Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 March 30

= March 30 =

Categorically trivial
I noticed that Albert Einstein has, if I counted correctly, a whopping 82 categories. What's the record? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:32, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * No idea on the record, but there are also another 60 or so hidden categories on the article. RudolfRed (talk) 02:55, 30 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I found Wikipedia_records and Special:MostCategories. The winner is Forced_Labour_Convention with 285 categories. RudolfRed (talk) 03:19, 30 March 2021 (UTC)


 * Hah, thanks. There are lots of weird records: 2429 images for one article? Clarityfiend (talk) 03:34, 30 March 2021 (UTC)

American railroads (possibly defunct)
Can anyone confirm that the present day name Illinois Central Railroad, would describe a rail track existing in the 1920s, carrying freight (and possibly passenger traffic) between East St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois ? I am presently creating an article on an obscure, but significant St. Louis blues pianist, Wesley Wallace. He recorded a track called "No. 29", which was released in early 1930. Some of the spoken lines over the boogie-woogie piano playing stated - "This is the train they call 29. Leavin' out of Cairo, comin' to East St. Louis.  Soon as she got in Murphysburg, she blowed that whistle. I caught that train in Murphysburg.  I was intendin' to get off in Sparta, Illinois. This is the way she was cakewalkin' on into East St. Louis". If that helps at all. I am English, so my knowledge of U.S. railroads is pretty slim ! Thanks. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 13:48, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The Illinois Central is one of the most well-known US railroads, especially in music. Like Highway 61, it connects the upper midwest to New Orleans through the Mississippi Delta and as such, would be the subject of a LOT of music from blues (and derivative genres like Country, Rock, R&B, etc.).  The railroad is name-checked in Long Train Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers, it's most famous train the City of New Orleans was the subject of a very popular eponymous song by Arlo Guthrie (among others), as well as being the employer of Casey Jones, who himself was the subject of multiple eponymous songs, including The Ballad of Casey Jones, a traditional folk ballad, and the Grateful Dead song Casey Jones.  I have no doubt that the railroad in question is the subject of the song, especially given that both East St. Louis and Cairo are connected on the map at Illinois Central Railroad, and also given the near-mythic quality that the railroad itself had in the American songbook.  -- Jayron 32 14:22, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * "Murphysburg" should be Murphysboro, Illinois, I suppose. --Wrongfilter (talk) 14:29, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * That'd be my guess too: from south to north, Cairo, Murphysboro, Sparta, and East Saint Louis would all come in a row. -- Jayron 32 14:35, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Splendid, many thanks. Was train "No. 29" well known as such, or just one of a handful that operated in those times ?  Given we are talking about events almost a century ago, it must have been a steam loco, I presume.  I perhaps should have said that the narrative describes the experience of "riding the blinds"; apparently a well-used term in blues songs of that idiom. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 14:36, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * This may be of interest. It seems that the McLean County Museum of History has a collection of materials on the history of the IC Railroad, they may have some information on freight lines that would have been active in the 1920s.  -- Jayron 32 14:41, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Also, List of train songs mentions an "Old Train 29" by Geoff Muldaur, and This article discusses a train known as "The Rocket", which carried Number 29 on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, a different famous railroad (see Rock Island Line) and was also the subject of song, also went through Illinois, but NOT the part of Illinois that is in your song. -- Jayron 32 14:47, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * About "riding the blinds": https://www.americanbluesscene.com/language-of-the-blues-riding-the-blinds/ --Khajidha (talk) 17:42, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Many thanks everyone. The pianist's article is Wesley Wallace, (should you wish to take a peek) and I added "No. 29" to the List of train songs (with reference).  Thanks again. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 18:02, 30 March 2021 (UTC)


 * The song "City of New Orleans" is by Steve Goodman, who pitched it to Arlo Guthrie. — I rode that train a few times, when my family lived in Champaign, the high point of the line. —Tamfang (talk) 02:08, 2 April 2021 (UTC)


 * There is a note in the title of it being "defunct." If it is defunct, it has been replaced. The current rail between Cairo and St. Louis is active. I've seen trains go through Carbondale on it. It goes from Cairo to Du Quoin (there is an interchange there) and then to East St. Louis. I haven't seen the trains moving in Cairo, but I've only been there about a dozen times. They obviously go in and out of St. Louis a lot. So, I am assuming that some of them from East St. Louis are the ones that go through Carbondale, which would lead to Cairo. 97.82.165.112 (talk) 19:48, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

Russian place name
This article includes an image of a wartime travel document for Joseph Isowitzsky, in which his place of birth is given as Cadilaer, or possibly Cabilaer, Russia. I can find no place with a name resembling either of those. Can anyone help? Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:26, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * In the Cyrillic Alphabet, C usually gets transliterated to "S" in English, perhaps someone copied the word in Cyrillic directly rather than transliterating it correctly. Try looking at List of cities and towns in Russia by population and going to the "S" places.  Maybe one of those will work.  B would also usually be transliterated as "V" in English, so maybe a city starting Sav... or something?  -- Jayron 32 15:04, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The document is clearly not written in the Cyrillic alphabet. And of course the place may not be in Russia now - it could be in Poland, Finland, or any of the ex-USSR European states that were part of the Russian Empire in 1899 (his birth year).  Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:03, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * That document is clearly not written in the Cyrillic alphabet. That does not mean that the person who wrote that document was not reading a different document that had been written in Cyrillic and transliterated the letters incorrectly.  -- Jayron 32 16:10, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Jack Isow was a Polish Jew, so I would concentrate a search on Poland, White Russia, and Ukraine. The word looks like CaBilaer to me, the capitalisation might be significant. DuncanHill (talk) 17:48, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Well, genealogists who obviously have some connection with his family have him born in the Poltava area, now in Ukraine. They have the name of the place as Dotchener (alternatively Dutchena or Dutchema), which I can't find either, and bears no relation to the name of the place on the travel document.   Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:51, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * I found the same at here. Poltava, which does have a place called Kobeliaky, which matches the C-B-L pattern of the city on the travel document.  -- Jayron 32 12:03, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I also found this - which is probably relevant background information.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:50, 2 April 2021 (UTC)

Argentinian trees
Is there someone that can kindly name this trees? Thanks in advance!!! --2001:B07:6442:8903:8914:1811:503C:5B08 (talk) 15:42, 30 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Environment of Argentina has some ideas of trees native to Argentina. Perhaps a carob (algarrobo) such as Prosopis alba?  -- Jayron 32 16:16, 30 March 2021 (UTC)


 * A bit of a stab in the dark, but the bark and the pinnate leaves (which I think I can make out) are reminiscent of Robinia pseudoacacia, the black locust or false accacia tree. The image on the right of the "Uses" section of of our article has a similar-looking crown. This suggests that they are cultivated in Argentina. Alansplodge (talk) 12:32, 31 March 2021 (UTC)
 * It does look like some kind of legume tree like an acacia, locust, or carob. -- Jayron <b style="color:#090">32</b> 13:21, 31 March 2021 (UTC)