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September 19

Assassination risks for pro-independence Pieds-Noirs prior to 1962?

If a member of the Pied-Noir community had openly championed the cause of Algerian self-determination before 1962, would they have faced an extremely high risk of liquidation (assassination) by hardline pro-French colonial loyalists? I am curious how this threat level fluctuated across different eras—specifically, around the turn of the century (1900), the interwar period (1930), the early post-WWII years (1950), or during the escalating violence of the war itself (1955 and 1960). ~2026-50008-57 (talk) 01:20, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

September 20

Global North and Global South

According to this map, none of Latin American countries are considered to be part of Global North. In my mind however, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina and Uruguay portray as rich countries, so why they are in Global South instead? And the map also show Turkey, India, China, Taiwan and Singapore as being part of Global South, but I consider them to be quite developed. Especially as Singapore has quite a high HDI and GDP, why it is not part of Global North? --40bus (talk) 07:27, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

And for that matter, what's Australia doing in the "Global North"? Seems like a question to be asked of whoever created that map. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:06, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Australia is a developed country, so it's in the Global North. The distinction is about economies, not geographical location. --Viennese Waltz 09:11, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Politics.

If the map accurately depicts what it claims to depict and I get this straight, it shows how countries are divided over global north and south according to UNCTAD, a UN body. The usual UN method is one vote per country and there are more countries in the global south, so if they manage to cooperate, or if the large borderline countries use their wealth to bribe the small really poor countries, the global south can decide who's in the global south and being there gives some benefits, as the purpose of UNCTAD is to redistribute wealth from the global north to the south. So we can expect a lot of inertia. Even when a country is no longer poor, it's not easy to kick it out of the global south for UNCTAD purposes.

You're quite right that China and Chile aren't poorer than some Eastern European countries. The UAE and Qatar are richer than some Western European countres. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:11, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

How about a reference on this so-called reference desk? The background to the classification between developed (global north) and developing (global south) is explained here, see the last two questions on the page. There's also an Excel file with all the countries listed. --Viennese Waltz 10:51, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

I don't think the article Global North and Global South has been linked to yet. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:06, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

September 23

1917 SR Russian federalism

Is there a full list or map of all of the federal units that the Socialist Revolutionary Party wanted to create in Russia if they would have come to power there in 1917?

Stalin mentions some of them here, citing an SR newspaper from 1917:

https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1917/03/28.htm

But is there a full list? ~2026-51245-33 (talk) 23:33, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

September 24

About a missing or forgotten image

I am college student doing a project about zionism. I remember seeing an image of historical document on a wikipedia page, which is a conference record or a post-conference declaration or something similar, about a zionist organization to accept part of the terms of a solution suggested by another organization.

After asking gemini, me and my groupmates believe it is likely to be "Resolutions of the 22nd Zionist Congress", but we still failed to find this image on wikipedia or internet.

Does anyone remember this image, or can an administrator check the deletion logs for files related to the "22nd Zionist Congress" or similar post-ww2 Zionist declarations? Any help finding the file name, the original Wikipedia page, or a copy of the document on the internet would be greatly appreciated for our project! Thank you. Nato18273 (talk) 19:03, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AZionistCongress-PartitionResolution-1937.jpg

Is it that image by chance? It is on the Peel Commission page. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 19:27, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

This is a resolution of the 20th Zionist Congress. You can find an English translation here, in the Palestine Partition Commission Report of 1938. (Not the Peel Commission but the Woodhead Commission.)  ​‑‑Lambiam 21:19, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

September 26

Why would soldiers do this to ambush?

So it shocked me that this ranks #15 in English literature and was reinterpreted by almost a dozen other artists. I just recently discovered The_Highwayman_(poem) by Alfred Noyes. I get that it is fiction, but as they say "historical fiction", Noyes was writing it as if it could have actually happened. I can not understand why a detachment of soldiers charged with law enforcement (even corrupt ones) would tie a shot gun or long gun to the "bait" after bounding her up (presumably to ensure she can't warn the Highway man even though she does anyway). For such a vaunted work of literature that has been adopted by everything from Anne of Green Gables to Fleetwood Mac, this is starting to bug me. Why would you if you are trying to lure, bait and trap a Highwayman in that era, tie a gun to the bait? Any and all theories or references appreciated!~2026-50044-25 (talk) 05:10, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

In reality, you probably wouldn't, but this is romantic fiction, set in an historical period. No-one would, in sober analysis, take it to be a practical procedure or necessarily an actual historical occurrence, but in the context of reading/listening to a romantic ballad, suspension of disbelief is expected of the audience.

In any case, this was (set in) the 18th century, before modern expectations of law enforcement had formed. In an historical milieu, such behaviour on the part of soldiers is not particularly implausible: consider the only slightly earlier Massacre of Glencoe.

