Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 November 29

= November 29 =

Stalemate?
In the article on stalemate, the chess position is a stalemate with black to move. However, I don't understand why. Couldn't black's pawn simply take the white queen? I must be missing a technicality. Calamus Fortis  00:06, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, you are missing a technicality. The black pawn could have taken the white queen if the white queen were located on b1. However, the white queen is on b3. "Forwards" for the black pawn is downwards on the graph. --NorwegianBluetalk 00:13, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh, of course. I'm looking at it backwards. Thank you. Calamus Fortis  00:14, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Always assume that white is playing from the bottom of the diagram unless you're told otherwise. You might also want to check the chess notation article. The algebraic notation used here always numbers white's starting ranks as 1 & 2 and black's as 7 & 8. Exxolon (talk) 04:00, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Medal of the Second Bank of the United States
Does anyone here know about this medal? 200px|right  Beware  ofdog  06:19, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * No, but these people have lots to say on their auction page for such a medal – the article Second Bank of the United States seems to have no mention. The details are: 45 mm (1.75 inch) diameter, and Barry Stanton, Sculptor (not the Australian rocker). I don't know if this would work, but you could ask the sellers by email where they got the information from, Julia Rossi (talk) 08:25, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * On first look it appeared to be a type of Challenge coin but from Julia's ebay link, i think the salient point is that it is a Franklin Mint piece from the collection "History of the United States". A bit of googling around gives some info here and there including pricing guides and other info relevant to commemorative coin collectors. Nanonic (talk) 15:56, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks !  Beware  ofdog  17:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Incidentally, thanks for the link to challenge coin, Nanonic! I recently saw the NCIS episode mentioned in the article and tried to find out more about the coins here, but didn't know what to search for. FiggyBee (talk) 18:23, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Hm. I graduated from Air Force Basic Training (admittedly years ago) and never even heard of an airman's coin, let alone got one.  When did this start happening?   Little Red Riding Hood  talk  23:32, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

geography discrepancy
I noticed what "appears" to me to be a discrepancy on a page here at wikipedia.

The discrepancy is about a place that is no longer considered an island here. I believe it is still an island. Where do I go to discuss this further. I also want to post screenshots (not yet saved) from platial.com that show the discrepancy. How may I do that and would this be considered legal? The maps at platial are in both map and satellite form.

How does one get a gfdl licence? Can one get one from platial? I have an account there. Jon (talk) 14:06, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * The talk page of the article in question would be a place to discuss it. Or you could tell us exactly what the island/non-island in question is and we could discuss it here. :) FiggyBee (talk) 11:26, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I live very near Green Island, New York. Check out this page: Green_Island,_New_York. I am quite sure that a very small stream surrounds the southern and western portion of Green Island. I have also seen what looks like the stream but may not be recognizable by people not familiar with the area. This is at platial.com. Is it okay to post some screen shots of the area? First, a regular map of Green Island, and then a series of satellite images that show the stream (not always visible) surrounding Green Island, together with the Hudson River. If so, how do I post a screen shot here and can I post more than one at a time? Should this be done elsewhere instead? Jon (talk) 14:06, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Normally, I would suggest you be bold and change it. However, looking at the town with Google Earth, I can see where, just north of the intersection of Tibbits Ave and Rt. 787, the inlet that would cause it to be an island has been filled in.  There is a small stream on the western side of Rt. 787, but that appears to dry up the further north you go.  However, if you do have credible evidence, why not post a link to it on Talk:Green Island, New York (links are added like this: " link to example.org " which would appear as link to example.org)  Astronaut (talk) 16:03, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I noticed that you called Green Island a town. A tiny part of it is a town, but most of it is an incorporated village. I live only a couple of minutes (by foot) from the main Green Island bridge. I have seen the construction of the plaza in the very southern end of Green Island, and the construction of the numerous residential buildings on Center Island, as well as partial devastation of the wooded area on that island. I have seen the creek but only where streets/roads cross it or pass near it. I obviously have not been able to walk the 787 to see the creek. Also, I have no credible evidence; just my eyes. I cannot verify that it is an island. But I have not seen verifiable evidence that it is NOT an island. I believe that statement should be removed until evidence can be shown here. Jon (talk) 16:20, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Am I stupid? That is rhetorical, I hope. I just wrote a question and wanted to reply to someone else's reply. But I do not see a link to reply. Please help me so that I can do this right.


