Miscellaneous desk
< January 13	<< Dec \| January \| Feb >>	January 15 >

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.

January 14[edit]

What is the cheapest way to get a rental for traveling from Vancouver to Seattle?[edit]

I might be going with a relative but her car is old and doesn't have alot of miles on it. She needs to rent a car. What is the cheapest way? 64.141.83.200 (talk) 03:15, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Travel website aggregators like trivago and kayak.com provide users with the ability to find the lowest prices for various forms of travel services. I'm not endorsing either website (even in the exclusion of other similar websites), but they would be a good place to start your research. --Jayron 32 03:18, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It kills me to ask this as a resident of the bigger, more prominent Vancouver, but which Vancouver? There are two withing plausible driving distance of Seattle and which is which matters in terms of likely cost. Mingmingla (talk) 02:36, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a one-way trip in mind, that can be rather expensive for rental cars, as then they need to pay somebody to drive it back the other way, and them having to cross the US/Canada border might incur additional charges. So, I suggest taking a bus, train, or plane, then renting a car in Seatle, and returning it there, if they need a car. StuRat (talk) 21:19, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Money[edit]

The Bank of England has a nice page that explains how to exchange withdrawn bank notes. Does the same also apply to withdrawn coins, or do they become worthless and their owner literally loses all their money? I can't find any information on coins.62.37.237.15 (talk) 16:34, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The Bank of England says it's the responsibility of the Royal Mint. And the Royal Mint says that some banks may accept them. So it's worth taking them to the bank, or you could take them to a coin shop to see whether they might be worth something to collectors. If they're not worth anything much now they might still appreciate in value. Itsmejudith (talk) 16:54, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Withdrawn coins are often (though not always) withdrawn because the specie metal is worth more than the face value. That is, a silver coin is worth more in silver than its face value. Such coins may no longer be used in circulation as legal tender, but they have actually have more value for their numismatic value (i.e. to coin collectors) or for their "melt value" (i.e. as bullion.) --Jayron 32 17:08, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Some banks used to accept old coins at face value if paid into a charity account, but I'm not sure whether this is still true. Of course, if you have silver coins dated 1946 or before then their silver content is worth far more than their face value. Dbfirs 17:15, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

However, as the most valuable withdrawn British coin (as far as I know) is the pre-1997 50 pence coin, you're not losing out by much, unless you have shed-loads of them. Alansplodge (talk) 11:31, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Alansplodge: Just to be clear, I assume you're talking about the withdrawn coin with the "highest face value"...not the "most valuable"? (There are plenty of older, rarer coins that are worth more to collectors - and plenty with a more valuable metal content - so I guess you did mean "highest face value"). However, I'm not sure even that is true. What about the Guinea (coin)? Face value being a guinea (which is 21 shillings or 105p) - it has a face-value more even than a pound coin or a sovereign. Given the age and rarity of them, and that they were solid gold - I'm pretty sure that they beat the pre-1997 50p coin on all three measures! The guinea was withdrawn in the Great Recoinage of 1816. However, I'm certain that if our OP had a stash of them, (s)he wouldn't be attempting to get 105p each for them at their local bank - so we're doubtless getting off-topic here SteveBaker (talk) 15:30, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Like you, I assumed that nobody with a gold coin would be trying to exchange it for face value at a bank. Alansplodge (talk) 23:02, 16 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Petroleum Jobs- Drilling Engineer[edit]

I have done M.tech in Petroleum Engineering. I'm finding it very hard to find a job since a year as the market is down. And most of the companies ask for experience. I'm looking for drilling engineer job. Please help me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.216.166.50 (talk) 17:50, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is a library reference desk.

We're here to answer questions - not to find people jobs. Perhaps you'd like to ask us something like:

What jobs outside of the ailing oil drilling/refining business could someone with an M.tech in Petroleum Engineering do?
What recruiters specialize in hiring Petroleum Engineers (in country XXX) ?
What retraining would I need to do in order to enter the workforce in some other way?

