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00:24
@Bookworm The HNQs were so plentiful and rare
 
8 hours later…
08:04
y'know many if not most of the questions I've posted have no answers. That got me wondering whether there was any way to query for users sorted by proportion of answered questions. Not accepted answers because there are folks like @Mithical who tend not to accept answers on principle
 
1 hour later…
09:14
0
Q: What are the differences between the various versions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?

verboseA 1959 conversation between Tennessee Williams and Yukio Mishima includes the following: YM: By the way, Tennessee, with Cat on a Hot Tin Roof you made a rewritten version incorporating Elia Kazan's idea. But I think the original version is better. TW: I'm glad to hear you say that. Actually, th...

09:43
Apr 19, 2020 at 19:10, by Gareth Rees
@verbose Yes, I think that for expert users, asking questions only when you are unable (after much research) to find the answer yourself is a recipe for getting no answers. If you want answers, then you have to ask questions that are easy enough for other people to answer, and that means asking questions to which you already know the answer, or for which you have deliberately not done the research.
@GarethRees oh ah. That makes sense. Thanks for dubbing me an expert user!
I guess I missed that conversation when it originally happened. I keep skipping out on LitSE for long, unplanned, unpredictable stretches of time. (It's not because I don't love y'all, life just gets complicated.)
But yeah, I could dig up copies of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and figure out the answer. It occurred to me, however, that since this too is a busy stretch of life for me, I could both stay connected to a community I value and offload some (relatively easy) work onto that community. Too stoned, bun word.
I guess that falls under "deliberately not done the research." Doing that research would get me the answer but it would also leave less time to actually engage with LitSE.
you can also write a self-answer, either at the same time as or after asking the question
10:01
@Mithical True. I just did that with the Blackouts question. But at this point, barring this latest TN Wms q, the unanswered questions I have are generally beyond me. The very first question I asked on here, about Jean Rhys, is answerable in theory but needs access to an academic library. The thing I really miss about not working at Stanford any more is the library.
It was extremely rare for Stanford not to have any book I wanted; and in those rare cases, they could get me the book via interlibrary loan.
Well, I currently do have access to an academic library (although not much time for independant research at the moment), so if I can look something up that would be helpful lemme know ;)
@Mithical Oh thank you, sweetie! In theory I have access to UC Berkeley's library as a California resident, but Berkeley is just far enough away to be inconvenient. Especially since "access" means reading privileges, not borrowing. I remain extremely grateful for the genuinely first rate public libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area (the ones in SF proper and Cupertino especially are marvels), but a public library is not, alas, a research library.
You are so very kind.
thank you, I try
Speaking of Blackouts, I loved that novel. I think @PeterShor might like it; I'm not sure enough about anybody else's tastes to recommend it, but I thought it was very moving and very deft. Occasional pages of it consist of (actual) medical reports redacted so that only some words remain visible; those words make very beautiful poetry. Really smartly done.
10:39
@verbose Blackouts sounds interesting. I've added it to my (very long) reading list. This is no guarantee that I'm ever going to get around to reading it.
@PeterShor I know the feeling. I was adding books to my list today (from various book reviews) and realized it's approaching 400. Ars longa, vita brevis.
11:28
0
Q: Did Shakespeare think that each star had its own celestial sphere?

Gareth ReesHere’s a speech from act 5, scene 1, of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice: Lorenzo Sit Iessica, looke how the floore of heauen Is thicke inlayed with pattens of bright gold, There’s not the smallest orbe which thou beholdst But in his motion like an Angell sings, Still quiring to the young ey...

 
2 hours later…
13:43
@Bookworm A question for which I have deliberately not done the research
 
5 hours later…
18:55
@Bookworm What does "whitewashing" mean in the HNQ?
 
2 hours later…
20:38
@verbose I'm surprised you abbreviated Tennessee Williams as TN Wms rather than SESESESESESESESESESE Wms.
Also, that Jean Rhys question is interesting enough to have been on my bounty offer list for some years.
@verbose I've been wondering if a question like "which countries have public libraries" would be on-topic for the tag. Something I took for granted when I was growing up, but they don't exist everywhere in the world.

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