Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2017 June 12

= June 12 =

US President's letter to Chris Young
Can anyone help me find the letter this source (below) is talking about relating to the Tui Manu'a title in American Samoa? Presumably it would have been Calvin Coolidge? --KAVEBEAR (talk) 02:11, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Lord Buckethead has stood in UK elections (at least) 3 times...
Is it the same person being Lord Buckethead each time? -- SGBailey (talk) 08:28, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * It's a bit hard to tell because of the eponymous bucket, but most news reports I can see treat his various appearances as being the same person, like this for example. Alansplodge (talk) 11:26, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * That source suggests he refused to say whether he was the same as the one who stood before and said "it's complicated" when asked if the title is hereditary so it seems to me there is some doubt over this. Nil Einne (talk) 13:20, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Darn! I knew I ought to read my own links first. I'll get my coat... Alansplodge (talk) 14:51, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Name of the thing the horse chases?
In horse racing, what is the name of the duck thingy that runs around, that the horses chase after, and is there any truth in the story that, if the horse catches it, it will never race again? IBE (talk) 10:09, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * I'm not aware of anything like that in horse racing. You might be thinking of dog racing, where they use a lure. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:23, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Greyhounds chase a mechanical lure - in the UK it was originally a model of a hare - because as they have no rider they need something to encourage them to keep going in the right direction. Horses have jockeys, so any sort of lure would be counter-productive, as it might encourage the horse to disobey the jockey. If you have spotted anything running round the side of the course in front of the horses, it was probably a film camera Wymspen (talk) 10:48, 12 June 2017 (UTC).


 * Hmmm, camera sounds more like it ;) *sheepish grin*, still curious about the story that if the dog/etc chases the lure, although I guess it can't be true? It would be no different to catching a bird, in which case a hunting dog could only ever catch one thing ?? IBE (talk) 11:00, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * While there isn't an exact answer to your question there is a ton of interesting (to me anyway) info and pics here MarnetteD&#124;Talk 11:07, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * I can imagine that a dog catching the hare would mean the end of the race - though I can't see why the dog could never race again, unless it would then realise the hare was a fake, and not bother to try and catch it again. By the way, hunting dogs don't generally catch birds - they recover the dead birds when they have been shop by the hunter (which is why those breeds are called retrievers). Wymspen (talk) 13:23, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * In the UK, the lure is always called "the hare". Hare coursing, where greyhounds or lurchers actually chase wild hares, is a sport in the UK despite being made illegal in 2004. This video (from the US I think) shows what happened when a wild rabbit got onto a greyhound track during a race. Alansplodge (talk) 11:37, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Mind you, make sure your speakers are turned off first :p &mdash;  O Fortuna   semper crescis, aut decrescis  13:26, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * It's actually not that hard to train a racing dog to chase the lure. It's pretty much just a somewhat more sophisticated variant of a regular dog owner having their dog chase a ball or stick or frisbee that the owner throws to entertain and exercise their dog - just go to your local off-leash park, you can usually see plenty of dogs "playing fetch", often without any deliberate training on the part of the owner. Using "live bait" (a rabbit, hare, piglet, whatever) is unnecessary, but some racing dog owners believe that it gives the dog added incentive to run faster, which may be true. Eliyohub (talk) 13:45, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * In Britain, the boxes are called "traps".  The announcer will say "parading ... going in the traps ... hare's running ... off" (when the traps open).   Occasionally, when there is a malfunction, he will say "The hare has stopped".   The greyhounds no doubt then catch up with it, but after a delay (while the hare is fixed) the dogs are sometimes put back in the traps and the race is run again. 79.73.131.8 (talk) 08:50, 13 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Not really an answer to the question, but I was on course once during a race when the rabbit failed. The dogs caught up with it and tore it to bits. The race was called off, as I recall.59.167.253.199 (talk) 14:27, 14 June 2017 (UTC)
 * When I go to my local off - leash park or garden I don't see owners throw the ball any more when out with their dog.  They fit it into a cup at the end of a stick which they raise and move sharply and the ball shoots out and travels a long way.   Is there a name for this device? 79.73.131.8 (talk) 09:01, 13 June 2017 (UTC)


 * It's mentioned briefly in the Spear-thrower article... AnonMoos (talk) 09:07, 13 June 2017 (UTC)


