Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 July 15

= July 15 =

animal attacks
Which state has the most deadly animal attacks? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.191.101.243 (talk) 00:23, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Depends on what you mean by "deadly animal attacks". For example, the deadliest animal in the United States is the white-tail deer, with about 150 people killed each year in car-deer collisions. --Carnildo (talk) 01:04, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * My guess would be Texas. The deadliest attacking animals in the US are bees, with Texas getting the largest number of attacks.  The next deadliest attacking is the dog (mostly pit bulls), and Texas has a lot of those too.  Looie496 (talk) 02:29, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * It's worth noting that all of these numbers are low. Bee sting deaths are about 40-100 per year, due to people who are allergic to the venom. Fatal dog attacks come in around 5-17 per year (California just edging out Texas for #1 on those). To put those numbers in perspective, last year ~32,000 people died from automobile accidents, and that's the lower per capita for quite a long time. Diabetes contributes to something like 230,000 deaths per year. This blog post has some nice numbers on animal deaths per year, though I'm not sure where they are coming from. Some of them seem right, some seem inflated. The comments to the thread point out some of the problematic parts. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:50, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Your dog numbers are out of date. It's up in the 30s now, because of all the morons who think pit bulls are cool pets. But otherwise, yeah. Looie496 (talk) 02:55, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Looie, please don't WP:SOAPBOX about your opinions of pit bulls. Being as involved as I am in the local animal rescue and shelter scene, I've seen plenty of pit bulls and their owners.  I wouldn't describe any of them as "morons" and the dogs have had just as much variety of temperament as any of the other breeds that I've encountered.  I'm not saying that there aren't morons who have pit bulls, but please, unless you can cite some sources, don't make generalizations about pit bull owners.  Dismas |(talk) 04:20, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The article Dog licence notes the regulations for dog ownership in various countries. Some include safety related requirements, such as rabies vaccination and increased taxing or micro chipping of breeds deemed dangerous. The experience in Great Britain was that dog licensing was widely ignored and was abolished in 1987. The article Dog attack gives statistics and describes the rôle of an owner in a dog's behaviour pattern. We also have a List of fatal dog attacks in the United States. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:51, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I would simply note that something that kills a total of 30 people per year is still not exactly public enemy #1. While a doubling over a decade sounds impressive, you're still talking about extremely small numbers here, averaged out over a population of 300 million. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:13, 16 July 2011 (UTC)


 * You guys are just begging to be taken to task by HiLo48 for the US-centricism apparent here. Many other countries have states.  And whole countries themselves are referred to as states.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  03:39, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The OP's IP geolocates to Athens, Georgia. The United States is the most logical conclusion to the OP's use of the word "state".  The respondents shouldn't be chided.  If anyone should be admonished, it's the OP.  But then we'd be accused of biting newcomers...  Dismas |(talk) 03:52, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I have no interest in checking out OPs' geolocality, nor should it ever be necessary. If they specify a place in their question, fine. If not, I generally take questions at face value. I might sometimes be astute enough to believe they're casting their net too widely and are really only interested in a smaller area or set of data or whatever, but I would always check in with them about that, rather than assuming my assumptions are correct about their precise interest. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  04:05, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * It should never be necessary, but often it is. APL (talk) 04:13, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * But why? Seriously, why?  If I went to a real life library ref desk and asked some vaguely worded question, would the librarian just spout out a whole pile of stuff they assumed was relevant, or would they check with me first about exactly where/what/who I'm interested in.  If the OP went to a US library and asked the above question, it would be more than fair enough for the librarian to believe and assume he was interested only in US states.  But this is not a US library.  Our OPs have some responsibility to tell us what we need to know to answer their questions properly.  And it's not our responsibility to go digging around in the ether to discover what we can about where they're located or anything else about them.  We're here to be of service, but that doesn't mean slavery; the OPs have to play their part too.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  04:35, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree with you about the real life librarian scenario but here we don't have that instantaneous feedback. The OP may ask a question and then not come back for a day.  And when they come back, what would be better?  We answer their question with a question of clarification or we answer what we think they want to know and then they can clarify based on that?  There are quite a few people who may be ignorant of the fact that these questions are not answered solely by US Americans.  Just look at how many don't read the instructions and then post their contact details.  Including phone numbers at times!  Dismas |(talk) 04:53, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Response is on talk page. --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  05:12, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * We made an assumption based on the phrasing, to be sure. Do people in other countries say "which state has X?" It's a pretty common phrase in the US to mean American states. If we dug up wrong answers, so be it — the OP comes back, says, "oh, I'm sorry, I meant nation state" or whatever, and we get new statistics for them. It's really not a capital offense and I suspect the interpretation of intent was valid. If it's not, well, no big loss. I would rather make an assumption and be found to be an idiot than to get pedantic over how people phrase their questions, personally. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:38, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Spray-painted markings on road
I often take walks, and in many, many places I have seen spray-painted "graffiti" on the road. Usually it is cryptic-looking numbers or letters, together with a line or a cross, apparently to mark a location. Sometimes I see numbers in sequence: distance markers, it seems, but measured from what?

