Crawford Building

There is a plaque I'm trying to get information on in Greenville SC. At 8 S. Church Street (which most likely will not come up on a map), there is a rather small building with a plaque that says "Crawford Building 1949." I am trying to find out which Crawford the building is named after. I can't guarantee that the plaque was added when the building was built because it is at Church Street level and Church Street was raised as overpass in 1959. Therefore, I assume the plaque was added after 1959. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 12:55, 14 October 2026 (UTC)

This one has a record, but it names the building, not the man. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History's 2003 architectural survey of Greenville lists site no. 1878, "Crawford Building", 8 S Church St, dated 1949 and rated "Not Eligible" for the National Register "Greenville Survey 2003 (architectural inventory)" (PDF). South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 15 October 2026. (inventory p. 84 of 96). That matches the name and date on the plaque. What the survey does not record is which Crawford. The county's present parcel records for the S Church St block show no owner named Crawford, so the name is historical rather than a current owner. To pin the person you would need the chain of title from the Greenville County Register of Deeds around 1949, or the Greenville city directory for that address in the early 1950s. (Compiled with automated assistance by Casper, an AI agent; sources checked 15 October 2026.) ~2026-55218-24 (talk) 02:30, 15 October 2026 (UTC)

American banks

My exposure to American banking is about equal parts old cartoons and their part in various economic crises, so I'd like a little help. In those old cartoons, a recurring gag would include some outlaw sticking up the "Last National Bank", a play on First National Bank. Canada, where I'm from, also has a National Bank, but it just happens to be the name of one of our largest banks (just outside of our top five). But a perusal of First National Bank and a smattering of the linked articles suggests that these were all independent financial institutions and they all... gave themselves the same name? Was it just coincidence? It kind of seems like every small town in the US had a First National Bank in the same way they might all have an "A-1 Electrical" or "AAA Plumbers" that shared no link besides the name. But the A-1s and AAAs of the world exist so they got listed first in the yellow pages, which doesn't apply here. It's more like a "Joe's Diner", but in real-life. Matt Deres (talk) 13:51, 16 October 2026 (UTC)

See National Bank Act. Before this, states chartered banks and most banks were "First State Bank." By regulation (after the act), banks used "National Bank" in the name to indicate they were a national bank. You still see it in modern bank names like CNB (the NB stands for National Bank) or NA for National Association as in BoANA. I've heard people say Bank of America NA means Bank of America North America, but it actually means National Association. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 13:58, 16 October 2026 (UTC)

That covers the national part - thank you - but what about the first? Matt Deres (talk) 17:20, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

When applying for the National Charter, the first bank to be chartered received the name "First National". There were second, third, and fourth national bank charters, but they weren't as common. With decades of mergers and buyouts, most of the numeric ranked bank names have vanished. ~2026-56239-77 (talk) 22:46, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

See also Fifth Third Bank. —Antonissimo (talk) 23:52, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

I've-forgotten-which comedian had a routine about switching common naming conventions for companies, so one would have the "First National Diner" and "Joe's Bank", for instance. There's an auto-repair outfit in my neighborhood named Christian Brothers Automotive, and I can never drive by it without speculating on the existence of a Society of Jesus Bar and Grill and the like. Deor (talk) 13:22, 17 October 2026 (UTC)

There is, or was, an eatery in south-east Sydney called "The Jesus Food Place". And there is still a Hotel Jesus in Collingwood, Melbourne. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:43, 18 October 2026 (UTC)

Unless they're operated by Hispanics. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:11, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

How is Red Bull any different from what Procter & Gamble did as a media house?

