The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Alex

12:00 AM

But subject to various disagreement s between different sects.

Jenayah

"sects" as in weird cult stuff or "sects" as in divergent opinions inside the same religion?

Alex

@Jenayah The latter.

But with all these Judaism questions, I may have to ask you some more French questions to stay even.

Jenayah

@Alex no problem, ask away

it's always nice to learn new stuff, and it's even greater if it goes both ways :D

Alex

@Jenayah Well first I have to post my answer to the comic question.

@Jenayah Definitely!

Jenayah

@Alex sure

@Alex some info on the wikia if needed dc.wikia.com/wiki/Rory_Regan_(New_Earth) (to be honest I'm not up to date with Ragman yet, I think I only read the last series and a couple of comics he was featured in here and there)

And the Injustice run

Alex

12:06 AM

@Jenayah Nah, my answer has nothing to do with the comic per se (which you are correct, I know nothing about). I'm just identifying the other Hebrew word.

Jenayah

@Alex looking forward to it then :)

Alex

12:30 AM

@Jenayah Answer posted.

Jenayah

reading now :)

Jenayah

12:42 AM

Lol. Ragman was once recruited by Santa, along others, to save Christmas.

This Holiday Special issue is full of "woah, they actually did it" stuff...

Behold, Bat-Santa.

b_jonas

I knew I've seen this drawing style before! See our largest multi-identification question scifi.stackexchange.com/q/171218/4918 "Universe: 113 Character Poster" for another poster drawn by the same hand. — b_jonas 6 mins ago

Jenayah

Probably the weirdest thing I've seen today.

And, among my top 5 "comics awkward moments"

Alex

@Jenayah Perhaps ironic, as today is actually a Jewish holiday.

Jenayah

@Alex oh, is it? Happy holiday :)

Alex

@Jenayah Well to be more precise, it's part of a holiday that extends over multiple days. But I'll accept the well-wishes anyway.

Jenayah

12:46 AM

@Alex so what is the holiday(s)?

Alex

Sukkot

Sukkot (Hebrew: סוכות‎ or סֻכּוֹת, sukkōt), commonly translated as Feast of Tabernacles, traditional Ashkenazi pronunciation Sukkos or Succos; also known as Chag HaAsif (חג האסיף), the Feast of Ingathering, is a biblical Jewish holiday celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month, Tishrei (varies from late September to late October). During the existence of the Jerusalem Temple, it was one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Hebrew: שלוש רגלים‎, shalosh regalim) on which the Israelites were commanded to perform a pilgrimage to the Temple. The names used in the Torah are Chag HaAsif, literally...

Jenayah

ok! :)

Alex

@Jenayah When I sometimes disappear for a day or two at a time, it's usually either Sabbath or a holiday.

Jenayah

@Alex oh right, you're the appointed pedant here, but forbidden to work on Sabbath? ;) (kidding)

Alex

@Jenayah Which part of that is the joke?

b_jonas

12:53 AM

@Alex If you only disappear for holidays, that means you're pretty dedicated to Sci Fi SE. Almost like a scifi.stackexchange.com/help/badges/23/fanatic

Alex

@b_jonas There's actually a post on Mi Yodeya Meta about how it can be almost impossible for us to get that badge.

Jenayah

@Alex well, you're not officially working for SE, as far as I know

@Alex how so?

Alex

@Jenayah I think I once posted a comment that I am. Let me see if I can find it.

Jenayah

Are there never 100 consecutive days without a holiday in the Jewish calendar?

b_jonas

@Alex Is it that hard? I think you can just set up a bot that visits the site in your name once every day, on a computer running all the time.

Jenayah

12:55 AM

Or do Sabbath count "visiting/posting on SE" as forbidden work?

<---------- ignorant person

Alex

@Jenayah It's actually a regular Mi Yodeya question:

25

Q: The Fanatic Badge

Here on Mi Yodeya, one can earn the "Fanatic" badge for visiting the site for 100 consecutive days. Is it halachically possible to earn the fanatic badge in the Diaspora?

With a related Meta Post:

2

Q: Can we get our own custom Enthusiast and Fanatic Badge?

Even though we're run on a generic platform (aka StackExchange), I think it's safe to say that we have the right to our own identity, and consequently our own rules. There are currently two elements of the site: the Enthusiast Badge and Fanatic Badge that both require a user visiting the site a ...

feature-request badges

@b_jonas I wouldn't know how to do that, but in any case it's not so simple from the Judaism side.

Jenayah

@Alex computer use is forbidden on Sabbath?

Alex

@Jenayah Yes. At least according to (most?) Orthodox factions.

Jenayah

I might sound really, really, really ignorant, but... wasn't the Torah written waaaaaay before computers existed? Or is it one of "those cases" where what's forbidden is a bit vague so everyone has their interpretation?

Alex

@Jenayah Do you want a long answer to that, or a short answer?

