Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2007 June 22

= June 22 =

Speration of State and Military
Is there anything (ie. law) that forbids the President of the United States from being a serving military officer. I've been looking at the constitution and there doesn't seem to be any bar.

SamUK 22:21, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The U.S. President, among other things, is the Commander in Cheif, e.g. the TOP MILITARY OFFICER in the entire US Military forces. Your title, "Speration of State and Military" does not make sense, as U.S. forces are an integral part of the U.S. Federal government, and as such there is no "speration". Btw, this List maybe of some interest. Zidel333 22:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Wasn't Eisenhower criticized for simultaneously drawing a military pension and a Presidential salary (or pension)? &mdash;Tamfang 03:11, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry for being unclear. I meant is there not some requirement for the President to not hold a position in the Armed Forces, obviously excepting his role as C-in-C, in order to guard against military government. A requirement that there is a civillian Commander-in-Chief? SamUK 10:51, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

US Military Conflicts
Can some one please list for me all of times that an American President sent military troops into conflicts Post-Vietnam? Thanks. YaanchSpeak! 00:51, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Have you considered looking at List of United States military conflicts? It might be more than what you're looking for, but it should have at least what you want. –Pakman044 01:03, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Its very helpful. YaanchSpeak! 01:06, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

RAF Squadron 120 - Battle of the Atlantic - B-24
Hi I am trying to find more about the activitivies of the mentioned squadron. My father John K Moffat DFC, now deceased, was a pilot with Squadron 120 and stationed in Iceland during 1942/43. In the article about the Liberators (B-24) the is no mention of plane E (E for Eduard)the plane that my father flew. The questions are: (1)which serial number did the E aircraft have and (2)what was the track record of the plane. My father claimed to have sank 3 U-boats. (3) Where can I find more information on Squadron 120 whilst based in Iceland. Best regards, Mike Moffat —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.235.35.200 (talk • contribs)
 * Copied over from the new contribs' help page.


 * I've been Google searching the name, the squadron, the aircraft, serial number, and anything else I can track down... I'm striking out on all that so far. Your best bet for the aircraft serial number may be the RAF's history department itself - I'm not sure if it'd be on the web or anywhere else.


 * Having said that: No. 120 Squadron RAF gives some info about the squadron itself; here's a great page about the Liberator and its use in U-boat hunts, and thesereports seem to confirm that 120/E was in on at least two sinks, out of 72 U-boats sunk by Liberators. Hope that helps! Tony Fox (arf!) review? 04:04, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

You can find some information about 120 Squadron in a small book called the "Royal Air Force Coastal Command Yearbook", edited by Peter R. March, published 1992 by the RAF Benevolent Association. Despite the title "yearbook" it actually reviews 50 years of history, including a reprint of the RAF Yearbook from 1942. There is a little information about specific planes, I'm told, but not specific pilots.

I have not seen this book myself. But you might look for it in public libraries (or ask for an interlibrary loan), or find a secondhand copy via the Internet, or try the RAF Benevolent Association.

--Anonymous, June 24, 2007, 18:35 (UTC).

Civil Defense Logo
I would like to know what the "3 Step Philosophy" of the Civil Defense was that the Logo (A triangle with CD) is supposed to signify. Thank you,


 * See Civil defense which sets out the Three Stages, and explains the former logo, the one you describe, near the bottom right of the article. Bielle 16:00, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * OK, I've been trying to research this question, and I've read that article, but I still don't see any explanation of the "3 step philosophy." I see four stages described - mitigation, preparation, response and recovery - but that's the closest I've come.  Am I reading past something?  -- LarryMac  | Talk  16:14, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Perhaps this is the explanation, or perhaps not. The Council of National Defense, which was the US federal civil defense organization in 1939, encouraged the establishment of state defense councils and local councils patterned after the federal example. The website where I found this calls this the "tri-level system of councils". It gives as a source:
 * Thomas J. Kerr: “Civil Defense in the U.S” (out of print). Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1983, p. 10.
 * I don't know if this source (if found) will provide further elucidation. --Lambiam Talk  18:53, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I apologize for not reading the reference completely before I directed you to it. Though it was all before my time (just), I seem to recall "emergency preparedness, response and recovery". Then the advertising bonzos turned it into "Readiness, Response, Recovery". I think the fourth item, called "mitigation" in the Civil defense article, and "Reduction" elsewhere, was a later addition. If you type "Readiness, Response, Recovery", with the quotation marks, you will get a host of possible avenues to explore but nothing that leaps out as definitive. Bielle 21:16, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Dahomey war
I am researching French colonial history, in particular the war with Dahomey in the 1890s. I can find very little here. Can anyone help with information and references? Pere Duchesne 11:17, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * There is very little in English, but your user name suggests that you can handle French. Here are a few sources, not all very easy to find:


 * La campagne du Dahomey, 1893-1894 : la reddition de Béhanzin : correspondance d'un commissaire des colonies présentée par son petit-neveu / François Michel ; présenté par Jacques Serre. Paris : L'Harmattan, 2001.


 * La conquête du Dahomey (Benin) / [Gabriel Migan Gandonou]. Cotonou : Imprimerie L.D. Whannou, [199-?]


 * Avec les bâtisseurs de l'Empire; carnets. Tonkin, Dahomey, Madagascar, Sahara, Maroc, la Grande Guerre (1882-1918)/ Tahon. Paris:  B. Grasset [1947]


 * Campagne du Dahomey, 1892-1894. Précédée d'une étude géographique et historique sur ce pays et suivie de la carte au 1/500,000e établie au Bureau topographique de l'État-major du corps expéditionnaire par ordre de m. le général Dodds. Par Jules Poirier, avec une préface de m. Henri Lavertujon ... Paris [etc.] H. Charles-Lavauzelle, 1895.


 * General sources on the conquest of French West Africa include the following:


 * Cultured force : makers and defenders of the French colonial empire / Barnett Singer and John Langdon. Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, c2004


 * The conquest of the Western Sudan: a study in French military imperialism, by A. S. Kanya-Forstner. London, Cambridge U.P., 1969.


 * The book by Singer and Langdon may be especially helpful because it is recent. Therefore, its bibliography is likely to include many of the useful sources published to date. Marco polo 17:04, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * To that useful list compiled by Marco I would add, the following:
 * West Africa Under Colonial Rule by Michael Crowder,
 * From Adversaries to Comrades-in-Arms: West Africans and the French Military, 1885-1918 by Charles Balesi.
 * Amazons of Black Sparta: Womem Warriors of Dahomey by Stanley Alpern.
 * Warrior Women: The Amazons of Dahomey and the Nature of War by Robert Edgerton.
 * Wives of the Leopard:Gender, Politics and Culture in the Kingdom of Dahomey by Edna G. Bay.
 * History of Dahomey by Archibald Dalzel.
 * Dahomey: The Warrior Kings by Philip Koslow.


 * Anyway, here are a few brief facts.


 * Until the late 1880s the Portuguese had an interest in the area, through former concessions granted to them for the export of palm oil. In 1887 King Glele of Dahomey cancelled the treaty arrangements for unknown reasons.  In doing so he had unwittingly removed the last guarantee for Dahomean independence at the worst possible time, when the Scramble for Africa was about to enter its most intense phase.  The French, never slow to spot an opportunity, rushed to fill the vacuum.  Dahomey was highly vulnerable to French colonial expansion, which, since the 1870s, had moved south from Algeria and east from Senegal.  Already unsettled by the British presence in Nigeria, the establishment of a German protectorate in Togoland was the final spur to action for a nation still smarting from the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War.  But Giele, having disposed of one European presence, was in no mood to see another.  King Behanzin, his son and successor, was even more obdurate.  After a series of mutual provocations, France and Dahomey went to war in March 1892.


