The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

5:47 AM

-5

Q: Should we close all questions after the first answer is posted?

Pursuant to this Meta discussion, I propose the following: All questions should be closed as soon as they have one answer, with the following notice: This question already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question. Now I do not actually...

SQB

10:09 AM

@Marvin Let's close that rant.

Jenayah

10:35 AM

Just a thought, though it's probably been addressed before - I'm against the closing thing, but how about the accepted story-identification questions?

That may avoid some non-answer posts such as "thanks" and stuff - am I reinventing the protected status?

Edlothiad

@Jenayah This is what our community moderation team and protections are for. You can almost bet that a thank you post when our most active community moderators are on will be nuked in a matter of minutes.

Jenayah

True that

Edlothiad

@SQB Borderline Super Down Voting there.

@Jenayah *bows*

Jenayah

It was just a RTDCB. Random Thought During Coffee Break.

Edlothiad

Wow @Jenayah that's probably the highest voted late answer I've ever seen :O

Jenayah

10:44 AM

Also, I'm patenting this abbreviation ^

SQB

@Edlothiad Rant disguised as question. Of course it gets down votes.

Edlothiad

@SQB Super Down Votes =/= Down Votes. SDVs are when users use their rep to close/delete questions because they don't like them.

Jenayah

@Edlothiad which one?

Edlothiad

We had this issue a couple of months ago, or more like people were being accused of this.

Jenayah

Oh, Snape thing?

Edlothiad

10:46 AM

@Jenayah the Harry Potter canon answer 2 years later about Snape and Petunia

This

Jenayah

Yeah, but as Valorum said, it's one hell of a catch.

Edlothiad

I think that's the answer ID I wanted

@Edlothiad Nerd

@Jenayah There have been plenty of those in the past though, which have gotten the typical 5/10. 20?! That's higher than a lot of new posts!

Although I guess HP is HP and everyone on this site seems to love HP

Jenayah

What I was about to say ^

SQB

@Edlothiad Ah, I hadn't heard of that term. But like I said, rant disguised as question. Sure, we can discuss dupe-closing based on answers. I think there should be a cut-off point where an answer happens to provide a borderline answer for another question. But not based on this.

(AFK for a bit)

Jenayah

Funny enough how this site is the place I learned the word "rant", and still is the only place I actually hear it.

Edlothiad

11:07 AM

No one has ever ranted to you in your real life?

Say a friend having a rough day at work and just streams about 10-20 consecutive messages about how annoying coworkers had been today and the various things they'd done to irritate you, @Jenayah?

Jenayah

I'm not a native English speaker :)

Edlothiad

Oh you meant just in English?

Jenayah

This kind of situation I usually heard being referred as "raving"

Yeah

Edlothiad

I think we have different definitions of the word raving :D

Jenayah

Otherwise of course I know what the concept of rant is. I'm French! :p

Edlothiad

11:10 AM

For me it's usually a group of young adults, in a common area going nuts to music usually because they're on certain substances!

@Jenayah Ahhh! Je comprends

Jenayah

Ah, that too!

@Edlothiad :p

Edlothiad

That's all the French I learnt in a year. Fake it till you make it!

Jenayah

Ahah. Can't judge, this is basically me and Spanish.

Edlothiad

Except I live in a French speaking area, it would've taken me minimal effort to learn more :/

Jenayah

Or this guy and Russian: youtube.com/watch?v=paG1-lPtIXA

Edlothiad

11:14 AM

Oooh lovely dad bod!

Jenayah

If you have time, watch the video - it's funny as hell ^^

Where do you live, if you're willing to share it? (No problem if you don't, of course :) )

Edlothiad

@Jenayah Various people are out of work, I'm watching now

@Jenayah I'll just say in Europe

I guess that makes it reasonably easy to guess the various parts from there

Jenayah

Alright!

Kind of, yeah

Edlothiad

But I found the English speakers and did the good ol' English method of not learning anything that isn't English.

Jenayah

Oh, I thought this way the American way of doing things.

Then again, many North Americans may have inherited some English stuff from their great-great....-ancestors.

