Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 October 14

= October 14 =

Reverse telephone lookup UK
How do I discover 020 331 53000 ? The number sounds unreal but is revealed by 1471. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  09:55, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * 1 digit too many? -- are you looking for and  (5 complaints total) where it appears it might be a telemarketer of some sort?  Collect (talk) 10:34, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Number looks ok its a London 0203 number (normally shown as 0203 315 3000) - a google search shows it could be MEM Finance http://www.mem-cf.co.uk/ you could always ring the number! but as it is probably Cold calling it might be best to ignore it. MilborneOne (talk) 10:36, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Strictly speaking the code for London is 020, and the number should be shown as 020 3315 3000, though this convention is often flouted for 0207 and 0208 numbers, especially those that began life as 01 xxx xxxx, then became 071 xxx xxxx, then 0171 xxx xxxx, and now "officially" 020 7xxx xxxx (likewise for 081 etc). See UK telephone code misconceptions. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 11:21, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Spot on. Thank you. Kittybrewster  &#9742;  11:32, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Labor Relations
When can an employer legally lockout employees from their place of work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.106.129.183 (talk) 12:14, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * An employer can legally lock up their own premises at any time. That does not rule out the possibility of civil litigation that might arise from breaching an agreement or causing unusual hardship. An example of the latter is when the work premises are a remote hut in Antarctica that is the only heated accommodation within walking distance. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 12:33, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * The opposite of the first part of what Cuddlyable3 said is also true. It all depends on the jurisdiction. In plenty of places, labour law is law, and unjustified lock outs are illegal. /Coffeeshivers (talk) 18:35, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * The IP is in the US - and, in many cases, "lockouts" are legal. In fact, most employees are "at will" employees, subject to discharge at any time. Union or other contracts may affect the situation, but I doubt that such is a common occurrence (lockouts during a valid contract term). Collect (talk) 18:42, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * ...and our article on this frightening concept is At-will employment, which also lists some exceptions to it, and links to relevant concepts in other countries. 109.155.37.180 (talk) 20:43, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * We do have the article Lockout (industry). Is there a particular situation or jurisdiction that you are curious about? -- 119.31.126.68 (talk) 12:36, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Awareness
The Green movement has been constantly bombarding the media with messages of conservation of natural resources in everyday life by individuals. My question is- What is the impact of these messages since the usage of cars has not gone down or the no of people behaving in an eco-conscious manner has not increased or global warming has not been reversed, deforestation is increasing day by day —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.98.0.155 (talk) 13:04, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * I am assuming good faith here. Why do you assume that `people behaving in an eco-conscious manner has not increased?' (OR warning) I suspect you'll find more people cycling to work in the USA in 2010 than did in 1990. Likewise for community gardens, composting, recycling, etc. As for `global warming has not been reversed', the situation we are in today has been brewing for ~200 years, and it is unlikely anything can get us back to pre-industrial revolution atmospheric CO_2 levels anytime soon. (Unsubstantiated claim:) Lastly, I'll point out that while individual habits contribute to environmental problems (especially unnecessary/inefficient use of cars), it's really large organizations that are responsible for the bulk of atmospheric emissions, and changing those practices will likely require legislation, not awareness campaigns. If anyone else wants to fill in some substantiating links here, I'd appreciate it -- SemanticMantis (talk) 14:10, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * We can't judge how much impact the messages have had, because we don't know what would have happened had the messages not been sent out. The "bombardment" by the "green movement" is, I'm pretty sure, at a lower level than the "bombardment" of advertising by the automobile industry or the producers of consumer goods generally over the same period.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:26, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * One easy way to judge the "impact" of the message is the number of "green" products that have been introduced over that period of time. An entire "green" industry has basically appeared out of nowhere in the last 15-20 years, usually at higher prices than the "regular" ("non-green") products. It's certainly an indication of increased consumer consciousness of "green" as a positive category, even at the expense of getting cheaper prices or sometimes more effective products (green cleaning products, in my experience, are pretty subpar compared to the "scorched earth" style chemical products). The impact of the commodification of "green" sentiment is seen especially in sectors like automobiles and manufacturing that are traditionally pretty "dirty", all of whom are racing now to appear environmentally aware and conscious. Now whether this translates into much real-world change in habits other than consumer spending, or whether it actually affects climate change (nobody in the Green movement would likely suggest that this has been the case except in a very minor way, in part because the magnitude of the problem is so great), is another, much harder to measure question. There are also more complicated economic and political factors involved as well. But I do think one can make the case that there has been a definite raise in consciousness about "green" products, and a real and measurable economic impact of that among the middle and upper classes. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:01, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * It is also a cultural thing. While more people may bike to work now then in 1990 for the US, that is probably not true in China.  In fact, I recall a road in China had so much traffic, it had a 3week long traffic jam.  Googlemeister (talk) 21:22, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Percentage of U.S. workers who biked to work in 2000: 0.38%. In 2008: 0.55%. That's a 43% increase in eight years -- pretty good if you ask me, although we have a long way to go before we're like Amsterdam. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:14, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm not so sure about that. While it's true there are a lot more motorised vehicles in China now then there used to be, China as with a number of developing countries has also rapidly urbanised in the past 20 years and their cities are a lot larger. Many of these new city dwellers work in factories where they are often in factory dormotories or housing I believe (going by past discussion) so probably don't bike to work. But quite a few of them must. What about in the past? How many people working in farms etc used to bike to work? The lack of any decent path, closeness to work and other factors may have meant there weren't so many but I don't really know. Nil Einne (talk) 13:31, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually munfitnessblog.com/will-you-cycle-to-work/ (blacklisted site) &   looks like you were probably right (albeit from 1995 to 2005 rather then 1990 to 2010) Nil Einne (talk) 13:34, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Why does this Bic pen have a white end?
I have come into possession of a Bic Cristal médium ballpoint pen. The pen writes black ink, but the plastic plug in the back end of the pen is not black (as I would expect) but instead opaque and white. Does this mean this pen is special in some way? I remember something when I used to work in a Post Office about possibly white ends on pens meaning they were special somehow (security related?) but I cannot find any reference to it online. Maybe someone who works for Bic could shed some light? 13:15, 14 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.88.123.15 (talk)