 * It was an unusual contest: the Dahomeans were well armed, with Mauser and Winchester rifles, among other weapons, and fought hard. Among the toughest fighters of all were the corps of female warriors, part of a century-old Dahomean tradition.  These 'Amazons' marched into battle, armed with rifles and double-edged machetes.  Prisoners, if taken, were tortured and mutilated prior to death.  In one attack on the French column in October 1892, the women, suitably oiled with English gin, advanced in wave after wave, fighting on with fists, feet and teeth, even after being bayoneted and disarmed.  But in the end French firepower, particularly their superiority in artillery, was to be the telling factor.  By the close of the year the fight was over, though sporadic resistence was to continue as late as 1897, when Behanzin finally surrendered.  Clio the Muse 00:53, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you Marco Polo and Clio the Muse for your most useful respones, far better than I ever imagined. Pere Duchesne 07:27, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I moved the text of Clio's reply to Dahomey War, which was spectacularly expanded in this fashion. You may also want to check our article about Dahomey Amazons. --Ghirla-трёп- 22:30, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

community work,whats the difference between voluntary and statutory agencies,have you any examples in ireland
–213.79.45.71 11:48, 22 June 2007 (UTC)mary j


 * Mary, the Voluntary sector is made up of non-profit organisations, set up and managed by people not directly connected with government. They may also be referred to as Non-governmental organisations.  A statutory agency, in contrast, is one that is set up Act of Parliament.  On the private sector you should look at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, and some of the headings listed under Organisations based in Northern Ireland.  Clio the Muse 01:26, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Anyone know of a followup to this news story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6077464.stm Has anyone by chance heard if they caught the guy or if there is a followup to that news story? SakotGrimshine 13:18, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Here you go . --Richardrj talkemail 13:38, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * He has also shat on our encyclopedia: User:The Right Honourable Bonney Eberndu. --Lambiam Talk  14:50, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't that be "Bonney Ebern-doo-doo?" - Nunh-huh 03:12, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Native American tribal language
The Native American tribes used a word that described their belief that a portion of their harvest from the earth, or their personal wealth should be given back, or shared, with the earth, the tribe, and family. I have heard the word used, but can't find it written any where. What is the word and where would I find it.

Encoreint 14:46, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Do you have any idea which tribe (or even an area). There are many Native American languages. -- (¿ʇɐɥʍ) ʍɐuıɐʞ 14:51, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Potlatch? Skarioffszky 18:23, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

need to find religion statistics for south florida
Where can I find statistics on the religious make-up of South Florida? I'm looking for percentages of people who identify with particular religious groups. US census bureau does not report on this, and the statistical abstract of the U.S. is not area-specific. Any help? 72.153.70.194 17:30, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * There have been censuses of religion in the US since the 19th century. See, which links to religious info down to the state and even the county level. Edison 18:06, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Can anyone identify the subject of this portrait?
Who is the person portrayed? The portrait is mass-produced, of brass or some such metal, looks like something inexpensively made in great numbers, so the person portrayed probably is or was once widely known. He may well be German.--Rallette 18:51, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Completely random guess, but he most closely resembles Honore de Balzac to me. - MSTCrow 19:33, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Could be Mark Twain, too (wild hair, bushy mustache, characteristic bow tie).--Pharos 20:32, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * That's who I thought it was, for those traits. slυмgυм [ ←→ ] 20:39, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Could this possibly be anyone other than Mark Twain? I think not!  Clio the Muse 01:36, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
 * With saved eyebrows and an english moustache!?&mdash;eric 02:42, 23 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The things I discover here! I had no idea there was such a thing as an English moustache, eric.  Could it not be a Kaiser Bill?  Anyway, if it's not Mark Twain it's Nietzsche with a perm, his big tash reduced to modest English proportions-sensible man!.  Clio the Muse 02:56, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! I never even thought Mark Twain actually, the upturned moustache and the bow tie looked a bit too painterly/artistlike to me, but maybe the artist just exaggerated them a bit to make it more three-dimensional. Certainly the nose, chin, and hair are pretty good matches, no denying that. I'll take Twain. --Rallette 07:21, 23 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Could it be Gustave Flaubert? Corvus cornix 22:41, 24 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Only if he is wearing a hair-piece, Corvus cornix! Clio the Muse 00:43, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Heh. I thought about that, but thought maybe it was a portrait from his younger days.  :) Corvus cornix 15:57, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Parchment Scrolls
In the article on parchment, it mentions that parchment, in the process of being manufactured, became hard and stiff, because it was largely comprised of collagen. But in the article on scrolls, it says that scrolls were sometimes made of parchment. This would mean that the parchment would have to be flexible in order to bend and roll up. Was there a special treatment to make the parchment flexible? and if so, what did that entail? I think these details should be included in one or both of the aforementioned articles.Rigormorpheus 19:02, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry if this question is answered somewhere in the text, I couldn't find it!

