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July 15

Was William Winsatt related to William Winsatt, William Winsatt, and William Winsatt?

William A. Wimsatt begat William C. Wimsatt, who begat William U. Wimsatt. Was William K. Wimsatt any relation? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 22:14, 15 July 2026 (UTC)

I think A. and K. were cousins:

• William K. Wimsatt, William Kurtz Wimsatt, Jr., grew up in Washington and graduated from Georgetown in 1928.
• ... so I guess (but can't prove) his father is the William Kurtz Wimsatt who was living at 910 B Street in Washington in 1928 (and also went to Georgetown); he was vice president of Johnson and Wimsatt, lumber wholesalers.
• William Kurtz senior was born around 1880 as the son of (not-the-link-above) William A. Wimsatt, also of Johnson and Wimsatt, who died in 1929 with six children.
• Fox v. Johnson & Wimsatt, Inc. (D.C. Cir. 1940) confirms that another of William A.'s children was William Church Wimsatt, married to Alma, and William Abel[l] Wimsatt born July 28, 1917, was their son - that's William A. Wimsatt.

Adam Sampson (talk) 00:07, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

According to some quick digging on FamilySearch William A. Wimsatt and William K. Wimsatt were first cousins, both grandsons of William Abell Wimsatt (May 10, 1855—February 7, 1929) a Washington D.C. businessman. An obituary was published in the Evening Star (presumably The Washington Star). Apparently the senior Willian A. had an eldest son William K., who was the famous William K's namesake and father, and a a second son William C. who dutifully named his son William A. Wimsatt. The third son was thankfully named Robert William. Confusing enough, but there are plenty of records, as would be expected for a wealthy Washington, D.C. family, but I didn't search deep enough to fins any reliable sources documenting the connections, just user-submitted genealogy sites. Eluchil404 (talk) 00:08, 16 July 2026 (UTC)

Hi. I'm Darryl, and this is my brother William and my other brother William and my first cousin William. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:58, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

Where there's a will, there's a way. Meanwhile, where there's four Wills, there's a Wimsatt. GalacticShoe (talk) 15:57, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

@DuncanHill: did you try ancestry.com via the Wikipedia Library? If you have some information about an individual, you can search for them and often find them in a family tree with links to scanned primary sources and records of their close relatives. TSventon (talk) 15:06, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

July 18

Curazie of San Marino

Hello,

Based on the sources listed on the curazie of San Marino here, do other editors think that these subdivisions are mostly electoral in nature, and carry no function beyond that? This site seems to be listed on all of the pages at which I've looked, and only seems to list the places as electoral precincts.

If that is the case, then I would vote for a merger of many of the articles, as they would seem to raise WP:DUE concerns, given that they are not actually second-level administrative divisions. Per that question, also see List of administrative divisions by country.

Checked WP:GEOLAND to little avail.

JuxtaposedJacob (talk) | :) | he/him | 05:34, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

July 19

David Brinkley

The 1966 antiwar essay "Suppose They Gave a War and No One Came" gave rise to variations of the popular slogan in the 1960s. A bumper sticker was later created based on the related question: "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" According to at least one published account, the slogan entered popular culture in America on a large scale when newscaster David Brinkley held the sticker up in front of millions of viewers. I am trying to independently confirm and verify that Brinkley did this, or anything in regards to Brinkley and the slogan. I cannot find anything aside from the sources that assert he did this. Surely, there must be some documentation about this incident somewhere? Given the research on media coverage about the Vietnam War, it seems unlikely that if Brinkley did in fact do this, it was done before 1969. My guess is that it happened after 1970, perhaps even later. I did come across some archival YouTube videos of Brinkley's critical war coverage that makes me think this incident happened after 1972. Just guessing, of course. Viriditas (talk) 00:13, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Legal scholar Geoffrey R. Stone writes that LBJ had Brinkley secretly investigated by FBI for his antiwar views. (Stone 2007, p. 112). Viriditas (talk) 01:01, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

I haven't been able to find any connection between Brinkley and the sticker but, based on newspaper reports, it seems that the sticker was in most frequent use between 1967 and the end of the Vietnam War, with most newspaper coverage I've found about the bumper sticker specifically being between 1967 and 1971 (there's a gap between 1971 and 1974 where I found no mention of it.) That might narrow down dates for when such events may have occurred.

Some express it in wry humor, like the woman driving down Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood with a bumper sticker reading: "WHAT IF THEY GAVE A WAR AND NOBODY CAME?

— Janesville Daily Gazette, September 12, 1967 (earliest mention I could find of the sticker)

It's like that bumper sticker, "Suppose they gave a war and nobody came?"

— The Stanford Daily, May 1, 1968

Favorite bumper sticker; "What if someone gave a war, and no one came."

