Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 April 23

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April 23

Sheep

Where would I sell a few sheep in Michigan? Where would I sell their wool? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.119.61.7 (talk) 00:55, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Well from a sight that I found it says that a sheep would cost $10-16 per skein. The wool varies on what you want to sell generally raw fiber would cost less then prewashed fibers. Hope this helps.

Always

Cardinal Raven

Cardinal Raven (talk) 02:32, 23 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

You should try contacting your local agricultur extension agent, they would be able to tell you who would buy your sheep and wool.SunshineStateOfMind (talk) 15:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

What kind of sheep? Are they specialized fiber sheep? Otherwise there is little market for their wool. You could use it for insulation or mulch though. Specialized breeds can have wool that sells for $3 to $10 or more a pound depending on color and quality (good or rare breeds, raised coated or fed on pelletized feed to keep fleece clean). Check out local handspinning, knitting and weavers guilds. If you want to have something to remember them by, you can send the wool out to be processed (washing, picking, carding, even spinning into yarn or processing into quilt batts) at several companies in Michigan. (I usually use one in Frankenmuth.) If they are a meat breed, run 'em down to the slaughterhouse and stock up the deep freezer. Check out local livestock auctions as well. Rmhermen (talk) 16:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

search box upgrade?

Since when has the search box at left been able to give suggestions? I just type in the letter "a" and it comes up with things in a box like "A" "A & A" "A & E" etc. Did it just start doing that, or has this been around for a while? flaminglawyer^c 01:25, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It just started last night. Caught me by surprise, too. Fortunately, I'm on the wikitech mailing list, and about five minutes later appeared this message from Brion explaining. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:52, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, it seems to be overriding by browser's historical lookup/drop-down feature. If I wanted to use this new "feature" I'd use WikiWax and not mess with my personal history. --hydnjo talk 02:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

There might be a way to turn it off. See the cited mailinglist message. —Steve Summit (talk) 02:41, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If they had to get full approval of everyone before changing something nothing would ever get done. A camel is a horse put together by committee. ;-) --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 03:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Special:Preferences/Search/Disable AJAX suggestions. Algebraist 07:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

i quite like it. it learns me things. Boomshanka (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 10:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Search/Disable... disables! Thanks Steve and Algebraist :-)) hydnjo talk 10:10, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I like it to. Because if you are like me and sometimes you forget how to spell something it helps a lot so that I get the right thing. Its also helps me find articles I've never heard of.71.142.208.226 (talk) 17:08, 23 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

It seems to have the same advantages and disadvantages as a dictionary. If you know the first few letters, it's great. However, if you try to look up psychiatry and think it starts with an "S", you're SOL. Google's suggestion method seems to solve that issue. StuRat (talk) 03:12, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Robot Chicken Gave Me Ideas

Robot Chickenhas given me ideas. History has been forever changed such as 1776 when Jefferson jumped the red coats to sign the declaration. But the idea Robot Chicken gave me was the worse names you could give your kids. Robot Chicken only answered one worse name: Timber.

So my question to you is: What are the worse names you can give your kids?

Thank You

Always

Cardinal Raven

Cardinal Raven (talk) 02:26, 23 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

"Cunt smellly McVagina Cum" would be pretty bad БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 02:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

See Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, a.k.a. Albin, as well as List of unusual personal names. Dismas|^(talk) 02:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A:Dude imaging having to learn to spell ur name if that was urs. БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 02:55, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It's also easier finding it here by just typing in "Albin". Dismas|^(talk) 03:05, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

XKCD has a comic for everyone... Paragon12321 (talk) 03:09, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I had forgotten where that comic was. It always makes me laugh...  :-) Dismas|^(talk) 03:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If you name your daughter "Chastity" like Sonny and Cher, or the Southern U.S. variant "Chasity" it is likely to inspire contrarian behaviour. Edison (talk) 06:06, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Reminds me of a passage in Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, where he talks about a family who, following standard practice of naming daughters after virtues, named their daughters things like "Hope", "Chastity", "Prudence", etc. and, applying a slightly literalist bent, named their sons after vices: "Anger", "Jealousy", "Bestiality", etc. -- 128.104.112.85 (talk) 19:08, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Charity is another bad name.71.142.208.226 (talk) 06:51, 23 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

