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1:00 PM
@tchrist We did.
 
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (; ; 19 March 1956 – 16 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian economist, politician and author, and was the Acting Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1992 to 14 December 1992. He was best known as the architect of the controversial shock therapy reforms administered in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which brought him both praise and harsh criticism. Many Russians held him responsible for the economic hardships that plagued the country in the 1990s that resulted in mass poverty and hyperinflation among other things, although liberals prai...
 
Did the Queen dedicate it?
Or whatever the verb is.
 
@Cerberus It looks like the set for a drugs bust in an action film
 
I hope not.
 
An Acting Prime Minister sounds like a busker to me.
 
1:00 PM
@RegDwighт yep, I've none of that.
 
@tchrist It was not deemed worthy. No officials.
 
His father is famous, too. I read many of his children's books.
Timur Arkadievich Gaidar (; December 8, 1926 — December 23, 1999) was Soviet/Russian rear admiral, writer and journalist. He was supposed to be the prototype for Timur from Arkady Gaidar's book Timur and His Squad that was the inspiration for the Timurite movement. Gaidar was born in Arkhangelsk, the son of Arkady Gaidar. He graduated from the Leningrad Naval School in 1948 and faculty of journalism of the Lenin Military Political Academy in 1954, served on a submarine of the Baltic Fleet and the Pacific Ocean Fleet. Worked in newspapers from 1957, The Soviet Fleet, The Red Star, a...
Nice picture of Pushkin.
 
It turns out only females are allowed to <what the hell is this verb?> a ship.
 
@MattЭллен Very! Jobs could be the evil guy in a James-Bond film.
 
WTG, Wikipedia!
Or SE.
It's SE's fault.
 
1:02 PM
yeah I don't think we can lay this one on wikipedia
 
@tchrist I think there's naming, baptising, and launching.
 
> In 1969, the British monarch Queen Elizabeth II incorrectly named the ocean liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 after herself, instead of the older liner RMS Queen Elizabeth, by saying "I name this ship Queen Elizabeth the Second. May God bless her and all who sail in her."
 
Wait, that's the wrong Gaidar still.
 
If a ship sinks before being baptized, is its soul condemned to purgatory forever?
 
Arkady Petrovich Golikov (; ( — October 26, 1941), better known as Arkady Gaidar (), was a Soviet writer, whose stories were very popular among Soviet children. Life and career Gaidar was born in the town of Lgov in Imperial Russia, now in Kursk Oblast, Russia, to a family of teachers. Gaidar spent his childhood in Arzamas. In August 1918, Gaidar became a member of the Bolsheviks, volunteering for the Red Army in December of that year, still aged only 14. During the Russian Civil War, at the age of 16, he became commander of a regiment. He participated in the suppression of sever...
This is the one I meant.
FFS, so many gaydars in Russia!
 
1:03 PM
The QE2 is named for ER2; it is not the second QE ship.
THE VERB IS CHRISTEN
I need more coffee.
 
They don't have a QE1? No Glorianna?
 
Alas.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That's why they created Limbo. Especially useful for sunken ships: how low can you go?
 
I thought the faerie queen was Titania.
 
@Robusto it all makes sense now!
 
1:05 PM
You're welcome.
 
{| |} RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. With her running mate ', she provided luxury liner service between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France. She was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two ships' weekly express service. While being constructed, in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company at Clydebank, Scotland, she was known as Hull 552 but when launched, on 27 September 1938, she was named in honour of Queen Elizabeth, who was then Queen Consort to King George VI and in ...
QE1
 
QED!
 
user19161
I find it hard to differentiate between the u sounds in put and actual, and also the i sound in sit and kitten. After thinking about it for 9000 times I think I got it.
 
I'm not so sure.
 
@JasperLoy after thinking about it for one time I decided to not bother and go on with my life.
 
1:07 PM
@JasperLoy The u’s in put and actual are nothing at all like each other. The i’s in sit and kitten are entirely alike.
 
Zombies++
 
@Cerberus So in the Netherlands, who make up the rest of the underclass if the Turks are the upper part of it?
 
Politicians make them up for their own purposes.
I want more hurricanes. Keeps the pottylitions in their holes.
And good luck with those umbrellas, all you hurricasters: now you, too, can be Mary Poppins for a day.
The next baseball league, coming soon to a trading card set near you.
 
@tchrist british actors?
 
1:19 PM
Not precisely.
I believe Dame Edna is Australian, eh?
 
