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

= May 12 =

Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
Hi i have to write an essay on a German and non German speaking part of the Greater German Reich. For the former Ive selected Austria and for the latter considering the protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Am I correct in assuming that although German was the official language, Czech remained the dominant spoken language? thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.31.99.241 (talk) 02:19, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * The article Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia makes it clear that the vast majority of the population was Czech - and it also discusses the Nazis' Germanization plans. Wymspen (talk) 09:56, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Some information at The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe by T. Kamusella (p. 489). This says that different languages were spoken in Bohemia (Bohemian or Czech language) and Moravia (Moravian language). In the inter-war period, it was politically expedient to consider them dialects of a common Czechoslovak language which was constructed to create a bridge between the two. Alansplodge (talk) 10:33, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Learning a programming language just got the libraries?
Is our worth to learn a programming language just to get access to the libraries? Do professional programmers do it? For example, perl is getting out of fashion, but it has a tone of libraries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.4.137.125 (talk) 14:09, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * You want Reference desk/Computing. Ian.thomson (talk) 14:45, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

What was the longest distance war between principals in history?
By miles separating a pair of belligerents. With actual fighting in the other's noncolonial territory but doesn't have to be a big battle. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 15:27, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * The Korean War had belligerents from Europe and America (including Colombia), so almost the opposite side of the planet. StuRat (talk) 15:37, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Bogota is 9153 miles from Pyongyang. That's pretty far. London is about 11682 miles from Wellington. If Spain ever fought the Maori that'd at least tie the record as their territories are antipodal. Unless you want to go to the level of detail of how far apart the capitals, biggest settlements or centers of population are. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:56, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * It is a bit difficult to define what counts as a colonial war - but the 19th century New Zealand Wars involved British troops fighting in New Zealand against the native Maori population. The British may have considered they were defending their colony, but the Maori probably felt that their country was being invaded by foreigners. Britain and New Zealand are about as far apart as it is possible to get. Wymspen (talk) 15:41, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * It's a bit difficult to entirely exclude colonial possessions from any 19th or 20th century war since all the western powers had them, but if you discount the New Zealand Wars above, then the British Pacific Fleet's participation in the Pacific War was certainly a long way from home. Also the New Zealand Division's participation in the Western Front (World War I) from 1916 (NZ was a Dominion rather than a colony since 1907). Alansplodge (talk) 17:46, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * I just didn't want the answer to be something like "Britain vs the near antipodal Colony of Minor Isle" when the principal of the Colony of Minor Isle is a much closer European country. Britain vs the Maori would be fine. Half the Earth was "owned" by Spain post-1490s after all but many tribes there had no European contact for centuries after. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:24, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * The Falklands War was pretty stretched out too. Didn't it take the British fleet two weeks just to get to the theatre of operations? --Xuxl (talk) 17:31, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * The Falkland Islands was a Crown Colony at that time, so outside the scope of the question I believe. Since 2002, the remaining British colonies have been called British Overseas Territories, but effectively the same thing. Alansplodge (talk) 17:55, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * South Africa versus Japan in WW2. A few South African warships served in various locations in the Indian Ocean such as Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Singapore, Malacca Straits, Malaysian peninsula. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 20:07, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, it seems to be about 6,000 miles from Cape Town to Singapore but about 10,000 from the UK to Singapore, the route travelled in 1941 by Force Z.  Alansplodge (talk) 22:16, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * AIUI the question is about the distance between the respective capitals, not the battlefield, so Pretoria - Tokyo is 13,491 km (great circle distance) according to Google while London - Tokyo is only 9,533 km. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 09:41, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Okay, that's true, but ships can't always go by the shortest route. Alansplodge (talk) 17:03, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

For fun, you could also consider certain distances longer before the Suez and Panama Canals opened. --Golbez (talk) 00:52, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Note that until mid-1943, the Suez Canal was not a viable route from the UK to the Far East as the Mediterranean was dominated by the Axis. Convoys had to go the long way round via Freetown and the Cape of Good Hope. Alansplodge (talk) 08:13, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Pannekoek
How did Dutch astronomer and Marxist theorist Antonie Pannekoek get this surname? Was it at some point a pen name he later adopted? -- Deborahjay (talk) 15:49, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * He got it from his father, Johannes Pannekoek (Dutch source). - Lindert (talk) 16:03, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * An interesting family name; I'm pretty sure the direct English translation is pancake. -- Jayron 32 16:22, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * It is. It's pronounced Bouquet, though... Kleuske (talk) 17:49, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * :-) See Pannekoek. Alansplodge (talk) 17:59, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * And see Pancake (surname) for an English eqivalent. Deor (talk) 22:03, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Curious how all the notable Pancakes are American. Perhaps their ancestors boarded the Mayflower to escape persecution because of their amusing surname? Alansplodge (talk) 22:20, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Has there even been a jurisdiction that criminalized paying the kidnapping ransom?
Has there even been a jurisdiction that criminalized paying the kidnapping ransom?

