User talk:Lambiam

Feynman on ‘Why’
Thanks for posting the link to this video. Although I'm a big fan of his, I hadn't seen that one yet. The ‘cheating’ he explains at 6:45 reminds me of Gödel's first incompleteness theorem. ◅ Sebastian 11:34, 12 January 2022 (UTC)

Regarding the "Need of closure for tasks"
You wrote The OP was asking explicitly for literature about need for closure about tasks, not for "random opinions" that is exactly right. Thank you! (it was discussed in the Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities starting from the 2nd of Feb 2022) --Pier4r (talk) 17:33, 5 February 2022 (UTC)

Why did you delete my answer here?
Here you deleted my answer and replaced it with your own. Why? -- Jayron 32 13:40, 1 April 2022 (UTC)


 * I never saw your answer. Some glitch; whether my wetware's or someone else's software's is now lost in the dustbin of smashed bits. --Lambiam 13:48, 1 April 2022 (UTC)


 * It's all good. Thanks for fixing it! -- Jayron 32 13:52, 1 April 2022 (UTC)

A guidance request
Greetings @ Lambiam,

Many times I had requested for info @ reference desk humanities. Other than few curiosity driven queries most are for later referencing or research. Me being busy in multiple topics there is a time lag from my side in utilizing previous discussion. Though present archiving provides search facility still it is not structured enough to go back in more than few months old discussion.

Is there any bot which can help me in providing list of archived discussions I participated or some other way around which you may be aware of?

Many thanks for all the effort you always put in while providing information.

&#32;Bookku, &#39;Encyclopedias &#61; expanding information &#38; knowledge&#39; (talk) 06:57, 22 April 2022 (UTC)


 * You can search for your contributions while restricting the search to the Wikipedia namespace:
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&offset=&limit=5000&target=Bookku&namespace=4
 * The section titles of relevant contributions can be used to search the Reference desk/Archives. For example, for the line "• 13:40, 19 November 2020 (diff |hist) . . (+1,556‎) . . Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities ‎ (→‎Turkish language sources help request: new section)", the search string "Turkish language sources help request" leads to . --Lambiam 08:25, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

Okay I got the idea you are suggesting, I will try to work out some system of my own like saving section headings by adopting suggestion given by you. Many thanks and warm regards

&#32;Bookku, &#39;Encyclopedias &#61; expanding information &#38; knowledge&#39; (talk) 11:45, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

Tragedies and Disasters
I searched Google and the ones I found were... the Great Chicago fire 1871, Hurricane Katrina 2005, San Francisco earthquake 1906, the sack of Rome, the 2011 Joplin tornado, the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens and the attack on Pearl Harbor. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Tragedies_and_Disasters) 81.152.221.235 (talk) 21:06, 8 May 2022 (UTC)

People in their 50s dying of old age
People in their 50s dying of old age

William Hartnell was about 55 years old when he played the original incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who and maybe 58 in his final story. While Richard Hurndall was about 72 or 73 when he played him in the 20th anniversary story The Five Doctors and David Bradley was 75 in the 12th Doctor's (Peter Capaldi) two final episodes The Doctor Falls and Twice Upon a Time. Here are images of 55 year old actors, 58, 72-73 and 75. And the cause of the First Doctor's regeneration was old age. 86.130.4.167 (talk) 18:39, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

Can people die if they've become old, weak and worn out in their 50s? And did the original Doctor look about mid-50s, 60s or 70s? 86.130.4.167 (talk) 19:28, 26 May 2022 (UTC)

New message from Duonaut
Thanks again for finding that source. Duonaut(talk &#124; contribs) 05:32, 1 July 2022 (UTC)

chinese book
i remembered more details and answered your questions, any thoughts? 2600:1700:9758:7D90:F1DF:BDC9:ECB4:8F4A (talk) 00:30, 27 July 2022 (UTC)

Thank you
Reference_desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022_July_29 - thanks for answers. Vyacheslav84 (talk) 18:31, 17 August 2022 (UTC)

