The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
Grade level splitting/staggering in American schools[edit]
I am interested in genealogy, and in the course of research I found that many American high school yearbooks over 50 years ago contained both a January graduating class and a June graduating class. Grade levels were split or staggered into "A" and "B" grades, e.g., you weren't in 10th grade, you were either in "10A" or "10B". Presumably one half moved up in January and the other half moved up in June. An example yearbook is here: [1]. Are there any available resources that discuss this historical practice? Helpful Raccoon (talk) 00:34, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My high school in Canada did this too! Félix An (talk) 09:18, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It would likely be up to the rules in a given state (or province) or possibly even the local school board. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:55, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In California, the practice was in reaction to the baby boomers filling the schools faster than the voters approved new spending on facilities and faculty. By the 1970s, there were even split sessions within a single day: morning (7:30am-lunch) and afternoon (lunch-5pm). DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 18:58, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing -- this practice started well before the baby boomers and was being phased out by the 1960s. Helpful Raccoon (talk) 19:32, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Their crude birth rate has dropped from around 16‰ in 2000 to around 10‰.[2] That seems to tell most of the story. Remsense诉 08:14, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Meanwhile, the inwards migration rate to the UAE reached a peak of 109% in 2007/8 [3]Alansplodge (talk) 14:40, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is xe.com a reliable source for checking exchange rates?[edit]
Just for making deals/transactions among close friends with foreign currencies (not to send money), is xe.com a WP:RS to check the rates? Félix An (talk) 09:16, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, as long as a 1-2% variation isn't a deal-breaker DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 19:00, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
North Dakota and South Dakota were decreed into existence by Congress in the 19th century, while the Province of Carolina was split into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712. In neither case was one considered to be part of the other. However, Virginia existed as a British colony, then a U.S. state, for over 200 years, from the early 17th century until the U.S. Civil War, when it became exceedingly awkward that the northwest part of the state was solidly pro-Union, while the rest was Confederate. The remaining part of the state when West Virginia split off contained the state capital, most of the population, the majority of the land, all of the seacoast, and the political elites who traditionally ran the state, so it was the clear and obvious successor state to the previous undivided commonwealth (state) of Virginia. The Virginia elites did not have positive feelings about West Virginia splitting off, and felt that their part was the "real" historic Virginia, and so were not motivated to rename to "East Virginia". AnonMoos (talk) 10:42, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If the name of Virginia be changed to East Virginia, then the game geography using the 50 States of America should be more interesting, since no State of America begins with the letter E but many States of America ends with the letter E (it is widely known that if the first player choose the state Maine, then the second player loses the game immediately, since no State of America begins with the letter E or ends with the letter M). 220.132.230.56 (talk) 11:05, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Rhode Island changed its official name to what everyone calls it anyway. Is there anyone in Virginia who calls their state "East Virginia"? ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:32, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Virginia has clung to a name that is only used in official documents and even hardly known among the Virginians themselves. --Lambiam 19:37, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To the contrary, as a Virginia resident for five years, I frequently saw references to the Commonwealth in non-official documents (e.g. they were frequently in my newspaper), and I suspect you couldn't live in Virginia long without being aware of it. Nyttend (talk) 05:32, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Every so often a governor of North Dakota will argue for changing it to just "Dakota". Then someone will counter-argue that that cold, desolate state should instead be just "North". And that usually puts an end to it, again. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:34, 14 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's like Palo Alto and East Palo Alto. There ain't no West Palo Alto – even though we have a redirect. Actually, most of East Palo Alto is more to the West than most of Palo Alto.