— Arcadia Tribune, July 14, 1968

What Janie wanted most when she started college was expressed in a bumper sticker she had picked up somewhere. It read, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"

— Las Vegas Sun, August 18, 1968

A bumper-sticker that is seen on cars occasionally reads: "What If They Gave a War and Nobody Showed Up!"

— Saint Charles Journal, June 1, 1970

"Suppose they gave a war," a current bumper-sticker reads, "and nobody came."

— The Arizona Republic, October, 28, 1970

There are a few additional mentions in 1971 which lump this sticker in with many other popular bumper stickers.

Usage both of the slogan and other political bumper stickers apparently wound down as the Vietnam War did, making it unlikely that Brinkley's popularization of the slogan would be anytime after 1975.

During the waning years of the Vietnam police action there was a bumper sticker appeared which said, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"

— The Utah Independent, August 14, 1975

I yearn for the days when the bumper-sticker wars were being waged on this country's streets and highways. People had something to say in that era and they said it: 'Love it or leave it,' 'What if they gave a war and nobody came?' 'Ban the handgun,' and 'I'll give up my handgun when they pry my pistol from my cold, dead fingers.' (That last one is so long you have to be a two-car family to display it.)

— The Daily Review, September 30, 1977 (syndicated article)

I could find no direct connection between Brinkley and any bumper stickers. The only phrase I found even mentioning Brinkley and bumper stickers in the same sentence was this response by columnist Ernie Kreiling obviously not referring to any physical stickers:

I think it's safe to say you won't find a Nixon sticker on Huntley's Brinkley's or Cronkite's car this fall.

— Van Nuys Valley News, October 6, 1968

Of note, in 1970, the film Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came came out. The producer, Fred Engel, mentions that the bumper sticker at least somewhat influenced the film's name.

Fred Engel, a cherubic-faced man, said that the title was taken from the bumper sticker of the same name. It is probably the most popular bumper sticker on the West Coast, but Engel says it isn't as well-known around the country.

— Altoona Mirror, May 26, 1969 (syndicated article)

Gerald Nachman backed this up in his scathing review of the film.

"Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came" – the inspired title is stolen from a bumper sticker, easily the single most creative act of the film – is one of those unredeemable horrors from the word stop that is physically painful to watch.

— Oakland Tribune, July 23, 1970

This was right in the middle of the popularity of this particular sticker; whether it had any effect on the peak of that popularity I cannot say. GalacticShoe (talk) 15:01, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I think that if Brinkley did hold up the sticker, it would have occurred between 1970 and 1975. Thing is, there is nothing in the biographies about this, and the literature doesn't even mention the FBI investigation until 2007. For what it is worth, the film doesn't have anything to do with this. It was an attempt to steal the thunder from the peace movement and redirect it to a pro-military propaganda movie. Viriditas (talk) 23:00, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

As I have commented here before, I am surprised there are no transcripts of the broadcasts. I was sad to learn recently that something like 90% of all archival documentation of radio and television news has been deliberately destroyed. Viriditas (talk) 23:24, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

All manner of old TV stuff which existed only on videotape is long gone, and not just news. The destruction was driven by short-term cheapness, bean-counter obliviousness to how valuable stuff might be later. The only reason we have any old shows at all is because they were filmed or kinescoped. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:38, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

I know, we previously discussed this (which I mentioned up above). I'm still upset about it. Some people get upset about bad service at a restaurant, or traffic on their way to work. I get angry that archives of old radio shows were deliberately destroyed just under a century ago. I'm also deeply hurt that we can't listen to the voice of Marie Engle or hundreds, perhaps thousands of other singers, actors, radio hosts, and newscasters, because someone, somewhere decided "no one will ever want to read/hear/watch this". How much has been lost to human stupidity? Something like 99% of all "books", art works, music, radio shows, newscasts, what have you, are gone. Perhaps humanity is just going around in circles for eternity, like Shakespeare, Battlestar Galactica, and so many others suggest. We are never discovering anything new, just rediscovering what we already found, again and again. Viriditas (talk) 00:50, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

There's also the matter of lost movies, especially those from the silent era, where films on nitrate stock crumbled into dust or burned. It's a sad commentary on humanity that so much has been lost, not just by deliberate destruction, but seemingly more often by neglect. Also thinking of the failure to save live broadcasts of major sporting events. We have a kinescope of the 1960 World Series Game 7, only because Pirates part-owner Bing Crosby asked someone to record it for him because he couldn't watch it live. Live action is so much more immediate than film is. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:03, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. I forgot to link to eternal return. Viriditas (talk) 01:45, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

