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July 17

Next SI unit prefix expansion?

I was intrigued by the following in our article on metric prefixes:

The prefixes that were most recently adopted are ronna, quetta, ronto, and quecto. These prefixes were adopted in 2022, after a proposal from British metrologist Richard J. C. Brown. (Before 2022, Q/q and R/r were the only Latin letters available for abbreviations, with all other Latin letters being already used for other prefixes (a, c, d, E, f, G, h, k, M, m, n, P, p, T, Y, y, Z, z) or already used for SI units (including: SI base units, SI derived units, Non-SI units mentioned in the SI) (A, B, C, d, F, g, H, h, J, K, L, m, N, S, s, T, t, u, V, W) or easily confused with mathematical operators (I and l are easily confused with 1, O and o are easily confused with 0, X and x are easily confused with ×)).

How might they approach coming up with prefixes when the list next needs to be expanded, if we're out of unique letters? -- Avocado (talk) 15:38, 17 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There is some room in Greek or Cyrillic, or accented letters. —Kusma (talk) 15:45, 17 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There is no problem with prefix letters matching unit letters. Consider the mm. --142.112.140.72 (talk) 21:48, 17 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Mmm, the mm. List of letters used in mathematics, science, and engineering has a handful from Hebrew, Cyrillic, and Japanese, plus "Modified Latin" and "Modified Greek". Typographical variations of Latin letters in use include double-struck (blackboard bold), calligraphic script, Fraktur, and monospace (Courier-esque). But Greek is the obvious choice. Collisions with Greek letters already on the List of mathematical constants would be numerous.

Special mention for non-SI metric angstroms, Å. Card Zero (talk) 23:25, 17 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

And yet, at least according to the sources, that was indeed the reason for ruling out certain proposed prefixes for the latest expansion. -- Avocado (talk) 00:16, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There's one Greek letter in use already (μ for micro, 10^-6) and one two letter prefix (da for deca, 10). But I'm not so sure we need more prefixes. I'm not so sure we need all the prefixes we have now. You could say that the Sun has a luminosity of 390 yottawatts and a mass of about 2000 quettagrammes (hey, we need a prefix for 10³³), but hardly anyone will understand you. The mass of the Milky Way is 2·10⁴² kg or 2·10¹⁵ Qg or do you prefer a prefix for 10⁴⁵? Scientific notation works just fine. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:01, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We can also turn letters on their heads:

Y W V U T R Q M L K J G F E D C B A

y w v t r k j i h g f e c a

or mirror them:

z t s r k j h g f e a Z S R Q N L J G F

F G J L Q R a f g j k r t

But will people be able to remember what they stand for? ‑‑Lambiam 12:08, 18 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

We just need bigger units of measurement. Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:38, 21 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 19

Home port of pollution prevention vessel "Point Nemo"

Hello,

for the purpose of accurate category work on Commons (cf. c:Commons:Village pump#Anyone into making ship categories?), I'd like to ask if somebody can tell me the current home port of the pollution prevention vessel Point Nemo. Under its previous name New Jersey Responder, it was registered in New Jersey, but it currently serves outbound of Seattle, so a home port change may have occurred. A fellow German Wikimedia thought that people with access to databases of the American Bureau of Shipping may help out - hence my question here. Lastly, a ping to Jmabel as initiator of the matter. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 21:02, 19 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The info is here, but behind a paywall (9 USD / ship). ‑‑Lambiam 05:41, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've flagged this up at WP:SHIPS. You might get an answer from one of the members of that WP. Mjroots (talk) 08:58, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I'll keep the WikiProject in mind if any shipping-related question comes up in the future. Meanwhile, a fellow Wikimedian managed to find this image, showing the an inscription of "Seattle" on the stern. Regards, Grand-Duc (talk) 23:27, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 20

Call for Participation: Research on the Impact of the October 7 Events on Israeli and Jewish Wikipedia Editors

Israeli and Jewish editors of the English Wikipedia are invited to participate in a study exploring how the October 7 events have influenced their editing experiences, particularly in articles related to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The study involves a 30–60-minute Zoom interview focusing on your editing experiences, challenges, and perceptions of bias.

All responses will be anonymized and handled with strict confidentiality.

17 editors were already interviewed. If you are interested in participating, please contact me.

Thanks שלומית ליר (talk) 07:14, 20 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 23

hot-running torpedo

What does it mean when a torpedo is said to be a 'hot-running torpedo'? (I was reading the article on the USS Scorpion Nuclear Submarine.) 22:49, 23 July 2025 (UTC) RJFJR (talk) 22:49, 23 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's a dangerous malfunction. It's described in Bliss–Leavitt Mark 8 torpedo. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:19, 23 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 27

Street View

Have Google cars ever taken Street View pictures during war in any country? --40bus (talk) 22:35, 27 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

FWIW, I've tried looking through Ukraine street views, but they all seem to be prior to the invasion. If you search, you'll likely come across this, which is quite compelling, but doesn't appear to be Google-generated/licensed. Matt Deres (talk) 00:55, 28 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 28

Are most of the missing model numbers in Template:Boeing model numbers even real?

I asked this question in the template's talk page too but I don't think I'll get an answer there since it's really inactive.

It seems that the only online source I could find about the missing ones is this thread on the Secret Projects Forum, and even there most of the redlinks are marked with question marks. Could somebody who has expertise in this topic confirm whether they actually exist (e.g. listed in sources such as Peter M. Bowers' Boeing aircraft since 1916, Paul Eden, Soph Moeng, and editors' The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, Lloyd S. Jones' U.S. Naval Fighters, etc.) or not? SquaredHexahedron (talk) 01:39, 28 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@SquaredHexahedron: WT:WikiProject Aviation would be a good place to get the attention of some knowledgable editors on this. --Slowking Man (talk) 02:48, 29 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Got it; I've posted there now, thanks! SquaredHexahedron (talk) 03:11, 29 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

July 30

Weight of a fighter jet stick

How much, approximately, does the control stick of a fighter jet weigh? (I am aware that this certainly changed over time - any aircraft and period are interesting, but mainly Teen Series types). --KnightMove (talk) 14:16, 30 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

You're aware that most modern fly-by-wire fighter aircraft just have a small side-stick, like this F-16?

I couldn't find any obvious sources for how much one would weigh (probably not much). If nobody here can help, you could try Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Aviation or a specialist aviation forum like Aviation Stackexchange. Alansplodge (talk) 18:37, 31 July 2025 (UTC)[reply]

August 1