Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 November 23

= November 23 =

wikipedia (article?) code
could anyone please direct me somewhere (hopefully on wikipedia; I have restriced internet access) where I can learn the wikipedia article code (stuff like links, citations, sections, etc.)? Also, is a lot of it in html? the size commands for wording, typically used on the reference desk, or in discussion pages, appears the same as html (I learned html online a year ago) Jds500 (talk) 01:26, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Help:Wiki markup and Cheatsheet. 82.44.55.25 (talk) 01:30, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Most of it is not HTML. They choose an HTML-like notation for some rarely-used features because there was no sense in getting overly creative with them, but the notation is intended to be easier to write than HTML for common wiki tasks.  Paul (Stansifer) 02:58, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Some HTML is accepted in addition to the Wiki markup though - test and test both produce test, for example. -Elmer Clark (talk) 05:03, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Question about pet birds
can i house my african parakeets and my lovebirds together? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.102.225.185 (talk) 01:41, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't think that Wikipedia is really the best place to ask this. You might do better to find a website that specialised in keeping birds as pets. There is an article on the keeping of parrots and related species of birds here: Companion parrot. It doesn't seem to answer your question, but you could try the external links.AndyTheGrump (talk) 01:56, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I googled your question and found this, which seems to indicate that you should not, but they speak a dialect of English I'm not entirely fluent in. --Sean 17:14, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * If the birds are speaking an English dialect, they would be too valuable to leave things to chance. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:42, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

Chemical composition of butter
What specific chemicals can be found in butter? 64.75.158.194 (talk) 16:16, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * See butter and butterfat.--Shantavira|feed me 17:41, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Oshawott
Where does Oshawott's name come from? --J4\/4 &lt;talk&gt; 16:30, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Hard to say, and it's a contentious topic - Bulbapedia at time of writing hazards a guess at a combination of ocean, shell, water and otter, possibly also Oshawa, Ontario and George Ohsawa. Futachimaru's and Daikenki's English names might lend some clarity to the etymology.  --  the Great   Gavini  06:13, 24 November 2010 (UTC)

1920 Rail Travel
If I wanted to travel from NewYork to Houston, Texas in 1920 would this have been possible/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.59.108.135 (talk) 22:59, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

There is an article here which might help: History of rail transport in the United States. There is also a map (from 1918) that suggests you probably could, and you'd have plenty of choice over routes:. AndyTheGrump (talk) 23:16, 23 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Not only was it possible by rail, at that time it was the normal means of travel for such a trip. Air and highway travel were still both in their infancy, and trains by this time were reasonably safe and comfortable and way faster than ship or horse-drawn travel. The only question is whether you could use a single train for the whole journey, or if you'd have to change trains one or more times (it's also possible that coach passengers would have to change, but a single sleeping car would make the whole journey, being uncoupled from one train and coupled to another on a scheduled basis); this level of detail I do not know and don't have a source for. --Anonymous, 23:52 UTC, November 23, 2010.


 * The Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Southern Railway operated several through trains from New York to New Orleans, where it would have been necessary to change to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad to continue on to Houston. The whole trip would have taken 30 to 36 hours.  Marco polo (talk) 02:58, 24 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Having travelled from Calais to Athens by railway (via Oslo - the scenic route...), I'd like to add that if you actually want to see the world, a train is the way to do it. Sadly, these days you'd just fly, and miss all the interesting stuff on the way. AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:11, 24 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Not to mention those wonderful encounters with the nice security people at the airports. DOR (HK) (talk) 09:11, 24 November 2010 (UTC)