Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 January 18

= January 18 =

Categories for a forum?
I want to start my own forum for others to use but because I don't visit forums myself, I have no idea what categories a forum requires. What categories does just about any entertainment forum need? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C457:9F30:551A:EFBD:129:5CAA (talk) 01:03, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It's going to vary a lot by genre and what kind of tone you want it to have; why not just visit a forum for a topic similar to what you've got in mind? Wikia has thousands of them to peruse. Matt Deres (talk) 03:21, 19 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Let's see, you could break it up by media (such as TV, movies, video games, books, bands, comic books/graphic novels, etc.) or you could break it up by genre (like sci fi, romance, comedy, etc.) or by nation of origin. You might also go with franchises, like all Batman-related topics, whether TV shows, movies, video games, comic books, etc. StuRat (talk) 03:33, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Most forums have an "administration" category, for discussing anything related to the forum itself (posting rules, bugs, how to use the forum, etc), and an "off-topic" forum, for general discussions unrelated to the primary subject of the forum. (Actual names of the categories may vary - some forums like using quirky names). Iapetus (talk) 15:43, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

Surviving proton decay
Is it theoretically possible to live forever in a universe where protons decay? If protons decay, all matter is transitory and will evaporate into radiation, so we would have to transfer our minds to some immaterial medium. 101.178.204.3 (talk) 04:32, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Well, you're going to run into the heat death of the universe regardless. Only way around that would be some impossible infinite energy source, in which case you can just run proton decay in reverse and create new matter. Someguy1221 (talk) 05:22, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * On that time scale, who knows what ways around it we might find, like ways to pass into parallel, but newer, universes. StuRat (talk) 03:37, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

Military discipline
In the British Army in 1942, how much time in the glasshouse would someone typically have to do for a first offense of striking a superior officer? After doing the time, would the offender typically be returned to the same unit and keep the same rank, or would he typically be demoted and/or transferred to another unit? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 09:48, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It was a capital offence in the First World War according to In trouble: military crimes, but I struggled to find details about the Second conflict. This account of the career of an Australian signaller (1940 onwards), says that he was demoted from corporal to private and posted to another depot for punching an officer, but the court martial was lenient because they agreed that the officer had been provocative. Note that a spell in a military prison or detention camp might be seen as a pleasant alternative to living in a waterlogged fox hole with people shooting at you, therefore a system of field punishments were available: "Field punishment was a common sentence for soldiers convicted of moderately serious crimes. In 1939, this entailed hours of hard physical labour such as filling sandbags, plus a daily non-stop two hours of drill with full kit; this usually occurred at a specialist camp run for each Corps by MPSC staff". (In the Courts or Off the Record: Discipline in the British Expeditionary Force, September 1939–June 1940 Edward Smalley, University of Kent)  Alansplodge (talk) 15:29, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

This sounds like it could be research for a novel, in which case a similar but not identical case could be helpful. This is from 1943, and is a rather prosaic incident in the fairytale life of Keith Miller, as told by Wikipedia:
 * By late 1943, Miller was based in Gloucestershire. One night, he threatened to punch his commanding officer, resulting in his being sentenced for insubordination to a three-week disciplinary course with hard labour

Hope that helps. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 12:54, 19 January 2017 (UTC) Mentioning Miller without adding this famous anecdote would be a shame. Again, from our article:
 * When asked many years later by Michael Parkinson, about pressure in cricket, Miller responded: "Pressure is a Messerschmitt up your arse, playing cricket is not".

Marvellous man. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 12:58, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Wow, 3 weeks forced labor is all? I was expecting more like 3 months!  Thanks!  (So in other words, if Sgt.-Maj. Roberts went to jail right after the Battle of El Alamein, he'd be out with plenty of time left to join the task force for Operation Creek -- if this info is correct!)2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 04:21, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Remember that was for threatening to strike a superior officer and you asked about actually striking.--Ykraps (talk) 18:45, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * The Hill (film) depicts life in a military prison camp in North Africa during WW2. Sean Connery's character was there for assaulting his Commanding Officer. The writer of the screenplay "had spent time in military prison". AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:13, 19 January 2017 (UTC)


 * And this, incidentally, is precisely why I asked this question -- I wanted to know, if Connery went to prison right after the Battle of El Alamein, when could he expect to get out! 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 04:16, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Isles of Loss
Where exactly are the Isles of Loss and Factory Island, referred to in James' "The Naval History of Great Britain, Volume III, 1800–1805"? [] They are somewhere off the coast of West Africa and may have changed their names. Volume 52 of The Monthly Magazine, [] contains more information.--Ykraps (talk) 13:34, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * For see Isles of Loss, see Îles de Los, "an island group lying off Conakry in Guinea". According to Sam Gould And The Isles Of Loss, they are one and the same; other 18th century renderings are "the Edlesses", "The Idols", or "Las Idolas". According to our Îles de Los articles, one of the islands called Kassa " has also previously been known as Factory Island". Alansplodge (talk) 14:09, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks and thanks in particular for the references. Perhaps the Îles de Los ought to be added to List of archipelagos, where I chose to begin my search.--Ykraps (talk) 15:59, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * You're very welcome. I see that you've already updated the List of archipelagos, but I will add the alternate name to the Îles de Los article, so that it shows up if anybody else searches for it. Alansplodge (talk) 16:20, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * May I suggest also making Isles of Loss a redirect? (And any other alternate names that aren't already.) --76.71.6.254 (talk) 19:17, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Done. Our article at Îles de Los currently says that the English name is Los Islands - is it actually called that? Should it be Loss or Lost or, I guess, Idols? Or maybe it has another commonly used English name? Matt Deres (talk) 21:00, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Thanks. --76.71.6.254 (talk) 04:03, 19 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Not to be confused with the isle of Lost. Or is it? --47.138.163.230 (talk) 21:22, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I found TripAdvisor UK - Los Islands, Guinea and Mindat mineral database - Los Archipelago (Los Islands), Guinea, so it seems to have some current usage. Alansplodge (talk) 22:47, 18 January 2017 (UTC)