Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2007 August 26

= August 26 =

Platitude cookies
Our article on Fortune cookie describes the fortune as "a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or vague prophecy." Unfortunately, it seems that all the fortune cookies I get these days contain only words of faux wisdom and never a prophecy. Of course I don't take the fortune seriously, but part of the fun of a fortune cookie is seeing what your "fortune" is going to be. Is there a reason the manufacturers have moved away from fortunes and toward platitudes? The only reason I can think of is to foil the appending of certain phrases to the end of the fortune. I live in North Carolina (east coast, USA), so this might only be a local thing. Do fortune cookies in Europe, Australia and elsewhere still contain fortunes? 152.16.188.107 02:23, 26 August 2007 (UTC).

I recently bought a fortune cookie at Panda Express in Pasadena, CA. It told me that something unexpected and wonderful was going to happen to me. That's a pretty good prophecy. On the way home I found my bike that I left at my work, which was not unexpected but was good as I got it back! Micah J. Manary 02:48, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Fortune cookies are unknown in Chinese restaurants in the UK. We only know about them from DC comic books.


 * DC comic books? LOL!  It is amazing the routes by which cultural information is disseminated.  152.16.188.107 05:07, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I haven't seen an actual fortune in fortune cookies for a couple years. Though I doubt that the companies removed them because of fortune cookie games like the "in bed" game.  Dismas |(talk) 05:36, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I have a dim recollection of once getting a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant in Australia. So dim, it must have been many years ago.  They certainly don't happen anymore, to my knowledge.  --  JackofOz 05:50, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * So dim, some memories are.  -- LarryMac  | Talk  14:39, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Ah so. --  JackofOz 21:55, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Fortune cookies are always given in Chinese restaruants here in Texas - even if you buy food to carry-out. I never saw a fortune cookie in the UK - I have no idea why not.   The nature of what they say inside is quite variable.  There is one restaurant that we used to go to at lunchtimes once a week - and over the course of a year or two they would change from one brand of fortune cookies to another, some had predictions, others just vague words of encouragements - they varied as to whether they would have recommended lottery ticket numers on them.  One set had "Learn chinese" tips on the back side, explaining a word or a grammar point.  Another set were full of jokes!  ("Help - I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory!" sticks in my mind).  The differences seemed to depend only on where they bought the cookies from.  The thing that always bothers me about the predictive ones is that the waitress typically just dumped a handful of them on the table...how do I know which one is mine?  If I grab the wrong one do I get someone else's fortune - or does my future depend on which one I grab?  :-)  SteveBaker 14:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm aware that fortune cookies are a Chinese-American invention, not actually from China, but I still wonder why this practice has never spread abroad. Would those of you from other countries find having fortunes in your cookies to be annoying or disturbing in some way ? StuRat 15:20, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Here in Europe we have our special fortune cookies that are accessible everyday in the newspapers. We call them horoscopes, and hey, if you don't like what they say you can go and look in another newspaper. Richard Avery 17:45, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * They have horoscopes in America too.  Plasticup  T / C  20:33, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

I once lived a whole month making all of my decisions by fortune cookie. It can be a little hard to interpret the vague wisdom into applicable instructions, but I found it to be a very enjoyable (and tasty) few weeks.  Plasticup  T / C  20:33, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

