Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2009 April 11

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April 11

Painting: Victorian lady having tea

There exists this picture of a Victorian lady having tea. Is it a famous work? Is there a larger version available? ----Seans Potato Business 03:06, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Going out on a limb, it's an Anglo-American? illustration (from a magazine?) of ca 1900. It is probably not a famous image.--Wetman (talk) 07:16, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I would guess that it's one of the genteel quasi pin-up cards of Edwardian times, often depicting elegantly attired upper-class young ladies looking pensive. Not sure what the recognized term for that kind of thing is, or how you would track one specific item down without specific identifying information. In the United States during the same period, we had Gibson girl illustrations... AnonMoos (talk) 00:50, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

The artist was Harrison Fisher. And yes, the original shows more of the lady's dress. These folks [1] sell notecards with a print of the picture, they may be able to give you more info about it. Crypticfirefly (talk) 23:42, 12 April 2009 (UTC) I found out a bit more about it. These folks [2] say that the name of the picture is In Teacup Times and that it dates from 1909. They also allow you to download a more complete version of the image. Crypticfirefly (talk) 23:52, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Is there a god of elections?

There is a god of love, there is a god of war. Is there a god of elections? Or at least a patron saint? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.5.17 (talk) 08:00, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Answers on the Language Desk meltBanana 12:50, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

removed question on Obama

This question has been removed as it is not appropriate for the Reference Dek. Please see the talk page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 12:06, 11 April 2009 (UTC); preceding unsigned removal performed by Jayron32 (talk • contribs) 12:30, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

The discussion about whether the Q should have been removed is here: Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk#Q_removed:_.22Why_does_Barack_Obama_get_a_reception_as_if_he_was_Jesus_or_Hitler.3F.22. StuRat (talk) 15:56, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Historical interest rates for CHF and USD

Could you help me where can I find historical base interest rates for the US dollar from 2001 up to the latest data? I would be very pleasured, if you could help me about the smae thing regarding the CHF. --Ksanyi (talk) 14:05, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I can vouch for 'FRED' at the St. Louis Fed. It is a wonderfully easy resource to use. [3] This link goes straight to the section on interest rates. Remember that there are a lot of interest rates in an economy. T-Bill rates are good if you're looking for a risk-free 'cost of capital' type rate. It would probably serve as the best "Social discount rate" too. Prime rates are good if you're looking for what would face highly creditworthy people and businesses. I think you need to create an account to download the data, but it's quick and easy. I can't help specifically on the Swiss data.NByz (talk) 02:11, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

I thought to an article like this one, where there's given a base rate (here the interest rate paid after the federal funds). This is for my thesis. Can anybody help me to find data about swiss franc?

That article refers to the Fed Funds target range. This would be the range for interbank lending and (when credit markets are functioning well!) forms the basis for other rates in the economy. The Swiss equivalent seems to be the Repo Overnight Rate (or Repo Overnight Index). [4] This link seems to have data for the last couple years (the link "Current Interest Rates - Overview" at the bottom). Actually, that may be wrong. [5] This and [6] this link suggest that the swiss conduct monetary policy by setting a target range on the three-month LIBOR for CHF deposits. This isn't a comparable rate to the Fed Funds rate though.

Also, this [7] link has information on money market and pure discount bond rates.NByz (talk) 16:47, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Any reason behind having CHF = Swiss Franc?96.53.149.117 (talk) 16:11, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

The "official" title of Switzerland is "Confoederatio Helvetica" - with German, French, Italian and Romansch speakers in the country, instead of picking out as single language for the "official" name, they used Latin instead. (See note 8 in the Switzerland article) -- 128.104.112.117 (talk) 16:46, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Protestantism

Is there a religious costume for Protestants (for religious scholars and for common people)? Is there a special food eaten by Protestants (in special meals)? Excuse me if I have any grammar mistakes, my mother tongue isn't English. 19:28, 11 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.138.52.171 (talk)