Jenayah

1:01 AM

Or is the Torah, or the "religious laws", "updated" from time to time?

@Alex I guess the long answer is "read the whole Mi Yodeya site"? x)

Joke aside, whatever answer you see fit.

Alex

@Jenayah Nah, I can give a basic overview in a relatively short manner. (Plus I'll be more considerate about jargony words.)

b_jonas

@Jenayah The copyright laws of Hungary were also written before the internet was wide-spread, and has really stupid consequences for the new media and distribution types that arised later. In particular, many of the copyright licenses people use for open source software might not work according to the law, because they fail to mention that they allow distribution worldwide, and so they default to distribution to Hungary.

Jenayah

@Alex sure then, and thanks for that :)

Alex

@Jenayah Coming up. Just give me a minute or two to write it.

Jenayah

@b_jonas yeah but I guess that even if rewriting laws is a long, painful process, it's still more easily done than rewriting religious laws?

b_jonas

1:11 AM

I am not a lawyer, but I think a copyright troll, or the government agency for orphaned works, can abuse that if they become the heir of the rights to a contributions to open source software licensed under one of those licenses (incl. GNU licenses, the Boost license, and the MIT licenses), by suing someone for having distributed the software from Hungary to a foreign country through the internet.

@Jenayah That rather depends on how motivated the government is, that is, politics, and whether the rewrite would conflict with international agreements the country has signed.

Jenayah

@b_jonas sure

b_jonas

@Alex Yes, judaism.stackexchange.com/a/23136 probably covers that the best, the side whether it's allowed that is, not the technical side.

Alex

@Jenayah Here goes: The Torah mentions the Sabbath and holidays, and states that "work" is forbidden on those days. The text itself doesn't say what "work" constitutes, though. In addition to the Biblical text (the Written Law), there is also the Oral Law which eventually was written down, and whose main corpus is the Talmud. In the Oral Law there is a list of specific forbidden labors that fall under the category of "work".

When electricity became a part of reality the various scholars tried to figure out if using electricity would fall into one of the categories. Over the last century and a half or so, the consensus has basically solidified that it is forbidden, but there is still disagreement as to why (i.e. which category it falls under, or what other external reason there might be). Depending on the reason,

Jenayah

especially in Hungary, from what I've gathered when you occasionally talk about Hungarian's political scene :/

Alex

the severity of the prohibition may be different, and thus different factors can override it in certain circumstances. But essentially, religious Orthodox Jews abstain from computer use every Sabbath and some holidays. As for whether the laws can be updated, that is actually one of the more currently contentious topics. The "traditionalist" view is that we can only work within the existing laws themselves (i.e. we can analyse new situations and

b_jonas

1:15 AM

@Jenayah So in a particular case like copyright law, I can't give a prediction, because I can't predict politics in Hungary.

Alex

apply the laws to hitherto undiscussed cases but we can't actually create new laws or abolish old laws). Other groups are more open to modifying things, and there is a whole spectrum ranging from small modifications to huge modifications.

A bit of an oversimplification, but...

Jenayah

@Alex oh right, the Talmud was that text which featured the dilemma between smarts and memory!

@Alex is it "abstain from computer" or "abstain from electricity as a whole"? the latter seems really tough to achieve in some nowadays situations.

Alex

@Jenayah Yes, good recollection!

b_jonas

@Alex Yeah, and it gets worse, because using a computer to visit the website might involve more types of forbidden work than just using electricity.

Alex

@b_jonas True.

@Jenayah It's abstain from electricity as a whole, but there are certain parameters.

Like, it might be forbidden to turn on a light, but you can leave the light on from before and still use it.

@Jenayah In fact, there are lots of discussions about using doors with sensors, or hotel rooms that only have electronic keys, or other such things.

Jenayah

1:24 AM

@Alex I was more thinking about heating, actually

@Alex throw the electronic key on the door's sensor cell :D

Alex

@Jenayah What kind of heating?

Like heating a house in the winter?

Jenayah

@Alex yeah, not for cooking

Marvin

0

Q: Which was the first story featuring time travelling by passing memories back to your former self?

I'm watching an anime called Steins;Gate (2011), where one of the time travel methods they feature is traveling back in time by passing memories back to your former self, similar to X-men: Days of Future Past (1981) if I recall correctly. This seems to be a common idea in sci-fi stories. Which w...

time-travel history-of

Alex

@Jenayah So you can put the heat on in advance, and not modify it on the Sabbath itself. Whether you can set things on a timer to go on and off by themselves is a discussion.

Jenayah

you can drink raw stuff or leftovers one day a week, it's not a big deal (or cook it with gas/fire)

b_jonas

1:27 AM

@Jenayah Oh right, you live in France, where people heat with electricity. Or maybe that's only outside of the cities. Here we use gas heating or central heating, both with gas transmitted through pipes. Some gas heaters and convectors have electronic control systems in it, but some don't, and only require electricity for lighting it, and they're pretty good at not losing the flame once they're lit, especially the convectors.

