Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 July 24

= July 24 =

Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.'s Purple Heart
How did Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr. qualify for a Purple Heart? He died in the line of duty, but Purple Heart specifically states that non-enemy-related injuries, such as "accidents, to include explosive, aircraft, vehicular, and other accidental wounding not related to or caused by enemy action", "do not qualify for award". Did he see service in Vietnam not mentioned in his (rather short) article? 203.82.93.9 (talk) 01:23, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Was he actually awarded a Purple Heart? Most of the reliable sources I'm seeing don't mention it. So far, I've only found one place that does. Clarityfiend (talk) 03:28, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * The very next line in the Purple Heart article states: "It is not intended that such a strict interpretation of the requirement for the wound or injury to be caused by direct result of hostile action be taken that it would preclude the award being made to deserving personnel." Presumably, if he was awarded the Purple Heart, someone considered him "deserving personnel." Avic ennasis  @ 03:37, 22 Tamuz 5771 / 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, but the next couple of lines make it clear that there must still be some link to enemy action. "In the case of an individual injured while making a parachute landing from an aircraft that had been brought down by enemy fire; or, an individual injured as a result of a vehicle accident caused by enemy fire, the decision will be made in favor of the individual and the award will be made."  I doubt that a training accident in the course of the space race spurred on by the cold war counts. -- 203.82.93.124 (talk) 05:01, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

The problem comes from a series of edits on 12 June 2007 by User:Johnisagoodman565 in which he "awarded", without reference, the purple heart to some 15 astronauts who died in accidents. Several of these edits have survived to the present. Johnisagoodman565's initial edits may have been in good faith, but he was eventually blocked for overt vandalism, and stopped editing all together the following week. Later today I'll remove the remaining unreferenced purple hearts he added unless someone here knows of any case in which an astronaut received a purple heart for a space program accident. -- 203.82.81.46 (talk) 13:18, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * ✅ Removed unreferenced posthumous awards of Purple Heart to Michael J. Adams, Ellison Onizuka, Michael J. Smith (astronaut), Dick Scobee, Charles Bassett, Roger B. Chaffee, and Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr.. Most of the others were repaired in 2009. -- 203.82.93.65 (talk) 15:50, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

DVD Reading
Does a DVD player read from inside out, or outside in ?Froggie34 (talk) 14:47, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Data is written to a DVD (and most other optical media) starting at the center and moving outwards. Players will typically read in this order, although there's nothing stopping them from reading from the outside in (for example if you played the movie in reverse AvrillirvA (talk) 15:15, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Reverse playing of a DVD is not achievable simply by reading from the outside in. The MPEG compression uses predictive processing techniques that are not invariant to changes in frame order, so simply reversing the order of the input frame data will not reverse the order of the decoded video frames. A complex algorithm is needed to play movies in reverse. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:57, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * You can actually see how it burns from the inside out if you burn a DVD-RW. The burnt spots are pretty visibly different looking than the blank ones. --Mr.98 (talk) 17:30, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * It's usually claimed Xbox (original not 360 which evidentally uses a fake TOC) DVDs are read from the outside  . Note that with a dual layer DVD, the second layer can either be outside to in or inside to out, with the outside to in for second layer config usually used for DVD video to reduce the transition time (see DVD+R DL). Nil Einne (talk) 20:09, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Sherbrooke, QC bilingual population (FR-ENG) shown as 640 or 0.44% is erroneous.
I was born in Sherbrooke, QC in 1946. I noticed that the numbers given for the bilingual population (according to Canada Stats) was 640 or 0.44% !!! In Sherbrooke Innopole it does indicate that approximately 40% of the population is bilingual (FR-ENG) therefore 40% of 153,000 habitants = 61,200.

I encountered difficulty in editing the document, even with the 'help page'. So maybe someone could verify and edit so that the information is more accurate. Any native of Sherbrooke will agree that 640 bilingual persons in Sherbrooke is erroneous.

Thanks for your help. Loumi

Loumi — Preceding unsigned comment added by Loumi2 (talk • contribs) 17:01, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * You successfully changed the number yourself and gave a clear edit summary explaining why you changed it, so well done and thank you! I think you accidentally clicked on some of the buttons at the top of the edit window that insert bits of wikitext for you - you added your signature and some empty reference tags. I've removed those for you. If you want to help improve the page further, it would be great if you can add a reference for your number. You say it came from "Sherbrooke Innopole", but I don't know what that means. Is it a website? A book? Take a look at Citing sources for instructions on how to add a citation. If you get stuck, we would be happy to help (technically, you should ask at the Help desk, but we can help you here too). Thanks again for helping to improve the encyclopaedia! --Tango (talk) 19:13, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Polyester PET carpet
Preamble:  We purchased and installed carpet in our home in 1976; we think it is nylon but we are unsure. Carpet people (sales, consultants)are saying that the carpet we installed in 1976 is Polyester PET.

We do not believe that Polyester PET carpet was on the market in 1976. When did Polyester PET carpet appear on the market in the USA and/or Canada? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.200.241.3 (talk) 22:54, 24 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Polyester shag carpeting was common throughout the 1970s as a cheaper alternative to nylon. --Colapeninsula (talk) 11:52, 25 July 2011 (UTC)