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Which country currently uses alternative voting system and is there a sample from the last election that took place in that country that used that system? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.19.124 ( talk) 03:08, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Hello,
Hopefully you can help me. I'm a writer doing research for a script. During a story discussion with another writer, he'd recollected something he'd read about a type of philosophy/belief set down during the Enlightenment, specifically in the Scientific Revolution. It was a belief that adopting a life of celibacy contributed to scientific abilities/progress in the field. He couldn't place the term, nor the original author of the time. I started research, using Google, which led me here to Wikipedia, and specifically your article on the scientist/inventor Nikola Tesla. In it I found some reference to his being celibate. It didn't state his motivation, though. The only other lead in the article I could find was a reference to a time of his life when he was influenced by the Vidi philosophy (Hindu). Thinking this might lead somewhere, I followed the link to this article. I did find some useful information (brahmacharya--taking vows of celibacy for spiritual reasons; believing sex and focus on these type of relationships only can lead to materialism). This isn't quite what I'm looking for. When I went back with this information, my writer friend said this wasn't the term. What we're looking for is intentional celibacy motivated by scientific reason, not spiritual.
This search has produced little fruit and is becoming increasingly frustrating. The closest/best answer I can come up with on my own is 'sexual sublimation', hypothesised by Freud. The definition: "To divert the energy (sexual or other biological impulse) from it's immediate goal to one of a higher social, moral, or aesthetic nature or use; to make nobler or purer." I'm not sure if this is it, either. According to my colleague, this belief was set down in the Enlightenment, which was in the 18th century. Freud came up with this a century later. And now that I think of it, Tesla lived in Freud's time, as well. Did the Enlightenment extend into the 1800's?
So my question is, would anyone happen to know anything about this philosophy? Again, not spiritually motivated. And the Freud sublimation reasoning, I'm not sure about either. From what I can understand of that, the term came about because of the more rigid beliefs about sex during that time. Sex was something taboo/not openly discussed, nor expressed. So it was felt that sublimation would take care of the problem of improper sexual urges. It would benefit society more if the sexual energy of the libido were instead transferred to endeavors that would better benefit society, such as in art or the sciences. I'm unsure if this is the motivator my friend was talking about. In ways it makes sense to the objective of the character I'm writing, who is a retired physics professor. But I just can't get past the reasoning. My writer friend suggested that the practice was believed to help scientists in their abilities. It was not spiritual in nature, to avoid materialism. And it's not quite the Freud sublimation term either, because that just suggests transferring energy that was felt to be improper. I believe the philosophy I'm searching for is a celibacy motivated by the belief that it ENHANCED the scientists abilities. According to your article, this was exactly what Tesla believed/what motivated him. But it didn't state what Tesla attributed this to/a specific term. My question is, if there was a term for this, what was it?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide! Kim Krause Kkrause26 ( talk) 04:19, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Apparently it is still common belief in modern American tv (although TV Tropes doesn't say anything about it). Most notably with the Seinfeld episode " The Abstinence", where George Costanza becomes a genius on account of sexual abstinence, while Seinfeld on the other hand becomes a moron. The same theme is sometimes being mentioned in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. I am sure there are other examples. -- Saddhiyama ( talk) 08:30, 19 June 2012 (UTC)
Look at these two pictures: boy and girl and these pictures: other boy and other girl. Do they look Native Hawaiian or Native American? Does the two girls look the same except in different clothing or are the two different girls? Don't judge by textual evidence. Now after that did the photographer, as listed on the Smithsonian, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw ever went to Hawaii?-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 04:56, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
An example from a 19th century horror story I just finished reading, 'The House and the Brain' by Edward Bulwer-Lytton:
It also goes on to blot out names of other characters in the story, such as the narrator's servant and a traveler he meets at a gentleman's club. I'm guessing this was for legal reasons (similar to the standard "purely coincidental" disclaimer you see written in the fine print within books and movies today), but is my assumption really 100% correct? I've also come across this phenomenon in other stories whose titles I can not recall, but I have mostly seen this in fiction written around the same era as this story (although I think I may have also seen this name-mangling pop up in a couple of short stories by Asimov from the 1950s -- but it has been a long time, thus I may be remembering incorrectly).
