Humanities desk
< April 4	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 6 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities 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.

April 5[edit]

Berkshire Hathaway[edit]

The opening paragraph of Berkshire Hathaway claims that Berkshire Hathaway wholly owns Comcast. Is this really true? The Comcast article doesn't say anything about it, Comcast isn't on List of assets owned by Berkshire Hathaway at all, and Googling doesn't bring up any relevant news. Mũeller (talk) 04:40, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for mentioning this Mũeller. Comcast was added on April 1 with this edit. Could be an April Fool's edit or just a run-of-the-mill item. As it is unsourced I have removed it. If anyone can confirm it please feel free to restore with a reference. MarnetteD|Talk 04:54, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Indications in Google are that Berkshire Hathaway does not own Comcast. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:57, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Common Law Marriage - Mississippi[edit]

Why did the Mississippi legislature abolish common law marriage in 1956? Did it have anything to do with the budding civil rights movement? Did it have anything to do with false widows' claims after World War II/Korean War? 2610:E0:A040:B6FD:29E0:753C:DA2D:C87A (talk) 15:29, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't found anything yet, but according to this seemingly reliable source (if not strictly WP:RS) only 16 states recognize common law marriages, so it's definitely not just Mississippi. Matt Deres (talk) 16:54, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

According to Common-law marriage in the United States there are less than 16. CambridgeBayWeather, Uqaqtuq (talk), Sunasuttuq 12:11, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The many reasons for the abolition of common law marriage are complex and clearly outlined in section III (up to 1917) and section IV (since 1920) of a widely-cited legal review article: Bowman, Cynthia Grant, "A Feminist Proposal to Bring Back Common Law Marriage" (1996). Cornell Law Faculty Publications. Paper 138. (Originally published 75 Or. L. Rev. 709 1996). Now open access at: http://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/facpub/138 In the latter section, she summarizes: "A variety of concerns appear to have motivated these states to do away with the institution, including a continuing concern with fraudulent claims, a heightened sense of threat to the institution of marriage, and persistent racism. New fears joined the old ones, however—in particular, the fear that the validity of common law marriage would place undue administrative burdens upon both the courts and new administrative agencies charged with distribution of government beneﬁts." (pp. 740-1) -- Paulscrawl (talk) 06:01, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Identity[edit]

How can I tell if I'm Jewish? 86.8.200.243 (talk) 23:08, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Read Who is a Jew?. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 23:30, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ask your mother. - Nunh-huh 07:37, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]