Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2008 October 14

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October 14

Buying wine/liquor online to ship to British Columbia

This is a slightly odd question, but I'm trying to buy a bottle of Port online for my brother's 21st birthday in BC, Canada.

This appears to be very hard. From what I can tell, no alcohol can be shipped from one province in Canada to another; (possibly) no alcohol can be shipped into BC from anywhere at all; and there don't appear to be any online stores in BC itself, as far as I can tell from Google.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks! — Sam 02:41, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Maybe just go to a shop... 03:03, 14 October 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.4.229.8 (talk)

In Ontario, I believe the Liquor Control Board of Ontario does all the importing, and they will do specialty importing. I bet the BC Liquor Stores will do it. Yup... here's the link! good luck -- Flyguy649 ^talk 03:56, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

That BC page says that you need to buy at least one case (single bottles would be uneconomic for them to import, I suspect), and it could take up to 8 months for delivery! Life is hard for Canadian drinkers.--Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 11:14, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

It used to be way easier in Quebec?--Radh (talk) 21:46, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Transplanting Swahili Maritime Practice to Haiti

Much has been made of the South-South trade revolution. Supposedly developing nations are no longer so dependent on the health of developed economies because the up and coming are trading so much with each other. It's this paradigm that got me thinking when I looked back on the problems I saw in poor countries. In Haiti, the infrastructure cripples the country. Despite being a small island, it takes nine hours to reach the northern second city from the capitol by bus. The nine hours on the road eliminates an entire day. A person must leave in the morning so they do not arrive in the highly dangerous street of Port-au-Prince at night. A city south of the capitol is harder to reach. The roads to the second city are awful, forcing buses to go slowly and circuitously, but to get to the southeastern tip city of Jeremie requires thirteen hours on a bus in good conditions. During the bad season, the awful road may be impassable. The road is so bad I'm sure autos plying the route have to change parts (suspension, etc.) every 6-12 months, making autos more expensive on top of the wince-inducing cost of imported gas. There are ferries to Jeremie but the boats are over packed and prone to disaster. Jeremie is nicknamed the "lost city" because the options for getting there are so unattractive.

In Tanzania and Kenya, I found the roads were terrible. However, along the coast, there continues the centuries old tradition of moving people and goods by dhow. I suspect the Swahili coast is the most robust pre-industrial maritime economy in the world. The dhows are still built on beach shipyards by hand power.

I think in a country with as much coastline as inland, Haiti would benefit from the centuries of low-tech maritime expertise from the Swahili coast. If the Haitian coast has robust dhow traffic, then I see wonderful cost savings in the logistics of commerce, and hopefully a rise in the standard of living.

Do you think a program that pays enough craftspeople and mariners from the Swahili coast to start a beach shipyard in Haiti will work? Are there any other "south-south" humanitarian collaborations of this variety? (Not state aid projects from developing countries to another to grease deals.)

Lotsofissues (talk) 09:41, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

It's a great idea and I think it will work if enough time is taken at the start to let the Haitians and Africans meet each other, understand what each party can get out of the project, and hammer out the details together. The only thing I've ever heard of that was similar was not in developing countries but in southern Europe, where Italian grappa makers advised Portuguese brandy makers on marketing. A similar peer-to-peer concept though. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:04, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

About nwo conspiracy

WHen NWO conspiracty believers people, say that the world will have just one governament. They are talking about (examples): 1- All countries merging with the united states and the united states becoming a very very big country or like all countries merging with germany and germany changing their name and few rules???
2- All countries merging together becoming a new country called "world" (a example of a name)???? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.0.240.4 (talk) 17:10, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

These guys are conspiracy theorists, so they don't really need any kind of rationale. Every time I've heard this talked about it's not been about countries merging, it's been about a supra-national government taking over the powers of national governments. DJ Clayworth (talk) 17:13, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

We have an article with a section of this: New World Order (conspiracy theory)#Postulated implementations. Since it's just a conspiracy theory, there probably isn't any more information available than what's in the article - conspiracy theories change quickly to keep up with new counter-arguments and there is no central body with an official version (there's a joke there somewhere) of the theory so different theorists will have different ideas about what's supposed to be going on. --Tango (talk) 17:17, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Intelligent analysis of a conspiracy theory? Perish the thought. fnord Obviously there is nothing here of concern to analyze. — Lomn 18:01, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

The thing about conspiracy theories, and indeed with many similar types of irrational thought, is that it works backwards. In general, the conspiracy theory starts with the belief in the truth of the conspiracy, then seeks out ways to make the availible evidence fit. If it is shown, through more normal rigorous means, that the conspiracy does not exist, such counterarguements are dismissed, as the a priori belief in the truth of the conspiracy does not allow for the possibility that the conspiracy does not in fact exist. Basically, it is pointless to attempt to "disprove" a conspiracy theory to anyone who believes in it because their belief exists outside of evidence anyways. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 18:08, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

There is no Cabal.

SteveBaker (talk) 22:22, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

One hypothesis I've heard of (hinted at in the section linked above) is closer to (2), in that countries will be controlled by the UN. AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 09:34, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Loudest valve of the heart

Which valve of the human heart will create the loudest noise when closed? I'm guessing it's the left atrioventricular valve because the left atrium is the strongest, therefore it will close that valve with the most force. Am I right? Danke. ITGSEETest (talk) 21:01, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

First, the left atrium is not particularly "strong" - you might be thinking of the left ventricle. Nevertheless, this would still implicate the left atriventricular valve (i.e. the mitral valve). However, loudness is a tricky thing - it's not always related to amplitude, and the perception of loudness is very dependent on frequency (which varies from valve to valve). --Scray (talk) 03:00, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

The Heart sounds article may help, and I should have said before that the loudness of the sounds also depends on where across the precordium you are listening. --Scray (talk) 03:05, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Electronic items taken into Cuba.

We are thinking of taking a holiday to Cuba next year (we live in the UK) and have been browsing Wikitravel and a few brochures. One brochure warns us not to take electronic items with us as Customs Officers will confiscate them on our arrival and not return them when we leave. 2 questions if I may : 1. Why is that? 2. What exactly do they mean by Electronic Items? Are they talking about mobile phones, MP3 players, DVD portable players or what? Thanks. 92.22.113.53 (talk) 21:31, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, I heard that the first offical/legal personal computers went on sale in Cuba about 6 months ago - they were selling for 10x the national average annual income. So from a US perspective - a personal computer is costing them about a half million dollars. The temptation for the customs officers - if they can get away with it - must be overwhelming. I would imagine that just about anything with batteries in it would qualify as "Electronic"...so I doubt that anything like that is safe. I can't imagine the folks at Wikitravel lying to you...so you should take this as being the truth...don't do it! SteveBaker (talk) 22:18, 14 October 2008 (UTC)

I can't comment on dodgy customs officials but it appears up to recently most electronic items could not legally be purchased by most Cubans [1] [2] so I would say it's not surprising that tourists couldn't bring these items in. P.S. [3] may be of interest Nil Einne (talk) 09:29, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

I would check with the the state department. Their page on traveling to Cuba should give you lots of insight. I see no mention of electronic goods being officially prohibited. Plasticup ^T/C 04:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I think this might be more useful. Little Red Riding Hoodtalk 20:08, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

And this only mentions electric appliances, nothing about personal electronic devices. Little Red Riding Hoodtalk 20:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)