 * They just seem to be called Dog Ball Throwers, or Launchers for some more high-tech versions: see e.g. here and here. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 09:09, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Democratic Party presidential candidates in 2020
From our article United States presidential election, 2020 I can see a number of figures who are lining up, or being lined up, or resisting being lined up as candidates. Apart from Senator Sanders himself, which of these have political stances similar to Sanders? And are any of those considered genuine hopefuls? Can you suggest anywhere these discussions are being held, where I could read more about it? Itsmejudith (talk) 10:58, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't know how reliable an indicator this is or isn't, but as a punter, I'm taking a look at Betfair's "Democratic nominee" and "next President" betting markets for the 2020 US presidential elections. There isn't a lot of activity on the markets yet, but from the small amount of betting so far, Elizabeth Warren appears to be a frontrunner of sorts. Albeit that she is being given no more than a 20% chance of getting the nod. The only other candidates on the market to have attracted any notable betting so far are Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, and, as you already mentioned, Bernie Sanders. We have articles on all the above-mentioned individuals, which may give you some indication of their stances on various issues. As I haven't read them, I can't say which of the other potential candidates of note would be "closest to Sanders". There's a lot of water still to pass under the bridge between now and the 2019(?) Democratic national convention, and the final candidate may well be "none of the above". Eliyohub (talk) 13:56, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Warren is most similar, no question. And though the campaign is almost 2 years long by now the DNC and RNC is never the year before. They are always in August or September of the same year and scheduled to avoid the Olympics and each other. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:03, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks both. I suppose I will keep looking at the betting odds. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:28, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * As for who might have the best chances, the last election showed there is a huge demand for an "outsider", with one (Trump) winning the Republican primary and another (Sanders) coming close to winning the Democratic primary. However, even Trump supporters are starting to see that they took a huge chance by electing somebody with zero government experience, and it looks very much like Trump is incompetent to perform the duties of the Presidency (such as his inability to get his "Muslim travel ban" through the courts, by calling it just that, in his tweets, undermining his legal staff's attempts to portray it in another light).  So, the next time around you may find voters still looking for somebody with "outsider cred", but who has shown the ability to govern.  Sanders fits that mold nicely, although his age (79 at the next election) may be a concern, and others who fit that mold may be able to challenge him.  StuRat (talk) 14:46, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Sinn Féin
Per the article, it states: "It is one of the few major political parties in the world to operate in two states simultaneously". What other parties do this? Thanks.  Lugnuts  Fire Walk with Me 11:37, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Another is the Muslim Brotherhood. Dragons flight (talk) 11:43, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * The Ba'ath Party used to be present simultaneously in Iraq and Syria. --Xuxl (talk) 12:40, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * See Transnational political party. There are several groupings of parties within the European Parliament, listed in that article.  Rojomoke (talk) 13:28, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks all, esp. that last link.  Lugnuts  Fire Walk with Me 13:31, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * The Basque Nationalist Party, and at one time Batasuna, though it is now banned in Spain. Possibly other Basque parties as well. Not mentioned in the Transnational political party article. Wymspen (talk) 13:35, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Is there any "International Federation" of any sort of the various "Labour parties" around the world, or at least some of them? Not sure if it exists, or is of relevance to the OP, but it may be of note? Eliyohub (talk) 14:29, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * The Labour Party (UK) is an "observer member" of Socialist International and is a member of the Party of European Socialists.   Being socialists, naturally there are "splitters", see Progressive Alliance.  Alansplodge (talk) 14:46, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * The article List of Labour parties says "Many labour parties are members of the Socialist International and/or participants of the Progressive Alliance." AnonMoos (talk) 14:50, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * The article for internationals of political parties in general is at political international. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 18:14, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for that link, PalaceGuard008 -- I was trying to find something like that, and instead turned up a lot of obscure Trotskyist stuff... AnonMoos (talk) 09:13, 13 June 2017 (UTC)


 * There are alliances of parties in the European Parliament, which is a kind of trans-national operation. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:30, 12 June 2017 (UTC)
 * The relevant article is at European political party. The rules require Europarties to be composed of existing national parties though, so they are a curious hybrid who operate as political parties or at least coalitions on the EU plane and as individual national parties on the national plane. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 18:16, 12 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Also some of the smaller parties operating in Republic of Ireland / Northern Ireland: Green Party (Ireland) and People Before Profit Alliance.--Fuaran buidhe (talk) 12:01, 15 June 2017 (UTC)