I have found a tenuous thread, perhaps spun by Ariadne herself. It turns out that the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam resulted in a measurable amount of media coverage that has been documented by scholars. It seems reasonable to speculate that this might be the event in question when the bumper sticker first appeared on the news. October 15, 1969. I'm going to follow this up and see where it goes. Viriditas (talk) 23:52, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

July 20

Churchill and the Legion d'honneur

With reference to the recent award of the Legion d'honneur to Keir Starmer which was stated to be a unique honour for a serving British prime minister, some have said that Winston was similarly honoured, although not when he was serving in that office. Our List of awards and honours received by Winston Churchill has no mention, although the French Wikipedia fr:Liste des distinctions de Winston Churchill does, albeit without a date or reference. So which is right, and if so, when and of what rank? Alansplodge (talk) 20:53, 20 July 2026 (UTC)

Lloyd George got the grand cordon in 1920, while PM. DuncanHill (talk) 00:11, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Uk press coverage of this has been a tad silly - the Legion d'honneur has a range of classes, some very freely distributed indeed, & I'm sure other PMs have been awarded. Johnbod (talk) 00:28, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

He's not listed in the Léonore database of recipients, at least. This Guardian piece says it was 1958, but I wonder if they've got it confused with a different honour: on 6th November 1958, Churchill was awarded the Cross of the Order of Liberation. (It was presented in person by de Gaulle, who Churchill hadn't met since 1945; see pictures in The Listener and The Illustrated London News.) Adam Sampson (talk) 00:49, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

I found the GOM in Leonore. DuncanHill (talk) 01:00, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

Curiously, the printed text "élevé à la dignité de Grand Officier" has been crossed out and been replaced by the handwritten text "nominé Chevalier" ("nominated Knight"). Next to mere knighthood being tantamount to an insult, mere nomination does not imply actual conferral.  ​‑‑Lambiam 03:21, 21 July 2026 (UTC)

From the Leonore document, Gladstone was nominated (and maybe appointed) Knight on 13 August 1859, nine years before he first became PM. The nomination was in his capacity as patron of the Société Française de Secours (French Aid Society) in London, rather than his political office (he became Chancellor of the Exchequer that year). Chuntuk (talk) 12:12, 22 July 2026 (UTC)

To return to Lloyd George. He is not findable in the Leonore database (which does admit, in French, that it is incomplete). He is however easily findable in The Times, Thursday, Jan. 15, 1920, Issue 42308, page 12, "News in Brief". "PRIME MINISTER'S HONOUR - Paris, Jan 14. The formal ceremony of conferring the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour on Mr. Lloyd George took place this afternoon, when M. William Martin, Chief of the Protocol, called at Claridge's Hotel and invested the Prime Minister with the decoration in the name of the President of the French Republic. - Reuter". DuncanHill (talk) 12:58, 22 July 2026 (UTC)

Thanks all; apparently English WP 1, French WP 0.  :-) Alansplodge (talk) 18:11, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

We still haven't got a definitive answer for Churchill. But how do we prove the negative? I emailed the BBC about their coverage, they have corrected their article with regard to "the first serving PM", but still have Churchill getting it. They say they got their copy from an agency. DuncanHill (talk) 18:52, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

July 22

RBI Master Directions

I am preparing a legal note on the 'Reserve Bank of India (Commercial Banks – Prudential Norms on Capital Adequacy) Directions, 2025 (updated as on 1st July 2026)'.

Could anyone please suggest any secondary sources or interpretations that explain these Directions?

Thank you. Grotesquetruth (talk) 14:52, 22 July 2026 (UTC)

July 25

Proof of life

[1] I think conventionally if someone hasn't been seen in a while and there are doubts, you can call their local police and request a wellness check. Does that somehow not apply if the person is a US Senator? There is apparently significant uncertainty regarding one of them.[2] A bunch of statements have been released under his name, whose authenticity has been disputed by some. Question: is it that big a deal for Congress or the state governor to send some EMT's to go to the person's rehabilitation center, check for a pulse, and report what they find? This is just bizarre. Thanks. ~2026-41486-45 (talk) 20:28, 25 July 2026 (UTC)

I don't think just any old Joe Schmo can request a wellness check on someone unless they're a close relative or otherwise have a close relationship. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:48, 25 July 2026 (UTC)

Note that this is specific to the USA, where the case in question is ongoing. In the UK a mere friend can request a wellness check by the police on someone unheard from for some time and unresponsive to phone calls, etc. I have recent personal experience of this. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 00:16, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Anyone can request a check on anyone. Whether the agency to which the request is made will respond to it is another matter. The police may respond to a request by a neighbour living across the street, or by a UPS delivery driver. I don't think they'll go and check whether some patient in an ICU is alive and well, even if the request is made by their concerned spouse.  ​‑‑Lambiam 05:25, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Maybe in theory. But in America, at least, you would have to demonstrate a need to know. In general, if you were to call a hospital and ask about so-and-so, they would tell you they can't give out information on possible patients. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:33, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