YES WE HAVE FORTUNE COOKIES IN UK. Don't listen to above. Chinese restaurants have them, you can even buy them in bulk in shops. It's a matter of national pride. Honestly.87.102.11.213 20:42, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * To be fair, I did say "I never saw a fortune cookie in the UK" - not that they don't exist. But in 40 years of eating out - I never saw one.  But perhaps they're confined to particular parts of the country - or maybe they are another transatlantic import that's happened fairly recently. SteveBaker 23:29, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * You need to go to a chinese restaurant, french and italian don't count. Seriously I think they were a lot less common 10 years ago than today (in UK).87.102.45.106 12:21, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * In early November 1983 I got a fortune cookie that said Next full moon brings enchanting evening. After that full moon I rarely slept alone for several years.  —Tamfang 06:44, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * And the irony is that fortune cookies were virtually unheard of in China (OK they MIGHT give you one if you're a foreigner dining in some tourist restaurant, but otherwise you won't find them anywhere). --antilivedT 08:08, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Best fortune cookie joke ever; when the Tick is eating in a Chinese restaurant and pops the fortune cookie whole into his mouth; them pulls out the fortune and says "Look! A secret message from my teeth!" Gzuckier 15:58, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Types of marriage relatiosnhip
Clunky title but once explained you will understand. Within a marriage relationship the parties adopt various pose. Father child where the man talks down to his wife. Mother child where the wife acts the Mother and the husband the son or naughty boy. Theres the Nag and the deaf husband which is well known. I believe these forms of relationship have been classified but I cannot find them or the phrases that would lead to finding them. Everyone knows these relationships, everyone sees them but I cannot find them on Wikipedia !

Thanks

Paul


 * I haven't been able to find a list of terms for the different types of relationships, but there are some interesting links if you google "marriage+power+relationships". The second link looks like it is especially promising.  Also, marriage counselors probably have detailed texts that would answer your question, but adding "counselling" to the search produces a lot of hits for commercial sites instead of informative ones.  Is there a marriage counsellor in the house?  152.16.188.107 04:57, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

download
can i get the sites or places from where i can download books on general studies free of cost? Rs sahai 04:54, 26 August 2007 (UTC) ≤≥


 * See On-line book. Project Gutenberg may be the one you're looking for.  152.16.188.107 04:59, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * books.google.com isn't great but you might want to give it a whirl.  Plasticup  T / C  20:34, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Also check out MIT's open source learning thingy. Mathmo Talk 00:09, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Search for Utah Miners
Why did they only drill one hole at a time instead of using multiple drilling rigs and drilling holes in several places?
 * They did drill two at a time.  Plasticup  T / C  05:19, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Probably initially, they were resource constrained, both for drilling rigs and for manpower. The later was especially true once Robert E. Murray threw all the union workers off the rescue effort. Later, it could be argued that it simply became a "show" effort, with Murray not wanting to spend money but trying to get maximum sympathy for himself.


 * Atlant 12:20, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

mermaids
I was reading a mermaid article when in it I saw it read: She transformed from human to mermaid..... but i thought how do you do that? please can you tell me how you transform from human to mermaid?
 * Your legs join together and grow fins and scales and become a fish tail. --124.254.77.148 09:25, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * No.. he wanted to know how? Not what happens! 58.107.237.74 10:37, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought that was 'how' maybe you mean 'why'?87.102.44.85 11:00, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Uhm, mermaids...don't exist? Or am I missing the question here? Splintercellguy 11:14, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Sirenomelia exists. Jacques l&#39;Aumône 11:25, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * That specific part of the article references the myth of Thessalonice. The appropriate section of her article doesn't state exactly why it happened (How it happened:  stricken with grief after her brother's death, she tossed herself into the sea, hoping to drown.  She didn't.), but it may have had something to do with the her brother washing her hair with water from the fountain of immortality, or the fact that the Greek gods were generally both willful and vengeful, and basically did whatever they wanted with the lives (and souls) of humans under their care.  She became an instrument of justice and 'the death of many a sailor.'  24.250.32.81 11:34, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Obviously you need to engage a plastic surgeon90.14.18.147 13:50, 26 August 2007 (UTC)DT


 * As soon as plastic surgeons figure out how to make a human breath underwater, let me know lol -- Polar Wolf  20:33, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * That might be a while... don't hold your breath.  Plasticup  T / C  20:37, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Great, thanks for the warning :D -- Polar Wolf  20:48, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I was making a pun on underwater breathing :-(  Plasticup  T / C  23:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * So was I -- Polar Wolf  01:53, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