Alex

@Jenayah Nah, cooking happens to be one of the forbidden things even without considering electricity.

We have to cook in advance, and use various permitted means to keep the food hot if we want.

Jenayah

@Alex which are what?

b_jonas

@Jenayah Do people have to heat by electricity and drink UHT conserved milk even in big cities in France?

Alex

@Jenayah Here's one example:

Blech

A blech (from the Yiddish word בלעך (blekh) meaning "tin" or "sheet metal") is a metal sheet used by many observant Jews to cover stovetop burners (and for some, the cooker's knobs and dials) on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath), as part of the precautions taken to avoid violating the halachic prohibition against cooking on the Sabbath. == Common use == Rabbi Fishel Jacobs' The Blech Book—The Complete & Illustrated Guide To Shabbos Hotplates gives the following guidelines:- The food (including water) intended for Shabbat use should be completely cooked. The stove’s gas flames or electric coils are...

b_jonas

Or do they have utility gas pipes or central heating and fresh milk in stores there?

Jenayah

1:34 AM

@b_jonas I've seen several heat solutions: those hot water through metal ones, some with gas but yeah the main ones are electric resistances heating up with Joule effect or something.

As for milk, I've drunk UHT since I was a kid. Most milk that you find in supermarket is UHT.

I don't think there's something else than UHT in my local supermarket...

b_jonas

@Jenayah Hmm. I think I've actually bought fresh milk in France in a supermarket two years ago. But that was a big supermarket in some city.

Jenayah

Don't know how reliable the source is, but an article claims that 90% of French milk is UHT, and as someone who sips up a bottle of milk every three days, I'd say it's coherent :^)

b_jonas

@Jenayah That seems reasonable. Do you drink the milk alone, or in coffee, or tea, or with cocoa?

Jenayah

@b_jonas oh yeah, there are some bottles of milk in the fridge shelves, but they're more expensive and less handy, since they don't come in a pack.

b_jonas

A bottle of milk (assuming it's at least a litre) in tea would be unlikely, but the rest are possible.

Jenayah

1:39 AM

@b_jonas cocoa and cereals in the morning, sometimes in coffee when roomie makes one

b_jonas

I don't understand why they do that, because I think it's possible to grow cows in France.

Jenayah

@Alex okay!

@b_jonas why who do what?

b_jonas

Not sell fresh milk.

Alex

@Jenayah That's just one method, though.

b_jonas

@Jenayah Ah. Cocoa distorts the flavor so much that you might not feel how much better good fresh milk tastes than UHT.

Jenayah

1:42 AM

@b_jonas oh, probably some health laws and general handiness

it's easier to store UHT milk

while the 7-8 bottles I buy each week would take too much place in the fridge, for instance

@b_jonas I don't put cocoa in fresh milk

well, mainly because I don't drink fresh milk, true

b_jonas

@Jenayah Sure, that's the whole point. Fresh milk must be stored in a fridge all the time, stays fresh for only five weeks top, and must be consumed within a few days after opening the carton. UHT doesn't need a fridge before it's opened.

Mind you, UHT doesn't last much longer, so the fridge is the only actual difference, and its taste if you drink it alone, at least for good milk.

Jenayah

@b_jonas you also have to consider than when you buy fresh milk, you should get home quickly, while UHT can stay in the car/caddie longer

@b_jonas is there the same thing about goat milk, by the way?

b_jonas

@Jenayah Sure, but that's true for many other food, and you usually buy them together in the same store these days.

Jenayah

@b_jonas well yeah but it would take too much place in the cooler bag

b_jonas

@Jenayah I don't know. I don't think unprocessed goat milk is used much here.

Jenayah

1:46 AM

(not just for me, it's a general thing)

b_jonas

I think they only sell cheese and other processed dairy from goat.

Well, there's probably somewhere you can buy the milk too if you want, but it's not in typical food shops.

Jenayah

Roomie's mother bought a pack of goat milk a while ago

to be honest, it's not great, in the sense that for such a taste, I'd rather have the whole "goat cheese" taste than just the milk one

:D

b_jonas

@Jenayah Maybe that's why it's processed then.

And it's probably also more expensive, because cows are basically optimized for milk production.

Yaks are too, sort of, I think, but goats aren't.

Jenayah

@b_jonas oh heck yeah

it's twice as more expensive

Alex

@Jenayah Okay, it doesn't look like I have a comment explicitly stating it, but it seems to be implied by the combination of the discussion starting here:

Aug 22 at 18:37, by Jenayah

@Alex whatever your current job is, Alex, if you can do that kind of thing, drop everything and enroll in a circus. Or make your own YouTube channel, I reckon that's the 2010s way to do it.