 * Just hit the [edit] next to the title of your question. You can use colons to indent your response, the more colons, the more indented it is. So for the above question, someone has responded and used 1 colon. To reply to the response, click [edit] next to the question title, go to below where they responded and add 2 colons before you type. This will indent twice, and show that you are replying to the response. Give it a go :-) Fribbler (talk) 12:38, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Jon (talk) 14:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

zombie trends
moved to new section Matt Deres (talk) 15:03, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

What is meant by the term "Zombie trends" as in Google's zombie trends? -aln —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.201.128.216 (talk) 13:50, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * In this case, it is most likely a reference to the User Friendly comic strip from November 16, 2008. It's a joke.  There is no such chart posted in an obvious place on google.org, but if there is, it probably refers to zombie computers rather than the undead. One hopes, anyway.


 * On the other hand, I cannot resist pointing out that a Google search on "zombie trends" brings up this bit of good news as the second link. . Morrand (talk) 15:37, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It's a photoshopped version of Googles Flu Trends. Fribbler (talk) 16:49, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * It's okay, but what made me laugh was the photoshopped ad -- Looking for zombie go-go dancers!


 * And a big dip for Halloween, that can't be right! Richard Avery (talk) 18:19, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm worried by the dramatic rise in vampires from May 2008. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 15:00, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

iss from above
what part of earth is shown beneath in this pic? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.61 (talk) 17:54, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * What pic? Algebraist 17:55, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0605/iss2_sts114_big.jpg


 * The Caspian Sea — Matt Eason (Talk &#149; Contribs) 17:59, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Like it says in the caption. Algebraist 18:01, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * The Caspian is surrounded by 5 countries, and maybe the questioner wants to know which one of them is shown in the picture. --  JackofOz (talk) 21:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * In that case, just based on comparisons with maps and other images, I think we're looking at Russia and Kazakhstan. Algebraist 21:23, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

childrens rhymn
there is a childrens rhymn that can be heard on the end of one of type o negatives song on woeld coming down, its eith sinus, lung or the other one, i forget now, any hoooo, it goes some thing like, one jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool, other  some ting something frog  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.3.145.61 (talk) 18:57, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Five Little Speckled Frogs ---Sluzzelin talk  19:02, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

impress your boss?
How do we impress the bosses with ideas and help create an impact for self and when the meetings are in a tele-conference form?Seekhle (talk) 19:20, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * The same way you would in any other meeting - come up with an impressive idea and present it clearly and concisely. --Tango (talk) 19:36, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Check out the possiblity of supporting your clear and concise (per Tango) part of the presentation with textual and/or graphic visual aids, and get these included in any pre-session handouts or post-session minutes. If acceptable, include your name, title, and department in a discreet (= small type), professional-looking notation in a lower corner of the frame. The graphic component is particularly valuable when not all participants have equal language skills. The point: real-time conferencing has the drawback of a fixed pace, particularly with oral delivery of content, so the written form of that content is what will have staying power. A participant will then have your contribution accessible and retrievable, and in the best case will remember and perhaps even contact you afterwards. Warning: your boss might like this technique so much, s/he'll steal it and take the credit due you. Good luck! -- Deborahjay (talk) 22:59, 30 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Bosses are impressed if you offer to do some task or solve some problem which is making the boss's life miserable and which everyone is avoiding. If you fail miserably, the boss will be less impressed than if you succeed, but even having a go at it can be impressive. Edison (talk) 06:31, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

Isthmian games
Here is a link to the isthmian games puzzle for this year. I was just wondering how would you go about finding a solution to this. I read it and its completely stumped me. --Thanks, Hadseys 21:15, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * From what I can tell, they haven't announced a winner for the contest yet, so it doesn't seem appropriate for us to help you with it. --Tango (talk) 21:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)


 * From what I can tell i never said i was interested in competing. I dont have a high iq and i wont claim too but it would be interesting to know how to approach it. Alternatively instead of your response you could just say I dont know --Thanks, Hadseys 02:12, 30 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This is a public site, even if you don't plan to compete other readers might - if anyone here knows how to approach the problem (I haven't even read it fully) they would probably rather win the prize themselves than help others do so. Once the prize has been awarded I expect someone somewhere will give a detailed explanation of how to find the answer. --Tango (talk) 13:59, 30 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I wish I had the time to zone out on a puzzle like this, but I'm afraid it would just turn my life upside-down if I even tried. StuRat (talk) 03:49, 30 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I'd start by counting the distinct colours in what I presume to be the "scrambled" destination names - which look like bar graphs. --Psud (talk) 10:52, 2 December 2008 (UTC)