Britain and the Persian Gulf
In an article I have read recently on British involvement in the present Iraq conflict there was a passing reference to previous involvement in the region, including that of Prime Minister Palmerston on the mid-nineteenth century. I looked through the Palmerston page, but can find no mention of this. I would be grateful for some details. General joffe 19:19, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * In the mid-nineteenth century there was no entity known as "Iraq"; people might refer to Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia was part of the Ottoman Empire, and was often considered part of a (larger) Syria. The involvement in question may have consisted of Palmerston's attempts to aid the Ottomans against the rebellion of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, in particular after the latter succeeded in conquering Syria. See the section Balkans and Near East: defending Turkey, 1830s in the article on Palmerston. --Lambiam Talk  21:59, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

This must surely refer to Palmerston's 'gunboat diplomacy' of 1856, when he sent an expedition into the Gulf, leading to the outbreak of the Anglo-Persian War. The Persians had occupied the Afghan border town of Herat and were, in Palmerston's view, poised to threaten British interests in India as proxy agents for the Russian Empire. A naval force with some 5000 troops was sent into the Gulf in November 1856, and Britain declared war on Persia that same month. In turn, Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, ruler of Persia, threatened that the conflict would become a jihad. The British captured the fortresses along the coast at Bushehr, and by March of 1857 had advanced westwards under the command of General James Outram to the Shatt-al-Arab at the head of the Gulf. The Persian army was defeated in two pitched battles. Although the Shah initially refused to abandon Herat despite these reverses, he finally gave in, concluding the Treaty of Paris, which allowed British consuls access to any part of Persian territory, a privlege already granted to the Russians. Now almost completely forgotten, this 'glorious little war' was just one more episode in the contest between Russia and England, which has passed into history as the Great Game. Clio the Muse 02:19, 23 June 2007 (UTC)

Difference Between Chives and Scallions?
What is the culinary distinction between chives and scallions? Thanks. - MSTCrow 19:31, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Chives are distinctly milder than scallions; they don't have the harsh "rawness" of raw onions, which scallions still largely have. They have a fresh flavour that goes well with many dishes (more in our article under "Culinary uses"). This may be a matter of personal preference, but I never cook chives; for example, I'll add them as a garnish to tomato soup just before serving. In contrast, I regularly cook, boil, fry or wok scallions – next to eating them raw in salads. Eat some chives, and then take a bite of scallion – you'll taste the difference. --Lambiam Talk  19:55, 22 June 2007 (UTC)


 * A note for speakers of British English - scallions are spring onions. DuncanHill 22:03, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Or green onions, for those of us north of the 49th. -- Charlene 17:59, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Would those be the same green onions as in the Booker T and the MGs tune? DuncanHill 22:26, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Indeed. And, Charlene, many of us south of the 49th call them green onions, too.  :)  Corvus cornix 22:42, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

obscure printing term?
Hi!

I'm wondering if there is a specific term for the printing phenomenon in which one can see the type on the reverse side of page on the page that one is reading--that is, is there a term that denotes when the text on a verso is visible through the recto that precedes it? I realize this is a rather esoteric question.

I think "opacity" refers to the degree to which one sees print through paper, but I'm wondering if there is a term for the phenomenon itself--not a quality of the paper, but the experience of seeing text from the other side of the page...

Thanks! Benzocane 20:50, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Answered on the Language Reference Desk today (and please note the Reference Desk practice of not posting on multiple RDs. -- Deborahjay 21:17, 22 June 2007 (UTC)