In Homer's Iliad, there is plenty of mention of the Greeks owning slaves and making human sacrifices Is it mentioned as done by the Trojans? I haven't noticed any. Maybe Homer was trying to say the Trojans were more ethical Rich (talk) 02:51, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If it was Homer's purpose to sing the honour of the Trojans, he made an exception for Paris.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:13, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Virgil imagines that the Trojans held slaves, as he has them give a slave-woman, Pholoë, as a prize to Aeneas.^[1] He obviously knew the Iliad well and would not have wanted to contradict it, so the Iliad does apparently not imply that the Trojans held no slaves.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:39, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think Homer would have considered slave ownership to be unethical - it was pretty much universal in the ancient world. If God almighty hadn't figured out that slavery was evil at about the same time, I don't think we can expect some Greek poet to have more insight. Chuntuk (talk) 13:41, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Andromache, Hector's wife, has house-slaves in book 22. The word is wikt:δμῳῇσιν, a plural of δμῳή (dmōiḗ), female slave.  Card Zero  (talk) 15:00, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had extensive plans for the enormous expansion of their fleet and their naval power to be implemented during and after the war. See for example Plan Z and Super Yamato class battleships. Did Fascist Italy have a comparably gigantic program for its Navy? Thank you. 195.62.160.60 (talk) 13:28, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Regia Marina#Interwar years covers some of this. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 13:52, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Italian Naval Policy Under Fascism by Admiral Romeo Bernotti discusses the Littorio-class battleships built from 1934, the fourth one of which, Impero, was never completed. The article also mentions the 1923 creation of the Italian Air Force, depriving the Navy of any air component, and consequently removing any requirement for aircraft carriers. Otherwise it says:

In brief, during the years in which Italy’s foreign policy was comparatively peaceful, the build-up of her naval forces was limited to light vessels and submarines. When the international horizon became clouded, the “spine” of the Navy was tackled and the greatest financial sacrifices were made. This proves that Mussolini’s concept (contrary to a timely preparation for war) consisted in postponing a severe financial effort for rearmament in the hope that a total war would not develop in the near future.

Alansplodge (talk) 12:02, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The E. F. Benson short story 'The Terror by Night' was first collected in The Room in the Tower and Other Stories, Mills and Boon, 1912. Had it previously appeared in a magazine, and if so when and which? The story makes reference to The Man From Blankeley's, a play which opened in 1903, and had a very successful revival in in 1906, the Times Book Club, which started in 1905, and the Druce-Portland case, which ran from 1897 to 1908. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 13:50, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The usual references (SFE, ISFDB) which you've probably already checked, give no indication of a previous magazine appearance, and this Website forum thread (though obviously neither Reliable nor definitive) contains the opinion ". . . this deceptively slight story seems to have been written specifically for the collection, the rest having already seen magazine publication".

Unfortunately, I have only one E. F. Benson volume in my collection, and it doesn't include this story (or give original appearances of the 5 stories from TRitTaOS it includes). {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195}. 94.1.208.246 (talk) 17:43, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Locus Index to Science Fiction also gives The Room in the Tower as the first publiction. The writer of the forum post linked by Formerly 87.81.230.195 above seems to have been correct that this story, "Caterpillars", "Between the Lights" and "The Thing in the Hall" were all original to TRitT. Deor (talk) 12:08, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Try Vogue (US ed) 21 July 1907. I haven't read it, but the title, author and dates mentioned above all fit. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 16:02, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Verbarson: Well done! Yes, that is the story. DuncanHill (talk) 16:16, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"To be concluded next week" it says. DuncanHill (talk) 16:21, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! Great spot, DuncanHill. If you have an account at ISFDB, you could update its information on the story. (I haven't an account, because I don't want to risk taking on too much.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.208.246 (talk) 21:07, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've just noticed, you have to zoom in somewhat, it's marked as copyright 1906, which implies an earlier publication somewhere. I haven't got an ISFDB account largely because I can never remember is it ISDBF or IFSBD? Perhaps I should get one. DuncanHill (talk) 21:54, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Could it have been published in the UK Vogue at an earlier date? Followed by the US edition if it was popular? -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 22:24, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, or indeed another magazine. Do you mind me asking how you found it in American Vogue? I'd tried various searches and didn't turn it up. Perhaps a variation on your search could identify an earlier British magazine appearance. DuncanHill (talk) 21:59, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I find a lot of stuff on Archive.org - it's not reliable or predictable, in terms of what it actually stores (incomplete sets, odd issues of magazines) - but it does have masses of stuff. So I went to the main search bar (not the URL search at the top) and entered "The Terror by Night" benson (including quotes, to search for the whole phrase) [edit: and ticked 'Search text contents']. It returns 2000-odd hits, but if you leave the Sort by as Relevance, the Vogue issue is #13 on the list. Part two is at #37, and the preceding week (which had a 'coming next week' for the story) is #23.

