Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 December 27

= December 27 =

What is the origin for male or female symbols?
213.57.97.151 (talk) 09:58, 27 December 2014 (UTC)


 * If you're asking about the symbol which is a circle with a cross joined to it at the bottom, and the circle with an arrow pointing upwards and to the right, they are the astrological glyphs for Venus and Mars respectively. Did those symbols predate the religious system which gave us those deities? --TammyMoet (talk) 10:06, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * According to Stearn, Carl Linneus first used them for male and female in 1751 but as symbols for Venus and Mars they go back to the Ancient Greeks. -- Thincat (talk) 20:54, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Also Gender symbol.Naraht (talk) 20:55, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Spear and shield is the way I've heard it, for Mars. And the mirror, for Venus. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:03, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Surely I'm not the only one who recognized the arrow pointing up as symbolic of something more typically male than a spear! 124.148.198.165 (talk) 07:42, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Long and pointy weapons of war have long been satirized as "phallic symbols". And don't call us "Surely". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:10, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Ribbed blanket
So there's this kind of a ribbed blanket that we call "lysumphee" (but it also sounds like "lysungfee"/"loshing fee" in places) and I'm told it's actually an English word but I can't find it on Google anywhere. Obviously I've gotten the spelling wrong, and maybe we don't pronounce the thing correctly (We're Bengalis). Anyone know what it might be called? Thanks in advance! 202.153.41.162 (talk) 16:56, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Can you find a picture of it and upload it here please? --TammyMoet (talk) 22:00, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * The OP would do well simply to google "ribbed blanket" and then click on images and see if he finds something similar. If he still doesn't know what to call it he can at least post a link to the image. In the meantime there is quilt and he can also google images of quilted blanket, not all of which are "quilts". μηδείς (talk) 22:25, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Maybe some type of fleece? Igor the facetious xmas bunny (talk) 16:46, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Question
Is there any article with over 490 references? 177.182.52.101 (talk) 17:22, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Deaths in August 2014 has over 490 references, 522 to be exact. Deaths in 2013 (talk) 17:47, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * But aside lists and schedules (appendix), is an article like this? 177.182.52.101 (talk) 19:54, 27 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Articles with the most references shows War in Donbass may have the most. Rmhermen (talk) 15:07, 28 December 2014 (UTC)

Question (2) (Most accessed Wikipedia article ?)
What was the most accessed article on this site in history? If so, when? 177.182.52.101 (talk) 21:25, 27 December 2014 (UTC)


 * I changed your title to actually be useful. StuRat (talk) 21:53, 27 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Statistics can link you to some statistics.--Aspro (talk) 23:36, 27 December 2014 (UTC)


 * That particular statistic (which you'd think a lot of people would wonder about) doesn't seem to be collected anyplace that I could find. There are lots of lists of the most popular today, this week, this month or for any particular page...but none for all time.  So rather than give you a single answer, I'll point out the trends...


 * Technically the Main Page article is by far the most visited...but I'm sure that's not what you wanted to know!


 * For most individual years, the most popular articles come from a disappointing set of likely user errors:


 * Wiki
 * Searching
 * 404 error/
 * 404 error
 * Favicon.ico
 * %s

...then articles like the following come up often - and are probably the most popular actual, for real, articles:


 * Facebook
 * YouTube
 * United States
 * The Beatles
 * Wikipedia
 * Google
 * Adolf Hitler


 * ...then a bunch of them rise in popularity for a year or two - then fade:


 * Barack Obama
 * Michael Jackson
 * Sarah Palin
 * The Dark Knight (film)


 * An alarming number of popular searches are for various sex topics: sex, vagina, penis, masterbation and List of sex positions...there are at least two dozen of these in the top 100 list for most years!


 * Sadly none of this illuminates much...beyond that there a lot of small kids who want to find naughty pictures. SteveBaker (talk) 20:35, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I have to ask - does masterbation really outrank masturbation? Tevildo (talk) 22:46, 28 December 2014 (UTC)