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9:00 PM
@mien Do you drive?
 
@ElendilTheTall Rarely.
So I don't need a GPS.
 
So no Draw Something app, no calender sync, very bad mail support, etc.
Oh, and I can't chat on SE from it.
It doesn't like the way my browser works with cookies, and doesn't log me in.
 
That wasn't my point @mien
never mind
 
What was your point? Traffic?
I have a drivers license, but I don't own a car.
 
If you can get a smartphone with an unlimited data plan, it is so useful
 
9:02 PM
@Mien it just, it comes in handy so much!
 
Hahaha unlimited data? In Belgium?
You must be kidding me :D
 
@ElendilTheTall you can get an unlimited data plan?
You lucky devil.
I have 200 MB.
But my plan is from before iPad the first.
 
same
 
@rumtscho Unlimited data, 5000 minutes calls, 5000 texts
 
i could get 5 GB for 25 Eur back then, this was the laptop plan.
Or 200 MB for 10 Eur.
 
9:03 PM
wowser
 
But the thing is so slow, I don#t use it much for surfing. So I never hit the 200 MB.
 
I get mine for £30/month
 
These are prices without a phone, btw. I bought an unlocked phone elsewhere.
 
@rumtscho FYI, I added my answer to the blog question. Of course, the site will tell you this, so I'm not sure why I am, but shrug
 
So, four contributors until now. Nice.
We should get more committed authors before the team gives us infrastructure, I think. surreptitious glance at @aarthi
 
9:08 PM
Well, @Jefromi doesn't sound like he's committed, really. So we have three. Even if we ask @rfusca to do mostly shorter posts, we it looks like we only have twice monthly posts at the moment.
 
@ElendilTheTall didn't you want to write a bit too? You don't have to promise frequent posts, but a promise for some posts at all is better than nothing
 
@rumtscho hey, not my jurisdiction. we're talking about it ~behind le scenes~
Keep bothering @Laura about it! :P
/me runs away
 
LOL
 
@derobert I think that twice monthly is perfectly OK for a new blog
 
@ElendilTheTall For 30 pounds? :o
 
9:08 PM
@rumtscho I suppose I could be persuaded
 
I saw some new prices today, 4GB for 90 euro a month :p
 
@mien holy crap
 
If we try to get people to commit to more, they will be reluctant.
And we don't want to use up our goodwill with contributors early and then run out of steam.
 
The cheapest is 2GB for 15 euro I think
But texts and calls aren't limited.
 
@rumtscho well, if one of us actually gets hooked on blogging, we won't have a problem.
@Mien surely you want to write blog posts! Possibly about your mushroom-eating adventures.
 
9:10 PM
If lots of posts pile up, we can do a special in between.
@derobert I wouldn't want it to become a single-contributor blog.
 
@rumtscho there you go rummers, I've put my name on the dotted line
 
It is supposed to be the community's blog, not mine or yours.
 
@derobert I was about to answer :) Yes, I'm willing to write. But know in the back of your head that I certainly will need someone to review it first.
 
@rumtscho Posts piling up is, as the saying goes, a problem we'd love to have
 
@ElendilTheTall thank you!
 
9:11 PM
@mien I use the data to send messages anyway
iMessage/Whatsapp use the data connection not SMS, and everyone I know uses one or the other
 
@Mien I am sure that we will review all the posts, not only the ones by non-native speakers
 
@ElendilTheTall Oh no, you use Apple :(
 
@ElendilTheTall and the carriers allow it?
 
@rumtscho Yes, probably.
 
Yes, I'm a native speaker, and I'd appreciate an editor.
 
9:12 PM
Here, mobile carriers block skype and p2p in their networks.
 
Editors can be great. They tell you when you've not elaborated a point enough, spent too long explaining something simple, etc.
 
I woudln#t be surprised if the block sms-cannibalizing apps too.
 
@rumtscho of course
 
@derobert it seems like a slightly belated thing to write
 
@rumtscho ? (confused)
 
9:13 PM
@mien what's wrong with apple?
 
If I had thought of it before hand, I would have written that every author should expect to do some editor duty as well, and has to opt out if he can't
 
@ElendilTheTall I just don't like it. I never have.
 
