Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 July 31

= July 31 =

innovation to improve road safety
I saw this on Inside Edition. A young girl named Alaina Gassler invented something for her school science fair. It was to help eliminate any vehicle blind spot. The project was mainly called Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots. Is that the invention's real name? (Anyway, she won a $25,000 prize.)2603:7000:8101:58A0:C009:5B76:FE3D:CAA1 (talk) 02:34, 31 July 2021 (UTC)


 * I think it was the title of the project rather than the intended name of the invention - at least it does exactly what it says on the tin. However, This article says that a number of motor manufacturers are already experimenting with similar systems and Hyundai and Kia have already applied for patents, so it may not get beyond a science project. Good effort for a 14 year-old though. Alansplodge (talk) 17:59, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Honda, at least, already has a blind-spot camera system. And even without that, the passenger side mirror has been around for a long time. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:35, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * And for many years, larger heavy goods vehicles have had extensive systems of mirrors that allow the driver to see all around the immediate vicinity of the vehicle. Rhythdybiau (talk) 21:44, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Terrorist organisations claiming responsibility
After reading the article about the Otherside Lounge bombing, I got to thinking. Why do terrorist groups often claim responsibility for attacks they didn't do? Is it to get free publicity, which helps them in propagating their cause? J I P &#124; Talk 15:24, 31 July 2021 (UTC)


 * This seems to be a question relating to the opinion of respondents. As a regular you should know that this is not permissible.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 15:56, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * How is this a question about opinions? I see this as a factual question. Why do terrorist groups claim responsibility for attacks they didn't do? J I P  &#124; Talk 17:09, 31 July 2021 (UTC)


 * And because this is a reference desk, here and here are some. Wikipedia lacks an article on Oxygen of publicity if anyone feels like a challenge. Alansplodge (talk) 18:07, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Do either of those articles confirm the OP's assertion that "terrorist groups often claim responsibility for attacks they didn't do"? What's the definition of "often" here? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:33, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Hype? Sometimes difficult to avoid, sometimes in science communication  ? --Askedonty (talk) 21:56, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * My impression is that some groups tend to overclaim and others don't. Part of their strategies, I guess. --Error (talk) 23:44, 31 July 2021 (UTC)

Baby Boomer thinking?
Nowadays, are Baby Boomers considered to be representative of an old-fashioned, strait-laced generation, or generally noted as a generation of change? A Buzzfeed article, (aggregating(?) Reddit), posted, "What is the most outdated social construct by the older generation?"(Reddit question). This was followed by: "It led to people sharing examples of things boomers do, say, and think that are beyond outdated."(Buzzfeed statement) (My bold).

Asking a question about "the most outdated social construct by the older generation?" is not objectionable. But seeing "Buzzfeed" categorize all the replies received as referring to "boomers" is ludicrous. As stated in Baby boomers the (1946-1964) generation was the source of, or participated in a great deal of social change. Consider 1969 and Woodstock! The Counterculture of the 1960s was not instigated or participated in by little children, who were born between 1965 & 1969! As a 1959 Generation Jones?! baby boomer, my "older generation" ranged from 1899-1912 grandparents to 1920-1932 parents. My social views and expectations, by @1972, were far, far removed from those of my parents' and grandparents' generations.

I apologize if this question veers into forum territory, in an unacceptable manner. If so, I will withdraw...Thanks,  Tribe of Tiger Let's Purrfect!  22:27, 31 July 2021 (UTC)


 * You're right. People can be short-sighted about these things. Sometimes young people snipe at the boomers because they're an easy target, and maybe that's not fair. Some of that resentment is typical of any generational gap. Much of it is disappointment in the rampant bigotry against nonwhite people, LGBT people, and other groups. This is a big one. Some don't like that boomers won the lottery of the millennium and took it without gratitude, then called less fortunate generations "entitled." But the one that really gets them annoyed is the climate change thing. You ruined the planet. The planet that could have been in fine shape for your great-grandchildren and another good hundred thousand years. You could have chosen to not ruin the planet, but instead you decided to ruin the planet. This sin will not wash away. While you lie in air-conditioned hospice patting yourself on the back for a life well lived, your successors will not be having a good time. History will not forget the terror that you wrought. So if somebody calls you out of touch? Thank them for letting you off easy. Temerarius (talk) 01:23, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * , I don't think you consulted my source, which states that "Boomers" believe divorce and cohabitation are wrong, and that a man should ask a woman's father for permission to marry her, or that women shouldn't travel without their husbands. Or that mental health is "all in your head" or that "children and very young adults don't have real feelings". These statements are so bizarre, and antithetical to my thinking, that of most others my age, and even those who are 15 years older! These incorrect characterizations do not prove that Baby boomers are "out of touch". My LGBT/non-white relatives, friends and neighbors would be astonished to learn that I am a bigot.
 * You have accused me, with "you did this" personalized statements. I regret that by 1980, when I was twenty-one, I was personally unable to halt the continuing advance of the Industrial revolution or even go back in time, and stop the Manhattan Project. I'm sorry that "I" personally ruined the planet, despite the fact that the acceleration of climate change began in the mid-20th century, when the earliest "Boomers" were small children. I do thank you, for proving my suspicion that "others" are happy to make sweeping generalizations, as well as personalized indictments.  Tribe of Tiger Let's Purrfect!  01:48, 3 August 2021 (UTC)
 * You have accused me, with "you did this" personalized statements. I regret that by 1980, when I was twenty-one, I was personally unable to halt the continuing advance of the Industrial revolution or even go back in time, and stop the Manhattan Project. I'm sorry that "I" personally ruined the planet, despite the fact that the acceleration of climate change began in the mid-20th century, when the earliest "Boomers" were small children. I do thank you, for proving my suspicion that "others" are happy to make sweeping generalizations, as well as personalized indictments.  Tribe of Tiger Let's Purrfect!  01:48, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

