The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

@Randal'Thor Yeah, I noticed something I wrote a couple of weeks ago is completely gone. It doesn't show up as "removed" and even I can't see a history of it.

Rand al'Thor

@Alex Removed messages don't show up in the transcript (for non-mods). If you scroll back far enough in the room itself, you would be able to see it and its history.

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor gotta have faith to do that...

Alex

@Randal'Thor Let's try that...

SQB

Real Life Emoji Keyboard!

►

user132126

Oh no, that sounds tedious and awful, lol

Alex

2:38 PM

This is going to take a while...

Rand al'Thor

@Alex Urgh, no, that sounds like a dreadful waste of your time.

SQB

The Art of the Bodge: How I Made The Emoji Keyboard

►

Jenayah

@Alex that's what I meant by

3 mins ago, by Jenayah

@Randal'Thor gotta have faith to do that...

Corvo Attano

25

Q: Man invents legalese to English translator

Classic sci-fi short story, can remember everything but the title. Almost certainly from the 50s or so. A guy invents a device that translates legal documents into plain English. He uses it on his next contract, realizes it's the traditional "We own your every thought" nightmare, refuses to sign...

Rand al'Thor

@Alex Can you remember when it was / what conversation it was in? I could pick it out of the transcript for you.

Corvo Attano

2:39 PM

@Jenayah I searched the Library of Congress

Alex

@Randal'Thor It was on August 6th.

Corvo Attano

Found nothing for 'legalese' except for some nonfiction.

Alex

It was about PDFs of Harry Potter online.

Jenayah

@CorvoAttano maybe it wasn't named legalese then :/

Rand al'Thor

@Alex No removed messages from you on 5/6/7 August ...

Corvo Attano

2:40 PM

catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/searchAdvanced?searchId=5740 if you want to try and find it you could use this, but it doesn't search the text.

Jenayah

@Alex I can't remember you saying polemical stuff about those

Alex

@Randal'Thor Well unless I've lost my mind, I know I posted something that no longer shows up in the transcript, nor in a search.

@Jenayah It wasn't polemical. I suspect it was removed because of potential copyright/legal issues.

Corvo Attano

Some stuff was deleted recently @Alex

Rand al'Thor

@Alex I've found the conversation you mean, but there are no removed messages in it.

Jenayah

@CorvoAttano I'm not willing to search for that story, that's precisely the reason I put up a bounty on it :p

Rand al'Thor

2:42 PM

Beware: chat search is crappy and doesn't always work as you'd expect.

For example, searching anything with punctuation in it doesn't work.

(Which sucks when you have an apostrophe in your username.)

Alex

@Randal'Thor Yeah, but when I found the related messages and opened the links, the ones I am thinking of weren't there either.

Maybe I am losing my mind.

SQB

> "Emoji is basically the Donald Trump of computers." —Tom Scott, 2015

Rand al'Thor

@Alex That might be it ;-)

Alex

@Randal'Thor We'll know soon enough. I'm halfway there.

user132126

@Randal'Thor 💩

SQB

2:46 PM

@Randal'Thor it's an apostrophe catastrophe!

Rand al'Thor

@WebHead Down with emojis!

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor Off with their heads!

user132126

@Randal'Thor ⬇🙂🙂🙂

Mithrandir

emojis show up horribly here

user132126

This is true.

Mithrandir

2:48 PM

user132126

@Mithrandir That's your OS/Browser/Font, though.

Rand al'Thor

@Mithrandir That's not what I see.

user132126

Emoji are interesting to me because I've been using emoticons like :) and ;) forever, and I swore I wouldn't switch over to Emoji for a long time, and then eventually I started using a few just to be silly and eventually they made their way into my standard lexicon.

Edlothiad

MAMAAAAAAAAAAA I KILLED A MAAAAN PUT A GUN AGAINST HIS HEAD PULLED THE TRIGGER NOW HE'S DEAD.

user132126

👍 is one I use all the time.

user132126

2:51 PM

If you browse the chat on your mobile device, you'll see them appear different still.

Rand al'Thor

@WebHead That's how they get into your mind, CE.

Fight the system!

user132126

I find them useful!

Rand al'Thor

(sorry, still call you CE even though you're WH now)

user132126

Ancient Egyptians were on to something.

user132126

CE is still in the ava, it fits.

Rand al'Thor

2:52 PM

What are you doing in lava?