The results usually take a bit of sifting through - #3 is a Pearson's Weekly notice of a completely different story of the same title, for instance. It's taken from Psalm 91:5, so it's a widely known and used phrase, giving lots of hits.

I can't see any earlier hits for Benson's story, but the Archive.org metadata (eg date published) is not reliable, and I may easily have overlooked something. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 13:29, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I misread the date: it is of course the 21 February 1907. And here is part two, on 28 Feb 1907. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 22:00, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel García Márquez, the colonel's wife has him ask the doctor whether they threw boiling water on the doctor at the colonel's house. Is there an idiom here or some reason why this would be likely to have happened? I can't quite picture how or why it would happen that someone might have physically thrown water on the doctor; think that they might have thrown water on the doctor; and yet not be sure about it. If the colonel or his wife suddenly dumped boiling water out of an open window for some reason, surely they would have noticed a wet and yelling doctor on the street below. In the original it's just agua caliente, and I wondered if it could mean that they caused him trouble, like "putting someone in hot water". However, the English translation makes it boiling water, which seems to favor a literal interpretation. I can find a few mentions online, all coming back to these same passages: [2], [3], which show that others are also unclear on this. There's one suggestion that it means something like "Why haven't you come to see us lately? Did we do something bad to you last time you visited?". If so, it doesn't seem to be a common expression. --Amble (talk) 16:44, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here's where he asks the question, along with the doctor's reaction: “My wife wants me to ask you if we threw boiling water on you at our house,” the colonel said. He was a young physician with his skull covered by sleek black hair. There was something unbelievable in the perfection of his dentition. He asked after the health of the asthmatic. The asthmatic is the colonel's wife. Evidently the appropriate response to "did we throw hot water on you in our house?" is to pay the person some polite attention. I suppose it means "you don't come round any more, did we scare you away?"  Card Zero  (talk) 18:59, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish agua caliente just means "warm water" or "hot water"; it does not imply that it is boiling hot. In the Spanish text, the wife tells the colonel:

Pregúntale al doctor si en esta casa le echamos agua caliente.

And the colonel tells the doctor,

Mi esposa le manda preguntar si en la casa le echaron agua caliente.

Now echar can mean "to pour", but also "to give", "to bestow", and the basic meaning of le is "to him", so another possible interpretation is that the question is whether they offered warm water to the doctor when he visited them.

In the French translation by Daniel Verdier, which was checked by Garcia Marquez, the wife says something that is literally quite different:^[4]

Demande au docteur ce qu’on lui a fait pour ne plus remettre les pieds dans cette maison.

"Ask the doctor what we have done to him for him to never set foot in this house again."

And the colonel says later, accordingly,

Docteur, ma femme vous fait demander ce qu’on vous a fait pour que vous ne remettiez plus les pieds à la maison.^[5]

The German translation is also non-literal:^[6]

Frag den Doktor, ob wir ihm etwas getan haben.

"Ask the doctor if we did anything [displeasing] to him."

And in Italian,^[7]

Chiedi al dottore se in questa casa c'è troppo sole, secondo lui.

"Ask the doctor if he thinks there's too much sun in this house."

I interpret these non-literal translations as basically saying that the colonel should ask the doctor, "Why don't you come and visit us?", in French expressed hyperbolically (like saying "I have not seen you in an eternity" to someone who dropped by just a week ago). Perhaps offering hot water to a visitor (instead of tea?) is an equally unforgivable sin against the rules of Colombian hospitality as is pouring boiling water on them.  ​‑‑Lambiam 23:16, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you both. I thought of some of those interpretations long ago in Spanish class, but (if I am not mistaken) the teacher read it literally, and the English translation also seems to favor this by making the water "boiling". The other translations (which I had not looked at) all clearly go for a less literal version that fits the understanding that User:Card_Zero suggests. This must be the right answer, although it doesn't appear to be a common expression, and a lot of readers didn't find its meaning obvious in this case. --Amble (talk) 23:54, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A Google search for "le echaron agua caliente" shows that this is an idiomatic way of saying "they threw boiling water on him/her/it", also in a literal sense. In several hits it is explicit that the water is scalding hot and causes burns.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:12, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In commons:file:Gambling_Age_-_Global.svg, the original legend and image had Age 13 for the Dominican Republic, whereas Gambling_age#North_America has 18 with "citation needed". Can someone please confirm? Thanks, cmɢʟee τaʟκ (please add {{ping|cmglee}} to your reply) 20:36, 22 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The snippet I can see of the paywalled article "Casino Gambling in the Caribbean" in Gaming Law Review says 18 for the DR. Also, 13 would be a very odd number to choose (and unlucky to boot). Clarityfiend (talk) 01:07, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification: The snippet is in Google, not visible in the ext. link provided. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:15, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, @Clarityfiend. cmɢʟee τaʟκ (please add {{ping|cmglee}} to your reply) 08:38, 23 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The article series for Jews and Judaism seem to be even longer than the article series for Christianity and Islam combined. Also, under Wikipedia:Requested articles/Biography/By profession#Religious figures, requests for Judaism are the only religion to have its own dedicated page. This is despite other religions having many more members than Judaism. Is there a reason for this difference? Wikieditor662 (talk) 18:14, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Presumably, because people wanted to write them. --Golbez (talk) 18:32, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

