Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2010 October 6

= October 6 =

Writing stories with video game characters
Since childhood, I dreamed up fantasies, uniting the characters (well, mostly enemies) in video games/ movies into one world. they were part of this world, and the enemies were combined in an army, in a world ruled by a character of my creation. I'm thinking of putting my ideas onto paper, and possibly publishing. I won't take the video game characters name for name and detail for detail, but I'll give them different names. But, the description of the looks characters in the book will make me think of those in the video game. Other than that, that's where the similarities end. Is this a good idea? This seems like a motivation to keep me going forward, but is this legally and "politically" a good idea? thx -- Last  Lived  02:29, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * See fan fiction. -- Jayron  32  02:42, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Note that this question was cross posted at Humanities. Shadowjams (talk) 06:45, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Please edit this at Reference_desk/Humanities to avoid cross-posting. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:25, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Who chained two mountains together?
From G. K. Chesterton's "A Defence of Rash Vows": "Yet these vows are not more extraordinary than the vows which in the Middle Ages and in similar periods were made, not by fanatics merely, but by the greatest figures in civic and national civilization -- by kings, judges, poets, and priests. One man swore to chain two mountains together, and the great chain hung there, it was said, for ages as a monument of that mystical folly."

Is this real, and if so who did it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.91.173.228 (talk) 09:17, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Don't know about mountains, but stretching a chain from one side to another of a narrow bay used to be an effective way of denying access to undesirable ships. TomorrowTime (talk) 11:28, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Perhaps the mysterious chain in Moustiers-Sainte-Marie? ---Sluzzelin talk  11:33, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Sluzzelin appears to be correct. From Thomas Carlyle's "Memoir of Mirabeau": "One Riquetti (in performance of some vow at sea, as the tradition goes) chained two mountains together: 'the iron chain is still to be seen at Moustier;—it stretches from one mountain to the other, and in the middle of it is a large star with five rays;' the supposed date is 1390. Fancy the smiths at work on this business!" —Deor (talk) 11:39, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Neither the original chain nor star are to be seen today. The chains are replaced when they rust and the size of the star has varied through the centuries, from 1m80 to 30 cm. The chain is 225m long and the present star 1m15 is from 1957. Here is a better picture of the star of Moustiers. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 13:40, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you could amend the WP article if you have a source, Cuddlyable; it says "the star has never been replaced". Alansplodge (talk) 22:22, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I have put a comment at the article talk page and will wait a while before editing. My only source is already referred in the article. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 11:37, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Netflix postage
How much does Netflix spend on postage each year? Procrastinatus (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:04, 6 October 2010 (UTC).