Oh wait, misread.

;-)

Jenayah

@WebHead "square circle hashtag shoe"

user132126

@Randal'Thor The floor is lava!

Jenayah

> "this the floor is lava challenge sucks" - Anakin Skywalker

4

user132126

Yeah, it's a bit harder to avoid when you're missing limbs

Rand al'Thor

@Jenayah Duck wrench tankle?

Jenayah

2:58 PM

The Machine - Bert Kreischer: THE MACHINE

►

user132126

Starring my Ancient Egyptians message out of context, I better say something to make sure people know it wasn't about storing organs in jars or thinking the brain was useless.

Alex

@Randal'Thor So apparently I have lost my mind. The comments are all there now, but I could have sworn that when I checked a few days ago they weren't.

Jenayah

@WebHead also, extracting said brain through the corpse's nose with long hooks. Enjoy your meal!

user132126

I wasn't sure about including that part or not, since it's a wee bit gruesome.

Jenayah

Happy to be of service.

@Alex So, have you met a guy named Tyler recently?

Alex

3:01 PM

@Jenayah Is that a reference that I don't get?

user132126

I remember watching this "Under the Pyramids" TV special they did about 20 years ago, and they got this cameras into this incredibly hard to get to room (since the passages were so narrow) and then they showed the hieroglyphics and they had some that looked like an Apache copter and a Tatooine landspeeder.

user132126

What a bunch of garbage, lol

Rand al'Thor

@WebHead Out of context stars can be hilarious.

@Alex At a guess, Fight Club?

Jenayah

@Alex what Rand said

Rand al'Thor

(I haven't read/watched it, but keep hearing references)

Alex

3:03 PM

@Jenayah I'm going to assume that's a movie. Haven't seen it.

Is it about someone losing their mind?

Jenayah

@WebHead are you sure you aren't mistaking those for the Indiana Jones easter egg? :)

@Alex weeeeellll....

yeah

user132126

Yup. I watched it live. I remember being so annoyed by all the commercials.

Jenayah

but now that you know it, you're spoiled :/

user132126

I was really into Ancient Egypt as a kid.

Jenayah

@WebHead I can relate, I read so much books about those

Alex

3:04 PM

@Jenayah With my lost mind I probably won't remember it anyway.

Jenayah

Greek Gods too were fun

SQB

Norse gods too.

Jenayah

@SQB those are even worse

user132126

I wish I could find evidence of that TV show. It was just on basic TV. I remember there being one main reporter, but they kept talking about Egyptian history.

user132126

But then inside the pyramid, it seemed to me to be clearly bogus, because they had these futuristic glyphs that were clearly staged (to me)

user132126

3:06 PM

Yet I'm sure a bunch of people went all ANCIENT ALIENS about it

Jenayah

@WebHead throw in some fake SFF elements and ask about it here :p

user132126

This article seems to have the same picture as on the TV show. express.co.uk/news/weird/641465/…

SQB

I went to a Waldorf school and one of the few good things about them is getting all the different religions. Old Testament in 3rd grade, Edda (Norse gods) in 4th, Greek gods in 5th.

Imagine hearing those stories as a kid. Awesome!

user132126

Yeah, that's the slab I remember. It's exactly that image I linked to.

Jenayah

@WebHead these sound like the Nazca lines conspiracists

@SQB is that like a special kind of school?

SQB

3:08 PM

> "So there's this god, Thor, who has a hammer with which he kills giants. But one time his hammer was stolen by a couple of giants, so he went in, dressed as bride, to retrieve it."

Pédagogie Steiner-Waldorf

La pédagogie Steiner-Waldorf, parfois simplement appelée pédagogie Steiner ou pédagogie Waldorf, est un courant pédagogique qui s'associe lui-même à l'éducation nouvelle. Elle est fondée sur les conceptions éducatives de Rudolf Steiner, occultiste qui a développé une pédagogie qui permettrait aux enfants d'acquérir les aptitudes psychiques nécessaires à l'anthroposophie, doctrine ésotérique dont il est le fondateur. Cette pédagogie, destinée aux enfants de 0 à 21 ans , est pratiquée dans des jardins d'enfants (environ 2 000 dans le monde) et dans des écoles Steiner-Waldorf associatives et autonomes...

