Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 June 6

= June 6 =

European Parliament election, 2009
The lead to this article states that "736 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and 18 observers ("virtual MEPs") will be elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history."

Besides the European Parliament elections, what other transnational elections are there (or have there been)? I can't think of any off hand. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 03:24, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Since the article is about the 2009 election, the sentence could be referring to the ones in 2004, 1999, etc. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:49, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The papal election, held in the Sistine Chapel, selects the head of the Catholic Church which is clearly a transnational organisation. In the 2005 conclave electors came from some fifty countries.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 11:27, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * That is, as far as I am concerned, a very generous use of the word election. It is just the top brass of an organisation choosing one of their peers to be their leader, something that happens in all organisations and companies. If you include the appointment of the pope, you should include the appointment of CEOs and Chairmen of every multinational company, sports governing body, NGO etc. The catholic church isn't more representative than any such organisation, in fact less, since bishops are made cardinals purely by the choice of those already in power, and are in no way intended to represent their home diocese or territory. /Coffeeshivers (talk) 12:15, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * If you restrict it to democratic elections then there are far fewer, certainly. Electing the board of a multinational company/organisation might qualify, they are elected by all members (although often the procedure is massively skewed in favour of the members just rubber stamping the decisions of the existing board). Electing the board of the WMF is pretty democratic and definitely trans-national. I don't know of anything even approaching the size of the European Parliamentary elections, though. --Tango (talk) 14:24, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * On some level at least, depends on your definition of the word "trans-national" - you could make a case that a United Kingdom General Election, which covers the nations of England, Wales, Scotland, and part of Ireland should be covered (obviously barely 10% the size of an EU election) --Saalstin (talk) 21:53, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the election of the Holy Roman Emperor or the Mongol Khan via the Kurultai might qualify as well. Admittedly, they're not very democratic, but they were multi-national elections, as much as there were nations prior to 1800. JKBrooks85 (talk) 11:13, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

I have lots of question about western culture....thanks for your help
1 4 guidelines that the Bible gives for marriage.

2 What other relationship does the Bible compare a husband and wife’s relationship to, and how should the husband and wife treat each other because of this relationship? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cylwin (talk • contribs) 04:24, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Christian_views_of_marriage might be a good place to start 203.214.114.8 (talk) 08:44, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The Song of Songs is a particularly relevant part of the Bible more used by Jews but Pope Benedict quoted it in God is Love Dmcq (talk) 14:17, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Also, check out Ephesians, Chapter 5. AndyJones (talk) 14:48, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Also, given that your course probably doesn't expect you to read the entire Bible looking for this information, you probably have the answers written down in the course text or in any notes you might have made. If you use the information the person running the course expects you to use, you're more likely to give the answers they are looking for. 80.41.126.158 (talk) 16:28, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * True, but no need to WP:BITE. Nobody's going to do an essay for the OP and anyway how would you feel if you suddenly had to write about the Hindu view of marriage for instance? Dmcq (talk) 17:23, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry if it came across as biting; that was not at all the intention. If I suddenly had to write about the Hindu view of marriage and thought I was supposed to find the information from scratch, I would be panicky. I would be grateful for someone pointing out that this was an unreasonable expectation, and that I was far more likely to be expected to extract the answers from the information I had been given. This would also avoid me finding my answers didn't match the conclusions I was supposed to draw for the class.
 * Could you point out which aspect of my answer you found bitey, so I can avoid it in future? 80.41.126.158 (talk) 22:32, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Yeah, Dmcq, I agree that this wasn't a bite. It was an obvious homework question phrased earnestly as though it were not, which invites an answer such as 80's.  Tempshill (talk) 03:43, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry yes I agree I was wrong. For homework they should be advised to look to their notes as that would give them the best chance of success. I just felt on first reading it said go away and don't bother us and even for homework that wouldn't be quite right if they had done some work or were finding it hard to start, but the advice given was in fact good. Dmcq (talk) 08:40, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps the OP mistook this as a place to debate the institution of marriage. DOR (HK) (talk) 04:03, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

