Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2022 December 21

= December 21 =

Purpose of Pennsylvania Senate
I understand why the U.S. has a Senate - states have significance under the Constitution. But why does Pennsylvania have a Senate?Wmharv (talk) 15:17, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Bicameralism is the default system in most of the U.S. states (Nebraska is the only exception, I believe). This is copied on the federal system (i.e. the United States Congress had two chambers). Each state has its own rules for how it organizes its senate or equivalent chamber. See Pennsylvania State Senate for the history and workings of that particular entity. --Xuxl (talk) 15:45, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * The New York State Senate once had 1 (or was it 2?) senator from each county, the 5 counties of New York City once elected their representative to sit on a board. Like the nationwide Senate but not the nationwide Senate. Then someone somewhere in America sued and the Supreme Court made that kind of thing illegal so New York and probably other states kept number of senators=number of counties but made the districts equal population. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:50, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Yes, many states used to have state senators representing counties in the same way that US senators represent states. See Reynolds v. Sims for the decision that made this change. --174.89.144.126 (talk) 16:55, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * A legislature of the 5 NYC borough leaders plus the mayor and 2 other citywide electees with extra votes (6 instead of 3) was apparently legal till Spring 1989: Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris. SCOTUS knocked that shit down. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:09, 22 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Sagittarian_Milky_Way -- The two situations are not truly parallel. Under the U.S. Constitution, States are component entities of the U.S. with their own powers and obligations.  States can't be merged or divided without the consent of the states involved and also the approval of Congress.  By contrast, counties are merely creatures of the State in which they are located, and can be merged or divided at any time at the whim of the state legislature.  Also, during approximately the first two-thirds of the 20th century, such county-sensitive election rules were used to exacerbate the large and ever-growing bias giving disproportionate political power to rural areas at the expense of cities... AnonMoos (talk) 23:44, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Ancient Rome had a senate even way back when it was just a city, not yet an empire. At the federal level, both houses of the United States Congress are formed by members representing US states. Having a senate and being a federation of states are independent properties that happen to come together for the US. --Lambiam 17:32, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Surely members of the House of Representatives are supposed to represent their districts, not their states. --174.89.144.126 (talk) 21:24, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * It's a bit of both, especially for states that have only one representative. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:21, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * In the words of Roger Senserrich:
 * Si os preguntáis por qué los estados tienen legislativos bicamerales… bueno, no tiene sentido; es un calco absurdo de la constitución federal. El único estado con un legislativo unicameral es Nebraska.
 * If you ask yourself why the states have bicameral legislatures... well, it doesn't make sense; it is an absurd copy of the federal constitution. The only state with a unicameral legislature is Nebraska.
 * --Error (talk) 00:34, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
 * For the many unitary states that have bicameral legislatures, from Algeria to Zimbabwe, the choice for this form can hardly be explained as a copy of the US constitution. The Parliament of England became bicameral in 1341. Clearly, there are other motives for this form than a desire to copy the US Constitution, and the possibility of such motives for US states should not be summarily discarded. --Lambiam 12:06, 22 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Given that most (if not all) of the original 13 States had bicameral legislatures - well before the Federal government adopted its system (For example, New York divided its legislature into an Assembly and a Senate in 1777… 12 years before the US Constitution was written)… I don’t think it is accurate to say the States were copying the Federal government. If anything, it’s the other way around… the Federal government was copying the States. Blueboar (talk) 12:57, 22 December 2022 (UTC)

American casualties in the Pacific War
I still didn't understand why the American and European wikipedia lists only US COMBAT losses in the war with Japan, it's not objective. Previously, the American Wikipedia had data on 160k dead for combat and non-combat reasons. 37.145.63.226 (talk) 18:13, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * There is no 'American Wikipedia'. This is the English-language one, open to anyone to contribute to. As for data on deaths in the Pacific war, which article are you referring to? AndyTheGrump (talk) 20:53, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Probably Pacific war, for which the OP has been reverted several times. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:18, 21 December 2022 (UTC)

References request for the peerage
Hello, I'm looking for sources to replace the depreciated source thepeerage.com. Does anybody here have access to something like burkes or debrettes? I'd like to find sources about the family of Russell Brain, 1st Baron Brain and his daughter who married Leonard Arthur. Thank you in advance. Dontgiveupthedayjob (talk) 18:29, 21 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Try WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request to see if anyone has access to Burke's Peerage, either an online subscription or a paper copy - I believe this is the source material for thepeerage.com. If you are in the UK, larger public libraries often have old copies in their reference section or hidden away in storage somewhere. Alansplodge (talk) 13:12, 22 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Many thanks! Dontgiveupthedayjob (talk) 10:19, 23 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Alansplodge's answer led me to the reference shelf in my local public library.  There I found the 1985 edition of Debrett's Peerage and the 2003 edition of Burke's Peerage.   The earlier volume has an entry for Christopher Langdon Brain 2nd baron and his sister Janet Stella.   The later volume lists Janet's issue - one son and five daughters.   If you want to follow up the number is +44(0)20 7583 7178. 2A00:23C6:2417:3101:4482:2C96:FC78:21C6 (talk) 16:38, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

Did author Dorothy Eileen Heming (née Marsh) die in 1948?
Can we confirm a (precise) death date for the prolific children's author Dorothy Eileen Heming (née Marsh)? This blog suggests 1948, but does not mention a source, and is itself unreliable.

The work Among Her Own People: Lives and Literature of Eileen Marsh, Jack Heming and Bracebridge Heming, by Eric Bates (Bulman Lee Publishing, Ashford ISBN 0-9551014-0-9 may be the source. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 20:39, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Here I found another blog, prolific, and with the two precise dates: 6 Oct 1900 – 5 Aug 1948. Comes with a Contact link available, but I doubt the data come from otherwise published sources, rather from a publisher's files or so, although newspapers will not have remained absent also The Publishers Circular and Booksellers --Askedonty (talk) 21:25, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Here's her Findagrave entry: ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:11, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, both. This and more is now recoded at d:Q94365022. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 12:42, 23 December 2022 (UTC)