There's an extensive annotated discussion here [[1]] with real-life examples culled from online baby naming forums (yes, they do exist). It's probably unkind, but definitely an eye-opener. Karenjc 10:24, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

For an alternative problem, consider that there once was a woman named Mrs. McCave, who had twenty-three sons... and she named them all "Dave". — Lomn 13:27, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

"lookout" is a bad name. will lead to several years of being laughed at for ducking whenever people call your name, then when you get sick of that you end up getting bashed in the head by board or something. "hey, why didn't you duck, i told you to look out!"Gzuckier (talk) 18:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Miss Ima Hogg was the featured article on April 1. Corvus cornix_talk 18:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A kid with a first name of "Hurt" and a middle name of "Me "would be a pretty bad name as well.Cardinal Raven (talk) 00:15, 24 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

 I knew a Dwayne Pipe.  hotclaws 07:36, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I happened to catch a bit of Wheel of Fortune last night and one of the contestants was named "Trashawna." But what I really wanted to ask was what was all that about "Jefferson jumped the redcoats"? Wha'? --LarryMac | Talk 14:02, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Larry, did you ever get the idea that Wheel of Fortune people might have been a bit setup when they didn't have enough of a real audience? I never believed Wheel of Fortune that was to strange for my young mine. My mom use to watch it when I was young warthog. I knew a man who was named Harry Red But. True story he came to my house and would watch Wheel of Fortune with my mother. Cardinal Raven (talk) 16:41, 24 April 2008 (UTC)Cardinal Raven

Customer Relationship Management

PeopleSoft, a corporation with a fun-loving culture and a fanatical devotion to its customers, is one of the major players in the worldwide enterprise resource planning software industry. It specialized in complex software for managing human resource functions, accounting, manufacturing processes, and other systems. PeopleSoft competes with the likes of Germany’s SAP, Oracle, and Baan, and by some measures is #2 in its industry. Its customer retention is nearly 100 percent, and turnover among employees is very low. In fact employees pride themselves on how low their employee identification numbers are – indicating how long they’ve been with the company. Fortune magazine ranked PeopleSoft #6 in its list of the top 100 companies to work for in the United States. And customers rave about PeopleSoft’s service. Through the 1990s sales nearly doubled every year and the company’s stock prices soared. Only at the very end of the decade did PeopleSoft and others in the ERP industry begin to see slower growth.

A primary driver behind PeopleSoft’s success has been its ‘outrageous customer service,’ resulting in a very loyal customer base that has grown with the company. Founder Dave Duffield embodied the company’s philosophy, empowering his employees to do anything to satisfy customers and build relationships. Over the years Duffield himself spend considerable time with customers, learning about their needs.

All accounts at PeopleSoft are assigned an account manger, at no charge, who acts as the customer’s advocate within PeopleSoft, representing the customer across all functions and units within the company. The account manager’s primary objective is to help customers succeed through their investments in PeopleSoft. Account managers are on salary and are rewarded for customer satisfaction and retention, not sales revenues.

Certain services (e.g., product installation, training credits, and maintenance support) are bundled with the prices of the software to ensure successful implementation at the outset of the relationship. Plus, PeopleSoft can grow with its customers, providing them with customized, tailored solutions to more complex problems as their needs evolve.

All of this is accomplished in a fun-loving, some would say eccentric, corporate environment where business is informal, yet intense, and people are recognized for doing outrageous acts for customers. The company’s reward customer loyalty and growth.

Question:

Discuss the strategy used by PeopleSoft to obtain customer loyalty and growth and show the importance of these for the success of an organization. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.53.97 (talk) 03:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

As it says at the top of the page, do your own homework. The reference desk will not give you answers for your homework, although we will try to help you out if there is a specific part of your homework you do not understand. Make an effort to show that you have tried solving it first. BrainyBabe (talk) 06:34, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Positioning Jamaica

Looking at the Caribbean from a tourist’s point of view, there are four major competitors to Jamaica: the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Bermuda. Each of these destinations draws more visitors a year than Jamaica. The consistent visual image that springs to mind when any of these Caribbean islands are mentioned is the couple in the bathing suits on the beach, underneath the palm trees. This sea, sand, and surf picture has become a visual cliché for Caribbean.

