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current reference desk pages.
August 19 Information
Why isn't my image caption showing up?
Here's my blog, and here's the code for the 'soldier chest bump' image:
That's some pretty basic img code there, but the caption doesn't show up. What'd I do wrong? --
Ye Olde Luke (
talk) 00:35, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
"Alt" does not give you a caption. "Alt" gives alternative text -- text that is shown if the image cannot be displayed for some reason. If you want a caption with basic html, you'll have to write some text below the image. Normally captioned images are handled by creating special classes of div's for the purpose.
Looie496 (
talk) 00:50, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I see. Have added a caption the old-fashioned way. Thank you! --
Ye Olde Luke (
talk) 01:13, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
free genealogy software
Is there any free genealogy softwares? I prefer one which could be linked to their biography/C. V. and included three dates (born, married and dead - b01-09-1950, m05-07-1980, d07-08-2010). Thank you.
175.157.129.56 (
talk) 03:14, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Whoops, I just saw this "Beginning July 15, 2013, PAF will be retired and will no longer be available for download or support" in the Future section.
Bubba73You talkin' to me? 03:24, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
It could be useful to research what programs and file formats other people are using in genealogy forums. When my mom researched our family years ago, she used the non-free
Family Tree Maker (now part of Ancestry.com), and everybody online seemed to be able to share in a format compatible with it. It helped her fill in huge swaths of the tree very easily, leaving her to research the more difficult connections or history further back where other had stopped their search. Hopefully one of the free options supports whatever file formats people are using now.
Jessica Ryan (
talk) 17:32, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
GEDCOM is a universal format for this. If you use that format, you can use the data with probably any decent program.
Bubba73You talkin' to me? 02:44, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
There's a well known open source project called
GRAMPS (which is linked in from the first response, but never referred to directly).
Shadowjams (
talk) 04:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)reply
What is the first modern programming language in which everything is an expression?
Not sure if it fits your definition of "modern", but everything in
Lisp is a sequence of nested
S-expressions.
Gandalf61 (
talk) 10:37, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
TV Channels
Is it possible to accidentally change TV channels while using an android phone (Sony Experia)? How? I live in Australia.
124.180.174.225 (
talk) 11:58, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Not unless you have some sort of tv-remote app installed. If by "accidentally change" you mean some weird interference between your device and the TV, I doubt it. --
.Yellow1996.(
ЬMИED¡) 16:13, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Most TVs use
infrared for the remote control, I doubt your phone has a corresponding IR transmitter. There are
devices you can buy to turn your phone into a remote, the thing to note is you need an extra piece of hardware to transmit the actual IR signal that the TV needs to be controlled, as most phones do not have an inbuilt IR transmitter. Unless your TV is connected to your wifi, I don't see how your phone could communicate with your TV at all.. Having said that, I once inadvertently rested my phone on my mouse's USB cable and when my phone rang it made the mouse move. I would have said then that there was no way the phone could communicate through the USB and emulate mouse movement, but it definitely wasn't just movement from the vibration, it literally moved relatively randomly half way across the screen, so strange things do happen sometimes with electronic interference.
Vespine (
talk) 02:01, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
If you buy yourself a North Korean Samjiyon Android tablet you get an analogue television aerial and reception for five channels thrown in :) see
[1]Dmcq (
talk) 10:53, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Really old TVs will sometimes have acoustic remotes. Those were notorious for 'accidentally' changing channels when there was the sound of clinking metal. (Keys, coins, whatever.) A phone game with the sound turned up could easily trigger that, but unless your TV was made in the 70s or early 80s your TV doesn't work that way.
(Honestly, it seems more likely that you accidentally sat on the remote!)
APL (
talk) 15:36, 21 August 2013 (UTC)reply
The Samsung Galaxy S4 has IR and I've seen people (sometimes, accidentally) using android apps to control their TVs, amps, decoders, etc.
Sandman1142 (
talk) 12:58, 23 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Thinkpad
I am a poor college student and I need a Laptop for writing and programming plus using the internet with good speed and all that junk. I really want a thinkpad, where can I get a really cheap think pad and which one should I get? — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
204.42.31.250 (
talk) 22:59, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
It kind of depends on what your definition of "really cheap" is; especially since Thinkpads are generally pretty top-of-the line (I've always wanted one too! ;) but it seems as though they can be found for a couple hundred dollars ($CAD, at least...)
on eBay. Have a look there. --
.Yellow1996.(
ЬMИED¡) 01:16, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
If you know an IBM employee, ask them if you can use their friends and family discount. Dismas|
(talk) 02:13, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I'm not sure how that helps, since IBM does not make the Thinkpad. You would need to know someone at
LevonoRudolfRed (
talk) 03:42, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I'm certain it helps. I work for IBM and we have an employee purchase program for Lenovo systems. Dismas|
(talk) 03:57, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
OK. Learn something new everyday.
RudolfRed (
talk) 05:31, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing 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.
August 19 Information
Why isn't my image caption showing up?