What is the formal name for these markings? Where can I get more information? For what it's worth, I live in Connecticut, USA. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.43.128.68 (talk) 06:53, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't know if it is the same phenomenon, but when I have seen such things here (in the UK) I usually note that shortly afterwards they dig up the road for some purpose or other, or else repair the surface. I assume that they are left by an inspection or survey team to tell the following team where to work. --ColinFine (talk) 07:43, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes. They might also mark where underground pipes are so that the workmen know where not to dig. --Viennese Waltz 07:51, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Yes, in fact it could be any of the utility services. I have been responsible for some of those survey markings when I set out measurements for road maintenance and improvements back in the 1970s. We didn't have any special name for them.--Shantavira|feed me 08:03, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * In South Africa where I come from if the cryptic marks are in dayglo green they relate to a traffic accident and were painted by the police in the course of their investigation. The paint they use fades within a week or two. Roger (talk) 13:59, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Marking on the road is sometimes graffiti. Sometimes it is for a game for children. IMO chalk marking is less asocial than spray painting, and the most forgivable graffiti I have seen was "I love you B____" spray painted on a snow bank. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 14:16, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * For further on the Utility aspect, see Utility location. Nanonic (talk) 23:47, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

A small minority of these may be the result of alien invasion, but for the most part, the painetd indications themselves are called "mark outs" and indicate the location of or direction to underground utility facilities. Ignore or misplace one and risk a phone or electric outage or a water main or gas main blowout. μηδείς (talk) 01:52, 16 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Some markings often are made by land surveyors, to locate utilities or prepare for road improvements (as already indicated above). If one of the characters is a Δ, that may be a control point, indicating a specific coordinate point and/or elevation to be used for laying out the improvements. It's used to make sure that the new features are at the proper location and elevation as designed by the engineers, and often is measured from a nearby USGS survey monument, which has known coordinates and elevation.
 * If the numbers were in the format of XX+XX.XX (or XX+XXX.XX), that's a station number, usually referring to the centerline of a road or other right-of-way (often called an "alignment"). In standard US measure, Station 1+00 is 100 feet from station 0+00; in metric, station 1+000 is 1000 metres from station 0+000. If it's followed by a distance and an R or an L, then that's indicating how far away from the centerline that point is. For example, the numbers 12+50.25 35.00'L would indicate that the point is 35' to the left of that station (left or right being defined as looking "up-station" at the centerline, or looking toward higher-numbered stations). -- McDoob  AU  93  02:46, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

I couldn't find info about an organization and just wanted to submit it as an idea for someone to write about
Hi, I thought submitting an idea for an article would be easy, but I couldn't figure it out. I was looking for information about a non-profit running television ads in Wisconsin to influence State Senate recall elections, and the only thing that would come up was the non-profit's own website. Wikipedia doesn't seem to have any information about it. The non-profit calls itself: American Federation For Children. The link to an article I did find about the organization is: http://www.talk2action.org/story/2011/4/24/22559/1547

