Miscellaneous desk
< December 6	<< Nov \| December \| Jan >>	December 8 >

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.

December 7[edit]

Typhoon names[edit]

Is it only the Philippines, that uses their own names for the typhoons, like in current case, the Philippines uses the name "Ruby" instead of the international name "Hagupit", or do other countries have that practice? Just wondering. --112.198.82.207 (talk) 04:41, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

As I understand it, there's really no such thing as an international name. Every storm event like this, typhoons, tropical cyclones and hurricanes, gets named by the weather service of the country that first identifies it, and other impacted countries use that first name. How this storm got two names I don't know. Maybe Japan and the Philippines named it almost simultaneously. HiLo48 (talk) 04:51, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See our article at here. Oda Mari (talk) 07:54, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Management of dogs[edit]

I'm curious about how management of dogs in society differs from country to country, and how it has changed over time. Fifty years ago here in the state of Victoria, Australia, dogs generally roamed free during the daytime, with a lot of them being confined at night. These days, a dog roaming free is a rarity, and probably an escapee. Councils and park managers now demand that dog poop gets collected by the owners (not always successfully, but they try). Obviously when they roamed free the dogs crapped wherever they liked, and nobody picked it up.

What's it like elsewhere? HiLo48 (talk) 05:00, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In the US local laws vary greatly, primarily based on how organized the location is. Cities almost uniformly require dogs in public to be leashed at all times, and people by and large obey those laws. Smaller towns, particularly where the population mostly lives in houses rather than apartments, a lot of people walk or jog with their dogs off-leash. Dogs that live outside are becoming very rare, and there's a pretty strong movement to ban the practice of keeping dogs outside tied to a stake. Where you still see it, it's mostly in lower-income neighborhoods. Cleaning up dog poop is pretty uniformly required by law in all organized communities; the enforcement of and adherence to this varies greatly. I will say that I have not in recent years, no matter where I've traveled in the US, seen truly loose dogs that had not only just escaped from their owners' backyards. People just don't seem to do it much anymore (given the number of dog bite lawsuits you routinely hear about, it's no surprise). —/Mendaliv/^2¢/_Δ's/ 05:40, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In my part of the UK,(central south) it is very unusual to see a dog loose in the street in a city or in the country. I believe there is a law that all dogs in public places must be on a lead, obviously this is not adhered to strictly especially in recreational areas where dogs run free. It is quite uncommon to see dog soiling of city streets, it tends to occur more, but then not often, in residential areas where people walk dogs around the block and don't 'pick up'. In many recreational areas there are boxes to deposit doggy doos in the usual plastic bag. Most owners use these. (I think there should be a law that anyone walking a dog in a public place must carry a plastic bag.) I have not seen for decades any domestic dogs kept outdoors permanently and I suspect any would likely be reported to animal care organizations. Richard Avery (talk) 07:50, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In the England; "under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local councils to treat all unaccompanied dogs on public land as strays, regardless of whether they are wearing a collar and disc or have been microchipped. The council must seize such dogs and if they cannot be returned immediately to their owner they must be taken to council stray pounds where they are held for a mandatory period of 7 days... It is also an offence under the Control of Dogs Order 1992 for a dog to be in a public place without a collar and tag with the owner's name and address on it, even when the owner is in charge of the dog... Under section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 (as amended 1997), it is an offence to be the owner of a dog of any type or breed which is dangerously out of control in a public place or a non-public place in which it is not permitted to be, or to allow a dog in your charge to behave in an aggressive manner." [1] Alansplodge (talk) 13:03, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I never saw any dogs roaming freely in France, they were always with their owner on a leash, but the concept of picking up your dog's poop apparently does not exist there. It's all over the place, the grass, the sidewalks...one time I saw a dog poop on a train station platform. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:00, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"Apprenez-lui le caniveau". (Teach him to use the gutter.) People in France are more responsible now than they were a few years ago, in my experience. It isn't legal to let dogs stray, but you see it a lot in the countryside. There isn't the same requirement to take a dog for a walk everyday that there is in Britain and more often than not the dog's main exercise is in the house's garden (yard). Itsmejudith (talk) 19:01, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK, dogs are generally kept on a lead when going out for walks (except when allowed to play in parks or in rivers, etc.). The only problem (besides owners not picking up their crap) is the fact we have these ridiculously long wind-in/wind-out leads to sort of allow the dog to roam 'freely' while still being tethered, but are a danger to pedestrians and cyclists (and to the dogs themselves). KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (Chin Wag) 14:24, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Back in October, when I visited Delaware for the first time, I saw signs here and there with messages saying functionally "Delaware state law requires you to keep your dog on a leash". Apparently it's illegal statewide to have your dog run free? Nyttend (talk) 23:16, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Back to the US for a moment, in more rural areas it's not uncommon for dogs to be free to roam around their house without being restrained by a leash or confined by a fence. The owners would still be responsible for the actions of the dogs, e.g. biting people or attacking other dogs. Dismas|^(talk) 02:22, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I am not sure of the current law, there's little point even in looking it up unless the OP is specific, given US states are sovereign in the matter, but dogs are in fact let run free in NYC parks, including Central Park, as well as simply walking down streets in PA and NJ. The question is usually, can you get your dog to heel without a leash? Liability for biting has little to do with a leash. My niece was mauled by a leashed dog in MA and the owner voluntarily put it down, although she could have fought to save it. My neighbour was mauled at another neighbour's house when the latter's dog had puppies, and the suit resulted in a cash settlement, but the mother was not put down and the victim's parent's had demanded. The expectation of picking up droppings began in the early 80's in NYC and quickly spread nationwide, although it's not always done in suburbs. Within the last decade I had to advise a woman who let her dog defecate on my parents' lawn that while they were elderly I was not. My understanding is that local law by my parents' in NJ now matches new york, while it had not when I had a dog in NJ in the 70's and 80's. μηδείς (talk) 05:57, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Leg Irons/Fetters[edit]