"Wikipedia:PETTIFOG" listed at Redirects for discussion
An editor has identified a potential problem with the redirect Wikipedia:PETTIFOG and has thus listed it for discussion. This discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2022 August 30 until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. FMecha (to talk&#124;to see log) 16:23, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

could you answer this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#legal_system_clarity. Grotesquetruth (talk) 16:45, 9 September 2022 (UTC)

thankyou
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#Governance_structure

Thank you very much for taking the time to clear up my confusion. Grotesquetruth (talk) 20:58, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

hi
how do I create a barnstar column like yours in my user page? could you guide me through if you don't mind? do I use some specific code? Grotesquetruth (talk) 17:41, 14 September 2022 (UTC)


 * I think you should wait until someone actually gives you a barnstar. In general, if you want to see the wikicode that achieves some effect, just click "Edit" (or "View source" on a protected page). If you are using the visual editor, make sure to switch to source editing, or you will not see the wikicode. --Lambiam 19:37, 14 September 2022 (UTC)

Reference desk confusion
Hi, Lambiam. I don't mean to insult or belittle you, but in that reference desk thread, you accused me of "building my questions on false premises." I don't see how I was intentionally doing so, I was merely going by what you had said in a separate thread. It was you who originally put forward the idea that there was no explosion and that this non-explosion ("fireball," as you described it) was only present on the north side of the building where the plane entered, away from the South Tower. Your words, not mine. If my question was indeed built on false premises, they were certainly not false premises I had come up with; they were invented by you, and I was merely seeking clarification on whether or not your claims were true. Hmm1994 (talk) 08:05, 15 September 2022 (UTC)


 * I did my best to answer your question, but then I was chided by an old hand at the Reference desk for trying. First I thought the issue was that the original question was too meaningless to be discussed, but that was not the reason. Instead, I was told, "One cannot meaningfully answer a question built on false premises. Instead, we need to provide clarification and seek further information as to what the question asker wants to know." I was puzzled, because I could not detect any false premises. I apologized, but (as I also stated in my last post in the thread) I still do not understand what was wrong with the question and am as puzzled as you are. I hope this clarifies the issue. --Lambiam 10:31, 15 September 2022 (UTC)


 * Oh, I see. Thank you for clearing that up. Apologies for assuming you were accusing me on purpose. I might ask the admin how the question was based on false pretenses. Hmm1994 (talk) 14:55, 15 September 2022 (UTC)

Abdi Ipekci Monument Photo
Hi @Lambiam. I'm just wondering if you are the author/photographer of the image of the sculpture that is being discussed in the Good Article Nomination of the sculptures sculptor at Talk:Gürdal Duyar/GA1? Gazozlu (talk) 17:42, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes, ✅. --Lambiam 20:33, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the quick fix! Gazozlu (talk) 21:50, 15 October 2022 (UTC)

"Planck's law and Hz−1" on the other side
Hi Lambiam, as I appreciate your answers and your analyze (effectively I am French and I think you are turkish living in Istambul area), I will ask you a private science question. In this extract of Graeme Bartlett answer "...Or you could look at the energy in one cycle of the emission. But that last one will still depend on the frequency and bandwidth...". More precisely, if you look at "E=hv", isn't there something that surprises you in this answer ? I am interested in corresponding with you for a publication that I'm about to write, may be at 4 hand with you if you are interested.

