Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2016 August 29

= August 29 =

Developed country definitions
Are terms such as developed country and developing country subjective terms? No one seems to have a strict classification for them and there are many countries in the world which seem to fall somewhere in between based on loose definitions and membership of groups of nations. On the other hand there are other countries where no one would dispute that it is a developed or developing nation. 46.233.112.52 (talk) 11:11, 29 August 2016 (UTC)


 * See Developed country. Basically, there are plenty of statistics used to classify just how developed a country is, but they are used to produce comparative lists showing countries in order from the highest levels of development to the lowest. There is no formal dividing line between developed and developing. Wymspen (talk) 11:52, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

Christian Amita Society (?)
The article on Esther Jungreis states: "Jungreis was named "Woman of the Year" by Hadassah, Jewish War Veterans, B'nai B'rith, Federation of Jewish Women's Organizations, the Knights of Pythias, and the Christian Amita Society." (my emphasis). The referenced text said the exact same thing ("Reb. Esther Jungreis" on The Harry Walker Agency's webpage, link to web.archive.org).

Who are the Christian Amita Society? I'm having trouble locating them. Thank you in advance! ---Sluzzelin talk  21:54, 29 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I suspect it's just the Amita Society, whatever that might be. The Christian prefix would be to point out that it's not a Jewish society like most of the others are. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:21, 29 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Bugs, I did take that into account, but still found very little reference that fits. For example, I considered the Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), but are they Christian? Haven't found any connection of that Association to Jungreis yet either. ---Sluzzelin talk  22:37, 29 August 2016 (UTC)
 * There is an Amita Buddhist Society in Boston (although their website is in Chinese), and Aleister Crowley wrote a book called "Amrita: Essays in Magical Rejuvenation", but I'm not getting any relevant hits, either. I think we may have a case of citogenesis here - note that the Wikipedia article is older than the Harry Walker article. Tevildo (talk) 09:10, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Amita is "truth" in English. Based on that and nothing else, I'll throw Protestant Truth Society and Catholic Truth Society out there. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:47, 29 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I'll also mention the amanita-based Ambrosia Society, because mushrooms are funny. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:07, 29 August 2016 (UTC)


 * There are several AMITY societies - which would make more sense for the name of a christian organisation involved in inter-faith dialogue. Wymspen (talk) 11:11, 30 August 2016 (UTC)


 * For those like me who assumed Amita is a Latin word, and who wondered whether it really means "truth" (since that seems to be covered by "veritas"), I now discover Amita is the Hebrew word meaning truth. But Amita is also a Latin word, meaning father's sister.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:25, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Cognate with aunt. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:12, 31 August 2016 (UTC)
 * But Hulk says it is an English word, and Hulk is an inedible man. —Tamfang (talk) 03:30, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, everyone! ---Sluzzelin talk  00:14, 3 September 2016 (UTC)

Time moving more quickly as one gets older
Why does time seem to move more quickly as one gets older? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Uncle dan is home (talk • contribs) 23:58, 29 August 2016 (UTC)


 * See Time perception. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  00:00, 30 August 2016 (UTC)


 * That pretty much covers it. One thing I have noticed (which is basically OR, obviously) is that an adult can sit quietly in a doctor's waiting room for 90 minutes and with no book to read but "live inside one's head" making plans, observing the environment and so forth with a whole head full of concepts and memories to draw on, while a child lacks those acquired resources and skills, and hence becomes easily bored to the point of vexation. μηδείς (talk) 23:03, 30 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I'd take a month's worth of songs, books, TV, toys, video games and movies for daydream fuel over fifty years of real life any day. Downtime was the only time I could find out what would happen if Christopher Robin met Kobra Khan, or see a moose fly a jet. The problem with kids these days is their entertainment is always already there, scrambled together into short clips and jump cuts, and there's so much of it that there's no time to get enthralled by any of it. Garbage in, garbage out. Chronological order, pacing and anticipation don't exist. They're free to ruin their appetite on compilations of highspots instead of beginnings, middles and ends, and when that goes, so does the constructive-episodic-simulation and here comes the fidgeting, till they wind up in a waiting room, stealing old people's time and interrupting our naps. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:53, 31 August 2016 (UTC)


 * The way I've always heard it is, "Once you're over the hill, you pick up speed." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:26, 31 August 2016 (UTC)