Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2006 November 14

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November 14

Developing and Applying a Portfolio Management Approach in the Business

Is this the first question of the day? -- Abnerian 04:02, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Dear sir, good day to you. I am wondering if you can help me by giveing me more information about ((Developing and Applying a Portfolio Management Approach in the Business))i been looking for this but i can not find somethin g to clear it for me thanks . yours shraway

Are you talking about investment management or project management? If you could, please sign your posts using four tildes. Thanks. -THB 08:47, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

When is it time to file for chapter 11

Im not a wealthy person I am getting different information. Im back two payments but the new payment plan is 400 more. Will chapter 11 help me start fresh on my payments or is it just for companies. If anyone has any answers for me I would really apreciate it. Thank you.

Find a free agency to recommend what you should do, after looking over your income and expenses. However, in any case, you will need to adjust your lifestyle to match your income. For example, can you cancel cable TV ? Can you bring lunch to work instead of eating out ? Can you go stay with relatives during your vacation instead of staying at a hotel ? ... StuRat 04:43, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

IANAL, but Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code seems to indicate that Chapter 11 is for businesses, only. In anything this important, you should seek the services of an attorney. SWAdair 04:52, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Individuals can file for bankruptcy in the US but now you have to go through credit counseling first. Being two payments behind is not a situation where one would normally seek bankruptcy protection. Why did your payments go up $400? Here is a gov't webpage about bankruptcy. -THB 08:44, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I assume that the credit card company raised his interest rate because of the late payments. They love to do this in the US. In fact, they will raise your interest rates dramatically even if another, totally unrelated, bill is paid late. At some point it becomes obvious that they aren't really adjusting the rate to reflect their increased risk, but are just trying to find a way to charge an excessive rate. StuRat 16:59, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Removing the item on me

Moved to Talk:Colin James (journalist) -- SCZenz 18:36, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Lager and bitter

What's the difference between lager and bitter? Charlie 13:55, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

did you read Bitter (beer) and Lager? CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 14:47, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

going to England

looking for a nice, small country town reasonably near to London with a good pub and some good country walks. Please advise. Thanks.

help me

You did say town rather than village so I would recommend Windsor, about 30 minutes train ride from London. It is a very comfortable town to walk around and you certainly don't need a car. An open topped double decker bus ride around the town and Castle grounds, including a ticket for a boat trip down the Thames to the Royal Ascot Racecourse afterwards will cost you about £12 say $25 dollars, and well worth it. It is really lovely and you can visit Windsor Castle, the largest inhabited castle in the UK and where The Queen lives at weekends (she lives in Buckingham Palace in London during the week). There is also Eton College where most of our future top government ministers and lawyers and zillionaires are educated, not to mention the Princes William and Harry. Eton College does guided tours and you will see lots of the students walking around town in their bow ties and tail-coats. Separating Windsor Castle from Eton College is the River Thames, beside which are some of the nicest restaurants and cream tea shops. And you can also visit Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed by Bad King John. The town centre has a great shopping centre and many really good old fashioned quaint pubs that also do great pub grub very affordably. I live in Edinburgh in Scotland which is also wonderful, but for a near-London town, I wouldn't miss out on Windsor. Look it up on Google or Wikipedia.

I could probably list two dozen such towns. It rather depends how near is reasonably near, and what sort of walks you like. You will need to be at least 20-30 miles from the centre of London for any good countryside. Start by taking a look at North Downs and South Downs and some of the links from those articles. Also look at the articles on home counties such as Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The south coast is 50+ miles from London but links with the capital are good.--Shantavira 18:06, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I would recommend Lake on the Isle of Wight. It is a nice, small country town with a nice little pub. The area of the Isle of Wight that Lake is located in has so small towns that you can easily walk through at least two or three of them in one day's time and get back home for the night. It is very near the seaside which I presume is fairly active in summertime, but almost deserted in wintertime. The only problem is that it's hardly reasonably near London. JIP | Talk 19:03, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

thanks for the links and recommendations. I'm an ignorant American so I don't know the difference between town and village, but maybe I meant village in the first place. Sorry, can't make it to Wight, too far! Any more recommendatiosn ?

The officail difference between city, town, village, hamlet, copse et cetera can also confuse us brits sometimes. We like having complecated systems! What is your price range. House prices are a lot higher in England than American, I would say that Winsor/Eton was the best for the niceness of teh place, and proximety, but I think the prices are quite prohibitative. Englishnerd 21:50, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

There are pleasant villages in most directions from London; the closest probably around the North Downs, Epping Forest and along the Thames in central Berkshire. All of these areas have good country walks, quite different in character, and almost every village will have at least one decent pub. If the pub is of particular importance, you might like to check out the Good Beer Guide or a similar publication. All of these areas are readily accessible by public transport. Bear in mind that all of these tend to be rather wealthy areas, and as such are not entirely typical of the English countryside. If you really want a single suggestion, how about the picturesque village of Eynsford? Warofdreams talk 21:59, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I agree with all of the above suggestions ... some more alternatives might be:

• Dorking: only 25 miles from London; probably less expensive to stay in than some of the other places, on the whole; excellent countryside (notably Box Hill); and easily accessible by rail.
• Lewes: a bit further (about 50 miles), but accessible from London in just over one hour. Ancient, small town with many pubs, the notable Harvey's Brewery, unlimited countryside walking potential in all directions and a very pleasant ambience.
• Arundel: nearly 60 miles from London but again with good, fairly quick transport links. Similar to Lewes in many respects. Some good pubs, again.