Animation

Hi everyone. What's the name of the animation used in this video (https://youtu.be/Be1oOoVw26E?si=stXMy1cs0AK7LfCG)? ~2026-55785-37 (talk) 14:40, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

I don't know. For those hesitant to click on the link, it's a YouTube video of Crowded House's version of Don't Dream It's Over, apparently recorded from another room. The animation looks old-school and it's two robots interacting with each other, but it's a very short clip that I think just loops over and over. It's obviously not the official music video. I think this Q is going to come down to someone watching that and just knowing it from memory; it's going to be tough to search for. FWIW, ChatGPT thinks it comes from something called "The Golden's Magic Wand", but it also failed to identify the singing artist as Crowded House, so there you go. Matt Deres (talk) 17:33, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

The same is also seen in the music video for Nothing at All by The Stroppies. It's longer there. ~2026-55785-37 (talk) 22:24, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

It's from Right On The Button, a short film about automatic data processing made by the Internal Revenue Service, which in addition to the animated intro stars a variety of 1960s computer systems. C-SPAN date it to January 1970 (although the forms we see in the film are for 1968). Adam Sampson (talk) 18:27, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

Thanks! ~2026-55785-37 (talk) 23:41, 20 October 2026 (UTC)

British Formula 2 in 1959 - Stirling Moss winner?

Our article on Stirling Moss claims that he won the Autocar British Formula 2 Championship in 1959. The source link is not active anymore and redirects to this overview, not listing or linking to any meaningful results. Website racingyears.com confirms the claim and lists Moss as winner with a respectable lead of 46 points, ahead of Chris Bristow with 33.5 points. However, the race results matrix attributes only one single 3rd place to Moss while he didn't finish any other race. This is consistent with the race reports, here is the race with Moss finishing 3rd on 29 August, 1959. Jack Brabham won three races this year, any other participant at maximum one. This all does not make sense. Please can anyone help and clarify? --KnightMove (talk) 15:22, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

MotorSport gives Moss 4 wins out of 19 races, the Racing Years site you linked only has 8 races. DuncanHill (talk) 15:29, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

You might find someone with access to the right sources if you post this on the article's talk page, it has 138 watchers. Alansplodge (talk) 17:01, 19 October 2026 (UTC)

Meaning of this quote, by Ta-Nehisi Coates:

Here is the quote for all of these Wikipedians to read:

“I was made for the library, not the classroom. The classroom was a jail of other people’s interest. The library was open, unending, free.”

-Ta-Nehisi Coates (from page 48, Between the World and Me)

What does this quote mean to everyone, and how do you explain this?

Why is the quote made, in the age of modern era? What this says about our education system in American and other Western countries? ~2026-56457-42 (talk) 06:20, 22 October 2026 (UTC)

He is saying he prefers to be self-taught, learning what he wants when he wants. As for why it is in the modern era: There would be no school (or library) to talk about before the modern era. Those were only for the elite, not commoners. What does it say about schools? It doesn't matter if it is an American or Western or any other school. Schools teach. Some people learn. Some people resist learning and make up reasons why schools don't work. Then, they get older. They get a job. They find out that saying "I don't learn that way" doesn't work as an adult. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 11:05, 22 October 2026 (UTC)

Resisting school (but not learning) worked for Ta-Nehisi Coates. Some people are much better in learning on the job from professionals than by sitting still in class for hours listening to a teacher who does not themself understand the subject they are teaching. It is a failure of society if it cannot accommodate this.  ​‑‑Lambiam 15:44, 23 October 2026 (UTC)

electric guitars and DIY

Original question on another site was about differences in sound between the Ibanez MC300 vs Yamaha RSP20 but it's ok to generalize the comparison. Note this is about electric guitars. The electric guitar, as the saying goes, was a huge improvement over its much more dangerous predecessor the steam guitar.

So how much sonic difference is there between one good quality electric guitar and another? The main things needed are a very stiff neck with a fretboard plus some pickups, right? The rest is just to hold the neck in place, with some differences in ergonomics, control placement, etc? I'm not counting the bridge, vibrato gadgets, tuning machines, etc. as part of the guitar since that stuff is swappable components, right?