So true. But why did so many people want to write about that? Are people just very interested in Judaism or something? Wikieditor662 (talk) 18:33, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Judaism is also quite a bit older than the other two. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:16, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Please see at the top of the page. The reference desk does not answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate. Simonm223 (talk) 19:16, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I did not provide any requests for opinions, predictions or debate. I simply wanted to know the objective reasoning behind this. Wikieditor662 (talk) 16:56, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The only way to get an objective reasoning as to why people want to write articles about Judaism is to ask them. --Golbez (talk) 19:08, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Surely by definition presence on a "requested articles" list means that people didn't want to write them?  Card Zero  (talk) 19:54, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

More requests because more interest. The title of this section was "Why are there so many articles about Judaism," after all. --Golbez (talk) 14:08, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Template:Jews_and_Judaism_sidebar is quite long because it has many sections, for topics such as "texts", "culture", and "population". These aren't added automatically. You could make Template:Christianity_sidebar longer by adding the corresponding sections and finding articles to use (Christianity in China, for instance), so this isn't a good proxy for the number of articles about a given religion. In some cases, for instance "languages", the corresponding section wouldn't make sense: so there's more to say about Judaism than about Christianity, in those contexts. At Wikipedia:Requested articles/Social sciences/Religion you can see that Buddhism and Christianity have separate sections for requested articles within their own wikiprojects, but Judaism does not. The section for "Anitism or Philippine mythology" is remarkably long. What this reveals is that Wikipedia is not very coordinated or well-organized, and coverage is based on who happened to take an interest in covering a subject.  Card Zero  (talk) 19:52, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Most discussions that would impact on the number of articles (merge, split, notability, etc) are discussed on a case-by-case basis, based on the specific context; so the overall number of topics of any given topic is not a good metric of anything. Cambalachero (talk) 22:09, 24 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Christianity sidebar only covers a religion, while the Jews and Judaism sidebar covers both a religion and the concept of the Jewish people as an ethnic group. That already explains a wider range of topics. Additionally, due to the diaspora, Jewish culture is very diversified, also increasing the number of notable topics.  ​‑‑Lambiam 01:55, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Card Zero @Lambiam Well then, is there a way of knowing how many articles there are overall for Jews / Judaism vs for Christianity or Islam? Wikieditor662 (talk) 16:53, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You can count the ariicles in the categories, and sub*categories of, Jews and Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, making sure not to double count articles shared by subcategories. While tedious, I estimate that this should take you maybe 15 to 20 minutes; in any case, it is doable.  ​‑‑Lambiam 17:14, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Surely there's an easier way to do this? Shouldn't there be a better way implemented? Wikieditor662 (talk) 17:23, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If you can think of a better way… suggest it. Blueboar (talk) 17:48, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've never tried the PetScan tool, but it looks to me as if it can be used for this purpose.  ​‑‑Lambiam 05:40, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the suggestion! I don't think I've ever used a tool before, but I guess I could give it a try. Wikieditor662 (talk) 18:04, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I hope this question was asked in good faith. It could be interpreted as a veiled suggestion of undue Jewish influence or bias on Wikipedia. In any case, Card Zero has already provided the only answer that makes sense. --Viennese Waltz 09:07, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Of course it was done in good faith. And yeah, the question was sort of answered (that the categories don't determine effectively how many articles there are), so I suppose the discussion could be archived. Wikieditor662 (talk) 18:04, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Note as well that categorization may lose its original focus the deeper we go. For example: Jews and Judaism -> Works about Jews and Judaism -> Television shows about Jews and Judaism -> Television series about Jews and Judaism -> Jewish American television series -> Seinfeld. If we made a big list of Jewish-related articles in Wikipedia, is Seinfeld an article we would be thinking about? Probably not. --Cambalachero (talk) 18:55, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is a great question of where to draw the line. Perhaps there could be a tier system, where some articles are related to Judaism, and others are about it? Wikieditor662 (talk) 20:51, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi,There was information on your website how to submit photos and other information about this photo contest of historic places but I don't see the info now, is it too late to submit photos? Thanks, dane Ahightthen (talk) 15:55, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Here's the website for the monuments contest: https://www.wikilovesmonuments.org

