Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2009 August 23

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Miscellaneous desk
< August 22 << Jul | August | Sep >> August 24 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous 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.


August 23[edit]

Athletes, especially pro ones, and Concussions[edit]

Why do they feel they need to play though them and etc? Especially, when they had consecutive ones as well. Should they be on the DL (Disabled List) the minimum time or the maximum amount of time or what? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaabruno (talkcontribs) 03:11, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I can't understand your question. I think you might be missing a few words in the first sentence. Why do athletes feel the need to (do what)? As far as their placement on a disabled-list, I think policies for dealing with different injuries vary from sport to sport; and from league to league. Nimur (talk) 03:41, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I believe the section title was part of the question. Therefore, the full question should be :
Why do athletes (especially proffesional ones) need to go through concussions. Especially, when they had more than one of them. Should they be on the disabled list by a mininum or maximum amount of time? Warrior4321 04:32, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all of your answers to my question here and both were interesting. Sorry, for question not being more clearer in the 1st place.

I'm glad the OP is satisfied, but I still don't understand the question. What does 'go through concussion' mean? --ColinFine (talk) 12:30, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm assuming that OP means something like 'why are professional sportspeople allowed to continue to perform despite having suffered concussions'. The disabled list is used in baseball and players are put on it to allow them to recover from injuries, including concussion such as Scott Rolen [1], I don't know if other sports have similar rules. Mikenorton (talk) 14:13, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
In American football, practice has been to adhere to a 'three-strike rule' for concussion (i.e. enforced retirement after the third occurrence) but there is a lot of discussion about this as there's little scientific evidence to back it up [2].Mikenorton (talk) 14:58, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I believe the OP might be referring to Second-impact syndrome - a 2nd concussion before the victim has fully recovered from the 1st can cause catastrophic brain injury and death. Exxolon (talk) 14:59, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you and sorry, again.

Soup names[edit]

Why soups containing lots of cream are called cream of chicken or cream of mushroom?--Mikespedia (talk) 07:18, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is possibly a reference to the expression "cream of the crop", which means the best that there is [3]. The fact that there is much cream used in the soup may be a word play. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 07:27, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
1. They contain cream (usually)
2. The chicken/mushroom has been 'creamed' meaning that there are no chunks or bits of chicken/mushroom left - giving a homogenous and creamy constitution.
The actual name is probably chosen becuase it sounds tastier than "pureed chicken soup with cream in".83.100.250.79 (talk) 11:55, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The name probably comes from the french "potage creme de ingredient"
83.100.250.79 (talk) 12:26, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You have soups that are milk-based and soups that are water-based. I suppose you could add milk to your chicken noodle soup, but that just doesn't seem like it would go so well compared with adding it to a "creamed" soup. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 14:15, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

There are dozens of cream soup recipes on the net. Why did you not Google, as I have? Try http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-cream-of-mushroom-soup. NB This recipe uses milk, but cream would be better.86.202.27.172 (talk) 14:18, 23 August 2009 (UTC)DT[reply]

Actually, the more I read the question, the weirder it seems. He's asking why a cream soup is called "cream of" something. Isn't that a tad obvious? You wouldn't call it "coca-cola of mushroom". It has cream, or it's of creamy consistency, so it's "cream of". And if it has mushrooms, it's "cream of mushroom". Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 14:51, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not really. Cream of X usually means cream you have extracted from X, which is tricky where X == chicken. In Simple England it would perhaps be called "Cream and Chicken Soup". --Sean 15:56, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Nobody makes cream of cow soup, probably because the name would be too confusing. That's probably also why they don't make soup from cream produced from lactating chickens. 81.131.65.117 (talk) 18:35, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Which brings me back to my suggestion, meaning the best of. You cannot extract the dairy product cream from mushrooms, but you can use the best of it. In French the expression is "la crème de la crème", which can be applied to all kinds of situations, such as selecting the best people from university. -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 19:02, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Taxi from Upper West Side to JFK[edit]

Hi all. I'll be in NYC in the next week (first time there). I'll be staying in the Upper West Side. I have a flight at 10:45am at JFK on a weekday (domestic flight). What time should I leave to get there in time (assuming I catch a taxi)? Also, does the $45 flat fee (+ tip + tolls) apply when going from Manhatten to JFK? Or is only when it's the other way around. If it doesn't apply, how much would the taxi be? Thanks all. - Akamad (talk) 12:06, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(tangentially responsive answer) If the taxi doesn't work for you, I can recommend airport shuttles (I've used Supershuttle, but there are several companies) - they take you door to door for much less than a taxi. As they carry another 8 or so people they tend to be a bit slower (on average half those people will be collected off before you, but always in the same part of town) and the nice thing is you get a bit of a tour of the area for free (which is good if you're a first-time tourist, but a pain if you're in a hurry). As for times, you tell them (on their website) which flight you're getting and they tell you when they'll pick you up. -- Finlay McWalterTalk 13:44, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes the flat rate is for either journey (from JFK or to) see -http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/html/passenger/taxicab_rate.shtml. See the link for more info. ny156uk (talk) 19:19, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks you!

Is the Northwest Passage open?[edit]

Our article on the Northwest Passage shows three possible routes, one of which passes just north of King William Island. What about the channel south of that island? It appears to me that it is open as of yesterday [4] So is it valid to say the Northwest Passage is open now (i.e. could be easily passed through with a non-ice-hardened vessel)? 69.140.12.180 (talk) 13:55, 23 August 2009 (UTC)Nightvid[reply]

The waters at some points south of King William Island are very shallow indeed - when Amundsen left Gjoa Haven, Nunavut to head west to finish his traversal of the route in Gjøa, they had a heck of a job navigating, finding water deep enough to pass. And Gjøa is a _tiny_ boat. Things are probably a bit better now (I don't know by how much the sea level has really risen, as opposed to just the ice melting sooner), but you're not going to be putting a decent sized ship through there for a long time, if ever. -- Finlay McWalterTalk 14:00, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As I recall, the Northwest Passage was traversed decades ago. In a submarine, of course. Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots 14:12, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Why 'of course'?86.202.27.172 (talk) 14:19, 23 August 2009 (UTC)DT[reply]
Bugs probably means "traversed in winter". --Sean 15:58, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Cruise ships (since 1984), such as MV Orlova sister to MV Clipper Adventurer, Northern Transportation Company Limited vessels and 25ft sailing boats have been going through the NWP for many years now including into Gjoa Haven. Some of those cruise ships have very shallow draughts so water depth isn't a problem. The NWP opens up every year and ships are able to pass through. However, by the end of October it will be closed again. When people talk about the NWP being open it's sometimes hard to figure out if they are talking about the usual summer season opening or the full year round opening which would occur due to global warming. I've found that quite a few people don't realise that the NWP is open every year but imagine that it is always ice covered. Of course there have been changes over the last few years. For the first time last year we got a re-supply, sealift, from Montreal and not just from Hay River due to the ice breaking up sooner than normal. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 14:46, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Should qualify that a bit. The NWP is predominately open every year. If there is going to be a problem in getting through it will be because of ice in the Parry Channel that seperates Somerset Island (Nunavut) and Cornwallis Island (Nunavut). And right now there doesn't appear to be any noticeable rise in the sea level. Enter CambridgeBayWeather, waits for audience applause, not a sausage 15:00, 23 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
By the way, the Northwest Passage was ice-free in summer for the first time in 2007. ~AH1(TCU) 03:57, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Given that you just contradicted the previous three posters, do you have anything to back that up? DJ Clayworth (talk) 19:08, 25 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]