Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 October 15

= October 15 =

Reconciling bills in US government.
I've been following the progress of the health-care bill(s) through the US government - and we're now at the point where (according to NPR) they are attempting to 'merge' or 'reconcile' various bills that have already been passed by one or the other elected branch - plus those voted on by some committees. Do both houses then go and re-vote on the merged bill? I kinda got the impression from the radio report that the merged bill would merely go to presidential signature/veto - and that's that. That doesn't sound right to me - what exactly is the procedure? Who decides how to cherry-pick bits of one bill and bits of the other? SteveBaker (talk) 00:45, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * See Conference committee. And, yes, there is a re-vote, as described in United States congressional conference committee. →Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 00:52, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Afghanis
In the 20th century many powers have tried to control Afghanistan.The British,Soviets failed.It looks like US is failing.Where do they get so much willpower,knowing that the invaders are much superior? US helped them fight the Soviets,but why the Afghanis wanted to fight them in the first place? Even before US assistance? They fired at Soviet helicopters with WW2 guns.Where does this exceptional courage come from? Is it in their genes? Or are they simply freedom loving people?Are they determined to cause the invaders damage,if only a little?Adi4094 (talk) 04:16, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Well you oversimplify things. The British outright lost the first war, but from most perspectives won the second and third under their new assumption that they didn't want to control Afghanistan so much as they wanted to keep it as a buffer between the Russian Empire (later the USSR) and British India.  These were not large wars, by any means.  The Soviet invasion was repulsed, but only with the support of America, as well as India and many Muslim countries.  Does the social make-up of Afghanistan make it an especially difficult place to "conquer"?  Probably, the isolated, tribal, traditional culture all lends itself to fighting "outsiders".  But I would argue no more so than other places in the world, which didn't fare so well against recent invaders.  Indeed, Afghanistan hasn't fared that well if you look back through its history.  I would say the biggest difficulties for would be invaders is the remoteness, the extremely difficult terrain and the lack of political will to properly support an invasion (due to the fact that it isn't a particularly useful piece of land).  Second to all of that is "innate Afghan courage".  I also think it is bordering on inflammatory to suggest the Taliban was a "freedom loving" government.  TastyCakes (talk) 05:15, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * The reason the forces there at the moment are struggling is because they are trying to fight the Taliban while not harming the innocent population. If they were willing to harm the general population they could win in a few days, but it would be a serious moral problem and they would be left with a complete mess - a completely failed and likely depopulated country which would result in lots of people turning to crime in the same way as lots of people from Somalia have turned to piracy causing a big problem for the rest of the world and other people moving there to use if for crime, eg. the growing poppies. The invading forces would be left having to occupy and police the whole country themselves without any cooperation from the local people (people don't usually cooperate with you after you kill large numbers of their friends and families). So, due to the moral and practical problems, it has been decided that the forces should protect the local people, not fight them, which makes it very difficult to defeat the Taliban. --Tango (talk) 09:42, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * In premodern times, empires expanded simply by winning battles and killing or capturing opposing leaders. Ordinary people in conquered regions typically didn't care much who their master was, as long as he didn't greatly increase their burden. Thus what is now Afghanistan formed part of a variety of empires through history. In early modern times, empires were able to expand while greatly increasing the burden on ordinary people (through colonization, taxation, exploitation, etc.), because the imperialists enjoyed overwhelming technological advantages, such as (early) modern firepower, cavalry in regions that lacked it, and transoceanic navigation.  Also, early modern imperialists succeeded in coopting local elites with various inducements.  Since the 19th century, the calculus has changed with the rise of nationalism and the diffusion of modern weaponry.  Short of blasting a place into ruins and committing something close to genocide, as Tango points out, it is exceedingly difficult for an outside power to subdue a country whose inhabitants are motivated by a nationalistic passion to resist external control.  Nationalistic passion or something like it is now nearly universal, no less so in Afghanistan.  As Tasty Cakes points out, Afghanistan resisted conquest in the early modern period because there wasn't much there to attract imperialists.  The British probably could have subdued the country in the 19th century, but the lack of valuable commodities would not have justified the expense.  It was enough to get the ruling elite to agree to help deter the Russians. Ruling elites and their people are no longer so amenable to taking the dictates of outsiders.  Marco polo (talk) 14:36, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Milk in a coolbag
Is it possible to keep milk in a coolbag if said coolbag is frequently topped up with those gel coolpack thingies or ice or something? Will this work like a fridge of sorts? Thanks :) 129.67.144.173 (talk) 09:46, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, that will work fine. --Tango (talk) 10:08, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