Similarly, there is no state of South Rhine-Eastphalia, but no one suggests renaming North Rhine-Westphalia to just Rhine-Phalia. — Kpalion(talk) 14:50, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For other placenames with geographic directions added which are less impressive than the places with the original unqualified names, see East St. Louis and West New York... -- AnonMoos (talk) 21:13, 22 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is it accurate to categorize payment aggregators and payment gateways as payment infrastructure providers or payment system providers? What distinction would be more precise in describing their role in the payment ecosystem? Grotesquetruth (talk) 11:00, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The spread of Walmart in the 1980s shattered Southern politics, that’s *purely* a trade and antitrust story. The civil rights movement is not why the South went to the right.[4]
What does he mean by that? Walmart shifted Southern politics rightward but not the rest of the country? They are everywhere I thought. Was it just about consolidating retail or was there more, like offshoring manufacturing? Does Amazon have a similar effect now? Thanks. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:DBFA:4401:E57A:AAC4 (talk) 11:44, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Reading the entire Twitter chain, he is merely using Walmart as an example of a larger trend. His argument is that the South turned to the GOP because of economic issues, not Civil Rights issues. Whether he is correct (or not) is not something we should debate on this page. Blueboar (talk) 12:37, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Aha. I didn't see the rest of the thread. No I didn't want a debate, I just wanted to understand what he is saying. I guess it's not entirely about Walmart. Thanks. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:DBFA:4401:E57A:AAC4 (talk) 12:45, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The author making that argument probably also denies that the Civil War was about slavery. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:50, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Does that [above] exist? Curl-up article claims it does (uncited}, but I am unable to find evidence. The following is the most comprehensive listing that I found: [5] -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 18:57, 15 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's the shape of a tabula ansata. An academic reference on this type of inscription frame can be found here. --Wrongfilter (talk) 07:10, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen days on a Japanese calendar labeled with a sequence of numbers 1 to 9 together with colors. Apparently the sequence is called 九星 and goes like this: 一白, 二黒, 三碧, 四緑, 五黄, 六白, 七赤, 八白, 九紫. What does it mean and how is it used? Today, May 16, 2024, is a 二黒 day. What does that mean? 2601:18A:C500:E830:526A:B17D:E5EF:4ACD (talk) 08:40, 16 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
When was the 35mm pentaprism camera (SLR) introduced? I know the 35mm size was used by WWII but wasn't those rangefinders. Saw an episode og Hogan's Heroes and a SLR was used, it looked out of place. DMc75771 (talk) 16:26, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
From Single-lens reflex camera: "The first 35 mm SLR available to the mass market, Leica's PLOOT reflex housing along with a 200 mm f4.5 lens paired to a 35 mm rangefinder camera body, debuted in 1935." and "K. Nüchterlein's Kine Exakta (Germany, 1936) was the first integrated 35 mm SLR to enter the market. Additional Exakta models, all with waist-level finders, were produced up to and during World War II." Modocc (talk) 16:46, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nevertheless, Hogan's Heroes studio likely used one of the 35mm SLRs in use during WWII.Modocc (talk) 18:46, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The OP asked about pentaprism cameras. I know Hogan's Heroes was renowned for its historical accuracy and attention to detail, but it is just possible they slipped up on this. DuncanHill (talk) 19:45, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I forgot. Hogan used a Minox B. Produced a decade later. Modocc (talk) 23:48, 18 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In colonial EaWest Africa (and I believe later, and elsewhere) there was an urban myth, folklore, conspiracy theory or belief that fire engines were used by white people to gather blood these vampires were called wazimamoto. The elements seemed to be that white people are white because they have insufficient blood and that fire engines were red to symbolise blood. In those days it was also common for axes and ladders to be strapped to the side of a fire engine, which could fuel the imagination, perhaps. I think I read an article about this belief on Wikipedia, but I can only find an odd line in the Vampire article. Do we have more?
Other terms include mumiani and banyama. There is material about the history of these terms available online but we do not seem to have anything on Wikipedia at first glance. Dekimasuよ! 01:10, 19 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To me it looks like Hugh Dalton in the middle and Ernest Bevin on the right, though it's hard to positively identify Bevin since he's looking away. Maybe it's Herbert Morrison. I'm unsure about the woman. --Antiquary (talk) 08:40, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it might be Ellen Wilkinson. As it happens, she was my Mother's Godmother, but she died almost ten years before I was born, so I have no direct memories to draw on. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 94.2.67.173 (talk) 23:49, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Palito Ortega is a popular singer and comedy actor from Argentina. He was elected governor of the Tucuman Province in 1991. He ran for vicepresident under Eduardo Duhalde in 1999, but lost. Cambalachero (talk) 19:01, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My favorite campaign promise from a joke party (I think 1970s era Monster Raving Loonie… but that could be wrong): “Proposed: to better integrate into the European Common Market the UK will switch from left side of the road driving to right side of the road driving… however, to minimize disruption this will be implemented using a “phased in” approach - starting with heavy cargo vehicles.”
