Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 May 10

= May 10 =

Earning money
what are the ways to earn money in india — Preceding unsigned comment added by 111.93.67.150 (talk) 10:14, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Economy of India would be a good place to start your research. -- Jayron 32 11:15, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * The only way to earn money is by working. Anything you gain by other means is not earned. The verb "to earn" is defined as "obtain (money) in return for labour or services." 81.132.106.10 (talk) 14:40, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * That is one definition. There are other valid definitions which do not include labor.  -- Jayron 32 14:47, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * The only other possible meaning which relates to obtaining money is about interest on investments, including property and pensions. That sort of income is, at least in the UK, usually described as unearned income. 81.132.106.10 (talk) 11:25, 12 May 2016 (UTC)
 * BUNTHORNE. Tell me, girl, do you ever yearn?
 * PATIENCE. (misunderstanding him) I earn my living.
 * BUNTHORNE. (impatiently) No, no! Do you know what it is to be heart-hungry? Do you know what it is to yearn for the Indefinable, and yet to be brought face to face, daily, with the Multiplication Table? Do you know what it is to seek oceans and to find puddles? — to long for whirlwinds and yet have to do the best you can with the bellows? That's my case. Oh, I am a cursed thing! Don't go. - from Patience, or "Bunthorne's Bride", a Gilbert & Sullivan comic opera. AllBestFaith (talk) 17:49, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

What's with the giant funnel?
In this photo on today's front-page, I'm reminded of a question I've long meant to ask:

Why does the locomotive on the left have that gigantic funnel for a smoke stack, where the one on the right does not? This seems to be a feature that's unique to steam engines of the Americas. European steam engines always seem to have the cylindrical design of the engine on the right. If the funnel-shaped design has advantages, why don't all locomotives use it? If it doesn't, then why were so many engines made that way? SteveBaker (talk) 12:53, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * See Chimney_(locomotive) and Spark arrestor. --Tagishsimon (talk) 13:09, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * (ec)That is a "bonnet chimney", a type of spark arrestor. Different fuels, especially wood, are more prone to generate sparks. They weren't common in Britain because a) British locos mostly burned coal; b) by the time the railway age began, Britain was mostly deforested and so lumber wasn't as cheap and readily available as in North America; and c) Britain is rarely dry enough for stray chimney embers to spark a serious fire. Presumably the loco in your photo with the conventional chimney is a coal burner. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 13:10, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Also mainland Britain has been described as an "island of coal" and was a major exporter in the 19th century. Coal is also much more energy efficient than wood. Alansplodge (talk) 10:30, 13 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Ah - I guess that makes sense since the photo is from the time when the east and west coasts of the USA were first joined by a rail line. It might make sense that the loco from the west coast was wood-fired and the one from the more industrialized east coast used coal.  If that's true, then it adds a whole layer of additional "depth" to the image since it implies more than just a physical connection - it adds a layer of "industry meets woodsmen" (of course, knowing my luck, the photographer was standing to the North of the event at the time! :-)


 * Many thanks for a great answer! SteveBaker (talk) 17:16, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Not necessarily to the north; the photo may be reversed. Hard to tell in such a small image with no lettering discernible. Akld guy (talk) 21:18, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Fortunately, that was not the only photo taken that day, so we know it's not reversed. You can also confirm this by sunlight and shadows.  According to multiple sources the ceremony took place around midday local time, so the sunlight was from the south.  So from the shadows and non-shadows of the people in the front rows to the left and right of the men shaking hands, we are looking more or less northwest.  And in the particular area where the events took place, the tracks were aligned northeast-southwest, not east-west, so that fits. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 23:42, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Talking now about the locomotive with the straight chimney, the Union Pacific Railroad was not, and still is not, an East Coast railroad; it's just that it was connected by other railroads to the East Coast. It originally ran west from Omaha.  I had some trouble finding confirmation that Union Pacific No. 119 was coal-burning, but did find it in this 336-page PDF scan of a typewritten original document (from the US National Park Service, which the Golden Spike National Historic Site belongs to).  See pages 14–17 (original numbering; pages 17–20 of the PDF).  The UPRR's first 25 locomotives burned wood, but subsequently bituminous coal from Wyoming was available and #119 was built to burn that. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 18:02, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

What did a piece of string around the wrist mean in the 1970's.
I was watching the film The Diary of a Teenage Girl (set in the 1970's) and noticed that the girl had a piece of string around her wrist in several scenes: first at around 11 minutes in the film when she is in the bath tub; and at about an hour in at the beginning of the acid taking scene; also in a bed scene with the lesbian. This reminded me of the cover of Sex to Sexty magazine #36 - a porn joke magazine also from the 1970's - where the man in front also has string around his wrist. Click here for that cover: http://www.comics.org/issue/524207/cover/4/