It's not a popular move, and can be seen as victimizing the victims, but economically speaking it would be quite effective at curbing kidnapping. ECS LIVA Z (talk) 17:32, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * No source here, just my vague memory. I think that sometime during the era of Middle Eastern kidnappings of Americans, it was against the law to pay ransom on that. I vaguely recall that at least one family was threatened with prosecution if they went ahead and did it. Anyone else recall this? Loraof (talk) 18:07, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * suggests that in the US paying ransoms to terrorists orterrorist groups is considered by the federal government a violation of the law forbidding Providing material support for terrorism. It's not clear however if this has ever been tested in court nor does our article doesn't mention any examples. Nil Einne (talk) 07:38, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Kayla Mueller's parents were rather pissed, for example. James Foley's mom (probably who Loraof recalls) complained to Congress. InedibleHulk (talk) 22:27, 14 May 2017 (UTC)
 * It could also help kidnappers get away with it if people choose to pay and never report the kidnapping. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:09, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * So far I found Italy. Any other examples? ECS LIVA Z (talk) 18:15, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Colombia, according to this book, but the law can be waived by the state attorney. SpinningSpark 10:20, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
 * This dates from 1974, so is probably out of date: a congressional hearing on terrorism stated that the only countries making payment illegal were Malaysia and Singapore, with Israel also taking a hard line. SpinningSpark 10:28, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

State legislature
What is the effect (pros and cons) of a state legislature being full time, like Michigan?

Of course, not trying to start a debate, just looking for sources. Benjamin (talk) 20:56, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Here is an article going over the pros and cons by Karl Kurtz, who seems to be pretty good authority on the subject. -Elmer Clark (talk) 08:27, 15 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Thank you for that. What would be the appropriate Wikipedia article? Elmer Clark Benjamin (talk) 00:16, 16 May 2017 (UTC)


 * kind-of the complement of what you want is "citizen legislature" (unfortunately a STUB article with an arguably POV name). I say "kind-of" because a full-time legislature need not be composed of full-time legislators, and vice versa. Salaries of Members of the United Kingdom Parliament says members of the House of Commons were unpaid until 1911. Members of the House of Lords are still mostly part-timers, though the chamber itself is full-time. jnestorius(talk) 21:37, 16 May 2017 (UTC)

What took over the BBC's AM radio slots and when?
In looking into something I found this, http://tx.mb21.co.uk/info/bbc-am/bbc-am.shtml. which gives the frequncies AM (i.e LW and MW) radio in the UK used in the mid 1960's. The article doesn't indicate what took over the bands concerned,  so is there are an article which would help me determine what is now on AM radio in those bands? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 23:03, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * I still listen to the BBC transmitting on long wave on the same frequency (almost) as it has done since 1934. I recall having to adjust the dial a fraction in 1988 when they shifted the wavelength a tiny bit.  The old North Home Service frequency on medium wave eventually became Radio 5 Live.  See Droitwich Transmitting Station.  This site shows agreed usage of frequency ranges, and this document might help with other BBC frequencies. We have an article on  medium wave transmitters.   D b f i r s   23:19, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * In doing some google searching I found this -

http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/Radio_1966.pdf which I can cross-reference against other sources on Wikipedia. Will mention it here in case it's of use to other people:) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 09:15, 13 May 2017 (UTC)


 * This is completely from memory, mind. The old Radio 1 frequencies were given to Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio), while the 909/693 ones are still Radio 5Live. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:25, 13 May 2017 (UTC)

Higher education in non-European settings
While the modern concept of university stems from medieval Europe, The Story of Maths (2008 documentary) mentions that there was higher education in Islamic areas, which contributed to the rise of algebra and algebraic numerals and the sciences. How is the Islamic school different from the "medieval university"? What about the Greek academy? Greeks are part of Eastern Europe, not Western Europe. What makes the medieval university a "university"? What about ancient Chinese academies? 50.4.236.254 (talk) 23:04, 12 May 2017 (UTC)


 * See Ancient higher-learning institutions and Medieval university for a start. Alansplodge (talk) 00:01, 13 May 2017 (UTC)


 * Most of the "Islamic universities" started out as schools of religion with a little teaching of other subjects on the side (see al-Azhar in Cairo, University of Al Karaouine, etc.) but the Abbasid House of Wisdom was rather different. I think merchants played an important role in importing Hindu-Arabic numerals into Latin (western) Europe (see Liber Abaci)... AnonMoos (talk) 00:09, 13 May 2017 (UTC)


 * See History of education in China. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:46, 14 May 2017 (UTC)