Oddly enough, later in the same story, a character by the name of "Mr. Richards" is explicitly introduced, with his name not blanked-out. This inconsistency is why I have doubts. -- 66.235.32.3 ( talk) 06:49, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
You see the same thing in other countries, too. In Russian, it was a very common device to use N (Cyrillic letter H) to replace a surname or, more typically, a given name/patronymic. The N stood for "nobody" (никто). Anton Chekhov used it a bit. When Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov first adopted the nom-de-guerre " Lenin", it often appeared as "N. Lenin". He himself signed some of his pre-revolutionary articles this way, and 100% of Russian readers of those articles understood the code, viz. a bare N signified that what came after the N was a pseudonym. If a person's true name was ever shortened to initials, both the given name and patronymic were initialised. For example, Russians sometimes refer to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as "P. I. Tchaikovsky", never as just "P. Tchaikovsky". Unfortunately, some Western reporters assumed "N. Lenin" indicated his first name was Nikolai, and reputable Western reference books for years proclaimed his correct name as "Nikolai Lenin", which he never used ever in his life. It was originally just the one-word name "Lenin", but that later became his surname, and his original forenames Vladimir Ilyich were reattached to it. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 20:16, 19 June 2012 (UTC)
I would like to know if there is any location archiving Letters of Marque issued in Britain, specifically the Elizabethan era, where it is and if they permit access to their records. 86.161.81.212 ( talk) 14:05, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
On page 39 of his work Cosmos, [4] the astronomer Carl Sagan made reference to an ancient Egyptian phrase sekded-ef em khetkhet, or "who travels backwards". It is apparently used as an epithet for Mars, describing the planet in terms of its occasional retrograde motion at opposition. There are a few other books that make reference to this, but I can't find a published paper about it. I would like to track down the original scholarly source for this phrase. Does anybody have a good suggestion? Thank you. Regards, RJH ( talk) 17:42, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
apparently some of the earlier olympic gameses used to include non-sporting events, mostly artistic in nature I think, but having searched around a bit, I can find no mention of these. Did this actually happen, and if so, can anyone direct me towards a list of these events?
79.66.102.253 ( talk) 20:16, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Who was J. Abrial? The only thing I know is he was an artist of some kind in the 1840s but I can't find anything about him. Also in old engravings/lithographs what did dibt on the left mean and the place name and lith de. [different name] on the right of the image mean.-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 23:11, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Humanities desk | ||
---|---|---|
< June 17 | << May | June | Jul >> | June 19 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities 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. |
Which country currently uses alternative voting system and is there a sample from the last election that took place in that country that used that system? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.19.124 ( talk) 03:08, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Hello,
Hopefully you can help me. I'm a writer doing research for a script. During a story discussion with another writer, he'd recollected something he'd read about a type of philosophy/belief set down during the Enlightenment, specifically in the Scientific Revolution. It was a belief that adopting a life of celibacy contributed to scientific abilities/progress in the field. He couldn't place the term, nor the original author of the time. I started research, using Google, which led me here to Wikipedia, and specifically your article on the scientist/inventor Nikola Tesla. In it I found some reference to his being celibate. It didn't state his motivation, though. The only other lead in the article I could find was a reference to a time of his life when he was influenced by the Vidi philosophy (Hindu). Thinking this might lead somewhere, I followed the link to this article. I did find some useful information (brahmacharya--taking vows of celibacy for spiritual reasons; believing sex and focus on these type of relationships only can lead to materialism). This isn't quite what I'm looking for. When I went back with this information, my writer friend said this wasn't the term. What we're looking for is intentional celibacy motivated by scientific reason, not spiritual.
This search has produced little fruit and is becoming increasingly frustrating. The closest/best answer I can come up with on my own is 'sexual sublimation', hypothesised by Freud. The definition: "To divert the energy (sexual or other biological impulse) from it's immediate goal to one of a higher social, moral, or aesthetic nature or use; to make nobler or purer." I'm not sure if this is it, either. According to my colleague, this belief was set down in the Enlightenment, which was in the 18th century. Freud came up with this a century later. And now that I think of it, Tesla lived in Freud's time, as well. Did the Enlightenment extend into the 1800's?