"But in America, at least, you would have to demonstrate a need to know."  ​‑‑Lambiam 14:23, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Without their consent, Protected health information can only be given to the patient's authorized representatives. In solidarity, Aaron Liu (talk) 16:41, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Is this restriction documented somewhere?  ​‑‑Lambiam 19:46, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

The first thing that comes to mind is HIPAA. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:24, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

There's substantial public interest in knowing whether this dude is alive. If he's merely indisposed, we can all wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the job soon. But if he's dead, from what I gather, the Kentucky Secretary of State is required to schedule a special election to pick a replacement Senator, unless a certain deadline has passed which happens on August 3. A suspicious sort might imagine political operators deciding instead to put the body on ice until after August 3. So people have been asking for evidence one way or another. I wonder the House Speaker could ask the United States Capitol Police to do a wellness check. He might opt against doing so though, for similar political reasons to the above. ~2026-41533-46 (talk) 08:22, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Or those who need to know probably already know. They just aren't blabbing to the public about it. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:24, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

I'd think that the people of Kentucky need to know, but it appears that even the Governor of Kentucky is kept in the dark.^[3]  ​‑‑Lambiam 14:34, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Or, being a politician, maybe the KY Guv is playing a game to try to force the issue. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:11, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

If the KY Gov knows, nothing stops him from speaking up. If the SoS knows that the person is dead, he has a duty to say so and schedule a special election, but since he's also a politician (of the same party as the Senator), he might keep quiet for the same reason the Senator's colleagues and family are not being forthcoming with answers. It's pretty clear that the Senator's party doesn't want a special election. IDK whether the opposing party wants one though. If they also don't, that could explain why they're keeping relatively quiet. ~2026-41758-01 (talk) 18:59, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Or maybe he's not buying into conspiracy theories. The only "official" information we have is that he's hospitalized. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:24, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

July 26

Anecdota Americana

This is a real long shot, but can anyone find me reliable (or even vaguely reasonable) sources that discuss this series of books? If you search Google, the AI will tell you that it's a vintage humour anthology published in 1934 and followed by the New Anecdota Americana in 1944 (sourced to Reddit). If you check out the Internet Archive, you'll find a shocking number of books with that title, including the 1934 one Google knows about here. It has a publisher (Nesor) and a date (1934) and everything. No author given unfortunately, but that's not unusual for dirty joke books. There's also a version purportedly from 1927 (here) that also has a publisher (Humphrey Adams) and date (1927) and even an (presumably pseudonymous) author (J. Mortimer Hall). Unlike the 1934 version, this one is not expurgated. Many of the jokes are the "same", albeit often retold slightly. Another book from 1934 is called Anecdota Americana Second Series. It references the 1927 book and J. Mortimer Hall is now a PhD. Much later editions or offshoots from 1944 and 1968 and 1981 and more are also available with an account.
In short, what are these? Is the Nesor edition some kind of ripoff from the self-published 1927 edition? Who really collected it? Is there really a J. Mortimer Hall? As I said, it's not unusual for joke books to not have clear ownership, but this is ridiculous. Matt Deres (talk) 03:28, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Several copies on abebooks. Mentioned in a book on Scribd, here as "compiled by one William Passemon". DuncanHill (talk) 13:08, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

A interesting passage and it pointed out my inattentiveness (thank you!): the pages here clearly credit Passemon as compiler and J. Mortimer Hall as merely the preface writer (and drawings by Anton Erdman). But the 1934 "second series" omits Passemon entirely and certainly leaves the impression that it is the sole work of Hall. Matt Deres (talk) 13:37, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

This is, presumably, the Passemon 1934 version: "Anecdota Americana; Being, Explicitly, An Anthology Of Tales In The Vernacular; Collected By William Passemon, Preface By J. Mortimer Hall; Published by Humphrey Adams / The Association For The Asphyxiation Of Hypocrites, Boston, 1934", said to be a first edition.^[4] But some sellers give the publication date of apparently the same book (if you can judge a book by its cover) as 1927.^[5] There is also an Anecdota Americana with a salacious cover, showing imagery suggesting an ejaculating phallus.[6] No year info is given, but it is also said to be a first edition.^[7]

In 1934, collecting and publishing such jokes under one's own name would have sullied the reputation and might even have ended the career of many an esteemed, distinguished and reputable gentleman. This would at the same time have inhibited suing rip-offs for copyright infringement.  ​‑‑Lambiam 14:19, 26 July 2026 (UTC)