The exception, of course, is Bermuda. Years of advertising those motorbikes parked beside the pink sand have put a strong visual in the mind. Research shows that in terms of perceptions, Bermuda is second in desirability to the U.S. Virgin Islands. If it weren’t for the whether factor (Bermuda is considerably north of the other islands), Bermuda would have been in first place.

Jamaica’s positioning problem was how to put a mental picture postcard into the mind of the Caribbean prospect. The first approach is to sort though thousands of postcards to find the one perfect picture of the island of Jamaica. But it cannot be found. The reason being, if there were one image that captures the essence of the island, someone would have noticed it already and used it. In other words, there would have been an image already burned into at least a few minds.

A second approach is to visit Jamaica and shoot hundreds or thousands of pictures trying to capture that illusive mental picture postcard. Not surprisingly, nothing totally right turns up. The third approach is to look into the mind of the prospect to see what mental images already exist. And then select one you can tie Jamaica into.

An old advertisement said, “Jamaica is the big green island in the Caribbean that has deserted beaches, cool mountains, country pastures, open plains, rivers, rapids, waterfalls, ponds, good drinking water, and a jungly interior.” This description sounds familiar; in fact it reminds you a very popular tourist destination in the Pacific: Hawaii. Most people have a metal picture of the big green volcanic mountains coming down to the blue sea. It’s a view that you can also see as you approach the island of Jamaica, the Hawaii of the Caribbean.

The Hawaii of the Caribbean becomes an even more powerful concept when Jamaica is compared with its four biggest competitors. The chart below lists the highest point of each destination.

Bermuda 259 feet Bahamas 400 feet U.S. Virgin Islands 1556 feet Puerto Rico 4389 feet Jamaica 7402 feet

At 7402 feet, Blue Mountain in Jamaica is higher than any point in the United States east of the Mississippi River.

Another important comparison is the size of each destination. The chart below shows the length of the largest island in each destination.

Bermuda 4 miles Bahamas 6 miles U.S. Virgin Islands 7 ½ miles Puerto Rico 50 miles Jamaica 62 ½ miles

Again, Jamaica is considerably larger than any of its competitors. Jamaica has hundreds of miles of beaches and two volcanic mountain ranges with a towering peek over 7000 feet. This supports the ‘more to see, more to do’ advantages that are also implicit in the Hawaiian connection.

Conceptually, this approach says to tourists that the things they travel a great distance to Hawaii for (natural beauty, big green mountains, beautiful beaches, wonderful year-round weather) can be found a lot closer to home, down in the Caribbean.

Jamaica could even copy one of the most successful of Hawaii’s marketing ploys: meeting tourists with flowers at the airport. Jamaica has beautiful flowers and this gesture, above all would say that Jamaica is a friendly place as well as beautiful one.

‘The Hawaii of the Caribbean’ provides a quick visual analogy. Jamaica doesn’t have the luxury of building that visual image over the years. Transferring Hawaii’s mental picture postcards will save enormous amounts of time and money. Furthermore, the concept strongly differentiates Jamaica from the other Caribbean destinations.

Another major benefit of the Hawaiian analogy is the platform it provides for European programs. If you live on the continent, Hawaii is a long way away.

Question:

Explain the process adopted in the above case to position Jamaica and evaluate this process of positioning from a marketing perspective. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.43.48.255 (talk) 03:21, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

As it says at the top of the page, do your own homework. The reference desk will not give you answers for your homework, although we will try to help you out if there is a specific part of your homework you do not understand. Make an effort to show that you have tried solving it first. BrainyBabe (talk) 06:35, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

tl;drhotclaws 07:37, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Googel Earth Prank

Hello,

Does anybody know if there is a website somewhere, or a way of working out when a Google earth imaging satellite will pass over a particular point?

The point in question would be my school Melton Mowbray King Edward VII School. The prank is leaving some kind of witticism on the school roof in large white letters, for the whole school to see, just not necessarily any kind of authoritarian figure....

