Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2013 September 3

= September 3 =

Companies which have foreign ownership but only have branches in the United States
A thought just came into my mind: are there any notable, large companies such as restaurants, gas station chains, hotel chains, and other kinds of businesses which only have branches in the United States, but are nevertheless owned by either a foreigner or a foreign company? Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 00:20, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Are you also including U.S.-based subsidiaries, such as the Shell Oil Company and its foreign parent company Royal Dutch Shell? Zzyzx11 (talk) 06:07, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * No. Only full-blown companies which only have branches in the United States but are owned by a foreign company or a foreigner (for example, a restaurant chain X which only has branches in the US, but is owned by company Y which is based in, say, Spain). Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 09:01, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Citizens Financial Group is owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. There are also a number of U.S. banks that have foreign ownership and have some degree of foreign branding, such as HSBC Bank USA, the former Marine Midland Bank, now a subsidiary of HSBC.  I don't know if you would consider these "full-blown" or not.  John M Baker (talk) 18:38, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * TD Bank and RBC Bank advertise in the U.S. with no indication that they are Canadian-owned banks (although corporate ownership is always a convoluted thing). --Xuxl (talk) 09:56, 5 September 2013 (UTC)
 * For example Trader Joe's is owned by German Aldi (Nord). KarlLohmann (talk) 01:43, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Warranty in Best Buy Canada
Does anyone know if warranty for electronics can still be valid if you've lost original proof of purchase? 74.15.104.189 (talk) 06:38, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * It will depend on the store. If it is a store's own brand then they will know that they sold it, and may have records of when they sold it to you.  A credit card statement may be able to show the date. You can try to ask. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 09:43, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I see that Dell specifically mentions "If you purchased through Best Buy, you must have all original sales receipts ..." http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/19/solutions/limited-hardware-warranties Ssscienccce (talk) 12:32, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Thankfully ASUS is a little more fair, requiring only the SN. Alright, now since I have never prepared a package to be sent for repairs, can anyone provide image examples of how one places the RMA number, details of technical problems and whatnot? 74.15.104.189 (talk) 15:48, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

New York City Subway Circle Bullets
When did the New York City Subway start using circle bullets on the subway cars? WWEWizard2 (talk) 10:31, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * For those who don't know (I'm still not sure), the OP might be referring to these. Dismas |(talk) 01:11, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, New York City Subway bullets certainly implies that they began to be used in 1967. Deor (talk) 09:28, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Caption humor
As a kid I owned a 1970s Guinness Book of Records edition, and I distinctly remember the entry on Robert Wadlow. The caption of his image read "Robert stands next to six foot one inch brother Eugene, (left), and six foot three inch brother Harold, (far right). Robert is in the center wearing glasses.". I always believed this redundancy was intentional and meant to be humorous (maybe because that's what my parents told me then). Anyway, I know I've seen dry caption humor in other publications, even in more serious ones than The GBoR. The Economist is famous for its punny image captions, of course, but can anyone give me an example of an encylopedia or dictionary or other reference work, of the non-humorous kind, that slipped in a funny or punny image caption? (Note: I only mean image captions, not other forms of injecting humor such as Pschyrembel's fictitious "Steinlaus"). ---Sluzzelin talk  13:40, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Do you mean other than some of the images on Wikipedia pages? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 16:11, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, I mean printed works of reference which not anyone can edit. ---Sluzzelin talk  16:22, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * (ec) ShortList, a free men's lifestyle magazine available in the UK, very often has humourous captions for its images. In fact, that is the main reason I pick it up when I can.  Oddly, this isn't repeated on the website.  Astronaut (talk) 16:19, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * This kind of humor sneaks into Wikipedia on occasion - although there is a small army of rather humorless people who are dedicated to expunging it. Just off the top of my head, I would suggest: Spherical cow, Turtles all the way down, Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den, Rubber duck debugging, Cow tipping, Snipe hunt...all of these have tongue-in-cheek captions on images that aren't necessarily relevent to the subject matter. SteveBaker (talk) 18:43, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The main page featured article from a few days ago has one in the lead that made me smile: Parity of zero. I don&#39;t have a name (talk) 12:14, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 * :-) Yeah - that's a classic, I'm surprised that the humor police didn't take it down. SteveBaker (talk) 18:27, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
 * The McWhorter brothers used to sneak jokes into their Guinness book. One of my favorites had to do with multiple marriages. The record belonged to (by then deceased) Thomas Manville: "Manville made his fortune in asbestos, which he unfortunately could not take with him." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:43, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * The McWhirter brothers did the same thing. Richard Avery (talk) 07:08, 5 September 2013 (UTC)


 * I saw a caption very similar to yours in a local newspaper. At the time, Paul Simon (a white guy) was touring with Ladysmith Black Mambazo (an all-black group in African clothing).  The photograph caption read "Paul Simon (the man wearing a suit), sings with...".  Now they might have done that because of a newspaper policy which prohibits mentioning anyone's race unless the story is about race, but it made me laugh. StuRat (talk) 08:03, 4 September 2013 (UTC)


 * That's a good one. I recall a Miller Lite ad, where Brooks and Frank Robinson (white and black respectively) where Brooks pointed out that he and Frank are not identical twins. Frank confirmed that, saying that he's at least 2 inches taller than Brooks. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:21, 4 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks, everyone! I knew I'd seen examples on Wikipedia, but thanks for the collection most of which I hadn't seen or noticed. Still curious about seeing this in The Encyclopedia Britannica or something similar sold in hard copy.  ---Sluzzelin  talk  21:00, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

What's the main U.S. entry port for the Volkswagen Touareg vehicles?
I saw a Carfax vehicle history report that says "vehicle manufactured and shipped to original dealer". All Touaregs are manufactured in Bratislava, Slovakia. But the first five digits of the vehicle identification number (WVZGM), is identifying Germany.

Also, what's the main European exit port for that Touareg? Slovakia doesn't have any seaport because it's a landlocked country. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kiel457 (talk • contribs) 20:05, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Those VIN identification codes aren't a sure-fire guarantee of country of manufacture - they are sometimes the country of origin of the car company itself...but not always! My MINI Cooper has a "W" at the start of the VIN - and it's made in the UK by a British company that's owned by a British holding company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of the same German holding company that owns BMW.  The German "W" is inherited by a fairly tortuous route in my case...but in your case it's more direct. Volkeswagen is the manufacturer of the Touareg - and they are a German company...hence "W" even though it's not manufactured there. SteveBaker (talk) 20:35, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * The ports of Bratislava and Komárno provide access to the Black and North seas. μηδείς (talk) 20:46, 3 September 2013 (UTC)


 * Our article on Port of Wilmington (Delaware) states it's the main entry port for Volkswagen vehicles in the United States. Other sources on the web (not necessarily reliable) mention that other ports are also used, including Houston, Texas and Brunswick, Georgia. There are various options to ship out of Europe, either via a German port (Hamburg or Bremerhaven) or the Netherlands (Rotterdam) both accessible from central Europe via either river transport or rail. Other sites mention Emden (in Germany) as a possible shipping port. Can't find anything specifically for the Touareg. --Xuxl (talk) 10:01, 4 September 2013 (UTC)