Now I wonder if I should ammend the question to ask who would opt in as an editor, or if I should write a new question.
 
well, no one's forcing you to :) @mien
 
And now I'm just stubborn when I see the popularity of it.
 
9:14 PM
they just work
 
Yes, luckily for them ;)
 
@rumtscho I'd consider that part of the administrative duty I volunteered for. I will edit my answer to be clearer.
 
I've used Android and Apple, and Apple wins
 
@derobert Ah, OK
 
Android just seems cobbled together and a bit shaky
Apple is polished and slick
 
9:15 PM
I don't know if a single admin should edit all posts
Although it is easier than writing, certainly.
Maybe we should have a circle of editors - and it is OK with me if it is narrower than the circle of authors.
 
@rumtscho I suggest we have two—at minimum, if hypothetically I were to be doing that, I'd like for someone else to review my posts.
 
agreed
 
I would do editing as well, no matter if I am considered admin or not
Actually, three should be the minimum
In case that editor A writes a post, and editor B is unavailable for real-life reasons like deadlines or vacation
There should be a C to review A's post
 
Three would be nice. But I think two would be fine. Its harder to edit your own stuff (and the final quality isn't as good), but its not a disaster.
 
If both B and C are away, I guess that somebody will agree to review ad hoc, in the worst case we would ask Laura. I don't expect it to happen often, if at all.
@derobert I think we can do with me, you and @Jefromi as editors, seeing that we are willing to be part of the organization
 
9:19 PM
Well, as the only person here representing the race who invented the language, I volunteer too :P
 
@ElendilTheTall You are disqualified for intolerable smugness.
 
You have 'I like baking sweets' and you have 'I like baking ....' (savoury?)
 
@ElendilTheTall oh no, you'll change all our colors into colours!
2
 
I don't want any 'colors' or 'vytamins' messing up my blog
 
@ElendilTheTall you don#t count the Americans as your descendants?
 
9:19 PM
Can someone help me with the second word?
 
@rumtscho not the way they butcher the language
;)
 
@ElendilTheTall who write 'vytamins' ?
 
I prefer the British spelling btw :)
@derobert You just did!
 
no one, but you pronounce it vytamins
 
@Mien That was a quote! It doesn't count!
 
9:20 PM
when they are plainly vittamins
 
@ElendilTheTall I'll give you that one.
 
@ElendilTheTall I suspect that the guys who wrote British English before the US was settled won't recognize what you write and speak today as Ye Propere Aulde English.
 
But then you have to concede that the 'u' in colours is unpronounced and so redundant.
 
unlike the h in herb
:P
 
@rumtscho Anyway, three or four editors seems like it'd work fine. I wouldn't want to go much above that (consistency will start to suffer).
 
9:21 PM
@Sobachatina if we were to remove all unpronounced and so redundant letters from English...
 
@ElendilTheTall Erb.
 
@derobert yes, you are right.
@ElendilTheTall Kherb.
 
@rumtscho We're working on it, ie. 'color'.
 
@what about the e in are?
 
I can't say "herb" because then I'm talking about some guy named "Herbert". Obviously the words must be differentiated somehow.
 
9:22 PM
@rumtscho Can we change all the ph*s to *f*s, and all the non-combined *c*s to *s or k while we're at it?
 
Or the g in working?
 
Herp derp.
 
Throw some fresh Herbs in the soup.
 
@derobert we don't have ph's :) we have f's !
 
I don't know any Herbs but if they were "fresh" I'm sure I wouldn't have them on hand to throw in a soup.
 
9:23 PM
Ok. I formatted that right. SO just failed to parse it.
 
@Sobachatina Stop it, I think I must have met at least one Herbert.
 
@Sobachatina have them on and you mean?
 
@ElendilTheTall lol! It took me a full minute to parse that sentence.
 
I've got a professor called Herbert!
 
I had to read it outloud.
 
9:24 PM
Although I can't think of any Herbert right now, besides Herbert Grönemeyer, and he deserves to end in a soup. (The poor soupd doesn't deserve him).
 
Sounds like we're got both both the editorial and administrative side of the blog covered.
 
