Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 January 13

= January 13 =

Race And Intelligence And Exercising
I have read the Race And Intelligence article and i was wondering if the racial differences in intelligence could be due to some kind of exercising? I read also that exercising can improve our intelligence, and that things we do CAN be passed on to next generations, so I was wondering whether these differences could be due to some physical exertions one nation has been engaged in while the other wasn't. Thanks a lot! Daniel h1 (talk) 01:25, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I'd expect nutrition to make more of a difference. A protein deficiency, in particular, seems to result in "brain fog". StuRat (talk) 01:29, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * As well as Race and intelligence, you might want to read History of the race and intelligence controversy. --  Jack of Oz  [Talk]  01:49, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Here is some recent research that might demonstrate something. HiLo48 (talk) 02:39, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * But like Jack, I suggest you be very careful in drawing any solid conclusions here. The second sentence of Race And Intelligence begins... "There is no widely accepted formal definition of either race or intelligence in academia..." So there's your starting point. HiLo48 (talk) 02:50, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Races don't have IQ's, individuals do. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 04:46, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Also, consider that the reason women aren't reported as having a higher average IQ than men, and there aren't endless papers and essays discussing why, is that all standard IQ tests adjust for gender so that men and women both average out at 100. It is general practice to adjust the scores from IQ tests, so that every population averages out at 100, so that individuals can be compared to the average. It's why no matter what country you take an IQ test in, the average is 100. So every study that finds a difference across race or ethnicity has chosen not to adjust the IQ scores for those groups, unlike standard practice. 86.140.54.211 (talk) 13:04, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

I doubt this question is going to get a satisfactory answer that doesn't run at least tangent to some of the Arbcom restrictions on this topic. And I don't think there's much of an answer that we can provide here that isn't, at best (certainly not great), answered on wikipedia by reference to our pre-existing articles.