Took me a few seconds to see the joke. Blueboar (talk) 21:45, 23 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think there were a lot of jokes about the Swedish driving direction transition in the 1960s (Dagen H) being introduced "gradually", so probably not original. Apparently Screaming Lord Sutch once campaigned on introducing pet passports, an idea which was later implemented. AnonMoos (talk) 17:51, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Porn star Mary Carey (actress) ran for governor of California in 2003 on a campaign platform of "taxing breast implants, making lap dances tax-deductible, and creating a 'Porn for Pistols' exchange program. She came in #10 in a field of 135 candidates. Weightlifter and action movie hero Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor. Cullen328 (talk) 18:17, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
One well-known joke actually became President of the USA for a while. History may even repeat itself. -- Jack of Oz[pleasantries] 21:44, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Twice-told jokes rarely work (and that guy hardly worked at all). Clarityfiend (talk) 23:36, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Now, now… Millard Filmore wasn’t THAT bad as President! Blueboar (talk) 11:39, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Watch meme videos of him he seems like a satirical candidate but maybe is just awkward, naive, comedy-using, single-issue and weird but serious (it is too damn high but forced rent cuts in a state with c.4 million non-working adults under age 67 (some of whom live off interest, sugar daddies etc) won't make 3-6 million new jobs) Rent Is Too Damn High Party. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:56, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
From our Frivolous parties article: Some more serious political parties, such as the Rent Is Too Damn High Party, may use the same tactics and humorous approaches to politics as their more frivolous counterparts but aim to address legitimate sociopolitical issues, something that some frivolous parties do not do.Alansplodge (talk) 10:42, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
How easy is it to get on the ballot in Britain? The ballot doesn't have that many choices in New York City. Like more than a few but not by much. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:26, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Mali was suspended from the African Union [for the second time] on 1 June 2021, following its second military coup within nine months. Guinea's membership was also suspended by the African Union on 10 September 2021, after a military coup deposed the country's President Alpha Condé. Sudan's membership was suspended by the African Union on 27 October 2021, after a military coup deposed the civilian government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Burkina Faso's membership was suspended by the African Union in the aftermath of a military coup on 31 January 2022. Niger's membership was suspended by the African Union on 22 August 2023 following a military coup in late July that deposed democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum [...] Gabon's membership was suspended by the African Union on 31 August 2023 following a military coup that deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba.
I believe there is some question about whether the succession of Idriss Deby by his son following his death in 2021 constitutes a coup according to the AU's definition. It is more like a succession that is not in conformity with constitutional texts, which is not the same thing as the military deposing a recognized Head of State. Xuxl (talk) 14:32, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Could someone please verify if the Uzbekistan flag (1428-1471) is a hoax. And obviously remove it if the answer is Yes --Trade (talk) 15:13, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Er, that's not there, and the last edit was 2 days ago, so where are you seeing this? --Golbez (talk) 16:07, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I was meaning to link to the Commons page, not the ENWP article.--Trade (talk) 17:58, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
According to the file description: This image represents a fictional flag designed to symbolize the Uzbek Khanate (existed between 1428 and 1471 in Central Asia), drawing inspiration from the historical flags and emblems of previous khanates that existed in the region native to Uzbek people. The design incorporates elements and shapes similar to of the Golden Horde and the Timurid Empire [...] --136.54.106.120 (talk) 18:49, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If the description is right, the author says he made it up. Not exactly a hoax, more like "original research", as a placeholder. Better he should just have posted a blank rectangle as a placeholder. But maybe you should discuss this on Commons rather than here. ←Baseball BugsWhat's up, Doc? carrots→ 18:54, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder how many others are "fictional flags". -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 19:04, 24 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There's a candidate or two here Temerarius (talk) 00:37, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The "sugar-loaf" hat, the kind you don't mean, is a perfume cone. [8] See Head cone.
