Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 November 22

= November 22 =

Bridge camera (not fujifilm)

 * is there any superzoom camera from canon, or sony, or nikon or pentax that have a lens system like the fuji hs10/20/30/50/xs-1?? Not saying the 30x or 50x or 1000000x thing, just the manual zoom and manual focus, a range over 25x even over 20x… and the build quality
 * I made this question some time ago, but again I got disconnected from the point&shoot world…
 * and viewfinder quality too
 * Thanks! Iskánder Vigoa Pérez (talk) 03:03, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Dates used in Wikipedia
I study biographies. I need to know about the dates used in Wikipedia, specifically, whether the older, Old Style (Julian calendar) dates have been converted to the New Style (Gregorian) calendar or not. What is Wikipedia's general policy about this, if any? This issue applies to all countries all over the world, I guess, but probably mostly applies to Europe. Tandava9 (talk) 03:08, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * WP:OSNS is the manual of style guideline. Generally they're given in whatever style was in use at the time, and if that's unclear it's specified. "Dates of events in countries using the Gregorian calendar are given in the Gregorian calendar. This includes some of the Continent of Europe from 1582, the British Empire from 14 September 1752, and Russia from 14 February 1918 (see the Gregorian calendar article)." Shadowjams (talk) 03:23, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I have read what the Manual of Style says about the dates given. And I have read the Wikipedia articles about the Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar (and other articles about dates and calendars). These are very good. But it is sometimes still not clear, at least to me, whether a certain given date is in the Julian or Gregorian calendar. It is all pretty complicated. Thanks for your response anyway.24.143.39.130 (talk) 18:10, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Specifically, which dates in which articles didn't you find clear? -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:15, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Since Wikipedia articles are edited by thousands of different people at different times and places, only some of whom follow the manual of style and other guidelines, it is likely that the answer to your question will vary from article to article. In principle, every date in an article should come from a referenced reliable source, and if the article doesn't make it clear which calendar it uses, one should go to the source and check; but in practice many articles are not adequately referenced, or the sources may not be easy to get hold of; and I have no doubt that in some cases the editor who inserted the date was not even aware that there was an ambiguity. Sorry. --ColinFine (talk) 00:58, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Thank you, Colin. This helps.24.143.39.130 (talk) 22:37, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Headphones ranking website

 * is there any site like, for instance, dxo is for cameras, but for headphones?
 * I have the beats monster tour since a year or less, but a friend that moved recently to the us just gave me a pair (from a brand that I had ever heard) and man they sound good, to me better than the beats, hands down, and this headphones seems to cost only 20 in amazon, in fact right now are options at just 12…
 * The headphones box has written: “wicked audio metallics 1954 made in china”…
 * he bought a player last week in a store at a gas station and as it came without headphones (oddly?) they offered him those for free
 * thanks... my last q of the week!! Iskánder Vigoa Pérez (talk) 04:32, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * I found this place, head-fi.org . For what it's worth, I've done well with Sennheiser, even with their lower-cost items. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:00, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

