Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2011 September 5

= September 5 =

John Bayliss - English Poet
Sir/Madam,
 * I've saerch for many months for the copyright holder of John Bayliss's wonderful poem-Reported Missing. John died in 2008 (England) and you have several articles on him. I'm a local historian from Goulburn NSW Australia and I am seeking permission to use part/all of John's poem in a war segment (volume 4). Can you help?

Yours faithfully, Phillip Leighton-Daly — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.200.207.104 (talk) 01:16, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The permission acknowledgments on p. 3 of this PDF of part of a book in which the poem is quoted say "Reprinted by permission of the Woburn Press". A Google search for "Woburn Press" +London turns up lots of books published by that firm but no apparent Web presence of the firm itself. My guess is that it has been absorbed by another publishing company; perhaps another ref-desker will know what company that might be. Deor (talk) 03:19, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, Newbury House, 890-900 Eastern Avenue, Newbury Park, Ilford, Essex IG2 7HH, Tel: 020-8599 8866, Fax: 020-8599 0984. Imprint: Woburn Press. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 08:44, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

International Theatre, London
Hey,I am searching for an theatre called The International in London. It should have been located in Gerrard Street,Westminster. Does anyone know if there has been a place called this in London? Evt. when it existed,or if it has changed its name,all information will be usefull. Richard — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.213.89.27 (talk) 14:03, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Gerrard Street is famous for Chinese restaurants. I can't recall a theatre there and a thorough Google didn't turn up anything except that John Dryden lived there and that there was a Chinese drug and prostitution racket based at the "Palm Court Club" in the 1920s. Sorry. Alansplodge (talk) 23:59, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

There's another response over at WP:RD/E. In future, please don't post the same question on more than one ref desk. Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:16, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Most Cited Article on the Topic of Liaison Librarians
I am researching a topic in library and information science. In university research libraries, transactions at the traditional reference desk have been steadily declining for more than a decade. New service models are beginning to evolve for reference librarians. One such model is that of the "liaison librarian." I am looking for the one to three most-cited articles in the library/information science literature from peer-reviewed journals. The articles should have been published in the year 2000 or more recently. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Karen Calhoun — Preceding unsigned comment added by Karencal129 (talk • contribs) 15:11, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Have you tried EBSCO's Library/Information Science & Technology Abstracts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Colapeninsula (talk • contribs) 15:31, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Ebsco would be difficult to use for this since it's a pain to sort by citations in their interface. I'd recommend using Web of Knowledge, Scopus or some other database that allows sorting by citation for this specific question.129.128.216.107 (talk) 22:02, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Google Scholar is the perfect tool for a search like this -- it orders findings according to number of citations (although it prefers papers that use the search term in the title). Looie496 (talk) 15:53, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

I tried using Google Scholar before I sent the inquiry to Wikipedia Reference. Have you actually tried using Google Scholar for a particular topic like this? It is doable but very tedious. I was hoping there was another tool out there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Karencal129 (talk • contribs) 20:09, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

SD cards that come with read only portions
I am just wondering if there any companies that provide SD cards that come with truly read only portions of memory. --Melab±1 &#9742; 16:57, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * For what purpose ? If it was read only, it would have to already have content provided by the manufacturer.  So, do you want it to be an SD card you can use to boot a computer or something ?  Or did you mean you want a portion that only allows you to write once ? StuRat (talk) 17:07, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * You can, of course, make most SD cards read-only with a simple switch, but I've never seen one with separate switches for different parts of the card. There is no reason why they could not be manufactured this way, but there would not be a great demand because two separate cards would be simpler.    D b f i r s   07:37, 6 September 2011 (UTC)


 * There were USB sticks that did things like this, eg the U3 sticks, but they did this by emulating a USB hub with two attached devices. That approach is probably not possible with SD cards. Unilynx (talk) 17:52, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

How do prices of gold items behave ?
Let's say I have a gold item (watch, coin, etc.) which has a gold content worth $500. Now let's say it has additional value in itself, so maybe the item has a total value of $750. Now suppose the price of gold doubled overnight, how would that be expected to affect the price of the item ? Of course, prices being dependent on people, there will be no hard-and-fast rule, but perhaps there's a rule-of-thumb ? Here are some thoughts I had:

A) Since the gold is now worth $1000, which is more than the $750 total original value, perhaps it's only worth $1000 now, just the value of the gold itself.

