Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 May 21

= May 21 =

Photo info
An image we currently use has a contradiction. While the title says "delivers medical supplies to Ghana", the file info says that the delivery took place "in Niamey, Niger". This comes from the source itself ("Air Forces Africa delivers medical supplies to Ghana", "to be delivered to the Government of Ghana", yet they unload "in Niamey, Niger"). Which one it is actually? Brandmeistertalk  07:41, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, it could be both. Perhaps Niamey (which is in the part of Niger closest to Ghana) was the nearest suitable airport, and the shipment was then transported by road (most directly through Burkina Fasso) to (northern?) Nigeria where it was needed. Various possible circumstances could be envisioned (airport capacities, locations and closures, differing road qualities, general topography, areas of insurgency, etc.) which might make this a plausible procedure. Since the source (which is presumably reliable) says what it says, I don't think we can disregard it. It would be nice, of course, to obtain further details surrounding the circumstances of the shipment.
 * As an aside, I note that the source additionally says "to be delivered to the Government of Ghana in support [of, sic] a global response the COVID-19 pandemic." This doesn't necessarily mean the supplies were specific to COVID-19 treatment, but health services in Africa are generally under chronic strain, which the pandemic has exacerbated, so medical supplies of any nature would ease the general situation. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 2.221.82.183 (talk) 08:39, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * The story of which the image is one snapshot is described here in detail. While not explicit about the mode of transportation from Niamey to Accra, the text suggests (to me) that this was by C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. The runway of Kotoka International Airport is more than long enough (3,403 m) for landing a C-17 Globemaster (1,067 m with maximum payload), but perhaps the weight was a problem. --Lambiam 10:55, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't see the problem. Wherever the plane landed, the supplies ended up with representatives of Ghana. The use of the country name here is in the governmental sense, not the physical location sense. --Khajidha (talk) 17:02, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

"He was the future once"
Why did David Cameron say the quote "He was the future once" (referring to at-the-time British Prime Minister Tony Blair? Does this quote have any special meaning or refer to anything?

Thanks for your help, Heyoostorm (talk) 14:11, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * , I think this is when the quote was first said. Full quote: ‘I want to talk about the future. He was the future once’. Eddie891 Talk Work 14:34, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for finding me the full quote, Eddie891 (talk). Is it known why he decided to say it to Tony Blair? Was there a deeper meaning? Heyoostorm (talk) 15:50, 21 May 2020 (UTC)


 * At the time of this debate, in the 2005 general election, Labour was re-elected but with a significantly reduced majority and there was much speculation about Blair's resignation as he had already said that he wouldn't serve a full term. See Premiership of Tony Blair. Perhaps Cameron was playing on Blair's reputation as a reformer who had little regard for tradition. Alansplodge (talk) 19:50, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Isn't it just saying that at one time Blair was thought of as someone who would lead the country forward into better times, but that at the time of writing people had become less supportive of him. --Khajidha (talk) 21:08, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Once someone who was going to achieve great things, now a lame duck. See What now for Blair? (BBC, May 2015) Alansplodge (talk) 10:07, 22 May 2020 (UTC)

Fabian Ware img
Can anyone identify the page number of an image in this book that clearly shows Fabian Ware? He should be in several of them as he accompanied the king on this pilgrimage. Eddie891 Talk Work 14:40, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * The Hathi Trust link is not viewable outside the USA. This Gutenberg link should be accessible. DuncanHill (talk) 14:52, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Using that link, the picture captioned "Forceville" looks like the clearest. But isn't that original research? Won't Wikipedia require a caption or text indication for a properly sourced identification? Eddie891, you might reach out to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to ask if they can confirm, since they have many images from this set on their website. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 18:15, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Late ancient Pagan/Hellenistic writer (poet) in, I think, Alexandra?
One who lamented the introduction of Christianity in then late ancient Egypt, talking about how the old traditions started to be disrespected or disappear as Christianity was introduced/imposed. Just can't remember the name of this writer/poet? Perhpas wrote criticism related to the burning of the library or the Platonic academy there. Help would be appreciated. Thanks. PPEMES (talk) 17:58, 21 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Christianity in Egypt says: "With the Edict of Milan in 313, Constantine I ended the persecution of Christians. Over the course of the 4th century, paganism was suppressed and lost its following, as the poet Palladius bitterly noted". The wikilink for Palladius goes to Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus Palladius who apparently only wrote about agriculture, so maybe it was another Palladius? Alansplodge (talk) 19:21, 21 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Not Palladius, but Palladas. DuncanHill (talk) 19:37, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I have been looking into Palladas, but not sure. Does anybody know any quote by him, possibly in his poetry, where he laments how the old mores are becoming deprecated? PPEMES (talk) 19:40, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * From the external links on the Greek Anthology page, you can browse through all Palladas’s epigrams (the anthology has five volumes and his are not conveniently grouped together, so you’ll have to look at them all). Here’s one that is along the lines of old mores changing (from vol 3):
 * On a Statue of Heracles: I marvelled seeing at the cross-roads Jove's brazen son, once constantly invoked, now cast aside, and in wrath I said : " Averter of woes, offspring of three nights, thou, who never didst suffer defeat, art to-day laid low." But at night the god stood by my bed smiling, and said : " Even though I am a god I have learnt to serve the times."  70.67.193.176 (talk) 16:05, 22 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Sorry. That's also not what I am looking for. It was more distinct than that, and more poetic. I guess I should give up. Anyway. Thank you. PPEMES (talk) 11:54, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

What was the population, area and GDP of the European Communities in 1986, with exception to Spain and Portugal?
So uh, this is a specific question... but nonetheless. I've been slowly turning 1986 enlargement of the European Communities from a stub into, well, a proper encyclopedia article and I'm trying at the moment to verify data that an IP user put into the "Impacts" table there. That includes a load of figures for the population, area and GDP of the European Communities immediately prior to the accessions, but I can't verify those anywhere. Eurostat does publish a relevant dataset for population, and whilst it doesn't add them up for only the EC10, I could do that myself easily - but it doesn't show area or GDP, and I'm thinking the numbers currently in the table must have come from somewhere. Any advice would be gratefully received! Naypta ☺ &#124; ✉ talk page &#124; 22:16, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't know for sure, but this might be included in the CIA Factbook for the relevant year. Someone at WP:RX might be able to look it up for you.  RudolfRed (talk) 23:58, 21 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Good shout, thanks! I'd not thought of that. I just took a look in the 1985 book, though, and there's no Community-wide figures like that unfortunately though; I suppose it might be manually added figures again, but I'm not sure at what point that passes from WP:CALC to WP:OR when you're adding the entire Community's figures together like that. Naypta ☺ &#124; ✉ talk page &#124; 10:01, 22 May 2020 (UTC)
 * That seems like just the sort of thing WP:CALC can enable, avoiding over-caution about OR. Your source gives figures for each of the countries and a suitable encyclopedic presentation of the topic at hand involves a table that summarises those figures by giving their total. Sounds like something we would benefit from, and certainly an improvement on the unsourced stats there at the moment. Beorhtwulf (talk) 11:46, 22 May 2020 (UTC)