So my question is, would anyone happen to know anything about this philosophy? Again, not spiritually motivated. And the Freud sublimation reasoning, I'm not sure about either. From what I can understand of that, the term came about because of the more rigid beliefs about sex during that time. Sex was something taboo/not openly discussed, nor expressed. So it was felt that sublimation would take care of the problem of improper sexual urges. It would benefit society more if the sexual energy of the libido were instead transferred to endeavors that would better benefit society, such as in art or the sciences. I'm unsure if this is the motivator my friend was talking about. In ways it makes sense to the objective of the character I'm writing, who is a retired physics professor. But I just can't get past the reasoning. My writer friend suggested that the practice was believed to help scientists in their abilities. It was not spiritual in nature, to avoid materialism. And it's not quite the Freud sublimation term either, because that just suggests transferring energy that was felt to be improper. I believe the philosophy I'm searching for is a celibacy motivated by the belief that it ENHANCED the scientists abilities. According to your article, this was exactly what Tesla believed/what motivated him. But it didn't state what Tesla attributed this to/a specific term. My question is, if there was a term for this, what was it?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide! Kim Krause Kkrause26 ( talk) 04:19, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Apparently it is still common belief in modern American tv (although TV Tropes doesn't say anything about it). Most notably with the Seinfeld episode " The Abstinence", where George Costanza becomes a genius on account of sexual abstinence, while Seinfeld on the other hand becomes a moron. The same theme is sometimes being mentioned in the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. I am sure there are other examples. -- Saddhiyama ( talk) 08:30, 19 June 2012 (UTC)
Look at these two pictures: boy and girl and these pictures: other boy and other girl. Do they look Native Hawaiian or Native American? Does the two girls look the same except in different clothing or are the two different girls? Don't judge by textual evidence. Now after that did the photographer, as listed on the Smithsonian, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw ever went to Hawaii?-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 04:56, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
An example from a 19th century horror story I just finished reading, 'The House and the Brain' by Edward Bulwer-Lytton:
It also goes on to blot out names of other characters in the story, such as the narrator's servant and a traveler he meets at a gentleman's club. I'm guessing this was for legal reasons (similar to the standard "purely coincidental" disclaimer you see written in the fine print within books and movies today), but is my assumption really 100% correct? I've also come across this phenomenon in other stories whose titles I can not recall, but I have mostly seen this in fiction written around the same era as this story (although I think I may have also seen this name-mangling pop up in a couple of short stories by Asimov from the 1950s -- but it has been a long time, thus I may be remembering incorrectly).
Oddly enough, later in the same story, a character by the name of "Mr. Richards" is explicitly introduced, with his name not blanked-out. This inconsistency is why I have doubts. -- 66.235.32.3 ( talk) 06:49, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
You see the same thing in other countries, too. In Russian, it was a very common device to use N (Cyrillic letter H) to replace a surname or, more typically, a given name/patronymic. The N stood for "nobody" (никто). Anton Chekhov used it a bit. When Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov first adopted the nom-de-guerre " Lenin", it often appeared as "N. Lenin". He himself signed some of his pre-revolutionary articles this way, and 100% of Russian readers of those articles understood the code, viz. a bare N signified that what came after the N was a pseudonym. If a person's true name was ever shortened to initials, both the given name and patronymic were initialised. For example, Russians sometimes refer to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as "P. I. Tchaikovsky", never as just "P. Tchaikovsky". Unfortunately, some Western reporters assumed "N. Lenin" indicated his first name was Nikolai, and reputable Western reference books for years proclaimed his correct name as "Nikolai Lenin", which he never used ever in his life. It was originally just the one-word name "Lenin", but that later became his surname, and his original forenames Vladimir Ilyich were reattached to it. -- ♬ Jack of Oz ♬ [your turn] 20:16, 19 June 2012 (UTC)
I would like to know if there is any location archiving Letters of Marque issued in Britain, specifically the Elizabethan era, where it is and if they permit access to their records. 86.161.81.212 ( talk) 14:05, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
On page 39 of his work Cosmos, [4] the astronomer Carl Sagan made reference to an ancient Egyptian phrase sekded-ef em khetkhet, or "who travels backwards". It is apparently used as an epithet for Mars, describing the planet in terms of its occasional retrograde motion at opposition. There are a few other books that make reference to this, but I can't find a published paper about it. I would like to track down the original scholarly source for this phrase. Does anybody have a good suggestion? Thank you. Regards, RJH ( talk) 17:42, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
apparently some of the earlier olympic gameses used to include non-sporting events, mostly artistic in nature I think, but having searched around a bit, I can find no mention of these. Did this actually happen, and if so, can anyone direct me towards a list of these events?
79.66.102.253 ( talk) 20:16, 18 June 2012 (UTC)
Who was J. Abrial? The only thing I know is he was an artist of some kind in the 1840s but I can't find anything about him. Also in old engravings/lithographs what did dibt on the left mean and the place name and lith de. [different name] on the right of the image mean.-- KAVEBEAR ( talk) 23:11, 18 June 2012 (UTC)