Yeah, Bret from flight of the conchords is from NZ
Elrond is from Oz, I think
 
The Red Chick is Ozzie, too — right?
 
Possibly. I don't quite recognise her.
 
Cate Blanchett.
 
1:22 PM
But few and far between are the Americans. There may be more Welshman in that police lineup than there are Americans.
 
Frodo is from the US
I take it that's some kind of LotRs cast list?
or something
 
So is Luke Evans. Bard.
 
or are they unrelated?
 
Hobbitry.
Cast of the movie.
 
1:24 PM
Most are English, with some Irish, Scots, and Welshmen thrown in.
And no few Kiwis.
 
Huh, Evangeline Lilly is in The Hobbit?
 
the last four on the bottom are all quite well known in the UK
 
But Kiwis think they’re Englishmen anyway.
 
I just read an unfortunately really poorly written article about rape.
 
@MattЭллен What is he doing in that film?
@KitFox which article?
 
1:26 PM
@MattЭллен Nesbitt says he’s the George Clooney of Middle Earth.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 maybe he's at the beginning - Bilbo telling a story? I've actually no idea.
 
@MattЭллен He wasn't born yet! he shouldn't be in it at all!
 
Only one of those folks doesn’t have English as their first language.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah, but I mean as in "the hobbit is completely a flashback" kinda thing
 
How many of them have Dame/Sir Honors?
Most Americans don’t know Benny Cumbersnatch.
 
1:28 PM
mmmmmm. Benedict Cumberbatch
 
@MattЭллен Still, why bother including him? sigh ... YOU BETTER NOT MAKE A LAME MOVIE, PETER JACKSON! I WON'T BUY IT ON BLU-RAY IF YOU DO!
 
I like him in Sherlock
 
I think only three of them are Sirs, but am unsure.
Yes, he is very good in Sherlock.
Rather better than in Fortysomething.
 
I haven't seen that
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Bookends, my dear.
 
1:29 PM
@tchrist bookends?
 
They wanted to include Ian Holm in the movie. It makes sense to use a Bilbo/Frodo context there.
@MattЭллен Oh, it isn’t bad as light comedy. Hugh Laurie is always funny.
 
They could have just included Ian Holm narrating the opening.
 
Well, I’m withholding prejudgement.
I’ll see what I see when I see it, and not before.
Evangeline Lilly probably oughtn’t count as American.
 
Yeah. Well, I really loved the LotR trilogy despite its flaws. So I am hoping that The Hobbit is as good. But considering how much he cut from LotR and he made 12 hours of film, I wonder what his plan is for stretching the puny Hobbit novel into 3 films is.
 
He isn’t doing that.
 
1:32 PM
@tchrist She isn't.
@tchrist He isn't?
 
Also, more happens in the Hobbit. Much more action-oriented.
No.
 
@tchrist Well, true. But it still feels like a good 3-hour movie to me.
 
He’s using the larger context of what sort of thing is told in Gandalf’s Quest of Erebor. At least.
 
And I can somewhat understand if they take the whole "Necromancer" story, which is untold in the Hobbit, and make a movie out of that. So two movies I can see. 3? I am skeptical.
 
There is some suspicion that a secret deal was cut with the Tolkien Estate to make at least allusory use of the posthumous writings related to the Hobbit.
 
1:34 PM
I think it's funny that the IMDB page gives away the fact that "The Necromancer" is Sauron.
 
yeah, that's a bit of a spoiler. same on the Wikipedia page
 
If you read the Quest for Erebor at the end of the Annotated Hobbit, or perhaps the 1960 partial rewrite, you will see how it can fit.
 
I suppose they reckon everyone's read it
 
The problem is that everyone will know that the ring is the Ring, so you cannot completely remove all of that.
@MattЭллен Exactly.
So it is an “Ian Holm turns Peter Falk per Princess Bride” type of thing.
 
1:38 PM
There will be bookends fitting the tale into a retrospective telling of the tale by Bilbo to Frodo.
 
ah! I did wonder :D I don't remember Bilbo saying "Just one more question."
 
@tchrist Well, that worked well in a silly comedy, I don't see how it could possibly fail in serious telling of The Hobbit!
 
When does the first installment come out?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I’m withhold my pre-judgement. Might you should, too, as the proof of the pudding is in the eating, not the speculating.
 
1:38 PM
Following the tradition of releasing for the Christmas season, I suppose.
@tchrist The reproof of the pudding is in the speculating.
 
speculating about pudding gives me a good appetite!
 
