Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 December 9

= December 9 =

Traditional antipodes of France
Based on the discussion above - what are the traditional (or, if you prefer, "in popular culture") antipodes of France? For the USA, it's China - for the UK, it's Australia. It wouldn't be unreasonable for Australia to be the term used in France as well, but a definitive answer would satisfy my uncertainty. Tevildo (talk) 00:24, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * 1) Several traditional ideas come to mind for the French popular culture "aux antipodes" or "les antipodes". There is not really one clear name like in the US or the UK. The most common traditional idea is Tahiti (although it's not geographically the closest), closely associated with the idea of the desertic immensity of Pacific Ocean associated with the idea of remoteness from any land and any human being. Another a bit less common idea of "les antipodes" is New Caledonia, and Australia then finds its tradition at that same level. Only then comes New Zealand, BUT,
 * 2) nowadays there is a new common and traditional popular idea of the antipodes, that comes from the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup comments by TV sports programs and newspapers like L'Equipe, about "les antipodes" as almost a kind of synonym for New Zealand and sometimes for the entire area of New Zealand, Australia and islands like Samoa or Tonga.
 * Traditionally, most French people would have answered "Tahiti" or "the Pacific Ocean" and more rarely "New Caledonia" or "Australia". Nowadays, especially in the southern half of France, more and more French people would answer "New Zealand". Akseli9 (talk) 08:23, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks! The French are rather more geographically accurate than the Anglophone nations, it seems. Tevildo (talk) 22:35, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The United States has to be given a little slack on this, I think, given that the entire antipodal image barely touches land at all, if I recall correctly. I looked at it once, and it was really sort of remarkable.
 * I think the antipodal point of Los Angeles is closest to the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, which doesn't really roll off the tongue. The nearest major bit of land that everyone has heard of is Madagascar, but that still misses it by quite a bit. --Trovatore (talk) 22:44, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * My antipodes is between Kerguelen Islands and the drably-named Île de l'Est, both of which are part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands but easier to say. —Tamfang (talk) 07:02, 11 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Ah, here's a nice illustration from our antipodes article. --Trovatore (talk) 23:02, 9 December 2015 (UTC) Antipodes_LAEA_inverted.png
 * Shows that the "New Zealand" as the antipode of France is really not that far off... -- Jayron 32 23:52, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Arrgh, nails on chalkboard &mdash; no such word as "antipode". Right, but better for Spain. Most of the world's land mass is antipodal to ocean.  The major exception is Chile and Argentina reflecting into China, Mongolia, and southern Siberia. --Trovatore (talk) 23:56, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Hmm. The editors of the geographical journal Antipode might have something to say about the non-existence of the name of their esteemed journal. See also Antipode (chemistry) and Hopf algebra. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  07:28, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The journal says it's "critical" geography, explaining that it's a Marxist variant, so I wouldn't pay that much heed. The others seem to be specialized usages.  The point opposite from you on the Earth is the antipodes, with the ess.  Do we have an article on false plurals?  If you write it well, I'll give you a kudo and put it in a matrice. --Trovatore (talk) 18:18, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * "Are there any news?" "Not a single new." TenOfAllTrades(talk) 18:40, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Actually, 'antipodes' is not a false plural, but a real one; the singular form of ἀντίποδες is ἀντίπους. ODE has only the entry "antipodes, n. pl.", and notes that the singular 'antipode' is still used in some senses, even though of course in the geographical sense 'antipodes' is normally treated as if it were a singular. - Lindert (talk) 19:33, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Well, "matrices" is also a genuine plural, but that doesn't make "matrice" any better. From your etymology, I suppose you could come up with "antipus" or some such as the singular. --Trovatore (talk) 20:04, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, I like the idea that I live in Britain's antipus, where the platypodes play and the octopodes oscillate.
 * Another solecism is "indice" as the singular of "indices". And of course "specie" is used in banking circles.
 * Let us explore this further: if the plural of dominatrix is dominátrices, we could back-deform it to dominatrice; and aviatrix >> aviátrices >> aviatrice. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:41, 10 December 2015 (UTC)
 * We shouldn't forget (although I'm sure we'd like to) "sapien" (as in Homo) if we are building a list. Tevildo (talk) 00:49, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * It's always a good time to build a list. Anyone who doesn't like lists is clearly insane (this is not to be taken as medical advice).  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  02:15, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * You can throw in ephemeride, comedone, bicep. I concede that the last has (unfortunately) probably become normalized by now. --Trovatore (talk) 02:36, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Diabete! One asbesto. Very poisonou. Boöte. Quadricep. Dres. Jos. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 03:06, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Unos, dos, tres, catorce? μηδείς (talk) 21:46, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * (Diabetes, asbestos, Boötes, quadriceps, dress, joss stick) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 02:55, 12 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Then there's the reverse phenomenon: I enjoy reading the works of the ancient Greeks: Sophocles, Archimedes, Ecclesiastes, Euripides, Spectacles and Testicles.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:54, 12 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Which brings up the issue that if you look at someone in a quizzing manner, you're being quizzical. If you look at someone in a testing manner, what are you being?   -- Jayron 32 21:58, 12 December 2015 (UTC)