The article Clerical clothing has a section on clothing worn by some protestant ministers. Protestant lay people wear widely varying clothing, with a few denominations such as Amish wearing distinctive "plain" clothing. Some Mennonites also wear distinctive clothing. Mormons wear special Temple garments under their clothing, but many do not consider them be Christians, let alone Protestants. One "special meal" eaten by Christians is called the "Lord's Supper" or Eucharist. It consists of bread and wine, or either element alone, or bread and grape juice, and in some denominations merely symbolizes the Last Supper, but in other denominations is thought to be miraculously transformed into the blood and flesh of Jesus. Protestant Christians otherwise generally eat ordinary food of whatever nation they live in, without special religiously based dietary restrictions. Edison (talk) 19:46, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I've noticed that (in the United States) many evangelical clergymen who have their own TV shows wear academic dress when haranguing their congregations, which has always seemed odd to me. Deor (talk) 20:05, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

I expect that it was actually our form of clerical dress (choir dress). Academic dress is pretty rarely used in the U.S. even by academics and we aren't good at preserving such distinctions (tuxedo vs. morning dress, etc.) The only two televangelists so dressed that I noticed while scanning Google were D. James Kennedy (wearing a blue robe whille his academic robe would be violet for New York University) and Robert Schuller whose doctorates all appear to be honorary. Rmhermen (talk) 21:18, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

While a few, mostly small Protestant groups do have distinctive clothing for common (lay) people, most do not. They wear the same clothing as secular (nonreligious) people and members of other religious groups in their countries. Likewise, most Protestants eat the same food as secular people and members of other religious groups in their countries. It is more common for Protestant clerics to wear distinctive clothing, but there are also many Protestant clerics and scholars, at least in the United States, who do not wear distinctive clothing. That is, they wear the same kinds of clothes as people with a similar class background in their country. Marco polo (talk) 21:49, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Just to clarify Marco polo's comment, it is more common for a Protestant cleric to wear religious clothing than a Protestant layman. It is more common for a Catholic cleric (or, I think an Orthodox one) to wear religious clothing than a Protestant cleric. Rmhermen (talk) 22:00, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

To clarify about the shared meal: The belief in Transubstantiation (the miraculous transformation of the substance of bread and wine into Christ's body and blood) is not a Protestant belief; it is distinctive to Roman Catholic Christians. The Protestant view of the Eucharist ranges from Martin Luther's view, sometimes described as consubstantiation or the Real Presence, that there is a real spiritual change in the elements, but not an alteration of physical substance, to the bare memorial interpretation which holds that the Eucharist is simply a shared meal, performed in obedience to Jesus' instruction 'Do this in remembrance of me'. The original Eucharist - the Last Supper - was probably a Passover Seder, and so many Christians use unleavened bread for celebrating the Eucharist.

As for clerical dress - this ranges from Lutheran and Anglican churches which closely follow Roman Catholic convention, through academic dress, choir dress, a combination of both ('hood and scarf'), plain sober black, and on to ordinary smart everyday clothes. AlexTiefling (talk) 13:54, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

The belief in Transubstantiation is not only held by the Roman Catholic Church. It is also held by other Sui iuris Churches in communion with Rome as well as the Eastern/Greek Orthodox and other (mostly Eastern) churches. --Joe^Talk_Work 01:00, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

And indeed by a not insignificant minority of High-Church Anglicans. [[Sam Korn]] ^(smoddy) 00:16, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

While there are few Protestant denominations that forbid or require eating specific foods, it's also true that denominations develop subcultures of their own in which certain foods may figure. Think of church lady jello salads and baked macaroni and cheese topped with bread crumbs, or lemon ice box pie, or Tic-Tac pie, easily identified as mid-Western U.S. Protestant dishes. - Nunh-huh 03:07, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

It's really impossible to answer the OP's question directly. "Protestant" pretty much means ANY non-Catholic western Christian sect which developed after the 16th century. It tends to cover the "mainline" protestant sects like Anglicanism and Baptist and Methodist and Lutheran and Presbyterian as well as other rather esoteric smaller sects like the Quakers and Seventh Day Adventist and Amish. Depending on who you ask, some rather latecomers to the Christian world, like Jehovah's Witness and Mormon and Christian Scientist also get lumped in to the "Protestant" umbrella. Other than 1) originating in Western Europe or North America and 2) Being Christian and 3) Not following the Pope there are NO real other commonalities between ALL of the various Christian groups that get labeled "protestant". With regard to the vestments, some denominations where clerical robes similar to Catholic Priests do; some wear "academic" or "choir" style robes, some wear a nice suit and tie. It REALLY varies widely between denominations, and sometimes from congregation to congregation WITHIN one denomination. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 04:54, 13 April 2009 (UTC)