PT boat delivery
How were U.S. Navy PT boats delivered to the Pacific Theatre during World War II? Their small size and fragile nature indicates they could not have sailed from their construction sites in the U.S. on their own. Were they carried on other Navy vessels? If so, what type? Were they shipped whole, or disassembled and then reassembled upon arrival in the Pacific? → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 18:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * USS PT-109 on board SS Joseph Stanton.jpg This would seem to indicate they were shipped whole. MilborneOne (talk) 18:17, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Agreed. In an example detailed at Pacific Wrecks - PT-48 "Prep Tom / Deuce", three PT Boats being sent to the Solomon Islands were carried on the decks of two United States Navy oilers, presumably to a port large enough for the ships to berth, where they could be hoisted outboard as in the photo that Milborne has posted. They were then towed close to their final destination by smaller ships, in this case by two old Clemson class destroyers (which had been converted to destroyer minesweepers), finally completing the voyage under their own propulsion. Alansplodge (talk) 17:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Milborne's image is of SS Joseph Stanton, a Liberty ship - the boat was PT-109 commanded by one John F Kennedy. More details here. Alansplodge (talk) 17:19, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Place for additional chess queens
Where a second queen (and, possibly, third in case of second promotion) is normally kept during chess tournaments? Are there additional pieces in the same place just in case if a player opts for a knight, for instance? Brandmeistertalk  18:59, 22 November 2013 (UTC)
 * A second queen is kept next to the board, along with all the pieces that are eventually captured, so the players have easy access to it. Tournament sets you buy will usually have extra queens as the only extra piece. Tournament officials will have spares of everything just in case: pieces, boards, clocks, etc. It is pretty rare for underpromotions to happen, and it would be even rarer for them to happen without first having one of your other knights/rooks/bishops captured first, so the extra queen is enough to cover almost all cases. Recury (talk) 20:54, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * You're right though that (in principle) you need an extra 8 of each piece (except the pawn and the king) in each color in order to allow for all possible promotions. It's spectacularly unlikely that anyone will get to promote more than one pawn in a competition match - let alone the 8 theoretically possible maximum!  It's even less likely that the player would choose to promote to a knight for the benefit of the moves it does rather than to the more generally powerful queen (although it does happen).


 * It's also (remotely) possible that someone might deliberately choose to promote to a weaker piece than a queen in the situation where choosing a queen would somehow force a stalemate in a situation where you'd otherwise be able to win. Hence we could theoretically see as many as 20 bishops or 20 rooks on the board at once!  But keeping 8 spare white bishops in every set to allow for that record-breaking once-in-the-entire-history-of-the-game situation where this bizarre thing happens would be kinda crazy for even the most careful competition organizer.  But for competition play, I'm sure they have enough spare sets to cover all eventualities (four complete chess sets - each with a spare queen would suffice). SteveBaker (talk) 23:12, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * It is also possible to have a scenario where promoting a pawn to a knight delivers checkmate, whereas promoting to a queen does not, because a knight attacks a square that a queen does not. Mitch Ames (talk) 07:05, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Actual Full Mailing Address (w/zip code) of a Corporate CEO/Pres. et.al.
Having just downloaded your article on UnitedHealth Group only to discover that no where in it do you provide the corporate address for Hemsley, their CEO. in Minnetonka Minnesota. I wish to write him directly, can you help me?

My husband and I are both on Medicare and have different MediGap policies with UnitedHealthcare. Two days ago we received identical letters informing us that as of Feb. our primary care doctor (we've had for over 15 years) is no longer going to be in their network. They dropped him not vise versa. Those letters also tried to direct us to only one Dr claiming he was a primary care MD; it turns out that doctor is a Rumatologist and doesn't 'do' primary. He's also 35 min., away vs. 10 min. These letters claimed his address was in our town but, that location is only his sattlite office he visits 3 times a month.

UnitedHealthcare's web-site is opaque regarding actual mailing address'; ands when I asked several of their customer service people, they claim they didn't know it either.

Do I have to e-mail Ed Stych, Editor of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, and ask him if he'll tell me that address because the world's reference source - Wikipedia doesn't list it?

BYW, when you think about it, why shouldn't every article W has on all these corporations include this basic information?

Yours, B Sears — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.217.177.122 (talk) 19:52, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

66.217.177.122 (talk) 20:03, 22 November 2013 (UTC)I am looking for the correct full address of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Group, based in Minnetonka, Minn. their own web-sites are opaque re: exact address', or any address really.

Shouldn't basic information such as corporate mailing address' be included in every Wiki article on any & all companies?

BonniS66.217.177.122 (talk) 20:03, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and not a directory or phone book have a read of Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not for more information. MilborneOne (talk) 20:15, 22 November 2013 (UTC)


 * It looks like his address is:

9900 Bren Road East Minnetonka, MN 55343 (http://www.venturedeal.com/Executives/Stephen-Hemsley-UnitedHealth%20Group-Chief%20Executive%20Officer-Profile) RNealK (talk) 23:20, 22 November 2013 (UTC)