Author Topic: Your Wikipedia find of the week  (Read 116980 times)

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #225 on: 14 October, 2013, 09:25:30 pm »

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #226 on: 20 October, 2013, 08:24:06 pm »
That between 1919 & 1974 at least 32 countries (current borders) with a total current population of 2.3 billion (i.e. almost a third of the population of the world), switched from driving on the left to driving on the right. If they hadn't switched, driving on the left would be the norm, not the exception. The majority of South Americans, Africans, & Asians, would drive on the left, as would fourteen European countries (counting Cyprus as European).

In addition, parts of at least eight countries (current borders) switched the same way, some due to border changes & some in the interest of standardisation within the country.

Only two (not counting a double switch) changed from right to left, both due to a change in colonial masters.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #227 on: 24 October, 2013, 08:57:42 pm »
Though some of them, in Europe at least, only switched because of border changes or because they came into being as states during that time. But I wonder if it would somehow make us feel different?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #228 on: 25 October, 2013, 06:49:58 pm »
No country switched immediately after coming into being as a state. Three in Europe switched because they went from one state to another at the end of WW1. All are now independent.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #229 on: 25 October, 2013, 07:03:39 pm »
I think "coming into being" and "going from one state to another" probably refer to the same thing here!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #230 on: 25 October, 2013, 09:56:46 pm »
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.

With the demise of Austria-Hungary, it was probably inevitable that Central Europe would switch completely to driving on the right eventually, but some of the changeovers are baffling. Why, for example did Brazil change? All the countries with which it had all year round road links drove on the left at the time, which meant that most of the area & population of South America drove on the left.

And China - why? It was (& is) big enough not to care which side neighbours drove on, & had just gained a road connection to India (the second largest, in population, country driving on the same side) via Burma. It had no road connection to most of the USSR, & I doubt that travel across the French Indo-China border mattered. Strange that it changed.

The former British colonies in West Africa make sense, for the most part, having land borders only with countries driving on the right - except that Nigeria had more people & money than all its neighbours put together, & not much trade with them. It was arguable that it would have made more sense for the former French West Africa to change the other way,

Sudan & Ethiopia - well, once one changed, one can see some logic for the other. But neither had cross-border road connections worth worrying about, so why bother? Still pretty much the case.

And Myanmar was just weird.

Outside mainland Europe, & outliers such as Panama, the one-way traffic from left to right was rather odd.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #231 on: 25 October, 2013, 11:43:59 pm »
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.
Possibly. But I don't think there had ever been one Czechoslovak state before and Poland had to reform itself from parts which had no political or administrative connection with each other, so they were coming into being by going from the state of an idea to the state of a state.

Brazil changed at the same time as Portugal, which is still odd as it had been independent for a century and it's hard to imagine trade and/or cultural links justifying it. Perhaps the Chinese changed as a reaction to Japanese occupation? Maybe both countries and many of the others changed because the USA was the largest source of vehicles? I think that was the reason given for Samoa to change the other way recently, so they could get cheaper used cars from Japan, and I read that Rwanda has similar plans.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #232 on: 27 October, 2013, 12:55:01 pm »
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.
Possibly. But I don't think there had ever been one Czechoslovak state before and Poland had to reform itself from parts which had no political or administrative connection with each other, so they were coming into being by going from the state of an idea to the state of a state.
Yeah, but neither of those changed as a result of independence. Most of Poland (including the richest, most urbanised parts, with most vehicles) already drove on the right. Czechoslovakia kept driving on the left until the Nazis changed it for them, like Austria - though both were going to change anyway, due to the inconvenience of being in a relatively small block of left-drivers (them & Hungary) completely surrounded by right-drivers.

Quote
Brazil changed at the same time as Portugal, which is still odd as it had been independent for a century and it's hard to imagine trade and/or cultural links justifying it. Perhaps the Chinese changed as a reaction to Japanese occupation? Maybe both countries and many of the others changed because the USA was the largest source of vehicles? I think that was the reason given for Samoa to change the other way recently, so they could get cheaper used cars from Japan, and I read that Rwanda has similar plans.
Yes, Brazil is odd. I don't really buy the 'reaction to Japanese occupation' theory for China. It wasn't something imposed by Japan: it was what China already did. I could believe it for Korea, but the US & Soviet occupation forces changed it casually, by just importing their own rules for their own use & convenience, without asking the Koreans.

