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March 29

Striped clothes

Roughly what percentage of striped-patterned clothes have horizontal stripes, and what percentage have vertical? I'm thinking mainly of Western fashions but information on any fashion tendencies worldwide would be helpful. 2001:8003:A04E:3500:180B:A449:A822:6A0E (talk) 05:55, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I doubt anyone has counted them, but to begin with, are you including Pajamas?--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:26, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Do jailbirds still wear striped outfits, or did that go out with Laurel and Hardy? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:00, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What about stripes at an angle? And more naturalistic "tiger stripes"? Do they count? And in which category? --Khajidha (talk) 09:36, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Anything! Any information will be useful. 2001:8003:A04E:3500:E953:8C93:7CD0:4BC5 (talk) 10:22, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Western-style business suits may have pinstripes; these run invariably vertically. A cursory examination strongly suggests that among striped T-shirts for men and women alike horizontal stripes dominate.^[1][2][3][4] For striped dress shirts, typically more formal manwear, the pattern is vertical.^[5][6] There is a a common belief that if you want to appear slimmer than you actually are, you should wear clothes with vertical stripes; however, this appears not to be based on facts; the opposite may be true.^[7] --Lambiam 10:50, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baU4cyQ3A5U --Khajidha (talk) 11:51, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Limiting ourselves to professional teams' football jerseys, I'd say hooped tops are 1 to every 5 striped top. But that's just a guess. Here's a fascinating page? with examples inspired by the famed green and white Celtic (aka "The Hoops") hoops. Hoops are of course much more common in both codes of rugby, where stripes are hardly ever worn. I would speculate that the massive growth in popularity of football tops for leisure wear over the last twenty years has seen a corresponding increase in the number of teams (or their marketing branches) electing to use a hooped design for their second or third strips, as hoops go better with jeans etc than stripes. Ericoides (talk) 07:01, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For a humorous example in the third season episode of M*A*S*H (TV series) titled "Officer of the Day Wayne Roger's character Trapper John is having a pinstripe suit custom made. When we finally see it the stripes are horizontal. MarnetteD|Talk 07:15, 30 March 2021 (UTC) [reply]

March 30

Categorically trivial

I noticed that Albert Einstein has, if I counted correctly, a whopping 82 categories. What's the record? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:32, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

No idea on the record, but there are also another 60 or so hidden categories on the article. RudolfRed (talk) 02:55, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Clarityfiend: I found Wikipedia:Wikipedia_records and Special:MostCategories. The winner is Forced_Labour_Convention with 285 categories. RudolfRed (talk) 03:19, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Hah, thanks. There are lots of weird records: 2429 images for one article? Clarityfiend (talk) 03:34, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

American railroads (possibly defunct)

Can anyone confirm that the present day name Illinois Central Railroad, would describe a rail track existing in the 1920s, carrying freight (and possibly passenger traffic) between East St. Louis and Cairo, Illinois ? I am presently creating an article on an obscure, but significant St. Louis blues pianist, Wesley Wallace. He recorded a track called "No. 29", which was released in early 1930. Some of the spoken lines over the boogie-woogie piano playing stated - "This is the train they call 29. Leavin' out of Cairo, comin' to East St. Louis. Soon as she got in Murphysburg, she blowed that whistle. I caught that train in Murphysburg. I was intendin' to get off in Sparta, Illinois. This is the way she was cakewalkin' on into East St. Louis". If that helps at all. I am English, so my knowledge of U.S. railroads is pretty slim ! Thanks. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 13:48, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Illinois Central is one of the most well-known US railroads, especially in music. Like Highway 61, it connects the upper midwest to New Orleans through the Mississippi Delta and as such, would be the subject of a LOT of music from blues (and derivative genres like Country, Rock, R&B, etc.). The railroad is name-checked in Long Train Runnin' by the Doobie Brothers, it's most famous train the City of New Orleans was the subject of a very popular eponymous song by Arlo Guthrie (among others), as well as being the employer of Casey Jones, who himself was the subject of multiple eponymous songs, including The Ballad of Casey Jones, a traditional folk ballad, and the Grateful Dead song Casey Jones. I have no doubt that the railroad in question is the subject of the song, especially given that both East St. Louis and Cairo are connected on the map at Illinois Central Railroad, and also given the near-mythic quality that the railroad itself had in the American songbook. --Jayron 32 14:22, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Murphysburg" should be Murphysboro, Illinois, I suppose. --Wrongfilter (talk) 14:29, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That'd be my guess too: from south to north, Cairo, Murphysboro, Sparta, and East Saint Louis would all come in a row. --Jayron 32 14:35, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Splendid, many thanks. Was train "No. 29" well known as such, or just one of a handful that operated in those times ? Given we are talking about events almost a century ago, it must have been a steam loco, I presume. I perhaps should have said that the narrative describes the experience of "riding the blinds"; apparently a well-used term in blues songs of that idiom. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 14:36, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This may be of interest. It seems that the McLean County Museum of History has a collection of materials on the history of the IC Railroad, they may have some information on freight lines that would have been active in the 1920s. --Jayron 32 14:41, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Also, List of train songs mentions an "Old Train 29" by Geoff Muldaur, and This article discusses a train known as "The Rocket", which carried Number 29 on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, a different famous railroad (see Rock Island Line) and was also the subject of song, also went through Illinois, but NOT the part of Illinois that is in your song. --Jayron 32 14:47, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