Closing dates vary by country, apparently in two "cycles". Photo submissions for participating countries within the September cycle have ended. For participating countries within the October cycle, it ends by October 31. Here's the list of countries.  Card Zero  (talk) 21:29, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is there somewhere I can find the initial melody of this song (i.e. Jan Kaszewski's, not the famous one borrowed from Serdeczna Matko)? Double sharp (talk) 16:50, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

...well, that didn't take long. Here. But leaving it up and resolved, in case it is useful to others. :) Double sharp (talk) 17:01, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

According to our article on Robert Maxwell, he and Elie Wiesel were distant relatives. This is supported by a reference to Joe Haines's book Maxwell. Haines was notoriously a lickspittle of Maxwell, and his book is actually copyright Robert Maxwell. Is there a reliable source to support the claim of relationship? Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 21:55, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"While the two share some similarities besides growing up in nearby localities—both lost their parents and other family members in the Holocaust—The Dispatch was unable to find other references to them being related aside from Haines' book." Clarityfiend (talk) 22:49, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Addendum: I've removed the claim from Maxwell's article. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:55, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is difficult to exclude the possibility, though. Their birthplaces were in walking distance of each other in Carpathian Ruthenia, lying on opposite sides of the river Tisza that now forms there the border between Ukraine and Romania, while both were born in Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish families. Many of these families would have had family ties.  ​‑‑Lambiam 13:42, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It all depends on how distant is 'distant'. In principle, everyone now alive is distantly related to everyone else. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.208.246 (talk) 22:35, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Let us limit the scope of application of the concept by requiring that each link in a chain connecting putative relatives can be supported by evidence. While it does not seem worth the effort, an examination of birth and marriage registers of Carpathian Ruthenia could conceivably find a connecting chain.  ​‑‑Lambiam 05:43, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Is Sarah Pochin, a British MP who has recently been in the news for her feelings of distress when she sees black people, related to Henry Pochin, the MP and china clay magnate? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 22:08, 25 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Pochin" is her married name. So if there is a connection, it would most likely be through her husband. Her birth name is "Sarah Joanne Hyde". Long is the way (talk) 22:07, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

According to this article, her husband Jonathan Pochin is the grandson of Arthur Pochin, one of the co-founders of the Pochin's construction company; and according to another article, Arthur Pochin was the grandson of Henry Pochin's younger brother William Pochin. So if I've got my generations correct, I think that makes her husband Henry Pochin's great-great-grandnephew. Proteus (Talk) 14:29, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Proteus: Thanks, that looks good! I would say great-great-great-nephew, grand is an Americanism DuncanHill (talk) 11:58, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Someone on Reddit, critical of the notion of Kamala Harris running for president again, writes:[8] "Unless she’s ready to use the same rhetoric as AOC and JFC, she can get off the stage."

I know who AOC is, but who is JFC? Probably someone obvious but I'm still not getting it even after some clicking around. Thanks. 2601:644:8581:75B0:5C2C:5D86:A0D1:781 (talk) 07:25, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It could be a typo for JFK, or it could mean Jesus F-ing Christ.-Gadfium (talk) 08:07, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or maybe "... Clinton". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:05, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Probably Jasmine Felicia Crockett.  ​‑‑Lambiam 14:12, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, thanks. I had never heard of Crockett before but I guess maybe. 2601:644:8581:75B0:5C2C:5D86:A0D1:781 (talk) 20:50, 26 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It almost certainly refers to Crockett, as she and AOC are two of the most notable younger Democrats in congress. They often come up together in discussions. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 11:12, 27 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I have a related question: Americans seem to love referring to politicians by three-letter initialisms. Off-hand, I can think of JFK, FDR, BHO, HRC, LBJ, GWB, and AOC. I can't think of any other nation that does this. Does anyone know when/where/why this trend started? Iapetus (talk) 11:01, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

According to In The Shadow of FDR by William Leuchtenburg, it started with FDR and then JFK and LBJ both did it as sort of a homage. GWB is a special case since it distinguishes him from his father GHWB who has the same first name. The rest are Democrats. BHO is not referred to that way very much, and he used to sign his twitter posts 'bo' rather than 'bho'. AOC abbreviates a rather long name, and "HRC" instead of "Clinton" avoids confusion with Bill Clinton. 2601:644:8581:75B0:CA1A:C49F:C3C1:F7C9 (talk) 16:05, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

