The Reading Room

5:41 AM

-2

I remember when I was child (probably about 40 years ago), I read some story in Russian book ( I think original was Russian, not translated). Story is the following: man read some documentary book abot WW2, but it isn't the same WW2, which we know, other events, other names, other Nazi leader (n...

Gallifreyan

6:27 AM

When Fortuna smiles on you:

Bookworm

7:43 AM

0

Q: What was Ishamael doing for 1000 years?

Lews Therin and his Companions put the seal on the bore and supposedly locked away The Dark one and all of the 13 Forsaken. But in the prolog of The Eye of The World which happened after this, Ishamael meets Lews Therin, also there are multiple indications in the first book that Ishamael was neve...

robert-jordan wheel-of-time

BESW

@Bookworm Monologing about what he'll do in the next book, if he's anything like anyone else in that series.

Bookworm

8:03 AM

1

Q: Could you actually go around the world in 80 days?

Around the world in 80 days is a novel be Jules Verne about an Englishman who makes a bet with some fellow club members that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Nowadays with modern flight, going round the world in 80 days wouldn't only be possible, but could be done 40 times over. But a...

inspiration around-the-world-80-days jules-verne

Mithrandir

8:44 AM

*yawn*

BESW

9:07 AM

@verbose Your appendix article find is great--chances are good it's what Verne half-remembered in his claim I mention--but I think you mean 1869, not 1969.

verbose

9:26 AM

You mean the Suez Canal was built that long ago?! I was but a wee lad in 1869!

Thanks. The reason I posted my answer anyway was just because of that appendix.

Mithrandir

10:04 AM

>.< trying to learn the leining but having an asthma attack...

b_jonas

Oh look! We have temporary moderators now!

Good luck, mods.

BESW

10:27 AM

Yes, indeed.

Also, happy Ayyám-i-Há everybody!

Mithrandir

Happy... (I can't write that o_o)

@b_jonas thanks!

Mithrandir

10:57 AM

New Hot Network Question(s) detected:

2

Q: Could you actually go around the world in 80 days?

Around the world in 80 days is a novel be Jules Verne about an Englishman who makes a bet with some fellow club members that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Nowadays with modern flight, going round the world in 80 days wouldn't only be possible, but could be done 40 times over. But a...

inspiration historical-context around-the-world-80-days jules-verne

Bookworm

0

Q: Does Indiana Jones have a literature inspiration or equivalent?

I am aware of speculation that Indiana Jones is possibly based on one or several hybrids of historical individuals but does the character have a literature forerunner?

character

A J

12:24 PM

We have another @Randal'Thor

Rand al'Thor, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

41 7

robert-jordan wheel-of-time

How does it feel to be moderators on two sites, @Emrakul?

Though I'm a bit late, congratulations all of you @Emrakul, @Hamlet, @Mithrandir.

Mithrandir

12:48 PM

@AJ he's already assured us that it's not his sock :P

@AJ thanks!

A J

1:30 PM

@Mithrandir Obviously, it can't be. Both are from different places with distance of 8000 KM.

Bookworm

0

Q: Why Harry Potter's wife Ginny Weasely was named Ginny Weasely?

The official publishing company of J.K Rowling named PotterMore have revealed (See Here) that there are/were interesting and well thought etymology of characters in Harry Potter book series. It does not contain however all the characters' names' etymology (including famous Longbottoms, Weaselys e...

inspiration character

DForck42

2:10 PM

congrats @Emrakul @Hamlet and @Mithrandir, I think you three will do an awesome job

steelersquirrel

2:44 PM

@DForck42 Awwww. I'm sorry that you weren't chosen. I'm really surprised that you and/or Rand weren't chosen, just because you have both been and are mods.

Congratulations @Emrakul and @Mithrandir!! I know that you guys will be great!! I'm not familiar with @Hamlet, but I am sure that they will be great as well!! You all have my full support and congratulations!!

DForck42

@steelersquirrel it's alright, I think we're in good hands

Mithrandir

Thanks, @DForck42 and @steelersquirrel!

DForck42

@Mithrandir :-D

Sasha

3:15 PM

@Mithrandir, I have a question. Do you, as pro-tem moderator, have a possibility to remove tag synonyms (i.e. de-synonymize two tags that are marked as synonymous)?

Hamlet

@Sasha yes

Sasha

@Hamlet Thanks!!!

Hamlet

@Sasha if you go to the tag synonym page, there's a red x next to each synonym

@BESW I tried to get through that series; the books either bored me to death or were incredibly cringeworthy

Sasha

@Hamlet I'm not a (pro-tem) moderator. We're still in private beta. We're just deciding how careful we should be now (because due to specific of our site we need to have a lot of synonyms; but we were not sure whether they can be rearranged/fixed without help of SE employees/administrators). Thanks.

Hamlet

cool, what site?

Sasha

3:34 PM

Shokhet

4:06 PM

@Mithrandir Thanks. Upvoted

@Standback :)

@Benjamin You can totally chat-ping me if any questions of mine go HNQ. It's nice to have it pointed out

Beastly Gerbil

@Mithrandir did my question actually make it to HNQ? Can't tell still on mobile

Seems to be pretty controversial though, +11 -4

At least it's given me a rep score with a multiple of 5 :P

Riker

4:40 PM

@Randal'Thor here ya go

I also finished bks 9, 10, and 11 last night :D

I've officially beat you

Himarm

21

Q: Reading Order for Wheel of Time (New Spring)

When reading the Wheel of Time, what is the best point to read the prequel story New Spring? As I see it there are 3 options: Before Eye of the World Publish Order (after Crossroads of Twilght) Last, i.e after A Memory of Light

suggested-order wheel-of-time

Bookworm

0

Q: Should "New Spring" be read before the rest of books in the series?

