Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 October 29

= October 29 =

Home schooling
A question arose for me today, that I had really never given any thought to before. It is about home-schooling ... in the USA, in particular. Let's say that a child goes through home-schooling for all twelve or thirteen years (grades K-12). In other words, he never stepped foot into any school at all, public or private. At some point, does he ever get any type of a diploma, or a high school diploma, etc.? I can't imagine that home-schooling parents have the "authority" to issue a diploma. I also can't imagine that the particular state agencies watch over their home-schooling parents and students like a hawk to somehow "approve" of some "official" version of a high school diploma being issued. How does this work? Or, with home-schooling, are their simply no diplomas at all, ever? Just curious. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:07, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * It probably varies from state to state in the U.S. Presumably they can always get a GED... AnonMoos (talk) 06:23, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * See Homeschooling for one possible solution. --Viennese Waltz 07:04, 29 October 2021 (UTC)


 * Sometimes it's a whole lot quicker to Google than to ask questions here. Typing "homeschooling usa diploma" resulted in (0.72 seconds):
 * How to Obtain a Homeschool Diploma
 * Homeschool Diploma Requirements for High School Graduation
 * Diploma FAQ's - HSLDA
 * And several others. Alansplodge (talk) 11:32, 29 October 2021 (UTC)


 * It also varies from state-to-state, so check this page out for state-by-state breakdown of homeschool requirements. Officially issued high school transcripts are usually used for college admissions, so since homeschoolers don't have those, they often have to jump through some extra hoops to get into post-secondary institutions (mainly to verify the quality of the program they used during home schooling) but otherwise, colleges and universities will accept homeschooled students.  See here for more information.  -- Jayron 32 12:26, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

Estimated casualties of dam collapse
I'd like to find scientific estimates of casualties in case of collapse of large dams, such as the Three Gorges Dam or the Aswan Dam in particular. Do you have any idea where I could find them? Thank you --195.62.160.60 (talk) 15:57, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Does This help? -- Jayron 32 18:07, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * It is an interesting study but limited to past cases, unfortunately. --79.26.36.130 (talk) 06:53, 30 October 2021 (UTC)

Sodom's sin and Ezekiel
Sodom_and_Gomorrah says the homosexuality assumption is based on the exegesis of the biblical text. However, Ezekiel 16:49 says specifically "this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease". Why was this explanation discarded and homosexuality has been assumed instead (especially since per Book_of_Ezekiel, "most scholars today accept the basic authenticity of the book")? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 20:54, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * As a side question: when was the last time anyone was prosecuted for “gomorrahy” … No one talks about those evil Gomorrahites these days! It’s all Sodomy this and Sodomites that. Obvious media bias Blueboar (talk) 21:20, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * George Carlin made a similar observation. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:13, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Crap… that’s like saying “Simpsons did it”. And I thought I was being original. Blueboar (talk) 22:39, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, even Wiktionary has it: wikt:Gomorrahy. --Amble (talk) 22:43, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Go forth and sin no morrah. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:21, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * You're not going to find an entry in someone's journal saying "today, we have decided to start misinterpreting this passage." All you can do is look through what writings are available and see when, and among which groups, the common theological interpretation was displaced by a new conventional wisdom. (If you find info, clue me in, I'm interested in this topic.) Society was probably less concerned with gay stuff at a certain point, then anti-gay sentiment rose, and biblical interpretation changed with it--with society's prejudices and certain Bible verses forming a feedback loop of sorts after this. Temerarius (talk) 00:39, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * At the risk of stating the obvious, the connection is most likely to refer to Genesis 19, am episode where two men described as angels arrive in Sodom, who are rescued by Lot from a mob who surround Lot's house demanding "bring them out unto us, that we may know them", according to the King James Bible, or "have sex with them" according to the New International Version. Unless this is a terrible mistranslation of the Hebrew text, it leaves little room for debate.
 * I found Day in Mamre, Night in Sodom: Abraham and Lot in Genesis 18 and 19 by Robert Ignatius Letellier, which has lengthy preview on Google Books. Alansplodge (talk) 07:49, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * The verb used, יָדַע (yadá), can mean "to know", but is commonly used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for having sexual intercourse, as in English in the KJV translation of Genesis 4:1: And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the. In the context, the demand can hardly be the expression of a wish to get better acquainted with the guests. Apart from the gender aspect, rape as well as the violation of sacrosanct hospitality were already by themselves horrendous crimes, also when perpetrated on angels incarnated as maidens. It is not clear to me how much the apparent homosexuality of the outside rabble added to that in the mind of the audience. --Lambiam 13:45, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * So finally we know what "yada yada ..." really means. :) --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:39, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Presumably it happened when the priests decided they fancied a life of "pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease" themselves.Chuntuk (talk) 17:04, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

You ask why "the sin" as stated by Ezekiel is overlooked by those who favour exigetical explanation. I think the problem is that you've read that verse in isolation. Read on to the next verse (they're 16:48-49 in my Bible, but I guess 49-50 in yours), which says "And they became haughty and did abomination before Me, and I removed them when I saw." The first verse lays out the background, that the people of the town became wealthy and scorned the poor ... the second makes vague allusion to the "abomination" which was punished. The term "abomination" has a few specific meanings in Biblical Hebrew - see Abomination_(Judaism). Hope it makes better sense now. --Dweller (talk) Old fashioned is the new thing! 17:38, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

"Fellow" at US universities?
If someone is described as a "fellow" at an American university is he/she a faculty member or not? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 23:15, 29 October 2021 (UTC)


 * See Fellow for some hints. Giving more information about context might help answering the question. --Bumptump (talk) 23:50, 29 October 2021 (UTC)
 * @Bumptump I'm trying to add relevant categories to the new article about Alison Kafer, based on this paragraph:
 * "After her M.A. she was a Visiting Dissertation Fellow in Women’s Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 2002 to 2003. Following her Ph.D. she was an Ed Roberts Fellow in Disability Studies at the University of California, Berkeley from 2006 to 2007."
 * Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 00:20, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Looks like she was a research fellow, basically a postdoc, but paid through some fellowship, not an employee whose salary is part of the university budget.  --Bumptump (talk) 01:17, 30 October 2021 (UTC)
 * So no faculty categories for those fellowships, right? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 05:19, 30 October 2021 (UTC)