FDR also distinguishes President Roosevelt from the eponym of the Teddy bear. For an early use, see this "impossible interview"  ​‑‑Lambiam 10:21, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Contributing factor is the US habit of having three part names, very convenient for three letter initialisms. It just doesn't work in most other countries. PiusImpavidus (talk) 16:56, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

...and we simply don't talk about Winston Churchill like that! -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 18:27, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Water closet (WC) for those unfamiliar with the term. Clarityfiend (talk) 23:36, 28 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Also, even for politicians with three-part names, how many people would have known how to fill the blank in "M_T", referring to the Iron Lady (not to be confused with another, less ferrous M_T)?  ​‑‑Lambiam 10:39, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect most UK politicians have middle names, they just aren't used much day-to-day. On this side of the pond, we've largely lost the egotistical habit of naming our children after ourselves with only a middle initial or a "junior" or "senior" to distinguish between the generations. So if people aren't in the habit of calling themselves John H. Smith in normal life (so as not to be confused with their father/son John Q. Smith), they don't use that initial when they go into public life either. Politicians' weird middle names do get an outing on election night, however, when the returning officer reads the candidates' names in full. Chuntuk (talk) 16:58, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Many have more than one middle name. Churchill's initials are WLSC, Heath's ERGH, Blair's ACLB, Cameron's DWDC and Boris Johnson's ABdPJ.  ​‑‑Lambiam 22:23, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Some Europeans have 2 names (WK; very common today except amongst those with snobbish parents), some 3 (FJJ; Catholics (I don't know whether FJJ is a Catholic) often have the name of some saint as second name), some 4 (RFML; a saint and the Holy Virgin), some more (KTMNJJPFJSBG; that's nobility). Americans seem to have a preference for exactly 3.

In the Netherlands, we used to have a habit of naming children after their grandparents and, when they ran out, siblings of the parents etc. This of course gradually shrinks the name pool, making it more likely that parent and child have the same name. My father's father was named after one of the brothers of his mother, my father was named after his father's father, who happened to have the same name. Coincidentally, my mother's father also had the same name. According to tradition, my brother would have been named after my father's father and I after my mother's father, giving me, my brother and my father (and my grandfathers and one of my great-grandfathers) all the same name. Fortunately, my parents broke with the tradition, but, yes, it happened that multiple people in the same family had exactly the same official name. That's when nicknames come in. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:52, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I think I remember reading he did that, though Google's AI denies this ever happened. Anyone know any WP:RS on this? It would have been in that time when he liked WP. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 10:26, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

His brother Kimbal Musk is a repeat donor to the WMF.^[9][10][11]  ​‑‑Lambiam 12:08, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Guilt by association, can't do that ;-) Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 13:09, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Endowment lists the Musk Foundation as a $2 million+ benefactor.[12] Long is the way (talk) 21:49, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, found a secondary source for that:[13] The https://www.muskfoundation.org/ website is a little bare-bones. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 21:57, 29 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikimedia Endowment page as archived by the Wayback Machine on 2019:11:01 does not mention the Musk Foundation; it appears, for $1 million+, on 2019:12:17. Then, on 2020:06:04, the amount becomes $2 million+.  ​‑‑Lambiam 15:46, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Background: Joe Scalzi#After politics says high-school teacher Scalzi taught "history and SOSE" (as of 2006), but nothing in the dab page Sose is relevant. After some digging, I found this Queensland document which says it's "Studies of Society and Environment", and appears to be a section of some older version of the Australian Curriculum. SOSE isn't mentioned in the Australian Curriculum article, nor Education in Australia. The current Australian Curriculum appears to have HASS ("Humanities and Social Science") which seems to cover similar topics to SOSE.

Questions:

• I'd like to add an entry to the disambiguation page Sose. Does

Studies of Society and Environment - a former part of the Australia school curriculum - see social studies#Australia

sound sensible?

• What should Social studies#Australia say about it? When was it adopted (and where), and when was it replaced (presumably with HASS)? Is HASS a one-for-one replacement, with a slightly less crap name?
• Was the name used across Australia (so far I've only found mention in Queensland and South Australia)?
• Was it used in other countries?

-- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 16:56, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Watching Every Day Except Christmas, and was struck by the mention (as in our article), that years ago all the porters had been women, now (1957), only Alice remains. Why the change from women to men porters, and when? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 18:54, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My wild-assed guess would be that during WW2, male porters (being fit adults) would have been called up into the Armed Forces, leaving only women available. I doubt that portering would have been a Reserved occupation.