And here:

Aug 31 at 12:45, by Jenayah

(ignore the "that would be great", this was replying to someone asking if answerers got paid - the second part is the relevant one here :p )

b_jonas

1:50 AM

In fact, I think there's much more dairy products from sheep sold than dairy products from goat.

Jenayah

@b_jonas mmmmh. Lamb chops.

@Alex you're still not a SE staff, though :p

b_jonas

@Jenayah Yes, there's sheep meat too.

Alex

@Jenayah I could respond to that pedantically, but that's what prompted your comment to begin with.

b_jonas

The sheep meat can actually tastes decent if the person preparing it knows how to do it well.

I'm not a good cook, so I wouldn't do it myself, but I can eat sheep if someone else makes it.

Jenayah

@b_jonas sheep meat tastes great... But you've got to eat tons of the stuff before you have a full belly, unlike cow for instance. I mean, in terms of mass it's the same, but in terms of "whew, that satiated me", it's not the same.

@Alex :p

b_jonas

1:55 AM

@Jenayah That's not the right comparison. Imagine it as a substitute for pork, not for veal or beef.

I'm not saying it's the same, just that it's more close to pork in terms of meals made of it.

Jenayah

@b_jonas pork also tastes great (better than lamb), but it's down to the same thing, it doesn't sate enough

Oh my, people

if you ever get to taste Vietnamese peking pork

go for it

b_jonas

Anyway, good night.

Jenayah

'night! :)

Marvin

3:18 AM

1

Q: Book Where Girl Can Control Meteors and Works for a Circus (YA Novel)

I read a book a couple years ago. It was fairly new, too. In the book, people begin giving birth to children (girls only?) who could control elements. The first child can control fire, the second water, etc. However, the fifth child could control meteors and cause them to crash into Earth. The bo...

story-identification novel young-adult soft-sci-fi

Marvin

6:13 AM

0

Q: Looking for cyborg movie

This movie must have been from the 70s or 80s. I don't remember the plot, just some images. I believe there are several cyborgs in a room waiting to go do something. Most of the movie might take place in this one room. I remember early on in the movie the cyborgs are all suspicious of each other ...

hard-sci-fi

Marvin

6:45 AM

0

Q: How did the Teen Titans change from what they looked like in Teen titans to what they look like in teen titans go?

This may have been asked already, my apologies if it has, but I have my own theory that maybe there was some kind of toon force radiation in thier bodies slowly morphing the titans until they changed and/or in the "new teen titans (shorts)" Starfire says something about a "big bang"? Is there a i...

teen-titans

Marvin

7:02 AM

0

Q: Horror/Thriller movie about snakes in the 80s

I copied my un-posted question from Movies&TV SE after realizing that I can no longer post that question over there. I was pointed to this SE instead as an alternative. I saw this movie in the early 90s, but the movie could have been made in the late 80s. It was a Hollywood production, English ...

story-identification

Mithrandir

7:48 AM

@Alex @Jenayah Fanatic is much easier to earn in Israel.

SQB

Please flag R/A: scifi.stackexchange.com/a/195700/19561

Mithrandir

!!/report scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/183092/…

SQB

This one as well: scifi.stackexchange.com/a/23841/19561

And another one: scifi.stackexchange.com/a/195699/19561

Can I report as well, @Mithrandir?

!!/report scifi.stackexchange.com/a/195699/19561

Seems I can't

@Mithrandir what's your take on them?

Jenayah

8:28 AM

@Mithrandir due to the time zones tweak mentioned in an answer on Mi Yodeya?

Mithrandir

@SQB that one seems NaA

@Jenayah due to the fact that not in Israel most holidays are celebrated for two days, and in Israel only one, because of historical confusion over the calendar

SQB

That's a reasonable interpretation too, but I found dragging the Bible into it, with overtones of misogyny ("deceived by her sorcery") to be rude.

Or was that the second one I linked?

Mithrandir

Oh, the second one. The first one was posted in 2012.

SQB

Ah, no, the second one seemed to be proselytising.

That's spam. (And now deleted as such).

Jenayah

8:45 AM

@SmokeDetector so this one can be deleted now :)

@SmokeDetector this one, too

Marvin

1

Q: Did the neighbors see the Dursleys for what they were?

The Dursleys consider themselves as a respectful family, but was anyone else saw them as one? Neighborhood children all around were terrified of him [Dudley] - even more terrified than they were of "that Potter boy", who, they had been warned, was a hardened hooligan who attended St. Brutus's...

harry-potter dursley

SQB

"Thank you" as an answer; correct answer has been accepted: scifi.stackexchange.com/a/195695/19561

Wait, 6 votes recommend deletion in review, yet it's still here?

scifi.stackexchange.com/review/low-quality-posts/133236

How did that happen?

