Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 June 20

= June 20 =

Does Wikipedia pay for advertisement in films, etc.
I recently saw two trailers for movies that both mentioned Wikipedia. I want to know, is Wikimedia paying to be mentioned in films, TV shows, etc.? Or is it like simply mentioning "Coke" for a soda? SwisterTwister  talk  05:53, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I highly doubt that Wikipedia would pay for product placement. That's not normally something a non-profit would do.  (A non-profit might engage in other forms of advertising, though, particularly free forms, like interviews for TV.) StuRat (talk) 06:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * No they don't. It merely shows how ingrained WP is in our society. - 194.60.106.17 (talk) 06:52, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Which movies was it, OP? --Saddhiyama (talk) 08:12, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * There has been paid-for advertising by the chapters. As I recall, there were billboards with Jimbo on in either Germany or East Europe, I don't recall. The latter I think. But I don't think this stretches to this, though, and I think the aim was to establish the local-language Wikipedia, a task not (really) needed by en. Grandiose (me, talk, contribs) 09:50, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Those lucky Eastern Europeans. One minute,you have huge pictures of Lenin and Stalin adorning the place, now you get Jimbo Wales' giant sized mug grinning down on you whenever you go out. If that isn't an incentive to up the revolution,I don't know what is! Lemon martini (talk) 12:06, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * @Lemon: Wrong decade I think. :p As 194 said, it's probably an instance of people just having it be a big part of society like Google. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie &#124; Say Shalom! 14:31, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It must surely be the most sincere form of appreciation when people accept you as an integral part of everyday life without thinking twice about it, rather than specifically trying to notice you. J I P  &#124; Talk 18:33, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * I suppose it is a version of "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." (Contested, but attributed to Gandhi, according to the Wikiquote article.) BrainyBabe (talk) 18:26, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

New Applebee's commercial
I saw a new commercial for Applebee's, and I thought one of the diners was Michael Richards. I only saw him for about a quarter of a second as he turned his head. Am I seeing things? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 07:40, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Probably. Michael Richards' image is tainted enough at this point that it's unlikely that a general-audience restaurant like Applebee's would risk the backlash from using him in an advertisement, especially just for a quarter second throw-away shot. It's more likely the person you saw was an extra who simply looks like Micheal Richards. It happens somewhat regularly that there are a number of people who bear an uncanny resemblance to another famous person. Helen Hunt and Leelee Sobieski come to mind. If you saw Sobieski in a commercial during the early part of her career, you could have easily mistaken her for Hunt (although you might have been able to tell the difference by the age discrepancy). -- 174.31.219.218 (talk) 14:26, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

author?
Who wrote the lines: Water, water everywhere and ne'er a drop to drink, Water, water everywhere and 'er the boards did shrink — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.5.111.122 (talk) 19:47, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his epic poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" -- Jayron  32  19:48, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Those lines are more correctly: "Water, water, every where,/ And all the boards did shrink; /Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink." (in particular the order). Grandiose (me, talk, contribs) 20:31, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Most people who do get the words right, still spell "every where" as one word. Coleridge didn't.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  20:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Which was standard practice at the time? In all honesty, it doesn't make much difference. Few people read Shakespeare exactly how he wrote it, because it's edited slightly. Grandiose (me, talk, contribs) 21:34, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, Coleridge didn't write all that long ago. However, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner was deliberately written in archaic language to give it a "old" feel.  Coleridge specifically chose archaic spellings and phrases when he wrote the piece; standard English would have been very similar to today.  I'm not sure what the standard was for "everywhere" vs. "every where" in Coleridge's time, but you shouldn't look to Coleridge himself for the answer, since he deliberately didn't write in a style that was contemporary for him.  -- Jayron  32  02:38, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The first "everywhere" quoted by OED is from the 1590s (Marlowe), last "every where" in 1692 and "every-where" in 1749. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 04:14, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Not surprising, English being what it is. The American national pastime went from "base ball" to "base-ball" to "baseball", with considerable crossover time of usage, before it finally settle on the single word. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:49, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah. And I wish people would finally accept "email" instead of "e-mail".  &#x2013; b_jonas 11:34, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
 * You could start with wikipedia, where it says "E-mail this user". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:13, 23 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Google Ngram viewer (which is really the most amazing tool for resolving linguistic usage disputes) points to 1840 as the year when "everywhere" began to definitively outpace "every where" in terms of usage. (As for "baseball", I don't see "base-ball" as ever being a major usage. If you limit it to "American English," there was a struggle between "baseball" and "base ball" from 1860 until about 1890, when "baseball" definitively started to win out.) --Mr.98 (talk) 12:05, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * This item includes a couple of illustrations showing "base ball" as the original usage, while "base-ball" was being used as early as 1857. The famous photo from the 1903 World Series shows that "base ball" was still in use at the time. In fact, the traditional baseball guides, Spalding and Reach, maintained the "base ball" usage clear into the 1930s. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:19, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Fire Extinguishers and their extinguishing agents
I was in a discussion with someone while researching fire safety measures... the place im doing this research for has lithium at its facility, and the person i was talking to claimed that CO2 extinguishers were suitable for putting out lithium fires. This was according to []. However, in the same article [], it says specifically that CO2 is not for use on metals.

The idea behind using CO2 makes sense in that you arent trying to extinguish with water, which would cause a bad reaction, as happens with lithium, sodium, potassium, etc. However, it is unclear if this is a good thing to use on lithium due to conflicting information. I do know there are some copper based agents which are best suited specifically for lithium, but we are looking for a cheaper alternative, and figure CO2 would be the answer.

So is CO2 extinguishing agent useful against lithium/lithium battery fire?

216.173.144.164 (talk) 20:14, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * This lithium data sheet is adamant that CO2 is inappropriate; the "Extinguishing Media" section lists several appropriate extinguishing agents. The supplier of the lithium or (lithium-containing objects) will be able to provide such a datasheet, with appropriate advice (it may be that what's considered appropriate is also a function of your specific location's materials- and fire-safety laws) -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 20:24, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * You could also seek advice from your local fire department. There may also be requirements to register with them, or the local government, facilities that keep more than a given amount of an unusual and hazardous material like lithium. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 20:26, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Given the chemical similarity between lithium and magnesium, I wouldn't be surprised to find that lithium can burn in a carbon-dioxide atmosphere. It might even react as violently as magnesium does (spraying a magnesium fire with carbon dioxide is like spraying an ordinary fire with compressed oxygen). --Carnildo (talk) 22:50, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Nickelodeon Studios Picture Request
Hi, I'm looking for someone who can take an actual picture of the Nickelodeon Studios on the Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. I would be very grateful if there will be a picture of it on Commons. Thanks for any help. --Simon.hess (talk) 21:12, 20 June 2011 (UTC)


 * You might try asking on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject California/Los Angeles task force -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 21:20, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the link. Asked the question there. --Simon.hess (talk) 21:28, 20 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Maybe also on the talk page of Nickolodeon Studios. ÙÙÙÙ ( EBE123  talkContribs 21:46, 20 June 2011 (UTC))
 * If the OP is looking for a photo he could use in wikipedia, that would likely rule out asking the studio itself. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:48, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I think EBE123 means the talk page of the article, with the idea that somebody who has edited it in the past will be interested in providing a photo. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:11, 21 June 2011 (UTC)