Hope that helps! Hassocks5489 13:35, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I withdraw my recomendation for winsor; I love Arundel, it is a nice little city, nice architecture, nice shops, local feel. Good bet for a nice life; I'm not sure about travel means, i.e. trasin links to london. Englishnerd 22:14, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Yep, it has always been one of my favourite places in Britain, and all the better for being in my home county. I've never been to Windsor (surprisingly, as I've visited just about every place in London & the SE that has a railway station), but I'm sure it is worth recommending really - possibly a bit expensive though, as you say. Arundel has two trains per hour to London Victoria (Mon-Sat), taking approximately 80 minutes. --Hassocks5489 23:17, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Please help me find this answer..I have searched

. Mile after mile, it ran. Through decades of desert and neon lights. Over mountains, bridges and borders. Past deep canyons and wide country side. And it stopped as so many destinations; it finally became the mother of 'em all. Now it's fractured into many new numbers. How many?.

I know it is Rte66, but I cannot find a specific number. I would be grateful for any and all assistance with this question. Thanks and have a great day..C. Mercer

this sound like the random gibberish you find in spam mail. Jon513 19:50, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

If you're sure it's referring to Rte66, there's tons of information about it at Route 66. --Maelwys 20:07, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

If you're asking how many roads split off of route 66, a lot. --froth^{T C} 20:17, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I would guess they mean "how many route numbers are now assigned to the former Route 66 ?". There shouldn't be nearly as many of those. StuRat 22:25, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Functionally, U.S. Route 66 was the main route connecting Los Angeles and Chicago. Today the main route between these cities consists of parts of Interstate highways 40 (Los Angeles - Oklahoma City), 44 (Oklahoma City - St. Louis), and 55 (St. Louis - Chicago). So the answer expected might be 3. However, these new highways do not exactly follow the old route 66 over their full length, so the intended answer might be something else. --Anonymous, 23:38 UTC, November 14.

what is a monumental hole?

are there any in the US?

Without the context of where you found this phrase, I'd bet it's a journalist using rather indulgent language, where "monumental" means, in this context, "very big". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:42, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean like the Archbald Pothole? --Shantavira 20:10, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Do you mean like my ex? Vespine 22:20, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

This appears to be a riddle: "If you fall into this monumental hole, don't try to get your beauty rest." Likely the answer is Nightmare Canyon, Utah. -THB 21:48, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

My pun radar says it will be found here: List of National Monuments of the United States. There's a volcano in the list, could that be it ? StuRat 22:18, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

The Grand Canyon? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 05:58, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Barringer Meteor Crater? Monumental but, strangely, not a monument. Stranger still, it's private property. DirkvdM 07:39, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

That seemed odd to me, as well. The US has a rather extensive national parks system, so why wasn't that included ? StuRat 16:54, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

does this really work?

I need information on dental services offered by local schools of dentristry..can you be of assistance? Thank you in advance

It does, but you need to make your question answerable. Example: where in the world are you? And - to go further - what service are you looking for from a dental school in preference to a dentist? --Tagishsimon (talk)

Hmm well if you have a cavity, you might actually be paid to get it fixed if you agree to be the lab rat for some dentistry student. If you don't mind the pain it's a good way to save a couple hundred bucks :) --froth^{T C} 20:19, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Try List of dental schools in the United States. If you just need to get your teeth cleaned, a dental hygeine school can do that. -THB 22:52, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

I have heard that at dental schools the students do very careful work, basically seeking to do a perfect job and get a good grade. They learn their work on extracted teeth, then assist working dentists, before they have a go at a living patient. In the U.S., if you can't afford dental work, and qualify for public assistance (welfare) you can probably get free or cheap dental work at a dental clinic at the public hospital. Infections from bad teeth can be fatal; in U.S. 18th and 19th century death notices, "bad teeth" was frequently listed as a cause of death. Edison 15:41, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Help.