I looked at the list, and it has hits and misses. In the English-speaking countries, asking a woman's father's permission to marry her was often semi-pro-forma even in the 19th century (a father had no legal power to block the marriage of a daughter who was 21 years or older, and if you look at Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, all the suitors only talk to the father AFTER the daughter has accepted the marriage proposal). It remained a something of an etiquette ritual through the 1950s (especially if the daughter was still living at home), but in most cases the father had no veto power. Similarly, the wife of John Smith being called "Mrs. John Smith" pretty much ended by the early 1970s... AnonMoos (talk) 02:35, 3 August 2021 (UTC)
 * , in the 60s, our new church presented my mom with a leather-bound Bible, (obviously a common practice, for new adult members) embossed with her name, as "Mrs. Jane Doe"! This was all kinds of wrong! Sure, her first name was Jane, and her married surname was Doe. But she wasn't the "wife of Jane Doe". She was appalled, and used a dull instrument  to scrape off the offensive and bizarre "Mrs". Thanks for reminding me of this, and giving me a laugh! But, in regards to Jane Austen, the first Married Women's Property Act 1870 came long after her death, and probably accounts for the origination of the "permission" situation, prior to 1870.  Tribe of Tiger  Let's Purrfect!  04:44, 3 August 2021 (UTC)
 * "Mrs Jane Smith" wasn't the most common convention before the late 1960s, but it was "all kinds of wrong" only among certain traditional-minded narrow social circles. I'm not sure who would insist on it today...  Married Women's Property acts only applied to women who were already married, and had nothing to do with permission to mary.  If a father had control over money that his daughters might be given upon their marriages, then naturally his approval would be needed for that purpose, as also if she was below the legal age of majority.  Otherwise, asking a woman's father's permission to marry her was often semi-pro-forma even in the 19th century... AnonMoos (talk) 07:09, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

If you're looking for factual, rigorous, or halfway objective discourse about anything, BuzzFeed is not the place to find it: this article demonstrates why not. Rhythdybiau (talk) 21:52, 3 August 2021 (UTC)

Confucius gesture
Watching Confucius (2010 film), the characters often do a respectful gesture, ( ://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/c53R0h6c4Rwb30tGbX2gNUpeJkw.jpg as demonstrated by) Chow Yun Fat, joining their hands before them, sometimes kneeling at the same time. Because of the long sleeves, I am not sure about the position of the hands, but it seems different of what list of gestures mentions as:
 * The Kung fu salute or baoquan li 武术抱拳礼 is a formal demonstration of respect between kung fu practitioners in which the right hand (formed into a fist) is covered by the open left palm.

Do we know more about this gesture? Is it associated with the Confucius age? Is it still current? Note that this gesture is different than the one displayed in bills of Japanese-controlled China (including the obscene ones). In The New Yorker I find:
 * One young guide with a ponytail spoke to a group of middle-aged Chinese women. She held her hands out before her. “This is the gesture for paying respects to Confucius,” she said. Her visitors did their best to copy her.

--Error (talk) 23:45, 31 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The "obscene gesture" doesn't look very "obscene". Maybe an Asian thing? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 00:55, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * list of gestures says about the obscene gesture:
 * PIV, also referred to as Sex, is often symbolized by making a circle with the index finger and thumb in one hand, and using the index finger of the other hand to "penetrate" by inserting it into the circle and pulling it back out in a repetitive motion mimicking a phallus entering a vagina. Variations exist to demonstrate phallus entering other sexual orifices.
 * That seems obscene especially for a respected sage.
 * --Error (talk) 02:15, 1 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, shucky darn. Who says Wikipedia is not educational? :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:58, 1 August 2021 (UTC)