Jenayah

9:03 AM

@SQB that's indeed pretty strange

Alex

9:16 AM

@Jenayah The time zone helps as well (though Mithrandir is correct that the main issue is one-day vs two-day holidays). Israel is pretty close to UTC time, so it's possible to visit the site on a UTC day even if you abstain for the entire 25 hour period of the Sabbath/holiday. In other time zones where the start and end times of the Sabbath/holiday are closer to the start/end times of the UTC day, there are long stretches of the year

where the 25 hour period of the Sabbath/holiday extends over the entire UTC day, making it impossible to visit the site for more than six days in a row.

Mithrandir

@SQB It has a positive score.

That will have raised an automatic mod flag for them to look at this.

smacks computer STOP CRASHING

Alex

9:34 AM

@Jenayah To clarify my previous comment, a secular day starts and ends at midnight UTC, while a Jewish day (for the purposes of calculating Sabbath/holidays) starts at sunset and ends at nightfall. If you're in a timezone that is e.g. 7 hours away from UTC (midwestern United States) and sunset is at 4:26, that means you will be off the computer for approximately 4:00 Friday afternoon to 5:45 Saturday evening.

UTC Saturday goes from 5:00 Friday evening to 5:00 Saturday evening, making it impossible to visit the site on UTC Saturday (i.e. before the Sabbath/holiday starts it is still Friday, but by the time it ends it is already Sunday).

So forget the Fanatic badge, you sometimes can't even get Enthusiast.

Marvin

0

Q: Why Sachakan magicians communicate in Kyralian?

In the Trudi Canavan's Black Magician Trilogy when Akkarin and Sonea travel to Sachaka they were able to eavesdrop on Sachakan mages who spoke Kyralian with sachakan accent. Why on earth Sachakans would speak Kyralian at home?!

trudi-canavan black-magician akkarin sonea

Alex

But Israel is two hours ahead of UTC, which means that UTC Saturday goes from 2:00 AM Saturday to 2:00 AM Sunday. As sunset and nightfall in Israel never fall within that range, there will never be a day that you can't visit (except for one holiday that is two days even in Israel, or if a holiday happens to fall out on a Friday or Sunday).

Marvin

9:57 AM

0

Q: Last elf hunted by evil people using a gem to locate him.

It was a story about an elf that should be the last elf and he was hunted. After his elders died (I can't remember whether it's his elders) he left his hometown to somewhere (I vaguely remember that he went to live with some spider-like character) and was hunted down by people again but is saved ...

story-identification

Marvin

10:13 AM

-2

Q: Have we ever seen an Atlantean sneeze underwater?

The thought process behind this question is very simple, and a little bit silly: I was writing an answer about how Atlanteans communicate underwater; I sneezed; I realized I did not remember ever seeing a depiction of an Atlantean sneezing underwater. Now the sneezing process for us normal ai...

dc aquaman atlantis

Jenayah

10:48 AM

@Mithrandir that won't help, you know :p

@Alex oh, alright!

Wait, sunset?

Jewish scientists working at the poles must have it hard then :p

Alex

@Jenayah True, which is why most would avoid such a situation.

Jenayah

@Alex fair enough

SQB

11

Q: Who is this character in the video for "The Saga Begins" by Weird Al Yankovic?

In the video for the Weird Al Yankovic song "The Saga Begins" (1999), Weird Al is playing at a Mos Eisley-type cantina, where several aliens can be seen dancing alongside the regular Star Wars characters. At 3:39 there is a character I think I have seen somewhe...

star-wars aliens character-identification music-video weird-al-yankovic

Jenayah

@SQB still dunno ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

By the way @SQB, could you maybe delete chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/46954712#46954712 ?

SQB

@Alex does it have to be local sunset? I remember reading about a fatwa declaring that Muslims living in the polar regions could follow Mecca times during Ramadan.

Does Jewish religion not have similar provisions?

@Jenayah not while on mobile, sorry.

Jenayah

11:00 AM

@SQB aw, mobile chat sucks aye

Mithrandir

@Jenayah poof

Alex

@SQB No, it goes by local sunset.

Jenayah

@Mithrandir :D

Mithrandir

@Jenayah oh sure, but it relieves the frustration :P

SQB

28

Q: Short story about a conversation between a comet and the Earth

This is a story I read during the 90's but the actual story might be older. I don't remember the title nor the author but remember a good deal of the plot. It started with the Earth and the Moon going around in their respective orbits in the Solar System, and they start bickering with each...

story-identification short-stories

Jenayah

11:08 AM

@Mithrandir that I get :p

Marvin

12:20 PM

1

Q: Middle aged man travels through portal to a Greek speaking world?

Trying to find the name of this book I've read 25-30 years ago. I think it was a Roger Zelazny book, but could be well off the mark as I wasn't able to find a description that tallies with my recollection of the plot. It starts with a middle aged man who through some emergency ends up going thr...

story-identification

0

Q: How is extraterrestrial (alien) culture like?