If someone was bold and resolved this I would certainly agree. Shadowjams (talk) 13:57, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Can someone link to the appropriate ArbCom discussion? 20:51, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * WP:ARBR&I -- Jayron  32  01:15, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Japanese clothing
I'm having a hard time identifying the costume wore by a character named Amari Nobunaga in the InuYasha manga series. Here's a picture of the character. I thought it's a standard hakama but the neckline is very different, and so is the inner jacket (is it shitagi?). I'm new to these Japanese terms so can someone tell me the the specific names of the costumes? Thank you, 五代  (talk) 12:07, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Kimono? manya (talk) 04:06, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Is it really a kimono? It sure does look like one but what about the legs? Also, as I've noted above, the neckline is very different. Kimono's neck is closed but the costume's is different. 五代  (talk) 11:18, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Looks like a yukata to me. Hakama is worn by men or Miko. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 12:50, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It seems to me a daimon. See ja:大紋. It's a kind of hitatare, ja:直垂. Oda Mari (talk) 16:37, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * That's actually probably right. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 19:46, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * A daimon. Thank you KageTora and Oda Mari. 五代  (talk) 03:47, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Variable income tax rate by occupation
Just wondering, has any country implemented an income tax where favored occupations, say teachers, pay a lower tax rate that non-favored occupations, say strippers ? StuRat (talk) 17:54, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Wow, what a can of worms that would be. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:15, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It's rare, but it happens on a limited scale; the usual method is to provide income tax reliefs or reductions for specific occupations or expenses, rather than have a distinct rate of taxation for a given occupation.
 * The UK retains a clear example of one such case; sailors who spend more than half their time outside the UK but are ordinarily resident there (and so would normally be liable for UK tax) are completely exempt from all tax on their seafaring earnings. Other states have similar rules - "Denmark has reduced rates of income tax, France reimburses all social charges for seafarers to employers and the Netherlands does not levy income tax and social security on personnel of Dutch-flagged ships if the operating company is based in the Netherlands" (source). Andrew Gray (talk) 18:27, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * It is certainly very common for business income to be treated differentially based on the business activities it originates for. (Usually, though, such tax incentives take the form not of varying the marginal tax rates - the way it's done e.g. with qualified dividends on the US federal income tax - but by offering various special deductions, credits, accelerated depreciation schedules, etc. This is why a US state's income tax booklet may talk about solar and wind energy, disadvantaged areas, riverboat casinos, you name it...). As far as personal income tax is concerned though, I have not heard to source-specific rates, but some features remotely similar to what you've described are perhaps the following:
 * complete exemption for certain income types (e.g., soldiers' "combat pay" and certain allowances in the US.
 * greater personal deductions/standard exemption for residents of certain remote areas (I believe we have, or used to have, it in Canada). The idea, of course, being that most of personal incomes earned there are from mining, forestry, and similar activities.
 * occupation-specific deductions, e.g. for educators in the US.
 * tax treaty exemptions. Those are often highly activity-specific. Most often, they apply to foreign students, educators and researchers, sometimes to foreign government officials. But there is a great variety there; for US treaties with foreign countries, get the IRS Pub. 901 for some entertaining reading.
 * business licenses. I remember reading that in some jurisdictions small businesses can/could opt to buy an annual "license", under the terms of which they would pay a certain fixed amount of tax (computed based on the business type and size, I assume), instead of having to compute their actual business income for a year and produce an actual income tax return. I am not sure whether the government's ideas as to which businesses should be "favored" would enter into the rate-setting process, but that's certainly not impossible. -- Vmenkov (talk) 18:38, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It wasn't an income tax, but in the UK in the 1960s Harold Wilson's Labour government introduced a 'Selective Employment Tax' on service industries in an attempt to encourage manufactauring. See here for some of the problems it caused. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 18:49, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Income tax in the Netherlands is an example of the tax breaks available to some people in some occupations - in this case people whose skills are scarce in the Dutch jobs market. Astronaut (talk) 14:03, 15 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Ireland allows artists and writers to sell their creative works tax-free up to €40,000.. Prior to 2011, there was no limit to the tax break. --D Monack (talk) 03:46, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Safe to use 2-pronged to 3-pronged ungrounded adapter?
I have an LCD HDTV that requires a 3-pronged grounded outlet. I live in the USA. However, the room where I want to place he TV only has 2-pronged ungrounded outlets (it also doesn't have the nail in the middle of the cover). Is it safe to plug my TV into a 2-pronged to 3-pronged ungrounded adapter? I tried it and it turns on and everything, but is it safe to use? Will my house burn down? Will I receive a lethal electric shock? Acceptable (talk) 19:52, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Check the owner's manual for your TV. Most will say if you should not use an adapter.  RudolfRed (talk) 20:36, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * The purpose of the earth (or ground) pin is to provide protection against damage or injury if the equipment malfunctions in certain ways. Its absence will not have any effect on normal working, but could make the equipment much more dangerous. Unless the equipment is double insulated (in which case the earth pin is not functional) do not do this unless you understand the risks. --ColinFine (talk) 21:12, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Note that there are ways to add grounding after the fact. Many adapters will include a metal contact for ground, which you then attach to a wire, which in turn is attached to a good ground, such as a drain pipe.  Note that the ground wire doesn't need to be insulated, since it's not normally "hot".  Or, if you have properly grounded outlets in other rooms, you could run an extension cord to them.  However, just because an outlet has 3 holes doesn't automatically mean that it's grounded.  It should be checked first.  StuRat (talk) 22:18, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Most authorities now point out that extension cords are for temporary usage only, and should not be used in permanent or long-term situations, because of fire risks, etc. For long term or permanent use, you are supposed to contact a licensed electrician to install an additional outlet, or in the discussed case, turn the two-prong outlet into a three-pronged one. - That's what you're supposed to do - actual adherence to the recommendations may vary. -- 71.35.120.28 (talk) 17:15, 14 January 2013 (UTC)


 * All risks are relative, and they risk of using the proper extension cord, in the proper manner (so it doesn't overheat or present a trip hazard) are less than the risks of using an ungrounded outlet, IMHO. StuRat (talk) 06:04, 15 January 2013 (UTC)


