Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 July 5

= July 5 =

Two Sicilies
Why was the unified kingdom of Naples and Sicily called Two Sicilies? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 04:24, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * See Two_Sicilies. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 05:40, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

doxycycline withdrawal symptoms
Are there symptoms for the withdrawal of doxycycline used to treat Lymes Disease?206.53.153.39 (talk) 04:36, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * You may like to read our articles on doxycycline and Lyme disease. Gandalf61 (talk) 07:09, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Hitler's Jewish friend.
Can anyone help me in his article... is there any mention about his childhood friend who was Jewish?... --FromSouthAmerica (talk) 05:00, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * This rumour has cropped up many times over the years. It is perfectly possible Hitler knew some Jews when he was young, but since little is known of the specifics of his youth. His parents either died or never commented on anything (I assume died) so we can never know for sure if he did have a specific Jewish friend when young. Prokhorovka (talk) 06:51, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * You may be thinking of Max (film). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.171.56.13 (talk) 09:10, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * If he had he and his lieutenants would have gone to great lengths to try and cover up or destroy any record of it. The lack of detail about his early life considering he was so famous does argue that there were things he didn't want known. I doubt you'll find any record of anything like that. Dmcq (talk) 10:25, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * There's also the story that he went to school briefly with Ludwig Wittgenstein. Adam Bishop (talk) 12:54, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

The apocryphal story I heard was that Hitler's mother had a Jewish doctor who was very kind to her and did not charge. Hitler saved his life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alf1052 (talk • contribs) 21:16, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Interesting ... the (again, apocryphal) story I heard was that when Hitler's mother died, she was being treated by a Jewish doctor, whom Adolf blamed - which was supposed to be one of the reasons Hitler disliked Jews. These sorts of conflicting reports illustrate the difficulty with trusting such apocryphal stories. -- 128.104.112.85 (talk) 20:25, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Not in essence apocryphal. See Eduard Bloch, his family's Jewish doctor.  On the contrary, Hitler greatly esteemed Bloch.  IIRC, Bloch admired and retained one of Hitler's paintings, which he sold for a large sum later. (Not in the article, which mentions a large Hitler painting which was lost.) John Z (talk) 11:31, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

What is the term for a trance brought on by art?
I remember reading about a supposed altered state of consciousness that can be induced in some people by viewing or being in the physical presence of some great and beautiful work of art. I would have asked this question in the science reference desk, but I'm fairly certain this isn't a technical term from psychology, it's a general word that at most derives from pop-psychology. I could be wrong though. --86.135.177.168 (talk) 13:39, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Not "trancendental" ? 83.100.250.79 (talk) 13:58, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Guesses "transpersonal", "ecstatic states", "euphoria", "harmonization", "interconnectedness", "self actualisaation" - all copied from Peak experience - you did say pop-psy83.100.250.79 (talk) 14:03, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Psychology of art - empathy, gnosis, epithany Epiphany (feeling) ? 83.100.250.79 (talk) 14:05, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Stendhal syndrome. —Kevin Myers 15:22, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * yes! that's it! thanks. --86.135.177.168 (talk) 15:30, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Alaska's Lieutenant Governor position
Sarah Palin has announced that she is naming Craig Campbell (politician) to replace Sean Parnell as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska once she, Palin, steps down as Governor and Parnell succeeds her. How does this work? How can she name somebody to replace someone when that position is currently held by Parnell? Wouldn't it be up to Parnell to choose somebody to replace himself as Lieutenant Governor once he's Governor and the Lieutenant Governor position is empty? Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 19:15, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The /doc/{@17911}? Alaska succession law] covers this - Although, it has to be approved by a joint session of the Alaska legislature, so either they have to convene, or she may already have taken care of this, since she was supposed to do it back when she won the office. --Saalstin (talk) 19:59, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh dear, the wikicode doesn't like that - AS 44.19.040 is the law in question --Saalstin (talk) 20:01, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks. What a weird provision.  That gives the nominee reason to want to see the LG dead.  :)  Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 20:08, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, at the federal level, from 1886 to 1947 there was a similar law. If the vice-presidency was vacant and something happened to the president, the power of the presidency went to the secretary of state.  And that office is filled by the president's nomination and confirmation by the Senate.  --Anonymous, 23:21 UTC, July 7, 2009.