Marvin

0

Q: Science fiction book regarding Earth destruction

Trying to identify a book where an alien is discovered who describes himself as a 'flea' and advises the world is about to end. The Earth destroyers send robots to Earth as a distraction, promising to provide us with technological advances whilst 2 small black holes are making their way through t...

aliens earth

Rand al'Thor

@SQB Did they always serve Waldorf salad for school lunch?

SQB

@Randal'Thor Unfortunately, not.

Jenayah

@SQB Did they have Waldorf bikes?

Alex

Did they have Waldorf Hotels?

SQB

3:19 PM

Waldorf education

Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposophy. Its pedagogy emphasizes the role of imagination in learning, striving to integrate the intellectual, practical, and artistic development of pupils in a holistic manner. Steiner's division of child development into three major stages is reflected in the schools' approach: Early childhood education focuses on practical, hands-on activities and creative play, Elementary education focuses on developing artistic expression and social capacities, and Seconda...

Read all about it.

TheLethalCarrot

News of the world

Jenayah

@SQB CTRL+F doesn't pop up any Waldorf bikes :(

SQB

It's all a bunch of nonsense, if you ask me, but the mythology was fun.

Rand al'Thor

@SQB I've heard about this, but don't really know much about it.

Education is divided into 7-year periods?

SQB

Not necessarily education, but rather life, iIrc.

Rand al'Thor

3:32 PM

Ah yeah, they have a wider philosophy of life as well as just a school system.

Is it kind of like its own religion?

Mithrandir

3:48 PM

Jenayah

stackexchange.com/leagues/186/year/scifi/2018-01-01/… wtf, how did I win more rep than my actual rep? :p

Mithrandir

Bounty

Jenayah

@Mithrandir the math doesn't hold

I received +250 but spent 100 on one

and the difference above is 5

@Mithrandir neato btw

Mithrandir

Hmm.

Jenayah

Even the DVs don't seem to hold

I don't cast that much dvs but it's -9 rep

funny

Rand al'Thor

3:54 PM

@Mithrandir I'm on 66065 at Puzzling. Tempted to find a downvote to reverse ...

Jalapeno Nachos

... just had the worst brownie at Starbucks ...

TheLethalCarrot

That's your own fault for having one from Starbucks

Jalapeno Nachos

true true ...

free iced water and a large communal table and free wifi makes up for it, I guess ...

Jenayah

Your house also has WiFi and fresh water :p

I think :p

Jalapeno Nachos

no ice :)

no cups :)

no table :)

SQB

4:04 PM

@Randal'Thor sort of, yeah.

Jenayah

No table?

No fridge?

Jalapeno Nachos

my table in my room is full of dust, quarters, expired Tylenol, expired other pills

Jenayah

No glasses?

Jalapeno Nachos

yeah, I don't cook

too many roomies

Jenayah

@JalapenoNachos tell me about it

Jalapeno Nachos

4:05 PM

I saw your earlier messages :(

Jenayah

@JalapenoNachos if you want, I can relieve you of the quarters.

SQB

@Randal'Thor remind me tomorrow, when I'm on a proper keyboard again.

Jalapeno Nachos

@Jenayah haha - I really enjoy the YouTube videos of people paying their parking tickets with loose change ...

brb, time for a haircut!

faux-hawk to end the summer :)

Jenayah

@JalapenoNachos wow, from a French language point of view you just described yourself as a 'real jerk' ahah :)

hawk = faucon

faux = false, like I guess you already know

opposite of false is true and true/real = vrai

so faux-faucon = true con = vrai con

And 'con' is 'jerk'

So faux-faucon is 'real jerk' :p

Rand al'Thor

That's some deep wordplay :-P

Marvin

4:12 PM

1

Q: Omni short story involving a space suit with a soul and construction workers wearing boots with magnets in them

This Omni short story was from the late 70s or early 80s. Construction workers wear boots with magnets in them to keep them from floating away in zero gravity. A man obtains an advanced edition space suit with a personality and a "soul". The story is about the pros & cons he encounters.

story-identification short-stories space

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor well there's the old joke "hey, you know the difference between a hawk (faucon) and you?"

"No"

"Well, the hawk (faucon/faux con) is a bird and the real jerk (vrai con) is you"

Rand al'Thor

:-D

Nice one.

Jenayah

There's another

Rand al'Thor

Time to come up with a similar joke in English about sham-poo.

Jenayah

"What's the difference between you and a church?"