For an example of a not dissimilar narrative (though without the specific feature you complain of), consider Whiskey in the Jar. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 16:16, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Would it also shock you to learn that it's fictional? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:12, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Please don't bite the newcomers. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 17:18, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

@Baseball Bugs: OP said "I get that it is fiction". To get away with your degree of sarcasm and unpleasantness you must at least read the posts you are criticising. You are increasingly a bad caricature of yourself. I think it's time you left the building. DuncanHill (talk) 17:21, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

I am eagerly looking forward to your answer to the user's question. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:59, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

It appears to be some incoherent drunken mistreatment of the prisoner: a "jest". I don't get it either. But the physics of the scenario bother me more. First they had "bound a musket beside her", yet somehow "with the barrel beneath her breast", and then she was able to touch the trigger when she "twisted her hands behind her". So is this a weapon fashioned like a Krummlauf?  Card Zero  (talk) ※ 15:00, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

<voice=Rainier Wolfcastle> That's the jest. —Antonissimo (talk) 22:05, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

Although cavalry were sometimes used to escort important people and there was some patrolling of known hot spots, I have been unable to find any reference for infantry being used to combat highwaymen, so this is probably all out Noyes's lurid imagination. Alansplodge (talk) 16:54, 1 October 2026 (UTC)

September 27

Interest rate

Headlines blare that Nene Royal is to receive $1 million in prize money for winning America's Got Talent, with the fine print revealing that's it's really a 40 year annuity like Lotto jackpots. The linked article quotes a 2016 source stating the present value as $300K. If my math is right, that's calculated from an interest rate of about 8.7%. Even in these inflationary times, does that reflect some ridiculously risky investment or what? Some kind of additional shenanigan on the show's part? Current 30 year US treasury yield is 5.5% (OMG in its own right) which would give a PV of $423K. Of course it's probably best for her to take cash up front regardless, given the dubious reliability of TV show management. Thanks for any thoughts. ~2026-51492-82 (talk) 05:36, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

I would hazard a guess that America's Got Talent and the overall Got Talent franchise have become increasingly lucrative over the last ten years, and can well afford to spread their money over a wide range of safer and riskier investments, besides having a total ongoing income stream estimated at around $3.9 billion – Simon Cowell personally makes around $45 million annually from AGT alone. In the light of these sorts of sums, $1 million prize money spread over 40 years is chicken feed. (Disclosure: quoted figures are from Variety according to Google AI, so not inherently reliable by Wikipedia standards; feel free to seek better sources.) {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-41275-62 (talk) 19:13, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

Wait, have I got this right? She gets $25,000 a year for 40 years? That's below minimum wage in California. DuncanHill (talk) 19:39, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

Do you really think that's going to be her only source of income for the next 40 years? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:47, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

To get from $300,000 to $1,000,000 over 40 years requires an interest rate of 3.0557% p.a. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 20:10, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

That's the wrong calculation, it's what you get if you put $300K in the bank today and let it sit there for 40 years with no withdrawals til the end. You have to calculate the interest rate based on withdrawing $25K in cash today, another $25K next year, and so on for 40 years. It's similar to figuring out the payments for a home mortgage or car loan. See Annuity#Valuation. ~2026-51492-82 (talk) 20:37, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

I assumed the prize was $1,000,000 spread out over 40 years, or $300,000 today. My mistake. DOR (ex-HK) (talk) 03:43, 30 September 2026 (UTC)

Yes that is right, $25K/y x 40 years, or $300K today. I calculated the interest rate you'd have to collect on the 300K to support drawing it out over 40y like that (answer: 8.7%). Then I wanted to know whether that means that the prize was undervalued at 300K today, based on comparing the 8.7% to other kinds of returns. I presume that the show doesn't pay out the 40 year prize itself, but rather just buys an annuity from a bank or insurance company or whatever. But, the 300k figure appears to just be somebody's guess. It will be interesting to find out if the amounts ever become public. ~2026-52011-78 (talk) 11:05, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

Ok, I found that Oracle Corp (which is trying to be a media conglomerate now) has BBB- rated bonds (maybe because of their AI burn rate) and they have a 40 year issue with 8.28% yield. I don't quite understand the stuff about the coupon and payment schedule or how it affects things that the bond is redeemable, but anyway I think this gives me some kind of idea of what the AGT annuity is objectively worth. Thanks everyone. ~2026-52011-78 (talk) 00:30, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

September 28

Jack Jones and David Lloyd George

The 1944 book The Man David - An imaginative presentation, based on fact, of the life of David Lloyd George from 1880 to 1914 by Jack Jones, published by Hamish Hamilton, has a Publisher's note saying "A second volume dealing with Mr. Lloyd George's live subsequent to 1914 is in preparation". I am not aware of a second volume ever being published. Do we know what happened? Was it finished but unpublished? Abandoned? and whichever, why? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 22:12, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

In his 1946 autobiography Me and Mine, Jones writes "and how was the second half of it working out? Not at all, I told him. I've roughed out a couple of chapters and I'm stuck. It's Mons, the Aisne and Ypres all over again and it's now a stalemate as far as my writing of it is concerned. The weight of this war is too heavy on me to see that job of writing through. I'm afraid I shall have to leave it until this business is over." Pickersgill-Cunliffe (talk) 22:40, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

@Pickersgill-Cunliffe: Thank you. DuncanHill (talk) 09:30, 29 September 2026 (UTC)

October 2

Legality of cocaine in the USA

In this YouTube Short, Jay Graydon observes that cocaine was legal in the US when the song Wacky Dust was written (1938). Presumably then, it ceased to be legal some time after 1938. But the Wikipedia article Cocaine in the United States seems to skips over this. It says that "the Jones-Miller Act of 1922 put serious restrictions on cocaine manufactures" and, later, has a quote from 1976 stating that cocaine was illegal, but says nothing of what might have happened in between. Is Graydon right or wrong? ~2026-52873-26 (talk) 01:12, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

Our article on the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 contains the puzzling sentence,

"Although technically illegal for purposes of distribution and use, the distribution, sale and use of cocaine was still legal for registered companies and individuals."

