The Reading Room - 2017-02-05

« first day (2006 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2645 days later) »

12:14 AM

Boom.

@Emrakul I may know nothing about Gilbert and Sullivan, but I sure know something about trust law and equity.

Quick, somebody ask a question about Bleak House so I can make it a double.

@Zizouz212 You hail from Law.SE, right? Does that answer look OK? (I read up a lot about this stuff at one point, but I'm no professional or anything, so there could conceivably be something embarrassingly wrong in there.)

@Randal'Thor "Is Wilkie Collins' Woman in White a commentary on Dickens' tendency to portray women unlucky in love as ghostly ephemera?"

@Randal'Thor As SFF mod, you should know at least one thing: youtube.com/watch?v=M38niSUEWtY

@BESW I meant about the Jarndyce & Jarndyce case, not Bleak House in general.

[grin]

Hi!

What happended?

12:27 AM

Yawp.

@Randal'Thor What answer?

@Zizouz212 This one.

looking

Sounds like a Crown Ward

Looks okay to me

Danke :-)

1:06 AM

0

Q: Is Professor Moriarty really Sherlock Holmes' arch-enemy in the way some people think?

Some people view Professor James Moriarty as the ultimate arch-enemy to Sherlock Holmes. But is this true? Or did Sherlock Holmes face even greater rivals? Is the role of Professor Moriarty as big as some subsequent movies and TV series have presented it? Or did he have a smaller role in the ori...

sherlock-holmes arthur-conan-doyle

2 hours later…

3:15 AM

25) Unsurprisingly, sheep prefer pastoral poets to speculative. But they prefer free verse to sonnets.

Tweeted by civilwarbore on February 5, 2017 at 2:47 AM in reply to civilwarbore

1 hour later…

4:39 AM

OK, this will either get an avalanche of downvotes, or less likely, an avalanche of upvotes. Have at it.

0

Q: Are most post-structuralist authors French, and if so, why?

Looking at the list of post-structuralist authors, my impression was that a majority of them were French. Is that an accurate assessment? If so, why is that the case? (yes, the founders or post-structuralism were French, but why didn't it spread far wider than France?)

post-structuralism

0

Q: Are most post-structuralist authors French, and if so, why?

Looking at the list of post-structuralist authors, my impression was that a majority of them were French. Is that an accurate assessment? If so, why is that the case? (yes, the founders or post-structuralism were French, but why didn't it spread far wider than France?)

post-structuralism

Wow, someone tuned up the bot!

2 hours later…

7:07 AM

Hey, y'all. I'm drafting a community ad, and all the "handwriting" fonts look dopey or are too hard to read for a "quick glance" ad context.

So... I'd like to use someone's actual handwriting.

If you think you've got legible penmanship and would like to help, please write the following and post a picture of it in chat?

4

> A writer only begins a book.
A reader finishes it.
- Samuel Johnson

2 hours later…

9:16 AM

@BESW I would like to, but I have a problem: My handwriting stinks. :P

1 hour later…

10:41 AM

@BESW I could do like full on Calligraphy if you would like. My normal handwriting isn't great though.

@Mithrandir Try getting a fountain pen, that improves it many times over.

11:21 AM

@Benjamin in my case, nothing will help.

11:56 AM

@Mithrandir You might be interested in helping at: literature.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page You can post stuff that doesn't really fit here.

@Mithrandir Hiring a ghosthandwriter? ;)

12:39 PM

@Helmar now there's an idea!

Now I need 4 answer upvotes...

@Benjamin I'll take a look

(that message about needing more upvotes was only because I saw that Rand was online)

1:07 PM

@Mithrandir ...

@Randal'Thor You've commented on when I do that, so... *shrug*

...although I actually would like to experience 20k tools, so if I do reach 2k I'd be happy...

@Mithrandir As a reformed rep maniac myself, I recognise the signs ;-)

@Mithrandir It would be nice.

@Mithrandir 10k is the big one, but 20k is also good, especially (at least here) for improving tag wiki edits.

@BESW Maybe you could combine different fonts for the desired effect; for example:

user image

1:15 PM

@Loong That's actually pretty good. The writer writes in printed text, the reader in handwritten notes.

@Randal'Thor *insert Praxis quote*

@Mithrandir Exactly.

Being able to VTD answers will also become more useful once we go public and start to get more crap answers.