"Dunno"

Slartibartfast

4:15 PM

-4

Q: Taking advantage of voter availability

It is fairly clear that there are users here from various time zones. With different groups having different times of sleeping, working, etc. there are times when you can predict fairly well which users will be around. Suppose there is something to be voted on, e.g. closing or reopening question...

discussion voting

Jenayah

"Well, the church is consecrated (consacrée) and you're one hell of a jerk (sacré con)"

And yet another one :D

"What's the difference between a pine tree and you?"

"Dunno"

"Well, the pine tree is a conifer (conifère) and you are a jerk, nothing we can do about it (you are con, we can't rien y faire)"

Rand al'Thor

Learning French insults, awesome :-D

Jenayah

@Randal'Thor well it's an established fact that when you teach your language to someone who doesn't know it yet, very fast you end up teaching them insults

Rand al'Thor

Depends on the context, I guess.

There are languages in which I know a bunch of phrases but no insults.

Marvin

0

Q: Why didn’t Lord Farquaad rescue Fiona in the alternate universe?

In Shrek, Lord Farquaad was about to sent knights to rescue Fiona before Shrek barged in. But in Shrek Forever After, Fiona saved HERSELF. Why didn’t one of Farquaad’s knights save her?

shrek

Jenayah

4:27 PM

Like?

SQB

@Jenayah how would one say this in French? The full sentence, I mean?

Jenayah

> "C'est quoi la différence entre toi et un sapin?"

> "Je sais pas"

> "Ben la différence c'est qu'un sapin c'est un conifère et toi t'es con, on peut rien y faire"

SQB

Cool, thanks.

My sister in law is French.

Marvin

0

Q: Short film in stop-motion with cabbages living in a dystopian city

So here's the thing. It was a short movie that I saw in a movie theater before the main movie (can't remember the movie). I saw it in Belgium, but there was no language in it. I think i've seen this between 2000 and 2012. It's basically an adaptation of 1984, with cubbages moving in stop-motion....

story-identification dystopia 1984

Jenayah

4:42 PM

@SQB then you might want to change that to "et toi t'es conne, on peut rien y faire", for gender appropriateness :p

Works even better with the added sound :)

Your sister-in-law might not like the joke though ahah

SQB

I'll use it on my brother, of course.

Jenayah

^^

Make sure to pronounce the liaison

"rien y faire" like "rien ni faire"

for the conifère parallel

SQB

Through WhatsApp.

Jenayah

@SQB well if you're looking for French-based insults, just ask :p

SQB

Thanks.

Jenayah

4:49 PM

Always happy to serve, and defend the classyness of the French language by spreading our holy (insulting) words.

Napoleon Wilson

Is "classyness" supposed to be an intentional joke about language classiness? ;-P

Jenayah

@NapoleonWilson it's mainly supposed for me to patch up a word I don't know the translation of, and am too lazy to search, based on a word I already know (classy) and the very handy -ness suffix

SQB

Une eglise is next.

@Marvin might be French. @Jenayah? (This is why you don't ignore Marvin).

Marvin

0

Q: An old cartoon/anime

I used to watch a cartoon/anime on tv when i was younger, i guess around early to mid 2000's. i cant remember its name. but i remember the following about it: the characters had elemental powers (NO, not Avatar:)) they were more black robes type clothes they could SEE THE COLOR OF THE OTHER PER...

anime cartoon

Jenayah

@SQB J'ignore Marvin si je veux :p

This one? scifi.stackexchange.com/q/193428/98028

(I have a tab one the homepage, which shows the newest ones, so no use for Marvin, sorry :) )

SQB

5:00 PM

Yep, that's the one.

Sounds French to me.

Jenayah

Might be

I'll look into it

SQB

Score some points.

Jenayah

Still have to find it ahah

Marvin

0

Q: Sci-fi Novel from the 1970's that involves multiple earths

This story involves a building that has portals to different earths, all on same timeline, with slightly different histories. The portals are difficult to find, and new ones are on occasion discovered. The world the novel takes place in is an authoritarian society, with Joe Kennedy being mentione...

story-identification

Napoleon Wilson

Crisis on multiple earths! O_O

Jenayah

5:14 PM

@NapoleonWilson ahah, I see what you did there :p

SQB

5:43 PM

@Jenayah have you ever watched that masterpiece of British comedy, 'Allo, 'Allo?

And if so, what did you think of it?

@NapoleonWilson did you ever get around to watching Dinner For One with @steelershark?