 * It sounds like you're referring to a Cheater plug. As both that article and NEMA connector says, using them isn't a good idea particularly in a case like yours where the outlets are definitely ungrounded. Nil Einne (talk) 02:53, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Weird Experience
I've experienced this often enough: something (a word I've never known existed, or a story I've never heard of before, or a picture I've never seen, etc) that I come across for the first time, I come across almost immediately for a second time elsewhere. Like today, I learnt about what a Tamagotchi is in the morning, and then read a Sheldon Cooper quote about Tamagotchis on Facebook. I'd never in my 22 year old life, heard or read about or seen Tamagotchis before. Does this phenomenon have any particular name? 117.227.47.21 (talk) 19:59, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Synchronicity -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:04, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Excellent. A nearly identical question was asked within the last day or so, only this time we've got a term for it. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:34, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Another relevant article is Littlewood's law (wherein it's just not that special a coincidence). And you may wish to consider the possibility that you have heard of Tamagotchis before, in passing, but because they're so trivial you just forgot them (just as you've forgotten the names of lots of other toys you've never owned). The coincidence of these two mentions (so close together than you didn't forget it again, in time) is one thing; ascribing to random events a causal relationship is pareidolia. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:11, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. IBE (talk) 02:25, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * The redirect is to the Frequency illusion. IBE (talk) 02:28, 14 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Why do I get the freaky feeling I have just recently come across the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon? 05:01, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It's like deja vu all over again. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:16, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It happens to me a lot. For example, I went to a birthday party a couple of days ago, and the person whose birthday it was still has my old Fender Stratocaster. He has done it up and looked after it, and said I can have it back if I need it. I haven't seen it for about 5 years. After I came home, one of the kids I was working with at a primary school in Hungary had sent me a message saying he had just got a Fender Stratocaster. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 06:03, 15 January 2013 (UTC)
 * No small number of times, I've said something out loud and a second or two later the very same word or sentence appears on radio or TV, in a different context. I think of these odd coincidences as God playing little jokes on us. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 06:01, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, that brings up a whole raft of difficulties. Since radio & TV is rarely broadcast "live" - and when it is, there is always a good length of delay included - God would either have to have known what you were about to say some months before and pre-planned the whole thing, involving who-knows-how-much intervention in the brains of scriptwriters and/or editors and/or TV station schedulers...either that or he'd have to have tweaked your brain to make you say that at just the right time.  Either of which would be bad for "free will"...which most religions regard as essential.  So I'd say "busted" on that idea.  :-)  SteveBaker (talk) 15:17, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
 * It happens a lot to me, because I read a lot, and when I am reading, and the family is watching TV, which I never do, the very same word will often be said at the same time I am reading it. It's not a God-thing (I am an atheist). It's either just a pure coincidence, or the fact that I am reading the same BBC article that the BBC program on TV is talking about. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:19, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

I never used any of the maths I learnt in school
...and this is proving to be a slight problem. It seems I am now friends with this guy that's basically a genius, not only does he show everyone else up all the time, but most of the time I don't have a clue what he's talking about, so I thought, why not look online and study a bit of engineering and computing stuff, maybe actually learn something for once. Except, then it turns out, I don't understand even the basics, because I've totally forgotten all the maths I learnt after we moved on from basic arithmetic. And there we get onto the real problem, I used to be pretty good in maths at school, it was all easy, almost intuitive, I had some of the best people in the class coming to me for advice, so I know I can understand it all, but quite simply, at 24 now, I've forgotten it all, my mind just goes totally blank at even the simple little kinematics equations I used to find so fun, never mind differentiation or functions.

So, I guess I need to refresh my memory, relearn all that stuff, and probably basic physics as well, and most of all get to practice on some actually difficult maths, rather than the simple stuff I encounter every day. Any idea where I can go to find all that? Online study guides would be good, seeing as I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on textbooks and the like.

many thanks,

86.15.83.223 (talk) 22:46, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Wouldn't the Maths Desk be the place to ask ? StuRat (talk) 22:49, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Khan Academy should have all you're asking about, particularly the maths. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:52, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I just checked that khan academy, looks good, they seem to have a few hundred videoes on the topic, which is a lot to work through, but it looks like most of them are pretty short. do they do practice equations and such like I can try out to get my brain working away properly again? just that I found solving lots of problems to be the way I learnt best at school.


 * And they do a bit of physics as well, enough to get started at least. 86.15.83.223 (talk) 23:05, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * They do; e.g.:  -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:10, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * If you live near a library, you might be able to get hold of Schaums Elementary Algebra. I swear i dont work for them, but i always promote Schaums. You can read reviews here . The good news is, at 24, you still have plenty of time. At 30, you might be more worried. IBE (talk) 02:22, 14 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Ooh, I could go to the university library, they have lots of interesting books there, I used to read all the stuff in the history section before 86.15.83.223 (talk) 02:47, 14 January 2013 (UTC)