Thanks Malypaet (talk) 12:59, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
 * You are correct in observing that is the same unit as . Its dimension in base quantities is $$\mathsf{MT^{{-}2}},$$ so viewed that way there is a time component. Since a physicist does not see a conflict, it is difficult to answer the question, "How should we understand, interpret or justify this conflict?" It is like the question, "When did you stop beating your wife?" The usual concept of a quantity being time dependent is that the quantity is not constant but varies with time, and not that the units expressing them have a time dimension. These two are unrelated: the speed of light has dimension $$\mathsf{LT^{{-}1}},$$ yet it is constant, while the fraction of the Moon that is lit by the Sun, viewed from Earth, is a dimensionless yet time-dependent quantity.
 * I am afraid I'm not interested in corresponding about or working on a future publication. --Lambiam 14:16, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Ok I shall continue on my own,
 * for your information: with "E=hv", "the energy in one cycle of the emission" contrary to what Graeme writes, as to have the energy of a cycle we divide the energy by the frequency, the energy of a cycle will always be equal to the value of "h", whatever the frequency. Malypaet (talk) 17:27, 18 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Sorry, but I think you are confusing Planck's law with the Planck relation. The only thing they have in common is that both were invented by Max Planck to resolve the so-called ultraviolet catastrophe – a tremendous discrepancy between theory and actual observation. The formula of Planck's law was derived empirically to fit the actual observations. Planck came up with the formula now known as the Planck relation as a theoretical explanation of the observed law. Later the Planck relation was also experimentally confirmed. Other than this historical relationship, they are totally different and unrelated things.
 * {| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"|-

! Concept ! What is measured ! Its source ! Formula ! Planck's law ! Planck relation
 * spectral density of electromagnetic radiation || emitted by a black body || $$B_\nu(T)=2h\nu^3c^{{-}2}(e^{\frac{h\nu}{k_\mathrm{B}T}}-1)^{{-}1}$$
 * energy || carried by a single photon || $$E=h\nu$$
 * }
 * --Lambiam 19:21, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

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clarity needed in statement
if you could clarify your response statement made previously. here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#gaps_in_government_legislation/policy Grotesquetruth (talk) 10:24, 2 December 2022 (UTC)

Help
Please, can you search if Friedrich Fromm, Günther Korten, Heinz Brandt, Rudolf Schmundt, Walther Buhle, Ernst John von Freyend, Henning von Thadden, Heinz Buchholz, and Leonhard von Moellendorff were devoted nazists (inscripted to the Nazi Party) or even them in contrary to the Nazi regime? In Operation Valkirye (film 2008), who were the captain and the sergeant of Reich centraline during that operation? Are there information about Sergeant Kolbe's life, the guard of Wolf's Liar in July 1944? Thank you very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.244.136.124 (talk) 10:32, 19 December 2022 (UTC)

doubt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#government,_market,_balance? would like to have your view. Grotesquetruth (talk) 16:59, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

whether you'd be able to give your view of understanding? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Grotesquetruth (talk • contribs) 10:19, 25 December 2022 (UTC)

your view?
What is the most effective way to promote social justice in a democracy governed by the rule of law? can we say that market-based approaches, such as economic development and job creation, are the most effective way to lift people out of poverty and promote social mobility? Or that more direct interventions, such as redistributive policies or social welfare programs, are necessary to address deep-seated inequalities and ensure that all members of society have a fair chance to succeed? how can we strike a balance between market-based and more direct interventions in order to achieve the greatest benefit for all members of society? Grotesquetruth (talk) 15:57, 25 December 2022 (UTC)


 * The question is too broad to have a reasonably comprehensive answer. Which ways one may hope to be effective depends critically on the social, political and economical situation. What works in situation A will not work in situation B. And who precisely is doing the intervention, what authority do they have to intervene, and what instruments do they have at their disposal? Is there even a social consensus that more social justice is desirable, or are there powerful opposing actors? All these aspects must be taken into consideration. Economic development and job creation are not by themselves market-based approaches, but potential policy objectives that (depending on the situation and the methods employed, but also on uncertain factors), if attained, may or may not help to promote social justice. Pure market-based approaches as advocated by laissez-faire liberals are unlikely to further social justice, because the external costs are always borne the most by the least privileged – that's the way the cookie crumbles. --Lambiam 16:27, 25 December 2022 (UTC)


 * I took the question "What is the most effective way to promote social justice in a democracy governed by the rule of law?" and posed it to ChatGPT. Here is the answer:

Promoting social justice in a democracy governed by the rule of law involves a number of strategies and approaches. Some of the most effective ways to promote social justice in a democracy include: It is important to remember that promoting social justice requires a sustained and long-term effort, and that progress may be slow and incremental. It is also important to work within the framework of the rule of law and to respect the rights and freedoms of others. Obviously, this answer assumes that the person asking the question is an activist asking for advice what they themselves can do. --Lambiam 16:44, 25 December 2022 (UTC)
 * 1) Engaging in grassroots organizing and advocacy: This involves working with communities and organizations to raise awareness about social justice issues and to advocate for policy changes and reforms at the local, state, and national levels.
 * 2) Participating in the electoral process: Voting in elections and supporting candidates who are committed to social justice issues can help bring about change and progress on these issues.
 * 3) Using the media to raise awareness: The media can be an effective tool for raising awareness about social justice issues and for putting pressure on policymakers to take action.
 * 4) Working with allies and building coalitions: Building partnerships and alliances with other organizations and groups that share your goals can help amplify your voice and increase your impact.
 * 5) Engaging in civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action: In some cases, civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action can be effective ways to draw attention to social justice issues and to push for change.

Wikipedia:Reference desk/Mathematics
I don't think accomplished what you intended to accomplish.  General Ization Talk  00:55, 30 December 2022 (UTC)

Thanks for the chuckle
2008 source:, the "Impacting the world..." article. And one more 2009:. Per "This is a list of some well-documented cases where Wikipedia has been the source." IMO that's not clear enough here. It seems likely Will Smith was the source, this is not a Julius Pringles situation. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 08:48, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It is indeed not clear that later occurrences were copied from Wikipedia, so I've removed the "incident". Those that include the words "Light up the darkness" were definitely not copied from Wikipedia. --Lambiam 09:35, 23 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Your version of the quote deserves wider use, though. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:13, 23 April 2023 (UTC)

Could you check this out one more time?
Hey, could you please check out the Outer Manchuria discussion at Reference_desk/Humanities one more time for any further input you might have? It's absolutely wild. I don't think anyone can really trust one or two users; I need to see if anyone else can come to the same conclusions. Unless you or Double sharp reach out and contact me, I plan to avoid the Outer Manchuria topic on Wikipedia for a while and just research related topics on Wiktionary; I'm afraid that I couldn't hold my own against some of these editors, who may have deep beliefs and opinions. Geographyinitiative (talk) 22:13, 11 June 2023 (UTC)

Advice to Hosh1313
Greetings. Your advice was, of course, absolutely correct. However, I sometimes indulge editors with radical ideas. It allows me to gently explain what Wikipedia is and some policies, while letting them have their say. Sometimes, I can turn them around and they become contributors. Usually, they just go quiet. Sometimes, I just have to abandon the effort. As far as I know, it has never reached the point where an admin had to take action. Cheers. Constant314 (talk) 21:08, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

Our conversation was archived right after your reply
Last night, i noticed that you had written a reply, and i started answering, but was held up before i could save it. My answer was partly expressing thanks for your change of tone, and partly on the original topic. When i went back to the computer this morning and wanted to save it, my browser instead showed the edit page for another section, as if i had just selected the edit button, with all of the text i had entered gone. Then i realized that the conversation was archived by a bot. This is strange on two sides: For one, a bot shouldn't archive an ongoing conversation, and then my browser seems to have dealt with that badly. (I hadn't experienced this before; it seems a bug introduced by the new feature that on entering a reply you continuously see a real time preview.) But it may be just as well. Should we do something about it or just let it be? ◅ Sebastian 04:07, 23 June 2023 (UTC)


 * The archiving policy at the Reference desk is that (non-empty) pages are archived a fixed number of days after they're started, irrespective of recent activity. I too have noticed that the Reply feature is somewhat iffy; while I like the real-time preview, it does not always display correctly and one always has to perform a check after committing. I'm not sure, though, that what you witnessed was related to the new feature; I think I have seen similar behaviour before it was introduced. --Lambiam 09:38, 23 June 2023 (UTC)
 * Ah, thanks, that explains at least one of the observations. It didn't occur to me that anyone would set up such an unusual archiving policy, so i posted a question about it at Wikipedia talk:Reference desk. ◅ Sebastian 18:36, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