Napoleon Wilson

@SQB No, I don't think so.

I might have linked it to her in chat maybe.

Jenayah

6:11 PM

@SQB nope, but I think you, or someone else, linked a video recently

Rand al'Thor

6:39 PM

@SQB Story-ID which might be in Dutch.

SQB

Doesn't ring a bell, but I'll check a couple of Dutch writers who might write such a story.

Paul Biegel comes to mind. He wrote The King of the Copper Mountains, which I can't recommend enough.

But that, of course, doesn't feature candles.

That user is Dutch, so I assume he has searched in Dutch as well.

Question needs a bit of editing. I may do that tomorrow, but not now, since I'm on mobile.

Rand al'Thor

7:17 PM

Thanks for the Populist badge, @Mithrandir ;-)

Mithrandir

Hmm?

oh

That's what happens when you don't update your answer :D

Rand al'Thor

How on earth do I have four Populist badges ...

SQB

Because you are one?

Marvin

8:01 PM

0

Q: In search of a short story from my childhood

One of the short stories in my elementary school reading book (late 50s or early 60s) was about a young boy who was unhappy in his home and family. He constantly fantasized about his "real parents" coming to get him and take him away from his ordinary life. I've searched and searched for the stor...

story-identification

Marvin

8:47 PM

0

Q: How did the Emporer know that Alia was Pauls sister?

In Dune book 1 how did the Emporer know that Alia was Pauls sister? No one knew Jessica was pregnant, let alone had survive the Harkkonen attack on Houst Atriadis. The Sudukar that were capture and release by Muad'dib and the Fremen only knew about Paul and Alia would have easily passed for a nor...

books dune fantasy-genre

Marvin

9:03 PM

0

Q: a mysterious tv show about a weird alien gel area that starts to growing on earth

well I remember a TV show I saw some years ago.I really want to know the name but I can't find it with googling . It was about a weird area that starts to grow on earth. and scientists can't control it and we understand it's connected with aliens. humans send some people in it to find out somethi...

story-identification aliens tv science-fiction-genre

0

Q: Book about magic less world a boy who still has magic in him

Looking for a book about a boy who finds out he has magic in him. Starts off with his home being destroyed by not so nice people, he escapes and meets a thief. They then meet a “witch” who sees the boy has magic in him. They make it a mission to restore magic to the world. There is a huge battle ...

magic

0

Q: Does dialog exist for R2-D2 or BB8?

R2 and BB8 seem to share a sense of humour and have a cheeky/nasty side to them but is there a full list of what they are meant to be saying (not just fanboy hopeful assumptions)?. Is there is dialog for Chewie and other characters who speak other languages but does any exist for these two droids...

star-wars movie droids r2-d2

Marvin

9:49 PM

0

Q: Why did Hermione warn Umbridge not to insult the centaurs?

In The Order Of The Phoenix, Hermione takes Umbridge into the forest in order to get rid of her: We only came in her because we hoped you'd drive her off for us! - Hermione Yet when Umbridge insults the Centaurs by calling them 'half-breeds', she tries to stop her: Thatʹs right!ʹ said U...

harry-potter hermione-granger centaurs

0

Q: How did River Song know about the meta-crisis Doctor?

In an answer to another question, I wrote the following: [During "The Husbands of River Song," River] indirectly displays knowledge of the Meta-crisis Tenth Doctor by acknowledging that Eleven ran out of regenerations (but is conveniently unaware of his receiving a new set in "The Time of the...

doctor-who river-song

Mithrandir

@Marvin ...because they're dangerous and Hermione has a conscience?

Marvin

11:21 PM

0

Q: Why did Ka Suo start regaining his spiritual power?

After his fight with Huo Yi in the Despair Fire Kingdom, Ka Suo was stripped of his powers. To me, the way everyone was talking about things, there was no easy way to restore his powers. People discussed extreme things like finding Spirit Snow Mountain or killing another immortal as a means of r...

ice-fantasy

0

Q: Help me identify a book that contains a future human race that abandons earth to escape aliens?

I remember a friend telling me about this book series a few years ago. I don't know when it was released though. Things I remember: Humans left earth in space ships to escape an alien race that was coming to destroy them because of their technological advances. The humans colonize a new planet...

story-identification books aliens

user132126

11:58 PM

@Randal'Thor Who does?

Transcript for

The Restaurant at the End of the Univ…