From my second-hand knowledge of the period, bus driving and bus conducting were largely taken over by women during the War, but (willingly or not) they were mostly replaced by men again after it. {The poster formerly known as 87.812.230.195} 94.1.208.246 (talk) 21:15, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've found a Pall Mall Gazette article 12 July 1895 that says "Very few people know that only women are allowed as porters inside the flower-market. They must produce a reference as to good conduct and sobriety before they become a "licensed porter," and are at once dismissed for drunkenness or for disorderly conduct." I have to say the impression I got from the film was that they were talking of long ago, not 12 years ago. DuncanHill (talk) 23:43, 30 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

From the Brisbane weekly, The Illustrated News Budget, in January 1926, an article called "Feeding London - Picturesque and Historic Markets":

Covent Garden is London’s famous market for fruit, flowers, and vegetables. It was once a garden, and belonged to the Abbots of Westminster in the 16th century, but it is now a great,, covered-in market. Here are to be seen tne historic London flower-girl, and Covent Garden has its women porters, who have numbered metal discs and circular head pads, and on their heads these sturdy females carry their loads. [14]

Alansplodge (talk) 11:36, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And a Google "snippet view" of Aspects of England (1937) p. 55 by Wilfrid Ewart:

Porters are diving in and out carrying great loads of round baskets and wooden boxes upon their heads; there are women porters too, women in aprons and shawls, wearing odd little round padded caps upon their heads. Covent Garden is a distinctly dangerous place at this time , because nobody pays the smallest attention to anyone else...

So it would seem to be a gradual change during the inter-war period, but a specific reference has eluded me.

Alansplodge (talk) 11:59, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

That is not how I would interpret the evidence above. It suggests to me that although Covent Garden porters in general were mostly men (see for example here) with some women, including the last woman porter Alice Saben, those in its Flower market (only) were exclusively women from at least as early as 1897 (though probably from rather earlier) up until at least 1937.

The Flower-market transition, then, occurred after 1937 and before 1957. An obvious transforming event within that period was WW2, in which other previously male-dominated occupations transitioned to majorly female and back again, but in the absence of further evidence other scenarios are of course also possible. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.1.208.246 (talk) 19:26, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Or perhaps something to do with the Beecham family. DuncanHill (talk) 21:44, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This India Today article says "Wikipedia relies on millions of human volunteers who write, edit and verify articles. ..., with 123 million monthly active users as of October 2025."

Pl. help fact check and help update the correct figures. Bookku (talk) 09:56, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It is difficult to give "correct" figures, because it is difficult to define who should be counted in the number of "human volunteers". The IP 41.233.47.90 made one edit, on 6 April 2008, to the article Slavery in the Ottoman Empire, never to be heard of again. Should they be counted?

Wikiscan gives regularly updated statistics concerning the English Wikipedia, and there is the page WP:STAS with some figures. The problem of defining who or what counts for similar reporting as in the newspaper article remains.  ​‑‑Lambiam 21:15, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to be the case that in the UK, the vast majority of ATMs (sometimes also called cash machines) are free to use and over 95% of withdrawals are made with a free to use ATM, according to the video. It doesn't matter whether your withdrawing money from your own bank, another one, at a supermarket, its generally free.* The ones that do, must give a warning on how much you would be charged (see above link). I assume its also because its illegal to charge hidden fees in the UK (hence why the price you see is the price you pay, including VAT).

Meanwhile, other countries do charge for withdrawals, at least when you use an ATM other from your own bank. Are there any countries where most ATMs are free to use, even when not using your bank?

*It may still charge fees if your card doesn't use sterling, or you use a credit card to withdraw.

JuniperChill (talk) 16:37, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Netherlands: It depends on the details of your contract with your bank, but typically one can withdraw money for free. Not just from ATMs of your own bank, but from every ATM in the EEA. At least, it works like that with my bank. PiusImpavidus (talk) 21:13, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Including EEA countries that don't use the euro as their currency? Or is that because of SEPA? JuniperChill (talk) 21:24, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just back from a 4-week trip to Languedoc and Catalonia. I only needed to use an ATM twice, which was fortunate since one charged me 4 Euros (c. AUD 8) and the other - a bank - 7 Euros (c. AUD 14). The convenience factor won the day but I'm still reeling. I can only assume the fees were high because my bank is not based in Europe. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 16:15, 1 November 2025 (UTC) [reply]

The LINK web page carefully specifies that it deals with charges for withdrawing cash. If, in the course of withdrawing cash or as a separate action, the customer asks to see their balance, that is another matter. A fee may and almost certainly will^{[citation needed]} be charged. That is why ATMs (in my UK experience) obsessively offer multiple chances to see your balance, even if you select 'withdraw cash' only. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 13:58, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In "Golden Age" crime fiction, and indeed in the episode of Doomwatch (1971) that's on telly right now, coroners held their inquests by and large in the local pub, or otherwise the village hall or institute. Nowadays they are held in court. When did it change? Question applies to England and Wales. Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 21:20, 31 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I found Law Courts and Courtrooms 2: Civil and Coroner’s Courts from Historic England, which says (pp. 8-9):

