Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2011 December 22

= December 22 =

Economic questions
1) which of the following is an explicit cost of production? A) wages paid to workers B) the electric bill C) purchases of raw material D) Only answers A and B are explicit costs because the purchases of raw material is only an opportunity cost. E) Answers A,B, and C are all correct. 2) When marginal revenue is postive, total revenue _________ when output increases and demand is ________ A) increases; inelastic B) decreases; elastic C) does not change; unit elastic D) decreases, inelastic E) increases; elastic 3) A cartel is A) a market with only two firms B) another name for an oligopoly C) a market structure with a small number of large firms. D) a group of firms acting together to raise price, decrease output, and increase economic profit. E) a market structure with a large number of small firms. 4) In the prisoners' dilemma, each player is _________ regardless of the other player's actions. A) forced to confess B) going to go free C) better off denying D) forced to deny E) better off confessing 5) A Nash equilibrium is defined as A) earning normal profits in the long run. B) forming a cartel with strong penalities for cheaters. C) each player taking the best possible action given the action of the other players. D) each player taking the action that is best for all the players. E) relying on other game players to realize the benefit of cooperation — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.6.175.183 (talk) 01:55, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Looks like homework, in which case:


 * A) Do your own work.
 * B) Post it here, along with questions about the PARTS you don't understand.
 * C) We will post any corrections and requested explanations.
 * D) All of the above.


 * The correct answer is D. :-) StuRat (talk) 02:20, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Googling the key terms in each question, or a bit or wikipedia research would answer all these questions relatively simply. 86.144.23.155 (talk) 08:26, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Christian converts
Has there been any figures in history that have consecutively converted to all three of the main Christian denominations: Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism.--Queen Elizabeth II&#39;s Little Spy (talk) 02:59, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * In that exact order? Would they have had to convert to the first one from an unspecified fourth religion/no religion? Orange Suede Sofa  (talk) 03:03, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I cannot think of any prominent figure. The combo seems quite unlikely/unusual. My (completely unscientific) impression is that in current context: Both Catholics and Orthodox quite often turn to Protestantism (as evangelical protestant churches run a lot of missionary activities in ex-USSR, Latin America, Philippines, etc...). Protestants rarely turn Catholics (I know of a few cases very individuals convert to Catholicism to 'go back to the roots' theologically speaking, but it more of individual spiritual quest than a collective process). Conversions to Orthodoxy would be very rare.
 * Religion acquired by marriage is a different issue though, but I think even there there might be a difference between the exchange Catholicism<->Protestantism and Orthodoxy<->Catholicism/Protestantism. For example, would a West European Catholic woman marrying a Russian or Serbian man actually get herself baptized as Orthodox? I think it would be quite rare.
 * People also change religions during wars and conquests. There could be people in the Balkans having done the shift Orthodoxy->Catholicism, then to convert to evangelical Protestantism. --Soman (talk) 06:36, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * As far as I know, all the major denominations recognize each others baptisms. So there is no new baptism if you convert from e.g. the Anglican to the Catholic Church (as, IIRC, Tony Blair did). Baptists differ, of course, but they are less than 5% of Christians. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 10:34, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I think most Baptists recognize other denominations' believer's baptisms, but may not recognize infant baptisms. But it's hard to generalize over Baptists since each congregation decides for itself what rules it's going to follow. Pais (talk) 11:26, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The mother of a friend of mine went the opposite direction: baptized and raised Protestant, she later converted to Roman Catholicism and later still to Orthodoxy. But she isn't a "historical figure". Pais (talk) 09:14, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * There is definitely a trickle of protestants converting to Orthodoxy in order to "go back to the roots", just as there are such converts to Catholicism. The relative rates probably depend on whether the Catholic or the Orthodox church is more common where you live. 84.231.149.57 (talk) 12:13, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

I started with Newt Gingrich (Lutheran → Baptist → Catholic) and browsed through the categories until I found the parent Category:Religious converts. -— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 13:27, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * ... at which I find List of people who made multiple religious conversions, which includes Tom Hanks, of all people, who made Greek Orthodoxy his 3rd religion. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  18:46, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Rod Dreher, a columnist and blogger, springs to mind. Meelar (talk) 21:44, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

