Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 January 2

= January 2 =

Jets/Giants
Can anyone give me a good breakdown of which areas of New York City/New York state/New Jersey tend towards the Giants, and which towards the Jets? A few observations I've made on my own:
 * Giants fans are more numerous almost everywhere.
 * Giants fans also tend to root for the Yankees (baseball) and Rangers (hockey). Jets fans tend to root for the Mets (baseball) and Islanders (hockey).
 * At one point, the Giants and Jets played in different parts of the city, which might have affected loyalties at one time. They no longer do, but some of the old loyalties might be in place.

Thoughts? Magog the Ogre (talk) 03:31, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I believe your breakdown is roughly correct. Jets fans tend to be concentrated on Long Island and Queens; the Jets once played at Shea Stadium and for a very long time the practiced and had their official headquarters at Hofstra University on Long Island.  -- Jayron  32  03:44, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

Pardon my ignorance, but Queens is on Long Island. I know little of NYC culture, so speak to me as to an idiot. Magog the Ogre (talk) 03:49, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The Wall Street Journal recently did a survey of Jets and Giants fans. While the Giants have more fans in New York, Jets fans tend to be older, wealthier and less liberal. This probably reflects how the Jets used to play out in Flushing and thus had a fan base in the suburbs of Long Island and adjacent eastern Queens. ("Long Island" generally refers to the suburbs of Nassau and Suffolk counties and not to the geographic Long Island, which includes Brooklyn and Queens.) The Giants used to play at the Polo Grounds and then Yankee Stadium, so they have a strong fan base in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 04:30, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The Titans (as the Jets were originally known) played their first 4 seasons at the Polo Grounds and didn't draw flies, so presumably the move to Flushing worked very well in their favor. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:46, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Hat type
What is the name of this style of cap? Thanks. L ANTZY T ALK 09:29, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Karakul. ---Sluzzelin talk  09:36, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * That was fast. Thanks, Sluzzelin. L ANTZY T ALK 10:21, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

StuRat (talk) 22:08, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * Looks similar to a garrison cap. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:09, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * I think the OP was asking for the name of the hat, not what it is similar to - which is obvious. Caesar&#39;s Daddy (talk) 08:11, 4 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, the similarity of a garrison cap to what's sometimes called a "Nehru cap" or "Gandhi cap" could be relevant, as a token of the uniform worn by Indian nationalist political prisoners in South Africa (where Gandhi started his political career). —— Shakescene (talk) 04:50, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

Ref desk meta-question
Shouldn't we add to the rules of the page for innocent readers the implicit policy that any comment given in small text is meant tongue-in-cheek? Not everyone knows that. Finalius ( Say what? ) 16:00, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * In general, discussions about the Reference Desk's management should take place on its talk page: Wikipedia talk:Reference desk (shortcut WT:RD). In brief, though, anyone who doesn't immediately 'get' that the change in formatting denotes a tongue-in-cheek remark probably isn't the sort to read through the instructions at the top of the page, and definitely isn't the sort of person who will follow the links there back to our detailed guidelines pages.  There are an awful lot of different discussion conventions that we don't mention or discuss in detail at the top of the page: indenting, formatting, use of ALL CAPS, how to link to pages and images, etc.; I'm not sure that this one would be the one I'd add an explanation for.  That said, if you feel that there are editors who are making this page too confusing or distracting to its users by taking us off on a lot of irrelevant semi-humorous tangents, then you should definitely bring the matter up with them on their own talk pages (or ask for the assistance of other Ref Desk editors on WT:RD.)  TenOfAllTrades(talk) 16:39, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that's true that people who don't "get" the change in formatting are people who aren't paying attention. Many people may be well meaning, but not internet-savy people.  Such people may assume a level of professionalism (This is the Reference Desk provided as a public service by The World's Largest Encyclopedia, after all.) and not catch the meaning of the change in formatting. Especially as some of the "jokes" are almost-plausible sarcastic suggestions.
 * I also wonder how the small text renders on screen-readers and other unusual browsers. APL (talk) 18:34, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * The "rules" list is almost certainly read by almost nobody. It's a nice thing to be able to point to when someone does something wrong, but other than that, I wouldn't put much faith in its educating ability. --Mr.98 (talk) 19:32, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * I use small text a bit differently, for any comment that's not an answer to the Q (and not designed to help get to the answer). Jokes could qualify, but some jokes are actually answers, as well.  However, for the most part, I do put jokes in small text, for those find my tiny bits and pieces amusing. StuRat (talk) 22:07, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