Edlothiad

11:21 AM

Any primarily English speaking country really

Jenayah

Yeah, well, when your mother tongue is already the most spoken on the world, there's not the same need for foreign languages, I guess.

Edlothiad

This guy is quite funny haha

There is no way that Machine story can be true haha!

SQB

@Jenayah that's fXXXing funny.

Jenayah

@Edlothiad I heard some if the Russian guys commented on his Facebook or something that it was true - don't know if it actually is, but in any case as @SQB said it's one big laugh

Edlothiad

It is bloody hilarious.

Jenayah

11:34 AM

^^

Wandering on YouTube at 2am has its perks sometimes.

Or, there's Eddie Izzard who's quite funny too: youtu.be/x1sQkEfAdfY

Edlothiad

Ah, he's strange, but funny

Jenayah

Not one of his sketches beats the one on Trojan war though :p

Mithrandir

James Veitch Is A Terrible Roommate - CONAN on TBS

►

Jenayah

Hey is that the guy who did a Ted talk about replying to spam emails?!

Mithrandir

Yep

Jenayah

11:45 AM

Will definitely watch when I'm not at work anymore

Mithrandir

And then inspired me to email some spammers ;)

gist.github.com/superplane39/c0e6d719255629a7eaf2e1b302da43c2

Jenayah

Funniest Ted talk ever: youtu.be/arj7oStGLkU

Mithrandir

@Jenayah the post is better than the talk

waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

Jenayah

I read it already- definitely worth it

Mithrandir

Also, what about a TED talk... with no talking at all?

Over The Edge | Fabio Wibmer | TEDxVienna

►

Jenayah

11:52 AM

This Github was epic

Jenayah

12:02 PM

There's this one, same concept than Izzard's (though French chauvinism would make me tell you that Izzard had the same concept than Elmaleh, but hey :p ) : youtube.com/watch?v=11jG7lkwDwU (subbed)

Jenayah

12:21 PM

@Mithrandir will watch that at home, but if that's what I think, the guys who manage to do this are awesome.

(take note that this is coming from someone not even able to take a turn with a bike, though)

Mithrandir

Fabio Wibmer is awesome but I can't understand his videos :P

Danny Macaskill, Duncan Shaw, Blake Samson...

Jenayah

Since we're on "hey let's not do our shit like the others" artists, musical interlude with Stomp: youtube.com/watch?v=US7c9ASVfNc

SQB

1:58 PM

Isn't comics a bit broad on a question about a specific series or specific universe?

Jenayah

Are you thinking of a specific question?

Edlothiad

I'm unsure if you've read the question or the comics tag wiki excerpt, @SQB, the OP clearly wants answers from the entire marvel universe. I added the comics tag as it's relevant to all Marvel comics.

As well as the films

SQB

The one about other Titans comparing to Thanos was my reason for asking.

Edlothiad

And I guess random tv shows and bits but we only have so many tag spaces

SQB

@Edlothiad Yeah, I read that, I just thought the tag was a bit redundant.

Edlothiad

2:01 PM

> In the Marvel Cinematic Universe there is little information on the Titans, so I'll accept answers from all around the Marvel universe.

Just tagging it as MCU limits the scope.

SQB

I don't think the scope is limited by the tags a question has.

To be clear, I don't mind the tag on there, I just thought it a bit redundant.

Edlothiad

Sure it is. Same reason we tag certain media as [work][tv] or [work][books] because you're asking from the tv show or the books

The comics aren't canon to the MCU and vice versa

Answering a HP question with HPMOR content wouldn't fly

etc. etc.

star-wars-legends etc.

Jack B Nimble

@Randal'Thor can you feature the blog post meta question? scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11051/…

SFF Blog

2:23 PM

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Community Blog: Mike Needs a New Set of Lungs

posted on July 17, 2018 by Jack B Nimble

Our very own KutuluMike needs to have both of his lungs replaced due to a severe lung disease. No one expects you to donate your lungs for this (in all likelyhood, you are currently using yours), and for whatever reason, he is only willing to accept human lungs (picky much?). However, he does have a ... Read more

11

Jenayah

2:37 PM

@SQB Ok I don't wanna know. If that doesn't appear in my homepage it means it is related to Infinity War or Black Panther which I still haven't seen. But thanks!