About "riding the blinds": https://www.americanbluesscene.com/language-of-the-blues-riding-the-blinds/ --Khajidha (talk) 17:42, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks everyone. The pianist's article is Wesley Wallace, (should you wish to take a peek) and I added "No. 29" to the List of train songs (with reference). Thanks again. - Derek R Bullamore (talk) 18:02, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The song "City of New Orleans" is by Steve Goodman, who pitched it to Arlo Guthrie. — I rode that train a few times, when my family lived in Champaign, the high point of the line. —Tamfang (talk) 02:08, 2 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Russian place name

This article includes an image of a wartime travel document for Joseph Isowitzsky, in which his place of birth is given as Cadilaer, or possibly Cabilaer, Russia. I can find no place with a name resembling either of those. Can anyone help? Ghmyrtle (talk) 14:26, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In the Cyrillic Alphabet, C usually gets transliterated to "S" in English, perhaps someone copied the word in Cyrillic directly rather than transliterating it correctly. Try looking at List of cities and towns in Russia by population and going to the "S" places. Maybe one of those will work. B would also usually be transliterated as "V" in English, so maybe a city starting Sav... or something? --Jayron 32 15:04, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The document is clearly not written in the Cyrillic alphabet. And of course the place may not be in Russia now - it could be in Poland, Finland, or any of the ex-USSR European states that were part of the Russian Empire in 1899 (his birth year). Ghmyrtle (talk) 16:03, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That document is clearly not written in the Cyrillic alphabet. That does not mean that the person who wrote that document was not reading a different document that had been written in Cyrillic and transliterated the letters incorrectly. --Jayron 32 16:10, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Jack Isow was a Polish Jew, so I would concentrate a search on Poland, White Russia, and Ukraine. The word looks like CaBilaer to me, the capitalisation might be significant. DuncanHill (talk) 17:48, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Well, genealogists who obviously have some connection with his family have him born in the Poltava area, now in Ukraine. They have the name of the place as Dotchener (alternatively Dutchena or Dutchema), which I can't find either, and bears no relation to the name of the place on the travel document. Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:51, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I found the same at here. Poltava, which does have a place called Kobeliaky, which matches the C-B-L pattern of the city on the travel document. --Jayron 32 12:03, 31 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I also found this - which is probably relevant background information. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:50, 2 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Argentinian trees

Is there someone that can gently name this trees? Thanks in advance!!! --2001:B07:6442:8903:8914:1811:503C:5B08 (talk) 15:42, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Environment of Argentina has some ideas of trees native to Argentina. Perhaps a carob (algarrobo) such as Prosopis alba? --Jayron 32 16:16, 30 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A bit of a stab in the dark, but the bark and the pinnate leaves (which I think I can make out) are reminiscent of Robinia pseudoacacia, the black locust or false accacia tree. The image on the right of the "Uses" section of of our article has a similar-looking crown. This suggests that they are cultivated in Argentina. Alansplodge (talk) 12:32, 31 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It does look like some kind of legume tree like an acacia, locust, or carob. --Jayron 32 13:21, 31 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

April 1

Protecting older people in Poor Laws

Good afternoon everyone. Where can I find data on the coverage of older people in particular by the UK's Poor Laws? Thanks in advance. --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 09:41, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

According to Pensions in the United Kingdom, it appears one of the earliest laws to deal specifically with government benefits for older people was the Old-Age Pensions Act 1908. I would start there and follow links to help you with your research. --Jayron 32 12:11, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It depends how far back you want to go. Poor Relief in England, 1350–1600 has a lengthy preview.

A good primary source for the late 19th-century is Report of the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor (1895). Alansplodge (talk) 12:30, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For general background, see English Poor Laws and Scottish Poor Laws which have plenty of links. Alansplodge (talk) 12:34, 1 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Jayron32: @Alansplodge: Thanks for the links, I'm looking for a coverage level. For example, 5% of older people in 1350 were covered by the Poor Laws, 15% in 1650, 30% in 1700, and so on. --Vyacheslav84 (talk) 09:57, 2 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The Statistics of the English Poor Rate before and since the Passing of the Poor Law Amendment Act (1860) says:

The daily subsistence is, partially or wholly, provided by it for 800,000 to 1,000,000 of our fellow creatures.

The population of England and Wales at the 1851 census was almost 18 million, giving a rough proportion of between 4.5% and 5.5%. This is provision for every kind of poverty and makes no distinction between old age, disability, sickness, bereavement, unemployment or any other kind of misfortune. These benefits were funded by local rates (tax) and provided by individual church parishes (civil parish after about 1860) - from 1834 specifically by parish boards of guardians - so collecting national data would have been a major undertaking. I imagine that most old people depended on their families for support; many parishes provided alms houses for a fortunate few. Alansplodge (talk) 13:26, 2 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

April 5

File:Dash80 large.jpg

I saw another four aircrafts on this photo, who can recognize them? --Great Brightstar (talk) 03:05, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm fairly sure that the red aircraft in the back of this photo is a Hawker Hurricane, due to the characteristic horizontal stabilizer, and the exhaust piping on the front. I feel like I should know the yellow one too, but I can't put my finger on it yet. TastyJim (talk) 04:13, 5 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]