The principal requirement of the Coroner’s Court was that the room should be of adequate size, be available at short notice, and increasingly that it should provide a suitably dignified location for the solemn task, rather than being held in a room in a prison or a pub... In 1910 the Bolton coroner, Samuel Foster Butcher, reported that he held inquests in a club or institute, and rarely in a public-house, although when he was appointed in 1889 all inquests had been held in pubs. Despite variations in practice across the country, satisfactory arrangements seem to have been reached by the early 20th century and there was little need to provide courts specifically for holding inquests...

It goes on to describe how in other public buildings were adapted to be coroner's courts, while others were purpose-built close to mortuaries. The mid-20th century seems to be the timeframe, except in the London area, where 29 dedicated coroner's courts were built between 1878 and 1915.

Alansplodge (talk) 12:24, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The legal position is perhaps rather surprising. According to Thomas Teague, Chief Coroner of England and Wales

[Y]ou will find it confidently asserted by various authorities that [the practice of conducting inquests in taverns] was abolished by the Coroners Act of 1887. That is not so. The 1887 Act was completely silent about it. The earliest prohibition I have been able to find is contained in section 21 of the Licensing Act 1902, which forbade coroners to use public houses for inquests “where other suitable premises have been provided”. Section 21 was repealed in 1910 and I cannot trace any successor to it, raising the tantalising possibility that there currently exists no legal prohibition – not even a qualified one – against holding inquests in pubs.^[15]

All the same, I suspect the Doomwatch scriptwriter was a bit out of touch unless that episode was set in the very remotest parts of Loamshire. --Antiquary (talk) 12:48, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) A bit more digging finds The History of Crime and Punishment (p. 57) which says:

...the use of pub venues [for inquests] was not abolished until the 1910 Licensing Act.

A quick scan through the Licensing (Consolidation) Act 1910 didn't find anything specific as far as I can see, but it may be related to public access to licenced premises outside of openening hours.

Alansplodge (talk) 13:03, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Somewhat bizarrely, Teague is in error. Section 83 of the 1910 act basically repeats section 21 of the 1902 act with the same caveat "where other suitable premises have been provided for the inquest". The same caveat is in section 157 of the Licensing Act, 1953, with the prohibition qualified by "if any other suitable place is provided". —Simon Harley (Talk). 11:11, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Side question: in this context, what is meant by "inquest" - an actual autopsy? Our article at Inquests in England and Wales suggests the term was more for the legal aspects. Which might be more hygienic, but likely less entertaining, for the pub-goers. Matt Deres (talk) 02:22, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No, certainly not that. They are completely different things: see inquest and autopsy. Johnbod (talk) 03:55, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Should the name of the article for the Soweto uprising have it's name changed to "Soweto uprising and massacre" because the article for the Tiananmen Square massacre is called the "1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre" and should the redirect page, Soweto uprising and massacre be changed to "Soweto uprising". 2A0A:EF40:135F:701:6515:51DE:CC01:ACD4 (talk) 17:05, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This is a question that should be asked on the talk page of that article. Nanonic (talk) 17:21, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Question from a serial block evader. Thanks, of course, to those who replied.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Memory card. Can you help me to find the meaning of its numbers and letters? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.207.123.181 (talk) Might be manufacturer specific? No idea if this will help, but you can try. 2601:644:8581:75B0:6B80:34C2:7642:2AF8 (talk) 22:37, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply] The numbers may be the serial number, but "CSA"? 193.207.123.181 (talk) 22:45, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply] Maybe [16] this? 2601:644:8581:75B0:6B80:34C2:7642:2AF8 (talk) 22:50, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply] Ok, thanks. 193.207.123.181 (talk) 22:56, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply] That appears to be about connecting SD cards to 8-bit Commodore computers from the 1980s. Does the CS stand for Commodore Semiconductors? This is unlikely to be used by a secret criminal syndicate in an anime movie from 2009, or to be printed on the SD card. Of course! The CS stands for Criminal Syndicate.  Card Zero  (talk) 23:11, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply] It's a standard SD card, 256 is 28 and is probably its capacity. Usually in anime I would expect the rest to be nonsense filler material put there to look impressive, like greebles on a spaceship. I found the numbers 31001 and 2806 used by a company called Molex that makes adapters for SD cards. 2806C, on the other hand, is a type of diesel engine.  Card Zero  (talk) 23:18, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Relating to a news report about SecDef Hegseth recently pushing out a 3-star general, Bill Kristol says of the phenomenon,[17] "[i]f this were happening elsewhere, we'd understand right away what was happening."