...except that it's 4k when we go public, right?

Yes.

@Randal'Thor deleted my comments on meta.literature.stackexchange.com/a/123/67

1:26 PM

@Helmar Ditto.

Heh, the blueness in this room has increased another notch :-)

3

here too meta.literature.stackexchange.com/a/327/67

@Randal'Thor I feel left out. Where's my diamond?

@Randal'Thor It has :)

@Mithrandir Somewhere in the future, perhaps.

I know. I'll ask a question about my math book.

@Randal'Thor doesn't everyone wish :P

1:31 PM

Wow, I only just realized how many down votes there are on the pro tem answers

Total madness

@Helmar Wanna join the bedlam and nominate yourself? :-P

@Randal'Thor @Helmat go for it!

@Randal'Thor I'm good :)

@Mithrandir Helmhat?

@Mithrandir @Randal'Thor Others, if you want administrator status on the wiki I set up, just give me your username.

1:41 PM

@Benjamin not atm, thanks though

@Mithrandir Okay, but if you want it, you can have it.

1

Q: Were other characters apart from Alice inspired by real life people?

It is a commonly known fact that Lewis Carroll based Alice in his Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the looking glass on Alice Liddell. But were any other characters, for instance the mad hatter, inspired by real life people, and what evidence is there for this, or were they made up b...

alice-in-wonderland inspiration lewis-carroll

Couple tag wiki excerpts coming...

@Mithrandir yeah you made a typo in one, you said 'britishnovelist'

@BeastlyGerbil whoops. @Randal'Thor can edit it :P

1:47 PM

:P

2 upvotes in 3 views. Looking good...

@Mithrandir Done.

How long does beta last?

@BeastlyGerbil Yeah. Just don't mix up c-s-lewis with lewis-carroll next time :P

:P

@Randal'Thor thanks!

7

Q: Is there a confirmed date for public beta?

Is there a confirmed date for public beta? I am just wondering, as I could not seem to find one.

1:51 PM

@BeastlyGerbil 6-8 weeks^^

Oh ok,

@Mithrandir I flagged those comments as obsolete now, btw.

IoT was postponed due to holidays, otherwise about three weeks, and progression of such site stuff is usually Tuesdays

With the activity on this site I expect it to advance to public beta on Tuesday afternoon US east coast time.

@Randal'Thor deleted mine

Deleted mine too

1:56 PM

Okay time to go read my math book so that I can ask a question about it

@Mithrandir On here or math?

@Benjamin here

on a maths book?

@Mithrandir Wait, what math book is it?

@Benjamin Life of Fred

@BeastlyGerbil *math Yes.

1:58 PM

@Mithrandir *maths Good.

@Beastly I'm working on an answer to your Alice question.

@Randal'Thor yay! :)

@Mithrandir What math are you learning?

@Benjamin . ..I actually neglected it a bit, so... But supposedly high school algebra.

@Mithrandir Is it for school?

@Benjamin *homeschool

2:02 PM

@Mithrandir Oh.

Yes, this is a question about my mathbook. — Mithrandir 21 secs ago

@Mithrandir So, what is "high school algebra"?

@Benjamin graphs, variables, etc.

@Mithrandir Okay, that makes sense.

I actually considered asking about lof on SFF, but decided it probably wasn't SFF enough.

2:14 PM

@Beastly Posted my answer.

Ohh

Not sure how complete it is; I may have to add to it later on.

Looks good, but'll have to read later

But it's a complete list of the characters mentioned here (not counting those from Through the Looking Glass, of course, since you only asked about Alice in Wonderland).

Wow. My pro tem nomination dropped. How's it at 4 o_o

2:25 PM

3334 rep. Need to downvote something :-P

:P

Huh. Did someone unupvote when I said that? O_o

Ah whatever. The cms appoint, not an election.

@Mithrandir Or downvote, perhaps?

@Mithrandir Yeah. Who knows, maybe Chenmunka will get the job!

@Randal'Thor nope. I was looking at the split votes. It was an unupvote.

@Randal'Thor I was going to say or TheBitByte, but then I remembered that he deleted it.

I don't understand why @Riker and Chenmunka got so many downvotes really.

@Mithrandir Oh, he never had a chance.

2:32 PM

Chen I can understand - not active on the site. Riker - ???

@Randal'Thor I noticed I'm not in that list that you're not sure why. *raises eyebrow*

@Mithrandir You're higher-voted than those two.