@tchrist Well, I plan to see it. I just hope that his success hasn't gone to his head, ruining the movie. You can see evidence of that in the LotR trilogy: the movie quality gets worse over time.
 
So I have The Unfinished Tales, but haven't read it all. Is "The Quest for Erebor" in that one the same Quest you were referring to?
 
@Robusto Right: it’s that pudding thing.
 
1:41 PM
The Fellowship is still my favorite of the three LoTR movies.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It is abbreviated in UT.
@Robusto God, yes!
 
It's enough to make a pudding crawl.
 
And here is a second TV spot:
 
I almost bought Fellowship this weekend, but opted for the new Star Wars movies instead.
 
@Robusto Yes. It was the most book-accurate and also the best produced of the three films. But also the easiest to film, I think.
 
1:42 PM
The first TV spot opens with the iconic first line in the book. Pop quiz: who is reciting that line in the TV spot?
 
I've not watched it, so I guess Ian McKellen
 
I can't watch the first one.
 
Oh sorry.
@MattЭллен His is the second line, not the first. Try listening.
It is a remarkable thing.
Because it is not who it appears to be, yet is.
 
Advance ticket sales start more than a month before the premier.
 
It was a blind (deaf?) guess
 
1:44 PM
@KitFox Could you watch the first one if it were on Youtube?
 
Probably.
 
Let me look then.
 
0
Q: Why was my question titled "native Enlgish inferiority" closed?

Michael HardyThis question was "closed as not a real question". Obviously it's a real question, and I would disbelieve anyone's explicit assertion (as opposed to this rude sarcastic boilerplate notice) that it appeared not to be a real question. Can someone explain the real reason for the closing?

Oh irony.
 
Here it is:
 
@KitFox Just when we thought your taste had reached the bottom of the barrel, what with all those kitten vids, you pick up the barrel and there is Star Wars, winking up at you.
 
1:45 PM
 
@KitFox What didn't you like about that article?
 
Ah, I see they’ve caught Gandalf at the top of the burning tree, right before the eagle snatches him up from his imminent fiery plunge.
 
Eagles are always pulling Gandalf out of the fire.
 
@Robusto I know, I know. My little boy wants to watch them, and I am tired of explaining that they are long and boring. We can just skip to the pod race.
 
Fifteen birds in five fir trees
 
1:47 PM
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It is poorly written and poorly constructed. It pretty much sucks balls.
 
Hey, @Cerberus: does the name Woglom in Dutch have anything to do with birds?
 
@KitFox So, the writing style?
 
The line “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit” is narrated by Bilbo, as is fitting. The surprise is that the line really sounds like Ian Holm, but Jackson has confirmed it really is Martin Freeman. Doesn’t it sound like Ian?
@Robusto I so want that song.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 The conversational sentence fragments. The way it conveys a person just getting up in your face. Instead of, really, like, making a point, she's just throwing fuel on the fire. Her "facts" are all loosely associated and some of them are really redundant in terms of illustrating a point.
So it is disappointing.
 
@KitFox Yeah. It's typical of blog-post style: you state facts and link to references.
 
1:49 PM
It's not even stating facts.
 
Well, it had that big list of facts.
 
She's just yelling about injustice and presenting it in a way in which you will agree with her.
 
Notice in the second TV spots, the trolls say “Can we cook it?”, and Freeman responds from within a sack.
@KitFox Well, it wouldn’t work if she didn’t present it in such a way.
 
@tchrist I am pretty sure that it would work.
 
I am being somewhat ironic. It’s the damned election.
 
1:52 PM
But it is precisely because she doesn't need to be inflammatory that it bothers me.
That and her writing style is teenagerish.
 
“rude sarcastic boilerplate notice”? Is it? Really?
 
She is preaching to the choir. Her entire article is just narcissistic indulgence.
 
@tchrist You might think so if it calls what you feel is a pertinent question "not a real question".
 
How come her name is Michael?
 
Her name is Soraya Chemaly
 
1:54 PM
is confuse
 
I'm 0x32 today.
 
@MετάEd Happy Birthday Mr Ed!
 
@MattЭллен Thanks. I'm going to tell Wilbur you said that.
 
2:04 PM
@MετάEd R?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 R.
 
nice
I'm still only 0x22
doh, I read that ascii table wrong
it should be "2" not "R"
hangs head in shame
 
I'm $.
Or am I?
 
could be, but I thought you were 3 years older than me?... Maybe your birthday hasn't happened yet.
 
