Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2009 May 21

= May 21 =

Howard Hughes's urine
Okay, but why did Howard Hughes keep his urine in jars? I mean, 'because he was mentally ill' I understand, but do we have any insight into what he thought he was achieving? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 00:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * The deal with irational people is that they are, well, not rational; i.e. they don't make no friggin sense. He could have kept his urine in jars because he thought that he was keeping the aliens from invading earth or because he thought he might need it for painting his masterpiece later or whatever.  I am not sure anyone thought to ask him why, and if he never proffered a reason, then we have no way to come up with anything satisfactory.  --Jayron32. talk . contribs  04:29, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, we can speculate. People with OCD (which Hughes suffered from) generally feel safe when they can have things and events take place in the "correct" order according to an irrational but strict system, and feel threatened and anxious when that system is disturbed or fails. The urine in the jars was probably a part of that ritual. It's probable that the urine jars themselves were meaningless; they might've been jars of water, or pieces of paper, or anything at all. As things developed, it ended up being piss. The point is, he had a system, and he had to adhere to it in order to reassure himself that he was in control. If this behavior was caused by OCD, Hughes probably knew it didn't make any sense, but he also knew that if he did it, he still felt better, and if he didn't, he felt worse. That's kind of the magic of OCD -- you end up doing idiotic things and know you're being an idiot, but that doesn't make the sensations any less powerful. Of course, we don't know if this was exactly the case; maybe some other strain of nuttiness motivated him to do it... but it would fit the parameters of OCD fairly well. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 11:01, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Unfortunately, the only insight on this matter that we gained from Mr. Burns was when he said that the jars would come in handy. Tempshill (talk) 05:10, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Maybe he didn't want to leave the darkened screening room to go to the toilet which may have been in another room —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.54.169 (talk) 11:35, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * One book about OCD blames it on Hughes' anxiety toward seeing part of his body being wasted and flushed away. (Frederick Toates and Olga Coschug-Toates Obsessive compulsive disorder: practical, tried-and-tested strategies to overcome OCD, Class Publishing (London) Ltd, 2002, p 217, ISBN 1859590691) ---Sluzzelin talk  12:23, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * He may also have been a disciple of the lost Australian martial art known as Jarate. Coreycubed (talk) 17:58, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I apologise on behalf of all Australians for this shameful child of a deranged mind. --  JackofOz (talk) 22:44, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Possibly Hughes had plans to move on from piloting airplanes and was practicing to become an astronaut. Pepso2 (talk) 10:57, 22 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Maybe it was a development from his unease in visiting public toilets (as was depicted in The Aviator). Astronaut (talk) 14:00, 22 May 2009 (UTC)


 * The limited amount I've read about it tends to classify this type of behaviour as one type of compulsive hoarding, which can occur within a number of neuropsychiatric disorders but most commonly in OCD. There's been some evidence to suggest that hoarders actually have detectable brain abnormalities associated with their condition - there's a brief summary of these findings in this article.  Ka renjc 22:43, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

Discrepancy in Harry Potter plot?
In the Harry Potter novels, Rowling maintains that if a wizard/witch dies, his/her magic ends with his/her death. Like, when Dumbledore died, his Body-Bind curse on Harry lifted automatically. So, logically the Permanent-Sticking charm put by Mrs. Black on her portrait in Grimmauld Place should have lifted when she died. But this does't happen, and even years after her death, the members of the Order are unable to take the portrait off the wall. Why does this happen? Is this a loop-hole in the plot that went unnoticed by Rowling (and the rest of the Potter fans)?? 117.194.224.178 (talk) 06:02, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I feel its a inconstancy (one of the many and has not went unnoticed to me), but a rationale could be, "different rules for different spells", when it comes to something like a permanent sticking charm it is what it actually is, permanent. chandler ♠ 06:06, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Since magical rules are often ill-defined, it would not be hard to come up with a plot-point to explain something like this. Perhaps the magic merely caused something to happen which was not in itself inherently magical (fusing the picture to the wall, or something). Thus, you wouldn't need to maintain the magic to keep it stuck there because, well, it's physically stuck there. Vimescarrot (talk) 10:13, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * There was a clear division of spells between those that require maintained concentration and those that do not. Also, there are those spells that are cast (ie: using words and/or a wand flick) and those that are created (ie: a potion).  So, it is very easy to state that one type of spell follows certain rules and another spell follows other rules. --  k a i n a w &trade; 12:07, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * I guess this is one case where saying "a wizard did it" doesn't really help. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:36, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Broomsticks don't fall out of the sky when their creator dies either. I think it is clear that some spells are intended to be permanent and are done in such a way that they don't end upon death. --Tango (talk) 14:01, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Sugar Plum Fairy Rework?
There is a music track that's appears to be featuring on virtually every home show program in the UK. Heavily featured on the show 'country house rescue' it sounds like a reworking of Dance of the Sugar plum Fairy. Does anyone have any idea what this song is? Kirk UK —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.82.79.175 (talk) 20:56, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Doris Bauer a/ka "Doris From Rego Park"
I am looking to find anything and everything written about a woman named Doris Bauer who died in 2003 and was known as "Doris From Rego Park" as a frequent caller on the New York City sports radio station WFAN. Can anyone help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.61.164.82 (talk) 21:29, 21 May 2009 (UTC)


 * She is mentioned in the WFAN article under the section "Notable Callers." Also, here is her obituary and another story from The New York Times, and discussions about her here and here. —  Michael J  22:40, 29 May 2009 (UTC)