The deshret crown is bowl-shaped (ignore the main image, look at the gallery at the foot of the page). I note that one of your images has somebody with a scarab beetle apparently on their head: this is presumably a sign about who the figure represents (it's Ra, who rolled the sun across the sky like a beetle rolls a ball of dung), not an actual hat, so the same may be true of whatever vessel-like hat you've seen. More background information needed. Card Zero (talk) 07:41, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, that's really cool that they figured that out recently. The deshret can resemble what I'm thinking of, but deshret is a (some say) reed crown not an earthenware object. Temerarius (talk) 16:05, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nut (goddess) is depicted with a water jar on her head, but typically round. It would help if you reveal why you think the object is earthenware, and is a vessel, and why it might be on the head of a goddess. Card Zero (talk) 17:23, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's just one of those times when I didn't write something down. Maybe I confused a goddess with Hermanubis, (see File:Hermanubis.jpg) with figure 2 from Kuntillet Ajruid, with that minor goddess who has reeds on her head; along with the yellow color she looks like Bart Simpson. I think Serapis gets a vessel on his head too sometimes? By the way: to the person who helped me with the arm-shaped pipe-looking censer last time: it is hieroglyph R42 and variations. Temerarius (talk) 18:54, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nut's vessel is W24 nw, which can sound like her name. Temerarius (talk) 18:57, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What is the history of the pentagram and quincunx diagrams often used to represent the Chinese five phases? I raised a question about this here, and would be grateful if anyone could point me towards relevant sources. Albie's relation of misfortune (talk) 14:33, 25 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
These diagrams are a visual representation of a graph whose vertices correspond to the phases and the edges to relations between two phases. Naturally, artists designing a visual representation will prefer symmetry, especially if it reflects a conceptual symmetry. If the phases are seen as of equal importance, the only way to reflect that visually in a planar representation is by placing them as the five vertices of a regular pentagon, in which the order of one if the cycles, for example 木→火→土→金→水→木, may be preferred. This gives five pairs of phases, with each pair connected by an edge. If the relations between all pairs are represented in the diagram, resulting in the complete graph on five vertices, the other five edges form a pentagram.
Some representations assign a central position to 土, and give only the relations between the central phase and the other four phases. Then the graph is the star graph with four leaves, which is symmetrically represented by a cross.
I don't know why some texts assign a central role to 土 while others treat the five phases on an equal footing, but producing symmetric visual representations for these symmetric abstractions is probably as old as the oldest diagrammatic representations of the five phases. --Lambiam 12:44, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm really just looking for evidence of the pentagram presentation of the graph in history. It's also possible to draw a graph over the quincunx. [9] "Graph" itself is a modern western mathematical construction, so I'm curious about whether the Chinese tradition surrounding the wuxing really saw the relationships between the phases in a similar way. Albie's relation of misfortune (talk) 13:44, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Graphs are a tool to think about patterns of relations between items. Sociologists use graphs to model social relationships, but social relationships predate graph theory by millions of years. Diagrammatic depictions that are essentially graph diagrams are not a new phenomenon. One example is the Tree-of-life diagram from the Bahir. Another is the Scutum Fidei. --Lambiam 17:19, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
As a more philosophical point, the pentagram diagram seems to be motivated by the idea that the phases are on "equal footing" as you say, and therefore that the relations between them are interchangable or equivalent, so that the transition from Earth to Metal and from Water to Wood are in some way just reflections of each-other. But in the quincunx diagram, the same transitions look more distinct: an outward motion from the Center to the West, compared to a circular motion from the North to the East. I would be interested to know whether this idea of equivalence shows up in any traditional sources. From the article, I'm not sure whether this is the subject of the debate between translating wuxing as "five elements" and as "five phases." Albie's relation of misfortune (talk) 21:00, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If you're interested in whether early Chinese theorists used the same verb to denote the change from one of the five phases to an adjacent one, the answer is: sometimes, depending on what their point was. I'm not really sure how to approach your question about equivalence in a more robust way, but sometimes I'm stupid, and this was never really my area of concentration. All this theory had its roots ultimately in the Zhouyi, so the earliest extant sources are commentaries on and quotations of lost commentaries on that text. Folly Mox (talk) 22:14, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Lambiam, assigning a central position to 土 comes from assigning cardinal directions to the five phases, in which "earth" is assigned the direction of "center". I don't remember when any of the major developments in five phase theory took place, although I vaguely remember Liu Xin (scholar) pooularising the newer "generative mode" ordering as a natural explanation for the legitimacy of his sovereign. Folly Mox (talk) 21:41, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
“The five characters on this pentagram correspond to the Chinese traditional five basic elements, or “Wu Xing”, that is, metal, wood, water, fire and earth,” Kong said, adding that it is a musical theory that is unique to China.
