Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2011 December 30

= December 30 =

US government
Which Article of Constitution established each branch of US government? Please help me to answer this! Thank you so much! 68.103.77.158 (talk) 00:45, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * United States Constitution. Read all about it! ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:48, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

US government
What are the compromises that made the Constitution work? 68.103.77.158 (talk) 02:24, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * See History of the United States Constitution. -- Jayron  32  03:05, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The constitution probably would never have been adopted in the first place if it hadn't been for each state being equally represented in the senate and the inclusion of the 3/5ths rule (both resulting from compromises in the Philadelphia convention). AnonMoos (talk) 03:10, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Another compromise was the 2/3 rule for congressional overrides of presidential vetos. One incorrect belief about constitutional compromises was that during the 1830s to 1850s many people (including Judge Taney) claimed that the fugitive slave clause of the constitution was entitled to special deference and broad construction, because supposedly the southern states would never have ratified the constitution without it.  In fact, there's no real evidence from the records of the constitutional convention and state ratification debates that it was considered a critical issue in 1787-1788 (and slavery still existed in several northern states at the time anyway). AnonMoos (talk) 08:35, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * This is at least the third similar question asked by the OP on this page. Apparently he doesn't want to read the links, he just wants us to give him the answers to what are likely homework questions. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:59, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yup. The grammar could use some work too. Shadowjams (talk) 06:21, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Rebecca (novel)
Rebecca is a major character in a book who never appears. In Frasier, Maris, Nigel Crane's wife does not appear. Ditto "'er indoors", Arthur Daley's wife in Minder. Ditto Howard's mother in The Big Bang Theory. Interesting that they are all women. Or am I wrong? Kittybrewster &#9742;  09:09, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, those 4 examples are all obviously women, Kitty.
 * But is your real - if unstated - question about the bigger picture? Maybe you want to know if there's a general literary tradition of having unseen female characters, but no similar tradition of unseen male characters?  --  Jack of Oz  [your turn]  09:18, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * (EC) No, I'm pretty sure that all four are indeed women :-) . Whether or not you are exhibiting selection bias in choosing those particular characters is another question. Can we come up with equally well-known offstage male characters? I open the bidding with Godot, whom one might counter with Freda Fry. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.66.116 (talk) 09:23, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Harvey? - Nunh-huh 10:02, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I'll see your Godot and raise you God, who I think is never seen in the Bible, even if he is heard from a bit. I'm taking it that means he never technically "appears". IBE (talk) 22:04, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, those who believe in the divinity of Jesus would say God appears quite a lot in person in the Bible. In the Old Testament it isn't made entirely clear whether God visibly appears in the Garden of Eden. It also isn't entirely clear whether the "man" who Jacob wrestled with or any of the "men" who appeared to Abraham before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were God himself or merely angels. Pais (talk) 02:27, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * How is it not clear whether God appears in the Garden of Eden? Genesis 3:8 says: "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, 'Where are you?'"  That seems to clearly mean that God was physically wandering around the garden, looking for Adam  --99.237.252.228 (talk) 04:26, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

What is the question exactly? Is the character from the novel never appearing? No. Is the character in the late 90s sitcom somehow indicative of something? No. Has the name "Rebecca" been neglected throughout contemporary literature? I don't give a damn. Sorry, I misunderstood the question. Shadowjams (talk) 09:41, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The question is about non-appearing invisible important characters. I am not conscious of any in Gone with the Wind. Kittybrewster &#9742;  09:48, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * You're right, I got my wires crossed... for some reason I was thinking about Rebecca (1940 film), although Gone With the Wind won the Oscar the year before and was produced by the same person. Shadowjams (talk) 22:35, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * But what about "non-appearing invisible important characters", Kitty? Do you want a complete list of them, or links to discussions about them, or what? Can you please state exactly what your question is.  Your opening question "Or am I wrong?" has been answered.  --  Jack of Oz  [your turn]  09:53, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * A complete list would be great, Jack. Kittybrewster &#9742;  09:55, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * See Unseen character and Category:Unseen characters. --  Jack of Oz  [your turn]  09:58, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * The talk page is interesting reading, too. Apparently the article used to include a huge list of names of unseen characters, but it was expunged.  Pity.  --  Jack of Oz  [your turn]  10:09, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * This version seems to have a long list. Shimgray | talk | 17:50, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Richard Brinsley Sheridan was already making fun of the device of the unseen character in his play The Critic back in 1779... AnonMoos (talk) 10:51, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * "But pray is not Queen Elizabeth to appear?"
 * "No, not once--but she is to be talked of for ever; so that, egad, you'll think a hundred times that she is on the point of coming in."
 * "Hang it, I think it's a pity to keep her in the green-room all the night."
 * "O no, that always has a fine effect--it keeps up expectation."