I have a sense of what Kristol is insinuating, but can someone spell it out? Particularly, I know that some historical dictator-types did similar things, but I don't understand where it led. Like Stalin replaced a bunch of incumbent Soviet generals with his own hand-picked ones, but what did he have the new ones do that the old ones wouldn't or couldn't? Thanks. 2601:644:8581:75B0:6B80:34C2:7642:2AF8 (talk) 22:49, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We have articles for purge and reshuffle. It may be that the new ones won't do troublesome, disloyal things.  Card Zero  (talk) 23:39, 1 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A general loyal to the people might do things like performing a military coup to get rid of a dictator. A general loyal to the dictator might do things like shooting at civilians who want to remove the dictator from office. Dictators shuffle generals to get the latter type on the important positions. In other countries, this shuffle would be a clear sign of a dictator building power, but we cannot imagine the US being anything other than a proper democracy. Maybe we should. Several checks and balances have already failed. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:35, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A commissioned officer loyal to their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, might refuse to obey an order that goes against the Constitution. That alone is already a reason to try and get rid of them – military officers should obviously be loyal to the Commander in Chief, and to Him alone.  ​‑‑Lambiam 00:24, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You may be interested in Purging militaries: Introducing the Military Purges in Dictatorships (MPD) dataset, although of course, we all know that nobody in an advanced democracy would "attempt to control their militaries by eliminating strong potential rivals from key positions and replacing them with those who are loyal", would they? Alansplodge (talk) 13:14, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In my impression, Abraham Lincoln was an introverted president. But after checking the Big Five personality scale of U.S. presidents, I found that Lincoln's extraversion was above average, which surprised me. After consulting related works, I learned that extraversion in the Big Five refers to the ability to experience positive emotions, and that positive emotions are independent of negative emotions (thus Lincoln's high neuroticism would not affect this). Is there any evidence that Lincoln had many positive emotions (or did I misunderstand the reason for his high extraversion)? Ataled (talk) 05:07, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lincoln suffered from depression, which is independent of being introvert/extravert, but might have given the impression of introversion. Politicians sort of have to be extraverts in order to constantly curry favors and suffer those trying to curry favors from them. I had thought, though, that extraversion specifically meant experiencing positive emotions from being around other people. See also: https://nypost.com/2012/02/05/extroverts-destroy-the-world/ 2601:644:8581:75B0:B2E1:7A78:46AA:B9A9 (talk) 08:15, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Lincoln was very good at making friends, which comes in very handy in politics (though a talent for making enemies doesn't seem to have [yet] hindered the current president). Clarityfiend (talk) 11:48, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification: Extraversion and introversion says the former "is typically associated with sociability, talkativeness, and high energy", and Big Five personality traits says basically the same thing, not the "ability to experience positive emotions". So whatever inner troubles he may have had, it didn't detract from his sociability. Clarityfiend (talk) 12:17, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJMSINwiCnY

Google Translate gives the name of the location as "တအာင်းပြည်နယ်၊ နမ့်ဆန်ခရိုင်တွ" aka Namsan District, Ta'ang State but no state with that name exists

I presumed the location was Shan State but Wikipedia doesnt list any districts by the name of "နမ့်ဆန်ခရိုင်တွ" in Shan State Trade (talk) 16:19, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Namsan probably refers to Namhsan. 122.57.208.7 (talk) 19:50, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This source says that the TNLA divides itself into five districts, including a Namhsan District so probably unrelated to Myanmar administrative divisions. 122.57.208.7 (talk) 19:57, 2 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

In Chapter 9 of Dracula by Bram Stoker, Dr Seward writes in his diary for the 23rd August "'The unexpected always happens.' How well Disraeli knew life!" I have been unable to find the source of the quotation, can anyone here do better? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 00:34, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

What we anticipate seldom occurs; what we least expected generally happens. Found at q:Benjamin Disraeli, section Henrietta Temple (1837).  Card Zero  (talk) 01:12, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

As of the evidence available: What did the 9/11 terrorists expect and intend to finally happen to the buildings they flew the airplanes into? Did they expect, and want, the WTC towers to collapse? Or would they have preferred they persist as smoking ruins, visible evidence for their successful attack for a long time? Did they plan and expect to destroy the Pentagon beyond repair? Or did they just want to hit and did not really care about the rest? --KnightMove (talk) 12:53, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]

After the 9/11 attacks, several videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden were released. I remember (but can't find it right now) that in one of them ObL mentioned that he hadn't expected the Twin Towers to collapse. He seemed pleased about it. PiusImpavidus (talk) 14:17, 3 November 2025 (UTC)[reply]