It's what you write with a pen which makes it special. Juliankaufman (talk) 14:55, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Bic makes identical pens but with white barrels (for promotional advertising), so I would guess that the white end was really intended for one of these and just got placed on your clear barrel by mistake. I suppose it could be some special code, but I've never heard of it.  Any Bic employees available?    D b f i r s   15:11, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * What colo(u)r is the cap? In the U.S., the cap and the plug at the end were usually the same colour, related to the colour of the ink inside (medium blue cap and plug: dark blue ink; red: red ink; black: black ink; etc.) —— Shakescene (talk) 17:23, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

The plug colour (white) is meaningless. Really. Collect (talk) 17:26, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * It means you have enough time to contemplate the meaning of pen cap colors and to share your observations on Wikipedia. schyler (talk) 19:05, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Nokia phone / vCard
Someone sent me a vCard from their mobile phone. Is there a menu option within a Nokia 6300 which will store the vCard details as a new contact? thanks --Tagishsimon (talk) 13:26, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Celebrity Milkmen
I'm looking for information on milkmen (Uk-based hopefully) who have becomes celebrities. Thanks. Juliankaufman (talk) 15:44, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Sean Connery? Alansplodge (talk) 16:25, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers is another (you have to be a certain age to remember that one). Alansplodge (talk) 16:39, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * (edit conflict) This is rather tenuous, but before he became a U.S. Congressman from Berkeley, California (later to be defeated in the 1970 Democratic primary by Ron Dellums, who's now the retiring Mayor of Oakland), the late Jeffery Cohelan was secretary-treasurer of the milk-drivers' union. (I'm old enough to remember Express Dairies delivering milk from horse-drawn waggons in London, but getting milk delivered to your door in the U.S. now is very much a boutique, specialist choice. I wonder who the youngest celebrity to have worked at this job would be.) —— Shakescene (talk) 16:57, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * (ec) I was going to say I presumed Ernie didn't count, but from that article I see that Benny Hill is another example. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 16:59, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Craig Douglas, "known to many as the 'Singing Milkman'". Ghmyrtle (talk) 17:17, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * D'oh! I had only remembered the Singing Postman :-) Alansplodge (talk) 08:18, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I have heard that Engelbert Humperdinck was a milkman, though our article doesn't seem to mention it. You may want to investigate further (and I will check later as well). Matt Deres (talk) 18:08, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Harry Hood (ok, he's fictional, but still...) -- Jayron  32  22:37, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
 * A quick search also turns up Harry Enfield, Jon Anderson and Brian Jacques. Carl Airey is the youngest notable milkman I can find - he apparently started delivering milk after his career in professional football finished. Warofdreams talk 01:20, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

I tried a search of the IMDB biography section for "milkman". There were 22 hits, but 21 of them were false -- either the person had a family member who was a milkman, or they were involved in something with "milkman" in the title, or they played a milkman (in several cases Tevye). The only one who was a milkman himself was Nathan Hale (1910-94), husband of Ruth Hale (playwright and actress). And he has only two acting credits in the IMDB, so I don't think he qualifies as famous unless he was better known in the realm of the stage. Of course, given that "milkman" ends in "-man", it's possible that another term is used for it in some places and maybe there are IMDB biographies that use that instead. --Anonymous, 04:27 UTC, corrected 04:31, October 15, 2010.
 * Sting worked as a milkman, helping his father. I see the IMDB biography doesn't make that clear. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 07:49, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
 * According to this, Sting was a bus conductor, a labourer, a tax officer and a teacher. Milkmen often used a school-aged boy to help with the deliveries; not quite a fully fledged milkman though. Alansplodge (talk) 13:34, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
 * It was mentioned in a documentary I saw on TV around Christmas, possibly the one on "A Winter's Night...Live from Durham Cathedral". AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 15:16, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Mike Tucker, Jazzer, and Harry. We love the Bull! BrainyBabe (talk) 07:50, 15 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Showing my innocence; I didn't realise until I started researching this question, that "milkman" is slang for a villain who delivers illegal drugs. You live and learn. Alansplodge (talk) 20:24, 16 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Does that men all the answers here may be useless? Nil Einne (talk) 13:25, 18 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Related dairy drug drama: Glasgow Ice Cream Wars. BrainyBabe (talk) 19:00, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

Wiggling toes in bed
What would be the cause or reason for someone wiggling their toes (seemingly uncontrollably) before bed? Also, are there any benefits or dangers of doing this?--67.134.239.205 (talk) 19:57, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * We don't give medical advice, sorry. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:01, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * We have an encyclopaedia article on Restless legs syndrome that might be of interest. However, a bunch of unknown Internet people are not a reliable source of personalized medical advice, which is why we can't give you any.  Please ask a medical professional instead. Good luck.    Ka renjc 21:37, 14 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Hypnic jerk? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.104.89.130 (talk) 13:21, 17 October 2010 (UTC)