Quest plot
I am currently reading 20 Master Plots and How to Build Them by Ronald B. Tobias. It is one of the best books I've read so far on fiction writing and am thoroughly enjoying it. The first of the 20 "master plots" is termed "Quest"; at the end of this chapter, he gives a checklist and all the points in the checklist make sense to me, except this: "3. Consider bringing your plot full circle geographically. The protagonist frequently ends up in the same place where she started." To serve what purpose? Indeed, many of the fictional works using this type of plot device do bring the protagonist back eventually. Dorothy comes back home in The Wizard of Oz, for example. Perhaps it is to give the reader a sense of closure? --BorgQueen (talk) 16:15, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * In many cases (not really in the Wizard of Oz movie, however), to demonstrate how the main character has developed, or how the main character's status has changed, since first setting out... AnonMoos (talk) 17:29, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * In addition to showing how the character has changed, returning to the same location can show how the world has changed. In particular, because so many fictions begin "at home", and then travel to dangerous and exotic places, there's the risk the reader/viewer doesn't care that much, thinking "bad things happen in other people's lands, not here in the safe homeland". Having the protagonist return home and find their comfortable home is destroyed packs more of a punch than just travelling somewhere and finding someone new that's already in a devastated condition. For example, the characters in The Lord of the Rings return to The Shire (the epitome of the comfortable Heimat) to find the war they've been fighting has damaged that too.  Similarly No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (a great example of good storytelling in computer games) follows a common pattern of having the protagonist work in a secret base, where training is done and to which the protagonist returns after dangerous missions.  But at one point the base is attacked, and the formerly safe territory becomes a battlezone.  It's much more poignant that the (very similar) battles in the other locations in the game, and it re-enforces the sense of place and highlights the character's interaction with the world.  Even a decade after NOLF2, few games of the same genre do this (the incomparable Deus Ex does, to great effect, and its sequels try to), and many (like the otherwise great Bioshock) propel the player through location after location without much feeling that this location is important or that the character would care much about it. Testovergian (talk) 15:20, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * That's a good point, thanks. --BorgQueen (talk) 18:27, 26 December 2011 (UTC)


 * It gives a sense of closure to the narrative. A lot of quest stories can be just one thing after another, and they need something to make a conclusive ending.  Think of Homer's Odyssey where the adventures are largely unconnected.  How would you know it was finished if he didn't make it back home?  If it's just a story about people trying to reach some random place, that's less satisfying, but the desire to get home is very basic.  And even if it's not about getting home it still provides aesthetic unity (compare Aristotle's idea of unity of place, where all the action has to take place in the same place; the circular quest loosens that but doesn't break it entirely). --Colapeninsula (talk) 20:18, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your excellent answers, Colapeninsula and AnonMoos! --BorgQueen (talk) 20:32, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * It seems necessary to mention There and Back Again. Card Zero  (talk) 21:19, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Or even our article on monomyth. Orange Suede Sofa  (talk) 21:33, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

See the article "framing device". Gabbe (talk) 12:37, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Word for Male Orgasm in Pre-Tudor England
Hello! I am wondering if anyone knows what the English called male ejaculation in pre-Tudor England. I know that in France, the common expression was the Le Petit Mort, and that the English adopted it, but I think that would have happened around the reign of Henry VIII (he was so eager to compete with the royal courts of France and Spain, while his father, Henry VII, did not have a court in the same sense-- too expensive.) The reason I ask is because I am writing a novel about Shakespeare and so le petit mort comes up quite a bit. In Margaret George's fictional autobiography of Henry VIII, she has a scene where Mary Boleyn (who spent many years in the French court and supposedly had an affair with King Francis) teaches young King Henry about the le petit mort, and Henry, in George's fictionalized account, says something about the "English word" and the contrasting definitions (and thus a different way to understand the nature of orgasm.) But "Orgasm" did not appear in the common vernacular (at least according to the OED) until the mid 1600's. . . almost 200 years later. So. What would have been the word for orgasm in pre-Tudor England? I hope this question makes sense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.97.183.38 (talk) 17:26, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * This is a duplicate of Reference_desk/Language - please don't ask the same question on more than one of the Reference Desks, as people may waste spend time answering on one, only to find that a similar answer has been given on the other. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 17:31, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

How can I remove this? I'm so sorry for my blunder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.97.183.38 (talk) 17:39, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Let it stand, it will be archived eventually. It's not a major problem, just a friendly hint for the future. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 18:21, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Just coming out of the blue: I was just depositing infra a question about Henry Ward Beecher & I got my eye caught (as we say in France) by that crucial issue. I'd add that 1°: proper spelling is la petite mort (mort is feminine) 2° saw the expression used in books as late as Colette (around 1900-1930), & heard it mainly used by women : wouldn't do to have males admit that they almost fainted in the arms of a dame from the pleasure inflicted upon them, wouldn't it ?

So long, & t.y. Arapaima (talk) 18:50, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Norman D. Hill
Who was Norman D. Hill? All I know is that he took a photo of Haalilio in the 1840s.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 18:36, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

New Mexico birth certificates
A simple question, I hope. Would the birth certificate of someone born in New Mexico in 1962 be available to members of the public, journalists, etc? AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:42, 22 December 2011 (UTC)
 * From http://www.vitalrecordsnm.org/birth.shtml:

"New Mexico Birth Certificates are restricted access records.

State law restricts access to the registrant's Immediate Family members or those who represent tangible proof of legal interest in the requested record.

Immediate Family means any of the following: mother, father, sibling, child, current spouse, or maternal or paternal grandparent. Paternal grandparent is eligible if father is listed on the vital record.

Note: Birth certificates become public records one hundred (100) years after the date of birth."


 * Hope this helps, --Trovatore (talk) 19:47, 22 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Trovatore. Exactly what I needed to know. AndyTheGrump (talk) 19:51, 22 December 2011 (UTC)