The "This Might Be A Stupid Question, But...." Thread

[jpcher]

I didn't want to hijack the Special Snowflake thread, but what is the difference between fiddling and violin-playing?  Is it just the type of music, or is it the technique?  Can you play both on the same instrument?

Fiddle is basically folk or country music. I'm assuming that the teacher spoken about in the SS thread only thinks classical music should be played on violin - otherwise the player is stooping to play "lower" music. I assume he's also never tried to play in a fiddling contest either, because I've seen, attempted to play, and seen others play fiddle pieces that were as hard as any difficult classical piece, if not harder.

This guys explains it pretty well and also plays examples of both styles of music.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqTwnAuHws

Xandraea -- thanks for the link, it was pretty cool.

However, it was 5 guys playing the piano, not about fiddles.

[squeakers]

I have a front entance rug, rectangular in shape just as you come in the front door.  One of the corners is currling up, and I've tried switching the rug around to see if was an issue with how we stepped on it as we came in, to even sitting my rock door stop on the corner overnight to weigh the corner down and to flatten it.  To no avail.  Is there something else I can try, or does anyone know why it's curling on only one corner?

If it has padding you could try cutting it back a bit on the edge that curls.

Put some ice cubes on the corner.. they will melt and make the fibers fatter.  Which should push the corner back down.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-keep-curled-area-rugs-laying-flat#b has some other tips.

[Dazi]

I have a front entance rug, rectangular in shape just as you come in the front door.  One of the corners is currling up, and I've tried switching the rug around to see if was an issue with how we stepped on it as we came in, to even sitting my rock door stop on the corner overnight to weigh the corner down and to flatten it.  To no avail.  Is there something else I can try, or does anyone know why it's curling on only one corner?

If it has padding you could try cutting it back a bit on the edge that curls.

Put some ice cubes on the corner.. they will melt and make the fibers fatter.  Which should push the corner back down.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-keep-curled-area-rugs-laying-flat#b has some other tips.

I always dampen them, flip them wrong side up and place a few heavy objects/books on it.  You have to leave it alone at least a week though. 

[Dindrane]

Whenever I've heard the instrument discussed, fiddle = violin. Wikipedia says:

A fiddle is any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin.[1] It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music. Fiddle playing, or fiddling, refers to various styles of music.

I don't play the violin (I play the cello), but my brother started taking classical violin lessons when he was in middle school. He had the idea that he wanted to learn how to fiddle when he was in high school, I think, but always seemed to have more trouble with it than with his usual classical playing style. Playing classical music generally involves learning to read music and following a set of well-defined rules. On the other hand, since fiddling is primarily folk music, the rules are less defined and there may or may not be any music to follow. It always seems to me that it requires at least a little bit of improvisation, not to mention complex fingering.

I can say from personal experience playing the piano (for most of my life), I can read music like a champ and have at least a fair amount of technical skill. But I really struggle with music outside of the classical genre, and even have a bit of a hard time with 20th century classical. Composers like Debussy require a more free-flowing style (and often require that your hands work independently of each other), and I'm just not very good at it.

So I find it somewhat ironic that the poster's classical violinist teacher looks down on fiddling, when I've always thought it was probably harder than classical style violin playing. It certainly isn't easier, and often requires a great deal of technical skill.

[Xandraea]

I didn't want to hijack the Special Snowflake thread, but what is the difference between fiddling and violin-playing?  Is it just the type of music, or is it the technique?  Can you play both on the same instrument?

Fiddle is basically folk or country music. I'm assuming that the teacher spoken about in the SS thread only thinks classical music should be played on violin - otherwise the player is stooping to play "lower" music. I assume he's also never tried to play in a fiddling contest either, because I've seen, attempted to play, and seen others play fiddle pieces that were as hard as any difficult classical piece, if not harder.

This guys explains it pretty well and also plays examples of both styles of music.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VqTwnAuHws

Xandraea -- thanks for the link, it was pretty cool.

However, it was 5 guys playing the piano, not about fiddles.

Oh Dear, darn copy/paste!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlmUCZKjkuY   << this is the Violin vs. Fiddle one

[Carotte]

I painted a room and had to pop out the light switch plate (no screws, it was just pushed into the wall), it should just pop right back in when I try right?
No matter where I try to apply pression it doesn't stay in it's place, there's no obstruction that I can see, I didn't even move it that much to paint around it, but I feel like I'm missing something.

[cwm]

I painted a room and had to pop out the light switch plate (no screws, it was just pushed into the wall), it should just pop right back in when I try right?
No matter where I try to apply pression it doesn't stay in it's place, there's no obstruction that I can see, I didn't even move it that much to paint around it, but I feel like I'm missing something.

Did you paint right up to the edge of where the plate goes? Sometimes a layer of paint can make just the difference between something fitting and not. You might take a layer of sandpaper (start small, just do tiny bits at a time) and see if you can get something sanded down so it fits again.