So what does this string mean? (Great film btw). Martin. 93.95.251.162 (talk) 14:02, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Possibly a form of Friendship bracelet, which started to become popular in the 1970s. -- Jayron 32 14:46, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Some have a religious significance. Some are just a sort of good luck charm. Exactly what the meaning might be in each case depends on colour, braiding, country and the context. 81.132.106.10 (talk) 14:48, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Not sure if there's a direct link, but see Kalava; Hindu mysticism was much in vogue in late 1960s and early 1970s, Guru Maharaj Ji and Hare Krishna for example. Alansplodge (talk) 16:10, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Wrong information provided about Kublai Khan under Genghis Khan
Under Genghis Khan it states that Kublai Khan was his brother, this is wrong Kublai Khan was his grandson. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.108.57.165 (talk) 17:51, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Where in the Genghis Khan article to you see this? The only references to their relationship that I can find say "grandson". Favonian (talk) 17:58, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Cube
I bought this Cube, not sure what it's truly called but its a fake made in china one; its smaller than the original one and white in colour rather than black. Apostle (talk) 19:25, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) Are all the colours situated similar to/exactly as the original?: Yellow opposite White, Green opposite Blue, Orange opposite Red.
 * 2) What's the secret theory to put them all back to square one?


 * Assuming you are asking about a Rubik's Cube, then based on the one I have on my desk, the answer to your first question is yes, that is the colo(u)r layout. There are several articles linked from the main article discussing solutions. --LarryMac  | Talk  19:31, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * And based on the article you linked, the color layout varied from one cube to another before they settled on yellow-opposite-white etc. I remember seeing Rubik's Cubes with other color layouts back in 1981–82 when they were first widely sold in North America. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 23:46, 10 May 2016 (UTC)


 * Note that only specifying which colors are on opposite sides gets you down to two possible layouts. For example, for the colors Apostle specified, if you position red as the front and white as the top, then blue could either be on the left or the right. According to Rubik's Cube (emphasis mine): "In currently sold models, white is opposite yellow, blue is opposite green, and orange is opposite red, and the red, white and blue are arranged in that order in a clockwise arrangement." This means if red is positioned as front and white as top, then blue will be on the right. --Bavi H (talk) 01:59, 11 May 2016 (UTC)


 * For question (2) if you mean how to solve it, see Optimal solutions for Rubik's Cube.--Shantavira|feed me 08:39, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * According to the Rubik's Cube article, the patents have expired so there is no "real" or "fake" Rubik's Cubes anymore. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 16:56, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * the brand name is still owned, I'm sure...it's just that people can make generic versions but name it something else..68.48.241.158 (talk) 17:17, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * That's true. I should say, there are no "real" or "fake" cube-shaped puzzle toys of the Rubik's design anymore. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 18:52, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * In fact my understanding is that non Rubik's randed cubes are actually often more popular among the speed solving community see e.g.     . While Rubik's do have their own speed cube , it appears to have been fairly late to the game and for that and probably other reasons still isn't the most popular choice . BTW, while your latest comment is AFAIK correct, beyond trademark/branding issues there may also be fake and real 3x3 Rubik Cube style cubes since it's possible some patents cover new speed cube designs. (One of the earlier refs mentioned something about patents although I didn't explore to see if it was correct and they were still valid.) Nil Einne (talk) 07:29, 12 May 2016 (UTC)

Thanks a lot peeps, including the summaries. Regards -- Apostle (talk) 18:45, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

Leaver's sweatshirts
It seems nowadays all the kids have those 'leaver's tops' with the year they left made up of the names of everyone in their year-I've seen them around for the last 4 or 5 years-but when was the oldest one that anyone has seen? Lemon martini (talk) 23:45, 10 May 2016 (UTC)
 * This blog posting gets us back to 2007, and the wording suggests that it was already a well-established phenomenon at that date. I've not been able to find anything siginficantly earlier as yet, though. Tevildo (talk) 00:08, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Oh, it's much older than that. I graduated HS in 1994, and had a shirt with my graduating class year on the front and the names of everyone on the back.  They were very commonplace in the U.S. from at least the 1990s, if not much earlier.  Here is one from 1990-1991.  -- Jayron 32 16:11, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I know this is WP:OR but I graduated high school in '92 and the previous classes had been getting a shirt with everyone's name on them for years before that. In fact, my grade school did it in '88 though they were white shirts that everyone hand signed with permanent marker. It wasn't a large grade school class.
 * Also, this is the first time I've ever heard the phrase "leaver top". Dismas |(talk) 17:07, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * The essential feature of the UK garment is that the names of the leavers are arranged on the back in the shape of the year number. Does this also apply to the US equivalent? Tevildo (talk) 21:46, 11 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Among other designs. It's quite common, and has been since I can remember, but not universal.  -- Jayron 32 00:17, 12 May 2016 (UTC)