What are the benefits of wearing leg irons and shackles? --Allin Bagsnott (talk) 17:19, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That's an odd way to put it. Wikipedia has an article on physical restraints which explain the various uses of them, including one on legcuffs (aka fetters). You're allowed to read them and come to your own conclusion on how, and why, and whether they should or should not be used and in what situations, but the word "benefit" is a strange way to think about them. --Jayron32 18:18, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

There is a foot brace used to treat club foot in infants which is somewhat like a leg iron. [2] Rmhermen (talk) 18:39, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

When slaves were transported in the slave trade or when people were restrained during witch trials, were there any documented cases of people enjoying wearing their shackles and fetters? --Allin Bagsnott (talk) 21:54, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

What have you found in Google so far? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:17, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I suppose leg irons could be described as a benefit to a prisoner, who, if they were to try to run away, would be tortured or killed. StuRat (talk) 04:56, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This account of an 1848 escape from a British prison hulk says; "The scanty medical journals from the hulks record numerous problems of severe blistering, infection and groin and lumbar injuries caused by leg irons" (p. 20). So I think that its rather unlikely that anyone actually enjoyed the experience. Alansplodge (talk) 09:23, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Bondage; self-bondage and BDSM; although I have always found the physical reality gets in the way of the fantasy. μηδείς (talk) 05:37, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I, for one love the ball and chain strapped to my ankle. It does make it difficult when I saddle up my kangaroo and ride to my work at the eucalyptus mines. Pete "DNFTT" AU aka --Shirt58 (talk) 10:42, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Working at the eucalyptus mine, a ball and chain would make it hard to avoid the drop bears. Hack (talk) 13:16, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hobble_(device) has the benefit of not allowing a horse to wander away. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:12, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Was there some serious question being asked here? Because if there was, I don't think we've understood it properly. GoldenRing (talk) 04:05, 9 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

If we look at the User's name, and the fact that his only ever posts have been low quality ones written with obvious knowledge of the format it's quite obvious he's one of our long term trolls, probably the one with the fecal obsession. Unfortunately, according to the talk page, the problem with the ref desk is evil answer-providers, not disruptive question-askers, so there's nothing to be done. μηδείς (talk) 17:39, 9 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Industrial terminology, translation to English please[edit]

What does Herr-Voss Stamco do? This page is their main self-description, and this page is also relevant, but I can't understand at all what they're talking about. Their facility is in this photo (I'm asking because I don't know how to categorise it at Commons), but it's a thoroughly non-descript steel building. Nyttend (talk) 23:15, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Basically, they sell machinery to industries that work with sheet metal. These industries generally work with metals that have been rolled into coils. The machinery that this company sells allow the buyer to perform various manipulations to do with stamping the metal from those coils. They also sell machinery for milling blocks of metal into shapes. I have no suggestions for categorisation though, sorry. Nanonic (talk) 23:41, 7 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you; I completely misunderstood. I thought they were manufacturing the rolls of metal themselves, for example, and I figured that I could categorise them as a steel mill or something like that. You'll note that they serve "Toll Processors"; what are those? Toll doesn't list anything that seems relevant. Nyttend (talk) 01:50, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Toll Processors are companies who take on work for other companies for a fee (Toll). They let you buy time on their machines or produce a limited run of a product instead of investing in your own plant. Herr-Voss Stamco are saying that they can provide the machinery/control equipment that can be configured to do this (stop after processing 300 parts/300 metres etc). Nanonic (talk) 02:05, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps Commons:Category:Machine manufacturers of the United States ? Nanonic (talk) 02:08, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

So if you're a toll processor, your big need is the reconfigurable machines, since one day you may need your machine to do something completely different from the day before? This was part of my confusion; I thought they were selling machines for processing money on turnpikes, especially as they're only a few miles from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Thanks again for the help. This is a completely unknown subject for me. And thanks for the category, which I've now added to the photo. Nyttend (talk) 02:09, 8 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]