If you can keep it cool - sure it'll work. Easiest way to tell milk has gone off? A quick smell, a little sip and (if necessary) a quick spit of it into the sink as there's little worse than gone-off milk for unpleasantness of flavour! 194.221.133.226 (talk) 10:11, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Excellent, thanks a lot :) 129.67.144.173 (talk) 10:13, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * ... and if you don't have a coolbag or fridge or access to ice etc, another way to keep milk cool is in a dish of cold water covered with a damp cloth. Dry air and a breeze speeds evaporation of the water, and this cools the milk (because the latent heat of evaporation has to come from somewhere).  This method can work surprisingly well in some conditions.    D b f i r s   18:24, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Two warm milk bags have double the charm. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:35, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * These cuddly vandalists should follow Wikipedia's rules and avoid vandalism. --71.111.194.50 (talk) 21:32, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * ^^^^^ Sense of humour failure me thinks... Gazhiley (talk) 08:21, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Not medical advice but question on why people use anal beads and safety
You would think that given the length of the anal beads pictured in that article, they could go quite far in, possibly get trapped, cause some damage? Kinda sick when you think about it. I can't believe people use these without thinking that it's gonna get trapped in their intestines.--Fillchugg (talk) 18:17, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Was there something hard to understand in the article you have seen where it says "Those who use anal beads enjoy the pleasurable feeling they receive" ? Do you have a question we can answer? Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:29, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The rectum is about 12cm long. There is no scale in those pictures, but they don't look that long. --Tango (talk) 18:31, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * The body apparently has little problem expelling things from its nether regions that are unwanted. I would liken the situation to getting food stuck in your throat. It may stay there for hours, even days, but eventually it does spontaneously move out. At least that is my speculation on the matter. I have no personal experience with anal beads, let me just state that up front. Vranak (talk) 19:55, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * That's not at all true. The rectum is not suited to expelling anything other than soft stool, and those who use items for anal stimulation that are not intended for that purpose (curtain rings, billiard balls, marbles, vaginal vibrators, strings of pearls) frequently end up having to visit their doctor for an uncomfortable extraction. It's for this reason that sex toys that are designed for the anus have a facility either for easy removal (anal beads always have a lengthy string) or a mechanism to avoid total ingestion (butt-plugs have a wide base, many anal balls or beads have a collar on the distal end of their string). Without these the toy can become trapped, causing total de-facto constipation, which (if left unchecked, as someone might be tempted to do, given the embarrassing fix they've gotten themselves into) can lead to very serious complications. 87.114.150.241 (talk) 21:09, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * 87.114 has it. As far as safety is concerned, toys designed for anal pleasure are quite safe when used according to instruction. The risks involved, besides accidental complete insertion, are tearing from using a sharp object, from rough insertion or from lack of lubrication; introduction of bacteria, viruses, etc. from unclean objects; and muscle fatigue from over-stretching. Despite this, when done carefully, anal play isn't inherently unsafe. It is not, however, fun for everyone, and should only be done consensually, of course. If you don't like it - don't do it. Steewi (talk) 23:40, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * As for why one might do it? In men, at least, the enjoyment comes from the combination of stimulation of the nerves around the rectal cavity and the sphincter and more importantly from the stimulation of the prostate, which is a very sensitive body part. Although it is mostly practiced by bisexual and homosexual men, many heterosexual men enjoy anal stimulation. Because they do not necessarily enjoy the stimulation of another man, the stimulation can be created with toys like anal beads. Steewi (talk) 23:44, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Anal beads normally have a ring to allow you to pull them out203.214.104.166 (talk) 11:30, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Solar panel installation in maui
My question is.... how to find due south in maui? how many degrees & what direction we need to comepnsate for our earths magnetic pull? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elenao.q (talk • contribs) 19:14, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
 * See Magnetic Declination. PhGustaf (talk) 20:10, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Magnetic declination can be found on many sorts of maps, particularly nautical charts. A local navigational facility such as an airport can probably tell you (this data from 1985 says that it was 12E, though that may have shifted by now).  Alternately, a non-magnetic means of determining direction (such as GPS) will give you true readings.  I'd bet that 12E is close enough for jazz, though. &mdash; Lomn 20:12, 15 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Or you could use a solar compass, look at the shadow of a vertical marker at local time noon (adjust your timezone for your longitude on the earth). After all it will be the sun position that is important. If this is worth tens of thousands of dollars use a surveyor. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:55, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

It's probably not that critical. A fixed solar panel is always a compromise because the sun moves across the sky and that track shifts through the year - so your panel won't ever be perfectly oriented. Furthermore, the amount of sunlight the panel gets is proportional to the cosine of the angle between the direction it's pointed and the sun's direction and so a small error has almost no effect - even around noon. I'd use a compass and go with that. More important than the southerly alignment is the slope of the thing. SteveBaker (talk) 20:59, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

If you’re actually in Maui, call up your address on Google maps, and you’ll have a North-South orientation. Find a landmark due south of where you are, and go outside and look for it. DOR (HK) (talk) 08:09, 16 October 2009 (UTC)


 * Airport navigation charts are a good source for magnetic variation. The current FAA chart for Kahului Airport shows that Runway 02 has a compass heading of 024 degrees magnetic which is 035 degrees true. So there are 11 degrees difference between magnetic and true headings. A compass heading of 169 degrees would be due south. -- Flyguy649 talk 18:01, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Find Polaris in the night sky. It should be at an azimuth elevation of about 21 degrees. South will be directly behind you. Or get a cheap compass - this site [] suggests your declination is 9 degrees 55 minutes East. Weepy.Moyer (talk) 18:53, 17 October 2009 (UTC)