[Virg]

Carotte wrote:

"I painted a room and had to pop out the light switch plate (no screws, it was just pushed into the wall), it should just pop right back in when I try right?
No matter where I try to apply pression it doesn't stay in it's place, there's no obstruction that I can see, I didn't even move it that much to paint around it, but I feel like I'm missing something."

Does it not stay because it doesn't fit back into the opening now, or does it fit then slip back out?  If it's the former, the cwm 's idea is the first thing to try.  If it goes into the opening that it came out of but won't stay put, it could be that pulling it out widened the opening, or if you used a high gloss or oil based paint, there might be less friction.  Also, if you pulled the switch itself out the wires behind it will unfold a bit, and if they're not refolded they might be preventing the switch (and thus the plate) from reseating the way it was.  And to ask the obvious question, is there a reason why you can't put the screws in it to keep it in place?  If there is, then you might want to use some sort of adhesive to stick it back in place, but the switch should really be attached to the box for safety reasons and the plate could then be screwed to the switch body.

Virg

[Carotte]

I guess when pulling it out the wires moved around, because it does go back into the hole, but doesn't stay. It's weirdly made, there's no screws anywhere, it should 'clip' back but it seems like it doesn't catch anywhere in the wall to actually clip.
The switch/switchplate are one whole thing but I might just go and put some tape around while I figure it all.

[Carotte]

Virg! Turns out you were right about mentioning the screws, maybe we're not talking about the same kind (mines are not visible, hidden behind one part of the switchplate) but they do exist!
Turns out all I have to do is (cut the electricity) separate the 'back with switch' from the part around, put the back/switch in the wall and tighten the screws of the doo-hiky things that will catch the wall and stay in place. And just clip the second part of the cover back on.

It's one like this:
no screws apparent, didn't cross my mind there could be some inside.

[Slartibartfast]

Stupid multilingual question:

In languages which use gendered pronouns for objects (Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) - who determines whether new words are masculine or feminine?  I'd assume most normal words are based on centuries of tradition, but something like a modem or a blog wouldn't have that history.  And what about invented words, like Dr. Seuss?  If I declare that a huffletywub is a thing, do I get to pick the pronoun too?

[Virg]

Slartibartfast wrote:

"I'd assume most normal words are based on centuries of tradition, but something like a modem or a blog wouldn't have that history."

For most words I imagine it's based on where the word came from.  For your examples, "modem" and "blog" are both contracted forms of existing words (modulator/demodulator and web log, respectively) so their gender would follow the gender of the words involved (modulator and log).  For fully invented words there are rules that tend to be true in general for languages that would guide choices, and for most languages there's an entity that's either directly or indirectly considered the "authority" for the language, so for stuff that doesn't fit precedent I'd look to whatever entity is considered to be the authority.  Just to give an example, most people in the UK would recognize Oxford's decisions regarding new additions to English.

Virg

[Virg]

Carotte wrote:

"Virg! Turns out you were right about mentioning the screws, maybe we're not talking about the same kind (mines are not visible, hidden behind one part of the switchplate) but they do exist!"

Now I see the confusion.  As you deduced, the switchplate and screws are hidden behind a snap-on coverplate.  I didn't think of that either, but electrical code (in the U.S. at least) requires switches to be anchored to the wall box so I figured there had to be screws on the switchplate somewhere.  I had pictured a standard coverplate with screws that was attached to a standard switch, and the whole thing was wedged into a hole in the wall, and that didn't seem right which is why I suggested finding the anchor screws.

Virg

[lady_disdain]

Stupid multilingual question:

In languages which use gendered pronouns for objects (Spanish, French, Italian, etc.) - who determines whether new words are masculine or feminine?  I'd assume most normal words are based on centuries of tradition, but something like a modem or a blog wouldn't have that history.  And what about invented words, like Dr. Seuss?  If I declare that a huffletywub is a thing, do I get to pick the pronoun too?

Yup. Neologisms are usually gendered by their creator. As for other words, they generally tend to creep into common language and get whatever gender "sounds" right. Often, there is a period when both genders are in use, before one ends up dominating. It can depend on the word origin, on phonetics (if it ends in A, in portuguese, it will probably be feminine, if in O, masculine), etc.

The results aren't always consistent. In Portugal, computer (computadora) is feminine. In Brazil, computer (computador) is masculine.

[Onyx_TKD]

Why does my bank waive certain account fees if there are sufficient direct deposits every month? The fee waiver for a particular checking account type requires maintaining a minimum balance of $X or having direct deposits of at least $Y each month. I understand why a minimum balance would be beneficial to the bank (the customer keeps more of their money in a non-interest-bearing account at the bank) but why do they reward direct deposits? Is there a direct benefit to the bank, are they correlated with other financial behavior that benefits the bank, or what?