Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 April 25

= April 25 =

I don´t understand a joke
There is a Joke: "what has one feet but no legs?" and the respond to this is "12 inches". Can someone explain what is there funny and what is this stupid joke about? If I google it, I get only pictures from Subway sandwiches and I see there nothing funny. --Ip80.123 (talk) 04:39, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * It's supposed to be humorous because the listener is lead to think of the body part foot because of the mention of legs. But it's really referring to foot (unit), the unit of measurement comprised of 12 inches. It's about as funny as a knock-knock joke (not very).  Eve rgr een Fir  (talk) Please &#123;&#123;re&#125;&#125; 04:47, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * It's more of a riddle than a joke. A riddle only really works if there is a unique answer. The humour derives from the unexpected change of context. In this case, a land snail also has a foot but no legs, and that's not funny at all.--Shantavira|feed me 07:09, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The other joke answer to "what has one foot but no legs?" is "a ruler". Young children seem to find this sort of joke mildly amusing.    D b f i r s   07:45, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I never thought of that as funny when I was a kid, because I knew that a ruler is always slightly longer than a foot, to take into account the lines that had to be drawn on it to represent the 12 inches, and the 30cm on the other side of the ruler. KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( もしもし！ ) 12:04, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * 30 cm &lt; 1 ft —Tamfang (talk) 21:46, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * The rulers I have are 12 inches on one edge and about 30.4 centimeters on the other. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 23:29, 27 April 2016 (UTC)


 * That's funny because it makes you think of a king with a single foot, attached directly to his butt. Reminds me of "fruit flies like an apple, but time flies like an arrow", making you think of temporal shifting flying insects.  But heck, if a mosquito can be a vector, there's no reason a fly can't seek an arrow. StuRat (talk) 16:40, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I've usually heard the two parts of that switched around, but it works. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:57, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * I always heard it said with "banana" rather than "apple"...but it works either way. It's kinda like a 3 way thing - because you also think "small flies that like to eat fruit enjoy a banana" and "fruit (when thrown) travels through the air in the manner of a banana"...which is one mental flip-flop, that combines with the old expression "time flies quickly (as does an arrow)" and leaves you with the concept of some bizarre time-travelling fly that enjoys arrows - or requesting someone to measure the speed (timing) flies in the manner that you'd time a banana.  I like to toss in a third clause: "Green flies like a cabbage" which is even more weird because the color green can't fly, but maybe if it did so, it would do it in the manner that a green cabbage might fly.  But green-flies do indeed like to lay eggs on cabbages. SteveBaker (talk) 04:06, 27 April 2016 (UTC)
 * That arrow / banana joke is often attributed to Groucho Marx, although that may be in dispute. Another one attributed to Groucho, correctly or not, is "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 10:51, 27 April 2016 (UTC)


 * "Time flies. You can't. They fly too fast." KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( もしもし！ ) 12:07, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * What has four wheels and flies?
 * Pegasus drawing a garbage wagon. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:57, 26 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The riddle needs to be "one foot" rather than "one feet". And "a ruler" is the better answer.
 * Here's a similar play on words, from Wiley's Dictionary in the comic B.C.: "rock - verb - to cause something to swing or sway... by hitting them with it." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:12, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Another one, from the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup. Chico is on trial:
 * Chico: Now I got a question for you: What has a trunk with no key; weighs 2,000 pounds; and lives in the circus?
 * Prosecutor: That's irrelevant!
 * Chico: Hey, that's the answer! There's a lottar elevants in the circus!
 * ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:18, 25 April 2016 (UTC)Is there an echo in here?

Worse: iambic monometer.    Collect (talk) 12:00, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

A flea, a fly, and a flue were in prison so what could they do? The fly said "Let us flee", the flea said "Let us fly", so they flew through a hole in the flue. Akld guy (talk) 22:46, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

The version I learnt was "A fly and a flea got into a flue. To get out they didn't know what to do. Said the fly Let us flee. Said the flea: Let us fly. So they flew through a flaw in the flue."  D b f i r s   09:04, 26 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Interesting. You provoked me into googling it and it turns out that we both have some parts of the original Ogden Nash poem correct. Akld guy (talk) 11:43, 26 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the link. It's interesting to see how the poem changed in different lines of verbal transmission.  I've never seen it in print before.    D b f i r s   21:08, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

NFL draft
I've read our informative article on the subject but am not sure on something. What if a player doesn't want to play for the team that drafted him (too far from home, too cold/hot, etc)? Don't they get a say? The article implies that only the #1 pick in the draft can actually get a chance to even discuss terms, so presumably players have no say at all. Is that right? --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 13:05, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Back in 1983 the Baltimore Colts drafted John Elway. He didn't want to play for them and refused to sign a contract with them, so they traded their rights to him to the Denver Broncos. So there are ways around it if you're determined enough and in demand enough. --Nicknack009 (talk) 14:44, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Having leverage helps. He had an option to play baseball for the Yankees, and Baltimore realized he would never play for the Colts, so they traded him, and Elway then chose football as his profession. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:58, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Other players who held out and forced the issue when they didn't want to play for the team that drafted them include Bo Jackson and Eli Manning. Bo sat out a year and re-entered the next year's draft, while Eli's agent already had a deal worked out whereby the Giants and Chargers would swap their picks immediately after drafting their respective players.  Outside of the first overall pick, I'm not sure I know of any player who used such leverage to force a trade or refused to play and was forced to be redrafted, excepting perhaps during times when there were arguable two major football leagues (such as the American Football League or the USFL.)  -- Jayron 32 16:25, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

