Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2014 February 12

= February 12 =

Bread Slicer
What was the best thing before? Provide reference please. 103.4.167.58 (talk) 03:37, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Smoking
This is a really personal question, and NOT a request for medical advice.

When smoking cigarettes, I have noticed that I very often need to pee, very shortly after starting the smoke. Now, this annoys me, because I have to go back into whichever building I was in, to go to the toilet, therefore only smoking a little bit of the cigarette I had just lit. Is there a relation between the two? Does smoking cause you to want to pee? KägeTorä - (影虎) ( TALK )  15:54, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * It does not appear to be a physiological effect, because according to several sources I can find, nicotine has an anti-Diuretic, thus should make you pee less. See  and  and  The fact that you want to pee as soon as you start smoking seems unrelated to the effect of the drug, which should have the opposite effect.  -- Jayron  32  17:53, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I can propose a reason. It's the getting up and walking to go outside which causes the need to pee.  I suggest you take a bit of a walk before going out to smoke, to hopefully allow you to urinate before you light the cancer stick.


 * If, on the other hand, it's the cold air that makes you need to urinate, then you would actually have to walk outside first. StuRat (talk) 18:36, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Jayron's right, the direct physiological effect of nicotine is anti-diuretic, but there may be other effects that still induce urination. Also, unless you're rolling your own or smoking a very few brands, cigarette smoke is famous for having dozens (hundreds?) of other compounds in it, right? So you could be reacting to any of those... At least you are not alone, here is someone asking the same question on some other forum, where some respondent claims nicotine irritates the bladder. Without commenting on the truth of that claim, it's logically possible for the nicotine to reduce dieresis (over the next few hours), while still making you want to empty your bladder in the short term. FYI, I've never heard people comment on smoking inducing urination, but I have heard many people claim that cigarettes can increase the urge to defecate. There are also many other factors that could bias the results of your self observation: do you drink coffee as well? Do you go out for smokes at similar times every day? etc. SemanticMantis (talk) 20:42, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Just guessing, but I think you mean diuresis, not dieresis. Somebody supply a joke please? --jpgordon:==( o ) 00:09, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Ha! Of course. I suppose it's not that funny, but "diuresis" is an example of dieresis... SemanticMantis (talk) 16:52, 13 February 2014 (UTC)


 * It's well known that a morning cup of coffee will induce a bowel movement, and that lighting a cigarette on the platform is a surefire way to make the train arrive, so I'd be surprised if smoking didn't cause some people at least to micturate. μηδείς (talk) 01:11, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Unknown ship in the background of an image


Hello,

I have recently searched for some ship images on google, and found this image here on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:French_Torpedo_Boat_No._63.png

Could you please point me to approximately what type or name of the big ship with the tree tall masts on the background in the image in the left half of the image?

Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.141.100.128 (talk) 16:13, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * See Sail-plan. Looks like a full-rigged ship to me. --Viennese Waltz 16:34, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * As it happens, I've recently been researching "age of sail" ship types - and I have to say that the nomenclature for those vessels is a complete and utter mess! The terminology changed with dizzying frequency - the same name could refer to two or more wildly different kinds of ship - different countries used the same name for different ship types - it's just horrible!   Given the relatively modern vessel in the foreground, we must conclude that this is a photo from more or less the end of the age of sail.  At that time, the name of a relatively large three-masted ship would depend on whether it's a cargo vessel or military - and if military, on the number of guns on board, and even what role it had been assigned to.
 * I've been especially interested, for example in a ship type called a 'Barque Longue', which was a popular type of ship for pirates in the Caribbean. I discovered that a Barque Longue from the LaSalle expedition had been wrecked off the coast of Texas and the recovered remains were in a museum restoration department, right here in Austin, TX - where I live.  So I contacted the head marine archeologist and asked if maybe I could get a sneak-peek at the vessel...which was granted - but then I happened to mention that I was particularly interested in these ships in conjunction with pirate activity - and was told that no, this is "the wrong kind" of barque longue and this example is a totally different kid of ship from the vessels of the same nomenclature that the pirates used.   Argh!
 * SteveBaker (talk) 17:55, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Not just sail boats, small boats are bad for this as well. There were at least three different kinds of Bateau used in North America alone. Rmhermen (talk) 18:25, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

The Military port of Toulon was, and is still, France's main naval dockyard, so it's unlikely to be a merchant ship. It bears some similarity to the French ironclad Couronne, which seems to have operated from Toulon at the time of the photograph (1880); she underwent a major reconstruction in the following year. Most of the other major French warships of that era that I could find images of had prominent rams curving forward from the stem, for instance the Colbert. However, it's very far from being a definite identification; hopefully someone who knows more about the French Navy can pin it down. By the way, the vessel in the right background resembles the French ironclad Gloire, the world's first ironclad warship. She had gone of out service in the previous year, but wasn't broken-up until 1883. The rigging is different to the images that we have, but these were changed fairly regularly, so it's possible. Alansplodge (talk) 18:32, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

NAME OF A FLOWER
What is the name of the flower that grows in the mountain region of Europe and Asia and starts with the letter E? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.2.69.122 (talk) 17:32, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Edelweiss. Matt Deres (talk) 17:43, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * I may be reading too far into it, but this crossword tool may help with future problems. Of course, it's cheating, but that's a personal decision. InedibleHulk (talk) 19:36, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Hoo sez it's cheating? I see no Rules for Purist Cruciverbalists.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  19:44, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * You need to spell it right! Rules for Pendantic Cruciverbalists! --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:56, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
 * They should all go and hang themselves. :)  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:14, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Don't forget, humour is supposed to be offered in small text. And everyone should sign their posts using four tildes. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:21, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

Little headphones
Sorry for my ignorance but I always have wondered what are those headphones that singers have during a concert onstage for? -- Miss Bono  [hello, hello!]  22:36, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Generally speaking, it's so they can hear themselves over the crowd. And if they're lip-synching, it's so they can hear the playback and try to make it look good. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:17, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Oh, I thought it was because they had to hear someone from backstage. What a fool I am! -- Miss Bono  [hello, hello!]  23:35, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * We have an article about them, in-ear monitor. (I actually learned about them from American Idol!) Looie496 (talk) 23:43, 12 February 2014 (UTC)


 * At times they ARE used to hear someone backstage. That someone could be making suggestions as to what to perform next, or whether to do an encore, etc, all based on that person's reading of the audience. HiLo48 (talk) 01:39, 13 February 2014 (UTC)


 * They also use them for TV news broadcasts. Once they had their lines  mixed up and I heard the stage instructions "Switch to camera left...stretch...now go to remote".  It gives me more respect how they can manage to say anything with somebody talking in their ear the whole time. StuRat (talk) 03:38, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
 * See also Reference_desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013_December_8 - a recent question on the same subject. Alansplodge (talk) 21:17, 13 February 2014 (UTC)