 * Apparently about $600 million. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:20, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I wonder which is their biggest cost, the postage or the cost of the DVDs? -FisherQueen (talk · contribs) 21:41, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * This is starting to sound like a business school Fermi problem! Well, let's work backwards from $600 million a year. Netflix sends their stuff barcoded first class presorted (as I see from looking at one that came today). That means they spend roughly 38 cents per DVD per one-way trip. Multiply that by two for a round trip and you've got 76 cents per customer DVD. So that's some 790 million DVD trips per year. Now Googling around a bit suggests that Netflix has some 89 million individual DVD discs. Let's assume that on average each disc costs $20 (if I recall correctly from my days in a video store, the price is quite variable depending on the movie in question — some are lower than this, some are much higher, some end up having a lower per-disc cost because they are sold in a box set and then broken into individual discs, etc.) That would mean they sunk, over their near decade or so of existence, some $2.7 billion into developing their inventory. Assume there is some degree of loss from the post office, and that they add considerable new titles per year, and replace some old or broken ones. It seems unlikely, whatever they did, that new inventory and inventory replacement would cost over $600 million per year — that would mean they'd have to replace something like a 1/4rd of their current inventory every year (or grow by some large amount per year). I would suspect the replacement rate is lower than that, say, one in 10 or so. This is very back of the envelope and I'm no B-school consultant, but my general conclusion would be, "yes, Netflix probably spends more per year on postage than it does on acquiring or replacing inventory." This makes perfect sense, of course — your total back-and-forth with the customers can use a relatively small DVD base if it is organized sensibly, since most people are not going to want to see the same DVDs at exactly the same time. Netflix as an operation is all about logistics (getting the DVDs from one place to another, doing it all seamlessly, etc.), not acquisition of inventory. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:11, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * I suspect cost <$20 per the Blockbuster system where the company made DVDs to order, and destroyed ones no longer needed (above the base sales guaranteed to a movie company - excess of those were sold in wholesale channels as "previously viewed"), paying the movie companies royalties instead. And they quite likely do have more than a 25% turnover - folks generally want fairly recent movies.  I would guesstimate their per DVD cost at about $6, and the turnover at 40% or more each year.  Netflix actually wants users to use the internet for classics - their royalty costs would be flat (very low on classic films), and cost of handling and postage for DVDs goes to zero.   shows the number of DVDs mailed per subscriber going down - now headed from 6 per month  to under 4 per month.  Collect (talk) 11:33, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Toronto recreation centres and parks
Is there a website where we can get information of each recreation centres in Toronto in order to hold any kind of programs like reunions and how much a room cost for renting one? also, is there a website where we can get detailed information about parks in Toronto such as how much does it the rent cost to host a picnic? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.18.229 (talk) 16:33, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Google is your friend. I searched on "Toronto event venue" and came up with many websites listing event and hospitality services in Toronto - this is one example, but there were more.  I doubt you'll find any sort of bare price comparison online though, because most such venues like to talk to customers and find out their exact needs before quoting a rate for the event. You'll probably need to choose a few likely prospects and contact them direct.  I couldn't find any info about parks, but several of the "unique venues" listed on the above site do mention that they host outdoor events.  Ka renjc 16:55, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * If you live in Toronto, phoning 311 is also your friend. They should be able to put you through to someone with the necessary information, or if not, tell you what number to call.  They can also be emailed: the email address is the 3 digits and the domain name is toronto.ca.  --Anonymous, 18:42 UTC, October 6, 2010.


 * Toronto.ca also has a webpage for Parks and Recreation, here. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:05, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * As a resident of Toronto (and former event planner), I second the link to TSEvents.com if you are looking for a more traditional venue. Bear in mind that with most event venues you must use a caterer from the approved list, or pay an extra fee (usually 10% of gross catering cost) to the venue. Karenjc is half right about venues not posting prices; some do and some don't. It depend son the sort of venue; some will simply have a flat rate for a given room, while others will change or waive the rental fee if you are using onsite catering (e.g. hotels will require a F&B minimum spend; if you reach it the room rental will be free, and you may get discounts/comps on accommodations as well). If all you need is a room, the Parks & Rec site is more useful. If you need more detailed help, feel free to contact me on my talk page. →  ROUX   ₪  21:24, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Cell phones that are less than of 70g and 1cm thick
Are there any cell phones that are less than of 70g and 1cm thick but have all the features of the Nokia 5310 (like, picture and video cam, music player, radio, emails in real time, etc.) for public from Nokia or from other companies now? Susan White (talk) 17:50, 6 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Google Squared might a good starting point for this kind of research. I added a "weight" and "dimension" column to the search for "cell phones" and was able to find a few smartphones that came close to your criteria. --—Mitaphane Contribs 18:16, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Big stripes on WW2 aircraft
What was the purpose of the large stripes on some WW2 aircraft, such as in the final illustraion of this article: North American B-25 Mitchell? Thanks 92.24.183.150 (talk) 23:07, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Invasion stripes, to reduce incidents of Friendly fire. They were first used in a major way by the allies during the Normandy invasion in 1944. Buddy431 (talk) 23:26, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

They made aircraft easy to see and to recognise as friendly, as has been said. Note, however, that this was only possible because of the almost total domination of Allied airpower over Europe.95.176.67.194 (talk) 07:14, 7 October 2010 (UTC)Froggie.34