Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 June 16

= June 16 =

Size of a standard household match?
Hi,

Pretty often, in Wikipedia or elsewhere, a match is used to help visualizing the size of an object (for example see side image), but I was unable to find the actual size of a match on the Match wiki page.

Is there a standard? If it exists what is it? And could this be added to the Match page?

Thanks,

Yannick --YannickPatois (talk) 10:12, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The only standard I can find is the European standard EN 1783:1997 (and nationally adopted standards based on that) which says that the length of the wood shaft, not including the head, should be not less than 27mm. It also specifies some pretty wide margins (around 10%) for the variability of matches that is acceptable within a given matchbox. I don't think it specifies a maximum length or any standard lengths beyond that. In general the use of household items to give scale in Wikipedia images isn't a very wise idea, as your question illustrates.  A particularly common case is where people use coins and banknotes for scale; Wikimedia Commons has info about their deprecation of that practice here; they recommend including a ruler in images where scale is relevant. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 10:34, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Perhaps it should be included in list of unusual units of measurement.--Shantavira|feed me 12:03, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know if there's a US standard, but I just measured a stick match (as opposed to a matchbook match) at about 2 ¼ inches ( 5.5 cm ) long. This is from a box of "kitchen" matches (a large box of matches for household use), which to me look slightly longer (perhaps by ¼ inch or 0.5 cm or so) than normal matchbox matches (small boxes that a smoker may carry around), though unfortunately I don't have any of those handy for comparison. Then, of course, there are fireplace matches, which are probably about 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) long, though it's obvious in your picture that the match is not a fireplace match. -- 174.31.219.218 (talk) 16:05, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I just measured a British Swan Vesta (a leading brand of "pocket" match) at 33mm (exposed shaft) + 4mm(head) -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 16:16, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * "Scottish Heather" 41mm overall, "Ship" 44mm overall, "Out and About" waterproof 49mm overall, Bryant and May "Extra Long" 95mm overall. DuncanHill (talk) 22:51, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Hmm! A bit of a tangent, but, when I lived in Scotland, the popular match was the "Scottish Bluebell".  Is "Scottish Heather" some sort of rip-off cheap brand, or have they renamed it? Tevildo (talk) 22:13, 17 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I am as nearly certain as I can be without actually having the matchbox in front of me that it is still "Scottish Bluebell". Angus McLellan (Talk) 22:36, 18 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe someone at WikiProject Measurement can answer the questions.
 * —Wavelength (talk) 00:07, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Mail from the USA to Canada
If someone in Washington, USA state mailed something to Ontario, Canada, at what point would it cross the border? The way I see it, it either crosses right away into British-Columbia and goes eastwards through Canada, or it goes eastwards through the USA and crosses through Michigan/New York. Also, since the postage is paid to USPS, who pays Canada Post for delivering the mail? --The Dark Side (talk) 14:20, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Can't help with the first half of your question, but for the second, see Universal Postal Union. By the terms of this agreement, the originating country retains the postage fee.  Rojomoke (talk) 14:44, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Most mail these days would go by air if travelling those sorts of distances, so the point of 'border crossing' would be far more fluid and hard to specify, granted standard flight routes, etc. The question would really only be valid for surface mail, where a specific point of border crossing could be defined. For surface mail, at a guess I'd think it would travel through the US for the major part of the trip, but with some mail routes I actually know about they're often far from sensible in a commonsense sort of way (for example if I send a letter to the next town 30 km away, it travels (surface mail) via my nearest capital city, a total trip of almost 800 km.) --jjron (talk) 15:09, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I would guess that pragmatically, the trip across the U.S. would be faster; the most likely border crossing would be at Detroit/Windsor to minimize transit time, if you were shipping it via truck. In the U.S., there are cross-country freeway routes which have mostly 70 MPH speed limits.  The Trans-Canada highway route would be longer (taking a more circuitous route around the Great Lakes) and many stretches of it is of a lower grade of road, being mostly two-lane undivided highway with lower speed limits (excepting some patches, like between Banff and Calgary).  The speed limit varies from 110 km/hr (68 mph) on the freeway sections down to 90 km/hr (55 mph) for much of the rural areas in Western Ontario.  Another logical border croosing may be at Sault Ste. Marie.  I wouldn't think it would cross at Vancouver and go west from there; that would seem to take longer.  -- Jayron  32  15:37, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Considering that the USPS gets to keep the postage paid on a letter to Canada, all other things being equal, it would be in the interest of the USPS to get a letter to Canada by the least expensive means that is consistent with the standard of service. As I understand it, any first-class letter in the United States that is traveling more than about 24 hour's journey by truck will be sent by air mail instead.  I am guessing that the same applies in Canada and that the two have an agreement to handle letters between them the same way.  That said, in this case, I would suspect that a letter from Washington would travel first to a hub near Seattle (perhaps by way of a more local hub such as Spokane for eastern Washington), then from that hub to a hub near Vancouver, then by air to Canada Post's air mail hub nearest its destination in Ontario to its destination (probably Toronto for most destinations in Ontario, perhaps Montreal for far eastern Ontario or Winnipeg for western Ontario).   From that air mail hub, the letter would go to a local distribution hub within Ontario, then to the post office where the letter carrier collects mail for delivery.  For parcels that go by surface mail, I still think the USPS will try to minimize its costs by getting the parcel to Canada by the least expensive means possible.  Again, I think this would mean first to a hub near Seattle (perhaps via a more local hub), then by truck to Canada Post's Vancouver area hub.  Then I would think that the parcel would travel by truck on the slower Trans-Canada Highway, since this would minimize the cost to the USPS.  (By contrast and for the same reason, a parcel or letter sent from Ontario to Washington state would probably enter the US at the nearest border crossing to the nearest Canada Post hub, probably Niagara Falls in many cases.)  Marco polo (talk) 18:39, 16 June 2011 (UTC)

i produce very litle spems when making love ,why?
I produce very little spems when making love, why? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.246.55.139 (talk) 16:41, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Semen quality. --Onorem♠Dil 16:44, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * No medical advice i kan reed (talk) 17:26, 16 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Being single-celled organisms, all sperms are very little. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:42, 17 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't know, this sperm is pretty big. StuRat (talk) 23:30, 17 June 2011 (UTC)


 * The relevant Wikipedia references are Ejaculate (illustrated) and Hypospermia. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 15:11, 19 June 2011 (UTC)