How can i delete my user area on here?

go to an admin and ask them politely

• Actual user: no
• User page and talk page: yes

--wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 21:31, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Add {{db-userreq}} to any pages in your user space you want deleted. —Keenan Pepper 22:04, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Of course, you can easily delete the content of your user page and talk page using the "edit this page" tab on each. StuRat 22:11, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

If you look at WP:HD you will see that lots of people have the same issue. But apparently, for legaol reasons no username can be deleted. I believe that if you ask a beurocrat very nicely they can rename accounts, but the best you can do is delete the content of your user page(s). Englishnerd 22:48, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Weight of US currency

On watching the film Scarface, I've come to realise the logistical problems that the underworld have simply in handling the volumes of cash they do. How much does paper US currency weigh? I imagine all notes weigh the same (they're the same size, and appear to be printed on "paper" of the same gauge). United States one-dollar bill gives the width and height of the bill, but not the gauge of paper (from which we should be able to figure out the weight). A bit of Googling found only some rather poor sources such as this, which say "a gram" (a rather handwavily-neat sounding number). Also, does (on average) a paper note in circulation gain weight as it ages (due to absorption of sebum, dirt, and the huge volume of cocaine that allegedly sticks to banknotes) or lose weight (due to torn corners and shed fibres)? No, this isn't a homework exercise from my night-class at the Miami School of Money Laundering. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:45, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Since the one gram figure is found on the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing's website, I think you can be certain it is fairly close. Rmhermen 22:52, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

But it says right there, "approximate weight" -- the following bit where it says it "should" take 454 bills to weigh a pound is obviously a case of false precision. My guess is that the weight varies more than people expect (for example, with humidity and the age of the bills) and they don't want people reporting bills as being the wrong weight. --Anonymous, 23:48 UTC, November 14.

I measured two U.S. one-dollar bills (series 2003) and one ten-spot (series 2003). All were very consistently 0.0040" thick. I measured each one in at least three places. That help? 192.168.1.1 8:40pm, 14 November 2006 (PST)

Does anyone here work in a lab with a precision microgram balance? I remember from college chem class that it was easy to see the weight increase from a mere fingerprint. It should be possible to determine the weight of a new and used bill.Edison 15:46, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

The problem is that bills could be specifically more or less soiled/worn than average. A 'used bill' might not be representative. Robovski 04:19, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Frat houses

Can anyone explain the phenomenon of US 'Frat houses'--Light current 23:22, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

See Fraternities and sororities, and the poorer article Fraternity house. Rmhermen 23:48, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

See Animal House. -THB 23:47, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

what is the future scope of uti bank share.

59.161.72.53 23:34, 14 November 2006 (UTC)kkgupta

I'm not sure we understand your question. Are you asking about the likely future price of UTIBank shares? Wikipedia would not be an appropriate place to ask such a question as the answer must necessarily be speculation. --Tagishsimon (talk)

Nervous Shit

Why do we feel like (pardon the language) taking a shit when we are nervous? Jamesino 00:02, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

To clear the body of excess 'baggage' in response to a percieved threat. See fight or flight syndrome. A bit like 'jettison all cargo, we have a fight on our hands!'--Light current 00:09, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah! Thanks alot. Any tips on how to suppress this feeling? Jamesino 00:34, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Depends why you are nervous! Basically you need to tackle the source of what is causing you to be nervous. Like irrational fear of being blocked. oops. Is it performance nerves you are talking about?--Light current 01:21, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I would guess some form of Cognitive therapy --Tagishsimon (talk)

I would guess it's a response to persuade predators to look elsewhere for a meal. If you smell like that, many aren't interested (this, in turn, might be because eating diseased prey with chronic diarrhea is bad for the predator's health). StuRat 04:27, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Apart from that, taking a shit doesn't seem like a good idea when in flight. DirkvdM 07:47, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Interesting that last response. Why do Americans insist on "taking" a shit, which seems pretty disgusting to me? Here in the UK we go for a shit.

Thank you for pointing out that americanism. It won't happen again. (I'm Dutch.) DirkvdM 06:46, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes but the point is that its not a conscious decision: merely automatic reaction of clearing the bowels of excess quickly! 8-)--Light current 19:53, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

American comedian George Carlin (on the track entitled "Shoot" on his FM & AM album) has commented on this puzzling American usage.

Atlant 14:47, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah but Americans take lots of things!

• A bath/shower
• a burger please.
• a taxi
• a walk

Whereas we tend to have:

• a bath
• burger
• coffee
• rest
• etc

--Light current 19:50, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

I have found with my experience that 'nervousness' is a mental condition of low serotonin, and other neurotransmitters. Anxiety is probably more accurate. This really affects the digestive system, causing excess acid and other nasty things. If it is actually affecting your life, you should see a doctor. --Zeizmic 12:47, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Hey I really agree with that! Youre talknig nrevousness thats irrational - right? And the correct term is Anxiety.--Light current 15:27, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

We have a foot in both camps: sometimes we "have a crap/shit", and sometimes we "take a crap/shit". Or we just "go to the dunny". On the other hand, I think we almost always "have a pee/piss", rarely "take a pee/piss". But we "take the piss" out of everyone, most particularly ourselves. JackofOz 01:08, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Americans have coffe and dinner. Sometimes they say "have a bath", as in "Did you have your bath yet?". They also say, "I'll have a burger", and it may even be more common than "I'll take a burger". Usually Americans "go for" a walk. -THB 03:12, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, yeah, and Americans are selfish: They "take" a shit but rarely "give a shit". -THB 03:14, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Makes me think of the Red Dwarf episode Backwards in which everything happens in reverse. So when the Cat goes for a shit ... :0 Noteworthy in this context: it's a UK series, but the Cat has a US accent. DirkvdM 06:46, 16 November 2006 (UTC)