And yeah, I can see why people might downvote you.

@Randal'Thor true... But I still have more downvotes than either of them.

@Randal'Thor please enlighten me?

Honestly I don't know what's going on in that nomination question. There seems to be a lot of baggage from other sites being dragged over here

inexperienced, plus you are 14

Oh wow. Forgot the time. Gtg

2:39 PM

@Mithrandir OK, see you later!

And btw, I do not want to be a mod if anyone is thinking of nominating me....

So don't bother

@Helmar I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of people from different SE sites - M&TV, SFF, RPG, and so on - all coming over here. They bring some of their politics with them.

@Randal'Thor You FGitW-ed me there. Nice answer.

3:18 PM

@BeastlyGerbil oh. I was thinking about doing it :P

Well you can if you wish (I myself am curious on how the proposal would go down) but I'd have to put a big fat DECLINED on top of it :P

There is no need for it being big and fat :P

3:36 PM

@BeastlyGerbil maybe when I'm one by computer

do you mean 'on my computer'?

4:04 PM

@BeastlyGerbil yes

wow your proposal is at +24 -20... 44 people voted

woah rand is at +38-24 62 people voted

@BeastlyGerbil Robert's question will probably be the first Popular Question badge awarded on either main or meta.

hmm?

did I ask something about that and now forgotten about it?

I'm still surprised that I have the only Pundit badge on either main or meta.

@BeastlyGerbil ?

Oh that was a reply to comment above.. sorry. forget about my rambling

4:10 PM

Yeah, because both the views and the number of voters show how many people are paying attention to that post.

@Randal'Thor pundit badge? Thats the 10 different people chat badge thing right?

Well you do have a lot of starred comments

@BeastlyGerbil No, that's Outspoken. Plenty of people have that here already.

Pundit is 10 comments with a score of 5 or more.

Does anyone have any of the books not listed in the bottom half of this answer?

Oh right

That's actually real hard

Usually it takes people months to get it

4:12 PM

@Mithrandir nope

@Helmar Outspoken or Pundit?

I got pundit on puzzling quite a while back now... only site I have it on though

@Randal'Thor Pundit

Outspoken is even worse

I have Pundit on SFF. Not any others iirc.

Pundit on puzzling thats it

4:13 PM

@Helmar ?

@Helmar Well, I have it on meta. I guess that says something about my massive meta participation here.

I'll have a bronze tag badge on meta as soon as someone asks one more discussion question.

yes your participation is very grand

2

@Mithrandir It's worse to get, in established chat rooms there aren't usually so many starring people around

@Helmar Outspoken is easy when you've got a room full of SFF (and M&TV) people.

@Randal'Thor Which is not usual on SE sites in general ;)

4:15 PM

:P

I mean I had 2 10+ starred posts, but the 10 different posts from 10 different people is actually a bit hard

Wrong button O_o

Meant to edit, not delete...

no don't let AK fever creep in here too

Can blue people undelete chat messages?

doubt it

4:16 PM

@Helmar Wow, you didn't get the Outspoken badge yet? I was sure you'd have it after those two posts.

@Mithrandir Unfortunately, nope.

:/

@Randal'Thor Nope that apparently didn't count

Otherwise I'd had it the 2nd day :D

Guess I'll work on that bible question.

I read the bible despite being atheist. I'm very surprised that some people believe that the stories in there are 100% true

Some people say that they might be allegory.

But my question is not about the text itself.

4:24 PM

Wow. meta.literature.stackexchange.com/a/388/139 is now at 7 score.

@b_jonas Well, he'd be a good candidate, if he was willing. Steeler's nomination is even more highly voted, and she declined too.

@Randal'Thor Yes, but steeler's nomination may have gotten votes before he announced that he's declined.

@b_jonas *she

0

Q: How long have the cantillation marks been around?

Over the whole Jewish Bible, there are cantillation marks that denote how the text is supposed to be chanted. The sounds differ between places, such as between the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic communities. However, as far as I can tell, the marks are the same. How long have the current cantillatio...

Let's see how this goes over.

@Mithrandir What are cantillation marks? All those dots and things below and above the letters?

@Randal'Thor some of those are vowels. The rest are the marks.

4:36 PM

@Mithrandir Maybe add some (hand-drawn) circles to the image so that we know what you're referring to?