Enjoy :p
That's Herbert.
 
@rumtscho Herbert Hoover?
 
@Sobachatina I can never get vocal puns
What is it supposed to sound like?
 
@rumtscho Herbert von Karajan
 
9:25 PM
@Sobachatina It takes me a full minute to parse any American sentence
 
@derobert who is this?
 
@rumtscho Former president of the US, at the start of the Great Depression.
 
@derobert Forgot about him. But, beside the fact that I don#t care for classical music, isn't he dead? Or only retired?
 
@rumtscho Karajan is dead.
 
9:27 PM
I know one Norbert, but he doesn't count.
 
@rumtscho and not liking classical music, what's wrong with you? :-P
 
No, i know two Norberts, but the second one probably doesn't remember me.
 
Herbert or Heribert (Aribert, ) is a Germanic given name, from hari "host" and beraht "bright". It also came into use as a surname, for which see Herbert (surname), Hébert. people called Herbert: * Saint Herbert * Herbert I of Maine (died 1036), Frankish count * Herbert II of Maine (died 1062), Frankish count * Herbert I, Count of Vermandois (848–907), Frankish count * Herbert II, Count of Vermandois (880–943), Frankish count * Herbert III, Count of Vermandois (987–997), Frankish count * Herbert IV, Count of Vermandois (1045–1080), Frankish count * Herbert Aptheker (1915–2003), American...
easy way to finder Herberts
 
I want this watch
 
@ElendilTheTall yawn just stop it. All our dialects are converging into a generic Internet-age-Anglican-newspeak anyway.
 
9:28 PM
I'm only teasing
 
@Sobachatina I think, he's just confessing he's slow.
 
@Sobachatina Do you consider Dutch a dialect of English?
 
I know. Thanks to you I can't watch Mary Poppins anymore because Mr Van Dyke makes my ears bleed.
And I don't even know what his accent is supposed to sound like.
 
Pfff
hang about, I'll find you a cockney accent online
 
@Sobachatina I still want to know what @ElendilTheTall 's pun above sounds like
The "have them on and you mean?" sentence
 
9:30 PM
@rumtscho most Americans pronounce 'herb' as 'erb'
however, they also pronounce 'hand' as 'hand'
I was pointing out the dichotomy between the two
 
"hand"?
I don't see a "hand" in your sentence
 
no, because I took the h off like the Americans do with herb
get it?
 
I thought that he had to read it aloud because it sounds like different words when pronounced
 
perhaps I should have written it as 'and
 
Ah, I got it now. Sorry.
I was looking for a completely different kind of joke.
 
9:35 PM
@rumtscho the BBC informed me the other day, that to make a joke in Germany, apparently you have to essentially shout THAT WAS A JOKE afterwards. This puts you in the upper percentiles of folks in Germany, that you managed to look for a joke at all.
@rumtscho Congratulations! You are officially above average!
 
@derobert I am not GErman. And I don#t consume much German media (but I read die Zeit online).
I agree, German comedy is atrocious.
 
@Sobachatina Apparently no one on the internet can do a Cockney accent
 
But I am afraid that neither Germans nor Americans seem to get the jokes I make.
 
@rumtscho Ha! That was a good one.
 
here you go, they've all got Cockney accents
 
9:37 PM
@ElendilTheTall Of course they can't. If cockney people would get online, they would start speaking the newfangled Internetspeak.
@ElendilTheTall I understood the numbers. I am proud of myself.
 
@ElendilTheTall Ok, this accent I've heard and cannot at all reproduce.
Where is it from?
 
They call London лънн?
Sorry, I can't reproduce the second letter in a Roman alphabet.
 
Birds == "desirable young women" and Pissed == "drunk"? Are either vulgar and not to be repeated in polite company?
 
But it isn't a schwa really, it is more like a ɔ
 
pissed is drunk yes
 
9:42 PM
And the double consonant didn't mean shortening, it was more a real doubling, but after a long vowel
 
@derobert Jefromi would like to commit but isn't confident about coming up with enough ideas to be able to follow through.
 
[lɔ:nn]
 
@Sobachatina That's an East London accent, Cockney
 
@Jefromi Yes. Ideas. The hard part.
 