Jack B Nimble

A black panther is just a leopard (at least in Africa). Spoiler alert.

Jenayah

2

Oh, and daily floof by the way. ^

Gallifreyan

^ michaelnordeman.tumblr.com/post/175806784969/red-squirrelekorre

Did someone say floof?

^ instagram.com/fox_kuzma

SQB

3:07 PM

One floof per day, please. Hold your floofs. :)

Jenayah

Gallifreyan's only making up for the growing delay :)

Zaphod

3:44 PM

16

Q: Who was “that awful boy” that Petunia refers to?

So let me just preface this by stating that I have decided to reread the Harry Potter series for at least the hundredth time; but this time, I am reading them in reverse order. That being said, in Order of the Phoenix, A Peck of Owls, we have the following, emphasis is my own: "De-ment-tors...

harry-potter

Jack B Nimble

4:44 PM

@Kevin Would you tag the blog post scifi.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/11051/… as featured?

Mithrandir

6:04 PM

@JackBNimble That's something you can just raise a custom flag about.

Zaphod

9:00 PM

14

Q: Old sci-fi story about shadowy aliens who surround Earth to protect it from solar flare, tragic misunderstanding by humans?

Plots Summary/Details The story is told from the POV of an astronaut who, along with his crew, is launched into orbit to investigate a weird phenomena that has entered local space. Several enormous fields of darkness, probably alien beings (not sure if that is initially understood) are floating...

story-identification short-stories

10

Q: Short story where Earth submits to alien warriors but a Terran admiral dooms Earth by trying to ambush alien fleet

Plot Summary/Details The story is at least partially written in a flash-back. The protagonist is a senior military commander in the Terran space fleet (forget the actual name). An alien race, described as very man-like, arrives on Earth. They are man-like, but larger and more muscular, tha...

story-identification short-stories alien-invasion

6

Q: Short story set in modern (1980s) London, about a man who finds a group of homeless people who are cannibals?

I read this one in the early-to-mid 1980s, and I'm fairly certain that was when it was written. The protagonist is a middle-class-type who has recently lost everything. He has no job, has lost his home, and so on. He may also be drinking heavily at this point. One night, he happens upon a grou...

story-identification

b_jonas

9:42 PM

8

Q: Looking for the name or author of a fantasy series involving magic rings

Okay, first up, this series is something I read approximately 20 years ago, so my details may not be 100% accurate. It’s a medieval type fantasy setting. Here’s what I remember: Main character is a boy who finds a magical ring (I think in a well). The ring gives him the ability to ‘seek’ out o...

story-identification

^ This isn't Lord of the Rings despite the similarity of some of the description, right?

Mithrandir

...probably not, but it is quite similar.

Pretty much everything except for the shapeshifer thing matches.

> Main character is a boy who finds a magical ring (I think in a well). The ring gives him the ability to ‘seek’ out other rings (I think).

Bilbo is actually in Gollum's cave, in a lake, so... sorta similar to a well? The One Ring does make him visible to the Ringwraiths, although this is kinda tenuous.

> He meets with a company (at the same time he stumbles upon the ring) of men who are fighting to overthrow evil rulers. They may also have been looking for the rings.

Either Bilbo going with the Company to overthrow Smaug or the Fellowship to Mordor.

> Another ring bearer is granted the ability to heal. His name starts with a R, and is possibly Rafe, or Ralf

Not sure what this could be.

> One ring bearer is granted the gift of invisibility. During the series he falls in a magic river and becomes immortal.

Misremembered Gollum.

> The first trilogy ends with a face off with the evil Goddess She. The main character sacrifices himself and is frozen in a fountain with her.

The Two Towers ends with the fight against Shelob, where Frodo is poisoned and wrapped up in a web.

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The Restaurant at the End of the Univ…