« first day (1385 days earlier)      last day (1146 days later) » 

1:25 AM
0
Q: Rats, and then young people, become immune to air pollution

DavidWI had thought this was part of a John Brunner novel, like one of the strands in The Sheep Look Up or a "Tracking in Closeups" segment in Stand on Zanzibar, but it doesn't seem to be in either. As I recall it fits with the pessimistic but somewhat absurdist/surrealistic tone of those. A scientist...

 
 
1 hour later…
2:37 AM
0
Q: Why Lincoln from The Loud House has an childish voice?

Dudu MunhozThis is a question that confuses me i lot when The Loud House is on TV, did someone knows why does Lincoln's voice sounds like that? and why does his voice gets high sometimes?.

 
3:02 AM
1
Q: People recluded in a penal reservation. They think they are in Mars but they are in alien invaded Earth

GinasiusThis is a story from the 1950's. I recall that one of the characters states the date of the invasion as 1959. The story has some similarities to Oblivion. There is a group of people in a penal reservation in the middle of the desert. They believe they are on Mars and their memories have been part...

 
3:26 AM
0
Q: Movie about aliens transforming people into slaves with a claw or weapon-like arm

David AdamsWhen people get captured, they get dragged to some kind of portal. They transform into slaves and have one of their arms become claw-like or weapon-like. They are strong but not very fast. They also seem to keep dragging stuff used as fuel by the aliens. There is some kind of sewer they drag s...

 
3:50 AM
1
Q: How good/bad is Zuko's vision?

Sophie the Jedi KnightWe all know about Zuko's scar. I have a pretty simple question I never thought about: can Zuko see out of his left eye? You would think that he could, if only because it's never brought up in his fighting, but if not, how bad is his vision then?

 
 
1 hour later…
5:03 AM
1
Q: Story where aliens use a cosmetic or perfume to make humans go extinct

cometaryorbitI read this short story in the early 2000s in an anthology, but it wasn't new then (probably written during the Cold War). In the story, the world was rapidly becoming overpopulated. The main character was talking to a friend who worked for the government, and discussing the fact that this month ...

 
 
5 hours later…
9:49 AM
Mmmmm home made cheese croissant
well, I put the shop bought cheese in the shop bought croissant, but I'm claiming that one
 
10:25 AM
He puts the shop bought cheese in the shop bought croissant
 
What kind of cheese?
 
@TheLethalCarrot or it gets the porrige
@Randal'Thor Arla Lactofree
Two new answers to the topic challenge
thinly veiled excuses for me to (re)-read those books
 
Eurgh, Trudi Canavan?
OK, if you only read one series from her, fair enough.
 
@Randal'Thor oh?
 
If you read any more of her books, it seems like she only has one story that she tells over and over again with slight changes.
I also read the Kyralia series and enjoyed it. Then read a prequel novel in the same universe. Then started a new series set in a different universe. It got boring.
 
10:30 AM
@Randal'Thor oh, phew, I thought it was somethign worse
 
Then again, maybe a similar criticism could be levelled at David Eddings, whose work I still enjoy even after the Belgariad, Malloreon, and the Redemption of Althalus.
 
@Randal'Thor I started reading the Redemption of Althalus, such a slog to start with
I really HAVE to finish reading J.V. Jones
 
@AncientSwordRage Kind of weird story all around really.
One of my favourite things about Eddings is his dialogue. Maybe that's why I forgave him for writing stories that are kind of similar to each other.
Also the fact that there's an actual in-universe explanation for the Belgariad and Malloreon being so similar.
Gotta admire his guts, to openly admit in the series itself that "yeah, I've copy-pasted a lot of plot points directly from my last series, but it's OK, it makes sense in-universe".
 
@Randal'Thor I've not read them
 
I've never touched the Elenium and Tamuli, for fear that my opinion of David Eddings may go the same way as Trudi Canavan.
 
10:38 AM
Try out J.V. Jones
 
0
Q: How do you refer to key objects in movies/games like the Death Star from Star Wars?

SlavicIs the Death Star from Star Wars a "prop" or a "character" or something entirely different? I would tend to think that something as iconic as the Death Star or the Millenium Falcon would deserve a better name than a "prop".

