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

= March 12 =

Thole
Your definition for thole refers solely to the names of two men. Thole is a common word in northern Ireland and Scotland meaning tolerate as in "I can't thole that man". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.40.207.210 (talk) 20:01, 12 March 2014 (UTC)


 * See, this is an encyclopedia. Most entries here are nouns, and proper nouns at that, like Ireland, Gerry Adams, Goidelic languages, etc.  Verbs, like "thole", "eat", "prosecute", "defecate" etc., are defined in dictionaries, like our sister project Wiktionary.  Cheers.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]


 * So James T. Kirk didn't care for the Tholians ? StuRat (talk) 21:51, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * He thought they behaved like a-tholes. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:47, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Per Jack, wiktionary explains it under thole. Wikipedia does mention and explain in connection with Clan Tweedie's motto '"Thol and Think"'' ("Thole" is an old Scottish word meaning "suffer" or "endure"). ---Sluzzelin talk  21:59, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Military command structure in Non-US countries
In the US, the Joint Chiefs of Staff do not maintain operational control of the military, but are rather responsible for administrative duties related to the armed forces. Is this structure common in other countries too? Does, for ex, the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army maintain operational control of the Pakistani Army? Thanks Acceptable (talk) 21:31, 12 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Civilian control of the military (by the President/Congress or Prime Minister/Parliament) is a keystone of democracy. As such, you will find this in first world nations, but not so much in third world countries, where the military is often the ultimate power. StuRat (talk) 21:45, 12 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia does have an article titled Civilian control of the military. The tension between a military which controls the government, and a government which controls the military has been a constant historical theme for a long time.  Just today, I was reading (out of interest, mostly) Wikipedia's articles related to the English Civil War and the Commonwealth of England.  One of the core themes of that entire period of British history is that very problem: How much involvement should the military have in running the state, and how much involvement should the state have in running the military. Indeed, I would say it is THE central theme of that period in British history, and that was a question being asked in the middle 17th century.  Generally, it seems that in most countries, the civilian government is nominally in charge of operational control of the military, up until the time that the Military gets fed up with those civilians, and overthrows it to establish a military dictatorship.  And the U.S. has come close to that situation in the past as well, so we shouldn't think ourselves too smug in the west for avoiding such things.  See Smedley Butler and the Business Plot.  -- Jayron  32  22:35, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

To clarify, I meant that those who hold the title of a "Chief of Staff" in the US military do not exercise operational control of military forces. Instead, operational command is delegated to the 9 Combatant Commanders. Do officers in other nations' militaries who hold the rank of "Chief of Staff" actually maintain operational command of military forces? Acceptable (talk) 22:39, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * AH. You just want to know about the association of a specific title and the job description of that title, is that right?  If so, the Wikipedia article and section Chief of staff may be of interest to you.  -- Jayron  32  22:47, 12 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Ah yes, that's correct. Thank you very much Jayron, didn't know that page existed =) Acceptable (talk) 23:07, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * The UK Chiefs of Staff Committee's main role is to advise the government on military affairs. The members of the CoSC are also members of the Defence Council of the United Kingdom which is chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. Alansplodge (talk) 09:28, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

Why is the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG only offered in "slushbox" automatic?
Any reason why the sportier version of the Mercedes C-Class is not offered with a traditional manual or semi-automatic paddle-shifter manual transmission? Acceptable (talk) 21:55, 12 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Paddle Shifter. 70.174.141.142 (talk) 01:16, 13 March 2014 (UTC)