The draft system is a brilliant device and must be exciting to follow. It seems inconceivable that adult humans get no say about where they'll be employed or by whom. I'm amazed no-one has ever brought the system down by challenging its legality in the way Jean-Marc Bosman did for restrictive aspects of contracts in the round ball game. Has anyone ever tried? --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 19:23, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Most of the major league sports have anti-trust exemptions that allow them specifically to have anti-competitive practices such as player drafts. The NFL and similar major leagues are legally sanctioned cartels.  Sometimes leagues go too far, and press their cartel status in ways not covered by their anti-trust exemptions, as with the Major League Baseball collusion scandal of the 1980s.  This article deals with various ways in which trust laws and the American Major League sports work; each has their own specific quirks.  -- Jayron 32 00:53, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Why do some sites (Amazon, YouTube, others) that used to show number of downvotes no longer show this number?
I have observed a trend in the last 5 years or more for major websites that allow reviews and comments to stop showing the number of downvotes or negative votes a comment or review receives.

A few examples that used to show this number but no longer do are Youtube comments (where you can vote thumbs up or thumbs down on a comment), Amazon reviews (you can mark the review as helpful or unhelpful) and also the widely used Disqus platform (for news websites, blogs, etc.).

I can understand why they would take away the downvote option altogether (Facebook for example famously has no "dislike" option, and Yelp has no option for saying a review is unhelpful) as an attempt to make things "more positive" and less contentious.

But if you are going to STILL ALLOW downvotes and dislikes, what is the advantage of not showing users how many downvotes a comment or review has received.--Captain Breakfast (talk) 19:59, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Fairly confused what you mean by Amazon. Here is a sample review . It clearly says "12 of 13 people found the following review helpful". It's true that the info isn't show in the main page for the product which only gives the number of people who found it helpful (whether it's always been like that I don't know) but that's different from what you were saying. The info can also be used to decide which reviews to show first, regardless of whether it's shown. Nil Einne (talk) 15:16, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * When I was on Amazon last, a lot of the reviews said "12 found the review helpful" as opposed to "12 of 15", thus my including Amazon in the group. Maybe it was some kind of glitch or display problem, or maybe they are changing the system gradually .--Captain Breakfast (talk) 10:06, 28 April 2016 (UTC)
 * OK, when you click on the subpage for the review you can see the number x out of y. I am almost positive that this information used to be available on the main product page. But I was under the mistaken impression that it is no longer viewable at all.--Captain Breakfast (talk) 10:09, 28 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I believe you're correct about Disqus and possibly for Youtube (can't remember). But in any case, it seems to me you already have your answer. If sites believe that de-emphasising downvotes is useful to "attempt to make things "more positive" and less contentious", then there's no reason why they have to go the whole hog and completely remove the option. They could keep it, but not show the number of negatives. The negatives could still be used for automated things like deciding which comments to show first and deciding which comments to de-emphasise or even hide. It may also be used to flag comments which may need to be reviewed by moderators in case they violate community standards. (Most sites also have a seperate flag option, but these may be used less often, particularly when the comment is mildly offensive but not a clear cut violation, e.g. hate speech or simple spam.) If someone gets enough of negatives especially negatives from different people in different posts with few positives, this could even be a sign the person isn't suitable for the community (again probably for moderators to assess). I don't know which, if any of these the sites use but the point is that negatives can still be useful even if they aren't shown to the wider community. I don't think this is really common, but sites could even show dislikes/downvotes whether of a specific comment or overall to an individual to help them monitor how they're being received whole not making it public. Heck they could show an overall level to the community but now show individual post downvotes. I guess the ultimate point is that a site will decide what data they want to collect, how they will use it, who they will show it to etc based on their own reasoning, opinions, research, testing etc etc. Nil Einne (talk) 16:08, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Photography at Moulin Rouge
After clicking on a photograph about the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France, I keep seeing advertisements about it. I would like to actually visit it some time, I've never been there.

Is photography of the shows allowed at the Moulin Rouge? When I visited a French cabaret show at Casino Helsinki a year and a half ago, photography was allowed, provided I only photographed the show and not any customers. What is the policy at the actual Moulin Rouge in Paris? J I P &#124; Talk 20:00, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * No. See the "Show" section at http://www.moulinrouge.fr/frequently-asked-questions?lang=en  Rojomoke (talk) 20:11, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I guess I'd better stick to the Helsinki Samba Carnaval, the World Bodypainting Festival and BoundCon then, where photography is generally allowed. J I P  &#124; Talk 20:14, 25 April 2016 (UTC)


 * When in France (and Italy, Greece, …), also bear in mind that freedom of panorama is restricted compared to other countries of the EU. In theory, you can neither take a photo of the Louvre (I. M. Pei is alive at 99) nor of the Palace Pompidou (Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano are alive) if you were to publish such images.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 09:00, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * (Link for those of us unfamiliar with the term: Freedom of panorama ) -- 2600:1004:B018:EF5D:D48B:4105:A3FC:994E (talk) 17:44, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

What about the Crazy Horse? Is photography of the shows allowed there? I guess not, but I'd like to ask anyway. J I P &#124; Talk 19:11, 26 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Your guess is correct. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 20:49, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * OK, I'll stick to the Helsinki Samba Carnaval, the World Bodypainting Festival and BoundCon then, unless Casino Helsinki decides to host another French cabaret show. They didn't host one last year and it doesn't look like they're hosting one this year either, but you never know, perhaps it will come back some time. J I P  &#124; Talk 21:00, 26 April 2016 (UTC)