So for registered companies and individuals the distribution and use of cocaine was legal, provided it was not for purposes of distribution and use?

In any case, according to the website of the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Justice Office, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act

"banned non-medical use of cocaine; prohibited its importation; imposed the same criminal penalties for cocaine users that were levied against users of opium, morphine, and heroin; and required a strict accounting of medical prescriptions for cocaine".

 ​‑‑Lambiam 07:00, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

Presumably, it means that it is illegal in general, but with exceptions (e.g. Mallinckrodt). I thought our article on Coca-cola might be fruitful, but it also is cagey with regard to when Coke lost its coke. Coca-Cola#Coca_leaf says, "Since then (by 1929), Coca-Cola has used a cocaine-free coca leaf extract." Of course, that need not be tied directly to when cocaine was made illegal, but I was hoping to establish an upper bound. Matt Deres (talk) 13:35, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

I think part of the issue is that cocaine illegalization in the USA followed a somewhat standard pattern of drug prohibition where the first effort was licensing (likely to pharmacists or other such licensed dispensers) with successive tightening of regulation prior to full prohibition. I don't know enough about the specifics of American law to present more than that general narrative but it is a VERY common pattern. Simonm223 (talk) 13:38, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

I found a good source about this: McLaughlin GT (1973) Cocaine: The history and regulation of a dangerous drug. Cornell Law Review, 58:538–573

Quotations from that source about federal laws concerning cocaine:

"The Harrison Act [1914] served for more than fifty years as the corner-stone of the entire federal scheme of drug control legislation. The Act required every person who produced, imported, manufactured, compounded, dealt in, dispensed, sold, distributed, or gave away opium or coca leaves or their derivatives (cocaine) to register with the Internal Revenue Service and to pay a special tax. [...] the Act envisioned that all transfers of cocaine and opium would be between registered persons. Offenses were punishable by fines of up to two thousand dollars, a possible prison term of five years, or both."

"In 1922, Congress [passed federal legislation] prohibiting the importation of cocaine and coca leaves. The amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act banned the importation of cocaine absolutely but permitted the importation of certain amounts of coca leaves needed for medical and other legitimate uses. Any cocaine thereafter needed for medical purposes had to be produced from these legally imported coca leaves or chemically synthesized.

[Also,] for the first time in a federal statute, cocaine was dearly defined as a narcotic drug. Prior federal statutes had only referred to opium and cocaine by name. Cocaine thus became a narcotic drug in the eyes of the law, [...] penalties for violating the Act were more stringent than those in prior federal drug statutes. Whereas earlier penalty provisions had been drafted in the alternative-either a fine or imprisonment or both — the 1922 Act imposed a fine of up to five thousand dollars and imprisonment for up to ten years."

"In 1951, Congress made two fundamental changes in this pattern by making penalties for all drug offenses uniform and by requiring mandatory minimum prison sentences.

With the 1951 amendments to the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act and the Harrison Act, Congress standardized penalties for all drug offenses. Thus the penalty for failing to register as a cocaine distributor became identical to the penalty for illegally importing large quantities of cocaine into the country.

Prior law had always left the sentencing of a drug offender to the discretion of the judge; a maximum outer limit was set but no minimum term of imprisonment was required. The 1951 amendments reversed this approach and required a judge to sentence a drug offender to a mandatory period in prison."

"In 1970, Congress repealed existing federal drug laws and in their place enacted the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. Title II is known as the Controlled Substances Act."

There were also various state laws regulating cocaine.

Quoting the same source as above (McLaughlin 1973):

"[In 1887] Oregon prohibited the sale of both opium and cocaine without a doctor's prescription. By 1914, forty-five additional states had adopted some form of legislation to regulate the distribution of cocaine. Illustrative of these early state cocaine laws was the New York statute. It provided that any person who sold, offered to sell, furnished, disposed of, or gave away cocaine except as authorized by the act was guilty of a felony."

-IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 15:31, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

October 3

Databases for research papers in Chinese

I'm quite good at finding interesting research papers and academic books on services like JSTOR, the Wikipedia Library, Academia.edu, OAPEN, etc. However, what's available there skews towards European languages and Western institutes, which is inconvenient when searching for information about Chinese history and archaeology. These are obviously subjects more published about in Chinese journals.

What databases are there for Chinese-language research publications? (Bonus points if the publications are Open Access or otherwise accessible, but I'd like to know even if that's not the case.) Suðurhafsljósæta (talk) 11:40, 3 October 2026 (UTC)