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

= January 27 =

regarding materials used in zero energy building
how can i get the materials used in zero energy buildings with complete details ?

- jaswanth jan/27/2014  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.252.231.226 (talk) 12:28, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Hellp, Jaswnth. Have you looked at Zero-energy building, and followed some of the references and biblography there? --ColinFine (talk) 20:37, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Russian driving
Lately, I've seen quite a few videos on YouTube showing various crashes and other on-the-road stupidity in Russia. It is mostly in urban areas in reasonably good conditions, with many incidents seemingly due to poor decision making on the part of the driver, excessive speed or simply failing to stop at intersections. Is this simply selection bias due to the number of dashboard cameras fitted in Russia or is there some other reason like the standard of driver education being particularly poor in Russia? Astronaut (talk) 19:03, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * You must not have spent much time driving on American highways. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:14, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Funnily enough, I have driven many thousands of miles in the USA, but seen very few accidents. Certainly never someone rocketing through a red light at 60 mph, or trying to turn left from the right lane across three lanes of traffic on a busy highway, or just driving on the wrong side of the road and insisting on pressing ahead even after a head on crash (except of course in those police chase shows).  That kind of thing seems to be almost normal for Russian roads if the amount of videos on YouTube are anything to go by.  Astronaut (talk) 19:33, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I've seen quite a few accidents, or maybe I should say the results of quite a few accidents, and I've seen American drivers do some crazy things. The common thread, apart from obvious issues like drunkenness or other impairment, seems to be the result of one or more drivers not paying sufficient attention to what they're supposed to be doing. I've seen lots of lane-swerving as you describe. I've also seen drivers run red lights and smack somebody and/or get smacked, although usually not at 60 mph. I can think of more than one case of drivers taking the wrong ramp and ending up facing the traffic - and getting killed. News reports turn up from time to time, talking about what a high percentage of American accidents are a result of "distracted driving" - phoning, texting, etc. Accidents are the exception to the norm, and maybe there are proportionally more of them showing up in youtubes from some countries than from others. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:58, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * It's all relative. Russia looks safe compared to say Ethiopia, but rather dangerous if compared to Germany. Here is the Google Translation of the Drivers Education page off of the Russian Wikipedia. 202.4.114.18 (talk) 19:31, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm reasonably sure the Russian law lays out a reasonable standard, but is the law enforced, with police carrying out checks on the driver's licenses? And are drivers expected to actually pass before being let out on the road or are there other means of obtaining a drivers license? Astronaut (talk) 19:39, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * You will find these videos about any country. Russia is just larger, and to the American mind, somewhere (at last!) where they know where it vaguely is, and YouTubers still like to show how 'primitive' it is (because of the Cold War mentality). Traffic accidents occur all over the world on a daily basis. Some Russian cars have cameras - usually to prove that the car in front was wrong when there is an accident (this is good practice - we should have this in the UK). Bear in mind, the YouTubers are not the ones posting these videos. It's the drivers themselves - IN RUSSIA. They are complaining, and due to the sheer size of the biggest country on Earth, there are bound to be more accidents, and videos on YouTube. They are recording the (potential) accidents so as to show them to law enforcement, not for teenage entertainment.  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  20:36, 27 January 2014 (UTC)
 * That would be a good thing in the US too. A lot of police cars have it, but I don't know that the average citizens do. But wasn't it those dash-mount cameras which gave us some good footage of that large meteor over Russia last year? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:52, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Alcoholism in Russia is probably a contributing factor. "In the early 1980s, ... drunk drivers were responsible for 14,000 traffic deaths and 60,000 serious traffic injuries'". Clarityfiend (talk) 02:06, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
 * We have List of countries by traffic-related death rate which shows Russia's rate is higher per person and per vehicle than the U.S. rate (but no figure is provided for per km) Rmhermen (talk) 02:13, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Also Dashcams are very common in Russia, according to the article "... as a form of sousveillance, additional evidence in court, and as a guard against police corruption and insurance fraud". This means that a much higher percentage of crashes are caught on camera. -- Q Chris (talk) 08:45, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Didn't Astronaut/the OP already mention that factor? Nil Einne (talk) 14:39, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Ah. Chris' link to Dashcam and its references went a long way to explaining my question. I'll put that one down to selection bias. Astronaut (talk) 15:32, 28 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I've seen a number of videos of crashes/driving incidents in "Russia" that from various clues appear to have actually occurred elsewhere, particularly in Ukraine. Some of it is just sloppy labelling on YouTube. I've also seen various videos supposedly of people or things in the UK, where I'm from, which definitely were not. --86.12.139.50 (talk) 17:03, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

The Exemplary Egyptian Welfare State
According to this ranking, Egypt is tied for first place among 137 countries in progress in Millennium Development Goals. Is there any analysis on how this factor didn't seem to matter in turning back a revolution? Gullabile (talk) 20:01, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Who says it didn't? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 20:08, 27 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Er...because regardless of it, there have been multiple revolutions there?!? (See: Egyptian Revolution of 2013, Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and Egyptian Revolution of 1919) SteveBaker (talk) 19:32, 28 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Because people want both freedom and prosperity. There was also quite a bit of low-level corruption, too.  See Mohamed Bouazizi.  Although this case was in Tunisia, similar problems existed in Egypt under Anwar Sadat.  Without democracy, it's difficult to confront corruption, as who you know is inevitably more important than if you are actually guilty.  That is, the person in charge will be much more willing to convict an innocent opponent than his own guilty relatives.  StuRat (talk) 19:43, 28 January 2014 (UTC)


 * The OP is asking for "analysis". That doesn't include our own personal opinions, but does include external sources, if any.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:22, 28 January 2014 (UTC)


 * They didn't specify whose analysis is allowed and whose is not. And that analysis is actually from a PBS documentary, I just repeated it here (I'd have listed it, had I recalled the name).  And I included plenty of links, so they can read up on the issues in our articles and their sources. StuRat (talk) 21:49, 28 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Fine (for the latter parts, although it would have been better if you had acknowledged up front that you were relaying someone else's analysis). However, we should not pretend that random OPs have the power to rewrite the rules of the Ref Desk to suit their convenience. If this OP had explicitly asked for our opinions, we would have refused to answer.  So please don't talk in terms of "it's what they asked for".  I'm surprised you'd still be attempting to justify this after being a regular here for over 10 years, Stu.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  04:59, 29 January 2014 (UTC)