Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2015 April 19

= April 19 =

travelling in the Regency period
Can someone please tell me how long the China fleet generally took on the round trip England to China around 1820? Also, ideally, what time of year they left England. With thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Helenadrienne (talk • contribs) 07:54, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It took Sir Edward Pellew six months to sail to Penang in his flag ship in 1805. But he wasn't slowed by a cargo fleet. Sleigh (talk)
 * Sir Thomas Troubridge left England in the spring of 1805 on his flag ship HMS Blenheim with a fleet of Indiamen and arrived in India (perhaps Madras) in August, 1805. Sleigh (talk) 10:26, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * A British East Indiaman, the Kent, "...left Cowes on 14 Mar 1821 and reached Bombay on 10 June. She arrived in Singapore on 29 August, and Whampoa anchorage on 24 September" (just over six moths including stopovers). "On her second voyage, Kent left The Downs on 7 January 1823, reaching New Anchorage on 9 May. From there she reached Penang on 1 August and Singapore on 21 August. A little more than a month later, on 30 September, she arrived at Whampoa" (more than nine months).
 * A Royal Navy frigate, HMS Alceste (quite a bit faster than a merchant ship) "...left Spithead for China on 9 February 1816.... and after stopping at Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, the Cape of Good Hope, Anyer and Batavia, sailed through the Bangka Strait into the South China Sea. After a short stop to pay respects at Canton, Alceste passed the Straits of Formosa and hove-to in the Bohai Sea on 28 July" (just over six months). Going to South Africa via Brazil might seem illogical, but finding the right trade winds was vital. Alansplodge (talk) 11:31, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * On his return voyage, Sir Edward Pellew left India (perhaps Madras) in his flag ship HMS Culloden in February, 1809 with a fleet of Indiamen and reached England "a few days after" 9 June, 1809 (a journey of around four months). Four Indiamen were lost in a gale off Mauritius. Sleigh (talk) 12:11, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It would make sense to leave England early in the year so as to be able to take advantage of the summer monsoon in East Asia, with its southwesterly winds. It would also make sense to leave East Asia late in the year so as to take advantage of the prevailing winter northwesterly winds to return to the Indian Ocean. Marco polo (talk) 19:20, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

1990s Childrens Book
I'm trying to remember the title of a series of children's books that I read in the UK in the early/mid 1990s. They may have been puzzle/choose your own adventure books or just stories.

The main thing that I remember is that the genre changed from traditional fantasy to space/sci-fi fantasy at some point in the series. When this happened the covers of books changed to look futuristic and robotic, but in the run up to the change the previous cover gradually started to shift and showed hints of what was about to happen. Sorry but that's all I remember!

Thanks! JJL85 (talk) 10:45, 19 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Fighting Fantasy? 86.176.248.56 (talk) 21:19, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

Homeless people in America
Is it true that homeless people in America fake being ill or actually deliberately make themselves ill so that they can get into hospital and have a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in, and some dinner? My friend said this is endemic in America because they don't house the homeless and Obamacare means they don't have to pay for hospital anymore. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rancidjippo (talk • contribs) 10:56, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * This question seems intended to start a discussion making a point at the end. --ListCheck (talk) 16:50, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

State Pension
So someone can claim benefits all their life, never pay any national insurance contributions, and then get a full state pension because they got NI credits for being on benefits, whereas someone who works has to pay out of their wage and gets less pension at the end because they didn't get a full 35 years of NI contributions? How is that legal??? Coffee and Crackers (talk) 10:58, 19 April 2015 (UTC)


 * I won't hat this again after the OP removed my hat, because that would be edit warring. But I don't see how a question that starts "How is it okay ..." is ever going to be anything other than an request for opinion or debate. --ColinFine (talk) 11:39, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

Middle Ages
Did people in the middle ages have the technology to create a basic bicycle? If so, why didn't they? — Preceding unsigned comment added by DarkDampAndWet (talk • contribs) 15:15, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It depends on how basic you want to get. See Dandy horse for the precursor. Making a chain drive would be very hard, and a freewheel probably impossible. In either case, it would be very expensive. No rubber wheels, either. One reason why apparently no-one tried is a lack of good roads. Even with a modern mountain bike, everything but prepared roads or decent footpaths is a technical challenge. The League of American Wheelmen was a major early advocacy group for road improvements. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:23, 19 April 2015 (UTC)