I'm not convinced by this: there are many characters around the pentagram, using ancient forms he probably can't read, and they are arranged in five lines, each of which is a text that says something, not an individual character, so where is he getting this from? However, that's his claim. Card Zero (talk) 15:20, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Though not useful to your purpose of finding a traditional image of the wuxing, I'm afraid. I couldn't find one either. Card Zero (talk) 18:25, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's fine if the words for the five ancient tones correspond with the Five Phases, but the words for the phases / elements themselves are not on that collection of strips (interestingly, the top three lines of characters are written upside down, as if the scribe had rotated the entire roll, or moved to the opposite side of the writing desk).I don't remember enough about early Chinese intellectual history to say when Five Phase correspondence theory was in vogue, but I feel like it probably postdated this manuscript, which is provisionally placed in mid–Warring States, iirc, although since it was tomb-robbed we'll never have a secure date for it. Folly Mox (talk) 19:12, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
This page claims that a Chinese minigun called the "Hua Qing minigun" was introduced in 2009 by Huaqing Machinery Manufacturing Company. However, neither of the two news articles it references calls it a "Hua Qing minigun." They both said that the gun was made by "Jianshe Group" and didn't list any of the specs in the article. Is the entire article just false information? Should it be deleted or something? M-Tails-P (talk) 11:40, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Certainly seems like someone conflated some information. User:MSG17 has prodded the article, which is probably the correct course of action. Good catch, both. Folly Mox (talk) 21:57, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Why did much of the Netherlands go Gregorian in 1583.0?[edit]
Including Holland. I thought they were pretty Protestant and most Protestant zones switched much later (though Holland was relatively religiously tolerant). Did they want to harmonize with Dutchophones in the much stronger Catholic Habsburg empire to the south? Or were they tolerant enough to not mind using a better calendar for secular purposes? When did they switch their movable feast dates to Catholic-style? When was the last major Protestant denomination to do so (including equivalents, I know they sometimes used Computuses that look different from Catholic but gave the same result)? Did anywhere simultaneously use Orthodox Easter and Gregorian calendar for awhile? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:56, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Politics.
Around 1566 the Dutch began their rebellion against Spain. King Phillip II send them an army and had some noblemen who supported the rebels executed, but things got worse. In 1568 the rebels won their first battle, traditionally seen as the start of the 80 years war. Looking for an ally, prince William of Orange, de facto leader of the Netherlands, suggested making Francis, Duke of Anjou, the youngest son of Henry II of France, sovereign of the Netherlands – without giving him too much power. He was a Catholic, but William was very much in favour of tolerant religious policies, and so was Francis. This was arranged in 1580. In 1581, the Dutch formally declared independence from Spain, deposing Phillip II as duke/count/lord of the seven provinces. Francis, following the example of France, wanted the Netherlands to switch to the Gregorian calendar. Zeeland (more Catholic), Holland and the States General (purely political reasons) accepted to keep good relation with their new ally (who, despite being Catholic, hated the Spanish too), the other provinces didn't do so right away. In 1584, Francis died at the age of 29, which was the end of the tight relation with the French. A month later, William was murdered and Dutch policies turned more hard-line. PiusImpavidus (talk) 20:14, 26 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Was the war partly a proxy war between Spain and France? The Pyrenees are a natural border, annoying to fight in, unless the mountains have minerals you can only fight over scraps before you're in the others king's main farmland, the Low Countries are better for land and sea battles. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 00:35, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hard to say. France had its own wars, with fanatical Catholics supported by Spain and the Pope, fanatical protestants supported by England and the Dutch, whilst the French royals – several kings (brothers) in rapid succession along with their mother, queen dowager Catherine de' Medici – tried to make peace by promoting religious tolerance. France was sandwiched between Spain and the Spanish Netherlands, the Spanish Netherlands were sandwiched between France and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, so they all had their strategic interests. The supply routes from Spain to the Spanish Netherlands went either overland, through France, or overseas to Antwerp (passing within gunshot range from the Northern Dutch city of Vlissingen) or Dunkirk (depending on who controlled that city at the time).