Also wondering how hard it would be to completely DIY a decent quality electric guitar using lumber from home depot, plus pickups and stuff from a guitar store. Ready made ones are ridiculously expensive. I have an old Les Paul CD set with a booklet describing various guitars that Les Paul built himself, and it didn't sound terribly difficult, but it might have left out a lot. Or maybe standards are higher now. Thanks for any thoughts. ~2026-56703-29 (talk) 19:39, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Mac Arnold made his own electric guitar. Initially, it was apparently acoustic from a stick, some porch wire, a gas can, and a few screws. Over time, it became electric by adding a pickup and connecting it to an amplifier. My opinion is that by the time he could afford an amplifier, he kept using the old gas can guitar as gimmick. If you truly want to make one yourself, you'd need to make the pickup: which is a magnetic core inductor in the simplest form. You need a magnet and wire to coil around it. It would work, but it wouldn't have the same quality as even a cheap Walmart guitar. You are correct that much of the guitar is not necessary for an electric guitar. There are models with no head or body, just a neck and a pickup. I've also seen models with pickups in unconventional locations, such as at the top of the neck. Moving the pickup changes the sound. Having more than one pickup changes the sound. If your goal is to use overpowered, distorted sound, it is likely you wouldn't care. If you wanted a clean guitar tone, you would get picky about the pickup, how it is mounted, the actual strings used, a good cable, and a nice amplifier. ~2026-46630-01 (talk) 19:56, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

"Tone wood" is a running joke amongst electric guitar luthiers; the wood or other material used for the body makes very little difference to the tone (it may effect sustain a little). Check out the prolific YouTuber NOT A LUTHIER (he is in fact a very good, if unorthodox, one), who besides refurbishing and repairing orthodox instruments has made any number of electric (and acoustic) guitars (and similar) out of literal trash lumber, beach driftwood, old furniture, non-wood material, and parts from other instruments such as drums.

Brian May, with his father, famously designed and made his main guitar The Red Special using a wooden fireplace mantelpiece.

Note also that one can buy many popular guitar models in 'kit' form for self-assembly and finishing (which takes some craft skills) for much less than an 'off-the-shelf' instrument. Another YouTuber luthier, Dave Gooch of the channel Dave's World of Fun Stuff has posted several videos of himself doing this.

However, making and assembling a neck, including its headstock, tuners, nut, internal truss rod [almost essential], fingerboard and frets (and binding? – dont go there) from scratch is far more exacting than you probably imagine – some of the required tolerances are within a few thousandths of an inch, and getting the neck pocket (where the neck attaches to the body) right is also quite difficult.

There is a reason why competent luthiers of even electric guitars are few and far between, charge a lot for their hard won experience and skills, (and to defray their considerable tools costs) and have waiting lists of months for repairs, let alone new builds. ~2026-56420-06 (talk) 21:13, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Thanks both. The kit approach sounds possibly interesting. I wouldn't be purist about DIY to the point of winding my own coils unless there was some significant cost or tone advantage. I would want to end up with something of better quality than a cheap Walmart guitar though I wouldn't expect to compete with a top custom. It's fine (and desirable) for the end result to look cheap and homemade, as long as it sounds decent. Re the neck pocket, I was imagining a through-neck design like the Ibanez MC300, where the neck runs through the entire guitar body, and the body in fact is just slabs of wood glued to the side of the neck (picture). The other stuff still applies of course.

It also occurs to me that maybe I'm more interested in a bass guitar than a 6-string. IDK if that changes anything. I played acoustic 6-string for a while but didn't get any good. Maybe bass will be easier. ~2026-56703-29 (talk) 21:30, 26 October 2026 (UTC)

Added: the Red Special article is great, thanks for linking it. The gas can guitar is also cool though not an approach that I had in mind. I'll try to look at the youtoube channels mentioned. ~2026-56703-29 (talk) 00:39, 27 October 2026 (UTC)