Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 January 21

= January 21 =

Qur'an translation different language MP3 free download
Is there a website where I can download Qur'an recitation with translation in different languages for free and with no virus? The languages that I want to hear for translation are Bengali, Albanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Bosnian, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Baloch, Kurdish, Somali, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Malay, Indonesian, Turkmen, Tajik, Kazakh, and Turkish, Azeri, Lur, Gilaki, Mazandarani and Qashqai. I am sorry if it is too much. Please take your time to answer. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.17.253 (talk) 01:27, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * First, do you actually want a recitation, which implies it is spoken, rather than just a translation? For that you might try youtube, there won't be any better source. As for translations in the written text, try "Qur'an Bengali text +pdf" as a search term at google--use +pdf to indicate you want pdf files, which are easily read and downloadable.  If the pdf is available, such a search will find the text for you.  That will be a lot quicker than anything else. μηδείς (talk) 01:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * (Actually, do an advanced search and put the laguage name in the language field if the above method doesn't work. μηδείς (talk) 03:27, 21 January 2015 (UTC))


 * Further, if you only want MP3 (not sure how that comes with a translation, though--maybe I am misunderstanding you, files downloaded from youtube with the free and reliable RealDownloader can be converted to MP3 files using the free and reliable FormatFactory. μηδείς (talk) 17:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

No "translation" of the Quran is "proper" - it is intrinsically and absolutely restricted to the classical Arabic in which it was first given. There exist "translations" into many languages, none of which is then the Quran. Collect (talk) 20:54, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * That's an in-universe opinion of certain players, Collect, not an objective fact. And I suspect that being from Ontario, the OP was already aware of the caveat. μηδείς (talk) 22:33, 22 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Actually, I'm an agnostic Jew and was going to say the same thing, but Collect beat me to it. Those of merely considered interpretations of the Qu'ran and I suspect a lot is lost in translation as it were. As for location, it doesn't mean a lot. I've met New Yorkers who don't recognise Hebrew or know the difference between a Jew and a Muslim. Being a fellow New Yorker, I think you can imagine how much facepalming this has resulted in. Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie &#124; Say Shalom! 3 Shevat 5775 00:40, 23 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm no fan of Vatican II, either, and as a tutor I know just how shockingly horrible translations can be. Especially of literary fiction, like Shakespeare, Hugo, and Tolkien, or of prose artists like Nietzsche, Chesterton, Orwell, Ortega y Gasset and the like. (At least Screwtape becomes Escrútopo in Spanish--not bad) But if someone asked about the Rankin and Bass The Hobbit (1977) my last response would be that the only art is in the original. I do read the Greek New Testament to check the English, and I don't read Arabic.  But if the option is between the vernacular or total incomprehension?  The OP didn't come here asking to be told to learn Arabic, and if he's a Muslim, he already knows what's been thrown in his face.  In any case, the Qur'an doesn't "mean what it means" in vacuo, no text is uninterpreted--that's the Lutheran fallacy.  μηδείς (talk) 02:28, 23 January 2015 (UTC)


 * And I've known people who lived in California their whole life, and probably fancy themselves cosmopolitan, without learning how to pronounce Spanish words. —Tamfang (talk) 06:54, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

Names - First, Nick, or otherwise
I just finished watching the first episode of Whites (which leads me to believe that the British have the same problem with good shows being canceled as much as us Americans) and wondered about a couple of the characters' names. Are 'Skoose' and 'Bib' common names in England? Are they short for something or nicknames or the like? Various Google searches for 'skoose' don't turn up much other than references to the show. And 'bib', well, there's quite a bit about baby bibs to weed out. Thanks, Dismas |(talk) 02:29, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * I've done some searches for the name "Skoose" both as a nickname and otherwise, and I think you're likely correct that that name is an invention of the show; I'm not finding it anywhere as a common enough nickname to stand out beyond the show itself. -- Jayron 32 03:07, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Those are not names that this British editor recognises, either as names or as nicknames. --ColinFine (talk) 11:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Does Skoose have a Scouse accent, as a person from Liverpool/Merseyside? Sleigh (talk) 12:58, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * As your average American, I wouldn't be able to tell it from a London or any other English accent.  He just sounds English to me.  So, maybe one or our British editors who has seen the program can answer that for you.  Dismas |(talk) 13:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * If the character "Bib" were corpulent (which he unfortunately isn't), then it might have referred to Bibendum who is also sometimes nicknamed "Bib". I did find a couple of non-English people nicknamed "Bib" such as Bernard Heuvelmans (not even English-speaking) or Joseph Darling Ibbotson (with whom Ezra Pound had studied Old English, but he was American). ---Sluzzelin talk  13:03, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * I'm reminded of the Radio 1 DJ from the 60s Keith Skues, which might sound like "Skoose", so I'd say yes it is an English name, albeit uncommon. --TammyMoet (talk) 21:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

Maximum number of stents placed in the heart of a man as per limca book of records
I want to know maximum how many stents have been placed in the heart of a man as per Limca Book of Records. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 14.98.33.146 (talk) 07:02, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Limca doesn't have that information, but it does give this.--Shantavira|feed me 15:12, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * And note that stents aren't placed in the heart, but rather in blood vessels, etc. A coronary stent is placed in the blood vessels that supply the heart, so perhaps that caused the confusion. StuRat (talk) 16:45, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Stents are used in Percutaneous aortic valve replacement (and I believe there's a similar procedure for the tricuspid, although we don't appear to have an article on it). However, I agree that the OP is probably asking about coronary stents. Tevildo (talk) 21:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

What is this bird please?
First time asking a question so please be gentle! (Although I thoroughly enjoy reading the reference desk)

I am an expat living in the UAE, specifically on the North Coast in the Western region. Around this time of year white birds with a short orange beak are noticed in the local park. They don't appear as far as anyone knows all year round so are probably migratory (especially given that searching images for Middle East/UAE birds brings up nothing similar).

I have a photo (taken by a friend which I don't think violates your copyright rules) but I'm not quite sure how to upload it, assuming I'm allowed (especially as Imageshack seems to now be preventing me uploading there unless I pay!)

Can anyone help? 2.51.134.244 (talk) 13:50, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Have you looked at birds in Google Images to see if there's one or more that fit the description? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:12, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * At the risk of stating the obvious you would of course need to Google white bird orange beak, though that isn't much to go on. Can you give us a more detailed description? We have an article on List of birds of the United Arab Emirates which might give you some ideas. Have you tried uploading the photo to a free site such as Flickr?--Shantavira|feed me 15:01, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * imgur is by far the easiest light-weight way to share photos - no user account is needed on either end. Another possibility would be to upload to wikimedia commons, but that's not as easy, and not really the purpose. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Good birders can ID a bird from a good description. E.g. "Large (goose sized), white bird, standing upright, with small orange beak, in small group, foraging on the grass in an open park" is very different from "Small (sparrow sized) white bird, rounded, in flock of over 30 birds, twittering in trees" - get the idea? Behavior, shape, size, any non-white colors, sounds, all of these will be clues in addition to the photo. Actually, in many situations a good description in words is even better than a photo! SemanticMantis (talk) 15:51, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * The RSPB has an |bird identifier facility on its website. No idea how good it is for sightings outside the UK, but it's helped me here in Scotland. Dalliance (talk) 00:44, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Problem with my link, so repeated - http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdidentifier/ Dalliance (talk) 00:48, 22 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Stab-in-the-dark, but the Caspian tern is fairly prolific and would be migratory to the region in question (I think).  St ★ lwart 1 1 1 03:46, 22 January 2015 (UTC)