@Randal'Thor mobile. Sorry.

And @Randal'Thor, BTW, I received 5 spontaneous upvotes today on SFF. Might be serial voting. Not flagging because the script hasn't been run yet, just BTW.

@Mithrandir Well, I guess you're not running a sock over there, if you're telling me about this ;-)

@Randal'Thor I do have a sock, but I haven't been voting for myself on it :P

0

Q: How long have the cantillation marks been around?

Over the whole Jewish Bible, there are cantillation marks that denote how the text is supposed to be chanted. The sounds differ between places, such as between the Ashkenazi and the Sephardic communities. However, as far as I can tell, the marks are the same. How long have the current cantillatio...

@Mithrandir Sci? :-P

4:45 PM

@Randal'Thor facepalm no

Locutus of Borg, Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, CA, United States

72 9

harry-potter short-stories spells story-identification wandlore avada-kedavra hard-sci-fi

@Mithrandir Iiiiinteresting.

I can say no more.

@Randal'Thor ? Why?

@Randal'Thor you have piqued my curiosity...

@Mithrandir Mod agreement.

@Mithrandir And you've piqued mine :-P

@Randal'Thor but it's my account o_o

@Mithrandir How do we know that?

To play devil's advocate.

4:54 PM

@Benjamin I had Rand email the account that that is set up on

For the Clue

@Randal'Thor why? Star Trek?

I watched The Best of Both Worlds

@Mithrandir No ... although, now that you mention it, didn't you say you weren't a ST watcher?

Or is it only SW you don't bother with?

@Randal'Thor I watched the sole episode.

Could you appreciate it without having watched any other episodes?

Yes.

I have ~70 Star Trek novels

And I've read them all

What sort of form do those Star Trek novels take?

Same characters as in the TV show, having the same sort of adventures?

5:00 PM

When I return to my computer, I will ping Rand as a Borg.

@Randal'Thor mostly

Who's Randasa Borg?

@Randal'Thor you

The two I read were a lot less TV compatible

They had way more alien aliens

@Helmar yep.

@Helmar You mean, alien aliens that you can't possibly show on TV with human actors?

5:01 PM

@b_jonas yeah or not without extreme effort at least

@Mithrandir hunts for picture of Borgified Janice Rand

Aliens needing different environments, exo-suits, submerged cabines and stuff

@Helmar How very Babylon 5.

It's a shame really that the biggest budget SciFi show still operated on the same low budged 60s principals

@Helmar Didn't that change in later seasons when it became successful?

5:04 PM

@b_jonas Barely

@Randal'Thor your wife? :P

@Mithrandir You nearly made me give you a spoiler.

Even the 2005 series had still eploding consoles, shaky bridge scenes and rounded 100% bipedal aliens that can be created by either a mask or a fat-suit

How far are you through WoT?

How far is he through What? :P

5:06 PM

@Randal'Thor only read the first book. Not getting farther for a while.

Wot, wot

</long_patrol>

Rabbit

I'll have y'know I'm no bally rabbit, wot!

I was ninja'd :P

@Randal'Thor hurr hurr, doint woirry yor liddle hed, ranthor mouse.

@Mithrandir Burr aye, you'm a mole naow?

(I think my "Redwall mole" accent has been corrupted by a tinge of "Hyddenworld bilgesnipe".)

5:09 PM

@Randal'Thor yesssss, Asmodeusssss

@Mithrandir Now I don't know who you are. I only ever read Mattimeo once; it was hard to get in my local library.

@Randal'Thor from Redwall

He bigee snakeworm, he killee you quickfast

@Mithrandir Well, I only read that ... twice maybe?

I wasn't much of a fan of the earliest books. The Pearls of Lutra is where the series really began to get into its stride, IMO.

I'm actually reading it again now

Of course that's also the first one I ever read, so I may be biased ...

5:14 PM

Redwall that is

@Mithrandir The series, or the first book?

@Randal'Thor book

I only have a few

@Mithrandir Which few?

Redwall, Mattimeo, The Outcast of Redwall,. I can borrow Salamandaston* and Mossflower.

You should get the lot and devour 'em, so that you can then pick out a chosen few as the best.

Aww.

5:17 PM

@Randal'Thor ?

None of the best ones are in there.

redwall was good

The Pearls of Lutra, Marlfox, The Long Patrol, The Taggerung, The Bellmaker, ...