This has something to do with christian culture, and not Western culture. Oalexander-En (talk) 06:44, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Khrushchev's ethnic background
The article on Nikita Khrushchev says he was from Ukraine but doesn't explain his ethnicity. I think that is significant, especially regarding the Crimea dispute. Was he 100% ethnically Russian, as I've read on BBC News (don't have the link anymore, sorry) or something else? And was his mother tongue Russian or Ukrainian? 81.153.238.156 (talk) 13:13, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * He appears to have been Russian, and thus I'd guess that Russian was his cradlespeech. I'm getting this from an account that I have of the Khrushchev years (Fursenko, Aleksandr and Timothy Naftali.  Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary.  New York: Norton, 2006, 8.), which notes also that he was from a peasant family.  Nyttend (talk) 17:08, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * He wasn't born in the Ukraine itself, just close by its borders in Russia in Kursk Oblast. It's peculiar, the article doesn't mention his birth or much of his early life. Dmcq (talk) 17:39, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Just fixed the article. It had been vandalized a couple of months ago and no one noticed this bit gone missing. His family moved to a town in the Ukraine when he was a teenager. Dmcq (talk) 19:49, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Oded Golan
Wikipedia's article on Oded Golan peters out in 2004 with him still on trial. This Haaretz article says the trial was still going on in April of last year. Is the trial still going on? Hopper Mine (talk) 15:02, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The Biblical Archaeology Review magazine has been following the case (the editor, Hershel Shanks, has a prickly relationship with the official Israel antiquities authority), so there might be something in recent issues if there have been any new developments (though since that magazine has a long publication lead time, it's not the best source for breaking news). AnonMoos (talk) 02:04, 7 June 2009 (UTC)


 * The most recent I can find is a Jerusalem Post article from March 31. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 22:37, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

moral rights of the author
On the copyright page of a 2007 book I found the following:

"The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker)"

What does this mean? What is the claim? --Halcatalyst (talk) 21:02, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't think it really means much, I'm pretty sure moral rights and database rights apply whether you assert them or not. It is, however, talking about moral rights and database right. --Tango (talk) 21:05, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * As the article states, asserting one's moral rights is necessary for enforcement in some jurisdictions. Algebraist 12:22, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Freelolita101 Talking
Is Lolita the orca's mother ocean sun? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Freelolita101 (talk • contribs) 21:49, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 * For those trying to figure out the question, Lolita seems to be an orca who is in captivity at the Miami Seaquarium. And the OP is wondering whether another orca, Ocean Sun, is Lolita's mother.  According to a posting on this page, Ocean Sun is likely to be Lolita's mother.  The people at that site seem to have a lot of info about Lolita, so you may be able to find a better answer there.  Dismas |(talk) 23:58, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Population of Istanbul in 1400's


Franz Babinger says that Mehmed the Conqueror usually divided the poulation of the town he conquered into three parts and that one part was sent to Instanbul to increase population of that city. What happened to the population of Istanbul in the 1400's and why did it need to be increased by the people from other countries? Surtsicna (talk) 22:16, 6 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Just general poverty, due to being completely surrounded by hostile Ottomans, and not having the resources of the rest of the Empire to maintain a city of that size. There was a diaspora of sorts, at least for scholars, to the West, and presumably anyone who could afford it went somewhere else too. Meanwhile the West had virtually abandoned the Byzantines, militarily and economically. When Mehmed actually conquered the city, a large part of the population was also killed defending it, of course. Adam Bishop (talk) 00:51, 7 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for answering! Is there a source which confirms your theory? Do you know where I can get more information? Surtsicna (talk) 11:07, 7 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, it's not really a "theory", just poorly-remembered info from books about Byzantine history. I use Warren Treadgold's "History of the Byzantine State and Society", which talks about this on pages 837-844. The Black Death was also disastrous for the population, and it was estimated by contemporary travellers that in the fifteenth century there were only 50 000 people there - pretty huge by western European standards, but very small considering that a million people may have lived there a few centuries earlier. You might want to ask this on the Byzantine Empire talk page, it's pretty active and there are lots of people there who can give you a fuller answer. Adam Bishop (talk) 13:37, 7 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your help! I can see you're really trying to help people :) Surtsicna (talk) 15:07, 7 June 2009 (UTC)