Those are the kinds of things we could perhaps help you with. SteveBaker (talk) 18:10, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'm going to assume that the Original Poster would like references and resources that will be useful in finding employment as a drilling engineer. I also took the liberty to look up the poster's IP location. OP's IP geolocates to Bangalore, India. Here [1] is a list of oil and gas recruiters in India, including Bangalore. Here [2] is a list of job postings that mention drilling engineering, it is international in scope. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:42, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Suabia[edit]

In this map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoderic_the_Great#/media/File:Europe_at_the_death_of_Theoderic_the_Great_in_526.jpg the zone where there is now Croatia is labelled Suabia. Was this name ever actually used for that area? --93.66.238.130 (talk) 23:27, 14 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Given that the map is in German, I think it's referring to what's later called Swabia, the land of the Suebi. Maps of the ancient home of the Suabi show them in a variety of places, but mostly west and/or north of what is now Croatia. -- Finlay McWalterᚠTalk 00:01, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The area marked says "Suabla" which makes perfect sense for Slovenia. It most certainly does not say "Swabia". μηδείς (talk) 01:25, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It unmistakably says Suabia. Nobody is reading Swabia there. I fail to see how Suabla would make perfect sense for Slovenia. --93.66.238.130 (talk) 01:32, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Well,maybe my computer has a higher resolution? If you wish to insist is says Suabia, feel free. It doesn't on my monitor, and I have no dog in this fight, whoof whoof. μηδείς (talk) 01:47, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Fortunately, I know how to use the zoom function on my browser...the resolution of the monitor is neither here nor there. It could be either SUABLA or SUABIA - the serif font used in conjunction with the curvature of the text causes the bottom-right of the second-to-last letter to run into the serif on the final 'A'. I have to say that it looks like there is an 'L' there - but it could easily be an 'I'. So we're down to the linguists, historians and geographers to come up with the true answer. SteveBaker (talk) 02:43, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It can only be SUABIA. A google search for SUABLA produces nothing much at all, but certainly nothing of any relevance to this region. There never has been any such place as "Suabla". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 06:07, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you can see how the first A and B run together at the bottom, so it's not surprising if the I and final A would also run together at the bottom. StuRat (talk) 06:16, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Anyway, since the image comes from an 1886 book, the lettering must have used some form of hot metal or possibly cold metal typesetting. For the L to physically join into the A, either it would have to be a ligature or there would have to be damage to the actual type. Neither of those seems at all likely, so it has to be SUABIA. --76.69.45.64 (talk) 10:01, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'm curious as to why Medeis thinks "SuabLa" would "make perfect sense" for Slovenia. Nothing in the article Slovenia suggests that it is also known as "Suabla". --165.225.80.100 (talk) 13:52, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

No, given the date that doesn't make sense, so I withdraw it. (See the Sclavenen and the Slavish Folk off to the east.) But I just blew up the image and I still see SUABLA. Maybe that's a printing or a scanning error, perhaps a spurious mark or some ink that's run. It may be SUABIA, it's even likely that it's SUABIA, but it's not clear that it's SUABIA. This can probably be most easily confirmed by consulting other maps. μηδείς (talk) 17:24, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Medeis, look at the I, L & A of SLAVISCHE VÖLKER in the same map. Don't you agree that an LA should look different from the one in your SUABLA?--151.41.173.96 (talk) 18:03, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, I think the map would have been printed from an engraving rather than having hot-metal type. The style of lettering features quite marked lower serifs which the engraver may have somewhat run together anyway (notice "the "VARIER" immediately above the contentious lettering), and there may have been a little ink bleeding during the printing itself. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 18:12, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

My (admittedly) poor eyesight is not the issue. I'd advise the OP to find a different map that covers the same issue. We also have Swabians, which might help. μηδείς (talk) 22:25, 15 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

On that map, it looks like "SUABLA" with the "LA" run together, but if it actually were, the spacing is off. If you take away that little smudge or mark or whatever it is, it looks like a properly spaced "SUABIA". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:04, 16 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The L and A cannot be superimposed because the L would be too long. They should also have been perfectly run together to make them look as they are. And I can see an actual gap between them. Also look at other A in the map and how long their bases are. For it to be the hapax legomenon SUABLA the L has to be deformed (the horizontal line is discontinued and not linear), too long and perfectly matching the following A. For it to be SUABIA the base of A has to be a little longer or maybe a little smudged. --151.41.173.96 (talk) 09:09, 16 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Judging from contemporary German publications, it reads Pannonia Suabia, called Pannonia Savia in Wikipedia. --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 16:13, 16 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think you got it! Search for "Suavia" here: http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?id_clanak_jezik=14662&show=clanak & http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=11216&lang=en --151.41.173.96 (talk) 17:03, 16 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]