Humanities desk
< July 17	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 19 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 18[edit]

First Greek speaking roman emperor[edit]

Which Roman emperor (east or west) spoke Greek as his 1st language & was more comfortable with it than Latin?--71.118.42.27 (talk) 00:32, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Diocletian perhaps? It was probably someone before the loss of the west. Adam Bishop (talk) 01:53, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Syria's reaction to Lebanon's political crisis[edit]

How did Syrian shi'a, sunni, druze and maronites reacted to their Lebanese counterparts' political crisis? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.14.118.191 (talk) 01:34, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Presumably with great trepidation about publicly expressing any views strongly opposed to those of the Assad dynasty regime, given a past history which includes events such as the Hama massacre... AnonMoos (talk) 11:41, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bad Page Link[edit]

The page for 'William Howard Taft' (a former president of the US) comes up to some nonsense. The format is screwed up so that I can't reach the 'edit this page' to undo. Any help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.212.5.67 (talk) 17:43, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This page? Where is the problem?--droptone (talk) 17:48, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I see it too, a black screen with some kind of vandalism, but it's only there when I'm not logged in. Strange. 194.171.56.13 (talk) 18:39, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Look at the corner at the top of the page. Do you see that lock symbol? Certain pages are semi-protected and reqire login. Often these are pages with a long history of vandalism (such as Obama). You can also locate a protected page when you aren't logged in if you can only "view source" rather than "edit page" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Omahapubliclibrary (talk • contribs) 19:33, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As explained here, it seems to have been a vandalized template that was restored, but the vandalism was still cached for logged-out users (logged-in users don't get to see cached pages). 194.171.56.13 (talk) 09:16, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rights of EU aliens in the Netherlands[edit]

As a British citizen, living and studying in the Netherlands (two years and counting), am I endowed the rights laid out in the Dutch constitution (most importantly, article 110 promising freedom of information pertaining to administrative matters)? --Seans Potato Business 20:07, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don’t know, but I think Postbus 51 will know. You’ll find a free phone number and a contact form. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Berteun (talk • contribs) 20:21, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I sent them a message ----Seans Potato Business 22:26, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Rights of EU aliens in the UK[edit]

Can a non-British citizen of an EU member-state demand information for a UK governmental institution under the freedom of information act? If not, what if they asked a British citizen to request the information on their behalf. Would the government have any right to refuse to service the request if it was known that the information would simply be passed to the non-British national? ----Seans Potato Business 22:26, 18 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd imagine that the act would apply to all those legally resident in the UK. In any case, it would not be grounds for refusal if the information was going to be made known to a foreign national. If so, newspapers would not be able to publish what they'd found through the FOIA, since a foreigner might read it.--NeoNerd 14:24, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 establishes a "general right of access to information held by public authorities" and this right pertains to "any person" [1]. It goes on to list many exemptions to this right with regard to the type of information or the type of public body but I cannot see anywhere in the legislation that limits the access based on the status (nationality or otherwise) of the applicant - who is defined as "any person" who submits a request "which — (a) is in writing, (b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence, and (c) describes the information requested". (Obviously this paraphrasing/quoting of the legislation available at the above link should not be treated as legal advice). Valiantis (talk) 19:09, 19 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]