The Philippines changed at the end of WW2, having stayed on the left through 40 years of US rule.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

JennyB

  • Old enough to know better
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #233 on: 29 October, 2013, 07:52:30 am »
Orthodox Celts   :o

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HEt2XdN_TbQ&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HEt2XdN_TbQ&rel=1</a>
Jennifer - Walker of hills

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #234 on: 29 October, 2013, 09:23:46 am »
That's quite a popular genre. example:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2N10p_FyOmc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/2N10p_FyOmc&rel=1</a>
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

JennyB

  • Old enough to know better
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #235 on: 29 October, 2013, 10:11:53 am »

For some reason YouTube links aren't showing now and I had to get yours from the reply. They're pretty good, but to a native the body language and interpretation is still strange.   :-\ 

BTW, I'm pretty sure the Round Tower in their first background image is Devenish, just three miles from here.  :thumbsup:
Jennifer - Walker of hills

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #236 on: 29 October, 2013, 10:23:46 am »
YouTube links never show for me either. I can't see mine at all but for some reason yours shows as a url.  ???

Yes, they are a bit odd but still popular. Especially when they start singing in #Slavonic language. There's an "Irish pub" I know in Poland which is run by Italians - and of course every bar of whatever sort puts green food dye in its beer on St Patrick's day.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #237 on: 07 November, 2013, 09:11:51 pm »
Back to the A-10 for a moment, these odds are not good if you are on the ground:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A-10_Thunderbolt_II_Kills.JPG

and this makes the point quite well:

http://freestylemtx.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=117377&stc=1&d=1241730600
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #238 on: 09 November, 2013, 10:47:03 pm »
In the summer of 1976, the swing bridge across Cumberland Basin - the entrance to Bristol docks - jammed shut cos it had expanded in the heat. They had to hose it down in order to let a ship in or out.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #239 on: 10 November, 2013, 01:16:29 pm »
While we were in Austria this year they had all-time record temperatures (in the 40s, it was like a furnace in Salzburg).  One of their bridges ran out of expansion gap and buckled.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #240 on: 10 November, 2013, 02:23:29 pm »
Things stickig im Toblerone Tunnel begotten mussen have.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #241 on: 11 November, 2013, 04:17:31 pm »
Warning: This may be of limited interest to all but metallists.

Rob Halford was not an original member of Judas Priest (joined ?late 1973).  Nor was Glenn Tipton (joined April 1974).  The longest lasting member was KK Downing (joined October 1970), who retired in April 2011.

In fact, the only original member of Judas Priest (who had played their first gig November 1969) still in the band even when KK joined was Al Atkins, who was the singer prior to Rob.

So none of what I thought were the three founder members were there at the start.

Told you it might be of limited interest, but it surprised me.
Getting there...

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #242 on: 13 November, 2013, 06:47:41 am »
Rob Halford's best quote was the one from the "satanic hidden suicide messages" trial:

Quote
We said that to the judge. We said that if we were going to put subliminal messages on our records, it would be ones saying, "Buy more Priest albums."
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #243 on: 17 November, 2013, 10:21:23 am »
How to draw that ridiculously complicated Brazilian flag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Brazil_%28dimensions%29.svg
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #244 on: 17 November, 2013, 11:24:33 am »
(oo err, missus) That's a big one.
Getting there...

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #245 on: 18 November, 2013, 03:39:17 pm »
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
Getting there...

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #246 on: 18 November, 2013, 04:06:45 pm »
The Nobel Prize in Economics is not an actual Nobel Prize. It was started in 1968 and paid for by ...surprise surprise, a bank!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #247 on: 21 November, 2013, 05:48:55 pm »
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
I didn't know that cart originally referred only to a vehicle with two wheels. So a shopping cart is actually a shopping waggon.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #248 on: 21 November, 2013, 06:07:23 pm »
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
I didn't know that cart originally referred only to a vehicle with two wheels. So a shopping cart is actually a shopping waggon.


And my bikes are carts?   :)
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
« Reply #249 on: 21 November, 2013, 06:19:53 pm »
Round these parts, it's a shopping *trolley*.