I liked it, though some books weren't as good as others

I remember someone recently saying The Long Patrol was their favourite because of all the hares. Can't have been Mith - was it you, Beastly?

5:18 PM

@Randal'Thor I read The Long Patrol too! Forgot

Oh, so maybe it was you.

But I never said that

5:29 PM

@Beastly "Encyclopaedia" is also a valid spelling. Plus it's from a quote, so even if it was spelled wrong, better to put "sic" than change it.

oh sorry. It came up as spellcheck

You must have an American spellcheck :-o

See also.

Can you change spellcheck?

It annoy,s me when I write things and it spellchecks to american spellings

Best solution: just know how to spell, and don't use automatic spellchecks at all.

:-)

Especially helpful with words like methylethylamylophenylium

5:35 PM

I can spell floccinaucinihilipification without needing a computer's help.

Apparently not

And I can reply 'What the hell does that mean?' without the computer's help

Pretty sure you're missing an li

*dies from lack of 3 rep*

Supper time. Adios!

@Helmar Oh B*******

Now I must go and fall on Callandor in my shame.

1 hour later…

6:43 PM

Just read that Meta.SE post about announcement. Interesting.

7:01 PM

@Randal'Thor @Riker help delete this?

I'm using my new tools :P

7:17 PM

@Mithrandir I already voted to delete ages ago.

And congrats on 2k!

Thanks! :D

@Randal'Thor I get chenmuka bc he's not very active

but eh

and fwiw I was camping just got back now

so I was gone yesterday

Wooo. 2017 rep :P

@HDE226868 no, he wasn't pingable in there

yeah what rand already said sorry

...2023 now.: /

8:12 PM

@Randal'Thor Wikipedia has color coded illustration

Lit isn't the only site with bad tag wiki edits:

14

Q: Can we have some care when reviewing wikis edits? How can we improve our wiki edits?

There's been a fair bit of attention to tag wiki plagiarism Let's stop tag wiki plagiarism Stopping tag wiki plagiarism, Part II: Taking Action This post is about improving the quality of our wikis via edits and the part reviewers take in this. This is more a post to gain awareness and discus...

discussion review suggested-edits review-audits tag-wiki

0

Q: What is the "Neon god" in Simon and Garfunkel's lyrics?

In Simon and Garfunkel's song The Sound of Silence1, there is the following passage in lyrics: And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made What is this neon god? Obviously, they are referring to neon signs, but in what sense are neon signs "gods" and how exactly are people...

symbolism simon-and-garfunkel

@Mithrandir Of course not. It's a much wider problem - that's why those edit rejection reasons exist in the first place.

M&TV even has a featured meta post about it right now.

@Randal'Thor Right, yeah. I mean now.

(Or at least, it was featured a few days ago. Dunno if it still is.)

8:17 PM

I posted my first question on Movies a little while ago. No featured post iirc.

(I posted on Meta there before the main site :P)

>.< I keep pressing the wrong thing when starring/replying and press the wrong one.

lol

Argghh stop giving me a klunk message

user image

Been giving me that for 15 minutes.

what site?

oh, wix?

Yep

8:49 PM

@BeastlyGerbil:

0

A: Accepting nominations — Who should moderate this site?

Notes: This nominee would be a good choice because they have proven themselves to be a good user, with a good grasp of the site's workings. Admittedly, they aren't that active in Meta, but that can always change ;) They are fairly active on the main site, with over 1100 rep. They were the ...

9:10 PM

@Benjamin I'd like to see that, thanks!

@BESW What do you want it to say?

14 hours ago, by BESW

> A writer only begins a book.
A reader finishes it.
- Samuel Johnson

@BESW I can try and get that to you by Tuesday, but after I do it, I will need to let it dry.

9:25 PM

@Mithrandir thanks! I'll have to decline that...

9:36 PM

Done

Thanks all the same

10:06 PM

Night folks. Probably won't be back until morning :P

@Mithrandir Are you sure?

Hey! @Riker

yo

« first day (2006 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (2645 days later) »

Transcript for

Feb '175

The Reading Room

Welcome to chat for literature.stackexchange.com — Read any go...

authors stories these-aren't-real-tags 💧🚢⬇️🐇

join this room
about this room

00:00

06:00

12:00

18:00

all times are UTC

site design / logo © 2024 Stack Exchange Inc; legal

mobile