When human converts to mermaid (by surgery) it is obvious that they have gills in addition to lungs. Any fule kno that!86.197.151.109 14:10, 27 August 2007 (UTC)DT
 * You'd need a pretty impressive set of gills to keep a mammal alive. Perhaps mermaids could just hold their breath for extended periods like dolphins. 69.95.50.15 15:10, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * And maybe they aren't mammals, but instead are fish! Ack! 24.250.32.81 22:06, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That's a valid point, but every depiction of Mermaids I've ever seen features prominent mammaries.--69.95.50.15 15:49, 28 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Is there a special name for somebody who has the bottom half of a human and the top half of a fish? Gzuckier 15:55, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Don't know, but if you ever find one, fel free to call it "Ethel". :)  --  JackofOz 21:51, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Maidmer. I know I've seen an illustration of one somewhere. --Carnildo 21:56, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Smell of burning clutch
I was driving on the highway and as I began to exit, I tried to shift from 5th to 4th gear, however I accidentally put it into 2nd gear =S. The car lunged forward and the engine roared. After I slowed down, I noticed a somewhat stinky smell. Is that the smell of a burning clutch? If so, shouldn't it be my syncromesh that took the punishment as opposed to my clutch when I downshifted? Thanks. Acceptable 21:11, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Did you squawk your tires? Burning rubber smells bad.  Did cars offend you in some way?  You seem to beat up on them a lot. :) Friday (talk) 21:19, 26 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah - that'll be the clutch alright. The engine would have been turning fairly slowly - but the wheels are spinning really fast - when the two sides of the clutch meet with such a huge difference in speed, the material on the clutch plates gets really hot and wears out fast.  Try not to do that!  SteveBaker 23:24, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

uh-oh. Acceptable 03:17, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * You won't kill it the first time, but don't make a habit of it.  Plasticup  T / C  04:05, 27 August 2007 (UTC)


 * You won't kill it unless it was about to crap out anyway - but you'll definitely shorten it's life. The synchromesh did it's job correctly - it got the gearbox into the right gear for you and nothing especially bad happened as far as it was concerned.  The trouble only started when you took your foot off the clutch after shifting.  On my 1963 Mini, as with many older cars, there is no synchromesh on 1st gear (you are not supposed to down-shift into 1st while the car is moving).  However, in switching from a modern car with synchros on all of the forward gears to the poor ancient Mini, it's alarmingly easy to forget this important fact!  If you try to do downshift into 1st at (say) 20mph, there is an almighty grinding of gear teeth - and there is no way to force the shifter into 1st gear.  Only if your speed is very low (or the engine revs happen to be just right) will you actually manage to move the shifter at all.  So I doubt you hurt your gearbox's synchromesh - but the clutch is not happy - it'll probably be OK right now - but you definitely shortened it's life by doing this - although it's hard to guess by how much because there are too many variables. SteveBaker 15:37, 27 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Once upon a time I had been driving a rented car with an automatic for a while, then when I switched back to my regular manual trans car, of course I immediately had to panic stop and my left foot forgot to clutch. The engine stalled, with much stinkage of clutch and tire, but for about the next thousand miles the clutch went 'flapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflapflap' etc. all the time i was driving, in time with the engine RPM. It finally stopped. Years later, when i replaced the clutch, sure enough a thin layer of one segment of the clutch facing was floating around in there; I figure it had partially come loose with my idiot act and flapped until the "hinge" finally wore through and it got released. Gzuckier 15:54, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

AHAHAHHAHAAH. I read the topic as "Smell of burning CROTCH". Oh dear god. Capuchin 07:36, 28 August 2007 (UTC)


 * There is also the small possibility that you tore open a CV boot, which threw grease onto hot engine parts. I'm not sure I buy it, but I've heard that can smell like a burning clutch. --Mdwyer  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mdwyer (talk • contribs) 23:48, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Italian Hangar
I have just read a joke and it mentioned a sexual position called the 'Italian Hangar' i have looked in various reference books and online but have not come across any explanation of this, could you please explain what it involves please?

86.151.49.188 23:12, 26 August 2007 (UTC)\\\\


 * You are looking for the Italian Hanger.  Plasticup  T / C  05:07, 27 August 2007 (UTC)