It would be good for someone to write about it for reference on Wikipedia. I don't know how to do it, but I'm sure someone would like the idea. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.202.48.14 (talk) 15:59, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * If the only information about them is from their own website it is not a suitable subject for Wikipedia. The notability criteria require an article subject to have multiple independent reliable sources. Plain English answer - if nobody else has found them worth writing about, we don't do either. If you can find articles about them by reputable news sources they might pass. Roger (talk) 16:10, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually I got over 200,000 Google hits for this org excluding their own website so notability should not be a problem. Roger (talk) 16:22, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The American Federation For Children is certainly notable - they have been very involved/influential in political campaigns all over America. Neutralitytalk 16:52, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Science fair sponsorship
I am hoping to compete in the Regional science fair, which leads to the California State Science Fair, and Intel ISEF, which is the Olympics for High school science. My experiment in microbiology is going to take ~$100 to pay for a bacterial transformation kit and pGLO gene refills. Are there any businesses/institutions I can write to seeking sponsorship of my project? I know that the winners of ISEF were sponsored by Bio Rad, which also produces the materials my experiment needs, but I am unsure how a student would go around getting a grant. Would I write to them about my project and ask for sponsorship?--DSbanker (talk) 16:51, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Have you discussed this with a counselor or teacher? Looie496 (talk) 19:37, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * (ec) Have you considered talking to your science teacher? $100 is not a huge sum in the post-high school world, and they might have ideas about how you could convince the high school itself to either pony up the money, or activities that would be allowed for that purpose (e.g. selling candy bars or something, or sending a note around to various science teachers seeing if they'd be willing to pitch in $20 apiece — but you'd want to make sure those things are fine with the school, first, because they often have regulations about this sort of thing). I think trying to pursue a formal grant for $100 is more trouble than it is worth, but perhaps others will have suggestions along those lines that are appropriate for this level of education (my experience in trying to get formal money is that you do a lot of work for not very much money). If you think of it as five $20 bills, it's really not that huge a sum (consider family members, family friends, etc.). --Mr.98 (talk) 19:40, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * One option is to use DonorsChoose, it is exactly set up for these sort of "microgrants" for educational purposes. You may need the help of your teacher to make the formal request for the funds, but it is one possible outlet.  YMMV, I have no idea on what the typical response time is for getting a grant from them, since it basically requires that some random stranger will read your proposal and personally donate the money for your project.  But it is one option.  -- Jayron  32  21:52, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Another suggestion is to borrow it from your parents. They might be a lot more willing to help for this than, say, concert tickets. StuRat (talk) 22:37, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Name of relation
Can you please tell me what how someone is related to me if they are my grandfather's, sister's grandchild? I'm really bad at this stuff. I thought maybe third cousin?--108.14.201.227 (talk) 20:14, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Second cousin. If you trace your family lines back, the first common ancestor you get to is a great-grandparent. That means second cousin (if you share a grandparent you are first cousins, a great-grandparent, second cousins, a great-great-grandparent, third cousins, etc.). You are in the same generation (the common ancestor is a great-grandparent to both of you), so you aren't any times removed. --Tango (talk) 20:31, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * (ec) No, it's only second cousins. Start with your grandfather and his sister: they're siblings.  Their respective children are (first) cousins, because they share common grandparents but not common parents.  The children of those cousins are you and this relative you asked about - that's second cousins, because you share a common great-grandparent but not common parents.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  20:34, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * FYI, there's a chart at Cousin. Your grandfather's mother (your great-grandparent) is the other person's great-grandparent (Their grandmother's mother). So look under great-grandparent/great-grandparent in the chart to find that it's plain second cousins. -- 140.142.20.229 (talk) 02:23, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Bicycle wheel axle
Looking at the axle of the front wheel of my old bicycle it has, going from the middle outwards, the axle, a nut, a frame fork, another nut.

What is the purpose of the inner nut? Is it a common feature of most bicylces?

I've noticed my front wheel can wobble or move from side to side a little if I move it with my hand, even though the inner axle is firmly held by the frame forks and is not moving. My rear wheel does not do this. What can I do to reduce this wobble? Is that what the inner nuts are for - do they hold the components of the axle bearings in place? Should I tighten them up? Or is there something else I should do? 2.97.208.91 (talk) 21:53, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * The inner nut stabilizes the frame on the axle. If there were just one nut, the frame may flex in ways to make the front wheel unstable.  The inner nut serves to "lock" the frame in place and essentially make the fork and axle work as a single unit, rather than having a free-floating axle wobbling around on the fork.  I suppose it doesn't have to be a nut, you could design an axle with a washer welded in place, or some other form-made design to press the fork against, but the advantage of the "four nuts and one long screw" for an axle is that it doesn't use an specialized parts.  -- Jayron  32  21:56, 15 July 2011 (UTC)
 * So when replacing the wheel after fixing a puncture for example, what should I do with the inner nuts? Normally I do nothing with them. 2.97.208.91 (talk) 22:06, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Hmm. Those inner nuts are actually the "cones".  They are screwed in and out to adjust the play on the bearing.  If they are screwed too far out, the wheel will wobble - too far in and the bearing will drag and you will damage it.  See Wikipedia. --Phil Holmes (talk) 09:09, 17 July 2011 (UTC)


 * That's right. You don't need to touch them if you are only repairing a puncture. You might find bicycletutor.com useful.--Shantavira|feed me 08:02, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

For the sake of arguement, what should I loosen if I want to replace the ball bearings? Perhaps this needs tightening. 2.97.208.91 (talk) 22:06, 15 July 2011 (UTC)


 * My impression is that the cones can be screwed in or out, and that the inner nuts are there to lock the cones into place. 92.24.179.33 (talk) 09:22, 17 July 2011 (UTC)