(Catholic Saints)
How did Saint Kilian Die? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.52.118.18 (talk) 16:42, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * He lost his head. See Saint Kilian. --Tagishsimon (talk) 18:22, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * More precisely, his head was forcibly removed from the rest of his body. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  00:20, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * He could be the patron saint of the straight-razor. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:06, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Garlic Paste Problem
Hi guys. I'm a bit of a funny eater - I'm always looking for that next extreme taste hit, and so go through intense phrases where I binge on strongly flavoured foods - blue cheese one week, pomegranate molasses the next, fresh chilis the one after. Now, the problem is that I've recently started to consume large quantities of those tubes of garlic paste - basically pureed garlics, and I can't get enough of them. My wife, however, objects, and it definately seems to impede our attempts to make out. I've tried brushing my teeth until my gums bleed, but that won't work. Does anyone have any tips so I can keep eating mountains of garlic paste whilst keeping my marriage on the track? Great Green Gourd (talk) 19:39, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Persuade your wife to eat it too. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:09, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Chew vast amounts of parsley afterwards. --TammyMoet (talk) 20:24, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Hay Bro... an' listen here. Women are more subtle than that. Forget trying to mitigated the garlic. Yeah,  really! She is say whats next? ... So... Yummy mummy!!  Take a looker here: . Also, a pinch of Ammonium chloride for seasoning,  adds a little je ne sais quoi.  Enjoy! --Aspro (talk) 20:26, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Fortunately, Wikipedia has an article on Stink Heads. All of a sudden I have an urge to explore my fridge again! Boy; am I going to have to stick to my new year's resolution to diet.--Aspro (talk) 20:34, 2 January 2011 (UTC)


 * In all seriousness, the only thing that will work is if your wife eats garlic too. Nothing you can do will supress the smell of garlic, which will be coming out of your pores as well as your mouth. If she eats garlic when you do, she will also have the smell and will find it less overpowering from you. 86.162.68.52 (talk) 21:12, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * And the smell coming out of your mouth is not because of tiny bits of garlic stuck to your teeth that you could just brush away. (Well, that could also be it, but you say you brushed) it's coming from the blood vessels in your lungs. (Alcohol does the same thing. This is why no amount of brushing will fool a sobriety test.)
 * Consider skipping on to your next food fad. Or even going back to blue cheese. That's worth a second go. (especially melted over a bacon sandwich!) APL (talk) 22:19, 2 January 2011 (UTC)
 * From the WP garlic article "Due to its strong odor, garlic is sometimes called the "stinking rose". When eaten in quantity, garlic may be strongly evident in the diner's sweat and breath the following day. This is because garlic's strong-smelling sulfur compounds are metabolized, forming allyl methyl sulfide. Allyl methyl sulfide (AMS) cannot be digested and is passed into the blood. It is carried to the lungs and the skin, where it is excreted. Since digestion takes several hours, and release of AMS several hours more, the effect of eating garlic may be present for a long time. I concur with APL. You need a toothbrush with a much longer handle. The unholy smell, to a lesser extent, also comes out in your sweat. Hmm, what price your marriage? Richard Avery (talk) 08:22, 3 January 2011 (UTC)
 * The sense of smell is apparently very important to sexual attraction and response. Some people find the smell of garlic on a person unobjectionable or even appealing, but apparently your wife is not one of these people.  I agree that if you value the relationship, you will want to cut back on the garlic.  Marco polo (talk) 16:47, 3 January 2011 (UTC)