New Spring is a prequel to the main Wheel of Time series, but it was published between books 10 and 11 (Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams). When should it be read, before all the rest of the stories, in between books 10 and 11, or after the end (book 14)?

robert-jordan wheel-of-time

Himarm

:P

almost a word for word dupe buddy

Beastly Gerbil

So we can't close as duplicate, but the exact question has been asked? What to do...

Himarm

4

Q: What about intentional, or suspiciously worded re-post of already answered questions?

SFF currently has thousands of questions relating to major lit works such as Tolkien's writings, Harry Potter, Dune, etc. What should we do when we see questions that are already answered on SFF. More specifically when we see the questions resemble SFF questions suspiciously. The biggest issue ...

discussion

meta didnt bother to figure it out

Beastly Gerbil

4:46 PM

oh. time for mods' first big decision maybe?

Himarm

well mods arnt really supposed to set policy, just enforce policy we the users set

Beastly Gerbil

no I meant for what to do about the question :P

Himarm

if people agree with DVK, it would require making a custom close reason

my point is we have no policy on cross site dupes

so mods cant "do anything"

Beastly Gerbil

oh ok...

Well in that case +1 to the custom close proposal

Himarm

technicly you are allowed to ask dupes unknowingly on other sites,

so its a toss up on intent

but movies and sff have had direct dupes before

and it can look like intential rep grabs

Beastly Gerbil

4:51 PM

have they got custom close for that?

Riker

5:05 PM

@Himarm FWIW I wrote it entirely separate from the SFF one, didn't even think to check on SFF

@BeastlyGerbil no iirc, because there's only 3 and best to save them

Hamlet

I don't know what the community consensus is but it's highly unlikely that we'll close questions just because they've been asked on another site.

4

After all, we don't close questions because they've already been asked or answered elsewhere on the internet (i.e. we don't close questions because the OP didn't do a Google search before asking).

2

Riker

3

Q: What about intentional, or suspiciously worded re-post of already answered questions?

SFF currently has thousands of questions relating to major lit works such as Tolkien's writings, Harry Potter, Dune, etc. What should we do when we see questions that are already answered on SFF. More specifically when we see the questions resemble SFF questions suspiciously. The biggest issue ...

discussion

@Hamlet consensus seems to be "as long as it's not directly word-for-word copied (i.e. plagiarized) it's okay

Bookworm

0

Q: How fictionalised is "Dust Tracks on a Road"?

I just finished reading Zora Neale Hurston's memoir Dust Tracks on a Road and I thought it seemed to be full of tall tales as well as omissions, though obviously it is based on her real life. In his afterword to the edition I read, Henry Louis Gates Jr writes Hurston did make significant part...

historical-context

Librarian

6:22 PM

0

Q: How and why was this question made into a community wiki?

So first of all, how is a question made into a community wiki? I know what they are but I don't know how the change is made. Secondly, why was this question made into a wiki. It was not a great question, but I do not see anything atrociously wrong with it.

discussion support

Skooba

7:40 PM

@Hamlet I agree, there are a lot of "duplicate" questions asked on SFF and MTV by different users. Usually if I can answer the question on both site I do so

Skooba

8:20 PM

0

A: How do we feel about using other people's answers on a different site as a source?

I am going to add the dissenting opinion to this question, even though it seems current policy SE wide is against what I will say... If you copy and past verbatim (i.e. no changes or additions) an answer given by another user on another SE site you should make it community wiki. When should...

Going against the grain on this one... be as critical or supportive as you like

Hamlet

9:38 PM

Question: what do people thing about this question literature.stackexchange.com/q/1679/111

It seems like it's asking two questions at once. The answer it got is a good one, but since the question was open ended the resulting answer was as well

Rand al'Thor

10:03 PM

@Hamlet The "two questions" being "why did Yeats choose this figure" and "what else from the poem can be linked to the mythical figure"? IMO they're pretty close, and the answer to one might well answer the other.

2

Nice meta answer, @BESW!

BESW

[bow and a flourish] It's surprisingly easy to find that information. You just got to the Meta Stack Exchange [community-wiki] faq and follow the Linked and Related sidebars.

Hamlet

@Randal'Thor good point

Rand al'Thor

Hmm, I only used one of those blog posts when writing about CW answers on SFF meta. Wonder if it's worth editing to mention the other one too ...

HDE 226868

@Hamlet Not sure if I said this to you personally, but congratulations on becoming a mod! Not a bad first two days, as far as I can tell.

Hamlet

10:40 PM

Hey, the answer is what's gotten a lot of attention, but what do people think of the question literature.stackexchange.com/questions/1820/…

Rand al'Thor

@Hamlet Good question, +1.

BESW

Ooer, rep cap.

Rand al'Thor

I'm still not sure about the question, but your answer was definitely worth an upvote.

... Now that I have a little more time, I should put together a question or two for Lit ...

Bookworm

11:50 PM

0

Q: Which book has a main character named William in a church in a forest?

There is this one book I've been looking for: the book is relatively small, but pretty thick. story the main character is a young boy named William whose family was killed in a fire, then "adopted" by a church. I don't think they call it a church, but a synonym I cannot remember. This church ...

story-identification

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