Definitely an interesting time, with wars all over the place (often more than two sides), princes getting murdered or taken hostage, royal marriages to make alliances, quickly followed by marriages with the opposing side, religious fanatics burning each other at the stake... PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:00, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Dutch provinces of Brabant and Zeeland, and the States General adopted [the Gregorian calendar] on 25 December of that year; the provinces forming the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium) except the Duchy of Brabant adopted it on 1 January 1583; the province of Holland adopted it on 12 January 1583.
@ Adoption in Protestant countries # Rest of the Dutch Republic
The remaining provinces of the Dutch Republic adopted the Gregorian calendar on 12 July 1700 (Gelderland), 12 December 1700 (Overijssel and Utrecht), 12 January 1701 (Friesland and Groningen) and 12 May 1701 (Drenthe). -- Jack of Oz[pleasantries] 00:27, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The Duchy of Brabant was a bit of a special case. Much of it was controlled by Spain. By the end of the war, it was broken up (and it still is). PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:24, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
is it correct to say that Law firm associates are retainers and not employees and that in-house legal counsels are employees? then what is really an external/outside counsel or when are they required? please clarify. Grotesquetruth (talk) 07:19, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
There's nothing much to clarify. Your statements are merely a mix of the state of the matter and the implication of them. You need an external impulse if you either need more objectivity than you're allowing internally or you're trying to lever on forces for any given change of course. You may in the abstract compare with the Baltimore Bridge collapse, although that may be a little bit of a stretch.. --Askedonty (talk) 08:13, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Used in connection with legal services, a "retainer" is the fee a client pays for future legal services. There can be many reasons why someone needs legal counsel. One possible reason is that one has a plan of action but is not certain of the legality of some aspects. Another possible reason is that one is involved in a conflict that may end up in court. If one needs counsel and does not have access to in-house counsel, one needs to obtain external counsel. The in-house counsel of an organization represents the interests of that organization. Someone working for a company may have interests that are not aligned with these company interests. If they need legal counsel, they'd better seek it outside the company. --Lambiam 09:40, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I was reading an excerpt from The Namesake, a book about a family of Bengali immigrants in the US, and it made me wonder how the bhalo nam vs the dak nam is usually handled when immigrating to the US. In the story, the main character's dak nam is on some of his legal documents, but on the Wikipedia page for Bengali names, it says that the bhalo nam is used on all legal documents. Was this just a decision for the sake of the story, or is this something that might actually happen? Dinsfire24 (talk) 22:56, 28 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Mistakes are made. I have seen my own name, as well as my father's name, recorded incorrectly in official documents. I suppose that in the Wikipedia article the legal documents referred to are Bangladeshi legal documents, which would normally be written in the Bengali alphabet. I'm not familiar with the story of The Namesake. Did the dak nam appear in a Bangladeshi document? Or did someone use the dak nam unofficially in the US and it somehow ended up in a US official document? It is easy to imagine confusion caused by Americans being unaware of the existence of non-US naming customs – and new immigrants being unaware of the general American unawareness of other cultures. --Lambiam 16:46, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, that makes sense. I believe it was on a US official document, so your assessment is likely correct. Dinsfire24 (talk) 17:14, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a lawsuit (judged, not settled out-of-court) for all 2,550 possible concatenations of US states and USA? (100 lawsuits named United States v./vs. state or vice versa, 2,450 named state vs state). Have even half of them happened yet? Have all 13x12+26 concatenations of the Original 13 and the US happened yet? Is DC allowed to sue the US or a state or vice versa? Did US courts ever decide a suit between sovereign countries? Has New York City ever sued New York State or vice versa? What would the short form name be if a government sues the same government more than once in a year? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:21, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
According to the U.S. Constitution (Article 3, Section 2), the Supreme court has "original jurisdiction" over certain types of cases "in which a state shall be a party", including "controversies between two or more states". For a speciific case, see New Jersey v. New York. I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that there haven't been 2,450 lawsuits of this type between all theoretical permutations (what reason would Idaho have to sue Florida??), but there has been more than one lawsuit over the years between certain specific pairs of states (see New York v. New Jersey (2023) etc). AnonMoos (talk) 17:46, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The few dozen in the category do seem to be overwhelmingly regional spats like border disputes though there is a Texas v. New Jersey and Texas v. Pennsylvania. Do any pairs sharing a land border not have lawsuits both ways yet? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:30, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Based on reading about this trial, I gather that in NY, falsifying business records for the hell of it (not in furtherance of another crime) is a misdemeanor, but falsifying them in furtherance of another crime (the "object offense") is a felony. Let's assume the NY DOJ doesn't put on gazillion dollar media spectacle trials to pursue people for misdemeanors. They are trying Trump for falsifying records for purposes of breaking election law. The thing is, the election law in question is both a federal law (they can't try him for it in NY state court) and very very complicated. And the election law part of this is not in Trump's NY indictment. I haven't seen the jury instructions so maybe they shed some light on this issue. What I'm wondering is, assuming the NY jury returns a conviction, does that only establish a misdemeanor, with a separate federal trial on the election law vio to bump the NY charge up to a felony? Or are they supposed to say he did it for another crime without having to establish that whatever he was trying to do was actually a crime? I haven't seen any press coverage saying this outright, but there is a fair amount (including from anti-Trump writers) skeptical of the process.