B) Since $250 was added to the value of the gold before, do we maintain this practice, the get a value of $1250 now ?

C) Since the price was increased by 50% before, do we maintain this now, to get a price of $1500 ?

So, if anyone can enlighten me as to the general trend, I'd appreciate it. StuRat (talk) 18:10, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I am certainly not an expert, but the one time I saw someone discussing this, they seemed to be implying that rarity added a multiple to the price of collectible items (e.g. scenario C). Of course, I could be completely wrong.  In addition, it is worth noting that if you are buying something retail you are usually going to overpay for it compared to what you can sell it for.  Dragons flight (talk) 18:46, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * It really depends on the item. A gold coin from ancient Rome has a value that cannot be measured by the amount of gold it contains. Same with a finely crafted watch or other more artistic items. Usually with such items the intrinsic value of the gold has less to do with the items resale value than the item's craftsmanship, rarity, and condition. A gold Rolex is going to be worth less when you re-sell it than it was new, as it is one of the more common gold items. A golden cup made in Greece 3,000 years ago is going to be worth a great deal more than it was when first produced. The price of gold is just that, the price of the gold itself. Unless the buyer is planning to melt down the item it is not particularly relevant to the resale price of the item. Beeblebrox (talk) 19:20, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Rarity does not act in anything like a linear fashion. Posit silver at $20/troy ounce.  "Tiffany" may attract a multiple of 2.5  (fixed from 5 per post ensuing) (this was actually about the case) so a 20 oz. troy sterling platter (18 oz. fine silver) might bring $900.   As silver increases to (say) $50/oz., the multiple diminishes (again from observation)  to say 1.5 -- so the 18 fine ounces brings $1350.   For coins, the general principle is that "common" bullion coins move in pretty much sync with the bullion market,   and that coins initially priced well over bullion gain less than a proportionate amount (rare gold coins did not treble in the past year).   As for Rolexes - one bought in 1950 is, indeed, going to have a higher dollar price than it did as new - the break point is somewhere in the 1970 area when gold "floated."  Cheers. Collect (talk) 20:35, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I'm not quite following your numbers. 18×$20 = $360.  You have to multiply that by 2.5 to get $900, not by 5.  So, did you mean to say 2.5, or was the error elsewhere ? StuRat (talk) 01:59, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Not exactly a cornerstone
What exactly do you call a stone embedded in a building, rather like a cornerstone, when it is one of several, rather than something singular? I would tend to call it a "dedication stone" but I notice we have no article or even redirect at that name, so I'm wondering whether there is another term for it. - Jmabel &#124; Talk 21:27, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I think dedication stone is right (31M ghits). Somebody should create the article (hint hint). Oddly, there's already Dedication Stone, but that's a specific one. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:31, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The alternative name given in the Cornerstone article is Foundation stone which is a better description of the stone in your picture, even if it's not actually in the foundations of the building - few are. I think "a ceremonial masonry stone, or replica, set in a prominent location on the outside of a building, with an inscription on the stone indicating the construction dates of the building and the names of architect, builder and other significant individuals" just about fits the bill, don't you? Alansplodge (talk) 23:39, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * No, that doesn't fit the bill. There is exactly one cornerstone or foundation stone on a building, and it is related to (as the text indicates) the year & architect. This is a different (and less common) thing, where significant donors are acknowledged, usually each donor on a separate stone. - Jmabel &#124; Talk 05:20, 6 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I think that they are a type of commemorative plaque. Mikenorton (talk) 09:59, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

The San Francisco Treat
It's just me for dinner tonight, so I'm making a box of Rice-a-Roni. The instructions say to brown the rice in a bit of butter before adding the water and seasoning packet. Why? What does browning the rice do? Is it for flavor or does it help the flavor in some way? Dismas |(talk) 21:35, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's for flavour. See Maillard reaction. Matt Deres (talk) 21:44, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Of course, if one is eating Rice-a-Roni, one may not have flavor as a concern at all... -- Jayron  32  22:12, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! And I'm less concerned with taste sometimes when other things like getting out the door for work are of greater importance.  Dismas |(talk) 23:06, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Well, it improves the texture too -- rice is less likely to get mushy when you treat it that way. Looie496 (talk) 23:24, 5 September 2011 (UTC)


 * In my experience, one is actually browning the vermicelli (i.e. the "-roni") moreso than the rice. -- LarryMac | Talk  12:21, 6 September 2011 (UTC)