Greetings.

What is missing from Google Maps?

Disregard the red pin.

@Cerberus I dunno. The Workers' Paradise?

@Robusto Hint: it is larger than all other cities in view. And a capital. And the former capital of a large empire encompassing most of the countries you see.

Damn you, doggy, I'm in a meeting!

Heh.

It should be easy for you...

@Cerberus Prague?

Capital of Holy Roman Empire . . .

Prague is just out of view.

@Robusto The successor to the Holy Roman Empire.

If you will.

It is larger and more famous than Prague.

@Robusto And you went there last year, didn't you?

@Cerberus Lübeck, capital of the Hanseatic League?

@Cerberus I did not go to Europe at all last year.

@Robusto Then was it the year before?

@Robusto Lübeck is far too small, and too far away.

Perhaps you didn't to this city, perhaps it was Salzburg you went to see?

No, wait, it was Mr Shiny who went there last year, my apologies.

@Cerberus Vienna

Oh, Vienna!

lol

Wien, Wien, Mein Hertz Allein!

Ding!

So how crazy is Google Maps, right?

There is plenty of space.

Dem is verkackte.

Quite.

that doesn't make a lot of sense

@Cerberus To be kind, though, perhaps they're trying to cut down on sweets.

What doesn't, Mr Moderator?

why Google would miss it off

@Robusto By refusing to point the way to Vienna?

@MattE.Эллен I have see this more often.

their algorithm must be off

I believe there was a similar issue with Tokyo or Manila.

In my experience, Wien was very high in calories. But then, so was Paris, so . . .

...or perhaps it was you.

I'm high in fun, not calories.

No comment.

@Cerberus That in itself is a comment.

@Robusto You might very well think so, Mattie; I couldn't possibly comment.

(Recognise the quotation?)

@Cerberus No, but I googled and found Rebecca Brooks something something.

Tangential alignment gajs.

@Robusto It is from the House of Cards.

Urquhart's favourite phrase.

Although I must admit I have not read the books, only seen the BBC series.

@Cerberus English or American?

Which is superb.

English.

Yeah, I like the American version much better.

I'm not sure whether I should watch the American series, if it has the same plot?

Why is it better?

More fun, more relevant, newer, shinier, sparkier . . .

Doesn't sound like my thing.

I shouldn't think it would be.

There is a Dutch version of Yes Minister; it sucks.

Trying to adapt a proven, very British concept to Dutch culture just sucks.

Are you still watching Downton Abbey?

Nope.

A wise policy.

I stopped watching after a certain car incident.

Is it?

It had become too soapy.

My wife likes it so we still watch it, but it is horribly bloated and super-annuated.

@Cerberus It had become too soapy? Well, it started off in a bubble bath.

Now it is simply a question of "What new legal problems can we foist off on Bates?"

Super-annuated? Past its prime?

@Robusto Absolutely, but it was just good enough for us to bear with the soapiness.

Jolene from Cooking.se insists that I recommence watching it, though.

I would advise against it.

Noted.

If you can avoid it you'll be money ahead.

Too bad.

I never liked the Bates storylines anyway.

Have you ever seen the spoof, after the first season or so?

@Cerberus I think so, but I can't recall it.

There is a part two.

@Cerberus Oh, yeah, I do remember that.

OK.

@Cerberus You don't need to worry about that. The US version of House of Cards isn't Dutch. And it gets at the core of ruthless politics in a way the British original simply couldn't manage. I actually fell asleep during the British version, several times.

Forgive me my brother @Cerberus, I lost my temper

when I said this.

@Robusto I think Brits are by far the best at the genre...but of course I haven't seen the American version.

Usually, "localised" versions are worse than the original of anything.

I absolutely loved the original, so I guess you and I have different tastes.

@infinitesimal Go do penance.

:(

You know that you must.

Instead I went to the physics chatroom an saw:

Heh.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penance

I don't think pasting a link counts as doing.

Hi.

Could anybody please explain this phrase: «I was now landed, and safe on shore, and began to look up and thank God that my life was saved in a case wherein there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope.»?

Particularly this moment — there was some minutes before scarce any room to hope.

@mikeonly "My life was saved in a particularly hopeless situation: a few minutes earlier, there was hardly any hope."

Some minutes before = a few minutes earlier.

Scarce any room to hope = hardly any reason for me to hope [that I might be saved].

@Cerberus Oh, the last explanation is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!

@mikeonly Yay!

Glad you understand the sentence now.

@Cerberus Is it an expression «scarce any room to hope»? I know the meanings of «scarce», «room» and «hope», etc. Though the sentence looks odd to me.

Scarce can be used as an adverb, meaning "scarcely, hardly".

Or is it an adverb?

It is an adverb here.

@Cerberus Great! I've just checked this out. Now everything is perfectly clear.

Thanks again.

OK cool!

Do come back if you have other questions.

@Cerberus I will, for the help of native speaker is vital in the matter of English literature translations.

Well, a dictionary also helps, or a non-native speaker such as myself.

@Cerberus Wow. And what is your mother tongue?

Dutch.

Is yours French?

@Cerberus Russian. Why French?

Ah, I see.

I believe they use quotation marks like yours in French.

But apparently in Russian, too.

@infinitesimal Mathematics is the one place where extracting the meaning of labels actually leads to substantive progress. I could almost say that is the point of mathematical thinking, prior to proof.

@JohanLarsson I tapped on the paper but it didn't take me to the web page. WTH!

bug

probably never worked

stupid paper with broken links. they need to up their game.

E-ink.

virtual virtuality.