TV Tropes has its usual vast lists at HeWhoMustNotBeSeen; I don't see an obvious gender disparity. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 12:06, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Inspector Columbo's wife never appears, but she is mentioned in every episode. It's all about having depth to the main male character - makes him more lovable, and nothing to do with not employing women actors. A female main character is often seen as more independant if she doesn't talk about her husband all the time. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that most TV is aimed at women, anyway (soap operas, song'n'dance shows, tear-jerking documentaries about childlen with terminal illensses having to travel half-way across the world for treatment, dramas where women prevail over men, etc., plus all the adverts where men are portrayed as idiots). KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 17:35, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * To your point Kage, there is a critic/writer/comic or some such woman who grades shows and films on whether or not the female characters can have meaningful conversations about something other than men, sex, or other stereotypical writing faux pas. I can't remember the writer's name though...  Dismas |(talk) 17:54, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I hope this doesn't mess up the formatting, but this is a response to Dismas. I think you are referring to the Bechdel Test, named after Alison Bechdel, author/artist of the long-running series Dykes to Watch Out For. The official site gives this definition: "1. It [the movie, etc. in question] has to have at least two women in it, 2. Who talk to each other, 3. About something besides a man." It is covered in TV Tropes here and in The Guardian's Science section here. BrainyBabe (talk) 19:52, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Which was previously answered by TheMarkOfTheBeast, directly below your post (and now mine), albeit in not so much detail. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 21:26, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Columbo's wife never appeared in the Columbo series, but she starred in the Mrs. Columbo series, as played by Kate Mulgrew. See also Carlton Your Doorman.  BTW, Dismas, the term you're looking for is bechdel test.  The Mark of the Beast (talk) 20:02, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * How about Wilson from Home Improvement... he kind of appears...
 * In Magnum, P.I., Robin Masters, the owner of the mansion in whose guest house Magnum resides never appears. (Or does he?) HiLo48 (talk) 00:49, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Charlie as well, while we're working on unseen benefactors of private investigators. -- Jayron  32  01:13, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

ISBNs
Hello. Is there any way of determining where the hyphens in an ISBN should be inserted, without finding a physical copy of the work or chancing upon an online scan of the latter? — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 10:23, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure it makes any great difference, but the last is always a check-digit, and 0 or 1 at the beginning of a ten-digit code indicates English language. You can see further at International Standard Book Number... AnonMoos (talk) 10:42, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm aware of that, but the check digit doesn't really help one to find out where the hyphens go. I think I've found a solution. I did a bit more searching, and from "ISBN" I was led to http://www.isbn.org/converterpub.asp and http://pcn.loc.gov/isbncnvt.html which automatically insert the hyphens. Thanks anyway! — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 11:58, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Louisiana Native Guards in Pascagoula (09-4-1863) :?
Hello learned humanitarians ! I am translating into french Military history of African Americans in the American Civil War ( & BTW thanks a lot for the substratum - & I adopted a chronological mode, if you get the whim to go & have a look at it, & maybe as we say here "put your hand into the dough" ... ), & couldn't find anything about the Pascagoula raid (look at the bottom left of the map). Of course it is probably quite irrelevant besides Chaffin's Farm, but here Louisiana has a special place in our hearts, & anyhow I want to make a big nice article...Thanks a lot beforehand, and best wishes for 2012 to all (with special regards to your dedication), t.y. Arapaima (talk) 11:38, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Try this and perhaps this as well. Try searching Google Books for "black soldiers Pascagoula 1863" Quinn &#10025; STARRY NIGHT 16:21, 30 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot, Quinn, & Happy New Year !!Arapaima (talk) 09:01, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Cut-up technique
I am a big fan of William S. Burroughs and his cut-up technique, but I don't think any writer after him has used the literary technique as successfully. Our article on the topic states that Julio Cortázar used it in his novel Hopscotch, but I fail to find this alleged cut-up part in the book. Does anyone know if any writer (after Burroughs's Nova trilogy) has used the techinique with some degree of artistic achievement? (By the way, I am well aware that it has been used in music, but not interested in that much.) --BorgQueen (talk) 17:36, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Our pages on Kathy Acker, Eric Mottram and Michael Muhammad Knight claim they've used cut-ups, though I don't know with what success. I remember John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar used John Dos Passos' newspaper collage technique very effectively, if you count that as being the same thing (which apparently Burroughs did). --Antiquary (talk) 20:13, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Towns which are surrounded by larger towns
Is Gladbeck the largest German town, which is surrounded only by larger municipalities? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:05, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Is Waltrop the largest German town, which is the smallest municipality in its district? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:07, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Is Bremerhaven the only city in Germany, which has to share a number plate letter combination with a larger city? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:08, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Is Bremerhaven the only city in Germany, which is the smallest (of more than one) municipality in its state? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:11, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Is Marl the largest German town, which is not the largest municipality in its district? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:13, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Is Gladbeck the only German municipality, which belongs to a district, but can be reached only via district-free cities by car? --84.61.131.15 (talk) 22:17, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

Wahrlich die Welt ist wohl ein Vogelhaus - und sitzen mehrteils Narren darin. --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 01:37, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * That is really six questions, each of which requires either exhaustive knowledge of German municipal trivia or extensive research. It's a bit much to ask, I think.   I happen to know that the answers to the third and the last questions are yes.  I also believe that the answer to the fourth question is yes.  I can't help with the rest.  Marco polo (talk) 01:57, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

I want have all the trivia be added to the articles Gladbeck, Bremerhaven, Marl, and Waltrop. --84.61.131.15 (talk) 09:29, 31 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Trivia is discouraged in Wikipedia. See WP:TRIVIA.--Shantavira|feed me 11:02, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I want that trivia not to be added to the articles. --ColinFine (talk) 20:31, 31 December 2011 (UTC)