@KitFox You're jQuery? Glad to meet you at long last. You've helped me a lot over the past five years.
 
2:13 PM
@Robusto She could be Prototype
 
I'm an unprintable character
 
@tchrist Whenever I read it in the book I can't help but put the tune "15 Men on a Dead Man's Chest" to it.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Prototype went away once jQuery came on the scene. At least for me.
 
@Robusto Gone, but not totally gone.
 
2:26 PM
So @KitFox how is the weather for you today?
 
It's cloudy and wet.
 
expecting any hurricane-related problems?
 
1
Q: Should I use an article with the “part” word?

OccultaI’ve noticed that some people use an article with the word “part” and the bulk of them does not (at least at some web pages I skimmed through). Which is the correct variant? I think that parts of something are countable, so there should be an article, whether definite or not. A few examples righ...

2
Q: "As part of" versus "as a part of"

PFrankWhen should I use "as part of", and when "as a part of"?

Close enough? Or leave in peace?
 
Hm, I totally disagree with kiam's answer to the 2nd one
 
Yeah I was thinking about merging the older in the newer one.
 
2:31 PM
It's pretty wrong.
But I would consider them dupes, yes
the newer q is better asked, and the first answer is miles better
 
0
A: Why was my question titled "native English inferiority" closed?

KitFoxI think your question has a lot of potential, and if you give some time to editing it, I think it has a good chance of being re-opened. Here are my thoughts about it, after my initial reading. I would have closed this as "not constructive" before "not a real question." To start with, the crux o...

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Rain and wind.
 
@RegDwighт close enough
 
I think most people around here are worked up for not much of anything.
 
I am not worked up. Or down. Or at all.
In fact I'm falling asleep.
 
I meant about the hurricane, in my local region.
 
2:35 PM
@KitFox Well, we are getting worked up about it all the way here in Ontario.
 
Most people don't seem to know much about hurricane mechanics.
Hurricanes slow down drastically when they make landfall.
 
most people don't know much about any kind of mechanics
 
They slow down when the water temp goes below 85 degrees.
 
Mike and the Mechanics?
 
They will slow down if a high pressure front puts a wall against them.
 
2:36 PM
@KitFox you should watch more movies. eyeroll
 
Sure but there are weather people who are predicting damaging storms, at least, for inland areas, and worse for coastal areas
 
Your car will immediately explode if there's a hurricane nearby.
 
Yeah. I used to be a hurricane watcher when I lived in NC.
I predicted better than the Weather Channel.
 
then the hurricane took out an injunction.
 
You know Kit can't help herself when she sees that sexy, sexy eye
 
2:38 PM
lol
 
It's true.
But look, the tropical winds are barely inland.
 
Yep, and not much farther north, the ocean temperature drops dramatically.
Which means she'll lose steam fast.
Now, it's still going to be windy and rainy and stormy.
Naturally. But it's not going to be a big deal up here.
 
good, good
I don't want you being blown to pieces
 
Nah, it's fine. I've been through five real hurricanes as an adult.
Two as a kid.
 
2:46 PM
So the NOAA is still predicting that it will be a hurricane-class storm when it lands on New Jersey later today
But that it will be downgraded after that
 
I can't remember why I'm reading about Marvel Universe Celestial Entities on Wikipedia, but I'm sure it's nothing to do with work...
 
Sure it is. That's your new project: An Android app for the Marvel Universe.
 
There is already an app for that.
 
Yes, closely related to nmr spectroscopy
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, that sounds about right.
New York will be sunk, but otherwise, it's fine.
 
2:49 PM
Global warming, schmobal warming
 
What was I doing now?
 
I mean Cosmic Entities, not Celestial
 
OMG, I just found out that a cousin of mine was busted for soliciting prostitution in that big Zumba prostitution case.
 
Zumba prostitution?
 
2:54 PM
laughs heartily
I can't believe what a big deal they are making out of this. They've published the names of 38 of her clients.
And they are misdemeanor charges.
Of course, at least one person has lost his job over it.
 
Well, that sort of thing can ruin a person's reputation and/or make it hard to find work, esp if they need a clean criminal record
 
Still. Misdemeanor. Hardly seems fair.
Especially when they are obviously hard up.
 
heheh "hard up"
 
There is something going on at work this morning, and now I'm wondering if one of my co-workers is on the next list.
 
2:59 PM
are they looking for a hooker?
 

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