 * I for one would gladly wave a wand and replace all the classical borrowings that have nominative singular –s (including –x) with an oblique stem. —Tamfang (talk) 01:30, 13 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Your request is declined. :)  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:15, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

What's all the junk near the dispatch boxes?
In this picture taken at PMQs today, what's all the stuff on the table? I recognise the mace and the two despatch boxes and some microphone gear, and clearly there's loads of water for everyone, but all the other books and stuff, there seems to be a wooden pyramid (letter rack?), a yellowish pyramid, possibly made from cardboard, a green book, 2 green files... and the modern screens set in a 1940sesque electronic console (check out the loudspeaker on the right) in the foreground? --Dweller (talk) 13:05, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * While I can't actually answer the question, there is an email address that you can write to and they should be able to answer your question: hcenquiries@parliament.uk . And when you get an answer, please could you post it here? --TammyMoet (talk) 21:33, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * The British Parliament has to be one of the most traditional organizations in the world. As such, you could expect old tomes and almost as old computer systems.  The "if it ain't broke don't fix it" attitude may have prevented them from upgrading to tablets for everyone, along with the negative press that would generate: "UK Parliament votes to get all new computer equipment while cutting the public's benefits... ". StuRat (talk) 22:18, 9 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The UK government has a truly appalling record when it comes to IT procurement - see here and here for a couple of recent examples, and there are many, many more to find in the past 40 or 50 years. Tevildo (talk) 22:44, 9 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Bear in mind that it could get a lot worse. In 1834 they decommissioned what was essentially an obsolete financial database, and in the process burned most of the Palace of Westminster to the ground. AlexTiefling (talk) 17:18, 10 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Having read House of Commons Information Office - Parliamentary Questions (Factsheet P1), it seems likely that the screens are linked to the Parliamentary Information Management System which displays the running order and details of the questions to be asked. The table that they are standing on is called "The Table of the House" and originally, questions could be just left on the table for the clerks to sort out, but this became unworkable in WWII and the Table Office was established. Originally, the order of the questions was decided at random by the printer, but in modern times, a process called "The Shuffle" ensures that every question has an even chance of being asked. I wasn't able to pin down what the books are, but I suspect that they are likely to be bound copies of recent editions Hansard, the official record of proceedings and Erskine May, the rules of the House. Perhaps the files contain the printed version of the questions. And BTW, the Clerk of the House of Commons in his wig and gown IS provided with modern appurtenances; 'I am frequently asked about the source of a quotation, or we had something the other day – “What was the land area of Mexico?” Now that’s not something that we all have at our disposal instantly but I do have the advantage of having a iPad at the table so I was actually able to look it up quite quickly.'   Alansplodge (talk) 11:20, 10 December 2015 (UTC)