84.13.26.33 (talk) 08:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

But the images you see on Google Earth are not changing all the time, they are taken once and that's it. Once they've taken a picture of a certain area once, they probably won't take another one for years, if ever, unless it's to improve the resolution. If your school is already on there in a reasonably high res image, it's not going to be updated any time soon. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

And FWIW, the high resolution images are from aeroplanes, not satellites. --Tagishsimon (talk) 09:20, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It seems that only MI6 has live satellite imaging capability. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 12:45, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Even so it is amazing how many people managed to "set up" things to see like this [2]. This particular one is in the Leeds/Bradford airport flight path, so it is probably a greeting to southerners on their way up North. -- Q Chris (talk) 12:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, sort of urban equivalent of crop circles. Richard Avery (talk) 17:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, if you found out the next day that pics will be taken by google, then you could make sure that you wrote on the roof by that day. It's extremely unlikely that you will be able to do this, but its your only hope.--Dlo2012 (talk) 13:29, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I know people who go to your school. But as said before, it's generally done once then left for ages. I think Google buys the images from various people, including satellite imagery for high altitude views, and then blends to aircraft at lower levels. It's amazing what you can find there. I remember a cloaked eurostar in London, an interdimensional portal (including possible TARDIS) in Holland, and a flying aircraft carrier in China. Try looking on The Register for this sort of thing - it starts with a flying car. -mattbuck (Talk) 13:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Is that true about MI6? Don't the Americans have it, too? Michael Clarke, Esq. (talk) 17:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Of course Americans do... but you think the military is gonna let commercial folks have keyhole imagery?  ;) Queerbubbles | Leave me Some Love 17:43, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Of trains travelling on tracks

Is there a set system for each country that trains travel on the left-hand or right-hand set of tracks like there is for cars? (I'm assuming all your trains going on one set of tracks would be travelling the same way!) If so,is there any link between the side of the road that the country drives on and the side that the trains use? Lemon martini (talk) 13:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Trains and cars travel on the left in the UK, though certainly some heritage railways do it the opposite way round. -mattbuck (Talk) 13:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

There is a bit about this in our article on Traffic directionality#Trains.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:53, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The majority of long-distance rail tracks are single tracks, not double. This is done to save on the costs of construction and purchasing the right-of-way. When trains travelling in opposite directions need to pass the same point, a rail siding is employed to allow the trains to pass each other. As traffic volume increases (near stations or rail yards, for example) additional tracks are added. Thomprod (talk) 00:12, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Not many single train tracks in Europe. And none where high speed trains operate. Just a few in little-used lines.86.197.175.62 (talk) 16:42, 24 April 2008 (UTC)DT

A small point about British Trains - though it's true that they pass each other on the Right Side of Forward Direction as do cars on British roads, the drivers sit to the Left Side of Forward Direction unlike the drivers of British cars. I am led to understand this is because, certainly at platform stops where the trains pass between the opposite-direction-platforms, the drivers can see through their windows along the platform behind them when they stick their heads out of the windows - but that doesn't work when the platforms are co-located in a central island with the opposite-direction trains passing on either side of it. Any answers on a postcard please. ps. British trains do not have rear-view-mirrors mounted on the drivers' cabs. 92.9.52.26 (talk) 22:42, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Fallout NPC

I have been playing the PC game Fallout for a long time now, but there is one thing about our article here at wikipedia that confuses me. On the page there is a picture of Tandi in a leather jacket, and other NPCs wearing armor other than what they were wearing when they were recruited. I was always under the impression that you could not change an NPC's armor in the original Fallout. So how do you change NPCs' armor? --AtTheAbyss (talk) 14:01, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

The best place to ask would be on the talk page of the article (Talk:Fallout (computer game)), or of the user who created the photo (User talk:Larsinio), who may be active (last edit was a few weeks ago). Neıl ☎ 12:30, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I didn't ask on the talk page because the last time I did, I was refferred to the ref desk (man that was a while ago), but I will ask larsinio. thanks for the advice. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 12:43, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

WP, GDFL and you: "Can I sell Wikipedia?"

Hi everyone. I was surprised to see that the German Wikipedia is going to be sold as a book. My question is, what impedes me from doing so myself (with the English Wikipedia)? The GDFL states that anyone can "copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either commercially or noncommercially". So, why aren't more people publishing Wikipedia to make a profit? Could someone explain if the GDFL somehow prohibits this from happening? (cause that's a million dollar idea if I've ever heard one.:) Kreachure (talk) 14:44, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