 
Looking her up now.
We now have a four-way tie in the topic challenge proposals list: Neverwhere, David Weber/Honorverse, Rivers of London, Cornelia Funke. More votes please!
 
10:57 AM
@Randal'Thor I was strongly tempted to downvote 3 of the 4 to boost my favourite
but it seemed unsporting
 
 
1 hour later…
12:03 PM
Greetings, Earthlings.
I don't understand why anyone would downvote a challenge topic. We should all be one happy personhood of fandom.
 
@Donald.McLean I agree, it was not a temptation that lasted long
 
1:08 PM
I wonder if there is a more up to date answer to
7
Q: Why did the Cardassians refine uridium ore on Terok Nor in space instead of on Bajor?

Chris PetersonHauling unprocessed ore into orbit to be refined seems extremely inefficient. The Cardassians occupied Bajor for 50 years, so they had plenty of time to build refineries on the surface.

 
1:51 PM
@Donald.McLean It makes sense if people think a proposed topic isn't in the spirit of encouraging underrepresented works like these challenges are supposed to be. Like I can understand people downvoting my proposal of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, or I'd downvote myself if someone proposed say Star Wars.
Anyway, now Cornelia Funke has taken a clearer lead (6 vs the next two at 4).
So we're learning that @b_jonas is good at proposing topics :-)
 
2:52 PM
2
Q: Did Leia ever meet Ahsoka through the Rebellion?

Sophie the Jedi KnightSpoiler warning for Rebels. This is about when Ahsoka was working with the Rebellion, not after Rebels. In the Ahsoka novel, there is a brief scene where Ahsoka hears Bail talking to a young Leia. This is around the time Ahsoka tells Bail that she's going to join the Rebellion. This book takes ...

1
Q: Fantasy art book from 1980s

jz342I'm trying to find a fantasy art book from the 1980s just for nostalgia to see if it's as strange as I remember. It was a smallish hard back book that just contained illustrations. The subject was fantasy/scifi but not traditional D&G or scifi. I remember having the book in the early 1980s but it...

0
Q: What "building" is man on phone referring to?

Naomi. JIn India, Protagonist walks outs from the shop and talking on the phone: Man on phone: I was told you left the building. Protagonist: Even the dead need allies. Man on phone: Specifically? Protagonist: I need an assist in Mumbai. I need to get to Sanjay Singh. What "building" is man on phone re...

 
@Randal'Thor There are 39 total questions that are either or and that is a pittance, so no I can't understand downvoting that. And I really can't understand the downvotes for Nnedi Okorafor, for example.
 
3:08 PM
I had no idea people were downvoting the answers! That seems a bit dog-in-a-manger-ish.
Hmm. There are a number of those questions that need a work tag, or at least don't need the author tag...
 
 
1 hour later…
4:23 PM
posted on February 26, 2021 by tech

Click here to go see the bonus panel!Hovertext: This has always been the incredibly good-looking albatross around my swan-like neck. Today's News:

 
5:00 PM
0
Q: are locks in wizarding world effective

mTvareEven if there are certain locking spells can protect the lock against other spells, can't a wizard just break through the walls on side? As one door is a part of a wall closing a room, can't a wizard blast through some nearby walls?

 
5:49 PM
@Randal'Thor oh wow
Although now I don't know what else to propose. Unless I read one of the few other thousand page long sci-fi or fantasy webcomics that are popular among people whose style often matches mine. But that's a big investment and best done when I find myself with a lot of free time, because those comics never get good before you read like 300 or 400 pages.
 
6:23 PM
@b_jonas Pressure's on now! :)
As far as reading 300 pages waiting for something to get good? No way. Maybe when I was 20, but not in the past 15 years at least. The now-multiple stacks of TBR books means that a book typically gets 1-2 chapters to grab me before I move on.
Unless a book is really highly recommended, then I might give it more of a shot. But after 3 tries I've still never gotten half way through Accelerando, and at this point I'm never going to touch it again. If I had to read 300 pages of that I'd claw my eyes out.
 
