Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 February 9

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February 9

Agessa

"The monies withheld by the buyer do not account for all tax to be paid." Does anybody see what this statement from the given article exactly refers to?--Boczi (talk) 16:30, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

I understand that they can come back to the author and ask for more money if the direct payment is not enough to pay the tax. MilborneOne (talk) 16:35, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

@MilborneOne: Firstly, thank you for answering! My problem is: The way I read it is that, in fact, the buyer is the production company paying the author for (= "buying") the license in this example. And with that, still neither the given statement nor your interpretation really makes sense to me.--Boczi (talk) 13:35, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Has Melvyn Bragg presented every single episode of In Our Time so far?

Has Melvyn Bragg presented every single episode of In Our Time from the first episode on Thursday Oct 15 1998 till now or did someone sub for him at one time or another? Thanks. Basemetal 17:33, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Every single episode is available online. See List of In Our Time programmes, where you will find a link to each one. You can find your answer that way. --Jayron32 17:46, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Right. Listening to about 790 episodes of In Our Time is not what I would call a clever way to get the answer. I hope someone here knows the answer or knows a less laborious way to get it. I'd be interested in hearing episodes Melvyn Bragg didn't present (if there are any). Incidentally the program page is here and the list of episodes (from newest to oldest) is here. (Or you can follow the links from the WP article). Basemetal 18:08, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

You don't need to listen to every episode, only the first few seconds of every episode. DuncanHill (talk) 18:12, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Hoping for a yet more efficient way. A book or article that might say "Melvyn Bragg presented every single episode except episodes 123, 456 and 789". Or someone here who might be a regular listener and might happen to remember the episode on Daltonism was presented by John Blow. Basemetal 18:26, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

The show is still active, so the answer to your title question is "Not yet!" As to the detail question, the question for you is, "How badly do you want to know?" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:32, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

You're all so helpful. Basemetal 20:03, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

I have the answer to this, if you can tell me where all my toenail clippings have gone.... μηδείς (talk) 22:55, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

I don't know about you, but I file my nails after clipping. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:03, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

And then you paint them? Basemetal 05:16, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Paint what? The file cabinet? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:16, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

From bad to gross... Basemetal 05:16, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

• I'm not sure what better source you could have except the episodes themselves for your research. Expecting other people, whether someone here, or some mythical person who had written some mythical book or article, to listen to them for you sounds even less reasonable because you're the one who's interested in the answer. --Jayron32 04:54, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

I'm of course not expecting anyone to listen to 790 episodes, be it for only a few seconds, for me. I think it is not unreasonable to imagine some people might know the answer already without having had to go to all that work and that one such person might happen to be here. I've always thought that was the very purpose of the RD. Basemetal 05:16, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Quite so. Your best bet might be to contact In Our Time's production office, which you can do here. They must certainly know. --Antiquary (talk) 10:53, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

This was an excellent idea. Thank you. I've just sent in my question. I'll be very impressed if they respond beyond their automated answer which says: "Thank you for contacting In Our Time. Your views about the programme [sic] are important to us and all your emails will be read by a member of the production team. Owing to the number of e-mails we receive, however, we may not be able to respond to every message individually." Basemetal 12:02, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Were you not expecting the BBC to use British English? Dbfirs 13:32, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

I'd thought the spelling "programme" was by now quaint even in Britain and that British people usually wrote "program" these days. That was actually from being a regular reader of the BBC website. But if you're saying that's not the case, then I stand corrected. Basemetal 13:58, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

A program is a thing on a computer. A thing on the radio or television, or in a manifesto, is a programme. DuncanHill (talk) 14:21, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It's only in the field of computers that the American spelling has become standard in the UK. For broadcasting, the traditional British spelling is normally retained. The only cites in the latest OED for the shortened form of the word in this context are from American publications. All British newspapers cited use the mme ending. Dbfirs 14:27, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Not a definitive answer, but I have listened to many programmes from the In Our Time archive and I have never come across one with a presenter other than Bragg. Mannerheimo (talk · contribs) updates the List of In Our Time programmes article regularly - you could perhaps ask them if they know the answer. Gandalf61 (talk) 14:29, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

FWIW, I must have heard virtually all episodes of IOT as they were broadcast and I have no memory of anyone substituting for Melv, but then I have no memory of a hell of a lot of things these days. --Antiquary (talk) 18:13, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

There are 79 pages of past episodes, with short descriptions, listed on the BBC site, so it wouldn't take too long to scroll through those (always assuming there are no gaps, of course). I haven't done so, but the descriptions of the ones I've seen so far all start with "Melvyn Bragg..". (To confirm what others have said, as far as I am aware MB has presented all the episodes.) AndrewWTaylor (talk) 18:23, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

The series producer, Victoria Brignell, seems to have told an interviewer in September 2015 that MB had presented every episode. I say seems because that's not put in direct speech. --Antiquary (talk) 18:37, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Why do Christian, Jewish and Muslims have different weekend / day of rest?

Why do Christian, Jewish and Muslims have different weekend / day of rest? When looking at Jewish they have the Saturday as the holly day for rest based on the bible "God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made." (Genesis 2,3) but when talking about Christians they have the holiday Sunday which is considered the 1st day of the week rather than the 7th. Also when talking about Muslims they have the 6th day of the week as the day of rest. Now my question is what are Christian and Muslims based on in the bible or Quraan when having these days of rest on 6th or 1st days of the week?? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 185.191.178.183 (talk) 21:07, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Muslims: 9th verse of the 62nd chapter of the Qur'an. Christians: I don't know. Basemetal 21:22, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

That quote states that Friday is the day of prayer, but doesn't explain why that day, rather than another. There is a quote in the Jumu'ah article which indicates that Friday may have been chosen (or at least, the choice justified) on the basis that Friday was the day when god created Adam. Wymspen (talk) 18:09, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

As a practical matter, it sets you apart to have a different day of rest and makes it clear you are not simply a sect of the group you broke away from.--Wehwalt (talk) 21:28, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

There's lots of information in our articles on the Sabbath and Sabbath in Christianity. Warofdreams talk 22:23, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

Also Biblical Sabbath, enough reading to fill a rainy Saturday (well, it's raining here anyway). Alansplodge (talk) 12:56, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

The simple answer, for Christianity, is that they celebrate the day of Christ's resurrection - which was on the first day of the week, after the Jewish Sabbath (crucified Friday, Sabbath on Saturday, rose again Sunday morning - described using the expression "on the third day"). Wymspen (talk) 14:39, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

Indeed, and the Russian word for Sunday is Воскресный (Voskresnyy), "resurrection". 92.19.173.221 (talk) 15:39, 10 February 2018 (UTC)

That's the masculine adjectival form, Friend 92. The normal word for both Sunday and resurrection is the neuter noun Воскресенье (Voskresenie). -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 08:16, 12 February 2018 (UTC)

And for Muslims: ""O ye who believe! When the call is proclaimed to prayer on Friday (the Day of Assembly), hasten earnestly to the Remembrance of Allah, and leave off business (and traffic): That is best for you if ye but knew!" Surah 62: Verse 9 of the Quran. [1] Underlying it all, the third or fourth Commandment; "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy". Alansplodge (talk) 10:26, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

A cynical ethnographer might argue that they are on different days specifically in order to be different: "We are the ones who observe XXX day". --ColinFine (talk) 19:44, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

It does make it easier to work out which of your neighbours god wants you to kill. DuncanHill (talk) 18:12, 12 February 2018 (UTC)