@jefromi it is OK if you write about ideas others have come up with but don't have the time or experience to realize
 
9:44 PM
Birds is a bit un-PC but not necessarily vulgar, pissed is a mild expletive
like ass
 
hello all
 
Ideas are a dime a dozen, we have 18 of them before the blog has started
hello @tastefive
Nice to see that you are unaffected enough by the weather to come online
 
@rumtscho it was pretty bad for a while
 
@ElendilTheTall Wow! I don't understand this sentence even slightly:
 
@tastefive wait, you're a chef and actually write about food. Or at least your profile says so. We should definitely rope you into writing for the Cooking.SE blog
0
A: Call for participation: Cooking blog

derobertI haven't written a blog before, but I think I could manage to do at least one post per month. Eventually (once I get the hang of it), I think I could do more often. Coming up with topics is always what I've found hardest about writing. Right now, I've posted two ideas to the idea thread, both o...

 
9:46 PM
@ElendilTheTall There are different accents within London itself? I mean, I know that it is big, but still...
 
@derobert Yeah- why write on your own blog for ad revenue when you could write here for free!
 
@Sobachatina hah, like anyone gets ad revenue :-P
 
@rumtscho yes, but all variations on the same accent really
@Sobachatina the first sentence?
 
lol
 
hi @tastefive
 
9:48 PM
@Sobachatina "You remember last week we was [were] having a row about whose turn it was to go down the chippy [to go to the fish & chip shop] yeah?"
 
@Mien hello
are there suggested blog topics yet?
nm i see it now
 
And I managed to link to my answer instead of the question anyway
 
Yes, but feel free to add yours ;)
 
@Sobachatina make sense now?
 
@Mien well, the good news, is @rumtscho has a dozen ideas, if only we can find a way to get her a dime. A Euro-dime, I suppose.
 
9:51 PM
But we don't have Euro-dimes!
we have 0.20 euro pieces.
or 0.50 or 0.10
How much is a dime? 0.25?
 
@jefromi you could write about raised crusts, not everybody knows about them
 
@Mien wait, a dime is 0.10
 
Oh, then we do! :)
 
Ah no, it was @tastefive who doesn't have ideas.
 
Can't I just bake a cake and take pictures from it?
 
9:52 PM
As a pro chef, he can write about stuff that we others can't
 
:D
 
7 mins ago, by rumtscho
Ideas are a dime a dozen, we have 18 of them before the blog has started
 
yay, my match photo is doing well in the Photo PotW!
 
@ElendilTheTall that's a neat photo
 
@mien only if you include random thoughts going through your head in the text, forget to convert the recipe, and use a phone camera to snap the pictures.
Oh, and use a bad recipe please. Such as adding margarine to a box cake mix.
 
9:54 PM
Well it looks like you guys have a good amount of interest for the blog
 
@Mien Category: Sorry, I Already Finished It
 
@rumtscho Yeah I'm not so much worried about short-term as long-term.
 
@derobert thanks - check out my water drops about 3 hours back
 
@Jefromi There is lots of time to think about ideas until long-term
 
@rumtscho Actually, that gives me an idea for a category of posts: disasters. I mean, that's the best part of In the Pipeline. I think it'd actually be interesting to read posts where someone learns from it all going wrong.
 
9:56 PM
Cooking is a very wide topic.
 
... or at least, we hope the author learned
 
@derobert I think @Mien already proposed it.
 
@rumtscho You know how I love those!
 
@rumtscho Hmm, not on the recent list of ideas, let me check the older one
 
I think she did it in caht only
 
9:58 PM
I think so too.
Go ahead and propose!
 
Writing it up as an answer on meta now
 
@rumtscho Well, I'll think about it, but if I'm going to end up contributing intermittently, I'd rather commit to that, not regular contributions. We'll see. I'd like to be able to, I'm just not sure.
 
@Jefromi OK, thank you for investing thought in it and not giving a promise lightly. I think that everyone of us is scared of what can happen after the "low fruit" has been picked, but I think that we can pull it through.
 