Here's my blog, and here's the code for the 'soldier chest bump' image:
That's some pretty basic img code there, but the caption doesn't show up. What'd I do wrong? --
Ye Olde Luke (
talk) 00:35, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
"Alt" does not give you a caption. "Alt" gives alternative text -- text that is shown if the image cannot be displayed for some reason. If you want a caption with basic html, you'll have to write some text below the image. Normally captioned images are handled by creating special classes of div's for the purpose.
Looie496 (
talk) 00:50, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I see. Have added a caption the old-fashioned way. Thank you! --
Ye Olde Luke (
talk) 01:13, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
free genealogy software
Is there any free genealogy softwares? I prefer one which could be linked to their biography/C. V. and included three dates (born, married and dead - b01-09-1950, m05-07-1980, d07-08-2010). Thank you.
175.157.129.56 (
talk) 03:14, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Whoops, I just saw this "Beginning July 15, 2013, PAF will be retired and will no longer be available for download or support" in the Future section.
Bubba73You talkin' to me? 03:24, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
It could be useful to research what programs and file formats other people are using in genealogy forums. When my mom researched our family years ago, she used the non-free
Family Tree Maker (now part of Ancestry.com), and everybody online seemed to be able to share in a format compatible with it. It helped her fill in huge swaths of the tree very easily, leaving her to research the more difficult connections or history further back where other had stopped their search. Hopefully one of the free options supports whatever file formats people are using now.
Jessica Ryan (
talk) 17:32, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
GEDCOM is a universal format for this. If you use that format, you can use the data with probably any decent program.
Bubba73You talkin' to me? 02:44, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
There's a well known open source project called
GRAMPS (which is linked in from the first response, but never referred to directly).
Shadowjams (
talk) 04:19, 22 August 2013 (UTC)reply
What is the first modern programming language in which everything is an expression?
Not sure if it fits your definition of "modern", but everything in
Lisp is a sequence of nested
S-expressions.
Gandalf61 (
talk) 10:37, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
TV Channels
Is it possible to accidentally change TV channels while using an android phone (Sony Experia)? How? I live in Australia.
124.180.174.225 (
talk) 11:58, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Not unless you have some sort of tv-remote app installed. If by "accidentally change" you mean some weird interference between your device and the TV, I doubt it. --
.Yellow1996.(
ЬMИED¡) 16:13, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Most TVs use
infrared for the remote control, I doubt your phone has a corresponding IR transmitter. There are
devices you can buy to turn your phone into a remote, the thing to note is you need an extra piece of hardware to transmit the actual IR signal that the TV needs to be controlled, as most phones do not have an inbuilt IR transmitter. Unless your TV is connected to your wifi, I don't see how your phone could communicate with your TV at all.. Having said that, I once inadvertently rested my phone on my mouse's USB cable and when my phone rang it made the mouse move. I would have said then that there was no way the phone could communicate through the USB and emulate mouse movement, but it definitely wasn't just movement from the vibration, it literally moved relatively randomly half way across the screen, so strange things do happen sometimes with electronic interference.
Vespine (
talk) 02:01, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
If you buy yourself a North Korean Samjiyon Android tablet you get an analogue television aerial and reception for five channels thrown in :) see
[1]Dmcq (
talk) 10:53, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Really old TVs will sometimes have acoustic remotes. Those were notorious for 'accidentally' changing channels when there was the sound of clinking metal. (Keys, coins, whatever.) A phone game with the sound turned up could easily trigger that, but unless your TV was made in the 70s or early 80s your TV doesn't work that way.
(Honestly, it seems more likely that you accidentally sat on the remote!)
APL (
talk) 15:36, 21 August 2013 (UTC)reply
The Samsung Galaxy S4 has IR and I've seen people (sometimes, accidentally) using android apps to control their TVs, amps, decoders, etc.
Sandman1142 (
talk) 12:58, 23 August 2013 (UTC)reply
Thinkpad
I am a poor college student and I need a Laptop for writing and programming plus using the internet with good speed and all that junk. I really want a thinkpad, where can I get a really cheap think pad and which one should I get? — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
204.42.31.250 (
talk) 22:59, 19 August 2013 (UTC)reply
It kind of depends on what your definition of "really cheap" is; especially since Thinkpads are generally pretty top-of-the line (I've always wanted one too! ;) but it seems as though they can be found for a couple hundred dollars ($CAD, at least...)
on eBay. Have a look there. --
.Yellow1996.(
ЬMИED¡) 01:16, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
If you know an IBM employee, ask them if you can use their friends and family discount. Dismas|
(talk) 02:13, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I'm not sure how that helps, since IBM does not make the Thinkpad. You would need to know someone at
LevonoRudolfRed (
talk) 03:42, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
I'm certain it helps. I work for IBM and we have an employee purchase program for Lenovo systems. Dismas|
(talk) 03:57, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply
OK. Learn something new everyday.
RudolfRed (
talk) 05:31, 20 August 2013 (UTC)reply