I used to read sci-fi books in my teens and loved it much, I don't read much now after my faith in the existence of aliens faded. I wonder how extraterrestrial culture is like? Is there any organization that studies these cultures? I know SETI, I meant a sci-fi society.I would assume extraterrest...

aliens society

SQB

12:34 PM

@Marvin off topic or too broad.

Jenayah

@SQB especially that research on alien cultures is like,...

Let's find them first and study their culture afterwards, shall we?

Mithrandir

@Marvin oh hey, nice to see Oded didn't quit the network after getting laid off

Alex

1:14 PM

@Alex Except in a place where the sun doesn't set at all, in which case some argue that you do follow the times of other cities. @SQB

Jenayah

@Alex sooooo... poles? :D

Alex

@Jenayah Possible options include 1) follow the nearest city that has a sunset 2) follow the city you're from 3) follow Jerusalem 4) don't go there.

Jenayah

@Alex 4) "seriously, don't overcomplicate things" :D

Alex

@Jenayah Indeed. (Part of the complication is that, as you mentioned before, the laws were written before anyone knew of this situation.)

b_jonas

2:04 PM

I'll post some of my thoughts from irregularwebcomic.net/draakslair/viewtopic.php?t=11163 about Nagini to Sci Fi SE when the conversation converges.

Broklynite

“On hold as it’s unclear what you’re asking” is sometimes a polite way of saying your question is....of questionable ingenuity, isn’t it?

Jenayah

@Broklynite that about the alien cultures one?

there've been votes as off-scope, unclear, and too broad...

SQB

2:28 PM

I've invited them here.

Alex

-1

Q: How precise do the close reasons have to be?

When voting to close a question there are five options you can choose from: The ones that interest me here are the third and fifth choices. While I don't think this is a pervasive issue, I have seen it enough that I think it warrants a discussion. It seems to me that specifically these two clo...

discussion closing-questions primarily-opinion-based

Marvin

0

Q: Story about a self-driving car accident

This is a story identification. I remember a remarkable number of details of this short story, but can't for the life of me seem to find it. The story opens with two self-driving cars driving on a mountain somewhere (maybe California) at high speeds (300mph if I recall correctly.) Unfortunately...

story-identification artificial-intelligence

Jenayah

2:47 PM

Why is this closed as off-topic?

7

Q: How many comic-based movies won an Oscar?

I'm curious to know how many movies based on any comic source have won an Oscar(s). This can range from the massive Marvel or DC universe comics to individual comics such as Men in Black (originally written by Lowell Cunningham of Malibu before Marvel bought their souls), or to include comic stri...

movie comics

Granted you'd have to restrain comic-based to SFF but it's still answerable

Alex

@Jenayah The off-topic reason given wasn't that it's not science fiction or fantasy, rather that it's a request for a list.

Jenayah

@Alex it's a definite list, though.

it's not even that long

Alex

@Jenayah I'm not saying I agree with the closure; just pointing out that the issue of contention did not appear to be the science fiction or fantasy nature of the question.

Jenayah

@Alex true, true

Alex

Some Metas about list questions:

19

Q: Are *all* list questions off-topic?

"List questions" are generally off-topic on stackexchange sites, and SF in particular, because they tend to be open ended, generate debate, have some level of personal preference, and not meet the criteria of being "answerable". But there are plenty of list questions on this site that do have a s...

discussion faq scope question-quality

-3

Q: Revisiting list questions... (please read before downvoting)

As I understand it, list questions tend to take over the SE site such that other worthy questions are (relatively?) ignored. Additionally, there are endless answers to them, each of which is partial (and not definitive), and it just becomes a vote-fest. What if we only allowed a single, communit...

discussion question-quality policy

22

Q: Are list questions allowed?

This just started, but there already seems to be a lot of questions that essentially boil down to "Please list stories that X". These questions cannot have a definitive answer, and sometimes you can simply find a highly comprehensive list on wikipedia. These kinds questions can be interesting to ...

discussion scope

27

Q: How should we handle "any" (list) questions?

The "any" questions invite a list, which is not permitted. But we're currently not dealing with them consistently (or I can't see a pattern). Here's a few examples: Invisibility should cause blindness: how does hard sf cope? - open Any movies with zombie babies? - open Are any Sci-Fi video ga...

discussion questions closed-questions closing-questions

Napoleon Wilson

2:57 PM

A problem is, that only "off-topic" can have its own custom reasons, while something like "recommendation" or "list" would probably fall more under "primarily opnion-based" or "too broad" respectively. Which would more clearly denote that your question is not actually off-topic, while still not appropriate.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson it's... neither of those, though.

Alex

Aug 24 at 20:03, by Jenayah

@Alex yeah no problem, don't worry, I tend to reply to everything in chat anyways ahah

Napoleon Wilson

@Jenayah I'm not talking about any specific question here. I know SciFi loves those CW list things. I'm just talking about the discontinuity Alex brought up.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson aye

though in this very case, well, it's even shorter than the infinite CW ones

there's the ones OP provided, the one in the answer, and from what I know of the Wiki list, one more

Napoleon Wilson

It's...not particularly engaging. But I'll leave it to the experts to deem it on- or off-topic.