In general, if there is a two-element crime, do you usually have to prove both elements in the same trial, or can you have a separate trial for each element? The first element (falsification) is a criminal charge in its own right, so it's a legitimate (misdemeanor) criminal trial, but the second element (furtherance of another offense) seems to be partly in limbo.
I'm not seeking legal advice, Trump can pay his own lawyers and IANAL. Thanks. (It's also possible that I have this story at least partially wrong, due to unwittingly reading propaganda). 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:98EB (talk) 06:48, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not a US lawyer so can't comment on the specifics, but having an offence dependent on the commission of another offence that hasn't been charged, even an offence under the laws of a different jurisdiction, is not unusual. Money laundering offences will often work like this, for instance: you can launder in jurisdiction 1 the proceeds of a crime committed in jurisdiction 2 (e.g. you can commit a fraud in Paris and then launder the proceeds through a bank in London), and you can be tried for the money laundering in jurisdiction 1 regardless of whether there has been or will be a prosecution in jurisdiction 2 for the underlying crime. The point is that even if you can only be tried in a particular jurisdiction for a particular crime, that doesn't stop the prosecuting authorities of another jurisdiction establishing as a fact that you have committed that crime in a prosecution for another crime. I suspect that that is similar to how the particular law works here, as everything I have read says that he is on trial for the felony version of the offence charged in New York. Proteus(Talk) 10:35, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes there have been some updates today mentioning the NY election law and the jury instructions. Good point about money laundering and thanks for that info. If Trump is convicted it will be interesting to see how the appeals play out. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:98EB (talk) 20:42, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Trump can pay his own lawyers, but will he? —Tamfang (talk) 23:01, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Flags at presidential inaugurations: the Hawaiian anomaly[edit]
At US presidential inaugurations, five national flags are hung vertically at the Capitol: a 50-star flag in the center, flanked to either side by the first flag representing the new president's state of residence, flanked on the ends by two 13-star Betsy Ross flags. If the president is from one of the 13 colonies, their "state flag" uses the Hopkinson-style row-and-column arrangement, preventing a clash with the Betsy Ross's star circle. But what happens when the new president is from Hawaii? (And no, Obama doesn't count – he was an Illinoisan for this purpose.) Would there be three identical 50-star flags flanked by two Betsy Rosses? Or would they loop back to using 13-star Hopkinson flags to break things up? Or would they simply use three flags instead of five? Or perhaps Betsy-50-Betsy-50-Betsy, or 50-Betsy-50-Betsy-50? 71.126.56.57 (talk) 12:12, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Hello,
What is the name of an argument that is made purely to illustrate a point about a larger situation? For example, if someone were to argue that America is a pluralist (interest-group-centered) democracy, not because they think that it actually is but because they want to call attention to/promote their view of the larger situation, which is the outsize influence of interest groups in America.
JuxtaposedJacob (talk) 22:17, 29 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I call making an argument solely because one thinks it will carry weight with someone, without believing in its factualness or holding the values associated with it, concern trolling, and if it's appealing specifically to some prejudice, demagoguery. OTOH, designating an argument as tentative and provisional because you intend to deboonk it later is called "playing Devil's advocate" and is a valid tactic. Aecho6Ee (talk) 02:02, 30 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]