0
A: Question ideas for a hypothetical blog

derobertCooking Disasters Even when you're fairly experienced, every once and a while things go completely wrong. Sometimes, its because you did something stupid, other times it was a good idea, “in theory.” Either way, it provides an opportunity to learn from—and also encouragement to less-experienced ...

 
@ElendilTheTall Yep. I can hear it now. Again- Wow.
 
10:07 PM
After all, we now have 7 authors. If each can produce 2 posts at least, we have 14 posts, which is half a year in a two-week-rhythm. I hope that every author has at least two ideas to start with (or can imagine writing about two things from the common list). If we can keep up regular posts for half a year, we can count as established, I hope.
 
I won't commit to it because I have a horrible track record of such things but it is likely that I will throw a post out of the blue at you to be posted at some random time.
 
In good news, it looks like the question is going to be who wants to be an admin.
 
@Sobachatina this would be nice.
 
I can't either. I will just be to busy.
 
If we committed people have help from random contributors, we can have a good blog with less pressure to deliver ourselves. So we can keep it running for longer without it becoming a burden.
 
10:13 PM
@rumtscho I'm pretty sure if I can produce one post, I can produce much more than 2.
 
@rumtscho how does a recipe blog post look like to you?
Or others?
 
@Mien That'd be a nice topic. Present a personal or family recipe you are proud of.
 
yes, and it has a lot of upvotes.
But I'm sure there are kinds we don't want.
 
I am not so sure about recipes. There are other places where people look for recipes.
 
Well, I wouldn't want a copy & paste job off of epicurious.
 
10:16 PM
There are a few successful recipe blogs, but they concentrate on the recipes exclusively, and they are focused. Like Smitten Kitchen or Michael's blog.
 
Well, for me it's ambiguous.
If a recipe is recommended from someone I know, I'll perceive it as better than if I find it on a random website.
 
And people use them like a recipe database, not for other purposes.
 
I think it'd be a good occasional feature.
 
@Mien If we are only read by the people whom we know through chat, there isn't much sense in the blog.
The point is to have a blog read by more people.
 
Yes, but there are still only maybe 10 authors. So the more people who read the blog will get to "know" those authors
 
10:17 PM
Yes sure, but there is certainly a fair amount of people looking for recipes.
 
And I think that our strengths should lie somewhere different than in becoming a recipe source.
 
Yes, surely we won't cover recipes only.
 
Of course, if we blog about something where a recipe is appropriate, we will give the recipe.
For example, if Jefromi writes about his experience with raised crust, he should give the recipe too.
 
I think sharing a personal recipe would be a good way to talk about related stuff, for example, how you developed it, why the various steps are there, etc. It should be a lot more in depth than a recipe database
 
Hmm, what about a recipe fight?
Like a recipe for the same thing on two quite highly seen websites and make them both and compare?
 
10:19 PM
But the post would exist because most people haven't heard of a raised crust and it is new to them, not because the world needs one more pie recipe.
 
You don't need to say 'A is best', but you can say 'A is more ... while B is more...'
 
@Mien This sounds like an interesting thing.
 
I can do things like that :)
 
Oooh, recipe reviews, basically.
 
Sure.
I would like that.
I always have a hard time choosing a recipe.
I'm stuck with my buttercream :(
Three totally different methods :s
 
10:22 PM
Just a review would be boring. Everybody can cook a recipe and critique the result. But most people haven't tried two recipes side-by-side to see what difference is possible and what causes it.
So, a recipe comparison is interesting.
 
Posts that go into how a recipe is developed would be cool. Since this site seems to have a bunch on tinkerers.
 
I think it's already included as an answer in the scope question, right?
 
@tastefive This one too.
 
@rumtscho I don't think we should start out with sharing recipes. But after the blog is established, and we have a few regular authors that people know (from reading their posts), having them sometimes share their own personal creations or favorites would be interesting. And good filler...
 
I'm off to bed :)
 
10:23 PM
@derobert Yes, possible. But only after we are established as an "authority". And not too much of it.
 
If you decide something, wake me up!
 
@tastefive Yeah, posts on developing a dish would be good. Especially if they explain why different things are being done.
 
Nn.
 