You can sell it, provided you comply with the terms of the license (which requires you to allow others to copy/modify/distribute under the same terms). But why would anyone buy it? In case you haven't noticed, it's available for free. You'd have to provide some other value. Nice cover art, maybe? --Trovatore (talk) 14:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, someone could make a nice bound volume of articles related to a certain topic such as sport, music or film, or could make a volume of just featured articles, or something like that. And your question goes back to the physical book vs. e-book debate. Some people simply prefer the physical artefact because it's portable and durable. It's not a bad idea at all, in fact. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 14:53, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Note by the way that my comment above is in no way to be construed as legal advice or authoritative interpretation of the GFDL (note spelling). In particular the GFDL imposes other requirements beyond the ones I mentioned. --Trovatore (talk) 15:00, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, since books are still far more popular than e-books, and physical encyclopedias are still being sold 'even though there's an encyclopedia that's available for free', then yes, I think it's a great idea to publish Wikipedia volumes. The fact that it's available for free would obviously stop some from buying it, but yet others would buy it just out of convenience. In fact, if I sold it in places where Internet access is not common but more of a privilege, then it would do really good in sales. So yeah, I'm still wondering why (more) publishers haven't done this in order to make some money with very little effort. I'd do it in a jiffy if I had the resources publishers have. Kreachure (talk) 15:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

A specialized subset of Wikipedia might make a cool reference book to have sitting around. I'd consider buying it if it was nicely made and on a topic I was interested in.

Of course, no topic about physical, printed wikipedia is complete without a mention of Wikipedia:Size_in_volumes APL (talk) 15:44, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Quite. You are going to have to foot a massive print bill before you even start to try to sell it.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 15:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Note that the main German language encyclopedia, Brockhaus, will no longer be printing a paper edition - and one of the reasons they cited was competition from Wikipedia.[3] Someone is probably just trying to fill this potential void in a profitable fashion. Rmhermen (talk) 15:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

And don't forget a printed copy would already be several months out of date in comparison to the original by the time it hit the bookshops. Karenjc 16:46, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Encyclopædia Britannica's Macropædia (their long-form article collection) only has around 700 articles. It would be an interesting project to take the list of 2007 Macropædia articles and get all of the corresponding Wikipedia articles up to featured article status. --Sean 17:45, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Even if you aren't paying any authors it still costs a lot of money to publish a book. Even academics find it hard these days to sell more then 300 copies of their university press books. Are you really going to be able to cook up 300 people to read something that they could have just gotten online? Are you going to be able to justify the price? And how much editing are you going to do to each article to get a consistent style, quality, length, etc.? Personally I think you'd lose a lot of money on it, and then get laughed at for trying to sell people something they could have gotten for free anyway, but that's just me. There's nothing in the GFDL, though, to prohibit you from doing so. I don't think there are oodles of cash to be made, though. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 17:56, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Is it cheaper than researching, writing, and publishing an encyclopedia from scratch? If the answer is yes, then it's indeed a good idea (and I already explained how 'it's available for free online' doesn't mean nobody will want to buy it). Kreachure (talk) 19:18, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Despite English Wikipedia being available for free online, my local library still buys 3-4 copies of the World Book Encyclopedia each year. Now if they stopped publishing it, as Brockhaus has stopped in Germany, there would be a large market right there. Add in schools, etc., and it doesn't seem unreasonable that they will sell some copies. Rmhermen (talk) 23:07, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

If there are 2 million articles, and you allowed an average of 1 page per article, then you will need to print and bind 1 million sheets of paper, or 1000 volumes at 1000 pages per volume. I would prefer my copy to be done with letterpress from hand-set type and bound in leather, thanks. Edison (talk) 23:11, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Not completely pointless and already late, but I've always wanted to mention The Treachery of Images and Borges' On Exactitude in Science. I like the idea and people could update their copy from the online text. Trouble for me is wikipedia's always in a state of flux and repair, like a living thing only without the entropy. Still with some fields/articles being better than others, an added extra like the binding and pics maybe I'd buy it for friends. Julia Rossi (talk) 00:09, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Is it cheaper? Maybe. There are still costs though. And the question is not just "is it cheaper" but "is there enough demand for it to justify the even low costs." I don't think there is. I think there are also serious quality issues relating to Wikipedia that you (and many Wikipedia fans) brush aside. The "real world," though, only pays for things that it finds to be high quality. It'll use things of dubious quality if they're free, but if they're going to be shelling out money they're more likely to shell out a little more than the minimum if they think the quality will be higher. An encyclopedia that is felt to be unreliable is not something you are going to be able to charge people much for. (Yes, Encyclopedia Brittannica and all other publications have their reliability problems too, but I think your "man on the street" is more likely to find them reputable than Wikipedia). Consider another issue: nobody who is very internet savvy is going to want to pay you for Wikipedia (heck, if I wanted a print copy I'd print out the articles I wanted!), so you're targeting the non-savvy as your market. What do they think about Wikipedia? Probably not much—everyone who I've tried to explain Wikipedia to who wasn't a big internet user has thought that the idea of a collectively-edited encyclopedia was daft. (Sometimes I think they are right!) --140.247.10.41 (talk) 02:29, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Liverwurst