Jenayah

3:01 PM

@NapoleonWilson granted, it's a "gather what's on the wiki list" question, but I'd still say it's on-topic

Napoleon Wilson

I did flag the alien culture thing as "too broad", though. I could get behind the "unclear what you're asking", but if anything, it's just too unspecific to be reasonably answerable.

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson to be honest I hesitated between off-topic, unclear, and too broad...

and settled for off-topic

Alex

@Jenayah Which can get kind of annoying when the display shows you as voting for a reason you didn't vote for.

Jenayah

@Alex I know, I know

b_jonas

For definite list questions, we have the precedent not only of the multi-image ID, but also of my Darths & Droids bingo questions

For close voters: Note that finite, definitively answerable list questions are considered on-topic on this site. — KutuluMike Dec 26 '15 at 13:46

Jenayah

3:07 PM

btw @Alex

saw this comment of yours:

b_jonas

scifi.stackexchange.com/q/176043/4918 "The Last Jedi Darths & Droids bingo" was closed then reopened

Jenayah

your choice, but technically speaking it's already linked in the question

b_jonas

But I'm still bitter about the darned lightsaber thing.

Alex

@Jenayah Oh, I didn't realize.

I shhould probably delete the evidence of my incompetence.

Jenayah

@Alex well I was more thinking of "comments on Meta are already clogged as is"

(your above neighbour did the same by the way...)

@b_jonas the seplling you mean?

b_jonas

3:09 PM

scifi.stackexchange.com/q/119845/4918 "Who are these people at Deadpool's wedding?" has 236 characters, thus exceeding even the Universe 113 one which has about 200 objects. — b_jonas Dec 21 '17 at 14:01

@Jenayah Yes. I just gave up fighting it.

Jenayah

@b_jonas :/

Alex

@Jenayah I just deleted. (For the record I wouldn't get mad if you flagged it.)

Jenayah

@Alex no need to bother the mods with that when I can tell you directly

Napoleon Wilson

@Alex I'm sure there's requests to fix that. I agree it should actually list all the various reasons and the people who voted for them.

b_jonas

The Irregulars confirmed that the "lightsabre" spelling on the cards is really what they meant, and they did research about what spelling they want to do, so I'm doing a direct quote.

Napoleon Wilson

3:11 PM

I thought it actually does that, but maybe not for single outliers.

Alex

@Jenayah True, but I could argue the reverse too (not that I mind you telling me, it's fine, but for the sake of argument).

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson well I mean if you're really driven you can go to the review item I guess

b_jonas

And there's plenty of evidence that they're both good writers and know a lot of background about Star Wars in universe and out of universe stuff.

Alex

@NapoleonWilson Indeed, I made such a request:

3

Q: Multiple close answer reasons

When voting to close a question you can choose from several different reasons. However, when the question actually gets put on hold, it only shows the reason with the most votes. So for instance, if four people voted to close for reason A and one person voted to close for reason B, the note will ...

discussion feature-request vote-to-close

b_jonas

They do sometimes make stupid typos, but they admit them when pointed out and correct it.

Napoleon Wilson

3:13 PM

@Alex Sounds like something more for Meta Stack Exchange, though. But I'm sure it has been adressed there, too.

b_jonas

Even in cases when they could plausibly claim that it's not a typo.

Alex

@NapoleonWilson The answer to my question linked such a question from Meta Stack Exchange.

@Jenayah That doesn't show the reason.

Marvin

0

Q: The founding of Starways Congress

The Starways Congress has always seemed a bit weak to me- there is no way to enforce their policies without taking decades, as demonstrated in Speaker for the Dead. It was formed sometime after colonization began, so presumably between Ender in Exile and Speaker for the Dead. What was the thoug...

enders-game orson-scott-card speaker-for-the-dead xenocide

-1

Q: Book trilogy with humans exploring a star system and finding creatures from Irish folklore

The storyline is humans exploring a star system, and finding species from Earth's Irish folklore, who had left Earth a long time ago.

story-identification books

Broklynite

@Jenayah not just there but other places I’ve seen where a commenter has asked a clearly incredulous “are you asking...?” And then the hold is put on.

Jenayah

oh, indeed

thought it did, suggested edits do

@Broklynite well, this very one is... Like as said above, let's find aliens first, we'll worry about their cultures after that...

Alex

3:22 PM

@Jenayah What is there to see for a suggested edit?

Jenayah

@Alex scifi.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/133265

Alex

@Jenayah Ah, got it, thanks.

Jenayah

scifi.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/132855

Marvin

5:08 PM

0

Q: Would there be any fairytale ogres in the Ogre Resistance?