 * There's no reason I can think of why bicycles like in this picture could not have been made in the Middle Ages. As mentioned above however, things like chains, freewheels and rubber tires were unavailabe. Road quality would of course be an issue, but there were definitely some roads that were good enough for cycling (things like carriages and chariots also benefit from smooth roads). So although it was possible, it wouldn't have been as practical as it is today. - Lindert (talk) 16:44, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * For wire wheels you need suitable steel for the spokes and precision-tooling for the spoke nipples and spoke threading. I won't say its strictly impossible if you know what you are aiming for (after all, we did get there), but it is a big technological step. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:59, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Although early velocipedes had wooden wheels with very slender spokes, but when compared with the chunky wheels seen on medieval carriages, it seems likely that they would have been beyond the skills of the wheelwrights at that time (although perhaps they were over-engineered to cope with the poor road surfaces mentioned above). Alansplodge (talk) 18:56, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Would not such a vehicle have been slower, less comfortable, and more expensive than a horse? I would think that the answer to the OP's second question would be that, in view of the limited materials and technology and the poor roads then available, a bicycle would have provided no advantage in the middle ages.  John M Baker (talk) 20:51, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Even today, a horse and carriage works better if you have company. Or just a horse, if you can't afford a carriage. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:12, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Incidentally, the first (authentic) depiction of a bicycle dates from 1672, in St Giles' church in Stoke Poges. See this forum thread.  There is a drawing of one, purportedly by Gian Giacomo Caprotti and dating from 1493, but it's believed to be a nineteenth-century fake.  See History of the bicycle.  Tevildo (talk) 21:27, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

Iraqi military medal?
Can someone identify this medal (unfortunately photographed upside down)? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 16:38, 19 April 2015 (UTC)


 * It seems to be the one on the far left of the bottom row on this chart. All you need now is somebody who can read Arabic script! Alansplodge (talk) 19:03, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Another website says "Supreme Worthiness Medal, 1992-1993". Apparently worth $24.95 if you want one. Alansplodge (talk) 19:11, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:37, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde and the Germans in 1914
On a visit to Luxembourg City many years ago, I'm certain that I read a plaque or monument on the Adolphe Bridge saying that the Grand Duchess (presumably Marie-Adélaïde) had blocked the path of the German invaders there in 1914 by sitting in a chair in the middle of the road, and that the German soldiers had been forced to pick her up, chair and all, and carry her to the side of the road so that they could enter the city. Our German occupation of Luxembourg during World War I mentions the meeting on the bridge, but not the splendidly defiant episode with the chair in the road. I thought it would be easy to find another account of this story, but I have drawn a blank. Either a) I'm not looking in the right place or b) it's a national myth or c) I've somehow imagined the whole thing. Can anybody help please? Alansplodge (talk) 19:25, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * It may well be a national myth, since it doesn't seem Marie-Adélaïde offered much resistance at all to the Germans. In Inventing Luxembourg: Representations of the Past, Space and Language from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century, the authors write (p. 90) "...Marie-Adelaide was accused of having shown too much sympathy for the German occupiers. These allegations arose largely because she did not condemn the military occupation and even seemed to endorse it when she publicly welcomed the Kaiser to Luxembourg".   The footnote there, regarding collaboration and opposition in Luxembourg in WWI, cites Gilbert Trausch 'La stratégie du faille. Le Luxembourg pendant la Première Guerre mondiale'.  - Nunh-huh 19:56, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * On a royalty blog, it's claimed that a Stars and Stripes story of November 29, 1918 said that "Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide of Luxembourg acted decisively when the Germans invaded her country. On the morning of Sunday, August 2, 1914, the Grand Duchess maneuvered her motor car across the road in Luxembourg City, trying to block the invading German motorcade that streamed across the Adolfe Bridge into her neutral country." So the story in some form may have gotten its start, or spread, from appearing in Stars and Stripes four years after it was said to have occurred. - Nunh-huh 20:04, 19 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Many thanks for your efforts; what a shame, it was a good story. Alansplodge (talk) 10:19, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I find no reference to this event in the Stars and Stripes issue of November 29, 1918, page 1, page 2, however, Kathy Warnes explicitely references the Stars and Stripes issue of November 29, 1918. --Stuhlsasse (talk) 14:54, 20 April 2015 (UTC)
 * That's very interesting. At least there's a story on the U.S. troops entering Luxembourg there. Perhaps there was another edition that included this story, or the date is wrong. Perhaps this is an old erroneous reference that's simply been repeated. I looked for an archive that contains old Stars and Stripes but couldn't find one. Could you share where you found these, Stuhlsasse? - Nunh-huh 03:27, 21 April 2015 (UTC)
 * In the wikipedia article on Stars and Stripes linked in your edit above. --Stuhlsasse (talk) 09:02, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

UK general election
Who will win the UK general Election 2015? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.8.166.246 (talk) 21:45, 19 April 2015 (UTC)