rue de Richepanse
The name of this street in Paris has been changed to Chevalier du St. George. Anyone know why. I would have thought that a successful General would outlast a fallen Saint. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alf1052 (talk • contribs) 21:13, 5 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Read up on Joseph de Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), Afro-French composer, violinist, conductor and fencer.--Wetman (talk) 00:46, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * He was victim of the change in the public perception of slavery and colonial power that's taken place in France in the 1990's. No one denied that France took a active role into the slave trade and created a colonial power based on slavery in its West Indies until that time, but that was not a central issue in the public debate. With this change, the perception of Richepanse was transformed : he is now first and foremost the general whose mission was to reinstate slavery in 1802 (French Revolution had abolished slavery) and who brutality massacred people to this end, and not any more the young and successful officer who helped Napoleon in his first European campaigns. The places that are named after him are renamed one after the other: the new names are those of black persons from the French West Indies. In Guadeloupe in 1999 the "Fort Richepanse" has become the "Fort Louis Delgrès" (a black officer who was the leader of the vey insurgency that Richepanse repressed), in Rouen a headquater lost his name, just as a waterfront in Metz (2004), etc. You can sign a petition in line to rename the "rue Richepanse" into "rue Delprès" in Sartrouville. --Gede (talk) 16:59, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps someone might fatten up Antoine Richepanse. --jpgordon:==( o ) 03:59, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Soviet archives
There's general consensus that Soviet sources are biased when it comes to versions of history, after all, these are the products of the regime where "history serves politics." I'm therefore at a loss when editors lobby for the "truth" based on what's stated in declassified Soviet archives—aside from the fact that doing so quotes a primary source. They may be declassified, but, quite frankly, it would be uninformed to contend the archives are intrinsically any more reliable than what came before. There are more than a few "facts" in the archives which are not corroborated by reputably documented circumstances and events. Does anyone know of any studies of Soviet era archives as to their fundamental reliability? V ЄСRUМВА  TALK  21:35, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

P.S. And it's also documented that, for example, "reports" to Stalin were informed more by an instinct for self-preservation than by a desire for openness and honesty. In fairness, there's also this same issue with Nazi archives with regard to Hitler. V ЄСRUМВА  TALK  21:45, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

To what extent have Soviet archives been forged to sell western researchers what they are looking for? for example with the rosenbergs? --Gary123 (talk) 01:25, 6 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I gather the reason the declassified archives are fairly trusted is because everyone (even the Soviet Union) needs a reliable source. The things they publicly announced were false, but the records they kept secret and for internal consumption only, which became available following 1991 are fairly trustworthy. We can 'know' this by doing things like comparing our information on things we know to the internal archives and checking. If the Soviets weren't lying to themselves on things we can be sure of, then it is logical to assume the rest is true also. Prokhorovka (talk) 14:21, 6 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks to both. To Gary123's... for example, Soviet "archives" have produced evidence that individuals were Nazi war criminals when in fact they were children at the time and produced testimony by people known to be dead. To Prokhorovka's... what has been reported to be in the Estonian Soviet archives (families taken to Siberia on coach trains, nursing and medical care, et al.) is patently false. That something was kept for "internal" consumption is more "true" is based on our "democratic" assumptions about when/where one lies and one does not. We cannot make those assumptions regarding either Soviet or Nazi archives—hence my asking about research on the topic. V ЄСRUМВА  TALK  19:49, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Do you assume that other archives are factual? What about the National Archives and Records Administration? The Public Record Office? The Vatican Archives? Adam Bishop (talk) 20:06, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not about assumptions about archives in general or as compared to other archives. We know that what is reported in Soviet archives is not necessarily factual. There are also problems in interpretation, for example, for "production" numbers of the economy where that was recorded in terms of value (rubles) and not raw units (such as barrels, metric tons, etc.), leading to inflated figures. So the issues are with regard to both facts (yes/no) and interpretation. V ЄСRUМВА  &#9742;  13:19, 28 July 2009 (UTC)