I can think of a few: First and foremost, the Ogress Queen Mother from Charles Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty. The ogress from Snow-White-Fire-Red And finally, the ogre from Jack and the Beanstalk

shrek

Marvin

5:24 PM

-2

Q: this is a reply to a comment on the x men days of future past movie

How can it be different universe but wolverine is in love with and seeing visions of Jean grey throughout the movie series. And how does magneto have powers. I would say that days of future past take place before last stand and could be a prequel but wolverine has flash backs of events that happe...

x-men-days-of-future-past

Jenayah

@Marvin that one is flat out wrong for bunch of reasons

Marvin

5:56 PM

1

Q: Are the Howlers based off of a specific special ops?

The Howlers are obviously special ops both in and out of the Institute. Extremely loyal, inventive, and slightly crazy, they don't directly resemble any special ops force that I know of. Knowing Pierce Brown, his books are littered with allusions to historical events and characters based off of ...

red-rising

Jenayah

6:36 PM

Flag as RA please scifi.stackexchange.com/a/195733/98028

Alex

6:51 PM

@Jenayah Done.

Jenayah

@Alex aaaaand it's gone :D thanks!

@SmokeDetector so that should be deleted (cc @Mithrandir)

Alex

@Jenayah You're welcome. Though this one might fall into the category of your Meta question.

Jenayah

@Alex yeah

even if "poop" isn't the most offensive word around

Alex

@Jenayah Holiday already started in Israel.

Jenayah

@Alex aw, crap

poke @SQB

SQB

6:54 PM

Still on mobile.

Jenayah

dangit

have you tried switching to desktop view?

Rand al'Thor

7:12 PM

@Jenayah Sorted.

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor neat, thanks

Rand al'Thor

Also, hi! Been a while since I've popped in here.

Alex

@Jenayah About 20 minutes on the front page after the answer was deleted, if you're keeping statistics.

Jenayah

Indeed! How are you doing? :)

Rand al'Thor

Fine fine. Pretty busy these days.

Jenayah

7:17 PM

Work? College?

Mithrandir24601

@Randal'Thor o/

Rand al'Thor

@Jenayah "college" meaning studying or teaching? :-P

@Mithrandir24601 Hi numbered Mith!

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor studying

Rand al'Thor

Is there quantum variation in your number?

Jenayah

gné?

oh, not the receptor

sorry

Rand al'Thor

7:23 PM

That was to @Mithrandir24601.

Since he's a Quantum Computing mod.

Very bad quantum joke :-P

Mithrandir24601

@Randal'Thor Probably, but it's evidently smaller than 0.5, so not enough for anyone to notice :)

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir24601 Damn. I was hoping you'd adjust your number slightly every month or so.

Mithrandir24601

@Randal'Thor You could say that I'm actually in a superposition of 24601 and 9430, but either it's been measured by someone, or no-one has noticed yet

Rand al'Thor

I just clicked your username, so I observed it :-(

But without clicking it looks like Mithrandir2460... So you could get a little variation in there!

Maybe you and the other @Mithrandir are entangled in a superposition of 24601 and 0, and when we figure out how to measure you, one of you will disappear.

Mithrandir24601

@Randal'Thor That one depends on the width of your screen though

Alex

7:28 PM

@Randal'Thor My screen only shows Mithrandir246.

Rand al'Thor

(I'm probably displaying my poor quantum knowledge here ...)

@Alex Then his value is even more uncertain for you!

Alex

@Randal'Thor As if I understood anything in the last ~10 posts...

Mithrandir24601

@Randal'Thor First bit... Now you're talking :P Second bit - I hope not!

Marvin

-1

Q: Are half-ogres and part-ogres allowed in the Ogre Resistance in Shrek 4?

Now when I think about half-ogres, the one fairytale character that comes into mind is the Prince from Charles Perrault’s Sleeping Beauty because he was born to an ogre mother and a human father. With part-ogres, I thought of Sleeping Beauty’s 2 children, L’Aurore and L’Jour, because they’re bor...

shrek

Jenayah

7:47 PM

<------- lost

Marvin

0

Q: In ATLA what would a waterbender get if they attempted to spin water in a lavabending like technique

In legends of korra gozan spins rocks into lava theoretically the kinetic energy causes theses rocks to melt themselves so if water bender attempted that kinetic spinning technique with water what would happen?

avatar-the-last-airbender the-legend-of-korra

Marvin

8:51 PM

0

Q: Depictions of aliens in Old Man's War

For the Old Man's War series are there any sanctioned, visual depictions of what the various aliens species look like? For most of the aliens I can form a mental picture in my head from their descriptions, but for some species (particularly the Obin) I am totally at a loss to how they may actual...

aliens old-mans-war

Alex

Is it cheating if I just added the same quote to two different answers?

Napoleon Wilson

No.

Jenayah

nope

Transcript for

The Restaurant at the End of the Univ…