Is there any difference between liverwurst and braunswager? Thanks, wsc —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.85.203.191 (talk) 18:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm no expert, but as I understand it, Braunschweiger is a type of liverwurst (liver sausage) which originated in Braunschweig, Germany. I believe the main difference from "regular" liverwurst is that braunschweiger is smoked. -- 128.104.112.85 (talk) 18:55, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

wouldn't it make the pipe hard to clean? Gzuckier (talk) 18:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Braunschweigers in Germany are exclusively smoked by inserting the sausage into an earthenware vessel (the German term is "Nachttopf"), attached to which are a number of flexible pipes (called "Schlumpfenschlauch" in the region of the Black Forest).

Similar to a hookah or nagila, villagers gather around the above mentioned vessel upon the rise of the full moon and, in between puffing on the psychedelic liverwurstian substance, recite the ancient legends of Little Red Riding Hood, the Nibelungs and Wittgenstein.

Anthropologists who have witnessed these secret rites report that this pagan activity culminates in the performance of early medieval fertility dances by the natives.

Bear in mind that the possession of liverwurst, even for personal recreative purposes is a serious offence. Offenders are subjected to gruesome periods of German humour. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 15:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Pshaw. If they were serious, they'd subject the offenders to Vogon poetry. Corvus cornix_talk 18:33, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

This is out-of-date information. The local authorities have clamped down on the practice of communal Braunschweiger smoking since it has led to yodelling and many other manifestations of moral turpitude. Nowadays the smoker hangs out, solitary and furtive, in his own garden shed, pretending to be fixing his barbecue. And occasionally setting fire to his beard. Women know better. SaundersW (talk) 19:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Single string

A few years ago, a guitar instramental played with only one string was released. What was the name of the artist and the instramental?129.112.109.253 (talk) 19:13, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Dunno. Youtube seems to have a bunch of one-stringed instrumentals like this & this, and so there are possibly multiple candidate answers, through which you might have to sort. --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:22, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Category:Monochords − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 06:36, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

iTunes

How much would it cost (£) to purchase every single audio release available for sale on iTunes?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.5.206.57 (talk) 20:44, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Millions of tracks at 99p each? Probably millions of pounds and you would need to find terabytes of storage to put them all in. Astronaut (talk) 20:58, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

There might be some "discount" to be had by buying full albums instead of individual tracks. But you'd also have to consider podcasts if you want every audio release. With over six million tracks available at 79p (according to iTunes Store, the rough math gives us at least 4,740,000 GBP. --LarryMac | Talk 21:04, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

And the download time would be a nightmare. Useight (talk) 21:44, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Not to mention the listening time: playing those six million tracks non-stop (assuming 3 minutes each on average) would take over 34 years. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:57, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

That all assumes that the collection on iTunes does not increase any larger than it is now. You must also take into account new releases that happen while you are downloading and listening to the current stuff. You'll never keep up. — Michael J 11:35, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

If it helps, you could miss out a few of the earlier Genesis albums. Some of them were pretty weak. Neıl ☎ 12:26, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

"A Popped String of a Banjo"

Help! Help! This post of immediate urgency! While I was trying to tune the banjo is ring a good G Major chord, all of a sudden its second string popped! Do any music stores advertise strings for string instruments? --Writer Cartoonist (talk) 22:33, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Hasty reply: Yes. --Tagishsimon (talk) 22:39, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

All comprehensive music shops sell them. A cursory google search for "banjo strings online" shows that there are also many online shops too. But why not get them locally. Much handier. Fribbler (talk) 23:36, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

And buy a few spares while you're about it. The strings on stringed instruments break all the time (except on the piano, but technically that's a percussion instrument).--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:09, 24 April 2008 (UTC)