09, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Are you certain that it isn't a picture of the music group? What group and album was this picture taken from? --Jayron32 12:01, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

LOL, yes I am sure. The record is Alright Jack by Home Service, and it is emphatically not them in the picture. I may be ill informed, but I'm not that ill-informed. --Viennese Waltz 12:04, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The bloke on the right has a totally different hairstyle from Cameron's in this photo (back row, second from left), so I doubt that it's him. From the hairstyles it must be relatively recent - say late 1960s onwards - but apart from that I can't help. It might be a start if someone could identify the location. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 12:29, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The guy just to the left of centre with his hands in his pockets looking at the camera has a cut-away jacket typically worn by working classical musicians. The toff at the far left has a long coat also typical of orchestral conductors. But the rest of them are not like that. -- Jack of Oz ^{[your turn]} 12:44, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

You can try asking the band's booking agent lisa@homeserviceband.co.uk . Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:32, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Biscuit eating

What's the most number of Marie biscuits someone can eat in 60 seconds? Thanks. --163.202.48.109 (talk) 12:11, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

If you are a competitive eater, probably a lot. For comparison, at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the record number of hot dogs and buns consumed is 68 in 10 minutes, or almost seven hot dogs and buns per minute. The hot dogs are 1/8th of a pound, and the buns are probably 1 ounce or so, so that gives a very rough estimate of 3/16*7 = 21/16 of a pound per minute, or 1.3 pounds per minute or 2.9 kilograms per minute (if you eat in metric). So, the fastest eaters in the world can consume something slightly less than 3 kilograms of food in 1 minute. this page indicates that there are 8 rolls of biscuits in 800 grams, so 2.5x that number gives an upper limit of 20 rolls of biscuits. I have no idea how many biscuits that translates to total, but that should give you an idea of the limit of human effort in this endeavor. --Jayron32 12:24, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Your pounds to kilogrammes conversion is backwards! 1kg = ~2.2lb so there is no way 1.3lb can equal 2.9kg. in fact the reverse is correct 1.3k = ~2.9lb. Rough rule of thumb - the number of pounds must be more than double the number of kg. So the correct answer is 1.3lb = ~ 0.6kg Roger (talk) 12:56, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The difference would leave 6 rolls of biscuits as an upper end of the scale. However, the object in question looks like a version of an Oreo cookie to me. Something that is hard and crunchy would probably slow the eater down compared to the relatively soft hotdog. Googlemeister (talk) 13:44, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Oops. I do stuff like that all the time. My math skills are actually pretty crappy. Thanks for catching that. I thought my numbers seemed a bit high! --Jayron32 15:25, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The limiting factor in eating biscuits quickly tends to be that they dry your mouth out. If you are allowed to have a sip of water between each biscuit, you'll be able to eat far more, but that's usually against the rules in such contests. --Tango (talk) 14:21, 14 July 2011 (UTC)\

Actually, water is usually allowed in competitive eating contests. It is certainly allowed at the Nathan's hot dog contest, which is among the sort of "Grand Slam" level of comeptitive eating contests; the revolutionary technique of dipping the hot dog in water before eating (rather than sipping during or after eating) has been a major devolpment in the "sport", somewhat akin to what the Fosbury flop did for high jump. It is called the "Solomon method" and is also closely associated with Takeru Kobayashi, one of the superstars of the "sport". --Jayron32 15:24, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Water, milk or coffee is allowed... So what would be the best strategy? If the guys wanted to they could crush the biscuits into the water and drink that. The only rule is that they have 60 seconds. --163.202.48.109 (talk) 17:32, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

If you value your health, the best strategy is to probably not participate. Googlemeister (talk) 18:26, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Original Coke

I overheard someone say that Coke was originally green in color. Can this be cfonfirmed or denied.? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.28.87.84 (talk) 13:59, 14 July 2011 (UTC) That is Coca cola. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.28.87.84 (talk) 13:59, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The article [1] is what we have and it says nothing about an original green color. But Wikipedia articles have to contain verifiable sourced information, not just what someone said. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:24, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

There are persistent rumours that, before Coca-Cola was launched, Santa Claus wore green-and-white, and that Coke's image of him in red-and-white (to match their logo), changed Santa's colours. However, they are false. Is this what your friend is half-remembering? CS Miller (talk) 15:15, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The first printing of A Christmas Carol had Santa (Ghost of Christmas Present) wearing red - Dickens was upset a great deal - and the released edition has him in green [2]. The reprinting was what cost Dickens a great deal of money. Long before Coke was around. The earliest Coke bottles are clear - later on they were made green. Nothing to do with the color of the soda. Collect (talk) 15:31, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