Or recipe showdowns. Two authors tasked to make a certain dish, have to create there own recipe and right the article how they did it, what problems they faced. and people can then vote on their favorite one.
 
@tastefive Also nice :)
 
10:26 PM
@tastefive will they have a secret ingredient? :-P
 
But it's hard to 'create' a recipe if you are used to using one every time you make that.
 
@tastefive I don#t think we can have an interactive element with voting.
 
@rumtscho ahh
 
@rumtscho Well, couldn't people leave comments?
 
@rumtscho we could find a way. Comments, or alternatively, abuse meta :-P
 
10:27 PM
Or just vote in here, by starring.
It's just for fun, it does not have to be very strict.
Anyway, bye!
 
well then it could be like the he made/she made column on food network magazine. those are still interesting.
 
We lack the infrastructure for such voting, and people can't taste the results anyway. The blog authors aren't all photographers, and the presentation is decisive in food you haven't eaten yourself.
The showdown itself is a good idea.
It is the "voting" part I find hard to pull off. Sure, readers can express their opinion in comments, but it won't be a thing with a clear winner, I think.
 
@rumtscho I guess the assumption would be that people would have to try to make them both themselves.
@rumtscho true
 
@tastefive The readers? I doubt that we will have enough readers for the conversion rate to matter.
 
@tastefive Well, I doubt we'd have enough readers on the blog at first to pull that off, at least at first...
 
10:30 PM
Really, out of all the articles you read about food, how many do you make at home? One in a hundred?
 
You can also to pantry checklists. For example "the Italian pantry" article on the main ingredients that you can keep in your pantry to give a dish the feel of that particular cuisine.
@rumtscho true
 
And I think that readers who are not as cooking-interested as we are cook new things less. So, if one reader in two hundred cooks it at home... we will need a thousand readers for a new post. I don't think we can get that.
 
@tastefive I like this idea. Especially it is not just a pantry, but also lists classic combinations.
 
Yeah. Server room AC fixed. By replacement.
@rumtscho Yeah, that could also give a few (simple) recipes based on the classic combinations
E.g., show how combination X can be used to make several dishes
 
10:33 PM
@tastefive you should write the showdown idea and the pantry idea into the posts list question. It doesn't mean that you have to be the one to write the posts, somebody else can use the inspiration if you don't have the time.
 
@rumtscho sure
 
@derobert I would almost view this as a separate post, not bundled with the pantry.
 
@rumtscho Yes, that could be. It would be an acceptable way to do a "recipe" post, too.
I shall post it on meta.
 
@derobert yep
 
@derobert You don't have to sneak "recipe" posts around me. The only objection I have to pure recipe posts is that they are not the information for which readers will come to us. If you have an idea which catches readers with something, it is perfectly OK to contain a recipe (at least in my opinion).
 
10:36 PM
@rumtscho I agree, you guys will have a hard time being a pure recipe blog.
 
@rumtscho That's not sneaking it around you. That's sneaking it around your (perfectly valid) objections to plain recipe posts.
 
"A good pesto recipe" is boring. "Create five different dishes with just one plant" or "five uses for basil you never thought of" is good.
 
brb, got to go to store.
 
0
A: Question ideas for a hypothetical blog

derobertFrom Classic Combination to Many Dishes Explain how to take a classic combination of ingredients and/or methods and elaborate it into several dishes to show how recipes can be built from fundamentals.

... done.
Wow, we're up to 20 answers... will have more once @tastefive writes his up
 
@derobert as I said, ideas are the easy part. Transferring them to end products is work. Not necessarily hard work, but takes time.
If we have 26 ideas, we are covered for the first year. And some ideas can be reused - We don't have to stay with an Italian pantry, we can make one Italian pantry and one Thai pantry, for example.
 
10:45 PM
A lot of those ideas are generalizable
 
@rumtscho well that was what I meant I wasn't just suggesting italian, that was just the first example to come to mind
 
@tastefive Yes, and it was a good thing that you suggested an example, it made it more easier to imagine what can be made with it. But I am happy that it can produce even more posts. We seem to have authors who are afraid of having nothing to write about, and a list of good, "milkable" ideas will probably make them more confident.
 
11:15 PM
ok posted those ideas
 

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