6:56 PM
@DavidW I don't think we are
I was thinking "I've been asked to vote, but the only way for me to break the tie in my favour would be to downvote, which is not what Ral meant....hmmm!"
 
Neverwhere did get a new downvote since my pinned message, but I'm not complaining about that.
I enjoyed Cornelia Funke's books even more than Neverwhere anyway :-)
 
7:19 PM
@Randal'Thor I like the movie Ink Heart
::ducks::
 
I haven't seen it. No idea how good (or how faithful to the book) it is.
But if you mention screen versions of The Neverending Story, you'll really have to duck :-P
 
@Randal'Thor oh dear
I have fond childhood memories
 
The book is AMAZING.
So many layers of storytelling, it's worth reading at least a few times, as a child and as an adult.
 
@Randal'Thor Well I've missed out reading it as a child
our white cat does a good falcor impression
 
7:38 PM
9
Q: Why did the Cardassians refine uridium ore on Terok Nor in space instead of on Bajor?

Chris PetersonHauling unprocessed ore into orbit to be refined seems extremely inefficient. The Cardassians occupied Bajor for 50 years, so they had plenty of time to build refineries on the surface.

 
1
Q: In Logan's Run (1976) how does controlling the population work when it comes to births?

RosieI recently rewatched Logan's Run. The concept of "Carousel" is explained well. Citizens participate when they turn 30 and believe they will be able to renew (be reborn) and it is shown later that the process is a hoax and no one is actually reborn. If the point of carousel is population control t...

 
8:17 PM
Well, ouch... just lost over 160 internet points over various Stack Exchange sites due to a user being removed, all in one go.
 
 
@FuzzyBoots The perils of being an active asker :-)
^ I lost 680 on one site, plus change.
 
0
Q: Watch a video about this anime but can not remember the name of the anime or the character

AshtonThe main character is blond with glasses. He goes to this high school because it is easy to get in. What he does not know is that it is a high school for people with magic. Anyways he bumps into two women arguing and he intervenes. Well he ends up seeing one of there panties. So at the opening ce...

-1
Q: book finder Im sorry

senior pugIn the book a group of people enter a mansion and the main character talks to a person in a mirror and in the mansion meet these children covered with animal masks the book is a horror book and there are pictures as well as hidden symbols.

 
 
1 hour later…
9:29 PM
@Randal'Thor don’t remove users that benefit you then :P
 
That's really weird to see happen. I was on a question with a vote total of 7. I clicked on the votes to check upvote/downvote totals, and it said 6 up, 0 down. I refreshed the page, it said 6 votes. Back to the search list in the previous page, it confirmed that when I clicked down to the question it had 7 votes.
 
1
Q: Was Lothal fully liberated from the Empire after the end of Star Wars:Rebels?

BooleanIn the last episode of Star Wars:Rebels, the planet that the show has often been based on, Lothal, is apparently "liberated" from the Empire's rule by: My question is, was Lothal actually liberated from the Empire? Looking at how other planets are treated, I find it hard to believe that the Empi...

 
10:22 PM
I'm at -140 for me
 
10:58 PM
0
Q: Story identification: clones, The System, “Mama Mercury “, an abandoned monastery on the moon?

tomandcoI’ve been searching for this book for a while, to no avail. I read it as a teen somewhere between 2005 and 2013, in the uk. From what I can remember, it was a star-wars style “ragtag gang of rogues/rebels fighting the imperial system”. I seem to remember there was a focus on the use of clones as ...

 
11:49 PM
1
Q: Science fantasy novel from the 80s/early 90s where an imprisoned woman is sent through time to a different kingdom

claire carterThe basic plot is a young woman - possibly a queen - who is imprisoned when an invading army kills her husband. She is awaiting her fate - possible death or being forced to marry this invader - when in her dungeon she is visited by a man/magician/sorcerer who says he can save her and take her awa...

 

« first day (1385 days earlier)      last day (1146 days later) »