If the bottles were green, that probably is the source of the misinformation. Thanks--92.28.95.219 (talk) 17:25, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

• Well, the drink itself was still brown, but the original glass bottles for foreign export were indeed green. --M@rēino 18:56, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Self Promoting Content

Hi,

I work for a company that does digital signatures, and we'd like to submit our page to Wikipedia. Although I know you don't usually accept "commercial" contents, I noticed that there are commercial company pages on Wikipedia, e.g. IBM, Microsoft, Philips etc. My question is: what are the parameters for getting accepted by you? We tried to be less "commercial" and more "informational", as we are one of the leading companies in the world for digital signatures, and thus we have a lot of valuable knowledge that not only talks about us, but moreover, educates the market in general about what digital signature is.

If you could reply to my email that would be great (email removed) Thanks, Nami Cohen Marcom Manager ARX Inc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.25.66.197 (talk) 14:00, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

You need to write an article on digital signatures if it does not exist or add to it if it does.The article needs to be factual and not promotional.--92.28.87.84 (talk) 14:11, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The article Digital signature exists, just click on the name. The OP proposes an article about a commercial company. Look at the Wikipedia guidelines WP:N and WP:COI before creating such an article. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:18, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia carries articles about things, including companies, that we regard as "notable". A good measure (not the only one, but your best bet) is to be the subject of multiple, non-trivial mentions in reliable sources. Note that link for a definition of what "reliable" means. For companies, it generally means at least a couple of pieces of detailed coverage in news media. I found nothing here, which makes me think you're going to struggle to demonstrate your company is notable. --Dweller (talk) 14:38, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Here is the straight dope on this: What matters first and foremost is whether your are sufficiently notable for Wikipedia. The guidelines on this are here. Secondarily, the article itself must be neutral, composed with reliable sources, and not just self-promotion. If your article and company can pass all of those four policies I've cited, you can probably safely post it to Wikipedia. Knowing the policies and writing in a way that will cater to a suspicious editor (who is more than happy to delete your article on the spot) is a good approach to it. Be aware that you do not "own" the article, and you will not be able to control its content any more than any other user. If your company has a huge scandal or something, it's going to go in the article. Just be warned! --Mr.98 (talk) 14:49, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

You're far better not writing it yourself, for a variety of reasons. If your company is notable, post some links to proof of this on my talk page (ie here) and I'll happily create the article for you myself when I have a moment. --Dweller (talk) 14:54, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

In general, the best way to approach conflict of interest issues on Wikipedia is to add content to the article's talk page sourced to reliable independent sources, and then contact the recent editor(s) of the article (or a pertinent WikiProject) disclosing the conflict of interest and politely asking them to consider adding the material to the article. 99.24.223.58 (talk) 20:40, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Truffles and chocolate truffles

The current "Did you know" listing reminded me that I have never actually tasted a real truffle, only chocolate truffles. I have noticed that the light brown fluffy chocolates, as shown in the bottom right corner here, have a distinct bittersweet taste that I rather like. Do real truffles taste anything like this? JIP | Talk 19:35, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

No, they are completely dissimilar. Vranak (talk) 20:16, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

The name could derive from the similarity in appearance. The picture on the right doesn't show the interior, the rich and sticky dark stuff that is the actual chocolate truffle, and which does somewhat resemble the fungus of the same name. --Saddhiyama (talk) 20:24, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Real truffles are funguses, and taste like really intensely flavored mushrooms. It's something akin to the relationship between wasabi and yellow hot dog mustard; same taste family but way more intense. Which, of course, has nothing to do with chocolate. --Jayron32 20:38, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

US News Colelge Rankings for a school for the last N years

Do you happen to know if there's a table/graphs somewhere with US News Rankings for each (undergrad) school, for some years going back? I'd like to see a school's progress through the last 10-20 years, if possible. One specific school I'd like to look up is Drexel University, so if you only find data for it, it would be good enough, although I'd like to get all the data if I can. --216.239.45.4 (talk) 22:00, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

http://web.archive.org/web/20070908142457/http://chronicle.com/stats/usnews/ Sorry, that set doesn't include Drexel, and I am not sure why. 99.24.223.58 (talk) 23:49, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

It's not there because it's not a top 50 school. --99.113.32.198 (talk) 03:01, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

A blood relative of mine dropped out of Drexel and went on to construct Brookhaven National Laboratory's Van de Graaff accelerator, the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, and various famous Manhattan lanmarks which I should not name. Imagine what he might have accomplished if he had not dropped out after attending an undegraduate philosophy class at Drexel in which he was taught that he could not prove that he actually existed? 71.251.134.227 (talk) 03:06, 16 July 2011 (UTC)