[In]dependent samples, paired samples
just in case you're interested. Hildeoc (talk) 22:44, 10 July 2023 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:HP7part1+2poster.jpg
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charitable trusts under Indian GST framework.
I'd like to have your view over whether charitable trusts constitute a business specifically under GST framework in India. Grotesquetruth (talk) 05:35, 31 August 2023 (UTC)

Canadian First Nations
Thank You for the link to the article on Kevin Annett. I guess it makes no sense to feature him on Wikipedia and also would be counterproductive to the interests of First Nation people, I guess.--Ralfdetlef (talk) 04:46, 23 September 2023 (UTC)

Invitation to Cornell study on Wikipedia discussions
Hello Lambiam,

I’m reaching out as part of a Cornell University academic study investigating the potential for user-facing tools to help improve discussion quality within Wikipedia discussion spaces (such as talk pages, noticeboards, etc.). We chose to reach out to you because you have been highly active on various discussion pages.

The study centers around a prototype tool, ConvoWizard, which is designed to warn Wikipedia editors when a discussion they are replying to is getting tense and at risk of derailing into personal attacks or incivility. More information about ConvoWizard and the study can be found at our research project page on meta-wiki.

If this sounds like it might be interesting to you, you can use this link to sign up and install ConvoWizard. Of course, if you are not interested, feel free to ignore this message.

If you have any questions or thoughts about the study, our team is happy to discuss! You may direct such comments to me or to my collaborator, Cristian_at_CornellNLP.

Thank you for your consideration.

-- Jonathan at CornellNLP (talk) 18:14, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

Small request
If I could bother you for a moment, I'm copyediting Square pyramid for the November GOCE drive, and I wanted to make sure I didn't introduce any errors to the small technical properties section. If you feel like it, a brisk double-check would put my mind at ease. :)
 * I couldn't help myself but engaged in somewhat more extensive copy editing. --Lambiam 18:26, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

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Texas faithless electors
Thank you for the modification. Maybe I would have also mentioned Mike Pence in the vote for unfaithful voter Bill Greene for Vice President, but if you decided otherwise that's okay. Andreoto (talk) 13:08, 10 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Did you see this edit? --Lambiam 15:17, 10 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I had missed that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andreoto (talk • contribs) 17:16, 10 December 2023 (UTC)

DYK for Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest
RoySmith (talk) 00:02, 23 January 2024 (UTC)


 * Thanks for you help! Viriditas (talk) 01:00, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

German-English translation help
Hi You gave me some help last year to translate some German passages and quotes in English for Red Orchestra (espionage). The work was excellent and I'm just wondering if your still translation work. I'm currently getting this illustration redrawn: File:Barnimstrasse women's prison cell layout.jpg at the moment. It is part of the Barnimstrasse women's prison article. I've managed to translate several of the German entries but several others are acronyms and I have no clue what they mean. I wonder if you could take a look. I've put the list of entries I've already done in User:Scope creep/Sandbox B22.  scope_creep Talk  14:20, 4 February 2024 (UTC)


 * I fixed some things. I leave it to you to create slots for the remaining untranslated terms. --Lambiam 16:59, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I've added a several more. I can't make head nor tail of them. There pretty severe abbreviations.  scope_creep Talk  21:36, 4 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I've added my best guesses. In some case you just have to guess; for example, -z. can stand for either of -zimmer (room) and -zelle (cell). --Lambiam 22:36, 4 February 2024 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Quantum weirdness


The article Quantum weirdness has been proposed for deletion&#32;because of the following concern: "Not notable. Only a single reference, a book by this name. Science is the study of things that do no match common sense: 'weirdness' is not thing in physics.  We have plenty of articles on QM."

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Nomination of Quantum weirdness for deletion
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WTO Compliance Proceedings
any sources that say parties can raise new issues during WTO Compliance proceedings?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#WTO_Compliance_Proceedings Grotesquetruth (talk) 12:25, 25 June 2024 (UTC)